When Princesses Meet Dragons

Chapter 4: Tense Situations

Well, the atmosphere around Berk is pretty tense, what with a Whispering Death taking residence in the woods nearby. Hope you enjoy!

OOXO

High above the village of Berk, Merida and Rapunzel were seated on a seaside cliff that overlooked the entire island. Watching the Viking teens' dragons practicing their aerial maneuvers, Merida began to doubt her suspicions before. After all, if Vikings were really blood-thirsty and cruel, how come Hiccup had saved her? Maybe it was a way of leading her off track, to make it seem like they were kind and compassionate. However, she wasn't sure anymore. When they had first come here, Rapunzel had never doubted the Vikings for a second and had been shocked by Merida's outburst. However, Rapunzel could never think ill of anyone, and it drove Merida insane. Didn't she know that they were living among fierce, blood-thirsty Vikings? Apparently, Rapunzel had never heard of them before. How could she not hear about them before? Had they never attacked Germany? If that was the case, then she was extremely lucky. She didn't have to hear the horrifying tales of how the invaders would kill every innocent in sight, raid their homes, and kidnap young children, making them their slaves forevermore. She didn't have to hear about their cruel, heartless gods who sent their followers to claim the lands around. Merida remembered when she was a little girl playing around on the floor of her mother's room while Elinor was knitting a quilt. She remembered the great storm outside, with lightning flashing and thunder booming. She had screamed and hid underneath the blanket, afraid that the Norse Thunder god, Thor, would kidnap her, never to be seen again, for she had heard frightening tales of them from her father. She had heard of the one-eyed Odin, who had two ravens and two wolves as his servants, Heimdall, the gatekeeper of Asgard, Sif, woman warrior, and countless other deities of their foes. However, after hearing how there was a goddess, Iounn, who gave the Asgardians golden apples to keep themselves young, she had become less afraid of them. After all, what gods had to keep themselves young? It was all a joke.

As the dragons nearby began to execute extreme aerial maneuvers, Merida heard the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, arguing as usual.

"Hey, Tuff, I wanted to turn left."

"Well, I want to go right, so I'm going right."

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Hiccup, who had recovered from his accident, came soaring in with Toothless, more agile than the rest of the dragons put together. Merida and Rapunzel watched in awe as Hiccup and Toothless did several loop-de-loops, twists, and turns through the air. When they had landed, everyone applauded them, even Merida and Rapunzel.

"You're really good at flying. Do you think that I could try?" Rapunzel asked.

"Well, I don't see why not," Hiccup said, helping Rapunzel onto Toothless.

Gripping the reins, Rapunzel brought Toothless to the edge of the cliff, excitement crossing her face as he prepared to jump. With Hiccup guiding her on what to do, Rapunzel brought Toothless up at an angle, just skimming the ocean below. Even though Merida was awed by how quickly her friend had learned how to fly, she still rolled her eyes, thinking it all pathetic nonsense. No one would ever catch her on a dragon, not even if they offered her eternal youth. However, some feeling deep inside of her wanted to break free and join the others.

"Get a hold of yourself, Merida. There's no way I will ride the mounts of my enemies, even if they are tame."

"Come on, Merida. You've got to try this," Rapunzel called to Merida, cheering in delight as she twirled in the air.

"Well, maybe it wouldn't be that bad," she thought to herself.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. Standing on the cliff, she waved to Astrid. Coasting in, Astrid asked, with a smirk,

"You couldn't take it anymore, could you?"

Shaking her head, Merida promptly mounted Stormfly and held on as they took off, the ground quickly being replaced with whooshing air that blew Merida's hair wildly. That's when she felt something that she had never felt before. Now she understood the feeling that Hiccup always told her about; the feeling of flying. The wind in her face, the speed, the adrenaline, skimming the clouds… she felt truly free.

"Hey, Astrid," Snotlout called, pulling up beside them on his dragon, Hookfang, "you want to race?"

"You're on!"

Even though Hookfang could fly twice as fast as Stormfly, they still managed to get neck-and-neck to each other as they approached the rock pillars that stood tall from the sea. Past these columns, Merida saw an incredible sight, one that she thought she would never see with her own eyes. A huge flock of dragons were gathering around the caves on the bottom of the cliffs, now that the tide was out. There were all kinds and colors of them, more than Merida could count.

"They're going to the caves to get away from the heat. Just because they're fireproof, doesn't mean they can stand intense heat for too long," Astrid said.

"Hey, come on, you guys. I'm not going to stick around for long," Snotlout taunted, speeding around the corner of the cliff.

As Stormfly sped up after him, Merida heard a distant rumble in the distance. Glancing to the right, she saw a thunderhead rapidly descending on the island.

"Astrid, Snotlout, look over there," Merida said.

Merida's eyes widened when she saw ominous shapes in the cloud. With shock, she realized that there were several dragons, which were breathing white-hot flames and were crackling with electricity. The next moment, the thunderhead was right on top of them. Squinting through the clouds, Merida screamed as one of the dragons descended right on top of them. Barely missing the burst of flame that it aimed at them, Astrid spotted Hiccup and Rapunzel pulling up beside them.

"Come on, we got to get out of here," Hiccup yelled, leading the others toward the village.

With blinding lightning and deafening thunder, Merida couldn't even tell where they even were anymore. As Toothless charged for one of the dragons, it sent electricity soaring toward them. Knowing that she wouldn't have any other chance like this, Merida whipped out her bow from behind her and aimed an arrow, timing the energy blasts. Right when the dragon was caught off guard by Toothless ramming into it, Merida sent her arrow flying into its chest. Roaring in pain, it soared off out of sight. With dousing rain now pouring from the heavens, Merida didn't have to worry about her hair getting in the way, since it was now plastered on her back. Sending out arrow after arrow, Merida managed to drive off the dragons, who were roaring in frustration. Once they left, the sky suddenly cleared up and they all safely landed back on Berk. Of course, no one could ignore the fact that a huge thunderstorm had just occurred, so the village square was crowded with worried Vikings. After Hiccup had explained what had happened, Gobber, the village blacksmith, shook his head with worry.

"Oh, great. First the Whispering Death, now Skrills? What next? A flock of Monstrous Nightmares?"

Rolling his eyes, wondering why Gobber always had to make things like this worse, Stoick began to address the panicked villagers.

"Listen, I know that this seems bad, but there's a reasonable explanation for this."

"It's the strangers, Stoick. They're the reason for all of these mishaps. You heard that little brat's speech. Her family doesn't trust us. They probably called upon their gods to drive bad luck on us. We must get rid of them," a cantankerous old villager named Mildew said.

Before Merida could confront him, Stoick began to bring back the peace.

"Now, we don't know that for sure. After all, we've had rouge dragons before. I don't see why this is any different. Now, the important thing we should do now is to keep our heads. The last thing we need is to jump to conclusions."

The villagers, greatly respecting Stoick, were calmed and began to prepare for more possible attacks. As Hiccup and his friends headed toward the training arena, Merida began to race after them.

"Hiccup, wait!"

Motioning his friends to keep going, Hiccup waited for Merida to speak. Catching her breath, Merida began,

"Look, me and my family are not doing this. You've got to believe that. To prove it, we'll help you take care of your problem."

"I know that you and your family aren't responsible for this. However, the help would be greatly appreciated. Why don't I teach you and Rapunzel to train dragons?"

OOXO

Oh yeah, the princesses are going dragon-style! Hope you liked the chapter and please review! BTW, the scene where Merida is remembering when her mother was still a human in the movie is the scene I chose for Merida's fear of Thor. Also, the Viking gods really weren't immortal! If you don't believe me, look up the goddess of youth, Iounn, and see for yourself.