Book 6 - Mystery of Shadow Mountain - Chapter 32: Read the Fine Print

         Continuing on my way, I reach the lower docks where a large gathering of Savage’s men is located at.  As I take cover behind some crates off to the left side of the path, I start to think of a plan of action.  A moment later, commotion can be heard above a few levels further ahead.  Shouts of vikings charging followed by clangs of metal hitting each other.

         “Hiccup has engaged Savage’s men,” I thought.

         At the sound of trouble, most of the men at the docks took off to reinforce the other men and go after Hiccup and the gang.  This leaves a handful of men at the docks here.  There are four ships docked here, three of which are Savage’s and the other is Berserkian.

         Now with sounds of dragon fire, the vikings ahead turn their backs to me and hunch slightly in a readying fighting position, waiting for something to come the other way at them.  I still have over half of my darts on my right arm and a full array of darts on the left arm.  To practice shooting these things, I swiftly run down the path.  By staying on the left side, I reach a store house of which I jump from running down the path and up to the angled roof.  I make some noises as I scramble to pull myself up and keep below the top part of the roof to stay hidden.  I figure that the number of noises that they are hearing will confuse them and not know what to do with the ones they are hearing from me.  Peaking over the top part of the roof, I see that is the case as the vikings do not know which way to turn.

         I start to pick off the vikings one by one, staggering the vikings I do pick off to keep them off guard.  Within a minute, I knockout seven vikings, although seeing how it is ranged now, I have to hit a few vikings a couple of times.  Using up the rest of my right bracer’s darts and a few on my left, I clear the rest that is down on the docks.

         Knowing that Hiccup no doubt has end handled with taking Savage head on, I take a minute to see about a hunch.  I jump off the building and go into a forward somersault to practice doing so.  Running over to the first ship of Savage’s, I walk up the gang plank and look around.  Even in the dark, I see there is an assortment of crates that are empty but dressed up to look like they are full.  Going down below in the hold, I see several crates that have been opened and a three in the back that have not.  There are two torches still lit, one on each end of the hold.  Going to look in the three crates, I see my hunch is right.

         “Liquified Dragon Root,” I mutter.

         What I revealed upon opening these three crates is a large cauldron of very watered-down Dragon Root.  I scoop my hands in the liquid and take my hands to the torch right next to the crates.  Noticing a green tint to the liquid as it seems through my fingers, I let it spill to the floor and take a drop from my right first ringer to dab it on my tongue.  Spitting out what I tasted, I confirmed it to be Dragon Root.  As one might imagine, it does have a bitter smell if you have the root itself, however, there is a sour element present.  So, I believe whatever the liquid was to begin with was sour to help mask the smell of the Dragon Root.  Thinking of how they could disperse the agent, I immediately thought of the water around Berserker Island.  If Vixxen had any say how they would distribute the agent, my first guess would be that Savage’s men out of “good faith” brought some type of flora and watered it using the Dragon Root tainted water.

         Once that was figured out, I run back up to the main level and look for where Hiccup and the gang is.  Along the way, I still meet a few stragglers of Savage’s men, but handled them with next to zero trouble.  I figure that Savage would set up shop on Dagur’s throne, so I start heading that way.  The sounds of fighting are basically over…

         “Hold it right there!” a gruff voice barks.

         Turning around, I see a battled fake Berserkian, as he is dressed up like one, pointing a crossbow at me.  This moment I am a bit afraid, but the next I then smile.

         “Why are you smiling?” he barks again.

         “Do you know what the oldest trick in the book is when someone has the drop on someone else?” I ask the about to be poor fellow.

         He thought for a moment and then answered, “That because you smiled is because someone is behind me about to take me out.  But you are just saying that to trick me.”

         “Wouldn’t someone who actually knew that there was someone behind you say exactly what I just said to make you say that I was saying that just to trick you?” I commented.

         The viking thought for a moment…

         Foo-ish… Thump!

         The thoughtful look on the viking’s face froze… and then he slowly fell forward.  From behind him appears Annabeth!

         “Told ya,” I look down at the limp viking on the ground.

         Enroute to Dagur’s Throne, Annabeth fills me in that the rest of Savage’s men has been taken care of and Cazi and Angie are on their way.

         A few minutes later we arrive at the little arena that was set up for Gustav’s graduation ceremony and see that Dagur is relaxing on his throne and Snolout has his left foot on Savage.

         I inform Hiccup of what I found out about the liquified Dragon Root.  Fishlegs is a step ahead of Hiccup because as soon as I said that, Fishlegs said that he would get right on it to find a counter agent.  Heather forcefully takes Dagur away with a few Berserker guards who now showed up.  Hiccup mentions that he would be sure all the dragons are bedded down for the night.  And then Dagur invites all of the dragon riders to spend the night.  As Savage is taken away, everyone heads off towards the Berserkian’s Great Hall to get some sleep, but Annabeth grabs my right hand and takes me off somewhere else.

         Annabeth shows me her house.

         “Dagur built this for Heather, myself, and him to live in while we are on Berserker Island,” said a very happy Annabeth.  “This is my first house I have had with my real family ever.  Even when I was growing up, that house never truly felt like a family home.  However, I will never forget the care I received from the family who did take care of me.  But now with Dagur and Heather, I have a home away from home.”

         I echo because that did not make sense, “A home away from home?”

         “Yeah stupid,” Annabeth smiles as she looks at me.  “My home… is with you.”

         I smile as she kisses me on the forehead, “Alright, get some sleep,” she then said.

         I furrow my eyebrows and say, “Am I supposed to sleep on the couch then?”

         “Yep,” she winks at me and then goes up the stairs and into her room, shuts the door, and adds, “Goodnight Jarl.”

         I look at the couch as suddenly Annabeth opens her door again, “Oh,” she mutters and then throws two things at me:  A pillow and a blanket.  Annabeth then goes back and repeats the goodnight.

         I mumble to myself as I fix up the couch and then lay down on it, “We’re not married yet, and I am sleeping on the couch… I don’t remember having a fight with Annabeth, though when we had the chance on Mystery, we would spar when we could.  So, technically, I have but not recently fought with Annabeth.”

         After capturing Savage, things seemed a bit rushed, but as soon as I got comfortable on the couch, I fell asleep.

         The next morning, we attended Gustav’s ceremony.  Although as it turns out, Dagur finally stopped teasing Snotlout and gave him a little recognition for showing he does have more in that head of his than two yaks playing in a boar pit.  On the other hand, I read the inscription and saw that Dagur had a something else in mind.  Not saying a word, I went with Dagur and his sisters to the ceremony.  Upon arrival, I mentioned to Annabeth, Cazi, and Angie that we were not accounted for in the list of those attending as we did not receive an invite.  We showed up unexpectedly, even though we did help in taking backing the island.  Dagur said I had a point but still invited us to come anyway.  I decline because I what I knew and quipped that it is a good thing Snotlout hardly ever reads.  Dagur instantly knew what I meant and said it is a good idea that we do not come.

         The girls ask me what that was all about, so I tell them.  That made Cazi want to go even more to see the look on Snotlout’s face.  But I pulled her back grabbing her right arm with my right hand and telling her that Snotlout would get more grief finding out later than if he did finding out now.

         “Besides,” I say.  “We need to get ready to go back to Mystery.  It is going to take most of the morning if not some of the afternoon to go back north.”

         They agreed.  Once that was done, we regrouped with the Hiccup and the gang talking over somethings after the ceremony.  Fishlegs reported that my hunch was correct and he used a counter agent to cancel out wherever Savage’s men had distributed the Dragon Root water.  Fishlegs tried earlier this morning that the dragons can indeed fly much more relaxed around the island, however, they are still a bit skittish.  He said that is no doubt from knowing something used to be here that caused them to freak out.

         “The feeling should subside within the next couple of days,” Fishlegs concluded.

         “That’s good,” Hiccup said.

         “Oh Dagur,” I spoke remembering something.  “Before you guys ship of Savage’s men to Outcast Island, there are two men that are actually two of Vixxen’s vikings who were sent here to get intel on the Maze of Caves under the island.  Something is down there that Vixxen wants.  I need you to gather all that you know about the caves and search again if there is anything new that would interest any ‘business’ man or woman dealing with anything we are against or could be used against us.  Once you have that collected, I would be grateful if you or Heather could bring us the information at Mystery.”

         “Why can’t you stay and do it yourself?” questioned Dagur.

         I am about to reply, but Annabeth steps in and says, “We found a new clue that may break wide open the mystery Jarl and we have been working on for the past few months.”

         Dagur looked confused, “You’re not staying with Heather and I as we search for our father?”

         “No,” Annabeth sighs.  “Being away for so long, I found out what I missed most.”  She looks at me and smiles, “Besides,” she continued.  “Between Heather and yourself, Dagur, you two are more than capable to track down the clues after our father.  But as I did for Jarl and his mystery, keeping my eyes and ears open while we did travel to find leads about our father, I will do the same when I go back with them.”

         “Also,” I add.  “The clue that Annabeth and I found also sounds like it has a connection to Osvald the Agreeable.”  Both Heather and Dagur straightened up from their relaxed positions before.  “While I follow the lead for my own mystery, having Annabeth back will help me and my crew spot anything that would be connected to your father, your family, and or Berserker Island.”

         Dagur folded his arms and said a tad mift, “That and one other thing.”
         “Yeah, well that too…,” I trail off as conceded to his assumption.

         Dagur looks at Annabeth and then took a deep breath in, unfolded his arms, and replied, “Alright.”

         “Thank you, Dagur,” Annabeth hugged her older brother.

         “But Jarl,” Dagur said, pointing his right first finger at me.  “You better watch over my sister and make sure she stays safe, or you will have to answer to me,” he finished pointing at himself.

         Dagur was maybe going to say something else, but an argument started getting loud enough for us to hear the banter.

         “Shut up, Skrill-face!” shouted an angry Snotlout to a trying-not-to-smile Cazi; Cazi looked like she was about to burst open with laughter.  “Excuse me,” he mockingly bowed in “respect” to Cazi, “Oh great Skrill Conqueror.”

         Cazi retorted, “Well, I am telling you this is one instance that you should read the words, instead of just brushing them off and going full tilt the other way.”

         “I don’t have to put up with this,” Snotlout put his nose into the air.  “There are some that see the who can live up being called the bad-est, smartest, and craziest viking in all the archipelago.  Come on guys, let’s leave these peasants to their petty mystery.  We will go into battle against Viggo Grimborn himself!”

         Snotlout mounted his dragon and lifted off.

         “Well,” Hiccup said shaking Dagur’s hand and mine.  “Always a pleasure working with you guys.  Keep me updated on your search for Osvald, Dagur, and up to date on your mystery especially Vixxen’s connection.”

         Dagur and I nodded in acknowledgement.

         Hiccup and the crew fly off.  Now we said our goodbyes to Dagur and Heather.

         “You take care now, sister,” Heather grins.

         “Same to you, fellow sister,” smiled Annabeth.

         “I love you, Annabeth,” sniffed Dagur.  “Isn’t it crazy when dust gets into your eyes when you say goodbye to someone.”

         “This isn’t goodbye, big brother,” she gave him a light jab with her right fist in his right arm.  “This is just so long.”

         Cazi, Angie, Annabeth, and I mounted our dragons, waved back at the two Berserkers, and flew off towards Mystery.

         Cazi hurried us up a little bit so that we caught up to Hiccup and the gang; we are heading northeast as they head east.

         “Cazi, we gotta head north because Mystery-,” I began but Cazi interrupted.  “Wait for it…”

         A couple moments later, we all heard a loud voice scream, “WHAT?”

         That voice is none other than Snotlout’s.

         Cazi could not hold it in any longer and laughter gushes out, “Oh, I am glad I waited for that.”

         “Sometimes,” I say, laughing along with Cazi.  “If you have patience, what you wanted turns out better than if you had it immediately before.”