Will it be forever?

Chapter 16: Gone

"Is the Chief and the night fury in there?" A cloaked man asked his accomplice as he glanced nervously around the Chief of Berk's home, praying to the gods that the Chief and his terrifying dragon wouldn't be home and catch them red handed.

"There's no sign of them, it's all clear." The accomplice replied with a whisper as he urged for the cloaked man to follow him upstairs, to where they believed the Chief's bedroom to be.

"Rod, you stay here!" The cloaked man commanded to the third and youngest of the group, who had unfortunately for him, gotten the short straw and had to be the lookout for the small group.

The three men had been spying on the Chief and Chieftess of Berk for the past week. They had studied their schedules and found a short period of time where they would be able to execute their mission, which was to kidnap the Chieftess. Luckily for them, the Chief seemed to be very busy as of late, so as soon as the moon was high in the sky and all the villagers had retired to their homes for the evening, the men decided that it was finally time for them to do what they came for.

The cloaked man and his accomplice silently made their way into the room, where the Chieftess seemed to be sleeping peacefully, her long, blonde hair strewn across the pillows as her chest calmly rose up and down. The men checked for any sign of her husband, before they carefully dripped a few drops of a mysterious concoction in between the Chieftess' slightly parted lips. When they were certain she would not wake, the men carefully carried her out, their efficiency impressive as they managed to smuggle the grown woman all the way down to where they had docked their boat in record time.

Their boss was going to be proud, they were certain of it.

Hiccup's POV

I was awoken by the sensation of something cold and slobbery on my face. As my eyes slowly fluttered open, brows knitted together in confusion, I was met by the familiar sight of a pair of emerald green eyes gazing curiously at me as the large black head they were attached to tilted ever so slightly.

"Morning to you too, bud." I grumbled as I wiped away the dragon saliva from my face, earning a wide and playful gummy smile from my best friend. I rolled my eyes at the dragon before I turned to my side to place a kiss on my wife's forehead, only to find her missing.

I furrowed my brows as I sat up on my elbows. "Astrid?"

Toothless walked around the room, taking in its scent before running downstairs and probably smelling around there.

Brows still furrowed, I rolled out of bed and got dressed, scouring my brain for any clue to where she might've been at that hour. Then it hit me, she hadn't been in bed the night before when I had come home either, but at the time I had just brushed it of due to my exhaustion.

I hurried downstairs, desperate for a clue to where Astrid could be when I noticed her axe missing from its usual spot by the door. I let out a sigh of relief. "She's probably just out axe throwing, no need to worry, bud."

But even with that reassuring thought floating around my mind, I couldn't help that gnawing feeling in my gut that something was wrong, that something had happened. It didn't exactly help that Toothless was running up and down and all around sniffing the air.

Attempting to brush off my worries, I prepared breakfast for both me and Toothless. And for the first time in ... well, what seemed like forever, Toothless didn't eat his breakfast, he just kept sniffing around the air, completely ignoring the food I had brought in for him.

I furrowed my brows as I downed my breakfast and ran to the stables, where I found an empty stable with only Astrid's axe leaning against the wall instead of the large Nadder that usually resided there.

Something was definitely wrong.

Astrid's POV

It was an unusually chilly morning. Feeling a little cold, I searched for the furs that usually covered our bed with my eyes closed. When I couldn't get a hold of them, I let out a slight groan as I had to open my eyes and probably bend down to the floor to pick them up or rip them away from Hiccup's grasp. But when I sat up in bed, I was met by nothing but a throbbing head and a small room with tall stone walls and a small window that had been covered in iron bars.

"Where am I?" I asked myself as I brought a hand up to my aching head, searching around the room for a clue.

"Welcome to Berserker Island." The deep and unenthusiastic sound of a man's voice came from the other side of the wall, which I had just noticed had a large iron door bolted into it with just a small slot for what I assumed to be food delivery. And that's when it clicked inside my mind, I was in a cell.

"What? How and why am I here? Let me out!" I hissed as I jumped out of the hard bed and over to the iron door, which I later found out not to be so smart, seeing as it only intensified my headache.

"No can do, Mrs. Haddock," The guard replied casually. "Dagur's orders."

"Dagur." I snarled dangerously as millions of horrible and malicious thoughts filled my head with ideas of the many ways I would harm him if I had the chance to lay my hands on the Berserker Chief.

"You called?" A raspy voice emerged from the shadows, before the source stepped out, revealing themselves.

"Why am I here, Dagur?" I spat as I watched the Berserker Chief take a step closer to me.

"Well, naturally because of the betrayal of my dear brother a few years ago! I told him I would get my revenge, and would you take a look at that, here I am, getting it!" Dagur smiled wickedly as he leaned closer to the small opening in the iron door.

"How is this your revenge?" I asked him, a brow raised.

"Well isn't it obvious? I have stolen the person he cares the most about in this whole wide world, you!" Dagur cackled as he began walking away. Dear gods, how I wanted to strangle that man. "Alright boys, go have your fun!"

I furrowed my brows at his final comment. What did he mean by that? But as soon as I heard the familiar sound of rattling chains and knives being unsheathed, I knew I was in for no good, no good at all.