Hiccup hopped down from the latter and went to the barn door. He peeked out to see if any other Outcasts were coming. Upon seeing none, he turned back to the supposedly sleeping slaves.
"Okay everyone. Coast is clear." He said. Everyone sat up and jumped out of their beds to join Hiccup on the ground. Hiccup crouched down and picked up a stick that was beside him before drawing out a map in the dirt. "Alright. Here's what's gonna happen. Change of plans. Outcast are on this island. For those of you who don't know them, they are ruthless Vikings who will do anything to get what they want. So we need to form a plan around them too. I'm not sure how many are here so we'll have to figure that out later. For now, we need contraptions and a lot of them. Winston, Fin. You two will help me build our traps and weapons." Hiccup said pointing to Winston and Fin. He looked through the rest of them and spotted the boy who delivered a message to Maldrigard that day. "You." He said pointing to him. "What's your name?" He asked.
"Mudgut." He said.
"Okay. Daga." He said pointing to the girl who seemed to always be negative. "You will be constructing a letter telling Maldrigards wife she's needed at a neighboring village. Mudgut, you'll help her since you deliver messages to Maldrigard. You must know of some of the neighboring villages." He said.
"I do." Mudgut said with a smile. "How far do you want her to go?" Hiccup thought for a moment. He looked to Winston.
"Winston, which way did you say the dragons come in from on the night of the full moon?" He asked.
"South. Why?" He asked.
"We need her to head to opposite way they're headed. He need her to sail toward them." Everyone gasped.
"Do you have any idea what those dragons would do to her if they saw her?" Daga asked.
"Those dragons are fierce and mindless killers. If they so much as see a still boat, they'll burn it and eat whoever is inside without a second thought." Winston said.
"It's happened before. A slave tried to escape a few years ago. They had no idea about the dragons. It was a full moon that night and when the dragons saw his boat, they burned it and devoured him. No one goes out on the night of the full moon." Madgut explained. Hiccup thought for a moment.
"Didn't you say that the dragons land on the island when they pass?" Hiccup asked Winston.
"Well yeah but we don't know why." He said.
"I think I do." He said. Everyone looked at him in confusion. "You said they devour anything and anyone they see in the open, right?" He asked. Winston nodded. "Have you ever noticed any fruit or crop missing or eaten the next morning?"
"Well we did have half of the cabbage field eaten." Winston said.
"And a few of the apple trees were shredded. Every apple was gone." A girl said.
"The same happened to the peach and pear threes. A few of them were destroyed too." A boy added.
"I don't believe they're mindless killing machines like everyone thinks. I think they're just hungry. We don't know how far they traveled." Hiccup said. Everyone looked shocked and as if Hiccup had grown a second head. "Think about it. Dragons mostly only eat fish and they hate water so they can't just dive in and get some. So flying a long distance with nothing to eat, they must be hungry and stop on this island since it might just be the only one in miles that has available food." Hiccup said.
"Wait a minute, how do you know so much about dragons?" Winston asked.
"On my island, Berk, we have this book called the Book of Dragons. Years ago a Viking named Bork studied dragons and recorded everything he could about them. He studies hundreds of different dragons. Whispering Death, the Skrill, the Bonenapper, Monstrous Nightmare, Deadly Nader, Groncle, you name it. It's in that book." Hiccup said.
"So you, know everything there is to know about dragons." Fin asked.
"Well, not everything. Not yet. I'm still learning about them but I will learn everything there is to know about dragons."
"So how do you know you can control these dragons?" Daga asked.
"I don't. But I have to try." Hiccup said. Everyone looked at one another in suspicion but continued to listen to Hiccup's plan.