Heart of a Berserker: Love (School of Dragons)

Chapter 9

"Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be." - James Baldwin

Chapter 9

Hiccup decided to let Cason meet with Toki. They met on Hobblegrunt Island as a neutral location. I tried not to worry while I trained with Harald and my team at the School. The attacks would surely cease now. This was good, right?

We were taking a break and relaxing near our dragons when Cason suddenly landed in the middle of us on Turbo, his nearly full-grown Shockjaw. "I did it!" he exclaimed loudly. "I discovered the location of the last key!"

"Toki actually told you?" Heather said incredulously.

Cason smirked. "I knew he liked me."

Harald rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, kid. This is part of his plan."

"How did you get him to tell you?" Skulder asked.

"I told him I want to help him," Cason explained. "He thinks I'm loyal to him."

"But you're not," Viggo said carefully.

"Nope! I'm just playing him."

"And what makes you think you'll be able to trick him successfully?" Harald jeered. "He's a difficult target."

Cason glared at him. "You're basically doing the same thing."

"I have more experience than you."

"Experience at being a liar? How do we know you're not lying to us?"

"How do we know you're not?"

"Okay, that's quite enough," Eret said, stepping between the pirates. "Both of you could be lying, but we choose to trust both of you. That's why it's called trust. Anyway, Cason, why don't you just tell us where to find the key?"

"Okay!" Cason said brightly. "This guy named Grimmel the Grisly has it."

"What?!" I exclaimed, exchanging horrified looks with my friends.

"I'm related to that guy?" Harald groaned.

"His hatred of Night Furies sort of makes sense now," I said. I wondered how much he knew or cared about his ancestors.

"We haven't heard from him in months," Heather said. "Is he still in the archipelago?"

"He's still stationed on Glacier Island," said Eret, "though with less of a force than before."

"Cason, is there any chance Toki plans to fetch the key from Grimmel?" I asked with a bright smile.

Cason gave me a cheery smile in  return. "Nope. He wants you to do it."

"Of course he does," Harald muttered. "Why take any risk himself?"

"We'll need to find a way to get inside Grimmel's tent," Viggo said. "A distraction could work."

"A distraction like attempting to free those Deathgrippers of his?" I suggested. "We could cure them and use them against him if he decides to fight us."

"We need to be careful not to start a war."

"This sounds dangerous," Heather said.

"Nothing we can't handle!" Eret declared.

"That's right," Harald said. "Do not worry, everyone. I have led numerous missions like this one in the past. I will come up with a plan and discuss it with you later."

"Just don't get caught this time."

Harald gave Eret a look. "I don't plan to."

I watched Cason quietly slip away from the group. Though I did not believe he was a spy, I was immensely interested in what he thought about all this. He seemed to care about his dad but professed to be loyal to us. I wondered where he would stand if put to the test.