Dagur blinked at the other boy, almost thinking he had been imagining the conversation. Was someone actually on his side? It seemed like the worst was not being assumed of him for once. For whatever reason, Hiccup was giving him a chance.

"What happened when Oswald left?" the Berkian asked. "Did he tell anyone where he was going?"

Dagur shook his head. "No, the only person he would have told was Vorg, but he didn't know either. No one knew. I just got up one day and noticed he wasn't home. After a few days passed, I assumed that he had gone out to explore somewhere. Normally, he would tell someone when he'd leave and where he was going so that we knew in case something was wrong, but I figured maybe he just wanted to have some time alone. Then, a week passed and I got annoyed. Then, another went by and I realized he wasn't coming back."

The Berserker's breaths quickened. He turned to face Hiccup completely and the younger Viking saw how nervous he looked, recalling the day.

"I wasn't ready to take over as chief, but our people needed a leader. They were getting antsy and knew that something was off."

"So, you told them you killed their chief?"

"No," Dagur said, frowning. "Let me tell the story."

"Fine. Sorry."

The redhead's frown faded as he continued. "I planned on telling them exactly what happened or at least as much as I knew. I'd say that Dad left and that I would take over either permanently or until he got back. When I got them all out to the center, they were waiting for me to explain what happened. I stood on that stage and was about too…then I heard them. I didn't realize that they'd already come up with their version. Someone claimed that I'd killed him to take the throne. Someone else agreed and said I disposed of the body somewhere. More of them joined in, saying I was a killer. So, I let them believe that. I never directly said it, but I played it up."

Hiccup did not want to interrupt again, but when there was a pause, he squinted. "Why? Why couldn't you just have told them that you didn't kill him? You never had to let them think that or try to get us to believe that. All you had to do was say that you were taking over for Oswald while he was gone."

Dagur was not so certain. "They were scared of me."

"Which is normally a bad thing."

"I liked it. They weren't going to make fun of me anymore. Suddenly, I wasn't dainty or disappointing."

"Couldn't you not be those things without becoming a murderer? I feel like that's probably the worst way you could've gone about doing it. Being feared isn't a good alternative to being respected. There's something else that would have eventually gained their respect."

"They wouldn't have given me that chance."

"You didn't give them a chance."

"You don't get it. Berk's small."

Hiccup sighed. "Is this really the time to insult my tribe?"

"It's not an insult. It's just factual," Dagur said matter-of-factly. "Berk is small. Berserker Island has fifty thousand soldiers, Hiccup. That excludes Vikings who are too old or young and those who just have other professions."

"What's your point?"

"That your tribe has few Vikings, so there's less to manage. You know each other, you bond, and all that good stuff. There are Berserkers I'll probably never meet because there are just too many. When you have tens of thousands of Vikings to command, it's not an option to seem weak. I thought my dad was a coward, but I'll admit that he had the people's respect. I never had that. They've always thought I was weak because of my mind and personality. It wouldn't have been a matter of convincing them to trust me and gaining their respect. As soon as I said that my dad left, there would have been a fight for who would take control. Most likely, it would've been Ansson as the new chief. They all loved him and it wouldn't have taken long before there was a coup.

"I planned on risking that, but when I saw I didn't have to, I took that option instead. Sure, it scared them, but them being afraid made them more loyal. They didn't know if I'd kill them either. So, I threatened them a few times when they made me angry or almost broke their hands. I knew I'd never go further than that, but they didn't and that's what mattered. They couldn't fear me and think I was pathetic at the same time."

Hiccup frowned and glanced at the ground. "You're the only one who knew Oswald left then?"

"Yep."

"That sounds…stressful."

Dagur laughed. "You're telling me. I was freaking out, but it made me seem a lot more dangerous which worked. I seemed crazier the more stressed out I got, and I was definitely stressed. Dad never told me how to lead people. Whenever I asked him about being a chief, he'd change the topic, pretend like he didn't hear me, or send me out on some errand. I had no idea what I was doing and couldn't tell anyone that because it would've messed up my image as this cocky killer who knew he would be such a great chief that he offed the previous one."

"That also sounds lonely. I couldn't imagine keeping a secret like that from everyone. Even with Toothless, he was my secret, so we shared it."

"I was used to doing things alone, so that part didn't bother me. Would've been nice to have had some help or someone to tell, but I didn't need it."

"Oswald really just left, though? What did he do the night before?"

Dagur frowned, then let out a sigh. "Nothing seemed different. He was out all day doing his chiefly things, wouldn't let me join, and then came home to smack on dinner while I tried to tune him out as I sharpened knives in my room. I heard him leave early in the morning, but I thought he was going out to the docks to look at the water. He's done that a lot, so it didn't seem strange." The boy's frown melted, turning into a sadder expression. "He didn't even say goodbye. He could've at least looked me in the eyes and said, 'I'm leaving' or 'Don't get my Berserkers killed.' Something! He just left me with an enormous group of Vikings' lives in my hands and no training for what to do with them."

"Do you know where he might go?"

"I don't," the redhead said unhappily. "He spoke of so many places. I don't have a clue where he'd be."

Suddenly, Hiccup's eyes lit up. "Deadly Nadders can track by scent. Do you have anything of his?"

Dagur nodded. "I kept everything in his room in case he ever came back."

The Berkian and dragon looked at one another. "Okay," Hiccup said. "I'll go there and see what we can find."

He began to leave, only stopping when he heard his name called.

"Hiccup," Dagur said, "thanks."

A small smile appeared on the trainer's face and he nodded his head before leaving. He and Toothless took off and began flying for Berserker Island.

"How mad do you think Dad will be with us?"

The Night Fury tilted his head, not really sure about the answer but also knowing that it would be a nice amount. Like before, Toothless had to stop when they neared the island.

"What is causing that?" Hiccup asked, annoyed by this invisible barrier. "Let's see if we can land on the top of the island, Bud."

Trying this out, Toothless went towards the higher part of the island. To his delight, this worked and his mind was clear enough to land properly. The area was empty, so the pair did not have to worry about being spotted by any Berserkers.

"Just to stay on the safe side, maybe you should stay here," Hiccup suggested.

The dragon gave him a look of doubt and the Berkian could not blame him. Even though the war was over, it still felt like they were in enemy territory. If the boy needed Toothless, the dragon wanted to be there for him. Unfortunately, whatever was having that odd effect had not stopped and as soon as Toothless tried to go towards the center of the island, he had to halt. He looked at his friend sadly and Hiccup patted his head reassuringly.

"I'll be okay. I just need to grab something with Oswald's scent, then I'll be back."

The dragon still did not like this idea, but he did not have many other options. He watched as the little Berkian went out of view. Hiccup was quickly noticed and one Berserker he recognized as the one who had announced Dagur as chief appeared. He had a confused, partially concerned look on his face.

"I'm not here to attack," Hiccup quickly informed him, easing the man's nerves.

"Why are you here then?" His eyes widened as an explanation occurred to him. "Is the chief dead?"

"No, he's still alive. I'm actually here because of him."

This further confused the Berserker who got quiet. "Dagur wanted you here?"

"He wanted me to get something from his hut. Could you tell me which one is his?"

Nodding, the soldier led the way into the village. Hiccup glanced around curiously.

"Dagur was right," he thought. "Berserker Island is actually a lot less berserk than I'd expect."

Unlike what he had anticipated, there were no wild Vikings running around or battle cries being screamed at the top of anyone's lungs. The Berserkers were tending to their crops and livestock, only glancing up to look at the newcomer with bewilderment. It was almost amusing to Hiccup. He nearly would have considered them boring. Even his own Berkians would have looked eccentric in comparison.

"How are we more rowdy than Berserkers?" he wondered aloud.

The soldier heard him and glanced back. "We don't like to cause a fuss when we don't have to." He did not say anything else until they reached a hut. "We're here."

"Thanks for showing me where it was."

With one more nod, the Berserker left the boy to his search. He entered the home and saw it was one level. Near the front, there was a table that Hiccup assumed was for dining. He came up on a door just past this and pushed it open, finding a bedroom. It was not furnished with anything besides a cot and a bookshelf, so it was difficult to tell whose it was at first. Then, Hiccup saw knife sharpening tools sitting on the bed and several daggers digging into the ceiling. It was suddenly much easier to tell the identity of the room's owner. Leaving, the Berkian walked to another door.

This room was nothing like the last one. It had a large desk and bed along with a chair. Maps became wallpaper, covering every area from the archipelago to beyond. Something else was unlike the previous room and this surprised Hiccup more than anything. It was messy. The desk had books spread out on it, some of them even being open, and there were scrolls over the bed. Even the maps did not look neat with some of them overlapping each other.

"It's like he couldn't wait to leave and just threw everything in here before heading out," Hiccup thought in shock at the state of the room. "At least this gives me plenty of options of things to use."

The Viking decided on a scroll and rolled it up to take with them. Satisfied that he had what was needed, he returned to the top of the island. Smiling and wiggling the scroll, Hiccup got back on Toothless's saddle and returned to Berk. He spotted Astrid on patrol and could not miss the stern frown that she wore.

"Do I even want to ask where you were?"

"Probably not." He gave a sheepish smile. "I've got a question for you, though. Could we use Stormfly's tracking abilities?"

"Not if it involves Dagur."

"It involves Oswald too. We're trying to find him."

This got Astrid's attention and her frown faded. "He's alive?"

"I think so. We'll find out if we can track him through this scroll. Will you help us?"

The warrior sighed and had the Deadly Nadder fly closer, getting a sniff of the scroll.

"You're the best," Hiccup said.

"I know," she said with a shake of her head.

Once Stormfly had the smell, she took off and Toothless followed closely behind. They kept flying until they got to the end of the archipelago. Seeing that the dragon was about to go beyond this point, Astrid pulled on the saddle.

"Hold on, girl," she said, worried. Looking at Hiccup, there was hesitation on her expression. "You want to leave the archipelago?"

"If it'll lead us to him. He had a lot of maps at his place, but none of them had anything written on them to give a clue about where he might have gone."

"My parents will kill me if they find out, so let's go quickly."

Stormfly led them to some different islands and finally landed. The Berkians regarded the dragon with mild surprise. From what they could see, nothing was there. They saw no ships, huts, or Vikings at all, yet the Deadly Nadder kept sniffing and running around. When she stopped, her snout was facing a bush. Stormfly used a claw to dig, then backed up for the Vikings to see. Astrid dismounted and checked the foliage to see what had caught her dragon's attention.

"What did she find?" Hiccup asked, approaching as well.

"Not sure…"

Astrid paused, then her eyebrow lifted. She picked up an old-looking book that had been buried.

"A journal?" she asked, surprised. "Why would this be here?"

"It must belong to Oswald. Maybe he left it here to come back for it later." Hiccup accepted the book from his friend and began flipping through the pages. "It also might give a clue to where he's going next."

With a frown, the Berkian saw what the pages contained. The words made little sense if any at all. It looked more like a collection of riddles than a travel journal belonging to a chief, but if Stormfly had tracked it using the scroll, it had to be Oswald's.

"Maybe Dagur can make sense of this. He knows Oswald better than we do. I'll ask him tomorrow."

This made the blonde frown and get back on Stormfly's saddle.

"Let's head back," she said, flying off.

Hiccup and Toothless took to the sky with her, flying alongside the other rider. He knew without asking her that she hated his idea. Astrid might have helped find the journal, but she did that for him, not the Berserker.

"Your dad's going to be upset when he finds out."

"I know, but he viewed Oswald as a good enough friend of his that I think finding him alive might help lessen some of his anger."

The other Berkian doubted this, but she said nothing else as they returned home. As they did, Alvin was returning to the prison. He had spent the day on his island, dealing with matters from the other Outcasts. When he reached it, the guards stopped him. The man glared at them before realizing that they had information. Once they were done talking, he stormed into the prison and to the last cell. He scowled at the prisoner who was doing some chin-ups.

"Your plan didn't work," Alvin snarled. "You were supposed to get Hiccup to stop showing up. I heard he came back here today."

"I'll tell you like I told his dad, I can't control where Hiccup goes," Dagur said, frowning at him. "Lock him out if you're so upset."

"That wouldn't work. He'd still think there's hope for you and would only try some other way."

The redhead stopped exercising to look at the Outcast fully. "I get Stoick not wanting Hiccup here because he's worried about him, but you don't care. Why hate him being here? He already knows about what goes on. You told him, so it can't be that you're worried about your 'good name' getting messed up."

Alvin unlocked the cell and entered. Dagur almost stepped back but held his ground. Just like with his Vikings, he would show no weakness, but he despised how he had to look up to meet the man's gaze. His gaze seemed different this time. It still had that typical sadistic look, but there was something else that the Berserker was trying to discern. There was…concern.

"Why would he be worried?" Dagur wondered. Suddenly, it came to him. "He thinks that Hiccup will actually be able to rehabilitate me if he keeps coming. I guess it's not as fun for him if I'm not some raging lunatic."

"I won't keep Hiccup out, but you'll suffer for his presence."

"Big shock there."

Alvin glared at him and abruptly left the cell. Dagur went over to the bars to see where he was going.

"This probably isn't going to end too well," he mumbled.

The Outcast returned with a leather handle that had long, thin parts on the other end. Dagur had not seen those often, but he still knew what it was.

"So, we're doing flogging now too?" he asked, bored.

It did not really matter to him anymore. Only one part of the torture still got to him and this was not it. Alvin did not care and just enjoyed the chance to release some anger. Each lash had more power behind it than the last. Dagur grunted a few times, but there was nothing else and Alvin only was made angrier by this. He knew that he had not broken the boy's spirits and that worried him. If Hiccup helped him, there might come a day when he got out of his prison either with help or on his own. If that day came, Alvin could only imagine what vengeance would be directed his way.