Arcen's Storm

Hiccup

“I don’t get it,” I muttered, staring off toward the Flightmare’s now empty island, “How did Viggo get away?! How did we lose Heather, Windshear AND the Flightmare?!”

“I don’t even want to think about what they’re going to do to her and those dragons,” Astrid shivered.

The rest of the team landed beside Stormfly, they looked as defeated as I felt. 

“Did you guys find anything?”

“No, the fog was too thick, they used it as cover and just disappeared,”  Fishlegs replied.

“We should have just pulled Heather out! I can’t believe I let her…,” Astrid crossed her arms and turned away from the group.

“Astrid, she wouldn’t have come with us, plus it was a team decision to not even try,” I reasoned, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She didn’t reply.

“It could be worse,” Tuff said, “You could have brought the Dragon Ey-- ow,” Ruff elbowed him hard.

“How did you know I didn’t bring the Dragon Eye?”

“Uh, how did I know you didn’t bring the Dragon Eye,” Tuff stammered as Ruff elbowed him more.

“Your right, I didn’t bring it.”

“Thank Thor,” Astrid breathed.

“But that means it’s still back on Dragon’s Edge completely unguarded,” I spoke faster as the panic set in. 

Dragon’s Edge was a bloodbath. 

The masts of dragon hunter ships stretched out of the shallow cove, like the hands of the drowning reaching to the sky for salvation. Large chunks of wood were scattered on the beach as if they had been sheared off the ships and thrown. 

Smoke hung over the island like a ghostly veil, concealing the horrors below. 

Viggo had sent a whole legion of dragon hunters to search for the Dragon Eye, he believed there were no riders on the Edge and, for the most part, he was right.

But there was one lightning channeling dragon that he didn’t account for and based on the path of roasted hunters, they had unwittingly opened the dome where it was kept. 

“Check the stables,” I told Astrid, trying not to look down or breathe through my nose.

She took off to search for the Skrill’s other half, while Fishlegs and I went to make sure the Dragon Eye was safe. 

My hut had been torn apart. 

The trunk I had kept the Dragon Eye in was tipped over and thrown. There was no sign of it. 

"Hiccup," Astrid ran into the hut, her face was deathly pale, "Arcen's gone and so is his death scythe! Oh, and don't go into the stables. It's a massacre, “ she shuttered.

“We’ve got an equally big problem. They got the Dragon Eye,” there was an odd numbness that spread through me. 

Viggo had Heather, who had been working with us for weeks to stifle his dragon trapping business from the inside. He had Windshear and a Flightmare, both rare and powerful dragons that he could sell, fight, work, or worse. Now, he possessed the only tool known that could guarantee the location, strengths, and weaknesses of every dragon in existence. And I may as well have handed it to him on a silver platter. 

“Are you sure you put it away after you got it back from the Twins,” Snotlout asked, breaking my train of thought.

“Got it back from the Twins? What are you talking about?”