Hello my lovey readers. Firstly I feel I have been neglecting t o get back to my reviewers, so...
Harry Barlow: Indi didn't transform for several reasons, one of which is stated in this chapter. I also remedy this in this chapter. Your welcome, hope you like it.
Secondly, I have noticed a strange lack of reviews. This will not affect the rate at which these things come out, but I like to hear from you guys and gals. Reviews can help me clarify things, and can also get ideas to add to this story; there's plenty of room for new ideas. If you get an ideas, shoot it to me in a PM or a review! I'll be more than happy to read it.
Also, I plan on trying to get a chapter up every week, though more than that will be possible until school starts. But we shall cross that bridge when we come to it.
Hope you like this chapter!
Indi sat on the floor of the cell he shared with the rest of the captured dragon riders on the ship, resting his eyes. Night had fallen, and Indi had just received several earfuls of what had happened between the riders, that Heather girl, and her apparent brother, who was called Dagur. Indi noticed that the only resemblance he saw between the two siblings was eye color.
"Dagur's here," Fishlegs said in disbelief. "And Heather is with him? I don't believe it."
"Trusting her turned out to be a big mistake," Astrid added, leaning against the bars of the cell door.
"Yeah," Ruffnut said. "Who puts loyalty to their brother ahead of loyalty to their friends? Pfft, right?"
"I heard that, sister," Tuffnut said.
"The bigger question is," Astrid said, turning to face the group. "'Who are these dragon hunters, and what do they want from us?'" At that moment, Heather and two guards walked down the hall, stopping in front of their cell.
"You're about to find out," she said as the cell door swung upwards. "Ryker wants to have a little chat with you." Heather shoved Astrid out of the cell, making the blonde stumble slightly. The two hunters entered the cell and escorted the remaining riders and Indi out. Once free of the confines of the cell, Indi knew he visibly relaxed, though nobody made any hint that they noticed.
"You're lucky these guards are here," Astrid snarled at Heather "or I'd take your head off."
Heather laughed. "You'd try." The group was guided through the dragon hold, cells lining the wall.
'After everything we did for you: took you in, taught you to ride, saved your life more than once."
"And I thank you, for all of that," Heather replied. "But I have to follow my destiny."
"Betraying your friends and joining these dragon hunter scum?"
"Hey, you don't know what it's like to be truly alone, Astrid," Heather said.
But I do, Indi thought to himself.
"Dagur is my brother," the raven haired girl continued. "I trust him with my life."
"You'll regret that,' Astrid retorted. "Believe me." The group stopped in front of an ornately decorated door with swirling designs of gold.
"Hm. Well, your concern in touching, but if I were you, I be more worried about myself." Heather nocked on the door twice, and Ryker's voice came through the wood.
"Come."
Heather opened the door, before turning back to the captives. "Ryker wants information, and he can be very persuasive." She pointed the point of her single-bladed axe at Astrid, and the blonde entered the room, Heather following her inside, before slamming the door shut.
Indi leaned up against the metal door of a cell. He had not morphed in some time, and was finding it hard to concentrate. Coupled with the fact that his surroundings were full of hostiles and a similar setup of the halls on Nublar, his stress level was rising steadily. Even keeping his eyes relatively human-looking was an effort.
The group was resting back in their cell, when the door opened. Fishlegs gasped in fear.
A guard wearing something that looked like a Zippleback's skin shoved Astrid back into the cell, and slammed the door shut before walking off.
"Astrid, are you okay?" Fishlegs asked.
"Just tired," she sighed out. "They questioned me all night; they didn't let me sleep."
"Dagur and Heather, mostly. That Ryker guy doesn't say much; he just stares."
Ruffnut, lying on the wood floor next to her brother, staring gesturing into the air. "Yeah, but you hung tough; you didn't crack; you never talked. Way to go, Astrid." The female "Nut", as Indi started to call them in his head, let her arms drop to the floor.
"Actually," Astrid said "I did talk."
Ruffnut shot up to a sitting position as Tuffnut's previously smirking face fell into a disbelieving stare. "Oh, way to go, Astrid."
"I told Ryker what he wanted to know: the location of the Dragon Eye."
"Their after the Dragon Eye," Fishlegs said.
"It's very important to the dragon hunters," Astrid continued. "They've been looking for it for a long time."
"And where did you tell them it was, loose lips?" Ruffnut sneered.
"Back at Dragons Edge, where it's being guarded by all the other riders we left behind." Indi noticed her voice was raised, and caught on that this was an act.
"What?" Tuffnut tipped his head in contradiction, sitting against the back wall of the cell. "No one's-"
"Supposed to know about it, I know," Astrid said, getting the male to shut up with the universal shush sign: her finger to her lips.
"Yeah," Fishlegs said. "Dragon's Edge is like a fortress." He raised his hand to his mouth. "Lots of dragon riders." He winked.
"Under the command of Captain Gustav," Astrid added.
"Wait," Tuffnut said. "Captain Gustav? He outranks me?"
"It was the only thing I could think of. To keep them from sailing in and taking over Dragon's Edge."
"Ha!" Ruffnut blurted out. "And they bought it?"
"For now," Astrid whispered. "But eventually, Ryker will send someone down there to check it out."
"You bought us time," Indi said.
"Exactly. We need to get out of here before they find out I was bluffing. Any ideas?"
"Oh, way ahead of you," the male "Nut" said. "I have the perfect plan." He raised a cup. "We tunnel out." He began scraping the floorboards with the cup in an attempt to escape."
"Through the bottom of the boat?" Astrid deadpanned.
"Into the middle of the sea?" Fishlegs added.
"Exactly! They'll never see it coming! Even I won't! Especially because I don't know ow to swim. Okay, mental note: Learn to Swim." Indi looked at Astrid's and Fishlegs, and their faces told him that he wasn't the only one seeing the flaws in this plan. "By tomorrow… or maybe next week."
Indi did the only thing he could do at that point: roll his eyes.
Fishlegs walked over to Tuffnut and made a grab at the cup, only to have it jerked away.
"No, my cup!" Tuffnut said. Fishlegs reached around and grabbed it. Soon, both males were in a tug-of-war over the drinking instrument, complete with grunting and groaning. Being larger, Fishlegs yanked the cup away and flung it out of the cell door into the hall.
Tuffnut ran over to the cell door. He moaned in disappointment, and covered his face in momentary misery. One second later, he jerked his head up.
"Ha!" He turned around. "How 'bout this: we set our cell on fire and-"
Fishlegs shut him up with a groan. "No!"
"I'm all for the fire idea," Indi said.
"I have an idea," Ruffnut said, walking over.
"How about we use psychological warfare?" Fishlegs suggested. "We learn our guards names, get them to like us, and then eventually they'll lower their guard, and-"
"Borororing!" Tuffnut drawled.
"What if-" Ruffnut attempted.
"Acid!" Tuffnut blurted out, interrupting his sister, causing her to groan.
"Ok-ay, fine, shutting down the Ruffnut Idea Farm. No milk served here."
"But the Tuffnut Idea Farm has a mighty fine harvest. We use acid to cut through the bars!"
"And where do we get the acid?" Astrid said with a bored glare.
"I'm still working that out."
"That plan won't work any more than your Ruffnut-marries-the-guard-divorces-him-then-gets-the-key-in-the-settlement plan."
Fishlegs shrugged.
Heather appeared, walking up to the barred door. "Ryker wants to see you."
"Me?" Fishlegs said pointing at himself.
"No, all of you. Let's go." The gate opened, and the cell's occupants walked out. As Astrid passed by Heather, she "accidentally" bumped into the raven haired figure.
They were led to Ryker's quarters, outside of which the Dagur guy stood guard. Heather took her place on the other side of the door. The door opened from the inside, and the large figure of Ryker appeared out of the darkness, striding out.
"I am Ryker," the man said. "This is my ship. And you are my prisoners. And your dragons are now my dragons."
"And how they get treated is entirely up to you!" Dagur shouted cheerily like what we people from the modern area would call a game show host.
Ryker turned and led the riders through the halls of the dragon hold on the ship. They stopped in front of a cell that contained Fishlegs' dragon Meatlug, who was chained up. A hunter was in the cell as well, shoveling rocks into the dragon's mouth.
"Meatlug!" Fishlegs cried out. The dragon turned to her rider and groaned worriedly. The hunter in her cell yanked on the chains securing the Gronkle, getting her to face him, and continued to shovel rocks into the dragon's mouth.
Fishlegs started towards his dragon, but Ryker put an arm out to stop him. "This Gronkle has been very helpful."
"Her name is Meatlug," Fishlegs stated.
"I don't care." Ryker shrugged his shoulders. "All I care is that it makes me metal, all day, all night." Meatlug spewed a fiery, glowing liquid down a bucket in the floor of her cell. Fishlegs stared at the glowing slop, before Ryker led the captives on.
Soon, they were led to another cell, where two hunters stood, antagonizing Stormfly, Astrid's blue Deadly Nadder. The dragon stood her yellow spines on end and whipped her tail at the hunters in her cell. Armed with shields, the hunters stopped the volley.
"Mm, perfect," Ryker said in approval of the somewhat conical projectiles. "Razor sharp tips, for a spear and ballistae." Stormfly squawked and flung a spine in Ryker's direction. The head hunter grabbed the spine out of the air, and gazed at it.
"You can't do that to her!" Astrid shouted, taking a few steps towards Ryker.
"Oh, I can," Ryker said, aiming the spine at Astrid and advanced menacingly, making the blonde backpedal. "And I will."
Astrid snarled in hatred as Ryker continued down the hall. She was shove forward by a guard, and the rest of the group followed.
Tuffnut ducked, dodging a stray spine from Stormfly.
"Oh, poor Barf and Belch," Ruffnut said. "What torture are they enduring?"
"I can't look!" Tuffnut said, covering his eyes. "Because my hands are over my eyes!" Hearing the gurgle of his dragon, Tuffnut peeked through his fingers. "Well this is more like it!" In the cell that house Barf and Belch, two hunters were apparently pampering the dragon: one was rubbing a cream on the green dragon's hide, and the other was feeding both head fish. "Someone recognizes quality."
Ruffnut walked up to the cell door. "Hey, rub me down with some of that grease. I'm feeling dry." Astrid pulled the female "Nut" away from the cage.
"This hide will fetch top prices in the northern market," Ryker said to the male "Nut" who was standing next to him, gazing at the scene in front of him with approval.
"Sure; it's soft, supple, the color, oh, the c- wait, what?!" Tuffnut's eyes widened in realization.
"Ooh," Dagur said, sliding between the two from behind. "Zippleback boots; I've always wanted a pair."
Tuffnut back away, glaring daggers at Dagur.
"This is what faces all yer dragons," Ryker said, taking the jar of cream from the man in the cell with the Zippleback. "Of course, they could get better treatment."
"Don't just leave me hangin'" Ruffnut said. "How?!"
In sudden fury, Ryker threw the cup at the riders, the group dodging the makeshift projectile. "Start givin' me some real answers! Tell me what you know about the Dragon Eye! Exactly how many riders guard your base?!" He grabbed Fishlegs' face, who whimpered. Ryker shoved him back into the group, where he assumed the stern glares of his comrades.
"Very well," Ryker said, shrugging and turning around to the men in the cell. "Keep fattening this one up. More to sell."
"Please!" Ruffnut pleaded, wrapping her arms around a guard, and sliding down his body. "Please don't hurt our dragon! I'll do anything!"
Ryker stomped over. "Then tell me what I want to know!"
"Ruff, stop." Tuffnut scolded. "Thorstons don't beg. Except for food." Ruffnut groaned pitifully. "Or money." Groan. "Or housing." Ruffnut fell to the floor. "Or any other thing that we need. Hm, you know what? This isn't a good argument." Ruffnut groaned once more. Indi could not resist another facepalming himself.
"You want to save your dragon?" Ryker said. "Then give me some information." Ruffnut rose from the floor.
"No! Never!" She walked back to stand with her friends, calm and collected, her head held high. "Sorry, lost my head there for a second."
"Interesting," Ryker commented. "Something you and your dragon may soon have in common. Get them out of my sight!" The guards escorted the riders and Indi back to the cell they spent the night in.
"What if we tunnel through the ceiling?" Tuffnut said, after having secured another wooden cup.
"Technically, that's not a tunnel," Fishlegs said.
Oh, it isn't? There's no such thing as a ceiling tunnel, Fishlegs?"
"Guys, I ha-" Ruffnut began.
"Listen up, Astrid announced. "I've memorized the guard schedules, and I have a plan." But we need a way to get this door open first."
Ruffnut dangled a small object in front of Astrid's face. "You mean like this key I stole from the guard?"
The three other blonds stared at Ruffnut incredulously. Indi snorted in amusement.
"Wait, but how did you…" Astrid began.
Ruffnut recalled when she was pleading with the guard in the hall, including the fact that she stole the key from the guard's back pocket. Everyone stared at her with wide eyes, and Tuffnut's cup clattered on the floor.
"Yeah, you guys should try listening to me every now and again. Ruffnut Idea Farm, back in business."
"Alright," Astrid said, plucking the key from Ruffnut's fingers. "As soon as I take out the guards, we split up, and get our dragons."
"What do I do?" Indi asked.
"Stand watch," Astrid said. "If you see any guards, take them out." Indi nodded, reaching into his pocket.
"Oh, Astrid," Indi said, depositing a dagger into her hand. "You left this on the island you washed up on."
"Thanks," Astrid said, accepting the dagger. "Once we have our dragons we blast our way out of here."
"Okay," Tuffnut said. "And go where?"
"Straight up, out of the range of those arrows," Astrid turned around and set her hands on the bars of the cage, the sound attracting the attention of Stormfly, who was now in a cage situated on the other side of the hall. Astrid shushed the blue dragon gently, before reaching through the bars, and unlocking the door. "Guards, Guards! I can't take it! I want to save my dragon!" A guards appeared at the end of the hall, and started walking down to the cell. "I'll tell Ryker what he wants to know." Astrid stepped back from the door, and when the guard was in front of the cell, she shoved it open, hitting the man in the head. Quickly, she pulled it shut, and another guard came from the other side of the hall, only to be carried up to the ceiling by the door as it swung open a second time.
Okay, one last thing," Astrid said. "If this is like the other dragon hunter ship, there could be booby traps anywhere. So be careful."
"Oh, great," Tuffnut said. "Now she tells us."
"See you up there," Fishlegs said, pointing up.
"He means up in the sky, right?" Tuffnut asked. "Not Valhalla?"
"Not sure," Ruffnut replied. "Let's ask 'im. Oh, he's gone."
Indi stuck with Astrid as the blonde went to get her dragon.
"Stormfly!" she cried as she dashed over to the blue bird-like dragon, who lowered her head and nuzzled her rider.
Suddenly, Indi heard a rough voice shout from the other side of the hall. "Hey!" A guard started to run down the hall, removing a single-bladed axe from a sleeve on his back. Suppressing a guttural growl, Indi glanced at Astrid, then charged the man, tackling him out of the doorway, and into another hall. Heather's voice came from Stormfly's cell, but it barely registered in Indi's mind, as two more guards came to the aid of the first one Indi was currently engaging in combat.
Soon he was escorted out to the main deck of the ship. All the way, he was mentally punching him for leaving his concealed swords in with his stuff in his ship. Normally, he would morph and start tearing people apart, but since there was a chance for injury to the dragon riders (he was on a wooden boat, and they did not have access to their dragons), he refrained from doing so. Soon, he was on the deck with Fishlegs and the Thorston twins.
"Did I, or did I not warn you about them?" Dagur said to Ryker from their places on the ships balcony that overlooked the main deck. "They never quit. Annoying…"
Astrid walked up behind the group of recaptured riders, escorted by Heather, who walked up to
"Ryker, Rykey, Ryker Man," Dagur continued. "Can we please just work together on this? You know dragons; I know dragon riders."
"And?"
"Send a message: throw one over the side." Dagur began to laugh as if someone had told a joke. "It'll be so fun!" Astrid, Fishlegs, and Indi glared up at him, while the twins simply watched with wide eyes and dumbfounded expressions.
"And excellent idea," Heather said, coming to stand on the other side of Ryker, opposite from her brother. "Unless, of course, Viggo might want to question them personally about the Dragon Eye?" Dagur looked around Ryker at his sister with a confused and bewildered expression, while Ryker himself seemed interested. "I have a better idea: why not put them to work?"
Tuffnut was the first to say something, raising his hand. "I'd prefer to go overboard." His sister "Mhmm"-ed in agreement.
"Split them up so they can't plot any more escapes," Heather continued. "And make them serve you, as their dragon's sake."
"Y'know," Ryker said. "I like tha' idea. Put 'em to work! For the next one who tries to escape goes over the side." A guard walked in front of the group, aiming a crossbow at the prisoners. The group was walked off. Indi was having a hard time controlling himself; he was seriously tempted to transform just to eat Ryker's arm. And maybe his foot.
He was handed a broom, and began to sweep the deck of the ship. He caught the guard smirking at him, and wanted to drop him in a lake with a hungry mosasaur.
Soon, after hearing Astrid and Tuffnut argue about the advantages of having an axe in a fight, in which Tuffnut brought up stuff about a mace and eye that could shoot fire, a guard shouted.
"Dragons, sighted off the starboard bow, with riders!" Indi looked up, and sure enough, the four escapees knows as Hiccup, Toothless, Snotlout, and Hookfang were flying in towards the ship.
Ryker ordered his men to load the catapults, and archers to be ready. Both dragons dove, and Indi watched as the archers aimed their arrows at them.
The archers released their arrows. Indi waited for the dragons to fall to the water. He noticed that they did not fall, despite receiving several direct shots.
Using his advanced vision, what Indi saw was confirmed by Dagur. "They're wearing some sort of dragon armor." Two ballistae behind him were promptly shot by Toothless' blasts.
"Now or never," Astrid muttered, and she, Tuffnut, and Indi all attacked the guards with their brooms. Tuffnut immediately started to smack a guard around with a broom, yelling "I! Hate! Cleaning!" The guard was smacked overboard into the water. "A lot, as you can see!"
As Astrid clocked a guard upside the head with her broom, three more guards joined the fight. "Yeah? Well looks like there's still a lot more cleaning up to do." Indi came beside them, matching Tuffnut's smirk. The three charged the dragon hunter guards with brooms, as Hookfang shot his sticky fire at two more. Toothless shot the side of the ship, rocking it. Snotlout and Hookfang shot at another ship, before regrouping back with Hiccup and Toothless. Astrid helped Tuffnut finish off another guard as Indi watched his broom get chopped in half by a guard's axe. Getting fed up with these jerks, Indi socked the man in the face, sending him overboard.
"Let's get our dragons," Astrid said. "C'mon, Indi!" Indi nodded before following the dragon riders into the hold, only to have heather drop down in front of them, brandishing her double-bladed staff. After a quick duel and getting her broom chopped in half, Astrid overwhelmed Heather with her two halves of the broken broomstick until the raven-haired female went over a fallen board.
Indi went about, running through the halls of the ship, releasing every dragon he could find in a cell. Though he didn't have a key, and the cage doors were surprisingly strong, he simply tore through the wooden walls.
Several large explosions shook the ship, knocking him off balance momentarily. Seeing that every dragon in the hold was free, he ran onto the deck of the ship, which was covered in a considerable amount of fire. He saw five dragons flying in tight formation, when a blue one with spikes broke from the group, and turned back to the ship.
"Let's go, Indi!" Astrid shouted.
"Wait, there's something I need to do!" he shouted back, before turning and running back into the burning hold. Now out of sight of the dragon riders, he transformed, before bursting from the deck of the ship. The flames lit him up like a demon from Hell, and he stalked forward, towards Dagur and Ryker.
He roared loudly, getting the attention of the other riders, who guided their dragon's back to the ship.
Turning back to the hunters, Indi slid back into the hole he made in the deck. Using his superior sense of smell, he located the scent of several guards through the smoke on the deck of the ship. He thrust his head through the boards, jaws agape, and grabbed the first hunter. He did this several times, before smashing through the lavers of wood until he found the bottom of the boat. Smashing through, he plunged into the water and transformed back to his human form, before climbing back up into the ship. He ran to the deck of the ship, and leapt over the side, praying someone would catch him.
A set of grey talons did close around him. Looking up, he saw that it was a blue dragon with the straps of a saddle on its body that had a hold of him. He saw Astrid reach down, and pull him onto the back of her dragon.
"Thanks," Indi said as Stormfly flew back to the rest of the dragons.
"Don't mention it," Astrid said, shooting him a smile.
The entire group turned from the burning ships, flying off. Hiccup pulled Toothless up next to Stormfly.
"Did I just see Dagur on that ship? Is he with the dragon hunters?"
"Not just Dagur!" Ruffnut shouted.
"Hiccup, we have a lot to talk about," Astrid said.
"Screaming Death armor," Fishlegs said, feeling Hookfang's armor. "Yeah, makes sense; thickest scales of any dragon."
Ruffnut whistled. "Excellent workmanship!"
"Eh, I don't know," Tuffnut said. "I'm a little surprised that you didn't use the lock stitch."
"Oh," Snotlout shot back. "I'll use it right now on your mouth."
Hey, did the trick," Hiccup said.
"And it looks heavy," Fishlegs added. "Maybe we should try a set made out of Gronkle Iron, now that I have the formula!"
"Well, we might need to do just that," Hiccup replied. "I'm pretty sure we haven't seen the last of the dragon hunters."
The entire group flew off, back to Dragon's Edge.