For Milady

TWENTY NINE: Despair

TWENTY NINE: Despair

Even with directions, it was still like looking for a very small red needle in a giant ocean-sized haystack, Hiccup realised as he and Toothless scoured the seas for the RedWing and Astrid. They had been searching for days, seeking one ship amid what turned out to be a huge channel, bounded by a slim ridge of almost imperceptible reefs and worn-down seastacks and dotted with small islands that a ship could easily hide out behind. But they searched on and on, watching the Scauldrons migrate and hoping against hope that the ship was still hunting dragons.

But as the days passed and exhaustion and despair lay heavily on the pair, Hiccup felt his hopes wane. Astrid was missing and really, there was no sign of her apart from Stormfly's spines on the island. Toothless was tired and fell asleep every evening when they rested on sea stacks or small isolated islands and the Viking was feeling more and more guilt that he was asking so much of his friend when it was his mess. But the Night Fury was reassuring, warbling gently and curling around the despondent young Viking. And every night, as he stared into the flames of the fire, Hiccup pictured Astrid's face, lit by her smile, her blue eyes twinkling with humour and pink lips curled up in a smile. And he imagined stroking her soft cheek, the silky strands of her hair brushing his cheek as he kissed her and felt her warm arms in his...

But every morning, he woke alone, cold and wracked by guilt even with Toothless's valiant efforts to raise his spirits. And he worked mechanically through washing and tidying himself up and then setting out again. Until they found a pod of Scauldrons, a dozen adults and subadults all swimming close together, their long-necked shapes sleek as they carved through the water and empty of ideas, Hiccup had Toothless follow them, soaring high so the large shapes were mere dark green smudges amid the deeper blue of the channel...until a ship surged from the shelter of two seastacks and fired a weighted dragon proof net over the nearest dragon, fouling its wings and swathing the struggling reptile in the unbreakable links.

Frozen for a moment, Hiccup felt Toothless warble in sympathy and the young Viking rested his hand on his dragon's head.

"I know, bud," he murmured. "Let's set them free..."

They swooped round and as they arrowed down, accelerating towards the vessel, Hiccup took in the details of the ship they were attacking, the ship he had been hunting for so long. The ship was a typical Hunter vessel, the stabilising float off the starboard hull to help when trying to bring down escaping dragons in the air and with blood red sails, marked with a dragon head impaled on a giant arrow: it had to be the RedWing. Toothless rolled and Hiccup felt the tension in the dragon's body as the Night Fury drew himself up-and fired. The dragon accurately blasted away the deck under the net-launcher and the device toppled-then fell into the sea. Hiccup hunched low over the dragon as they accelerated past the ship, the speed slamming the boat sideways and throwing off the aim of the flying arrows. They briefly dipped into the water as they passed, lifting the net enough to allow the trapped scauldron to break free before letting the net and launcher drop into the deeps. Flipping Toothless round, the Viking and dragon moved as one as Toothless blew the mast apart and the sails crashed down over the deck.

"Do it, bud," Hiccup murmured as they sped over the ship, the impact of their speed sending the vessel rocking wildly and the dragon blew the prow-and the attached ballista-off the ship. The RedWing lurched more violently and water began to pour into the stricken vessel. Seeing the Hunters abandon all hope of attacking them and move towards their own salvation, looking for the boats, Hiccup leaned forward.

"Okay, bud," he said as Toothless hovered above the deck and Hiccup glared down on them. "No one gets off this ship until the dragons are freed," he shouted, his voice carrying over the deck. "All of them. And your prisoner!"