Atali and Nadia were in the Northern Markets to buy more weapons for the Wingmaidens. They had kept their baby Razorwhip in the surrounding woods to avoid drawing any suspicious glances from the people. Soon, they approached one of the ironmongers and began examining the weapons he had on display.
Nadia examined the creative weapons and nodded approvingly. "This batch will be acceptable if you'd be so kind as to box them up for us," she said, looking at the iron mason.
"I'm sorry, but those weapons are spoken for," said the iron mason, not looking at them as he continued to sharpen his ax.
"All right, then we'll take these," replied Nadia, gesturing to another crate.
"As I said, spoken for."
Nadia was becoming increasingly annoyed not to mention suspicious; who had the money or the need to buy so many weapons?
"Spoken for by whom, Iron Mason?" Atali asked curiously.
"Pay him," a voice said behind them. The two of them turned, and a Hunter grabbed the crate, much to their surprise. "Or don't. Doesn't matter."
The Hunter was about to leave, but Nadia placed herself in front of him and narrowed her eyes. The Hunter growled and dropped his weapon, drawing a sword instead and pointing it at Nadia. Nadia prepared to fight back, while Atali prepared to summon their baby Razorwhips to help. Instantly, the Hunters in the surrounding area drew their weapons as well.
"Hunters," A cloaked figure said who approached them. "Have you all taken leave of your senses?" He then took a bludgeon from the crate. "On your knees before Queen Atali." The man then whacked the Hunter, who took the crate, with a bludgeon in the knee forcing him onto his knees.
Atali and Nadia were surprised by this gesture and the cloaked figure.
"My apologies." The Stranger said, looking at the two of them. "They are simple Hunters. Not known for their strength of mind." He then looked at the Hunter he struck. "Now go before you get us killed." The Hunters began to leave reluctantly and Atali and Nadia stared at the cloaked figure. "You're lucky I came along when I did. This is no longer a safe place for you."
The cloaked figure then turned around the corner and vanished leaving the two of them completely bewildered.
A few days later, Atali made her way to the Edge and found the Riders on their island to inform them of the incident. To say they were confused by what they heard would be an understatement.
"So, this hooded stranger, he risked his own life to save you?" Hiccup asked.
"If it weren't for him, who knows what could have happened," said Atali, scratching Windshear on the head.
"And you've bought weapons on this island before?" Elsa asked.
Atali nodded. "Yes, for many years."
"It never used to be like this," Heather frowned. She remembered when she had stumbled upon the Northern Markets and met Atali for the first time. "That island was always a peaceful place to trade."
"Heather, we should go and see what those hunters are up to." Hiccup didn't like what those Dragon Hunters could be planning with those weapons. "Thank you for alerting us of this, Atali."
"Of course," she nodded. "I feared that it had something to do with you three. You've become quite the force against these Hunters."
"I take that as a compliment," Elsa stated with a smile.
"Alright, Elsa, you stay here and try to keep the others under control," Hiccup told her. "I'll take Heather and see what I can find out about what's going on in the markets."
"Sounds like a plan." Elsa shrugged as she lay against Luna. "Should be easy enough." Then there was an explosion in the distance, getting Elsa to jump in shock. "I jinxed myself."
"Good luck with whatever that is." Hiccup said as he flew off with Heather.
"I deserved that," Elsa sighed. And that's when she heard the voice calling out again, causing her to flinch and look up to the sky. "What is it now?"
Having made it to the northern markets, they hid in the woods and disguised themselves in outfits that covered their faces. The disguises resembled those worn by other travelers, with all-black outfits covering everything but their eyes.
"Perfect. No one will know it's you," Heather said as they saw they didn't stand out in any way.
They started heading towards the market, but when they stopped, their dragons also tried to follow.
"No, bud. Two strangers with hoods are one thing. But two strangers with hoods and a Night Fury and a Razorwhip, that might not be so stealthy." Hiccup explains that the dragons aren't happy, but they respect their request and stay hidden.
They walked through the market and saw many hunters staring at them. They became increasingly nervous about the hunters practically surrounding them without even knowing who they were. If the hunters learned their true identity, they could attack them easily.
"Atali was right. Whoever that hooded stranger was, he's right about this place not being safe." Hiccup understands when they come across the Iron Mason Nadia met up with and they decided to check it out.
Looking over some weapons, a hunter snatched an arrow from Hiccup.
"These weapons are spoken for." The Hunter tells them, getting in Hiccup's face.
"Okay, yeah, well, I was just browsing, so, no problem," Hiccup says when the Hunter looks down at his peg leg.
Heather pulls him away, seeing they might recognize him for his leg. "Let's go. Clearly, none of these are for sale."
They started to make their way through the rest of the market and they notice they were being followed. Two Hunters approach from behind when a plasma blast comes in and blows a cart nearby, Hiccup sees it was Toothless and he goes back into hiding.
"We need to get out of here before someone sees our dragons." Hiccup tells Heather who agrees as they're being chased again as Toothless stops them while they escape.
Running through the woods, Hiccup and Heather come across a Dragon Hunter ship with others around the hooded man. Looking closely, Heather notices some markings on his arm and believes she's seen them before. But she wasn't entirely sure where, and she couldn't exactly see his face with that hood covering his face.
Hiccup snaps Heather out of it. "Are you okay?"
"Nothing, I thought I saw..." Heather was saying when they heard a burst of familiar maniacal laughter.
And looks back down to the men and sees the hooded man unhood and reveal...Dagur?! He wears a brown leather and metal tunic with a Skrill chest plate, as well as strange knee pads. He has two arm pads as well as similar ones on his boots. Dagur's hair is cut short and sticks up, and he has a short, shaggy beard. His arms are more muscly, as he seems to have been working out over the years.
Dagur pushed a man off the port as the others laugh. "Overboard!" He says as they all laugh.
"Dagur?!" Heather was shocked when she saw that her brother was actually alive.
"That-that's impossible." Hiccup was trying to make sense of this and can't think of anything. He remembered what Heather said to him on Wingmaiden Island about what happened to Dagur. "You said that-"
"I know what I said. But that's Dagur." Heather states as she would recognize her brother anywhere. "I would know my brother from anywhere."
"And, from the looks of it, he's working with the Dragon Hunters," Hiccup says and things are just more confusing.
"Here, hand him something," Dagur says as the Hunter he pushed off tries to grab his hand. "No, don't." He says and yanks his arm away and the Hunter falls back into the water. "He's sinking."
Heather removed her hood and pulls her ax out. "I should have known!" She clutched her weapon and Hiccup noticed the anger in her eyes. "Dagur will always be a dirty, disgusting, lying-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on. Heather, I can't let you do this." Hiccup stopped her from doing anything. "There has to be some sense to this."
"He's Dagur. Since when does anything he does make sense?" Heather questions her boyfriend.
Hiccup had to admit that she was right about that. Not much to really say since he knew from that small experience he has with Dagur while living on Berk. "Yeah, okay, rarely. But, if you attack him now, you'll expose both of us and our dragons. Is that what you want?"
Heather takes a second to think and knows she can't risk them getting caught. There was no way they could defend themselves from this entire island of Dragon Hunters and get out unharmed and together.
"Look, I wanna get to the bottom of this as much as you do, minus the 'death by double-headed ax' part." Hiccup tried to ease the tension. "We need to get Dagur alone and find out what he's doing here. There has to be some kind of explanation."
"All right. We'll do it your way, for now." Heather promises as she placed her axe away.
"Thank you. I know this isn't easy." Hiccup says and they head off to find Dagur alone.
Elsa was walking around the edge as the sun was beginning to hit midday. She was wondering how things were going for Hiccup and Heather while she was stuck babysitting the twins. And oh how she wished that she meant the kids, but they were behaving perfectly fine. It was the Thorston twins who were creating chaos around the edge with the lack of Hiccup around. But she set them straight for that explanation from earlier.
As she was walking, she heard the same call out into the ocean. She was a little confused as to why she was still hearing that voice since it was the last to call her home.
"What is going on?" Elsa wonders. "Who are you?"
After looking everywhere, Hiccup and Heather met back up in an alley where they couldn't be spotted by other people who passed by. They were only growing concerned when they couldn't find any sign of Dagur anywhere. There were no ships or any other transports that left since they spotted him on the dock.
"Any sign of him?" Hiccup asks.
"No. I should've taken care of him when I had the chance." Heather states in a snarl.
"I have to disagree with you there." Hiccup tells her. "If he's been here this whole time, what has he been up to?"
"Anything he wants?" Heather scoffed. "You think he decided to finally make sense now?"
"I don't know if he has been here, he must be up to something." Hiccup explains his point.
That's when they hear Windshear screech and then noticed their dragons coming in while dragging Dagur behind them. It didn't take much to drag him since they were a hundred times stronger than him.
"What are you doing?" Dagur says when Toothless moves him to face the two.
"Good job, bud. We got it from here." Hiccup tells his dragon as Heather walks over and grabs her brother by the shoulders.
"All right, out with it," Heather demanded some answers from him. "What are you doing here? Where have you been for the past five years!?"
"Help! Robbery!" Dagur calls out for help. "Please. I have no money." He starts begging them and the two are getting more confused. "I'm but a poor vagrant, living off the scraps of kind warriors such as yourselves."
"Is he being serious?" Heather asks Hiccup. Then she turns back to Dagur. "Are you being serious?"
"Maybe he really doesn't know who he is." Hiccup guesses, seeing that this isn't the Dagur he remembers. "He could have gotten hit on the head or something?"
"Come on! It's just a lame trick." Heather states and looks at her brother. "Isn't it, brother?"
"Please? Please, please. I have nothing. Let me go. Help! Anyone!" Dagur calls out again.
"Dragon Riders." Someone says and the two turn to face two Hunters. "Grab them and their dragons. Especially the Night Fury."
"Okay, are they serious?" Hiccup asks Heather who shrugs. "You really wanna do this?" He asks the Hunters. "Now?"
"What better time?" He asks and raises a dragon root arrow.
"Toothless, if you would, plasma blast," Hiccup asks and Toothless blasts a few barrels that topple on top of the Hunters.
Two came from behind and Windshear knocked them into the wall they look to see Dagur managed to escape while they weren't looking. They knew they needed to search this island again and try to find him.
When they found him again, Dagur was standing on a pier as three ships approached out in the distance. They were watching from a distance as he seemed to even ditch his hood and cloak.
"He's alone," Heather says and draws her ax and rushes in as Hiccup tried to stop her. "This may be my only chance."
"Wait! No!" Hiccup says and she doesn't listen and just races at him.
"The less you move, Dagur, the less painful this will be," Heather promises as Dagur shrieks and avoids her attacks. "Come on! Fight back!" She yells as Windshear blasts at him and even Toothless blasts at him from the other end. "Why won't you fight?!"
"Okay. We'll do it your way." Dagur says.
Dagur then stands up and raises his hands for Windshear to shoot him, and she complied with that action as she shot a blast at him. Except Dagur managed to move at the last second and the blast almost hits Toothless, and he leaped out of the way. Dagur used this to escape.
Toothless goes to blast him once again when Hiccup stops him. "Toothless, no! Stop firing, bud."
Then several dragon root arrows are shot at them, and they see the boats are filled with Dragon Hunters.
"Start firing, bud. Start firing!" Hiccup tells him and Toothless blasts the arrows then the Hunters as Heather flies up and follows Dagur. "Heather, we need to get him outta here. We'll question him back at the Edge." He tells her.
Heather flies after him and has Windshear use her tail and knocks Dagur out.
They're later flying back home as the sun began to set. On the way, Dagur began to slowly wake up and started to immediately panic. He looked and noticed HEather didn't even bother to try and be kind and hooked him to a rope wrapped around his leg left dangling off of Windshear. Hiccup was following close behind to catch Dagur if the rope ever gave out as they flew to the Edge.
"You have to put me down. Take me back to the island." Dagur pleads with them. " Heather! Listen to me!"
"I thought you didn't know me. Weird getting your memory back now." Heather comments in anger.
"I never lost my memory. I had to disguise my identity. It would all be ruined otherwise." Dagur explains and now they're even more confused. It's like every time they get one question answered, ten more are raised.
"What? What would be ruined?" Hiccup asks.
"Wait, Hiccup, is that you?" Dagur asks as he eyed Hiccup while dangling upside down. "I didn't even recognize that was you. Whoa, look at you! All grown up!" He then tried to whisper as he raised a hand to his mouth. "And quite the ladies' man I'd wager." Heather wasn't okay with that as she smacked Dagur against a rock. "Ow!"
"Sorry, that was Windshear," Heather stated as she eyed him with that look of anger.
"Dagur, what were you doing at the markets?" Hiccup wonders.
"I am working for these Dragon Hunters, Hiccup," Dagur admits to them.
"I knew it," Heather states in anger.
"But only because they have Shattermaster." Dagur stops and the two Dragon Riders stop in their tracks and wait for more explanation.
"Who?" Hiccup and Heather asks.
"My dragon," Dagur explains as he looked up (down?) at his sister. "After our father died and I left Berserker Island-"
"You mean faking your death?!" Heather stopped him.
"Well, I was grieving. And everyone was expecting me to be this sort of chief the minute our father died." Dagur defended why he did what he did. "I needed time to grieve. I found a Gronckle and originally thought of killing him, you know, food was scarce for me...but he was defenseless and instead, I ended up befriending him."
"You befriended a dragon?" Hiccup was shocked to hear. "I...I didn't see that coming. But what does this have to do with the Hunters?"
"I was hit down and he was captured by the Hunters. He's with a large shipment of Gronckles that are headed to the port." Dagur tried to explain everything to them. "I was just trying to save my dragon, Hiccup. And now is too late. I'll never see Shattermaster again."
Heather and Hiccup quickly turn around and land on the nearest island as Dagur is looking out to the night sky and Heather watches him. Hiccup approached her from behind to get the tension eased a bit.
"So, this was all to save his dragon," Hiccup says as he approaches Heather. "He's not really working for the Hunters. There...there's anything you wanna say to Dagur, or...?"
"Like what?" Heather asks.
"I don't know, something apologetic, followed by something sisterly?" Hiccup explains. "When it was Elsa and I, we-"
"It's not important, Heather. What's done is done." Dagur says and turns to face them. "I wouldn't have trusted me either. I know the guilt weighs heavy on you." He says as he grabs Heather's shoulder in a half hug. "I can see it in your eyes. A brother knows."
"Okay, too much." Heather pushes him off her.
"Yeah, yeah. I felt myself pushing it a bit, too." Dagur tried to shake it off. "But what are you and Hiccup doing here?" Hiccup and Heather looked at one another and blushed a little. That didn't seem to go unnoticed by Dagur. "Wait, are you saying you and him..."
"Yeah, okay, me and Hiccup have been dating for a while," Heather explains to him. "He and Elsa kicked out of Berk after befriending a dragon, Stoick saved him from death, and now-"
"Wait, Stoick?" Dagur asks.
"Yeah, he has been missing since he was banished from Berk." Hiccup explains.
"Yeah, I know," Dagur admitted, causing them to get a little confused. "He was here a little while ago." He then reached into his back and pulled out some sort of notebook. "He gave me this and told me to give it to you if we ever came across each other."
Hiccup took the book from Dagur and flipped a few pages, noticing that it was indeed Stoick's handwriting. There were dates about where he has traveled and shows he has been looking for Hiccup and Elsa after they escaped from Berk.
"This...oh my gods..." Hiccup was shocked to hear he was still out there. "He's been looking for us."
Heather was shocked when she saw this and remembered how heartbroken he was when they learned Stoick was gone.
"Sorry for jumping to conclusions with you," Heather told her brother. She sighed and knew that she should have figured her brother should have...okay, there was nobody who could have seen this coming. "You're just..."
"Deranged?" Dagur assured his sister he understood. "Okay, so let's talk about how you two are gonna make this up to me."
Hiccup facepalms himself with the book, seeing Dagur could've said that a whole lot better than he just did.
"Make this up to you!?" Heather asks in anger and goes up to him when Hiccup holds her back. "Are you serious?!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, Dagur, we are happy to help you find your dragon. Aren't we, Heather?" Hiccup tries to be the peacekeeper between the siblings.
"Sure. Right after I get some answers." She stated and punched Hiccup in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"My dear, sweet Heather, I promise I'll tell you everything later. Shattermaster must take precedence in these dark times." Dagur tells her and then pulls Hiccup in a shoulder hug. "Now, please tell me you have one of your Hiccup-y plans to get my dragon back that won't backfire on us like your inventions usually do?"
"That actually hasn't happened in a while," Hiccup informed him as he rubbed his stomach. "There are a lot of Hunter ships out there, guys."
"I've been watching them like a hawk," Dagur says. "I know which ships the Gronckles are on." He promises. "We just need to get aboard without being seen and grab my dragon. They'll never know we were there. Although, he is the most handsome Gronckle of the group."
"The best thing to do is to split up," Hiccup says as he climbs onto Toothless. "We'll meet on the cliff overlooking the docks." He explains and takes off.
This left Heather and she wasn't exactly pleased to have Dagur as a passenger. Reluctantly, she gestured to him to get on and he climbed on and placed his hand on her shoulders. Then they took off after the Haddock twins.
After doing their routine checks, Hiccup met back up with Heather and Dagur at the rendezvous point. Heather rode on Windshear as she was refusing to let him out of her sight for a number of reasons. She wasn't going to let her brother sneak off or accidentally get lost (like that was gonna happen) while looking for his dragon. That idea was still a little odd and confusing to her.
"All the ships I checked were filled with new weapons." Hiccup tells them with confusion in his voice.
Heather raises a mace she found on the ship she checked out. "Like this?"
"Like that." Hiccup concurred.
"Where are the Gronckles then?" Dagur wonders.
"I have a theory. Follow me." Hiccup says and they fly off as he explains on the way. "Those weapons were all brand new. What if Viggo traded the Gronckles to the Iron Masons for the weapons?"
"But why?" Dagur wonders. "Not that Gronckles aren't the coolest, most awesome dragons ever, but..."
"I never thought id hear Dagur talk like Fishlegs," Heather muttered to herself since she saw her brother as a crazy warrior, not a dragon lover.
"Dagur, what would an iron Mason want to do with a bunch of Gronckles?" Hiccup asks Dagur, thinking he might have some information.
Dagur took a moment, even smacked his head a little to get his head to work. "Iron! That's it! They're melting it!"
"Gronckle Iron." Heather couldn't believe she didn't consider that idea.
"So, if we find the masons..." Dagur started.
"We'll find Shattermaster." Heather finishes.
"The masons' last ship left port headed east. We'll follow it, and hope it leads us to their main foundry." Hiccup told them the plan as they flew off.
They flew for some time and then come across a fortress and then see all of the Gronckles everywhere. This seems to be the place they were helping the Dragon Hunters stay in business. It was just their few ships and men. Take this down, they could possibly finally rid the archipelago of these monsters for good.
"This is the place." Heather concurred using a spyglass to see through it.
"Shattermaster, there he is!" Dagur says seeing one of the many batches of Gronckles.
"Are you sure?" Heather asks.
"A man knows his dragon. Am I right, guys?" Dagur says and Hiccup can't believe he's agreeing with him.
Hiccup looked down at Toothless and had to admit that there was no way he was gonna disagree. "I have to agree on that."
"I almost feel bad for those Hunters," Dagur said as he stood tall. "They have no idea what's coming. Let's show them what three angry Dragon Riders can do."
"Whoa, whoa, Dagur, let's hold on a minute." Hiccup tried calming him down. "You're not exactly a..."
"Hold on! Daddy's coming for you, Shattermaster!" Dagur says and races off to the forge.
"...Dragon Rider," Hiccup finished his sentence and couldn't help but wonder where this guy's childish behavior came from. The Dagur he knew was bloodthirsty and didn't care for anyone. Not that he was complaining. He then turned to face Heather. "So, shall we go rescue your brother?"
"I'm gonna kill him," Heather promises and the two fly off to save him.
Dagur enters the fortress and grabs a mace and sword before being stopped by two Hunters. "Stand back. I only want my dragon, and I'll leave in peace," he promises them just as Shattermaster notices him.
"I think you mean pieces." A Hunter says when Toothless blasts them and Dagur keeps going.
"I'm gonna draw their fire away from Dagur," Heather tells Hiccup as she shielded toothless.
"Just be careful," Hiccup asks as the two of them go to protect the crazy Berserker.
"That feels good, reminds me of my youth." Dagur comments on the fighting as he finally reaches Shattermaster. When he did, he uncooked the chain when one more guard comes in to take him on. He went to stab Dagur when he wasn't looking when Heather helps save him by using Windshear. "Hey, sis. So, how much trouble am I in?"
Heather calmed down and turned to face him, only to notice how her brother had an apologetic look on his face. "What's the most trouble there is?" she asked him, laughing as she helped his dragon get free.
As they did that, Hiccup released the rest of the Gronckles and they flew off without any problems. Turns out that their mission was easier without the twins messing everything up. The Thorston twins, of course.
They flew to a small island where they could take a moment and take a breath.
Dagur looked over and figured he was in trouble. "All right, Hiccup, before you start yelling..."
"I'm not going to yell," Hiccup promised.
"You're not? I had such a great speech planned." Dagur admitted.
"You were trying to save your dragon. We all would have done the same," said Heather, understanding her brother's actions.
"We all have done the same. Many times." Hiccup reminds her and scratches Toothless' Head.
They then looked and saw more Hunters approaching them. They needed to get going before they came and tried to recapture the Gronckles.
"The rest of Viggo's fleet." Hiccup sighed. "Okay, we need to move. We'll never be able to keep these Gronckles in formation and get them to safety if they spot us."
"They won't spot you," Dagur promises as he placed a hand on Heather's shoulder. "They'll be too busy chasing me. I'll lead them away, and you guys can get the Gronckles out of here."
"What?" Heather wasn't okay with this idea. "Dagur, no."
"I promise to come looking for you, sister," Dagur promises her. "I'll return and answer all of your questions, explain everything."
Heather sighed and took a quick glance at Hiccup. "Hang on," she said before walking over to Toothless. She then grabbed the map from Hiccup's pouch and scribbled down the location of the Edge. She then crumpled up the paper and shoved it into her brother's chest. "If you don't come back, I promise I'll find you. And you won't be happy when I do."
"Hey, and...thanks." Hiccup tells Dagur, referring to the book. "If my father is out there, this could be the key to finding where he went."
"And if I find him again, I promise to lead him to your home," Dagur said as he placed the paper in his pouch.
Dagur then got on Shattermaster and they flew off into the sky, leading the Dragon Hunters away from their location. Hiccup and Heather knew this was definitely not the last that they would see of Dagur. However, Hiccup didn't mind if they ever saw him again; especially if he continued giving them information about his father's whereabouts.
