Drip, drip, drip went the leak in the wall. Darkness without the slighest bit of light. Repulsive odors that laid siege to your senses, mercilessly. Unclean accommodations as well as being forced to be unclean. These were some of the many reasons Dagur had trained past the point where most would have been forced to stop. He would escape that cesspool, if it were the last thing he did. Death was better than torture, anyway. He was, finally, strong enough to breakout and he just needed to put his plan into motion. There was one hunter, other than the Grimborns, that had the keys to his cell. All he needed to do was wait for one of those three to arrive.
The voices of some non-helpful hunters rang through the prison, "Let's go tell him." they laughed, scornfully. Three hunters came to Dagur's cell and smirked at him, "Guess what, prisoner?" The Berserker did not respond. "Viggo's leading your little Berkian friends into a trap." Dagur's head rose, slightly. The hunters cackled, "They're so stupid that they think they're actually going to be helping this one trader. Retrieve his gold before any criminals can, but what they don't know is that the place is booby trapped and surrounded by giant eels! 'The Reaper', the ship's called. Like the sound of your 'so called' pals flying straight into their own demises?" Rage burned in Dagur's throat, but he did not lash out. "What? Nothing to say? About time." one scoffed.
"Why should I care about them?" Dagur inquired, his voice dripping with bitterness, "They left me here, didn't they?" The hunters grinned and puffed up, "They sure did." The inmate eyed them coldly, "Is the trader in on the betrayal?" They nodded, "We don't know his name, but he's an ally of ours." Dagur swayed a bit, seeming quite mentally ill, "Where's this all going down, anyway. It'd be fun to imagine it as vivdly as possible." he grinned, dementedly. Shrugging was all the hunters could do, "We don't memorize things like that, but we've got some maps." Dagur feigned disappointment and lowered his head a bit, "Least know when it'll be?" They thought, "Uh, early tomorrow, I think." Becoming bored, a hunter started to leave, "The next shift'll be showing up soon. Wonder what they'll have to say about all this." he chuckled and the three left the jail.
Dagur whistled some melodies as he waited for the next group of hunters to come. It was like clockwork. The hunter with a key always showed up after those three did, so the Berserker was just bidding his time. He rocognized a voice as belonging to his target, "Time to see what that scumbag's up to. Better not catch him training or anything, else I'll tell Ryker about that and it'll make his visit even better." Dagur scowled, but changed his face when they came into view. As much as he wanted to kill the Grimborns, he would not wait for Ryker to show up. First off, he was never consistent with his time and second off, he always came with an assortment of weaponry. The viking had no intention of starting his first fight(since being imprisoned)with the very definition of arsenal, itself.
Inhaling deeply, the prisoner began to freak out. He yelled jargon and the clanked chains, causing a commotion. The hunters rushed over, "Quiet in there!" one yelled. The order was not followed and the guards entered the cell to restrain the viking. They managed to subdue him and left, shaking their heads, "Crazy." they said. Dagur smiled to himself as he felt the key in his left hand, "Oh, Dagur." he thought, "You never disappoint." Barely audible, he chuckled. Feeling for the keyhole, he unchained his wrists and then ankles. It felt so good to let them get some air, but he could not waste time on that. Dagur unlocked the cell and began to creep around the prison. He had an advantage where the hunters did not. Due to being in the darkness for so long, his eyes had adjusted to see in the night where as the other vikings only traveled down there, daily.
The former keyholding viking never even saw Dagur coming and only felt hands grabbing his head. With a large smile, Dagur forced the hunger's head too far back, snapping his neck. The escaper felt a rush go through his body, "That feels good." Silently, the hunter collapsed and the Berserker took his ax. He went to go after the other two hunters-they always did their rounds in threes. Unbeknownst to a hunter, Dagur walked in front of him and slashed with his new ax. This slit the man's throat and let him fall, dead. Dagur took the hunter's club in his other hand and found the final hunter. Ramming the club into the hunter's left temple, he killed him. Dagur climbed up to the deck and saw that it was night out. He looked through the ship and found the rest of the hunters that had come to do their rounds with him. The viking took a sword and, expertly, threw it into the chest of a hunter, causing him to fall into another and, accidentally, injure him with his ax.
A hunter tried to see what the issue was and Dagur ran him through, using his ax. He walked up to the one wounded hunter, who began to plead, "Don't kill me! I never meant any of those things I said. Just wanted to fit in!" Dagur stopped and eyed a blade, "Well," he started, chuckling and twirling it with his fingers, "This can fit in you." He stabbed the blade under the hunter's jaw, going upwards into his head. Soon, there were no hunters left to kill and Dagur searched for the Grimborns, "No more flunkies, Grimborns. You're up." He went through every room, looking for the brothers, but could find not one trace of them. He grunted in frustration and looked through what was in the main hunter's office. Some papers were in a compartment and Dagur took them out. "Ooh, do we have the maps here?" He looked for anything else that could be useful and grabbed them as well.
Seeing nothing more he eyed the room, "No need to waste a perfectly good vessel." he realized, going to the main navigation area and hoisting the main sail. It was smooth sailing and he was glad that he knew how to work a ship, by himself. When he got to a point where there was nothing to crash into and the winds could let him coast, he let go of the wheel. Dagur rubbed his wrists and ankles, trying to get the blood to flow, fluidly, back and forth. Being, tightly, chained for three years had a bit of a negative effect on you. A pain shot through Dagur's body and his hands went to his head, tearing at his hair on the sides. He groaned and it, slowly, eased up, leaving him. The young man breathed, heavily, and grabbed hold of the wheel just in time to miss a jaggard rock.
Looking behind him, he saw nothing. "It was just there." he thought, confused and annoyed. He shook his head to clear his mind and turned his focus to the seas. Some old and damaged ships were ahead of him and he anchored near them. Since he had some time, he dragged the bodies over to the side of the ship, "Hate to litter, guys, buutt..." he sang, dumping all, but two bodies into the water. Dagur looked around for a washroom, but there seemed to be none on the ship. "Gross things." he thought, grumpily. He returned to the side of the ship and sighed. So good felt the very concept of a nice bath and undisturbed sleep, but they would have to wait. He had important business. The flapping of wings took hold of his attention and he saw the riders land on a ship a few away from his. Moving along the decks, he went over to them.
"So, split up and look for any treasure that Trader Johann might have here. We don't want anyone else coming and stealing it." Hiccup told them. Toothless sniffed the air and his ears perked up, happily. He nudged his friend, who petted him in return. "What about that ship?" Fishlegs inquired, fearfully, pointing to 'The Reaper', "You aren't going to see what's in there, are you?" The Berkian heir nodded, "I will, but we might as well go from closest to furthest." Snotlout crossed his arms, "Scared of a little boat, Fishface? Ooh, look out. Next, you might be running from someone's hut." he antagonized. The larger viking scowled and went over to Meatlug, "How do we load all the treasure up, though, Hiccup?" The viking thought, "Well, we'll probably have to-" he trailed off and jumped onto Toothless's saddle. The other riders followed his lead with their own dragons. "Stay back." Hiccup ordered, defensively.
Dagur raised his hands, peacefully and, quickly, took in everything. The dragons looked healthy still, of course they did, and he could see that while their riders were ready to attack, they were not. On the topic of the riders, Dagur observed their changed appearances. Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Tuffnut had added braided styles to their hair and they and Astrid and Ruffnut had gotten taller. Snotlout looked about the same height as before, but all of their outfits had changed. Before Dagur could speak, Toothless rushed over to him and nuzzled his head against him, lovingly. He smiled up at the Berserker, who returned the expression. Hiccup was shocked that the Night Fury had gone up to a complete stranger the way that he had, "Toothless, what's gotten into you?" he chastised. Dagur looked at the Berkian, "We're just having a reunion. It's been too long, Brother."
Hiccup's eyes went wide, "D-Dagur?" The older viking gave a dramatic bow, "In the flesh." Hiccup got off of his dragon and was embraced in a hug, immediately. The heir pulled back and had a questioning look, "How are you here? What happened? Where have you been these last three years?" He could, hardly, see the viking in the pitch black night, so he could not see the changes as Dagur had with them. The other riders were, also, happy to see that the Berserker was all right. "Can't explain all that now, Hiccup. You've been set up. There are giant eels roaming around these waters and that ship over there," he gestured, "is 'The Reaper'. It's covered in traps." This put the Berkians on edge. "Giant eels and traps?!" Fishlegs asked, terrified. "Yeah, whoo! Giant eels and traps!" the twins echoed, except enthusiastically. Hiccup frowned, "We can't just leave everything here." Dagur eyed the seas, "I didn't say to do that, but I let you know what we have to deal with." he grinned, with a deranged twinkle in his eyes.
The riders looked at their dragons, "If we go down fast enough, they shouldn't get spooked by any eels." Astrid told. Dagur's brow rose, "They won't stay?" The Berkian patted Stormfly's head, "Even they have their limits. Toothless always stays, though." Splitting up, the riders found jewels, books, and hair, but Hiccup could not tear his eyes away from "The Reaper". "What are we waiting for? It's not like you're going to leave here without looking on that ship." Dagur said to him. The Berkian chuckled, "All these years and you still know me." The elder viking kept his expression unreadable, "I wouldn't forget you." he stated. Hiccup could not decipher the Berserker's tone of voice and returned his thoughts to the ship, "Toothless can fit down there with me." Dagur made a skeptical face, "And what? Get killed by whatever traps have been laid in place?" he asked, smugly, "What we need is someone that can't get hurt. Someone who-per chance-is already dead."
In horror, Hiccup watched as Dagur dragged two corpses over to the vessel. "What are you doing with those?!" he inquired, in a panic. The Berserker crossed his arms, annoyed and took a deep breath, "Remember, we'll talk after we get away from the giant, bloodthirsty, eels. Fair?" Hesitantly, Hiccup nodded and he, Dagur, and the two hunters went onto "The Reaper". Carefully aiming him right where someone would step, Dagur dropped one body down the hatch. A trap sprang and dug into the corpse. "And to think that you've been you." Dagur noted. Hiccup scoffed, "I could've stepped with my prosthetic foot." The Berserker rolled his eyes, "Conditional statement. Let's see if we can reuse him." Cautiously, Dagur crept down the ladder and pried the trap off of the hunter. Then, he flung him across the room, where it got filled with arrows. Going into the hallway, the three saw cages and dragon skeletons. Toothless let out a little whimper and Hiccup comforted him, "I know, Bud. I know."
They went further, Dagur keeping the second hunter in front of them. They came up to a room that had a skeleton holding an object. The Berserker frowned at the body, which wore an outfit similar to Ryker's, "Maybe whatever that is, we shouldn't take it." Hiccup looked at him, "Why shouldn't we?" Dagur pursed his lips together, "They wanted you to come here, so they-most likely-want you to make it easy for them by taking this." Hiccup eyed the object, "Or, we can use it to help dragons and counteract the purpose of its very existence." he stated, hopefully. His friend was beyond doubtful, "You're about to grab that, aren't you?" Hiccup nodded and the Berserker sighed, heavily, "Then, let's at least use this. As soon as you grab that, run " he instructed and prodded at the object with the body. When the skeleton had been removed from the item, Hiccup snatched it and ran as he had been instructed.
The three reached the hatch and heard as arrows had shot out behind them. Hiccup smiled down at the object in his hand and saw Snotlout's scowl, "That's all you got? We found treasure, Hiccup. You know, that useful stuff." he chastised. Hiccup started to explain how it could be beneficial as Dagur looked around for anything to pop up out of the water. "We can load up the ship and transport the treasure." he told the riders. They made their way over to the vessel with the jewels when an eel leapt out to devour them. Dagur threw a blade into its eye and tossed some treasure onto the ship, "Come on!" he called. The riders, quickly, moved what was on the other ships to his, staying on their dragons, so that they could not leave them. Dagur saw a gigantic eel come onto the vessel and he grabbed a sword, slashing at it. As he sliced the air, it faded into smoke. Concerned, he turned to see the disturbed faces of the riders. "What were you doing?" Fishlegs asked. Dagur opened his mouth to answer and rethought his statement, "Let's head out."
The Berserker steered outwards and realized that he had no idea where he was going, "Eh, where's Berk?" he inquired, sheepishly. Hiccup walked over to him, still squinting from the darkness, "It's up North. I can lead you there." Dagur followed the directions and eyed the Berkian, "Is Heather still on Berk?" he asked. "Yep, she's been there since those three years ago." Hiccup responded, his voice grew sad, "Her parents died, though." Dagur turned from the wheel, "Really? They should've been all right." he mumbled to himself. "I think, they lost their spirit." the Berkian surmised. Dagur exhaled, deeply, "That'll do it." Trying to lighten to mood he smirked at Hiccup, "Are you and Astrid a thing, yet?" The heir turned beet red, "What? No! We're just friends." Dagur gave a sound of disagreement, but did not press the matter.
"Do you know how my Berserkers are?" Dagur questioned. Hiccup rubbed the back of his head, "They're okay, I guess. They're a little out of control without a formal leader." The older viking could hear in Hiccup's tone that he was about to start his questioning and tried to stall, "How're your dad and Gobber doing?" Dagur asked. "They're doing fine." was his, curt, answer, "Now, Dagur, what's happened for all this time?" "Are we almost there?" Dagur asked, referring to Berk. "Dagur," Hiccup said, sternly. The Berserker squeezed the wheel of the ship, "Not too much to say. Alvin captured me and kept me there for a day, and then I went to these other vikings. They were dragon hunters and led by the Grimborn Brothers. Just stayed there for the whole time." Hiccup crossed his arms, "And the bodies?" Dagur laughed, "Well, let's just say that they didn't plan our rendez-vous."
Hiccup's eyes had shock in them, "You killed everyone on this ship?" Dagur gave a nod, "Would've gotten those siblings too, but they weren't here." he stated, angrily. Not too much more could be said as Berk came into view. Dagur pulled the ship into the island's harbor and helped the riders unload the wealth. Stoick and Gobber came down to see what was going on and saw the happy faces of the riders. "Did you vikings find some more dragons, or something?" Gobber asked, confused. "Better." Hiccup replied, "Dagur found us." The eyes of the two Berkians gaped, "He's still alive?" Stoick inquired, shocked. His son led him down to the docks, "Glad you're all right." the chief told the viking. Night concealed the slight look of contempt that had gone over the Berserker's face, "Good to see everyone else is too." he stated.
The unloading was in process and all the talking got Heather's attention. "Hey, what's going on?" she asked, coming over to the shipyard. She tried to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, but only saw silhouettes of vikings. "Dagur's here." Fishlegs told her. "What?" she exclaimed, happily, "He's not gone?" "Nope." the smile was evident in the Ingerman's speech. As soon as Dagur saw Heather, he recognized her and gave her a hug-as gentle as his excited nature could muster. "It's so good to see you again!" he said. The younger viking chuckled, "I'm really glad you're okay." she divulged. "I never got to thank you for saving my life. Or apologize for putting yours in jeopardy." He looked at her, "I'd do it again a million times, Heather". Dagur paused, "I need to tell you something." He took a deep breath and cleared his throat as the sun rose over Berk.
The light hurt Dagur's eyes and he turned away from the sun, grimacing. The very warmth it gave seemed to burn his body and it took a while for him to be able to open his eyes, even with his hand shielding them. As he looked again, he saw the expressions on the Berkians' faces. Hiccup was glad that it had been night when Dagur had arrived because he would not have recognized him, otherwise. Almost everything about the Berserker looked different. His hair had been cut short; he was growing in a, scraggly, beard; a large scar ran across the right side of his face; words were written on his forearm; bags were under his eyes; his, usually, well-kept clothes were torn and tattered; and he was the same height as he had been before, not growing taller as the heir had expected of him. The only familiar things about the viking were his spirited eyes, thicker hair, and chieftain tattoos.
Dagur rocked, uncomfortably, on his feet and Hiccup went over to him. The viking was not, entirely, sure what to say, so Snotlout spoke, "You look like you got the yak dung beaten out of you." Heather hit him in the side, "Ow, it's not my fault." The twins sucked their teeth, "Harsh, Snotty, very insensitive; however, the truth does hurt." Tuffnut stated. The Berserker could feel heat rise in his cheeks and he turned his back, grabbing some more cartons. "And you're limping." Hiccup noted, worried. Mentally, Dagur cursed, "New information there," he thought, sarcastically, then sighed. "What other injuries do you have, Dagur?" Hiccup asked him. "None that I can't handle when I get back to my island." the older viking stated, calmly. Dagur went to put down the box when Hiccup stepped in front of him, "Will you go see Gothi?" Dagur brushed past him, "Your healer? No, I've got it covered." He said, setting down the box of hair, "That really is weird." "Bet it's what Alvin's doing to mine." he thought, spitefully.
Hiccup was unrelenting, "Dagur, you've had an extremely long three years. You can rest here, at least, for the day." There were things that Dagur wanted to do that would require a bit of time, so some time to freshen up was a pleasurable idea. Stroking his beard in contemplation, Dagur caved, "Fine. I'll stay for the day." he conceded. Hiccup smiled and Dagur raised his finger, accusingly, "But, just for today. I'll be out of here before tomorrow reaches high noon." he prefaced. The Berkian nodded, "I'll take what I can get." The friends shook hands on the deal and Hiccup offered to help the Berserker walk. Dagur frowned at the outreached hand, "I said, I'll hang out. Not that I'm an invalid." he shooed Hiccup away, invoking a laugh from the Berkian. Trying not to look too concerned, Hiccup led Dagur to one of the guest huts. A thought kept repeating itself in the heir's mind, "I might not have helped him through all of that, but I'll do what I can now. I have to make it up to him."