Chp. 6

The Drums of War

Night was falling on the island of Berk. The sun was setting, causing Hiccup and Toothless to be nothing more than silhouettes in the sky. Astrid said she had something she needed to talk to her mother about, so Hiccup had decided to take the Night Fury flying. Thinking that a change of scenery would be interesting, he decided to head for the volcanic island that once was home to the dragons of Berk.

Stoic was in the Vikings' meeting hall at the base of the huge rock that towered above the village with Gobber and his second in command, Snotlout's father. They were discussing issues involving the coming winter, which was only a few months away.

Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut were at the dragon-training arena with a whole bunch of other Vikings and their dragons. They were doing anything from showing off moves their dragons had learned, to hosting small duels.

Fishlegs was by his home, trying to see if he could get his Gronckle to fire more than six shots if he ate more rocks. So far, he had found that the shots did get bigger, and caused a lot more than just a fire.

Astrid, as we already mentioned, was at her parents' home. They feared that her mother had become terminally ill. However, since it was unconfirmed, she didn't want to tell Hiccup that. She knew how worried and concerned he would get. She felt slightly guilty for sending him away, but she knew it was for the best.

Indeed, it seemed like it was going to be a normal ending to a perfectly normal day for the Viking tribe. Vikings came and went from the tavern. The streets themselves began to empty. The night guard prepared for their watch, grumbling and complaining. To them, it was just the ending to another day. On the other side of the island, however, was a different story.

*

The Magus village of Berk was eerily quiet. It had been a long and noisy day, and now all of the civilians locked themselves up in their homes as silence fell. The only sound that could be heard through the whole village was the deep growls of Shadow Fire, Emperor Aries' giant black dragon. The monster had perched on top of several rooftops, so that its master could survey the village below.

The large army assembled on the main road of the village was the main reason for both the noise earlier that day, and the silence that choked the air now. Once it was lined up in formation, the force stretched from the village gate all the way to the docks. There was all manner of creatures lined up here. Humans accounted for most of it, but now other humanoid creatures stood in the ranks. Orks, trolls, and goblins; the secret races of the Magus. They all adorned full plated black armor, which only enhanced their sinister look. Torches dotted the formation, since night was falling.

Aries smiled at the scene before him. Never before in this world had a force like this been assembled. He sighed inwardly. Finally, he thought, some excitement. He reveled in the tension that filled the air. His men were ready, he could feel it.

"My liege," Grock, the orcish commander of this legion, bowed on one of the flat rooftops before the Emperor and his giant beast, "the men are ready, we await your command."

"Good," Aries said darkly, "if that is the case commander, then let sound the drums."

Grock stood and turned to the formation below. With a nod of his head, the gates began to open, and with a brum-brum-brum, the drums of war began to play.

*

It was long past midnight, the Vikings had all gone to bed, aside from the night guard that is. However, a night guard does you no good when they are being silently picked off one by one by a creature they can neither hear nor see. With no night guard, no one was around to notice the flickering lights of the torches as the Magus army readied itself for attack. They were lined up along the village's three land access routes: a series of wooden bridges connecting large rocks between the village and the main isle, the dragon training arena, and the strip of land connecting the village itself to the main island. They all sat in silence as they waited for the signal.

Hiccup couldn't sleep. He didn't know why, but something was bothering him. He had a strange feeling that something was wrong. He got up, deciding that he needed a drink. There was a well that was conveniently placed right next to the Haddocks' home.

Aries and Night Fire flew a ways away from the village before banking around. This gave the giant dragon plenty of time to align itself so that it would be flying above the village length wise, allowing for maximum damage. As they approached it, the dragon gave out a mighty roar before white fire flew from its jaws, lighting a large portion of houses on fire. This was what his men had been waiting for. As they saw the flames rise above the rooftops, they charged.

Hiccup had been enjoying the cool air whilst drinking his water. Upon hearing the roar, he looked up and saw the village being engulfed in flames. The young Viking's mind froze for a few moments. Then, he bolted inside to wake Astrid. Berk was once again at war!

By the time Hiccup and Astrid had gotten their weapons and shields, Toothless and Prince had already busted down the front door. They found the dragons waiting for them outside. Toothless was surveying the sky, growling; while Prince ran in circles squawking angrily. The dragons turned to their masters as they came out the door.

"You find my dad and figure out what's going on!" Hiccup shouted to Astrid as they mounted their dragons. By now, the entire village was awake, and were engaging the enemy ground troops.

"And what about you?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup looked down at Toothless before answering, "We've got a dragon to take care of." With that, the rider and Night Fury vanished into the night.

Prince ran along the rooftops of the housed, jumping from one to the other like a raptor hunting its prey. Astrid looked down occasionally as they hopped from one roof to another. She saw the other Vikings and their dragons fighting against well-armored soldiers. She didn't recognize whom their attackers were, but was surprised to find that not all of them were human. Some were short, with pointy ears and green or black skin, while others were really tall with wood-colored skin and a piggish face.

They were almost there; Astrid could see the chief's house through the smoke and fire. Suddenly, the roof that they were on collapsed beneath them. Astrid screamed as she fell to the wooden floor below. She was lucky to hit the floor first. Her shield had luckily gotten stuck, saving her from being buried like Prince under a pile of burning wood. As she wrenched her arm away from the shield and looked around, Astrid realized that the whole front half of the house had caved in. The street now lay before her, on which she now saw one of the green skinned creatures, its bow drawn and ready to launch an arrow at her.

The Viking was about to duck out of the way when she saw what she had guessed to be the creature's smile turn into a look of fear as it began to slowly step away. Astrid looked at the pile of burning rubble behind her and saw Prince's tail snaking its way into the air. In the blink of an eye, the tail lashed out, unleashing a storm of spikes into the short creature. The thing howled as it was blown off its feet, and then it was still.

"Thanks," Astrid said as she turned back to the pile from which Prince was emerging. The dragon just squawked in reply.

Astrid and Prince charged out onto the dirt road. A passing soldier turned and swung forward with his sword at Astrid. She parried the blow, then swung down with her ax, dislodging the sword from the soldier's hold. She charged at the defenseless human, yelling her best war cry as the adrenaline awoke the true Viking in her blood. Astrid swung, her ax connecting with the man's side and knocking him to the ground.

Meanwhile, Prince scorched anything that tried to get near Astrid or himself. The Nadder cackled as it jumped to the side when one of the soldiers tried to hit him with an ax. With lightning reflexes, the dragon turned and made the soldier a human torch.

Astrid struck down one of the blackish creatures and turned around. While her dragon had been focusing on the soldiers in front of him, two spearmen had approached him from behind. They weren't getting too close, as the spiked tail swayed back and forth dangerously. One of them readied to throw his spear.

"NO!" Astrid cried, as the man pulled his arm back. Before he could do anything else, however he and his companion were blasted away by a fireball from overhead. Astrid looked up to see Fishlegs on his Gronckle. They were flying just below the tops of the houses.

"Need some help?" Fishlegs called as his dragon launched another fireball at a group of soldiers.

"Sure, thanks," Astrid called back before turning to face more oncoming soldiers.

As the clanging of metal and the screams of war wrent the air, the village of Berk burned like it had never done before. The Vikings turned out to be far more formidable warriors than Aries had anticipated. However, they were still falling to the numbers of the Magus army. Aries did not like this. At this rate, the Vikings would all be killed and he would have none to enslave. He needed to end this and now. There was one way he could do that. So, he took off in search of Hiccup.

How ironic it was that Aries and Hiccup were hunting each other with no success. They were to only ones to soar through the sky, because they were the only ones that camouflaged with the night and the smoke. As Hiccup and Toothless pulled away from the flaming village once again, Hiccup noticed something he had overlooked before. From the light of the fire, he could see more and more troops crossing the small, wooden bridges to get into the town.

"Alright Toothless, let's take those bridges out."

The dragon growled in reply as he came around and dived towards the nearest bridge, his wings folded into his body. As the troops crossing the bridge heard the whistling sound of the Night Fury, they turned to fire arrows in its general direction. They were too late, however, as with a flare of blue the bridge exploded, its occupants screaming as they fell into the sea.

With two more flashes of blue, the unholy offspring of lightning and death severed one of the enemies' routes into the village. As they came around to head back into the smoke rising above Berk, Hiccup noticed masses of enemies crossing the bridge that led to the dragon-training arena. At the end of the bridge, Hiccup saw a large number of Vikings and their dragons holding off the coming horde. Among them, Hiccup recognized Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut.

"Ok bud, let's go help them out," Hiccup commanded as they pulled into a whistling dive.

The soldiers crossing the bridge turned and looked up into the night. Many turned and began to fire shafts of arrows into the sky. They began to panic, however, as the whistling sound became ever louder and shriller. There was another flash of blue and a huge hole exploded into the center of the bridge. Toothless pulled out of the dive and soared over the enemies' heads, close enough to knock some into the sea.

Snotlout waved at Hiccup to show his appreciation before returning his attention to the remains of the oncoming enemies. He charged forward, waving his mace in the air. He brought it crashing down on one enemy's head before swinging it into yet another. He swung blindly at another enemy, only to have the mace bounce dangerously off the man's shield. Snotlout stared in horror as his opponent prepared to strike. Before he could get a swing off, Firedrake, Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare, caught him in his jaws. The dragon swallowed the armor clad figure whole before spraying a jet of fire into the ranks of his comrades.

A bright flash to the left lit the night as Tuffnut and Ruffnut's dragon, Pisces, ignited a cloud of flammable vapor. The dragon's masters cheered in delight as they jabbed and smacked their opponents with their double-ended spears. Since they always had to compete against each other, the twins were counting their victims.

"Twenty-two… twenty-three," Tuffnut counted as he smacked one across the head with his spear.

"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!" Ruffnut shouted as she clobbered enemy after enemy.

Despite their success, the Vikings were slowly being overcome. Snotlout watched as one Viking charged, hammer raised, into the horde, only to be stabbed by the nearest swordsman. Their dragons were running out of shots too. There was a cry of "fall back!" after which those who had dragons mounted them and began to fly away while the others ran on foot.

The dragon riders were caught in a hailstorm of arrows. The deadly shafts pierced dragon and Viking left and right, and they began to fall from the sky. Pisces and Firedrake barely managed to escape with their masters. They had been told to fall back to the main square.

*

Astrid sat on a pile of boxes in front of a partially burnt shop, panting. She was sweating profusely and her body couldn't stop shaking. She, Prince, Fishlegs, and some other Vikings had made it inside a barricade Stoic had had erected. The barricade surrounded the chief's house, the main square, and several other buildings. The buildings inside the barricade were the least burnt, for the most part. Those that had been severely damaged had been dismantled for weapons and reinforcing the barricade.

Prince himself was more than a little frazzled, all of the dragons were. Some wanted to get back into the fight, and were busy helping defend the barricade. Prince growled at anyone he didn't know that got within five feet of him.

Most of the Viking survivors had made it inside the barricade. Many were either dead or had been captured. Outside the barricade walls, the enemy pounded at the rock, wood, and earth that made up the hastily prepared defenses. Arrows occasionally found their way over the wall. If they were on fire, someone quickly grabbed a bucket of water and put them out.

Is this really happening? Astrid thought. She looked down at her hands, which were blistering, from her ax. She could feel the slight burns and bruises, as well as a few cuts, which she had sustained. When she had come under attack, her instincts and Viking training had kicked in and she was lost to the adrenaline. Now that she had had time to rest, a shocking reality struck her. She had taken a life, not just one, but dozens. She looked at her ax. The weapon's double bladed head was chipped and covered with dried blood.

A huge hand landed gently on the woman's shoulder, making her jump. She looked up to see Stoic looking at her worriedly. "Are you ok?" her father-in-law asked.

"Y-yeah," Astrid replied, embarrassed that someone had seen her so shaken and vulnerable. A thought came to her, "Do you know where Hiccup is?"

Stoic looked to the sky, which was completely blocked by smoke, "Not for a while. He said he was going to see if he could weaken their numbers." He noticed a look of worry on Astrid's face, "Don't worry, Astrid. Hiccup is no longer a boy, he and Toothless can take care of themselves." Astrid nodded, not very reassured.

There was an unusually large 'boom', at which many of the Vikings in the square, including Astrid and Stoic, looked up. They heard another 'boom' and saw a bright flash from the other side of the barricade. The culprit soon became clear as they saw Pisces lighting large clouds of its explosive gas. Soon, Pisces, Firedrake, and a few other dragons and their Viking riders landed in the square. Astrid and Stoic, along with several others, ran to the newcomers.

"Hey Astrid!" Snotlout shouted to her, "You should have seen me! I was on fire!" He started swinging his mace about, "I was like ha, and hyah, hyahh!"

"Have any of you seen Hiccup?" both Astrid and Stoic asked at the same time once Tuffnut and Ruffnut had joined them.

As Snotlout's ego deflated, Tuffnut answered, "He was with us over by the arena, but he flew off a while ago. The place has been completely overrun."

A large ruckus floated to the Vikings in the square from the other side of the blockade a few blocks down. Astrid and the others joined a large group of Vikings and their dragons as they ran to investigate. A block away, the group ran into enemy soldiers. Once Astrid got around the corner, she saw the enemy pouring in one at a time from a small hole in the wall. From what she could see, the hole had been made by a makeshift battering ram, which now lay abandoned in front of it.

"Seal the breach!" Stoic yelled as he fought his way to the wall. He was surprisingly nimble and quick. He was so strong that he could knock away several soldiers with one swing from his giant hammer. Astrid ran to help him, but was blocked by a rather evil looking black creature.

The creature cawed, or at least it sounded like one. It lunged forward with its blood-encrusted sword, meeting Astrid's ax. It reached back and swung downward at her feet, but she jumped, swinging her ax forward as she did so. He weapon dug into the creature's collarbone, causing it to howl in pain. However, it was not done yet. It made a quick midlevel swing with its sword, causing Astrid to let go of her ax and jump back. She punched the thing in the face as hard as she could, knocking it onto its butt and breaking its nose. She grabbed her ax and was about to swing at its head when it disappeared into Prince's toothy maw.

By now the hole had been repaired and the reinforcements were heading back to the square. Astrid had just turned to follow when a tremendous roar echoed throughout the village. She turned around just in time to see the barricade and several of the surrounding houses be engulfed in a sheet of white-hot flames. She ducked instinctively as something huge flew overhead; it's large, beating wings spreading the flames as it did so. She heard it annihilate the other end of the barricade and turned around just in time to see a horde of enemies pouring over the ruined wall. She joined the others in charging forward, yelling at the top of her lungs.

Her ax connected with a metal shield just as the house next to her burst into flames. She was exhausted, and angry that she still had to push herself. This fuelled her into a berserk rage, and hit her attacker so hard that he flew back a few feet. She continued to charge into the coming black mass, slashing and hacking at any black thing she saw.

Soon, a pile of armored bodies surrounded Astrid. Exhausted, the young Viking warrior turned around, looking up at the sky. The sight that met her eyes shocked her tired and sluggish mind back into overdrive. High in the sky, soaring back to make another pass on the Vikings, was an enormous black dragon.

And it had glowing, red eyes.

Well, here you go. I'm getting exhausted just writing it. Quite the cliffhanger, (heh, heh, heh) don't you think? Thanks for the reviews as always, you guys really are half of my motivation!

Dark Guymelef