Eret's POV
"Eret! Come here!' my father said. I got out of bed, and went into the main room, where he was sitting on his Chiefly throne, as he liked to call it.
"Yes, Father?'
'The sentries have told me that they saw several ships landing on our beach. The men that were sighted are making their way up here now. I am going to sort it out, and you are not to follow me outside.'
'Yes, Father.'

---

Eret, Father of Eret's POV
I grabbed a few weapons before I went outside, in case these 'visitors' were hostile. Then I opened the door, and walked out, warily.
In the centre of the village, there was a circle of men. The 'visitors', I presumed.
Furious, I marched over to them, pushing them aside.
'Listen, if you think you can just walk into my village-'
I gasped when I saw the man in the centre of the crowd.
In the shadowy night, just before dawn, he looked nothing more than a huge shape, dressed in a dragonskin cape.
But then dawn came, and illuminated him in all his terrible glory.
The first thing you notice about a man are his eyes. And this man had eyes that were very noticeable indeed.
Cold, cruel eyes. As grey as the stormy sea. And yet, there was sadness in them. As if he had lost something, or someone once.
And, suddenly, I remembered who it was. My messenger had told me, thirty or so years ago, that a nearby village had burned down, as the result of a dragon attack, and the dragons had killed everyone. Everyone, except a young boy. He had lost everything.
That young boy was this man.
'Bludvist...' I gasped.
The man did not speak for a long time. But when he did, the 'visitors' parted. I presumed that he must have been in a position of authority to them.
"I have a first name, Eret.' he said quietly- but there was a hint of menace to his tone.
'Drago...' I amended, sulkily.
He nodded, pleased at this.
'It is an honour to have the man, who murdered the Viking Chieftains, pay a visit to my village.' I said sarcastically.
'Thank you.' he said stiffly, as if he was trying not to strangle me right then and there.
'So, why are you here?' I asked.
As if in answer, my son opened the door to my house, and stumbled out. He gasped when he saw me.
Perhaps it was just the sun glittering in his eyes, but I thought Drago's gleamed for a second.
'So,' he said, 'you have a son, Eret?'
'Which one are you talking to?' I laughed jokingly. He did not appear to have a sense of humour.
'Yes, I do.' I replied, realising that it was useless to make any attempt to joke with him.
'I think the boy would make an excellent dragon trapper.'
'But, Drago, he does not know how to trap dragons.'
'He will learn,' he said in that voice with a hint of menace. 'he will learn...'
'And what if I refused to employ him to you?'
'Well...' he glanced meaningfully at some dragons nearby, who were snarling at me. When they saw that he was looking at them, they were immediately silent.
'How did you do that?' I asked, in fascinated horror.
'The answer is simple. You do the same thing to the people of your village, do you not?'
'Yes...' I admitted.
'Then it is the same with dragons.'
'Right.'
'They obey me, like your people obey you. All I would have to do is just tell them, and-'
By now, he had a very nasty grin on his face. He looked at the dragons, and then at me, as if to tell them something.
'Destroy him.' he whispered, so quietly that only the dragons, who had hearing far better than humans, could hear him.
'But take the boy alive.'

Eret's POV
I turned around, and sped off towards the woods. I knew, that since they had just arrived here, they would not know their way around. I, however had been living in this village for twenty years, and knew these woods better than anyone.
Branches snagged my skin, and my furs as I was running past, ripping into them. I hardly noticed- I just wanted to get as far away from those dragons as possible.
Suddenly, I heard a dragon's shriek of discovery- like a hawk spotting a rabbit. I had seen that happening often.
We've got him!
I couldn't understand Dragonese, but I guessed roughly what the dragon was saying.
I forced myself not to look up, as its shadow came onto the ground. Sharp claws grazed my arms.
I screamed in pain and horror.
The dragon squawked in surprise, and immediately dropped me, sending me plummeting down.
This only made me scream more.
The ground was coming up fast, and I was terrified that I was going to hit it.
Unhurriedly, the dragon flew over to me, and grabbed me in its claws once again.
Now, I don't want you struggling and screaming when I bring you to Master - that would make a bad impression - so this will keep you quiet.
I heard a sound-
ZING! ZING!
-and sharp things sliced into my arms. This time, I didn't scream, because I knew what these things were- spines from the dragon's tail- and I wouldn't have enough time to stop before I passed out.
So, instead, I clamped my mouth shut, telling myself not to scream, despite knowing that the sleep-inducing poison had already entered my bloodstream by now, and eventually, the darkness came, and I felt myself going down- not just into darkness, but towards the ground.
The last thing I heard was a huge, loud, booming voice, echoing all around the wood, it seemed.
"Now you know what it is like, to lose everything, to have everything taken from you, boy..."

Eret's POV
I opened my eyes slowly. When my eyes focused, I realised that I was on a ship. Dragons were in cages everywhere, and men were armed with swords, and other weapons, presumably in case I tried to attack them.
I tried to get up, but I couldn't. The reason for this was clear when I saw that my hands and feet were tied up with rope.
Automatically, I reached for my sword to cut the ropes, but it wasn't in its scabbard.
"Where's my sword?' I demanded furiously.
"The less you know, the better.' a man said, who was standing in front of me. He was six-foot-ten, and he wore a dragonskin cape.
I knew instantly by this clothing, that this man was in a position of authority here. My father was the only person I knew who wore a dragonskin cape too.
My father.
'Where is my father?'
The man's eyes narrowed. He walked up to me, bearing his full height over me.
'Let me tell you something, boy: I, Drago Bludvist, do not like it when people ask unnecessary questions. And when I do not like something...'
A cruel smile spread over his face.
'...you will pay for it. But, if you really do want to know what I did to your father-'
He held up a bloodied cape.
'No-'
'Yes, boy. I killed your father. I killed the almighty Chieftain of your village. I have the power to do that. Now that I have taken away everything from you, as the dragons did to me, will you obey me?'
I glared at him defiantly.
'No.'
He did not explode into a rage, as I had expected- in fact, he seemed to have been prepared for this to happen. Calmly, he drew out something from his cape- his other arm.
That seemed perfectly normal.
But what was attached to the arm, was not.
A dragon's paw, complete with claws, 'fingers', glinting cruelly in the sun.
I intook my breath sharply.
He smiled at my terror.
'Yes, boy. You are right to be afraid. For many young lads like you, were not scared of me. But when they saw this, they knew better. And look at them now.'
I turned around, and saw three men, probably only a few years older than me.
'My best dragon trappers.'
I did not like the way he said 'my'.
Despite the cruel mockery in his voice, there was a hint of pride.
'Unfortunately, their leader was murdered a few days ago, by a Stormcutter. She paid for it with her life. My trappers captured her son- but it has escaped. And that is where you come in. You will go with your new family, and my newest recruit-'
A Monstrous Nightmare obediently slunk over, and sat by his feet. He kicked it.
'-to track it down.'
I was still staring at the dragon.
'It is a very good tracker dragon, and it seems to know the Stormcutter. So it is the best one to take.'
'And in response to your defiance, boy...yes...'
He clawed me around the cheek. Blood dripped onto the deck of the ship.
'...You will obey me.'
Then he pushed me roughly, to join the dragon trappers.
I noticed that one of them was wearing a piece of string around his neck, and it had a metal disc, with a Stormcutter symbol, attached to it.
When he saw me looking at it, he smiled sadly, as opposed to the glares the others were giving me.
'It's a tradition to give the second-in-command this, in the symbol of the dragon his leader was killed by.' he explained.
'Wow.' I gasped.
He laughed.
'Yes, I suppose a young lad like you would think that. But it's just normal to me. I've been doing this job for three years, after all.'
He sighed sadly.
'You're lucky, lad. When Drago recruited me- the same way you were- I didn't have a friend to take care of me. I just had him.'
His expression changed, into one of disgust, and sadness.
'And, let me tell you, he's not a good friend at all.' he whispered, so Drago hopefully did not hear.
But he did.
He turned around, and glared at the trapper, through stormy, grey eyes.
This seemed to be the equivalent to a claw around the face. The trapper turned away, and Drago grunted in satisfaction.
'When he does that, it's his way of saying, "I'm going to get you later". And Drago is a man who means what he says-'
'Clever boy.' Drago mocked.
'-And I should know.'
This didn't make me feel any better- but it probably wasn't intended to.
'That thing you said earlier- about not having a friend to take care of you, when Drago recruited you- do you mean that you're my friend?'
'Seems like we're both "clever boys".' he laughed.
'Of course I'm your friend, lad!'
He patted me on the shoulder, nearly choking me. He ignored this.
'You have to make some friends in this place if you want to make it through. You know why? Friends can protect you from dragons- and Drago. My crew would gladly die for me, wouldn't you, lads?'
They mumbled, 'yes'.
'Ignore them. They're just shy. But do you know why they would die for me? Because I'm nice to them- something Drago wouldn't understand. I don't treat them like he treats his dragons, if you know what I mean.'
'STOP TALKING, AND GO!' Drago roared.
'Sorry, sir...'
'You should be.'
'Come on, lad.' The trapper took me by the arm, and examined it.
'Hm. You don't have many muscles yet. I hope you're not what the Vikings call a 'Hiccup'. Don't worry. A few years of doing this, and you'll have 'em soon! Name's Ziist, by the way. I'm twenty-six.'
'Oh. Good to know.' I smiled.
'Now, come on, let's go now- for real.'
He patted me on the shoulder again.
'He's always hard on the new ones, lad.' he said, as we were walking off.
'But, after a while, he becomes almost fond of you.'
'Yeah, only because you're doing his dirty work for him.' I muttered.

Eret's POV
Ziist led me off Drago's ship, the other trappers following behind.
“In case you couldn't tell, lad, that's not the only ship he has. But not all of them are his.’
He continued to lead me through the shipyard, the shouts of men, the clanking of chains, the screeching of dragons, and the sound of the sea, echoing around.
But wait. That didn't sound like the sea. I listened harder, trying to focus my ears on that particular sound, trying to tune out everything else.
It sounded like there was something living under the sea. There was a pocket of bubbles, continuously moving, which confirmed this.
When I asked Ziist what it was, he didn't respond in the friendly manner I was expecting. He pulled me away angrily.
‘'No, Eret-' for once using my actual name, not just, 'lad'.
'-Don't look at it. Drago won't be pleased if you ask questions about it.'’
'Why? Is it a secret?'’
'Yes. And that's the point- you're not supposed to tell secrets. And I don't even know, myself. And they certainly don't.'’
He gestured to the other trappers.
'You're just saying that!'
'No, I'm not!' he snapped, pushing me forward roughly. Then he sighed, defeated.
'Okay. Drago will probably kill me for saying this- and that's not an exaggeration- but-'
He lowered his voice.
'It's his secret weapon. You see all these dragons here?'
It was hard not to, they were screaming so loud.
'That dragon under the water, that's a Bewilderbeast- the Alpha species.'
I gasped excitedly.
'My father told me about those dragons, you know, before...'’ I trailed off sadly.
'...before Drago killed him...'
'I know, lad. But, back to what I was saying- when it's old enough, this Bewilderbeast will control all the dragons, and Drago can make his dragon army.'
'Wow!'
'And so that's why I'm stuck here, travelling around the world in my ship, capturing dragons for him.'’
He stopped at a ship, which was a boat, compared to Drago's warship. I guessed that this was his.
'Come on. Let me show you around.' he said, grabbing my arm, and hauling me over the side.