"How did this happen?" Astrid wondered as she looked at the outfit Tuffnut was wearing.

Most of the young Vikings and Lord's children were gathered in a large room— which happened to be quite big considering it fit 8 young adults, one servant, 4 dragons, and still had walking space inside. The hard part was fitting the dragons through the door which was large but it still made for a tight squeeze.

Iseabail and Fishlegs were talking to each other with Meatlug beside them, while Ryan was on the floor petting Stormfly and Windshear. Astrid, Heather, Ruff, and Boyd were standing in front of Tuffnut. A servant stood near the door to chaperone the small meeting.

"Yeah, who would force their daughter to marry you?" Heather asked. "No offense."

"I have no idea what you did this time, but it's hilarious!" Ruffnut laughed and pointed at her twin.

"Haha, have you ever been married unwillingly?" Tuffnut asked his sister.

Ruffnut gave him a bored look and pointed toward Fishlegs, who was whispering something to Iseabail. She giggled in response and nodded. The servant coughed making them increase the distance between them. Wee Dingwall, who was standing next to Ruffnut, looked between Fishlegs and Ruffnut.

"Oh, right. I guess it is pretty funny when I think about it happening to someone else," Tuffnut agreed and laughed.

"You haven't answered my question," Astrid interrupted.

"Well, for a reason I cannot freely say, Aileas's and Bigger Fishleg's dad is forcing me to marry her. It was that or torture so I figured why not," Tuffnut replied.

"Lord MacGuffin? He doesn't seem like that type who'd marry his only daughter off to a... viking, no offense it just that the Lords aren't your biggest fans," Young MacIntosh
commented and raised his hands, "Whatever you did must have been big."

"What is this I heard about a wedding?" Eret asked as he came through the bedroom door.

The servant jumped at the sudden appearance of another person.

"Where's Kirsteen?" Ryan asked Eret and looked behind him.

"She was asked to go to the bride's room. Something about 'last minute bridesmaids'?" Eret replied and laid down on his bed.

Iseabail gasped, "I was supposed to find my sister before going."

"We'll help you find her," Fishlegs volunteered. "Won't we girl?"

Meatlug wagged her tail happily, almost hitting Ryan's face if not for Stormfly using her wing to stop it.

"Last I saw, she was with Snotlout near the log throwing area," Heather told them.

"Thank ye," Iseabail told her before walking out of the room.

Meatlug was next which was a bit of a hassle. Fishlegs had to push her out.

"So you have no idea why Lord MacGuffin is marrying you to his daughter?" Heather asked.

"Oh, I know why I just can't tell you," Tuffnut replied as he pulled his kilt a little lower. "Does this make me look smaller?"

"Well, if you tell us we can probably get you out of it," Astrid retorted while ignoring his question.

"No can do. I made a promise never to speak of it," Tuffnut replied with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, you guts can leave. This is a twin-only thing," Ruffnut told everyone.

"Sorry Sis, this is something bigger. As a soon-to- be-married man I must think about my lady's honor," he proclaimed.

Astrid, Heather, and Ruffnut looked at each other with a confused look.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell me, whatever. Come on DingWall, I need to punch something," Ruffnut said as she grabbed Boyd's collar and dragged him out. "Call me when the wedding starts. I better be the maid of honor."

"Why is that old lady standing by the door?" Eret whispered to Ryan.

"She's chaperoning? Unwedded young people our age aren't allowed to be alone without older adults around. Do you not have chaperones in Berk?" Ryan replied.

"Pfft, vikings don't need chaperones," Eret retorted.

"And you're completely fine with marrying her?" Astrid asked Tuffnut.

"Yes— I mean, I have no other choice," Tuffnut replied.

"Wow, you really like her don't you?" Astrid asked.

"What?! Don't be ridiculous!" Tuffnut denied and turned himself around so he wouldn't look at him.

"So this is some sort of prank then," Astrid determined.

"This is a little extreme for a prank. Even for you," Heather added.

"It's not a prank," Tuffnut defended. "At least not on my part."

"Right, well we've still got an intruder to catch and Hiccup has been gone for a few hours now.

I'm really starting to worry," Astrid sighed.

"Don't forget, he's looking for Merida. I'm sure they have found each other by now. And if I'm right there's nothing that could stop them from coming back in one piece. Especially with that dragon he has," Ryan told her.

"The Princess, right," Astrid mumbled and rolled her eyes.

She had to admit that she had never been so jealous of another girl. Well, except maybe Heather when she first arrived. She took out her betrothal necklace from her dress's top and traced it with her thumb.

"From what I can tell, you and the princess would get along really well if you spent some time together," Ryan added, hoping to ease the tension.

"Yeah, I think I'll go look for them," Astrid told the group. She hid her necklace again.

"Stormfly come on."

Stormfly got up but before she could take a step her attention was turned away from Astrid. The dragons became stiff. Stormfly turned toward the window, Windshear placed her head to the ground, and Barf and Belch looked at the door.

"What's wrong?" Young MacIntosh whispered feeling like it the situation called for silence.

At first there was a small sound the young adults could barely hear, but it became louder as huge footsteps came closer to the door. The servant slowly backed away from the door. Meatlug appeared at the door frame and seemed to be stuck until she flew into the room.

"GUYS! A WAR IS STARTING!" Fishlegs exclaimed as he closed the door behind him.

"What?!" The group exclaimed.

"So does that mean I won't get married?" Tuffnut asked a bit disappointed.

Eret gave him a weird look before turning back toward Fishlegs. Heather ran to the window and saw various men fighting and tearing down the stands. Fires broke out in different parts inside and around the castle walls.

"How did it happen? And where's the girl?" Astrid asked.
"I don't know. I was walking with Iseabail when we heard a fight break out. She said it was something that always happened. We walked near the stairs to see it and found them fighting with weapons. She said that that kind of fight wasn't normal. Her dad appeared in front and started telling his people that they needed to get rid of the viking threat. We were about to come back to warn everyone when a spear came our way. I pushed her down so she wouldn't get hit but I guess her dad saw became he ran toward us, took her away, and tried to attack me. I'm not too sure but I think they had Ruffnut tied up," Fishlegs explained.

"Lord DingWall? Why would he start a fight now?" Young MacIntosh asked.

"I don't know!" Fishlegs exclaimed in distress.

"What do we do, Astrid? With Hiccup gone and Valka nowhere near you are in charge," Tuffnut asked.

"We can't fight. We have to talk to Lord Dingwall, I know the King and Queen, as well as my father wouldn't join a fight against you for no reason," Ryan told the group.

"I'm sorry, but if my people are under attack we need to defend ourselves," Astrid replied.

She whistled causing Stormfly to use her spikes to pin Ryan and the servant down to the floor by their clothes.

"Astrid, you don't have to do this," Ryan told her.

Astrid turned away and grabbed her axe.

"Come on. Tuffnut take Eret and Fishlegs to the stables where the rest of the dragons are, you'll also need to find Hiccup, Valka, and Snotlout. Heather and I will rescue Ruffnut. Once we're all together in the air we'll leave, and never come back," Astrid instructed and cautiously walked out of the room.

"Whatever you say, General," Tuffnut replied and hopped on Belch.

The rest of the riders got on their respective dragons except Eret who climbed on Barf.

"Astrid!" Ryan called.

Astrid ignored him and signalled to everyone that they could come out. Stormfly nudged him before running out after her rider.

"Later dude," Tuffnut told Ryan.

"No hard feelings?" Eret asked.

Ryan sighed and looked at the distressed servant.

"You wouldn't happen to have a knife, would you?" He asked.