Revna stared back at Hiccup, an avalanche of thoughts tumbling before her. Hiccup was her brother? No, he couldn't be... How? It didn't make any sense. Surely, they'd both jumped to an absurd conclusion. There must be some sort of misunderstanding. Otherwise...
"You're my...sister?" Hiccup said shakily, reaching out his hand towards Revna. She examined it closely. A small flicker ignited within her, a small part of her wanting to reach out and touch his hand. But no, she kept her arms by her side, and her expression cold.
"There must be something wrong." she concluded. "My father died before I was born." she added. That was what she had always been told. Nevertheless, the irrepressible doubts continued to invade her mind. She had felt a connection to Hiccup from the start...
"I don't see why Stoick would keep this from me..." Hiccup muttered to himself, deep in thought, as he carefully considered his options.
"Stoick?" Revna questioned.
"My, I mean our, father." Hiccup clarified. "Stoick the Vast. He's the chief of Berk."
'Berk.' The name rang a bell in Revna's mind. It was a word she was sure she'd heard a long time ago. But, that didn't mean anything, did it?
"Well, there's only one way to find out for sure." Hiccup said eventually. "We go to Berk and question him." He continued resolutely, his hands on his hips. This did seem like the logical step to take.
But, leaving now? Leaving now, in pursuit of answers about herself, when Krogan and Viggo were still at large and had the Dragon Eye? Revna shook her head, trying to discard the thoughts that pestered her mind.
What had her mother always said? 'We must protect our own.' And Revna's own were the dragons. Protecting them came before any sort of personal quest. She couldn't afford to be side-tracked by some far-fetched, long lost sibling story. It sounded ridiculous and it probably was. But, she still had to do something to get Hiccup off her scent, something that would stop him interfering with her priorities again.
"Maybe it would be better for you to speak to Stoick alone." Revna suggested. "After all, if we're wrong, my being there would be strange."
"True..." Hiccup pondered, "Well, you can wait outside while I speak to him and, when he confirms that we are siblings, you can come in." He quickly said. The blank expression on Revna's face perfectly contrasted Hiccup's now excited grin. He was attached to one of his crazy, Hiccupy plans, it seemed. As much as Revna recognized his enthusiasm, she just couldn't feel the same way. He was too idealistic, as though he hadn't yet seen how cruel the world could be. The hope in his eyes almost saddened her.
"You need to see Berk, Revna - our home." He continued, unabashed, and his face alight with excitement.
That word took Revna aback. Home? An island full of other vikings? That wasn't her home. The closest thing she had to a home was... Astrid's words drifted into her head: 'Where the ravens fly, right?'
'Yes.' Revna reminded herself in her head. That was where she belonged.
"Hiccup, I-" Revna began, but Hiccup seemed far too keen with his own assumptions to hear her doubts.
"I know, I know." he said quickly. "This is a lot to take in." He used even more hand gestures when he was excited. "For both of us. You need time, I get it." Revna tried to make a reply, but Hiccup hadn't finished. "I'll go, leave you time to think this over." He suggested. That sounded better. "I can start preparing supplies for our trip to Berk."
"Wait, Hiccup!" Revna cut in, as he began walking away. She weighed up her options carefully.
"Just, don't tell anyone yet." she eventually spluttered. Hiccup gave a brief nod, before climbing onto Toothless and taking to the air.
Revna looked back down at the map traced in the sand at her feet. Could it be possible that her mission had led her to her own brother? Did she even have a brother?
'No!' she scolded herself, shaking the thoughts aside, 'Don't get distracted. You have one mission.' she reminded herself. She had to find Eclipse, and then get straight back to tracking Krogan. The thought of that made her muscles tense and heart beat faster, but it had to be done - for the good of all dragons.
*****
Revna took the knife in her hand again, throwing it up in the air and catching it over and over again, while she thought about what she would do when she found Krogan again. She'd been waiting here for some time now. It was turning to afternoon, and there was still no sign of Viggo or Eclipse. She was bored. Bored, and anxious about her dragon. What if Krogan had killed him? What if this had been Viggo's plan all along? What if she would never see her friend again? She had resorted to skimming stones from her seat on the rock now. She hurled them sleekly over the water's surface, but with the force of her frustration behind them. The waves were hardly more than a ripple in this secluded bay, so the smooth pebbles she threw glided over them with ease. She felt useless just sitting here, no closer to Eclipse and certainly no closer to the Dragon Eye.
Just about out of patience, she took a jagged rock, and hurled it into the forest to her right. That was it, she wasn't waiting here any longer. She'd have to find another dragon and search for Eclipse herself.
"I hope you're not losing patience." A familiar voice rang out from the trees, instantly drawing Revna's attention.
"Viggo?" Revna questioned aloud. The unmistakable voice soon revealed its owner, as a viking emerged from the trees, the rock Revna had thrown in his hand.
"Throwing rocks at me is a little violent, don't you think?" Viggo continued with a smirk. Revna felt like saying that she'd gladly throttle him, but kept her impulse in check, remembering the false identity she had assumed.
"I was worried about Eclipse." she answered. "...and you..." she added after a moment's hesitation, trying her best to make the lie sound as sincere as possible.
"I'm honored." Viggo replied smoothly, "I do apologize for the wait. Krogan has retreated to one of the Dragon Flyer bases, where he is also keeping your dragon."
"Eclipse! Is he okay?"
"For now. But, it is imperative we retrieve him as quickly as possible. Krogan has become even more reckless since the Dragon Eye-"
"Where is it?" Revna quickly asked. If Krogan had been left with the Dragon Eye, who knew what information he would uncover.
"I have it." Viggo replied. Revna let out a silent sigh of relief. "I have a ship anchored at the northern shore-" every fiber in Revna's body simultaneously turned to ice. Even her mind froze. It was as if she couldn't even hear what Viggo was saying, even though his lips were still moving right in front of her. She knew what was happening.
A ship. That meant...That meant... No...
'You don't have a choice. This is to save Eclipse.' Besides, Revna couldn't give any hint of weakness. This was something she would just have to endure.
*****
Revna's stomach churned as she saw the plank lie dizzyingly in front of her. On the northern shore of Dragon's Edge, shielded from the view of the rest of the island by the towering volcano, was a ship, anchored by the cliff-side. There was a short, wooden plank that stretched from the cliff-edge that Revna and Viggo stood at, to the ship's deck.
'Pathetic.' Revna told herself, 'You're a warrior. Get on with it.' She swallowed and stepped onto the plank, walking across with ease. She jumped off the end to land squarely on the wooden deck in a single bound, splaying her arms slightly to retain her balance. Viggo was close behind. He neatly stepped off the plank. As Viggo started putting the plank away behind her, Revna inspected the vessel. It was a huge ship, made of tough wood. Revna gave the deck a brief stamp with her foot.
'Oak.' she thought to herself with interest. But there was something else. It felt different, as though it wasn't solid oak, like there was something else beneath it.
At the bow of the ship was a colossal, steel battering ram, covered with spikes. Similarly, at the stern, behind the raised deck, two steel fortifications protruded from the hull. Looking upwards, Revna gazed at the three great masts the ship assumed. The center, biggest, sail displayed what Revna assumed was a tribal crest. It depicted a red fist, exactly like the crest on Viggo's belt buckle. The two smaller sails depicted dragons being slain.
'A Dragon Hunter ship.' Revna realized, bile rising in her throat. Suddenly the deck beneath her was moving, not just forwards, but up and down too. She panicked, readjusting her stance, before racing to the edge of the deck to peer over the side. Jumping between two crossbow launchers, she gripped the wooden banisters with both hands, her nails digging into the wood and her hands almost blistering under her iron grip. The waves rolled below, almost as relentlessly as her heart. The ship was turning, the wind picking up. A sinking feeling of dread pierced through her as she saw the cliffs of Dragon's Edge becoming smaller and smaller in the distance.
"Everything alright?" Viggo's voice made her physically jump. Revna felt stupid - she was a warrior, a fearless warrior, and yet, here she was, panicking on a ship.
"How long is the journey?"
"Shouldn't take more than a day." Viggo replied calmly.
"A day?!" Revna tried desperately to keep her voice controlled, but guessed she probably failed miserably.
"Judging by the current winds." Viggo commented, as calmly as ever, looking up at the sails, "They're not exactly in our favor, you see."
Revna bit her tongue. There was no going back. She was going after Eclipse - that was why she was doing this. Then, she could get back to the air, to the safety of the a dragon - that was where she belonged.
"Perhaps we could go below deck and-" Viggo began.
"I like the fresh air." Revna responded hastily, walking back to the mast of the ship, and leaning against it. The rocking motion of the ship swayed her from side to side, almost tauntingly, a constant reminder of where she was and who she was with.
"As you wish." He purred. "I do rather like it up here myself."
"So," Revna began, regaining her composure, and desperate to take the subject off the ocean, "how do you know Krogan?" If she was stuck here for a day, she may as well find out as much as she could. She was hoping that her work to fool Viggo might possibly pay off. Viggo thought about his response for a moment.
"I made his acquaintance through a business arrangement."
"So you decided to work with him?"
"That was before I came to realize his complete lack of strategy or prudence. Not to mention the murdering of his own soldiers." Viggo denounced bitterly. Revna pondered this for a moment, but was soon distracted by a more immediate threat. Beneath her, the deck rocked more violently. Panic rose in her throat, as she saw the waves growing bigger and more restless on the horizon. There, in the distance, was a cluster of storm clouds swirling menacingly in the sky above the ocean. The clouds suddenly lit up with a flare of lightning. Revna saw the blinding strike, long and powerful, reaching from the ominous clouds to the waves in the distance with malicious fingers, laced with death. She was stunned to silence. A thunderstorm? But, it wasn't the storm that unnerved her. In the air with Eclipse, she'd happily fly right into the eye of a storm, conpletely unafraid. But she wasn't in the air. She was on a boat. In the water.
After a second of echoing silence, the thunder finally sounded, an eruption of sheer power from the sky that told Revna just how forceful the storm was and, more importantly, how quickly they were approaching it.
"Hmm," Revna couldn't understand how Viggo was remaining so calm. Surely her fear wasn't that irrational. "Perhaps it would be wise to head below deck." he commented.
'You think?' but Revna couldn't get the words out of her mouth. With legs that she willed to cease trembling, she followed Viggo towards the stern, and underneath the shelter at the far end of the ship. There, she gripped one side of the heavy, oak trapdoor, while Viggo grasped the other, pulling it up in unison to venture down below.
By now, the sky above the ship had darkened, and the bow was being smothered in the first foreboding clouds at the outer edge of the storm. This would not only be a test of endurance, but a test of courage.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Random question: what's your favorite dragon species? And, if you had one, what would you name it? Leave a comment below :)