Deranged Obsession; by KaliAnn

2. Stalking His Targets

By KaliAnn

A sense of urgency was felt by the riders as they searched the ocean for Trader Johann's ship. Stoick had been anxiously waiting for days for him to arrive with a special delivery and now he was three days late. They had taken upon themselves to find the man and bring him back to Berk. As they flew through the air they looked for signs of the man and his ship.

"Anyone spot anything yet?" Hiccup called out

"Nothing except more ocean! How do we know that Trader Johann isn't dead or that his ship sank?" Snotlout asked.

"I'll use my echolocation on the ocean floor to see if there's a sunken ship. If there's a recent wreck I'll find it," Orli replied. Nissa was riding on the female Nightfury for security reasons. They couldn't have Johann witnessing her manifesting from her dragon form so for now she rode Orli. The duo plunged towards the ocean firing echolocation bursts through the ocean's surface. A signal from Nissa the two of them dove deep below.

"Are they going to be alright? The water is freezing today thanks to that cold snap," Fishlegs pointed out.

"Their both dragons, well sort of. They'll be okay so don't worry."

The female Nightfury broke through the surface of the water spinning around sending droplets of water from her black and purple scales. Nissa partially manifest her dragon snout releasing a low level flame warming herself. The two of them joined the rest of the pack looking none the worse for the wear. "We didn't find any recent wrecks however we did spot a trail of cargo heading in a northwest direction that looked pretty recent. I suggest we follow it and hopefully it will lead us to Johann."

The group followed the trail without any problems until they finally stumbled across a small outcropping. Johann had washed up on shore partially buried under a few planks. There was no sign of the boat anywhere in the vicinity. The group landed and starting helping the man out giving him food and water tending to his wounds.

"How are you feeling Johann? How long have you been here exactly?"

"I'm doing better thank you. As for how long I suppose you know that better than me."

"You were suppose to be at Berk three days ago. Where is your ship? How did you end up on this island so far from the main sailing lanes?"

"I was on my way to Berk, the weather was perfect and the sea was cooperating with me. I was making good time so I decided to do a little inventory. I had just finished counting up my new weapons cache I had gotten from a friend of mine when I was surrounded by a thick fog. I could hear menacing growling all around me. I stumbled about trying to save my ship only to earn myself bites and scratches. The entire ship started to rise out of the water. I fell over the side along with some planks. I managed to hold onto one of them. I must have clung on for hours before blacking out."

"Sounds like a Smothering Smokebreaths saw your stock and decided to bring it back to their nest. When an entire pack works as one they can lift at least three times their weight."

"Thank you Mr. Book of Dragons. We'd never would have suspected that."

"Hush, Johann my Dad was expecting something from you. Was it on your ship?"

"The treasure was on the ship, but it wasn't for your dad Hiccup it was for you. The item in question was a gift from your mother."

"My...my...my mother? How could that be? She's been dead for years."

"It doesn't matter now the important thing is to find the boat and get it back. Johann, do you remember where you were exactly when the Smokebreaths attacked?"