They were just a week away from the Monthly Battle, which was held once every single month. The event was rather simple the Houses would form teams in a battle against one another. The problem was every single battle was different from the last it could be a siege, capture the flag even a battle royale.

Hiccup was a leader of House Thor so is his job to command his house in the battle and use currently discussing alliances with House Odin with their leader Theo Meatson and son of Odin.

"You certainly make an interesting proposition, Hiccup," said Theo.

"Being more than generous splitting or down 50-50 and you get to keep any magical weapons your house gets their hands-on," said Hiccup.

"I'm not saying the deal is not generous," said Theo. "It's just that House Loki is proving to be even more generous."

Hiccup was afraid of this, House Loki had a tendency of forging alliances better than any of the other houses. They had always been the main rivals of House Thor and as such tried to deny them any kind of allegiance.

"I know all about their offer to you, but they have made the same offer to House Tyr, and they have already accepted."

Theo rubbed his chin and looked at Hiccup. "You have confirmation?"

"You know of our recent acquisition?" Hiccup asked.

"Ah, the Dark Elf," Theo nodded. "What about her?"

"Let's just say that she kept her ear to the ground and hurt their conversation. I might have had the Thorston between is to sneak into their dorm and get a copy of their deal."

Hiccup then pulled out a sheet of paper and then presented it to Theo, who studied it closely.

"It would seem as if you're telling the truth I do recognise the signatures from both house leaders," Theo nodded. "And I suppose I am getting tired of following Loki's lead and you have certainly proven yourself to be quite the leader."

"So do we have a deal?" Hiccup asked.

"We do," said Theo.

With that, they both shook hands and seal the deal.

When he returned back to the door, everyone was anxious to hear the news.

"So, did he agree to the terms?" Astrid asked.

"He did," Hiccup smiled.

Everyone then burst out in cheers.

"Finally an alliance," said Fishlegs. "We haven't struck one in years."

"It was in for Heather spying on House Loki, he would never have happened," said Hiccup looking at Heather.

"I was just overhearing a few interesting conversations," Heather shrugged. "In fact, you should be thankful to the twins, they're the ones that went behind enemy lines."

"It was easy as a bug in a rug," said Tuffnut.

"In fact, we were bugs hiding in a rug," said Ruffnut.

"I just hope the alliance lasts," said Astrid folding her arms. "Just a shame we weren't able to get House Tyr."

"Loki already got their hands on them, and we agreed it was more likely that we could get House Odin on our side," Hiccup reminded her. "That said we did manage to reach a few people in Tyr and with a few extra coins they've agreed to sabotage their efforts."

"Making these alliances is going to cost us quite a lot," Snotlout huffed.

"We don't have any choice, it's the only way to give them on our side," said Hiccup.

"And want our friendship gets stronger, we can come to a more reasonable relationship," Astrid added.

"So now I suggest that we get ourselves prepared because knowing Loki they have probably a few tricks up their sleeves," said Hiccup.

It was now the night before the battle and Hiccup was trying to get a good nights sleep. Unfortunately, he started to have bad dreams the kind that demigods usually get on a daily basis.

He found himself in a fortress and judging from the night sky outside it was the middle of the night, but he could see the glimpse of the full moon. It then dawned on him that he was in Svartalfheim and he saw the fortress Johann along with Ryker and Zar talking with a handsome Dark Elf.

"You know very well the terms of our arrangement is that you will help us search for the eye and only once we acquire it we help you stage a little uprising," said Johann.

"The Queen is starting to get suspicious," said the elf. "She has already sent her daughter away for her own safety."

"We have already told you of her location," Ryker growled.

"That does little good, the place is a fortress!" the elf sneered. "I have my Scout searching for the eye, but you have any idea how hard it is the find something that small inner realm this large. That even assuming it in this realm!"

"Oh, it is here I can assure you of that," said Johann. "The only question is are you capable of finding it."

"It would help if we knew where to start looking," said the elf looking more annoyed. "And there's another thing, my Scouts have reported that someone is tracking us."

"It must be the Light Elf Ragnar," said Ryker.

"The son of Frey?" said the elf's eyes widened. "And when we going to tell us he was here in this realm!"

Johann shot a look at Ryker. Clearly, he did not want them to know Ragnar's whereabouts. "I had an inkling that he was here, but nothing was confirmed."

"A Light Elf here in Svartalfheim and not just any Light Elf, but the son of Frey! That is quite a significant development which you failed to inform us about. What if he asks for aid from his father there could dozens of Light Elves swarming those forests."

"How foolish do you think I am?" said Johann. "There is very little danger of him calling for aid from his father. You have no doubt heard the tales that he's not in the best of light with his people and even if he wasn't sending more Light Elves here would just provoke a war, something which both sides are trying to prevent!"

"I'm warning you, Johann, if you're hiding anything else from us then you can forget about our help," the elf threatened and then stormed out of the room.

"Why are we even dealing with these fools?" Zar snarled. "What use are they?"

"Every piece has an important role to play," said Johann as he turned to face the window. "They know this land better than we do and with them, we can remove a big obstacle in our path."

"Even still he does have a point," said Ryker. "Ragnar may not call his father that aid, but he does have other allies. I needn't remind you the last time that we tangled with Hiccup and his friends."

"I'm well aware," said Johann. "According to my father, Hiccup and his friends will have an important role to play in the days to come. Their action could either delay Ragnarok for several centuries or accelerate it."

"I don't suppose he told you how they can help us?" Ryker asked.

"No, that is beyond his sight."

"But Hiccup Haddock can see into the future," Zar reminded him. "The longer he's alive, the more chance as he has a developing his powers. I say that we eliminate him before he's too powerful to stop."

"That we have to get him out of the Academy," said Johann. "Fortunately there is someone out there who can get him outside of the protective barrier around that school."

Hiccup then sat up covered in sweat, he really hated when he had dreams like that. On the plus side at least he knew that Ragnar was safe at the time being and he knew what they were after. He wanted to tell Mimir right away, but today was the battle, and he had to focus on that for the time being.

Directly after breakfast, everyone made their way to the grounds where the battle would take place. None of them had any idea what kind about we would be, but they were about to find out.

Standing on a wooden podium was Gobber, who was holding Mimir in his hand.

"Welcome, all of you," said Mimir. "Now I imagine that all of you are anxious to know what kind of battle we'll be having today. Well, it's going to be a siege!"

There were a lot of moans, the siege was not everyone's favourite battle mostly because some of them would be trapped on one side of the wall rather than fighting on the open battlefield.

"Will the two commanders please step forward for us to determine who will be defending the keep and who shall be on the attack," said Mimir.

Hiccup started to make his way to the podium where he came face-to-face with Gunnar, the head of House Loki.

"Now we shall determine this by a simple flip of a coin," said Mimir.

"He's able to see into the future, I say that an unfair advantage," said Gunnar.

"Which is why you'll be guessing which way the coin lands," said Mimir. "Now there aren't any further interruptions let us begin."

Gobber tossed Hiccup coin, and he flipped it. He then quickly grabbed the coin and pressed against his wrist.

"Call," said Mimir.

"Talis!" said Gunnar.

Hiccup revealed the coin, and indeed it had landed on tails.

"Which position do you wish to be in?" Mimir asked.

"Offensive," Gunnar smirked.

House Thor and Odin groaned in frustration.

"Very well then I will go over the rules," said Mimir. "The time limit on the sieges five hours and the offensive team has that amount of time to capture the keep by capturing the commander. I must also stress that you're only supposed to knock your enemies out cold, there will be no killing. You have one hour to determine the best way to position yourselves, and by the sound of the horn, the battle will begin."

With that House Thor and Odin made their way to the keep, which had magically appeared on the battlefield. It was rather impressive tall walls and battlements and a clear sightline that allowed the defenders to scan the entire battlefield.

"Easily defensible," said Astrid.

"We best start making battle plans and quickly," said Hiccup.

They wasted no time making their way to the war room.

"I don't need to remind you all that our main objective is to hold the keep for five hours," said Hiccup.

"Technically, we have to protect you," said Astrid. "Which is why I suggest that Snotlout and a twin stay by your side."

Snotlout immediately protested. "Wait, you mean unforgettably partaking in the battle?"

"It's still an important job," said Astrid bluntly. "And the twins will be the last line of defence in all else fails."

"Hopefully won't come to that," said Hiccup. "Gunnar is no doubt attackers from all sides to try and find our weak spot."

Theo nodded. "Then I suggest that we cover all sides. We'll mix our houses up and have a command on each wall."

Hiccup nodded. "Astrid I want you to guard the South, Theo you can take the West, Fishlegs you have the North."

"Why does he get a guard wall?" Snotlout muttered.

"You sure it's wise for me to have this kind of responsibility?" Fishlegs asked.

"You can do it, Legs, I know you can," said Hiccup placing a hand on his shoulder.

"That still leaves the East," said Astrid.

"I've got a guy can trust to man that," said Theo.

Hiccup then turned to Heather. "Heather, I want you stationed on the tallest tower. I'm going to need you to be our lookout."

"You got it, but how my supposed to communicate with you?" Heather asked.

Hiccup smiled then brought out several walkie-talkies. "I think these will work."

"When did you get these?" Astrid asked she grabbed one.

"I got this morning," Hiccup smiled. "Communication is key in any battle."

"Way to think ahead," said Theo looking impressed.

"Astrid and Theo, talk amongst yourselves about who you want to guard which wall," Hiccup instructed. "I want every single catapult and ballista manned and armed. Also, keep an eye out for any spies that House Loki sent our way."

"You think someone will betray us?" Theo asked.

"We've got spies in their camp, only makes sense they have some of theirs in ours."

"We've got this, there's no need to worry," Astrid assured him.

"In that case, let's get everything as prepared as possible and brace ourselves. I have a feeling this is gonna be a long five hours."

Hiccup was in the war room looking down on the map of the battlefield, thanks to Heather, they had a good idea where all their forces were gathered. Astrid and Theo had finished setting up the defences, and there were only a few minutes away until the start of the battle.

Snotlout pacing up and down, looking annoyed. "I can't believe I have to stay here and babysit! And what's worse Fishface has my job."

"No, your job is to stay here and guard me," said Hiccup bluntly. "Look the reason why you're here is that you're too reckless on the battlefield."

"But Fishface is too cautious!" Snotlout yelled.

"Which makes you the more dangerous," said Hiccup.

Snotlout looked as if he wanted to argue some more, but then suddenly they heard the sound of a horn.

"Looks like it's starting," said Hiccup.

They quickly made their way to the windows that overlooked the south wall and saw a large force making their way towards them. It was hard to make how many of them exactly, but they were hulling siege towers and catapults.

"Looks like they mean business," said Hiccup then reached for his walkie-talkie. "Heather, I see a large force making its way onto the south wall."

"Not just the south, but they're making attacks on the other walls as well," said Heather. "I counted at least 50 people on each side."

"Sounds about right," said Hiccup.

"Is that even enough in order to take the keep?" Snotlout asked.

"We've got about 40 people on each wall, everyone else is patrolling the keep," Hiccup informed him. "Historically there's take days for an enemy force to take the castle, but that's ordinary mortals."

"You think that any children of Loki will just shapeshift and fly in?" said Tuffnut.

"Isn't that what you guys would do?" Hiccup looking at the twins.

"Yeah, sounds about right," said Ruffnut.

"But wouldn't that just mean they could just appear in this room out of thin air?" Snotlout asked.

"Hard to do when Heather is on the lookout," said Hiccup. "They'll probably do that when their sheer and utter chaos which means we have until they preach one of our walls to worry about that."

So far, everything was going according to Hiccup's predictions, the enemy houses were trying to scale the walls, but that offenders managed to hold them off. Three hours in and they were still defending the keep, but they had run out of ammo, and most of the defenders were injured.

"There's only 10 of us left on the south wall," said Astrid over the walkie-talkie. "I don't know how the others are faring?"

"There's about 13 of us left here," said Theo.

"Nine here," said Steven, who was Theo's man guarding the east wall.

"I've got about 14 people left," said Fishlegs.

"Heather, how is the enemy faring?" Hiccup asked.

"They were pretty worn out themselves," said Heather. "They have multiple injuries in their tents, I would have to say that they have about 50 still able to fight."

"That means they have a slightly outnumbered," said Hiccup folding his arms. "What is says is on the walls themselves."

"The south wall is still pretty much intact, their slight damage to the east and west walls, but I would say that the south wall was practically crumbling."

"Trust Fishface to mess things up," Snotlout snorted.

Hiccup ignored him. "Then it's probably a good bet though concentrate the remaining forces on the south wall. If that does happen, I want all of our available men on the walls to head there immediately."

"Understood," said everyone.

"And what are we going to do?" Snotlout asked, folding his arms.

"Wait," said Hiccup.

Hiccup's assumptions were proven to be right as there was a massive attack on the south wall. The moment it was attacked Astrid, and the other wall commanders made their way there to repel the attack.

Snotlout was looking out the window watching the attack. "I feel utterly useless up here! I should be down there fighting!"

Hiccup just stood there looking at his watch. "They'll have to act soon is only about half an hour left until the battle is over."

"I say that we've got this in the back," said Snotlout as he turned his back on the window. "I mean there's no way they can fend off our remaining forces and get here in time."

"The ground forces may not be up to get here in time, but an infiltration team might," said Hiccup.

He then suddenly saw Gunnar along with a guy and a girl suddenly appearing out of thin air. They caught them completely by surprise and Gunnar transformed into a rhino tackled him sending him crashing into the wall. The boy and girl with quickly transformed into a pair of wolves and began attacking the twins.

Hiccup then blinked and found that everything was completely normal, but it didn't take them long to realise that that wouldn't be the case any second now.

"We've got intruders!" Hiccup yelled as he drew his sword.

He began to scan the room and then saw three flies hovering directly over when he saw Gunnar and his team. He realised that all three of them were shapeshifters, meaning that they were children of Loki.

Gunnar and his brother and sister then appear directly in front of them. Gunnar looked towards Snotlout and charged towards him.

"Snotlout, roll to the right!" Hiccup yelled.

Snotlout for once didn't question him and did what he was told. A good thing too because Gunnar had just transformed into a rhino would have slammed into him.

Hiccup turn towards the twins. "Ruff! Tuff! Wolves!"

Thankfully they understood his meaning as their brother and sister had just transformed into wolves. They quickly raised their spears and began to fend them off, leaving Hiccup and Snotlout to deal with Gunnar.

"That foresight of yours is really annoying," Gunnar growled.

"I think it comes in handy," said Hiccup and then he looked at Snotlout. "So, do you see why I wanted you here now?"

Snotlout pulled out his mace. "Still preferred to be outside."

Gunnar then charged in swinging his axe, but Snotlout rolled out of the way and quickly swung his mace. Unfortunately, Gunnar transformed into an eagle avoiding the mace, but Hiccup jumped in raising his sword. Gunnar managed to fly to safety, but some of his tailfeathers have been sliced off.

"Any premonitions on how to be the master shapeshift?" Snotlout asked.

Hiccup really wish he had an answer, though he was grateful of the twins were keeping their half-siblings at bay for the time being. It was effectively two against one, but Gunnar had way more experience than either of them.

Gunnar then transformed back and did a flying sidekick right across Snotlout's face. Hiccup immediately used his foresight and managed to avoid the punch which would've hit him. He then jumped back, avoiding a back kick.

"You can't keep this up forever," Gunnar sneered. "I know that little trick of yours wears you down soon; you will become helpless."

"You have on one just yet," said Hiccup.

"It's only a matter of time."

Snotlout then came charging in swinging his mace like a madman, but his attack pattern was straightforward to protect, and Gunnar dodged them all.

"All brawn and no brains," said Gunnar shaking his head. "For someone who supposed to be the son of the God of Wisdom, you're rather dumb."

Hiccup then immediately used Inferno to release a burst of flames and Gunnar transformed into a canary and flew above them. However he was so fixated on Hiccup, he then failed to notice Snotlout behind him. A split second later he then found himself beneath Snotlout's helmet.

"Who's done now," Snotlout smarter then banged his mace on the helmet.

Hiccup placed a tight grip on his sword as Snotlout removed the helmet and there laying on the ground was an unconscious canary.

Hiccup looked up at Snotlout. "So all those mad swings, you just want him to think you were charging them with another plan."

Snotlout shrugged. "Maybe there is something in this whole think before you leap thing."

They then heard the sound of the horn indicating the end of the battle.

"Looks like we won," said Hiccup.