"You have shamed our family name! You are no Son of Eret!"
These words rolled through Eret's mind as he sat silently at the small table in the corner of the tavern. The letter he had received told him to be at this table at noon precisely. Whomever it was meeting him was at least half an hour late, but Eret couldn't help but wonder if perhaps they wanted him to wait.
Oh why, oh why, oh why did I have to be so stupid?! he thought to himself. I checked the cargo hold at least three times, how did they even end up in there?!
He was distracted from his thoughts of self-pity when a voice said "so... you are the latest Son of Eret, are you?"
Eret turned to face the dark, hooded shadow that stood behind him. The tavern was not well lit, so all he could make out of the man's face was his thick lips and dark yet thin beard. He was not afraid, however, simply scoffing as he turned back to the table and said "not if my family's got anything to say about it..."
"Ah, yes... the prodigal son... the father's shame..." the man walked around the table and stood on the other side so he was facing Eret directly. Eret didn't look up at him, keeping his eyes on the mug he was holding as he said "right... you're the one who wanted to talk, so let's get a move on... first off... who are you and what do you want from me...?"
"My name is Krogan." the man said as he sat down, keeping his hood over his head so Eret could not see his face. "You see, Eret... I represent a great leader who comes from the North... I have told him of your incident and... well, he believes you to have great potential..."
Eret's head pricked up as the man said this, looking up to face him as he said "alright... I'm listening..."
"If it is your family's respect you wish to regain, then my organisation may be the perfect opportunity for you to do so..."
Eight Years Later...
"Dragon Riders!" one of the trappers called out as they aimed their arrows, while the others set up their net catapults and prepared to fire.
"Top o'the mornin', lads!" Eret shouted back as Skullcrusher nose-dived out of the air, the dragon using the large horn on his nose to ram the side of their ship so that it swayed violently from side to side. Many of the trappers lost their footing and some even fell overboard, their cages toppling over and bursting open for the dragons inside them to escape.
Skullcrusher landed on the deck of the ship as Eret dismounted his dragon, drawing out the larger of the two swords on his back and saying "now, boys... I'm sure you can all see I've got a Rumblehorn 'ere, and I'm not afraid to use 'im... isn't that right, Skullcrusher?"
The dragon grumbled in agreement as Eret petted his nose, failing to notice one of the trappers grabbing a crossbow with a dragon root dipped arrow attached to it.
"HE-YAH!" a hooded figure jumped down and knocked the crossbow out of the trapper's hand, using her custom made, Razorwhip scale axe to slice it in half as she kicked the man overboard. "Eret!"
"Oh... y'alright, Heather?" he snarked back as he pulled out the other sword in his scabbard and used them both to deflect and disarm another trapper. Heather groaned at this, saying "I got Terror Mail from Astrid telling me you'd gone off on your own near Berserker Island. And it looks like I'm just in time to save your ass!"
Heather and Eret soon found themselves back-to-back and surrounded by the trappers, before Heather chuckled and said "so... I assume you have a reason to come out here alone..."
"I offered to do community service for the other islands! GAH!" Eret grunted as he swatted one trapper out of the way. "See, the chief wanted the money we helped Astrid earn from that whole dragon nip thing back, so I'm doing this to make up for it..."
"Oh, yeah... seems it's all working out..."
"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" one of the trappers yelled as fire suddenly rained down from the sky, Heather and Eret running to their respective dragons before a Hobblegrunt landed on the deck. A figure rode on the dragon's back, though the scale-patterned body armour they wore allowed them to almost blend into the beast.
As the Hobblegrunt swished her tail to and fro to knock down the trappers, the figure leapt from the dragon's back with two flaming blades drawn. Screaming like a wild animal, the figure kicked, punched and stabbed any dragon trapper in sight. Eventually, Heather, Eret and the figure were the only humans still standing on the ship, with the trappers being either dead, tied up or thrown overboard.
"Well, well, well..." Heather picked her axe out of the mast she'd thrown it into during the fight. "Look who's here..."
"Figured you guys could use the help..." the armoured figure snarked as she patted her dragon on the nose, taking off her helmet to let her shaggy blonde hair come down freely over her shoulders. Camicazi pressed a button on either of her swords to extinguish the flames and put them on her back holsters, a smug grin on her face as she looked at her fellow riders. "What's up, Stripes?"
"Eh... I'm not too bad, Cami..." Eret shrugged as he patted Skullcrusher's head. "Not too bad at all..."
"Nice armour, by the way..." Heather snarked as she eyed what Cami was wearing. "Really brings out your figure..."
"Thanks. Stole one of Hiccup's design books last time I was on Berk. Here, check it out." Cami pressed a button on the chest armour, causing two large gliding wings to rapidly flip out from the back of her armour. Heather and Eret were both surprised at first, but chuckled as Eret said "hm... surprised you were smart enough to pull off the building..."
"I'm crazy, Eret. Not stupid. So... you guys doing chores for the dragon nip thing too, huh?"
"Well, I'm not..." Heather said. "I just heard Eret'd need a hand so... yeah, I'm here..."
"As my f... um... as someone I knew used to say, the more the merrier..." Eret smiled at them both as he finished cutting open the rest of the cages with dragons in them.
"Hm... well, since we're all here..." Heather said as she casually leaned on her axe, motioning her eyes to the freed dragons. "What d'you say we get these guys back to Berk?"
With the horde of new dragons joining them, the three landed in the middle of the bustling village, heading up to the Great Hall where the Chief was sure to be. As they reached the top of the steps, they saw Astrid stepping out, giving her only a split second before Cami wrapped her up in her signature embrace that she only saved for members of the Haddock family. And Toothless.
"Good to see ya, big fella!" she shouted ecstatically as the Night Fury charged out to meet her, nearly knocking her down the steps if Cami hadn't latched onto his head. After greeting Heather with a hug, Astrid remained silent but smiling as she looked at Eret.
"So, uh... Eret, um... turns out, while you were gone... we got some news..."
"Oh my Gods! I knew it!" Cami gasped excitedly as she darted back up the steps on Toothless' back, dismounting the dragon and grabbing Astrid's shoulders as she said "when are you due, Astrid?!"
"What? N... no, it's... nothing to do with that, Cami... ha ha..." Astrid chuckled a bit as she itched her arm nervously. Hiccup came out reading silently through a letter, which instantly caught Heather's eye and prompted her to say "who's that from...?"
"Well, it's..." Hiccup scratched the back of his head nervously. "It's for you, Eret..."
"Me?" Eret took the letter from Hiccup and started reading it. Cami and Heather both looked at Hiccup and Astrid, the latter sounding somewhat curious as she said "y'know, Eret, I um... well, I knew you had to have come from somewhere, but... well... I didn't realise you had an actual family..."
"Family?!" Cami and Heather both raised an eyebrow at this, before glancing at Eret to see how he was reacting to the letter he was reading. His eyes were much wider and his mouth hung open, his bottom lip quivering a bit as if he wanted to say something.
"F... f-f-fam... family..."