" Training a squadron of dragons and attacking under the cover of darkness? Rather impressive."
You sat on a wooden chair across a table from Viggo, much like the first time you had been captured. But something was different. Ryker wasn't there for a start. You didn't know if he was still alive or not, but not having the point of a sword pressing between your shoulder blades was a huge relief. For some reason, your hands hadn't been tied. Viggo had even poured you a glass of water, not that you even remotely intended to drink anything this man offered you. You felt a bit better now that the spine had been removed from your leg, but you could feel the poison still working its way through your body in a dull ache. You needed that antidote fast.
"How do you know what I was doing?"
" When I saw what was about to unfold, I could hardly resist the prospect of such a show, so decided to investigate further. And I'm glad I did - it was a highly entertaining spectacle." He smirked. "A shame you didn't retrieve the Dragon Eye too, while you were at it, but we'll get to that later."he added with a menacing smile.
Behind you, you could hear a few Dragon Hunters tinkering with something, but there was no way you were turning you back on Viggo for even one second to find out what. Despite whatever charismatic front he might be putting on at the moment, you still didn't trust him.
'So, I wasn't hallucinating when I saw that boat.' You thought to yourself furrowing your eyebrows.
"What was that, my dear?"
"Nothing." You quickly stuttered. "I heard you talking about a Changewing earlier. Now, hand over my dragon or else - "
"Of course." He said smoothly, peering behind you. Into the tent walked a Dragon Hunter and, alongside him, Ember.
"Ember!" He looked a little worn out, but his eyes lit up at the sight of you and he instantly leaped towards you, pressing his muzzle to your hand. Somehow, he had recovered from the poison.
"As you can see," Viggo continued, "your dragon is recovering from the Deadly Nadder poison and a few side effects of the cure."
"The cure?" you repeated. "You cured my dragon?"
"Not only that," Viggo said holding up a small vial, "I also have the antidote for you. If you want to survive, that is."
"I'm not that stupid!" you almost laughed. "I know your tricks Viggo! How do I know that 'cure' won't kill me faster?"
"Because," Viggo replied, "It seems to have worked well enough for your friend there. Ask yourself: why would I want to kill you?"
"Isn't that what you've been trying to do all along?"
"When you were a Dragon Rider, perhaps. But, the way I see it, you are now the enemy of my enemy, which should make us allies." you could see a faint smirk emerging on his face. There was no way you were falling for this!
"I don't know what you're playing at Viggo but, whatever it is, it's not working. Just because I have a problem with the other riders, it doesn't mean I'm going to help you."
"I hadn't expected you to agree so easily." Viggo said, not seeming discouraged in the slightest, and taking a sip of water from his own glass. "But I must insist that, for once, I'm not trying to trick you."
"I've had enough of this." You said, getting up.
"Come on, Ember." At that point the poison seemed to take over your entire body. Suddenly, your legs seemed to no longer support you, and you felt yourself tumbling helplessly towards the floor, before Ember caught you. You grabbed Ember's flank for support. But, it was useless. The light was fading fast. Darkness was engulfing you. Again.
When you opened your eyes, you were laying on a bed in a small tent. You really had to stop passing out like this - it was becoming an alarmingly frequent occurrence. Having said that, it wasn't exsctly your fault. The first time, you'd been beaten up by a man about three times your size, and the on the other two occasions you had been overwhelmed by highly concentrated Deadly Nadder venom. Speaking of which, the effects of the poison seemed to have disappeared. Your head was cleat and the strong, sluggish feeling, that you had felt so intensely before, had vanished.
'This must be a Dragon Hunter tent.' You could recognize it from the Zippleback scales. There was only a slight shard of light shining through the entrance. From the intensity, you predicted that it must be around midday. You still didn't understand why you had been left completely unguarded and unrestrained. You could quite easily walk out and leave the island, it seemed. And that was exactly what you intended to do. Ember wasn't here, but you were confident you would be able to find him and leave this island undetected. What you would do next, you had no idea.
Before you left the tent, you noticed that your sword had been left beside the bed. It was a folding sword that you usually kept attached to your belt. It was currently opened at its full length. You picked it up, and squeezed the hilt in a steady grip, the familiar weight of the weapon reassuring you. Fighting wasn't always your preferred option, but you always kept the sword with you. Your father had given it to you, when he had deemed you old enough to possess such a lethal weapon. For many reasons, it was your memory of him. Something about it made you feel safe. You always kept it close - even holding it made you feel stronger. After a moment of contemplation, you folded the sword neatly into a dagger, and attached it to the belt at your hip.
You stepped out of the ten. The sunlight hit you, making you squint. There were only a few sparsely spaced Dragon Hunters in the clearing, and it wasn't difficult to sneak past them, given how unalert they seemed. You had no clue where to go in search of Ember, but the Dragon Hunters had him, you knew that. You had to get to him before they could do anything to him. Just then, something caught your eye. No Dragon Hunter would have it, but you did. There, on the dusty ground, was a small drop of green acid. A few meters ahead was another.
'What a clever dragon!' you thought to yourself, as you followed the trail of Changewing acid to a cave. The cave was small and dark. There was scarcely enough light to see, but it was a huge relief from the intensity of the sunlight outside. As your eyes adjusted to the light, you saw something red up ahead. Scampering towards it, you realized it was Ember. He jerked his head when he saw you coming towards the cage, but didn't stand. What had happened? He had seemed overjoyed to see you yesterday. You thought he had been cured.
"There you are." Your stomach did a somersault, when you realized Viggo was standing right behind you. Was this a trap? Had you walked into it unawares? You twisted round to look at him, your hand automatically going to the sword on your belt. He placed a careful hand on your own, that was gripping the hilt.
"No need for violence." he said calmly. You could see that his own sword was still sheathed behind his back, and there were no other guards in the cave. Through narrowed eyes, you loosened your grip on the sword ever so slightly, and he swiftly removed his hand. Your fingers still clasped your hilt in case but, for now, you didn't seem to be at the point where you needed to fight your way out.
"I can't say I'm surprised." You said dryly "You seem to have a habit of showing up at the most inconvenient of times."
"I'm afraid that dragon wouldn't be able to fly, even if he wanted to." Viggo commented, not seeming to take offence at your remark.
"What do you mean?"
"Whilst the Deadly Nadder's venom took longer to act upon your dragon, due to his size, the cure will similarly take longer to come into effect. Your dragon pushed himself too hard last night when he greeted you, and seems to have suffered a relapse."
"So you're blaming me." you rolled your eyes, but, deep down, a pang of sickening worry began to build.
"Not entirely. I wanted to speak to you."
"About what?" you snapped sarcastically," "To make some sardonic comment before you kill me?"
"I would have done that long ago, my dear, if that's what I intended." the comment caught you off-guard, but you continued searching for the trickery in his pronouncements.
"So, let me get this straight." You crossed your arms over your chest. "You don't want to kill me, yet you have my dragon locked up in a cage, and you won't let me leave this island."
"Those are a lot of accusations. First of all, I could have killed you quite easily if I'd wanted you, by simply not lifting a finger on two occasions. The first, when my brother attacked you. And the second, by not administering the Deadly Nadder venom cure to you last night."
He gave you the cure?
"I thought I made it clear I didn't want the cure. For that matter, what do you think you're doing giving this 'cure' to my dragon?"
"You would both be dead by now if I hadn't." he retaliated, his voice taut.
"My dragon doesn't exactly seem to be bouncing off the walls as it is!"
"Like I said, he suffered a relapse. But, his condition should improve with time. As for your next accusation, I think you'll find that your dragon is not technically locked up. He is a Changewing, after all, and could quite easily use his acid to break free from that dragon proof cage, if he so wished. And, finally, I am by no means obstructing you from leaving this island. If memory serves, you crash landed here yourself."
That was a pretty solid argument. Everything he said made sense. But, then again, of course it would - he was a master of deception. Perhaps he was leading you into a false sense of security. Well, you certainly wouldn't fall prey to that.
"So, what exactly do you want?" you asked, expecting him to come up with some witty method to inflict pain on you, without contradicting his previous points.
"It appears you should stay here until you and your dragon have recovered enough to leave."
This time you actually burst out laughing. He was just going to let the two of you fly off once Ember had recovered? Just like that? This was ridiculous - did he really think you were that stupid?
"Yeah right." you said. "Only someone like Snotlout would fall for something like that."
"That's precisely it." He said, "As I mentioned last night, you're no longer a Dragon Rider." That stung. But, you supposed it was the truth. "In fact, you oppose them, so what reason do I have to harm you? You must know by now that I wouldn't start a fight unnecessarily."
'But he must be after something.' You told yourself, 'Even if I'm not one of them anymore, he knows I must have information about the Dragon Riders.'
"I thought I already told you that just because I have a problem with them, that doesn't make us allies."
"Yes, but that also means that we are no longer enemies. Your dragon is too weak to fly; you have no choice but to remain here until he has recovered. That is, unless you are willing to abandon your own dragon in pursuit of revenge?" He arched an eyebrow.
You looked at Ember. Viggo was right. There was no way he had enough strength to fly, let alone carry you. And even if you could find another way out of here, there was no way you were going to leave Ember. When you had been captured by the Dragon Hunters in pursuit of the Project Shellfire plans, Ember had remained on the island, when he could have easily flown away and saved himself. Despite the risks, he had saved you from being captured again. There was no way you were going to abandon him now.
You had to stay. You turned around to grudgingly agree to Viggo's offer, but he was already walking away. Ember gave a small grunt.
"I know, boy. I don't trust him either. We'll have to be on our guard." You said through gritted teeth.
A/N: Another chapter - hope you enjoyed it! I would like to say thank you to BastetEclipse for giving me the idea for the folding sword! That's all for now!