Yes, the story title is a pun on Chinese Paladin I (aka Legend of the Sword and Fairy, aka The Sword and Fairy) and Chinese Paladin III, or any of Chinese Paladin series titles for that matter.

Not a true crossover. And if I get into material, such as ancestry and other things that aren't part of the How to Train your dragon Universe, I will let you know and do some explaining in the area before the story where I put my disclaimer. But for all intents and purposes that is not needed right now.

Yeah! My first How to train your Dragon story!

Anyways...

I do not own anything in the How to train your dragon universe, only the original characters I create.

Prologue

I can't remember ever getting myself into a worse mess than this. A few feet away Toothless was battling his own enemy with very little success, his desperate blasts not even affecting his enemy. Meanwhile my enemy was wielding his sword at me, swiping with strong and exact strokes, my own sword barely able to defend me.

I glanced back, gauging the distance between me and the edge of the plank I stood on. I was dangerously close the the edge. A menacing drop of at least fifteen feet glared at me and beneath it a fiery kiln, a lone sword in it.

My enemy continued attacking, almost trying to keep me away from that drop. Unfortunately instead of doing that he seemed to be steering me towards the edge, the flames heard below. I glanced at the others in my group who were being attacked, a strong, graceful but lithe Chinese looking woman dressed in royal clothing. Her mere fighting skills were impressive, but even she was concentrating as she fought, an occasional glimpse of her chi-power seen as she fought without a weapon in hand, but was non-the-less an effective fighter. Beside her was her army, they instead fighting with weapons, fighting for their princess.

My thoughts went to Astrid as I continued to fight for my life. Would I ever make it home? Would I ever see Berk again? Those were really the only thoughts that I could hold onto, that Toothless could hold onto, as we fought for our lives.

And then the inevitable occurred, but was none-the-less terrifying. In an attempt to brush me away from the edge, the soldier strangely protective of the kiln, I ended up tripping. Everything happened in slow motion and I could observe everything with detail. Toothless, who was pinned down, turned along with his enemy when they heard me, and he let out a pained cry at seeing me tripping. I knew that there was nothing he could do to save me. It was happening too fast. The battle seemed to stop and everyone gazed at me as I began tripping, strangely enough the men who were attacking us were more horrified than anyone else. My group was horrified as it was, but you'd think they would be more horrified than the enemy would be. Next thing I knew I was falling...

Right into the fiery kiln.

Chapter One: Morning ride

(Hiccup Point of View)

Toothless nudged Hiccup as the boy groaned, eager for his morning flight. "'Kay, Toothless, I'll be right on it," he groaned.

But Toothless wasn't having any of this right now. Nudging even harder he pushed Hiccup right out of the bed. "Whoa!" Hiccup exclaimed, shocked at it. "Ow! Toothless!" he scolded the dragon gently. The dragon seemed to chuckle as if saying, 'that's what you get for not waking up,' and he walked over, greeting Hiccup with a slight push of the head.

"All right, all right," murmured the boy in annoyance and he sighed. "Meet me outside. I'll get the saddle."

(A few minutes later)

"Toothless!" Hiccup called out, looking for his dragon. The boy had pretty much wiped the sleep out of his eyes and he was ready to start his morning ride. Suddenly, coming off the top of the roof, Toothless jumped down, an eager look in his eyes. Hiccup grinned. "Hey, buddy!"

Licking the boy, the dragon crouched down and allowed Hiccup to put on the saddle. A few minutes later they were airborne.

It was exhilarating, the feeling of flying. There was a wide grin on the boy's face as dragon and rider became one, challenging the sky, almost. "Whoa, yeah!" he yelled out, enjoying the feel of it.

And then they went into a nosedive. The speed was unbelievable, and as the boy pushed himself closer to the saddle so that he could get more speed the dragon let out a loud roar of enjoyment. Pulling up at the last minute they began climbing again, trying to gain more altitude as they went around for a second dive.

This time Toothless was pretty much perpendicular to the ground as they bulleted through the sky, diving in a dangerous stunt. But it went without flaw as they pulled up close to the ground again and once more climbed for altitude.

Suddenly, a whoosh was heard and Hiccup looked around, his dragon unsurprised as if he had been hearing it, and from the distance emerged his friends, Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs. They were all on their dragons, apparently ready to join Hiccup and his dragon on their morning flight.

"What do you think," Hiccup asked his dragon. "Do you think we should wait for them, or should we give them a hard time?"

Toothless answered with one of his low reply's, mischievous in his eyes, and right then Hiccup had his answer: they were going to evade. "All right, buddy!" Hiccup replied with wide grin, the boy like minded and they put on some speed, quickly getting away from the group. Shouts of protests were heard in the distance and the boy heard Toothless snickering as he tried to put on more speed.

Toothless, a rare Night Fury, had been the first dragon to ever be 'trained'. He was also the most powerful dragon there was. In fact in the days when he was still wild he was much faster than this. But due to the fact that he had a prosthetic replacement for his ripped tail fin he was slower now, and not to mention that if you add a rider on top of that you'll be even slower. But he was much, much faster than all the other breeds of dragons there ever were, including the Red Death. However if he were ever up against another Night Fury the other dragon would certainly beat him in speed.

The bond that the dragon shared with Hiccup was unrivaled. Between human and dragon they were as close as close could get. It was almost as if they were twins. Each seemed to know what the other was thinking, what the other was feeling, what the other was saying, and that was without a need to communicate. Toothless and Hiccup still had yet to see the other humans and dragons achieve such.

But that didn't mean that the others didn't love their dragons. Of course they did! The peace between the dragon and bonded rider was intense. Hiccup knew that Stormfly would risk her life to save Astrid. Meatlug would kill an enemy that went after Fishlegs. Barf and Belch would attack an intruder that dared to go after their humans. And even though Hookfang wasn't exactly obedient towards Snotlout even then he would incinerate anyone that tried to harm his human. It it was pretty much vice versa for the humans, including Snotlout. They would fight and defend their dragons to the death.

Unfortunately, though most everyone was at peace with the dragons now, not everyone liked dragons. Mildew, the scheming excuse of a human had tried to rid Berk of dragons on several occasions, even going as far as framing them. But each time he seemed to be foiled and the dragons seemed to be welcomed in even greater amounts after that. People were quick to apologize to the dragons. Thus, when he was all for shipping Toothless off the island when the lightning kept striking the village to the man's dismay the people went as far as apologizing when they found out they were wrong. So instead of driving the dragons away he seemed to be driving the people right towards and more in favor of the dragons. Fortunately, he hadn't quite figured that out yet.

Toothless and Hiccup were now a ways away from their friends and the joke seemed to have worn out. Sighing, Hiccup patted his dragon. "Okay, I guess we better head back now." They were over the ocean and immediately Toothless circled around, going back to Berk.

By the time they landed he saw that the dragons and their riders had an expression of annoyance on their faces. Astrid, hands on hips, frowned at the boy and grumbled, "What, couldn't wait for us?"

Hiccup and Toothless chuckled and the girl sighed. She could never stay mad at them and everyone knew why, even though they didn't want to seem to admit it. "All right, it was sort of funny."

"Funny?!" Snotlout exclaimed. "He was showing off!"

"Which is what you do all the time," Ruffnut replied.

"Which is annoying," Tuffnut added.

Hiccup was still grinning. But at a look from Astrid, he lost the grin. "All right," he replied, ready to be humble. "I won't do that next time. I'll just wait for you guys instead."

(Stoick Point of View)

(A few hours later)

Stoick the vast seemed to be waiting for Hiccup as the boy returned with Toothless, their morning flight finished. Stoick himself was getting ready to go out on a flight, his thunderdrum Thornado getting anxious.

"Good morning, son," he boomed down at the boy and Hiccup smiled back.

"Good morning, dad," was the reply.

Stoick didn't know how to ask his son this, but it was vitally important that he did. "I need you to take care of some of my duties today," he began, deciding to go straight into it. Upon seeing Hiccup's downed expression he added, "This will be good for you. If you're going to be chief someday then that means shouldering some responsibility. Besides, I've already taught you some of it. All I'm asking is that you direct the hunting efforts and the village repairs while I'm way. It shouldn't be too hard with the dragons to help. Besides, I'm getting older and as now you've turned sixteen, as my firstborn and heir to the tribe it is tradition that you start beginning your duties as prince of the tribe of Berk."

"Yes, father," Hiccup began scratching his hair, annoyance and no enthusiasm in his voice. "You've already given me this speech before."

Everyone knew that when an heir to a tribe turned sixteen, shortly before the ceremony that made him officially recognized as the tribe's heir he would have to begin shouldering some of the chief's responsibilities in an effort to prepare him to be the future chief. That included attending tribe meetings that only the chief and a few selected advisers could attend, leading some hunting trips as well as other excursions that would be necessary (including attacks if they were at war), and directing other activities.

While the heir was still too young to take on the mantle of these responsibilities it was considered the chief's duties, but as soon as the heir became of age, certain responsibilities were passed onto him or her, and after the ceremony, they were known as the duties of the heir prince and it belonged only to him to do, or his father if he was ill. But after the ceremony, even though they were technically his duties, the chief would traditionally help the heir until the heir was fully able to handle their responsibilities.

The other princes, the ones that weren't the heir, were also given certain responsibilities, and as the family of the chief they were supposed to be the chief's advisers as was their right. They were also supposed to be familiar enough with the chief and heir prince's duties that they could assume the title and position of chief if the chief and his heir died. Because of this, Snotlout, also a prince of a tribe through his father who was a prince and brother to the chief, had mocked Hiccup when he was young, wondering if the young man would be Viking enough to assume the position of heir prince, the position that was rightfully his.

Stoick had to admit that there was a point when he questioned whether Hiccup would become chief and if he would have to deny his son his birthright and pass the position out of his line and into the hands of his brother, and eventually Snotlout. While he wasn't fond of how Snotlout handled things, he loved his nephew because he was family. But he still doubted whether Snotlout, or for that matter his father, had what it took to be a good and fair chief. Both were stuck up and arrogant and seemed to be concerned more about themselves and others.

Ironically, though Snotlout wanted to assume the position his father wasn't too fond of the position and was more than willing to let Stoick handle the chiefly responsibilities. He was content with being just a prince of the tribe.

But at the time, to Stoick, even with his brother's issues and Snotlout's issues, they still made a better decision than Hiccup. That was until Hiccup tamed the dragons and altered the way of the tribe. Suddenly Stoick could see Hiccup as chief, a wise chief at that, and though the boy may not have the strength of a Viking he certainly possessed fairness and wisdom beyond anyone of his age, including leadership skills. In fact, for once he was proud to have Hiccup for a son. He was the perfect fit for heir prince and chief after all.

Very few people in the village were related to the chief of the tribe as the children tended to move around and to a different village when they were adults. The exception, of course, was the chief's family who always stayed in the same village. The chief ruled a few islands and a number of villages existed on each island. While you could call it a small nation, it was too small to be a kingdom. It was about the size of a principality, slightly bigger actually.

There were a number of Viking 'nations', each with a chief, and the inheritance rules were practically the same. The firstborn, whether male or female, inherited the title of 'chief'. Even if the girl had younger brothers (and sisters for that matter) she was still next in line to become chief. Unlike Europe of the period they didn't have any of the sexist rules that kept women out of line to their 'thrones' or even a rule that a girl could only inherit after her brothers. That didn't exist.

The 'royals' or as it was actually called the 'chief's family' consisted of the chief, his/her siblings, his/her children, his/her siblings children, his/her aunts and uncles, his/her cousins, the surviving spouse of any chief, and the descendants of him/her, and him/her brothers, sisters, and cousins that were born while that chief was alive. Those were the princes/honors of the tribe. Also, any person whose sibling had been born a prince or honor while the former chief was still alive was a prince or honor, they being considered part of the chief's family, and they were counted as born when the deceased chief was still alive.

The children of those not necessarily close to the chiefship but none the less descended from chiefs were considered the nobles, and these were sent to rule over the other villages. Also the children of the princes/honors not in direct line for chiefship, and not the children or descendants or the current chief were called nobles after the chief died if they weren't a sibling of a prince or honor. They and their descendants would be the nobles of the tribe.

While the girls were not called 'princesses', they held more status than the women of Europe did, and the title they held instead was 'honor'. No one but the descendant of a chief could be called honor. This was the equivalent title to princess. But because they were Vikings, and thus warriors, this title seemed more fitting to the girls since they were expected to go to battled and weren't necessarily protected like the princesses in Europe. They were expected to defend themselves, help lead the tribe, and shoulder the same responsibilities that the princes did. An heir honor was the equivalent of an heir prince. An heir honor would someday become chief.

A female spouse to a male chief was called the chieftess. A male spouse to a female chief was called a chieftain. Both had the same responsibility: holding the duties that belonged to the chief's spouse. The only difference was the name designated whether they were male or female. The spouses of the princes/honors were counted as part of the chief's family, and were known as spouse to the prince, or spouse to the honor. The spouse of a noble was called a noble's spouse.

There were other important roles in the village that didn't belong to those descended from chiefs. If a person was the descendant of a famous warrior, they were allowed to call themselves such, up to the sixths generation, and were considered nobles almost.

Even the average Vikings who didn't have a status necessarily attached to them were hailed and well respected if they were friends of the current chief or a chief who had barely died. Usually they retained that status for the rest of their life, unless they grew out of favor with the next chief, which rarely happened. Thus the reason why Gobber had such high status in his village, which was unlikely to go away when Hiccup became chief as he had a father-son bond with the boy.

As Stoick began he paused when his son annoyingly replied about hearing his father give 'the chief speech'. The man sighed. "I know you probably didn't expect this to happen," he murmured softly to his son, looking away when he mentioned how Hiccup had probably doubted for a number of years that he would become chief, and had probably grown to expect that for the matter. "But it is tradition. And you are of age to begin your duties. Everyone is expecting you to. After your ceremony you will officially be the heir prince and as such will be called that, thus you need to act like one."

Every prince, honor, and noble was automatically called 'prince' or 'honor' or 'noble' when they reached the age of twenty, the adult age for the Vikings. With it came their leadership responsibilities. Thus, though Hiccup had previously been in danger of losing his right as heir prince he was not in danger of losing his prince hood and would have automatically been called prince when he reached his twentieth age out of tradition, whether the Vikings liked it or not.

Even Snotlout couldn't have denied him being called prince and couldn't deny him his princely duties of helping to lead the tribe if the arrogant young man had become chief. No matter if he hated Hiccup, he couldn't lawfully do it, according to not just the traditions and order of the tribes, but the law of the tribes.

The only way that the title of heir prince or prince (and the equivalent for girls) could be removed was if the princely responsibilities were removed, and the only way the princely responsibilities could be removed was if Hiccup betrayed Berk, and for Hiccup that was impossible. Thus if Snotlout became chief he would have been stuck with him, even if Hiccup had gone senile. The same thing applied to the nobles and their responsibilities.

Thus Hiccup at least had not been in any danger of losing his princely status, though he may have been close to it when he befriended Toothless, and if he had been banished he would certainly not have been a prince or called or considered such any more. Thankfully, that had never happened. Instead by bringing peace to Berk it had furthered his position as future chief of the tribe. True, if he had been banished and brought back into the tribe his princely status may have been restored, but it was rare, almost unheard of for any noble, honor, or prince to return to their status after losing it. That was primarily because no one could be banished except for the severest of circumstances: treason. And even then that was if their life had been spared for their treason and they'd been given banishment as a lesser punishment.

And so Hiccup was the heir prince. While he would automatically be called prince on his twentieth birthday, and he was already recognized as such due to being the chief's son, becoming heir prince was different. Yes, it was his right as the firstborn and because of that he was already looked at as such, but in order to truly be one he had to go through a ceremony, unlike being a mere prince or noble who were automatically called such when turning twenty. If he didn't have the ceremony before his twentieth birthday, he was merely called prince even though he was recognized as the heir prince (though at that point people would be less likely to follow his lead because they would think he wasn't becoming heir prince and future chief).

Thus Stoick knew how important it was, especially for Hiccup, that they had the ceremony as soon as possible so that his son's position as heir prince and future chief was solidified. To delay would make them doubt Hiccup and Stoick needed to show that Hiccup was his choice for chief and that he approved of him. Even though Hiccup had brought peace to Berk, it was especially important because of Hiccup's past that he do this. It would make it abundantly clear that his brother and Snotlout would not be future chiefs, and that would ensure that even they had to follow Hiccup's commands.

After the ceremony Hiccup would rule under his father until Stoick died, and then Hiccup was automatically chief. A chief had no coronation or ceremony when they became such, unlike Europe, where if a king or queen died their heir would have a coronation. For the Vikings, upon the death of the chief the heir prince or heir honor immediately became chief, no questions asked, no ceremony. They were automatically called chief after the death of the previous chief and if they had kids their eldest was looked at as the heir prince or heir honor.

But as Stoick looked at his son there was no doubt that Hiccup hadn't wanted this. Stoick sighed. "Just do your best, son, and the rest will follow." And with that Stoick took off, leaving Hiccup and Toothless on the ground.

(Hiccup Point of View)

Hiccup stared up at the sky as his father took off. 'Great,' he thought, overwhelmed at the thought of being heir prince. For many years he had thought he wouldn't be and he had become fond of thinking he would not have that responsibility. But, after the changes he had made to Berk, and more especially as his sixteenth birthday had come, his father had kept giving him these looks, and Hiccup was afraid of what that meant. And now his father had practically confirmed what those looks meant: it was time for Hiccup to prepare to be heir prince and future chief. He did want Hiccup as his heir after all.

Toothless, upon seeing Hiccup's distress, came over and nudged the boy. "I'm fine, buddy," Hiccup replied, walking over to Gobber's forge after giving some directions to the villages due to his father's directions to him. He was going to forge some metal parts and nails for the houses. At least that was familiar.

Increasingly people were looking to him for leadership and at first he hadn't minded it. He knew he had natural leadership abilities. But when it was announced that his ceremony for heir prince was taking place people started coming to him more and more, asking his advice for this and that. It was becoming annoying and it seemed he didn't have any time to himself anymore. Between Toothless's needed flights and the mounting responsibilities he was getting more and more overwhelmed each day. He barely had a break.

"Need a hand?" came a familiar voice and he heard a friendly growl from Toothless.

Hiccup grinned when he saw Astrid. "Sure!" he offered. He had taught Astrid a few things about metalwork and forging, after all.

Astrid began working beside him, silent for a moment. Then she began, "You're thinking about the ceremony, aren't you?"

"I'd really rather not..." Hiccup trailed off, not sure if he could stop Astrid now that the subject was started.

"Well, you're going to have to come around, Hiccup," Astrid replied anyways. "The ceremony is tonight."

"Don't remind me," Hiccup groaned.

Astrid stayed silent for a moment. She was pounding something into a flat and long shape. As she turned to look at him Hiccup caught her breathtaking eyes. "Well?" she demanded. "Are you going to keep denying the fact when your only hours away from the ceremony?"

Instead Hiccup avoided the question. "Do you think there's any way for me to deny the position? I know it's possible outside the Viking nations..."

"Hiccup," Astrid gently scolded him. "You know that's not possible. Your father's chosen you and you don't have a choice in the matter. You should be flattered! For years no one thought you would become chief, let alone heir prince! You should be honored!"

"Except for the weighty responsibility that accompanies such a position..."

"But still!" Astrid excitedly went on. "We're not like the other nations. You can't abdicate or refuse the position. We're Vikings! Were meant to face challenges head on, not try to shy away from them."

"Right," Hiccup mumbled. "Really not helping." Just then Toothless came up to him and gave him an encouraging look. It was similar to the encouraging look Astrid had given him. But then again, why wouldn't Astrid encourage him? After all, everyone knew they liked each other and thus she had a really high chance of becoming spouse to the heir prince and future chieftess. Why wouldn't she encourage him?

But as Hiccup looked at Astrid he felt guilty for thinking that. Astrid was no power hungry person and she truly cared for him, and even loved him, which both of them denied. To Astrid it didn't matter if he was a prince, a noble, a chief, an heir prince, or even a common warrior for that matter. To Astrid he was Hiccup, just Hiccup, with none of the other prerogatives and positions attached to it. She saw him for what he truly was. Surely he couldn't ask for more?

Hiccup sighed. "I guess you're right," he admitted.

"As always," Astrid grinned and Hiccup playfully pushed her out of the room.

"Out! I have to help the village and I have a ceremony to prepare for!"

(Stoick Point of View)

It was nighttime and Stoick the vast looked down on his son in pride. Never in a million years did he imagine that his only son, Hiccup, would become heir prince and future chief of the tribe. He swelled with emotion and pride as Hiccup, though emotionless, was by his side as the man announced, "Today, by the law and rights laid down by our ancestors, after my son's sixteenth birthday, I have come to announce and initiate my firstborn in his right as heir prince!"

Cheers from the crowd were heard and for a moment Stoick thought that he saw panic in Hiccup's eyes. "You're doing fine, son," he murmured encouragingly before turning back to the crowd. There were people as far as the eye could see all dressed in battle armor as such an occasion would require, and in a stand in front of Stoick and Hiccup were a number of items.

It was tradition for a new sword, a new ax, a new sash, and a new helmet to be forged for the heir prince to be. As the heir, Hiccup was not allowed to forge it himself and thus it fell on a proud Gobber to do so. Each item had the chief's crest on it and symbols on it that represented heirship to chiefhood.

When a chief died he was buried with his chiefly items along with the items he received as heir prince. It was rare for it to be inherited by the next generation, unlike how in Europe the crown prince inherited the scepter, crown, and round ball of his predecessor and ancestors as part of the coronation ceremony. But here the heir received new items.

The heir was to receive a helmet, a sword, an ax, and a sash, never before used. But that didn't mean that he never used them again. Only in times of desperation would one ever use their ceremonial helmet, sword, or ax, even though it was forged to withstand battle. And the only time they wore the sash was when they went to visit another tribe or when another tribe visited them, or upon surrender and peace treaties. Even then, it was only worn the first day as part of tradition and the welcoming ceremony.

But when he became chief he wasn't allowed to wear the sash or other items any more. Instead a new ax, helmet, and sword were made with a new belt in place of a sash. The symbols of chiefhood on them was forged and made, like what Stoick the vast wore when Dagur the deranged came to visit. Granted, it couldn't be made right away, nor could it be made by the chief, but then again it was rare for it to be needed immediately after one became chief. There were a few exceptions of course.

Slowly and ceremoniously, Stoick placed the sash then the helmet on Hiccup, and then he proceeded to put the ax in one hand and sword for another. Stoick had made sure that Gobber had made the weapons light enough that Hiccup could hold it so that he didn't end up a joke. But even as he put the helmet and sash on, he could see that Hiccup wasn't happy about it, that perhaps he doubted he could do the duties required. But by the time the final items were in his hands it was too late. He was heir prince and the people cheered.

A chief could never take away the right of an heir prince after the ceremony, no matter how displeased he was with his heir. The only time he could take away the position was in the case of banishment for treason. Only then could he name another heir. The only other time he could name another heir was if the heir prince died or vanished for a long time, long time being defined as at least ten years unless circumstances of the chief's life and health required him to name an heir more immediately due to the possibility of the chief dying.

Even then, if the heir prince managed to come back, because he was named first he was still heir prince, and the other person's title of heir prince was voided automatically, and the true heir prince was expected to assume his position again. Then it would have been as if the second person named had never been named heir prince. He was never mentioned as an heir prince again.

"Dad," Hiccup said to his dad as the crowd cheered and offered the usual Viking war cries. Dragons blew flames in the air and even Toothless gave one of his unique plasma blasts. "Are you sure about this?"

Stoick chuckled, hoping to ease his son's mind. "Absolutely."

(The next day)

(Hiccup Point of View)

Immediately the next morning when Hiccup woke up he was eager to get out of the village for his morning ride, that way he wouldn't have to deal right away with people greeting him as their heir prince. He needed to clear his mind.

The last night had gone horrifically, in his opinion, when he was given the position of heir prince. He still didn't want it. It was too much for him!

The only thing he did know anymore was that Toothless would be there for him, just like he was in the ceremony. "Well, Toothless," Hiccup joked nervously, trying to lighten his mood. "I guess that means your heir dragon now?" The boy chuckled nervously. But as he got thinking about it, it wasn't a bad idea after all for the dragons connected to the chief's family to receive similar titles. They were, after all, part of the family. Prince Hookfang sounded nice. But heir prince Toothless sounded even better in his opinion.

Hiccup frowned as they took off silently, deep in thought. Yes, when he was chief he was going to need to do something about the dragons' part of the chief's family and the noble families. He should come up with titles. But should the titles be like what the humans had, or should he come up with completely new titles? But whatever he did he knew he wanted to stick to the same structure that the humans had when it came to owning Viking titles. There would be a chief dragon, the chief's dragon, prince and honor dragons, the dragons of the honors and princes, and the noble dragons, the dragons of the nobles. Even the dragons of the spouses of the chief, chief's family, and nobles would have titles, and thus privileges. Now to come up with the titles!

'Sometime later,' the boy thought as he realized that this meant he was to become chief, and he didn't want to think about that right now.

It was a silent ride, one that he needed. As they flew to the far side of the island to clear their thoughts, towards the old cove, Toothless landed. Dismounting Toothless, the boy and the dragon walked side by side, trying to ease the tension of responsibility.

But as they were distracted they didn't notice a person flit behind them. It wasn't until an unusual dart hit Toothless, knocking him out instantly, that Hiccup realized he was in danger. That was how deep they were in their thoughts.

Hiccup spun around, unsheathing his sword. Now that he was heir prince Stoick was even more strict on him to carry either an ax or a sword, not just a mere knife, everywhere he went. And never did Hiccup imagine that he was going to be glad his father forced him to do so.

An unusual warrior with an odd-looking helmet and armor that Hiccup had never before seen was staring at Hiccup. He apparently recognized him even though Hiccup had never seen the man. That creeped the boy out. The man had also been so quick as the man had already had his blade to the boy's throat even though Hiccup had pulled his out so quickly. The boy was also aware of other warriors surrounding him quickly, their weapons out.

"Drop the sword, Hiccup," the man ordered and the boy shivered, doing what the man told him, wondering how the man knew his name. He didn't look a thing like a Viking. Could Alvin the treacherous have told him? But then again even if he did Hiccup had never seen the man before so how could the man recognize him? The man acted as if he knew very well with surety that this boy was Hiccup.

"I'm warning you," Hiccup began, trying to muster as much courage as he could. For the first time in his life he was scared of a warrior. Even though these men were nowhere near as fat and physically strong as the Vikings were, they seemed a thousand, no, a million times more dangerous than Alvin the treacherous ever was, than any dragon, even the Red Death had ever been for that matter.

"I'm warning you," Hiccup started again. "I am the heir prince of Berk, son of Stoick the vast, chief of the tribe! You had better let me go!" The boy hoped that by announcing his new title this would at least get them to be more hesitant about attacking him. "If you hurt me or kill me, thousands of warriors will come after you and crush you alive!"

But the man merely smiled, not at all deterred by this. In fact his blade pressed even more against his throat in a threatening manner. "You don't think I know that?" the man whispered softly and for the first time Hiccup realized there was an accent in the voice. "You talked about it all the time! Future chief Hiccup, the prince of the tribe, the one no one thought would become chief until he rose against the odds!" The blade pressed even more menacingly against his throat.

Now Hiccup had a confused expression. This man talked as if he had met him before! "Wh-what?" he stuttered in confusion.

But this only seemed to anger the man. "Stop playing games, Hiccup! You know what we want! Now give it to us!"

Suddenly ever single blade was pressed against Hiccup and the boy was panicked. "I-I don't understand! What do you want?!"

"I'm warning you!" the man growled, rage growing as each precious second ticked by. "Where is it?!"

"Where is what?!" Hiccup explained again, desperate to find a way out of the situation. This time someone had put a knife to his night fury's throat and the boy was afraid that they were going to kill Toothless if Hiccup couldn't produce a satisfactory answer about something he knew nothing about.

The man yelled in rage, furious and no longer tolerant. He let his weapon down and shook the boy.

"Where is the Yang sword?!"

Well, well, well, what do you think of that? And I wonder how they even know Hiccup!

Please review! That would be much appreciated!