Haley and the Dragon Riders

Viggo's Perceptive Mind

"And the catch?" I asked him skeptically after having heard his offer.

"There's no catch. You can trust me. I just have credentials that you don’t. And besides, I see potential in your future." He answered

“Alright Viggo, there’s just one problem, I don’t understand what’s in it for you?”

“I promise there’s no motive. I just wanna help you live up to your potential.” He extended his hand out for me to shake, but I responded by sticking my dagger into the table.

“Then why does my gut tell me not to trust you? You seem like bad news.”

“I’m only here to help you. It's your debut as the new lead in dragon hunting and trading. With my help, no one can stop you.” He slowly grabbed the dagger I had lodged in the table and pulled it out. I remained vigilant as he flipped the dagger and gave it back to me.

"I thought it was the other way around? I’m the one who’s helping you, am I not?” I cautiously took the dagger from him and put it in its holster on my hip.

“Perceptive as always. As I stated earlier, I want you to work for me. I believe we’re in a unique position to help each other.”

“Yeah, you said that already.” I sat down again.
“But you still haven’t told me what you want from me.”

“Information is what I’m after.” He leaned in over the table.

“Go on.”

“Let’s start with something simple, that dragon from earlier - why did you protect it? Being willing to even sacrifice your own life for it.”

“She’s my dragon, and I’ll protect her with my life.” I simply stated.

“Very well, now to the matter of how you even got onto this island. Your dragon has no wings, and no ships have arrived in the past 48 hours, so where did you come from?”

“I’m afraid that’s classified information that I cannot share with you.” I smirked at him, and he got visibly annoyed.
“Now, I think that’s enough questions about me. Why don’t we discuss something more urgent, my payment.”

“I take it you accept my deal then?” He smiled and raised a brow.

“If you pay enough and let my dragon go, I’ll consider joining your alliance, but I’m warning you, I’m not cheap company to keep around.”

"Alright, I'm not unreasonable. I'll give you 7% of our earnings." I scoffed at his offer.

"You have no idea what my price is, and I wasn't born this morning. 18 would be just fine." And so began our back and forth of negotiating.

"18? You might as well ask Berk for all their gold."

"15." I corrected.
“And who’s Berk?”

"I'll do 8, and you’ll come to learn who they are soon enough." He responded.

"12."

"How about 9."

"10! Final offer or the deals off." I yelled and stood up as I slammed my palms onto the table.

"Alright, you've got a deal. 10% of the sales money goes to you, but the rest stays with me."

"I can live with that." Seeing as we were done with our negotiations, I got up from my chair and turned towards the door.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get my dragon and get out of here. The stench of treachery is getting a bit heavy in here. I’ll see you around Vigster.”

Immediately upon leaving his tent, I bumped into Ryker. He had been waiting outside the tent and most likely heard everything that went down in there, though I’m not sure what he was planning to do with the information. I walked past without ever looking at his face. Compared to Viggo, Ryker was a small fish who barely needed any attention. My focus was on my dragon. The whole way down the mountain, I felt Viggo’s sharp eyes on me. His gaze was like two daggers stabbing holes in my back, I just hoped they wouldn’t become literal daggers.

“River, I’m here, girl. Let's go home.” I told her as I unlocked the cage, and she walked out.

I got on her back as a couple of Hunters came to check what I was doing. I explained the bare minimum for them to let me go, and River and I ran off towards the forest.

Once we were far enough away from the camp that I deemed it safe, I unfolded my wings and got ready to fly back to the Edge, but something was wrong. River seemed distraught. I got off her back and looked her over. She didn’t seem to have any visible scars on her, and there were no chains or hooks anywhere on her body. While I examined her, she kept looking back towards Viggo’s camp.

“What’s wrong, girl?” She kept resisting my attempts to get her in the air with me, and after several failed attempts, I placed my hand on her back.
“Alright, show me.”

I jumped on her back again, and she immediately took off towards Viggo’s camp. We ran straight into his base, swerved around the various cages, avoided all the confused hunters, and all the way up the mountain to Viggo’s tent. River stopped outside the tent, and I got off of her. I walked over and entered the tent only to find it empty.

“No one’s here, buddy.” I told her calmly, and she immediately took off again. If I wanted to keep up with her I’d have to fly. At this point, it didn’t matter who saw my wings, River needed my help, and I had to be there for her.

I chased after her as fast as I could and eventually caught up with her as she ventured further up the mountain. As I flew after her, I noticed more and more cave entrances and pitfalls around us. While River zigzagged her way around the pitfalls, I did my best to stay cautious of the cave entrances. I had a bad feeling about this area.

“River, where are we going?” I asked, but my answer would soon present itself in front of me.

River squawked loudly and sped up once again, and as I looked ahead of us, my eyes widened. It was Viggo. He was standing with his back against the mountain wall, face to face with a Whispering Death. Realizing what was going on, I gave it all I had to get to him in time.

I flew faster than I ever had before and landed in between him and the Whispering Death. Viggo was mumbling surprised nonsense behind me as I unfolded my wings and asserted my dominance over the dragon. I stared into the dragon’s large, white eyes and the dragon stared back. We were fighting for dominance. I sharpened my gaze and took a step forward. The large dragon slowly slithered backwards. In that instant, the dragon had understood that I was in charge. I gave a firm nod, and the dragon burrowed itself underground.

"How did you do that?" Viggo asked, and I quickly turned to face him. Realizing that I was inches away from his face, I took a quick step back.

"Oh, that? That was nothing. I just showed it who’s in charge, and it left." Viggo stood up straight and looked me in the eyes. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I sensed just a slimmer of gratitude on his face. Though he'd never tell me or let it show.

"I had the situation under control, but I'm not entirely unfair. You have my thanks, and I owe you." I could tell how much it pained him to say it, but nonetheless, my smile to him was genuine.
"And more to the point, why did you come back? You are the last person I would expect to show up here. And that's before even mentioning the wings, and though I have questions, they shall wait till another time."

"Thanks, Viggo. But be careful, oneday I might take advantage of that. And I have no doubt you “had the situation under control” as you called it. You are talented, after all. Being able to run an entire dragon hunting empire isn't easy. But, with that being said, however talented someone is, however gifted or well trained, the world is a mighty big place, there's always someone better. Besides, talent or not, one person alone can only accomplish so much." I said sympathetically as I reached my hand out to him to help him on his feet.
“And of course, I'm gonna try and keep you alive, I can't just let my new source of income die, after all. Now, I need to go. I’ll see you around."

I jumped on River’s back, and we flew off towards the Edge, where the others were definitely starting to worry.

“So that’s why you refused to go, huh? You big softie, you just couldn’t let him get hurt after that stunt in the camp, could you?” I smiled and scratched her chin as we neared the Edge and had a lot of explaining to do.