"Chief!!! Enemy armada, just south of here!"

Hiccup looked up at Mulch from his map, narrowing his eyes. "Armada?" he said slowly. Mulch nodded vigorously. There's only one person who comes with an entire armada for backup... "What are the sails?" Hiccup questioned, rolling up his map.

"Skrill, sir. Hork counted at least twenty Skrill sails."
Not good. Hiccup frowned and stepped outside, the rain pouring down. "How far are they?" Hiccup said, turning to Mulch with his hands on his hips thoughtfully.

Mulch looked to the sky, thinking. "Hmm, about five miles as the crow flies, and getting closer as we speak," he answered. "And, despite the distance, sir, I suggest we confront them via ship. It's too stormy even for Toothless, and besides, he has Paintsplash to look after currently."

"This is bad," Hiccup muttered.

"What is?" Hiccup whipped around. Astrid was standing there, her cheeks and nose red from the cold, panting as her breath came out in a mist, soaked from the rain; her hood hadn't helped. "The giant Berserker armada that's headed straight for us that we can't ride our dragons into because of the storm?"

Hiccup blinked. "How long have you been standing there?"

Astrid shrugged and shoved past Hiccup, sniffling as she made a beeline for the fire pit in the center of the Great Hall. "Only a few seconds," she called nasally over her shoulder. "I happened to be scouting--"

"Against my orders?" Hiccup cut in demandingly.

Astrid ignored him and continued. "--and I saw the ships. Looks like Dagur wasn't finished with you, fishbone."

Hiccup controlled the fearful temper that rose up in him. "Number one, don't call me 'fishbone'. Number two, I told you not to go scouting in weather like this! You'll get sick, or Stormfly will go down in the wind! I can't risk either of those!"

Astrid sat down and rubbed her shiny red nose, sniffing. She looked up at Hiccup with round blue eyes that were impossible to stay mad at for long. "Translation:," she announced, "'Number one, I love it when you give me nicknames but I tell you not to so you'll do it more. Number two, I just wanna make sure you're completely safe and well because I can't stand seeing you uncomfortable or miserable.'" Hiccup's jaw tensed and his cheeks turned red in embarrassment. Astrid sighed and got up, wringing out the water from her golden plaits. "Fine, Hiccup," she said. "I'll try to stay out of the storms. But I'm a Warrior; I can't sit around because of some measely storm when there might be danger." She gave Mulch a look, and he nodded and hobbled away. "I'm your most valuable warrior, Hiccup," she continued, stepping closer to the young chief, "for...numerous reasons." She put her hands on Hiccup's chest and his cheeks flushed. Astrid took his chin in her fingers gently, pulling him toward her and bringing her lips next to his. This made Hiccup's heart race and his cheeks burn and his eyes lid slightly. "I see why you can't risk anything happening to me. And I'm doing this for you, because I love you. But this doesn't mean I won't defy orders without a second thought to do what's right for the tribe; you'd do the same."

"Yeah," Hiccup said, in a trance. Astrid smiled and gave Hiccup a quick hug.

"But you are gonna need me for taking on the Berserkers, right?" Hiccup chuckled.

"Fine. But only as long as you kiss me first. You got me all worked up, and I expect what you were seemingly promising me."

Astrid rolled her eyes and kissed Hiccup on the lips. "WOOHOO!" she whooped, and ran off to grab her axe. "RIDERS! GRAB YOUR WEAPONS! IT'S TIME TO WHUP SOME BERSERKER BUTT!"

----

The waves rolled and crashed, and Hiccup's ship--with a crew of Valka as first mate, Gobber as lookout, Astrid's father as catapult worker, and Fishlegs steering--called the Starry Striker, lead the fleet of Berkian warships into battle on the swirling black ocean. A second boat, the Iron Valkyrie, cut through the waves alongside Hiccup's vessel. Astrid, Hiccup's captain, manned that ship, and her crew was a pack of surly, rough, meaty Viking women (save for Ruffnut, who, besides Astrid, was the skinniest) who were ready to punch some heads in.

Snotlout, the general, was third in line as he was a good fighter, and when in battle, was an amazing leader. His ship was called the Peregrine Falcon, and she was a sleek, swift vessel of excellent craftsmanship. His crew consisted of Tuffnut; Gustav (who had grown a lot and was now an amazing dragon rider), his self-proclaimed apprentice; Spitelout; Hork; Ack; Bucket; Mulch; Not-So-Silent Sven; and Garry.

Hiccup stood at the prow of the Starry Striker, scanning the raging, misty sea with a spyglass. The wind howled and the rain poured down. Hiccup frowned and looked up from the glass. Nothing. The ship rode the back of a huge wave and plunged downward into the cold, writhing black mass of water. White spray soaked everyone on deck. The Iron Valkyrie came to fore and portside of the Starry Striker. Astrid looked at Hiccup from across the water, giving him a nervous look. He shrugged as the ships mounted another wave. The Peregrine Falcon had fallen aft of the lead, but regained position off to port.

Suddenly, another vessel rammed prow-first into the hull of the Starry Striker, knocking her starboard violently. Hiccup lost balance and rolled across the deck, righting himself quickly. "EVERYONE!" he shouted. "MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS! PREPARE FOR ENEMY BOARDING!!" The lightning flashed brilliantly, arching across the sky in a web of electricity that illuminated the battle scene below.

It was an amazing battle that passed on into the lore of the Vikings as "The Battle of Nadder Bay". Most people know it as a great fight that lead to the surrender of the Berserkers and the rescuing of a lone fugitive, all ending in a glorious victory.

The bards and storytellers are lazy oafs, though, and they like a happy ending. If you heard the uncut, unedited version of "The Battle of Nadder Bay", you know that the story doesn't end right there as the Berserkers are sailing away, and, even if it did, it's not exactly a happy ending.

See, it went a little like this.

The lead boat--carrying that prisoner I mentioned earlier, mind you--rammed into the Iron Valkyrie like an angry boar. It was smashed in half, and everyone was thrown overboard, including Astrid. The Peregrine Falcon then sped in and crashed into the lead Berserker warship, and Snotlout boarded it, rescuing that girl and her dragon.

Then, after a few minutes of suspicious rope-throwing and dragon-diving, the ships retreated, and the Berkians celebrated when they got home, having seemingly driven off the Berserkers and seemingly saved all of their overboard tribe members.

But the girl with the talking dragon sat in a corner at the Great Hall, her face grave.

"What is it?" Hiccup asked her, concerned. She looked up at him, her blue eyes now greyish and stormy.

"They took one of you," she said quietly. "The blonde with the axe."