I really can't wait to get to this part, so here it is!
Sigrid sat in the far corner of her cell, unsure of exactly how long she had been there. Every few hours, a Viking would come in and deliver a plate of food and some water, but she barely touched it. She had fought so hard to escape this place, have her freedom, only to be brought back and thrown into a cell. A few times now and then, she could hear Voltage's mighty and powerful roar. The last she saw of him, he was being placed in the same cage arena he had been taken to when Baldr first caught him, where they first met and bonded. Sigrid was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the door to the jailhouse open. She looked up and saw none other than her father standing behind the metal bars that imprisoned her.
"Father…" she muttered.
"I don't know what to say to you, Sigrid," he started.
"Then don't say anything. You said everything you needed to when you tried to kill me."
"You defied Stormchaser law! You betrayed us!"
"Who betrayed who, dad?" Sigrid shouted, pushing herself out of her corner and charging up to the bars to confront her father. "Ever since the day I was born, you've resented me! All because I was a girl. I thought if I could learn to fight like the boys do, train a dragon like they do, then I could finally be the son you always wanted! But nothing I did would be enough, I see that now."
Edgar took a deep breath and sighed before looking at his daughter. "That's enough, Sigrid," he bellowed. "Tomorrow, Baldr will retake the Skrill you stole from him and you will be his wife. I'll not tolerate this rebellion any longer!"
"I won't marry him!" she argued.
"You won't have a choice!" he added quickly, before swiftly exiting the jailhouse. Once he was gone, Sigrid angrily threw her food tray against the wall as leftover crumbs flew everywhere. She punched the walls until her knuckles nearly bled before falling back against the wall and onto the ground. She brought her knees in close and coughed, trying to hold back her despair. Despite her best efforts to stay strong, she couldn't stop the tears from pouring out.
Flynn peered out from the trunk of a large, thick tree, scanning the village to check for patrolling guards. It hadn't taken them long to get back to Stormchaser Island since Sigrid had shown him the island's location on his map shortly after they met, but Shimmy and Smog nearly got blown out of the sky from the fierce winds that surrounded the island. "Ok," he started, turning back to the three dragons. "Does everyone remember their parts? Shimmer and Milo, you two find Sigrid. Milo's speed and Shimmer camouflage will help keep you two from being discovered. Smog, you and me are gonna cause some chaos and then find Voltage. Got it?" The three dragons barked in unison. "Ok, good. And break!" Shimmer and Milo disappeared in a flash as Smog jumped onto Flynn's shoulder and they carefully snuck into the village.
"Is it just me or is there nobody around?" he asked out loud. Smog agreed with a light bark.
"Come on now, hurry up! We're going to be late for the ceremony!" Flynn quickly ducked behind one of the buildings and watched carefully as two Vikings emerged from one of the huts.
"Baldr's finally getting married, but I still can't believe he wants to marry the Henderson girl after what she did!" the second Viking exclaimed.
"Well he's the Chief's son, he gets to chose whomever he wants!" the first one added as they ran off deeper into the village.
"Ceremony? Baldr must be forcing Sigrid to marry him. We've gotta hurry and find Voltage!" All of a sudden, they heard a loud, shrill roar echo through the village as a white stream of fire shot into the air from a caged arena in the distance. "I'm gonna bet and say he's over there." Once he realized that the entire village was probably at the ceremony, he ran to the caged arena without pause. Inside, he could hear Voltage roaring as he jumped up against the bars, trying to break free. Flynn ran over to the main gate as Smog followed behind him. When he came up to the lever, he struggled to turn it and open the gate, but finally managed to get the lever moving. Voltage heard the gate opening and dashed over, ready to attack, but stopped when he saw that it was Flynn and Smog who freed him. Much to Flynn's surprise, Voltage tackled Flynn and affectionately hummed and rubbed his face against Flynn's body.
"I'm happy to see you too, Voltage! But we've gotta find Sigrid and get out of here," he said. At the mention of his rider's name, Voltage's gaze immediately narrowed. "But before we get to that, what do you say to causing some chaos around the village?" Voltage thought for a moment before smiling at Flynn.
Edgar roughly pushed his daughter up next to Baldr, who stood smiling triumphantly over finally having what was his. The Chief, Baldr's father stood in front of them as the entire village gathered behind them. Sigrid could spot Halla in the crowd, but when their eyes met, Halla simply hid behind some of the larger warriors. Sigrid wasn't surprised, not completely. Halla wasn't like her; where Sigrid was always trying to fight the system, Halla was trying her best just to fit into the system. Sigrid did her best to tune out the Chief's words as she silently contemplated her fate. As much fight as she had in her, there was just no logical way she could get out of this. Voltage would be caged and if Baldr couldn't break him, he'd probably kill the Skrill and just capture another one. And what would she be stuck doing? Cooking, cleaning and living a dull life, never being able to feel Voltage beneath her and the wind rush through her hair.
All of a sudden, the Chief froze in the middle of his sentence. "Uh, father? Why did you stop?" Baldr asked, noticing his father frozen in place. Baldr walked up to his father, waving his hand in front of his father's face, but the Chief did not react. All of a sudden, they heard a low growl as a bright red dragon suddenly appeared out of nowhere on one of the pillars that surrounded them. "Changewing!" he shouted as Shimmer let out a blast of acid, causing Baldr and Edgar to jump out of the way.
"Shimmer!"Sigrid exclaimed with a wide smile on her face. Shimmer smiled back and affectionately nuzzled her. Sigrid felt the bindings around her wrists suddenly loosen and she quickly massaged her wrists to soothe the aching pain. Turning around, she saw her liberator was none other than Milo. "Milo!"she cried, tightly embracing the Speed Stinger. "Where's Flynn?"she asked, as Shimmer motioned across the other end of town with one of her leafy tendrils. High in the sky she could see Voltage flying about, setting the village aflame with his white, lightning breath as several of the other 'trained' dragons followed his example. The dragons breathed their fire all across the village, setting everything they could on fire. Though the Stormchaser Vikings tried to regain control, their dragons continued to resist, finally tasting sweet freedom from their abusive masters. What she couldn't see - at least not clearly - was Flynn clinging to Voltage's horns for dear life as he begged the dragon not to fly so fast. "My heroes,"she smiled, before moving to Baldr and retaking her weapons. "I'll be taking these back!"
"Not so fast!"Edgar's voice boomed loudly as he stood before her with his sword in hand.
"I got this, guys. Keep the rest busy,"she assured them. Shimmer and Milo lingered for a moment before complying with her request.
"You shouldn't have sent them away, my dear. You could have used the extra help," her father snickered.
"I can take care of myself; I have been for years," she grunted as she swung her sword at her father, but he easily blocked it with the shaft of his mace. With one push, he easily shoved her to the ground. Sigrid shouldn't have been too surprised by that. Her father was much larger in frame and stronger than her. If she ran from the top of a hill right into him, he probably wouldn't feel a thing let alone be moved in the slightest.
"You should have been a good daughter and do as you're told!" he shouted, marching over to her and smashing his mace into the ground. Sigrid narrowly managed to roll away from the blow and quickly got back on her feat, sword at the ready.
"This is my life! And I'm the only one who gets to decide how I live it!" she shouted back at him, moving in for another attack. He blocked her sword once again, but Sigrid quickly drew an arrow from her quiver and stabbed it as deep as she could into his arm. Edgar cried out as he felt the arrow pierce his skin. Dropping his mace, he grit his teeth as he pulled the arrow out and tossed it aside before advancing on his daughter, completely ignoring the blood dripping out from his wound.
"You're going to pay for that!" he roared. Sigrid turned her head sharply when the heard Voltage's – now without Flynn riding on his back – roar behind her. She ducked to the ground as Voltage flew low and pushed Edgar right off the edge of the cliffside.
Sigrid ran over to the edge of the cliff and peered over to see her father clinging to the side of the cliff. But, from the looks of it, he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. Without giving it another thought, she lay on the ground and extended her arm down to her father. "Take my hand!" she cried, reaching as far down as she could without falling over herself. Her father simply stared at her with wide eyes while his mind reeled at why his daughter would offer him help after he tried to kill her. Despite Sigrid's offer, Edgar refused to move and take her hand, her offer of help. As the rocks he clung to began to loosen, he slipped and fell into the sharp rock riddled ocean below. Sigrid turned away, not wanting to watch her father fall, but turned back when she heard the splash of water. As the water stilled, no body surfaced, except for Edgar's helmet which floated off out to sea.
Flynn ran through the village, dodging and ducking through the chaos of Viking vs. dragon. He had fallen off Voltage thanks to the dragon's rough flying, but Flynn assured the Skrill that he was all right and Voltage flew off, probably in search of Sigrid. Just as Flynn rounded the corner of one of the houses, an axe flew right into the wall, chipping the wood and just narrowly missing Flynn's nose by an inch. "Whoa!" He looked over to his right, the direction the axe came from and saw Baldr, heavily breathing with a menacing look in his eyes.
"You, this is all your fault!" Baldr shouted, charging at Flynn with his sword raised high. Flynn just managed to block the attack with his crossbow, but the strength of Baldr's strike forced him to the ground. "She was supposed to be my wife! But then she runs off and meets you!"
"There's nothing going on between me and Sigrid! We're just friends!" Flynn insisted.
"Friends? Oh, I don't think so. You should have seen how angry she got when I threatened to hurt you if she didn't come with me. I'm the jealous type, and it's time to eliminate the competition!" he shouted, raising his sword high with the tip faced down towards Flynn. Flynn couldn't feel his body at all, he felt frozen, paralyzed and as Baldr's sword came down to him, he shut his eyes, waiting for the end. But, when he felt no blade pierce his skin, he opened his eyes to see Baldr's sword pierced into something that stood over him, as crimson blood dripped onto the ground. Shimmer suddenly appeared before him, her skin changing back to it's bright red as she coughed.
"Shimmer!" Flynn cried in despair, seeing the sword stabbed deep into her back right through her wing.
"Heh, I've never killed a Changewing before. Maybe I'll mount her head on my wall after I'm done with you!" Baldr shouted.
Without even a single thought, Flynn's finger slipped as he pulled the trigger of his crossbow, firing two bolts at Baldr, one into his left shoulder and the second right in the center of his chest. Baldr slowly looked down at the two arrows that pierced him before collapsing onto the ground.
"Flynn! Are you ok?" Sigrid called as Voltage landed beside them and Sigrid jumped out of his saddle. "Oh no!" she gasped, seeing Shimmer's wound.
"Shimmer! Shimmer, come on baby girl, stay with me!" he pleaded, taking her head into his arms. Shimmer smiled at him and nuzzled her rider affectionately.
"Flynn, we have to get out of here," Sigrid whispered tenderly. She didn't want to be insensitive, but they couldn't risk being captured or dying here now that the Chief's son was dead.
"Shimmer…she's injured, she can't move!" Flynn wailed, but Shimmer pulled her head from his arms and stood, roaring proudly and insisting that she could fly. "Shimmer, no, you can't fly! You're hurt!" Despite Flynn's worries, Shimmer refused and struggled to stand, refusing to allow her rider to perish here.
"You should ride with me, Flynn. Shimmer might not be able to carry you," Sigrid said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The longer we stay here, the worse she'll get!"
"You're right," Flynn conceded. He climbed onto Voltage's saddle behind Sigrid as they took to the skies. As they flew from the island, Sigrid was pleasant to see that no riders were following them, all the Vikings being too busy trying to quell the chaos. As Smog carried Milo, Voltage flew under Shimmer, who struggled to fly with her injury, but still managed from pure will. She'd sway left and right every so often, so Voltage remained beneath her, ready to catch her in case she could fly no longer.
When Shimmer couldn't fly any longer, they landed on a small, uninhabited island. As they landed, Shimmer collapsed onto the ground as Flynn ran to her side, examining her wound which only seemed to have gotten worse. "The wound is too deep," Sigrid said, "and she's lost too much blood. Flynn… I don't think she's going to make it," she whispered sadly.
"No! No, no, no, Shimmer! You have to make it, you have to!" he pleaded, taking her head into his arms once again as he looked into her big, bright yellow eyes. "I need you, Shimmer! I don't know what to do without you! You're my best friend!" he sniffled as tears flowed down from his eyes uncontrollably. Sigrid stood back from Flynn, trying to hold back her tears while Voltage, Smog and Milo hung their heads and groaned sadly. As Flynn cried over Shimmer's head, she nudged his lightly, causing him to look at her. She smiled at him before licking his face weakly. "I love you too, Shimmer," he whispered as he felt Shimmer go limp and her eyes droop shut. When he couldn't hear her thick breathing anymore, he broke down and cried over her, as if hoping that some godly power would bring her back to him.
I thought it would be fun to kinda switch up the riders and their dragons. You know, play with how Sigrid and Flynn would work with each other's respective dragons. I honestly have to say that it was hard not to cry while writing this. I actually starting tearing up and sniffling. I don't think that's ever happened before :'(
Next chapter - While Sigrid settles into the Haven, Flynn deals with the loss of his dragon.