Race to the Edge 5
Living on the Edge
One night three months since Viggo's defeat, the volcano on Dragon's Edge rumbled restlessly. It spat smoke and a few sparks into the night sky. It kept many of the riders and dragons awake. The whole island shook violently. The riders were all in their huts, and the dragons, minus Toothless, were in their stalls. Tenor was sleeping beside his rider in the stables, while his comrades were sleeping closer to the volcano's rim.
While the other Draconians had flown home, including Serenity's guardian dragon Ruby, Re and his comrades remained on Dragon's Edge because: Re wanted to study a live volcano for the first time in his life, Tenor wanted to hang out with the riders more, and so Serenity could heal and recuperate after being shot with dragonroot arrows and crashing the airship.
She had spent the first two months on Eruptadon Island so Queen Mala could patch her up. Having so much dragonroot for so long had made Serenity very sick and crippled. The dragonroot had damaged the nerves in her legs, making her unable to walk. When she was feeling better, the Draconians brought her back to the Edge, where she now slept in the stables with the dragons. She could only walk a few feet with a cane, and she could still ride a dragon. Aurora could foresee that she would be able to walk normally again, but couldn't foresee when.
The volcano rumbled again so hard that everyone was tossed out of bed. Serenity landed beside Tenor lifted his head.
"You okay?" he asked. Serenity sat up and leaned against his side.
"I'm fine," she said. "That volcano sure has the attitude of a dragon."
"I should go check on the others," Tenor said. "You need help getting back into bed?" Serenity nodded. Tenor helped her get back in her bed, since her legs couldn't hold her weight yet. When she was back in bed Tenor flew outside.
He spotted Astrid and Hiccup outside Hiccup's house. They looked worried. Tenor flew down and hovered over them.
"Tenor, we have to stop the lava," Hiccup said. Tenor looked to see a huge lava flow pouring out of smaller vents on the side of the main volcano. It was getting dangerously close to the outpost.
"How can I help?" he asked.
"We need to get the Gronkle Iron over those vents," Hiccup said. Tenor nodded.
The riders gathered on the runway with iron buckets filled with hot Gronkle Iron. Re had given them a lot of tips for keeping the lava off their huts. One of his suggestions was blocking the vents closest to the outpost with Gronkle Iron. So the riders flew over those vents with the buckets of iron, Tenor held one in his talons. They separated and dumped the iron right over the vents, blocking the lava. The volcano seemed to growl in protest. They all met back up over the last vent. They were just about to block it when the vent spat out a small lava bomb. It hit Snotlout on he helmet, making him fall sideways off Hookfang. As usual Hookfang did nothing.
"Char roasted Snotlout," laughed Ruffnut.
"It'll give him the smoky taste," said Tuffnut, sneering. Hiccup glared at them.
"Guys! Do something!" he ordered. Both Twins pouted.
"Uh, buzz kill," said Tuffnut bitterly. The Twins steered their Zippleback after Snotlout. Barf and Belch caught him in their talons and set him down on the runway. The rest of the riders closed off the last of the vents.
The riders gathered back at the stables as the sun came up. Tenor went into the stables to help Serenity get out of bed and into her chair. The riders looked over any damages.
"This is a disaster," said Astrid. Snotlout got to his feet.
"You happy now Hiccup?" he snapped.
"What!?" asked Hiccup, confused.
"I said we should have left this place months ago," said Snotlout. "But no, you wanted to keep exploring." No one spoke for a few seconds, then Astrid looked at Hiccup.
"You know I'd rather plant dragonroot under my fingernails than agree with Snotlout," she said. "But he maybe right."
"That was a bit specific," Tenor said, looking amused. Astrid ignored him and continued.
"Viggo and Ryker are gone, the Dragon Eye's destroyed," she said. "Even mother nature is telling us to go." She put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "We've won, we can go home." Hiccup said nothing, but looked sad.
Later that day Hiccup flew Toothless around the island. The island was lit up by the lava flow. He spotted Re on the rim of the volcano. Hiccup flew Toothless down and landed beside him. Re was in a special suit he'd made for himself out of shedded Eruptadon scales and Gronkle Iron. He put thick Death Song amber over the suit's eye sockets on the metal dragon head-shaped helmet. He made the suit so he could study the volcano, without having to worry about the heat of the magma.
Re glanced up when Toothless landed beside him.
"Hey Re," Hiccup said. Re looked at him through the amber goggles on his helmet.
"Hi Hiccup," he said, his voice very echoey.
"We got the vents blocked off," Hiccup said. "But the lava is still out of control."
"Let it flow," Re said. "It's making the island bigger. It just has to be diverted from the outpost."
"Well, Astrid has suggested we leave the Edge," Hiccup said. He couldn't see Re's expression, the amber goggles were a bit foggy from the smoke.
"I take it you don't," he said.
"Well, it's become too dangerous because of the lava," Hiccup said. "But I want to keep exploring and finding new dragon species." Re removed his helmet and set it down.
"The Defenders of the Wing also live next to an active volcano," he reminded Hiccup.
"They have two Eruptadons," Hiccup pointed out.
"Ah, true," Re said. "So what are you going to do?"
"I think it is time to go back to Berk," Hiccup said. "We can always come back and visit when the volcano quiets down." Re glanced down into the lake of magma.
"This volcano isn't going to sleep anytime soon," he said. "It's still quite young, and has a lot of magma in its system."
"Will you be coming with us?" Hiccup asked.
"Nope," Re said. "This could be my only opportunity to study a live volcano up close."
"Why do you want to study it?" Hiccup asked.
"I've never been so close to such a young volcano," Re said. "Plus this volcano did me a solid." His face grew solemn.
"You're talking about Viggo," Hiccup said. "I wish you hadn't pushed him in."
"I did what I had to," Re said. "I can no longer sit and wait for you while hundreds of innocent dragons were being killed." He picked up his helmet. "I only regret not doing it earlier." He put his helmet back on, and took off.
Hiccup flew back down to the other riders and informed them that thew would return to Berk. They all seemed pleased with this decision. The Twins were all ready selling off their furniture. Tenor was torn between staying and returning to Draconia.
"So when do we leave?" asked Snotlout.
"When the volcano is stabilized," said Hiccup. "And we have to find homes for all the dragons we relocated here." Just then there came a horn blast from the docks.
"What's Trader Johann doing here?" asked Astrid. Hiccup didn't answer. He got on Toothless and flew down to meet Johann, who approached with a box under one arm.
"Master Hiccup, I've brought the items you asked for," he said, handing Hiccup the box. Hiccup opened it, and Tenor caught a glimpse of what was inside.
"Thank you Johann," he said.
"Though I do wonder what your intentions are with such an interesting array of articles," Johann said, curiously. Hiccup didn't answer. Tenor took off and went to check on his rider.
He found Serenity in her chair, not doing anything.
"How are you doing?" he asked her.
"I'm okay," Serenity said. "I'm enjoying the quiet."
"Oh, good," Tenor said. "Well, Hiccup plans to head back to Berk as soon as the volcano is taken care of."
"Isn't that Re's job," Serenity asked.
"He'll help out for sure," Tenor said. "You think you can make it all the way back to Berk?" Serenity sighed.
"I think so," she said. Tenor handed her her water canteen and she drank from it. "I want to try walking to the end of the runway."
"Okay," Tenor said. Serenity put the canteen on her bed where she could reach it and picked up her cane. She used it to heave herself to her feet. She hobbled towards the runway, leaning on the cane which had four legs on the end for better support. Tenor stayed close to her, in case she fell. She only got a few feet before her legs gave out and she stumbled right onto Tenor's strong neck.
"That was a bit better than yesterday," he said. He helped her back to her chair. She sat down and drank more water. "Mala said it would take a while before your legs regain their strength."
"I know," Serenity said. She hugged his head. Just then Hiccup, Fishlegs, and their dragons came into the stables.
"Hey Tenor," said Fishlegs. "We're going to see what we can do about the volcano. We'd appreciate your help, Re's coming to help us as well." Tenor nodded and looked at Serenity again.
"You going to be okay?" he asked her.
"I'll be fine," Serenity said.
"Aurora will be in later," Tenor said. He followed the riders outside.
They went up to Hiccup's forge where they began brainstorming while they waited for Re. Toothless and Meatlug play wrestled to kill time.
"We need something that will not only withstand the intense heat of the lava," said Hiccup.
"But will also stand up to volcanic pressure," Fishlegs finished. Suddenly the two wrestling dragons knocked into Hiccup's work bench, knocking things off of it.
"Pick that up," Hiccup ordered. Toothless picked up Hiccup's welding goggles and tossed them in the direction of the work bench but they landed on Meatlug's face. Both Hiccup and Fishlegs found it amusing, but then it gave Hiccup an idea.
"You might be on to something," he told Meatlug, taking the goggles. "Fishlegs what if we mixed Gronckle Iron with Death Song amber?"
"You mean the very same Death Song amber that stood up against extreme water pressure hundreds of feet below the water?" said Fishlegs.
"That's the one," Hiccup said.
"Mixing the exact quantities of ingredients will be key," said Fishlegs. "So it doesn't set off any negative chemical reactions." Just then Re arrived still wearing his volcano suit. Hiccup and Fishlegs told him their idea.
"That could work," Re said, his voice echoing inside his helmet. "But Death Song amber explodes under high temperatures."
"We have to find the right amount," Fishlegs said. "Will you help us." Re and Tenor looked at each other, and both nodded.
They got right to work. Tenor collected a few pieces of Death Song amber in various sizes, while Hiccup and Fishlegs filled a cauldron with heated Gronkle Iron. They asked Re to put the amber into the cauldron since his volcano suit could withstand the explosions. He put a small piece of amber into the cauldron. But it exploded under the high temperature, splashing hot metal everywhere. Re's volcano suit did it's job, and the dragons protected their riders with their fire proof wings. When the explosion stopped Re tried the experiment again with a slightly larger piece of amber. The same thing happened. The third time Re did with a much large piece of amber, the cauldron shook violently, but there was no explosion. The riders and dragons smiled with satisfaction.
"Thanks Re," Hiccup said. "Can you carry this to a vent?"
"Yup," Re said. Hiccup and Fishlegs got on their dragons and took off. Re grasped the cauldron in his talons, which were protected by a heat proof gauntlet. He and Tenor took off after the riders.
They all met up at the closest vent. Re landed and approached the vent, which was smoking. He carefully poured the Gronkle Iron-Death Song amber mixture over the vent. At once the mixture hardened and clocked up the vent. Re set the cauldron down and took off his helmet.
"It worked!" said Hiccup.
"But that was the last of the Death Song amber," said Fishlegs. "And even if we found more, there's no way Meatlug can make enough Gronkle Iron to cover the whole island."
"So we need Death Song amber, and we need Gronkles," said Hiccup. "Well we know where to get both." This made the riders nervous.
"There's no way I'm going to Melody Island," said Snotlout. "The word death is in the dragon's name for a very good reason."
"Astrid, Tenor, and I will get the amber," said Hiccup. "Fishlegs you gather all the ingredients for Gronkle Iron, and find a place to hold all the metal." Fishlegs nodded. "Ruff, Tuff, you'll be bringing Gronkles from Dark Deep, and Snotlout you're going with them." This made all three of them pout. Hiccup then looked at Tenor.
"Can Serenity ride?" he asked.
"She can ride, she just can't walk very well," Tenor said.
"You think she can come with us to Melody Island?" asked Hiccup. "In case we run into a Death Song."
"I'll go get her," Tenor said. "I'm sure she'd love to come." He took off and headed for the stables. Hiccup and Astrid mounted their dragons and followed him.
They landed on the runway as Tenor was laying down so Serenity could mount him. When she was settled he got to his feet again. The medical bag was already on the back of the saddle.
"Thanks for coming Serenity," Hiccup said.
"I might slow you down," Serenity said. "Just a heads up." The dragons spread their wings and took off, heading for Melody Island. Serenity was happy to be in saddle again.
They got to Melody Island and found plenty of amber. They landed at the base of a cliff. Hiccup and Astrid dismounted, but Serenity stayed in the saddle. They glanced around, finding plenty of amber, but no Death Song.
"That's strange," said Hiccup.
"I don't hear anything," said Astrid.
"No Death Song," said Hiccup. But no sooner had he said that, the air filled with the familiar siren call. Suddenly an adult Death Song reared up, roaring and flaring his butterfly wings.
"You were saying," said Astid as she and Hiccup drew their weapons.
"Guys don't," Serenity cried. "He's hurt." Hiccup and Astrid looked at the Death Song again. Sure enough the dragon had terrible gashes all over his body, and dragonroot arrows sticking out of his back. He swayed on the spot and collapsed at their feet. Hiccup put down Inferno and approached the Death Song. He patted the dragon's nose horn. The Death Song moaned.
"These wounds are fresh," Hiccup said. "Astrid this brutal. Serenity can you help him?"
"Yes I can," Serenity said. Tenor approached the Death Song and knelt down. Serenity got off his back. She hobbled over to the Death Song, leaning on her cane. Tenor set her bag beside the wild dragon. Serenity care fully stroked the Death Song's neck. She pulled out her stethoscope and listened to the dragon's heartbeat and breathing. Tenor pulled out Serenity's spare folding chair and set it down beside her, so she could sit down while she worked.
"His breathing's pretty labored," she said. "But his heart sounds fine. He's probably in shock." Just then the Death Song, who had recognized these humans, sang a few notes that were familiar to them to let them know who he was. Both Hiccup and Astrid recognized the song at once.
"Wait, is that Garff?" Hiccup asked. Astrid put a hand over her mouth in surprise.
"Oh my goodness it is," she said. "Oooh, you poor thing." She sounded close to tears. "But where's the other Death Song?"
"He must not have been as lucky as this guy," said Hiccup. Just then he noticed that Garff and Serenity were talking in dragontongue. "What's he saying?"
"He says they were attacked by dragon hunters," Serenity said. "He and Swallowtail tried to fight them but Garff was too inexperienced and was at the risk of losing. So Swallowtail told him to run and hide, and Garff doesn't know what happened to him." Garff moaned again.
"But if Viggo's gone," said Astrid.
"Who's leading these dragon hunters?" said Hiccup. "And what's so important that they'd go toe to toe with a Death Song."
While Astrid and Serenity attended to Garff, Hiccup and the remaining dragons gathered up all the pieces of amber scattered on the ground. Serenity patched up the Death Song's wounds. However Garff still looked sad and very weak.
"Will he be okay?" Astrid asked Serenity.
"It's too early to tell," Serenity said. "We'll see if he survives the night." Hiccup came over then all the amber was collected.
"You think he'll make it?" he asked.
"We'll see," Serenity said. "I'll stay here and fix him."
"I'll stay behind too," Astrid volunteered. Both Serenity and Hiccup were surprised at this.
"Are you sure?" Serenity said.
"Yes, I mean you can barely walk Serenity," said Astrid. She looked at Hiccup. "Hiccup we can't loose the Edge. If those hunters are still out there, we have to stop them before they can do this to anymore dragons." She patted Garff on the snout. Toothless looked down at Garff, his eyes sad.
"I'm sorry this happened to you," he said, nuzzling Garff. The Death Song smiled weakly.
"Thank Draco you guys came," he whispered. "Will you stay? I don't want to be alone."
"Hiccup and I must get back to the Edge," Toothless said. "We have a volcano to deal with."
"Astrid and I will stay though," said Stormfly. "We'll help you."
"Thanks," Garff said. He closed his eyes. Toothless, Stormfly, and Tenor threw back their heads and cried a preyer to Lord Draco, asking him to heal their friend. Hiccup hugged Astrid, and kissed her cheek. He then got on Toothless.
"You should go too Tenor," Serenity said. "You can send Aurora back here." Tenor nodded. The two nightly dragons took off and headed back to the Edge. Astrid sat beside Garff's head and spoke to him softly and gave him water while Serenity addressed his wounds. Stormfly helped her walk when needed.
"It's good to see you again Garff," Stormfly whispered. "You've gotten so big."
"It's good to see you too Stormfly," said Garff. "You look well."
"Last time we saw you, you were barely out of the egg," Stormfly said.
"I remember that," said Garff. "I still remember all the songs those humans sang to me. Swallowtail didn't like songs made by humans at first, but he grew to like them after a while." He glanced around the area. "Where's that other female human, with the Razorwhip."
"At home," said Stromfly. "On her own island."
"Oh," said Garff sadly. "She was so nice to me, and I liked that song she sang me."
"It was very beautiful," said Stormfly.
"You think I'll see her again?" Garff asked. Stormfly looked doubtful.
"You'll have to survive this first," she said. Garff took a deep breath.
"This human of yours is pretty nice too though," he said. "I had no idea humans could be so kind, after what just happened to me and Swallowtail."
"You must miss him," said Stormfly. Garff nodded.
"I owe him my life," he said. "As much as I do to you and your humans."
"We'll always be there for you Garff," said Stormfly. "You can count on us." She nuzzled him carefully, Garff nuzzled her back.
Astrid watched the two dragons talking to each other. Serenity was half way done with patching up Garff.
"What are they talking about?" Astrid asked.
"They're catching up," Serenity said, clipping threads. "Garff misses Heather."
"I'm sure he does," Astrid said. "I miss her too." Serenity stroked Garff's side.
"How are you feeling Garff?" she asked. Garff looked at her.
"A bit better, thank you," he said. "I'm sorry you got hurt too." Serenity looked at Astrid.
"I think he'll be just fine now," she said. "I sense a strong friendship between him and Stormfly."
"Really?" said Astrid, hopeful.
"Yeah," said Serenity. "Never underestimate the power of love, I've seen it do miraculous things."
"I bet he's glade you're here," said Astrid.
"He's glad we're all here," said Serenity. "He doesn't want to be alone." Astrid patted Garff on his nose horn. Stormfly laid down beside Garff and let him lay his head on her shoulder. He closed his eyes and dozed off.
Hiccup and the two nightly dragons returned to the Edge to find Fishlegs and the Twins filling up Ruff and Tuff's boar pit with heated Gronkle Iron(which the Twins were not happy about) with the help of the Gronkles from Dark Deep. Hiccup landed beside Fishlegs and Tenor hovered over the boar pit.
"Where's Astrid?" asked Fishlegs.
"Melody Island," said Hiccup. "I'll explain later." He glanced around. "Where's Snotlout?"
"Dark Deep," said Tuffnut.
"We'll explain later," said Ruffnut. They got right to work making Gronkle Iron-Death Song amber mixture. When that was done they filled the metal buckets with the mixture. They went from vent to vent blocking them. Tenor informed Aurora where Serenity was. The Queen agreed to go get her. She flew off as Re joined the group and helped with blocking the vent.
"You should know," Re said. "With all these vents being blocked off, the main crater will over flow and lava will come out that way."
"We'll worry about that later," said Hiccup. Just then a vent right near the main crater exploded. They headed up to it. Lava was gushing out of the vent and splashing everywhere. It was more intense then the others.
"It's too intense," said Fishlegs. Re took a filled metal bucket and dived towards the vent. He dumped the mixture over the vent blocking it, lava splashed onto his volcano suit, but he hardly noticed. When the lava was all blocked the riders and dragons landed.
"Good job guys," said Hiccup. But suddenly the ground shook violently, and rocks tumbled down the slop, right on top of the wild Gronkles.
"Oh no the Gronkles!" exclaimed Fishlegs. They quickly began digging the Gronkles out. They heard a loud roar from above. They all looked to see Snotlout and Hookfang speeding towards them with three enormous Quakens on their tail. They flew over, Snotlout steered Hookfang out of the way. The Quakens were about to attack, but then they spotted the lava pouring out of the volcano. They looked at each other.
"The lava's going to burn our Gronkles," said one of them. "We should do something."
"We should open up a new path for it," said another. "Come on." The three of them went to the other side of the volcano, rolled to balls, and slammed into the rocks. A hole was blasted into the side of the mountain, and lava came pouring out of the mountain. This caused the flow of lava heading for the trapped Gronkles to stop. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The Quakens landed beside the others.
"Thanks Quakens," Re said, removing his helmet.
"It's just another dragon your majesty," said one of the Quakens. "No different from the rest of us." Re nodded in agreement. They all dug the Gronkles out, and they turned out to be unharmed. The Quakens took off and their Gronkles followed them, back towards Dark Deep.
The next day; Astrid, Serenity, and Aurora came back with Garff flying beside them. They all landed in the arena. Astrid dismounted but Serenity stayed in the saddle. Hiccup was overjoyed to see them. Garff pranced about, vary happy to be alive. He and Stormfly chased each other around the arena.
"I can't believe Garff made it," said Hiccup.
"Yeah, Serenity really know's her stuff," said Astrid. "She fixed him up good as new." Garff pranced over to Serenity and nuzzled her happily.
"Thank you Serenity," he cried. "Thanks for all your help." Serenity hugged him back, smiling.
"You're welcome Garff," she said. "I'm glad you're okay."
"I hope you make a full recovery too," Garff said.
"She will," Aurora said. "You can be sure of that." Garff licked Serenity's cheek, then stood back up.
"Queen Aurora," he said respectfully, as he turned back to Stormfly. Hiccup turned to address the riders and dragons.
"Listen up gang," he said. "The dragon hunters are still out there. I know you all want to go home but..."
"Who said I wanted to go home," Fishlegs interrupted. "I don't want to go home." All the other riders agreed, Snotlout more reluctantly.
"I want to stay too," Tenor said. "I must admit, I like hanging out with you guys." Hiccup looked over at Re and Aurora.
"What about you guys?" he asked. Re and Aurora looked at each other.
"We will do what we must," Re said. Aurora nodded in agreement. The riders and dragons began repairing their outpost, and Serenity went back to her chair. They were ready for the battles to come.