Jack tried furiously to shake the bars of his cell, but they refused to move. The cold metal drove into the top and bottom of the small cavern - just freshly set, but still too strong.

"Bunny!" He yelled in his frustration. "Why didn't you talk to us? Why didn't you tell us what you saw?!"

Bunnymund said nothing, but Jack could hear him shift around in the cell beside his. With a growl, Jack let go of the bars and pounded them with his fist. He immediately regretted this action when his hand exploded in pain. He scowled as he paced to the other side of the room, peeking out of a small hole that was only just large enough for his eye.

The Warren was being torn apart outside. Shrubs and trees were uprooted, stones were dislodged and moved, statues were felled and shattered. At first, Jack thought that men were undertaking the work, but their movements seemed too jerky and animal-like to be human. Then the bonfires started, and he saw.

"Orcs…"

Their grisly faces leapt out against the fire, and they screamed as they had to walk close to the light to throw their fuel inside. Inch by inch the Warren was stripped bare and ruined. The only thing they could not destroy were the stone egg golems, which rolled uselessly on their sides as the goblins tried to cut them with their swords, to no avail.

"Leave them!" Pitch's sharp voice cut them off. "They can't do anything now." He looked around, then pointed at the ground. "The forges are down here, we need to expand them upwards. Get digging! We'll put the breeding grounds over there, and the woodshop over there." Jack strained to look where he was pointing, but it was difficult to see. "That's all we need right now. Oh, and some gates, silly me, almost forgot! And also," he shouted, stopping the goblins that had rushed off to begin their tasks, "I am not sleeping in a hole in the ground. I want a proper place built for me to live, right up...there!" He pointed to the top of a mountain that towered over the rest of the Warren. "Now, get to it, chop chop!"

The orcs leapt to action, growling and cursing at each other. Pitch clasped his hands together, watching them. Then he turned and looked straight at the peephole.

"Enjoying the view, Jack?"

Jack recoiled away, squeezing his eyes shut as a mixture of hatred and fear coiled in his stomach. He heard Pitch laughing, and the hatred grew stronger. He set his teeth, willed himself to wait until the count of ten, then he peeked again.

Pitch had moved away now. He was on the other side of the Warren, and had conjured a black whip in his hands, using it to drive the goblins on.

"Alright, perfect…" Jack knelt by the hole and cupped his hand. He whispered into his fingers, very softly. Then he twirled them around, still muttering under his breath, and conjured a snowflake. With a poke he sent it through the hole, where it whirled about and disappeared into the sky.

He repeated the process again, and sent the second snowflake on its way. Then he turned around, sighing as he leaned against the stone of the cell wall. Jack hoped it had been enough, but he still felt uneasy. Bunny's words haunted him:

"...the Four! The Four are here!"

There had been so many false alarms over the centuries that Jack didn't take it fully to heart. But with the Ring found, and Pitch showing up like this...it might actually be real this time.

"Ygggh…" Jack clenched his stomach, feeling he was about to be sick.

If the Four had indeed emerged, and if his guess was correct...he might have left the Ring in the worst possible hands.

He hoped his snowflakes traveled fast enough.


Hiccup and Astrid hadn't bothered to make camp, since Jack had promised a swift return. As the sun began to sink and the woods to darken, however, they had hastened to construct a crude fire. Now they sat on a pair of stones that they had rolled over, Astrid looking around expectantly at the trees.

"You know what, though?" Astrid crossed her arms. "I wouldn't be surprised if he just abandoned us."

Hiccup didn't answer, instead only looking down.

"It would be just like a trickster god to lure us all the way from home and leave us here, don't you think so?"

A distant nod. He still didn't look up. Astrid peered over at his hands.

"Will you stop petting that thing?!"

Hiccup finally jerked up, jumping at the shout. Indeed, he had been caressing the Ring in his hand.

"Gods, can you talk to me?" She jumped to her feet. "You and I are ALONE out here, and all you want to do is ogle over that thing! Can't we...chart out your map, or talk? Heck, even if you don't want to talk, at least cuddle with me instead of that!"

Hiccup stared up at her, then back at the Ring. With a deep sigh and trembling fingers, he closed his fist around it and shoved it back in his pocket before standing up. "I...I'm sorry, Astrid. I don't know why, I just-"

"Shh!" Astrid was staring at the forest again.

"Oh, really? You were just yelling at me about how I was ignoring you, and now you-"

"Sh!" Astrid bent down and slowly grasped her axe from where it leaned against her seat, never turning her gaze from the forest. She heard Stormfly next to her, flexing the spines on her tail. "You saw it too, girl? Something out there, Hiccup, some kind of bluish glow. You see anything?"

No answer. Turning around again, she saw Hiccup had his back to her. He was fiddling in his pocket. With a scowl, Astrid turned to Toothless. She pointed first to him, then Hiccup, and then pantomimed a slap.

Sure enough, the Night Fury whacked Hiccup over the head with his tail.

"Ow! Okay, okay!" He caught Astrid's furious gaze and came over beside her, drawing out Inferno and extending the blade so that the flames lit.

All four of them looked out into the darkness, but saw nothing. They circled around the fire, but nothing stood out to them.

"That's funny…" Astrid began to lower her axe. "I could have sworn I saw something out-"

"Shh!" Now it was Hiccup's turn to be on the alert. "You did! Over here!" He motioned for her to run. "I heard branches snap."

They stared through the trees, Astrid with her axe and Hiccup with his sword. The waiting grew unbearable.

"Was it just a-"

An arrow flew out and hit Astrid's axe, cutting her off. She yelled in shock as it flew out of her hand.

Hiccup jumped from the surprise. In that split second, another arrow struck his weapon and caused it also to fly from his hand. The dragons became incensed; Toothless fired several blasts into the forest, while Stormfly burned away all of the brush before her.

A long path of cinders remained where the two had attacked. Hiccup and Astrid stared, looking for any sign of their assailant.

"I…" Hiccup chuckled weakly, "I think you might have gotten them, bud."

Toothless nudged his head against Hiccup's side, and wrapped his tail around the boy. He still growled, looking around in suspicion.

"Really, I think you got-"

"Anyone make a move and you die."

The voice came from their side. Toothless and Stormfly whirled around to face who was addressing them: a girl wearing a long dark blue dress, with red curls that sprouted and sprang from her head. She wielded a bow, and she had two arrows nocked, aiming right at them.

"Whoa, easy!" Hiccup spoke both to the newcomer and to the dragons, who screamed their dislike. "Here, easy bud, easy, she's alright." I hope, he added in his mind. Looking over, he saw Astrid scowling at the girl, casting furtive glances to her axe lying on the ground. Hoping to ease the situation, he spoke. "Here, uh...hi there! I guess, er...I hope we weren't trespassing? We're just trying to go through the area."

The girl drew closer, not easing her aim. She constantly shifted so that they each had turns being targets. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Okay, well, I already told you the second thing: we don't really WANT anything, we're waiting for a friend to get back. And, uh, I'm Hiccup, this is Astrid, Toothless, and Stormfly. What's your name?"

The girl ignored his question, but she glanced at the dragons as he named them, and began to lower her bow. "They're yours?"

"Yeah! Toothless the Night Fury," he gave him a rubdown on his head, which despite the situation still made the dragon chuckle his pleasure. "And that's Stormfly the Deadly Nadder. And we," he pulled Astrid close, trying to appear friendly, "are a pair of the best dragon riders in the Barbaric Archipelago."

"Barbaric-" She raised her bow again. "You're Vikings!"

"Yeah, yeah, we're Vikings-"

"Where are the rest of you?!"

"Errrr…" Hiccup glanced at Astrid and back. "It's only the two of us, and our dragons."

"Scouting us out, then?" The girl scowled as she drew closer, the tip of her arrow only inches away from Hiccup's nose. "Go and tell your Berserkers, or whatever tribe you are, that DunBroch has enough problems without an invasion of Vikings to deal with."

"What? No!" Hiccup chuckled weakly. "No, we're not attacking or anything! We're waiting for a friend, we'll be gone any minute now, I promise!"

The girl turned her glare to Astrid. "Do you have anything to say?"

Astrid threw back a cold hard stare. "He's telling the truth. And we're not Berserkers, we're Hairy Hooligans - we've been anything but friendly with Berserkers the past few years."

There was a long while of silence. The girl seemed to be calculating something in her head.

Astrid spoke up, "Since we told you our names, don't you think we should hear yours?"

She blew air through her nose. "It's Merida. Merida of DunBroch." Finally she slackened the tension in her bow, letting its aim fall. "I hope you're telling the truth, for your own sakes. But if you're an enemy of the Berserkers...we might find a way to get along."

Now feeling free to move around, Hiccup gave another nervous laugh as he scratched the back of his head - his nape was wet with sweat. He looked around at the dragons, which were still grumbling about their new acquaintance. Astrid also seemed on edge.

"Here, if you want to make sure, you could stay-" out of the corner of his eye, he saw several nasty glares sent in his direction, "-and you can see for yourself that we're telling the truth. As soon as our friend gets back, we'll leave, and you can go back home."

Merida nodded, sitting herself on a rock. "Who is this friend anyways?"

Before he could answer, Astrid pointed into the sky. "Hiccup, look!"

A snowflake, glittering with its own light, came twirling down between the branches of the trees. It cast a feeble light over leaves and twigs as it snaked its way to the ground. Finally it fluttered into the middle of the group and burst, leaving ice crystals suspended in the air. They slowly spun around as a voice spoke to them.

"Hiccup! Astrid!" They recognized Jack's voice, echoing like he was far away. "Things are worse than I thought: Bunny can't help us, and the forest is not safe. I need you to ride north, past the river, to Arendelle. Wait there and someone will find you. Hurry! The Black Riders will be hot on your trail, and remember: don't put the Ring on! Whatever you do, do NOT put it on!"

With that, the ice drifted, then fell to the ground as it melted into water.

Merida stared where the snowflake had burst. "That...you saw and heard it too, right?"

Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other, then immediately stood and began to leave.

"Hey, hey!" Merida ran around them, determined to get an answer. "What was that?"

"That was our friend," Astrid nodded, "and he's in trouble. Do you know where Arendelle is?"

"No, but what was that whole thing about? What does he want a rabbit for, and what ring, and…" She paused. "The Black Riders, dressed in long flowing robes?"

"Yeah." Hiccup also stopped in his tracks. "Have you seen them?"

"I met them!" Now she had both of their attention. "They came to the castle at DunBroch, and gave me a gift. They were from...I don't think they said…"

Hiccup came up to her, making her step back a bit. "What did they give you?"

"Nothing much! Just a wee little ring, that's all!"

Hiccup shivered. "Who are you? I mean, what do you do?"

"I'm the heir to the throne," she said proudly. "I'm going to be the next queen."

"Frumgru…"

Whispers spoke in Hiccup's mind, and he looked down at his hand. Without thinking, it had strayed to his pocket.

The Ring lay in his palm, feeling heavy. Now Merida saw it. "Oh, did they give you one too? It's...it's very nice."

"Kulkodargoth…" It echoed in Hiccup's mind. "Kulkodargoth…"

Hiccup only returned to his senses when a screech tore the night. Everyone looked up - it had been close

"We have to go, now!" Astrid shouted. Hiccup shoved the Ring back in his pocket and leapt on top of Toothless.

"Hold on!" Merida shouted up at him. "I still don't know what's going on!"

"Okay, I'll give you the short version:" Hiccup leaned towards her. "An evil overlord is trying to destroy the world. We have a way to stop him, but it's evil too, and from what Jack said to us, this forest is probably also evil."

"You know what's happening to the forest?" Merida felt a rush of excitement.

Hiccup paused before he answered. "I...think."

"Then I'm coming with you!" She made to clamber onto Toothless, to the dragon's dissent.

"Whoa, whoa!" Hiccup twisted around to watch her. "I-I don't think we need anyone to-"

"My kingdom is dying." She sat behind Hiccup, refusing to budge. "There's something in the forest, I could see it when I put my ring on. And if you know anything about it, I want to know too."

Hiccup looked at her determined face, knowing that it would be a long time to argue her back off of Toothless. Another screaming cry, this time closer, told him he didn't have that time.

"Fine. Toothless, she's coming with us." He patted the top of the Night Fury's head as the dragon snorted.

"Are you sure, Hiccup?" Astrid called from Stormfly.

"I just want to get out of here before anyone else shows up. Come on, bud!"

Merida gave a small scream as Toothless lifted into the air. She snapped her arms around Hiccup and held on as they left the ground behind. She looked around at the trees, disappearing to reveal a starry night sky; she felt a cool wind in her hair. Then she looked down at where they had taken off from.

In the dying light of the fire, a dark shadow circled around where they had just been. It gave a horrible chilling cry, and another answered far in the distance.

The five of them flew north over the treetops.