39. Old faces

Flying without stopping for hours on end wasn't comfortable, but it was necessary if the pair wanted to reach the Defenders of the Wing and the Wingmaidens with time to spare. Time to spare, and time to observe the severity of the damage the island sustained, while it was still as fresh as it could be four days after the attack. The damage dealt would give indication on why the islands were attacked in the first place.

They had flown over their hideout without stopping, even after a full night and morning in the air their worry was winning over their exhaustion. Thankfully, Shadow could keep up with Toothless without a problem, and both Hiccup and Storm were used to long flights without rest.

Defenders of the Wing Island was their first stop, the damage to the island was easily seen from the sky as the pair flew around it to the small village. Repairs were in full effect, from what it seemed not a lot of buildings had been destroyed, most of the destruction was centered on the woods surrounding the village, it also seemed like a few shots were aimed at the volcano.

The pair quickly noticed Mala near the Eruptodon statute, Dagur was with her and they could see Sleuther playing with some of the younger people of the tribe farther away. They landed in front of Mala and Dagur and were greeted as they dismounted their dragons.

"Hiccup Haddock, Storm," Mala said in a calm voice, "It's good to see you."

"Brother! Storm!" Dagur shouted his greeting, a wide smile on his face.

"Hi," Hiccup answered, Storm nodded behind him in acknowledgement. "How is everything?" he asked motioning to the destroyed part of the island.

"Better than it seems," Mala answered and started to walk towards the people who were repairing everything, Hiccup and Storm fell into step next to her, Dagur decided to stay. "The attack came at night, a few ships. First they tried to damage the volcano with their catapults, when that didn't work their redirected their fire towards the edge of the village."

"Any casualties?" Storm asked staring at the damage with wide eyes.

"None," Mala assured. "The noise from the earliest attack woke everyone up, the few stray boulders that caught the buildings came later, when everyone was already outside, I'm not sure if they missed completely or their target was the forest."

"That would mean they were aiming to distract," Hiccup commented, he turned to look at the Queen. "In your letter you said that the WIngmaidens experienced a similar attack at about the same time, did they tell you what their situation is?"

"They only send a Terror so we could look out for similar attacks," Mala shook her head and with a final look toward the damage started walking back to the village center. "I can only assume our warning reached them a similar time. We were not able to see who the ship's belonged to as when the panic passed and Toke rode out there was no trace of them."

The pair shared a frustrated look, they hoped that Atali might have seen something that would help determent who the ship's belonged to. Their mood was lifted a bit by the mention of Toke.

"In any case, how are Toke and the rest doing?" Storm questioned as they came to a stop.

"They have adjusted well," Mala said with a soft smile. "Toke has joined the island guard, Hilda has been faring well, their child is growing as expected. Ulf and Frida had made friends many friends with the other children and – "

"STORM! HICCUP!" A happy shout cut Mala off.

The pair turned and saw the two mentioned children running towards them, Frida was in the lead a wide, happy smile on her face. The girl barreled into Hiccup and hugged his legs while Ulf did the same to Storm, the kids' cheerful giggles putting smiles on the trio's faces.

"Hey you," Storm greeted them both as she lifted Ulf up, giving him a quick hug. "Have you been behaving?" She jokingly asked.

"Yes we have!" Ulf guaranteed, Frida quickly nodded in agreement. Hiccup picked the girl up and raised an eyebrow towards Mala in question.

"They have," she confirmed with a soft smile. "They are even helping their parents with chores more often, as Hilda can do less and less. They are great children, anyone would tell you that."

"Yeah, we're great!" Frida happily agreed. "Uncle Dagur has been teaching us to write and said we're doing great!" Storm and Hiccup shared a look.

"Uncle Dagur?" Hiccup questioned with a tilt of his head.

Frida pointed towards the man who was playing with Sleuther and some of the tribe's children. The sight made him and Storm chuckle, Dagur was animatedly telling the kids a story it seemed, if the awed looks of the children was anything to go by.

"You want to go back there?" Storm asked the kids. The two nodded, eager to get back to the fun. The pair put the children down and they ran away with a quick goodbye.

"Uncle Dagur?" Hiccup asked again, this time directing the question to a blushing Mala. "How often is he here?"

"Often enough for the kids to get to him, that's for sure," Storm concluded as she watched the Berserker Chief playfully toss a child in the air. She then turned to Mala and raised an eyebrow, "Has he even left the island since the welcome feast?"

"He has," Mala quickly guaranteed. "I also sent a letter to him, he got here yesterday. I knew you may not be in reach at the time and having more than two experienced dragon riders at the island seemed a good decision, in case the attackers came back."

"That's understandable," Hiccup said, he watched as Toothless and Shadow joined Sleuther in entertaining the children. "There hasn't been any more suspicious activity, right?"

"No, there hasn't. It seems like the attack was a one-time thing," Mala told them.

"A distraction," Storm echoed Hiccup's previous conclusion, "But what did they want to distract?"

"There has been a few passing ships, but we have not been engaging them," the Queen added.

"Dragon trapper ships?" Hiccup questioned, Mala nodded and silence fell over them.

The pair stayed still for a few minutes, thinking, and observing their surroundings. The attack wasn't aimed to destroy and cripple, but to distract. If the attack on the Wingmaidens was anything like this that meant that two of their allied tribes have been attacked. What was most concerning, the Wingmaiden Island and Defenders of the Wing Island were not widely known, and the only enemies that knew of those locations were Dragon trappers. But even Dragon trappers hadn't wanted to risk the wrath of the 'demons' by attacking.

Really, the reputation that Hiccup and Storm managed to build was a security net to a lot of people. When friends were threatened, all bets were off and the trappers knew that, so they avoided anyone who had association with the pair.

The smarter dragon trappers actually stopped trying to fight them at one point or another. Letting them take captured dragons was a better plan than dying and the dragons walking free regardless. Unless, of course, the trappers were under direct command of Drago, like Eret once was. Under the direct command of Drago, dying was a better alternative than facing the madman if you failed one too many times.

"Where have you been?" Dagur asked as he approached their small group, the children left behind with the dragons.

"What do you mean?" Hiccup questioned, he didn't understand what the man meant by the question.

"I flew by your island on the way here, you weren't there," Dagur clarified and crossed his arms, looking at them like a disappointed parent. Hiccup sighed, preparing himself for the questions to come.

"Berk." He answered. Dagur's shocked expression wasn't encouraging, but with a stern look from Storm the man kept himself from assaulting Hiccup with questions.

"Is everything alright?" Dagur asked instead, he might have not understood why Hiccup went back there, but he knew that it wasn't easy on him, it couldn't be.

"It's starting to be," Hiccup assured with a small smile.

The answer satisfied Dagur and he left it at that, the Berserker Chief had finally learned when to stop pushing, most of the time. Instead he suggested helping with the repairs, the pair readily agreed as they could spare a few hours before heading to the Wingmaidens and Mala appreciated the help.

The few buildings didn't take long to complete and there was still a lot of daylight left, so the pair decided to say goodbye to Mala and Dagur for the day. It was barely evening when the pair left, they headed straight for the Wingmaiden Island. The flight would take a few good hours, so Hiccup put Toothless' tail into self-flight mode, Storm hooked herself onto Shadow's saddle and they napped.