"Dad, no!" I'm screaming, but it's too late.

The guards are all scattering and everyone on my squad has their swords drawn and fighting. Guards swarm onto the stage, coming between Dad and Alvin. Dad drives his shoulder into the first guard who reaches him, sends the man flying off the stage, and whirls to block the sword thrust of another.

Alvin stands above me and laughs.

I slide my hand into the hidden pocket of my belt, find my sheath, and pull my knife free. My bow would be useful, but I plan on taking Alvin head on.

Someone calls my name, and I see Astrid break through a couple Outcast soldiers and rush toward the stage.

"Go back!" I yell and struggle to my feet, my knife ready.

I turn away, praying dad isn't dead. He isn't. He fights like a man possessed – swinging, thrusting, and attacking with terrifying speed and force, disarming and disabling every opponent who comes at him. I had no idea he had this in him, and it's clear I'm not the only one.

Alvin stops laughing and draws his own sword.

Raising my knife, I calculate the angle I'll need to drive the blade though his back and into his heart. Before I can thrust my weapon forward, I'm body slammed from the side and sent sailing off the stage, and into the crowd of guards, and I'm hoping undercover soldiers of my army. They're still milling at the base of the stage, unsure what their role in this unprecedented display of violence should be.

Hands reach for me, steady me, and try to hold me back. I punch, kick, and swing my knife until they back away. I can't save Dad unless I'm on the stage. Anyone standing between me and him is dead.

I race toward the steps, beating away the few that still reach for me, but before I can mount the stage, a guard jumps in front of me. I drive my knife through his stomach, twist to the right and yank it free while he's still in the act of telling me to halt.

Crimson splashes on my suit. I look away from it and concentrate on reaching Dad. I'm on the stage driving my knife into the back of the guard blocking that exit before he even knows what his him. Not stopping to check if he's dead, I vault over his body and try to see Dad.

He's trapped at the center of the stage. Eight soldiers. Another dozen guard. And in the center of it, Alvin.

I race forward, and Alvin screams for his guards to fall back. Dad is bruised, battered and bleeding, but holds his sword steady. Not that it will help him now. There are too many. He can't take them all.

I can't either.

Just as I'm about to slip into the circle, a distant screaming catches everyone's attention. Everyone turns their heads in the same direction just in time to see Toothless shoot straight at the stage. The old thing explodes in a burst of blue and red and orange. Smoke erupts and the guards fly in all directions. I look up and see the brigade of dragons fly overhead.

Toothless finds me in the smoke and I mount and fly above to try and locate dad. No doubt the explosion saved Dad, but Alvin is nowhere to be found. I bring Toothless in close and he flaps his wings until the smoke is clear.

Dad's the first thing I see, still standing, and when Gobber comes to his aid, I try to find Alvin. I find him just getting up from the explosion. Toothless fires again and apparently Alvin still has enough sense to dodge. I keep firing, but he keeps avoiding them. He dodges and throws a knife, but Toothless easily misses.

I fly Toothless farther out so the whole square is in view. Everyone's outnumbered. Skullette and her Dad are back to back, rotating in circles as five guards circle them. Dad and Gobber still fight near the remains of the stage. A guard thrusts. Dad blocks, but it's clear he's been injured and lacks the strength to keep up the fight for long.

Gobber whirls and swings, flinging drops of blood. His sword goes wide, and Alvin steps into the gap, using Gobber's momentum against him. In seconds, Dad's down and Alvin has his sword against Dad's neck, and his vicious smile twists. The guards behind Gobber grab his arms, fling his sword to the floor, and pin him in place for Alvin.

"You'll pay for giving you son the false hope of even thinking he can defeat me, Stoick." Alvin says, and aims his blade at Dad's throat.

"Wait!" My voice carries across the Square and freezes everyone in place for the split second it takes me to hop off of Toothless and fall to my knees where Alvin can see me, but no guard can reach me in time.

Alvin laughs, "Come to beg me to save him?"

My smile feels just as vicious as his. "He isn't the one who needs saving."

"Hiccup, no." Dad breathes.

I ignore him.

"What are you going to do? Kill me?" Alvin's voice is full of malice.

"No," I say. Raising my knife, I aim at the soft spot just below my sternum and take a deep breath.

Alvin's sword, still pointed at Dad's throat, wavers. "What are you doing?"

"Taking away the one thing you really want." I say and dig the tip of the knife into my flesh, feeling a flash of pain and then the warmth of blood running down my skin.

Guards surge forward, and I scream, "Stop, or I'll do it!"

Alvin sweeps his hand up, palm out, and the guards stop.

"Hiccup, please," Dad says softly. "Not this."

I don't look away from Alvin. "You want what only I know. If you or anyone else in this city lays a hand on Dad or anyone I love, I'll kill myself and you'll never have my knowledge of dragons!"

His jaw is clenched, pulling his skin tight. "Yesterday I wouldn't have said you had this in you."

"The boy you dealt with yesterday is gone." My voice is cold, my words rising from the terrible grief he carved into me with Mulch's death.

His eyes are fierce pits of hatred as he lowers his sword.

I may not be able to put up a fight with him or the guards, but what I can do is lead them away in time for Dad to get the others safe.

I flick my eyes to the right and see a brown and white Clydesdale. Perfect. I'll only have one shot at this.

Thankfully my clock managed to survive the chaos, and now that I'm on my knees, it covers my hands as I go to my second hidden knife. In a second I fling it toward Alvin like a dagger. As he dodges, I sling my bow off my shoulder and whack two guards in my way and dash for the Clydesdale.

I run up a few barrels and jump until I land on its back and snap the reins. We bolt forward and take off heading in the directions of the gates. Behind me I can hear Alvin yell at his guards to follow me. I slide my sheath to my hip and shoot at any guards standing in our way.

With that I clear a straight path to the gates. I know I didn't have time to tell Dad my new plan, but I'm hoping he'll catch on. The pain from blow my sternum stings, but I occupy my mind with mind over matter. Lead Alvin away to save the others.

We bolt through the gates which were left wide open, and I shoot a guard trying to stop me. If my arrow didn't kill him, then the horses hooves did. We ride off into the cold gray air, which has now become thick with fog. The galloping of the horse's hooves helps me forget the pounding in my ears.

We've been riding for over ten minutes. As I'm about to slow down, I see the horse's ears twitch left and right, and I know e have pursuers. I turn to look over my right shoulder and see at least five men on horseback not too far behind me.

Knowing that my horse is probably getting tired, I only hope that his drive to escape the horrid that is Outcast Island is as strong as mine. I snap the reins and he increases speed.

After I know we've gained a small amount of distance, I let the reins drop to his neck, and pull an explosive arrow from my sheath and turn my body and aim at the ground. It explodes on impact, knocking out two riders. I feel bad hurting the horses; natural instinct I guess.

I load a regular arrow and aim at the rider farthest to the left. The arrow shifts direction, but still makes a fatal blow to the rider's neck, knocking him off. Once he falls, I actually see his horse ride faster, happy. Free of his abusive rider. He levels up to us and neighs as a thank you.

I smile and an arrow suddenly whizzes by me, just missing my right ear. I turn back as an Outcast soldier loads another arrow, but he's already dead before he gets the chance, as I drive an arrow into his skull.

One left.

But I can't drop my guard. I look behind in the mist and see at least four more. The only thing that keeps me going is the thought that if many Outcasts are out here, then dad must've hopefully gotten everyone else. All I can do is lead them on.

The horse that I freed splits once we reach a fork in the road. Knowing the horse will be a dead giveaway to me, I hastily unlace the saddle and remove the bit. With a skilful toss, it flings at the Outcast like a bolas. It knocks him off and while I know he's still alive, at least it'll knock him out cold long enough for me to take out the other.

I slide the saddle off and rely on my balance to stay on the horse. Thankfully my flying with Toothless has made this easy. I turn my head, to looks at the horse, and he turns to me. I smile and he snorts. And with one leap, I'm rolling in the dir and the galloping becomes distant.

I quickly pull myself to my feet and start sprinting, pulling my hood over my head. I landed on the outer border of a forest. Regardless of danger, I dive in head first. I don't stop running even though I don't hear the pounding of hooves. A few more minutes and the pain from when I stabbed myself, snakes its way into my ribs until they're feeling like they're on fire.

But I don't stop.

While I know the fact that I jumped is on their minds, I don't imagine them coming after me so soon. To turn the horse around to look where I jumped should buy me enough time. But unfortunately, not even I know where I am. Once I break through some old bushes without leaves, I see I've reached a clearing.

It's wide and open and close to a valley of a canyon. There are several rock ridges where I could stake out a surprise attack, but I need to make sure they see me so that they don't go back for Dad and the others. But how am I supposed to find them when I don't even know where I am?

The Outcasts know this island better than anyone, and I know they won't come back until they've found me for the sake of having to deal with an angry Alvin. And best of all, with my wound, if I act helpless, it'll draw them in life bees to honey.

I wait for a few minutes and pace back and forth to subdue the pain in my ribs, and even try to make myself known by stupidly calling out to Dad. Finally after several minutes, three Outcasts come into view.

"There he is!" one of them screams and they all charge forward.

I pretend to act scared and bolt for the canyon valley. Making sure they notice my slow pace due to my wound. I can hear the hooves coming in close. I scan ahead and make a sharp left. The Outcasts zip past and have to stop and turn before they can follow me again.

As I'm running, I study the sides and streams of the canyon. There's a dead end coming up ahead. I make another turn, my cloak flowing as I run. On my way, two horsemen match my pace so they're on both my sides.

They mockingly laugh, thinking they've got me. But with one quick jab of my hand, I latch onto the Outcast to my left and use his weight to pull myself up and kick him off. I release him as my feet hover over the saddle of the horse so that we don't fall off together.

I shift to one knee and aim an arrow at the second rider. He falls to the ground, in a puddle of mud that soon turns red as blood seeps from his wound. I turn away and hop off the horse as we reach a narrow pathway in the canyon.

There's a pause and silence. There's whistling and the sound of more hooves. I turn in a circle and just as I've made a complete 180, three more riders bolt from a hidden hole in the canyon wall. I start running again.

Okay, even this is too much for me. It's like they're hunting me down. Like a wolf. A predator. Hungry for my flesh. I keep my eyes on the lining of the canyon walls and turn to the left knowing I'll have reached a dead end.

I can hear them mock me, "Ha-ha! We've got him now!"

"Ha-ha! You betcha!"

Once I hear the hooves behind me, I turn and look defeated. I use my cloak to hide how many arrows I have left. If they see that, they'll know I have a chance to win. But instead of using my bow, I sling it over my shoulder and run up the side of the wall, leaping to a ledge big enough to hold me.

Using my momentum, I thrust myself forward and run as fast as I can before gravity takes effect and pulls me down, just on the other side of the horses that were blocking my only exit. I quickly turn back and shoot an explosive arrow at the ledge and once it explodes, a small avalanche of rocks falls, trapping the Outcasts.

With a slap, the horses ride off after I remove their saddles and bits and reins. I listen closely and don't hear the sound of any more pursuers. I don't know where I could be, but knowing how far I ran, I must be in the middle, if not, close to the other side of the canyon.

Knowing I have time, since the number of Outcasts following me was large enough that Dad and the others were safe, I allow myself to walk for a good few minutes. I watch my breathing so that my sternum doesn't slow me down.

When the pain is durable, I alternate between walking and jogging until I reach the mouth of the canyon. As I climb over a few rocks, I see a nature-drawn border where the rocky, dry land turns to grass once more. I decide to do a steady jog until I reach the border.

But as just clear an outcropping of rocks, a noose, or lasso more precisely, flies out of nowhere and encloses around my neck. I can still breathe, but I'm yanked back. I tumble down a small hill before crashing into the dirt. Puffs of dry soil cloud around me. An Outcast comes out of hiding, laughing, mocking me.

"Thought you could escape us, Hiccup? Ha-ha!"

Fury pulls me to me feet, and I'm about to charge when another lasso closes around my neck and keep me back. There's chatter and more and more men show up. Calling left and right as they locate me.

Another lasso snags my right hand and I'm pulled back again into the dirt. I jump to my feet, not willing to give up too easily. I run for the next Outcast, but a fifth lasso grabs my left back ankle. A sixth, my left wrist.

I feel like an animal. Trapped. At the mercy of hunters. Lassoing me, capturing me. So I might as well act like it.

I kick scream and wail out. Flailing my limbs in an attempt to ward them off. But they all back up, pulling the strings tight. Forcing me to collapse to the ground as they surround me.

"Hold him! Hold him!" an Outcasts screams as I continue to wail. Not as severe as I did with the men in the alley, but fairly close.

As I continue to struggle, there's the faint sound of footsteps. Over on a rock ridge, I hear a pleading cry. I look up and see Toothless. Behind him I see Dad, Skullette, Gobber, Astrid. Everyone.

"Toothless?" I whisper.

Suddenly he digs his claws into the rock and begins to slowly slide down the ridge to reach me.

No.

"Toothless, no! Stop!" I scream at the top of my lungs. It's so loud and sudden, he stops dead and freezes.

I can't let them take him.

"Toothless, go! Get out of here!" I order.

Toothless stands there immobilized by his fear. He wants to stay, to help me. He can't leave me behind. But he has to.

"NOW!"

Toothless' eyes become glassy. In a way that's out of the ordinary even for a dragon. His eyes furrow, and with a painful, blood-chilling, heart-retching wail of misery, he turns away and climbs back up the rock ridge.

Everyone then turns away and with two steps forward, they're out of sight. Once they're gone, the Outcasts continue to surround me and pull at the ropes.

Panic begins to set in.

I was scared.

I don't know what's going to happen to me, but at least Dad and the others were safe.

And that to me, is a small victory I can carry to my grave.