The ride back to Berk was very tense. I was now sitting behind Mom on Cloudjumper's back, facing the direction of the island we'd just left.
“I can't believe you left him there,” I said, angry at my mother.
She didn't reply.
“Aren't you the great dragon rider? The vigilante?” I turned to face her. She was standing up, looking out into the distance. “Aren't you supposed to rescue dragons?”
“Yes,” she said calmly.
“Then why did you leave him there?!” I practically shouted, standing up too.
She turned round to look at me. “Toothless wouldn't want us to get captured too. You in particular. And after leaving for twenty years, it's my duty to protect my remaining family.” She placed a hand on my shoulder and I wanted to shake it off in my anger, but I decided against it. I didn't want to make things worse.
“But Toothless is family too,” I replied stubbornly.
“He fought beside you and wanted you to survive,” she said gently, looking into my eyes. “Would you deny him that wish?” I shook my head and sat down again.
The rest of the flight was silent, until we started approaching Berk, because we noticed something that made our hearts go cold. I stood up to get a closer look and gasped.
“How is that possible?” I wondered out loud.
“We barely left for a few hours!” said Mom.
Cloudjumper started flying faster, so that we could get there as soon as possible.
The village was on fire.

“What happened here?” I asked myself as I jumped off Cloudjumper's back.
Every single building was either on fire or already crumbling into ashes. The grass was burnt black beneath our feet, and even the Great Hall looked like it had been damaged. Gothi's hut was like a giant torch at the top of the island. No one had been hung from their hair on torches, but Savage had made up for that.
Littered on the ground were bloodied Viking corpses, with either daggers or arrows stuck deep in their chests. A few bodies even had axes swung violently into their skulls, causing them to crack in half and stain the ground around them in a dark red shade.
“Hiccup!”
I turned round, and was overjoyed to see Ruffnut and Tuffnut running towards me. They weren't severely injured, but had cuts all over their arms and legs, and bruises on their faces, and looked pretty bloody as well.
“What happened while I was gone?” I asked.
“Savage!” said Tuffnut in one word.
“Yeah, he came with what seemed like hundreds of soldiers!” Ruffnut continued. “No one was ready for an ambush, so they just walked in and started throwing torches at the foot of buildings, setting every one of them on fire!”
“I've got to admit, it looked pretty cool at first,” said Tuff. “But then they started murdering EVERYONE!”
“Stabbing, shooting, slicing, chopping!” said his sister, acting out each word with invisible weapons. “Blood everywhere!”
“Did anyone survive?” I asked hastily.
“A few villagers managed to reach the forest at Raven Point,” said Tuffnut, scratching his helmet to try and think. “Snotlout and Fishlegs made it too.”
Ruffnut punched him. “Don't forget Eret! Poor guy, so weak with that stupid illness... I keep trying to help him but he keeps turning me down.”
Something triggered in my mind. “Wait, aren't you guys infected?”
“Nah, we only eat yak meat!” said Tuffnut. “It's what makes us warriors. Well, me, anyway- OW!” His sister didn't hesitate to punch him again.
“Speaking of illness,” Mom walked up behind me and handed the twins the flower, along with its clump of soil attached to the roots. “Head to the forest at Raven Point and share the seeds to as many people as possible.”
“Um... how?” asked Tuffnut.
“I don't know, make a soup, or something!” Mom practically snapped. Clearly she was as frustrated about the village burning as I was.
They were about to leave, but I stopped them. “Wait, you didn't mention Astrid. Where is she?”
The twins looked at eachother sadly, and then lowered their heads.
“Where is she?!” I nearly yelled, grabbing Tuffnut's shoulders.
He looked up at me slowly. “She was taken, Hiccup.”
“Savage left you this,” said Ruff, handing me a piece of crumpled paper. I unfolded it hastily, but then immediately felt like ripping it up again.
Time to make a choice, O Great Chief. Meet me at what you call Itchy Armpit.

Mom, the twins, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Eret and I stood in a determined line on the Strike Class mark of Itchy Armpit, with our dragons standing behind us – apart from Toothless. Stormfly was here too, because she knew that she'd see her rider.
When we had first arrived, I had noticed a strange smell coming from the Night Fury's tail on the symbol. I had knelt down to see it closer-up and had noticed that it had been painted over in blood.
“Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III!” called a voice from above us.
We looked up and saw Savage standing on the top of a cliff, with two other shapes. One of them was in a cage and the other was being held from the neck over the edge of the cliff. I clenched my fists as I realised who they were.
“A chief has to make choices, doesn't he?” said Savage, smiling maliciously. “Sometimes they're hard, sometimes they're easy. This one most definitely is hard. I think you can guess what I'm going to say...” He paused. “You can save one out of these two loved ones, not both. You have to choose which. Your girlfriend...” He gestured to Astrid, who he was holding from the sharp rocks in the sea below. “... or your best friend.” He pulled out a crossbow from behind him and aimed it at Toothless, who growled, but then shrunk to the back of the cage as Savage threatened to shoot already.
“And what if I refuse to choose between them?” I said defiantly, my knuckles white because of my clenched fists.
“Then they both die. It's one, the other, or both. Make your choice or I'll choose for you.”
All eyes were on me, including Toothless' and Astrid's. She had obviously been cured from the way she struggled in Savage's grip.
I looked at the ground and tried to think. I couldn't choose between them, I just couldn't. They both meant the same to me in different ways. I couldn't get rid of one... surely there had to be a way out.
I looked back up at Savage, a determined look on my face. “I would rather die than choose between them.”
The maniac just smiled. “Very well.”
He pointed the crossbow towards me and didn't hesitate to shoot. Before I knew what was happening, an arrow was flying through the air and hit me square in the chest. Next thing I know was I was lying on the ground, an arrow in my chest, blood starting to stain the floor around me.
“HICCUP!” yelled Astrid. Fear could be heard strongly in her voice.
Instead of stopping her from going, Savage simply tossed her back on the ground and let her unlock Toothless' cage. The girl and the Night Fury quickly sped down the cliff path towards me.
Then it all went black.

Here is Astrid's part of the story.

Everyone had gathered round Hiccup's unconscious body, all asking themselves the same question: “Is he gonna live?”
Astrid and Toothless pushed through the other riders and the girl was immediately on her knees next to her boyfriend.
“Hiccup, stay with us! Stay with me!” But Hiccup couldn't hear her.
“We need to get him back to Berk!” she said desperately. So with the help of Eret, she lifted Hiccup on to Stormfly's back.
Valka had been watching silently on the sidelines ever since Hiccup had been shot. Noticing her, Astrid walked over to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Hiccup was her last human family member and she knew that if something were to happen, it would hit her the most, as well as Toothless.
“He'll be fine, I know he will,” she said, tears choking her voice as she wasn't sure of this herself.
Valka simply gave her a watery smile and climbed on to Cloudjumper's back, who had Toothless in his clutches again, wanting to hide the tears that threatened to come.