Dragon Hunters Hunting their Lover's Dragon Soul

(4)Subtle Differences

3rd P.O.V

    It was a few hours after Hiccup and the Riders woke up, and Hiccup has been trying not to lose what little sanity he has left. The Riders were bickering and yelling like children and he doesn't want to give them the satisfaction of driving him to insanity, they already destroyed the rest.

   The gods must have realized the state of Hiccup's sanity and deemed him important enough to send someone to drag them out of the hole and to their trial. Of course, the rest of the Riders started bickering and arguing with the people currently dragging them. Everyone else, including Hiccup, was dearly wishing for someone to take initiative and demand someone gag them. Hiccup thought it would be funny to watch considering he knew the riders would just get louder, screaming themselves hoarse. 'Maybe they will even lose their voices?' He thought dreamily. It was an extra barrier from the Riders bossing him around, like leading them is easy. 

   The Villagers seemed to have extreme patience when it comes to delivering prisoners; they didn't stop or turn around once, barely even slowed down from the rest of the Rider's struggling. Hiccup thanked god for their patience as it meant the group reached the destination in no time. Which, to his disappointment, turned out to be another bigger hole in a cave. He noted blandly there were bones on the ground, human-looking ones. It was then Mala and Throk came up behind them, startling the Riders. 

   Mala, the obvious leader, walked with superiority and grace with her presence commanding the attention of everyone in the vicinity. Even the riders quieted to hear what she's come to say. "If you are dragon slavers instead of the dragon trainers you say you are. If you truly are dragon trainers then you will be able to pass the dragons in this cave's judgment. If you succeed you will gain our respect and hospitality. If you fail you will die. You will do this individually." The riders glanced uneasily at each other, Hiccup had the sudden thought they should be weary, "You may choose who goes first." At that, they all looked at Hiccup.

    Hiccup knows he's the best, but it didn't make any difference in the long run, and not one of them even attempted to argue about going individually. They didn't even know what dragon lived down there, it could be some unknown, maybe untrainable dragon and they'd just thrown him to his death. No one demanded or asked to go in his place. The place of their leader and future chief, the very person that brought the group together, made riding and bonding with dragons possible and stopped the endless war between dragons and vikings. What loyal 'friends' he has.

    With a mental sigh, he walked forward, only to be held still. Confused he shot a look at Mala, her smile could only be described as impish. 'This is very different from her previous impassiveness towards us besides the whole enslaving dragons thing... What changed in such a short time..?' Hiccup thought before focusing on what Mala was saying. "Who said I was talking to you? Throk, you may choose now." It was then the riders knew they were truly in trouble, there was no way they would pick Hiccup first from the way they acted.

    Throk walked up and looked each of them in the eye,  seeming to be assessing their very soul before he locked his eyes onto Snotlout and simply said, "Him." Snotlout immediately started struggling, trying with all his might to get loose.

    The rest of the riders all tried the same thing, Hiccup admittedly did half-heartedly. He can't have anyone saying that he did nothing, they all think he's weak anyway, his body being just limbal enough to be able to fight but not any stronger than the strength blacksmithing and inventing needs. At least what they think is needed. 

    In the end, Snotlout ended up in the hole with his hands tied and his feet stepping on the bones littering the ground beneath him. He was clearly terrified and was trying to relieve the tension by talking. "Real funny queenie. There aren't really any dangerous dragons down here.*Nervous laugh*, Right? Right!?" Was yelled up at the end.

   Mala looked to be turning her nose up at him, staring him down, still standing imperiously. "I suppose you'll find that out for yourself." Was stated calmly. 

    "And you would do well to state our Queen's name correctly and respectfully, you may find yourself some sympathy." Mala had to keep herself from smirking at Throk's comment, it was a lie but could be funny to watch the result.

    Just as Snotlout opened his mouth to say something stupid, a roaring like hiss came from within the cave. What followed was a hilarious play of Snotlout using every polite and respectful bone in his body to plead with Mala with as much calm as he could manage at the moment. He even turned his back on the entrance of the cave to bow at his waist, with one knee on the ground, even with both knees on the ground and face to the floor when the hissing and barking started getting close. From the sounds, the dragon was closing in fast and everyone knew it too. 

   Only when the Dragon sounded like it was at the entrance did Snotlout stop his pleading and faced the entrance wearily, but clearly ready to fight if it came down to it. It wasn't a second too soon as right after he turned around speedsters came into view and Snotlout's face drained of all color. Every rider but Hiccup followed his example. The reason Hiccup wasn't scared? He was stealthily cutting his restraints, the restraints being made out of rope helped, and was almost free and had a clear shot to the cave to get the speedstingers attention onto him. He had the best shot of calming the dragons down. Snotlout would open his big fat mouth and get himself killed. 'I hope to god Snotlout keeps quiet and tries to find a way out.' With that last thought, the binds broke and Hiccup elbowed his captor in the stomach and bolted to the cave. He dodged tackles, side-stepped punches and fast-reaching hands with caging arms, and finally dived into the cave underneath Throk's arm in an attempt at catching him by the stomach.

    When landing safely into the cave, the noise of bones crunching beneath Hiccup as he rolled onto them drew the speedstingers attention to him. He did stop the speedstingers from attacking Snotlout because now they were ready to attack him. "Oh great..." The dragons hissed at him.

"Hey, h-hey... I'm not the enemy here..." More snarling followed. 

    Hiccup kept his eyes on the dragons' snouts and put his hands out, a submissive stance for humans. It caused the speedstingers to slow, still agitated and wary, but curious. Just what he wanted. They weren't in the close range required to actually smell a human's intentions through their scent, it was why toothless was still wary of him until he had his hand pressed against his snout. The action of looking away from him was what gained his willingness to touch his hand. It was why it worked on the other dragons, except now Hiccup's not suicidal enough to look away while doing it to any other dragon. 

   They were getting closer, slowing down as they picked up hints of his emotions, his intentions. The stingers were lowered, just slightly, but still progress. Hiccup lowered his eyes more as they got closer, showing submission in the face of them in their territory. They were getting closer to his hands, one speedstinger for each hand, as even with their caution speedstingers are built for speed. It worked in his favor for as soon as he can calm the dragons down the better it will be for him. 'Please no one do anything stupid that would agitate them further.' Hiccup prayed as the dragons were only a couple inches away from his hands.

    It seems his prayers were answered as only seconds later the Speedstingers' snouts were pressed in each hand, both taking a deep breath and almost instantly calming down. As they backed away from him, the moment Hiccup didn't realize encompassed the room passed. Looking up at everyone on the ledge showed faces glazed over with shock, mouths have dropped open with eyes bulging out of their sockets; Hiccup doesn't know when this happened but he does have a guess. Even Mala and Throk had wide eyes in the face of Hiccup standing before them with supposed aggressive speedstingers flanking him on either side, eyes looking up and staring down their own with defiance splashing against those forest-colored eyes, somehow looking down on all of them even though they're several feet above. Giving off the aura of an otherworldly being, too divine to look at, the villagers, Mala, and Throk were all mystified.

    The riders however were slack with shock at this... Figure. For there was no way in their minds that this being was Hiccup. Hiccup was well... A hiccup; too weak to stand, too small to fight, too stubborn to go away... An overall helpless person in the immediate face of danger while on their own. This, whoever this was... Was no hiccup.

(Sorry for not updating for so long. I was just feeling tired all the time for no reason, homework was a bitch to do on its own, and it result in me having completely no motivation. I'll try to do better but... No promises.)