The Lost Heir Book One: Dragons Edge

Chapter Six: Night of Hunters pt 1

The morning sun was rising as I was out on my morning patrol with Eclipse. We flew around the sea stacks with a pack of Terrible terrors around us. I laughed brightly as one seated itself on my head, I raised my hands and picked it up before letting it fly off. My flying mask covered my face as Eclipse started to fly parallel to a cliff.

"Woo-hoo!" I shouted, "Going vertical!" I laughed loudly again and Eclipse chortled along with me. I screamed in joy as we made it to the top and plunged into the forest. I smiled widely under the mask before I got tired of it and took it off and shoved it into Eclipse's saddlebag. I got an idea suddenly and stood up carefully on Eclipse's saddle as she looked at me curiously.

"Catch you on the other side girl," I grunted as I jumped up into a tree above us and swung through until I popped out of the other side and landed right back on the saddle, "Whoo, miss me?"

Eclipse smacked her jaws and rolled her eyes before cooing a response. I laughed and shut my eyes in bliss.

"Aaah, it's been forever since we've done this, girl." I breathed as I straightened back up, hearing the familiar sound of a rushing waterfall. We neared the falls before we landed and Eclipse curled up in the sun while I sat on the rocks with my sketchbook, sketching out the cove we found.

"Nothing like an early morning ride to start off the day," I breathed out and looked at Eclipse who mumbled and flopped over onto her side, "You think Hiccup would like this place we've found? We should do this more often, from now on we'll- "

I was cut off suddenly by the sound of a dragon growl and I snapped my head up when the pack of Terrors we had been with earlier scattered everywhere. I stood up hurriedly and packed away my sketchbook before mounting Eclipse and flying off to find the source of the noise. I scanned below us as we flew, but saw nothing out of the ordinary before I heard the growl again. I snapped my attention to the direction the growl came from and clicked my heels against Eclipse's side to turn.

"That way," I whispered into Eclipse's ear and she nodded, turning us in that direction. We flew past and landed behind a large group of rocks on the beach, we peered from behind it to find an anchored ship. Men were loading up crates while we sat behind the rocks, investigating closely. I stared at the ship closely, it confused me. It didn't look like anything from this archipelago, but it also didn't remind me of any other ships I had seen in the past.

"I don't recognise those colors..." I glanced past the colors and looked up at the sail, my eyes widening when I saw the insignia, "But I do recognise that insignia... but from where?"

I took a longer look at the men, and what crates they were loading onto the ship. When I saw inside them I let out a soft gasp. Dragons, there were all different types of dragons loaded up into the crates.

"Eclipse, these men are Dragon Hunters, let's get a closer look.." I suggested as I slowly crept from behind the boulders and closer to another formation of boulders. Eclipse snuck behind me, however, she was reluctant to get any closer as we peaked our heads sneakily from behind our new hiding spot.

We watched as one of the hunters walked up to a caged dragon and banged against its cage, "Quiet down, ya useless lizard." I gasped again and glared at the man who was smiling evilly into the cage. We watched him laugh until another man came up behind him and slammed him into the cage. I flinched back at the sudden violence, but continued to watch.

"Just load 'em up..." The other man ordered, he seemed to be the one in charge, because the other hunter was quivering fearfully.

"Y-yes Ryker, sorry Ryker..." He stammered and turned back towards the cage with the Monstrous Nightmare inside. The Nightmare glared at the two men and hissed in warning as it backed itself against the back end of the cage.