Book 6 - Mystery of Shadow Mountain - Chapter 6: First Clue

         The next morning, mother again made a wonderful meal out of leftovers from the past day.  It usually goes into a stew, but I am telling you, how she makes her broth and what she puts in it, it just makes all the difference.  No matter who tries, no one can make it as good as my mother can.   She got several comments saying that she can make a great meal with even the worst of leftovers.  Cazi quipped that my mother could make even Yaknog good.  Mother’s reply was that we just do not use Yaknog.

         After breakfast, the six that stayed on Mystery while we were gone and my parents left and returned to Berk.

         Now with it being the beginning of the afternoon, shortly after everyone left, I asked, “Who wants to go out on patrol?”

         There is so little to do right now that Cazi, Dawn, Hannah, and Abbie nearly knocked me over with their enthusiastic replies of saying, “Yes.”

         Exaggerating trying to regain my balance, I replied, “Please, keep the complaints down.”  I paused a couple of seconds before I said with an underhand wave of my left hand, “Go on.”

         I have a few plans in mind.  First, I went down to Garth’s lab and dropped by a couple schematics for some items I have been working on.  I also noticed Annabeth walking out as I walked in, so I went back out and caught back up to her.  She is walking back to her hut.

         “How are you doing today?” I question.

         “Can’t complain,” Annabeth replies then reaches with both her arms and wraps them around my right.  “Thank you for last night.”

         “You are quite welcome,” grabbing her chin with my left hand, I gave her a quick kiss.  “I didn’t have anything else better to do.”

         Annabeth proceeded to slap me in my right side, “Oh, stop it.”

         “Stop doing what we did last night?” I responded with a grin.  “That can be arranged.”

         “Oh, come on,” she quickly responded with a light sucker punch in my side.  “Anything I say can and will be used against me?”

         “Maybe not against you,” I said.  “But, anything you say can and may be taken literally; maybe even sarcastically.”

         Annabeth rolled her eyes and just continued on.  I followed her.  Before I had a chance to do anything else, we heard an explosion.

         “What was that?” I questioned.

         The sound was that of an explosion with a static electric sound.

         Annabeth gasps, “That’s Cazi’s and Dawn’s SOS shot!”

         I started for the outpost’s alert bell and told Annabeth, “Go to the stables and get mine, yours, Asvord’s, Elsa’s, Meen’s, and Explod’s dragons.  I’ll get the rest.”

         Running up towards the Clubhouse, I hurried into it and into my room to grab my bow and quiver.  Going back out of the Clubhouse, I went past it and to the left; there is the alert bell.  In minutes of ringing the bell, everyone converged on me.

         Quickly, I say, “Cazi and Dawn fired an SOS.  Northwest of here.  Annabeth, Asvord, Elsa, Meen, Explod, and I.  The rest of you stay here and fortify the Outpost.  The SOS is close.  How close?  To be determined.”

         I finish just as Annabeth lands up in front of the Clubhouse with the dragons of the riders I picked.  We mount up in seconds as that comes with the alert bell, everyone must be ready to act or mount their dragons if need be.

         Taking point, I led everyone to the northwest.  In our immediate vicinity, we did not see any threats or our friends.  But continuing on just beyond leaving Mystery in the near horizon, about ten or twenty miles from our shores, we saw the problem:  Three Dragon Hunter scout ships and a larger ship, looks to be a cargo one, are engaged in a fight with Cazi, Dawn, Abbie, and Hannah.

         “They’re not expecting us,” I yelled out as we fly at top speed.  “So, hit them with everything you’ve got from the side.  As soon as Fredrick fires, the rest of you follow.”

         Nearing the fight, we then dive bomb and aim for anything that has a Dragon Hunter symbol on it.  With both feet, I then nudge Fredrick to fire.  He does and… Boom!  The water under the left flanking scout ship rises up with the force of Fredrick’s blast.  This causes the underside of ship to show.  I bank sharp left to now let the rest fire.  Annabeth and Anora, Asvord and Spiker are flanking me, left and right respectfully; Explod and Hazor and Sparko, Meen and Spined are flanking them; Elsa is right behind me- They all fire on the ship.

         With the sideways momentum Fredrick created on the ship, everyone else’s blasts further increased the momentum, causing the ship to briefly be lifted off the water.  Fredrick’s blast also created a wave which in turn pushed the ship up on to the cargo ship the scouts are escorting.  Those behind me also followed my bank to the left.  Circling up to the left we joined the four from our patrol.

         Cazi declares, “Nice of you to join the party.  Quick response time.”

         “It helps that you are close by,” I stated.  “Actually, these guys are a little too close for comfort.”

         “Yeah, but this was supposed to be a simple patrol,” Dawn declares and then Fire Song ducks from a boulder launched in her direction.  “If this is what you guys do on patrols, I am going to start volunteering a lot more.”

         Hannah questions, “What do you think these guys are doing out here?”

         A smaller boulder came at me and Fredrick, my dragon instinctively fires at the projectile; the shockwave causes the boulder to reverse direction and knock a hole straight through the deck, “Annoying me for getting so close to Mystery, but hopefully they are just escorting the cargo ship and don’t have any other shenanigans going on.”

         “Why don’t we find out?” Annabeth suggests and takes out one of her swords with her right hand.

         I smiled, “I knew I liked you.”

         Annabeth rolls her eyes and dives Anora down.

         I do the same, but call out, “Keep the catapults busy.”

         Annabeth and I fly over the cargo ship and drop down.  Both of us roll up to a stance, ready for a fight.  Annabeth draws both swords and I flip my bow to sword configuration.  Hunters from a couple disabled catapults and from the cargo hold appear.

         One asks, “Who are you two?”

         Annabeth declares, “Your worst nightmare.”

         The Hunters then rush us, we rush them.  I bring my sword up to block an axe from a Hunter.  After the block, with my left elbow I punch the guy in the gut and uppercut to the chin.  Annabeth back dodges a swing from a sword then swipes her right leg under the Hunters legs out from under him.  Annabeth then steps over the Hunter, swiftly steps onto a nearby crate, left foot and right, and then swipes down.  She split the guy’s spear in half.

         “Hold this,” she tells the Hunter to hold her sword.

         The half of the guy’s spear is spinning in the air.  Annabeth grabs it, swings the butt end of the spear, knocks the Hunter out, her sword flips as well and she catches it mid-air in time to deflect an incoming throwing axe.

         She has to continue to deflect now arrows as some Hunter with a bow is firing arrows at her.  I spot him fifteen feet away.  I am dealing with a few Hunters myself.

         So, I call out, “Was that Vixxen?”

         All three of them look to their left, I quickly then side step them, vault off of rope holder for the mast, aim my grappling hook to the right of the archer on the wall of the captain’s quarters, reverse the retracting of the hook, jump off the holder, and fly through the air to the archer.

         I exclaim as I near him, “Yo bud, Nice aim.”

         He looks up at me, fires another arrow, and then realizes I am right near him.

         Zero time for the Hunter to react, using my left shoulder to shove him, the Hunter then stumbles back over the side of the ship.

         “What’s going on out here?” demands another viking who ran out of the captain’s quarters.

         Acting as if she is caught, Annabeth says, “Yep, you got me.”

         Surprised, the viking questions while I quietly switched my sword to my bow, “You took out all my men by yourself.”

         Annabeth shrugged her shoulders while still holding her swords, “Well, not that I probably couldn’t take out all your Hunters out by myself… but…”

         “But what?” the Hunter demanded.

         Drawing an arrow, I walk up behind the Hunter and say, “I helped a little.”

         Annabeth nodded, “Yeah, he helped a little.”

         I then order, “Tell all of your men to stand down and let’s talk.”

         The Hunter proceeded to whistle and get the attention of the rest of his men.  The rest of my crew landed their dragons and kept an eye on the crew of the ships.  Annabeth and I followed the captain down into the cargo hold.

         “No doubt you are raiding us for the cargo,” he says.

         Playing it off as if I am, “Yes, yes I am.  How did you know?”

         The Hunter sighed, “Vixxen did not know how long she could keep it a secret, but knew she had to take the risk to bring it back.”

         “Well,” I state.  “Let’s see it.”

         The captain walks ahead of us and leads us to the far side of the cargo hold.  I have a very uneasy feeling in my stomach.  The captain stopped at a compartment in the hull of the ship; the door is about two feet square, more like a cabinet.

         The captain just stood there before I ask, “Would you mind getting it for me?”

         The guy froze in place, “Uh, sure.”

         The captain slowly turned to the cabinet, reached for the handles on the doors, and then just stopped.

         “Are you sure you want to see this?” he asks.

         Annabeth then points out, “Hey, you brought us down here.”

         “I did, didn’t I,” he reluctantly said.

         I expect a trap, especially seeing how it is Vixxen’s, but he opens the doors and reveals a unique gem.

         Annabeth gasps in admiration, “It’s beautiful.”

         “This gem is one of a kind,” he said.  “This will bring quite a gold nugget in the markets.”  He pauses, then adds, “Look, I am actually glad this thing is going, but Vixxen could have my head for telling you this… Whoever has this gem, the legend says, only trouble will follow them around.  I just picked up the gem earlier this morning, and your crew came upon me.  Only other thing I know about the legend… and I haven’t told anybody this-…”

         Annabeth folds her arms, “I’m sure.”

         The captain continues, “The only way to break the streak of trouble that follows it around like its shadow… is to reunite it with its shadow.”

         Annabeth and I look at him as if he just said he did not know what yak-butter is.  I slowly take the gem from him and thank him for it.

         “Don’t thank me yet,” he replies.  “Believe me when I say this… I hope you solve this curse.”