The Dragon King: The Eye and the Alpha

by Threni

It has been one year since the events of "The Dragon King" and life on Berk is a good as can be expected. And then one day they receive a message from a mysterious tribe ordering Hiccup to return to them something he swears he never stole. What follows is series of adventures and discoveries that will forever change their lives...and could also destroy them.

18. Chapter 18

I Own Nothing

All Rights Reserved

I would really and sincerely like to thank the people who have constantly reviewed my story, especially LucyBC1900, TheFuriousNightFury, and Itban Fuyu. Without your encouragement I would have pulled the plug on this several months ago.

Now to respond to the Guest who posted this review, which I will copy verbatim:

"First of all, how dare you not have finished this story?
Secondly, absolutely amazing story, keep up the good work!
Thirdly, are we expecting a third part to the Saga? (Pleasesayyespleasesayyespleasesayyes)" [sic]

For the first point, I don't exactly know what you expect of me. I'm writing this story as fast as I can, but writing two 400+ page stories within 2 years is not exactly easy, and I do have other things I like to do. At the moment I estimate there are some 7-9 chapters left to write.

For the second point, thank you very much for your encouragement!

As for the third point, I have given some thought to a third story and decided against writing one, for numerous reasons. Some are personal or go into spoiler territory, but a few deciding factors are:

1. I still don't have a clue of what it would be about, and I would rather stop this series before things go downhill with recycled plotlines and half-baked decisions. I don't want an equivalent to Godfather Part 3.

2. As just pointed out, these big stories are really time-consuming to plot out and write. Sooner or later I doubt I'll have much time for Fanfiction and I don't want to start a sequel I may never finish. That would not be fair to anybody.

Chapter 18

Where to Go?

There was just one problem, and Viggo realized it when he was looking over the Dragon Eye.

"Where are the lenses?"

"The what?" Dagur asked. He had not been listening.

"The lenses! The pieces of glass that contain the actual information! Where are they? Eret! Where'd he go? Dagur, fetch him at once!" Viggo turned away, his mind racing furiously. Without the lenses the Dragon Eye was useless to him and he knew it.

Eret was pulled over by Dagur and Viggo chillingly repeated his question. "Oh, by Gods, I'm sorry Viggo, I clean forgot!" he reached into Heather's bag and pulled out the wad of paper. "I think this is the map to the last lens."

"And where are the others?" Viggo demanded as he grabbed the paper. It was soaking wet but legible enough. "Adoncia said there are 25 of them! What happened to the other 24?"

"I…don't know,"

"The Defenders would know," Ryker said. "And so might those Riders. They probably hid them somewhere."

Viggo turned away, deep in thought. Then he brightened up and everyone around him breathed again. "This will work to our advantage! If any Riders and Defenders are still alive, they'll be coming after us now. We only need to catch one and we'll be able to name our own terms—and this time they'll adhere to them! We'll get the other lenses soon."

"How about we go and catch them now?" Ryker asked eagerly.

"A few of us will," Viggo replied. "Those riders and dragons must be in weak conditions. Send five ships to search the area for them. But I want everyone captured for the moment. No killing yet."

"Why not?" Demanded Hognose. "I wanna kill somethin'!"

"Because, fool, we will need the dragons to use on the Dragon Eye once we get the lenses, and I want the humans alive so they can give us those lenses." And if nothing else, having the heir of Berk and his friends as hostages to be ransomed would bring in a large fortune. Most people, unfortunately, refused to pay for dead hostages.

"But sir, perhaps we should—"

"Are you questioning me, Eret?" Viggo asked dangerously.

"No sir," Eret replied with a gulp.

"Good," Viggo replied, "Ryker, see to the details. I'll be in my cabin."

Eret watched him leave and all at once he felt a strange twinge of guilt. Hiccup and the other Riders might have been on the other side, yet they had saved his life several times that day, and he had repaid them by practically stabbing them in the back. Sure, that Defender girl had been rough on him, but he could understand why. And yes, that Twin had been downright creepy and he could not understand why, but even so…for some reason he wished he had not cut his bonds.

Dagur was also deep in thought. During the fighting he had spotted a woman at Hiccup's side, and he could not shake off a strange feeling that she looked familiar.

"Eret?"

"Hmm?"

"That black haired woman—the one who fought like a Berserker—what was her name?"

"Heather, I think. Something like that. Why?"

"Oh, just trying to figure out who my enemies are," Dagur replied casually.

"Me too," Eret said quietly, "me too,"

Hiccup felt water splash against his face as he made for Toothless as best as he could. An ordinary human could have covered the distance in a few minutes, but he took nearly four times that long and Toothless had to meet him part way. "I've gotta devise a way to swim better, Bud,"

"So you're back with us now?" Toothless asked, "Your mind's working right again?"

"As right as it ever works," Hiccup cracked, "where're the others?"

"I don't know. The nearest land is that volcano,"

"Is it stable? Good enough, I guess. All right, summon the others with your mind and let's head other there,"

Toothless nodded and sent the call of the Beta. Any dragon belonging to his nest and within range had to respond to it and come to him. He disliked using it normally, as it reminded him of what the Red Death used to do, but this was an emergency.

As it turned out, Barf n' Belch and the Twins had already reached the volcano, which was still smoking and trembling but otherwise seemed to have settled down for the moment. Astrid was riding on Meatlug and looking around for the others. Stormfly was coming from the south and was helping Hookfang along. The Nightmare's skin had taken on a gray hue now, and he looked sick. Heather and Fishlegs flew in on Windshear. Snotlout had landed nearest the volcano out of all of them, and was had just a few meters left to swim when Toothless landed.

"Whew!" Snotlout was tired but exhilarated, "I'll betcha nobody's ever swum like the Snotmaster today!" he grinned at Heather and Astrid. "Well, don't hold your applause or anything. It's not like Hiccup could've—Hookfang, what happened?" Forgetting his swimming achievement, he rushed over to his sick dragon. "Hookfang, c'mon pal, look at me! C'mon, pal, you're too tough to be beaten by a little water!"

"How are you feeling?" Stormfly asked anxiously.

"I fear this is the end for me, my friends" Hookfang said dramatically.

"Oh cut the theatrics and tell the truth!" Toothless growled, hiding his worry.

"Fine, I feel miserable, happy?" the Nightmare spat, and then shivered. "Oh fireballs, why is everything so cold?"

Stormfly at once began breathing fire on him. Meatlug followed suit. Hookfang's expression went from severe discomfort to one who had just stepped into a hot bath, and his scales took on a bit brighter hue. "Ahh. You guys should do this to me more often! And you know this ground is pretty warm too!" Abruptly he began dry retching, then just as abruptly it stopped.

"Hiccup, what are they saying? Is he going to be all right?" Snotlout asked anxiously.

Hiccup put a hand on Snotlout's shoulder reassuringly. "He'll probably feel sick for a few days, but I think they've stopped the worst of it before it could take hold."

"You think?" Snotlout cried.

"I can't really make promises when healing is involved,"

Snotlout nodded and said hoarsely "He's all I've got, you know?"

"Hey, you've got us, right?"

Snotlout suddenly turned away from him. "Right, well, of course, I knew he'd be fine. I was just showing concern to make him feel loved. C'mon, let's go see what the others are doing."

The others were having an argument and Heather was leading it.

"Is everybody all right?" Hiccup asked loudly over the noise.

"Of course not!" Heather shouted, "The Queen's Thor knows where and probably dying, the rest of my tribe is probably dead, and those hunters, after beating us silly, now have the Eye, the map to the last lens, and two dragons! Everybody is not all right!"

"And will anger get us out of this mess?" Hiccup demanded.

"It's about as likely to as you are! You're supposed to be in charge! It was your plan and your plan failed miserably! And you!" she pointed to Ruffnut, "If you had actually helped us instead of flirting all day with that hunter he might not have gotten away!"

"Is that what happened?" Hiccup asked Astrid, who nodded sharply.

"Hey, I didn't let him escape!" Ruff exclaimed. "He attacked me from behind!"

"He wouldn't have if you had been paying attention!" Heather snarled.

"Heather…" Fishlegs said cautiously.

"Shut up!" she snapped. "You didn't do any better!"

Fishlegs was torn about how to answer but Hiccup cut in angrily. "What was he supposed to do?"

"He could've helped! Just like Astrid could've helped, but no, she just had to go with you and leave me with all the useless people! She would've been a lot more use to me if she'd—"

"I'm not useless!" Snotlout shouted, folding his arms, "That's Hiccup!"

"That's enough," Astrid said, arms folded.

"If you guys had just taken better care my tribe might not be—" tears suddenly came to Heather's eyes and her voice trembled.

"Heather, that's enough," Astrid repeated.

"If I had just stayed with Mala, I could've—"

Astrid grabbed her by the shoulders. "Heather, that's enough! Blaming everyone, especially yourself, isn't going to help us now!"

"And what is going to help us?" Heather shrieked, "We've lost everything!"

"Hey, we're all still alive, aren't we?" Ruffnut said.

"Alive and dangerous!" Tuffnut boasted. "Let's get 'em! We'll send every last ship to Valhalla!"

Hiccup held up his hands. "Guys! Could we all just stop talking for a minute?"

Everyone was silent, except for Heather's sniffing.

Hiccup took a deep breath and ran a hand through his wet hair. "Fishlegs will take Astrid and go back to where you guys left Mala. Heather, the Twins, and I will fly around and seek out any Defenders…and any ships that might be coming after us."

"What about me?" Snotlout demanded.

"Hookfang's in no shape to go anywhere, so unless you can fly yourself…"

"And what about those ships out over there?" Snotlout demanded. "They're getting away!"

"A few hours head start won't help them too much," Hiccup replied grimly. "And we'll have a better chance with a night attack, anyway, if it comes to that. We'll meet back here when sundown's beginning, all right?"

The five ships Viggo sent out to search were moving exasperatingly slow, due to damage and a lack of crew members. The Thunderdrum attack had resulted in a number of deaths. They had arranged to split up but it took a while to actually enact upon it. Meantime, the hunters on board could see the dragons flying in the air, but knew there was little they could do about it at the moment. Without Viggo's firm hand around, in fact, some of the hunters began to get nervous. After all, even if they had won the fight, the fact remained they had not, to their knowledge, killed any Riders, even though they considerably outnumbered them. Some perceived and suggested that those Riders had divine protection on their side. Others laughed and blew off the suggestions, but did not feel any better.

One ship at length made its way around to a group of small islands on the north. The passages between islands grew narrow and shallow, and the ship was compelled to sail even slower than before.

The captain de facto of the ship decided once they reached the open sea they would head back. It was the last decision he ever made. A barrage of arrows came out of nowhere and one struck him in the head. Nobody on deck or rushing up onto deck was any luckier. And from behind the rocks of one island emerged a group of Defenders of the Wing.

"Well done, lads. The ship is ours."

"Stupid hunters," one laughed.

"We got lucky," another said, "if they hadn't come this way we'd be marooned here."

"Yes indeed," said a tall man with short stubbly hair, "but they did come this way and now we've got the ship, so let's get going."

"Where are we taking it, Throk?" another asked.

"Where do you think? We saw that four winged Dragon fly off with the Queen on its back—we're going after it."

"But we'll never catch it! It's a dragon!"

"So stop complaining and let's get underway already!" Throk said impatiently, "It made for the north east, and yes, it's a dragon, but it'll have to stop and rest sooner or later!" The odds were poor and he knew it, but he was determined to get to his Queen and he would take any odds he could get.

"What about the Hunters?"

"Yeah, and is the Eye safe?"

"What about the Dragon King and his people?"

"I saw one of them fly near the vessel when the hunters were still on it."

"If they come by again we'll try to contact them and work something out." Throk said firmly. "But as for the Eye, we will have to trust the Dragon King to take care of it for now."

"Trust him? How can we trust him when he got us into this mess in the first place?"

"Are you so sure it's his fault?" another asked, "We haven't exactly done any stellar work today,"

"Maybe if he had just—"

"We can debate it later!" Throk yelled. "I don't know everything that has happened, but our Queen was willing to trust him, and if anyone here doubts the Queen they are not coming with us." He looked around but nobody showed the slightest sign they doubted their monarch. "Good. Now, I want this ship to go the fastest she's ever gone—get moving!"

"You know she'll probably yell at us for not retrieving the Eye, right?"

Throk shuddered. "If the Dragon King justifies my faith, we won't need to worry about the Eye. And the Queen's life is more important to me than the Eye right now. The Eye can be recovered; a lost life can't."

As he looked around the sea, Hiccup felt like all the great warlords he had read about. Not because he was one himself, but because he felt as if he was trying to coordinate a multipronged invasion while having no idea what the other prongs were doing. Ultimately, whatever he decided on would have to be done in the blind hope that the others involved in this would be able to look after themselves.

He looked up at the sky. Sunset was approaching. They could not afford to lose track of those hunter ships now, nor could they risk staying around a volcano much longer, in case it grew active again.

"Toothless, will Hookfang be able to fly now?"

"You'll have to ask him about it, but I think so. Provided there's minimal excitement, that is,"

"Good. Let's head back."

They were the first to return, but the others were not far behind. Nobody had found a thing except for the hunter ships, which they had easily avoided.

The first thing said came from Heather. "I went to the place where we left Queen Mala, and she was gone!"

"We did too. Meatlug says she smelled traces of a Stormcutter," Fishlegs added quickly.

Hiccup put his hand over his mouth, thinking deeply and trying to piece together what might have happened. A Stormcutter's traces strongly suggested that his mother and Cloudjumper had found Mala, but what could she have done with her?

"Hiccup," Heather said urgently, "I'm guessing the Stormcutter was Cloudjumper. Do you think there is any chance your mother would have killed Queen Mala?"

"From what I know of her, I can't imagine why she would do that." He paced back and forth for a few minutes. "Do you want to be absolutely sure of what's happened to her, Heather? If yes, I'm sure Stormfly could track them down,"

Astrid tensed up. If Stormfly went somewhere that meant she would be going too, which meant leaving the group. She would do it if told to, but she hated the idea.

Heather took a deep breath. "If I found her alive now she'd scream at me for not going after the Eye first and tell me to not come back until I had it."

"Then I don't think there's anything better we can do than go after it." Hiccup said at last. "Thoughts?"

"We can't go back to Berk like this," Fishlegs said. "The Chief would be furious once the truth came out."

"And it would be dishonorable leaving the mission in such a state," Astrid added.

"And Queen Mala always said what matters most is the Eye," Heather said, "So I say we go after it."

"The Chicken approves."

"And if it means finding the adorable Eret again—"

"All right, let's suit up," Hiccup interrupted. Some of the others rolled their eyes at Ruffnut's words.

"Hey, aren't you guys gonna ask me what I think?" Snotlout demanded.

"Well?"

"I…I think we should go after the Eye,"

"What do you guys think?" Hiccup asked the dragons.

"Get the Eye," they all said together.

"I thought so."

"Everyone?" Heather said nervously, "I—I'm sorry about my outburst earlier. I did—I didn't mean what I said…"

The others all waved their hands to say it was no big deal.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say I accept the apology, Heather." Hiccup said, "Now you said Viggo has the Eye and a map. What map?"

"The map to the last Dragon Eye lens," she answered.

"And just how did he get a hold of this map?" Astrid asked sharply.

"It was in my bag, with the Dragon Eye. I had nowhere else to put it and I didn't want it on me in case I got captured in the fight," She glared at Ruffnut, "I didn't expect Eret would get loose so easily,"

"That wasn't my fault!"

Thankfully, the other 24 had been redistributed amongst them before Hiccup and Astrid had swung over to Viggo's ship. They had also used that time to remove the Dragon Eye from its chest and poke some air holes in the chest so Chicken could breathe.

Hiccup cut in before an argument broke out. "Blaming won't change this situation so think: that Eye won't work without a lens, right? So their next logical move is to find the lens whose location they know. Do you have any idea where this map leads? If we know where the Hunters might be going, we can get there first."

Heather tried to picture the map but failed. "I don't know. I never had a chance to study it in detail—except—wait a minute—wait a minute—before we left, I remember hearing Mala mentioning something about an…an altar."

Fishlegs frowned. "An altar?"

"An altar—and a jib. Yeah, that's right. Except the jib came first. So, a jib and an altar," she looked at Hiccup hopefully. "She said something about sailing through it, I think,"

"Jib's altar?" Tuffnut repeated, "Who's jib and why does he have an altar—and Hiccup, why are you laughing?"

"It's not Jib's altar—it's Gibraltar!" Hiccup laughed, "The strait between Europe and Africa! The gateway of the Mediterranean! And there's only one way to reach Gibraltar from here by ship!" His face suddenly fell. "Of course, that sea's probably twice as large as all of Scandinavia. Searching the whole area for a bit of glass would be practically impossible..."

"Well, those ships are still out there, aren't they?" Snotlout said, "Let's just fly after them and retake what they took!"

"With a sick Hookfang?" Fishlegs asked.

"You let me worry about Hookfang." Snotlout said firmly.

Hiccup looked up at the sky again. "Hookfang, are you up for a flight?"

Hookfang yawned. "Oh, I dunno, I think I need to sleep for a few—OUCH! Argg—all right, I'm up for it—no thanks to Windshear and that pointy tail of hers!" he growled.

"You'll thank me later," she said sweetly.

Viggo was looking over the maps in his cabin when someone knocked. "Yes?" he said without even looking up.

Ryker entered. "Four of our scout ships have been sighted following us. They won't catch up with us at this rate."

"Signal to them and tell them to head for the nearest port for refitting, then wait at Grimmage Festung for our return," Viggo replied. "What of the fifth?"

"Nothing yet. The other four ships all agree they saw those Riders, but never got close enough for anything to happen," Ryker looked at the map on the desk. "Is this our destination?"

"No. You're looking at a map of Berk."

"Speaking of Berk…Viggo, wouldn't it be better if we turned around and attacked those Berk kids now, while we've got the strength? We just about had them earlier; we could finish them off with one more push!"

"As I told you before, no." Viggo said. He saw no need to explain his decision. "Tell the men to stay alert and be ready for a fight at any moment."

"I trust you know what you're doing," Ryker growled.

"Of course I do," Viggo replied smoothly.

"Mind lettin' me in on the secret for once? Because I don't think it's safe, letting those Riders live,"

Viggo sighed. "Fine. They most likely have the other lenses or they know where to find them. And we will not get the location of those lenses out of them if they are dead. Can you comprehend that, or do I need to use smaller words?"

"No, no,"

"In other words, Ryker, this is the same situation it was a few days ago, only instead of them bringing the Eye to us, they are going to bring the lenses to us. They will come, sooner or later. They have to or else surrender the Eye to us. And to save time, we're going to get the last piece ourselves now. They know this and they will have to act. So why waste our energy chasing them when we know they will come to us?"

"Well…yes…but I still think it would be safer to—"

"You are not here to think," Viggo said coldly. "You're here to carry out my orders. They are perfectly clear, so do your job."

Ryker slid out of the cabin. Viggo went back to his maps. Ryker came back a minute later. Viggo made an annoyed sound in his throat. Ryker tried to look unworried. "Sorry. Night's coming and the helmsman wants to know if there's any change in the course to be made before it gets too dark."

Viggo kept his temper. "Tell him to steer us south to the coast of France. We'll follow the coastline of the continent westwards for now."

"All right. Where are we going, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I do,"

Ryker got the hint and left.

Stoick was pacing his house and fuming. Hiccup and the others should have been back by now. He had sent out the 'A' Team for a quick search, had even joined them in the afternoon, but so far they had found nothing. He knew he should have faith in Hiccup, but this waiting and anxiety was getting to be too much for him.

"Ya know, Skullcrusher, maybe it's a good thing I only have one son. I don't see how I could've coped if I'd had more!" The sudden idea of having five boys who were all just like Hiccup was a scary one. "And yet with five Hiccups…well, it doesn't matter, 'coz I've only got one and if he keeps me waiting much longer I—say, what's going on out there?" He looked out the window and could see a large crowd gathering in the center of the village. "Are they back?" He excitedly rushed for the door and down to the Plaza.

The very first person Valka saw when she reached Berk was Mildew, who looked up and promptly dropped the cabbage he was holding. "Sum-buddy kill me a dragon," he gasped.

Valka was just as incredulous as he was. "Oh, you're still alive?" she groaned. "Never mind that now, I need help!" she shouted to anyone nearby, "I've got an injured person here!" Mala was miraculously still alive, but could not last much longer.

She saw some faces she had not seen in over 20 years. Most of these ones looked at her as if she was Freya herself. She also saw faces she had never seen before, and they mostly looked confused and concerned. Thankfully, someone had the presence of mind to get Gothi and others helped get Mala to the ground. When the old healer came hobbling over she showed no surprise at seeing Valka. Even after all this time Valka felt a little jittery around that woman.

Then she saw Gobber come limping over to investigate the crowd. When he saw her he dropped the hammer he was holding and his mouth fell opened so fast that a fake tooth fell out of it. She had never seen his eyes so wide. "Beard…of…Thor…"

And then she heard the voice of the man she was most eager and terrified to see again. "What's going on here? Move aside, let me through! What's happened—" Stoick pushed his way, as he often did, through the crowd and his heart nearly stopped beating.

How would any man react, if he saw before him the wife he believed to be dead for over two decades and standing behind her the creature he believed had killed her? He just looked at her, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly opened.

"Hello, Stoick," Valka said quietly. It was a pretty pathetic greeting after such a separation, but she was just as uncertain as he was about what to do now. "I—I know what you're gonna…gonna say, I know you'll be asking 'why' now, and I know you have every…every right to be angry with me, but I…I've gotta ask you to save it for another time…our son—I mean Hiccup, Hiccup's in trouble and he needs our help…"

Stoick slowly began approaching her, but otherwise did not react to what she was saying. So she tried to go on. "Look, Hiccup and his friends are in trouble—I tried to do what I could but it was only me and Cloudjumper and I had an injured woman to look after—I—I didn't know where else to turn and—oh for crying out loud, Stoick, will you stop looking at me so…so stoically? Say something, anything!"

Stoick had dreamt of this moment many times over the years, though the setting had always been Valhalla, not Berk. In those dreams they had always run to each other, embraced and kissed. But here, such acts just did not feel right.

Finally all he could do was say "What was that about Hiccup being in trouble?"

Nearly an hour later they were in Gothi's hut. Gobber, Greta Hofferson, Mr. Ingerman, and the sailor Seaslug were gathered around Stoick, all of them listening to Valka's story. Stoick would have preferred to talk like this in his own house, their house, but he also wanted to talk with Mala, if he could, and she needed Gothi's constant attention. Cloudjumper had to wait outside because he could not fit in the hut.

"And this was two days ago?" Greta asked anxiously. Valka nodded.

"Gothi's writin' it's an act of Odin Mala survived so long," Gobber translated, "Hey, I got threw that wit-out messin' up!"

Stoick put his hands to his head, trying to think. "Val, were they actually captured? Hiccup has let himself get caught before; this might have been one of those times. If it is, we might mess up whatever he's planning by going after him." Of course he wanted to go after Hiccup at once, but he had to be certain about the situation first. He was doing his utmost to act and speak rationally for the moment. It was just crazy to think he was talking to his wife again, but he was also alarmed by her news and knew he had to put his personal feelings aside for now and try to act as if she had only been gone a few days, not over 20 years.

"All I saw was their ship got surrounded and he and Astrid swung over to an enemy ship. That's when I left to get help," Valka answered nervously. "Whatever has happened since, I don't know."

"Well they would have returned by now if they were fine. So where would they be, assuming they were captured?" Ingerman asked.

Mala suddenly made a grunting sound in her throat. All heads turned towards her. The Queen, who was lying on her front, was trying to get up. Gothi tried to push her back down, but Mala shook her head and rasped "Hunters…after Eye…stole last map,"

"What?" Stoick went over to her, "take a deep breath Mala…what is it?"

"Trait-tor…stole last map…likely gone after it…"

"Who has?" Greta Hofferson said, but Stoick ignored her. An idea was forming in his head.

"Mala, where does this map go?"

"Tab...er…nas desert. Tabernas Desert! Spai—" Mala coughed and panted, "Last piece...hunters want…find it, find them,"

Gothi stepped in now and gave Mala some herbs. The others turned away to talk.

"Tabernas Desert," Seaslug said, "I've never heard of it before,"

"'Iccup would know where to look," Gobber remarked sadly, "'e always 'ad an 'ead fer maps,"

"And I wager he's got it on some map in his room." Stoick smiled.

"So," Ingerman said, "let me see if I've got this right. There's something in this desert these hunters want, yes? And we think these hunters have my son and his friends for prisoners, yes? Well, since we know where they're heading, tell the 'A' Team to suit up at once and let's get going!"

"Send the word out to the 'A' Team." Stoick ordered, "Gobber, you're going to be in charge while we're gone,"

"'While we're gone?'" Gobber repeated.

"That's my son out there! My son and the future of Berk! Do you think I'm going to sit around and wait for something good to happen? Maybe they're not prisoners, maybe they are because they planned it so, or whatever else, they're not here on Berk and this adventure's gone on long enough. We're rescuing them and bringing them home!" Stoick said, slamming his massive fist onto a table. Everyone nodded determinedly.

There were just one little flaw with this plan. Unbeknownst to any of them, the Dragon Riders were not in need of rescuing and they were nowhere near the Tabernas Desert. In fact, they were at that moment in the seaside port of Calais, and if they got their way they would be heading back home within the hour.

The hunter ships were in the harbor. The Riders had shadowed them for several days, but the ships had moved so slowly everyone's patience had quickly been exhausted. They had agreed unanimously that to continue with this would play to the hunter's advantage, and it would be better to go on the offensive. On top of that, Calais happened to be one of the few ports around where dragon trading was permitted. There was a good chance the Eruptodon and Thunderdrum would be killed and cut up here. If they wanted to save them they would have to act at once. After watching the ships for so many days and nights, they knew which ships housed the dragons and which one Viggo stayed on. The gamble was that Viggo would not let the Eye or map out of his sight, so where he was, there they would find what they wanted.

Astrid moved about the docks alone. Casually she slipped behind a stack of cargo belonging to another ship. She pulled out a vial of Naga-Raja acid from her belt, one of several, climbed off the dock and started swimming.

Hiccup checked the moon. It was almost full, but that could not be helped. He counted to four and the dragons and their riders took off.

Toothless dove in first, aiming for the net launchers on the nearest Hunter ship. Hookfang dove in after another, as did Barf n' Belch and Stormfly. This was all to confuse the hunters and draw attention from the main target: Viggo's ship. Meatlug and Windshear made for this one, Meatlug going after the net launchers, while Windshear got up close around the cabin. Using her tail she sliced through the planks in a straight line. As soon as they were ready, Windshear roared for help, which Meatlug and Stormfly came to give.

"That stuff wasn't easy to cut through!" Windshear commented to the others as they took a side of the cabin, "Must've been reinforced to protect Viggo!"

"But they didn't count on a Razorwhip's tail, I imagine!" Meatlug replied, "All right—pull!"

And pull they did, ignoring the cries and reactions of the astonished hunters. Windshear had sliced all around the cabin and now the dragons lifted the roof and part of the walls into the air and dropped it into the sea. That was the cue for Toothless and Hiccup to speed right into what used to be a cabin, but was now only a square shaped wall two feet high. And there was nobody in it.

Hiccup looked around quickly. What had happened? They had seen Viggo go in shortly before the attack began and nobody had come out. So where was he? More importantly, where were the map and the Eye? He spotted a book and pile of parchment, so he dismounted, rushed over, and grabbed everything he could get his hands on.

"Hurry up!" Toothless shouted, "They're coming!"

"Be right with you!" An arrow was fired and nearly got him in the hand. "Hey! I wasn't talking to you!" Another arrow was fired and hit his good gauntlet, puncturing a hole in it. "Oh come on, both of them? Do you guys have any idea how long it took to perfect this design?"

"Can we save the retorts for later?" Toothless shouted as he spat plasma at the attackers.

A new sound reached their ears: a church bell. The attack had been seen, and the authorities of Calais would be coming. They were out of time.

Hiccup looked around quickly again. Maybe Viggo was hiding somewhere. Maybe there was a trapdoor somewhere. But Windshear yelled at him to get moving or else they risked a fight with the authorities. Dodging a new string of arrows, Hiccup gathered up what he had taken and leapt onto Toothless. The Night Fury leapt off the ship into the sky and out to sea.

Astrid, meanwhile, had swum to one ship and emptied the vial in a circle shape above the water line. From there she heaved herself inside, and landed in a rat nest.

"Ugh!" she muttered as the rats darted away squeaking. She moved quickly down the corridor, her axe unstrapped and at the ready. There were two guards present. The rest were probably on deck fending off the attack, which she could hear very faintly. She said a quick prayer to Tyr and her father, and charged.

The first guard went out like a torch when she struck him. The second, however, recovered from the surprise and backed away, a sword out and a wicked grin on his face. Astrid abruptly sat down and looked at him benignly. Confused, the man approached her, feinting at times with his blade. Astrid did nothing. So he got closer, thinking she must have surrendered and intending to tie her up. And when he got too close, Astrid sprang to her feet and punched him squarely under the chin. With that she slammed her elbow into his gut and brought her axe down so the flat side struck his head.

"Shield Maidens don't surrender," she smugly told him as he collapsed, "but I wouldn't expect some dragon hunter to know that,"

She searched the bodies but found no keys on them. Most likely Viggo had ordered the keys put elsewhere, as a precaution. No matter, they had a precaution against the precaution.

The dragons were clearly visible behind the bars of their cages. Both were muzzled and chained to the wall. She was disgusted by the sight. "It's all right guys; I'm getting you out of here!" She pulled out more of the Naga-Raja acid vials and quickly poured some on the bars of the cages, and then onto the chains.

"Phew!" the Eruptodon gagged, "What a relief! That thing was sticking down my throat!"

"Sea devils, every last one of them!" the Thunderdrum scowled, "I have met more courteous and considerate sharks! Now, how does this mermaid with legs here know our tongue?"

"How about I explain when we're out of here?" Astrid suggested.

"Good idea," said the Eruptodon. They all froze when they heard movement coming from upstairs.

"They must know something's up. Quick—Thunderdrum—"

"Mermaid with legs, my name is Deafpool!"

"And I'm Astrid—Deafpool, can you blast a hole through the wall there?"

"Can I blast a hole through a wall? Can a cuttlefish swim?" the Thunderdrum asked proudly. He reared himself up, Astrid and the Eruptodon covered their ears, and he roared at the wall. The wood slowly began to crack. "Odd, I thought it would fall to pieces,"

"You've weakened it," the Eruptodon replied, "Do it again—and hurry!" Guards were coming. Astrid readied her axe but the dragon put his tail in front of her and said confidently "I'll handle this! Come on, you bunch of granite headed cutthroats! Eat my lava!" he spat. The lava went flying and the hunters backed away as quickly as they had come. The floor began to disintegrate and water started seeping in. "Huh. Maybe I should have tried the wall,"

"No need," the Thunderdrum roared, for on his second try the hull cracked completely. Water began pouring in at the base of the hole. The ship began to tilt. The Eruptodon rammed itself headlong into the hull and tasted fresh air. "Come on!"

The Thunderdrum looked at Astrid disdainfully. "While I do not relish the prospect of carrying merpeople with legs, you freed me and a Thunderdrum always repays a debt! Get on my back and hold on!" Given Astrid's ears were bleeding she did not understand a thing he said. Still, she got the gist of it and they burst through the hole—only to run into a net that had been lowered over it.

"Gotcha!" hunters on deck were shouting gleefully, forgetting that the boat was still sinking.

"No, no, no! This is implausible!" Deafpool roared as he thrashed about. The net held despite the noise.

Astrid fumbled around and grabbed her last vial. "Please let this work, please let this work," she thought. She climbed over Deafpool's head and emptied the acid on part of the net. Deafpool got the plan and roared as loud as he possibly could. This, coupled with the Eruptodon carefully spitting lava at it, was more than any net could handle. It split and in an instant the two dragons were flying away with Astrid.

"I just hope the others are safe,"

Back at their hiding place, in the woods a few miles from Calais, the others were safe and in pretty foul moods. Hiccup was pacing back and forth, anxiously looking up at the sky several times a minute, and then glaring at the ground, "If I had just had a few more minutes!" This was indeed a source of annoyance for him, but it was really just a cover for his real concern: Astrid. He had no doubts she could take care of herself, but he was still worried about her being in a dangerous situation and likely would never cease to get worried.

"Take it easy!" Hookfang said sharply, "Next time—"

"And what guarantees do we have that there will be a next time?" Toothless snapped.

"Well why didn't you let us take a hostage or something? Someone we could interrogate? And it's your own fault you didn't have more time! You could've let us take on those soldiers!" Snotlout said accusingly.

"We agreed to not hurt the innocent!" Heather said scathingly, "Those men were just coming to protect their city! They had nothing to do with our situation!"

"We should've tried it before we got here," Ruffnut complained loudly. They all knew that, but they had only come up with the plan that very day.

"And as for hostages and interrogations, what makes you think anyone besides Viggo and maybe Ryker knows where they're sailing?" Hiccup added, "Good grief, Snotlout, use your brains! Viggo wouldn't tell anything important to his grunts! He'd just say 'sail south until I tell you otherwise!'"

"After what happened to the Defenders, I can't entirely blame him," Heather remarked sadly. "If we hadn't trusted Serene—I mean Adoncia—so much, a lot of this wouldn't have happened. But Mala was—is—I mean, the Defenders are taught to believe in the honor of fellowship. After all, who can you trust if not your own people?"

"Will you guys stop shouting so I can focus?" Fishlegs yelled. He was going through the pile of parchment Hiccup had brought back. Meatlug's mouth was opened and the fire in her throat was glowing so he could read.

"There they are!" Windshear cried. Astrid and the two dragons had found them and came in for a landing. Hiccup at once rushed over to her and hugged Astrid, asking repeatedly if she was all right. She did not answer, nor react to his questions, though she did hug him back tightly.

"HAVE WE GOT ANY BANDAGES?" She shouted.

"Yes but—good gosh, what happened to your ears?" Hiccup cried.

"WHAT?"

"Oh—of course. I mean—JUST A MINUTE!"

"My apologies, merman with legs," the Thunderdrum said, "But it was the only possible way to carve a passage out of that beastly place,"

"Too many words for me," the Eruptodon whispered to Meatlug.

"Well, we got you two freed. Tonight wasn't an entire waste of time then," Toothless said, hoping to lift everyone's spirits. He declined to activate his mind powers and intentionally avoided eye contact as he introduced everyone.

Despite the pain in her ears and her deafness, Astrid was feeling quite satisfied. Hiccup derived great relief in seeing that as he helped clean the wounds and bandage them. He knew virtually nothing about ear injuries, so he could only pray they would heal quickly and leave no permanent damage.

"SO DID YOU GET IT?"

"NO!" Hiccup shouted, and this time he had no trouble remembering to raise his voice. He kicked a rock. "THEY WERE EXPECTING US!"

Back on the command ship, underneath Viggo's bed a trapdoor opened and Viggo climbed out of it. The Dragon Eye and the map were tied firmly to his belt. He looked around in amusement at what was left of his cabin. "Remarkable. I only expected them to break the door down, but this…I'm impressed." He saw Ryker approaching. "Well?"

"They got the dragons—despite the net."

A flash of anger appeared on Viggo's face but he quickly controlled himself. "No matter. We still have the Eye and the map, and with those we will get more dragons."

"It's a good thing you had that trapdoor installed," Ryker remarked, "You couldn't have had much warning,"

Viggo smiled, but in truth he had only just missed being seen closing the trapdoor. Had the Riders moved just a little faster they would have caught him. He would have to install another trapdoor in his hiding place so he could escape from it. Of course, first he would need a proper cabin.

"So…what now?" Ryker asked. "All of our ships are damaged, and at least two aren't seaworthy now. It'll take weeks at best to repair them."

"Then we shall abandon those two ships and sail out tomorrow night," Viggo replied calmly. "No one rests until the repairs are finished." Looking out at his ship he could see Dagur screaming at crew members and throwing them overboard. "Tell Dagur to stop that. We're going to need every man we have to make repairs." He dismissed Ryker and turned to the desk to collect his possessions. "A pity we did not catch anyone. But no matter, they can only avoid capture for so long. They will try again. Ah. So he took the parchment pile. Good. I do hope he enjoys reading."

"This is a waste of time!" Fishlegs exclaimed in frustration. "Everything on here is just a bunch of nonsense! Look at this one! The whole page is made up of the sentence: 'John has a short mustache!'"

"This map has directions on it!" Snotlout cried excitedly, "It's a number code—let's see—Ah ha! It spells Atlantis!"

Hiccup frowned. "A map to Atlantis,"

"Yeah! That must be where they're going! Oh, they thought they could outwit old Snotlout, ha!"

"Oh yes, and if they can get there I'll give them a hundred gold pieces."

While the humans were going through the parchment with increasing frustration, Toothless was talking with their visitors.

"So you'll be heading back to your nests?"

"As intriguing as this motley collection and her adventures are, I am afraid it must be so," Deafpool replied, "I must get back before my territory is taken by another—but by all means let me know how events have turned out, should you chance to pass my way again,"

"In other words, yes, I want to go home," The Eruptodon, whose name was Trachyte, interrupted, "I hope my volcano's acting up again, I'm hungry. I need a good helping of lava."

The Thunderdrum shook his whole body from side to side. It was his way of shaking his head, since his head accounted for most of his body. "I just find it entirely implausible: a dragon whose diet consists of lava."

"Is there a chance one of you could deliver a message for us?" Toothless went on, ignoring the Thunderdrum, "My Rider will write it out on parchment, so all you'll have to do is carry it to the island of Berk. I promise they won't shoot at you."

"Sure, I can do that," Trachyte said. "Just tell me where it is,"

"And when you get there, ask for Skullcrusher or Evictus. Let them know where we are and what's happened. That way both humans and dragons will know what's going on."

Trachyte was privately a bit apprehensive of going to a human nest to deliver messages, but given how these humans and dragons had helped him, he decided to take a leap of faith and trust that Toothless was telling him the truth.

Back with the humans, they had gone through the parchment and found nothing of apparent value to them. In the end they decided they would just have to keep following the ships and wait for another opportunity.

"When that boy gets back, the first thing I'm having him do is clean his room!" Stoick declared as he added a new stack of parchment to 'searched through' pile. Hiccup's maps were mixed in with all the other sketches and notes, and they found out the hard way that Hiccup used a lot of parchment and kept them in just about every drawer he had. Stoick and Valka had been going through the piles for over an hour now without finding any map that might lead them to where they were going. Cloudjumper was sitting on the drawbridge, which Stoick had lowered for him.

"I think we'll have to make for where you last saw them and Skullcrusher'll sniff 'em out from there," he went on, "I just hope the trail's fresh enough."

"He's quite an artist," Valka remarked, holding up a beautiful charcoal sketch of Toothless.

"He didn't get that from my side of the family," Stoick observed as he picked up another pile and started flipping through the sheets. "So…"

Valka sighed. She knew what was coming. "Among other things, I thought you and he were better off without me, Stoick."

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

"The fact that you never listened when I suggested dragons were better than we gave them credit for was one. I knew you only tolerated my ideas because I was your wife, but I also knew you were secretly embarrassed by them and always hoped I'd grow out of them."

Stoick looked at her sharply. "Are you saying you stayed away to save me from embarrassment?"

"Partially. There were other reasons too and I…I wouldn't blame you if you didn't like them. I don't think Hiccup did."

"How did he react to meeting you?" Stoick wished he could have been there to see his boy meet his mother for the first time.

She looked down shamefully. "Not well. And truth be told, I was actually expecting the same from you."

Stoick looked up from his work. "Were you?"

She shrugged. "I always thought you would've seen me as a traitor. I half expected you'd Blood Eagle me on the spot,"

"And lose my wife just when I got her back?" Stoick exclaimed, "Val, I'm not exactly…happy, with what's happened. But I've been through a lot too. And honestly," he chuckled suddenly, "When the choices are to either drive you away or to let you stay here, I much prefer the second," He remembered the night he had discovered Hiccup was still alive, when he had tried to capture and then kill his own son. It was a decision he still felt horrible about, and he had always loved Valka much more than Hiccup. "So…you've been with dragons all this time?"

"In Cloudjumper's nest," she clarified.

"The nest the Red Death commanded?"

"So you know about her too? Does everyone here know about her?"

"Oh yes, we know about her now. And all we ever saw was the skeleton. I can't imagine what she must have looked like when alive. And I still can't quite believe Hiccup, of all people, was the one to take her down."

Valka shuddered. "It was a long time before I found out why they raided us. Aside from Cloudjumper, most of the dragons in the nest didn't trust me at first, and we could not communicate. It took a very long time for me to learn how to speak to them. Only years after I'd left did I learn about the Red Death. And even then, I couldn't work out what to do about it. Nobody could figure out how to take her down in battle." She thought of the Bewilderbeast and the discussions she had had with him. "The King of our nest had been willing to fight her, but everyone else had been afraid of losing him and insisted we learn more first. But we had no clue what the Red Death was capable of. Nobody knew her weaknesses and few were brave enough to get close and find out. Those who did offer to spy on her never came back. And when we'd find a dragon who'd escaped from her nest, they'd tell us the most horrible stories about her, making us more afraid of her."

"Fear is very powerful when you can't see what you're really afraid of. I do not doubt the Red Death was nowhere near as dangerous as we believed, but how were we to prove it?" Cloudjumper remarked.

"So what did you do about it?" Stoick asked.

"The only thing we could do: try and deprive her of her dragons. That was why Cloudjumper was on Berk that night. He was trying to persuade other dragons to come with him."

"Instead I met you,"

Valka smiled at him and went on. "We kept with the plan for a while, with only mixed results. Most feared they would fail to escape and be eaten, or they refused to believe us. Even those whom the Red Death did not control were afraid of her, and it bred mistrust among everyone."

"Those were dark years for everyone, by the sound of it," Stoick said. For him especially, as that would have been when he and Hiccup started growing apart, and he had begun to drink heavily.

"So you see, Stoick, I didn't come back because I could not see what good it would do! What would you have done if I had returned and told you the truth?"

"I would have gathered every warrior I could find and kill that beast or die trying." Stoick replied without any bravado.

"And that would have been suicide! And it wouldn't have been much better to return and deny I knew anything about them! And then out of the blue one day we heard she had died. That's when I thought the time had come to return to Berk. But when I arrived I saw you hated dragons more than ever, and I learned Hiccup had been killed by one." She shrugged helplessly.

"When was that?"

"Hiccup's sixteenth birthday,"

Stoick's brow furrowed a moment. So did Valka's when she realized what was going on. "Wait a minute. You don't remember when his birthday is?"

"Um—right, it's in the early winter." Early winter for Berk was much earlier than in other climates. "I don't think he's ever mentioned it since he's been back." Certainly they had not celebrated it since he returned to Berk. Come to think of it, he could not remember the last time he had celebrated it at all. "Well…we'll sort it out when he gets back. First we've got to find him, and for that we need a map—ah!" he suddenly grabbed a sheet of parchment.

"That's a sketch of a mountain," Valka said, shaking her head.

"Oh…so it is,"

She sat down on the bed. "How did it ever come to this? When I was pregnant, I thought we would have the happiest family in the world."

"So did I," Stoick said bitterly, "It seemed simpler when we were younger," he looked at Valka pleadingly, "Can't we pick up from where we left off?" He went over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. They stared at each other for a moment. Then he said softly, "You're as beautiful as the day I first saw you,"

"We were kids then," she tried to sound nonchalant about it but blushed.

"Still thought you were beautiful,"

She looked hesitant. Aside from Stoick and Hiccup she had little reason to want to stay on Berk. And she knew Stoick would never leave Berk to join her in a dragon nest. And yet was not staying with her husband and son reason enough?

Still, she spoke evasively. "We better find Hiccup and bring him back safely before we start making plans for the future,"

Stoick looked very disappointed but nodded, and then groaned. "And how are we supposed to do that?"

Gobber came hobbling into the room. His timing was a bit too convenient, in Cloudjumper's opinion. He wondered if the cripple had been listening on the stairs.

"Any-thin? Mind if I join ya, then?"

"Knock yourself out," Stoick replied.

Gobber looked around, walked straight over to one chest, and pulled out a few sheets of parchment. "No, no, no…ah! I think this is it!" he held up one map. "Spain, yes?"

Stoick was speechless and Valka's mouth fell opened. "How did you...?"

"That's his 'bad' chest," Gobber said, confused that Stoick did not know it, "It's where 'e puts the stuff 'e keeps as a pre-ka-tion but also wants ter fergit about. Didn't ya know that?"

"No, I didn't," Stoick sighed, "Even now he keeps things…well never mind that. Is that Taber—Tabernas Desert on the map?"

"Err—" Gobber had to rotate the map a few times, "an' ah thought Gothi's writin' was 'ard ta reed—aye, thar it is."

Stoick took the map from him. "Great. Let's get going!"

"I journey from Greenland to a volcano to Berk to Spain within the span of a moon cycle, all because of those impertinent youngsters who think everything is theirs to intervene with," Cloudjumper grumbled once he got outside, "Everlasting ice,"

Skullcrusher the Rumblehorn clambered over to him. "No whining! This is a rescue mission!"