Hey, I managed not to be late this month... well actually I was so you can thank 3DPhantom for a rapid proofread and response. Here is the last chapter of the year 2020. Hopefully your year has been better than the news would suggest for most. This book seems to be turning out longer than the previous two so there are multiple chapters left.

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Comments:

elRancho: You'll be happy to hear that this chapter is bit on the longer end.

NHarem Foreva: I've seen some clips about something like that, but I thought is is come kind of special episode like the gift of the nigh fury.

Lalitha: We share that feeling, though for me that really hit when I finally graduated, basically last step in moving from childhood to full adult working life.

Dragonrider's Fury: Excellent. If I can make you sad I have done something right for the story and Shortclaw's character.

erikatyusharon: At least they got two dragons specialized in sneaky sneaky stuff.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom


The cool night air brushed against Hiccup's face and closed eyelids. It wasn't like his eyes could have done much compared to Toothless' even considering the relative brightness of the summer night. At least the cloudy sky made it a bit darker.

Toothless didn't care though, and seeing through his eyes Hiccup could even distinguish outlines of islands far ahead of them. Lights burning in Fjoll were easily distinguishable as they approached.

"We are almost there," he said quietly to Fishlegs who was sitting behind him, along with Ivar and Minden riding on Whiplash' back next to Toothless. "We should take advantage of the clouds and fly over the village before we land. No one should be able to see us this high up in the dark."

"Somehow I expected that," Minden commented. "Isn't that Toothless' specialty?"

"He was known as the dragon that no Viking had ever seen," Hiccup said and smirked. Not that anyone saw him. "Now everyone, stay quiet."

They went a bit higher and then glided over the village to minimize sound. Even human eyes could see the changes that had happened in past weeks. What seemed like a whole other village had appeared right next to Fjoll with its own harbour. Hiccup felt a pressure in his chest just looking at the place. Most of the light in the village proper came from inside the houses but there were several groups of torches moving around the village and outside the chief's house. Toothless even spotted a few boats on different sides of the island with no lights. Hiccup would have totally missed them.

'They are expecting an attack,' Toothless commented.

'Maybe they just have this kind of security for their camp normally," Hiccup hoped.

'They didn't at the camp last year.'

Hiccup stared down for a moment in silence even within his thoughts.

'Can you see an area to land safely away from the boats?'

'Of course, remember that this is my specialty, and Whiplash is a Changewing.'

Toothless tilted, changed the angle of his wings, and slid sideways towards one edge of the island. A moment later he pulled them in and dove vertically down with Whiplash following closely behind. They pulled up and glided to land between a rocky cliff and the nearby treeline. During the whole approach they made almost no noise. Even Minden's hatchling had not made a noise. Hiccup scratched behind Toothless' ears before sliding off the saddle. The four humans and three dragons quickly moved under the cover of the trees.

"We don't have much time before the sun comes back up," Minden whispered. "Did you see anything we should know before going?"

"Yes," Hiccup answered after a moment. "They are being more careful than we thought. If they have boats patrolling around the island, they may also have guards outside the village."

"So, we should be especially careful approaching the village," Fishlegs said.

"Yes," Hiccup answered and looked at Minden. "Keep an eye on Whiplash. He's not as good in the darkness as Toothless, but his senses are still sharper than ours. Like only the two of them can hear that bird."

"What bird?" Minden asked.

"Exactly," Hiccup nodded.

When no one had anything more to say Minden turned around and disappeared into the forest on foot with Whiplash on her track. The three boys and Toothless headed towards the village. Toothless and Hiccup led the group while they were in the forest, but as the dragon started distinguishing the outermost buildings of the village ahead, Ivar moved to the front. Instead of focusing on the path ahead Hiccup glanced over the village in the direction of the Hunter camp. Toothless, knowing he couldn't come further, nudged Hiccup with his head.

'Be careful in there. It will take me a few moments to get to you if something goes wrong.'

'You too,' Hiccup rested his hand on Toothless head for a moment. 'See you soon.'

With Toothless left behind the three boys walked into the village. They stuck close to each other, stopping before each corner but also trying to walk in a normal looking way so as to not attract attention. Hiccup mainly just followed Ivar and Fishlegs. He pulled his hands into his sleeves to protect against the cold night air that made him shiver even more than when they were flying. Ivar and Fishlegs didn't seem to mind. They descended towards the sea ever closer to Gerd's house. Finally, Fishlegs stopped at a corner to look around and pointed at the house they were standing next to. He raised his hand to knock on a hatch on the side of the building. Ivar peeked to the street while Hiccup watched their rear. Both nodded and Fishlegs knocked, very lightly of course.

They waited, not daring to even move as seconds crawled past. Eventually Fishlegs knocked a little harder. The following silence was broken by quiet thuds of approaching footsteps inside. The hatch opened just a little. First thing Hiccup saw inside was the clint of iron from the blade of a long knife. Second was Fiske's stern face lit by a flame somewhere inside. He stared at the trio outside for a long moment and inhaled loudly.

"What are you doing here?"

"Not so loud," Ivar whispered.

"Who is it," Eira's voice came from inside.

"It's the former chief's younger son and those dragon kids."

Quick steps ran to the hatch and a hand appeared to push Fiske away from it. Eira pushed the hatch more open and held her arm out.

"Climb inside, quick."

She helped each of them climb in and pulled the hatch shut. The room was lit by a single candle on a table. Gerd stood there without her prosthetic leg. Fiske had moved to stand in front of her. Inside the house was nice and warm, but Hiccup still felt cold shivers.

"You shouldn't have come back," Eira said, "If the Grimborns find out they will hunt you down, and that slug Hakon won't be any better. No offence," she added for Ivar.

"I could think of some stronger words to use," Ivar responded without expressing any emotion on his face. "Don't let me hold back your creativity."

"That rotten dragon dung for brains kicked the Chief and half of the village's warriors into the dragon pens at the arena and declared himself the saviour of Fjoll. Others have been imprisoned for not treating him like a great hero. I've had to spend the entire summer telling Gerd to keep her mouth shut. We would have left already, but the Hunters have been to every nearby village and they patrol the seas around Fjoll."

"How about my mother?" Ivar asked.

"She has no right to be called that," Eira spat. "Haven't heard much about her, but she has not been imprisoned and she has appeared in public with Hakon… so don't expect her to do anything."

"It's as bad as I feared," Ivar said and stared at the floor.

"That wasn't even half of our problems," Eira said. "Hakon might act like he is the Chief but the Grimborns are truly in charge and their hunters walk around like they own the place, and there are more of them than the village has warriors especially now that half of them are locked up. Basically, you should leave and fly off on your dragons before anyone sees you and not come back."

"No." Ivar's hands squeezed into fists. "We didn't come all the way back to leave again."

"I appreciate the sentiment but there isn't much the three of you can do alone, even with a handful of dragons. These people are experts at catching them."

"We aren't alone, and I'm not talking about the dragons this time," Hiccup said, "though you might be underestimating them. We brought help from people who also live with dragons instead of hunting them."

"We are still outnumbered, but if enough villagers join us and rise up that can change," Fishlegs added.

"Yes. More than enough people are sick of the Hunters, even some that supported Hakon before," Gerd said, "but no one dares to resist them. Anyone who tries alone pays for it."

"Gerd," Ivar spoke, "how many of such people do you know?"

"Many, you should know too. Just start with everyone who was regular at Hiccup's lessons. I don't think the old blacksmith likes the Hunters much either."

"Anyone else?"

"No!" Fiske shouted. Everyone else froze still. "This is insanity! Leave my daughter, my family, out of this! Some of the Hunters might be annoying but the village is better off being friendly with them and not the drag…"

Eira grabbed her husband's shoulder and yanked him hard enough to make the man quiet down. Her stare made sure she got a word in.

"Mom and dad are going to have a private chat now. Gerd, stay with our guests and stay quiet."

"Yes mom."

Eira dragged Fiske up the stairs to the second floor, followed by the creak of a closing door and rapid talking mumbled by the walls and floor. After a moment of staring at the ceiling Hiccup turned towards Gerd.

"Should we be worried about him?"

"Well, I don't think so. He might not be onboard with all this, but by now talking to hunters would risk us. Let mom take care of it. If you want to worry about someone you should worry about Heather."

"We know," Ivar responded. "She won't do anything if it is a risk to herself."

"Actually… it is worse than that. I've seen her visit the Hunter camp several times, and not just because of her work. I think she's making friends with them, or at least with one of their healers, some old man."

"Old man?" Hiccup asked. "Does he have a cane?"

"I think so. At least I saw someone like that near the Healers' house that I did not recognize. You know him?"

"Sounds like the healer that treated me last year after…" Hiccup paused and looked down at his prosthetic leg. "He was actually the closest to being a decent person there, but he's still working for the Hunters. You said Heather has spent time with him?"

"As far as I could tell. At least she has gone to the Hunter camp several times."

"That could be useful, if she agrees to help us," Fishlegs said.

"Or she could expose us all," Ivar said. "It's safer to leave her out."

"Out of what?" Gerd asked.

"Out of our rebellion. You said yourself many would oppose the Hunters and Hakon if they weren't so afraid. We need to gather enough people together to rise up against Hakon and the Hunters. Well, you need to gather them."

"Me?" Gerd asked and then answered before anyone else could. "Riiight, you can't just walk around the village talking to people."

"You and your mother, out of everyone in the village, you are best for it that we can trust," Hiccup said. "We also need any information you can give us."

"I'll do anything you need, but how are you going to keep in contact? It's too dangerous for you to sneak here constantly."

"Well," Hiccup started.

"It depends on your father," Ivar said.

"Dad?"

"Yes," Fishlegs said. "He can leave the island without raising any suspicion when he goes fishing. We can meet at a different island to exchange messages. Of course, that only works if he agrees to it."

"Leave that to mom. It's a good plan. People only need real hope for victory."

"We knew we could count on you," Fishlegs said. "If Minden has had as much success as we have, we should have enough information to start planning."

"Minden?"

"One of the people who came with us to help," Hiccup responded. "She's scouting the Hunter camp with Whiplash."

"About that," Ivar said. His face had tensed, and eyes narrowed. "Have you heard or seen anything about Monstrous Nightmare hatchlings in the camp?"

"I heard they caught a Nightmare soon after you left, but I don't know anything else. I thought they left with you."

"Only Shortclaw," Ivar responded and turned away. "If you hear anything let us know."

"Of course," Gerd promised as her parents came back down.

"Sorry about that," Eira said. "We are going to help you but there will be some rules for Gerd's safety."

"Like what?" Gerd asked.

"Not being involved in any fighting. Not talking to anyone unless we agree that person is trustworthy and if we even suspect we've been exposed they," she pointed at the three boys, "have to get you out of here… no matter what it means for anything else."

"But-!" Gerd started to protest.

"Agreed," Hiccup said without hesitation. "I don't want to cause people more problems every time we try to solve one. We already went over things with Gerd, there is just one thing we need to still settle."

Hiccup looked at Fiske as he spoke. He ended up talking more with Eira than Fiske, but eventually the man too had agreed to help. Things had been set in motion, but they could only hope Eira and Gerd would succeed in gathering support. Despite having succeeded in their goal for the night Hiccup couldn't enjoy the moment. As the trio left the house, he just followed Ivar and Fishlegs while glancing around them even more than needed to stay safe. He reached out to Toothless. The more active contact eased his nervousness but did not remove it.

'I feel something is wrong,' Hiccup said in his thoughts.

'I noticed you have been tenser than I expected, but I haven't noticed any problems around you. Should I come to meet you earlier?'

'No,' Hiccup responded. 'It's safer to meet deeper in the forest. I think… I think something on this island is wrong, besides the obvious.'

'We'll worry about it after you get back here.'

"Are you okay?" Ivar asked, bringing Hiccup back to where he was.

"Yes, just talking with Toothless. Something here has been giving me chills since we arrived."

"I see… We are just a few buildings from the village edge. Stay alert."

Hiccup refocused on his immediate surroundings. Empty alleys, the wind whistling between houses, moisture in the air. At least they were a little lucky. With rain it would be even harder to notice them. Getting wet didn't concern Hiccup. As soon as they got back, he could change clothes and hide under Toothless' wing. As they sprinted from the last building towards the treeline, that though helped speed up his steps.

Once they reached the shadows of the forest Fishlegs and Ivar breathed a little easier, but Hiccup still felt a mass in his throat. He headed to the exact direction where Toothless was waiting before Ivar and Fishlegs had a chance to get their bearings. Soon a familiar black head peaked over a bush, followed by the rest of the dragon effortlessly jumping over it. Hiccup embraced the scaled head between his arms. The most dangerous part of the night for him was over. Hiccup brought one hand behind Toothless head to scratch behind the ears and never took away the hand as they walked around the village towards the Hunter camp and a small cliffside that overlooked it. Now Ivar and Fishlegs followed the duo of brothers.

Despite Toothless' presence Hiccup felt increasingly uneasy and cold with every step. His eyes widened and he started moving faster.

"Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked behind him, but Hiccup didn't slow down. Instead, he jumped on Toothless' back and threw all of his thoughts forward towards the ever-closing camp. As he did so he started feeling a little ill. Toothless stopped before the cliffside. Hiccup didn't even need to see what was going on.

Now that he focused on the camp at such a close distance he could consciously sense and share the distress of all the dragons trapped there, and in the ships anchored in the harbour. It made him shiver. Had it been this bad last year? Did he just not notice because of his own suffering at the time? He focused harder despite wanting to pull out and close his mind. There were more dragons than he had expected, definitely more than the camp the previous year. He touched their minds, looking for familiar thoughts and trying to ease their distress ever so slightly.

It didn't work quite as he had hoped, and some dragons were spooked by the foreign touch. Some roars and screeches were loud enough for Hiccup to hear them with his own ears all the way where he was. He yanked his thoughts back, but at the last moment they brushed against some familiar minds. He blinked and stood still next to Toothless until Ivar and Fishlegs caught up to them.

"What's going on?" Ivar asked. Hiccup turned away with a soft smile and a tear on his face.

"I could feel them. The hatchlings are still alive, here."

Ivar stared at him for a moment and then grabbed Hiccup in a hug as tears flowed freely on his face. He stayed like that until Minden and Whiplash walked to them.

"What happened here?" Minden asked. Ivar let Hiccup go and smiled to her.

"Shortclaw's babies are still okay."

"That's a relief," Minden responded. "But we have to get moving. It isn't safe here."

Viggo was awoken by the sudden roaring of nearby dragons. He had been in the dragon hunting business long enough to not sleep past a dragon threat, or threat to his profits. In an instant he had pants and boots on and a sword in his hand. He stepped into the cool night air and checked on the nearest dragon cages. Some of them seemed spooked or in defensive stances, as if they had just been caught off-guard by someone. Two of the Monstrous Nightmare hatchlings he kept at his house strangely seemed exited more than anything else. A night guard walked by him.

"What is going on here?" Viggo asked.

"I don't know. They just started acting like this, one after the other. I haven't seen or heard anything."

"I see. Go get Ryker and the old healer Svend. If they aren't already awake wake them up."

"Yes Viggo," the night guard responded and ran away to follow his orders.