Author's Note:

Hello and welcome to the next chapter of Family of Iron. The plot starts to move a little further along this time so we'll hopefully have some action in upcoming chapters. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Drago Rising

Eret woke with a yawn to find the cave brightly lit by sunlight streaming in through its entrance. Gobber was still beside the fire and appeared to be cooking breakfast while Grump was still snoring in exactly the same place as he'd been earlier.

Gobber grinned at him, "Morning laddie, though only just. It's near midday now." He handed over some food, "Have some brunch."

Eret accepted what looked like some sort of sandwich and began eating, Grump slowly stood and ambled over to the fire and growled at Gobber. The wanderer rolled his eyes, "An' guess who wakes the moment he smells food."

The Hotburple snorted and shoved the man aside to get to a pile of fish as Gobber continued to verbally berate the dragon. Eret was fascinated by the relationship between Grump and Gobber which seemed to be built on mutual ribbing and insulting exchanges, on top of that Gobber seemed to understand the dragon's answers and he had no idea how the man did that.

"Away with ye, ye lazy lizard."

Gobber left Grump to finish his food and focused back on Eret, "Now laddie, where are ye from?"

Eret was caught off guard for a moment but quickly recovered and answered, "Oh…umm…a small island in the west of the Archipelago. After the Fortress fell we travelled to get as far away from it as possible."

"Ye came from the Fortress?"

Gobber looked surprised and Eret nodded, "Yeah, I was a slave there for much of my life and we escaped from the Fortress as it collapsed." He grimaced, "Just about."

Gobber nodded sadly, "A shame a young lad like yerself ended up in that hel-hole. At least ye got away in time and with others to boot! I escaped by myself by using Gertrude."

"Gertrude?"

"My very own seafaring vessel." Gobber answered proudly, "There's no ship on the whole ocean finer than Gertrude."

Eret smiled, "She sounds like a dream."

"That she is laddie." He returned to the previous topic, "Well now that I know where yer from we can head westwards when yer ready, I'm actually looking for someone and I've not searched that way yet."

Eret's smile grew bigger, "Thank you, my uncles will be really worried about me by now."

"Yer uncles?"

Eret shrugged lightly, "Their not my actual uncles, at least not by blood but they've looked after me ever since I lost my mother years ago. Uncle Stoick is basically my second father."

"DID YE SAY STOICK!?"

Gobber had sat bolt upright and Eret jumped in surprise at his suddenly raised voice, "Yes…he's effectively our village chief and has been looking after me for years."

Gobber leapt to his feet in excitement, "THANK THOR! I've been looking for Stoick for the last five years!"

"What! Why!?"

The man didn't answer as he hauled Eret up and began scurrying around the cave and packing everything, "Not now laddie, I'll explain when we're on our way. Help me sort this stuff out."

Bewildered Eret found himself running around helping the man gather up what little he had with him and Gobber roughly prodded Grump who'd already gone to sleep again, "C'mon ye lazy beast, it time to get going!"

The Hotburple gave a sleepy growl and got to his feet and soon Eret was running after the excited Gobber still not entirely sure what was happening.

Swooping low over the ocean the dragons and their siblings laughed and shouted as they enjoyed the day.

They'd been allowed to head off away from the Sanctuary for a whole day and they were on their way to the island with the cave Hiccup and Snotlout had been at a couple of days earlier. They weren't in any hurry and swooped and played as they travelled just enjoying the day and each other's company and eventually the island appeared below them.

They broke into a race towards it and Toothless and Hiccup arrived first and turned just in time to see the others landing. Astrid and Stormfly were close behind and the Nadder skidded to a halt as she landed, they were nearly blown over by the air blast from Hookfang's wings as he snapped them forward in order to halt his high speed approach. This threw Snotlout forwards and the Nightmare just caught him in his mouth before he crashed face first on the ground. The twins and Barf and Belch were next and they had the messiest landing since the Zippleback didn't slow down and they tumbled across the ground straight into the nearby shrubbery where they ended up in a tangled heap. Fishlegs and Meatlug hovered over where they'd landed to see if they could help and the others eventually untangled the four of them to find they were amazingly unharmed. With everyone down safely (sort of) Hiccup led the way into the cave.

There was an awed silence as they took in the sight within and even the twins looked impressed, Fishlegs was practically quivering, "These formations are so cool!"

Ruffnut nodded, "Yeah."

Tuffnut agreed, "Totally, they're so sharp and pointy."

"Sharp is always good." His sister added.

Astrid spoke next, "It is quite the sight. I wonder how these formations came about."

Fishlegs was already studying the formations, "I don't know but it would be pretty cool to find out."

Astrid had wandered over to the back wall and ran her hand over the flat surface, "Why's this section so flat? It's almost unnatural."

Fishlegs had joined her and he also examined the wall, "That is strange. It's like someone deliberately carved it that way but I don't see why anyone would bother carving a single section of wall in a random cave."

"Maybe it happened naturally." Hiccup suggested.

Fishlegs frowned, "Maybe…"

There was a small thud from outside and the familiar roar of Astrid's father and the kids headed outside to see what was happening. The Nadder was stood just outside the cave and he wore a grave expression, seeing it Astrid hurried over to him, "Dad, why are you here?"

He answered with a series of short growls and Fishlegs blanched, "Seriously! Humans managed to take Fireworm Island and everyone on it?"

"That's really not good." Hiccup stated.

"Aren't the Fireworms like seers?" Snotlout asked, "I thought at least one of them would've foreseen the attack."

"Not necessarily." Fishlegs explained, "Yes the Fireworms are seers and can look into the future but that doesn't mean they know everything. I asked Grandfather about them once and he told me that they can only see what their scrying allows and their visions can vary from crystal clear to foggy possibilities, prophecy is an art that's awkward at best and even the greatest seers can miss things."

"All the Fireworms being taken is still frightening though." Astrid pointed out, "Even if they didn't foresee the attack they would've still had enough warning to fight back and at least some of them would've escaped. A human army managing to capture every single one of them is very bad."

Ruffnut looked at Astrid's father worriedly, "Now I'm not sure I want to hear the answer…"

"But who was it that attacked the Fireworms?" Tuffnut finished.

The Nadder closed his eyes and hesitated and Snotlout spoke quietly,

"It was Drago's army wasn't it."

The dragon nodded.

"WHAT!" Astrid blurted, "I thought he would've been killed when his fortress fell on him and his army scattered all over the place!"

Her father didn't address her words but he told them that until they knew things were safe all those from the Sanctuary were to remain as close to it as possible so they needed to head home now.

Obeying his words they all got on their respective dragon siblings and all flew back towards the Sanctuary with Astrid's father leading the way. They flew in silence as they each thought about the news they'd just heard and the implications it had, they had been certain Drago perished five years ago but knowing it was his army that had attacked the Fireworms placed a fearful doubt in their minds.

They didn't want to think that he was actually still alive.

Standing on the shores of Dragon Island, facing towards the volcano that graced its centre, Drago couldn't stop himself from smiling.

Today was the day when his new creations would enter the outside world.

All night slaves had been working rapidly to ensure that the airships were ready to fly at dawn. Newt had been as flawless as always and had located a dragon nest that could be the home of the Dragon Riders and that was their first area to investigate.

A dull rumbling that shook the island was heard and like a maw of some great beast a section of the mountain side was levered outwards to reveal the vast tunnel behind. This great door was another marvel created by Saphia and it required masses of people to function it but it was a solid barrier to protect the vast workings inside the volcano. His army gazed in awe and another low noise that none could label grew steadily louder. Then, moving gracefully into the dawn-light, the immense rounded nose of the first airship exited the mountain, its propellers spun regularly powering it out and steam was puffed out behind as the engines vented what was no longer needed.

Any who hadn't seen the vessels gaped in amazement not believing that something so big was flying above them, even those that knew were stunned to see the airship actually fly and there was murmurings and exclamations from the onlookers.

The first airship was followed by the second and then the third and the vessels flew over the beach with the rising sun lighting their flanks. Drago raised his spear in the air and gave what could only be described as a roar of joy as his new weapons of conquest began their first ever mission.

On the bridge of one of the airships Viggo looked down upon the barely visible form of the king, "So a new part of our game begins Drago. I have my next move already planned so how will you counter it."

He allowed himself a small smile,

"I'm looking forward to finding out."

PS-Everyone is moving out so to speak. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.