A/N: Wow, the response to last chapter was amazing! Thanks everyone! Buut, the other characters in this story demanded my attention :P


Valka looked down at the map and then back up at her surroundings to make sure she was following it correctly. Some of the names written on it were ones she'd never heard before, although the drawings were clear enough. According to the map, she should be getting close. She patted Cloudjumper's head.

"Get ready", she told him. He growled softly in response.

If Astrid knew what she was doing, she wouldn't be happy. This wasn't the plan, after all. She was only supposed to free the dragons she'd sold Mahzun, which she'd already done. However, after all the hunters ran away in fear, she'd wandered around their fortress and found a map detailing all the locations of their other dwellings.

For a moment, she'd considered attacking them all, until she remembered the situation: the whole point of this was helping Hiccup, not the dragons. Going after all of the hunters' islands meant spending precious time that she should use on locating the woman that was the key to her son's freedom. Not to mention, it would alert the Grimborns that something was amiss, and they might act in consequence. So as much as she wanted to do something, she'd have to let them be, for now.

Even so, one of the islands was fairly close to the one she was in, and the idea was too tempting. Surely two hits instead of one wouldn't make such a huge difference. And so here she was, with all the liberated dragons, and about to free some more. She'd have to use a different tactic, though. With the previous island, stealth had been key. She'd sneaked past the guards and into the dungeons, and Cloudjumper had remained hidden until the first dragons were released.

Now she was being followed by a horde of dragons, so there was no chance of avoiding being seen. A full frontal attack would have to do. After all, these men were used to dealing with two or three dragons at a time, not nearly two dozens, and she knew where their weapons were. She could direct the dragons to hit those.

They flew past a mountain and the island came into view. As they neared, nets began flying towards them, but they were avoided without too much trouble. Valka gestured with her staff to a catapult she saw, and one of the dragons immediately destroyed it. Seeing this was what they were supposed to do, they all spread and began taking out the hunters' weaponry. Valka could see the hunters' faces as they looked at her and pointed, confused as to her presence.

An arrow came out of nowhere and forced her to jump out of the way to dodge it. The sudden move caused her to lose balance and she tried desperately to regain her footing. Just as she began to fall backwards, Cloudjumper twisted and she took the chance to hook her staff to the edge of his wing. Sensing the precarious position she was in, her dragon began to glide while turning his body away from the hunters, so as to help her get to his back. Unfortunately, he must have been attacked, because he flapped his wings, causing her to lose her hold. When she started falling, she shook her staff desperately; she was still far from the ground. Thankfully, one of the dragons that belonged to her sanctuary flew past and caught her with its paws.

She patted its side with her staff to show her gratitude and surveyed the battle around her. There were no more long-distance weapons still standing, as far as she could tell, and most of the men had run, but a few remained, carrying bows. One of them must've been the one who shot at her. She guided the dragon to bring her to the men, who were busy aiming at other dragons.

She dropped from a safe distance, and before they could do much more than turn to her, she'd already hit them both with her staff. She then took one of their bows and examined the arrows. Probably poisoned with dragon root, she thought. She looked around to see whether there was anyone else that she had to worry about and found nobody.

Cloudjumper came back to her and she climbed on his back. Then she guided all the dragons to the inner part of the island. There were a few more weapons and people to take care of, but less than the ones outside, and the dragons quickly overpowered them. Once everything was under control, Valka scanned the area for the entrance to the dungeons. After she found it, she told Cloudjumper to land. Going in, she was met with the sight of at least fifteen dragons locked in cells. Even though she'd already seen this many times, she continued to be disgusted by the fact that people would hunt creatures as amazing as dragons and treat them like they were scum. It was one of the reasons why she hadn't come back to Berk, after all. She couldn't bear to see the carnage that took place there regularly, even less after discovering the truth about dragons.

She was glad to find that the doors of each cell were opened by a lever outside of them, which saved her the trouble of finding the keys. She began freeing the dragons, who all came out easily enough. A few of them sniffed her with distrust and flew away, but most seemed to realise that she wanted to help.

Among the captured dragons, there was a Razorwhip, which was rare. When she opened its cell, it paid no attention to her, but rather ran out and down the hallway, in the opposite direction of the exit. Despite her attempts to call it back, it was pointless.

Confused, Valka decided to finish releasing the rest of the dragons. Once that was done, she went down the hallway, trying to find the Razorwhip. She walked around some caves and eventually into another row of cells, but this one was empty. Strange. She continued her path and eventually ended in an office with maps and papers everywhere. There was also an open door that led outside, probably the exit that the dragon in question had used.

Going back outside, she checked the rest of the island for more cages and found a couple more. A few of the liberated dragons had flown away immediately, including the Razorwhip, but most of them were still hanging around. After she ensured she hadn't missed anyone, she smiled at the dragons. It looked like there would be a lot of new additions to the sanctuary.

She climbed on Cloudjumper and rattled her staff to attract everyone's attention.

"Time to show you your new home", she told them.


Heather was mostly asleep when the shouting began. At first, she barely stirred; the hunters were noisy men, who liked to raise their voices over nothing. Besides, the last session with them had lasted for a long time, and she was exhausted. However, when the shouting turned into screaming, and combined with screeching, she opened her eyes. Whatever was going on wasn't normal.

She strained to listen. Sadly, there was no window in her cell, so she couldn't see what was happening. The hunters were telling each other to gather their weapons and get in position. Were they under attack? A sudden idea occurred to her. Had Astrid come to her rescue? Hope filled her for a second, before she realised that if Astrid were to come, she wouldn't launch an assault. That wasn't her style.

Unless it's a distraction and she's using it to sneak in here.

She tried to tell the voice in her mind to shut up, so as not to be disappointed, but it was difficult. The screeching got louder, and soon she understood she was hearing dragons. Lots of them. Whoever this was, it probably wasn't Astrid; there were only a few riders in their group, after all. Maybe it wasn't even a person; maybe there was a group of dragons migrating.

But if that was the case, they wouldn't be attacking the island. And Heather had no doubt that they were under attack, if the hunters' attitude was anything to go by. So, again, what was going on?

Now she could hear the hunters' grunts as they were hit by the dragons. Soon, no voices remained, and she knew that they had all been taken out. Whether they were dead or merely unconscious, she didn't know, and it didn't matter. What was important was that this was a perfect opportunity to get out, find Windshear and escape. Especially since she didn't know if whoever was out there was friend or foe.

Heather reached inside her boot and took out something Astrid had given her a long time ago. It was a metal contraption made to help her pick locks. She'd never been good at it, not like Astrid, but she'd have to do it now.

While she struggled with the lock, she heard more noises, although it was impossible to tell what they were. However, what she heard clearly were the screeches of dragons, this time much closer than before, which meant they must be inside with her. Either the captured dragons had broken free, or someone had set them free. She still wasn't taking any chances.

She stopped when, among the sounds, she distinguished Windshear's high-pitched screeches clearly. And they were coming towards her.

"Windshear?" she asked softly, so that nobody but her dragon could hear.

A few seconds later, the Razorwhip emerged from one of the cave's entrances. She ran all the way to her door and raised her tail. Understanding, Heather stepped back, putting the metal thing away while Windshear cut the door cell open. The moment she did, Heather went over to her and hugged her tightly.

"Hey, girl", she murmured, and the dragon gave a deep rumble of contentment. "What do you say we get out of here?"

She climbed on Windshear and she immediately continued running in the same direction as before. Heather had no idea where the exit was, but her dragon apparently did, because after a while they came to a room with an outside door.

Heather leaned over and opened it to find a lot of dragons outside, around fifteen or so. They all stared at them, but made no move to attack or approach them in any way. In any case, Windshear must've sensed that she shouldn't tarry, because she took off immediately.

As the island grew smaller in the distance, Heather allowed herself to breathe for the first time in... Gods, how long had it been? She'd lost all track of time in there. She was no stranger to being captured, even tortured, but this was beyond anything she'd ever experienced. She took a look at her wounds and decided that she probably needed to find a healer before she did anything else. And then she'd have to get to Astrid.

For now, though, she leaned back on the saddle until she was lying on Windshear and closed her eyes.

Free. She was free.


"So, I'd say you're in a bit of trouble right now, chief."

Stoick raised his head from where it was buried between his hands to glare at Gobber, who was unperturbed. "I'm well aware, Gobber."

"I mean, between you not telling the people what happened with Hiccup, disappearing without a trace, and now this..."

Stoick sighed. "I know. You don't have to tell me. I was there, remember?"

He was there to see his son doing what he would've never expected. He was there to see the villagers, confused and scared because they had no idea of what was happening. And in the end, when some of the elders began demanding that he go after Hiccup immediately, he was also there to see their faces. The glee in them. They were men who'd never agreed fully with his son's way of doing things, who'd sided with Mildew when he'd first began trying to blame Hiccup and the dragons for every misfortune that befell them.

And now they had the most legitimate reason to be against his son that he could've imagined. Some of them had always hated dragons, but a few of them just wanted power, and were seizing the opportunity. He had no doubt that right now, they were rallying people, trying to convince them that they'd always been right, that Hiccup wasn't to be trusted, and by extension, Stoick. That it was time to choose a new leader, time for the Haddocks to step down from the chiefdom and hand it over to someone who wouldn't endanger them all.

Or at least, those were the words that he heard while he struggled to get away from the crowd and into his house. The moment he was far away, he stopped paying attention to their words. His mind was in too much turmoil for that.

He kept replaying the scene over again. Hiccup had been in a panicked state, that much was clear from his face. He was trying to get away from Snotlout, and when Stoick spoke up, it seemed like his panic only increased. Him hitting his cousin was nothing strange, but when he began backing up, like a cornered animal, that was probably when his father should've realised something wasn't right. He didn't, though, and kept trying to reason with him. And just when he was about to reach out to him... Hiccup had lashed out, both verbally and with a weapon.

At the moment, he was too shocked to react in any way. He'd remained where he was, frozen, trying to understand what was happening. It seemed that his son was going through the same, because after a few seconds his expression transformed, as though he didn't understand what he was doing, either.

And then Hofferson had walked in, and everything had been clear to Stoick. Hiccup hadn't shown any signs of having been affected by all the time he'd spent with the girl, but that had changed. Whatever she had said to him while they were running away had obviously impacted him deeply. Or maybe it hadn't even been anything in particular; just being by her side while she committed whatever crimes she did had been enough for him to become a different person.

Whatever it was, it had been effective; Hiccup, his kind, trusting son, had turned to Hofferson's side to the point of being able to threaten him. The boy he'd raised was gone, and it was all thanks to that woman. He could only hope that the change wasn't irreversible, that there was some way to bring back the Hiccup he knew and loved. For that, though, the first thing he had to do was separate them.

However, this time he wasn't going after them, not after what he'd seen. He had to accept that, for the moment, he was after two criminals, and he couldn't try to handle them himself. He'd have to speak to the other chiefs and join forces with them. If they saw the change in his demeanour, they'd let him be part of the search. And maybe, if he was there when Hiccup was captured, he could prevent any damage from coming to him. Ensure that his trial was fair.

What the outcome would be, though, he had no idea.

Tomorrow, he was going to go to Meathead and speak to the others. But first, he needed to address his people; they deserved to know what was going on.

If only Stoick knew what to tell them.


A/N: One thing I noticed is this chapter barely has any dialogue. Probably because Hiccup and Astrid weren't in it to get carried away :P