Chapter Text
The Riders had been captured.
Earlier that day, whilst on patrol they spotted an abandoned Dragon Hunter ship drifting in the sea. After investigating, the gang quickly discovered it was a trap. Then one mishap led to another, and now, the shackled Riders were being led by Hunters deep into the underbelly of Viggo’s ship.
It was an especially humiliating capture; within moments of landing, the twins and Snotlout had practically walked into a roped trap. The trio hung in a net that was suspended above the deck, and in the sheer panic of trying to rescue them, Fishlegs found himself caught by the very same trap. The Hunters emerged from the deck, and began to overwhelm Astrid and Stormfly before they could take off. As for Hiccup, well a sole dragon root arrow was to blame. It soared through the air, hitting poor Toothless on his right hind leg.
“You all made it easy for us, losing your edge now huh?” taunted Ryker, as he gave Hiccup a hard shove into a cell. Hiccup scowled, struggling to keep down a snarky response. As Ryker slammed the cell door shut, he ordered two guards to keep watch before exiting.
The Riders had all been placed into separate cells, though Hiccup struggled to see exactly where each was. The room was lit only by a single lantern hanging in the centre with iron bar cells lining the walls. Hiccup could just about make out that only seven of the cells (including himself) were in use. A stranger was opposite him. He couldn’t quite make out the face of their fellow prisoner. They were crouched, facing away from him. All he could discern was an unruly head of blonde hair.
Nevermind the stranger, he had to concentrate on figuring a way out of here. Last he saw, the dragons had been knocked out with dragon root before they had been dragged below deck. He wasn't sure what the hunters would do to them, but he knew it wouldn't be good. Though, he hadn’t yet seen Viggo and he hoped the man was not nearby. The Hunter Chief’s eyes had a nasty tendency to linger on him a bit too long.
Hiccup surveyed the room, there was nothing he could use, and the Riders were separated far enough that any attempt to come up with a joint plan would be heard by the guards. The bars were solid and anything useful had been confiscated before they were put here. Hiccup was lucky to have kept his leg.
“Guys, what are we going to do? Meatlug is up there all by herself!” asked a rather anxious Fishlegs. “She’ll be so scared, you know she doesn’t handle separation well!”
“Meatlug! Who cares about Meatlug? What about us! We’re the ones locked in here! Ryker is probably gonna kill us!” retorted Snotlout dramatically.
“Aaand who’s fault is that now, Snotlout?” Astrid chimed in. She’d been especially frustrated at being caught, most recent missions had been complete failures and her ego was already bruised enough before today. Viggo had always been one step ahead of everything they did, as if he were inside their clubhouse planning alongside them.
“Don’t blame me, it was Tuffnut and Ruffnut who brought us here in the first place!”
“Uhh, Snotlout walked into the trap first duhh. Then Fishlegs did too!”
After that, the group descended into pretty bickering. Why did they always have to do this, it really wasn't a specific person’s fault, really they all should’ve been more on guard. More than anything, Hiccup should’ve been more vigilant, he was their leader after all and he should’ve known Viggo would pull something like this. Always one step ahead when he least expected it, that was Viggo. He really shouldn’t have been so bothered by it. But the man was plaguing his thoughts more and more these days, and he couldn’t stop thinking about how brilliant his every move was. No, not the time to think about that. Well. Hiccup struggled to think about anything with the Riders arguing. Just once, I wish they wouldn’t just default to fighting, Hiccup said to himself.
He looked around, the Rider’s now arguing a little louder than before, a headache slowly forming. Oh look, the guards were covering their ears now, great.
“Oh will you guys just quit it!!!” Hiccup shouted exasperated, Gods, he needed space to think and not listen to this nonsense.
There was a pause. Hiccup didn’t often shout, but when he did, the Riders were always a little taken back. It took a lot to make him upset enough to raise his voice. The constant losses from Viggo and the Hunters was clearly getting to him as well.
“Sorry Hiccup.” With that, Tuff and Ruff broke the momentary silence. As the words left their mouth, Hiccup noticed that the stranger opposite him visibly perked up. No longer crouched, their shoulders up right, back straight, their untamed hair even more wild looking than before.
“H-Hiccup?” the stranger warily inquired, their voice was high-pitched as if unsure they had heard the name correctly. That voice seemed distantly familiar though, Hiccup thought, where did he hear this voice before?
“Hiccup? As in Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Heir to Stoick the Vast?” the stranger tried again.
“Wow, dropped the full government name on you H?” Tuffnut rather unhelpfully added.
“Uh, yes. That one. Why?” Hiccup studied the stranger’s reaction. It was clear that the confirmation elated the stranger, they began to turn around, the lantern light slowly illuminating her face little by little.
“Hiccup! It’s you! I thought that voice sounded familiar. Oh Gods, it's been such a long time! How have you been?”
Her face now fully lit up, how had he not recognised her earlier! It was Camacazi! She had grown up, but was still only around five feet tall. Yet despite her height, she had maintained fearless nature after all these years. Her face was round, covered in freckles, with dark brown eyes. Her hair was wild blonde, large gold hooped earrings swung from her ears, matching her gold chain necklace. She wore a red tunic, the color matched her ferociousness, alongside thick silver bracelets.
Camacazi was one of Hiccup’s childhood best friends. She was the heir to the Bog Burglar Tribe, an all female tribe and a longtime ally to Berk. They’d practically grown up together, always meeting up at diplomatic events, the two had always managed to find themselves in the midst of some mischief. Hiccup hadn’t seen her in years. After what had happened with the Red Death, Stoick and the Council decided it was best for Berk’s dragon taming to be kept secret from the rest of the archipelago. Which meant any political matters had been handled off the island, and for Hiccup that meant he stayed behind. After what happened with Dagur, they didn’t want to risk another war breaking out. Plus, Hiccup was often too busy back at Berk with the dragons to accompany his father, though he’d dearly missed the Bog Burglar heir’s company.
“Camacazi! I’m good, thanks. It's so great to see you again! But what on earth are you doing here?”
“Oh you know, just a little adventuring and I ran into these guys. Bit rude if you ask me to lock us up like this. Is that Fishlegs with you? Well, Fishlegs, how have you been? Haven’t heard from you in years!”
Long ago, before they were teenagers, Fishlegs, Camacazi and Hiccup had been an unstoppable trio of mischief that tormented the Isle of Berk. The three of them were once much smaller than the other Viking children, and bonded over their mutual outsider status. That was until Fishlegs grew up, and a growth spurt later, he towered over Camacazi and Hiccup. That’s when he left to join the other Viking children, leaving their trio, and when Camacazi had to return back to the Bog Burglars, Hiccup was left alone. Hiccup never blamed Fishlegs for this, being ostracised from the tribe was an awful painful thing, he hadn’t wished for his old friend to experience it, but it was worse to go through it alone. However, that time had long passed now, and Fishlegs and Hiccup were now friends again, not as close as they once had been, but friends nonetheless.
“Uh, can someone tell me what’s going on? Who’s she?” Astrid asked. The twins and Astrid had never really interacted with Camacazi when they were younger, they likely didn’t even recognise her.
“Ugh, it's Camacazi from the Bog Burglar tribe. Uh, can we focus on not being captured?! ” answered Snotlout, who became visibly displeased.
“Oh, Snotlout you’re here, great.”
Despite Camacazi’s smaller stature, she was not someone to be messed with. Snotlout learnt that the hard way, even as a child she taught Snotlout a valuable lesson. Bog Burglars fought back and Bog Burglar had some rather nasty tricks up their sleeves. Snotlout never interfered with Camacazi after that, and tried to avoid her every chance he got.
“Ah yes you’re capture, how come you guys are so far away from Berk? And your Meatlug friend, is she still up on the deck?”
Another problem, Camicazi did not know about their dragons, Hiccup doubted she’d cause any trouble if she knew, well hopefully nothing like Dagur did. He played about with the idea for a minute, and figured that she’d discover the truth anyway. If they broke out, they’d need to use their dragons to fly off the ship, and there was no chance he’d leave her there. So, he began to tell her about Berk and the dragons, about Toothless and the others. Camicazi sat there listening intently, he couldn’t quite read her face, but hoped their past friendship would triumph over any resentment she may have felt. After Hiccup finished, Camicazi sat back, thought for a minute and then finally spoke.
“Well, can’t say I’m all so surprised Hiccup, you always did like dragons growing up. Even though I don’t think you realised it back then. Remember we used to spend hours in the forest, you’d sit there watching and drawing them. I suppose you felt connected to them.” She let herself reminisce a little, memories flooding back. Before things got too sappy she continued. “Well, now I’ve got to see it! To find out what it’s like to fly on the back of a dragon! And well, we have to shoot something now!”
Hiccup beamed, he was looking forward to making up for lost time.
“Now I like her,” said Ruffnut, grinning ear to ear. “She’s got Loki written all over her! Come on, let’s get out of here I wanna blow something up!” Hiccup ignored her, before he continued.
“Thank you, Camicazi. I really appreciate it.” Hiccup looked up at her, thank Thor she’d taken it well.
“Now, no need to get all sappy on me, we need to get out of here first. Now, you know what they say, you can’t keep a Bog Burglar under lo-”
“Under what.” interrupted a low rough voice.
Viggo. The Hunter Chief was standing at the entrance, two guards standing on either side of him.
“Now Hiccup, it seems you are already acquainted with our little prisoner here. She caused quite the stir at the Northern Market.” He shot Camacazi an irritated look, she merely stuck out her tongue in retaliation. “Nevermind, my dear Hiccup, you and I have much to discuss now. Guards will you please aid in escorting our guest to my quarters.”
The Riders and Camicazi protested, but it was useless. Hiccup was pulled out of his cell. Within minutes Hiccup, Viggo and the guards left the ship’s prison, leaving the Riders and Camicazi alone.
The Riders stirred, they had all seen the way Viggo acted when he was around Hiccup. In the short time she’d seen the two interact, Camicazi knew that Viggo and Hiccup had something unspoken between the two of them. My dear Hiccup, what a creep. There was no way after just getting her friend back, she was going to leave him again. Camicazi stood up, gazed at the Riders, a new found determination flowed within her.
“You can’t keep a Bog Burglar under lock and key.” Camicazi grinned, “That’s what I was going to say. I have a plan to get out of here and to rescue Hiccup. Are you all in?”
The Riders all nodded.