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Chapter 21

I'm so sorry I haven't been posting chapters! I've been so busy with school that I never had time to write. I'm hoping to get some more chapters out during the next few weeks because of Christmas break.

Italics=Dragonese

[Back on Berk]

Stoick paced around the great hall. They had been gone far too long. The sun had already began to set.

"Stoick, if ye keep pacin' like that the floor'll have a Stoick sized trench." Gobber jokingly said.

"They said they were just going to check it out! Why is it taking so long?!" Stoick replied.

"We should go look for them." He suggested.

"They're eighteen Stoick. They know how to handle their own problems." Gobber replied.

"I just got Hiccup back. I don't want to lose him again." Gobber sighed and pat Stoick on the back.

"I think a quick survey of the area should be alright. But, it'll be quicker on a dragon." Gobber suggested. Stoick grimaced.

"You know that those beasts don't trust me." He said.

"You want to find Hiccup. Riding a dragon is the fastest way." Stoick groaned once again but complied with Gobber and they both went to get a dragon to ride.

•••Astrid POV•••

Heather and I followed behind Hiccup and Valka into a cavern with dragon eggs littering the wall. The hatchery. If the twins and Snotlout are in here than pray to Thor that they're still alive. We slowed down deeper into the cavern and found Hookfang, Dagur's triple strike, and Barf and Belch. Meatlug wasn't there and neither were any of the riders.

"Why are they out here? Why won't they just go in?" I asked.

"It's the hatchery, males aren't aloud in. Just females. The dragons knew this, but the others probably didn't. Which is why they went in." Valka explained.

"So then we have to leave Toothless and Cloudjumper out here while we get the others?" Hiccup asked. Valka nodded jumping off Cloudjumper, which was her dragon's name.

"Hiccup, if you are coming in with us you must be very careful." She explained. Hiccup nodded and followed watching his mom's every step as to not make a wrong one. Heather and I followed behind again on Stormfly and Windshear. There were nests of all sizes for the female dragons. Most were sleeping in the nests but when we passed you could hear a slight growl come from the deepest part of the cave.

"Astrid? Is that you?" It was Ruffnut.

"Ruffnut? Where are you?" I whispered. Everyone stopped to look.

"Up here." We all looked up at the same time to see Ruffnut hidden in one of the nests.

"Is everyone else up there with you?" Heather asked. Ruffnut nodded.

"They're further in. They're hiding." She explained.

"Hiding from what?" I asked. Ruffnut stopped before saying anything and looked around.

"Come up here. I'll show you." We agreed and scaled our way up to the nest. Inside everyone was huddled in the back corner, the only dragon with them being Meatlug who was always a scaredy cat.

"Thank Odin you guys are here." Snotlout whined.

"If you hadn't come I would have died. And nobody wants that. He continued. Silence was his only reply while everyone else was busy looking out into the larger cove.

"I-It's c-c-coming." Fishlegs stuttered. Down through the cove hallway bound a large red dragon.

"Is that a Singetail?" Hiccup asked. Valka nodded.

"She thinks that she is the queen. It doesn't matter what you do, if you're male and you're in here, you deserve to die." Valka explained. All the boys, except for Hiccup, shuttered and gasped at the information.

"If she thinks she is the queen then is there an actual queen?" Hiccup asked. Valka nodded again.

"She lives in the main cove of the hatchery. She's the only on that scares the Singetail, other than the King. However, at the moment she has fallen ill from her last batch of eggs. The Singetail thinks this is the perfect time to assert her dominance in the cove." She replied.

"So we just have to scare her back into her place?" I asked.

"We can try. I don't know if it will work. Like I said before, the only dragons she is afraid of is the queen of the hatchery and the King." Valka explained.

"Why can't we just bring the King in here then?" Fishlegs asked.

"He's too big to come in here. He rules from the center of the palace. The queen of the nest usually reports to him if something is wrong. It's like a normal council. The King is at the very top and he has subordinates that report to him. Each subordinate is in charge of their own part of the palace. They take care of the occupants of their section." Valka said.

"So what do we do then?" Fishlegs asked.

"We talk to her." Hiccup replied. He stood up from his crouching position and jumped down. The Singetail turned to face Hiccup at the noise and growled.

"Hiccup!" I cried. Valka stopped me with her arm.

"Wait. Let him try, we'll save him if it goes really bad." She said. I looked worriedly to Hiccup. He was currently staring down the Singetail.

Hiccup POV

"Please don't hurt them. They were just lost." I growled shocking the Singetail and confusing the others.

"Human?! You speak our language?!" The dragon growled back.

"Yes, I am a friend to dragons, my best friend is a dragon. His name is Toothless. He taught me Dragonese." I explained. The Singetail backed down a bit.

"Human must get friend out of here before eat them. Never come back." I agreed and asked for directions to get out.

"Thank you, uh, do you have a name?" I asked.

"Diabla." She growled.

"Now leave! Before eat human and friends!" She growled louder.

"Okay, we'll leave." I replied. I climbed back up into the cave the others were hiding in.

"Okay guys time to leave!" I said.

"What do you mean leave? You go down there and growl at a dragon for a few minutes and then say it's safe to go. I feel like you're trying to get us killed!" Snotlout cried. I sighed in response.

"Dragonese. I was speaking the dragon's language." I explained.

"YAKBULLL! Dragon's can't speak! They're too dumb for that." Snotlout replied.

"That's not true at all. Dragon's are very intelligent." Mom added.

"So if the dragon's have their own language then that means they could be talking bad about us all the time! Barf! Belch! Do you talk behind out backs?!" Tuffnut cried.

"They said yes." I lied.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! THE BETRAYAL!" The twins cried simultaneously.

"Now let's get out of here. That Singetail is not looking too happy." Dagur said.