Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi!”

“If I hear that stupid chant one more time, I’m going to throw him in the well,” Astrid said, accepting her water flask from Fishlegs.

“Wait, we’re allowed to toss people down the well again?” Ruffnut asked and her brother perked up.

“No!”

“Just be grateful you don’t have watch with him anymore,” Fishlegs said, ignoring the twins. “He just keeps getting worse as Thawfest gets closer.”

“Did someone say Thawfest?” Snotlout asked, stomping into the training arena with nearly a dozen medals hanging off his neck.

“No, get lost.”

“Aw, don’t be like that, Astrid. You wanna touch one of my medals, just to see how it feels to be a winner?”

Fishlegs quickly backed away as Astrid’s face turned murderous.

“You and I both know I would have won last year if a certain pair of someones,” she glared at the twins, “hadn’t lost me so many points by knocking me off at the start of the log roll! I kicked your butt in almost everything else!”

“All I know is that I got twenty points.” Snotlout held out one of the medals. “And you got nineteen.” He pointed at the twins. “They got eight.” He pointed at Fishlegs. “He got three. And Useless...” He trailed off with a frown, pointing at where Hiccup was still lying facedown at Astrid’s feet. “Uh, how many did he get?”

“None. I didn’t compete.” He rolled over, but stayed on the ground.

“You didn’t?” Fishlegs thought back to the year before, but couldn’t remember even seeing the boy during any of the festivities. “Huh. Where were you that whole time? Did you even watch?”

“I watched some of the Meathead’s Thawfest games. Does that count?”

“Do I even want to know why you were on Meathead Island during Thawfest?” Astrid asked.

“I snuck into the library while they were distracted with the games,” he shrugged.

Fishlegs perked up. Despite the name, no one but select Meatheads were allowed in the Meathead Public Library. He’d often dreamed of what information could be found in their forbidden books.

Before he could ask, though, Snotlout cut in with, “So Useless got zero points. Which means I won and you all lost. Because I did what I do every year: Bring glory to the Jorgenson clan. And you do what you do: embarrass your clans. Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi! Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi!”

“Does this mean Snotlout’s going in the well?” Ruffnut asked after he’d left the arena, still chanting away.

“If you two can get him in, I’ll cover for you during your next prank,” Astrid growled.

The twins cackled and ran off.

“Well, I’m sure that will be fine,” Hiccup joked, finally climbing to his feet.

“The library?” she asked, swiping at him with her axe.

He barely dodged. He raised his shield to deflect her next swing, saying, “Best place to spend the games.”

“Do you think you could sneak me in this year?” Fishlegs asked.

“Hate to break it to you both, but I doubt Stoick will miss it this year if Hiccup disappears.”

“Oh, right.” Fishlegs’ shoulders slumped.

Hiccup made a feint towards Astrid’s legs, but she caught on and dodged his real blow easily. “What do you think the chances are that my dad would just let me sit out the games?”

“Zero.”

“Not happening.”

“Hm.”

“Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi!”

“So Snotlout won then?” Hiccup asked as he and Astrid sat down at Fishlegs’ table near the doors of the Great Hall.

“Yeah, but more importantly, where have you two been?”

“Where do you think?” He pulled a small book out of his vest and handed it to Fishlegs. “Sorry you couldn’t come, but I brought you back a souvenir.”

The larger boy’s eyes lit up as he took in the botany book, barely resisting the urge to dive right into it. “You actually went! But aren’t you going to get into trouble? Both of you?” he added, turning to Astrid. He was surprised she’d go along with it. She’d been taking her Hiccup Duty pretty seriously ever since she’d been assigned to him after being kidnapped nearly two weeks earlier.

“He managed to talk the chief into letting us go,” Astrid said, stealing an apple off Fishlegs’ plate.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought. I just pointed out that either I could stay for the games which would mean another year of Spitelout rubbing my failures in Dad's face or we could leave which would not only rob Snotlout of the joy of beating me, but also get one over on Mogadon so Dad can show off during their next meeting.” Hiccup pointed towards Stoick, who had a fancy belt hanging from his shoulder with the Meathead’s crest on the buckle. “Of course, he only said yes as long as Astrid agreed to go with me.”

“Which I did,” she said, grabbing a chicken leg off his plate next. “Because as much as I would have loved to kick Snotlout’s butt, I’ve realized the twins must have had Loki place a curse on me. There’s no other explanation for how I always end up last in at least one category every year, giving Snotlout the win. Not unless you and the twins are sabotaging me on purpose.”

Hunching down in the face of her glare, Fishlegs held up his hands. “Nope! Definitely no sabotage! I swear!”

He didn’t breathe again until she turned away with a hum.

Hiccup patted his shoulder.

“Thanks for helping with the perches,” Hiccup said as he and Astrid walked back into the village.

“No problem. It was good exercise,” she said, stretching her back. “But I was wondering, why don’t you make them out of metal?”

It had been bugging her the entire time she’d been helping him replace the sunning perches on Highest Point. Sure, the wooden perches blended in better with the trees, but Hiccup had specifically placed them on a part of the mountain that no one could reach without wings. Surely metal perches would be better since they’d hold more weight and would last longer. Especially since Hiccup was a better blacksmith than he was a carpenter.

“I did, originally,” Hiccup admitted. “But it turns out Thor really hates tall things made of metal for some reason.”

“He hates metal?”

“Yeah, or I guess maybe he really likes it? Either way, he kept throwing lightning at the perches so I had to swap them out for wood before anyone could get hurt.”

She hummed. “Well -”

“Astrid! Hiccup!”

The two turned to see Fishlegs running towards them.

“Hey, Fishlegs.”

“Good morning.”

“Are you two okay?” he asked, fidgeting nervously as he looked them over.

They shared a look and Hiccup said, “We’re fine. Are you okay?”

The larger boy nodded, then shook his head. “The village was just attacked.”

“Outcasts?” Astrid reached for her axe, even as he shook his head.

“A whispering death.”

Astrid scowled and turned to Hiccup, who was frowning.

“That’s... What dragon is that again?”

“It's a big boulder-class dragon that kind of looks like a spiky ball on a chain,” she said.

“Six rows of rotating razor-sharp teeth that it uses to carve tunnels so that it can hunt from underground,” Fishlegs added, shivering.

Hiccup went pale. “There’s one of those on Berk? Was anyone hurt?”

“No, it came up from the ground in the village center, but there must have been too many people around because it just looked at us and then dove back into its hole.”

“Show me?”

Fishlegs looked confused, but turned to do so.

As they started running, Astrid quietly asked, “Was it one of yours?”

“No. We... haven’t had the best experiences with slither-burrowers.”

That surprised Astrid. The only other dragon she knew of that Hiccup couldn’t tame was the red death. What put whispering deaths on the same level as that monster?

They reached the forge to see a large hole in the ground between it and the stairs up to the great hall. While Fishlegs stayed far back, the other two walked right up to it.

Hiccup knelt next to the hole with a frown. “The size... They’ve got to be a juvenile. This is bad.”

Astrid frowned too. “Because it means the parents are around, right?”

“No, because it means he found us."

“Who?”

“Hiccup! Get away from there!”

The two turned to see the chief marching up. They stood up and stepped away from the hole, but the chief still grabbed Hiccup and pulled him further back.

“What were you doing? That thing is dangerous.”

“Sorry, Dad, but Fishlegs said you guys scared the dragon off so I thought it’d be safe.”

Stoick shook his head, and the ground shook with it. He shoved Hiccup behind him and shouted, “It’s back!”

Everyone around the area grabbed for weapons and Astrid was surprised to see Hiccup among them, his hand tight around the grip of his sword.

The whispering death shot out of the hole in a writhing mess of spines and teeth. While its tail and wings continued moving, its head almost immediately locked in on the direction of the chief. Except, Astrid realized when Stoick charged it, the chief wasn’t the focus of its gaze.

It slipped around him without missing a beat and dove for Hiccup, spewing rings of fire that the boy rushed to dodge. He raised his shield to block its thrown spines, backing away rapidly and cooing at it. Whatever he was saying to it clearly wasn’t having an effect as it hissed and tried to roast him again.

A boulder slammed into its side, knocking the rings of fire off-target.

“Take that you hideous overgrown bramble!” Gobber shouted, standing next to a catapult with Hoark

The death snarled at him, then gave Hiccup one last look before diving back into the hole to evade another boulder.

“Are you okay?” Stoick asked, rushing over. “Do you need Gothi?”

“I’m fine,” Hiccup said breathlessly, still staring at the hole. “I’ll just go so you can -”

“You’re going straight home,” Stoick cut over him. “I want you somewhere safe until we can kill that beast.”

“But -”

“And I want the others watching out for you in the meantime.”

“The others?” Astrid and Hiccup said together as Stoick turned to Fishlegs.

“Get Snotlout and the twins and meet us at my house you’re all on Hiccup duty."

“Dad!”

“Y-yessir.”

“Stoick, I don’t know -”

“Let’s go.” He grabbed his son’s shoulder and started dragging him home.

“What was that?” Astrid asked as she shut Snotlout’s complaints behind Hiccup’s bedroom door.

“That was Groundshaker,” Hiccup said, pulling his flute out of a hidden pocket on his armor. “Our previous bad experience with slither-burrowers.”

“Why was he gunning for you so hard?” she asked as he began to play a song she could only half-hear.

“Because of a grudge.” Hiccup leaned against the window, spinning the flute in his hands. A terror landed on the sill and he told it something, causing it to race off. “Around five or six summers ago, Groundshaker’s flock attacked Toothless and his mother as they were flying past the Archipelago. It’s how they were separated and Toothless ended up in Merciless’s flock. The queen used his anger against him by having him lead an attack on the slither-burrowers’ nesting ground. Most of them got away, but Groundshaker was among the ones that were brought under her control. He blames Toothless for that and Toothless still holds resentment against his flock for losing his mother.”

“That’s awful,” she said, sitting on his bed, and he nodded.

“He found us last year while Toothless and I were on Meathead Island for Thawfest. I’m not sure if he was doing something else for Merciless and got sidetracked or if she specifically sent him after us, but he attacked Toothless on sight. I tried to intervene, but dragon grudges can be just as messy as Viking ones. They needed to settle it one-on-one since it’s a personal vendetta.”

“Then why’d it attack you back there?”

“Because instead of seeing me as his brother like most other dragons, he sees me as an extension of Toothless since I can control Toothless’s tail. But Toothless doesn’t see me as part of him so he wouldn’t let me help last year and Groundshaker’s attacks towards me only made Toothless angrier, more reckless. The only reason they didn’t finish it then and there was because the Meatheads spotted the fighting and attacked so we were forced our separate ways.”

“So what’s going to happen now?”

“I let the flock know Groundshaker’s here. Toothless will take care of it.”

“What about the grudge, though? Dragon grudges are to the death, aren’t they?”

Hiccup shook his head. “Not always.”

“You’re still worried though, aren’t you?”

He shrugged, staring out the window.

Hiccup watched the fire in the hearth, charcoal forgotten in his hand.

His dad’s snores floated from his room, echoed by Snotlout’s snores from the bed he’d stolen from Hiccup. Fishlegs and Tuffnut were also in Hiccup’s room, asleep atop piles of blankets next to the pile Hiccup was supposed to have slept in. Not far from where Hiccup was sitting in his house’s main room, the girls were asleep on their own blanket piles.

The peace was broken by a faint scratching at the front door. Hiccup snuck past the girls and stepped outside to find Sharpshot waiting.

“[The mean burrower’s gone,]” he said, climbing onto Hiccup’s back and the boy relaxed with a sigh. “[Wodensfang is fine, of course. He put the burrower in his place and told him to go away and never come back or try to harm you again.]”

Of course Toothless was still thinking about how Groundshaker had attacked him, even though Hiccup hadn’t even been hurt. “[That’s good. What about the tunnels he dug?]”

“[Toothless told the drillers to close up as many tunnels as they can. He said not to go near the ones in the human village though.]”

“[Probably for the best. Just remind him to make sure none of them are too close to the Rookery’s tunnels. We don’t want any more humans finding us.]”

Sharpshot nodded and flew into the night.

Hiccup turned as the front door opened to see a grumpy Astrid peeking out. “What are you -” she paused to yawn, “- doing?”

“I just got word Groundshaker’s gone.”

“Good. Fine. Whatever. Just get in here and keep it down,” she huffed and left to go back to sleep.

He chuckled and followed her in.

“I really don’t think this is necessary,” Hiccup said as his dad carried their bags onto the ship.

“I won’t leave you alone while that beast is still tearing up Berk,” Stoick huffed, not for the first time. He turned to Hiccup with crossed arms. “And as much as I’d rather stay until it’s dealt with, I don’t want to risk Dagur taking offense to us delaying the signing.”

Hiccup frowned at the deranged older teen’s name. He’d taken over as chief just before the last treaty signing and it had been clear that the added responsibility hadn’t calmed him at all. If anything, it had made him more violent and excitable. He’d probably love an excuse to go to war. “Okay, but is it really a good idea for me to come? You know how he is with me. I’d be safer with the whispering death.”

“Which is why Snotlout will be helping Astrid protect you,” Stoick said with finality before going to speak with Hallr and Gobber.

Hiccup turned to where Snotlout was coming down the docks. “Why did you even agree to this?”

“Because having to watch your butt will be worth it to see Dagur. He's so cool!”

“Cool? Last time he was here, he greeted me by throwing a knife at my head.”

“Exactly.”

“That guy should be locked up in a cage,” Astrid said, shouldering past Snotlout.

“Didn’t he do that to Fishlegs once?” Hiccup asked and Snotlout laughed.

“Yeah, then he force-fed him rotten cod heads!”

Hiccup watched his cousin wander off, then turned to where his father was combating Mildew’s complaints about them leaving while Berk was under attack. He sighed and muttered, “This is going to be a disaster.”

Astrid patted his shoulder. “You’ve survived this long meeting up with him.”

“Three years ago, he dragged me out to the forest to use me as a moving target for his knife-throwing practice. Five years ago, he locked me in a storage shed overnight. He wasn’t even allowed to come to the treaty seven years ago because he tried to drown me while we were swimming two years before that. The only reason he couldn’t do anything to me last year was because I spent the whole time hiding you-know-where.”

“... Okay," she said slowly, "but he’s chief now. All of his focus should be on your dad this time, right?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

Dagur smirked as he watched the ships approach.

“Berk’s fleet is almost here,” Captain Vorg said, stepping up next to him.

“I can see that!” Dagur snapped, shoving him off the docks. He turned back to the ships, bouncing as they got closer and closer. Finally, they pulled up to the docks and his men came forward to help them moor. Watching the gangplank being lowered, he paid no mind as Vorg returned to his side and welcomed the Hooligans. Stoick came down first, of course, but just behind him was who Dagur had been waiting for.

Hiccup looked as fidgety as ever as the blonde shield maiden at his side set her hand on his shoulder. They didn’t seem like much at first glance, but if the letter he’d received proved true...

Dagur distractedly returned Stoick’s greeting, then came forward to loop his arm around Hiccup’s neck. “Ah, Hiccup, it’s been too long!”

Hiccup sent the blonde a glare then gave Dagur a nervous smile. “Hey, Dagur. It’s, uh, only been a year.”

“Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And who’s your friend?”

“I’m Snotlout.” A pig-faced boy stepped up next to them with a pompous grin that made Dagur think of Ansson.

Dagur shoved him away with a vicious glee before turning to the blonde. “And you are?”

“Astrid.”

Dagur’s grin grew and he turned back to Hiccup. “Right, let’s get on with the tour!”

“That’s really not necessary,” Stoick said, but Dagur ignored him as he dragged Hiccup off by the neck with Astrid following a step behind.

“[This isn’t good.]”

“[No, it’s not. Thundergrace, report back to King Wodensfang. We’ll keep an eye on things here.]”

“[Yes, sir.]”

“[I can’t believe it. A Singer? Here?]”

“[I know, love. Let’s just hope our king will be safe with the humans until he’s out of the Song’s reach.]”

Chapter Text

Hiccup shivered as the ship reached Berserk’s docks.

He thought he’d managed to reassure himself that everything would be fine over the three days they’d been at sea. He’d sparred and talked with Astrid. He’d joined her in hopping from boat to boat to avoid Snotlout and his dad. He’d napped on the yards throughout the day and snuck away at night to hang out with Tornado’s pod (the wave-roarers having been sent by Toothless to keep an eye on him).

Watching the others moor the ship, though, he decided that it must have only managed to distract him from his worries. His body buzzed with the need to leave, like something was whispering in his ear to stay away from the island. His restlessness only grew worse when Dagur latched onto him almost immediately and started towing him around by the neck. Even Snotlout’s failed attempts at gaining Dagur’s attention were more annoying than amusing in Hiccup's state and he felt his fists clenching as they trekked through the village.

“And that’s where we keep the killing things,” Dagur said, pointing out the armory. Then he turned to Astrid and Hiccup with a sharp grin, tapping Endeavor’s hilt. “Speaking of killing things, I have it on excellent authority that you two have been getting up to some interesting adventures.”

“Excellent authority?” Stoick asked, taking advantage of the pause in the tour to pull Hiccup away and step between the teens. “And who would that be, Dagur?”

“Never mind,” the older teen huffed. He appeared to bounce back quickly from his annoyance at the interruption, though. “Oh! And that’s where we practice killing things! We don’t have any dragons since no dragon has dared set foot on Berserk in a century, but...”

With the attention off him, Hiccup drifted to the back of the group as Dagur started leading them off again. Astrid stayed at his side, but they didn’t get a chance to talk alone until the tour stopped for lunch.

Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones who thought it was a good chance to get away from the others and Dagur was right on their heels as they slipped into the alley next to the Great Hall.

“So, Hiccup, where is it?”

“Where’s what?” Hiccup asked, voice drifting towards a growl with how on edge he was.

“Your leg,” Dagur said as he gestured to Hiccup’s prosthetic with a knife, before shrugging and continuing with, “Never mind. I heard all about it.”

“You heard all about what?” Hiccup asked, glancing at Astrid.

“You. The Red Death. Got attacked by it and was rescued by her.”

The get away, stay away feeling in Hiccup’s head spiked in response to Dagur wrapping his arm tightly around him while pointing at Astrid. He fought the urge to grab Endeavor and fight his way free as he sputtered out, “What? Us? I mean, no. What? Astrid’s amazing, but come on. How would that even be possible?”

“Right? That's what I thought, too, but then I heard about how she scared off a night fury.”

“ I don-I don't even-How would you scare a night fury off?”

Dagur leaned in so they were nose to nose and the knife pressed into Hiccup’s side.

He gave in to the urge and grabbed Endeavor.

“I don’t know. How would you?”

Astrid ripped the knife away and shoved Dagur off. “Where did you hear a story like that?”

“Oh, around,” he said, looking unbothered by her show of force. “It seems you made a few enemies in the Outcasts and they like to talk.”

Before either Hooligan could question why he was talking to Outcasts, Stoick found the three and brought them back to the Great Hall.

Given his persistent agitation, Hiccup chose to hide in a corner during the treaty feast. His dad even let him since it kept him away from Dagur.

This -- alongside Snotlout turning his attention onto Astrid after failing to bond with Dagur all day -- made it easy to sneak away without anyone noticing when it was announced the treaty would be signed in dragon blood. Once out of the hall, he took a moment to mourn the fallen dragon, then headed into the woods. He took a path that wound up the mountain and relished how his urge to fight his way off the island drained away the further he got from the village.

The only worry that stayed was the one that grew the longer he went without one of his flock coming to greet him. He was sure one of them would have come to check on him as soon as he was away from other humans, especially with how insistent Toothless had been about them keeping him safe, but none appeared. After a while, he began to anxiously whistle a call for flock-mates.

He was halfway up the mountain when he received a response.

Forgoing the path, he climbed a small cliff using his claws and found Tornado and Whirlwing waiting on a small plateau. The heart-mates looked as worried as him and they quickly began sniffing him over for injuries.

“[I was starting to think you all were hiding from me,]” he joked halfheartedly, rubbing their nose horns in greeting. “[Why are you all the way up here? Have the Mad-Warriors really been patrolling this far up?]”

“[No, we haven’t seen any of them,]” Tornado huffed into his hair while Whirlwing stretched out a wing to let Hiccup self-soothe by checking the patches that protected the healing holes in the membrane.

“[There’s a Song in the air.]”

Hiccup’s breath caught as he realized his earlier distress hadn’t been all his own. It had been so subtle, he hadn’t placed it before. He certainly hadn’t connected it to the clawing tension that had been in the air when he’d led his flock-mates through the mists of Helheim's Gate.

His hand went to his flute as he looked around. “[A Divine Song? Why would a Singer be on Mad-Warrior-Land? Is it another Merciless situation?]”

Whirlwing shuffled nervously and Tornado nuzzled him. “[We don’t think so. They're not trying to control us. Just keep us away.]”

The held breath left Hiccup as Dagur’s words echoed in his head. “[That’s good. If they just want to be left alone then they probably don’t mean any harm.]”

“[We should still try to leave as soon as possible,]” Tornado said.

Hiccup hummed in agreement, staring down at the village.

“[Are the humans ready to go?]”

“[Almost. Did you guys see any caves around here?]”

“[Yes, why?]” Whirlwing asked.

“[My King, please tell me you’re not planning to search for the Singer?]” Tornado’s sigh said he already knew the answer.

“[Aren’t you curious about them? Who are they? Why are they here? Why are they keeping everyone away? And for around a century given what I’ve heard?]”

“[Our king is a child,]” Tornado said to his heart-mate in a wave-roarer’s whisper, which wasn’t quiet at all considering how little they could hear.

Honestly, the fact they could hear the Song at all showed the Singer’s strength and age.

Hiccup really wanted to meet them.

“[They might not take it well if you approach them given they want everyone to stay away,]” Tornado pointed out.

Hiccup nodded.

“[Whoa!]” Hiccup whistled, staring at the massive column of ice curling up from the pit in front of him, up the far wall, and across the ceiling. He approached the pit and and held out the torch he’d made by dipping the top of a thin stalagmite into smoldering-scales gel. The walls of the pit were a mix of ice and stone, but they went too deep for him to see much more than that.

He carefully strapped the torch to his shield, then set them both on his back before climbing down into the pit. He shivered the further down he went, both from the cold blowing up from the depths and from the rumbling snores he began to hear.

He had a creeping suspicion he knew what kind of dragon the Singer was.

He eventually landed on a large ledge that was crusted with frost and speckled with icy spikes. He looked around the ledge and was just about to explore one of the tunnels leading off it, then he spotted a group of spikes near the center that were almost shaped like a bowl.

“[If the Singer is as big as I think they are, why do they have such a small bowl?]” he wondered aloud as he walked over to the spikes and peeked inside.

A white, spike-covered egg was nestled within.

“[Ta'ara,]” he cursed, quickly and quietly backing away from the spikes.

He wasn’t just in a Singer’s lair.

He was in a brooding Singer’s lair.

The ground shook beneath his feet and a rumble drifted up from the pit as the temperature dropped drastically.

He strapped the torch to the shield on his back again and approached the edge of the ledge. “[I’m so sorry,]” he called down, kneeling at the ledge and looking into the darkness. “[I simply wanted to greet you. I never would have come into your lair if I’d known you had an egg.]”

The rumbles grew and a rush of cold air blew past him, coating his vest in frost.

Suddenly, the metaphorical whispers he’d been hearing since reaching Berserk became a lot more literal before spiking up to a loud buzz that had him clapping his hands over his ears. His head began to pound and he tried to back away from the pit, only for his legs to collapse under him.

“[Stop! Please! I’m sorry!]”

Another rush of cold air brushed past him, but this time it felt like the cold reached past his clothes and skin into his very bones. It crept deeper and deeper until it curled around a pocket of warmth he’d never realized existed at the center of his chest.

“[Yield, little wind-walker-heart,]” an ancient voice ordered from the pit.

He pressed his forehead against the freezing ground as it felt like it was being split in two. “[Wh-what are you do-ing?]”

Out of nowhere, memories rose in his mind. He remembered working on dragon-killing inventions, remembered shooting down Toothless, remembered his grief when he realized what he’d done, remembered their first flight together, remembered forming his flock, remembered taking the fight to Merciless, remembered telling Astrid he’d protect his flock if necessary.

He remembered climbing through the icy caves with wide-eyed curiosity.

“[Still so young.]”

The words rolled up from the pit and echoed through his mind.

Then it suddenly went quiet.

Groaning, he looked up at the snow drifting around him. He slowly dropped his hands from his ringing ears and shakily got to his feet. Lacking anything better to say, he apologized again.

“[Peace, young king,]” she said softly and a shiver went up Hiccup’s back when he realized her voice sounded like it was coming from inside his head just as much as from the pit. “[You are forgiven. Return to your flock with my blessing and a reminder to be more cautious in the future.]”

“[Thank you, Elder.]” He lowered his head and bared his throat respectfully. He turned to leave, careful to keep his gaze and body turned away from her egg.

As he reached the exit to the cave and stepped into the forest, he heard her voice for the last time in what he knew would be years. “[When you are older and stronger, return.]”

He didn’t respond, knowing she wouldn’t hear it. He had a feeling she already knew he would obey her request, if only to find out what the ancient blizzard-maximus wanted with him.

Astrid watched Hiccup with a frown as she helped the others prepare the ship for the trip back to Berk.

In complete contrast to how fidgety he had been the day before, he was spending the preparation time relaxing peacefully against the ship’s railing. He’d even pulled out his flute to play a song she thought might have been new, though it was hard to tell considering she could only hear half of it.

When she got the chance, she walked over to ask if he was okay.

“Yeah, just excited to be leaving,” he said as he took a break to adjust something on the flute and reposition his fingers. He began the song again, though in a lower key.

She leaned against the railing and checked that no one was close enough to overhear them. “Where did you go yesterday? First, you disappeared in the middle of the feast, then you were gone when I woke up in the middle of the night.”

He shrugged and his eyes darted pointedly out to sea.

Of course, he was with his dragons. “You should have brought me with you.”

He lowered the flute, shaking his head. “I was fine, Astrid. You don’t need to follow me around constantly.”

She crossed her arms. “I do, actually. It’s why I’m here.”

“And I’m trying to bring you along as much as I can, but a lot of the others are still uncomfortable with you. I need to go alone sometimes until they all get used to you.”

She understood that, she did, and not just because they’d had a version of that conversation many times over the past few weeks. It didn’t change how it made her job harder. If someone else had woken up and seen she’d lost Hiccup… “At least try to keep me updated on where you are.”

“I -”

“Stoick!”

The two turned to see a small group of Berserkers following their chief up to the ship.

“Dagur,” Stoick greeted, heading down the gangplank with Spitelout and Gobber. “Come to see us off?”

“Oh, yes of cour-No! I’m here to invite you all to a hunt! A monstrous nightmare has been spotted flying around a nearby island so the boys and I were going to go kill it before it could try making trouble for our fishing boats!”

Berk’s chief turned to the two at his side and Gobber looked unsure while Spitelout was eager.

“Come on. It will let us stretch our legs before we’re trapped at sea for the next few days and we’ll get to hunt down a beast.”

He nodded to his brother-in-law and turned back to Dagur. “Alright, where are we headed?”

Astrid turned to Hiccup to see him glaring at the chiefs.

With his men and a smile, Dagur marched up the beach towards where the Hooligans had gathered.

His joy was replaced with annoyance when he heard Astrid say, “The three of us can watch the ship while you’re hunting.”

Hiccup nodded while Snot-lip screamed, “What?”

Stoick looked a little too agreeable, so Dagur stomped forward to grab Hiccup’s arm and start dragging him inland. “Let’s get to hunting!”

“Woah! Hold on!” Hiccup yelped, futilely trying to free himself.

“Dagur, wait!” Stoick shouted, following them and trying to get hold of his son. “Hiccup’s not going on the hunt. He doesn’t know how to fight dragons.”

“No better time to learn!”

“Dagur!”

He swung around to look at the old chief, tucking Hiccup against his chest. “Unless you have a good reason for why he can’t come when we’ve got fifteen trained warriors alongside us. Are you cowards? Weak?” He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “Or are you hiding something from your trusted allies?”

Stoick bristled with every insult. “We’re not cowards, weak, or hiding anything, bu-”

“Good, then let’s move out! I want to be back on Berserk by lunch!”

His men followed obediently, as did the Hooligans after some grumbling. Stoick and Astrid stayed at his side, and, unfortunately, they brought Snot-rag. The first two kept trying to figure out a subtle way to get Hiccup (who just would not stop squirming) away from him. The third kept trying to suck up to him, usually at Hiccup’s expense.

He reminded Dagur of Ansson more and more with every word, which made it all the sweeter when he tripped the annoyance so he’d crash into one of the walls of the ravine they were walking through.

As expected for Rockslide Path, the crash caused a rockslide.

Snot-hat scrambled back into Stoick to avoid getting crushed while Dagur grabbed Astrid to pull her and Hiccup forward. When the ravine fell quiet, the three were thoroughly separated from the rest of the group.

“Hiccup!”

“I’m okay,” Hiccup groaned as they dusted themselves off. “Astrid and Dagur are too.”

Some words were said that didn’t make it past the wall of rocks that had formed behind them, then Stoick said, “Captain Vorg knows another way around. We’ll meet you outside the ravine. Be careful. Astrid, keep an eye on them.”

“Yes, sir.”

With a skip in his step, Dagur led the younger teens out of the ravine, then headed for the forest.

“We’re supposed to wait here for the others,” Astrid said, glaring at him.

He rolled his eyes. “Stoick’s not the boss of me. We’re here to hunt, not wait around, so I say we keep going.”

“I only listen to my chief.”

“Well, your chief said to keep an eye on -” He tugged Hiccup to his side, ignoring how he growled and started struggling again. “- us.”

She drew her axe. “Let him go.”

He grinned and reached for his own axes.

A crack sounded to their side and they turned to see a massive monstrous nightmare pushing its way through the trees.

“Titan wing,” Astrid gasped and turned her weapon towards the beast while Hiccup whined and cocked his head.

The nightmare cooed, then reared up to roar and spread its wings intimidatingly.

Dagur cackled and turned to Astrid. “Well, go ahead. Protect your ally and future chief.”

She scowled, but placed herself between them and the dragon.

“Astrid!” Hiccup called as she charged.

Dagur watched the ensuing fight eagerly. Big or not, the nightmare was nothing compared to the red death. If she really was the Dragon Conqueror, she would win easily.

She did not.

Her skills were okay, and the fight was alright, but it wasn’t Dragon Conqueror interesting.

Which meant he was bored by the time she was thrown into a tree with only a little blood on her axe from a small blow she landed on its chest.

That’s the last time I listen to that old loser, he thought as he drew his axes. He snuck behind the nightmare as it was prowling toward the dazed blonde. He raised his weapons, but was caught off guard when a second dragon roared from the side.

The nightmare spun on him as he paused to look for the new dragon and it tail-whipped him before he could spot anything other than Hiccup. His axes went flying and he landed on the ground hard enough to steal his breath.

He tried to force himself up and found himself faced with fire building in the dragon’s open, hissing mouth. He braced himself as the fire poured out.

Then Hiccup stepped in front of him with a growl.

He watched in shock as the tiny boy held off the liquid fire with his shiny little shield. The fire cut off and the dragon prowled forward, head down as it prepared to pounce.

Hiccup made a clicking sound and drew his sword, crouching and tilting his head to mirror the dragon as it came into reach. Quickly, he twisted to place his left-side -- his sword side -- forward. This, unfortunately, caused his shield to block Dagur’s view of whatever he did to the dragon. It must have been impressive, though, as the large beast pulled back with a gurgle before fleeing into the sky. He watched it go before turning to check on Dagur.

There was something feral in his eyes.

Suddenly, Dagur was thrown years in the past, to back before Solveig’s disappearance had driven his father both soft and away from Berserk. He remembered sitting on Oswald’s knee to listen to stories about the heroes of old.

He remembered hearing about Hiccup the Dragon Whisperer, the warrior who’d managed to become one of the greatest dragon hunters despite his size. The stories said he understood dragons better than anyone before or since. They said he could get into their heads to predict their every move. They said he was as feral as any Berserker, despite being a Hooligan. They said that he’d been the one to discover how to restrain a skrill for battle, and had given the Berserkers the secret as part of his daughter’s dowry when she married into Dagur’s family to become his great-great-and-more-greats-grandmother.

In the past, Dagur had often laughed while thinking about the story, imagining Hiccup III in Hiccup I’s place.

Now, the comparison didn’t seem so funny.

He got to his feet as Hiccup went to check on the blonde. Before anything could be said, Stoick came charging out of the trees to fawn over his son and announce they were leaving.

“So,” Captain Vorg started once they were back on their ship, “what did you find out?”

“She’s not the Conqueror. Alvin's crazier than I am to believe that. Whoever they are, they're probably not even on Berk,” Dagur answered, but his disappointment about having no lead on the red death’s killer wasn’t as strong as it had been.

He had something new to think about.

“Tell the men to keep an ear out for any news on Hiccup, though.”

“The runt? Why?”

He didn’t respond as he watched the Hooligans sail off.

Chapter Text

“Are you still mad?”

Hiccup kept his eyes on the dark storm covering the sky.

“I had to do something.”

“She just -”

“Saw Dagur hurting you and wanted to help,” Astrid finished, making her whisper a little quieter as she glanced at the others on the ship. “Still, we couldn’t let her attack Dagur, and we definitely couldn’t let him know about you.”

“I would have handled -”

The fight they’d been rehashing repeatedly over the two days since setting sail for Berk was cut off by Snotlout shoving himself between them. “What are you two whispering about?”

“Nothing!” Astrid snapped and stomped off to the far end of the ship to help Kevlar with some ropes.

Hiccup turned the other way, planning to hide on the mast despite his dad’s orders to stay off it.

Snotlout grabbed his arm before he could get far and shoved him towards the railing.

He nearly lost his footing as one of the large waves dragged up by the storm tossed the ship sideways. Grabbing onto the railing, he glared at his cousin and snarled, “Watch it!”

“Don’t tell me what to do, Useless!” Snotlout snorted, getting in his face. “And stay away from Astrid! She’s way too cool for you!”

“Trust me, I’d love it if she stayed away.” It’d put the flock at ease and Hiccup wouldn’t have to put up with her constant back and forth if she stopped trying to involve herself in his business. “But Dad’s the one who told her to follow me around so you’ll have to take your complaints to him.”

“Don’t get snippy with me, Useless.” Snotlout shoved him again.

“Would you stop!?”

“Or what? What are you going to do about it, Useless?” He tried to shove Hiccup again, but the smaller boy dodged to the side at the last second. Scowling, he tried again to the same effect. “Hold still!”

“Why would I do that?”

With a battle cry, he rushed forward.

Hiccup moved to do the roll he used to avoid rampaging gronckles, then his metal foot slid wildly across the rain-slicked deck. He slammed into Snotlout as the bigger boy raced toward him, their legs tangling. They fell sideways into a stack of crates and toppled it. The falling crates pushed them towards the railing, then tipped them over it as a wave tossed the ship.

They didn’t even have a chance to scream before they plunged underwater.

They tried for the surface, only for the sea to shove them back down as soon as they tasted air. It was a long thirty seconds of being tossed around by the storm’s currents before they managed to keep their heads up long enough to do more than quickly catch their breaths, and by that time they’d been dragged far from the ships.

Snotlout screamed for help as they clung to one of the crates, but the wind screamed louder.

“That’s not helping!” Hiccup snarled as his cousin kept screaming in his ear.

“You’re not helping!” Snotlout snapped back. He tried to shove Hiccup off the crate, but had to quickly grab back on with both hands to keep from falling off himself. “This is all your fault!”

“My fault? This wouldn’t have happened if you’d just left me alone.”

“No, this wouldn’t have happened if you’d left Dagur and Astrid alone.”

“Are you-All that was because Dagur wouldn’t leave me alone!? Seriously!? I didn’t even want to be near him!”

“You’re y-You’re you!” Snotlout sputtered out after a wave washed over them. “It doesn’t make sense for him to want to be around you! Not unless you were doing something!”

“Dagur’s insane! Nothing he does makes sense!”

Snotlout’s response was smothered by another wave, which nearly tore them both off the crate.

“We need to figure something out,” Hiccup groaned after coughing up a lung‘s worth of seawater.

He knew the wave-roarers had to be close, but he also knew they wouldn’t approach while he wasn’t alone. Not unless he signaled them to, and that would absolutely be a final resort. If Snotlout found out about the flock...

“Can you see the ship or an island? Or even just a sea stack?”

“If I could, do you think I’d still be floating here with you, Useless?”

“[Would you back off for five minutes, sun-brain!?]” he snarled, realizing too late that it had come out as an actual snarl.

Snotlout started so hard he lost his grip on the crate, which meant the next wave smashed him face-first into it.

Hiccup shouted his name as he sunk beneath the surface without a twitch. He gave a screeching call for help and dove after him, managing to grab Snotlout’s arm before he could get too deep. He wasn’t strong enough to keep them both up, but thankfully his flock-mates reacted quickly and Tornado was soon beneath them, carrying them up just above the waves.

“[Are you alright, my king?]” he asked as Hiccup caught his breath and checked on Snotlout.

“[I’m fine. I’m more worried about him.]”

Thankfully, Snotlout was already coughing up whatever seawater he’d breathed in on his own. The only physical damage seemed to be some bruising on his nose and while Hiccup wasn’t a healer, he’d read enough books to feel reasonably confident Snotlout was too present for the blow to have done much more than knock him out. He’d still need to keep an eye out, though.

The biggest problem was how much he was shivering, with Hiccup not much better. They’d been in the freezing water too long and the storm was only getting worse. A waterspout even seemed to be forming far ahead.

“[We need to get out of the storm.]”

“[Where do you want to go?]”

“[Whatever island’s closest. It’s not safe to fly too far right now and going back to the boats would only raise questions.]”

“Are you awake?”

Snotlout whined when Hiccup’s annoying, nasally voice was the first thing to greet him after waking up.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded.

“You sure? Can you talk?”

“Go... suck... rocks,” he groaned, voice scratchy and throat sore.

“Hey, he’s back! Lucky me.”

He opened his eyes to glare at his cousin, then look around. They were in a small beach-side cave. Outside, the rain was dying down to a drizzle, but storm clouds still darkened the sky and the sea was still going crazy. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to look around. We just washed up here so I only had time to get you out of the rain and start a fire.”

He stood up and took a better look around. “What did you do with the crates?”

“Crates?”

“The crates that we were floating on,” he said slowly as Hiccup stared dumbly at him.

“Oh, right, those. Uh, I don’t know. I guess they washed away?” the coward said, looking away nervously.

“Useless!” Snotlout huffed, running over to the cave’s opening. He looked up and down the beach to be sure the crates were gone before glaring at Hiccup. “Why didn’t you grab them!?”

“Excuse me if I was too busy saving you to worry about some boxes.”

“I would have rather drowned in my sleep than die of hunger!”

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to die of hunger.”

“You don’t know that. Unless you have food?”

“I don’t,” he said, trying to slap away the hands digging into his pockets.

Ignoring his attempts, Snotlout searched him. Except all he found was a bunch of useless junk: a whistle, a bundle of paper, charcoal, a jar of some weird gel, a roll of string, a pair of metal-tipped gloves, soap (really?), a bag of herbs, a half-empty water flask, a baby dagger, and his dinky sword.

“Is this really all you have?” he huffed, swinging the sword around as Hiccup put the rest of his things away. “There’s nothing in here to help you survive! You don’t even have your weird shiny shield!”

“Excuse me if I didn’t plan on being thrown overboard.” He pulled the gloves on, then turned to Snotlout with flailing hands. “And what do you have?”

“I have the know-how to survive.”

Hiccup snorted and reached for his sword.

Snotlout pulled it away.

“Give me my sword.”

“No. I need a weapon so I can protect us both if we get attacked since you’re Useless in a fight.”

“No, I’m n-Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna look for food.” Snotlout left the cave and started heading inland with Hiccup scrambling to follow.

“Hold on. We should stay by the beach in case the ships come -”

Snotlout tuned out his cousin’s nagging as he started looking around the island for signs of food. There wasn’t much to see. Just dirt, barren trees, dust, hardened lava, and sand, all in shades of grey.

Thankfully Hiccup had given up and wandered off by the time he found some bludgeon-sized fallen branches so he could test them out in peace. He set down the sword and grabbed a branch to give it a few swings. He tried a few others and smiled when he found one that was perfectly weighted. It was a much better weapon than some baby sword.

“Snotlout!” Hiccup called quietly and Snotlout rolled his eyes. He shouldered his new bludgeon and went to see what Hiccup was worked up about now.

“What?” he asked when he noticed Hiccup was peaking through a hole in a bolder.

His cousin shushed him and he scowled.

He pushed the smaller boy away and looked through the hole. “What do you see?”

A trio of men in crusty armor were stomping past, though one was half-hidden in the trees.

“Would you be quiet?” Hiccup tried to look over his shoulder. “For all we know, we could be on a hostile island.”

“Don’t be such a baby. How hostile can it be?”

“Those are wild dragon tracks alright,” one of the men said.

“Good,” the one in the trees said as he stepped into view. “I feel like killing.”

“Is that hostile enough for you?” Hiccup hissed and Snotlout gave him a confused look. “That’s Alvin the Treacherous’s second. We’re on Outcast Island.”

His stomach sank, but he tried to play it off with a smile. “And you wanted to just hang around on the beach. We would have been sitting ducks.”

Hiccup scowled, but stayed quiet as the men grew closer.

They waited until the Outcasts were out of sight before quietly hurrying away in the opposite direction.

“Outcast Island!? I can't believe this!” Hiccup panted once they’d stopped running. He dropped down on a log while Snotlout looked around to be sure there were no other Outcasts around.

He perked up when he spotted a bush full of berries.

“We need to quickly find a way off this island or we are dead men.”

He started picking the berries off and stuffing them in his mouth.

It was quiet for a moment, then Hiccup said, “Snotlout, I'm not so sure you should be eating those berries.”

“Well, I'm not so sure you should be telling me what to eat, looking like that!” He gestured at Hiccup, who stared deadpan back at him before swatting the berries out of his hand. “Hey, back off. These are mine!”

“Those berries could be poisonous.”

“Hey, we're on Outcast Island. We're going into battle. We need our strength, a concept you know nothing about.”

“Battle the Outcasts? Really? Just the two of us?” Hiccup rolled his eyes and turned away.

“Absolutely.”

He froze, turning to Snotlout with wide eyes. “Wha-What did you just say?”

“I said, absolutely. As in, of course.”

“Oh, for the love of-- I told you not to eat those berries!”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

He pointed at a small nearby stream.

Snotlout looked in it, and definitely didn’t scream when he saw his reflection.

“Oh, no, I'm hideous!”

He grabbed his swollen tongue without a whimper as Hiccup sighed and held out his hand. “I may have something that can help with your tongue. Give me my sword back and I’ll help you.”

“Sword?”

Hiccup’s hand dropped before he started frantically flinging his arms around and pacing. “No, no, no. Do not tell me you just left Endeavor back there. If someone finds it, we're done! Alvin will recognize it in an instant!”

“Relax. We're safe. Trust me, no one’s gonna find it.”

Hiccup shook his head and started back the way they’d come.

Snotlout grabbed him and pulled him back. “No. Stoick will kill me if you die.”

“We have to go back for it.”

“You can make another, better sword.”

“That’s Hiccup II’s sword, remember!?” Hiccup snapped, mimicking Snotlout’s lisp. "It’s one of the few heirlooms our family has left!"

“Don’t care. They won’t find it, but they will find your clumsy butt.”

Hiccup looks ready to blow, but then they heard more Outcast voices and had to get moving again. He gave one last look back the way they’d come, then sighed. “We need to figure out how to get off the island.”

“We could build a ship.”

“We can’t build a ship strong enough to withstand storming Outcast waters with no tools.”

“Maybe you can’t, but I can.”

“No, you can’t. We should just steal one. We could sneak past the guards.”

“You couldn’t sneak past an old, blind crone, let alone a group of Outcast guards.”

“That’s rich coming from someone who stomps around like he’s got a sleeping gronckle on his back.”

“Watch it, Useless!”

“You can’t even say Useless right now,” Hiccup sighed, slowing to a stop. He took out his herb bag and shifted through it to find one of those bowls and sticks girls used to crush stuff for cooking or medicine. He mashed some herbs and mixed the dust with some sticky, clear liquid he poured out of a small jar that had also been hidden in the herb bag. “Here, soak your tongue in this.”

“Why?” Snotlout asked, eyeing the bowl.

“It’ll fix it.”

He reluctantly took the bowl as Hiccup started packing up. He stuck his tongue in the goop and his nose immediately crinkled. “How long do I have to leave my tongue in here? It’s disgusting!”

“However long it takes for the swelling to go down.”

“Ugh, it tastes like yak pies.”

“How do you know what yak pies taste like?” Hiccup asked, standing up with an innocent look on his dumb face.

“I’m going to feed you a yak pie when this is over.”

“We’re coming up on the edge of the village.”

“Betty Boda bought a bit of bitter butter. ‘And,’ said she, ‘This butter's bitter.’ If I bought a bit of bitter butter, it would -”

“What... are you doing?”

“Enjoying my tongue again.”

“Well, I'm glad someone is.”

The two stepped around the curve of a cliff and froze when they found a monstrous nightmare blocking their path.

Hiccup whined and cocked his head, stepping back.

Snotlout moved in front of him and hefted up his bludgeon.

The coward called his name and grabbed his arm, but he shoved him away.

“Don’t worry, I got this.”

“Why are all of you like this?” he thought Hiccup said, but it was hard to hear over the roar the nightmare gave at that exact moment before charging forward.

He raised his club, then was tackled to the side. The nightmare shot past, unable to turn in time, as he and Hiccup rolled across the ground.

“What was that for!?”

“I just, uh,” the fishbone stuttered, looking between Snotlout and the nightmare. “I don’t think we should fight it. I mean, we should just run. You know, so we don’t risk getting any unwanted -”

“There he is! Hiccup Haddock!”

“- attention.”

Boys and dragon together turned to see Outcasts running towards them.

Hiccup made a low growling sound as he scrambled to his foot. Snotlout hurried to follow while the dragon gave them one last look before stupidly deciding the Outcasts were easier prey.

“We need to run,” Hiccup said as it rained fire down on the men, staying just out of reach of their crossbows and spears.

For once, Snotlout listened without complaint.

They raced through a maze of gullies, then ducked into a small crevice to hide from the few Outcasts that had made it around the nightmare. Once the men had run past, Hiccup peaked outside. “... They’re gone. Come on, we need to find a clearer path to the docks.”

“No way! I'm not going anywhere near that place. You almost got us caught!”

“I almost got-The only reason the Outcasts know we’re here is because you lost Endeavor!”

“Well, who brought the oh-so-special sword to Outcast Island?”

“I had no idea we were coming here considering you threw us overboard!”

“So you're not prepared, and I get blamed!? You really are absolutely useless!”

“No, I’m not! And you need to accept it! Because right now, I am all you've got!”

“Oh, you think I need you!? I don’t need you!” Snotlout snapped and stomped out of the cave.

“Well, I don't need you! Go!”

Hiccup was done with bloodthirsty Vikings thinking their way was the only way.

At least Snotlout ignoring him made sense.

He shook his head. He didn’t have time to think about Astrid. He needed to get off the island before Alvin found him. Unfortunately, he didn’t know enough about ships to launch one on his own, and he wasn’t sure the Outcasts would have one small enough for just him besides.

He’d have to find Queen Emeraldember and seek asylum with her flock until he could figure out something else.

“[Maybe she could send one of her flock-mates to knock Snotlout out and bring us to another island,]” he chuckled to himself as he started heading deeper into the local flock’s territory. “[Then I can pretend this all was a dream and we actually washed up there.]”

It was sorely tempting, even if he knew Snotlout likely couldn’t afford another hit to the head.

He was getting close to the nesting ground when he heard a pained cry. He quickly rerouted and found a proud-thorn dragonet caught in a trap.

He gave a greeting chirp as he slid down a hill.

The dragonet turned to him, head down like they expected a scolding, then cocked said head in surprise. “[You’re a strange looking venomous-vorpent.]”

“[I’m not a vorpent. I’m a human,]” Hiccup snorted as he approached and extended his wrist, fist clenched in non-aggression. “[But I’m a friend. I won’t hurt you.]”

They scented the air. “[Oh, you’re King Tailfin! One of the kings who saved us from Merciless! I’ve heard of you.]”

“[That’s right. And I can help you out of that too,]” Hiccup said, gesturing to the trap.

“[I don’t need any help,]” they said, puffing out their chest proudly. Then they flinched when the movement caused the snare to dig into their wing. “[But I wouldn’t disrespect a king such as you by turning you away either.]”

Hiccup chuckled as he stepped closer to look over the trap.

Chapter Text

“[What’s your name?]” Hiccup asked the proud-thorn dragonet as he started working on freeing them from the snare.

“[Glorybreeze.]”

“[Fresh scales, Glorybreeze. How’d you end up out here all alone? Are you part of the defense horde?]”

“[Not exactly,]” they said, letting their head droop. “[I want to be, but my mentor thinks I’m not ready. I came out here to prove him wrong. I know it was stupid.]”

“[Yeah, but I get it. I’ve done way stupider too. Thankfully, my clutch-mate has always had my back, and now I have yours. Next time you want to run off, at least have someone watching your back. Especially if humans are involved.]”

They chittered and nosed the ground before looking up at him with one eye. “[Why are you out alone? Is King Wodensfang near?]”

“[No, I got trapped here with one of my humans and he ran off. I was going to ask your queen for help.]” With one final twist, the snare went slack.

Glorybreeze chirped and pranced around before flying up to stretch their wings.

Hiccup watched them with a smile for a moment before turning back to the trap. Much like he’d done to the traps on Berk, he disarmed it in a way that made it look functioning then laid it out to make it look like it hadn’t been touched.

He dusted himself off and turned to keep heading to meet Queen Emeraldember.

He took a step forward.

Savage stepped out from a group of trees.

The two stared at each other.

Savage smirked. “And where are we going, Hiccup?”

“Oh, you know, just... taking a walk.”

“Well, now you can take a walk straight to Alvin.”

Hiccup nodded, then then ran in the opposite direction.

“Grab him!”

Glorybreeze fidgeted as they watched the humans grab King Tailfin. They wanted to help, but they’d never fought humans before. They‘d never even been near one. As much as they didn’t want to admit it, they were scared.

They shifted in the air, then shot off towards the nesting ground. They met Typhoon right at the edge and called out to them.

“[Glorybreeze? What are you do-]”

“[King Tailfin is here!]”

“[I know, I just saw hi-]”

“[The humans captured him!]” they cut in again, not carrying about the angry fire still licking across their mentor’s back from their first interruption.

Thankfully, the fire quickly went out with his words. “[Show me!]”

The two flew off and landed atop a cliff that looked down on where the humans were leading Tailfin toward their village through a deep ravine.

“[Can we save him?]” Glorybreeze asked.

“[The ravine’s too narrow for our wings. Go back to the nesting ground and round up some rock-gnaws. I’m going to try to get some other help.]”

“You're not the only one who can come up with a good idea, Hiccup,” Snotlout snorted as he pushed his raft out onto the water. He laughed and climbed aboard as it began to drift out to sea. “Snotlout, Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi...”

He trailed off as the raft sunk below the waves.

He swam back to shore and lay down on the beach with his eyes closed. “Good thing he wasn't here to see that.”

He felt breath on his face and opened his eyes to see a monstrous nightmare hovering over him. Before he could react, it grabbed him in its talons and took flight.

“Put me down, you sack o-No! No! No!” Snotlout screamed as the nightmare dropped him into a ravine. Thankfully, he managed to land on a narrow path instead of dropping all the way to the bottom. He glared up at the nightmare, which was glaring down at him from above the ravine. “What’s wrong? Too big to get your food?” he mocked, grabbing his bludgeon and waving it at the beast.

It just landed on the cliff and stared down at him.

“Stupid dragon,” he muttered and started looking around since the nightmare was out of reach.

His eyes widened when he spotted Hiccup at the bottom of the ravine with a trio of Outcasts. “I knew he would get caught without me!”

After giving the nightmare one last dirty look, he slid down the wall of the ravine to reach the lower paths. Not far from the bottom, he spotted some boulders that had collected on a path. He raced up to them and lodged his bludgeon under one at the bottom. He watched Hiccup’s group approach, then knocked the boulders down.

The Outcasts ran from the rockslide and Snotlout jumped down on top of the one closest to Hiccup. He started fighting the Outcasts, using his bludgeon more like a sword when he had to deflect their blades. He managed to knock down the skinnier one (he thought Hiccup called him Scavenge or something), but the biggest one had him on the ropes until a blast of purple knocked the Outcast away. He looked up, recognizing the fire, but didn’t see the dragon it must have come from. He turned back to the fight when he heard a gasp and saw Hiccup being held by the Outcast he’d landed on.

“Hiccup!” he shouted, grabbing his cousin’s dainty sword off Scavenge’s belt and kicking him back down as he started to get up. He threw the sword at Landing Outcast and it lodged into his shoulder, knocking him back from Hiccup.

The fishbone quickly yanked the sword out and ran to Snotlout’s side.

“Nice job getting caught, Useless.”

“Is now really the time!?”

The two knocked out Biggest and Landing before turning to Scavenge.

The man glanced between them, looking ready to turn tail, then Alvin dropped down next to him.

“Hello, Hiccup.”

“Not nice to see you again, Alvin. You should probably duck.”

“Wha-”

A high-pitched shriek echoed through the ravine and Snotlout ducked on instinct, screaming, “Night fury!”

A purple explosion flashed above them and Snotlout’s jaw dropped when he spotted the dragon lit by its own purple flames. Black as the night sky with a shark’s mouth of teeth and a crown of horns on its head. It really looked like death given draconic form. The only strange thing about it was that Snotlout would have assumed it’d be bigger.

Hiccup grabbed his arm and started dragging him down the ravine as the dragon’s blast caused another, larger rockslide to fall behind them. The Outcasts tried to follow, but the purple blasts still raining down on the ravine meant they had to run the other way to not be killed by fire or rocks.

“Did you see that?” Snotlout gasped as Hiccup led him out of the ravine, through a small cave, and onto the docks. There were a few guards, but he spotted them running up some stairs, yelling about the dragon raid. Which meant the two boys made it onto a smaller boat unaccosted.

“Did you see that!?” he repeated once they were sailing out of the bay.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You saved me,” Hiccup huffed, adjusting the halyard’s knot.

“No, not that! I mean, I was awesome, but no! I’m talking about the night fury!”

“Yes, Snotlout. I’m not deaf. I know there was a night fury.”

“No, but did you see it!?”

Hiccup rolled his eyes and moved to check some of the other ropes' knots. “No one’s ever seen a night fury.”

“But I did! It was pure black and covered in horns and -” Snotlout scowled at how Hiccup was staring at him like he was dumb. “Don’t look at me like that, Useless!”

Hiccup opened his mouth, then his eyes widened. “We need to move!”

Hiccup rushed to the bow as Snotlout turned to look behind him and saw an Outcast ship taking chase. He quickly grabbed the steering oar and looked around. “I’ll lose them in the sea stacks.”

“No, wait,” Hiccup said, standing up from where he was leaning over the railing. He pointed ahead of them. “There’s a current over there. If we catch it, it should keep us far ahead of Alvin.”

“What if they catch it too?”

“What if they know the sea stacks better than you and trap us in there? At least if we head into the open sea, we might run into whatever search party Dad sent out for us.”

Snotlout ground his teeth, but kept their heading. “You better be right about this.”

“I am.”

He was. They quickly began to pick up speed, leaving the Outcasts trailing far behind. An hour later, they were greeted by the sight of three Hooligan ships.

As Snotlout brought their boat up alongside the one Stoick was hanging off, he looked back at the Outcasts' ship to see it turning tail. Snotlout breathed a sigh of relief and turned forward again. His eyes caught on his cousin.

His little fishbone of a cousin, who almost died (or worse) because Snotlout left him behind on Outcast Island. Hiccup was annoying and a wimp and useless and never shut up, but...

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“... I’m sorry,” the two said together.

Hiccup laughed nervously and looked away while Astrid shook her head.

“I shouldn’t have rushed in like that,” she sighed, shifting a little closer to him on the mats they were supposed to be sleeping on.

She glanced over at the night watch playing dice by the steering oar as Hiccup said, “You’re still getting used to them. I should be more understanding, especially with how often I tell you they’re still getting used to you. I just -”

“Have spent the past year seeing us as the enemy just as much as we see your friends as the enemy.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Look, I’ll try your way as much as possible and if there is a fight, I won’t aim to kill, but there are going to be times when we’ll need to at least pretend to fight them if we want to keep your secret.”

“You’re right. I don’t like fighting, but I guess sometimes there’s no other option.”

She hummed and closed her eyes. “So being stuck on an island with Snotlout of all people knocked some sense into you.”

“Something like that. I just realized it’s important to have someone watching your back. Even if that someone is a crazy Viking that rushes straight into a fight without looking back.”

“You better be talking about Snotlout.”

He made a vague sound and she gently smacked him on the arm. The two laughed under their breaths then Astrid turned over to go to sleep.

“[An elder blizzard-maximus!]” Meatlug gasped.

“[And she’s just sleeping out there all alone with her egg,]” Barf~Rocker said.

“[Don’t even think about it,]” Belch~Rocker said.

He knocked his head into hers. “[I wasn’t thinking anything. You must have been thinking something.]”

“[All I was thinking was that you were thinking something.]”

The rest of the group ignored the gas-zap as their heads continued bickering.

“[You said she attacked your head?]” Stormfly asked, nuzzling Hiccup’s hair despite Toothless’s attempts to keep his clutch-mate to himself. “[Is it still hurting?]”

“[No, and I’m not sure it was an attack, exactly. It was like... Like her Song reached inside me to this warmth in my chest that let her see into my memories so she could find out for herself who I was and why I was there? It hurt, but that wasn’t the point, if that makes sense?]”

Stormfly huffed and began preening his hair.

“[I’ve never heard of a Song being able to do that,]” Meatlug wondered.

“[We’ve never heard of a song doing anything but controlling other dragons and giving them emotions,]” Hookfang growled. “[Just because Merciless never bothered to do anything more doesn’t mean it's strange. What we should be worried about is how it affected Tailfin so much. Humans aren’t supposed to be able to be controlled by a Song. Merciless wasn’t able to more than make him a bit nervous.]”

“[Maybe it’s because she’s a lot older and I was right there in her lair,]” Hiccup yawned. “[None of the other humans seem all that bothered by her being there and Singing in her sleep.]”

Meatlug chuffed. “[Alright, that’s enough speculation for tonight. Tailfin’s been through a lot and I doubt he rested much with the humans hovering over him the past few days. Let’s let him sleep.]”

“[I’m fine,]” Hiccup sighed, but otherwise didn’t argue as Meatlug shooed everyone out of the forge. He opened the door to the aerie and let Toothless slip past him, but called out to the rock-gnaw before she could follow the others off. “[Hey, there was one more thing I wanted to ask you about. The elder called me a wind-walker-heart. Do you know what that means?]”

She shuffled her feet in thought. “[I’ve never heard of anything like it, no. Perhaps she just sensed what we all have, that you are one of us even as a human. And since you are clutch-mates with Wodensfang, that is what she saw you as.]”

“[I guess that makes sense. Pleasant rest.]”

“[You too, Tailfin.]”

“[What do you think the maximus wants with you?]” Toothless asked as he curled up around the pile of furs Hiccup kept on their sleeping rock.

Hiccup flopped down on the furs, then twisted to rest his head on Toothless’s neck. “[I don’t know, but I’m excited to find out.]”

“[Of course you are.]” Toothless wrapped a foreleg and wing protectively over him. “[Wind-walker-heart?]”

“[That’s what she said. Could you imagine me as a wind-walker like you? We could fly together!]”

“[We already do.]”

“[But I’d have my own wings!]”

“[Asgorath help us if you ever got your own wings,]” Toothless purred.

“[Very funny.]”

He let out a barking laugh and tugged Hiccup closer. “[Besides, I’d say you’re more of a common-garden, little pest.]”

“[You’re hilarious,]” Hiccup deadpanned, nuzzling Toothless’s neck. “[I’m serious.]”

Toothless set his tail against Hiccup’s back. “[You are my brother, my clutch-mate, as good as blood. No matter what you look like, you have been a wind-walker in my eyes since that moment we bonded during our first flight.]”

“[Love you too, bud,]” Hiccup smiled and drifted off to sleep.

Hiccup cocked his head when he saw the excited look on his dad’s face when he came down the stairs in the morning. He pointed at the letter Stoick was reading. “What’s that?”

“A letter from Johann. It came while we were away. He was supposed to be here two days ago.”

“And you’re excited because he’s late?”

“No, no, I’m sure he’s fine. He’ll probably arrive today. I’m excited because he’s bringing something special with him.”

“Really? What?”

“Shouldn’t you be getting to the forge?”

Hiccup noted the deflection, but decided to let it go as he grabbed some meat and cheese from the larder. “Do I have to have a group of guards still?”

Stoick’s face pinched a little, but relaxed again when he looked at the letter. “I suppose you should be fine walking to the forge and back alone as no one’s seen the whispering death since before we left, but Astrid needs to be with you if you go anywhere other than the forge.”

“Alright, fine,” Hiccup sighed, heading out the door.

“And stay within the village.”

“What’s that, Dad? I couldn’t hear you. Sorry, need to be getting to the forge.”

“I’m serious Hi-”

Hiccup shut the door and ran for the forge, nearly dropping his breakfast as he went.

Thankfully there didn’t seem like too much of a backlog in the forge from their trip to Berserk so Gobber would probably turn a blind eye if he snuck out later that afternoon. Especially if he went with...

“What’s with them?” Astrid asked as she leaned in the service window.

He looked over to see his dad and Gobber hunched together, the letter between them. “I guess Johann’s on his way with something Dad’s excited about. He wouldn’t say what it is, though.”

“Maybe it’s some fruits from the south? I know a few people have been begging him to save them some since the other tribes usually clean him out before he gets to us.”

“Maybe. So what did you need?”

“Dad asked me to come check if you guys finished repairing the plow he dropped off while we were gone.”

He checked the completed pile. “Looks like Gobber must have finished it after Dad made him stay back from the search party.”

Apparently, his dad had wanted only fresh eyes on the search so the only ones from the trip to Berserk who’d been part of the search were himself and Astrid, who’d badgered him into letting her come to make up for her failings as Hiccup’s bodyguard (neither Hiccup nor Stoick held it against her, but she could be just as stubborn as any Haddock when she wanted to be).

“So either we can drop it off after lunch or he can send your cousin to come grab it if he needs it earlier.”

“I’ll let Asger know. He’s supposed to pick up a few other things later anyways so he can grab the plow while he’s got the wagon here.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice, “I was also going to see when you were heading out.”

He glanced at his dad to make sure he was still busy with Gobber. “I was thinking about heading out late this afternoon. Maybe about halfway between lunch and dinner. I want to do some rounds to make sure nothing was damaged while we were gone and that needs to be done before the majority start settling in for the night. And the Rookery is a big place so it takes some time.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. After a moment’s thought, she asked, “Is it okay if I come with you?”

Hiccup smiled gratefully. “Yeah. You might have to stay back in a few areas or around certain friends, but I think everyone seeing you helping out around our home might be a good step in soothing some nerves.”

Astrid raised an eyebrow.

“What? Did you not want to come? Because -”

“No, I want to come. I just hadn’t considered that you’d think of it as-Nevermind. It’s not important and I should have realized it earlier. I’ll come by and grab you later so we can head out.”

“Wait, hadn’t considered what? Realized what?”

“It’s nothing, really. I’ve got to go. I have a bunch of errands I need to run for Mom so I need to get moving if I’m going to be able to get some training in before we leave. See you later.”

“Bye?” He watched her walk off, still confused.

Chapter Text

Hiccup paused in his search for Astrid when he spotted his dad climbing off a ship, looking dejected.

“Hey, sorry. I know you wanted to leave early for flight lessons, but Gerta’s having pregnancy cravings so Asger asked me to have Mulch put aside some extra-What’s wrong with the chief?” Astrid stepped up beside him, following his gaze.

“Johann still hasn’t arrived, which means whatever he has for Dad is missing too.”

“It really must be important if he’s this worried.”

“Yeah.” Hiccup’s gaze drifted up from the docks to the sea.

“Oh, I know that look. Don’t even think about going out alone to find him.”

He opened his mouth to deny it, then reconsidered at her glare. “I was actually thinking we could have our lesson while looking for him.”

“Sure you were.” She thought it over for a moment, then nodded with a sigh. “Fine, but only because it seems so important for the chief. Besides, how dangerous could it be?”

“I heard important, chief, and dangerous. What’s going on?”

The two spun around to see Snotlout approaching.

“Nothing. Get lost and stop eavesdropping,” Astrid said.

He shrugged. “Alright, fine. Then I’ll just let the chief know you two are sneaking off to do something dangerous.”

They shared a look.

“We’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone else,” Hiccup said.

“I'm pretty sure I said not to tell anyone.”

“And I'm pretty sure I didn't listen to you,” Snotlout laughed, only for Astrid to kick his bench hard enough to knock him over.

“Just shut up and row,” she snapped and walked up to Hiccup. “Next time we catch him eavesdropping, let’s just trap him in the well.”

“I’ll help,” Ruffnut said a little too eagerly.

“Yeah, she loves tossing people in the well. She did it to me five times last week,” Tuffnut added.

“How come we have to row while you two are just standing there?” Snotlout huffed at Astrid and Hiccup once he’d sat back up.

“One, you weren’t invited. Two, someone has to be on the lookout and we need the same amount of people on each side so we’re not constantly being sent off course. Now row!”

“It’s not like Hiccup would be any help anyways,” Snotlout grumbled, but got back to rowing.

“So why exactly are we out here?” Fishlegs asked, turning to Astrid as he matched Snotlout’s pace. “Snotlout wasn’t very clear. He just said something about treasure.”

Astrid rolled her eyes as Hiccup said, “There’s no treasure. Trader Johann is bringing something for my Dad, something important, and he should have been at Berk by now. So we’re trying to find him. Toldstad said Johann was last seen in Thunderhead Bay so if something happened, the currents would have brought him somewhere around here.”

“Says you.”

“Snotlout, you didn’t have to come!”

“You -”

“Hey, look!” Astrid said, running to the side of the ship and pointing out to sea.

Hiccup joined her as the others stood to look. When he spotted the brightly-clothed body floating on a wooden panel, he asked, “Is that... Johann?”

“I thought he had a bigger ship than that,” Snotlout joked and Astrid shoved him into the water.

“The fog... The fog...” Johann said once he’d finished off the water flask he’d been given, staring off into the distance as he remembered the cursed fog that had stolen his ship right out from under his feet.

“Johann, where is your ship?” Hiccup asked, offering him another flask and some dried fish.

“No idea.” He lied. While he might not know for sure, he had his suspicions. He’d worked with hunters enough to learn some things, even if he didn't trade in dragons himself. “All I know is, one minute, I was sailing in a perfectly calm sea, the wind at my back, and the next thing I know, my entire ship is pulled out from under me and I'm shark bait.”

“I don't understand.”

“I do.” Johann snatched the fish as he pushed down the rage that had peaked through his benign trader act. He covered it up with faux fear as he said, “I was three days late and trying to make up time and I got too close!”

“Too close to what?” Fishlegs asked nervously.

“Too close to... Breakneck Bog.”

The teens repeated the name with varying emotions.

“Many a ship has sailed into its waters, few have returned,” Fishlegs said, shivering.

“My grandfather has told me it's pirates,” Astrid told Hiccup and Snotlout shoved himself between them.

“That's ridiculous! Everyone knows it's haunted by a fog monster.”

“Fog monster?!”

“Legend says the fog monster makes this really creepy moan,” Tuffnut said before moaning. “Then he surrounds you and scrapes the skin off your bones!”

Fishlegs shrieked.

“And then he scrapes the bones off of... whatever is under those.”

“And then it drops the bones from the sky.”

Wanting to get things moving along, Johann pointed at Tuffnut and stuttered out, “Yes, yes it's true! What he says! It-it... surrounded me!”

“See? Fog monster! Pirates,” Snotlout chuckled. “Stupid grandfather.”

Astrid crossed her arms, looking ready to toss Snotlout overboard.

“Johann, we have to find your ship. There's something on it for my father,” Hiccup said, stepping forward.

“Yes, yes, yes, there was, but it wasn't for your father. It was for you.”

“For me? From who?”

“He didn't tell you? It was from your mother.”

“My mother?”

“That's impossible,” Astrid said, stepping forward and setting a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder.

An idea started to form in Johann’s mind.

“What is it?”

“I have no idea, lad,” he lied. A little mystery was sure to be all the more enticing. “I just know it's in a chest with the Berk crest on it.”

He was sure Hiccup fell for the bait as he turned to Astrid and they had a quick, silent conversation with their eyes. Then he said, “Whatever it is, it’s gone now. We should get him back to Berk so he can rest.”

Johann glanced around at the group as he tried to figure out his next move. His gaze landed on Snotlout and the twins before quickly flicking back to Hiccup. “I’m sorry, Master Hiccup. I wish I knew more, but I thought it wasn’t my place to peak. I even stored it safely away with some treasure I got from a southern prince to be sure I wouldn’t be tempted.”

“Treasure?” Snotlout cut in as the twins shared matching grins.

“It’s not your fault, Johann. Let’s just get you -”

“What kind of treasure?” Snotlout asked.

“Snotlout,” Astrid warned.

“What?” he threw an arm around Hiccup’s shoulders. “I’m just making sure we know what to look for when we go to find his ship so we can retrieve whatever dear Aunt Valka left behind for Hiccup.”

“We’re not going anywhere but back to Berk,” Astrid said as Hiccup tried to shove him away. “And don’t act like you actually care. You just want to pillage Johann’s things.”

“I would never!”

“We would,” Tuffnut said.

“We very much would like to,” Ruffnut agreed, coming up to Johann. “So how about you lead us to where you left your ship and we’ll just take a little bit of the treasure as payment for getting your ship back.”

“Yeah, like a gold kidney or two.”

Snotlout shoved Hiccup away and slapped Johann’s back. “Yeah, sounds fair right? Let’s go find your ship”

Johann started screaming no and backing away. He needed to appear traumatized, and didn’t want to go along besides. He’d leave the dragon hunting to the dragon hunters. “I won’t! You can’t make me! I have a knife in my boot!”

The teens looked unimpressed and the twins even laughed.

If they only knew just how many blades he had hidden within his robes.

“I don't have a knife in my boot.”

Maybe he’d misjudged the twins’ laughter as they suddenly looked disappointed by his lack of weapon.

“But no more fog, please?”

Hiccup hesitated, then stepped forward. “Alright, just tell us how we can find Breakneck Bog.”

“Hiccup,” Astrid said.

“Head due East. There’s a group of islands in the shape of a man's hand. Breakneck Bog is the thumb.”

“Alright, we’ll leave you on one of the other islands where you’ll be safe and look for your ship on our own.”

Astrid pulled him back. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“It’s not. It’s really not,” Fishlegs said.

“Shut it, Fishy!” Snotlout snapped. “It’s a great idea. Right, Hiccup?”

“We won’t have any backup,” she said, ignoring the other two as she met Hiccup’s eyes.

His eyes darted out to sea, then he looked back at her. “It’ll be okay. And it’s from my mother, Astrid. I have to find it before something can happen.”

“Yeah, the fog monster might eat it so let’s get going,” Snotlout said, herding the twins and Fishlegs towards the rowing benches despite Fishlegs’ complaints.

“Will you be okay if we leave you on an island with some food and water?” Hiccup asked Johann and he nodded.

“Oh, I’ll be just fine! It’s not the first time I’ve been stranded on a deserted island. There was this one time -”

“Right, good. You should probably get some rest. You’ve been out in the sun for a while,” Hiccup said quickly, guiding him toward an unused bench that had some bedding tucked underneath.

“Oh, very true! Thank you!”

The teens left him on the second closest island to the bog with some water and food. It wasn’t much, but it would get him by until they returned (or until his people came looking for him should the teens fall to the smokebreaths). He assured them of such as they left.

“Well,” he said to himself as they sailed off. “I guess we’ll soon see if Alvin is as much a fool as he seems to be.”

He didn’t think Astrid was the Dragon Conqueror, but he hadn’t gotten as far as he had by not turning over every stone when it presented itself to him on a silver platter. Taking down a nest of smothering smokebreaths large enough to steal an entire ship wouldn’t compare to taking down a dragon the size of the one that had lived on the Nest (or Dragon Island, as the locals had begun calling it), but it would still be quite the task for a group of unprepared teens. Especially as they were likely to be disarmed before they even knew what they were facing.

Their only chance, really, was for Astrid to be the mystery dragon hunter.

“I don't get it. We sailed all around the island. No ship,” Hiccup said from atop the mast.

“Not even the remains of one,” Astrid agreed, spinning a dagger in her hand as she kept an eye out for ship and fog monster alike.

“You know who would take a ship? A fog monster!” Fishlegs said, his own eyes never leaving the island as he kept rowing. “I guess this means we’ll need to -”

“Go to shore? Great idea, Fishlegs.” Hiccup jumped down to the deck and started towards the anchor.

“That was not what I was going to say!”

Astrid grabbed his arm before he could get far. “And it’s a bad idea.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Ruffnut argued and her brother added, “Yeah! Let’s go find my gold kidney!”

“Is a gold kidney really worth possibly dying to a fog monster?” Astrid asked.

“Yeah!”

“Duh.”

“It’s not about any treasure.”

“Says the guy who already found treasure once and wasted it,” Tuffnut said and tried to jab Hiccup with the handle of his oar.

Astrid grabbed it before it reached him and used it to knock the male twin over.

“What if I gave you something from my mother? Or I could give you my mother!? You know you love her crab cakes!” Fishlegs offered, still staring at the island, and Hiccup frowned.

“Look, you guys don’t have to come. I’ll just -”

“Nearly get yourself killed without me,” Snotlout snorted. “Again. No way you’re going alone.”

The other teens all turned to him and Astrid said, “I didn’t think you cared.”

“I-I don’t! I just don’t want to have to be the one to tell Stoick when he dies! Besides, there’s no way I’m letting him try to claim he found treasure without proof again.”

“I have proof fr-”

“Uh-huh. Whatever. Let’s just get going!”

Hiccup and Fishlegs turned to Astrid, who sighed and nodded.

They rowed up to shore and anchored near a spit that had a deep enough drop-off that they were barely beached and could walk straight from the ship to land.

“So I’ll just stay here and keep an eye on the ship,” Fishlegs said as the others headed down the gangplank.

“You looking for some alone time with the fog monster?” Ruffnut teased and her brother laughed before making kissing faces.

Suddenly, Fishlegs was in the middle of the group. “I’m sure the ship will be fine.”

The group marched through the misty wetland for a while in silence before Hiccup said, “Well, this isn’t as bad as I was expecting.”

“How is this not bad?” Fishlegs whimpered, flinching away from a tree when its branches creaked in the wind.

“It’s not that different from the Baneful Boglands.”

The twins and Snotlout shot him a look as Astrid pinched the bridge of her nose and Fishlegs gaped.

“The Baneful Boglands?” he asked. “As in the Bog-Burglars’ home? The same Boglands where no men are supposed to set foot?”

“I mean, technically men have only been banned from the main island and I stayed away from there.”

“When did you go to the Boglands!?” Snotlout snapped. “How did you get to the Boglands!?”

Hiccup was saved from answering by a loud, hissing moan that echoed through the trees.

Fishlegs yelped and ducked behind Snotlout as Astrid asked, “What was that?”

“Fog monster!” Snotlout grabbed his hammer.

“It sounded like dragons,” Hiccup argued, squinting in the direction the sound had come from. “Come on, let’s keep going.”

“Wait a minute!” Fishlegs called when the smaller boy set off into the mist. “You don't go towards the weird scary sound!”

“Hiccup does,” Astrid said before running to catch up. Quietly, she asked, “What did they say?”

He subtly shook his head. “They weren’t saying anything. They... That was more of a... claiming call, I guess. It just means they’re in their territory. There are all sorts of reasons they could be calling, from returning home from a hunt to a fit of possessiveness to just a bit of fun. They are likely a mist dragon, though, since that kind of claiming call is more their thing.”

Astrid blinked as Hiccup glanced back at the others to see they were following a ways behind and staring out into the trees around them. “What do you mean mist -”

Quickly, he brought his hands to his mouth and gave a rattling screech. He dropped his hands immediately after as Fishlegs yelped again and hid in a bush. Even Snotlout looked nervous while Tuffnut jumped into Ruffnut’s arms. She was so scared she didn’t think to drop him.

“That sounded a lot closer,” Fishlegs whimpered after a beat, poking his head out.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Astrid said, giving Hiccup a glare he ignored.

Then Snotlout tripped and the group turned to see bones sticking out of the peat.

“Ugh, bones. That’s just perfect,” Fishlegs grumbled, slipping his head back into the bush.

“You were saying?” Tuffnut sassed and Astrid shoved him out of Ruffnut’s arms before going to drag Fishlegs out.

“It’s fine. They’re too big to be human,” Hiccup pointed out as he got a closer look. “They’re probably just a bone-decorator’s discards or the remains of someone’s dinner?”

“Yeah, the fog monster’s,” Fishlegs muttered as they continued on. “Wait, a bone-what?”

“Wow! He really got off course,” Hiccup said as the group stared up at where Johann’s ship was caught in the highest branches of some tall trees.

Fishlegs looked back down at Hiccup and pointedly said, “Fog monster.”

Hiccup shook his head and walked toward the anchor that had fallen to the ground.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Astrid asked as he grabbed the chain and set his metal foot in one of the links.

“We need to get up there to look for the chest.”

“All the way up there?”

Astrid set her hand on Fishlegs’ shoulder. “We’re not all as used to heights as you are, remember?”

“You guys don’t have to come with me,” he said, still climbing.

“You also don’t have your climbing equipment to keep you safe.”

“It’ll be fine, Astrid. I’ve climbed without my equipment there to catch me plenty of times. And in more dangerous climbs than this too. I climbed the cliffs of this super narrow ravine once that was at least as tall as this tree (down and back) to retrieve a baby... sheep. And remember that sea stack I had to climb while looking for Hiccup II’s treasure? It wasn’t as tall, but it was wet and didn’t have built-in handholds.”

“You also had both feet at the time!”

“Exactly.” He pointedly hooked his metal foot in another link, already higher than her house was tall. “This is way easier.”

“Of all the yak-headed...” Astrid continued insulting him under her breath as she rushed to follow.

“We’re not actually going up there, right?” Fishlegs asked.

“I should have stayed with Johann,” he muttered as he followed the others into the hull of the trader’s ship.

The top deck had not only been empty, it had looked picked clean. Which only left the rooms that Johann’s strange foreign ship had under its deck. It was packed full of crates and barrels, which Hiccup quickly glanced over before weaving his way through them. “We should split up to look. Remember, it’s a chest with Berk’s crest.”

“I get first dibs on any treasure!” Snoutlout announced, heading the opposite way far less gracefully.

Astrid followed Hiccup, and Fishlegs was one step behind her. After a beat, she glared at him. “Split up, Fishlegs.”

“But you’re following Hiccup!”

“That’s my job. Now split up,” she ordered, turning away and pointing to the side. “The faster we find the chest, the faster we can leave.”

“But -”

A skeleton’s hand grabbed Fishlegs’ shoulder.

“FOG MONSTER!”

Astrid spun around and screamed when she saw the skeletal arm sticking out from behind a box.

A second later, said box fell to reveal the cackling twins. Tuffnut gave the arm a wave. “Look what we found!”

Astrid immediately tackled him and started hitting him over the head with it.

Chapter Text

Tuffnut gave the arm a wave. “Look what we found!”

Astrid immediately tackled him and started hitting him over the head with it.

He cried out in pain, then asked for Ruffnut’s help.

She grabbed the arm from Astrid and started hitting him with it in her stead.

“Alright, alright. Break it up, you guys. I found the chest!”

Ruffnut paused to look up at Hiccup so Astrid took the arm back and hit Tuffnut one last time.

“You found it!?” Snoutlout shouted, pushing his way past some barrels. “Where’s the treasure!? I told you I got first dibs!”

“There wasn’t any. The chest was just sitting on a case of dried apples.”

“Golden apples!”

“No, just -” Hiccup started, but Snotlout shoved him aside to run back the way Hiccup had come.

The twins quickly took chase and Hiccup stumbled back to the stairs to avoid them.

Astrid rolled her eyes. “Come on, Fishlegs. Let’s drag them out of here so we can go home.”

“Gladly!”

Hiccup watched them go before noticing a grey fog rolling in from the hatch.

No, not fog. He knew that smell.

“Smoke! Guys!” he shouted, bringing his scarf over his mouth and backing up the stairs.

The five turned to him and their eyes widened. “FOG MONSTER!”

“Hide!” Snoutlout shouted and he, the twins, and Fishlegs ran for a pair of doors at the back of the ship.

“Hiccup!” Astrid called at the same time, running for him.

Suddenly the ship rocked to the side, knocking some boxes over onto her.

“Astrid!” Hiccup called as the smoke got thicker, making it hard to see. He grabbed onto the stairs as the ship rocked again.

Then he felt something fly over him and he heard a quiet voice cheerfully hiss, “[Metal! More metal here! I found metal!]”

More hissing voices picked up the cheers of metal and Hiccup’s eyes widened as he put the pieces together. Keeping low, he held the small Berk chest close and crept up the stairs. Once he was outside, he dug one clawed hand into the mast and called out, “[Hello! Can we talk? Please?]”

The cheers suddenly went silent and the smoke pulled away to give him a few feet of clear air in every direction. Glowing yellow eyes lit up the smoke in front of him, three shiny-smokers opening their fourth eyelids so he’d know where to direct his attention.

Knowing it could be (and likely was) a trick, he kept his gaze roaming across the smoke as he said, “[Hi. My name is King Tailfin. I’m sorry for entering your territory.]”

“[Our territory,]” the smokers surrounding him agreed as one in a suspicious hiss.

“[Why is a king in our territory?]” one of the three in front of him asked. “[We do not want a king or queen!]”

Hiccup met the eyes of a smoker who was trying to sneak up and steal his foot. It hesitated, then retreated back into the smoke. “[I’m not here to steal your territory or flock, I swear. See this box. It has something from my mother in it. The human you took this boat from was bringing it to me so I came to retrieve it. I had no idea your swarm had claimed it already.]”

“[The king does not smell like he has a mother,]” a smoker he couldn’t see hissed. “[Lies?]”

“[My mother died when I was a hatchling, taken and killed while our aerie burned to the ground. This is likely all that’s left of her,]” Hiccup explained.

“[I think the king is truthful,]” another of the smokers in front of him said and the third added, “[The king smells sad.]”

“[It smells like metal! Our metal!]” the first snapped.

Quite a few of the smokers around him voiced their agreement with a combined cry of, “[Our metal!]”

Others hissed quietly about “[How sad!]” and “[Just a hatchling!]”

“[I understand that the metal on the box is yours, so how about a trade? If you allow me and the humans with me to leave with my box and a few others like it that barely have any metal, then I will return with fish and some very special metal as a trade.]” He carefully let go of the mast to pull out a handful of rock-gnaw iron ball bearings from his pocket. He held them out to show them.

One of the three slowly slipped out of the smoke to sniff the metal. They perked up at the scent. “[It is the very very nice special metal from far-off!]” she said, revealing herself to be the second to speak.

“[Far-off metal!]” the third called, sneaking out to sniff the metal as well.

Hiccup ignored the second stealing one of the ball bearings. “[So a trade. Special metal and fish for simple metal?]”

The first closed his fourth eyelid and began a quiet conversation with a few other smokers. Hiccup pretended he couldn’t hear them discussing how they didn’t want to anger a king and his flock.

He also pretended not to notice the third smoker grabbing two of the ball bearings.

The first finally emerged from the smoke and scooped up the remaining ball bearings. “[Fine, we accept. You can take a little of our metal in return for twice as much special metal and a steam-spewer’s share of fish. Very generous, no?]”

It really wasn’t, but Hiccup could afford it and he didn’t want to spend too long arguing and risk the others barging in. “[Very generous.]”

The smokers disappeared into their smoke and the ship began to shake.

He heard the others shout as he grabbed onto the mast again. “[What are you doing?]”

“[We’re taking you to your boat!]”

“[The faster you leave, the faster we get special metal!]”

“[We’ll give you a special, safe escort!]”

“[We’re making sure you leave now.]”

He tightened his grip on the mast as the ship twisted to the side, then it slammed to the ground and Hiccup fell on his face.

The smoke began dissipating as the second smoker landed in front of him. “[Keep your word.]”

“[I will.]” He glanced to the side, and frowned when he spotted some of the smokers making off with the others’ helmets, Fishlegs’ sword, Snotlout’s hammer, Astrid’s axe, and the broken-off head of Ruffnut’s spear. “[Wait, you can keep the other stuff, but leave that weapon. The twin-blade. It‘s an heirloom.]”

“[It’s human is special to the king?]” a smoker asked, peeking below deck.

“[The king will trade for it too?]” another smoker requested, creeping up towards his leg, which he tucked under him.

“[Smells like the king,]” the smoker with the axe noted.

“[I keep it sharp for its human,]” he explained. “[I work metal like you do.]”

“[You make metal nests too!?]” a smokebreath asked, landing on his head.

“[Among other things.]”

“[The human is the king’s heart-mate?]” the smoker with the axe said, tossing the axe to another smoker.

“[What? N-]”

“[We’ll give you the weapon as a gift.]” The smoker dropped the axe next to him. “[For your heart-mate.]”

“[She’s not -]” He tried, but the smokers all darted off into the bog. He shook his head and went to the hatch. “Are you guys alright?”

“Hiccup?” There was some banging, then Astrid emerged. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fi-”

Snotlout came storming out of the hatch and started looking him over, which included manhandling him to check his back.

“Uh…”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine?” Hiccup shared a confused look with Astrid. “Are you?”

Snotlout blushed and shoved him away with a scoff. “Duh! I just wasn’t looking forward to the lecture I’d get from Stoick and Mom if you got mauled by the fog monster.”

“Where is the monster?” Fishlegs asked, peeking out of the hatch as the twins strode up the stairs without a care.

“There’s no fog monster. It was just a bunch of...” Hiccup trailed off as he tried to remember the Viking name for shiny-smokers, “of the, uh... the little dragons that hide in their smoke and make their hives out of metal?”

“Hives?” Fishlegs questioned before his eyes widened. “Wait, are you talking about smothering smokebreaths!? That’s what attacked us!? I've read about them, but I didn't believe they actually existed! It makes so much sense, though! No wonder they stole our stuff,” his hand went up to his bare head, “and Johann’s ship! They wanted the metal for their nests!”

“How come Hiccup has all his stuff?” Ruffnut huffed, crossing her arms.

“Well, my sword and shield are made with Hiccup II’s special metal so maybe they only like normal metal?” Hiccup suggested, thinking quickly. “And the only other metal I have that’s obvious is my leg, which one of them did try to take. It dragged me out here, but must have decided to give up when it realized I was attached.”

Fishlegs looked like he was going to question that, but Astrid cut over him as she grabbed her axe. “We can talk on the ship. We need to get moving before they come back. We can’t fight an entire horde with just a single sword and axe.”

“Especially if Useless is the one wielding the sword,” Snotlout joked, though there wasn’t as much venom in the nickname as usual.

Hiccup stared at him as Fishlegs said, “Uh, guys, how did we get to the beach.”

The group looked around to see Johann’s ship had been left on the spit where they’d anchored their ship.

“Guess they wanted a peak in our ship too?” Hiccup said.

“Moira!” Tuffnut gasped and ran for their ship.

Most of the remaining group shared confused looks while Ruffnut facepalmed. Then Tuffnut popped up from underneath one of the rowing benches with a mace cradled to his chest.

“She’s okay!”

Astrid threw her hands in the air. “Why did you leave your weapon behind in hostile territory!?”

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. “You can’t hit a fog monster with a mace. Everyone knows that.”

“He’s got a point,” Ruffnut said.

“I’m going to feed you that mace,” Astrid muttered before repeating her orders to get going.

“What about the treasure?” Snotlout asked, creeping towards the hatch.

Hiccup met Astrid’s eyes and shook his head, holding up the chest. “They didn’t go after this. I think a little bit of metal is fine, but taking anything that’s got more than a couple of nails or so is going to get them chasing after us.”

Astrid turned back to Snotlout, who’d been joined by Ruffnut near the hatch. “Fine, you four load up as much as we can carry while Hiccup and I keep watch. Stay away from the barrels or anything that’s carrying things made of metal. And that includes treasure chests!”

“But -” both cousins started.

“I don’t care how many gemstones you pocket, just stay away from the gold and silver or we’ll leave you here for the dragons to eat!” she said before dragging Hiccup away as Snotlout grumbled and got to work. “You said a little metal was fine, right?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Just not looking forward to how much I’ll have to trade for it.”

“I’ll steal some of whatever the twins pocket to pay you back.”

“Thanks,” he chuckled, and went to keep an eye out near their ship. Maybe he could use the gemstones to bribe some proud-thorns into helping him gather the materials needed to replenish his metal stores.

He set himself up on the mast to keep careful track of how many crates and chests the others carried over to tuck beneath the floorboards and tie down near the bow. When Fishlegs noticed him writing down a generous estimate of the number of nails, hinges, and latches there were on a scrap piece of paper, he lied about creating a ledger for Johann and quickly got to work writing that down on another scrap. This left him too distracted to notice when Snotlout tried to sneak a gold necklace aboard.

Thankfully, Astrid caught him immediately. She ripped it off his neck and threw it away.

When a cloud of smoke shot out of the trees to grab the necklace before it could hit the ground, they decided they’d pushed their luck enough and set sail.

Johann’s test turned out inconclusive. Aside from swiping some of their weapons and making a grab for Hiccup’s leg, the dragons hadn’t even bothered the teens. As such, there’s no telling how Astrid might have fared in a fight with an entire nest of smokebreaths.

Pity.

On top of that, while the teens had managed to recover a good portion of his wares, most of the higher-priced items had been left behind. Either because they were metal or because they’d been too well hidden. He briefly considered hiring some hunters to clear out the beasts for him so he could retrieve his belongings, but he knew the cost wouldn’t be worth the gain as everything was sure to have been melted down or damaged beyond repair by the time even the Whisperers could make it to Breakneck Bog.

Instead, he relaxed into the hospitality of the Stoick the Vast as he sent for his people to bring him a new ship. As a cover, he told the Hooligans stories about an old merchant friend whose life he had saved. As thanks, when the fictional man had retired, he had promised the ship to Johann should anything happen to his own ship.

The fools had, of course, eaten the story up.

Stoick stared at Hiccup clutching his old toy, both mournful and content. Despite being almost as big as his son’s head, the old specklehound plush looked small in his hands. Maybe it was because some of its stuffing had fallen out over the years and hadn’t been replaced when the holes had been patched or re-sewn. Maybe it was because Hiccup was no longer nearly the same size as it, having grown up from his little boy who was terrified of dragons to his brave teen (who could use a bit more fear in Stoick’s opinion).

When he’d realized the teens had taken off in search of Johann, and Hiccup had gone with them…

“I was so little when Mom, you know. I can’t even remember her as more than this warm feeling. But now... I love it,” his son said, hugging the toy to his chest.

“Oh, Hiccup. It would make your mother very, very happy to finally hear that.”

The only thing Valka likely would have loved more was if Hiccup said that about actual dragons.

“You were afraid of dragons?” Astrid asked as Hiccup placed his old toy next to the skrill she’d given him. She gave a pointed look towards the dragons napping above his hearth. “You.”

“Apparently,” he chuckled, turning back to her. “Dad said they scared me so much I threw the toy into the sea.”

“And now you sleep cuddled up with them,” she joked and he shrugged.

“Well, most fears do come from a lack of understanding. They’re not so scary once you know some of them are just overgrown kittens.”

Toothless huffed and sleepily rolled over, slapping Hiccup lightly in the face with his tail.

“Sure,” she said, even if she knew they were only like that with him.

Stormfly came prancing in and nuzzled Astrid.

Well, maybe they weren’t all only like that with him, she thought as she rubbed the nadder’s cheek.

Stormfly nipped her braid, then turned to Hiccup and chittered.

He cocked his head, then smiled at Astrid. “A big storm’s coming in the next day or two so we should make up for that missed flying lesson sooner than later.”

She nodded and headed to where he stored Stormfly’s improved saddle. “Some night flying, then?”

Stoick stared out at the village with a frown until a hook settled on his shoulder. He shut the doors to the Great Hall and turned to his friend. “Any word?”

“Not exactly, but I talked to Tryggvi. He said Astrid told him she and Hiccup were camping in the forest tonight. She left this morning with some camping gear and enough food to last her until tomorrow afternoon. When the storm rolled in, they must have decided to not risk the trek back since they had the supplies to wait it out and found a cave to bunker down in.”

“This is the worst storm we’ve seen since the Great Deluge. What if -”

“They’ll be fine.” Gobber wrapped an arm over Stoick’s shoulders and started guiding him further into the hall. “The lass knows what she’s doing and your boy is clever. They’ll have found somewhere safe. They’re probably having fun right now right now, relaxing with a warm fire and snacking on dried mutton.”

Astrid dumped the basket of fish she was carrying into a trough and rubbed the sweat off her brow.

A few of the terrors gave her nervous looks, but they settled in to eat quickly enough.

“Thanks for the help,” Hiccup said after dumping his own basket of fish out in another trough for some zipplebacks.

“No problem. It’s better than running errands out in the storm,” she said and turned to follow him back to the cavern where the food stockpile was kept. “Or helping Asger and Gerta. They just keep getting more demanding the closer her due date gets and it’s driving me crazy. Especially since Mom keeps making me help them, as if seeing them lose their minds is going to make me want to settle down.”

“Is she still on you about learning domestic lessons?”

“What do you think?”

They traded the baskets for full ones then headed off towards a section of the Rookery she’d never been to. Which wasn’t saying much, as she’d mostly only been in Hiccup’s forge. She was sure it was a good sign that Hiccup had trusted her enough to show her where the food stockpile was and was taking her somewhere new. The new tunnel was rather plain, but she still looked around curiously as she basked in the warmth that filled it.

Soon, that warmth became blazing heat and she began fanning herself with her hand. “Uh, Hiccup?”

He looked back with an awkward smile. “Yeah, sorry. A few nightmares are using the shedding caves right now and that’s always a hot mess. We’ll drop the fish off quickly then get out of the heat.”

They did just that, with Hiccup taking a moment to check in with the shedding dragons. She recognized one as Hookfang, the nightmare from the training arena, and decided to keep her distance.

Which was why she was the first to spot the gronckle rushing down the tunnel, looking panicked. “Hiccup.”

He talked to the gronckle, then turned to her with a worried look. “Stormfly was leading some of the defense horde in a patrol before the storm and they haven’t returned.”

Chapter Text

Hiccup called out to Toothless as he and Astrid ran towards his forge.

“Do you think one of our ships spotted them and attacked?” she asked.

“No, she was leading some new recruits, so they stayed away from our ships’ routes. They probably just got caught in the storm, and she had them land.”

“But you’re still going out to look for them?”

“Better safe than sorry.”

Astrid leaned against the doorway as Hiccup started gathering supplies. “If the storm isn’t safe for them to fly in, shouldn’t you stay back?”

“[What’s going on?]”

“We’ll be okay,” he said as Toothless ran in. “He’s built for flying in storms. [Stormfly’s flight hasn’t returned. We need to go look for them.]”

“I’m coming with you,” Astrid said and Hiccup nodded, having figured she’d want to come.

He finished loading his supplies into either his pockets or Toothless’s saddle bags, then grabbed a pair of heavy fur cloaks out of a crate.

“What is this?” Astrid asked, taking the one that had a black outer lining and a pale teal fur inner lining. Her eyes widened and she rubbed the fur against her cheek. “Oh, it’s so soft!”

“They’re Northlander style cloaks,” Hiccup said, wrapping the other around himself. The outside of his was also black, but the fur had been left its natural snow white color instead of being dyed like hers. “I got them from Johann at the start of last winter to keep me warm during the really cold flights. They’ll help with the rain and wind.”

She nodded and pulled hers on.

“They should have been somewhere around here when the storm hit. That island’s the only safe place to land,” Hiccup shouted, trying to be heard over the storm as he pointed at an island that was barely visible through the rain. “[Toothless?]”

“How are we going to find them in this?” Astrid asked as Toothless gave a search-screech. “What’s he doing?”

“Looking for them.” He watched Toothless’s ears twitch, then focus in. “Hold on.”

She tightened her grip and he dove.

As they neared a group of caves on a small hill not far from the coast, Hiccup gave a flock-call that was quickly returned. Speeddemon poked his head out and lit a fire in his mouth. He quickly retreated back into the cave as Toothless landed in front of the entrance and the three got out of the storm.

Hiccup greeted the hack-at with a hand on his snout as he looked around for Stormfly. “[Are you guys okay? Where’s Stormfly?]”

The dragonet’s head dipped. “[We’re okay, but Stormfly... We didn’t realize it, but hunters were leaving the island just as we got here. Stormfly distracted them so we could hide. She said she was fast enough to evade them, but we didn’t know they had left traps behind. They took her away on their boats.]”

Hiccup hissed and nuzzled Speedemon reassuringly. For Astrid, he said, “Stormfly was taken by dragon hunters.”

“Hunters? Like Dagur?”

He shook his head. “[Show me where the traps are.] Hunters aren’t like the warriors in the Archipelago. They don’t kill dragons to protect people or for glory. They go out of their way to hunt and capture them for profit. It’s horrifying.”

“How do you profit off dragons?” Astrid asked as Speedemon led them out into the rain. “I mean, we trade some of our trophies, but they can’t be worth much.”

“They’re not. Not alone. In bulk, though... Nadder spines can make good weapons, for example. I used to carve them into crossbow bolts before finding Hiccup II’s treasure. But I always asked Stormfly and the others for their molted ones. The hunters don’t ask. They just take them by force. Then once they have enough, they can sell them for quite a profit,” he said, disgust clear in his voice.

“But nadders don’t fire that many during a fight and they can’t be removed after they're dead. They lock up against their scales.”

“That’s why they keep the dragons alive -- barely -- to harvest them. And nadders aren’t the only dragons they hunt, either. They torture and torment any dragons they can find until they give up everything they have or die. They say dragons are just animals, but even farm animals aren’t treated so poorly,” he hissed and knelt next to a trap. He carefully turned it over in his hands, taking note of the peculiar style. “And the Romans think we’re barbaric.”

“But... at least that means Stormfly’s probably still alive, right?”

“Yeah, and we’re going to find her.” He dropped the trap and turned to the others. “[Speedemon, you’re in charge. Keep your flight in the cave and out of sight of any humans. As soon as the storm lets up, go home immediately. I’ll come back and clean up the traps after we rescue Stormfly.]”

The dragonet puffed up with pride at being given command. “[Yes, my king.]”

As he ran back to the cave, Hiccup and Astrid climbed on Toothless. “The traps are Northlander ones, which means they’ll be heading northeast through the Great Ice Fields to get back to the Northland.”

“That doesn’t exactly narrow it down. The Northland is big and the ice fields are bigger. How are we going to find them? None of your tracking dragons can handle the storm.”

“None of my flock-mates, no, but I know someone else who might be willing. We just need to grab something from home first.”

Astrid shivered as they approached the Veil of Mists. Very few dared sail through the wall of fog that marked the northernmost edge of the Barbaric Archipelago. Even the traders and pirates like the Bog-Burglars cut around the Mists on their way to the Northern Markets.

The only good thing about being near them was that they were beyond the edge of the storm.

“Is flying through there really a good idea? The Mists are supposedly cursed,” she pointed out.

“We’re not flying through, and they’re not any more cursed than Breakneck Bog is haunted by a fog monster. Gloomlurker just likes their privacy.”

Astrid crossed her arms as Hiccup pulled out his flute. “And does keeping their privacy involve sinking ships?”

“Sometimes.” Hiccup shrugged, then began to play a song.

“What exactly is Gloomlurker? A scauldron.”

He shook his head, still playing.

Before she could make another guess, the sea beneath where Toothless was circling began to bubble, and then the back of a dragon as tall as a typhoomerang and with the relative thickness of a gronckle rose from the water just enough to let its eyes glare up at them. The ripwrecker’s long, whip-like tail tried to swat at them, nearly managing to grab onto Toothless before he dodged.

Hiccup roared at it and it paused, letting its tail sink back beneath the waves. After a beat, its head came up and it roared back. Toothless drifted down as the sea dragon and Hiccup went back and forth. Eventually, Hiccup had Toothless toss it the two yak legs they’d brought, which it swallowed in one bite. Hiccup held out a shiny blue scale that Astrid recognized as Stormfly’s and the ripwrecker came further out of the water to sniff it. It turned to smell the air and swam a circle around them before diving down so only its back spines broke the surface.

“I didn’t know ripwreckers were trackers,” she said as it started heading east.

“Yeah, they’re one of the best trackers if you’re looking for something at sea. They have noses like sharks, as the sea dragons say. I’m pretty sure theirs are a lot better, though.”

They followed Gloomlurker all the way to the Great Ice Fields and through them. They traveled much faster than a ship could go, something Astrid was still getting used to. However, she started to notice them slowing down a little the further they went. Well, the ripwrecker wasn’t slowing down, but Toothless was.

She tucked her cape a little closer to her and leaned against Hiccup’s back to quietly ask, “Is Toothless okay?”

“He’s fine,” Hiccup said at a normal volume. “He also has really good hearing so whispering doesn’t work on him.”

Toothless made a gurgling noise that Astrid had learned was his attempt to mimic Hiccup’s laugh.

She huffed and leaned back. “I was just checking because he’s starting to slow down.”

Hiccup frowned and traced the spines on the dragon’s forehead.

Toothless snorted and did a roll that had Astrid gripping Hiccup tighter.

“Yeah, that just happens when he gets too cold,” he huffed, flicking the dragon’s ear. “He‘ll be fine as long as he keeps moving and stays dry.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

Hiccup made a face. “Well, we haven’t exactly tested the effects long-term, but... How much do you know about skrills?”

“Skrills?” she blinked at the change in topic. “Not a lot, I guess. One hasn’t been seen in a while so I didn’t pay close attention when reading the book. I know they fly in storms and blast things with lightning, but that’s about it. Why?”

“Skrills will hibernate if they get too cold, which allows them to survive even the coldest of temperatures to the point they can be frozen solid and still survive. And Toothless’s mother was a skrill so he sort of inherited that ability.”

“Wait, his mom was a skrill?”

“That’s what a night fury is. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, meaning the offspring of skrills and this other dragon that even dragons consider a ghost story since they’re so rare.”

Astrid stared at Toothless. “He’s a cross between two species? That’s incredible. What is his dad then?”

“I don’t know if they have a Norse name. From what I’ve been able to gather, his dad’s species looks similar to him, just a little smaller, without spines, and with scales the color of pearls. There’s nothing in the Book of Dragons that comes close and if anyone outside the archipelago keeps track of dragons the way Bork did, they‘ve never traded their records.”

“Do they have a Dragonese name?” she asked, even if she still thought it weird that the dragons might be able to talk.

“They call them wind-phantoms. And since skrills are lightning-walkers, that makes Toothless a wind-walker.”

“Is it common for dragons to mix like that?”

“Not often, no. It’s pretty rare for strike class dragons, and even rarer for others. Maybe once every other decade for strike class, at best, and maybe once a century for other dragons. It does happen, though. For example: Some records I found about Hiccup II suggest he had near-constant run-ins with a floehunter, as he named it, during his travels up north. Based on the description, I’m pretty sure it was an ice-fur, a mix between woolly howls and, uh... leviathorgans? I’m pretty sure that’s the Norse name for ice-clingers.”

She hummed, thinking it all over. “So Toothless can hibernate, then?”

“Like I said, we haven’t tested it. We just know he slows down when it starts getting really cold and he can get sleepy if he doesn’t keep moving, gets wet, or stays cold for too long. We try to get him warmed up before it gets to that point because we don’t want to risk anything if he can’t hibernate and only has the instincts.”

She nodded and lost herself in her thoughts on hybrids as the drift ice they were flying over gave way to small, barren, snow-capped islands.

She focused back in when Hiccup pointed out the coast of the Northland coming into view ahead. Nearby, a large group of ships were heading into a horseshoe-shaped bay. “Is this it?”

“I’d bet on it,” Hiccup said as Toothless began to drip down to where Gloomlurker was swimming. They spoke to it for a moment, then it turned to head back the way they’d come. “They said Stormfly’s just past the bay.”

“There’s nothing past the bay. It’s all just tundra.”

“I don’t know, but they were positive she was there. Let’s try to take a look.

They landed on a nearby island and Hiccup pulled out a pair of his spyglasses for them.

“There!” She pointed at where some of the men from the ships were carrying crates into a cave and not coming back out. “There must be a cave system.”

“Well, we’re not going to be able to just land next to them and head inside,” Hiccup said, following her gaze. “We’ll need to find our own way in.”

“The coast looks too treacherous for there to be any more openings there.”

“Thankfully, we don’t have to moor like the rest of them,” Hiccup said as Toothless took back to the air.

They flew over the tundra, shivering as the air grew colder, until they spotted a hole in the ground. They landed near it and looked inside, keeping hidden amongst the small shrubs that grew on the icy fields.

“Woah!”

“That is... I don’t even know what that is!” Astrid said, staring down at the settlement inside the crater they’d found.

A steaming ring of water lined the crater and a wall of ice three men tall and two men wide stood just inside the ring with a wooden drawbridge connecting an opening in the wall to a cave in the crater’s side. Little dome buildings littered the crater inside the wall while a much larger dome building sat at its northern tip. At the center of the crater was another, smaller wall of ice that was connected to poorly hidden cages. A group of icy stands lined one side of the smaller wall and a wooden stage sat on the other.

“It’s a castle! A castle made of ice!” Hiccup said, aiming his spyglass down at the settlement. He pointed at the smaller wall of ice. “I think they’re having an auction down there. They must just sell dragons whole.”

“Then that’s where Stormfly is. We need to get down there.”

He nodded. “But we can’t just fly in without knowing what we’re facing.”

They found a cave for Toothless to hide in and built him a fire before sneaking down the crater’s walls and slipping into the crowd heading for the auction. Thankfully, most of the crowd were Northlanders so their Northlander cloaks let them blend right in.

When they reached the stands, they slipped around to sit near the cages. Astrid studied the guards as a man on the stage began shouting to the crowd.

“Chieftains, warriors, potentates, and princes, I welcome you all to the sale of the century!” Some of the men dragged out a dragon covered in bones alongside a timberjack.

“What is that?” Astrid asked, pointing at the bone dragon.

“Bone-decorator,” Hiccup said quietly as a man behind them snapped, “A boneknapper! This is why girls shouldn’t be hunters, honestly!”

Astrid reached for her axe, but a large woman in a crown beat her to the punch.

Or the bludgeoning, as it were.

She turned back to Hiccup with a frown. In a much softer voice so they wouldn’t be overheard again, she said, “Boneknappers are real?”

“Uh-huh. I was surprised, too. One even was chasing Gobber for a while like in his stories, but I found out she just wanted the bone he was using as a belt buckle because it was the perfect piece to finish her armor.”

“Let me guess, you stole it for her.”

“Yeah. Made him a new buckle as an early birthday gift so he didn’t notice when it went missing. She would have ransacked Berk otherwise.”

Once the dragons’ chains were locked to the ground, the announcer started back up again. Astrid tuned him out as she counted the guards and took note of their patrol patterns.

Hiccup suddenly grabbed her arm and she turned to see him staring furiously at the stage. She followed his gaze and saw the announcer holding up a large egg.

She instantly knew Stormfly wouldn’t be the only dragon they’d be rescuing.

Stormfly rushed to the bars of her cage when Astrid snuck under the tarp where the dragons were being held.

“Hey girl,” she said, reaching in to rub the nadder's nose before grabbing the ring of keys she’d nabbed from a distracted guard and looking for one that matched the lock. “Try and keep the others calm. I’ll let you all out, then we’ll fly off together, okay. Try to get them to stay here until you’re all out, alright?”

She chittered, then nuzzled Astrid as soon as the door swung open.

She hoped that was a yes as she went to unlock the next cage.

Apparently it was as none of the dragons left the tarp while she was opening the cages, though a few came close. Some others tried to menace her, but Stormfly hovered over her shoulder to ensure they didn’t attack. Finally, the last cage was open and the dragons took off as one, Stormfly scooping up Astrid as she went.

Outside, Toothless had blasted the chains to free the boneknapper and timberjack and the three were terrorizing all the hunters while Hiccup rained speed stinger venom-laced bolts down on any hunters who raised a crossbow. With the rest of the dragons in the air, Astrid spotted Hiccup slipping out of his hiding spot and running for the stage.

“Let’s go watch your king’s back before he gets caught,” she said, pointing Hiccup out to Stormfly.

The nadder squawked and shot towards him.

Hiccup grabbed the chest of eggs and pushed it to the back of the stage for Toothless to scoop up.

Then he ran back to the front of the stage.

“What is he doing?” she asked before spotting the egg the announcer had been selling still sitting on a podium.

Hiccup scooped it up just as the announcer ran onstage.

“Thief!” the man bellowed, drawing a sword.

“Stormfly!” Astrid yelled as the man tried to grab Hiccup and the nadder shot a blast of fire between the two.

The edge of her fire caught the egg, which immediately began to shake and glow.

Hiccup yelped and dropped the egg, running towards the edge of the stage.

The announcer looked as confused as Astrid felt and knelt down to grab the egg.

It exploded in his face.

“Dragon eggs explode!?” she squeaked.

Stormfly chittered up at her and dove down to where Hiccup had landed inside the auction ring. Next to him was a steaming cloud of water vapor, which slowly faded to reveal a small bundle of spikes.

A bundle of spikes that unfurled into a baby whispering death.

Hiccup looked unsettled by the reveal, but slowly approached it in a crouch, holding his fist out with a coo.

“What are you doing?”

“She’s just a baby. We can’t leave her here to be sold off.” He continued to coo at the baby and slowly approach it.

It hissed, its tail twirling in twitching circles behind it, but it didn’t attack. When Hiccup stopped just in front of it and turned his head away, it drifted towards his hand and sniffed it.

It nuzzled him with a purr.

Chapter Text

Wodensfang glared at the ball of spikes curled up in his clutch-mate’s arms as the group of dragons gathered on a hill a good ways from the hunters’ village.

“[I know, bud,]” Tailfin said as he slid off Stormfly’s back. “[But she’s just a hatchling.]”

The wind-walker huffed, but didn’t pull away when Tailfin came over to scratch behind his ear.

The hatchling whined at the loss of one of her supports, but was quickly distracted by Wodensfang’s sent.

“[Tailfin!]” he snarled when she started slithering over him, but his clutch-mate just laughed and went to open the chest of eggs.

“[Just watch her until we can figure something else out,]” he called, pulling out an egg and walking over to a pair of smoldering-scales.

Thankfully, the hatchling noticed the moment he was a wing’s distance away and started slithering after him as she whined in hatchling speak.

He turned back, surprised, as Sunblade laughed.

“Aw, it’s like a chick! It thinks you’re its mama!”

“That’s not how hatchlings work,” he argued, but that didn’t stop the burrower from wrapping herself around his leg. He sighed and scooped her up before continuing on his path.

Between him, Wodensfang, and Stormfly, they got all the imprisoned dragons checked over for injuries and matched up with their respective eggs. Unfortunately, there were a few eggs without anywhere to go as they’d been taken straight from their nests without their parents.

Even more unfortunately, the hatchling had been one of those eggs.

She stuck close to Tailfin as he carefully loaded the orphaned eggs into Wodensfang’s saddle bags, then made herself at home on the saddle when Tailfin climbed on so they could head home.

“[Why can’t she go with Sunblade and Stormfly?]” the wind-walker asked, staring at the two as the human put on the proud-thorn’s saddle and climbed on.

“[Because she won’t.]” Tailfin pressed their foreheads together apologetically, then grabbed the handles of the saddle. He checked on the few dragons who decided to join their flock, then they took to the air. “[She's just nervous because everything’s so new and a lot of stuff was happening when she hatched. Once she calms down and is safe in the Brooder with a guardian, we can get some distance.]”

Hiccup could feel Toothless’s glare on his back, but he ignored it as he talked to Shufflecrest, one of the nanny dragons, about trying to find the orphaned eggs new parents or guardians.

He also ignored the hatchling curled around his waist.

He tried to hand her over to the nannies, but she’d just started crying and he...

Shufflecrest had said it was best to separate them as soon as possible to keep her from being confused and make sure she didn’t form unhealthy attachments, but even the link-lizard looked uncomfortable trying to take the crying hatchling. Eventually, they'd just let her be. It wasn’t as if there were any burrowers in the flock to pair her up with anyways, so it would take time for a good guardian to be found amongst their earth or land dragons.

“[Maybe one of the driller-fires?]”

“[I’ll ask around.]” One of Shufflecrest’s ears flicked and they hissed. “[Apologies, my King. I need to -]”

“[Go ahead.]”

They immediately darted off to where a group of tail-popper hatchlings were waddling across the ceiling towards an exit.

Hiccup turned to look around the Brooder, avoiding Toothless’s gaze. Hatchlings, nestlings, and fledglings were everywhere, playing with each other or the nannies. A few parents were around, but they quickly left after dropping off or picking up their children. A few volunteers were around as well to help out and Hiccup smiled when he spotted Tornado and Whirlwing further down the cave watching some of the sea dragons play in the pools.

He went to greet them and caught Tornado saying, “[- want a few?]”

“[I don’t know. Maybe.]”

Before he could greet them, Astrid ran up with one of Stormfly’s nestlings cradled in her arms. “Stormfly has babies!”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “She’s got an older clutch, too. They help out their dad on the fishing fleet.”

“How old are they?” she asked, giggling as Flurryleaf nibbled on the end of her braid.

“Stormfly lays her eggs around Snoggletog, so these ones are around five months old, and her first clutch is a year older than them.”

“Babies,” she cooed, scratching under Flurryleaf’s chin. “Snoggletog?”

“Yeah, turns out that a lot of the more common dragons lay their eggs around that time. It’s why there weren’t a lot of raids then.”

“So it’s not just the storms?” she mused. “Do all dragon eggs explode?”

“No, not all, but quite a few do and the rest are just as dramatic.” He pointed at Tornado. “My ears were ringing for hours the first time I was around for a wave-roarer hatching and gas leaks out of gas-zap eggs sometimes so you have to be careful not to let them get too close to a fire.”

Astrid hummed, then got distracted when Flurryleaf’s siblings came running up for her attention.

He left her to it and turned to continue towards Tornado, only to come face-to-face with his clutch-mate. He tried to mimic Hiccup’s voice as he said, “[Once we get her to the Brooder, we’ll get some distance.]”

“[Sorry, bud, but I can’t just leave her alone. She’s only a hatchling, and she’s flock now.]”

Toothless hesitated, as if only just realizing she’d become flock, then he huffed and pouted as the hatchling decided to climb over onto him.

Hiccup rubbed his snout, biting back a laugh.

Fishlegs hunched down as Snotlout and the twins laughed behind him. He tried to ignore them as he kept walking down the beach they’d landed on. The four of them had been having a Fighting at Sea lesson with Gobber and the man had decided they should take a break for lunch on an island they’d floated near. Which meant that not only had Fishlegs made a fool of himself while trying to fight Snotlout, but he’d also fallen off the boat while trying to climb down to help Gobber anchor it.

“I wish Astrid was here,” he muttered to himself, kicking at the sand. “But no, she had to stay to keep Hiccup out of trouble since Gobber’s with us and Stoick’s focused on clean up.”

The storm a few days earlier hadn’t caused much damage, but it had left quite a mess. What wasn’t covered in mud or puddles was covered in ripped-up vegetation that ranged in size from acorns and needles to branches almost as big as Fishlegs. It didn’t help that the twins had come up with a new game that involved stuffing feathers and leaves into balls of mud and throwing them at people’s houses.

That was probably why Stoick had sent them off the island for the day, actually.

Fishlegs would have preferred to help with clean up, but his dad had laughed when he said that and shooed him off to go play with his friends. As if getting thrown to the deck by Snotlout while the twins jeered was fun.

“Stupid Snotlout. Stupid twins. Stupid sea-based hand-to-hand combat. Stupid -” he cut off as he caught sight of something that had been hidden by the rock he’d just passed.

“Astrid! Hiccup!”

The two turned from where she was dragging him into the Great Hall for dinner to see Fishlegs running towards them.

“Guess the others are back,” she said before frowning. “Is he glowing?”

Hiccup nodded, staring at the rainbow glow coming from the larger boy’s bag. “Hey, Fishlegs. What is that?”

He smiled and pulled out a palm-sized, iridescent rock that had a crystal-like pattern on the surface.

“Wow!” the two said, then Hiccup asked, “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” Fishlegs said, carefully rolling it in his hands as they heard the doors to the Great Hall open. “I was going to ask Gobber, but I didn’t want the others to see it.”

“Is Fishlegs glowing?”

“Too late,” Astrid sighed.

“You okay?” Astrid asked once she had gotten Fishlegs away from the crowds, Hiccup having disappeared the moment too many people had shown interest in the group’s discussion.

Nodding, Fishlegs frowned down at his Stone of Good Fortune (as Gobber had announced it). He held it out to Astrid, who shook her head.

“It’s yours.”

“No, I don’t want it anymore. I mean, I do. It’s fascinating, but it’s also too much stress. You saw that mob. They ran right over me.”

“Like a sack of flour. But Stoick won’t let them take it from you, and neither will I.”

He pushed the rock into her hands. “It’s not worth it. I just want it put back where it came from and to never think about it again.”

“If you’re sure,” she said, tucking the rock away. “Why are you giving it to me, then?”

“I found it half-buried on the beach of a small isle south of here where we stopped for lunch. Just west of the Island of Frigg. There’s no way my parents will let me go, especially after our trip to Breakneck Bog, but I know you and Hiccup can sneak off without anyone noticing you’re gone or a boat’s missing. He used to do it all the time. And you guys were going to do it to save Johann before Snotlout involved himself, right? You’d be able to put it back without anyone finding out.”

She hesitated, then agreed, “Alright, yeah, we can do that for you.”

“Thank you! I owe you one!”

“I found it half-buried on the beach of a small isle south of here where we stopped for lunch. Just west of the Island of Frigg.”

Around the corner of the building where the two were talking, Snotlout smirked and quietly took his leave as he began to plot.

Astrid and Stormfly led the way through the night sky with Hiccup, Toothless, and the newly named Brisk not far behind.

The hatchling had been adamant about coming along, according to Hiccup, but she’d tucked herself away in a saddlebag not long after they’d left to sleep so Astrid didn’t see why he couldn’t just leave her.

“Are we going to the Isle of Frigg?” Hiccup asked, running a hand over the bag for the tenth time.

“No, but a smaller isle close to it,” she responded, rolling her eyes at his mother henning.

“Didn’t Fishlegs find it during their Fighting at Sea lessons? We’re too far southeast.”

“Gobber set a new route because he wanted to try something different today. Make the others think on their feet.”

“Of course. Good thing you got out of whatever he put them through this time.”

“No kidding.” She urged Stormfly a little to the left. “We should be almost there.”

He was quiet for a bit, then asked, “Uh, Astrid, this small isle? Is it the one a little west of Frigg? Lots of rocky canyons with thin pines?”

“Uh, probably? Fishlegs didn’t say much more than just west of Frigg on Gobber’s new route. Why?”

“I call that Stealth-melt Island because it’s the nesting ground of a big flock of stealth-melts.”

“Stealth-melts?” she asked, unsure what that could be.

He thought for a moment. “I can’t remember their Norse name, but they spray burning acid, can blend in perfectly with their surroundings to the point they’re basically invisible, and are very, very protective of their nests. Coming in any further than the beach without an invitation is a sure way to get your scales melted.”

“Maybe it’s a different island?” she suggested, but she didn’t feel any more convinced than Hiccup looked.

Sure enough, the island turned out to be Stealth-melt Island.

That wasn’t the worst part, though.

“Hey, I thought Fishlegs said he found it buried on the beach.”

“He did.”

“Then what’s that?”

She looked where he pointed to see a thin stretch of forest that was pinned between a cliff and a drop-off that led to the ocean. The trees there glittered rainbow colors just like the rock in her hands. As they cautiously drifted closer, they saw that more glowing rocks were set into smoldering holes in the trees’ branches.

“Dragon nests,” Hiccup gasped, looking paler than the moonbeams lighting the world around them.

“Why would the dragons fill their nests with gems?” Sure, she knew Stormfly liked keeping shiny things in her nest, but invisible dragons didn’t sound like they’d be as showy as nadders were.

“Because they’re not gems. Astrid, I need you to very quickly and very carefully give me the egg.”

She stared at the not-a-rock in shock and mostly held it out on reflex as Toothless rolled over Stormfly so Hiccup could take it. She watched the boys drop down into a clearing in a daze as the word egg echoed in her head alongside visions of the whispering death egg exploding.

That had been in her pocket! Did stealth-melt eggs explode too? Or worse?

Oh gods, what if it had sprayed acid all over her!?

Hiccup slipped off Toothless’s back as soon as they landed and carefully set the egg in the center of the clearing. He called out into the trees as the two backed away, heads low and wings and arms limp. Halfway between the center and the trees, Hiccup swung back onto Toothless and they shot into the air.

Streams of green liquid shot out of nowhere from multiple places around the clearing. They hit the spot the two had been moments before, burning away the grass and leaving a bubbling pool of acid.

“That was close,” she said once Hiccup was back with her, but he shook his head.

“They weren’t actually aiming for us. It was a warning,” he said, checking on Brisk as Toothless turned to head back to Berk. “They’re not happy the egg was taken, but they’re willing to let us go since we didn’t take it, we just returned it. This time, at least.”

Just before the island got out of sight, something below Stormfly caught Astrid’s eye. She tried to look through the darkness and thought she might have seen the shadow of a boat cutting through the moonlit sea. She squinted her eyes to get a better look.

“Hey, at least we got the egg back before they sent out scouts to track it down.”

“What?” she said, blinking and looking up at Hiccup as his words processed.

She shivered as she imagined invisible dragons invading Berk, especially if one of them was a protective mother.

“Yeah.” She looked back down at the sea, but didn’t spot anything amongst the waves. She shrugged as she decided it must have been her imagination. “Let’s just get home before they change their minds.”

“Are stealth-melts changewings?” Astrid asked, coming into the forge.

Thankfully, Hiccup was alone as Gobber had gone off to make some deliveries. He considered her words, then nodded with a shrug. “I think so. It sounds right.”

“Good, because nothing else in the Book of Dragons matched. Have you seen what they look like? The book didn’t have any pictures.”

“No. They don’t like outsiders and we try to respect that by staying away from their territory. It’s not a good idea to make enemies with invisible dragons, whether they be stealth-melts, wind-phantoms, or mocking-serpents.”

Her eyes widened. “Wind-phantoms? You mean -”

“Astrid, I thought you said you took the stone back!” Fishlegs said, running in.

“We did.”

“Then why do the twins have it?”

“What!?” Astrid shouted as Hiccup tossed the sword he was working on into a bucket.

He raced out of the forge before the other two could react. They tried to follow, but Hiccup was already gone.

“Where did he -”

“Forget him! Where are the twins?”

“They said they were going to Puffin Point to test out the stone.”

“Okay, when I count to three, shove me really hard off the cliff!”

“Uh, are you sure? There’s a lot of sharp rocks sticking out of the water down there.”

“Oh, please! I’m holding the Stone of Good Fortune! Those pointy rocks won’t even touch me!”

“Okay. Thank you, Loki.”

Tuffnut closed his eyes and braced himself to go flying.

Ruffnut backed up, then ran towards him.

A crossbow bolt shot in front of her, making her freeze.

Tuffnut opened his eyes to look at her before they both turned to see Hiccup walking towards them, his shiny shield broken in half to reveal a crossbow.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“You almost hit me, Useless!”

His crossbow-shield collapsed back into just a shield with a flick of his wrist while his other hand drew his sword. He gestured at the stone. “You need to give me that before you get us all killed.”

“No way!”

“It’s our Stone of Good Fortune!”

“Get your own!”

“That’s not a Stone of Good Fortune. It’s an egg, and its mother will destroy whatever is in her path to get it back. So either give it to me or I’ll take it.”

“Please,” Tuffnut scoffed and marched up to Hiccup.

Before he could throw a punch, the smaller boy harshly smacked his thigh with the flat of his sword. He used the distraction to grab the stone, smack him backward with his shield, then spun around to point his sword at the approaching Ruffnut’s chest. “I’m taking the egg.”

“Egg? It’s an egg?” Fishlegs panted as he and Astrid ran up. He froze, staring wide-eyed at the scene of Hiccup standing victorious over the twins.

“Yeah. The egg of a changewing,” Astrid said, unsurprised as she grabbed her axe. “A dangerous dragon that turns invisible and sprays acid, which is why we need to get that egg back to Changewing Island.”

Still on the ground, clutching his nose, Tuffnut tilted his head. “Okay, so, like, if a tree, for example, were spitting acid and melting everything in sight -”

“You’re saying that would be one of those dragons?” Ruffnut finished.

“Wow, they got it on the first try,” Astrid said, lowering her axe.

“We’re not stupid.”

“At least I’m not. And besides, there’s one right there.”

The three spun around as a tree fell behind them.

“Changewing!” Fishlegs gasped as he, Astrid, and the twins started looking around and bracing for a fight.

Meanwhile, Hiccup snuck to the front of the group. He knelt and whistled softly, setting down the egg and gently rolling it towards the fallen tree.

“Hey, that’s ours!” the twins shouted when they noticed his actions and ran for the egg.

Astrid grabbed Ruffnut, but Fishlegs was too stunned to do anything and Hiccup couldn’t get to his feet in time to stop Tuffnut.

The blond snatched the egg just before a section of grass that had been rising next to it could grab it.

Instead, the grass hissed and grabbed Tuffnut’s ankle. Tuffnut was lifted into the air as the grass pealed away from the ground, its green color giving way to red and orange.

“Changewing,” Fishlegs squeaked.

“Give her the egg!” Hiccup snapped.

“No! It’s my dragon trophy!”

The changewing opened its mouth, revealing bubbling green acid.

Chapter Text

The stealth-melt opened its mouth, revealing bubbling green acid.

Astrid grabbed a rock and threw it at Tuffnut’s wrist, making him drop the egg.

“No!” the twins yelled, and Hiccup echoed them in Dragonese as he shot forward.

Barely noticing the stealth-melt tossing Tuffnut aside, he threw down his shield to use it like a sled, which gave him just enough speed to grab the egg before it hit the ground. He did spot the other two stealth-melts that peeled off rocks and a tree to join the first in chasing after him as he slid past some bushes and down a hill. He carefully rolled off his shield before he could go too far and set the egg on the ground. He backed away, staying crouched low and loose.

“[Here! Here’s your egg! It’s alright! It’s not hurt! I’m sorry it was taken! I was trying to get it back, but the humans didn’t realize what it was! They thought it was a beautiful gem!]”

“[You said that when you brought the other egg back, before the thieves stole more of our eggs!]” one of the stealth-melts hissed as the mother picked up her egg and the third snapped at him with fangs dripping in acid.

He bared his throat as the word eggs echoed in his head. “[The humans are still just as stupid. How many eggs were taken? I can get them back for you!]”

“[We will retrieve our eggs! And teach the humans why they shouldn’t steal from our nests, as is our right as mothers!]” the third said, and the other two agreed before all three disappeared into the trees.

“[Mothers. Plural,]” Hiccup growled, pressing his fists into his eyes.

Astrid yelled his name as she, Fishlegs, and the twins came into view. “Are you okay?”

“Where are the changewings?” Fishlegs asked nervously, looking around.

“Where’s our egg?” Ruffnut asked, cracking her knuckles.

“With its mother. She took it and they flew off,” Hiccup growled. He straightened up and went to grab his sword as Fishlegs sighed.

“So they’re gone.”

“They’re not gone,” he said, turning on the twins.

“How do you know?” Astrid asked as he marched forward.

“Because they worked as a team to save that one egg.”

“Wait, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Fishlegs went pale.

“How many eggs did you take?” Hiccup demanded and leveled his sword at the twins.

“Why should we tell y-” Ruffnut started, and Hiccup slapped the flat of his sword against her helmet.

“How many?”

Tuffnut snickered as his sister clutched her head, then shrugged when Hiccup turned to him. “We don’t know. Snotlout was the one who grabbed them all. We just got the one as payment for doing all the rowing.”

“Snotlout,” Hiccup hissed.

“They’re dragon eggs! How did I miss that? The egg I found must have fallen out and gotten buried. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it!”

“Fishlegs, calm down. None of us knew,” Astrid said, setting her hand on the large boy’s shoulder.

“But I should have! I should have known! I’ve studied the Book of Dragons and Bork’s public notes inside and out! No one knows dragons better than me!”

Astrid’s eyes darted to Hiccup, who still looked ready to murder Snotlout the moment the three reached his house. “Bork barely had anything on changewings, let alone their eggs. There’s no way you could have known. None of this is your fault.”

“Yeah, it’s Snotlout’s,” the dragon boy growled, fists clenching then unclenching like he was about to pounce. When they reached the house, he banged on the door.

A large woman with a wild mane of red hair and a wide, friendly smile opened the door. It twitched when she realized who was on the other side. She clicked her tongue as she looked him over. “Ah, it’s the wee hiccup. Is Stoick even feeding you? You look even smaller than the last time I saw you.”

He put on a strained smile. “He feeds me plenty, Aunt Freda. We -”

“Plenty is hardly enough for someone like you. You need extra food if you’re ever going to look presentable. Extra food and some hard work. You and Stoick should come over tomorrow night. I’ll feed you right, then me and him can discuss -”

“That would be nice,” Hiccup cut over her, his smile even more strained, “but we’re kind of in a hurry right now. Is Snotlout here?”

Her eyes narrowed for a second at the interruption, then she looked away from him. “We?” Her eyes landed on Astrid and Fishlegs. Suddenly, she looked as cheerful as she had when she’d opened the door. “Oh, hello, Fishlegs! And Astrid, dear, it’s been a while! You’re both looking good. How is your mother doing, Fishlegs?”

“She’s good,” Fishlegs muttered as he looked warily between her and Hiccup, who was peeking into the house with her attention off him.

“That’s good. Tell your sister I finished Brynja’s dress. And Astrid, you’re looking as lovely as always. I heard you were taken off the watch. I hope you’re still keeping up with your training. Spitelout said you’re very missed, and I know I’ll feel safer once you’re back on watch. You really deserve better than…” she trailed off and looked back down at Hiccup, who pulled back and put on his fake smile, “hiccup duty.”

“Thank you,” Astrid said slowly, staring at the woman in shock. She’d never seen Fainting Freda be anything but cheerful and doting. Yet there’d been a poisonous barb hiding beneath her usual sweet voice when she’d talked to or about Hiccup, especially while saying his name. A harshness that only Mildew could match and a disgust she’d never heard anyone direct Hiccup’s way, even at his most troublesome. “Uh, I’m training everyday still, and Hiccup’s not bad company.”

The seamstress made a disbelieving sound. “I’m sure you’re making the best of it, but my brother really was too harsh. I’ll talk to him tomorrow and see if we can’t get you back where you belong.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Nonsense. Now, did you two need something? Did you want a snack? I just got done cutting up some apples,” she asked, gesturing for Fishlegs and Astrid to come inside.

“No, thank you. We’re actually looking for Snotlout.”

“Oh, yes, of course. He’s still down at the village center. He made quite the haul trading those pretty rocks he found. He’s still going through it all. He’s turning out to be quite accomplished. He’ll make someone very happy someday, you know,” she said with a wink Astrid's way.

The girl shivered as Hiccup grabbed her arm and Fishlegs’ shirt. “Right, thanks. We better go find him. Goodbye!”

Freda clicked her tongue again as he began dragging the two away. “Make sure you tell Stoick I want you over here tomorrow night!”

“I will!” Hiccup called over his shoulder as they turned a corner out of sight.

“You okay?” Astrid asked.

“No, the eggs are still missing.”

“I meant about Freda.”

“What about her?” Hiccup looked back at her with a confused frown.

“She was kind of... rude?” Fishlegs said.

“Yes.”

The other two shared a look at Hiccup’s continued confusion.

“You guys do know a lot of people talk to me like that, right? I mean, Snotlout and Mildew even make a spectacle of it if they think Dad won’t hear, and sometimes even when he can.”

“The way she talked to you was different,” Astrid said. “It was less like you were an annoyance and more like you were -“

“Cursed?” Hiccup snorted. “That’s what she thinks.

“Gobber was a little too loud about it once while he and Dad were drinking. I could hear them from my room. Apparently, she really didn’t like Mom and had tried everything to get Dad not to marry her. Something about how Aunt Freda didn’t agree with how she was, whatever that means. She thinks the gods cursed Dad with me because of Mom and keeps trying to get him to ship me off somewhere so he can remarry and have another heir.

“After I told dad I knew the truth about Hiccup II, he told me she only knew part of the Hiccup-Hamish story. She thought sending me off would be no different than how Hamish I sent Hiccup II away so his younger brother, Hamish II, could be heir.”

“That’s awful,” Fishlegs said and Hiccup shrugged.

“At least she just wants to rehome me. Others have suggested worse.”

“You know that’s not right,” Astrid said.

He shrugged again. “I’ve given up caring what the village thinks of me. The only people I care about care about me in return.”

She knew what he meant, even without his quick, pointed look towards the forest.

She could easily picture the dragons who reverently lowered themselves to their king as he walked past, could remember the way some dragons preened his hair or dropped their children into his arms without a thought like he was family, was painfully aware of the way his brother hovered over him protectively at the slightest provocation, and was still amused by the way a four-day-old ball of spikes looked at him like he was its father.

In a way, he had a village of people who cared about him and looked up to him as their leader, even if it wasn’t the one he was born to lead.

“Now come on, we’ve got more important things to worry about.”

Fishlegs looked at her, and she gestured for him to drop it.

He nodded and turned back to Hiccup. “You know, your dad’s at my house talking about the fishing routes. It’s on the way to the village center. Why don’t we just tell him what’s going on so he can deal with it?”

Hiccup immediately started shaking his head. “If Dad finds out, he’ll just destroy the eggs.”

“I mean, they are dragon eggs. Wouldn’t it be better to smash them before they can hatch?”

Hiccup gritted his teeth, but continued with, “And then the changewings would destroy the village in revenge.”

Fishlegs went a little pale, but argued. “It’s just three dragons. We could handle them if the whole village got together.”

“It wouldn’t be just the mothers. Their whole flock -- their whole island of dragons -- would come to help get revenge.”

Astrid was suddenly reminded of her own words regarding the baby typhoomerang Hiccup had rescued from them.

“Besides, it was one dragon and we're an entire village.”

She wondered if the mother was the only dragon who would have sought revenge or if some of Hiccup’s flock would have come to her aid.

“It would be like a raid, but all the dragons would be invisible. Do you really think the village could handle that?”

Fishlegs went a little paler and picked up the pace. “Right, let’s just find the eggs ourselves and leave them somewhere far away for their moms to find!”

“So that’s twenty sheep, a crate of furs, seven yaks, four chickens, a barrel of mead, and a set of matching battle axes. And you, Gustav. Altogether, a good haul.”

“A good haul!” Gustav agreed, closing the crate of furs.

“I bet we could trade the mead for a nice -”

“SNOTLOUT!”

The two jumped and spun around to see Astrid and Hiccup marching up, Fishlegs following more meekly.

Snotlout quickly put on a flirty expression and leaned against the barrel. “Hey, Astrid. You missed the auction, but as you can see, I made a killing. I could even buy you a pretty little something if you -”

“How many eggs did you take?” Hiccup demanded.

“I didn’t get any eggs,” Snotlout huffed, barely looking at him before he focused on Astrid again. “But I did get some chickens. How about you come over for din-”

“He means the stones,” Astrid cut over him. “How many did you steal? Who did you trade them to?”

“I didn’t steal anything, but I did find three Stones of Good Fortune. I gave one to the twins, but I’m not saying who got the other two. I don’t need anyone trying to get a refund because Useless is bothering my customers.”

“They’re not stones! They’re dragon eggs!” Hiccup hissed.

“Uh, Changewings, to be exact,” Fishlegs added.

“Changewings, shmange-” He cut off with a frown, then threw his hands in the air. “I don’t care what they are! All I know is I’m rich and you’re not.”

“We’re rich and you’re not!” Gustav agreed, mimicking the way Snotlout was leaning against the crate by leaning against a small barrel.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and turned away. “So one of the eggs is with the Larsons. I’ll grab it while you guys get him to tell you where the other one is.”

“Wh-No, it isn’t! Stay away from the Larsons!”

Astrid grabbed his arm before he could follow. “If you didn’t trade an egg to the Larsons, then what’s Gustav doing here?”

“He-he’s my intern!”

“I’m his intern!”

“You better just take your mom her refund,” she told the younger boy.

He tried to argue, but his mouth snapped shut under her glare. He carefully tipped the barrel on its side and started rolling it after Hiccup.

“Hey! There’s no returns!” Snotlout argued.

“You can either do the returns now or after people come complaining because their houses were destroyed by changewing mothers looking for their eggs.”

“Oh please, that’s not going to happen.”

The three spun around when a scream sounded from further in the village, then she gave Snotlout a pointed look.

“Shut up, Astrid,” he grumbled as they ran towards the rising chaos.

People were running around the streets as houses, sheds, and carts smoldered with burning acid. A few were waving around weapons and others were clearing supplies and valuables away from the melting areas. However, most were just rushing around. Vagn was even shouting something about ghosts. As the three reached the center of the mayhem, two different streams of acid shot out from an alley to carve holes in a wall.

They heard their names called and turned to see Gobber, Spitelout, and Ketil the Faithful running up as the chief stopped to talk to Yngvildr.

“What’s going on?” Fishlegs’ dad asked as he started looking him over. “Are you okay?”

“Ghosts!” Vagn screamed as he ran past.

“It’s changewings! Snotlout stole their eggs so now they’re ransacking the village looking for them!”

Astrid and Snotlout glared at Fishlegs.

Gobber slapped his forehead. “Ah, right! I always get changewing eggs and Stones of Good Fortune confused!”

“Changewing eggs?” Stoick asked as he joined them.

“Dragon!” Brunhilde the Beauty yelled and the group turned to see a changewing had dropped its camouflage to dive off a roof at Bucket.

It swerved to the side to avoid a barrel Mulch threw at it and landed hissing on the side of a house.

Mulch dragged Bucket out of the way of its acid as Gobber and Ketil ran at the changewing with a battle cry. It snarled and disappeared when they were halfway to it, but that didn’t stop the Blacksmith or Fishlegs’ dad from slamming large logs repeatedly against the side of the house.

The others in the group watched them for a beat, then Spitelout leaned towards Stoick. “It’s gone, isn’t it?”

“Long gone,” the chief groaned, rubbing a hand down his face.

“Astrid!” Fishlegs gasped, pointing at where Bucket and Mulch were running off. “They’re following Bucket!”

Her eyes widened and she nodded. Snotlout scowled when the two ran after the man. He tried to follow, but Stoick grabbed his shoulder.

“Wait up!”

Frowning, Hiccup turned to see the younger kid following him with a barrel. “Hey, uh,” it took a second for him to remember the name his mother had called out the night before, “Gustav, right? Why are you following me?”

“Astrid said to bring my mom’s stuff back since you’re taking the stone-egg-thing,” he grunted as he worked to push the barrel up the hill.

Hiccup hesitated, then went to help him push.

“Thanks,” Gustav sighed and he nodded. There was a quiet moment as they continued towards the Larsons’, then the younger boy asked, “Were you really going to fight Alvin when he attacked a couple months ago?”

“I -”

“Because that would have been really stupid. You’re you. You can’t fight.”

“You’ve never seen me fight,” Hiccup said with a shrug.

“Mom says you can’t do anything except trip over your own feet -- foot -- and make a mess.”

He rolled his eyes. “Your mom’s never seen me fight either. But no, I wasn’t going to fight. I just needed to buy time for help to arrive.” Gustav looked like he was going to keep going, so Hiccup quickly asked, “Where’s your mom?”

He hummed, thinking. “Dad’s gone hunting for the week so she’s probably getting dinner at the Great Hall with Åshild.”

They left the barrel inside the Larsons’ shed, then met Jorunn just as she was leaving the hall.

“Gustav?” She looked her son over then turned to Hiccup with a frown. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m taking that back,” Hiccup said, nodding to where he could see the egg glowing amongst baby blankets.

“Snotlout said no returns,” she huffed, tugging closer the wheelbarrow she was carrying her baby in.

“He changed his mind.” He nudged Gustav towards her.

She reached for her son, then hesitated. “But my baby needs the good fortune.”

“It’s not a Stone of Good Fortune. Gobber was wrong. That’s why Snotlout’s offering the return.”

She didn’t look like she believed him, but then Gustav said, “Astrid said it’s a dragon egg!”

She hesitated again, then sighed and handed over the egg. “Come along, Gustav. I need to let your cousin know he doesn’t need to send our sheep over to the Jorgensons.”

Hiccup checked the egg over, then ran towards the forest. Astrid met him halfway there. He showed her the egg, not stopping his run. “I’ve got one.”

“The changewings have the other. Bucket had it. He tripped while running away so one managed to snatch it out of his hand without doing much more than giving his bucket a hole or two. Fishlegs and I spread out to find you. The changewings are running rampant around the lower village.”

He nodded and changed course.

When they reached the lower village, it had been cleared out completely. It wasn’t quiet, though. Distant calls of other Hooligans could easily be heard from other parts of the village, especially the docks.

It didn’t take long for the stealth-melts to find them. Astrid backed off as Hiccup walked forward, frowning when he realized the stealth-melt approaching him wasn’t one of the three he’d seen before.

“[Little king.]”

He shifted onto all fours, then held out the egg. “[I hope this proves you can trust me. You don’t need to risk yourselves or your eggs by attacking the humans.]”

She huffed and took the egg. “[We will continue to do what we must until we have retrieved the last egg.]”

Hiccup felt a weight settle into his gut as the three vanished over the roofs.

“There are four eggs.”

Chapter Text

Fishlegs panted as he rushed through the village looking for Hiccup. He’d spotted Gustav with Jorunn, which must have meant Hiccup got the egg. However, that also meant he had no idea where Hiccup could be. They hadn’t discussed where to meet up before Hiccup had run off. Stoick had ordered everyone to head down to the docks to regroup, to Mildew’s constant complaints, but Fishlegs doubted Hiccup had listened.

He just hoped the changewings didn’t find him alone with their egg. They hadn’t really hurt Bucket, but he’d also been surrounded by other Vikings so a few scratches and some acid burns on his bucket were all they really had time to do. Hiccup had some skills with a sword, but he didn’t know how to fight dragons. If they caught him alone and wanted to take the theft out on him…

Since Astrid headed towards the woods, Fishlegs had searched the upper village first before peaking into the Great Hall. However, it was only when he was curving back towards the lower village that he spotted Hiccup running down another street with Astrid shortly behind him. Fishlegs cut around a house to see the two further down the street, something carefully clutched against Hiccup’s chest.

He was about to call out to the two, but his breath caught as three changewings faded into view around them. He expected them to drop the egg and run or brace for a fight. Yet, while Astrid did reach for her axe and take a few steps back, Hiccup calmly walked towards the nearest dragon. His shoulders and head were lowered, but otherwise he looked calm as he approached the dragon. He honestly looked more confused than worried as he crouched a few feet away from the dragon and held out the egg. Fishlegs thought he said something, but he was too far away to hear anything more than a grumble.

Fishlegs watched the changewing take the egg and leave with the others without so much as scratching Hiccup, then shook himself out of his stupor and ran up.

“Hiccup! Astrid!”

Astrid turned and acknowledged him with a nod, but Hiccup still stared after the changewing.

“Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah. Hiccup got the other egg in time for the changewings to come after us instead of the Larsons. We managed to give it back without too much of a fight so we’re all good.”

He didn’t get a chance to point out there hadn’t been a fight at all before Hiccup said, “There are four eggs.”

“What?”

“How do you know?” Astrid asked.

“The dragon that took the egg isn’t one of the three that attacked before. There has to be at least one more egg out there.”

“But Snotlout said-Snotlout!” Fishlegs snapped and turned to run towards the docks, Astrid following after the other two shared a few words he couldn’t hear.

“I managed to find one of the mothers with Snoopcurl’s help, but they’re not standing down,” Hiccup said, stepping up next to Astrid. “She did tell me there was only one egg left, though. Did you get it from Snotlout?”

“Not me,” she said, pointing across the docks.

He followed her gaze to see a glowing Fishlegs proudly walking up towards the village, leaving behind a shaken Snotlout. “What happened?”

“I guess the stories about his mom’s family having Berserker blood might have some truth to them.”

Hiccup had multiple questions, but decided to drop them as the two realized Fishlegs was leaving them behind. They raced to catch up with him, heading up into the lower village to see him walking semi-calmly and yelling at the sky. “... you’re out there! Come and get me!”

“[Thief!]” the stealth-melts hissed as they one-by-one appeared and cornered Fishlegs against a building.

“Oh no,” Astrid said, and the two ran towards them.

“And we’re all here.” Fishlegs took a deep breath. “Hi, I’m Fishlegs. I’ve read a lot about you.”

The two stopped, staring at him. They could tell he was still frightened, but he was just... standing there talking to the dragons.

“Clearly not enough.”

“[Give me my egg, thief!]” the stealth-melt in front of him roared and they all moved closer.

“Okay, here’s how this is going to work. I’m going to give you this egg, you’re going to take it, and you’re going to leave Berk in peace. I know you are just beasts who can’t understand what I’m saying, but I think we can all just leave without anyone getting hurt. Sound good?”

“[Stop chittering and give me my egg!]” she hissed, blowing steam out of her nose and lowering her head.

He held out his hands and she smacked them to toss the egg in the air.

She caught it and turned to leave. The others followed after snapping warningly at Fishlegs, who crouched down with his eyes closed.

When he opened his eyes again, he was alone. “Well, I guess that’s that.”

He took a step forward, then fainted.

Astrid ran forward to check on him, but Hiccup paused when something in the corner of his eye shifted. He turned to see one of the stealth-melts staring at him. He lowered his head and she returned the movement before leaving with her flock-mates.

He rejoined the others as Astrid was helping Fishlegs sit up, asking, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, looking down at the scratches on his hand from the stealth-melt’s protruding fangs. “I think so.”

“I can’t believe you did that,” Astrid said, pulling him to his feet. “Why didn’t you just drop the egg and run as soon as the first one showed itself?”

“I thought it’d be safer to stay still and try to act calm like you did.”

“Me?” Hiccup asked when he was gestured to.

Fishlegs nodded. “I don’t know how you managed to seem so calm while giving the Larsons’ egg back. That was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done.”

“I didn’t-I wasn’t-I mean,” Hiccup sputtered as Astrid said, “You saw that!?”

Fishlegs nodded again, looking between them with a growing frown. “How did you even know that would work? That they wouldn’t just kill you immediately?”

Hiccup looked to Astrid, figuring she knew Fishlegs better and had the best chance of getting him off their tails.

She stared blankly back at him.

“Hiccup! Hiccup! Astrid! Hiccup!”

He breathed a sigh of relief as his dad’s voice echoed through the empty village.

Astrid grabbed his arm and dragged him off, calling over her shoulder, “We’ll have to explain later. You should go let your parents know you’re okay.”

“Sure,” Fishlegs said, but Hiccup could feel his eyes on their backs all the way to where they met his dad and Gobber near the village center.

“Hiccup!” His dad charged over as soon as he spotted them and dragged Hiccup away from Astrid to look him over. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Jorunn said you took her changewing egg!”

“Yeah, I left it in the middle of an empty road so the changewings just grabbed it and flew off.”

“You shouldn’t have been anywhere near that egg! You would have died if those beasts found you with it!”

Hiccup’s fists clenched as he snapped, “But they didn’t. I had it under control.”

His dad looked like he wanted to argue more, but instead he just sighed and turned to Astrid. “You need to stay with him at all times during situations like this.”

Hiccup scowled as she said, “Yessir, sorry.”

Stoick nodded and turned back to him, squeezing his shoulders. “Head back to the house with Astrid and stay there until we’re sure the beasts are all either gone or dead.”

“Fishlegs scared the last of them off after tossing them their egg. They’re long gone. I don’t need to -”

“Hiccup, please.” His dad squeezed his shoulders again. “I need you to stay safe.”

He deflated a little at that and reluctantly agreed.

“At least he didn’t put up too much of a fight this time,” Gobber piped in as Stoick watched Astrid escort Hiccup towards home.

“He shouldn’t be fighting me at all,” he huffed. He turned to his friend after the kids disappeared around a corner. “I thought I’d praise Thor for the day when the raids stopped, but somehow things have only gotten more dangerous since that massive beast was killed. It seems like every other week we’re either dealing with Alvin or some dragon that’s never shown its face on Berk before. That tiny dragon the kids caught that somehow burned up swaths of the forest was one thing, but the whispering death? And now these changewings? All on top of Alvin still trying to kidnap my boy?”

Gobber grabbed his wrist before he could punch the side of a storage shed. “I know, but look on the bright side. Hiccup’s doing better now than he has in years. He’s got Astrid watching his back and training him. He’s pretty good with a sword from what she says, a natural really now that he’s got a blade he can lift. The two of them practically rescued themselves when Alvin’s spies kidnapped them and Hiccup came out of washing up on Outcast Island without a scratch. Which, considering he was stuck with Snotlout, is a miracle. And don’t forget how the kids got Mogadon’s belt from right under the Meatheads’ noses, how they rescued his old toy from Breakneck Bog, or how he found Hamish’s treasure all on his own.”

“The belt was one thing,” Stoick groaned, “but the rest was all too dangerous for him.”

“Sure, but he made it out the other side no worse for wear.”

“He’s missing part of his leg.”

“Aye, that he is.” Gobber looked away, rubbing his neck. “But that was before you put Astrid in charge of him. There’s a reason you trusted her to take care of him.”

“I’m just not sure if it’s enough.” Stoick ran a hand down his face, then straightened up. “I’ll have to deal with him later, though. The village is still half-evacuated, under attack, and looking for guidance.”

“Well, one of the three might actually be solved if Hiccup was right about Fishlegs scaring the beasts off.”

“If that’s true, then he accomplished quite a feat. He’d deserve quite the reward for saving the village,” he joked, though his joke quickly turned to truth as the hunting party turned up no signs that the changewings remained and Fishlegs’ nervously told story proved what Hiccup had said.

“What kind of reward are you thinking about giving him?” Gobber’s question unknowingly echoed the question Stoick had been asking himself as they watched various Ingermans continue to question their son, brother, or uncle about the changewings.

He was about to say a feast in Fishlegs’ honor when the boy’s nervous rambling about dragon facts sparked an idea. “Well, we are only a few days away from Bork Week.”

Hiccup frowned at Meatlug when she set a water flask in front of him, intentionally knocking away the shield he’d been working on as she did so.

She just glared back.

He held out for a few moments before sighing and setting down his tools.

She nuzzled his cheek and waddled out of the forge with a pleased wiggle, probably to fetch him fish to cook.

Giving into his forced break, he turned away from his worktable to look over the forge as he sipped from the flask. Toothless was completely down for the count on his rock above the hearth, which was probably why Hiccup hadn’t been interrupted sooner. The fact Brisk had managed to cuddle up under his chin for her own nap only proved how deep his sleep was.

Hiccup bet it was because Toothless was giving into his nurturing instincts just a little, even if his clutch-mate would never admit it. Caregiver dragons did tend to develop sleeping patterns that mirrored their charge’s need for extra sleep and Hiccup couldn’t always be the one to nap with her.

Meatlug hadn’t returned by the time he finished his water so he took the chance to look over his work.

He’d gotten quite a bit done the past two days since his dad had gotten so busy with Bork Week. The shield was part of a set of new gear that was meant to help him be more inconspicuous. The shield and the matching armor were completely black like Toothless’s scales so he wouldn’t be as noticeable on his back, especially at night. They were paired with a new gronckle iron sword that was coated in a thin layer of iron. That made it a little heavier than Endeavor, but it also disguised the bright shine of the draconic metal. The hilt used the same black-died leather as his armor while the fuller was decorated with small dragon scales he’d collected from the shedding caves.

As Hiccup double-checked the sword‘s edge, he mused, “I wonder what other things I could do with dragon scales. Maybe -”

He heard the door opening and quickly tucked the sword away with the shield and armor before Meatlug could start lecturing him.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a fish-laden Meatlug that came in but Astrid and Stormfly.

“Oh, hey Astrid. [Hi, Stormfly.]”

“Hey.” While Stormfly came over to nose the top of his head, Astrid stopped on the other side of his worktable, looking it over. She grabbed a small metal ingot and turned it over in her hands with a frown. “Is this the same metal your sword and shield are made from?”

“Uh-huh,” Hiccup agreed distractedly as he tried to stop Stormfly from preening his hair.

“I thought you used it all up making your shield.”

“What? Oh, no, I lied about that.” He gave into Stormfly’s demands as he focused on Astrid. “Hiccup II didn’t leave any samples behind. I don’t think he even had any to leave since he wasn’t able to make the metal himself. He got Endeavor on commission from the people who make the metal. He did leave the recipe, though, so I made my own.”

She dropped the ingot back on his table and sat on a crate. “If he had the recipe then why couldn’t he make his own?”

“Because it requires dragons. I call it gronckle iron because it can only be smelted inside a gronckle. I think it has something to do with their specific internal temperature and their stomach acid.”

“Right. I’m guessing whoever made Endeavor wasn’t as nice about getting the iron from their dragons as you are with yours?”

“I try not to think about that,” he sighed. “But yeah. Given Hiccup II’s description, they were probably dragon hunters.”

She hummed, staring at the ground.

Wanting to change the subject, he asked, “Are you two going on a flight or did you just get back?”

“We’re about to leave, but Fishlegs caught me on my way out of the village with news I thought you’d be interested in.”

“Oh?”

“As a reward for fending off the changewings, your dad and Gobber decided that Fishlegs is going to be the one to make an updated Book of Dragons. They want him to include all we’ve learned from the rogues. They’ve even given him all of Bork’s old papers and journals so he can see if he can gleam anything worth adding from those too.”

“He must be loving that,” he chuckled before spotting Meatlug waddling into the forge with a large salmon in her mouth. “[That is way too big for me to eat!]”

“[The hatchling needs to eat too,]” she said as she dropped the fish next to the hearth. She left again after telling Stormfly to make sure he eats, probably off to check on her actual children.

He shook his head and turned back to Astrid.

She stared back at him with a frown.

“What?”

“I thought you’d be more interested in Bork’s notes being out where you could take a look at them.”

He shrugged and went to prepare the fish. “Not really. I mean, I had been for a while after meeting Toothless. I’d even considered sneaking in to read the notes last Bork Week, but then I reread the Book of Dragons and realized anything he wrote would probably just be more Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. I figured I could learn more from the dragons themselves than from those old no-”

He cut off as Brisk landed on him and tried to grab a piece of the fish he was cutting up.

“That makes sense,” she chuckled. “Especially considering you have an advantage Bork doesn’t have.”

He snorted, nudging Brisk off him. “No, Brisk. [Brisk, no. Down.] Off. Hold on. [Wait.]”

“Guys! Guys! Guys!” Fishlegs shouted as he ran up to the table the other teens (barring Hiccup) were having breakfast at. “You won’t believe what I found in Bork’s notes!”

“A life?” Snotlout muttered and the twins chuckled.

Ignoring him, Fishlegs held up a couple of papers. “It’s night furies! He had a whole section of notes hidden in one of his journals! It doesn’t have much information on them, but he talks about an island where they live that he named the Isle of Night!”

“Nonsense,” Gobber huffed, standing up from a nearby table and coming closer to look at the papers. “No one knows anything about night furies, not even Bork.”

“He did, though! He just must not have included it in the book for some reason. Look!” Fishlegs held up one of the papers for them all to see.

Astrid stiffened as Snotlout gasped, pointing at the drawing on the sheet. “That’s it! That’s a night fury! It looks just like the one I saw on Outcast Island!”

The black dragon did look a bit like Toothless, though it had been given six curling horns in place of its ears. It also had longer, sharper spines and claws alongside more typical dragon fangs and a bulkier, more fearsome body. She could imagine that’s how someone would draw Toothless if they only got a quick look at him before he or they ran off.

She tried to ask Fishlegs more questions, but a crowd was quickly growing around him as the rest of the hall heard about the night fury drawing. She kept trying to push through until a loud shout had everyone freezing and turning to look at the chief.

“Shut up!”

The crowd parted as he approached Fishlegs, only Spitelout daring to speak up.

“It’s an island of night furies, Stoick. We should go and -”

“No,” he said, taking the papers and looking through them. “Not yet. We’ve all seen the damage just one of those beasts can do. We can’t risk setting off an entire island of them right now. We’ve let our guards drop too much since the raids stopped.”

A few grumbles began to rise up and he held up his hand.

“The changewings made that clear. We’ll look into sending some scouts once the repairs that were put on hold for Bork Week are finished and we’ve strengthened our defenses. Until then, no one goes near that island.”

Chapter Text

“But it’s an entire island of night furies,” Astrid yelled as she and Stormfly swerved through sea stacks. “Aren’t you curious?”

Hiccup looked back at her, not seeming to care that he was half-in-control of the tight turns Toothless was having to make to not crash into the stacks at the speeds they were going. “No, because it’s not possible. Night furies are mixed dragons, remember. A mix of two specific dragons. They’re too rare and too spread out to fill an entire flock. Honestly, Toothless might as well be considered one of a kind.”

“Then how do you explain Bork’s notes?”

“I don’t know. He probably spotted one there and assumed that’s where they came from,” he said with a shrug and faced forward. “Maybe he even realized he was wrong later and that’s why he left it out of the book.”

“Maybe, but don’t you want to check just to be sure? What if Toothless has family there?”

He shook his head, then Toothless shot up to land on a stack. When Stormfly landed next to them, Hiccup said, “His family are skrills or wind-phantoms, not night furies.”

“Maybe that’s what’s there, then. Wind-phantoms. It could be why they’re not in the book. Bork couldn’t distinguish between them and Toothless.”

“That doesn’t make sense either. The picture you described sounds a lot more like a wind-walker than a wind-phantom. Likely even one that’s more Skrill-like than Toothless is with how... sharp and bulky you said it was.”

“You said that Bork doesn’t always get things right. Maybe he messed up the drawing. Exaggerated things or didn’t get a clear look at the dragon.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, maybe that is what happened. That still doesn’t mean they’re there now. As mysterious as wind-phantoms are, we’d know if an entire flock of them were living on a nearby island. They’d have made their claim clear after Merciless died, at the very least.”

“They could just be keeping to themselves, like the changewings.”

“We still know about the changewings.”

“But you said wind-phantoms are ghosts even to dragons.”

“Why are you so insistent on this?”

“Why aren’t you curious? There could be a secret island of night furies.”

“There isn’t.”

“How do you know for sure if we don’t check? For all you know, that’s where Toothless’s dad could be. He had to have come from somewhere around here.”

He groaned and laid his back against Toothless’s. “Skrills might keep a home territory, but they’re nomadic by nature. There’s no telling how far a storm might have carried his mom before she returned home to lay Toothless’s egg. She could have gone all the way to the edge of the world, really.”

“Or she could have gone somewhere a little closer.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not possible.”

“I’m telling you, what I saw on Outcast Island was a sign from the Norns. If anyone’s going to be the first one to kill a night fury, it’s going to be me.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Sure.”

“Whatever you say.”

Snotlout knocked the twins’ heads together before wrapping his arm back around Fishlegs’ neck and continuing to drag him down to the docks. “Which is why you’re going to lead us to the Isle of Night.”

“But the chief sa-”

“Come on, Fishy. Don’t you want to see the furies and write all about them in your dumb book?”

“Of course, but -”

“Dumb! Book! Dumb! Book! Dumb! Book! Dumb! Book!” the twins cheered.

“You know Stoick’s not going to send you with the scouts. You only even got to go to Dragon Island because he wanted Useless out of the way, and Useless is definitely not going near the Isle. If we don’t go now, you’ll never get the chance to do your nerd thing before the raiding party is sent to wipe them all out.”

Fishlegs hesitated. “Well, I mean, even if I wanted to, the chief took all of Bork’s notes on the Isle.”

“And you didn’t make your own notes on his notes?” Snotlout smirked as he looked away. “Thought so. Now, are you really going to pass up this opportunity?”

“Can’t we train in the Rookery?” Hiccup asked, rubbing his eyes. “And at a normal time?”

“You need to be ready to fight in any conditions, and that includes on a boat or during the early morning,” Astrid said. “Besides, I’m not sparring with you while they’re all glaring me down.”

“They won’t do anything. They practice fight and roughhouse too, remem-”

The two paused as they came across Fishlegs, also heading down to the docks. He paused as well, fidgeting with the heavy-looking bag he was carrying.

“Hey, Fishlegs.”

“Hey.”

“What do you have there?”

“Nothing.” He fidgeted nervously as he clutched the bag to his chest. “Well, bye!”

The two watched him rush down the docks, shared a look, then followed.

“Hurry up, Fishy!” Snotlout snapped in a loud whisper and the two looked over the edge of the stairs to see he was preparing a boat with the twins.

“What are you four doing?” Astrid called down as Fishlegs rushed over to the boat.

“Shoot! Untie the boat!” Snotlout shoved Tuffnut towards the bow line as Ruffnut ran for the stern line. Fishlegs dropped his bag to untie the spring lines.

“Snotlout!” Astrid snapped and ran down the stairs. Meanwhile Hiccup slipped his gloves on and jumped off the stairs onto the boat’s mast.

“Off my ship!”

He ignored his cousin and grabbed the stern line, just managing to slow their drift long enough for Astrid to jump aboard.

“What are you four doing?” She repeated, crossing her arms.

“If you must know, I’m going to kill a night fury!” Snotlout declared, putting his hands on his hips.

Astrid stared at him, then turned to Fishlegs. “Take us back to the docks.”

“Don’t listen to her!”

“Fishlegs!”

The largest boy hesitated, looking between them. “Astrid, think about it. When could we get a better chance to study the night furies before they’re killed?”

“There are no night furies,” Hiccup huffed.

“There are! Bork -”

“It doesn’t matter. The chief said to stay away,” Astrid cut in.

“He never has to know,” Snotlout said. “Fishlegs said no one goes down to the docks during Bork Week and we told our parents we were going camping so no one will look for the boat or us.

“People will notice we’re missing if you don’t bring us back,” she said, gesturing between herself and Hiccup.

“Well, you guys do disappear into the forest sometimes. They’d probably just assume you’re camping too,” Fishlegs pointed out and she shot him a glare.

“Look, we’re going. If you really don’t want to come, you’re free to swim back.”

Hiccup sighed as Astrid continued to fight with Snotlout and went to sit on the railing near the sternpost. He glanced back to where Scalenibbler was hidden on the docks, the terror being the one most recently assigned to watch him while he was away from the flock. He quickly focused back on the ship after noticing the way the twins were staring at him.

“What?”

“Your gloves.”

“You crawled around on the mast like a terror.”

“Where’d you get them?”

“I made them.”

“Can you make us some?”

“No.”

The two hummed and continued staring.

He watched them back until Astrid joined him. He frowned when she slumped against the railing and looked over to where his cousin was stomping around smugly. “You’re giving up? You?”

“They won’t listen to reason and I’m not swimming back,” she huffed.

He raised an eyebrow, surprised she was giving up so easily, but didn’t comment on it.

“So let me get this straight. To find this island, we have to find Bork's cave?” Snotlout asked as they left the beach they’d moored the ship on.

“His last known place of residence,” Fishlegs added.

“Who would live in a cave?” Astrid sent Hiccup a teasing look behind the others’ backs.

“Who wouldn't?” Tuffnut bumped shoulders with his sister, who smirked.

“Why do we need to go to the cave to find the island?” Hiccup asked.

“Bork’s notes were incomplete, but they said he was staying in a cave cut into the mountains right above Odin's Shield while studying the Isle of Night. The rest of his notes must be there, including something that tells us where to find the island,” Fishlegs explained, pulling out a map he’d borrowed from Berk’s archives. “The Shield is that way.”

“If he was still researching the island, then maybe that’s why he didn’t put any information about wind-phantoms in the Book,” Astrid whispered as they followed Fishlegs towards the seaside cliffs.

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

“Um, so wait, so how do we know what we're looking for?” Tuffnut asked after they’d been walking for a while.

“It's a cave. Look for a big hole in the side of a mountain,” Astrid said.

“Hole, check,” he said and his sister added, “Mountain, on it.”

“That Bork was a dweeb, but boy, he could climb like a mountain goat.” Snotlout groaned as the mountain path they’d been following finally reached a plateau.

“We’re above Odin's Shield now,” Fishlegs said, looking between their surroundings and his map. “The cave should be around here somewhere.”

“It’s not on the map?” Hiccup asked.

“No. None of the maps showed Bork had any homes off Berk.“

“That’s strange.”

“Not really. He camped in a bunch of places while studying dragons and none of those are listed.”

“Camping, sure, but you said he lived here.”

“Who cares!?” Snotlout cut in. “Let’s just find this cave already!”

The group grew quiet until Astrid eventually spotted the cave. While they didn’t find more notes inside, they did find a map to the Isle of Night drawn on the ceiling. At Fishlegs’ and Astrid’s insistence, Hiccup reluctantly copied it down into his notebook.

“You let Snotlout win.”

“What?” Astrid asked, keeping her voice low like Hiccup’s as she turned to him.

He nodded towards where Snotlout was ordering the others around as they adjusted the sails. “When we were leaving Berk. You gave up arguing because you wanted to come too so you only put up just enough of an argument that we won’t be blamed later.”

“No, I told you arguing was pointless and I wasn’t swimming back.”

“And you thought we couldn’t take them?” he asked, cocking his head. “That’s not it. You knew I wouldn’t take you so you’re playing along with them. I just don’t get why you’re so insistent on going to some random island.”

“It’s not a random island. Bork -”

“Was wrong. I’ve been to that island, Astrid. Last winter, we had to help out a family of slush-fins that stopped there to rest during their travels and nearly lost one of their own to Merciless’s hold. If there was a flock there, the family would have been run off or attacked long before that could have happened.”

“Last winter was cold. Maybe they were all hibernating like you said Toothless might be able to do.”

“It wasn’t that cold. And I told you there couldn’t be an entire flock of night furies. Skrills are solitary and nomadic so if the flock existed, it would be mostly wind-phantoms with maybe a mixed dragon or two, and wind-phantoms don’t hibernate. But the flock doesn’t exist, so -”

“But what if does?”

“It doesn’t.”

She shook her head and looked away.

No matter how sure Hiccup was, they needed to check.

Because if he was wrong and there were dragons there, especially dragons connected to his beloved brother, they needed to know before the scouts found out instead.

She knew what side he would be on if Stoick sent out a raiding party.

The so-called Isle of Night was as barren as Hiccup remembered. There were the occasional shrubs scattered about, but mostly the island was just rocky cliffs and flats cut apart by empty shallow gullies.

There was no way a flock lived there.

There was no fresh water for young dragons to drink or fish. There weren’t any beaches for sea dragons to bask on or any secluded places for other dragons to comfortably nest. Certain earth dragons might have been able to carve out nesting spots, but those usually needed or preferred a variety of rocks as part of their diet, which the island didn’t seem to have. There was nothing there to suggest the island could support one dragon, let alone a flock, long-term.

He considered pointing it out to Astrid as their trek continued, but kept silent since she hadn’t listened before.

They’d been walking for a while when Tuffnut brought his hands to his mouth. “Here, dragon, dragon, dragon! Here, dragon!”

Astrid swung towards him with a glare. “What are you doing?”

“Calling the dragon.”

“Do you think it’s going to answer?” she snorted.

A roar sounded nearby, echoing through the valley they were in.

Shouts of “Dragon!” and “Night fury!” rang out from the others as they spun towards the noise, but Hiccup frowned and cocked his head.

The roar was disturbingly empty. It wasn’t just wordless, but also emotionless and... mindless, for lack of a better word. A dragon’s roar hadn’t sounded so meaningless since before he’d met Toothless.

He grabbed Astrid’s arm when she and the others tried to run towards the sound. Fishlegs saw and stopped, but Snotlout and the twins kept running. “Hold on! That’s not a dragon!”

“Shut up, Useless!” Snotlout yelled back as the three otherwise ignored him. They disappeared over a ledge alongside his shout of, “There!”

“What do you mean?” Fishlegs asked. “How do you know?”

“It just doesn’t sound right.” Hiccup looked to Astrid, who nodded after a second. “It’s a fake. We need to get out of here.”

“Clever as always.”

They spun around to see a group of Outcasts moving to surround them with crossbows aimed. Leading them was a smirking Alvin the Treacherous.

When they were halfway to where they could see a winged shadow peaking out of a deeper gully, Snotlout told the twins to slow down. The three crept the rest of the way and quietly readied their weapons. When they neared the edge of the gully, he waved for the twins to stay back and tightened his grip on his hammer. He took a deep breath, then ran forward with a war cry. He jumped onto the beast’s back and slammed his hammer onto its head.

It didn’t react.

Frowning, he kicked its horn before crouching down to look closer.

“Is it dead?” Ruffnut asked as the twins peered over the gully’s edge.

“No, it’s a fake,” he huffed, rubbing ash off the dragon skin to reveal brown scales. He picked at a seam in the dragon skin to reveal wood underneath. He groaned, knowing Hiccup was going to be -

Hiccup!

“Where are the others?” he asked, spinning around to look for them.

“Back there,” Tuffnut said, gesturing the way they’d come.

He scrambled out of the gully and they rushed back over the ledge to see the others were missing. They looked around for where they could have gone and finally spotted Astrid, Fishlegs, and Hiccup being herded down a path by a couple dozen Outcasts. At the end of the path were waiting ships.

Snotlout’s stomach dropped and he slammed his fist into a boulder. It happened again, and there was no way for him to jump in and be a hero this time. He could admit, if only to himself, that he couldn’t take on that many Outcasts, even with the others’ help.

“We need to get back to Berk fast and tell Stoick.”

“Make sure you check them for weapons before you tie them up,” Savage ordered as the teens were tossed onto the ship.

“I give the orders!” Alvin snapped, smacking the back of his second’s head. He turned to the men closest to the teens. “Check them for weapons. And make sure you store everything Little Hiccup is carrying.”

Hiccup smiled and removed his belt, subtly making sure all the pockets were hooked closed. He held it out to the nearest Outcast alongside his shield and sword, then tossed all three into the water when he tried to grab them. “Oops!”

“You’re going to regret that!” Alvin said furiously, gesturing his men forward. “Tie them up already!”

The Outcast Hiccup faked-out shoved him roughly against the mast and started patting him down. He was checked head to toe as another two men did the same to Astrid and Fishlegs, then all three were tied tightly to the mast. Once the men backed off, he looked at the others. Fishlegs was clearly panicking while Astrid was glaring down the man holding her axe and daggers.

Then her eyes widened and she tugged against her bonds. “What are you doing here?”

He turned to see Mildew and his sheep being helped onto the ship.

“Mildew?” Fishlegs gasped.

“Wow! Mildew’s a bad guy! Who would have -” Hiccup stopped when Astrid kicked his leg, nearly knocking it off.

“What are you doing here?” she repeated. “Why are you working with them?”

“Why?” Mildew scoffed. “Why wasn’t every single dragon on Berk hunted down and slaughtered after they wrecked havoc in the village and destroyed the armory?”

“Because your new tribe’s attack distracted everyone from your frame up,” Hiccup said.

“Why wasn’t Stoick part of the hunt for the whispering death that tore apart the village?” the old man asked, ignoring the boy, then quickly continuing before he could say more. “Why did he run off to Berserk instead, only to run from a hunt there, too? Why was all of Berk sent to the docks instead of rallying against the changewings? Why is it only a few children responded to Bork’s call to action?”

Astrid tried to speak next, but he carried on over her, pacing back and forth as the Outcasts set sail.

“It’s because Stoick’s grown weak. Soft. And he’s not the only one. Under Stoick’s lead, the Hooligans have grown lazy. Especially since the raids ended. Berk will be ashes soon enough if things don’t change. I gave them one last chance,” he said, stopping in front of her and stamping his staff against the deck. “I gave them an entire island of night furies. If Stoick sent out a raiding party like he should have -- like a proper Viking would have -- then they’d have easily overpowered Alvin’s men.”

A few of the Outcasts sent him dirty looks.

“But I knew he wouldn’t.” Mildew turned a dirty look onto Hiccup. “He’s become as pathetic as his runt.”

“More so,” Alvin grunted, pushing the old man away.

“If you didn’t think anyone would come, then why lay the trap?” Astrid asked.

“Stoick might not have come, but I knew someone wouldn’t be able to resist.” He leaned down into her face. “Someone like Astrid the Dragon Conqueror.”

She blinked in confusion.

Fishlegs’ mouth dropped in shock.

Hiccup frowned and looked at Savage, who was wearing a smug grin. “Is this about what Heather said? Because -”

“This,” Alvin stood up, scowling at him, “is because of the night fury she scared off last month.”

“She what?” Fishlegs gasped, looking between him and her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with a blank face.

“We’ll see.”

Chapter Text

Not far from the boat King Tailfin’s humans had taken him away on, a pod of surf-lurkers waited anxiously.

They were unsure why their king had allowed the humans to steal him away from their territory, and had yet to find the chance to ask him. All they could do was wait.

And the wait was nerve-racking.

When the boat finally began to drift off, Goldfin peaked out of the water to check on the group. She whistled and sank back beneath the surface when she saw three of the humans, but not her king.

“[Are they finally leaving?]” Baygraze yawned when she rejoined the pod.

“[Three of the humans are, but our king isn’t with them.]”

The pod moaned nervously to each other, but Baygraze just yawned again. “[Is Sunblade with them?]”

“[No.]”

“[Then I’m sure it’s fine. Our king probably just decided to leave the humans to their human things. He’ll call for us to get him as soon as he finds a place to meet us.]”

“[She said three humans returned. That still leaves one more with King Tailfin and Sunblade,]” Seaslick rumbled.

“[Then maybe -]”

“[Goldfin! Goldfin! Goldfin! Goldfin!]”

The pod turned to see five of their members coming into view from around a peninsula. They were some of the pod’s newest recruits to the sea defense who Goldfin had sent out to patrol the island. Young dragonet surf-lurkers needed to swim near continuously as they grew into their adult fins, so she thought the patrol would keep them occupied while the pod waited. She thought it’d be an easy task, especially after they’d completed two circles without trouble. As they came closer, though, she grew worried about how frazzled they were.

“[What happened?]”

“[We didn’t see -]”

“[- the Seven-Trees -]”

“[- get close!]”

“[- smelled them and -]”

“[- straight here!]”

She squeaked at the dragonets when they started singing over each other. They fell silent and she gestured to the one closest to her. “[Explain.]”

His fins closed up under the attention and he spoke quickly, “[There’s a cove on the cold side of the island. We thought it was empty. We didn’t want to get too close because the mouth was barely bigger than a steam-spewer and a pair of Seven-Trees were growing on one side of it, but we looked in and didn't see anything. Except we couldn’t tell that the cove curves around. It was bigger than we thought. We didn’t realize until...]”

“[I smelled King Tailfin in the water,]” another spoke up. “[We thought maybe the humans were swimming or he’d come looking for us. We sent in Shimmer since they’re the smallest. They stuck close to the opposite side of the mouth and went into the cove. That’s when they found out the cove was bigger, and where they... they found the king’s things.]”

Shimmer nervously came forward to show Goldfin she was carrying their king’s long-blade, their sister behind them with his shield and pockets-band. “[They were on the sand a little ways out from the beach. I think there were at least five boat tail markings nearby, but it was hard to tell. The water’s started smoothing them out.]”

“[Ta'ara, the king’s been taken again,]” Goldifin moaned before turning to Baygraze. “[Swim ahead. Warn King Wodensfang. We’re going to need pursuers. We’ll follow as fast as we can.]”

The usually lazy dragon had grown serious as the dragonets explained and quickly nodded in agreement to his orders before shooting off into the open sea, flying through the water faster than any of the rest of the pod could go.

Alvin smirked as his men shoved the teens further through the dragon pens toward the dungeon.

“What do you want with us?” Astrid demanded.

Before he could respond, Hiccup stopped and stared into a pen. Curlhorn tried to shove him along, but Alvin stopped him. He looked inside to see four of his men trying to pin down a nightmare while a fifth tried to scrape gel off its scales.

“You’re trying to collect nightmare gel,” Hiccup said as the scraper failed to find any gel and kicked the beast in frustration.

“I was inspired by how you used it during our treasure hunt,” Alvin said in a cheerful voice, setting his hand on the boy’s shoulder. His grip became bruising when Hiccup snorted at the scraper being tossed into a wall by the dragon’s tail. “But I plan to do a lot more with it than light my way and scare off some tiny dragons.”

“Tiny dragons?” Astrid asked with a frown while the other teen gasped, “Nightmare gel!?”

Hiccup didn’t respond to his tribesmen, instead choosing to watch as the rest of the Outcasts in the pen were thrown off the dragon. As they fled from its fire, he said, “You’re plans have been going great, then?”

Alvin shoved the runt away from the pen. “Keep moving.”

The group continued past more pens and into a tunnel until they reached a fork. Alvin led half of his men and Hiccup to the right while Savage led the rest to the left.

“Hold on! Where are you taking him?” Astrid demanded, trying to break free of the men leading her away.

“I’d be more worried about where you’re headed,” Alvin called over his shoulder as she was dragged off.

His group traveled down a short tunnel that led to a barred metal door. Three of his men lit torches, then they unbarred the door and opened it to reveal a large cavern with deep pits speckling the ground. None of the braziers in the room were lit and the Outcasts didn’t bother to change that as they led Hiccup to one of the pits.

Aside from a few chains lying on the ground, the pit appeared empty when Curlhorn held his torch over it so the boy could take a look down into his final resting place.

“Just a pit? I’ll admit, I was expecting more from you.”

“Let’s see if your new cellmate appreciates your cheek,” Alvin said and grabbed the brat’s arm.

“Cellma-” Hiccup cut off as he was tossed into the pit. Unfortunately, he hit the ground with little more than an, “Oomph!”

The chains rattled as the dragon that had cushioned his fall began to rise, knocking him off its back as it appeared in a ripple of mottled red scales. The changewing had been a hassle to capture, and even more of a hassle to find, but it was worth it to see the way Hiccup froze in fear under its glowing yellow gaze.

He finally had his revenge on little Tailfin.

He turned away, clapping Curlhorn on the shoulder. “Feel free to stay for the show. I’ve got a Dragon Conqueror to interrogate.”

The men snickered and followed him out after throwing a few taunts down into the pit. Curlhorn was the last man out, leaving the soon-to-be-dead boy in darkness as he rebarred the door.

He sent the men ahead, then headed for the dungeons. He arrived at a cell to see Savage standing outside with two guards. Inside, the large boy was fidgeting nervously while Astrid was glaring at the Outcasts with crossed arms. Her scowl grew when she saw him and she snapped, “Where’s Hiccup?”

“By now?” Alvin laughed. “Most of him’s probably in the belly of the dragon we left him with! Stoick’s going to need a new heir!”

The other Outcasts snickered while the boy went pale. Astrid’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t look as concerned as he would have expected.

Mildew had confirmed many of the Hooligans shared his distaste for Stoick’s runt. He hadn’t thought the girl was one of them since she’d seemed protective of the brat, but maybe she was only pretending to keep Stoick’s favor.

And now that Hiccup was dead, there was no reason to keep it up.

He gestured to the guards and they opened the cell to drag Astrid out.

The boy called her name as she thrashed in their hold. “Let me go!”

“Careful, girl, or that one will be given the same treatment little Hiccup got,” Alvin said, nodding toward the large boy.

She stopped fighting, but she did mutter some curses under her breath.

They brought her up through the dungeon to the arena. They arrived to see most of the tribe gathered around it, either along the barred walls or around the netted ceiling. They met Mildew at the dungeon’s gate and the guards tossed her inside.

“Why am I here?” she asked, glaring around the arena with well-hidden fear.

“I want to see you conquer a dragon, Dragon Conqueror,” he said, holding his hand out. The girl’s axe was tossed at her feet. “Then you’re going to teach my men.”

She picked it up without taking her eyes off him. “I’m not the Dragon Conqueror, but even if I was, why would I do what you want?”

“Because you’re not going to have a choice.” He raised his hand.

Across the arena, two of his men pushed open the gate to the dragon pens and another three herded out a nightmare. The beast rushed into the arena as soon as it could and the men shut the gate behind it before leaving to join the others.

“It’s you or the dragon, girl. Get to it,” Alvin laughed.

She shot him a dirty look, then focused on the dragon as it prowled the arena. It snapped and snarled at the men on the other side of the bars as she slowly moved around the arena, trying both to keep away from it and keep its attention off her.

He was about to yell at her to get on with it when the dragon spotted her.

It roared and stomped towards her, raising its wings and igniting its scales.

She hesitated, then straightened her back. Her right hand tightened around her axe while she held out her left hand, palm out. “Stop. Stay back,” she ordered before making a growling sound.

The beast snorted before trying to roast her.

“I said stop!” She growled again. “Stay back!”

Alvin scowled when the nightmare showed no signs of stopping the fight like the night fury had. It continued to chase her, and she quickly gave up the attempt in exchange for going on the defensive.

“Not what I was expecting,” Savage said.

“No. She’s different this time,” Alvin huffed.

The girl fought well, but she wasn’t as fierce as he would have expected from either the title of Dragon Conqueror or from Mildew’s stories of the girl.

“It’s strange,” said old man agreed, tapping his staff against the bars. “She’s usually the first to throw herself at the beasts, like a proper Viking. Now she’s running around like she doesn’t know how to fight.”

Or like she didn’t want to fight, Alvin thought, narrowing his eyes. As he watched her play keep away with the dragon, he thought of how she’d only stared down the night fury. Even now, she was only keeping the nightmare at bay.

Then she made a mistake. She went for a blow that would have knocked it out, but the beast knocked her down instead by turning its head at the last moment and catching her stomach with the sides of its horns.

“Well. That's the end of that,” Alvin as the nightmare pinned her under its foot and crowed its victory.

“Wait, look,” Savage said, pointing at where she had managed to slip her axe free of the dragon’s claws without it noticing.

She stared up at the beast and hesitated for a moment before saying something too quiet for anyone to hear.

She tightened her grip and readied a swing.

The dragon’s head came down, flammable gel dripping from its fangs.

An unholy screech echoed through the arena.

Dragon, Outcast, and Hooligan alike froze aside from a single yelled, “Night Fury!”

Human eyes went to the sky before quickly returning to the nightmare as it shuffled nervously in place. It removed its foot from the girl and sniffed her.

It backed away with its head lowered and its wings pressed tightly closed.

For just a moment, he thought the girl did something, then he noticed the dragon was looking to the side and followed its gaze.

The gate to the pens was wide open and a figure was standing in the middle of the entrance.

If Alvin hadn’t known better, he might have thought the figure was a strange dragon on its hind legs, with the scaled armor covering them head to toe and the way they roared like a dragon after meeting his eyes with their own hidden ones.

He didn’t have long to think about it, though, before the nightmare was turning to him and he was forced to run from its fire alongside the other nearby Outcasts. When he managed to find cover and look back into the arena, it was to see the girl fleeing right alongside the figure and dragon.

Wodensfang’s ears twitched as he and Sharpshot followed one of the flock’s pursuer dragons through the Cast-Outs’ tunnels, listening for any sign of his clutch-mate. Twiglit said they were getting close, that his scent was getting stronger, but he couldn’t hear any of Tailfin’s distinctive noises: his almost non-stop chittering and the quiet click-squeaks from his leg.

“[Just ahead,]” the breeze-sniffer reassured him as they neared a better-lit area of the tunnels.

The smaller dragons darted ahead (Sharpshot reluctantly) to smother some of the fire-sticks to create shadows for Wodensfang to hide in if any of the Cast-Outs came around. Thankfully, the tunnels were mostly abandoned. They only passed a pair of wandering guards (who were easy to sneak past) and some trapped dragons (who Wodensfang’s core-fire went out to, but he couldn’t risk stopping to help them when his clutch-mate needed him).

Eventually, they reached a door that had a metal bar blocking it. Wodensfang threw the bar and tore open the door as soon as Twiglit confirmed Tailfin was on the other side. His ears twitched again as chains rattled and he rushed towards the pit the sound was coming from. “[Tailfin!]”

When there was no response, he ran faster. He stuck his head into the pit and snarled when he saw the stealth-melt hovering over his clutch-mate. The boy’s face was blank as he knelt next to one of the dragon’s feet and fiddled with the chains tying her to the bottom of the pit.

Wodensfang shot a blast at the stealth-melt, knocking her away. The bright light flashing in the darkness made Tailfin jerk back and blink rapidly.

He staggered to his feet as he came back to his senses. “[Woah, no!]”

The stealth-melt hissed and disappeared, then her chains jerked and she reappeared. She turned to Tailfin and he slapped his hands over his eyes.

“[You don’t need to do that! I’ll help you!]”

Twiglit jumped down in front of Tailfin, landing between him and the stealth-melt with her wings and antennae outstretched to try to make herself look bigger.

It didn’t really work, considering she barely reached the boy‘s chest.

Still, she tried to look intimidating, shooting sparks out of her nose and up her antennae as she growled, “[How dare you control King Tailfin!]”

The stealth-melt lowered herself, her scales flickering in and out of sight. “[King?]”

“[That’s me.]” He slowly lowered his hands. He scratched behind the breeze-sniffer’s antennae. “[This is Twiglit and that’s my clutch-mate up there, King Wodensfang. We can help you.]”

“[She hypnotized you!]” Wodensfang snarled.

“[She’s alone, trapped, and scared. She’s just trying to survive. We can’t leave her here. Who knows what the Cast-Outs will do to her.]” Tailfin stepped closer to her, holding out his hand.

She shuffled back.

“[Please, let us help you. And any of your flock who were also captured.]”

“[Don’t have a flock,]” she said, eyeing the hand like she was deciding if she should bite it before it bit her.

He drooped. “[I’m sorry. If you’re looking for a new flock, we know of a stealth-melt one near here. We can take you there. Or you can join ours. We don’t have any stealth-melts, but we have a large mix of other dragons. You’d be welcomed warmly.]”

She looked at first Twiglit then Wodensfang, both of whom were still glaring her down.

Tailfin chuffed at them, but only Twiglit backed off. “[Toothless.]”

Wodensfang cocked his head, then snorted. “[You will be welcomed.]”

The warmly she’d have to work for after such an introduction.

Tailfin rolled his eyes and turned back to the stealth-melt. “[He’s just overprotective. He’ll get over it.]”

She hesitated, then stepped closer to him.

He sent his hand gently on her snout, then knelt to check her chains. He looked up at Wodensfang. “[Do you have any of my tools?]”

“[Sharpshot.]”

The common-garden hiding behind his foot climbed up and into his saddlebag. After a moment of digging around, he popped out with Tailfin's pockets-band in his mouth. It wasn’t Tailfin’s usual one since they hadn’t regrouped with the sea defense pod after their advanced messenger told them what had happened, but he knew his clutch-mate kept his extras prepared just in case.

Once Tailfin quickly picked the locks, he put his tools away and wrapped the band around his waist as the stealth-melt shook her legs out and climbed around the walls of the pit.

She stopped in front of him and lowered her head. “[Thank you, King Tailfin. I am Phantom.]”

“[Fresh scales, Phantom. Now how about we get out of here.]”

As soon as she carried him out of the pit, Wodensfang curled around his clutch-mate and checked him over for injuries.

“[I’m fine, bud,]” Tailfin reassured as he started digging into the saddlebag.

“[You were captured!]”

He dropped the things he was pulling out and pressed their foreheads together. “[I’m okay. I’m here.]”

Wodensfang sighed, then licked a streak up the boy’s face.

“[Toothless!]”

Fishlegs paced nervously in his cell, wondering what he was going to do. Astrid was gone and Hiccup was... The Outcasts didn’t seem to care about Fishlegs, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.

At least Alvin didn’t drag Astrid away to kill her (or worse). Probably. If he thought she was the Dragon Conqueror, then he’d want information on dragons.

Of course, when he found out she wasn’t the Dragon Conqueror...

As worked up as he was, he couldn’t help but scream when a few of the torches outside his cell were snuffed out, plunging his cell further into darkness than it already had been. There was a hiss and he spun towards the gate to the cell to see someone step into the lowered light.

They had been looking behind them, but they quickly turned to him and held up a finger to quiet him. They didn’t look like an Outcast. They didn’t look like anyone from any tribe he knew of, really.

They looked more like a dragon than anything.

Chapter Text

“[You brought my new armor?]”

“[The messenger who told us you'd been stolen also said some of your things were left behind. I didn’t know how much so I had Sharpshot grab everything.]”

“[That might be a good thing. The Cast-Out leader thinks Sunblade is the one who defeated Merciless. We’ll need to fix that without telling him it was us. Or at least that it was me. I’ll suit up then go free the others. You need to release the captured dragons. There’s a] lever [you can pull to open all the cages. I’ll tell you how to find it.]”

“[I’m not leaving you!]”

“[We can’t leave them and it would take too much time if we don’t split up. Toothless, the Cast-Outs are trying to steal the nightmare’s gel. If they get it...]”

“[... Fine. But take Twiglit and Sharpshot.]”

“[Alright, but only if you take Phantom with you. Someone needs to watch your back too.]”

“[If you are both freeing captured dragons, why can’t we go together? Or I could protect King Tailfin?]”

“[King Tailfin isn’t going to free dragons. He has a pack of humans that live in our territory. A few were captured alongside him, so he’s going to free them.]”

“[… Does he have to?]”

“[Yes.]”

“[I will accompany King Wodensfang.]”

“[I can’t talk you out of this?]”

“[Please, Toothless.]”

“[Fine.]”

The stranger on the other side of the gate wore black armor that blended with the shadows. Fishlegs thought it was made of dragon skin for a moment, in the darkness and distance, but as he met the stranger at the gate to his cell, he realized it was just finely crafted leather meant to resemble protective dragon scales. They also wore a matching leather helmet that enclosed their head completely and had three rows of spines in place of the typical horns.

Between their armor and the way they moved slightly hunched and crouched, like some bipedal dragons, he wondered if they might be mistaken for a dragon from a distance before noting how the dark grey cloth beneath their armor, the sword at their right hip, and the shield on their back would give away their humanity to anyone who paid attention.

“Who are you?”

They shook their head as they knelt to pick the lock on the gate. Once done, they stepped back, pulling the gate open with them, and began looking around at the nearby cells.

“Are you looking for Astrid and Hiccup?” he asked and their hidden eyes shot to him. A shiver went down his back, but he continued, “Hiccup’s still in the dragon pens. Alvin said they fed him to a dragon. Astrid was here, but they dragged her off that way a little bit ago.”

They nodded and whistled off to the side. After a beat, they waved for him to follow and ran in the direction Astrid had gone.

As they ran down the tunnel, Fishlegs noticed a shadow running ahead of them. He thought it was a broad hunting dog.

Then a terrible terror landed on the stranger’s shoulders.

He flinched away and reached for a sword that wasn’t there, but the stranger didn’t react aside from glancing at Fishlegs and shifting slightly away from him. The dragon watched Fishlegs, but didn’t attack as it curled up on its perch.

He looked away from the stranger as he tried to process what was going on, which is when he spotted the shadow passing under a torch and realized it wasn’t a hound but a specklehound.

What is going on!?

A roar sounded ahead. Dragon and stranger both picked up speed, Fishlegs following suit a moment later.

Then the two stopped suddenly as the sounds of a crowd reached them and Fishlegs stumbled to stay close. The specklehound came to the stranger’s side and he knelt next to it. It barked and he whispered something too quiet for it to be anything more than a hiss for Fishlegs. The specklehound barked again then stepped away. Its nose and antennae twitched, then it led them down a small side tunnel that connected to one much larger than the one they’d come from that had soot staining its walls from what Fishlegs could tell was dragon fire.

The stranger quickly picked the lock on the gate connecting the two tunnels and their group rushed through toward the sounds of the crowd. The tunnel brightened as they turned a corner and found a large gate blocking them off from a brightly lit arena.

At the center of the arena, Astrid was facing off against a nightmare.

She was surprisingly losing.

The stranger rushed for the gate and quickly lock-picked it as well. They threw open the gate with the specklehound’s help then gestured to the dragons. Fishlegs saw the dragons hide in the shadows and quickly moved away from the gate. He watched as the stranger stepped one foot into the arena and took a deep breath.

Then they screamed like a night fury.

Fishlegs ducked on instinct.

Inside the arena, the nightmare’s head flinched back. It looked nervously at them, then the Outcasts, then Astrid. It got off her and sniffed her before backing away, looking towards them again with almost... submissive behavior.

Meanwhile, Astrid scrambled away from it, looking around frantically. She immediately relaxed when she spotted the stranger and jumped to her feet to run towards them.

The stranger gave a roar.

The nightmare’s ferocity snapped back into place as it turned to the Outcasts and attempted to roast them through the bars. It twisted its head up to attack the men watching above before turning to follow Astrid. Fishlegs worried it would attack her too, but it didn’t even glance at her as it followed her and the stranger into the tunnel.

“How -”

“Run!” Astrid cut Fishlegs off, grabbing his arm and beginning to drag him down the tunnel.

Although he was pretty sure the nightmare could have outpaced them, it stayed just behind him and Astrid, its breath warming their backs as they ran past empty dragon pens. In front of them, the specklehound led the way with the stranger and their terror right at its tail.

Eventually, they reached a large, open door and were faced with the quiet night.

The nightmare nosed the stranger and almost seemed to bow to them before disappearing into the sky, while the other two dragons remained at their side.

“You... Are you the Dragon Conqueror!?” Fishlegs gasped then spun to Astrid. “Is that the Dragon Conqueror? Do you know them?”

“Questions later,” she said, tugging him forward.

He took one step, then paused. He looked over his shoulder into the Outcast’s tunnels. “Hold on. Shouldn’t we at least try to look for Hiccup?”

She shared a look with the stranger.

“Even if he’s... We can’t leave him here. We need to go back.”

“Fish-”

“No, it’s-it’s our fault-my fault he was even there to be captured. He didn’t even believe in the Isle of Night, but I let Snotlout talk me into going and you two got dragged along. At least you’re a warrior. Hiccup... We have to-I have to at least try to bring him home. It’s the least I can do.”

“I-It’s...” Astrid looked at the stranger again.

They’re head was down, staring off to the side, then they took a deep breath and pulled off their helmet.

Fishlegs’ jaw dropped.

“Questions later,” Hiccup repeated, putting his helmet back on. “We need to get moving.”

Astrid tried to drag Fishlegs again, and this time he didn’t resist.

Fishlegs finally found his voice again when the large group of dragons lounging across the lava field they were heading for came into view.

“Guys,” he squeaked as the other two just kept going.

“It’s fine,” Astrid said and he reluctantly followed.

He flinched and reached for his missing sword again when a nadder rushed them, but Hiccup just stepped forward to greet the dragon with an outstretched hand and a grumbling-purr sound. The specklehound greeted it a little more hesitantly while the terror hid on Hiccup’s back.

Fishlegs shuffled closer to Astrid as Hiccup rubbed the nadder’s snout, chittering to it and turning it to the side for them to pass. “How is he doing that?”

She shook her head and pulled him past the dragon. “I have no idea. I’ve been watching him do that for two months and I still haven’t figured it out enough to at least keep a dragon from attacking me right away.”

“Is he talking to it?”

“He says he can, but I’ve tried mimicking the noises he makes to calm dragons down and it doesn’t do anything.”

“What did you say?” Hiccup asked, turning away from the dragon while keeping a hand on its snout. She growled and he cocked his head. “That was just noise.”

“What you do is just noise!”

He shook his head and turned back to the dragon with a whistle. It squawked and hopped forward, making Fishlegs back away. “Glorybreeze is going to lead us to the flock’s leader. We can figure out a way home from there.”

“Glorybreeze?” Fishlegs asked.

“Yeah. We met when Snotlout and I got trapped here. I rescued him from a trap so he wants to pay back the favor.”

He turned to Astrid and she shrugged. “Right. Sure. The dragon’s in your debt. Let’s just get moving. We’re still too close to Outcast territory.”

Hiccup snorted, leading the way with his now three dragon companions.

“Isn’t the whole island Outcast territory? It is Outcast Island,” Fishlegs pointed out.

“A flock of dragons laid claim to the north-eastern half of the island and the Outcasts haven’t managed to get rid of them yet,” Astrid said.

“Probably because Alvin’s planning to use them,” Hiccup growled, kicking a rock.

Fishlegs was distracted from asking about the nightmare gel when he realized something he hadn’t been able to put his finger on before. “You’re wearing two boots!”

Astrid blinked and Hiccup cocked his head, then they both looked down.

“Oh, right.” Hiccup leaned against the specklehound to grab his left boot. He twisted it to the side in a motion that would have been painful if an actual foot had been in it, then pulled it off. He showed them how the boot wasn’t hollow like a normal one. “I designed it to fit over my prosthetic, going just high enough to hide it and with a mechanism that will lock onto it without compromising the stabilizer.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s not a lot of people in the archipelago with my build,” he said, putting the boot back on and continuing forward. “Let alone people with my build who are also missing a leg. Things have been getting a lot more active since we killed Merciless - the red death - so I thought it’d be a good idea to make it harder for people to recognize me.”

Fishlegs nodded, considering his next question.

A shadow dropped next to Hiccup.

Scrambling back, Fishlegs stared wide-eyed at the dark dragon that encircled Hiccup as a pair of nightmares and a nadder landed before them.

It was smaller and less... fearsome (for lack of a better word) than Bork’s picture and Snotlout’s tales had said, but it was definitely a night fury that Hiccup was nuzzling foreheads with.

He watched the terror disappear under the night fury’s wing and turned to Astrid.

“His name is Toothless. Just don’t threaten Hiccup and you’ll be fine.”

He shivered when brilliant green eyes landed on him as Hiccup ducked away to greet the green nightmare. “Are you su-Wait, Toothless?”

The dragon bared gleaming, shark-like fangs.

“They retract,” Astrid said, stepping away from him to slowly approach the new nadder. She caught him staring and said, “This is Stormfly. Hiccup taught me how to ride her.”

He nodded slowly, the word ride echoing in his mind, and turned back to Hiccup to see him talking to the green nightmare. He frowned when they started circling each other, the night fury at his side, but the other dragons keeping back. “What are they doing?”

“The green one is the leader of the dragons here and Hiccup’s the leader of the dragons on Berk, so Hiccup’s treating with her so we can pass through her territory without causing a fight between their flocks. Or something like that,” Astrid said.

“There really are dragons on Berk!?”

“Yeah, a lot of them, but none of them have attacked us since joining Hiccup’s flock. He keeps them in check.”

He watched Hiccup look between the nightmares, one hand on the green one’s nose horn as he growled at them. “He really is the Dragon Conqueror.”

“He prefers Dragon King.”

“I prefer Hiccup,” he said, coming over with the specklehound and night fury. “Or Tailfin. I’m just used to having king tacked on.”

Fishlegs looked at Astrid.

“Apparently, that’s what dragons call their leaders.”

“It’s more complicated than that, but I can explain later. The queen said a trading ship arrived on the island this morning. Johann’s, based on her description. I’d bet he’d be willing to take us home, as long as we’re not seen and can pay our way.”

Astrid nodded. “No way he’d fight Outcasts for us, but if we’re sneaky enough… Is it worth the risk, though? We could just fly home.”

“Fly?” Fishlegs squeaked, glancing over at the nadder, Stormfly, who was still standing next to her.

“And how would we explain that to everyone back home? The others have probably gotten back by now and told Dad what happened.”

“Alvin saw you controlling dragons. We’ll just say the Dragon Conqueror brought us back.”

“Dad will love that.”

“I’m actually with Hiccup on this one,” Fishlegs piped in.

“You just don’t want to fly.”

“I very much do not want to fly.”

“Well, you’ll need to fly a little,” Hiccup said, climbing onto the night fury.

Fishlegs toppled off Stormfly when she landed. “Is it always that fast?”

“Sorry,” Astrid said halfheartedly as she jumped down. She peeked around the boulder they were hiding behind to see that most of the guards on the docks had run off to help combat the raid happening just up the hill, if they hadn’t already been gone to see her fight. Only two remained, and they were both fully focused on watching the raid. The way to Johann’s ship looked clear, but just to be safe, “Stay here. I’ll run ahead and talk to Johann.”

“Good idea,” Fishlegs groaned, still face-first on the ground. “I’ll keep an eye out and try not to vomit.”

She rolled her eyes and set off down the beach as fast as she could while staying stealthy. She crept underneath the docks and climbed a piling to get onto the docks behind the guards. She kept them in view as she made her way down to Johann’s ship. There, she found the trader scrambling to get ready to sail.

“Johann,” she whispered, glancing between him and the guards.

He froze, turning to her with wide eyes. “Miss Astrid? What are you -”

She shushed him, jumping onto the boat and grabbing the line he’d been pulling as it started to get away from him. She helped him pull it tight and tie it off as she explained, “I was captured alongside Hiccup and Fishlegs. We escaped, but we need a way off the island.”

“Ah, so you came to me,” he said in a thankfully much quieter voice. He tapped his chin and looked over at the guards. “Normally, I’d be happy to help, but I’m not looking to make an enemy of Alvin.”

“And you won’t. With all that going on, how could you be expected to notice a couple of stowaways sneaking aboard while you’re trying to make a quick escape?”

He flinched as a thunderdrum roared. “Fair enough, but -”

“You’ll get three gold coins for each of us,” she said, holding up a bag Hiccup had given her. She dumped out the offered coins and Johann’s eyes lit up. “Not to mention you’d be sure to have Stoick’s gratitude on top of it.”

“You drive a hard bargain, but it’s a deal.” He took the coins and tucked them away before getting back to work. “Just be quick fetching those two. I’m leaving as soon as I can. I won’t lose another ship to a bunch of beasts.”

She nodded and jumped back to the docks. She made her way back to Stormfly and Fishlegs with the same speed and stealth she’d left them. “We’re good. Johann will take us. Stormfly, go tell Hic-”

The three quickly looked around the boulder when a night fury screeched and saw a nightmare had gotten too close to the ground, just close enough for two sets of outcasts to hook it. One set had gotten a net on its face while the other had hooked its wing. The two groups were heaving on their ropes to drag it down before a blast of purple flames severed one of the ropes when it was only just above their heads. Toothless dove into view, his scales dark in the firelight unlike the gleaming sword that sliced through the remaining rope.

Shouts went up about a man on dragon-back as catapults and other such weapons were moved to target the dragon. Toothless weaved easily through the attacks as he worked to climb back into the darkness, but a lucky -- or unlucky -- bola clipped Hiccup’s shield and knocked him off the dragon.

Astrid slapped a hand over her mouth to hold back her shout and Fishlegs grabbed her arm in a tight grip as Hiccup plummeted to the ground. Without Hiccup there to control his tail, Toothless faltered in the air as his prosthetic took a moment to switch into emergency override.

“Stormfly,” Astrid breathed and turned to climb onto the dragon so she could go help, only to find she and Fishlegs were alone. She spun back to the fight to see Hiccup shakily getting to his feet as Outcasts rushed towards him, then he was surrounded by a column of flame. She sighed with relief as his dragons swarmed the Outcasts with a fury they hadn’t before given the raid, carving a clear space for Toothless and Hiccup to reunite and take back to the air. As they disappeared into the night, Toothless called out to the other dragons.

As suddenly as the raid had risen to a bloody fever pitch, it ended. The dragons all spiraled into the sky and vanished over the cliffs and mountains with haunting cries of vengeance.

Astrid slumped against the boulder with a sigh, then straightened back up as Toothless landed near them. “Hiccup! Are you okay!?”

“Fine, just a little bruised,” he groaned, sliding off Toothless’s back. “Johann?”

“He said he’ll take us, but we need to get moving.”

He nodded and started to raise his arms, then dropped his right arm with a hiss. “Help me take my gear off and load it back in Toothless’s bags?”

She rushed forward as Fishlegs muttered, “I think I’m gonna faint.”

“Wait until we’re on the boat,” they both snapped.

Johann’s eyes darted to the raid as a night fury’s screech cut through the air.

His eyes widened at the sight of a person -- the Dragon Conqueror, according to the Outcasts’ shouts -- on the beast’s back.

Sure, there were others who used the beasts for war. Drago was an obvious example, and he’d heard stories about what Grimmel got up to during his hunts, but for a person to be right on the front lines atop one of the beasts?

Drago always commanded his beasts from the rear for a reason. Being that close to the fighting risked him being hurt, which risked the beasts spotting even a hint of weakness. His control was entirely based on his strength and the beasts’ fear of that strength, because strength and pain were the only things beasts like them understood. If they saw blood in the water, they’d rebel and tear him to shreds in an instant.

Something the Dragon Conqueror is quickly going to learn, Johann thought as the dragon rider was knocked off his mount. He kept his eyes on the dragons instead of the rider, waiting for the moment they went wild and abandoned their master.

Instead, the dragons came to their rescue, endangering themselves by moving much closer to the Outcasts than they had before in order to cut down any of the men that got too close to the Conqueror. The night fury, after only a moment’s hesitation, dove down and scooped up its rider before retreating back into the skies.

It was... unexplainable. How did the Conqueror have such control of so many dragons that they could command the beasts into harm’s way despite clear weakness?

He mulled it over as he finished preparations, barely managing to put on his act as he shooed the wayward Hooligans below deck. He managed to pull himself out of his thoughts once he’d gotten well out of Outcast waters, but only so he could have a clear head while questioning his stowaways.

After welcoming them back on deck and offering them a bit of water, cheese, and bread, he subtly tried to see what they knew about the Conqueror. Unfortunately, he got nothing. Fishlegs could barely do more than stutter and glance at his tribesmen for help, still clearly frightened by his kidnapping. Astrid mentioned she might have seen him freeing a dragon during her escape, but she’d been more focused on escaping to really pay attention.

His hopes were high on Hiccup noticing something he could use, being as clever and detailed as he was, but it seemed he’d fared the worst under Alvin’s care. He moved like someone trying to hide injuries, favoring his right side, and his eyes were slightly glassy in that way that suggested a minor head wound. He barely spoke and mostly just leaned against Astrid with his eyes closed. She assured Johann she’d checked and Hiccup didn’t have a concussion, but she still eyed him with worry in between nagging him to drink and eat.

He’d hoped Hiccup might have more to tell after resting, but Stoick’s rescue party found them before he could even suggest finding an island to anchor at for the night.

“Are you guys seriously sneaking out? We haven’t even been back on Berk for a full day?”

Hiccup and Astrid turned to see Fishlegs standing just inside the forest behind Hiccup’s house.

“If you didn’t think we would, why did you sneak out to beat us here?” Astrid shot back.

“I knew you would. I just don’t understand why. And you still have to answer my questions. Neither of you have even come near me since the rescue party picked us up!”

“Because we didn’t want to risk you getting excited and asking questions in front of people,” Astrid muttered and he blushed.

“I wouldn’t have!”

She shushed him, glancing back at Hiccup’s house, and he fidgeted guiltily.

“I need to check on the flock and reassure them I’m okay. Everyone’s worried,” Hiccup said. He studied Fishlegs for a second, then offered, “If you promise to not tell anyone anything, you can come with us. We’ll answer whatever questions you have there.”

He nodded eagerly. “I promise.”

“That also means no writing about it in any journals that someone could find,” Astrid added.

He deflated a little, but still nodded. “Okay.”

Hiccup and Astrid shared a look, then she nodded. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Wait,” Fishlegs said as they continued into the trees. “Where are we going exactly?”

“The Rookery, a cave system hidden high up on the main island. It’s where Hiccup’s dragons live.”

“Should he be walking all that way with his injuries?”

“He is fine,” Hiccup snorted. “Besides, we’re not walking.”

“Oh, no,” Fishlegs groaned when he saw Toothless and Stormfly waiting for them in a clearing up ahead.

Astrid patted his back. “We’ll go slow, just for you.”