He slowly banked his dragon towards the small island, the Skrill calmly flying through the dark, cold nights. Up ahead he could see their camp, which they had set up in a small clearing. He could see the small light from a fire, they had to keep it small or the light would shine through the treeline and could alert ships of their position.

The dragon went into a slow and subtle dive, using his wings to keep his speed relatively low as he headed for the clearing. With a few last strong beats of its wings the beast landed softly on its back paws, before also letting his wings touch the ground, using them as arms.

He climbed of his dragon, loosening the straps of the saddle before removing it. He walked towards his partner who sat next to the fire, roasting a fish above the small flames.

"How did it go?" Hiccup asked as he turned his fish a bit, inspecting how it slowly turned from its blue colour to a crispy brown. "Not bad." Ragnar said as he put laid the saddle down next to a tree. "Not bad at all."

"Did you learn anything useful?" Hiccup asked as he stuck the stick into the ground, before grabbing a new, fresh one and handing it to Ragnar. "Anything about their plans or attacks?"

"I learned of some information of attacks." Ragnar said as he accepted the fish and lowered it over the fire. "Nothing about Mjolnir though." He added as he also turned his fish to let it roast.

"We should stop calling it that." Hiccup said, statisfied with his fish he put it down on a cloth next to him. "If someone manages to sneak up on us and listen we could be in a lot of trouble." "No one is going to be able to sneak up on us." Ragnar said with a chuckle. "We're assassins, aren't we?"

"I know," Hiccup answered with a smile as he pulled a piece of meat from his grilled fish. "But it never hurts to be careful, does it?"

"No it doesn't." Ragnar said as he inspected his fish, deciding that it needed some more time above the flames. He watched the red flames lick his fish, turning it a few shades browner.

"What did you learn about their attacks?" Hiccup asked as he prepared another fish for roasting, slicing it open at the bottom with a knife to remove the intestines. "Anything we could use?"

"I learned that they attack in two different ways." Ragnar explained as he removed his fish from the fire, also laying it in the cloth. "The first one is just to destroy the village, first they bombard it, and then they pillage and destroy the remnants."

"Like the Maceface clan?" Hiccup asked, picking another piece of fish from the bone.

"Yes, exactly like the MaceFaces." Ragnar said, as he now also picked pieces from his fish. "Except their used to winning, and not one of their leaders being killed."

"Yea, that must have been quite a shock." Hiccup chuckled, neither of them enjoyed taking lives, but it was a necessity. "But what was the other way tactic?"

"Their second tactic is to send a small group to evaluate the island, and they don't do this sneakily." Ragnar explained. "They just send a group out whilst their warships lay at their coast. If the group doesn't signal back it means that the ships should attack."

"They sound like crazy and dangerous people." Hiccup said as he ate another piece of fish. "Do you have any ideas on what their next target could be?"

"Yes, and you're not going to like it." Ragnar said, earning Hiccup's attention. "It's Berk."

Hiccup swallowed his fish and covered his face in his hands, he let out a loud sigh. "Gods dammit!" He cursed loudly, earning the attention of the lazily resting dragons behind him. "How long until the attack begins?" He asked Ragnar.

"I think they'll arrive there in about two days, and will probably attack at night." He explained. "They'll probably use the second tactic, since they are hoping to conquer Berk, not destroy it."

"Oh, well that's a relief!" Hiccup said sarcastically. "Berk is a good dag flight from here." He said, before adding. "If the weather is kind."

"I know this is difficult for you." Ragnar said softly. "I can go alone if you want to."

Hiccup looked at Ragnar, seeing the worry in his eyes. "I'm coming with you." He said. "We will have an advantage at night."

"I was thinking that one of us destroys the fleet while the other one takes on the group in the village." Ragnar explained. "They deserve a peaceful death." Vikings could be quite violent towards people invading their homeland, and as soon as the group would lose the fleet that kept them alive through threats they would be ripped apart by the inhabitants of Berk, if not by their dragons.

"I'll take the town." Hiccup said. "You take the ships."

"Are you sure?" Ragnar asked with worry. "I mean, are you sure you can handle it?"

"Banished or not, they are still my own people." Hiccup yelled, before letting his tone grow calm again. "They may have abandoned me, but I'm not abandoning them."

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't help them Hiccup." Ragnar said slowly, reassuring Hiccup of his intentions. "I'm just afraid that something will go wrong."

"I'll be fine." Hiccup said calmly. "But thanks for the consideration."

"No problem, you know why I do it." Ragnar said as he ripped of another part of his fish. "I'm too lazy to learn how to fly Toothless if something happens to you."

Behind the fire two large green eyes opened, the dragon having grown curious upon hearing its name. He raised his head a bit and looked at the two humans, who were still chatting and laughing as they ate their dinner. Silly humans.

They quickly finished their meals and prepared some more fish for the journey. Ragnar stood up and started breaking their camp down, while Hiccup spread the embers of the fire wider to let it die.

Ragnar had the tent rolled up in a matter of seconds, thanks to a clever design from Hiccup. He put it down next to his saddle and walked over to Hiccup, who was still poking the fire with a stick.

"Hiccup." He called out, which earned him a look from his friend. He could see a bit of worry in his eyes, but also joy. Joy that he would finally return home, at least for a little bit. He stuck his hand out, offering him help for getting up. He took it and Ragnar pulled him off the ground.

"Now let's get those Templars." Ragnar said as he pulled Hiccup of the ground, before saying "May the emptiness of knowledge about their enemies be filled with fear of the unknown,"

Hiccup looked his friend in the eyes, before adding. "For fear can be stronger than any blade ever made."

The wind howled through the trees, making them sway gently in the breeze. The Berkian dragon riders were enjoying their day off, and decided to show their newest member, a girl from the Maceface clan, a tour.

"And here's the new and improved arena." Astrid said proudly as their group walked through the gates. "Now also accommodated for dragon races." "It's amazing." Heather said in awe. "I'm amazed that you are able to live with dragons this well."

"Well, it wasn't without sacrifice." Fishlegs said sadly, to which Heather nodded, she had heard the story about the boy who gave his life for this, the peace between men and dragon. She would be lying if she said that she didn't admire it.

"Do you think I can train a dragon?" Heather asked out of the blue, she had been admiring the winged creatures since her first visit to Berk, but her own island was still to wary of the beasts. But now that she would live on Berk, she was dying to get her own dragon.

"We have a local Shockjaw that you might like." Fishlegs said. "It's used to people being around, and you can earn a bit extra if you go fishing with it."

Heather thought for a second, she had heard of Shockjaws, they were like Skrills from the ocean. She never saw one up close, since they preferred to stay away from villages and fishing spots. She hadn't given the thought about which dragon she would like much thought. "Alright." Heather said. "I'll take it."

"Let's go then!" Astrid said as she clapped her hands together, she wanted to help Heather get a dragon for two reasons. The first one was that she liked the idea of another rider, one which could raise the intelligence of the group a bit. The second one was that she already knew how to fly, and she didn't want her going out with Stormfly again.

They started to walk towards the other side of the island, where a small beach of pebbles was an often used place for dragons to rest, since it blocked most of the wind. The gang stood at the high the top of the small cliffs that blocked access to the beach. It didn't have any value to the Berkians so they hadn't built the usual wooden ramps to it. They peered over the edge and quickly spotted the green-blue Shockjaw resting there, half in the water and half on the beach.

"There she is." Astrid said as she peered down at the beach. "There, in the surf." She pointed at the dragon and Heather followed her hand, finding the Tidal dragon resting peacefully.

"She's beautiful." She said as she inspected the dragon. It shimmered slightly as the sun reflected of its wet skin. Heather turned to Astrid. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"We head down on Stormfly, you approach her, she should be used to humans, and let her push her snout in the palm of your hand." Astrid explained. Heather listened carefully, not wishing to lose a limb or two. "Alright." She said confidently. "Let's do this."

"You guys stay here." Astrid said to the rest of the group. "We don't want to scare her." The rest of the group sighed but agreed, a startled dragon was a dangerous dragon.

They mounted Stormfly, the blue dragon cooing at the extra weight on her back. She walked to the edge and calmly glided down towards the beach. She flapped one more time before letting her claws sink into the beach, pulling some rocks upwards. The girls dismounted the Nadder and slowly checked their surroundings. A few of the dragons had taken notice of them, and some had flown away or retreated further into the water. The Shockjaw had also spotted the two, but was still calmly lying in the water.

"Okay, now calmly approach the dragon." Astrid slowly began. "Make sure it doesn't see you as a threat." Heather slowly stepped towards the Shockjaw, to which the dragon shrunk into itself defensively, softly growling. "Make yourself smaller." Astrid whispered from behind her, and Heather did so. She went a bit through her knees and bend her back forwards. It wasn't comfortable, but it worked, since the dragon stopped growling and now looked at her with a confused expression, its head cocked slightly to the right.

"Easy girl," Heather began, taking small, gentle steps to approach the dragon. "I'm not going to hurt you." The dragon slowly relaxed, and took a friendlier and less defensive pose. "See, everything is alright." Heather said as she took another careful step towards the dragon. She remembered the things Astrid had taught her so far and once she was just a few steps from the dragon she turned her head away and extended her hand.

She was terrified, although she had already befriended a dragon before, that was a docile, tamed dragon, and she had something that the beast could eat instead of her. Now she stood alone, even if something went wrong and Astrid tried to help she would never reach her in time. She closed her eyes, her breath coming ragged, almost panicky.

But then she felt a light jolt going through her arm, a small electric discharge, she had felt it before, as a kid she would sometimes shuffle across the carpet while wearing woollen socks and then shock her parents. This was the same. The shock was quickly replaced by a wet and slimy feeling, like holding a fish. She looked back at her hand, which was now resting on the snout of the tidal dragon.

"Hey there girl." She said slowly, now wanting to scare the dragon of now. "How are you?" The dragon grew more comfortable at her speech and started to circle around her, head-butting her and scratching. "Calm down there girl." Heather giggled. "Easy there." She looked over to Astrid, who had a big smile on her face. "So what now?"

"Give her a name." Astrid said. "Something catchy." Heather looked at her dragon, which was still walking around her. "Girl, sit still for a second, will you." Heather said with giggles, and to her surprise the reptile listened. "Well I can't keep calling you girl." Heather said as she inspected the happy and active dragon in front of her, noticing again how the sun reflected of the smooth, wet scales. "How about, Shimmer?" She asked the dragon, which happily started to bounce up and down. Signalling that she liked the name.

"It fits her." Astrid said laughing at the playful beast. "Want to go back up?" Heather looked at her in shock, she had flown dragons before, even alone, but flying a just tamed one, all by herself, that seemed like a bit much. "I, I'm not sure if I'm able to." She said as she looked at the, now her, dragon. "Do you think you can?" She asked Shimmer, who happily bobbed her head up and down to signal that she was good to go, before walking to Heather to poke her head between Heather's legs.

"Wow there." Heather exclaimed as she was lifted from the ground, only to hear Astrid chuckle in the background. "Looks like she learned from watching the other riders." Astrid joked as Heather lay on the fins of the dragon. "Shall we?"

Heather had her hands wrapped safely around the neck of the dragon and her legs clamped underneath its wings. "I don't think that's a good," She couldn't finish her sentence as her dragon flew up into the air only to land on the top part of the cliffs again, safe and sound.

Heather lay panting and shocked on the back of the Shockjaw. "That was amazing." She said slowly, almost traumatized. "Let's do that again!" The dragon prepared to lift off again but was stopped by Astrid. "No no no, wait a second." She said, stopping the dragon before it lifted off again. "You need a saddle first, something to hold on to."

Heather looked at Astrid and slowly realized how slippery the dragon was, she also became aware of the slight tingle in her arms and fingers, basically anything that touched the dragon. "That might be useful." She said as she slit of her Dragon. "Where can I get one?"

"Well someone is excited." Astrid said mockingly. "You need to get one made, at Gobber's shop." She said the words with just enough hesitation for Heather to realize something was wrong. She looked at Astrid with a questioning look, enough for her to realise her slip up.

She sighted loudly, looking around her for listeners, finding none but Heather. "He used to work there." She said sadly. "Hiccup was Gobber's apprentice." Heather looked at her new friend with worry. "If what you've told of him is true, then I'm sure he's fine." She said, hoping to reassure Astrid a bit. "Probably destroyed an entire island, but he will be fine."

Astrid let a chuckle escape and a smile crept up her face. "Yea, wherever he is he's probably in trouble." She said as she looked out to the sea, the sun began to set slowly and low hanging fog slowly crept towards the island. "But he'll make it, he always did."

She let her eyes linger the horizon, calmly taking in the scene. "Let's get to the forge." She said.

Gobber was as usual, hammering away on a soon to be part of a saddle. He stopped for a second to use a piece of cloth to swipe some sweat of his face, it sure was hot in the forge. He heard the door open and found a familiar blonde with a not so familiar raven haired girl. "Well, 'ello Astrid, and, Heather, right?" He greeted the two, Heather confirming her name with a slight nod. "Wha' brings ya' to the forge today?"

"We need a saddle." Astrid said softly. "A shockjaw, she's waiting outside." Gobber looked at the girl and casually walked over to a table, picking up a large book. "See this?" He said as he handed the book to Astrid, who almost gave in underneath the weight. "That's a list of saddles that need to be made."

"Well, since you always help the academy first." Astrid began. "I was hoping you could do our new recruit a favour." She gestured to Heather, who was leaning from one feet to the other. Gobber sighed loudly. "Bring the beast in, I'll measure him." He said as he walked over to the lever that accessed the hatch for dragons to enter the workshop. "But this stays between you and me." "Deal!" Astrid and Heather exclaimed as they walked off towards the now opening hatch, calling Shimmer to come in.

"Now what do we have here?" Gobber said as he grabbed measuring tape from the wall. " 'This a new one?" He inspected the dragon as he took measurements. Pulling his hand away quickly one he received the first shock. "Alright, thick leather it is." He mumbled as he continued his work. Measuring every part of the dragon. "Hmm, I'm guessing the saddle has to be water-resistant, seeing as this is a tidal class." Heather listened in on the conversation as Astrid responded. "Yea, we don't want rust on it." She said as she looked at the smith working.

"Alright, I think I'll have it ready tomorrow or the day afterwards." Gobber said calmly. "That is, if nothing comes between it." He scribbled the information down on a paper, laying it down on a table. "Thanks Gobber." Astrid said as she motioned for Heather to follow her out of the shop. They heard a faint. "No problem." From inside but they were already busy. "So what do you want to do now?" Astrid asked as she and Heather walked through the streets. "We haven't eaten yet."

Heather heard her stomach grumble at the mentioning of food. "Good one." She said she began a jog to the Mead Hall.

Astrid had brought her book with her again, and she and Heather were slowly flipping through the pages. They had already looked at hidden blades and Heather had explained what she had seen from them. What really caught her attention was the picture of the assassin in the book.

"The first one looked like that!" She said as she pointed to the picture. "He wore grey robes and a hood." Astrid listened carefully to her, when she combined this information with the information from her book she this man had to be a master.

"And the other one?" Astrid asked. "What did he look like?" Heather looked at the picture as she took a bit of her chicken. "Well." She began, before swallowing her food, making it easier to talk. "He wore dark, leather armour. And looked nothing like this guy." She said as she tapped her finger on the book. "But he had the robe and the blades so I'm sure he's an assassin too."

"What did the blades look like?" Astrid asked, not sure if this was also a master or just maybe a totally different breed of assassins. "Anything special there?" Heather swallowed another part of her chicken. "They were black, as in, totally dark and stuff." She explained. "And one of them could become a hook or something since he used it to climb buildings."

A thought circled in Astrids mind, maybe he was a different breed, he sounded totally different from the regular assassin, so maybe he wasn't the dangerous and lethal 'Master Assassin'. But her thoughts were broken by Heather. "They were equal though." She said. "Backed each other up and gave each other orders, no leader or follower."

Astrid cursed to herself, this could prove to become a problem.

AN:

So, a bit shorten than the previous two, but that's because there's a large fight scene coming up and because I'm a lazy sumbitch who decided to wait until the last possible moment to start writing the chapter for this week, I hope everyone can forgive me.

The poll on my page has been reset. Now you can only vote for one choice, so that I have a better idea of the most whished story. If you have already votes, I'm sorry, but you'll have to again. :D

Take Care!

R4y