Dull, pounding pain was the first thing Rylan felt. His head was throbbing as the blood rushed in and out. Blearily, he opened his eyes. Though the light was dim, it still stung his eyes and pricked his already tender skull. 

He was lying on a flat, hard surface. The room was lit only with the dim firelight of torches, and the air tasted flat and stale. His mouth felt like he'd swallowed rancid yak milk.

Raising a hand to touch his head, he felt something sticky and warm as well. Blood was congealed in his hair. Struggling to remember what had happened, he clutched his head and closed his eyes. 

Alvin. Alvin and a dragon had been coming at them. Hiccup had tried to intervene, and they'd been caught. He screwed up his mind to remember, even though it hurt. 

They'd been alone up in the sky. Jolt had shot lightning, but Alvin had dodged. And then he'd thrown a rock. A sickening crack and then nothing.

That had to be it. Alvin had hit him  with a stone, and then... what had happened next?

His brain was still cloudy, making it hard to concentrate on anything. The cold, still air hurt his lungs as he breathed in and out. There was no shift in the air, let alone the cool breezes he felt while flying with Jolt.

Jolt!

He sat bolt upright, ignoring the waves of pain that began to crash through his brain. Where was his dragon? What had happened to his best friend in the world?

Rylan staggered upright, trying hard not to pass out. The room wavered in strange, vibrant colors. He found himself slumped against the wall, nausea threatening to overwhelm him. 

He found himself muttering, trance-like, "Jolt, Jolt, Jolt," as if the repitition would summon his dragon. For months they had depended on each other for survival and companionship. And just when things had started to feel comfortable and safe, this had happened! 

It just wasn't fair. What would everyone else on Berk think if neither he or Hiccup returned? They'd think Rylan had betrayed them, kidnapped Hiccup, or else led the Outcasts to him. 

And the infuriating thing was, he had no way to prove them wrong right now. The situation was looking pretty bad.

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

Hiccup awoke with a cry of pain. His ribs felt like they were on fire, and his neck ached from the whiplash of the crash. 

He was soaked in a cold sweat, lying in a dark cold room. But this was a room that was eerily familiar. This was an Outcast cell, similar to the one he'd been held in when Alvin wanted him to train his dragons.

Thick metal bars, fused together in strange, angular patterns, formed the cell door. Everything else was harsh gray stone. 

Trying not to take deep breaths, Hiccup removed his sweat soaked shirt slowly and carefully. His torso was cocooned in white bandages. They were wrapped securely, to help his ribs heal, but also loosely enough that he could breathe. 

Panting, he raised himself on shaking arms and sat up. He turned to Toothless and said, 

"Are you okay bud?" 

Then he gave a gasp that seared his ribs. Toothless wasn't there. For months now, Hiccup was used to waking up and seeing the snoring dragon right beside him. The fact that he was gone was more upsetting to Hiccup than the pain in his ribs. He took a deep breath to yell,

"Toothless!"

His thin scream echoed sadly, as if twenty distraught Hiccups were calling. No sound answered his shout. 

He sank back onto the bed, cradling his ribs and trying not to panic. He took cleansing, shallow breaths, letting his chest settle down and stop stabbing him with pain. 

Setting a careful, controlled breathing pattern, he stared at the solid gray stone that surrounded him. Looking back on it, it really would have been stupid of the Outcasts to put Toothless and Hiccup together. They could have found a way out. Hiccup grudgingly aknowledged that he would have done the same thing if he was in their shoes. 

 Sighing shakily, he leaned back against the cold stone, and whispered,

"Hold on bud." 

A little farther down the twisting passageways, one other prisoner was whispering exactly the same thing, both of them speaking to the dragons they couldn't reach.