Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

Chapter Twelve - Besieged

Hiccup and Viggo came running as soon as they heard the commotion, pushing through the crowd. Meatlug had already leapt into action, getting Shattermaster and Rockslide to help her seal up the tunnel with fast hardening lava bombs. "Good work, guys!" praised Fishlegs. Then he told Hiccup urgently, "they're trying to dig us out!"

Mind racing, Hiccup ordered, "close ranks! Form a semi-circle in front of that tunnel and if something breaks through, hit 'em with everything you've got. The rest of you, defend the injured and every other tunnel leading out of this cave, blocked or not!"

So fierce was his expression that everyone hastened to obey, whether they were Hooligans or not. Viggo looked at the wall of cooled lava and declared, "I have an idea. It should buy us some time, but I need some of your gas cartridges." Hiccup gave him a handful of spares, then he hurried to the tunnel that led to the waterfall.

Hiccup had no time to wonder about it. He turned to Fishlegs and Heather. "Can you guys get your dragons to break off the bigger stalactites up there?" he asked; they nodded. "Good, and feel free to drop them on whatever gets through that lava wall."

Everyone gave the Razorwhip a wide berth as she leapt up to hover near the ceiling, with Meatlug buzzing just below her. Windshear sliced through the first stalactite; Meatlug caught it before it crashed to the cave floor. She set it aside and they did another. "Good work, guys," Hiccup encouraged. "We need all the help we can get."

He tried to stay calm, despite knowing that if they were overwhelmed it would be on his shoulders. Viggo left Moonlight behind. Whatever he's doing, I hope he hurries.


Viggo edged his way through the tunnel to the cave behind the waterfall, and then approached the fall itself. He couldn't see past the thundering stream of liquid, but he pressed close to the slick rocks and reached through it to grasp at the side of the cliff. With great care he inched out onto the ledge, just barely wide enough to stand on.

It didn't help that he was moving on his blind side, but time was of the essence. Viggo climbed up the cliff, hauling himself bodily to one outcrop and then the next. He could feel the burn in his arms; he needed to train more, he'd gotten complacent. Ryker is probably laughing at me right now. At last he reached the top, and caught his breath.

Flying on Moonlight would've been easier, but that meant leaving via their emergency escape route. The longer it went undetected the better. Viggo checked there were no dragons overhead, and then ran towards the volcano. When he saw the Gronckles spitting lava it inspired him; an eruption would hopefully make the enemy back off.

He didn't have to reach the crater's rim; just a tunnel he didn't think even the other riders knew about. Yet it had been a matter of life and death for him at one point. He forced himself to pace his stride; Viggo was sure they would hold out for a while yet.

At last he found the tunnel again; there must have been sulfur leaking from it, judging by the stench of rotting eggs. Viggo grimaced and held his breath as he crawled down into the tunnel. What felt like a lifetime ago, he'd dragged himself up it to escape the volcano, agonised with pain from his burnt out eye, choking on fumes.

When he emerged at the other end, it was like stepping into Muspelheim. His eyes watered from the oppressive heat; Viggo wiped away the blur. He took the cartridges of Zippleback gas, four in each hand and four spare, then hurled each handful, one at a time, into the middle of the lake of magma. The little metal tubes sailed through the air, and as soon as they touched the molten rock, the gas inside of them exploded.

For a moment nothing happened, and Viggo worried his gambit had failed...but then the volcano rumbled. Just for good measure, he threw in the last of the cartridges. The ground beneath his feet trembled; he dropped to a crouch to keep his balance. It was growing hotter than ever, and the pool of magma was churning, steadily rising…

Viggo quickly scrambled back up the tunnel, burning the skin of his hands, but he pushed through the pain. The plan had worked too well; the volcano was erupting.


Judging by the muffled noises they heard, Bludvist's dragons had broken through the dragonsteel door, and the rubble that Toothless brought down. One of them charged up the tunnel; they could hear its claws against the stone, its huffing breath. All their dragons snarled, fire held in jaws ready to attack. The lead dragon slammed into the lava wall, and cracks spread across it. Meatlug spat a globule of lava to cover them.

It was to no avail; more cracks appeared, wider than before, and then the cooled lava shattered completely. A helmeted dragon - a Rumblehorn - charged through, and the dragons unleashed a torrent of flame to keep it at bay. It bellowed, and Hiccup's eyes widened; he recognised the sound. "No - Toothless, hold!" he cried out. "It's Skull!"

He spoke just a second too late; Shattermaster and Riptide had just dropped one of the stalactites onto the Rumblehorn's back. He crumpled to the ground, and now they could see his familiar green colouration; it was the chief's dragon. Now Thunderclaws were attempting to get into the cavern; Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug and Moonlight kept them at bay, whilst Hookfang and Barf-and-Belch dragged Skullcrusher aside.

Hiccup scrambled over to the Rumblehorn and with help from Throk, tore the helmet away. He cupped his hand over the dragons' snout, shoulders dropping in relief when he felt warm puffs of air. "He's still breathing...come on. Wake up, please." He didn't want to have to tell his father that they had accidentally killed Stoick's dragon partner.

After what felt like eternity, but was really just a few moments, Skullcrusher groaned. His eyelid slid open, and the pupils were slit - Hiccup's heart constricted - but then he sniffed at Hiccup's palm, seemed to recognise the scent, and his pupils widened. "Oh thank Thor. Yeah, it's me" Hiccup assured Skullcrusher. "...Sorry about the big rock."

The others were still trying to fend off the Thunderclaws - and now a Zippleback had snaked one of its heads in, spewing gas. Hookfang closed his jaws around its neck, making it choke on its own blood. The humans flinched as the gas it expelled was set alight and blew up almost in their faces, if not for scaly wings hastily blocking the way.

It did give Toothless an idea, however. "Moonlight must-help!" he barked. She could guess what he had in mind, and hissed in anticipation. "Flock-mates stand back, protect humans" added Toothless, charging another blast. Moonlight did the same, lightning crackling between her jaws. Their fellow dragons backed away, herding the humans aside as well. Everyone remembered Minden's injury and hid their faces.

At the last moment, Toothless screwed his eyes shut and fired, just as Moonlight did the same. Their blasts combined into a bright flash and thunderous boom. The shockwave radiated out in all directions, knocking them off their feet. The armoured dragons got the worst of it. Their bodies were thrown backwards down the tunnel, colliding with still more Thunderclaws, but at least their bulk slowed the others down.

"Oh, for the love of Thor!" cried Snotlout, "what is it gonna take to make these guys back off?!" he demanded. No sooner had he spoken than a great rumbling, as if of thunder, filled the air. The ground trembled; debris fell from the ceiling, and cracks spread out from where the stalactites had been broken off, and around the tunnel…

They all scrambled away from the tunnel mouth as it caved in. There were screams as the ground shook, but at last it stopped. Hiccup came out from beneath Toothless' wing; his dragon had leapt over him protectively. The tunnel was mostly blocked, but for a gap at the top of the rubble. "Is everyone alright?" he called out. "Anyone hurt?"

Apart from a few bruises when the shockwave knocked them down, nobody seemed worse for wear. Skullcrusher had fallen unconscious again, but Throk confirmed he was still alive, much to Hiccup's relief. Then his eyes widened as he realised - "Dad!"

He rushed off to the side cave where his father was still lying unconscious - please let him be unconscious and not...not… Hiccup sagged in relief when he saw that his dad was fine. He'd feared the worst, for a moment. "H-hey, dad. Sorry 'bout all the noise. I think we incurred the wrath of Thor...but we got Skullcrusher back. He's knocked out too, though. That's kind of our fault...I'm sorry. About everything." Hiccup whispered.

Stoick didn't even stir. Hiccup squeezed his hand. "Just hang in there. I promise, I'll do everything I can to keep them safe." Then he reluctantly pulled himself away.


Back in the main cavern, Astrid and Gobber were trying to restore some semblance of order in Hiccup's absence. "You lot, calm down!" the irascible blacksmith yelled. "The roof isn't falling down anymore, so quit your bellyaching. We ain't dead yet!"

"But what if they come back?"

"What if the volcano erupts again?"

Mala declared confidently, "it won't. Trust me; the Defenders know volcanoes, and that tremor was not a true eruption. More like a...well, not be impolite, but more like"-

"An eructation, you might say?" Ruffnut suggested. "Or in layman's terms, a burp?"

With a sigh, Mala answered "yes, that. It does sound as if the attack is over, though."

Snotlout boasted, "don't worry, your majesty. If they do come back, I'll just call upon Thor again to smite them down." Everyone stared at him. "Hey, it worked last time!"

"I'm pretty sure that had nothing to do with you" Astrid retorted. Hiccup returned, and she asked "your dad, is he okay?" Well, obviously not, but… "he's not hurt more?"

"No. No, he's fine. Has anyone seen Smidvarg?" Hiccup asked. Toothless called out, and the Night Terror alpha flew down to them. So did Darkvarg; the only difference between the pair was their eye colour, yellow and red respectively. "Hey, guys. Sorry about all this...but your flocks can still get out of the cavern, right?" They chirruped an affirmative. "Good. Can you spy on the army? And get our dragons some food?"

Both little dragons nodded their heads in agreement and flew off. Tuffnut protested "you're sending Smidvarg off on a dangerous spy mission? Shame on you! I'll go."

"If you're going on a dangerous spy mission, then so am I" said Ruff. "And Throk!"

"Huh?"

Hiccup said impatiently, "guys, no one is going on a spy mission. It's too dangerous."

"Well, duh, we just said that. We've been practicing for this just such an occasion!"

"Don't you get it? Barf-and-Belch wouldn't be able to come with you guys, and if that army found you then you'd both be executed" Hiccup glared at Ruffnut, who flinched.

Tuffnut, as usual, was slower on the uptake. "Uh. Why couldn't our dragon come?"

"Because there's only one way for them to get in or out of this cavern, and if the army finds that trapdoor, we won't have any way of escaping if we need to." Hiccup raised his voice and declared, "let's make this clear, no dragon is leaving. That's an order!"

Before he could say anything else Snotlout mocked, "who died and made you chief?"

Hiccup glared at his cousin, near the end of his patience now, and retorted, "my dad nearly died, and now he's unconscious, so whether you like it or not I'm in charge."

"Yeah, well…" Snotlout wavered, but then kept digging, the stubborn ass. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have had to hide like cowards again. We were winning! We could have wiped out that armada and ganged up on the Bewilderbeast if you didn't"-

"You think I don't know that?" Hiccup snapped. "That I don't hate myself? I'm trying to keep us alive and if that means hiding like a coward then so be it! I am not losing anyone else!" he yelled, hands fisted in Snotlout's fur cloak. Wait, when had he…?

It had gone so quiet. Hookfang snagged his rider and tugged Snotlout away from Hiccup, who staggered back against Toothless. Both men were breathing hard. Then without a word, Astrid stepped forwards and took Hiccup's hand, gently leading him away. Once they had walked far enough to be out of earshot, she turned to him. "You're not alright, so don't try to tell me that you are. Hiccup, it's not your fault."

He shook his head. "No, it is. Astrid, I know you're just trying to help but the fact is, I messed up. If I hadn't gotten out of the saddle, then Toothless wouldn't have been taken over, and we wouldn't have lost the rest of the flock to Drago...we might have actually stood a chance. And instead I doomed us all," Hiccup declared miserably.

Astrid said nothing. He looked down and waited for her to ask him what he was going to do about it, and he'd have to tell her he didn't know, that he couldn't fix this, they were all going to die unless some miracle happened and it would be entirely his fault.

Instead she lifted his chin to meet her gaze, and stroked his cheek. "I forgive you" she murmured, simple and clear. Hiccup blinked away the tears in his eyes, but they kept coming back, and then his face crumpled. Astrid pulled him into a tight hug and felt him bury his face in her shoulder. "Hey. It's alright. We're alive. Focus on that" she insisted. "Never mind the worst that could happen. We're alive, so there's still hope."

Toothless crooned and nuzzled him. "My-fault also" the dragon insisted. "Did-not challenge Sea-Giant. If Hiccup not-blame Toothless, then Hiccup not-blame self."

Hiccup sighed. "Trust you two to gang up on me" he muttered. "I'll forgive myself when I think of a way to fix this and it actually works, and not a moment sooner. Let's go back before something else goes wrong" he suggested, before heading back.


As soon as Hiccup and Astrid were gone, their friends rounded on Snotlout. "I cannot believe you'd be that cruel...what am I saying? Of course I can" sneered Fishlegs.

"I have to admit, even by your standards, that was low," Tuffnut announced, shaking his head in disappointment. "There's a time and place to play the blame game, and that wasn't it." Everyone present glared at Snotlout; even Hookfang was giving him the stink-eye. The only person not glaring at him was… "hey, where'd Viggo...go?"

Snotlout asked "who cares? He probably ditched us - ow!" He jumped as Moonlight shocked him in retribution. Before he could protest, Hookfang picked Snotlout up by his cloak and carried him like a struggling hatchling over to where Hiccup had gone.

When Hiccup and Astrid came back out of the tunnel, Snotlout was waiting for them. It looked like Hookfang had dragged him over there. Astrid glared at him suspiciously, but Hiccup quietly told her to go on ahead. He and his cousin stood in an awkward silence for a few moments, not meeting each other's eyes. At last Snotlout broke it.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled.

"Yeah, me too."

"...you don't really hate yourself, do you?"

"I dunno. Not really. I just…" he shrugged helplessly. The awkward silence was back. Rather than try to think of something else to say, Hiccup just offered a reconciliatory handshake, which Snotlout took. Then they returned to the cavern, where a cask of mead had been opened and everyone was passing around tankards of the stuff.

Gobber cheerfully explained, "I figured we oughta celebrate not dying, to keep up morale. Here, chief" - he pressed a mug into Hiccup's hands. "You could use one."

"I'm not the chief" he protested, but took a gulp of the sweet alcohol nonetheless.

"Coulda fooled me. D'you have any idea where Viggo went?"

Hiccup frowned. "He's not back yet?" That was worrying...if he'd been captured, they might not be able to risk another rescue attempt. Moonlight was standing vigil at the entrance to the waterfall tunnel. As soon as her rider emerged from it, she pounced.

"Agh! Yes, yes, I'm back. I'm fine. Sorry I worried you" he murmured, stroking her - or rather he reached out to stroke her, only to hiss and pull his hands away again.

The other riders crowded round. "Hey, V, where've you been?" asked Tuffnut. "You missed it all! We knocked out Skullcrusher by mistake, and the volcano burped."

"There was a tremor" Fishlegs elaborated. "It caved the tunnel in. You must've felt it."

Viggo winced. "I did feel it. That...that tremor was sort of my fault" he admitted.

Snotlout asked, "Wait, you called upon the wrath of Thor? I thought I had done that!"

"What? No. I mean, I wasn't trying to make the volcano erupt. Just...to make it look like it was erupting." Viggo almost seemed embarrassed. "To make them back off."

In disbelief, Hiccup pointed over his shoulder at the rubble. "You...you know that could have brought down the whole cave, right? Or that you could have been killed?"

"Well, that's why I went instead of...Honestly, I wasn't even sure if it would work," he confessed. "I just...took a gamble. And then it worked a little too well" he explained.

"...it did work," Hiccup acknowledged. "And thankfully no one was hurt, so I'll let you off this one time. But don't you ever do anything that dangerous again!" he scolded, jabbing a finger into Viggo's chest. "Or at least give us some warning next time."

The older man was visibly chastened. "Yes. Of course. Sorry" Viggo apologised.

Hiccup nodded. "Good. Oh, and uh, can you hold your hands out, please?" Despite his confusion, Viggo obeyed, and they all winced. His palms were blistered, puffed and red raw, even though he'd soaked them in the waterfall. "Do your thing, bud" Hiccup prompted Toothless, who licked Viggo's hands. He pulled them away. "Relax. Night Furies have healing spit, y'know. It's either this or you have to deal with Gothi."

So he let the Fury lick him. Afterwards, there was a flurry of wingbeats as the Night Terrors returned. Three or four small dragons landed in front of each of the larger ones, and dropped pawfuls of fish in front of them. Toothless crooned gratefully and started eating his share. "Thanks, guys. What is it, Smidvarg?" asked Hiccup, as the Terror pawed at his leg. He crouched down to listen, and then grimaced. "Oh. Great."

"What's wrong?" Astrid prompted, as she helpfully dropped fish into Stormfly's maw.

"He says the hunters have come onto the island, and they've started chopping down the lookout posts" Hiccup explained. "I guess to save time on stripping branches off."

"To repair the rudders" guessed Viggo, "But that'll take a while even with dragons. They'll need to haul each ship out of the water just to reach the damned things."

Fishlegs said nervously, "but if they fix the rudders then they'll be able to sail away with Berk's dragons, and we can't rescue them, not with all those armoured dragons."

"Not to mention, Drago might sic our dragons on us next time, so we'd have to defend ourselves against them" Astrid realised, "like he tried to do with Skullcrusher."

They all looked pensive, especially Hiccup. This cavern was their most defensible location, even if the exit was discovered, but that would leave them vulnerable. At the same time, he disliked the thought of abandoning all those dragons to their fate...but as harsh as it was to admit, if the choice came down to his tribe, or the flock…

At last, Viggo spoke up again. "The dragons will be kept alive, and we know that Bludvist's base is somewhere on the mainland. If worst comes to worst, and they sail off with the dragons...assuming we manage to survive this, we'll be able to get them back. It helps that I'm familiar with where all the dragon hunter ports are, of course."

"Way to sound modest," Hiccup teased. He stifled a yawn and said, "okay, we need"-

"You need a nap," Gobber interrupted. "You look dead on your feet! Well. Foot."

"The last thing I need is a nap. There's too much to do."

Viggo asked, "but why do you have to be the one to do it? Gobber is right. You should have a rest. The last time you slept was before going to Dagur's funeral, wasn't it?"

Hiccup tried to protest, but then yawned again. "...Fine. I'll just lie down for a bit" he muttered, "but wake me up if something happens, alright?" They nodded and ushered him off with Toothless. For the sake of privacy he went back to the triage cave; Gothi gave him a knowing look and quelled Phelgma's protests about him hanging about.

He curled up against Toothless, beside his father, closed his eyes and tried to sleep.


After Hiccup had left to get some rest, Viggo turned to Gobber and remarked in a low voice, "we should probably put some guards on the waterfall tunnel, just in case. I'll take the first shift" he offered. Gobber nodded and trudged off to find Spitelout.

Astrid looked at Viggo and guessed, "you think they might follow your scent here?"

He shrugged. "I think we should consider the possibility. Besides, I can use the time to come up with a plan." With that he leaned against the wall of the cave, near the tunnel but not right beside it. Moonlight squeezed in beside him, and he smiled at her.

Looking at his palms, Viggo saw that the redness and swelling had gone down a lot. I guess maybe Night Furies do have healing spit he considered. Moonlight chirped, and he glanced up to see Fishlegs. "How're your hands? Gothi has burn ointment."

"No, don't worry about me. I've had a lot worse than burned palms" Viggo assured him. He saw Fishlegs glance towards his blind side and then quickly look away again. To change the subject, he complimented, "you were very brave earlier, attacking the Bewilderbeast like that." Fishlegs blushed. "I take it the distraction didn't work, then?"

"Yeah. I mean, no. That's kinda what I wanted to tell you about" Fishlegs admitted. He explained how they'd been unable to get near the Bewilderbeast, let alone drop rocks on it. "It was so weird. Meatlug says it felt like she flew into an invisible cliff. I thought the Bewilderbeast couldn't control our dragons when we were riding them?"

Viggo replied "It can't, or we'd have been done for by now. Presumably, anyway. If it could command them whether we were there or not, it would have done so, surely."

Fishlegs shrugged. "I guess. Maybe that...repulsion? Had nothing to do with its mind control thing, or whatever it is." He fiddled with his pack. "Drago was riding on it."

"Yes, I saw….so?"

"So, he was right there! He'd made himself vulnerable. Meatlug and I could've - I mean, we should've just, y'know, ended it...but we didn't" Fishlegs said miserably.

Ah. "By that same logic, Moonlight and I could have 'just ended it'. But we didn't."

"But you guys were trying to stop Toothless from being forced to kill Hiccup!"

"Yes, and a lightning blast to the face would have distracted the Bewilderbeast and Drago just the same" Viggo pointed out. "You know why I didn't have Moonlight shock him instead? I worried that the Bewilderbeast would lash out and bury them all in ice."

With a shudder, Fishlegs admitted "that would've been worse, yeah. This is why I don't blame Hiccup for any of this. I can't believe Snotlout…" he clenched his fists.

"Beg pardon?"

"Oh, you missed that. Snotlout blamed Hiccup for getting us stuck down here and he...said he blamed himself more. I think he's okay now, though. Astrid talked to him."

"She's good for him." Viggo rubbed his beard and acknowledged, "this 'repulsion' thing is troubling, however. I had hoped we could work together and distract it from controlling the other dragons, but if we can't even get near the Bewilderbeast…"

"Yeah, and...I mean, maybe you're right and we'd get the dragons back eventually, but what about all those kids with the Wingmaidens?" Fishlegs worried. "I know you said Lars didn't know about them, and he's dead now, but if any flyers survived" -

"Wait, wait, slow down," Viggo said sharply. "How do you know that Lars is dead?"

Fishlegs tried and failed to look innocent. "Who's dead? Nobody's dead" he lied, even worse than Hiccup. Viggo just gave him a pointed stare and he crumbled in seconds. "Okay, okay. Truth is...your cousin might have been the one who killed Dagur. Then Sleuther killed him. But we don't know for sure, it was just a guess" he added hastily.

After a moment, Viggo remarked "well if you're guess is right, I must remember to thank Sleuther. I thought I'd end up killing Lars myself, but this saves me the trouble."

"...Wait, so, you're okay with this? I mean, he was your cousin."

"Not anymore. Have you forgotten who you're talking to?" he asked incredulously. "Lars joined Drago and sold us all out in an attempt to get petty revenge on me for 'betraying the family business'; far as I'm concerned, he deserved whatever he got."

"I guess I just thought that was something the old you would think" Fishlegs admitted. "But then I suppose the old you wouldn't have been on our side to begin with…"

Old me? Viggo was amused, but also sceptical. Have I changed that much? "What were you saying, about the Wingmaidens?" he asked instead, to get back on topic.

"Hm? Oh. It's just that even if the army doesn't know where they are, they could still be found, if the ships get repaired. I keep worrying that they've already been found and…" Fishlegs shook his head and shuddered. "I don't even wanna think about it. But if you think of a way to help them too...sorry, um, I'm not distracting you, am I?"

Viggo shook his head. "Not at all. In fact, you may have given me an idea, but I need to talk to Heather first. If I can get someone to take over guard duty…" He seized his chance when Spitelout came over, and went in search of the young chieftess, with Fishlegs trailing behind. That was alright; he might be able to convince his girlfriend.


It wasn't hard to track someone down in the caverns. The hard part was getting to them, past all the dragons and humans crammed in together. At least his plan would relieve the issue of space...and hopefully some of the smell, too. Heather was talking to Mala; even more convenient. He cleared his throat and they both looked up at him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," said Viggo, "but I need to ask you both a few questions."

They shared a glance, both curious and wary. "Like what, exactly?" inquired Heather.

"Your island was attacked early on, and you said you'd sunk all the ships, correct?"

"Yeah…"

"So there were no survivors to tell Drago the attempted invasion had failed, right?"

"...Right...Viggo, where are you going with this?" she asked impatiently.

He sighed; some people just didn't appreciate a slow, dramatic reveal. "Fishlegs has pointed out to me that the Wingmaidens and everyone we sent to stay with them - including your son, your majesty - are at risk. But if Drago believes your island has already been conquered, he won't think to go there. The Berserkers and Defenders could leave under cover of darkness, pick up the kids and take them back there."

The two women looked surprised. Fishlegs protested, "but if they all went back to Berserker Island, what about the Wingmaidens? I know Atali and the others would never leave the Razorwhips behind; taking care of those dragons is their purpose!"

"Yes, but these are Razorwhips we're talking about", Viggo rolled his eyes. "One of the most aggressive and vicious dragons...ah, no offence" he added to Windshear, who was eyeing him grumpily. She snorted at him. "Quite. The point is, they'd be able to defend themselves so long as the Bewilderbeast isn't involved. This plan means we'd have more space, and Atali wouldn't have to feed all those extra mouths."

Heather retorted "no, my tribe would have to instead. And they'd follow our scents. We'd lead the hunters right to our allies, did you think of that?" she asked rhetorically.

"They wouldn't follow your scents if they don't know there are any scents to follow."

Before she could think of a rebuttal to that, Sleuther cracked an eye open and piped up, "can-hide scents. Is easy. Smell-like ocean, near ocean, not-can tell difference."

"Huh" she murmured, before catching herself. "I mean, okay, maybe it would be safe, but I'm not gonna just fly off when the man who got my brother killed is still at large."

Mala gave a curt nod. "Likewise. My people will not turn away from this war like cowards, not after having been forced to flee once already. I will stand with them."

Viggo frowned. "So you'd risk leaving your tribe without a chief?" he asked Heather pointedly, and to Mala, "your son, orphaned? Because that will happen if we lose."

"So come up with a plan to make us not lose! Why do you even care? You're not" -

"You know nothing about me, Heather" he glared at her, furious. "Remember that."

Fishlegs jumped in before things could get any more heated. "Hey, c'mon, let's go talk this out" he pleaded with his girlfriend. Scowling, she gave Viggo another irritated stare, which he ignored, and then let Fishlegs lead her away. He shot an apologetic glance at Viggo as he left, who then sighed and leaned against the wall of the cave.

Mala didn't look at him, and for a moment Viggo was tempted to make an excuse and leave as well. Not that he had anywhere to go… "Fishlegs mentioned Lars," he said on impulse. She glanced at him, puzzled, so he had to clarify, "that he killed Dagur."

Understanding dawned. Viggo quickly went on, "I, ah, want to thank Sleuther for getting rid of the man. He was no cousin of mine after joining with Drago, trust me."

She nodded stiffly. Having talks with former enemies was always so awkward...he didn't know why it was easier with Hiccup. Perhaps because the young man actually wanted to talk to him. Viggo was about to excuse himself when Mala spoke up. "What you said, about Oswald...you're right. I can't leave him orphaned. My husband died to save me, and I…" she swallowed. "It would be selfish of me to undo that sacrifice."

"...I know how he would have felt, if he hadn't…made it in time" Viggo admitted.

At first Mala was puzzled, but also shrewd, and it soon dawned on her. "You have…?"

She glanced at him, questioning, and he looked away. "Had. A long time ago." Years, and it shouldn't still hurt this much, surely? Yet it did. Moonlight crooned reassuringly. He gave her a stroke and murmured, more to himself than anything, "I'm fine, really."

After a moment, Mala said "I've been telling myself that, too. But...it's okay not to be. I realise we've had our differences, but that's in the past" she acknowledged. "It would be unfair to judge you for your old ways if I forgave Dagur. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I won't force you, but if you want to talk about it, I'm willing to listen."

The genuine goodwill left him speechless for a moment. He expected this kind of open-heartedness from Hiccup, but not from… Viggo found himself tempted to take her up on that offer. It was hard to talk about them, after so long guarding his secrets, but Mala knew how it felt; not that he'd wish that on anyone. "Her name was Sigrid."