Hello Dearest Readers. The new chapter is here, there are two more chapters left.

Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them and believe it or not, they make me write faster.

There is one thing though: if you ask about the new update (or anything else) as a guest reviewer, I can't answer your question, so head over to my tumblr page (haddocksortails tumblr com) and there I can answer the anonymous asks.

Anyways, I hope all of you have great weekends and I also hope that you will like this chapter.

§§§

"Then we are immediately leaving for Cod's Breath!" exclaimed Hiccup. The unusual strength and determination in his voice surprised both him and his father; giving direct orders to his parent slash chief wasn't his forte, but there was no time to lose. The thought that Astrid could have been the prisoner of the ferocious madman for almost a week now made his skin itch and his heart skip a beat.

But to his disappointment Stoick shook his head. "I'm sorry, son. When I found the picture ye had drawn I sent a search party to Cod's Breath. They have found the filthy lair where the boy once lived, but it was clearly abandoned a long time ago."

Hiccup didn't say anything, he couldn't. Every time a glimmer of hope showed itself, it vanished the next moment. He was clueless, powerless, frustrated and despairing. For the first time in his life he had no Plan B and the inability to take action felt paralyzing.

But the choking silence of their home was suddenly broken by the thud of the opening door. Both men turned towards the source of the noise. At their doorstep stood Astrid's mom, Ashild Hofferson.

Hiccup immediately noticed that losing her only daughter took its toll on her appearance. Even though Mrs. Hofferson was past her fortieth summer, the last time Hiccup had seen her, she was a more mature, but almost equally beautiful version of Astrid - with a bit more curves and less radiant blonde hair. But now she was a mess. Her clothes and hair were unkempt, disheveled and her eyes were red and cloudy due to the thousands of tears she had shed in the past days.

She was only about half the height of her chief, but in two long strides she was in front of him and passionately grabbed his furry vest.

"Stoick, you need to save her! You need to save my daughter!" It was hard to decide whether she was begging or commanding, but the chief gently put his warm hands on her thin wrists, removing her ice cold fingers of his clothing.

"Ashild, you know I would do anything to find Astrid. She is very dear to my heart... not to mention his heart," he answered in a soothing voice and turned his head toward Hiccup who was quietly studying the scene that was unfolding in front of him. He blushed, but he agreed with Mrs. Hofferson, they had to find Astrid.

After the short pause, Ashild nervously shook her head. "No, no, no, you don't understand it. She is special, she is more important than any of us."

Stoick felt uneasy. After more than 20 years of dealing with his difficult people, he still wasn't very good at comforting distressed women. "Ashild, yer daughter is a well-respected member of our tribe and I..."

She shook her head again and cut him off. "My chief... I know that all daughters are highly important to their mothers, but trust me, she is important to all of us. Her fate could be our fate… She... I have confession to make."

The chief's hut once again became dead silent. After a long, awkward moment Stoick gestured toward the sturdy dining table and all three of them sat down quietly.

Ashild was fixing the tabletop for a little while, collecting her thoughts, calming her nerves a little. Then she took a deep, heartbreaking sigh of pain and she started to talk. "I'm sure you have heard the rumors about the Rune Reader; the keeper of our ancestors' knowledge and wisdom."

She paused. Both men, father and son, were looking at her with puzzled faces. The legend of the Rune Reader was just a rarely mentioned, vague story for most Berkians.

"I feel ashamed that I've kept such a secret from my chief, but it was safer this way. The Rune Reader does exist... For many generations, it was a female relative from my bloodline. As a matter of fact, it still is."

Now it was Stoick who shook his head in disbelief. It was clear that her daughter's disappearance didn't do good to Ashild. Eh, Rune Reader, as if… But the chief didn't want to sound rude, so he lowered his voice. "I'm sorry Ashild, I'm sure it's an interesting story, but I don't see how it is relevant now…"

"If you just let me talk, I will get to it soon," she said with a haughty, lecturing tone and it stunned Hiccup. He couldn't understand a thing anymore and he was clearly shaken by the fact that all the people - whom he had known all his life - were keeping secrets from him and each other.

"The Rune Readers are highly important; they are the ones who know how to read the ancient, secret runes. These runes are hidden on the pages of the Book of Dragons, the original one, which is in your possession."

"Mrs. Hofferson, I can assure you that I've read that book a thousand times and there are no secret signs in it," protested Hiccup anxiously.

"I'm sorry to say that, but you are wrong, lad. They are there, but they look like old scratches and stains for the untrained eyes."

Hiccup closed his eyes for a moment to recall the look of the pages. They were old parchments, yellowed and torn by the fingers of time. They were definitely covered by all sorts of marks and scratches that he thought were the results of passing decades.

Mrs. Hofferson looked at him and continued. "The Rune Reader can decipher these signs easily and the hidden runes hide powerful secrets. Hiccup, I know you're quite an expert on dragons, but there is more... There is a group of dragons called the "Hidden class"."

Hiccup was again out of words. He thought that due to his persistence and constant curiosity, he was the one who knew the most about the dragons on the whole archipelago. And now as he was listening to the mother of the one he loved the most, a seemingly simple and mostly quiet member of his own tribe, he slowly recognized that probably his knowledge wasn't that great at all.

"Mrs. Hofferson, please..." he asked weakly, desperately wanting to know more and lucky for him, Ashild Hofferson was more than willing to continue.

"The Hidden class is the collection of the deadliest, most dangerous dragons. Like the Red Death. They are practically undefeatable."

"So why aren't the attacking us?" thundered Stoick a bit impatiently, but Ashild answered rather calmly.

"Because almost all of them are just dragon eggs yet, sleeping their terrible dreams inside their shells. Some of them were destroyed by our ancestors, but most of them were just buried. But certain things, like an earthquake, can bring them to surface and then the warmth of the sun hatches them. Probably that was the case with the Red Death too."

Ashild stopped for a moment and let the men process the new information. Then she went on. "The secret runes tell the location of these dragon eggs. And if this information falls into the wrong hands, if someone with bad intentions finds a Hidden Class dragon..."

She didn't finish her sentence, there was no need for that, because both Haddocks started to understand her worries, but they still didn't know how was all that relevant to Astrid's disappearance.

Stoick was the one who finally asked the question a few, long seconds later."I'm sorry, Ashild, this secret must have been a heavy burden on yer heart for years, but I still don't quite understand what it has to do with Astrid…"

"Stoick, I have mentioned before that all Rune Readers come from my bloodline. At any given time there's only one Rune Reader and since her secret is so valuable and dangerous, she lives far away from the civilized world, up in the frozen plains of the North, somewhere among the vast dunes of snow and ice. She shares her quiet and unusually long life with a group of hardy dragons that can endure the harsh conditions and help her guard the secrets. But there are a few things she needs to do during her lifetime. Her most important task is to train a new Reader when she is past her eightieth winter. The new trainee should be an adolescent girl from my family."

The chief and his son looked at each other. They both knew that there was only one female in Ashild's family who fit the description, but neither of them could decide whether it was good news or bad.

Stoick quirked an eyebrow "Are ye telling us that Astrid is with this mysterious Rune Reader?"

Ashild shook her head with a heart breaking expression on her face. "No. I don't know where she is, but if she is with someone, who has heard about the Reader, she is in great danger."

"How? Why?" asked Hiccup impatiently, but Mrs. Hofferson knew he didn't mean to be rude. She had always liked the young chiefling, he had a good heart and a strong soul. In another life he could have been the perfect husband for her only daughter, in this one, sadly, it was probably not possible…

"Astrid doesn't know about anything. I should have told her about it, but... I haven't had the strength to share it with her yet, I wanted her to have as much carefree years as possible."

"But if she doesn't know about it, she is can't spill the beans about it," said Stoick confused.

"There's one more thing a Rune Reader has to do: for safety reasons, she has to move to a different location every twentieth winter. Before she does that, she shares her new location with the next possible trainee, so the aspiring Reader could find her when it is time for her to start her training. "

Stoick took a deep breath. Whatever Ashild was trying to tell them was very baffling. "So are you telling us that Astrid is in danger, because she knows the location of the Reader?"

"Well... She does. And she doesn't. I'm sorry, I know it's a bit complicated. Stoick, I'm sure you remember the Merciless Winter... Probably Hiccup has heard about it too."

The young man answered as if he was reciting homework. "The Merciless Winter was the cruelest and longest winter in Berk's known history. Many have frozen to death, others have starved to death... but I have no memory of it, I was just a baby back then."

Stoick was flabbergasted, somehow all this seemingly incoherent talk started to make some sense. "That was the winter you disappeared with your baby! I mean Astrid. And you have never given us an explanation..."

"Yes. That was the time when the Reader had to move. She sent a message to me with a Woolly Terror. They are like our Terrible Terrors, but they have much thicker skin and are covered with hair, because they live in the realm of the everlasting snow. I knew I had no choice. I had to sneak out in the middle of the night with Astrid in my arms and mount the Monstrous Nightmare she had sent for us. The Nightmares are very handy dragons in cold weather, but I'm sure you both know it. I knew that the purpose of our journey was to get the new location for Astrid, so she would be able to find the Reader when she came of age. I have a less important role in all this, I'm just the protector of the next Reader, because when I turned twenty, the current Reader was still young, barely sixty and there was no need to train me. Shortly after Astrid was born, the Reader was about to change locations, so I had to meet her for the new location, because I knew that one day she was going to teach Astrid."

"So, Ashild, are you telling me that Astrid has the map and it would be very dangerous if it ended up in the wrong hands?" asked Stoick.

Mrs. Hofferson nodded.

"Could it be a possibility that she was kidnapped because she has the map?"

"Yes, Stoick, I'm afraid that's what happened.

Hiccup was confused beyond belief. How could Astrid keep such a secret from him? For granted, she wasn't a blabbermouth, but he didn't remember hearing anything from her that had to do with the map or the secret runes...

But it was Stoick again who dared to ask the question. "So do you think that Astrid was kidnapped because she has the map and you fear that whoever has done this vile deed wants to take it from her by force?"

Mrs. Hofferson sat in silence for a while then she started to talk again, her voice barely above whisper. "The thing is that Astrid doesn't know about the map."

Stoick was losing his patience and slammed one of his enormous fists on the tabletop, the hard wood gave out a painful squeak. "Are you telling me, woman, that Astrid has a map with her and she doesn't know about it?!"

Ashild looked at Stoick first then her gaze slowly shifted to Hiccup. "Astrid doesn't have the map with her. It's on her."

§§§

Astrid hadn't seen the daylight for almost a week, so when she was dragged outside by two brawny soldiers she started blink fast even though the sky was grey and unfriendly with clouds.

Not far from the entrance of the cave that hid the dungeons and the cell she was kept in, a group of vigorous Outcasts were gathered, obviously waiting for a dose of evil and twisted excitement. She didn't want to show fear, she did not want to feed their vile souls with her misery, yet she had no clue about what was about to happen - she only knew that she was in deep trouble for something she couldn't make heads or tails of.

The clearing at the mouth of cave was pretty much empty, save from the gathering Outcasts, and the only manmade object on the barren grounds was a huge barrel.

Astrid gulped hard when she saw it. When she was little, she heard all those freaky stories about the oath-breaking pirates, who were put into empty barrels. The head of the barrel was set in place and the bung was removed. The thick wood of the barrel more or less quieted the screams coming from inside, but Astrid was sure that the torturers enjoyed hearing the muffled noises of pain when they put the barrels on a boat, rowed it to where the water was deep, and pushed the wooden container with the pirate inside into the hungry waves of the sea. She remembered how she shivered when she heard these tales, but it had never occurred to her that she might end up facing the mouth of a barrel one day...

She shook her head, trying to chase away the bad thoughts, but her two captors pulled her uncomfortably near the barrel before they stopped. From where she stood she could see that the barrel was filled to the rim with dirty water and it didn't add up with the pirate scenario. Before she could give it one more thought, she noticed Alvin who had just left the mouth of the cave. He seemed content, almost cheerful, while he was dragging the chained Gunns behind himself. The young man seemed vulnerable and broken. He could barely keep up with Alvin, he was struggling with every step. They were being followed by a dark shadow, that annoying old git, Mildew. The last time Astrid saw him they were on Berk and she wondered for a moment what he was doing on now Outcast Island…

Then she turned her head to look around. She was wondering whether they would bring out Gunns' mother from her cell, but there was no other female present apart from her.

Alvin stopped with Gunns a few steps away from Astrid and gestured to the two soldiers to let go of her arms while he unchained the fragile young man. Of course, Alvin didn't intend to give back their freedom, but it was pointless to keep them tied down, since they were surrounded by an army of Outcasts.

When Alvin was done, he walked to Astrid with a huge grin on his face, which gave her the gooseflesh and made all of her muscles tense. She was afraid of him, she would have been a fool if she wasn't.

"Well, well, well, look where we ended up because of your stupid stubbornness," he started with a stomach-churning fake sweetness in his voice, "but I'm in a very generous mood today, so I'm giving you one last chance to talk, young lady. Tell me everything you know about the Rune Reader. Tell me where she is."

Everybody was dead silent, all heads were turned to Astrid, all eyes were fixing her, waiting for her answer.

"I know nothing, as I have already told you," she said irritated. "But even if I did, I wouldn't tell you anything, not a single word." She debated spitting on the ground to emphasize her sheer disgust, but it would have been far too theatrical and it wasn't her style, so she just simply crossed her arms in front of her chest, like she always did when she found herself in an unpleasant or questionable situation.

When the stupid grin froze on Alvin's face, it felt like an accomplishment for Astrid, but sadly, it didn't last long and an evil fire lit up in the brute's dark eyes.

"You gave me no choice, you imbecile Hooligan, but trust me, I'll show you how to make a close-mouthed bird sing."

"Go ahead, you coward!" Shouted back Astrid at him and it seemed to surprise Alvin. She knew it would have been wiser not to talk, but she couldn't control the rage that was building in her.

"Yes, you are a coward, the only time you are strong and powerful is when you kidnap someone's mother and use her as leverage! You did that with Heather and now you did that to him too," she raised her hand and pointed to Gunns.

Alvin looked puzzled for a split second and it shocked Astrid, but what he said next shocked her even more….

"Hahaha! Nice! Did he tell you that I had kidnapped his mother?"

Astrid looked at Gunns, he hold her gaze for a moment, but then looked away when Alvin went to him and put an arm around his shoulder in a friendly manner.

"Look at this young man, Astrid and tell me, what you see. Perhaps now you think he is just a pile of broken bones and torn flesh. It's certainly true, my men know how to beat someone up, but there is so much more behind this mess."

A chilly feeling of uneasiness started to crawl up on Astrid's spine, she sensed that something was very wrong. She looked at the young man again. She treated his wounds and nurtured him back to life more than half a dozen times in the past few days…

"But when I look at him," continued Alvin, "I see determination. I see discipline. I see a bright future among the Outcasts. But do you know what? I'll let him do the talking, because I think it would be more painful for you if you hear it from his mouth."

When Gunns looked at her, an eerie shine glistened in his eyes. He straightened himself and started to look strangely healthier and less insecure.

"I don't have a mother," he announced simply as if it was the most natural thing on this Earth. Astrid's heart skipped a beat when she realized that she was tricked and betrayed. Again. She didn't like him, but she felt pity for him and she believed every word he had said in the solitude of their cell. She felt stupid. Defeated and helpless.

"I don't have a mother," he repeated, "I played a major part in your kidnap and I've asked Alvin's men to beat me up, so I would earn your sympathy. Which I did, so I think kudos for me."

"Don't flatter yourself, kid," interrupted Alvin suddenly while casually taking a few steps toward Astrid. Her instinct was to move, but she knew she had no chance to do anything. The Outcast leader was so close to her now that she could feel his warm breath on her neck.

"She never told you anything, we are not one step closer to the Reader," said Alvin to Gunns.

"Okay, this is ridiculous!" Astrid interrupted him and stamped with her foot angrily. "I've told you, I've never heard about anyone called the 'Reader'."

Her blood froze in her veins when Alvin's giant hand reached up from behind her and grabbed the back of her neck. The Outcast's fingers dug into her flesh. It wasn't painful, but it was highly uncomfortable, especially when he forced her to face Mildew, who was standing a good five meters behind them.

"Are you sure, old man, that she is the next Rune Reader?"

Mildew waited for a moment before he gave a determined nod. "I'm positive. Her mother had told me."

"What?! My mother? Why would my mother...?"

Astrid couldn't finish her sentence, because still holding her neck, Alvin started to drag her to the barrel. He only stopped when her knees hit the wooden staves and she hissed in pain.

"I'm done with you, Astrid. I've had enough of your lies and your sassy mouth. But I'll teach you discipline now. Ooo, you think you are so tough, right? I'll show you tough!"

His grip tightened around the back of her neck and he made her bend over, pushing her head with full force into the filthy, slimly water.

Everything happened so fast. She swallowed a few gulps of the disgusting liquid, but luckily, she didn't inhale it. She tried to move her arms, but Alvin was standing right behind her and they were pressed to the barrel. The big man held her head underwater for two seconds, but they felt like minutes.

He lifted her head and let her take a quick breath then cruelly pushed her head back into barrel. This time it was much worse, she was frightened and inhaled the disgusting liquid. It stung her lungs, it was terrifying.

But what was even more terrifying that it seemed there was no way out from Alvin's hands…