Hiccup had landed in a tree with Stromfly. After untangling the net from her legs and tail, he sat down and thought. She was squawking. *Hiccup! Why didn't we help them? They're captured again now!* she was angry with him.
"I know, I know, we should have helped them. But I have a better idea," He said. "We know that Dagurs going to Berk, right? Well we'll get there first. We have to warn dad," He patted Stormfly on her snout. "I'm sure Dagur won't harm anyone until we get to Berk, and if he threatens to, I'm sure Tuffnut and Snotlout will set him right." He mounted Stormfly. "Let's go,"
"Make sure you bring the dragon nets! We can't be unprepared. I'm sure the Hooligans have hundreds of dagons," Dagur shouted at the men. It was chaos, bulky vikings carrying nets, weapons, barrels of oil and dragon cages onto the three boats Dagur lied about.
"Sir, what about these five?" A guard said. He pointed to the group, who were still being held back by some guards.
"Put them down into the bottom of the boats, that way they won't be able to escape." He snarled.
"But that's where we're putting the dragons," He said.
"Oh I don't care! Its not like they'll be able to escape." Dagur exclaimed.
The man nodded and pushed the teenagers down beneath the decks of the boat. They had their hands tied up, so they really couldn't do anything this time. The guards left and locked he door. The commotion of voices and bangs was still going on, but it was quieter when it shut.
"What's going to happen?" Fishlegs said. "There's no way we're going to get out of this now." He noticed Meatlug in a cage and went over to her.
"I don't know." Astrid said. "Hiccup hasn't helped us. Its not like him, he should be here by now."
"He's obviously not fit to be a hero." Snotlout snapped. "I bet he's left to go find an island and never come back." He went over to Hookfang, who whimpered. Astrid frowned at Snotlout.
"I don't even care anymore." Ruffnut said, she slipped her hands through the bars of Barf and Belchs' cage to stroke them.
"Me neither." Tuffnut sighed and stroked them too.
"Hey, wheres Stormfly?" Astrid said, looking around. Toothless suddenly jolted up, after hearing her name. He whined at his movement, after his shoulder sent a jolt of pain into his nerves. She must have got to hiccup, toothless thought. She said she would come back to find us if she didn't manage to find Hiccup. He started warbling in his cage, trying to speak to Astrid.
*She's fine!* He said. *I'm positive that she and Hiccup will be coming to save us,* Toothless got Astrid's attention.
"What's up Toothless?" She asked the dragon. Before anyone else said anything, they heard two men speaking above them.
"Dagur wanted me to ask you whether you saw the dragon we were looking for?" A grumpy voice said.
"Yes, when the teenagers and their dragons started attacking, the nadder and a rider flew above the base. We think there was more of the group, but we don't have time to worry about it." He said.
The group all looked at each other, astonished. The notion that that was Hiccup and Stromfly was ridiculous. Even if it was, where in Valhalla were they?
Stormfly scampered past the boats behind some trees. They could be noticed now, they needed to get back as soon as possible.
"Alright, this way," Hiccup whispered and lead her down a pathway. They had a clear space to take off. Stormfly bent down ready to take off before she stopped and looked over to the boats. She squawked quietly.
"What is it?" Hiccup said, looking in the same direction as she was. The group was on the boat, being led down below the deck. He could see Toothless in a cage through the doorway. There was blood on the night fury's shoulder.
"Oh Toothless, what have they done to you..." Hiccup sighed. He watched Astrid staring angrily at the guards as they pushed her down. Stormfly whined. "Ok, ok. If we wanna get them set free we have to go now," Hiccup said. He steered Stormfly up into the sky and she flew as fast as she could.
"Is that everything?" Stoick asked.
"I think so." Gobber said as he mounted Grump. "Fish, axes and water. Anything else your majesty?"
Stoick grunted at Gobber as he got on Skullcrusher. "Let's go and find those teenagers." He pulled Skullcrusher so he lifted up above the group.
"Stoick, some people are wondering -not me- what we'd do if we went in the completely wrong direction when searching for them? What would we do then?" Gobber cautiously asked, leading Grump to follow Stoick. A vast amount of vikings followed on their own dragons.
"Skullcrusher will lead us in the right direction. He's better than any bloodhound." He answered.
Gobber grunted at him. "Right, let's go find those troublemakers.."
"Come on Stormfly, faster," Hiccup patted the dragon. He was already far away from the island, hopefully almost at Berk. She squawked and picked up the pace.
On the way out from Hothead island, Hiccup and Stormfly had to be extra sneaky. They both saw the ships starting to set sail, so they knew they'd have to be quick.
Stormfly squawked again and Hiccup looked up. There were dragons flying towards him in the distance. Was this going to be a problem? Or was it just a few migrating Timberjacks? He squinted at the dots who were approaching fast. They had riders, and they were coming from Berk.
"Hiccup?" He heard someone shout. It was Gobber! That means dad was with him...
"Hiccup!" His dad shouted. Hiccup moaned. Here we go. He stopped Stormfly in mid air and let his dad come to him. Skullcrusher roared as Stoick pulled him to a halt. Stoick looked hiccup in the eye.
"I know, I know," Hiccup began, holding his hands up defensively.
"Where in Thor's name have you been?!" He shouted.
"And why are you riding Stormfly?" Gobber asked.
"Dad-"
"I've been worried sick! How dare you-"
"Dad! Listen!" Hiccup snapped.
"What!" He grunted.
"There's no time to explain, but we have to get back to Berk now." Hiccup steered Stormfly past them.
"What?" Gobber said.
"One word: Dagur." Hiccup said as he flew past them. "Come on!" He shouted.
Tuffnut kicked the side of the boat. "Let us out! We have rights!" He shouted.
"Cut it out," Ruffnut said. The gang looked up as they heard the creaks of footsteps.
"I can almost smell all of those dragons," they all heard Dagur saying above them. Ruffnut and Astrid looked at each other with disgust in their faces.
"What a creep." Astrid said. Ruffnut giggled.
"As soon as we take over, kill those children down under deck. We won't need them anymore." He said.
They all looked as each other. Snotlout was suddenly burning with rage. He ripped a plank of wood off of the stairs to the deck of the boat and banged it underneath where Dagur was standing. There was a thump and a grunt as they heard him once again fall over. The kids sniggered as they could hear the commotion coming from up on deck.
"You better let us out to half wit son of a-" Snotlout started. Dagur had gotten up and started banging the deck with his foot.
"Be quiet! I'm trying to think of a plan," he snarled.
"What was that?!" Tuffnut shouted.
"I said I'm trying to-"
"I can't hear you! Speak up!" Ruffnut shouted even louder and snickered at her brother.
"I said- oh never mind! Just be quiet!" Dagur hissed and stomped on the floor.
Astrid slumped down onto the hard planks. "Why are we in this mess?"
"It could be worse," Ruffnut tried to comfort her.
"Yeah, we could be dead." Tuffnut said.
Fishlegs sighed. "We probably will be when he takes over Berk."
"I'm looking forward to that..." Snotlout yawned. "Right now I just want to sleep."
Toothless looked at all of the riders. Shattered, distraught and sluggish were the words that sprung to is mind. Dagur wouldn't ever take toothless. One, he'd never go down without a fight and two, he'd never be able to fly him, the saddle needs hiccups special prosthetic.
Toothless' eyes lit up. An idea sprung to mind. He gurgled in his cage. The other dragons looked at him, confused.
*When Dagur comes down, do what I do.* He grinned.
Yet another note from the author:
I started writing this story about a month ago when I got a small idea from a dream. Since then I'd been working on it, and I decided to upload it here and see what people think of it. It was clear to me that if nobody liked it, I wouldn't continue with it.
But to my surprise and joy, people are saying how much they love reading it! And I'm just loving writing it. When I eventually finish this story there will be plenty more HTTYD ones coming. Thanks for everyone's lovely comments!
I hope you enjoy this rather long chapter! Stay tuned for the update next Sunday!