"Sandstorm, let's fly"
The Sand Wraith sprung up to his feet rearing to go.
"Rune wait" Forde said.
"My mind has been made up. I'm going after him" he answered as he mounted his dragon.
"But a Storm is approaching. You could get Sandstorm's wings torn off"
"I am a dragon rider. It will not be the first or last time I'm going out to fly in a storm. Besides, Sten needs to hear an apology from me. I am going and you can't stop me"
Forde accepted that talking him out of going to fly in these conditions was a lost cause. His mind had been made up.
"Alright Rune, fly safely. Bring him back to us Sandstorm"
Sandstorm trilled, giving him his word as a dragon.
"Until we get back, look after things for us. If I can't find Sten I'll be back. I'll look for him another day"
The two guys shared a nod between themselves before Sandstorm took to the sky.
"Odin be with them" Forde prayed.
The winds had grown stronger with every passing minute, but it did not dissuade them. The heavens may have darkened, and the winds hallowed but Sandstorm and Rune fought on and persevered. They flew in the direction they saw Sten fly off; they moved quickly through the sky searching for him.
Sten and Eruptor were already caught up in the storm; the rain poured heavily, soaking both the man and his dragon companion. Sten was still angry; a firm scowl was still on his face as they flew deeper and deeper into the storm. Lightning danced above, and the wind howled in their ears. Eruptor looked to his rider with a worried whine, and that finally got to him.
"You're right boy. We should look for a place to land" He said, rubbing his head.
Sten looked around and couldn't see an island in sight. The clouds and fog had reduced his visibility and he didn't carry a map. It looked like they were lost.
"I knew I should have carried a map. Thor's beard, we are lost"
"We will find a way. We just need to find an island we can land on and wait until the storm is over. Come on Eruptor"
Rune and Sandstorm cut through the pouring rain with blistering speed. The brown dragon appeared as a blur across the sky. Both their eyes continued to search for Sten and Eruptor but they had seen no one so far.
"Sten!!!" Rune called out.
Sandstorm assisted him with a roar in the hopes of it reaching the ears of Eruptor. They listened, but there was no response. Search missions were already tough, but conditions like this made everything seem impossible.
"This is all my fault. How are we going to find them now?" Rune said, downtrodden.
Sandstorm assured him with a gentle coo, to keep his hopes up.
"You're right. We will keep on searching"
The team gathered in the clubhouse with all their dragons. Forde kept the fire alive as the rain kept coming down. Lightning flashed through the windows; thunder rumbled and shook the building, and the wind howled ceaselessly. Rampage pressed his head against Thyra's back; he had a fear of lightning. She was doing her best to keep him calm, but he was as restless as ever.
"How long is this thing going to go on?" Vyra said, rolling her eyes.
"We don't know. We don't control the weather" Virgil answered.
He was attaching arrowheads to his freshly carved batch of arrows. Seeing how much free time they had, he decided to do it while they waited out the storm.
"Any idea when Rune or Sten would be back?" Thyra asked.
"No idea" Forde answered.
"Well, Sten better not come back after the disrespect he showed me"
Vyra's sentence had everyone and all dragons giving her a nasty side-eye. She could feel the hostility and knew to shut it.
"Rune is very determined to find him, and Sten is a survivor. Both are equipped to fly through storms, and let's not forget that they have their dragons" Virgil stated.
"Yeah" said Thyra.
There was another flash of lightning, and Rampage buried his head deeper in Thyra's arms.
"It's okay boy. It can't hurt you from here"
Forde let out a heavy sigh, his mind unable to get over the worst that might have happened to them. Spikethorn moved closer to him, nestling her head against his thigh. His hand rested on her nasal horn, rubbing it to ease his nerves.
Sten and Eruptor continued to fly through the storm but had spotted no islands so far. Their hope continued to decline with every passing moment. Eruptor was tired after flying for so long; they needed a place to land quickly. Eruptor looked at Sten and groaned; his wings had become very tired, and they were at risk of falling out of the sky.
"I know boy, we're going to find a place to land soon"
Because of his tired wings, they were forced to reduce altitude, where the winds were weaker. They were safe from the rising waves, but this also left them open to attacks from enemies. A tall wave came in from the North, forcing them to climb over it. What they didn't know was that the wave had hidden ten large ships from their view. They had men patrolling their decks even in these conditions and the duo was spotted immediately.
"Oh dear Thor" Sten said as they flew towards the ships. "We have to leave here now!"
"Dragon rider!!" a man cried.
All their eyes moved to the direction he pointed; Sten and Eruptor had already been identified.
"Eruptor!"
His dragon grunted as dragon root arrows came flying their way. There were a couple close calls, with the fatigue making their manoeuvres not as sharp as they ought to be. The dragon attempted to ascend, but the strong winds blew him back down and nearly out of the sky. Eruptor shrieked as he was thrown back towards the ships as Sten struggled for control.
"Come on boy, we are not going back like this"
Sten pulled hard on the saddle and managed to get Eruptor levelled out, but a hunter had taken aim at them and fired the catapult. An arrow hit Eruptor in the side of his underbelly making him lose control.
"Eruptor no!"
Sten tried his best to control his dragon but it was to no avail, the dragon root had taken its effect and Eruptor threw Sten off his saddle. There wasn't much he could do against the root arrow as he barreled into the raging waves. Sten on the other hand had fallen down onto the deck of one of the ships. The impact dislocated his right shoulder and knocked him out on the spot.
"Pull that dragon out of the water and bind that rider in chains. We do not want them escaping" said the head hunter.
Nets were shot into the water, wrapping around Eruptor and pulling him out of the water while Sten quickly had his hands chained and taken below deck.
Rune and Sandstorm continued to search but found no signs of the pair. The storm only got worse and Rune couldn't risk Sandstorm any longer, they had to turn back.
"We've been searching for hours. The storm's not letting up, we have to turn back" Rune said with a defeated voice.
Sandstorm gave an empathetic whir as they turned back to head to the Edge.
Hours had passed by and the storm had died down. The moon was hoisted high into the clearing sky when Rune and Sandstorm approached the Edge. The torches had been light and the Night Terrors stood guard. Thyra, Vyra and Virgil had returned to their huts for the night, leaving Forde alone in the Clubhouse. The pair landed, tired from their flight but most of all, Rune felt responsible for all this.
"I guess you didn't find him"
"Not even a clue. They must've travelled really far"
"I guess so. But they will be fine. They either went to Berk or waited out the storm on an island" Forde said trying to give him so hope.
"I sure hope so. If anything happened to him, it would be all my fault"
"Don't look so down. Tomorrow we will all go out to find him. I'll personally send a Terror mail to Berk tomorrow to ask if they've seen him"
"Thanks Forde"
"You're welcome. I saved you a plate of food from the hands of Virgil by the way. You two should eat up and get some rest"
"Thanks"
"I'll see you guys tomorrow" Forde said with a long yawn.
There was some fish left in the feeder for Sandstorm and Rune had a cold plate of lamb chops, potatoes and broccoli stew to satisfy his hunger.
Aboard the ship, Sten had finally come around. He was kept in a cage alone, with dragons filling the rest of the cages.
"Oww" he said as the pain from hitting his head registered.
Then the pain from his dislocated shoulder hit him. He tried to feel his shoulder with his arm when he felt a restriction and the shingle of chains. He looked down and saw that he had been shackled. Not good.
"Where the hell am I?" he asked, his memory still fuzzy from the fall.
"You're finally awake" a voice cut through the darkness in front of him.
His eyes searched around for the man but all he found were brown leather boots made from Gronckle hide.
"Who are you? Where are you taking me? Where is my dragon?"
"So many questions" the man said with a light chuckle. "Take this" he said as he pushed a plate of porridge into his cage. "You need it"
"I'm not eating anything until you answer me" Sten demanded.
"Okay. Who I am doesn't matter. Your dragon is secured safely aboard one of the many ships around us" he answered.
"And where are you taking us?"
"To meet the new queen of dragons. The next big thing in the archipelago" he answered with a straight voice.
"A new queen?"
"Yeah, something along that sorts. Enjoy your time here; it's going to get tricky when you meet her"
His words didn't fill him with confidence. He knew he shouldn't have flown out that far, now he was stuck in this. His dragon was in a different ship so even if he escaped, he would have to search the cages of each ship one by one.
"Rune, guys, I hope you guys find me and break me out of this place" he prayed under his breath.
Then he heard a bang on the cage in front of him. He looked ahead, squinting his eyes to make out what was hidden in the dark. The light from the moon slowly came in and he could see what was there. It was a Skrill.
Sten was shocked. How did they manage to get one and keep it subdued? The dragon looked at him with barely any hope left in his eyes. He looked to the bottom of the cage and found that they had made a Gronckle iron case around the lower part of the cage and filled it with water. That way it couldn't call lightning.
"They are smart, I'll give them that"
Sten looked back at the unappetizing plate of porridge he had been served and then heard his belly grumble. He had no choice, it was eat or starve to death and he wasn't ready to die just yet.
"Well, here goes nothing" he took a spoon and the flavors hit him.
It wasn't the best by any means and he wanted to spit it out of his mouth the moment it entered but there was no other way. He stopped his body from throwing it back out and forcefully swallowed. His body shivered as it went down and was visibly irked out. He grabbed another spoon and forced it down the hatch yet again.
The riders were shaken by the events between Rune and Sten and now they had to go out and search for him. Little did they know that he had been captured by hunters smart enough to contain a Skrill and a queen of dragons? They had to balance searching for their friend and fighting this new rising threat.