Okay, here we go again! Thank you for the kind messages, I can never thank you all enough.

"Whoa! That was too close!" Tuffnut cried, once they were a safe distance from the Timberjack and sure that it had not followed. He turned to his sister. "You okay, sis?"

"Yeah, fine," She muttered, massaging her aching hand slightly. "Are you?"

"Uh, in what sense? Like, if I'm physically hurt, or mentally, or...?"

"Are you cut, you idiot!" Ruffnut snarled, glaring at him.

"No!" He replied, a little too quickly. "Well, maybe... okay, yes, I'm hurt." At her beckoning, he turned enough to show her the gash in his upper arm. She examined it with light fingers, then took a strip of cloth from a saddle-bag and bound it tightly. "Any better?"

"Yeah, thanks." He looked around. "So, which way do we go now?"

"Easy. We need to get to the top, so we just need to keep going up." She absent-mindedly stroked Barf's neck, looking through the trees curiously, then sliding off the saddle. "If we're going to build a fire, we need something to burn. Let's collect some wood and put it on Barf and Belch's back. They can help carry it for us."

"Oh, great, good idea" Tuffnut hopped down onto the ground, appearing by her side moments later.

The rest of the steep climb was taken up searching for the biggest, driest and lightest pieces of wood they could find. The ones that were rotting would burn the best, as they had found out on multiple occasions trying to set the village alight. The twins were experts on all things flammable, having experimented with many different things in their shared 17 years of life. Normally, it was less than amiable, but on this occasion, it gave them a great head-start. The bundle on the dragon's back steadily grew.

"Ooh! Ruff, check out these berries!" Tuffnut suddenly called out; he was peering down a a little cluster of bright-red orbs clinging to the branch of a small bush, glittering innocently. Ruffnut eyed them sceptically.

"Don't eat them, Tuff. You have no idea what they are. Come on, we've got wood to collect..." Paying him no heed, she turned and gathered a bundle of sticks from under a tall pine. The next second, she heard an almighty retch, followed by the sound of her brother spitting into the grass. He blanched in disgust. Slowly, a look of fury gathering on her face like a storm, Ruffnut turned to face him. "Did you just eat those berries?" She spat, sharp features glaring daggers at him.

"Uh, no..." He muttered, trying to look innocent, though his fingers were stained red, as were his lips. "Okay, it was just one-"

"That could be poisonous!" She exploded, throwing her arms above her head. "Do you have any idea what that could do to you?"

"I spat it out! It's fine!" He countered, backing up.

"I really hope you did, Tuff. I seriously hope you did." The sister fumed. She clenched her fists, but with a certain control, she turned back and gathered the sticks, carrying them resolutely back to where the Zippleback was patiently waiting. Her brother followed her, still spitting out the remains of the sickly, foul-tasting berry.

It was hard to see through the trees, but the masked rider saw well enough that the boy had just eaten something, and she could hear the loud shouting just as well as the sister chided her brother. "what on earth did he just eat? Oh, this might just spoil everything..."

Ruffnut quietly tossed the sticks atop the already quite significant pile amassed on her dragon's back. Her brother was behind her, stroking his throat and coughing slightly. Abruptly, his eyes widened with shock, and he gave a strangled noise, as though choking. His sister whirled around to look at him.

"Tuffnut!" She yelped as he fell to the floor, limbs writhing as he tried to draw oxygen. His legs kicked out towards her as she dashed over and fell to her knees beside him. The dragon, too, was watching worriedly from behind them. "Tuffnut! I told you not to eat that berry! Oh, you idiot!" It was no use; his violent spasms were slowing, and his coughing ceased with them. "No!" His sister howled as his head lolled to the side, eyes closed.

Tears were threatening to spill down her cheeks as she stared down helplessly at the boy beneath her. Her brother, her twin, snatched away in a second, in such a cruel and tyrannical way. Her voice was strangely choked as she whispered. "Tuff?" Shaking his shoulders like a child, she called out his name again, but there was no response. Nothing.

He was gone.

"No..." She sat back, her heart tearing itself in two. The half that held her brother was dying painfully in her chest. Then he twitched. She stared. It was less of a twitch, more of a shaking of his shoulders, as though he was... laughing.

"Haha, that'll never get old..." He murmured, sitting up and grinning like an idiot. The perfect target. His twin's fist found its mark even through the haze of tears.

"You LIED TO ME!" She screamed, leaping to her feet, brushing the tears away roughly and endeavouring to force her foot as far into his ribs as possible, earning a satisfying yell of pain from him. "How DARE YOU? HOW COULD YOU?" Another kick sent him scurrying for cover behind a tree, peeking out from behind it to regard his sister tugging her braids. Her face was screwed up in anger and resentment.

"Uh, I'm sorry?" He ventured tentatively, taking a step forward. Her eyes clapped on to him, fury burning deep within.

"If you ever do something like that to me again, I will make sure that you're actually dead. Understand?" With a final snort of annoyance, she turned to go, the dragon behind her following on. Tuffnut suppressed a giggle. He couldn't believe she'd actually fallen for it. However, some small part of him was actually surprised that she'd had such a reaction; almost flattered that she cared so much. He jogged to catch up with her, his ribs aching almost to the point of making him feel ill.

As he was running, he caught sight of a small cluster of tiny, white flowers, and stooped to grab them roughly in one hand. Once behind her, he began to tuck them into the braid that ran down her back.

"What are you doing?" She snarled, still fuming.

"They're flowers. Girls like flowers." He gave her a lopsided grin as she turned back to look at him, displaying his rows of wonky teeth.

"You're such an idiot..." She snorted, turning back, though her anger was slowly melting away. The trees around them were thinning out. They were reaching the top of the hill, finally, their goal coming closer with each step.

"There they are..." They had finally spotted the twins, and pointed them out to their dragon, who dipped in the sky to fly slightly closer. The white Nadder cawed quietly, and her rider hushed her gently, but they need not have feared; the white clouds were quite effectively shielding them from sight. In fact, neither twin looked up as they reached their destination.

"Soon, my darling, very soon..."

I know that at least one person has guessed right about the white rider, but who? Curious... Anyway, thanks for sticking with me!