Chapter 4: Enter Eret, Son of Eret

A few moments of flying, they were now flying above the burnt forest as Emily, Optimus, Hiccup and Toothless looked around them in shock and disbelief until they reached the ocean. And to their shock, they see a large and piercing structure of ice, with large protruding spiky icicles as they look at it in shock and awe.

"Whoa..." Hiccup breathed in shock.

Hiccup then turned to Emily who looked relatively uneasy by the sight before them as she looked towards him with uncertainty.

"Stay close." Hiccup told her as Toothless and Optimus flew towards it while their riders marvelled in shock of the damage.

They fly around the ice and look at all the ruined things caught in it, including ships, boats and the remains of a wooden fort in shock.

"What happened here?" Hiccup asked softly as Emily was analysing the structure and it seemed to be made out of ice.

"This whole thing is completely covered and made entirely out of ice." Emily breathed in shock.

Toothless finds a pair of enormous footprints in the mud and makes a stressed sound. Hiccup saw it too and patted his friend's head to calm him down as Optimus saw the footprint as well and became uneasy as he flew back a bit.

"Whoa, easy, Optimus. It's just a footprint. A... giant dragon footprint." Emily said as she also became uneasy.

"Easy, bud." Hiccup said soothingly.

Emily spotted something and pointed towards it.

"Hiccup!" Emily pointed as Hiccup flew to have a closer look but it was a mistake.

"Fire!" An unknown man shouted and Hiccup quickly became alarmed.

It was a trap! He quickly steered Toothless out of the way but the net was heading towards Emily and Optimus fast.

"Emily! Optimus! Look out!" Hiccup exclaimed but it was too late.

The net had tangled around Optimus who let out an alarmed roar but his main concern was Emily as she was slipping from his back.

"Optimus!" Emily tried to hold on but her grip slipped and she started to fall down.

"HICCUP!" Emily screamed but Toothless was able to catch her quickly as she stood on behind Hiccup.

Optimus lands heavily on the ground but he was able to get his head free and roared warningly at the humans trying to attack and trap him. He swiped his tail at them to get them back but it was proven useless as a 25 year old man jumped towards him with ropes over his shoulders.

"Watch the tail! Tie those legs up! Keep those wings down!" He barked out orders.

Emily couldn't take it anymore as she glared at the trappers hurting her sparkmate. No one, and she means, NO ONE is going to get away with that.

"Hiccup, we need to save Optimus before something bad happens to him." Emily said and Hiccup could feel that she was worried and... scared?

He shook his head and quickly directed to fly back around as he flew past above the ruined fort and caused the man to look up in wonder. Could that be...?!

"Is that what I think it is?" He wondered in awe.

"STOP!" Hiccup yelled loudly.

"Get out of the way!" One of the trappers, Teeny, yelled.

"OPTIMUS!" Emily yelled worriedly as the Predabot let out a pained and worried roar.

"Whoa, watch out!" Another trapper, Ug, warned.

Toothless soon landed and Emily was the first to jump down as she looked at Optimus worriedly who looked back.

"What are you doing to him?!" She exclaimed angrily.

The two riders quickly took out their weapons as Hiccup activates Inferno while Emily unsheathed the twin swords from her staff as the trappers marvelled in wonder and awe.

"Whoa..." They breathe in awe but the one with the blue tattoos by the chin wasn't undeterred by the weapons but he got to admit that the craftsmanship was impressive.

"Back again?" The man said before his eyes wandered to Toothless and felt a smirk make its appearance on his face.

"Soil my britches... that is a Night Fury. Thought they were all gone for good." He said as he patted one of his men by the shoulders.

Toothless growled softly while his pupils went to slits as Emily gritted her teeth but Hiccup motioned for them to calm down a little.

"Looks like our luck's had a turn for the better, lads! Don't think Drago has one of those in his dragon army." The man said as he continued to eyed Toothless.

But what he said made both Emily and Hiccup glance at each other in shock. Dragon army? Drago?

"Dragon army?" Emily muttered in confusion yet worriedly.

"Look, we don't want any trouble." Hiccup said as he was worried about Optimus and their situation.

"Ha! You should've thought of that before you stole all of our dragons and blasted our fort to bits!" The man said as he gestured to their fort as this confused the two even more.

What was he talking about? They never met or destroyed their fort!

"Wait..." Hiccup blinked in confusion.

"What the Pit are you talking about?" Emily questioned.

"You think we did this?" Hiccup question as he was a little annoyed that they were getting accused for something they didn't do.

"Dragon trapping is hard enough work as it is, without do-gooder dragon riders sneaking in to rescue them." The man said with anger in his tone when he said dragon riders.

"What do-gooder-" Hiccup started but became shocked as Emily finished for him.

"You mean that there are other dragon riders out there?" Emily questioned in confusion and surprise.

"You mean, other than your thieving friend from last night? You tell me. He has a Stormcutter like this one as well." He said as he gestured to the still trapped Optimus who growled softly as the man stepped off.

"You may have an ice-spitting dragon on your side, but we still have a quota to fill. How do you suppose we explain this mess to Drago Bludvist and Commander Unicra?" He said and the last name made both Optimus and Emily's eyes widened in shock. She's here?!

"Drago what-fist? Commander who? Does anything you say make sense?" Hiccup asked in disbelief but he saw the haunted look in Emily's eyes and became worried.

"They're both expecting a new shipment of dragons for Drago's army by tomorrow." Teeny explained

"And Drago doesn't take well to excuses." No-Name added.

"While Commander Unicra will let her two dragons attack with no remorse until we begged." Ugh finished.

"This is what they gave me last time I showed up empty-handed." The man said as he lowered the collar of his tunic to reveal a rather nasty scar on his shoulder.

The sight both made Emily and Hiccup to recoil slightly in shock and disgust.

"They both promised to be far less understanding in the future." He said with a sneer.

"Look, we don't know anything about a dragon thief, or an ice-spitting dragon." Hiccup said as the guy nodded to his men hidden behind Hiccup and Astrid.

Emily noticed them quickly from the corner of her eyes and got ready just in case.

"Or your lunatic boss, commander and his dragon army, okay? Just give us back our dragon and we'll go, Strange-Hostile-Person-Whom-We've-Never-Met." Hiccup said and the man just blinked before rolling his eyes.

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Eret. Son of Eret. Finest dragon trapper alive. After all, it's not just anyone who can capture a Night Fury." The now identified man, Eret, said as he pointed his sword at Hiccup before looking at Toothless who let out a roar.

"And this is Toothless. He says we're going. Now. Before my friend here loses her cool." Hiccup said as his face grew serious.

"Heh. They all say that. RUSH 'EM, LADS!" Eret said before shouting. But before anyone could react, Emily was quick.

The hidden dragon trappers attack but Emily quickly deflected everything that was being launched at them as Toothless fires at a large icicle that falls on the dragon trappers and keeps them back. Emily turned to Hiccup after she destroyed one of the net launchers.

"Go and get Optimus free. I'll take care of their net launchers." Emily said as she ran towards another net launcher as she fought through the men blocking her path.

Hiccup quickly rushed to Optimus' side and quickly got the ropes off him as he let out a roar and took off. Emily saw that and quickly ran towards the edge as Hiccup got on Toothless quickly. Emily jumped off the ledge and landed on Optimus' back safely as she heaved a sigh of relief but not before they heard Eret shouting towards them.

"YOU WILL NEVER HOLD ON TO THOSE DRAGONS, YOU HEAR ME?! DRAGO IS COMING FOR THEM ALL!" Eret yelled as the two dragons and riders got away safely.

The flight back to the village was in silence as Emily just stared ahead.

"You... okay?" Hiccup asked hesitantly.

"No..." Emily replied with a shake of her head and sighs shakily.

Hiccup took that sign to stop asking. They need to inform the others about this and fast.