"Now I know you're not a fairy tale
And dreams were meant for sleeping
And wishes on a star
Just don't come true

'Cause now even I can tell
That I confused my feelings with the truth
Because I liked the view
When there was me and you"

- "When There Was Me and You" by Vanessa Hudgens

Chapter 20

Morning arrived with a feeling of trepidation, and my mind whirled with the possibilities of everything that could go wrong. I thought Harald had taught me not to worry so much, but now he was the cause of my anxiety. Not that it was entirely his fault.

I found him gone and his boat missing. I remembered he said he wanted to test out his upgrades today, so I assured myself he would be back soon. I fetched Bolt and took a walk with him around the island.

When I returned to the base, Harald immediately met me with a distressed look. "Brennda!" he exclaimed. "I'm glad I caught you. Dragons need your help!"

My eyes widened in shock. Out of everything, this I had not expected. "What happened?"

"I'll explain when we reached the others. I asked them to meet in front of the stables. Come on!"

He did not have to ask me twice. We jogged to the stables where, sure enough, the riders were gathered with their dragons.

"Glad you're here, Brennda," Hiccup said. "What's this about, Harald?"

"I was exploring the seas on my ship when I spotted the dragon hunters in action," Harald said. "Those cowards have set up camp at Hobblegrunt Island once more! They seem to be gathering wounded dragons on that island. It looked like the poachers were away from the base, but they could return at any moment. If you hurry, you can rescue the dragons before they get back!"

"Ugh, dragon hunters," Hiccup groaned. "They won't beat me - I mean us - again! We need to go right away and save those dragons before they return."

I nodded. "Right!"

"If time is of essence, friends, I'd only hold you back," Harald said. "I can't ride dragons like you fine lot. I should stay behind on this one."

I stared at him. Something bugged me about the way he spoke, but I could not put my finger on it. There was something... off. Yet his words themselves were completely consistent with what I knew about him. Maybe I was just being paranoid after last night.

"That makes sense," Hiccup said. "You've helped enough by finding this place, Harald. Thanks to you, we'll be able to pull one over on the dragon hunters this time!"

Harald smiled. "Well, I do what little I can to help. But what am I jabbering on for? Now hurry! Go to Hubblegrunt Island!"

While everyone mounted, I continued to watch Harald. That smile... It wasn't real. My eyebrows knit together in confusion. But I had no time to consider it. I turned to Bolt to climb on board.

"Brennda?"

He caught my wrist, and looked back to see him looking at me with a much less composed expression. His eyes bore into mind like he was trying to send a silent message. Despite the fact that her proclaimed he would be the one to leave me, his eyes seemed to beg me not to leave him. Something was very wrong.

"Be safe," he said at last. He let go of my wrist, but I still stood there staring at him.

"Brennda, aren't you coming?" Hiccup said from behind me. "We need you."

Every instinct told me I should stay with Harald... that he needed me more. But I could find no reasonable explanation for my strange feelings, and I trusted my mind above all else. So, I gave Harald a smile and then mounted my dragon. I was really losing it. Perhaps this mission would help set me straight.

We arrived at Hobblegrunt Island to find Harald's statements to be accurate. Caged dragons lay scattered around a freshly made camp. My stomach dropped as I thought about what the hunters would do to them.

"Wow, that's a lot of dragons," Hiccup said. "We have our work cut out for us. We'll need to free all these dragons before the dragon hunters return. If we're fast enough, we can avoid having to fight. Let's get to work!"

We split up to free the dragons. I used my axe to open the cage doors. The grateful dragons ran out and then flew off. Relief filled my chest as I watched them go. We did a good thing here.

"Mission accomplished," Hiccup said. "Let's regroup at Dragon's Edge and tell Harald the good news."

My previous worries disappeared as I took in the success of our actions. Bolt landed in the center of our base back at the Edge. Hiccup, Astrid, and Snotlout landed their dragons near me while Fishlegs and the twins headed off in different directions.

"Huh, where's Harald?" Snotlout said, looking around. "I wonder if he's taking a nap somewhere. Typical! I wanted to tell him how well I did on our trip and he's not even here."

"I didn't see his ship docked on our island when I flew in," Astrid said with an uneasy look. She glanced at me.

My heart dropped to my stomach as the strange feelings from earlier returned. "I - I'm sure he's around here somewhere," I said. "I'll find him."

"We'll look for him too," said Hiccup. "I hope everything's alright."

Yeah, so did I. I got back on Bolt and flew down to the docks. Sure enough, Harald's boat was missing... and didn't we have a bunch of supplies down here? Where did they go? I flew back up and landed in front of Fishlegs, who just emerged from the stables.

"Hey, Brennda," he said. "Did you take the supplies form the stables? I wanted to give Meatlug a rubdown after a hard workout, but they're not here."

My heart rate picked up. "No, I didn't. Do you know what happened to the supplies by the dock?"

Fishlegs frowned. "They're missing too? That's odd."

I pushed back the wall of anxiety that threatened to take over. I had to focus. "What about Harald? Have you seen him?"

Fishlegs shook his head. "No, I haven't. Maybe he went out to feed Leopold and just came back. Why don't you go back to the clubhouse?"

"Good idea." And so, Bolt and I took off once more. We found the twins outside the the clubhouse when we arrived. "Guys! Have you seen Harald?" My breathing became shallow, and my sense of impending doom grew stronger.

"This is travesty!" Ruff exclaimed, throwing up her arms. She looked at me and frowned. "No, I haven't seen Harald here or inside the clubhouse. Actually, it looks pretty bad in there. Looks like someone took all the furniture. Hiccup should probably look into that."

"Oh no. No, no, no.."

"That's not the travesty!" Tuff exclaimed. "SOMEONE TOOK OUR ROCKS."

I stared at him. "Rocks?"

"We were getting together an amazing collection of boulders to throw at dragon hunters, and they're all missing. Who would do such a terrible thing? Is there no justice in the world?! Someone needs to pay for this! Brennda, let's talk to Hiccup in front of his hut and see what he's going to do about this. Oh, I thought I saw Leopold there too. Maybe that would be the answer to your question."

I was gone before he finished speaking. I found Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, and Fishlegs gathered outside Hiccup's hut, but I passed right over them. "LEOPOLD!" The Terrible Terror raced towards the ocean. Bolt was fast, but Leopold had a head start.

Suddenly, Hiccup and Toothless were in front of me, causing Bolt to screech to a halt in midair. "Brennda, stop!" Hiccup said.

"But if I follow Leopold, he'll lead me to Harald!" All I could think about was finding him. Finding him and making him tell me the truth. I needed him to tell me this was all some horrible misunderstanding. Or a terrible prank.

Hiccup gave ma a sad look. "That's not a good idea, Brennda. We don't know what he'll do to you."

I glared at him. "He would never hurt me, Hiccup!" Out of everything, this I knew for certain.

Hiccup sighed. "Alright, but you can find him later. Will you come down so we can all talk about this?"

I looked out at the horizon. Leopold was too far gone by now. Wordlessly, I turned around and flew to Hiccup's hut where everyone had gathered. I looked away from everyone and focused on controlling my breathing to prevent a panic attack.

"So, what's the verdict?" Tuff said.

"This is bad," Hiccup said. "Oh, this is very, very bad. Harald took everything. Harald stole everything. He took the traps that we were preparing to defend against dragon hunters... he also picked the lock and stole the Book of Dragons. We need to get it back right away."

"NO!" I shouted. "It's not true! It can't be true! There has to be another explanation."

"Brennda..." Astrid said. I thought she would be angry with me, but the emotion on her face was worse: pity. "He left a ransom note with his Terrible Terror. You should hear what it says."

"No." I covered my ears and shook my head. "I don't want to hear it!"

"Some people say there are five stages of grief," said Ruff. "The first stage is denial."

Tuff nodded. "I hear you, sister."

"Denial doesn't change the truth!" Snotlout said. "Tell her, Astrid."

"No!" I said again.

"Brennda," said Astrid, "he's a pirate."

"NO!" I fell to my knees and moaned. But it made sense. I knew it was true, but I had to deny it in order to prevent overwhelming pain from crushing me. I could already feel it seeping through the walls of my defenses.

"What else does the note say?" Fishlegs asked tentatively.

"He wants the telescope in return for the Book of Dragons," Astrid said. "And he has a message for Brennda."

I looked up at her. "What?"

Astrid looked down at the note and then back at me. "'Checkmate.'"

My eyes widened in horror. "It was all a game to him? How could he do this?" Hot anger quickly took over, and I punched the ground.

"Anger is the second stage," Ruff commented.

"That's what we've been saying!" Snotlout said. "We need to make him pay!"

I slowly got to my feet, my hands shaking. "How could I have not seen this coming? The signs were there. He told me there was something about him I would hate. I should have made him tell me the truth instead of ignoring everything like an idiot. I could have stopped him. I could have changed his mind..."

"Bargaining," said Ruff. "The third stage."

"How sad," said Tuff.

"This isn't your fault," Hiccup said. "There's nothing you could have done."

"But it is," I said. "You all trusted him because of me."

"No, we all trusted him on our own," said Fishlegs. "He tricked all of us."

"Even me," said Snotlout, "which is pretty hard to do."

Bolt nudged me with his snout and looked at me with sad eyes. I ran my hand along his neck as I finally let the sadness take over. "I just - I thought-" I swallowed the lump in my throat and fought back the tears. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Fourth stage: depression," said Ruff.

"What's the fifth stage?" Tuff asked.

"Acceptance."

I glared at them. "I won't accept this. No way! This is a mistake!" I took off running for the woods as my friends called after me. Bolt followed me, but I did not stop running. The pain in my legs felt good; it distracted me from my emotions.

I reached a pond and collapsed in the grass. My renewed denial was already fading, and my whole body shook as I fought off the pain. How could this have happened? Had it really all been a lie? Why?

"Brennda?"

I looked over my shoulder to see Astrid approaching alone. I wiped my eyes with my arm and stood to face her. "Did you come to gloat? Say 'I told you so?' I know you didn't trust him, and you wanted me to find out the truth. I failed you."

"No, you didn't," Astrid said. "And you're my friend. I wouldn't gloat when you're in pain. I just wanted to be here for you." She opened her arms in invitation.

She was usually not the hugging type, so I noted her sincerity. I accepted her embrace just before my tears let loose. I could no longer help it. I sobbed into her shoulder while she rubbed my back. This pain... it was too much. I had not cried like this since I lost my parents, and with them, at least I knew they cared about me. Did Harald?

It took a long time for me to calm down enough to speak. "Astrid... Do you think everything was a lie? Did he ever care about me at all?"

"I... don't know..." Astrid said with uncertainty. "You said he warned you, right? Maybe he did care and felt guilty. I can't say for certain. I don't know what he's thinking or feeling, but I do know what he did." She pulled back and looked at me. "Brennda, we have to stop him. We can't let him get away with this... regardless of his motivations. Do you think we can go back to the others and devise a plan?"

I nodded. She had a point. "Just give me a minute." I trudged to the pond and washed my face. I could not erase the red from my eyes, but it still made me feel better. I placed a hand on Bolt's back, and we walked back to camp with Astrid.

Upon arriving, everyone immediately looked away from me. Great. I made it awkward. I looked to Hiccup for instructions.

"Are you going to be alright, Brennda?" Hiccup asked sympathetically.

"No," I said, "but we need to focus on the situation at hand."

"Exactly," said Astrid. "What are we going to do?"

"That's what we'll figure out," said Hiccup. "We might have a really big problem on our hands. We can't defend ourselves properly because Harald took everything. He even took the weapons we confiscated from the dragon hunters on Dark Deep."

Astrid gasped. "Oh no. This means that the little thief has the dragon root arrows. We need to make sure that the dragons around Dragon's Edge are safe! We need to check all of the islands. Fishlegs, go check on the dragons at Dark Deep. Brennda and Snotlout, why don't you two go to Armorwing Island?"

I gave her a weak smile. "Sure thing."

"We're on it!" Snotlout declared.

I was grateful to have a task to focus on. And it felt nice to fly despite the circumstances. Snotlout and I arrived at Armorwing Island and split up to search for the dragon. We met back at the shore with no news to report.

"No luck," Snotlout said. "Wait a second. Harald was here with us, and he was really interested in the magnetism of the Armorwing. He saw the Armorwing as it went to the area with the iron ore. I don't know... maybe we can find him if we get higher elevation. Fly up the mountain and see if you spot my dragon."

I did as he requested, but I had my doubts. Just as suspected, I saw no Armorwing. I then checked out the iron ore deposits and finally found a clue... and it made me sick to my stomach. "SNOTLOUT!"

My friend rushed to my side on Hookfang. His eyes widened when he saw what I was looking at. "On no... Dragon hunter arrows. We're too late! Harald must have already captured the Armorwing."

"But why?" I said in frustration. "This doesn't make any sense. He's friends with dragons."

Snotlout shook his head. "I don't know, but I do know Harald is going to face the full fury of Snotlout Jorgenson when I get my hands on him! I'll stay here and look for clues that might tell us where he went. You should go help Fishlegs at Dark Deep. Maybe you'll get there in time to stop Harald!"

The overwhelming need to find Harald and demand an explanation took over, and I raced over there. I arrived just in time to meet up with Fishlegs as he reached the area we had last seen the Prickleboggle and Catastrophic Quaken.

Fishlegs looked surprised to see me. "Did you just come from Armorwing Island? Is everything okay?"

I swallowed hard. "The Armorwing is gone."

Fishlegs gasped. Then he glanced at the ground. "Oh no. I think Harald might have already taken the Catastrophic Quaken too. He's missing, and I don't think he'd leave the Prickleboggle unprotected by himself. The poor Prickleboggle... he looks so lost without his buddy."

I gazed in sympathy at the lonely dragon. "This is terrible... But how could such a strong dragon be taken so easily? The Quaken was able to fight off a whole group of dragon hunters the last time."

"He must have let Harald get close because he was one of us when we came to help him the last time. He pretended to be a friend then stabbed him in the back... like he did with us."

I cringed and looked away.

"I don't know how the twins are doing, but they should be returning to Dragon's Edge by now. Can you go back and talk to Astrid about the stuff that happened here?"

I mumbled some sort of response. My strength waning, I was glad to rely on Bolt to get me back home. I found Astrid and told her everything that had transpired. Thankfully, she said the dragons on Scuttleclaw Island and Zippleback Island were safe. So, it was just the two...

Once everyone returned, we all gathered around to talk about our next plan of action. "I think we need to talk about the yak in the room!" Snotlout said loudly. "As you all know, it takes a lot to fool me but Harald managed to do it. It got me to thinking about the Skulder, the archaeologist. What do we know about that Viking, really? Heck, he won't even live on Dragon's Edge!"

I crossed my arms and glared at him. "I know an awful lot about him actually; he's my friend."

"And so was Harald," Snotlout snapped. "I bet the archaeologist is in cahoots with him. There's no way that Harald could have beaten me without some expert help!"

"You want to run that by me again?" I snarled. I grabbed Snotlout by his shirt and pulled him to me. My other hand I raised in a fist as I glowered at him threateningly. "You really think my taste in friends is that bad? Are you suggesting another one has betrayed me?"

Snotlout's eyes widened in fear. "No! I just-"

"Back to anger, I see," Ruff said.

"Brennda, let him go," Astrid said. "As much as he deserves it for being so insensitive, you'd only be taking your anger out on him."

Snotlout nodded vigorously. "How about instead we find Harald and you can punch him?"

I let go of him and took a step back. "Fine." I looked around at the group. "Does anyone else share his suspicions about Skulder?"

"I don't know what to think, Brennda," Fishlegs said. "I'm sure a friend like Skulder wouldn't betray us. But then again, I thought that Harald could never do such a thing. He was always so interested in hearing my cool theories on dragon evolution!"

"Wait a second... When I first visited Skulder on Mudraker Island, Harald refused to go with me and was adamant that I not tell Skulder about him. He said Skulder hates him due to a misunderstanding in the past."

"He said that because they're working together!" Snotlout said.

I glared at him, shutting him up. "Or Skulder knows who Harald really is and Harald didn't want him to expose him."

"Maybe we can put this thought to rest by checking up on Mudraker Island," Fishlegs said. "Brennda, go take a look through the telescope!"

"Brilliant idea!" I hopped on Bolt and flew up to the telescope. This really was an amazing invention! I located Mudraker Island and zoomed in. A second later, I gasped and stumbled back. "I saw him!" I shouted down to the others. "I saw Harald on the island!"

"Really?" Fishlegs called up to me. "But I don't understand. Why would he be there?"

"Doesn't matter. I'm going to go catch him!"

"Brennda!" Hiccup called as I flew out over the ocean.

"You're not stopping me this time! And the rest of you will just slow me down!"

I soon tuned out everything from my mind except my destination. Bolt flew even faster as Mudraker Island came into view. We stopped by the shore, but I could not spot Harald's boat.

"Harald!" I called. "Are you here?" Nothing. He had to be around here, didn't he? Perhaps he had spotted me and was using the sea stacks to hide while he waited for me to leave the island?

I flew Bolt towards the sea stacks. "HARALD!" Desperation leaked from my voice. I swooped down low and looked for him or his ship. "Harald! I just... I just want to talk." I flew high to get a better vantage point. Still nothing. He had to be long gone by now. "Harald..."

I wiped my wet eyes. Bolt whined. I sucked in a sharp breath. Skulder. I had to find Skulder. "Come on, boy. There's one more thing we have to do." I steered him towards the archaeologist's camp.

I could not immediately spot him, but I did see something usual: a large cage. I landed and then ran right for it. I stopped short when I found Skulder inside the cage!

"Brennda!" Skulder cried. "Thank Odin you're here. Dragon's Edge is in danger! Harald Forkbeard the dreaded pirate has set his sights on these seas. He took all the Viking artifacts I'd excavated and left me in this cage. We need to act right now!"

"Oh no!" I moaned.

"I don't know how it happened. The evil pirate knew exactly how to find me. He sailed into safe harbor without hesitation, captured me, and stole everything from my camp."

Tears pricked my eyes. This was my fault. Harald knew where to find him because of me. "I'm so sorry, Skulder."

He gave me a sympathetic look, obviously not understanding. "It'll be alright. You should be able to shatter the lock of this cage with your axe."

I took a deep breath. "Right." I had to save my friend, who I was right about, by the way. With newfound determination, I raised my axe and shattered the lock, allowing Skulder to break free.

"Whew! Thank you, my old friend. This experience reminds me of the time I ran into a particularly unfriendly tribe far from here. It's a memory I would much rather forget."

I forced a smile. "You're welcome." But it didn't make up for everything else.

Skulder appeared completely oblivious to my somber mood. "I did learn something new! It's the only favorable thing to happen to me in a few weeks, I'm afraid. Little Muddie has great instincts. As soon as Harald trapped me in this cage, little Muddie knew that there was trouble afoot. He went to hide far away from the pirate. What a smart little dragon!"

Oh, that was a relief. "That's great!"

Skulder nodded. "Can you find him at his swamp and make sure that Harald didn't catch up to him? Use your axe against his rock to make one of his favorite noises. I'm sure he'll poke his head out if he's nearby."

"No problem." I walked up to the usual rock and swung my axe down on top of it. The Mudraker bolted out of the water and went right up to Skulder, who smiled at him.

"There's my clever boy!" Skulder said happily. "Oh, look here, Brennda. Our friends have arrived. Backup in case the dreaded Harald Forkbeard was still around, I gather?"

I cringed at his continued colorful descriptions of Harald. "No, stop it," I muttered as I trudged back to him.

Skulder frowned, finally seeming to notice something was amiss. "Brenda... what's wrong?"

The newcomers exchanged uneasy glances. "She's upset about Harald," Hiccup said. "He's been living with us on Dragon's Edge, pretending to be our friend. Brennda was affected the most."

Skulder looked from me to Hiccup. "I see. I am too late."

"I trusted Harald because he seemed so friendly about dragons, and instead he took advantage of us. I even let him make me doubt you. I'm sorry."

"No, it's my fault," said Astrid. "I shouldn't have let down my guard. I should have known that we were letting a snake into our midst."

My anger suddenly returned. I clenched my fits so tightly my nails dug into my skin. "Will you both just stop it? You know this is my fault! I'm the one who should be apologizing."

Skulder watched me with wide eyes. "Brennda?"

"I am the one who was closest to Harald. I'm the one he manipulated. I was skeptical at first, but he won me over, so you all trusted him too. I'm the one who ignored all the signs because I didn't want to believe it. And I'm the reason he knew where to find Skulder and his artifacts. I'm the one who was so captivated by him that nothing else mattered. This is my fault." I could no longer stop the tears. I hid my face behind my curly hair, but there was no silencing the sobs.

"Hiccup?" Skulder said. "I've never seen her like this, have you?"

"No," Hiccup said, "and I don't know what to do. We can stop Harald's plans, but how do I fix this?"

"You can't," Astrid said gently.

"Let me try," said Skulder. I refused to look at him as he approached from behind. "Brennda, listen to me, this is not your fault. Many great Vikings have been fooled by Harald Forkbeard. We've crossed paths many times, and he's never failed to prove himself a crafty manipulator and skilled thief. We need to figure out how to protect ourselves from him more than place blame."

I sucked in a sharp breath. "You don't understand. It wasn't just because of his skill that he was able to trick me. We - we became close." At least I thought we did. My heart still refused to believe that none of it was true. Perhaps I could not accept that a mere lie could cause such strong feelings. As my tears ceased, I wiped my eyes and finally looked at my archaeologist friend. "Such high level of deception requires the participation of the deceived. I wanted to believe he was a good guy. I wanted to believe he cared, so I ignored all evidence to the contrary." Just like he said.

Skulder shook his head. "Do not fault yourself for seeing the best in him. You would not be who you are if you did not, and I happen to like who you are. Your willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt only proves you have a good heart. I know I appreciate that you trusted me from the beginning. There is always a risk in letting someone into your life, but that should not stop you. Sometimes it will work out, and other times it won't."

"You still have us," Hiccup said.

"And we appreciate your friendship," Astrid added.

I managed a small smile for them. They had great points. In time, I might even come to agree with them. "Thanks, guys. I'll... get through this."

Skulder turned to Hiccup and Astrid. "Now what will you do?"

"We need to come up with a plan to deal with Harald, but first we must warn everyone else," Hiccup said. "We should spread the word about Harald. Berk and the School need to know that he's operating nearby."

"I'll go," I said.

"You sure? You don't have to. I can send Astrid."

I nodded. "I want to go. If I have something to focus on, it will make it easier to deal with all this. Besides, I want to talk to Heather."

"Alright. Meet us back at Dragon's Edge when you're finished."

"Good luck," Astrid said.

"Thanks," I said. I would need it.

A/N: Wow, that became a very long chapter. It did not feel right to split it up, though. So, what do you think about Harald? Was there any truth to anything he said and did? Does it matter?