Hi, any readers I might still have. I'm so sorry for the long wait, but I really struggled with this chapter. I just couldn't get it right. Also, I'm updating this way too fast because I finished writing it, like, fifteen minutes ago. The last third more or less wrote itself and I couldn't just leave you all hanging knowing how long I usually take to update.

Update; I've made a few changes in order to keep my own logic solid within the story. Rather than having a stable for only one riding dragon and a stablemaster who is respected in the city, which doesn't make sense if you think about it, I've changed what creature the stablemaster is really in charge of. The riding dragons are only additions. The changes take place in chapter 4,5,8 and 9.

CONTENT WARNING! This chapter contains blood, gore and sexual content. Don't read between the lines after Hiccup arrives at the playground if cannibalism triggers you. It can be read that Elsa is afraid of assult. Don't continue reading after Hiccup is caught by an ice guard until the fat text stops. There will also be a lot of blood and maiming in the last third. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

The sun in the Earth

Sten wasn't a builder, or a digger. Dig-Build didn't have a lot in terms of desirable materials, but they were still a community with housing, and that needed at least some discouragement. Besides muscles, Sten and the other five who rotated on guard duty had a much more important task. They were the ones who took up orders for jobs, went to inspect it, and made the math on how much manpower each problem needed. All other guilds, save for the food-sharing ones, worked this way.

But right now Sten was sitting on needles as he alone stood before their door to keep curious people at a safe distance as well as keeping himself from going in to find out what Vizier Haddock wanted with them, or what was going to happen to the guild master.

The sound of the hatch opening behind him had Sten stepping out of the way as the Vizier stepped outside again.

And suddenly the world exploded.

Sten couldn't tell what hit him even after his vision returned and his ears stopped ringing. He was on the ground, a good ways away from the guild, along with almost everyone else who had been on the square. All over the lot of them frost grew in white, fragile spikes that Sten started to bat away with a sense of panic. Children started crying hysterically and parents and guardians did their best to brush away the frost from both them and themselves. Sten's breath stood as a white cloud around him.

"And that was that for you, Tothn'ail. Peace to your soul as you journey to the endlessness."

The Vizier's voice was a pool of calm. Sten watched as he carelessly and unhurriedly brushed the frost off his person. The dragons fluttered around under the ice roof, fire constantly bursting from their breathes and sparks flew from them and raining down on the city. Tiny flecks of light that blinked out of existence before they could offer any relief from the sudden drop in temperature.

The icicles that always hung down above them groaned and grew.

"Vi…Vizier Haddock. What… what was…?" Sten tried, but the air was so cold it hurt to breathe.

"That's what happens when the queen kills a fellow fairy. It makes her powers grow."

All around him, Sten felt how he wasn't the only one shocked to stillness by those news.

"It happens every time the queen's suitors come; the queen kills the ones who displeases her until she finds one that doesn't and produce the next queen. That's why we're going on lockdown." Haddock looked all around himself. "Or did you think it was only because a few of you would be captured and eaten alive?"

Sten rolled onto his stomach and got up on all four. His legs felt like seaweed and could barely carry his weight.

"Do not panic." The vizier's voice echoed, calm and firm. "Do as I say. The fairies are early this year and Dig-Build can only help the guilds prepare their bunkers. The rest of you have to prepare your own and Dig-Build with have their apprentices lock them for you two days from now. I trust you all know what this means." The last line was directed at the food-sharing guilds. "Don't waste time."

"Flash-freeze! Flash-freeze!"

The underground echoed with the urgent call of a yeti that ran through the streets. Down here, in the open world of the defenceless, the queen's power hit differently than above. The underground was normally one degree warmer than the city, but during the flash-freeze, the queen eating another fairy, the temperature dropped below freezing. The cold made people slow, their brains sending them little less but the signal to get somewhere warm before it started giving off the sense of burning. Years of experiencing this phenomenon and constant education from the yeti had made most people aware of the danger. So as the yeti ran through the underground city, he passed people dancing, wildly waving their arms, jumping around and breathing exaggeratedly.

Astrid was also jumping from foot to foot and waved her arms as if she tried to fly and nudged the people who stopped.

"Jump or freeze to death," she yelled at everyone around who stopped moving. "All of you, keep going. It won't last long! The fairies shouldn't be here yet! We still have time. Those of you who can run make sure there are no secret entrances into the city but the ones we'll use for the ambush!"

"Why is there a flash-freeze all of a sudden?! Has the envoy arrived already?" Hiro demanded beside her, running on the spot.

"The queen did have a fairy working for her. We need some news down here."

"I can look in the mirror?"

Astrid thought about it, but shook her head. "The palace doesn't keep the mirrors in important enough places. Remember which dragon can talk?"

"The one that changes colour? Got it!"

Hiro took off. All and every secret exit closest to the palace were the first to get blocked, save for the ambush route, so the boy went for one closer to the desert. He spotted two yeti hard at work and went straight for them.

"I need to see what's going on. I'll be right back."

"No need, Hiro."

The boy stumbled and almost fell as he'd been about to jump. Hiccup was already awkwardly climbing through what was left of the opening, his movements stiff and face drawn in concentration.

The yeti beside him grabbed the vizier's arms and simply lifted the man through the narrow hole and put him down on his feet. Hiro bit the inside of his lip trying not to laugh as Hiccup straightened his clothing and brushed himself off, his expression mourning the minor loss of his dignity.

"You felt the flash-freeze," he stated.

"Yes. Are the fairies here already?"

"No," Hiccup assured him with a light tap on his shoulder and took off with wide strides into the underground city.

"Vizier?" a hoarse voice called out. "Vizier! You're here. Why is there a flash-freeze already?"

Hiro hid carefully behind Hiccup's cape. Not because he was afraid of the person, but being closely acquainted with the vizier only had perks if nobody knew about it. He'd learnt that lesson when his brother had been killed for it. But his brother had also tried to be something of a leader down here, only to realize desperate people don't have leaders.

"No need to panic. The queen simply had a fairy spy."

Before the other could demand more answers, Hiccup was already far down the street with Hiro deftly hidden in his cape.

"I need to see Gobber first. Go back to Astrid."

Hiccup's rewards weren't food. A gentle warmth spread from his touch against Hiro's cheek that took away the bite of the chill and stopped his trembling. The boy disappeared into the next shadow they passed.

Gobber was busy mixing warming drinks. Normally he'd take any kind of payment, but a flash-freeze meant desperation and demanding payment wasn't worth the bloodshed. People were fighting each other for the drinks anyway. Gobbler could do nothing about it because stopping what he was doing to break up the fights would only result in him falling behind and the fighting growing even worse. He was so concentrated on the mixing that he startled slightly when a sudden crackle and boom that shook the walls announced the arrival of Vizier Haddock, effectively stopping the chaos.

"Those of you who've fought yourself warm have no business here."

Gobber finished the drink in his hands and started on Hiccup's special.

Most of the fighters scuffled out, but one man crawled towards the bar with single-minded determination, until Hiccup's staff nailed him to the floor by the bend of his knee.

"You look a little too red in the face to need a drink."

"Not true! I deserve heat!"

"Those are for emergency only, those who are at high risk of freezing to death. The rest of the people here have blue faces."

A woman nearby snatched a cup and ran. The man tried to grab her when Hiccup suddenly severed his head.

"Throw him to the dragons," the vizier ordered around a growl.

"Yer patience is thin today, I see," Gobber commented and set the special on the bar.

"I've had enough of parasites, is all."

A few men and a woman were pulling the corpse outside while unashamedly scavenging it. All the clothes and whatever had been hidden in them belonged to the one who grabbed it first, and they had to be fast about it. The dragons had already smelled the blood and were looking for the source. At the first cry of discovery the people had to scatter or risk getting caught in the feasting.

"Queeny be a handful?"

"Don't get me started," Hiccup rasped around the heat burning his throat and handed the empty glass back to the bartender. "The suitors are coming early but the future is open. I haven't lost yet."

The bald yeti's eyes widened, and the grin revealed the teeth he had left. "You stay with Freya," he offered as Hiccup turned to leave.

The vizier stopped in the doorway. "And Freya with you."

The underground city didn't have any kind of protection against what was to come, and the fairies were experts of finding burrows. The dragons were already out there warning the yeti waiting for the human hunters. Each year was a bloodbath, each year brought losses, and each year Hiccup had to just overcome it all.

"Where's the stablemaster?" the vizier asked the first person who looked him in the eye once he left Gobber's.

"N-north? Th-the little entries?"

Hiccup glanced up, trying to find a dragon that wasn't distracted by the latest human corpse.

"North?" he asked a young deadly nadder. "Which way?"

"The way beak points," the dragon replied in passing, pointing with his beak and Hiccup lengthened his stride.

The best way to stay warm was to move, even though it burned energy most people couldn't refill. Astrid was a royal stablemaster taking care of two riding dragons and a fairy mount, thus earned an almost full meal a day. Even though the freeze hadn't fully subsided yet, Astrid was already working again, helping the furry yetis to fill up a secret tunnel.

"Vizier?!"

"Didn't expect me today?" Hiccup teased her.

"Of course not! …forget it, what's going on? I suppose the spy is dead now?" Astrid quickly got over her surprise and kept working.

The yeti had only glanced up to acknowledge the vizier's presence, their hands never stopping.

"She was crawling through the palace on her elbows and Elsa had called for me so… yes, she's definitely dead."

"I won't miss her."

"I will. Her ability as a spy was priceless and played a part in getting rid of the Fisherman guild master."

"Makes no difference to me. What now?"

"Now I need at least two, preferably three young people to assist Dig-Build. They won't have time to help anyone beside the guilds."

"Assist how?" Astrid asked and stepped back as the yeti put the finishing barricade on the entrance and moved on.

Hiccup hissed at the dragons to help locate any other opening. "The bunkers are all locked from the outside to prevent anyone from opening them before it's time."

"I can help once I'm done here."

"You need to rest."

"I'll rest when I join you and the others in the chamber."

They walked in silence for a minute, following the dragons that showed them to something that looked like it was made for a child. One good rock and kick from Fi and the tunnel was sealed. Astrid glanced at Hiccup's unhappy expression.

"I'm not about to collapse, Hiccup. Unlike you."

"I have hope."

That had Astrid pulling up short. Hiccup's staff was all that provided them any light, and Astrid's eyes were almost comically large.

Hiccup offered a lopsided twitch of a smile. "I'll set the new plan in motion as soon as the suitors are gone and the bunkers are open." They started moving again. "Who will join you and Dig-Build?"

"Requirements?"

"A good memory and speed. They need to know the location of every single bunker in the city and have the ability to plan an efficient route so that they too can arrive to safety with us in the chamber. Preferably you report to Dig-Build before night."

"I can do that. You need to get out of here before we block the next… this entrance."

"Save one for yourself," Hiccup reminded his friend and accepted her hand up into the steep tunnel. It brought him up near the playground.

The clear ice around the room reflected a being with too long arms and fingers, round, purple eyes and an elongated face with sharp shards of clear teeth surrounding the mouth all the way to the ears. Elsa was chewing furiously, trying to make Tothn'ail disappear as fast as possible. She had called for Hiccup! Not her spy. Tooth's hands weren't even working properly, how dared she make promises of pleasure when she didn't have a single digit to do so with?! Now Elsa was a mess. Her clothes were ruined and her appearance hideous!

Good thing Hiccup remembered her previous orders not to come when she looked like this. The first and last time he did she ate his foot.

Elsa's greatest regret in life was the taste of Hiccup's flesh. Just remembering it made her warm with lust for him, but also thirst for the rest of him. How could she wish to fill her belly with his hot blood, how could she find the mere thought so utterly exciting she was inserting her own fingers inside, when she knew that if she did, she wouldn't have him anymore.

But Hiccup's father had explained it in no uncertain terms. Only Hiccup would ever taste so good to her. If she tried to eat other humans, she'd find herself unsatisfied. And he'd been right. She'd ordered Hiccup's father to bring her a few other humans to eat, and while she was disappointed he'd killed and cut them up for her, the meat really couldn't compare to Hiccup. Elsa was convinced that even cold, Hiccup would bring her to the edge and to the heavens.

Oh, the thought. Elsa worked her fingers furiously, chewing on the poor excuse of a spy to bring her further excitement.

Her mother explained Hiccup's father had done something similar for her, only it was his blood, the father's, that had tasted so divine to her, reducing any other mortal meat inferior and tasteless. It had caused a little surprise, but enough time spent with the then king covered up the scandal.

Elsa's legs shook as she brought herself over the edge and relaxed.

"Why haven't I had a little surprise?" she asked the bloody mess around her. "Oh, right. Hiccup did explain the sprite must birth a successor first. How disappointing. I wouldn't need the suitors to waste my time if I could make a successor with Hiccup."

Miguel's parents been shoe-menders of the once independent Cloth guild, which today was a branch of the Hunters guild. Astrid was more familiar with the boy himself than his complicated history. All she knew was that there had been massive in-fighting within the ranks of the guild before Hiccup became vizier, and when Hiccup's father had been away, a large chunk of people, a baby Miguel amongst them, had been chased away into the underground.

The now twelve lights old boy stayed close behind Astrid as she strode through the city under the light from the sun through the ice roof. None of them spoke of how badly he trembled.

"Vizier Haddock asked us to aid Dig-Build with the lockdown," Astrid told the man who stood to block the door.

"I'm terribly sorry, ma'am, no outsider can enter the guild building during the preparations!"

Astrid made a discreet sign with her hand. "It was guild master North who sent for help. Are you going to send it away?"

The guard gaped at her while her other hand communicated with Miguel. The boy stepped forward and quickly signed yeti as well.

"The fairies will be here in less than two days," Astrid reminded the guard.

"I… I'll tell master. Please wait here and guard the entrance for me."

Miguel glanced around. There was a girl with wild blonde hair staring at him from across the square that buzzed with activity. People were running about sharing or fighting over materials or reinforcing the entrances of every building in sight.

The boy tugged at Astrid's fingers, but before he could alert her the door opened again and they were pulled inside.

North was a tall, muscular man even by the city's standards, and he towered over Astrid who had to grab for Miguel's arm to stop him from fleeing.

"How do you know?" the guild master demanded.

"I'll share my secrets once you share yours, master," Astrid challenged.

North glared at her, but Astrid hadn't earned her respect via association with the vizier. As the royal stablemaster, it wasn't Hiccup's riding dragons that were her main duty. The stablemasters throughout the ages had kept this city safe from a ravenous beast on their own and everybody knew it.

After all, it wasn't the suitors' that had the entire city on lockdown.

"I found the tunnels, they found me," Miguel suddenly spoke up.

"Lil ghost."

At the appearance of a stocky yeti, Astrid felt the body in her hold relax. She took a deep breath and let it out.

"Guild master, Vizier asked me to find two or three people who could aid you in locking the city bunkers because you can't spare the manpower."

North clearly didn't like it, but it wasn't like he had a choice. The situation was dire enough.

"I normally deploy six people for the task," he admitted. "I should have told Vizier as much."

"Work with what you have. Miguel was the only one who volunteered. We know the risks."

The guild master paced in front of them as he shook his head, but there really wasn't anything he could do. He couldn't refuse their help no matter how much he disliked risking their lives because of the shortcomings of his guild and the suddenness of the announcement of the fairies coming.

"I'll show you how to work lock."

Camicazi was the daughter of the head huntress of the Hunter's guild and meant to become a hunter herself. A hunter's virtues is a keen mind, a vigilant mindset and fearless nature. At the age of twelve lights, Camicazi was almost considered an adult. While she had yet to grow into womanhood, as Vanessa called it, she was training daily to hone the three virtues.

She noticed there had been a lot of activity around the Dig-Build guild lately. First the vizier and now the stablemaster with a stranger? Camicazi was certain she'd never seen the boy in the stablemaster's company before, and she was certain she knew every child in the city! So where had that boy come from?

"Cami! Get a move on! Help the cloth branch to secure their tools, nothing can happen to the materials in there!"

If only the fairies weren't coming, Camicazi would have strode right over to Dig-Build and demand to know who the boy was!

But walking into the cloth branch of their guild house, the girl looked twice at Regulo, head of the branch, as he gave her instructions. Strange. The branch master and that boy from earlier had a lot of similar features.

"What a day," sighed once he entered his room. His headwear was the first to come off, closely followed by the rest of his "armour".

"You could say that again."

The years of familiarity with each other and a certain expectancy to see her here today meant Hiccup didn't even pause in undressing. Astrid didn't bother getting up from the chair she was resting in.

"Did the guild master cause you trouble?" he asked.

"No more than I expected. I choose Lil Ghost for the mission though and after learning the locking mechanism I brought him into the city to plan out the best course of action. And were caught by Paranoid Pete."

"Him again?! If I didn't know better I'd think he was trying to bring about the end of mankind."

Astrid didn't answer. Instead she watched as the tree little dragons, Toothless, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, all started spewing fire over Hiccup's bare skin. He hadn't told her anything, but Astrid wasn't ignorant of Hiccup's pain. She'd known him since they were children, she'd seen him shirtless before he became vizier. The difference to his youthful pink skin to his current blotchy red, white and black was a knife in Astrid's heart.

Going so near the very core of the eternal winter they lived in, it was a miracle Hiccup was even still alive.

It was an even greater miracle he was still sane.

"The good news are that the lockdown of the underground is complete."

"Already? How?"

"The flash-freeze was a great motivator. Rather than just the yeti and whoever realized the importance of the sealing of exits, I think the underground as a whole volunteered to help. The yeti are going around making sure the sealing is done correctly and that there are no missed holes. Now Miguel is trapped within the Dig-Build guild house since he can't go back down. He and I will spend tomorrow getting the route of locking down the city done and then help Dig-Build for as long as we can. Magnificent Red will shadow the city this time too, yes?"

"I haven't been in contact with her personally, but I sent some high-flying dragons to meet her and try to delay the convoy."

Astrid sighed and leaned her head back as Hiccup dressed down to his naked skin and continued towards the steaming, boiling spring at the corner of his room that kept the space at an ungodly high temperature. Perfect for someone who was dying from the cold.

"I noticed when I came down. The frost has reached the lowest levels."

Not for the first time Astrid wondered how long these hot spots would last against the constant onslaught of the Ice Sprite's powers. The boiler room where the laundry was done, the Enchantress's library and Hiccup's rooms were the only spaces left that were still free from ice. If the stories were to be believed, even the city had been warmer than it was now. But the nature of fairies ensured that the Ice Sprite continuously grew in power, only declining when a queen didn't want to give up all of it.

"When will it end?" she asked quietly.

"Soon, Astrid," Hiccup's voice promised, hard and certain. "As soon as I can make it."

Right after his bath and a short rest, the vizier was back in the city, working around the cycle of light and dark. He couldn't go see the queen now at the height of her heat, she knew it and it made her even more frustrated which called for the suitors faster. Since the underground was already prepared and had time to rest, Hiccup needn't worry about them, but the stress was causing aggression on the upper levels and Hiccup had to personally patrol the square to force submission. Astrid had spent a few hours with Fishlegs who was closing down the lower levels of the castle with the weavers and tutors. After that she'd gone to feed Night Mare and the riding dragons before she went out with Miguel to pin down how to manage the entire city's lockdown and how to signal which house was locked.

They started getting clear signals from the households that had finished digging out their trapdoors and cleaning the locking mechanism free from dirt and filled their bunkers with all the necessities. But not from everyone, and not on time.

On the morning of the second day, the city was eclipsed by a gigantic shadow.

Hiccup's voice, magnified to be heard across the entirety of the city, roared so loudly the icicles above shook dangerously.

"HEAR ME, ARENDELLE! THE FAIRIES ARE ONLY AN HOUR AWAY. START THE LOCKDOWN!"

"Vizier! We're not…"

"I SAID START THE LOCKDOWN!"

Hiccup turned and ran for the palace as fast as his legs could carry him. He stopped before the guards.

"Elsa, my queen. The suitors are coming. Please open the upper doors and herd them in."

The guard moved, and Hiccup was too slow to react. He dropped his staff as he was caught in the icy claw of the guard.

"Hiccup. What should I do? I want nobody but you. How can you ask me to open the doors for others to take what belongs to you?!"

Elsa's voice sobbed desperately through the guard.

'I don't have time for this! I can't leave Astrid and Miguel without protection!'

"Elsa, my queen. Please calm down. You're not opening the doors for them to claim you. You are the queen. Everybody else belong to you. Treat those suitors as you wish! Swallow them whole or tear them apart. But if I go to you now when you are like this, you will only end up eating me instead. Allow the suitors in. Release your frustration on them. Birth an heir and this will never happen again. Now, please let go of me. Once your suitors release their mounts they will wreak havoc in the city. I must stay here to prevent a bloodbath or you will not have a city to queen. Elsa. Please!"

"No!"

Hiccup's staff was on the ground. He couldn't escape the hold that was crushing him with the weight of Elsa's desires. He took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

"Elsa. I love you. I love you, Elsa, my queen. I want to love you for many years to come. So please. Release your hold. I will be with you once the suitors are gone. On my body bound for the Forest of Bones, I swear I will be with you when all of this is over."

The silence stretched, and in it Hiccup could hear the first quiet hum start to resonate through the ice.

"Elsa. I beg of you. I will not survive if you don't release me. I miss you. I want to be with you. But you are the queen, most precious in the world to everyone, not just me. The powers fighting me for your love are stronger than I can ever become, and right now, you cannot protect me. Elsa, do you not wish to see me alive again?"

"I do."

Elsa's voice sounded calmer. Still a bit whiny, but calmer.

"Then do what is right at this moment. I will come to your side, I will love you once this is over."

The crushing hold loosened slightly.

"Open the doors and herd them to you. Make them disappear as fast as you can, and I will be with you sooner," Hiccup promised.

For several seconds, Hiccup could hear nothing but his own rushing pulse and the increasing volume of the hum. The fairies were closing in fast. Astrid and Miguel had no chance of locking down the entire city by the time they arrived. Hiccup wouldn't make it to the chambers in time.

'Freya, hear my prayer. Give me hope and strength. Show me what to do. Let Fishlegs realize he must lock the chamber. Let Miguel and Astrid find safety.'

The ice guard released him.

"I… love you, Hiccup. I will do what is right."

"Good girl."

His left foot, the one he didn't have after he'd sacrificed it to Elsa and fool her into thinking only he could possibly taste good to her, screamed in pain, preventing him from running. His mind was locked away in a space outside his reach. He was going to die today. Everything was lost. He'd failed.

But Astrid. The children of the city and underground, the yeti, Gobber, his father.

Anna.

Hiccup picked up his staff and walked to the edge of the city. There was the entrance to the underground where people lay in wait to ambush the fairy mounts. For the next month there would be a lot to eat for them. If only he could stall the mounts long enough for Astrid and Miguel to… Dig-Build.

Normally, Dig-Build were responsible for the lockdown! Only their bunker could be locked from the inside! They didn't need to make it to the chamber!

Windwalker and Thornado sat outside the stable.

"M-master?"

"Oh Toothless. What are you doing here?"

"Mast-t-ter isn't in locked room."

"I can't go there," Hiccup told his friend and tore off a piece of his cloak. He always had some ink on him and wrote "close it" on the torn cloth. "Deliver this to Fishy Face."

"Wha-what will Master d-d-do?"

The Vizier of Arendelle sat down, staff across his legs.

"Fight."

Miguel had never run so fast in his life. He went from house to house, bodily shoved stragglers into their bunkers and jumped on trapdoors, locked them and moved to the next house. His heart was beating so hard it hurt and there were so many more houses to lock and the ice above was humming!

"Keep it up. Don't lose hope. Freya help us."

Astrid was running beside him. She was praying through her gasps.

Miguel ran faster. They were making progress. Nobody else was out and the locking went smoother. They followed their plan and were making progress! "Remember us, Freya."

They wouldn't make it.

Miguel saw the swarm through the ice. There were so many, and they weren't done.

"Keep running, Miguel. We can make it. We can!" Astrid promised beside him and went into another house.

Miguel was crying. He could only run and lock doors and keep running.

The first fairy cry echoed over the rooftops, and then it ended abruptly. In its place came a more familiar roar. Dragons took to the air above them.

"Oh, merciful Freya. Run Miguel, we still have time!"

"The fairies are here! Close the door!"

"Wait for stablemaster," Mulch and Phil said, them and the rest of the carefully disguised yeti diggers holding the door up, ignoring the desperate yelling from the Wood and Orb guild and their own people inside the bunker.

Mulch was old, but he was stubborn, he would hold the door up by himself until Astrid and Miguel were safely in his arms regardless how much the people behind him tore at his flesh.

"Wait, was that a dragon?"

Mulch froze. The first fairy cry had been cut off, and from outside he could now hear the chattering of thousands of little dragons.

"Is… the vizier isn't out there, is he?"

"Why would he be? He fled as soon as he'd ordered the lockdown to start!"

No. Mulch's old heart cried out. Hiccup wouldn't flee to save himself.

"He waits for them too," he said, voice shaking. "Vizier is fighting the fairies."

Beside him, Phil released the door and ran out. Out into an absolute bloodbath. The dragons in the city were much smaller than the fairy mounts, but there were a lot more of them. One came down right in front of Phil, covered with little beasts that was trying to tear it apart while the mount desperately bit them to death. From the palace came bolts of lightning.

"Vizier." Phil cried, but turned away. He had to find the two who were doing the lockdown.

He'd only exited the bazar when he saw them. "Come! Run!"

"We're almost done!"

"I help!"

"You take this house!" the boy cried.

The yeti didn't hesitate. He didn't have the keys to lock, but his fingers worked just as well. Phil followed the pointing fingers of Astrid and Miguel with blood and body parts raining down on them. How many suitors were there this year?

"This was the last one!" Astrid yelled.

"Go to guild. I get Hiccup!" Phil ordered and set off in the direction the lighting came from.

"…Hiccup!?"

Phil was already too far away to answer. He tore through the streets towards the palace. There he saw a figure glowing red. Hiccup sat on the ground, guarded by the lighting from his staff and the two dragons from the stable.

"Vizier! Come to guild!" Phil cried, still running towards them.

Hiccup's head snapped around. He was deathly pale, but his eyes were clear.

"I CAN'T WALK!"

The yeti hadn't planned to let him run on his own either way. He picked the man up and threw him on his back without slowing his break-neck pace. A fairy mount came for them.

"Keep running, Phil!"

Hiccup's staff flashed and the fairy barely had time to cry before it fell down dead. Phil pressed his limbs to run as fast as he could. But another nasty surprise waited at the open door to the guild house. Astrid had locked her whole body around the neck of a fairy mount and Miguel lay beside them, screaming.

"Phil, don't stop! I'll swap with the mount! Pick us all up!"

In front of him, the fairy disappeared and where Hiccup's light body had rested on his back a heavier one slipped off. Now Astrid was holding the vizier who reached out for the bleeding Miguel.

Phil ran even faster when he felt something nip at his feet. He threw the three people in front of him and kicked behind him. Mulch was bleeding but holding the trapdoor.

It slammed close behind them and the locks, all three of them, clicked in place.

For several seconds, Phil was blind and deaf, his ears ringing and heart pounding.

"Is… is everyone alive?"

Hiccup's voice.

"Miguel?" Astrid.

"I… I'll be fine. It didn't get a solid bite in."

Phil groaned loudly and sagged, too tired to check his own injury. In here they couldn't hear the mayhem going on outside.

"Praise to Freya."