Please don't forget to check out my other HTTYD story. I really appreciate your input and reviews on my stories too, so thank you to everyone who has made the effort.

By the third hour, Cami was deeply regretting her mothers decision to come along. She hadn't realised how unused to flying her mother was. She'd complained almost non-stop, and Cami could not help but feel sorry for her mother's dragon. Spite was as unused to carrying someone as her mother was to being carried. The bond between those two was uncannily similar to the one that Veil and herself shared. It did sort of make sense; Spite was Veil's mother after all. She suspected that those two had bonded out of a mutual concern for their daughters. She'd have to ask Hiccup about that, and about…

Before too long, she was shaken out of her reverie by a warble from Veil, they were nearly there! She grinned, it wasn't a moment too soon!

That grin was very quickly wiped off her face as she took in the destruction before her. It looked like war had come to Hiccup's Island. It had been covered by a small forest, but those tall and verdant trees were now blackened stumps. There wasn't any sign of what had once been the docks.

'What could have done this?'

Her mother looked grim, and didn't reply. They started descending, circling and searching for any signs of what had happened. Neither of them truly believed Hiccup could have survived whatever it was that had wreaked so much destruction.

They were both wrong. As the neared the rocky southern end of the island, both dragons warbled in excitement and turned to land. As they did, the two armed and anxious warriors were met by the sounds of metal on metal.

Swords drawn, they crept towards where Veil had led. As she approached the rock, something blurred, and she vanished. Letting out a cry of shock, Camicazi rushed forwards to where Veil had been, and rested her arms against the rock. To her surprise, she fell straight through. Dusting herself off, she turned. From inside the tunnel, it was obvious that she hadn't fallen through rock, but had tried to rest against a piece of material, obviously made from the same stuff her cloak was.

The fact that someone had destroyed the island, obliterated a cabin and docks, and that there were still sounds of clanging metal reaching them was very disturbing. Proceeding somewhat nervously down the corridor, they barely noticed the increasing heat. As they rounded the final corner, Cami was caught completely unprepared for the sight before her.

Preparations were well underway for their trip to the Bog-Burglar tribe. All that remained was to decide exactly who was going to stay or go. Fishlegs had revised his predictions again, and they were now expecting a raid the village when they would be away. That meant a smaller than usual Honour Guard, which was a headache in and of itself. A large number of warriors could show that they didn't trust their hosts, or it could be taken as a sign of respect. The Bogs were notoriously hard to read, so Stoick had stuck to a reasonably large complement for the past few years. Cutting the numbers down would likely be taken as a sign that Berk no longer respected them enough to send as many people, but it was unavoidable. They could hardly leave Berk undefended when a raid was coming!

Astrid sighed, and realised she was unexpectedly weary. She had been in session with the village council for hours, and she was exhausted. Growing up, she had never really realised how complex these things were, and she was eternally glad that she was not the one making the decisions. She, along with Fishlegs and Snotlout had been there mostly to observe. That said, both Astrid and the council were more than a little surprised when Snotlout asked to speak. Not only that, but he had proposed a very worthwhile idea – leaving the majority of the warriors on berk under the command of Spitelout, the chief's brother and second-in-command, while taking a smaller contingent of the more renowned fighters as the Guards. What had surprised them the most, and proved without a shadow of a doubt that Snotlout really had changed, was his admission that he and Fishlegs had come up with it together. It had seemed to her that Snotlout had found his second-in-command already.
As she left the hall, she grinned to herself. Fishlegs may be proving himself as a worthy member of the council now, but she'd never forget how he and Hiccup had been so odd and different as children. Her smile fled. Hiccup. She hadn't thought about him in a very long time…

Hiccup stood with his back to the tunnel, intent on the mechanical contraption before him. On the far side of the room was a glowing forge, filling the chamber with an intense heat. That must be why Hiccup was shirtless.

Cami could not help but admire the firmness of his body and the obvious muscle tone. It seemed working in a forge and riding Toothless had burned away every inch of excess weight. As he shifted and the muscles on his back rippled, Cami's breath caught in her throat. Her mother had no such problem. Letting out a loud guffaw, she slapped her daughter on the back and gave her the dirtiest grin she had ever seen before whispering;

'Are you sure you've given up chasing him?'

Unfortunately, Bertha's whisper was not exactly quiet, meaning that Hiccup heard every word. Whirling around, he flushed red and cast about for his tunic. Realising just who was standing there, his eyes went wide and he turned away from them again.

'Err, umm, Chief Bertha! I wasn't expecting you… Not that you're not welcome or anything, it's just that it's really a surprise to see you and…'

Mercifully, Bertha cut off his stuttered ramblings with a laugh.

'Relax! I've known who you were since you came back to us.' 'Now why don't you tell us who or what attacked you, and why you don't seem to have a scratch on you?'

'You knew!? Attacked? What on… oooohhhh yeah… The forest…. Right. About that…'

Watching Hiccups face go from shock, to quizzical, to a deep flush of embarrassment within the space of a moment caused Cami to break her own silence by joining in with her mother's laughter.

'We were worried when you were late you know. When we found your boat half the tribe started panicking. And when we saw your island… Well, we assumed the worst'

At this, Hiccup gave a laugh of his own, finally having found a tunic.

'As if Toothless would let anything happen to me, right bud?'

The dragon in question lazily opened one eye, and gave a trilling hum that suggested that his rider tested that idea far too often.

'Toothless! Don't give me that, it's your fault about the forest anyway!'

Indignation writ plain across his features, the Night Fury sat up, rolled his eyes and grumbled something back.

'Are you pouting Big baby boo? It's not my fault you got all overexcited now is it?'

Hands folded across his chest, Hiccup was looking into Toothless' eyes with a smirk, clearly believing he'd won their little exchange. Toothless narrowed his eyes, he did not appreciate the smirk, nor did he appreciate the name. He got his revenge the best way he knew how. He pounced and started slobbering on the young man, making sure to get it everywhere.

'Toothless! You know tha...'

He cut himself short and gave a pointed glance at their observers. Cami and Bertha had their mouths hanging open, but Veil and Spite were on the floor, chortling as only dragons can.

Forgetting for a moment that he was the Alpha, and therefore technically the most respected of all dragons, Toothless bounded over to Cami, and with eyes as wide as any puppy, gave her a big lick for good measure.

'Bleurgh! Toothless!'

Hiccup got to his feet, flinging excess saliva at Toothless' unprotected back.

'Right. The forest. Well, we weren't attacked. Though I think you've guessed that now… Yeah… It turns out that I might just be the worst cook in the history of the archipelago.'

Bertha just stared. Looking at her, Hiccup faltered, and flushed red again.

'How hard can it be, I thought? Loads of people do it. Well, it turns out that I am not, in fact, a bread-making Viking.'

'You tried to make bread, and you did all this?!' Bertha managed to splutter.

Hiccup gave her another sheepish look, and rubbed at the nape of his neck.

'Well, it was taking ages, and I was bored, so I asked Toothless if he could, you know, speed it up a bit.' 'It's hardly my fault he decided that that meant he should blow my cabin to smithereens is it?'

'And that led to the entire forest burning down how?'

'Errr… Well… They're dragons?'

Obviously seeing that this was not enough explanation for either Cami or chief Bertha, he tried again.

'Dragons… They breathe fire, right? Well, after Toothless set my house and the clearing on fire, the rest of them decided to "help" out. Turns out that dragons might just be the worst fire-fighters in history.'

Hiccup tried a grin, but it fell away when confronted with their stony gazes.

'And you didn't think of letting us know because…?'

'Ah… Well, I couldn't fly over because someone managed to set fire to their tailfin, and the fire burnt down the docks. I'm glad to hear my boat's okay though.'

Toothless had the good grace to look embarrassed, before hiding his face with his remaining tailfin.

'I was actually working on the replacement when you arrived.'

Hiccup gestured around, and for the first time, Cami took in the cave as a whole. It was incredible. Bits of armour, strange maps and tools she couldn't identify were everywhere.

'This is my forge. We built it here so we didn't, you know, burn the island down.'

He said this while shooting a dirty look at his scaled companion, who merely snorted and looked away.

'Hiccup… This place is amazing… Why have you got so many weapons? And this, is this… Dragon armour?!'

A pained look passed over Hiccup's face, but it was quickly replaced with one of steely resolve.

'There's something I need to tell you. Something is coming. Something Vikings have never faced before.'