Chapter 6: An Old Friend
Eira needed a new tactic because, once again, she found herself following behind a silent Krogan. Were all her days going to be like this? He had hardly said a word to her since they talked the previous day, and she worried she had pushed him too far.
"Do you need to follow me?" Krogan broke the silence with an icy tone.
"Well, yes," said Eira. "Especially if you want to keep exploring this forest. There are wild dragons in here."
"I can handle dragons just fine."
Eira considered this. From what she remembered, he was highly competent in that area. "Then I need to protect the wild dragons from you."
Krogan did not respond to this. Eira wondered what she could do to get a reaction out of him. She could not bring herself to purposefully anger him just yet, but the idea was growing more tempting by the day. The silence resumed until the loud sound of flapping wings caused them to freeze. They had reached a small clearing in the forest, and, suddenly, a large, red Singetail dropped down before them.
"Ruby!" Eira said brightly upon recognizing the dragon. She smiled as she strode forward. "How are you doing, girl?" She held her hand out, and the Singetail nuzzled her head against her palm affectionately.
"Is that-?" Krogan said in disbelief.
Eira glanced back at him. "Your Singetail? Yes, she is."
Krogan narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You brought me here on purpose."
Eira's eyebrows lifted. "Brought you here? How does that make sense? I've been following you." And she honestly thought the dragon would choose to stay away from him.
Krogan ignored her and focused on the Singetail. "What is it doing here?"
Eira noticed Ruby staring at him. She really hoped it was a good idea standing around talking like this. Bringing these two together could either be really good or really bad. "Well, after the battle at Berserker Island, she needed help adjusting to life beyond captivity. Ingrid and I worked with her until she could live on her own. She's fine now, but like many other dragons we've rescued, she decided to live on Berk. She probably feels safe here."
Eira thought she saw emotion in Krogan's eyes, but before she could decipher it, he turned away. "Then you should keep her away from me."
Eira frowned. "I don't think-"
"You said you want to keep me from harming dragons. I've already harmed this one."
Eira looked at Ruby, who gazed almost sadly at Krogan. "I think the truth is more complicated than that."
"No, it's simple. You only refuse to see it."
Eira opened her mouth to respond, but Ruby suddenly jerked away from her and started for Krogan. She gasped, not knowing the dragon's intent. "Krogan, keep still."
"I told you I know how to deal with dragons," Krogan hissed. He stood still while staring into the eyes of the Singetail, who was now only inches from him.
Eira let out a long breath. She could now tell Ruby meant him no harm. "But do you know how to befriend one?"
"There is no need. Dragons are not meant to be our friends. Eventually, their natural instincts will take over, and they will turn on you."
Eira fought back a rush of anger. "How can you still believe that after everything you've seen? This dragon once saved your life!"
Krogan finally broke eye contact with Ruby to glare at Eira, and thankfully the dragon remained calm. "Because I controlled her! That is the only way to get dragons to do what you want. There was never any sort of bond. She served me."
Eira could not help but glower at him. Her friends would tell her he was right. There was no way Krogan actually cared about the Singetail. And yet, she could not quite bring herself to accept this. She took a deep breath and looked at Krogan defiantly. "I don't buy it."
Krogan's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"I don't believe you. You may believe it, but it's not true."
Anger flashed on his face. "Stupid girl. Do you understand who I am? Do you have any idea what I'm capable of?" He advanced on her, and before she had a chance to react, he pushed her up against a wide tree, pinning her arms to prevent escape. Ruby let out a low growl.
Eira's eyes widened more from surprise than fear. "Sure I do. You're capable of evil and good, just like everyone else."
Krogan pushed harder on her wrists, causing bark to dig into her skin. "Then you should know I could hurt you. I could kill you if I wanted to. I don't need any weapons."
"That would be stupid. My friends would retaliate." She tried hard to keep her voice level even though her wrists were starting to hurt.
"I could leave this island. Now that you helped me get my strength back, I can find a way. I could take care of you and be far away before anyone found out."
Eira considered this for a moment. "Maybe you could, but you won't. You're not dumb enough to kill the only person who wants to help you."
Just as emotion started to appear in his eyes, it was hidden by anger. "I've said it before, you don't actually care."
"But you want me to. If you didn't, my motivations wouldn't matter."
Krogan stared at her with a hard expression. Finally, he let her go, turned around, and resumed walking through the forest. Eira let out a long breath of relief. What had that been about? She waited a minute before beginning to trail behind him. A moment later, Ruby followed.
"Do you always walk away when you're about to lose an argument?" Eira said.
"That wasn't an argument, and I wasn't losing," Krogan said shortly.
"But it was something."
Krogan stopped and glared at Ruby. "Why are you following me?" The dragon lowered her body to the ground while giving him a sad look.
"She misses you," Eira said softly.
Krogan scowled. "That's not my problem." Then he resumed walking, and Ruby resumed following. Eira let out a heavy sigh before jogging after them. What a day!
***
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Snotlout said while flying beside Ingrid.
"Of course!" Ingrid said brightly. "Just follow the plan." She thought she figured out a way to talk to Eret without annoying interruptions. This required letting Snotlout in on the plan so he wouldn't mess anything up. She hoped he understood the importance of this venture and played his part well.
"Whatever you say." Snotlout paused as he peered in the distance. "That's them, right?"
This time, Ingrid recognized the small ship. "Yep. Go ahead and do your thing."
Snotlout grinned. "Gladly." He flew down to the ship, leaving Ingrid behind. She watched as the dragon trappers yelled at him. Hookfang successfully dodged every trap they threw.
While they were thoroughly distracted, Ingrid quietly sneaked closer with Shadowwhisper. Luckily, she was able to make out Eret and fly perilously close to him. Before anyone noticed them, Shadowwhisper grasped Eret in his claws and flew up out of reach.
"Hey!" Eret exclaimed. "What's the meaning of this?"
"We're just taking you on a little adventure," Ingrid said. She waved at the angry dragon trappers. "Don't worry, I'll return him safely."
"See you later!" Snotlout taunted. Then the two of them flew off with their catch, leaving the trappers helpless in their wake.
"You'll never get away with this," Eret grumbled. "My men will find me."
"By then we'll be done with you," Snotlout said.
"What exactly are you going to do?"
Ingrid rolled her eyes at the fear in his voice. "We just want to show you what we're all about."
"Kidnapping innocent sailors?"
Ingrid wanted to contest the 'innocent' part but held her tongue. "I'm sorry about this, but you left me no choice. You wouldn't have a rational conversation with me with your men around."
"And you think this will make it any better? That guy attacked us!"
"You attacked Ingrid first!" Snotlout retorted.
"Oh, like that wasn't the plan all along!"
Ingrid took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was exactly what she wanted to avoid. She needed to find a way for the two of them to get along. They both had strong personalities, so that might be difficult. "Look, can we just forget about everything that happened in the past and just start over?"
Eret scoffed. "We're not off to a very great start."
Fortunately, they neared their destination. "Fine, I'll let you go right now." Shadowwhisper dropped Eret onto the beach of the island before landing next to him.
Eret looked around warily. "Where are we?"
"This is Dragon's Edge," Snotlout said. "We used to rule this place."
Eret looked from Ingrid to Snotlout. Then he began running down the beach. Ingrid and Snotlout waited a good minute before flying after him. They soon caught up to him and blocked his path with their dragons. "You're wasting your energy," Ingrid said. "You won't find a way off this island."
Eret glared at her. "Why did you bring me here? To finish me off with no witnesses?"
"That's not a bad idea," Snotlout said, wincing when Ingrid shot him a look. "But that is not our objective... this time."
"We want to show you that we're not who you think we are," Ingrid said. "We're not bad guys... and I don't think you and your men are bad guys either. We just have different opinions on a contentious issue. Isn't it better if we can find a peaceful solution to our disagreements?"
Eret eyed her warily, though his anger seemed to have faded. "I don't see how peace is possible."
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The first step is to want peace. Let us show you around this place and get to know each other." Ingrid slid off Shadowwhisper and approached Eret. "If you don't want to come with us, Shadowwhisper can always carry you."
Eret frowned. "Shadowwhisper?"
"My Hobblegrunt." Ingrid smiled and rubbed the dragon's side.
"This is Hookfang!" Snotlout said proudly.
Eret barely spared him a glance. "Yeah, I don't care." He turned to Ingrid. "Fine, I'll play along for now."
Ingrid smiled brightly. "Great!" They started off together with Snotlout and the dragons trailing behind. There was not much left of the base camp, but Ingrid showed it to Eret anyway. Then they started for the forest.
"You didn't lead me in here to get eaten by dragons, did you?" Eret, looking over his shoulder cautiously.
"Nah, we've got Hookfang for that," said Snotlout, to which the Monstrous Nightmare snorted.
"All the dragons here are quite friendly," Ingrid said. "We lived with them for years, and many were rescued by us. If you're with Snotlout and me, they won't harm you." She smirked at Eret. "But if you're such an excellent dragon wrangler, why do you have to worry?"
"Hey, an ambush is still an ambush!" Eret said.
Ingrid knew arguing with him was useless at this point, so she remained silent. Eventually, they reached an area in the forest where many different types of dragons were gathered. They all looked at Eret suspiciously, but Shadowwhisper managed to keep them calm. Ingrid and Snotlout led the way through the maze of dragons, pointing out the various species to the dragon trapper.
"Why are you showing me all these dragons?" Eret said while they stood and observed the scene. "I could come back here and trap them all."
"Not with the dragon riders patrolling the archipelago," Snotlout said. "We'll know if you're here."
"And these dragons are quite capable of defending themselves," said Ingrid. "They may be acting friendly now, but they'll attack if you sense you mean them harm."
Eret frowned. "And you want to be friends with these creatures?"
"I never said they were pushovers. They will be friendly if you're kind to them... not unlike humans."
"But dragons are cooler because they can breathe fire!" Snotlout declared.
Ingrid noticed Eret curiously examining each dragon. She took this as a good sign. He was clearly interested in the creatures, which probably served him well in his occupation. She could definitely use that. "You know, if you want, I could teach you how we train dragons."
For a second, some positive emotion flashed in Eret's eyes, but he quickly covered it up. "That's probably not a good idea, everything considered."
"Yeah, what are you thinking?" said Snotlout. "He could use that knowledge to trap them!"
If that was true, why did Eret refuse? Looking at him, Ingrid sensed he was more conflicted than he let on. "Then let's continue. There's more of the island to see."
***
Ruby contented herself with following Krogan and Eira around all day. At first, Krogan expressed his annoyance, but then he turned to ignoring her. Eira tried to talk to him about the Singetail, but he refused to open up. It seemed they were taking two steps back for every one step forward. Was this progress or not? Eira no longer knew.
Ruby left them when they returned to the village. Krogan still did not say much to her. She left him with Asmund at their house when Ingrid arrived for the evening. The sisters sat on her bed in her room to discuss the day's events.
"I think I'm getting somewhere with Eret," Ingrid said. "Snotlout and I kidnapped him and brought him to Dragon's Edge."
Eira's eyebrows lifted. "You kidnapped him?"
Ingrid held up her hands defensively. "It was for a good cause! And he had fun. We showed him a bunch of dragons. He really liked them. For once, nothing went wrong."
Eira nodded. "That's good. Viggo's interest in dragons partly led him to care for them, so perhaps the same could happen with Eret."
Ingrid grinned. "Exactly!"
Eira shifted on the bed. "So, do you see any potential problems?" She was glad her sister was doing well, but it made her uncomfortable to think Ingrid might be better than her at this.
Ingrid hesitated. "Well, there's Snotlout. He and Eret don't get along very well. When they're together, it's like they're competing for dominance."
"Yeah, I can see that. Why not just leave Snotlout home?"
Ingrid bit her lip. "Well... I did try that at first, but he kept barging in and ruining all my plans. I think he's jealous of Eret, so I wanted to include him."
Eira remembered the conversation she had with Snotlout about Eret. Her sister was on the mark. "If that's the case, the arguments might stem from jealously. Maybe you could spend some time with Snotlout alone so he doesn't think he's being left out."
Ingrid nodded slowly. "Yeah, I could do that. Thanks, Eira." She smiled. "How are things with Krogan?"
Eira frowned. "Not great. We ran into his Singetail... and he wants nothing to do with her. Or so he claims. Ruby followed us around for awhile though. I tried to press him on it, but he's getting angry at everything now. I don't know if I'm having any effect on him at all."
Ingrid appeared thoughtful. "You know, I'd say you are. Krogan spent a long time blocking his emotions and not caring about anything. If you're forcing him to face painful memories, of course he's going to lash out. Anger is a tactic to avoid feeling deeper emotions, and it's much easier to control."
"Krogan does love his control..."
Ingrid placed a hand on her arm and gave her a small smile. "If you stick with him, the anger won't last. He'll open up eventually."
Eira smiled slightly. "I sure hope so. I just wish I knew a way to show I actually care."
Ingrid shook her head. "It's his fault if he can't see what should be obvious. I suppose it is pretty new to him. Don't worry, he can't deny reality forever!"
Eira wondered about that. If she pressed him, Krogan would say she was denying reality. Who was right? Perhaps only time would tell.
***
A/N: I'm back after a break for the holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!