They didn't fly straight to Berk. For one thing, it was uncomfortable for the dragons to carry humans in their claws for such a long distance. Eret and his crew were put down on a sea stack, and brandished weapons. Toothless and Stormfly landed on the opposite pillar. Astrid and Hiccup dismounted.

"I was just about to ask for your weapons," Astrid nodded. "Hand them over."

Eret scoffed. "Like we'd give you our only means of defending ourselves."

"You're prisoners. Of course we're going to confiscate your weapons," Astrid insisted. "But if you won't cooperate, I can always get Ruffnut to take them off you. She's the one on the Zippleback." Eret flinched… and reluctantly untied his long knives from his belt. Then he hurled them as far as he could.

Stormfly let out a delighted squawk and leapt to retrieve them. "Clever girl!" Astrid praised when she came back. "You can throw your weapons like toddlers, but don't expect to see them again. She can't fetch all of them."

The other trappers began sheathing blades and tossing them over the gap.

Hiccup caught the handle of a weapon with wooden spikes. "Did you really think these would defend you?" he asked doubtfully. "Against dragons?"

"Hey!" said the weapons' former owner. "We can't all have magic swords!"

Eret glared at the other man. "Shut up, Nunná."

"Yes, sir."

"Magic sword?" Hiccup repeated, incredulous. "You mean this?" He held up Inferno and ignited it. Two of the trappers flinched. "It's not magic. There's a cartridge of Nightmare saliva at one end, and a cartridge of Zippleback gas at the other." He flicked a switch and the hilt expelled green smoke. Then he flipped the sword so the flames passed through the gas, which exploded.

Toothless cooed and pawed at the resulting sparks. "It's for dragon training," Hiccup explained. "They're a lot friendlier when they see you as one of their own… and when you're not trying to stick them in cages," he said pointedly.

"What are you gonna do to us?" asked one trapper, who resembled Nunná.

Astrid replied "we're taking you back to our home island to resupply, then a pair each of you will be taken to our allies." She pointed at Eret. "You and your second-in-command are going to be imprisoned on Berk, however."

He sneered at her. "What an honour. I don't suppose we're allowed the privilege of knowing our captors names? Or should I just call you Blondie?"

She smirked. "Astrid Hofferson, future chief of Berk. And my betrothed, Hiccup Haddock the Third, Dragon Master of Berk, son of Stoick the Vast."

"Am I supposed to know who that is?"

"Oh, right, you're not local. Where are you guys from, anyway?"

"We're not telling you"-

"Lapland."

"Shut up, Nunná!"

"Sorry, sir…"

Hiccup insisted "this is nothing personal. We just want to protect our tribe. You're not going to be mistreated or anything," he tried to assure them.

"To prove it, we'll let you ride with us instead of being carried," said Astrid.

Eret replied "fine. I'll ride with you, since you're obviously in charge. Tobe!" he called. A man with a wispy reddish-blonde beard stepped forwards. "You ride with him," ordered Eret, pointing at Hiccup. "Ukku, Rede, you're on the Zippleback. Nunná, on the Monstrous Nightmare. Isak, on the Gronckle."

Hiccup murmured to Astrid, "are you okay with this? Him giving orders?"

"Eh, let him have his fun," she shrugged.

/

When they reached Berk, the dragons landed right outside the prison. Their passengers didn't dismount so much as fall off. Spitelout and his Berk Guard team escorted them into the prison cells; except Eret, who was cuffed and led to the Great Hall. Stoick, Gobber, Starkard and Magnus were there.

"Mission accomplished," declared Astrid.

"Well done, lass" said Stoick. "Hiccup, is this man their leader?"

"Yeah. Dad, meet Eret. Eret, meet our chief, Stoick the Vast."

Eret looked from him to Stoick, then at Astrid, then back to him again. The confusion about their arrangement on the other man's face was plain as day.

"So. You're the one who insulted my wife," the huge man glared at Eret, who gulped. Stoick rose to his feet. "You work for Drago Bludvist. I know what that man is capable of; what I need to know is where he is, and what he's planning. Which is exactly what you're going to tell us, so start talking."

"… No offence, chief, but this little tribe of yours won't stand a chance against Drago. If I were you I'd cut your losses and surrender to him. Just hand over all these dragons of yours and he might leave you alone."

"We are never going to give up our dragons," Hiccup glared at Eret.

"We're not gonna surrender, either" said Astrid. "It's a Viking thing."

Stoick calmly stated "aye, we don't surrender; but you're right," he told Eret, who looked surprised. "We can't take on Drago Bludvist. That's why I need to know where the man is. So I know how to avoid my enemy," he explained.

Eret hesitated. "Look. You seem like a reasonable man, so I'll be blunt. I can't tell you anything. Believe me, I wish I knew nothing. If Drago finds you - oh, who am I kidding? When he finds you, and he learns I told you his plans, my head is gonna be on a spike. That's not a risk I'm willing to take."

Starkard protested, "surely you can give us some useful information."

"Aye. You could at least tell us how many ships he has," added Magnus.

"Or better yet, how many dragons," remarked Gobber.

Astrid was tempted to threaten Eret with Ruffnut again, but that probably wouldn't work twice. Getting flirted with by a creepy teenager was not the end of the world - she would know. Stoick responded at last. "If we can guarantee your safety, and that of your men, would you be willing to talk?"

"… Guarantee it how, exactly?"

"If this dragon army does head for Berk, we can evacuate you long before it gets here. As for your men, most of them will be held on islands that don't have as many dragons, so they'll be less of a target," Stoick explained.

"It won't do us much good without my ship," Eret muttered bitterly. "But fine. There's at least thirty battleships in the armada, and each one is equipped with a landing craft. Most can hold up to fifteen dragons, but the flagship can hold at least twenty," he explained. "And that's just this armada in the north."

Stoick demanded "where precisely in the north is this armada?"

"…As far as I know, they were somewhere around Norway," replied Eret.

The chief nodded. "That's enough for now. Gobber, escort him to his cell," Stoick ordered. The blacksmith gave a nod and steered Eret out of the Hall. Once they were gone, Stoick declared "we have to prepare for a siege."

"But the armada is nowhere near us," Hiccup protested.

"Aye, for now. It's only a matter of time before they find us, and we can't fight them. Best we can do is dig in and hope for the best. Starkard, I want anti-dragon defences setting up around the village. Magnus, you and Spitelout are in charge of retrieving supplies from our off-island storehouses" instructed Stoick. The two men nodded and left to carry out their orders.

Stoick looked at Hiccup and Astrid. "Organise patrols to scout for any sign of this armada. At the first hint of it you come straight here" he told Astrid, who saluted. "Hiccup, our dragons will have to be grounded during the siege; and tell Gobber we'll need to reinforce the hangar doors with Gronckle Iron."

Hiccup couldn't believe his ears. "We're not even gonna try and fight back?"

"They have twice as many dragons as we do. This isn't up for discussion."

"Dad, we can't just hide on Berk and do nothing! What about our allies? And all the dragons that'll be enslaved by this nutcase?" Hiccup demanded.

"Warn our allies, yes, but we can't protect every dragon. Only our own."

"Oh, well I guess that means we just give up" -

"Damn it, Hiccup! We might have to kill dragons!" Stoick roared, slamming a fist on his throne. "Either we kill them or they kill us! So unless that's what you want, I suggest you shut up and do as you're told, for once in your life!"

His outburst unnerved them. Hiccup scowled and turned on his heel to stride out. Astrid hesitated, glancing at Stoick. He waved her off. She hurried after her betrothed, and he sat back in his chair with a sigh, feeling exhausted.

/

As soon as he left the Great Hall, Hiccup swung himself into the saddle. Toothless took off immediately and went in search of Valka. They found her quickly enough; she and Cloudjumper were on Raven Point. "You're not gonna believe this," Hiccup told her. "Dad's convinced Drago is gonna attack us to take our dragons, and he doesn't even wanna do anything about it!"

Before she could respond, Astrid caught up. "He is doing something about it; he's preparing for a siege. I never thought I'd see the day when you would be clamouring for a fight. Who are you and what did you do with Hiccup?"

"Astrid, I don't want to fight," he replied, "but we both know hiding isn't gonna do much good either. Drago has, y'know, dragons. It won't be like when they raided us every few weeks during the war. His armada could surround Berk and raid us every few days. There's no way a siege would last," he told her.

Astrid folded her arms. "Yes, but you didn't actually say that, did you?"

He opened his mouth to make a retort… then closed it again. Valka cleared her throat cautiously. "You know, I doubt your father wants to hide away either. He's probably just trying to keep everyone here alive," she insisted.

"And you heard what he said. If we did fight Drago's army, we'd have to… use lethal force against his dragons, to protect ours," said Astrid. "We've talked about this before, when Krogan first showed up. In tough times" -

"Tough choices have to be made, I know. But that doesn't mean we have to kill them" he insisted. "We could capture them instead. Or better yet, we can band together - Berk and all of our allies - and take the fight to Drago. If war is so inevitable, why just wait around for him to start it?" Hiccup questioned.

Astrid replied "we could be outnumbered. You heard Eret; there's at least thirty ships, with up to fifteen dragons each. That's over four hundred. Which assumes he isn't giving us false information." She put her arm around his shoulders. "I hate the idea of being under siege as well; but if your dad, if Stoick, is saying we shouldn't risk fighting…maybe we should listen to him."

Hiccup sighed and sat down on the cliff. "I hear you. It's just, this plan feels like the same as doing nothing. I say we can fight this armada," he declared passionately. "They have dragons, sure, but so do we. Remember the Battle of Berserker Island? We fought an armada of hunters led by a maniac then - two maniacs, really - and we still won. Even though we were outnumbered!"

"Yeah, but once we'd taken care of the Flyers, they didn't have any dragons of their own to use against us," Astrid pointed out. "We can't guarantee that this army will use Flyers instead of trained but riderless dragons," she said.

"Can you please stop poking holes in my flawless logic?" he complained.

"How is it flawless if there are holes in it?"

Valka chuckled, making them jump. They'd forgotten she was there. "You two are adorable together," she teased. Hiccup blushed. Valka stroked his hair and told him, "your father wanted me to persuade you to put our tribe first… and he's right. I'm sorry, but if it comes to war; and I pray to Thor it doesn't; we'll have to make that distinction. Our dragons versus theirs."

He frowned. "I get it, okay? That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"We know. We don't like it either," Astrid replied, leaning against him. Valka sat on his other side, and he put his arms around them both. The trio stayed like that for a few minutes until their dragons grumbled impatiently at them.

/

That evening, Hiccup was doodling Toothless when he heard a knock on his bedroom door. "Yeah?" he called. His father stepped inside. "Oh. Hi dad."

Stoick awkwardly said "hi, son. Dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry."

"…Your mother hasn't cooked it, if that's what you're worried about."

He snorted. "Nah. I just don't have much appetite."

"Me neither," Stoick admitted. He walked over and sat down heavily on the edge of Hiccup's bed, making it creak. "I hate thinking about that night, but if describing it helps you understand why I'm doing this, then…" he shrugged.

Hiccup's brow furrowed. "What night?"

"The night I first encountered Drago," replied Stoick. He stared into the distance, looking haunted. "It wasn't the fire that killed those other chieftains. It was the dragons…ripping them apart." Hiccup flinched. "I still get nightmares about it. I'd rather die than see that happen to the people I love."

Toothless crooned, and slunk over to tentatively nuzzle Stoick. Hiccup walked over and sat down beside his father. "I'm sorry, dad. I didn't know."

"You couldn't have known. I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier."

"It's okay. I'm sorry for storming out." His father hugged him. "Can't breathe!"

"Sorry. Force of habit."

Valka called up the stairs, "I'm sure you boys are having fun up there but your dinner is getting cold!" They glanced at each other… and chuckled.

After dinner, which consisted of lamb chops and roasted vegetables, Hiccup said "Dad, I understand why you're reluctant to fight Drago, but I think I have a plan that would solve our problems. I don't know if you'll like it, though."

Stoick set down his tankard. "Let's hear it."

"Okay. We, and by that I mean us and our allies, stand a better chance against Drago if we work together than if we try to face him alone. The problem is that we're too spread out. Even with dragons, it takes hours or even days to get to the other tribes. I thought of spreading our dragons out between the islands, but then they'd still be outnumbered," Hiccup began.

"So my plan is for all of us to camp on Dragon Island," he continued. "It's even more defensible; all those sea stacks means battleships won't be able to make landfall, there's plenty of caverns to shelter in, and if the Defenders bring their Eruptodon, we won't have to worry about the volcano erupting.

"I know we've lived here for seven generations, but it's just an island. We can come back and rebuild afterward. Having everyone in a single place will give us more of a chance to fight back than if we got picked off one by one."

He stopped talking and waited anxiously. Stoick's brow was furrowed, which was never a good sign. "It won't work. Cramming four tribes worth of people onto one island means risking disease and food shortages, not to mention if we got overwhelmed, there'd be a slaughter. Trust me; we're safer here."

"Okay, but what about our allies? They don't have as many dragons as us."

"So you should give them some. Don't worry about being outnumbered. Why would Drago waste time sailing his whole armada from island to island? He could just split the armada up too and attack on multiple fronts," said Stoick.

Silence fell. Another thought crossed Hiccup's mind. "Mum, do you think the dragons at your old - at the Ice Nest would help us?" he asked her. "Maybe the Bewilderbeast? He'd give us a huge advantage - no pun intended."

She chuckled. "He wouldn't abandon his flock, but I think some of them would come to help. Cloud and I can fly up there and do a bit of recruiting."

Hiccup said "yeah, if you could get at least two hundred of them, that's fifty extra dragons for all four tribes. Plus a hundred each from Berk… hmm. They'd outnumber the armada, if it was split up evenly, but not by much."

"'Not by much' is better than 'not at all'" Stoick pointed out. "On one hand, spreading the dragons out makes Berk less of a target; but it also makes our allies more of a target. On the other hand, Drago probably wants to conquer the entire archipelago just because he can. I'm still not sure why he didn't just take over twenty years ago and save us the trouble," he grumbled.

"You don't mean that," his wife insisted. "I'll go up to the Ice Nest tomorrow."

Stoick declared "I don't want you going alone, dear. Take Magnus with you."

Valka raised an eyebrow. "Dearest, I was dealing with trappers and the like on my own for nineteen years. I think I can handle myself. And why Magnus? You know my brother and I don't exactly get along," she grimaced.

He patted her hand. "I have faith in you, but do it for my peace of mind. As for Magnus, unlike Gobber, I can spare him. Just don't tell him I said that."

"I could go with her," offered Hiccup.

"No, I need you here to help organise this new plan of yours."

"Right… sorry mum."

"It's fine, darling. Alright; I'll take Magnus with me," Valka agreed, before adding "but I wash my hands of it if Cloudjumper decides to eat him."

Suddenly, Hiccup slapped a hand against his forehead. "I forgot about Alvin," he explained. "I don't think we have enough dragons to spread out amongst five islands, not if we want to outnumber Drago's… uh, dragons."

Valka suggested "perhaps you could lead a hundred dragons to Outcast Island instead of the Wingmaidens. Atali's people have plenty of Razorwhips after all, and their home is defensible. I think they would be able to manage."

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah. I guess I'm not thinking straight," he admitted. "I'm just… nervous. This is bigger than anything we've ever faced, isn't it?"

Stoick's expression turned grim. "Aye. That it is," he confirmed.

/

That same evening, Valka walked up to the door of her brothers' house and knocked on it. Helga answered. "Good evening. I'm here to see Magnus."

"Come on in," said Helga. She stepped into the building. Her brother was sitting by the fire, close enough for it to almost scorch his beard. Hildegard played on the rug at his feet; the little girl beamed and waved at Valka.

"Hi, Auntie Val!"

"Valka? What are you doing here?" Magnus asked bluntly.

The smile on her face from hugging her niece fell away. "It's nice to see you too, brother. Can I have a word with you, in private?" Valka said firmly. His brow furrowed, but he gestured for his wife to take their daughter upstairs to bed, whilst Hildegard protested all the while that she was a big girl now.

Once they were alone, Valka said bluntly "I'm going to the Ice Nest, and Stoick wants you to accompany me. We'll leave first thing in the morning."

Magnus' frown became a scowl. "I can't just up and leave on a whim. Helga needs help with the wee one, and I've got to organise getting our supplies from the storehouses. Some of us have actual responsibilities, you know. I don't have time for a holiday on that frozen mountain of a nest," he declared.

Valka's fists clenched. "It's not a holiday," she insisted. "I'm going there to recruit dragons to help Berk and our allies defend against Bludvist. I was perfectly happy to go on my own, but Stoick insists on you coming, so if you have a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with him," she retorted.

"Maybe I will. How come he wants me to go with you, anyway?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I assume because you're my brother and he thinks you'll take care of me. Even though it's likely gonna be the other way round."

"I don't need to be taken care of, woman. Neither do you. Although, I s'pose I oughta come to keep an eye on you if nothing else," Magnus added.

"Oh for the love of Thor," said Helga, making them both jump. "Just go with your sister, Magnus. The pair of you could do with the chance to talk. What? I'm not deaf." She rolled her eyes. "Besides, it's the chief's orders. So there."

Her husband grumbled under his breath. Helga glared at him until he reluctantly said "alright, fine. I'll come with you to this ice nest place, Valka."

Valka gave her sister-in-law a grateful nod. "I'll meet you up at the top of Raven Point an hour after sunrise. Goodnight," she declared. Then she left.

/

The next morning, Hiccup gathered his friends and explained the plan. "It won't be easy relocating that many dragons. But I think we can do it."

"Of course. We can't do it alone, though" said Astrid. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe we should get Gustav and his friends to help. The rest of the Guard members are helping your uncle prepare our defences."

Hiccup nodded. "Good idea. Now that I think about it… should we evacuate the children?" he asked. "Though I guess it depends where we send them."

Fishlegs replied "yeah, if there's a risk that all of us will get attacked… hey, are we still taking those dragon trappers to the other islands?" he wondered.

"Yes, we are. Okay, the six of us plus Gustav's team should be enough to herd three hundred dragons away from Berk. We'll lead them to Berserker Island first; then split up and go to the Defenders and Wingmaidens," Hiccup declared. He noticed Astrid's raised eyebrow, and hastily added "if that's okay with you, chief. Sorry, force of habit. Do you have a different plan?"

She rolled her eyes and slugged him in the arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

"For being daft. This was your idea, Hiccup; I don't mind if you lead."

He shook his head. "No; you should be in charge. That was the agreement."

Astrid didn't try to argue. "In that case, we ought to do a headcount first. Let's see… three hundred divided by five is sixty, divided by three is twenty" she muttered under her breath. "Okay, got it. If we all mark sixty dragons each with three colours; twenty marked with red, twenty with blue and twenty with green, we should have a hundred dragons for each island."

Ruffnut pointed out "uh, I dunno if you missed it, but there's six of us."

"I know. I was counting you two as a single entity," Astrid informed them.

The twins glanced at each other and shrugged. "Fair enough."

She insisted "keep count of how many dragons you mark. Only twenty dragons per colour, got it? Otherwise we'll have to start all over again."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," said Snotlout. "Are we marking our own dragons?"

"Well, no… actually, thanks for the reminder. We only need to mark the wild dragons with paint, okay?" Astrid clarified, looking at the twins in particular.

Tuff protested "we're not kids anymore; we can handle painting dragons."

"I'll reserve judgement until you both come back not covered in paint," Astrid retorted. "Alright, guys, let's get to work." They mounted up and went to get paint out of the storehouses that they could use to mark all those dragons.

Snotlout declared "the first one of us to paint sixty dragons is the winner!"

"It's not a competition!" Hiccup protested, but the others were already off. He rolled his eyes and sighed, then got in the saddle, paint held under his arm. He was on good enough terms with the dragons that he could simply coax most of them over with some dragon nip and paint a number on their chests.

Tracking down and marking sixty dragons each with paint took a long time. They didn't finish until it was nearly dinnertime, and by then it was too late to start herding three hundred dragons anywhere. Gustav and his friends were on board with helping, at least. Speedifist and Wartihog were excited for a proper dragon rider mission, and Clueless merely wanted to be included.

/

Berserker Island

Concealed in the darkness, a black and scarlet dragon approached the tall, rocky spires of the target's home. It flew in a circle around the island. The man on its back peered through a spyglass, searching for a way into the tunnels. There - a cave mouth above the village, with two guards outside.

He steered the dragon to land as silently as possible on the ledge above them, and a little to the side. Then raised a blowpipe to his lips and took aim.

The first man went down - the second quickly followed. The darts were tipped with his dragons' venom. Said dragon leapt down and padded through the tunnel. Halfway down stood two more guards. They leaned against the walls, but straightened when he and his beast approached.

"Halt! Who goes there?" one man demanded. Both raised their shields and swords. His dragon continued to stalk forwards, snarling. The guards shared a glance and unslung bows instead. As if they had any hope of piercing the beast's thick carapace. It hardly mattered. The moment they took aim, he signalled his dragon, which spat a gob of acid at each of the bows.

With their weapons destroyed, the guards fled. A couple of knives in their backs put a stop to that. He stopped to retrieve the blades as the dragon sniffed hungrily at the corpses. "No. Not yet. We must finish the mission."

They hurried down the rest of the tunnel. At its end stood yet more guards; he had to admit, these people took his target's protection seriously. The men saw them coming and immediately fired their crossbows at him. His armour held up and he didn't break stride. The two guards backed away. "Intruder!"

More guards hurried to their aid. Several others slammed swords against shields, to disorient his dragon. He vaulted back into the saddle as they emerged from the tunnel, and hauled back on the reins with all his strength.

The dragon leapt into the air. Nets flew, but they weaved past. He had no time for these men; all the noise might disturb his true target and allow it to escape. The ledge fell away into a deep chasm. At the bottom it opened out into an even larger cavern, half submerged in water. He looked around.

His target was curled up on the 'shore'. A huge hatchling, already the size of a Gronckle, and seemingly asleep. His beast landed on the slippery rocks and crept forwards. Just as it was about to plunge its venomous tail down into the hatchling's exposed belly, something surged out of the water.

It was a Scauldron. Its appearance made them hesitate just one crucial moment. It roared furiously and snapped at them. The hatchling jerked awake and scrambled into the ocean as his own beast fought its attacker, despite his attempts to wrestle it away. Its stinger pierced the Scauldron's hide, which swayed as the venom took hold. "Leave it! Chase the other!"

He took a deep breath as they plunged into the frigid water, but it was too late. Their quarry had escaped into the depths. When they surfaced, he cursed. It was his fault; he should've known even an infant of that species would have dragons ready to defend it. If only they had not hesitated!

Now all he could do was escape… and report his failure to the Emperor. He glanced at the dying Scauldron, realising that if it had gotten into the cavern, there must be a way out underwater. It was so dark down there… At last, his keen eyes spotted the reflection of moonlight at the far side of the cave.

He steered his dragon over to it and sucked in another breath as they dived, swimming through a cave mouth out of the back of the island. The guards that still lived had no doubt raised an alarm by now. Trying to go back and assassinate the young Beast would be all but impossible; he couldn't risk being captured, no matter how accustomed he was to resisting torture.

/

Frantic rapping and Windshear's annoyed growl woke Heather. "Chief! There's been an attack!" Vorg bellowed. She leapt from her bed, axe in hand, and hauled open the door. "Four men are dead," he reported.

"What happened?" she demanded, pulling on a cloak.

"A stranger with a new kind of dragon killed the sentries and got into the hatchling's" -

"He attacked Prince Stubby? Why didn't you say so? Windshear!" Heather called, vaulting into the saddle in her nightclothes. They flew into the caves. Down in the cavern they found Thunderfish, but one look at the sea dragons' glazed over eyes told her he was dead. There was no sign of Prince Stubby.

A splashing noise drew her attention. Prince Stubby crawled out of the water; Heather slumped in relief. He waddled over to the dead Scauldron, nudging at the body with a low whine. It made her heart break. "I'm sorry, little one," she murmured, even as she burned with anger. This assassin had failed to kill Prince Stubby, but a dragon and four of her men were dead.

Windshear was about to fly back up to the top of the cavern, when Prince Stubby cried out. It sounded piteous. The thought of leaving him down here in the dark with a corpse… Heather sighed. "Can you lift him?" she asked.

A snort; apparently Windshear didn't like being doubted. They carried Prince Stubby back up to the top of the ledge. The remaining guards approached. "Oh thank Thor, he's alive! We're sorry, chief. They flew right over us."

"It's not your fault," she told Vorg. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"Me and Engill were guarding the north entrance, when this dragon we've never seen before came stalking up. There was a man in black armour too - didn't see his face. We fired arrows at him - he pulled them out and started running towards us. So did the dragon. We tried to shoot it down but it was covered in carapace; it had huge wing-claws and spikes all down its back."

Heather said "I'll ask Fishlegs if he knows about that species. And then?"

Vorg explained "he jumped back into the saddle and they took off, dodged the nets and flew down the cliff. So I ran to raise the alarm. Found Dufgus and Narfi dead, from knives in the back, it looks like. Odkell and Ingolfr were killed by poisoned darts. I've got men out searching the island right now."

She nodded in approval. "The assassin didn't come back this way?"

"No, chief. But we heard shrieks down there," another guard informed her.

"Thunderfish is dead," she admitted. "He must've tried to defend Prince Stubby; if it weren't for him we might have lost the Bewilderbeast. As for the assassin, he and his dragon - whatever it was - must have escaped through the sea cave. If this mess has made one thing clear, it's that we need more riders. The best way to fight or catch a dragon is with another dragon."

As much as she wanted justice, by then the assassin would be long gone. Heather could only do her best to ensure he never had another chance to kill those under her care. "We should prepare a funeral for the dead. Then I'll have to question your men. Windshear and I will take care of Prince Stubby. C'mon, big boy" she cooed. "Let's go get you some yummy fish."

About an hour later, Heather found herself firing a flaming arrow at the ship that held the four dead Berserkers. "There, do I see my father, my mother, and my brothers and my sisters. They bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla... where the brave shall live forever," she recited.