The Mysterious Frozen Fire - Chapter 14: The Woman Who Knew Too Much
Sorry for the delay, but I've been swamped this week with projects to do at home. I was not expecting to get this swamped, but I did find enough time to get work done on my chapter. So that is the reason why this chapter came out on Friday Night (Techincally Saturday morning for most of you.)
I hope you enjoy this chapter. A little more laid back, but with a twist, as you shall see. :)
The Mysterious Frozen Fire
Chapter 14
The Woman Who Knew Too Much
It was not more than five minutes until I arrived back at The Great hall. When I opened the door I was greeted by a giant roar from Spiker.
I tried not to play “surprised” or “caught off guard” by her roar, so I just said in a monotone voice, “What’s up?” and walked by Spiker. I also let my dragon in while I said this.
I looked back to see Spiker. She was rather upset that I did not flinch. I just smiled and walked to the room where the rest of my family was at.
I was about to grab for the door, but hesitated.
“If Spiker just roared at me, this must mean no one has yet to enter the Hall since I last left,” I thought to myself.
The reason this would mean something is because Elsa May have set a trap for whoever opened the door next. So I gave our family knock: Knock… knock-knock-knock… knock….. knock….. knock.
I heard a voice inside called my name out. It sounded like my mother.
“Just a minute,” she said.
About a minute later the door was opened. The noise the wooden latch made on the metal holder plus the hinge on the handle finished out the family knock: creek-crack. Right after it opened, mother grabbed me to hug me.
“Oh I’m so glad you are alright,” she said after finally letting me go.
I walked over to Asvord’s bedside as my sister said, “Wait how did you know about Elsa’s trap above the door?”
“I didn’t, until I thought about how Spiker met me. Just to be sure I did the family knock,” I replied.
Elsa added, “Be glad you did or a large bucket of cold water would have met your head.”
“Alright,” Asvord stated, propping herself up more in her bed. “How’d the battle go? Obviously you won.”
“Yeah, we sent them fleeing back to their ships and sailing back to Berserker waters,” I spoke and then relayed all of what happened from the start of the battle to the end.
When I finished, Asvord said, “I hope Annabeth is alright. If it wasn’t for her, you’d probably be laying in a bed of your own by now.”
I chuckled, “You are probably right.”
“If I had not been is good for nothing, except sleep, bed I would have been there to save you,” Asvord added.
I stated to think about the Berserkers. I do not know why but something just did not feel right in the way the Berserkers fought. As far as I knew from their past battles with other tribes in the Barbaric Archipelago that they fought a lot fiercer than this, the thinking behind their battle strategies did not seem well planned out. Almost as if they had rushed into battle. I guess it is just my suspicious nature about any enemy I may meet.
“I know that look,” said mother.
“What look?” I asked.
“I’ve seen that face many a time when you know something is not where it is supposed to be,” she said.
I told them what I thought.
Mother then spoke, “True, they did fight not as they normally would, but they did have Savage at the helm. Even though he is much saner then Dagur, however that is debatable sometimes, Savage does not have as much experience with battle as Dagur did. Dagur had crazy schemes, but they’d usually work out some way or another, unless he was battling anybody from Berk.”
Mother then decided that she should go home and check on the house. Asovrd tried her best to try and let mother take her along with her, but to no avail. Elsa said she would stay with Asvord and play checkers.
“I’ve already played how many games with you?” asked Asvord rhetorically.
“Well if you don’t want my company I’ll,”
“Wait, it is fine little sis,” Asvord then came to terms with her sister.
“We are getting a little low on fish, Jarl. Could you see if you can go to the lake and get some more fish please?” stated my mother.
“Sure,” I said.
As I started to leave Asvord then said, “Could you get some more trout as I have a hankering for trout?”
“Yes anything else your royal-ness?” I bowed as I awaited her response.
“No I don’t think so. You are now free to leave my presence,” she said with a snobby-ish tone.
I just chuckled and walked out with mother. We both got our dragons and led them out of The Great Hall. Just before I left after mounting Fredrick, mother grabbed my arm and said, “I do want you to go fish, but I want to go with you…”
She was interrupted as a group of vikings walked by and entered The Great Hall. Spiker tried her roar again; this time with more success as a couple of them were caught off guard, jumped back, and knocked a few of each of themselves down.
Mother motioned her head for us to talk in private around the corner of the Hall. I nudged Fredrick to start walking around following mother on Fintan. Once we got behind Hiccup’s house and dismounted to talk, she began again, “I need you to do something for me that I would like be done secretively.”
“Okay, what is it?” I questioned and noticed something censored about how she was speaking.
“After you had been gone for about fifteen minutes, I was at the side window in the back room behind Asvord and saw something that could spell trouble. I saw a man, who was not wearing anything that looked like he was from Berk, running past the Hall and into the forest. And he ran as if he was trying not to be seen. I would like you to check this out when you go out to fish,” spoke my mother.
Mother started to walk back to her dragon, but this time I stopped her by grabbing her right arm with my right, “Wait; there is something you are not telling me.”
She looked back at me as if she did not really want to tell me, but saw that I wanted to know, “This man I thought I had recognized him.”
“Who is he mother?” I inquired.
Mother took a deep breath and said, “I think I recognized the man as captain of the ship that your father died on.”
Chills ran down my spine. “Why would he be on Berk?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “But it cannot be good. Go down to our spot where we keep our fishing trap, set it, and I’ll meet you on the other side of the Hall; the side where I saw him.”
I let her go and mounted Fredrick to fly down to the fishing trap down on the beach. When I arrived saw some odd looking tracks on the snow covered beach. I landed next to the tracks so as not to disturb them. I dismounted Fredrick and told him to stay where he was as I went in for a closer inspection of the tracks.
“This must have been where one of the Berserker landing parties had come from. Maybe even the very one the man mother saw came from,” I thought to myself as I neared the tracks.
A brief look at the tracks from a closer view told that only three vikings got out of the boat. Two of whom only got out to take the boat up onto the snow covered beach. The other pair of footprints were made by a person jumping out of the boat, but not returning as they turned around and ran up the back path way to get main level of Berk.
I picked my way through the tracks so as not to step on any of them. After getting across the tracks, I then walked over and set the fish trap. Retracing my steps, I got back on Fredrick and flew back to the spot where mother said she had seen the man. As I came over the lower ridge of houses, I saw mother on Fintan waiting for me. I saw she had with her, her battle axe. I do not see her often taking her axe out with her somewhere; only when she goes out to practice or hunt are the only other times I might.
I did not land Fredrick as she saw me and flew up to me.
“You ready?” I asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
We both clearly saw the tracks made by the viking she saw below us and followed them into the forest. The way this guy took was on the southeastern part of Berk. So I could not say if I had seen this guy or not as during the battle I was along the back northern part of the island.
We had been flying directly above the trees to follow the tracks on our dragons for about ten minutes when I held back on my feins for Fredrick to slow, and said, "Hey down there I see soemthing."
We both flew down to an open clearing in the trees. In the clearing was an old camp site or at least the looks of one as there were several tracks scattered about. So many that it looked as if there were a group of vikings meeting here for some reason. As I continued to study the tracks, mother went a little ahead. After walking around to get a few different angles I came a conclusion and said it aloud, “We know that this viking you recognized came this way, as his tracks run into and get lost in all the others. But looking at these other tracks, I think they did not come from a group of vikings but only about two or three.”
“What makes you think that?” mother asked as she looked back at me.
“Because of all these tracks, they all look the same, nearly. One of the main reasons for this is only two or three including the other man came here to meet someone who may have already been on Berk. The tracks repeated a lot; meaning a lot of them are from the same person,” I answered.
I had not notice this until now, but both Fredrick and Fintan both started a few minutes ago sniffing the ground furiously. Even though both dragons are not from the Tracker Family of dragons, each dragon in their own right as to some level degree a sense of tracking another dragon; obviously some better than other dragons.
Fredrick had veered off and started following the scent of something off to the right. Mother had a hold of Fintan’s reins as she walked, but he wanted to go in the direction where Fredrick was going. Mother then allowed Fintan to lead her and I then walked over to go after Fredrick. There was some tall brush in our way, so we had to duck and weave our way through. Once we got past that we found ourselves infront of a cave entrance. This is where both our dragons started to growl very loud.
“Look there,” mother said as she pointed up ahead near the closer to the entrance of the cave.
There were dragon footprints. We both walked in for a closer inspection. We both agreed that they were footprints of a dragon; but of what type dragon we did not know for they were nothing of what we had ever seen before. We did not have any other clues to where this viking thought she knew had gone because all the dragon and viking tracks were all mixed together and trampled on, so we entered the cave.
As we walked together leading our dragons by their reins behind us, mother and I both agreed about being very uneasy going through this cave tunnel.
Mother cautioned, “Stay on the alert son, we don’t know what might be in here.”
For about a couple minutes there was nothing but ground beneath us and the ceiling above; until we came to a bigger room. There was a familiar sight in the center of it: A frozen fire like the one I saw before. Both of us let our dragon’s reins go and look at the frozen fire closer.
Fredrick and Fintan were starting to get very uneasy about being in there.
“I wonder what’s up ahead?” asked mother.
I replied, “I don’t know, but the drag-,”
Just then both of us just fell forward over forward. Something or someone rather just knocked us head over heels. I ended up upside down with my back on the ground and my feet resting on cave wall. Both dragons started going bonkers. I was dazed but a moment when I came to realize what just happened. As quick as I could leapt up to a standing position and found trying to get struggling to get away from the viking man who had a knife to her neck!
“Call off your dragons boy, or your mommy’s gonna get it,” the viking snickered.
I signaled Fredrick and Fintan to calm down. It took me several tries to get both fo them calmed down.
Yes it is. Now about the second thing you say... maybe... maybe not....