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When Hiccup first started seeing Krogan, nobody doubted him.
When Krogan melted back into the shadows seconds after Hiccup had caught a glimpse, or slipped behind a market stall and disappeared into the crowd, or turned a corner and vanished, they believed what Hiccup had seen and sent out a search party to find him and bring him to justice.
When every search party inevitably came back empty handed, the whispers started.
He’s overtired, look at the bags under his eyes.
He’s spending too much time with that dragon and not enough with other humans.
He’s traumatized, poor thing — everything he’s been through, why, who wouldn’t be?
He just can’t get used to being back on Berk instead of being out there, exploring. Guess we’re not good enough for him anymore.
It’s the stress — it’s obvious the chief is preparing him to take over, and he’s cracking under the pressure.
I heard the guy he’s “seeing” was one of the bounty hunters who got ahold of him last year. Wonder what he did to him that’s got him so paranoid?
And so on.
Of course, no one said anything to him directly, but he could see it in their eyes, hear their whispered gossip as he passed by or sat behind them in the great hall.
At least he had his friends, his father, Gobber. They believed him, knew Krogan really was out there, following him, stalking him.
Until they didn’t.
“What do you mean, I need to take a break?” Hiccup demanded, glaring around at his friends.
Astrid held her hands up placatingly. “Hiccup, you haven’t let yourself rest since Krogan escaped. Even before you, well—”
“Started seeing him everywhere,” Snotlout supplied.
Astrid shot Snotlout a poisonous look. “Even before all of that, you were running yourself ragged trying to track him down. We think — we’re worried that the pressure is getting to you. It’s been months, and no one but you has seen—”
“Because he’s a master of disappearing into the shadows!” Hiccup burst out, unable to believe he was having this conversation with Astrid, of all people. “He doesn’t want anyone else to see him. Just me.”
“Why would he want that?” Fishlegs asked, and Hiccup bristled at the soothing tone, the same one Fishlegs used when trying to calm a startled wild dragon.
“I don’t know! To get in my head! That doesn’t matter.” His voice broke. “What matters is that you guys are supposed to believe me. You know me. We’re a team, and we always, always back each other up.” His eyes found Astrid’s. “Especially us.”
“Look, man,” Snotlout said. “You know we’ve always got your back. And we believe—” He hesitated. “We believe that you believe Krogan is back.”
“Wait, do we believe that?” Tuff stage-whispered to Ruff.
“I lost track of what we believe a long time ago, bro.”
“Okay, let’s put our heads together. I’m pretty sure I believe the earth is round. Now you go.”
“The moon is definitely made of cheese.”
“Agreed.”
Hiccup left the twins to their ridiculous conversation and rounded on his other friends. “I can’t believe this. You all think I’m going crazy.”
“You’re not crazy, Hiccup,” Astrid soothed, laying a hand on his arm. He shook her off. “You’re just overtired and overworked. Your father thinks—”
“My father thinks?” Hiccup spluttered. “So he doesn’t believe me either. What, have you guys been sitting around with him and, and Gobber, laughing about how I’m losing it? Trying to decide on an heir who’s not seeing things?”
Astrid’s eyes shone unusually bright, her face pale with two spots of color on her cheeks. “Of course not! Gods, Hiccup, we’re worried about you. We—”
“I would think you’d be more worried about the fact that Krogan is back and apparently stalking me.”
“We are! I mean, if he—”
Hiccup stared at Astrid coolly, though inside his soul had splintered into fragments. “There shouldn’t be an if, Astrid.” He took a step backwards, eyes landing on each friend in turn. “We support each other, we believe each other. It’s what we do.” He inhaled a shaky breath. “Or did, I guess.”
“Hiccup—”
“Tell my dad I’m gonna be gone for a few days, okay? I need some space.”
“You can’t just go off on your own!” Astrid protested. “It’s not safe—”
“Oh, I think it’s plenty safe, seeing as Krogan isn’t really here,” Hiccup snapped. “And anyway, I’ll have Toothless with me. He’ll protect me.” He turned, walked to the door of the nearly empty great hall, the guttering torchlight casting eerie shadows on enormous door before him.
“At least wait until morning, please,” Fishlegs implored. “It’s getting late and—”
“Need I remind you that my dragon owns the night? I’ll be fine. I just… I can’t do this right now. I need to clear my head. I’ll see you later.”
The towering doors spilled open onto a bruised dusk. He walked out, and he didn’t look back.
Silence in the great hall. Then—
“I feel awful.”
“Well, I don’t, Astrid.”
“Yes, you do.”
Snotlout didn’t argue.
In a small voice, Fishlegs asked, “What if he’s right?”
“He’s not,” Tuff said. “Trust me, my sister and I know crazy, and Hiccup is—”
“He’s not crazy!” Astrid growled. “And… and… he was right. Whenever we have needed him, Hiccup has always been there for us. Always believed us. Always backed us up.”
“Except for that one time you two went on your little romantic getaway instead of staying for the dragon census, and the Edge got attacked by a bunch of dragon Flyers.”
“Not helping, Ruff.”
“So should we go after him? Stop him from leaving?”
Snotlout waved off Fishlegs’s question. “Let the man have his hissy fit. Besides, it’s not like any of us can honestly say that we actually think this isn’t all in his head, no matter how much we ‘should’ or ‘want to’ believe him. Right?”
“I can’t honestly say anything,” Tuff said.
“It’s true, he’s a compulsive liar,” Ruff agreed.
“Look, it doesn’t matter what we believe. What matters is that we support Hiccup, and keep him safe. So we let him go. If he’s not back by morning, we track him with Stormfly and keep tabs on him from a distance. Just to make sure he’s okay. Agreed?”
Hiccup had already gone when his friends stepped out into the chilly night. He hadn’t lingered, and neither did they. The dragon riders parted ways in silence. They had nothing left to say.
Hiccup didn’t know where he was going, other than away. He lay back atop Toothless as the dragon glided over the open water, the stars and moon swimming above him in an inky black sky. They had been flying for several hours now; the crescent moon hung high overhead.
“What if they’re right?” Hiccup murmured to his dragon. Toothless trilled. “I mean, what if I am losing it? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Krogan since he escaped. And then, right when I start to think he was really gone, that he was dead, or had returned to his homeland for good, I start seeing him everywhere I go. And he disappears before anyone else can catch a glimpse of him.
“What if he isn’t really back at all? What if I’m just seeing what I’ve been expecting to see, fearing I’d see, all along?”
Toothless, an excellent conversationalist and a wonderful friend to vent to, trilled and warbled and chuffed in all the right places, and at no point did Hiccup feel judged.
Toothless warbled now, and Hiccup sat up, leaning over to rub his dragon’s sleek neck affectionately. “You’re right, bud. I’m getting too in my head about all this. Pun… intended, I guess. I just need to think about something else for a while.” He shifted forward in the saddle. “Do you see that, Toothless?”
A small rowboat crouched still and silent on the glassy sea. A fishing vessel, maybe? Hiccup couldn’t tell if anyone was on it.
“Huh. They’re out late. Then again, so are we, so I don’t really have room to talk. Should we check it out?”
Toothless rumbled. Hiccup laughed. “It’s a tiny little fishing boat. There’s no way it could have followed us from Berk; we’ve been flying too fast. So it’s not Krogan. And whoever it is could be in trouble. We have to go down there.”
Toothless grumbled but agreed, banking into a shallow dive with the click of Hiccup’s prosthetic.
Up close, Hiccup discovered the boat was in good condition, though very simply designed. Two benches, two oarlocks. No oars, strangely enough. No insignia, no banners or carvings. No indication of who it belonged to or what business it had out here in the middle of nowhere. It appeared empty.
Except—
The slightest shifting in the darkness of the far side of the hull. A tall figure rose from the shadows, a cloak black as night wrapped around him. Hiccup didn’t have to see underneath the hood to know who wore that cloak.
“Toothless, fly!” Hiccup shouted, engaging the tail fin. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see a chain hurtling toward him — it looped around his waist and pulled, squeezing the air out of him. The chain tore Hiccup from the saddle right as Toothless shot up and out into the inky night.
“Noooo! Toothless!” Hiccup screamed. He hit the water just as Toothless shrieked and began to plummet. Hiccup struggled to keep his head above the surface of the water so cold it burned. The chain dragged him backwards, away from Toothless, who hit the water with a concussive splash, rocking the fishing boat violently and sending frigid waves over Hiccup’s head.
The chill pervaded everything; despite his desperation to get to Toothless, Hiccup couldn’t fight anymore. As the water closed over his head, Hiccup glimpsed Toothless breach the surface, wailing for his rider, trying to fly up, out, to get to Hiccup, to save him.
Right before he succumbed to the darkness, he felt the sharp tug of something tightening around his waist.
Hiccup woke up to rough hands hauling him over the side of the boat. His captor dumped him to the floor while Hiccup coughed and retched what felt like tankards of water, shivering uncontrollably.
His eyes snapped open, his pulse drumming in his ears, panic assaulting all his senses as the memories flooded him all at once. “T-t-t-oothless!”
He could hear the sounds of his dragon splashing in the distance, the howls and roars of despair.
“How sweet,” Krogan mocked, his voice sending shivers down Hiccup’s spine. “Your dragon is trying to follow us.”
Only then did Hiccup realize that the boat was, in fact, moving — and fast.
“H-how—?” he began, remembering clearly the empty oarlocks.
Hiccup could hear the smirk in Krogan’s voice. “The Grimborns were not the only ones who knew how to harness sea dragons.” Fury thundered through Hiccup. “And a Night Fury, while master of the air, will never catch a Tide Glider in the water, even a juvenile one.”
Horror slipped over Hiccup like a funeral shroud. First Singetails, now young sea dragons? Hiccup had thought he had put a stop to the enslavement of dragons, but apparently not.
With great difficulty, Hiccup lifted his head and glared up at Krogan. He couldn’t see much of anything through the streams of water dripping from his hair and into his eyes, but it didn’t matter. Hiccup knew every angle of the man’s face, every curve and slope, the cruel eyes and sharp jaw and severe mouth.
Krogan laughed at the rage and defiance etched onto his prisoner’s face. “Such bravery,” he jeered. He leaned over and grasped the collar of Hiccup’s sodden tunic, yanked him to his feet, and shoved him onto one of the benches. Metal clanked as Krogan loosened the chain around his middle, then pulled it over his head and tossed to the floor. Hiccup, too disoriented from the cold to struggle, just curled in on himself, body trembling, teeth chattering.
Krogan thrust something into his arms. “Put these on.”
Hiccup raised a shaking hand and shoved his dripping hair out of his eyes. His captor had given him a threadbare towel, a simple white tunic that looked way too big for him, and a pair of poorly patched brown pants.
“Wh-why?” He doubted Krogan’s offering came from the goodness of his heart, mostly because the man didn’t have a heart.
“Because my employer wants you brought to him alive.” Hiccup’s heart gave a little jump of terror. “And it will be my head if you die of cold before we arrive.”
Hiccup wanted to tell Krogan that in that case, he’d gladly freeze, but his teeth chattered so violently he couldn’t form a coherent sentence. Slowly, Hiccup dried himself as best he could with the pitiful towel, then reached for one of the straps on his armor. His hands shook so much he couldn’t articulate the buckle, and Krogan growled, “Hurry up, or I do it myself.”
Terror swept over him, and Hiccup desperately worked the buckle, but his fingers felt too stiff and numb. Krogan shoved Hiccup’s hands away and pulled a dagger from his belt, the blade gleaming in the moonlight.
Animal panic took over at the thought of having his armor forcibly removed, and he fought against Krogan with every ounce of strength he possessed — not nearly enough, thanks to the icy water. In moments, Krogan had pinned him against the bench with a knee on his chest and began cutting his armor off of him.
Hiccup’s breath came in short, shallow pants as the knife worked, slicing through leather with expert precision. When Krogan finished, he tossed the pieces aside and stood. Somehow, Hiccup, shaking so hard he could barely move, managed to sit up. His head spun and fear fogged his mind, but he set to taking off his soaked tunic and pants — thankfully, despite his clumsy movements, he managed to change into the dry clothes without Krogan stepping in to “help.”
Being in dry clothes helped a lot, though Hiccup felt no shred of gratitude towards his captor: just anger, and fear, and hatred, and dread. Slowly, Hiccup’s shivering eased, although he still felt as weak as a newborn yak.
“Toothless,” Hiccup implored once he could speak without stuttering from cold. “You have to go back for Toothless.”
Krogan shook his head, chuckling. “You want my master to get his hands on your precious Night Fury, do you?”
“Of course not — but Toothless will drown if you don’t—”
Krogan hummed noncommittally as he stooped down to rummage in a bag at his feet. “Perhaps,” he said. “But how exactly do you expect me to fit it in this boat?”
“Take me back to him, let me fly him to land, an island, a sea stack, anything. I promise I’ll go with you after he’s safe. I won’t… won’t try to escape, I won’t fight you… Just let me save him.”
Krogan’s smile sent ice down Hiccup’s spine. “As much as I like seeing you beg, I don’t trust you. So you’ll just have to hope your dragon can find a little island somewhere before it tires out and drowns.”
Hiccup swallowed back another protest. Krogan would not relent. Toothless swam well for a non-Tidal class dragon, and he, like most other dragons, could stay underwater much longer than humans. Tiny islands littered this part of the sea. There was every possibility that his dragon would be able to make it to one before exhaustion took hold.
So as wrong as it felt, and as hard as it was, Hiccup needed focus on his own survival: If he died, he couldn’t help Toothless at all. He had to operate under the assumption that his dragon lived. If he didn’t do that, he feared he would break.
Now Krogan stood, metal glinting in his hands. Manacles — but not like any Hiccup had ever seen. The wrist cuffs appeared pretty standard, joined together by a short chain. What made them so different was the third manacle, bigger than the others, branching from the center of the wrist cuffs on a slightly longer chain. Hiccup had a horrible premonition of what that larger cuff was for — his chest tightened, his throat constricted, he felt the phantom press of metal against his neck.
Krogan smirked as Hiccup desperately tried to maintain a calm facade. Clearly, his captor could see past his defenses, could sense the panic boiling just beneath the surface.
“Those aren’t really necessary, are they? I mean, look around — miles of ocean around us, and I’m not exactly the best swimmer.” Hiccup gestured to his metal leg.
“That didn’t stop you from trying to throw yourself off of that idiot Savage’s boat with your hands tied,” Krogan countered.
Hiccup stood as Krogan approached. “Get away from me.”
“Sit back down,” Krogan hissed, eyes blazing.
“I will take my chances in the ocean,” Hiccup warned. “I swear, if you come near me with that… that thing, I will jump out of this boat.” Hiccup didn’t even know himself if he was bluffing.
Apparently, Krogan was taking no chances, and as Hiccup shifted his weight to his right, his eyes sliding over to the dark water outside of the boat, Krogan lunged. He hit Hiccup with the force of a catapult projectile, toppling both of them over the bench. Hiccup’s head smacked against the side of the boat and he saw stars.
Hiccup fought like a cornered dragon, kicking, hitting, squirming, biting, but Krogan had much more raw strength. Still, Hiccup bucked and twisted, trying to throw the man off of him as Krogan straddled his stomach and wrestled him into the wrist cuffs.
But he froze as cool metal locked around his neck. Krogan leaned over him and whispered in his ear, “I had this specially made when I was given this mission. I thought it might remind you of old times.”
Hiccup spat a stream of curses that would have made even Gobber blush.
Krogan sat back and laughed. “I’m impressed. Viggo never mentioned your colorful vocabulary.”
Krogan finally climbed off of Hiccup. He reached down, grabbed the chains, and yanked Hiccup to his feet. Hiccup gagged as the collar bit into his neck. Krogan forced him to sit on the bench again, then knelt down and reached for his prosthetic. Hiccup lurched backwards, nearly toppling off the back of the bench again. “You can’t just take my leg!”
“You have no need of it here,” Krogan said simply. “Now hold still or I will rip it off of you and throw it into the ocean.”
Face burning with anger and humiliation, Hiccup stilled and allowed Krogan’s deft fingers to work the knots. When the leg detached, Krogan stared at it for a long moment and Hiccup thought, panicked, that he would toss it anyway. But Krogan just smirked and placed it in bag.
Hiccup did his best not to struggle against the restraints as he glowered at Krogan, determined not to show fear or weakness. He could hardly remain still, though; he didn’t have enough slack in the chain connecting his wrists to his neck to rest his hands in his lap. Either his arms would be forced up or his head forced down. Hiccup chose the less comfortable position — he held his head high. Letting his wrists pull his head down felt too much like bowing in submission.
“My friends are going to find me,” Hiccup said. “They are going to find me, and we are going to save Toothless.” His voice rasped from cold and the strain of coughing. Krogan didn’t offer him water, and he didn’t ask for it.
Krogan’s mouth curled up at the corners. “Your friends aren’t looking for you because they don’t know or believe you are in danger at all.”
Krogan’s taunt slammed into Hiccup like the man had driven his fist into his gut. Of course Krogan knew his friends hadn’t believed him.
“I will admit, it was a risk, letting you catch glimpses of me as I followed you, but I think it turned out splendidly. I cannot imagine how terrible it must feel to know that your friends aren’t coming for you because they didn’t believe you when you came to them for help.”
Hiccup clenched his jaw, ignoring the hot press of tears behind his eyes. “Why?”
Krogan considered for a moment. “At first, my plan was to scare you. But then, as your village began to doubt you, I realized that it was the perfect way to get you on your own. Take those seeds of doubt and grow them into disbelief. Drive a wedge between you and those you trust most. Then, when you inevitably run away from everyone, follow you and take you down.”
“That was quite a gamble,” Hiccup said. His arms ached from being held up for so long, but he lifted his head higher, ignoring the tug of the collar on his throat.
Krogan smirked. “And see how well it paid off.”
Hiccup fell into a stormy silence, shifting his gaze around him, mind scrambling for any escape plan. But he had no way out. Chained like this, he had no chance of survival if he ended up in the water.
At last, he spoke. “So. This guy you’re bringing me to. Who is he?”
Krogan’s expression darkened. Ah, Hiccup thought, he’s scared of his master.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“What happened, Krogan? Did you crawl back to him after losing the egg? I’m surprised he didn’t kill you for your incompetence.”
Krogan shot to his feet. “You will be silent.”
Hiccup snorted. “I can pretty much promise you, I will not.”
Krogan’s furious snarl told him he’d gone too far. Hiccup knew he shouldn’t be provoking his kidnapper, but the greater his fear, the more he tended to mouth off. And he was currently terrified.
Krogan pulled a strip of cloth from his bag, squatted in front of Hiccup, and forced the fabric between his teeth, knotting it tightly behind his head. Hiccup breathed deeply through his nose, trying to quell the rising despair as Krogan stole his voice from him, too.
Krogan grabbed a fistful of Hiccup’s hair, yanking his head back and eliciting a muffled yelp as his arms were dragged up and the collar dug into his neck. Looming inches from Hiccup’s face, Krogan growled, “He didn’t kill me.” Hiccup rolled his eyes. Obviously. “In fact, my employer spared me on the condition that I bring him the boy who defeated Johann and destroyed the Grimborns’ entire hunting operation, the boy who cost him the King of Dragons egg.” He looked into Hiccup’s wide, horrified eyes. “When I bring you to him, he is going to kill you slowly, relishing every scream and plea for mercy.” Krogan leaned in closer, leering. “He even said he’d let me watch.”
He released Hiccup’s hair and sat back down across from him. Hiccup felt his composure rapidly crumbling as the full weight of his situation hit him. Toothless was somewhere out there in the ocean, alone. He could be stranded, he could even be dead, and Hiccup couldn’t do anything to save him. Hiccup himself was a prisoner, fettered and on his way to be tortured by a man so bad he scared Krogan.
He couldn’t escape, and rescue wasn’t coming. His friends were not coming for him.
He was alone.
Astrid couldn’t sleep.
She felt empty, like someone had carved her open and hollowed her out. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they never should have let Hiccup go, that they should have followed him at once. She’d been trying to do the right thing by giving him his space, but—
What if?
Astrid didn’t doubt Hiccup’s earnestness. He certainly believed he’d been seeing Krogan. But Astrid hadn’t, not once, and after a while, her anxiety had shifted from Hiccup’s physical safety to his mental and emotional well-being. Because he barely slept, he hardly ate, and he’d already been obsessing about Krogan for months before he started seeing him.
Astrid was terrified that she would lose him, that he would shatter like Deathsong amber, and that no one would be able to put him back together again.
But Hiccup’s words kept replaying in her mind. And she knew that he had been right: As a team, a family, the riders should always have each other’s backs. Astrid had been worried that would lose Hiccup to the memory of Krogan, but if Hiccup wasn’t just overtired or overstressed, if Krogan really had been stalking him, then she could lose him to the man himself.
Astrid jumped out of bed and pulled on her boots. The night still lingered, but she woke the other riders anyway. She refused to wait any longer
Krogan or no, Hiccup needed her. Needed them. And this time, Astrid would not let him down.
Exhaustion clung to Toothless like a Hunter’s net. He normally loved the water, but he could never be at home in it like he was the sky, and this water was cold, so cold, and he had been swimming for so long…
He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t rest, couldn’t give in to the exhaustion seeping under his scales or the chill settling in his bones.
Because Hiccup had been taken. Stolen from him, right off of his back. The man who had taken him was the worst kind of human, and he had a grudge against Toothless’s human. Whatever Krogan wanted with him, it wouldn’t be good.
Toothless had to stay alive, had to believe Hiccup still lived, had to push forward and focus on his own survival, so that he could save his boy.
In the distance, a tiny island swam into view. Toothless trilled in triumph; new energy flooded his leaden limbs and tail.
He would make it. He was going to survive.
For Hiccup.
Stormfly tracked Hiccup’s scent north.
The riders flew in silence, bleary-eyed and exhausted, each absorbed in their own thoughts and worries.
Not until the first orange fingers of the sunrise began to reach over the horizon did Snotlout speak. “Are we sure this is a good idea? Hiccup was pretty pissed last night. He probably doesn’t even want to be found.”
“I didn’t realize you were so eager to respect Hiccup’s boundaries,” Astrid bit back waspishly.
“I’m just saying, if there’s anybody who knows how to hide from a Tracker Class dragon, it’s Hiccup. If he doesn’t want to be found, then he won’t be. We should just let him sulk and come back on his own.”
“Oh, I get it!” Ruff suddenly exclaimed. “Snotlout’s afraid of Hiccup catching us tailing him.”
Tuffnut shuddered. “I don’t blame him! Believe it or not, the H-ster has been mad at me a time or two—”
“H-ster?” Astrid repeated, wrinkling her nose, at the same time that Fishlegs deadpanned, “Oh, we believe it.”
“—and it’s not pretty when he’s angry! How that much vitriol can fit into that tiny, one-legged string bean of a Viking—”
Astrid shushed him as something flashed in her peripheral. She whipped her head around. “Did you see that?”
Again — just before the horizon line: a flash of purple streaking high in the sky, illuminating the gathering clouds from within.
“Oh gods,” Astrid gasped, heart in her throat.
Toothless’s distress signal.
He and Hiccup were in trouble, and Astrid would never forgive herself.
The rest of the night slogged on miserably. Between his physical discomfort, his fear for Toothless and for himself, and the tumult of emotions that stemmed from the knowledge that his friends weren’t coming for him, Hiccup found himself wishing that he could just curl up and escape into sleep. But sleep proved impossible. He refused to lie down on the bench with Krogan just sitting across from him, watching him malignantly, and with the way he’d been chained, any time he would start to nod off, his hands would drop and his neck would jerk forward and he would wake in a panic as the collar choked him.
Now the oranges and pinks of sunrise had fully bloomed — what Hiccup wouldn’t give to be flying with Toothless, two tiny silhouettes against the vastness of the glowing sky, or to be watching it with Astrid, fingers twined together. Because even though his friends had hurt him, he missed all of them like crazy. Especially her.
And now he would never see them again.
“What a glorious morning,” Krogan said, rising to his feet and cracking his neck. “Sleep well?”
Hiccup glared at him, wishing he could voice the string of curses running through his head.
“We will be arriving at our first destination soon,” Krogan continued. “There is a ship waiting for us on the outskirts of my master’s territory.”
Hiccup’s eyes widened. They’d been traveling north all night and had nearly traveled past the farthest reaches of Hiccup’s map.
“I will enjoy watching you suffer,” his captor mused, almost to himself, as his gaze drifted northward, settling on the lightening horizon. “My only regret is that it will not be by my hand.”
Chains clinked as Hiccup turned away from Krogan. His eyes scanned the horizon behind him, wishing beyond hope that he would see the silhouettes of his friends on their dragons, coming to pluck him out of Krogan’s rowboat and carry him to safety.
But he only saw the silhouettes of birds wheeling through the sky, and a couple of wild Timberjacks gliding in the far distance.
They found Toothless on a tiny hunk of rock barely bigger than the dragon himself. The ocean was studded with “islands” like this — too small to host life, the tips of underwater mountains or volcanoes peeking from below, or the eroded remains of ancient sea stacks on their slow, steady way back into the depths.
There wasn’t enough room for the dragons to land, so Astrid jumped from Stormfly’s back as her dragon swooped low. She landed next to Toothless, who nearly knocked her into the ocean as he turned to nuzzle her. Toothless licked her frantically, whined, growled, looked pointedly at his prosthetic fin, threw his head back and keened at the sky.
Astrid carefully picked her way around the distressed dragon and noted with relief that his tail seemed undamaged. “How did you wind up here without Hiccup?” Astrid asked, rubbing the dragon’s side, hoping to comfort him. Toothless turned to face her, a severe, almost chastising look in his enormous green eyes. He growled.
Astrid’s stomach dropped to her feet.
“It was Krogan, wasn’t it? He really was in Berk.”
She hoisted herself up in the saddle and engaged the tail fin. It had taken months for her to learn how to fly Toothless, but she had gotten pretty good. Nowhere close to Hiccup, of course. Nobody was.
Together, she and Toothless shot into the sky. Astrid flew in close to Stormfly and let her smell Hiccup’s stuffed dragon again so she could pick back up on the scent after the detour. “C’mon, girl,” she encouraged. “Lead us to him.”
Hiccup could see the longship in the distance, a small speck in a swath of blue. He could see the tiny forms of people scuttling around on deck, like so many creeping insects.
“I cannot say that I will miss this pitiful little boat,” Krogan said as he watched the bustle on the top deck. “It was convenient for keeping a low profile, but it is a bit cramped.” He turned to Hiccup. “I cannot promise that your accommodations will be any more comfortable on board, of course.” He bared his teeth in a wolf’s grin. “You understand.”
Hiccup wanted to demand to know what would happen to the Tide Glider when he and Krogan boarded the boat. He doubted it would be set free, but it couldn’t be brought aboard too; it would die if kept out of the water for too long. But of course he could say nothing, so he watched the ship grow steadily closer, dread pooling inside of him, fear suffocating him, panic chipping away at his facade of bravery and defiance—
And then, from behind, the most beautiful sound Hiccup had ever heard, a sound he thought he would never hear again.
The whistle of an impending Night Fury attack.
Krogan surged to his feet and spat curses and Hiccup swung his head around to see Toothless — Astrid on his back — streaking towards them. Tears slipped silently down Hiccup’s cheeks, soaking into the fabric of the gag, as he watched rescue approach, the sight of his dragon and his girlfriend rekindling the dying embers of hope, filling him with a relief so profound he felt like he soared alongside them.
An explosion from the anchored ship had Hiccup snapping his head back, ignoring the pull of the manacles. If he hadn’t been gagged, his mouth would have fallen open: There, attacking the ship, fighting harder and smarter and more in sync than Hiccup had ever seen, were the rest of the riders.
Hiccup didn’t have time to watch the action, to appreciate how well his team worked together or how the enemy ship had no chance in Hel against them. He had time only to think, They came for me. Oh, gods, oh thank Thor. And then Krogan lunged, yanking him forward by the chains. Hiccup choked, metal cutting into his neck and wrists, but whatever Krogan’s plan, however he wanted to use Hiccup against his friends, he just wasn’t fast enough.
The plasma blast hit Krogan in the side, baking flesh and charring bone, blasting him clean off the boat and into the water below. Hiccup stumbled back and collapsed onto the bench, utterly spent and almost numb with shock.
Toothless dipped down to glide beside the still-moving boat and cooed worriedly at Hiccup, eyes drinking in every inch of his rider. Hiccup did the same to Toothless; he had been terrified that his dragon had drowned, but he was alive, he was safe, he was here!
“Hiccup!” Hiccup looked up and locked eyes with his girlfriend. The look only lasted for a handful of seconds, but in her eyes churned guilt, horror, worry, rage, and other emotions that Hiccup couldn’t quite identify. Gods, I’m so sorry, Hiccup, her eyes said, but out loud she shouted, “How is this boat moving?” The Tide Glider had not changed its course for the ship and had now gotten so close that Hiccup could see each of his friends’ faces clearly as they took control of the vessel.
Hiccup raised his eyebrows at Astrid’s question and looked pointedly down at the gag.
“Right.” Astrid practically vibrated with anger. “Toothless, we’re going to have to take him to go.”
The dragon riders had prevailed, and all of the men on board either dead, overboard, or locked in the cells below. Toothless dropped Hiccup, still shackled and collared and gagged, but alive, on the deck, then landed beside him.
Astrid circled behind him and began working the knot of the gag while Toothless bunted Hiccup’s hands and cooed and slathered his face with dragon kisses. The others had gathered around them in a loose semicircle with their dragons, except for Snotlout, who had darted below deck yelling something about finding a key.
Astrid didn’t know if any of the men on this boat would have the one for Hiccup’s locks, but it was worth a shot. She also knew Snotlout couldn’t stand to see Hiccup like this. She knew she couldn’t — especially knowing none of this would have happened to him if she’d believed him in the first place.
When the knot came loose, Astrid crouched in front of Hiccup and gently removed the fabric from between his teeth. It wasn’t exactly easy because she had to work around Toothless, but she wasn’t about to break up the reunion between a dragon and his boy. She’d done enough damage already.
“Thanks,” Hiccup croaked, his lips were chapped and dry, the corners of his mouth rubbed raw. The gag left deep indentations in his cheeks. Astrid, already enraged by the inhumane, dehumanizing way Hiccup had been bound, fought the irrational urge to dredge Krogan’s body up and somehow kill him again, herself.
“We don’t deserve your thanks,” Fishlegs said miserably, voicing Astrid’s own inner turmoil. “If we had listened—”
“Look,” Hiccup interrupted. “I know we’ve got to talk about this eventually, but there are more important things to worry about right now. There’s an enslaved juvenile Tide Glider pulling the rowboat. That’s how it was moving with no sail or oars.”
A sudden, terrible thought struck him. He had been so caught up in his own terror that he hadn’t had time to really think about how the Tide Glider seemed to know exactly where to go. But now, as he recalled the way the dragon had surged on, even with the man enslaving it dead… Gods. If his hunch was correct, these men were worse than monsters.
“Hiccup?”
“I… I think I know how Krogan was able to get it to go where he wanted without directing it, and why it kept coming for this ship even after Krogan went overboard.
“Its parents are here, probably chained to this ship. And we need to set them all free.”
Astrid’s stomach flipped. “That’s despicable,” she spat.
“Don’t worry, Hiccup,” Tuff announced, fully serious. “We’ll take care of it.”
“You’ll need Changewing acid if they used dragon-proof chains,” Fishlegs warned.
“Ppphht,” Ruff waved him off. “We keep three vials of that shit on us at all times.”
“Liquid gold,” Tuff agreed. Barf and Belch took to the sky, then dove into the water with a splash that shook the boat, Tuff screaming “Cannonball!” right before they hit the water.
“Hiccup,” Astrid started, with no idea of what she would say next. I’m sorry didn’t even close to cut it.
“Astrid, please,” Hiccup interrupted, “don’t apologize. Not right here, not right now.” Toothless had curled up beside him, and Hiccup leaned into him as much as his restraints would allow. In a smaller voice, “I just can’t… just can’t do this right now.”
And though she felt like her heart had been cleaved in two, Astrid listened.
This time, she listened.
Two days later, Hiccup sat in the cove where he had first met Toothless, sketching. It was idle work, his brain focused on trying to sort out his myriad of tangled thoughts. Not until his drawing had been half-finished did he realize it was of Astrid.
Beside him, Toothless warbled and nuzzled him.
Hiccup sighed and reached up to stroke his dragon’s head, glad for the bracers that covered his bruised wrists and trying very hard not to think about the matching ring of bruises around his throat. He’d spent most of his time here since his rescue. He’d spoken to his father of course, who apologized for thinking Krogan a figment of his imagination, and Hiccup had forgiven him. Of course he had.
He’d already forgiven his friends, too, even though he had been avoiding them and had never given them the chance to actually apologize. He could see it in their faces when they rescued him, hear it in the waver of Astrid’s voice as she said his name. Thinking back to his obsession with Krogan before the man’s return, Hiccup could even understand why his friends had reacted the way they had.
But forgiveness, and even understanding, did not equate instantly restored trust. And Hiccup had already felt so emotionally fragile after his ordeal that he could barely eat, and nightmares of chains and torture followed him into sleep. He was so exhausted, physically as well as emotionally, that he didn’t think he had the capacity to have such a heavy conversation.
He stared at the half-finished sketch of his betrothed. “Yeah, bud, you’re right,” he said at last. “I need to talk to her. To all of them.”
“Look,” said Hiccup, once his friends had all gathered in the Dragon Academy. Toothless stood at his side, pressed against his leg, grounding him. “I get that there are things you guys need to say, and I guess I probably need to hear them, too. But I’m also really, really tired, and the past few months have been a lot, so please, let this be the only time you say it, okay?”
“We’re so, so sorry we thought you were imagining Krogan,” Fishlegs burst out. He looked awful: pale, trembling, deep bags under his eyes. “And you were right, we let you down. I let you down. You’re my best friend, Hiccup, and if you said Krogan was there, then I should have believed he was out there.”
“Yeah, what he said,” Snotlout said. “As unlikely as it seemed — and it seemed really unlikely — we should’ve backed you up even if we thought you were losing it.”
“Snotlout!”
“No, no, it’s okay, Astrid,” Hiccup said. “From Snotlout, that’s basically groveling.”
“You make a good point.” Astrid stepped forward and took his hands in hers. “Hiccup, out of everyone, I should have been the one who believed you unconditionally. We’re betrothed, for the gods’ sake! It’s not an excuse, but I think I was already so worried about how you were handling Krogan getting away that when you started seeing him and nobody else did… I panicked. I was so scared that I was losing you to the memory of Krogan I let you fly right into his trap.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “Sorry doesn’t even been to cover it… can you — can you ever forgive me?”
Tuff cut in before Hiccup could respond.
“After much deliberation, my sister and I have come to the conclusion that while we do believe the moon is made of cheese—”
“—long-aged yak cheese, to be precise—”
“—we did not, in fact, believe that Krogan was actually back.” Tuff’s lower lip trembled, and then the dam broke. Tears spilled down his face and he wailed louder than he had during the whole “Curse of Tears” incident. “We are so sorry, Hiccup!” Tuff blubbered. “You’ve always believed me. Like that time I thought I was bitten by a Lycanwing—”
“Uh,” Hiccup stammered, “I wouldn’t go that far—”
“You’re too good, Hiccup, too pure for this world!” Ruff wailed. “What can we ever do to make it up to you?”
“Look, I — I forgive you all, seriously. I… I know you were just worried about me. And besides, you more than made up for it by rescuing me from Krogan. Just… it’ll take… time, you know, for me to process all this.”
“Take as long as you need,” Astrid said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to earn your trust back.”
“Yeah,” Fishlegs chimed in. “No pressure to, you know, hang out with us or try to act like things are normal while you sort things out.”
All at once, a smothering weight lifted from Hiccup’s chest and he realized that normalcy, hanging out with his friends, was exactly what he needed right now. It didn’t erase the hurt, didn’t mean that trust hadn’t been broken. It didn’t mean that things would ever go back to exactly the way they used to be or that forging a new normal would be easy work.
But it was a start.
And yes, even though Krogan was dead, they still had the looming threat of his mysterious master in the north, who apparently had a grudge against Hiccup as well. They would have to address that soon, but for now, he was back home, safe, and he could finally, finally rest.
“C’mon, guys,” Hiccup said, scratching Toothless behind the ear and watching him melt. “Who’s hungry?”
Suddenly, for the first time in what felt like ages, he was starving.