Chapter Eleven

A/N: Poor Hiccup! ...and everyone else too XD The situation pretty much sucks all around! LOL Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to REVIEW!

The Pit, as it's called by the Outcasts, is a long metal tube that goes straight into the ground. The floor is rounded like a shallow bowl. At the very bottom of the Pit, the walls are made of a thick, metal grating. On either side, an angry Whispering Death is struggling against its own confinement, somehow also trapped in matching metal tubes. That is where Alvin sends Hiccup. Obviously, the Outcasts learned that a normal jail cell won't keep him trapped for long. The Pit is their substitution.

Wow, they are REALLY determined to keep me here, aren't they? Hiccup frowns as he's shoved toward the Pit.

Savage strolls over to him and begins wrapping a rope around his waist.

Alvin laughs, darkly and plants his hands on his hips. "Impressive, ain't it?"

"It's really something..." Hiccup agrees, trying to keep his nervousness at bay. Stay calm, I'll figure something out...just don't panic.

Savage gives the rope one, hard tug before turning to a crank beside the Pit. The rope around Hiccup's waist is connected to it. Savage flashes Hiccup a black-toothed smile before taking the crank into his fist. "Have fun down there, boy." He lifts his leg and kicks Hiccup square in the back, knocking him over the edge of the twenty foot drop.

"Thornado, down." Stoick commands, pointing at the beach of Dragon Island. The massive Thunderdrum obeys, gliding to a stop just above the sand. Stoick steps off his dragon and pats Thornado's head, approvingly. "Good boy."

Soon, Snotlout and twins land as well. The teens hop down and hurry over to where their chief is standing. "Hmm, it doesn't look like they're here." Tuffnut comments, glancing around.

"Yeah, maybe we just missed them." Snotlout says. He casually leans over, propping his weight against Hookfang's snout. "We should probably head back."

"No." Stoick folds his arms and paces across the beach. "Something's not right...we need to find them."

"How can you tell?" Ruff wonders. "It looks pretty normal here to me."

"Exactly." Stoick kneels down in the sand. "There's no footprints. No marks to show that dragons landed here."

"Um, sir." Tuff smirks. "This is sand. Any wind at all would have blown footprints away."

"I can't believe I'm saying this...but Tuffnut has a point. They probably left already." Snotlout tells him.

While the group continues discussing this, Ruffnut notices something a bit off shore. Curiously, she hurries away to find out what it is. "Um, guys!"

"What is it, Ruffnut?" Stoick asks.

She leans over and points at something that's floating far off in the distance. "Why is one of our ships out here?"

"What? No one should be-" But Stoick stops as soon as he sees the ship she's talking about. His face goes stony and a scowl settles across his face. "Ruffnut, that's not one our ships."

"Yeah, isn't that a-"

"An Outcast Ship." Stoick growls, angrily.

"So, hey!" Snotlout gasps. "Does this mean that Hiccup and the others could have been captured?!"

"I can't be sure." He says, coldly. "But we're going to find out. Mount your dragons, everyone. We're going to have a conversation with those Outcasts..."

"Come on...!" Astrid hisses. She grabs the edge of her jail cell and struggles to pull herself into the rafters. If she manages this, she might be able to squeeze between the top of her cell and roof.

Fishlegs, who is in a cell across from hers, has his face smooshed against the bars of the door, keeping watch. "Hurry up, Astrid! I think someone is coming!" He calls in a whispered voice.

"I've...almost...got it...!" She grunts, finally pulling herself up and over so that she's laying on her stomach. "Fishlegs, if there's only one guard, have them come into my cell...tell them I've escaped. I might be able to jump them!"

"Right..." He swallows his fear and steps back from the door, not wanting to look suspicious.

One guard rounds the corner, then another. A moment later, two more follow them. They glance at the prisoners, occasionally peering inside the cells to get a better look.

"There's four of them!" Fishlegs whispers.

"We'll wait." She responds. "Don't let them look in here!"

The guards draw closer, one of them jabs a finger at Fishlegs' cell and they pick up their pace. Another points to Astrid's...they're going to look in and see that she's gone! Frantically, Fishlegs tries to think of a way to distract them. "U-um! Over here, you...dirty Outcasts! I'll...crush every single one of you...!" His tone isn't very convincing but, clearly, it catches their attention. They start running toward him, one of them draws his knife!

Astrid gasps, seeing this. What is Fishlegs thinking?! She's about to jump down and draw their attention to her instead, but as soon as she gets one foot down, one of the guards turns and looks straight into her cell. She freezes.

Without a word, the guard goes to her cell and peers inside. He opens his mouth to say something, probably to tip off the other guards that she has escaped, but Astrid takes her chance and leaps down, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. He grunts as she yanks him, hard, against the cell door.

The others spin around to look at what has happened.

"Don't move!" She barks. "Or this one gets it!"

"Relax, babe!" One of them says.

Astrid hesitates. That voice...

He reaches up and pulls his helmet off, revealing a very familiar face.

"Snotlout!" She cries. "I can't believe it! You actually came for us!"

"Of course I did, babe! You didn't think 'ol Snotlout would leave you in your time of need, did you?" He laughs and shakes his head in an awkwardly flirty manner.

"Yeah...we're here to save the day. Now could you please let go of me!" Tuffnut grumbles, trying to wrench out of her grip.

"Oh!" She releases him. "I'm so sorry, Tuff! I didn't know it was you."

"Yeah, great." He mutters, rotating his shoulder that was nearly thrown out of joint by her grip. His sister hurries over to him, momentarily seeming worried. But then, she laughs and punches his good shoulder.

"Don't be such a wimp!"

"I'm not a wimp!"

"Yes you are!"

"I am...?"

"Stand aside." Stoick growls, stepping past them. He kneels down and uses his knife to pick the lock on her door. Snotlout does the same for Fishlegs. The doors swing open and they both rush out, happy to be free again. "Now," He stands up, sliding the knife back into his waistband. "Where are they keeping Hiccup?"

Astrid falters, her heart clenching at the thought of what he might be going through. "I don't know. They took him somewhere else...said it was some kind of 'special' cell."

Stoick grits his teeth together. "Alvin better hope I don't see him today...!" With that, he stands up again and motions for the kids to follow him. "Come on, we've got to find my son."

"What about our dragons?" Fishlegs asks.

Stoick hesitates for a moment. "Do you know where they're being kept?"

"Yeah, they said to take them to the arena!" Astrid recalls.

"Alright." He nods, having decided their next course of action. "Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruff and Tuff, you four go to the arena. Find the dragons and help them escape. Be careful, there's no telling how much security they might have there."

"Yes sir."

"Snotlout and I will try to figure out where they're keeping Hiccup. Once we find him, we'll head back to the beach where our dragons are waiting. Meet us there."

"Okay." Astrid nods. "Let's go find our dragons."

Hiccup screams as he plummets down into the Pit. As the metallic floor grows closer and closer, he's sure the fall will kill him. However, just before he makes contact, the rope around his waist runs out of length. He gasps when he suddenly stops falling and dangles about six feet off the ground. His ribs hurt where the rope cut his fall but at least he isn't dead.

"Haha! Scared you, didn't I?" Savage laughs.

Hiccup winces, trying to find a way to stop the ropes from cutting into his skin. Nothing works. A moment later, there's jerk in his make-shift harness and he's lowered down by the crank. He lands, heavily on the floor and quickly struggles out of the ropes.

That's when Alvin appears at the edge of the hole. He looks down at the captured teen and smiles. "Now, I'll bet you're wondering why I've sent you here."

Hiccup glares at him, rubbing his sore ribcage. He's too angry to make a witty comeback, too frustrated to care if Alvin sees how flustered he's made him and his head hurts too bad to stand up and attempt to strangle his enemy with the ropes that are still in his hands.

"Well, I'll tell you." He backs off a bit, sensing the hate that's emanating from Hiccup. "You see that Whispering Death there?"

Hiccup looks over, coming almost face to face with the creature. It growls at him and smashes its head against the bars, trying to attack him.

"I've managed to train it a little bit myself...although it's far from obedient. Needless to say, if I open that grating that's separating the two of you...well, it'll be curtains for you, boy."

Hiccup swallows, edging to the other side of his small room.

"I won't do that...if you agree to help me."

"Tsk!" The young viking musters as much strength into his voice as possible when he says, "You wouldn't kill me, Alvin. If you do, there's no way for you to learn how to train dragons!"

"Oh? Is that so?"

Hiccup casts him a confused look.

"I have your friends as well. And from what it seems like, they're almost as good as you. If I kill you, I still have them. One of them is bound to agree before being eaten alive..."

Hiccup's heart slams into his chest hearing that. He's right...what's stopping him from killing me now? I'm sure Astrid wouldn't agree but...as much as I hate to say it, Fishlegs might freak out and... He closes his eyes. No, he wouldn't. There's no way.

"Anyhow," Alvin steps away from the Pit. "I'll give you a few hours to decide. But, please, don't make me kill the original Dragon Conqueror. That'd be shame..." With that, he walks away, chuckling darkly. Savage follows close behind, leaving their victim alone.

Hiccup groans and pulls his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. Closing his eyes, he buries his head in his knees. I'm all out of options...it's either help Alvin train his dragons so he can destroy Berk...or get eaten alive. With a shaky sigh, he thinks, I wonder which one is worse?