A double-headed battle axe flew across the training arena as it was thrown from bare hands and one out of the two blades plunged in the center of the painted target on a round cut piece of strong wood. Astrid made a run to retrieve her favorite weapon, dodging fired arrows from all sides, grabbed the handle of her axe and pulled it out of the bull's-eye. She was so quick; it was almost as if she lived in another dimension – a couple seconds before everyone else. The arrow heads fired at her hit wood planks on the opposite side, leaving an orange spot of paint on them. The young warrior raised her axe above her head and swung it at the next target, breaking it in two pieces causing it to fall off its support. She turned on her heels and dodged nets thrown from nowhere then sprang to the center on the place and stopped in a painted red circle, holding her ground as she waited for the signal.

Astrid's eyes landed on the slightest movement close to her and narrowed them as she focused on the signs of life. She breathed heavily from all the exercises, searching for her next target. A single Outcast soldier statue rolled in her sight, and with a war cry, she charged towards it, axe over her shoulder. She jumped to the side, imagining the enemy either shooting an arrow or swinging his sword, mace, or any other weapon and with a strong hold of her own axe; she swung it in the target's side, kicking it to the ground with a growl of fury.

Astrid looked around as heads poked out of the walls around her, curious and amazed. She noticed Hiccup and Toothless watching from high above, Fishlegs and Meatlug a distance away to be sure she didn't take him as her next target. Snotlout looked bored and Ruffnut and Tuffnut equally exited as they both held their heads out of their hiding spot behind a wooden wall where they held their crossbows used to imitate Dragon Hunter soldiers firing at her.

''This has to be the best day of my life.'' stated Tuffnut as he and his sister jumped on the other side of the obstacle. ''Firing at Fearless Astrid Hofferson with permission? This is an event that only comes once in a life time.''

''True that,'' agreed Ruffnut, as everybody entered the arena. ''When can you kill Astrid, without risking getting killed by her afterwards? ''

''You mean pretend to kill Astrid.'' said Fishlegs as he approached the twins from behind.

''Eh, tomato-tomata.'' said Tuffnut, shrugging as it wasn't at all important to him.

Hiccup walked down to the group, Toothless following closely behind.

''Alright, alright, knock it out, you guys.'' Hiccup interrupted as he joined the rest. ''We need serious training if we ever want to face Viggo and the hunters again. Now with this,'' he gestured to the training field Astrid just worked with. ''Everything looks more realistic. We can prepare correctly if we want to—''

''Retrieve the Dragon Eye from the hunters.'' Snotlout cut him, rushing the subject. ''We know. 'We can't leave the Dragon Eye in the wrong hands ', we've been hearing it for the past weeks.''

''Actually, Snotlout, it's only been one week since we lost the Dragon Eye.'' Fishlegs pointed out.

''Look, guys.'' Hiccup continued, ignoring their useless argument. ''We can't rest now. We don't know why Viggo wanted it; neither do we know what his plans are. He knows it's useless without a Snow Wraith key. If he ever finds another way to unlock it, then we don't know what we have on our backs. We have to be ready. Understand?''

The riders looked at each other, and then back to Hiccup.

''When you say 'can't rest now', what do you mean?'' questioned Tuffnut, making a gesture with his fingers as he spoke the words 'can't rest now'. ''Are we ever gonna get some sleep again? 'Cause sleeping is one of my top five most important activities of the day, along with destruction, and annoying others and—''

''We get it Tuff!'' snapped Astrid, unable to keep her temper low now. ''What Hiccup means is we have to be ready at all time. We don't know when we'll get attacked next. From now on, everything is unpredictable. We have no idea where Heather is. We don't know what happened to Dagur. If we ever have to face Viggo, Ryker or Dagur, we need to know what we are doing.''

''You can scratch a name from your list.'' stated Ruffnut, arms crossed over her chest as she looked up to the sky.

''Why's that?'' asked Fishlegs, concerned about what she was thinking right now.

''Behind you.'' she said smugly.

Before anyone could ask any question of what she was talking about, a Razorwhip's sharp wing-beat reached their ears, and all eyes landed on the silver dragon mounted by a young girl they all recognized.

Heather slid off Windshear's neck and took off her hood, revealing her face.

''Heather!'' Astrid cried out before anyone could state anything and rushed forward to join her friend. She was so relieved she was all right, and they both hugged each other tightly as they did back on Glacier Island when Heather's cover was still their secret. ''You're alright?''

''Of course I am.'' said Heather after they pulled away and stared in each other's eyes. For a moment, everything seemed to be okay, and be till the end of times, but then Heather's bright eyes turned darker and her joyful look faded away, replaced by a serious and concerned one. ''But, I have news.''

...

The gang joined in the Clubhouse after Heather and Windshear's arrival to Dragon's Edge. Hiccup, Astrid, Heather, the twins, Snotlout and Fishlegs stood in front of the map drawn on a large piece of paper hanged to a wooden board in the corner of the room.

''Alright, Heather.'' Hiccup said as he gestured to the map. ''Can you tell us where you've seen the ships?''

The girl nodded and gave his a weak smile, taking a step closer to point out Dagur's fleet's location on the ocean.

''From what I saw, its emplacement was about... here.'' she said, pointing at a specific spot on the wide ocean. ''It's about two hours on dragon-back, so he might be here tonight. Maybe tomorrow at dawn, if lucky...''

''How many men on the ships?'' Astrid asked, standing next to Hiccup behind Heather. ''Do you have a specific number?''

''I'd say at least fifteen per ship.'' she answered, quite sure of herself. ''All heavily armed, ready for combat.''

''Then we better prepare ourselves.'' said Hiccup, staring at the map before him, frowning. ''It won't be pretty.''

Astrid and Heather stayed where they were as the rest of the group made a walk to leave the Clubhouse.

''Unpredictable, you said?'' stated Tuffnut, concerning their leader's speech just before the black-haired girl's arrival. He turned the corner and disappeared out of sight. Astrid could hear the slight giggling from Ruffnut at her brother's comment.

Windshear and Stormfly suddenly passed in front of the door, running after each other as they played. If their rider were friends, they were too.

Astrid watched them all leave just as did Heather, and after a short moment of awkwardness, they turned to face each other.

''So?'' said Heather, bringing in a subject. ''You and Hiccup—''

''Don't say it.'' Astrid snapped in a friendly way. ''No, we're not a thing. Don't get your hopes too high – wait... do you—''

She caught the slight smirk growing on her friend's lips as she got her answer.

''—ship it?'' Heather finished for her. ''Yes.''

''Urgh..!'' Astrid breathed out, taking hold of her axe lying on the table around the fire pit; and swung it over her shoulder.

''Okay, I'll quit.'' giggled Heather as she grabbed her own battle axe. ''What else can we do here, expect throwing axes to targets in the woods?''

Astrid showed her a smile and gestured to follow.

''If you really want extreme,'' she said. ''This way.''

The two girls went off, weapons in hands and climbed on their dragons' backs. The Deadly Nadder and Razorwhip spread their wings and shot downwards, towards the arena, where the training field was still up. To Astrid, it was far possibly the most realistic training exercise she had ever tried. Now it was time to test Heather.