The daylight crept through the cave entrance as the sun rose on the horizon. Thyla sat awake by the practically out fire, keeping watch for the second duration of the night, but the only thing that even came near was an Owl. Soon enough, Dusty began to stir awake.

"Ahh..." he groaned as he sat up, stretching his sore muscles. "That's the best sleep I've had in a long time."

"Yeah, shame it was on stone though!" Thyra replies, standing up and stretching her muscles.

"Where's Flame?" He asked, noticing the Nadder wasn't there.

"He left about an hour ago. He probably went fishing, or something."

"What about your other friend?" he asked with a smirk.

"Well, thankfully Irritation hasn't shown up since I've been awake, but hey, I've probably spoken too soon." Thyra shrugs with an eye roll.

Dusty looks around, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "Nope, I don't see her."

"Good. so, we should probably think about getting out and checking the fish trap, or something?" Thyra says.

"I think we need to scout the island, we've barely looked around, and who knows what we'll find." he said getting to his feet.

"Yeah, cause there could be like five other washed up ships," Thyra jokes, walking towards the entrance.

"You never know, and we need to check the fish trap."

"Yeah," she nods. "So, shall we go?"

"After you." he says, shouldering his bow and attaching his sword to his hip.

Thyra shrugs, grabbing her crossbow, and walking out. "I say we head for high ground first, see what we can spot. Then we can just explore it on foot."

"Sounds good to me." he says doing a few more stretches.

"You done there, princess? Or do you need to wash your hair?" Thyra teases, walking towards higher ground.

"Yeah, I'm done. Lets just go." he says catching up to her.

The two trekked uphill, intending to scout from a better vantage point. It takes them about half an hour until they reach a high enough vantage point to see over the many trees the island has.

"Alright, we got the ocean to our South and West, so we must be on a bit of a peninsula, the forest continues to the East, and it looks like we have a mountain to our North. So which way you want to head first?"

"Well, mister compass, I say we should head...north. See if there's anything of interest around the mountain."

"I just had a thought, you got that empty journal?"

"Yeah, I do." she nods, producing it.

"Hand me a bird feather." he requests as he pulls out the small jar of ink.

Thyra shrugs and pulls one out of her stash, handing it to him. "I know where this is going."

Dusty dips the tip of the feather in the ink, and starts scribbling something in the journal. And after a few minutes, presents a small part of a map of the island, well a map of what they've seen.

"So? Wadya think?" he asked.

"Not bad. The eastern side is a little wonky," she jokes, "but we can work with that."

"I've always drawn maps, even if you draw them a hundred times, you always change something, this won't be the final map." he says shutting the journal.

"Good point." she shrugs. "You're a better drawer than me anyway."

"If we ever have the time, I'll show you how to draw, you never know what a single sketch can change things."

"Yeah," she laughs, "but you'll tear your hair out trying to teach me." she jokes.

He punched her shoulder, "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Thyra gasps in fake shock. "You're punching me now?! Wow, the tables have turned!"

"What? Did you flip them over?" he asked jokingly.

"Yeah, on your face!" She teases. "Or your foot, whatever brings more pain." she shrugs.

"Probably my leg." he said, feeling around his mostly healed wound.

"Fair enough." she shrugs.

They started down the hill, when a friend of theirs landed on Thyras shoulder.

"Damn, I thought I was rid of you!" she complains.

The little terror gave a laugh, before launching in the air and stayed above them.

"I swear I think this dragon actually cares about you."

"More like cares to annoy me," Thyra laughs. "But i suppose she's not the worst creature when she isn't dropping fish on me...which is, like, all the time. So I retract my statement. She's the worst."

Dusty laughed under his breath as she finished, "Hey, it could always be worst, we could still be stuck on that ship." Dusty points out.

"Yeah, or trying to swim here," Thyra adds. "That wasn't fun at all."

They continued walking through the forest, and finally managed to make it to the mountain.

"Ok, so which way now?" Dusty asked.

"Whichever way, I really do not care." she shrugs.

They heard a squawk as Flame landed behind them.

"There you are! I was wondering where you flew off to." Dusty said walking up to Flame.

"Yeah! I thought you ditched us for Irritation!" Thyra laughs, greeting the dragon with a scratch. The Nadder rumbles happily at the sight of his friends.

"Alright, now that our backup is here, I think we'll be ok." he said looking at something on the mountain, "Hey, there's a cave right there."

"Cool. I wonder if it's inhabited?" Thyra wonders.

"Want to check it out?" he asked

"Sounds good to me." Thyra replies, walking towards it. "I wonder how deep it goes?"

Thyra walks into the cave, with Dusty and Flame a few feet behind her, when her foot hits something on the floor of the cave.

"Hmm. what's that? Flame, wanna gave us a little light?" In response, flame fires at a cave wall, illuminating the cave. "Well...that's...something?" Thyra mutters as she looks down at the thing.

Sitting on the floor of the cave, was a rectangular shield, covered in dirt.

"Is that a shield?" Dusty asks, kneeling next to her.

She picks it up. "Yeah, apparently." she examines it. "Maybe it belonged to the guy who went scouting from the Berserker ship?"

"It couldn't be, the Berserkers and every tribe in the viking arcipelago use circular shields. Dust it off, see if we can see the crest."

"Roman, then? I don't know, I'm not an expert." Thyra tries to rub the dirt off it.

It easily comes off, to reveal the Roman Eagle.

"Huh. whaddya know. I was right!" Thyra mutters. "Romans. Disgusting."

"My question is, where's the man who owned this shield?" he says looking deeper into the cave, "Flame, can you light the back of the cave up?"

Flame shoots a blast deeper into the cave, and is able to illuminate the whole interior.

Along with the dozen bodies in it, all wearing Roman armor.

"Huh. found him." Thyra mutters dryly. "At least we know where they went."

Dusty went over and examined one of the bodies, "Well, this is actually scary, do you know who these guys are?" Dusty asks Thyra

"Romans?" Thyra answers, confused.

"Not just any Romans, Roamn Triarii, probably the most elite spearmen in the world." these are the most experienced souldiers in the army, every bit of weaponry and armor is bought with their own money, and they are given the best training Rome can offer. Something came in here and wiped them out with ease. And spears are the deadliest thing to any dragon." he says holding a spear up with a broken head.

"Who knows? Maybe it was the Night Furies." Thyra shrugs. "Better them dead than us anyway."

"This wasn't the work of the furies." he said, pulling a spine out of one of the bodies, "Looks like a Whispering Death spine."

"Nice. let's just hope they don't show up. That's the last thing we need."

Dusty looks at the broken spearhead, pulls out his daggur and cuts the rest of it off.

"Hey, catch!" He throws the staff at Thyra, who catches it.

"Hey, cool!" she runs her hands over it. "I've already got so many ideas...a hook at the end so I can grab onto stuff...blade at the other end. Might take some work, but who am I to complain about hard work, eh?"

"How about you tie the two Nadder spines you have on you to it for now." Dusty suggests

"They're pretty sharp, I think they'll do the job." Thyra nods, cutting a length of rope off, before fastening the Nadder spines from the previous day to the tip. She tests it, moving the new staff around. "Yeah, this could work."

"Let's get going, I don't want to deal with the Whispering Deaths." he says headed out of the cave.

"Agreed." they turn and walk out of the cave, Thyra still testing out her new weapon.

They climbed back down the mountain, and started back into the forest as noon came and went, they stopped for a break in a small clearing a little after noon.

"Well it's good to know most of the berries are edible." Dusty said as he ate another blueberry.

"Yep." Thyra nods, trying one.

"I'm gonna look for more, you can stay here with Flame, I'll be right back." He said getting up.

"Sure." she shrugs, hitting her staff against a tree.

"I'll be back, and don't kill the tree." he said jokingly as he went into the underbrush, not seeing the little terror above him.

He walked a good ways away from the clearing before kneeling down next to a strawberry bush, and he started picking them.

He didn't notice anything, till a hand grabbed him from behind.

" Hey! Let me go!" He yelled as loud as he could.

"Shut up slave!" The man said as he pulled his right sleeve up.

"Let me go!" He yelled as he managed to grab his dagger.

"I said shut up!" as the man hit Dusty on the back of his skull.

Dusty was dazed by the blow, but managed to stab his daggur into the man's leg. The man yelled in pain, giving Dusty the chance to break out of the man's grip.

He got some distance and pulled out his bow, and knocked an arrow.

"What the Hell do you want?"

"You don't ask questions here! And I'm gonna make you pay for that!" The man yelled as he threw a knife at Dusty, who drops to the ground to avoid it. The man draws his sword and stands to charge him.

Meanwhile, Thyra was sparring with the tree trunk, but stops when she hears a twig crunch behind her. She spins around, just to see two unfamiliar men charging towards her. With a surprised yell, she hits one away from her with the staff. "What do you want?!" she yells at them.

"A slave." One hisses. Thyra's eyes widen.

"That's right, girl. We know. And you're coming with us." the other smirks.

"Not if I can help it!" she exclaims, glaring at them. They charge towards her, wielding a sword and an axe. She ducks out of the way of one attack, swiping at the man's legs with her staff. "Who are you, and what do you want with me?!'' she demands, backing up.

They keep going after her, getting close to hitting her with their sharp weapons, so she pulls out her dagger and stabs the man with the sword in the stomach. "I'm not going anywhere!" she yells, wrenching the dagger out and shoving the man back as he grips his wound.

Back in the clearing, Dusty rolled out of the man's charge, and manages to pull his sword out. The man charged Dusty again, raising his sword. Dusty blocked the blow, and spun his sword to twist the sword out of the man's hand, knocking it to the ground.

The man didn't hesitate and punched Dusty in the chest, then kicking him in the stomach, throwing him to the ground, and knocking his sword away.

"I'll just say it was an accident" he said as he drew a daggur, and slowly advanced. Dusty looked to his right, and saw his bow. He grabbed it and an arrow, knocked it, drew, and without hesitation, let it fly.

It hit the man right in his neck, and went strait through it, blood trailing the arrow as it hit a tree behind him. The daggur dropped form the man's hand as both his hands shot up to his neck, as a fountain of blood poured out of it. He dropped to his knees, still clinging at his throat as it kept gushing out blood. Then fell on his face, lifeless.

"Enjoy Helheim." Dusty says as he pushes himself to his feet.

Back with Thyra, the men, despite one's injury, still went after her. She tried to keep fending them off with her staff, but her skills were sloppy, and they were grown men, trained in battle. She used her staff to block a blow from the sword, but it forced her back against a tree. So she tried to use her dagger to slice at the man with the axe, but he grabs it between his axe blade, and flings it away into a bush.

With a frustrated yell, she shoves against the men, her free hand finding her throwing knives.

" I don't care if you live or die, either way, you're coming!" the man with the sword growls, pain displayed on his face still from the wound.

"I'm not going anywhere!" she slices at his arm, drawing blood, but it doesn't deter him. The guy with the axe clutches onto her staff with one meaty hand, and rips it out of her grasp, flinging it away.
"No!" she cries out. She holds the knife in front of her as they come at her, her only defence. She grips it in her hand, before flinging it at the axe guy. It nicks his collarbone, and he cries out in anger.

But before either men can come at her, an angry squawk can be heard from the shrub, and out jumps Flame, tail spines spiked up, and eyes narrowed. Without hesitation he flings a heap of spines at the men, the force so great it pins the sword guy against a tree, with a volley of spines through his body. He gasps, hands gripping a spine that is in the centre of his stomach, as blood oozes out of everywhere you could imagine.

Flame roars, and finishes the man off with a burst of magnesium fire. He screams loudly, wailing, but it cuts off after a few seconds, the corpse hanging lifelessly.

Thyra uses the distraction to grab her crossbow, and knock a bolt. She lifts it with a yell, and fires at the man with the axe. It goes right through his arm, and he cries out in pain, but she's not done. She fires two more, one missing by an inch, and the other striking his knee. She rushes him, knocking him to the ground and holding a throwing knife to his neck. But he's not done, either.

He swipes at her with his axe blade, and she has to dodge back to avoid being decapitated, but it still nicks her neck. She ignores the stinging and plunges the knife through his hand. "Flame!" she yells without looking away from the man. "Find Dusty, these guys probably weren't alone." the Nadder growls. "I'm keeping this guy as a prisoner." she adds smirking dangerously.

"Oh now we're taking prisoners, what's next?" came a familiar voice behind her.

"Well, he just tried to decapitate me, and I'd like to know why." Thyra replies, glancing behind with a smile. "Besides, we can't ask him." she points to the corpse.

She stops talking when she sees Dusty collapse holding his stomach and chest.

"Flame?" she asks. The dragon squawks. "Will you guard our prisoner, please?" she gets up as the dragon walks over and pins the captured man to the ground.

"What happened to you?" Thyra asks, kneeling beside Dusty.

"Ran into a nice fella in the woods, and he tried to kill me, put a good punch and kick on me. How bout you?"

"Oh, these boys wanted to chat, take me as a slave, the usual. You okay?" Thyra asks.

Dusty eyes widened, "Your neck, it's bleeding."

"Hmm? Oh, that." she puts a hand on it. "This guy got a good hit in with his axe." she points to the prisoner, trembling under the dragon.

"Why don't we have some fun with said axe, on him." Dusty said through the pain.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Thyra agrees. She sends a glare at the man. "I'd like to know just why he was here."

"He's all yours, I'll check the other guy. Have fun." he said with a laugh.

"Alright, just be careful." Thyra nods, walking over to the prisoner.
"Hey, buddy..." she grins sadistically, picking up his axe.

"I'm only going ten feet." Dusty says getting up and headed to the body pinned against the tree.

"Yeah, but still." Thyra shrugs, before leaning over the prisoner, Flame backing off. "Good boy, Flame!" she coo's, scratching the dragon. She turns and glares at the prisoner, pointing the axe at him.

"Not only are you a slave! You've sided with the Devils themselves!" The man yelled

Thyra rolls here eyes. "Good to know." she presses at his neck. "Now, what's your name?!" she growls out. The guy spits in her face, so she stabs a throwing knife into his leg. "Tell me, your name!" the man hisses out in pain. "Fine." he mutters through gritted teeth. "I, am Eret. Father of Eret."

"Wait, why would you introduce your son?" Thyra asks, confused, before shrugging it off. "Well, Eret, father of Eret, You are now our prisoner. So start talking."

"Believe me dude, if you don't talk, she'll make you talk." Dusty yelled from the body he was searching.

"Yeah, you better believe it." she growls at Eret. "So, who do you work for? We'll start with that."

The man clenches his jaw. "I'm not telling you anything but my name." he hisses. Flame growls at him, but he does nothing but quicken his breathing.

"Tell. me." Thyra insists, pulling the knife out and stabbing his arm.

"The only thing i'll tell you, is that you are a slave, and belong with someone who will treat you as such." He speaks through the pain.

"I belong to no one, and I never will again." she speaks, pulling the knife out. She raises her eyebrow. "Want another go?"

"Hey if you want to hurt him real well, stab him behind the knee!" Dusty yells finishing his search, " And this guys got nothin on him." he says walking over.

"It was probably burnt off him," Thyra shrugs, before forcing the guy onto his stomach, and stabbing him where suggested. "Now, will you speak? I'm getting blood on my clothes." she asks, rolling her eyes. "Which will be hard to wash out."

She's interrupted by a weight on her shoulder.

"Are you kidding me?!" she gives the most deadpan look ever. "Instead of annoying me, annoy him!" she points at Eret. She takes a double take of the terror. "What's that in your mouth?" the terror drops it, so Thyra picks up the fabric, turning over the drool-covered sheet. "A crest?" she shows it to Dusty.

"Dragon Hunters, they do slave hunting as a side business, should have know that these guys would be after us." Dusty says in frustration.

"Great." Thyra sighs. "How did they even know we're slaves?" she turns to Eret. "How do you?"

Dusty grabs some paper out of Eret's sachel, and pulls out two posters.

"That's how." he says showing her the posters, marking them as escaped slaves, with perfect descriptions and a drawing of each of them, and a reward of 5,000 silver for each slave captured.

"That's cool. We're famous!" Thyra says sarcastically.

"Not in the way I like it." he says crushing the poster, and kicks Eret in the head, "What we gonna do with him?" he asked

"Anything that brings him pain. I mean, we'll have to kill him, we can't let him run back to his business."

"Brain him with his own axe, lets show them we mean buisness."

"Good idea." she shrugs, readying it

"Place him against the tree, it'll make it look worst." He said smirking

Thyra nods and drags the protesting prisoner to the tree. "You wanna do the honors?"

"Yeah, does our prisoner have any last words?"

"Nope. dirty slaves." Eret hisses.

"Alright then, enjoy Helhiem." Dusty says as he swings the axe, hitting Eret right in his face.

"Delightful. Now they'll know not to mess with us."

"We should get out of here, I don't want any more surprises." Dusty says gathering the last few supplies

"Agreed."

"Hey, you do realize that Maroon is still on your shoulder, right?"

"Oh. I forgot." Thyra glances at the dragon. "Gonna get off anytime soon?"

The dragon gave an annoyed growl, but jumped off her shoulder onto the ground.

"I'm glad she found that, probably saved us a headache." He said ready to go.

"Yeah," Thyra nods. "Let's go." she gathers all of her weapons.

"Let's go." Dusty says as they leave the bloody mess behind them

None of them noticed the blue and green pair of eyes watching them from the woods.