Dagur and Mala waited in the Hall and kept looking at the entrance. "I think that she'll be fine." the king said, "She's seen us pick out people for a long enough time to know how to herself." The chieftess nodded, "And we will be there, if any advice is required." As more time passed, the royals grew anxious. "It's not like Eri to be late." Dagur commented, a pit forming in his stomach. "Perhaps she forgot that we were to meet here first?" Mala offered. The two exited the Hall and went down to the docks. When they did not find their daughter there, they went to the stables. library, then hut. The parents fought hard to not allow panic to siege their hearts and minds. They were not the only ones to notice the delay in trader selecting. Soon, Heather, Throk, Mathias, and Xanthe were leaving the docks to search for the family. All of them ran into each other in the middle of the island. "Have you seen Eerika?" the queen asked, desperate for a positive result. All but Xanthe shook their heads. "I saw her this morning. She was in the stables and.." the Defender paused, thinking about what her friend had said, "Sorry Eerika." she thought, "If something is wrong, they need to know." Xanthe cleared her throat and started up again, "And she told me that Neilson was acting strangely. Apparently, he was irascible over the fact that she could not spend time with him today."
The royals were quiet for a second and then began putting a plan into action. "Search around for any evidence left behind. If there is anything that looks suspicious, alert us." Mala instructed the others as she and Dagur rushed off. They scoured the area, looking for clues. All the while, the parents felt furious. "I knew, that hunter couldn't be trusted." Dagur fumed, "Before he knows it, his head will have a new resting spot." Mala was thinking quite the same thoughts and found that the rage was almost difficult to manage. When her husband started speeding up, she inquired, "Where are you going?" He turned his head over his shoulder, "To let the dragons out so that they can help us. If anyone other than you or me can find Eerika, it's Cachée." The chief ran to the stables and released the Stealthgazer, then the others. Instinctively, the reptiles were aware that something was wrong. Cachée took off, with Dagur close behind. The dragon serpentined between crevices and open plains in her search. Finally, she stopped and began sniffing an area nearby the east coast of the island. All of her favorite cracks had been blocked by pebbles-that had never occurred before and could not have unless done, purposefully.
"They must have set off on this side. At least that gives us an idea for the direction." Dagur said, before he quickly returned to the hut to grab some maps. On his way back, the chief heard some muffled noises. He followed them and found a young viking that had been tied up and gagged. After the youth had been freed, a fountain of words rushed out his mouth, "Chief, Neilson caught me and threatened to kill me if Eerika didn't go with him!" Dagur bit his lip, "That's how he got her. The boy's too much of a coward to even fight someone with skill." He thanked the viking for the information and and sent him back to his parents. Scanning the map for islands off the east of theirs, he found several. The king balked and peeked at Cachée, "Can you track her?" Understandingly, the dragon roared and waited for the rest to be mounted. As soon as they had, Cachée brought out her wings and flew into the sky. "With our speed, the headstart that they had will make little difference." Throk stated, hopefully. Mathias and Xanthe gave small nods of agreement while the parents barely heard what had been said. They were too focused to listen to anything that did not directly aid in finding Eerika. Heather, too, was silent. An unpleasant sensation of responsibility overcame her and the Berserker tried to push it down, though to no avail. "If I hadn't been so determined to help Neilson out and have him stay on the island, this never would have happened."
On the sea, Neilson rowed, nearly unrelentingly; however, he began to slow his pace and have heaving breaths. When he could not row anymore, he stopped and looked over the side of the boat. He just happened to pause at an especially putrid part of the sea. "Care to jump in? I'd suggest inhaling deeply afterwards." Eerika snarked, scrunching up her face. Neilson frowned at her, "I didn't bring us all this way just to drown." Despite saying this, he commenced rocking the vessel, violently. Eerika attempted to steady herself, but Neilson made the whole boat tip over into the water. He surfaced, quickly, though the large chains weighed Eerika down. She still managed to not sink, nevertheless, it was a difficult feat. Neilson flipped the boat right side up and swam over to Eerika. She wanted to reach for her knife and cut him, inviting a multitude of famished sharks to their direction, but a few things prohibitied that. Her lack of an ability to reach the blade, for starters, and also the fact that she would not be able to row far enough away before the creatures arrived. Filled with disgust, she was grabbed by the waist and tossed back on the boat. Her captor boarded as well, appearing to be very proud of himself. "What? You just prefer this fragrance?" Eerika asked him. Neilson stuck out his chest, "With this odor, your dragons won't be able to track you from scent. I don't want them trying to follow us anytime too soon. There'll be a time for that later." he stated.
A long, however, relatively silent ride ensued. It concluded with the two vikings docking at a familiar-looking island. Eerika glanced around and pondered, "Hey, is this-" "Remember this island?" Neilson asked. Nodding, the princess raised a brow, "I do. This is the island where we found our dragons and you." The hunter led her to a cave and he closed up the entrance. "Not all that I said were lies." he admitted, "But I'm not someone who wants to live 'happily ever after' with vicious reptiles as my friends. Of course, I'll acknowledge that dragons can come in handy." Neilson reached his hand into a pile of rocks and pulled out a piece of paper. He began writing on it, then went over to two Terrible Terror-who had made themselves at home in the cavern-and attached the scroll to one's horn. After the thing flew away, he smiled, "Now, you've probably been wondering why I picked such an obvious location. Well, I want your parents to be able to find us. It's vital to my plan." Pulling out another scroll, he again started his writing. The other Terror was scrolled up and sent on his mission. "This should be a time to remember, Eerika." Neilson beamed as he lit a fire. Rubbing his hands together, he exclaimed, "I can't wait until tomorrow!" The young man looked at Eerika, "Night," he said, "See ya in the morning."
Cachée zoomed over the seas, sniffing the air. She went a bit farther and halted. "Why are we stopping?" Heather asked, finally uttering words. Dagur watched as the Stealthgazer circled around in despair. "I think that she's lost the trail." the king said. Mala looked and shook her head, desperately, "No, that cannot be. We have to find Eerika." The chief eyed the dragon and queen, sadly, "We'll need to figure out his plan, but until then, we can search the closest islands. Split up. It'll be faster that way and if none of us find them in three hours, meet back up on the island." Before everyone separated, Dagur stated, "But Xanthe and Mathias need to go together. We don't know what kind of training Neilson got before we met him." The youths nodded and flew off, side by side. Sleuther used his full speed and resembled a shooting star. The pit in Mala's stomach invoked her to speak, "How are you not furious right now?" she inquired. Her husband kept facing the water, "I am, but I'm used to it. Trust me, though, nothing would make me happier than running Neilson through and flinging his limp body to the other hunters as a warning." A scornful chuckle escaped his lips, "You couldn't imagine all the meditation chants I've been reciting in my head." Mala was quiet and looked back out to the sea. It was so vast and empty; however, hopefully the latter would end soon.
"Neilson is targetting you and I through Eerika, but where would he take her?" Mala wondered, aloud. "Not sure." Dagur divulged. The others felt similarly about the entire ordeal. Throk could not ignore the ache of failure that tugged at his heart, "I am the head of the guards. It is my sworn duty and priviledge to protect the royal family. How could I have allowed Neilson to abduct Eerika? We must find her. I could never forgive myself if.." He did not want to finish the thought and forced a positive mentality. Meanwhile, Mathias and Xanthe were both deep in thought. "I knew that we should have told the king and queen." the Defender mused, upset, "I should have held my ground on that." She began wringing her hands with the persistent nerves that plagued her. Mathias's grip tightened around Bright Eyes's saddle, it being imagined to be Neilson's throat. "I've known that guy was trouble from the beginning. That way he's always looked at her. I guess, I just thought I was being overly protective, but he'll go down hard for this." Islands were scoured and within those three hours, almost all of the islands in proximity to theirs had been searched. The team returned to the Berserker/Defender Island, each hoping that someone had better news than what they could offer.
Unfortunately, they were aware by the forlorn expressions that no one had any progress. "Maybe he's working with some other hunters and brought her to one of their sites?" Heather suggested. Dagur was about to comment, though started tilting his head, in curiousity, as he looked at something behind her and the others joined him. Sitting on a rock, was a Terrible Terror. The chief untied a scroll that was attached to the reptile and unraveled it. "'Chief Dagur and Queen Mala, at tomorrow's noon,'" the Berserker read, "'bring four chests of gold to the island where we all met. If you do not, your daughter will be-'" He scowled at the paper and skipped to the next part, "'Only you two are allowed to be anywhere near the island. If others are seen, the same will occur.'" There was a brief lapse of speech, "It's a trap." Mathias said, breaking the silence. The parents nodded, "Yes," Mala stated, "But one that we can possibly avoid." She looked at Dagur and the two formulated a plan. "That's risky." Heather said, unconfidently. "It's all going to be." Her brother told her. The younger viking bit her lip, "What if one of you isn't able to return?" "What matters is that we can get Eerika out, definitely." Mala added, "And that is worth any and every risk."