I'm baaaaackkkk! Really, sorry for the time between updates but life's been hectic, this story is not dead just required some TLC. So read at you're leisure!

"Sail ho!" shouted the sailor in the Crow's nest

Captain Scott looked through his spyglass, and Hiccup through the one he brought from Berk.

"It's the Black Dawn!" shouts Scott

"Berek's ship!?" says Abigale

"Aye" says Scott, then shouts "Turn to larboard and furl the sails! Weigh anchor!"

Within minutes the other ship, evidently called the Black Dawn, was pulled up alongside the Grace of Theus, and a man walked across a large plank spanning the distance between the two ships onto the Grace.

"Jeremiah Berek" said Captain Scott

"Scott O'Dunhan" said the man called Berek

Both looked at each other for a long moment, and the riders (who had all come on deck by now) wondered who would slug the other first. Then they both laughed and threw their arms around the other.

"How's ya doin' me friend?!" said Scott shaking Berek's hand

"Aye, I be doin' fine! You?" says Berek

"Fine! Oy, Rider's! Come ere' and meet the leader o' the Queen's Sea Dogs, one Mr. Jeremiah Berek!" shouts Scott, looking at the riders.

They all stepped forward and Capt. Berek quickly shook hands with all of them, looking over them his brow furrowed and he turned to Scott, "A bit young aren't they Dunhan? An why ye call them 'Riders'"

"Aye, they are a wee bit on the young side" conceded Scott "But they been through lots, why they proved it to me! I also got somthin' I be wantin to show Queen Elaine, you get a sneak peek!"

"Master Hiccup" Scott said while turning to Hiccup "I believe that Mt. Berek will be most interested in what we have in the hold." Scot winked, and Hiccup seemed to get the message.

"Sure! Let's go!" said Hiccup, and led Scott, Abigale, and Berek into the bowels of the ship.

Right outside the "Drachen Pens"… Now be sure not to scare them, they're a bit seasick." said Hiccup

"Who's 'them'?" asked Berek

Hiccup merely smiled and threw open the door

"Why be stilled me Theus-dammed heart!" says Berek in wonder, as Toothless pops his head out and nuzzles Hiccup affectionately.

Scott laughs as Berek turns several varying shades of white, then he says "Aye, me new crew ride em'…"

"There's more than one?!" shouts Berek

Hiccup moves into the room and Berek cautiously follows, then everyone hears him shout "By the O'Bannon's beard!"

A moment later the other riders and Scott and Abigale follow Berek in and see that he has turned several shades whiter still.

Scott is about to comment on the Dragons when the entire ship shudders, and the sound of smashing wood can be heard from above.

"What in Theus name!?" shouts Scott

Adrian barrels into the room with a small laceration on his brow and yells "Castilian Galleon off the starboard, sir! Came out of a fog bank!"

"Blasted Inquisition-lovin'…" mutters Abigale furiously

Scott and Berek have both already ran out of the room and were charging back to the deck; Scott's voice being heard shouting "Man the guns! Prepare to repel boarders! Keep tha' powder dry!"

The riders, Abigale, Adrian, and Toothless (as he was the only Dragon who could use the door and not the deck hatches) sprint up the stairs and emerge on-deck…

Chaos, complete unadulterated chaos. There was a massive ship off the right-hand side of The Grace and a pall of gun-smoke was hanging in the air.

Abigale and Adrian rushed into the fray, helping a couple of Seamen struggling to keep a group of yellow coated boarders from getting onto the deck.

As Adrian turned around and gutted one of the boarders, he spied the Dragon Riders doing nothing.

"Well, ye waiting for an invitation?!" he roared

Hiccup shook his head and led the riders right into the thick of combat, no one noticed Toothless stick his head up out of the hatch to the lower decks…

Toothless saw a massive fight going on around him and then saw a sailor beat hiccup to the ground with an especially savage blow to Hiccup's cutlass. Toothless leapt up and landed over Hiccup protectively, growling at the Castilian sailor.

The sailor screamed and leapt overboard.

Hiccup clambered to his feet, looked at Toothless and said, "Thanks Bud!"

Then Hiccup heard a scream, Astrid had been knocked to the ground in a similar manner to him, and a Sailor with a half-pike (spear) was standing over her, ready to ram it into her abdomen.

Without thinking Hiccup whipped out his pistol, cocked it, and fired straight into the sailor's backside.

A muffled groan followed the bang of the shot and the sailor fell, dead.

Hiccup froze, he had never taken anyone's life before and was in shock.

Next thing he knew Adrian had tackled him, just before a grapeshot volley scythed through where he had been standing.

Adrian looked furious, then noticed Hiccup's heavy breathing and glassy eyes. He had seen this before with other new recruits, so he pushed Hiccup under Toothless and said, "Guard him" to the Dragon, who nodded.

Scott, meanwhile, was dueling the Castilian Captain…

"You'll never win, me amigo!" shouts the Captain

"I'm a pirate! I'll cheat!" shouts Scott

Then he ducks and Adrian catches the Captain with a blast from a blunderbuss, suddenly the captain is very, very dead…

With that the three remaining Castilians lose heart and surrender, Scott orders them placed in a dingy with three pistols, each with a shot, and food and water for two weeks, you get the idea why…

Scott then sees the majority of his crew getting their bearings, and then see's Astrid crawling over to Hiccup who is being guarded by Toothless.

Alarmed, Scott rushes over to Toothless who lets him look at his rider, who was now pale and unresponsive.

"Mr. Hiccup, ye alright?" asks Scott

Adrian, who is nursing a fractured arm, comes over and says "Capt'n, saw him shoot a sailor, me thinks it was his first time."

Scott gets the message, he and Astrid lift Hiccup up by his armpits and bring him below deck to his bunk, they lay him down and Astrid decides to sit with him and wait till he comes too.

Back on deck Scott talks with Berek, their ships remarkably took little damage and they decided to part ways, Berek said he had a Montagine tradesmen to "catch up with", while Scott ordered the unfurling of the sails as they continued to Avalon…