Silence fell on the throne room as King Stoick sat on his throne.

"Ah don't be like that...ya know how he is",

"Yes I know Gobber! Since the first time he crawled he was...different". Gobber the Belch. He has been the royal councilor of Berk since he saved Stoick from a battle against Grimmel the Grislie. When Stoick became King he gained the title of the King's hand.

"What am I going to do with him Gobber? His love for those creatures is unbelievable. I send him for hunting and he scares away the animals! My hunters return with empty hands!"

"You can't change him Stoick"

"He never has time for his duties! He is always spending his time at the royal stables! He skips his royal classes, he never joins me at any formal event, he turned the shield I gave him for his birthday into a bird house!!" Gobber tried to hold his laugh back.

"Oh I remember that shield"

"Why can't he follow the simplest orders? How is he supposed to take the throne after I'm gone? By Thor how he gets on my nerves!" They were interrupted by the door opening and a very angry Hunter bursting in.

"That's it! I quit!" He threw his crossbow at the table.

"Speaking of nerves..." Gobber whispered.

"Eret...my finest Hunter. What brings you here?" Stoick knew exactly what brought him there but he had to ask anyway.

"My King" he bowed in front of him "my man lost 2 deers and a boar today, because of the prince" Yup. Those were the exact words he expected to hear.

"The usual" Gobber joked. What was he gonna do with this kid?

"Your Majesty...with all my respect...I come from a very big family of Hunters. My father Eret was the best Hunter alive..."

"Yes Eret. I am aware of your family and the crown is grateful for your services" What could he say to him? That the king couldn't control his own son? But his son spending time at the farm and bothering the hunters weren't what he was worried about the most.

"Where is he? The royal families should be arriving..."

"My King!!" A servant burst the main doors open

"They're here!"

The kingdom of Berk was beautiful. Maybe cold but beautiful. The castle was built at the edge of a mountains cliff, with a huge bridge connecting it with the mountain next to it, that eventually leads to the town. Under the bridge passes a river that comes from the big waterfall behind the mountain, while around it the forest is extended until it reaches the horizon. Yup, lots and lots of trees. Beautiful scenery for the eyes of a woman to admire, perfect location for a hunter to kill his pray, great hiding place for a thief.

And apparently, the best place for a prince to escape his boring royal obligations.

"The gods must hate me"

Hiccup mumbled while walking deeper into the woods. He marked an "x" to his book as he took a right turn on the next tree. He knew this forest better than the hunters, as he has been walking and mapping the place since he was little.

"Some people save princess from towers or kingdoms from war but nope! I couldn't even save a little pig from being roasted!"

He pushed a stick out of his way but it returned like a boomerang on his face leaving him a scar on his eye.

"Ow!"

His horse was whinnying mockingly behind him.

"I'm glad you find my pain amusing bud"

He petted his nose and the horse sniffed at his hand.

Hiccup could easily bond with all animals and creatures but there was a special connection between him and his horse. Not only they were partners, they were friends. And he could swear that he could see himself in his horse's eyes. He wasn't just any horse. He belonged to the royal stables. Raised to protect and obey his rider and owner at any cost. He couldn't run free like the wild horses. In a way, he was a slave to his duties just like Hiccup. And that's why they understood each other so well. Hiccup was thinking of him as his closest friend in the castle. After Gobber of course. His hand was traveling up and down on his neck petting his black mane, making him respond with a happy lick on his hand.

"Owwww toothless! You know that doesn't wash out!"

He laughed swiping the saliva off his hand on the tree next to him.

Thats when he heard a sound that made both of them snap. Toothless started sniffing the air.

"What's wrong bud?"

His question was answered when he heard the same sound again and turned around. They were not alone. Someone was watching them.

"Who's there?" He took out his sword and held it in front of his face.

-silence-

Suddenly a rider on his horse passed in front of them within seconds and runned away as fast possible.

"Hey wait!"

Without wasting any time he got on toothless and run after him. Hiccup was a great rider. Actually he was one of the best in the whole kingdom. No one had ever manage to beat him on a race or any games that involved horses. But these games usually took place at an equipped arena or a training academy. This was a forest's unstable ground. Now the difficulty level was 10 times higher as he also had to avoid hitting the trees without loosing speed, because this mysterious rider was good and seemed to know what he was doing. As they were chasing them through the woods they started to speed up leaving Hiccup surprised. His father's royal guard had the finest horses in the land but none of them were as fast as this one, not even toothless. He had to act fast. Think! Hiccup think! This rider definitely had the advantage of speed so trying to beat them wouldn't lead anywhere. But Hiccup had another trick on his sleeve. He knew this forest like the palm of his hand.

"Come on toothless" he was leading the other rider into a specific path that ended to a dead end, which he seemed to fall into. After a while they reached a point where they had no where to go, surrounded by rocks and trees. They were trapped.

"Who are you and what are you doing in this forest?"

The rider didn't speak. He just got down from his horse and drew his sword, with its blade pointing at Hiccup. So that's how he wanted to play this. Okay. Hiccup reflected his opponent's moves by getting down from toothless and taking his sword out. Before he could react the mysterious rider stroke at him first. But Hiccup was fast. He dodged his attack at in the last moment and hit him from the right. They both were swordfighting for a while with no one winning, until finally with a tackle on the leg, the rider's back faced the ground with his sword a few inches away from him and Hiccup's blade threatening close to his face. Hiccup was impressed by his skills. This has been one of the longest confrontations he ever had. No one on Berk had been that hard to beat before. He must have been some very well trained shouldier, or someone's strongest guard, or ...

With a swing of his sword he removed the helmet to reveal the fighter behind it.

"A girl?"

He had to blink a few times before taking it all in. There was a Blonde girl laying in front of his legs panting. She was panting because they were fighting. He was fighting a girl. And she almost beat him. until he tackled her. And now he was pointing his sword at her. The girl. The blonde girl he just fought. As a response to his surprise she only rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Famous last words of every man I faced before"

She blew a piece of hair away from her eyes, before tackling his legs making him lose balance. As Hiccup's back touched the ground she was on top of him pinning him down. She grabbed his sword from his hand and pointed it at him.

"Wow wow wow, let's just calm down for a bit"

He raised his hands at a defensive position which made her laugh.

"Oh I am very calm. You are the one with a sword on his neck, aren't you?"

She leaned closer to him in a very intimidating way that Hiccup couldn't quite explain.

"Look I don't know what you were doing here in the middle of the woods alone but I am sure that if you put the sword down we can solve this politely?"

He half smiled at her trying to read her face. Who could this girl be? She was probably a farmers daughter who stole her father's horse to have an adventure in the woods or something. Or maybe a thief who seeks money for her family or whatever. Then he noticed her clothes. She was wearing an armour. An armour that looked royal. But she was a woman that was... impossible. She must have stolen it. But how did she manage to steal a royal guards horse AND armour all by herself?

"Listen here pretty boy..."

She held the blade closer to his neck and leaned in until their faces were only inches apart. We could feel her breath against his skin. He could smell the scent of her hair. And he had the chance to actually get a better look at every detail of her face. Her light blue eyes looked like they were hiding the sky and the ocean behind them. Her lips slightly parted. Her golden hair falling on his shoulder. She was definitely a sight for eyes. She was beautiful. For a moment he forgot everything. He forgot who he was, where he was, he forgot she was holding his own sword to his throat ready to slay him at any time.

"...you better give me a very good reason not to kill you right now-"

"My Prince!!" Two men shouted a few trees away from them.

They both snaped their heads at their direction and then looked at each other again. Hiccup's face was something between scared and confused. Scared for his life? Confused because of the way he felt around this girl? Who knows. Her eyes were looking at him wide and shoked.

"P-Prince?" She almost choked.

"Yeah...you probably wanna remove that from my neck before my guards approach."

He laughed at her, confident now that she wasn't a threat anyone. Now it was her who had a scared and confused expression. She threw the sword away and quickly backed away from him, trying to stand almost loosing her balance. As fast as she could she grabbed her helmet and her sword. Before he had the time to get up on his own feet she was already on her horse.

"Wait!"

He tried to stop her but she was already gone. The two guards finally got there and stood behind Hiccup.

"My Prince are you alright? Were you hurt?"

He had a sad look on his face as we watched this mysterious girl as she was running away, riding on her horse, until she was swollen by the woods.

"Yeah...Im okay"