𝓑𝓮𝔂𝓸𝓷𝓭

Chapter 52 - Do I know you?

Astrid slammed Johan against a wall, anger boiling in her like overcooked stew, the man was surprised to see how strong the young woman was. Heather held her axe against his throat as the blonde glared up at the man who was trying to get free.

"Where are they, Johan?!" Astrid yelled, her voice hoarse as she pushed her gauntlet into the man's throat making him cough.

"I...ah...swear...I don't...know..." he choked out, Astrid growled as she dropped him onto the floor, Johan coughed and took in deep staggered breaths. He looked up at her, Heather held her axe at the ready in case he tried anything, the others watching with their weapons on standby.

"You're lying, your men have taken them somewhere!" Astrid snapped at him, pinning him to the wall with the curve of her axe head, the man gasped. His emotionless eyes for once held fear, he had never seen Astrid this mad, but what was he to tell her, Dagur stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Astrid, he doesn't know, I can tell," He consoled while glaring at Johan, the blonde threw her axe at the wall, she needed to know where Hiccup was. It was all her fault, she shouldn't have been so pushy, how she wished to have him back right now and talk to him.

"Let's mount up, Throk and Sleuther you can carry Johan, we're going to find Hiccup" Astrid pulled her axe from the wall and walked towards Stormfly as the other riders nodded mounting their dragons. Throk tied Johan up and made sure he had no weapons on him allowing Sleuther to carry the man in his tails.

The riders took off, Eret had one of Hiccup's spare shirts and allowed Challenger to sniff the piece of clothing, he had a faint scent but it was hard to make out what direction it came from. So the Rumblehorn picked a direction, it was the strongest he could smell, the shirt was the only thing at the moment they could use and Astrid hoped Hiccup was alright.

~ Line Break ~

Hiccup groaned as his eyes slowly fluttered open, he was met with the dilated blue light from the turquoise blue ice above him. He pulled his helmet off and rubbed his temples, the last thing he remembered was being carried off and then passing out.

He looked around and saw several piles of sleeping Scuttleclaws, chuckling he quietly made his way out of the cave and found himself in a much larger cavern with at least 100 other dragons. They all awoke from their midday slumber and looked at him as he walked into the centre of the sleeping piles, their growls were just a cacophony of questions.

A Snafflefang growled and stood up, stomping towards the young man who reached down and pulled his dragon blade from his leg and set it alight. The Dragon was quickly taken by surprise as Hiccup gently swung the sword around his head, this technique he had picked up from Mala who knew that it resembled Fireworm's trust dances.

The dragon purred as it's pupils dilated, watching the flame dance from one side of Hiccup to the other, he was mesmerised by it. In the shadows the masked figure watched, their head tilting along with the dragons who watched the young man.

Hiccup turned as a Shovelheilm snarled at him, his sword quickly dying of flame as it approached him, he had to do something that would further gain their trust. Taking a canister of Zippleback has from his leg and ejecting an old one, he moved in a circle before igniting the ring and the dragons all stepped back, it seemed this young man was friendly.

Hiccup clipped his blade back onto his leg and carefully stepped towards the Snafflefang, his hand outstretched towards it. The figure watched the young man edge closer to the dragon, his technique was impressive, he did have a way with dragons as they jumped down from their ledge. Hiccup turned and spotted them moving just on the rim of the circle, their staff in hand as its contents rattled.

"Who...are you...a human...a Lycanwing?" Hiccup watched them stalk around him, they had very dragon-like movements, he just needed to know who they were and what they wanted.

"Do you...even understand...what I'm saying..."Hiccup asked as the figure stopped and swung their staff in the air, the dragons all chortled as a Snafflefang flew in a carefully dumped Toothless on the ground.

"Toothless?!" Hiccup ran to the Night Fury, who shook himself off, after Hiccup had been snatched up he had attempted to fly after the Stormcutter but crash-landed into the cold water below, before he was pulled along by Seashockers.

"Hiccup, are you ok, are you hurt?" Toothless asked and checked his rider over several times, sighing in relief and giving Hiccup a lick. The figure watched the two of them, still keeping their guard up before shaking their staff, the Snafflefang let out a low rumble before opening its mouth with a low flame.

Hiccup raised his head as Toothless growled, watching as other dragons followed its example and the cavern was fully illuminated by firelight. The Night Fury wrapped his tail around Hiccup and snarled as the mysterious figure dropped their staff before slowly crawling on the ground towards them.

"Get back!" Toothless snapped, the figure smiled behind their mask before gently raising her hand in front of his eyes, the Night Fury crooned and fell on his side. Hiccup looked at his dragon a bit astounded, whoever this person was they knew about Night Furies.

"Toothless...ah?" Hiccup asked but started backing away as the figure slowly began walking towards him, their ungloved hand extended to his face. He tilted his head to the side, the figure stopped and gasped, their fingers barely just grazing the light stubble on his chin.

"Hi...Hiccup?" The mysterious figure spoke, it was a woman, which surprised Hiccup but what really caught him off guard was that she could speak Draconic. He watched as she bent back down and slowly took her mask off, revealing herself to be a woman who didn't look a day over 38 years old.

"Co...could it be, after all these years, how is this possible?" She asked standing up and looking at him astounded, she saw it now, his bright forest green eyes, the unmistakable Auburn red hair, this was her son. Hiccup was just confused, he had never met the woman before, but something deep inside of him said that he should trust her, something about her was familiar.

"Sh...should I know you?" He asked, she blinked and looked down before turning to him again, Hiccup narrowed his gaze and continued to wonder who she was.

"No, you were only a babe, but a mother never forgets," She was holding back tears, Hiccup's eyes widened in shock, his breath cracking. A vague memory filled his mind, a wooden ceiling, warm fur blankets, his father's rough beard, and a woman with turquoise green eyes smiling down at him.

"Wait, it's ok, come with me," She held her hand up, Hiccup was about to fall over, after 21 years he had just learnt his mother was alive. She looked down at Toothless and tapped his chin, gesturing for him and Hiccup to follow, the young man helped his dragon up before following after the woman, leaving the Night Fury confused.