Levi Glared at the imposing figure that towered above him and he crossed his arms definitely as the man returned his glare ten fold causing the 12 year old to falter slightly. The man was tall and imposing with big muscles and a scared body, he wore armor similar to what the man had in the show minus the shoulder pads and the man looked about ten years younger. He was probably in his early 20's which put the timeline about 2 to 3 years before the first movie.
Ryker then looked at the two men that stood behind Levi "what's this supposed to be?" the man asked as he gestured towards Levi.
Both men glanced at each other before one of them spoke up. "We found em runnen round the Island"
"He was sneakin round, definitely up to no good" the other hunter added.
Ryker gave a grunt before he looked back down to the oddly dressed boy who stood in front of him with an angry glare. The boy was slim and nothing really stood out about him other than his odd clothing. "What's yer name, boy?" the man asked with narrowed eyes.
Levi glared at the man as he tried to think of something, he wasn't sure if it would be a good Idea to use his real name so he decided to improvise. "Ulf, My names Ulf" Levi said as he continued to look at the man.
Ryker narrowed his eyes as he looked at the boy, studding him carefully before he gave a grunt. "Well Ulf, What brings you upon our hunting grounds."
Levi sucked in his breath as he tried to quickly come up with a believable reason he was on the island. With a bit of hesitation he opened his mouth and he spoke, "I woke up here…" Levi paused for a moment as he continued to think. "Our ship sank in a storm and I found myself here."
Ryker narrowed his eyes at the strange 12 year old, the boy was obviously nervous about the situation. "An who do you mean by our?"
"My sister was with me." Levi explained with fake sorrow.
"And where is this sister of yer's?" the man asked.
"I'm not sure." This time Levi was being truthful, he really didn't know where his sister was. All he knew was that she was somewhere on the island but where he wasn't sure as she could have gone anywhere science the two dragons left. Hell for all he knew she had been captured.
The large dragon hunter gave the boy a hard look at the boy and he seemed to be thinking hard, Levi hoped the man wasn't thinking of killing him off or feeding him to a dragon.
Finally after a long moment of silence the man spoke up, "Well Ulf, I guess yer in luck that we found ya before ya starved or got eaten." the man said in almost a sneer at the boy.
Ryker straightened his posture, "Our ships will be departing to the markets in 2 weeks and we will bring you to the markets. While we are still here you will not leave this cave and you will be watched at all times." the man said as he looked at the two hunters who had found the child.
"Go find some appropriate clothing fer the boy before he freezes" Ryker said, causing both hunters to scramble away.
"Wha.. hey! Who said I wanted to stay!" Levi said to the hunter.
"I said so an ye got no choice in the matter, yer on my boat and my island" the man growled out as he turned to the boy once again.
"I didn't ask to be on your island and I sure as hell didn't ask to be on your boat!" Levi growled at the man.
"Be grateful brat, I could leave ya here to rot or maybe I could kill ya myself. If anyone else had found ye, ye may have been killed on the spot." Ryker growled at the boy who was still glaring daggers at him.
Levi stared at the man definitely, he really couldn't be stuck with the hunters. He could potentially get separated from his sister because of this or worse, and he didn't really want to think or the worse.
Ryker would never admit it but the boy was brave, Ryker knew he wasn't a pretty man and he was notorious for being intimidating. The boy was putting on a brave front which he could admire considering the boy otherwise didn't seem to know what he was doing and was scared beyond belief. The boy's shoulders shook slightly and his knuckles were white with tension as he balled his fists.
Rykers eyes scanned the boy. He was dressed oddly in clothes the hunter had never seen before and he imagined that it was quite cold for the boy. The cloth was slim and soft, there were holes and tares here and there in the cloth and the boys shoes were even more questionable.
The boy was definitely not outfitted for the wilderness and he didn't seem to be built for it. The boy was thin and bony telling the man that he had a poor diet along with losing weight from the bitter cold. He wasn't sure how long the boy had been on the island but it had to have been for at least a few days.
Ryker had also noticed the wound on the boys hand. It was deep and jagged and had looked only a day or two old. It had already scabbed over some but he would still have it looked at in case of infection. Ryker may have been a cruel man but he wasn't cruel enough to kill a child or let his irresponsibility kill the child.
Children were treasured, many didn't make it to adulthood be by sickness, injury, starvation, dragon attack and so on. Hell his brother was nearly lost to sickness when they were kids and he himself had nearly gotten eaten by a dragon himself.
So he would make sure the child would make it off the island alive and safe, once they were at the markets he could get someone to take the child in and teach the child. And if no one at the markets would take the boy he saw no problem with bringing him back to his own home island where a family would probably take him in.
Levi was about to make another retort when the two hunters came back with their arms full of fur and cloth. Both men shoved the material at Levi and the boy blinked at them owlishly. "Might be big on ya boy, nobody on da boat yer size but we worked with what we got." one of them said with a grin surprising the boy.
"Now we can get ya out a those flimsy things that ya are using as clothes." the other hunter added as he grabbed Levi by the arm and began dragging him along across the deck of the boat.
The hunter led him down below and he then stopped, "ye can get dressed here where the wind doesn't bite as much" the hunter said before he went back up to the deck but Levi could hear he didn't go far.
Levi gave a dejected sigh as he abandoned his clothes and put on the new ones that were provided. They consisted of a simple brown tunic with a black fur vest to go over it, for his arms he was given some rabbit fur arm warmers that were tied tightly by some Suede strings. On his legs he wore dull black Landsknecht pants with a leather belt and black fur boots.
The tunic was baggy on him as well as the pants but he could deal with it till he had something more fitting. With himself dressed he took the chance to glance around, there were two large cages in the boat made from what he assumed was dragon proof metal.
But the boat wasn't as outfitted as the ones in the show had been and both cages were barren and empty. Other than the cages there were a few doors in the hall that he was standing in and he guessed one was for the crew and one for the captain.
Levi blinked as he heard the loud footsteps of the hunter as the man appeared and motioned for him to move along. Levi hesitated for a moment before he followed after the hunter back up to the deck of the boat.
The boy didn't see Ryker anywhere on the deck and he guessed that the man had left to hunt for dragons. He blinked as he looked around the massive cavern they were docked in. This time he took the time to take more in, he had missed the small beach to the far right of the cavern that was littered with tents and a few cages.
The hunter led him off the boat and onto the docks where they walked to the beach where the tents were. The hunter led Levi through a few tents before they stopped at a large tent. The hunter opened the flap and motioned for levi to step in.
Levi complies and he glanced around the tent in surprise, the tent had a few wooden shelves filled with herbs and bottles of what he guessed was medicine. In the far back of the tent was a lady who looked to be in her 50's. She had greying hair and soft brown eyes.
"Ahh Gorm, ye get bitten again?" the lady asked.
"Not this time, Ryker wants ye to look after Ulfs wound and give em a meal to fill his belly." the hunter says and he nudges Ulf forward causing the womans eyes to land on him.
"Well child why don't ye step forward so I can treat yer wound"
Hesitantly Levi steps towards the woman and before he knows if the woman grabs his arm and pulls him forward causing him to stumble. Before he knew what happened he was sitting on a small stool and the woman was inspecting his hand carefully while mumbling to herself.
Gorm stood awkwardly behind them and the woman shot the man a glare. "Be off with ye, No need to waste yer time here." This caused the man to quickly scamper out of the tent leaving the two alone.
The woman's soft brown eyes found Levi in a hard stare. She was silent for a moment before she blinked.
"Ye been messing with a dragon boy?"
This caused Levi to blink in surprise at her question. "Umm, i'm not sure what you mean by that."
"Yer wound, it's fresh but it heals quickly without infection, normally with nothing to clean it and wrap it, it would have gotten infected immediately without some kind of intervention." she started as she turned and grabbed a glass bottle from a shelf next to her seat.
When she turned she opened the bottle and she scooped some out. "A few species of dragons have healing abilities in their silvia while many others can help fight infections." she said as she applied the past onto his hand causing him to hiss slightly in pain.
"Yer wound tells me that a dragon's healing saliva has been applied to the wound." she added as she finished applying the past.
"but how?" Levi gasped.
The healer chuckled lightly, "I've been healing fer years and as such I have seen many things. Including dragons paying vikings back for saving them." she said as she wrapped the wound. When she finished she smiled at the boy causing him to blink in confusion.