It was all his fault. If he had been more firm with her, this wouldn't have even been an issue. Yet, there they were, and he was to blame.
Two months ago, Captain Ainsworth been commanded by her majesty to head an exploratory mission to the North-West in search of islands previously undiscovered or new peoples. There had been word in Ireland that an archipelago existed out towards Greenland, and while Alexander had trouble believing rumors, he was honored to have been chosen by the Queen for an expedition.
His daughter had gone with him before on voyages ever since her mother died, and had sea legs as good as any midshipman, but even he thought it was unwise for her to go on a mission that far North. She should stay in the country with her aunt, he said. After all, she was a lady, and as such should not spend her days on a navy vessel.
Yet, she made a pleading case, and he had agreed. He did not want to leave his little girl for perhaps months all alone with her aunt.
But now, she was alone with far worse company.
They had docked in Ireland to restock, and whilst he was ashore someone snuck onto the ship and took her. It was night and his men had kept watch, but not very well as they never expected anyone to try to sneak onto a vessel of the royal navy.
That was three weeks earlier. The ransom note had come a week ago. The thieves would not harm her in return for a ship. Of course, they wouldn't be getting a ship if everything went smoothly.
But that wasn't an option anymore. The map they received along with the ransom note led them to this island, a part of the very archipelago they were sent to find. The scholars onboard his ships were thrilled with the discovery, but his daughter was at stake, so how could he be?
They went aboard to see if they could find anything, and they were fired upon by a dragon with riders. It seemed improbable, that maybe they had imagined it, but after all, dragons themselves were improbable enough. All Ainsworth and his men knew was that they had been fired upon as they went to negotiate a treaty, so they could no longer appear civil with these pirates.
They attacked, but there was more to the simple village than they had anticipated. They tried to take out their soldiers in the air and avoid the village, but as the fight grew less in their favor, the captain gave the order to fire upon the village in hopes of distracting the army enough to take out their leader.
Finally they succeeded in doing so, and knocked the sleek black dragon onto the deck. The plan was clear without a discussion; all of his men not manning the cannons would converge and rope the beast and apprehend its rider. What they did not expect was the rider to roll into a battle stance at the very moment the brute hit the deck, and the flaming sword in his hand was enough to make the dim-witted seamen hesitate.
Ainsworth wasn't willing to accept defeat. If he did, his daughter would have no one to fight for her. But he had no choice.
He had failed her.
Once he made his plea for a negotiation, in Norse since that was the language the riders spoke in, the rider dressed in black turned to look at the other rider on deck, and lowered his sword. "Sorry, but I believe you have the wrong island."
"The wrong island?" It began to sink in, and Ainsworth was anything but pleased. "This is the island we were given directions to come to!"
"Who gave you those directions?"
"Who gave me… why, the very pirate scum that stole my daughter away. Are you saying you are not the pirates who did such a thing?"
The man shook his head. "We are not pirates. However," he said as he raised his sword again. "I would like to know why you and your men attack my island and me dragons. If you truly came to negotiate for your daughter, why would you put her at risk?"
"We were fired upon first after coming ashore south of here, by a dragon and its riders."
The man groaned. "What color dragon?"
"Green."
"Did they cause any damage to your vessel, your men or anything else?"
"Well, no…"
He turned to the other rider once more. "Eret," he said with another groan. "Go get the twins."
After the other rider left, the captain considered ordering his men to attack the lone rider on his deck, but with a now-awake dragon by his side, he decided it was best not to risk it.
"As you say this may all be just a big misunderstanding, but I still don't trust you."
The Captain remained silent. He feared retribution for the damage that was caused, but did not let his fear show. Though he did not trust the chief any more than he was trusted.
"Show me this map."
When the order went out from the captain to surrender, the other ships were signaled to follow suit. The two closer ships received the signal, and when the shooting stopped from them the fourth ship's commander ordered his men to follow suit, though he did not realize surrender had been called. Heather landed on the second and Dagur on the third to make sure the troops were standing down. The mast of one was badly damaged.
Snotlout saw it as his duty to land on the deck of the third ship. "Come on Hookfang, we got 'em now!" Hookfang dove down suddenly towards the ship very fast. "HooookFaaang!" A second later they came to an abrupt stop on deck. "Stupid dragon," he muttered to himself as he climbed down.
When he turned around, he saw all the men on deck holding their strange sticks in his face. "Hey, back off, stupid pirates! You guys surrendered!"
The men looked at each other in confusion, but still held their weapons in his direction. They could not understand his language. No one moved for several minutes. Snotlout kept hoping that Heather or her chaotic brother would happen to glance in their direction, but they didn't. So, he tried to get the attention of his dragon, who seemed very not bothered that Snotlout was in danger. First he tried calling his name. No luck. He tried to kick him. Still no luck. "Hey, Hookie, I'll give you some extra fish… HOOKFANG GET OVER HERE!" The men on deck may not have understood his words, but they shoved their weapons closer when he yelled. This got Hookfang's attention, and he instantly burst into flames, grabbed Snotlout by his armor, threw him onto his back, and got out of there. Snotlout didn't think twice about it – his armor was fireproof – until he looked back to see that the ship was on fire. Oh great, just what I needed.
Fishlegs was still bleeding heavily when the sound of the shots subsided. He tried his best to wrap his arm with what he had, but it didn't seem to help; he needed stitches. The gash was nothing like he had ever seen before, and despite the pain he was in, his intelligent mind could not help but be curious as to what kind of weapon could have caused this.
The blast of whatever had hit him nearly sent him off of Meatlug, and she had reached the shore just before he slid off her back, in a bit of shock. He had told Hiccup to leave him. He could get to Gothi on his own.
That is, if he could get back on Meatlug, who had the idea that flying probably wasn't the best thing for her rider in this condition. By the time she was settled enough to mount, Fishlegs in all of his brute strength began to feel the effects of blood loss. Halfway through the flight, he was sure he would pass out before he arrived.
When they landed on the porch of the village healer, Gothi went right to work cleaning him up, along with a man who had come to the healer for an injury that was far less serious, which probably occurred when the docks were blown to shreds.
Just before the healer forced the young Viking inside her hut, Fishlegs saw one of the ships burst into flames.
"Wait!" he yelled. "I need to help!"
Somehow the elder was able to force him onto the cot. Her helper held him down. Even though Fishlegs knew very well what was coming, he still cried out in pain as the healer stitched the wound closed, as quickly as she could, in case there were more who were injured.
Ainsworth came out of his cabin with the map and the ransom note. The masked man looked at them closely for several seconds before turning back to Ainsworth. "Tell your men that they are to stay put under the supervision of my riders. They will not be harmed so long as they follow their instructions. You will come to our hall to discuss what is to be done." After the captain nodded, he turned to his men.
"Captain, who are these men?"
"They are the people who live here, Lieutenant. They claim there has been some mistake in us coming here and that they do not have my daughter. This masked man is their chief, and he will take me to their hall to negotiate. You are to make sure that the orders of his riders are followed while I am gone, and he guarantees your safety if you do so."
"Yes sir."
At that moment, the Lieutenant looked over the captain's shoulder to see one of their ships burst into flames as a flaming dragon flew from the scene. Men jumped into the water and started to swim towards the other ships and to the shore.
The captain looked to see the same sight before looking to the chief, who was already in the air. "Blast! What happened?!"
"I don't know sir, I will signal the other ships."
Once Hiccup was in the air, Toothless flew straight to Snotlout. "What is the meaning of this?"
"They tried to attack me and Hookfang got me out of there! He may be stupid, but it wasn't our fault!"
Ugh. How much miscommunication can there be in a day? "Look, Snotlout, can you just go find Fishlegs and Astrid and make sure they're alright?"
He groaned. "Fine!"
After he flew off, the chief signaled to Dagur to get the men out of the water and to the lead ship. Ainsworth surely would deal with his men for making the situation even worse than it already was, after they had their little chat.
Hiccup dashed to the lead ship and had Toothless grab the Captain, before heading towards the hall.
Ainsworth screamed as he was carried off, before remembering that he was probably just being taken to their hall; the feeling of the air rushing past him, however, instilled him with a sense of pure terror.
How were these men able to tame such horribly frightening beasts?
And were these men, perhaps, better than those who stole his daughter, or were they beasts as well?