We followed Gobber into the cold. The snow and drab sky made the air in front of us appear dark grey, approaching black. The wind was fierce enough to make my eyes, ears, and nose burn as we made our way to the yak pasture.

We stopped at a cliff overlooking the same ice sheet that had entrapped Johann's boat.

"There!" Gobber shouted through the wind. He pointed at the gap Snotlout and Hookfang had created earlier in the day. Just barely visible on the other side was a large herd of what looked to be Speed Stingers.

Toothless growled from behind me.

For some reason, I felt that announcing our presence here would have been worse than staying quiet. I turned and brushed the top of Toothless' snout with my right hand in an attempt to distract him. His eyes focused on me, and his growling subsided.

"Well, looks like Snotlout pulled his weight for once," Astrid observed mockingly.

Through the wind and falling snow, a series of loud, short grunts met my ears.

Toothless broke our little staring contest and roared back, nearly deafening me. I staggered out of his line of fire, trying to get my ears to stop ringing.

Why won't he warn me about that? I thought.

"I think Toothless said something they didn't like!" Gobber shouted. He sounded like he was a mile away.

"They turned around!" Astrid added.

I was still in shock from Toothless bellowing at those dragons, but a little discomfort was better than the alternative we were facing.

I finally looked at the ice sheet and found the gap without too much trouble. The other side of it was empty without a single Speed Stinger in sight.

That same nagging feeling tugged at my gut though. Something didn't feel right about those dragons.

I checked around the gap, looking for any way that the Speed Stingers could reach Berk, such as an ice floe. In the low light, I didn't see any sheets making their way toward the gap, but that didn't mean they weren't there. After a few seconds, I gave up trying to locate anything that looked suspicious.

I wondered about telling my dad that I felt uneasy about the Speed Stingers. That little hint of apprehension was just persistent enough to hold my focus. He'd probably brush off my concern though, much like the snow that often piled on his shoulders during this time of year. With that conclusion, I pushed the thought to the back of my mind and turned toward home.

I could have sworn the time wasn't this late. We were outside looking over the cliffs for at most a few minutes. The air around us was beginning to turn suffocatingly dark, almost completely hiding my view of the houses across the yak pasture. Even the firelights dotting the village seemed to be suspended in midair.

"C'mon, buddy," I said to Toothless. I hopped on his back without clicking my peg into the stirrup. He'd have a much easier time navigating through the snow drifts than I would. "Let's go home."

As he began plodding through the snow, I looked back at Astrid and gave her a nonverbal signal, telling her she was welcome to join me. She shrugged and began guiding Stormfly in our direction.

I dismounted as Toothless reached our house and walked with him toward the door. I opened it to find my dad's dragon, Thornado, resting near the hearth. He glanced at Toothless and me for a second as we walked in, then returned to his original position.

Thornado was a Thunderdrum with a blue back and much lighter belly. He was about the size of Toothless, except with a gaping maw and much less maneuverability in the air. Just like any Thunderdrum, he was a dragon who shot concussive sound blasts from his mouth instead of fire. His roar was powerful enough to burst blood vessels if someone stood close enough.

A soft warble came from just behind me and Toothless. Astrid led Stormfly inside with my dad just behind them. Stormfly navigated toward the hearth and plopped down about ten feet away from Thornado.

I turned toward the table, ready to sit down. Before I could move, a sudden presence made itself known on my left side. Not a second later, Astrid planted a kiss on my cheek.

"You're too kind," she said with a smile. She held my gaze for a beat and then turned toward Stormfly as if nothing happened. After a brief second of acting like she was occupied with her dragon, she sat down at our table.

Like always, I stood there in mild shock for a few seconds. Toothless grunted from my right, catching my attention. He glanced at Astrid and then back to me.

"What are you looking at?" I asked him.

He grunted again, teasing me. I rolled my eyes as I walked to our table and sat down across from Astrid. Toothless slowly followed and lay down between me and Thornado.

I waited silently, not looking at anything in particular.

"What are you thinking about?" Astrid finally asked.

I held up my left index finger to stop her. About five seconds later, Toothless pulled in a deep breath and sighed, a cloud of steam coming out of his snout.

"That," I answered, motioning toward Toothless.

Astrid smiled in realization. "So Toothless has his routine at mealtimes, and you have your routine when he's tired."

"Yeah, I'd say you're correct."

The house was silent after that, except for the fire crackling, our dragons breathing, and the wind blowing outside.

As the atmosphere wrapped itself around us, that nagging thought about the Speed Stingers shoved its way back into my mind.

"D'you think those Speed Stingers will try to come back?" I asked, breaking the silence between us.

Astrid shrugged. "I don't know. Seems like Toothless did a great job scaring them off."

I rubbed my left palm into my forehead and shut my eyes.

"I just... I really don't feel right about this. Something tells me those dragons aren't going to simply leave us alone."

"All right, then," Astrid said. "Let's play your little game. What do we do?"

I tried to stifle a laugh, turning it into a fake cough that was way too obvious.

"Astrid, you do realize you're considering my opinion, right?" I pointed out.

"Yeah. So?"

"Don't you think that's a little odd, listening to what I have to say? Really, shouldn't you be ignoring me?"

"I don't think so. Look at how many times you've been right about something just by thinking ahead."

"I don't know," I mumbled. "I really just feel like I'm rambling with no purpose."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Hiccup." She paused for a moment, then shifted positions slightly, as if she had gotten an idea. "Okay, so what if the Speed Stingers don't come back, but we're ready for them? What happens?"

"Nothing," I said after a little bit of thought.

"Exactly. Nothing. We continue with our lives, and that's it. So what should we do just in case?"

I sighed. "I really think Fishlegs could help us," I said, still trying to dodge Astrid's probing.

"He's not here," she said flatly. "What would you suggest?"

I gave up countering Astrid's persistence and thought for a moment. I only knew a little bit about these dragons: they couldn't fly, they were aggressive and probably territorial, and they traveled in a pack.

"Well," I started. "They move in a pack, so they probably have a leader. The dragon I saw earlier today seemed territorial when I moved toward Johann."

"All right," Astrid said, cutting me off. "We have a pack of dragons on the move, they're territorial, and they were probably out in the cold for a while today."

I blinked, realizing I had missed an obvious detail. Those dragons were willing to brave the cold for however long today, like they were trying to go somewhere.

"If they were without shelter for that long, they must have been looking for something," I said, adding Astrid's observation to my own. "Probably looking for a source of food..."

Dragons, just like any other animal, needed a food source. And if the Speed Stingers were territorial, that meant they'd guard any food source they found. My eyes brightened in realization, although I knew what I had come up with wasn't a good thing.

"So what did you come up with?" Astrid asked me.

"The Speed Stingers are on the move, looking for a new food source. And Toothless kinda let them know we had one here."

"How so?"

"Toothless roared back at them, like he was guarding his territory. So if they get rid of us, they have a new place to stay, at least until our food runs out."

Astrid sat there in silence, looking at me. A wry grin slowly worked its way across her face.

"You know, the further you get into this, the worse it sounds for us," she observed.

I threw my hands into the air in defeat. My left hand slapped against the table as it came back down. "You asked. And I have no idea if I'm even right about this."

"Let's suppose you are. How do we keep the Speed Stingers away from our food?"

I shrugged. "I guess... lock it in a place they can't reach. Don't give them a reason to live here."

"Don't you think we've already done that? We're Vikings in the middle of winter. It's not like we've got a massive surplus of food right now."

I nodded slowly, agreeing with her conclusion.

My dad walked toward us, the sound of his footsteps surprising me. I knew he came in after Astrid and Stormfly, but this conversation had me completely preoccupied.

"So you think we should check our food stores?" he asked.

I shrugged again. "I guess it couldn't hurt."

"He means 'yes,'" Astrid said to him.

My dad nodded and said, "I think that's a good plan." He paused. A sudden gust had just picked up, howling through Berk.

My dad walked toward the door and opened it, looking out. From what I could tell, the sky was black, and there was no visibility past about ten feet. He shut the door and turned back to us.

"Looks like we'll be staying here for the night," he continued. "We'll make sure everything is locked tomorrow. Hiccup and Astrid, I'll need your help to make sure people don't spend a long time outdoors tomorrow. It'll be our job to keep everyone safe, whether it's from dragons or cold."

We didn't have much choice. The snowstorm had turned into a blizzard. Walking outside in those conditions would have been disastrous, not only because we would have had no idea where we were going, but also because of the sheer cold.

I stood up, groaning from the effort. My joints felt like they were starting to freeze. I grabbed three logs we had stowed near the hearth and placed them in the fire. They sizzled as the flames ate through the frost that had built up on them.

After making sure the fire wouldn't extinguish itself, I tromped upstairs and grabbed the blanket and pillow off my bed. I was about to head downstairs when I realized I was only thinking about myself. I grabbed a spare pillow and blanket as well, brought them downstairs, and gave the spares to Astrid.

"Thanks, Hiccup. You really are too kind," she whispered. I smiled sheepishly without saying anything.

I set my own pillow and blanket up so that I was propped against Toothless' side, using him as a cushion. I drifted into sleep, feeling his gentle breathing and heartbeat.