Blackout and Aphira had been flying forever. It felt like every single island they went towards was inhabited by aggressive men called Hunters, and there were no sea stacks or alternatives in sight.
There were also no dragons. The islands inside the Archipeligo were probably still being claimed, and no dragon found the need to venture outside of it yet. So what were these Hunters hunting? Birds?
Suddenly, a bundle of ropes was thrown at Blackout. Blackout, exhausted, dove toward the water. She looked up to see the ropes splat on the surface. She blasted at it and flapped her wings several times, attempting to get out of the water but failing. More bundles wrapped up her snout, but they didn't manage to get underwater.
Finally, a chain was wrapped around Blackout's snout and tugged her up. At least Aphira didn't have to struggle to get her head out of the water anymore. "I told you they weren't extinct!" A rough voice yelled. "They're alive, and the girl and her dragon proves it!"
Aphira tried to tug the chain off of Blackout's snout, but she only succeeded in almost getting her hands tied by the nets. "Oh, I'm sorry, but the chain isn't moving. Tie up the dragon!" Suddenly, a rough hand wrapped around one of Aphira's forearms and tugged her away from Blackout. "Blackout!" Aphira cried.
"Let me go!" Aphira twisted out of the man's grasp. She turned to face him. He had a mustache and a small scar just underneath one of his eyes going diagonally toward his nose. His chocolate brown eyes narrowed at her. This stopped her struggles for a moment. The eye color - it matched Granddad's in a way that was undeniable.
The man, too, seemed to recognize her. "You have Dagur's eyes." He remarked. He reached to grab her again but she slipped just out of reach and ducked underneath a mace that was being raised above her head. It came down on the man's hand. He growled. "And Kiara's intelligence."
"How do you know my parents?" Aphira growled, narrowing her eyes and committing the man's appearance to memory. He had a burly, muscular build and wore a silver leather tunic with one shoulder guard on his right, one spiky wrist guard on the right arm and one turtle shell-like wrist guard on the left arm, a large skull belt with a leather tasset, navy blue pants, and tiger-print boots.
"Oh, we have a history." He smiled. "And I bet it'll be useful when it comes to you." "I," Aphira panted, ducking underneath another sword with an eye roll. "am no use to you. They think that I'm dead if Hiccup and Astrid got back." The man's black eyebrows shot up. "Interestin'. Catch her and put her in a cell with her dragon." He growled.
"Ugh!" Aphira dodged under swords and hands, forced maces to hit unintended targets, and kicked away hands, but eventually, the people finally caught her and threw her into a wooden cell, a leather muzzle around Blackout's head.
It wasn't long before someone came in and pulled her to her feet by force, making sure he had two hands on her at all times, and barely giving her a chance to escape. He brought her to a hut that had walls made of some kind of scaly hide, decorated with spots with hints of dark purple and red peeking through when a piece that was loose blew in the wind.
When the door opened, the man from before stepped out of it. At this point, it was pretty clear he was the leader. "I am Ryker. This is my island. And you are my prisoner. And your dragon is now my dragon." He grinned, pulling his face right up in mine. I glared right back, holding his brown gaze that was unmistakably related to Viggo's. This was his brother.
His brother was dead. Drowned and eaten by the whirlpool dragon, right? Unless...
It could've eaten the boat and not sucked in everyone first.
"And how they get treated is entirely up to you." He added, stepping back. I narrowed my eyes. "Really? Somehow I have a hard time believing that." "Give me information about the Riders, and she'll be safe," Ryker said.
Aphira bit her lower lip. "Hiccup is the leader of Berk, and Astrid is his wife. That's all I know." Aphira said. "I haven't been there in a while." This was at least partially truthful. A few days was a while, right?
"Ah, well. Why?" Ryker grunted. "What?" The question took Aphira by surprise. "Why did you leave? Unless...Dagur and Kiara are dead." Ryker mused. "No, no, no. The dragons -" Aphira cut herself off, but Ryker was already staring at her intensely, and she knew she had to go on. "The dragons returned, and I didn't like them."
"And yet you've ridden one past every Hunter operation from here to the border," Ryker said. "Speaking of which, with no dragons to hunt, how have you stayed so...y'know...active?" Aphira asked. Ryker grunted and muttered something under his breath. "Here's what I propose," Aphira said, honestly just wanting to be done with this meaningless conversation. Ryker glanced up in surprise. "You take me in, offer Blackout and I protection, and we'll help you not only find, but also capture, any dragons that come this way."
Ryker hesitated. "Fine." He said. Aphira blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected that to work. "But you put one wing out of place and you'll have wished you had died from a dragon," Ryker said as he stalked away. "Free her dragon."
Aphira glanced after the Hunter that had guided her as he stalked toward the stable, then at Ryker, who was walking down to an empty wooden platform that had small wooden chunks taken off.
Then it registered what she had just done. If the Riders come this way...
They can't come this way.
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Fading Echoes - The Echoes, Book 2 - HTTYD Fanfiction
Fiksi PenggemarAphira had met the dragons when she was very young with her Mother and her brother, Whip. However, she didn't remember it, and not even the stories that her Mother told in vivid detail stirred her memory. But when one day, suddenly several beasts...
