Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is well this weekend! Anyone else back in school? Once you hit a cetain year in university, you kinda hit the ground running - hopefully, my juggling is as good as it used to be! Again, thank you to the newcomers for following this adventure, as well as the veterans who've stuck with me all along.

Chapter Twenty Nine: Valka's Plan

The hallway was quieter than a crypt as Birdsong watched Ruffnut squirm uncomfortably. She was supposed to die! She was supposed to confess a little lie – that she was Hiccup's widow – and then she would be put out of her misery. That was what was supposed to happen!

"You're Hiccup's mum," Ruffnut whispered. Birdsong nodded once, but instead of a lovely face that Stoick had so fondly remembered, she saw one of pain and starvation and hatred. "You're Valka."

"You've heard of me."

"Everyone on Berk has. We thought Alvin killed you!"

"He may as well have, but that's not important."

Valka stood and grabbed the torch quickly. She grabbed Ruffnut and helped her to her feet. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"Come!" she quipped. She tugged on Ruffnut's arm and led her deeper down the hallway. The floor began to ascend upwards and water coated the ground. It made Ruffnut slip a couple times, but Valka held her upright.

"You're not going to kill me?" Ruffnut asked as Valka quickened her pace.

"Don't sound so disappointed."

"Then where are we going? I'm going to die anyway, I want to die."

"You're going to die as we all do, but not today. At least, I certainly hope not. I would hate to see this opportunity go to waste. Hurry up."

They ran down the hallway as it grew even smaller and smaller, and the women had to shimmy sideways to squeeze through the tiny crevice. Ruffnut held her breath as she squeezed through the tiny space, almost sure she wouldn't make it through.

"I will make sure no one is patrolling the hall," Valka informed quickly. The back of Ruffnut's head and the tip of her nose were both touching the stony walls, so moving was out of the question. She heard the sound of metal scraping against stone and Valka squeezed out of the wall. Ruffnut waited a moment and could only hear the sounds of her own breath. "We don't have much time. I don't want anyone to find out this hallway isn't in face a dead end."

A hand closed over Ruffnut's wrist and Valka pulled her through. Ruffnut gasped and stumbled into the open space. Valka quickly placed a huge shield back over the crack in the wall. She pulled the pair of them against the wall of a much larger corridor lit faintly by more torches. Valka looked both ways and pulled the dagger from her hip. Ruffnut tensed.

"What are you doing?"

"Shut it, you're supposed to be dead," Valka grunted as she ran the dagger across her own wrist in one quick motion. She gasped sharply through gritted teeth as blood spilled over her palm and down her fingertips. She cupped her hand and slapped it over Ruffnut's neck sloppily. She wiped the remainder onto her face. Ruffnut squirmed and tried to keep her lips and eyes shut and Valka grabbed her own forearm. She squeezed and urged another thick stream to flow freely over Ruffnut's neck and down her breasts. Then, she took the dagger and cut holes into Ruffnut's shirt, followed by another smear of blood here and there.

Valka cursed and looked at her wrist, but didn't make a move to cover it. She winced at the pain but proceeded to grab Ruffnut's hair and hack at it with her blade, letting the braids fall over an arm so they wouldn't be left on the ground. And whenever Ruffnut groaned and slumped, Valka would right her again with a gentle yet firm hand.

"Who goes?" a voice bellowed from the end of the hall. Ruffnut snapped her head towards the sound and Valka hissed through her nose. She pulled Ruffnut behind her as one of Dagur's soldiers emerged from the shadows. He had sharp features, blonde hair, and the arrogant attitude of what Valka assumed was part of him being around twenty summers old. "What the hell? What are you doing, Birdsong?"

"Executing a Berkian upon Alvin's request," Valka growled in reply using a tone that threatened him if he didn't turn away.

"In the central hall?"

"Wherever I saw fit," Valka replied. "Now leave us."

"But aren't executions meant to be held in the Pit?" the soldier asked, placing a hand on the hilt of his sword. He pulled the blade out and pointed it loosely between the two of them. "This looks awfully suspicious, wouldn't you say?"

"Alvin doesn't want this one to be seen. In fact, he wants no one knowing about this."

"But I do," the soldier sneered, stepping closer to the two women. "So I guess that means –"

Valka shoved Ruffnut back, leaping forward and driving one of her boots into the gut of the soldier. He groaned and stumbled as Valka grabbed his head with one of his hands and smashed it into the stone wall. The man began to slump against the wall before Valka grabbed a fistful of his curly blonde hair and wrenched his head up.

"Don't scream," Valka demanded Ruffnut quickly. Ruffnut barely reacted before Valka sliced the soldier's throat open, pulling on his hair more and more. Blood burst forth like a stormy wave hitting one of Berk's beacon towers. It sprayed all over Ruffnut's face and neck, running down her body. She jumped and horror slammed into her with every spattering of blood that touched and soaked her clothes. Valka let the man crumple to the floor and she rushed to Ruffnut. With wet hands, she washed Ruffnut's sheared head with the crimson lifeforce to mask the colour of her hair.

"Oh gods, oh gods, why?" Ruffnut sputtered, her body shaking and alive with sickened adrenaline. Valka grabbed Ruffnut's face and gave it a shake.

"I need you to trust me child," she said quickly. "And sometimes we need to do terrible things for the greater good. I have waited fourteen – maybe fifteen – years for this moment, and we cannot – we cannot – fail."

She grabbed her arm and slung it over her shoulder.

"Limp on me, keep your face down."

Ruffnut followed the orders as well as she could, even in the state she was in. She dragged the two of them as fast as possible down the central hall. Luckily, no one wandered the halls for most of the journey, but they would run into a patrol sooner or later.

"What is this?" a soldier asked. "Birdsong, are you injured? Who is this?"

Ruffnut was almost completely limp, and Valka readjusted her weight over herself the best she could. "I was in the central hall on my way to the Pit for one of Alvin's executions," she cried shrilly, "but she grabbed a hold of my knife, and she attacked one of our own!"

"What?!"

"Aye, down the hall. I don't think he's alive, but one of my Hatch girls got involved in the fray when she heard the scuffle and I must bring her to Stargazer immediately."

"And the assailant?" another soldier asked frantically.

"Dead. I chased her down and cornered her. She lost her footing and fell into a pit of Sun Sap, thank the gods!"

"Do you need help to Stargazer? We should help. Jorn, assist –"

"No, you must get to your man down the hall. You know how I am with my girls, I can handle her. He needs your help more than I, and we need that mess cleaned up before any prisoners see it and wonder. Alvin was very clear. He wants no evidence. Understand?"

Ruffnut heard the soldiers run off, barking phrases to one another as their voices eventually faded. Valka continued into the Hatchery, grunting with the weight of Ruffnut's body. But the truth was Ruffnut's body was failing, and time was running out. It was no longer and act.

Valka growled and kicked the door open to Stargazer's chamber. They flew inside and Valka dropped Ruffnut to the floor to lock the door.

"Stargazer?" she called before she realized the room was empty save for Astrid's frail body sleeping in one of the two beds. "Shit."

She moved on without help from Stargazer and almost turned the empty bed over to grab at the bag of medical supplies. Behind it was a small chest that she seized and shoved across the floor. She raced back over to Ruffnut as she struggled to sit up.

"Drink some water, we don't have much time," she muttered urgently, dropping her waterskin into her lap. Ruffnut pulled the cork and drank from it as Valka opened the bag. She pulled various vials free and peered into them. She made a choice before pulling her knife out once more to cut Ruffnut's bandages away.

Ruffnut stopped drinking and watched as the bandages sloughed from her dirty wound. Valka made a distressed noise in her nose and gulp as her hands hovered over the gash. But she grabbed the vial and opened it. She lifted Ruffnut's discoloured and swollen arm up and hovered the vial over her arm. The contents were thick and congealed, a yellow-gray colour.

"Fireworm dragon milk," Valka informed. "Burns like hell, but it keeps the babies alive and healthy until their skin is thick enough to bear the heat of their own home."

The contents slorped out and fell directly into the gash, and Ruffnut immediately gasped. She seized and tensed and a scream choked within her throat. Some sound escaped as Valka used her nimble fingers to rub the milk into the necrotic tissue, pulling the chunks of dead skin free as it was burned from the healthy flesh.

"The good news is that your arm healed around the bone, but the muscles will never be the same. The milk will help with healing, and this poultice I'm about to give you will keep the infection away and keep your bandages from rotting."

She grabbed a jar and poured some of the herbs and medicinal plants into her palm before mixing it with the rest of the milk. She pressed it into both sides of the wound before quickly wrapping it with a fresh bandage as Ruffnut groaned from the intense pain. She opened her eyes and they widened. She tried to stand as she reached out to Astrid. Valka stopped her.

"She's fine."

"She looks like she's starving!" Ruffnut said. "You said she was hit by a dart? Why didn't she wake up? How long has she been asleep?"

"A moon. It's been a moon, child," Valka replied strongly. "But you cannot worry about her now. I will protect her and you will protect you."

"I need to see her. I need – I need –"

She crawled over the best she could, and Valka let her. She watched expressionless as Ruffnut pulled the blankets back slightly to grab Astrid's hand. She gave it a squeeze.

"She's… she's bone-thin," Ruffnut whimpered. Astrid's wrist bones jutted out and Astrid hand lay limp within hers. Somehow, it was frailer, and Ruffnut was the sicker of the two. Or so she thought.

"We've been force-feeding her," Valka said calmly. "Bread and milk, three times a day. But it's not enough. She will wake, though. She's becoming more and more restless as the days drag on."

Ruffnut was not convinced.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked, huffing back a sob. Valka faltered and grew still. She thought for one moment before looking up and sucking on a cheek in thought.

"It's not just you," she began tersely. "I'm helping myself. I'm helping your friend. I'm hoping to help all of those who have been dragged here against their will. But… something like that takes time. It takes sacrifice."

Ruffnut turned and looked up to Valka.

"You've been here? This whole time? And you haven't tried to escape?"

"Oh, I've tried," Valka argued. "Many times in the beginning. But then there was a time when it was safer for me… to try to accept my fate rather than fight it. I found that it would be better to protect and fight from the inside. Although I've never had a chance until now."

Ruffnut's face contorted as sorrow filled her body. "And why am I different? Why did you spare me?"

Valka smiled tightly. "Because my son taught you how to ride a dragon. Because of that, you have a chance. When you put your neck on the line to protect your friend… well, Alvin is never expecting to see you again, and he never will. At least until the time is right."

"Wait, what?"

Valka kneeled to Ruffnut's level and pulled her hand from Astrid's. "I know, in my heart, that Berk has not fallen. The houses may be gone. The Great Hall could be gutted. But… Stoick? He's been trapped in halls of dragon flame and he has walked out of them as if nothing can touch him. I know my husband, and I know how he leads. And I also know Alvin. He left thinking he had no one else to fight while I knew about the tunnels underneath the village. People are still alive out there?"

The room grew silent as Ruffnut looked into Valka's hopeful eyes. And she could tell this was no trick, no joke. She could see the memories behind Valka's eyes.

"I… I don't know… But I know Stoick used the tunnel. My brother… my twin had been wounded and he flew away. I hope he survived but…"

Valka winced. "I know your pain. Not knowing whether or not someone you love so dear is still alive… but believe me. Knowing does not make it any easier."

She turned away and grabbed the chest as a hot gush of realization ran up Ruffnut back like a dragon's tongue.

"When I heard about the funeral… when I found out that the poison…"

Valka's voice caught, and a frail squeak whistled past her lips as Ruffnut's mouth fell open.

"I've seen that poison work on grown men and I didn't find out that Alvin had planted it on Berk until it was too late… and the idea of not being able to rush there to save my baby before he… it's a pain I don't wish upon anyone. Not even Alvin, not even after the people he's taken from me."

"Valka…" Ruffnut began before she realised she didn't yet have the words.

"Don't pity me," Valka said quickly. "I am only telling you this because you need a story to tell."

She sat on Astrid's bed beside her legs and peered down at Astrid with a loving and depressed shine in her eyes.

"I knew… it would be Astrid," Valka continued, sniffing loudly and brushing a tear away from her eye. "I mean… I didn't actually know but I had a feeling. That's why… I took her into the Hatch. And I have her here under my care, right where I want her. I'm so sorry that I didn't choose you for a safer place."

"I have a feeling there's little you can do with Dagur," Ruffnut mumbled, still shocked at her revelation.

"And a lot he can do to you," Valka spat.

Ruffnut bit her lip and watched Valka watch Astrid.

"She's all I have left, now… Everyone else I had hope of seeing again is gone. Either dead or… we don't know."

"Yeeeah…" Ruffnut sighed. "The poison was a dick move on Alvin's part, for sure."

Valka wrinkled her brow. "How colloquial of you," she said, unamused.

"They're going to crap their pants when they find out that Hiccup's not dead."

She carefully looked up at Valka, whose face had gone completely pale and lifeless. Her eyes were stagnant and wider than wide. Her throat twitched as she tried to make a sound. But a feather falling to the floor would break the silence that formed around the women, suffocating. Valka stumbled off the bed and frantically grabbed Ruffnut's hands, huge tears forming in her eyes.

"What?"

Ruffnut nodded ever so slightly and Valka's cheeks began to flush. "Hiccup didn't touch the poison, Astrid did."

Confusion masked Valka's stricken face. "What? Astrid is alive, no one has survived Outcast Orchid."

"The poison almost killed her, but… I don't remember the whole explanation of what happened…"

"But Hiccup – my Hiccup – is still alive?" Valka pressed, her voice barely about a whisper.

Ruffnut nodded again. "Well, I think so… he led the defense while Stoick led those who fled. We didn't want him to, some people explained that it would be better for him to hide and let everyone believe it was his funeral… but it was Astrid's."

"But… I don't understand."

Ruffnut, frustrated, threw a hand up. "I don't know! There was this girl he found on Outcast Island after it had been burned and when Astrid was poisoned, she just… I dunno, fixed her with some dragon voodoo magic shit and poof! Astrid shows up on Berk after we watched her boat burn away into the sunset and the next evening, Alvin was on our doorstep and – ow, you're – you're kinda crushing my hands."

Valka pulled away like a snake and slapped her hands over her mouth. Ruffnut backed away slowly. Valka staggered to her feet and looked around as if there was something to see as she began jumping in place. Ruffnut furrowed her brow as Valka screamed into her hands and broke into sobs.

"Uhh –"

Valka snatched Ruffnut and pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace, sobs whistling out of her body like a hurricane smashing into a cliff-face. She pulled away and grabbed Ruffnut's face.

"Rose!" she squealed. "He found Rose?!"

"I think?"

"Small girl, pale, red hair and big, bright, green eyes, with terrible scars all over her body?"

"I didn't know her that well."

"She talked to dragons," Valka stated, trying to compose herself. "She could speak to them."

Ruffnut paused and pondered. "Wait… who's Rose to you?"

"I sent her to the wedding to get information for our plans, maybe to get word out to Berk about our existence… I can't believe I didn't believe her! When I was captured, I was pregnant. Rose is –"

"Holy Odin and Thor, Rose is Hiccup's sister," Ruffnut breathed. "That's why she was so clingy with him. I thought it was because he saved her."

"Tell me more, I must know."

Ruffnut nodded and licked her lips. "Well… we were patrolling, trying to figure out why the Outcasts were so quiet… and Hiccup left the group. He flew to Outcast Island and found her in the debris. He brought her back and then eventually, Astrid ate the poison. Rose did this thing to Hiccup after the wedding that she ended up doing to Astrid where she… like… bonded?"

"She actually did it," Valka whispered gleefully. "She bonded the two of them to their dragons. That's why Astrid is still alive! That dart should have killed her and yet she sleeps. And when she was attacked by the dragon, she spoke to it! I… I – I can't help but feel this is all a dream. My Rose. My Hiccup. My babies were dead this morning and they're alive this afternoon."

Valka sat back, absolutely exhausted and elated all at once, her face drenched in tears and smears of blood. She grinned and grabbed the small chest once more and thrust it into Ruffnut's hands. "It seems the gods are on our side today. Within are some medicines you may need. Anything else is too dangerous."

"What? For what?"

"Oh, dear girl, after the news you've brought me today? Someone has to get to my family and tell them what's going on. After losing them once, I am not going to sit here for another fifteen years wondering if I'll ever see them again."

Ruffnut gasped. "What?!"

"Well, what else do you want?" Valka asked as she pulled a barrel from the corner of the room. "Alvin thinks you're dead. Cutting your hair and giving you a blood shower won't keep you safe here forever, and I don't really want to kill you."

"But how? How the hell are you supposed to get me out of the Underground?"

Valka tapped the barrel with her fingers. Ruffnut gawked at her.

"Are you serious?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

Ruffnut looked at the large barrel and groaned. "…No."

Fitting into the barrel comfortably was an effort best forgotten, Ruffnut soon found out. Breathing and rolling around without hurling took all her concentration as Valka pushed the barrel on its side down the hall. Ruffnut held her breath for as long as she could between breaths. Over and over she rolled, fermenting in her own rotten smell, as Valka pushed her way through patrols without notice. If anyone asked Valka about it, Valka would respond by saying it was to trade for goods for the Hatchery. No one asked questions twice.

Valka, meanwhile, pushed onward with a wrinkle in her brow and a sweat forming over her cheeks. The fates had been too kind so far; besides the news that both of her children were alive, the traders were all in the Bay Port, a tiny bay filled with slapdash and rickety docks primarily used to keep their fleet of ships hidden, but also for traders to dock. Since the Battle of Berk, the traders had fewer places to go. No one traveled to Berk or its allies. Valka knew of one who could probably make a side-trip here or there.

Meanwhile, she took a deep breath of the salty air. The only time she could even have a hint of fresh, untainted air with in the Bay Port. It smelled wonderful, even with the lurking smell of the Underground clinging to her clothes. And if she tried hard enough, she could maybe catch a glimpse of the stormy ocean outside, but only for a moment.

"Halt," a Berserker soldier said as she rolled the barrel over the docks. He had a scroll of parchment in his hands with a stump of charcoal. Valka doubted he could even read. "State your purpose, Birdsong."

"I have goods to trade for items in the Hatch," she said simply, wiping her face dry.

"What goods do you have?"

"Same as the usual. Some scales, some bones, some milk and venom."

The soldier nodded to her as he scribbled his nonsense onto his scroll. "And the trader?"

"Johann," Valka stated clearly.

The soldier looked up with a kink in his brow. "Johann? What do you want with that milk-drinker?"

"I already told you," Valka repeated, annoyed. "For items we need in the Hatch. Johann happened to bring me some Berkian wares after the battle and I am merely repaying him with what I have to offer."

"Ah. You have some sort of agreement with him, then?"

"Ah! Birdy Birdy Birdsong!" trader Johann called from the end of the dock. The soldier grunted and turned, and Birdsong relaxed. "Hi, how are yah?" he asked the soldier, too quick for a response. "Seems you've got a rather appealing barrel on your hands! Any chance it may be coming my way?"

Valka smiled, ignoring the soldier who was bustling about along the dock awkwardly, as if he walked in on something. "Yes, a barrel full of wonderful wares and treats for your journeys, as promised long ago."

"Better late than never, my love!" Johann quipped happily. "The other ports simply adore your dragon wares, especially since they can no longer get them from Berk. Pity, but hey! Business is business, and I always find it!"

He grabbed the barrel from her hands and rolled it closer to him. "Heavy, heavy, heavy! I like heavy! Alright, Birdy, I'm sure this will do."

The soldier cleared his throat and raised one of his bushy eyebrows. "I should check it before you go."

"No need, good… sir!" Johann said, assuring. "Birdy and I go waaaay back, back to when Alvin first introduced her to me… ten years ago? Was it ten years? I hardly remember. It seems like longer. Like, I'm almost positive that in a past life, we knew each other!"

"Past lives," the soldier spat. "You're one of those fellows."

"Charming, inquisitive, funny? Good with a ship? I guess you're right," Johann replied with a sigh and a wink. "Besides, I've gotta run – I mean, sail – away into the sunset before the wind dies down, and I think we can all agree that no one wants me prattling away with you overnight!"

He rolled the barrel away, peeking over his shoulder to Valka and the soldier, who was more flustered and disturbed than he was annoyed.

"I'll see you soon, my little Birdy!" Johann called. Valka smiled and gave him a formal nod, suppressing her sadness as the only symbol of freedom she knew pushed the barrel onto the deck of his boat. She waited and watched as Johann raised his anchor and lowered his sail to catch the Bay Port wind, bobbling away until he left he sight around the stony corner, taking Ruffnut away with him.

In the baths, Valka washed her forearms clean of blood. She was naked and alone, the sound of water droplets hitting the warm the only sound. To get the blood out of her three braids was a feat and a half, but a step necessary. She hated the feeling of crusty hair on the back of her neck, and she let her hair flow through the water's gentle current while she looked at her wrist with a wrinkled nose.

The cut was clean and red, so infection would be easily preventable. But her eyes trailed up her arm to the other milky white scars that crossed over her wrist; over the scars that gouged her pale skin. She lifted her other wrist to compare and upon the other wrist were fresh wounds she'd inflicted upon herself moons before. She ran her fingers over the scabbing lines, tickling the nerves that hadn't been damaged.

In the fifteen years she had stayed among the Outcasts, she had tried to take her life four times. Once after the first night Alvin imprisoned her. Once after the last time she saw Rose, bloodied and beaten in the impenetrable cell after her betrayal, left behind as Alvin forced her to sail away to the Underground. And twice after finding out Hiccup had been poisoned and murdered.

She had always wondered why the gods refused her. She thought about it as she stared at her arms, soft questions washing through her as she asked herself those questions that plagued her after every failed attempt.

She had the answer. And the answer always was her children. She lived after the first night because of Rose, suspended inside of her as a tiny fetus. She lived after thinking Rose had burned because Rose never really died. And neither did Hiccup. So if she cut her life short, she wouldn't have had a chance of seeing them again. She did now, even though the journey seemed impossible. She grabbed a bandage she had left by the edge of the baths and tied it around the fresh cut tightly.

Valka grabbed her hair and wrapped it over her shoulder and around her neck to keep it from getting in her way as she pulled herself out of the baths and to her bundle of clean clothes. She slapped the water away from her skin. Over scars and bruises and scabs and burns, the water droplets flew away and onto the floor before she pulled on her shirt. She pulled her trousers over her legs and wrung out her hair.

Combing her fingers through her long, brown hair, Valka separated it and braided it in Berk fashion: a four-piece braid. She always did three braids. Stoick loved her hair like that.

"Birdsong," a voice called formally from the hall. Valka swallowed and clenched her jaw, but her fingers kept braiding smoothly and quickly.

"You found me," she mused with a sarcastic smile. She didn't look up as Stench bumbled into the bathroom cautiously. He obviously didn't want to intrude on Birdsong while she bathed, and Valka always found that amusing. She knew Stench had an unusual etiquette about him when talking to her, and it humoured Valka because Stench looked far from gentle, and yet his heart seemed to have a smidgen of gentleness.

"Alvin sent me to retrieve you," Stench said. "He heard the task had a little hiccup."

Valka paused and her fingers slowed their work. "A hiccup, he said?"

"That the prisoner gave a fight," he clarified quickly.

"Ah. Yes, I suppose the girl was feisty," Valka sighed. She tied her hair off and stood, nodding to Stench. "But I assume he knows that the girl is also dead?"

Stench licked his lips. "…Yeah. He knows. Still wants to see you, though."

Valka tilted her head slightly as she watched Stench look at his hands. He cleared his throat and looked back to Valka awkwardly. "She did not suffer, Stench," she said gently.

"Oh yes she did," Stench muttered. "But you didn't hear that from me. Come, Alvin's been waiting. He didn't think you'd go to the baths before seeing him."

"Of course he didn't."

Valka packed her old clothes in her satchel and buckled her belts back around her hip.

"Alvin's chamber? Or the main chamber?" she asked quietly.

"His personal chamber," Stench replied, just as quiet.

"Very well. You may go, Stench, I will take myself to Alvin."

Stench nodded and left immediately, knowing this choice was out of Valka's pride. And so she went, walking down the halls with a straight back and power in her stride. Along with Dagur, Alvin stayed in a dark and quiet corner of the western hall. Even though she had only been living in the Underground herself for about three moons, she knew the path to Alvin all too well. She didn't even knock before she opened door, and she stepped inside.

Alvin was waiting by the fire, pacing to and fro. He spun as Valka locked the door and faced him.

"I heard there was a fight," he said quickly, stopping his pace and vibrating with tension. His eyes were wide and he wrung his hands. "You were injured."

"Alvin, I –," Valka began, lifting her hand to calm him down.

"Your wrist, it's bleeding through the bandages!" he gasped, stepping towards her quickly. He grabbed her hand gingerly and turned it over. "I – I have fresh ones, hold on a moment."

He rushed away, knocking over a sword and Valka's staff. He tripped over them and stumbled. But he caught himself and opened his chest of drawers and rummaged through them.

"Take off those old dressings," he grunted as he pulled out a fresh bundle. Valka hesitated, but knew that if anyone had the freshest, cleanest bandages in the Underground, it would be Alvin. So she bit her tongue and unwrapped her wrist. He returned to her and brought the bandage under her arm. He slowed his movements and carefully pulled the cotton over the wound, then wrapped it a tight as he could. He tried to tie it off, but his fingers were too large.

"It's alright," Valka reassured him, taking over and tucking the loose ends into the wrap. Alvin clasped her hands and held them as if he were holding a bird with a broken wing.

"Is she gone?"

"Aye," Valka replied. "I chased her down and she fell into the Sun Sap. Then my girl from the Hatch got involved and took the brunt of it…"

"And the girl? Did she know?" Alviin pressed. "About her ties to Hiccup?"

"If she did, she won't speak of it… her injuries were too grave."

"And the body?"

"I gave it to my connection in the Bay Port. He'll drop the barrel into the ocean after two days' time. No one will ever know there was a problem."

Alvin grinned and sighed. "Well done, my love. Everything is falling into place. Hiccup is dead. Stoick is defeated. And the widow has been destroyed."

He kissed Valka's wrist, and dragged his mouth up her arm, wrapping his other arm around her waist.

"Finally, things are finally playing out as they should," Alvin murmured against her bandage.

"Aye," Valka whispered as Alvin tightened his grip around her waist. "Finally, indeed."