Chapter 2

Berk. Alvin's old home.

He and his men were ready to destroy it at last.

The bear-sized chief signaled for his horde to follow and the Outcasts made their way through the thick forest, hauling enormous axes, crossbows, and other deadly weapons for the impending invasion.

Finding what he deemed a good place to set up camp, Alvin ordered his troops to stop and make battle preparations for the morning. Till then, he decided, he would scout the area and check Berk's defenses.

Making his way past Raven's Point, however, a sudden noise caught his attention and he froze, listening.

"Tooooothless!" It came again.

It was a boy's voice; coming from the trees ahead and to Alvin's left. The Outcast's eyes narrowed in annoyance—he'd have to be careful not to be noticed if he wanted their attack to maintain the element of surprise— but a twinge of curiosity made him tread quietly in the direction of the call.

Turning around a tree, Alvin suddenly dropped to his stomach with practiced stealth and peered through the underbrush at the small figure he'd spotted at the edge of a lush cove.

And nearly gasped at what he saw.

A small, auburn-haired boy who looked vaguely familiar to Alvin smiled lopsidedly as a great black dragon greeted him with no trace of antagonism in its features whatsoever.

Shuffling forward, Alvin blinked his small, black eyes wider in astonishment. He couldn't decide what shocked him more: that the boy— obviously a resident of Berk, where they were still at war with dragons— was smiling and petting the beast like a friend; or that the creature, rather than attempting to eat the toothpick of a boy, was just as friendly.

Then there was the fact that the dragon was a Night Fury, the rarest, most feared dragon known among Vikings.

What in Thor's name is going on here? Alvin wondered, watching as the kid scratched the scales of the now-purring dragon and dumped out a wicker basket of raw fish that the beast promptly began consuming.

"Hey, bud! Sorry I'm a bit late today," the boy said affectionately. "Dad's been trying to get me to take up archery, since I can't swing an ax for my life. I'm miserable at it, though. Just another reason I fall short of the perfect Viking son that 'Stoick the Vast, May Ye Hear His Name and Tremble, Ugh, Ugh' wishes he had."

The dragon—Toothless, he'd called him? Odd name—lifted its head in concern when the boy's tone turned bitter. Its great head nudged his shoulder playfully.

"I know, I know," the kid laughed. "At least I have you to keep me sane. Too bad befriending dragons isn't an admirable accomplishment in Vikings' eyes…" He trailed off sadly.

In the bushes, Alvin's mind was racing. This runt—and he couldn't be more than fifteen—was the son of his rival. Now that he thought about it, Alvin recognized him from spying missions he'd led some times before: The Hiccup, always getting himself yelled at by Stoick and the other Hooligans for being in the way during dragon raids and causing trouble and for just being strange. At the time Alvin hadn't given the little embarrassment a second thought, but he now took in the copper-headed boy's movements with great interest, like a predator stalking its prey.

Already sinister plans were forming themselves in the Outcast leader's head.

He wasn't sure how the runt had gotten close to a Night Fury, let alone tamed it; but he clearly had some sort of hidden ability with dragons. And such ability proposed a world of opportunity for a Treacherous such as himself, if he could harness it for his own purposes.

And harness it he would, Alvin thought with an evil yellow grin.

...

Hiccup had only left Toothless a few minutes ago and was trudging back through the trees when a sudden outcry stopped him dead in his tracks.

Toothless was roaring in fright.

Hiccup's heart thudded painfully in his chest and he turned to run back the way he'd come, only to be grabbed by foreign hands pinning his arms behind him and lifting him off the ground. In utter confusion, he kicked out, but his struggles only seemed to amuse the unknown assailant. The last thing he heard before a blow to the head put him out cold was a dark snicker that sent shivers down his spine.

...

Alvin returned to the Outcast's camp with the unconscious boy slumped over one shoulder.

His second-in-command, Savage, approached and reported, "The Night Fury is secure, Alvin."

Behind him, the dragon growled defiantly through a cruel leather strap around his muzzle. He was chained to a wooden contraption on wheels, and the dozens of men that had wrestled him into it stood warily around him.

Alvin grinned at the sight and tsked with his tongue. "Don't give me that look, beast; you brought this on yourself. How long did you really think this would go unnoticed?" He gestured first at Toothless, then Hiccup, indicating their secret friendship.

Seeing his human limp in this evil man's grasp, Toothless struggled more vigorously, but to no avail.

Alvin roughly set the kid down by his precious dragon and had one of his men tie his hands. Then, gathering the Outcasts with a barked command, he proceeded to give out orders.

Some of them were confused by Hiccup and Toothless' presence—they hadn't witnessed what Alvin had, and their chief didn't really explain anything— but they knew better than to question his orders.

"We surround the village and take them unawares. This one" –he pointed at Hiccup—"is our leverage."

"But Alvin," Savage asked doubtfully, "Do you really think Stoick will risk his people for one kid?"

"Oh, this isn't any kid. It's his son. And if there's one thing I know about Stoick, it's that he's weak when it comes to his family."

Their cold laughter made Toothless shiver in his restraints.

...

"Son, I'm home!" Stoick announced, entering their house.

The greeting silence didn't strike him as odd; he supposed his introverted son was in his room drawing or some such nonsense. What did upset him, however, was that Hiccup hadn't been at the Great Hall for dinner.

Stoick sighed, climbing the stairs to give him a lecture about being so antisocial among a people he would someday have to lead, but stopped, puzzled, at the unexpected sight of Hiccup's empty room.

"Hiccup...?"

He was startled by a dark blur that whizzed in through the open window and clattered on the wooden floor by his feet.

Picking it up, he found it was a large, flat stone with a folded note attached. Unfolding it, he read:

Stoick- Every house is surrounded. You have no choice but to surrender. If not, a certain someone will pay the price. Alvin the T.

Enclosed was an unmistakable lock of reddish-brown hair.

Hello again *smiles less nervously*

Thank you peeps for the positive response to my first chapter. I'm feeling more confident, and so here is my next installment. I tried to make it longer... it didn't work... I'll try and put another up soon. Once again, constructive criticism is welcome.

btw yesterday was my last day of school- hooray for summer! Virtual gummy worms for all! xD

~Raz