Chapter 7

I yawned, then suddenly tipped with sleepiness, and I suddenly became aware that I was free-falling through the air. Wide awake now, I saw Star flying above me, and away from me. "STAR!" I roared, and she finally noticed I was plummeting and zipped underneath me. My back landed on her's with a thud. "OWW! My back is crippled for life!" She grunted, annoyed, so I stopped complaining. "So, where might we be going?" I asked. She looked at me exasperated. Ugh. I had clearly missed something. All I remember last was dreaming I was telling the dragon hunters I would scout from above their ship, though I really just wanted planning time. I looked down and saw three ships, each loaded with snares and catapults. I winced. Especially with Star and I scouting, this was a pretty solid fleet. If Hiccup was to attack now, he probably wouldn't stand a chance. Great. I had sleep walked, talked, and doomed several dragons.

I looked down, the carefully motioned to Star to drop me on the only part of the deck that wasn't ridden with traps- the part that was ridden with hunters. A foot above the deck, I neatly tilted off her back and landed on my feet. The dragon hunters looked at me, some in awe, some in fear. Excellent. "So." I looked around. "What's the plan?" One of them cleared their throat. I swiveled around my heel and glared at him. "Care to tell me?" I asked. He nodded quickly. "We are going to plant smothering smokebreaths all around Berk and the Outpost. The beasts will steal all their metal and weapons, and then shroud everything with smoke so the riders cannot see their own hands in front of their face." I raised an eyebrow. "Are you aware that the night fury can navigate without sight?" I asked coldly. They exchanged glances. "It's only one dragon!" One brave guy shouted. I snorted. "You don't seem to realize that one dragon could pretty easily disperse enough of the smokies to let the others see." He grunted, and the others shifted, looking between me and their leaders, a silent, stocky guy by the name of Ryker.

"I have a slight edition to your plan." I looked around, to help spark interest. "Keep the smokies, but first capture the night fury, and then release them." Without Toothless, they would definitely be crippled- but if I could find a way to release the dragon and get him with Hiccup, they could defeat the hunters. The only problem was timing. However, the riders were not fools. Hopefully if I made it easy, they could swoop in and grab Toothless.

"APPROACHING BEEEERK!" One of the men screamed, making Star standing by my side wince. We docked at a small island, just a few kilometers away from Berk. It was, as many of the islands, rocky, and had cover of shrubs and grasses, trees sparsely spread around. It was cold, and the water was a deep turquoise as it leaped out of the ocean and onto the rocky shore. My eyes trailed further to see a group of seven men trying to look incognito in black clothes and ninja bandanas further along the shore, shouting incoherently and dragging a small black dragon with half a red tail off a small vessel. I felt a stab of pity. If Hiccup hadn't shot down the poor thing, he would have easily been able to take on the hunters. One of his biggest strengths was his quick and maneuverable flight, and without Hiccup to fly him, he was stranded, like a sitting duck with fiery breath. I shook my head back to the present and sauntered over to the hunters like I owned the world. I cast one eye down disdainfully at Toothless, who grunted in shock, then growled best he could with muzzled mouth. "Lock him below deck, and make sure he's secure!" I commanded, then walked away to where around thirty hunters were dragging cages full of Smothering Smokebreaths.

About half an hour later, the cages were rigged, and the hunters safely on the next island when they sent up a signal- a flare of fire that we had agreed on. The cages, roughly twenty in total, were all on a small hill, roughly a quarter of a mile away from the town. The hill was covered in trees, and well concealed by another, taller hill in between Berk and the cages. However, once the Smothering Smokebreaths got altitude, they would spy Berk, and hopefully the large amounts of metal everyone carried there. "Come on girl," I urged, and Star increased her speed, also increasing my dizziness. "How do those riders manage not to get dizzy?" I muttered, then thought about ballerinas. They controlled their head so they did not look at all the passing surroundings. I focused on one spot, the cage with the most smokebreaths, and within a minute, we had reached, and Star blasted the ropes holding the cages closed. Then we fled, this time so fast I focused on the refuge island, which we reached barely a minute after. "Now what?" asked Ryker softly. "Now we wait." I responded.

Shortly after, we clearly could see the smoke rising from the main village. There were screams and battle cries so loud they shook the sky, but I saw a stream of smokebreaths that flew off holding many metal weapons. I looked back at the ship. If I couldn't get Toothless out fast, then Berk really will be defenseless and the plan will have backfired.

We were so busy watching the destruction I did not notice that Hiccup, Astrid, and Stormfly were on the ship in which Toothless was being held until Star nudged my arm. Out of the corner of my eye I watched then go under, and I hoped they would see the key I left hanging on the door. A minute after, they came back up, and Toothless took to the air, and blasted five of the smokies holding maces. Finally finding support, Hookfang rose up and started beating furiously with his huge wings, dispersing the smoke. Astrid, the twins, and Fishlegs finally managed to get in the fight, wresting the dragons for all of their weapons and succeeding to get back a majority. I watched as Hiccup raised his hand, and they flew back towards the village, stopping abruptly as they stared a massive pile of rocks. I smiled. Sooner or later they would realize the precise rocks Star and I had left in three piles in the exact proportions needed to make enough gronckle iron to make stronger weapons. However, I doubted any of these guys, even Hiccup would find out that the rocks were from me. I was still their enemy, and now I was probably being targeted to be taken out.

Back at the camp, the hunters returned,dragging feet and going as slowly as possible. A big burly dude came out and called for me and Ryker, and I begrudgingly followed them to Viggo's tent.

Viggo himself was sitting inside of the tent, playing a game. It looked like an island stronghold, and there were several figures, like game pieces lined up inside. One half of them looked nasty, and the other half looked idealistic- for vikings. I noticed two pieces facing each other, then realized Viggo was waiting. I cleared my throat and looked up. Viggo stared intently at the two of us. "What. happened." He said softly, his voice calm and smooth, but as I looked at his eyes, it was like facing a wild fire. "It was almost going to work, brother!" Ryker answered, so enthusiastically yet there was a pitiful whimper in his tone. I cut in, "If the sentries had not left their place, the night fury would not have been rescued in time to stop the Smokebreaths." Viggo turned back to Ryker. "And why did the sentries leave their post?" He asked nonchalantly. I eyed him, impressed. He was clearly a master of hiding his emotions. Ryker shrugged. "We don't know where they are. They disappeared." I nodded, though I knew where the sentries had disappeared to. After Star and I had released the smokebreaths, we snuck around the back of the ship, captured the sentries, and dropped them into Whispering Death tunnels. I somehow doubt they would join us soon.

Viggo sighed. "From now on, I am coming along." Ryker stared. "You, brother?" Viggo glared at him. "Yes." he said icily. "We cannot afford any more-" He made air quotations, "accidents." Ryker seemed at lost at words, then managed to express one sentence. "But you can't fight."

Viggo went silent. "So that's what you think, brother, that I can't fight." he turned back to the game, his back facing us as he moved the leader of the nasty looking pieces forward. "I might not be the best at fighting- though by no regards am I useless- but keep in mind…" He took the nasty piece, and slipped it past the leader of the ideal vikings. "But without my plans, my schemes…" He took the rest of the ideal pieces and suddenly smashed the nasty ones with them until the only nasty piece chief remained. "The rest of you are," He turned back to us. "Nothing." The two of us stared at him, unable to find words until he waved at Ryker. "You are dismissed." His tone was so scary that Ryker practically tripped trying to get out. It almost shocked me to see the proud, terrifying, warrior Ryker controlled so easily by his younger, weaker brother. Viggo was even better with manipulation than I thought. Which of course, made my job a ton harder.

"You understand that now, without my protection, those riders will tear you apart for joining me?" He asked, jerking me out of my thoughts. I nodded, though knowing the riders, they would probably demand an explanation, and maybe lock me up. But they were not the type to tear people apart, and Viggo knew that. He wanted to intimidate me, and I stood straighter as I knew he was watching me. Approval shown in his eyes, I felt with satisfaction that I was right. I also knew that I needed to actually make a success- or Viggo might even get rid of me. I needed to stay in so I could help tear the dragon hunters apart from the inside, and also figure out why they wanted to kill Star. What use was a gronckle to them? They could easily get any gronckle from the wild, they were certainly easy enough to catch, and their naturally friendly personalities made them so easy to train I was stumped at why Viggo did not his own fleet of gronckles. Probably because they would be too friendly to Hiccup and his riders, judging especially from the fact that Fishlegs rode Meatlug.

"ARE YOU LISTENING?" Viggo said, his voice only slightly louder but seeming to blast in my ear. I jerked to attention. "Yes?" I asked. He sighed, slight irritation showing on his face. "Keep an eye on my brother, will you?" I raised an eyebrow, though inwardly I saw his game. He knew that I knew how devious he was, and how easily he could overpower and manipulate Ryker, and was asking me to see if I would play his game. I suddenly got suspicious. Why would he trust me? The only reason he allowed me to join was he wanted help capturing Star, though he didn't seem to know that she was the dragon he was searching for. "Why?" I asked. I needed him to underestimate me. He searched my face, then answered. "I feel he might be tired of my tyranny. I need someone who is not yet feeling as he." I nodded slowly, trying to arrange my face into a dull expression. He made a small motion of dismissal, and I stepped out of the tent into the cold air, surveying the icy surroundings.

"And Skylar?" he called after me. I turned briefly. "Yes?" Again that tone of mild suspicion, cleverly disguised. "Your dragon seems really similar to one I am searching for. Do you perhaps know where her homeland is?" I shook my head. " I only found her on an island with a Green Death." I turned and walked away, only without catching the sudden gleam in his eye at the mention of the Green Death. Then I realized one thing. He was looking for a black dragon accompanying a girl named Sky. How did he not make the connection? Black gronckle? Sky? Sky- lar? Unless…. I yawned so widely my jawbone cracked. Digging my knuckles into my tired eyes, I jogged to my tent and settled down on the mat next to Star, who was already sleeping. It was only in my last few moments of consciousness that several things struck me. Firstly, gronckles were, no offense intended, slow, compared to most other dragons like night furies and nadderheads. Yet today, Star moved with INCREDIBLE speed. Not to mention, the odd fire, and Viggo's interest in her. It hit me right before I passed out. This was his plan! He wanted me to use Star to control dragons, in the same way she got the riders' dragons to calm down. Right before my eyes closed, the hugeness of his plan hit me. I played right into his hands.