Hiccup sat on the windowsill and stared out of the window to the courtyard, where there was a mass of villagers walking towards the marketplace. If the prince paid attention, he might have noticed the nervous glances some of them directed towards the window of his chambers, but his eyes weren't registering anything that was happening down there. His mind was completely focused on the events of the battle they had faced two days ago. All their dragons were back safely and though he tried to stay modest, he couldn't help being impressed by his actions when he re-lived his rescue mission in his mind over and over again. Some parts of it felt like a far-away dream now, as though they were only a creation of his imagination. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he had survived without major injuries – the odds never were high to his favour. In fact, he wasn't sure he would've made it without Sir Fairfax giving him a helping hand.
Even his father was utterly proud of him and he wouldn't stop praising his son for his brave doing. Of course the king had been furious with him for disobeying him, but on their way back to Berk, his father apparently suffered from a short-time memory loss as when they had landed, he couldn't stop repeating how proud he was of Hiccup. Every time they met now, Stoick brought the subject up with such pride in his voice, and it also seemed like the king had made sure that everyone within the kingdom would show a bit more respect towards him and Fairfax.
So yeah, all that praise did give a great boost to his mood in general; this kind of treatment from his father was so rare that he wanted to devour every single moment of it, for as long as it lasted. It also gave Hiccup the tiniest ray of hope that Stoick would start treating some of his son's absurd suggestions with a bit more trust, but he didn't dare to bask in that thought too much in case it never happened.
Hiccup thought of the dragons. Stoick had demanded that every single one of them would have to be checked for possible injuries, so they had found the most educated physician to do that job for them. Said physician lived in another kingdom that Berk was allies with, so he couldn't come instantly. It was about an hour ago that the physician had arrived, and he had made everyone swear on their lives not to disturb him until he was done. He was said to be an expert when it came to dragons, and Hiccup really hoped all these rumours about the physician's greatness rang some truth.
The prince had tried to focus on some paper work to pass time. It was his responsibility to map all areas within and outside of Berk that did not yet have a map, and he was almost finished with them, but there still were some details Hiccup wasn't entirely satisfied with. For example, he couldn't tell for sure where the river a couple miles from here ended, and he needed to figure it out before he could even consider that map done. There were many other things on the other maps as well. Most of them were detailed enough to be relied on, but he didn't want any mistakes to slip in. The last thing anybody needed was getting lost because of the prince's badly-constructed maps.
He couldn't concentrate on such demanding things like this when he felt there were more pressing matters at hand, was the thing. Mapping required a lot of attention; he really had to dive into his work to get something done, and with the straying thoughts that were filling Hiccup's head that task had turned out to be near impossible. So when he had got the maps out of the drawer, he had placed them back almost immediately. He could surely allow himself one lazy day a year. He had locked the drawer and placed the key on his belt, after which he had busied himself with the window he was now staring out of, thinking about their dragons.
He wondered whether the physician would also check on those that weren't stolen from them. If the prince was honest, he didn't really like the idea of others taking care of Toothless – no one knew that dragon like he did. He only needed to take one look at the Night Fury to know if something was wrong with him. A part of him felt silly for being like this; it wasn't like the physician was out there giving death sentences to their dragons, he was just there to make sure Briralians hadn't treated them horribly.
Not much later, there was a thud on Hiccup's bedroom door and the prince snapped out of his thoughts. He turned his head towards the door as he told the visitor to enter the room. One of the wooden doors were opened and Sir Shipley, one of the most trusted knights of Berk, stepped in.
"My Lord," he began and bowed down slightly. "The physician has now finished his work and is ready to be met."
Hiccup stood up from the windowsill immediately. Finally. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it surely had felt like an eternity.
"Thank you for letting me know. Have you told my father yet?" the prince asked as he made his way out of his bedroom. He stopped at the door to hear Shipley's answer.
"I will see to the king after this, My Lord."
The prince nodded and disappeared from the doorway. As soon as he was out of the castle, he broke into a run and sprinted towards the stables. There were people looking at him curiously – it wasn't usual to see any of the royals running. The king had once told Hiccup that a running king or a running prince would give the villagers an idea that something was wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to care; all he cared about was their dragons and whether the Briralians had treated them poorly. When the dragon trainers had quickly examined the dragons, there had been no signs of bad treatment, but Hiccup didn't believe for a second that they would have left them completely unharmed.
It took him but a couple minutes to get to the stables. He could see some knights and other people whose dragons had been snatched there, waiting for either Hiccup or Stoick to arrive. When the prince got closer to the crows, he could hear some of those people mutter his name and almost all of them turned their heads to greet Hiccup. They all bowed down and moved out of his way so he could reach the physician that was standing before the mass of people.
The physician also bowed down. He was a rather young and a tall man who appeared to be only skin and bones, his looks were exactly what one wouldn't expect from a highly educated physician. "Your Highness," he spoke. "It was an honour to work with your dragons, they truly are marvelous creatures." The mere enthusiasm that was dripping out of the physician's voice was enough to convince Hiccup that he had done his job thoroughly. It lessened the slight tension that had been building up inside him.
"Thank you for being able to come in such a short notice. What did you find? What did they do to the dragons?"
"It appears that they did..." he began and kept a short pause. Hiccup and the others held their breaths. "…nothing, My Lord. It is remarkable indeed, but there are no signs of injuries. It seems they took very good care of them."
That made the crowd behind Hiccup whisper to each other. It was a sea of mixed emotions - some whispers sounded beyond grateful, others wouldn't believe it true and were exchanging murmurs in suspicious tones. The prince squinted his eyes and a few wrinkles appeared on his forehead.
"How can that be possible? Are you absolutely certain?" he questioned disbelievingly. The physician nodded. "But it doesn't make any sense. How… why did they do that? Why would they treat their enemy's dragons well? It just makes no sense."
"I can't be for sure, My Lord, but they certainly have cared for them as if they were their own. I was told that you had a dragon in your midst that was ill when she was taken from you, but after my tests it looks like she has made a full recovery," the physician responded and smiled broadly at the prince. It was obvious he didn't understand how strange this all sounded to his audience.
"That's impossible," Hiccup shook his head, "she was really sick and there was nothing that could be done. They can't have just decided to cure her."
"My Lord," a voice behind him spoke. Hiccup turned around to look at the knight that was speaking. "May I tell you something that might interest you?"
"Of course, you don't need permission to speak up," the prince said and nodded to encourage the knight to keep going.
"I happen to be the rider of the dragon you're speaking of, and when she was returned back to Berk I was beyond happy. But when I went to her, she didn't recognise me or her name. Somehow she had turned against me, My Lord, she didn't even let me touch her."
Hiccup stared at him with his mouth open. What on earth was going on? "Thank you, that was really informative."
And that was when the king made his appearance and the physician told him the results of his examinations that he had already shared with the others. Stoick kept an unreadable expression on his face the entire time, but Hiccup could tell he was just as suspicious as he had been.
"What do you think, Father?" the prince asked the king once the physician had finished.
"They've clearly come up with a new plan that we do not yet know of. We must find a way to figure out their plan before it's too late."
"Should we order more guards to keep the castle secure until then?"
"Definitely," Stoick agreed. "This must not go unnoticed. Dragons don't just make full recoveries by themselves. There has to be sorcery at work here."
Hiccup rolled his eyes. He so wished to be alone with his father so he could once again tell him that magic didn't exist. He wasn't allowed to disagree with the king in public, which Hiccup believed to be a rule that Stoick had come up with when he had realised that disagreeing was one of Hiccup's favourite activities.
"The knights and I will start preparing to spy on Briral as soon as possible," he said instead. "I can guarantee their plan won't be secret for much longer."
Stoick looked at his son and smiled at him, looking pleased. "I would never doubt that. One day you're going to be a great king." He placed his large hand on Hiccup's shoulder and gave it a squeeze that he attempted to be gentle, but under his large palms it was like someone had placed a small-sized dragon on the prince's shoulder.
"Thank you, Father."
Despite the uncertainty that the physician's visit brought upon them, Hiccup couldn't help but feel extremely happy. He had decided that it was silly to be unpleased by the great condition their dragons were in. They had only managed to turn one dragon against them, but that was nothing compared to how many of them they had taken from Berk in the first place. On top of that, the dragon trainers had ensured them that they would be able to bring that dragon back to her senses soon enough, so Hiccup couldn't bring himself to be too worried about her.
He had carried a barrel next to Toothless and was now sitting on it. His dragon had got a few wounds in the battle and they were still healing. Fortunately the wounds weren't deep, just little scratches, but Hiccup wanted them to heal completely before flying on the Night Fury again; he didn't want to take any risk for them to become infected. However, it was his third day of not being in the air and he was starting to miss that rush of adrenaline he always got from flying. Toothless seemed to share his frustration, for he longingly glanced outside every now and then.
"I know, bud, but you have to heal properly before we can go out there again," Hiccup told him for what felt like the hundredth time. "I don't want you to become even sicker."
Toothless growled disapprovingly and the prince snorted at his dragon's impatient nature. It was busy around them, as always. Now that all dragons were back, the stable workers could go back to their busy schedules. Working at the stables was probably one of the most demanding tasks within the kingdom – after being the king or the prince, of course – with so many dragons that needed to be taken care of and the two massive stables that had to be in perfect shape. Hiccup could never imagine how horrible such workload was. Surely being the only son of the King of Berk had its own challenges that no one else would have any idea of, but he never had to work from the crack of dawn to the late hours at night. And no one, except for his father, had the authority to tell him to get back to being a more proper prince if he was feeling lazy. If you were just a regular worker, pretty much anyone could tell you off for sitting for a minute too long.
Hiccup wasn't sure for how long he had been just sitting there beside his dragon, but his attention was moved from Toothless to the sudden sound of doors being slammed open with force. It alarmed the prince and the black dragon's instinct made him let out a deep, threatening growl. When they saw Fishlegs standing in the doorway, they both relaxed again but Hiccup's mind was filled with questions as he watched his friend rush over to him, panting heavily; he must have been running around the kingdom grounds to find him. People cast curious looks at Fishlegs, but no one said anything to him.
"Sir," he began and continued, taking little pauses between words to steady his breath, "I've been looking… everywhere… for you."
"Yes, I can see that," Hiccup frowned and looked at his friend questioningly. "What is it?"
Fishlegs allowed himself a moment to calm down before he made another attempt at speaking. "The king demands your presence in the Throne Room. He said it was something of great importance."
"Like what? Is he throwing another feast for me?"
"That I do not know, Sir, but he said it would be something you'd like, and he also told me to tell you that if you don't show up, there will be consequences that you won't like."
Hiccup smiled and let out an amused sigh. "So a feast it is then. If he wants me to decide which jester we're asking to come to perform to us this time, I can't possibly say no to the king," he stated in a playful tone.
He thought all these feasts were starting to be a bit too much. The prince kept telling himself that he would have been content with just a pat on the shoulder and a simple "good job" from his father, but he would've been lying had he claimed not to enjoy the attention Stoick was giving him.
So, he stood up from the barrel, said goodbye to his Night Fury and left the stables with Fishlegs. His friend looked a bit annoyed by the fact he was made to run around the castle for something as unimportant as this. Seeing that Fishlegs wasn't the most athletic person in this kingdom, Hiccup completely understood why.
"Do you want to wear the official ceremonial robes for this feast, too? I think the green colour suits you," the prince asked to lighten up the atmosphere once they were inside the castle. Fishlegs moaned desperately, which made Hiccup chuckle.
"Oh, for the love of Thor…" he responded, "if I have to put that thing on one more time…"
Now the prince laughed out loud and his laughter filled the entire corridor. A maid walking in front of them turned around to look for the source of the noise, and once she noticed the prince, she inhaled sharply and curtseyed as they walked by. Hiccup barely acknowledged her presence though.
"Are you saying you wouldn't be wearing them with pride?" he asked, still really amused by the thought of Fishlegs in the ridiculous-looking costume. The ceremonial robes for maids and other servants were made of green fabric and they had some very strange details on them – they used to have scales to represent dragons, but they were removed after it was discovered that such creatures did inhabit this world. Now the robes had eagles' feathers all around them and they were laughable in everyone's opinion.
"Yes, that's exactly what I am saying," Fishlegs responded, "I would pick facing a troll unarmed over wearing them any day."
Hiccup snorted. He was in such a great mood and everything was twenty times funnier today. "Don't worry, I will try to talk my father into forgetting they even exist."
They remained silent for the rest of the journey to the Throne Room, and once they reached their destination, the heavy wooden doors were opened.
Inside the Throne Room wasn't what Hiccup had expected to see. He thought there would only be the king and him, and they would have a casual chat about another feast, but what was before him was nothing like that. There were plenty of guards standing in a cluster and some of them had their spreads pointing at whoever was there in the middle.
The prince furrowed at the sight and slowly walked to the front as he was studying the situation. Stoick looked angry, and from the sounds of it, it sounded like the person who was there tried their best to loosen the guards' grip on them.
He walked next to the king. "You called for m-," he began, but his voice trailed off as he turned to look at the prisoner. He blinked a few times in case he was seeing things.
It was the girl with that dragon in the woods. He would recognise that braid and those clothes anywhere. What on earth was she doing here? Did she wish to die that much? On the other hand, the girl looked bewildered and was giving her best attempt at being freed of the guards' violent grip, so it was clear she wasn't on her knees on that floor at her own will.
"She was found within our kingdom grounds today. Do you recognise her, Son?" the king asked the prince.
"Hmm. Should I?" Hiccup asked unsurely and drew his attention from the girl to his father. He hoped that fear wasn't evident in his eyes. Had someone found out? But why would Fishlegs say that he would be pleased by this if he was going to be punished?
They both looked at each other for a brief moment before Stoick stood up from his throne and pointed at the prisoner with his finger. "That, my son, is Astrid Hofferson, the princess of Briral."