Chapter 5: The News

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Hiccup's POV

I was making my routine run around the village. You know the usual, talk with the villagers, help Gobber at the forge, herd Sven's sheep back in the corral, stuff. Astrid was at home cleaning up after the kids. It was getting late, the sun was about down. I was heading to the last spot on my routine, the Great Hall. I had to make sure everything was picked up and that the place looked nice and neat.

As soon as I reached the door of the Great Hall, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and found Thane towering over me.

"Hey, Thane, how can I help you?" I asked him politely.

"Um sir...Hiccup... er...chief... I was um, wondering if you knew where Hayden was?" He asked, twiddling his fingers.

"Uh,..nope. I don't think I know where he is. Have you checked the house yet?"

"Yes... Mrs. Haddock told me to come check with you..."

"Huh, well he must be out in the forest somewhere. I'm sure he'll be home soon...It's getting pretty late, why don't you help me clean up and then I'll walk with you back to your house. I've been meaning to talk to Tuffnut anyway." I offer.

"Um sure chief... I think I can do that."

"Just be careful with those long limbs." I joke. He smiled and we walked in.

After leaving the Thorston house, I went straight home. I had stayed pretty late cleaning up at the Great Hall, way later than I probably should have stayed.

I walked in my house to find Astrid half asleep on the couch. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, yawning really big. I walked over to her and sat down beside her. She curled up beside me and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

"Long day?" I asked, seeing as how tired she is.

"Not really, the kids have been out all day so I got the cleaning done. I took Stomfly out earlier for a flight and I just fed her and Toothless a little while ago." She explained, curling up closer to me.

"So the kids still aren't home?" I asked, getting a little worried.

"Um, not that I know of. What time is it?"

"Astrid, its about midnight. They should have been home 3 hours ago. Aaron is never one to disobey curfew." Now I'm really worried. True Aaron never missed curfew, neither did the other two, but where could they be.

I shot up and raced up the steps, striding two at a time. I checked all their rooms, but no one was up there. I came back down and Astrid looked at me with worried eyes.

"They're not here." I said, frustrated. How could this have happened? I clenched my fist and paced the room.

"Hiccup, they have to be around here somewhere. We have to go search...
Um... Ah! I know! Stormfly is a tracking dragon. Lets just take some of their clothes or something she can get a scent off of." She suggested.

"That's a great idea Astrid! You go get her and I'll grab clothes."

As I reached the foot of the stairs, someone knocked on the door. I looked at Astrid. She looked back at me and opened the door slowly. When she seen who it was, she sighed in relief

"Ah, chief Raul. What brings you here?" She asked, waving a hand to invite him in.

"Pandora is gone. She hasn't come to the house yet and my wife is getting worried." He explained.

Me and Astrid exchanged looks. She waved me on and explained that we had the same problem. When I bounded back down the stairs with the clothes, I noticed Raul was gone.

"He went to go find something that might have Pandora's scent on it." Astrid explained. I nodded and walked out the door.

"You should probably blow the village horn and call an emergency meeting in the Great Hall." She suggested. "We will need more tracking dragons and we should see if the old gang will help."

"I will do just that."

I flew to the horn and blew 4 times, signaling an emergency meeting. I then flew to the Great Hall. Soon towns people were hurrying in.

When everyone was accounted for, I shut the doors and went to the chief table at the front of the building. Astrid was already sitting at the table. I settled down the villagers and explained what happened.

"So we need two more people with tracking dragons and the gang for back up. Who else has a tracking dragon?"

"I do, and I would be honored to join." Said Eret. I can't believe I didn't think of him.

"Okay and we need one more person."

"I would be glad to join." Said a women in a cloak, like jacket who had just walked in the room. I looked at Astrid and she shrugged her shoulders. The women pulled the hood of her jacket down revealing her face. It was the last person I expected to show up at random.

"Heather?!?" Astrid asked, she sounded quizzical, but excited at the same time.

"In the flesh and blood." She said, holding her arms out."Now I know Windshear is not in the Tracking class of dragons, but she has an excellent sense of smell and I'm sure she would be a big help. Plus, I can't miss out on helping you guys. Especially if its your kids that are in danger." She walked up to the table and Astrid jumped out of her chair, rushing over to hug her friend.

"So I guess that settles it. We will be leaving tonight with Eret and Heather and the gang. Bring your dragons down to our house so we can finalize a plan."

"Wait, so if Eret, Heather, and Astrid have dragons who can track, then what about a fourth dragon if four kids are missing? That's four different scents to pick up." Fishlegs asked.

"The kid's dragons are still here. So that means that Hayden's Nadder is here. We are using him as the fourth dragon." I explained. And then we left the Great Hall to start the hunt for my kids and Pandora.

"Hiccup, it's going to be alright. We will find them." Astrid tried to reassure.

"When we find whoever took our kids, so help me I will-"

"That's enough Hiccup. Don't work yourself up to much. I'm just as angry as you are."She said, twirling her axe in her hands.

Finally we agreed on a plan. We all loaded up and set out into the dark. The night air was cold on my face, but I had to stick through this, for my kids.
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Author's Note:
So there is no need to worry about Heather. She will not be a threat to anyone's relationship. She is simply there to help the gang.

Also, in spirit of the holiday, starting tomorrow I will have a new bookish thing up. For anyone who may be interested in the Percy Jackson series or some minor Greek Mythology, go check it out. It is a book of 25 Christmas song parodies themed to Percy Jackson. I will post a new song everyday until December 25. So yeah, if you've read the books go check out my songs.

And... I had my last horse show of the season on Sunday so I should have more time to update. So yay!

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