I'm Leaving Forever (a HTTYD Runaway Fanfic ~ Book 1)

18 - Mission: Captured

"So an already bad plan gets even worse when we land nowhere near where were supposed to be," Snotlout commented as soon as he and Hiccup landed in a completely random spot on the island. In truth, the two of them had a hard time finding somewhere near their target to land. It was heavily guarded, as expected, so they had to find somewhere else in the forest to land quickly. It didn't matter that it was night and that they were particularly well hidden, there was still a possibility of a trapper spotting them, and not hesitating to attack. 

"You know, if you wanted to land in an area infested with guards that could overpower us, you could've just told me," Hiccup responded, not really having too much patience to deal with whatever Snotlout had to say against the plan. Besides, if he actually did believe that landing as close to the cave as possible would be the best idea, then Hiccup wasn't afraid to admit that his plan was better.

"I wanted a part of the plan that didn't have such a high chance of dying. And I'm pretty sure that on this island, there's a high chance of being overpowered everywhere,"

"The same can be said for the high chance of dying," Whatever comments Snotlout had on his plans never bothered Hiccup much. In truth, he just continued on whatever argument he was trying to start just so he could be the one to end it with a response that would shut Snotlout up. It was amusing. It was also a slight entertainment to the Hookfang, Toothless and Striker, who were just walking beside the riders, still vigilant, but listening on the cousins bickering. It was something to take some of the tension off the mission because in the end, no one could deny that this was dangerous, and they would rather avoid being caught out.

The walk through the forest lasted for another five minutes or so. Originally, they had landed in a very dense part of the forest. It was quite hard to get through it without having to blast a way in, but by just pushing through it quickly, they were on the forest floor in almost total darkness. Despite there being barely leaves attached to the trees, the branches weaved their way around each other creating a thick canopy that allowed hardly any moonlight through. Hiccup and Snotlout couldn't see each other too well and it took some time for everyones eyes to adjust. Hookfang was about to flame up and cast some light on them, but Hiccup had stopped him and used his own sword to enable them to see where they were going. It wouldn't matter how quiet they were if they ended up setting the forest on fire.

As they continued to walk, the forest grew less and less dense and more white light from the moon penetrated through the increasing number of spaces in between the interwoven branches. Eventually, there was enough light for everyone to see without the need of the fire that came from Hiccups's sword, so he put it away. And as the number of trees diminished, the noise of trappers working their shifts increased, indicating to them that they were getting closer and that they should be more alert then before. In addition to that, the ground started to gain an incline, and from the growing gaps in between the trees, the riders and dragons could see that they were approaching the base of a mountain, where only a few trees grew and where trappers lurked around. The trees made for good enough hiding places for Hiccup, Snotlout and the dragons to remain unseen. 

Although there was some obstruction from twigs and branches, the two riders were able to get a good look at this part of the island. Ballistas were stationed around the outer perimeter of the outpost with harpoons stocked next to them along with one already inside each of them, locked and loaded. Beyond that, they could just see parts of some crates that looked big enough to hide Toothless behind if he were to really make himself as small as possible. To add onto all of that, the trappers were walking around the little base around the mountain, patrolling, moving weapons or opening the crates. Neither of them could see what it was they were taking out, but in the end, they weren't here to investigate what was inside those crates that they didnt even know about. They were here on a different mission, so they dwell on it for too long.