Throughout their journey, Stormfly and Whiplash flew side by side, and their riders had been talking almost non-stop. The edge between the two had long been forgotten and, now that Kiara had gained Astrid's trust, they had opened up to each other. It was clear that they had nothing in common, and they weren't close friends either, but somehow they valued each other's company. Their conversation had started with Astrid asking why Tuff of all people had convinced her, but Kiara managed to dodge the subject and then their discussion went all over the place: from dragons to the other teammates to favourite flight patterns to whether yak fur or feathers was better for stuffing pillows. (Things got pretty random from there.)
Then the fog rolled in. It's swirling white fingers wrapped around everything, pressing an eerie silence onto everyone's ears. Kiara glanced to her right, just in time to see Astrid disappear amid the whiteness along with everyone else. Heck, the mist was blanketed so thick, Kiara couldn't see Whiplash's head without leaning forward. She involuntarily stiffened in response to the lack of sight and sound. Her dragon let out a comforting purr.
"Don't worry." Whiplash sensed her unease and turned her head towards her rider. Her bright blue gaze easily penetrated the descended cloud. "I don't need sight to see." she reminded her. Kiara nodded, relaxing somewhat, and Whiplash turned back around, her ears flicking to pick up all the dragons' wing beats. "She's on your left by the way," Whiplash said, smirking.
Kiara looked left.
"Boo!" Astrid shouted.
"Aah!" Kiara jerked away, her nerves like springs in her body. "Bloody hell." Whiplash gurgled with laughter.
"Even after I warned you..."
Barely visible, Stromfly was flying upsidedown and Astrid was hanging off her back, her face a foot from Kiara's. She laughed as Stormfly righted herself. "I didn't think I'd get you that easily," she said, her voice still on the border of hysterics.
"You got lucky."
"I sure did. Your face: priceless!"
Kiara snickered along as Astrid's form bobbed in and out of the mist.
"Zippleback at 6 o'clock."
Before Kiara could even turn around, two pairs of hands reached through the curtain of mist and latched onto her arms. "Ruff! Tuff!" Kiara whisper-yelled. "If you're not giving me a double arm massage, let go of me please!"
"Hey Astrid," Ruff said, ignoring Kiara. "We're gonna borrow your friend for a moment."
And just like that, the twins plucked her off Whiplash's back and flew straight up. The purple dragon shrieked in surprise but calmed herself when Tuffnut yelled, "We'll bring her right back, we promise!"
"Aah!" Kiara gasped as her arm slipped from Ruffnut's grip. She hurriedly wrapped her legs around one of the zippleback's necks, desperately clinging on. "Why am I being kidnapped? Do you plan to sell my organs or something?!"
"The usual question would be 'are you crazy?'" Ruff said.
"To which we would reply 'yes, we're nuts!'" Tuff's voice came from right above her. He still held her arm as she clung to the Zippleback neck below him like a terrified sloth.
"I'd like to think that even the two of you have some sort of reasoning behind your actions," Kiara said. "So WHY is a better question. Also, could you move your foot from my face Tuff?"
"Or I could move your face from my foot." He pulled her up so that she was sitting in front of him. Kiara lurched forwards and grabbed the horns; her knuckles paled as her grip tightened. The two-headed dragon bobbed up and down as it moved and riding on him felt terribly unstable, but Tuff's steadying hands on her shoulders made it just about bearable.
"About why we 'kidnapped' you," Kiara could hear the grin in Ruffnut's voice even before she glanced her way, "we haven't discussed our plan to prank the Snotman."
-
Their target wasn't hard to spot. Hookfang was draped in flames to warm himself and Snotlout, or to intimidate the hunter that was imprisoned in his talons. The fire cast an amber glow that seeped easily through the fog. The twins advanced on Barf and Belch. Once they were close enough, Belch stretched forwards so that Snotlout could see Tuffnut through the mist.
"Hey there, Snotlout."
"Er, hi... what're you doing?"
"I was just wondering... did you know about the legend of the fog-poker?"
"Nope. And probably cause you made it up."
"You mean like how Gobber 'made up' the Boneknapper? Huh?" Tuff challenged.
"Ye—no... That was different, okay?"
"The fog-poker is real!" he urged, his voice becoming dramatically sinister. "Legend says this monstrous creature, this peculiar predator who lurks only in the mist, pokes its prey to decide whether it should be skinned first or eaten whole..."
Snotlout barely suppressed a shiver. "Y-yeah right."
That's when something poked him from behind. "Aaieee!" He screamed and launched himself into Tuffnut's arms. He barely felt the gust of wind as something swooped past above him. The twins burst into laughter as Snotlout glanced back to see that it was Ruff who had poked him. "Aarrgh!" he roared in outrage and jumped back onto Hookfang. "Come on, Hokkie. Let's fly in cleaner air."
"Okay, dear," Tuff cooed after him, "just remember, if you ever want me to carry you bridal style again, just hop on!"
"Shut up!" They continued to cackle as he flew further away, not once noticing that he no longer had his helmet.
"Wow, he actually didn't notice," Kiara remarked as Whiplash lowered to fly beside Barf and Belch.
"You went by so fast, even I hardly noticed," said Ruff. Kiara giggled and held up the helmet she has snatched like it were a trophy.
"When are you going to give it back?" she asked.
"Right now." Tuff leaned over and snatched the helmet from her. Kiara and Whiplash's eyes widened as Ruff pulled out a sack of bright paint.
"The best part is," Ruffnut said, "he won't even notice."
-
As the group emerged out of the fog, Kiara and Whiplash put on their best innocent face.
"What have you been up to?" Astrid asked.
"I was was just about to ask," said Robbie surfing around to their other side.
"Nothing of importance," Kiara replied brightly.
"Yeah right."
"Mm hmm," the blonde hummed, obviously not believing her. She spotted Snotlout and her eyes widened. His helmet was, for the most part, very bright pink. "How did you—?"
"Fog," Kiara said instantly, though she couldn't keep a straight face at all.
"Without him noticing?"
"Honestly wasn't hard."
"Twins' idea?"
"Totally," Kiara grinned, glancing at the two who were barely holding in their laughter. "It's why I agreed to come."
"Unbelievable.." Astrid shook her head, though she couldn't hold back her grin.
"And to think you lot left me out of this," said Robbie, "un-bah-lievable!"
Kiara shrugged an apology. "Be there next time," Whiplash told him.
"Fishlegs? Why are you staring at me?" Snotlout asked.
"Uhm. Your..."
"What is it?"
"There's...."
"Is there something on my face?"
"No, but there's—"
"There's nothing on your face!!" Ruffnut interrupted hastily.
Snotlout narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Hiccup, is there something on my face?" he asked.
"Huh?" Hiccup turned towards him. "Whoa! What happened to your--?"
"BEAUTIFUL complexion!" Tuffnut cut in. "It looks far better than usual."
"Oh Thor," Hiccup muttered. Grinning, Toothless lolled his equally pink tongue out when he caught sight of the helmet.
"So there's nothing wrong with my face?" Snotlout asked again, glancing around to see that all the dragons and riders were staring.
"Your face is as good as it will ever be," Kiara said. "Now can we please stop discussing it?"
Before Snotlout could reply, Fishlegs called out, "I see Berk ahead!"
Kiara looked ahead at the island they were steadily approaching. It was humble, yet huge. Towering stacks surrounded the mainland and two huge Viking statues, carved onto giant rocks, greeted them from offshore. A leaning mountain, layered with lush greenery, rose from behind the village of tiled houses. Viking homes.
Kiara let out a shuddered breath. Anxiety pooled in her stomach. Alright, a Viking village, she told herself. No freaking biggie.. just whole historical civilisation I'm about to enter. It'll be a breeze... the hurricane kind. She gripped her saddle and squeezed it for some sort of reassurance. Oh God, this is actually happening!
"Easy, Kiara," Whiplash said.
"Take a breather," Robbie added. "You look like you're about to break the saddle."
"Oh sorry!" Kiara quickly let go.
"Don't worry about meeting Vikings," the changewing told her, slinking closer. "I've been around them before and I can tell you that they're jerks at first but they turn into pussy cats when I start dripping acid. So there's nothing to worry about."
"That doesn't help, Robbie.."
Whiplash grumbled in agreement. "Think of it like this," she proposed, "what's the worst that could happen?"
Kiara thought about it a moment, but her mind was blank. "I have no clue. And that's what worries me."
"Dragons, riders," Hiccup called, "let's land by the town hall!"
Following Toothless, the dragons descended and landed in a cluster on a sort of large courtyard, with the thunderdrums in the middle. The ground was cobbled where they stood, and houses lined the street, hunching like friendly trolls. Nearby Berkians turned their way, some greetings were offered and many quizzical looks were exchanged.
"I remember this place!" Bumble exclaimed, jumping past Kiara as she dismounted.
"Yeah wasn't this the place we wanted to trash as draglings?" Mumble asked, excited.
"What say we finish what we started?" Tumble suggested.
"Oh, crud." Kiara had heard the whole exchange.
The three shared a roar of agreement and flew up to the town hall. Thornado quickly flew into their path and roared for them to back down, but they just scattered to different parts of the village.
"I'll help him," Whiplash declared and flew after them.
"Robbie, you go too," Kiara said, pushing him in their direction. "Whiplash can't help if they use their sonic blasts."
"On it!"
"Is that a changewing?" a woman gasped.
The riders had remounted and Toothless was already in the air. "No, it's okay, guys," Kiara said, "they know how to handle the trio."
Hiccup looked to the dragons and saw that they were already herding the thunderdrums away. "You're right," he said, and Toothless landed. "Okay gang, here's the plan: Astrid, Fishlegs, take the hunter to Berk prison."
They nodded and dragged the prisoner away.
"And the rest of you can give Kiara a tour of Berk, and we all can meet in the town hall in an hour and—"
He was interrupted by a villager exclaiming, "aren't you going to tell us what's with all these new dragons?" A barrage of questions was thrown around following that.
"What was the purple one?"
"Don't you remember the havoc we had with the last thunderdrums?"
"I saw a changewing, I swear it!"
"Who's the little girl?"
"I'm sorry everyone," Hiccup said, backing away slowly. "I'll have to answer all questions later. I really need to talk to dad.."
"You go ahead Hiccup," Ruffnut urged.
"Yeah, break a neck," Tuff said.
"Wh-what?" Hiccup asked. "Do you mean break a leg?"
"Yeah, I suppose that would be easier for you," he pointed to his metal leg, "cause it's already... broken."
With an eye-roll, he sighed and jogged off with Toothless.
"Break a neck?" Snotlout asked, "really?"
"What? Don't you know the expression?" Ruff retorted.
"Ruff, Tuff," Kiara said, "I'm pretty sure the expression is 'break a leg' and not..."
"It is?" Tuff asked incredulously. Kiara nodded and the twins looked at each other with horror.
"We need to apologise to mum!" they shouted and dashed off. Kiara let out a short laugh, then froze when she realised who she was left with.
"Oh, hey... Snotlout. So, you'll be my tour...person?"
"Haha," he laughed. "You wish." With that he strode off, leaving her gobsmacked. Kiara suddenly grew aware of the crowd of Vikings staring at her, their eyes burning with questions or soaking in her odd attire.
"That's a firm fabric you've got there las," a woman commented, stroking her jacket.
"Th-th-thanks," she stuttered and pulled back. "I g-gotta go." she motioned in the direction the pink helmeted Viking had left. "Snotlout, wait!" Kiara yelled and sprinted after him, straight into the bustle of villagers. She darted between them, her heart pounding as it yearned for the comfort of her dragon friends—or anyone she knew. "Excuse me," she muttered, "sorry... Coming through. Oh! 'Scuze." The Vikings were all meaty and broadly built, and most were more than twice the size of her. Small, and feeling terribly vulnerable, she wove her towards the coast. She was almost out of the village square when a glinting hook was jabbed in front of her face. She gasped and jerked back. As her heart raced but held her from running, Kiara faced the man who had stopped her in her tracks.
He was a blonde broad scruffy Viking, with a crooked nose and jawline, and dangling moustache. His most notable features were his wooden peg leg and, of course, the hook he held at Kiara's face, where his hand should have been. Kiara gulped as her eyes met his glare.
"Who," he asked menacingly, "are you?"