Dragon Hunters Hunting their Lover's Dragon Soul

(13) The Riders

A cell on Defenders of the Wing Island:

In a cell similar to the one they started out in, Astrid watched as the Twins and Snotlout descended into madness. 'Well, more madness than usual.' Astrid thought as she watched Tuffnut try to eat dirt.

"Ehg!" Tuffnut exclaimed as he scrapped off the soil with his similar dirty hands, making it worse. "No one try that! Seriously, it's terrible!"

"No duh! It's dirt Tuffnut! Dirt!" Fishlegs exclaimed, imprisonment got to him as well.

Tuffnut had his tong hung out of his mouth as he looked for something to clean off the dirt before his eyes widened and he turned to Ruffnut, who glared at him when she noticed. "No." She said before Tuffnut could even say anything.

"Come on!" Tuff said, somewhat mangled because of his tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Your hands are cleaner than mine!" He gestured to her hands with his dirty ones.

"Cause I'm not dumb like you! And unlike you, I would like to keep mine clean!" Ruff yelled, roughly pointing in Tuffnut's direction as she spoke.

"You didn't seem to mind when-"

"Even if I didn't then, I wouldn't and don't want to dirty my hands with your mud-filled mouth!" Tuffnut's mouth did look to be filled with mud instead of dirt, his saliva mixed with it.

Tuffnut slumped for a moment, then he looked up with a gleam that had Ruffnut backing up before a mud spitball landed on her shirt, then another, and another. She looked from her ruined shirt to Tuffnut who looked to be swishing water in his mouth before he spit another mud spitball onto Ruffnut's shirt. He opened his mouth and no mud or dirt was left in his mouth. Astrid, Snotlout, and Fishlegs sat frozen looking at Tuffnut in shock; their mouths dropped open, eyes popped out, and silent kind of frozen. It was a silent few moments, Ruffnut was deathly quiet and Tuffnut had his tongue out trying to see if there was more dirt. "He's going to die." Snotlout muttered.

Astrid and Fishlegs could only nod, their mouths slowly closed. "Well, at least we'll have some entertainment." Snotlout leaned forward, elbows on his knees and head in his hand.

As if in a gladiator in an arena Ruffnut let out an animalistic war cry and rushed Tuffnut, slamming him to the ground. What proceeded was- in Snotlout's terms- prime entertainment. Before they hit the ground Ruffnut punched Tuffnut's face, leaving a dark red mark that would develop into a blackish purple bruise. She continued to throw similar punches, grunting as each one left similar, dark red splotches. The onlookers found it to be more terrifying than Ruffnut's usual yelling. Tuffnut raised his arms protectively over his face, desperately looking for an opening as blows rained on his aching arms. The pain only grew as time went on. Only as Ruffnut started to slow- her punches no less powerful, could Tuffnut finally seize advantage of an opening.

He reversed their rolls by flinging Ruffnut off him and quickly pinned her to the ground. Not a word was said as Tuffnut held Ruffnut down. Astrid and Fishlegs had a relieved look on their faces, Snotlout's face showed disappointment, and the twins stared at each other with their chests heaving for breath; Tuffnut's arms quickly purpling to an array of dark blotchy bruises and Ruffnut much dirtier than before.

That silence lasted for a moment before Tuffnut started raining down punches on Ruffnut exactly like Ruffnut had done to him. A repeat of the moments earlier played out before the other three's eyes, staring almost uncomprehending at the sight before. Ruffnut, tired out from her own explosion got a few more hits to the face and perhaps a broken nose, the onlookers flinching at the crack, before raising her arms to shield it. It was not long before Ruffnut sported her own red marks that would soon look like Tuffnut's. It was only because of his own pain and exhaustion that Tuffnut stopped. Breathing heavier than before he weakly pushed himself away from Ruffnut, landing in the dirt beside her with his arms spread weakly at his sides. One of her arms soon hit him in the face as she spread her arms away from her once she realized his assault had stopped; he barely flinched.

The silence bounced off the walls, none of the riders wanting to break it... "Well now that they've gotten that out of their system, what do we do now?" Astrid says gloomily.

"Getting out of her, duh." Snotlout exaggerated his statement with an eye roll.

"And how do you figure we do that, Snoutlout? Cause I've been thinking of exactly that since the moment we were put here and I've come up with nothing. Nothing! We're under a thick layer of dirt with the only opening being the bared skylight they've so graciously given us, which is also the only way out!" Astrid stalked towards Snotlout, her hands gesturing about each thing she complained about.

Snotlout's eyes widened as he scrambled from his seat in his fear, his feet backed up with every step Astrid took. She wasn't done, no, in fact, her steps quickened as her rant continued.

"We have tried to loosen the bars by all of us dangling, swinging, and pulling on it! We have tried digging through the dirt, leaving us dirty, tired, and frustrated! We have tried manipulating the guards with trickery, bribery, and threats but only gave us embarrassment! Really Snotlout! What brilliant plan do you have for us to try next!?" By this point, Snotlout, who had backed up into a dirt wall and desperately tried to lean away from Astrid as she got up in his face, looked to be praying to any god that would listen to get him out of his situation.

He was saved from Astrid's wrath by the clanging that echoed off the metal bars. All eyes whirled around to Throk, his sword positioned over the bars with a smirk on his face. "As much fun as watching this has been, the Queen wishes to meet you. Answer all her questions honestly and to the best of your ability, the little that you have and you may find yourselves out of that pit." The riders could only stare on, stupefied as Throk barked to have them chained and taken to Queen Mala.

Very quickly would Snotlout wish that all he had to face was Astrid's wrath.

(I'm so sorry it took me this long to post this subpar chapter. I was and still am going through quite a bit of writer's block and productiveness. As I've been writing this, I should be completing the summer homework I have that is due in less than two days... hahahahahaha.... I'm completely fine)