"Dammit! Where did they go?"

Horas screamed, glancing around frantically to find signs of those meddling dragon riders.

He turned to his henchmen; fury burning through his mud-brown eyes.

"YOU LET THEM GET AWAY?" Horas roared, his blood boiling.

One of his henchmen scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Well, I...I had them within shot, but they-''

With his patience wearing thin, Horas was close to exploding. He honestly felt like he was the only one who did everything around here.

Raising a hand, Horas strike it across the man, who winced in pain.

"Idiot!" he then let out a sigh, "Sometimes, I don't know why I even hired you, you fool! Sometimes, when you want something, you got to take it yourself. Bah! I have to do things on me own around here!"

Horas glared at the empty open sea. He curled his fists into a ball and slammed them onto timber edge of the ship.

"I want that Night Fury!" he fumed like a child throwing a tantrum, "No matter what it takes, I must have him!"

Startled by their master's erratic behaviour, Horas' henchmen backed away.

They exchanged strange looks to each other.

"Sir, perhaps they retreated," Megadon prompted, "They'll be back or perhaps they surrendered. Well, no matter, we'll be ready," he grinned wickedly, "Those goody dragon riders will be the death of us,"

Horas turned to Megadon with a sly smile. He slapped his back, letting out a hoarse laugh.

"Indeed. Once I get on those kids, especially the boy and his Night Fury, I will-''

He was cut off abruptly by a sudden blast, rocking the ship violently.

Startled, the henchmen glanced around frantically, moving their crossbows as they prepared to fire.

Clutching onto the ship's edge, Horas steadied his balance. He looked up, wide-eyed to find Runa circling the ship on Echo with an axe grasp in her hand.

Runa looked at the cowering hunters with a smirk spread across her face.

"Hey, Horas, looking for us?" Runa taunted as Echo let out a shriek, releasing another blast onto the ship.

"Because I'm right here. Catch me if you can!"

Horas clasped his hands over his ears as Echo lets out another shrill, blasting the ship's deck.

He looked up at the dragon rider with a sneer.

"The Girl!" he murmured to himself.

If one of those dragon riders were here, that meant the other riders weren't far behind.

"Quick! Shoot both them down!" Horas barked to his men.

Nodding, Horas' men set up their crossbows.

Runa glanced down at Echo, whispering, "You ready, girl? Let's give them a show they'll never forget,"

Echo shrieked happily in response.

She inhaled deeply, releasing a mighty shrill that made the waters shook violently. Her shrill bounced onto the ship, making men drop their weapons as they covered their ears from the horrid shrill.

Who knew a Thunderdrum's shrill could be so powerful.

Once the men recovered from the horrid sound, Horas ordered them to fire.

Luckily, Echo managed to dodge them quickly.

"You know what to do, girl," Runa whispered, petting her dragon, "Multiple blasts! Shrill!"

Echo's head perked up. She let out another fierce shrill, followed by multiple blasts in one go.

Horas' persisted to fire in her direction, but because of her swift movements, they missed.

Grunting, one of Horas' henchmen tossed a dagger.

Runa eventually caught in time before it could pierce through her dragon.

"Nice try, but you gotta do better than that," Runa smirked.

Horas shot her a glare, "No, there can't be one of them here. The others must be around here somewhere,"

He bounced back as a blast came into his direction.

Runa glanced to the back of the ship where Hiccup and Gunner snuck inside. She was glad her distraction would stall them long enough.

Reaching for her battle axe, Runa leapt onto the ship and began battling against incoming men.

The sound of metal against metal sounded off the ship, bouncing off into the distance.

Echo kept firing, careful of her rider on the ship.

~

"This is so cool!" Gunner whisper-yelled as he snuck through the lower deck of the ship. "Here we are sneaking to some hunters' ship, rescuing dragons. We'll be heroes if we could make it out alive,"

Hiccup led them through the darkness using his flaming sword, Inferno to guide them through.

He had to admit, he was a little unsure how this plan will turn out. He was concerned about being caught by Horas and his men.

As they moved through the darkness, they could hear squawks and roars of desperation.

They didn't need to predict what was down here; dragons.

Lots and lots of dragons; caged and possibly injured.

Hiccup placed a finger on his lips.

"Shh, we gotta keep our voices down," Hiccup whispered as quietly as he could, "We don't want Horas or his men to catch us. Remember, we're rescuing dragons. So, let's try to stay focused,"

Gunner let out a cocky laugh, "I'm not afraid of those hunters. You forget I was raised as a warrior. And I excel at kicking dragon killers' butts. I got our backs,"

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder, fearing they weren't the only ones down there. But he saw nothing except dragons trapped in cages.

"Well, can you keep a look out?" he whispered to Gunner, "One of us has to watch out for Horas or his men, in case they're down here,"

Gunner gave a nod, "Leave it to me,"

Relieved he could trust Gunner, Hiccup continued travelling through the darkness, hearing low hisses and squawking.

Furrowing his brows, Hiccup motioned his sword towards the cages as he passed by.

His forest-green eyes widened as he saw dragons tangled in chains. Some were chained to the wall while others were lying unconsciously on the ground, the life completely sucked right out of them.

Trails of crimson blood led from the corridors to the cages.

Hiccup found most of these dragons with some kind of slave mark on their bodies.

Bloodied scars cocooned around the dragons' bodies.

Something tells him that these dragons have been beaten violently, and have been left here for long periods of time.

Yet, he was amazed they could last this long.

Seeing these dragons in such terrible states made Hiccup's blood boil.

Hiccup felt his stomach turned. He was disgusted by seeing so many ill-treated dragons.

Honestly, he couldn't believe a human being could have done something this...horrendous.

Hiccup suspect Horas had lost all of his sanity to possess such a cruel desire of hurting creatures that did not deserve any of this.

Did he actually found some kind of satisfaction by doing this?

"You might want to come here," Gunner ushered Hiccup towards several cages away from him, "Look what they did to this poor guy...or girl. I think I'm going to be sick,"

Curious, Hiccup wandered over to Gunner. He let out a yelp, evading several deadly spikes that fired into his direction.

The brunet leaned forward to find a violet Deadly Nadder curled on the ground, close to its death.

Bloodied scars covered its frail, cold body. Raspy squawks escaped out of its mouth.

Fear rippled through the Nadder's reptilian eyes as it stared at the two boys.

Backing away, it let out a snarl as it sensed the boys were a threat.

"Hey, it's okay, fella," Hiccup reassured the Nadder, "We won't hurt you. We're not dragon hunters, I promise. We're here to help you and get you out,"

He closely eyed the slave mark on its body. It certainly made him feel angrier than ever.

Convinced the two humans weren't a threat, the Nadder stiffly moved closer. It looked up at the humans with its sad reptilian eyes.

Pity. That's what Hiccup and Gunner felt as they stared at the poor Nadder.

"Horas will pay for this," Gunner scrunched up his face in anger, "Nobody hurts dragons and gets away with it. We need to help it. I have never seen a dragon this badly treated, and it just makes me so mad,"

Hiccup stared into the Nadder. He closed his eyes and stretched his hand out to the Nadder.

He remembered the first time he met Toothless back at the cove. He remembered the first time they bonded. He remembered the first time Toothless trusted him that he wasn't a threat, but a friend.

The Nadder let out a soft moan as it inched closer until its snout touched Hiccup's hand.

Hiccup opened his eyes, letting out a gasp. He glanced at the Nadder, who looked up at the boy with a sense of trust.

"I...I can't believe somebody would do this to him," he stroked the Nadder's snout, feeling its prickly skin again his hand.

Anger flashed through his forest-green eyes the more he thought about Horas.

"None of them deserves this," he shook his head in disbelief, "I mean, what have they done to deserve this? How could one person do all this to incredible, innocent creatures?"

Hiccup was fuming now. He hated seeing dragons being mistreated like they were just mere objects with no emotions that were taken for granted.

He paused for a moment, lowering his eyes.

A single teardrop rolled down his cheek, vanishing into the wooden floorboard.

"Hey, you okay?" Hiccup flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Realising it belonged to Gunner, he relaxed a bit.

"Horas is a madman," Gunner stated with rage, "I won't rest until he's thrown away into jail because he can't get away with this,"

Hiccup stared at the Nadder with saddened eyes.

"I...I can't imagine what it would have been like if Horas captured Toothless that day," he paused, gesturing to the Nadder, "I...I don't want him to meet the same fate as this guy. I'm kinda scared what they do to Toothless. Ever since that day, I often get these nightmares,"

Gunner raised a brow, "Nightmares? What kind of nightmares?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a maniacal laugh.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

The two boys whirled around to find an ominous figure standing in the shadows.

Hiccup squinted as he got a close look at the stranger. He raised his sword to give some light.

As the figure emerged from the shadows, that's when he recognized who it was.

"Horas,"

Horas let out a dry chuckle, "Ah, it's good to see you again...Hiccup,"

Hiccup grinded his teeth, then shot Horas a murderous glare.

Gunner unsheathes his ax, ready to defend himself and his friend.

"Alright, what is going on, Horas?" Hiccup narrowed his green eyes, "Why do you torment all these poor, innocent dragons? They don't deserve this!"

Horas smiled darkly. He circled the boys, who kept their stance.

"Trespassing, aren't we?" Horas sneered, eyeing the boys suspiciously, "You know that is not allowed. Tell me, what purpose do you have here, boys?"

Gunner glared at Horas, drawing his ax towards his neck.

"Only to free these dragons out of your filthy clutches!" he declared fiercely, "So, Horas, what do you plan to do with these dragons, huh? Do you not know that they don't deserve this? This is disgusting... and low. Even for you. Now answer our question."

Horas shoved Gunner's ax aside, then let out a raspy laugh.

"These dragons are my property," he sneered at the boys, "You'll never get them unless a fair trade,"

The boys exchanged looks.

"What kind of trade?" Hiccup asked, narrowing his eyes.

Horas grinned, revealing his foul teeth, "Your Night Fury for the dragons' freedom,"

"You can't do this," Hiccup retorted, "Dragons are supposed to be free. They're kind, intelligent, amazing creatures who have as many rights as-''

"I don't care!" Horas cut him off, scowling.

He unsheathes his sword and drew it against the brunet's neck.

Sweat rolled uncontrollably down Hiccup's face as he backed away from the blade.

He could almost feel the cold metal slice against his skin.

"Tell me where your dragon is, boy," Horas sneered, inching the blade closer, "I'm sure you didn't trespass to my ship all alone, unaccompanied by your beasts,"

Hiccup narrowed his eyes, "For the last time, I am not trading Toothless. I won't let you hurt him. And he isn't here. Neither are any of our dragons,"

Gunner shot Horas a nasty glare. "If you want our dragons, you have to go through-''

"Lock them up, men!" Horas barked to his men. "We got ourselves some no good dragon riders in our midst,"

Two henchmen grabbed onto the boys, dropping their weapons with a clatter.

The boys struggled out of their grasps as they were whisked away into the darkness.