Ember was watching the ocean as they sailed, and took a long, deep breath of the salty sea air. Besides the thrill of hunting dragons, sailing was something Ember enjoyed. She loved sitting atop one of the masts, having the wind in her hair and she almost felt like she was flying. It also gave her a birds eye view of the entire ship, so she could watch all the crewmen as they worked.
And as long as Heather had her wretched dragon wandering the deck, she would stay up there for as long as possible. Hard as Ember tried, she could not accept the fact that the dragon was allowed complete freedom to do whatever it wanted. But when Ryker was around, she pretended it was alright to avoid another scolding from the man.
As Ember was fantasizing the numerous ways she could kill the dragon and make it look like an accident, she heard a loud whistling coming from behind that made the hairs on her back stand up. Before she could turn to see what was making that noise, there was an explosion that rocked the ship and Ember was launched from her seat on the mast. But she managed to grab onto the mast before she fell and was now dangling above the deck.
She noticed a black thing circle around the ship that was undoubtedly a dragon and Ember wondered if her eyes deceived her. It wasn't the people riding on the dragon, one of which shouted that they were there for her dragon, but the dragon itself that shocked her.
"A Night Fury!" Ryker shouted from the deck below her, laughing with excitement. Orders are given for the ballistas to be used. Along with the night fury there was a monstrous nightmare, gronckle, and a zippleback, all of them having riders.
Ember knew that the archers would be joining the fight, and used a rope to slide down into the main deck. Once she landed she ran to the crates where the weapons were stored and armed herself with a bow and two dozen dragon root arrows.
The ship rocks as it's hit with more fire, and she saw that one of the ballistas had been destroyed and two hunters were down. Anger boiled in her veins as another hunter was caught in an explosion caused by the zippleback.
She began shooting arrows at the riders, but moving targets were harder to hit, especially dragons that have been trained in evasive maneuvering.
Ember's head tilted when she saw the gronckle head straight for the ship with no one following to back him up. It released a stream of lava on the deck and flew suspiciously close to a nearby ballista. Arrows and spears were being fired at it, but none were successful in hitting them. Out of curiosity, Ember shot a dragon root arrow and it pierced the gronckles side. Immediately the rider started shouting. "We're hit! We're hit!". But none of the riders made a move to help them.
The gronckles flight pattern was erratic and yet it still managed to fly close enough to the ship so that when a grappling chain was released, it easily caught the gronckle. It fell onto the deck with a thud and appeared to be unconscious from the dragon root. But there was one problem. Boulder class dragons, such as Gronckles, are immune to dragon root.
Ryker appeared at Ember's side and they shared an amused glance as the gronckles rider was dramatically begging his dragon to get up. Ember took a few steps closer and when the rider saw her with her bow and arrows, he glared daggers.
"You monster!" He snarled, recognizing her as the one who shot his beloved dragon. Ember smirked at the viking.
"Take 'em below and toss 'em in a cell!" Ryker ordered some of his men. They yanked the dragon forward, the chain still wrapped tightly around it.
"Meatlug! Can you hear me? Oh, stay with me, girl!" The rider cried as they were taken away. Ember turned to Ryker with an eyebrow raised once they were alone.
"How stupid do they think we are?" She asked, earning a smirk from Ryker.
"When they try to escape, you know what to do." He said, and Ember nodded, needing no further explanation.
She dodged another plasma blast from the night fury and made her way to the upper deck, discarding her bow and arrow in the process. Once Ember got into position, kneeling right above the main doors that lead to the inside of the ship, she waited.
While she waited, the second rider on the night fury had been knocked off and captured on our ship. Ember recognized her as the rider they'd left behind when they captured her Nadder.
A total of six minutes went by, before the doors were blasted into pieces and out came the gronckle and deadly nadder that was caught this morning.
"Stormfly!" The blonde exclaimed, yanking herself free from the two hunters holding her arms and running to her dragon.
Once the Gronckle and Nadder had their respective riders, Ember locked eyes with Ryker who smirked.
"Now." He said. Ember took this as her que and leaped of the ledge, landing in between the two dragons. Before the riders or dragons had a chance to react, she scratched both dragons under their chins which caused both of them to collapse in a state of bliss. A dragon's sweet spot works every time.
Both riders were stunned when their dragons fell down, and the blonde glared daggers at Ember.
The blonde launched herself at Ember with her axe, but Ember expected this and already had her katana sword out to block the attack.
"You're going to regret messing with me and my dragon!" The blonde hissed as they stood there with their weapons clashed together. Ember smirked and shoved the blonde backwards where two hunters proceeded to grab the blonde by her arms. The axe was taken from her and tossed in emvets direction, who caught it expertly then held the blade at the girl's throat.
"The way I see it, it's you who is going to regret messing with dragon hunters."
Ryker marched over with a smirk on his face.
"Your pathetic tricks won't work on me." Ryker told the pair smugly, then pointing to himself, "I'm a Dragon Hunter! I know that Gronckles are immune to dragon root."
The blonde groaned in annoyance, her pride bruised by being outsmarted no doubt. But honestly, the fact that they thought professional dragon hunters didn't know their dragons was idiotic on their part.
"We used your worthless escape plan to lure your friends in closer." Ember said, also smirking in triumph, even more so when the blonde gave her a dirty look. She turned and watched as the Zippleback along with its two riders fell into the ocean and a net was released to fish them out.
Unfortunately the Night Fury got away, carrying the Monstrous Nightmare that had been shot.
Once the three dragons and four riders were in captivity, Ryker ordered for all of them to be put in cells and Ember was instructed to follow and inspect the dragons to see what their value might be.
Ember followed the group below deck to the cells, using the blonde's axe to prompt the riders to walk faster if they lagged. Once they reached the cell hold, she stood off to the side to wait until the dragons were chained up in their cages to inspect them.
The riders were ushered into a cell, and all walked in obediently, save for the blonde who yanked her arm free to swivel around and yell at her captors.
"Where are our dragons? What did you do to them?" She demanded, and while Ember was inspecting the axe, she noticed from the corner of her vision that the blonde was looking at her while asking.
Smirking, she answered the blonde without looking up.
"Oh, if I were you, I'd worry about yourself." Ember said, her voice quieter and more steady than the blonde's. There were footsteps and Ember did look up to see who it was.
"Heather?" The blonde said, appearing to be shocked. This caught Ember's attention and she looked at the raven haired girl to see her reaction. Heather looked unsure, and Ember's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
The other riders were all shocked as well.
" Run!" The blonde exclaimed, thinking that Heather had also been captured by the hunters.
Then, to Ember's annoyance, Dagur, another new member of the crew, shoved his way over to stand by his sister.
"Surprise!" Dagur shouted, and Heather's demeanor went back to being smug and haughty like her brother's. "Did ya miss me? Of course you did!" Then he pointed between Heather and the riders with a mock confused look. "Oh! Do you know my sister? Wait a minute, sure you do! You guys were little pals and buddy buddies." He laughed maniacally and Heather joined in with her own evil chuckle.
"Hey, family is family." Heather told the four riders and the blonde shook her head in disbelief.
"I can't believe this, Heather."
"I know it's not Dragon's Edge, but it'll have to do." Heather walked up to the cell after the door closed and chuckled. "Enjoy your new home, Astrid. You're gonna be here a while." The blonde-Astrid- gave Heather the same hateful glare that she used on Ember earlier. Heather chuckled again, not phased by it and walked off with her brother.
Now it was only Ember left with the dragon riders, but her attention was on Heather's receding form, the gears turning in her head as she processed all this new information.
Heather used to be friends with the riders? Now her having a Razorwhip as a pet made sense. Obviously these dragon sympathizers taught her their twisted ways about how to 'earn a dragon's trust' and ride them.
But what changed? What made her betray them like this? Ember deduced it had something to do with this Dagur character, who was an enemy to the riders. Apparently they were siblings. So Heather chose her family over the riders.
But, the unsure look that Heather had when she saw the riders. Ember swore she noticed some guilt in Heather's expression, however brief it was. And when Dagur showed up, only then did her demeanor change.
Ember's suspicions about Heather were increased ten fold. There was something off about this whole thing. But, Ember knew better than to do anything until she had all the facts.
Ember decided that from now on she'd keep an eye on Heather, for there was more to her than meets the eye, she was sure of it. And she will find out what secrets this girl was hiding.
Hope everyone is enjoying my story so far!