Astrid's POV 

The events passed fairly quickly after that. Heather decided to return with her brother for now, while the soldiers retreated. Hiccup had called Gobber from Dagur's satellite phone to let him know that Soren and Heather were safe and that Soren would be accompanying us for the time being.

I sat there on a rock while staring grimly at the ocean.

"What's wrong Astrid?" Hiccup asked as he walked over to me with Soren trailing behind.

"They got away." I mumbled. "Drago now has one of the King's lost things and we have no idea where to go next."

"So what if he got Grimbeard's sword." Hiccup stated. "Probably still hasn't gotten any of the others."

"And I don't think he got this one either." Fishlegs said as he walked towards us.

"What do you mean Fishleg's? Simmons and his men got away with the sword." I state.

"Correction, they got away with 'a' sword, not 'the' sword." Fishlegs tells us and then produces the old sword that Hiccup used to cut Heather and Soren free. "Grimbeard's prophecy stated that his second-best-sword was one of the items."

"You aren't suggesting that that old blade is one of the lost things?" Snotlout asked looking quite skeptic as he and the twins also approached.

"Well it has Grimbeard's crest on it and runes that I can't translate. It is know in the history books that Grimbeard always had two swords. One was the Stormblade and his favorite sword Endeavor, which was actually a family heirloom. Endeavor was Grimbeard's second best sword and he preferred it over the Stormblade." Fishlegs began to lecture but I cut him off.

"How do we know which sword that is? You can't read the runes." I stated.

"He can't, but we can." Ruffnut stated and took the sword from Fishlegs.

All of us just stood there and gave the twins incredulous looks as both Ruffnut and Tuffnut produced a pair of black rimmed glasses and began to peruse the various runes with great scrutiny.

The twins looked up from their bickering as silence reigned.

"What?" Ruffnut asked.

"You guys can actually read that?" Snotlout asked incredulously.

"Shouldn't be too hard." Tuffnut answered. "Both of us have PhD's in linguistics."

"WHAT!!" Was shouted by several of us. Hiccup merely raised an eyebrow and asked. "Then why were you in the army?"

"Well we like blowing stuff up......Duh." Ruffnut answered and went back to reading.

"I think we got it." Tuffnut exclaims after a while. "It's very old Norse. From what we could gather this side says 'Here ye holds Endeavour'."

"So it is Endeavour." Fishlegs squeals with glee. "Then Drago's men took the Stormblade."

I see the twins frown as they read the other side of the sword. "This here seems to be a riddle. It's inscribed along the entire blade." Ruffnut said. "Why does every treasure hunt have to have a riddle?" Tuffnut grumbles.

"So what does it say?" Soren spoke up for the first time.

"Hold on little man." Ruffnut said as she began to read. "Let's see......"

I wait for thee,

behind bended knee

where the king of Gods weeps,

and Mani's slumber is deep.

When his sister stands at her peak.

Hold thy heart upon her gaze

Let her radiance reveal the way.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Snotlout asked while scratching his head in confusion. "Can't anything be easy?"

"Well it refers to a place." I state. "The king of Gods could be a reference to Odin since this legend came from Viking times."

"Mani and Sol are the moon and sun." Fishlegs mutters. "We may have to be there at a specific time."

"But where would Odin weep?" Snotlout asked.

"I got it!" Hiccup said suddenly. "Odin's falls in the Murderous peninsula."

"Are you sure cuz?" Snotlout asked.

"The first 3 lines refer to the waterfall and the cave system behind it. The next to refer to a specific time. The last lines are however still a mystery." Hiccup explains.

"Well it's a long flight to the peninsula." Fishlegs comments. "I've got a map here and we could rest on some of these uninhabited islands."

It was still light and while Fishlegs and Hiccup planned the flight, the others and I checked if we had enough supplies. The dragons were more than eager to fly and we departed Hysteria an hour and a half later.

It was six hours into the flight and it was beginning to get dark. "Let's camp for the night!" Hiccup yelled to us and pointed to some small islands west of us in the distance. It didn't take long before we reached them and landed on one of the beaches.

Camp was made soon after and we all settled down for the night. I had been asleep for maybe two or three hours before I felt the ground shake. I apparently wasn't the only one as all the others came out of their tents as well to investigate.

"Why......are.....we shaking......" Snotlout asked looking still half asleep.

Our dragons began growling at the treeline and on closer inspection I could make out very big red eyes staring at us.

"Guys!" I shouted catching their attention. I pointed to the treeline and every one stiffened.

From out of the treeline flew a massive white dragon, with large red eyes and many sharp teeth. It's body was shaped like a corkscrew and it glowered down at us.

"T...That's a.......Sc......Screaming Death!!" Fishlegs shakily pointed out.

"That thing's massive." Tuffnut exclaimed.

"This must be its territory." Fishlegs stammers out.

Our dragons were still snarling at the giant Screaming Death but it wouldn't back down.

"Oh Thor we are going to be its snack." Soren said while hiding behind me.

Just as the giant dragon was about to lunge at us a shrill roar stopped it. The giant screaming death backed away slightly as several Whispering Deaths came out of the ground.

All of us watched as a Whispering Death looked as if it was berating the Screaming Death.

"That's probably it's mother." Fishlegs commented as he watched the scene, while Ruffnut asked "That thing has a mother?"

The Screaming Death gave one last roar and retreated back underground. Then the Whispering Deaths turned to us.

"I don't think we're save yet." Snotlout mumbled while trying to look small(er).

"Wait." Hiccup suddenly said. "I know these Whispering deaths. They were the ones in the mine."

"Hiccup how can you be sure?" I ask and Hiccup then pointed out that he recognized the distinctive scars on that particular Whispering Death.

The mother Whispering Death starts cooing at us while showing her teeth and then uses her tail to beckon us to follow them.

"I wonder what they want?" Fishlegs asked as the Whispering Death motioned to one of its tunnels. "These dragons are very territorial. I've never seen one invite someone to enter their tunnels."

"Are we gonna be alright?" Soren asked as I held his hand.

"I think so. They had more than enough time to try to eat us if that was what they wanted." I responded and helped the boy into the tunnel.

The Whispering Deaths led us through a myriad of tunnels before we came to a giant cavern. What made this cavern unique was that its walls held many crystals and as the moonlight shone through a gap, the entire cave was then glistering like the many starts in the night sky.

"This is amazing." I said as we took in the sight.

"Yes it really is." Hiccup said as he and Toothless come to stand next to us.

The Whispering Deaths were cooing happily and curled down to rest.

"Hiccup, I think this is their way of saying thank you." I mentioned. "From what Fishlegs said it would appear that these dragons wouldn't let just anybody in here. This must be the center of their nest."

The mother Whispering Death was still hovering near us and then motioned for us to join the now already sleeping dragons.

"Well this is definitely the most interesting sleepover I've been invited to." Hiccup commented as he and Toothless settled down on the ground. The rest of us and our dragons joined them and I couldn't help but agree to that statement as I drifted off against Stormfly to the purring of Whispering Deaths.