They find the story enthralling, although it doesn't necessarily remove all their skepticism. I personally like hearing their own story, of how they stole one of Berk's ships and sailed out in the hopes of finding a new place to live. They ended up crashing against these rock cliffs after a nasty storm. Unable to rebuild the ship, they set up a home where they were.

Everyone else sleeps in their makeshift cave when they decide to get some shut eye. I vouch for sleeping outside, where I fall asleep staring up at the cloudy sky and sending a silent prayer to the gods that I'll still have time to succeed.

Outside again, I pair everyone off on certain dragons. Tuffnut rides with me on Nightstar while Fishlegs and Astrid ride on Skybreeze and Windstorm carries Ruffnut and Snotlout. My friends have lost their fear of the Monstrous Nightmares, letting them and chatting softly with them and each other.

"I missed Monstrous Nightmares..." Snotlout murmurs as he pets Windstorm's head.

"It's nice to be missed," the blue and green dragon says in response.

I smile at that, urging everyone to hurry and take off. My time is running out faster than I like. As we fly, a thought pricks in my mind. I pull back, settling in a spot between the Nightmares.

"Where's Eret?" I ask.

My friends exchange glances, some questioning and some annoyed.

"He's back at Berk, or at least he was, last time I saw him," Astrid utters, a steely look dominating her face. "You won't like it, Thora."

I remember back to when we first came across each other, how she told me about Ilia's execution. When she spoke of Eret...I purse my lips, wondering just what happened to my old friend. Astrid turns her face from me, her expression sinking with a sort of hurt.

"We have to find him, don't we? He could really help, especially if he knows that we're all friends again," Ruffnut says, a hope evident in her voice.

"We can try," Fishlegs sighs.

"Right..." Tuffnut mumbles, tightening his grip on me as Nightstar bounces a little from wind turbulence.

I don't say a word as I speed Nightstar up, forcing the others to pick up the speed. We reach the sullen village soon enough, but with the cloud cover I can't tell what time it is. I run over the timeline in my head. It was night when I found Astrid, and we had a night spent in the cave out by the sea. The first day we spent finding Fishlegs, then we slept in his hideout. The second day was spent finding the twins and Snotlout. Astrid told me three or four days until Thor's day. I have to finish this by sunset if I want to extend my sentence.

If I fail...I shut my eyes and try to force away my softer feelings. I'll never see Hiccup or my sweet children again, dragons and not.

We stealth into the village, dropping down behind the decimated remains of the forge. Snotlout slips inside, scouting around before returning to us and gesturing hurriedly for us to come in. We all manage to squeeze inside, although it's a surprisingly good fit since there's no equipment filling the space anymore.

"Remember, guards should be patrolling here," Astrid whispers to me. I thank her silently.

I tell the dragons to stay quiet, although the humans in the room obey the command as well. I crawl to one of the windows and slowly lift my head enough to peek over the ledge. I can just see the house that once belonged to Hiccup and Valka, a torch lighting up the front steps. A sick feeling twists my gut.

"Hey...what happened to Valka and Gobber?" I whisper, lowering my head and turning to my friends. "Are they..."

"Dead? Yeah..." Snotlout answers. He sighs heavily. "Valka tried to defy Alrek when he was doing his takeover, and he went to strike her down. Gobber tried to help her, but they both perished."

I swallow the lump in my throat and nod. "Oh, I see." I return my attention to the torchlight in the distance. "That's Alrek's house, right?" I get a few nods as answer. "I need to get in and kill him while he sleeps," I whisper.

"That's pretty dark," Fishlegs says.

"I know, but that's the only way you'll be free," I respond.

I don't add in that I need to steal my actual necklace back. The one around my neck is completely useless, plus in this timeline, it isn't even my mother's. Alrek has that one.

Before I do anything, I have to check for spectators or guards. I take a deep breath, lifting my finger to my lips and nodding shortly at my friends. I reach down and pick up the nearest item, a broken piece of the stone wall, and throw it out the window.

A crash sounds as the rock smashes into an empty wooden barrel, splintering some of it while knocking it over. I wait as the noise fades. Running footsteps approach.

"Who's there?" a deep voice calls out.

I peer out at the alerted Vikings, seeing that a group of five men has gathered. They walk towards the forge, spears raised, although their eyes dart everywhere.

"We know you're there. Come out with your hands up!" the leader orders.

I motion for my friends to stay down. Ruffnut shakes her head rapidly and drags her hand along her throat in warning. I choose to ignore her. I lean down and scoop up some dirt off the floor, rubbing it on my face and messing up my hair. I slip out a large crack in the wall and prepare myself to do more acting, stepping out of the shadows with my hands raised. One man shouts to his buddies and within seconds I have axes and swords pointed at me.

I finally notice who the leader is. I let out a shaky breath, playing off the sharp gasp that wanted to be heard when I saw him.

"Eret?" I croak.

Unlike his comrades, Eret looks rather well fed but more exhausted than when I last saw him. He looks slightly less muscular, although he's still retained more of his muscle mass than the other three guys in our posse. The blue stripes on his chin are still present, although his face is lined with extra scars and there's a cold glare in his eye. Point, eye. An eyepatch covers one of his two eyes.

To me, this isn't even the Eret that was a dragon trapper. Even that Eret had a good side. This one looks tired, abused, and swelled with power.

"Who are you?" he demands, jabbing his spear closer to my gut.

"I'm G-Gunhild," I speak, still adding tremors to my voice. I stumble and fake a squeak of pain as I grip my hip.

"Never met someone named Gunhild..." Eret says, moving closer to me while the other four guards stay back.

"I'm so s-sorry, sir, I am no one but a lost vagabond. I am seeking the almighty Alrek, son of Asmund," I say, letting out a hacking cough. "I have f-found no one who will help m-me..."

"Alrek doesn't speak to lowly peasants. Away with you!" he shouts, using the base of his spear to jab my stomach. I stumble backwards, but he aims again and knocks me to the ground with his next blow. "Go back to the hovel you came from."

"Y-yes s-sir." I nod wildly, bowing like crazy as I get back to my feet. "I-I'll go..."

I stumble off, going through a different space between two buildings. As soon as I'm out of sight, I cease the charade. I brush off most of the dirt and smooth my hair as I take a wide loop back to the forge. I sneak inside and slip to my friends' sides, making them stare at me in shock.

"Eret is the captain of the guard?" Ruffnut utters. "I...I thought..."

"Don't worry. As soon as he realizes we're all back together, he'll help us overthrow Alrek," Fishlegs says assuringly, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"I sure hope he's right," Nightstar grumbles.

"Same here," Windstorm echoes.

"Even though we don't know who he is," Skybreeze points out.

I peek outside, wishing I could see the sun and gauge the time. I purse my lips. I've only got a few more hours, but my time is running out.

"Thora..." Snotlout whispers. I turn to him, his face softened somewhat. "Can you really save us?"

I force a smile. "I can."