Our world

The questioning

They'd been defending themselves for something about two hours, and while it didn't seem like a lot of time, it was still rather an unexpected, impressive duration for such the force power they had. It was obvious from the beginning that Hiccup and Astrid didn't have any chance, that they would have been overthrown after maybe minutes, or even seconds, but that didn't prevent them from trying, and that even has its successes.

There was no plan, every move was a simple improvisation, and while it might seem like the stupidest thing to do, it worked from time to time, well, more precisely, to time when they weren't given any other choice. They went through various attempts, various ideas, various traps, catches, tricks, ambushes, and while most of them went rather triumphantly, there came the moment when there was no other choice, but to surrender, shamefully.

Their main difficulty was, of course, the number of people they had, which was, in this case, less than three, primarily because Hiccup wasn't very able to do much with the injury of such volume, and also, because it wasn't sure if Stormfly could've be counted as people. Anyway, they used everything they had, by separating each other into sections: surface, air, and the base, as well as working on them as much as they were able to.

Astrid, herself, at first wanted to concentrate on the close combat, but as time passed, and noticing that was getting only harder for her to attempt, she focused on setting the traps - the most prosperous one was the one made of Zippleback's gas, which knocked somewhere around twenty soldiers.

Stormfly, having probably the best position, was attacking the ships themselves, holing them with her spikes, striking as well as melting them with her fire, and kidnapping the troops from them, who were at duty over harpoons, dumping them into the cold water.

Hiccup, in the meantime, kept the guard over the mentioned base, more precisely on the clubhouse, which became their last resort of defense, having her arm still bandaged, and because of that, she toiled with her other one, by shooting from the crossbow that was resisted onto the wooden bar, into incoming people.

So, that's how these two hours went for them, but alas must have passed and ended with their failure as Astrid was surrounded, having the mark of a stab of the sword on her forearm and the arrow pierced into her back, forced to surrender, while Stromfly, attacked by the volley of poisoned arrows, hit by one of them, collapsed onto the enemies' deck.

Glimpsing these occurrences from a distance, realizing the defeat, Hiccup was about to give up, but not before catching glances with the same, mysterious man on the main ship, who drew a bow in her direction, and having no time to react, she felt how the arrow went through her thigh, and sank to the ground, painfully.

It was two hours that it took the enemy to conquer them, but it also took minutes only to take care of them, afterward.

With her hands tied by the thick rope, that already made bruises on her skin, Hiccup stood still, relying her whole body weight onto her healthy leg, glaring to the front of her, exhausted. There, behind his desk, sat the mysterious man himself, who introduced himself under the name Ryker, resisting his extended legs on the wooden object, wearing a bright smirk on his tattooed face, leaning his hands against the hairless neck.

By his side, the woman was able to glimpse no one else, but Dagur, who similarly to her stood straight, with his arms behind his back, not even glancing at her, staring somewhere forward to himself, blankly. Wishing that he noticed that, Hiccup, from time to time, was sending him betrayed scowls, but ultimately, she must have gazed back at the man, who, suddenly, sat straight, closing up his expression at her.

"The longer you stay quiet, the longer we'll stay here, and believe me when I say that we might stay here all day long," Ryker stated, lifting his chin, before pointing to the paper before himself. "Where is it?"