Tuffnutt Thorston
Watching the Beautiful Woman walk away, he felt a sharp jab in his side. "Ow, hey! What?"
"I had to get you to stop drooling somehow," his sister rationalized.
"I wasn't drooling!"
Ruffnut gave him a deadpan look, then jutted the wet elbow tied behind her back.
"Oh."
"What's with you, anyway?" She asked, wipping her elbow on the back of his vest. "I've never seen you act this way, before."
"I've never seen a girl like that, before," he quietly murmured. But the Riders were grouped so close they heard him, and to his great annoyance, began to speak at the same time.
"What?" "Oooh, you like her!" "No way!" "I think she's the chief's daughter." "Is that allowed?"
Before Ruffnut was able to shut them up, a spear jab in their faces stopped their teasing for him. "Quiet. All of you." This was the other guy Beautiful Woman was fighting with. It was admirable, how she was able to handle her own in a fight.
His fellow Riders ceased their teasing, and what followed was an unsettling quiet.
"It's kind of quiet," Tuffnut received violent shushes from the tree-armor-wearing guards.
Everyone seemed to notice it too though, as they glanced around. The night sky appeared to be so dark, Tuffnut almost felt as if he could float off the top of this volcano any minute now, and be lost in the endless galaxy.
The guards exchanged nervous glances. Hiccup whispered, "What's wrong?"
Mr. Confrontational reared back the end of his spear to silence him, but was stopped by another guard. Shaking his head, he pointed out "No. Listen. There is something wrong."
"Yeah," spoke up the third one. "We should be hearing dinner going on, right now."
Pause. He eased his spear back with obvious hesitancy, his expression twisted in a whole range of emotions. Tuffnut recognized it whenever Hiccup had to make a tough decision.
"Kaiona!" Mr. Confrontational snapped a command, "go down there, and check it out."
He made to obey but hesitated. "Homake . . ." he started. "It's dark."
Mr. Confrontational burst out laughing. "Don't tell me you're still scared of the dark!"
The last guy spoke up, "Actually, Homake, he does have a point."
"And what point would that be, Hoolako?"
"We shouldn't split up."
Good point.
"But what about these trespassers? Koi's counting on me to -."
"You could bring us."
Hiccup said what?
The other guards appeared to second that asinine suggestion, sharing dubious looks.
"Why not?" Fishlegs asked, adding, "you wouldn't have to split up, and we'd still be guarded."
"I gotta say, leaving only three of you guys behind, was pretty stupid of - ow!" Astrid jabbed Snotlout in the side. Tuffnut wondered if jabbing was another one of those girl things.
"He has a point," Afraid-of-the-Dark pointed out.
"You just don't want to walk alone in the dark!" Mr. Confrontational accused.
"Well, why don't you go and do it, then?!"
"You don't have to untie us - we're not going to try anything," Hiccup promised. "I mean, this is your island. How can you expect us to take you guys seriously, if you don't feel safe on it?"
Oooh. A jab, of his own. Don't know if that was the right call.
"Uh," his sister leaned over. "You sure that was the best thing to do there, Hiccup?"
"For once, I agree with her," Astrid pipped up.
Hiccup didn't even acknowledge either girl.
Rude.
But surprisingly, that worked. Mr. Confrontational debated for a second, eventually gesturing with his spear for the Riders to get to their feet. After some struggle, they set off down the steep mountain. Fishlegs only fell on his butt once, due to the pebbly terrain. When they got to the bottom, it was dark. And quiet. It was all beyond eerie.
"Okay, so this is creepy," his sister noted.
"That's obvious," Astrid snapped. Then there was a clanging noise and a burst of light.
"Uh . . . that happened, right?" Tuffnut asked for confirmation.
"It looked like a fireblast," Fishlegs brought up alarmingly.
Hiccup did his best to point at the shore; A crew was scurrying around ships, and caged dragons.
"Oh, no," Astrid groaned.
"What?" Mr. Confrontational asked in alarm.
"Wait -." "Are those -?" "Yup." "Those are -."
"Dragon Hunters," Hiccup grimly confirmed.
The ground chose that time to tremble, and windows lit up in the village huts.
