Move along, nothing to see here, move along. The important stuff is at the end.

It had been about a month since the first raid that Hiccup and Zahnlos had stolen from the Queen. Since then they had stolen another four raids from all over the Archipelago. The Queen was getting more and more desperate, the lack of food being brought back, and the dwindling number of enslaved dragons caused the raids to become erratic. Where before there had been almost a schedule to when the raids would hit each island, now it was completely random when She would strike but she was still predictable with where She would raid. That's why Hiccup had gotten a few Terrors to hid on islands that the raids would have to fly past to reach one of the villages and when they saw a raid coming, fly as fast as they could to the Sanctuary to tell Him, so he could raid the raid.

The group of riders that had come from the Nest had settled in nicely at the Sanctuary. Since they used to be a part of the Nest, it was decided that it would be beneficial to use them to help acclimate the recently freed dragons to not having the Queen constantly in their head. To help facilitate this, the King created a second ice structure a few minutes flying from the Sanctuary. There were a few dragons from the Sanctuary that had volunteered to help them out as well. It was here that Hiccup and Zahnlos were, checking on some of the dragons that were taking the lack of the Queen rather harshly.

"Hiccup, Zahnlos!" The two looked out towards the Terror that was flying straight at them.

"Sneaky, is there a raid?" Hiccup asked the terror, as sometimes they would get spooked by a group of dragons that wasn't a raid.

"Yes Yes, big raid with many dragons!" The overly excited Terror said as it buzzed Hiccups head before landing on Zahnlos to rest. The two looked at each other for a second before Hiccup jumped into the saddle and like an arrow, they were off. As the trio winged south towards the archipelago, none of them could predict the events that were just set into motion that could not be stopped.

The trio arrived overhead just as the first wave of the raid started to dive in. Wishing the Terror well, Zahnlos and Hiccup started an orbit of the Viking village beneath them. The Queen had been getting smart with how she would raid. She would have the dragons attack instead of all together in order to prevent the duo from getting the whole raid at once. So, the two took to circling and finding the staging area in order to minimize the distance Hiccup would have to project in order to steal the dragons away from Her.

"Hiccup, I'm not seeing any dragons lingering. The Queen must be getting desperate enough to start committing all the dragons," Zahnlos said. Indeed, that was the case, with the losses that the pair had done to the ranks of enthralled dragons, the Queen was starting to get quite desperate for enough food to sustain Her.

"So, Hiccup, how do you want to do this?"

"I was thinking we just hover in the middle like we normally do, I mean it's always worked in the past. And if she is as desperate as we think, then this should be relatively easy," Hiccup responded. Zahnlos spared a glance back at the teen on his back.

"Are you sure about this Hiccup? Remember that overconfidence kills and if anything can go wrong, it will."

"We'll be fine Zahnlos, you always worry too much when we do this."

"Because somebody has to worry about your scaleless hide."

"You do care!" Hiccup jokingly exclaimed, falling forward in his saddle till he was laying on the Fury's head with his own.

"Ya ya, now sit back up cause we have work to do." Hiccup did so, but the smile on both of their faces didn't go away.

"Ok, bud, let's get this done so we can go home." With that, Zahnlos went to hover over the middle of the village and Hiccup laid back and cast his mind out to all the raiding dragons. Just as he started to connect with the first couple of minds and rid them of the Queen's influence, the pair got blindsided by a Nightmare which almost knocked Hiccup out of the saddle. Concern and fear raced through their bond as they checked over each other to make sure they were ok.

"What just happened? How did that Nightmare manage to get that close?" Zahnlos asked, wondering how the Nightmare had not only been able to sneak up on him but manage to get past Hiccup as well. Before Hiccup could respond, another dragon flew up and tried to slam into the pair. This time, however, Zahnlos saw it coming and managed to dodge the incoming Gronkle but didn't have time to dodge the Nadder that flew at them from the opposite direction. The hit from the Nadder spun Zahnlos around rather violently, as well as causing him to lose altitude before being able to correct the spin. Before he had even finished flattening out the spin, the Night Fury could feel something was wrong.

"ZAHNLOS!" The cry for help echoed through his head as he also heard his rider cry out in both fear and surprise of being flung out of the saddle and towards the ground. Zahnlos drove right after him, pushing himself to go faster to catch up with Hiccup before he hit the ground.

"HICCUP!" Zahnlos scream as he got closer, "Look at me Hiccup, I'm going to catch you. Try and reach for the saddle." Hiccup did just that, trying to angle himself to grab the saddle as Zahnlos came within reach.

"I'm almost there buddy, just a little longer," Hiccup said, trying to almost swim in the air to get closer to the handhold Not paying attention to how close they had gotten to the ground, Zahnlos glanced down to see how close they were getting.

"TOO LATE!" He screeched, moving to the right and grabbed Hiccup with his claws before flaring his wing in hope of staying the air or a soft landing. He could feel the fear that Hiccup was feeling from his front-row seat to their rapid descent, but he could also feel the confidence that his bonded was placing in his ability to get them out of this situation safe. Seeing that they wouldn't be able to stay in the air or land softly, at the last possible moment Zahnlos tucked Hiccup close to his chest and spun around to take the brunt of the impact on his back, using himself as a crash pad for Hiccup. The last thing either of them thought before impact with the ground was a concern for the wellbeing of the other.

Darkness. That was the first thing that Hiccup perceived after landing. Not only was the physical world around him dark, but the mental world around him was dark as well. Slowly Hiccup was able to start perceiving the world around him. First, he could tell that he was wrapped up in Zahnlos's wings and that the dragon was still unconscious from the landing. Second, the mental world around him started coming back. When he first woke up it was dark as a moonless and overcast night, but now the shiny stars that directed him to the mind of another were starting to shine through. However, there were very few minds nearby. Realizing that he would need to get out from the protective embrace Zahnlos had him in, Hiccup started to work his way through the wings to the outside. When Hiccup finally broke through, he saw the beginnings of daylight starting to shine through the trees.

'This isn't good' Hiccup thought as he noticed the light. 'And that's worse' he lamented when he noticed that the two of them were under a rather large net. Getting himself out from under the net, Hiccup then rolled it back so that it was off Zahnlos. Feeling across their bond, Hiccup could tell the rough landing had knocked the dragon out cold, but with a little prodding, he was able to get Zahnlos to start waking up. As the Night Fury started to regain consciousness, Hiccup was suddenly dragged away from the dragon.

"ZAHNLOS!" Hiccup cried out as he felt himself get dropped a distance away from said dragon before being turned around to face the person who was dragging him. With a sword in hand and a helmet with long horns atop of it, there was no mistaking this man as anything but a dragon killing Viking, despite only looking a few years older than Hiccup. Hiccup could see the man was talking to him, but he couldn't hear anything the Viking was saying. It was then that Hiccup remembered where they had crashed landed, as the man drew his sword and started to advance on Zahnlos.

This prompted action from Hiccup, as Zahnlos was still trying to wake up from the fall. In addition to helping clear the mental fog that was preventing Zahnlos from waking up, Hiccup got up and went after the man. Tapping him on the shoulder, Hiccup was slightly surprised at the speed he turned around. Getting a better look at the Vikings' face, something was very familiar about the distinctive blue stripes over his left eye. Ignoring it, for the time being, Hiccup started to sign at the man, hoping he was the heir of where he had landed and knew the basics. It was something that was taught to every heir, so they could communicate with tribe member who had been forced to learn it due to loss of hearing or speech due to dragon attacks. Amazingly the man seemed to at least understand a few basic signs.

you mute deaf? He asked a reasonable question when first coming across a stranger signing to you.

Deaf. Hiccup responded.

Who you? The other man asked a question Hiccup knew would be coming soon. However, Hiccup knew he would have to come up with something that wouldn't sound too suspicious and would take up enough time for Toothless to finish waking up. Which Hiccup could sense would be soon as he saw the Night Fury start shifting.

I forget. He lied, trying to buy time.

Where you from? Came the next inevitable question, but it was long enough.

Everywhere.

What? I understand not. Where you from? He now asked more forcefully, trying to get this small stubborn boy to answer him truthfully.

You no worry where I from. Hiccup told him as he watched Toothless sneak up behind the Viking and knock him out with a blow to the head.

"You doing okay there Toothless?" Hiccup asked him as they embraced each other.

"Just fine, nothing like getting caught in a net and getting knocked out on landing before waking up to watching you stare down a Viking." Came the sarcastic response. As soon as he finished the Night Fury started licking Hiccup.

"Oh come on! You know that doesn't wash out." Hiccup lamented.

"And that is what makes it all the better, you will never be rid of my scent. Now let's get out of here before more Vikings show up."

"Okay, okay. Let me up you overgrown salamander and we can get going." Hiccup told him as he tried to wipe most of the Night Fury saliva off him. Getting up into the saddle the pair took to the sky and made best speed for the Sanctuary, blissfully unaware of the hand fate had just dealt them.

"Dagur!" A voice echoed through the woods, searching for the owner of said name.

"I'm here!" Came a reply as the Heir of Berserk walked out of the brush holding the back of his head.

"Are you ok? What happened out here son? I thought you went looking for the dragon caught in the net." The Chief, Oswald, asked his son as they started heading back towards the village.

"Something hit me in the back of the head, dented my favorite helmet and knocked me out," Dagur responded, taking his helmet off to look at the new dent in the back of it.

"Well did you at least find the dragon? Some people were saying it was a Night Fury caught in the net."

"Well it was a Night Fury, I got a look at it before I pulled that teen out from near it." That caught his father's interest.

"Teen? What teen. Nobody from the village went missing." Oswald asked in confusion, wondering if the concussion from the hit was making his son imagine things.

"Ya, there was a teen crawling out from under the net. He was deaf and claimed to have forgotten his name and was from everywhere. Made no sense at the time but then I got knocked out." Dagur told his father, starting to remember more of the incident and causing more confusion on Oswald's part. "And I'm pretty sure he left on the back of the Night Fury."

"You mean the Night Fury carried him off after knocking you out?" Oswald asked as he stopped and turned his son to face him.

"No, I'm sure I saw him riding the beast," Dagur responded, seeing his father's face harden. "Father?"

"Don't tell anybody here what you saw. We'll bring it up at the Thing next month." Oswald told him before turning to finish walking towards the village.

So, I'm back. I know it's been a while, but I didn't do anything involving my laptop over winter break and it's now the first day of classes so I'm working on getting this updated on a more regular schedule. So, I tried something new and the signing in this chapter is closer to what actual signing would be. Something slightly hard though is the same statement "I understand" is said the same way for both affirmative and negative with body language being the difference you tell if it means "I do understand" or "I don't understand". So, there is your monthly lesson in ASL.

So, in other news, I now have a pat-reon account if you want to support me. I would very much appreciate it but understand if you don't as not everybody has the extra money to spend. Just go to pat-reon /thearizona (ya know after you remove the -) and there ya go! Also, I'm working more to keep my Tumblr account updated with my progress on new chapters. As always, leave a review with a question or just anything.

Thanks for the favorite/follow to fan-like-irving, Timedoesnotdefineme, summer490, MRtruegnome, DragonRiderNT, Infurnus Rider, lord Dragonic, Lady Nature, Reinforce Eins, and Hollydoor.

Semper Fi,

Thearizona