Mysteries Beyond (Dragons RTTE Fanfic - Sequel to Deception)

Chapter 14

Amethyst landed briskly on the mountain plateau, Sclera touching down beside her. You immediately  ran to where you saw Cloudjumper slumped in a heap in the snow, the huge skid marks of his landing evident in the snow behind him. You ran around to his head. The snow was sprinkled upon his brow. You heard him give a heavy sigh, as he opened his amber eyes to look at you, snow sliding off his wings as he did so. You breathed a deep sigh of relief in return.

"Thank you." you murmured to him, looking deep into the dragon's eyes. He bowed his crimson head in acceptance of your thanks.

"He says thanks too, by the way." you said, gesturing towards Viggo, who was now looking out over the vast island from the edge of the plateau. "And, of course, Amethyst and Sclera." From what you could see, although strenuous, the ordeal hadn't caused Cloudjumper any injuries. Behind, you saw that Scerla and Amethyst had already set to work disarming and removing the other trap. You reckoned you'd be here for a while though - Cloudjumper would need a good twenty minutes or so to recover his strength, particularly if he intended to undertake the long flight back to Valka's mountain, which you assumed he did. In the meantime, that made you vulnerable. Moving swiftly back over to the front of the plateau, you decided to keep a lookout on the trappers down below. They seemed to have given up in pursuit, but now wasn't the time to take chances. Standing at the edge of the plateau, you surveyed their every move, ready to raise the alarm if you needed to.

"That was lucky." you said out loud, aware that Viggo was nearby. He turned his head at your remark.

"Indeed," he replied, "we were all incredibly lucky you came up with a plan."

"No, I mean we're lucky Cloudjumper came." you corrected him. After all, your plan had only half-worked; without Cloudjumper the whole thing would have fallen to pieces, and you'd probably all be dead by now.

"Cloudjumper wouldn't have done any good, unless you'd had the initiative to act upon his arrival." Viggo argued back, this time more insistently.

"What are you trying to do?"

"Just remind you that you're not as useless as you seem adamant to believe you are."

"Viggo Grimborn - no longer a dragon hunter, but now a reformed, motivational speaker!" you mocked sarcastically. "Honestly, that plan would have failed if Cloudjumper hadn't come." you insisted. "If you can even call it a plan. I mean-"

"Stop." Viggo cutting you off took you aback a little. For usually such a calm and collected character, the tension in his voice unsettled you. After gaping awkwardly at him in silence for a few seconds, you decided you had better make some kind of response:

"What?" you muttered quietly, looking at the snow covering the tops of your boots.

"Just stop criticizing yourself, okay. Would you do that for me, y/n?" You looked up at him, about to reply, when you heard a sharp shout slice through the arctic air below. The abrupt noise drew both your and Viggo's attention at once. It was that mysterious man again, the one with the cloak made of what looked like dragon scales. He shout had come from him, and and you could see him now intimidatingly approaching the head trapper of the fleet, which Amethyst and Sclera had been captured by. Three men trailed him from behind, holding weapons and equipment in their hands although, from up here, you couldn't see exactly what they were.

"Fancy getting some answers?" you asked Viggo in a brighter voice.

"About time." he replied, making his way down the mountain, you following closely behind. Luckily for you, you didn't have to travel that far down the slopes of the mountain to hear what they were saying: the mysterious man's voice was so forceful that it seemed to echo around the whole island, whilst the other man's voice was wild, and shaking with fear. Taking cover behind a small ridge, you settled yourselves, listening and looking intently at the drama unfolding below, as the leader had now reached the frightened trapper.

"You..." the man said, pointing his weapon at the lead trapper before him, his voice grave.

"The name's Eret." the trapper gulped, with a nervous laugh. "Eret, son of Eret." he opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off by the older man.

"I don't care." his voice bellowed. He didn't even need to shout, something about his voice just seemed to carry in the wind, in the most sinister way. "Why haven't you brought me dragons?"

"Well, you see, Drago, sir, during all that commotion just now, they escaped. I really did have two incredible beasts - a Skrill and a Changewing, but not like one I'd seen before." Even from your vantage point, you could see the frustration building up in the man's (whose name was apparently Drago) voice.

"You let them get away!" he growled. Eret tried to make a reply in his defense, but it was useless. Two of the trappers behind Drago had stepped forward to take him by the arms.

"Do you know what I do to people who fail me?" he asked scornfully.

"Yes, sir, but-"

"Of course you do. At least, you saw what happened to Krogan..."  he added with a menacing chuckle. You felt Viggo jolt beside you at the mention of Krogan's name.

You saw Eret shudder, the memory of Krogan's demise clearly being a poignant reminder of just how merciless Drago seemed to be.

"I-I know this looks bad. But, I can fix it - I'll get those dragons back. The Skrill - one of the most powerful dragons in the world - that would be an asset to your army. And that Changewing? Never seen one like it in all my years of trapping - it could have some hidden abilities we don't even know about yet..." Eret tried desperately to make his life seem of value to Drago. Drago considered his options for a moment, while Eret forced himself to suppress a shiver. Normally you would have felt sorry for him, but this guy had trapped you dragons, and was prepared to enslave them in some sort of army, so you were struggling to find any sort of sympathy for the terrified trapper right now.

"You will get those dragons." came Drago's authoritative response.

"Of course, and I-"

"And to make sure," Drago beckoned a third trapper forward, "I'll make sure you never forget who you work for, and what I can do to you." Eret struggled in the trappers' grip, as a third trapper approached him ominously. You glimpsed a red-hot, iron brand clasped in his hand. A few seconds later, there were  shouts of protest from Eret, followed by an excruciating yell which lasted at least a minute, until it subsided to heavy, agonized breaths.

Turning to Viggo, you realized that whoever you thought you were up against before, was nowhere near to the reality of the foe you were now faced with.

A/N: Again, sorry it took ages to update - I'm really busy at the moment. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)