A/N-Surprise! A second chapter for the weekend. This book has more chapters than the last, so my plan is to try and put out at least 2 per week. I can promise at least one per weekend, but due to life, my goal of 2 may not be possible every time.

Anyway, the gang is almost to their first destination, but our new land will not yet be revealed, so keep guessing: where are they?

Chapter 3

Destination One

Bright and early in the morning, we set out again, wasting no time, and began to glide to the southwest, gaining altitude as we did. However, as the sun rose to the highest point in the sky, even flying at 5,000 feet up it can get really, really warm.

"Ugh, can we try swimming there for a while?" Tuffnut complained. "I'm boiling, there's steam coming off me!" Ruffnut groaned. "Oh, quit complaining butt-elf!" she snapped, trying to take a swing at him. "Grow up already!" Tuffnut was about to throw a verbal volley back at her, but caught my warning glare and wisely shut up.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Tuff," Astrid said as she and Thorn glided past me. "It's getting blazing hot up here." ::No kidding,:: Thorn agreed, a frown plastered on her face as well. I sighed and shot ahead of the group. If even the dragons were starting to complain about the heat, it was more than time to try and cool down a little, especially as we needed to conserve our water until we found land.

I flared my wings and aimed toward the group, taking in a deep breath and, combining two dragons together, released a cloud of frozen mist into the flight path. The rest of the gang shot through it, and I followed behind, the cold crystals coating my scales and immediately dropping the temperature around me.

"Oh, that feels good!" Cami sighed. Her sentiments were soon echoed by the others, the cool-down having done its job, and lasting a while. I had to agree, for even though I could change my own temperature to match whatever I needed, there was something just refreshing about a more old-fashioned way of beating the heat. Everyone quickly returned to better spirits after that.

The day wore on, and evening neared. We were not as far along as we thought, apparently, as no large landmass came in sight, and we were lucky to find a small island where we set down and set up camp for the night. Thanks to the two days of nearly straight flying, there was very little talk between the evening meal and when everyone crashed. As everyone else snored around me, though, I stayed awake for a short time, staring at the stars that winked into existence in the sky.

::We're a long way out, huh?:: Toothless said quietly, shaking me out of my thoughts as he ambled over next to me. ::I thought you'd be asleep by now,:: I drawled. He snorted. ::I'm a Night Fury, I don't get tired fast.:: I smirked, before looking up at the stars again.

::If this were my home, I would have expected to be hitting North America by tomorrow,:: I mused. Toothless nodded. ::Well, from what we talked about earlier, our worlds may not be as similar as we thought,:: he replied. ::Well, similar enough when you still have a Europe and an Africa,:: I qualified.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before I turned to face the Night Fury again. ::You ever get the feeling that you're headed into a lot more than you bargained for?:: I asked. He chuckled a bit. ::More so this past year with you around,:: he teased. ::But what do you mean here?:: I sighed. ::I don't know. Probably just nerves, this is something I've never done before. But I can't shake the nagging feeling there's a whole lot more to this than we know.::

Toothless nudged me reassuringly. ::We'll be fine,:: he said. ::We have you, Hiccup, Astrid… granted, we're stuck with Snotlout and the Twins, but I don't think we'll have any big problems.:: I laughed quietly. ::Yeah, you're probably right. And I've been able to keep Ruff and Tuff in check this far, we should be alright. Thanks for the support.::

The two of us continued to observe the stars for a while, before eventually, our eyelids finally dragged themselves down and we both drifted off to sleep where we lay.

"There it is!" Ruffnut yelled, pointing off to our right as she and Barf looked to the west. We all turned, following her finger, and sure enough there was a faint line on the horizon, angling off to the south. We banked in its direction, and soon the mountains we had heard reports of began to loom ahead. "We need to gain altitude," Stormfly observed. "We won't be able to fly over this low." "Agreed," I replied, and we angled up, catching updrafts and soaring high above the ocean waves. It wasn't long before we were near enough to spot details on the sheer cliffs.

"Looks like the rumors were right," Hiccup commented. "There's no way at all to get through from this side, save by air." Indeed, the entire side of the land we approached was sheer cliff, without any cracks or crevasses and only rarely fronted by small, rocky beaches torn up by the actions of the sea. Up above, though, past the tops of the cliffs, I could see small peaks beyond. "Looks almost like a fracture from an earthquake," I muttered. "That would have had to be an enormous quake then," Fishlegs added.

As we got closer, the mountains beyond the cliffs came more into focus: a massive range, stretching at least 50 miles wide, and extending as far as the eye could see both north and south. Beyond that, there seemed to be….

"You guys hold up for a second," I called out, before morphing to Wind Fury and rocketing upward to get a better view. As I climbed high into the air, the landscape began to lay out clearly. Where we were, the mountains began to soften into a jagged plateau, cut by deep ravines and smaller mountain ranges. To the south, the plateau smoothed out further and gave way to a wide forest, with at least one very noticeable glistening river, only visible at this height thanks to my draconic eyes.

Beyond the river was another range of mountains snaking across the land from the main range at the cliffs, dividing the forest from a massive desert. I couldn't see further south than that, and that was looking out a couple of hundred miles, and I couldn't quite see the other side of the land below either, but there seemed to be an end, possibly another ocean.

I back-flipped and rocketed back downward, changing to Night Fury again as I reached the gang and slowed down. "Well, what did you see?" Camicazi queried. I shrugged. "It's just one long strip of land, maybe one or two hundred miles wide, probably a couple thousand long." "What kind of habitat?" Fishlegs asked next. "Plateau where we are," I replied, "and further south is forest. Beyond that, I can see the edges of a desert." I turned to look down at the cliffs, which were only a few miles further west now.

"The weirdest thing is, I could have sworn I've seen a map of this place," I mused. "Only, only there's something off, like the picture is flipped or something. I remember mountains to the west, and flatter lands to the east." Hiccup and Toothless drifted closer. "Do you remember where you found this map?" he asked. I sighed and gave him a look. "Well, if I knew that I'd probably have the answer. I keep thinking of a book of some sort, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Don't you mean paw?" Cami butted in. Chuckles escaped from the other teens, and I turned to her, trying not to smile. "Finger, paw, kind of the same thing for me," I drawled, failing at my effort and smiling anyway.

"Well, let's stop just sitting here and go take a look around," Thuggory interjected. "That is why we're here, isn't it?" We all nodded in agreement, and glided toward the cliffs again. Within a couple minutes we were gliding over the mountains, and continued out over the plateau, keeping an eye out for anything of interest.

As we reached the first area of wide, flat ground (though still cut by small ravines and washes), movement caught my eye from down below. "Look!" I said quietly, and pointed with a claw. Below a small valley opened up from one end of a canyon, and something was emerging out into it. As the thing showed itself fully, we all gasped audibly. "Get higher!" I hissed, and we shot upward, toward the clouds.

After we had broken through the clouds, we all stopped and looked at each other, anxious faces on each of us. "Y-you all saw that, right?" Snotlout stammered. "They looked human," Cami said, "but there's no way they were! I mean, they were at least 15, 20 feet tall!"

And that's exactly what we'd seen: the things that walked out into the valley were giants, almost human like but far too large to be one. Fishlegs shook his head in confusion. "How's that even possible?" he asked.

We hovered there, shell-shocked, trying to process what we'd seen traipsing around below us, for probably ten minutes, unable to say anything, before a thought finally occurred to me.

"The Anakim," I mumbled. "What?" Astrid asked, being closest to me and able to hear me muttering. I shook my head and blinked my eyes a couple times. "There are records from….from biblical times," I said. "Demons paired with men to produce giant offspring, known as the Anakim, or Nephilim, and they were feared. These giants may be direct descendants of them, if the same history happened here." That killed off any high spirits anyone had left. "Well, then, let's try and avoid them, shall we?" Hiccup said. "Surely they don't live everywhere here. And if they do, this will be a short trip."

I nodded. "Yeah, let's continue south. Maybe they only reside in the mountains here. The forests could be safer." "It would be harder for them to move in thick trees," Fishlegs noted. We all let out a few shaky breaths and nods, and turned southward, staying high up above the land. We stayed where we could see the ground, but far enough up, hopefully, so that we would not be easily seen. Along the way, came more signs of the giants living in the land, with massive monuments built in the rocks, and what appeared to be scattered houses and even massive castles. I pursed my lips in thought. "Well, at least they appear to be somewhat civilized," I said. "They managed to build houses at least."

Me and my big mouth. No sooner had I said that, than the clouds above us cleared into blue sky, and a group of the giants below looked up and spotted us. My eyes widened as I watched them begin pulling out massive hunting bows.

"MOVE!" I screamed, and we all scattered, shooting upward again as five foot arrows came streaking up toward us. Below, I heard a gruff, heavily accented voice yell out, "Don' let them get away! Them birds be perfect as roasts for the feast!"

I froze and glared downward. The other teens saw the look in my eyes and gave me a wide space. "Birds, eh?" I growled, before looking at the gang. "You stay here, I will be right back." I flipped around in midair and flared my wings, in clear view of the apparent hunting party below. A new image appeared in my head, and my arms and legs melted away, and my wings stretched out to a ridiculously huge size, and razor sharp at the edges. I was a full-grown Timberjack now, and not the least ticked off. I dove off to one side, taking the giant's attention with me, and disappeared into a small gorge, before turning toward the posse.

I exploded out of the gorge, right in front of the giants, and flared my wings, watching as their eyes widened upon finally realizing I was no mere bird. I sucked in a breath, building up fuel, and let loose, not shooting at them, but encircling the group in a ring of fire. The flames leapt more than high enough to keep them from simply stamping them out and trying to come after me, so I took another circle around them to make sure they got the message.

"Do we really look so much like birds to you anymore?" I hissed threateningly, watching as the giants shrank back. I caught the word dragon whispered, and smiled, knowing they got the picture. I rocketed back up, leaving them to figure out what to do with the flames, and changed to Night Fury again, joining my friends. "They won't be bothering us for a while, I think," I said nonchalantly, before turning serious again. "But, just to be safe, let's get out of here anyway." They all nodded. "Agreed."

Within a half hour, we finally left the plateau, and luckily enough, all evidence of giant habitation. Below, a luscious growth of trees sprang up, a mix of pines and deciduous. "Oh, this is much better scenery," Hiccup commented.

"A little warm, though, don't you think?" Thuggory asked, tugging at his collar. I snorted. "I think it feels good." "You're a reptile, too," Cami retorted nearby. "In more ways than one." "Ha ha, yeah yeah," I muttered. "Let's just see if there's a safe place to land."

The forest stretched, seemingly unbroken, for miles. After a little while, though, we managed to find a small meadow cut by a creek. We all set down, and I changed back to human, laying on the grass. "Well, this looks like as good a place as any to stop for lunch," I said, reaching back and grabbing my backpack off my shoulders. The others opened up saddlebags, and grabbed out packs of dried fruit and bread. As we ate, we kept up conversations about other possibilities of the place we'd found ourselves in.

"I wonder if those guys are where we get our stories of the frost giants," Fishlegs mused. "I mean, if anyone encountered them it would have been far up north." "Possibly," Astrid said. "But, I have another worry. If the people here are huge, does that mean the animals are too?" I shrugged. "We don't know anything about this place, so anything's possible," I answered. "I mean, the giants thought at first we were just birds. Though after my stunt I found out they do know what dragons are." "It could just be that region too, though," Fishlegs added again. "Animals, and people for that matter, don't tend to travel far from home very often."

"Let's hope so," Ruffnut replied, leaning against her Zippleback's neck. "We wouldn't want me to end up as giant food." "Ha! That's not true, it's just me we're worried about," Tuffnut retorted, his signature grin spreading across his face. "Oh yeah?" snapped Ruffnut, standing up and smacking her brother upside the head. "Hey!" Tuffnut yelled, pushing back, and in the process starting up another sibling quarrel.

I sighed. "Will you two cut it out already?" I groaned. They ignored me, naturally, and continued bickering and rolling across the ground. "Troll!" "Fishbreath!" "Fart-face! Ow!"

"Oh, for the love of-" I started, sitting up and glaring at the two of them, having had enough. "Alright, you two STOP IT NOW OR I'LL-"

SNAP!

We all froze, and slowly turned to look in the direction of the sound. There was silence at first, but soon, the sound of rustling leaves and breaking twigs could be heard. Something fairly large was coming our way. "Everyone get in the air," I said, gathering up my pack and slinging it on quickly, morphing to Night Fury immediately after. As the teens hurriedly packed away their things and got on their dragons, I stayed glued to the location the rustling was coming from.

No sooner had everyone gotten on their dragons than we all left the meadow, arcing up into the air and moving south. I glanced back just to see if whatever it was would happen to come out into the open, and managed to catch a glimpse of….yellowish fur?

I blinked and slowed, turning and looking closer in to the trees at the meadow's edge, but there was nothing. Not a sign of anything living save the plants and insects.

"You alright Hawken?" Hiccup called out. I shook my head and turned around again. "Sorry, thought I saw something," I muttered. "Let's just get going again."

We rose high above the trees and caught a tailwind, riding it to the east and slightly further south. The landscape undulated in hills and small depressions beneath us, the occasional stream or ravine marking the land passing underneath. At one point, at the edge of another clearing by a large hill, I thought I spotted a set of ruins, as the rocks appeared to have been placed instead of fallen there, but without stopping to look there was no way to be sure.

Finally, though, the glimmer of ocean waves became visible as we neared the other side of the land. "Well, at least we know there's a good source of food over here," Stormfly said. I laughed. "Oh, I'm sure you guys can at least try something other than fish to-"

"Hawken, look!" Astrid shouted, cutting me off and pointing southward toward the coastline. On the edge of the sea was a structure definitely recognizable as manmade: a castle, standing high upon a hill overlooking a bay. And unlike the buildings we had seen earlier, this one looked more of a normal size range.

"Well, it looks normal enough," I drawled. "Let's find out if someone here might be a bit friendlier than the giants." They all nodded, and angled downward, gliding toward the castle. Once again, though, the layout of the structure hit me as unsettlingly familiar. I knew I had seen or read about this somewhere, and it was eating at me, that I could not figure out where from. However unknown to me, we were about to find out just how familiar this place really was.

A/N-The Anakim are indeed a rather well-documented biblical phenomenon, races of giants and thought to be where Goliath was descended from. Anyway, the first real clues have been dropped as to where our friends have ended up, and the answer will be given in the next chapter, next weekend. In the meantime, make sure to post your guess, review with comments, and also don't forget that I am working on a Book of Dragons to go with this series, so make sure to take a look at that as well!

Until next time...