The Arcane Evil (httyd-fic)

Chapter 20

"There it is" Heather whispered as she and the others were crouched down near the forest line. "That is the abandoned village of Alkram." Heather said as she pointed to where the torches burned. "The Grimborn brothers now use it as their base."

Hiccup took a peek from behind the bush. He could see some ships at the harbor and guards milling about. "Do you know where they would keep your brother?"

"Sorry no." Heather answered.

"Then we will just have to check every building." Astrid stated which caused Heather to give her an incredulous look.

"How are you going to do that with that many guards. We are still outnumbered."

"A sleep spell should take care of that." Astrid said. "It just takes a while to set up, that's why I do not use it very often."

"You can actually do that?!" Heather asked which caused Hiccup to chuckle. "Just who exactly are you?!"

"You'll find that there is very little that Astrid can't do." Hiccup stated which caused Astrid to blush a bit.

"I do believe I'm more commonly referred to as simply the Dark Queen." Astrid stated. Heather's jaw had gotten slack and she looked from Astrid to Hiccup hoping that it was a joke. When no such thing happened Heather just rolled her eyes.

"I see you after three years again and you are in the presence of who this world considers one of the most powerful magic wielders and you can't even manage proper introductions!" Heather growled before giving Hiccup a punch to the shoulder.

"I did not actually know how you were going to take it." Hiccup mumbled. "There is a price on her head already and I know the Viking tribes are superstitious."

Heather huffed "Well I do not mind." She then turned to Astrid "Besides if you're a friend of Hiccup then you're a friend of mine. The guy might be a sarcastic smartass" She stated ignoring the look of exasperation on Hiccup's face "but he is a good judge of character."

"I don't know if I should take that as an insult or a compliment." Hiccup muttered as some of the knights tried to stifle their laughter.

Astrid started to draw the runes for the sleep spell in the sand. After that she poured some of her magic into it and the spell took effect in the direction she wanted. "We will only have an hour." Astrid stated. "The larger the area I have to cover the weaker the spell will be."

The group then proceeded to enter the village and check the buildings. In many they found cages filled with dragons who were either cowering or snarling at them.

"Why aren't these dragons asleep?" Heather asked as she spotted some cages filled with Gronckles.

"Dragons are not affected by certain types of magic." Astrid explained. "You can summon them but spells which affect their senses would be useless against them."

Toothless had poked his head into the building and growled softly at the caged dragons which caused them to calm down a bit.

"Let's release them" Hiccup said and the others agreed.

"Where did all these dragons come from?" Eret wondered. "Some of the species we saw in the other buildings are native to either Orlan or Forline."

"What?!" Astrid whirled around. "They have been poaching dragons from my realm!" She asked incensed and then turned to one of her knights. "Hand me your axe."

"Astrid what are you going to do?!" Hiccup asked as his eyebrows shot up.

"I'm going to show these brothers exactly what happens when they hunt dragons. Especially in my realm!" Astrid growled.

"Aren't we going to stop her?" Heather asked looking a bit unsure.

"And risk the chance of an axe hurling in our direction." Eret mumbled. "I think we better make sure that she only maims those trappers."

However before Astrid got very far two of her knights ran up to the others. "We found the cells. It is a bit difficult to release the prisoners though." They said.

The group made their way in the direction the knights indicated. Astrid had yet to relinquish the axe and her soldiers were keeping a wide berth.

Upon entering the cells Heather exclaimed "Brother!!"

The others soon followed and saw what the knights meant. There were two prisoners and both of them were hanging upside down in chains.

"Hello carrot top." Hiccup greeted as they proceeded to open the cells and free the prisoners.

"Hiccup!" Dagur shouted as he still dangled upside down. "I haven't seen you in three years."

They had finally managed to get both men free when Dagur proceeded to pull both Heather and Hiccup into a hug.

"So who is this one?" Eret asked as he eyed the other prisoner.

"I'm Alvin, Alvin "the Treacherous", leader of the Outcast tribe." The man introduced and held his hands up in a defensive manner when Eret glared at him. "Hold on. I ain't gonna do nothing."

"I find that hard to believe." Eret mumbled. "You have treacherous in your name."

"What are the Outcasts doing with dragon trappers?" Hiccup questioned.

"You know these Outcasts Hiccup?" Astrid asked as she too eyed the man.

"They are a group of exiled Vikings who roam the waters as pirates." Hiccup explained when he noticed Alvin turn towards him.

"Hiccup? As in Stoick's boy?" Alvin asked and then started to laugh. "I never figured I'd run into you here. I definitely owe you and this motley group one."

"So what were you doing here anyways?" Hiccup now questioned.

"I was trying to trade for food for the clan when one of those dragons got loose. I guess that I wasn't supposed to see that so they imprisoned me."

"Those brothers left this place a few days ago." Dagur added. "I overheard one of the guard say that they would be meeting the master."

"So the dragons here are meant for something other than selling if these men wanted to keep it a secret, and someone else is pulling their strings." Astrid surmised.

"We probably won't find much here. From the looks of this place it is just the outpost and not their main base." Hiccup mentioned.