It felt like a good amount of time had passed since the Defenders and the Wingmaidens had left the Riders waiting for their return on the three boats that where anchored in position in the middle of the sea. Night had fallen a few hours ago, providing decent cover for them all, wherever any of them were at the moment, but the Riders still maintained as vigilant lookouts for the Defenders and the Wingmaidens, regardless of the amount of time they had spent doing so or the complaining.
The final plan that was decided five days ago was currently being put to action. As already stated, the Defenders and Wingmaidens had left the group a few hours ago, but it was because they were arguably stealthier than the Dragon Riders right now. There was no chance they would win against a fight with Drago without any knowledge as to what to expect. The least they could do was carry out a dangerous mission without being completely blind to the potential consequences. So, it was up to the Defenders and Wingmaidens to sneak onto the island and gather as much information as they could in the time they could have. Originally, they had decided that they would be granted at least a few hours, but due to the security, everyone was aware that that time could be cut short. However, the advantage is this is that it gave somewhat of a countdown for the Riders, who wouldn't be present at the time. If the Defenders and Wingmaidens weren't back in a few hours after their departure, then it would be safe to assume that something had happened, and then they would be able to act when needed.
Fortunately, that wasn't the case right now. Because Fishlegs had caught sight of small figures flying over towards them and he immediately recognized them as the Wingmaidens; and with the people they were carrying, it was clear that everyone made it. Yes, the Wingmaidens were carrying the Defenders to and from the island. As unorthodox as it sounds and looks, there was no way one of their dragons could carry everyone to and from the base and be expected to fight afterwards. In addition to that, they fear that a dragon would be too noticeable, and the result would be in a quick capture, so, to avoid that risk, the Wingmaidens agreed that they could carry one Defender each to go with them on their part of the mission.
"Guys. They're back," he alerted to the rest of the Riders, and, surprisingly, no one ended up being surprised by the outburst. Not because they didn't have faith in their allies, but because no one fell asleep on duty. "And I think all of them made it," Around five minutes later, ten people landed on the boat.
"First thing I can say is that the perimeter of the island is heavily fortified with catapults and ballistas, so the last thing you want to do is approach from a low altitude. There are also dragon sentries on various parts of the island but we have managed to find around three areas where it would be deemed suitable to land your dragons," Atali started off, "we've marked them by crosses, so you might want to head on over a quickly as you can to cover them up before anyone see,"
"Okay, thank you, Atali," Dagur said.
"And, we have checked the prison cells on the island, but unfortunately..."Mala paused for a few seconds, which left the Riders tense. Were Hiccup and Snotlout not there? "we couldn't find any sign of Hiccup or Snotlout, or either of their dragons," Everyones eyes widened. An icy fear overtook all of them. It stopped any words to being spoken plunging everyone into silence for a good several seconds.
"What?!" Gustav finally spoke up, "they arent there?! How?! Did we pick the wrong island?!"
"Well, we did base this whole thing off an assumption," Ruffnut responded. The choice of words made her sound snarky, but the tone made it evident that she was still in shock and worry.
"Hold on!" Astrid interrupted everyone in their panic states, despite her feeling an immense amount herself. But she had to stay positive and keep her head thinking straight; not let it drift off into a panic. She couldn't give up on them. If there was even a chance they were on that island, she had to get them both out and if everyone was panicking the whole time, then this mission would just get harder. "Mala said they couldn't find them. Not that they weren't on the island at all,"
"Yes, and since Hiccup's the one that's been captured, I can't think of any other island they could be on,"
"But what if they got separated or something?" Tuffnut asked, "and they were taken to different islands? That's still a possibility, right?"
"Well, right now, we have a lead that we'll find at least one of them here," Heather said, "Did you find anything else?"
"I can't think of anything else that could be useful to us," Atali started, "but I do remember seeing things that looked like entrances that could potentially lead underground. Hiccup, Snotlout and their dragons could be there, but we've had no chance of getting down there, so none of us know. If you do plan on investigating, then I suggest you proceed with caution,"
"Will do," Dagur said before mounting Sleuther and the other riders followed suit, "Alright guys, let's go and get on with this rescue and so I can kill Hiccup as soon as I can," That last part he kept to himself, obviously. What Atali said about entrances. And them all leading underground? From what he had seen from his experience, Dagur's first thought about that was that they could lead to an underground network of tunnels. He certainly wouldn't be surprised in Drago had one, and it sounded like a good place to keep prisoners. The dragons propelled themselves into the air, rocking the boat as they did so, and the Defenders and Wingmaidens looked on as the second party left. However, they weren't going to just not going to do anything because the Riders had flown off to do their job. There was still a good chance that their cover would be blown, and if that happened, they had to be ready to fight by their side.
For Astrid, Fishlegs, the twins and Gustav, it was honestly a little nerve-wracking, but who could blame them? This was the first time they had ever been to Drago's island and everything they had heard up until this point about the island and him have been anything but good. The danger was made clear to them even before they had arrived at the Edge; that was the reason Hiccup was first reluctant to let them come with him in the first place. However, they never would've guessed that they would find themselves involved in a war against some Dragon Hunters. Several months back, they were apprehensive about their first mission to a Dragon Hunter base, but they still managed to push through. Now they weren't even fazed. Maybe this will be just like that.
The riders were steadily growing closer to the island. They directed their dragons to fly high above the landmass, as it would give them a bigger element of surprise than if they were to fly straight on at a low altitude. They had only stopped when they were directly above the centre before they dived straight down. No one said a word, and everyone was focused, probably due to the raised stakes, but so far, things were going well. In around a couple of minutes, the riders were just hovering in the dark shadows of a small canopy of trees, and with the added darkness of the night, it was arguable that they were barely visible. Then, in three groups, they split up, not really making a big fuss about who went with who. All that was on anyone's mind at this moment was getting Hiccup and Snotlout out of here as quickly as they could. Of course, it wasn't going to be an easy task. Despite sending scouts, they didn't catch a sight of them, and although that wasn't necessarily what they were primarily sent out do to, it didn't help the Riders that they had no idea where their friends where. All they knew were what places to avoid.
Everyone did they best to keep a low profile. Lurking in the shadows. Going nowhere near the light to crowded areas. The last thing they wanted was a fight to break out, as they were certain they wouldn't make it out of this one. However, amidst all the fear and caution, everyone, no matter where they were on the island, had felt a tremor in the ground at least once. It varied in intensity, but it seemed to gain no reaction from the trappers to suggest that this was unusual. If the tremor were violent enough, they would stop for a moment in annoyance before carrying on with their job. It led everyone to believe that there was an underground tunnel system right below their feet. And Dagur in particular was interested in find a way to get into these tunnels. He had already speculated it and he had been proven right, but now that begged the question as to why? Why would there be activity underground? What could possibly happen underground? Unless they were protecting or guarding something.
Like prisoners.
With that new lead, which Dagur wasn't sure if he should be putting as much faith in as he is, he and Sleuther along with Gustav and Fanghook did their best to look for one of these entrances. Dagur mentally kicked himself for not asking for a description. Maybe if he wasn't too caught up in the shock of Hiccup and Snotlout potentially no being here, they he could've asked. Oh well. He always does things the hard way anyway. Gustav did his best to help, Dagur could recognize that much, but it was painfully obvious that the youngest Rider was downright terrified. His and his dragon's eyes would be all over the place, and they would visibly react to every single sound that reached their ears. Although it was understandable, it was an inconvenience for Dagur, as he would often become more tense than he had any reason to be solely due to his reactions. But it wasn't like he could really do anything about it. If there's one thing he had learnt over these six months, it's that Gustav was a person who could get very scared very easily when faced with an unfamiliar situation. It was just him being him right now.
So, despite the mountain of problems and concerns, the two Riders kept going, as they were sure the other Riders were doing. Dagur wasn't sure if there would be a group keeping an eye on the surface and not investigating underground, but it seemed unlikely that no one would investigate, so he decided to keep to the surface. The duo had trekked through the island for some time now; the dominant sounds being metal colliding with metal and dragons growling, snarling and roaring. Not the quietest place. In addition to that, on the way, they had seen groups of trappers that would come and go. Some would stand vigilant beside weaponry, like arrow and net launchers, to act as lookouts while everyone else had some sort of job to complete. What those jobs were, Dagur was hardly interested, but his focus did peak when he found himself close to a building. A stout, but wide metal structure, though the total length was unclear, however, there was something peculiar about this building.
What was it? It was the fact that, from Dagur's hearing and eventual sight, he couldn't detect any trappers. Usually, there would a good number of trappers around every structure on the island. At least, that was what Dagur thought after passing quite a few. However, he soon got his answer when Gustav called him with a tone that shook with fear.
"Dagur..." The Berserker Chief furrowed his brow at the tone. Gustav was scared, but he did his best to keep it to himself. For him to voice his fear meant something. Dagur walked up to Gustav and Fanghook, but he immediately stopped as his breath was stolen from him as the sight that lay in front of him.
Four dead trappers. Two on their front. One slumped against the side of the building. One of their side. All of them suffered from a single long, deep gash. The blood that had once cascaded out of the open wounds like a thick red waterfall had long dried up, and the dark smears on the ground showed evidence of cracks. It was grizzly sight that rooted both Vikings to the ground and repelled their dragons.
"...What did this..." Gustav managed to say in a quiet voice. No, he wasn't devasted that these trappers had died. He was just incredibly concerned about his well-being. If whatever did this was still out there, him and Dagur could become potential targets.
"It could've just been a dragon," Dagur responded in the same quiet tone, although he was starting to doubt himself as soon as he said those words. For starters, all the gashes seemed to be of the same depth and in the same place. Like they had all be lined up shoulder to shoulder, and something cut right through them all in one go. In addition to that, if a dragon had done this, then it would've escaped, which would've caused quite the uproar. Everyone would've been prepared, so there's no way these guys would've been taken by surprise. But it was clear that they had if their attacker managed to carry out such a clean kill. But all the dragons here should be muzzled, in chains and trapped in cages. So it couldn't have been a dragon. It had to be a human. But who?
Suddenly, tremors began to rattle the island once again. At this point, Dagur and Gustav were hardly affected by them anymore. They still held onto their dragons for support, but it sparked no fear or agitation from anyone anymore. But all four of them kept their eyes away from the blood-soaked corpses. They didn't want to look at that for any longer than they already had.
The tremors continued. At least five minutes must've passed since they had started, which was Dagur and Gustav were starting to feel a little uneasy. The tremors usually didn't last this long. In fact, the maximum time so far had only been a couple of minutes. This was now over double that time. Sleuther and Fanghook were especially agitated. Both of them could detect something moving around underneath their feet. Something big and menacing. Soon, that feeling of apprehension escalated to the point of the two dragons grabbing their respective Riders and literally throwing them onto their backs, creating exclaims of shock and confusion, but those were ignored. Whatever was lurking underground was about to surface and they needed to make a hasty exit.
But before any of them had time to move further, a deafening sound erupted from the west side of the island. Almost like something had exploded with such ferocity that it made the entire island rattle so violently that any dragons standing would've been made unstable instantly. Large chunks of earth shot in all directions, remaining in flight for a good number of seconds were descending back down to the island, crashing any buildings or structures that were unfortunate enough to be anywhere near the impact. But what was more startling was the Titan Wing Screaming Death that tore through the sky, shooting upwards towards the skies, propelled by relatively small wings for its body size. All the other dragons when into a panicked frenzy as soon as the Titan Wing emerged from underground without much of a warning and just like that, the entire island was plunged into chaos. Dragons were zipping through the sky; trappers were trying to keep everything under control while also trying to save themselves. All were desperately trying to avoid becoming an unsuspecting target from the falling debris.
However, amongst all this, one Rider wasn't completely overcome with utter shock. Astrid and Stormfly had been the closest to where the Titan Wing Screaming Death had ripped through the land. Astrid was convinced that the only reason they were still alive was because the twins took off first, and because of the danger of them being seen, she went along with them. Looks like she owed it to the twins that she was still alive, though she doubted that she would ever admit it. She and her Nadder had only just escaped the shower of debris and once they were convinced that they were at a much safer distance, they turned to face it and found that a Screaming Death had come up to the surface, although at closer inspection, it looked like a Titan Wing, considering that this one was much larger than the last one she had encountered.
But something else caught her eye. It mayve just been her making things up. The darkness didn't really help with visibility, but Astrid couldve sworn she saw something perched on the back of that large Titan Wing. Part of her thought of her as irrational for even thinking about it in a time like this, but nonetheless, she quickly pulled out a spyglass and moved it around until she could get a better look at the dragon. Luckily for her, the Titan Wing seemed to be flying upwards in her general direction, so her view through the spyglass was improved and from there, her breath hitched and her heart almost skipped a beat.
On the back of the Titan Wing, she caught glimpses of two bodies that resembled dragons. One red with many significant spines and other had a sleek black body. Astrid was convinced that what she had saw had been Hookfang and Toothless.