Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD, but I wish I did. Anyone want to help me start a kickstarter to buy the rights?

Chapter 8: Dragon-napped!

Previously:

It wasn't until the next night that the village of Berk began to wonder where Star was. Having gotten used to Star leaving the village while Toothless was gone they didn't question her disappearance to much. Iona was the one who discovered the broken tree branches and the signs of the attack two days later. A search party was sent out, but by then the fleet of ships that had come to steal Star away was already long gone. The fastest dragon Berk had was sent out to try and get to Hiccup to relay the news.

The messenger and his dragon met up with Toothless and the other dragons as they were making their way back to Berk.

"What's going on?" Hiccup asked as the messenger and his dragon flew in close to him and Toothless.

"It's Star, Chief Hiccup," The messenger said quickly. "She's missing."

That simple statement was enough to send Toothless instantly hurtling through the sky. Hiccup pressed himself close to Toothless's back as the night fury pushed himself to his fastest speeds to get to Berk as quickly as possible. The gravity of the situation was revealed to Toothless and Hiccup when they finally touched down in the village.

Star had been kidnapped.

Toothless snarled in anger as he was told what the villagers had found. His eyes became slits and it was all Hiccup could do to keep Toothless from losing control. "Show us what you found." Hiccup commanded the search team. Since he hadn't even dismounted Toothless was back in the air within seconds followed by the dragons and their riders that had found the scene of the attack.

The search team led Toothless and Hiccup north. They knew the island better then the rest of the village so they knew exactly how close they were to the glade when the search team finally motioned for them to land.

The largest sign that something had happened were the broken tree branches that littered the area. There were also gashes in the trees where the bolas had flown past. Footprints and drag marks covered the ground and led the way over to a path that led down to a beach not to far away.

Toothless angrily scented every mark he found and snarled when he found the spot where Star had been captured. The mix of her sweet scent with the bitter tang of metal filled his nose and he growled.

"Eret..." Hiccup turned to the previous dragon trapper. "What did you and Skullcrusher find?" Hiccup knew that if anyone could find Star it was the bloodhound of dragons Skullcrusher.

The tall dark haired Eret scowled angrily. "We tracked Star's scent a few hours to the south, but then Skullcrusher lost the scent."

Hiccup frowned at Eret. Skullcrusher was a Rumblehorn and could track anything for days. How had the tracker class dragon lost Star's scent?

"I don't know how Hiccup. I think there was something else in the air." Eret said before Hiccup could even ask. "Skullcrusher had her scent and then he got disoriented."

Berk's chief cursed and fingered the hilt of his sword for a moment. Whoever these people that had kidnapped Star knew what they were doing. There was very little doubt in his mind who had done it, but he had no way of knowing how to find Havardr. He did know that Johann knew Havardr; which was a better lead then nothing at all.

"Skullcrusher." Toothless looked at the larger dragon with his narrowed gaze. "What happened?" he demanded with an angry hiss.

The larger rumblehorn looked at the night fury warily. He, like every other dragon, knew how possessive a night fury was. "Something was masking her scent. It filled my nose and blocked out everything else." He'd never smelt anything like it before. It reminded him of pepper, but it was stronger and more potent.

Toothless locked around. "What about these other scents?" He demanded as he circled the entire site. "Are there any you can track?"

Skullcrusher took a deep breath and began sorting through the scents that he took in. It was easy to weed out the ones that belonged to the Berkians and their dragons. Once he had he focused on the ones of the strangers. "One of the scents remains on the island." He told Toothless after a few seconds.

Toothless grew tense and his rage built up to where his blue fire glowed through his black scales. "Take me to him."

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked as the night fury turned and bolted into the forest with Skullcrusher. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. "Skullcrusher has a scent! Follow them!" He yelled at the search party.

Several of the dragons whose riders were still in their saddles jumped into the air to follow the pursuers from the air. Astrid pulled Hiccup up onto Stormfly so Hiccup wouldn't get left behind.

An angry screech from Toothless told everyone that he and Skullcrusher had caught someone. By the time Stormfly was able to land Toothless had tackled the stranger and was pinning him down. His eyes were slits and his teeth were less then an inch from the man's neck. Despite that the man seemed irrationally calm.

"Where did you take her!?" The furious night fury demanded as his claws dug into the ground under the man. "TELL ME!" Toothless snapped his teeth at the stranger as his rage built up. Why wasn't this human afraid of him?

Toothless quickly got down from Stormfly and hurried over to Toothless. "Whoa there buddy! Don't kill him!" Toothless snarled up at Hiccup, but otherwise didn't move. "We still need him to answer our questions." Hiccup's voice turned cold as he stared down at the calm man that was being pinned by Toothless. "Now then," Hiccup knelt down next to the man. "You will answer our questions yes?"

The man stared at Hiccup silently. "In time." He said cryptically.

Hiccup frowned at the man and had to put a hand on Toothless to keep the night fury from beheading him. "Get him to one of the jail cells." Hiccup commanded one of the warriors that had arrived. "I want a guard on him at all times."

Getting Toothless to let the man up was difficult and even when the man was in chains Toothless continued to snarl at him. "Come on buddy, we have one other lead to check out." He nodded to Eret as the man mounted up on Skullcrusher. "Let's get back to the village. I have an idea."

The sound of lapping waves was the first thing that Star heard as she came to. She groaned in pain as her head pounded from a migraine. Star tried to reach up to rub her head, but chains tying her legs together kept her from moving them. Panic started to set in as she realized her wings and her tail were bound to keep her from even attempting flight. Star wanted to scream and yell, but the clamp over her snout kept her mouth shut.

Star's breathing was fast and heavy as she tried to stand up. With her legs tied together she had zero balance so she toppled over into a wall of iron bars. Star's ear flaps went up and she turned her head to get a better look at her cage. Whoever her captors were they'd been smart. The four walls of her cage were made up of thick metal bars spaced close together so Star couldn't even get a paw through. The floor and roof of her cage were made up of thick solid metal. The only bright side of her cage was that there was enough room for her to stand up and walk a few steps...that is if she could even stand up.

Star struggled against her chains and she slapped her tail against one side of her cage in anger. The solid impact brought tears to her eyes and she didn't do it again.

"You're finally awake." Star looked over towards a set of stairs sharply. "You've been out for at least two days." The tall black haired man walked over to a stool that was set up a few feet away from Star's cage.

Star glared at the man. She recognized him as the man with the horn that had knocked her out. "Bastard." She cursed at him knowing he wouldn't understand what she was saying.

Havardr watched Star silently for a few minutes after her small outburst. "We have a long trip ahead of us." He informed her calmly. "So I might as well explain a few things to you."

Star narrowed her eyes at him and tried to snarl through the clamp that was keeping her mouth shut. She brought her snout as close to her paws as she could and tried to push it off of her snout.

Havardr watched in curiosity as the white night fury carefully rubbed at the muzzle clamp with her bound paws. He was intrigued to find that she was actually examining it as she tried to remove it. "If you promise not to snap at me I'll take the muzzle clamp off." Havardr said as he reached into a pocket and pulled the keys free to wave at her.

Star growled at Havardr, but in the end she stopped moving long enough for him to reach through the bars to unlock the muzzle clamp. As soon as it was off she snarled at the man, but didn't snap at him.

"There that wasn't so hard was it?" Havardr asked as he reclaimed his seat on the stool. "Now then. Do you want an explanation or food first?" He asked just as Star's stomach grumbled. "Food it is. I'll return shortly with some fish."

"Traitorous stomach." Star grumbled as she stretched her poor jaw muscles. She looked at the metal chains that were wrapped firmly around her paws and then extended her teeth. With an irritated sigh she started gnawing at the chains in the hope that they might be poorly made. After a few minutes of trying to chew the chains Star stopped to see if anything had changed. She glared at the chains when they seemed undamaged by her sharp teeth.

Up on deck Havardr filled a hand basket with fish that had been recently caught. "How are we doing?" He asked the captain as the man walked past.

"We're making good time thanks to the sea dragons." The captain said as he pointed to a set of chains that were attached to the ship and leading into the water. "They've agreed to drag the ships for a few days, but after that we'll be on our own again."

Havardr nodded. "See if we can bargain for a little longer. We need to get as much distance between us and Berk as possible."

With that taken care of Havardr went back below deck. "Now then little one, here's your lunch." He carefully slid the basket of fish through the bars of Star's cage so she could eat.

Star hesitantly sniffed at the fish she'd been given.

"It's not poisoned." Havardr said with a sigh. "Why would we poison you after we worked so hard to capture you?" He pointed out.

The white night fury sneered at Havardr, but in the end she did pick up a fish and swallow it down. She suppressed a shiver of pleasure as she realized that the fish she was eating happened to be Icelandic cod.

"Only the best for such an important guest." Havardr said as he watched Star eat with a little more gusto.

After a few fish Star paused in her eating to look at Havardr. "Well?" She asked as she tried to gesture with her paws for Havardr to explain himself.

Havardr looked at Star's chained paws and then let out a sigh. "You probably won't believe half of what I have to say to you Morning Star, but everything I will tell you is the truth."

Star rolled her eyes at the man. Whatever he had to say meant very little to her. All she wanted was to be returned home so she could be with Toothless again. "Toothless will find me." She mumbled between bites. "And when he does you're toast."

Havardr shook his head as he listened to Star's grumbles and threatening noises. "I'm sure whatever you are planning to do to me will be most gruesome." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Now then, do you want an explanation or not?"

Silence stretched between Star and Havardr for a moment before he nodded. "Alright then." Havardr got up and went over to a crate not far from Star's cage. "Have you ever wondered why you were raised by a human woman and her daughter?" Havardr asked as he opened up the crate to pull out a smaller box.

Star snorted and rolled her eyes. To be honest she'd never questioned that little fact. Ever since she could remember Brighid and her mother had been the only family she'd ever had.

"15 years ago in my homeland a beautiful white egg was laid by the most graceful and magnificent white night fury ever seen by my people." Havardr said slowly as he carefully lifted the remains of a broken dragon egg out of the small box. The bottom half of the egg was still intact while it was missing it's top half. The surface of the egg was a soft white color with a strange blueish tint. "That mother night fury was almost a thousand years old when she laid that egg and it would be her last before she died." There was a sadness in his voice as he told Star this story.

"You and the other night fury in Berk are not the only night furies in this world Star," Havardr sat back down on his stool. He cradled the broken egg in his hands.. "There's an entire nest full of night furies. They live alongside the humans of my homeland in peace."

"Lies!" Star hissed at Havardr. "Toothless told me there were no others!"

Havardr waited a moment for Star to stop hissing at him before he continued. "On the day that the egg hatched, the baby dragon within was kidnapped by one of the hatchery caretakers." He watched Star intently. "Myself and several others were tasked to track that woman down and rescue the baby night fury."

Star had a feeling she was not going to like where this story was going.

"We tracked down the caretaker, but she'd already sold the baby night fury." Havardr cursed softly to himself. "The woman was executed for her treason and we continued our search."

Star growled at Havardr. Had that woman they'd executed been her mother?

"We tracked down the buyer...but we were too late." Very carefully Havardr set the egg down as close to Star as the cage would allow. He waited until she hesitantly sniffed at the egg. "The ship the buyer had been on...sank in a storm. We feared the worse for the night fury baby."

Star sniffed at the egg. The scent was very faint, but there was something familiar about it.

"For years we thought the baby was dead and then one day a rumor came to us about a lone woman and her daughter. They had a strange white dragon with them."

Star started growling at lone woman and her daughter had to have been her mother and sister. "What did you do to my mother?!" Star demanded angrily.

"I went with a team far to the north to confront the woman. When we found her though she'd already sent her daughter away with the white night fury." Havardr stood up and left to head to the deck then leaving Star alone for several long painful minutes. When he finally returned there was a cloaked person with him. Star could see the hem of a dress under the cloak.

"That woman we found told us of how she'd found a white dragon washed up on shore and how it was near death. She told us of how she raised that little dragon as her own and protected it." Havardr motioned for the woman to step forward.

Star watched with apprehension as the woman slowly walked up to the cage. Her eyes narrowed as the woman slowly reached up to the hood of her cloak. Her eyes went wide as the hood fell back to reveal an elderly woman.

"Look how you've grown!" The woman said weakly as she knelt down on the ground. "My beautiful Morning Star."

"Mother?!" Star pressed up against the cage to try and get closer to her mother to sniff at her. It'd been ten years, but Star would never forget her mother's scent.

Elizabeth smiled and reached into the cage to gently stroke Star's head. "When they found us...I thought they were Drago's dragon trappers." She said weakly as she rubbed at Star's ears. "By the time I learned the truth...you and Brighid were long gone. No one could find you!" Tears slipped out of her eyes and down her cheeks. "Oh my beautiful Star; I thought I had lost you!"

Elizabeth stood and looked at Havardr. "Is the cage really necessary now that she knows?" She begged weakly. She'd been old before Star and Brighid had left, but now she was feeling her age.

Havardr nodded sadly. "There's a lot more she needs to know and I can't be sure she'll stay here...even with you here."

"Mother. Mother I'm sorry!" Star babbled as she looked up at Elizabeth. "Brighid died! She's gone. We thought you had been killed!" She said quickly. "We should have gone back for you! I'm so sorry!"

Elizabeth knelt back down to try and comfort the obviously distressed Star. "Sh-h, it's alright Star. Everything is alright now."

"After we heard Elizabeth's story we took her back to my homeland. She was rewarded and given a home there for her years of caring for you." Havardr offered the stool to the old woman so she could sit more comfortably. "Since you'd survived once we weren't going to risk assuming your death again."

"They sent people everywhere looking for you Star!" Elizabeth said quickly. "I didn't understand why they would be looking for you at first Star, but everything was explained to me later on."

Star looked from her mother to Havardr in confusion. She looked down at the egg shell and very slowly she put the pieces together. "So I'm the stolen night fury..." Toothless had told her he'd never seen a white night fury before. "But why am I so important that you would kidnap me? Steal me away from my home?" She looked up at Havardr not expecting him to answer since humans couldn't understand dragon speech.

Havardr took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "To answer your question Morning Star I have to tell you the story of my homeland." His words were slow and measured as his acid green eyes met Star's yellow ones. "And you need to know that the history of night furies is a very important part of it."

Star's eyes narrowed as she stared at Havardr. Suddenly he was talking to her as if he understood what she was saying.

Elizabeth gently rubbed the side of Star's head. "Havardr and his people can talk to dragons Star." She said softly. "And it's all because of your ancestor; The first white night fury."

A/N

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I forgot how much fun cliff hangars were to write. There were so many places I wanted to stop this chapter, but I wanted to get past 3,000 words first.