How many times have I woken up with a throbbing headache this week? I wonder, groaning. I squint to open my eyes against the sudden light. As they slowly adjust to the light, I look around. I am tied to a chair in the middle of my hut with Carn pacing in front of me and the Hunters standing guard behind him with more of their heavy breathing behind me. Ok, this is beyond weird. Why am I here and not in some Hunter prison?
Carn turns towards me, sees I'm awake, and growls. "Why am I still here?" I ask.
"Your pesky friends decided to take away your boat and hide it as a Loki Day trick! Now we can't get off this island!" He glares at me like it's all my fault.
I shrug, giving him a look I hope says, Glad I'm not in your shoes. His eyes narrow, and he marches up to me. I see his hand soar through the air a second before it hits me. My eyes sting with tears as pain shoots through my face.
"You are our prisoner, and you will act like it or you'll soon find my sword in your dragon's hide." My mouth suddenly feels very dry, and I swallow nervously, not speaking a word. Clearly, he is in a bad mood.
He goes back to pacing around the room as I take in the situation at hand. Ropes bind my arms to the chair which is near my bed and guarded by five Hunters. Two Hunters stand by the door, and I guess there are a couple more outside. All valuable items have been removed from my room, leaving me with no noticeable advantages over my captors.
A break in the pattern of pacing causes me to look up at Carn. He is facing the door where a low-hunching, scared-looking Dragon Hunter has just come through. "Sir..." he says, then pauses to lick his dry lips nervously.
"Yes? Spit it out!"
The Hunter's gaze flicks around the room, momentarily pausing to look at me, before he stares at the floor. "Sir, we have done a full scan of the island. No boats have been spotted. We believe they might not have any others."
Carn turns the full attention of his glare to the Hunter. I suddenly feel like shrinking in my seat to escape the condescending, horrible look in his eyes. "Then why are you telling me this? There is always a way off of an island. Go. Find. One!" The Hunter nods his head quickly and almost trips over his own feet in his haste to escape. Carn shakes his head in disgust and continues his pacing around my hut.
To distract myself from thinking too hard about what I had just seen, I attempt to loosen the binding ropes around my wrists. Whoever had tied me to the chair had done a really good job... too good a job. I use every trick I can remember to loosen the knot and to fray the ropes, but it stays as stiff as a board. Groaning, I give up for the moment, letting my sore fingers relax before I try again.
Almost as soon as I decide to start working on my ropes again, a roar erupts from outside and the sounds of a commotion begins. Using this as the perfect opportunity to try and escape, I work even harder on the rope.
"Go see what's going on," Carn instructs one of the Hunters. The Hunter in question nods and heads outside. In a moment of triumph, I undo the knot... just as the Hunter re-enters.
"Sir, the girl's dragon has escaped."
Carn growls and pushes past the Hunter to see what's going on. I smirk and before the Hunters guarding me can react, I have escaped my confinement. After unsheathing my daggers, I study the enemies. My daggers feel off in my hands once again, and once again, I ignore the uneasiness in my gut. I leap on to the two closest Hunters and attempt to shock them with my blades. In a mere matter of second, I finally realize what had happened. When the Riders must have found my blades, the ones they had given me are almost identical ones, but most certainly a Loki Day prank. As soon as I realize that, I turn my blades so I knock the Hunters unconscious with the hilts of my daggers. Landing near the entrance of my hut, I ignore the queasy feeling in my gut as I observe the other Hunters. "Who's next?" I ask.
"How about you?" whispers a voice in my ear and, for the millionth time that week, the world goes dark around me as something hard hits my head.
* * *
"Has anyone seen Draira?" Tuffnut asks as he enters the Clubhouse.
"Yeah," agrees Ruffnut, walking in beside her brother. "We have a bone to pick with her."
Hiccup raises an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?"
Tuffnut, as though Hiccup's words are an invitation to start talking, explains, "We were going by our oath, you know, the one we made last Loki Day when you guys turned on us... anyway, then Ruffnut turned on me! Or so it appeared. Apparently Ruffnut thought I had turned on her, but then we found statues of ourselves..."
"They actually cleverly designed, although not much our match," interrupts Ruffnut thoughtfully.
"Indeed," agrees Tuffnut. "Their craftsmanship was very authentic."
"What does this have to do with Draira?" asks Fishlegs.
"Oh right!" remembers Tuffnut. "So, it turns out, that the person who made those fabulous.. ingenious representations of us was Draira!"
"And we trusted her," scoffs Ruffnut.
"She certainly has the mark of Loki," adds Snotlout. "I got a mouthful of flames this morning."
Dawning comes over Hiccup's face. "So you guys weren't lying when you said you didn't set that trap outside my hut."
"And you didn't put that bug in my hut," Fishlegs realizes.
"And I bet you didn't switch out my axe," Astrid adds. "I think we all realize now that we were all pranked by her."
"On Contrair," Tuffnut interjects. "It appears I have been spared the pranking of our new Loki lover, although pranking Ruffnut led to my own prank..."
"You still haven't told us where she is!" exclaims Ruffnut.
"Last I checked, she was headed to her hut to try and find Carn," Hiccup reveals.
"But that was a while ago," Fishlegs nervously adds. "And I for one haven't seen her since."
"That is a little strange," murmurs Hiccup and right after he speaks, the unmistakable roar of a Skrill pierces through the air.
A/N:
Thank you all for reading and enjoy the rest of your Christmas Break!