The next day was a mission meant to confirm or deny the intelligence we had gathered thus far. I would be leading the Riders to the Isle of Swallow to investigate the supposed base and if possible, wreck it beyond use. Dagur, Heather, Eret and my mother all insisted on joining us which, frankly, I was okay with. With increasing numbers, it wouldn't be like the last time we encountered Krogan where he had an army of Singetails and their flyers at the ready. Since the destruction of the Dragon Eyes, the only recorded place of knowledge for dragon lore was in Berk's very own Dragon Manuel and Fishleg's quick cards. We never destroyed the lenses, and since the secrets to creating new Dragon Eye's died long ago or rested safely with me, I didn't feel the need to destroy them.

This all meant that there would be no true fear of these trappers gaining a new army of dragons, not unless Krogan went out of his way to reacquire the Singetails or some other species. With as territorial as those dragons are, and without a Deathsong at his disposal, acquiring them or any other dragon would be a lot of resources. Which could explain why they are in so many locations. Operating within the Archipelago near striking range of Berk was risky enough unless you had a plan. Krogan was no Viggo but a small part of me still worried I was missing something. My mind was constantly racing as we neared Swallow, though it was amusing to hear the banter between the riders like old times. Snotlout had managed to say something to irritate Astrid again, as if that was challenging, so she spent much of the flight introducing Eret and my mother to her Jorgensen jokes.

"How do you sink a Jorgenson Battleship? You put it in the water!" She says, swaying Stormfly near Hookfang as everyone else snickers.

"Oh, come on. We heard that one years ago. Leave it to a Hofferson to say things everyone's already heard." Snotlout retorts.

"I haven't, and I quite like them. Got another?" Dagur asks with a serious face towards Snotlout that switches to a grin towards Astrid.

"For days, Dagur. How do you confuse a Jorgenson? Put him in a round circle and tell him to go to the corner!" She adds and Dagur laughs overtly as Snotlout fake claps. "How do you beat a Jorgenson at Maces and Talons? You ask them to play!" She adds.

"Okay, fine. Miss Comedian. How does a Hofferson sharpen their axe? By asking a Jorgenson for theirs!" Snotlout retorts and I can literally feel a couple riders' glance back at Snotlout. "What?"

"Eh, needs work. 4/10" Tuffnut states with a shrug.

"Yeah, the material was there but the delivery was out of wack. Astrid's still the champ." Ruff agrees.

"Oh, hey, we're here!" I call back, distracting the crew before the insults, in good fun, become annoying instead of funny. "Wide V Formation, stay high in the clouds. We don't want to give our position away." I order and everyone filters in line. Glancing to my right, I see Astrid look to me with a smile and nod from the back of Stormfly as I pull out my spyglass.

The island itself was large, two thirds the size of Berserker Island and almost double that of Berk. The more interesting thing about the island was the swallowing sands that surround it. A swath of sand-land at sea level that filtered between being flooded by the water and being above. Impossible for ships to travel through and it nearly surrounded the island itself except for a few smaller channels of actual water that were barely wide enough for a trader's ship to pass, let alone a battleship. The swallowing sands were rumored to be something of a death trap and as such, we've never explored it by ship and only did cursory explorations with our dragons back when both Berserk and the Outcasts were a threat. We had no reason to really go so far south considering the island itself has no signs of dragons and really is something of an anomaly.

It was likely a larger island at some point, maybe attached to a neighboring island in the archipelago, hard to say. Even traders didn't venture here often due to the danger-brutes; another reclusive tribe that is largely self sufficient and has been known for violence. Not much is known about their customs as we've had no interactions with them, and I wasn't really in the mood to try and establish an alliance with them anyways. We have enough problems.

"Hiccup!" Astrid's voice calls out to me, bringing me back to the task at hand. "See anything?" She asks and I shake my head.

"Nothing. The Swallowing sands make passage by ship nearly impossible except for a few key locations on the north and a straight channel of sea water on the west of the island. But that channel is hardly wide enough for trader vessels let alone trappers. I can't find any evidence of recent traffic, and the island itself is mostly barren with rock formations, sea stacks and dunes. No real vegetation to speak of." I explain, holstering my spyglass.

"So, swoop in for a closer look?" Fishlegs asks and I nod.

"Yes, but not everyone. Snotlout, Heather, Astrid and I will do a low fly by. Our dragons are the fastest. Everyone else, circle high and watch for signs of retaliation or a distress call. Once we're down there, Snotlout on my wing, Heather has Astrid's wing." I state and everyone nods as we break formation and begin our descent.

Our initial fly around the island revealed what I had seen in the spyglass. An island of sand dunes, rock formations and varying sea stacks that was wet, like the water from the ocean carried across the sand. I doubt this island would be a suitable home for even the sturdiest of boulder class dragons. Glancing to Astrid as we fly, I flag her down.

"Astrid, have Stormfly fire a couple spine shots at the swallowing sands sand area. I have a theory." I ask her and she nods. Rumor was it was not even safe to walk on this sand and as Stormfly fired her barbs and they slowly began to sink into the sand, my theory was confirmed. "Okay, do not land in the swallowing sands. In fact, only land on solid rock formations, I have a feeling this entire island is a death trap waiting to happen." I explain.

"Good choice, Hiccup. Excellent first mission." Snotlout says with a shrug. "Why'd you have us scout this place?"

"The real question is why did the map say the Trappers had an operation out here when this island appears deserted. Anyone spot any caves?" I call out only to see three shaking heads. "Okay, keep looking. I don't want to cross this off yet without being thorough." I add and they all nod. Astrid pulls Stormfly closer to Toothless.

"Hiccup, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Astrid asks, and I can hear the concern in her voice.

"That this was a set up or a trap? Yeah. The raid back on Bashem did seem just a little too easy. Let's see what we find, Krogan is no Viggo but we can't afford to underestimate him." I say and she nods, forcing a light smile on her face. She was fighting apprehension at the situation, I could tell, and so was I.

"I found a cave over here!" I hear Heather call out as we dive towards her. The cave is near the north on a mouth of the swallowing sands where ships could possibly almost make it. But you'd still need to cross hundreds of feet of swallowing sands to get to the opening.

"Let's check it out. Astrid, Heather, stay here and listen if we send a distress call so you can warn the others. Snotlout, with me." I state and Astrid pauses her flight.

"Hiccup." She begins and I shake my head and look to her. She knew we had to keep it business as usual during missions. It had been a challenge for years, but we're getting better at it. I see her smile as she nods. "Be safe." She adds and I nod, smiling.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be safe too." Snotlout adds and I shrug with a chuckle as we dive in the cave. The opening large enough to comfortably fit almost any Titan Wing we've encountered to date, but the inner tunnel system seems to spread off after that. There are signs of human involvement here, barrels and crates scattered. Maybe this was something after all.


It always bothered me to watch him fly into a dark unknown by himself, especially with a threat like Krogan looming. Swallow wasn't exactly a welcoming environment either, nearly inaccessible to ships and few places to land with dragons. There were no signs of life on this island of dunes, and only the one cave so far had been spotted. I felt like there had to be more, there just had to be. Against the cloud cover, I flagged Valka down to me and she answered quickly, likely thinking something was wrong.

"Valka, Hiccup and Snotlout are exploring this cavern. I want you to take Eret and do another scout around the island and look for similar caves. Heather and I are staying here in case they need backup, and we can inform everyone. Don't go into a cave if you spot one, just mark it." I explain. It felt weird giving Hiccup's mom orders, but she took it in stride with a smile.

"Will do." She answers and a nod and flies up, moments later I see Eret break formation with her, now leaving the Twins, Fishlegs and Dagur flying support. A large part of me wanted to fly in there after nearly a quarter hour had passed with no word from Hiccup or Snotlout. This whole situation was just too quiet. Heather must've sensed my concern as she brought Windshear closer to me.

"Hiccup'll be fine down there." She says amid her glide and I nod.

"I know, I've just got this growing feeling of unease. Tell me you haven't noticed it? This place just feels wrong, quiet. Not the good quiet, like the calm before the storm." I say, glancing to her and she nods slightly.

"I feel it too, but I think that may just be this island. Even the Berserkers don't tread here often and we've never had boots on the ground, but we've also never flown over it with dragons, so." Heather replies and I sigh. I just couldn't shake the feeling, and soon I knew why. Amid the quiet surrounding the island, a crack was heard echoing from beneath us.

"You heard that, right?" I ask and she nods.

"Like a bolt of lightning from the island… you don't think?" She pauses and glances to me as my eyes widen.

"Hiccup!" I exclaim and dart Stormfly down towards the cavern entrance before I feel a wave of heat rush from the entryway and a subsequent explosion that literally blasts me off Stormfly's back. I'm lucky Heather is as quick on a dragon as she is with an axe as I feel Windshear's tail wrap around my leg. Stormfly flies back to me and I hop on her back as Heather points below us.

"The cavern entrance?" She pauses as my eyes trace down. It had been completely collapsed in on itself, there wasn't even enough room for a Cavern Crasher to funnel its way through.

"Hiccup!?" I exclaim. "Send the Distress Call!" I shout to Heather as I barrel Stormfly down. I feel the blast from Windshear behind me as I fire a volley at the collapsed entryway with little effect. I fire another volley, and another before I hear the sounds of the other riders approach.

"Astrid! What happened?" Fishlegs calls out as I turn and look to them, my face contorted with fear.

"Hiccup and Snotlout, they're trapped down there." Heather answers for me, by the mercy of Thor, for I couldn't put it to words.

"Alright, A. What do you want us to do?" Tuff asks seriously as I glance to him. He shrugs. "What? We gotta save our chief." He adds and I nod.

"I-I don't know. Stormfly's magnesium blast had no effect on it." I answer softly.

"Where's Eret and Valka?" Ruff asks, glancing around as I just notice they aren't back yet.

"Ruff, Tuff, send your distress call. They were scouting for other cavern entrances. Maybe they found one." I say, slowly trying to regain my composure. I needed too, for Hiccup's sake. He'd want me to remain strong even through the worst of it. The Twins grin as they send out the distress call for Barf and Belch, the Zippleback having arguably the largest one of everyone.

"We'll get them out of there." Heather says softly near me and I nod.

"I believe you." I answer.

"We just gotta hope the Snotman and Chiefly Haddock the Third survived whatever that was." Tuffnut says after the distress call as I shot him a glare.

"They survived." I state and see Tuff open his mouth again as I shake my head. "They survived. Unless you have a plan to clear this rubble, no talking. Let's get to work." I say and fly Stormfly down. It'd take a long time, but no task is insurmountable when the odds are like this. Her talons grabbing a boulder, we fly it off and drop it in the nearby swallowing sands. True to their name, the boulder slowly sinks in the sand as I fly back for another. The others starting to join me in my efforts and unwilling to argue with me, at least not without a plan. Hopefully, Valka and Eret found another entrance we can use otherwise.

"Do we know if this was a trap or accidental?" Dagur asks as I fly by him.

"Not sure. There was a loud crack under the ground, possibly Toothless. As I dove down to try to enter, I was hit with an enormous heatwave that was followed by an explosion that collapsed the cavern entryway." I explain and Dagur nods.

"Trap. Definitely a trap. That has murderous cut-throat written all over it." Dagur states through gritted teeth. "Why has Hiccup become easier to capture than when I was trying to do it? I still don't get it." Dagur asks rhetorically, probably trying to cheer me up as I shrug.

"Astrid, don't worry. We'll get them out, and we'll catch Krogan." Heather says nearby and I shake my head, sighing as I glance to Dagur.

"I'm past capturing him." I admit and Dagur pauses in flight and brinks Sleuther to bare in front of Stormfly. He has a genuinely concerned look on his face, as though he's talking to his sister.

"Astrid, I've walked the path of murder and death. It's not good; there are parts of myself I'll never recover. You and Hiccup both have shown such amazing restraint in the years to not end up like that. Don't give in now, you are better than that." Dagur says and I sigh, closing my eyes briefly and flying past him to grab another rock.

He was right, of course. Tempers flared when the ones you love were put in harms way, tricked into jeopardy, and cornered in the chaos. Like when Hiccup nearly slashed the Flyer when we thought the Sentinels of Vanaheim had been slaughtered. Or when Stoick nearly killed Savage after Hiccup was kidnapped. It's amazing the things we may do out of anger over acts of evil; does it make us as evil as the evildoers? Hiccup would argue so, and so would I. While I wanted nothing more than to run a pike through Krogan's head, to save Hiccup and permanently end these trappers once and for all; I'd do it the right way, the Hiccup way. He'd expect nothing less, and he would do the same for me. We've not had to sacrifice our ideals yet, for they are what separated us from the evil that lurked the dark corners of the archipelago.

My train of thought was derailed as the sight of Cloudjumper and Skullcrusher was seen in the distance, maybe they had better news. I'm not looking forward to telling Valka her son is trapped beneath the earth, but I will, as is my responsibility as his partner. And I'd find him, no matter the cost.