Within a matter of hours, myself and the Dragon Riders were on our way to the island where the Flightmare was currently. Since we were short on time, introductions were sparse. The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut looked about what I expected them to. Almost exactly alike, and no discernable gender traits. The only way I could tell them apart was the male twin, tuffnut, having his hair styled into dreadlocks. Their dragon, a Zippleback, was fairly unremarkable as far as the species goes.
The stocky Gronckle rider, Fishlegs, was about the same. Unremarkable in a crowd, but he had already shown just how smart he was. His dragon, Meatlug, was actually a lot more muscular and lithe than other Gronckles. I think that was because he took great care in what minerals to feed her. Still, that doesn't mean much. Gronckles are still fat and ugly as far as dragons go, this one is hardly any different. I decided to keep my thoughts on the matter to myself.
Finally, Snotlout and his Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang. He was the same blowhard idiot he was in the show. Short and stocky, more so than Fishlegs, but he had musculature. He immediately tried to establish some manner of dominance over me when he learnt that I was friends with Heather. He definitely had an inflated view of himself. His dragon was fairly standard as far as Nightmare's went, aside from the crooked fangs, which I assume is where the name comes from.
"I have to say Mr Seth, you and Heather did a remarkable job tracking and mapping the Flightmare's trail." Fishlegs told me as he hovered his dragon closer to mine, the map Heather had provided of the Flightmare's path in his hand.
"Just Seth is fine, Fishlegs." I told him, my voice slightly muffled by my mask, but still audible. "And thank you. That map took months to chart out." I went on.
"Uhm, can we just talk about the elephant in the sky for a moment?" Tuffnut spoke up.
"No." Hiccup responded dully, knowing he'd get ignored.
"Cool." Tuffnut responded, ignoring him as predicted. "Why do we think Viggo wants the Flightmare so badly?" He asked.
"Well, the algae can be used for tracking." I answered.
"Really?" Hiccup asked, turning to face.
"Yep." I nodded. "Drizzle it on the ground, and it'll show faded footprints. Also, the paralysing spray would be good for trapping some of the more agile or temperamental dragons." I said thoughtfully.
"How about we ask him ourselves?" Astrid suggested. "You know, if we get there before him." She rolled her eyes, picking up speed and flying on ahead as the island came into view.
The rest of us followed suit. Within a few minutes, we'd all landed on a cliff, overlooking most of the island. It wasn't hard to spot the Flightmare from where we were. The glow was fairly distinctive.
"So, what's the plan for making sure Viggo doesn't get that dragon?" I asked Hiccup as he approached the cliff, looking down at the Flightmare, who was slurping up the algae from the lake running through the island.
"When will Viggo get here, that's my question." Fishlegs chimed in.
"He's here." I said, pointing in the distance. Sure enough, in the distance, a single ship approached, one bearing the crest of the Dragon Hunters. A small one, definitely good for two people and a dragon.
"Alright, Ruff, Tuff…" Hiccup pulled an empty sack out of his satchel. "Remember, gather enough algae to-"
"Lure the Flightmare away." Tuffnut cut him off, finishing his sentence. "Lure the Flightmare, don't eat the algae." he mimicked Hiccups voice as he grabbed the sack.
"Ridiculous, why would we eat the algae?" Ruffnut asked with a scoff, crossing her arms. Then, after a pause, she and her brother shared a look and a smirk. "Why wouldn't we eat the algae?" They asked each other in unison. And with that, they mounted their dragon, and took off towards the Flightmare.
"Who's genius idea was it to give those two a dragon?" I asked, pointing at the area they were just standing.
"Uh, mine." Hiccup responded with a sigh.
"Uh, Hiccup? You might want to see this." Astrid called out, catching his attention. Sure enough, in the direction she was facing, several ships, all bearing the crest of the Dragon Hunters, were approaching the island.
"Yep, that seems about right." I said with a sigh.
"Hiccup, over here too." Fishlegs called out from the other side of the cliff. More ships were inbound from that direction, and more from just about every other direction as well.
"We're surrounded." I said, my eyes narrow. That's exactly the kind of move Viggo would pull.
"I don't understand, I thought Viggo and Heather were coming alone!" Snotlout exclaimed.
"That's what Heather said, but it looks like Seth was right, this was a trap." Hiccup said, his fist clenching. "Heather and Viggo might not even be here at all."
"Incoming!" I yelled as three, massive flaming boulders soared through the air from the catapults on the ships, right towards our location.
Without wasting a second, we all mounted our respective dragons and took off, narrowly avoiding the boulders. Arrow, who was perched on my shoulders, let out a frightened cry at the sound of the boulders' impact, curling closer to me. Now that we were up in the air, we were visible for the archers to fire upon. We all had to take very good care not to be hit by those Dragon Root arrows. There were also several bolas and more boulders being flung at us amongst all the projectiles.
"If I recall correctly, a retreat is in order, no?" I asked Hiccup as we both dodged another boulder.
"Not without Heather and the Flightmare." He told me. I nodded in agreement. Right as he finished his sentence, the twins flew right past us, covered in Flightmare Algae, and screaming in terror as they were chased by the Flightmare itself.
"Speak of the devil…" I said wryly.
"Not the way I would have done it, but it's one way to go." Hiccup remarked as we dodged more arrows.
"Nightshade, thunderbolt." I instructed my dragon, pointing at the nearest ship. With a loud roar, Nightshade's body lit up with electricity, and she fired a massive bolt at the ship, tearing a hole right through the deck. No doubt it was taking on water at this point.
"BISHOP!" I heard Ryker's voice howl in rage from one of the lead ships.
"Old friend?" Hiccup asked dryly.
"More like a score to settle." I grinned in response, though he couldn't see it because of my mask. "I'll distract him, you guys try to get the Flightmare to safety." I told him. He nodded in response, and at my nudge, Nightshade dove towards Ryker's ship. As she neared the ship, she pulled up, just a metre or two above the deck, and I jumped right off of her back, landing on the deck in a crouch. I made sure to leave Arrow on Nightshade's back.
"Back off!" Ryker barked as several of his men aimed their bows at me. "He's mine." He snarled at me, brandishing both his swords. I had to smirk. I knew he'd want to kill me himself.
"Nice to see you again Rykie." I said mockingly, extending and brandishing my spear. "How long has it been? Six months I think?"
"Traitor!" He spat, as he swung his swords in my direction with expert precision.
I dodged the first blade and parried the second one with a swing of my spear. I dodged two more strikes and jabbed at him, using my weapon's superior reach to my advantage. He knocked my spear away and went for a downward strike of both swords. I immediately slid to the side, avoiding the attack, and swept my spear across his feet, knocking him to the ground.
I pulled my spear back and tossed it at the spot where Ryker was, but he was surprisingly quick for his size. He rolled out of the way easily and leapt right back onto his feet. With a snarl, he dashed right towards me, intent on filleting me. Right as he struck, I leapt under his blades, rolling to where my spear was embedded into the ground and pulled it out. Once again, Ryker and I were facing each other with our weapons in hand, ready to attack at a moment's notice.
"You know, I don't see what you're so upset about." I told him as we circled each other. "You never liked me. I thought you'd be happy I ran off. Does Viggo still comment on how much smarter I am than you?" I asked, still mocking him.
He snarled at me once again, and dashed, readying another downwards strike. This time, instead of dodging, I jabbed at him, forcing him to release most of his momentum and slid to the side before he tried to strike again. This made blocking the attack much easier than it would have been if I had just held still and blocked the initial attack. Still, Ryker was much taller than I was, not to mention stronger. Blocking that attack took quite a bit of effort, even more so as he tried to push me down.
Wasting no time, I kicked him right in the crotch, hard as I could. In the corner of my eye, I saw several of the Hunters cross their legs as they cringed. The universal male weakness: ball empathy. With Ryker hunched over in pain, I spun and delivered a hard hit to the side of his head with the body of my spear, sending him to the ground. Immediately after, I backstepped a good distance away from him.
As he got up with an angry growl, looking at me with more murderous intent than I've ever seen from him, we both got a bit of a surprise. A leather sack fell from the sky and popped open when it collided with the ground, spilling its contents everywhere. Contents being Flightmare Algae. I looked up, and sure enough, The Dragon Riders were tossing more sacks of the stuff to most of the lead ships. I could see the Flightmare flying right towards us, following the algae.
"OK, that is a terrible idea." I said with a sigh. Knowing what was about to happen, I let out a loud whistle, and raised my free hand. Seconds later, right as Ryker was about to attack my again, Nightshade flew right by, and I grabbed her tail, which she wrapped around my arm, being careful not to let her stinger touch me. Once she was satisfied with her altitude, she used her tail to bring me up back to the saddle. "Thanks girl." I said, patting the side of her head. She warbeld in response, flying up to join Hiccup where he was hovering. "So, who's idea was that?" I asked.
"Uh, the twins?" Hiccup responded nervously, no doubt sensing my disdain.
"You know they're going to capture him now right?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. I think he could feel my glare through the mask. "You know what, nevermind." I stopped him before he could respond. "At least this way, they're not firing at us, and we can rescue him at a later date. It was ill conceived, but probably the best option we have right now." I decided.
"Oh, uhm, thanks." He responded, surprised by my sudden change of attitude.
"Heather!" I suddenly called out as the girl in question flew from one of the ships towards us. "Alright there Heather?" I asked as she hovered alongside us.
"I'm alright Seth, but Viggo he…" She tried to finish her sentence, but couldn't find the right words. She was too angry with herself, and it ended with her sighing in defeat, bowing her head.
"Don't worry about it Heather." I told her.
"No, you told me this wouldn't work, and I didn't listen." She shot back, clenching her fist in self-loathing.
"There's nothing we can do about it now." Hiccup interrupted. "Viggo, where is he?" He asked.
"Still on his ship, I think." Heather pointed to the ship she'd just launched off of.
"We need to retreat. We can't help the Flightmare when we're outnumbered to this extent." I told them. Heather looked at me, then at the Flightmare. Sure enough, the Hunters were draping nets over it, and placing a specialised muzzle over its mouth. One of Viggo's designs, no doubt.
"Sorry, not going to happen." Heather responded, diving right towards the Flightmare.
"Heather!" I dove after her. Since Nightshade was faster than Windshear by significant margin, catching up to her was easy. The problem was the short distance. Heather and Windshear were already within range of the ship's nets and bolas before I caught up to her. A net was fired at her and Windshear, and there was no way i could have saved them both, so I made a quick decision. "Nights, grab Heather!" I shouted. In response, Nightshade pulled up just a little bit, flew right over Windshear, and grabbed Heather with her talons, mere seconds before the net enveloped Windshear.
"NO!" Heather screamed at the top of her lungs. "Windshear!" She cried as the Hunters surrounded the Razorwhip. "Seth Bishop! Get me down from here!" She raged at me.
"No can do, Heather." I said, gaining altitude as she continued to struggle against Nightshade's talons. Nightshade halted her ascent when we were level with the other Dragon Riders. "We have to retreat." I told Astrid as we all struggled to dodge the barrage of arrows and boulders from the ships.
"I agree. Everyone, retreat!" She called out to all the Dragon Riders, who obeyed. I followed suit. We all fled over the island to the other side, which would protect us from their fire. All the while, Heather was protesting and struggling in Nightshade's grip. I was tempted to just have Nightshade Tail Strike her, but that would have made her more made at me than she already was, so I decided to just let her vent.
Moments later, Astrid and I landed on the ship Hiccup was investigating, hoping to find Viggo. The others were keeping the Dragon Hunters distracted while we tried to salvage the situation. As soon as I hopped off of Nightshade, Heather, whom Nightshade had placed down on the ship before landing herself, approached me with an enraged look and tried to punch me in the face. I caught her fist with no trouble. Not that she would have hurt me that much. I was still wearing my mask.
"I know you're upset Heather, but-" I started before she cut me off.
"Upset? Upset doesn't even begin to describe it Seth." She hissed at me, angry tears streaming down her face.
"You made an impulsive decision, and I responded as best as I could. Had I done nothing, you would have been captured as well. Had I tried to rescue Windshear, Nightshade and I would have been captured along with you and Windshear. I went with the best possible option that was presented to me." I explained calmly, removing my mask. "If you're expecting an apology, you'll find yourself sorely disappointed." I said simply, looking her in the eye. She tried to maintain her glare, but I could see it in her eyes. She knew I was right. After a few seconds, all fight left her, and her shoulders slumped.
"So the Hunter's captured Windshear then." Hiccup deduced from our conversation. I nodded in response. "And the Flightmare?" He asked. I nodded once again. "And Viggo is nowhere to be seen." He sighed, rubbing his temples. "This guy isn't kidding around." he finally let out.
"No kidding." Astrid agreed.
"Our dragons may not be enough." Hiccup said, dread creeping into his tone.
"They definitely won't be enough." I told him, making him wince. "If you don't figure out a way to outsmart or outthink him, he'll defeat you every time." I said seriously. "Viggo's a game player, and if you can't meet him on equal grounds, then Windshear will definitely…" I stopped, seeing Heather's shoulders start to tense. Probably better I not say it out loud anyway. "Well, you know." I said to Hiccup, who got the message.
He just growled and rubbed his temples again. "How did he do it? How did he get away with both Windshear and the Flightmare?" he asked.
"I don't even want to think about what he's going to do to Windshear." Heather chimed in, wiping her tears away.
"Not to mention the Flightmare." Astrid added. At that point, the remaining Dragon Riders all landed on the ship with us.
"Everything alright on your end?" Hiccup asked Fishlegs.
"No. They all got away." The stocky rider said, dismounting his dragon. "The fog is incredibly thick. They used it as cover and just vanished." he reported.
"I should have left when you told me to Seth. This wouldn't have happened otherwise." Heather said, sighing.
"You did a good thing Heather." I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Viggo's operations are getting far too brutal for even me to abide anymore. Yes, this mission failed, but there will be other opportunities, and we will get Windshear back, OK? I promise." I said, hugging her. She lethargically returned the hug. At this point, Arrow, who was still on Nightshade's back, let out a cry and jumped into my arms, forcing me to separate from Heather. He was shaking like a leaf.
"Is the little guy OK?" Heather asked, looking at the infant curling in my arms, trying to be as close to me as possible.
"I think he's just a little shaken." I responded, petting him. "I wasn't ecstatic about bringing him into a fight, but I didn't have much of a choice." I said, bringing Arrow up to my shoulders. He immediately curled around me, still shaking a little, but glad to be close to me. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Hey, it could be worse, we could have brought the Dragon Eye with us." Tuffnut piped in, still covered in Flightmare Algae. His sister jabbed him with her elbow in response to his statement.
"How did you know I didn't bring the Dragon Eye?" Hiccup asked him with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.
"How did I know you didn't bring the Dragon Eye?" Tuffnut repeated with a sheepish grin, making his sister jab him again.
"Yeah, OK, you're right, I didn't bring it." Hiccup admitted.
"Thank Thor." Astrid responded.
"Oh no…" I said out loud as a thought crept into my head.
"Oh no!? What oh no?!" Snotlout demanded of me from his dragon's back.
"Seth?" Hiccup asked, his nervousness showing.
"Well, you didn't bring the Dragon Eye, right?" I asked.
"I did not." He confirmed.
"Where exactly is it then?" I asked. His eyes widened as he realised where I was going with this.
"Oh no…" He said.
"What oh no?!" Snotlout demanded again.
"The Dragon Eye…" Heather whispered, also realising where we were going. "You left it on the Edge, didn't you?" She asked.
"Completely unguarded." Hiccup responded, mounting Toothless. We all followed suit, mounting our Dragons and taking off. Heather rode with Astrid.
So, Dragon's Edge was actually a pretty nice looking island. Plenty of space for habitation, both Dragon and human, plenty of fresh water, and the position of the buildings made them easily defendable, and difficult to get to without a dragon. Unfortunately, my first visit to the place found it completely trashed and overturned. As I suspected, the Dragon Hunters raided the place in search of that artefact.
"I feel so violated." Fishlegs said with a shiver as he looked over the mess the Hunters had made.
"This is the last part of Viggo's plan." Hiccup said, crossing his arms.
"Definitely. This move has Viggo's name written all over it." I agreed, removing my mask.
"Lure us away so his Hunters can raid the place and steal the Dragon Eye. Perfect." Snotlout kicked a stray piece of wood away.
"How did I not see that?" Hiccup asked aloud, cursing himself as he ran towards one of the huts, the highest one, closest to the clubhouse in the centre. It was probably where he slept. Sure enough, it was just as wrecked as the rest of the place, with blacksmithing tools and various other objects littered across the place. He immediately kneeled in front of an overturned chest, and brought it upright, examining the remaining contents. "It's gone, they got it." he said with a defeated sigh, standing up.
"Are you sure you put it away after you got it back from the twins?" Snotlout asked.
"Got it back from the twins?" Hiccup repeated, confused. "What are you talking about?" He asked.
Snotlout and the twins proceeded to lead us to a surprisingly large and fairly well-hidden cave that the three of them apparently used as a hangout spot. Like the rest of the island, it was absolutely wrecked. Barrels, chairs, stools, tables, and everything in between was scattered everywhere. This was probably the worst looking area on the whole island.
"They really did a number on this place, didn't they?" I remarked, seeing the state.
"Actually, this is pretty much how we left it." Snotlout responded.
"Except, I don't remember that sword being there!" Tuffnut exclaimed dramatically, pointing. The sword in question was impaled through an apple that was lodged in the mouth of a stuffed yak.
"No, no, no, we were playing Pirates vs Vikings, remember?" Snotlout asked the male twin, who looked thoughtful. "Bjorn was the Pirate Captain." He said, nudging the twin.
"Bjorn?" I mouthed in confusion.
"Oh right!" Tuffnut laughed. "That is one good game." He said with a grin. "Yeah, this is pretty much how we left it." He said, approaching a pile of broken barrels.
"What does it say about these two that this cave is in worse condition than the rest of the Edge, even after the place was literally raided by Dragon Hunters?" I asked, utterly baffled.
"I know what you mean." Hiccup sighed as Tuffnut pulled out a cylindrical contraption from the pile of junk. It was covered with some kind of oily substance, with feathers sticking to it. "What on Earth is on there?" Hiccup asked, disgusted.
"Boar rind grease. Don't worry, it'll buff right out." Tuffnut said, spitting on the Dragon Eye and rubbing it on his sister's back, who didn't seem to care. Not that it helped. The stains were still there. "Well, it takes a couple of tries." he grinned sheepishly, handing the object over to Hiccup, who picked it up carefully.
"I can't believe you just took it without telling me." He sighed with frustration. "You know all you had to do was ask and you could have used it. It belongs to all of us." He told them, clearly annoyed.
"I'm just glad they didn't get it." Heather said with a sigh.
"Heather's right, you know." Ruffnut piped up. "It seems to me that if I hadn't vacated the Dragon Eye from your oh so brilliant hiding place, we'd be having a very difficult conversation." She said smugly. Hiccup just rolled his eyes in response and left the cave.
I noticed Heather still seemed down. I suppose that's to be expected. Viggo still had Windshear in his clutches, and I hadn't exactly been subtle about who set that chain of events into motion. I've never been the type to withhold what I was thinking. My abruptness is probably one of my more prominent flaws. I probably could have been a bit gentler back there, but we had just come out of a battlefield, so I'm thinking I could be forgiven for it. Still though…
Approaching her, I pulled Arrow off of my shoulders and held him up close to her, surprising her. Being quite intelligent and surprisingly empathic, Arrow could tell she was upset and cooed at her, licking her face affectionately, getting some light giggles out of her. Using his wings, he pulled himself out of my grip and leapt into her arms, cuddling into her chest with an affectionate purr. It may not have cheered her up completely, but it made her smile a little bit.
"You doing alright?" I asked gently.
"I'm just worried about Windshear." She said with a deep sigh as she and I left the cave. I noticed she held Arrow closer to her chest. The little guy was definitely a great emotional support animal.
"Viggo knows we'll be coming for her and the Flightmare sooner or later. I highly doubt he'll hurt her knowing that." I assured her. "We'll get her back." I promised her. She allowed for a shaky nod, still hugging Arrow, who was happy to return the affection.
"I hope you're right Seth." Hiccup, who'd probably just heard the last part of our conversation, said as he and Astrid exited the cave together.
"So what's the plan?" Heather asked.
"I don't really have anything going on in my head right now." Hiccup said with a deep sigh. "I let this happen. I put you and Windshear in that position Heather, I risked the Dragon Eye being taken, and I fell for Viggo's ploy." He groaned with his hands on his temples. "This is a mess. Viggo has one of our dragons, and he knows we won't just leave her there." He shook his head. Toothless, sensing his rider's emotions, approached Hiccup and nuzzled his hand comfortingly.
"I certainly wouldn't." I said, looking over at Nightshade, who was laying down nearby. Far enough that she wasn't interacting with the other dragons, but close enough to be in hearing and seeing range. I could tell her eyes weren't really closed. Being slow to trust new people, she wanted to keep a close eye on me while we were here.
"We won't either." Astrid assured me, and Heather as well I'd say, as the other riders approached.
"We can get the A Team from Berk, load up whatever weapons we can, and go in, dragons blazing." Fishlegs said with a wide grin and a raised fist. Meatlug started wagging her tail in excitement, psyching herself up alongside her rider.
"Can I bring Macey? She's been begging to come along on a mission." Tuffnut gave a deranged grin.
"I'd advise against that strategy." I said warningly.
"Why, you got something against maces?" Tuffnut gave me a stink eye.
"I was talking about the 'dragons blazing' idea." I said dryly, shaking my head.
"Seth's right." Hiccup agreed. "I mean, think about it. We do what we do pretty well. We're a pretty smart group. We're fast, fearless, and we ride dragons." He slammed his fist into his hand. "But Viggo just manipulated us like we're a bunch of inexperienced little kids." He reminded them.
"If you want to beat Viggo, rushing in 'dragons blazing' is not an option." I told them all. "That's almost certain to get someone killed, very likely Windshear or the Flightmare." I noticed Heather wincing at my words.
"So you're suggesting we just leave Viggo to hunt and hurt dragons at will?" Astrid demanded of me.
"If hunting was all he was doing, that's exactly what I would do." I responded, completely serious. Everybody looked quite surprised to hear that.
"So you want to do nothing?" She asked incredulously. "Hiccup, are you listening to this?" She asked the Fury rider, pointing at me.
"What I think Seth is trying to say is that we need to do the right thing, and that doing so is going to take some thinking." Hiccup told her, trying to assuage her looming aggression.
"More than a little." I said with a sigh, wondering just how this whole situation was going to go.