I'll Find You

Chapter 5: Searing Memories

As Astrid looked on, another prisoner was brought out. She didn't recognise him, but she felt a little less lonely knowing there were other people on this ship.

She watched as he was brought into a tiny confined space formed by five dragon-proof cages, each of which had a different dragon in it.

"Wait, that means there are dragons on board..."

She was dragged out of her thoughts when Grimmel arrived to oversee the proceedings. Astrid had a fair idea of what was going to happen and wanted to run, but there were two guards next to her, holding both of her arms and she was powerless to do anything but watch the scene unfold.

Suddenly Grimmel spoke, "Prisoner number 3142, you are about to make your final decision. Which dragon will be the one to kill you?"

The prisoner looked at the dragons - obviously trying to figure out which one would give a relatively quick, painess death.

"Which is he going to go for? " Astrid thought, "Changewing? Monstrous Nightmare?  Nadder? Skrill?  And what on earth is that dragon?"

Apparently prisoner 3142 was thinking exactly the same thing, as he asked, "What is that dragon?"

"That, my friend, is a Death Gripper," Grimmel responded with an evil smile, "And an excellent choice you have made."

3142 was shoved into the Death Gripper's cage, calling for mercy. But mercy was not a word in Grimmel's vocabulary, and his pleas were both ignored and short-lived.

Astrid was appalled. True, she had seen people die multiple times, but never murdered in cold blood. The prisoner's scream rolled around in her head until she felt dizzy, but there was no time to be faint. Grimmel walked over to her, lifted her face roughly and said in a menacing way,

"And? Your choice is?"

Astrid glared at him, "If I have to die, I die alone."

Grimmel seemed disappointed, but he stepped back and motioned to the guards holding her. "Take her to the bottom deck. Let 'em tear her apart." And with that menacing remark, he turned and stalked off.

Astrid was swiftly taken below deck, past the cell she had been kept in when she first arrived, down stairs, more stairs, and even more stairs until she finally faced a huge solid metal door.

It looked impenetrable, locks, bars and chains covered it to prevent it from moving. One of the guards opened it, threw her in and then closed and locked it, leaving Astrid in almost complete darkness.

Then she realised that there was a sound and a scent that she recognised - dragons! This - area - she was in contained dragons! She got up and tried to walk around, but she could barely see her hand in front of her face.

Suddenly she heard footsteps. She turned so that she faced the noise, trying to see if it was friend or foe, when it bumped into her. Both of them fell down, surprised and a little frightened.

"Who, are you?" The newcomer whispered.

"My name's Astrid - who are you?"

"Hilda - when did you arrive? Where are you from? How old are you? Why are you in here? What-"

Astrid had to laugh - this "Hilda" seemed to be almost as enthusiastic as Heather! "I arrived on this ship four weeks ago, I am from Berk, I am 21 years old and I have absoloutely no idea what I did to be down here, or on this ship. Where am I, anyway?"

Hilda sighed, "Deck 28, well, technically Decks 25 to 28 - Grimmel likes to keep the dragons feisty so he gives them a lot of room"

"Feisty? What for? What kinds of dragons?"

"His dragon fights - it's how he keeps himself amused. He reckons it's not worth watching if the participants have been cooped up too much. All kinds - some of which I still don't know the names of."

Astrid shuddered. Dragon fights? She had thought that THAT barbaric pasttime had died out years ago. However, if there were loads of dragons, then surely there would be some that were trainable, right?

At that moment, a Terrible Terror flew past, making Hilda squeak with fright.

"So Hilda, you're telling me that there are dragons down here - all different species - and you're scared of them?"

"Yup, pretty much."

Astrid sighed. Clearly, she was going to be occupied teaching abotu dragons for the next few days. She didn't mind though - it was nice to have someone to talk to - even if they were a little over the top.

"You look tired - come on, I'll take you to my camp."

Astrid followed gratefully, it had been a long, emotionally exhausting day for her and she was very happy to stop for the night, even though she had no clue where she was.

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Well, there we go  - chapter 7 complete!