The Dragon Rider

Chapter 1 ~ Daughter of Fergus

"What happened here?" Hiccup breathed as he and his girlfriend Astrid passed over the structure that had obviously once been a fort, blown to pieces and impaled on spikes of ice. There came a shout from the small island beneath them:

"Dragon Riders!"

Nets flew at them, fired from catapults miles below. Toothless managed to dodge them, but Stormfly wasn't so quick. A net took her and Astrid down and Hiccup managed to catch her before she fell. Shouts of "Tie those legs up!" and "Watch the tail!" could be heard as he landed on the small island. Dragon trappers, Hiccup thought to himself. Hiccup drew his fire sword and lit it. The trappers stared at in awe before a figure stepped forward, over Stormfly's squirming body.

It was a woman, dressed from head to foot in animal furs. She had a long thin sword that looked of foreign origin and another smaller dagger attached to her belt. Her eyes were icy blue but her hair was so red it could have been on fire. She was pretty, in that fierce, mental sort of way. Her shirt was loose and slightly open and her boots were huge. Her belt held a badge that Hiccup recognised from somewhere but he couldn't quite place it.

"Back again?" the unfamiliar woman smiled. Her voice was coated lightly with a Scottish accent. That's where the sword was made, Hiccup thought to himself. "Soil my britches, that is a Night Fury! Looks like we've had a turn for the better lads! Don't think Drago has one of those in his Dragon Army!"

"Dragon Army?" Astrid asked, confused.

"Look, we don't want any trouble," Hiccup tried to reason, but the woman cut across him.

"You should have thought of that before you stole all of our dragons and blasted our fort to bits!" She gestured behind her to the giant spikes of ice that were sticking out everywhere.

"You think we did this?" Hiccup asked, completely baffled. What was this woman on about?

"Dragon trapping is hard enough as it is without do-gooder dragon riders sneaking in to rescue them." There were nods and murmurs of agreement from the assorted band of trappers assembled haphazardly behind her.

"What do-gooder -?" Hiccup put down his fire sword, "There are other dragon riders?"

"You mean other than your thieving friend from last night? You tell me!" The woman snarled. Her hair bounced slightly as she walked. "You may have an ice-spitting dragon on your side, but we still have a quota to fill. How are we supposed to explain this mess to Drago Bludvist?"

"Drago, what-fist?" Hiccup almost laughed. "Does anything you say make sense?"

"He's expecting a new shipment of dragons for his army, by tomorrow," someone spoke up behind her, closely followed by,

"And Drago don't take well to excuses."

"This," The woman pulled down her furs to reveal an ominous-looking scar on her upper back, "is what he gave me last time I showed up empty handed." She pulled them back up. "He promised to be much less understanding in the future."

"Look," Hiccup tried to reason again, surely this could be sorted peacefully? "We don't know anything about a dragon thief, or any ice spitting dragon, or your lunatic boss and his dragon army, okay? Just give us back our dragon, and we'll go! Strange, hostile woman whom we've never met."

"Oh, where are my manners?" The woman sank into a mock bow, drawing her sword from her scabbard from behind her back. "I'm Merida. Daughter of Fergus. Finest dragon trapper alive. After all," she pointed her sword at Toothless threateningly, a manic glint in her eye, "it's not just anyone who can capture a Night Fury."

"This is Toothless," Hiccup snarled and Toothless growled. "He says we're going! Now."

Merida looked at him, almost pitying them for how ridiculous they were being.

"They all say that." She suddenly made a jabbing motion with her sword at the trio, shouting, "Rush 'em lads!"

Hidden dragon trappers pounced and started running at them. Toothless shot at an icicle, causing it to fall and trap the attackers, which bought Hiccup time to light his fire-sword and cut Stormfly free. As they rode away, Merida's yells could be heard from where she was left on the destroyed ice fort.

"You will never hold on to those dragons, you hear me? Drago's coming for them all!"

These words troubled Hiccup, and he couldn't get them out of his mind. As he flew up and away, Merida's icy eyes seemed to burn into his brain and her words were etched permanently into his memory. He returned to Berk not long after; Toothless seemed very keen to get away from the trappers. Landing in the centre of the village, his father shouted happily, "There he is! The pride of Berk!"

Hence followed an argument with Hiccup and his father about that fact that what Hiccup had to say was more important than building saddles. Unfortunately Stoick was so happy that Hiccup had 'agreed to be chief' that he didn't really listen until finally when he mentioned a new land and Gobber yelled -

"Another one?"

"Any new dragons?" Fishlegs asked excitedly.

"We didn't stick around to find out," Hiccup replied. "These folks weren't particularly friendly."

"Oh really? Your Night Fury and Deadly Nadder didn't bring them cheering to the rooftops?"

"No, this was different. Not the standard run-for-the hills ho-ha I've come to enjoy. These guys were trappers. Dragon trappers." Everyone's attention was now focused solely on Hiccup and Astrid.

"You should've seen their fort. All blown apart and stuck in giant spikes of ice. It was weird! "

Hiccup nodded in agreement as he elaborated:

"I've never seen anything like it. A-And worst of all, she thought we did it!"

"She?" Gobber said, surprised, and Hiccup nodded."Y'know, you two are gonna get yourselves in SERIOUS trouble one of these days," Gobber continued as he brushed his moustache with one of his inter-changeable hands. "Not everyone appreciates this way of life."

Stoick sighed and continued with work on the saddle, oblivious. "Gobber's right, son. Best we keep to our own. Besides, you'll have more important uses for your time. Once we make the big announcement!"

Hiccup stopped the machine and forced his father to face him.

"She is building a dragon army." Stoick stopped in his tracks. "Or at least the guy she works for is, Drago Bloody-fist or something."

Most people looked confused, but Stoick had frozen in complete terror.

"Bludvist. Drago Bludvist."

"Yeah, - wait, y'know him?" HIccup asked as his father held him by his shoulder blades. Stoick ran to the dragon hangar and began to seal the pens with orders that no dragon or viking could leave the island until he gave the word. Hiccup followed, confused, unsuccessfully trying to gain his attention. Astrid knew what he was going to do and said,

"Hiccup, don't!"

"I have to," Hiccup replied, swiftly giving her a hug and leaping on top of Toothless. He didn't think much of it as he climbed onto Toothless and, like a cork out of a bottle, soared into the sky, out of the closing gates. Astrid followed suit with Stormfly, followed by Stoick's shouts. Neither dragon rider cared. They knew what they had to do. Find Merida.

A/N Here is the new story I promised you all! I'm sorry it took so long, but I hope it's worth the wait. I've also tried to do edits that fit with the story, I know this one's really bad, but I promise the ones in later chapters will be much better. Thank you all for being so patient!