Tap tap tap. Hiccup woke with a start. Turning his head, he saw that Toothless was already awake, staring at the door with a low growl.
"Easy, bud," His shield stood at the foot of his bed. He stood up and took hold of it, slowly approaching the door. Silently, he listened.
Tap tap tap. Taking a deep breath, Hiccup swung his door open and thrust his shield forward. It was hard to miss the enormous figure in front of him. It was also impossible not to recognise him immediately.
"Fishlegs? What in Thor's name are you doing here at this hour?" Hiccup demanded.
"Hiccup! Astrid's gone!" It took a moment for these words to sink in.
"What do you mean gone?"
"Well, I wanted to ask her whether she had seen Meatlug's favourite Lingonberry oil - it makes her skin shine - but when I went to her hut she wasn't there."
"She's probably out flying with Stormfly," Hiccup answered.
"Yeah... See that's the thing, before I went to Astrid, I was with Meatlug in the Hangar and Stormfly was in her pen sleeping."
Hiccup turned away from him and started pacing. She might be in the woods axe-throwing. But what if dragon hunters had managed to sneak on the island and gotten hold of her? Completely forgetting about Fishlegs, he swung his shield onto his back and got on Toothless, who had already moved to his side, and flew off.