Fifty-Four:

They had flown back to the caves, Toothless laden down with the three riders and taking his time. Even though Astrid had raged and cursed him, there was never any question of following Stormfly immediately: they had no clothes, provisions or idea where they were going. And Stormfly was very fast and had a big lead: Toothless couldn't catch her laden down as he was. But it was the sound of Astrid weeping against him at the loss of his dragon that broke Hiccup and he blinked away tears as well at her grief. And the worst thing was, he had no idea what to do.

Back in the caves, Astrid was distraught, walking away from Hiccup and Toothless and standing at the entrance, staring into the falling dusk, her eyes locked onto the dimming horizon. Wrapped in a fur, Hiccup walked up to her with a bowl filled with yak roast and grains. She spared him only the slightest of glances. He sighed and then coughed as the cold air irritated his chest.

"We'll find her," he promised, closing on her. "Eat this." She shook her head.

"I'm not hungry," she said stubbornly.

"Yes, you are," he told her equally firmly. He offered the bowl again but she folded her arms and glared. "Astrid-I know you are desperately upset. But Stormfly loves you. You have a really close bond-almost as close as Toothless and me. She'll come back."

"How do you know?" she snapped, rounding on him. He stiffened very slightly but forced himself to smile. "How would you feel if it was Toothless who had flown away and let you?" Her eyes narrowed as his widened in shock at the accusation. They both knew the answer: separation from Toothless-and the rest-had driven him to the brink of suicide. "But he can't. Your dragon can't fly without you, can he?"

"Astrid, I…" he began but she pushed past him, grabbing the bowl.

"In the morning, you need to come up with a plan to find my dragon!" she snapped as she vanished down the passage. He swallowed and stared after her.

"Happy Snoggletog," he murmured.

oOo

Astrid was rolled in her furs when he got back, curled with her back pointedly towards Toothless and Hiccup stared helplessly at the shape, unsure what he could possibly say to her. Toothless crooned and the boy sat down with his back to the dragon, resting against the warm bulk.

"Yeah, I miss her too," he murmured. Then he craned his neck round to inspect the large, acid-green eyes and the puppyish face. "Do you know where she went, bud?" There was a small warble and Hiccup sighed. "I wish you could tell me," he admitted. "Because at least we would know what to expect."

Henryk was looking for Astrid to Hiccup and back, his eyes huge with concern. He had spent ages scouting around the cavern-and finally, he warily approached the desolate girl, kneeling by her. Her head moved slightly and he leaned close, quietly offering a small bluish object: it was one of Stormfly's scales.

"I'm really sorry," the boy said and she nodded, accepting the gift. Her breath hitched.

"Thanks," she murmured and clutched the little blue disc to her chest. "Thank you, Henryk." And then she curled up and the others stared helplessly at her before settling down to sleep.

…Stormfly was flying away again, her wings whipping fast through the cold air. Astrid was tumbling, screaming as she fell towards her doom. And Toothless was fighting Hiccup. He stamped his foot down, sending them into a dive and the dragon growled, his pupils thinning to tight slits. He bucked hard and Hiccup felt himself thrown sideways, he heard Astrid gasp-and then scream as the rough grab from the fall snapped her arm.

But Toothless was plummeting too, fighting all the way-until he dropped Astrid and Hiccup onto the cold, rocky ground. the two teens groaned and Hiccup crawled to the girl, seeing the twisted limb from the break, her face colourless and expression twisted in pain. The young dragon rider glanced up at the raging Night Fury, his head flung back as he roared at the empty sky, wings extended to follow his friend…but he was pinned to the ground by Hiccup's actions…

…and then he was gone, his shape vanishing in the cerulean sky, accelerating away from his rider, his human friend…and never looking back…

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup screamed, sitting up in the dim cave. The shadows from the low flames of the dying fire reared around them and the boy clutched his arms around his body, a mixtures of grief and shame wracking him. He had done this in his stupid, futile quest to be accepted. He had stolen the power of flight from a creature that lived for the skies. And his crude efforts had merely given Toothless a pale semblance of the glorious freedom that was his birthright. He sagged forward, automatically staring at the curled black shape behind him and feeling the guilt stab him harder. Astrid was curled asleep and Henryk had scooted closer to her, his little shape loyally offering her comfort.

Relieved, Hiccup levered himself to his knees and then quietly to his feet. He dipped a candle in the fire and quietly bang to make his way towards the front of the caves-and his new forge. Once inside, he pulled out his note book and began to sketch designs, crossing them out, over and over as design after design was imagined and rejected. What he needed was a tail fin that mimicked the motion of the existing one-and that would need something that transmitted the attitude of the existing fin to the prosthetic. Of course, this would be very fine work, using gearing far more complex than even the pedal gears…but in his mind, Hiccup could see the design and his charcoal flew across the page, drawing every angle of the creation and individual annoyed designs for each of the component parts. Finally, he stared at his blueprints…and rose achingly to light the forge.

Astrid awoke early and stared miserably forward. She could only hear one set of draconic breathing and she groaned inwardly: a part of her had been hoping it had been a horrible dream-but as she rocked her head, she saw only Toothless, curled up and sleeping peacefully like a giant cat. She blinked and forced herself to breathe. Stormfly was gone. She had fled and dropped Astrid…and if Hiccup hadn't been there, she would have died. Stormfly had cast her aside without any thought for her safety.

She sat up, noting Henryk was curled up like a small animal, tufts of fair hair sticking up in all directions but beyond him, there was a gap where Hiccup should be sleeping. Frowning, she saw the fire was all but out and she rose silently, carefully rekindling the fire from the embers, putting some water over to warm and setting out to find Hiccup. Yawning and stretching, she headed for the kitchen area first, tearing off some cooked yak roast and chewing thoughtfully. She had become aware that she was hungry, for she had eaten little the previous day in her despair…but the practical warrior in Astrid was resurfacing, despite her pain, because she couldn't hope to find Stormfly if she was weak from hunger. She cast around again and realised he wasn't here. And he couldn't be flying because Toothless was asleep…so she headed back through the chamber and towards the front of the caves, grabbing a fur to act as a makeshift cloak.

As she reached the front of the caves, she heard the sounds of hammering and quiet muttering, along with the smells of fire, hot metal and sweat. Cautiously, she headed int through the door-to see the familiar shape of Hiccup, bent forward over the bench, hammering away at a rod, intermittently glancing sideways at his note book, before gently tapping against the metal once more, before lifting the slender piece of metal-which looked awfully like the control rod for the tail-and quenching it with a loud hiss in a bucket of melted snow.

"You look awful," she told him and he jumped, dropping the tongs on his real foot and yelping in pain.

"Loki damn it!" he muttered, trying to balance on his prosthesis to rub his painful foot. He promptly fell over-and Astrid just burst out laughing. He cast her a reproachful look but she just leaned forward, giggling.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she apologised between breaths, "but honestly, it was just so inevitable once you tried to stand on your metal leg…" He gave a small nod, rubbed his foot once more and finally scrambled up. "But you do look awful." He was pale, there were deep shadows under his eyes and he was stained with grime, soot and sweat. He shrugged.

"I thought about what you said," he began and she walked closer, inspecting his scrawny shape.

"That's never a good sign, you thinking," she teased him gently and he paused, looking pensive.

"You were right," he admitted. "I am lucky-because Toothless can't fly without me so he's still here. So I was working out how to make him a tail fin so he can fly independently, so he has his freedom back." She stared at his exhausted shape for a long moment, then swatted him across the back of the head, not caring that he yelped or that he hated being hit.

"Mutton-head!" she scolded him as he whined and pressed a hand to the back of his skull, even though the blow hadn't been hard. "I know you feel guilty about Toothless-after everything he has done. Though he loves you and has never shown any sign of wanting to leave you, has he?" He shook his head warily. "So why did you think that precisely now, when Stormfly is missing-not to mention it's the middle of Devastating Winter where we have no means of going anywhere,-would be a good time to make this device so your dragon can run off if he wants and leave us stranded?"

"But-but it's unfair to him to be trapped here when Stormfly went off?" he asked desperately. "What if he really wants to go where she went but he can't? I have taken so much from him, Astrid! I can't take that as well!"

"Apart from the obvious-that you have given him much as well, dragon boy," she pointed out dryly, "we can ask him to take us where she went. And then at least I will know if she's safe and happy."

"What did I give him?" Hiccup asked quietly, turning away. Smiling, Astrid walked forward and rested her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look into her azure eyes.

"You rescued him from the Red Death's influence," she reminded him. "You spared his life. You gave him your trust. You found a way to turn a downed dragon from a dead dragon to a dragon with a rider. You became his best buddy. And Hiccup-if you ever doubt that he doesn't love you…" She stood aside to reveal the familiar black shape of Toothless, his ear-flaps pricked and eyes big and worried. The Night Fury gave a small croon and squashed his way into the forge, licking his little viking eagerly and including Astrid in the wild and very cramped greeting. Both teens pulled faces and tried to push the excited dragon back while scraping dragon drool from their faces.

"Yeah, really covered in the love," Hiccup managed in a calmer voice. "BUD! You KNOW that doesn't wash out!" Toothless made a little laughing noise and then backed away as Hiccup turned-then hugged Astrid tightly. "Thanks. I needed that," he whispered then pulled away, seeing the faint blush on her cheeks. "This is going to take a few more days to finish-but at least I have a plan now…so I will make this for him. But first…we'll ask him if he wants to follow Stormfly." She smiled and swatted his shoulder gently again.

"Not until you bathe," she told him and he stared at her and cautiously sniffed at his tunic-before bursting into laughter.

"Whatever Milady says," he grinned.

oOo

Henryk had been disappointed that they wouldn't take him with them, but Astrid had explained that they needed to travel fast and couldn't predict what they would be encountering. She was a skilled warrior and Hiccup was determined and surprisingly good with a sword-plus he was needed to fly Toothless. And reluctantly, the boy had accepted he was safer back in the caves, with enough supplies until Spring…so that of they didn't return, he wouldn't starve…and maybe he could use the ship they stole from Snori to get picked up by someone and given a home.

Then they had faced the Night Fury and Hiccup had paused, looking deep into the big acid-green eyes. "Bud-do you know where Stormfly went?" he asked hesitantly. There was a pause and Toothless nodded. "Can you take us to her?" There was a small affirmative croon. "You want to go too, don't you, bud?" Toothless warbled and waggled his butt excitedly. "Okay-I'll fix your tail and then we'll go. Okay?"

Toothless had raced around and excitedly grabbed the saddle and tail and almost dropped it on Hiccup, making the young Viking feel even worse about what he had stolen from his friend. But they took provisions, warm clothes and sleeping furs just in case. Astrid's axe was strapped to her back and Hiccup strapped a sword to the saddle as well, though he knew Astrid and Toothless would protect him. And then they launched into the grey sky, whipping up through the lowering, snow-laden clouds and into the freezing skies. Hiccup was securely strapped to the saddle because he had no idea how long the trip would be and he was honestly grateful that Astrid was sitting behind him, her warm shape making him feel less frozen.

Toothless took the lead and the boy just worked the pedal as his friend wished. He had long since learned to trust Toothless but as they flew further and further throughout the day, Hiccup wondered where on Midgard they were actually heading. All he knew was that they were heading south out of the Archipelago, through lands that were hostile to them-and into the unknown. Fortunately, the weather was so foul that no one was outside and they had the snow-swathed absolutely freezing lands to themselves.

As dusk fell, Toothless landed them on a seastack, allowing the two exhausted and near-frozen teens the chance to make a small fire, eat and rest. Toothless scrambled down and fished for himself and then curled back around his little viking and his friend's rider to keep them warm. He could still feel the call but the empty yearning was still there and in his heart, the dragon knew this year, as every other, it would remain unanswered.

They left shortly after dawn the next day, heading south faster. Toothless was more focussed and they accelerated, flying close to his maximum speed, as the weather gradually grew warmer…and then an island came into sight. But it was like no island they had every seen. There was land, though none more than a few yards above sea level-but half the island composed of a deep, circular turquoise bay and steaming watery vents that dotted the land. And on every beach and rocky surface there were dragons. thousands and thousands of dragons of every possible type.

They circled overhead and then Toothless landed on a rocky beach by the wide turquoise bay and the two exhausted teens leapt off, eyes round and mouths hanging open in shock.

"Oh my Thor," Astrid murmured. "I-I…it looks like every dragon in the Archipelago is here!" Hiccup gently turned through a full circle, his emerald gaze sweeping over the assembled reptiles and then it clicked.

"And then some," he said softly, gesturing. "Look…" And then Astrid registered what he had spotted instantly. Beside many of the dragons, ranged on every shelf and ledge and beach, there were clusters of much smaller dragons, flocking around them like chicks round a hen. Many of the Nadders were actually sitting like roosting birds with their hatchlings nestled against their breasts, gently cawing or regurgitating fish for them. Astrid ran forward, her eyes seeking a familiar azure and gold shape.

"Babies!" she gasped. "They come here to have babies! Stormfly?" she called and then raced off, up the nearest slope in search of her friend. "Stormfly?" Hiccup stared after her and then at Toothless, who was sitting on his haunches, licking a paw and cleaning his ears fastidiously like a giant scaly cat.

"She is here, isn't she?" he asked and Toothless warbled in satisfaction. "And you? Have you got anyone here?"

There was a pause and for a moment, the dragon's ears drooped and he gave a very miserable little croon. Feeling the dragon's sorrow like a blow, Hiccup stepped forward and hugged him with all his might, feeling the vibration of the little croon through the scaly neck.

"I'm so sorry, bud," he murmured. "I kinda know how you feel. I mean, who wants this? There's no one out there for me. Well, I sort of hoped that Astrid maybe liked me…and I do trust her…but I don't know if she would ever look at me like that. I mean…I cost her everything, bud. I just seem to cause death and destruction wherever I go…" The dragon nuzzled him affectionately and he sighed. "Yeah, I just have to come to terms with it, right?" Solemnly, the dragon licked him. "And that still doesn't wash out," he added, then pulled away as Toothless pointedly lay down in the unexpectedly warm sun. Hiccup took the hint and walked away, seeing a Gronckle roll eggs into one of the steaming little ponds and then back away.

Frowning, the young Viking peered at them with interest, unconsciously dragging out his journal and sketching the eggs. He knew Fishlegs would love any new information about Gronckles so he peered into the clear bubbling pool, counting the size of the clutch before realising one egg was still laying on the rock. "Hey-you missed this one…" he began as cracked split the egg and the thing exploded, launching a small Gronckle thirty yards across the beach and throwing Hiccup about ten feet the other way. Lightly singed, ears ringing and vision blurred, Hiccup lay staring up until a dark shape loomed over him.

"The eggs explode…" he mouthed in shock. "The eggs explode!" He sat up and glared at Toothless. "Did you know they explode?" Huffing, the dragon gave a 'really' look. "And you couldn't have like, say…warned me?" Toothless made a sound which sounded uncannily like a snigger. "Useless reptile," Hiccup complained as he levered himself to his shaky feet to the definite sounds of Toothless's laughter. Rolling his eyes, he crouched down and picked up a shard of the shell, blowing on it, for it was still warm, then settling down and sketching the baby Gronckle.

As it turned out, he was able to wander around the island easily, for the dragons all seemed very relaxed and happy with their families. And Hiccup wondered, as he sketched eggs and baby dragons, whether this was an annual event…and the more he thought about it, the more he realised it must be. Because every year, for a month in Devastating Winter, around Snoggletog, there were no dragon attacks. At all. Ever.

We thought it was down to the weather, he thought as his eyes swept over the peaceful scenes-scenes no one would credit six months ago. But it was because the dragons were all away, celebrating their own special event. They must come here every year, to hatch their eggs and raise the vulnerable newly hatched dragons… His eyes widened and he looked over the little family groups and realised there was no other black dragon except the familiar shape dozing on the beach. There are no Night Furies, he realised. None except Toothless. Sorry, bud. And the resolve hardened in his breast. We'll keep looking, buddy. One day, we'll find you a mate, another of your kind.

"Hiccup!" He started and looked down the slope-to see Astrid crouched by a very familiar blue and gold Nadder-and a half-dozen smaller shapes bouncing around her. He waved and scrambled down the slope, noting the other dragons nearby. His face tilted into a smile that widened at Astrid's joyful grin.

"I found her!" she called. "And there are babies!" Six little Nadders-they looked enormously cute with their big eyes and mini-spines-were bumping against her boots and chirruping for attention. Hiccup grinned.

"Does that make you their auntie?" he teased her and she paused, then nodded.

"Of course," she said happily. "And the best thing is…"

"She'll come back," Hiccup reassured her. "They all will. Because they have before!" She frowned and he gestured to familiar shapes a few yards beyond the Deadly Nadder: Meatlug, Hookfang and Barf'n'Belch. Astrid's eyes widened as she saw Meatlug fussing her hatchlings while Hookfang was planted by a very maternal seeming yellow and red Monstrous Nightmare while Barf'n'Belch were solicitously helping a blue Zippleback with her two-headed young.

"Wait-Meatlug's a girl?"

"Seems so," Hiccup grinned and made another note, sketching the Gronckle with her hatchlings and scavenging another shard of egg that he recognised was definitely from a Gronckle egg. Then he walked forward, extending his hand and feeling the blunt, bumpy muzzle of Fishlegs's dragon bump against his palm. Swiftly, he scribbled a note, some vague co-ordinates and enclosed that, the picture of Meatlug and the shards of egg in another precious sheet from his journal and tucked it carefully into a small compartment on the saddle the Gronckle was still wearing. "Take this to Fishlegs, girl," he grinned, gently stroking the dragon. "He'd love to see this-but I've sent him the next best thing."

He made a fuss of the other two dragons and they responded eagerly to him, recognising him as the first human who trained and bonded with them as Astrid played with Stormfly. Finally, Hookfang lumbered to his feet and gave a roar as the sounds of roars echoed down the beaches. Hiccup recognised Toothless's familiar roar and his eyes widened, then he turned and ran back in the direction of his dragon, topping the rise to look in utter horror.

There was a ship mooring off the surreal turquoise bay, the device on the sail very strange and not one Hiccup had ever seen before. It was heavily armed and there were cages and catapults on the deck. The crew were already lowering boats and making preparations to send men ashore…directly for the beach where Toothless was dozing.

Left no other choice, Hiccup cupped his mouth in his hands, threw back his head and made an enormous roar. Toothless's head snapped up immediately and he bounded up the beach towards his Rider as a hail of arrows landed on the rocky shelf. Toothless dodged them and Hiccup rapidly led him down the slope, mounting with the same movement.

"We gotta get out of here," he said breathlessly. Astrid stared at him.

"But the babies are too small to fly," she protested, watching them flittering and dropping from he sky as they tried to strengthen their wings. "They'll need another few days."

"We don't have that time," Hiccup told her, his eyes concerned. "There are men with arrows and cages. I-I think they're Dragon Hunters!"

"Hiccup-our dragons won't leave their babies," she told him and he sighed, nodding and resting his hand on the Night Fury's head.

"Then we have to fight."