19 REVIEWS LAST CHAPTER!? OH MY GOSH, GUYS! THAT IS SO AMAZING! I DON'T...I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY! Thank you all SOOOOOO much! :D You have NO IDEA what it means to me! :D
I don't know how much longer this fic's gonna be...I imagine maybe four more chapters? It's hard to say at this point...anyways...
I hope you all enjoy this next installment! I'll see you all next chapter! :D
Stormfly shot over the ocean, sniffing the air in search of Dagur and his ships. So far, there was no sign of them, and Astrid was beginning to worry.
"They couldn't have gotten that far!" Astrid said in disbelief, shouting to get his voice over the rushing wind. "They went by ship, obviously, and the most they could have been sailing was a few hours!"
"Are you sure Stormfly knows where she's going, Astrid?" Snotlout shouted to her.
"I am positive!" Astrid yelled back. "Stormfly knows what she's doing! She's the best tracker I know!"
As if to prove what Astrid had said, Stormfly shrieked and roared. When Astrid returned her gaze to the area in front of them, she saw what Stormfly was roaring at. Ships. Many ships. Dagur's ships, by the looks of them and the soldiers walking across them.
"We found them!" Astrid shouted. "Alright, guys! Stay in the air, and no firing! We need to get Hiccup out first!"
They had found the ships. They had found their leader again. Now, it was just a matter of getting him away from Dagur and his band of barbarians.
If you hurt him, Dagur, Astrid thought to himself, I promise you, you are going to regret it when I'm done with you. You'll regret ever being born when I'm done with you.
…
Hiccup retched into the bucket the Berserkers had so graciously supplied him with (sarcasm so included) for the utmost time that day. Scar stayed in his lap, curled into a small ball, cooing and trilling at Hiccup every so often.
Hiccup coughed and panted. "I'm...I'm okay," he choked. "I'm...I'm fine…" He ducked his head again when his stomach twisted and clenched. He coughed up a thin stream of bile, hoping that all this torture would just end. His stomach constantly felt as though someone were punching it, and then as if a tight fist was clenching it. He felt retched. He wanted his friends to come save him, but at the same time, he wanted them safe. He didn't want them to get hurt.
He shoved the bucket away and crawled pathetically a few feet away from it and curled into himself again in a fetal position. Scar nudged his cheek and licked his forehead, and Hiccup smiled weakly at the dragon's attempts to help him.
The hatch leading below decks opened, and Dagur stepped down. "Rise and shine, Hiccup!" he said, sounding way too perky for the comforts of anyone. Hiccup opened his eyes and glared at his kidnapper. Dagur pouted. "Awww, don't be like that, brother!" he said. "Look alive! Your friends are here!"
Hiccup bolted into a sitting position, and Scar growled at Dagur. "No," Hiccup whispered, shaking his head feverishly.
"Yes," Dagur corrected, grinning madly. "Your friends are coming."
"Dagur," Hiccup said, "if...if you've hurt them in any way…"
"Oh no!" Dagur cried, although Hiccup didn't know if he was being honest or not. "Oh, I couldn't do that, brother! You're not up there to witness it! That's why I'm down here. I'm going to drag you up to the deck, and you can watch your friends die! What a glorious day for - YEEOWCH!"
He stopped when Hiccup kicked Dagur's knee with his prosthetic - hard. Dagur stumbled backwards, clutching his leg. "Don't make me take that thing away from you, Hiccup," Dagur growled.
"Take the prosthetic away from the amputee," Hiccup shook his head. "That's low, even for you, Dagur. And that's saying something. Kidnapping me when I have the flu isn't exactly very nice, either, by the way."
Dagur bared his teeth. "Fine," he said. "Get up." He didn't bother tying Hiccup, simply because there wasn't anything Hiccup could do. Hiccup struggled to his feet, and Scar spread his wings, flying and landing on Hiccup's shoulder. The extra weight didn't help Hiccup, but he made no comment.
Dagur put a muzzle over Scar's mouth, despite the dragon's growls of protest, and then stepped aside to let Hiccup pass. After another glare of death, Hiccup stumbled out of the cell and up to the main deck of the ship.
The sunlight was too bright, and he squinted against it, trying to keep from getting nauseated again. When his eyes finally adjusted, he saw his friends, who were just five colorful dots in the sky.
"Astrid!" Hiccup shouted to them, hoping his voice didn't crack. "Go! Get out of here! It's a trap!"
He stopped shouting when Dagur pressed a knife against his throat. Scar growled, but knew better than to attack. One wrong move, and Hiccup would be dead.
"Let him go!" Astrid's voice carried through the wind, and Hiccup wanted so desperately to tell them to flee. "Now, Dagur!"
"Send the Dragon Eye over first!" Dagur yelled back.
For a long moment, no one moved. Dagur pressed the knife further against Hiccup's skin, drawing a thin line of blood. "It's now or never!" Dagur shouted warningly. "This is your last chance, Berkians! Do you want Hiccup or not!?"
Astrid reached into Stormfly's saddlebag and tossed the object to Dagur. Dagur grabbed it with his free hand and grinned back up at the dragon riders. "Now that's more like it," Dagur said.
"Now let him go!" Astrid demanded.
Dagur frowned. "Unfortunately, Astrid," he said, "I think I might just kill you instead."
"No!" Hiccup shouted. He thrashed, just slightly, and Dagur threw him to the deck of the ship. He lifted his hand and brought it down, and the catapults started.
"No!" Hiccup screamed again. Scar got up and attacked Dagur, but it was too late to stop the catapults. The boulders shot through the air, towards the dragon riders.
Hiccup's mind raced. His head spun. His throat burned. "SCATTER!" he screeched in his last attempt to save his friends. To his utter relief, they actually listened, scrambling in opposite directions, just as they had practiced so many times. The boulders missed them entirely.
He heard Snotlout cheer. "WHOOO!" Snotlout shouted. "I knew learning that would be handy! Snotlout, Snotlout, oy, oy, oy!"
For once, Snotlout's annoying voice brought Hiccup hope.
"GET IT OFF OF ME, GET IT OFF OF ME!" Dagur yelled, his hands scrambling to grab Scar by his throat. The nimble Terror dodged every single one of Dagur's attempts, laughing as if mocking him the whole way.
"I got it, sir!" Savage shouted, grabbing an axe from the side.
"Scar, look out!" Hiccup cried.
The dragon already had it covered. He sprang to the side as Savage swung the axe, and Savage accidentally bashed the flat of it against Dagur's head. Dagur yowled in pain, and Savage dropped the axe.
"Sire!" he shouted. "I am so sorry!"
He was cut off when Dagur grabbed him and threw him into the ocean. While he was doing that, Hiccup took to removing Scar's muzzle. Almost as soon as he finished doing that, Dagur turned to him, shouted something inaudible, and raced at him.
Scar was grabbed by a Berserker and held back while Dagur ran towards Hiccup. Hiccup hardly had time to react otherwise before he found himself seized by the throat and lifted off the ground. Suddenly, he couldn't breathe.
"HICCUP!" Astrid shouted from above them. "SOMEONE GET DOWN THERE AND HELP HIM!"
There was no opening, with the catapults firing and sleeping darts whizzing through the air. Hiccup clawed at Dagur's hands around his throat, but he couldn't do anything.
Dagur's eyes hardened. "I will not lose to you again, brother," he snarled.
Without another word elsewise, Dagur dropped Hiccup into the ocean.