The Lost Boy III - Tales of the North

3 - Rough encounter

Hiccup folded the map and put it back on the bag before both boys mounted their dragons. They took off and started with a recognition flight. The soared above a forest with burning atuthumn colors, but as they were heading to mountain, they found themselves above a cimetery. The forest had burn down to ashes.

They went through it until they reached a inlet between the island and the mountain. There, above the water, they saw something that unexpected it stopped their dragons, as astounded as them. A huge ice sculpture was rising from the sand and sea, like a frozen wave, murderous ridges towards the sky.

''Wow...'' Hiccup gasped.

He turned to Joke, but the boy was as confused as him, and shrugged at him. His curious look was saying the same thing Hiccup was thinking : they wanted to know what was that thing.

''Stay close.'' He said before he prompted Toothless to get closer to the structure.

They flew to the frozen explosion, passing by the sharp ridges. It was ice, it had a greenish color but that was undoubtfully ice. Here and there, the young men could see objets trapped in the structure. Wood, big broken pieces of wood, like a sort of tower that had been smashed and frozen in its collapsing.

''What happened here ?''

As they were circling the thing, they saw something on the other side. Land, a smaller tower, what looked like a ship half incased in ice. Hiccup also spotted giant rounded footprint, but he didn't have the time to inspect it as he heard his boyfriend's voice.

''Hiccup, look !''

The viking barely had time to see men on the ship's bridge said men attacked.

''Fire !''

A net was thrown at them, Toothless managed to dodge but Hiccup didn't have the time to warn his boyfriend as Lumiverse got entangled in the ropes. With her wings tied up, she fell, dragging her rider with her.

''Hiccup !'' He screamed.

Toothless dove after them and managed to catch the boy's arm. He took him out of the nest and flew away as the Light Fury kept on falling, to land not far away from the bridge.

Men gathered around her with spears and shields. They tried to capture her, but she was fierce, strong, and most of all angry. She opened her mouth and loaded a plasma blast, but she didn't have the time to shot it as a man threw himself on her head.

''Watch the head !''

He pinned the dragon's head on the ground and tied up her mouth, before giving orders to the other men to tied up her wings and tail. They were seven, but her friends were not going to let them harm her. Especially Toothless. The dragon quickly turned around to come back, his whistle echoing in the sky and betrayed his presence before he was visible.

The man on Lumiverse's head, which seemed to be their chief, lifted his head.

''Another one ?'' He gasped.

''Stop !'' Hiccup yelled.

''Lumiverse ! What are you doing to her ?!''

The black dragon dropped his passenger and landed before letting Hiccup dismount him. Like everytime they were encountering people from another clan, Joke was hiding his hair under his hood.

The young man had no weapons but the men in front of him did. So he picked up an icicle and brandished it as a mace. Seeing that was not stoping the men from charging at them, Hiccup drew out the sword he had crafted, a flaming sword.

The men stopped, astounded by the object.

''Back again ?'' Their chief said.

This men didn't seem much older than them, he surely wasn't more than twenty-five. But he was tall and bulky. His skin was sunkissed with no freckles, his hair as dark as Toothless' scales, and his eyes were darker than what the viking were used to as they were brown. Well, not really brown, more like a chestnut. The more noticeable thing about him was his large chin covered with a blue tattoo.