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Chapter Three

Heads and Tails

Dagur trailed behind the two, staring down the back of the cloaked stranger's head, so sure that they could feel his gaze but refused to acknowledge him and it made his blood boil. It had only been a few minutes and already the newcomer had gotten under the young chief's skin without knowing. Ryker didn't seem to care for his two followers, opting instead to stare straight ahead and look for his brother. They first went to his tent and found no traces of the head hunter. Ryker called to one of his men.

"Where's Viggo?" He had that rare ability to turn a question into an order.

The redhead rolled his eyes at the idle chatter and decided to keep an eye on the newcomer only to find them gone. Dagur scanned the area and saw them walking away. "Hey! He's getting away!" He ran towards the quickly retreating figure, their dark cloak made it so that they blended with the shadows.

A pair of feet followed after them along with the familiar grumbles from the dragon hunter. "Get back here you scum!"

For a moment Dagur thought he was shouting at him, and was about to return with some filthy insults of his own when he realized that the man was glaring at the cloaked figure, who didn't seem to be paying them any mind as they made their hasty escape. Dagur had managed to catch up to the man a handful of times but they managed to slip past his fingers by pulling back a branch and making it hit him square in the face. He cursed loudly, thinking of the many ways he could kill the nuisance.

They had arrived at a cliff with a dying fire on the side. The newcomer stopped once they caught sight of Viggo, who turned at the sound of Dagur's yelling and heavy footsteps, Heather standing beside him with a steely look. Viggo suddenly smiled and spread his arms.

"Ah, our awaited guest, how nice of you to finally join us. I trust your journey went smoothly?" Viggo greeted them like they were friends who haven't seen each other in a long time. But the person didn't return his welcome and stayed eerily silent as the man stepped closer to them.

Heather observed the newcomer, finding nothing to actually look at seeing as they were covered by their cloak from head to toe. That made her all the more wary of them and she stayed silent as the scene played before her.

"The rat's been running around all over the place-" Ryker started but was quickly silenced by Viggo's raised hand.

"Now, now, dear brother, they're our special guest, they've come a long way to meet us, we must show them our great hospitality." Heather nearly scoffed at that. If by 'great' he meant a lengthy dramatic introduction and the cruel sounds of punishment from a fellow dragon hunter, then sure, 'great' hospitality it is.

Viggo's attention turned back to their guest. "Come, you must be tired after your long journey, I've already prepared a tent for you and food will be provided." The person didn't acknowledge his words still and stayed in the same position.

Then, in a lightning quick movement, Heather caught the glint of steel and there was a thud. A decapitated head rolled towards Viggo's feet making her jump and gag. She heard Dagur make a disgusted noise and she forced herself to look. The head was already starting to rot, its features were frozen into a mid-scream, giving her a perfect view of the dead man's filthy yellow teeth. A line of dried blood trailed down from his mouth to his dirty beard, dead eyes looking up at Viggo, who merely stared at the head with a raised brow.

"I see you'd like to talk business first. Very well then, we'll discuss my plans in my tent." Viggo walked around the head and towards the figure, nodding to his brother. "Dispose of that will you, brother?"

His brother sneered as he watched the two walk off. The remaining three walked closer to observe the head.

"Who do you suppose this is?" Dagur said, eyeing the head with a hand on his chin. Heather scrunched her nose as the stench finally reached her and she tried to fan away the smell with her hand.

"He's a rotten spy, that's what he is," Ryker said. "The bastard's been sending information to the lesser dragon hunter groups. Good riddance."

"So Viggo's been hiring a bounty hunter to fix the leaks, huh?" Dagur mused, shifting the head with the toe of his boot. Heather cringed as the head's tongue lolled out.

"Aye, and he's leeching off a hefty amount of gold from us. Soon we'll be out of money if Viggo keeps hiring him to do the dirty work."

"I thought it was the person who offers the reward who gets to choose the price, not the other way around," Heather said, watching Ryker grab his sword and shifted it around the victim's head, lifting his sword so that they dangled by their knotted hair. The dragon hunter stared unflinchingly at the dead man's eyes as he began to walk to the main camp.

"This one's different. They call him 'The Phantom', they say he's the best in his profession and Viggo wants the best. Like one of our dragon auctions, Viggo had to place the highest bid to get the bastard. A waste if you asked me," Ryker scoffed and tossed the head to a nearby hunter's lap, causing him to shout in horror. "Get rid of it."

"And they allow him to have free reign over who sets the price? Wouldn't he have sailed to an island by now with all the gold he's been getting, since you did say this bounty hunter is a sought after hunter and, may I add, has expensive taste." Dagur said. Heather waited for his answer. She knew things were starting to get serious when bounty hunters started to get involved. She needed to gather as much information as she could.

"Ha! You two are pretty clueless about these things," laughed Ryker. "That filthy pile of dung owes none of his benefactors his allegiance. His loyalty lies within a man somewhere across the islands, that's where the money goes to. Whatever their master says, the Phantom follows. He's only for hire."

"So then what's the bad blood between you two?"

"There were rumors of him killing his benefactors, either because of orders from his master or because of their own free will. Swift and silent, that's his taste. Heard he robbed the last man of all his gold and everything in his name after he killed him. Heard that they even killed chieftains and kings," He looked pointedly at the Dagur, making the red head scowl. "Nothing good comes from low lives like him, if he even thinks about double crossing my brother, he'd be dead before he could lift his blade."

And with that, he walked off, leaving the siblings to their contrasting thoughts.

"Are you sure you weren't followed?"

Night had befallen the archipelago and on a lonely rock of an island, three dragon riders took their perch. They mounted off their dragons and walked to the middle of the clearing.

"I'm positive," Heather assured, running a hand against Windshear's cold and slender neck as the dragon bounded over to Toothless and Stormfly. "Besides, Viggo suspects Dagur and Ryker. He asked me to go with him to capture the Flightmare. Just me, Windshear and him." She got straight to the point, placing a hand on her hip.

"Flightmare? Why would Viggo want the Flightmare?"

"Hiccup, you're missing the point," Heather sighed.

"He does that from time to time," Astrid joked, smirking.

"N-No, I don't," he stuttered.

"Look," Heather cut in. She didn't have much time to relay the message if this takes too long the hunters would be suspicious and Viggo's plans aren't the only message she had to give. "It's me, Viggo and Windshear. The perfect time for an ambush."

"I agree, but how exactly does Viggo think the three of you are going to capture the Flightmare?"

"You haven't met Viggo Grimborn. He is a professional Dragon Hunter," Heather stressed.

"Right, but you're not going to actually let him capture it," Hiccup rose his brow making Heather scoff slightly.

"Of course not." Heather started to tell them the plan, showing them the map she created that showed the algae trail and the location the Flightmare will be. She handed him the map and breathed in to collect herself and prepare to deliver the other news.

"There's also something you need to know." Hiccup and Astrid paused, staring at her expectantly. "While I met with Viggo someone else came to the Dragon Hunter's Island. He's been the talk of the dragon hunters for weeks and yet even Dagur knows next to nothing about the guy. But I got some information about him from Ryker. He's a bounty hunter, Hiccup, Viggo hired him to do his bidding and… you should've seen..." She pushed down the imaged of the severed head, rotting and dead, a shiver running down her spine.

"A bounty hunter? Why would he need a bounty hunter when he's got hundreds of men following him?" Astrid asked.

"All I heard from Ryker is that Viggo has been using him to… take care of spies and two-timers. He's called 'The Phantom' and he's apparently the best there is in his profession, that's why Viggo wanted him so bad."

"I think I've heard that name before…" Hiccup said, brows pinching together as he tried to recall the memory.

"Just be careful, Hiccup. We barely know anything about Viggo and now we've got a bounty hunter in the picture"

"Don't worry, Heather, we will. As long as you do the same."

It was all chaos. Flaming boulders were catapulted to the sky as the dragon riders avoided both the poisoned arrows and the rampaging Flightmare. Everything was going to plan until the Flightmare was captured in their attempt to turn its allegiance to them. Now, Heather struggled against her bonds as a dragon hunter roughly pushed her inside the ship, Windshear's calls growing fainter as she was led below the ship. She jerked her shoulder with a dangerous growl as a dragon hunter once again tried to grab her shoulder.

"Ah, Heather, my dear, so glad you could join us." Her glare was instantly directed to the man seated behind the desk, a smirk on his face. Heather charged towards him with a battle cry when something flashed in the corner of her eye and she felt the ice cold steel press against her neck and stop her completely.

Her glaring eyes followed the blade of the dagger to the silver gauntleted hand that held it and finally, to the cloaked figure of the Phantom.

"Let's put our blades down, shall we and talk like grown ups," Viggo sighed, pointedly looking at the blade in the bounty hunter's hand.

Heather hissed as the blade nicked her when the hunter pulled his blade back with a flourish and sheathed it somewhere inside his cloak. He stepped back as Heather was shoved again by the dragon hunter behind her.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Back to the island, but first we'll take a small stop to a place called Dragon's Edge, ever heard of it?" His smirk widens as he sees her eyes widen. "Oh, you have! Excellent! We'll just drop by to pick something up, I'm sure you're familiar with it. The Dragon Eye, our boy Hiccup has come to call it."

She stayed silent, gritting her teeth.

A knock interrupted them and a gruff voice came from the other end of the closed door. "We're here, sir."

Viggo stood and nodded to the Phantom. "Keep an eye on her." He looked at the dragon hunter looming behind her. "And you, help with the search." The two left the room, leaving Heather glaring at the Phantom.

She tensed when he began to walk towards the desk, the sound his boots made against the wooden floor boards was like a Thunderdrum's roar. The muffled sounds of steel beneath the Phantom's cloak made her heart race. He leaned down and reached for something behind the desk. Her ax.

"Don't touch that!" She was ignored.

He weighed it in his hand and with the flick of his wrist, the second ax revealed itself, making Heather jump. A hand raised to run a finger along the blade, the sound of steel against steel made that awful screech that made Heather flinch.

"Who are you?"

He paused, lifting his finger off the blade. The hood moved to her direction, nothing but a dark shadow. She wondered it there was anything underneath that hood and fear suddenly touched Heather's chest. There must be a reason why he's called 'The Phantom' after all. Maybe behind his cloak and armor, there was just nothing.

He suddenly advanced towards her in two long strides, she took a fearful step back and loomed over her. He was an inch or two taller and she could feel his quiet breaths wash over her head and she froze.

"Get awa-" She gasps as the blade of her ax is once again poised under her chin. She leans away from the blade, baring her teeth when his hand gripped her arm firmly. The cold steel of his gauntlet wormed its way past the fabric of her sleeve and to her skin, making her hiss. "Don't touch me!" She struggled against his tightening grip. The blade pressed closer, threatening to widen the cut he inflicted on her neck. The hand ghosted down to her hip where her horn is attached and snatched it from its binding.

"Hey! Give that back! That's mi-" She was silenced as the flat side of the blade pressed against her lips and the Phantom let the tip run softly against her cheek.

He lifted the horn to inspect, halting until he caught sight of the carved seal. A steel covered thumb traced the tribe chief seal.

"Give. it. Back."

The Phantom slowly turned his head towards her and Heather watched, blood boiling and teeth gritting in anger, as he tucked the only remembrance she has of her real father inside his fur cloak. The door slammed open from behind them and Viggo entered looking disgruntled, along with Ryker.

"It's not there. Tell us where it is!" Ryker growled, moving towards the dragon rider.

"I don't know. For a group of dragon hunters you're pretty clueless when is comes to hunting things other than dragons" Her anger had yet to simmer down and she couldn't keep back the biting remark.

"Watch your mouth, girl." His tone was low and dangerous.

"Worry not, we'll have it soon enough. Now, get out of my sight and take the prisoner to her cell," said Viggo from his seat.

Heather was grabbed roughly by her shoulders and lead towards the door by Ryker, the Phantom had tucked away his blade and slink out the door once the command was giving. She was about to shout after him and demand her stolen horn when Viggo's smooth, ominous voice seem to almost echo behind her.

"We'll see how well your friend can play the game."