The Thunder and Lightning Riders

Chapter 24: I Have Said Too Much, So Much Info But No Leads

Eret's POV

I led the girl and what was left of her tribe into the empty meadows. It was a large and open area, big enough for the people who were here.

"Thank you," the girl said. "We really appreciate it."

"It's no problem," I assured her. "And you should thank Chief Hiccup. He has a soft spot for refugees and outsiders."

She gazed back at where we had come from. She sighed deeply. "How does he do that?"

"Do what?" I asked.

"The way he speaks and everyone listens to him. Not one straggler tried to pick a fight," she continued. Her shoulders had dropped while she was speaking and a look of amazement overtook her face as she recounted the events. "It's amazing."

"Hiccup is," I started. "Someone. He's been a chief since before I joined them when I was 20."

She looked shocked. "You're only in your twenties?"

"That shocking?" I joked.

"It really is," she looked in awe. "I saw the way Chief Hiccup talked to you. He knows you well, and he trusts you. That must mean you're important to him."

"Well, yes," I answered. I helped the girl unload most of the crates filled with items that had been salvaged. "I'm surprised he trusted me so quickly though. I tried to kill him when I first met him."

"Really?" she raised her eyebrows as she opened another crate. "If you don't mind me asking, why'd you try to kill him? He seems so nice."

"Hiccup is nice, don't get me wrong," my answer quickly came as I cracked open a few more crates. Inside the one on my left was an assortment of weapons ranging from short daggers to maces.

She scoffed and said, "Then why'd you try to kill him?"

I shrugged. "My employer at the time was not fond of dragon riders, especially not those more powerful than him."

She just sighed and shook her head slightly. "I am not getting into that at all."

Makes sense, I thought as I spent the next few minutes just helping break down the now empty crates so they could be used as firewood.

My eyes returned to a weapon in the weapon crate. It was different from all the others. It was a dagger, but it had a different sigil embedded in the hilt. Eyes opening in shock, I realized that I knew that symbol. I recognized it.

Carefully and sneakily, I swiped the blade and shoved it into my shirt pocket.

I cleared my throat and I turned to the girl. She was speaking to, or moreover trying to, an elder, the same one from the docks. The older woman had graying hair and a very petite frame, She looked like she came in at about 5'2.

The elder kept trying to shout out orders to avoid talking to the girl.

"Excuse me," I pardoned myself and looked toward the girl. "Was there any remaining evidence of the attackers that you might have collected?"

"I'm not-" the girl started, only slightly surprised when she was interrupted by the elder.

"Yes. There must have been," the elder crowed.

"Could you show me it?" I asked, directing my attention towards the older woman in front of me.

"Now why would you need that?" She demanded, slightly aggressive.

Older generations were always a little more difficult to work with. They were usually skeptical of our process, which to them always seemed to be different than what they had heard from other islands.

"Elderess Tofe, he is the one helping us. It is wise for us to listen to what he has to say," the girl reasoned with the older woman.

"And it's wise for you to not interrupt the one helping us as he tries to answer, Thyra!" The elder, Tofe, barked out at the girl, Thyra.

Thyra looked like she wanted to scream at the woman, but she bit her tongue and bowed her head slightly.

The elder seemed slightly ticked and gestured for me to follow her.

I followed her to where they had set up a tent. It was nice on the inside. A few pelts, a few fancy swords, the whole thing. The elder led me to another sword. It had a ruby pushed into the hilt, and on the ruby was a burned in symbol. My head reared slightly, and I squinted at the ruby again. There's no way.

"How many attackers were there?" I asked, turning my head to look at her.

"Oh, just one group. Many, many ships, but they all had the same red and orange symbol on their sails," the elder spoke.

"Are you sure?" I asked. Stressing the question.

"Yes I am, matter of fact," Tofe replied. "Why are you asking so many questions on this anyways? Shouldn't you be helping us?"

"Procedure. We do this so that we can make sure no tribes have violated a contract or so we can identify any possible threats that might also come for our island. Chief Hiccup cares for his people a lot," I answered.

"Good that," the elder grunted slightly. "Thyra should learn from him."

"She seems like a good kid," I murmured.

"She's sweet. She doesn't think about the bigger picture though. She's a warrior at heart, and we have enough of those," The elder muttered the last part under her breath slightly.

I nodded my head slowly. They treated this girl wrongly. She was trying her best right now, even I could see that.

"I suppose it is reasonable though. She was never really trained to be a chief," Tofe told me. She was grazing the wolf pelt with the tips of her fingers.

"Oh?" I asked, still inspecting the sword.

Tofe's head snapped back up and she looked at me. "I have said too much. I must be going to help with the setup."

I don't think you were helping all that much. I thought. "Alright, I should go talk to Hiccup as well."

We walked out of the tent and she went towards a few children playing on the side of the meadow.

I felt an arm tug me and I turned to see who it was. "Thyra?" I murmured.

"Yeah it's me. I have some information for you," she looked around slightly nervous. "When they attacked, as soon as they got off the ship they screamed, 'For Hakan!' I think it's their leader's name or something but it was kind of concerning."

"Wow, thank you," I said. "I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome," she answered.

"I gotta go now. I need to talk to Hiccup," and with that, I walked away, heading towards our secret shack.

***Time Skip Brought to you by Ruffrunner and Chicken***

I tied the dagger and sword to Hiccup and I's setup in a small shack. It was covered in sightings, witnesses, sigils, boat drawings, name possibilities, descriptions. The dagger I had taken from Thyra's crate matched with the sigil we had been given by a trader not so long ago in the Northern Markets. I couldn't remember the name or face at all.

I tore down the rest of the sigils that didn't match and moved everything closer to each other.

I heard someone come in, and I knew it was hiccup. I turned, and he was standing up against the door frame. He was studying the whole wall of our information. It was scary to think we could have so much information but still no leads.

"What're you think of Haddock?" I called to him, turning from the wall to look at Hiccup.

"2 things," he answered. He walked toward the wall and picked the piece of paper that contained a drawn sigil on it. "1, we need to head back to the Northern Market and find this guy." He pointed to the name written on the back of the page, 'Fjord'. "2, we need to tell Astrid and Heather. We might have been right about him. We might actually have a situation on our hands."