"I Do.... NOT!!"

Chapter 29: Death Sentence

                          ------Astrid's POV------

       "Who is your king? Why does he enslave the night fury race?" I growled, locking eyes with the hideous beast in front of me. Your night fury already knows all that. The grim reaper hissed. "No. The real reason. What does the king want with the light furies healing powers?" Hiccup snapped. He can't conquer without dragons. And dragons can't conquer if they keep dying from their wounds. The reaper hissed. "That's not true and you know it. Hundreds of dragons come back mortally wounded. The light furies are never allowed to help them!" Hiccup snapped. Then you'll have to visit the island and find out for yourself the reaper hissed. Stoick sighed, thinking of how to get this creature to talk. "We could try the twins..." I offered. " Fine we have nothing more to lose," Stoick agreed.

     They soon arrived, eager to interrogate the prisoner. " Eww. Thought they were bad from a distance! This thing is horrifying!" Ruff declared. "Guys, try to stay focused! We need to know what the king is making light furies do with their powers." I reminded. "Ok mr. Grim. How can you stand looking at yourself in the mirror? Is it true you have a human form? What's the job like? Weekends off? Holiday pay? What about sick leave? What's in it for you?" Tuff questioned, pacing around the prisoner. He hissed in confusion."you heard the man! Speak! Or Ill sing until you're ears bleed!" Ruff threatened. Hiccup sighed and rested his forehead on his left knuckles. "This is gonna be interesting." Sure enough, about an hour later, the reaper finally answered questions about his job to shut ruff up. 

    After some more convincing with Ruff's famous yak pie and tuff threatening to tickle the prisoner with hawk feathers, the reaper changed to his human form. I shook my head in disbelief. This guy looked totally human, except for the traditional red and black Viking wear his reaper skin had changed to. He had black hair and a strange tattoo on his chin. He was broad shouldered and clearly fit. At this point ruff became rather obsessed. That actually worked out quite well, of all the twins harassing for answers, this guy couldn't stand ruff trying to squeeze his muscles, touch his face, and compliment him. I tried to hold back laughter as the prisoner begged to be put back in his cell and kept away from Ruff. Tuff scolded her for consorting with the enemy, but agreed the prisoner couldn't go back to his cell until we got some answers.

    Finally, we pulled Ruff away when the guy promised to talk. He had been rechained, ensuring no changing forms. "My name is Eret... I don't actually like my job. But if I don't return soon with a dragon or human prisoner I'll be severely punished. I don't know much about the king. I hear rumors that's he's been around since before our races started fighting each other. He doesn't take kindly to excuses... Neither do the warlords he lends his soldiers to. I was supposed to return with dragons for the dragon army my current boss is building... He's coming for the dragons. He'll take all of them. He has.... A creature that controls dragons. I've never seen it. But I know it is massive. Drago's entire fleet is pulled by it. I've been part of several island conquerings in the far North. Every time the place has been blown to bits by massive ice shards and burned by dragons under Drago's control."

     I gasped, realizing what a bad situation we were in. It sounded like this had been going on nearly a year now. Drago was conquerings islands and tribes, one by one. Stoick stared in disbelief. "Drago... Drago Bludvist?" He asked. "Yeah... That's the warlord's name..." Eret said. "This is the end for Berk son... Unless you can stop him. This is our people's death sentence." Stoick growled, clearly shaken. "I agree. Eret. Did the king ever give speeches to his own people? What did he tell them? My time as a slave on the main island taught me that all your kind have been taught is that Night Furies are insane and dangerous. They are evil and tried to enslave grim reapers. I don't think that's true. I found ancient records before I escaped that said otherwise. I still don't know the full reason why our races started fighting each other, but it had to do with them refusing a match between the Night Fury chief's daughter and the Grim Reaper king's son. We never tried to enslave your people." I said.