There are other Dragon Riders.
Even being captured and thrown into a prison cell with the rest of the Dragon Riders, that's the only thing that was running through Heather's mind. But she was also worried about Hiccup and Elsa, wondering what their plan will be to break them out. But she couldn't really think about that as she was being interrogated by Ryker.
Hiccup and Elsa were currently hiding out on a nearby island. They were trying to try and come up with a plan that could help them rescue their friends. But Hiccup was working all night to try and come up with a way to save everyone.
As the sun began to rise, everyone was starting to wake up. Elsa however didn't get much sleep, as she was too worried about her friends as well as worried about how to approach Hiccup with the recent news about what she discovered.
"Great to see you awake." Hiccup said to Snotlout.
"I didn't have much of a choice." Snotlout said as he gestured to his dragon. "Somebody snores."
Hookfang growled and snorted some fire at him as Snotlout screeched and ducked to avoid it. Toothless then came up as he showed to have caught some fish already and passed it off to Luna, Elsa, Hiccup, Hookfang, and Snotlout.
"Great." Snotlout was happy to see food. "I am starving. We'll cook these up and-"
Hookfang seemed to have other plans as he reached down and ate a fish. Snotlout didn't seem to get angry at that and, iced on to the next.
"Okay, all right." Snotlout said as Hookfang took another one. "Okay, no stop it!"
Hiccup chuckled as he sees Hookfang was just getting over the Dragon Root arrows he was shot with. He strolled over towards Elsa as she also laughed at the sight.
"Looks like someone's feeling better." Hiccup said when he noticed her face. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." Elsa lied as she tried to hide her tiredness. "Just didn't get much sleep. Too worried for Heather and the others."
"No, this isn't new." Hiccup had to admit he's seen her like this for a few days. "You've been acting off for a while now."
Elsa sighed and wished that she had a hidden face, knowing that Hiccup could read too much of her face. But should she really admit this at such a bad time?
"Hiccup...what do you know about my parents?" Elsa wonders, wanting to see what he knows.
"Nothing much." Hiccup shrugged.
"Okay, what do you know of what anyone else knows about them?" Elsa asks him, trying to ease him into the idea.
Hiccup was questioning it and started to think back to his time in Berk. But then he was starting to realize that there was nothing that they have known except what Stoick and Gobber have told them.
But now Hiccup was wondering what she was saying. "Where is this going?"
"I have started to be having...dreams. I think they're from before Berk." Elsa explains to him. "I think those Dragon Hunters know where I'm from."
"How come you haven't told me about this before?" Hiccup wonders as Elsa started to become worried and snow started to fall from thin air.
"Well, it only came to my attention last night," Elsa confessed as she hugged herself for comfort, trying to keep the snow in check. She didn't need to accidentally freeze them in a blizzard due to her worries. "Then this whole thing with Astrid happened, followed by the Dragon Hunters, there just didn't seem to be an appropriate time to bring it up."
Hiccup sighed and knew she did have a point there and they did need to focus on the others right now. "Okay, listen." He walked over and took Elsa's hands and lightly rubbed them to help calm her nerves. "When we rescue the others and figure out what these Hunters want, then we will figure out what's going on. We can ask Gobber and see if we can get anything out of him."
Elsa smiled as she saw that he was accepting they might come from bigger backgrounds than they were led to believe. Even though she might not even be close to the family, the two of them were basically family and nothing was going to break the bond that they had.
"All we need to worry about right now is figuring out where the Dragon Hunters are headed." Hiccup tells her and started to walk back to Toothless who held his maps.
"That's a bad idea." Snotlout finally lets his voice be heard. "Even if we find them, they have those one-shot-and-you-drop poison arrows. What do we do then?"
"Well, I...have no idea." Hiccup admits he didn't have a plan for them yet.
Snotlout's smug smile quickly left as he replaced it with one of worry. "I gotta be honest... That's not the answer I was hoping for." Snotlout then started to walk around. "Okay, the day has come. It's up to Snotfang to come up with a plan." He says before he starts beating himself in the head with a fish. "Help squeeze some brilliance from that beautiful skull."
Elsa was scratching Luna's chin and started to get some ideas of what they can do. "Wait! I've got something."
Snotlout groaned when she came up with a plan before him. "I would've come up with something. I was so close."
"What's your plan?" Hiccup wonders as he started to look over the maps.
"Something that came to mind with the help of Olaf," Elsa said as she then blasted some snow and ice around the dragons.
Back on the Dragon Hunter's ship, the other teens are still being held in their cells, minus Heather. She had been taken for interrogation until early morning when she was returned to the cell.
"Heather, are you okay?" Astrid asks, wondering what they were doing to her all night.
"Just tired. These Hunters questioned me all night. Wouldn't let me sleep." Heather tells her as she rubbed her eyes. "Their leader, Ryker, at least."
"Yeah, but you hung tough," Ruffnut says from the floor with pride. "You didn't crack. You never talked. Way to go, Heather."
"Actually, I did talk," Heather admits to the teens.
Tuffnut jumped up in shock and got mad. "Way to go, Heather."
"I told Ryker what he wanted to know," Heather explains, a bit ashamed she cracked. "The location of the Dragon Eye."
"They're after the Dragon Eye?" Fishlegs questions in worry.
"It seems very important to the Dragon Hunters for some reason. They've been looking for it for a while." Heather explains to them.
"And where did you tell them it was, Lieutenant loose lips?" Ruffnut asks in a sarcastic tone.
"Back at Dragon's Edge, being protected by the dragon army and other riders we left behind," Heather tells them the lie she made up.
"What?" Tuffnut questions, not understanding at all. "No one's-"
"Supposed to know about it. I know." Heather says, still lying for the guards outside their cell.
Fishlegs seems to understand and added on. "Yeah, Dragon's Edge is like a fortress. Lots of dragon riders."
"Under the command of Captain Olaf and Commander Bruni," Heather added in some specific details she added in to throw them off.
"Wait, Captain Olaf?" Tuffnut asks in shock. "That Snowman outranks me?"
"Only thing I could think of to keep them from sailing in and taking over Dragon's Edge," Heather stated, not sure how the two of them would deal with an invasion like that.
"And they bought it?" Ruffnut asks with a laugh.
"For now. But eventually, Ryker will send someone to check it out." Heather tells them.
"You bought us time." Astrid caught onto her plan.
"Exactly. We need to get out before they find out I was bluffing." Heather stated as she clapped her hands. "Any ideas from any of you? I'm completely open to suggestions."
"Way ahead of you. I have the perfect plan." Tuffnut says while holding a mug. "We tunnel out."
"Through the boat?" Astrid asks as Tuffnut started to dig through the wood, failing miserably.
"Into the middle of the sea?" Fishlegs asks him.
"Exactly. They will never see it coming. Even I won't! Especially because I don't know how to swim. Mental note, learn to swim. Tuffnut says to himself, not seeing the flaw in his plan. "By tomorrow, or mid-next week."
"Did they ask about anything else?" Astrid wonders.
"Just about other Dragon Riders they have located." Heather shrugged, having no idea what to think of other Riders. "They say that there have been spotting of other Dragon Hunters that they assumed was us."
"So, there actually are other Dragon Riders?" Astrid was surprised to hear.
"It would appear that way." Heather shrugged.
After Elsa finished her work, the team looked over her handiwork as she finished making armor for their dragons. Luna didn't have the need for any thanks to her ability to turn invisible, so all she worked on was getting the armor done for Hookfang and Toothless.
"His is impressive." Hiccup said as he looked over the armor now covering all over Toothless and was connected by thin sheets of ice that was flexible. "You've come a long way with these powers."
"No reason to be holding back anymore." Elsa shrugged and was happy with her work.
"And how do you expect Hookfang to flame up with this ice?" Snotlout wonders, feeling his dragon has been made obsolete.
"It's permafrosted ice." Elsa quickly assured him. "It won't burn up or melt."
"Don't worry, we've got a plan." Hiccup assured him they now have an idea to get everyone out. "We just need to use these to keep the Hunters distracted."
"Is this just as good as your 'let Meatlug get captured' plan?" Snotlout asks him. "Because we all know how that tuned out!"
"Just trust him." Elsa sighed, getting onto Luna. "It's all up to us this time, girl." She then scratched Luna's head and she purred in response. "Let's go."
The three of them took to the skies as Hiccup started to chart out where the Dragon Hunters are going.
On the boat, Ryker has put the riders to work so they don't plan any escape attempts and to keep their dragons safe when they spot the two dragons approaching. But Ryker didn't seem to notice that there was no sign of Elsa or the Light Fury
"Standby catapults. Archers at the ready." Ryker tells his men and they do as they're told. "Wait until they're in range."
But the moment that they came into range, they shot the arrows and catapults, only for the arrows to bounce off of their ice armor. Getting an opening at a crossbow, Toothless blasted it and allowed Heather the chance to use the broom to her advantage. Smacking one of the Hunters, Tuffnut, who was aside her, smacked another and tossed him off the boat.
"That's for making me clean!" Tuffnut claimed.
As they were fighting, Luna sneaked off below deck to help get the other dragons and Riders out. Elsa on the other hand had some unfinished business. Shooting off the ice, she froze the main deck, as well as allowed the ice to spread further with a slam on the deck, sending the ice to cover the water surrounding them.
"Come on," Elsa said, gesturing to the others to help out. "We're getting out of here
With their ship being taken care of with their friends, Toothless and Hookfang were taking down the support ships surrounding them. Down below deck, Luna used her invisibility to make her way down where she helped Astrid out of her chains by blasting them.
"Thanks, Luna." Astrid was happy to see she came to help. Walking over to the wall, she picked up an axe and used it to cut the chain off of Stormfly. "Come on, girl, we're finally leaving."
Ryker then watched as there was a shake on the ship, followed by Luna blasting a hole out of the ship and giving everyone a chance to escape. The dragons all flew out of the ship and left the vicinity of the arrows. But before Ryker could even get mad at being tricked and fooled, he was suddenly blasted by ice and slammed against the pillar.
Elsa snarled as she marched over and created an icicle in her hands and held it against his neck. "Now...I want some answers! How do you know me?!"
Ryker seemed confused by that and chuckled a little. "You don't remember?" He looked into her eyes and noticed there was a hint of plea under the anger. "You really don't know."
"What don't I know?!" Elsa was getting annoyed.
"What you ran from," Ryker stated, causing Elsa to become afraid. "You ran away from your home. You left it to burn to the ground. And left your family to the same fate."
Elsa was horrified by this information, wondering how she could forget something like this. "What?"
"You don't remember the family you left behind?" Ryker questions, now confusing Elsa if he is just making these up to mess with her. "You don't remember, Princess?"
Elsa then had a small flashback in her head, as if something had just been unlocked in her mind:
What she saw was herself, being held by a woman whose face she couldn't make out. But she easily recognized the song that she was singing.
"Where the Northwind meets the sea. There's a river full of memory. Sleep, my darling, safe and sound. For in this river all is found."
Then as if there was a jump cut in her head, it jumps ahead to when she is in a forest, running away from a fire.
"Going somewhere, Princess?" A younger Ryker asks her.
But that was as far as she could get before an explosion on the ship shook her out of it. Deciding to deal with this later, she whistled out to her dragon, running to the edge, just about to hit the ice when Luna caught her.
The two flew off and made their way over toward the others as they all made their escape. Getting as far away from the Hunter ships as they can get and flying in the direction of their home as it now needs defending. Luckily they learned a few things while they were down there that can help them do just that.
"You guys okay?" Hiccup asked Heather and the others.
"We're fine," Heather assured them as she got a look at the armor Toothless and Hookfang was wearing. "Nice armor."
"Thanks, Elsa's idea." Hiccup said and looked at his sister, who was staring off into space.
"She okay?" Heather wondered.
"I'll catch you up later when we get back." Hiccup assured her. "What about the Hunters? What did you learn?"
"I'll tell you when we get home. Apparently, we have a few other Dragon Riders out there than we first thought." Heather informed him, noticing the shocked look on Hiccup.
There was definitely more going on here than any of them realized.
The next day, off far North, there was someone who was standing outside of a cave, feeling the morning wind. She was looking around and saw that there was nobody around and that it was the perfect time for her and her group to leave safely.
This rider has a slender build and fair skin. She has turquoise-blue eyes, rosy cheeks, thin pink lips, a small nose, long strawberry-blonde hair that was flowing through the wind with her, bangs down her forehead, and a light dusting of freckles. Her outfit consists of a purple and magenta long vest and a black long-sleeved dress with gold trim, a brown belt around her waist, and gold pants underneath, she accessorizes with long black boots.
Around her should, she held a satchel quite similar to the one that Elsa was carrying. Except for the front of it had the same cloth that Elsa had sewn into the front. She caressed the bag before turning back to the cave where there were several resting figures, dragon and human alike.
"Wake up, gang. The sun is shining, it's another beautiful day." She called out to the kids in the cave.
One of the dragons screeched in response.
She rolled her eyes and tossed a few fish she caught to them all. "Don't give me that excuse, Cutter. I let you guys sleep an extra hour."
"She's right." A young girl started to get up. "Come on, we should get moving."
She was a young girl with red hair tied into a braid over her left shoulder and green eyes. She wears a purple sleeveless vest with a quilted pattern, and a long-sleeve tunic underneath banded in light and dark teal. She has purple arm bracers and fingerless brown gloves. Additionally, she wears a green scarf around her neck, a short studded purple and blue leather skirt, green leggings, and brown boots. She also carries an over-the-shoulder satchel that was similar to the one from the elder of the group, but different in some respects.
"The Hunters seemed to have left." The elder of them said as her dragon approached, revealing to be an new kind of dragon.
It has long legs with fins behind them, a long neck, a big rounded head, and big eyes. It also has a crown made of feather-like scales, with brighter colors on the ends. It lacks any horns or spikes, except with one spike in each wing. She has long wings compared to their body size, and the tail ends with a large fin, with a shape similar to that of a peacock tail. Their teeth are small, but sharp. Her wings are big and colorful and her scales are green and red, with the ends of her feather-like scales being yellow.
"We can sneak out and get back to our nest." The elder tells the group.
"We've got it, Anna." A young boy groaned as he started to wake up.
He is a young boy with bright red hair and green eyes. He wears a sleeveless tunic that appears to be made of deep blue dragon scales with a dark grey, short-sleeved shirt underneath. Atop his left shoulder is a metal pauldron. He also wears leather trousers, fleeced boots, knee guards, and leather armbands. He has a scar going through his right eyebrow.
The older one, Anna, rolled her eyes and looked at the dragon. "It's them, right? Not me?"
The new dragon, known as a Featherhide, roared in response, but it seemed Anna understood it.
"I'm not moody in the morning, Echo." Anna denied it as she crossed her arms. "We just gotta get going. If there are Hunters, we need to be alert. If they left, something is going down."
She then started to walk into the cave to help pack their stuff when she...heard something? When she looked around, she looked out to the distance where she swore that she heard some sort of call like someone singing of sorts.
She looked over to Echo, who didn't seem to hear the call. "Did you hear that?"
Echo roared in response, seemingly not understanding what she was talking about.
"That was...odd," Anna muttered before walking inside the cave.
