A few hours passed, Gothi and Gobber went around to all the injured Vikings and assessed the injuries, with Gobber translating the diagnoses for the teeny elder. Heather had now said her temporary farewell to Eira, who was back in bed again, frustrated at how little she could do. As the two young women hugged and parted, they both knew the next time they would see each other, less than three weeks later, things would again be serious so they had enjoyed a few jovial moments together that day, joking, teasing and discussing whatever had come to mind when it did come to mind. But then Heather left, yet again, and the silence filled the air once more.
Eira looked to her nightstand, well Hiccup's nightstand – but he had said his hut was hers until she was allowed to walk on her own again – and looked at the two hunters arrows on the nightstand. One the usual bright green that turned her stomach at the mere sight of it. And the darker, dull emerald green one, which had nearly killed her. She knew exactly what she was going to do with those arrows.
Gobber burst into the room as she was staring at the arrows, interrupting her thoughts, and then setting them in motion again. The blonde older man had also come to say a goodbye, since Gothi's ship with the dead and injured was about to set sail.
"Don't get up, Lass" He jested, an easy and toothy grin set upon his face. Teasing.
"Oh you know I would if I could Gobber." Eira laughed then huffed
"People like us aren't good for sitting still, hey?" Gobber smiled knowingly. Then in the distance the sound of an explosion rang, and the two winced, before Snotlout's angry voice yelling at the twins also pierced their ears. It was obvious that the interaction was far away, but you could hear it crystal clear nonetheless.
"You two Nutbrains can't keep that dragon under control for FIVE MINUTES?!"
"Yeah well at least my mother doesn't smell of yak dung!" Ruffnut yelled back, and then Tuffnut interjected with a stupid pseudo intellectual ramble of half-truths which was then also interjected by another explosion.
"Seems like this whole island is full of people who aren't good for sitting still." Gobber shook his head, continuing their conversation, but Eira just laughed.
"I'll feel at home then." Her words dawned on her retroactively "Well… I mean I sure hope I can find a home here." The horn of the ship blew, and Gobber knew he had to hurry this up, despite finding himself wanting to stay with his newfound friend. He was more than surprised to have found a new comrade on the battlefield who he truly respected, especially one so small and so much of an underdog. The last time he had been so surprised to find this new respect for someone in this way was…. Hiccup. The parallel almost made him falter. Hiccup'll have a hard time with this wee fireworm! A smile broke on his face.
"Well, I really better be headin' off lass" He patted down his clothes with his fleshy hand… Then scratched his rear with his hooky one "We'll be taking that prisoner with us, so you can rest easy. We'll see if Stoick the Vast himself can get him to open his trap!" They locked eyes, and Eira knew she had to speak now or she'd regret it.
"Gobber… wait…" She inhaled shakily, knowing she'd be testing this very new friendship, "Would you mind doing me a favour? It's okay if you say no I just-"
"What is it?" He said, with no discernible tone.
"I know you've got to be back on Berk by the time the funeral starts when the ship gets there, but if you flew you could catch up to the boat and do this thing for me too-"
"What is it?" He said again, again with no particular infliction, but faster in tempo.
"Can you stay for … another half hour? Can you let me speak to the hunter before you take him away?" Her speech was fast. Gobber opened his mouth to speak, but she picked up speaking even faster instead. Trying to make her case before he shot it down as she assumed he would. "I know this Stoick whoever won't trust me to be alone with him, but if you came in with me when I spoke to him it should be fine right? Like you're Gobber the great or whatever…. And besides if you really think abou-"
"Eira!" Gobber interrupted, calling out her name suddenly, she stopped speaking quicker than a child who'd been scolded. He saw her posture, and a smile broke out on his scarred face. "You only have to say 'please'"
She looked up, and saw his face, then her expression mirrored his gleeful grin
"Please." She said, her smile not faltering for a second.
"Let's go then, shall we lass?" Gobber went to pick her up, but she halted him for a moment.
"We need to take those too" Eira's voice was brittle, and her eyes fell on the arrows. Gobber didn't ask any questions, he trusted her now. Bundling the arrows in a swatch of cloth he passed them to Eira, who gingerly took them from his hand, before allowing herself to be scooped up by the giant Viking. And the two made their way to the stables were the hunter was being held.
"Okay you know the plan yeah?" Eira whispered, looking up at the gruff Viking holding her, as the two reached the doors of the stables.
"All you said was follow your lead!" Gobber scowled.
"Yup!" She popped the p "That's the plan! Now put me down please." She smiled, but Gobber hesitated and didn't budge a millimetre.
"Lass, you're not supposed to stand, let alone walk, just let me carry you in."
"I have strength enough for this." And suddenly, to the weary balding viking, her eyes looked so old despite how young her complexion was. "Besides, can't show weakness to the enemy. Can we?" Gobber knew exactly what she meant, and after wavering a moment, he slowly and carefully set her down on her bare feet. "Let's do this." She said, then inhaled sharply.
"Aye."
Gobber burst in first, but said nothing. The prisoner barely flinched, seeing the silhouette of his repeated interrogator cast by the reds and oranges of the setting sun behind Gobber's form stream into the stables. They made eye contact, and Gobber knew that the hunter thought he was in for another round of questions and pain. And he really wanted to give him the latter especially, but instead he just walked to the far side of the room and leant in the corner as Eira walked into the room, amazingly, with no trace of unsteadiness in her step. The right hand of Stoick the Vast then watched with more than surprise as he saw the previous nonchalance of the prisoner shift as he turned white as a sheet when his eyes turned to the miniscule form of Eira. The hunter took in a shaky breath, and backed away in his cage, ignoring the bruises on his body which would no doubt cause him agony from the motion.
Fear. Pure, uncorrupted, fear was written on the prisoner's features, and Gobber was at a loss.
Eira walked in front of the hunter's cell, and sat down on the hardwood floor in front of the bars. The prisoner got more and more wound up like a coil with every step, and when she sat the coil remained ready to spring. Tension in every muscle in his body. "Sorry for being seated, I know it's not good manners but you know, it's been a rough cycle of the day." Gobber noted her odd word choice, but still he said nothing, and followed what little plan he had been given. "I hear you've not said anything so far." Her voice sounded deeper, more serious than usual. "But we're about to change that aren't we Mr…" She trailed off, realising they didn't even know what to call this particular monster. "Name."
"G-Gorm" The hunter spluttered out, and Gobber tried to keep his mouth from gaping as the woman had in the first two seconds gotten further in the interrogation than anyone.
"Short name. Gorm. No last name?" She sneered "Funny. I don't get to have a family name, not anymore. But you know that already, don't you?" She tapped slowly and deliberately on the floorboards beneath her with her index finger, and the small sound produced a distinct flinch in the man every time her finger struck the wood. "Regardless. It sure would be nice if you could tell me your family name G-gorm" Eira derided.
"Anquetil. Gorm Anquetil, son of Arne Anquetil." He looked at his feet.
Eira glanced over him and noticed 3 thread woven bracelets on his left arm. All with different shades of red intricately laced and plaited, she knew exactly what they were.
"Thorvald tribe? From the far east of the Archipelago?"
"How did you-"
"I'm asking the questions G-Gorm."
"Y-yes. Yes. I-I'm from the Thorvald tribe."
"Thought so" Eira said emotionlessly, and placed the cloth bundle from earlier in front of her crossed legs. And unwrapped it to reveal the arrows. She picked up the darker, concentrated arrow and held it up in the air so that it caught the sunlight and then carefully aimed that caught light so that it shone in Gorm's eyes. He cowered. "Oh! Familiar is it?" She exhaled.
"Now we've got more questions for you G-Gorm. But before you answer them – and you will answer them – I want to do a little … scientific demonstration for you. Since, well …you know who I am." She waited for his acknowledgement and he obliged. Slowly nodding once, "You know what I am" She lowered her voice, but not enough that Gobber didn't hear it, though she didn't care either way at this point. He nodded again "So you should know what this does to me" He nodded a third time. "See. You think you do. But I don't think you do!" She suddenly yelled the last sentence. "Gobber open the cage door."
"But-"
"He's not going to run. Just do it." She seethed Gobber did what he said, whatever she was doing it was working, so he sure as yak-dung wasn't going to hinder it. Suddenly, no bars between them Eira relaxed, somehow, and returned to her composed state.
"Knowing about something is never as good as seeing it happen. So I want you to see what you did to me. And then, you're going to answer my questions because I'm going to provide you with an alternative you won't dare refuse. And by then you'll know exactly just how serious I am. When. It. Comes. To . These. Gorm." She pointed to the arrows, and enunciated each word as though the words were the poison, not the arrows in front of her. Gorm's eyes were fixed on her. As she unwrapped one of bandages on one of her thighs. It was soaked in blood again since she'd reopened that wound walking just now. As she unwound the linen, the prisoner got more and more wound up with tension.
She laid the bloodied rag next to the arrows, and picked up the brighter green arrow. "Now you know these arrows, the usual ones. Terrible, awful, but usual ones. I'll start with these. Because if you'd shot me with just this I wouldn't be interrogating you now, I'd be relaxing in the sun watching some wrestling in the boar pit. Not 100% but definitely not giving a damn about you, G-gorm. But this." She pointed, openpalmed to the darker green concentrated arrow. "This means so much more to me and to all of dragonkind." Eira exhaled, and the hunter inhaled. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start by showing you what would be happening inside of me had you merely shot me with the normal dragon root arrow." She suddenly and violently jammed the arrow head into the floorboards through the blood soaked rag with a thud which caused Gobber and Gorm alike to jump. And while Eira's glance was locked firmly on Gorm, both his and Gobber's eyes were fixed solely on the rag. Gorm wasn't surprised, but was filled with dread at what he witnessed. Gobber however, was very surprised.
Suddenly the blood soaked into the rag started moving of it's own accord, the circular stain grew outward and from the arrow the blood moved outward too, forming a red ring around a white circle of clean cloth with the arrow at centre. The blood itself was running away from the dragon root. Gobber gasped, and Gorm swallowed as Eira spoke "Or in simple language: When shot with one of these, my body tries to tear itself away from the very weapon you just plunged into my flesh. It's agony, your innards want to become your outards and your body burns like Thor's wrath itself. And this… I wish you had just done THIS to me." She breathed
"But you did worse…. You shot me with this monstrosity." She hissed quietly. And the quiet was what disturbed both men so much, had she just shouted the room wouldn't feel so …. Volatile… so ready to explode. But she had whispered, and the air felt like electricity itself. "This thing" Eira continued and gestured to the darker arrow "well, you know how much more concentrated it is?"
"F-f-five times… But I wasn't trying to hit you I was-" Eira held up her hand and he was silenced immediately.
"That's right five. Fucking. Times." She pulled her dagger from her ankle holster, and Gorm flinched, but she had other ideas "Let me show you what five times does." She suddenly slit her palm open and dripped her blood on the arrow. But before it even hit the surface of the arrowhead or the dragonroot the blood itself sizzled so dramatically and angrily that it evaporated out of existence.
Gobber's stomach knotted so much it was painful, but he knew almost nothing could have been more painful than the arrow the barefoot Viking had taken for the future chief of Berk would have been for her. For Hiccup it would have been just an arrow, but for her it would have been hell… She went through hell for him. Gorm snapped and started rambling as fast as a Speedstinger can run.
"I swear I didn't want to hit you, I didn't even want to use that arrow we only get one per quiver and it was my last one! We're under specific orders NOT to kill you but the scrawny chief's son we've been told to kill on sight. Astrid's gunna kill me even if you don't so please please have mercy. Please, I beg of you, I beg PLEASE-" He kept speaking not stopping for a second as Eira stood up and walked over to Gobber. Gorm seemed like he was no longer breathing in at all he was speaking so much. Pleading over and over.
"I-I must say you have a way with the beast" Gobber said, not realising the parallel his words had made to something he once said about Hiccup when they still believed dragons to be monsters. But Eira ignored his words and got straight to the point "Okay, so we already know they can't produce many of the concentrated arrows but we need to find out exactly how many. And we still need to know what Astrid is going to do next. So now…. We need a carrot." Gobber looked beyond lost, but Eira pressed on regardless "Would this Stoick fellow be able to relocate a family of five Vikings to a safe place away from Astrid's reach?"
"What?…. Why would that be important right now-"
"I mean should I convince him to be on your side of the upcoming war, would your chief be able to manage that?
"I don't see how you'd do that lass…. He fears you as you are more than he fears the blade of my axe!"
"That's the point, I'm the bad Viking. I'm the stick. And you are about to become the Good Viking. The carrot. He has a family, a family he loves and wants to provide for, if you can help him find a safe space he'll never bear arms for astrid again. So. Can you do it or not?!" She seethed the last part, keen to get this over with as the pain her injuries were beginning to be beyond hiding now.
"Yes. Stoick and I could arrange something yes but I don't see how you know he has a fami-"
Eira didn't listen to the rest she pivoted fast on her feet and stalked up to Gorm. He shut up purely from her proximity
"Now listen G-gorm." Her eyes were filled with more fire than a warring Typhoomerang "you know who I am. What you hunters did to me. What you specifically did to me" She pointed at the blood soaked bundle on the floor and the strewn arrows. "So you know that if I get my way I plan on stringing you up like a hog and dipping just your testicles in a bowl of water. And every day I am going to add one drop of changewing acid. Just a single drop, each day, so that slowly… agonisingly slowly your manhood is going to feel a fraction more pain. More fire. More desire to tear itself off from the rest of your body until the bowl is pure acid and you get to feel a fraction of what you hunters will do to every single dragon's flesh you pierce with one of those arrows." Gorm began to sob quietly at this point, utterly defeated.
"Or." As Eira's fine lips pronounced that one syllable Gorm looked up, and halted his tears. Well… he tried to. Snot was streaming from his nose at this point. She repeated herself. "Or. Stoick the Vast and the people of Berk - the very people you yourself attacked I might add – will provide a safe haven for you, your wife, and your three daughters." Gorm paled.
"How did you know I have a family… l-l-let alone three daughters."
"Same way I know you're Thorvaldian. You're wearing the good prayers tithe bracelets which Thorvaldian young women make for their fathers as they go to war. Three of them." Gorm looked at his wrist in realisation and clutched it tight to his chest, as though fearful Eira would take them
"But lass…" It was Gobber's turn to be confused "How did you know even that"
"I was free… once. After losing my people but before these swine captured me. I travelled the archipelago with Heather, we rarely went to populated islands except for supplies, but I remember the people of the Thorvald tribe were even more than a little …. Capricious." She decided on the word after a beat. "But the children were nice enough, before the adults got their talons in them, anyway." Eira glared down at Gorm. "That's enough talk from you Gobber, I want to hear more from Gorm." She grinned an evil, evil smile.
"So, you have two options, you keep doing what you've been doing, staying silent. And I get to have a whole lot of fun with you involving changewing acid and your manhood before I send a terror mail to Astrid thanking you for the arrow, and she inevitably sends her men to visit your family." Gorm began to cry yet again "OR you tell Gobber everything he wants to know, and Hiccup and his riders will go in, dragons-blazing, to rescue your family and move them and you to a safe location, under the Berkians' watchful eyes of course. You get to retire and watch your little princesses grow old."
Gorm looked up at Gobber, his eyes wide and hopeful. Gobber didn't know what else to do but nod and keep his face stern, unable to believe what he'd become witness to. The blubbering, begging mess which had become of one of the most stoick prisoner he'd ever seen. Gorm hiccups a sob before he begun to speak "You'll do that… for me? … even after everything I've done?" Gorm's every breath dripped with disbelief.
"Aye. But you also have to swear off hurting dragons for life." Gobber scowled
"Oh, that should have gone without saying." Eira leaned over the huddled form of Gorm menacingly "right?" the t of the last word as harsher than her glare. And that was saying something.
"R-right!" Gorm spluttered
"So…. I take it we have a deal then!" Gobber smiled, his voice inflicting up his thick Scottish drawl as he often did when this enthused.
"We have a deal." Gorm said, almost wanting to smile, but when he looked at Eira again, he shuddered. "Just get her away from me."
"Happily." Eira said as she backed off, and locked eyes with Gobber "I believe he's all yours." She murmured and left the room, shutting the large stable doors behind her. Gobber approached the now former hunter and sat down in front of him, getting comfy for what he assumed would be a long session.
