So much for using the day to think on how to save Toothless… The rudery lesson was suspended for the mead hall was being use for the meeting Stoick had called for. The trainees were left to their own devices behind the hall. When Hiccup arrived he found Snotlout and company bullying Fishlegs in a corner. They were taking turns to punch the larger kid on the gut. Two of them would hold him back, and another would punch him.

Cowards, Hiccup thought and he called them on it.

"Leave him alone you cowards!"

Snotlout smiled cruelly and started to call him on all his mistakes from the past few days. How they were the worst trainees, how they couldn't even keep their own ship from sinking, how they mistook a Roman ship with a Peaceable fishing boat and so on until Snolout hit Hiccup's most sore spot.

"Good riddance to that lame excuse of a dragon! He will make a much better pair of boots!" and he laughed and Snotlout's friends laughed and then Hiccup exploded because he was just exhausted of not having a say on anything in his life.

"Shut up you pig-faced half-ass-brained revolting snot-slob bully!" Hiccup shouted and everyone went quiet at once.

It was sometimes hard to tell if Hiccup was indeed a genius or very good at hiding his madness. Ruffnut knew mad, her brother and she were, but they weren't any good at hiding it. Hiccup on the other hand would do things like this out of nowhere and make them question what sanity really was. Maybe they were not that mad after all. Even they knew better than to confront Snotlout like that. The kid was mad with hunger for power and that was scariest kind of mad there was.

"What did you say!" Snotlout sneered walking towards Hiccup with a dangerous stride; his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Hiccup was of course not left behind. He sneered for once showing all his pent-up fury and grabbing the hilts of both his swords. He strode forwards meeting Snotlout mid way and said closely to his face.

"I said you are a pig-faced half-ass-brained revolting snot-slob! Oh sorry, I forgot you were also fucking stupid, you marrowless, misbegotten, hel-hated measle!" he shouted at top of his lungs.

"You dirty pencil-necked worm eating dirt-bag!" Snotlout shouted back now only a step away from him, but still not unsheathing his sword.

"You pus-sucking self-centered airheaded miserable stooge!" Hiccup called back, his eyes shining with a dangerous fire.

"Well! You are a…" Snotlout was afraid of what he saw in those eyes. This was no longer calm and merciful Hiccup, this was an angry Viking.

"You are a crud-infested zit-faced revolting no good jerk!" Hiccup continued mercilessly, "and if you speak another ill word of my friend or my dragon I will make sure your nauseating subsistence is obliterated from this world! You hear me you lame brain-dead over-grown nasty butt-sniffing asshole?!" Hiccup was panting, and his face red with the strain of holding back. If he hadn't blood would have already been spilled

"That… that was beautiful" Tuffnut said clearing a tear from his eye. His sister elbowed him to keep him quiet.

But it had been indeed been a magnificent display of rudery, of which Hiccup had always been terrible at until then.

"I will kill you," Snotlout sneered after shaking himself off the shock.

"Just you try" Hiccup said pulling his swords slightly from their sheaths.

"This is not going to end well," Fishlegs said to himself, but quite a few nodded in agreement.

However the duel would have to wait, for not a second later two large men came from the woods and approached them. At once Hiccup turned to face and scrutinized them. They were dressed on Berserker clothes and armor, but he could tell they were not Berserkers. For instance, Berserkers always tied chains and locks around themselves to restrain themselves in case they went, well, berserk. These guys had rope around them. Also Berserkers as well as most Viking tribes prided themselves on their hair and massive beards. These guys only had stubbles and neat dark curls. At top of that they were usually brutes that grunted in response.

"No moves, all lids and gantletman stand which you is. If ye as loft one of de blades ye well 'egrets it" one of the men said in very bad Norse as he shook a double headed axe in their direction.

All his anger faded into misbelieve, did the Romans really think them so stupid?

"Oki doki, gave us we wants and no ones get hurts" continued the man rather pleased with himself, "which of you gantletman is heir of the Hairy Hooligans, no make me waits"

The other man grunted in agreement, falling a little better into his role than his companion. The trainees didn't answer for they had understood very little of what they had been told.

The two Roman soldiers disguised as Berserkers looked at each other before they started to whisper to each other in Latin.

"I don't think they are buying it Celsus," said the Roman soldier who had grunted before in a very polite voice, "I suggest we try a different approach"

"Of course they believe it Tatius!"Celsus said indignantly, "And we only need to find the heir, we were told he was an odd looking one"

"They all look odd to me, especially those two" Tatius said looking at Fishlegs and Hiccup.

"Then one of them has to be the heir"

"I am the heir," Hiccup said stepping forwards. He would not get his friend involved on his messes again. Besides, he saw his chance to find Toothless.

"No, I am!" Fishlegs shouted; he was not going to let what happened with Alvin last time repeat.

"What the heck do you think you are doing" Hiccup whispered angrily at him, "I need to get to their hideout to find Toothless"

"Not alone you are not" Fishlegs whispered back.

"What should we do Celsus" Tatius asked, "we have to bring the right one or else"

"No worries Tatius. We will do as we did last time. We will take them both" Celsus said with a smile before they led them both away from the rest at blades' point "Gives this to ya chief and makes to tall him Oswald the Agreeable say hi" Celsus handed the letter to Speedifist.

"Make sure to tell my father they were not real Berserkers!" Hiccup shouted at them as they were being taken again, "they are Roma…!" Tatius was fast to cover Hiccup's mouth but Speedifist had understood and nodded discreetly.

8

Not much after they were tied up like Snoggletog gifts.

"Where are they taking us?" Fishlegs asked as their island faded in the distant. They were in a small Roman ship.

"Their hideout probably" Hiccup hoped so.

"Close ya mouths!" Celsus said as he guided the boat "stupid Vikings" he muttered to himself.

Hiccup swallowed hard as he realized they were back to the summer current and well in their way towards The Mazy Multitudes. Hiccup kept telling to himself that he didn't believe in ghosts, but still shook slightly. The Mazy Multitudes was a large group of thousands of small islands engulfed in permanent fog, which made it very dangerous to navigate. Tatius stood on the end of the boat trying to guide his companion through the maze. More than once they came close to crashing into one of the tall and pointy islands. In their way they saw many boats that hadn't been as lucky. There was indeed no better place in the Viking archipelago to hide than here. Very few dared navigate through the maze of black rocks.

He had heard the place was rather popular among dragon for they knew they it would be rare for Vikings to disturb them here. However, Hiccup saw no dragon or actually living creature around. They could only hear the sound of the wind combing the rocks and turning into a blood chilling moans. No wonder so many thought it was haunted. Then the chilling moan was slowly replaced by the screeches of dragons, no different than when they had found the Roman ship.

"We are close," Hiccup swallowed hard as the screeches grew more and more in intensity.

Soon they came out of the fog and into the center of The Mazy Multitudes where one of the larger of the islands stood rather changed. Hiccup wondered for how long had the Romans being using this place. It was a fortress like he had never seen before; black walls taller than Nightmares so wide that they could hold his village inside at least three times, towers so high that made their necks ache just looking as the tops, guards every two feet of the walls with bows and arrows ready to fire, perilous cliffs in just about every side. It was impenetrable as much as it was inescapable.

His eyes caught something in the sky and his breath stopped for a moment. The Romans had found a way to fly without dragons, well kind of. There were four observation balloons, each one of them filled with hot air created by a dragon caged inside the basket. Each observation balloon held at least two sentries with bows and arrows also ready.

"Welcomes to Fort Sinister" Celsus said proudly as strong iron gates opened and allowed their boat into a small stream that led inside the fortress.

But Hiccup didn't believe he had any right to be proud because the first thing he saw when they went in was countless cages, just like the one they had seen in the ship, holding screeching dragons demanding revenge and blood. They were left to the exposure of the weather and Hiccup doubted they were being fed at all. His outrage only grew. For a long time Romans had been calling them barbarians. To him, it didn't matter if you had beautiful palaces and temples if you treated other creatures like this. His eyes searched the cages looking for his dragon but didn't see him at all.

The boat moved forwards before he could even get the chance to ask one of the dragons if they had seen Toothless. He saw the soldiers' barracks where some were resting outside while others spared. There was what he recognized as a gladiators' arena from his mother's tales, but oddly enough it was covered in a large dome of wire. There was a whole village; slaves' quarters, fields full of crops, mighty kitchens with ingredients he had never seen, and glorious baths and so on. Then he saw a beautiful palace made of white marble and flowing fountains in the center of all.

He had never seen something so beautiful that he hated at the same time. It was an architectural wonder, but he could also see the darkness behind the well polished marble; the lives taken and hurt to create it.

"How the hell are we supposed to get out of here" Fishlegs said

But Hiccup didn't answer. Just like Romans underestimated the Vikings, he had underestimated the Romans. There was a reason why the Romans had conquered most of the known world.

888

They were led through the magnificent doors into a beautifully decorated room where the fat Council sat before another huge table full of dragon dishes. Hiccup held his breath as he watched the fat man throw up into a basin held by a slave before going back to dig into the dishes.

"Finally" he turned to face the Prefect who was sitting in a very comfortable chair "didn't think you would see me ever again, correct Hiccup?"

"I was hoping for that" Hiccup said standing straight "how did you do it?"

Alvin gave him a grim smile before he took out a golden cup with a hole on a side, "this was something I picked into my tunic when we first entered the cave, and it was what received the Strangulators' poison instead of my flesh. Destiny has other plans for me boy"

"Dumb luck," Hiccup said, "though not so lucky from looking at you"

Alvin grew red in the face, "the only one I have to blame for that is you" he sneered, "you left me for dead in the Strangulators' stomach, I had to cut my way out," he showed off the Storm Blade attached to his handless arm, "but not fast enough from keep the stomach acids from doing this to me"

Hiccup was able to look at him better this time. Besides now being completely hairless (eyebrows and eyelashes included) there were also welts through his skin where the stomach acids had burned him badly.

"Then, since I had no dragon to help me escape I had to go through the tunnels and fight my way up to the surface for three whole months!" Alvin could no longer keep his voice down, even the kidnappers looked scared of the man.

Hiccup swallowed hard. He was glad Toothless had warned them off those tunnels. No wonder Alvin was so skinny now.

"What do you want with my notebook?" Hiccup gathered the courage to ask.

"You can speak to dragons. When I first found out I didn't think much of it, but as I heard you speak to that Strangulator I realized the power behind it. If I know how to speak it as well, then I can use a dragon army to get whatever I want, and that includes Grimbeard's treasure" Alvin said with a scary glint of greed in his eyes, "now I want the other half boy, no tricks this time"

"Why should I? You will kill us as soon as I tell you where it is"

"I give you my word I won't" smiled Alvin, "I will even let you see your dragon again"

"He is alive?" Hiccup couldn't help keeping the hope out of his voice.

"In one of my lowest dungeons, but yes" Alvin said wrapping his words around the boy, "he was been whining for you, for his boy or at least that much I was able to tell from the half of this notebook. You wouldn't want him to be afraid anymore, would you?"

Hiccup brought out his half of the notebook and handed it to Alvin.

"Now let us go," he said before Alvin started laughing. He didn't think it would be that easy, but Alvin would eventually have found the other half of the notebook on him, so he had to try.

"I think not" Alvin said walking towards them, the Storm Blade shinning in the light of a fire nearby.

"Wait a moment Prefect, isn't that boy you told me about?" the Councilman stopped eating for once when he saw the boys.

"Yes, he is too dangerous to be left alive" Alvin said trying to control his temper, but it was hard to do with the imprudent fat man.

"But he is so small, how could he be any threat?" he said looking at Hiccup up and down. He would think the bigger one more of a threat hadn't he looked so scared.

"Don't let his appearance trick you, he is a good swordsman" Alvin said hating to admit Hiccup was good at something.

"Really? Then why don't keep him until Saturn's Saturday. He should be a good show along with the other heirs. Never seen a more ferocious bunch" the man looked expectantly at Hiccup who puffed his chest hoping to look a little stronger.

"I highly recommend not to. He has this way of ruining things"

"None sense! I saw let him live for now, but the other one I am not so sure"

"He is a berserk!" Hiccup said in Latin fast when Alvin pointed his sword at Fishlegs, "he is from a rare breed of Vikings that goes wild when in battle; you won't regret also letting him live"

"Is that true Prefect?"

"Yes," Alvin sneered.

"Then it's decided, both will live now but die on Saturn's Saturday" the Council said before he went back to eating again.

"You heard the Council" Alvin said through greeted teeth, "take them to the rest"

The two kidnappers took them to one of the towers, going up long winding stairs before getting to a steel reinforced door.

"This shrimp won't last a minute in there" Celsus laughed as he fumbled for the key.

"The shrimp understands you perfectly," Hiccup said glaring up at the man, "you better watch your tongue. There is a reason why the Prefect wants me dead, you know?"

Celsus was quick to shut his mouth. Ignoring Tatious' snickers he pushed both boys inside before closing the door close behind them.

"Did the shrimp scare you?" Tabius asked before getting a glare from his companion.

8888

The room was quite large with straw thrown in every corner to be used as beds and in the center a table surrounded by a few chairs. In the center of the room there were two teen age boys and a girl. He knew the two boys. One was Thuggory, heir of the Meathead tribe. He was every bit a father would want for a son; he was big, strong, brave and not even half bad in the brains department. The other boy was Dagur, heir of the Berserker tribe. He was every bit a father would want for a son, if said father was deranged. Dagur was undoubtedly strong and fearless, but he was also insane. The girl he did not know, but she was small and fierce looking. She had wild blond hair and blue eyes that almost made him call her a familiar name.

"Here we go again" Thuggory sighed leaning against the table.

"This should be fun" Dagur laughed cleaning his nails with a knife.

"Who are you? Are you spies? Who sent you? Where do you come from?" the girl started shooting question faster than they could answer.

"I am Hiccup and this is my friends Fishlegs, we are Hooligan…"

"You are lying!" she screamed before launching at Hiccup with her sword, "I heard you speak Latin! You are spies!"

"We are not!" Hiccup shouted as he brought out both of his sword to block a swipe that would have done away with his head.

"Liar, liar pants on fire! YOU are a Roman spy! Why else would you speak Latin! You Zeus-toga-wearing worshiper!"

"Stop! I am not a spy! We really are Hooligans!" and though she was smaller than him and he could wield two swords at the same time, the girl was incredibly fast and ferocious. At top of that her resemblance to a blond he knew was very distracting.

"Found your friend!" the door slammed open making the two of them jump back, "tried to escape, the silly little thing" and Celsus then pushed Astrid inside the room, her axe after her.

"Graaa!" Astrid screamed picking her axe and then throwing it at the already closed door. It bounced off the reinforced metal with a clang, "when I get out of here I am going to rip you to shreds you good for nothing Roman!"

"Astrid?" she heard her name being called and turned so fast she almost made herself dizzy.

"Hiccup," her eyes widened. She knew the Romans were trying to do something involving the heirs but she never thought she would see Hiccup in here. Hiccup was looking at her hair and frowned slightly. She felt her gut clench. Then she saw her other old friend, "Fishlegs too?"

"Long time no see Astrid" he offered her a nervous smile.

"Then I guess they are not Roman spies" Camicazi said with a disappointed sigh.

"I told you we weren't" Hiccup said through greeted teeth as he sheathed his swords. He should have known this was Camicazi, not just because of the letter his father received but because she was insufferable.

"Hiccup is the heir to the Hairy Hooligans, is natural you don't know each other since your tribes are not in the friendliest of terms" Thuggory said to the girl, "and this is Camicazi, heir to the Bog Burglars and I guess you already know her guard, Astrid"

"He sure does" Dagur laughed, "She is Hooligan traitor!"

I knew she looked familiar, Thuggory thought with a frown. The Meatheads and Hooligans were rather close as their islands were so close to each other. He guessed he had seen her at one point while he attended to one of the Things while in Berk. He hoped Hiccup hadn't changed much and could get over that so they could work together.

At seeing that the Romans already had four heirs, Hiccup realized how far the Romans' plan was, "they are trying to put our tribes against one another by telling them they kidnapped us. Just this morning my father received a letter from Chief Bertha demanding the return of her heir, and I am sure Oswald the Agreeable will be receiving a letter from my father demanding my return"

"Knowing my father, he will try to meet yours to talk" Dagur rolled his eyes as if trying to talk sense was something ridiculous to do.

"I am pretty sure mine won't accept. He didn't listen when I found about the Romans' plan" Hiccup sighed as he sat on one of the chairs, "once our tribes have taken each other out, then the Romans will come in and finish what remains and take all of our dragons for their army"

"And let me guess, you got another one of your crazy plans. Do you really think you can do something from here?" Astrid said crossing her arms and giving him an unfriendly look, "if you haven't noticed, we have been trying to escape this place for a while"

Hiccup frowned, he hadn't expected for his letter to offend her so much. He only wanted her to come back home.

"Actually, I don't" he said tiredly, he hoped Speedifist would find a way to convince his father, and that one was a big if.

8888

Author's Note: Astrid is back! But is it for better or worse?