Chapter 23

Trying to Act Normal

"Nothing!" Gustav shouted to Hiccup when he came to the Haddock house the following night. Hiccup and Astrid were sitting at the table, a low fire burning behind them. "We've been out all day and didn't find so much as a dirty toenail! Nothing!" He stomped on the floor in frustration.

"How many ships did you come across?" Hiccup asked.

"Just Mogadon's fleet. There were exactly 7 of them."

"Were you polite to them?"

"Absolutely! Fanghook and I followed your instructions to the letter! Mogadon sent people below to take a look, and they came back and told us there was no one on board who shouldn't have been! Oh, and Thuggory said to say 'hello.'"

Astrid leaned forward from her chair. "So they didn't let you search in person?"

"Nah. They wouldn't even let us land on the boat. Poor Fanghook nearly sprained a wing hovering!"

"Get some ice for him and call it a day, Gustav. You've done enough," Hiccup said. Once he was gone Hiccup sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Nothing at all. Nobody's seen them on land or sea." They had been out and about since the previous night, flying all over the place, questioning people on boats and in Berk, examining the cells and everything near them. It had been exhausting for all of them.

"The Trackers said the scents led to the harbor," Toothless reminded him.

"I know, Bud, and once they got that far they started smelling Dragon Nip and lost the scent. What worries me more is how they got out in the first place. I helped design and build those cells. They're as escape proof as we can possibly make them. We even had dragons blast them and tried all kinds of picklocks and metal eating acids on them. Without outside help, I don't see how anyone could break out. And those prisoners were searched before they were locked up."

"So they had outside help," Astrid replied, "the question is: was it from another tribe or from us?" They both badly wanted to believe it was from another tribe. The idea of someone on Berk betraying them like this was horrifying.

The door opened and Stoick came lumbering in, Valka right behind him. "Nothing, I see," he said, "I don't see what more we can really do right now. We'll increase our patrols, but aside from that…we've been talking to the guards, but we can't really interrogate everybody on the island,"

"We could, but I doubt it would do any good," Hiccup said in exasperation, "if there is a traitor here—and we don't have any proof that it was one of us—all they have to say is they were asleep when it happened, and who's going to disprove it? Unless someone witnessed it…there were scores of people around the area, surely somebody would have seen something!"

"Someone probably did," Valka said, "and probably just assumed it was average Vikings heading to their ship after a little drinking party."

Hiccup abruptly stood up and put down the glass of wine he had been sipping. "I'm going to bed."

Astrid retired a while afterwards and found him sitting on the side of the bed, in the darkness, and completely dressed. "What are you thinking about?"

"What to do now,"

"And?"

"I don't know. Unless we find him, the next move is really up to Viggo. So I'm trying to think about what he's going to do next. Obviously he's going to come after Berk. He's got to show his own people he's got the power to do that kind of thing. So what is he going to do?" he mused, more to himself than to Astrid. "What would I do if it was me? I'd find some unorthodox way to get even. But we've got to remember, Viggo's probably pretty weak right now. Whatever he pulls, it can't be very elaborate and massive. He probably couldn't manage a full scale invasion like Drago tried." He massaged his temples. "I'm sending the Terror Scouts out tomorrow. It's spying on other tribes, yes, and there'll be a huge mess if they're discovered, but it's only until we find Viggo and who helped him. We have one advantage. It's said Viggo offered 2 hundred thousand pieces of gold to whoever helped him get loose. That kind of money can't be hidden easily and sooner or later he'll have to pay or kill his helper. Either way, we'll know who it was. I hope."

Astrid gently put a hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you get some sleep and think about it tomorrow? Turn that brain of yours off and let it rest for a while."

"I've never felt less inclined to argue with you,"

The next two weeks passed by with little happening. Viggo did not resurface and went unsighted. Hiccup's Terror Scouts brought back no information, and there was no sign that the one who had helped Viggo was getting their reward. But Hiccup did not despair. He knew that travel by ship was slow and hoped Viggo could still be caught while at sea. So the Terror Scouts maintained their secret positions and the searches continued. Hiccup suspected Viggo would disguise his ship to look like a ship from a tribe Berk was friendly with. Their friends and allies were warned of what was going on and several of them helped search. Still, nothing was found. Whatever Viggo was, Hiccup could not deny the man was a master of evasion.

Even though Viggo had escaped and could not be located, Hiccup had other things to think about. He was still settling in with Astrid, and while the two had similar habits, they still had a few issues with living together. Astrid soon started complaining that Hiccup hogged all the blankets, and Hiccup discovered Astrid had a tendency to kick when she was asleep. On top of that, Astrid lived with a soldier's sense of cleanliness and frugality. She organized objects so they could be located with the least amount of time and effort. Hiccup tended to favor a more laid back approach to where he put his stuff. He did not really care how a pile of parchment was organized, and he might leave a charcoal pencil on his chair rather than on his desk for a few days. He had his own methods, of course, but they were not what Astrid preferred to use. They also had some squabbles over where Astrid's possessions would go and where Hiccup's possessions would be relocated to. Astrid also wanted Stormfly to move in with them, which Hiccup did not object to, but there was simply no room in his bedroom for him and Astrid, their possessions, and two full grown dragons.

They also had to get used to living with Valka. Valka's difficulties had been evident ever since she had come to Berk, but with the wedding preparations nobody had really noticed or thought about them. With things calming down, however, Stoick began to find Valka was not as easy to live with as he remembered.

For one thing, her eating habits were simply awful. She had completely forgotten how to use utensils in her absence and made a mess at the table every meal trying to relearn. If she thought nobody was looking, she would cheat and eat with her hands, regardless of what they were eating. Stoick might not have minded except he was worried about public appearances, especially where other tribes were concerned.

And then there was the problem of sleeping together. Neither of them had shared a bed with anyone for over 20 years, and like Hiccup and Astrid, they had developed habits that do not go well in a bed for two. Valka complained the bed was way too soft and had too many blankets. She also complained that Stoick snored and took up too much space. Stoick complained she never stayed on her side of the bed and that her cold feet were always touching his. They both also tended to wake up at random hours and wake the other person up.

"I didn't think when she came back this would happen," he moaned to Hiccup one morning.

"It's just the realities of life, Dad,"

"Sometimes I get the feeling she doesn't have a clue of the proper way to behave in a house! You know that she came to bed last night with her boots still on? And those oranges you were given for a wedding present? She started eating one without even peeling it! And she doesn't have a clue of how to keep the house clean—didn't you see her with the broom yesterday?"

"Dad, I'm not exactly happy about these things either, but we've gotta be patient. She hasn't lived in a house for over 20 years. She's probably more aware and more uncomfortable of her mistakes than we know."

Stoick sighed. "I know, son, and I'm trying. But I never imagined a woman like my wife would live like she was half animal."

Hiccup cocked his head to one side. "Have you considered that perhaps you venerated her memory too much? That maybe she wasn't as perfect a person as you like to remember?"

Stoick told him not to talk nonsense.

Household squabbles or not, Berk still needed managing. Hiccup and Astrid both started handling this more and more, so Berk essentially had 3 Chiefs. Stoick still had the final say in everything, but now he tended to defer to Hiccup's decisions and thoughts. As the wife of the next Chief, Astrid had considerable authority and made it clear that Hiccup approved of her using it.

Winter was the main source of concern for Berk now. Less than three weeks after the wedding the newlyweds woke up to find Berk buried under almost a meter of snow. They spent the whole day shoveling it off rooftops. Frost clung to the windows, the harbor began to freeze slowly, the weather deteriorated at times to the point where anyone who went flying was considered suicidal, and the temperature dropped so low a person's breath could be seen when they were inside. Much like the year before, people night and day thanked the Gods that they had dragons to provide warmth, and even Mildew, when backed into a corner, had to admit the dragons were good for something this time of year.

And there was yet another thing Hiccup thought about. After learning the location of the Isle of Night, he found himself frequently desiring to go there. The mystery of it and the excitement of exploration and discovery were very alluring to him. Unfortunately, his father was going to have to approve of this and he could not think of any good arguments to convince Stoick to do so. He remembered the little deal they had made before the Dragon Race, which seemed like a lifetime ago already, but he felt his father would say the deal had been made null and void with the Dragon Eye adventure. On top of that, Stoick had agreed to let them go after the Dragon Eye partly because Hiccup had, rather forcibly, persuaded him that Berk's security was potentially at stake. He could not make that argument this time. In fact, the only reason why Hiccup wanted to go there was simply because he wanted to. It was a selfish reason and he knew it. There was simply no foreseeable benefit for Berk to justify its Heir taking another long journey through unknown dangers to some far away island, especially with Viggo Grimborn and his people still on the loose. And with winter having come at last the idea of a long flight, even to the warmer south, seemed downright crazy.

And yet, Hiccup and Toothless still traveled, when the weather was reasonable enough. They made short trips to nearby tribes to check up on them, see how their dragons were doing, to look for any news of Viggo's whereabouts, and see if there were any trade opportunities.

They were on one of these trips, flying to visit the Owl Guts, when they spotted a ship below them which had written on the sail in red paint the words "Viggo's on board." Puzzled and excited, they flew closer. A sailor spotted them and shouted at them to land quickly.

"Come and look! We've got Viggo Grimborn down below!" he yelled excitedly. He was a bit too excited, and when Hiccup saw the other sailors sitting around working on nets, not showing the slightest interest in what was going on, his suspicions were aroused.

"Bring him up on deck!" Hiccup called down, "Don't land, Bud,"

"I wasn't planning to,"

"We can't. He's locked up down below. It would be safer to keep him that way,"

"Well I'd be glad to come and have a look, but I've recently come down with Ruckin-tuckin's disease and I'm contagious!" he made a mental note to thank Heather for making up that sickness, "Just put enough guards on him and keep him shackled, it'll be fine!"

The response was to shoot nets and arrows at him. Toothless flew away at once.

At first Hiccup thought little of the failed trap. After all, he had been in situations with considerably more danger. But when he was with the Owl Guts, he and Gort had a long talk about which dragons would be migrating soon and which ones would not. Someone brought out drinks, and Hiccup took one taste of his and realized there was poison in it. Thankfully it was one of the poisons he had built up immunity to. He acted as if nothing had happened, but his mind was racing frantically. Of all the people he knew, he always thought Gort was one of the least likely to want him dead. Gort's own behavior seemed to indicate he had no idea of the failed murder attempt. So either he was a terrific actor or someone was acting on their own accord. At any rate, Hiccup declined the offer to stay the night, explaining that he had received an urgent summons from the Berserker Tribe.

That made two attempts on his life within the span of two days, and it began to increase. Several ships they flew over fired nets and projectiles at them and after the second try Toothless took to maintaining a higher altitude. But the most serious attempt came when he stopped at the Meatheads. As soon as they landed by the docks a horde of sailors whipped out spears and charged. Toothless roared and spat plasma at the attackers, who began throwing their weapons. One missed Hiccup's head by mere centimeters and he ordered Toothless to take off. At that moment one man threw himself onto the Night Fury's tailfin and began to stab at it with his knife. Toothless swung his tail and sent him flying into the harbor, but then another man came charging up holding Dragon Nip and shoved it into the Night Fury's nose.

The man did not get to celebrate his little success, for Hiccup hit his gauntlet and sprayed fire at him. Toothless sneezed and fought to stay conscious.

"STOP!" Thuggory came running over, followed by his bodyguards. As soon as they showed up the attackers scattered and ran for it. "After them! Hiccup, stay where you are a minute, I want to talk to you!"

"Oh really?" Hiccup growled, but he had little choice. Toothless was too disoriented to take off easily, though he was recovering rapidly.

Thuggory held his hands up. "Easy. I just want to make it clear, those men weren't Meatheads. They came with a merchant ship a few days ago. My tribe had nothing to do with this attack, and I promise you my father will punish everyone he gets his hands on."

"So why'd they try to kill us?" Hiccup demanded. "Why is everybody trying to kill me right now?"

"Don't you know?" Thuggory asked in surprise. "But we only heard about it two days ago, so perhaps you don't,"

"Don't what?" Hiccup asked impatiently.

"Someone, probably Viggo, put a price on your head. I heard it was at 50,000 gold pieces,"

"50,000—" Hiccup was incredulous, "50—Are you saying that every mercenary in the Archipelago is now lying in wait for me to show up so they can kill me?"

"Evidently,"

"And does your father—"

"Hiccup, he knows better than to take part in this. He'd be signing our own death warrant if he offended Berk like this. We're not that desperate for gold," he added with a chuckle, hoping to defuse the situation. Hiccup was not amused, and since Toothless was now back to normal he ordered him to take them back to Berk at once.

"But Hiccup, I thought you wanted to discuss something with my father!" Thuggory shouted as they rose in the air. "Isn't that why you came here in the first place?"

"It can wait," Hiccup yelled back, "Toothless, don't fly near any ships or inhabited islands,"

"If I had that Viggo between my jaws right now I'd crush his brain into Terror droppings," Toothless growled, "Putting a price on my human's head—I'll tear him apart and put him back together incorrectly and tear him apart again and feed him to a crocodile!"

"That's a little extreme, don't you think?" Hiccup asked, though the idea cheered him up a little.

"Is it any more extreme than putting a price on your head? The nerve of you humans. And 50,000 gold pieces? From what I know about money, you're worth 65,013 at least!"

"Why 65,013?"

"First number I could think of."

"Wonderful. You're a natural price setter,"

"I know. But what are we going to do about it?"

"We've got a few options. I'll think it over as we go."

Once they returned to Berk, nearly a day sooner than planned, they were met by relieved villagers and family members.

"Thank goodniss," Gobber exclaimed, and there were plenty of people to echo his words, "We've bin worried sick!"

"We only found out a few days ago," Valka said, "Look at this! Trader Johann brought it with him." It was a long sheet of parchment with Hiccup's name, a sketch, a detailed description of him, and a reward offer.

"They didn't draw my bangs correctly," Hiccup commented dryly.

"Is that all you can say?" Stoick exclaimed, "Son, don't you realize how serious this may be?"

"More than you know," Hiccup replied, and he summarized his recent brushes with death for them. "Is there any chance any mercenaries have come here?"

"Not without us finding out," Skullcrusher proudly assured him, "we've been searching every ship that arrives."

"The only ship in the harbor not belonging to us belongs to Trader Johann and his crew," Stoick said, "they're old friends; they're harmless,"

"Johann is more dangerous than most people think," Hiccup said darkly. Beneath that timid beard and nervously respectful posture was a man who heard and saw more than others did. Still, Trader Johann was another person whom Hiccup could not imagine would betray him for money. His crew, on the other hand…

Hiccup told Stoick he wanted any merchant crews to always be accounted for as long as they were on Berk.

"And where's Astrid?" he asked, looking around uneasily.

Valka smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. She was out yesterday looking for you and woke up this morning feeling sick. It was a really cold day, you know. So Greta and I made her stay in bed today. She's probably asleep right now."

"You got Astrid to stay in bed all day because of sickness? I'll believe anything now."

"Well, Gothi had to drug her a little bit,"

"Cheating," Toothless said.

"But what was she doing looking for me yesterday? I wasn't even expected back until late tomorrow!"

"That's what we told her—several times—but that didn't stop her!" Valka laughed as they walked to their house, with Toothless right behind them. Although he was home, Hiccup still could not help but look at everybody suspiciously, especially if he did not know them well. He was very grateful dragons could not read and that most had no use for gold. It was bad enough to have humans after him; having dragons after him too would have shredded his nerves completely.

"So," Valka said once they got inside, "what are we going to do about this? If you want my opinion, we should pretend nothing out of the ordinary is happening,"

Hiccup started undoing the laces of his boot. "Why?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too," Toothless added.

"It's something your father often did after a raid. He would act confident and calm, as if nothing was wrong."

"He usually acts that way," Toothless pointed out.

"I guess it became a habit," she smiled, "when people look at you and see you aren't worried, they feel reassured. It would say we aren't scared of what Viggo's trying to do to us."

Hiccup sat down in a chair and looked into the fire. "I don't know, Mom. Don't you think it might be better to go somewhere safe until this blows over?"

"Where are you safe if not here? How will it blow over unless Viggo drops the bounty or someone…you know, kills you? If you flew off, wouldn't that be saying that Viggo's gotten to you, that he's winning?"

"Sometimes retreating saves the army," Hiccup pointed out, "you can rebuild lost morale but you can't replace a destroyed army,"

"A nice met-a-for, but I still think we should try to act like Viggo's not getting to you. Besides, you can't leave now! It's too late! If you were going to go into hiding, it'd be better to start when you'd have a whole night to fly,"

"I suppose that makes sense," Hiccup sighed wearily.

Valka cocked her head to one side. "Tired?"

"Thwarting attempts on your life does that to you." Hiccup said. "Has Cloudjumper returned yet?"

She shook her head. "Hiccup, get some sleep. Whatever's going on, we'll take care of it. We'll make sure nothing happens to you. That's what parents are for, right?"

Hiccup gave her a sad look. "In theory,"

"Then let me make up for the lost time, please," she pleaded.

Hiccup gave her a brief smile and went upstairs. Astrid was sound asleep. There was little sleep for the rest of the household that night, however. Valka, Stoick, Skullcrusher, and Toothless all took turns staying up and patrolling the area, while Stormfly stayed up watching the sleeping humans.

The following morning the Haddocks made an effort to act as if nothing had happened the night before. But everybody else on Berk talked about nothing but the bounty. They wanted to know what they would do about it, where would the next attack come from, would anyone get caught in the blast, and would Hiccup get them through this again. If you talked to Mildew, the answer was a doubtless "No, we're all doomed thanks ta 'im and them dragons!" but others were convinced Hiccup or Stoick would come up with a response. Many hoped the response would be a battle, for now that they had dragons there were plenty of Vikings who wanted to unleash them. This feeling had really taken root during Hiccup and Astrid's wedding celebrations, when Vikings from other tribes were boasting about their accomplishments in battle, and the Vikings of Berk found they had had precious few heroic feats recently. Peace, it seemed, was starting to get a little boring. And since it was believed only Vikings who died in battle went to Valhalla, some of the older ones were growing a bit concerned about their chances.

With the other Dragon Riders, Snotlout found the bounty hilarious, the Twins were envious, and Fishlegs was horrified. When Hiccup, Astrid, and their dragons passed him that morning, he and Gobber were arguing over ways to deal with this.

"We could challenge Viggo to a dool? Call 'im out? Lure 'im inter a trap?"

"He'd never come." Fishlegs said bitterly.

"Not even if we used a fake eye-dent-ity?" Gobber urged. "What if 'e received a summons from…say, 'Eric the Black 'Earted' to talk 'bout some 'untin' deal…"

Hiccup's smile was gauntly, "For a reply Viggo would ask 'Eric' to come and see him to discuss some hunting deal. Sorry Gobber, but Viggo won't fall for it."

"Where would he see him?" Astrid cut in, her voice sounding like a frog, "And how would we get a message to him if we wanted to? Where has Viggo set up headquarters?"

Everybody looked around hoping somebody else could provide an answer.

"I wonder if Heather knows," Fishlegs mused, "I'll ask in my next letter,"

"So you're in communication with her?" Astrid asked.

"Oh yes!"

"Be careful what you write about," Hiccup warned.

Fishlegs drew himself up. "Hiccup, I assure you, I know what not to put in a letter. I know when to be discrete. And I promise you, I wouldn't include anything that might put your life at risk."

"Thanks," Hiccup said sincerely, "Still…can't be too careful."

"So 'Iccup, wot's the plan? You've always got a plan. 'Ow d'we fix this Viggo man?" Gobber asked eagerly.

"The plan, Gobber, is to act like his efforts have no impact on us at all…for the time being." He shifted his weight slightly, as if he was hiding something, "Sorry if I don't share any details yet, but you know…people talk too much,"

Gobber grinned. "Say no more! Jest tell us when yer ready and we'll let 'er rip!"

"So how's Spittle doing?" Hiccup asked to change the subject.

"Well, 'e's not like you, but then, nobody is. An' that reminds me, ah've got work ta do, so if ya x-cuse me," Gobber hobbled off through the snow. Fishlegs excused himself too. He had volunteered to work with Gothi in taking inventory on medicines. "On average, 8 people die each winter from illness. I'm hoping to lower it," he told them.

"It's because of what happened to his mother," Astrid remarked after he had left.

"Yeah. So nobody really knows where Viggo's headquarters are?" Hiccup mused, "I'll have to do something about that."

"After the meeting," Astrid reminded him. Hiccup groaned.

The main focus of this meeting was the new security measures, winter rations, and the new crane, which had been discussed before they had even met the Defenders of the Wing, but had been delayed for various reasons. Stoick wanted to get the issue settled once and for all, and since Hiccup had proposed it he wanted him to deal with it. In other words, he was testing Hiccup's ability to run a village.

Hiccup sifted through various crane designs. "What was wrong with the schematic I made?"

"Too expensive," said one of Berk's carpenters, Shouting Sven, named for his temper and to distinguish him from Silent Sven. "We thought we'd try some plans that would be cheaper. See this one? It would cost only half of what your design would. That's a lot of money we'd be saving for other projects!" He looked smugly at everyone.

Hiccup smiled. "Very nice, and it'll only lift half as much weight too,"

Shouting Sven lost his smugness. "How's that?"

"If you remove all these cross beams, sure you save a lot on wood and nails, but without those beams for support, you try lifting something heavy and the crane will collapse."

Sven looked over the schematic and his face turned red. "But I thought—my apprentice must have made this one! Curse him! I'll flog him for this! He assured me everything was perfect!" His voice went from disbelief to a loud roar.

Astrid privately doubted it was the apprentice's fault. Shouting Sven had a reputation for being a skinflint. So she said very firmly, "Now look everyone, I don't mind lowering costs where we can, but let's do it sensibly, alright? There's no point in building a cheaper crane if it's going to need to be rebuilt sooner. As far as I can see, no other design is superior to Hiccup's."

"Are you saying that because he's your husband?" someone demanded.

"No, I'm saying it because I think it's the best design," she snapped.

"So when should we start building?" Seaslug asked to forestall an argument.

"No time like the present,"

Sven tried to regain the initiative and divert the subject a little, "Hiccup, might I suggest we start building when the thaw comes? You know how prices always go up in the winter due to scarcity."

"Sven, are you suggesting we delay building something that will benefit us because you're afraid of spending a little extra on it?" Hiccup asked with a raised eyebrow. Sven probably did feel that way but he dared not admit it in front of Berks higher ranking Vikings. "We'll begin work as soon as possible. It'll keep some farmers busy for a while too. And don't worry about the money; we've got plenty. Now let's move onto other matters—"

"Like how safe we are?" Someone asked. The atmosphere in the room suddenly felt as cold as the air outside did. Stoick moved closer to Hiccup, indicating he was now involved in this discussion. "I'm just pointing out Grimborn put a price on Hiccup's head. What if he goes further? What are we going to do about it?"

"I say we find Viggo's lair and blast it and him to pieces!" Shouting Sven roared. A lot of people nodded vigorously.

"Aye. My blade is getting dull."

"I need the exercise,"

"Berk's been too peaceful these days. The only enemy is Mildew!"

Stoick cleared his throat. "While I'm certainly glad to find everyone so eager for a fight, it hasn't come to that yet. At the moment the plan is to keep my son alive and—"

"And to gather information," Hiccup cut in, "And since not everyone here rides a dragon and the ice will soon be settling in, I doubt there'll be any 'fights' until the thaw."

The prospect of a long, cold, and boring winter was not what they wanted to hear. Hiccup got the sense nobody was really happy with him when the meeting broke up. When he mentioned this to his father, Stoick simply brushed it aside and said "Sometimes nobody likes to hear the truth, but they have to hear it."

The rest of the day was spent in similar meetings, organizing winter stores, and preparing for the worst weather possible, as well as more discussions of Berks' safety and what to do about Viggo Grimborn. Astrid was forced by her mother and Gothi to leave these discussions early, as she was still a bit sick and needed some medicine and rest. Even then she resisted until Hiccup advised her to do it.

He and Toothless flew away for the evening and eventually ended up at an isolated rock a little ways off the coast.

"Well, no attempts to murder me today. I suppose that's something." Hiccup remarked dryly.

"Unless they're trying to bore us to death. I saw your face during those meetings, and honestly, if I wasn't staying there to protect you I'd have skipped them completely." Toothless groaned. "I can almost see why you Vikings want some action again."

"Oh come on, you've had plenty of excitement these past few months! Just a few days ago we nearly got killed visiting the Meatheads!" Hiccup flopped into the snow and stared up at the gray sky. "Am I really getting too bothersome, Bud? Should I back down for a while?"

"And let those hunters drive dragons to extinction? Do you honestly think Viggo will back off if you do?"

Hiccup shook his head and started walking around the top of the sea stack. "No. If Viggo doesn't finish me off, anyone can say to him 'Why couldn't you ever kill the Dragon King?' He's marked me for death and if he doesn't follow up he loses more credibility. And the more attempts we foil, the more desperate they'll get and the more likely somebody will get killed. And yet, we still need to know where Viggo is and where to hit him. How about we talk it over with my Dad tonight?" He made a face. "Ugh. I miss the Sanctuary. If we wanted to go somewhere back then, we'd just go, not sit around and discuss it with everyone. If we wanted to go for a midnight flight or sneak into a cell or try out some new contraption, who was going to stop us? Who did we have to ask for permission?"

"Yeah, I miss that freedom too. Of course, we dragons don't form real governments and bur-ach—what's that word again?"

"Bureaucracies?"

"Nice word. Anyway, we just have Alphas and Betas and that's that."

"And your Alpha's been missing for almost four centuries. Fine leadership you dragons have!" Hiccup playfully nudged the dragon's leg.

They returned home rather late.

"Well it's about time!" Valka exclaimed, "Look at you! You're going to catch your death!"

"Ah, c'mon mom, my clothes are pretty waterproof! Just not slobber proof," he added with a glare at Toothless, who put on his innocent expression.

"No excuses! Now get upstairs and get into something dry! And do it quietly, Astrid's probably asleep."

Hiccup made for the stairs and saw Cloudjumper sleeping in a corner. The corner looked considerably smaller now that his large frame was in it. Hiccup paused.

"He arrived shortly before sunset," Valka explained, anticipating his question.

"How'd he get in here?"

"The back door,"

"But the back door's too small! Even Toothless has to angle himself to get through it."

"It was too small,"

"Did some remodeling, did you? Does Dad know about it?"

Valka looked down and played with a stick from the wood pile. "It's a surprise."

Hiccup snorted and went upstairs. Sure enough Astrid was in bed and fast asleep. It was heartwarming to see how peaceful she looked. He smiled, pulled off his flight suit, and went to place it in the newly installed yet already cluttered wardrobe.

"Sheesh, everything in this house is too small for—"

When he opened the wardrobe a man with a knife leapt onto him.