Here we are again. One of the more difficult chapters to write. Hope you enjoy. Note that this will be the last chapter in about a month. I'm not abandoning the story no, I've got exams coming up. Anyway enjoy.

Chapter 6: New friendship's and secret meetings

Forests behind Berk, evening, 266 ADF

Hiccup ran cautiously through the forests in order not to raise any suspicion. He had been very careful when leaving the great-hall so no-one saw him running towards the forest. Breaking his cover so soon would be a very bad idea.

When he was far enough into the forest he released a quiet but shrill whistle. The kind of sound a night fury emitted during flight, specifically when dive-bombing. The whistle spread through the forest and when Hiccup ceased the sound he stood unmoving and waited.

He had long since perfected his night fury call and frequently used it to communicate whit his best friend over long distances. This was due to the fact that when executed in certain ways the sound could carry for several kilometres, but only when amplified by his helmet.

Fairly quickly Hiccup got a response not too far away. He went in the sounds direction and quickly found a secluded cove with only one entrance in-between a couple of large boulders. He made his way down and found his best friend and companion sitting patiently under an overgrown tree on the far side of the cove. All his equipment and saddle-bags still attached to him.

"Nice place. Good choice Toothless." Hiccup said while observing the cove. It was quiet and untouched. It wouldn't surprise him if the Vikings of this island haven't ever set foot here. And that would be a good thing. This way Toothless and all of his equipment would be safe from any marauding Viking who roamed this island.

Toothless crooned in a reply and began wiggling his body as if trying to say: 'relieve me of these blasted bags!'

"Alright alright, I'm on it. Just stand still for a moment." Hiccup said whilst untying the bags.

The second he was finished Toothless all but shot away right into the small lake on the far side of the cove. Immediately submerging underneath the water.

"Well looks like someone is hungry." Hiccup chuckled when Toothless re-emerged with his mouth filled with fish.

Seeing that Toothless was satisfied Hiccup now tended to his equipment and stored all of it safely in a nearby cave. Ready for use if ever necessary.

"Alright that should be it. Toothless?" Hiccup said after he put all his stuff away. The scaled reptile meanwhile looked up to him. "Make sure to be ready when I call you."

Toothless responded by giving Hiccup a big lick in his face.

"Eww.. Toothless you know that doesn't wash out!" Hiccup shouted whilst trying to hide his laughter.

"Alright, I need to get back. See you soon bud." Hiccup said.

Toothless nodded to his rider and proceeded to curl up near Hiccups equipment whilst staying out of sight.

Hiccup smiled, he could always count on Toothless's loyalty. With that thought he left the cove and made his way back to the village.

(The next morning)

Berk, afternoon, 266 ADF

"Aarghh!" a shout was heard along the edge of the forest.

"I can't believe that knucklehead! Why does he even keep trying! Or does he just want to make my life a living hell!" Astrid scowled whilst she hurtled her axe towards an already mutilated tree.

This had been a repeating pattern for the entire afternoon. Astrid was livid, and she had a good reason to be.

Snotlout had once again chosen to enact her wrath by calling her 'babe'. Only this time he played the marriage contract card. Astrid knew her parents would never agree to a contract from the Jorgensons she couldn't help but get mad at him. Which resulted in a punch in the face for Snotlout and a lot of dead trees for Astrid.

She retrieved her axe and almost immediately threw it at another tree blindly. She turned around just in time to see there was not only a tree in the path of her flying axe.

Hiccup was walking along the treeline not really paying attention during his afternoon walk when he picked up the sound of a weapon whizzing through the air. He looked up to see a Viking battle-axe flying straight at his face.

Thinking quickly he turned his head and upper body backwards to the left in order to avoid the flying weapon of splitting his face. The axe missed him and buried himself into the bark of a tree about two meters behind him.

"Whoa…" he exclaimed after observing the offending weapon where after he turned to find the weapon's owner. He was met with the sight of a slack-jawed blonde girl whom he had met the evening before.

"Is that one yours?" He asked the still bewildered girl with a calm voice.

"How did you do that?" Astrid finally said when she was over her initial shock.

"Did what?" Hiccup responded while pulling the axe out of the tree and giving it an experimental twirl. "Nice axe by the way."

"Uh thanks, but how did you dodge that? I thought for sure you would die." Astrid asked whilst looking at how he spun her axe in both hands like it was nothing.

"Oh, I just heard it coming." He replied nonchalantly.

"You heard it coming?!" Astrid exclaimed. She really underestimated this guy, who knows what he might be able to do.

"Yeah, look here is your axe back. Have a nice day." Hiccup said when he gave Astrid her axe back.

Astrid was taken aback. Just a minute ago she almost beheaded this guy and he didn't look even fazed. Then again you couldn't really see his face because he covered it but still.

"H...Hey where are you going?" She asked, scowling at herself for stuttering. 'What am I doing, Astrid Hofferson doesn't stutter!' She thought to herself.

"I'm taking a walk around the island, taking in the sights." Hiccup said. "Care to join me Miss Astrid?"

"Uh… Sure, I'll show you around." She answered. 'Maybe I'll learn something more about him.' She thought.

And so both set off on a walk around the village.

"You seemed a bit angry back there. May I ask what is bothering you?" Hiccup asked.

"It's nothing, just some people who are getting on my nerves." Astrid responded quickly.

"Alright, I understand. It's not my place to pry for your personal business." Hiccup said.

Astrid could admire this. A person who rather listens and doesn't on other people's personal lives. But she still wanted to know more about this mysterious Ryder.

"I've been wanting to ask you some questions actually." Astrid continued. "Are you ok with answering them?"

"That depends on what you're asking." Hiccup said with a smirk.

Now Astrid was getting amused. This guy had no light sense of sarcastic humour.

"Alright then, first of all I wanted to ask who you are and where you came from." Astrid began.

Hiccup then stopped and turned around facing her. They had now arrived on a small hill overlooking the village. Hiccup thought it was a nice view.

"What, is this an interrogation or something?" Hiccup laughed.

"Answer the question Ryder, and I'll make sure I won't use any violent interrogation methods." Astrid answered deciding to play along in the sarcasm game.

"Very well then." Hiccup said and he sat down on the grassy hill overlooking the village. Astrid followed his lead but kept a respectable distance.

'Can't have the village thinking the wrong things.' She thought.

"As you know my name is Ryder and I'm a traveller and a map maker from a land down south." He began.

"I noticed, you have a foreign accent and some outlandish clothes." Astrid cut in. She had also noticed the strange sword on the back of his hips but chose to remain silent.

"Indeed." He confirmed while pulling a small but thick sketchbook out of his belt and put it down in front of him.

The brown leather bound book was his mapping book. A collection of all the maps he made during his many travels and battles throughout the years. Of course the Vikings didn't need to know about the battles part nor that this was just a past time. They needed to believe this was his job.

Astrid looked at the small brown book. On first sight it looked like a notebook but the pages looked like they were folded. There was also an insignia on the front she didn't recognise, but it looked like some kind of four-winged dragon.

Hiccup then proceeded to open the little book and unfold the largest map he had. The one he would be working on. From the corner of his eye he could see Astrid's jaw drop in astonishment. He smirked for he had made an impression.

Astrid could only stare at the gigantic map that was unfolded before her. She looked over it and she could recognise something that looked like a part of the archipelago on the top northern part of the map. It was however small compared to the rest of it. The paper was filled with detailed drawings of multiple island groups and even entire continents that made her small island look like nothing. Sure she had seen the Viking maps of the archipelago but to this they were insignificant. In a way she suddenly felt really small.

"Quite a sight isn't it. I've been working on this for years." Hiccup said proudly.

Astrid eyes wandered over the parchment until her eyes caught something. There in the middle of the map on the continent south of the archipelago she found the insignia that was present on his book. She then looked at Hiccup and pointed to it.

"Here, that insignia, is that where you came from?" She asked.

Hiccup chuckled a bit. "Quite perceptive of you. I presume you recognise it from the front of the book?" Astrid nodded. "That is indeed where I got the book and started my journey."

"And where is that?" She asked. Curiosity had taken full control over her. She just kept getting more questions and questions. An interesting guy indeed.

"The continent is actually spanned by one nation. You've likely never heard about it, but it's called the Draconian Empire. That insignia is its crest." Hiccup said.

"No, can't say I've ever heard about it." She said.

Hiccup mentally signed in relieve, if she didn't know she couldn't be hostile to them. "It doesn't surprise me you don't." He continued. "We mostly keep to ourselves and have only recently started travelling inside the archipelago. It isn't strange news hasn't reached here yet."

"Seems likely." Astrid concluded.

Hiccup continued making a first sketched version of Berk for his map while Astrid just watched. She was mesmerised by his talent. He was even better then Bucket. She also noticed that he was left-handed.

"Do you always draw with your left hand?" She asked.

"Most of the time, I can use both hands but my left one is dominant." Hiccup replied.

"Huh… just like Hicca then. I'm wondering why you stood up for her yesterday?" Astrid asked before she realised what she said.

"Because it was the right thing to do. Bullying should never be socially accepted. But one should consider not helping even more disgraceful where I come from." Hiccup answered while looking at Astrid.

Astrid hung her head a bit. She knew he was right, he prove that the day before. She never helped because she was too scared for her reputation as a shield-maiden.

"But acknowledging your mistake and acting upon it is a sign of bravery." Hiccup continued when he saw her expression. He then placed a comforting hand on her left shoulder.

Astrid flinched for a moment but she made no attempt to remove the hand. She knew now that this guy had no bad intentions.

"Thank you." She finally said.

"My pleasure miss Astrid." Hiccup replied.

"Please, call me just Astrid." She requested. "There's no need to be so formal." She chuckled.

"Very well Astrid." Hiccup said.

"Say, Ryder? Why do you cover your face all the time?" Astrid suddenly asked.

Hiccup's eyes widened. This was one of the dreaded questions. Although he wasn't much known in the archipelago his face was still famous in the empire and he couldn't be compromised so soon in his mission.

But then he decided to risk it. "I don't like too much attention, the hood helps me stick to the shadows." He lied. "But I can take it off here I you'd like?"

"Sure, I've been trying to imagine what you look like for some time." Astrid replied.

"Well, hope I don't disappoint." Hiccup laughed. He then removed his face cloth and pulled back his hood.

Astrid was a little bit surprised when she saw what he looked like. She imagined him to look more exotic but he looked like he could really blend in in the archipelago. Though there was something familiar about him but she couldn't place it.

"By the look on your face I see I don't disappoint." Hiccup said with a lob-sided grin.

"No I just, imagined you different." Astrid answered.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Hiccup laughed.

They kept chatting for the remainder of the afternoon and learned a lot about each other. Although Hiccup was very careful not to give too many details about himself. He was enjoying the company for a change but he still had a job to do. And although it pained him to, he couldn't be distracted.

Astrid told about her dreams of being a shield-maiden and general life on Berk. She also told him about the more important villagers and the more annoying ones. Hiccup took all of this in carefully. In turn he told he was from a small family on the coast of Draconia and had been travelling for most of his life. He wisely left out the details of the war and when Astrid told him about the kill-ring and dragon training he kept silent of his loyalty's to the winged reptiles. Mentally he winced at the gruesome story of Astrid's final exam in dragon training and how she killed the monstrous nightmare. Luckily this was her only kill as she said the raids stopped abruptly not long after the final exam.

Hiccup mentally shuddered at this because he knew why the raids suddenly stopped. That battle still gave him nightmares sometimes. But he knew that behemoth had to die. For the good of the world.

It was not until the evening came around that they both separated for dinner and other duties. But not after Hiccup had promised Astrid to do a small sparring match. She really was obsessed with fighting.

Berk village centre, late evening, 266 ADF

Dinner had been uneventful. The only thing that happened was when the chief and his wife approached him and asked him a few questions about his stay on Berk. Hiccup gave him the mapmaker cover story and it seemed to satisfy both of them. He did show Valka a small portion of his maps because she was curious but otherwise no questions were asked.

Now he was walking through the village silently and sticking to the shadows. He wanted to see if he could find anything that would help him on his mission. And he would be lucky tonight.

Suddenly he heard hushed voices nearby. He acted on instinct and hid himself in the shadows behind a house, close enough to hear them but far enough not to be seen.

The two men seemed to be equally cautious when they walked. Soon they arrived at a house and knocked on the door. The door opened slightly and a few hushed words were spoken before the two men were allowed entrance and the door closed again.

This caught Hiccup's attention. Something shifty was going on over there.

He looked around and emerged from his hiding place when the coast was clear. He then made his way over to the house and looked for a spot to see what was happening inside. He then spotted a small open window with a sloped roof about halfway up the house. With quick and deadly precision he launched himself up the side of the building. He quickly was on top of the roof just above the window, all without making a sound. He peered slightly inside to see what was going on.

There were a lot more people inside than expected. He recognised a few faces he had seen in the great-hall but most prominent persona was the girl he spend the afternoon with. Astrid Hofferson.

"Alright settle down." Angus Hofferson spoke. "Let us begin our loyalist meeting."

All the Viking men and women sat down around the large table. Astrid included.

"We will begin our meeting with the recent developments. We believe the Jorgensons are up to something and everyone here swore an oath to protect Stoick's rule from any coup." Angus began. "Anyone wish to start?"

Hiccup listened carefully to everything that was said. It went from trade deals to secret communication outside the village. One thing was certain, the Jorgensons had something to do with this Hiccup concluded.

But the next question really got Hiccup's attention.

"What about that stranger that arrive here yesterday? He seems to have taken a liking in the chief's daughter." A random Viking asked.

"Yes indeed." Angus answered. "He has, but I don't know a lot about him actually."

"I do" Astrid suddenly said. The Vikings in the room were surprised and Hiccup mentally cringed on the roof. It was clear these people had the same objective as him. If they deemed him dangerous he would be in trouble.

"I've been hanging around with him this afternoon and… Stop giving me that look! We're just friends!" She suddenly shouted. Some Viking were giving her funny and knowing looks. "Anyway, I got to know him and I believe he is what he tells us to be. A map maker. He is from a land to the south, I've never heard from it before and I still don't know a lot about it but it is called Draconia."

"Draconia? Never heard about it. Maybe we should ask Fishlegs about it. if anyone knows he would." A Viking woman known as Ingrid Ingerman said.

Some Viking started murmuring and Angus spoke up. "Do you think he might be a threat to Stoick?"

"I don't know, he doesn't seem to be an assassin or something like that. I admit there is still a lot I don't know but from what I've heard from him he seems honourable." Astrid answered. "And his liking in Hicca seems to be on a friendship basis. If he would be involved in this coup, I believe he would be on Stoick's side."

"How do we know he isn't just pretending to get closer to Stoick to make his move?" Another Viking asked.

"I don't, it's a feeling. And if he turns out to be hostile I think we can take him. He's only armed with a small sword on the back of his hips." Astrid said.

"Hmm…I've seen that but I think we should wait and see what he does. For now assume him to be a neutral party. But I don't think we should underestimate him. All agreed?" Angus asked.

All present Vikings answered positively.

"Alright, meeting dismissed. Return to your homes and speak to no-one of this meeting." Angus concluded.

The Vikings proceeded to leave the house. They all knew what to do. What they didn't know was that a certain individual had heard their entire conversation. But by the time they came outside he was already long gone.

Hiccup got back to his room and pondered over what he had heard. He knew he had to be careful about his moves as he couldn't be seen as a threat to the chief's rule. But he also had acquired his first lead and he knew who was on Stoick's side.

He would now focus his efforts on the Jorgensons.

So that's it. This chapter took a little bit longer because I'm still struggling in making conversations and I couldn't get it quite right. Also this will be the last chapter for about a month for my exams are fast approaching and I really need all my time to study. Afterwards I will gladly continue with the story.

As for some plot points: the meeting at the end of the chapter consists of the clans loyal to Stoick's rule. They include the Hoffersons and the Ingermans minus Fishlegs because he can't keep his mouth shut. The Haddocks are still unaware of the dividing of their village. And Hiccup is the wildcard in the entire clusterfuck.

Reviews:

assasins death: well you're not wrong about that. Snotlout will get what he has coming but the reveal won't come yet. Or will it?

Josie: Uhhh… mission briefing and psychic abilities? No sorry that was a little mistake by me. You saw nothing!

Sara lovelymusic: Alright then now I only need a Capt. America, iron man, winter soldier, Spiderman, etc. Great movie by the way.

Guest: Abandonment issues anyone. But don't worry the story's plot is finished and only needs to be written down. I'll finish it.

Anyway that was chapter 6. I hope you like and as always I've been

Dismissed.