Harpies were flying everywhere. It was nothing short of chaotic. They seemed to appear from thin air, entering the kingdom as if by magic. One of the monsters came up behind Otrera as Dagur prepared to attack the beast in front of them. She swiftly drew her sword, slicing off the harpy's head in a single blow. As she did, Dagur leapt forward, grabbing a harpy's wings. They tore off in his grip and the monster collapsed. Seeing that their comrades were down, more of the monsters started flying away from the duo. They were heading to the palace.

"We can catch some of them before they get there," Dagur said, turning into a vulture.

Otrera's eyes widened slightly. She had not seen an immortal transform before, but she tried to not get distracted by her shock.

"Hold on tight."

This made Otrera's eyes widen a second time. She was not entirely sure what Dagur meant until he used his wing to flick her onto his back. Quickly, she grabbed his feathers as he took off into the sky. It was a strange rush but not altogether unpleasant. While the duo was flying, the rest of the team inside the palace heard sounds of crashing platters.

"What's going on?" Hiccup wondered aloud.

Snotlout went over to the doorway, then ducked. A harpy nearly took off his head.

"That Argonaut gave us his harpies!" he complained.

The warrior ran after the harpy, getting followed by Hookfang. Jumping, Snotlout was able to tackle the creature. They wrestled on the ground, but it was more difficult than Snotlout had expected. These bird-like beasts were fast. Its talons moved so rapidly that they were a blur to Snotlout. He moved speedily as well, breaking the monster's beak. This caused it to get off of him. Harpies were ravenous even while injured. It shifted its attention from Snotlout and hungrily looked at the feast which had been set out. The boy saw this and gasped.

"Don't you dare," he warned. "That's going to be our dinner."

He was at a standstill with the harpy. It began to slowly walk to the side, hoping to creep closer without being noticed. It suddenly lunged for the food and Snotlout tackled it again. More of the flock surrounded him, but Hookfang lit up his feathers. As a result, the harpies flew back to avoid being burned. Hiccup and Toothless were also joining the fight. The horse kicked a harpy, sending it into a wall with a loud thud. Wind was knocked out of the bird as it slid back to the ground. The harpies screeched, furious to see that this battle was not in their favor. They flapped their wings, flying for the exit. Toothless began to fly after them.

"We can't let them escape!" Hiccup called out. "They'll just go for the rest of the food in the kingdom!"

Snotlout hopped onto Hookfang's saddle, holding on as they zoomed out of the castle. On the outside, they saw how many more foes they would have had. Otrera was standing on Dagur's vulture back, slashing through harpies whenever they got close to her. Meanwhile, he was using his talons to grab them out of the sky, crushing them in the process. Otrera spotted a few members of the flock trying to enter a home in the distance.

"Ares," she said, "I can stop those if you bring us down."

Dagur spotted the harpies she was looking at and did as she requested. He was shocked when the queen leapt off of his back and onto theirs. She stabbed through the harpy. As it plummeted to the ground, she hopped onto the nearby one to give it the same treatment. When she was done, Dagur returned her to his back.

"Knew I'd like watching you fight!" he exclaimed, laughing.

Otrera smiled, seeing how the rest of the group was doing. Her warriors had left the palace as well. They aimed their arrows at the harpies, taking them out one by one. Anything that was beyond their range was attacked by one of the flyers. It did not take long before the battle had come to an end.

"Is that everything?" Snotlout asked, looking around.

"I think so," Hiccup commented. "I can't hear them anymore."

"And we still have food!" the warrior happily revealed.

The Amazons began looking over their group, pleased to see that no lives were lost. Dagur landed on the ground and shifted into his usual form. He let out another excited laugh. His shift happened before Otrera could get down, so he eagerly spun her in his arms. She laughed with him.

"It is nice that you can still get so excited by victory," she commented.

"Of course! That's the best part! It's also really fun when we have victories with new allies."

Dagur smiled at her brightly and the queen returned the grin, then she realized that she was still being held in a bridal position. Otrera felt her face becoming warm and Dagur matched his hair when he came to the same realization. Speedily, he set her back down. Otrera just brushed some of her hair out of her face, giving herself an excuse to look away. She turned to her group.

"We were successful in protecting our kingdom," she said, "but there was still a lot of damage. We should tend to that before we relax. Also, we should see where they entered the palace."

Immediately, the Amazons went to tend to this task.

"We could help too," Hiccup volunteered.

"Do we have to?" Snotlout asked. "I thought saving the food meant we could eat it."

His cousin frowned at him and he sighed heavily.

"Fine. Just go ahead and starve me. Are you coming too?"

The question was for Dagur, but the immortal was still a little distracted. It took him a second to realize what had been asked. He wordlessly nodded and went to join them. Fortunately, the harpies had mostly been stopped before too much damage could be done. The worst of it was in the market, but in the kingdom, there were just a few buildings whose doors had been clawed. Snotlout turned a large stand upright again. A few pomegranates were underneath it, generally squished. He picked up the ones that could be salvaged.

"I guess they got some of the food after all."

"At least it wasn't a lot," Hiccup said, working with Toothless to put some fruit back on another stand.

Dagur looked towards the outskirts of the kingdom. There was a sea on one side.

"They couldn't have come from there," he said. "Harpies don't like to fly over large bodies of water since they get hungry so often."

"Then would they have come in from the other side?" Hiccup asked.

Dagur paused before frowning slightly. "I mean, it's possible, but I don't think so. They don't normally live in that area."

"Does that mean that they were sent by a god?" Snotlout inquired. "They could appear and disappear like Eurymedon did?"

"That's what I'm thinking. I just can't figure out if we were the only targets or if the Amazons are also in danger."

His comrades were just as unsure. It saddened them to think that their new allies could be in peril. With a determined look, Dagur started walking away.

"I'm going to tell Otrera just in case."

He found the queen at another part of the market. She was helping one of the merchants with their animals who had become spooked in the attack. Swiftly, Otrera grabbed a chicken as it tried to fly away.

"Nice catch," Dagur complimented.

She smiled softly. "Thank you. That was nice flying that you did. I have never seen a god turn into a bird…or anything else for that matter."

"It can be helpful in times like those and I've always liked vultures."

"Because of their association with death?"

"Yeah! They're the best," Dagur said, grinning.

"The actual feeling of flying was more pleasant than I expected."

"I'm glad you liked it! Maybe we could do that again sometime." Dagur reminded himself that his purpose for being there was not to start up a casual conversation. "But the reason I came over here was that harpies don't normally live in the surrounding lands around you and wouldn't have crossed that sea."

"Therefore, their being here was no accident."

"No, we're thinking at least one of the gods sent them. We don't know if it was for you or us."

Otrera began to walk away from the market. Dagur went with her as she checked the kingdom for anything that one of the others might have missed.

"I have tried to keep my people safe," she stated. "For years, we have lived here in relative safety." The queen's brow became creased with worry. "I can protect them from mortal threats, but if gods seek our end…"

Dagur put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him sadly, then sighed.

"But I am a queen. I cannot allow myself to become worn down by these concerns."

"You're still allowed to have them. I know I'm worried," the immortal admitted, letting out a nervous laugh.

Otrera smiled again. "That simultaneously makes me feel better and worse."

"I have a way of doing that."

The blonde chuckled, wondering how it was that she could do that so easily around the redhead. Slowly, she saw a serious look enter his eyes.

"Beseech me."

"Pardon?"

"If there's another threat in the future," he elaborated, "beseech me and I'll come here to help."

"You don't have to do that."

"I don't have to do anything, remember?" he asked, eyes twinkling. "I want to help if I can, Otrera."

The queen saw the sincerity in his eyes. It gave her a sense of comfort that she had not expected. She turned more towards him.

"Those who know me better call me Mala."

Dagur failed to keep a goofy grin off his face. "Mala's a really pretty name."

He blushed as soon as he said it and Mala did the same. Still, seeing that he was also embarrassed made her feel less alone. Awkwardly, he held out his hand.

"I'm Dagur."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Dagur," she stated, shaking his hand.

Dagur was surprised by how much he liked holding her hand. He felt his face becoming hotter and turned away.

"So, uh, dinner," he mumbled. "I guess we should probably get to that before Heracles kills us."

"You would at least be spared."

"You don't know how he gets with food. He'd find a way to kill me."

Just like that, the awkwardness vanished and the duo was chuckling again. They started returning to the palace, gesturing for the cousins to join them. Snotlout's eyes lit up.

"Finally! We can eat."

He and Hookfang ran into the castle first, being followed by the rest of the group. Snotlout wasted no time in preparing a plate.

"You know," he said, half-buried in mutton, "we've gone to different kingdoms, but this is the first one where people ever made a feast for us."

"Considering that you helped us fight two threats, I believe this is more than deserved," Mala stated.

Snotlout beamed with pride and kept eating. There was a wide variety of food, ranging from spanakopita and olives to fish and game. Toothless nibbled on some apples at the base of the table and Hookfang tugged on Snotlout's mutton. Eventually, the boy gave up pulling on it and let him eat. Dagur sniffed some of the food as it continued to cook.

"You should try some of this," Hiccup suggested.

"I'm okay, but it smells great," the redhead assured him. "I don't think I've ever smelled anything quite like it."

"I've never tasted anything quite like it," Snotlout said, voice muffled by his food.

That night, the heroes ate well, thanking their hostess when they were done. Afterwards, they got ready to retire to their chambers.

"Good night," Mala told them.

The cousins returned the farewell, but it was easy to see that it was mostly directed towards the redhead. Dagur grinned back.

"Sweet dreams."

They went their own ways and once the team was in their chambers, the cousins snickered. Dagur lifted an eyebrow at them.

"What?"

"Sweet dreams," Snotlout repeated, batting his eyelashes.

"That sounded just like him," Hiccup complimented, chuckling.

"It did not," Dagur protested, arms crossed.

He frowned when Toothless nodded his head. Hookfang seemed to be making an amused sound along with the mortals.

"Don't you guys start too," the redhead chided.

Snotlout patted his back. "It's okay. I just thought that a literal immortal wouldn't be so bashful around someone he had a crush on."

"I never said I…"

Dagur stopped as they kept chuckling. Clearly, he was not going to get through to them. It also did not help that he could feel himself blushing again.

"Moving on," he quickly said, "we can't stay here long. In the morning, we'll head out."

"Where are we going?" Hiccup asked.

"Iolcos. I sense some kind of trouble there."

"Is it a war?" Snotlout inquired.

"Not yet, but there's anger and fear. Soon, I think there could be a big fight if we don't get involved."

"Can you tell who's responsible?"

"I think it's someone with a lot of power. I'm mostly sensing the anger from one mortal. I wouldn't sense as much fear if that person was just some random servant."

"So, we could be dealing with an evil king or queen," Hiccup mentioned thoughtfully.

"Or an advisor," Snotlout suggested.

"Maybe," Dagur said. "No matter who it is, we need to get involved. Until we figure out more about what's going on, I won't trust any of the wars to be normal. They could all be designed to kill future heroes and target immortals."

The cousins nodded, then Snotlout sighed.

"I guess we'll be saying goodbye to the first kingdom that's actually been nice to visit."

Hiccup struggled to contain a teasing look in his eyes. "On the bright side, Snotlout, it'll be a lot easier for us to say goodbye than it will be for Dagur."

Immediately, the four began to chuckle again at the god's expense. Dagur crossed his arms in a pout.

"The next time one of you needs saving," he stated, "I will remember this."

His threat did nothing to stop the cousins. Dagur smirked slightly. Maybe the queen was not necessarily wrong. To gods, mortals might have lived such short lives, but that did not mean that Dagur could not enjoy their company. Naturally, he just had no intention of admitting it at that moment.

As a quick note, the reason that I've mentioned the scents of foods a couple times in this story is because of a tale with Zeus and Prometheus. After the titan tricked him by putting some fat over bones, Zeus accidentally chose that pile vs a pile with actual meat. As a result, gods did not need to eat meat. They were satisfied with the smell of it burning over fire as a sacrifice. Okay, for the rest: I knew I wanted Mala to still be a queen since it's such a prominent part of who she is in my eyes. Another detail which really helped (and Nilva123 reminded me!) Otrera was the first queen of the Amazons. In addition to this, she has a relatively little-known romance with Ares. With her, he fathered some of the Amazon warriors. She was said to have made a shrine for Artemis. Something I find very cute is that she also built one for her SO. Admittedly, it was on a desert island, but it's the thought that counts. The Amazons were warrior women, but in this story, Mala is leading men and women just like her HTTYD counterpart. Heracles actually has a bad history with them. On one of his quests, he had the task of getting Queen Hippolyta (a daughter of Otrera and Ares) to hand over her golden belt/girdle. This was a gift from her dad to help her be strong in battle. She had agreed, but Hera got involved, pretended to be Hippolyta, and caused a major battle. In the process, Heracles killed the Amazons. Rest assured, this story is not going that direction. Dagur and Snotlout would not be on good terms if the latter killed these people and Snotlout would find an alternative anyway. Too bad Heracles didn't just try to knock them out vs going straight for the kill.