Chapter 26

The wind bit at Hiccup's ear flaps as they soared through the night, his Flight flying to the right of his mother's group. She had explained that she didn't usually start riding on Cloudjumper's back until they reached their destination, so Hiccup had followed her example, flying in his dragon form. 

"There," his mother called out to him quietly, gesturing to an armada sailing south not too far ahead of them. 

Hiccup nodded, "Give me five minutes." 

He shared a serious look with Toothless before he flapped his wings, speeding off into the night. He flew silently towards the ships, keeping to the clouds as his black scales kept him hidden from the humans below. Lights flickered from the boats, Dragon Hunters patrolling the decks. Hiccup began to slowly circle the armada from above, looking for any signs of dragons in distress. His ears opened up wide, and he concentrated on trying to smell the scent of dragons in the air as his wings continued to flap. 

No sound or scent of dragons came upwards to greet him, so he focused his attention on the ship in the middle of the fleet. His mother had told him that Viggo was too smart to have put Ryker on a conspicuous boat, but Ryker would probably in one of the center ships. 

Sure enough, Hiccup spotted a large burly man prowling the deck of one of the center boats, his large frame standing out from the other hunters. He didn't wear the usual hunter garb, instead wearing a strange kind of dragon scale and leather armor, a giant skull on his belt. 

"Ew," Hiccup muttered silently, disgusted by the guy's hideous goatee.

Satisfied at what he'd seen, Hiccup tilted his wings, turning back towards his Flight and mother. They were flying by the armada, far enough away so as to not be spotted, and they had flown enough past it to the point that Hiccup had to pump his wings in order to catch up. Thanking the Moon Goddess for his dark scales, Hiccup pierced through the wind, relishing the feeling. Sometimes, it really did feel like he was sweeping away the moon. 

"No dragons on board," Hiccup reported as he flew back into his spot. "They seem to be too focused on reaching their destination to stop and catch dragons. And I think Ryker's on board. Is he the guy with the weird skull belt and horrendous goatee?" 

His mother chuckled slightly, "Yes, that is Ryker." She frowned, "This must be important if they don't have any dragons in their cages. Especially if Ryker is there as well." 

Hiccup nodded in agreement, "The patrols seemed a bit on edge too. Very serious, almost excited." 

She hummed in acknowledgment, staring out at the black night. 

For a couple hours nothing filled the air but the sounds of beating wings, some from Hiccup's Flight and some from his mother's entourage. She had brought an assortment of strong looking dragons with them, all of them wearing matching determined looks. They were flying in the direction that the Dragon Hunters had been sailing in, but they were mostly relying on the Beetle Horn that was sniffing the air once every minute. Hopefully, the dragon's amazing nose would be able to sniff out what the Dragon Hunters were sailing towards before they got lost. But just in case, they had a couple Hive Nights that they had picked up from the perimeter of the Dragon Hunter base flying between the armada and their group, showing up every so often to report if the fleet had changed directions. 

"Valka!" a high pitched voice called out, and Hiccup turned to see one of the little Hive Nights flying towards his mother, "I overheard that big scary human saying something to another human. I don't think that I understand human very well yet, but he seemed really angry when one of the henchmen humans walked up and asked him something. I think he said something like, 'I not telling you anything. We are taking it back to home. All you need to know'." 

"Interesting," she replied. "Thank you, Bink, that's wonderful information." 

"Of course!" The tiny dragon exclaimed, her tail shaking with excitement as she smiled widely. 

The Hive Night gave one last excited yip before flying back in the direction she had come.

"It seems like the crew don't know what they're going into," Hiccup said. "It must be incredibly important if Ryker is the only one that knows why they're taking something back to their base." 

"Or maybe even Ryker doesn't know what it is," his mother replied. "I wouldn't put it past Viggo to not tell even his brother why he was doing something."

"But what could it be?" Hiccup asked, frustrated. "What could be so important that Viggo would send an entire armada to go retrieve?" 

His mother sighed, "I don't know, son. But hopefully, we can stop them from getting it before they do any damage." 

Silence enveloped them again, before a thought suddenly came into Hiccup's head. 

"How do we know that this isn't a diversion?" Hiccup asked. "If this was truly something important, and Viggo knows that we'd go after them if they found something good, don't you think they'd do something a bit less obvious? Sure, they set their ships out randomly, but they were all still sailing in the same direction. Even a hatchling could catch that pattern. What if Viggo sent Ryker to go in a direction to throw us off his course? What if he actually sent another boat towards the actual thing they discovered? That could be why Ryker doesn't know what they're going to retrieve, because he isn't retrieving anything." 

His mother seemed to still for a moment, frowning. 

"What direction did the messenger boat come from?" Hiccup asked. 

Realization lit in her eyes, and a panicked look covered her face. 

"Southeast," she said. "I had assumed that the boats had gone in that direction and then went south to throw us off." 

Hiccup turned to his Flight, "Meatlug, Barf and Belch, you guys stay here with my mom. Follow her to where the armada is heading. Toothless, Hookfang, you guys come with me." 

They all nodded, Meatlug, Barf and Belch all flying off to join his mother's group. Toothless and Hookfang flew up next to him, both looking grim as they prepared to take off. 

"Wait, son," his mother said frantically. "You don't know for sure that this is a diversion." 

"Which is why I'm only taking Toothless and Hookfang with me," Hiccup said. "If it isn't, you'll still have enough dragon power to get whatever they're trying to keep from us. But if it is a diversion, then the boats that they'd have sent to retrieve the item would be tiny, inconspicuous. Meaning that they would pose little threat to us. So it doesn't matter as much how many dragons I bring, but it does matter how quickly we get there. Toothless and I are one of the fastest species in the world, and Hookfang will be able to keep up with us as long as we don't go top speed." 

Worry still coated her face, but she nodded, "Okay, go. But be careful." 

Hiccup gave her a reassuring smile, before he gave his wings a mighty flap and starting racing away from the group. If his calculations were correct, then they'd have to fly east at high speeds so that they could intercept whatever boat was sailing away from the diversion. He had no idea when the real retrieval vessel would have left the base, and the chances of actually finding it were slim, but he continued to flap his wings and fly east as fast as his wings could take him. 

"Hookfang," Hiccup called back to the Blaze Builder, "focus on keeping up with us, but if you smell even a whiff of smoke or wood or human, let me know immediately. Toothless, keep your ears open. I'm doing the same." 

They nodded, and Hiccup turned back towards the sky, focusing again on keeping pace. There were only a couple more hours of night left, and he hoped to get to the thing that needed retrieving before it got light again. 

For what seemed like days, hard wing flaps and hard breathing was all that filled the air, but Hiccup continued to listen along the silent waves below for anything out of the ordinary. 

"Captain!" Hookfang exclaimed, his voice piercing through the silent wind, "I think I smell something." He sniffed the air, "Yes. Wet wood. Fire. Angry sweaty human. Wait, no, flowery angry sweaty human. It's upwind."

"Flowery?" Hiccup asked confusedly. 

"Yes," Hookfang said slowly, sniffing the air again. "Maybe lavender?" 

Hiccup shook his head with confusion, but swiftly started veering them upwind. He was sure that they were far out of the archipelago by now, seeing as they'd been flying in the same direction for nearly an entire night, and Hiccup wasn't quite sure he'd ever heard of a Viking smelling like lavender. Angry and Sweaty? Yes. Lavender? No. Not ever. 

Nevertheless, Hiccup started paying even more attention than before, listening closely to each wave crashing below them, the sound ringing up towards his ears. Soon, the sound of wood cutting through water flowed up towards him, a single human voice seeming to murmur to himself. 

Hiccup sniffed the air curiously. 

"Huh. Lavender." 

He started beating his wings faster, his muscles aching as he strained to reach the boat. Eventually, a small dot appeared on the horizon. The ship was small, with only enough room to have a small room below deck. A man stood on the boat, adjusting the sail every now or then or shifting the paddles that sat in the water, looking across the sea by the light of the single lantern that he had lit. The man wore armor that looked well made, with spikes sticking out of his shoulder pads. 

Hiccup took a tight turn, starting to speed off in the direction that the man was going in. He may have been on the edge about the man being a Viking before, but spikes on armor was a dead giveaway. Also, the guy had a goatee and looked like a more well-groomed version of Ryker, so Hiccup guessed that the man was Viggo. 

It shocked Hiccup that Viggo was willing to go out on his own and do the dirty work of sailing a tiny boat to retrieve something. Like, the guy smelled like lavender. He certainly didn't give off the vibes of a Viking that did things himself. So, either Hiccup had terribly misjudged Viggo, or the thing that he was getting was so important that he wouldn't let anyone else help him in retrieving it. 

"Care to fill us in?" Toothless asked, ripping Hiccup from his thoughts. 

Hiccup let out a breath, "The guy on the boat was Viggo. He looked an awful lot like Ryker and was clearly a Viking. Considering that Viggo is on his own, the object is likely too valuable that Viggo won't let anyone but himself to know about it." 

Toothless nodded, "How long do you think until we reach the place that Viggo is going towards?" 

"No way to tell," Hiccup responded, "So we'll just have to keep flying until we reach something important looking." 

"Like that?" Hookfang asked, and Hiccup turned to see him pointing his head towards a ship with a Dragon Hunter crest a little bit to their right. 

"Exactly like that," Hiccup said, shifting into his human form and landing on Toothless's back. "Okay, here's the plan. Hookfang, I want you circling the ship above the clouds, and do not come down unless call for you. If I do call for you, then expect to find yourself in a battle where you have to burn a hundred humans to a crisp. Toothless, you and I will sneak onto the ship. We'll go deep into the ship first. Once we reach the absolutely deepest part of the ship, we'll have hopefully found whatever they're hiding. From there, we'll release it if it's a dragon, and then climb back up deck, releasing any other dragons we find along the way. Clear?" 

"Clear," they said back to him in unison. 

"Alright," Hiccup muttered, letting himself fall into the natural movements of flight on Toothless's back. 

Once they were close to the ship, Hiccup gestured to Hookfang, and he flew up into the clouds. Thanking the Gods for a night full of clouds, Hiccup prepared himself to land on the ship. The boat had hunters patrolling the deck, their torches flashing toward Hiccup's eyes. They waited until a guard had just moved on from a spot on the deck before landing, Toothless's paws silently hitting the wooden floor. 

Hiccup slid from his back, drawing from his inner Moon Sweeper stealthiness to creep towards the stern. They wove through the sea of cages, all of them ominously empty. Hiccup glanced into each one as they passed, happy that no dragons were trapped in them as he attempted to avoid any guards walking past. 

After a couple of narrow misses, they finally reached the doors that would lead below deck. Hiccup pushed his ear to the door, listening for any signs of movement. No voices or shuffling of feet reached his ears, so he silently opened the door. He and Toothless quickly walked in, Hiccup's feet gracing the floor like feathers as he did his best to keep quiet.

The staircase they walked into was dark, no torches lighting the way. Hiccup could see just fine, but he found it strange that no Viking had lit any torches so that they could see. With a deep breath, Hiccup began leading Toothless down the stairs, coming out into a hallway with cages lining the sides. 

Hiccup frowned, confused by the cages. The cages themselves weren't confusing, but the fact that they were empty was. There were dozens of cages on this boat. Why hadn't any dragons been caught and put in them? The armada that Ryker was currently leading didn't have nearly as many cages. 

"Come on," Hiccup whispered to Toothless, and began to walk down the hallway. 

With each cage they passed, Hiccup began to get nervous. Each one was empty, seeming to become more and more devoid of any life as they passed by. Soon they reached the end of the hallway, and they found themselves met with a small wooden door. Hiccup reached forward hesitantly, grabbing the circular handle and pulling it towards himself. 

The door stayed shut as he pulled at the handle, obviously locked. 

Hiccup turned to Toothless, "Any chance you could shoot a quiet plasma blast at the handle?" 

"Quiet?" Toothless deadpanned, "Really?" 

"Just a spark," Hiccup clarified. "Enough to get rid of the lock." 

Toothless sighed, but moved forward to shoot at the handle. He shot a tiny spark of purple at the lock, making Hiccup breathe a sigh of relief as it made little noise and shot straight through. Hiccup pushed the door open, avoiding the burning hole that used to be the handle. The two of them stepped into the room, and were immediately met by clanging metal. They tensed up at once, turning to find the source of the noise, and Hiccup's jaw went slack at what he saw. 

On the far side of the room was a boy, probably around Hiccup's age, hung the wall by his wrists by silver bangles. His wrists were covered in blood, some of it dripping down his anrms, evidence of his struggling. His clothes hung to his body like rags, the probably once white fabric now covered in dirt and blood. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days. His hair was long and dirty, the strands so covered in filth that it was nearly impossible to discern the color. 

But what made Hiccup gasp, nearly falling over at the sight, was the pair of white scaled wings protruding from the boy's back, blood dripping down from where they were nailed to the wall.