Chapter 2: The Whispering Deaths Attack; the Screaming Death Returns
The Cliffs outside Berk
Present
"Are they really gone… again?" Hiccup asked, exasperated. "Didn't I tell them twice now to not do what they're doing now?"
Syn walked up and put her hand on Hiccup's shoulder.
"This will make three times," Snotlout said in annoyance. "When I get my hands on those blonde geeks, I'm going to—"
"You're not going to do anything, Snotlout," Astrid said. "You know we need them—I can't believe I just said that—because we require the full force of the Dragon Academy to fend off anything Alvin might have planned."
Alvin the Treacherous was the Chief of the Outcasts, and Berk's oldest enemy. He wanted to conquer Berk and every other island around. He wouldn't stop until he'd accomplished his mission, no matter how long it took. He was also somewhat of a primary enemy to Hiccup.
"Astrid's right, guys," Hiccup said, turning to the group. "We need to find Ruff and Tuff and get them back here. Syn, can you go with Fishlegs and find the twins? The rest of us will stay here to check for any signs of Outcasts."
"Sure thing," Syn said, climbing onto Smokescreen's back. "C'mon, Fishlegs." She nudged her dragon, and the Volcanoback flapped up into the sky.
Fishlegs tapped Meatlug's side, and the lazy Gronkle yawned, but flapped her short wings like a humming bird's to keep up with the fast Volcanoback.
The Woods of Berk
Five minutes later
Syn looked over her shoulder to make sure Fishlegs was there. Sure enough, Fishlegs was there, though quite a ways behind. The Gronkle could fly, alright, though it was a very slow dragon, and that sometimes annoyed the other teens, as they had to hold up in order to keep Fishlegs and Meatlug in sight.
Smokescreen growled, sensing something.
"Whoa, easy, Smokescreen," Syn said, patting her dragon in the side of the neck.
Smokescreen's ear twitched, and the Volcanoback looked around, waiting for something.
"Um, is it just me, or are our dragons acting strange?" Fishlegs called.
Indeed, Meatlug too was looking down toward the ground, watching out for something. Her short ear was twitching as well, and her eyes were wide, her mouth baring those fangs.
Syn looked around when there was the small sound of digging not too far under the ground. Her eye widened when she realized where the sound was coming from – a Whispering Death.
With a ground-shattering quake, a Whispering Death burst through the ground and into the air, shrieking in fury. Following behind it were three more Whispering Deaths. Each dragon shrieked furiously, turning their gaze to the two human teens and their dragons.
"Why must it be Whispering Deaths?" moaned Fishlegs nervously. He looked around frantically, hoping for a means of escape. "Just for once – just once, couldn't it be… Ohhh, I don't know… maybe a Terrible Terror?"
A plan popped into Syn's mind, but they'd need the others.
"Fishlegs, go back to Hiccup and tell him there's an emergency!" Syn yelled.
"And leave you alone with the Whispering Deaths!?" asked a frightened Fishlegs.
Syn rolled her eye. "Just GO! Smokescreen and I will hold them off as long as we can!" While Fishlegs and Meatlug flew back in the direction they came from, Syn nudged Smokescreen, and the Volcanoback responded by shooting a streak of fire at the closest Whispering Death.
The ferocious dragon swooped out of the way and fired three rings of fire at the human and her dragon friend. Smokescreen quickly swooped to the left to keep Syn safe, and the flames harmlessly evaporated higher up into the sky.
Two of the Whispering Deaths shrieked in fury and streaked up toward Smokescreen and Syn, jaws wide open.
The Cliffs outside Berk
"HICCUP!" Fishlegs yelled as Meatlug flapped as hard as she could back to the cliffs.
Hiccup's gaze was pulled from the ocean toward Fishlegs. Toothless cocked his head as he wondered what the screaming was about.
"Fishlegs!" Hiccup said in surprise, "I thought I told you to go with Syn and find Ruff and Tuff…"
"Syn sent me back to warn you—" Fishlegs said after Meatlug plopped down on the cliff top near Astrid and Stormfly.
Astrid walked over to Fishlegs and crossed her arms.
"Warn us about what?" she questioned.
"A herd of Whispering Deaths are attacking!" Fishlegs shrieked.
Astrid turned toward Hiccup.
"Everyone—Dragons now!" Hiccup yelled.
While Snotlout climbed onto Hookfang and coaxed his dragon to take flight, Astrid climbed onto Stormfly and coaxed the Nadder into the sky. Hiccup adjusted the tail fin and he and Toothless streaked up into the sky. Fishlegs and Meatlug were the last in the air.
"Take us to the attack sight, Fishlegs," Hiccup said.
"Do I have to?" Fishlegs asked, but coaxed Meatlug in the direction anyway.
The Woods of Berk
Smokescreen swooped through the trees, trying to evade the Whispering Deaths. A fifth Whispering Death burrowed through the ground ahead of them, shrieking madly. Smokescreen was so startled that he had to slide to a halt. The slide sent Syn flying off the Volcanoback's back and over the angry dragon. Syn rolled across the ground and turned to see the Whispering Death staring directly at her.
"Smokescreen!" Syn yelled.
There was a high-pitched shriek from above and a fast blue ball of fire connected with the left side of the Whispering Death's head. The furious dragon turned in the direction of the attack, and Smokescreen rammed the dragon in the side, sending it sliding across the ground.
Syn jumped up onto Smokescreen's back and the relieved dragon took flight. As they streaked fast into the air, they saw Hiccup riding Toothless, with Hiccup steering as the Night Fury blasted plasma blasts at the Whispering Deaths. Nearby was Astrid atop Valkeryie, with the Nadder flicking spines at another Whispering Death. The Whispering Deaths shrieked and returned fire, but the teens and their dragons evaded the attack.
Hookfang and Snotlout faired a little well. Hookfang was breathing ball after ball of fire at the third Whispering Death, eventually forcing the ferocious dragon to fly away toward the trees.
Smokescreen rolled to the left as the other two Whispering Deaths came shooting out of the trees.
"Fire, Meatlug!" Fishlegs yelled.
Meatlug let loose a ball of lava through the air, slamming into the first Whispering Death. The unexpected blast knocked the Whispering Death of course and it spiraled through the air, with the second one bumping into it from behind. Both dragons crashed down toward the ground.
"Thanks for the save," Syn commented.
"You should have kept Fishlegs with you for help," Hiccup said as he and Toothless flew up next to her, "but that was smart thinking. Nice job, Syn."
Astrid looked down toward the ground.
The Whispering Deaths seemed to have disappeared.
"Guys!" Astrid called, "did any of you notice the Whispering Deaths?"
"Gone," Snotlout said, taking notice of the dragons' absence. "What do you know? They're scared of me — Snotlout the Hero and his dragon, Hookfang the Mighty!" He puffed out his chest, trying to make himself look heroic.
Astrid rolled her eyes.
"Of course, you frighten everyone," she said sarcastically.
"I don't know how you put up with Snotlout," Syn whispered to Hiccup as they were now flying side-by-side.
Hiccup's shoulders drooped.
"I don't know how I do, either," he commented.
Fishlegs was starting to get rather nervous now.
"Hiccup, I don't mean to bug, but where did the Whispering Deaths go?" he asked.
Hiccup looked over at Fishlegs, slightly confused before his eyes widened with the realization of the turn of events. He knew that the Whispering Deaths were going to directly attack Langley—meaning that it must have been the Outcasts' plans the whole time—use the Whispering Deaths as a second attempt at Berk's destruction.
"Come on everyone, let's ride!" Hiccup called. With that said and done, the duo took flight and sped through the sky in the direction of Berk's village before it was too late.
The village of Berk
Not too far away
Berk's townspeople were standing in the middle of the village, uneasily looking at the ground, having noticed the sudden lumps in the ground. The Chief of the Hairy Hooligans was a tall and powerful looking Viking. He was dressed in a green and brown Viking battle ensemble, with two shoulder guards, and a black cape. He had red hair and a massively large red beard held together by braids. This was Stoick the Vast, leader of Berk, and Hiccup's father.
He stood next to Spitelout, his second-in-command. Spitelout looked almost like his son, Snotlout, expect for his short black mustache and black beard. He looked just about as tough as Stoick, but no doubt he was about as small-minded as his son.
"Aye, what the hell's going on down there?" Spitelout asked, looking down.
Even the town's blacksmith, typical Viking; big and burly, not the most pleasant face to look at. He was a man, almost Stoick's height, but bigger around the midsection; a veritable beer gut. He had blonde hair and a longer blonde mustache that was braided, a mouth with a few unstraightened teeth, as well as a fake tooth sticking out. He wore a yellow sleeveless Viking shirt with brown and white pants that were nearly worn out, a Viking style boot on his left foot, while his right foot was a peg leg, a brown furred vest, a Viking helmet with triangular shaped horns on it. He also had a brown wrist band with several bands going up his right arm, while on his left arm, his hand had been completely replaced by a rope tied interchangeable prosthetic left hand, which was now a battle axe. This was Gobber the Belch, a friend of Stoick the Vast, friend of the Haddock Family, and mentor/boss/uncle to Hiccup, was looking uneasy.
Stoick grimaced.
"Hold steady, everyone," he instructed, readying his battle hammer, "this is about to get ugly…" He squinted as he looked at the ground, waiting for the Whispering Deaths to make the first move.
The Golden Fleece, an ancient and long-thought extinct dragon, stood near Stoick and Gobber, extending his wings to take the fight to the skies. Draco wasn't nervous, but he was worried about what would happen if the dragons did manage to cause more than mere structural damage to the town.
"Draco, any thoughts?" Gobber asked as he fiddled with his axe.
"Keep the structural damage to a minimum," Draco suggested. "Hold out until Hiccup and the others arrive."
"Sounds like a plan," Stoick said. "Without our Dragon Riders, we won't stand a chance."
Spitelout tapped his sword on the ground.
"It sounds like there's something much worse than regular Whispering Deaths drilling beneath our feet," Spitelout commented.
"No kidding," came Gobber's reply.
Draco's ear twitched. He knew what Spitelout was referring to. The biggest, most mysterious, and most deadly of any Whispering Death in existence, a very large, white, spike-covered beast with red pupil-less eyes and rows of razor sharp teeth. Spitelout referred to what Tuffnut had called "The Screaming Death".
No doubt that very same dragon was drilling below, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and send terror down the spines of all the Vikings currently armed for combat.
And then, to their sudden horror, bursting from the ground, came the terrifying Screaming Death.
It was a mutated, albino version of a Whispering Death—though it was definitely bigger than the ordinary dragon. It was white in color, and instead of pupil-less eyes, it had bright red pupil-less eyes. Its body was longer and much, much larger than the normal Whispering Deaths they had been fighting seconds earlier. It had three rows of teeth, but they were noticeably aligned differently than those of its less large brethren, set in a chin reminiscent of the Red Death—the mighty Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus. Like the ordinary Whispering Death, it was able to tunnel underground (as it had been doing just seconds earlier), and it was able to shoot spikes from its body. According to both Draco and Hiccup, the tunnels made by this dragon were larger, as were the spikes.
"Careful," Draco warned, extending his wings to shield the Vikings on either side of him, "the Screaming Death fires its balls of fire like a mortar…" and if to underline this point, the Screaming Death launched a fire ring ball directly at one of the catapult towers, showering nearby Vikings in splinters.
"Yeah! We know!" yelled Stoick. "We've battled it before!"
The Screaming Death was bigger than any Whispering Death encountered before, and it was one of the biggest dragon encountered on the Isle of Berk. Aside from the other Vikings, Draco knew that sunlight would not help them frighten this beast off—as sunlight only attracted the Whispering Death.
The Screaming Death opened its mouth wide and emitted a sonic shriek that vibrated from the walls and windows of the surrounding Viking huts. Draco cocked his head and twisted away, trying to block the noise.
"It's affecting Draco!" Gobber shouted.
"I can see that, Gobber!" Stoick shouted back.
Stoick took a step forward and swung his axe, but the Screaming Death shot straight up into the sky and fired a big ball of fire right at him. Stoick dived to the left to avoid being burned.
The Screaming Death roared in rage as it gazed around at the Vikings. From nearby, several Whispering Deaths shot out from the ground and swooped down toward the village.
Sorry to leave you hanging, but I ran out of ideas for this chapter.
The next chapter will be (possibly) longer.