I tousled a bit of my hair as I followed closely behind Fishlegs and Meatlug, taking careful steps so I wouldn't disturb the dragon and endanger the children on her back. Meatlug was docile, but when someone spooked her, she would destroy anything in her path. I listened carefully to Fishlegs' lesson on the history of dragons on Berk, occasionally correcting him when he recalled an instance incorrectly. The children's eyes were wide with wonder as he spoke, perhaps slightly in disbelief that this had all happened on their home island.
"...And if you look closely at the walls of the Great Hall, you'll still see puncture marks where the Speed Stingers attacked." The children gasped and muttered in awe. "Interesting fact about these dragons—"
The sound of wings flapping above us drew Fishlegs' and my eyes to a large, black dragon circling us. A wide smile spread onto my face as the rider smiled down at me, then moved to try and land. At the same time, Stoick and Gobber emerged from the Great Hall.
"Oh! Oh, look, kids!" Fishlegs squealed. "We're in luck. Here come two of Berk's most famous heroes."
"Ho, ho, heroes?" Stoick chuckled. "I've got some chiefing to do, but I suppose I could spare a moment—"
"Hiccup, and the amazing Toothless!"
The kids cheered as Hiccup landed, sliding off Toothless and making his way over to me. I placed my hands on his arms as he leaned down, bringing our lips together quickly.
"Did you find anything new?" He shook his head.
"Nothing, yet. I just wanted to come back really quick and say hello before heading back out again." I shook my head, chuckling.
"Don't wear him out." I pointed at Toothless, who absentmindedly scratched something behind his ear plates.
"Yes, ma'am." He mock saluted me before rushing back toward Toothless. I was about to resume my walk with Fishlegs, when something popped into my head.
"Hey, babe?" I called. He turned his head to look back at me. "Astrid's still out there patrolling. Can you just check and make sure she's okay?" His curious expression melted into a smile.
"Will do," he agreed before taking off on Toothless again. Once he was out of earshot, Fishlegs dismissed his class for the day and turned to face me.
"So... nothing yet?" I scoffed and shook my head, waving my hand dismissively in his direction.
"Of course not. He's Hiccup—he wants to go out and explore the world and find new dragons before settling down."
"But—you've been together for three years!" he protested. "And you love each other, and we've all been expecting it!"
"Ah, I'm sure that makes him feel so much better about it." I reached over and smacked his arm. "Don't let people bug him about proposing. It'll happen when it happens, if it happens."
This is Berk.
Yeah, it's been three whole years since the war with the Berserkers. And Berk has changed a lot. But then again, so have we. Snotlout works at the armory. Gobber gave him the title of 'Official Weapons Tester'. The twins, to absolutely no one's surprise, have dedicated their lives, to Loki—the god of pranks.
Lucky us.
And then there's Fishlegs, who has really found his calling, teaching the children of Berk the history of dragons.
Hiccup and I are still together, three years later. As we grew up, he became more of the romantic in the relationship, and we're less hesitant about displaying affection for each other, but other than that, not much has changed between us.
And I didn't expect it to anytime soon.
Astrid remained eerily silent that night at dinner, picking at her food with a solemn look. I let it drag on for a while before setting my fork down and reaching out to tap her, getting her attention. Her eyes snapped up, wide an alarmed, as though she hadn't noticed I was here until now.
"You wanna talk about what's going on?" I asked gently. She sighed and laid down her utensil, then averted her gaze down.
"I, uh—I told Hiccup about joining the Berk guard today." I settled back slightly.
"Oh..." My arms crossed against my chest. "I'd assume he didn't take it well?" Her blonde hair tossed back and forth as she vigorously shook her head.
"He just seemed really... disappointed. I mean, think about it: we disbanded the Academy because we thought we didn't need it anymore, everyone's doing their own thing, including you... I think he just wishes things were the way they used to be." I nodded slowly, absorbing every word she said.
"Yeah, I've kind of sensed that lately." I brushed some of my uncontrollable mop from my eyes. "I really should be with him more. I think he's been feeling a little abandoned ever since I started spending time at Fishlegs' lessons."
After a moment of thought, I pushed back my chair and stood.
"Do you mind if I try and go find him?" I asked, looking down at our unfinished food. She smiled and waved her hand.
"Go be with your boyfriend. He probably needs you now more than ever."
Reassured, I made my way out the door and headed for Hiccup's home. Stoick said he had only returned briefly to eat before leaving again, and after thanking him, I made my way around Berk. It wasn't until well into the night I found him and Toothless in the arena, staring at the old targets we used in training. A pang dropped in my heart, and I took steps toward the two of them.
"Never knew you had a thing for the wall," I chuckled, causing him to turn around. Typically, he would tease me back, but he didn't even turn around. Sighing, I went up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, then rested my cheek against his back. "I know things have changed really quickly..."
His hands rested on mine as he let out a loud, drawn-out sigh.
"I just... things were great the way they were, right? Or was I the only one who liked all that?"
"No, we all definitely loved riding off and exploring the vast reaches of the archipelago, but... we're not kids anymore, you know? We've got things we all have to do, responsibilities."
"I know, I know." He shook his head. "I'm being ridiculous."
"Nope." I used my arms to spin him around and face me. "You're adjusting, just like the rest of us. We'll all get used to this eventually, I promise." Finally, a little smile worked its way onto his face, and he leaned down to kiss my forehead. "Now, go get some sleep, please. I'll see you in the morning."
I squeezed his hands again before pulling away.
"I love you," he called out to me. I stopped in my tracks and turned around, hoping the shadows would hide my blush. That wasn't the first time he'd said that to me, but it always made me turn bright red.
"I love you too, Hiccup."
The next morning, I decided to take Shriek out on a flight. Hiccup was still asleep when we set out, and I decided to leave him. I'd told him to get some rest, but I had no way of knowing what time he'd listened to me. We did a few laps around the island until the sun came up, enjoying the breeze and peaceful silence. And it was good that happened, because the moment we landed back on Berk, chaos ensued. Hiccup almost immediately burst through my bedroom door, causing me to jump.
"Hiccup!" I took a breath, placing a hand over my chest in an attempt to calm myself down. "Great Odin's ghost... what if I'd been changing?"
He shot me a look, and I shrugged.
"Fair point. What do you need?"
"It's Johann."
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. I'd never liked that guy, even now as an adult. Hiccup knew this, of course, so the fact he'd come to me now about something with him meant it was probably an emergency.
"Tuff and Ruff found him in the water and brought him here. He said Dagur... your brother, he's escaped from prison." I tried my best to hide the horror I felt, blood running cold.
"Oh gods..."
"He's coming this way, too, looking for us." I threw my arms up and slammed them against my sides.
"Well, that's just wonderful, isn't it?"
"He's going to help us once he wakes up, but we have to go to the arena."
We jumped up on our dragons and headed toward the arena. The others were already gathered there, staring at a map with several locations marked. They all turned their focus to Hiccup and I. Hiccup glanced at the large drawing for a moment, before turning to the rest of us and relaying the information.
"All we got out of Johann before he passed out was this: Dagur escaped from Outcast Island by commandeering his ship. He threw Johann overboard about here." He pointed to the water just outside an island.
"So, what you're saying is, Dagur could be anywhere by now." Snotlout crossed his arms, matching his annoyed tone.
"Well, technically, yes."
"Oh, great! Great, great, great. So that just leaves—I don't know, let me think about this—the entire ocean to search! No, thank you." I scoffed at Snotlout, shooting him a glare.
"Master Hiccup." We turned our heads to see Johann heading in our direction, oddly unscathed.
"Johann, you're awake."
"And feeling much better. Thank you for asking. More importantly, I have more than a strong suspicion where our nefarious foe may be heading." He gestured his arm outside the clouds that indicated the edge of the archipelago.
"Outside the archipelago?" I glanced at Hiccup warily. We'd never dared venture out there.
"No! Just inside the fog bank on our outer group of islands."
"We've never been out there before," I informed Johann, my voice slightly harsh.
"When Dagur commandeered my precious ship, he also came into possession of a very important map—one that leads to a graveyard of ships hidden in that fog bank."
"Wow! That's the first place I'd go," Snotlout deadpanned.
"If I may be allowed to finish?"
"Johann, the last time we allowed you to finish, we ended up on Breakneck Bog. So, no."
"Enough!" Hiccup glared at Snotlout a moment before focusing back on Johann. "What's so special about the graveyard, and why would he go there?"
"Well, you see—" Before Johann could go any further, I stuck my arm out to caution him.
"The short version, please." His expression fell, unamused, and he cut right to the point.
"It's where I store all my treasures and wares."
Everyone stared at him and blinked, flabbergasted. There was no long, drawn out story with likely many fabricated details; no strange, far away island he once traveled to with exotic people that endangered his life. Just the explanation.
"Wow, concise, to the point. Who knew he had it in him?"
"Which reminds me of the first time I was labeled as 'concise'! He was a young man, very ugly, I actually—"
"Johann," Hiccup snapped, drawing him back to reality.
"Yes?"
"Focus. Is there anything else?" He drew his hands closer to his body slightly, appearing worried and fearful for effect.
"As a matter of fact, there is one ship you must avoid at all cost. It's called... the Reaper." While others gasped, my eyes wandered to Astrid. We both wore the same unimpressed expression, rolling our eyes at how jumpy the rest of our troupe could be. "Riddled with booby traps from stem to stern. Barely made it out with my life the only time I dared venture aboard. Oh, wow..." Hiccup looked up at his Night Fury, who cocked his head curiously.
"Okay, Toothless, let's go." He turned to the rest of us. "Unless, of course, any of you can make time out of your busy schedules to capture a dangerous maniac." I smirked and placed a hand on my hip.
"A chance to lock my brother up again? Of course I'm in." We winked at each other, and that set off the chain of the other Riders.
"If Reign's in, I'm totally in," Astrid smiled.
"I can take off lessons for today."
The group got ready, securing our saddles on our dragons and meeting again at the arena. We hadn't done this in a long time, and I think it felt sort of weird to all of us at first. But, once we all started flying together, it felt natural again. I navigated Shriek toward Hiccup, smiling at each other like idiots.
"Seems like forever since we all flew as a group," he remarked. I nodded, trying to think the last time this had happened. It really had been quite a while. "Let's see how rusty they are. V- formation!" He stuck his arms up in a 'V', and I rolled my eyes as he made me fall into formation. "Not bad. Diamond formation."
I scoffed and only took to the formation for a moment, then Shriek sped up to fly beside Toothless.
"Just like old times," he chuckled. My heart warmed as I glanced at him. I hadn't seen him smile this wide in a long time, despite my best efforts. I always wanted to make him happy, and to know there was an outside factor affecting all of this made me a little frantic. But, this smile, the joy he felt from flying with everyone... finally, he was sort of back to his old self.
"Five-thousand pounds of flaming muscle coming through!" I shook my head as Snotlout and Hookfang shot past us, attempting to lead the charge.
"Ever a class act."
We arrived at the ship graveyard long after the sun had dipped below the sky. In fact, I was pretty sure it would be coming back up soon, but the adrenaline erased the tiredness of flying all night. Everyone seemed wide awake and completely alert, eyes darting around to patrol for my brother, or any other hostile creature.
"I knew it," Hiccup muttered. "I knew there was more."
"Some of these ships? I've never seen anything like them before." We nodded at each other—a silent signal to keep our guards up.
"Okay, everybody fan out. If you see any trace of Dagur, send a signal."
Everyone else spread out to do patrol, while Hiccup and I made our way over to one ship that stood mostly intact. There was a chance my brother would want to find whatever was on this ship, and if our suspicions served correct, there was no way we could let him get his hands on whatever it was. The sooner he got locked back up, the sooner my anxieties would disappear.
Unfortunately, as we circled the deck of the ship, I couldn't spot any sort of movement, and the same results came up when we landed and searched the deck.
"We'll find him, Reign," he attempted to assure me.
"I just... don't like the idea of him still out there, lying in wait for his next victim to innocently pass by." He chuckled.
"You make him sound like some sort of animal."
"There's a difference?" He tried his best to suppress his laughter, but I felt the vibrations in his chest as I leaned my head against it.
The rest of the Riders landed not long after us, all without finding a trace of my brother.
"No sign of Dagur."
"Looks like we got here first."
"Or too late," I muttered. Hiccup nudged me slightly, and I cleared my throat, trying to put the pessimistic thoughts at bay.
"What's the plan?"
"We wait."
"Wait—wait a minute. For how long? This fog really gives Meatlug the willies."
"He has a point," Astrid added. "We can't wait around here forever."
"We can't just leave Johann's treasure here, either," he shot back. "He'll steal them, and use the profits to build a new armada."
"Not if we steal them first." I glanced at Ruff and shrugged. She sort of had a point.
"That is the dumbest idea I've ever heard," Tuff chastised in an over-dramatic fashion. "I hearby disown you!"
"Actually, you know what? I sort of like it," I defended.
"Welcome back to the family."
"Here's the plan: we search the ships, gather up Johann's treasure, and take it back to Berk. But keep your eyes open for Dagur," Hiccup cautioned. "He could show up and any time."
From below us, I heard a strange hissing noise. My brows crinkled, more confused than afraid.
"What is that?"
"Has Dagur's voice changed?" Hiccup leaned down through a hole blasted in the side of the ship, but quickly whipped back around.
"Eels! Everybody, get to your dragons before they get spooked and take off!"
Unfortunately, before I could even take a step, the dragons—with the exception of Toothless—took off, leaving us without a way to escape. A giant eel suddenly jumped onto the deck, causing my heart to jump. Hiccup grabbed my hand and yanked me onto Toothless with him, who got low to the ground and started growling furiously.
"Calm down, bud. It's only a few eels. Really big, screaming, mean eels."
"Don't let him bite it," I warned. "You remember what happened last time."
"Yeah, thanks for that, Reign." I reached up and smacked him arm. "Sorry." I watched as the eels began to wrap around the ship, and without thinking, swung myself off Toothless. "Reign!"
I rushed over to my friends and drew my sword and shield, readying myself to defend them. Unfortunately, the eels kept to their current 'strategy'. The boat dipped suddenly, causing all of us to tumble and begin sliding down the wood. Snotlout grabbed onto a loose board, stopping himself from falling into the eels.
"Fishlegs, grab my foot!" As we slid by, we all grabbed onto the foot of the person above us, leaving me dangling closest to the eels. My heart rate quickened as I drew my feet up to keep one of the eels from biting my feet off. "Oh, you ate a full breakfast. You ate everybody's breakfast!"
"We're gonna live!"
I panicked as I felt my grip loosen from Astrid's, and I tumbled into the water, straight in the middle of the bed of eels. They began to close in on me, so I swung my sword wildly in an attempt to fend them off. Thankfully, just before they got to me, a plasma blast shot past my head, and I turned around to make out the blurry outline of Hiccup and Toothless. He reached his hand out, and the moment I gripped it, he yanked me out of the water, and we went to the ship with the rest of the group on it.
"Thanks, Hiccup." Once we landed, he began to eye me furiously, clearly concerned I'd been injured somehow. I shook my head and placed a hand on his cheek, indicating I was okay.
"Pardon me, does anyone else think that Johann could have warned us about—I don't know, the giant, screaming eels?"
"Snotlout, would you relax? The dragons will be back. In the meantime, we stick with the plan. We find Johann's treasure, quietly." His face contorted in anger, but walked away without another word. Hiccup sighed, shaking his head, then looked over toward the Reaper again.
"Why are you staring at that ship?" I asked cautiously
"Because I'm thinking of checking it out."
"The Reaper? The ship Johann warned us about?" I tried to be the voice of reason I usually was to Hiccup.
"Exactly. A ship covered with booby traps from stem to stern. I'm thinking, what is in there they don't want people to find?" I placed my hands on my hips as he turned around.
"Well, you know if you're going, then I'm coming with you." He raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure, Reign? I don't want to put you in danger." I smirked.
"And when has that ever stopped me before?"
Smiling, Hiccup helped me up onto Toothless, and we headed to the Reaper. Cautiously, we both stepped off his dragon, and I gripped my sword tightly as we made our way across the deck.
"This boat is definitely not from the archipelago. These carvings, the design on the sail—I've never seen anything like this." I crouched down in front of the cages, running my fingers along it. "And this metal..."
Toothless began to sniff the cage furiously, causing me to go back on alert. I tried to peer in and see if something was cowering in the corner.
"Come on, bud. It's just an empty cage."
Just as those words left Hiccup's mouth, a bird jumped out at us, causing Hiccup and I to cry out and fall back. I ended up flying back into his stomach, holding my sword out way in front of us, eyes slammed shut. I felt Hiccup's hands move, gently resting in my mop of curls as I attempted to calm down.
"Okay, well, now it's an empty cage." He grabbed one of my hands and helped me up. "You okay, love?" I nodded, shaking my head.
"That bird caught me off guard," I grumbled. Hiccup kept our hands locked together as we made our way toward the door that would lead us below deck. Toothless backed up slightly, clearly sensing something we couldn't.
"Come on, bud. Don't you want to see what's down below?" Toothless responded by growling and snarling. "All right. Fine."
Despite my instincts, I wasn't about to leave Hiccup to navigate down there on his own. He leaned down to open the trap door, when something wrapped around his leg and started to drag him toward the ocean. My adrenaline kicked in, and Toothless and I chased after him. I caught up just before he could go overboard and sliced the rope, grabbing onto his hands and digging my heels down to pull him up.
"Whoa! Okay. Nobody goes to this much trouble unless there's something on this boat that they don't want found."
Hiccup managed to loosen the lock and pull it off, then yanked the door open and stared down into the blackness below. We squinted into the abyss, but couldn't make anything out. Hiccup reached behind us and grabbed a stray lantern, which Toothless shot at to ignite. His eyes darted over to me.
"Watch your step, Reign." I nodded.
"You, too."
Hiccup descended the ladder first, eyes constantly scanning the environment. He'd just reached the bottom, when the sound of metal snapping causing my heart to stop. Quickly, I slid down the side of the ladder and swung around, staring at Hiccup with wide eyes. He appeared shockingly calm, and when my gaze drifted down, I noticed his metal leg had been the one caught in the trap. I placed my hand on my chest and sighed deep, relieved.
"One of the benefits of a metal leg, I suppose." I crouched down and pried the trap open, allowing him to step out. I stuck my sword out in front of him, defending him from whatever could come down this hallway. A blue sort of light filtered in through windows as we stepped into the holding cells, the bars made of that strange, green metal. "Okay, let's just take this nice and..."
Before Hiccup could finish, Toothless made his way over to one of the cages, sniffing furiously. Hiccup and I met eyes and shrugged, following him to see what he'd found. Toothless pressed his face against the cage, then let out a sad purr, lowering his head to the ground. I peered in, and my stomach dropped upon spotting a dragon skull.
"Toothless..." Hiccup moved the lantern around, revealing this hadn't exactly been a place where people had been held captive. I reached out and squeezed Hiccup's shoulder, trying to reassure him. "Dragon bones." He knelt down and embraced his dragon. "I'm sorry you had to see this, bud."
"Whoever commanded this ship was certainly no friend of dragons. Let's get out of here."
We made it about halfway down the hall, when a board creaked under Hiccup's foot, and something clicked. My head whipped around just as a group of crossbows slammed down, ready to fire. Toothless wrapped his wing around the back half of Hiccup and I, while I swung my sword and shield to fend off the ones coming at us from the front.
"All right, come on, you two!" I shouted. "Let's go!"
We sprinted the rest of the way as I kept an eye out, hitting away any arrows that attempted to pierce any of us. Hiccup pulled me around a corner, and after a moment of hesitation, we decided we were out of the line of fire. Our eyes scanned the new environment, resting on a door decorated with gold patterns.
"Commander's quarters," Hiccup whispered. "Stay close." We got close enough to the door to study it, but not so that we would set off any traps. "Okay, so here's the plan—"
Before Hiccup could finish, Toothless fired a single plasma blast at the door, knocking it down.
"I like yours better." He rhythmically snarled, imitating laughter.
I kept an eye out as we entered the quarters, trying to spot any traps poorly hidden. Our eyes rested on the same thing at the same time: the remains of the commander, body long rotted away, with a strange, cylindrical object in his one remaining, skeletal hand.
"What is this thing?" I shrugged.
"Only one way to find out." The two of us got closer, leaning down to examine it. "Whatever it is, if it's on this ship, it's no good for dragons." I snapped my head up and looked Hiccup dead in his green eyes. "Which means we're not leaving it here for my brother." Our eyes levitated back to the object.
"So, which one of us...?"
Grimacing slightly, I reached down and flicked the arm off, fighting down the wave of nausea that caused. Carefully, I lifted the object from its pedestal, halting with my hands in midair to make sure no traps were suddenly going to come out from the walls. Thankfully, nothing happened.
"Huh. Well, that wasn't too—"
Suddenly, an axe flew down, burying itself in the table. I quickly shot back, grabbing Hiccup with my free hand and yanking him out of the room.
"Giant axe! Toothless, run!"
Spikes shot up from the ground in the row of cages, blocking our path. Hiccup and I jumped up on Toothless' back, who bounded over the spikes.
"Whoa!" Hiccup and I held our shields out, blocking incoming arrows as the three of us sprinted up the ladder and emerged into the sunlight.
Unfortunately, we didn't have time to relax and catch our breath. Posed cockily in front of us was my brother, staring us down with such fire and determination, he must have thought he'd already won. Two men stood in front of one of the green cages, the rest of our friends trapped inside. Quickly, I hid the object behind my back and passed it to Hiccup, hoping my brother didn't spot that.
"Hiccup! Reign! Did you miss me?" I rolled my eyes, scoffing. "'Cause I sure missed you. Every day for three years, I thought about you." He stepped aside to reveal Astrid pressed against the bars of the cage, looking at us with wide eyes. I stood up straight and called out to her.
"Astrid!"
"And you, too, Mr. Night Fury." I motioned for Hiccup to stay in place, then moved closer to the cage, staring at my friends locked inside.
"Sorry, Reign. He got the drop on us while we were searching—"
"Uh, quiet!" Dagur snapped. "Can't you see my brother, sister, and I are having a moment."
"You know I hate you, right?" I growled. "And we are definitely not having a moment."
"Oh, well, I was. Look at you, all growed up. Still rolling around with ol' one leg over there?" My face crinkled in disgust. "Hmm? Hmm?"
"None of your business," I snapped. "Dagur, what do you want?"
"Duh, he wants the jewels." Once my eyes rested on Snotlout, my brows flew up in confusion. He had strange, blonde hair dangling in his face.
"He's not getting my family's jewels. No way! And I'll protect them at all costs!" Tuff declared. "Also, what's with the hair?"
"Ha! It's royal hair, I'll have you know."
"Haven't gotten rid of the Greek chorus, I see. Anyway, yes. I'll take the jewels. His, too." One of the men elbowed Ruff in the gut, causing her to spit out jewels.
"Watch it, pal!" He laughed in her face, so she spat one of the lingering jewels out, causing it to fly right down his throat.
"Oops, thought that was the guy. Never can tell with those two." Dagur turned back to me, eyes menacing. "And I'll also take whatever it is your boyfriend is hiding behind his back." Hiccup remained unmoving. "Come on, hand it over like a good boy." My hands flew up in surrender as the men pointed their crossbows right at me. "Brothers share, you know."
"Hiccup, no." Despite my warning, he sighed and placed the cylinder in Dagur's hands. Strangely, I noticed the guards didn't lower their crossbows.
"You know you're not going to get very far with that thing, right?"
"Oh, boy, here we go. Must we always do the same dance Hiccup, you and I?" He slung an arm around Hiccup's shoulders. "Not that you're not a fabulous dancer." Toothless growled, causing the guards to shift their crossbows from me to him. Hiccup rushed to his dragon's side and kneeled down next to him.
"Easy, bud, not yet."
"That's right, Mr. Night Fury. Today is not the day, but it's coming! And soon. Now, if you'll excuse me. I've got people to see, an army to build, revenge to plot. Ooh, so much to do and so little time. Isn't this exciting, Hiccup? You—You must have been so bored over the last three years."
"Yeah, he's got a point about that. Not enough explosions." I glared at Tuff, shutting him up.
"Alas, my time here has come to an end. Farewell for now sister, brother. Until we meet again on the field of battle."
He and his men slung their legs over the side of the ship, falling down onto the escape boat and heading to his ships farther off. The moment they were gone, Hiccup and I rushed to the cage, trying to find a way to open it. My eyes darted over to him, and I stopped.
"Hiccup, I can handle this. Go after him."
"What are you waiting for?" Snotlout pushed. His eyes darted over all of us before he sighed.
"Are you guys sure you'll be okay?"
"We're fine! Go!"
With my reassurance, Hiccup climbed onto Toothless and took off toward Dagur. He hovered in the air, staring down at him as I tried to pry the cage open by any means possible. I'd been trying for quite a few minutes, when Astrid gaped, and the ship suddenly, violently lurched. I whipped around and my eyes widened in horror, spotting a huge hole in the boat that hadn't been there before. Dagur must have launched a projectile from his ship. I began to yank harder on the cage, arms growing weak and hands rubbed raw, as the boat dipped further and further toward the ocean.
To be continued...