FORTY ONE: Sundered.

Zephyr Eretson frowned and slowly opened her eyes, blinking and then flinging her hands up to cover her face because the light seemed to be scorching her eyeballs. She frowned and rolled onto her side, trying to work out what had happened and where she was.

Her mind slithered back to her last fractured memories, the fact that her father had physically handed her over to Minister Trayder with the simple, chilling words.

"She's yours."

And she had fought and struggled but the man had grasped her wrist, the grip frighteningly tight and he had dragged her out of her home, kicking and struggling and forced her into his car. She had tried to scramble out but the doors had been locked and as she had turned, he was in next to her, gesturing to his driver and holding her in the seat as the final lock clunked and the tyres spun as they accelerated away. She had fought and struggled, glancing despairingly back at her home before they shot round the corner and it vanished from sight.

"You're mine, now, my dear," Johann said in a voice very different from his usual calm, slightly ingratiating tone. This voice was hard and merciless.

"This is kidnapping," Zephyr corrected him.

"How can it be? You wanted to come," he told her sneeringly.

"I never!" she argued. "I refuse. Let me go!" His grip tightened painfully and she yelped.

"I will break your wrist," he told her callously. "That will stop you getting out and drawing or any other nonsense." She slumped down in her seat, shocked at his ruthlessness though slightly relieved because he was squeezing her right wrist…though she knew better than to point that out.

"But you can't just hand me over like a piece of property," she protested.

"I didn't," Johann sneered in a very menacing way. "You had pined for me for years, forming an unshakeable bond. And my heart was stolen by your devotion. You've come willingly…to marry me." She struggled then.

"No," she protested, shaking her head. "No. I refuse. I will never say the words…"

"Oh, I can make you do whatever I want, my dear," Johann threatened. "Unless you want your father to suffer?" Her blue eyes hardening, the girl felt her hatred crystallise and she stared fearlessly back into the older man's merciless eyes.

"He's happy enough for me to suffer to save him," she said with barely a waver in her voice. "Let him pay his own debts…" Johann's eyebrows shot up and he gave a small small.

"So you do have your mother's fire in there," he commented, his tone almost admiring-and then his voice hardened again. "No mind. We'll break that as well. But if not your father…maybe your poor homeless and penniless mother? Or your brother? I believe he's gone to Icefell with his father to serve our master. And accidents happen so easily…" Her eyes widened and a surge of fear and hopelessness surged through her.…

"I am not marrying you," she hissed. Johann chuckled,

"Your father gave his blessing and when we get to my stronghold, only my word is needed for this to be legal," he said as she stared at him and twisted her arm, trying to break free.

"That's illegal! I won't!" she hissed as he finally released her.

"Now you're acting like petulant child," he scolded her in a disappointed tone. She stared at him in anger.

"I am still a child," she told him bluntly. "And you are older than my father. You have taken me from my home against my will and I am never marrying you, Minister Trayder." He sat back and gestured to his driver using the rear view mirror.

"We'll see," he murmured.

They had driven straight onto the apron of Berk Airport and pulled up alongside a private plane-shockingly, not one of her father's, since Johann treated Eret's aircraft as his personal rides. The moment the door unlocked, she flung it open and raced out-to be grabbed by a bulky man, lifting her bodily off the ground, her body wrapped in his bear hug. Screaming and kicking, she was hauled up onto the plane and thrown in, then pushed into a seat and her arms tied to the armrests.

"I am never marrying you!" she spat but Johann rolled his eyes, taking his seat and snapping his fingers. An attendant in a scarlet uniform-low cut white silk blouse, scarlet mini skirt and towering red shoes-swiftly brought him a tumbler of Scotch on the rocks. He lifted his glass in an ironic salute.

"This is getting tiresome," he said and rolled his eyes. "I admire your spirit, my dear Zephyr. But surely you have to see I will win? I will always win-and you are one young girl against an entire organisation." She blinked as the door closed and the engines rose in pitch. The small aircraft started rolling and she saw the scenery of Berk roll past…and then they accelerated, the surge of gee-forces pushing her back in the seat. She blinked again and her eyes burned with unshed tears as they lifted off, her home falling away.

"I will never surrender," she whispered, the feelings of hopelessness surging and filling her. While they had been on Berk, there was the hope that she could have gotten away, that she could have sought help…maybe got to Tallon's Fury's home where Fink had told here there was refuge and safety if she ever needed them. But now it was too late. She was lost.

She wasn't aware that the tears were rolling down her face until the stewardess crouched down before her and dabbed her cheeks dry.

"Don't worry," she whispered. "It won't be that bad." Then she sighed and unfastened one arm. "Would you like some water?" She nodded dumbly, sniffing and snatching a glance over at Johann, who was reading something on a tablet. Wiping her nose with a paper tissue, she tried to compose herself as the stewardess unscrewed the cap of a small water bottle and the young woman sipped the cool liquid, smiling gratefully for the kindness and cursing Johann and her father, who had schemed and traded her as a pawn in their business dealings. It was everything her mother had feared-and Zephyr knew that her Mom would never have allowed this if she had any means of stopping it. The unspoken implication of that worried her as well…as did the fate of Fink as well. Her head dropped and she palmed another tear off her skin. Her mother would never have given up-and neither would Fink. She took a shuddering breath and sipped a little more water to compose herself again. So neither would she…she just had to work out to get away when they landed and find some sort of policemen to ask for help…

And then she realised her head was spinning. She blinked and the half-drunk bottle of water fell from her suddenly nerveless fingers. She looked up in betrayal at the stewardess-and then over at Johann who was looking at her with an unsettling intensity, a small smile lifting his lips.

And then it had all gone black…

They drugged me, she realised, sitting up. Her head was pounding and she felt sick…but at least she was untied. However, she was in a small room with a bed, a mirror, table and chair under the mirror with a plastic cup and water jug resting on it. And then she realised that she was in a simple white shift dress over her underthings with her clothes tossed in the corner. She rose to her bare feet and walked over to the clothes, patting down her pockets and finding what she had hoped: a folded napkin. She grasped it in her hands and took a steadying breath before she tried the door, but-as expected-it was locked. So she sat back down on the bed and unfolded the cloth, seeing the biro drawing of herself that the billionaire had done at the dinner, an image of a young woman she didn't recognise as herself but who was what she had wanted to be.

She scrubbed her face with her hands and glanced around again. There were no windows, one light bulb hanging from a simple light fitting and a bare, flagged floor. She couldn't hear anything but she guessed no one would come if she shouted. And she couldn't trust the water. She couldn't trust that they wouldn't drug her again…and Thor only knew what they would do to her in that case. But there seemed to be no way out.

She would have to bide her time…and hope that she could figure a way out before Johann did something irrevocable…

oOo

Astrid sat on the bed, her mind in a whirl. She had resigned herself to defeat one more time-admittedly not the worst defeat in her life, since she had finally escaped Eret. Realising the papers he had flung at her had been final divorce papers, the sick realisation hit her that he had filed the original papers in her name with presumably a forged signature some time earlier. And she had not received any correspondence, meaning that he had manipulated the whole thing in an illegal manner that was as reprehensible as it was typical. And yet, there was a feeling of relief...until she recalled that his final vicious gestures had been to take her children.

And they were hers, not his. He had no part in their making and in fact, had done everything he could to try to make her lose them in the early days of her marriage. Pregnant, heartbroken and hating Eret, marrying him had never been the best choice but Stoick had sat her down and spoken to her at length.

"Lass," he had said, his voice grave but still filled with the paternal warmth that she treasured, "the bastards have outmanoeuvred us. Hiccup is gone, stolen and driven to despair and death. My heart is broken and so is yours. And they have taken everything-though if I had known he had such a problem..."

"He didn't," she replied harshly, her eyes burning and throat tight at the implication. "He didn't. Eret did. Hiccup-we both-tried to help him so many times but he just flung it back in Hiccup's face, always wanting more, more more. More money, more time off, more loans...and all the while, he was forging Hiccup's name and putting all his debts against the business and you. I am so sorry. I asked Hiccup to fire him...but he worried what would happen to Eret, his friend, if he did that. He was a good man."

"Shame his friend was the opposite," Stoick growled and then he tenderly raised a hand to stroke her cheek. "Astrid lass-I know this is terrible for you-to lose your parents-and now your soul mate and your home. But I have nothing. They have taken everything from me and all I can hope for is a bed in a shelter. There isn't room with my brother-there's barely enough for him and his son in that ridiculous motor home they live in. And you..." He blinked and his voice grew rough. "I couldn't imagine you in a shelter."

"I will survive," she had told him boldly but he wrapped her in a surprisingly gentle hug.

"Astrid-you carry Hiccup's child," he reminded her. "And you have been sick with the pregnancy. You've lost weight and I fear for you. The Council have voted harsh new vagrancy laws and cut social benefits...and I can do nothing. Nothing but offer my own service to others. But you...you know that man has his eye on you. He covets everything that was my son's. Maybe he can repay Hiccup in one last way." He sighed. "Make him look after his child."

She shook her head and refused and they argued for a long time, but in the end, Stoick's desperation wore her down. And she was feeling so sick and weak that there was nothing else she could do. So, sitting by Stoick, she made the call, she spoke words that were lies-and always would be-and agreed to a first date. And she hated herself as she rose to get ready, seeing the sadness in Stoick's eyes.

"He'll never let you see the baby," she told him and he nodded.

"I know, lass," he said brokenly. "But I will know the child survives and that will be enough. That will mean that somewhere, the tiniest piece of my son lives on. And that will have to be all the comfort I can get." She had turned back and hugged him fiercely then, her eyes burning with tears.

"I will raise him or her to be Hiccup's child, not Eret's," she promised. "They will never love him. They will never be like him. I will make sure he lives on in the baby I carry. I promise, Stoick." He nodded and forced himself to smile.

"I couldn't have been more proud of you if you had been my own daughter," he told her.

She blinked. The memory was bitter because she had only seen him a handful more times and then Eret had proposed. Stoick had given her his blessing and helped her pack the few remaining possessions she had salvaged from the old house and then, as she had left for the Registry office, she had kissed him goodbye. She only spoken to him a few times more and had never seen him again.

"You look a million miles away," Ruff said from the doorway. Astrid swiped the tear from her cheek, blinking and forcing herself to smile slightly.

"An old memory," she admitted. "A long time ago, just after Hiccup died..." Walking in, the female twin sighed.

"You know, I heard that you had married the man who ruined him shortly after he was declared dead," she admitted. "I think we all hated you."

"I hated me," Astrid told her honestly. "I never loved Eret-but I knew he wanted me. And I was pregnant with Hiccup's child...or, as it turned out, children, and I was sick. I couldn't afford medical care and I would have done anything to make sure the baby was safe. Even marrying Eret."

"And he didn't suspect?" Ruff asked, plopping beside her on the bed. She shook her head.

"Not at first," she admitted. "I was sick and had lost weight. I did have a bump-I was actually eighteen weeks when we married but I concealed it well. Until he decided he wanted to fuck me-and then he found out. He hit me and called me a whore-and I said nothing because that was exactly what I was doing. And he went ahead, though I asked him not to because he thought he could make me lose the child if he was rough." She stared at the floor, her hands gripping the quilt tightly. "Didn't work. So he arranged an OBGYN to see if he could arrange an abortion-though I would have killed him if he tried and would never have consented. But, thank Thor, the scan showed by then I was almost twenty weeks and it was too late-and I was carrying twins. And as the doctor spoke, I saw the rage in his face-and then he put on that act, saying he had been worried because I was ill and it was so soon after the wedding...but inside he was seething at being thwarted, at having one put over him and not getting his own way. I feared what he would do when I was vulnerable, when the children were here... So I made a bargain with him as the doctor went out to get some meds. I promised that I would play the dutiful wife as long as he treated my children as his own and provided all the medical care and everything they needed. It took a moment-but he agreed and I was looked after. And all it cost was my heart and soul."

"Wow. Rough," Ruff commented and sighed, then gently patted Astrid's hand. "That bastard just kept leaving victims, didn't he?"

"Everyone he encountered," Astrid sighed. "And now he has my children."

"Look, one thing I know is that Ingen will get them back," Ruff told him as the other blonde frowned.

"Why do you call him that?" she asked. Ruff gave a small smile.

"Because it was the name he gave us, when we fished him out of the freezing water just off Freezing-To-Death," she explained. "Ingen. No One. He said he had to keep the name because who he was must remain locked up in that place until his name was cleared."

"I found the evidence," Astrid murmured. "I took crazy risks, opened his computer, , stole his phone records, screen shot his cell messages...but I found it. And then I realised, I had no one to give it to and no way to get away from him anyway. So I kept the evidence in the hope one day, there would be a chance to bring him down. Little did I know Hiccup was already on the case..."

"Well, technically he was still locked up in Jotunheim while you stole the messages," Ruff explained. "He escaped and went on his quest over a decade later." Astrid sighed and wrapped her arms around her body, staring out of the window at the forest.

"I can never make up for what happened," she sighed. "And for the hurt I must have caused when he believed I..." She swallowed. "I never would have even spoken to Eret if I had believed for one second that Hiccup was still alive!"

"I know," Ruff told her compassionately. "And so does he. Look, he found you and went to reveal himself to you. Everyone else he has told who he was has been completely destroyed...but you, he brings back here. He forgave you."

"I don't deserve it," Astrid muttered but Ruff chuckled.

"Ingen believes you do," she said with a grin. "And he's using all his wealth and resources to find your kids." She paused. "His kids. Thor. That's a weird idea. But not really that crazy. I mean, he's great with Tuff and I so that would definitely make him an awesome Dad. And he is kind and generous, even when Tuff burns the toaster with his damned pop tarts..." Then she handed over a bundle of black cloth. "Look, I guess you wanna come along. Ingen is coming-he hates Johann with a passion because the man is pure evil and let Eret lay all his Casino debts against Ingen even though he never went here. Ever. He rescued Dagur's sister, Heather from there. But now, this is personal-and Dagur and his band of Berserkers-that's his mercenary group-are coming along for the ride. I think Dagur would be equally happy if Johann's tale ended today." Astrid nodded.

"I'll come," she said, shaking out a black hoodie and pulling it over her head

"I mean, Tuff and I are coming," Ruff continued as she struggled into the garment. "Even though Ingen will object because I think he needs friends there with him-to remind him that he isn't alone. And he can handle himself. He's killed before for his friends." Astrid's eyes widened.

"A lot happened in Jotunheim," Hiccup said from the doorway, a small smile on his face. "I'll tell you later. Ruff-shall we let Astrid get changed?" Instantly, the female twin rose.

"Busted," she grinned and walked out as Hiccup walked forward.

"I'm coming," Astrid said flatly. "Zephyr will need her Mom and her Mom will definitely need her..."

"Can you shoot?" he asked calmly and she nodded.

"I was always hoping maybe I could shoot Eret and claim I thought he was a particularly ugly yak," she replied as he chuckled.

"There's the girl I know," he murmured as her gaze looked up.

"But I'm not," she sighed. "Neither of us are the people we were. Terrible things have happened to you and I...I spent seventeen years married to the biggest ass on the planet, a man I hated and only married to get healthcare paid for my unborn children. I don't deserve anything..."

"You know, the warden in Freya's Shelter For Fallen Women said something different," Hiccup told her. "He remarked that you had done so much good for charities, raised so much money and done far more than anyone else, that they owed you assistance, even though they were full. That you never complained and just accepted your fate. You used your position and did what you could for others. You protected my children. You remained dignified and decent, Astrid. Life has happened to us-and neither of us had the future we planned and hoped for. But now there is a chance that we can be together..."

"Once we get my children back," she told him, her eyes fired with determination.

"Our children," he corrected her and smiled as he offered her his hand. "Okay, Milady-shall we go and rescue our daughter?"

oOo

It was absolutely freezing on Icefell as Fink Eretson felt himself shoved and jostled by the other new recruits as they were marched from the landing field towards the base of the terrorist and would-be ruler of the Archipelago, Drago Bludvist. His jacket was inadequate-but then he had hardly been granted any time to grab anything, as his father had burst in and grabbed him, backhanding him to stop him yelling or struggling. He had been dragged, breathless and shocked, down the stairs, past his mother, who was lying in a heap on the ground, looking up blearily with welts visible on her face and cheek. He lunged to try to get to her.

"MOM!"

But Eret punched him, slamming the breath from his lean shape, making him go limp. He saw his Mom's eyes widen and her mouth open in a soundless scream of anguish but he was hauled into his father's car and by the time he had managed to catch his breath, they were driving scarily fast down towards the airport with the doors locked in his father's Porsche. Fink glared at Eret.

"Let me go!" he yelled as his father drove him angrily down.

"You're mine," he said shortly. "You are my son and I am not leaving you to that bitch."

"Bitch? You mean Mom? Let me out, you bastard! I want to stay with her." He tried the door again but Eret accelerated and swerved to a cacophony of horns.

"Oh no-your whore of a mother promised to be a good wife and that you were both mine," Eret sneered. "Of course, she lied." Fink glared and the man gave a cold chuckle. "You're not mine."

Fink's eyes widened. His mother had told them that the man they called 'father' wasn't but Eret had been so sure and so determined that Fink had found himself accepting the lie-even though he despised his father. But for Eret to casually reveal it…

"Then why are you taking me?" Fink asked bitterly. Eret flicked a vicious look at him.

"Because it means she doesn't get you," he hissed.

"I hate you!" Fink yelled.

"I suppose you wish I was more like your friend Tallon Fury?" Eret sneered. "You don't think I don't know that you have been spending time with him? And why do you think he wastes his precious time on you, boy?"

"Because he's twice the man you are-or ever could be!" Fink retorted.

"Wrong, wrong and wrong," Eret sneered, swerving through traffic. "You think he's interested in you through philanthropy? All rich men are only out for what they can get. And most of his friends are male, if you see what I mean. I bet they spend their evenings up each other's…"

"Don't judge everyone by your own vile standards!" Fink shouted. "He's been kind and generous to me-they all are. And anyway, he has Heather…"

"His PA," Eret sneered. "He pays her as his personal assistant. Guess what she assists him in."

"Gods, you are despicable," Fink sneered as they pulled into the airport. He tried to scramble away as they door unlocked but Eret grabbed his arms and bodily hauled him through the car, wrestling the struggling and kicking boy onto the private aircraft-interesting not one of his, but marked 'Bewilderbeast Air'-and nodding to the pilot. The young man fought and screamed and shouted for help as he was strapped into the seat, his arms tied to the hand rests by plastic ties. Fighting and squirming furiously, he felt his spirits plummet as the aircraft door slammed closed but he was still screaming and cursing as they taxied away. Cruelly triumphant, Eret watched him with a smile as they accelerated into the sky and headed north, away from Berk and everything Fink knew-and everyone he cared for. Finally Eret leaned forward, his eyes cold.

"You're going to Icefell with me, boy-and there is no escape from there," he sneered. "You either do as you are told…or you will be killed."

"I won't help you," Fink told him.

"Well, I'm a big man up there-I have many friends in Icefell," Eret threatened but Fink forced himself to smirk, though his stomach had plummeted to his boots.

"Unless you've already tapped them for money, loans or investments into your so-called businesses," Fink replied sarcastically. "Then they'll have lost their money or be really irritated that you never pay them back and will hate you! Is there anyone you don't rip off?" Eret slapped him brutally and he bit his lip, accepting the blow his sass had earned in silence.

"I'd control that mouth, boy," Eret snarled. "Because I won't be protecting you,"

"Good," Fink retorted, tasting blood. "You think I want anyone to know you're anything to do with me?"

"You're my son!" Eret snapped. But the boy laughed.

"Same old tired line," he taunted his sometime father. "Even if you hadn't just finally admitted you weren't, Mom told us. And I have eyes as well. You think someone like you, with black hair and dark eyes could ever produce a blond son and an auburn, blue-eyed daughter. The genetics don't add up."

"So who do you think is your real father?" Eret sneered. "Because he wasn't there when you were going up. Who wiped your nose and helped you play football and baseball and encouraged you and taught you everything you know?"

"Mom!" Fink hissed. "It was all Mom. You were never there. You were always at the casino or off with one of your whores!" Eret hit him again and he slumped back in the chair, his lip bloodied. He sniffed. "You were a terrible father."

"But I was there," Eret pressed on cruelly. "You know who your real father was? A traitor, a man who was convicted for helping Drago Bludvist, the terrorist…"

"Who you are going to join, who is your friend," Fink realised, his voice suddenly uncertain. Eret laughed at him.

"Yes," he sneered.

"Was he even guilty?" Fink asked suddenly, knowing his father better than almost anyone. "Or did you frame him for your crimes?" Eret's eyes widened.

"Gods…how did you?" he murmured as Fink's eyes widened, inspecting the shape of the man who had raised him as a father with renewed disgust.

"You mean you framed an innocent man, Mom's old boyfriend and he ended up in jail for your treason?" he breathed. Eret backhanded him again.

"And you'll never tell anyone that," he raged. "Not that anyone will care on Icefell. Everyone there supports Lord Drago and his plans to take over the Archipelago. Then, we will be in power and no one will oppose him-or care what you know…" Breathing hard, his face stinging from the blows, Fink looked at him with a mixture of hatred and horror.

"And my father, the man you framed?" he asked softly. Eret unstrapped himself and walked to the galley.

"He died in prison," he sneered.

And then he had ignored his son for the rest of the trip, a flight was altogether far too short for Fink's liking. As soon as they landed, Eret had been as good as his word, walking from the plane is a thick white parka, leaving his son tied to the chair. But just as swiftly, a rough looking mercenary with a scarred face and rough stubble had entered, cut his hands free and led him away. Glancing over his shoulder, he had seen his father head off towards the brightly-lit central compound while Fink found himself with the conscripts. Issued with a warm jacket and mittens, he had glanced around and spotted the snow cats, his eyes lighting at the possibilities…before he saw the guards with machine guns. And then he had been shoved along, far the youngest and certainly the least enthusiastic as they were all crammed into a small mess and the officer looked them over with a disparaging look.

"Men, you are here to fight for Lord Drago as he overthrows the corrupt and weak government of the Archipelago!" he announced. "Together, we will throw down the President and Council, sweep aside their weak laws and allow Lord Drago to rule the sheep with the iron hand they deserve."

Yeah-and you will kill and destroy and oppress, Fink realised. You'll have the rights and no one else will.

"So I expect you all to fight and be prepared to lay down your life for Lord Drago!" the officer growled but amid the cheering men, Fink was still. He was scared and angry and worried half to death at the fates of his mother and sister-but there were some things that his stubborn core would never allow him to do. Surrounded by traitors and in mortal peril, his heart overflowing with hatred for his father, he made a promise.

I will never fight for him, he vowed.