TWENTY: New Purpose

The houses of the village were silent and though it was the middle of the day, there was no one on the streets and no signs of life. A few houses had thin curls of smoke stuttering from the smoke-holes: otherwise, the place was a ghost town.

Astrid stared across the place, her hand tight on the haft of her axe. There was no smell of bread from the Bakery, the blacksmith's shop was shut up with no fire in the forge and the boats were all drawn up with no evidence anyone putting out for days. She frowned and her sense of foreboding grew worse in the eerie quiet. There were the sounds of animals in distress, locked away for the night-but no people.

Quietly, she made her way to the barns and opened them, finding cows, sheep and goats locked up with no water or food so she carefully drew water from the village well and sloshed it into the troughs them let the animals wander to graze, for there was no obvious feed anywhere that she could see. Checking the water-which seemed clean-she took a sip and slaked her thirst as well, before she explored further. There were no signs of dragon attack, nothing burnt and no signs of battle or attack at all. It was just as if the people had vanished.

Methodically, she went from house to house and as she went round, she found more clues: fires burnt out on the grate, clothes and treasured possessions left behind-along with food. But the blankets were taken from the beds and children's toys were also missing, along with what were clearly barrels of water and mead-so the people had gone prepared for something. She glanced around: the air in the house was fusty, as if it had been locked up for a few days and as she expected, the fireplace was stone cold. She felt Thumper kick and she patted her stomach absently.

"I agree-it's very strange," she murmured, her soft words loud in the eerie silence. She rose carefully and made her way outside. There was only one place she hadn't checked-the village hall, a solid building with heavy doors. And if the people had barred themselves inside, what were they hiding from? She whistled and gave a swift Nadder call. Her senses were all on edge now and she felt that she needed Stormfly close by because something felt very wrong. Automatically, she pulled up her hood and dragged a scarf tight across her face before she approached the solid building, hearing the caw and thump as the Deadly Nadder landed behind her. Swiftly, she grabbed the door handle and pushed it open, flinging the door wide and peering into he dark space, then inviting Stormfly to advance with her mouth filled with fire to illuminate the place...

...and then Astrid stumbled back in utter shock and horror as she saw what was within. Everyone was dead, eyes wide, mouths hanging open with bloody drool over their chins. Some were fresh while others...had clearly died earlier. But the hall contained every single member of the Tribe that had lived here, every man, woman and child. She glanced over the space and confirmed everyone was dead and then she backed away, jumping up onto Stormfly and launching to hover in front of the hall.

"Disease!" Astrid exclaimed breathlessly, tugging the scarf from over her face. "They're all dead, girl..." She stared down and murmured a simple prayer to Odin. "We have to burn it all, Stormfly. If we leave it, someone else could come here and catch whatever disease they had." She took a deep breath. "Okay girl-fire!"

Minutes later, they were soaring away from the little island where they had just stopped for a rest with every house and the hall burning fiercely, destroying the tainted homes and hall and the luckless inhabitants. The column of smoke was still climbing into the grey sky as Astrid and Stormfly crossed the coastline and headed out to sea once more.

oOo

"He's a traitor?" Dagur shouted, his eyes momentarily flattening and causing Hiccup to back up in sudden alarm. Toothless was with him and he was pretty confident that the Berserker wouldn't attack him...but he wasn't completely confident because he was still stiff and had to regain his strength.

"Very obviously," Hiccup said and sighed. "I guess he's been playing us for a while. He sent the distress call that got us off Dragon's Edge just when the Hunters 'happened' to attack. He told us where to find you...though he said you were alone, not with a decent fleet. And he was even on Outcast Island when you escaped..."

"Hey-that was all me..." Dagur protested and Hiccup nodded.

"Though he was awfully conveniently there," the auburn-haired Viking pointed out and Dagur huffed.

"I guess," he said as Hiccup took a wary step forward and rested a hand on his broad and muscular shoulder.

"Focus," he said quietly. "He saw me there-and he and his friend...Krogan, the masked Viking-are after me. Maybe they thought grabbing Heather would persuade me to surrender..."

"And they want your DragonEye lenses?" Dagur frowned. "Maybe they want Heather's..."

"Heather's?" Hiccup asked, his jaw dropping. Dagur shrugged.

"We both have one," he explained. "Dad gave them to us. I used mine for looking through and setting fire to things." Emerald eyes widened as Hiccup suddenly gave a shout of exultation.

"That's it!" he said. "Look-my guess is that Krogan has taken Heather for her lens and maybe as a hostage. They have the DragonEye-they must have rescued it from the volcano when Viggo escaped. And they want lenses from all five dragon classes to find the 'King of Dragons' which doesn't sound like something we want to fall into the hands of men like Viggo, Krogan and Johann..."

"I just need to rescue her," Dagur said determinedly and Hiccup nodded.

"That is our first priority," he said swiftly. "But then we need to head to somewhere called Sniffling. The Captain is going to attack it because a raid was driven off by a Dragon Rider..." Dagur narrowed his eyes.

"Have you been having fun without me, brother?" he demanded as Hiccup's eyes widened.

"What? No!" he protested. "You know exactly what I've been doing for the last weeks...and that leaves..."

"Astrid," Dagur finally realised. "Okay-you help me rescue my sister and I help you find your girl!" Nodding swiftly, Hiccup turned and headed off towards the dragons, but Dagur grabbed his arm. "Brother-just be careful, okay? I know you're worried about Heather and Astrid but getting captured again or killed isn't going to help." Hiccup stared up into his scarred face and shook his head.

"You don't understand," he said in a slightly desperate voice. "Neither of you would be here if not for me. Krogan and Viggo are after me. I ran into Johann-and he must have guessed someone would be here with me. Face it-this is all my fault!" Dagur grabbed his shoulders firmly and stared into the guilty face, thinner than it had been and still marked with a couple of red scars that had yet to heal.

"Hiccup," he said sternly. "You are just one Viking. From what you tell me, these men have a plan that they would be following through on, whether or not you were here. You may have lenses and..."

"I have another DragonEye," Hiccup blurted out. "I've been building it ever since I thought I had destroyed the other one..." Dagur's eyes widened and he stared at him in shock.

"You have another DragonEye? Of course you have another DragonEye! You're Hiccup, after all," he said dryly. "Okay-we follow the Hunter ship and we get my sister back..." Hiccup nodded and pulled off his cloak and hood, then folded them up and put them into Toothless's saddlebags. For a moment, he paused, then walked to Windshear and gently stroked the Razorwhip's muzzle.

"It's okay, girl," he said soothingly. "We'll get Heather back. Come with us and you can help us rescue her, mmm?" The dragon nuzzled against him and he smiled. "It will be okay..." he soothed her as Dagur mounted up Sleuther.

"Come on, brother!" he urged Hiccup and the auburn-haired Viking nodded, turning back to the Night Fury.

"Ready, bud?" he asked. There was an answering warble as the dragon waggled his butt eagerly. "Okay-let's go..."

oOo

Heather was furious at herself for being fooled-though how could she have suspected that Trader Johann was working with the Hunters? But he had found her as a friend in the markets, walking alongside her and chatting loudly as he told one of his rambling tall tales of his travels around the world...and then he had smiled and stepped back as Hunters grabbed her from behind.

She had been pinned and easily dragged onto the Hunter ship where a stranger with tanned skin and a scar over his right eye had smoothly gloated and snatched the lens from her belt-the lens her father had left her when she had been a baby and which she had always worn in memory of him. In fact, it had become such a part of her that she hardly paid it any notice-until it was snatched away and she realised that it was a DragonEye lens! A lens she could have given Hiccup to explore in the DragonEye and which had now been stolen. And now she was in a cage in a Dragon Hunter ship...and had been paid a visit by Viggo.

Clearly life had not been so kind to the younger Grimborn since he and his brother had fought and he had tried to double-cross the Riders. Hiccup had reported that he had fallen into the volcano after he had held Astrid hostage for the DragonEye-and Hiccup had made the call to destroy the device rather than hand it to an enemy. Viggo had gone after it, releasing Astrid and falling in after the DragonEye. Hiccup had assumed both were destroyed-and it seemed he was wrong on both counts.

"Heather," Viggo had said smoothly as her eyes slid over the scars on his left cheek and the whitened, blind left eye. "I hardly expected you to be captured so simply."

"Yeah-well I was hardly expecting you to be alive and certainly not for you to have Trader Johann working for you!" she spat. He gave that small, irritating smile that told Heather he knew something she didn't.

"Not entirely correct-but surely you knew this day was coming, Heather?" he taunted her smoothly. "You betrayed us and though your brother decided to release you, I still wish my own retribution."

"I thought you were smarter than that!" she spat. "I mean-this is just a waste of time and energy. You've got the lens. Now let me go!"

"We cannot have you informing the other Riders of our interest and presence here," Viggo informed her but she gave a smug smile.

"You think I'm alone?" she teased him. "My brother and Hiccup are here as well!" There was a pause.

"Then we will keep you alive-in case you have some value as a hostage," the Hunter decided. "But try not to test my patience. I am not solely in charge here and Krogan seems to believe that killing people improves their performance. He will not hesitate to dispose of you." She sat back against the furthest wall of the cell and glared at him.

"I'll try to remember that," she replied coolly as he turned away.

"Make sure you do," he said and vanished through the door. Heather sighed. She should have known and the Hunters had been very efficient in frisking her to remove all her weapons so she was completely helpless. She was worried about Windshear, of course-but she had no doubts that Dagur and Hiccup would take care of her dragon for her. But she wasn't done yet-she just needed to figure something out...maybe jump a guard and make a break for it...

She jerked out of her thoughts the guards arrived at the grille at the front of her cage cell, their uniformed shapes anonymous. One stood back while the other unlocked the cage and gestured.

"Out!" he growled and she glared, then rose, eyeing their pikes and walking wordlessly past them. The cage was shut and the leading man gestured brusquely towards the back of the ship. Pursing her lips, Heather swept her eyes over the corridor, seeking for any advantage, any way she could trap these men and as she looked back at them, one grabbed her and slapped a hand over her mouth. She gave an annoyed squeal and struggled but the man wrapped an arm around her, his face close-though the lower half was obscured by the Hunters' mask and the helmet covering the head from the forehead up. The man's green eyes were shadowed by thick red brows as he hauled her down to the lower level and held her firm.

"Shhh, sis..." the guard hissed and she stopped struggling as the other guard pulled the hatch closed and jammed it stuck. Then he ripped the mask off to reveal Hiccup's familiar features.

"It's okay, Heather," he said reassuringly. "We've got Windshear safe." Her eyes widened and she nodded in gratitude as Dagur let her go and removed his helmet and mask.

"Pooo-ee! Whoever had this before me had some really bad breath!" the Berserker commented as Hiccup ripped off his helmet as well.

"Well, you dumped him in the ocean so his breath should have improved," Hiccup retorted, also struggling with the unpleasantness of the stolen uniform. "Now focus..."

"Focus, he says," Dagur grumbled. "Like I haven't been very focussed all the way through. I mean, I didn't even disembowel those guys when they really deserved it for laying hands on my sis and..."

"Dagur," Heather said calmly, "thanks." That stopped his rant and he stared at her then cracked a smile. He nodded.

"Anything for you," he said more gently as Hiccup headed to the hatches in the hull of the ship, used to haul in netted marine dragons, and carefully opened them-to reveal the shapes of three dragons, gripping the side of the ship. Toothless gave a soft warble and Hiccup grinned.

"Yeah, bud..." he said, reaching out to fondle the dragon's head. "I mean I expected more, to be honest. Things have really slipped since Ryker died..." Then he smirked. "Time to go." He clambered onto the edge and swung agilely into the saddle, offering a hand to Heather to help her out onto Windshear before Dagur leapt onto Sleuther. He gestured and the Berserker siblings took off as he gently closed the hatches and then held on as Toothless dropped away, skimming just above the waves as they arrowed backwards from the ships. There were cries and arrows began to splash into the waves around him, but the Night Fury accelerated and finally safely got out of range.

Then a roar shook through them and they looked up as a large red dragon-a Singetail-rose from the ship with a shape standing on its back, hanging onto a chain that formed a crude halter. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder and then stared in shock-just as fireballs peppered the sea around him. Toothless growled and Hiccup felt the wing muscles tense.

"Right, bud," he murmured. "We gotta keep him away from Heather and Dagur...let's go and say hello..." The Night Fury responded and they abruptly climbed vertically, flipping over to come face to face with the scarlet Singetail, the horribly familiar shape of Krogan standing confidently on its shoulders.

"Hiccup Haddock-what an unfortunate surprise-for you..." Krogan sneered and the young Viking forced himself to smile pleasantly.

"Can't really say the same, to be honest," he replied. "I mean, kidnapping one of my friends really isn't acceptable..." Krogan chuckled pityingly.

"You think anyone cares what you think?" he scoffed. "Your pathetic riders are nothing against my Fliers!" He jerked the chain and the Singetail whipped a ball of flame at the Night Fury, which he barely dodged. But as Hiccup glanced up, he saw the other dragon already barrelling after him, so he flipped Toothless and soared, allowing Toothless to fire a large plasma blast at the other dragon-but the Singetail shrugged it off. The dragon was fast, powerful and furious, matching Toothless almost-but Hiccup was a better Rider and Toothless was extremely agile so they dinked and dodged. Krogan was following and as Hiccup snatched a look over his shoulder, he could see the man was focussed on bringing him down.

The rush of air and the adrenaline of the fight suddenly made him feel alive, brought him back to being the person he had been, before everything had collapsed around him. Once again, he was the same Hiccup who was the leader of the Dragon Riders, the man who fought Outcasts, Berserkers, Dragon Hunters...and won. And despite being exiled from home, being separated from Astrid and captured and tortured, he was Toothless's Rider and the defender of dragonkind from men such as Krogan and Viggo. And he would not allow this man to harm Toothless-or his friends. And he silently promised to do everything in his power to stop this evil man getting his hands on the 'King of Dragons'.

But first he had to get the man off his tail. The Singetail kept following him and though Hiccup knew Toothless was faster and more manoeuvrable, they were out at sea and there was nothing there to utilise Toothless's superior agility. He could lure the man back towards the island-but Heather and Dagur were heading that way and Hiccup wouldn't risk his friends even to help him outmanoeuvre the enemy. So he rotated and zipped past Krogan, blasting him and his huge red SIngetail before arrowing directly up.

"You want me, you gotta beat me at tag!" he shouted as he leaned forward over Toothless's neck as the Night Fury soared high and continued to climb. He could feel Toothless toeing, climbing straight up as the air got colder and thinner-but he sneaked a look behind and saw the Singetail falter and refuse to climb any more, falling away with Krogan yelling furiously at his dragon as it determinedly flapped down towards the distant sea. Toothless gratefully topped out and spread his wings to glide, still breathing hard and Hiccup watched for a long moment.

"Well, I guess Singetails really don't like heights," he sighed and reran the fight in his mind. "He doesn't have a saddle so theoretically, you could knock him off-and the climbing manoeuvre is always a possibility." He rubbed Hiccup's head gently. "Good job, bud. Now lets get back to the island and catch up with Heather and Dagur. We have to get to that island before the Hunters can arrive and harm Astrid!"

oOo

At the first island she reached, Astrid stopped and bathed, washing her clothes, hair and boots carefully and wiping down Stormfly's saddle and making the dragon bathe as well. She redressed in the new clothes she was given from Sniffling while her normal clothes dried and she heated some water for tea and a snack and to think about what she had seen. The island she had rested on the way to Stippling had been hit by some killer disease and Astrid was taking no chances, having already survived the Scourge of Odin. She knew what to do in case of disease-she had taken some lessons with Gothi on her last but one trip back to Berk-and she was alarmed that there was contagion swirling around. Of course, it was Eel Pox season but whatever had annihilated that village had been far worse.

Determined, she made camp and settled down for the night, allowing Stormfly to fish and accepting a catch for herself while she made sure the dragon was washed down thoroughly and profusely praised for her bravery and loyalty. Stormfly preened delightedly and curled up around her Rider, ensuring they were all safe and warm.

The next morning, she broke camp, dressed in her dried clothes and carefully put her mask on, wishing she had Hiccup's skills at working leather, since she guessed leather would be more protective than the folded cloth she was using. She referenced the crude map she had been given and adjusted her route by the morning sun, before setting out boldly and arrowing straight for Stippling. She saw a number of small islands on the way but anxiety about disease meant she avoided any villages. It was lonely but the little kicks and punches from her baby reminded her why she was being so careful. So, remaining high and alert, they flew on-until the rugged shape of Stippling appeared from the mist and Astrid gave a whoop of relief as the Nadder accelerated so they soared up and circled round before inspecting the village.

There was no one outside.

Swooping over the little settlement, Astrid saw the animals in their pens, water in the troughs and a little feed still the buckets for the animals. There were a few curls of smoke rising from the smoke-holes and some of the doors seemed open-but again there seemed to be no one on the street. A sense of foreboding washed over her but she swooped down and landed, her boots meeting the ground with a thump. Quietly, she walked towards the nearest house but a shape appeared in the doorway, coughing. The man looked haggard, deep shadows under his eyes and he coughed again.

"Stay back," he rasped, his pallid skin beaded with sweat. "There's fever in the village." She recoiled and her eyes widened.

"Fever?" The man nodded wearily.

"Eel pox."