The people of the Isle of Berk were a stubborn lot. What was theirs was theirs, and they would fight tooth and nail to defend it, no matter what stood in their way. It didn't matter that for three hundred years dragons ransacked their village – they would be the ones to drive them away and build their houses from the ground up. They would not be the first ones to leave. Vikings do not flee – they face death with their shoulders squared until they sail right into Valhalla itself.

The Viking teenagers were no exception. Stubbornness ran in their blood, and there wasn't a single one of them that would back down when it came to something they believed in. They wouldn't be the ones that flinched first.

But luck and the bull headed blind faith in one's own invincibility could only get you so far.

Astrid was the first to see the ships. She sat on the edge of the watchtower, her legs dangling over the edge, swinging back and forth against the light evening breeze. Stormfly hovered beside her, wings beating in a soothing rhythm. It was a quiet night; the sun was sinking below the shore, the whole of the Edge bathed in blue light.

Astrid's eyes were drooping. The day's activities had gradually caught up on her, and all at once she had begun to notice how much her limbs were aching, how they were crying out for her to just crawl up against Stormfly's warm scales and fall asleep...

She awoke to her dragon's insistent nudging, Stormfly's snout pushing up against her cheek.

"Alright, alright," she mumbled, her fingers fumbling to scratch the spot under her dragon's neck, "I'm awake. What is it, girl?"

Stormfly nodded her head towards the sea. There was a light on the horizon.

Astrid wiped sleep from her eyes and blinked, the light only becoming clearer in focus. It was joined by another, and then another, and then another, until the whole of the horizon line was teeming with bright lights, coming closer and closer until they made the unmistakable shape of dozens and dozens of ships.

Astrid wasted no time after that - she leapt onto Stormfly and soared onto the Edge, speeding through the centre.

"Hiccup?" As small as she was, Astrid had a set of lungs on her, and she opened her mouth wide to call his name again, this time so loud her voice rippled through the Edge: "HICCUP?"

The boy hurried out of his hut at the sound of her worried yelling, his notebook slipping from his lap, and his pencil toppling to the floor. "Astrid?!" he called, craning his neck up high so he could see her, his hand covering his eye. "What's wrong?"

She had to yell over the loud beating of Stormfly's wings and the wind rushing through her ears. "Ships on the horizon! Hundreds of them!" Her face twisted as she pushed her hair out of her face. "Hiccup, he's come for us."

It had been a question that had prayed on both of their minds - the one that they pondered alone in each other's rooms after everyone had gone to bed: when would Viggo tire with the carefully calculated moves and countermoves? When would he stop playing a game and come and take what he wanted?

That day had come today, and it had come in a blaze of fire. Viggo's soldiers waylaid the Edge, barrelling through in their hundreds.

Hiccup managed to escape easily – Toothless folded back his wings and shot into the sky before anyone could even blink, but none of the other riders owned a Night Fury. None of them could make it out of there quickly enough. Hiccup hung in the sky, powerless to stop the horde below, forced to watch as his friends were subdued and tied up one by one.

Astrid was the hardest of the teenagers to take down; she nipped in and out of them on Stormfly, raining fire down upon them with reckless abandon. It wasn't until Stormfly was hit with a tranquiliser dart did they manage to subdue her, and even then she put up a fight, going down with a flurry of curses that would have made Thor himself blush.

If it had been one man, or even two, Astrid would have stood a chance. Hiccup had seen her take down full-grown Vikings with her bare fists. But this wasn't one or two - this was dozens of bulky berserkers, and though she fought, and Thor did she fight, it didn't take long for them to tie her hands behind her back and hold her still.

Hiccup fought back a growl as he hovered just out of reach of the tranquiliser darts

"My, my, Hiccup, I expected more from you," Viggo said. Even from up high, Hiccup could see that he was holding a set of Maces and Talons pieces, twirling them over and over again around his fingers. "This was almost too easy."

"Let them go, Viggo," he said. His voice had a dangerous edge to it, not far off a snarl.

Viggo smiled, the kind of smile that could send shivers down your spine and make your skin prick. "That's disappointing," he said, "I thought you understood how to play this game, Hiccup."

"I'm done with games." Hiccup gritted his teeth as he talked, his words coming out short and sharp.

"What have you got to lose?" Viggo said. He was still twisting the game pieces around his fingers with a clink. Then, shrugged, and with a lazy swish of his wrist he said, "Such a pity. You may as well take them away."

There was a flurry of action again as the soldiers began to drag the teenagers back towards the boats.

That was when Hiccup made his first mistake – when he should have kept his eyes trained on Viggo, when he should have done something, anything else, his eyes shot towards Astrid.

And Viggo saw.

"Stop!" Viggo held up his hand, and at once everything was still again. Then, with a horrible glint in his eye and a smirk on his face, he nodded at the man restraining Astrid.

The man unsheathed his knife and pressed it against Astrid's throat.

"Don't!" Hiccup's voice came out as a high screech before he could stop himself, his fingers gripping hard onto his saddle, his nails digging into the leather.

The grin on Viggo's face could have soured milk. "So, I ask you again, Hiccup: what are you willing to lose?"

Not her.

"Okay, okay," he said quickly, his voice reaching a high-pitched desperate tone, "what do you want me to do?"

"Give yourself up," Viggo said, throwing the Maces and Talons pieces up in the air and then catching them again. "If I let them go, you'll come with me willingly. You and Toothless."

"NO!"

It was Astrid. She'd taken a step forward, only to be yanked back. The knife was pressed harder against her skin.

Seeing iron against Astrid's throat, Astrid, his… well, his something, he couldn't really bring himself do anything but to hover down to land in front of Viggo, head bent. "I'll go with you," he said, bowing his head. "Just let them go first, then I'll come with you."

"No funny business?"

Hiccup looked Viggo grimly in the eyes. "No funny business."

For a few long seconds, Viggo held Hiccup's gaze. Hiccup refused to be the first to blink. Then, eventually, Viggo took a step back. "Very well. Let them go."

Viggo's soldiers let Astrid go as they grabbed hold of Hiccup, and he didn't think before pulling away from them and rushing after her.

"Hiccup, what are you doing?" she said, grabbing hold of his wrists, her teeth gritted. "You can't just-"

His fingers glided across her wrists, feeling the welts that the rope had left, his eyes flickering up to the scratch on her throat. "Are you hurt?" he said, his eyes alight with a fiery passion.

"I'm fine, but you can't just sacrifice yourself-"

He didn't think about what he was about to do, he just pulled her towards him and pressed his lips against hers, looping an arm around her back to hold her close. When he pulled away, Astrid stilled and stared at him, unable to say anything more.

"It's going to be okay," he mumbled, more to reassure himself than her.

Then he leaned forward and whispered something in her ear.

"You promise?" he said.

Astrid nodded. "I promise."

"Isn't young love just so sweet?" Viggo said, clasping his hands together in mock adoration, the game pieces tucked into his fists. "It's time to go."

A pair of meaty arms looped around Hiccup, pulling him back towards the ship. Viggo followed behind, smiling and periodically throwing the pieces in the air and catching them again. "You made the right choice, Hiccup," he said. "You'll see."

As he was dragged onto the ship, he watched Astrid rise into the sky on Stormfly, staring down at him. Her grim expression and her braid flapping in the wind was the last thing she saw before he was yanked down below into the depths of the ship and locked into the brig.

Hiccup sat cross-legged on the floor, staring down at his hands, while the ship bobbed from side to side. He already felt a little bit queasy. Much later, once the ship was far from the shores of the Edge, Viggo slunk downstairs to join him.

"Feisty girl that Astrid," he said, propping himself up on a stool on the other side of the bars. "I can see why you like her so much."

Hiccup scowled but said nothing, his hands balling into fists.

"Remarkable how well she recovered from the scourge of Odin," Viggo said. The Mace and Talons piece was back in his hands again, and it glided across his fingers. "You know, I almost thought she wouldn't make it."

Hiccup still didn't say anything. He glared up at Viggo, his jaw clicking.

"Why so glum, Hiccup? Maybe you'll see her again," he said, that unkind smile back on his face. He stood up and strolled back towards the stairs, turning around once more to give Hiccup one last look. "If you cooperate."

Those were the last words Hiccup heard before Viggo disappeared back on deck, closing the door behind him and plunging Hiccup into darkness.