"Fishlegs!" Hiccup screamed over the wind. "That ship! Lets get in close." He leaned forward in the saddle and urged Toothless into a dive, plummeting towards the sea. The night fury screeched in a high pitch noise as he neared the vessel as it lazily bobbed on the water.
They maneuvered right next to the boat where Hiccup could clearly see the large white sail flapping in the wind. Two swords crossed through some sort of bat looking thing that had legs, and ears. This is the one. he thought as knots tied in his stomach.
Toothless landed right on the deck causing it to rock back and forth. Hiccup carefully scanned the ship pinching his eyebrows together, one hand resting on toothless's head who was growling. It was quiet. There was no one there. The ship had been abandoned. Fog began to circle around the ship as Meatlug and Fishlegs heavily landed behind them. Even they were quiet. Hiccup carefully dismounted scanning the boat. He could see a small set of stairs leading down underneath the ship.
"Hiccup, I don't like this." Fishlegs warrned.
"Yeah, me neither." He unsheathed the sword from his belt and crept foreword to the stairs. "Stay here bud." He told toothless who groaned and looked disappointed. Soon he could hear Fishlegs behind him nearly wheezing from fear. He heald his bow, an arrow set between his fingers ready to shoot. Below deck was quiet too. It wasn't very large. A hallway down the middle split a room to the left and room to the right. Each one had bunk beds, but there was nothing in them, completely abandoned.
At the end of the corridor, a wooden door remained shut. The two looked at each other before advancing carefully inching forward. Fish legs gulped and stepped behind Hiccup as gripped the swinging the entrance open, not making a sound.
A skinny man sat alone in the small room sitting behind a desk. His blonde hair was thin and wispy, like he never brushed it. His cheekbones were practically chiseled into his face they were so sharp. And his eyes were beady, switching back and forth between Hiccup and Fishlegs.
Fishlegs drew back his bow and aimed it steady for his chest. Before they could start asking questions he spoke up in a quiet, and whiney voice. His accent was strange, as if his words were constantly slurred.
"It's about time you showed." He nervously wrung his hands. Hiccup squinted at him like he was trying to find the rest of him. This is Leif? he thought. "I've been waiting for two days, like a dog." He spat out. "But it is what the mistress wanted."
"Are you Leif?" Hiccup Asked disbelief in his voice.
"It is commander Leif, to you." He glared.
"We are looking for your leader. A woman, dark hair, black eyes? Ring a bell?" Fishlegs lowered his bow.
"She knows your looking for her. And yes. It does , "ring a bell." He mocked, rubbing his boney fingers.
"Who is she? Where can we find her?" Hiccup stepped forward and tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.
"She's on Outcast island, the west shore. She's alone except for her ship crew. She wants a meeting with you, and is expecting you to come soon."
"Hiccup," Fishlegs quietly whispered to him. However Hiccup never took his eyes off of Leif. "He's lying, if we leave we'll never find her, or him again. We can't trust anything he says."
"I know." He replied, eyes still glued to Leif.
"What is her name, we need a name." He demanded frustration passing over his face.
"Mistress Victoria Auber." He said the name dreamily. It made Hiccup feel sick to his stomach, finally knowing who she was.
All of this is so strange. He thought. We finally tracked him down, but when we got here she knew we were coming, she left him alone, ungaurded, defenseless. Why? Why? Why? Then she says she's waiting for us on Outcast island to meet? What is this "Victoria Auber" playing at? This makes no sense. Also, why would she leave her "commander" here?
"If you think I'm lying, I'm not." Leif growled, breaking Hiccups concentration. " She is there, and she wants to meet you. Ill take you there myself." he offered.
"How stupid do you think we are?" Fishlegs stepped closer his face crushed with irritation.
"No he's right." Hiccup said to Fish's Surprise. "He will take us there." He folded his arms. "Have you ever met a night fury?" Leif gulped.
. . .
"Ahhhhhhh ha ahhhhhhh!" Leif's shrieking hadn't ceased since they took off from the boat. Toothless bent his head low to look at the screaming Viking pinched between his giant claws. Apparently he didn't take well to heights. Hiccup could've enjoyed it had they not been headed into a trap, or death, or both.
" I hope you have a plan!" Fishlegs nervously squirmed in his saddle. "We're not actually going to "talk" to her are we?"
"Oh we are." He nodded. "Then we're chaining her to meatlug and dragging her back to Berk to face viking trial." Anticipation of catching this monster, gave a rush of anticipation to them both. The dragons must have had the same feeling because their speed started increasing.
It was twilight by the time they reached outcast island. He knew this place well, he'd been stranded there once before. Expanding his spy glass he searched for any signs of large ships, or a fully navy, something that screamed "trap" but there was nothing. Leaning over the side of toothless he looked at Leif was green and moaning at this point.
"Did you say the west side?"
"yes." he wheezed.
"Fishelgs!" He called. "Circle the island to the right, I'll take the left. We need to make sure this isn't a trap!" With that the two split off in separate directions.
As hiccup maneuvered around the barren Island, he couldn't help but wonder, (if she was really there) why she would choose this place? It was so, empty, dark, and even a little creepy. As far as tricks went, he didn't see any, still he was on guard,
Thats when he saw the small Viking Boat anchored in the water on the west side, just where Leif said she'd be.
"Look-" Leif nearly vomited. "There it is."
"I see it." Toothless circled around it a few times, eyeing the men on board who were gaping at the dragon and his rider, as if he was giving them a show of his black scales and large wings. When they lowered near the water, toothless released Leif from his claws sending him straight into the water.
The massive dragon landed heavily on deck. Hiccup was expecting armed men experienced in dragon trapping, but instead he found fishers and sailors, who looked like they were going to pee their pants. they all stopped, one even dropped the mop he was holding, his face frozen in fear. It must have been intimidating seeing a dragon that large, teeth bared and snarling at every one of them. Looking at them like he could and would kill them if they even moved.
"Where is Victoria Auber?!" He demanded. Everyone stood still not moving. Toothless continued to growl, his spikes beginning to light up blue. "Tell me, and toothless here, won't eat you all alive." He bluffed. Internally he couldn't help but chuckle, they were completely falling for it.
Synchronistically, they all pointed towards the beach not to far away. Once he gave it a good look, he noticed an abandoned fishing boat grounded in the sand. He tugged on the saddle leaving the gullible fishermen behind.
The sun had just barely disappeared when they arrived. He didn't see anyone at first when he landed, dismounting toothless. Hiccup was in a hurry to get it over with. The beach was completely surrounded by steep cliffs, no shrubs or trees to be found, it was a completely open space. Where is she?
A flock of birds made his eyes follow towards the darkening sky. That's when he saw her. A figure standing at the top of the ridge. She stood dangerously close. Toothless and Hiccup scaled the cliff easily, passing right in front of her face, so close she could've brushed them with her nose. yet she stood like a statue. Toothless landed circling around her as Hiccup dismounted to face her. The nameless ghost who hurt Snotlout.
Her presence felt like a storm, heavy and chaotic. But as he studied her face, he realized something he was not prepared for. She was the villain in his dreams that had turned sleep into a nightmare. She was the face of his night terrors. How could that be? He'd never met her. He had spent that last few days thinking of every possible move she might try to play, all in his head. None of those scenarios prepared him for this. For a brief minute he froze.
"How's your friend. I assume you've found him by now." She said without emotion in her voice. She didn't actually care, she wanted to make a point, that she knew where it would hurt, and she would poke it. He didn't answer only took a few steps forward, caution written on his forehead. "He was such a headstrong viking, talking about how the dragon riders would prevail, blah, blah, blah." She gave a snort leaning on one hip. "I wasn't impressed then, I'm not impressed now." He took a few more steps, still not answering. "However, I've seen worse looking men." Still no expression on her face. By this point he was within arms reach. "I've never-"
With a cry hiccup had grabbed her by the arm and slammed her body into the ground. A sick smile spread across her face when he did this, not even phased. Never had Hiccup treated a woman this way, and it would be the last. However this was no Lady. This was a tyrant. She stared right back at him pleasure swirling around in her dark eyes.
"Toothless." He called. Within seconds he had attached her wrists to the saddle using a small, but strong chain. He stood back arms crossed glaring hard at her.
"Don't you want to interrogate me?"
"Not really." He cooly replied.
"I brought you here to talk."
"You want to talk? Fine. We'll "talk"" He unfolded his arms and used air quotations. "Except, I don't want to listen to ANYTHING you have to say. My friend may never ride a dragon again." He pointed to the ground. "I would think about what you have done Victoria. You have personally angered an entire fleet of Dragon Riders." He swept his hand through the air. "You have awakened something you can't control." He folded his arms. " I don't know what you have against us, and I don't care. This. Ends. Here." Fire lit in his green eyes, his chief heart, and dragon soul, burning through his words. For a moment, just a moment, fear made it's appearance in her cold stare. Just like that, it was gone again.
"You're wrong Hiccup Haddock." She said, but with much less confidence in her voice. "It has only just begun." He waved his hand and turned away untimidated until a dreadful thought entered his mind.
What if this is all just a distraction? She said she "brought" me here to talk. What if, that was all part of a plan to get me far away. Far away from what? The answer came like a cold wind, harsh and sudden.
Berk
"That's why you have no men with you, that's why we're all the way out here." He shook his pointer finger and then made a fist, turning his head away, closing his eyes. "You're planning an attack." He clenched his teeth. "How close are they?"
"They're there now. Or they better be." She mumbled under her breath. Hiccup had dealt with liars before. This woman, was not lying. "What are you going to do, Dragon Rider." She said the name like it was a curse. "You could take me with you, but that will slow you down. You could leave me here, but you'll never find me again." Hiccup snapped his head up and seethed.
That's when he smelled it. Dragon root gas. She had concealed a tiny canteen of it in her hands. She smiled as toothless began to slowly slump to the ground.
"no, no, no, toothless, bud, hey, come on bud." He grabbed his large head and tried to lift it up. He grabbed the bottle away from her and tossed it aside.
She tisked. "tsk, tsk, tsk, what are you going to do now?" She purred. "Your home is being attacked, you're dragon will be out for a couple of hours, and you have me as a prisoner."
Hiccup ran his fingers through his hair as if he would get an idea out of doing that. The flap of gronkle wings and fish legs voice carried through the air. Never was there a more welcoming sound.
"FISHLEGS!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. By some miracle, he had heard him and was soon landed, looking at the situation like it was a giant sea slug.
"Is that-" He started.
"No time to explain. We have to get back to Berk." Hiccup started searching him. "Please tell me you have purple oleander.
"Whats wrong with toothless?"
"Dragon root." Fish legs whimpered as he noticed Victoria who was relentlessly staring at him with killer eyes.
"No oleander, but some gronkle saliva should do the trick." He said dismounting Meatlug while keeping and eye on her. As he applied the gronkle saliva, toothless began to perk up immediately. He didn't even look at Victoria, only paid attention to toothless. He gently rubbed the dragons neck. "Here you go, you'll feel better real soon."
"fishlegs, I need you to bring her back." he whispered.
"Me?-" Before he could complain Hiccup cut him off.
"Berk is under attack." His eyes widened, he looked like he was going to cry.
"Who is this woman?" he said throwing a glance over his shoulder.
"Someone we don't ever want to mess with again." Hiccup put a hand on his shoulder. "By thor be careful Fishlegs." The seriousness in his eyes was enough to send chills through Fish.
Soon Hiccup was back in the air, urging Toothless to fly as fast as his wings could carry them.
. . .
The fleet of ships cut through the water silently. No lanterns were lit, no one would see them coming. By the time they would reach Berk, it would be morning, but the element of surprise would still be in tact.
Swift. Hard. Fast. The attack would be over in a matter of minutes. All of the dragon riders would then be taken prisoner and brought to Victoria Auber.
The new age had finally come.