Over the next few days, I spent my time getting acclimated with the Dragon Hunters. Nightshade was released from her cage, though Viggo warned me that if she didn't behave herself, he'd have to put her back in, which was… somewhat understandable. He'd been quite hospitable to me since I accepted his offer. My own room on his flagship, food that was better than anything I'd had on the island, and even some new clothes, which was probably the best thing he did for me.

I now wore a long sleeved, dark grey tunic, with a black leather vest over it, not unlike Viggo's own, and a pair of black leather wrist guards. Both the vest and the wrist guards were made from dragon hide. Over my tunic, but under my leather vest, I wore a black linen hood, similar to the one seen on Oliver Queen in Arrow, which helped when it was cold. My pants were dark blue, and my boots were black, with dark fur cuffs.

After a couple days at sea, we arrived at Dragon Hunter island, Viggo's base of operations. It was a large island, with plenty of beaches, and a coastline for ships to be anchored to. As Viggo and Ryker, formerly known as Baldy, lead me through the sparse forest, it was made clear just how big Viggo's operations were. Littered everywhere, there were dragon-proof cages with all manner of species in them.

And in the centre of the island, there was a massive quarry-like pit with multiple levels, probably not natural. Massive dragon bones, definitely rib cages, served as ladders to get from one level to the next, and there were several tents scattered across the pit. Tents for hunters to sleep in, tents to store tools, tents for butchering dragons, etc. Viggo and Ryker each had their own tents, and apparently, Viggo had organised a personal tent for me as well.

My first week on Dragon Hunter Island was spent with Viggo, teaching me the basics of Norse and how things worked in his organisation. What I was expected to do and when, etc. He also had one of his Commanders teach me to use a spear, which I was incredibly grateful for. I was only making a fool of myself with the spear I'd gotten on the island, and only served to amuse Nightshade, so that was a boon.

The biggest thing he'd done, which would make what I had to do for him a whole lot easier, was have a proper saddle made for Nightshade. Like most leather products on the island, it was made from dragon leather, dyed black to blend with her scales. It was basically just a more efficient and comfortable version of what I'd made. A seat for me to sit on, kept in place by four straps. The front two were hooked onto metal rings that Nightshade would slip her forelegs through, and the back two wrapped around her chest and were buckled together like a belt. Though it did have a few additions, one being the foot holders, which hung at the sides, not unlike that of a horse's saddle, and another being the small satchel that was attached to Nightshade's side. That would be handy.

Anyway, after three weeks on the island, training, learning, practising, flying, and studying, Viggo called me into his personal tent, and he wanted me alone. Which is why I found myself in my current situation, standing outside of Viggo's tent. No matter how grateful and appreciative I was of him, there's no denying that Viggo is an incredibly intimidating man. His intelligence and cunning were outshined only by his ruthless business practices and high expectations.

With a deep breath, I entered the tent, not allowing any of what I was feeling to show on my face.

I found Viggo in there, sitting at his desk, looking at the Maces and Talons board he had there, with one of the pieces in his hand. From what I'd seen, it was basically a Viking themed chess game with some differences in rules and gameplay, but still the same basic concept. Take your opponent's King piece before they take yours, and sacrifice the pieces necessary to do so. Viggo definitely loved that game. He had a contemplative look on his face.

"They say there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true. The other is to refuse to believe what is." He said, looking at the piece he held before turning his gaze to me. "Maces and Talons." he said with a small smirk as he stood up, walking to the other side of his desk. "I began playing with my grandfather when I was just a boy. I always insisted on being the Honourable Viking Chief." He said with a nostalgic smile on his face. "I could never understand how he bested me time and time again." He said with a light laugh. "For years, I assumed his skill transcended mine. I believed what wasn't true." He held the piece up again. "But you see, in Maces and Talons, as in life, the line between good and evil is often unclear. Black and white can become grey so easily." He banged the piece on the lamp he had hanging. The moving light created an optical illusion of the piece changing colour between black, white, and grey. A stirring metaphor. "What one soul considers evil, another might consider righteous." He said, turning to his game board and placing the piece down. He then picked up a tiny mace, another game piece from the board. "The Honourable Viking Chief that fails to see this is found to be… the fool." He said, knocking the piece over with the mace.

"As you were, every time your grandfather bested you, no?" I asked.

"Exactly." he gave me a satisfied smirk as he sat back down at his desk. He gestured to the other chair, and I took a seat. "I'm glad to see you're acclimating well into the Tribe. No issues as of yet, I take it?" He asked.

"Aside from a few of your men giving Nightshade and I strange looks, no not really." I responded. "I don't think Ryker likes me though." I added.

"There's no need to concern yourself with what my brother thinks." Viggo waved me off. "Now, I'm pleased with the progress you've made. Reports of your progress with the spear have been good, your marksmanship is better than any of my men, and I've seen what you and Nightshade can do in the air. You're improving at a rate I find most impressive." He said, visibly pleased. "However, the time has come to truly test your mettle," he told me.

"I'm ready." I said simply.

"I've put a fair amount of my resources into you, and I need you to prove it worth the investment before we go any further." He explained, taking one of his books and opening it. "Do you know what this is?" He asked, showing me the page he turned to. The dragon that was depicted was hideous. It looked like a serpentine Deadly Nadder, but with no legs, and only spikes decorating its body. It had small wings, and a massive round mouth with several circles of fangs in there. I knew what this dragon was, alright.

"A Whispering Death." I said, getting a nod in response.

"The Whispering Death is one of the more dangerous and feared dragons." Viggo said, pulling the book back. "Also one of the more rarely seen, as they spend most of their time underground," he explained. That made sense. I remembered from the show. "I would like you to bring me one." He said bluntly. I narrowed my eyes in thought. That may be tricky. "I trust you have no objection?" He asked.

"I'll figure something out." I said, wondering how I was going to hunt down and trap one of those things.

"I've translated everything you might need to know about the Whispering Death into English for you." He said, handing over a scroll. Sure enough, there was an image of the dragon in question drawn, as well as notes and sentences scribbled everywhere, all in English. I rolled the scroll up and looked at Viggo.

"I'll need a cage to keep it in, a small ship for transportation, and some Dragon Root arrows." I told him. "Provisions as well."

"I'll have them all ready by tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I suggest you prepare for your journey." he said, pulling up a map and placing it on the desk. "There is a known Whispering Death nest on an island west of here." He said, tapping his finger on the island in question. "By ship, it would take about 10 days to get there. Nightshade could probably make it in a little more than half a day." He told me.

"But if she's going to be pulling a ship, it'll probably take about 36 hours." I added, getting a nod of agreement from Viggo.

"Take as long as you need to capture the dragon." He said, rolling up the map. "But, the longer you take…" he trailed off expectantly.

"The more likely it is you'll decide I'm not worth the investment." I finished for him with a business-like calm in my voice, something he could appreciate, I was sure.

"Indeed." he gave a pleased smile. "Now, off you go. Take the rest of today to prepare. You have quite the task ahead of you." he told me. Taking that as my dismissal, I got up, turned and left. "And Seth." he called out to me before I left the tent. "Best of luck." He said with a small smile.

"Thank you." I responded simply, continuing on my way.

I spent the rest of the day combing over the information Viggo gave me concerning the Whispering Death. Some of the stuff there I already knew, remembering from its appearances in Defenders of Berk. Lives in underground tunnels that it burrows itself, hates sunlight, shoots expanding wheels of fire with a steady stream in the middle, and eats fish. I learnt a few things I didn't know before, like how it eats certain flowers as well, and it was immune to the effects of Dragon Nip. I also learnt that they were typically pack animals, which made sense. It was never specifically mentioned in Defenders of Berk, but they did usually stick together when they were seen. Then there was the whole thing with the Screaming Death's mother.

All in all, not much of this information was useful in tracking down a Whispering Death. Sure, knowing that it could shoot spines in any direction from any part of its body would tell me that Nightshade and I should not stand still for more than a few seconds, no matter what angle we're looking at the thing from. Unfortunately, aside from jumping down one of its holes, or waiting around a flower bed for hours at a time, I couldn't find any way to get one in my sights.

Having Nightshade shoot lightning down one of the holes to draw one out was an option, but I wanted to avoid the dragon getting aggressive before I saw it. I might not be able to. There's also the fact that doing so would more than likely draw the attention of more than one Whispering Death. They weren't always lone dwellers.

Well, I had time to figure it out.

I had a massive headache from all the planning and scheming I was trying to do, not to mention reading through that scroll a hundred times over. I eventually came to the decision to just go to sleep and try to think of something on the way to the island. I was exhausted, and fell asleep within minutes of laying my head down on the bedroll Viggo supplied for me.

I was fucked, plain and simple.

With Nightshade pulling the small ship that Viggo had supplied for me, I spent most of the journey on the ship, trying to figure out how to capture a Whispering Death. The sail was tucked away at the top of the mast, as it would have interfered with Nightshade pulling the ship. This allowed us to cut a little bit of time off of the journey. Nightshade, having frankly terrifying stamina, was able to pull the ship for almost a full day before she got tired. And I mean tired, not 'will pass out with one more flap of the wings' exhausted.

She'd probably be able to get us all the way to the island if she pushed herself to that point, but I wasn't about to ask that of her. So, I decided to just bring the sail down and let Nightshade sleep on the map Viggo gave me showed we could have moored the ship at one of the nearby islands and slept there, but pulling down the sail and letting the ship cruise would cover a bit more ground whilst Nightshade slept.

We left Dragon Hunter Island shortly after sunrise, and arrived at the island late afternoon the next day, so if my maths was correct, that means the journey took about 30 hours. I spent the rest of the day getting at least a little bit of rest. I wanted to be alert and rested when I found my prey, and none of them were going to show themselves in the sunlight. So, after my nap, with the sun down, I got on Nightshade's back and started scouting out for Whispering Death holes.

I didn't have to look for long.

I had no idea how often Whispering Deaths surfaced, but evidence suggested they either didn't do so often, or they always used the same holes in certain parts of the island. Or maybe there weren't that many on the island, I didn't know. What I did know was that I found one of their holes pretty easily.

Times like these, I really wish I had a smoke bomb.

After some thinking, I decided to just bite the bullet and hope for the best. I wasn't going to get anywhere trying to think of an overly complex way to capture a dragon, so I went with the simple approach instead. Picking up a few dead leaves, I crumpled them in my hands and let the wind gently carry them off to the ground. This told me what direction the air was flowing, and where not to wait, lest I allow my prey to catch my scent. So, with that in mind, I hid in an optimal position, pulled my hood up, got a Dragon Root arrow ready, and made sure Nightshade was ready to attack.

As Nightshade flew upwards and released a torrent of electricity into the hole, I notched my arrow and pulled back just slightly. And when Nightshade ceased her attack…

Nothing happened.

Grunting in annoyance after waiting longer than was really sensible, I got back on Nightshade and we went searching for more Whispering Death holes. It took a couple of days of finding and scorching the holes and having nothing to show for it before we stopped at one that was actually on the other side of the island from where we moored our boat. I wasn't feeling all that optimistic about this one though. Ever hear Einstein's definition of insanity? Yeah, that's why.

After three days of nothing, literally no dragon sightings, would anyone be optimistic?

Imagine my surprise when a Whispering Death actually bursted from the hole.

I was so surprised I almost let the arrow fly without proper force, but thankfully I caught myself. As Nightshade kept the dragon's attention by avoiding its fire power and jabbing it with her white fire bursts, I got ready to fire. As soon as I felt the creature was in a good place, I started the seven seconds. One, two, inhale and draw. Three, four, five, hold and aim. Six, seven, exhale and release. Unfortunately, it was right around the five that a sudden draft of wind came from behind me, and as I released the arrow, the massive creature jerked to the side, avoiding the arrow, and turned its pale, white, pupiless eyes to me in a fierce glare.

"Fuck…" I mumbled under my breath in that single second of silence before the creature let out a shrieking roar in my direction.

And that's how I came to 'I'm fucked.'

I turned tail and ran as fast as I could right as it charged towards me. Living on the island for months, and my training with the dragon hunters on top of it, has greatly increased my stamina and physical prowess. I was actually able to keep out of the dragon's fangs for a good few minutes. Just barely enough time for me to get out of the forest area and into a wide open field. I immediately drew another arrow, turned around, and aimed at the forest where I was sure the dragon would emerge.

After several painfully silent seconds, any hint of the dragon following me was gone. No shaking trees, no vibrations in the ground, not a single sound. My breathing was heavy, and as I hesitantly lowered my bow, I looked around every direction, seeing no signs of the creature. I couldn't even see Nights anywhere. Then, completely out of nowhere, the ground underneath my feet started to crumble and crack, and I paled.

"Fuck…" I whispered, again, as I bolted, again, as the creature gave chase, again.

I think I figured out how this thing works. If it was able to emerge right under my feet, that means it had to know where I was standing. The only way I could think of that being possible was that the Whispering Death was able to read vibrations through the Earth, sort of like in The Last Airbender. That must be how it hunts. It lurks underground for however long, and then strikes when its prey is in an optimal position.

And thus the Dragon Hunter becomes the Dragon Hunted.

How poetic. It would be great comfort for when I got ground into mincemeat by a Whispering Death's rotating teeth! NOT!

To say I was pissed off on top of being scared out of my mind was an understatement. I was going to die because the wind decided to change directions, not just in a split second, but at the worst possible split second imaginable; right as I let my arrow fly. If I was just two seconds earlier, I would have had that thing in a cage by now, sailing on my way home. Instead, I was seconds away from being lunch.

"NIGHTSHADE!" I howled at the top of my lungs as a cliff approached in my sight. I suppose I'd rather fall to my death than be eaten. Without a second thought, I leaped off of the edge of that cliff, and just as my momentum ran out and I began to fall, a massive black mass swooped in from under me and carried me up into the air; Nightshade.

I was a little confused as to how she could have caught me on her back without skewering me, but then I noticed the metallic spines along her back were actually folding back, leaving her spine surprisingly smooth. I'd only seen this happen when she was asleep. I didn't know she could do it voluntarily. Nice.

"Cutting it a little close there, eh?" I asked with a bit of snark as I carefully climbed into the saddle. Nightshade's response was a low hiss and a jolt of electricity. "Yes, yes." I snapped in response. "Thank you for saving my sorry arse. Can we move on?" I asked as she let her spines stand again, electricity arcing between them. "I'll take that as a yes." I said with a predatory smirk over my shoulder.

The Whispering Death, still enraged at our invasion of its territory, was in pursuit. I made to grab one of my arrows, but found my quiver to be almost empty. "Son of a bitch." I cursed under my breath. They must have fallen out when I jumped. I only had three arrows left, and only one was my own. The rest were gone. "Alright, now it's personal." I growled, opting not to draw. "Nightshade, up." I instructed, pulling on the saddle. Nightshade obeyed, curving upwards and gaining altitude. The Whispering Death followed.

One of many things I've learnt from Viggo is that every dragon has an altitude limit. Usually it depends on their classes, though there are irregularities. Stoker Class and Tidal class dragons especially don't like flying too high, which made sense. High altitudes meant being further away from the sea, and lower air pressure, meaning less air for their fire to burn. There are other factors, like the wingspan, stamina, muscle strength, age etc. Point is, eventually, every dragon will have to stop ascending. No choice in the matter.

As I learnt from Viggo's notes, a Whispering Death, being Boulder Class, having a short wingspan, and relatively low speed, will have a much lower altitude limit than a Strike Class dragon with a long wingspan, stamina for days, and the speed of lightning. Normally, such information would be absolutely useless to a Dragon Hunter. I, however, was not a normal Dragon Hunter. I was currently riding on one such dragon, remember?

As we ascended, I made sure to make periodic glances down at the creature pursuing us. It took longer than I expected for it to reach its limit, but reach its limit, it did. Stubbornness was probably a factor too apparently. Regardless, right as I saw that, I called out to Nightshade as loud as I could. At such high speeds and altitudes, it was difficult to get sound across.

"Nightshade, Dive!" I called out. Immediately, our ascension slowed before coming to a complete halt. For a fraction of a second, we held still in the air before gravity took hold of us. As we descended, Nightshade curved her wings inwards in a very falcon-like manner. We plummeted straight down for merely a handful of seconds before the Whispering Death was in range. "Stun!" I called out as soon as I saw it.

Nightshade's body ignited with lightning, though I didn't feel a thing, and with a mighty roar, she released a bolt of lighting at the Whispering Death. Not nearly as powerful as she could have made it, I didn't want to kill the thing, but powerful enough to do some damage. The bolt hit its target dead on, and the creature plummeted to the ground. Seeing the ground approaching, Nightshade slowed our descent, releasing her wings until we found ourselves in a smooth glide, right about the same time the Whispering Death hit the ground. If I didn't know how resilient and durable dragons were, I would have been worried about it.

"Alright, now we quickly need to get in close and hit it with a Tail Strike." Even as Nightshade soared towards the beast, it was already recovering from the lightning bolt. Boulder Class dragons were especially durable, not to mention resilient to the firepower of other dragons.

As Nightshade landed just a few metres away from the beast, it seemed to recover from the fall, and set its sights back on us. With another shriek, it soared right towards us. We had to time this just right, or there was no telling what this creature would do to us. Eat us alive, or me at the very least, and that's if I was lucky. Nightshade crouched down, her tail up like a scorpion and ready to strike as the creature dashed ever closer to us with every passing second.

"Now!" I yelled right as it was about to catch us in its teeth. Nightshade hopped to the side, and right as the beast swooshed right past us, she struck. Her tail surged forth like a snake striking its prey, jabbing the Whispering Death right behind its wing. The venom spread through its body, and it crashed to the ground mid flight, leaving an impressive skid mark in the dirt.

"Nice shot." I complimented, letting out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. Nightshade warbled in response to my praise as I hopped off of her, approaching the downed animal with caution.

Nightshade's venom only paralyzes the target, it doesn't knock it unconscious. The beast could still see and hear me in its current state. Knowing that it must be experiencing incredible fear in such a state, I took one of the last three arrows I had in my quiver, one with Dragon Root, and jabbed it into the creature's body. Viggo and I had already checked with one of his own dragons. Nightshades venom and Dragon Root working in tandem doesn't do anything of note. The creature would be fine.

"Let's get this guy to the cage, sound good?" I asked. Nightshade responded with an affirmative warble. After I climbed back into the saddle, Nightshade strode over to the unconscious dragon, grabbed the end of its tail in one of her talons, pushed off, and secured her other talon on the dragons tail before shooting off in the direction of the boat. "I don't know about you Girl, but I could definitely use a nap." I said with a deep sigh.

The trip back to Dragon Hunter Island was far less pleasant than the first. With the whispering Death secured in the cage, it made sleeping on the ship quite difficult. It was also thrashing about all night, trying to get out, and shooting its spines at me. It got more docile when the sun came up, thankfully. I took the sail down from the ship and draped it over the cage, that way the poor animal wouldn't suffer under the sunlight. He got antsy again when sunset rolled along.

There was no way Nightshade and I were going to be able to sleep on the ship, so we moored the ship on a small island that wasn't too out of the way, hunted down a wild yak for supper, and spent the night camping. We also made sure to feed the Whispering Death. I wasn't about to let it go hungry. My grandfather taught me that, as a hunter, it was my responsibility to make sure none of my prey suffers.

Hunting has been a staple in survival for millions of years, and in modern times, it's seen as more of an indulgence or connection to one's roots. I've returned to the survival version. Ending the life of another in order to sustain oneself and comrades was perfectly natural. Human beings had been doing it since the dawn of time, and half the animal kingdom does so as well. However, sadistically torturing an animal, or letting one suffer out of indifference was unacceptable. Never let your prey suffer. It was one of the first lessons my grandfather taught me when hunting, and I've taken it to heart since.

Anyways, I was incredibly happy when I saw Dragon Hunter Island in the distance. It was late afternoon at the time, and with the Whispering Death being so aggressive, the trip back was exhausting. Despite there still being a glaring language barrier, I was able to work with the men on duty to securely moor the ship at Viggo's harbour. Ryker was there, and gathering from what little Norse I knew, he was probably running his mouth off on how it was impossible that a scrawny whelp like me could possibly trap a Whispering Death.

I took mild offence to that, but decided not to react. Mostly because he wouldn't be able to understand me. It was apparent the moment I met him that he was clearly the muscle of the Grimborn brothers, and only that. And I certainly wasn't scrawny. Sure, literally everybody on Dragon Hunter Island was probably more muscular than I was, but I was far from scrawny. I had some natural muscle, and after living quite the active lifestyle for months on that island, I'd only built more. I had a visible six pack, and decently sized biceps, to say nothing about my general definition.

Ugh, I let that get to me more than I should have.

With the dragon secure, I shook my head and made for Viggo's tent, ignoring any more of Ryker's words. He stopped mid sentence, probably shocked that someone would just walk off in the middle of his sentence. I heard him mutter something, probably some sort of profanity, before he jogged on after me. I paid him no heed as he caught, causing a light sneer to appear on his face, but he held his tongue.

As I approached Viggo's tent, I didn't hesitate to walk right in. I found him at his desk, as usual, going over some documents. Probably profit reports or something. As he looked up and saw me, the triumphant smirk on his face actually made me feel a little proud. He wouldn't have such an expression if he thought I'd failed.

"Seth! You've returned." He said as he stood up and approached. "Welcome back. I take it your hunt went well?" He asked with an ever so slight spark in his eye.

"The Whispering Death is secure in a cage and is being taken in by some of your men as we speak." I reported.

"Excellent, excellent." Viggo clapped his hands together in satisfaction. "I trust you realise what this means, Seth." he said as he stepped closer, gripping my shoulder firmly. "You've accomplished in around a week, what would have taken my men the better part of two months." He grinned. "You've certainly proven your worth as far as I'm concerned." he said, letting go. "I trust you'll be able to join me for supper tonight? We ought to discuss the finer details of your role with me." He told me.

That was a surprise, in all honesty.

Until now, I'd been eating rations in my personal tent or with Nightshade. Once or twice, I ate at one of the fires with the other Hunters, though I kept to myself, being unable to speak the language. Now, here was Viggo, inviting me to eat with him. He only ever ate with his brother and top lieutenants, and sometimes clients of high importance. I'd never had a meal with him before.

"I'd be delighted." I said with a polite smile and respectful bow of my head.

"Very good, very good." He said, returning to his desk. "An hour past sundown, don't be late." He told me. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but you probably haven't bathed since before we last spoke, have you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. I responded with a sheepish chuckle.

"I'll get right on that." I responded. "Sorry."

"No apologies necessary. It's an occupational hazard." He waved me off. "Now, off with you then. I need to finish up here." he said. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"See you then." I returned with a nod. As I turned to leave, I didn't even acknowledge Ryker. I didn't give him a nod, nor a glare, nor even a smug smile. I just walked right past him. No way was I going to let him get to me.

All in all, despite the exhausting journey, today was a good day.