Dragon Bonding: Standing in the middle

Chapter 3

They flew over the forest until it suddenly stopped revailing a large burn scar for miles for them to see everything was gone completely leaving everything black and charged. They continued on until they reached what looked like a strong hold, or what was left of it as it had been crushed by a giant blast of ice they gasped looking at it wide eyed, Hiccup glanced back at her and she stared right back shaking her head a bit, she somehow didn't want to go there "stay close" he breathed before they dived in swapping around the ice going through the cracks and past the icicles "what happened here?" Hiccup asked they continued on going around looking at the broken wood and noticing the large footsteps the size of lakes much larger than the red death the dragons let out growls making the try to calm them down, Valerie glanced ahead noticing something in front of them "Hiccup" she whispered and he looked back at her for a second "fire!" they heard a voice yell and a net went towards them. Hiccup dodged, shouting a warning at the girl but she wasn't fast enough making the net wrap around them and they tumbled down. Due to the speed she was thrown off falling towards the ground "Hiccup!" she yelled and he swopped in catching her. They circled around before diving in "stop!" he shouted at them, Valerie saw the hunters holding her dragon down "Stormbreaker!" she shouted, she was thrown down, Hiccup landing behind her.

She tried to get to her dragon but she was stopped when weapons were pointed at her making her stumble back again, she had no weapon since it was in her saddle "what are you doing?!" she exclaimed, Hiccup jumped in front of her activating inferno swinging it around making the men gasp "back again?" what seemed to be the leader asked with a smirk before it fell, his eyes landing on Toothless "soil my britches. That is a Night Fury" he exclaimed his smile returning standing on top of her dragon making him grumble. Valerie stared at him, she didn't know what it was but he looked formillier in a way "thought they were all gone for good" he exclaimed nudging the man beside him, Toothless let out a snarl making Hiccup hold out his hand to put him back "it looks like our luck's had a turn for the better, lads. Don't think Drago has one of those in his dragon army" Valerie froze a bit at the name, a sense of familiarity going over her "Eret?" she mumbled keeping her gaze on the man in front of her "look, we don't want any trouble" Hiccup pointed out calmly and the man let out a laugh "you should have thought of that before you stole our dragons" he grabbed a hold of the dragons horn lifting the head a bit before letting go making it tumble to the ground "and blasted our fort to bits!" he shouted pointing to the area around him murmurs of agreement came from the other men.

"What are you talking about?" she exclaimed looking at him, he glanced at her for a moment before a small smirk came on his lips "you think we did this?" Hiccup asked gesturing to the ice, he looked back at the younger man his face fell "dragon trapping is hard enough work as it is without do-gooder dragon-riders sneaking in to rescue them" he almost hissed and the two younger ones looked at eachother "what do-gooder?" he started but he stopped looking back at the hunter with wide and confused eyes "there are other dragon riders?" he asked, drawing the sword back into the hilt. "You mean other than your thieving friend from last night? You tell me" he started jumping off Stormbreaker and walking towards them "you may have an ice-spitting dragon on your side but we still have a quota to fill. How do you suppose we explain this mess to Drago Bludvist? Your father" he continued pointing to Valerie and she looked right back not even blinking, Hiccup looked at her about to speak but she held up her hand stopping him.

"You can let us go, and you will never see us again. You stick to yours and we'll stick to ours" she spoke almost calmly, her voice full of authority, she knew now who it was an old friend of hers, he snorted "he wants you back, looked everywhere for you, he needs you to pay his debt little one. All though I can say not so little anymore" he spoke going on, she let out a breath at the nickname, she hadn't been called that in ten years, Hiccup glanced over noticing her stiff posture and clenched fists "This is what happened the last time I showed up empty-handed" he said showing the scar, the woman remembered vividly him getting the scar he was only fifteen at the time "he promised to be less understanding in the future" he spoke with a glare walking around as his men prepared their weapons pointing at the Night Fury making him growl "all right look, we don't know anything about a dragon thief. Or an ice spitting dragon, okay. Just let our dragon go and well go" Hiccup spoke calmly but Eret didn't seem to go for the words as he nodded to the men behind them, now every weapon pointed at them "strange hostile person I've never met" he finished, Eret smiled mocking gentleness and welcoming "oh, where are my manners" he let out a small laugh bowing mockingly "I'm Eret son of Eret, I'm surprised you didn't talk about me little one" he finished pulling out the sword strapped on his back pointing it at them "finest dragon trapper alive, after all it's not just anyone who can capture a Night Fury" he pointed the sword at the dragon who hissed at him making the two youngers look at him.

"And this is Toothless he says we're going, now" Hiccup spoke in a light tone before it turned serious at the end, the twenty five year old let out a laugh, it sounded forced and was gone as soon as it arrived "they all say that" he stated confidently before he ordered his men to get them "leave the girl alive" he ordered right after as they ran towards them they both split up and Toothless fired at an ice spike making it tumble to the ground and the men ran away to not getting hit it shattered when it hit the ground they ran over to the dragon Hiccup cutting the robes and freeing the other black dragon who jumped up "let's go" she told the dragon before jumping on and flying off "you will never get to hold on to her and those dragons you hear me, Drago is coming for her and them all" he shouted after them and she froze at the words her mind stinging as she leaned forward laying her head on her dragons neck, she didn't want this to happen she didn't want to go back but the words were what she had dreaded for the last ten years, she closed her eyes the tears running out. She would never be safe; he would always be looking for her, and for the first time in a while she cried onto her dragon's neck like the day she had left Berk.

Her dragon grumbled looking over at Hiccup who signaled for him to land at the same piller where they saw the smoak, he jumped of his dragon who let out a sad grumble looking at the woman, he headed over and she turned her head, he noticed her red eyes, he did manage to get her off Stormbreaker and into his arms where she cried. He hated seeing her like this. She was usually so strong and so happy, seeing the woman he loved like this it made his heart drop. She sniffle before she spoke "I'm sorry, I should have told you" she mumbled and he pulled back cupping her cheeks with his hands he shushed her wiping her tears with his thumb "hey, it's fine" he responded and she turned her eyes to his "you always had your reasons" he mumbled and she closed her eyes leaning into his touch "I should tell you, Eret was right about the dept" she started looking at him again. He looked right back not having moved his hands, he furrowed his eyebrows at her face that looked hurt in a way.

"Hiccup, whatever I say, what ever I tell you please don't hate me" she whispered and his gaze softened his hand going down to take hers "Val, I would never, you know that" he spoke and she let out a breath closing her eyes gathering her courage "I got engaged at the age of ten" she blurred out and his eyes whident "it was arranged, my father wanted it but my mother didn't. This was the entire reason we left in the first place, the day before I was supposed to meet the man I would marry" she explained, her eyes met his that looked at her. "Is that why he's looking for you now?" he asked and she shrugged her shoulders, to be honest she didn't know the reason he was searching but this could be a solid reason why and both Eret and Krogan had now said the same things about the dept so it was a very clear idea of what was going on. "I never wanted to go back, I want to stay on Berk with you" she almost whispered as she leaned in and he did the same "you will" he responded his breath hitting her face before their lips collided in a sweet kiss her arms went up and wrapped around his neck as his went around her waist, it was moments like this that they never wanted to let go.