"I don't understand why we don't just kill them," Karn muttered, staring moodily into the remains of his ale. Alvin glared at him. 

"We set out to get the Pyron. We ended up with a Night Fury AND a Pyron, both of whom will probably not cooperate unless their riders are near. Remember what happened when we tried to keep the Night Fury alone? The thing practically starved itself!"

Karn bunched his eyebrows, thinking. 

"But what will you do if the dragons only obey their riders?" 

Alvin's face split into an evil smile. The firelight shone eerily in his black eyes, giving him a frightening, dereanged appearance. 

"What keeps them fighting?" he asked.

Karn shrugged. "I don't know... fear?" 

Alvin shook his head slowly. "No. Not fear. Fear is only powerful for a short time. Eventually they'd calm down, resign to it. No, they're fighting because they have hope."

Karn still looked bewildered, so Alvin bared his teeth and chuckled, 

"They have hope that their riders are still there for them. They have hope that they can get out of this. So they fight back."

Karn seemed to understand, and his eyes widened. 

"So you're going to..." he trailed off.

"Let them witness their rider's execution," Alvin finished, a twisted smile taking over his brutish face. "If, of course, Rylan doesn't come to his senses."

------------------------

Rylan paced his cell in furious circles. His head had cleared now, and the nausea had disappeared. But now he had nothing to think about but his anger, frustration, and boredom.

The cell he was confined to was frustratingly empty. Smooth stone walls, no loose rocks, no furniture other than the heavy wooden bed. He had no weapons, or anything he could even use as a weapon.

When he had left Outcast island, it was with full intention of never returning. And yet here he was. It was infuriating.

Out of desperation and outright boredom, he yelled, "Jolt!" as loudly as he could. Instead of hearing the throaty response of a dragon, a thin, echoing voice called,

"Rylan? Is that you?" 

It was Hiccup. 

"Yes! Are you okay?" he shouted, hoping that no guards would be listening. 

"Mostly. A few broken ribs, but they're healing. How about you?" 

It was bizarre to be shouting a conversation to an unseen person, but he yelled back,

"Fine. Well... relatively. I never meant to be back here after I left." 

"So this wasn't some very well thought out scheme of yours after all?" Hiccup sounded relieved. At least there was one person he could trust here. 

"Nope. Hey, is Jolt anywhere over there?" 

There was a slight pause, in which Rylan guess Hiccup was looking around. Then he called back.

"Not that I can see. What about Toothless? Is he near you?" 

Rylan had double and triple checked his surroundings out of boredom, so could reply without hesitation,

"No."

Their conversation lapsed as each rider wondered what had become of their dragons. Just as Rylan had opened his mouth to ask Hiccup what the plan was, a door opened nearby with an echoing thunk. Rylan leaned his head out of an opening in the cell door and saw Alvin.

It was the first time he'd seen him this close since the Pyron killing. Hate and anger gushed up inside him, filling his mind with blind fury.

The enormous viking chief strutted up to Rylan's cell, an amused look in his empty eyes.

"You look terrible," Alvin remarked cheerfully, yanking open the door. Rylan was just considering making a run for it when Alvin grabbed his arm in a vice- like grip. He gave a small gasp of pain, but tried to hide it.

"Come on... boy," Alvin muttered, as if that was the best insult he could come up with. 

Rylan had no choice but to walk alongside the Outcast chief. They went through more twisting tunnels, away from where Hiccup was. It got steadily darker and more foul smelling as they progressed.  Rylan had to make a real effort not to gag at the stench. 

Finally, Alvin shoved him forward. He fell hard on his hands and knees, hitting the floor. 

"Well, go on boy," Alvin's voice hissed from out of the darkness. Rylan was just about to ask what he meant, when a huge something bowled him over. Rylan was sure he was going to be eaten by wild dragons, until a warm, sticky tongue ran over his face. 

"Jolt!" Rylan cried, vaulting to his feet. It was dark, but he could still make out the vivid yellow markings of his dragon. Giving a roar of pleasure that shook the walls, Jolt lifted Rylan on his snout. He laughed giddily. Jolt was okay! He was here! 

And then he heard another noise from near by. A throbbing, familiar sound. 

"Toothless?" Rylan said incredulously. Scraping sounds came from nearby. If Toothless had not been pure black, Rylan probably could have seen him. But for now, he had to content himself with saying soothingly, 

"It'd okay Toothless. Hiccup's here. He's fine." 

Jolt thrummed happily, his entire body vibrating. Rylan totally forgot Alvin was there until he growled,

"That's enough. Now go on. He won't eat, so you'd better feed him." As he spoke, Alvin threw a barrel of fish toward them. Reflexively, Jolt whipped his tail over on top of it. The force of the sharp spikes driving into the barrel caused it to break apart instantly. 

The smell of dead fish, disgusting to Rylan but delicious to Jolt, filled the room. Slimy, wet fish slid over the floor with a nasty slithering noise. Rylan gagged, but Jolt started scarfing down fish left and right. 

Somewhere nearby, Toothless moaned with hunger. He was apparently in an adjoining cage, able to see them, but not able to reach them. 

As Jolt scooted around the cage, practically inhaling fish, Rylan heard another voice out of the darkness. 

"Get in there!" 

There was a thud and a stifled gasp of pain. Then Toothless roared in joy. Rylan heard Hiccup's voice crying out, 

"Toothless! Oh, ewww. Haha! It's good to see you too bud!" 

Even though it was dark and gloomy, and they were still on Outcast island, Rylan grinned.

I completely felt like President Snow when I was writing this. Sorry it sounds so similar, but it's true that hope can be a powerful motivator. Okay. Moving on....