Outside the cave, the three men waved their hands in the air to get the Night Fury's attention. Once they were sure they had it, they pointed to the mouth of the cave. Anything to make it clear that they didn't want to be involved with Johann and that they wanted to help.
Astrid and Toothless saw the men waving and pointing toward the cave. Toothless landed right outside the mouth as Astrid jumped off his back. Together they ran into the cave. They quickly made their way into the open cavern where Hiccup and Johann were.
Astrid nearly stopped in her tracks when she saw her husband tied to a chair, badly beaten, and covered in blood. But she pushed forward and charged at Johann, screaming at the top of her lungs. She didn't have time to question why a dead man was torturing Hiccup. As she charged, Hiccup's old leg fell from her bag, unnoticed by all.
Johann ceased his beating of Hiccup to look up long enough to be knocked to the ground.
"Astrid?" Hiccup asked weakly, unsure of what he was seeing.
The chieftess didn't reply as she stood over Johann, who was covering his face with arms. Astrid raised her axe, ready to kill the man at her feet. But before she could bring her axe down, Johann kicked her in the legs, causing her to stumble backwards.
Johann took the opportunity to get up and pull out one of his daggers. "Ah, the knight has arrived to save the damsel in distress."
Toothless jumped in between his humans and the psychopath, roaring loud enough to cause the cavern to shake. Johann backed up a step but didn't act fazed by the dragon's actions. It was just one more thing for him to kill, after all.
*"Where are the kids?" Johann asked. "We could have such a nice family reunion."
"No," Hiccup mustered, his voice barely above a whisper. "Leave... our kids... alone."
Astrid glanced over at her husband and then back at Johann as a new kind of rage filled her veins. A rage only a mother could feel. She hurled her axe over Toothless and watched as it drove itself into Johann's head with a sickening crunch. Johann was dead before his body hit the floor.*
The blonde warrior stepped behind Hiccup and quickly undid his bonds. Toothless used his snout to catch his rider as he fell out of the chair. Along with the help of Astrid, the two lowered Hiccup to the floor.
Hiccup looked at his wife and dragon. "Hi."
Astrid smiled as tears fell from her bright blue eyes. "Hi."
"You're here," Hiccup noticed.
"Yeah, I am," Astrid replied. "Don't worry; we're going home."
"Sounds good," Hiccup agreed, closing his eyes, allowing the realm of sleep to claim him.
Astrid swallowed the sob building in her throat as she stood up. She turned and ran out of the cave. She needed help, and those men were going to assist her.
With the help of Harek, Skarsgard, and Nygren, Astrid had Hiccup ready to be transported home. They didn't have time to wait for a ship. Toothless was going to have to fly them home.
Astrid looked at the men who helped her. "A ship will be here within a week. They'll pick you up and bring you back to Berk. Once there, you'll be jailed until a trial date can be set. You can say your piece, then. I will be taking what I've seen into account, but you still might face some prison time before going home to your families."
"Sounds fair," Harek said. "Now get going. Time's wasting away."
Toothless made his way out of the cave and took to the air once outside. He quickly navigated his way out of the Hidden World and into the open skies of the outside world.
In less than four hours and after pushing himself as hard as he could, Toothless landed in the town square of Berk. He let out an exhausted roar as he nearly collapsed where he stood. People rushed over and quickly began trying to help. Spitelout and Eret carefully lifted Hiccup off the dragon and carried him toward the Healer's hut.
Astrid dismounted and gestured to the nearest person. "Where's Zephyr and Nuffink?"
"Down at the school," the villager answered.
Astrid looked around briefly, then nodded. "Okay. Can you please go get them and take them back to our home? Let them know I'll be home shortly."
"Yes, Chieftess," the villager agreed before taking off
Astrid gestured to another villager. "Can you take Toothless to Gobber? He'll know what to do."
The other villager nodded and helped lead Toothless to the forge. Once Astrid was sure things were handled, she took off towards the Healer's hut to see about her husband.
Astrid was about to walk into the Healer's hut when Eret walked out holding a bucket. "Anything yet?"
Eret shook his head. "Torra needs to clean all the blood away before she can even start treating him. I'm going to go get her some water from the well so she can get started."
"Go," Astrid said, moving out of the way. Eret broke into a run once past his chieftess.
She walked inside and nearly cried at the sight of her husband. She was trying so hard to hold it together, but the dam was breaking. From the minute she left Berk, it was go, go, go. She hasn't had a minute to think about what happened. Spitelout walked over to her and gently guided her back out.
"You don't need to be here right now, lass," Spitelout said in a soft voice. "He's in good hands. Torra trained under Gothi; remember that. So go home and be with your kids. Prepare them. One of us will be by in a bit with any news we have."
Astrid didn't argue. She just walked back to her home. On the walk back, she saw Gobber taking off the old saddle while Snotlout tried to get Toothless to drink some water. Both offered her a glance of support and understanding.
As she walked up the steps of her home, she found her kids sitting on the porch bench. When they saw her, they jumped to their feet and ran toward her, shouting, "MOM," in unison.
"Hi guys," Astrid said, embracing her children. "Let's head inside. I'll make us something warm to drink while you get a fire started. Afterwards, we'll have a talk about why I had to leave so suddenly."
Zephyr and Nuffink went to work getting a fire going while Astrid made them all glasses of warm yaks milk. Once everyone finished their tasks, they all sat on the couch. Astrid sat between her kids and handed them their warm milk.
"As you know, early this morning, I had to rush out and tell you to go over to Uncle Fishlegs," Astrid started. "And tell him Code Red."
"Yeah," Zephyr said. "We told him, and he went running to the docks after telling Aunt Ruffnut to make sure we had breakfast and got to school on time."
"Well, that code was something we came up with when we first started riding dragons," Astrid explained. "It meant that your dad was in danger and possibly injured. Your uncle is heading to the Hidden World to extract some people who had a hand in what happened."
"Is Dad okay?" Nuffink asked, worry lacing his voice.
Astrid let out a shaky breath. "I don't know. By the time I got there, he was in pretty bad shape. An old enemy found the Hidden World and attacked your father for revenge. I made sure the bad man couldn't hurt anyone else and brought your dad home. Right now, Torra is doing her best to help him."
"Can we see him?" Zephyr asked.
"Not right now," Astrid answered, shaking her head. "For the moment, we need to let Torra do her job."