For Milady

FORTY FOUR: Return to Vanaheim

FORTY-FOUR: Return to Vanaheim.

The Council, Dagur, Heather, Cami, the Riders and Gustav were all collected in the Great Hall as Hiccup explained his plan. It was clear that Oswald know more about the dragons than they could guess and the fact Hiccup had found some symbols that looked like they were from the DragonEye and a drawling of a DragonEye lens they had never seen all convinced him that they needed to follow up the lead and return to Vanaheim.

"But what about Berk?" Spitelout asked pointedly. "And Johann? We still have made him pay for the attack on the Chief!"

"It's more important to stop Johann than run in blindly and just blow some stuff up!" Hiccup replied evenly. He had never had a close relationship with his uncle and had suffered at Spitelout's hands when he was younger-but the man would respect his Acting-Chief if Hiccup exerted enough authority. And in the war with Johann and Krogan, all the riders-including the A Team-looked to Hiccup's leadership.

"Even blowing stuff up has its place," Snotlout added.

"More often than you would think," Tuff added cheerfully.

"Dad is recovering and has woken from his coma...though he is still weak and needs to recover," Hiccup explained. "I have spoken to him briefly and he agrees that we need to move on this before Krogan finds Vanaheim and exploits it to his advantage." He paused. "If they find the key to the King of Dragons...or worse, destroy Vanaheim....then the whole of dragon kind may be lost!"

"But what if the Fliers attack again while you're all away?" Mulch asked suddenly.

"We'll face them down and deal with it!" Gustav said unwisely.

"If they attack, you may not be enough," Astrid commented dryly.

"I'm going!" Heather said firmly. "If we can find my father, then I have to be there..."

"Sis...there's no guarantee..." Dagur began placatingly but his sister glared at him.

"You went to Hiccup behind my back!" she snapped and Dagur the Deranged backed up a pace.

"In my defence, our brother did actually find a clue to where Dad may be..." he said quickly. "Um...little help here?" Sighing, Hiccup looked at Heather.

"I know how desperate you are to find Oswald...and Dagur, though he's much better at hiding it," he told her as the Berserker Chief gave a huff. "But we have to plan because if Johann attacks when Berk is undefended, we may not have anything to come back to." Gobber scratched his chin with his hook and sighed.

"Laddie...I mean Acting Chief Hiccup...if you can find a way of stopping Johann once and for all, you have to take it," he said. "We will still be here. Berk will still be here. And we're Hooligans, laddie. We never surrender!" Astrid glanced over to her husband and sighed: there was one problem.

"I will have to stay here," she said heavily. "Val needs me." Eyes flicking up, Hiccup opened his mouth to reassure her...and then realised she was correct. It was a long way to Vanaheim and there was no way he would risk his daughter on the mission. She was safer on Berk...and at the moment, she depended on Astrid for her most basic needs. Reluctantly, he nodded.

"I can leave you in charge of the Island," he said reassuringly. "Because I worry that they may be watching...and when we go, they may see if they can find a lever to force me to hand over my lenses..."

"Your Dad and Berk," she agreed. "I'll watch over them, Babe-and I can see how well Gustav and the A Team perform when I put them through their paces..."

"Oh Thor..." Gustav gulped as Snotlout gave his father a smug look.

"You're in for it now," he reminded his father. "She's very mean..." Astrid grinned.