Against All Odds - Hiccup X Reader

Chapter 8 - A New Alliance

The next morning, I run into Ryker. "(Y/n)?"

"Yes, it's me?" I don't know why he's asking when he clearly knows it's me.

"Are you tone deaf? I was getting your attention, not doubting my ability to see." He's rude, but I'm used to it.

"Whatever. What do you want?" I ask, slightly rolling my eyes.

He tries to murmur something about 'if only you weren't my brothers daughter' but I cut him off: "What's that Ryker?"

"Nothing of your concern" he grumbles, shoving past me.

"Okay" I attempt to ease the atmosphere. "Well what did you want to say?" I give him another chance, making him turn back around.

"Your pain of a father wants me to tell you that we're changing routes." He cuts short.

"To where" I demand more detail.

"To the nearest camp." His strong, rough accent shines through, making him sound annoyed. He probably is.

"Why's that?" I question further.

"Do I look like Viggo to you?" Do you always have to be so harsh? "Ask him yourself, he seems to know all there is to nowadays. I've got better things to do." He sneers before walking off.

I decide to ask my father. I wonder if it's because of the injured Terrible Terror- some camps have dragon healers.

***♡***

I knock on my fathers office door three times. Not getting a response, I try to push the open door, but it's locked.

I should ask someone. Ryker is too grumpy (plus, I've gotten my weekly dose of Ryker just from today), and Heather or the hunters aren't very likely to know anything about Viggo... I could ask Dagur? I don't really speak to him. He's a berserker, he's unstable, and he's not relevant enough for me to communicate with. Except for this occasion I guess.
It's not very hard to spot Dagur. He's always yelling somewhere, giving orders left and right.

Once he notices me approaching, he quits his screaming, and waits for me to walk over to him with a pleased expression.
"And what might your request of me be, Miss Grimborn?" He asks in a forced, weirdly low, but flawless voice.

"Erm.." I make sure to look weirded out. "Where's Viggo?"

"Oh. Him?" He exclaims, sounding quite unstable. "In a meeting, would you like me to escort you?" He raises his eyebrows flirtatiously. He also says 'escort' in a weirdly fancy accent which makes me want to decline even more than I already did- which I didn't think was possible.

My eyes catch Heather's while I'm on my way down to the meeting room. I try not to acknowledge her, but she comes up to me.

"What was all that about?" She asks as she starts walking by me.

"Hell if I know." I don't ever think too deeply about Dagur and his actions.

"Well, what did you tell him?" God she's asking so many questions.

"Where my dad was."

"Why would you tell Dagur where Viggo is?" How many more questions is this girl capable of asking?

"I didn't tell, I asked." I clear it up.

"Ohh." She stops for a moment but I keep walking. "That's weird." She finally responds, catching up to me.

"Couldn't be weirder." I add with my usual straight face.

"I bet he's just trying to ingratiate Viggo." She sounds hateful, almost like she's sick of it.

"Why would he be doing that through me? I ask, surprised. "I'm not Viggo." I proceed to state the obvious.

"Flattering anyone remotely close to Viggo is a win for him to be honest. Sometimes I can't believe we share the same blood." That makes me want to laugh.

"Me neither." I comment even though I feel like I have no business talking about their family and blood.

Our conversation carries on long enough for me to get to the top of the stairs leading down to the meeting room, and Heather parts ways with me.

I wasn't informed that my father would be in a meeting, so it can't be that important, right? He might even be alone, plotting his next move. I knock once just in case.

"Come in." I hear him say, intrigued as to who might dare bother him. He sighs annoyedly when he sees me. "Can't this wait? I'm in a meeting." He says, and I notice the people he's sat with.

He's in a meeting with Johann; a trader I see around often, and another man I have never seen before. A scar running through his right eye stands out to me, and before I can leave them alone, the mysterious man speaks up.
"So is this your daughter? The notorious, deadly one?" He asks Viggo. I thought people didn't know about me.

"I wouldn't call myself that." I play a humble act.

"Now now, come in, let us meet you." I do as he says, but I give a weird look to my dad, signalling how unusual I feel this is. He doesn't seem like the genuine kind of nice person, this whole thing feels sort of threatening in a way that I can't even depict.

"Feel free not to." Johann breathes as I take my stand in front of the long table. Me and Johann haven't exactly gotten along since I accidentally wrecked his ship at fourteen years old when I first met him. After that day, for almost four years now, I've been finding ways to make his life harder without even meaning to. Its like my whole soul is against him even though I've tried to get on his good side for years in the past.

"I've heard some things, about your fights in the arena, single handedly immobilising even the most feared and dangerous of dragons- the tales I've heard involving the Triple Stryke was especially impressive." Why is he still trying to flatter me? I glance at my dad again.

"I just train. A lot." I respond.

"Pfft, pure luck." Johann mutters loud enough for me to pick up on although the others don't seem to hear him. It makes me want to giggle.

"That's enough." My father declares.

"Oh come on Viggo, I was just getting to know the girl!" Krogan insists- I feel like this is some power move he's playing in my dad through me, and I take that as my cue to leave.

"I actually have a couple things to do, and I'm sure you have much more important stuff to talk about." I excuse myself quickly, not giving them the chance to agree nor insist.
Whoever these people are, they sound more to me like enemies than allies.

I couldn't even get an answer to my initial question on why we've changed routes, but I didn't feel like anyone was up to me, so it's not that urgent anymore. I'll ask later when I get the chance.