Hiccup and Astrid snuggled one another underneath their tent with affectionate smiles in their faces. Fishlegs and Ruffnut were also holding each other in their sleep while Snotlout had the wolves laid around him and Tuffnut enveloped the dhole in an affable embrace. As for the owl, she was snoozing inside a stone hollow that could only be achieved with human craftsmanship. The torches within the cave brought supplementary warmth through the crisp night and the brightness of their flames never bothered the group during their slumber. For the time, all was well.

The sun had risen in the East when Hiccup rubbed his eyes open with a yawn. Astrid was still at peace in her sleep and he knew that it would be a terrible idea if she was disturbed. With a silent notion, the young chieftain stretched his arms and torso before he stood up and stretched his legs to avoid physical constrains. Hiccup sauntered to the nearby waterfall for a morning drink as the light of dawn bathed his entire body. After he took his refreshments, he sighted Sayla and a Wenja spearman standing by the outskirts of the village with their eyes gazing intently at the eastern horizon. The sight perplexed Hiccup as he strolled past the other huts to greet them.

"Morning, Sayla," he greeted her. "What is it?"

"One of our hunters returned before sunrise," Sayla responded with an alarmed look on her face. "She said that a large group of Udam is heading this way, to our village."

Concern started to take over Hiccup as he prepared to brandish the knife that was strapped onto his belt.

"An attack is coming." Sayla's nod confirmed his unease as she clenched one of the ears on her necklace. "But this time, the Wenja are ready to fight back!"

Her furious hiss dissipated into fear when the Wenja spearman ran past her and Hiccup. The pair saw the spearman charging towards an Udam clubman before he stabbed the latter in the neck. However, the Wenja failed to notice a second, larger Udam warrior who crushed his skull into a bloodied pulp with one swift swing of his bone club.

"Ull!"

Hiccup did not have the time to react to Sayla's scream for the sight of the murdered Wenja caused fury to take over his body and made him rush towards the attacker. With his knife in hand, Hiccup yelled a battle cry to meet his adversary, only to be stopped when Ull's hands caught his shoulders with a tight grasp. The squeezing grip forced Hiccup to drop his knife as he gained a clear look at the Udam leader.

He towered over an average human with brute muscles and blood-red paint blotching parts of his body. He wore braces, greaves, and a breastplate of bones while his torso was draped with a cape made of bear skin. His most noticeable traits, however, were the bright red scars that tarnished a sizeable portion of his face. Ull let out a rasping growl as his piercing blue eyes stared at the squirming Hiccup.

"Softblood Wenja cannot stay. Leave now," he growled with a curdling voice. "Or you die!"

The weight of the punch threw Hiccup to the ground, forcing him to groan in his daze as he watched Ull retrieving his club from the corpse of the Wenja he just killed and stomped away from the village.

"Kill them all!"

Ull's distant yet distorted yells rang in Hiccup's ears, but he sluggishly regained his bearings when Astrid and Sayla pulled him back on his feet.

"Are you alright?" Astrid asked with distress. Hiccup placed his left hand on his forehead and gave his wife a nod as well as a thumbs up when he stabilized himself and retrieved his knife from the ground. He then saw his four friends and their animal companions rushing to his side with several Wenja who had armed themselves. Most of them were intimidated when they saw at least two dozen Udam in the distance cheering with their weapons in hand.

"Oh, this is gonna suck," Snotlout remarked with anxiety.

"Are you sure we can win this?" asked Fishlegs. "There's more Udam than us you know."

"Numbers will not matter!" Astrid responded with a firm voice. "We must protect our village at all costs!"

Hiccup nodded in agreement as he led his friends back to the Wenja village in preparation for the upcoming battle.


Sayla and Tensay ushered the children and non-fighters to Hiccup's cave as they and a few others stood guard at the entrance. Hiccup was able to retrieve his bow and quiver as he, Astrid, the Twins, and the other Wenja archers took their positions in the rear. Fishlegs and Snotlout armed themselves with clubs before standing together with the Wenja clubmen and spearmen at front. At least twelve Udam clubmen rushed towards the village with battle cries and clubs in hand as Fishlegs and Snotlout led their forces to meet their adversaries. Fishlegs' massive bulk allowed him to charge through the invaders' ranks and tackled one to the earth. Snotlout and the other Wenja used the opportunity to take on the dazed Udam. Spears and arrow flew to the battlefield, injuring two Wenja and killing three others. An arrow landed near Fishlegs' foot as the wolves and the dhole sprinted past their human allies to maul some of the Udam archers and spearmen. Before the surviving Udam could fight the animals, Hiccup and his regiments unleashed a rain of arrows and spears that slew the spearmen and archers. The wolves and the dhole drenched their muzzles with blood as more yells and screams could be heard from the East. Reinforcements were coming and the canines ran back to the village as Fishlegs and the Snotlout realized what was happening.

"Fall back! Fall back!"

Snotlout's command encouraged the surviving Wenja to retreat deeper into the village as more Udam revealed themselves from the forest. Hiccup and Astrid instructed the others to empty their quiver until they killed all the Udam archers and ran out of arrows. They then switched to spears and clubs to fight the remaining spearmen and clubmen head-on. Hiccup and Astrid utilized their spears in covering one another as Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the Twins bludgeoned every Udam that tried to kill them while the wolves and the dhole made sure that the dead remained dead. One stealthy Udam spearman was about to throw his spear at Astrid, but the owl swooped from the sky and used her beak to give the Udam a pecking distraction. The Udam waved his spear to the owl in an attempt to ward her off and failed to dodge a spear that flew from Sayla's hand and sliced through his neck.

Tuffnut thrust his spear through the chest of a dying Udam as the Wenja looted the corpses of their fallen enemies. Hiccup and Astrid managed to find Sayla after she had finished speaking with a Wenja archer. Her face was smeared with blood though they knew that it was not hers.

"The Udam had made camp on the other side of the great river," she told the couple. "You must burn it along with the bone trees they made."

"What about you, Sayla?" asked Astrid.

"I will stay here to protect our brothers and sisters. Go Hiccup! Go Astrid! Show the Udam the strength of the Wenja!"

Hiccup nodded to Sayla and Astrid before turning to the village.

"Fishlegs! Snotlout! Tuff! Ruff!"

The four hurried when the chieftain called out their names.

"What is it, Chief?" Fishlegs inquired.

"The Udam's camp is located East of the great river. You guys want to make sure it's not theirs anymore?"

"You got it, Hiccup!" agreed Snotlout.

"Oh yeah!"

"My brother and I seconded!"

Hiccup and Astrid smiled at one another as they led their group and their animal companions to victory against the Udam forces.


Upon crossing the great river, the group saw three Wenja clubmen killing three Udam archers in the distance. However, a fourth Udam was taking cover behind a red cedar with a small object emitting green fume. Before the Wenja could reach him, the Udam threw the object towards them before running East. The object shattered upon crashing before the Wenja and the green fume swelled around them. Hiccup at first thought that it was some kind of poison since the Wenja were coughing and tried not to inhale it by covering their mouths and noses. However, dread crept around him and his group when the Wenja started to laugh like maniacs before abruptly attacking one another.

"What the hell is that stuff?" whispered Snotlout.

"Poisonous gas that can make people turn against each other," Fishlegs whispered back with fear in his voice.

"Hazardous," murmured Tuffnut.

"Unless we somehow use it against the enemy," added Ruffnut.

The three Wenja continued to club each other until they started to choke, gasp, and fell dead. When the gas dissipated, the group cautiously walked towards the bodies and closed their fallen comrades' eyes before uttering their farewells. They then looted the dead Udam and continued their march.

Hiccup spotted the Udam camp situated on the large ledge of a bluff. Astrid tapped her husband's shoulder and pointed her finger to the three manmade leafless trees that were planted on different corners of the camp, and each of them was adorned with bones and yak skulls. Hiccup knew that they were the bone trees that Sayla was referring to. The group also saw three Udam guarding the camp and allowed the wolves and the dhole to race towards them and kill their intended victims. Hiccup then took the lead in investigating the camp and sighed knowing that they have neutralized its only inhabitants. All six of them then looted the camp of all its valuables before setting all of it ablaze. Just as the fire started to grow, Ruffnut heard chatters coming from the North and saw the five Udam that made them. She noticed that they were close to one another and made a mischievous snicker when she brandished a hand-sized sack from her bag, wrapped in animal hide and humming with buzzing sounds.

"Incoming!"

Her shout alerted her group as she flung the sack towards the unsuspecting Udam. When the sack plummeted to the ground, hundreds of bees swarmed out and around the screaming Udam as they desperately tried to swat the insects away. The sight marveled Hiccup's group, especially the Twins and Fishlegs.

"It worked better than I thought it would be," proclaimed Tuffnut as he shed a fake tear.

"Sweetheart, you're a genius!" Ruffnut blushed at Fishlegs' praise and got redder when he picked her up and spun her around before kissing her.

"That's your surprise? A bee bomb?"

"Correct, Snotlout," she said. "We used smoke and fire to calm the bees and placed honey inside the sack, luring them inside, and kept them in my bag until the time is right."

"I have to admit, that is a productive surprise," Astrid said with sincere acknowledgment.

"Just make sure that the bees don't sting anyone in our tribe."

"Of course, H," assured Tuffnut. "We only use them against anyone who threatens us."

The surviving bees buzzed into the wild as the Udam collapsed and died from the venomous stings. As fire razed the camp and the bone trees, Hiccup felt and the given task was completed.


Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Snotlout carried the three dead Wenja back to the village as its people separated the dead Wenja from the Udam with Tensay overseeing the process. Ravens started to perch on the huts as they waited for a potential meal. The group placed the dead Wenja alongside their fallen brothers and sisters.

"Thank you, Beast Masters," said the shaman. "Thank you for bringing them home."

Hiccup could only nod with a solemn smile. The sounds of sobbing and prayers along with the sight of blood staining the earth and leaking from the dead Wenja ached his heart and those of his group. He and Astrid then turned their attention to Sayla who was bidding her farewell to a Wenja woman who had succumbed to her wounds. Sayla clenched her fists until she realized the return of her friends.

"Did you kill Ull?"

"We killed many Udam," Astrid replied. "But we didn't find Ull in the camp."

It was not the response that Sayla expected as she tried to cover her left ear.

"He must have returned to the northern mountains," she said. "Many Wenja died today!"

Sayla then emitted a harrowing scream that flew into the ears and hearts of Hiccup's group. They could feel the sorrow and the anger it exuded and tried not to argue with her. When she was done, Sayla saw a dead Udam sprawled on the ground and lunged towards it so that she could use her knife to cut his ear off.

"Sayla, many Udam died today!" insisted Hiccup. "The Wenja are still standing! We are still alive!"

Tears gushed from Sayla's eyes as she held the severed Udam ear in her bloodied hands and stared at Hiccup and Astrid.

"I need Ull's ear!" she hissed. "He will never stop until all Wenja are dead!"

Hiccup had no intention to counter Sayla's argument. Instead, he and Astrid held Sayla's hand gently despite the blood and detached ear.

"In time, he will pay for the blood he spilled."

The statement perplexed Sayla as a mixture of hope and vengeance swelled within her. As the trio stood up, Tensay and the surviving Wenja gathered around the Beast Masters with smiles of faith on their faces. Tensay clasped his left fist before placing him on his right shoulder.

"For the Wenja."

Other members of the tribe mimicked and repeated the shaman's salute as they pledged their allegiance to Hiccup's group. The wolves and the dhole howled to reinforce the bond they shared. The sight of the unity lifted a great burden from Sayla as it reminded her of her tribe's resilience. Ull tried to kill the Wenja once and he failed. He then tried again and failed once more. The Wenja were strong together and with the Beast Masters on their side, she knew that the fight for Oros was just beginning.

"For the Wenja."