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Chapter 3

•••Hiccup POV•••

I immediately took to the sky. I looked around and saw a dozen ships all heading towards the island. I recognized those flag insignias anywhere. They were dragon hunters. I flew back down.

"Dragon hunters." I said. Astrid's expression immediately turned to concern.

"Are you sure?" She asked. I nodded.

"I could recognize those flags anywhere. But how did they know I was here?" I replied. He started pacing.

"There's no use in trying to figure out now. We need to set up defenses. Immediately." Astrid said. We ran the rest of the way back to the camp. Fishlegs went to find Snotlout and the twins. Astrid and I got together all the weapons they had and I got out all the weapons I had. Just then a blue and yellow Deadly Nadder broke through the trees and growled. Astrid got out her axe ready for a fight.

"Wait! I know this dragon!" I said. It was a Nadder I saved a few years ago from a Viking village. If she was here that means the others are too.

"I have an idea."

•••

"Absolutely not." Snotlout said. I had his hand held out to a deep red Monstrous Nightmare.

"Just calm down. Look away. If you show a dragon that you won't do anything to hurt it, it won't hurt you. You need to gain its trust if you want to learn to ride." I explained.

"Who says I want to ride?!" Snotlout said still pulling away.

"Everyone is already up in the air with their dragons. You're the only one left. If you don't hurry the dragon hunters will kill you before your dragon does." It's true. Everyone was on their new dragons waiting for Snotlout. Astrid rode the light blue and yellow Nadder from earlier, Fishlegs sat atop a brown female Gronkle, and the twins, Ruff and Tuff, sat on a Hideous Zippleback. The most mischievous one around, and they loved it.

"Fine. But if I get my hand bitten off I'll chop your head off, with my face." Snotlout said finally relaxing. The Monstrous Nightmare leaned in and let Snotlout touch him and soon enough we were up in the air.

"Everyone listen up. Dragon hunters have very dangerous weapons. Dragon root arrows that can cause a dragon to lose all control over flight, dragon proof chains that can pull you in so they can net you, net launchers, dragon proofs cell bars, and more. They are not to be underestimated, that can get you killed." I explained. We were nearing the beach where the hunters were docked.

"Head to that cliff. There should be enough trees to hide us from them. And we have higher ground for firing. The arrows shouldn't be able to fire this far." I ordered pointing to the cliff just above the boat.

"When do we get to blast some stuff?!" Tuffnut asked excitedly.

"Also, how do we blast stuff?" Ruffnut added.

"One head produces a flammable gas that can be lit by the other head when it makes a spa-." Suddenly there was a giant explosion near us. Ruffnut and Tuffnut had decided to test out this new blasting ability.

"You idiots you gave away our hiding spot! Ever heard of element of surprise?!" Snotlout yelled.

"Take to the sky, just out of arrows reach and start firing on the boats." I ordered. Everyone followed me. As they fired upon the boats I went on deck and faced the hunters. I pulled out my flaming sword and went into battle.

"Well, well. Look what the dragon flew in." I turned around.

"Ryker. Nice to see you too." I growled, Toothless along with me. Ryker laughed.

"Do you really think 3 wild dragons will change the outcome? Sorry to say, but I think we'll be having a repeat of last time." He flung his sword at me but I dodged easily. I ran at him with my sword just as he pulled out a new one. We both received blows from each other until I was knocked down. I hit the sail post with a thud.

"Where are your dragons to protect you now." He said raising his sword ready to kill.

"I don't know about dragons, but I know someone who might be willing too." I said. A yellow and blue Deadly Nadder dropped from the sky and onto the boat. Off jumped Astrid. She ran straight at Ryker with her axe raised pushing him to the edge of the boat and knocking him off with a hit to the face. She walked back over to me and helped me up.

"That was weak. If I can beat him that fast why couldn't you?" She joked. I smirked.

"What if I was just hiding my combat abilities to get him into a false sense of security so that you could come from behind and attack him?" I said.

"Clever plan. How did you know he was going to follow it?" Astrid asked.

"Because, he's the easy one to read. He's the brawn to his younger brother's brain." I explained.

"What about the other ships?" I asked.

"Most turned around. We were able to sink five of them." Astrid reported.

"Good. I think that should deal with them for now. They shouldn't come back for awhile." I replied. I walked over to Toothless and felt a pang of pain in my left side. I looked down and there was blood. And lots of it. I looked back at Astrid. She was busy praising Stormfly, the name of her dragon. What was I thinking, I've handled wounds like this before.

"I'm gonna head back to the forge. Toothless' tail was damaged in the fight." And I flew off without another word.

•••Astrid POV•••

Hiccup took to the sky and headed straight back for the island. He said Toothless' tail was damaged. But to what extent? Toothless could still fly. Something is wrong with Hiccup.