Kenna
The next morning came too early and too bright for most of the population of New Berk, but Kenna was up early. She had been unable to sleep, too preoccupied with the looming threat of attack. She had called Moon quietly, so she didn't wake any slumbering vikings or dragons, and the two had flown through the chilly dawn air to watch the sun rise. They had flowin the highest point of the island, where they landed. Kenna was leaning against Moon with her feet dangling off the high cliff. The two watched the sky turn from dark blue, to purple, to pink just before the sun came up, and then brightened into a warm orange as the sun rose in the sky.
She had returned to Valka's very late into the night, only a few hours before she woke. She and Eret had shared their experiences over the past year, and it left Kenna feeling conflicted. She felt overwhelming amounts of guilt for leaving without telling Eret, thinking she was protecting him, but had instead subjected him to torture at the hands of Drago and his men. Her heart tightened when he showed her his scars' the deep gashes across his back from a lashing he had received for attacking Drago after she left, the brand left on his chest from returning empty-handed on a dragon-trapping mission, as well as several other scars that he had received from frightened dragons or the weaponry used to capture them. He had told her not to worry, that it was in the past, but Kenna feared for him all the same. Drago was coming for a fight, to get revenge, and both Eret and Kenna, as well as Hiccup had wronged him.
Despite her feelings of guilt and sorrow about all that had happened over the past eight years, Kenna also felt a great happiness. Those most important to her had survived, and now they had the possibility to be a real family. There was an innocence she shared with Eret, similar to the feelings that they had experienced when they were younger. Hope for the future, but also a nervousness to reconnect. It left her feeling giddy and warm, despite the crisp morning air.
Eret had walked her back to Valka's cabin, where he had kissed her tenderly, said 'I love you,' and turned for his own home.
She sighed and laid down on the ground, next to Moon, who looked at her with bright blue eyes, head cocked to the side.
"I want to be with him, girl," she said to her friend, "I want to marry him. I want to have a family. But I'm scared. Scared what Drago could still do. Scared to have hope. I love him so much, but I couldn't bear losing him again."
The white dragon's ears perked up and she stood, looking behind her.
"What is it?" asked Kenna.
Over the cliff came the black shadow of a Night Fury and his rider. They landed on the rock face near Kenna and Moon, and Hiccup dismounted.
"Looks like you had the same idea as me," the young chief said, his eyes glittering with excitement. "Early morning ride?"
"I needed to clear my head," Kenna replied as the alpha and his mate rubbed against each other in affection.
Hiccup sat down next to her and dangled his legs over the edge as well. But where Kenna had been observing the horizon, Hiccup's eyes went to the village below.
"It's a lot to take in," he said quietly. "The idea that Drago's alive and even more dangerous. He nearly destroyed my village before. I can't imagine what he'll try to this time."
"I get it," Kenna said. "I thought I was free of him, but I'm not. And it's not just us, Hiccup, it's the dragons. He's coming for them and I don't know where he'll go first."
"That's actually why I came up here," he said. "I called a meeting with the dragon riders to form a battle plan. We need you to come tell us what we're up against, so that we can protect Berk AND the Hidden World."
The two mounted their dragons and flew down to the Great Hall, where the rest of the riders and their dragons had gathered. The two entered the hall, and sat down where the rest of the riders were seated.
Astrid nodded to Kenna, "Morning," she said with a slight smile. Kenna nodded in response.
"Alright guys," Hiccup began, "I told you that Drago is alive and that he could be coming here, so we need to form a battle plan. Kenna informed me that his main goal is the Hidden World, to either take the dragons or to eliminate them. He also has a grudge out for me and Toothless. We need to make sure that we aren't caught unprepared again. Not like last time. Kenna, what are we up against and how long do we have?"
Kenna took in a deep breath and collected her thoughts.
"Drago's ultimate goal is to get to the Hidden World," she began. "I don't know if he plans to control the dragons there, or destroy them. That was always his plan. To control the dragons, to make him the ultimate ruler. When he was defeated, I thought that things would quiet down, but as all of you know, others just stepped into his place or continued his mission. I know that you destroyed a sizeable fleet a few years ago. But that's just a small portion of what he has. There were others spread across the world, capturing dragons and burning entire cities. His entire armada is planning an attack on the Hidden World. One one of my night raids, I overheard that they were planning to leave around the summer solstice."
"That's only a moon away!" Fishlegs squeaked.
"I know it doesn't give us a lot of time, but I think we can come up with a plan to stop it all. I know what he has available. I've seen it. The challenging part is setting up defenses here AND at the Hidden World. You have the cliffs here, which will help, but if he knows where the Hidden World is, that is going to be a massive fight. There's no land, so we can't have any kind of land-based defenses. And there are thousands of ships. We will be massively outnumbered, even with the dragons."
Astrid cut in. "What kind of weapons do they have? Our priority is Berk and its people."
"As far as I know, they don't have anything on their ships that can harm Berk," Kenna replied. "The weapons that they do have are used to capture and control dragons. They have all kinds of traps. The have iron dome traps, razor wire, iron net launchers-"
"We've seen those," Astrid countered. "Do they have anything new? How are they controlling the dragons? Is there another Alpha?"
"No, they don't have an Alpha. They have chemical ways of controlling the dragons. I'd only heard about it from others. They use drogon root to subdue the dragons, and then a type of venom to control them."
Kenna paused when she noticed the look of unease that passed around the table. Hiccup looked at her, eyebrows furrowed with worry.
"Do you know what the venom is or where they got it from?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," Kenna replied hesitantly. "They just said that it was 'the dragon killer's'. I don't know who the Dragon Killer was, but they either took this venom from him, or he gave it to them."
"Grimmel," Hiccup said darkly, his eyes burning with fury. He turned to Kenna. "Grimmel tried to kill Toothless. He was a dragon hunter, only interested in killing. He had a team of Deathgrippers, whose venom could control other dragons, making them his slaves."
"I wish I knew more about what they had. I could only see what they had above deck. The ships are all armed with rapid-fire ballistas that not only launch nets and traps, but also harpoons. I think Drago wants to annihilate the dragons, not control them all. There were cages, but not as many as I was expecting."
Hiccup looked away and chewed on his lip in thought. Astrid placed a hand on his shoulder.
"There's more." Kenna added, her voice quiet. Hiccup turned his gaze back toward her. 'I mentioned this to Hiccup and Valka, but he has thousands of dragons already under his control. They are his weapons. They are covered in armor, and many have additional weapons mounted to their armor. Blades dipped in dragon root or venom, saddles for riders armed with crossbows, axes, bolas, and more."
"Then we fight back," Hiccup said firmly. "We arm our dragons with armor and weapons. We use their abilities against the others. We train every able-bodied rider for battle. We out-think him." He was getting excited now, pulling rolls of parchment toward him. "We use what we've got. Mom, Kenna, you know more about dragons than anyone. You know their abilities. Could you work with them and their riders to train using those abilities?" The two women nodded. "Fishlegs- we could use the Boulder Class dragons to fortify the island. Dig some caverns so that the villagers who can't fight can go somewhere safe." The large man nodded in affirmation. "Gobber- we're going to need armor, saddles, and weapons. Lots of them. Get creative."
The large one-legged man laughed loudly. "You've got it, ma boy. I've been itchin' to get ma hand on some iron again!"
"Astrid- I need to to train the riders for combat. I don't want you to-" Hiccup was cut off by Astrid.
"If you even mention the fact that I shouldn't train because I'm pregnant, I will make sure you never have children again."
"Okay…" Hiccup said nervously. "Eret can help train. Utilize their strengths." Eret nodded curtly. "Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut- call everyone together for a town meeting. I'll get some Terrors out to keep watch for us. If any of them come back, we'll know Drago is close."
"Where will you be chief?" Eret asked. "People might have questions, including us."
"I'll be in the forge with Gobber. I've got some ideas," Hiccup said with a glint in his eye.