Wow, what do you mean 2 chapters in a row? Am I out of my mind?! *remembers all the time without posting* *sweats nervously*
Yeah... so, anyway. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter yadda yadda yadda, also, I'm so sorry for its end lmao, but I promised some action and a cliffhanger. Also, I'm on a bad-author spree, and it's about to get worse. Watch out characters!
Enjoy!
oOo
It was raining as they ran, and it was raining hard. The wind had picked up brutally - the dragons were thankfully already in the stables or else they'd be out there knocking into things much like Astrid and Ruffnut were- only they didn't have wings to make it as worse- and the loud echo of thunder out on the horizon seemed to poetically complete the uncomfortable scenario.
Astrid swallowed hard, shaking her head as she ran, Ruffnut right beside her. She feared they would get sick what with how soaked they were by then, not a single tiny bit escaping the evil frigid pouring water.
But they'd seen movement by the stables from the sidewalks above, the ones curling around the Clubhouse which meant there would be no turning back to a nice, warm bath and enjoying the sound of the rain top-topping outside, accompanied by thunder, from under some soft wool blankets.
Seriously, what in Thor's name were Fishlegs and Snotlout doing with their dragons out at a time like that? Suddenly a steely feeling stabbed her stomach at that, but she chose to ignore it.
"What did you do?! How reckless can you be?" Astrid had yelled even before the two boys and their respective dragons were close enough to be more than blurry figures behind a curtain of falling water, "What were you thinking?
Ruffnut, who was running by her side, the girl's boots making a funny squelching sound because of the water, pointed in their direction, "Looks like they went fishing!"
And truthfully, they had. Astrid gasped, nearly sliding across the flooded platform in front of the stables as her boots slipped a couple times. Her heart hammered in her chest, not for all the running, not for the sight of her gravely shaken friends, but at the sight of two more figures beside them, lying on the wet floor, unconscious, limp and soaked. It hammered in shock and dissociation- what that meant, she still couldn't quite grasp.
Skidding to a halt, the blonde one-braided girl kneeled by one of the dragon's head, eyes wide and round as she petted the wet scales uncertainly, "Too-Toothless! Windshear!-"
Behind her, what could only be Dagur and Tuffnut's steps sounded, and a flicker of irritation flared up inside her as Her Derangedness called out his sister's name in question, then in a growl. Still, she swallowed it down as far more important matters than him popped to mind.
Heather's not here. Heather's not here.
"Heather?! Where's my sister?!" Dagur questioned, an ireful glint in his eyes as he not even flinched at the loudest of thunders. Fishlegs shook and swallowed hardly. The boy was pale, and she could see hiccups in his chest as he fiddled with his index fingers in that nervous, oh-so-Fishlegs-like way.
Hiccup's not here. Hiccup's not here. Hiccup's not here. Where is he?! Where is Hiccup?!
"Where's Hiccup?!" She thought she screamed.
Fishlegs cried lowly and Snotlout looked down. He gave both Astrid and Dagur a pitiful look. Astrid was vaguely aware of the Berserker Chief pushing them on, demanding answers, his mad side showing, but couldn't quite feel angry at that. She couldn't feel angry, not yet. She was frozen, soaked as gelid winds made it through her wet clothes and skin, but not able to feel cold, unable to react. A weight pushed her insides down, trying to drag her through the wooden platform down that high point of the Edge.
Blue eyes reflected lightning as she stared at the unconscious creatures and their visible injuries. Then, she gasped, noticing the glimpse of extra metal sticking out of one of the black dragon's pedals. She instantly snatched it with shaky hands and felt her body tremble as she hugged the prosthetic to her chest, knowing fully well what its presence there but not the rest of it meant. Rain fell from the sky, and her eyes stung in silence, hoping no one would see them as they too cried. She petted the Night Fury's head lovingly, nostalgically, as if he were the most precious thing in all of Midgard. Then, blue spheres looked out into the churning, imposing ocean, the dark rebellious horizon, where the storm was far worse than it was at the outpost, and she shivered. Her whole body shivered at the thought.
Hiccup and Heather were out there, somewhere, somehow, lost, drifting in the middle of the sea, fighting for their lives or very well, already… already dead-
I can't imagine a world without you in it…
She closed her eyes as they burnt, chest unstable.
And it wasn't their fault.
It was Dagur's.
It was her fault.
...
Heather nodded at the boy, forcing a smile to tug at the corner of her lips.
That boy was nuts, she decided, nuts and a little too hopeful for her to ruin with her realistic side. She was feeling too dreadful, a crushing feeling in her gut sending off the unshakeable sensation that their plan would not work that well. To start, it wasn't that much of a plan anyway, as Hiccup said, since they new little of the ship they found themselves in and the state of the weather and world outside, they'd have to "wing it!" as they went.
But it was all they had and Heather 1) wasn't one to stay put, waiting for the Hunters to bring them to their fate and 2) didn't have the heart to crush the one legged boy's hopes, because he was hopeful. If there was one thing Hiccup was, it was hopeful... and stubborn, a strong combination.
It that got him through this all, then she wouldn't be the one to deny him his escape. She wouldn't lower his spirits with a stupid feeling she had- especially when there was no other choice for them to make.
"Hey," Hiccup called out, smiling softly at her, "It's going to be alright, alright?" He laid a hand on her guarded shoulder, briefly checking down at her poorly but surely bandaged hands before returning the smile again, "We'll make this... this plan...work."
Heather had half a mind to point out how useless she felt right then, but simply snorted, waving her still hands slightly, "Yeah, we'll give it a few tweaks on the way."
Hiccup sighed, and she saw as he put on a determined expression after, "Nothing'll happen to you, Heather. Don't worry, I won't let it. I promise."
"Right," She said, "Take care of yourself, Haddock, and if you don't leave my side you should be okay."
Hiccup snorted this time, "I was being serious."
"I know," She smiled, "Me too."
"Aha, Heather, nice." He rolled his eyes, "Pinky promise?"
"You sarcastic idiot!" She gave him a bump in the shoulder with her own, "Let's just do this, we've got to help our dragons."
Hiccup's face turned grim at that, as if he grew eye bags by the simple thought of his dragon out there, alone in the sea, but he shook it away as quickly as it came, and nodded. "You know what to do." He nodded.
In all honesty, there wasn't much to know, Heather feared, but it was the best- all- they had.
"Guard! Guard!" She cried, pushing her face in between the metal bars, "You have to help us!" Her metallic shoulder blade served perfectly as an attention-drawer as she knocked it against the bars of the cell.
A grumble came from the end of the corridor, and a Hunter trudged his way over to where the black haired girl yelled. "Wha' is it?" He half mumbled, half growled.
"You have to do something! My friend..." She looked in Hiccup's direction! "He's... he's not okay. I-" She actually sniffed, "I think he stopped breathing! Please!"
The Hunter frowned, peeking inside at the slumped form, limp on the floor. He raised an eyebrow, "Right, 'cause I'm really fallin' for that, punny girl." And he turned to leave, but Heather called out again.
"Please! I- I'll do anything! Just help him out! Please!" She begged, "I'm begging! Oh god, he's not breathing!"
"And that's m' problem, how?"
Heather nearly scowled, "I don't think Viggo would want his most worthy adversary dead before he has the chance to face him himself... I believe you know where this is going...?"
The man grunted, attempting to keep his scowl on, but Heather saw right through it, a glint of fear in his eyes. Gotcha. Then he stepped forward, muttering under his breath something like 'puny dragon riders' as he searched for the right key, "If you attempt anythin' girl, y'know what's waitin' for ye."
"Yes. I won't. Just, please, hurry!" She cried, keeping up the farse.
With yet another set of cussing and threats at the skies, the guard finally stepped inside, heading towards Hiccup. He squatted, patting Hiccup's cheek quite ungently. "Hey! Hey, runt! Ugh... Only me I swear..."
A sudden muffled chuckling filled the air.
The man's eyes went round, as he looked down at the prisioner. Before he could react though, a familiar dingling echoed thorugh the air, and he turned to find Heather smirking, holding the circle of keys she'd snatched from the keyhole, in her bandaged hand.
"Need help with something?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.
Next second, Hiccup swiped his foot under the man's legs, making him lose his balance and give Heather the perfect opportunity to swiftly kick him against the metal bars and knock his head there.
Out clean. No sound. No more guards. At least something had gone right, she mused. But then again, that part was supposed to be easy, the easiest actually.
"That," Hiccup smiled, "was really good."
Heather lent him her forearm, helping the boy balance himself on his only foot, "You weren't so bad yourself," she said, looking down at the space where his prosthetic once stood, "now let's find something to fix that."
...
No dragon wild or trained was in that ship, which was strange.
They had been hoping for their dragons to be there but no. And only the gods knew if they were in any of the other four.
It wasn't necessarily a nice wish, but as the boat lurched and the sound of a murderous thunder shook the air, Heather deemed it the best place to be in when compared to the rebellious ocean.
Winshear...
Focus. She had to focus. If she wanted to save her dragon, getting out of the Hunters' grasp was the top priority- the second being that of dealing with the fatal weather and world outside...
Hiccup motioned for her to stop. He'd been leading the way, holding a dagger in front of him. It was, at her eyes, a rather senseless logic. She had the sword he'd forced her to take out of the unconscious guard's belt, she should be leading the way. Yet, with how vulnerable she was feeling, barely able to hold on to the sword with her broken fingers, and the thought of her dragon lost at sea with chains weighting her down at mind, it did feel nice to have Hiccup close to her. She knew he was just as helpless as she was, what with that swollen neck that made his movements stiff, and the awkward piece of wood bound as best as possible to his stump, surely stabbing the thing. Not to mention his faithful Night Fury in the same predictment- unable to fly and out in the storm.
She could see why Astrid was head over heels.
All this time, he'd been acting like an older brother, watching over her, when in reality, she was pretty sure she was older than he was. For someone who had spent a major time of her life alone, and even if he didn't understand any of that feeling, lonelisness, it felt warm to be treated as such. It almost made her want to rewind time and... and not have been so sharp with Dagur.
3.
Hiccup signed with his fingers. He directed her to the one on the right side of the staircase- their goal, their way out- and she almost snorted. She could take the two on the left. In fact, screw her broken fingers for she could take care of all three Dragon Hunters.
Hiccup rolled his eyes at her frown, insisting that she went right.
In a couple seconds, it was done, with minor grunts and gasps.
There were no dragons in that ship, which was weird, but they had checked. Just their luck to be caged in the only dragon-less ship, so all they had to do was get one of those escape boats and get out as fast as possible.
The boat lurched, reminding her how much she didn't want to go outside and making her stumble to the side, unable to support much of her body with her hands. Hiccup caught her by the inside of her upper arm, and then both turned to watch the mayhem on deck from under the latch, nearly laying on top of the stairs.
The few soldiers there were were drenched, running about and nearly slipping in the slippery floor to go sliding across half deck. They seemed rather occupied with taking care of the vessels and the rudders. She almost felt sorry for them, knowing fully well what that rain could do to one's health, but didn't really for 1) they were Dragon Hunters, 2) she was about to be in the same predicment and 3) they were Dragon Hunters, really, the most immoral men there was.
Anyway, one thing for sure, none should be giving her and Hiccup a hard time escaping. Despite knowing how to fight and as before the Hunters weren't that hard to defeat if not that many. As busy as they were, they shouldn't be able to surround the two riders.
Spotting the small boat was rather hard because of the rain, and Heather cussed out how much better it would have been to be able to fly on a dragon. But then again, would it? The wind was strong enough to send them sprawling against deck, and she could see the gritted teeth Hiccup had, trying to get his feet still against the floor even more with that improvised peg leg of his. A dragon would never be able to fly through this.
But getting on that little boat was just as deadly...
But did they really have a choice?
Yep, it would be much better than Viggo getting his hands on them. Heather had the feeling the man was done playing, and this time, there would be realer repercussions.
Nope, she did not want to know what those would be. Boat it is.
"Hey!" Rats. A Hunter suddenly spotted them, pointing in their direction, "You're not supposed to be there! Go back to your cell!"
"We aren't?" The young Night Fury rider asked, "I had no idea. See, I told you we weren't supposed to break out, Heather. Do you ever listen?" Hiccup rolled his eyes, deadpanning in her direction. She saw right though it. Get it ready.
Then, in a flash of lightning, he had snitched her sword, leaving his dagger in her hand, and bolted off towards the approaching Hunters.
After a brief moment of shock, Heather set off to work, frantically untying the knots on the rope holding the boat as fast as her painfully broken fingers allowed her. No. Faster. She stole a glance in Hiccup's direction, watching his back turned to her, offering her a clearing. For one thing that blasted storm was good, it kept a part of the hunters at bay, as they had to steer the boat and make sure it didn't turn but still...
Hiccup was surprisingly good with the sword, and she realized he was stronger than she gave him credit for given his scrawny appearance. He was also light on his feet, no, foot. And smart. He was faster than the hunters and able to use any disadvantage of his to his own interest. When the boat lurched, and he lost his balance, he used that to attack the enemy from different
, unexpected directions. When the hunters lost their balance though, it was even better.
Swoosh. She suddenly turned, ducking. A beefy arm flew over her head, along with a probably important to mention axe. She snatched her dagger, returning the attack. The Hunter probably hadn't expected her to react that quickly, for he seemed at a loss of what was happening before he was back in the game. After a minute or two, though, he was lying on deck and Heather pushed her drenched hair back from her face, cutting off the last knot.
"Hiccup!-" That's when she turned to the boy, intending to call him over. A hand suddenly closed in around her mouth, and she brought her hands up to pry it away, accidentally letting the dagger fall to the wooden deck. But her fingers cracked as she applied force on the enemy hand and quickly, she had been subdued, two Hunters, each holding an arm of hers, keeping her from escaping.
"Le- gffo ff mhh!" She tried, fighting off the two brutus, but to no avail.
And then all hope she had was crunched like a little bug in the wrong place at the wrong time. She watched helplessly as Hiccup slipped, his sword clattering on the ground, but still managed to knock the last of the Hunters surrounding him out. Then, he turned, his fist closed and heading towards the presence he'd felt behind him when a beefy, iron-like hand caught his own.
She struggled harder.
"Ryk-?" Hiccup had that much to utter, before he was crying out, caught by surprise as the Second in Command of the Dragon Hunters crushed his fist, and twisted his wrist backwards.
Ryker smiled, a sickning sight really, "Wha- ye really though' I'd le' ye leave? Or le' Viggo have all the fun?"
Hiccup spat at the man.
She blinked. He actually spat.
Sounds like something she would have very much liked to do.
Only these thoughts were interrupted as Ryker growled, grabbing Hiccup's colar and slamming him- literally slamming- on the floor.
"Don' do tha'" The disgusting man growled, waving a finger above Hiccup's face.
And to her bewilderment, sweet, passifist, little Hiccup must have been gone, because he bit- really bit- the Hunter's finger- hard. (She would have clapped hadn't she been being held by two soldiers and had the situation been any lighter.) Ryker yowled, before letting out another growl ( seriously, the guy has issues!) and repeating on slamming the young rider violently against the floor.
Only he wasn't stopping. He just kept on going.
Heather screamed, enraged on how they had covered her mouth, but not her eyes. It would have been better than watching that. She kicked, too trying to bite the hand off her mouth, but to no avail. Her legs were high up in the air, kicking the raging winds. More thunder filled the scene as she struggled to out the enemies' grip like a wet fish trying fall out of the fisher's hand and back out into the sea.
Eventually, she realised with horror that her companion no longer even struggled, and when Rykers anger assesment finally skidded to a hault, she realised he no longer even moved at all.
Odindammit. Astrid's going to kill me.
But that was the last she thought about it, as the image of Ryker cracking his neck, standing over Hiccup's drenched, limp form behind the curtain of rain vanished from view, and she was dragged under deck.
Ryker.
What was Ryker doing there this time.
No.
Why did Ryker have to be there this time?
She let out a muffled enraged yell. Their escape had been the biggest failure, because Ryker had to be there.
Escaping wouldn't be coming any easier now, and Hiccup...
She closed her eyes. There would be no escaping after that, Ryker would make sure of it.
They were hopeless now.
oOo
Whhaaaa-hahA- what? So, I'm so sorry for that, ( I'm not, really, at all)
*laughs nervously* I'll try to be quick on the next update, now that classes are over.
*trips while making a run for the exit* haha, byee! Remember I love you all very much please!