Hiccup really needed to start fully thinking his plans through. Fortunately, his idea for the bark-sled cut their time traveling down the mountain into at least half of what it would have took. Unfortunately, they were going at top speed - and there were no breaks.
The sled went up in the air from a little inclined rock - the two Vikings lurched forwards and Astrid clutched Hiccup even tighter as the makeshift sled came back down; it was a bumpy landing. Hiccup almost completely fell off. The sled continued to speed down the hill. Luckily, they were heading down to the village in an area that was almost treeless. Almost. A big, towering Loki tree came closer and closer.
"I'm going to try to move it," Astrid told him. She stuck her foot out and it dragged, certainly, but they were going too fast. She brought her leg back, her foot aching. "Any other ideas?" In less than a minute they'd smash into the tree.
"Jump?" Hiccup suggested. He felt Astrid's head nod on his back. "On my mark. One... two... three!"
Astrid leaped from the bark sled successfully, years of training allowing her to do a combat roll. She landed on her feet neatly, and straightened up, looking around. Hiccup hadn't been as fortunate. Because of his inflexible left foot, he was forced to jump completely. He rolled over a harsh patch of rocks, and promptly face-planted. His mouth was full of dirt. He tried to spit it out as Astrid helped him up.
"I'm fine Astrid," Hiccup said, flushing as Astrid checked him for injuries. "Honest." Finally Astrid checked his face and head; miraculously, there were no injuries, and only a few bruises on his back.
"Fine," Astrid replied. She brushed the dirt off of her shoulder pads. "Now, I think we're on the outskirts of the village. What do you think we should do?"
Hiccup glanced up at the sky; it was already darkening. "Let's wait until nighttime, and then sneak in and look. Hopefully most of the Outcasts will be asleep or something, and we can try to find the others and our dragons. I hope Toothless is alright."
Astrid put a hand on his shoulder. "He'll be fine," she said gently. "We'll all be fine."
Hiccup gave her a small smile. "I know. Thanks Astrid." He noticed, as they walked to see what remained of their 'sled', that she was limping somewhat.
"Did you hurt your foot?" he asked.
"Yeah, but it's alright," she said, shrugging. Hiccup kept his green eyes on her boot, and Astrid knew he was going to trip at one point or another. Even with two good feet and both eyes ahead of him he was clumsy. "Fine, take a look at it." She sat down on a rock and tugged off her boot.
Hiccup inspected her slightly red foot. "Well," he said slowly. "It looks fine." He touched it for a moment and Astrid felt a slight twinge of pain. "It doesn't look to be sprained; it looks more like you just stubbed it when it hit the ground." Knowing Hiccup was done his examination, she gratefully put her boot back on.
"When did you become a foot expert?" she said playfully. Hiccup laughed half-halfheartedly, and it was a good sound to hear.
"When you lose one, you wanna make sure you don't lose the other," he said. He sat on another nearby rock. "I think we should look for water. Our flasks are going to be empty soon, and we'll be spending at least one more day on this island."
Astrid sighed at the news. She pushed herself up. "Alright, let's go look for a river Fishbone."
Hiccup grinned as he followed her. "Whatever you say Spiky."
Astrid glanced down at her skirt spikes. "Spiky? Really?"
Due to the fact that Toothless couldn't fly, it was nightfall by the time the two Night Furies reached the village. Jaci was distant the whole way down, which made the dragon feel bad, but he couldn't blame her; he had kept a major secret. What would she do when she found out about Hiccup? Even his rank as the Heir wouldn't be enough to keep her under control. He had to do this carefully.
Jaci, on the other hand, didn't know what to think. First, she thought Toothless was nice and unfortunate. Then, he was a liar and blackmailed her into helping him. He seemed sorry about it, but still, it would take a lot for her to forgive him. All dragons were skilled at holding grudges, and although Jaci wasn't about to fight him to the death about (well, maybe later, she thought, annoyed) it, she wasn't going to let it go anytime soon.
The black dragons carefully entered the seemingly-deserted village, and Toothless was grateful for his superb hearing. Speaking of which, there seemed to be an odd sound. Something that sounded that creaking and scraping; metal against something hard. Excitement surged through the dragon - it could be Hiccup! But he had to do this with caution; he didn't know how Jaci would react, and although he was stronger than her, she had the advantage of flight.
He couldn't suggest they split up, because what if she found Hiccup or one of the other teens? She would surely attack them, and he might not get there in time. If dragons were able to, he sighed. This was going to get ugly, but it was his best shot. He was sure Jaci could hear the creaking sound too, and he jerked his head in that direction. "Let's go that way."
Jaci nodded. "Alright." She paused. "Do you hear that creaking sound?"
Toothless hesitated; should he lie or tell the truth? "Yeah, that's odd," he said. "I doubt it's a threat to us; two Night Furies against a Viking, we'll be fine."
Jaci snorted nervously, smoke trailing out of her nostrils. "Yeah," she said slowly. "I guess you're right." They continued walking, the faint noise gradually becoming louder. Toothless could also hear a quiet voice.
"Toothless!" the voice hissed. Toothless perked up, joyful. It was Hiccup! "Toothless!"
"Toothless!" another, higher-pitched voice said; Astrid. "Stormfly! Toothless!"
Jaci looked at Toothless. "Humans! Why are they calling your nickname? Are they hunting you? We should turn back - they might have weapons." She listened longer, but Toothless kept moving forwards - he couldn't turn back now. He would never turn his back on Hiccup.
"I think we can handle them," Toothless said, which took Jaci by surprise. He had struck her as the reckless type sure, but not the very-stupid-reckless type. But he was the Heir, and if he died, she would be blamed, and the leader of their Pack was not very forgiving.
"Fine," she grumbled and they continued to go forwards.
In the low glow of the moon, she could make out two small figures. They must have been young, because they weren't as big or menacing looking as the grown men on the island did. Toothless bounded towards them and knocked one of the vikings flat. There was a clang of metal against stone, and Jaci sprinted forwards when she stopped, dumbfounded.
Toothless was licking a scrawny boy with hair like a yak, and the boy was laughing. Toothless wasn't hurting him at all.
"I missed you too bud," the boy said joyfully. Toothless got off him as Jaci just stared in shock, and she finally noticed the metal leg as the boy stood up; that jolted her out of her stupor.
She charged at the boy - the threat, a trick - but stopped short when Toothless whipped around and stood protectively in front of him and the girl with hair the colour of sunflowers. "It's not what you think Jaci," he told her. "Let me show you."
Jaci screeched angrily - his secret about being the heir was one thing, but befriending a human?! Suddenly it dawned on her; that's what the saddle was for - this scrawny twig of a human rode Toothless like he was a common mule! The Heir to sink so low! "By Thor, Arluin, what are you doing?! That's a weakling, that's a useless Viking! Are you his pet?! Have you sunk so low? And to such a small, weak, twig-"
"Shut up," Toothless growled. He stood protectively in front of the boy and the girl, who looked somewhat nervous - rightfully so, Jaci thought angrily. "Hiccup may be a Viking, but he's far kinder than any I've ever met. He's my friend - and he is not useless or weak!"
Toothless snorted angrily. "I lied to you about my tail. I lost it; Hiccup shot me down and it tore off. I was trapped, and he found me, and even though it would've made his miserable life so much better, you know what he did? He. Freed. Me. And in turn - thank Odin - I spared his life. And he gave me back my flight. So don't you dare hurt him, or Astrid."
Toothless crooned slightly and Hiccup patted his head. Toothless made the rumbling sound of a dragon's smile again. "Thank the Gods you're okay buddy," Hiccup said softly. Jaci was surprised by his tone - it was kind, loving, in fact. She still kept her distance though; she could smell the metal of a dagger, and the girl (Astrid, was it?) looked capable of fighting, unlike the boy (she refused to call him Hiccup) and Toothless was a powerful dragon. "Too bad about your tail though," Hiccup said, bending down and examining it. "It must have come off in the storm. We'll have to get fabric to fix that, but at least I have a good connecting rod to replace your damaged one."
Toothless' ear flaps stuck out suddenly, and he growled. Something was off, and he didn't like it. He jerked his head in the direction of the forest. "Alright bud," Hiccup said uneasily. Whatever Toothless was sensing it wasn't good, and that female Night Fury (he had an internal struggle of yelling in joy and fear) was snarling and pawing the ground. The differences between the two weren't much - the female was smaller and had blue eyes. The way he knew it was a female was because she had a higher-pitched sound.
He went to take a step forward, Astrid already leading the way, the dagger safely stowed away in her boot, when there was a sound of rope slicing through the air. Hiccup turned and saw a bola net spinning towards him, but it was quickly knocked out of the way by a plasma blast from Toothless. The dragon cursed inwardly; he couldn't catch a break could he.
"Run if you want, but if you help the Outcasts hurt Hiccup, I won't hesitate to attack you. Or kill you," Toothless told Jaci. The dragonness started to melt into the shadows, preparing to take flight, but it was a moment too late. A bola came flying at her.
"No!" somebody yelled. The boy with yak-hair intercepted the bola and was tangled up in it. He hit the ground hard and didn't stir, but Jaci could still hear his heartbeat.
"Hiccup!" Toothless and Astrid yelled. Astrid darted forwards, preparing to cut him free with his dagger, when an Outcast aimed his fist at her head; she ducked just in time. She was forced to move away as she dodged the beefy man's attacks, unable to aim a strong enough blow to really hurt him, and unwilling to pull out the dagger to kill.
Toothless was holding his own against at least twelve Outcasts, but more kept pouring in. Meanwhile, a few Outcasts had made their way to the boy in the net. Jaci felt almost compelled to help, since the boy had helped her, but he was still a filthy human who rode a dragon as if he was a common pack mule. Something kept her there, although she remained hidden in the darkness of the night.
"No!" Astrid said. She tried to get out of her fight with now two Outcasts as a small group carried Hiccup's unconscious body away. Toothless too tried to get away, but his chance was a plasma blast, but he would never dare; it could hit and injure, or possibly kill his boy.
Jaci felt torn, but she finally decided to at least try to help, because the boy had technically kept her from being captured. She leaped from her place in the shadows and knocked two Outcasts that Toothless was fighting down to the ground with a swish of her powerful tail. Toothless moved on to try to help Hiccup, but more and more Outcasts were coming to help. They were slowly taking the boy into a huge rock compound. The doors opened as the dragged the boy through it, his face scraping against the stone. Toothless roared angrily as the doors closed.
He charged at them and head-butted them as hard as he could. He scratched and shot plasma blast after blast and pounded, but the doors remained shut. "HICCUP! LET ME IN YOU SONS OF A EGG-EATING RAT! HICCUP! LET ME IN!" His voice sounded so broken and hollow and angry, it made Jaci wince.
The remaining Outcasts outside began to retreat now that they had what they wanted. "We'll capture his Night Fury later!" one of the Outcasts shouted to the others; one Toothless recognized: Savage. "Retreat!"
"We should head to the forest," Jaci said softly to Toothless when he rejoined she and Astrid. "Regroup and plan."
"Yeah..." Toothless said vaguely. He nudged Astrid in the back and she got his message and climbed into the saddle. Together, the two Night Furies - one determined and desperate; one confused and conflicted - and the Viking girl walked to the forest.
I'll get Hiccup back, Toothless vowed, even if it's the last thing I do.
A/N: It's been a while. Sorry 'bout that. Next chapter, there's going to be some cool things of dragon-human-bonding stuff. We'll also get to see how Hiccup's holding out, maybe get some stuff on Toothless' past, get a glimpse of Berk, and maybe see the other teens. Stay tuned and please review.