The Rider

Two

Toothless glanced over at Stormfly, warbling so soft it was the equivalent of a dragon whispering. Stormfly responded with a quiet chirp while she shuffled her wings from habit. Gold and soft green irises followed the speeding Whistlewing that was zipping by down below.

While they were watching like kittens watching a toy, their respective riders had no clue as to what they were seeing. Toothless's attentive eyes focused on a thing seated on the base of the neck of the Whistlewing. When the dragon flew up to hover over a sea stack, his sharp eyes focused on it intently before he realized that it was a rider. Toothless rumbled to Stormfly about this before bouncing across the sea stack to get Hiccup.

The two Dragon Riders were interrupted by a loudly braying Night Fury who seemed to be a little excited about something. Major sarcasm. 

"What is it, bud?" Hiccup asked worriedly, glancing about for anything out of the ordinary. Seeing nothing strange, he furrowed his brow together. "Toothless, did something happen?" Toothless rolled his eyes before snatching Hiccup's prosthetic leg in his mouth and dragging him along with him, eliciting a grunt of surprise from his rider. Unlike last time when Toothless did this, Hiccup was still attached to said prosthetic, and received a mouthful of dirt. Astrid chased after the dragon and her friend, a question forming on her lips before disappearing when she saw what Toothless had been so ecstatic about. 

"Guh! Toothless, you know that isn't funny! Forget about that treat tonight! I-" Hiccup would have continued on but Toothless nudged him to face a sea stack that wasn't that far away. Hiccup frowned and squinted, catching sight of a rider sitting next to a rock face. "Is that what I think it is?"

Astrid didn't move her eyes from the lone figure seated on the sea stack. "One rider? Yep." She watched the rider warily, even though they were yet to move.

"Without their dragon?" Hiccup asked confusedly, climbing onto Toothless and clipping his prosthetic into the pedal. "Astrid, follow me." 

Toothless waddled to the edge of the cliff and pushed off, gliding down without a single wing beat. Stormfly flew up next to them, keeping silent.

"Stay in back of the rider." Hiccup muttered to Astrid. She nodded and slowed down, as did Hiccup and Toothless. Go down there, bud."

Toothless landed, barely making a sound, and Hiccup dismounted. "You're the Whistlewing rider, aren't you?" Hiccup asked, causing the rider ahead to flinch and whip their head around. Standing up, the figure immediately stood still as if they could turn invisible if they did. Stormfly landed, squawking as she did, with Astrid choosing to remain in the saddle. 

Unbeknownst to the two Dragon Riders, a dragon had been sleeping in the shadows provided by the stones, and woke up. Choosing to stay out of sight, the dragon unrolled from its ball and crouched, watching in silence the things that were happening.

When the rider didn't respond, Hiccup tried a different question. "Where is your dragon? Tell it to come out." 

The rider began to whistle softly, prompting the Whistlewing to stay sharp. "She's actually over there." The rider said, pointing behind them. Astrid and Hiccup exchanged glances, and that was all the rider needed to tip backwards and fall off the cliff. When the rider fell, the Whistlewing slipped out of the shadows and startled Stormfly, who chirped and fired at the dragon, eliciting a hiss from the dragon as it dove off the cliff after its rider. 

"Where'd she go? And why do I feel like I've heard her before?" Astrid asked Hiccup, who was just about to ask the same question. Hiccup shrugged.

A shrill whistle filled the air and echoed off the sea stacks, the Whistlewing speeding away below without a rider. Hiccup raced to the edge(see what i did there? its awful) and looked in amazement. "Wha...how...where was that dragon hiding?" Hiccup sputtered, his arms flailing. "Toothless, let's track them down!"