The wind ripped past her as bits of snow wedged themselves between her plates of armour, chilling her to the bone as her breath steamed in front of her helmet-covered face. Her arms were stiff from her constant grip on the saddle she sat on and she forced her frozen fingers to uncurl to try and get the blood flowing to the blue extremities.

A mournful groan came from the dragoness below her and she patted the side of her neck as comfortingly as she could. "I know, Kaida. We'll go back for them, I promise, but we need help if we're going to save them all."

Kaida's body rumbled in acknowledgment and she batted her wings harder, the attack of the elements on the girl's body increased yet her body didn't shiver. They had been flying for two days without supplies, that combined with the blizzard the pair had been travelling alongside made the journey highly uncomfortable.

If we don't find Berk soon... she didn't want to think of the outcome. Instead, the girl tried to focus on getting feeling back into her hands while a haze crept over her vision, disorientating her. She swayed in her saddle, throwing the dragon off course and sending the pair into an unsteady descent.

"Kaida," the girl said breathlessly, "we need to stop, I can't...hold on."

The figure slumped forward in the saddling and Kaida roared, sensing the urgency as she sped up. By the time Kaida found an overhang, her rider was blue to the lips and frozen stiff. The slender dragon wasted no time in heating the ground with shots of plasma before sliding her friend into her embrace, using her wing as a shield against the blizzard.

As the girl slowly recovered and her skin slightly lost its blue tint, she tried to sort through the events of the previous few days to retain her wits.

She grinned at the rhythm of victory that the dozens of beating wings created, watching as the island came into sight. Her island, one that no one dared come near with the imposing crags and towering boulders, stacked atop one another to create an impressive labyrinth of caves and passages. The surrounding landscape was lush and thick, providing the perfect hiding places for the dragons more suited to forestry.

Raising her staff above her head, she let out an elated cry, laughing as the dragons surrounding her joined in as well. Wyza, the Stormcutter she currently rode, let out an exasperated huff at the newcomers.

"Come on," the girl snickered at the veteran, "can't blame them for their joy at their newfound freedom."

She often used Wyza on rescue missions, her common appearance raising far fewer eyebrows than rarer specimens would in public domains. Rather a more common dragon swooping in to save captured dragons than a Crimson Goregutter with its bull-like appearance or a Snaptrapper with its four heads. Their easily recognizable features would alert too many Hunters, putting her and her colony at risk. Wyza also had an uncanny ability in sensing friend from foeor a salvageable mission from an impossible one – making her a useful ally when scouting a possible raid location.

The girl monitored the assimilation of the newcomers into the residents, watching as the newly rescued dragons inspected their new home. A bubbling growl, which could be considered a laugh, sounded behind her and suddenly she was flat on her back with a broad, pink tongue assaulting her.

"Kaida!" she screamed over the constant licking, attempting to push the sleek dragon away. "Go tell the others that it's safe to come out."

She always instructed the rarer dragons to stay hidden when she wasn't around, leaving Kaida responsible for keeping the others in line. The human admired the black hide of the dragoness, watching how the other dragons responded to the Night Fury's call. The way Kaida had fallen naturally into the role of Queen of the colony never failed to amaze the human.

A sharp nudge interrupted her thoughts and she turned towards the dark figure behind her. "Hi, Bear," she whispered, greeting the elderly Night Fury with a rub on her muzzle. The girl hadn't been able to find a suitable name for the matriarch when she found the family and, over time, the nickname 'Mama Bear' had stuck. The family of five Night Furies were some of the first dragons to have taken refuge in the colony, growing as both the girl and the colony grew.

The girl unconsciously petted Kaida as the more rare and endangered species moved to other parts of the island, some stopping for pets and greetings. Kaida grabbed her attention by shoving her, looking at her questioningly.

The human sighed regretfully. "No Night Furies, hun."

Both Kaida and Bear slumped at the statement before following the other dragons outside. The girl sighed and turned back towards Wyza, she had other business to attend to. Noticing that the girl wasn't following her, Kaida bounded after her, bumping her in the small of her back in inquiry.

"I have to go meet Belen," the girl replied. Kaida grumbled at this, obviously unhappy with the arrangement. The girl chuckled at the dragon's antics. "He brings us information, Kaida, information that helps your survival I might add."

Kaida huffed at this but stopped as they approached Wyza, who was looking at the shy newcomers over her shoulder with a disdainful expression on her owlish face.

"Come on, Wyza," she chuckled. "We have an appointment with a certain Hunter."

Wyza haughtily moved away from the hovering dragons, allowing the human to pull herself onto her broad back by one of her horns.

Due to Wyza's double wings, the flight to the neighbouring island took no time at all and as she approached, she caught sight of the large figure of Belen, pacing back and forth while tugging at his cropped hair.

Just as dragon and rider came to land, he turned and moved towards the pair. "Tora!" he shouted earnestly for the girl.

Tora swung down from Wyza, approaching the other human with a straight face. "What is it, Belen?" she asked, taking notice of the stress furrow between his brows.

"He's coming for you, Tora," he started frantically. "He's moving North and–"

"Whoa, what do you mean he's coming for me?" Tora shoved Belen against a rock face, pressing a dagger that was previously strapped to her thigh against his neck, fury written on her features. "What did you tell him?"

Belen flinched at her harsh tone and held his hands up. "I didn't tell him anything, I swear!"

Tora scoffed, Belen worked for the man in question. "Excuse me if I don't believe y–"

"I overheard him talking about moving North, something about raids and dragons moving North."

Tora's brows furrowed, and she loosened her grip, letting the man move out of her reach. "That doesn't make sense, I don't raid often enough for it to be suspicious, there have been a lot of dragon sympathisers lately and raids are becoming more frequent–"

Wyza had been watching silently until that point, but moved closer to Tora at her distress, allowing comfort in the form of allowing the girl to pet her.

Belen just looked on as the large creature nuzzled the human. "It doesn't matter how. He caught on, and he's coming. You need to get out of here. Take the dragons or leave them, I don't care but he will not hesitate in killing you and all of your lizard friends once he finds the colony."

Tora had been staring at the ground in shock until then, her body completely slack, but at the mention of her dragons, she looked at Belen with so much determination and ferocity that he took a step back. "I will not leave them for that killer."

Five years. Five years she had been able to evade Grimmel the Grisly, stealthily hiding the dragons away in her attempt to prevent their persecution. Trying desperately to rehabilitate and increase the number of dragons that dwindled due to his practices. She would not let him take that all away.

"Then find help," Belen implored, gesturing wildly. At her exasperated expression, he elaborated. "Go North-East from here, there are rumours of an island where dragons and humans are living together. Some guy they call the 'Dragon Master' runs the place. Berk has become a legend around the Archipelago–"

Tora had been hopeful when Belen started his description but scoffed at the name he revealed. "Are you trying to get me and my dragons killed? The only way Berkians would ever tolerate dragons was if their severed heads were under their boots. I would know, seeing as I grew up there."

Belen seemed surprised that Tora revealed such a personal detail but recovered quickly and crossed his arms. "You obviously haven't been there in a while–" he leaned in and whispered conspiratorially "–'cause they've been living with dragons as their beloved companions for over 5 years."

Tora was visibly unimpressed. "That's impossible." If she remembered anything about Berk, and she remembered a fair bit, co-existence between dragons and humans wasn't likely to ever happen.

Belen shrugged. "Then I hope this tidbit isn't too outlandish for you to believe. The Dragon Master was the one who defeated Drago Bludvist…in the act of protecting his dragons," he stated as if this fact would sway her opinion.

It did. She was the one to find his dead body as it washed ashore on her island.

Tora ran towards Wyza and swung onto her back.

"What are you going to do?" Belen shouted after her.

"If this 'Dragon Master' can get rid of Drago Bludvist and mind control bullshit, I need him on my side," she shouted back as Wyza took off.

As soon as she arrived back at the island, she had saddled and taken off on Kaida, her own 'beloved companion' as Belen put it, trusting the colony in the claws of Wyza and Bear.

Kaida was by far the fastest with the most stamina, making her the first choice in this scenario, even if Tora feared constantly of her detection. But if what Belen said was true then hopefully the Dragon Master wouldn't be a total dictator if she rocked up on Berk with a rarer-than-anything Night Fury.

However, lying curled against Kaida's side, stiffness fading from her extremities, Tora couldn't help but think that this was a terrible idea. She had left her home and her companions with nothing and no one, on her way to an island she knew very few good things about. She could handle what was coming, she was sure, she wouldn't let her friends die at the hands of that f–

Tora's thoughts were interrupted by Kaida's nudging nose, checking to see if her friend was better. Tora looked into the blue eyes of her closest friend and realised she would do anything if it meant keeping her safe, even if it meant taking a risk by visiting the island of her birth.

She petted Kaida's muzzle, smiling as the giant lizard purred at the contact. "We still have some ways to go, let's get moving."

On unsteady legs, Tora climbed back onto the slender creature's back, barely adjusting herself before Kaida took off into the air. The snow had stopped, leaving only the chilly wind to combat. This didn't make the flight any more tolerable, and she tightened her grip around Kaida's thick body lest she loses her balance.

They travelled through the night, the dragon adjusting the human when she felt her figure slipping. They had gotten ahead of the blizzard but the cool morning wind did nothing to help regulate Tora's body heat, which was frightfully cold. And just when Kaida was beginning to tire, veering slightly on either side, she caught sight of an island with a large village situated on it. The village was brightly coloured and it appeared that most of it was covered in large icicles.

Kaida whipped her head back, slapping her rider with a fleshy ear, making her lift her head blearily. She recognized the crumbled stone pillars surrounding the village almost instantly, despite the actual town appearing completely foreign. Tora felt as though frost had settled across her vision and brain, and before she could think straight, she tapped the side of Kaida's neck in a signal to descent.

Meanwhile, the citizens of Berk were just beginning to rise and those who had made it outside were beginning to go about their duties. An overhead shadow caused shouts of alarm, making the other villagers look to the sky instinctively, noticing the slender shape zigzagging towards the ground.

A particular resident took note of the situation and automatically called out in a thick brogue: "Somebody, get the chief!"

Kaida heard this large shout and jerked, taken aback by the volume. As a result, Tora slipped from the saddle and – helpless against gravity – watched as her closest friend tucked into a dive in an attempt to catch the human, her expressive eyes displaying her concentration and fear as the pair hurtled towards the earth.