Wings of Gold

Ch. 6 - Deception

        We reached the clubhouse after what felt like hours of silence between us. It wasn't the kind of comfortable silence where you don't mind it, no, this was painful, awkward, unbearable silence.

        I hopped off Goldedge and made my way inside with Viggo following at my shoulder. He didn't look upset, he looked blank. Devoid of any feelings. He noticed me studying his empty expression, holding my gaze for a moment before looking back. He didn't flash any smiles or anything, but he didn't seem angry. Was he considering anything I said? Or does he not see this as anything to get upset over? I thought, deeply hoping it wasn't the latter. I walked ahead of him, entering the clubhouse first.

        I found the twins inside already, antagonizing Snotlout for whatever reason they felt was fitting. Astrid raised her eyebrows when we entered, looking between the two of us with a confused expression. Fishlegs stood up and looked around at everyone. "Wait a minute, where's Hiccup?" He asked, and in response everyone turned to glare at Snotlout. "What?" Snotlout put his hands in the air, backing up a step and looking at all of us in turn. "He said he had to check on something, then flew north." Snotlout said, shrugging his shoulders. "And you let him go alone?" Astrid scolded him. "Oh no," I said, and Astrid turned quickly, looking at me with concern strewn across her face. "He's gone to look for more of those disguised ships." I added, already calling for Goldedge. "What disguised ships?" Astrid said, following me to the deck of the clubhouse while calling for Stormfly. "I'll explain in the air," I said, already climbing on Goldedge as Astrid instructed the others to stay behind in case Hiccup comes back without us spotting him. As I perched on my feet in the footholds of the saddle, I looked up to see Viggo observing Astrid and I.  Astrid looked at me, raising one arm and shrugging in question. I returned her confused look, then turned seriously to Viggo, his hands still clasped firmly behind his back. "Well, are you coming or not?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. A satisfied smile crossed his lips as he walked over, climbing on and sitting in the saddle behind me.

       When we were in the air, I began explaining. "Astrid, as you know I was caught for a brief time by hunters off the north coast of the island," I said, sort of a statement and sort of a question. "Yeah, I heard about that." She replied. "The ship that captured me was a merchants ship, not a hunters ship. It wasn't fortified with dragon-proof masts, or dragon-proof anything for that matter." I explained as we soared north. "And you think that's where Hiccup is?" Astrid asked unsurely. "I have a feeling, yeah," I said, then added on. "He might be looking for anything on the ship, we didn't sink it after we took out the hunters." Astrid nodded slowly, "Seems like a pretty Hiccup thing to do." She concluded. Viggo was silent the entire flight, the only signs that showed he hadn't fallen off was the gentle placement of his hands on my shoulders and the warmth of his solemn body behind me.

         Astrid and I were chatting about things when I heard Viggo take an abnormally sharp intake of breath, which caused me to look below into the harsh waves. The ship was there, being tossed about in the freezing sea. "Let's land on the deck, I bet Hiccups below." I called out to Astrid over the loud wind whipping in our ears.

         We landed on the creaky deck, quickly dismounting and running below deck as rain picked up. The dragons squeezed in behind us. Sure enough, Hiccup was there, searching crates and chests scattered about. "Gosh, if I were one of the twins, I'd call this a proper ransacking." Astrid joked, and Hiccup cracked a smile at that. "What're you even looking for?" I asked, opening a barrel and peaking inside. "I don't know, anything really." He said, sounding ashamed of his answer. "It doesn't make sense why these guys were headed east of the Edge, straight through the Submaripper grounds. They had to have been delivering something to someone we don't know about." He said, giving an empty crate a frustrated kick. "There's nothing here, we should head back." He shook his head, walking over to us as I stood up from my searching. He stopped in his tracks as a plank he stepped on gave way a little bit, causing a clicking in the wall. Before I could think, Viggo grabbed me by the waist and pulled me to his side. An arrow wizzed past right where I'd been standing. I stared dumbfounded at the spot the arrow planted itself in the opposite side of the ship. "Thanks," I said, dreadfully moving away from the comforting safety of his hold.

         "There's gotta be something here," I said to Hiccup, "Why would they booby-trap the ship for nothing but ordinary cargo?" He stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Let's look a little longer, if we find nothing we can drag the ship into our docks and search more tomorrow." He instructed, motioning his hand for us to fan out and search. As much as I hate taking orders from people, Hiccup is the exception. He and I think the exact same way, and if I were in his place, I likely would've had the same idea as him.