It was the start of summer; well, what passed for summer up there in the Barbaric Archipelago. To celebrate, Berk was hosting a dragon race; their allies had come to watch and even compete. Hapless sheep were snatched up from all over the island and carried back to the stands full of cheering spectators, before getting dropped into large nets beneath the goals.

"Woohoo!" Fishlegs cheered, fist pumping the air. Meatlug had just snatched up a sheep, her tongue hanging out in the wind, and they were heading straight for the arena. It was within sight, they were gonna make it…!

Hookfang came out of nowhere and rammed into them, causing Meatlug to drop the sheep. Snotlout grabbed it out of the air. "Oh, I'm sorry, Fishlegs, did you want that?" he called over his shoulder with a mocking smirk.

Fishlegs glared at him. "Snotlout, that was mine!"

"You snooze, you lose!"

Hookfang fell in alongside Barf-and-Belch. "Here ya go, babe" said Snotlout, tossing the sheep to Ruffnut with a flirtatious grin. She pulled a face instead. "So, I thought maybe you could come and workout with me after the race?"

"Ugh. C'mon, Barf, it's starting to stink around here."

"I'll work out with you. Thanks for letting us win! Let's blow this place, Belch!"

They left Snotlout behind in a flaming cloud and went to drop off the sheep in their net. The crowd either groaned or cheered, and Stoick announced "That's two for Snotlout, six for the twins, three each for Astrid, Heather and Dagur, and one for Fishlegs! And Hiccup is… nowhere to be found."

Alvin said "aye, I was wondering about that. Where is your boy, Stoick?"

"Ah, don't worry about it. He and Val went off on a little exploring trip." His voice didn't betray how worried he was; after losing her for nineteen years, Stoick hated to have his wife out of his sight. Yet he couldn't just keep her there on Berk, and certainly not Hiccup. They were both too free-spirited.

Meanwhile, Astrid and Heather had caught up with Snotlout. "Quit cheating!"

"Hey, I'm not breaking any rules! It's not my fault Fishlegs sucks at this!"

"Why are you giving all your sheep to Ruffnut?" asked Heather.

"She's my princess! Whatever she wants, she gets!"

"Didn't she try to bury you alive?"

"Only for a few hours!"

They wound their way through the Dragon Hangar and the stables, came out the other side and over the village. A baby Gronckle sneezed, accidentally setting a roof aflame. Astrid peeled away and yanked on a rope, which opened a spout from which water poured, dousing the small fire.

The spout was part of Hiccup's fire prevention system. He'd designed it and several other features - like the grooming stations - last year. It was part of his efforts to prove that making him the Dragon Master was a good idea.

Rather than crown Astrid chief straightaway, Stoick had insisted on doing a trial run. He'd been mentoring Astrid all winter, and Hiccup had worked on his Dragon Master projects. These included a dragon census, helping Astrid reorganise the Berk Guard into teams of riders, training said riders, making sure there were enough fish stores, and of course, building his inventions.

She couldn't fault his work ethic; Hiccup was more than willing to pull late nighters if dragons were involved. He was most excited about the grooming stations that doubled as scale harvesters. "I'm hoping I can trade them next year," he'd explained to her. "If I can prove people could make a profit off dragons without hunting them, it'll go a long way towards protecting them."

The sound of a horn startled Astrid out of her reverie. "The black sheep! Come on, Stormfly, we can still win this thing!" she urged, grinning. All six riders began to converge on a single spot above the village common.

"Come on, Barf! Come on, Belch!"

"Let's go, Windshear!"

"Hurry, Sleuther!"

"Meatlug, go!"

On the ground, Gobber had just loaded Sven's prized black sheep into a catapult. "This is your big moment," he told the ram. "Have a nice flight!"

The sheep was abruptly flung into the air, bleating. Stormfly went into a steep climb, talons outstretched. Astrid grinned. "Up, up, up" - Her dragons claws folded around the sheep just as it began to fall back down. "Yes!"

Stormfly peeled away, and Fishlegs directed Meatlug to interfere. Which led to Ruffnut making Barf ram her, sending them tumbling away and into Hookfang. Heather and Dagur both chased after Astrid. "Let me have this one, sis! I let you win the last race, now it's your turn!" her brother shouted.

"I won that race fair and square, you didn't let me do anything!"

Stormfly raced for the goals; but Sleuther wasn't far behind. He tried to grab the sheep with his tails at Dagur's instruction. Astrid kept it out of the way and urged Stormfly, "dive!" They dropped down, skimming under the goals. Stormfly flew up and twirled beautifully. Astrid dropped the sheep in her net.

"That's thirteen!" Stoick bellowed. "Astrid takes the game!"

The spectators roared; with delight, in the Berkian's case, or frustration, in the case of everyone else. Astrid stood in the stirrups and punched the air, grinning ear to ear. "Yeah!" She flew beside the stands, high fiving people along the way, then urged Stormfly up into a spiral towards the clouds.

/

Toothless shot across the surface of the ocean, leaving behind a V shaped surge. Hiccup lay out flat on his back, melding with him almost seamlessly in black leather and a helmet decorated with small spikes. They weaved in amongst a pod of breaching Thunderdrums; Hiccup pulled himself back into the saddle and flicked the tail-fin to let Toothless twirl beneath a blue wing.

They climbed towards the clouds with a triumphant roar. Toothless ascended in a tight spinning spiral, opened his wings and dropped backwards, then levelled out and soared just beneath a few majestic Timberjacks. Hiccup asked him "What do you think, bud? Wanna give this another shot?"

He grumbled unenthusiastically. "Toothless! It'll be fine!" Hiccup declared, locking the tail-fin into position and unclipping his carabiners. "Ready?"

Toothless grunted. Hiccup grinned under his helmet, slid out of the saddle and dropped like a stone, cheering as he went. The two of them spiralled around each other, plunging down through clouds. Upon seeing the ocean, Hiccup slipped his arms through loops on his thighs, then yanked his arms open. A pair of leather wings opened up and caught the air. "Woohoo!"

It was freedom. Not merely flying with Toothless, but flying with Toothless.

"This is amazing!" he yelled. The clouds ahead drifted aside, revealing a large rock face straight ahead of them. "No longer amazing! Toothless!"

He tried to steer away, but he hadn't quite got the hang of that yet. Behind him, Toothless struggled to catch up with the locked tail-fin. Every minute the cliff was drawing nearer. It was actually a sea stack; had he really dropped that low? Toothless blasted the rocks in front of him - rubble and fire burst all over, and the next thing Hiccup knew, he was wrapped up in black wings.

It was a rough landing even by their standards. Toothless rolled to a halt and Hiccup extricated himself from the scaly cocoon. He winced as he dragged himself up, tucking his wings away. "That really came out of nowhere."

Behind them, the sea stack collapsed, half destroyed by the plasma blast. Toothless grumbled at him. "We gotta work on your solo flying there, bud. That locked-up tail makes for some pretty sloppy rescue maneuvers, eh?" he remarked, pulling off his helmet and looking out over this new island.

At least, it was new to him. "Looks like we found another one, bud. Ow!" he winced. Toothless had just flicked a pebble at him. "Oh, what? Do you want an apology? Is that why you're pouting, big baby boo? Well... try this on!"

He lunged at Toothless, trying to wrestle his dragon, who was having none of it. "Ya feeling it yet? Huh? Picking up on all of my heartfelt remorse?"

Toothless rolled his eyes and stood up on his hind legs, Hiccup dangling from his neck. Then he leaned out over the edge of the cliff. "Oh come on! You wouldn't hurt a one-legged…Aah! Okay, okay, you win! You win!" They tumbled to the ground, play-fighting with each other. "He's down! And it's ugly! Dragons and Vikings, enemies again, locked in combat to the bitter"-

Hiccup was promptly flattened by a heavy Night Fury. He groaned, then spluttered when Toothless licked him enthusiastically. "Gah!" Hiccup wriggled out from under his dragon. "You know that doesn't wash out!"

Toothless chuckled - at least until Hiccup flicked some of the spit back in his face. Hiccup took out his map and spread it out on the ground. He added another page with the help of Toothless' saliva, then made a sketch of the island, checking his compass. "So, what shall we name it?" he asked.

There was no response; Toothless was busy gnawing at the underside of his left foreleg. "Itchy Armpit it is," Hiccup decided. The name amused him. "So, what d'you think, bud? We might find a Timberjack in these woods. One of those would be useful on Berk. Mind you, I'm not sure how dad would feel about us bringing a living sawmill home," he joked. Toothless just yawned.

Wingbeats heralded the arrival of Cloudjumper. He landed with regal poise on the outcrop, and lowered his head to let Valka slip down. Toothless bounded over to greet them. She nuzzled noses with him, then walked over to join her son, who beamed at her. "Hi, mum. We tested out the wingsuit - it was amazing. Wasn't it, bud?" he prompted. Toothless stared flatly at him.

"I mean until we nearly crashed."

Toothless growled.

"Okay, okay! Uh, we did crash. But we're fine!" he assured her hastily.

She shook her head at him and peered at the map. "Itchy Armpit?"

"It was Toothless' idea," he said innocently. "Have you been here before?"

"A few times. There used to be a trapper fort on the far end of the island, beyond those trees there." She pointed with her staff. "Eventually I got tired of them coming back and asked his Majesty to blast the fort to smithereens. Y'know, it's a clear day. We might get a glimpse of the mainland from there."

Hiccup smiled. "That'd be cool. Have you ever gone to the mainland?"

"Not really. I did think about it sometimes; following the trappers back to whatever place they'd crawled out of. But I never did," she admitted. "Mostly because I didn't get a warm welcome in the archipelago, but I'd have gotten an even nastier one if I'd been caught over there. Being a heathen and all."

Of course; the mainlanders weren't Vikings. "Have you ever trained a Timberjack?" he asked her. "I think one of those would be useful on Berk."

"I haven't, though I've always wanted to try. We can manage between the two of us, I'm sure. You're enjoying being the Dragon Master, aren't you?"

"Definitely. I mean, it's still hard work, but I'm doing stuff I actually enjoy, and that makes all the difference." Valka was sitting on the edge of the cliff, legs hanging off the side. He lay down with his head in her lap, eyes closed, and she began to stroke his hair. It was soothing. He raised his arm just in time for Toothless to wriggle under it, begging to be petted as well. She chuckled.

/

The peaceful moment didn't last too long. Valka's hands went still. Toothless grumbled at her, and Hiccup opened his eyes. She was looking out at the horizon. He sat up to follow her gaze. There, beyond the cliffs and trees, a plume of smoke was rising steadily into the air. They turned to each other.

"It might be nothing," Valka cautioned; but she clearly didn't believe that.

"Or, it might not…wanna go check it out?"

Toothless and Cloudjumper flew towards the smoke. They reached some sea stacks; past those, at the end of a small peninsula, was the remains of a Bewilderbeasts ice blast. It had gone from sharp spikes to a misshapen blue green lump, but it would take ages to melt entirely, with how much of it there was. The smoke came from behind it; and the stern of a ship was visible.

Hiccup glanced at his mother, who looked tense. She'd told him there used to be a trapper fort here; but surely they wouldn't come back to a destroyed base? He caught her eye and signalled let's get closer, not wanting to risk these strangers - whoever they were - overhearing. She gave him a nod.

Rather than risk being seen, the dragons landed as quietly as they could on the iceberg and crawled up to the edge. Hiccup and Valka shimmied the last few feet on their stomachs, feet braced against Toothless or Cloudjumper.

Directly below them was a ledge; probably what remained of a sea stack the fort had originally been built on. Several men stood on it, manning ballistas. As far as he could tell, these were loaded with nets, not spears or arrows. He pulled his gaze away and began to examine the ship down in the bay.

It didn't look like a dragon hunter ship; at least not to Hiccup. That hull barely looked wide enough to fit one dragon in, let alone several. He supposed one could fit a couple in, but it would be cramped. Yet at the sight, Valka let out a quiet hiss. She tended to sound more dragonish whenever she was upset.

Before they could retreat and discuss what to do, one of the men down there shouted, pointing up at them. So much for stealth. Valka moved quickly; but rather than try to leave, she vaulted down onto the ledge below. An unlucky trapper broke her fall, and she whacked the others about with her staff.

Hiccup joined her, brandishing his new-and-improved Inferno. The trappers recoiled from the unexpected flames. A blast from Toothless destroyed one ballista; Cloudjumper climbed down the ledge and tore a sharp claw through the ropes securing another. It tumbled off the ledge when he shoved at it.

Arrows flew at them. Toothless fired at those trappers as well. "Keep them distracted!" Valka instructed. "I'll give you a boost," she told Hiccup, kneeling and threading her fingers together. He let her heave him up and grabbed onto Toothless' saddle, pulling himself the rest of the way. Valka hooked her staff around Cloudjumpers' outstretched claw and stood on the other end.

Once back on their dragons, Hiccup expected they would retreat. Instead his mother gestured for Cloudjumper to land on the ground. I really do take after her, he thought out of nowhere. That would explain why he then followed.

It felt way too exposed, even with the cliff and iceberg at their backs. The trappers had dragon-root arrows; just one would put Toothless out of commission, and he hadn't brought the antidote. He hadn't thought he'd need it. "Eret son of Eret!" shouted Valka. "I told you to never come back!"

"Hold your fire!" one man, the leader no doubt, yelled. He was tall, with dark brown hair and blue lines tattooed on his rather large chin. "And just who are - wait. I do know you. You're that bitch who kept stealing our dragons!"

She made a mock curtsey. "And I'd gladly do it again."

"Hey! Don't call my mum a - one of those," Hiccup glared at this 'Eret'.

The other man stared at him, then Valka, then at him again. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. There are more of you people." Eret's gaze landed on Toothless, who snarled. "Well, tear my britches. That is a Night Fury. Thought they were all gone for good. Looks like our luck has taken a turn for the better, lads! Don't think Drago has one of those in his dragon army."

"Your boss is gonna be disappointed then," said Hiccup. He didn't like Eret. Not just because the man was a dragon trapper, but also kind of an asshole.

Valka demanded "what is Drago Bludvist planning? Where is he lurking?"

"What makes you think I'd tell you people anything?"

"Tell us where Bludvist is, and we'll leave you alone," offered Hiccup.

"Ha! You should've thought of that before you let your mummy have that beast of hers blast our old fort to bits!" Eret retorted. "Guess I was being too optimistic, thinking this might have melted in the last five fucking years."

Valka smirked. "Clearly, it has not." She glared at him contemptuously. "You cannot regain a foothold here to hurt dragons again, so don't even try."

Eret scowled. "Look, lady, we're just doing our jobs. Has she told you what Drago does to those who fail him?" he asked Hiccup, then pulled down the collar of his tunic to reveal a brand on his chest. It was shaped like an impaled Nightmare skull. "This is what he gave me the last time I showed up empty handed. He promised to be far less understanding in the future."

A thought occurred to Hiccup. "Do you know anyone called Krogan?"

"Oh, that guy. Drago had him executed. Last I saw, his head was on a pike."

Hiccup tried not to grimace. "Whatever's going on between you and your lunatic boss is your problem," he said, "but we won't let you hunt dragons."

"Too bad. See, the reason Drago didn't chop my head off is because I, Eret son of Eret, am the greatest dragon trapper alive. After all," Eret smirked, "it's not just any trapper who can take down a Night Fury. Rush 'em, lads!"

"Fire!" yelled Valka. The dragons obeyed; Cloudjumper unleashed a pillar of red hot flames, and Eret had to throw himself to the ground to avoid it. They launched into the air, flying around the iceberg, back towards home. Hiccup could hear Eret yelling at them as they fled, but couldn't make out the words.

He looked over at his mother. "Dad is really not gonna be happy about this."

/

That afternoon, Stoick walked to the smithy, greeting villagers as he went.

"Hi, chief!"

"Hey, how are you?"

"Fine, thanks."

"Beautiful day."

"Aye!"

"Hello, Spitelout. Great game today."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Oops, sorry Mrs Larson," he said as he almost bumped into her. Then he made it to the smithy, where Gobber was giving a Zippleback a false tooth.

"Any sign of them?" his old friend inquired.

"Not yet. They've been gone since yesterday; I hope they're both alright. What?" Stoick demanded, seeing the amused expression on Gobber's face.

The old blacksmith grinned. "I just never thought I'd see the day when Stoick the Vast would be frettin'. You worry too much," he insisted. "They've got their dragons, and each other. Val survived on her own for nineteen years, and Hiccup is…strangely resilient. I'm sure they'll come home in no time."

Stoick sighed. "Aye. You're right. But can you really blame me?"

"Nah. Here, if you wanna take your mind off things, why not tell Snotlout to quit larking around and actually show up for work?" Gobber suggested.

As if on cue, Snotlout appeared. Or at least his legs did. Stormfly dropped him onto the ground; he staggered, but managed to stay upright. "Here you are, Gobber. One easily distracted 'apprentice'!" Astrid said cheerfully.

Snotlout grumbled "How come Hiccup gets some time off and I don't?"

"Hiccup isn't having time off," Stoick insisted. "I sent him and Valka to train some new dragons that will be useful here on Berk," he explained.

"Wasn't that his idea?" Gobber asked. "Also, you really should've been more specific. He might bring home a Whispering Death. Or a Death Song. Or a" -

"I get the idea, Gobber."

"Or a Hobgobbler. Those are the worst; they're a bad omen, you know."

"There's no such thing as Hobgobblers."

"That's just what you said about Boneknappers! Snotlout, you take the orders. A lot of people want adjustments made to their dragon saddles."

Rolling his eyes, Snotlout turned to the milling group outside and yelled "okay people, one at a time! You first," he declared, pointing at Starkard.

"I want one of those high-seaters, with lots of spikes and a big storage compartment. Oh, and Thora wants a place to attach her favourite mace."

They were interrupted by the appearance of Toothless and Cloudjumper. Stoick hurried over. "There you are! Did you have a good time?" he asked, helping Valka down and giving her a kiss. "Find any useful new dragons?"

"Not exactly," she replied. "Dear, we need to talk. It's about you know who."

His face darkened immediately. "Come on. Back to the house," he urged.

/

Once they were all inside, Stoick demanded "what happened out there?"

"We were on this island," said Hiccup, "thinking of looking for Timberjacks. Mum said there used to be a trapper fort there, but her Bewilderbeast had destroyed it. Then we saw smoke rising, and when we got closer, there were trappers there. Or at least they had dragon trapping equipment with them."

His father looked grave. "Did any of them see you?"

"I mean we were hiding, but they spotted us," Hiccup explained. "Mum thought it'd be a great idea to fight them, then stop for a chat," he snarked.

"You mean do exactly what you would have done."

"Ha, ha. The leader's called Eret. Total git. He called mum a - bad word."

"He called me a bitch. Oh, hush" she scolded, when her husband spluttered indignantly. "The point is, we don't know if Drago is in the archipelago, but his trappers are coming back. My guess is those were sent ahead to scout."

Stoick frowned. "Please tell me they didn't see which way you flew off."

"I doubt they could have followed us back here, dad. It's a big ocean."

"That's not what I'm worried about. If this Eret person sends word to Drago that there are dragon riders around, he'll come looking, and he will find us. You both should have left the moment you saw that they were trappers."

Valka insisted "it's my fault, Stoick. I've dealt with those trappers before; I thought I could make them tell us what Drago is up to," she admitted.

"There's a silver lining," said Hiccup. "Well, sort of. Eret said that Drago would kill him if he showed up empty handed, so they're probably gonna try and catch a few dragons first. My friends and I can fly back out there, find their ship and take the crew prisoner. There's only, like, six of them" he said.

He and Stoick had come a long way; his father actually considered the idea. "It's better if they're not at large, but I don't know how we'll feed six extra mouths. Find out if there's enough food. If there is, you can go," said Stoick.

Hiccup nodded and left the house. Stoick turned to his wife. "I don't like this one bit, Val. Is there anything else I should know?"

"We didn't learn much," she replied. "I don't think Drago plans to conquer the archipelago; but I think he will, if it means more dragons for his damn army."

"That's what worries me. Trappers and the like are one thing, but if we have to fight off other dragons…" Stoick held her by the shoulders. "I need you to promise me you'll put our tribe first. Persuade our son to do the same. If it comes to war, and we want to stand a chance, then we can't hold back."

Valka knew exactly what he meant. As much as she hated the idea of harming dragons, especially ones that were being forced to attack, he was right. They had to protect their own, first and foremost. "I promise, dear."

/

Astrid was waiting for Hiccup when he emerged. "What's going on?"

"Mum and I ran into some trappers," he told her in a low voice. "They work for Drago. D'you think we can feed six people if we took them prisoner?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I think so, if we put them on rations…but how long would we have to keep them prisoner for?" she asked. "It can't be forever."

"Hm." Hiccup thought about it. "I mean, their boss is a nutcase. It might not be too hard to convince them to change sides" he suggested after a minute.

"Maybe, but that doesn't really solve the problem of having six extra mouths to feed," she pointed out. "Oh! I've got it. We'll spread them out; keep two here, send a couple to the Berserkers and another couple to the Defenders. That way it's less of a dent in our supplies, and they can't plot an escape."

Hiccup nodded. "Good idea. C'mon, you can tell my dad." He turned back to his house and was about to open the door, paused and knocked instead.

Valka opened the door. "Hiccup? What on Earth are you knocking for?"

"So I didn't interrupt anything. Astrid had a great idea about the trappers," he told his father, gesturing for her to explain. She rolled her eyes at him a little.

After she'd finished, Stoick agreed "that is a great idea. Well done, Astrid."

"Thank you, sir."

"I'm putting you in charge of the mission. Do not, under any circumstances, make these trappers lead you to Drago. Or let Hiccup try and do that."

She nodded. Hiccup gaped indignantly. "I wasn't going to!" he protested, looking at Astrid. "Can you believe this? It's like he doesn't trust me."

"Yeah, that's crazy. It's not like you've never disobeyed his orders before."

"Hey, being sarcastic is my thing. Quit stealing my bit."

Astrid smirked at him. "Either way, I'm calling the shots. So don't complain; if you want me to be chief, you gotta follow my orders. That was the deal."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now let's go tell the others," she declared, pulling him out the door.

Their friends had waited at the smithy so that Snotlout could keep working, according to Astrid. "Get off my back," he grumbled, pricking leather with an awl. It wasn't that Snotlout disliked working in the smithy; he just hated to admit he liked it. He also frequently complained that Gobber was too bossy.

Hiccup and Astrid explained the situation. "I'm getting sick of this Drago guy already," said Snotlout. "At least he has a cool, badass name. Blood Fist."

"I'll bloody his fist with my face if he tries to take my dragon!" said Tuffnut.

"Or mine!" Ruffnut added a moment later.

"Ugh. You're such a moron," her brother complained.

"A beautiful moron," Snotlout flirted, making Ruffnut grimace.

Tuffnut asked "wait, what about me? Can I be a beautiful moron?"

"You can be a regular moron. Ha, ha!"

Hiccup interrupted them. "Guys, focus. The point is, we capture these trappers, they can't tell Drago about us, Berk doesn't have to go to war."

He knew what it meant, if they had to fight against a dragon army. Hiccup was determined to not let it reach that point; by any means necessary.

/

They set off early the next morning, but by the time they reached Itchy Armpit, the trapper ship was gone. Fortunately it wasn't hard for Stormfly to pick up a trail. It led north. They kept an eye out for the ship on the ocean.

Hiccup spotted the vessel first. "Look! Down there, just to your right," he called. Astrid pulled out a spyglass and peered through it down at the ship.

"Is that it?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Astrid put the spyglass away and started calling out instructions. "Hiccup, you and Fishlegs go in first, start taking out their ballistas and archers. Then we'll swoop in and grab the crew off the deck. Everyone ready?"

They responded with affirmatives. "Okay, boys. You're up."

By now their dragons had caught up with the ship, and were almost on top of it. Meatlug and Toothless broke away and dived; or in Meatlugs' case, dropped. The trappers responded quickly, shooting a net at them. Toothless fired, knocking it off course. Another plasma blast took out the ballista itself.

Meatlug abruptly stopped freefalling and charged straight at two of the archers, with Fishlegs yelling a battle cry. She dragged their bows right out of their hands. Toothless circled around and fired at another ballista, narrowly avoiding arrow fire. Hiccup glimpsed Erets' face; he looked livid.

"Take them down!" Eret yelled. "If we lose this shipment of dragons, we're gonna lose our heads - aaah!" he screamed, when Stormfly snatched him off the deck. His ship fell away beneath him. The other dragons grabbed a trapper - Hookfang snagged a couple. They circled the ship; Toothless landed on it and Hiccup dismounted to quickly search for trapped dragons.

A few minutes later, several Changewings scrambled out from below deck. They were eager to get away. Hiccup and Toothless rejoined the others. "I'm pretty sure that's all of them… Aww, man. I dropped my spyglass back there" he realised, looking over his shoulder at the now abandoned ship.

"Just leave it," said Astrid. "You can get a new one." They both ignored Eret, who was yelling about crazy dragon riders making his life and job harder.

Barf-and-Belch flew up on Stormfly's left. "Ooh, me likey" Ruffnut leered at Eret. "Can he ride with me?" she begged, wrapping her arms round his leg. He made a noise of disgust and tried to yank himself away. Tuffnut scoffed and steered their Zippleback further out, forcing her to let go or risk falling.

"What do you absolute nutters even want with us?" Eret demanded.

"It's nothing personal," Hiccup assured him. "We're just taking you prisoner so you can't tell Drago about us. But you are going to tell us about Drago."

Eret laughed in disbelief. "Tell a bunch of crazy thieving dragon riders about Drago Bludvist and his plans? Just kill me now," he declared sarcastically.

"That can be arranged," said Astrid. "Stormfly, drop!"

Her dragon obligingly did just that. Eret screamed as he plummeted, and so did his crew. "Good girl! Now fetch!" cried Astrid. Stormfly dove after him.

"Alright!" Eret bellowed, flailing. "Alright! I'll tell you about Drago!"

Getting snatched up again knocked the breath out of him, and he fell silent. Astrid smirked and stretched as Stormfly ascended. "Works every time."