As Sandstorm and Rune flew back to the Edge, they spotted an island in the distance just as the sun fully set. He marked it down for their journey; a little exploration should do a lot. He gathered his friends in the clubhouse the very next day, despite the tangible tension evident between Sten and Vyra. The beefing duo stayed at opposite ends of the room, not wanting to see one another. The other three acted as a buffer between them.
"What's up, Rune? Spot anything while out on your flight yesterday?" Thyra kicked things off.
"Yeah, we did. Spotted an island on our way back. I was hoping we could check it out and have some team bonding" he said enthusiastically.
Thyra, Forde and Virgil took sharp glances at Vyra and Sten, then back at Rune. Forde stepped forward cautiously, cupping his right hand around his mouth as he whispered to Rune.
"Are you sure this is going to work? Especially with these two?"
"I'm sure, don't worry" He replied confidently.
Virgil exhaled loudly, then used his hand to rub his face, mentally preparing himself for the worst. "Okay, we are with you, Rune"
Rune nodded, their support and trust meant a lot, especially during this precarious situation.
"Great. We leave in ten" he announced.
Sten was the first person to leave the clubhouse then the others followed. Rune was just about to leave when Vyra called him. He stopped dead in his tracks and waited for her. He prayed in his heart that it was nothing serious.
"Rune" she said as she walked up to him.
He swallowed hard as beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. She stood inches from him, her gaze was intense, Rune felt as if burning hot coals were placed on his head as she stared at him. Her eyes left his face and dragged on to his clothing; she began patting down his shoulders and doing the buckles on his leather vest. Then her hands went down to his waist, her fingers holding on to the waist of his pants and his belt. She pulled him closer, their bodies now in contact with one another. She moved her second hand up from his abdomen, travelling across his chest before resting on the back of his head. Her fingers filtered through his hair, getting onto his scalp as she began massaging it. Rune's assumption dropped as he gave into the pleasurable sensation. A small moan escaped his lips, causing Vyra to grin devilishly; she had gotten him. She brought his head down to her level, bringing his ear closer to her lips.
"Runy" she said seductively.
The boy was too far gone to care. Her hands were like magic on his scalp; the stress on his shoulders and the burden he bore seemed to have been lifted from his shoulders.
"Yes, my love?" he answered with a dreamy voice.
"Do you love me?" she asked slowly. Her words were getting drawn out.
"Of course I do" he answered, sense gradually returning to his head.
"Then this trip should not be a waste of my time" Her tone changed from seductive to enraged in the twinkle of an eye.
Rune was thrown off by it. Her grip on his head tightened, pulling on his hair lightly.
"You will support me when I am getting attacked. When someone comes after me, you take my side. What happened with Sten should never happen again, and you put him in his place"
"Do you understand me?" her voice went back to light and sweet. Her grip on his hair loosened.
"Yes"
"Good"
She kissed him on the cheek and walked away with a satisfied grin. Rune was left in the clubhouse alone and speechless. His mind was still trying to comprehend what had just happened between them.
He gathered himself and joined the others in their proposed flight. He was silent for most of the way, replaying the incident with Vyra multiple times in his head. He couldn't believe it. They arrived on the island, and everything felt normal: wild boar and sheep, the regular dragon species on the island, but there was an unnerving feeling that they were being watched.
"Seems like a regular place to me" Virgil said as he got off his saddle.
"I don't know what you're looking for, but anything that doesn't have the purple death is fine by me" Forde responded.
"You didn't face it yet you're this scared?" Rune teased.
"I mean, the way you described the entire situation, I would've been frozen in fear. Like stuck in my boots fear" Forde replied.
"Don't worry Forde, I would have carried you. I'd never let anything bad happen to you" Thyra said shyly.
"Thanks Thyra" he said with a warm smile.
"The more normal this island turns out to be, the better. We've been on a roller coaster these past couple of days"
"Normal is all we need now" Sten said with a straight voice as he got off Eruptor.
Vyra carried her nose up in the air and huffed. She wasn't digging the entire trip so far, and if things didn't get her blood pumping soon, she might leave on her own.
"Let's do some walking, we are bound to find something" Rune said.
"You're the boss" Forde said, following his lead.
The group began walking away from their landing site, Vyra and Strombreaker tailed behind. The gap between them and the main group was considerable, as the others and their dragons were packed tightly. Walking deeper into the island. A figure watched them from the cover of darkness, yellow corneas and black slits watched their every move. It made a faint growl as another pair of eyes joined its surveillance. Prey had been delivered to them on their doorstep.
They walked through some bushes and arrived at a pond. A family of Zipplebacks, and a small flock of sheep were having a drink when they arrived. Tall trees and thick bushes surrounded the pond, almost like a wall.
"I guess this calls for a water break" Virgil said.
Rampage rushed to the pond, startling the sheep as they fled. Sandstorm shook his head when he saw how he rushed the water.
"I think we can rest for a while" Rune said.
"Of course, we're going to rest. You had us walking for hours. If you didn't let us rest, I would have knocked you out" Thyra said playfully.
As playfully as it came out, she was dead serious.
"I still don't understand why you brought us out here" Sten said grumpily, engaging Rune in a private discussion.
"Team bonding?" he answered with a fake smile.
"Drop the gimmick man"
Rune sighed.
"After what happened between you and Vyra, I needed a way to break the ice and ease things. I thought this might work and to an extent it is. You have been chipping here and there in conversations"
Sten rolled his eyes. "I guess"
"You can't say I didn't try"
Sten nodded. "I think Eruptor might need my attention" he said before walking away.
Rune's gaze was fixed on Sten as he walked away. When he was finally with Eruptor, his eyes drifted around until he found Vyra and Strombreaker on the other side of the group, away from everyone. Strombreaker sat on the ground, all curled up. She raised one of her wings to act as a canopy over Vyra. She shot Rune a disappointed glare, not convinced of this trip. He bowed his head, his mind searching for a way he could get everyone talking again. Then an idea popped up.
"Hey guys" he said, calling their attention. "How about we have a dragon quiz?" he suggested.
"A dragon quiz?" Virgil asked.
"Yeah. We used to do those back in the dragon academy to keep our minds sharp when facing dragons" Forde answered.
"I'm interested" Virgil said.
"We haven't done so in quite some time" said Thyra.
"Yeah. Now seems like the perfect time. Let's split ourselves into groups of two and get this thing on" Rune said with energy.
Rune was paired with Virgil, Vyra with Forde, and Sten with Thyra. They sat down in a circle, close to the pond, and their dragons behind them, watching to see how things unfold.
"Alright, we got cards, we call out the names and what we want the other group to guess. Guessing right earns you a point. The team with the most points wins" Rune stated. "Are we ready?"
They all nodded.
"Then let us begin"
The games started, and things went okay. Just as Rune planned with the pairings, Sten was forced to speak to help Thyra out. Forde pushed Vyra's buttons to bring out his competitive nature while he helped Virgil get used to the game. Everything seemed fine, until it wasn't. The chirping birds and rummaging dragons all ceased their noise. The rustling of the trees and shrubs all came to a grinding halt. Everywhere went still, there was no sound, and the atmosphere grew thick.
Among the resting dragons, Sandstorm was the first to pick this up. His head rested between his paws, but then suddenly, his head shot up. He could feel the shift in the air, the stillness, the quiet. It wasn't ordinary. His head swivelled from side to side as he filtered through the noise of the Vikings to make sense of what was approaching. He could hear it. He turned over to Rampage, giving him a sharp call as the Vikings continued their game. His eyes opened up instantly. He inhaled deeply, separating and identifying all the scents in the air until he found one that didn't match anything and was closing in. His eyes swelled like an enraged bull as he quickly got on his feet. Sandstorm followed; they were in deep shit.
The other dragons began to respond. Eruptor exhaled loudly, sending a gust of air over the riders as question marks began to pop up in their minds.
"Hey guys, I think we might want to pause our game for a bit" Forde said cautiously.
Spikethorn arose, the spikes on her tail standing up soon after. She was prepared to fire on a whiff. The gang slowly got up to their feet, seeing the response of their dragons. The frills of Strombreaker's head vibrated as she and Hothead joined the rest of their dragon group on their feet. They formed a circle around the group, each of them covering a specific direction. It was like a kill circle.
"What's going on?" Thyra asked with true concern.
"I don't know" Rune answered, pulling out his axe.
"The dragons are obviously preparing for a throw down" Sten said, drawing his sword.
"Against what?" Forde said as he drew his weapon.
"Whatever it is. For all our dragons to respond like this, it must be a serious threat" Virgil answered, placing an arrow on his bow and drawing it. He was ready to fire.
The riders stood by the sides of their dragons, ready to engage whatever was coming. Growls and snarls began to increase from the dragons as their eyes scanned the area. Sweat began to form on their foreheads as time marched on. They were surrounded by an enemy they didn't know; they had no plan against it, except to defend.
Leaves began to rustle around them. They could hear faint growls and branches snapping under the weight. They guessed it was a dragon, but had no idea what dragon could command such a presence. From the cover of the trees, Rune was able to make out a silhouette of something approaching from his side.
"Over there" he said, the grip on his axe tightening.
Sandstorm snarled and growled loudly as the creature approached. As it made its way to the sunlight, all eyes were on it, and Rune couldn't believe what he was staring at. Two long protruding tusks came into the light, then came black scales with red markings resembling that of a black widow. Thick scales lined its back like armour, raptorial forelegs carried the dragon forward. It bore a sadistic grin on its face as it made clicking sounds on its approach. Its telescopic, scorpion-like tail hung overhead when a name slipped from Rune's lips.
"Death Grippers" he whispered.
He remembered them all too well from the third movie. They were a pain in the ass, a headache to deal with, but most especially, where there was one Death Gripper, there was bound to be more.
Sandstorm's chest inflated as he made a roar to mark his territory and stop the Gripper from approaching. He breathed heavily, teeth bared as he prepared to attack. The rest of the riders had never seen this dragon before; they didn't know what to expect.
"Rune" Vyra called to him. "What do we do?"
"We fight. Where there is one, there is bound to be more and most especially…" he said, as the Gripper unsheathed its stinger from its club-shaped tail. "Avoid that tail at all costs"