Chapter 2: Captured

Hiccup jerked again, electric panic coursing through his blood like poison, filling his senses, drowning out everything in reality, drowning out all thoughts, all hope, all light.

Drowning, drowning, drowning.

Drowning.

"No! No! No!"

A squawk came from to his right, and he froze. Turning his gaze, he noticed a Nadder stirring in its cage, horribly wounded and scarred. When he turned his eyes across the room, he noticed that the Nadder was not the only dragon here. In fact, every single cage and cell was filled with dragons of all kinds- Nightmares, Terrible Terrors, Gronckles, Razorwhips. And all had been alerted awake because of Hiccup's screaming and clanking chains. They began to growl and wail weakly, attempting to call for help.

Dust fell from the wooden ceiling as footfalls came from above. Hiccup watched as the Hunter sauntered down the steps. Unsheathing his toxic green sword, he banged the flat edge of his blade against the bars of the Gronckle's cell.

"Shut your yap! Unless you want another scar to match!" he barked, making the Gronckle recoil with a whimper.

He then turned his blade around threateningly, and the dragons whimpered and slunk back. He gave a smirk.

"That's right, you know who's the boss around here."

Hiccup's jaw clenched in anger. How dare this man treat these poor dragons this way? It made him absolutely sick.

When the man turned to leave, Hiccup yelled out, "Hey!"

Stopping in his tracks, the hunter cast a smirk in his direction. "Ah. so you're the one who stirred them up-"

"Where are you taking me?" demanded Hiccup.

The hunter smirked, putting his hands on his hips. "To Viggo. That is all you need know."

"I'd let me go, if I were you…" began Hiccup threateningly, only to have the hunter throw his head back in laughter.

"Why? Because your dragon will come for you? That sad, crippled newt?"

The flame in his chest burned in red rage. "Don't you dare talk about my friend-"

"Even if he could fly on his own, that dragon is still going all but limp in with that poison in his veins; I shot him myself," he added, smugly jerking a thumb at himself.

"My friends will find Toothless," Hiccup spat back defiantly. "And me. When they come, you'll be sorry."

The hunter nodded mockingly. "I'm sure they would, if they knew where you or that lizard were."

Hiccup jerked on his chains in fury, the cuffs scraping against his bony wrists and drawing blood. The hunter responded with another laugh.

"Viggo was right; you do have fight in you. You're even encouraging these pests," he commented, gazing around at the snarling, growling dragons in the cells. He laced his fingers together. "Why don't you settle down, make yourself comfortable? It'll be a more pleasant trip if you do."

Hiccup scowled, fire erupting inside him like a volcano. "I have another idea. You let me out, and your crew won't have to deal with the embarrassment of losing any entire shipment of dragons."

"Oh-ho, you won't be escaping. Not anytime soon."

Hiccup twerked his eyebrows in defiance. "Yeah? Try me."

The dragons' snarling grew louder and angrier. One of the Nightmares lit himself on fire while a Nadder flexed its spines.

The Hunter scoffed and with a quiet "Very well, I tried," he sauntered off, stopping at a wall for some reason. When Hiccup leaned forward to get a better look, he noticed the man had a hand on a massive, oxidized-green lever protruding from the wall.

"What is that?" Hiccup asked, his voice slightly quivering despite himself. "What are you doing?"

"Doing what I do to all animals-" The hunter shoved the lever up with a clank, and a hissing noise sang out in the hull. "Put them in their place."

As he ascended the steps, the hissing grew louder. Hiccup was about to yell for him to come back when with a sudden CLICK! He was enveloped by a dense, purple fog. He tried to shield his eyes, but the chains yanked his arms down in cold reprimand. Glimpsing around, he watched as the caged dragons instantaneously shut their eyes and dropped like flies.

"Oh, gods. What is this?" Hiccup panicked.

Unthinkingly, he inhaled, his nose taking in an earthy but sickly sweet smell. It was so strong that he doubled over coughing. He tried to hold his breath, but with each cough, the purple smoke filled his lungs and fogged his brain.

"No. No, Somebody! Help!" Hiccup choked. His coughing soon turned into gasping. He dropped to his knees, his lungs burning and begging to breathe. "Somebody… H-Help… Please…"

He gulped in air greedily, the air dense and thick and… sweet and wafting around him. Gradually his breaths evened out as he allowed himself to breathe freely. His head was spinning, slow yet fast at the same time. He tried to remember what was wrong. Was anything wrong? Had he not panicked earlier?

The sweet smell closed in around him. With each breath, his lungs pulled in the sweet cloud filled his senses, filling him up, caressing him, penetrating him with a strange, intoxicating ecstasy. He felt light as a feather. It was as if he was floating through the fog, flying slowly. It was as if he was in the air with Toothless, drifting through the clouds weightless, soaring slowly up, up, up…

With a moan, he blinked trying to clear his foggy brain, but to no avail. He blinked again, then repeated the session. His head still was wonderfully sluggish, and his eyelids growing heavy like boulders. The dizziness settled in his head, but strangely he found that he did not care. A faint smile tugged at his lips. Hiccup sighed softly, dizzy yet content. His eyelids fell, riding half-mast. A wave of drowsiness washed over him. Oh, well. If he shut his eyes for just a moment, it would not be so bad. Maybe if he just lay down. Just a moment…

The world swerved to the side as he fell gently down, down, down. Hiccup's head clocked against the wooden boards, but he scarcely felt it. With a quiet sigh, Hiccup's eyes slowly, gently closed, and he knew no more.

. . .

Dagur clutched the saddle handles tightly, his gaze fixed firmly in front of him. The sky was a burning amber as if set afire from the sun. The last light of day was burning itself up. Soon it would be gone, extinguished and suffocated like a campfire. They had to land by night. They had to.

Dagur shifted his lower jaw in a circle, but his ear canals still were pinched. How did Hiccup stand this? More importantly, how did he stand sitting in a saddle for so long? When Dagur shifted in the saddle, his foot clicked the pedal forward. Toothless shrieked in alarm as he suddenly dipped forward into a fall. With a yell, Dagur hurriedly shifted the pedal back into place. Toothless halted in midair with a jerk, and Dagur fell flat on his abdomen over the Night Fury's neck.

"Sorry-"

With a grumble, Toothless swatted Dagur's cheek with his ear.

"Ouch! Why'd you do that? I said sorry!" Dagur massaged his cheek which stung an angry red. "I'm still new to this; can you cut me some slack?"

The Night Fury grumbled something, and the Berserker raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you angry about my flying, or that we didn't go after the ship?"

The dragon tilted his head up, his nose crinkled in annoyance. He gave a snort that Dagur could only guess meant, "What do you think?"

"Look, I'm reckless, for sure, but I'm not stupid. That ship would have been armed from stem to stern with reinforcements. Catapults, net cannons, chains, ballistas. Should I go on?" Dagur threw his arms out and glanced down at the dragon only to regret.

His stomach lurched sickeningly when he perceived the dizzying distance between him and the sea. With a gulp, he turned his gaze back forward. Odin, how did Hiccup ever get used to this? Dagur was certain he would never sail the skies again after this; at least in a boat, you only had the wind and waves to worry about. Not an infinite drop to your doom.

"Anyway, we would be in the same position as Hiccup if we followed them. I'm sure my brother would not like that for us. Or, you, at least," Dagur amended, recalling burning hatred in his voice. "But we will find him. We just need to find a different, stealthier way to Viggo's hiding place."

Toothless growled again with a questioning tone(At least, that was what it sounded like). Dagur looked down again, willing not to look down any further than the Night Fury's eyes.

"I told you, we're going to a place where we can get information. It's a frequent hangout of the hunters. The Northern Markets. With any luck, we can find a hunter stupid enough to let something slip."

Toothless gurgled, opening one eye more than the other in a "seriously?" expression.

"Yes, one stupider than the rest. Ah!" Dagur cried, pointing as the shores of a dark island below them came into view. "We're here."

Ignoring the dizziness, Dagur watched the island below as the sunlight faded from it. Orange flickers of torches appeared as the day faded and turned dark. The vague outline of shops and merchants selling their wares swam into focus, and in the very heart of the island was a quaint hut about half the size of the massive hall back home on Berserker Island.

Dagur met the Night Fury's green gaze. "You think you could take us to the far end of the island?"

With neutral eyes, Toothless nodded and with a powerful beat of his wings, he shot off quickly. Dagur lurched forward, biting back the urge to heave.

"I'm never gonna get used to this," he muttered miserably.

. . .

Faint voices stirred Hiccup from his oblivion. They grew slightly louder. Were they arguing about something? With a soft quiet moan, Hiccup tried to pry his leaden eyes open to see who it was.

Strong yet gentle fingers brushed his cheek, sliding to his temple. Another hand pressed lightly against the hollow of his neck.

"Luckily for you, he's alright," said a smooth, sultry voice, a small tinge of ice in it. A man's. "But you've overdosed him. Or were you aware that too much dragon root can be lethal for humans?"

The man's voice was familiar. Hiccup tried to place it, unable to quite remember whose voice it was or where he had heard it Another voice responded, something about an apology. What was wrong?

Hiccup moaned again, trying to speak. Where am I? What's going on? Alas, all that escaped his heavy tongue was incoherent sleepy mumbles. Hiccup fought to tear open his eyelids, but they seemed to be glued shut.

But then, the voice -the man- spoke again, soft and gentle. Fingers gently carded through his hair.

"No, no, shh," soothed the man, lulling Hiccup down, "It's alright, it's nothing. Back to sleep now, Hiccup."

Hiccup's head lolled sideways, feeling comfort and serenity from the soft caresses of the man's touch. It felt strange and foreign, yet strangely wonderful. Vaguely, he wondered, who was speaking to him? They were so kind. He tried to force his leaden eyelids open, but he soon gave up.

He strangely did not care. He was safe. He was at peace…

Hiccup's breaths relaxed, falling, going all but limp in the man's gentle hand. Drowsiness tugged at him, coaxing him gently back to the sweet, soft land of dreams.

"That's right…back to sleep…"

With a soft, tender sigh, Hiccup's head drooped, and unconsciousness claimed him once more.