Fan-Fic Fridays: The Secret Symbol - Chapter 10: When You Ask For a Clue...

         When we arrived back at Berk, nothing else seemed to be happening other than following up with Adam and Dagmar.  My parents along with my sisters heard about this and visited the Thorvald’s home with Annabeth, Cazi, and I for further questioning of Adam and Dagmar.  Adam rehashed basically what Annabeth, Cazi, and I found out.  Dagmar relayed that she and Adam were just walking home from the yak races when Koll from the depths of the trees jumped them.  Dagmar as well says she blacked out as soon as she and Adam were jumped.  I figured there is a connection between what happened to Dagmar and Adam.

         Cazi asked, “But why does Dagmar remember what happened before she blacked out, but not Adam?”

         My father, who was leaning back on a nearby table in the living room, simply stated, “Hypnosis.”

         Cazi echoed, “Hypno-what?”

         “Hypnosis,” Father repeated.  “Hypnotize, hypnotic, hypnotism.”

         “Oh,” understood Cazi.

         Father elaborated, “It is the power of suggestion, basically.  Remember what Gothi tried to do when Fishlegs was ‘allergic’ to Meatlug?  While Gothi had Fishlegs ‘under’, Snotlout through the power of suggestion, made Fishlegs into Thor Bonecrusher.  If the person doing the hypnotizing knows how to use it, they can use it as a weapon; causing people to do things they normally wouldn’t do.  Another suggestion to the person being hypnotized is usually, ‘When I snap my fingers you will not remember me or what I was doing.  You will remember what you are supposed to do.’  They snap their fingers and then the person hypnotized will act normally other than the fact of what had been suggested to them.”

         Father paused and smiled a little, “And by what I just told you and if you know about my story, I know a lot about hypnotism and how to use it for the good of something.  There are those out there that will use it for evil deeds.  Hypnosis is a rare art in this area, but not as rare as you might think.  With a little bit of training, anybody could do it.  But there really isn’t a use for it.  Even myself, I just picked it up.  A little bit from Gothi from way back when and also on my travels.”

         “So, are there any site-affects?” asked Adam.

         Father opened his mouth, but hesitated, “Yes and no.  Yes, there are site-affects, but it is only if it was implied in the suggestion.  What you did could happen again if the person, in this case Koll, comes back and is able to persuade you; even if you don’t want to do it, if done effectively, he can hypnotize you again. If it wasn’t implied in the suggestion, then you are fine.  I would recommend that you stay with somebody at all times, who you trust fully, until Koll or I can figure out the suggestion to make sure this won’t happen again.”

         Father finished with, “I think we know who you are going to be spending your time with.”

         My father implied Dagmar, whom everyone was thinking of.

         After this, we all went back to our homes.  Only staying there for supper, we decided to help out around Berk with those who were affected by the attack by Dagur.  I told my friends we would stay a couple more days to make sure everyone could get “back on their feet”; the more workers we have, the quicker we can help out and go back to Mystery.

         In the meantime, all the Dragon Riders except for Astrid had been out looking for Dagur after the stunt he pulled in attacking Berk.  Seeing how Astrid’s house was destroyed by fire, Astrid felt the need to stay behind and protect her family.  Astrid these last few days had been training an auxiliary Dragon Riding team to help protect Berk.  Yeah, there are my other friends around Berk who can also ride dragons, but to be trained in the ways of The Dragon Riders would be more affective then someone who is a casual Dragon Rider.  However, my friends are more on the end of medium to close combat, then affective air combat.  Yet, we are still able to rival, keep up with, and compete with anything The Dragon Riders can do.  If someone them want to join The Dragon Riders and not be a casual dragon rider, then they will not to be able come and help me on my cases.

         Astrid had been training her group of trainees for a few days when a Terror mail came in one morning alerting Stoick and her to the fact Dragon’s Edge has come under siege from Dagur.  Stoick and Astrid immediately left for Dragon’s Edge.  The team Astrid had been training wanted to go with them, but Astrid forbid and ordered them to stay behind.

         When the news spread about this, me and a lot of my friends went over to the Dragon Training Academy.  Nearly an hour went by until a decision had been made by the auxiliary team to disobey Astrid’s direct order to go help.  To make sure Berk was not totally dragon defenseless, the dragon riders, who are just the “ordinary” dragon riders, stood at the ready to protect Berk.  Just like they always.  These dragon riders, who include all of my friends and other vikings too, will always stand ready to protect Berk.  It is just these vikings have other jobs, duties, responsibilities, and or families to take care of, so they can do it as their main job.  Those who can dedicate exactly half of their time to defending Berk are in the auxiliary team.

         Being left behind at Berk, we all seemed left out.  We worried for the safety of the others, but all agreed if there is any group that can win this battle with Dagur, it is the Dragon Training Academy now with the addition of the Berk’s Auxiliary Team.

         Supper was about to be served, yet none of us were very hungry.  When all of our parents came back to The Arena, we then saw the Auxiliary Team along with Stoick coming back.  After landed they were glad to report Dagur turned tail and ran.  We also found out that the Auxiliary Dragon Riders are not the B-Team, but the A-Team; Astrid’s Team.  Now knowing there will be a trained group of riders by Astrid to protect Berk, this gave me and my friends more incentive to go back to our outpost as soon as we wanted to.  Since it was late, we decided to leave first thing in the morning.  As soon as we get back to Mystery’s Edge, we will get started immediately finding new clues for our Dragon Eye lenses.

         The next morning, my crew for this mystery arrived back on Mystery’s Edge.

         Annabeth asked, the moment we landed, “Something is wrong?”

         “What?” I asked.

         Explod quipped, “Think of my name… good… now look around.  Why is it quiet?”

         “Oooh, right,” I said.  “No destruction from the Speed Stingers.”

         Cazi pondered, “Did they leave?”

         Hyrith spoke, “Hard to say.”

         Asvord asked, “Do you think that Borgar actually took the lead of the pack and is where he supposed to be, in the lookouts?”

         “Maybe,” I replied.  “Let’s go find out.”

         We all remounted our dragons and flew up to the main lookouts overlooking the top of the Clubhouse.  Although, Hattori and Garth had already walked away out of ear shot, so they did not come with us.  Some of the Speed Stingers are up here and are happy to see us, but the calmness of them is night and day difference.

         When the Stingers came up to Asvord and Elsa, they both looked like they wanted to step away, but instead the Speed Stingers rubbed on them like a… cat.

         “Pearls!” I suddenly exclaimed.

         Ali and Angie both exclaimed in return, “What?  Where?!”

         Realizing the confusing, “No not them.  Our cat, Pearls.”

         “Oh,” said Ali.

         Angie shrugged it off, “I knew you what meant.”

         “Yeah, where is Pearls?” repeated Elsa.

         Out of the blue, we all heard a, “Meow,” from behind the lookout.

         “Pearls?” asked Asvord.  “Pearls.”

         “There you are,” I stated and then picked up the cat, who wanted to get on my shoulders instead.  “What have you been upto?”

         On that note, she jumped down off my shoulders and trotted around the back of the lookout again.  When we came around, we saw Borgar spring up as soon as Pearls came near.  The cat went right up to the Speed Sting, with her tail pointed straight up.  Pearls looked up to Borgar, and raised her head to stretch her neck.  Borgar did the same.

         Ashley declared, “Well, would you look at that.”

         “I don’t believe it,” Cazi said astounded.

         “Well,” I began.  “Looks like we figured out who the new leader of the pack is, Pearls.”

         Pearls then shook her head and walked back to me.  Bending down, I put her back on my shoulders.

         Annabeth deducted, “I bet it was because the Speed Stingers were making such a racket, that Pearls had enough of it.  She decided to have a talkin’ with Borgar.  An ultimatum may have been issued by Pearls to Borgar.  Borgar coming to the realization that he need to get a hold of his pack.  By the pure threat of an animal a Speed Stinger has never seen and the demeanor said animal shows of having no fear, Borgar told his pack something like, ‘If you guys don’t allow me to be the Chief here, you’re gonna get Pearls.  If I were you, I would accept me.  I don’t think you want to get stuck with her as your chief.’  Then the decision was made and Borgar finally got control of his pack.”

         When Annabeth finished, Borgar did sort of a crackled purr load enough to hear us and looked to be smiling.

         “I believe you are right, Annabeth,” I replied.  “When Borgar had tried everything, he knew to try, he was left to resort to drastic measures.  With the ‘threat’ of Pearls, Borgar’s pack saw what a good leader they would have in Borgar.  I don’t know if anyone would like to be under such a leader as Pearls.  Comparing the two, Borgar was the better choice.  So, Borgar’s peers finally got in line and shaped up.”

         Asvord countered my one statement, “Well, I don’t think it is because they wouldn’t want to serve under Pearls.  Pearls just has a no non-sense way of doing things.  If you aren’t doing something productive, then Pearls makes the who or what, ‘shape up,’ as you put it.”

         “That has got to be the quickest mystery we have solved yet,” teased Cazi.

         “How about another mystery?” suggested Hattori.

         “What?” I came back with.

         “A ‘present’ was dropped off near the front door of the Clubhouse,” explained Garth.

         Hattori continued, “And you’ll never guess what is inside.”

         Garth added, “First read the letter.”

         “There’s a letter?” I asked.

         I at first thought it could have been Koll, but why would he give me something.  Adding a letter to a gift does not seem like Koll’s style.  Koll always wants me to figure things out and him take all the credit, or so that what it was like in the past either with me or my dad during the time he spent away.

         Taking the letter, I read it out loud, “Jarl.  Here is a little present I found that you might get better use out of it than I.  A mutual friend.”

         Then reaching into the box, I felt a small object.  As soon as I touched it, I knew what it is.

         “What is it?” Ali asked in anticipation.

         Taking my first finger and thumb, I showed the object off to the rest of the crowd, “A new dragon eye lens.”

         Everyone, mostly the girls, “Ooo’ed” and “aw’ed” over this stunning new clue.

         “Hey,” Cazi chuckled.  “You wanted to start working on those secret symbols right away.  Well, you got a new clue to work with.  You asked for one, and thus you shall receive.”

         “Yeah,” I answered.  “But who is this mutual friend?  Are they really a friend?  Are they a foe?  Are they an enemy of my enemy and so my friend?  How do they know my name?  And how did they know how to get to Mystery’s Edge?”

         “Woah, woah, woah,” Annabeth slightly raised her hands and motioned for me to, “Slow down.  One mystery at a time.”