It was official. The Fates hated them. That was the only explanation for why days were passing without anyone going to release the monsters. The heroes were quickly becoming bored. It got to the point where as soon as any of them saw a subject walking, they started following that individual around, desperately hoping the desired location was the monsters. It never was. Snotlout had lost count of how many people he had been stealthily walking behind when the latest person stopped, going into a home. He crossed his arms.

"I don't think I like this new job of being the kingdom's stalkers," he commented.

Snotlout yelped when Dagur appeared behind. The immortal had been camouflaging himself against the wall unbeknownst to his friend.

"Me neither," Dagur said, oblivious to what he had done. "I thought someone would've shown up by now."

"It's only been two days," Hiccup reminded them. "Let's give it some time."

"But how much?" Snotlout asked. "We can't wait here forever."

"As agitated as the people are, the monsters have to get let out pretty regularly."

"Could've fooled me," he grumbled.

Dagur looked off towards the palace. It was tempting to just go there himself, but he still disliked not knowing what Poseidon was up to. Anything could be a trap. They did not have enough allies to risk that. Suddenly, the redhead grinned.

"What devious thought did you just have?" Snotlout asked.

"Only the best kind!" Dagur declared proudly. "Remember, why are we thinking that the monsters are being let out in the first place?"

The cousins looked at one another unsurely.

"To keep people in check?" Hiccup offered.

"Exactly!"

"How's that a good thing?"

Slowly, realization dawned on Snotlout. He grinned with excitement.

"I get it. If we want to get the drop on someone who's letting out monsters," he said, drawing out his ax, "we need to give them a reason to."

Dagur nodded happily. "Want in, Hiccup?"

Hiccup glanced between the two warriors and stepped back.

"I'll let you both take this one."

"Suit yourself. I think we won't be the only ones soon, but the others might need a little incentive."

Vanishing, the immortal found subjects who were near the cousins. He spoke into the breeze, stirring up their emotions.

"Do you really think it's fair that those leaders can bring out monsters whenever they want?" he asked one person.

The mortal's hands clenched into fists as Dagur went to find someone else.

"They want you living in fear when you could be feeding them to the monsters instead."

This subject also began to scowl. Dagur grinned as he rejoined Snotlout.

"That should do the trick," he said.

Snotlout got into a fighting stance. "Ready?"

Eagerly, Dagur started to laugh. He drew an ax of his own and they began to spar with one another. Hookfang decided to join in, flapping his fiery wings. It did not take long for others to notice. Snotlout ducked a blow, seeing someone out of the corner of his eye. The combination of the war whispers and seeing a fight break out in the kingdom was enough to make two people start quarreling, then two more. Soon, there was a full-on brawl. Happily, Dagur and Snotlout clicked their axes against one another. Hiccup chuckled at them.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone so happy to have caused a riot."

Dagur pointed behind him. "Can't help but be happy when a plan works."

The others turned to see a trio of mortals. They were not dressed like the rest of the subjects. Their robes were rich-looking, made with fine materials and spotless. They started going towards the trap doors. The group did not realize that they were going to be sabotaged. Speedily, they dropped down into the tunnel. Dagur went below ground as well while Hiccup, Snotlout, and the animals went to stay guard at the two entrances. The newcomers went to the stables, glaring at the beasts. Each of them opened a door that led to the tunnels. Afterwards, they unlocked a different cell, then moved out of the way. As soon as they did, the beasts ran out. Snotlout saw one first when it entered the above world. Immediately, the rioting ended once people heard the sound of the animals. Instead of fighting, they were running.

One creature was like a serpent, but it had ram horns on its head. It started slithering into the kingdom. The beast was too fast for Snotlout to run after, so Hookfang put him on his back. The duo hurried after the serpent. Its horns were the only part that were not low to the ground. The creature's eyes seemed fixated on certain individuals. It bared its fangs, going for someone's ankle as she ran. Hookfang reached the scene in time. Snotlout reached down, grabbing the serpent's horn in one hand and its body with the other. It continued to struggle trying to bite him.

"I wonder if these are poisonous," he mentioned.

Looking over his shoulder, Snotlout saw several more like it. He crushed the one as Hookfang went after the others. The firebird lit up, searing their reptilian skin. As the one duo did this, Hiccup and Toothless were pursuing a beast that was the size of an ox, but it had a deer's head. It tried to impale someone with its antlers, but Toothless kicked it. The other creature snarled, then seemed to disappear. Hiccup's eyes widened in shock.

"Where did it go?'

Toothless hovered over the area, also looking for the beast. He could not see it anywhere. Suddenly, it made a mistake. Toothless saw movement near a wall. It was subtle, but it still happened. He moved towards it, now sniffing the creature. Its fur had changed color to blend in with a building. Toothless knew where it was. The only remaining issue was that Toothless could not tell when it was going to lunge at him.

"Let's move back, Bud," Hiccup said. "I have an idea."

He pointed off to the left, drawing Toothless's eye to a flask. The Pegasus flew over, letting Hiccup grab it. When he did, they went back to the beast and Hiccup poured the beverage on its fur. Unable to remove the stain, the animal could not prevent Toothless from seeing it. The winged horse began to chase it out of the kingdom. The heroes kept fighting monsters as Dagur followed the people back to the palace. They seemed to know how to evade the beasts perfectly. From the way they traveled, the immortal could tell that they had been doing this for a long time. They only stopped when they were back within the safety of the castle walls. Hidden from their sight, Dagur looked around, learning the layout of the palace. He did not sense any other gods there. As far as he could tell, there was nothing divine about what was going on. There were just cruel mortals. Still, not everything was always as it appeared. In the past, Dagur would have killed the group to be sure, then moved on, but he waited to see what his team wanted to do. He had begun leaving when he noticed something.

The chimera from before was walking around the kingdom. He was not attacking anyone. He looked like he was trying to find a way to escape. Unfortunately, one of the handlers had also left the tunnels to watch. He threw a spear at the creature, trying to provoke him into fighting. The chimera snarled, but he did not attack any random person. Rather than that, he targeted his attacker. The man moved back, readying his spear again. Although the chimera did not see it, an archer from the top of the castle was ready to kill him for his disobedience. Dagur saw this and pushed the beast out of the way. The chimera still did not see him, but he looked around for who had helped. Shocked, the handler ran back to the tunnels. When he was gone, Dagur appeared enough for the beast to see. The animals stared at him curiously and he gave a small wave.

"You can leave if you want," he stated. "There's no real point in staying here."

The creature just seemed uncertain. It was almost depressing to the immortal, like the chimera had been in captivity for so long that any other life was unfathomable. Dagur was distracted enough by that to not notice a new archer. This one had his arrow pointed at the redhead. The chimera saw and wrapped its tail around Dagur, pulling him out of the line of fire. As the arrow went zipping by his head, Dagur realized what he had done.

"Thanks," he said.

The chimera set him down and to Dagur's surprise, he started returning to the tunnels. Dagur was about to go after him, but he was not sure if he would be dangerous and the redhead did not want to risk the cousins' lives. So, at least for the time being, he would let the beast stay in the tunnel if that was what he wanted. While the group dealt with the last of the monsters, Heather was tending to some plants as the change of seasons began. She was also watching over the island where she had put Medusa. There were some nymphs who were welcoming to the gorgon, but the goddess still liked to check regularly. Most of the time, her work was peaceful and undisturbed. It was merely on days like those when she felt uneasy.

"Since when do you visit me?" she asked, turning to look behind her.

"We need to talk," Alvin said.

"Why?"

"I was curious about your beast. It's dangerous, right?"

Heather frowned slightly. "She can be, but Windshear doesn't hurt anyone unless I want her to."

"What if I wanted it to?"

"Why?"

"I'm curious. Humor me."

Heather felt more suspicious, but she did not want to start a fight with the god. "She'd need to know that I agreed to it. If I gave her permission to follow your orders, then she would."

"Then I want you to do that."

"Why would I do that, Poseidon?"

"Because I'm requesting it."

"That's a lot of power to give you."

The larger immortal's gaze became a glare. He took a menacing step forward.

"I'll say it differently. Because I'm choosing to request it. You don't want me to take the beast by force."

Heather felt anger building up in her. "She's mine. I won't let you steal her."

"So give it to me for the day, then it'll be back with your other things." He smirked arrogantly. "You'll either bring me there or I'll flood that island you were watching. I heard somewhere that you're looking after that snake-haired mortal."

The goddess scowled at Poseidon. She never handed Windshear over to anyone, but it was only for a day and she did not want Medusa to die. She had grown fond of the mortal.

"Fine," she huffed. "Follow me. I'll show you where she is."

The smirk remained on Poseidon's face as he followed Heather. While they left, the heroes were done dealing with the monsters. Barely anyone saw what they were doing, so no one would have been able to report to the leaders that the monsters did not kill anyone this time. Dagur returned to the others, seeing Hookfang stomp on the last serpent.

"Looks like it went well here," he commented. "They didn't let everything out this time."

"Maybe they normally do it like this," Snotlout mentioned.

Hiccup nodded. "They might let out a few creatures from time to time to scare people, but not enough to kill too many."

"That's what I'm thinking too." Dagur looked towards the palace. "I didn't sense anything odd in the castle. I mean, there's a lot of anger and fear, but I expected that much."

"So, what do we do now?" Snotlout inquired.

"Maybe we should wait," Hiccup said. "We still don't know what the leaders really want."

Suddenly, the boy's eyes lit up. Snotlout let out a sigh.

"Oh no. Now, you have an idea."

"It's not bad," Hiccup assured him. "It's risky, though."

The others looked at him, intrigued.

"What if we went undercover in the palace? We could pretend to be servants."

Snotlout scrunched his face. "We'd have to be servants? Can't we just make them answer our questions?"

"They might refuse to. Not everyone's going to be threatened into talking." Before Dagur could comment, Hiccup added, "And not everyone's going to respond to violence either. We might find out more if they think we're not threats."

The immortal considered this. "It could work. I'm going to stay hidden while you do that, though."

"That's fine. We can all still be on the inside."

Snotlout crossed his arms. "Wait, why does he get to not be a servant?"

"Because I'm an Olympian," Dagur said proudly. "But I'm sure you'll make a great maid, Snotty."

The warrior tried to tackle him, falling when the god became intangible. Frowning, Snotlout got up and huffed.

"Come on, Hiccup. Let's go be servants," he grumbled.

The cousins went after Dagur to the castle. They stopped when they got closer.

"Hold on," Dagur said. "I'll bring you some of the servants' clothes. You'll stand out if you go in like that. They all wear the same type of chiton."

Nodding, the mortals waited as he reentered. Dagur recalled where he had seen the servants' quarters and stole two of the tunics. Under the subjects' noses, he left with them. Dagur handed the outfits to his friends and they quickly changed.

"We forgot about Hookfang and Toothless," Snotlout commented, frowning. "Where are they going to go if we'll be in the castle all day?"

"I can keep an eye on them," Dagur said. "I'll bring them food while you're here, but it'd be better if they stayed on the outskirts of the kingdom."

The animals did not seem to like avoiding the action. Toothless nudged Dagur with his muzzle.

"Okay, okay, you don't have to leave, but you can't be in the palace. Everyone would know that something weird was going on."

"They could stay in the kingdom," Hiccup offered. "Maybe they'll see something out there that we'd miss while being in here."

Toothless's ears wiggled with happiness and Hookfang also looked satisfied with that plan. So, it was decided. They split up, ready to fulfill their roles. Barely anyone noticed the cousins. In their new garb, they were the same faceless servants as everyone else.

"Did you hear what happened to Neleus?" someone asked.

Her head was low as she folded cloths. Hiccup glanced around, making sure she was talking to him.

"No, what happened?"

"One of the others had to clean blood out of his bed a few days ago."

Hiccup's eyes widened in shock. "Is he okay?"

"Not sure. No one's seen him." She lowered her voice. "I bet Pelias killed him. He'd kill anyone for more power. It's a shame. Neleus was the only one who didn't like sending monsters into the village."

The boy nodded, continuing to go with the other servant as they worked. Snotlout was with another group, scrubbing the floors. They were shiny by the time the servants were nearly done. This helped him see something. Snotlout's brows rose when he saw a familiar face reflecting in it.

"Demaratus?" he wondered.

The former ally of Sisyphus was standing with several others, talking like nothing was wrong.

"I think it's good," he said. "One less person to share all of this with."

"But who'll be the next to go?"

Demaratus scoffed, starting to walk away. "I just know it won't be me."

Snotlout almost froze when the man went by, but he did not see him. Demaratus did not even look down at the supposedly lowly servants. He missed the glare on Snotlout's face when he looked up again. As the boys kept doing their work, Dagur was spying on Pelias. The man was quiet, but he was busy. He was holding a map, eyeing each neighboring kingdom with greed.

"What do you want?" Dagur wondered. "What place are you trying to attack? I know you're going to pick somewhere. You're the same as the mortals who pray to me for war. I just need to know what you're planning before you do it."

The leader merely remained silent. Dagur wished that his domain included the mind because Pelias's thoughts were full of his plans. Unfortunately, all the friends could do was wait. They did not realize that their time was limited. Heather had brought Alvin to Windshear. She entered the cave first.

"Hey, Windshear," she greeted. "It's me."

Alvin stood near the opening of the cave, peering inside warily. The area felt eerie. He almost tensed when he saw the beast emerge. She went towards Heather, letting her pet her head.

"I know I never do this, but I need you to work with Poseidon for a day," the goddess stated. "Then you'll be able to come back home."

Windshear had an understanding look in her eyes. She turned her gaze to Alvin. It sent a chill down him. Heather frowned at the god.

"There you go, Poseidon. You've enlisted the help of my Basilisk."

Creature talk this time. For starters, cerastes are the creatures that Snotlout went after. Like in the story, they're snakes with ram horns. I could only imagine seeing something so strange in real life. Hiccup and Toothless were fighting something called a tarandos. Normally, these are pretty rare, but I liked how they had chameleon-type fur. It also makes me think of a Changewing, so I just had to bring this into the HTTYD world. As for the chimera, any guesses for who this is yet? I was originally going to say in this chapter, but it didn't pop up organically, so I'll wait a little longer. For chimeras in general, these breathe fire. It was actually a female monster, but this one's a boy. The chimera is the child of Typhon and Echidna, king and queen of the monsters. As an extra fun fact, Hades's overgrown puppy, Cerberus, is the Chimera's brother. Going back to Bellerophon from a few notes ago, the Chimera rampaged in Lycia before he and Pegasus slayed the beast.