Dagur, Savage, and the Berserkers were stocking up on some more boulders for their catapults and arrows. They had lost a large amount with their attack on Dragon's Edge and their ships needed repairs. "You came at a good time." the merchant stated, "I just got these reloaded from my last visitor. An enormous sell." the viking sighed, happily. "Who was it?" the Berserker inquired. "A Queen Mala. Only see her in passing. Tall lady with short blonde hair and travels with a ponytailed guard. No one knows where her actual kingdom is. Quite the mystery that one." "Mysteries're best when they're solved. And that one'll be too." a new voice added.
The people turned to see a group of vikings. A bald headed one, who was the evident leader, had spoken. He marched over to the merchant, shoving a Berserker aside. Dagur began to draw his ax and stopped, seeing what the viking was holding. "Have you seen this? It belongs to us and we're looking for it." the viking inquired. He held up a drawing of the Dragon Eye for the merchant to see. The seller shook his head, "Sorry, but I've never seen that thing before. Whatever it is." The newcomer grunted and started to leave.
"Hold up there, pushy. What is that thing?" Dagur asked. The viking stopped, "Have you seen it?" "I asked my question first." The Berserker stated, indignantly. The older viking grunted, "It finds islands and dragons. We sell the dragons. I'll tell you more if you know something about it." Dagur shrugged, "Fair enough. I've seen your Dragon Eye. Had it for a bit too. Someone else has it now and I can help you get it, if I get some of the profits." The viking seemed to think about the proposition, "All right. We'll work together on this, but we use my hunters. They know dragons like I do. Your men would be liabilities against the beasts."
Dagur looked at his Berserkers, "The guy's right. We really don't know too much about different dragons-thanks to those three years Hiccup had us go to jail!" he fumed, "I can't risk their lives on such a large scale like that. Not going entirely alone either. What's a good in between?" He turned back to the hunter, "This one comes with me and it's a deal." he said, gesturing to Savage. The hunter nodded and they shook hands, "Ryker Grimborn of the Dragon Hunters." "Dagur the Deranged."
Dagur faced his Berserkers, "Return to the island. As soon as Hiccup is gone and we have more gold than we can count, we'll be back. In the meantime, Herald's in charge." The aforementioned viking smiled at the promotion and saluted. Next, the newly allied team boarded the hunter ships. There were a lot of compartments, but Dagur saw that they used for storing holding pins. He remembered seeing them on The Reaper, "Nice cages." he complimented. "Is there any dragon that can get through it?" Ryker patted the bar, "Only one and we own it."
They went into the navigation quarters and Dagur eyed the maps, "You'd be way off course if you continued this way. The vikings who have the Dragon Eye are right here. It'll take a bit to get there from here, but we'll make it eventually." Ryker went back to the top of the ship, "We head Northeast. We'll find that Dragon Eye and rip it from the corpses that stole it."
Dagur and Savage took a quick tour of the inventory and stopped at some green-tipped arrows. "What are these covered in?" the Berserker inquired. Ryker went over, "Dragon root. Have you ever used it?" Dagur examined the arrow, closely, "The root yes, but not like this." he frowned, slightly, at the weapon, "Kinda cheating if you just take one out from the sky with these. A spear would be cooler. Then you could just run up and stab them." he thought giggled to himself, warranting a disturbed look from Ryker.
The three moved to another location in the ship and Ryker pointed to some rooms, "Those are the night quarters." The two nodded in response. "Let's get to work." Dagur stated, with a devilish grin, "First thing you need to know about the vikings, is that they ride on dragons." The hunter's eyes widened in surprise, "They do what?" "You heard me. They're led by the scrawny guy on the Night Fury." Seemingly defying physics, Ryker's eyes widened more, "A Night Fury? They still exist?" Dagur moved his hand in an oscillating motion, "Barely. There's just that one. That I saw first. Remember that when we capture them. Less impressively, there's a Deadly Nadder, a Hideous Zippleback, Monstrous Nightmare, and Gronckle." he counted off with his fingers, "Their plans are pretty basic, so since I know them so well, we'll be able to take them down, easily." Dagur boasted.
A blanket of darkness came over the sky as many hunters retired to their rooms; however, Dagur neither wanted to sleep nor could. Instead, he drew up little ideas of how he would kill each of the riders. The one who had the most was, of course, Hiccup. The Berserker laughed at each new plot forming in his demented mind. A sound of someone struggling grabbed his attention and he went to the deck.
The hunters had caught a rider. There were a lot of vikings to keep the animal at bay and they blocked the majority of Dagur's view. A silverish-gray tail swung, wildly and the viking rushed to the action. A Razorwhip was being muzzled and the rider's arms were being forced back as an ax was being prepared to calm down the situation. "Stop!" Dagur called out. He took the ax from the hunter and eyed the rider, "What are you doing flying around here?" Heather tried to look confident, "Looking for you. I know that you go after Hiccup and figured I'd find you if I came in this area."
Dagur rolled his eyes, "Trying to kill me again? Getting to be a bad habit of yours." Heather shook her head, "No, I'm not this time." she sighed, "You're the only family I've got-whether I like it or not. So I want to try to actually get along." Dagur had a twinkle of hope in his eyes, "Really? You'd be willing to take down your friends and everything? Witness their tragic and horrifying defeats without getting sentimental?" "I never knew them for that long and besides, family is more important."
An unreadable expression went over Dagur's face, "Would she really side with me? The chances of her getting out of here if she doesn't join is pretty slim, though. Maybe we could give her a shot and see if we should trust her. Worst comes to worst, I'll just toss her out on some shore and keep the spiny lizard. That would be better than dying." he thought.
The viking gave the young lady a smile, "All right, Heather. I'm willing to give you a chance. Let's see if you can convince my new associate." They went to the night quarters and a hunter knocked. A stir could be heard and Ryker, groggily, answered. "What? Who's this?" he pointed to Heather. "This is Heather. My long-lost, baby sis-who doesn't know proper time etiquette in visiting people. She claims that she wants to join us." Dagur stated, blatantly. Ryker looked her up and down, sneering, "Why should I want you on my side?" Heather straightened her back and looked him in the eye, "Because I have a Razorwhip. A dragon on your side will be helpful against the riders."
Ryker thought it over, "All right, lass. You can join us for now, but I'll be keepin' an eye on you." he said, threateningly. Dagur could not help an irritated feeling that he had in his stomach. "Why did that annoy me? I don't even know Heather like that. I shouldn't care if she gets threatened. After we start to hang out more, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again." He pondered. Dagur showed Heather to another room, "You can sleep in there, unless you're a Lycanwing and that's why you like flying around at night." he gave a suspicious look, then laughed at her concerned expression. "Gotta lighten up. That's the first thing to do when being around me." he told her, "Night." he called behind him, already heading back to sketch more kills.
The next day, Dagur went to a hunter that was eating his breakfast. "So," Dagur began, "is Rykie the main big bad that you guys follow?" The hunter almost choked on his food, trying to suppress a cackle. He swallowed, "Not at all. He's the field officer. The main one is his little brother Viggo." Dagur grinned, "He gets bossed around by his baby bro? Is the guy a giant or something?" "Far from. Viggo's not a very large viking. Taller than you, but not nearly as muscular. He's a ruthless viking, smart and suave. You won't even know he's arranged your funeral until your boat's being lit up with arrows."
Dagur nodded, impressed, "Sounds like an okay guy." He got up and went to the ship's mast. "You're going too far East. We need to go more left." he told the captain. Dagur walked and stood by the side of the ship, looking at the waves. "Viggo might be the killer amongst his peers, but he'll be in a for a mighty big surprise when I take that Dragon Eye and run him and his brother through." He concluded his musings with a deranged laugh.
