The King

*Nuffink's Point of View*

We were not prepared for anything that was coming at us next.

Once everyone had finished up at the weapon merchant's hut, we had set off toward the Viking Hunter's hideout. The map was pretty easy to follow. It was clearly marked and had obvious landmarks. I was glad to have it.

As we got closer to the location that was circled on the map, I saw smoke in the distance.

"Do you guys see that too?" I asked, turning around to see the others.

"Yeah, what is it?" Ragnhild asked, squinting her eyes to try to see the smoke better.

I shrugged my shoulders as the others all muttered behind me.

Soon we could see the island. It didn't look like it did on the map. On the map, the island looked flat and desolate, but it actually had a tall mountain covered with greenery and smoke was coming out of the top. Probably a volcano. But we could see the huts along the shoreline and there were several people walking around between the buildings.

"Let's land behind that building there. Stay quiet. We are just here to get information and get out," I instructed.

Buff and Eira dove down toward the landing spot I had pointed out.

"Hey, I said this is a stealth mission!" I yelled after them.

I groaned and looked over at Ragnhild.

She just smiled and shrugged. "They always start out as stealth, but with those two, do you really think these missions will end as stealth missions?" she laughed.

I smiled. "I guess you're right," I sighed.

Mila and Ozzy flew down to the island and landed smoothly and quietly… well, Mila landed quietly. Ozzy landed as quietly as he could while flying only one head on a Zippleback.

Once we had all landed, we regrouped.

The plan was for us all to split up in teams of two. Each team would take one of the camouflage dragons just in case. We were going to be looking for anything that could possibly connect Brandt with this, anything that had to do with whatever this "king" was, and anything that could give us clues to who the leader was.

Ragnhild and I left with Dawn. We headed towards the middle where there was a large building, probably where the leader liked to stay. We crept past the buildings, sneaking down alleys and hiding behind barrels of mead. There were definitely some places that were too narrow for Dawn to fit through so she would fly above us and land when she could.

We slowly started getting closer. Ragnhild walked behind me.

"Nuffink!" she hissed and grabbed my arm, pulling me back just as some hunters walked by.

"That was too close," I whispered. I glanced over at Dawn. All I could see were her big blue eyes, the rest of her body was camouflaged. She stepped forward and nuzzled my hand, growling worriedly.

"It's okay, girl. We are almost there," I whispered.

Ragnhild slid her hand into mine, her other hand hovering over the leather whip at her hip, ready to jump into action if the need came up. As we got closer to the fortress I pulled my bow off and notched a Groncklw iron tipped arrow against the string. The guards and hunters grew in number as we got closer to the door.

We stopped and crouched behind some barrels of mead by the door. There were about 30 guards standing in front. Their swords were a sickly green color. If I remember right, I think those had been dipped in dragon root. My dad had told me of the dangers of that stuff when he told me stories of his time at the Edge.

"Okay, how are we getting past them? We can't fight them. There are too many of them and it would draw too much attention to ourselves," Ragnhild whispered.

I glanced back at my dragon. "I have an idea," I whispered.

I motioned to Dawn and she wrapped her wings around us. We were shielded but were still able to walk.

"Just watch out, Dawn. Don't run into anything," I reminded her as we started walking forward.

We somehow managed to get past the guards and into the open doors. Thankfully they were big enough for a dragon.

However, once inside, there was definitely no room for dragons. I motioned for Dawn to wait outside.

Ragnhild uncoiled her whip and held it in her hands while I had another arrow ready to fly at any moment. We walked quietly down the dark hall. There were rooms on either side, most full of drunk dragon hunters. But then there was one on the end. The only light came from a dying fire in the hearth.

I poked my head inside and saw that nobody was there. I picked my hand up and motioned for Ragnhild to follow. We walked into the room. There was a large metal table in the middle with papers scattered all across it.

I picked up one of the sheets and started reading it. It was a letter.

"Oh Thor, Ragnhild, look," I said, shoving a paper into her hands.

"Addressed to Brandt?" she whispered incredulously.

"I know! Read it," I told her.

"Brandt, I am glad to hear your mission is going well. We will finally be able to avenge my brother, your father! We have been patiently waiting and now the King has finally grown enough that we should be able to attack in the next week or so. By the time you get this letter, we will be ready to attack within a few days. Be ready.

I am going to include a sketch of the King so you will be able to prepare accordingly. You know the commands he understands, so you will be able to control him. Use that power wisely, dear nephew.

I can not wait to bring that hiccup of a chief down to his knees! Let's see how powerful the great "Dragon Master" is against our King!"

Hail the King,

Uncle Ryker."

We were both silent as Ragnhild finished the last word.

"Who is Ryker?" she whispered.

"Not sure, but I bet my parents know," I replied.

"Do you see the sketch he was talking about anywhere?" Raggy asked.

I slid papers aside on the table and finally came to a charcoal sketch at the bottom of the pile.

"This can't be it. That's just the volcano that's outside," I said. Then I looked more closely at the mountain in the sketch. There were lines making it look like a coil, smoke coming from the top, and a very faint outline of what could possibly be wings at the sides.

"Oh Thor, Nuffink, the volcano… it's..." Ragnhild muttered.

"A dragon," I finished softly.

"Well done, young Haddock."

My head shot up. In the doorway, there was a large man. He was bald but had a mustache and a small patch of hair on his chin. His arms were defined with muscles, tattoos over almost every inch.

"Who are you? How do you know who I am?" I asked.

"Ryker Grimborn. Nice to finally meet you! I knew your parents. You look just like them," he said casually.

I glanced at Ragnhild then quickly brought my eyes back to the man in front of us.

She seemed to get the message and started walking to the side.

"You knew my parents? How?" I asked, keeping his focus on me.

"Well let's just say your father and I were, well, we were buddies. We enjoyed tormenting each other," Ryker said. He grinned and I felt sick. There was so much evil behind the smile.

"You said you are my brother's uncle, how?" I asked.

"Well, I am sure your parents told you how Brandt came to be. Your mother was in contract to be married to my brother, Viggo. But instead of just going along with the marriage, your parents decided to go ahead and try for a child to break the contract. That is how Brandt came to be. Once he was born my brother went and tried to take him from Dragon's Edge, but your clever father had already sent the babe away to a different family. They didn't think we could find him, but we did. He was maybe three or four winters when we found him. I killed his adoptive parents and my brother and I took him in. That is how your brother came to know my brother as his father. We brought Brandt up together and now he is helping me get revenge for my brother's death," Ryker continued talking, but I focused on Ragnhild.

She was almost behind him now. She raised her whip and with a flick of her wrist, it was wrapped around his legs. She pulled and he fell to the ground with a shout. He hit his head on the table and was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

I grinned at my fiance and wrapped her up in a big hug.

"I love you! That was incredible!" I said, giving her a quick kiss.

She laughed. "I'm glad you think so, but let's get out of here!" she said. I grabbed the letter and the sketch and shoved them in my pocket.

We raced out of the room.

"We have to get to Berk!" I said as we ran towards the door.