Berk's Forumvine

It has been over a year since the demise of the Red Death dragon and Berk has since made peace with the dragons. But since that day a lot has changed around Berk. The discovery of new dragons, such as the Tyfoomerang and the Screaming Death; the knowledge of a new found enemy in Dagur the Deranged; and also how to help the dragons when they are sick or in need of assistance. The Outcasts have now learned how to use different dragons against Berk. But probably the most important change was the discoveries of how to better train dragons; how to use dragons in differing situations such as protecting, defending, or attacking.

This has all resulted since Hiccup started the Dragon Training Academy where Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut have learned a wealth of knowledge about dragons.

I guess I should give a little background on my family before I get started with my story. My name is Jarl Brodd Mollerson. I have greenish eyes with short, wavy, brown hair. Asvord is the oldest. She has light blue eyes with long, straight, blonde hair which is usually in two long braids that lay down the front of her shoulders. Asvord is one year older than me. My younger sister, Elsa, has dark brown eyes with brown, shoulder length hair. Elsa is two years younger than me. My mother’s full name is Svana Thorodda Onundrson. She has bright, blue eyes with blond hair she keeps in a braided pony tail.

My father died when I was very little. I don’t remember much about him, neither do my sisters. My mother doesn’t talk much about my father except he was a great warrior but a better husband. He was known as Sigvald Mollerson the Mighty. People say he could lift the weight equal to a Gronckle and could hurl it over great distances. My mother says he was one of Berk’s greatest warriors and gave his live protecting his home from a raiding band of Outcasts.

But, my story begins how I met Hiccup and his friends and also how me and my family started our journey on becoming Berk’s best… well I think I will just let you find that out for yourself. What I am about to tell you is the events that led me to become what I am today.

“A troll has stolen my socks! Ahh ha! I knew there was a pattern. Those pesky trolls, only stealing your left socks,” Gobber shouted in his house while he was looking through his drawers.

“There goes Gobber shouting a troll has stolen his socks again,” mumbles Tuffnut as he rolls over in his bed.

“Will Gobber ever go to sleep? He has been waking up everybody for the past three days with his ‘A troll has stolen my socks’ routine. We only tried to have some fun with him after his socks started to go missing, but he is really serious about this,” replies Ruffnut also in a mumbled tone as she, and the rest of the village, has not been getting enough sleep as of lately.

Gobber keeps shouting about the trolls about stealing his socks and the rest of the villagers start shouting back at him to go to sleep which in turns wakes up all of Berk.

“Ugg, why doesn’t he go to sleep and just forget about the idea of trolls? The three times he has awakened the village with the shouts and rants about the twins the first and second times playing a prank him. The third time was when the twins were trying to put back the socks they took,” Stoick said in dismay to his son Hiccup as they were staying up late looking at maps of Berk to find new places to build more catapults if there should be any attack by the Outcasts or Dagur and his armada.

“I don’t know Dad. He has not been acting himself since his socks started disappearing. This started five days ago when then colder weather had settled in. But there have been some strange disappearances of random objects in our village. For example, Snotlout’s saddle for Hookfang disappeared but was found in the twins’ house who admitted that they had no idea how it got there. Also, Fishlegs misplacing some of his books one day while in the Great Hall, only to find them on his bookshelf in his house the very next day. And…”

Stoick interrupted. “Oh it is just either the twins playing a prank or someone just being careless with their belongings,” Hiccup was about to say something but his dad stopped him before he could say it.

“That is all we can do for tonight about the planning for the catapults. Sleep well, as long as Gobber can restrain himself for the night,” Stoick finished and went into his bedroom while Hiccup walked upstairs to his room with his dragon, Toothless, right behind him.

Hiccup sat on the side of his bed with his dragon lying on the floor next to him. His dragon looked at him as if he knew Hiccup wanted to say something and was ready to listen.

“Toothless, I know misplacing a book or a bag could be considered ‘carelessness’, it is just Astrid lost her axe after practicing with it in the academy. And it still hasn’t been found. I know Astrid. She wouldn’t just leave her axe laying around at the academy and forget where she put it. She isn’t like that. Besides, Astrid thinks someone took it. I think that is more practical then her just forgetting about it. Something else is going on and I need to find out what it is before this gets out of hand.”

The next morning was the first cold day of the year and the second day of winter. Gobber had gone to the village’s seamstress, my mother.

“Good morning Svana,” greeted Gobber as he walked through the doorway of my two storied - littered with material - house with which I had to share a room with my sisters, Asvord and Elsa. My mom’s job was one of several among the women of Berk. She is a seamstress. She sells what she makes to the village for a small profit; she also repaired clothes for whoever needed it. She is excellent at making clothes and does wonders with wool. Her specialties are clothes and blankets.

“Svana I have a question for you,”

“Gobber, are you here for more socks?” asked Svana in anticipation of his question.

“Yes,”

“You are going to buy all of my men’s socks, especially the left ones. Why do you need so many left socks? Is it because of the rumor that’s been going around you are misplacing your socks just to come and see me?”

“Oh... ahem... ahh... umm... no. No. It... it is because of those pesky trolls keep stealing my left socks and those twins keep pranking me,”

As I came in down stairs to greet Gobber, I said, “Are you sure it was actually a troll or the twins?”

“I am sure of it. I finally figured it out. The twins saw the chance at playing a prank on me when my socks started to disappear. They took other things in Berk to suggest they are not the ones taking my socks. They are my number one suspects in my book,”

“But Gobber you don’t have any proof,” my mother said to him as she got his socks and she put them in a box for him to carry home. “Well, here you go Gobber,” she said as she gave the box to him.

“Good day,” Gobber said as he walked out the door. My mom replied to him, “Good day.”

When Gobber had shut the door, my two sisters came downstairs. Asvord came down first, and then followed by Elsa. “Did Gobber come for more socks, Mother?”

“Yes he did,” I answered her question.

“Well thank you, mother. Golly, your voice changed,” she replied sarcastically.

I countered with, “Very funny,” and I added “Vordy” at the end. I have called her that ever since I could remember; because you should get to pick on your older sibling, just a little.

As it was morning my sisters and I needed to do a few things around the house before we could go around the village. We all made our beds and swept the floors. We then went down stairs to sweep those floors as well. We all tidied up the downstairs room. Elsa cleaned up around Mother’s working area, while Asvord and I picked up any loose material that was lying around and put them in a box near my mother’s desk where she keeps the extra material.

After we were finished with all of that, my mother stood up and said, “I need to go into the marketplace and get a few things. You children go out and get some fresh air.”

“Alright Mother,” responded Asvord.

We waved goodbye to our Mother as she went to the marketplace. We decided to go to the Great Hall and see what is going on there.

As my sisters and I started walking towards the Great Hall, we heard a cry for help.

“Did you hear that Jarl?” Asvord asked.

“Yes I did,”

“Help! Help! I have been robbed!” came the shout of a woman viking.

My sisters and I started to run in the direction of the plea. When we arrived, we found the viking lying on the ground with smashed up crates of cabbage strewn about. I asked in haste, “What happened?!”

“I have been robbed that is what!” the angry woman viking replied. “Someone has stolen my gold necklace! And… and my cabbage is gone too!”

“Now calm down,” Asvord told the woman. After she said that the woman viking slummed back against her house. I stopped her fall by grabbing a bench that was sitting next to her house and laid her down on the bench.

“She has fainted!” said Elsa with a worried look.

I then said, “We need something to revive her. Elsa, go fetch something from the house.”

“Hey Jarl, why don’t you just stand right next to her and then she’ll come to,” Asvord said with small smile.

“Yeah. Very Funny.” Elsa was just coming back when I had said that. She had in her hand some of my socks!

“Elsa what are you doing with a pair of my socks?!”

“If anything can revive this woman, it is your dirty socks,”

Elsa started to wave my socks in front of the woman. *

“Oh, that will never revi…,” before I could finish, the woman was coming around.

A crowd started to gather when the woman was fully aware of what had just happened, I asked her to tell us what had happened right before she was robbed. Before she started, she thanked us for helping her and said her name was Nora Asmolfr. She stated that she was carrying three small crates of cabbage to her farm. She stopped off at her house to grab her wheel barrel to put the crates in. She then started off for her farm to feed her sheep. When all of the sudden she felt a blow to the head. “And then when I realized my necklace and cabbage were gone, I called for help.”

“And that’s when we came in,” I replied when Nora had finished. “I haven’t properly introduced myself, my name is Jarl Mollerson. Here are my two sisters, Asvord and Elsa.”

“Nice too meet you. And again thank you for helping me.”

“No problem,” Asvord responded.

By the time my two sisters and I had loaded Nora’s wheel barrel with what few cabbage was still left, the crowd that had gathered had then dispersed. We said goodbye to Nora and then started back towards the Great Hall.

When we arrived, we found a meeting was in progress. We decided to go in and listen. There were discussions on the new catapults that were to be built on the north side of the island. It was discussed who should bring the supplies to that area, who would be in charge of making the parts, who would be in charge of making sure each catapult was built strong so it could withstand several rounds of firing, such things as this. It was decided that Gobber would make the metal parts and Spitelout would help with the wooden parts.

After all the jobs were assigned, the meeting was adjourned. Some of the vikings that were passing our table said to one another, “I wonder if Gobber can find enough time to build the parts, what with his socks missing.” The other viking replied to him, “He will probably be too busy trying to fend off the ‘trolls’ with his… his… his pants!” As both vikings laughed with one another, Gobber was nearby when they said that.

“It is okay Gobber,” Elsa said to him in an effort to comfort him.

“Bah! Nobody believes me!”

As Hiccup and his dad were leaving, Hiccup came over to us to talk to Gobber.

“Gobber, I have been meaning to talk to you,” said Hiccup. “About your disappearing socks, I don’t think it was a troll but…”

“Hah! I told you no one believes me,” Gobber interrupted.

“But I do believe it was something else. There have been several strange occurrences in Berk lately with peoples’ belongings disappearing,” Hiccup finished.

“Yes there has,” I agreed, “Some of our family’s food and clothing has disappeared. I bet there is some connection between all the disappearing items.”

Hiccup added, “I think your right. It is strange that random items start to disappear one right after another,”

“But why would anyone want to steal Gobber’s socks? I mean taking my brother’s socks is bad enough. Have you ever smelled them?”

“Okay, Okay. I think they get the idea Asvord.” I retorted.

Hiccup chuckled and then said, “I think it is something bigger than just a ‘troll’.”

“Well what could it be but a troll?” asked Gobber.

“It could any number of things though,” said Hiccup. “What I’d like to know is if there was anything left at the scene of the crime.”

“Like a footprint or a piece of cloth, stuff like that,” I suggested.

“Exactly,” replied Hiccup.

As that was said, Gobber decided he would go get the materials to start making the parts for the catapults. After he had gone, I told Hiccup about Nora and her stolen necklace and cabbage.

“Hey why don’t we go back to the spot of the robbery and see if we can spot anything out the ordinary,” I asked.

“With you being out in the sun will be one thing out of the ordinary,” teased Asvord. I just rolled my eyes.

I introduced myself and my sisters as we all walked back to the scene of the robbery, “My name is Jarl Mollerson, and these are my sisters Asvord and Elsa,” as I pointed to each of them they said, “Hello.”

It took a couple of minutes to get there so in the mean time we just talked back and forth about our families. Hiccup mentioned that he had met my mother briefly at a town meeting at the Great Hall. The meeting was about who would fill the new spot as seamstress of Berk. That was my Mom’s first time as an official seamstress; because since I could remember she has had a reputation for mending clothes at a very good quality. We were almost there when I noticed Toothless was walking right next to me.

“Do you think Toothless likes me?”

“Hey bud,” Toothless snorted telling him, “I am listening.” Hiccup asked him, “Do you like Jarl and his sisters?” Toothless snorted and licked me in approval. “Yeah, he likes you.” Hiccup said as I wiped the saliva from my face.

“We are here,” I said as when we arrived at Nora’s house. “I think we should split up and search the general area and see if there is anything that could lead to a clue. You two girls go search the house and Hiccup and I will search out here.” I ordered.

Asvord then bowed and said, “Yes, your majesty.” Elsa giggled as she followed her sister into Nora’s house. I just rolled my eyes again.

Hiccup and I started to look around the yard out in front. We had been looking around for a few minutes when I realized one thing. If Nora was attacked by a “troll”, would there not be troll-like footprints. But, alas, there were only human footprints around where Nora fell.

“Hiccup, come look at this,” I said. I then squatted down to get a closer look at the tracks left by Nora and her attacker. “I thought there would be troll-like footprints or some type of animal prints.”

“Yes, I thought there were going to be troll tracks as well,” Hiccup agreed as he squatted down next to me. “Though when you told me of the incident, my first guess was a troll came, made her trip, fall, and the blow to the head came when she fell to the ground. But when you said that the blow to her head was before she fell, it started to puzzle me. It may have not been a troll that took her cabbage.”

“I guess I jumped to a conclusion by expecting troll prints at the site of the robbery,” I admitted. I started to look in a wider circle around where Nora fell. I noticed another pair of tracks. They were quite different from human footprints. The impression on the ground was quite interesting.

“Hiccup look at those tracks,” I said as I stood up and walked over to the spot where the cabbage crates landed when Nora fell. “These tracks look like a small dragon’s footprint.”

Hiccup came over and examined the tracks. He studied them for a moment and then said, “They look very much like a Terrible Terror footprint, but there is something different though.” Hiccup paused for a few minutes to think.

“We know another viking came from behind Nora and struck her on the head with some blunt object. The other viking probably saw Nora’s necklace and thought that it might valuable. Though to me, that doesn’t sound like anybody I know on Berk,” I said to Hiccup as he was still thinking about the new tracks. “But moving on, the other viking had Nora’s necklace and then the viking saw the other thing that made the second pair of tracks. He got frightened and then hurried away. I think he ran away because the steps the viking took are further apart from each other. One more thing, the robber is of a heavier build; so that would mean that the robber is older or taller and of a bigger build. This would make the robber’s foot depression in the dirt deeper as they are here as you can tell.”

When I finished, Hiccup then exclaimed, “I got it! I know why the tracks seem so familiar but seem so different. Look at the tracks closer Jarl.” I looked closer.

“The extra claw!” Hiccup and I said at the same time.

“The extra what?!” Asvord exclaimed as she and Elsa came from Nora’s house.

I replied, “The extra claw. See; look at the dragon’s footprint.” Asvord looked at it as well as Elsa. They both said, “Wow, this is amazing.” I then turned to Hiccup and said, “Have you ever known a dragon to have this extra claw?”

“No, I have not. We can go ask Fishlegs just to be sure.”

“Ok let’s go,” Elsa said with an excited tone.

We all were off to the Academy to find Fishlegs. As we were walking I asked my two sisters if they found anything in Nora’s house. Elsa said that she searched the upstairs while Asvord searched the downstairs. They both reported that they found nothing out of the ordinary.

“Oh wait! I did find something out of place!” Elsa remembered. “In Nora’s clothes basket, I noticed that almost all of her left socks were missing.”

“Really? Interesting,” I replied with a thoughtful tone. “Are they actually trolls stealing people’s socks in Berk?”

“I don’t know, maybe. Though, what explains the disappearances of other objects around Berk?”

Asvord then said, “This is really puzzling.”

We then had arrived at the Academy. We found that Fishlegs and Meatlug were the only two there.

“Where did everyone go, Fishlegs?” Hiccup asked.

“They are all out assisting Gobber and your dad with constructing the new catapults. Though, the twins are probably trying not to work.”

“Fishlegs. I would like to introduce Jarl Mollerson and his two sisters, Asvord and Elsa.” Hiccup said.

“We have come here to ask you something about dragons,” Asvord said.

Fishlegs then said with a rather should I say proud yet slightly boastful manner, “Well you have come to the correct place. I am the most logical person to go to with any and every question about dragons; because I have an extensive knowledge of the Book of Dragons. I have read it many a time and have now even updated it with our training at the Academy. Hiccup should know I am the best person you could…”

“Fishlegs!” disrupted Hiccup. “We know that you know a lot about dragons and we have come to ask you a question. Do you know of any dragon now or in the past that would have one more claw then it was suppose to have, especially a Terrible Terror?”

“An extra claw?? Why no. I have never in my life heard of a dragon with an extra claw!”

Just then my stomach growled at me. Toothless looked at me with a “What was that?” look.

“I think me and my sisters should be getting on home. It is been a while since breakfast and we have not had anything to eat.”

“Okay. I will go show Fishlegs the scene of the robbery,” Hiccup suggested.

“The what of the what?!” Fishlegs called out.

“Don’t worry. I will explain to you on our way there everything about it. Jarl, after you are done, meet us over by the spot where the new catapults are being built,” Hiccup stated. Both of their dragons followed behind them.

It took about fifteen minutes to get back to our house. My mom was in the house fixing breakfast. She was cooking some of the salmon that I had caught the other day. Plus, she had readied some of the corn from our garden.

Our house is on the outskirts of Berk. We are about ten minutes walking from our front door to the Great Hall, and about fifteen minutes to the Academy.

“Oh great,” Asvord said with a sad voice. Though, I did smell a hint of a sarcastic tone as well. “More corn for the corn-king.”

“Well, corn is my favorite vegetable,” I replied. As we were sitting down at the table, my mom was bringing over a bowl of freshly picked apples as well. “Says the girl that would have a freshly picked apple in one hand and a freshly sharpened axe in the other.”

“Yeah… well… you like apples too,” retorted Asvord.

“Well, we are not without a few defects,” I chuckled.

“Okay, now eat your breakfast,” declared my mother.

“Truce?” I offered.

“Okay,” agreed Asvord.

My mom had then brought over the rest of the food for the meal. As we started to eat, Mom asked us about how our morning had gone. Asvord, Elsa, and I all relayed what had happen about the robbery and the discovery.

“What a lively morning you three have had. I wonder what the rest of your day will have to offer,” voiced my mother. “About the extra claw, this reminds me about something about your father. When we first got married, he would tell me about the stories of cats with extra toes. These cats were found on many ships to help control the rodent and rat problems. Cats with the extra toe could catch rodents a lot faster.”

“How interesting,” Elsa said.

“Your father also said that while he sailed around the ocean, he saw several ships that these ‘Polydactyl Cats’ were great hunters as well as companions,” added my mother. “Polydactyl means ‘many fingers or toes’. But I never heard about a dragon with an extra claw.”

As we were finishing up our meal, we continued to talk about the robbery and the polydactyl cats. I told my mother about meeting Hiccup at the site of the building of the new catapults.

“Stay safe. Be back here around sunset,” mother stated.


“Okay mother, we will,” I replied.

Before we set out for the site of the new catapults, we helped clean off the table and put the dishes away.

We arrived at the site in about a half hour. There were sounds of sawing, hammering, and a lot of orders being given.

“Hey Hiccup,” I greeted. “I see that the catapults are coming along.”

Hiccup waved and then said when my sisters and I came over, “Yeah, it would probably go slightly faster if the twins could just concentrate.”

After Hiccup said that the twins could be seen trying to mess with Snotlout. When Snotlout would carry a section of wood from the supply pile to one of the catapults, the twins with the assistance of their dragons would pick up the section that Snotlout had just taken over and then set it back in the supply pile.

“I see what you mean,” I concurred.

Just then Snotlout had figured out what was happening and told the twins, “Oh is that how you want to play it. When you mess with a great warrior like me, you get the thunder!”

Nothing happened.

“I said, ‘You get the thunder’!” Snotlout said under his breath to his dragon, “Hookfang that is your cue!”

“Looks like the ‘Great Warrior’ can’t even make a good threat,” Tuffnut chuckled.

“Okay, that is it!” said Snotlout.

“Guys! Guys, could we please concentrate on the task at hand.”

Ruffnut was about to say something when she was interrupted by another viking shouting.

“Stoick! Four Outcast ships spotted!”

“I knew Alvin would try an attack on this side of the island!” exclaimed Stoick.

Though I thought to myself, “This side of the island didn’t have any catapults before and there is a steep cliff on this side with only one small pathway leading to a beach below. What would Alvin gain by attacking this side of Berk? Even if we didn’t build any catapults here, the Outcasts would have one major problem. How would you take out Berk successfully by sailing in where you have zero cover? Even if you make it to the beach which doesn’t lead anywhere, how could you make it up the cliff with an army of Outcasts soldiers? There is only shrubbery at each end of the cliff. The only way to get to Berk is the come up the small path.”

Although we had just started building the catapults earlier in the afternoon, we did have three small catapults built. Just then, several arrows were fired from the Outcast ships.

“Everybody get down!” Stoick cried out. All of the arrows ended up just below the edge of the cliff.

“Load the catapults!” cried Stoick. “Ready… Aim… Fire!”

Three medium sized boulders were sent plummeting through the air right at the four Outcast ships. Two of the boulders crashed through sinking the ship next to Alvin’s flag ship. The other boulder took out the mast of the ship on the left side of Alvin’s ship.

Just before Alvin’s flag ship was about to touch the beach and Stoick, the rest of the vikings plus Hiccup and the Academy, were about to go attack mode when all of the sudden Alvin started waving a white flag. Alvin then yelled, “Stoick! I just came here to talk to you. If you don’t attack me or try to capture me, I won’t try to do the same to you. Also, if I don’t return to Outcast waters before sundown, Dagur and his armada will then come and lay siege to Berk. Meet me on the beach down here and come alone.”

Stoick was getting ready to go down and meet Alvin when Hiccup came over and said, “Dad you cannot go down there.”

“I have to see what he wants. He might attack anyway if I do not go down there.”

“Just be careful Dad, it smells like a trap to me.”

“It probably is, but I will be careful. You wait here.”

Stoick then walked down the path. I noticed Hiccup had a worried look on his face. I then said, “Hiccup. You want to go down there with your dragon and make sure your dad will be safe.”

“That is exactly what I want to do.”

My sisters wanted to go too, so we rode with the Academy trainers to help keep an eye on Hiccup’s father. I rode with Hiccup while Elsa rode with Fishlegs and Asvord rode with Astrid.

Hiccup made a wide half circle to go down to the edges of the beach without being seen. The rest of the trainers followed. It also helped that there were thick vines and plants growing down the side of the cliffs to assist us from being spotted. We rested on a ledge near the foot of the cliff next to the beach behind the plants and vines.

“Keep your eyes peeled for anything. I have a very bad feeling that there is a trap set for my dad,” Hiccup whispered.

We couldn’t quite hear what Alvin and Stoick were talking about, but it sounded as if Alvin was actually just stalling for something.

“Hiccup, Alvin sounds like he is stalling for something, so there is definitely something array,” Astrid whispered to Hiccup.

Several minutes had gone by when Fishlegs suddenly whispered in a surprised tone, “Look!”

We all saw a small boat coming around behind a rock formation that was on the opposite side we were. In that small boat was Dagur! I told Hiccup that we need to get over to Alvin’s ship fast.

“Ok. Jarl you come with me. The rest of you stay here,” ordered Hiccup.

Hiccup and I crawled our way through some underbrush which was growing across the beach near the water. When we got to Alvin’s boat I figured we should wait a bit to see what Dagur was up to and also to hear part of the conversation between Stoick and Alvin. I could see on Hiccup’s face he knew what Dagur and Alvin were planning on doing.

“Alvin, why would you risk coming to Berk to settle a dispute about the fishing waters to the Southeast of Outcast Island. We have disputed that region for decades. I thought we decided that those waters were to be left alone until we came to an agreement,” said Stoick in a rather irritated tone.

“Why Stoick, I just wanted to come here and see if we could come to an agreement. I saw the other day some very good fish just swimming around waiting to be caught.” Alvin uttered.

Stoick and Alvin continued to go back and forth when I noticed Dagur’s boat stopped. From my angle Hiccup and I could see him but we both noticed that Dagur could not be seen from the other vikings atop the cliff.

Hiccup then said with a very worried tone, “We need to signal my dad somehow.”

Hiccup was trying to think of something quick when I saw Dagur stand up. He had in his hands what looked like his crossbow. I had to do something quick, so I climbed up the side of Alvin’s boat before Hiccup could stop me. Just as I caught a glimpse of Alvin, Dagur at the same time fired his crossbow. I jumped and pushed Stoick out of the way.

But after I did that, everything went black.

When I woke up, I found that it was night. I also found that my head was throbbing with pain when I tried to sit up.

“Now hold on there. Lay back down. You had quite a blow to the head,” said a strange voice as he kept me from sitting up.

I replied,” Who’s there?!”

“It is okay. I am a friend, or would like to be,” said a very tall man with short brown hair. He also had a beard but it looked like he kept that short as well. This was all the features I could see being it was dark and the only light was the fire. He was sitting off to my right about seven feet.

“Where did you find me? I don’t remember getting here… to this island,” I said in an eased tone as I felt I was safe.

“I found you here on the beach two days ago. And…”

“Two days ago!?” I exclaimed in surprise

“I was returning from the forest when I saw a group of rough looking characters in a large ship. There were three anchored very close to the beach, but one of the ship’s mast was missing,” the stranger said as he came over and sat on a stone next to me. “I saw them lift up what looked to me to be a body and then dump it over the side. I didn’t know if that person was still alive or not. It was a good thing they came on this side of the island because the outlet of the harbor was by a small entrance right near their ships. The island surrounds the harbor cove on each side with a towering rock formation wall.”

“I knew I had to start off for that person immediately. I was able to reach the area no problem next to the harbor wall. It was dusk and I didn’t fear them spotting me because they didn’t seem to be paying any attention. The thing I did fear was the sunlight was diminishing fast because the sun was almost lower than the rock formation wall around the harbor cove,” the stranger continued. “Good thing I am an excellent swimmer. It only took me five minutes to dive down and find you. I brought you back up to the surface. You must have revived because you coughed a few times before you blacked out. I was hoping I wasn’t too late. Obviously I was not. I got you back to the beach just fine. I felt you breathing so I knew you were going to be alright.”

“Well thank you very much for saving my life.”

“Your welcome. Though you gave me a scare not waking up for two days,” the man added. “What was the last thing you remember?”

I was not sure if I should say anything about the important details relating to Berk or the Outcasts during the time before I was hit on the head. I didn’t know if I should trust him or not right now.

“Well, some rival vikings came to my home and at first I thought they were there trying to attack us. They did fire a round of arrows that missed. We launched a round of boulders from our catapults. We struck one ship and took out the mast of another.” The stranger looked at me with interest as I continued.

“The head viking on the flag ship wanted to talk to our chief. Our chief agreed, but I smelled a trap. The meeting was set to be on the flag ship.”

“I couldn’t just stand by and watch my chief walk into a meeting with a potential trap maybe being set. Those vikings would stoop to such a trick because their tribe and ours has been at odds for many years. I was able to get to a vantage point to see and then hear what was happening.”

“I noticed a small boat off in the distance with two vikings in it. They then stopped when the viking that my chief was talking with stoop up. I saw one of the vikings in the small boat then stand up. It looked like he had a crossbow in his hands. I had to act fast because I had a very bad feeling that what might happen next. So I climbed up on the edge of the ship. At that very moment I saw the viking with the crossbow draw back and fire.”

“I jumped pushing my chief out of the way; but that was the last thing I remember before everything went black,” I said in conclusion.

“Wow you must have a lot of courage to do that or you are just stubborn not letting your chief be killed like that,” the stranger said standing up.

I chuckled, “Something like that.”

“Oh by the way my name is Adam Thorvald. But you can call me Adam.

I said, “My name is Jarl Mollerson.

We exchanged greetings.

“So, how did you come here to this island?” I asked while he put more logs on the fire

“Well… I came to the island three years ago. I came here to do some farming to stock up on food before I headed out again to the sea, also, to do some fishing. I am might what you call a viking drifter. I don’t like to stay in one place for long.”

I started to yawn when Adam was done talking. He told me I should rest before he takes me in his small sailing ship back to my home

I looked up at the stars and the moon before I closed my eyes. I always do this before I go to sleep. I am always in awe in the wonder and the beauty of the night sky.

It was only a matter of minutes until I fell asleep.

The next morning I was awakened by a strange sound and something rubbing against my back. I was lying on my right side like I usually do. I opened my eyes to find the strangest thing sitting about a foot in front of my face. I could not believe my eyes. It was a cat! It startled me and I flinched. The cat did not even blink.

“I see you are awake,” Adam greeted me. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” I said in return.

“This is my cat Pebbles. He is one of only a few kinds of cats that can survive on their own this far north. He wanted to let you sleep a few hours more than I wanted you too. But if it wasn’t for Pebbles I would not get up when I need to tend to my farm or small garden. It depends on who you ask. Anyway, uh…” Adam was interrupted by a meow from Pebbles. “I think he wants you to be his friend.”

I was kind of scared but I remembered what my mother always said this about cats, “Cats can always sense your fear for them, if you fear cats. If you don’t fear them, then the cats will let you pet them and also let you become their friend.” My mother had many experiences with cats because my father had several polydactyl cats on his trading ship.

I think I heard enough of my mother’s stories about my father’s cats to be confident that I could become friends with Pebbles. I held out my hand for Pebbles to allow him to sniff it. Pebbles sniffed it twice, licked it twice, and then started to rub on me. When a cat voluntarily rubs on your hand or leg that means they want you to pet them or sometimes just pay attention to them.

“Looks like you know your way around cats Jarl,” responded Adam. “Furthermore it looks like Pebbles likes you. For a lot of people, this is not the case. He will just allow you to be in his presence. Though he loves any to pet and rub his face, as long as Pebbles knows he can trust you.”

I then sat up and watched Pebbles go off into the forest. Adam said he always trots off about this time to find his breakfast.

After a few minutes, the trout was finally done cooking. I sat on my cot where I slept while Adam sat on the stone next to the cot. Adam had additionally picked some fresh strawberries from his garden. I think it would be a garden being a farm usually sounds very large.

“Last night when you told me what happened to why you hit your head, I got the feeling after you had gone to sleep that you didn’t trust me completely,” Adam commented. “I would have done precisely the same thing if I were in your place.”

“I just wasn’t sure if you were one of my clan’s enemies or not.”

I felt now I could trust Adam more than I did the other night, so I retold to the best of my ability what I could recall before I got hit on the head. Adam wanted to prep his ship for sailing so he could take me back home. As I was retelling the story, I inserted the important details such as Berk, the Outcasts with Dagur, Stoick, and along with Hiccup. This was all I included. I was still playing it safe because Adam still might be an enemy, even if he is not from or associated with the Outcasts or the Berserkers.

“I can tell you one thing, I am not with the Outcasts or the Berserkers,” Adam said with a reassuring tone. And also thinking about it, he does not dress or talks like either of those clans. Still, I only just met the man and I still did not know if I should trust him fully. Then again, he did save my life.

After a half an hour, we were ready to sail to Berk. Adam had to gather the rest of his the fruit and food he had in his garden in the forest. He wanted me to check over everything we packed on his ship to make sure that his stuff was secured. As I was checking I had a feeling something was missing. I finished checking. Everything was secured and fastened down. It dawned on me what was missing.

“I wonder where…”

“My cat is?” Adam finished my sentence. “He always waits until the last possible moment to get on my ship. I don’t think he likes sailing. Though it seems like he doesn’t mind sailing either. He probably just tolerates it,” Adam said as he pulled up his anchor in his ship. The waters near the shore were very deep within ten feet from the edge of the beach. No worries of a ship foundering.

“Watch this Jarl. Pebbles will jump up on board when I reach for the pole I use to push off this beach with.”

As soon as Adam grabbed the pole I saw Pebbles jump up on the side of the ship. I also notice he does not it mind getting wet either. This is rare remembering the cats my mother would talk on her husband’s trading ship. They did not mind getting sprayed with water or sailing; but they despised walking through water that was still, let alone walking through a tide on a beach.

It was only ten minutes before we were out off the harbor cove and sailing toward Berk. Adam had a set of oars that he used for his small boat he had on board. He did not have many supplies on board so it was not too difficult to paddle.

Adam told me he had never been to Berk, but he has heard about it from other merchants and traders on ships that had sailed to or near Berk. So he had a pretty good idea which way to go.

Adam and I had sailed for two days when both of us noticed a storm brewing on the horizon.

“That looks like trouble, Jarl. There is no way to get around that storm. All we can do now is to secure all of my supplies on board and then take cover.”

“Take cover where? Under the ship?"

“Yes, sort of.”

Adam then lifted a door from the bottom of the deck.

“We can hide in here until the storm blows over.”

As soon as we had secured all the supplies and took down the sail, the rain had started to fall. I helped Adam take the sail down into the lower deck. Just as Adam was about ready to shut the latch where we entered, Pebbles jumped in.

“I guess Pebbles wanted to join us,” Adam said sarcastically. But I knew he knew that we have a tough night ahead of us. When I saw the first lightning strike, the sun had already set.

Both of us were very surprised that the storm that night did not pack more of a punch. There were only a very few lightning strikes, no ship-toppling waves, and the winds were not very strong. It did gust several times during the night though.


I woke up to find Pebbles in front of my face again. But this time I did not flinch. Pebbles just meowed and batted at my head as if to make me get up.

“What’s wrong big guy?” I asked. I sat up and he got on my lap and continued to bat at me. “What do you want, Pebbles?”

“I think he wants you to help me find a way out,”

“What happened to the door? Won’t it open?” I replied.

“No, I think one of the bigger gusts of wind knocked over the mast. The mast is probably laying on the latch here,” responded Adam. “I have been trying for the past five minutes to get it to open; but to no avail.”

I asked, “Why don’t we see if we can tell where we are right now?”

“Good idea, Jarl.”

I looked out the left side of the boat while Adam looked out the right side. The windows were located close to the deck of the ship so both of us had to find some old crates to stand on to look through the windows.

“Dragon!” Adam exclaimed. “Get down, it is a Night Fury!”

Adam went for his crossbow when I said, “Stop! Don’t shoot at it!

“Jarl, you should know what those things do.”

“Well for one thing, most people don’t even know what they look like. Let alone what they actually do. Trust me on this one.”

Adam nodded.

I knew that the black blur was Toothless and Hiccup; I had to get their attention somehow. I also knew I needed to move quickly because they were flying away from the location our ship. Adam had several shields along the side of his ship which I found one that was overlaid with silver.

“Adam, do you have a tool of some sort to get that shield with the two red stripes up from the side of the ship?”

“Yes.”

“Then go get it please.”

Toothless and Hiccup were almost over us and I had very little time to rig the contraption needed to signal them. I got the crude supplies ready when Adam came with the shield. I picked up a long board and slid it through the handle of the shield. On the other end of that board it had a block of wood that would keep the shield from falling off. Then, I tied a sand bag to the board to keep it from falling out the window. After I had done all that, I had a very small window of opportunity to signal them.

I kept waving the shield back and forth. After five minutes I could not see them, but I knew Toothless would see us.

“I don’t want to give up yet, Jarl, but I don’t see why you want to signal a uh…,”

“A Night Fury? You will see.” I said.

I figured after another five minutes I would start again signaling. When I started again I heard the familiar sound that Toothless makes when he dives down.

“Here comes the Night Fury! Get down!” yelled Adam.

Though I was not fully sure it was Toothless, I knew it had to be Toothless because he would be the only dragon to notice my signal. He would be one of the only dragons to take this reflection as a sign to suggest somebody was in trouble.

Adam saw the dragon and his jaw just dropped.

I announced, “Boy, am I glad to see you.”

“I am so relieved to have finally found you,” said a voice that belonged to Hiccup. “I see you are all right. You must have been on your way home when that storm hit last night.”

“You hit Outcast right on the head, Hiccup.”

Hiccup laughed. “It is great to find you in good spirits, after what you must have gone through.”

As Hiccup and I were talking, Adam was just standing still on the deck.

“What is the matter Adam?” I asked him.

“It is just I never thought I would see a dragon on a viking.. uh I mean.. a viking on a dragon. Wow!”

“Pretty awesome, huh,” I said as Adam nodded. “Oh, Hiccup, this is Adam Thorvald. Adam, this is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third.”

Adam shivered as if to bring his mind back from the clouds to present times. “Nice to meet you, Hiccup. And thank you for helping us out with the mast.”

“Your welcome. And I am glad to meet you,” Hiccup replied.

“So, how are we going to get back to Berk?” questioned Adam. “By the way, how far are we from Berk? We cannot get very far with only four oars.”

“Not far. We are close to Dragon Island,” said Hiccup.

“I do not know where that is but as long as we are near Berk,” Adam answered.

“Yeah, I do not think the three of us can row this ship to Berk,” I said.

“But this still leaves the main problem. ‘How’ to get back to Berk,” responded.

“That is simple. We can ride Toothless back to Berk. And don’t worry, it is perfectly safe,” Hiccup assured Adam.

“What about Pebbles?” I said

“Oh, I can put him in the carrying bag. Well it is half box, half bag.”

“Who is Pebbles?” Hiccup asked quizzically

Just then Pebbles came out from under a tarp. Toothless had been acting like he knew there was something that was strange to him on board. He had been nudging Hiccup for the past couple of minutes.

Surprisingly enough neither one of them acted hostile. Toothless looked like he was puzzled about Pebbles. Pebbles acted the same way toward Toothless. Adam then said that Pebbles had seen a few dragons in his day but never a Night Fury.

Hiccup said he had heard about cats from Trader Johann. Hiccup has never heard of a cat that could survive this far north.

“When we get to Berk, I can send someone to come back for this ship,” said Hiccup. “Do you have an anchor to keep the ship from drifting?”

Adam replied with a yes as he went over to lower it. He told me where the bag for Pebbles was. I got it and put Pebbles in it. By this time Adam and I were ready for the trip back to Berk. Toothless did not mind the extra weight on his back as if he knew he was helping friends of Hiccup’s. Hiccup got on followed by me then Adam.

It wasn’t very long before I could see Berk on the horizon.

“There is Berk!” I exclaimed as we flew over the docks. We also heard some cheering below us. I waved.

By the time we had gotten near Hiccup’s House, I guess the word got around that I had been found because there were a lot of people down in the square in front of Hiccup’s house. I looked for my mother and sisters in the crowd. When we landed I saw my family.

“Mom! Asvord! Elsa!” I said as I ran to meet them.

“Oh I am so glad you are safe and okay!” my mother replied as she and my sisters hugged me.

“We are glad too!” Asvord and Elsa agreed.

Asvord and Elsa had let go of me, but my mother kept hugging me.

“Uh, Mom. You can let go now.”

“Oh, okay. I just… We were so worried about you.”

Adam was standing behind me, so I wanted to introduce him to my family and friends.

“Mom, Asvord, Elsa, everyone, this is Adam Thorvald. This is the man that saved my life!”

Everyone erupted with short cheers for him. My Mom grabbed him, hugged him, and said, “Thank you very much!” She didn’t hold on to him as long as she did me.

“Alright. What is all this commotion about?” demanded Stoick as he tried to make his way through the crowd.

“Dad,” said Hiccup, “This is the man that saved Jarl’s life. This is Adam Thorvald. I found the two of them on Adam’s ship a few hours ago.”

“Well, I am glad you were there to save him,” thanked Stoick.

“You’re welcome,” Adam said.

“Alright, we see that Jarl has been found, what do you all want to do about it?” asked a voice from the crowd which belonged to Gobber.

“Let’s have a celebration feast in the Great Hall tonight!” ordered Stoick.

Everyone cheered.

“Well, the feast isn’t going to make itself. We will need volunteers to get it organized. Gobber how about you…” Stoick said as he walked away towards the Great hall. Because Stoick ordered there to be a feast the crowd dispersed to gathering things together for the feast.

As the whole crowd started to prepare things, I noticed all of the Dragon Academy riders were their too.

“What is that?” Tuffnut said.

“That would be a cat,” said Adam.

“A cat?! What is a cat?” Ruffnut said as bent down to look at Pebbles.

Adam replied, “Pebbles, which is his name, I guess personality wise is kinda like a Terrible Terror and a Gronckle put together. But, cats have fur which can be short or long with varying color types and patterns.”

Tuffnut got down on his knees to look at Pebbles. He started to grab for Pebbles when Pebbles lashed out at him with his paws. Pebbles batted Tuffnut’s face several times.

“Ahh! Why’d he do that?!” Tuffnut shouted out.

“It was because you tried to grab for him when you two just met. You have to let him become friends with you,” Adam said. “Though, it looks as if Pebbles knew you didn’t mean to do that on purpose because there are no scratch marks on your face. Cats do have claws.”

“That is nice to know. A new kind of animal I can use to beat up my sister,” decided Tuffnut.

“What?!” exclaimed Ruffnut. “I was thinking the same for you!”

“Oh yeah?!!”

“Yeah!”

Ruffnut and Tuffnut jumped at each other as they started to fight over who will get to be scratched by Pebbles. The two of them started rolling on the ground hitting each other.

“What are the two of them doing?” Adam asked. “Don’t you think you should…”

“Don’t worry about them. They will be fine,” Astrid said. “They do that on a daily bases. They never seriously hurt themselves.” As Astrid was talking you could hear Ruff and Tuff arguing who would get to be the first to be dismantled by the fierce cat. Clanging of helmets could also be heard. Adam was not really sure what to think of Ruff and Tuff, he would occasionally look over at them.

“But back to your cat Pebbles,” Astrid continued. “How could a cat that small survive this far north?”

“This cat breed has a thick coat of fur that keeps them nice and warm, even in some of the coldest of conditions,” said Adam.

“Interesting,” Astrid said. “Pebbles makes me want to have a cat of my own.”

“Pshstt, I wouldn’t want to have one of those small dinky little animals around,” voiced Snotlout. “Hookfang and I would never have one of those things around. They would just get in the way of my warrior-ness abilities.”

Snotlout kept going on about why he would be caught dead with owning a cat, but thing funny thing was that Hookfang was really enthralled with Pebbles. Pebbles started to roll on the ground going back and forth from his left side to his right side. Hookfang looked like he didn’t know want to do.

“Hookfang!” yelled Snotlout. “What do you think you are doing?!!”

Hookfang didn’t pay a bit of attention to him. He started to do exactly what Pebbles was doing.

“Hookfang!” Snotlout said between his teeth. He ran and pushed Hookfang’s horns pinning them to the ground. That got his attention, fast.

“So, anyway, how did the battle go on after I was knocked out?” I asked as we decided to go to my house.

“We won the battle,” said Hiccup. “But when you pushed my father out of Dagur’s arrow, I didn’t know where you were. I would have gone after you but there were some Outcasts on Alvin’s ships that started to fire and I had to run for cover.”

“We saw that Hiccup was pinned down behind some large stones on the beach so we circled back towards the top to let Jarl’s sisters off before we started to attack Alvin’s ships. I told the twins to give Hiccup some cover fire so Toothless could get to Hiccup,” Astrid added.

“Toothless didn’t wait for the cover fire though, he ran after me.” Toothless, who was walking between me and Hiccup, nodded and snorted to tell that he wouldn’t have waited. Hiccup continued, “We engaged the ships that had remained. We were surprised by four other ships that had come around the other side so we had to head for cover. I picked up my dad and we flew to the top of the cliff. Alvin got away because he used those ships for cover fire for him to be able to get away. And even the ‘cover fire’ ships got away too because they kept firing as they sailed off with Alvin’s ship.”

“Stoick wouldn’t let us go after you because he may have captured you and did not want to risk him hurting you,” Asvord said. “Also, if Alvin did not return to Dagur’s Armada he would lay siege to Berk. Stoick did not want to risk that or the fact that Alvin might mistake the rescue as an attempt in trying to follow him.”

“So we had to wait until the next morning because it was dusk. We would not be able to spot hardly anything during the night,” said Elsa.

“As soon as the sun started to rise, all of us and a few of your friends helped us to try and locate you Jarl. I paired us off with a partner to fly off in varying directions from Berk to search any and every island they found,” said Hiccup. “We searched for two days without any clues to finding you. The third day we could send out any search parties because of a severe thunder storm. But on the fourth day, Astrid and I had flown to Dragon Island. I highly doubted you were there so we flew off towards the east. There were some unexplored islands that way. Astrid searched the first island we came to, while I continued onward. Toothless and I had been heading in a northwestern direction when Toothless acted like he saw something. I told him to take me to him.”

“And that is when you found me and Adam?” I concluded.

“Yes. And the rest we know,” said Hiccup. We had just arrived at my house when Hiccup had finished.

Hiccup said that he would meet me at the feast tonight because there were some jobs that he and the Academy riders needed to attend too.

“We do?” Snotlout asked. Astrid shoved her elbow into his chest.

Snotlout then said with a hoarse voice, “Oh. Ooohh yes, that,”

When I walked into my house I saw all of my closest friends were there to welcome me back. Ashley, Hattori, Sapphire, Meen, and Navaro were all there. They all were extremely glad I was safe. They also wanted me to recount the things that had happened while I was gone.

I told them about how Adam had saved my live from the Outcasts, Adam told them about himself, I told them what happened during and after the storm that wrecked the mast on Adam’s boat, and also Pebbles.

“He is a lovely cat Adam,” my mom said.

“During my travels of the seas, I met a trader that had a couple of cats as mousers on his ships. One of the cats had kittens. He was trying to get the kittens a nice home because he had enough cats for his ship and had no time to care for them. He offered me Pebbles who was the only one left. In a trade, the man wanted some old silver bracers I was wearing. I gladly traded them for Pebbles. Pebbles and I have been together ever since,” said Adam.

Ashley said, “He is beautiful,” as Adam was holding him so everybody could see him.

“He looks as if he doesn’t like being called ‘beautiful’, Ashley.” Hattori said.

“Well,” Adam replied, “Every time someone says that, it seems like Pebbles knows when they say it and acts like, ‘I am not beautiful, I am just… good looking.’” Everyone laughed

“It should be about time celebration feast of the man who saved a chief’s life,” Sapphire said as she stood up. “A person who saves the chief of Berk shouldn’t keep the people waiting.”

“Come on guys, let’s go,” said Meen.

“You people go on I want to make sure uh, Pebbles is bed done for the night,” said Adam. I noticed an odd tone in his voice

“Okay, see you there Adam,” said Navaro.

I was enjoying the meal they had prepared for me. Grilled yak among other things, along with some yak-milk that was leftover from last Snoggletog. “Oddly enough that stuff never gets old. In fact I think yak-milk was old to begin with,” I said out loud. I looked around to see if Astrid was nearby. I saw she was not, so I breathed a sigh of relief.

I did forget to mention that I am an excellent archer. Well the night and the feast were coming to a close, people started to go home. After a while it was just me, my sisters, my friends and Hiccup. The rest of the Academy riders had gone home. I was still sitting at the table where I had first sat down that evening when my friends came over.

Hiccup presented me with a gift. Hiccup said, “Your mother had told me that you are a skilled archer. So in my appreciation of what you did for my father, I would like to give you this.”

It was a bow. He also brought me a holder with several arrows in it. Hiccup said he made them for me this afternoon.

“Why thank you Hiccup,” I said. “This is a wonderful gift, but I was just doing what…”

Hiccup interrupted, “I know, and I thank you for it.”

“Why are you still here, Jarl?” asked Navaro. “Everyone has gone home.”

“I don’t know.”

“I know that look,” said Asvord. “You are either contemplating whether you want drink your yak-milk or you are worried about something.”

I chuckled, “It is just that I am still a little uneasy about Adam.”

“How so?” asked Ashley. “I mean he just saved your life. Why would you feel uneasy about him?”

“I guess I feel that there is something different about him,” said I.

“Well if you mean something different as in we just met him, he is not from around here, and he has a cat. I think these would classify him as being something different about the man,” said Meen.

“Ha. I guess I mean there is something that I feel he is hiding?”

“Like what for instance?” said Hattori.

“Back before we left to come to the feast, he said he had to make sure Pebbles is bed down for the night and said he would come up to the Great Hall later,” I said.

“Maybe something came up that he couldn’t make it. And, well we all would bed-down our pets for the night,” stated Sapphire.

“I mean the way he talked. It were trying to think up an idea because he all of the sudden didn’t want to go or had something he just remembered he had to do,” I replied.

“Though it might be that you are just tired and are not thinking straight or you are just jumping to conclusions,” expressed Elsa. “I think he is the most handsome man I have ever met.”

“I think your right little sis,” I uttered.

“That he is the most handsome man you have ever met?” declared Meen.

“No-wa,” I said. “You know what I was implying.”

“No. What were you implying?” retorted Meen.

“Oh! I surrender Meen,” I said. “Come on, let’s all go home and get to bed.

We all laughed as we walked out of the Great Hall. Since Hiccup was with us, we stopped by his house because his was the first house.

“Goodnight Hiccup,” we all said to Hiccup as he walked up to his house. Toothless was right behind him.

Just than a viking ran past us, pushing us out of the way to get Hiccup’s house. He then open the door, walked in and said, “Stoick!”

“What’s the matter Spitelout?” asked Stoick.

“There has been another robbery.”

“What?” everybody seemed to say whether with their mouth or with their facial expression.

“Alright, where?” said Stoick.

“The armory.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

We turned around to watch them walk out to the armory, when I saw a pillar of smoke in the air.

“Guys look!” Navaro exclaimed. “There is a fire!”

Stoick looked up and said, “You kids come with us! You will be needed in a fire brigade!”

We quickly followed Stoick and Spitelout to the Armory. Hiccup said there was a well near the armory. Hiccup wanted us to fill buckets of water for the brigade. Also he wanted a few of us to carry the buckets over and dump them on the armory building. Hiccup said he was going tell the Academy riders the same thing.

With the help of me, my friends and the Academy riders, we had the fire out in no time.

“Now,” Stoick said, “How was this fire started?”

A viking answered, “I don’t know”

“Well somebody needs to find out,” demanded Stoick. “Is there any weapons in there that are not destroyed?”

Spitelout replied, “Well, the swords are fine, a little scared by the fire but all of the hammers, shields, rope… that is all useless.”

“Was there anybody in the armory at the time?” asked Stoick.

“There couldn’t have been. I locked it up over three hours ago so I could go to the celebration feast for Jarl. I was the last one to exit the armory,” said Spitelout.

“Hey look,” said Tuffnut. He came out of the armory with a large hammer. “See. There is one hammer that isn’t useless.”

I said, “Hey Tuff, that handle might break and the…” Crash. “…Hammer.. might.. land.. on your head.”

Gobber rolls his eyes as he comes over to us with a battered and scorched shield in his hands. “Haa! Who could have started this fire! Look at this shield! This was my Grandmum’s. It was her favorite. It had pink flowers on it and everything. Look here is some blood on this shield. I remember the time when she made this shield. When she was driving the nails in, she would always stub her thumb. But…”

“Okay, enough Gobber. We can tell you are upset about the shield. I have a bigger problem than your Grandmum’s old shield. I have a village that is basically defenseless from any attack from anybody.”

Gobber had kept going on about the shield, and then said, “I tell you it is those little trolls. They started with my socks. Then the noises in my sleep came, then the little trolls stealing my pants. But now, now they have gone too. The trolls daring to mar me Grandmum’s shield, this is it.”

While Gobber and Stoick were going back and forth, I was examining the shield. Where Gobber had pointed out the blood, I noticed something very peculiar.

“Guys come here,” I directed my friends and the Academy riders to come over. “Elsa, grab that lantern.”

I showed everybody the blood that Gobber pointed out.

“So,” said my sister Asvord. “Just looks like some dried blood.”

“Yes, but look next to that,” I replied.

“Looks like a bigger blood stain,” said Ruffnut.

“No, the flower next to the blood stain,” I said with a gruff undertone.

“It looks like a red flower,” said Tuffnut.

“A red flower?” said Sapphire.

“Then that means…,” Astrid said while Hiccup finished the sentence. “…the ‘red’ flower should be pink.”

I said, “Exactly. The red that we see is actually fresh blood. Notice the difference in darkness. One spot is dark like dried blood, but the other spot is a very bright red. That could only mean one thing.”

“The fire in the armory was no accident,” said Hattori.

“The fire was started on purpose,” concluded Hiccup.

Hiccup had gone over to talk to Stoick about this new clue, when there was a tremendous flash of light and a clap of thunder.

“There must be a storm coming on,” I said.

“No kidding. I thought Thor just wanted to stretch by doing some lightning exercises,” retorted Meen.

“Very funny,” I replied.

Hiccup came back and said that his father said that one of the vikings that helped put the fire out must have hurt himself and the shield was lying near him. But we all knew that this wasn’t the case.

“I guess we should all go home there is not much we can do tonight, especially with this storm coming,” Hiccup said.

Everyone that had a dragon got on theirs and flew home, but before Ashley got on hers she said, “You know, you guys should train a dragon because it would make your lives easier.”

Asvord and Elsa did a subtle giggle. I knew as well as they did that they have been secretly training their own dragons. I gave the two of them a look. Elsa stuck her tongue out at me, so I just shook my head at her.

“What?” said Ashley.

“It is not important right now,” I said. “You will find out sooner or later what my two sister masterminds are doing. I won’t spoil their fun.”

“Okay,” Ashley told me. “See you guys later.”

Me and my sisters waved back and started toward home. Our house was only a few minutes away. As we were half way there, the rain came and man it came with heavy, huge drops.

“Yowzers!” I exclaimed. “These kinda hurt.”

With that said we picked up the pace to get to our house. Suddenly a viking ran past us, so I stopped. I was thinking someone is going to say, “Go after that man I have been robbed!” somebody said as I was thinking it. In fact I was mouthing the exact words as that viking was saying them.

“Ah, I was right.”

The rain had picked up and was coming down quite rapidly. This made the ground under my feet start to get slick. I noticed the man’s footprints in the dirt that was now turning to mud. The strides were almost the same length apart as the footprints I found the day of Nora Asmolfr’s robbery. The assailant quickly ducked between two houses. I stopped and started to go next some houses that were adjacent to where the assailant had gone. I kept running though traction now was very slippery. I came out behind one of the houses and saw the suspect.

I was not gaining on him, so I stopped to see what direction I thought he might head. He was heading towards Gobber’s shop. I knew a shortcut that came from behind Gobber’s shop. So I went in that direction.

Thinking back to what Ashley said about me training a dragon now seems to be like I should have done that a long time ago. But I was just waiting for the dragon that seemed right to me.

The route I took I could still hear my suspect was still heading towards Gobber’s shop. I came out behind the shop just in time to see that the robber had just passed me.

“Uuugg!!” I voiced.

I started after him again. He was now heading toward Berk’s main docks. I wondered why he would go there. He obviously didn’t know his way around Berk because he was taking the long way to the docks. He took a ramp that led down where the fishing ships dock. So I went the easier way that was a ton quicker.

When I got to the docks the rain was now like a monsoon and my clothes were soaked. I waited for him by the lower entrance of the docks. He came right on schedule. However, as I started to go down the pier, this time I took a shortcut. I ran and jumped across the ship lengthways by stepping on some barrels that were stacked. The suspect decided to cut between the two ships that were in front of me. I timed my strides to run and jump on some crates in a ship. As I got to the top I jumped and dove for the assailant, knocking him to the ground. I did a summersault to get back up on my feet. I jumped on him and as he was trying to regain his balance. We struggled and wrestled for several minutes.

I was thinking, “Why won’t a lightning strike flash so I can get a better look at this guy?”

We rolled over three times he started to lean down. I used his forward momentum to catapult him backwards. He hit the edge of the stone. I stood their ready to fight. He got up and stared at me. It was like he was saying, “So? You want to play tough do you?” He charged at me. Though I tried to dodge him, he was still able to get me. We tumbled to the ground.

I could hear and see momentarily that there was a group of vikings coming down the main ramp to the docks hear. With that, the suspect threw a left gab. I blocked it with my right arm only to be hit squarely on the jaw by a right cross. I fell to the ground. Although it was only what felt like I was dazed for a few seconds, I saw the assailant turn the corner up ahead.

I ran after him, but found when I had turned the corner he had disappeared.

I was dumbfounded. Just then that group of vikings lead by Stoick came up to me.

“Are you alright boy?” he asked.

“I think so,” I replied. “Maybe a sore jaw but that is it.”

“How did it happen?” Stoick questioned.

“Long story short, I chased him, wrestled him, he saw you guys coming, he threw a punch, I blocked it, though only to receive a cruel right cross on the jaw. I slumped back dazed for a few seconds, but then ran after him again. I turned the corner here to find that he had disappeared.”

“Well we won’t be able to find him in this kind of weather. Let’s get you home and into some dry clothes,” Stoick said as I finished.

Not more than five minutes were gone until I was at my front door. I expected to my mother to say the usually things when I came home looking like a mess.

I told the rest of the viking to relay to my sisters I am at home I walked in. I did open the door first. My mother gasped as she looked at me.

“Honey you are soaked!” my mother told me. “And how did you get all those scratches?”

As I walked in, Stoick bid me and my mother farewell. My mother came over and said, “You march upstairs and put on some dry clothes young man.”

I did not resist because I started to shiver. I had gone upstairs and went straight for my dresser. I heard thunder from several lightning strikes off in the distance, which meant that the danger of the storm had moved through. I took out a clean shirt along with some pants. I kept looking for some socks, but couldn’t find any. Then it dawned on me. The disappearances of missing left socks in Berk. The culprit has stuck again. Back about a week ago when Gobber’s socks started to vanish, I put a couple of pairs behind my pillow. But they were gone too. However, I hid one pair on a shelf above my bed. I looked and there they were, thank goodness.

Just after I slid my second pair of brown boots on, the door opened. A rush of wind came through the house and then stopped when the door was closed.

“Where is Jarl?” asked Asvord.

“He is upstairs,” my mother replied. I had walked down when she said that.

Asvord and Elsa were eager to see if I caught the thief or not. I relayed that I had not. My mother was rather frightened that a thief is running around Berk. I told all three of them my chase with the thief.

“Wow,” said Elsa astonished. “I wonder where the man could have gone.”

“Where is Adam, mother?” Asvord asked.

“Oh my dear,” my mother said worriedly. “He said he had to step out for a moment to go retrieve something. I haven’t heard from him since.”

I went to the window and looked out. “Well speak of a hairless yak, here he comes now,” I said.

I opened the door for him. Adam came in with mud all over his pants and shirt.

“What happened to you?” my mother asked.

“Well, I had to go get some grass from the forest for my cat Pebbles. I remembered the feast when I had gotten done, but could not find my way back,” Adam said as he walked over and stood next to the fire. “After trying to find my way back to your house, the rain came. I started to run towards the direction the storm came from because that was the direction the wind was coming from earlier today.”

“What is the matter with your hand?” Asvord asked as she saw Adam grab and shake his hand.

“I when I was running, I must have stumbled across something and I tried to break my fall. That is when I hurt my left hand. It must have hit the ground or something,” replied Adam.

Just then, Pebbles came in the room. He had in his mouth one of my socks.

“Pebbles!” I voiced. “Why do you have one of my left socks in your mouth?”

Adam chuckled and picked up Pebbles. Adam took the sock from Pebbles mouth and gave it to me. Adam described how Pebbles has always taken socks where ever he is at. He also said that Pebbles usually takes socks from people he really likes.

“I guess that you are one of them Jarl,” Adam finished.

I looked at my sisters; all three of us knew we were thinking the same thing. Adam asked me what happen to my face, so I recounted the events of the robbery. I told him how I took out after the robber and chased him all the way down to the docks, which was followed by a struggle, then he punched me in the jaw, and lastly disappeared.

“Oh by the way Jarl, the item that was stolen was one of that viking’s prized axes,” remembered Asvord.

“That is funny,” I said.

“What?” asked Elsa.

“When I ran after the suspect and had wrestled with him, I found no trace that he was carrying anything,” I said, puzzled.

Adam added, “Hmm. Maybe he stashed the axe when you tried to cut him off.”

“Maybe so,” I said.

Suddenly silence filled the room. This was no ordinary silence. This was an awkward silence.

“Well…,” Adam said. “I think I will be getting to bed now.”

“We should all get to bed,” ordered my mother as she pointed at me, Asvord, and Elsa. “Oh, you should get out of those wet clothes Adam. I have some clothes that I have recently made that might fit you.” My mother and Adam started to talk about how she mends and makes clothes.

My sisters and I had stopped on the stairs, “Get up to bed,” my mother said as she spotted us. I went up stairs and flopped on my bed. I don’t know why I did this because there was only a blanket on my bed.

“Why do you keep doing that, stupid?” wondered Asvord.

“I don’t know,” I said as I rubbed my side. “I guess I am expecting something soft to be on there. I,” -yawn- “don’t know.”

With that, the three of us got into our three beds. As soon as I laid my head on my pillow, I went right to sleep.

When the first rays from the sun came rushing into the house, I went straight to the docks. I wanted to greet some of my friends that had gone out on a fishing trip. They had left about a week ago and were due back today.

While I was waiting I also wanted to inspect the tracks and the spot where I struggled with the mysterious man. I saw as I arrived at the docks that the fishing ship was just anchoring in the docks. I walked over to welcome back my friends.

“Welcome back Cullan and Kesu.”

“Hi Jarl,” said Kesu and Jack.

“Hello Jarl,” said Cullan

“How was the trip and how’d you do?” I asked.

“That had to be the most boring thing I have ever done, and I did basically nothing on the trip. Other than that I think we did okay,” Cullan responded.

“I think your dragons will be glad to see you,” I stated.

“Oh thanks for taken care of our dragons while we were gone,” thanked Jack.

“Your welcome,” I answered. “How big a catch did you receive?”

“We did quite well considering the storms we had to deal with,” said Kesu. “We were fine. The ship did rock some but we held out fine. One of the vikings did get sea sick though.”

“Oh. Is he okay now?” I asked.

“Yeah he is fine,” replied Jack.

Cullan had continued on, probably to go see his dragon. I, Jack, and Kesu were still at the docks. Pat and Jack told me the rest of the events of the trip. Pat was part of Kesu’s last name. His friends usually just call me Pat. One event that had happened on the trip was Cullan had gotten so bored that he tried catching a large fish with just some rope and his bare hands. Pat said he successfully caught the fish after three attempts.

“You two go get settled and I will talk to you later,” I expressed.

They waved good bye as they ran off. I wasn’t very hungry so I stayed and continued to inspect the scene of my wrestling match last night.

I found nothing of importance there, so I went to the corner where I had saw go last night. I was following the robber’s footprints in the mud when all of the sudden the tracks just stop. There had to be an explanation for this. I thought about it for several minutes.

“What would I do if I were the robber?” I asked myself.

Something came to me as I was thinking. I continued on the path to see if my theory would be true or not. The path was really just a ledge that stuck out. About twenty paces down, I picked up his tracks again. My theory was true. After the culprit turned the corner he somehow got to this point without making any tracks. There were a few ways he could have done this, but my opinion was that he jumped into the water, swam over, and then got out and continued on.

The ledge I was on started to incline. The tracks stopped when the ledge stopped. When I looked up, I saw the edge of the forest that led to the Cove.

Just then Hattori Korozniu flew glided by on his golden Nightmare.

“Hey Hat!” I greeted.

“Hey Jarl!” he replied as he turned and flew back towards me.

“What are you doing here, Jarl?” he asked.

“I was tracking someone’s a robber’s footprints,” I said. “Did you hear about the robbery last night?”

“I did, and the village is getting restless about all the robberies,” said Hat.

“Could you fly me up there?” I asked as I pointed to the start of the forest.

“Sure. You know…,”

“…that I should train my own dragon and this would make my life a lot easier and so on and so forths,” I declared.

“I see that you have been asked this question before,” Hattori chuckled.

“Yeah, and I want to wait for a dragon that I feel in my heart is the right one. I just don’t want to train a dragon just so I can get from this spot to that spot,” I expressed.

“I can understand that,” Hattori agreed as a patted Shadow Strike, his Monstrous Nightmare.

We arrived at the spot where I pointed out to Hat, and I investigated a spot on the edge of the cliff that was directly above the ledge. The ground was stone so there were no footprints; however, I did find rough grooves in the side of the cliff. It felt like arrowhead grooves, kind of like my arrows I have for my bow.

I stood up and looked around.

“What’s the matter?” asked Hat who had a confused look on his face.

“I.. am.. looking.. for…,” I said as I walked toward the forest’s entrance. “This!” I pointed down to some footprints that led into the forest. Because ground was still soaked from the “monsoon” that poured down on us last night, I could not tell if they had just been made or not. But next to the footprints were the polydactyl dragon tracks.

“Hattori,”

“Uh oh,” declared Hat. “When you say ‘Hattori’, it means that something important is about to happen.”

“Yep,” I sounded. “Go tell our friends that we have our best lead on finding the person and or dragon responsible for the robberies around Berk!”

“Alright, I am on it,” Hat said as he flew away on Shadow Strike.

I needed to go back to my house for the morning meal after Hat left, but wanted to stop by the house that was robbed last night. When I arrived I found the owner of the house was just stepping out of his house.

“Hello there, sir,” I greeted him.

“What do you want?” the man said in an aggravated tone.

“I just wanted to stop by and ask you a few questions,” I replied. “I was the one that ran after the man you said to stop last night.”

“Oh, I thank you for trying to stop that man,” the viking said. “I was taken by surprise when the he came into my house with an odd looking dragon and just grabbed one of my best axes right off the wall.”

“Wait,” I said startled. “You saw the man and the dragon?!”

“Yes. Why?”

“Well if you saw the man, would you be able to recognize him again if you saw him?”

“I don’t know,” the man said. “Maybe.”

“Could you describe what the man and the dragon looked like?” I said anxious to find this out.

“I couldn’t tell what the dragon look like. Only that it was on the man’s left shoulder and had small yellow eyes,” said the viking as he sat down on a bench right outside his house. “But the man, he was tall and thin. I say he was young, not quite middle aged yet. That is all I can remember at the moment.”

“Thank you very much, this will help me out tremendously,” I said thanking the man. “I would very much like to solve this mystery. This is starting to hit close to home. Oh could I have your name?”

“Yes, it is Vemund Steinson,”

I replied thank you and bid him good day. About other five minutes or so I found myself at my house. I went in to find that my family had just sat down at the table to eat breakfast. I sat down at my seat and poured some water from a pitcher that was sitting on there.

“Guess what I just found out?” I said as I reached for some bread.

“What?” my mother said as she poured yak stew in our bowls.

“I found out that the man that had his axe stolen the other night can actually tell what he looks like; and might be able to identify him.”

“Wow, I was not expecting that,” Asvord said shocked.

“Yeah, I know,” I continued. “I also picked up the robber’s tracks. I told Hat to tell the other teens to get their dragons and meet me back at the spot where I found the tracks. The tracks lead into the forest towards the Cove.”

“Ooo. Do we get to go?” Elsa asked.

“I would like you and Asvord to stay here keep an eye on things,” I replied. “If anything happens, send Smoky with a message.” Smoky was our gray Terrible Terror me and my sisters had trained together.

Asvord asked me if such things like if there is another robbery. I said yes.

Asvord then answered back with a fake serious tone, “So if someone takes an apple away from a worm, do you want me to send Smoky for that?”

I made a face at Asvord. “Okay enough of that,” my mother said. “Peace talks may now commence with the three of you eating your soup.”

We all chuckled and began eating. After I was done, I told my mother I we had enough food for me to take it along with me for the trip. Also I needed enough food for the others if they didn’t bring any food, because I didn’t specify to Hat for them to bring any food with them. She said we did, so I gathered the food and put it into my backpack and set off for the meeting spot.

When I had arrived Ashley Sorethon, Cullan Quinn, Thoreous Gloriosn, and Hattori Korozinu were there waiting for me.

“Man, I heard what happened to you,” said Thoreous as we greeted one another. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I am fine,” I replied.

Just then all my other friends arrived, which included: Sapphire, Navaro, Meen, and Kesu Patro, as well as Adam.

“Could I come along with you guys?” Adam asked. “I got nothing better to do with my time.”

“If you want to come,” I said. “We won’t be able to track the footprints on our dragon, but I have a feeling that we will need them.”

“How long will this trip take?” asked Nav.

“Two or three days,” I replied.

“That is not bad,” said Sapp.

“No it isn’t,” agreed Cullan. “Compared to what I have been doing, it is great.”

Just then Tory Skyman landed and walked over to where we were meeting. “Alright, let’s get going,” Tory said. Cullan had the blankest look on his face I have ever seen. He was sharpening his sword but stopped when he saw Tory. Cullan had never before stopped to look at anything while sharpening his sword. Cullan kept looking at her while she walked past me with her dragon. Cullan saw that I was watching, so he said, “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing,” I said as ran up to take the lead in following the tracks.
We all chuckled as I lead the way into the forest. The tracks were quite definite.
After about ten minutes of walking without anyone saying a word, I spoke, “I found out from Vemund Steinson, the man who’s axe was stolen, can identify the robber.”

“He can?” Adam said startled.

“Yes,” yes I replied

Ashley agreed, “That would be great if Steinson can recognize the culprit. Did the Steinson say how he could recognize him?”

“Basically just by build,” I responded. I felt Adam give a slight sigh. I continued with, “Also, Steinson caught a quick glimpse of the dragon with the extra claw.”

“He did?” Adam asked, startled again.

“Yeah,” I said hesitantly as I peaked at Adam as I was walking. I continued with, “Steinson only saw that the dragon had yellow eyes, but the way he said he saw the dragon conveys that the dragon is small.”

“Interesting,” said Meen

“By the way guys, I don’t know if you backed any food for the trip, but I did and put it in my backpack here,” I said patting my pack.

“That is good,” Adam said quickly as if trying to change the subject.

Hat added, “Also, Hiccup wanted to let you know that we could spend some time hunting for some of the wild pigs that roam the island. Berk will need a supply of meat for the winter months that are coming up.”

“Okay,” I said. “If we can get a rough direction of where the robber is going, we will stop and hunt some.”

Cullan was bringing up the rear so I wanted to ask him if he saw anything. “Hey Cullan,” I called out turning around to walk backwards. “Have you seen anything out of the ordinary?” There was no answer. I stopped to repeat my question. Cullan answered with, “Uhh,.. no I haven’t.” I had a feeling what he was doing because Tory was right in front of him.

As we pressed on, we came to a clearing that had a small stream. I noticed the tracks led straight into the stream.

“Looks as if the culprit is trying to give us the slip,” Ashley said.

“I agree,” said Hat.

There was a brief thoughtful moment before Pat said, “Maybe we should split up and go in every direction and see if we can pick up the trail again?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” I said. I thought for a split second, “Ashley, Hattori, and I will continue to go north; while Sapphie, Meen, Navaro, and Thoreous go west downstream; and Cullan, Tory, Pat, and Adam east upstream. Sound good?” Everyone agreed. “You’ll have to either walk or glide slowly because you will need to be able to spot any small detail that looks at of place,” I finished.

The direction that Hat, Ashley, and I took led right next to the Cove. After we had search in this direction for ten minutes, I heard some small rocks fall of the edge and slid down the side of the rock wall around the Cove.

“Hat?” I whispered to him as I continued to walk forward.

“We are being followed by someone,” Hat replied.

“What?” Ashley said.

“Shh,” whispered Hat. “I saw a bright glare up there as I was looking around.”

“You two fly ahead while I try and draw him out,” I said.

“Wait,” Ashley said. “I hear something.” We paused. It was the sound of dragon wings flying away.

“Quick let’s see where he’s off too,” I ordered.

I jumped on Shadow Strike with Hat as Ashley jumped on her dragon, Megan. We flew after the person on the dragon. Just then we heard a Gronckle blast. This made the dragon disappear over the horizon. He had to big a lead on us for us to catch him.

“Do you see what I see?” Hattori said, stunned.

“Is that a…,” Ashley said. But I finished her sentence with, “That is a Whispering Death that person is riding on.”

Since the three of us were stunned by what we saw, we didn’t say a word until another Gronckle shot was heard.

“I.. guess.. we.. should go check what the shot was for,” I said slowly as Hat turned his dragon around. I kept watching the man fly away on the Whispering Death until he was out of view.

We flew to where the Gronckle blast came from and found the rest of our group was there.

“What did you find?” Ashley said as she jumped off her dragon after we had landed.

“You will never guess,” Meen replied.

I answered, “You found some of the stolen items from the robberies around Berk.”

Meen made a face at me. “How can I help it if a wild guess came true or not,” I said.

I saw that a little of what was stolen from around Berk was there, but there were still a lot missing. Among the items there was Astrid’s axe and Steinson’s axe. Several other items such as books, shields, scrap metal, and other tools. Oh, and there were a ton of left socks.

“So this is where all the socks in Berk have gone,” Thor said. “My mother will be glad to get my socks back. But the thing is, how can we tell whose socks are whose?”

“I don’t know but we better get this stuff to some shelter because another storm is brewing,”

“How can you tell?” asked Tory.

“By the clouds,” I answered. “I saw Cirro-stratus clouds yesterday, and this morning I saw Alto-Cumulus clouds. The first batch of clouds indicated that there would be a change in the weather in about a day. Those Alto-Cumulus clouds tell me there should be a thunderstorm coming pretty soon now.”

“I think I see it now,” said Cullan as he pointed to some ominous looking cumulonimbus clouds.

“I saw a cave, that is big enough for our dragons, while we were coming to your position when we heard your shot, Thor,” said Pat.

“Good we will need to get this stuff there quick,” I said as I started to pick up some of the items. “The storm should be here within the hour, by the looks of it.”

“Okay, well let’s hop to,” replied Meen.

Pat said that the cave was only a few minutes from us by flying, so that would mean about five or so minutes of walking. I picked up several items I thought I could carry, so did the others. They got on their dragons and followed Thor to the cave. Since I was carrying several more items than the dragon riders, I walked to the cave.

We had to make two trips. This made me realize that these items should be the majority of the items around Berk that were stolen. When I was walking back from the first trip, I noticed the storm had quickly moved from the last time I saw it. I walked back to the cave with my load the second time, though it was not as much as the first trip.

I was the last one to get to the cave and told Hattori and Ashley to gather some fire wood, because we will be in this cave over night. I also figured because the clouds were high and towering, there should be a cold front in front of it bringing colder temperatures. However, the temperatures should be severely colder, because it is cool right now.

As I waited outside the cave for Hat and Ash to get back with the firewood, I observed the storm’s lightning strikes. They were cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, so I knew there were electric charges in the clouds and on surface of the sea. Of what I just said, you can probably gather I have a very good knowledge of weather. I enjoy observing the weather and watching the patterns it makes, so I can accurately predict what the weather should be.

Hat and Ash got back just in time to hear me say, “You guys got back just in time, because the rain should start pouring any minute.”

And it did. As soon as the two of them had gotten inside the cave entrance, it started to pour.

As the three of us walked into the cave, I carried Ashley’s firewood for her.

“Thank you, Jarl,” thanked Ashley.

Hattori then said, “I would have done the same thing Jarl, but as you can see I have my own load to carry.”

We joined the others at a spot that Cullan had picked out. He said this should be a good spot because there is a natural ventilation shaft outlet over head. This will make the smoke from the fire be taken out of the cave so we it does not stay in the cave.

“So did you guys find anything?” I asked as I laid some of the firewood beneath the ventilation shaft.

“We picked up the tracks of the man we were following,” said Tory. “And we followed them as they turned back in the direction of Berk.”

“Strange, the man should do that,” said Thor.

“That is when we heard Meteorblast’s shot,” added Cullan.

I finally realized something by asking, “Where’s Adam?”

“Oh,” said Pat. “Shortly after we started off from where split up into groups, Adam stepped in some type of hole. He said he twisted his ankle and thought he should head back to Berk.”

“I thought it was strange,” added Cullan. “He wanted to go all the way back to Berk.”

“He said he didn’t’ want to be a nuisance, so he left and went back to Berk,” finished Pat.

“Are you sure he was alright?” I asked.

“Yeah,” said Pat. “I examined the ankle. Look as if he lightly twisted it.”

Just then there was a loud clap of thunder from a lightning strike. We all felt the cave shake as if a cave-in were imminent. But as suddenly as it started, it stopped. We all sighed in relief.

“That was close,” said Nav.

I heard my stomach growl at me, telling I should get the food out of my pack and start handing it out. I had some smoked meat we could roast over the fire. I also had some fruit we could snack on while the meat was cooking.

“Oh by the way; Hat, Ash, and I saw a man riding a Whispering Death,” I said abruptly as we were roasting our meat.

Most of them said, “What?!” or gasped. I recounted what had transpired while Hat, Ash, and I were away from the group. They all were stunned by a man riding a Whispering Death. We all kept mulling that over while the meat cooked.

I asked Hat a question, “You told me earlier you were going to tell me later why Jack declined to go with us.”

“Oh yeah,” said Hat. “He said he had an important lead to follow up that he had found. He said it might have a big bearing on the robberies but it might turn out to be nothing. Either way he said he had to stay in Berk to follow up on it.”

“Okay,” I replied.

After we had nearly finished our meal, I got up and said, “Okay, anyone want to hear scary story?”

“Sure,” said Cullan. “What is it this time, the attack of the clean Outcast?”

Everyone laughed.

“Close,” I said.

I started to talk in random circles, about some random Outcast on some random island, talking with some other random Outcast, talking about some random topic. Can you see where I am going with this?

“As the two were talking,” I said with a low mysterious voice. “Out from the depth of the ocean sprang a random giant sea monster! Let see if I can get my best monster expression.”

Everybody kept shaking their heads, but as long as they kept laughing I did not really care if I looked weird or not.

“Okay here we go,” I said as I revealed my “scary” look. It was more funny than “scary” though.

Everyone gasped and stopped smiling. “Ha hah! I have finally scared you guys,” I said with an important voice. I began to open my mouth to go, “Rroagha!”, but something beat me too it by going, “Roarrrrr!”

I slowly turned around to find a green Thunderdrum slowly walking toward me. My first reaction was to be scared or terrified, but something made me relax. I think it was because the dragon didn’t seem care if we were there to “hurt it”. But I knelt down and asked it what was wrong. The Thunderdrum turned to show me he had a broken spine tip and what looked like several bumps and scratches.

I spent the rest of the night nursing the Thunderdrum’s bumps and scratches. When the others tried to get close to me and the drum, he would start to growl. This made me the only one to get near him.


The next morning I found myself lying next to the Thunderdrum. He must not have moved all last night because the last thing I remember was treating his broken spine tip. I got up and decided to go outside and check what had happened over night.

As I was walking to the entrance of the cave when I noticed the Thunderdrum was following me. I thought that was kind of neat. When I had neared the entrance, I could see immediately the damage of the storm last night. Several trees were knocked down, the ground was soaked, and the one lightning strike that shook the cave must have knocked some large rocks in front of the cave, because there they stood.

I went back and told everybody what I had saw, and I also said that we will need some of the dragons to make a path for us to get out of this cave. They accomplished this in a matter of minutes. With the large rocks out of the way, I told the guys that I would like to go back to Berk and make sure with Gobber and Hiccup that this Thunderdrum doesn’t have any other apparent injuries. They all said that would be fine. I knew the rest of my friends could catch some of the hogs because Hattori had packed some traps.

Before I left, I strapped some of the items from the robberies to my pack and started off for towards Berk. I made sure to leave the rest of the food for my friends, in-case they need to stay past afternoon which I didn’t see them doing that. All they could really do is set the traps, wait and see if any hog will come then they could catch them. But they don’t usually come out until late in the evening, so my friends could actually come back to Berk once they have set all the traps.

As I was almost back to Berk, I saw two girls playing with some strange red object. I couldn’t tell what the object was exactly, but as soon as I got closer I could discern that it was a small dragon, a baby dragon to be exact.

When I had almost reached them, the two girls saw me and came to greet me.

“Hi,” they both said.

“Hello. What is your name?” I asked.

The blonde haired one answered first, “My name is Repteil.”

“And my name is Faith,” said the other girl.

“What do you have there,” I questioned as I pointed to the small red dragon that Repteil was holding.

“I am not sure,” replied Repteil.

“We saw it lying next to the road here when we came by,” said Faith.

“It sure looks like a love-able dragon,” I said as the dragon started to rub his head under my hand which I held out.

“Yeah. We named him Fire,” said Faith. “We have played with him since we found him.”

“Fire can do tricks too. Watch,” Repteil said as she threw a stick. Fire started after it.

When Fire was walking back with the stick, I observed the dragon. I noticed its features. He had a very skinny body, almost snake-like. He had a pair of very small wings, which to me didn’t look like he used them all that much. He had four short legs. Now the head resembled a Terrible Terror, but he had more bulging scales around his mouth and eyes. I kept looking at the eyes, when I remembered what Vemund Steinson had said. The dragon he saw on the shoulder of the robber had yellow eyes. This dragon had yellow eyes.

I wanted to jump to the conclusion that this was the dragon that Steinson saw, but I had no evidence which would support such a claim.

“I need to go now,” Faith said. “I need to return home and help my mother with some chores. You guys can take Fire.”

“Okay,” I replied. “Nice to meet you, Faith.”

Repteil and I waved to Faith as she walked a short distance to reach the village. I continued to observe the dragon as I rubbed my hand on the dragon’s head. He acted kinda like Adam’s cat Pebbles, always wanting you to rub him. If you stopped petting him, he would rub his head on your hand if you stuck it out.

“Well,” I said. “I need to my Thunderdrum to Gobber and Hiccup to see if he needs any medical attention.”

“Oh,” said Repteil, startled. “I didn’t see the Thunderdrum there. He blended in so well with the grass.” I turned around to see my Thunderdrum curled up sleeping. I just noticed too that my Thunderdrum was well camouflage with the surrounding area.

I chuckled then said, “Hmm. I think we should take this red dragon to show Hiccup because I think He would interested in see this new type of dragon.”

“Okay,” answered Repteil.

I walked over to my Thunderdrum and said nicely, “Wake up.”

He woke up as if he never dosed off. He followed the two of us into the Berk village. We did not have to walk long to reach the Gobber’s shop. It just so happens that Hiccup was there too, Along with Astrid, Stormfly, and Toothless.

“Hey Hiccup, look what I drug home,” I greeted.

Hiccup turned around and said in amazement, “Wow! A Thunderdrum? So I guess if we send you off hunting for clues and meat, you come back with a dragon.”

“I don’t just have one dragon,” I said revealing the new dragon. “I have two. Hiccup, Astrid, Gobber: Meet Fire. Fire, meet everybody.”

Repteil let Fire down, because she was carrying him.

“What is that?” Hiccup asked.

“A new dragon,” Astrid said with excitement.

“Well I know it is a new dragon, Astrid,” said Hiccup.

Fire had gone to everybody wanting them to pet him. He also went to Stormfly and Toothless. Stormfly thought Fire was very interesting and watched how he moved. Every time Fire would walk, his thin body would move up and down. He looked like a spring. Also, every time Fire stopped, his body would stop moving too.

When Fire had gone over to Toothless, Toothless was not too sure of Fire. He kept rumbling that he did not want Fire around.

“Toothless. It is alright,” assured Hiccup. “It looks like Fire wants to be a friend. We should offer to be his friends too.”

But Toothless would step back every time Fire would step forward to him. The two of them did this a few times until Fire finally gave up, snorted, and walked back to Repteil.

“Now Toothless, let’s not start the whole ‘Torch’ debacle again,” said Hiccup.

“I found something else while I was out there…,” I said as I took off my pack. I set it down on the ground, uncovered it, and took out Astrid’s Axe.

“My Axe!” exclaimed Astrid. She grabbed the axe from my grasp and twirled around with it couple times and then started to swing the axe. She acted as if she never had a axe before. I leaned up against a post and just smiled and shook my head. Hiccup shook his head too.

“Oh I missed you so much,” said Astrid. She then wound up and threw the axe. It missed my head by about five inches.

“You missed me, but not ‘by’ much,” I tried to chuckle, but it did not work.

“Oh you are fine,” Astrid answered as she came over and took her axe. “No blood was drawn; then you’re fine. Well I off to go get reacquainted with my axe. Come on Stormfly.” Stormfly followed as Astrid ran off towards the forest mumbling about how she is going to get the person that had the nerve to steal her axe.

“Well,” I said. “Back to the main reason I came here for. I wanted you and Gobber to check my Thunderdrum over. I noticed he had some bumps and scratches; I want to make sure he is alright.”

“Sure,” replied Gobber.

Gobber went back and motioned for my Thunderdrum to follow.

“I finally found a dragon I like,” I said.

“That is great,” Hiccup said. “Could I look at Fire here closer?”

“Yeah,” said Repteil.

Hiccup took several minutes to look him over.

“Fire is a mighty interesting character,” Hiccup said when he was finished. “I have never seen a dragon like him.”

“I have to go home now,” stated Repteil. “It is almost time for lunch. Can I take Fire home?”

I answered, “I think you should because you were one of the ones that found it. I don’t mind you taking it home; and Faith said we could take Fire.”

“Thanks,” said Repteil as she ran home while Fire ran after her.

Gobber came back said that my Thunderdrum was in a great state of health. Gobber also stated that the bumps and scratches had scared over; meaning, that these wounds had happened a very long time ago. I thanked Gobber as Hiccup said he was going to go. I decided to go with Hiccup. I told Gobber before we left that my pack had a few items from the robberies and that he should notify Stoick about the found items that were stolen.

My Thunderdrum and Toothless were behind Hiccup and I as we started to walk toward my house. The two dragons seemed to be having a conversation. I decided to start my own. I recounted what transpired on the hunting/tracking trip. I told him the following: my friends and I lost the robber’s tracks at a small stream, how we split up to go looking for the place where the robber’s might reappear, also told about the near encounter with the suspected man who might have been the robber, also how the man was riding a Whispering Death, how I met my Thunderdrum, and finally when I saw the new dragon.

“I guess villagers weren’t the only ones that had a busy couple of days,” said Hiccup.

Hiccup told me that there were two robberies right after I left and three more this morning.

“My dad wants the top priority to be the apprehension of the culprit. He doesn’t care how long it takes,” Hiccup continued. “The village is getting very restless and there has been talk that the thief is one of our own.”

“Who would it be if the person is from Berk?” I asked.

“I think I should tell you this but the first two robberies the other day, there were two witnesses that saw Adam going in and coming out of the two houses that were robbed. But when…,”

“Adam?” I interrupted.

“I am afraid so. Most of the clan elders think that Adam is to blame, because he is the only new person that has come to this island. It doesn’t help that the witnesses saw Adam take out a package from each house. Shortly thereafter, the owners of the house came and told me that their house had been burglarized. I haven’t confronted Adam yet with this accusation. In fact he left right after he got the packages. I saw him go into the forest.”

There was a long pause before I said as we arrived in front of my house, “I have been thinking. Maybe we should set a trap for the thief. This way we can catch him in the act. Spread this story around the village that I have some valuable swords in my house.”

Hiccup agreed. I told him to meet me after supper outside my house. I also told him to add to the story that I will be the only one at home.

“Will do,” Hiccup said as he got on Toothless and headed to the Great Hall. If you ever need to start a rumor, the Great Hall is the best starting point.

I walked in to my house but told my Thunderdrum to wait outside. I saw my mother sitting next to her work table. Just then, Asvord and Elsa walked in from the back door.

“We have something to show you, mother,” all three of us said at the same time. I looked at my sisters, and they looked at me.

My mother replied, “Let me guess. You two want me to look at the Deadly Nadder and Gronckle you two have been training over the past couple months.”

My two sisters gasped, “How did you know?” they both asked.

“I am your mother. It is my job to know what goes on in this family. Also, we have had a shortage of fish and chicken for a while, so I had some clues that told me the story.”

“What do you think I am going to say?” I asked.

“Hmm…,” my mom started to think. “You… You can sometimes be hard to tell, but I think you are about to tell me that you found a dragon too. And want to show me it too.”

“Right again,” I said.

My mother got up and said, “It also helped that I saw you, Jarl, walking down the road to our house. And as for you two girls, wanting to excuse yourselves from your chores during the day was also a clue.”

We all chuckled and walked out the back door. I found that my Thunderdrum had walked around to the rear and looked like he was introducing himself to Asvord’s and Elsa’s dragons. Asvord had a purple Deadly Nadder with green highlighted spines, greenish eyes, and had tan coloring underneath. Elsa’s dragon is the gronckle. Her dragon is a dark orange with black highlights, bright blue eyes, and it looked like Elsa’s dragon had dark blue specks all over its skin.

“This is Spiker. She can be very happy and perky or sad and mad. Her moods spike, so that is why I called her that,” said Asvord.

“And this is Meatballs,” said Elsa.

“Meatballs?” I said puzzled.

“Yeah,” replied Elsa. “He apparently likes ground-up meat in the shape of balls. So that is why I named him that.’

“What is the name of your Thunderdrum?” my mom asked.

“I haven’t picked out a name yet,” I answered. “Could you help me out?”

“Oooo. I want to name him Fred,” said Elsa.

“How about Ricky or Richard?” added Asvord.

“Hey pick mine,” Elsa insisted.

“No mine sounds more dignified,” replied Asvord.

“I know,” I stated. “I will name my dragon, Fredrick.”

“You were always the one to make both of us happy,” said Asvord, pointing to her and Elsa. “Because if you made one unhappy, you might regret what would happen next.”

“Uh, yeah. If I would pick yours Asvord, Elsa would kick my shin. If picked Elsa’s, then you would punch me in the side,” I said.

Our mother shook her head at us and then told us to come inside and have some lunch. She has gotten used to these types of brother/sister conversations we have together. We may pick on, tease one another, and joke with one another but we would stick up for one another if someone else picked on us. When some have done this, my usually saying is something like, “Hey! No one can pick on my sisters but me.” Then Elsa would then say something like, “Yeah, take that.” But Asvord would most times slap me in the shoulder and tell me, “Watch it. Be careful what you say or your arm here will be out of commission for a while.”

We went inside and sat down at our table. Our mother severed us some smoked yak meat with carrots and some fresh elderberries on the side. There was also pitcher full of fresh yak milk to drink.

It only took about fifteen minutes to finish lunch. I asked my two sisters if they wanted to go out and train our dragons together. They agreed. I almost forgot to tell my mother about my plan to trap the thief who has been stealing around Berk. She did not approve of the plan at first, but she said it was alright after I told her of the new thefts yesterday and this morning.

My sisters and I went out the back to get our dragons. I suddenly remembered I had not actually sat on the back of Fredrick. So I called him to me and held out my hand so I could touch him. I was expecting him to wait a few seconds before would allow me to touch him, but I guess since I tried to help him last night he made the first move to touch my hand.

He started to purr as I petted him. I had found some rope that I could use to hold on with. It was like he knew what was going to happen next because he turned to allow me to get on his back. I was surprised because being able to ride on your dragon usually comes later after a couple of weeks of bonding. But I got on and I pointed to where I thought we should start training for today. Fredrick immediately started after the spot.

“I guess you know how to interrupt hand signals Fredrick,” I said as he grunted to tell me, “Of course I do.”

My sisters followed on their dragons. Asvord and Elsa have a slight head start on the bonding level with their dragon then me because they have been training their dragons for a couple months now.

We spent all of the afternoon into early evening before the sun set training our dragons. I worked on basic maneuvers with Fredrick, while my sisters work on intermediate maneuvers and target practice. As I was learning how Fredrick flew and the he reacted to my commands, I found out that he was a very quick learner. Fredrick knew what I wanted sometimes before I told him. I also worked on maneuvering him through some trees. I never pushed him because we were both starting out learning what the other one wanted. Towards the end of our practice session I noticed Fredrick wanted to pick up speed.

“No Fredrick,” I said as a held him back. “As soon as I get a saddle I will see what you got for speed. I would like it very much if I could hold on to something.”

We continued to train a little while, while the sun was setting. I wanted to train Fredrick to fire on command while I pointed at where I wanted him to fire. At first it did not quiet work because I stood in front of him and pointed to a large tree to my right. He fired, but not at the tree. On me! I was sent flying back over the top of Spiker and Asvord.

“Hey you are doing great, Jarl,” Asvord told me with a sarcastic tone. “If you keep training you like you have been, he should be able to shoot you to the next island.”

“Very funny,” I said as I picked myself up.

I was able to get Fredrick to shoot on command by pushing down on his back with my hands. So as long as my target was in front of me or in the general area, he would hit it.

It was getting dark and I needed to get back to the house to meet Hiccup. Asvord and Elsa wanted to come too and see they could catch a glimpse of the thief. I told them they would have to go with our mother as a decoy. My sisters and my mother would leave, and I would double back with Hiccup and wait. Hopefully the thief will fall prey to my plan.

When we arrived back at my house I found Hiccup talking with my mother. They stopped their conversation when I got within ear shot of them.

“Are you ready for the steak-out?” I asked.

Toothless nodded his head. “Yeah I am ready to bud,” said Hiccup.

I gave my mother a hug and a lantern to show the thief that she and my sisters were leaving. Hiccup, our dragons, and I walked down the road a ways and then we doubled back to my house. My barn that my family keeps our animals in is directly across the road, opposite our house. Neither Hiccup nor I said much during our time waiting. After nearly a hour of waiting, we both suggested the thief may not come.

Suddenly, Toothless and Fredrick started to growl softly as person came casually down the road toward my house. Hiccup whispered to me asking, “Is that the man you wrestled with the day that Adam found you?”

I thought for a moment while the figure kept walking toward my house. “This man has the same build and stature as the man I wrestled with, but I cannot say for certain if it is him. Though I did hear the man’s voice; however, any man can disguise his voice to make him sound like somebody else.” I had finished speaking as the mysterious man tried the door handle and pushed on it. When the door opened, he walked in. Hiccup and I heard a loud crash. I figured it was the swords I put in a box on the edge of the table. I fixed it so if one of the swords was picked up, the box would fall automatically.

“Hiccup, you enter my house from the rear door as to block the man’s escape route,” I ordered. “I will enter from the front.”

I waited for Hiccup to get to the rear before entering. I was completely shocked when I rushed in. There was still enough light so I recognized but could hardly believe what I was seeing. I saw Adam Thorvald kneeling over a man with one of the swords from the box on the table in his left hand. Just then Hiccup rushed in from the back door.

“Adam!” Hiccup stated blatantly surprised. “What are you doing here and who is that on the floor?”

“I uh.. don’t know. I found this viking looking around your house Jarl as if he was looking for uh.. something to steal. I saw the man had my grandmum's socks she knitted for me that I always wear. I got two pairs, I am wearing the other pair,” Adam replied as he lifted up his pants’ leg showing me. “This viking here um.. saw me and said, 'It's you!' He rushed at me with an axe. I um.. grabbed this sword from a box to defend myself. The box fell over and I bent down to protect myself. The man wasn’t expecting that so he fell over me as I bent down.”

Adam was very fidgety while he was talking. I walked over to the man on the floor and gasped.

The man on the floor was Vemund Steinson!

I stood there in amazement as to what I was seeing. I never expected Steinson to be the viking laying there. I thought for a moment that Adam struck him because Steinson’s head was slightly bleeding and also since Adam had the sword still in his hand.

“Hiccup, get some water,” I ordered.

Hiccup got it while I got a clean cloth to wipe the blood away. When Hiccup came back with some water, I poured it on Steinson’s face.

Steinson came to and said, “Where am I?”

“You are in Jarl Mollerson’s house,” said Hiccup.

“Ooo. My head hurts,” Steinson said as he grabbed his forehead.

I asked him, “Do you remember anything before you blacked out?”

Before he could say anything, the rest of my family returned. My mother saw Steinson and immediately started to tend to him. She told him to sit in on a chair. She took the cloth and the water and started to wipe away the blood.

“I was about to tell your boy and Hiccup that I came here for a package I was suppose to pick up,” Steinson said.

“Oh yes,” my mother remembered. “Asvord could you go get it for me?”

“Sure,” my sister replied.

Steinson continued, “The last thing I remember knocking to see if you were home. Next thing I know something hit me and I must have been knocked unconscious.”

Hiccup and I looked at each other. We were probably thinking the same thing, Adam’s story and Steinson’s story do not match. Still, Steinson was knocked out. You do not remember things as well if you get hit hard enough.

Asvord came back with the package.

“Thank you, dear,” my mother said.

“Your welcome,” Asvord replied.

“Here are your socks Vemund,” my mother said as she handed the package to Steinson.

“Thank you,” he replied.

I was surprised to hear he had lost some socks too. “How come you need socks? Did something steal them?”

“Yeah,” Steinson answered. “The trolls Gobber is talking about probably stole them.” Steinson then got up, bid us a good night, and said goodbye. He walked back towards his house.

I stood there thinking about what just transpired when my mother interrupted with, “You should be getting off to bed, young man. Do you know how late it is?”

“That is good idea,” I said as started to walk towards the stairs. I looked back and by sisters just standing back. “Come on you two girls, you are up just as late as I am.”

“As you wish your royal nastiness,” Asvord said as she bowed.

“Your wish is.. well.. not as you wish,” Elsa said trying to pick on me too.

Asvord and I both looked at her. “Good try, you will learn the art of sibling picking,” I said patting her on the shoulder.

I then said good night to Adam and my mother. “Wait, I haven’t gotten a hug yet,” my mother stated.

“Oh!” my sisters and I said. We ran and hugged our mother at the same time.

“Oh my goodness,” she said. “Goodnight my children.”

“Goodnight mother,” my sisters and I replied.

As we walked up to bed, Asvord and I got into a poking fight.

“Ooo, stop that tickles,” I said trying to make her stop.

“Oh it does, does it?” Asvord replied as she cracked her knuckles.

“Why’d I open my big mouth,” I exclaimed as she “attacked” me.

That went on for about five minutes until Asvord decided to stop because she didn’t want Adam to think we were uncivilized, I mean because we are vikings.

“Vikings cannot be uncivilized,” Asvord said rhetorically.

It had been about a half hour and I still could not go to sleep. Elsa passed out as soon as she put her head on her pillow. Her bed was in the corner, followed by Asvord’s in the middle, and then my bed in the opposite corner of Elsa’s.

Asvord had turned over to my side and she saw that I was still awake.

“Jarl,” she whispered, “What are you thinking about?” Asvord is the worst whisperer because it most times sounds… like a startled yak… but anyway, she could always tell what I was thinking.

“You are thinking about Steinson and Adam,” she continued.

“How’d you know what I was thinking,” I whispered back.

“Well I am a woman aren’t I?” she replied.

“That is debatable,” I teased. “I was just thinking about what Adam and Steinson said happened when they met each other tonight. Adam said he tried to defend himself when Steinson rushed him, but Steinson said someone hit him as he was entering our house.”

“Still you have to remember that Steinson can’t remember exactly what happened, so something else could have transpired after his last recollection,” said Asvord.

There is no worry about waking up the others, Elsa is a sound sleeper, and my mother’s bedrooms is on the other side of the house along with the guest room where Adam is sleeping. A Thunderdrum could not even wake up Elsa; though if you were able to catch a Whispering Death, you might be able to start getting her up.

There was a long pause before Asvord said something, “I just thought of something.”

“What?” I said.

“Trolls only steal your lefts socks, right?” she asked me.

“Yes.”

“I saw mother making the socks. They were not left, but actually rights.”

“That is interesting,” I said trying to ponder why Steinson would say it was a troll.

We continued to talk about other things such as what we were going to do tomorrow and what else we could train our dragons to do. I started to yawn as well as Asvord, so we decided to go to sleep.

BANG, BANG, BANG! BANG, BANG, BANG! I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night to hear loud knocking on our front door. I jumped out of bed only to stub my toe on my helmet. And man that hurts just as much as hearing my Uncle Bob attempt to sing. I called out in pain then woke Asvord up. I hopped up and down holding my foot I stubbed.

“What is wrong and who is out the door,” Asvord said. There was still banging on our door.

“I don’t know yet but we should find out,” I said as I was still in pain.

“Okay. Let’s go find out who it is,” Asvord said as she too jumped out of bed. When I stubbed my toe on my helmet, the helmet got pushed in front of Asvord’s bed. Guess what happened next. She stumbled over my helmet, falling forward, knocking both of us to the floor. This sent us rolling back towards our bookshelf, which in turn decided to throw some books down on us. Guess what Elsa did. She didn’t even move a muscle.

By the time Asvord and I came down stairs, my mother had already let in who was at the door. I was surprised to see who it was. It was Cullan , Pat, Hattori, and Navaro. Cullan was holding up Hat because it appeared at first glance that he was injured badly. They all looked like they had been in a fight.

“What happened? Are you guys alright?” I asked as I hurried to them. My mother rushed to the kitchen to get bandages and some water.

“They’re kidnapped! All.. of….. them,” Hat struggled to say.

“They overpowered us by catching us by surprise,” Navaro said as she slumped into a chair. All four of them looked extremely worn out. My mother had then come back with the bandages.

“They.. got… Ashley….. Must go.. rescue them,” Hat said as he tried to get back up.

“No,” my mother ordered. “You must stay here while I fix you up to rescue them.

“They came at us from all sides, our dragons were of no use there were knocked out. Also,” said Cullan as he was rambling on trying to figure out what happened.

“Calm down,” I said. “Now start at the beginning.” Asvord then came in with some yak milk for all of our friends.

“The Flightmare is back.”

“What??” my family said in shock.

“Yes, and the vikings who rushed seemed to have train it somewhat,” said Pat.

“Seriously? A trained Flightmare??” Asvord said in bewilderment.

“It seem as if it was train, because when the strange vikings rushed us we had to start fighting them,” recounted Cullan.

“I saw a man point at the Flightmare and then our dragons. It fired at them instantly freezing them stiff. Our dragons had no time to react, because the Flightmare and those vikings came out nowhere,” Navaro added.

“We all picked up our weapons to defend ourselves, but they were no match for us; there was too many of them,” continued Cullan.

“Who is kidnapped?” asked Asvord hastly.

“Everybody else that was with us,” replied Cullan. “We must go now and rescue them no matter what it takes,” Cullan said as he grabbed his sword and headed to the door.

“Wait Cullan,” I said blocking his path.

“Get out of my way; I have to go save them!”

“My feelings exactly, we just need to know what we are up against,” I said still holding Cullan back. “Hey you are bleeding.”

“Oh it is just a scratch,” Cullan said as he reluctantly went back to his chair.

“For one thing Cullan, we wouldn’t be able to pick up their trail until sunrise at least,” that seem to slightly calm him down. “Cullan, you are really bleeding. We need to stop it.”

“I am fine,” he said.

“Asvord we need some more bandages, could you get them please,”

“Sure,” she replied.

“There are no more in the kitchen. You will have to get them out of the medicine trove in Adam’s room,” my mother said as she continued to clean Hattori’s wounds. They were nothing to serious, just looked to me mainly like he had several scratches along with a many bruises.

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

Hattori was starting to come around when Asvord came back.

“Jarl,” Hat started slowly. “I am afraid I saw Adam with those vikings. I saw him take Ashley and Tory. I must go after them,” Hat tried to get up again, but my mother stopped him.

“Guys!” exclaimed Asvord. “Adam is missing and I saw a Berserker symbol in this note saying, ‘We have your friends. Come to Outcast Island with your Grapple Grounder, or you will never see your friends again.”

My mother gasped and then fainted.

“Mother!” I yelled.

I rushed over to the bench where she was at and revived her.

“It can’t be, it just can’t be!” she sounded off.

“What is wrong mother?” Asvord asked.

“Are you sure the note said a Grapple Grounder?”

“Yes mother,” my sister said.

“What is so special about a Grapple Grounder? I never heard of it,” replied Pat.

“Asvord, Jarl,… A Grapple Grounder was one of the dragons that attacked your father and his crew of his ship the day your father died.”