Hiccup was still hugging Toothless when he heard the screech. They pulled back quickly, as dragons around them answered the cry and took to the air with madly flapping wings. The King pushed hurriedly to his feet, water crashing around him as he rose, as his dragons raced towards the nest's far side.
"Intruders," Valka said. "Intruders, in the nest!"
She rushed onto Cloudjumper's back, and Hiccup leapt into Toothless' saddle. They winged after the others, Hiccup barely able to see through the snarling and roaring throng. The King clicked and purred, somehow making himself heard, and Toothless began growling and shaking his head. Hiccup rested a hand on his friend's back; Toothless steadied, straightening his flight.
Ahead of them, the flock's calls were ceaseless. "Two of them!" Valka shouted, barely audible over the din. "And…two dragons! Running back through the caves!"
They came into a hover above a cliff — the same cliff, Hiccup realized, from which he had first looked upon this beautiful sanctuary. An enormous crowd of dragons had formed around one particular cave, with members of smaller species — some Gronkles, some Terrors — hurriedly streaming in. Then the King let out another signal, and the dragons scattered down numerous nearby openings.
"Not good," Hiccup said, gripping the saddle hard. These dragons were scared and angry at the intrusion, hissing and snapping as though they wanted blood. "Mom, they're running away. Shouldn't we just—"
"No," Valka said. "They'll be trappers, son. We must release their dragons!" She gestured with her staff. "This way. Come!"
The change in her was nothing short of remarkable. She was like a warrior now, standing tall on Cloudjumper's back, as fierce-looking and resolute as any Viking in spite of her small frame. Gods, Hiccup thought: even he would fall off if he tried to fly a dragon like that! How much practice must that have taken, and how many falls must she have taken along the way?
He flew alongside her, silently resolving to do something if this turned as violent as he feared.
"Through there!" Valka called out, pointing ahead to a much wider cave. They turned in sharply, a dense host of wild dragons rushing in ahead of them with even more dragons coming in behind.
Hiccup stared forwards, focussing on Toothless' movements and adjusting the tail fin as needed. Cold air buffeted his face, howling against his ears. The cave was almost pitch-black, and Hiccup couldn't see a thing. But Toothless' eyesight was far sharper than his, so he trusted Toothless completely to get him through. He kept himself low, holding the saddle tightly, moving with Toothless' every action.
He didn't need to see to fly. All he needed to do was focus on the flaps of Toothless' wings, the tilts that signified turns, the various sounds and signals they'd developed over years.
Then the cave opened up into a wide low chamber, with faint light shining from thick ice up above. Hiccup recognised immediately where they were.
"This place?" Hiccup said quietly. "Again?"
This was where Hiccup had laid eyes on his mother's face, for the first time he'd been old enough to remember. This was where he and Toothless had been reunited, after he'd seen Toothless disappear into the icy sea. He swallowed at the thought, making a quick silent prayer that he never experienced that again.
Now, however, there was a more immediate problem. The chamber was already full of dragons, many growling dangerously, who all seemed focussed on something in the middle of the space. They seemed downright hostile this time — not like how they'd been with Hiccup, when at worst they'd seemed cautious and unsure.
Valka and Cloudjumper landed at the back of the crowd; Hiccup and Toothless landed along with them. Cloudjumper roared, and Valka shook and rattled her bizarre staff; the other dragons reacted immediately, parting to let them through. Hiccup blinked at that, peering ahead through the faint light.
"...Dad?" Hiccup said.
"...Stoick?" Valka went, her voice quivering.
The sight of Stoick The Vast was unmistakable, even in the chamber's gloom: his thick red beard, his wide bulk, his great muscular frame. He'd had the sense not to grab his hammer — thank Thor! — though it unfortunately remained attached to his belt, clearly visible to all. Stoick had a hand held out in a placating gesture, just as Hiccup had taught him. But with that hammer right there, and with a sheathed sword also in plain view, Hiccup could hardly fault the dragons for feeling threatened.
Gobber wasn't exactly helping just then, either: he was right next to Stoick with his hook-hand raised, the metal glinting in the faint light. Nor did it help that their own two dragons had curled protectively around them, snarling and growling at any who drew near.
"Of all the…" Hiccup said, too quiet for them to hear. "What are you four doing here?"
Valka rattled her staff again — Hiccup would have to find out how she'd made that — and the nest's dragons calmed. They went quiet, giving some more space; Stoick and his companions slightly relaxed in turn. Valka started forwards, and only then did Stoick seem to properly see her; he gasped audibly, his eyes widening.
"...V-Val?"
Valka froze, like a prey animal caught unaware. Cloudjumper came up next to her, crouched and alert, and the sight of him seemed to give Valka confidence.
"I know what you're going to say, Stoick," she said evenly.
A number of her dragons shuffled and milled around, exchanging some occasional noises between themselves.
"How could I have done this?" Valka said. "Stayed away for all these years?"
My thoughts exactly, Hiccup thought, running a hand over his face. He brought himself closer, though his father's attention was clearly on Valka and on Valka alone.
"And why didn't I come back to you?" Valka went on. "To our son?"
Stoick said nothing, but he looked as far from stoic as Hiccup had ever seen him, a range of emotions warring on his face. He stepped towards her, and a number of dragons hissed, but Valka simply silenced them with a wave of her hand.
"Val," Stoick said quietly. "That dragon. That four-winged dragon. Why is it here?"
Valka stepped closer to Cloudjumper, and Cloudjumper leaned into her. "He's…a friend, Stoick. My closest friend."
"A…friend, you say?" Stoick said, his face hardening.
He stepped closer. Cloudjumper crouched lower, baring his teeth in a silent growl, and Skullcrusher quickly returned the gesture. The two dragons stared each other down, their respective riders slowly patting their flanks; Hiccup found his eyes rapidly darting between them.
"Well, what sign did I have that you could change, Stoick?," Valka said. "That anyone on Berk could?"
Hiccup rolled his eyes, suppressing a groan, and Skullcrusher snorted. Please stop talking, Hiccup thought. For the love of Odin, please stop talking. He'd been so amazed at learning Toothless could talk, and even more at actually knowing what his best friend was saying, that he'd almost forgotten that Valka was…well, Valka.
"I pleaded so many times to stop the fighting," Valka said, "to find another answer. But did any of you listen?"
Stoick's face hardened further, enough to look like Thor on a stormy day. "Are you saying you stayed away from our village? From our son ? On purpose ?"
Valka's posture crumpled. She looked off at nothing, no longer meeting Stoick's eyes, while Cloudjumper crooned and nuzzled her nearest arm. Hiccup found himself silently glaring at her, but she didn't even notice in her daze.
Stoick straightened himself, his face betraying little emotion. "Call off your beasts," he said. He mounted Skullcrusher; Gobber followed suit, climbing onto Grump. "Hiccup, back to Berk. Now."
"What?" Hiccup said. "No, Dad, wait, that's—"
"I've heard enough, Hiccup. I've seen enough! You and Toothless are going back to Berk, and that is an order!"
Valka picked that moment to call the nest's dragons off, sending all but Cloudjumper away with some more rattles of her staff. Hiccup stood in place, meanwhile, with Toothless right at his side.
"Hiccup! Come on!" Stoick said, his patience having clearly worn thin.
"Yes. You should go, son," Valka said. "You and Toothless…you belong on Berk, not here."
Skullcrusher rumbled, eyeing Hiccup and Toothless pointedly. But still, Hiccup didn't move.
"No, I…no," Hiccup said. "Dad, I'm trying to stop a war here. I can't just go back while—"
"There is no stopping a war with Drago Bludvist, Hiccup!" Stoick said, thumping Skullcrusher's armored back. "Drago Bludvist wants war! He doesn't care about peace, or about dragons, or about anyone but…agh!". He leaned forwards suddenly, rubbing hard at the side of his head.
Hiccup winced, not able to help feeling guilty. His father had suffered from headaches as long as Hiccup could remember, but they'd been getting more and more frequent over the past couple years. Stoick would be using two ice packs later, at the very least.
"He's right, son," Valka said softly. "Drago sees dragons as nothing but tools of conquest. You could never change his mind."
Cloudjumper crooned next to her, tilting his head.
"But…but I can't just do nothing," Hiccup said, clenching his hands into fists. "Dad, I promise I'll be careful. But I'm not just going to stay on Berk while—"
Stoick growled in wordless frustration. "Hiccup, for the love of…you don't even know where he is!"
Hiccup blinked. Stoick was glaring at him, one eyelid slightly twitching. Gobber gave Hiccup a look that said that he was being stupid; Skullcrusher was giving Hiccup a very similar look, while Grump was staring dozily at nothing in particular.
He felt the nudge of warm scales against his hand. He looked and found Toothless gazing up at him placatingly, the dragon making a series of warbles and croaks.
"He's saying…much the same," Valka said, with a concerned expression. "He also says you haven't eaten all day."
"Yeah, well, I've been kind of busy," Hiccup said, as he began to pace around. "And, sure, I know nothing about where Drago is." He spread his arms and shrugged his shoulders, then turned to his mother. "But I bet you do, don't you? You seem to know all about Drago and his trappers. Don't you?"
Once again, Valka had the look of a prey animal in a dragon's sights.
"And…when I first tried to leave, you told me to wait…because Drago's forces could be out there," Hiccup said. "And later, you told me to go back to Berk…because it would be safer there, than here…"
Toothless warbled and trilled in her direction.
"You know where he is, don't you?" Hiccup said. "And he's close to this nest. Isn't he?"
Valka hesitated for just a moment, and then she nodded.
"He's close," Valka said. "But that doesn't mean you should go to him, son. It means—"
"How close?" Stoick said. "Valka, tell us! How close?" His face held an intensity that Hiccup had seldom seen.
"Close. Very close," Valka replied. "Barely a morning on dragonback. Maybe a day by ship, in a good wind. And believe me, he has plenty of both."
For a moment, Hiccup just stared dumbly at her. Then he noticed that Stoick and Gobber — and, indeed, all three of their dragons — were doing much the same. Had she really just been sitting on this? When she could so easily have flown to Berk, both to warn them and to ask for help?
Hiccup broke the silence first. "But if he's that close to here, then Berk…"
"...is at risk. Aye," Stoick said, weariness etched onto his face.
Stoick climbed off of Skullcrusher and marched towards Valka. Cloudjumper moved to block him with teeth bared, but Valka eased the dragon away.
Stoick stopped right in front of her, towering over her lithe form. "Valka," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "You need to tell us everything you know about Drago. Now."
