When Skullcrusher and I arrived back at Berk, the sun was just starting to show itself from behind the big cliffs of the island, silhouetting the rocks and lighting up the wooden houses of the village. It was still quite dark, but the villagers had started to wake up, and some were even outside carrying nets down to the beach to do some early fishing.
We landed just outside the house and Toothless looked up as he saw us. He looked rather anxious yet excited at the same time, and was fidgeting all over.
“What's up, bud?” I asked him. I climbed down from Skullcrusher and scratched his head.
He made a crooning noise and nudged me towards the door. I was about to ask what was going on, but a sudden noise answered my question. A noise that sent a wave of lightning through my body and made my heart speed up. A noise that I had feared I wouldn't hear at all.
A baby crying.
I quickly swung the door open and ran up the stairs to find Gobber standing at the bedroom door. He looked at me and smiled.
“Remember to take it easy,” he said in a low voice, giving me a pat on the back. “He's got a healthy pair of lungs, but he's a wee thing.”
He... I thought to myself. I have a son...
I smiled back at him a bit shakily and, with a deep breath, opened the door.
In the corner of the room was Gothi, sitting quietly with her staff in her hand. She gave me a small nod as I walked in the room, as if to say it was fine for me to come in. I also noticed Mom and Phlegma, Astrid's mother, sitting on one side of the bed. But it was what was on the bed that my eyes were drawn towards.
There, sitting peacefully with her back leaning against the wooden bed frame, was Astrid. Her face was slightly flushed and her fringe was moist from sweat, but she had a large smile on her face. She was holding a bundle of fur, barely as big as a curled up Terrible Terror, in her arms.
The world froze. All my mind focused on was them. Astrid and my son. My family.
I made my way slowly towards the bed, tears of happiness and relief welling up in my eyes. Astrid finally noticed I was there and turned her attention to me. Her eyes were red and her cheeks had slight lines running down them; she had obviously been crying, hopefully from joy.
“He's beautiful,” she said, practically in a whisper. She looked back down at the baby boy in her arms and started stroking the small tufts of hair on his head. To my surprise, they were neither blonde nor brown. They were bright red.
Just like Dad.
I sat down slowly on the edge of the bed, not wanting to disturb the newborn, who had now drifted off to sleep in his mother's arms.
“Do you want to hold him?” she asked, looking back at me.
“Are... are you sure?” I said nervously. “I mean, what if I drop him or hurt him or-”
I stopped talking as she gently handed the child over to me, not letting me finish. I quickly hurried to support his surprisingly heavy head as softly as I could. Tears made my eyesight blurred so I quickly blinked them away, wanting to properly see what my son looked like.
His face was round and pink, which was no surprise, and he had a funny little nose that looked like a button, but for some reason it looked just right. His eyes were closed so I couldn't see what colour they were.
But, just at that moment, the newborn gave a small yawn, stretched his tiny arms and, ever so slowly, opened his previously scrunched up eyes, obviously woken up by the movement. I couldn't help but gasp as I saw what colour they were.
A dark, deep yet colourful and vivid green.
Just like Dad's...
Tears starting brimming my eyes again, and I didn't bother to blink them away.
My son was the spitting image of Dad.
Astrid placed a soft hand on my shoulder as she realised why I was crying. “I don't know if you'd want to, because it might be a painful reminder, but...” She paused. “I was thinking of naming him after your dad... What do you think?”
I turned my gaze away from our child, who was now lifting up his arms to try and reach my face, and smiled at her. “Yeah,” I said, tears nearly choking me. “Stoick's a good name.” I looked back down at the baby. “Our little Stoick.”
As if he understood what I'd said, Little Stoick made a sort of happy gurgle and wriggled around in his furs. I lowered my face and let him grab my nose, smiling uncontrollably.
Our little Stoick.

A couple of hours after Little Stoick's birth, we had downstairs and were now sitting around the large wooden table in the centre of the room. Phlegma and Gobber had returned to their homes, and I had just finished telling Astrid and Mom about what happened with Drago a few hours before.
“Why did you agree?!” Astrid exclaimed, holding our son in her arms. Her sudden outburst startled him, so she quickly hushed him back to sleep again.
“I didn't have any choice,” I answered. “It was war or get attacked anyway.”
“And this is tomorrow?” asked Mom, who had been sitting quietly at one end of the table. I nodded in reply.
“We'll never have enough time!” worried Astrid. Childbirth had obviously shaken her a little.
“No, we won't.” Despite having said this, Mom got up calmly from her chair and picked up her staff, that was leaning against the wall. “But we can try.” She looked over at me and smiled reassuringly. “There's no time to lose.”

We had about thirty hours to get ready for the battle the day after, so indeed, we had no time to lose. Everyone had a job to do.
The villagers of Berk were already tough and talented warriors, but Astrid, Snotlout and the twins still spent hours giving them extra training and teaching them sword-fighting techniques Astrid had either invented or discovered. Although, Astrid mainly sat and gave pointers to the group, instead of moving around.
Mom was simultaneously taking care of Little Stoick and helping those without dragons find one of their own, which left Gobber and I to work in the forge, making as many weapons as we could. Fortunately we had some extra from the Savage incident, but we still needed a lot more.
The preparations continued through half the night, leaving everyone just enough time to get some rest before the battle. Fish were caught, food was stored and dragons were well fed to make sure as little as possible could go wrong.
An hour before midday, we made sure that everyone was ready.
“Lead the way, Skullcrusher,” I said to the Rumblehorn, and he immediately took flight towards the south, which was the direction Savage's island was. Everyone quickly mounted their dragons and followed him.
The flight was quiet, with only the flapping of the dragons' wings to break the silence. It was understandable: Drago and Savage were a nasty combo to be fighting against.
Despite me begging her to stay on Berk, Astrid had come as well, with Little Stoick strapped to her chest in a leather pouch lined with fur to keep him warm. She had said that fighting was in her blood, and she couldn't sit around while a war was being fought. She'd feel useless. But the thing that struck me the most was her saying:
“I don't want my son to become fatherless.”
This was something I could relate to.
So she had promised to stay near the back and attack from the air, and Mom, seeing that there was no chance of her backing down, had assured me she'd keep them safe. Reluctantly I'd given in.
As Skullcrusher headed south, I had at first thought we were going to Savage's island. But as we arrived there, the Rumblehorn flew to the left of it.
“Where are we going?” I asked out loud, even though he couldn't answer me.
As I asked this, we noticed something in the distance. The ocean – but not as we were used to seeing it as.
Frozen.
From a certain point, it looked like the ocean had completely frozen over, leaving a thick ice platform that could easily take the weight of an army. I gulped, not entirely confident that it would take the weight of two.
Skullcrusher finally landed and, to my surprise, stayed with us. He had obviously seized the chance to escape Drago's tyranny while he could.
Quite a distance away but close enough to be visible, we could see a line of people. Amongst them here and there were a few dragons. Some of them were noticeably dressed in iron armour, due to the reflections that the sun was sending back at us. But strangely, the Bewilderbeast was nowhere to be seen. This made me suspicious.
I quickly analysed the terrain around us. It was practically flat, with a few large shards here and there, which could be useful for shelter. It looked like we were a long way away from land, which meant that if the ice was to break, most of Drago's soldiers wouldn't be able to escape. On the contrary for us, everyone on our side had dragons.
Only a few more minutes until it was at its highest point.
“DO YOU WISH TO SURRENDER?” a voice yelled from their side. It wasn't as clear, because it was so far away, but I figured it must be Savage's. Drago's voice was much more distinct, and Savage was second in command, so it had to be him.
I looked over at Astrid, seeking her advice. I didn't want to put her or the baby in any danger.
But instead of what I was expecting, she gave me a confident nod and a smile, as a true Hofferson would.
“NO CHANCE!” I yelled back.
“VERY WELL.”
Mere moments before the sun was in its place.
Axes were gripped, swords were held, shields were strapped to backs and saddles were secured on the dragons. I slipped Inferno out of its pocket and got it ready.
On the other side, a figure standing at the front, obviously Drago, lifted his staff.
I counted down in my head. Three, two, one...
“CHAAAAAAAAAAARGE!”

“CHAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!”
The Hooligans immediately erupted in a deafening war cry: it was like the roaring of a dragon, and was meant to chill the enemy to the bone.
Still yelling, we charged.
With Toothless and I leading at the front, our huge wave of dragons was rather impressive. I was half standing on his back as he was baring his teeth, a faint glow of blue starting to become visible on his head and down his spine, as if he was getting his power ready. My helmet was set firmly on my head and a few seconds after setting off, Inferno was blazing in my grip.
Behind me were Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins, each with a line of their species of dragon following them. Astrid and Mom were a little further away for safety.
And then, in one big but still organized hoard, were the rest of the Berkians. Each dragon was showing their teeth, snarling and roaring as we charged forward, and each rider was wielding a weapon of some sort, and had a shield strapped to their back.
But, despite our vast army of dragons, we weren't flying. Not for the moment.
Drago's army had also set off, but a little less enthusiastically. Most of his soldiers were armoured, and all of them were equipped with a weapon and were ready for battle, but as most of them had been forced into his army against their will, they weren't willing to risk their lives for their side as much as we were.
Even though Drago owned a few dragons as well, none of them were flying either. From the way their wings were suspended above them it was obvious that they had been chained to avoid escape, but it was visible that their mouths were left free to open so that they could shoot the enemy.
Another disadvantage that Drago had was the fact that human feet couldn't grip as well on the ice as dragon claws could, so they were moving a lot slower than they would have usually. Also, his Bewilderbeast was still nowhere to be seen. Part of me was relieved at this, but another part of me was suspicious.
As each line approached each other, the faces of the opponents became visible and it was clear that there was a look of confusion mixed with fury on Drago's face. Why were our dragons running and not flying?
He was about to find out.
Just as our armies were about to collide, I yelled the command we had discussed: “UP!”
As soon as I yelled this, each line of our army except the last couple soared upwards one by one as they were about to hit Drago's. The force of dragon wing after dragon wing sent most of his front line to the ground, and the slipperiness of the ice helped us out even more with this. Even Drago himself was pushed back by each blow of air sent towards him. The last couple of lines stayed on the ground so that we could fight from both levels.
While the fighting had already begun below us, we quickly carried out our tactic. I hurriedly glanced around me to make sure Astrid and Mom were at a safe distance, and sighed with relief as I saw that they were.
“DIVE!” I yelled, and our dragons immediately separated into their species groups and dived towards Drago's army. As there were no other Night Furies, Toothless and I were going to stay at the front until later on.
Each group of dragons had a job to do: the Hideous Zipplebacks and the Deadly Nadders would take care of the soldiers, a couple of them heading to ground level to get closer. The Gronckles and the Monstrous Nightmares would blast at any artillery they could see, trying not to get shot down by them in the process. The Hobblegrunts and any other species of dragon were going to swoop down and free Drago's dragons, and hopefully as we had helped them they would side with us.
Despite the fact that this tactic could go wrong in quite a few ways, it seemed to be working pretty well. Everyone knew what they had to do, and everyone was succeeding. As we didn't have a particular group, Toothless and I darted this way and that, shooting at catapults and cannons, but making sure not to use up his shot limit too quickly. The fact that he was the Alpha had noticeably increased this limit by an unknown amount, but there was a limit nonetheless.
Drago was roaring with fury as he stood back up again, and was so angry that no comprehensible words were coming from his mouth, so Savage took control.
“SHOOT THEM DOWN!” he yelled. “SHOOT THEM ALL DOWN!”
Alas for them, that's what they were trying to do, but whenever a boulder was shot, a Gronckle would fly past, swallow it and shoot it back at them again or a Nightmare would melt it on the spot.
Savage walked up to Drago. “I think it's time,” he growled.
Drago nodded and, picking up his staff, started screaming in a way that I wished I would never have to hear again.
This meant only one thing.
“BRACE YOURSELVES!” I shouted as loudly as I could.
Before the Hooligans could reply, a deafening roar was heard from beneath us and a particularly angry Bewilderbeast came crashing through the ice, sending huge shards flying in all directions and submerging a large handful of Drago's own soldiers with water in the process.
The ice immediately became a lot more fragile.
The Bewilderbeast tried to climb up on to the frozen surface of the ocean, only to break it even more and send another handful of soldiers to a cold, watery grave. As it was too heavy for the ice and its wings were too worn to fly, it stayed in the water at first, shooting gigantic fragents of ice at everything in sight, enemies and allies alike in its fury.
It wanted its title back.
The huge ice spitter then shot its shards at the frozen platform to make it thicker and, once it thought it was thick enough, climbed up on to it. It cracked here and there but stayed solid.
Once the Bewilderbeast found its feet, it resumed the ice shooting. I noticed a shard flying towards Astrid just as she and Valka were distracted with the battle, so Toothless quickly darted towards them and shot the shard just in time, sending little fragments of ice raining down on the soldiers below.
Now it was time to deal with the Bewilderbeast.
“EVERYONE, GATHER AROUND IT!” I yelled. “TRY TO DISORIENTATE IT!”
Everyone immediately flew towards the huge beast, carefully dodging the ice it was sending in all directions. A few of us were struck down, but the rest still continued on.
We all swarmed around the dragon, each one of us distracting its attention from another. The Bewilderbeast roared furiously as all it could see was blurs flying this way and that, and not each individual dragon.
“Come on, bud,” I said to Toothless, patting the side of his head. “Let's deal with this guy once and for all.”
He gave a sort of grunt in agreement and charged up a plasma blast, then shot it directly at the Bewilderbeast. The other dragons copied us so it was like the battle two years ago, but this time we had the beast completely surrounded.
Fireball after fireball and plasma blast after plasma blast was shot until nearly every dragon's limit was up.
I could hear Drago yelling with even more fury than before below us. He had thought he was be able to beat us with his ultimate weapon, yet it seemed we once again had the upper hand.
The Bewilderbeast was imitating his roaring, but with even more volume. Eventually his shards became slightly smaller one at a time and it thrashed about on the ice less and less, so it was visible that we were wearing it out. The human fight below seemed to be in our favour as well. I couldn't help but feel that this war would be over and done with soon.
After what seemed like forever, the Bewilderbeast realised that there was no point in fighting any longer. Its title was long gone, and a dragon knows when to admit defeat.
With one final roar, it turned around and dived back into the ocean, causing huge waves to soar upwards and knock quite a few men to the ground.
Drago couldn't believe this. His Bewilderbeast had abandoned the fight.
As its large ominous shadow became smaller and smaller in the water below, Drago's army's morale dropped and a huge cheering was heard from the Hooligans. It seemed like the battle was on pause, as everyone was now either hanging their heads or cheering enthusiastically. Toothless hovered in place and stuck his tongue out happily, and I removed my helmet to take a good look at the battlefield around us.
But within the cheering, Savage's ears picked up a certain sound. A certain sound that made a twisted smile form on his face, and that gave him an idea on how to turn the tables and win the war. A sound that I had been so happy to hear when I had first heard it.
A baby crying.
He turned to look in which direction the crying was coming from, and noticed that Astrid had a rather peculiar fur pouch strapped to her stomach. He grinned evilly and, without asking Drago about it first, called out: “SHOOT DOWN THE BLUE NADDER! THE ONE WITH THE GIRL!”
Immediately the cheering ceased and was replaced with a now more enthusiastic shouting from Drago's army. All eyes were on Astrid and Stormfly.
Drago was rather surprised and angry at Savage's sudden take of control, but as he saw the bundle Astrid was carrying, his mouth also twisted into a crooked smile.
A few arrows whizzed through the air, and the Nadder dodged them quickly and with ease. But a few seconds later several rocks were sent flying towards them, and avoiding the projectiles became harder and harder because of their frequency.
Stormfly quickly started flying in the opposite direction from the boulders, but she could only go so far, as arrows were being shot from each side of her. Mom and I tried to get as close as possible without getting shot either.
Astrid clutched Little Stoick closer to her, trying to calm him, but the fact that she was on the back of a constantly moving Nadder was making this harder than usual. And fact that Stormfly was slowly tiring made the whole thing a lot more worrying.
I looked down at the ground and saw that there were a dozen rocks left to be shot. All of the other dragons were trying to defend Astrid, but a few projectiles were still getting through.
And then, just as there was a slight gap in her protection, I noticed one final catapult getting ready to fire. It seemed like it was perfectly aimed – and Toothless had no shots left.
It fired.
What happened next was all in a split second.
Toothless, knowing that I would never forgive myself if Astrid got hurt, knew that somehow she had to be saved. And because he had no shots left, he did something rather crazy.
Before I could react, he flew at lightning speed towards where the boulder had been shot, and it hit him square in the stomach just as it was about to strike Stormfly. He passed out temporarily because of the hit, and because he was spinning while falling, I fell off his back.
The next thing I knew, I fell into freezing cold water where the Bewilderbeast had broken through the ice, and almost immediately every part of me went numb. I sank deeper and deeper and deeper until finally, I blacked out.

“HICCUP!” Astrid screamed as he landed in the water. This caused Little Stoick to cry even louder, as if he knew that Hiccup was his dad.
Toothless, recovering from the hit of the catapult, was about to dive in and catch him, all of a sudden some bolas flew through the air and struck him, and he was left unable to move.
There was a dead silence throughout both armies.
Each dragon landed and their riders climbed down from their backs. They knelt down and bowed their heads in grief. Stormfly landed as well and Astrid ran to the edge of the water to see if she could spot her husband – but he wasn't there.
“HICCUP!” she screamed again through her tears.
“Oh, he's long gone,” said a sinister voice from behind her. She turned round and saw Drago, with a satisfied look on his face. He had lost his Bewilderbeast and most of his men, but in the end, his prize was worth a lot more. Savage was standing beside him, particularly proud of himself, because it was him who had heard Little Stoick crying in the first place.
Valka was on her knees. This was the fourth time she had seen her son be in a death-like situation. The first time was when Toothless had been possessed, second when Drago's Bewilderbeast had frozen him, third when he had been shot by Savage, and now this.
“You MONSTER!” she yelled, and charged towards Drago, only to be hit violently by his metal arm and being sent to the floor.
“Ah, but I didn't do anything, did I?” he said slyly. “It was the Night Fury that threw itself in front of the rock...”
“Don't turn this on Toothless!” Astrid said angrily, her arms still wrapped around Little Stoick, who was still distressed.
Drago's eyes moved towards the baby. “And who is this? I don't think we've been acquainted,” he snarled. He took a step forward, and Astrid immediately stepped backwards.
“Don't you dare come near him,” she said threateningly.
“If you wish,” Drago said simply. “I guess he can starve along with the rest of you.”
The Berkians looked at eachother, confused. The mad man chuckled and yelled out to his soldiers. “CHAIN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, THEIR DRAGONS AS WELL!” He turned to Astrid and stared her straight in the eyes menacingly. “Looks like we've got a few more soldiers for the army.”