I followed Dad and Halfrida to the docks, my sister and I stopping partway down while our father continued. The two of us sat on the wooden planks as the Viking fleet, the pride of Berk, sailed towards the horizon. I was a little more worried this time than usual- if Hiccup thought they could find the dragon nest, then maybe they could. This could be the end, for good or for bad.

We got up and started to walk back once the ships had vanished. I looked around at the usually bustling area. It was empty, save for two small figures with their backs to us on one of the lower platforms.

"Is that… Hiccup and Astrid?" I wondered, squinting. Halfrida shrugged.

"I thought Hiccup would have gone with them… But maybe he and the Chief got into a fight or something."

"Yeah… We could ask them!" I decided, and I stepped forward eagerly, but my sister grabbed my arm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. They barely know us, and if they took the Night Fury without Hiccup, he's probably upset about that. We should leave them be."

"You're their age, though," I protested.

Halfrida snorted. "I'm not exactly friends with them. I'm not…" She trailed off and shook her head. "They're just a little too excited about death and dismemberment for my tastes."

"And me?" I asked. She knuckled my head.

"You're my little brother. I have to deal with it."

I laughed and we continued up the path and back to the house. We had lunch, taking some bread my sister had made the day before and some fish that Dad had caught a bit ago, and I noted that we were running low on fish- a bunch had been stolen in the raid.

I thought about that as we ate in silence. If this was the end, either dragons would never bother us again- or Dad wouldn't return this time. Or it would be yet another fruitless voyage, with more lost ships but no new leads.

I glanced over at Halfrida. She seemed nervous too, but we were nervous whenever there was a trip to find the nest. I couldn't tell if she thought they might find it this time or if it was just like any other time.

After we finished eating, I stood up. "I think I'm going to go fishing… want to come?"

My sister considered for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. We can put some in the ice box for when Dad gets back."

"Or maybe I can go hunting and catch something later," I mused. The forest was probably full of animals preparing to hibernate for winter. But for now we were going fishing.

The two of us gathered up the gear we needed and headed towards the docks. On the way, I stopped at the dragon arena when I saw Hiccup and his friends were there. Why was Hiccup still here? He was really good at taking down dragons, so if he wasn't on the voyage, he was probably in trouble with his dad. Not enough to be banished or outcast, obviously, unless he was defying his father by staying in the village. There wasn't much the chief could do if he was leagues away at sea.

Halfrida rolled her eyes. "Come on. We can't waste time watching them if we want to catch anything."

"No- I think they're going to do something… maybe something as weird as this morning," I said. Hiccup was staring contemplatively at the closed Monstrous Nightmare cage, his friends standing in a line twenty feet behind him.

"If you're planning on getting eaten, I'd definitely go with the Gronckle," Fishlegs said. Hiccup turned to face them and Tuffnut stepped forward.

"You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon… That's me." He was shoved to the side by Snotlout.

"I love this plan!"

He was shoved aside by Tuffnut's twin sister, Ruffnut. "You're crazy… I like that…"

Astrid pulled her away by one of the horns on her helmet. "So? What is the plan?"

I crossed my arms and rested leaned against the bars, sticking my head through as Hiccup got a smile on his face. "We're going to ride these dragons to give our fellow Vikings some aerial support."

Various noises of surprise and disbelief were made, but quickly quieted. These people seemed to really trust him- or at least his experience with dragons. Either that or they were eager to hear more, like I was. Surprisingly, the most reasonable question came from Tuffnut, who was usually a few arrows short of a quiver, but he could fight when he wasn't arguing with Ruffnut.

"Wait, so how would you make the dragons fight other dragons? Won't they just eat us instead?"

Hiccup shook his head. "No, we're not fighting other dragons, not unless we have to. See, the dragons aren't the killing machines we see them as. They're only stealing our food because they have to take it back to the island to feed their queen, like a giant nest of bees. If they don't bring food, they get eaten instead."

"We're not trying to get rid of the dragons, we're getting rid of the queen and helping our families," Astrid summed up.

"Did Hiccup go to the island? Did Astrid go with him?" Halfrida had stayed, and now seemed to be showing a reluctant interest in what was going on.

I shrugged as I looked through the bars. "I don't know," I said quietly so as not to disturb the ones in the ring.

Hiccup told the others to get rid of their weapons, and they put them off to the side, still a little wary except for Astrid. We watched as Hiccup opened the first cage- the cage of the Deadly Nadder. The Vikings stood back, and with no weapons, the Nadder only eyed them in return. Hiccup patted and scratched its scales for a moment before releasing the Hideous Zippleback, calming it in a similar manner, then did the same with the Gronckle.

Finally, the cage of the Monstrous Nightmare was opened. Hiccup led the massive dragon forward, its eyes fixed on him as he back up towards Snotlout, his hand over its snout.

Snotlout nervously bent down to pick up a forgotten weapon, but Astrid slapped his hand away. Hiccup took his hand and started moving it towards the Nightmare.

"Wait, what are you-"

"Relax. It's okay. It's okay." Hiccup placed Snotlout's hand gently on the nose of the dragon. There was a tense moment, but it did not attack, and seemed to hum in pleasure.

"Whoa," I breathed in fascination. The lizard-like dragon, which had flaming skin, daggers for teeth, and sickles for claws was allowing a Viking to touch it, unharmed.

Snotlout laughed in nervous exhilaration, then frowned when Hiccup walked away. "Where are you going?"

"You're going to need something to hold on," Hiccup said, grabbing a coil of rope. My mind wandered for a moment to ponder the coolness of riding and flying on a great Monstrous Nightmare. Awesome would be an understatement.

Astrid walked up to the Deadly Nadder, and looked it in the eye, then began talking to it in a soft, reassuring voice, scratching it behind its spines. It let out a curious but seemingly pleased noise.

Hiccup led the Zippleback to the twins, who each tried to reason with one of the heads. Fortunately, neither was roasted, but one was sprayed with green gas for a moment before all was seemingly forgiven.

Finally, Fishlegs stepped up to the Gronckle on his own. It eyed him but made no move to avoid him, as it had seen what the other Vikings had done with its fellow dragons.

Hiccup was off to the side, cutting lengths of rope, but he returned and went first to the Monstrous Nightmare, tying the rope around its neck near its head.

"Now come around here to its neck slowly," Hiccup instructed Snotlout. "Get it used to the idea of you being over there, and when you feel ready, climb on."

Hiccup stood back as Snotlout cautiously sat on the neck of the dragon. Snotlout yelped and grabbed one of its horns as the dragon jerked its head up in surprise. He held on as the Nightmare whipped its head around, trying to see the Viking, but it soon calmed down and allowed Snotlout to stay for at least the time being.

Astrid went next. As the Nadder's neck wasn't the best place to sit due to the head spines, she tied a rope around its belly and got on its back, holding on to the rope. It turned its head to look at her for a few seconds before facing forward again.

Each dragon grew progressively warmer to each new idea as it saw its friends unharmed. It became a little tense when Hiccup went back to the corner where the weapons had been left. He grabbed Astrid's axe first, approaching the Nadder slowly, axe held off the the side in a non-offensive position. He handed it to Astrid, who gently laid it across the dragon's back. The dragon turned its head to look at it, then sniff it cautiously. It finally deemed the axe acceptable and turned forward again as Astrid began scratching its scales.

A few minutes later, all Vikings were on dragonback and armed. Hiccup opened the gate of the arena to let them out and climbed up behind Astrid.

"Okay… Uh… hold on with your legs and kinda lean to turn, I guess, but let them do the flying… I tell you anything I've forgotten in the air…"

"Wait, you've really done this before? You're not making this up as you go, right?" Snotlout checked nervously.

"Yeah, I do this all the time… Toothless is a little different though…"

As he spoke the words, he seemed to slump a little, a worried expression on his face.

The dragon nerd of the group suddenly remembered what kind of dragon Hiccup was referring to. "How fast does a Night Fury go? How far can it shoot its-"

"Not now, Fishlegs," Astrid snapped, looking even more fierce than usual atop her Nadder. Hiccup gave her a grateful smile.

"I'll tell you all about him… later. We need to head out."

"This is insane," Halfrida muttered. I jumped a little, I had almost forgotten my sister was here too. "What if they fall off over the ocean? If the dragons decide they don't want them on their backs anymore?"

"I would still do it… come on, we might be able to catch up to them!" I said excitedly.

"Whoa!" Halfrida grabbed my arm again as I jumped up. "First of all, you're only twelve, barely able to life a battleaxe. You'd be killed in less than a minute once you reach the island. Second, there's no dragons left, unless you want to ride the Terrible Terror."

I was forced to admit my sister had a point and I sat back down. We watched as the four dragons stepped out of the arena and lifted their heads up, viewing the sky unobstructed for the first time in possibly months.

"Go!" Hiccup yelled, and the dragons lifted their wings and flapped downward as they leaped off the cliff. They circled clumsily a few times, getting used to flying again and with added weight on their backs and necks, before flying towards what could only be the location of the dragon nest.

"Well…" I said as my heroes flew off into the distance. "I didn't see anyone fall, so unless they're fed to that queen…"

Halfrida shook her head in amazement. "You know… Hiccup might be right. That Night Fury certainly trusted him enough to let him put the saddle and prosthetic tail on. He's flown on it before, and if that's how he got to the nest… it obviously brought him back alive."

"It was showing him, not offering him as food," I agreed.

"Maybe… maybe the dragons want to be freed from that 'queen.' We wouldn't have to hurt them anymore if they don't have to steal from us." My sister's eyes were shining with excitement. "We wouldn't have to be at war anymore!"

Despite having a more typically Viking-like attitude towards war than my sister, I did have to agree with her- it would be nice to not worry about friends dying or rebuilding the house again. "C'mon, they'll probably be back soon. We need to be fishing." And then I could tell my friends what I had seen- They were going to be so jealous!

We walked down the ramps to the sea, and pulled out our family's small fishing vessel. We piled our nets in, and a couple weapons in case of dragon attack, but I doubted that would happen now of all times. I lowered the sails and Halfrida kept a steady hand on the steering oar.

Once we had gotten out far enough, we dropped our nets, and put out hooks on lines as well.

We had been sitting in the boat for a couple of hours when we spotted a ship coming towards us.

"They're back already?" I wondered in confusion.

Halfrida frowned. "Maybe the nest was closer than we thought, maybe the battle was already over before Hiccup left with the dragons."

"But there's only one boat… maybe it's a trader. Or a messenger." I suggested.

Halfrida nodded and we waited as the boat approached. It came closer and closer, rowing towards us, and finally it was near enough that we could make out an imposing figure standing at the front, with a horned helmet, thick black beard, and a shiny battleaxe at his waist.

I had opened my mouth to ask who he was when two more Vikings, similar in appearance but slightly less massive and with different colored beards jumped into our boat. I yelped and stumbled as the boat rocked, but one of the men clapped a hand over my mouth. He kicked the back of my knees and I fell. He whacked my head with his hammer and the world went dark.