Dark Valkyrie

Twenty-Four: The Trader's Trap

Twenty Four: The Trader's Trap

The weather had deteriorated and there was a fog of torrential rain surrounding the miserable jagged shape of Nameless Isle, a well-known navigational hazard not that far from the Edge. It was also a frequent stopping-off point for Hunters and an infrequent base of operations. A familiar ship across the Archipelago was moored in a sea-cave that led directly up into a complex and extensive cave system that permeated the granite mountain forming the bulk of the island.

Johann strode through the main corridor, nodding to the couple of men who had headed here as ordered once he had been aware if the possibility that his organisation would be completely destroyed by the renegade Dragon Rider. And while he had been recruiting a few more men, he had been more invested in locating the remaining DragonEye lenses to enable him to locate the King of Dragons and achieve his goal in dominating the entire Archipelago-and beyond.

In fact, Astrid had done him a favour, for Krogan, the servant of a man that Johann knew as Drago Bludvist, a vicious warlord and madman, would have tried to take the King of Dragons for his master. Johann wouldn't have tolerated this but the resulting conflict could have been difficult and while the Fliers were under his control. Krogan had posed a danger. The actions of Astrid Hofferson had removed that problem, defeating a man that Johann hadn't yet formulated a plan to dispose of and removing the threat.

Lengthening his stride, Johann clasped his hands behind his back, dark eyes flicking at the guards but not bothering to acknowledge their stiff attention. He would have responded if they had been sloppy but his men had learned that getting no reaction from their leader was a good thing. Killing the odd straggler or incompetent always improved the quality of the men and their concentration, Johann had found. Shaking his head, he rounded the corner and swiftly made his way up the winding passage into the large cavern that he had adopted as his main atrium-and the cages within.

He paused, his lips lifting in a cruel smile as he inspected the unconscious shapes within. Three humans and three dragons, all subdued by a combination of subterfuge, Johann's brilliance and a generous pinch of stupidity on the part of the Riders. Looking down on the shape of the female, Johann nodded and the guard opened the cage, lifting the limp, raven-haired shape and removing her from the cage.

"Take her to my quarters," Johann ordered, casting a scornful glance at the other prisoners. "I'll wake her up there. We do need to be ready when Master Hiccup arrives." His cold voice mangled the name, sarcastically mimicking the servile tone he had used for so long when dealing with the Hooligan Heir. "After all, that boy must have run out of lives now-and he will trade himself for these imbeciles. His cousin, his best friend-and the girl he thinks of almost as a sister. And if he needed more encouragement...well, Heather is expendable. They all are." His voice hardened as the door of the cage clanged shut.

"I will have those lenses and 'Master Hiccup's' head-and then there will be nothing left to stop me!"

oOo

Snotlout Jorgensen hadn't really had that many bad awakenings because somehow, it was never him that tended to get himself captured or imprisoned. That was really his cousin's thing! Sure, he had been struck by lightning more times than he could count (really-he actually had lost track...though it was five or six last time he could recall) and Hookfang was definitely the naughtiest dragon in the Archipelago so he had been set on fire plenty of times but generally he had came through the Dragon Riders' adventures pretty intact.

But he had awoken with a stiff neck, the imprint of a bar on his beautiful face and a headache and when he sat up, he had been surprised to find himself alone in a cage, with a line of cages stretching away to his left and right containing what looked like the rest of the Party. If he craned his neck, he could see the orange and brown bulk of Hookfang three cages down and a tightness of worry that he had realised was there eased in his chest a little. Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone-least of all his father-he loved Hookfang and would do anything to ensure that his dragon was safe. And though he hated that Hookie was captured as well, at least he knew where his dragon was and that meant he had one person he could totally rely on when they bust out of the cages and paid back that Johann.