A/N: I want to thank Natan Fierreta for giving me this idea. Your super long message is very much appreciated ;)

And while I'm at it, I also want to give a very special thank you to Midnight510, who has reviewed every single chapter since she came across this story.

Hiccup was starting to feel desperate; he'd been in here for at least two hours and he was no closer to finding that stupid message. Astrid had left almost as soon as he'd shown her what he'd discovered, saying she'd have to make a plan soon. (When she opened the door, he could clearly hear the guards making lewd comments; she'd laughed it off, but Hiccup could feel himself blushing again.) He'd put the parchment back where he'd taken it from and kept looking, but this place was an absolute disaster and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it. Plus, he was starving, since he hadn't had lunch, which didn't exactly help him concentrate; his stomach grumbled miserably.

At last, after another half hour, he finally found the parchment from Uffe to Gunnar. He considered reading it before giving it, but decided against it; Bard would obviously ask him if he'd read it, and he didn't think his acting skills were good enough to lie convincingly, especially if there was something important in there. They'd just made a big discovery anyway; they could work with that. He knocked on Bard's door. (What had he been doing in there all this time?) The man opened it and grinned at him.

"You found it? Good! I thought it was lost." Hiccup raised an eyebrow and decided not to ask why he'd been given the task in that case. Bard took the parchment and squinted at it for a few seconds. He moved it alternatively closer and further away from his face in a way that was admittedly very comical, although Hiccup made sure to keep a neutral expression. Should he leave? He hadn't been dismissed, but...

Bard cleared his throat. "Um, you know, Uffe's handwriting is pretty terrible and my eyes aren't what they used to be. Constant exposure to dragon fire has damaged them, you know. I need you to read me this." He handed back the parchment. As the rider obliged –it was just a lot of talk about supplies for the army and the dragons – his mind was racing again, this time with an idea that was probably dangerous, but he just might be able to make it work out in his favour. Once he was done, he added in as casual a tone as he could manage, "It seems that you have some difficulty with reading some things." Before the man could get offended, he quickly added, "I could help you with that. You know, so you don't have to go around asking low-ranking people like me to read things that are confidential."

For a while, Bard started at Hiccup, his face showing a mixture of anger, curiosity and eagerness before settling into a mild disinterest. "That doesn't sound like a too terrible idea. I'll come get you tomorrow after your shift at the workshop. Now go."

Relieved, he went to the exit, when the man's voice called him again. "Oh, and recruit?"

"Yes?" He turned around.

"It goes without saying that, if you speak of any of this to anyone, you'll regret it. Am I clear?" He nodded. "And by anyone, I mean your girlfriend." Under different circumstances, he might have blushed, but after the guards' comments, this was nothing. "Don't tell her anything."

"Noted, sir."

Bard looked at him in a strange way, then laughed. "You're going to tell her anyway, aren't you?" He didn't give him a chance to deny it. "You are hopeless, boy. Can't say I blame you, though. Women can be persuasive, don't I know it." There was a silence where Hiccup tried and failed to form an appropriate response. "All right, then. Tell her if she doesn't keep her mouth shut, you're going to pay for it." Bard seemed pleased with the ingenuity of his idea; Hiccup just nodded and left.

As he walked away from the room (thankfully, the guard had changed while he was in there and no jokes at his expense were made), he allowed himself to feel something like satisfaction and hope. If he could turn this to his advantage, he could very well learn some important information; he just needed to be extremely careful.

That night, as he and Astrid devoured their dinners (he had no idea why, but she seemed as hungry as he was), he shared the day's events with her, finding an inordinate enjoyment in seeing how impressed she was with what he'd achieved. She was surprised; he didn't think anything could surprise her, so he felt oddly proud for that.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked, chewing on her fish.

"I'm not entirely sure", he confessed. "I mean, I guess I should try to get something out of him, but..."

"You don't know if you can do it in a way that isn't suspicious", she finished.

"Exactly. Acting isn't a skill that I have a lot of practice with. I was hoping you could give me some pointers or something."

She hmmed. "For now, at least, I'd recommend not trying anything. Just... be a suck-up."

Hiccup choked on his food and Astrid had to slap him in the back, his shoulders shaking with laughter as he struggled to swallow. When he managed to breathe again, he looked at her with an incredulous grin. "What?"

She smiled back. "I'm serious. With a man like Bard, flattery will get you far, trust me. Compliment him every now and then, and always agree with him. Listen to everything he has to say, and you might gain his favour. That could be useful."

"Won't it be too obvious, though?"

"Probably, but as long as his ego is groomed, he won't care."

"You speak as if you knew him", he observed.

She shrugged. "I've worked with a lot of men like him. I know exactly what his type is."

"Okay. So... be flattering, and maybe he'll like me enough to let something escape?"

"He probably loves to talk and boast, so I think that's our best shot."

"And what about... the other thing?"

"I'll have to try and find out how to get to Drago's chambers. Some girls at the kitchen go around the ship, bringing food to admirals and other high-ranking people who are too busy or don't want to eat with everybody else. I'll need to find a way to become one of those girls." She regarded him thoughtfully. "Maybe you could suggest to Bard that I'm a fast runner and I could deliver meals quickly." Hiccup nodded. "Once I figure out the exact location, we'll need to find out who has a key. And we'll also need to find a way to get rid of the guards."

He frowned. "How do you know that there are guards?"

She waved a hand. "I heard it on the first day. I didn't tell you before because it wouldn't really matter until we knew exactly where that was."

"Very well." He smiled. "So at least we've got a plan now."

Astrid's eyes seemed to sparkle in the dim light of the ship. "We do."

The next day, everything went on as usual; Hiccup worked at the forge, had a break at noon to have lunch (the guy from last time was there again; since the auburn-haired boy was first in line, he made sure to glare at him as he passed) and then back to work. Sadly, there was nothing to be done with the dragons today; apparently, they only fed them every other day to keep them ravenous and angry. Which was barbaric, of course, but then again, everyone on this ship was, too; it made sense.

As the sun set and the smiths were finishing up, Bard showed up and took him outside, snarling at the man in charge when he protested that Hiccup still had some minor things to do. He'd expected to be brought back to the parchment room, so he was caught off guard when Bard took him downstairs and led him through a series of darkened hallways with important-looking doors. These, he realised, where probably the chambers of all the admirals and generals; he filed it away in his mind for future use and tried to look as disinterested as possible. After a series of turns, they finally entered a narrow door on their left. The room inside was surprisingly neat and clean; he'd never imagined Bard to be the kind of man that cared much for order, but everything seemed to be where it was supposed to. There wasn't a single paper in sight, which was a disappointment, considering he'd hoped maybe he could take a peek at some parchment strewn around. Evidently, Bard had made sure not to make such a mistake.

"Well", the other man said, "what are you waiting for? Let's get started."

And with that, they sat down at the table, side by side so that Hiccup could see what the general was doing, and with some paper and pencil that he took out of a small drawer under the table (the boy mentally took note of that) they began. He was pleased to discover that, despite his brutish appearance, Bard was actually fairly smart and quick to learn. It made sense, he guessed; getting as high as the man was without some brains was probably impossible in an army as well organised as this one. It wouldn't take him too long to properly learn to read; if he put his mind to it, he could be done in a week, maybe.

Bard seemed particularly pleased when Hiccup told him this, after about an hour of copying symbols and short words. "No maybes. I will be done by the end of this week."

"Yes, but you probably need to practise on your own for that", he warned. "Maybe find a couple minutes to go to the parchment room and try to read a random letter."

The man huffed. "I see what you mean, but I don't like it. I hate the parchment room."

Hiccup raised his eyebrows. Hoping he wasn't overstepping his boundaries, he asked why.

"Because it's a bloody mess, that's why. Not a single thing in place. I don't understand how we can afford to have such careless messengers when we could easily kick them out and get people who are actually capable."

"It does seem strange", he cautiously agreed.

"If it were up to me, I would've taken care of it long ago", Bard continued. "But alas, it's not. I'm not an admiral, so I can't make that sort of decision. And since the admirals don't actually care that much about anything other than battle, they never listen to any sort of complaint."

"Not even from the generals?" Hiccup asked, trying to sound indignant in a way that showed his support for the man.

"Not even from each other, boy. Drago is the only person those rascals really listen to."

"That's..." 'Outrageous' seemed too strong a word; it wouldn't do to agree too much with Bard. The man would realise what he was up to immediately, and the longer he could keep him talking, the better. "That doesn't sound very efficient. I mean, if the admirals don't actually spend that much time with everyone else, how can they possibly know what the problems are to make decisions accordingly?"

The dark-haired man stared at him for a few seconds, making him wonder if he had gone too far despite his attempt not to. However, the next question caught him completely unawares.

"How do you know that they don't spend time with everyone else? You don't know who they are."

He froze for a second. He'd remembered Astrid's words the previous night, but he couldn't exactly tell him that; even if the girl herself had learned it from kitchen gossip and that wasn't strange, he didn't want to put her in the spot unless there was no other choice. Thankfully, he remembered Eret. "I haven't seen Eret... Eretson around, and he told us he was an admiral. I guess I made the assumption that every other admiral was like him."

Bard chuckled, and Hiccup relaxed. "Bit of a jump there, don't you think?" He shrugged, and the man continued. "As a matter of fact, Eretson is probably the best of them, or at least, the one whose head is least stuck up his arse." He snorted at that, and the general grinned at him. "Anyway, that's enough. I probably sound like Solveig, gossiping around."

"Solveig?" he asked as he slowly stood.

"The woman in charge of the kitchen. You've never seen a looser tongue, I guarantee you. Don't ever tell her anything you don't want other people to know. And even when you keep things secret, somehow she finds out. I swear she knows more about what goes on in this ship than Drago himself."

"You sound like you know her a lot", he commented as he went to the door.

Bard grinned. "That's a story for another time, boy."

"So, did you learn anything?" Astrid asked that night, as they had dinner.

"A few things." He told her about the location of all the chambers that appeared important, as well as what the general had told him about the chain of command in the ship. The blonde, however, seemed more interested in how Bard had spoken with him.

"The way you're telling it, it sounds like you had quite the conversation", she mentioned.

"Well, yes. He started on a rant about the organisation, and how he'd do it better, and I tried to keep him going."

"The organisation?"

"Yes. It seems to me that he likes order in everything; his chambers certainly gave that impression."

"That's good to know", she mused. "It's a way to get in his good graces. When you're at the forge, make sure that your table, at least, is relatively organised; he'll like that."

"Okay. Oh, he also mentioned he knew Solveig, the woman at the kitchen, but when I asked how, he said he'd tell me at another time."

Astrid seemed satisfied. "So he'll tell you. That's perfect; it means that he trusts you, or at least is comfortable enough with you to chat. When he tells that tale, try to find a way to mention me and suggest that I work bringing food. Once I get to do that, I'll have to explore this hallway that you spoke about. If it seemed important, chances are that Drago's chambers are there."

"I'll have to be extra careful; Bard's actually very smart, and he could catch on to me at the slightest slip."

"I'm sure you'll manage." She smiled warmly, in that way that made his brain stop for a second. "You've done pretty well so far. I'm actually quite impressed."

He shrugged, not really knowing how to react to a direct compliment (a by product of his entire life). "I've just been lucky."

"Even so. Not everyone would've been able to take the opportunity as you did. Many would've broken down under the pressure."

"Yes, well, I know what's at stake." He felt his expression get more serious. "And it's more important than anything that might happen to me here."

Her voice softened to a degree he didn't think possible. "Not to me."

To that, he had no reply.