Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD
Chapter Six
Windshear and Hookfang had snatched their riders up and retreated into the sky when they came under attack. Really, Hookfang had only followed the Silver-Scale's lead; how could they fight an enemy that froze them? They watched from above as humans swarmed out of the trees.
*Windshear! We have to do something, they're taking our friends!* Hookfang screeched, panicking. He was holding the back of Snotlout's tunic in his teeth; now he carefully placed his stiff rider onto Windshear's saddle, folded his wings, and dived down to attack the humans despite her protests. As soon as he was within range, they shot at him with many dragon-root arrows and he crashed to the ground, making a huge furrow in the sand, just as she'd expected.
With one frozen rider balanced precariously on her neck and her own clutched in her fore-claws, Windshear snarled in frustration. Her scales would protect her from those freezing darts, she was sure, but she couldn't attack with two vulnerable humans in tow. Besides, these hunters had dragon root arrows as well, and they could pierce her.
From her claws, she heard Heather mumble something. *What?* she asked, even though Heather couldn't hear her and she couldn't properly understand Heather. The two of them were close, though, and after several repetitions, Windshear finally gathered that her rider was trying to say "Find Fishlegs!"
Now she remembered – Fishlegs and Meatlug had been here, and disappeared, so they must have been captured by these hunters first. Snotlout grunted a protest, but Windshear merely tossed him up with a neat flick of her neck and caught him by the back of his tunic carefully in her jaws.
The humans took Toothless, Selena, Sleuther and the two injured dragons, but left Stormfly and Hookfang on the beach. That meant they might have left Meatlug as well. Windshear, Heather and Snotlout watched as the captives were lifted into boats, which were…rowed around to the other side of the island. A larger ship sailed out from a cave, and the dragons were hauled from the little boats up onto it. Wait – the ship was towed by Spark-Noses!
It wasn't that Windshear didn't want to help. If she could she'd leave the humans somewhere safe and attack the ship herself. If it weren't for the dragon root arrows, and net throwers on the deck. As the ship began to sail away, she panicked a bit. She couldn't attack on her own, but she couldn't lose them either, and the ship was moving far too fast. What was she going to do?
"Find Fishlegs!" Heather repeated, or tried to anyway. Snotlout seemed to agree, judging from the urgent grunts he was making. Trusting her rider, Windshear waited until the humans were gone before circling down to the beach where they'd been ambushed. There she carefully deposited Snotlout and Heather in the sand – Snotlout fell over, but that was fine – and began to search the undergrowth for their missing friends.
At last, Windshear found both Fishlegs and Meatlug in a small clearing, the human tied to a tree and the Rock-Tail wrapped in bolas. They were both awake, but muzzled, Fishlegs looked relieved to see her. Her sharp tail cut through the ropes easily, even with metal hidden within. "Thanks, Windshear" Fishlegs said gratefully after he'd yanked the gag out of his mouth.
*We have to hurry!* She snarled urgent and gestured to them follow-me. Windshear led them back out to the beach, where their friends dotted the sand like strange living sculptures. "Snotlout!" cried Fishlegs, scrambling off Meatlug's back and rushing over to his secret partner. He turned the man over, and Snotlout gurgled what were probably imprecations at him.
"You know I can't understand a word you're saying" Fishlegs told him, before looking around and noticing what – or rather who – was missing. "Where's Sleuther?" he asked Windshear, "and Toothless?" Because if Hiccup was over there, and Toothless wasn't – that was not good.
In reply, she looked out to sea, and back at him. "They took them on a ship? Well, they can't have gotten too f– what, Snotlout?"
His paralysed boyfriend was trying to tell him something. "Eee-or-ors!"
"Your ear's hurting?" Fishlegs guessed, mystified. Then he mentally slapped himself and reached down to pinch Snotlout's neck, just like that woman had done to him. Sure enough, the man went limp, and Fishlegs promptly slapped him awake. Snotlout jerked up clutching his cheek, glaring at Fish with a look of betrayal. "Ow!"
"You were saying?" Fishlegs asked pointedly.
"Huh? Oh. Seashockers! These people have a ship towed by Seashockers!"
"What?!" Fishlegs exclaimed. Thinking hard and quickly, he turned to Windshear and instructed, "Fly out and find that ship, don't let it out of your sight!" As soon as she'd taken wing, Fishlegs said to Snotlout, "You sort the dragons, I'll sort the riders. Just dig your fingers into their sweet spots, it'll make them collapse and undo the paralysis" he explained. "There's some dragon-root antidote in Meatlug's saddlebag just in case."
"You always come prepared" Snotlout laughed, even as he rushed off. Honestly, he loved it when Fishlegs took charge like that. Once he'd have just laughed at his friends attempts to assert authority – until he'd realised how attractive it was when Fish actually wasbeing dominant.
He went to Hookfang first, naturally, and poured some of the antidote down his throat. Whilst he waited for Hooky to recover, he ran over to Stormfly and dug his fingers into her sweet spot. She keeled over, but he knew she'd be fine.
Meanwhile, Fishlegs was busying himself with unfreezing his friends, Meatlug helping by licking them to wake them up. He'd unfrozen Astrid, Heather, and Dagur, and now Hiccup. Meatlug was nudging Dagur, Astrid having taken up rousing Heather; but it seemed her services weren't required in Hiccup's case.
Moments after collapsing to the sand, Hiccup sat bolt upright, smacking right into Fishlegs' face with a dull clonk. As the larger man tried to shake off the daze, Hiccup scrambled to his feet and rushed to the waterline, into the surf, the shallows – when it became apparent that he actually intended to swim after the ship, Snotlout called out "Hookfang, grab him!"
Obligingly, the Fire-Scale scampered after Hiccup, who was determinedly wading out to sea, and carried him back to shore. Struggling futilely, he protested "Hookfang! As your Alpha, I order you to put me back!"
"Hooky! As your rider, I order you to keep him here!"
Hookfang wavered, unsure which of them to listen to. Then he remembered Alpha-Hiccup telling them all to listen to their riders even before him, and there had been a lot of rules about it that he couldn't recall, but this seemed like one of those times when not listening to his Alpha seemed okay.
"Put him down, Hookfang" Astrid commanded firmly. He obeyed, happy to have a nice, simple instruction to follow. Humans could be so confusing.
Hiccup wrestled with his helmet, finally undid the clasps, and yanked it off. It made his hair stand up, and his eyes were dark and wild, giving him the appearance of one rather unhinged. "I need to get to Toothless!"
"You can't swim after him!"
"You're right – but I can fly." Without warning, Hiccup suddenly charged at Stormfly, who leapt backwards and raised the spikes on her tail defensively. He skidded to a halt, and Astrid marched forwards.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Who said you could take my dragon?"
"Astrid, I have to ride Stormfly! Snotlout won't let me on Hookfang" –
"Damn right."
"Meatlug's too slow – no offence" –
"Hey!" / *None taken.*
"And Windshear" – Hiccup looked around as if just realising the Silver-Scale was missing. "Where is Windshear?"
"She went-" Fishlegs began, but Hiccup glared at him.
"Don't tell me she left! She could have stopped those hunters and she did nothing, she'd better have a damn good" –
"She's looking for Toothless!" Fishlegs shouted over him, "Hiccup, their ship is towed by Seashockers! I sent Windshear to track them."
Hiccup looked no less frantic. "Seashockers? Why didn't you say that before?! We need to go, right now, come on!" He made another break for Stormfly, but Astrid grabbed his shoulder to haul him back. Hiccup wrenched out of her hold and snarled at her. She slapped him, hard.
"Don't you dare snarl at me" she hissed at him, "I am your wife, and your chief, and you will show me respect!"
Hiccup recoiled. At first she thought he was cowed by her wrath; but then she realised it wasn't just her, he was genuinely terrified. He was shaking, panting, face pale, eyes wide. He looked like a cornered animal. "….Hey. It'll be alright" Astrid murmured, gentling her voice. He stared at her. How could anything possibly be alright if his other half wasn't with him?
"I'm sorry I slapped you. I just – you were scaring me. I know you're worried about Toothless, but freaking out isn't going to help him. You need to calm down" she implored him. Hiccup gulped in a deep breath, eyes darting from her face to out over the ocean, where Toothless had gone. "Hiccup, I need to ask – did they see your face?"
He stiffened, looked faintly worried, which made her more so. "Did they see you?" Astrid repeated more urgently.
Blinking, Hiccup swallowed and shook his head. "N-no. One of them tried, but she couldn't take off my helmet" he explained. But she still knows who I am.
"Okay" she nodded, "That's good. Now put that back on", she nodded at his helmet, "and let's go rescue our dragons."
Toothless' desperate thrashing woke up Selena, as well as the Sand-Wings opposite them. It also gained the attention of the crew, several members of which rushed down to subdue the aggressive creature. Nicole stepped past them all and peered into the cage at the collapsed, unconscious Night Fury.
"What happened?" she demanded.
"We don't know, Captain" Gelvira said apologetically. "It woke up and just freaked out, started trying to beat the door down. Its spines were glowing. Like a Flightmare or something; I've never seen anything like it."
Nicole peered at the dragons short blunt spines, noting the azure tinge along their edges, the iridescent sheen of his scales, the strong muscled neck and chest. Truly, the only flaw was the unfortunate missing tail-fin, replaced by a scarlet prosthetic. She had to admire the workmanship; if the fake tail-fin was painted black, it would be almost indistinguishable from the one of skin.
"You are beautiful" she murmured, "both of you." Nicole met the sapphire orbs of the female's eyes. Her pupils were slits, and she growled. "Hush. Don't worry, you're safe here" Nicole said quietly, but her body cried lying and Selena did not trust her. These humans were bad; they had captured Selena and her mate and all these other dragons. She kept growling, stay-away, don't-want.
Nicole huffed as if offended. "Be like that, then. Keep an eye on them" she ordered, "Especially that one." Jerking her thumb at the male Night Fury, Nicole took her leave. When only two humans remained, Selena ignored them and looked down at her mate. Toothless was whimpering in his sleep, scales and claws rasping on the wood as he squirmed, reaching for someone not there. Selena's heart broke for him.
*Is he alright?* Her head jerked up, startled, and she stared through the bars at the other dragons in the cage opposite theirs. She could see the female with the broken wing, now splinted, and a spikier, browner male. *Hello...* the female purred very quietly, whimpering at the pain in her wing. *My name… is Oasis, and this… is my other half, my mate Sirocco (1)* she explained.
Selena relaxed a bit; at least this new dragon was friendly. *My name's Selena, and this is my mate, Toothless* she introduced them both. The other dragons looked at her strangely when she said his name, but Selena thought nothing of it. She'd never thought of him as anything else. *I'm sorry about your wing.*
*I'm… … your mate alright?* Oasis pressed, softly crooning curiosity-concern. *We heard him…screaming. He was… screaming 'hiccup'. Who... or what... is hiccup?* (2)
Toothless moaned in his sleep, and Selena's insides twisted up in sympathy. *Hiccup is his other half* she explained, leaning down to nuzzle her mate. It would be best if Hiccup were here, because nobody could comfort one half of a heart bound pair more than their other half, but she would have to do for now. *And he's scared of boats. So no, he's really not alright.*
Oasis and Sirocco glanced at each other. *Your mate is heart bound* Sirocco noted, *but not to you?*
*He was heart bound just before I met him. We're good friends, though. Hiccup is his brother* Selena explained. She shifted uncomfortably and huffed. Cages were horrid things. *He tried to mount me* Selena remembered then. *I'm not angry, but…he's never done that before.*
*It's not… his fault* Oasis reassured her, *It's… the oil.*
*The oil?*
*Dragon-heart oil* Sirocco grunted, *That's what the humans call it. It makes you want to rut* he explained bluntly.
*They put it... on Scorpia and I… to lure you… and your mate… into a trap* panted Oasis, whining guilt-regret. *I'm sorry. I tried to... warn a Rock-Tail…but they froze her… and knocked us out. They've washed it…off me now* she explained, and sure enough, there was a splotch of brown on her snout where the paint was gone. Sirocco nuzzled and crooned to her.
Selena warbled forgiveness and assured her, *It's not your fault. I sort of guessed you weren't really a Swift-Wing. What is your kind called?* she asked, tilting her head curiously. They looked a lot like her kind, but different too.
*We're called Sand-Wings* replied Sirocco, *We're from the desert.*
*So are we!* grunted a deeper voice from the cage to the right of Oasis'. Selena looked over to see two other dragons, these ones like Crystal-Eaters but brown and spiky. *We're from the desert too* one of them declared, *We're Spike-Backs. There's a Three-Tail here as well.*
*They captured a male, Cereus. There's two Three-Tails now* Oasis told him.
*You mean they found Scorpia a suitor? She'll tear him apart* whistled the female Spike-Back. She shoved her head under her mate's chest to squint at Selena and greeted, *Hello, strange new dragon. I'm Barbary (3).*
There was a hungry, desperate glint in her eyes that Selena didn't like. She drew back warily, instinctively standing in front of Toothless, who was vulnerable right now. Then a fluting voice from the cage opposite the Spike-Backs protested, *Barbary, don't scare the poor thing!*
*I didn't say anything!* Barbary growled in protest, as Toothless whined.
The younger human watching them flinched. Her elder scolded her. "What's the matter with you? They growl all the time."
"It's not that one" the other human protested, "It's this one." She gestured at Toothless, who was still squirming and whimpering. "Is it having a nightmare, or something? What if it's sick?"
The older human hissed dismissively. "Just ignore it. The dragon'll quiet down eventually – they always do."
As if he'd heard her, and wanted to prove her wrong, at that moment Toothless' eyes flicked open. Straightaway he tried to heave himself to his feet, and get back to fighting his way free of this accursed boat. Selena threw herself on top of him. Toothless writhed beneath her and it took all her strength to pin him.
*Toothless Midnight Haddock, you calm down right now!* she growled firmly, the way she did when Ebony was misbehaving. Valka always used his and Hiccup's full names when they were doing something wrong. Toothless froze like he'd been pricked by a Quick-Sting's tail, but then he twisted round to stare at her in shock, like he couldn't believe she'd say that.
Selena warbled comfort to him and nuzzled him. *Don't worry, Toothless. Everything will be alright, you'll see.*
*Hiccup...* he whimpered.
*Is coming* Selena insisted, raising her jaw confidently, meeting his eyes in promise. *He always comes. Our friends, our pack-mates, they won't abandon us. Toothless, you know he's coming.*
Toothless panted, but he was listening. Yes. Hiccup always came. Hiccup never let him down. Toothless just had to hold on until his other half saved him. *Thanks, Selena* he crooned gratefully, nuzzling her back, but then he remembered… *Selena, before…I…*
*Don't worry* she nudged him, *You weren't thinking straight. You smelled this oil that makes you want to…* Selena blinked and looked over at the Sand-Wings. *Why do these humans have oil that makes us want to mate?*
*That's why we're all here* Sirocco explained, *It's what the humans want us for. They're breeders.*
The A-Team and the dragon diplomats were flying in formation towards Berk. They were making good time; the wind was at their backs and whisking them towards home. Or home base, at least, for some of them.
"Hey, Mulch?"
"Yes, Bucket?"
"We're s'posed t' be lookin' for a ship, yeah?"
"Yes, Bucket."
"With three blue lines on the sail?"
"Yes, Bucket."
"D'you think they might know where it is?"
Everyone looked where he was pointing – down at the ocean, at a ship. "That might be it!" Brenda exclaimed, but then she frowned, confused. "How the heck is it moving so fast?" The wind was with them, but the ship was clearly going in the opposite direction, and yet it was moving almost as fast as they were!
One by one they peeled off and raced to catch up with the mysterious, too fast ship. When they got closer, it became clear how this ship could move so quickly, even when fighting against the wind. "They're being towed!" Braun shouted, pointing at chains leading from the prow into the water, where dark shapes were pulling the ship along at an astonishing speed. "That's cheating, the jerks."
"And it's the ship we were looking for!" cried Ashildr, pointing at the sail, where a trio of blue lightning bolts could be seen.
"Is that Windshear?" Otto questioned, when a Razorwhip caught up with them. He recognised her, but… "Where's Heather? Hey, guys, I think she's trying to tell us something!"
Windshear jerked her snout at the ship they were chasing after, mimed grabbing something, and let out a high-pitched shriek, which was echoed by their own dragons. "I recognise that!" announced Margret, "That's the…the 'flock-mate in distress' signal. They must have caught some dragons from Berk – or maybe they have Heather!"
"By the time we get Hiccup they'll be gone" Gustav declared, "We need to free whatever it is pulling their ship and slow them down. Braun, Sven, Mulch and Bucket, we're gonna draw their fire and distract them. The rest of you, pair up and break through those chains!" he ordered. Rock-Tail and Spike-Tail fire, when combined, could break through even the strongest chains.
They flew into position, and with excited roars and battle cries, dove to the attack. What else had they trained all these years for, if not this?
Selena and Toothless stared at Oasis and Sirocco. *Breeders? They…they want us to breed?* Selena asked, bewildered, *Why?*
*So they can sell our eggs and young* replied Barbary. She said it so matter-of-factly, as if it was just the way of things, but it was wrong.
Selena whimpered. *But…but Toothless and I already have a kit* she protested. Guilt coiled in her gut like not-to-eat eels when she thought of Ebony. She knew her offspring was safe with Valka, but how could she have just left her?
Last year she'd gone to visit her old nest, and she'd missed Ebony so much whilst she was gone. She'd even gone back to Berk – back home – sooner than she thought she would. (Shadow and Asha would have come back with her, but they were busy taking care of their own kits, Storm and Nyx). How could she have just left her kit again?
Toothless smelled her distress and wanted to comfort her, but he couldn't because he was too distracted. It was hard enough to stay calm when he was trapped and being taken away from his other half. Then, the cold tugging pain in his chest eased a bit, and he sensed Hiccup reaching out to him. He closed his eyes and focused, reaching through their bond until…
*Toothless….Toothless…*
*Hiccup?!*
*Toothless! Oh, thank the Moon. It's working. Are you okay? Have they hurt you? Or Selena? What about Sleuther?*
*No – but they want us to breed – they want our young – Hiccup, I'm scared* Toothless whimpered, *I need you. You're coming, aren't you? Please hurry.*
*Oh, Toothless*, Hiccup felt sad and guilty, *I'm so sorry. I should have stayed on Berk but I didn't and now you're*-
*It's not your fault.*
*Just hang in there, bud. We're coming for you guys. No matter what it takes, I'll get you back. I promise.*
*I know, I trust you. I love you.*
*I love you too.*
He felt Hiccup's presence withdraw, and shivered in its absence, and opened his eyes. Everyone was staring at him, and Toothless tensed, baring his fangs defensively. *What? What is it?*
*It's alright* Selena crooned, *They're just a bit confused.*
Sirocco explained, *We don't know why your other half wasn't captured with you. These humans went to a lot of trouble to catch Swift-Wings. We don't know why they would only capture two if there are three of you.*
Now Toothless understood, and these new dragons were about to be even more confused. Just a little bit smugly, he explained, *It's simple. Hiccup isn't a Swift-Wing at all. He's a human.*
They were trying to be quiet because humans were listening, but the other dragons were so startled that they cried out in shock, which made the humans jump. It would have been funny if the dragons had been paying attention.
*That's impossible!*
*You said this Hiccup was his brother. How can a human be your brother?*
*Humans can't heart bind, they can't even understand us.*
*I bet you're just mad. A mad, bad dragon!*
Sirocco, Oasis, Cereus and Barbary didn't believe it at all. A dragon couldn't possibly have a human as their other half. Humans were dumb pests at most and dangerous predators at worst, but they weren't capable of such trust and love like that of a heart bound pair. Yet the Swift-Wings body said certain and defiant and even proud.
*If it were impossible, it wouldn't have happened* Toothless declared. *My Hiccup is the best human, it's okay that he's human because he has the soul of a dragon, the soul of a Swift-Wing. He is my brother in every way that matters. Hiccup could heart bind because he is special, and he can think-speak now, and he can make other humans hear us too! Humans can understand us, if they try and we're patient with them.*
Sirocco, Barbary and Cereus stared at him as if he were crazy. Oasis though, she looked curious. *On the beach... before, there was a...Rock-Tail but there… was a human on her back* she remembered, tail twitching with uncertainty.
Selena purred and explained *They're our friends. She is called Meatlug and her human is named Fishlegs. We live on an island that's full of dragon-human pairs, which help each other and care for each other, but only Toothless-Hiccup are heart bound. And they're the Alphas of our flock* she revealed.
More disbelieving hisses ensued. Then the dragon in the cage next to them piped up. *Well, this is unusual* she said, voice reedy, *A dragon with a human other half. My name is Aceso (4), and I'm a Healing-Breath* she explained –
*And I'm Muddie! I'm a Wave-Maker, hello! I wanted to say hello before but everyone was talking too much. Can we meet your human half?* an excitable male voice called eagerly.
Toothless shuddered all over, impatient and agitated. *Yes, and he'll love you. Hiccup loves all dragons, he'd let all dragons join our flock if he could. I just hope he gets here soon!*
No sooner had he barked this frustration, than there was shouting from above them and the humans who were supposed to be watching them (what could they do, in cages?) rushed away. They heard dragon roars and human shouting and the ship jerked, tossing them all about. *Ouch!* Selena groaned when Toothless landed on top of her. *What's happening? Is it them, is it Hiccup?*
Toothless quickly reached through their bond to his other half. *Hiccup?! Is that you? Please let it be you!*
*I'm coming. I'm coming, Toothless, we're going as fast as we can!*
*Wait – if you're not here yet, then who's attacking the ship?*
*Someone's attacking the ship? You mean dragons?*
*With riders, I think.*
*Who would be…? Oh, I don't believe it!* Toothless could tell that Hiccup was distracted by something. *Sorry bud I've gotta go see you soon!* Just like that, he was gone. Toothless wasn't worried though. He could feel it, Hiccup was getting closer, and soon they'd be together and free!
*What's happening?* Cereus growled, frightened, *What's happening?*
Toothless and Selena both gave gummy smiles as they crowed in unison, *We're being rescued!*
Attacking hunters wasn't as easy as diving and flaming at them. It took strategy, practice and most of all, teamwork. All of which they had.
Still, Gustav was really glad that Heather's Razorwhip was on their side.
To make up for her inability/unwillingness to attack before, Windshear dived into the fray in earnest. Just as she'd hoped, her hard metallic scales protected her from the freezing-poison darts. Streams of white hot fire spilled from her maw, turning net-throwers and arrow-shooters into burning, melted heaps. One sharp whip of her tail had half the sail crashing down.
The others were not idle, of course. Lake&Weed flew back and forth making a gassy smokescreen, set alight by Fanghook and Firestorm. They coiled through the air, flaming gleefully at the hunters and driving them away from the prow of the ship. Amethyst and Kingstail, Flare and Bolder, Magpie and Gurgle combined their fires to break the chains holding the Spark-Noses to the ship.
All with guidance from their riders. They would not have attacked this ship themselves, but with their humans watching their backs and planning their next moves, the dragons felt unstoppable. Windshear had told them that Alpha-Toothless was caught in this trap, so it was their turn to break it open.
By the time the others caught up, they had freed all the Seashockers and destroyed every weapon on the deck. Astrid deposited Hiccup onto Windshear with Heather, who promptly made him apologise for doubting her dragon, and flew down to the deck alone, where the crew had been cornered at the stern.
Ashildr filched the keys – she wasn't a Bog-Burglar for nothing – and went below deck to liberate the dragons. Suddenly the crew was surrounded by snarling deadly predators – even the usually docile Prickleboggle was hissing viciously. That whole adage about a captain goes down with their ship was all well and good, but Nicole decided discretion was the better part of valour, in this case.
"We surrender" she announced, lowering her blades and gesturing for the others to do the same. "I must say, I'm impressed. You dragon riders are certainly a persistent bunch" she smirked – ahem, smiled politely at the clearly irate blonde dismounting from a Nadder and striding towards her.
The woman unslung her axe and thrust the curve of it up around Nicole's neck. "Astrid Hofferson, Chief of Berk" she introduced herself.
Despite the sharp blade mere inches from her throat, Nicole smiled. "The pleasure's all mine, Chief. Nice to see a woman in charge round these parts; I thought you were all running households and churning out babies up here" she remarked faux-innocently. "Nicole Stormheart, Captain of the Tempest, at your service. So. I assume this is about the Night Furies?"
It took some time to get everything sorted out. Nicole and her crew were kept out of the way at the stern of the ship whilst they freed the dragons. Nicole tracked the Night Furies as they emerged from below deck, the male immediately taking off to hover just below that magnificent Razorwhip. She saw the black-clad rider step off the silver dragon's neck and drop down into the saddle with practiced ease.
The two Moldruffles flew off as soon as they saw open sky. The Mudraker plunged over the side into the water, but just as quickly resurfaced and climbed out, shaking himself all over the deck. The Sand Wraiths crouched and snarled defensively at anyone who tried to approach them, except for the Prickleboggle. The male Triple Stryke flew up to reunite with his own rider, only to fly back to the injured female, who roared at him in anger and pain.
"You missed one" Nicole called, and all eyes were immediately on her. Not that she minded. "My pet Speed Stinger. I call him Gonzales (5). He'll be asleep in his cage in my cabin right now; we let him out at night to roam the ship. Hence the gouges" she explained, nodding at lines scored into the wood of the ship. "He gets antsy, bless him."
Astrid sent several of the riders down to investigate. They re-emerged with a cage holding a Speed Stinger, which oddly enough was still asleep. "We had to sedate him" Gustav explained, "He wouldn't stop screeching."
Now that all the dragons were accounted for, Astrid had the crew searched and imprisoned in the cages below deck. Once that was taken care of, Selena and Toothless-Hiccup landed before the wary strangers, whilst the others kept their distance. As if not noticing their fear-slit pupils and bared fangs, Selena pranced happily and warbled *Everyone, this is Hiccup! We told them all about you.*
*I dread to think* he quipped, unclipping and removing his helmet. *No threat* he said calmly, seeing their eyes widen in shock. *I'm a friend. Hello.*
The dragons stared at him in disbelief – except for Muddie, who lumbered forwards grunting excitedly. *You really can think-speak!* he exclaimed, sniffing at them both, *and you sure smell like each other, I think you really are heart bound. That's amazing!*
Hiccup chuckled, but a whimper of pain from the female Sand-Wing sobered him. *We can bring you both back to our nest to be looked after, until you can fly again* he told Oasis and Scorpia. *I know you probably don't trust humans, but you don't have to be around them any more than necessary.*
*Why should we trust you?* demanded Scorpia, snarling defensively. *You are human! Humans captured us, they broke our wings, they cut off Oasis' beautiful spikes, they take our eggs away! And the human on that Three-Tail's back won't stop staring at me!* she complained, hissing in Dagur and Sleuther's direction.
Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes. *I'm sorry about him* he apologised, before calling over his shoulder, "Dagur! Quit staring, you know it makes them uncomfortable…yes, I know you're excited that Sleuther might get a girlfriend, but seriously, cut it out." Grumbling, Dagur did as he was told.
Now that he was closer, Hiccup could see how Oasis' spikes had been sawn away, and then rounded off to vaguely resemble narrower versions of a Swift-Wings' ear-flaps. His fists clenched; he sucked in a breath and expelled the tense anger with it. Dismounting, he explained, *The humans who did this to you are terrible people, but not all of us are like that. Please, let us help you.*
Then he lowered his gaze, and slowly reached out a hand…. Seconds passed – everyone watched with bated breath – before at last, warm dry scales were pressed against his palm, and he sighed in relief.
*Oasis!* protested Sirocco, seeing his other half so close to a human. Hiccup hadn't threatened them at all, but still….she pulled away and nuzzled him, but then raised her jaw challengingly and insisted, *We should go with them. We're so far from home,* she whimpered, *and we have nowhere else to go.*
Sirocco didn't like the idea, but he couldn't think of a better one, so he reluctantly agreed. Leaving Toothless and Selena to reassure them, Hiccup walked back to the others. "I can't thank you guys enough for stopping this ship. Why don't you come and meet the dragons you rescued?" he suggested to the diplomats, leading them over and introducing them all.
"Okay, so this is Oasis and her mate Sirocco, Muddie, Aceso, Scorpia, and the two that flew off were Cereus and Barbary, just in case they turn up later."
*How does he know our names?* asked Muddie, *Can he read minds?*
*Of course not, silly; we told him all your names* Selena explained.
Brenda stepped forwards bravely and crouched down to Oasis' eye level, taking a bit of dragon-nip from her pocket. "Hello, Oasis. I'm Brenda. D'you like dragon nip?" she asked, slowly holding the green tuft out. The dragon sniffed at it, curious, and her pupils widened. "Smells good, right? Well, to dragons, anyway. My dragon loves this stuff. She's a Spike-Tail, her name is Flare."
Hiccup watched, bursting with pride, as his apprentices began to coax Oasis, and even the much more reluctant Scorpia, into the slings. It took a while with the Three-Tail, and she snapped at them a few times, but they persevered until both dragons were secured in the slings that would carry them back to Berk. "You guys are doing brilliantly" he praised, "I knew I could count on you."
"They painted her with that Loki Tree ash, didn't they?" Braun figured out, gesturing to Oasis. "It was all part of a trap."
"Exactly."
"For you and Toothless?" guessed Margret.
"For Toothless and Selena, actually; and Sleuther, of course. They want mated pairs; apparently these guys breed dragons and sell their eggs" he explained.
Braun grimaced. "That's disgusting. The egg-selling thing, I mean. Who does that? I don't like these guys. They look weird, their skin's all brown, like dirt."
Hiccup frowned, and asked, "What colour is Firestorm's skin?"
"Uh, orange? But he's got scales, not skin."
"His scales are his skin. Look, these people might look different to us, but we made peace with dragons partly by seeing past how they are on the outside. You should judge others by what they do, Braun, not by what they look like" Hiccup explained, leaving the young man frowning thoughtfully.
Otto wondered, "What's this blue stuff on their wings?"
"I was wondering that myself" Hiccup admitted, looking to the newcomers for some explanation. Aceso stepped forwards and offered one. *That was me; my kind aren't called Healing-Breaths for nothing. I was trying to make it hurt less, but I don't think it's helped* she moaned sadly.
Oasis huffed and protested, *It has helped, Aceso. The pain is so much less now.* Before she'd been in awful pain, even in her sleep, but now she felt better.
Aceso sniffed the air and said, *I smell blood. Human blood.*
Hiccup looked up and asked, "Is one of you injured?"
"I am" said Ashildr, "I got nicked by a sword. It's not deep, though." She showed him the cut. Aceso stepped closer; at Hiccup's behest, Ashildr turned her injured arm to the dragon, who sniffed at it and then breathed a bluish mist over the wound. Ashildr gasped. "Oh! That's cold." The mist turned to foam and then ice, covering the cut with a light blue crust. Ashildr tapped it curiously. "Hey, it doesn't hurt. It's kinda…numbed it. Thanks!" she beamed at Aceso.
The lime green dragon trilled, but also drew back a little bit. "She says you're welcome" Hiccup translated, before adding to Aceso, "It's alright. We humans show our teeth more when we're happy, not when we're angry. We're weird like that." Aceso relaxed, understanding now.
At last they were ready to set off for Berk. When they got there, Hiccup directed Hookfang and Windshear to set the slings down in the training ring. "Right, so, welcome to Berk" he told the rescued dragons. "Oasis, we can wash off that paint for you, it'll be easier than trying to lick it off. You can nest here until you've healed, so can Scorpia, and we'll make sure you get food and water. There's a bridge so you can cross over to the larger island if you want to."
Astrid protested, "We can't just let unfamiliar wild dragons wander unsupervised around Berk, Hiccup."
"What are we supposed to do, Astrid, keep them here? They've been caged, and two of them are grounded. They deserve all the freedom they can get."
Before they could argue about it, Brenda stepped forwards and volunteered, "We can keep an eye on them, Chief, me and the other diplomats. We'll make sure they're well fed and there're no misunderstandings. You can count on us."
They'd already proven they could handle the wild dragons, so Astrid and Hiccup both approved of Brenda's suggestion. Even if their guests didn't remain on Berk, it would help to have someone around to ensure they wouldn't be spooked by rambunctious Vikings and end up with someone getting hurt.
(1) Sirocco – another word for sandstorm.
(2) Fun fact, reptiles (so presumably dragons) can't hiccup. Idk, it just amuses me to think humans find Hiccup's name odd, but the dragons don't cause they have no concept of 'hiccuping' or of it being the name for a runt.
(3) Cereus and Barbary – both types of cactus.
(4) Aceso (I think it's pronounced ah-ke-so) – Greek goddess of curing sickness and healing wounds.
(5) Kudos if you get this reference ;) Hint – think Looney Tunes.
