Dark Valkyrie

Seven: Hope and Fear

Seven: Hope and Fear

The Hunter vessel was carving through the grey waters of the Sullen Sea, the scudding clouds overhead driven by cold northerlies and redolent with the smell of rain. The spray was getting up and the watch was squinting against the unpleasant weather. It was a poor time to be searching for dragons but they had a quota and Krogan had made it unpleasantly clear what he wanted: the Spearer was on its third Captain, the previous two having failed to meet quotas and the current incumbent was less than willing to go the same way as his predecessors. But they were behind and hence,they were sailing into the teeth of a storm in search of some dragons to fill their hold.

The clouds up ahead were flashing with incipient lightning and the watchman scowled. Dragons rarely flew in lightning storms-except Skrills-and it was highly likely their prey would be hunkered down on cliffs and in caves, seeking shelter from the deluge and as the rain began to fell, he wondered if he could suggest they pulled into a safe harbour rather than brave the increasingly choppy seas.

A screech alerted him and his head snapped up, the sound not repeated and he wondered if it was just a sound of the wind. And then he saw something, blinking as he caught the edge of something moving just at the bottom of the cloud layer, flicking in and out of view. He swiped salt water out of his eyes and saw the bottom half of a dragon. Instantly, he bellowed to the crew, his arm stabbing at the fleeting glimpse of the prey.

"DRAGON!" he yelled and the Hunters swing they catapults round, unleashing a wide spread of DragonRoot arrows, hoping to bring down the creature without any fuss. There was a screech and the Hunters readied the nets, to catch the falling dragon. They waited...and waited...and then looked at one another.

"Curse Loki," Captain Hardrar snapped. "The damned dragon got away. "That's the last we'll see of it..."

And then there was a roar and blinding flames scorched down, searing through the sails and mast. The blue and gold dragon was arrowing down, wings tightly folded against her body, her gold frill raised in fury. And the watchman blinked as he saw white thick scales of another dragon fitted to her vulnerable underbelly. And there was a black shape leaning forward over her neck, a hood shielding the Rider's face. The nets flew but the Nadder effortlessly flipped and raked its Magnesium-hot flames along the hull, the flame that could melt rock making short work of the toughened wood. The ship lurched as the hull breached and the water flooded in.

"KILL THAT NADDER!" the Captain roared. Armoured chains flew at the dragon but again, she dodged and this time the dragon halted, hovering over the ship, the Rider pushing back her hood and revealing a beautiful young blonde woman, her sea blue eyes blazing with fury.

"All you and your kind can do is ambush innocent creatures and kill," she said coldly. "Well, you are no innocent creatures-but consider yourself ambushed. Make your peace with the Gods!" The Captain stared at her.

"But we just capture dragons," he protested as his men readied a ballista. The Rider patted her dragon's shoulder and the tail jerked. His men fell, all lethally impaled by Nadder spines.

"And then you sell them to be killed or worked or fought to death," she said. "You are vermin."

"You're a Rider," the Captain protested, backing away and reaching for his sword. He knew it would be little use against this woman but he was a warrior and he was determined not to go down without a fight. "You just free the dragons and go. Your leader always lets us live..."

The woman growled.

"That was until Viggo poisoned him," she said and her voice was now deadly, her eyes locked on the Captain's face. "Viggo killed him. So I kill you. All of you." The Captain raised his sword.