AN: hellooo all. So I have an exam tomorrow so all of you are getting the chapter early. Yes... we all wonder who that bright person was who scheduled an exam on the first weekend of the year.  >_< 

So..... we are nearing the last few chapters of this story. But never fear. A sequel will come later this year. I still need to write it. Also I will be taking a bit of a vacation from posting stories in February. I will be back in March.

Chapter 32

Hiccup's eyes fluttered open and he absentmindedly wondered where he was and why the hell his mouth tasted like sawdust.

"So glad you're awake sleeping beauty." Toothless sarcastically stated. Hiccup sat from where he had slumped in the chair and look towards Toothless. He raised an eyebrow at what he saw.

Stormfly looked really cozy, nesting on a pile of groaning black robed people. One of them was awake slightly and tried to wiggle out of the pile only to be tucked back into position by the Nadder.

Rodger meanwhile was being squashed by Meatlug and his eyes seemed red as if he had by crying. 'More like begging.' Toothless supplied helpfully and Hiccup noticed then that Toothless had a large piece of ripped clothing in his maw. There were tatters of it all around the Night Fury and under the dragon's front paw was a shaking almost naked man.

"Eh....... What did we miss?" Snotlout asked as he rubbed his eyes. The others were also beginning to wake up. "Five more minutes" Heather whined sleepily as her brother merely rolled his eyes.

"By the looks of it a lot." Fishlegs mumbled.

Toothless lifted his paw off of the terrified man causing him to only become terrified of what was going to happen. The black dragon rolled his eyes in exasperation at all the pleading and then shouted "Will you please shut up!!" This, of course, resulted in the man screeching for mercy in fright because he couldn't understand the dragons and thought that Toothless was going to eat him now.

"Who are these guys?" Astrid asked as she walked up to Stormfly.

"They're lumpy. That's what." Stormfly huffed, not really satisfied with her nest of prone bodies.

"So...... who are you guys?" Astrid asked as she bent down to one of the semi-conscious ones.

"We don't have to tell you anything you devil scum." The man spat at her. Astrid looked back at her dragon. "Stormfly make sure this one gets some of your special attention."

"Will do!" Stormfly chirped happily and bounced a few times on the pile of bodies. "Also Barf & Belch and Hookfang haven't gotten their turn with them yet."

"Rodger how could you!" Valka admonished while marching towards the squashed man with her hands on her hips. Hiccup knew that stance. It was mom's you-dare-freaking-mess-with-me stance and he was very glad that there wasn't a skillet lying around for her to use. His father followed behind his mom, yet tried to keep a safe distance. Hiccup instinctively moved closer to Toothless who whacked him with his tail. The dragon gave him a bland look and then pointed downwards to his captive with his head.

"Why don't you let him up?" Hiccup suggested. Toothless quirked an eye as Hiccup turned to the man. "I mean, if he lets you up you aren't going to run away, now are you?"

The man shook his head furiously. Toothless let out a huff of amusement before stepping away. Not so far away his mom was still going at it. She hadn't asked Meatlug to get off of Rodger as she was laying into him. "...... and this is the thanks I get for bailing your skinny behind out of jail after you got caught sleeping in the Dean's pool drunk and half naked!!" Hiccup wondered what the hell type of college life his parents had lived. Valka paid no mind to those around her as she continued. "Or how about the time Stoick and I helped you prank our Ancient Civilizations professor by moving his car to his office!!"

"Mom....... Mom..... I think you can stop now!" Hiccup suggested. "I'm sure everyone here is already suitably terrified or in this case also embarrassed." He gestured to Rodger who was trying hard not to blush.

"Fine honey" Valka huffed as she still glared at Rodger before a smile crept on her face. "I'll tell you about the turkey incident later. Stoick you remember the turkey incident right."

Stoick nodded as he tried to hide his amusement.

"Oh dear Ra!" ALmost everybody heard Rodger groan.

"So you guys call yourselves Medjay?" Astrid asked a little later once the semi-naked man and Rodger had been let up an placed on the couch. Toothless had indicated that that one was their leader of sorts. It didn't help that Astrid sat opposite to him and Rodger and was polishing her axe.

"What is a Medjay even?" Meixiu mumbled as she noticed Rodger eye the group nervously. The man, now knowing that he wasn't going to be dragon food, sat a little straighter and tried to show no emotion.

"We are a secret society of warriors who defend Egypt from threats, such as her." He answered Meixiu's question and indicated towards Astrid. "She is an unwanted being on this real and should be sent back to the Underworld from whence she came."

"Now hold on just a minute!" Hiccup said as he came towards Astrid's defense. "You take that back! Astrid isn't some evil creature. Heck, she's trying to stop a war from breaking out as it is."

"You are delusional." The man simply stated. "Beings such as this......... Mummies that have been revived, only want one thing. Conquest. It is obvious she must have some influence over your actions. How else would you explain the destruction you allowed to happen in Berk?"

"You guys are wanted fugitives." Rodger spoke. "It's still on the news. Interpol is still looking for all of you."

"Okay!!" Snotlout suddenly says as he walks forward to the two men. "Berk was really not our fault. It was some crazy half immortal woman in a very tight business suit working for Drago who summoned that beast that rampaged through the city. We never so much set any buildings on fire!!"

The twins coughed slightly as to remind Snotlout of them setting the palace on fire. "My point is...." Snotlout continues on "We are being framed by a secret society, and are this close to stopping some man who has the ego the size of Jupiter from using his dragon army and some all powerful toothpick...."

"SPEAR!" Several people corrected.

"All powerful spear" Snotlout amended while waving his arms dramatically "to take over the world!!! Also I have sand in my pants in places you do not want to know so I suggest you get it through to your thick skull that we are not the enemy!!" Snotlout took a breath and then looked at Hiccup "Does that sum it up?"

"It sums it up Snot." Hiccup mumbled. "Maybe a bit too much information about the sand but it sums it up."

"I have to ask." Fishlegs spoke up. "How did you all know about Astrid?"

"Check behind the statue over there." Rodger sighed. Stoick did that and came back with a piece of paper that had runes on it. Meixiu examined the paper and said "This is a ward. The magic is similar to that which stopped me from locating Drago."

"And it's Norse runes." Hiccup grumbled. "Not Egyptian hieroglyphs. Where did you get these?"

"During my grandfather's time Imhotep rose from the grave and set the plagues of Egypt upon us. We, the Medjay, swore that such destruction must not fall upon us again. It was years later that the one you're seeking approached our order. He told us the story about an evil warrior who would rise up out of the grave bringing chaos to the lands. With that he gave us those charms. They work as an early detection system. We placed them all over Cairo and many other important cities in Egypt. If an undead passes by something of the object the charm is attached to will glow. He's been funding the Medjay in secret for quite a few years now."

"Great. So Drago can use Norse magic now or knows someone who can." Ruffnut grumbled.

"My guess is that he picked it up himself. He's way too paranoid to trust anyone else with magic." Astrid stated and then asked "So where do we find him?" The man just stared mutinously at Astrid.

"How do we even know that you're telling the truth." He questioned back.

"Because we haven't killed you yet." Astrid answers dryly. "Look, I'm willing to go to great lengths to get the artifact that Drago stole back to its original owner. That is the mission I was tasked with. I might not be the bad guy in all this but if it means using my powers to uproot every bit of land in this country to find Drago then so help you I will!" She stared the man hard in the eyes as she steeled her resolve and hoped that he believed her bluff.

After a few moments the man looked away slightly before saying "What do you know of the lost city of Hamunaptra?"