Urszula (A Hiccup Fanfiction)

Part 4

This is not how Hiccup expected his day to go.

He thought this was going to be a simple dragon rescue mission, he was unbelievably wrong.

He could barely stand after trying to take on Ryker. He had a deep scratch under his left eye and a big gash on his shoulder blade which sung as he bent down to pick up his sword. Hiccup knew it was stupid to engage the Ryker alone, but he was just so angry. All his pent up anger couldn't contain itself when he saw the man's smug smiling face.
This war with the hunters was getting serious but Hiccup had a feeling that things were going to get a lot worse.

And they certainly did.

Behind him was small girl that looked slightly younger then himself. She had long red hair, nearly as vibrant as the flames that burned brightly around them. Half her face was cast in a shadow as she stared at him from under her eyebrows. She breathed heavily, not from tiredness but from pure adrenaline, he could practically see it coursing through her veins.
She was about twenty feet away, and it didn't seem like she was planning on moving anytime soon. Hiccup could tell this stranger was a good fighter, I mean... she just threw her knife perfectly on target from six metres away.
In his perpetuals, Hiccup expected Toothless to be on high alert as he always was. But the Nightfury looked mesmerised, totally immersed in this girl's presence, almost like he knew her. Did she do something to my dragon?

Hiccup was utterly perplexed and at a completele loss for words. The dragon rider's body began to feel heavy, he didn't know if it was because of the bruises that littered his skin, or something else he couldn't describe.
When the silence became suffocating, he made the decision to speak.

"W-who are you?"

The girl scoffed at his question but didn't respond.

He tried again,"Who are you, and what have you done to my dragon?"

Again no response.

Hiccup stalked towards her, loosing his patients "What have you done to my dragon!" He shouted, thrusting his sword straight at the girl's face.

She immediately blocked the attack with a metal chain she must have found discarded on deck. Hiccup was shocked by her quick reflexes, he had barley registered his move himself.
He could feel the girl's heavy breaths tickle his cheeks they were so close - practically nose to nose.
Hiccup watched her mouth for a split second when she took in a larger gulp of air to speak.

"Do all dragon riders ask this many questions during a fight?"

He didn't have time to absorb her words before the stranger swiped the metal under his feet making him fall flat on his back with a thud, dropping his sword.
Disorientated, he reached for his weapon but found he was grasping nothing but air. Standing abruptly, Hiccup did a half turn, and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

This girl - this warrior held his sword in one hand, admiring the craftsmanship. And the other was stroking the snout of Toothless, his Toothless.

Hiccup glared at his dragon. He couldn't believe Toothless would trust a stranger this easily, he didn't believe it. This girl must have given him something.

"Toothless! Wha- what are you doing?" He cried, desperate to take control of the situation.

"Sorry" the girl teased, "You've reached your question limit. I've gotta question for you though..."

She directed the sword straight at Hiccup's nose, he crossed his eyes in surprise making her scoff.

"Hiccup - is that a family name or..."

Hiccup was too angry to register her snarky question, his eyes switched between the green and hazel ones ahead of him, his breathing becoming ragged.

"See now that's just not fair, you've asked three boring questions and I ask you an actually interesting one and you won't even answer" she continued, not picking up on her opponents new anger.

"Honestly, some people. I mean, what kind of world are we living i-"

Her outspoken thoughts were cut off when she was shoved harshly into the storage door.
Hiccup saw that the girl was slightly thrown off by his outburst. She muttered to herself a little "Okay", and stared at him intently.
Hiccup got right in the girl's personal space, trapping her with his hands on either side on her head.

"Listen, I don't know who you are or what you want, but what I do know..." he growled, inching closer. "Is that if you don't tell me what you've given my dragon and get the hell out of my way I will make you sorely regret ever messing with me, you got that?"

Urszula had had enough of this dragon master. It was clear that his anger to defeat the dragon hunters was clouding his mind and he was taking it out on her. She just wanted to scream at him to calm down, but having an uncle as short tempered as hers, she knew that just made it worse.

She acted quickly, kneeing him between his legs making him grunt and bend at the waist. Urszula snatched the knife that was still planted to the storage door from over her shoulder. She grabbed the scrawny boy by the shirt and forced him againt the door, just as she had previously been. The girl held the knife firmly to Hiccup's throat.

Toothless moved towards the two, growling slightly at Urszula. She heard his warning.

"It's okay Toothless, I'm trying to help him, just gotta wait out this temper tantrum he's having."

"I'm not having a- wait help me, you have a knife to my throat!" he shouted over the destruction happening around them.

"Aren't you perceptive. Now listen, we don't have much time, if you really want to shut down the dragon hunters operations you need to find the actual leader of the dragon hunters. But, they know you are coming, so it would be stupid to go in dragon's blazing."

"How do you kno-"

"Your just gonna to have to trust me, okay?"

Hiccup stared straight into the girls eyes, trying to find any hint that she was lying. His inner voice was screaming at him to question why she was telling him this when she was clearly with the dragon hunters. But as her eyes connected with his, a familiar feeling spread through his body - it was the same feeling he got that first time he locked eyes with Toothless all those years ago.
She broke his train of thought by removing the blade from his neck.

"Now, get out here, I'll free the last of the dragons" she moved out of his way allowing him to walk to his dragon.

Hiccup turned to protest, "But-"

"Don't argue with me flyboy, I've got this. Now go, GO!" She demanded.

Hiccup still wouldn't move so Toothless took matters into his own paws, he grabbed the boy's shirt between his teeth and flipped him so he securely landed his back.

"Clearly Toothless wears the pants in your relationship" Urszula quipped as Hiccup set himself up to fly.

Hiccup couldn't help but let out a breathy laugh. This girl certainly had a way with words.

"I know I've ran out of questions" he said, smirking. "But you can at least tell me your name."

Hiccup wanted to take the words back as soon as they were spoken. This girl is clearly a hunter! I shouldn't believe anything she says. Why do I want to know her name?

He shook his head and looked down. Not expecting an answer, the boy's hands squeezed the front of his saddle, signalling for his dragon to take off.
He flew away to help his friends and get back to dragon's edge. But over the sound of the raging war, he thought he heard the girl's voice shout "Hiccup, tell Heather he knows!"

~

"I told you not to underestimate them!" Dagur bellowed as he strode up to Ryker. This prolonged revenge was infuriating for him.

"Someone is giving them information..." Ryker mumbled, as he  watched the riders fly away.

"Uncle" Urszula began, "The hunters are setting course for base." She spoke clearly, hiding any sense of her betrayal.

"By who's orders!" Ryker demanded, looking back at his niece who had already started to walk away.

Urszula paused her ascent up the wooden stairs and turned to look over her shoulder. She spoke plainly,

"Father's"