"Are you sure this is the spot?" Remus asked his sister as they stood next to a cliff. "This is where he took me." Valka replied, mentioning her adopted father. When she was younger he had taken her on a journey to the woods to show her where he had found her. She had memorized the entire path. Unfortunately, she had memorized it on foot. While Remus examined the cliff side, the vikings collapsed onto the ground. "I'm so sore I bet I couldn't feel anything," Tuffnut said as he rubbed his legs. Ruffnut clogged him in the head. "Did you feel that?" She asked. He sighed. "No...try again." He answered and she began to pound on him. Fishlegs wheezed at the exertion. "Did we really use to walk everywhere?" Snotlout complained. Hiccup remained silent, he was too busy wondering if Astrid was alive. "Did you even see the cave?" Remus yelled out to Valka. "No, but he said it was around here." She yelled back, messaging her feet. "Aha!" Remus exclaimed.
The vikings forgot their previous exhaustion and ran over to where Remus stood. "Right here." He said, pointing at a small symbol. It was a circle with a stereotypical crown in the middle. Tuffnut looked at it, confused. That's the cave?" He asked. Remus sighed, he had a very low tolerance for stupidity. "No, this is the mark of Crownringer, which means he blocked off the cave." He responded. "Crownringer?" Fishlegs questioned, scratching his head. "Crownringer was my father's Stormcutter and the dragon we sent to protect Valka and the stone." He answered and pushed the vikings away from the cliff side. "Hiccup, have Toothless fire right on that spot." Hiccup did as his uncle asked and Toothless fired a plasma blast onto the symbol. The rocks collapsed from the cliff side, revealing the cave. "We found it." Remus commented and pulled a torch from the small bag that hung by his side. Toothless lit it for him and the group walked inside. Two shadows zipped through the trees behind them.
The group walked through the long cave for a few minutes before stepping into a large cavern. Roughly twenty feet down from their position, the rock gave way to water. Remus looked over to the other side of the cavern where a few rays of sunlight were coming out of the wall. "Crownringer must've blocked off the cave's access to the sea." He analyzed. Fishlegs was the first to look down at the water. "Guys, look!" He said, pointing at where the rock wall met the water. The group looked down at where he was pointing. A moderately sized fishing boat sat along a small outcropping in the wall which served as the ship's dock. "I found a path!" Snotlout yelled, pointing down a long smooth walkway that curved across the wall down to the outcropping. "Let's go." Remus commanded, taking the lead as the group walked down the path. The two shadows exited the cave behind them.
The first thing they saw were the skeletons of the deceased crew. They still wore the clothes that Remus had watched them leave in. "What happened?" Remus asked. Valka remembered the sounds from her dream. "There was a storm," she said, "A really bad one." Remus nodded in understanding and waved his torch around. The light came to rest on the skeleton of a Stormcutter that was wrapped around the bottom half of a broken egg. The other pieces of the egg were mixed with his bones. "Crownringer." Remus said as he walked towards the bones. He examined the broken egg. "You protected this egg to your last breath." He placed his hand on the dragon's skull. "Be at peace," he said as he stood to look at Toothless. "Your sacrifice was not in vain." Hiccup realized what he was saying and walked towards the egg. "Are you saying, this is Toothless' egg?!" He asked. Remus smiled. "Unless he hatched from one of the others." He became deadly silent. "The others..." He trailed off as he sprinted for the lower deck. Hiccup followed him.
Hiccup walked down the stairs to find Remus on his knees. "No...no, they can't...no." He heard his uncle say as he went to see what he was looking at. A small nest lay on the ground. In the middle was a small indent where Toothless' egg had once sat. On either side were two destroyed eggs. By the way they cracked, Hiccup could tell it wasn't from hatching. Toothless bounded down the stairs behind them and walked over to the nest. Remus looked at him, teary-eyed and stood. "He really is the last of his kind," he said, petting the Night Fury. Suddenly, a yell came from above. "Hiccup!"
Two Stormcutters sat on the side of the ship. A pair of black clothed Legionnaires stood on the deck, one of which was snatching a small pouch from Valka while the other held the rest of the vikings at sword-point. When Hiccup and Remus appeared from the lower level, the first Legionnaire kicked Valka over and shook the pouch at them. "Lord Romulus thanks you for your kind donation," he said, putting the pouch into a pocket on his belt. "Maybe he'll be generous enough to return your girl." The man laughed as he climbed onto one of the dragons. So she was alive. Hiccup became enraged and he unsheathed Inferno. "You give her back! Now!" He yelled as he charged the man. The man just laughed as the Stormcutter jumped out of Hiccup's reach. The other flew from its perch and grabbed the other Legionnaire. Hiccup swung his sword at the retreating duo in rage, forgetting that it did nothing when you missed your target, and the two shot back through the caves, Dragonstone in hand.
First shoved Astrid through the steel door. She turned and charged, but he had already locked the door and she collided with the metal, knocking her to the ground. She spat at the door as she stood, and then turned towards the inside of the cell. It was incredibly large, the size of the cove on Berk, and was filled with a small forest, blocking of the other side of the room. Curious, she began to cross through the vegetation.
Halfway through, Astrid began to notice small marks on some of the trees in several different colors. Strange, she thought. A little further in, the marks began to form basic shapes and then eventually, simple drawings. Astrid rubbed her hand across one of the shapes and then looked at the residue left on her fingers. "Paint?" She continued through the forest. The simple drawings started to become elaborate paintings of buildings Astrid had never seen before. Some had tall columns while others had huge archways. She moved on. The buildings began to have backgrounds, and then eventually inhabitants. Astrid became increasingly curious as she reached the end of the forest.
A small pond sat in front of Astrid, surrounded by several large rocks which had been painted with different scenes. Behind that stood a huge rock wall with large buckets underneath. On the wall was a painting of a man that looked a lot like Hiccup, but she knew it wasn't him from the features that she didn't recognize. "Who..." Astrid was cut off by a rustling noise to her right. She ducked behind a rock and watched as a white dragon stepped out of the woods.
The dragon had a slightly long neck and a small head with a rounded nose. On the back of its head was what looked like a line of hair made from Zippleback zipples, except a little longer. Its body was sleek and smooth, except for a few long extensions along its body. It was so smooth that Astrid almost couldn't tell it was made of scales. It stood on two thin hind-legs the length of Toothless', and two wing legs on the front. The wings ended in long rows of the zipples. The dragon's tail was twice as long as its neck and bristled with the zipple-hair.
Astrid watched as the dragon dipped its tail into one of the buckets, turning it green, and then shake off some of the excess paint. It quickly flew over to the Hiccup-like drawing and began detailing the eyes with the green paint. So this is our artist, Astrid thought as she observed the painter. It colored the face's eyes with unmatched detail and Astrid couldn't help standing for a better view, causing a twig beneath her to snap. She quickly dropped down and kept perfectly still behind the rock. When she thought the coast was clear she stood from her hiding spot to find that the dragon had disappeared. Slowly, she walked around the rock. A rustling sound came from behind her and she turned. The white dragon stood on the rock, analyzing Astrid.
They looked at each other for a long time, neither willing to move, until the dragon stepped down from the rock and began to circle her. Astrid remained perfectly still while the dragon examined her, not wanting to provoke it. It moved around her, never taking its eyes off of her. When it completed a full circle, the dragon stepped back onto the rock. It extended its neck so that its face was a yard from Astrid's. She watched it tilt its head as it continued to analyze her. When it was satisfied, the dragon pulled away from Astrid. Then, it darted over to the wall, dipped its tail in yellow paint, and began to work.