"Can you talk to him again, to stop telling Heather how much she's going to enjoy traveling with him?" Fishlegs asked Ash as the four of them were walking through the woods with their dragons trailing behind them. "It's really getting on my nerves already and...I don't know, smacking him to shut him up."

"Relax, it's not like talking her ear off about finding Oswald is going to make her want to go with him." Ash assures him. "But I do agree it's getting annoying. Smudge, distract!"

The little wolf pup, who was walking alongside Meatlug, perked up at the command and bolted forward to run between Dagur's legs. The Berserker gave a startled yelp of alarm and nearly fell backwards as Fishlegs hurried ahead to walk with Heather.

"Okay what was that for?" Dagur asks as Ash and the dragons approach him. "What am I not allowed to talk to- ow! Hey no flicking my face!"

"That's enough Dagur, I get that you're excited about finding your dad, but it's really starting to frustrate all of us- including me." Ash states as he rubbed his cheek. "Lucky for you, Elin hasn't tried to eat you to shut you up."

"Yak dung, Elin never ate human meat and I probably taste like crap."

"I saw her eat a dragon hunter last week and just yesterday she managed to cough up the armor!" Heather yelled from ahead. "Come on, we need to keep moving!"

"Is there something wrong with me talking to my sister?" Dagur asks Ash quietly as they continued to walk. "I haven't seen her in weeks, wouldn't you be talking the ear off one of your siblings if you haven't seen them in weeks or even years?"

"Dagur, we have a mission right now - a very important one." The Targaryen responds softly. "Maybe it'd be better if you waited until after the mission when we actually find that gold and take back what belongs to Berk. And maybe see how things turn out with Heather, she might not be as eager and excited as you think she is to find Oswald, she actually loves doing what we are doing here."

Dagur makes a small pout. "Okay fine, but this means I'll be talking your ear off the entire time."

Ash gives a small laugh. "As long as you don't bore me to death."

"Fine, maybe we can talk about how I'm going to convince that stubborn father of yours to let me court you properly."

The four riders continued to walk while being followed by their dragons as Smudge was either running ahead to sniff something out or running around in circles and almost tripping Fishlegs or Dagur. Ash kept having to call him back or pick him up, but the pup kept wiggling out of her arms and continue to do his antics.

"Hey, I see a cave up ahead!" Heather says loudly and points ahead. "Maybe there's something in there."

"Should we even go in?" Fishlegs asks nervously as they approached it. "There could be traps inside, or worse!"

"Don't worry Fishlegs, I'll search this one. Sometimes I miss the pleasant Zen of a deep dark cave." Dagur assures him as he walks into the cave with Shattermaster behind him.

"Can you go with him? Before he does something stupid?" Heather whispers to Ash. "Please?"

"Seven hells, it's like I'm his babysitter all of a sudden." Ash murmurs as she follows him in with Val at her heels. "Dagur? Find anything?"

"Nope!" She hears him respond cheerfully. "Hey, this old place reminds me of that cave we slept in after you rescued me, kind of romantic isn't it?"

"So, how exactly do you find dark caves like this romantic?" Ash asks as she stumbles forward in the dark and grabs Dagur's hand. "It's so dark and cold in here."

"Oh quite romantic, anything could happen." Dagur chuckles. "Like a...weredragon could pop out of the shadows and I'd be forced to give up my life in order to defend yours."

"Okay, that's going a bit too far."

"I'm serious, I'd give my life to you over and over."

"Yeah you're being very dramatic."

She could hear Dagur give a laugh before she felt him squeeze her hand.

"Shouldn't we have Shattermaster or Val light a fire or something?" Ash asks. "It's dark and I'm kind of worried there's something in here."

"So we're alone in a dark cave, what's the worst that can happen?" Dagur asks with a chuckle.

Before Ash could answer, she heard several loud screeches and felt several small things hit her face. With a yelp, she stumbled into Val while grabbing Dagur's hand with the other and yanked him towards the opening of the cave.

"No gold! No gold!" Dagur yelled as he swatted at the numerous Terrible Terrors swarming them. "And Terrible Terrors make terrible meditation partners! And ruin romantic moments!"

"Do not even ask what he's talking about." Ash groans as she released his hand. "Well good news, no traps in there; bad news is that there's no gold in there anywhere."

"Did you actually check?" Heather asks skeptically.

"Uh did you not see the swarm of those rat dragons that chased us out?" Dagur asks. "I'm not going back in there!"

"Wuss." Ash mutters before motioning for Shattermaster to follow her. "Come on Shatty, let's try this again but with some fire."

The two walked in, Shattermaster igniting a mouthful of magma in his mouth to light the way. So far Ash hadn't found anything, kicking at some rocks and even calling Smudge to come in and sniff the area. And still, nothing.

"As I said before, no gold." Ash announced as they walked out of the cave. "So, who else has any clever ideas of where else to look?"

"Maybe the coast, or anywhere near the beach?" Fishlegs suggested. "The ride could easily hide their footprints and the cart tracks while hiding it it close to the cliffs or in a cave far out of reach of the tide. It's worth a shot."

"He has a point. But that also could be like the shed from earlier." Dagur says with a nod. "But as he said, worth a shot and it wouldn't hurt to check it out."

As they were walking to the cliffs, Smudge's ears perked up and he began to bark wildly before taking off towards the cliffs with the dragons behind him.

"Hey slow down!" Ash yells as she and the others ran after them. "Oh my gods!"

A few miles from the island were about three hunter ships, and down below were some docks where some hunters were pulling around some cages. Even from up there they could hear the familiar panicked scream of Snotlout down below, signifying their friends had been caught.

"Oh this is bad, really, really bad." Fishlegs says as they watch from their spot on the cliff

"Huh, funny. Hiccup was never that easy to catch when I was chasing him." Dagur comments.

"Maybe because you were never ten steps ahead of him back then like Viggo was." Ash says with a shrug. "Also you didn't always think straight."

"Viggo!" Heather gasps as she lowers the spy glass. "Of course it's always Viggo!"

"See?" Ash says turning to the Berserker with a grin. "So, what's the plan?"

"Do we even have time to make one?" Heather asks before turning to face them. "We can't just sit here, we have to rescue them now before Viggo disappears."

"We should save them Berserker style, I have the perfect plan!" Dagur says with a grin.

"No! Dragon riders rescue dragon riders, I have known Hiccup for my whole life and he's my best friend Dagur!" Fishlegs exclaims. "Whenever I needed him, he's been there for me and now he needs me. We are doing this my way."

"Odin's beard, are you crying?" Ash asks when she hears Dagur sniffle and turns to see him wiping away a tear.

"That was beautiful man, just beautiful." Dagur says with a small nod. "Okay we'll do it your way first, but can we do it my way as a plan B or plan C? We can do it Targaryen style if you don't want to do it Berserker style."

"Targaryen style is pretty much just setting everything on fire until there is nothing but smoke and ashes. But let's just do it Fishlegs' way before we burn everything and everyone to ash."

---

Once mounted on their dragons, the four riders took off after the hunter ships, taking care to stay well behind to avoid being seen.

"There they are!" Fishlegs yells pointing ahead. "You two attack the flanking ships, Meatlug and I will take out the lead vessel. Ash, you and Elin take out the back one!"

Ash was about to urge her dragon to dive and attack when she caught Shattermaster and Dagur still hovering in the air. What the seven hells were they doing?

Oh for Frey's sake is he asleep?! She wonders before yelling, "Dagur! This is no time to be taking a nap during a rescue mission!"

"Meditating! Give me a moment!" He yells back before proceeding to hum loudly again.

"Seven hells..." Ash mutters before urging Elin to dive towards the ship she was supposed to be attacking. Hunters were already shooting their dragon root arrows and their boulders at them, which Elin managed to dodge with ease before sending a blast of fire at the side of the ship. Oddly enough, the ship didn't immediately start sinking like it normally did after an attack.

"They dragon-proofed their boats!" SHe hears Dagur yell. "Back to the skies!"

"Oh come on!" Ash groans as Elin flew back up to the others. "It's even resisting Elin's fire attacks!"

"Okay that didn't work!" Dagur yelled as they quickly dodged some more arrows and boulders. "Anyone else have any other thoughts, you know that I may have mentioned earlier?"

"Yeah we can't do it Targaryen style now that we've seen the dragon-proof metal, so...Berserker style?" Ash suggests.

"Fishlegs, maybe we should try it my brother's way." Heather says to Fishlegs.

"Your brother?" He asks in surprise.

"I mean what do we have to lose?"

"Our lives, dignity, dragons, there's a lot we could lose if we don't act now." Ash points out. "Let's give it a shot, it's our only hope right now to save our friends!"

"Yeah! Berserker style!" Dagur cheers. "Sis, I'm gonna have to ride with you for this! Ash, you and fishlegs wait up here, and watch how we do it!"

"Are you sure this is the guy you want to spend the rest of your life with?" Fishlegs asks as they watch the two siblings and their dragons fly down.

"Hey anyone who is not some boring lord who wants me for a trophy wife is a much better choice." Ash says with a shrug. "We're giving this relationship a shot, and if all goes well we'll actually talk my dad into letting us officially court. Who knows, maybe in a few years we'll actually marry or something.Hey it's working!"

The two watched as Shattermaster was thrown right into the hull of the ship and cheered as it actually began to sink.

"Coming around for another pass!" Dagur yells as they flew by them. The process was repeated several more times before all five ships were now sinking rapidly and three familiar dragons were now starting to fly towards them.

"Where's Hiccup?!" Ash asks frantically when she noticed he wasn't with them.

"Oh, there!" Dagur exclaims as Toothless burst out of the water and flew towards them, Hiccup secured on his back.

"Back to the island! I think I know where the gold is!" Hiccup yells as he flies past them.

"Oh so Viggo must have accidentally revealed where the gold was?" Heather asks as she turns Windshear back towards the island.

"He must have, that bastard tends to reveal a little too much when he gets a bit cocky." Dagur laughs before hopping off her dragon and lands on his. "Come on, let's get us some gold!"

---

"You sure you have to go?" Ash asks Dagur as Elin carefully removed a huge chunk of gold with her teeth off the structure and dropped it at their feet. "You can stay with us on the Edge."

"Are you saying you're going to miss me too much if I go, princess?" Dagur asks teasingly, but the smile he was sporting dropped when he saw the sad expression on her face. "H-hey, I was joking! Oh gods are you going to cry?"

"WHO MADE HER CRY THIS TIME?!" He hears the twins and Snotlout yell.

"No one made me cry, stop jumping to conclusions!" Ash yells before quickly wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry, it's just...I spent weeks thinking you were dead and beating myself up over it. And when Heather and Hiccup told me they found you and gave me that letter, I just..."

"You just can't bear the thought of losing me again?" Dagur asks, reaching forward to gently wipe a tear away from her face. "Ash, I swear I'll be careful. And since Heather is coming with me, you can bet she'll do her best to keep me from doing anything stupid."

"She's actually going with you?" Ash asks in surprise.

"Yeah, she agreed to come with me. She really wants to know about our family and heritage, and I'm the only one who can tell her." Dagur gives her a small smile before he pulls her into a hug. "I swear I'll come back to you, preferably alive."

"I do hope you will." Ash says with a small smile. "And I'll be waiting."