𝓑𝓮𝔂𝓸𝓷𝓭

Chapter 8 - The Reaper

THREE YEARS LATER

The faint roar of a Night Fury pierced through a thick layer of fog, as Toothless flew up into the sky.

The Night Fury was equipped in a set of black and red armour, made from a metal Hiccup had discovered by accident with Dagur.

The boys had been out on a mission and ended up getting caught in a terrible storm.

They decided to regroup on a small island, once in a safe cave, the two of them set to work setting up camp for the night.

Dagur's Gronckle, Shattermaster, had become nervous, due to the storm and started stressfully eating the rocks in the cave.

The Gronckle soon began spewing up a boatload of yellow lava, after a bit of tinkering and failed attempts.

Hiccup had discovered that the metal created from the lava was in fact unbreakable.

Although, finding the exact combination of rocks took a few tries, resulting in some fires, in the end a result was found.

So to which, all the riders on Berserker island, each had their dragons outfitted in armour made from the metal, Hiccup called Gronckle Iron.

Sitting atop Toothless' back was a now 18-year-old Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and was holding on tight to his dragon's saddle.

His hair was wilder than ever, with two braids sticking out above his right ear, a charcoal black helmet, with matching armour sat over his forest green tunic shirt.

Toothless spiralled up into the air, before levelling out and opening his wings.

The Night Fury and rider dived down towards a maze of sea stacks, maneuvering through them with ease.

" You wanna try the new move, bud?" Hiccup asked Toothless, who nodded his head in agreement.

" It's your funeral. Toothless steered up into the sky, Hiccup held on tight, as the wind hit his face.

" Yeah, this is awesome." Before Hiccup could finish his belts that clipped him to Toothless' came loose and he fell off his dragon.

" Toothless!" Hiccup called to his dragon, Toothless rolled his eyes and glided down to his rider.

" Hey." Hiccup spoke to his dragons, who was gliding down towards the ocean.

" What's up." Toothless answered, smiling, Hiccup rolled his eyes and looked down to the ocean.

" So do I just plummet or you gonna catch me?" Toothless warbled, before flying down further, ready to catch his rider.

Hiccup fell into Toothless' saddle and clipped his prosthetic in place, reopening the tail.

" I didn't want to say this but, I told you so." Toothless growled at Hiccup, who was lost in thought.

" I think I might need to come up with something to deal with that, if it ever happens again." Hiccup smiled down at Toothless, who groaned.

" And we won't see you for another week, come on we have work to do." Toothless steered himself back around to the direction they were heading and levelled out.

Hiccup pulled out a spyglass and began surveying the vast ocean ahead, checking to see if anything had come up.

The Night Fury rider was in the eastern Archipelago, he had gotten a tip-off from Johan.

The crazy trader said his store ship had been ransacked and he was to busy to investigate it.

Hiccup had offered and the Trader was ecstatic, of course, Astrid and Dagur had their doubts and offered to accompany Hiccup.

But, he insisted it would be fine and set out across the archipelago, heading East.

It had been about a days journey to reach the fog bank, that separated the northern tribes from the eastern waters.

From what Hiccup could see, nothing was coming up, there was no sign of Johan's ship in amongst the thousands of other ships.

" Look at the ships bud, they are definitely not from any of the Northern Tribes." Hiccup informed his dragon, Toothless grumbled.

" I don't like this place, it feels like we're being watched." Toothless looked below him, thinking he saw a shadow pass over a boat, but nothing was there.

" Ah, found it!" Hiccup pointed to a two story ship, that wasn't destroyed and decorated in ornate colours.

" Finally, let's just check it out the ship then get out of here." Hiccup rolled his eyes, as the Night Fury sped forward.

They landed on the deck, as Hiccup jumped down from Toothless he saw that none of the barrels we're tipped over.

" That's strange, I though Johan said his ship had been ransacked?" Hiccup walked around the top deck inspecting each barrel.

All were still filled with Johan's goods and trade items, Hiccup pushed open the door to the lower levels.

" You are seriously not thinking about going down there?" Toothless questioned his rider, Hiccup gave the Night Fury a look and smiled.

" What do you think I'm gonna do." Hiccup sauntered down the ladder, Toothless rolling his eyes.

" Why do I even ask." Toothless grumbled as he followed after Hiccup, who had lit a lantern.

The lower levels we're the same as the top, all of Johan's stock was untouched and in perfect condition.

" Well, this was a waste of time, let's go before, Hiccup what are you looking at?" Toothless stood next to Hiccup who was rummaging through some of Johan's papers.

" Isn't it rude to pry into someone else's business?" Toothless shoved his rider, who continued to look through the papers.

" I just saw something." As Hiccup finished he pulled out a map, that had a picture of a ship that was at least three times the size of Johan's.

The page had an inscription etched below it, Hiccup read through it, before his eyes widened in shock.

" What, what is it?" Toothless asked, trying to read the words, but couldn't.

" It's a warning, those who seek my families treasure will surely face the fear of measure." Hiccup and Toothless looked at each other with shock.

" It seems this treasure is either the ship or is on the ship." Hiccup stood up, ran out of Johan's ship and looked around the shipyard.

He surveyed the thousands of ships, before looking at one ship, in the furthermost corner.

The ship was three stories and was as wide as two Viking huts, it had a huge sail that had a bloodied fist painted on it.

" Why are you looking at that ship?" Toothless asked Hiccup, who was deep in thought.

" I bet that's the reaper and why would someone leave this message here if they didn't want anyone to find the treasure." Hiccup looked over at the ship, determination spread across his face.

" Well, whatever you do, you better do it quickly, EELS!!" Hiccup and Toothless turned to see three huge tiger stripped electric eels use out of the water.

Each were hissing, barring needle-sharp teeth and had electrical currents rippling off their slimy skin.

" It just had to be eels." Hiccup jumped onto Toothless and the Night Fury shot at one of the eels, before taking off.

" You know, I think it would have been nice if Johan had mentioned the GIANT SCREAMING EELS!!" Toothless fired another shot and took off towards the huge ship.

From the top, Hiccup could see cages made of a type of rusted green metal and several arrow launches.

" What was this ship even made for?" Hiccup questioned, as Toothless landed on the rotten deck.