Dagur was too dazed to prevent his arms from being forced behind him. Next, chains got locked onto his wrists. Several Outcasts brought him on board one of their ships and went down into the lower compartments. The Berserker was pushed into a cell. His chains were attached to the ground and the cell door was locked.
"You'll have a proper prison once we've docked back at Outcast Island," Alvin told him.
The prisoner tried to shake away the fatigue from the tranquilizer. "What...did you do to my family?" he questioned.
Alvin smirked and returned to the upper deck. As he did, Dagur looked around the cell. He was so groggy, but he needed to escape.
"If I can find something, maybe I can break out," he said, hoping to spot a useful item. When he was unable to see anything, the Berserker stopped and grunted. "If I end up on Outcast Island, I might be able to break out there and see where everyone's being held captive." He turned to look at FD. "Well, do you have any suggestions?" he asked roughly.
PD's frown softened when he saw fD's pale expression. The Berserker looked like he was trying to not have a panic attack.
"This happened to you too, didn't it?"
The future Dagur nodded. "But, it shouldn't have happened in this timeline. We don't deserve it," he said quietly. He started shaking his head and muttering to himself. "Why hasn't it changed?"
PD got concerned. "Hey, things might be a bit different."
FD took a deep breath and looked between the cell bars. "Let's hope so, but if not, you need to start mentally preparing yourself for anything. I mean it."
A half an hour passed before Strykie awoke. Lethargically, he emerged from his hiding place, then remembered what had occurred. In a fully aware mode, the Triple Stryke readied his tail for an attack, though realized that there were no Vikings around anymore. Strykie unfolded his wings and rose high above the clouds, heading in the direction of Defenders of the Wing Island. On the island, Mala was pacing around the island.
"What if the damage on the island was too severe and everyone was killed?" she wondered. "Dagur would be devastated."
On her way past the village for the fifth time, Mala was spotted by her parents.
"You look troubled, Mala," the queen noted. "What is the matter?"
The princess frowned. "A Terrible Terror flew in with a scroll attached to its horn and Dagur saw that it had a message saying that his home had been attacked. He left to make sure his family was safe and I cannot shake a foreboding feeling."
The royals looked to one another for an answer. Neither thinking of one, the king said, "I am sure that his family is safe. Berserkers are known for their ferocity in battle. It is unlikely that they would have easily fallen."
Mala felt slightly comforted by this but still was uneasy. "I suppose you are correct. For now, I am going to the arena to train."
The blonde spent the remainder of the day in the arena, fighting against practice dummies and praying for Dagur's safe return. As she trained and Strykie flew, more dragons were in the sky. Near Berk, the dragon riders were exploring.
"I'm sure that we'll find a new dragon this time," Hiccup said excitedly. He and Toothless flew ahead of the other Berkians and the heir pointed to some scattered islands. "Let's split up, so we can cover more ground."
The group did as he said and within a minute, Fishlegs and Meatlug came rushing back.
"Wow," Tuff started, "I don't think you even landed before finding another dragon. Well done, Fishy, well done."
The twins slow-clapped the Ingerman who looked distressed.
"Fishlegs, what's wrong?" Hiccup asked him, patting Toothless who had become anxious.
"Meatlug and I went to where some of the islands used to be, but they were all destroyed!" Fishlegs said, panicking. "Their structure was fine before. There's no way they should have just collapsed."
Hiccup nodded tensely. "Which probably means something or someone helped them collapse." He facepalmed. "The Whispering Deaths on Outcast Island. Alvin still has them and from the looks of it, was training them." The boy's brow furrowed. "But if the Whispering Deaths could do this kind of damage, why hasn't Alvin used them on us yet?"
Just to be on the safe side, the Berkians returned to their island. When they saw neither Outcasts nor Whispering Deaths, the teenagers were perplexed.
"I wonder if that little egg Oswald tried to steal is big too," Tuffnut thought aloud.
Hiccup's eyes widened. "The Outcasts are going to go after the Berserkers because they were the last ones seen on Outcast Island. We have to get there first and warn them."
The riders flew off towards Berserker Island, being miles away from the Triple Stryke. It was evening when the dragon finally arrived at Defenders of the Wing Island. He zoomed around the island, looking for Mala. The princess was still in the arena and thought that she was seeing things when the reptile landed before her.
"Strykie?" she greeted, confused. "Where is Dagur?"
Strykie began to act very stressed and offered his tail for her to grab onto. Quickly, the Defender realized the issue and held on, being placed on the dragon's back. The duo zipped off Defenders of the Wing Island and headed to Berserker Island. The entire flight had Mala's stomach in knots.
"I knew something was wrong. I should have done something sooner or gone with him," she mentally chided.
The evening brought many arrivals. For the Outcasts and their prisoner, the night saw them dock at Outcast Island. Dagur knew that he was going to be moved, but contemplated whether or not he would use that time to try to escape. The boy decided against it, realizing that there were too many Outcasts and he would still have to go to the prison to find his family anyway. He was already at a disadvantage with the restraints. A trio of large Outcasts went down to the holding cell and unlocked the chains from the ground. They held them in their hands, using them to keep Dagur from going anywhere they did not want. Getting onto the dock, the Vikings went inward on the island and over to the cave that had held the Whispering Deaths. Down they went until finally reaching the cells. These cells were lit by only a couple of torches, had an annoying dripping sound coming from the ceiling, reeked, and yet there was one particularly disturbing thing about them to Dagur. None of the cells had any of his Berserkers, let alone sister or father.
"Where are you keeping them?" he growled.
The Outcasts only kept walking, trying to push the Berserker into a cell. Dagur's temper flared and he dug his heels into the ground. Moving quickly, the Berserker yoked one chain out of an Outcast's hand. The people still had on armor, but the momentum of the chain being rammed into them caused the Vikings to fall into each other. Dagur targeted the Outcast he had seen with the key and whipped a chain around to knock him out. As the man fell, Dagur snatched the key. When he tried to unlock the chains from behind himself, he heard fD call out a warning. Alvin raised his sword over his head and Dagur side-stepped him. Going again to speedily unlock the chains, the Berserker was stopped by Alvin's blade knocking them away. Next, the Outcast leader grabbed hold of a chain as it whizzed by his head. He began pulling in Dagur, who struggled to keep the distance between them. When Dagur was in arm's reach, Alvin put him in a choke hold.
"Looks like some of that energy needs to be fixed," the man commented.
The Outcast went out of the prison, still choking the Berserker, and stopped by a pit. Alvin connected the chains to another pair, extending them, and attached them near where he was standing. Dagur was thrown down the ditch, being relieved by the oxygen and distressed by the new situation. In the echoes of the cavern, Dagur could hear Alvin cackling.
Another sound soon replaced Alvin's laughter. Dagur looked around as he heard quiet growls grow louder. Several Whispering Deaths lunged at the boy. Dagur tried to pull at the chains, but they would not budge. Seeing the futility, he ducked in time to avoid getting his head bitten off. Another dragon turned sharply and hit him in the core with its tail. With the wind knocked out of him, Dagur looked for something to kick at them.
"Does being calm with these dragons ever work?" he asked his older self, worried.
"Not really. You'd have to find some way to make them owe you a favor. That's the only way to get these reptiles on your side," fD stated, looking around for things too.
PD grunted and yelped as a Whispering Death's face came by his own. Dagur brought back his head, but two dragon teeth got him. They went down over his eye and by his cheekbone. Not yet done, the dragon bit at him again but got kicked under its chin. The reptile sulked away, whimpering. Despite that dragon's bloodlust being tempered, the other two became agitated at their companion's pain and grew vengeful. They rammed their heads into the Viking, delivering cuts on his arms and body. After a few minutes, they stopped and flew away. Dagur eyed them hesitantly and panic flashed over his face as they charged, mouths open. Their fangs hovered in front of Dagur, but he was yoked into the air before he could get eaten. An amused smirk was on Alvin's face as he finished pulling up the panting Berserker.
"Didn't think I'd let you get eaten, did you?" the Outcast inquired. "Not this time at least," he added cruelly.
He looked at Dagur, almost laughing at how nervous the boy was. Alvin roughly grabbed the Berserker's chin, inspecting the deep cuts.
"Now that they've had a taste, they'll try twice as hard next time," he informed him. Alvin took a knife and fiddled with it in his other hand before bringing it by the lacerations. "And we'd hate to have you return to their den."
The man placed the blade on Dagur's temple and dug in, trailing down until reaching the boy's chin. Dagur grimaced, but he refused to even grunt in pain. Once the man had finished, he dragged Dagur back to the prison and locked him up in a cell. The Berserker closed his eye to keep blood from dripping in as he glared at Alvin.
"You're one to gloat, Al, so why not tell me where everyone is?"
Alvin looked at him. "Oh it is tempting, but I made a deal. Of course, I've always been one to break those. Didn't get my moniker for fair play. I'll tell ya where your family is."
As the two were there, Mala was arriving at Berserker Island. Just as she did, she saw a group of other Vikings on dragons. The princess was automatically skeptical, but they spoke first.
"Who are you?" Hiccup asked.
"And more importantly," Snotlout began, "why are you riding a dragon?!"
Mala frowned. "I am Princess Mala and am on a dragon because I am here to ensure the wellbeing of the Berserkers."
The Berkians' brows rose.
"You know the Berserkers?" Hiccup inquired.
"Only Dagur," the Defender admitted.
"That's why we're here too," Hiccup told her. "We have reason to think they're in danger."
Mala nodded. "They already were. They were attacked. I came to find survivors and provide ai-"
"Wait, they've already been attacked? We've got to get down there."
The Berkian heir and Toothless dove to the island, being closely followed by Strykie. Right by the island, the dragons stopped and shook their heads.
"What's going on?" Astrid asked.
Toothless was doing no better than the others. None of the dragons would continue flying.
"I'm not sure. Let's try to go higher up," Hiccup suggested.
The group landed on a higher part of the island and checked their dragons. Seeing that they were okay, Mala rushed down the landscape to find Dagur. When she heard someone, she hid near a boulder, then lunged out with her sword drawn.
"Woah!" the Viking exclaimed, drawing his own weapon in defense.
The Berkians came up behind Mala.
"Stop!" Hiccup told her.
"Why?" she asked harshly.
Hiccup looked between her and her target.
"Because, this is Oswald the Agreeable, Dagur's father."