Hello friends! :D So, no shout-outs this chapter, BUT I STILL LOVE YOU GUYS! :D Enjoy chapter 6! :D

Knife scaled the sea stack, climbing in reverse to get to the ocean below. In the ocean, a dragon hunter ship was anchored, waiting for his arrival, and Knife leapt the last few feet and landed on the ship's deck.

"Hiccup defeated me, Viggo," snarled Knife. "I told you, you can never underestimate him and his dragon riders. They're smarter than you'll ever be."

Viggo frowned, fingering the edge of his blade. "Knife," he said, "you should know better than to insult me in your position. After all...we had a deal."

Knife was glaring behind his mask, but said nothing.

"Did you deliver the scroll?" said Viggo, calm, cool state returning to him immediately, as if he had never been angered before, and Knife nodded coldly.

"I did," said Knife.

"Did you tell him it was his last task?" said Viggo.

"I did," said Knife.

"Good," said Viggo, "very good. He shall soon know that his trials have only just begun...but not yet. The time will come soon enough. Sooner than he thinks, I am sure."

Knife held out his hand expectantly. "I am ready for the next scroll, Viggo," he spat.

Viggo nodded, pulled another scroll from his satchel, and handed it forward. Knife took it, and then frowned. "But Viggo," said Knife, "you've already sealed this."

"Yes I have," said Viggo. "I am quite relieved you caught that, Knife. You are smarter than you look."

"But how am I supposed to read the task," said Knife, "if it's already sealed?"

"Simple," said Viggo. "You aren't going to read the task."

"But Viggo," drawled Knife, "how am I supposed to know what to do in the task, if I don't know what the task is?"

"You know what Hiccup's present task is," said Viggo coldly, "which is all that matters. The task on the scroll is for Hiccup and for Hiccup alone. You need not concern yourself in the matters of the next task. Prepare yourself for the task written in the most recent scroll, and hold onto the new scroll until the time comes."

Knife opened his mouth, changed his mind, and shut it again. "Yes, Viggo," he growled.

...

Toothless stood outside the Clubhouse on the platform, overlooking the ocean. Astrid stepped outside momentarily, looked up at the sky, and then headed back inside the Clubhouse again. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were throwing darts at a board, and Fishlegs was leaning over Bork's notebook while Snotlout tried to get Hookfang to torch a fish for him.

"I don't like it," Astrid said. "Hiccup should have been back by now. It's been hours since he left."

"Well, the competition wasn't exactly going to be easy, was it?" said Snotlout. "Going against a dragon hunter...come on, Hookfang! Torch it, please?" He held the fish out expectantly, but Hookfang whacked it out of Snotlout's hands with his tail. "Hookfang!"

"What do you think, Fishlegs?" said Astrid.

"I'm really trying not to think about it," said Fishlegs, never once looking up from his book. "Because the more I think about it, the more hysteric I get."

"Great. Very reassuring," Astrid grumbled. She glanced back outside, waited a heartbeat or two, and then turned back. "We're going after him," she said determinedly.

"Um, are you sure that's a good idea?" said Fishlegs nervously. "Hiccup wouldn't want us to go after him. He's want us safe."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure he wants to be safe himself, too," said Astrid, putting a hand on her hip.

"I have an idea," said Tuffnut. "Why don't we just ask Hiccup what he wants us to do?"

"Oh, great idea," said Snotlout, and when he wasn't looking, Hookfang gobbled up Snotlout's fish. "And how do you propose we ask Hiccup, hmm?"

"Turn around," said Tuffnut.

Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Snotlout instantly turned around. Hiccup rode through the doors of the Clubhouse on the Lethal Viper; in one hand he held his sword, and in his other hand, a scroll.

"Hiccup!" said Astrid, charging over. "What took you so long?"

"Things got complicated," Hiccup said, sliding off Viper's back and sheathing his sword, "but we're good now."

Before anyone could ask him to elaborate, a Whispering Death poked its head through the door, milk-white eyes full of curious confusion. Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs went stiff.

"Hiccup," Snotlout whispered, "don't. Move. A muscle. Step away from the door, slowly…"

"Why?" Hiccup said.

"Whispering Death!" squeaked Snotlout in such a high-pitched voice it was hilarious. "Behind you!"

"Oh," said Hiccup, turning and glancing at the Whispering Death over his shoulder. "Yeah. Whispering Death. I couldn't be happier about it, Snotlout."

Snotlout swallowed hard. "Oh, Thor…" he whispered, and then, he fainted on the spot. Tuffnut and Ruffnut instantly leaned over him, snapping in his face and cheering, "Yoo-hoo!" in annoyingly-sing-song voices.

"You mean...you trained a Whispering Death?" Fishlegs gasped excitedly, stepping forward. "Ooh, Hiccup, this is amazing!"

"Well, 'trained' is a strong word in this situation, Fishlegs," said Hiccup, watching as the Whispering Death pulled back to avoid Fishlegs' outstretched hand. "I freed him from Knife. He respects us, but I'm sure he'll want to be heading out on his own by now."

The Whispering Death nodded to confirm these words, bowed respectfully at Hiccup and Viper, and then turned and soared off, towards its home island. Toothless bumped Hiccup from behind, and Hiccup, laughing, turned and embraced the dragon around his neck.

"Yeah, I missed you too, Toothless," Hiccup said, and Toothless licked his face.

The Lethal Viper suddenly turned and glanced at the door, where the Whispering Death had disappeared. He looked back at Hiccup in question, and Hiccup nodded.

"Thank you for your help," Hiccup said. "You can go back to the wild if you want."

The Lethal Viper nodded, bowed, and flew out the door, leaving for Eel Island with a final flick of his tail. From the floor, Snotlout moaned and sat up, clutching his head.

"Oh, guys, you wouldn't believe it," groaned Snotlout, rubbing his temples. "I had this really weird dream...there was some psycho named Knife who gave Hiccup all these different 'tasks'...there was a Whispering Death, and a Lethal Viper thing, it was freak…"

He froze, noticing the scroll in Hiccup's hand, and then, he sighed.

"Not a dream," Snotlout muttered, flopping against the ground. "Great. Someone knock me out again."

"My pleasure!" said Tuffnut, raising his mace; Hiccup swung around and caught Tuffnut's arm before he could bring down the mace.

"No, stop," said Hiccup, prying the weapon from Tuffnut's hand and throwing it aside. "Come on, guys. I have to figure out what my final task is."

"Oh, right," said Tuffnut, and he, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, Astrid, and even Snotlout quickly gathered around him again. Hiccup broke the seal and unrolled the scroll, instantly reading the runes encrypted on it.

"This one is different," said Hiccup. "There's no beginning warning, or a note, or anything...it's just a riddle."

"Huh," said Fishlegs. "The last two times, the letters have always started out with that brooding, 'be careful, you will die' stuff."

"But not this time, for some reason," said Astrid, looking over Hiccup's shoulder. "What does the riddle say?"

Hiccup looked down, frowning.

"'Destruction lies around every bend. On this next task take your dragon friend. And only then, on midday golden sands, wishes can become demands. Take with you your Night Fury; take with you your sword. Take no one else - give your solemn word. A fight to the end will seal your fate; and total war we shall once again create.'"

Hiccup looked up, back down, and then back up. "What does that tell us?" he asked the group.

"It tells us," said Snotlout, pointing at the letter, "that someone really wanted all of this to rhyme. That riddle was horrible!"

"No, Snotlout!" said Hiccup. "Well, you're not wrong, but - listen! You're missing the point! This task is different! Something's different, I can feel it…"

"How is this different?" said Snotlout. "You go, fight Knife alone, come back, and bingo! We beat the dragon hunters again!"

"No...it's different," said Hiccup, but he said it as though to reassure himself. "Something isn't right."

"Well, we don't know what that is," said Astrid. "What we do know is that on this task, Knife wants you to take Toothless with you, and he wants you to meet with him...where 'destruction lies around every bend', and where there are 'golden sands.'"

"Huh," said Fishlegs. "There's only one place I can think of like that, and that's Fireworm Island."

"Fireworm Island?" repeated Hiccup.

"But isn't that place in Berk's archipelago?" said Snotlout. "Why would Viggo want this Knife character to meet Hiccup so close to Berk?"

"I don't know," Hiccup said, "but whatever he's trying to do, whatever trap he's trying to lure us into…"

"You aren't going to follow through with it!" said Tuffnut excitedly.

"No, actually, I was going to say I have to follow through with it," said Hiccup, deadpan. "Look, I don't want to as much as anyone else would, but you remember what they said in the first task. If I don't participate, or if I try and sabotage it, even once...they'll attack Berk in all their fury."

"We can take them!" said Snotlout, pounding his fist into his other palm.

"Can we, Snotlout?" said Hiccup. "Can we?"

Snotlout's confidence instantly wavered.

"Listen," Hiccup said, setting down the scroll on the table and putting his head in his hands, "if there's one way - one way - to end this without...without there being a slaughter, I have to try. This could be our only chance. I don't expect you guys to like it, but we don't have another choice. This is our last option. Whatever Viggo's planning...he's forced us to act. Let's see if we can't force Viggo to retreat."

He straightened up again. "Now," he said, "I don't know what Viggo plans on doing, or why all these tasks are here in the first place...but we'll figure it out someday soon. The Dragon Eye is still hidden, and Viggo has no idea where it is. That's where we're ahead of him!"

"Hey, he's right!" said Tuffnut excitedly, whacking Ruffnut on the shoulder in triumph. "What did I tell you?"

"And as long as the Dragon Eye is hidden," Hiccup said, "we will always be one step ahead of Viggo." He rolled up the scroll again and tucked it away in his satchel. "The letter said midday," Hiccup said. "If I leave for Fireworm Island now with Toothless, we'll reach it by tomorrow morning. Always good to arrive at the scene before your opponent does, right?"

Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins exchanged concerned glances.

Hiccup sighed heavily. "Guys, I'm sorry," he said.

"We know, Hiccup," said Fishlegs. "And we get it. It's okay. Just...for Thor's sake, be careful, alright?"

"Yeah," said Tuffnut. "We really don't want to deal with an angry Night Fury, or Stoick the Vast if you don't come back alive."

"Yeah!" said Ruffnut. "So either come back alive, Dragon Boy, or don't come back at all!" She punched his shoulder; her way of saying goodbye without actually saying a word.

"Thanks, Ruff," said Hiccup, rubbing his bruised shoulder. "I'll see you all soon, I promise. But promise me no matter what happens, you won't leave this island, alright?"

"We promise, Hiccup," said Tuffnut, stepping forward. "I speak for everyone."

"Okay, can someone else, besides Tuffnut, speak for everyone?" said Hiccup. "Last time Tuffnut promised to stay in the Clubhouse, it didn't end up very well."

"Well, I promise," said Fishlegs. "And you can trust me."

"And I promise, too," said Astrid. "But Hiccup, if Viggo tries to double-cross you while you're there...send a Terror mail to Berk. Get help, alright? Don't be all stupid and heroic. You're more likely to get yourself killed that way."

"I'll remember that, Astrid," said Hiccup. "I'll see you all soon. Come on, Toothless..." He pulled himself onto Toothless' back, clicked his prosthetic into the foot pedal, and took to the sky, just as the moon began to sink beyond the horizon.