Farran expected very little in support from the remainder of the dragon riders, especially since he too would be offering just as little in return. This meant that whatever the outcome of the negotiations that were to come rested solely on Heathers shoulders. Farran knew it and was sure she knew it too. He also knew that while calmer heads would prevail, he was also tempted for one of the riders to try something against him just to show them their place, but that was just his pride talking. Regardless, he would not be foolish enough to make the first move.
However instead of joining in on whatever strategy meeting they were planning, he now found himself waiting outside of the stables on another much larger landing pad which had been suggested by Heather herself hoping that she would be able to break the ice and ease tensions first before bringing him in. They had seemed to have been tending to their own scaled monsters when Heather dropped in and announced herself and begun to explain everything. They all gathered round her, pleased to see that she was okay and unharmed. Of course their smiles and joyous voices only lasted so long when the former spy gestured over to his patient form.
From where he stood he could hear their voices go from hushed and reserved all the way up to loud and abrasive, occasionally pointing at him in an aggressive manner. None more so than the blonde female rider in blue. The hunter assumed she hadn't gotten over him successfully attacking and striking her dragon back at the market all those months ago. It was a talk that lasted for minutes yet felt like an eternity. But what bothered him the most was that the metal dragon was lying down right next to him, coiling around itself while lazily basking in the heat of the morning sun while making sure he didn't do anything idiotic, likely under Heathers instruction.
What other dragons were around in the stables seemed to wander outside to feel the warmth on their scales too while still watching their riders as they talked with heads cocked and the occasional curious growl or screech. One other dragon, a gronckle seemed to merely lumber Farrans way, wobbling slightly as it did, probably bored with the commotion that it likely understood very little of. Twelve feet away its large eyes landed on Farran who looked back. Or to be more specific he was looking at the mouth full of teeth that opened slightly every once in a while to reveal many sharp bone crushing teeth. Even closed, many of them jutted out including the two enormous hand-sized, tusk-like teeth that came up out both sides of its lower jaw. As they continued to study each other, the silence was broken by the razorwhip which emitted something of a cheerful growl, raising its head slightly in the gronckles direction before the latter abandoned its cautious nature and seemed to converse with Windshear through occasional nuzzling and loud guttural sounds.
It was disgusting. Farran wasn't sure how much more of it he had to endure before he managed to catch Heather wave him over. He immediately headed over and quickly discovered that the razorwhip followed closely behind like some sort of giant guard dog, but there was little he could do about it without breaking whatever extremely fragile trust Heather had fought tooth and nail to build up. Now it was up to him to deal with the hard part of convincing these riders he was of temporary value to them. The dragons still around the hangar, as though sensing his original allegiance or perhaps untrusting of strangers, hissed and snarled in hostility but didn't make any move to attack him. Farran merely glared at the savage beasts before turning to the riders now in front of him, in which he glared slightly less.
Hiccup, the one now standing directly in front of him opened his mouth to say something but the blonde rider seemed to beat him to it, gently pushing past her teammate and marching up to the hunter and prodded her finger right at his chest with a sour look that matched his own.
"If you so much as do anything to put any one of us or our dragons in danger, I'll have Stormfly drop you into the middle of the ocean! Got it?"
Unimpressed by her threats, Farran tightened his gaze. "As long as you or your dragons try nothing, you have no need to worry." He responded in just as dark a tone. It seemed to be a satisfactory answer as she stood back and retook her original position.
"Alright. Brilliant start, thank you Astrid..." Hiccup tried again. "So Farran isn't it? Yeah I think I remember you. You're the one who broke out and escaped here a while ago if I recall. Well you'll be pleased to know we've had a few upgrades since then so hopefully we won't have a repeat of last time."
Farran verbally grumbled, making it clear that he was listening to his words.
"So, Heather here tells us that you're here to give us some information on several dragon catching sites in exchange for stopping Ryker, is that right?"
"That is correct."
"Uh yeah, about that." A smaller yet muscular rider spoke up. "Hi, name's Snotlout, in case you probably wanted reminding, kind of a big deal around here. Um, quick question. How do we know you're not lying about this whole thing and are just working for Ryker in order to try and take us out on the inside?"
Farran nearly snapped at the accusation of him working for the one who nearly killed him but held his tongue. Instead he sought to point out the clear logic in this 'Snotlouts' claims.
"You truly believe that I, on my own am able to take out seven dragon riders in my injured state, as well as their dragons? One of which being a night fury? You clearly overestimate my abilities."
Snotlout raised a finger to counter his words, but found himself unable to come up with a decent reply and lowered it. "Fair enough."
"Yeah, speaking of." Astrid spoke up again, arms crossed. "How exactly are you going to help us defend dragons edge after being stabbed, hm?"
"Injured or not I am still very capable of fighting. And a fair match for any of you I would say."
"Oh is that right?"
"Yes, it is."
Before the two could butt heads any further, a fourth member of the riders spoke up. Fishlegs was his name if Farran recalled correctly. The larger member who seemed eager to avoid a fight. "Okay look, maybe we should leave the capability of our skills alone for another time!"
"Pft. Spoilsport." The male twin murmured to his siter in the background.
"What if we focused on what our new friend here can bring to the table, before we throw him under the quaken, hm?"
"We are far from friends." Farran sneered, noticing Heather mouthing several words in an irritated manner at his response.
"Fair point Fishlegs." Hiccup nodded thankfully to his pals quick thinking. "So Farran. What exactly is it you want?"
"I seek only to kill that traitorous bastard. We achieve that and we part ways."
The hunter did not like the growing concerned and disgusted looks that the riders showed. Even Heather seemed to face palm upon hearing his words and Farran was unsure why. His demands had been rather reasonable, had they not?
Hiccup rubbed the back of his head, deciding to be the one to break the news to Farran.
"Okay, yeah. About that. Killing is kinda off the table."
The hunter rolled his eyes thinking he understood what the lead rider meant. "Very well. I'll allow your group the honor of killing him. Although I do expect some compensation after what he tried to do to me."
"Wow. What a charmer." Snotlout commented dryly.
"No, Farran. You're misunderstanding. What I mean is that there's to be no killing. Like at all. Of anyone."
Farran seemed to be quite relaxed but on the inside he was furious at Hiccups statement. Surely that had to be some sort of sick joke he was playing!
"After everything that man has done..." He began without bothering to hide the venom in his voice. "All the lives he's taken and will continue to take if he survives whatever defense is prepared against him here... you would risk the souls of many innocents just so one twisted evil soul may live? Why? Why would you believe for a second that that would be a good idea?!"
Astrid seemed ready to draw her axe as the hunter dared to step closer as he angrily ranted. Hiccup was fast to explain his reasoning.
"Well think about it this way. If we killed Ryker, how would that make us any better than him?"
"We would be securing the safety of many villages rather than crushing them into the dirt for a start!" Farrans answer came out right away. Hiccup sighed.
"Look. Farran, I get that you're angry but what if-"
"What if he succeed in catching your dragons?" Farran cut him off, attempting to change his verbal tactic. "Viggo has always held Ryker on a tight lease which is the only reason your pets are still alive today! Now that his second in command has broken free of that lease, do you really think he's going to spare your dragons or even your friends?"
"Farran, that's enou-" Heather tried to object but Farran continued.
"No, he won't. He will kill you and everyone you know and love with a smile on his face! Perhaps if you had come to your senses and had done what was necessary months ago, the people that died in Heathers village would still be alive right now!"
Farran found himself get shoved back harshly in retaliation, forcing him to take a step or two back and found himself surprised. Not at the shove itself but rather who had done it. Heather was now right in front of him looking quite upset.
"You. Me. Out there. Now." Was all she said. Her voice angry and shaky. Farran moved to respond but a pointed finger towards the landing deck cut him off. He looked to Hiccup who seemed to be just as surprised as he was and then back to Heather who he now noticed seemed to be holding back tears. He let loose something of a defeated growl but did what Heather demanded and walked outside of the stables.
"I'm sorry." Heather sighed to Hiccup. "I should have known he'd act this way. But I didn't think he'd try to pin what happened on Berserker island on-"
"Heather, it's okay. Really." He's hurting, you're hurting, heck we'll all hurting after everything the last few days. And besides, trust me I've dealt with worse than Farran."
The rider spy couldn't help but give out a small chuckle. "Yeah. I suppose you have."
"Look, I'll have another talk with him, try to help him understand where we're coming from. In the meantime, maybe you should see Dagur. He's been keeping to himself ever since him and Shattermaster arrived."
Heather nodded. "Yeah. I will. But first I'm going to knock some sense into that thick skull of his!"
She then proceeded to march outside and over to the lone hunter as he waited with an attitude just as sour. Astrid soon broke the silence.
"Told you it wasn't going to work out."
"Thank you Astrid. You undying support is really very touching. Hiccup responded putting his hands on his hips, wondering if he should maybe help Heather out.
"Do you think we should tell him though?"
"Tell him what?" Snotlout butted into the conversation, as did the rest of the riders.
"That Viggo's the one behind the attacks and not Ryker."
"Umm... maybe it's better we don't do that." Fishlegs put in his two cents nervously.
"I agree. That information might make him turn against us and we'll have another problem on our hands."
"You say that as though he's not a problem already." Snotlout grumbled. "I mean, look at him!"
And that they did. Farran seemed to be snapping something at Heather as he pointed over to them, in which she responded back just as snappish.
"Gee, talk about a real lovers quarrel. Rough relationships am I right?" Tuffnut added in.
"Amen to that brother. His twin sister agreed.
"Guys, they're very obviously NOT in a relationship." Hiccup sighed, suppressing the growing headache as best he could.
"Well yeah, that's how it starts. Next thing you know they're holding each other in their own arms whispering sweet nothings into each others ears..." Tuffnut started as Ruffnut continued.
"Saying how much they mean to each other..."
"And then the bitterness of married life sets in."
"Nothing but cold words and an even colder home to come back to at the end of the day."
"On that I concur dear sister-nut."
Hiccup cut in before they could continue rambling on. "Okay well, while you two are thinking on that, here's another thought. Take barf and belch and scan the waters around dragons edge for Viggos ships. At least we'll have some time to prepare a fast strike before Viggo gets the first shot in."
The twins obeyed, continuing to go over their conversation which included ridiculous theories and statements. None of which the rest of the riders had to listen to for too long as their zippleback took off and circled round flying towards the back end of the island as fast as it could.
"That goes for everyone else. Check on your dragons and be on high alert. There's no telling how long we have."
"What about you?" Astrid asked as the others rushed to their dragons.
"I'll wait until those two are done. Hopefully the anger will die down and we can go back to having a normal calm discussion."
"Yeah right."
Hiccup laughed, as did she a little in return.
"Seriously Hiccup. I don't feel right leaving you alone with him." Her fingers brushed against his. Hiccups small smile widened and held her fingers in response.
"I'm not alone, I have Heather to back me up." He looked right behind him. "And you've always got my back too, right bud?"
About ten feet apart from its rider sat his night fury. The black scaled creature had been there the entire time listening in on the conversation that had just played out. It had come close to taking out the hunter after he had challenged Hiccup and would have done so had the brown haired rider not signaled for him to stand down with a hand signal behind his back. It didn't mean that it wouldn't be keeping a close eye on this intruder. A very close eye indeed.
-0-
"Farran, calm down!"
"Calm down? Have you listened to what they're telling us? How do you expect me to side with such... idiocy?" Farran exploded as he paced back and forth, squeezing his fist over and over again attempting to vent his anger.
"How many times have they beaten Viggo and Ryker, hm? How many times have they beaten the hunters time and time again? You're letting your emotions get the best of you!"
"This is different! Ryker will be hitting us with everything he has, not just a few measly ships! This is a fight that requires us to play every card we have and they refuse to accept that!"
"I seriously don't get why you're getting this worked up Farran! You've never killed, you don't know what it's like! It's not something you can just do!"
"Yes, I am very well aware of this! It's what spared your life back when I first discovered your true allegiance. But now those traitors are too powerful to be left unchecked! I will do what I must and fight through that difficulty because my weakness risks the death and suffering of the entire archipelago!"
"You're being dramatic!"
"And you're not taking this seriously!" Farran stopped and forced himself to breathe. They were getting nowhere all while time was running out. Who knew when the first bombardment would strike? "Look. Clearly we are getting nowhere like this. Perhaps this is a bridge we can cross later when the threat is dealt with."
Heather raised an eyebrow. "You mean capture him?"
"If we survive the fight, and Ryker survives too then fine. I'll submit that we capture him. But after that I will deal with him and I WILL make my suffering known to him!"
That seemed to be as good a deal as Heather was going to get. Now she could get to the reason she had dragged Farran outside in the first place.
"That was a rather low blow by the way." Farran opened his mouth to ask what she meant but she continued almost right away. "What you said to Hiccup about my people still being alive."
"I said what he needed to hear." Farran defended calmly. "I do not know why he seems so content on sparing such a vile enemy but it is far from right!"
"That doesn't make it any better! You had no right to say that to Hiccup and you should know that! I was right there in the middle of that attack, not Hiccup! He had no control over what happened! And maybe if you had been less focused on escaping you might have been able to save more than two people from dying!" She huffed as her voice nearly cracked from her rant. She looked to find Farran look... remorseful. His eyes down to the ground almost unreadable until he managed to give a slow nod.
"Perhaps. ... Perhaps... but at least I am willing to ensure that it never happens again."
Heather wanted to say something back. She really did. But it was clear the hunter was just as stubborn and pig-headed as his former leaders. So instead of continuing she merely walked away, having enough of him for one day. Farran in turn merely watched her walking away and up to her dragon leading it to the stables. Deciding he had also had enough of her, Farran turned and sat down on the far edge of the platform overlooking the sea. He knew he would not be permitted to explore so he may as well enjoy the view while he was still here to enjoy it.