"Let go of him! Let go of him!"
The situation got worse than Hiccup expected. Much worse. His only plan of escape shattered into pieces when they were caught defenseless on a cliff in the middle of the forest.
The weather and the surroundings didn't help much either. No chances of flying away because guards cut the ropes on Toothless's saddle while our heroes were still imprisoned. Jumping down the rocky cliff wasn't a good idea as well: falling from a height of 10 feet will end up, if you're lucky, in having severe traumas. And strong winds along with the snowfall stopped Hiccup from seeing clearly who was where.
The 19-year-old Viking was doing his best to get to his dragon friend, but it was all in vain. Two men were holding him in place while others attempted to carry the caged Night Fury back into their town.
"Get 'em back to the prison!" - one of them shouted. - "And make sure they won't escape again!"
"No! Let him go! Toothless!" - Hiccup shouted. He tried to free himself, to get to his best friend who was almost like a blurred black silhouette in the depths of the snowstorm.
"That's completely useless, Viking,"- said a guard on his right, venom was clearly heard in his voice. - "Or should I even call you that? Now, come on. You're goin' with us."
Suddenly, something came from the sky.
A screech. A blood-chilling shriek.
Only one animal in the world could cry that loudly.
And it landed right in front of them.
As soon as Toothless's nose caught the familiar smell, he became very tense, started growling and looking at the figure with the stare full of strong detestation. And he had a strong reason for doing it.
There was something every dragon, including Toothless, knew about this creature, ever since they were hatchlings.
It always goes for its prey. No matter what it takes.
Just like Boneknappers, searching for the perfect bones to complete their coats of armor, it will stop at nothing to hunt down and kill its target.
This time it was a scrawny-looking young man in a yellow and brown Viking armor suit and a spring-loaded prosthetic on his left leg.
Fear kept growing in Hiccup as the image became clearer and clearer. He finally recognized it. From the moment he and his dragon companion appeared in this area that monster tried to eat him for lunch. Whatever they did, it kept coming back. Again and again. This shape couldn't be mistaken with anything else. Gigantic purple wings, a long and narrow head with powerful jaws full of razor-sharp teeth and big horns at its base that resemble the Nadder's, dark-purple, spiked back and tail that could easily be used in a manner of a whip. All of this belonged to only one kind of animals. Only to one kind of dragons. Only to…
"The Skrill!"
"KILL IT!"
A shout from behind of Hiccup was clear and resolute. Two dozens of men, including those who were holding the unlucky Viking all this time, ran towards the enraged beast. But Skrill tossed them around as if they were mere toys with its massive body and head. Then the dragon focused on a tiny human a few feet away from him. Finally… A perfect chance to tear this useless human apart, limb by limb! Hiccup tried to back away from the deadly beast, but it was too fast for him and, as if on purpose, the spring in his prosthetic froze in place, which made running away almost impossible. In the next second Skrill had the poor boy under his huge sharp claws and then slowly started to collect the flammable gas in its throat, ready to burn the defenseless being alive at any moment. Personally, it wanted to finish him off as quickly as possible because of all problems that turned up in its failed attempts to catch - as the dragon thought at first – an easy kill, but this also made the annoyed of these constant chases hunter decide to make this pleasure of finally getting what it longed for last a bit longer.
As for Hiccup… He saw no way out. "Well, I guess that's it. Farewell…" – a single thought ran across his mind as he curved underneath this magnificently dangerous killer, preparing to meet his death.
But Toothless wasn't going to let this happen. He wasn't going to let his human die! Pure rage pumped through his veins with the speed of a lightning. Mastering up all his strength, he rose on his hind legs and broke the cage, shoving other humans around as he did so. In few quick pounces Toothless jumped onto the Skrill that was about to ignite the gas in its throat and pushed it off Hiccup down to the ground. The Night Fury bit the purple-colored dragon into the base of its neck with the so powerfully it would be enough to break a tree branch in two. But it jumped back onto its feet and tossed the black-scaled attacker aside. Toothless unfolded his wings to make himself look bigger and scarier, rose on his hind legs and roared angrily, but the Skrill didn't get frightened. In fact, it wasn't even paying any attention, still focused his prey which clumsily tried to back away. Toothless stepped in front of Hiccup, baring his teeth at the beast, determined to protect his redheaded boy at all costs.
The Skrill unfolded its wings to rise into the sky and kill them both from above… but instead it found his right wing torn. Badly torn. This must've happened when the dragon attempted to toss Toothless aside…
The Night Fury smiled in his mind.
Their fight was going to be on equal.
Hiccup watched with horror and fear in his eyes as the "Night Fury VS Skrill" fight took place right in front of him. Fight to the death. None of them were going to give in. Toothless jumped onto Skrill's spiked back, but the purple beast was an agile being, so it quickly shot a burst of white fire at him, electrocuting him in process. The black dragon fell on the ground with a burn mark on his left hind leg. Then the attacker shot another burst, but, fortunately, Toothless managed to avoid it in the nick of time. He was just about to shoot a ball of sapphire fire at it, but the Skrill hit him with its whip-like tail before he could do it. That knocked him down about few feet away from another dragon. A wound appeared under Toothless's left wing. "Toothless, no!" – Hiccup cried as the Skrill bit his dragon in the base of his neck. Luckily, the Night Fury shoved it off himself before he could do any more mutilations.
And that's where the situation went downright terrible.
A blizzard. The strongest in the past few days. A powerful gust of wind almost knocked Hiccup down on his knees. He couldn't see further than his own nose. Barely keeping his balance, young Viking looked around, trying to catch any glimpse of two winged reptiles. Nothing. Only snowflakes rushed in front of him.
Just then, a sound reached his ears. A faint sound of a Night Fury screeching in pain. The same to the one Hiccup heard when he shot down Toothless during one of the dragon raids 5 years ago… Panic immediately overwhelmed the poor boy's mind. He started moving towards the source of that sound, slowly, step by step, falling and getting up again. Wind kept leaning him to the right, away from his goal. But Hiccup was determined to keep going, to find his best friend and help him. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III never left his friends behind. This situation was not an exception.
A powerful snowstorm was still rustling around the boy. Everything was blurry; he couldn't even see his own hands. Tired of walking, the redhead hardly stood on his legs, but it couldn't make him give up.
Another gust of wind. Hiccup fell down again. And again he tried to get up. Only this time he saw a small pile of rocks covered in snow.
Is he seeing things? Hiccup came closer to it. No, it just can't be… Can it?
A small rocky pathway. How didn't he notice that before?
One more sound came from below. Louder and clearer this time.
Falling rocks. The dragons must be down the cliff right now, the boy figured.
Without hesitation, Hiccup carefully climbed down that pathway, his prosthetic slipping on its steeply rocky surface. By the time he got to the bottom of the cliff, the blizzard has finally stopped. The landscape was crystal clear and tiny snowflakes peacefully fell down onto the earth.
But there was no time for admiring the view, Toothless was still somewhere around here! Young Viking had to find him under no matter what! So he went to the left side of the cliff bottom.
"TOOTHLESS!" – Hiccup yelled into the air.
No response.
"TOOTHLESS!"
Silence.
Fear started growing in his heart at a sound-breaking speed.
"Come on, bud…" – a low whisper escaped the boy's lips. – "Where are you?.."
And then he stumbled across a horrifying picture.
A massive pile of boulders lay calmly in front of him. Were these the rocks Hiccup heard falling not so long ago?.. There was something sticking out of it. A purple wing. A broken and torn purple wing. Nothing but that reminded about the outstanding yet malicious killer buried underneath this mountain of stones. The redhead assumed it to be dead. No one would survive under several hundred pounds of boulders fallen from a height of 10 feet.
The search went on.
"TOOTHLESS! TOOTHLE…"
Suddenly, Hiccup tripped over a small stone and fell into the snow.
"Stupid leg…" – he cursed under his breath while getting back on his feet. As he raised his head, a silhouette in the distance caught his eyes. A black figure lay motionless several feet away from him, surrounded by bloodstained snow.
"No…" – the boy muttered in a teary tone of voice as he half ran, half limped towards the black as midnight reptile.
Under closer examination everything looked even worse. Terrible wounds and burn marks covered Toothless's body, not to mention the teeth marks on his neck and near wings. Dark-red blood was still slowly soaking from an open wound on the right side of his body.
Tears quietly started forming in Hiccup's forest-green eyes. "No… no, no, no, NO, NOOOO!" – he screamed as he tried to find any sign of life in his friend. He listened to dragon's chest. No breathing, no heartbeat… The boy tried to comfort himself with the thought that because of Toothless's thick scales he can't hear anything, but it didn't seem to work. "Toothless, wake up! Please, wake up!" He put the dragon's head into his arms, waiting for a sign of life, an opened eye, to tell him his best friend was okay. Alas, he remained unmoving. Hiccup's heart broke into million pieces. He fell on his knees, wrapped his arms around him and buried his face into Toothless's neck near his head, tears the heartbroken boy could no longer hold back slided down the smooth black scales. Pain of loss was ripping his soul apart. He lost the most precious creature in his life. And there was nothing he could do about it…
A vision flashed in Hiccup's mind… A distant memory… Dragon Training… His final exam… He was supposed to kill a Monstrous Nightmare in front of the whole village… An attempt to show that dragons aren't what everyone thinks they are… But because of his father he was almost killed by that dragon… Then Toothless jumped out of nowhere right into the arena… To save his rider… To protect him from any kind of danger… Today… Once again, Hiccup was saved by his black-scaled friend… But this time… the price was too high…
"Toothless… Please, don't go…"
Young Viking stayed beside him for what seemed like forever. The world around him was gone; he felt nothing but pain and sorrow… Something stirred under his arms. That brought him back to reality. Dragon's neck moved almost unnoticeably. A seed of hope grew in Hiccup's heart. Immediately, he rushed to listen to Toothless's chest. A deep thump was felt. And another. And another! A heartbeat! Hiccup's eyes widen as he looks at Toothless, still motionless, but then his eyes slowly opened and he took a few deep breaths.
"Toothless! You're alive!" Tears of joy filled the boy's eyes as he was greeted with a low "purrrrrr". Hiccup gave his best friend a tight relieved hug. Toothless, still weak after the battle, was more than happy to see his human brother alive and unharmed, so he responded in hugging the boy back with his big black wing.
They were finally back together. And that's all that mattered.