AN: Helloooo all!!! How's everybody doing? The update is early you think... well I have an exam tomorrow and I won't have any time to update then. Also a few more notes on upcoming stories.

1. Three wishes and you're mine, last chapter will be this weekend.

2. HTTYD-Star wars Arc 3, is being written.

3. Januari and Februari fics are in production as well.

4. POP in on Xmas for a oneshot.

That's all for now folks. ENJOY!!

Chapter 27

They sneaked through the corridors, hiding in alcoves as servants walked by. "We can't keep hiding like this." Fishlegs mumbled as he tried to to squish the three women.

"I hate to agree but I agree." Heather mumbled. "What we need to do is be less conspicuous."

"Girl you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ruffnut asked as they heard another set of feet approaching.

Heather smirked. "Oh I'm thinking just that." She whispered. Fishlegs gulped as he listened to the the two plotting. Once the footsteps had gotten nearer they pushed Meixiu, who was already wearing servant's clothing, out into the hallway as bait. The ladies approached Meixiu who according to Heather was supposed to act lost and clueless. The women who walked passed the alcove were grabbed from behind by Heather, Ruffnut and Fishlegs and dragged into a small unused room.

"Wǒ fēicháng bàoqiàn!" Fishlegs apologized profusely to the women as he kept his eyes closed while Heather and Ruffnut stripped them of their clothing.

"Fish stop apologizing and put on this hanfu!" Ruffnut admonished while chucking some silk garments at him.

"Wait!! Me too?" Fishlegs asked as he blankly looked at the clothes he'd been given.

"Yes you too." Heather hissed. "We didn't strip three people so only two can dress up."

"Right" Fishlegs mumbled while starting to put the clothes on. "How do women even walk in these things?" He asked himself as Heather and Ruffnut had to help him tie the sash properly.

"Here" Meixiu said as she handed the trio each a pair of shoes. She was searching the women and found what she was looking for. Small compacts with makeup in them. "You will also need to change your hairstyles." She told them as she got out the powder.

"Is all this really necessary?" Fishlegs asked as he watched Meixiu do Ruffnut's makeup.

"The Empress will know that you aren't part of her servants if you don't look the part. Your male friends will most likely have been taken to her majesty's harem." The girl explained.

"Harem?" Heather asked as she started applying some of the makeup as well.

"Yes that is where she places all of the young men that she has whisked away from the nearby villages." Meixiu explained. "The men remain completely unresponsive and will only obey the Empress."

"Wait.... What about Fishlegs?" Ruffnut asked now. "He's a man."

Fishlegs blushed before wondering as well as to why he was placed in the dungeons. Meixiu looked a bit hesitant before saying "I do not wish to insult your friend but....... The Empress appears to be quite shallow. She only chose the young good looking men from the villages."

"So...... I'm not harem material because I'm chubby?" Fishlegs asked aloud and then sighed as Meixiu reluctantly nodded. "Hey think of it this way... at least you aren't being controlled by a long dead megalomaniac witch." Heather tried to cheer him up and Fishlegs had a distinct impression that she was censoring her words.

"Thanks..... I think." Fishlegs mumbled as Meixiu turned to him with the makeup palette. He gulped and closed his eyes before the white powder hit him.

Meanwhile Astrid was still stuck in the giant bird cage in the throne room. There were now two guards standing on either side of it since she'd managed to grab one of the servant girls and nearly escaped. One of the guards still sported the claw marks she had left on his face and Stormfly was hissing up a storm, no pun intended, about getting free and showing that woman a thing or two. Astrid however had to tell Stormfly to sit tight, she had this sinking suspicion that that would be playing right into the woman's hands.

"Astrid....... Can't I at least bite one of the guards?" Stormfly asked as she was getting bored.

"Not yet Stormfly." Astrid mentally told her. "I have a feeling letting any dragon out at the moment is exactly what she wants. Don't you remember that when she used that dust on the guys she was paying particular attention to Hiccup, Tuffnut and Snotlout."

"Hiccup and Tuffnut I can understand." Stormfly mumbled. "But........ Snotlout..... I see what you mean. Either the woman is clearly in need of a Playgirl catalog or she's planning something."

"Playgirl?" Astrid asked curiously before it clicked. Stormfly had shown her some of the magazines that they had found in Mrs. Haddock's closet while she was Toothless stalking. Astrid blushed as she remembered some of those centerfolds.

She was a bit lost in thought with a snickering Stormfly when two thuds could be heard. She turned around to see four women crouched over the two guards, two of them holding metal trays with slight indents in them. Her eyes widened upon closer inspection of one of the women. "Fishlegs!!" Astrid exclaimed upon recognizing him. The blue and yellow silk gown actually did bring out his eyes. She then also noticed Ruffnut and Heather and a girl she didn't recognize. "What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that??"

"Camouflage." Fishlegs whispered as Ruffnut started picking the lock with her already bent bobby pin. "Ugh.." she mumbled. "This pin won't be useful next lock." She said as she got the lock open. "Hmm, a new record."

"Wait a minute how can we understand you now?" Fishlegs asked perplexed.

"Some kind of translation spell." Astrid explained. "We have to help the others. She did something weird to them."

Meixiu looked away slightly upon Astrid mentioning the others. Astrid noticed that and then asked "What do you know?"

"Nothing" The girl trailed off.

"It's not nothing. You looked away when I mentioned the others. There is something that you aren't telling us." Astrid persisted.

"Maybe we should take this to some place not so open." Fishlegs told them. The throne room was empty and he wondered where all the people of the cult were.

"Righty" Ruffnut said and took Astrid's arm before guiding her towards one of the doors on the side of the room.

"Where are we going?" Astrid asked.

"First we need to get you a disguise." Meixiu stated. "You cannot approach the harem quarters looking like that."

"Harem?!" Astrid growled.

Fishlegs gulped and made a note to be as far away as possible from the women when they started to beat up their new foe. Neither Ruffnut, Heather or Astrid was amused by the thought of their friends in a harem. "Meatlug mentally supplied that she wouldn't be either if her darling Hookfang ended up in one."

They walked along the corridor when footsteps could be heard. There was no alcove to hide in now and Meixiu urgently whispered "What do we do now?!"

Astrid, already mad, decided to not waste anymore time. She used her armguards to help lift the rather heavy chinese vase near one of the pillars and chucked it at the servant who had just rounded the corner. There was a heavy crash, porcelain everywhere and Fishlegs was having a mild heart attack at the thought of the priceless antique vase being broken. Astrid hurried towards the fallen servant and tugged her back from where she came. Not far away around the corner she saw an open pantry. The others followed just in time to see the pantry door close with Astrid and the unconscious servant in it.

"She........ doesn't waste time." Heather observed as they tried to look as inconspicuous as possible in the hallway. They did as if they were cleaning up the porcelain shards when two guards walked by. Fishlegs let out a deep breath when they weren't discovered. Astrid peeked out of the pantry and then quickly shut the door, leaving the woman unconscious inside. She tugged on the chinese dress, not used to wearing so many layers.

"Start talking." Astrid whispered towards Meixiu as her eyes narrowed on the girl while they walked through the long corridors towards the supposed harem.

Meixiu looked down as she spoke, unable to meet Astrid's eyes. "I only heard this in passing..... But you were not brought here at random."

"Go on."

"The Oracle of Bones, the ritual book that brought the Empress back to life has a spell in it that has not seen the light of day since the beginning of Chinese civilization. She will become immortal on the next full moon. After that the Empress can obtain power equal to a divine being by absorbing the lifeforce of a dragon."

"I knew it!!" Astrid hissed as Meixiu continued "I have heard whispers from those bringing food to the cells that dragons were sighted in a nearby village."

"So she used Jun to lure us here." Astrid filled in.

"This is rather worrying." Fishlegs suddenly said before turning towards Meixiu. "You said that she must absorb a dragon's life force. What if there was more than one dragon?"

"I don't know." Meixiu mumbled. "Dragons are rare and beings of legend. You'd be lucky to see one in several millennia but if someone managed to absorb more than one then their power would grow exponentially I guess."

"Crap" Astrid hissed as she started to speed up. She needed to get to the others and then wring the neck of that woman.

They neared a crossing and Meixiu stopped them. She pointed left "That way is to the Empress' garden and chambers. To the right is the Harem quarters. Those quarters aren't guarded because the men never disobey her."

"What's up ahead?" Astrid asked.

"That is where the Empress' personal guard is. The servant quarters are next to it but most servants should be busy preparing for the ritual. The full moon is tonight."

"So whatever we do we must do it before tonight?" Ruffnut asked. "Shall we get the guys then?"

"Not yet." Astrid said as her eyes narrowed on the doors leading to the guard room. "Let's make sure we have no interruptions first." She stated and marched towards the room.

"Oh dear." Fishlegs mumbled as the women eagerly followed after Astrid. Needless to say the guards wouldn't be waking up anytime soon once she was done with them. Next they crept towards the harem quarters and when Meixiu opened the door Ruffnut couldn't help let out an appreciative whistle.

The room was very spacious, in the middle stood a large fountain decorated with ornate dragons. Large pillows were everywhere and young men dressed in nothing but a pair of long silk pants laid about. "They look stoned." Heather commented as she searched for her brother but didn't find him. She did however spot two familiar figures "I don't believe it" She exclaimed getting everyone's attention and then pointing towards Viggo and Ryker who were also under the Empress' spell.

"What are they doing here?" Ruffnut asked as they walked further into the room. Heather shrugged and then said "I think we should leave them like this. Less of a headache."

Astrid and Ruffnut nodded as they spotted Snotlout and Tuffnut on a set of pillows. They were both lying still as logs. "Not that I don't enjoy a quite brother" Ruffnut mumbled "But how do we snap them out of it?"

"Well story goes that only a kiss from a fair lady would break the Empress' magic." Meixui tried to be helpful but Ruffnut, Heather and Astrid just gagged.

"There is no way that I'm kissing Snotlout!" Ruffnut said.

"She used some type of powder on them." Astrid remembered and then got an idea. She easily picked up the two and then proceeded to dunk them in the fountain.

Both Snotlout and Tuffnut came back up, gasping for breath. Snotlout shouted "WHAT IN THOR'S NAME!" While Tuffnut said "Can I go again?!"

"Yup they are back to normal." Fishlegs stated as both men got out of the fountain. Tuffnut went to embrace his sister only to recieve a headbut in return.

Snotlout who had been shaking water out of his ears looked up and his eyes widened upon seeing Fishlegs, still dressed up. "Why hello there pretty lady!" Snotlout started flirting as he approached an uncomfortable looking Fishlegs. "Now who are you?"

"Snotlout it's me!" Fishlegs hissed as he took a few steps back. Heather had to actually cover her mouth or she would have been laughing rather loudly at the sight.

"Why yes I'm Snotlout. Aren't I amazing?" Snotlout boasted as he kissed his biceps. "Now what is your name?"

"Snotlout it's me Fishlegs."

"Hmmm.... Weird name. I have a friend also called Fish-WAIT WHAT!!!" Snotlout suddenly stopped as realization hit him. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING DRESSED AS A HOT WOMAN?!!!"

Fishlegs blushed a deep crimson and no matter how dire the situation, everyone just had to burst out in laughter at what had just occurred.

"Are you sure his head isn't scrambled?" Ruffnut asked after her laughing fit.