Chapter 1, Gone:

Crying. That was the first thing Hiccup noticed as he came home late that night. A baby was crying. That seemed odd. Astrid was usually vigilant in keeping their children happy, and his mother was always happy to help. Hiccup stepped inside, and his heart dropped. Valka laid sprawled across the floor, her weapon in hand.

"Mom?" Hiccup knelt down next to his mother, gathering her in his arms. She had a large bump on her head, but she was breathing. He lifted her up and set her on the couch before heading up the stairs, but found Cloudjumper blocking them. A dart was stuck in his neck. Hiccup pulled it out, dragon root. Climbing over the massive, snoozing Rain-Cutter he scrambled upstairs. Stormfly lay unconscious in the hallway, another dragon root dart in her neck.

"Astrid!" Hiccup called. "Astrid? Are you okay? Where are you?"

He raced into his and Astrid's bedroom, where the baby crying was louder. Astrid lay sprawled out on the bed, axe in hand, head swollen from some kind of impact. The blankets were thrown over the baby cradles. Hiccup lifted them up, and his heart sank. Annly, his little daughter, was gone. Pulling the blankets off further, her found her twin brother, Torinth was still in his crib, screaming his lungs out. Hiccup scopped the boy into his arms and raced about the house.

"Annly? Annly! Annly!" he screamed, his heart pouding in his chest. Where was she? Where was his little girl? as he raced back downstairs, looking for his daughter, he found a note pegged to the back of the door. He pulled it off with shaking hands and began reading:

Hello, old friend. Long time no see. I see you are doing well for yourself with Astrid, a fruitful marriage I see. Your daughter is absolutely adorable. Don't worry, I'm taking good care of her. If you want to see her again, please follow the map at the bottom of this page to a designated location. I have some business to discuss with you.

Viggo Grimborn.

Hiccup vision doubled, his knees grew weak, his chest and stomach contracted into a knot. Viggo and the dragon hunters? Their activity had sparked back up in the past year for reasons that were unknown. They'd tormented Hiccup and the other riders for years in the past, and now they had his daughter. Panic overcoming him, he raced to the center of the village and sounded the alarm.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Shut up already!" the dragon hunter cried as he swatted at the saddled bag holding the screaming little girl. "Go back to sleep or something, yer driving me crazy. And you," he whipped the back of his dragon, eliciting a cry of pain as he did so.

"Go faster!"

"Can't we stop and take a rest?" his partner on the dragon next to him.

"That boy has a Night Fury, we need to put distance between us and the bloody island."

"We have put distance between us and the island, let's rest for just an hour or so."

"Fine, let's land on that island."

The baby in the bag kept crying. "Oh shut up!" the hunter kicked the bag again as they landed. He dismounted and filled his canteen at the stream, the baby still crying in the saddlebag.

"Kidnap the daughter of the dragon master," the first hunter sighed as he drank. "What will Viggo ask us to do next?"

"It was actually pretty easy, all things considered. He was right, taking 'em in their sleep was the best option," the second answered.

"Just wish she'd shut up."

The two continued to chatter with one another as they drank and rested. The dragons whines and licked their wounds as their riders relaxed, lounging on the soft moss that littered the river back, occasionally munching on the fish jerky they'd packed for themselves. Their dragons, however, were thin, sickly and starved.

Finally the first hunter stood up and stretched his arms. "Alright, let's get back to the ba-wait. Hear that?"

The second hunter was quiet as he listened. "I don't hear nothing.'"

"Exactly, the little brat stopped," the first hunter ran to his dragon, and saw that the saddle bag that had been holding the baby was gone.

"Where is she?"

"You lost a baby!"

The first hunter ran his hands over the saddle and found the straps were cut clean through.

"Someone took the bag she was in! Oh, Viggo's gonna be furious!"

"They couldn't have gotten far, let's see what direction they went in. Look! Tracks, two sets. A human and a gronkle. And…they end here. They flew off!"

"Oh, we'll never find them now!"

"We gotta try! C'mon you lazy beasts, up, in the air!"

"Yeah, we'll find the bloody thief!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"They'll never find us here," A scraggly red-haired man whispered to the tiny companion in his arms as they flew into a cave hidden behind a waterfall. She was still lying in the saddle bag, but the top had been opened to give her some fresh air. Still she cried, though, terrified and completely unsure of where she was.

"There, there, now," the man cooed as he dismounted his green Gronkle and sat down near a fire pit. "Shattermaster, if you could be so kind?"

The gronkle lit up the pit, and the man rocked the baby girl in his arms.

"There, now, let's get you out of that bag-" he began to lift the baby out of the bag, but she screamed in pain. It was then he realized that a fraying cord from the stitching had gotten caught around her left wrist and had dug deep into her skin, drawing blood.

"Oh, look at that," he snapped the cord away from the lining, lifted the girl out and began to unwind it, all while she was screaming.

"Yes, I know, that's gotta hurt," he cooed again as he finished the job and reached behind him for a bottle of a healing herbal mixture. He used his finger and rubbed it over the gashes on her tiny arm.

"Now, has the little princess got anymore boo-boos?" He looked the little girl over, and found several bruises, but nothing overly concerning.

"Now, are you hungry. I don't have any milk but…um, well…oh! Blueberries!"

He snatched the bag he'd picked earlier up and held a berry to the little girl's mouth.

"Those are small enough for you to eat, right?"

The baby immediately sucked the berry into her mouth and chewed it with the four teeth she had, swallowing it down.

"Yeah, there you go," the man cooed as he held another berry to her mouth. He did this until she was satisfied and dozed off to sleep. Tucking her into the crook of his arm, he began writing a note, and then woke up a snoozing Terrible Terror.

"To Berk," he ordered. The Terror took the note and flew out of the cave. The man watched it go, then began rocking the sleeping baby some more.

"Don't you worry, little princess, Uncle Dagur's gonna take good care of you."