ALL RIGHTY LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. NEXT CHAPTER.

ONWARDS:


Alvin rapped the door again. This time, a loud metallic sound of a lock sliding open sounded. Then, the door opened with a loud groan, revealing the person opening it and four guards behind him, spears raised.

As they saw Alvin, they lowered the spears fractionally, before being on even higher alert as they saw the other five people behind them.

"At ease. They are with me."

The spears were finally lowered.

"They are here to see Dagur the Deranged. Lead the way."

"Aye chief."

The six, Alvin and the five riders, quickly proceeded to stand inside as the door opened quickly shut the door and locked it. He then strode forward and took the lead, the other four guards flanking the six.

"Follow me."

With that, the ten set off behind the jail leader.

While the prisons on Berk were way better than those of here, the cells here looked better maintained. Then again, they didn't have a lot of prisoners back at Berk.

To say that the conditions and overall quality of the cells were gruesome would be putting it ... mildly. No, it was much more worse. The smell alone made Fishlegs want to barf. The others held up pretty well, but even Snotlout looked a bit green.

Astrid saw how the cell quality deteriorated the further in she went. The initial cells were filled with Outcasts, then came the various Berserker soldiers. Then came the high ranking Berserker war chiefs, officials and generals.

Astrid noticed how almost every inmate was looking - no, leering at her. Those yellow toothed nasty grins aimed at her, and those eyes of malicious intent sizing her up, made her insides squirm and curl up in disgust.

She tried her best to ignore them, but frankly, it was difficult and very disturbing.

The group finally made a left turn. There, at the other end of a very grimy and sooty corridor, was Dagur. He seemed at peace - his brand of peace, really. He was doing pull-ups with his back to them using Thor knows what. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a lone Berserker soldier, who had somehow gotten up in the rafters, and was stretched between roof bars - upside down. Dagur was using the soldier's belt and chainmail nape as grip-holds, and it looked very painful. The soldier was red face with strenuous effort to not give in to gravity and fall, because if he did, it seemed clear that Dagur will not spare him. Weaponless he may be, he was still very strong and very much capable to dish out lethal blows. His muscles bulged out through his somewhat frayed chief tunic, which made the riders shiver. He may be crazy and deranged, but his physique was something that even Snotlout looked up to, and envied.

Alvin, on the other hand, just shook his head.

"Dagur! You have visitors."

Dagur literally paused in his workout - at the very apex of the pull up. He then dropped, but kept his back to the others. The soldier literally cried in relief as a major weight detached. He then made a move to come down.

"If you come down, I will KILL you. Just so you know."

The soldier paused, and looked down. Everyone flinched at the sight of his face - tears, phlegm and drool making a grotesque pattern all over his face. He looked miserable.

He looked ready to completely let go, and I mean that in all senses. He closed his eyes.

It seemed time had stopped for all the spectators as the soldier fell slowly and made contact with the hard stone floor. There was no respite for him though. True to his word, Dagur mashed the soldier's face in with a powerful boot to the face the moment he landed. Blood and several fluids added to the array, and all movement ceased.

He was dead.

Fishlegs couldn't stomach all this. He turned around and barfed out his breakfast with a loud disgusting sound. No one talked or made a sound other than him.

Then, Dagur spoke up.

"Weak. ALL OF THEM ARE WEAK!!!"

Credit to be given to Alvin at this point, because he was the only one with a stoic expression and a normal face - well, as normal as it could be for him, with all the scars and dirt. All the others had faces with varying shades of green colouring them.

Still, things could be worse.

...right?

Dagur finally turned around, and everyone except Alvin took an unconscious step back. The Outcast guards raised their spears against the man still in the cell.

The reason was simple. The manic look and that creepy smile on his face with a spattering of blood covering it was truly the stuff of nightmares - hel, even nightmares couldn't match up to THIS. Fishlegs promptly barfed again as Astrid's left eye twitched.

Dagur quickly scanned the newcomers. His smile faltered a bit, but then a smile even more wide and sinister took it's place. He finally said (screeched out would be more like it.) :

"Ah, the Dragon Riders. My wors-"

It was then that Dagur seemed to find an inconsistency in his visitor group. He narrowed his eyes and frowned as he tried to find a certain auburn haired lanky sixteen year old who was the reason why he was rotting in that jail instead of ruling Berk, as he was supposed to. His smile had dropped completely.

"Say, blondie, where is my brother?"

Astrid felt white hot anger pulse through her for way too many reasons. She calmed herself with a monumental amount of effort.

"He isn't her- I mean, he didn't come."

Dagur looked at her for a split second before smiling his widest yet, looking completely off the hook as he cackled maliciously.

"Him? Not here? Why ever not? Last time I checked, he was your leader. And frankly speaking, without him, you all are just a bunch of idiotic dragon riding fools!"

Oh, what Astrid wouldn't give go into the cell and lobb her axe right into Dagur's chest. She was vibrating with fury as she gripped her axe in such a manner that she was sure that her knuckles had become completely chalk-white.

"Besides, I thought Hiccup was my brother. Shouldn't he be missing me the most, then?"

Astrid just glared at the older boy. Then, she adopted the coldest voice she could muster.

"I think you will find, Dagur, that the feeling of being brothers isn't exactly mutual. He doesn't consider you as his brother. In fact, the truth is far from it. He REPULSES you."

Dagur was just looking at her with narrowed eyes and that bloodied evil grin. It was within Astrid that a change came over. She quickly realised that she was not fearful anymore. Her fearful apprehension was replaced by blinding fury, and she realised that she was regaining control. She felt like being Astrid was returning to her. That, and a rather lot of adrenaline (which we know of, but not her).

Dagur's lip curled.

"If you say so."

"But he isn't really your brother!"

Everyone was surprised to see Fishlegs speak up. That wasn't expected.

Fishlegs, on his part, tried to look angry and intimidating - a feat at which he was failing miserably, as he was quaking all over.

Dagur's face shifted into a nonchalant look.

"Eh, details..."

"But it's true! You cannot be Hiccup's big brot-"

"I KNOW THAT FISHY!"

Dagur yelled, while getting as close to Fishlegs as he could from inside a cell. Fishlegs didn't disappoint - he promptly fell back on his butt, his poor anger façade gone, and replaced by a look of utter terror.

"I know that, Fishface. I know the logistics of being a brother! Hell, I had been a big brother! Right up until I-"

Dagur stopped. He seemed to realise what he was talking about. His eyes twitched as he scoffed, and turned around, his back to the group.

But the slip was enough for the riders. As Fishlegs and the twins gasped, Astrid mulled over what she had just heard. But it was Alvin who verbalised her thoughts.

"You had a sibling? A - a brother?"

Pin drop silence.

"Dagur, what did you do? Did you have a brother???"

More silence, before a curt and cold voice cut through the atmosphere like a knife.

"No. Doesn't matter."

Then, it was Snotlout who spoke up.

"Dagur, please tell me you didn't do what we think you did-"

Dagur whipped around, and there was nothing but blazing hot fury in his green eyes. A sneer took over his mouth as he spoke.

"Oh yes, Snotface. I did have a younger sibling, who is dead. Been dead for a very long time."

He gave out a harsh laugh, and continued.

"That's why dear old mom is dead too. Couldn't stomach the fact that the newest and youngest addition to the family was dead. GONE. Killed herself."

Not even an insect made a noise as Dagur regaled the tale of him taking the life of his own family member with a sadistic dark relish.

"Of course, dad was out then. I easily constructed a tale saying how she killed herself and the baby. Dear old dad believed me, and condemned his own wife."

Everyone was on high alert, now, as he continued his tale as if it was an old fond memory.

"Of course, he would never completely recover from the shock. He maintained his chiefing duties, but I knew that he will grow weak as time passes. So, one day, an opportunity came, and I seized it."

"You killed him..."

It was Fishlegs, whispering.

"I didn't have to, Fishy. In essence, yeah, he is dead, but I didn't kill him."

"You murdered your entire family!"

Fishlegs' voice rose with every syllable. Dagur, on his part, looked unimpressed.

"No, Fishface. I didn't kill anyone. I never needed to pick a weapon against anyone. Like, say, I never stabbed anyone of my family. No impalations of any kind needed. They just ... died. Due to a variety of ... unconnected reasons. That's different."

"You..."

Words failed Fish as he stared at Dagur with wide eyes and fearful anger colouring his features. Fishlegs was actually seething at the audacity of the older boy.

At this point, Alvin had enough. He took charge.

"Well, he is still in jail. I hope you are satisfied."

Astrid nodded, words failing her too.

"Then, it's best if you go back to the arena. The guards still have all this to clean up."

He was pointing to the dead man and the pool of sick, curtsy of Fishlegs.

Astrid just nodded again. One by one, they tore off their gazes from the murderous madman, and slowly started retracing their steps.

That was until an loud bang was heard, and everyone stopped. Dagur had punched the cell bars to bring everyone to attention.

"I'll get out of here, blondie. You can be sure of it. Once I do, I will make sure that all of you pay for what you have done to me. I will kill my brother first, in the most painful way possible. I will make sure he bleeds, and that you stand by and watch him die, as you realise that there is nothing you can do to save him. As your guilt finally consumes you, I will end the lot of you. You have my word."

Astrid couldn't answer. She still had her back to him, as she stood rooted to the spot, unable to turn. She felt fear flood her insides at Dagur's words, because if he could murder his own kin, he could very well carry out his promise.

A promise of blood. Their blood.

She wanted to give an answer, to scream back that she would like to see him try, and that she will kill him with her own hands, But she just couldn't.

But then, out of the blue, Snotlout spoke up, effectively surprising everyone.

"Yeah? Well, sure. I will send you a bar of yak-dung in the meantime. Enjoy your time in the penitentiary."

He then left with quick steps, not waiting for any reply, and the others followed suit.


"That - that was ... that was..."

"I know, Ruff. I do."

They had made their way out of the rocky bowels of the Outcast present in record time, basking in the sunlight of the the world outside. The pure, unfiltered light, coming onto a world that didn't deserve it. A world filled with murderers and bad people.

Fishlegs was vomiting again. This time, though, the twins patted his back with utmost pity, which made them look out of character, while looks of horror clouded their faces.

Alvin then came out. The prison door shut behind him, and the locking mechanism was heard.

He stared at the teens with the mixture of concern and pity. Then, he turned and stared at the door, then down towards the ground.

"I had heard stories. How the Oswald family was happy and prosperous once. I had heard about an accident which took the life of Oswald's wife and a newborn. How it made Dagur th- the murderous madman that he is today. I had never thought it was him wh- who murdered his own family."

Alvin - stuttering. Maybe this was way too much even for him.

He looked up to Astrid.

"I had never thought he had done it. I can't fathom it. Even I am not that heartless, and that's saying something."

The group stood still and silent as Fishlegs finally rose. Alvin then shook his head, cleared his throat, clapped his hands and said:

"Right, so anything else?"


BIT OF A BACKSTORY OF DAGUR. SEEMS LIKE I AM MAKING HIM MORE VILLIANOUS THAN HE IS. BUT THEN, ANGST IS WHAT I DO A BIT BETTER THAN OTHERS.

ANYWAY, PLEASE REVIEW.

UNTIL LATER

ABHASCLASH