Riders of B E R K

Part 46: An audience with the devil

Forty-Six: An audience with the devil.

The breath was hot in my throat as I ran over the rugged and uneven volcanic terrain of eastern Iceland. I'd read up on the enemies we were facing and knew that Drago Bludvist was based in Iceland...and there were few places in the direction we had headed which had volcanos with glaciers on in plain view. It wasn't a difficult deduction to be honest. But that didn't especially matter because I was running for my life.

Thankfully, I had kept up my schedule and I was pretty fit-a daily 10km run was pretty handy given my current predicament-but the terrain was uneven and I was in my uniform boots, not my running shoes. Also, it was sub-zero and my face was freezing. There was precious little cover and no sign of anyone around who could help. And I had thirty-four minutes left. Yes, they had given me my com back so I would know the time and how long I had left to live. They would be after me in one hour-in jeeps and possibly on dragon-back. I wondered how Hiccup would get Toothless to fire at me and prayed the dragon was at least more decent than his master. And my fists ached to hit him for his betrayal.

I blinked, eyes burning with tears and I swiped one away as I stumbled up the loose slope. I couldn't waste energy on the bastard: I had to focus. But I had fallen in love with Hiccup and for him to dismiss me, to betray us all...it killed me. He had helped them steal my dragon and send me on this sadistic hunt. And I wondered what I could possibly have done to deserve this...when I had been his staunchest supporter, friend and protector in BERK. When I had given him my trust and my love. I honestly didn't think it would hurt as much if I had found him in our bed screwing one of the tech staff. And it hurt more because I had been fooled, been convinced that he was a good guy. I had been wrong.

I paced myself, knowing it was no use wearing myself out in a frantic dash and taking the time as I ran up the slope to look for concealment points, roads, any signs of civilisation...but there was nothing. I accelerated over the top of a low mountain and sped up down the slope. I checked: ten minutes and then they would be after me. Would I hear the whistle of the Night Fury wings, closing on me or would it be the roar of a jeep, the crunch of tyres and the chatter of machine gun fire? Then I screeched to a halt and hunkered down, breathing hard. The lying scumbags: they already had men out ahead.

I saw him move and took my chance, sneaking down the slope and rushing him. He heard the last few steps and turned-but I wasn't taking any chances: I needed him down and out. I bore him down and landed on him, snatching a rock and cracking it firmly across his skull. I stared at him, breathing heavily: this wasn't in my Hippocratic Oath but my Army Oath definitely covered this one and I couldn't spare any regrets. I grabbed his knife, gun and ammo and snatched his walkie talkie then sprinted off down into the low valley. It was rocky and devoid of much vegetation except a few scrubby bushes so I sped through...and then my com alarmed.

The hour was up. And then the channel opened.

"I'm coming for you," Hiccup said.

I slapped the channel off then put my head down and accelerated, my grip on the gun tightening. It was a Glock, a weapon I had been trained to use and I felt more comfortable with it nestled in my hand...especially as I had a very sharp and large knife in the other. Of course, I knew I couldn't fight my way out of here but it gave me options...and I really needed options. And then I hunkered down and shook my head: I wasn't thinking.

I peered at my com. Theoretically, it had limited range but there was an emergency channel, limited band width but almost global range. I thumbed it on and began tapping with my finger on the device, painstakingly sending a message in Morse to the base.

ASTRID...CAPTIVE...DRAGONS TOO...GRIMBORN...ICELAND...HICCUP IS TRAITOR...SOS...SOS...SOS...

There was still a thick silence over the little valley as I listened...then scrambled up and ran on. I was running through expanded cracks in basalt-frozen lava, probably extruded many thousands or millions of years ago. The black ruffled surface was slippery and uneven but I was sprinting through narrow canyons and there was very restricted view from overhead which should buy me more time. I caught the edge of something, all senses straining as I sprinted along now, realising my hunter was closing. The edge of a squawk echoed through the little valley and I peered up in shock, my eyes wide in horror: I hadn't expected this. He had brought Stormfly: the bastard was going to kill me with my own dragon!