The Clue of the Missing Socks - Chapter 34

The Clue of the Missing Socks

Chapter 34

          We flew directly to the Great Hall and Asvord jumped off and helped the woman down, who was semi-conscious.  The woman was able to walk into the Hall with some help from Asvord and myself.  Elsa ran and got the door.  We sat the woman down at the nearest bench.

          “Where’s Gothi?” I asked, to no one in particular.

          Thank my grandmother’s yak Gothi was in the Great Hall.  Gothi motioned for her to be carried to a room nearby.  She told us to stay outside while she took care of the woman.

          A crowd had gathered around the room entrance where Gothi had taken the woman into.  Some of the vikings started asking questions.  I told everyone that I knew pretty much nothing about her.  I said Asvord and Elsa found her in a cave and we used my thunderdrum to get the woman back to Berk.  The crowd kind off thinned out when it had been ten minutes.

          When the crowd started leaving, Asvord took me by the arm and walked over to a corner where we could be alone.  Elsa was talking to a few in the crowd about some other things.

          “Jarl, do you think that she and…,” Asvord began.

          “That Adam and her are siblings?” I interrupted.  “I don’t know.  She did say ‘Adam’ and then a guy named Mundy, so ‘Adam’ might be Adam Thorvald.”

          Asvord and I discussed what each other saw in the cave and more about the woman viking.  Asvord said she saw viking pictures carved on the wall of the cave just before she found the woman viking.  The pictures were that of daily life for the vikings that had either been on Berk and left or our ancestors.  I described to my sister what I saw.

          “Do you think that those dragons are actually Grapple Grounders and have some connection with Vemund’s grounders we now have?” asked Asvord.

          “I don’t know for sure,” I said.  “I think we should know more when we can see the woman.”

          Just then Gothi came out and started to scribble on a small book she had in her pocket.

          “I can’t understand what she is trying to say.  Is Gobber nearby?” I announced.

          “I’m right here,” said Gobber who walked over from the fire place in the middle of the room.

          Gothi wrote down what she wanted to say and handed it to Gobber.

          “I am not sure what she wants to say sometimes, but I’ll give it a shot,” Gobber expressed.  There was a short pause.  “Gothi is either trying to say that her yak was cooking supper and you can now eat it or,” Gothi interrupted and knocked Gobber on the head with her staff.  “Or she says you can see the woman in the morning.  She needs rest,” concluded Gobber.

          With that, most of the crowd that was still around left and so did me on my sisters.  We said goodbye to Gobber and Gothi.

          “Oh just one more thing Gobber,” I said as I remembered something.  “Has any ‘trolls’ stolen your socks lately?”

          Gobber thought for a moment.  “Now that I think about it, no I haven’t had any of my socks stolen.  Also since my socks disappearing seems to have some connection with the robberies and the fire at the armory, I have heard from Stoick that the robberies and a few fires that were started at some of the locations of the robberies that have been happening on a regular basis there for a while, have now suddenly stopped all together, completely.”

          “That is very peculiar,” I said thoughtfully.  “Do you know about the time they stopped?”

          “Hmm…,” Gobber said tabbing is chin.  “It was the day after you guys left for Outcast Island.”

          “Okay.  Thanks,” I said as I waved goodbye to Gobber.

          My sisters and I didn’t say much on the way home.  It seemed we were all deep in thought.  We decided to walk home since our house was rather close.

          When Asvord opened the door, our mother almost ran into her.

          “Oh excuse me mother,” said Asvord.

          “Why are you carrying all that wood and rope and cloth?” Elsa asked.

          Mother said quickly, “No time to explain.  I need a ride to the beach where I set my fishing trap.”

          “Okay, hope of Fredrick here,” I said as I grabbed some of the items mother was carrying.  So did my two sisters.

          It took less than 3 minutes to get to the spot where my mother pointed out.  It was getting very dark outside, but I could still see what my mother was pointing at.  It was a Monstrous Nightmare!

          As we landed, the Nightmare started to growl and shy away from us.

          Mother jumped off Fredrick while my dragon was slowing down to land.  She ran to the Nightmare and grabbed its head.

          “Hey, hey, hey.  It is all right, calm down Fintan,” my mother said with a soothing voice.

          I said to my sisters who had dismounted their dragons and stood next to me, “Did our mother just jump off of a dragon ten feet off the ground, and then run up to a wild Monstrous Nightmare, grabs its head, calming it down with her voice, and call it by a name?”

          “I think she did just that,” Asvord said crossing her arms and smiling.

          I couldn’t tell what color exactly the Monstrous Nightmare was, but it was a very light color for sure.

          “It is alright Fintan, these are friends.”

          In just a few short minutes, our mother had the wild dragon calmed down.

          “Quick hand me the cloth,” Our mother said.  I grabbed it and gave it to her.

          Asvord, Elsa, and I watched as our mother quickly washed what looked like a wound on nightmare’s right leg and another wound on its right wing near its body.  Our mother than wrapped the cloth around Fintan’s leg and the made a splint for the wing with the rope and wood that we had brought with us.  She made short work of everything she did.

          We were amazed and stunned about several things.  First, that are mother seems to have instantly started a bond with the nightmare.  Second, the dragon responds to even just her voice.  Third, I have never seen a nightmare of this color before.  The nightmare has an all white body even its underbelly skin is white.  But there are several highlights of gold color on its body to its wings in the form of strips and the spikes have highlighted gold tips.  Fourth, the quick medical aid she has given the nightmare.  I knew my mother was capable of several things, but this I did not expect; or at least this suddenly.

          “That should be a lot better for you Fintan,” said our mother when she had completed her work.

          One of us finally found some words to say after a few minutes had gone by.  “How did you find this dragon?” asked Asvord.

          “Well,” mother started.  “I was checking my fishing trap near the side of the cliff of the waterfall, when suddenly a large object flew over my head and went thud next to me.  I add no clue what it was.  I have not been that startled in a long time.  When I discovered the object to be a dragon, I then wondered why it crash landed.  As I crept closer to the dragon I was about ready to see if it was still alive, when the dragon felt vulnerable and pinned me with its claws against the side of the cliff.”

          We all gasped.  “Are you alright, mother?” we all quickly asked.

          “Yes I am fine.  Fintan didn’t harm me.  I did get soaked though, for he pinned me against the side of the cliff directly beneath the water fall.  While I was still pinned, he looked me straight in the eyes; as I did with him.  The most surreal moment I have had in my life.  I am not sure what he planned on doing.  But as the moon peaked out from the clouds, I could see he had a very bad wound on his right leg.  I glanced at it and asked if I could help him,” continued mother as she started to pet Fintan’s head.  “I don’t know if he understood me or just thought I wasn’t a threat to him, but he released me and I studied his wound and the surrounding areas of his skin.  The wound was actually a burn mark.”

          “A burn mark?” I said, puzzled.

          “Yes,” replied mother.  “It was very intriguing to know the burn mark was actually from a lightning strike.”

          “What?!” me and my sisters said in unison.

          “I actually have seen this type of wound before.  It was way back when I was a child,” mother said.  “I saw a lightning strike hit a yak.  That wound looked very similar Fintan’s.  But thankfully for that experience, I had with my yak know how to deal with these kinds of wounds.  Fintan’s wound is not that bad, I think that was the reason he crash landed.  He found that I could not fly because of the wound.  He must have tried a few times to fly, but obviously with no success.  With a little bit more care, Fintan should be able to fly very soon.”

          “Why did you name him ‘Fintan’?” Elsa inquired.

          Mother answered, “Well because the word ‘Fintan’ means ‘white fire’ in the land where your father and I have gone to before many times to trade.  The nightmare’s color markings fit the meaning of ‘Fintan’ to a tee.”

          “Do you have any dragon nip, Jarl?” asked mother.

          “I do in my saddlebag,” I stated.

          “Since my dragon won’t be able to fly, I will lead him back to the house with the dragon nip,” uttered mother.

          On the way back we talked about what mother planed to do with her new dragon and if she needed any training tips.  She said no.  She had been observant in how my siblings and I trained our dragons as well as seeing some of the Dragon Academy riders train.  But if she did she would ask.

          It was getting rather late in the evening, but my mother had a small meal prepared.  Corn, carrots, and a small portion of yak meat she had cooked.

          After the meal, we all decided to turn in earlier.  Our mother was going to come with us to see the newcomer that I and my sisters had found, to see if she can shed some light on her kind of mysterious appearance.