Hiccup awoke to find himself in a hospital bed with bandages wrapped around his waist.
"Ah, you're up," said a voice. Hiccup looked up and saw Ragnar sitting beside him. "We were beginning to worry about you. You weren't in a pretty good state."
"Me? You don't look like an oil painting yourself," Hiccup pointed out.
Ragnar had several cuts across his face and some terrible cruises; it looked as if he had been riding a wild horse and fun of it back.
"You think I look bad? You should see the twins," said Ragnar.
"I take it you were successful in your mission," Hiccup assumed as he sat up and immediately regretted it as a sharp twinge of pain rushed through his body.
"We did, but try to move slowly. You still haven't fully recovered."
"How long was I out?" Hiccup asked.
"About a day."
"A day?"
"Like I said, we were concerned."
Hiccup couldn't believe they had lost the whole 24 hours, that was bad enough, but now they were dealing with a vengeful Vanir sorceress.
"And you haven't missed much; we're still going over our plans to getting into the Palace," Ragnar assured him.
"Where are we at on that?" Hiccup asked.
"I think I should let Snotlout and Heather explain that they've been looking over the problem for quite some time since our absence."
"I never would have figured Snotlout as a planner."
"Surprised us all, but he knows the Palace better than anyone he did after all if there once upon a time. Although I think the actual planning should be credited to Heather. Sadly no matter how well we sneak in, in the end, we'll be facing a firebreathing dragon."
Hiccup still didn't like the prospect of killing a dragon; they did, after all, save the dragons during their first adventure. The Dragon King had called them friends; he dreaded what his reaction was going to be once he discovered they had killed a dragon.
"I wouldn't worry. We're not actually killing the dragon," said Ragnar as if reading his mind.
"I know it's a dwarf-turned-dragon thanks to the influence of a cursed ring, but it still feels like a betrayal. Not to mention we are planning to kill Snotlout's grandfather."
"Personally, I think we'll be doing Snotlout's grandfather a favour. The poor guy doesn't even realise that he's cursed."
Hiccup found this rather strange. "How can you not know that he is cursed? He transforms into a fire-breathing dragon?"
"But he may not know that, from his deceptively may still be a dwarven king trying to protect his treasures from interlopers. Don't forget the cursed ring affects the mind more than the body."
Hiccup dreaded to think what that could mean.
"Well, let's go see the others and see what we can come up with," said Hiccup as he got out of bed.
"I would still prefer if you rest," said Ragnar.
"When Ragnarok is concerned, my well-being is secondary," said Hiccup as he put his shirt on. "Besides, I have some news that everyone needs to hear."
Everyone had gathered in Jurtag's office, and Hiccup told them what Freya had told him.
"So you saw my mum?" said Jill.
Ruffnut looked at her a little perplexed. "Hiccup just mentioned a vengeful Vanir sorceress that wanted the destruction of the Aseir, and you're more shocked that Hiccup saw your mum."
"It's just that I've never seen her," she said.
"Jill, not every demigod sees their godly parent; I mean, Fishlegs hasn't laid eyes on his father yet, and the twins have never met Loki," said Astrid.
"Not that we ever want to," said Tuffnut.
Jill looked sad. "But still…"
"I'm sure she has her reasons for keeping her distance," said Hiccup. "And I'm sorry if this sounds heartless, but these shift our focus to Gullveig."
Jill nodded. "I understand."
"To think that she's reemerged, that's troublesome," said Jurtag as he stroked his beard.
"It's more than troublesome; we could end up in the fight of our lives," said Ragnar.
"Is she really that dangerous?" Fishlegs asked.
"Freya certainly seems to think so," said Hiccup.
"Oh, she's dangerous. There's no doubt about that," said Jurtag. "You are talking about the mastermind behind the Aseir and Vanir War. It was the greatest conflict that spread throughout the entire Nine Realms. There's no telling what kind of damage would have been done if the wall had not stopped when it did."
"Yeah, thanks to Loki," said Hiccup.
"Hard to believe that he stopped the destruction of the gods, and now he is the harbinger of their destruction," said Heather.
Hiccup nodded. "The irony is not lost on me, but now she has joined forces with Loki."
"I would have thought that she would hate his guts after what he did to her," said Ruffnut.
"Mum's always been very skilled in getting out of trouble," said Tuffnut.
"Like you two," Astrid smirked.
"Hey, you don't see us trying to start doomsday, do you?" said Tuffnut.
"Yeah, at worst off, make you lose an arm or a leg," Ruffnut nodded.
"Are they serious?" Jill asked.
"It's to tell sometimes," said Fishlegs.
"Look, we'll find a way to face her, but right now, our main focus should be getting that last ingredient," said Hiccup.
"Aye, and getting to the palace itself will not be easy," said Jurtag.
"We do have a plan on getting in, right?" Fishlegs asked.
"We think so," said Heather. "In the market, there should be a secret passage that will get us into the Palace."
"It's the same passageway that I used to get out of the Palace," said Snotlout. "Secret exits were built in the Royal family so that we could escape in case of emergency, but they can work the other way round."
"But will those passages remain open?" Ragnar asked. "It has been 11 years since you left, and naturally, your grandfather would know about these passages of well. There is a good chance that he could have blocked them."
"Doubtful; at this point, the only thing he cares about is that treasurer of his," said Snotlout. "Plus, you will be extremely paranoid; there's no way that he would inform his guards of the passageway in case they might use them against him."
"So he doesn't fear that you might use them yourself?" Hiccup asked.
"He still believes I'm on Midgard, never to return, and he's not smart enough to send someone to check up on me."
"But what's stopping Loki, or one of his agents, from playing on his greed and paranoia?" Fishlegs asked.
"That's a chance we're going to have to take. We don't have any other options for getting into the Palace," said Heather. "Besides, with my enhanced eyesight and hearing, there's no way we'll be caught by surprise, especially with Hiccup's foresight, and I'm sure we have enough strength between all of us to get by any obstacle."
Hiccup frowned and looked at Astrid. "I don't really like this plan. There are too many unknowns, but Heather's right. We don't have any other option. I think this might be our best bet."
Astrid nodded reluctantly. "I agree; then we best prepare ourselves. Unless anyone else has anything to add?"
Jill then raised her hand.
"Question on your mind Jill?" Hiccup asked.
"Yeah, because I might have misheard Ragnar," she said. "He said that it's been 11 years since Snotlout left? But he's not much older than us."
Hiccup frowned at the question and then suddenly realised that Jill was unaware that the other mortal species had different lifespans and matured differently.
"Sorry, Jill, I guess we never got to the part where other species have different lifespans," said Hiccup. "You see, dwarfs have much longer life spans than us humans. They can live up to about 500 years, and Snotlout's is actually about 30 years old."
Jill's mouth fell wide open. "500 years?"
Ragnar gave a small chuckle. "And me and Heather are roughly 200 years old, and I should add that we else can live up to around 1,000 years."
"1,000?" said Jill looking as if she was about to faint.
"To be honest, we're surprised how short-lived human lives are, I mean, you guys can only live up to a hundred, and that's only if you're lucky," said Heather.
"At least we don't sit on our butts; we can really ourselves very quickly when it comes to war," said Tuffnut.
"And that's doubly true for us demigods," Ruffnut added.
"Okay, okay, let's all calm down and prepare ourselves," said Hiccup.
"On that note, I think I can help you prepare for the battles to come," said Jurtag and then turned to Astrid. "Do you think I can have a look at that axe, girl?"
"Why?" Astrid asked.
"Can't have you going into battle with the shoddy weapon."
Astrid appeared to take offence at that. "This axe was a gift from my father? There is nothing shoddy about it!"
"So Thor is well renowned for building powerful weapons?" Jurtag asked.
"No, but…"
"Girl, my father helped create Thor's hammer; rest assured, your axe is in very good hands. I'll make it even better than new."
Astrid then reluctantly handed over her axe to Jurtag. "You had better be treated with respect."
"My dear, we dwarfs make sure everything we build is built to last, even if it's that simple mug. We treat everything we handle with respect."
Jurtag then left the office with Astrid's axe.
"I am sure that he'll treat your axe with respect," Hiccup assured her.
"I just hope my father understands."
"I'm sure he will, and to be honest, we may need some extra power considering who were up against."
"Yeah, but then why didn't he say he would upgrade all our weapons?" Ruffnut asked.
"Yeah, why does Astrid get the special treatment?" Tuffnut asked.
"Most likely because his father made Thor's hammer," Ragnar concluded.
"That just seems unfair," said Tuffnut.
"Unfair or not, we should still prepare ourselves," said Hiccup. "We have to make sure that we have everything we need to face Snotlout's grandfather because you can be sure he won't make it easy for us."
"He's never made it easy for anyone," said Snotlout.
Jurtag then suddenly returned with Astrid's axe, though it didn't appear to be any different than before.
"That was fast," said Astrid.
"The axe was perfectly maintained; I only have to give it a little extra kick," Jurtag smiled as he handed Astrid's axe back to her. "I call her Stormbreaker."
"It doesn't look any different," said Fishlegs.
"From the outside, maybe, but you have to look deeper within to see the changes."
Astrid gripped her axe.
"Any difference?" Hiccup asked.
Astrid nearly examined the axe. "The wait feels different, but other than that, no."
"You'll find out what it's capable of at the right time, but bare in mind that a powerful weapon can only show its true potential in the person who wields it."
"Then I hope that I prove worthy of wielding it," said Astrid.
Jurtag smiled. "I have no doubt of that. Oh, I also have a little something for the daughter of the goddess of love."
Jill's eyes lit up. "You do."
Jurtag then handed her a sword. "I call this weapon Charmer, but like I said, Astrid, it is up to you to bring out this weapon's full potential."
Jill took the sword. "It's beautiful."
"Do we get any weapons?" Tuffnut asked eagerly.
Jurtag just gave him a dry look. "Afraid not; you're going to have to focus on using your skills."
"Ah, man," Tuffnut complained.
"There's no time to complain; I believe it's now time for us to slay a dragon," said Astrid.
"Then we're off to see my grandfather," said Snotlout without any enthusiasm.
"You can stay here if you want if you don't officially grandfather," Hiccup offered.
"No, I'm done running. It's time that I finally stand up to him," said Snotlout firmly.
With that, they began to move out.