"Wake up!" A man said with an aggressive tone as he banged on the metal bars of the cages holding the riders.
They had little to no space so they had to share their cages with dragons. Hiccup and Sten were kept together in a cage holding a Snafflefang while Rune and Vyra were kept together with a Mudraker. Toothless and Sandstorm were kept in a cage on a separate part of the deck while Strombreaker and Eruptor filled the last part of the block.
Sluggishly, they arose from their sleeping positions as they rested on their respective dragon cellmates.
"The boss wants you" the trapper said to Hiccup.
"For what?" he asked.
"Oh you'll see" he said with a mean chuckle.
Rune observed closely as he took the keys out of his pocket and opened the cage holding Hiccup and took him out. He moved Hiccup towards the exit as they were about to go to deck of the ship then tossed the keys over to one of the guards guarding the entrance.
"Keep it safe. We might need another rider" he said as he and Hiccup walked up the stairs.
"Yes sir" he answered.
As they disappeared from their vision, Rune turned to Vyra and said with a low tone, "Did you see that?"
"See what?" she wondered.
"That guard has the keys and I think I might have a plan to get us out of here" he said.
Hiccup was escorted to the top deck where Toothless and Sandstorm were being held in a cage with muzzles on their mouths and then a red Singetail. About twenty armed men surrounded them and Dane stood in the middle of them wearing a smirk on his face as he saw the chief emerged.
"Good morning rider. I see you're adapting to sea life well" he said with a little chuckle at the end.
"Cut him loose" Dane instructed.
"You better not try anything stupid" the trapper said as he cut free the ropes that bound him by the wrists.
Hiccup rubbed his wrists after obtaining a slight bruise on his right wrist.
"What do want from me?" Hiccup asked.
"I want you to teach me how to tame a dragon" Dane said as the Singetail hit his cage trying to break free.
"And if I don't?"
"Well, there no need for me to elaborate on what's going to happen to your dragons" Dane said pointing to Toothless and Sandstorm as men with bow and spears stood around them.
The dragons growled at them showing their anger towards Dane.
"The choice is yours" Dane said with a wide smile.
"So if I teach you how to tame them, will you let us go?" Hiccup asked.
"Let you go?" Dane said as he and his men began to laugh. "Let you go? You belong to us now. We will never let you go, you haven't even taught us how to ride them yet. Not to mention teaching us every dragon secret wrapped in their mind of yours"
"Refusal to cooperate will result in dragon torture or we even torture YOU" Dane added.
Hiccup knew they had really gotten themselves in a pickle now. He gulped and faced the Singetail in front of him.
"If taming a dragon is what you want, then I will teach you how to tame one"
"Good to see that you have reached your resolve. Now open the cage, I've been waiting a lifetime to see this" Dane said with excitement.
Below deck, things were panning out differently. Rune and Vyra had been able to identify that their weapons were being held by the guards down there
"Okay Vyra, let's go over this again. We fake that the dragon is attacking us to get the guards attention and then when the other comes we knock him out as well before he sounds the alarm" Rune whispered.
"I'll play the victim and I trust you can take them out?"
"Sure" she answered.
"Come on girl, let's set you free" he said to the Mudraker.
"HEEELP!!!! HEEELP MEEE!!" Rune yelled getting the attention of the guards.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't eat my friend. Guards the dragon is trying to eat my friend!" Sten said seeing the situation.
"What's going on in there" one said rushing to check out what was going on.
He saw Rune pinned down on the ground by the dragon which was trying to eat him.
"Help me!! Please!!" Rune cried. "You don't want to be responsible....aaaggghhh for letting one of Dane's captives die would you....ouch. Considering that we're very important to him..... uhh... he would kill you for letting me die....owww...." Rune faked as the Mudraker kept the act up.
"NO I wouldn't" the guard said as he hurriedly got the key from his pocket. "The last guy to let a prisoner die was pushed into a volcano"
"Just make sure you don't get eaten yourself" the other guard advised.
"Alright break it up" he said pointing his sword at the dragon and using it to get her off him.
That's when Vyra took her chance, jumping from behind the Mudraker to deliver a roundhouse kick to the guard knocking his face into the side of the cage eventually knocking him out and then there was silence.
"Glad that worked out well" Rune said lowly as he picked up the guard's sword and freed himself.
"Wait, that was fake?!" Sten said loudly.
"SSSHHHHHHHH" they said sharply so that he wouldn't alert the guard.
"And here I was thinking you were really in danger" Sten added not getting their point.
"Hey!" the other guard said sharply. "Who are you talking too?" he asked now picking up his weapon.
The other two put their hands over their lips signaling Sten to zip it.
"I asked you a question" he said walking over. "What's going on here?!" he said and before he knew it, Rune hit him in the back of the head knocking him out.
"Alright team" Sten cheered.
"Hey, keep it down" Vyra said sharply.
"Okay, okay. You know you could've told me about the plan to get out you know" Sten said.
"And risk you ruining it? Hard pass" Rune answered as he got the keys. "Now let's get these guys free"
The Singetail walked out of it's cage slowly, huffing at Hiccup in front of him.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you" Hiccup said with a calm soft voice, trying to calm the dragon. "I...am you friend" he said trying to earn the dragons trust.
He stretched out his hand slowly as the dragon growled at him. He looked away and left his hand out as the dragon sniffed his hand. Picking up the scent of a dragon on him and his soft reassuring disposition, the Singetail placed it's nuzzle on his palm.
"Incredible" Dane said watching everything that was going with his undivided attention.
Soon four balls secreting green gas rolled out form below deck to the group gathered.
"What is that?" Dane wondered.
Hiccup recognized them and took cover as the Z.E.Ps exploded throwing the guards about as Rune, Vyra and Sten came charging out alongside the captive dragons. Toothless and Sandstorm were relieved to see them and knew that their freedom was just around the corner.
Rune got of the Mudraker from earlier and broke the lock on the cage as Sandstorm cooed being pleased to see him.
"Good to see you too" Rune said as he removed the nuzzle from he and Toothless.
"See you came up with a plan. Great work" Hiccup praised his student. "But this doesn't mean you're off the hook" he added.
Rune paid no attention to that as he gave him his gear and the two took off leaving Dane and his crew behind as well as a flurry of arrows.
"They got away boss" a man said.
"That doesn't matter" Dane replied. "They've already shown us the way. Now we can fully commence what we need to do" he said looking at his hand.
"The power is in our hands men. We can tame dragons now, what more do we need?" said Dane.
.............................................
"Keep your eyes peeled for ships. We have to find them" Astrid said as she and a rescue team scanned the ocean for any sign of Hiccup and the others.
The Rescue team considered of the same people from last night's raid but with the addition of Gobber, Spitelout, Gustav, Mulch, Bucket and Phelgma. It was almost evening time as night drew closer. From a distance, Forde spotted something and pointed it out to the rest of the group.
"There in the distance. We have dragons incoming" Forde stated.
They all turned their attention the the dragons coming at them head on. Astrid looked closer and then recognized the roar of one of the dragons.
"Those aren't wild dragons. That's Hiccup" She said with a sense of relieve in her voice.
"It's impossible" Valka said.
Then Toothless roared again, this time louder than before and they recognized it.
"It is them" Gustav said.
"Guess we weren't needed then" Gobber grumbled. "Come on Grump, let's head home"
The teams finally reunited and they headed back to Berk happy that they were reunited again.
"How did you guys get out?" Astrid asked as they flew home.
"You have Rune and Vyra to thank for that. They were the ones that got us out" Hiccup replied.
"Good to know that our training wasn't in vane though" Astrid said.
.........................
"I'm highly disappointed in you two" Hiccup said scolding both Rune and Vyra in the training arena with the rest of their team, Astrid and Valka present.
"You disobeyed a direct order and engaged the enemy. Then you hid the information from me and then you got us captured. You displayed your immaturity and lied to me. I cannot have that"
"We're sorry Hiccup but we knew that if we told you, you wouldn't let us go on any mission anytime soon" Rune spoke up.
"But now you see why I don't let you guys go on missions. You're still too immature, you're not ready for the world out there" he said.
"How would you know if we aren't ready when you don't give us the chance to prove ourselves. We're tired of sitting on the sidelines" Rune said.
"The sidelines is where you will remain until I see that you are ready to go out in the field again. You're all grounded until further notice"
"What?!" they all exclaimed.
"You're not ready, charging in head first, irrational decisions, no way am I having that"
"Hiccup please-" Rune tried to plead with him.
"No, my mind is made up. I want your saddles submitted to Gobber by tomorrow morning" Hiccup said with a stern tone.
Rune and the guys knew there was no way out of this and left the arena with low spirits.
"Don't you think that was a bit harsh Hiccup? I mean they haven't been out for a while so you could expect some rustiness and you have to understand why they lied" Astrid said.
"They're still too young for this. We weren't ready when we were their age and we got into a lot of trouble for that" Hiccup said.
"But they're not you" Valka said. "You might have gotten into a lot of trouble when you their age and were inexperienced with his but that doesn't mean they will make the same mistakes at you. That's why you're here, to guide them. You had no guidance but now you're here to guide them and keep them on the right path Hiccup"
"Please reconsider your decision" said his mother.
"Promise me you'll think about it" Astrid said holding his hand.
"Okay, fine. I will think about it but they're still grounded for now" Hiccup said.
"I can't believe he's grounding us" Rune said in frustration.
He and the team were on a seastack trying to take in what had just happened.
"Now we're not even going to get the chance to fly our dragons around the island anymore" Sten lamented.
"Does this mean I have to walk again? That's so stressful" she moaned.
"Especially with how crowded everywhere is getting, I do not advise walking" Forde chipped in.
"This is all my fault. I shouldn't have engaged Dane. Now everyone is getting punished because of me" Rune said feeling guilty.
"It's okay, I have an equal share in all this" Vyra said trying to comfort him.
"And I did get captured as well so I guess that counts" Sten added.
"If only there was a way to show Hiccup that we're ready for this" Thyra said.
"There is a way" Rune answered.
"How? We're grounded remember" Forde said.
"Who said it involved us following the rules" Rune answered.
"What are you talking about?" Vyra said wondering where he was going to.
"What I'm saying is that if we want to earn Hiccup's trust, we have to show him what we can do and we can't do that while we're grounded"
"Sooo?" said Sten.
"As long as we're on Berk we're ground and if we are not on Berk we can't be grounded" Rune explained.
"Are you suggesting we run away?" Thyra said.
"Not run away per say but more like going away to see the world for ourselves" Rune said trying to put it in nicer words.
"Are you crazy? If we do that and Hiccup finds out, we'll never fly our dragons again. Plus where are we going to go?" Forde said.
"I've got that figured out. There is a place Hiccup told me about, where he and his friends moved to at some point in time to explore the world for themselves. They called it Dragon's Edge" Rune said.
Their faces spelt the unbelief they had in his plan.
"Think about it guys, this is the perfect opportunity to prove ourselves. I know it may not be conventional or what you had in mind but this is the only chance we have. I don't know about you guys but if there's a chance for me to get to explore the world and ride my dragon again, I'll take it with or without you. Look, I'm not guaranteeing you guys safety or three square meals but the one thing I can promise you is that it's going to be a hell of an adventure. So what do you say?"
His words had them deep in thought as they weighed the move in the balance.
"I don't know how we will fare out there or what we're going to face but if there is a chance, I will take it with you" Vyra spoke up.
"Me too" Frode said.
"Count me in. I cannot leave another day without Rampage" Thyra said.
"This is crazy, but,..... I like crazy. I'm in" Sten said.
"Then it's settled then. We have to leave tonight If we're going to have a head start over them" Rune said.
"No problem, we'll get packed" Forde said.
"You better know what you're doing Rune. Don't let the faith we're putting in you go to waste" Vyra said as she mounted Strombreaker.
"We're putting our trust in you to lead us. Don't let us down" Sten said.
"You can count on me" Rune said hopping on Sandstorm's back. "We'll meet back here in thirty minutes"
They scattered across Berk to get home and get things packed. It was a risky move to make considering what they'll be up against but it was the only thing they had and were willing to do it. The hardest part of all this was not telling their parents or anyone for that matter. Rune feared for how they would feel, was his quest for glory really worth sacrificing all this for? He weighed it all on his way home but had his answer by the time he arrived.
He packed all that he deemed necessary like his map, plans, clothes and some food as well as some of his belongings.
"I hope this move pays off" Sten said in hope.
"I would really hate having to explain to my parents why I ran away with nothing to show for it" Forde added.
"Come on guys, I'm sure it will be fun. There's nothing to be scared off" Thyra said.
"Alright Rune. Lead the way" Vyra said as they all sat on dragon back ready to depart under the cover of drakness.
Rune took in a deep breath before speaking to them. This was the biggest decision he had ever taken before in his life with so much at stake too.
"Okay guys, let's do this" he said as Sandstorm flapped away and the others followed.
This was the beginning of the next chapter of their story. One that would altar their lives forever.