A War Within 2
Episode 1 Act 2
Hiccup's head was pulled back to the point that the back rested on Dagur's shoulder. "You never know when to stop, do you?" Dagur purred, gazing down at him upside down. "And here I was trying to be nice. Now I'm going to have to punish you and them." He shoved to Savage. "How many lashing did Alvin give me that first night in prison? Ten or twenty?"
"Ten, sir," the former Outcast answered as he took Hiccup and eyed the youth. He had grown considerably since the last time he saw him.
Dagur stuck out his bottom lip and scratched his patchy beard thoughtfully. "It seemed a lot more to me. What do you think, brother? Ten or twenty."
Hiccup tried to yank free of Savage but another Berserker grabbed his other arm and held him back. "It doesn't matter what you do to me. You'll never get Toothless or take Berk."
Dagur rolled his eyes. "Bor…ring." He stepped up to Hiccup and took his chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting his head just slightly so that their eyes met, bright green to dark emerald. "I don't care about your stupid dragon and I have no interest in a tiny island like Berk. All I want, all I've thought about these last three years is you." His thumb ran over the gash to Hiccup's throat, not deep enough to kill but enough to sting and make Hiccup hiss in pain. Dagur watched as a tickling of blood smeared down his pale freckled Adam's apple and neck. "Every single day I wanted you to suffer as I did and scream…scream in agony and beg for forgiveness and maybe, just maybe I'll finally forgive you." He placed a chastised kiss on Hiccup's cheek before patting it. "You might be small but you've always been tough. Twenty lashes. Let's see if your singing voice has improved any."
He stepped back and gave a wave before heading off to give orders to the rest of the crew. "I want these ships heading north-west," he ordered. "We're retuning to the ice lands. We're going to find my Skrill!" There was a cheer from all his men and course was plotted to take them away from all civilized lands and to the harsh cold of the north and would bring them close enough to whatever little island the riders had decided to hold up on to hear the punishment their leader would suffer on their behalf.
Everything that was on Hiccup's person was handed over to Dagur, an assortment of small hunting knives, a compass, charcoal and small notebook and best of all the Dragon Eye. Dagur only knew the basics of how it worked, that it needed a dragon flame to be able to see a hidden map but now that the Nightfury had escaped any chance of having a dragon lead the way seemed next to impossible. There had to be another way to use it.
"Hey," he said as Hiccup was tied to the main mast, his hands high above his head so that he was stretched to the fullest and up on his tip toes. His front was pressed against the wood and rolls of thick rope, freckled back bare. "Tell me how this works and I'll make it ten lashes."
Hiccup closed his eyes and pressed his head against the wood in response.
"Five?" Dagur tried and made his voice as sweet as possible.
"Got a dragon?" Hiccup answered after a moment or two.
"No."
"Then you're shit out of luck now aren't you?" Hiccup gave a hollow laugh and wound his fingers through the rope binding him to the mast and preparing for the worse.
"Maybe you'll be more forthcoming after Savage displays the kindness Alvin showed me." He gave Savage a nod and stepped away from Hiccup.
The crack of a whip resounded over the sea for miles around. Hiccup cringed at the sound. He had yet to be struck. The sound was a warning of things to come. The first strike went from his left shoulder all the way to his right hip and despite how much Hiccup tried he couldn't stop the cry of pain and shock that escaped him. He had been hurt before, punished by his father and tortured by Alvin when he was captured by the Outcasts and they tried to force him to train their dragons but never like this. This stung worse than when he burnt his fingers in the forge and the only thing he could possible compare it to was when he lost his leg to the Red Death.
"You sure you want to go through with this?" Dagur called from somewhere behind him as if this had all been Hiccup's idea and they were playing some kind of game.
Hiccup panted softly and worked his way through the pain. "You can't use the Eye without a dragon and even if you had one I would never show you how to use it or help you get your hands on a Skrill."
"We'll see. Don't let the lashes crisscross too much. I don't want the pain becoming jumbled."
Another crack of the whip, another lash across Hiccup's back and by the fifth one Hiccup could no longer hold back his screams. They rang a split second after each crack, increasing in volume and heard far and wide. Dragons avoided the ships and fled nearby islands and Peaceable boats fishing in the nearby waters choose to move as far from the passing armada as possible. It was heard for miles, all the way to the small island the Dragon Riders had taken refuge and was answered by an equally mournful sound.
Toothless cried out hoping Hiccup could hear him, hoping to offer some sort of support and encouragement to his best friend and rider. The other dragons echoed his calls as their riders tended to Toothless's injuries.
"What is that?" Tuffnut asked, looking out over the water in hopes of seeing something, an injured sea dragon or something tangible and not what he and everyone else feared it was.
His sister sat at the campfire, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs as she stared out over the sea as well. "What do you think?" she grumbled.
Astrid refused to follow their gaze and tried to focus on keeping Toothless calm as she and Fishlegs cut at the net. "We should go back and blast them out of the water," she snarled, her rage growing at being forced to flee as they did.
"That's what they'll be expecting," Fishlegs reasoned, his face flushed with sweat and hands shaking as he sawed away at the ropes but dragon proof netting was not easy to remove from a tangled and injured dragon, especially one as frightened and worried as Toothless.
Snotlout nodded as he stood on the hill trying to see just where the Berserker armada was like Tuffnut yet unable to see anything through the mists. It made Hiccup's screams of agony all the more eerie. Nevertheless he kept count of every cry, every crack of a whip. It was silly really. It didn't matter the number the damage would be extensive even if it was only one. Dagur was sadistic. He enjoyed others' pain and would make Hiccup suffer just for the joy of it. Just like when they were kids.
The screams seem to last forever when in reality it must have only been five to ten minutes but in the end Snotlout counted twenty terrifying cracks and twenty heart wrenching screams. Twenty. Hiccup had been whipped twenty times. It was a warning for the rest of the riders to keep their distance or Hiccup would suffer far worse, a technique Snotlout father had taught him about when he first entered the pirating program many years ago when Hiccup was still small and defenseless. Then he wouldn't have thought twice, despite their rivalry and his urge to be heir, Snotlout would have gone after the kid but now…now Hiccup could take care of himself – for the most part – and in that one look they shared, the way Hiccup said his name, Snotlout knew his cousin didn't want them going after him. Not yet at least. Not with Toothless in such bad shape and not without backup. They had to get to Berk.
Apparently not everyone agreed. Astrid had left Toothless to Fishlegs and was about to mount Stormfly, murderous intent in her bright blue eyes. "Get Toothless to Berk, I'm getting Hiccup," she announced as she went to pull herself onto her saddle.
Snotlout didn't think twice, didn't care about his own safety. He ran at her, grabbing the axe in one hand and wrapping an arm around her waist to yank her down. "You going anywhere near them and Hiccup's dead," he said in such a stern voice the other's looked up. He threw the axe to Tuffnut and wrestled Astrid to the ground, grunting with every punch and kick but willing to take it to keep her from doing something that would get not only her killed but Hiccup, too. There was bloodlust in Astrid's eyes which made her extremely dangerous but bloodlust also made a warrior more open to mistakes, something that she was unaccustomed to and that gave Snotlout the opening he needed to pin her down. "Stop it!" he yelled in her face. "I know you want to go to him, I know. But stop and think. He's alive. Yes, he's hurt but he's alive. You go in there all blazing fire and Dagur might just kill him or one of his idiot followers." He took a deep breath and waited for her to calm down a little before continuing more softly. "And what if you're captured? Don't think for a moment Dagur won't use you against him or him against you to get what he wants. Hiccup is strong and unbelievably smart. He'll find a way to stall Dagur until we have the Berk army behind us. He'll survive. I promise."
For a moment it looked as if Astrid might still fight him, maybe even kill him but then she finally stilled and it was as if all the air in her whooshed out and she deflated. Tears of anger and anguish dotted her eyes and she thumped her head back against the rock. She no longer looked like a shield maiden but a scared young girl and for the first time since they were very little Snotlout drew her in his arms and hugged her tight.
"We're going to get him back," Snotlout promised. "We're going to get him back and you're going to introduce Dagur to the edge of your axe if Toothless don't get him first."
A mix between a laugh and a sob escaped her as she hugged him back. Of course first they had to get Toothless untangled from the net, tend to his wings and somehow get him back to Berk otherwise someone would have to go get help, someone stay on the island with Toothless and the others follow the Berserkers from a safe distance. Rescuing Hiccup was not going to be an easy task.