Heather stood back on the deck as she looked down in worry about what happened to the twins.
They were currently taken hostage by the leader of the Dragon Hunters, and there wasn't anything that they could do to save them. And now their leader Viggo had taken them as well as the Flightmare they came to rescue. Hiccup kept on walking back and forth as he was trying to clear his head with what happened.
"I don't get it. How did Viggo get away?" Hiccup asks as he keeps pacing. "How did we lose Summer, Winger, the twins, and the Flightmare?"
"I don't even want to think about what they're going to do to her and the dragon," Heather says as the others return.
"You guys find anything?" Hiccup asks, hoping that there was anything.
"No, the fog was too thick." Astrid says. "They used it as cover and just vanished."
"Great." Heather snarled in annoyance. "This can't be worse."
"It could've been worse. We could've brought the Dragon Eye." Tuffnut says, seeing an upside when Ruffnut hits him. "Ow!"
"How do you know I didn't bring the Dragon Eye?" Hiccup asks him.
"How did I know you didn't bring the Dragon Eye?" Tuffnut asks as Ruffnut elbows him again. "Ouch!"
"Whatever, okay. I didn't bring it." Hiccup says since he doesn't know where it is.
"No kidding. Then, Viggo would have the twins, their dragons, the Flightmare, and the Dragon Eye." Snotlout states in anger.
"Which is still back in Dragon's Edge, completely unguarded!" Hiccup realizes that they need to get back to their home quickly.
Returning to the Edge, the entire place has been torn apart in their search for the Eye, and most of the dragons were taken down by the dragon root arrows.
Anna, Elsa, and the rest of their group managed to get back first and were quick to check on the dragons. Since it seemed they were hit shortly after they left, the Dragon Root was already wearing off.
"Whoa, I have never felt this dizzy in a long time," Cutter commented as he tried to stand back up.
"You guys okay?" Anna asks in worry.
"We're fine," Aggro said as she was beginning to grow furious. "They attacked us! They attacked our home!"
"And they took our friends!" Burple said in worry.
"Yeah, but, we'll get them for that and save them," Anna promised them, trying to calm them down.
Hiccup was checking on his hiding place where he would keep the Dragon Eye. As he checked all of the places he would keep it, there was nothing and he figured that they must have taken it.
"This was the last part of Viggo's plan. Leading us away so the Hunters could come in and steal the Dragon Eye." Hiccup snarled in anger at himself. "How did I not see that?"
"Are you sure you put it there after you got it back from the twins?" Snotlout asks Hiccup at the doorway.
Hiccup then froze and was confused with what he meant and looked to Snotlout. "Got it back from the twins?"
They were then led to their secret cave and they saw it was a complete mess. There were tables pushed around and tossed boxes all over the place.
"Oh, wow, it looks like they wrecked this place, too," Elsa commented on the mess.
"Actually, this is exactly how we left it," Tuffnut admitted and gestured to the area. "But I don't remember that!" He gestures to a mounted yak with an apple and a sword through the apple.
"No, no, that was us," Snotlout assured them. "Remember? We were playing pirates vs Vikings, and Bjorn was the pirate captain."
"Oh, right. That is one great game. Yeah, this is pretty much how we left it." Tuffnut recalled what they were doing. Then they found the Dragon Eye, covered in...ink? "Sorry."
Hiccup rolled his eyes and just took the Eye back. "You guys do know that you could have just asked if you wanted to use it? It belongs to all of us."
"Exactly!" Snotlout quickly took his side. "Do you what could have happened if Viggo got ahold of this? I tried telling them."
"Seems to me, if I hadn't removed the Dragon Eye from your masterful hiding place, we'd be having a very different conversation right now," Ruffnut tells them.
Hiccup was angry that he had to admit she was right about that and walked out of the cave. Elsa and Heather were a little concerned about him and followed behind, watching as he was beginning to pace again.
"You know, you're getting into a bad habit of pacing," Heather commented as she crossed her arms.
"I...I just can't believe I let this happen. I got the twins captured and risked the Dragon Eye being taken. I fell for Viggo's plan." Hiccup says as Toothless tries cheering him up. "I made a mess out of everything."
"You're right, it's a mess," Elsa tells Hiccup.
Hiccup looked over at his sister with a mutual face, looking for some support, not realism. "Thank you. Thanks. Thanks for summing it up for me."
"And if there's a mess, we clean it up," Elsa explained as she wailed up and pulled him for a hug. "All of us. Together."
"We can find some of our allies, load up whatever weapons we can, and go in, dragons blazing," Fishlegs says.
"Can I bring Macy?" Tuffnut asks. "She's been begging to come along on a mission."
"No, we're not going anywhere." Hiccup tells them knowing they can't go in without a plan. "Nobody is going anywhere. Not yet anyway. Think about it. We do what we do really well. We're a smart group. We are fast, fearless, and ride dragons. But Viggo manipulated us like we were a bunch of inexperienced kids. If we have any chance against him, we can't go in, dragons blazing. Like normally. That could get our...it could get the kids killed. It could get one of us could be killed."
That seemed to bring them down to earth a bit.
"Well, I for one, am definitely against getting us killed," Tuffnut says.
"Yep, I have to agree. And not just because we're twins and we always think the same thing." Ruffnut agrees.
"So you want to leave Viggo to hunting and hurt dragons at will?" Astrid asks.
"I want to do the right thing." Hiccup proclaimed as he wanted to do what was best for everyone. "And that is going to take some thinking. I don't want to lose the twins or any other of our family."
"I understand," Anna stated. "We need to outsmart him. So, let's get to thinking."
At the Dragon Hunter base, Ryker is feeding the Flightmare.
"Dragon, dinnertime. Viggo wants you to eat up, like a good little boy. If it were up to me, you'd starve." Ryker informs the Flightmare.
"Come now, brother. This dragon is our guest." Viggo states to his brother. "His value to us is immeasurable. We must treat him well, and keep him happy. The bigger question is what to do with our other guests."
"I say we toss the two of them into the Whispering Death tunnels. Watch them tear the two to pieces." Ryker suggests, referring to the twins. "It could be entertaining for the crew. Boost morale."
"I'm not concerned with entertaining the crew. They need to stay sharp. It's only a matter of time before Hiccup formulates his parry." Viggo says and Ryker doesn't know what that means. "Counterattack, big brother." He explains. "Thank Thor he blessed you with the strength of the body. Leave those children be for now. We are not animals. They will prove useful. Almost as useful as our glowing friend here." The Flightmare snarled as it continued to ear. "And after all brother, they are just children."
Hiccup flew off into the air and got Elsa and Heather's attention away from the group. They quickly got on their dragons to follow after him and weren't sure what his plan was.
Hiccup kept flying away when Elsa managed to pick up speed and fly beside him. "Hiccup, where are you going?"
"If we're going to defeat Viggo, then we're going to need to understand him." Hiccup explains his planning and kept flying toward Viggo's abandoned ship.
"We've been through this place before, Hiccup," Heather stated as they made their way downward. "They took everything when they left."
"You ever notice, Viggo never actually puts himself in danger? He fights with his intellect." Hiccup was starting to put it together. "Planning every move, accounting for every scenario. Take Johann."
"You think he knew Johann was giving us intelligence and decided to play along?" Elsa asks as she exited one of the
"I think, at some point, he found out and used him to manipulate us." Hiccup says and Toothless growls at something in another room. "Watcha you got there, bud?"
Hiccup approached the cage where he saw there was some sheet covering something. He walks over and pulls it off where he sees it's a board with four characters.
"Maces and Talons." Hiccup was able to make out. "The Viking King." He then gestured to the piece. "That's supposed to be me, trying to save the prisoners."
"Who's that other one then?" Heather asks as she points to the other characters.
"The Chief of the Marauders. If I had to guess, I'd say Viggo." Hiccup says and picks up the prisoner's piece that's broken in half. "This piece? This is the Prisoners."
"I'm guessing the twins." Elsa put it together.
"It's almost like Viggo wanted you to see this," Heather comments in confusion.
"It's a challenge from him to me. He's daring me to play." Hiccup assumes.
"Why did he break the twin's piece?" Heather wonders.
"Because the prisoner dies in the end." Hiccup says and sees he needs to save the twins, and he needs a perfect plan to do that. "The prisoner always dies."
"Hiccup, Maces, and Talons! Does this mean-" Fishlegs asks as they bring the board back to the Edge.
"No, Fishlegs." Hiccup stops him, knowing where he's going. "I am not planning to be taking over as Chief of Berk."
"But, Maces and Talons were designed to test the abilities and decision-making expertise of future chefs in the heat of battle." Fishlegs reminds him.
"Yeah, but I'm not planning to take over as chief of Berk." Hiccup states that he has made no plans of returning to Berk for good. He still hasn't really gotten over everything that they went through on the island. He was only recently opening to the others due to the fact they might be needed on Berk, seeing they might not be accepted. "Viggo left this for me. He wants me to play Maces and Talons with him."
Tuffnut started looking around, thinking he was there. "Viggo's here?"
"We got next!" Ruffnut yells, running up to the board.
"Guys, no, no. He's not here and we're not using the board." Hiccup explains to the two of them, keeping the twins away from the board. "We're playing for real. With real people. Viggo is forcing my hand. He's making me play him for the twins."
"And if you lose?"Anna was worried. Hiccup sighed and dropped the broken pieces, and Anna seemed to understand it. "No, no, no! Hiccup, you have to do this!"
"I know." Hiccup assured her. "We'll get them back
"And we need is a strategy," Snotlout says.
"We do, Snotlout." Hiccup couldn't believe that he agreed with him. And that strategy has to be different from anything he's ever seen or tried." He looked down at the board with a sigh. "Otherwise, the twins won't stand a chance."
Hiccup wasn't sure what the exact range of this plan was, but he was able to come up with a small plan to at least try and infiltrate the bass. They're all currently flying out to the Dragon Hunter home base with a plan at the dead of night. That way they would have the advantage with their dragons who can camouflage and hide away from sight.
"All right, remember guys, Viggo is a master of deception." Hiccup warns the group. "We have to be one step ahead of him at all times or it's game over."
"Sounds a lot to me like it's already game over," Tuffnut says.
"Yep, that was my interpretation." Ruffnut agrees when arrows come flying in and they fly to avoid them.
"Where are those coming from?" Fishlegs asks.
"Beneath The cloud cover. They must have ships down there." Astrid guesses.
"How did they know we were up here?" Fishlegs wonders.
That was when they suddenly see more light and turn to see Snotlout has Hookfang on fire, making him easily spotted. All of them faced him with anger and annoyance in their eyes, as the whole point of a night strike was to not be spotted.
"What?! I was chilly. Now I'm warm and toasty." Snotlout tells them as they keep avoiding the arrows.
"If we survive this, I'll be sure to show you chilly!" Elsa cried in anger as she did her best to help Luna avoid the arrows.
"How many of these things has he got?!" Cutter asks as he tried to avoid getting hit.
"We must be getting close to the island." Hiccup says when the clouds move and they see all the tents and sites. "Viggo's base."
"Are you sure that's it? It looks kinda deserted." Fishlegs says when fire comes in almost hits him. He sees Typhoomerangs being used to attack them. "And I stand corrected."
"He's using flipping Typhoomerangs as blowtorches!?" Snotlout asks as he avoids the flames.
"I thought you liked it toasty." Heather mocks him.
"I like toasty. Not toast-ed." Snotlout tells her as they avoid the flames.
"I have to say, you totally undersold this guy, Hiccup," Tuffnut tells him. "He's way more devious than..."
"Look out!" Hiccup says as they're about to get hit.
"Maybe we should turn back? Find a place to regroup?" Astrid suggests.
"She just might be right, Hiccup," Anna said as she flew closer to him. "There's no way we're getting through that."
Hiccup considered the idea at first, but he was trying to put together what his idea was. Trying to think like Viggo. "No. All this is just a distraction."
"It's fire, Hiccup," Snotlout tells him in terror, trying to escape the fire. "Actual fire."
"Gonna have to concur with that one," Tuffnut says as his helmet is on fire.
"What I mean is, Viggo doesn't want us to retreat. It just seems that way. He wants us to get past the fire and the arrows." Hiccup was beginning to put his plan together. "He wants me to get through to find the twins. And then his game really begins."
"Well, if he wants us to get through, he's got a funny way of showing it," Cutter says as he's trying to survive the flames.
"He doesn't want us to get through, he wants us to go around and attack from the back." Hiccup explains to him.
"Oh, that sounds way better," Snotlout confesses, but he knew Hiccup better than that at this point. "But that's not what we're doing. Is it?"
"Nope. We're going in this way." Hiccup says referring to the fire the Tyfoomerangs were shooting. "Straight into the fire. Now I know you think I'm nuts."
"Yes." Snotlout agrees.
"I have to agree on that one!" Echo cried as she flew to protect Anna.
"The fire from the Typhoomerangs is like a giant tornado." Hiccup tells them. "If we fly right into the eye of it, it'll be hot, but the fire won't touch us."
"Inside it?" Snotlout asks in shock. "This whole plan sounds completely theoretical."
"My fine sister and I have performed said feat of daring many times throughout the history of Nut," Tuffnut informs them with pride.
"Yeah, for fun! It does work." Ruffnut assures them. "As long as you don't panic while you're inside."
That didn't exactly help their confidence since they weren't sure how to feel about their confidence. But they just decided to go for it and all of them except for the twins, Elsa, Anna, and Hiccup panic as they fly through it. As soon as the Typhoomerangs stop firing, the Hunters see them at the last possible second.
"Hello!" Elsa said cheerfully as they went for the attack.
Elsa acted fast as she shot ice down, freezing the Hunters, followed by Echo shooting a blast of sound to shatter the chains. The Typhoomerangs then started to fly away in the happiness of being free.
"Heather, you help these guys free the other dragons. Me and Elsa gonna go find the twins." Hiccup tells them and flies off with Elsa close behind.
"Hurry!" Heather pleaded for him to get to them as quickly as he could.
Hiccup and Elsa were searching when they happen to come across the Flightmare. Hiccup walks towards it and Elsa keeps the Hunter's back as he finds the Flightmare and it muzzled in a cage.
"What have they done to you?" Hiccup asks and knows they won't kill it, but the twins could be a different story.
"Don't worry, we'll be back." Elsa as they run to find the twins.
"Okay, we gotta get some higher ground." Hiccup commented as he looked around for some way to do so. "Think you can give me a boost?"
Elsa was a little concerned, but she recalled he still has his flight suit. "You die, I'm not explaining it to Heather."
Hiccup rolled his eyes as Elsa got ready to throw him. Hiccup ran up to her and Elsa used her powers to throw him into the air. Once he was high enough, he started to do a quick scan of the area, seeing dozens of cages and wondering which the twins were in. But when he looked far enough, he saw two small blanket-covered figures.
"There you are!" Hiccup cried as he fell downward, using his wingsuit to make more distance.
Elsa was able to keep up on the ground, there surprisingly being little to no guards surrounding the dragons. Maybe they were confident enough in the fact they captured them and they didn't need guards.
They make their way toward the cage and break the lock off with Elsa's ice. "Hey, kids, come on, we gotta get out of here."
But when they pulled the blanket off of them, it turns out it was Viggo holding himself and his knees together to give the impression of two people being inside. The two of them backed away as Elsa got ready to shoot him with her ice.
"Welcome, Hiccup, Elsa." Viggo greets them as he stood up.
"Where's Dak and Leyla?" Hiccup asks in worry.
"Bad news. They won't be joining us tonight." Viggo tells him and straightened his suit. "But on the positive side, you've both far exceeded my expectations. Good on you." He congratulated the two when dozens of Hunters come out of hiding and aim at the cage. Elsa started to frantically redirect her aim from Viggo to his me, then back to Viggo. "So many guards, so little time. But, please. I am enjoying this. I'll give you a head start."
"And why would you do that?" Elsa asks, she definitely was not on board with trusting this guy.
"Because I'm nothing if not a good sport. And if I didn't, the game would end here." Viggo tells them with a shrug. "And what fun would that be?"
Elsa and Hiccup looked at one another, neither of them sure if they wanted to attack now or take the chance to run. They decided that the hunters and Viggo were too much for them to take on alone and they run.
"Okay, think, time to think," Elsa commented as they kept running. "Why would he give us a head start?"
"I know, it doesn't make sense. He knows we have..." Hiccup stops as he comes face to face with dragon hunters holding the Flightmare in their direction. "...Dragons."
Toothless makes it on top of a cage and growls at them. Luna was quick to follow as she and Toothless were ready to protect their riders.
"Thank Thor you're both okay." Hiccup says as Viggo catches up.
"There you are. Didn't get as far as I imagined." Viggo says, sounding like he was gloating
"Game is over, Viggo," Elsa tells him, ready to blast him with ice.
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Elsa. Was I not a worthy adversary?" Viggo felt offended. "Don't answer that. Your surrender speaks volumes."
"No one is surrendering." Hiccup tells him as they were ready to fight.
"All right then. Here's what I propose. Turn over what you stole from me, what has belonged to my tribe for centuries, and I will take serious thought to let you and your friends go free." Viggo bargains.
"You're talking about the Dragon Eye." Hiccup took a sarcastic guess.
"Dragon Eye." Seems it was the first Viggo heard of its name. "A fitting name. If you don't mind, I'll use that."
"Have it your way, Viggo." Hiccup says as he eyed Elsa, who was ready to blast. "But don't say I didn't warn you."
But before they could even get a snowflake to blast, the Hunters opened the Flightmare's muzzle to shoot mist at them. This caused them and their dragons to be paralyzed.
"You and your dragons played into my hands. To be honest, I expected more." Viggo says as he approaches the two and reaches into Hiccup's satchel and finds the Dragon Eye. Then to their surprise, he walked over and placed the Dragon Eye in front of Elsa's hands, which were in mid-snow blasts when she was frozen, watching as the Eye was starting to glow. "Hiccup Haddock the Third, Elsa Oldenburg, I've enjoyed our time together. I do truly hope we can compete again."
Then Viggo started to walk away as his men were starting to lead the Flightmare away from them. But what was left with them was the fact of what he called Elsa, Oldenburg.
She had only recently recalled that was her given birth name. Was Viggo the man who slaughtered her home to get to her? If so, why didn't he just take her? Why did the Dragon Eye begin to light up in her hands?
Something doesn't feel right.
In the tunnels, the twins were being led by two guards and a hooded man who took them from their cage. They weren't entirely sure what they were going to do with them, but they could take the guess it wasn't going to end well for the, The hooded man pointed down a corridor and the guards took the lead in dragging the kids down them.
"Wait. This doesn't seem right."
"Aye, Viggo said-" One of the Hunters was saying when the hooded man knocks them both out.
"News flash, I don't work for Viggo." The hooded man informs them. "You should really pay closer attention to that. It's bad for business to not know your coworkers."
Then he looked at the twins as were worried about what was going to happen to them. That was when the man grabbed an axe from behind him and spun it around to his front. They both close their eyes, waiting for their inevitable death with tears streaming down their faces. But to their shock, all that the axe had come to hit was the ropes binding their hands. The man doesn't explain, but whistles, and the twins watched their dragons come out of the tunnels.
"Winger!" Dak cheered as he ran to his dragon.
"Summer!" Leyla cheered.
"You're okay." The dragons say and run to their friends.
When they looked back at the man who saved them, they were confused when they watched him walk away and vanish down the caves.
"That was weird," Winger commented.
"Yes, it was," Leyla confirmed as she jumped on Summer. "Come on, we need to get out of here!"
They then got on the back of their dragons and quickly flew away to find a way out of the caves. They needed to find their way back to the others and hope they were close by.
Back with Elsa and Hiccup, they were finally starting to be able to move their limbs with the Flightmare gel starting to wear off. They were able to finally move their face, allowing them to rest their faces. Elsa's ice blast finally shot out and ended up hitting a tree.
"Gah! I hate this guy!" Elsa cried in anger.
Hiccup however a little confused. "Oldenburg. Why'd he call you that?"
"It's my birth name." Elsa shrugged, knowing Hiccup should know that.
"I know that, but how does he?" Hiccup asks.
"You think he had something to do with what happened to Arendelle?" Elsa was starting to follow.
"You don't?" Hiccup asks,
Elsa sighed and got on Luna. "Let's find out. And get the Eye back."
Down in the mountain caves, Viggo and Ryker are moving the Flightmare and Ryker is getting furious at how long it takes to move it.
"What are we doing? Let's kill it and move on!" Ryker states as Viggo approaches it with the Dragon Eye to do something.
Toothless starts charging his blasts and shoots a nearby Hunter. Elsa was shooting ice at them to keep Luna's blasts ready for when they got to Viggo.
"Viggo! Dragon Riders!" Ryker warns him.
"Just a moment more," Viggo says as the Dragon Eye is revealing something to him. "Release the Dragon."
"Viggo!" Hiccup call's out when the Flightmare comes at them and they fly to avoid getting frozen again.
"Watch it!" Elsa cried as she and Luna tackled the two to keep them from getting captured or hit. The Flightmare was now blocking the path between them and Viggo, making them impossible to reach. "We gotta go!"
"Accepting defeat is the most difficult, but necessary, part of the competition," Viggo informs them as they fly off to avoid the Flightmare.
Hiccup and Elsa begin flying as fast as they could to get out. The Flightmare follows them and they meet up with the others. Anna was shooting Echo's sound waves to attack the Hunters when they noticed everyone.
"Everyone, move!" Hiccup warns them.
"What? We just got here." Tuffnut says as the Flightmare chases after them and freezes them. Everyone scattered to try and escape the wrath of the Flightmare. "This isn't a very fun reunion."
The Flightmare starts attacking everyone in sight as it doesn't know what else to do.
"We need to get this thing out of here, back to its food trail." Hiccup says.
Then the Flightmare comes back at them when it suddenly gets hit with a spray of water. They watched as it was then hit with a blast from Winger as he and Summer come up, both with one of the twins on their back.
"Dak! Leyla!" Heather was glad to see they were alright.
"Don't hurt him, guys. We just need to scare it off." Dak tells their dragons as the four of them get it to fly off to its food trail and return to one another.
"We gotta get back to the caves." Hiccup said, wanting to get Viggo and some answers.
"Hiccup, Viggo had this whole thing figured out from start to finish," Heather tells Hiccup in anger. "He's long gone by now."
Hiccup gets angry at how easily manipulated he was to lose to this man and screams in anger. He then flies off to check on the other riders who seem okay.
When they land, Heather took a look over the twins to make sure that they weren't hurt and that none of the Hunters did anything to them. She was happy to have them both back in her arms, and the twins felt the same way towards her.
"He got the Dragon Eye," Elsa said as Hiccup nods at her. "We will find a way to get it back. Besides, we left the Snow Wraith tooth back at the Edge, so he can't even use it."
"And he knows that." Hiccup tells her, still trying to think. "So why did he want it so badly? And why did he put it in your hand?"
"And what did it show him?" Elsa wonders as she looked down at her hand. "What could my power have shown him?"
That was a question they needed to answer another time.
They got the twins back, and that was enough of a win for them.
