Return of a Madman

Chapter 4: Blood in the Writing

Fierce storms had strangled any hope of Astrid's rescue for three days now.

So the fact that a messenger dragon from Dagur himself had shown up on Berk in a hurricane added insult to injury.

Hiccup had not been sleeping well. He was irritable and his hair was mussed up--even more so than usual--and his leg had been causing him problems. It never hurt usually, but whenever Hiccup was stressed the pain came back like an old enemy out for revenge. Which was ironic, really, being that Hiccup seriously had an old enemy out for revenge to worry about.

And when that Terrible Terror mentioned earlier brought Hiccup a roll of parchment spattered with what looked like dried blood, he almost snapped.

Hiccup took the letter and sat in the Great Hall, the other Riders and Camicazi reading over his shoulder the sinister scrawl of rusty ink.
    Hiccup-
          Yes, I have your stubborn little girlfriend. I assume you've figured that out by now? Anyway, in two days I'm going to visit Berk again. I expect you to meet me once my armada pulls into the bay. I've written this in blood, for a promise in blood is a promise kept.
           But it's not my blood. It's prisoner blood, Haddock. Prisoner blood. Take that into account.
                                               ~Dagur

Hiccup forcefully stabbed the letter with his dagger, pinning it to the table. "Calm down," Camicazi soothed.

Snotlout looked at it. "It could be dragon blood," he said. "Dagur didn't say what creature the prisoner was."

"Oh it's definitely not dragon blood," said Fishlegs cheerfully. "Dragon blood dries green. It's obviously human blood." The Riders glared at him. Fishlegs realized what he'd done. His face went slack. "And that's bad."

"Duh," Ruffnut scoffed. "Even we're smart enough to know that!"

Hiccup took a deep breath, trying not to panic. "It's...it's Astrid's blood. As far as we know, Dagur has no other prisoners. We have to get her back, fast. Camicazi, tomorrow morning, put Plan C into action."