Another chapter? I'm so kind to you all! And 7 chapters already. Wow! As some of you may have seen, I was ill the morning I meant to upload, which meant that there was no chance I could get it finished in time. However, I very quickly recovered and now I'm perfectly fine again, save for a headache.
Hiccupisnotuseless: Here is Torch! As for Eret, well, he isn't really in this story. I can't have too many characters or I have to balance them all, so I'm saving that for The Runaway 2, where he will have a bigger part.
Guest: Oh! My bad, friend, I must have missed the meaning of what you were saying. Whoops! Hehe... I think it's important to have good communication with fans, whether you're just a Fanfiction writer like me or a professional writer. People still wanna know when they can read your stuff.
Razor95: Hmm, I'm not sure killing characters off is really my style. I know I did it in The Runaway, but Gustav was only a minor character in the scheme of things. However, I promise there will be dark drama later on in the story. Just watch out for the Dagur bits!
It was early morning when Ruffnut kicked her brother awake.
"Get up," She growled gruffly, "We need to go." Her brother murmured something unintelligible and rolled over, leaving his sister to sigh and stalk grumpily away. Tuffnut tucked his head beneath his arm to shut out her complaining, closing his eyes lazily and smiling to himself, until the icy cold of sea water dumped over his head made him leap to his feet. Ruffnut tossed away the shell, giving him a swift kick for good measure, then scampered up onto her dragon's back before her twin had the chance to retaliate. Tuffnut chuckled as he looked up at her. She was back to her normal self again, if only for a moment.
Scauldy made short work of the flight across the island. His wide wings pounded tirelessly, carrying them at an astounding pace over the treetops. Ruffnut was tense and quiet the whole time, looking for something, her eyes flicking back and forth repeatedly, fingers tapping against her leg. Tuffnut leant on his hand, yawning. He was thoroughly bored, unable to concentrate on anything for very long. Even if he knew what his sister was looking for, he wouldn't have been able to help, so he left her to it.
"There." She pointed as the simple statement passed her lips. Her twin followed her finger, gasping as he caught sight of what she was looking at. A circular, spiralling mark cut through the trees, leaving a clearing open wide and shot through with scorch marks circling out from the centre. The ground still smoked where the grass had been singed. The mark was obviously fresh. Tuffnut knew with a jolt that he had seen this before.
"Is that a Typhoomerang mark?" He asked incredulously, shining with joy as his sister nodded, a slight smirk on her face.
Scauldy landed in a clearing not far away, settling to let the two excited twins off his back. They slid down with ease, scampering around to stroke the dragon's head.
Ruffnut turned to her brother. "Go on, then," She smiled, jabbing his shoulder, "Go get him." Without another word, her brother strode away, lifting his hands and cupping them around his mouth to shout out the name of his dragon.
"Torch! Where are you?" He yelled. There was no sound, as if the whole forest had been silenced. Scauldy lowered his head, nibbling an itch on his flank. "Torch! Come on out, we need you!" Again, nothing. Not even the sounds of birds chirping. He sighed heavily, turning to his sister and scowling. "This is pointless. There's no way he can hear-"
All of a sudden, a roar echoed through the trees. Scauldy's head shot up into the air, looking around, tense and alert. There was a chorus of birds chattering as they took wing in panic, a rush of air through the pines. Tuffnut stumbled back, beginning to question the origins of the sounds. The last thing they needed now was a wild dragon thrown into their already unfortunate mix. Behind him, Ruffnut desperately tired to calm her Scauldron down as he leapt to his feet and swung his head from side to side in anger, his flat teeth bared.
Another rush of wind, and all of a sudden, the sun was blocked out by a huge shape shooting up above the tree line. The dragon pounded up into the air, wings outstretched gloriously. They reached all the way back to the base of his tail, two small legs tucked neatly beneath his hips. His great, horned head turned their way, bright yellow eyes wide and alert. His whole body glowed crimson, paling along his neck to a long, white head. He soared above them in a circle, jaws stuffed full of teeth champing as he studied them intently. Finally, satisfied, the Typhoomerang swept up and descended, stretching out its small legs and landing with the utmost grace upon the ground before them.
Instantly, Scauldy charged forward, placing himself between the new dragon and his friends and letting out a loud, screeching roar in warning. The Typhoomerang bristled indignantly, drawing himself up to his full, imposing height, enormous wings flared defensively. Tuffnut glanced back at his sister, worried about what the dragons would do to one another should they fight. He had seen how long Torch kept a grudge against Toothless many years ago, and how mistrustful Scauldy was of new people and dragons. His sister didn't even make eye-contact. She simply strode out between the dragons, her arms up, catching their attention.
"Pack it in, you two!" She roared, her teeth flashing at them both. The Typhoomerang and Scauldron jumped back in alarm. "We have more important things going on right now! Scauldy, this is Torch, a friend of Tuffnut's." She gestured to the huge dragon, who stared curiously at the Scauldron, smacking his lips as though considering whether or not to trust the creature. "And Torch, this is Scauldy, my dragon." The blue dragon tilted his head to one side, then looked down at his human, who was clambering up his shoulder to her spot at the base of his neck. Tuffnut followed his sister's lead, giving Torch a quick hug before leaping aboard and following her up into the air.
The smack rang out, echoing around the chamber, followed by the stamping of furious boots as Dagur left the poor messenger sprawled in the dirt behind him and stormed out of the building into the street. Thundering down the steps, he let his scathing cries ring out around the island.
"Where is Bloodtooth? Where is he?! He must report to me immediately!"
His hawk-like eyes scanned the village and found his target; the military commander, the great, hulking man in charge of his armies, was ignoring his leader and calmly loading a crate of treasure to be transported back to the homeland. The young chief gave a screech of anguish, striding up to him with his cheeks blood red with anger.
"What is the meaning of this?!" He screamed in the man's ear. Commander Bloodtooth hardly winced. "That child told me that you even had the cavalry at your disposal and you still couldn't catch those pesky Berkian riders!"
"That is correct, sir." Bloodtooth nodded without a hint of emotion.
"Well, it's not good enough! There were a hundred men in that detachment! Against two riders! They're not even the difficult ones, they're the twins!" He spat out the word like a bad taste.
"I know, sir." Bloodtooth was surprisingly good tempered in the face of his seething master. Dagur snarled.
"I'm not happy with this. I'm in my right mind to have you killed for treason!"
"Sir, you're never in your right mind. That's why you're known as 'deranged'."
Dagur gave a laugh as though he was excepting praise, rocking back on his heels and grinning like a child. "Oh, you always know what to say! Fine, ready the Skrill. There's no way those pesky riders can match its power."
"Wanna bet?" Dagur froze as he was rewarding his captain, spinning about to meet the eyes of one of his prisoners. As the new chief of the island, he'd had every house converted into a prison cell along the main street. That way, his paranoid mind could rest easy knowing that there was always someone keeping an eye on the captured dragon riders. The only problem was that the riders could always see everything that was going on and could interact with him and his men. This was no exception. He stalked confidently towards the face at the bars, blackened, bloodied and burnt, peering out with intelligent emerald eyes.
"Oh Hiccup, my brother, you don't honestly believe that those two knuckle-heads could possibly pose a threat to my Berserker armada?" He scoffed scornfully. Hiccup scowled darkly.
"One, I'm not your brother," He spat viciously, "And two, they're stronger and smarter than they look."
"Stronger than my Skrill? Hah!" He snorted. Behind him, as if in answer, there came an echoing roar. Upon a makeshift raised platform, Dagur's Skrill was rising to its feet, shaking out its wings and stamping its stumpy legs. Its long tail lashed the air violently, purple-black scales shining in the sunlight. Below its crested head, its forward-set eyes scoured the skies, teeth gnashing in its long jaws.
Dagur turned back to Hiccup, a sparkling look of victory spread all over his face. "So what do you think, Hiccup? Can your puny dragon riders stand up to the might of my Skrill?" When Hiccup sealed his lips, the Berserker chief delved deeper under his skin. "Look at what's happened. Look at what's become of your tribe, your father's tribe. What would Stoick think of his son now? You're a failure, and you always were."
"Shut up!" Hiccup's hand shout out from between the bars of the cage, grabbing Dagur by the scruff of his neck and pulling him against the door with enough force to split his lip. With an enraged shout, the Berserker chief tore Hiccup's hand roughly away from his throat and waved a hand at his dragon. The creature reared up and let forth a stunning blast of electricity.
The volt passed straight over his commander's head and struck the bars of the cage. Hiccup gave a cry and stumbled back into the blackness of the cell, disappearing from view, while nearby came the answering call of a Night Fury.
I'm gonna stop it here for now, I think. Dagur is one mean dude, but also clever, using the way metal attracts electricity to his advantage. Smart! Anyway, sorry about the wait, hopefully the next will come a little faster.