"Hey, Drago is a scary man. Okay, Hiccup can be scarier, but I deeply respect a man that can swing a pole arm around one-handedly." Eret defended while he kept out of way of her attacks, feeling the wind off of them as they all barely missed him. Winding up for a particularly vicious blow, she swung down at Eret's panting body…Or at least she tried to, but found the axe was not moving from its present position. Tugging harder and harder, she eventually looked over her shoulder to find that Hiccup had stopped her from swinging. She had figured he had gotten stronger over the years, but to this point? She had never imagined that anything like this would happen.

"I'm really gonna have to ask you not to kill Eret, seeing as he was our top spy."

"Wait, he was a spy for you?" Astrid asks, as Eret sighs nervously.

"It's kind of a long story…" Eret began, only to receive a raised eyebrow from Astrid. "I've already heard how everyone else got here. Now, you can tell me how this goofball recruited you." She said, jabbing a thumb in Hiccup's direction.

"I guess that only makes it fair." Eret sighed, sitting down on a mossy rock. Heather joined him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and resting her ear on his right one. "It all began when I was very young…"

~`~ Flashback~`~

"Dragon raid!" A man yelled, before a fireball consumed him, burning him to cinders instantly. I was scrambling back to my house, terrified that I would be too late. "Mom! Dad!" I cried, as I raced towards my house, only to see it consumed in flames. Collapsing to my knees, I stared in shock, blind to the other dangers around me. I stayed there, as a dragon landed on the burning husk of my home. It reared back, ready to attack me, or so I had thought. Then the next thing I knew it was dead, it's throat pierced by several arrows. Men swarmed into the village. Many held bows, while others held swords and clubs. I was roughly shoved to the ground.

"Who are you?" I hear a gruff voice ask me.

"Eret."

"What happened here?"

"Dragons attacked us."

"I can see that. So why are you still alive?"

"I wasn't inside any of the houses…They just…burned them all…" I said, my world fragmenting more and more as I tried to pick up the pieces that were left.

~`~End Flashback~`~

"The next thing I knew I was on a boat. The next ten years, I was taught how to trap dragons, kill dragons, skin dragons. I was taught where to see what parts and how to make the most amount of money that I could off of each dragon that I could. I was taught and trained that dragons were the enemy, both by what happened around me and what had happened in my past. That night haunted me forever. I always thought that there was more I could have done. I could have saved my parents. Then, Drago came into my life. He wanted me to catch dragons for him. I worked for him for two years and met every deadline. I did my best to catch any dragon I could. I cut down anyone who got in my way. I killed men and women alike. Then I missed one deadline and my life turned itself around."

~`~ Flashback~`~

"I swear I won't miss it again." I begged, my eyes rooted on the brand, glowing white-hot. "I swear, I won't."

"I know you won't." The mountain of a man replied, 6' and built of pure muscle. He thrust the brand into my chest, branding His mark into my chest forever, as well as burning the entire right side of my chest.

~`~End Flashback~`~

"I was blinded by the pain, the burning sensation engulfing the left side of my torso. But, the man returned with more. He poured a bucket of ice water on me, putting out the fire but effectively destroying many of the nerve endings in my skin."

At this, Eret pulled off his vest, showing the contorted flesh on his chest. Astrid could see that Heather's eyes were becoming slightly teary.

"The pain was so much that I passed out. When I woke up again, I was in a metal cell. They kept me there for a long time, I lost track of time. The next thing that I knew was happening, there was yelling outside. Then a man came running by. I went back to my loss of time, until I heard the door opening. I weakly looked up to see the man from earlier, who turned out to be Hiccup."

"I knew that he knew me, knew what I had done, and while he told me that I would never be able to forget my crimes, I could try to atone for them. He let me out and brought me back here. He helped me get and train my own dragon. And for the chances he has given me, I owe him a life debt."

Astrid sat there, absorbing his tale, but one thing still bugged her. "So you aren't working for Drago anymore?"

"No, that was two years ago. Berk not joining Drago was also the deadline I missed on new dragons." Eret explained, "I have been following Drago's movements since I have gotten a dragon. We are trying to figure out what he is doing. So far, he is still just kidnapping dragon. We have guessed that he is either killing them, or, in all probability, he is making an army-"

THOOM!

The sound was an impact in itself, burning through their heads and shaking the cavern, but, luckily, none of the hanging ice stalactites fell. "Oh no…" Hiccup whispered, the dread heavily apparent in his voice.

"Drago's found us."

Hiccup's statement hung in the air for a second before everyone took off running.

"Cloudjumper!" Valka yelled as she jumped over the nearby cliff, closely followed by Heather and Eret. A large 4-winged dragon swept by, catching Valka on it's back.

"Windcutter!" The Timberjack flew by, it's wingspan enormous and razor-sharp, creating a quiet, but high-pitched drone as it flew towards one of the openings, Heather flat against it's back.

"Skullcrusher!"A dragon that looked even more heavily armored than a Gronkle lumbered into view, before flying off faster than seemed physically possible. Eret landed on the saddle before urging the dragon onward, drawing his twin daggers.

Hiccup and Astrid joined in not far behind them. As they all streamed out of the opening, the other dragons that called the place home joined them, streaming out of the wall and taking up their own positions around an outcropping. Astrid's eyes adjusted to the light, before seeing the fleet in front of her. Several ships of wood and metal splayed out in front of them, hurling rocks and fire at them. "Heather, Eret! Try to free some of the dragons!" Hiccup called, "Astrid, Mom, and myself will handle their three commanders!"

"Who are the commanders?" Astrid asked Hiccup.

"You'll know them when you see them." Was his response.

And she realized what he meant by they would know them when she saw them. In the distance, astride a Whispering Death, was Alvin the Treacherous and beside him, atop his Skrill, was Dagur the Deranged. The last thought that Astrid had, before Stormfly charged Alvin, was 'I thought there was supposed to be a third. Where is this "Drago"?'

(A/N: Aaand that seems like a good place to stop. I'm so sorry that this is so late. I said I would update in February and it is now past mid-March, but here it is. Thank you to those of you who are still reading. And as always, please leave a review if you saw something you liked or did not like. I love seeing comments that you guys make on this. I will try to answer any questions you guys have about this. I know this was not one of my better chapters, but I'm sticking this up at midnight here. And I may be starting a new story soon. I will say nothing else besides "shadow", so that should keep it mysterious. Yeah, thank you for reading and until next time, this is YW20, signing off.)