They were up just like that. The sound of loud shouting outside of the hut had woken Hiccup and Toothless up faster than they were probably ever woken up before. What was going on?

Hiccup sat up, looking at his dragon who responded with a nod that told him that they should go see what was going on.

"Can't hurt to see what it is. Let's get moving!"

Immediately Hiccup was up and out of bed - his mind not thinking about breakfast. Both him and Toothless bolted for the door, rushing down the stairs and storming for the exit.

Upon taking his first few swift steps out of the hut, Hiccup noticed at the bottom of the hill near the plaza that a large crowd of at least a hundred people were gathered, along with Stoick, Valka, Eret, Gobber, Astrid, the riders, and their dragons, who seemed to be growling.

However, what caught Hiccup's eyes the most were three large cages that laid next to Stoick. In them were the three winged figures of a Nadder, a Gronckle, and a Zippleback dragon. Hiccup could tell for certain they were afraid.

What was going on? Had he forgotten about something that was happening today?

Then it soon hit him. He had completely forgotten about the demand that had been presented to them, and even now he could see the distant shapes of Dogsbreath, Agatha, Wartihog, and twelve other warriors of Clan Jorgenson on horseback as they rode along the path leading to and from the town's gate.

They hastily approached Stoick, stopping before the chieftain of the Berkian Tribe with wicked grins on their faces - especially Dogsbreath, who was pleased with the outcome.

He chuckled in an amused yet dark manner. "You have done well, chieftain. You have delivered our prize before us just in time, and now we will give them to Snotlout as promised."

"And that also means you will not go to war against us and be peaceful with us?"

Dogsbreath sat silent on his horse for a moment. He thought for a moment about what Stoick had just said and began to crack up hard, so hard that a few tears of laughter came out of his eyes.

Even the men behind him were laughing along.

"Peace?!" he asked, still recovering from his hysterical laughter. "Ah Stoick, Snotlout was right when he said you drank too much. He never said that he was going to make peace. Only that he would not declare war against you."

Astrid stepped forward, tightening her knuckles into fists. "That's ridiculous! It makes no sense! Why make us bother with this demand if all you have done is lie to us?"

"Lie? Hah, you Berkians truly are pathetic. Can't think properly, hm?" mocked Agatha, once again taunting Astrid.

"Well, unlike you, I don't focus on looks," spat back Astrid. "I bet Snotlout enjoys it when you kiss his dirt-covered boots with that pretty face of yours."

Now it seemed Agatha's scoff backfired on her. The crowd that was gathered around them let out an "ooh" in unison as the wicked shieldmaiden was mocked, and now she was angry...

But she did her best not to show it. Instead, she sat there on her horse, remaining silent.

"...If I ever meet her in battle, I will not hesitate to go for her head," she silently said to herself, under her breath.

In the midst of the heated conversation, Valka stepped in between the Jorgenson warriors and the Berkian crowd. "Listen here, Dogsbreath, we understand what you and your leader Snotlout want from us, but we're fearful for what you might start if you-"

"It is not our concern for what you are fearful of," Dogsbreath interrupted, crossing his arms. "Snotlout will have his payment from you, and we will deliver it. Now give them up!"

"Stop!"

Everyone's heads turned to the top of the hill towards Stoick's hut where they saw Hiccup and Toothless running down towards them with swift pace, and upon reaching them the two rushed in front of the caged dragons, blocking Dogsbreath and the others from them.

The muscular viking rose his brows. "Well well well! If it isn't our scrawny friend Useless! Have you come to witness us tolling these dragons back to-"

"I come in defense of these dragons," Hiccup said, stepping forward closer to Dogsbreath in aggression. "I won't let you turn them into Snotlout's slaves. You are not taking them."

"Is that a threat, Useless?" spoke Wartihog with a snarl. "We told you what would happen if you refused our demand!"

"We're not your toys to play with. Especially for you, Wartihog, you fat useless lob," Eret replied from behind, to which the large viking expressed a grim look out of anger.

Hiccup turned to his father with plea. "Dad, I beg you. You have to do something. You can't just let them take those dragons away."

"Your father can't help you, Useless," Dogsbreath laughed, looking at Hiccup with a wicked smile. "You want to keep your dragons? You may go ahead and do that and risk a war. Or you may give them to us and-"

"And what?" interrupted Hiccup, gazing at Dogsbreath as if he were about to shout in his face. "I know that even if we give them to you, you would never in a hundred years make peace with us! You and Snotlout will just continue going about the island doing as you please, and you'll try to make it so that we can't do anything about it."

"And what exactly can you do about it that they can't do?"

Everyone went silent. The moment that voice spoke, Hiccup swiftly turned around and saw the familiar blonde-headed figure of Arn standing next to the riders, with his armor equipped, and his sheathed sword hanging around his waist.

"How long were you standing there?" asked Hiccup.

Arn shook his head. "It doesn't matter. What truly matters is this mess that I see in front of me. Why didn't you tell me about this, Hiccup?"

"Who do you think you are to get into our conversation, blondie?" spoke Dogsbreath, catching Arn's attention with a displeased look. "As a matter of fact, who even are you?"

"My name is Arn, and that is all you need to know," he answered with a straight reply. "The real question is, who in Odin's name do you think you are? Are you seriously forcing them into giving you dragons, just to prevent a war? You dog..."

Wartihog who was next to Dogsbreath rode his horse forward a few paces. His hand was on the hilt of his sheathed weapon. "How dare you threaten the right hand of Snotlout Jorgenson!"

Arn lightly chuckled in amusement to the large viking's response to him. "You must be stupid to think that's a threat," he said, as he then turned to Astrid and added, "Astrid, the next time this fatty speaks, kill him."

The Jorgenson vikings went silent in response to his words, but Astrid snickered as Arn continued. "See now? That is a threat... And as for these dragons, I will not be letting you take them."

"You have no power to make that decision. But if you'd really like to try, then we will declare war on your tribe as we promised!" threatened Dogsbreath, to which Arn once again laughed. To that, the muscular viking rose a brow in confusion.

"The Berkian Tribe; my tribe?" he asked. "If you haven't realized by my clothing, I am not part of their tribe! I stand with Hiccup and Stoick as a friend, but if you dare to declare yourselves hostile to them, then I assure you that my tribe will get involved in this; then you'll be facing TWO enemies..."

"...Now, if you don't mind, I think there is only one thing left to do."

To that, Arn swiftly unsheathed his sword as he turned around to face the caged dragons, and without another word, he approached the iron cages and raised his blade into the air. He struck at the lock of one cage, and then the next one, and then the last one, breaking all three cages of their locks.

"Go," said Arn as he opened the cells. "You are free."

The dragons gave grateful gazes to the young viking. They were freed from what would have possibly meant their doom and enslavement. And to that, they quickly dashed out of their cages and flew off.

With that set and done, Arn turned back to Dogsbreath, who sat on his horse with an infuriating glare, and pointed his sword towards him. "Go back to your leader, and tell him that Arn of the Alsworn Tribe will not tolerate dragon slavery from him, and that he stands as a friend among Berkians."

Dogsbreath grunted as he tightly took ahold of his horse's reins. Before riding off, he bellowed, "Snotlout will punish you for this!"

...

"Things are gonna get hot," said Tuffnut as he shook his head.

Ruffnut added on with, "Very hot."

Hiccup sighed. "I will admit, what you did today was right, Arn; at least- to an extent. I am glad you freed those dragons... But I am also fearful for what may come next," he said, all while pacing back and forth across the stone floor of the great hall. "If Snotlout declares war, Berk itself will be torn apart."

Arn shook his head, looking back at the riders that stood around him. "From how I now see it, you have underestimated your enemy too much. If they go hostile, so be it. However, I must know, what has been stopping you from acting out against them?"

"The threats, of course," said Astrid. "Every demand Snotlout gave came with the threat of war, and you denied him one of them. Because of that, you've just sparked the fire for a potential war-"

Arn merely shook his head in disagreement. "You've got it all wrong, Astrid... Don't you understand that Snotlout himself would have sparked it anyways? That arrogant Jorgenson could have declared war a long time ago, anytime he wanted to. But he didn't, and even then, you allowed him to make his threats rather than retaliate with your own. You've only shown Snotlout your weakness time and again."

"And now look at where you stand..."

The way he spoke was almost mocking. At first, Hiccup and the riders wanted to deny Arn's claim, and to give further reasoning as to why they were where they were. But then, a light suddenly lit up in their heads. They reconsidered the lad's words, and surprisingly enough, the pieces slowly began to fit together, and they suddenly made sense...

For a long time, all that Hiccup and his tribe had done was sit around as they allowed Snotlout to make his threats and demands, all whilst the island was being divided; first with land, then with resources, and now, nearly with dragons.

Because Hiccup and his tribe did not retaliate in the beginning, this gave Snotlout the momentum to continue demanding much from them, and by continuously accepting his demands, they in turn displayed their weakness to him. As such, this allowed Snotlout to keep up with his threats.

And now, they showed the Jorgenson that they were more vulnerable than ever.

Hiccup stood in place, looking back at Arn with an almost mind-blown gaze. "But what are we supposed to do? We are not known for making threats, especially against Snotlout. War is not our-"

"War cannot be avoided, Hiccup," stated Arn, crossing his arms as he began to pace back and forth. "You can pray as much as you want to Odin and the gods, but no matter what, it will happen eventually..."

"...And besides, how many months have these raiders that you mentioned been raiding you for? Seven? Eight? Nine? If anything, you're already in a conflict with them."

"But this isn't what we're talking about right now," responded Fishlegs, abruptly joining in on the conversation. "How's bringing up the raiders supposed to help?"

"Have you considered how long you've stood against them?" asked Arn, now grabbing everyone's full attention. The looks on their faces changed from frustration to that of curious and questioning gazes.

"What are you even trying to get at here?" asked Hiccup.

Arn spun his head back towards the lad. "All I'm saying is that, despite all that these raiders have thrown at you so far, you and your dragons managed to still stand. You and your tribe are stronger than you think, Hiccup. If you can beat the raiders, then you can beat Snotlout and Clan Jorgenson."

Hiccup sighed, narrowing his eyes down in thought. "But what are we going to do about it?"

Arn smirked. "That's a question that you should answer yourself, heir of Berk. What are you going to do about it?"

…

"NO!"

Snotlout stormed towards a table near his throne, grabbing it firmly with both his hands and flipping it over out of anger. Despite the effort, he was unable to secure the three dragons as demanded.

Along with that, Snotlout would be unable to make the money needed to repair his village.

He turned around, glaring back at Dogsbreath, Wartihog, Agatha, and the warriors that accompanied them who were gathered before him in the great hall.

"Out of all the demands, threats, and bluffs I have ever made, the Berkian Tribe finally has the audacity to deny one of them!? And you did nothing about it?"

"We couldn't make them fall for the bluff, Snotlout," answered Agatha, speaking with truth in her words. "It wasn't even Hiccup or Stoick who freed the dragons that they promised. Someone else defended them. Someone who went by the name of Arn."

"Arn...? Who the Thor is this Arn?!"

Dogsbreath shrugged. "We have no idea. All that we know is that he is part of some tribe known as the Alsworn, but I've never heard of that tribe before. Their name does not sound native to the Archipelago."

"Maybe it's a tribe from Scalmodan or Lardalor?" Wartihog said suggestively. "The vikings there do tend to be very different compared to us, and are more war-like."

Snotlout shook his head, for he cared not about what they said. "That's out of my concern now. What matters is that you find this Arn, and you get rid of him."

"Get rid of him, sir? But won't Hiccup and the Berkians try and defend him if they are allied with him?" one of the guards behind Dogsbreath asked.

"Yes, in which you will deal with them as well if they get in your way. Whatever it takes, even if you have to sneak into the Berkian village, find him, and kill him."

"...And if you can, assassinate Hiccup as well."