8. Meetings part 2

The Meade hall was almost empty by the time only the war council and dragon scouts were left. The war council consisted of Stoick, their chief, Spitelout, their second in command, the commander of the Berk guard, Gobber, probably because he supplied the weapons and others who were in charge of various things that would be affected by far, like the fleet, food supply and others. The dragon scouts were, to no surprise, the young adults – or as Hiccup decided to call them – the gang: Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout. The silence that had befallen the hall was interrupted by Stoick.

"So, how's everything on your side of things?" he asked looking at both groups, it was Gobber that answered him.

"The weaponry is comin' out great, the new ones are almost finished and then I'll move to resharpenin' the old ones" he said and the shrugged, not having anything else to say. The others in the war council followed, telling their chief the situation everything was in. The riders were pleasantly surprised that Berk seemed to be doing well, Drago hadn't tried to cut off the food supply or launch any attacks on the island it seemed. That was a little suspicious, but it could very well be that Drago didn't consider Berk to be a threat.

After the war council was finished giving their reports, Stoick turned to the gang and gestured for them to speak. They shared a look between them, not knowing how to tell him that they had no good news.

"Nothing new from us chief," said Astrid, sadly shaking her head. "After the nadder escaped, there were no sightings at night and the search was supposed to leave tomorrow, but with the spy coming it'll have to be pushed a day later."

Stoick nodded leaning on the table on the platform, his face showed understanding, like this had happened before, it probably had. Dragons rarely came to Berk anymore, the riders knew the reason – the dragons didn't feel save, at least they hadn't five years ago – but the Hooligan tribe didn't know that.

"We have to keep trying," Stoick reassured them. "The spy, Eret, in his letter, he said that he has information on the dragon demons. Said that a small ship had an encounter with one not long ago and that he'll bring more information with him." Hiccup's eyes widened and he felt Storm gently nudge him to get his attention, he turned to her and found that she had the same expression on her face. Dragon demons, as uncreative as the name was, it was what numerous dragon hunters had called them in the past.

For some reason the Hooligans wanted information on them and they were trying to capture dragons. It made a sliver of sense, if Berk had a dragon they could try to find one of them, but why? To threaten them? To try to take them to Drago? Or maybe… to ask for help?

"When he comes I want all of you to be here, we'll need to get every little bit of information from him. You all think differently, so you'll ask different questions and that's what we need. Meeting over." After being dismissed everyone cleared out of the building and the riders took their chance to leave. After the last person left they dropped from the support beam, their metal legs made a clicking sound that echoed in the hall. Without missing a beat they fully cloaked themselves and ran out the building as quietly as they could. Thankfully the doors were left open by the last person, so the riders had no problem leaving and making their way back to their camp.

A familiar sight greeted them back at the camp, their dragons happily bouncing towards them. The dragons were already restless only after a few days on the ground, it was evident by the way Shadow didn't even sniff at Storm once and Toothless ran circles around Hiccup. Almost unanimously the riders looked at each other with similar smirks on their faces, the decision was clear. They spend time with their family first, then they'll decide what to do about Berk.

The rest of their free time was spent with their dragons, they played, went fishing, and took a few cat naps in between. The pair sat down after their second meal of the day, their camp fire was still going and their dragons were once again playing together.

"So Chief, what's the plan this time?" Storm asked while leaning back on her hands.

"Well, the first part's easy," he said, giving her a shrug. "We sneak in the same as before and we listen what their spy says. But they have been looking for us, so I have this idea, regardless of what their spy says."

"Oh? Do share," intrigue laced her tone. Hiccup leaned closer to her, eyes full of mischief as he playfully pointed a finger at her.

"How do you feel about doing something dramatic?" he asked, the look in Storm's eyes betraying her answer. She smirked, cocking her head to the side. 'Bring it on' her expression said.