Chapter 80

Hiccups POV:

It's been three weeks since we brought an end to the dragon fights and in those weeks we've been hitting some serious blows to Viggo's hunters. Thanks to the maps we looted from the arena we were able to take down so many bases, capture so many hunters and free so many dragons with the majority of them moving into Glacia's nest which was truly beginning to look and feel like a true dragons nest. Volcana was doing well herself having now grown to the size of a large gronkle but she still preferred the volcano to anywhere else as did some of the dragons who enjoyed lounging on the edges overlooking the lava. As for the hunters I knew we were really hurting Viggo with the amount of ships we were sinking, the number of men we were capturing and the number of dragons that were set free before being moved to the safety of the nest.

Anyway, one of these raids we did on the bases we were able to save an egg from the hunters but unfortunately the egg belonged to a deathsong and the baby who we named Garffiljorg after an old singer I once knew but we just called him Garf for short. He was a nightmare to have around with all the amber goo he spat out that covered parts of us, his constant singing which really annoyed us and the fact that we had to sing to him constantly to train him. When Siren couldn't help with him we decided he needed to be with his own kind and took him back to Melody Island but things didn't go so well at first with the deathsong catching us by surprise and cocooning us. If that wasn't bad enough though Garf sung the songs we taught him and the deathsong didn't like them so we had to be quick and create a new song that it did like before it killed us. Fortunately we were able to do so before Garf sang it and then used the song to get the deathsong to leave us be. After that we just broke out of our cocoons and got out of there as fast as we could before they came back with their appetites.

There had been a raid that was a bit more confusing at the beginning but by the end my hatred for the dragon hunters had grown to whole new heights. It started on a routine raid with Heather and I riding in on Toothless and Windshear while Siren, Furnace, Gnaw, Bones, Opal and Saber at our sides. The hunters fought back hard but we beat them easily however when we went down to free the dragons there were none but there was tons of marble blocks. The other ships were like this but before we could question them about it a large flock of dragons flew past. Me and Heather left to investigate it while Furnace and Gnaw were left to guard the captives with orders to chuck them overboard if they tried to run. We found some hunters on an island the dragons were fleeing and after interrogation we learnt where they were taking the marble but not why and we knew it couldn't be good. I sent Heather to go investigate what they needed the marble for with Windshear, Siren, Bones and Saber while me, Furnace, Gnaw and Opal checked out what the hunters were doing on the island but we made sure to lock the hunters up in their ships pens before we left them.

I discovered the hunters had a quarry that was making the island unstable and were using two captured quakens to harvest the marble. When we tried to free them however the hunters used vibrations from a hammer he slammed down to have them attack us so they had them linked to their cruelty than the kindness of someone wanting to free them showing they'd been in captivity a very long time but their slamming was making the island unstable. I tried to worn the hunters but they ignored my warnings and released the quakens on us again but sadly their next slam caused a massive earthquake as the island began to come apart. This made the hunters flee and drop the hammers they used to control the quakens and once I was able to escape them I got one of the hammers and when I used it I was able to get through to them with gentle taps on the ground. We then got off the sinking island and met up with Heather who told me the Hunters had built a dragon proof fortress out of marble that was nearly complete. We took the quakens to the fortress and had them destroy the outer defenses with their shockwaves before attacking the marble fortress, which didn't stand a chance against their rolling forms. When they were done the only thing left of the fortress as a large pile of marble rocks. When they finished the quakens came to me wanting to see what my next order was but I just threw the hammer down while saying no more. I was then able to bond with them and set them free so they could return to Dark Deep but as they flew away I swore I'd find every dragon like them that the hunters had and set them free from the chains that the hunters had put on them. I did however take the hammer back to my island and place it in the trophy room as a reminder of what people can do to dragons with enough cruelty.

Presently Toothless and I just landed on the deck in front of our hut after a practice run with Heather and Windshear dropping explosives on Viggo's fleet that we just found. I was also planning to fire some of my earth arrows at the sea stacks to bring them down on the ships in order to crush the ships. I looked back at Toothless who crooned at me in concern but I just gave him a pat on the muzzle before I opened my door. I stepped back in shock however when I found Dagur standing there examining my dragon fly one. He then noticed me and smiled before holding his arms out and calling.

"Brother!" He lowered his hands. "Wait, where're you going?" He raised them again. "It's me." He held out his hands. "Where's my hug?" I gestured the dragon fly one. "Oh, right how do you fold the wings back in?" I walked past him grabbing dragon fly one as I said.

"Give me that!" I walked up to my chest and sat down as I folded up the wings. "What are you doing here Dagur?" He grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Heather, I haven't seen a trace of her and it's really been frustrating."

"I know the feeling." Thinking back to some of my adventures.

"I've got to have a dragon." I raised an eyebrow. "To find Heather I need to cover more ground faster, dragony fast." Before I could reply the door to my hut opened and Heather looking back walked in while saying.

"Hiccup I've harvested more gel for the- "She turned to face me and saw Dagur. "YOU!" He held out his hands smiling as he yelled.

"SISTER!" She just growled as she took out her axe and charged at him.

"HEATHER NO!" She brought her blade down at his face only inches away as Dagur stared at the blade before she pulled it away as Dagur asked.

"I guess a hug is out of the question?" She just punched him in the face knocking him out cold.

3 hours later

We were all up in the main watch tower with Dagur now conscious after spending two hours unconscious and one hour of me catching them both up on everything. Long story short neither of them were happy with me for hiding things from them. Heather was mad at me for hiding Dagur saving from her and Dagur was mad at me for hiding the fact that Heather was on the island with me. I knew Heather would need time to cool off after seeing Dagur while Dagur and I talked about things so I decided it best she go to bed for now. The reason is she looked ready to kill him and he made the mistake of called her sister after she told him never to do so she began to bring her axe down on him but I stopped her. This brings us to where we are now. Heather pinned to the wall by four of my scimitars throwing knives while Dagur tried to pull them out to free her as she glared at me. Dagur gave another hard pull which I could tell held every ounce of strength he had but I knew brute force was no match for the magic of the gods. It was then Dagur turned to me and asked.

"Hey brother, how exactly do you remove these knives?" I shrugged.

"Well I normally just pull them out but nobody else will be able to do so according to those who gave them to me." Dagur gave another pull.

"Who the heck gave these to you?" I walked up and pulled him away.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I pulled the knife out with no problem. "Heather, I want you to go to your hut for the night and cool off for the evening while me and Dagur talk about some things." She just glared as I removed the last of my knives before she growled.

"Don't trust him!" Then stormed off before she was completely out of my sight as Dagur said.

"Well that didn't go the way I pictured it."

"Actually, she took it a whole lot better than I thought she would." He sighed and sat down.

"She really does hate me."

"Well you did set her a drift as a baby, destroy her village, killed her adopted family and to top it off you killed your father."

"But I didn't kill my father." I raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He let out a sigh.

"I didn't kill my father, he went out sailing to do some patrolling but when he disappeared I let everyone think I that so they'd think I was tough enough to be chief."

"Then why don't you tell her that?" He looked down.

"Please she'd never believe me." He then perked his head up. "Unless I brought proof with me." He then grabbed my shoulders. "I need a dragon."

"Why?" I pushed him back. "You now know where Heather is."

"Yeah but I might be able to get her to at least trust me if I could find our father."

"But what does that have to do with getting a dragon?"

"I might be able to find him a lot faster with a dragon and the quicker I do that the quicker I can get her to forgive me." It made sense but I didn't trust him any more than I already did so it was then I decided on what dragon I'd give him.

"Alright, meet me on the far side of the island and we'll start your training."

"YES!" He then grabbed me and pulled me into a strong hug that lifted me up off the ground. "Thank you, I won't let you down."

"Alright but for now could you let me down because I need to go find the right dragon for you and whatever you do don't let Heather find out what we're up to."

"Why shouldn't Heather know?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Do you honestly thing she'll take it well with how she feels about you now?"

"Good point!"

"Alright now head out to the far side so I can get to work." He nodded.

"Okay I'll see you tomorrow brother."

I nodded before he left as I made my way to the arch so I could head home to pick up the dragon he'd be riding that lived in Glacia's nest with multiple other gronkles. It was an energetic green gronkle who was really friendly, excitable and playful meaning it was also really slow at times and also not so aggressive. A perfect dragon for this type of situation since I wasn't sure if we could trust him and hopefully if he was here to sabotage our plans for attacking Viggo's fleet then we'd be able to catch him before he did. I figured it be best I bring Coal with since it might help speed up his training if I demonstrated the best way to ride a gronkle with my own.

Nightfall the next day

Dagurs training had gone pretty well with me riding Coal instead of Toothless and him riding the newly named Shattermaster. He was hesitant at first feeling a gronkle was beneath him but I gave him the take it or leave it option meaning he could take the gronkle or take no dragon. He reluctantly agreed but when I told him to show me he could get on it he grabbed Shattermaster by the tail and ended up getting thrown in the air followed by a hard tail bludgeon knocking him back. After that he actually began listening to what I told him to do and his training proceeded with ease but there were a few difficulties at first with him trying to steer too much. I was eventually able to get him to understand that it was best to let the dragon do a bit of the steering and soon enough he was flying like a pro.

Now I was on my way to the armory to go over my plans for the attack using a rough model of the shipyard I had made from some pieces I had. When I arrived however I found Dagur looking over the board while holding one of the ships. I didn't like the look of things so I walked up to him but before I could say anything he said.

"I got the feeling you guys were preparing for a big mission and thought I should check it out." He turned to face me. "Heather may hate me but I don't want her flying any suicide missions."

"It's one of Viggo's shipyards where he seems to be retrofitting his ships." I walked up to the table. "He's enlarging his cells for bigger dragons." Dagur looked back at the table.

"Remarkably undefended!"

"Also very remote, deep behind his lines and shrouded in fog."

"Seems a little too easy."

"I've been keeping an eye on it for weeks and figure that Viggo doesn't defend it because he doesn't know I've found it."

"Let me guess, coordinated attacks using the sea stacks for cover but staying high enough to stay out of arrow range."

"Something likes that!" I wasn't going to let him know I intended to use my earth arrows to bring the sea stacks down on the ships.

"You're too gullible Hiccup, that's your problem and I should know with how many times I tricked you."

"But I'm still here thanks to the secret tricks I have." I then sighed. "Sadly now you know too much."

"I'm alright if you lock me up but know that if anything happens to Heather then I will hold you personally responsible."

10 minutes later

I'd just locked Dagur up in one of the dragon pens with Shattermaster with Heather behind me as Dagur looked at us through the bars. I looked at him and said.

"We'll figure out what to do with you when we get back." Heather tightened the grip on her axe.

"I have a few ideas." I put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a look that told her to calm down to which she nodded before Dagur asked.

"Just one question, are you attacking now because the number of ships in the ship yard went up?" I nodded. "Of course it did Hiccup, because Viggo knew the amount of ships there were wasn't enough to draw you in, use your brain Hiccup." I crossed my arms.

"I am and it's telling me not to trust you."

Morning

Heather and I were on our dragons with Saber, Violet, Reaper, Coral and Bones at our sides as we tried to catch up to Dagur who escaped this morning. As angry as I was I had to admit he did bond well with his dragon but because of this we needed to hit the shipyard now before he had the chance to warn them. I used my eagle eye to see ahead of us and saw Dagur was right ahead of us and there was no way we could reach him in time to stop him. When he was at the shipyard however he began attacking them before much to my surprise nets dropped to reveal other ships and archers on platforms all of which began firing at him. I held up my hand signaling both Heather and my dragons to stop. Heather then asked.

"What's he doing?"

"Proving he was right and that we should've listened to him." It was when a large plume of smoke rose from the ships I decided to take action. "Come on we've got to do something." Saber cut me off and shook his head as if telling me it was already too late and I nodded but before we turned back I looked at the smoke as a single tear ran down my face. "Goodbye brother!"

1 hour later

I was packing up the last of the model as I muttered how we should've listened to him and how I'd never forget his noble sacrifice but was cut off by, Heather asking.

"Do you really think my brother would sacrifice himself with that ego of his?" I stared at her for a moment and looked down. "What?"

"I've just never heard you call Dagur brother before." She just picked up her hood.

"I need some sleep." I watched as she left but when she was gone I looked down at the table.

"You will be remembered and when this is all over I will make a memorial to remember your brave sacrifice brother."

3 day later

I was once again in Alexandria, walking through the halls of Cleopatra's palace with a guard at my one side and Toothless at my other. The reason is I'd discovered where Viggo's latest dragon auction is and had come up with a plan to ruin it which I knew would be a major blow to his business but I wanted to do so much more for what he did to Dagur. This however was a start since in a note Dagur wrote to Heather he told her about their father and how if we really wanted to hurt Viggo to attack his next auction. I knew where it was being held but I needed someone to get in since every cliff was armed with catapults and watchtowers on the cliffs, every sea stack had dragonroot arrow launchers within a mile so there was no way in or out period. I needed someone Viggo didn't know to help keep him busy while I freed the dragons, which is what brings me to Egypt. I was hoping to convince Cleopatra to lend me some of her men in order to help me infiltrate the auction. I fortunately had a ship that was made with and Egyptian style body with a secret hold on the lowest deck where Heather and me could hide with our dragons. I built this ship a while back when I first found out about the dragon hunters incase such and occasion arose but it took a while due to all my other projects on the edge. It was then we walked through the doors of the throne to see Cleopatra sitting on her throne smiling down at me with two guards at her side and Asim standing by one of the pillars holding a spear at the ready but he gave me a smile that I returned. When I was ten feet in front of the throne I dropped to my knee, bowed my head to her and said.

"I thank you for taking the time to see me your majesty." She raised her hand.

"You have done much good for both me and my people Hiccup Haddock so when you request to see me I shall not refuse but I can see by the look upon your face that this visit is not one of merely pleasure."

"I'm afraid so your majesty for much has happened since we last met and one such event has lead me back here to your kingdom to ask for your aid."

"Rise Hiccup Haddock so I may hear of the event and hear of the aid you require." I stood up and looked at her.

"For the past few months I've been in a war against a tribe known as the dragon hunters and their leader Viggo grimborn." She raised an eyebrow. "As the name implies they hunt dragons and have been trying to add my dragons to their inventory which had helped lead to this war as they now see me as a threat due to me wanting to save the dragons they capture." She gestured me to continue. "Recently I've discovered the location of one of their dragon auctions and should I be able to ruin it I would be striking a major blow against them but sadly their location is too heavily guarded for me to attack."

"Are you implying that you wish for me to lend you my army in order to attack these men." I shook my head.

"No your majesty I wish to borrow a few of your men who can sail into the dock on a ship I've prepared and keep Viggo and his men busy while me and my partner free the captured dragons and rest assured I am more than willing to pay for their services." She stood up from her throne with a smile.

"As I said before Hiccup Haddock you have done much for both me and my people so no pay will be necessary but I will need to be so these men are not forced but volunteer their services and you will have to accommodate one request from me."

"Anything your majesty."

"When this war is over you return to Alexandria and tell me of all that has happened to you since we last saw each other." I smiled at her.

"I'll be happy to do so for you your highness as I have missed talking to you in the time we've been apart."

"As have I Hiccup Haddock but for now I'll gather the best men I can spare so you may prepare." I nodded before we began.

7 hours later

Heather and I were in the secret hold of the ship with me wearing my stealth armor and Heather wearing a cloak made of shed changewing scales I made for her to help her hide. There were also two of the men who volunteered with us each with a gronkle iron khopesh on their belts and wearing the same kind of cloak Heather wore. We were all now waiting for the ship to dock but as we did I went over what had happened in Egypt. Not surprisingly Asim was the first of the men to volunteer and after that eight more of them were quick to volunteer and I thanked each of them for doing so. I brought them back to the edge and introduced them to Heather who was curious to know where they came from but when I told her where they came from she asked me how I got to Alexandria and back so fast. I just told her I'd answer her questions when we got back since for now we needed to prepare the men for the auction which wasn't a problem when it came to wardrobe since I had Asim dress as if he were going to be a guest at a grand ball while the men were going to be wearing their regular uniforms. The plan was for Asim to pretend to be a wealthy foreign man here to buy dragons, six of the men were to accompany him as his guards while the remaining two were to help me and Heather open the cages. As for the wealth I gave him two small bejeweled chests full of Egyptian gold coins from my vault to help him deceive Viggo and told him not to worry since this wasn't even a fraction of what I still had. He still seemed hesitant but he accepted my word and now we waited in the hold of the ship.

It felt like an eternity before we finally docked and I could hear Asim talking to the hunters above us before I heard the footsteps of the hunters marching onto the ship. I knew however that they wouldn't find us since the only entrance was safely locked and hidden below the desk in the main study. When the sound of the steps I held my breath and I could see Heather was doing the same, as we both feared we'd be discovered and the entire plan would be ruined. When the footsteps left I let out a sigh of relief before I turned to Heather and said.

"Let's do this!" She nodded as I turned to the men. "Let's begin!" They nodded before we got out of the hiding spot and left through the ships secret exit using the changewing cloaks to go unnoticed.

Soon enough we were able to hide in the trees and get a good view of Viggo's tent where Asim was able to access after throwing a bit more gold around. Before he did however he had a run in with two dragons known as hot burples with one being a big rust orange color named Grump and the other being a brownish yellow who didn't have a name because according to Ryker they didn't want to waste time on another worthless blob. I felt bad for them when Ryker mentioned how he'd love nothing more than to serve them both on toast squares with yak butter before shoving them both to the side as they shivered in fear. It broke my heart to see them like this but it was at that moment Ryker and two men walked into the tent before walking out shortly with Asim and the guards following him. As they walked by however Asim saw us in the trees and gave a subtle nod before one of the men at the back dropped a rolled up parchment on the ground. As soon as they were out of sight me and Toothless ran and grabbed it before hiding in the bushes behind the tent. When I opened it I read through what it offered and smiled since we now knew the species and location of everyone of the dragons being auctioned off. Before we could take off to the locations however I caught sight of the hotburples and couldn't resist walking up to the both of them. They each looked up at me in fear before I put my hands on their noses and gave them each a rub as I said.

"Don't listen to Ryker." They looked up at me. "You guys are far from worthless and not as he put it blobs plus if you can bite through dragon proof cages you're alright in my book." They each just growled and nuzzled me while I continued to pet them. "I've got to go now guys but I hope to see you again." I then walked away and met up with the others before handing out their assignments on which locations they were to hit.

1 hour later

We were all in a cell including Asim and the men who were posing as his guards while I went over how this all happened. While me and Toothless were meant to be freeing the larger dragons like a catastrophic quaken Heather was handling some of the dragons who were just chained up while the men handled some of the less aggressive dragons. Sadly the men were caught when some of the hunters went to get the latest dragons that were up for bid and found them trying to break open the cages. They were able to catch them by surprise before they brought the news to Viggo who ordered a sweep of the area and to have Asim and his men captured and the gold confiscated. A patrol was then able to catch Heather by surprise and take her down while also capturing Windshear in the process. As for Toothless and me, we were checking getting ready to free the larger dragons stealthily before two guards came towards us and in their arms were a tied up Heather and Asim. I couldn't risk them so we surrendered and allowed Toothless to be muzzled while I was forced into an empty cell with Heather and Asim followed by the men as the hunters lead Toothless away while the men caught me up on what happened. I was brought out of my thoughts when Viggo walked towards the cell with two guards each holding one of the chests I brought. He smirked at me and said.

"I have to admit Hiccup it was quite clever of you to use foreign friends of yours to sneak in but if you used all of their gold then their homes should take quite a hit." I just glared at him. "Don't worry though it's all going to a worthy cause as are your dragons." He stepped aside to reveal Toothless both muzzled and restrained on a large pedestal with metal half rings holding him down.

"TOOTHLESS!"

"He'll fetch a fine price, it's almost a shame to sell him but I'll get over it." They then walked away and when they were out of sight Heather put her hand on my shoulder as she asked.

"What do we do now Hiccup?"

"We break out and save our dragons." Asim stepped forward.

"Hiccup I have faith in you but how do you intend to do that?" Before I could reply I heard steps behind me along with something being dragged and turned to see Grump and the other hotburple walking down the cavern as the two guard laughed as one said.

"Oh no it's the fat lazy dragons who aren't worth a single piece of bronze let alone a silver or gold." I glared at the guards and saw how depressed the hotburples were and yelled.

"DON'T LISTEN TO THE GUARDS YOU TWO!" They looked at me. "YOU'RE BOTH WORTH MORE THAN WHAT THOSE IDIOTS WILL EVER BE WORTH!" The Hotburples gave my desired reaction and growled before getting into what I assume was their battle stances.

"Easy now you two."

"THAT'S IT GUYS GET EM!" No sooner did I finish did they tail bludgeon the guards into the walls on either side of the cell door, walk towards me before I rubbed their noses and then they ripped the door off the wall as I smiled at them. "Thanks, now do you guys think you could help free the other dragons." They each gave a growl before turning around and walking towards the doors as I turned around to face everyone. "Help them free the other dragons and we can cause a riot that'll scare off the customers before any of them can buy either Toothless or Windshear."

They all nodded as I released my star sword and began slashing at the locks of the still closed cell doors setting the dragons free. When each of them was free they all began running amok until Asim and the men lead them to the exit. Then they began running out of the cave where they were held and began causing trouble outside for the hunters. I almost laughed at the sight when one of their lanterns with two fireworms dropped and the now free dragons ran onto the legs of one of the hunters who went screaming towards the auction but I was too focused on finding Toothless. Using my eagle eye I could see Viggo's customers all fleeing in terror except for one who merely snatched his gold back and walked away. My eye was then drawn to Toothless who was on the stage as the next dragon that was being auctioned off and seeing this m blood ran cold as I turned back to the men and Heather as I ordered.

"Free any captured dragon you find." I turned back to the stage. "I'm going to get my dragon back." I then charged towards the stage before reaching it and looking up at Ryker. "Ryker!" He looked down at me. "It's over!" I readied my sword as he chuckled and drew one of his swords.

"Says the little Viking with no backup." He then jumped off the stage with his blade at the ready to strike me but Asim ran in front of me blocking he strike with a Khopesh as he said.

"Why don't you see how your skills measure up to those of a foreign warrior?" He pushed Ryker back and glanced back at me saying. "Free Toothless and I'll deal with Ryker." I nodded before I ran up on stage and got the muzzle off Toothless who crooned making me smile and say.

"I'm happy to see you to bud." It was then I heard a slam behind me and saw Asim lying against a cage. "You alright my friend." He looked up at me smiling.

"I'm better than alright since it's been a long time since I last had a challenge like this." He then stood up as Ryker hopped onto the stage before Asim tackled him off it as I used my star sword to break the shackles holding my dragon before I mounted him and we took off to free the other dragons we could find.

4 hours later

I collapsed on my bed in exhaustion after today's events but could you blame me after everything that's happened. We were able to free every caged dragon on the island most of which as expected were now nesting in Glacia's nest, capture multiple dragon hunters, strike a major blow against Viggo and got a message sent out to his buyers that if they side with Viggo then they'll answer to me. Sadly Viggo got away with all the gold I bought but as I said before it wasn't that much compared to what I had in my vault back on my island but I did worry what he'd do with the gold. As for everyone else the Egyptians were back in Alexandria, the hunters were in cells on Outcast Island, the hotburples were in the dragon stables back on my island resting in the same pen as Bandit and Saber since they liked the scrap iron and those two had more than enough and the unnamed hotburple took the name Gobber after my mentor since him and their species had a lot in common. Some of the things were they both loved scrap metal, loved the forge, were friendly, hated baths as I learned and all in need of losing some weight. As for Heather when we got back I not only showed her my golden arm wasn't a part of my armor but a prosthetic but also showed her how the portal pendant worked and how I used it to open a portal arch back to my island which is how I transported so many dragons. To say she was shocked would be an understatement since I was curious to know if her jaw would ever be the same again after falling so low. She then made me swear to tell her everything I'd done and what I got out of it but I told her I'd do it after a good nights rest. She agreed to this and let me go to bed but as I stared up at the ceiling I couldn't help but wonder what would happen next considering I doubt Viggo would take this latest attack lying down. All I knew was with my dragons I could take on any opponent and there was no stopping us when it came to this war.

AN: Hey all I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I'm sorry to 'Bloody Rogue dragon deity king' for not writing the episode where they meet Garf but I couldn't think of anything for it but rest assured I have plans for the Slitherwings episode and when the time comes I will write it. For those of you who are annoyed I'm skipping so many episodes just remember that the sooner the series is done the sooner Hiccup can go back to exploring the world and get closer to HTTYD 2 so just keep that in mind. Also for those of you who didn't know there's meant to be another HTTYD holiday special but this one is supposed to take place after HTTYD 3. Well that's all and until next time please keep your reviews kind and I will see you all when the next chapter is posted.