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Chapter 4: I see… Maidens?

5 ½ years ago…

It was nighttime with a slight wind that brought a chill to the air over the vast ocean as the moon gazed down upon it shining its brilliant light upon the still water showing no sign of movement or disturbance. The night itself was calm with only a few clouds here and there with the exception of six figures that flew quickly across the starry night sky.

One of the figures was a younger Hiccup, wearing only a pair of green shorts on his body as he flew along his master, Scorchclaw and their gang which included a Scauldron, Skrill, Nadder, and Rumblehorn., all of which Hiccup knew by name and knew what they were capable of from his years of training with them.

The group he was with was on a mission for their queen and the young Hiccup had little to no clue what this mission was, except that he had to be ready to fight and listen to everything that Sorchclaw said or else there would be punishment and when Sorchclaw punished him he held nothing back from the young hybrid causing the Hiccup to fear him exceedingly and follow his orders to the T.

Hiccup thought about their mission though the whole time as he flew and was preparing himself for anything that could happen. He had been on a few dangerous missions before for their queen, which always involved recruiting more dragons or finding a dragon that had left the nest and had to be brought back, why, Hiccup didn't know. He couldn't blame dragons for wanting to leave the nest and sometimes envied them, but he knew that if he did then his family would pay the price and that was something that he couldn't risk.

His thoughts though soon came to an end when suddenly lights from off in the distance began to appear giving off a faint glow, but slowly they became bigger and bigger until all six of them were flying high in the sky above an interesting island, the which Hiccup had never seen before. It wasn't the overall landscape of the island that caught Hiccup's attention, but the fact that the island had the scent of Razorwhips, females only, except the occasional sniff of a male hatchling, and the scent of humans, but again only females which really made Hiccup wonder where they were at as they flew over a village undetected.

Scanning the town below Hiccup's eyes went wide as he saw metal clad woman flying in the air due to the fact that baby Razorwhips were attaching themselves to their backs. Hiccup's brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of what they were doing and couldn't come up with a logical answer.

"We've arrived," Scorchclaw said in a deep and low voice.

"Wing Maiden Island!" The Skrill known as Stealth Shocker cackled, "This is going to be a lot of fun guys, I say we make a game of how many humans we can kill!"

"What?" Hiccup asked a little bit stunned earning a smirk from the Skrill. "Why would we kill the humans? What have they done wrong?"

The Scauldron known as Tidalwave made a face of disgust before he flew right by Hiccup to talk some sense into the child. "They were born," Tidalwave said causing both Stealth Shocker and a Rumblehorn by the name Ramhorn, to laugh. "They also have enslaved the baby Razorwhips to do their bidding by making them carrying them from place to place."

Hiccup gave Tidalwave a confused look before he looked down at the villagers again and shook his head. "Then why don't their mothers come and free them?" Hiccup asked while earning an eye roll from Tidalwave. "I can smell older female Razorwhips not to far from here, so why don't they just come save their babies?"

"Ever heard of a human shield?" The Nadder Quickspike said flying up to the child. Hiccup shook his head causing Quickspike to sigh before giving an answer. "Human shield means they use hostages as of way to protect themselves from their enemies. In this case, these humans are using the baby Razorwhips to work for them while at the same time using them as shields from their mothers. If their mothers attack then the baby Razorwhips die."

Hiccup gave him a weird look and shook his head as he tried to make sense of what the Nadder was saying, but it still didn't make any sense. The babies didn't seem to be in any sort of trouble, even though they are carrying the humans around, but the humans seemed to be caring for the babies. An example would be as he watched one of the Maidens feed the baby some fish.

Before he could reply though Scorchclaw gave off a roar telling them that he was about to give out assignments causing them to all stay quiet as the massive dragon began to hover in place making them all hover in place as he turned towards them. "Tidalwave, go to the far side of the town and cause a distraction. Stealth Shocker, Quickspike, find the place where the hatchlings sleep and rescue them." He said looking at every one of them. "Ramhorn, once Tidalwave makes the distraction run right through town causing as much destruction as you possibly can causing them to panic, while me and Hiccup will look for their leader and end them."

All the dragons nodded and went to do their task while Hiccup flew alongside Scorchclaw as he looked for a spot and landed at the other side of town behind some houses and waited for his plan to go into effect. No, sooner though there were two women walking close to their hiding spot talking to each other. From how the conversation was going Hiccup figured out that it was mother and daughter and decided to listen more intently of what they were saying along with Scorchclaw.

"Mother," A young Maiden with green eyes and strawberry blond hair that was done in a pony tail said to the woman by her that look liked her, but a lot older. "You can rest assure that I will carry on our sacred task and ensure that the baby Razorwhips are safe."

The older Maiden nodded towards her daughter and placed her hands upon her daughter's shoulders causing her to turn towards her mother gave her a smile. "I know you will Atali," she replied, "When you become the leader of the tribe by tomorrow I know that you will lead with honor."

The duo continued to talk as they made their way into the village while Scorchclaw growled causing Hiccup to look up at him and shrink back when he saw the older dragon having a glare on his face as if someone had just done something terribly wrong to him. "Where is that blasted Scauldron?" He said in a gravelly voice, "It doesn't take this long to make a distraction."

They waited for a moment and for another moment causing Scorchclaw to get more irritated causing his skin to glow faintly as steam slowly began to rise from his body, making Hiccup slowly inch away before the Nightmare lost it. However it never came when there was a roar and some shouting.

"Finally," Scorchclaw said as he waited for Ramhorn to do his part.

"What is it?!" A Maiden said flying close to them.

"Some Scauldron was found in the flower beds eating all of it up!" Another responded that soon joined her.

Scorchclaw frowned as his face was distorted into one of complete anger as he tried to control his rage that appeared to fail. "That blasted…" he breathed as fired began to form on certain parts of his body, "Fat lazy piece of…" Before Scorchclaw made up some sort of name for the Scauldron, Ramhorn soon came charging through the village causing an uproar of panic while Scorchclaw was still fuming as he made his way into the village crushing barrels and crates that stood in his way. His massive body banged against the houses that surrounded him causing some of the Wing Maidens to look away from Ramhorn to see what was making all that sound and screamed in fear upon seeing him.

"The Child of Fire and Death!" One yelled as she flew away.

"Run!" Another shouted.

"Where is Brynhildr?!" Yelled another.

Scorchclaw gave out a roar while firing a blast of flames at the huts that were around him and the cowering Maidens making them flee and get out of range of his intense fire. The Titanwing grinned wickedly as he saw his prey running for their lives from him and gave off a loud laugh. "That's it," he yelled in the human tongue, "Run for your lives you filth! For no man or woman can defeat me!" He roared to the sky setting himself ablaze as he did so.

Hiccup soon joined Scorchclaw by his side as he stared at all the destruction that was happening before him. He saw Tidalwave blast scolding hot water at some houses while completely obliterating them in the process while Ramhorn charged through town as he flung Maidens about that dared to challenge him and continued his onslaught as he ran through houses and other buildings.

For Hiccup everything seemed to move slowly around him as he watched maidens fly in a panic as ash and embers fell from the sky while Scorchclaw continued to set the entire town on fire and seemed to be enjoying every bit of it. Hearing a crash from behind him, Hiccup turned to see three maidens scramble as Tidalwave slammed his right foot into the wooden bridges that connected the whole town as he smashed his way through the place leaving nothing standing in his way as did Ramhorn, who had just broke through another wall to a house and came running right past Hiccup as he began to shoot balls of fire from his mouth at anything that was around him.

All around Hiccup was chaos as maidens flew and ran not even paying him any attention as they tried to escape or help their wounded. Hiccup noticed that the baby Razorwhips were crying and due to the fact that they were blind they had no clue what was happening around them.

He was about to go help them, but upon hearing a screech from above Hiccup turned to see Stealth Shocker swoop down and snag a few baby Razorwhips in his claws while Quickspike flew down holding a filled net of baby Razorwhips in his talons as Stealth Shocker came flying by him and dropped the babies in the net after Quickspike had opened it. The babies as Hiccup could see were crying frantically for their mothers or the maidens, none of which were there to save them.

Everything that Hiccup had witnessed and saw made him want to cry as he saw more Wing Maidens get flown back because of a fire ball that had exploded right by them. The woman tried desperately to save the baby Razorwhips that were in the net, but could only manage to save the ones that were on their backs as they retreated within the forests to get away from the dragons.

"No…" Hiccup said as a tear formed in his left eye, "This isn't right, we can't…"

Before he could finish there were multiple roars coming from the forest causing everybody to look and see the mother Razorwhips burst out of the forest with the two Winged Maidens from earlier flying with them.

"My babies!" One of the Mother Razorwhips yelled as she made her way over to the net that was being held by Quickspike.

She was however, slammed into by Stealth Shocker who then let out a burst of lighting at the other mothers. "Ah ah ah ladies," Stealth Shocker said earning a few a growls from the Razorwhips. "I'm afraid you'll just have to have more babies, because these ones are ours!"

The Skrill along with Ramhorn and Tidalwave engaged the mother Razorwhips while the older Winged Maiden approached Scorchclaw as she handed her baby Razorwhip over to her daughter and drew out her sword causing Scorchclaw to look at her and give her a wicked grin.

"Ah Brynhildr," Scorchclaw smirked, "Been awhile."

"Scorchclaw," The Winged Maiden growled as her daughter gave her a confused look from behind her.

"You know this dragon?" She asked.

"We have a bit of a story," Brynhildr replied.

Scorchclaw growled as he slowly approached her as he narrowed his eyes at the small woman. "No one ever escapes me, no one!" He roared as he ran towards her.

"Atali run!" Her mother yelled, but before Atali could do anything fire encircled her making her stop while her two Razorwhips began to panic and flew off only to be carried off by their mothers.

"Hybrid!" Scorchclaw roared catching Hiccup's attention. "Take care of the daughter, the mother is mine!"

"Atali!" Brynhildr yelled.

"Mom!" Atali shouted back.

The young maiden watched in horror through the flames as she saw the form Scorchclaw descend upon her mother and watched as her mother's form disappeared. She tried to run out to help her, but the flames were too hot which prevented her from doing so and then a roar was heard from her right causing her to turn and see the tail of a Scauldron that had missed one of the mothers and was heading towards her. She let out a yell before being it by it as she was flung away and crashed into the side of one of the houses that were on fire, while falling flat to the ground on her stomach.

Letting out a groan she watched as the mother Razorwhips began to retreat with the four of the five intruding dragons following them while the Nadder flew to the sky carrying the net that was full with the babies.

"No," She groaned out as she tried to get up, but felt that something was broken in her body. She then saw something coming towards her from the corner of her left eye that looked human in nature. The only problem is that it looked like a man, which confused her as to why there was a man on their island and what confused her even more is that said man had dragon parts on his body.

Atali looked up to see that instead it wasn't a man at all, but a ten year old boy who was shirtless and wore only a pair of shorts. "What in the name of Odin," She said in disbelief which in turn caused her to hiss in pain as she felt some of her ribs crack.

"Don't worry," The boy said in a nasally voice, "I'm here to help." He reached down to pick her up only for her to smack his hands away and give off a growl.

"If you're here to help then where you?" she asked shooting him a glare already knowing who he was. "You're that hybrid that the dragon was talking about. Because of you my mother died!"

She tried to lung at him only causing her more pain, but nonetheless she did it anyways while tackling the young man to the ground she tried to fight him only for her to end up beneath him with his hands holding her arms down as he sat on her to keep her down.

Hearing a roar from the distance Hiccup then hurried and picked her up with her back to him as she tried to wiggle free from his grasp. He was considerably smaller then her in height and stature, but he had an iron grip and before she knew what was happening they were off in the sky heading away from the island and her village.

"Let go of me!" She demanded as she struggled against his grip. "I have to get back to my people!"

Hiccup ignored her and tried to find a perfect place to land and keep her safe, sadly there was none which made him nervous and wondered if what he was doing was right. But then a ship came into view, making him relax as he flew down to it and land upon it causing the man who was steering the ship to give out a shriek as he cowered in fear as Hiccup walked up to him with Atali still struggling in his arms.

"Please don't hurt me," The man pleaded, "I am just, but a humble trader."

"Trader Johann, help," Atali pleaded.

Hiccup soon dropped her in front of Trader Johann and watched as she collapsed to her knees and hands in pain as she tried to regain her breathing. Before Johann could reply, Hiccup spoke. "Keep her safe," he said in a very firm tone, "Don't take her back to her island till morning." And with that Hiccup toke to the skies leaving a very confused Johann and a hurting, but angry Atali.

"May I ask what this is all about?" Johann questioned looking down at the injured girl who just shot him a glare.

"My village was just attacked by that monster and his friends!" She screamed.

Back in the village Scorchclaw and the others, minus Quickspike, awaited Hiccup's return as the houses continued to burn around then as the first rays of sunlight began to creep upon the landscape casting shadows upon them. They soon heard Hiccups cry from above as he flew towards them and landed in front of a very unpleased Scorchclaw.

"Where were you?" He demanded.

Hiccup didn't respond as he looked down at his feet in shame only to find himself pinned to the ground with Scorchclaw's left foot on top of him. "I'll ask you again, where were you?!" He roared completely unaware of the Winged Maidens that were watching them from the forest, with a look of wonder and confusion upon seeing the young hybrid.

"I was taking care of Atali, the Winged Maiden you told me to go after," He breathed out trying to form words as Scorchclaws foot pressed harder on him. He didn't try to resist, knowing that if he did it would only get worst.

"Taking care of has a few meanings, maggot!" Scorchclaw threatened, "And I believe that the taking care of that you were speaking of was literally saving that girls arse!" he roared as he blew fire close to Hiccup's head causing the him to whimper in fear.

"For your disobedience your punishment will make you learn of what will happen the next time you disobey!" He roared as he pounded his foot into Hiccups chest causing the boy to yell out in pain before he was flung into a building and crumpled to the ground once he hit it.

"No, Scorchclaw please," Hiccup pleaded only to be smack by the Nightmares tail to the side.

"You will learn, child. "Scorchclaw said as he approached Hiccup, who was trying to sit up as he looked up at Scorchclaw with fear evident on his face. "Fear, will be your guide and pain, will be your teacher." He said everything slowly with a gravelly voice as he stalked towards him.

The maidens looked away when the Monstrous Nightmare fired a blast of fire at the boy, causing him to scream in pain that could be heard from all around the island and from miles around even to the Trader's ship that was approaching the island that cause them stop once they heard the scream coming from the village.

"What was that?" Johann asked.

"I'm not sure," Atali responded, "But don't go to the island till we know that the dragons have left."

Johann nodded his head and watched carefully to make sure that they wouldn't be spotted. He defiantly didn't want to have another run in with the hybrid and from what Atali had told him, the boy was part of the reason why her town was destroyed.

Atali on the other hand was hoping that the hybrid was still there and would still be there when she got back to her town. She had questions that needed answering and she wanted to know who the hybrid really was since he clearly showed her that he was not like the dragons that attacked her home, but for some reason was with them.

"That poor boy," One of the maidens replied from within the tree line.

"What should we do?" Another asked.

Questions were being bounced around on what they should all do as they watched the Nightmare stop his torrent of fire and smirked as he saw Hiccup's shivering body as the boy cried from the burns that he had received. Thankfully he was able to endure it, because of his dragon self, but even that was not enough to hold off the pain that came from the fire though. His shorts however, weren't as lucky as there were a lot of burnt holes in them and were still smoldering here and there, but were still able to cover his more vulnerable parts.

Scorchclaw roared as he toke to the sky and flew off the island along with the dragons. Hiccup stood up and after he wiped away a few stray tears he too flew up into the sky and followed his group away from the island tailing behind them as tears still fell from his face. Hiccup wept and wept trying to fight off the pain that ached around his whole body, but still he couldn't stop it. His mother would wonder what happened to him and he knew that he would have to lie to keep her and his family safe or else Scorchclaw would do to them what he did to him.

He wondered if he had made the right move in saving that human girl, but soon thought to himself that he did the right thing. However, he couldn't get the guilt off of his chest knowing full well that he was a part of the entire attack upon Wing Maiden Island and couldn't get Atali's words out of his head or his own.

"I'm here to help," was all that went through his mind and after a little bit of flying he knew that he was wrong. He wasn't there to help, if he was he should've fought against Scorchclaw and the other dragons and saved the baby Razorwhips, but instead he just sat there and watched until he was told by Scorchclaw to take care of Atali.

"I didn't help," Hiccup thought to himself, "I sat there and watched. I failed to protect them and in return all I get is hate and a punishment…. Maybe next time I'll have to do what Scorchclaw says to avoid the pain of his wrath and the anger of others that I try to help."

Alright, another chapter done.

A bit a story to this chapter is that it was originally was going to be part of the next chapter, but I decided against it. The reason is that I don't like to make chapters that are super long and since I'm still working on the next one, I thought I would take a part of it out that was the flashback and make it its own chapter, thus this was born.

Hope y'all like it!