"Hiccup, Hiccup!" Rune called as he and Vyra flew towards the chief standing in front of the Gobber's forge with Astrid and Eret to his side. Day had already set in now.
"Rune, what's the problem?" He asked seeing his distressed expression.
"Hunters, lots of hunters" He answered trying to catch his breath.
"How many?" Eret asked.
"About thirty ships maybe more" he reported.
"How big were they?" Astrid questioned.
"They were huge. They could carry ten dragons or maybe more" Vyra answered.
"That's not good, not good at all. Where did you see them?" Hiccup asked.
"We found them heading northwest" Rune answered.
"That's a lot of ground to cover" Hiccup said placing his hand on his chin. "Eret, relay this information to my mom. She might be able to figure out where they're heading. Astrid tell the others to prepare for a raid tonight"
The two nodded after receiving their orders and flew off.
"And as for you two, go get yourselves and your friends ready. You've earned it" Hiccup added.
Their eyes were full of shock and disbelief, they were finally going to stretch their wings.
"You got it chief" Rune answered as they went their separate ways.
On the way to the training arena, Vyra cornered Rune behind a house which got him startled and a bit confused.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Why didn't you tell Hiccup about Dane or the fight?" she demanded.
"Because if I did, we wouldn't be going on the raid tonight"
She raised her eyebrow showing that she wasn't fully convinced at his answer.
"If we had told Hiccup that we engaged them that would get us into trouble and we also disobeyed a directive and engaged the enemy in unfavorable circumstances. And we don't want that do we?"
"Okay, you've made your point"
"Glad we're on the same page. Now, let's go give the others the good news"
"You're joking, tell me your joking" Forde said as his voice got higher and higher as he was full of excitement.
"No we're not" Vyra answered.
"Finally!" Sten exclaimed. "We get to see some action" he added with his sword in hand.
"I can't wait to finally drop some heads" Thyra said swinging her hammer.
"Don't underestimate them, those guys are the real deal" Rune warned.
"That's what they all say. I bet they'll be a piece of cake" Sten answered proudly.
"Don't say I didn't warn you" Rune said as he and his dragon began to head towards the exit of the arena.
"And where are you going?" Forde asked.
"Gonna rest for a while. Sandstorm and I had a very long night" he replied.
"Same goes for me too" Vyra chimed in.
"Are you sure you guys only scouted last night?" Sten said mischievously.
"Yes, nothing more. Stop having crazy thoughts for once man" Rune said.
"What? It could've meant anything" Sten defended himself.
"Come on bro, we all know how you think" Forde said.
....................................
The sun began to set and the squads set off on the trail of the trappers. From the information they had, they set up a wide search area based on Valka's knowledge of hunter ship routes.
"Alright team we have a lot of ground to cover and a big task at hand, so let's keep it as simple as possible and get this over with" Hiccup said as they flew out. He and his team were all adorned in their dragon scale armor.
Rune and his group were completely pumped up after waiting ages for this and you could say that they were feeling trigger happy but the experienced riders hoped that their excitement won't lead them to devastating mistakes out in the field.
"When will this search end, it's getting pretty cold up here" Snotlout complained.
"Well we did tell you to get a coat but you refused" Astrid said.
"I didn't know we were going to be out here this long" he replied.
"Knowing the nature of this mission, didn't it ever occur to you that the time we're going to use was going to unspecified?" Eret said. "I mean even the rookies packed better than you"
Snotlout puffed and pouted in anger as Eret had a little laugh.
"Come on guys we have to remain focused" Valka said trying to get them to concentrate at the task at hand.
Rune and Hiccup were on their spyglasses looking for any boat signs or flickers of light. They knew they needed to find something fast as the patience of some began to wear out.
"I'm beginning to think that these hunters are long gone" Forde said.
"There hasn't been a sign of anything in miles" Fishlegs added.
"Don't worry guys I'm sure we'll find them soon" Hiccup assured them.
"It's either that or we find a new source of entertainment cuz I'm tired of poking Ruffnut with this stick" Tuffnut said.
"Why don't you give me the stick for a change and I poke you?" Ruffnut said.
"No, it's my stick and I get to do whatever I want with it" he answered assertively.
"Just give it" said Ruffnut as she held on to the stick and the two began to struggle over it.
As they were flying, the dragons all of a sudden became uneasy and restless and that was a sign that they were getting close.
"Easy boy" Rune said rubbing Sandstorm's head.
Then Hiccup heard the faint sounds of dragon moans.
"Did you hear that?"
Everyone became razor focused as they tried their best to listen closely. Now they heard a loud groan.
"We're close" Valka said.
"We have to be alert, we don't know the exact size of the fleet so tread carefully" warned Hiccup.
The riders flew cautiously under the cover of clouds until they came upon a mighty fleet of ships, fifty strong.
"So many ships" Eret said.
"And so many dragons onboard" Valka added.
"What's the plan Hiccup?" Astrid said.
"There's no way we can sneak up on them, there are too many eyes around so we have to go with a distraction. Ruff, Tuff, Snotlout and Sten will create a diversion for the rest of us to come in. We get the dragons free and that's it, don't get drawn on fighting trappers alone. Am I clear?"
"Yes" They chorused.
"Let's do this guys" he said.
"Try to keep up rookie" Ruffnut teased with a chuckle as Barf and Belch decided to drop from the sky.
"I'll do more than keep up" Sten said as Eruptor also took the fall.
"Remember, it's not a competition" Hiccup echoed as the three dropped.
"Do you think they can pull off such a massive distraction?" Astrid asked Hiccup.
"Sure they can, it's Ruffnut and Tuffnut we're talking about. Not to mention the two hot heads on Monstrous Nightmares"
Astrid moved her head to the side seeing his point then their attention was grabbed when they heard someone shout, "Dragon riders!!!" on the top of his voice then an explosion followed.
"And that's our que. Let's go" Hiccup said getting into a dive with Toothless.
Rune and Sandstorm quickly followed trying to keep up with their counterparts.
"Let's do this" Thyra said holding out her hammer. "Onwards Rampage!!" she screamed as they charged on.
As Hiccup and Rune came out of the clouds, it was soon evident why the man shouted. Seven ships were already set ablaze and the three went on causing more chaos to the neighboring ships.
Toothless led the way with the wind whistling as he hit his top speed then Sandstorm followed behind doing everything in his power to keep up and may be the wind whistled slightly once or twice. Nah. The Night Fury landed first on a ship then Sandstorm and finally Eret. Hiccup then raised his hand holding up Three fingers signifying that he wanted three people to a ship. They nodded and split up to hit other ships.
"Game faces guys" Hiccup said bringing out his inferno blade as he dismounted Toothless.
Rune got his axe out as he hopped of his Sand Wraith and Eret bringing out his two blades. They charged at the hunters engaging them in combat with their dragons serving as extra men on the battlefield. Rune parried a swing from a sword then manage to hit the hunter in the gut with a kick then used the handle of his sword to hit him in the side of his head knocking him out. A cluster of arrows flew their way with Sandstorm using his wings to shield them from the attack as Toothless and Skullcrusher shot at the archers.
"Aaaaarrrrrgggghhh!!!" Thyra yelled as she charged at four men holding her hammer in hand.
In one swing, she hit two men overboard and then knocked the other two into the side of a cage. Vyra rolled across the railings to kick a man in the back then blocked a spear attack as Stormbreaker carried the man away. Forde opened a cage then swung the cage open to hit three men down with the dragon running out and running two men off the boat.
The teams made progress setting the dragons free and damaging the ships but there was one ship left. The biggest one in the fleet situated in the center of all the other ships, it could house twenty to twenty dragons on its own. Hiccup, Rune and Vyra approached the ship with the younger knowing that Dane was probably onboard it. As soon as they stepped foot on the deck, a voice spoke from the darkness.
"Dragon riders, I've been expecting you"
Rune and Vyra immediately recognized the voice to be Dane's but Hiccup had no idea of who it was.
"Who are you. What are you doing with all these dragons?!" Hiccup demanded.
"Did your underlings not tell you about me?" Dane asked.
"What are you talking about?" Hiccup said confused at what he was saying. This was supposed to be the first time they were meeting.
"These two by your side. Didn't they tell you who I am?!" Dane said furiously as he walked out of the darkness and into the light.
"Wait, you've guys have met? Why didn't you tell me?" Hiccup said angry at the two.
"We didn't want to tell you that we engaged them in a fight" Rune answered with a solemn voice.
"We will settle this when we get back" he said turning his focus back to Dane.
"Oh, you're not going back" Dane said as archers emerged surrounding them with arrows ready to fire at them.
The three riders gulped with the odds not in their favor but then dragon roars came from above as Toothless, Sandstorm and Stormbreaker descending raining fire from the sky warding off the archers. Men screamed and ran for their lives after getting burnt by their flames and now it was just Dane left.
"I don't know whatever it is that you're planning but it will never work. As long as we are out here, we will stop you" Hiccup said as he mounted Toothless then they all flew off.
"We will see about that" he replied as he lifted his hand and pointed at them. Capture those three for me" he said.
"When we get back to Berk, we're going to have a talk about this" Hiccup said sternly.
"But-"
"No buts" Hiccup said cutting of Rune. "We talk about it when get back" he said turning to look at them. "Its not something we can speak about on the-"
"Hiccup lookout!" Vyra yelled as metal net flew at them from the side taking both he and Toothless out.
"Hiccup!" Rune yelled. He swiftly flew down to try and catch them before they hit the deck of a ship but they were also caught in a net and then the two pairs landed on the deck.
Vyra flew down after them so that she could get them free but a net was also shot at her, this time she saw it and twirled out of the way only for Stormbreaker to be hit by a dragon root arrow in the leg. Stormbreaker let out a loud groan telling Vyra she'd been hit as they spiraled towards the sea.
"Stormbreaker!" she exclaimed as they took the plunge.
"Riders down!, Riders Down!!" Forde yelled alerting the others.
"It's Hiccup and Rune" she said.
"Don't worry I got them" Sten said flying in head first.
"No wait!" Valka cried but it was too late.
He flew in without thinking and Eruptor soon had two chains on his legs as men tried to pull him down.
"Come on boy, you can do it" Sten told his dragon as he huffed.
"Get him out of there!" Eret ordered.
Forde and Snotlout flew towards them to try and get him free but were soon met by a wall of arrows forcing them to turn around.
"We can't get passed their archers" Snotlout stated.
"Dang it" Astrid cursed.
Eruptor soon joined the other dragons on the deck as he was hit by a root arrow in the chest. Astrid assessed the situation weighing in the odds and how everything looked and had to make a tough choice.
"We have to fall back" she said.
"What?!" Ruff, Tuff and Thyra exclaimed.
"We can't just leave them there. Odin knows what they will do to them" Thyra said.
"She's right, we can't leave them behind" Snotlout chipped in.
"I think Astrid is right, there's no way we can face them. Not like this" Valka supported. "We have to head back, Regroup and strategize because they know we will be coming back for them"
With heavy hearts and conflicting opinions, they agreed to head back to Berk to come up with a rescue plan.
Hiccup, Rune and their dragons all struggled to break free from the nets but they were already surrounded leaving their attempts futile. The two dragons growled at the hostiles as Vyra and Stormbreaker were pulled out of the water.
"I told you you weren't going anywhere" Dane said as he chuckled.
"Repair as many ships as we can and I want a head count on how many dragons we have left. We may have lost most of our catch but we gained the missing link in our plan. You're going to teach me how to tame dragons and ride them riders"
"We'll never help you!" Rune protested.
"You will help me young rider. The lives of your dragons depend on it" he answered with a sinister tone. "I want them below deck tied up and kept away from their dragons" he ordered as he walked away.
This was not the type of action Rune had in mind.