Heart of a Dragon Whisper (An RTTE Fanfic)

Chapter 35

I stood beside Ryker on a cliff, Spike, who had apparently followed our ship, clinging to my shoulder as we waited for someone to arrive with Hiccup. Ryker has said this morning that he had a feeling Hiccup would be brought to us today, but I knew that he was probably getting his hopes up for nothing. 

"This is boring." Spike whined, jumping off my shoulder. He attempted to land on Ryker's shoulder, but he swatted Spike away, half drawing his sword before the blue and green Terror finally left him alone, landing on top of my head instead. 

"Can you keep that vermin under control?" Ryker snapped, glaring at Spike. I reached up and pried him off my head, holding him in my arms. 

"It's not my fault he's bored out of his mind." I retorted, scratching Spike behind the ears. Spike crawled out of my arms and back onto my shoulder growling at Ryker. He rolled his eyes, turning to look out at the cove. A few minutes passed before a rustling came from the brush, causing Ryker and myself to look in the direction of the forest to see a man with a purple cloak holding one end of a chain, the other end wrapped around Hiccup's neck, a woman with a dark blue cloak standing to the man's right. I tried to figure out who they could be, but they were both wearing face masks, making it hard to distinguish what they looked like. The group approached before stopping in front of Ryker and I, the man tugging on the chain, forcing Hiccup to stand in between the bounty hunters and us. Ryker laughed, turning fully towards them. 

"Finally. Hiccup Haddock. No dragons to save you, no friends to save you. All alone." Ryker went to grab Hiccup, but the man pulled him back behind him. Hiccup glared at the man before glancing at me. I fixed him with a cold stare before looking over at the masked woman as she spoke. 

"The gold." she ordered, her voice slightly muffled because of the mask. 

"Your eyes look familiar. Do I know you?" Ryker asked, studying both the woman and the man's eyes. The man narrowed his eyes, extending his hand in an impatient manner. 

"The gold." he snapped. 

"You did good." Ryker commented, holding out the bag from the night before. The masked man went to take it, but instead of handing it to him, Ryker dropped it. The woman, man, Hiccup, and myself glanced down at the now open bag, a collection of grey rocks meeting us. "But there'll be no gold for this one-legged fool." Ryker added, laughing. The man narrowed his eyes at Ryker before stepping back, positioning himself in front of Hiccup. 

"Then there will be no prize." Ryker drew one of his swords. 

"Hunters!" Hunters came from all directions, weapons in hand. The masked man glanced at Ryker as he approached him before running at the hunters, tugging Hiccup along with him. I watched as he battled the hunters until Spike screeched a warning in my ear. 

"Alpha! Ryker!" I whirled around to see the masked woman sneaking up behind Ryker while his attention was on the masked man and his hunters, a sword with sapphires embedded in the hilt held tightly in her hand. I bolted forward, grabbing hold of Ryker's other sword which was still sheathed, pulling it from the sheath just in time to block the blow the woman would have inflicted on Ryker. 

"Pest..." 

"I got this!" I cut Ryker off, kicking the woman back so I could face him. "Get Haddock." I remarked, nodding over to where Hiccup was. He glanced between me and Hiccup who was now running towards the forest before nodding to me, calling to a couple hunters before running after him. I watched them go before snapping back to attention when Spike squawked a warning. I stepped to my right, just barely avoiding a swipe from the woman's sword. I held Ryker's sword up in a defensive position, glaring at the masked woman. She lunged forward, swinging her sword at me. I blocked her swings, focusing on staying on the defensive. Spike had hopped off my shoulder at some point during the battle, hovering to the side as me and the masked woman fought. "You fight well, for a bounty hunter." I commented as our swords clashed together, grunting from the strain. The masked woman glared at me. We continued to push our swords against each other, neither one of us pulling away. My gaze flicked to her wrist before I let go of the sword, holding it with only one hand as I grabbed the woman's arm pulling her towards me as I purposefully fell backwards. Her ice blue eyes widened as she lost her balance, falling forwards as I fell back. I got my feet under her and kicked her hard, forcing her to do a back flip over me. I quickly stood glancing back at the masked woman to see her sprawled out on the ground, her eyes closed in an unconscious manner. "Guess I threw her onto the rocks too hard." I thought aloud as Spike landed on my shoulder once more. Suddenly, a scream nearby made me whirl around, so I was facing the cove. I recognized the pitch of the voice. It was Hiccup. My gaze ran along the edge of the cove until I saw it. Hiccup was dangling on the side of the cliff with the masked man hanging onto him, however, the man was no longer masked and his hood had fallen off. I grabbed my hood, pulling it back over my head as it had fallen off during the fight, running with Ryker's sword in hand, Spike hopping off my shoulder, flying above. I watched as Hiccup detached his prosthetic leg, causing the man to fall. Hiccup started to fall only seconds later, but just as his grip slipped, Ryker grabbed hold of his wrist. 

"Oh, I'd love to drop you, but Viggo wants to kill you himself." I heard Ryker say as I drew closer, slowing to a walk. Ryker pulled Hiccup up, throwing him over his shoulder and onto the stone ground. 

"That's very considerate." Hiccup said as he sat up, glancing over at me as I stepped up beside Ryker, holding his sword out for him as I kept my eyes on Hiccup. Ryker took his sword, sheathing it as we watched two hunters surround Hiccup, their arrows aimed at him. Ryker stepped forward, grabbing Hiccup by the shoulder and hauling him onto his feet... foot before shoving him forward. I stepped up beside Ryker, following him as he lead Hiccup away from the edge of the cliff. Suddenly, the familiar sound of a plasma blast hitting the ground came from behind us followed by the roars of dragons. We turned to see the dragon riders flying towards us with Stoick on Toothless. Ryker turned back towards Hiccup, punching him hard in the gut, knocking him unconscious before throwing him over his shoulder and running. I followed suit, running at a normal pace behind Ryker as the guys took care of the hunters. I glanced over my shoulder, catching sight of Stoick and Toothless behind us. Just as I turned back, Toothless shot a plasma blast, the blast hitting the ground just behind us, shooting us forward. I landed and rolled into a crouching position, glancing over at Hiccup who was lying on the ground and Ryker who was in a crouching position as well, eyeing Toothless and Stoick as they landed. 

"You get him, Toothless." Stoick ordered, pointing his axe at Ryker. Ryker stood, dragging the barely conscious Hiccup up with him as he drew one of his swords. Toothless blasted the sword out of his hand, the force of the blast making him drop Hiccup too. Toothless continued to send blast after blast, relieving Ryker of his wrist guards, shoulder pads, and sheathed swords before finally knocking him back. Toothless glared at Ryker snarling as he readied another plasma blast. 

"No, don't." Ryker begged. I shook myself out of my shock and bolted forward, planting myself in between the cowering Ryker and Toothless. Toothless stopped, looking at me with confusion. 

"Melia? What are you-" 

"It's all right, Toothless, we got 'em." Stoick remarked, patting Toothless on the head. Toothless glanced back at us and growled before bounding over to where Hiccup was, checking to make sure he was okay. I let out a breath of relief, not even realizing until now that I even had been holding my breath. I turned towards Ryker, offering him a hand. He glanced between my hand and my face before reaching up and taking it, allowing me to haul him to his feet. Ryker glanced over at Hiccup and Toothless as he rubbed his arm, glowering at them. I turned away from him, kneeling down to pick up one of his swords when I heard Stoick growling and Ryker inhale. I looked up to see Stoick had grabbed Ryker by the front of his tunic and was now holding him up in the air. "I want you to deliver a message to Viggo. You put a bounty on one of us, you get all of us." Stoick stated before punching Ryker in the face. He let go of Ryker, letting the man fall forward onto the ground. I stared at Ryker before looking up at Stoick, watching as he cracked his knuckles and neck, sighing as he said, "Well, that felt good." He glanced at me, making me freeze before relaxing as he walked away, seeming to think I wasn't worth his time, which in all honesty, I felt a little lucky because of that. I sat back on my knees, watching as Astrid and Hiccup reunited. Only a moment or two passed before I caught movement in the corner of my eye. I turned to see Ryker propping himself up, a throwing dagger held readily in his hand. I was about to make a move to stop him when he suddenly fell forward, Hiccup's prosthetic leg landing perfectly on the ground in front of me. I glanced over at the cliff's edge to see who threw it only to find the male bounty hunter standing there, eyeing everyone cautiously. All the dragons started to growl, moving in a formation that looked like they were cornering him. Before they got closer however, the man did a backflip off the cliff, surprising everyone. After that, the riders mounted their dragons and got ready to leave. I caught Hiccup looking back at me and I gave him a brief nod before he turned away, flying off the island with everyone else. 

<Hey, look at that... Probably gonna be one of the very few times Melia actually save Ryker, but hey! At least they're just slightly getting along. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise there'll be more to come. See you all soon!>