Dreamer slid to a halt in the dry leaf litter as he spotted Wanderer through the trees, who was posed aggressively as he stared off into the forest they were in. The faint scent of Nightstriker fire still hung in the air, though there was no real clue what he had fired at, but more concerning was the scent of Nightstriker blood.

A pair of Defenders were cleaning their swords on the garments of two dead Berserkers, and other than that there was only the sound of the rustling trees, though Dreamer listened intently for anything else. Slowly, as nothing emerged from the forest, Wanderer lowered his wings, and Dreamer warbled enquiry at him around the Dragon Eye which was still in his mouth.

"Rot-head-not-alpha," he growled, tipping his head at a distinct axe in the grass nearby, and Dreamer immediately went on alert again. "He gone, I think," he huffed, then set about licking at various cuts about his person.

Dreamer hummed uncertainly-

A distant explosion echoed over the island, and both of them looked towards the source. It sounded a little like Nightstriker fire, but deeper and stronger; he had felt the tremor in his paws.

He flinched at a second explosion, and then inhaled sharply. That sound, like a Nightstriker fire but not, could only be one thing.

"Fast!" he barked, leaping into a sprint back towards the village, the source of the sounds. As he neared, a distant whining reached his ears, a high tone that slowly descended in pitch and suddenly terminated in yet another enormous explosion.

He emerged from the trees to find Defenders racing back to the village, and a massive blue orb hanging in the sky with another falling whine. With a leap and a flap of his wings he cleared the outer buildings and soared almost right into the door to the hut Viggo and Fishlegs had been working in, and burst inside, finding only those two still present.

"I am certain I need not explain what is happening!" Viggo shouted over the next explosion, which shook the hut and everything in it. "Ryker is here, and we are not ready!"

"We did find a few things," Fishlegs hastily added. He looked alert, but with a weariness clinging to him around the edges, and he was slumped in one of the chairs against the wall. "Almost a side note on the Razorwhip slides, which were on the Whispering Death lens-"

"The point is," Viggo interrupted, leaning on the table, "its armour limits its manoeuvrability. It is by no means a slow swimmer but it is not agile. It is also quite timid, despite appearances, so harrying it from the sides should provoke it into fleeing temporarily."

Dreamer looked to Fishlegs, who nodded firmly and confidently; he would have insisted on understanding everything Viggo did and found.

Another thundering explosion, this one much closer. "I strongly advise you move quickly!" Viggo shouted, an edge of fear in his voice.

With a growl of agreement, Dreamer leaped back outside and into the air, working his wings and then banking sharply out to open water just in time to see another giant projectile erupt from the sea. He glanced back over the village, seeing with some relief that only one of the shots so far had actually made contact, the others having landed in the fields and one in the forest.

"What's the plan!?" Astrid shouted from Stormfly's back, coming up alongside him and Wanderer; as he turned to look at her he noticed the twins further back, also flying out to meet the attacking Shellfire.

"It not can turn fast," he replied. "We attack it. You get hunter ships fighting it." Viggo's five ships were just floating off the Defender's shore, probably unsure of who to side with. Hopefully they just needed reminding.

"If that snake is double-crossing us…"

Dreamer crooned worriedly as she sharply banked away and down towards the ships, but set his eyes on the Shellfire. She was Astrid, she had Stormfly and there were no dragonroot arrows on board.

He didn't plan on waiting for the twins, but as he neared the source of the attacks, he tilted his wings back to slow down and stare with a cold dread.

Attacking from the sides had seemed like a good plan. Dart in with fire, claws, or both, and dart out again. But what he had failed to account for was the sheer size of the creature. It had what looked like a massive ship strapped to its back, bigger than any of the hunter ships he'd seen so far, and even that was dwarfed by the Shellfire.

A cavernous maw emerged from the water, its teeth each the size of a longboat, and another blue fireball erupted out of it to whistle away into the distance. Its head was topped by a pair of long tusks that would each probably bridge the entirety of Dragon's Edge, and a squat horn protruded from its bulbous snout. From what he could see of its outline through the water, it was easily as big as the queen dragon he and Wanderer had killed so long ago.

"Whoahaho," Ruffnut breathed as Barf and Belch pulled up beside him. "Bro, if I die here today, tell Yornt I died happy."

"Sis, Yornt isn't… Ugh, whatever. We share a dragon, so if you die, you're taking me with you."

"I like the way you worded that!"

Dreamer barked irritatedly at them, still staring at the creature below. How had Viggo ever subdued something so massive!? But that wasn't important right now, he needed to figure out what he was going to do about it.

"I not think it can fly," Wanderer said as they glided, eyes wide. It did have wings, but Dreamer agreed, they didn't look big or strong enough for something that big to actually fly on.

That was how they had taken out the last dragon of this size, by baiting it into the sky. But Dreamer didn't want to kill it, he only wanted to free it of the hunters clinging to its back. The notion that such small tools, compared to the dragon they were used on, were able to control it was absurd, but it was clearly effective. Unless that was a falsehood, and it was actually aiding them for some other reason?

Dreamer growled to himself, fed up with second-guessing everything Viggo had said. First they would remove the hunters, then see what happened.

It opened its mouth again and Dreamer made a snap decision, passing the Dragon Eye to his claws – there simply hadn't been time to find somewhere safe for it – then aiming carefully and firing the first of his three shots. The blue light lanced down and struck the Shellfire's projectile right as it left its mouth, and it flinched a little, but the projectile kept travelling a short distance before just crumbling and fizzling out in a long cloud of glowing smoke.

He grit his teeth. "Ruffnut, Tuffnut," he growled, "fly above, keep attention of hunters. We… We try hurt it." He glanced at Wanderer, dreading putting him into this sort of danger, and his friend nodded at him, his eyes stern.

"Time to cause some chaos," Tuffnut said gleefully, and Ruffnut cheered as they pulled ahead.

Dreamer took a slow, deep breath, staring at the choppy waves lapping at the thick carapace over the Shellfire's back. Then he passed the Dragon Eye to hold securely in his hindclaws, folded his wings, and let himself plummet to the water.

Astrid thumped down on the lead hunter ship to stand in front of Stormfly with a hand to her axe, a little nervous with how closely the hunters had drifted to the Defenders' shore. She would be tearing into them for that, were that not already what she intended on doing. "Get this ship turned around!" she yelled.

"Wha's Viggo go' ter say about i'?" a hunter asked, striding up to her with his shoulders rolling self-importantly.

"Viggo's a little busy right now," she said sweetly, staring him down, "but you did hear him promise his help in stopping that thing." Another of the massive fireballs exploded behind her, punctuating her statement.

The hunter stared at her, and she got a really bad feeling. It was at that point she noticed the catapults on the other ships were already erect, while on the journey over they had been flat. At least there were fewer hunters on the deck than she remembered… which was worrying for very different reasons.

"Maybe someone else 'ad a better idea," the hunter said with a malicious grin, slowly drawing his weapon.

Stormfly hissed behind her, and a trio of spines suddenly whizzed through the air to take a hunter standing on the upper deck in the chest. He stared down at them with wide eyes as he sank to the ground, and in the moment before all Hel broke loose, Astrid spotted the bow and arrow he'd been holding, and the green tint on the arrowhead.

"Stormfly!" she shouted, spinning and leaping back into the saddle, and her dragon leaped from the deck – then shrieked as they suddenly plummeted, and Astrid could do nothing but brace herself as the water rose up to meet them-

She hit it hard, torn away from her dragon and left floundering in the murky froth, but her old training kept her from panicking and struggling pointlessly; she hadn't fallen off a ship, but that just meant there was no debris to avoid. She waited impatiently as the bubbles dispersed, a fleeting thought crossing her mind that they should continue drilling young Hooligans in unexpected baths in the sea, and then kicked towards her dragon, who was struggling limply in the water.

The arrow in her side was easy to locate, and offered some resistance, but Astrid yanked it out anyway; better that than the poison on it causing them to drown. The wound bled freely, wisps of dark murk in the water, but hopefully that just meant it was pushing out any dragonroot still in the wound, and Stormfly did calm somewhat after only a few seconds.

They touched the surface and Astrid kicked up to suck in air, then coughed as she was immediately slapped in the face by a wave. Stormfly was struggling again, but less frantically now, and then she too breached the surface, sucked in a breath, and hacked out any water that had made its way in.

Astrid looked around, finding the ship had turned away. Distant sounds, almost inaudible over the water splashing into her ears, spoke of the catapults hurling rocks into the air.

"Viggo," she growled to herself, but then she had to check herself. There hadn't been any dragonroot aboard, and she knew how sensitive the Furies' noses were. She didn't rule out Viggo somehow hiding it, but the way the hunter had spoken, Ryker must have got to him. He would have provided the arrows, and it would explain why there were fewer hunters on board. He'd probably managed it between Hiccup taking Viggo to the Defenders, and the ships sailing to the island.

"So infuriating," she muttered. She wished he'd just hurry up and clearly betray them so she'd stop needing to think about it.

They were a fair way from the shore, but the current didn't seem to be pushing them out any further, and it wasn't too far to swim. "C'mon girl," she gritted, kicking her legs and trying vainly to pull her dragon with her, but it encouraged Stormfly to struggle in the right direction.

For a few harrying minutes, they didn't seem to be making any progress, but a glance under the water showed they were moving steadily towards the shore, and she sighed in relief. They would make it.

But she was out of this fight. Stormfly wasn't in any condition to fly, certainly not into battle. She just had to hope the Furies and the twins would be able to handle it, and that Fishlegs and Viggo had found something useful for them…

A rowboat was quickly pulling out to meet her, though she wasn't sure how they'd be able to help – but then, as it neared, she recognised one of the figures aboard it with a helpless dread and a flood of rage.

"Leave her," Viggo said without even looking as the boat passed her and Stormfly, the tips of their oars only a few paces away. "We must make all haste, she is not worth a moment of my time." The others, clearly hunters now that she was looking, glared at her but resumed their rowing.

"Fishlegs," she said worriedly, even as she grit her teeth at the boat carrying her enemy back to his fleet.

Wanderer stared at the enormous creature as he swam down its length, under the water. He was to it as a tiny-wing-thing was to him, too small to even be prey, just an insignificant little curiosity and a nuisance at most.

But Dreamer had succeeded against something this size before, and he did not feel that grip on his mind with this one. He just had to trust.

He was not only staring in awe and despair, he was also watching its movements, searching for a weak spot, just looking for where it could not squash him intentionally or otherwise. If there was any updraft in this fight it was that it looked bulky and stiff, unable to swat a pest biting its side.

As he broke the surface of the water for a fresh breath of air, he mustered his strength, then dove back below the surface and swam for the giant creature. It wasn't moving, so it was simple enough to just come up alongside it, but testing its hide with his claws seemed to be a pointless exercise. It was simply too thick. He clawed at it anyway, but for all he made shallow scratches, it wasn't so much as flinching.

A sudden and immense turbulence sent him tumbling, and once he reoriented himself he spotted the enormous wing moving back to its relaxed position.

Wrrr, he remembered a tiny-wing-thing that had once bitten the edge of his wing, that had been agony… If he was the tiny-wing-thing, that was possibly the most he could do. He pushed back up to the air, took several long, deep breaths, then ducked back under, came up alongside the thing, and sank his teeth into the rear edge of his wing-

And then found himself holding on in fear for his life as the wing jerked and pulled him along with it, squeezing his eyes shut against the onslaught of water that yanked at his wings and threatened to tear them off his back. It only lasted a life-beat, and then there was a moment of reprieve in which he was able to let go and push away, pulling his wings tightly to his sides again and riding the turbulent water.

That seemed a stupid thing to do, in hindsight. Maybe Dreamer had a better idea. He powered back up to the surface and flung himself into the air, where he belonged, and worked his wings to get some height over the giant water-hunter.

"What you do?" Dreamer barked.

"Bite wing," Wanderer said with a grimace, then worked his mouth. He'd snapped a tooth, how irritating.

"You do good!" he praised, staring down, and Wanderer followed his gaze to find the water-hunter twitching with the hunters on it scurrying up its back to disappear inside their ship-thing. Almost before the last hunter disappeared inside and the hole closed on itself, the whole thing sank into the water and disappeared from sight.

"That not was fun," Wanderer grumbled, but it did seem to be effective after all; he could do without the appreciation of the small-wing-thing's perspective, that he had flicked off and then squashed.

"I not think it gone," Dreamer said in a low hum, looking around the suddenly empty ocean.

"What'd you guys DO to it?" Ruffnut shouted as the smell-alikes approached on their Two-Head.

A moment later, a dark shadow appeared a distance away in the water, quickly breaking the surface to reveal the not-ship and the water-hunter below it. The hunters scurried out of the little hole and back to their places, then started swinging their long sticks.

Dreamer watched them. Then he looked at the smell-alikes, and back down again. "I have thinking," he barked. "Wanderer, you can bite wing again?"

"Yes," Wanderer said with an unenthusiastic groan.

"Good. Then I fire inside ship."

"Wait," Tuffnut said excitedly, "so they're all gonna be inside, and when the hatch opens, you're gonna drop a fireball in it?"

Ruffnut cackled gleefully. "I like this dragon's thinking."

That had been an unpleasant experience. Maybe it would work. Wanderer took a deep, resigned breath, then folded his wings and let himself plummet. He flared his wings before he hit the water, lest he break his neck, and dove in with barely a splash.

The enormous bulk of the water-hunter loomed nearby, and he swam up to it – this time it noticed him, and slowly turned to face him, opening its mouth-

Wanderer jerked to the side and swam as hard as he could a moment before the water behind him exploded. He tumbled in the suddenly hot and turbulent water, feeling more disoriented than he should, then steadied himself and quickly took his bearings before powering out of the water and back into the air.

Huff, a better angle this time. He shook his head and winged around the water-hunter, wary of the hunters on it and their bad flying-claws pointed at him from their curved sticks. The water-hunter itself was trying to turn, but even were it fast enough, it flinched, and then again, jerking back to face the small-land.

Better. He dove again, too far away for the hunters to hit him, then kicked with his tail and swam up to the massive creature to sink his teeth into its wing before he could have second thoughts.

The water vibrated as the water-hunter roared, and again he was thrashed around. He'd picked a place closer to the shoulder this time, so it wasn't nearly as bad, but it was still terrifying. He held on for a little longer before letting go in between its throes, then used his wings to guide the water over his back and keep himself from tumbling.

He wasn't doing that again, even if this didn't work. Huff, he probably would, if Dreamer just insisted on doing it himself… That didn't matter. He wove his body through the water and breached the surface, not flinging himself out of it but just letting himself float and take a moment of sorely-needed rest.

The water-hunter was already diving, and though he didn't have a good view, the metallic clang of the hole into the ship closing was very close to the water consuming it.

He stretched his stiff wings and body, hoping this would soon be over. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to keep this up. It was an effort to even remain wary of the water around him, in case the water-hunter went after him again.

But it did not. He spotted Dreamer above suddenly flap hard and speed through the sky, and his target appeared a moment later. He didn't miss a life-beat, and Wanderer's heart burned with pride as his friend-mate expertly pivoted and spun, firing backwards over his tail, then completed the spin and effortlessly caught himself on his wings to soar back into the air.

Wanderer roared pride, success, happy! Feeling energetic again, he ducked back under the water and powered up out of it, roaring again as he flew up to join him.

One hunter was standing on the water-hunter, shouting down into the hole; he must have made it out. It looked like the hunter-sub-alpha, a hunter they had come across occasionally and who was always shouting at the other hunters.

Dreamer suddenly barked in alarm as he neared, staring between the nearby small-land and the water-hunter below.

"You nailed it!" Tuffnut shouted. "That was awesome! Wait, what is it? Why is your face like that?"

"Hunters attack Defenders!" Dreamer yowled, and Wanderer snapped his gaze back to the small-land. One of the hunter ships had separated from the others and was moving back out to sea, but the others were all throwing big rocks into the nest.

"Go!" Ruffnut shouted. "We got this!"

Dreamer barked confidently, then flapped hard back towards the small-land. "I have one shot," he growled as they flew.

"I have two," Wanderer hummed.

"But they have eight rock-throwers…" His eyes narrowed, focused intently on the problem in his Dreamer way, and Wanderer purred; if he wouldn't smile, this was the next best thing.

"I want try something," Dreamer eventually announced, then climbed for height and angled out to the side of the ships. As they neared the small-land, Dreamer turned back to the ships and dove, producing his sound-sight but diving much too steeply to the water below.

Wanderer soared on the thermals coming off the small-land as he watched Dreamer throw out his wings close to the water and suddenly pull forward at great speed, then fired from there. The shot streaked over the water and slammed into the nearest rock-thrower, the shot utterly destroying it – but also severely damaging the one behind it, with how Dreamer had lined it up.

With a grimly satisfied purr, Wanderer folded his own wings and dove, then pulled up close to the water. He kept a bit of downward trajectory, adjusting himself and lining up the two rock-throwers on the next ship, before firing and pulling back up into the air. Angling over the small-land as he climbed helped immensely, providing strong thermals to ride.

He was down to his last shot, but there were four more rock-throwers. He gave his head a shake, the enormous water-hunter was stopped for now, so these rock-throwers were the biggest threat to the nest. He dove again, firing his third shot and angling away as the rock-thrower was thrown into the one next to it, pieces of both flying out over the water. That would have to be enough, the Defenders or his nest-kin would need to handle the last two, which at least should be easier and safer now.

Dreamer barked again and angled down to the water, near an odd shape adrift not far off the shore – and Wanderer barked and followed, recognising Astrid and Storm-Fly. The Spine-Tail looked weak, and Wanderer growled angrily; she must be hurt, but she was thankfully still moving.

Astrid tried talking as they got behind Storm-Fly and pushed her back towards land, but she was just too tired to get the words out, and more often than not was preoccupied with just hanging on. It didn't take long to get them to the beach, where Stormfly was able to stagger out of the water and collapse on the sand, her breathing ragged but strong.

"Viggo," Astrid moaned weakly as she crawled out of the water herself, and Dreamer went tense as she coughed and hacked. "He escaped, I don't know-" she was interrupted by another coughing fit, "don't know how. He's on that ship."

Dreamer looked to the village, then the sea, then spread his wings towards the village.

"No," Astrid said desperately, throwing out a paw to grab his leg; Wanderer noticed he was still carrying the Dragon Eye. "You can't help Fishlegs… one way or the other. Go stop Viggo, we can't let him escape now!"

Dreamer stared at her, his mouth open and his eyes conflicted. Wanderer crooned comfortingly at him, and he looked up, then seemed to make a decision. "Rest," he told Astrid, then huffed appreciatively at Wanderer and leaped back into the air, out towards the sea again.

Two annoying pests had landed on the Shellfire, a pair of irritating flies that buzzed around and made a lot of noise.

To Ryker, the bigger issue was the Zippleback that was trying to fill the submersible with its noxious gas. Even just the gas in itself would be dangerous to inhale, particularly if they were forced to submerge again, but if they got a chance to light it? Who knew what would happen, if the Gronckle Iron structure would hold, or if anyone inside would survive it. They seemed half dead just from the single shot that Night Fury had got inside.

It didn't help that he was additionally distracted by those same Night Furies. Five, he had counted five shots, but there were still two catapults firing on the village. In his experience, they would each use their three shots to take out any weapons they could, so it seemed likely the sixth had been used on Dagur. Maybe he was dead. Didn't matter either way.

They weren't in the sky anymore, so he exhaled in relief, then grinned at the two annoying riders who had been harrying him with daggers and fleet footwork, trying to coax him away from the hatch to allow the Zippleback at it. "I think i's time I go' rid o' you pair," he gloated, then flexed his neck. He still hadn't drawn his swords, hoping to keep that as a surprise for later…

"You say that like you've not been fighting us properly until now," one of the two grumbled, the one with dreadlocks; that was the boy, if memory served. "I hate it when bad guys do that. Rykey, serious question. Up until now, you been trying to give us a chance or something? Or you think you can take us without a weapon? I mean, feel free to come get us." Overconfident.

"Yeah-!" the other one began, but Ryker planted his feet, dropped low, and leapt forward; a pointer he'd picked up from Dagur. "Oh," she said as he simply grabbed her by the shirt and threw her right off the edge of the submersible. "Save me Yornt!" she shouted as she disappeared from sight.

As predicted, rather than going for the now undefended hatch, the Zippleback lunged off the edge after her. Ryker frowned, then held up his arm and winced at the dagger embedded shallowly in his bicep. "She were quick, ah'll give 'er tha'," he said unhurriedly as he pulled the blade out and tossed it away. Just a surface wound, no big deal.

The boy, now alone with Ryker, glanced around with the look of a Terrible Terror caught in the storeroom. "You know what," he said, "I think I hear Yornt calling." He then walked up to the edge and jumped off the side.

Who was this Yornt person? A new rider? From what Ryker had been told, they were down one, not up one.

He grunted and turned back to the hatch, spotting a pair of dark shapes flying back from the island. "Alright," he shouted inside, "if you lo' don't ge' out 'ere this instant, yer all gonna die! And yeh'll miss yer chance against a Nigh' Fury wit' no fire."

That second part was more effective at getting them moving than the first, pained groans becoming determined, and finally some Hunters began emerging back onto the deck. It was much slower than before, but he felt safer with the dragonroot arrows being nocked to bows, the ones designed specifically to take out Night Furies.

The two shapes in the air heading towards them split up, one speeding forward and the other slowing down over the boat that probably carried Viggo. "Hold!" Ryker shouted, putting a hand to a sword and watching for what the Night Fury was going to do. "Archers," he warned, though the men with bows were already spreading out.

"Hold," he repeated as the black dragon suddenly dropped and disappeared into the water, before the men could start packing up again to prepare for another unexpected submersion. He didn't know what the dragons had done to the Shellfire down there, but he had a feeling that wasn't the case here…

A startled shout and metallic impact came from behind, and Ryker spun to see a Hunter fumbling for another arrow right before the Night Fury, inexplicably on the deck with them, tore into him and tossed him aside before anyone could even comprehend what was happening. It hopped to the side to avoid another arrow, then lunged for the next Hunter with a bow, swiftly clawing into his arms and face and then leaping back and disappearing off the side again.

"Get up 'ere!" Ryker bellowed, and the big hammers were abandoned in favour of weapons as the remainder of the dozen Hunters he had with him clambered up onto the deck.

There were only bows for four – there had been six, but the two the dragon had attacked were nowhere to be seen. It was definitely a clever beast… far too clever. "Form a square," he ordered, "archers a' the corners." Standard procedure for dealing with ambush tactics.

"There!" one of the Hunters shouted, pointing out behind the Shellfire. There was nothing there, but then a black shape jumped out of the water, arced over the Shellfire's long tail, and disappeared again. It repeated this apparently pointless behaviour a few more times, coming steadily closer each time…

It disappeared behind the rim of the submersible attached to the Shellfire – an impossible moment later there were shouts from behind, and Ryker spun to see it tearing into the distracted back of the square, raking claws down one Hunter even as it landed on another with the cracking of bones. It had been so fast Ryker thought it might have been the other Fury, and prepared to meet the pincer attack, by which time the dragon behind him had grabbed another bow and disappeared over the edge with it. There was no pincer attack, it really was just that fast and agile.

"Fools," Ryker muttered, then leered at the dirty looks the Hunters gave him. The point of the square was to not get distracted by what was going on behind them, to prevent exactly that from happening, though he didn't bother voicing their error. It did make him miss his old mercenary buddies, however. "Spread ou'. Always assume i's behind you."

They began spreading out, covering each other with a random crossfire that was more effective when working with amateurs, and then Ryker happened to be looking in the right direction as it emerged again, flying straight up. "Hold!" he snapped, holding a fist up out of habit, and the black dragon slowed to a halt and hovered there. "Yeah, ah've got yer number now," Ryker said smugly, and the dragon bared its teeth and flapped backwards to begin flying circles around them, just out of arrow range.

"An' you lo', shu' up," Ryker snapped at the hunters lying on the floor. "If yer out o' the fight, a' least be a man about it."

While the dragon circled, the Shellfire shifted under them, starting to get bold now that it was not suffering the hammers' strikes. It wasn't enough for anyone to lose their footing, but the Night Fury suddenly swooped down, below the ship, and there was an overconfident murmur as all the Hunters turned-

"It's a feint!" Ryker shouter, shoving the nearest Hunter back the way they'd been looking just in time to fire an arrow at the dragon that had reappeared over the edge, which it narrowly dodged by throwing itself to the side and dropping back down again. "It can' keep this up forever," he said smugly. Dagur had shared that they were quick to tire, and Viggo had done his clever thinking things to back him up. All Ryker needed to know was that he could wear it down, and he was seeing signs of fatigue.

It apparently knew this as well, and glided up over the back of the shellfire to land on the other end of the deck; too far to reliably hit with only three bows. "Aww, giving up already?" Ryker jeered, setting off a round of chuckles among the eight remaining Hunters.

"Nah," a grating voice said from behind them, "but you really should keep track of who you're fighting."

The deck erupted into fire with a force that threw Ryker off his feet, though he was quick to get himself back up. Not quick enough to stop the Night Fury tearing into his men again, taking full advantage of their disorientation to drive claws into muscle and snatch a bow-

Ryker leapt for a bow lying nearby, grabbing it and the arrow under it. Unfortunately there was no sign of the quiver, but one arrow, one scratch, was all it would take. He levelled it at the Fury, but then had to step back as someone ran at him from the side.

"C'mooon," the girl baited him as she swung and stabbed with a pair of daggers, "when you gonna take us seriously?"

"Know when yer beaten," Ryker said levelly, deftly stepping aside from her clumsy swings, then delivered an uppercut to her diaphragm that sent her staggering. He grabbed her by the arm and swung her around into her twin, who'd been trying to sneak up behind him, then nocked the arrow again and fired it at the Zippleback creeping back up over the edge.

"Belch!" the boy shouted, grabbing his sister and dragging her off after the dragon. They wouldn't be back.

"Jus' you an' me, Night Fury," Ryker said to to the dragon as it lunged at him-

He couldn't help but smile widely as he drew his sword and slashed at it, only scoring a light hit and suffering a gash across his ribs for his troubles – but the Night Fury screeched and fell to its side, then quickly scrabbled away and stared at him with wide eyes and an uncomfortable squirming. "No' enough to completely down ya," Ryker mused as he walked after it, tilting his green-tinted sword back and forth and drawing the other from its sheath on his back. "No' without leavin' it in ya like an arrow. Bu' tha' dragonroot sure does sting, don' it?"

It tried to flee, to turn and fly, but Ryker lunged forward and scored another hit near the base of its tail. It shrieked as it dropped back to the ground, then scrambled around to face him. "Yer lucky Viggo wants you alive," he told it conversationally as it limped backwards, its eyes wide and wild. "Saves us a lot o' hassle trackin' another down." It was still a dangerous animal, he still had to be careful of it, but it wasn't getting away.

"Oh no yeh don't," Ryker warned it, skirting around before it could slip backwards off the sloped side of the deck, which it had been approaching. Now it could only back up into the wall at the head of the deck, where it would be completely cornered. "Yer lookin' pretty beat up," he observed as he hemmed it in, noting the fresh scratches over it, ones not inflicted by him. "I guess Dagur got to yeh?" It growled angrily. "An' I bet yeh fired a shot a' 'im, three a' the boats, an' two a' the Shellfire… Yer all out. An' yeh couldn' even take all the catapults."

Viggo's ship was coming up alongside the Shellfire, and with a good view down over its deck, Ryker could see the black shape standing on it surrounded by Hunters. "Looks like Viggo's go' yer friend too. Perfect."

The dragon glanced down at the ship, but kept its attention on Ryker, and then its tail bumped up against the head of the submersible.

Ryker let his smile fade. "Viggo wants you alive. Bu' yer too dangerous." They only needed one of them, but Viggo would insist on keeping both. It was far too dangerous to let this one live. "Don' worry, yer friend won' be too long following." He raised his sword.

"Ah," Viggo greeted warmly, "Dreamer, how very good to see you are still alive. It would not do for you to be killed now."

The Hunters spread out over the lower deck hurriedly made room as the Night Fury landed in their midst, a hard metallic sound piquing Viggo's curiosity. "Have you brought the Dragon Eye with you?" he asked hopefully, gesturing to the Hunters to hold ready; it was a long shot, but he wanted to get Dreamer into the right frame of mind before closing the net on him. "That would be very convenient." Admittedly it hadn't been part of the plan for the Fury to grab it on the way out, but it wouldn't have been too big a deal otherwise. They could always have leveraged the Shellfire against the Defenders for its return, had it been left with one of them or another rider.

The Night Fury snarled at him, then reached out and made grabbing motions with its paw.

"What, these?" Viggo asked, lifting the sack tied to his belt. "The Dragon Eye and its lenses belong to me. But I must say, tricking you into taking them was exceptionally convenient. Do you have any idea how long it took me to find a single lens out here? Oh, I knew where some were, but dragons are so much more mobile. What strategy I could employ with such a view over the battlefield… Truly, you have been a unique and remarkable opponent."

The Night Fury started pacing, snarling and barking at him while the Dragon Eye clicked against the ground as he walked; it was made of Gronckle Iron, it would take more than a bit of weight to damage it.

"But truly, this game is over," Viggo said with a regretful sigh. "You are both out of fire, your allies are down… Do you even know where the small, brash one is? With the Monstrous Nightmare?" Dreamer's expression said he did not. "Oh dear, what a shame. Having him here might just have given you a shot at success."

Dreamer's attention seemed taken by something out to sea, and Viggo spared a look over his shoulder at the Shellfire, and the black shape darting around it. "Do not fret," Viggo assured him, "Ryker was merely acting on a suggestion that I would be taken captive by the Defenders… He is concerned with my safety, and would indeed have levelled the Defenders and hunted you down to ensure my return, but that is no longer necessary. Oh don't look at me like that, I spoke only truth, Ryker was entirely left to his own devices. He may not look it, but he is a brilliant tactician in his own right, albeit of more military nature."

Viggo spread his hands on the rail overlooking the lower deck, and two Hunters either side of him stepped forward to level dragonroot arrows at Dreamer; those Night Fury arrows had been particularly difficult to design, a delicate balance of weight and bevel to dig in between those tiny scales. Naturally, Dreamer did not look pleased with this, hissing up at him. "Understand, Dreamer, I require the use of your fire. It was a surprise that it worked with all the lenses, or rather most of them, but even better for my purposes. I promise you, things will go a lot better if you cooperate…"

A long, angry roar was the only reply.

"Truly, that is a shame." Viggo put a hand to the bag at his belt. "The Grimora lens, that you so helpfully retrieved from Changewing Island for me… A fickle dragon, no bigger than a grape, near impossible to track down… unless one has their lens, of course. I would prefer not subject you to it, but it will force you to use your fire for my purposes, if you refuse." It would be an extremely delicate game of safety, working with the Night Furies, but there were solutions to be found. Better solutions than simple chains and swords. His grandfather had done it before him, and it could be done again.

The sound of a Zippleback cloud igniting caught both their attention. "Those two are tenacious," he said conversationally. But it wasn't long before the twins and their dragon tumbled down the Shellfire's carapace and into the water. "A pity. Zippleback hide is all the rage with upmarket tailors these days, and I've had my eye on that one."

He turned back to Dreamer. "No matter." He gestured at one of the Hunters surrounding the lower deck. "Give me the Dragon Eye, come quietly, and I will do my best to ensure you live the rest of your life peacefully. I am not a monster, and I abhor needless suffering." Dreamer looked up to the Shellfire, which they were now coming up alongside, his eyes wide and pupils narrowing further. Curious, Viggo stole a glance up at it as well, spotting Ryker backing the Night Fury up along the edge of the submersible. "Ah, excellent. I admit, I had worried Ryker would not manage to subdue your brother. Even though he is the most-"

Another sound echoed over the water, or rather a pair of sounds, striking at Viggo as if an arrow had embedded into his chest.

Kra-KA!

Dreamer immediately fired two small bolts of fire of his own, in quick succession striking the hunters either side of Viggo, who stood there in stunned denial. He had known they could reduce the size of their shots to increase their shot limit, but they had definitely used the three full-sized shots they had always been limited to.

He went over it again and again. Three on the catapults, two on the Shellfire, and he had an account of a Hunter hearing one in the forest. Even were that last one a falsehood, and counting Dreamer's two shots just now as one, that was seven shots. And there were two catapults still standing, or there had been, though they should have started withdrawing by now.

There was a battle going on below between the Night Fury and the Hunters, one Viggo had only just noticed.

He didn't need to confirm what he already knew. Nobody could survive a direct hit from Night Fury fire of that strength, and perhaps not even Dagur could have dodged at that range. Besides which, he had seen it in Dreamer's eyes.

The hunters either side of him were cradling ruined arms, but one of their bows was still functional. Viggo lunged for it, tripping over but snatching it up and rising to point it at the Night Fury-

Right as Dreamer, now the only one still standing on the deck below, held the Dragon Eye out over the water, cradled in the fins at the end of his tail.

"Do not," Viggo warned, uncaring that his voice trembled wildly. "Drop that device, and I will make you suffer every moment of your undoubtedly long life."

Dreamer shrugged, pulling his tail in a little but still holding it out over the edge. Clearly, he didn't want to drop it, but he would not be able to help it if hit with dragonroot. A stalemate.

Or so he thought. "The sea is no barrier to me," Viggo warned. "I have tools. It would take time, but I would retrieve it. Or perhaps your brother would," and there his voice cracked and refused to further produce the threat.

It was all he had left now. His parents, dead to some greedy lord before he really had a chance to know them. His grandfather, dead to old age. His brother, after he was tracked down and found in a mercenary group, dead to a Night Fury they had greatly underestimated. All he had left was his tribe, one disbanded almost forty years ago, but he would track down its surviving members and rebuild Hysteria from the ground up.

But to do that, he needed to know why his grandfather had torn it apart to start with, whatever he had found on the black lens still tucked into Viggo's pauldron. Why he would turn his back on the Viking way and throw everything away to start a simple life building inane trinkets for bratty children, some much too old to be playing with toys.

But to read the Night Fury lens, he needed a Night Fury.

Dreamer stared at him, his face unreadable. Then he shifted his tail, braced himself, and lobbed the Dragon Eye up over the upper deck. Viggo glanced up at it-

Something crashed into the side of the ship with immense force, shunting it aside in the water and sending Viggo staggering. "No!" he shouted, dropping the bow to scramble after the Dragon Eye as it fell where the ship had been. As it fell towards the water below.

He hopped up onto the rail and leaped out after it.

Dreamer braced himself as the Shellfire crashed into the side of the ship, taking Viggo entirely by surprise, such was his focus on the Dragon Eye. He himself was still almost thrown off his paws, his side smacking painfully into the hard rail, but he remained standing.

He steadied himself, then looked up just in time to see Viggo leap off the edge, over the Shellfire trying to buck the ship-like thing off its back. He barked in surprise and planted his paws, but noticed a hunter he'd left alive had grabbed a bow and arrow that had dropped to the lower deck.

He instead spun and dove into the water, then quickly swam down under the ship. Everything was a bright haze of bubbles as the Shellfire thrashed and twisted, and Dreamer suddenly had to swim away from the long tail as it carved through the froth and almost caught him, then fought the swirling currents left in its wake. Viggo…!

There was a deep groaning closely followed by a deafening crack, and the world stilled. When the waters finally cleared, there was nothing visible in the curtains of shifting light shallowly piercing the haze of the open sea. No Shellfire. No Dragon Eye.

And no Viggo.

Author's Notes

Whew, what an intense chapter. Hopefully the content itself, but the whole thing was written in about two days. I look forward to hearing the feedback on this one, as a lot happened and was revealed. Yes, it's a Night Fury lens! I'm surprised how many people just automatically assumed that, especially given that in canon there was no Night Fury lens; just a slide Viggo gets using a terror that's shown for about two seconds at the end of an episode and never brought up or seen again.

Ahem, yes, anyway, on to the next plot! Actually, we do still have a bit more of the second act to get through. We're not quite there yet...