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.

For a moment, he had no clue as to what was happening...

...And then it 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 to us just in time, and now we will give them to Snotlout as promised."

"And that also means that you will not go to war with us and remain peaceful. Correct?" asked Stoick.

Dogsbreath sat silent on his horse for a moment. He thought for a moment as to what Stoick had just said, but not ten seconds, he began laughing intensely, so much so, tears came pouring out of his eyes.

Even the men behind him were laughing along.

"Peaceful?!" 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 a peace agreement. Only that he would not declare war against you."

Astrid stepped forward, tightening her knuckles into fists. "Are you telling us that your promises for peace were once again nothing but a lie!? This is ridiculous!"

"A lie? Hah, you Berkians truly are pathetic. Can't think properly, hm?" mocked Agatha, eyeing Astrid as she waved her hair.

"Well unlike you, I focus less on looks, and more on brains and muscle," spat back Astrid. "I bet Snotlout enjoys it when you kiss his fece-covered boots with that pretty face of yours."

To that, the crowd gathered around let out an "ooh" in unison as the wicked shieldmaiden was mocked, and thus, a hint of anger filled her. But rather than show it, she did her best to hold it in, and thus remained seated on her horse in silence.

"...If I ever meet her in battle, I won't hesitate to go for the 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 Snotlout want from us, but we're fearful for what you might do 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.

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

"Your father can't help you, Useless," Dogsbreath laughed, looking at Hiccup with a wicked smile. "You want to keep your dragons? By all means; risk war with us. 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 knew from the start that even if we were to 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, making fools of us again and again."

"Then perhaps it is time to change that!"

A new voice spoke up. In that moment, all went silent, and as Hiccup swiftly turned his head, he spotted 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 these people into giving you dragons, just to prevent a war? You dog..."

Wartihog, who resided next to Dogsbreath, rode his horse forward a few paces, his hand 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 that's a threat," he said, before turning to Astrid and added, "Astrid, the next time this lard 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 also question what may come next," he said, all while pacing back and forth across the stone floor of the great hall. "Do you think Snotlout will declare war?"

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; it's their loss. 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 possibly just sparked the fire for a potential war over Berk-"

Arn merely shook his head in disagreement. "You've got it all wrong, Astrid... Don't you understand that Snotlout himself could have sparked it regardless? That arrogant Jorgenson could have done it a long time ago; but he didn't. And even then, you allowed him to make his threats rather ignore them or retalite. 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 were tempted to deny Arn's claim, and 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 dividing; first with land, then with resources, and just now, almost 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.

...Until now.

Hiccup stood in place, looking back at Arn with an almost mind-blown gaze. "So his threats were as much of a lie as his promises?"

"Now you're thinking, Hiccup," stated Arn, crossing his arms as he began to pace back and forth. "Do you really think Snotlout is brave enough to fight you? The almighty dragon master and heir of Berk? He's a coward."

"...And besides, how many months have these raiders that you mentioned been raiding you for? Seven? Eight? Nine?"

"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 as to how long you've stood against them?" asked Arn.

"...What are you 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 case, 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, just find him and kill him!"

"...And if you can, take out Hiccup as well."