A few things to note here for people who don't watch the shows. First, Scauldron venom is the only known antidote for blue oleander, second, in case you didn't figure it out from last chapter, blue oleander is poisonous to dragons, and third, the last paragraph of this chapter is the first time I switch perspectives. A change in perspectives will be signified by this
So remember, when you see that, UnderDrow has changed perspectives. It's also going to be a border between the authors notes and the story. Now, on with the story
"Where's Reen?!" A tear-stained Leglout cried right after we landed on Berk.
"He went looking for you two when you didn't come back right away." Flutterby responded "What happened?"
"A Hunter laced an arrow with blue oleander and shot Flame Master," I said, "he's got about 10 hours to live."
"I'll send a Terror Mail" Flutterby wrote down a letter and attached it to a Terrible Terror and sent it off.
"That Terror probably won't reach him in time. Grab some blue oleander, we're going to catch ourselves a Scauldron."
As the boat sailed, the people on deck dropped blue oleander, while Grunt, Flutterby and I flew a little bit behind them, waiting for a Scauldron to appear. I know Scauldrons eat this stuff, so where are they? A while later, a green Scauldron head peeped up from the water and started eating the flowers.
"Lets get its attention" I told Flare. Flare shot a burst of flame onto the head of our catch. The head shot up and looked directly at us. The dragon dropped his mouthful of blue oleander and shot up into the sky after us. "Well, looks like we've got its attention." I yelled as it took off toward me. Screech started singing which drew the Scauldron, Pebble, and Flare towards him. Flutterby and I were pulling back as hard as we could until Screech stopped and trapped the Scauldron in Death Song crystal. Grunt then swooped down and caught it in mid-air while Flutterby came in to collect the venom.
"Almost got it." She said, right before the Scauldron roared and shook free of Screech's grasp, plunging into the water below. "So close!" I looked down and saw the Scauldron biting the crystal and shooting it's boiling water at it.
"It looks like it's trying to break free." Grunt said. It only took a couple of seconds for it's water breath to destroy the substance.
"And succeeding!" I yelled, before it was right back ontop of us. It shot a water blast which I just narrowly dodged, and I retaliated with another fire blast. Flutterby threw the bucket to Grunt, who was right where the impact of the blast was leading the head, he caught it and the Scauldron fang went right through the cloth on top (to trick the fang into thinking it pierced something), and knocked the bucket out of his hands, and into the water below.
"FOR THOR'S SAKE!" Grunt yelled as he punched the Scauldron's face in anger "Now what are we going to do"
"Couldn't we just get another bucket from the… ship with the dragon poison." Flutterby sighed
"Grunt, you have the fastest dragon, go to Berk and get another bucket." I said
Grunt froze the Scauldron's head as it snapped at him "On it" he replied as he zoomed of into the distance.
"Flutterby, destroy the crystal and we'll see if we can get the venom even with the dragon poisoning flower on the ship".
"Ok" she nodded before blasting the Scauldron, who was now chasing Grunt, in the head, and smashing it with Pebbles rock hard tail, destroying the crystal and sending it back into the water. When it emerged from the water, it looked around for the green Gronkle and found it hovering right above the boat. Flutterby jumped down onto the mast and was now hanging there, making some rope into a really long lasso. As the Scauldron went after Pebble, she climbed up to the crows nest and told some of the Vikings on the ship to grab the end of the lasso. When the Scauldron got close enough she caught it with the lasso and yelled "PULL!". She jumped down onto the deck as the Vikings pulled, bringing its head down for the venom collection. One of the Vikings grabbed a bucket and ran for the Scauldron, hiding behind a post as it blasted at him.
Over on Berk Grunt landed. Leglout rushed over "Did you get the venom?"
"No," Grunt responded as he ran to the Great Hall, "We need another bucket. The blasted Scauldron knocked the other one out of my hands." When he left the hall he had three buckets, just in case some got knocked away again. He then mounted Screech and took off.
Back at the battle, the Scauldron kept on blasting the Viking when he came out into the open. "How many shots does this thing have?!" He asked.
"Fourteen," Flutterby responded as she and some other Vikings were holding it down. The Viking got shot at again, so to prevent any further dangers he grabbed a shield and slowly walked up to the Scauldron. While he was walking, the Scauldron was trying to escape, it bit the rope holding it and flew off the boat. The Viking went to throw the bucket to me but it got blasted out of his hands before he could do so, and caught by a guy on a purple Scauldron. After he caught it, he flew up close to the other Scauldron, jumped off his, landed on the green one, extracted its venom, and jumped back to his Scauldron's back.
"So why did you need this Scauldron's venom when Boiler has venom of his own" He said gesturing to his dragon.
I replied "Because, Reen, we didn't know when you would get back. Come on, Flame Master needs that venom within about 2 hours."
We arrived back on Berk right as Grunt passed the rock pillars surrounding the island. "You got the venom?" Grunt asked. When he saw Reen he said "Oh, he got it from Boiler didn't he?"
"Actually, I got it from that other Scauldron they were fighting." Reen replied as we raced back to berk.
"What? Why didn't you get it from Boiler?"
"That's what I was wondering."
"I was asking you Reen."
"Don't ask me, there the ones who were dead set on that Scauldron." Reen said as we landed and rushed over to Flame Master. It's at times like these when I wonder if Reen is that oblivious, or if he's just messing with us. Reen gave the venom to Vera, the village healer, who gave it to Flame Master to cure him.
I smiled as a one-armed Hunter gave me more information about the Dragon Riders and left my hut. My first day in charge of the Hunters after my father's death, and I already have lots of info on the Dragon Riders and had a ship survive. I've truly earned the respect of all my men. "Line those ships with more marble!" I ordered as I watched my men work. Out of the three proto-type ships, the one lined with marble was the only one to come back. This next attack on the Dragon Riders was going to be fun.