Before Tuffnut even opened his eyes, he could tell he had a headache. Groaning, he rolled over - and the gods punished him by pouring a mouthful of sand in his mouth. Violently bolting upright, he hacked and gagged out as much of it as he could. A couple of the others could be heard doing the same, and he looked around to see where they'd ended up.
Sure, he'd seen beaches before, but this was an entirely different type of beach. Berk and Dragons' Edge has rocky shores that seem to have more boulders than sand. And with water so cold it feels close to freezing, and undertows as dangerous as a rouge dragon. This beach appeared to have fallen right down from Valhalla.
For one - whoa, the water's warm. He realized, pointing at it, as the wave retreated. Each time it washed up, it felt like he wet his pants. A chuckle escaped him. And it was clear! The sun was done hiding and seeking, and it was shining upon the water with such brilliance, it was making the water almost look like liquid glass. Standing, he didn't quite register yet that the others that survived the storm, by the grace of the gods. And the foliage was so distracting. He's never seen such a plenitude of flowers and - "hey, did you know there could be more than one shade of green?"
Ruffnut snorted at him, "they're just leaves, brother." She was standing by their dragon, petting Barf.
"Yeah, but they're beautiful."
"Alright, headcount!" Hiccup was a ways from him, and his shout overpowered Tuffnuts' faint argument.
"Yup," Astrid bemoaned.
"Here" Fishlegs answered. "Oh, are you okay, girl?" He asked his Meatlug.
"The only good thing I can think of that came out of that," Snotlout was alive. "Was that this doesn't look like Melody Island."
"You're right, Snotlout," Astrid conceded.
"Of course I am."
"This island could be worse."
Snotlout stilled, then gulped.
"She's right," Hiccup added. "And we're too weak to try searching for that one, or another possible safe one. Let alone flying all the back to Dragons' Edge from wherever we are.
"It'll be dark soon," he carried on. "And it's too late to try finding another island to spend the night on.
"Spread out to look for firewood - but stay nearby!" He finished his commands, and everyone obeyed. Ever since they had their dragons with them, they never really bothered much for shelter anymore. They were sturdy enough to break any possible wind, and could always use their wings to protect their riders from the chilly night air.
Ruffnut and Snotlout walked along the shoreline and picked among the dry bits of seaweed. Cries of grossed-out anguish rose from them when panicked swarms of sea flies buzzed around their heads. Hiccup and Fishlegs began to walk in opposing directions down the beach, while Astrid poked at the treeline with obvious hesitation.
Well, if we were meant to look for firewood, it would make sense to go near the things that it came from, right?
Tuffnut tromped right through the break of the trees from the sand and immediately came across enough for a large armful of burnable wood. "Ah, there's a good piece!" As he went to reach for it, there was a leg attached to it. Not connected to it, like a stump. His eyes managed to register that much before he lost it and freaked out, dropping the armload of firewood he'd found. No, it was on the front of the leg, tied with some twine, acting like a type of shinguard.
"Whoa! That is a person!" He ran so fast, that the leather soles of his shoes slipped on the foilage a few times before they were finally able to catch some traction. His shout must have caused enough of a warning because everyone had already regrouped to the same spot on the beach.
"What's going on?" Astrid asked.
"There are tree-people out there!"
"That's ridiculous," she wrote off.
" 'Tree-people' ?"
"What do mean?" That last one was Hiccup.
"I mean," Tuffnut was panting a little from the adrenaline, and the sprint. "I was reaching for a piece of wood, and when I tried to grab hold of it, it was attached to someone."
" "Attached to someone?" Snotlout repeated after him again
"Are you just going to repeat everything I say?!"
"What do you mean, 'it was attached to someone'?" Astrid wanted clarification.
"Yeah, attached how?" Fishlegs asked curiously.
Tuffnut let out a frustrated sigh. Partly due to the day's stresses - such as almost dying! - and partly from struggling to find the right words. "I mean, it was attached to a leg, like it was tied. Kind of like it was a part of the person, or something."
A short silence fell over the group. Then Hiccup spoke, "Alright gang, we're also going to have a guard standing watch tonight. I mean, they don't have to literally be standing, but - anyway - let's finish building this fire. And no more splitting up. At least, so long as we're on this island."
So they dug a small hole, lined some rocks around it, and filled it in with the wood they found. It didn't take too long for the sun to start setting, and before they knew it, it had gotten completely dark. One by one, they fell asleep, with Astrid taking the first watch.
Now, Tuffnut was a pretty heavy sleeper, and he rarely remembered his dreams. But what if it had something to do with the island? Although none of them had anything to eat or drink off this place since they'd been here . . . maybe it was something in the air. Something about being here did feel different to him somehow. He couldn't quite place it. It bothered him, but not enough to prohibit him from crashing. Guess he was still fatigued from him and Ruffnut having dug those tunnels.
In one of his dreams, he came across a beautiful woman with the softest of features, yet with an angular look about them, at the same time. It was as if he were staring at the goddess embodiment of yin and yang. Opposing sides, yet complementing. Fire, and water. He had never seen anything like her before, and he could feel everything about him absolutely melting.
He felt a light prick in his side, immediately followed by a hiss from out of sight, "Don't do that, Ska'i!"
The beautiful woman rolled her soulful, nut-brown eyes at the scolder. "Fine."
"And put your mask back on!"
"Ai, great Pele," she cursed under her breath. But she obeyed, sliding a sun-bleached wolf skull from the top of her head to the front of her face, keeping the unexpected shielded from her beautiful features. The only thing that showed, was her glowing eyes. Can dark-colored eyes glow in the dark? Tuffnut had never noticed, until right then.
And he fell back asleep.
The next morning, he and the rest of the Riders woke up in nets. They were being dragged through the jungle by fierce, heavily armed warriors, wearing red war paint on their faces.
