The Strength of the Princess (HTTYD)

Dragon Hunters

A/N: We are officially done with season one and starting season two!

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Chapter 13: Dragon Hunters

The dragon riders anxiously gathered around Hiccup's bed where they watched Astrid resting. She had been missing all day, and they retrieved her from a search and rescue mission. Hiccup found her floating in the ocean... without Stormfly. Clearly, something terrible had happened, but they needed to wait for her to wake up for answers.

Astrid suddenly sat up and let out a loud gasp: "Stormfly!"

Hiccup placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "Hey! It's okay, it's okay just try to relax Astrid, you had a tough night."

Astrid groaned and shook her head. "No no no no, you don't understand, they were all in cages... and they have Stormfly!"

Hiccup's eyes widened. "Whoa whoah whoah whoah, wait slow down... cages? What are you talking about? What happened out there?" He simply thought she got separated from Stormfly, not that someone had taken her!

Astrid stared at him with shock. "Dragon hunters."

Eira gasped. "No! It's happening."

Hiccup looked at her with a frown. "You mentioned something about this when you first came to Berk. Dragon hunters have been active in Torvald, haven't they?"

Eira nodded. "It's why I came to Berk. Their numbers are growing, and we need to join together to defeat them."

"And we will." He turned to Astrid. "How many of them are there?"

"A whole fleet," Astrid replied.

"And they have Stormfly?"

She grimaced. "Yeah, this big, ugly one, oh when I get my hands on him..."

"And welcome back," Fishlegs said.

"C'mon, let's mount up." Astrid started for the door. "Stormfly!" She stopped suddenly, probably realizing she didn't have a dragon to mount.

"You can ride with me!" Hiccup offered.

Astrid smiled at him.

***

The dragon riders searched for clues on the beach where Astrid last saw the dragon hunters. They found an arrow made of dragon root, which could overwhelm a dragon's senses and make them unable to fly. Then they flew to the Reaper in the ship graveyard to find additional clues.

They found a Dragon Eye lens on the ship. It was placed on a portrait of a Changewing, so they figured that was the dragon they needed to activate the lens. It took some time, but they managed to get the acid they needed from the dragon. From the map displayed by the lens, they had a good guess as to the dragon hunters' location. Hiccup worked out a plan, and they set out.

The hunters' ships were just where they were expected to be. Eira joined her friends in swooping down and shooting at the main ship before disappearing back into the sky, skillfully dodging the arrows shot at them. Then came the crucial part of their plan: Fishlegs flew low and intentionally let Meatlug get hit by an arrow. Gronckles were immune to dragon root, so it was up to Fishlegs to free Stormfly once inside the ship.

Eira and Swiftwings circled the ship, waiting for something to happen. She gasped when she realized the hunters were all aiming at Toothless. The Night Fury's constant dodging causing Astrid to slip and fall off his back. Before Hiccup could get to here, the hunters captured her with their chains!

"No!" Eira cried. She wanted to go help her friend, but she knew she had to be patient and trust in the plan.

Just then, Fishlegs burst onto the deck with Meatlug and Stormfly. Astrid looked over at her dragon and gasped. "Stormfly!" she said in relief.