The Second Dragon Rider || Eret son of Eret ||

23. Zipped Lips

"Explain to me why you didn't tell us about Skyla's condition sooner."

Eret folded his arms over his chest but kept his mouth shut. Here he was in the chief's home being interrogated by the old and the new cheif's council. It had been two weeks since Skyla had leapt off into the freezing ocean and swam away. For those two weeks he and the other riders had been searching for her till Hiccup decided to pry some answers from him.

"I made a promise to Skyla that I would not tell anyone about this, no matter what. And I intend to keep that promise." Eret replied stubbornly.

"Eret please, I need to know how long my daughter has had this." Valka begged, reaching across the table and placing a hand on his. He could see the fear for her daughter in her eyes, but he knew that he couldn't even tell Valka about it either.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Haddock, but I am a man of my word and I even promised your daughter that I wouldn't tell anyone and that includes you." He said and got up from his seat. "Now if you excuse me, I have a job to get back to."

"Sit down!" Hiccup yelled suddenly, slamming his fist down on the table. But Eret didn't even flinch.

"I'm not scared of you Haddock." He said in a low voice. "So if you think you can scare me into spilling my guts, it's going to take more than you yelling at me and your fiancé dropping me from a dragon."

"At least tell us something!" Hiccup yelled.

"Fine. You want to know something?" Eret snapped, facing the group of Vikings with his fists balled up. "Skyla was afraid of coming back because of you and your mother. She didn't know how you would react to how she was involved with your father's death."

"What did she do?" Valka asked clutching her hands nervously.

"That's something I am not suppose to talk about." Eret responded before he walked out of the house and slammed the door behind him.

Skullcrusher was waiting for him outside of the house and grunted a greeting at his rider. Starlight was curled up beside him and hissed quietly at Eret. He placed a hand on her snout and gently pressed his forehead against it.

"Don't worry girl, we'll find your rider. She's out there somewhere, we'll find her so you two and your babies can stay beside her." He said as the Whispering Death purred softly. Ever since her riders sudden departing, the dragon had been staying with him but often stayed in her stable that she often refused to leave. Her four hatchings had also refused to leave their mother, only leaving her to go use the bathroom or to stretch their wings.

"I miss your rider too, but we have to stay quiet about her secret." Eret added before climbing onto his dragon and taking off with Starlight behind him.

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"Drago commanded the Bewilderbeast, who commanded Toothless to kill my father, how does Skyla fit in that?" Hiccup asked his mother as he paced the room. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Well she said that she was his prisoner, so perhaps he forced her to train the dragon?" Valka suggested before shaking her head. "Seems unlikely, that Bewilderbeast had to be over twenty years old!"

"And Skyla doesn't seem the type to train a dragon to be as ruthless as that." Astrid added.

"So how is she even linked to Stoick's death anyways?" Tuffnut asked. "Unless she actually was the Bewilderbeast-"

"THAT'S IT!" Snotlout yelled, causing everyone to jump in alarm.

"What is?" Fishlegs asked.

"Notice how ice came out of her mouth when she was running from us? And her arm, once I saw that the end of it was blackened and it left arm. Just like that evil Bewilderbeast!" Snotlout explained. "And her hair had the same color as the dragon along with the black and red and her eyes were as blue too!"

"Are you saying that my sister was the dragon who made my dragon kill my father?" Hiccup asked and scoffed. "Skyla is nothing like that dragon Snotlout. She is kind, sweet, tough, a bit cold with certain people, but she is nothing like that dragon who murdered my mother's alpha."

"I know she would never hurt anyone, but what if she was forced or brainwashed into being evil?"

"Snotlout even if she was the dragon, how can she even become one in the first place?" Fishlegs asked. "It's not possible for a human to become a dragon, unless she was a daughter of Loki and have the ability to shift shape."

"Well ask Eret! He probably knows!" Snotlout groaned.

"He's refusing to talk anything that involves her, what makes you think he'll confirm of your idea of her being a dragon?" Ruffnut asked rolling her eyes. "Unless we can find her and ask her ourselves, that idea is stupid and ridiculous."

"And we have been searching for her for days already, it's like she disappeared off the face of Midgard!" Tuffnut added. "We'll never find her!"

"We'll just have to wait." Hiccup said. "Just wait.

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"And here I thought you wouldn't show up." Eret said as the Razorwhip landed near him. "Took you long enough."

"This better be work my time son of Eret, I have a village to run and I can't leave them alone for so long." The rider aboard the metal dragon scoffed as they dismounted. "What was so urgent that you have to meet me all the way out here far from your island and mine?"

"I'm looking for someone, a friend who needs to be warned."

"And who would this friend be?"

"Someone I met two years ago who recently got back to human civilization. You remember me mentioning her right?"

"The blonde girl who Drago pushed into the ocean and came back up as a Bewilderbeast? Yeah I remember her, sounds like she's more than a friend."

"I need to find her, some people on Berk have been looking for her and one has somewhat figured out what she is."

"You didn't spill the corn about her did you?"

Eret burst out laughing before regaining his stoic posture.

"Oh Heather, you know me better than to squeal about things like that."

The rider just rolled her green eyes and brushed a strand of her dark hair out of her face.

"Just saying, so where do we start?" She asked as Eret pulled out a map and pointed to an island. "Then let's get started."