Seven.

My eyes widened as I realised what I was seeing. The creature was sleek, streamlined and alien, the large acid-green eyes almost glowing with slitted pupils. It was completely black with enormous bat wings, half unfurled. The blunt head was vertically flattened with ears flicked backwards and a lithe, strong body on four sturdy legs. The long tail was flicking with one fin apparently made of red material. It was a dragon.

It was Toothless.

Hiccup screamed more desperately. "Toothless-NO! Get away, bud!" And Dagur twisted the knife, drawing another pained scream from him. I flinched and almost jerked forward, but I could see the dragon had his eyes locked on the men torturing his friend. A low growl began to rumble in his throat and he advanced inexorably, every motion balanced and oozing hunter's poise. His head lowered and the growl grew louder.

The other concealed men were here to subdue and capture him, I realised. And then something snapped inside me, a burning desire not to let these people who have scared and tormented Hiccup get their hands on the creature he had risked so much for. I dashed to one side, towards the nearest one of them. Ozzie glanced after me and opened his mouth to call me back but I ducked behind the bushes as the roar echoed through the whole glen. The gloom was like a blanket now and I could barely see, especially in the shadow of the trees. The Outcast didn't see me at all as I spun him, my foot slamming up and hitting him squarely in the solar plexus. I followed with another kick to the groin and then, as he doubled up, the chin. I threw him and a swift kick across the face finished him off. I ducked down to snatch his weapon and dived back under cover. The others focussed their weapons on the dragon and Hiccup wildly kicked out with his normal leg, catching Dagur across the face. Alvin dealt him a brutal punch and he sagged.

"NOW!" Alvin roared and his men focussed on the Night Fury but the black dragon was fast, leaping aside and swiping one man heavily with his tail. He flew across the ground and hit a tree, then landed and lay still. The hiss of tranquilliser bullets sounded but the dragon was quick. Toothless roared again, a purplish glow suddenly filling his maw and blasting away at the third man hiding on the perimeter. Then the dragon turned on the huge arms dealer and his prisoner. Suddenly, there was a knife at Hiccup's throat and the others turned to the dragon, their weapons raised. My eyes widened: I had no clue what to do and I slank back to the rest of the BERK team. Stoick scowled but his wristwatch flashed suddenly and he gave a grim smile.

"The cavalry has arrived," he announced and nodded to Jorgensen. The man gave a grin and ran back from the clearing as the whooshing of wings sounded behind us. I half-turned…to see a huge, red and brown dragon briefly touch down to allow Jorgensen to leapt aboard his neck. The creature was nowhere near as sleek or impressive as the Night Fury, his horns and spiky skin more menacing. Jorgensen pumped his arm in the air.

"Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi!" he shouted as he soared into the air. Simultaneously a cloud of green gas coiled to the far side of the clearing and then exploded, as another dragon whooshed overhead with two voices screaming obscenities and laughing. Alvin leaned closer to Hiccup and grabbed his hair, pulling the bleeding man hard against his chest.

"Back off-or little 'Iccup 'ere loses more than 'is leg!" he snarled. Stoick lifted his chin.

"Give up, Alvin-you're surrounded!" he shouted back.

"Then we are at an impasse!" the arms dealer snarled. "Except I 'ave another ten men closing on us now. Did yer think I'd just bring me driver and put the dragon in me trunk? I just want the Night Fury, Stoick! And you can 'ave your runt of a boy back!" Stoick's silence spoke volumes. Hiccup's head lolled.

"Go, bud!" he rasped and the dragon gave a worried croon, freezing at the sight of his rider in such a state. I raised my stolen weapon and aimed at Alvin. Ozzie reached out and grasped the barrel, forcing my weapon down and shaking his head.

"Wait!" he hissed. I frowned and he levelled his own weapon at the arms dealer. "Alvin always brings men and relies on brute force. But his plans are terrible! In the last few missions, Hiccup has bested him every time. Something must have really spooked him to make him leave BERK." I leaned closer, still not understanding.

"Hiccup?" Ozzie nodded, never taking his eyes from the standoff.

"He rides the Night Fury, the leader of the dragons," he explained shortly. "But he's a pretty good leader as well!" My silence caused him to flick an amused glance back to inspect my shocked face. "Don't let his lack of confidence and appearance fool you. Once he's with Toothless, he can be himself. And who Hiccup really is…well, he's pretty amazing. Despite the fact the other riders are absolutely bastards to him, they respect him once they're in the air. It's just…he suffers for everything else."

"I'm waiting, Stoick!" Alvin snarled, digging the blade deeper into Hiccup's throat. "See, boy? Yer father just don't seem to appreciate yer talents enough to hand over yer reptile…"

Toothless roared again and I could vaguely hear Jorgensen still whooping overhead, mixed with the roars of the dragons. Did this guy NEVER shut up? The standoff had the loch at the Outcasts' back and the knowledge of Alvin's reinforcements closing in the gathering gloom was making my pulse race. I leaned closer to the General.

"Sir? Do all those dragons breathe fire?" I asked in a low voice.

"Lieutenant…" he growled, not even looking at me.

"All of them," Ozzie murmured. "Practically a qualification for being a dragon, actually…"

"The Loch," I suggested. "Fire and water equals steam. Explosively. Might that even the odds?" Stoick stiffened, then gave a sharp nod and murmured rapidly into his wrist-com. I heard roars and then against the fading skyline, I saw two shapes swoop down low over the loch. I could see the orange and brown outline of Jorgensen's dragon and a purple and brown version with another rider on, flying in formation. The two dragons burst into flame and raked the shore and shallows behind the Outcasts with a huge wall of fire. The results were spectacular and the explosion of fire meeting ice-cold water blew Alvin, Hiccup and the Outcasts across the sleet-covered ground. Three trees had burst into flames as well, illuminating the scene with a warm and uneven light.

Toothless roared and fired his purple blast at Alvin, tossing the huge man back a handful of yards. Instantly, he was on his feet but Hiccup had moved as well, his battered scarecrow shape staggering to his shaky feet and throwing himself the three limping steps forward to lurch onto the black dragon. He managed a slumping seat on the dragon's neck and I realised there was a fitted saddle and pedals.

"STOP HIM!" Dagger shouted and levelled his pistol at Hiccup.

The crack of a gun firing sounded, followed by a hail of shots. Toothless whipped up his wing, shielding the sagging figure and the shots bounced away. I gaped. What the hell were these creatures made of? It didn't seem possible! Ozzie and the General unleashed a volley at the Outcasts and in that moment, the dragon lowered his wing and began to fidget as the wings unfurled for takeoff. Hiccup was almost doubled up and he looked on the brink of collapse, his broken left hand trying to curl around the lip of the saddle by his right. He grimaced obviously. Snapping off a couple of shots at the Outcasts, who were hunkering down behind a large chunk of mottled grey granite, I dashed forward, my eyes locked on him as the dragons came round and strafed the Outcasts again. The explosions of the dragons' attack drowned out the snap of gunfire as the Outcasts fired back, the bullets cracking and zinging in the twilight.

"C'mon, bud," Hiccup rasped and the red artificial tail fin gently opened. I guessed he was trying to fly away but I grabbed his hand and pulled him to look at me.

"HICCUP!" I shouted. His eyes widened at seeing me and I read pain and betrayal in his deep gaze. He shook his head. "WAIT!"

"I have to go," he rasped. He looked dreadful and was breathing hard.

"You'll die!" I shouted at him, not letting go. I couldn't let him go! "You'll bleed out. Your leg is pumping blood! You have to let me help you!" His eyes narrowed and he looked angry.

"Why?" he manages. "So you can betray me again?"

"I didn't!" I protested, my chest contracting to a fist of pain and hurt. How could he think that? "I never betrayed you! They found me!"

"And you forgot to mention you were army?" he hissed. He looked very hurt and very alone.

"You ran away!" I retorted. "How the hell could I tell you if you weren't there?" His left lower leg and prosthesis were slick with blood and it was dripping onto the ground. He pulled his hand away from mine.

"I can't let them get him!" he rasped and took a shuddering breath. I looked at him helplessly-and then I appealed for support to the one person he had spoken of with love. I knew the dragon was very intelligent. "TOOTHLESS! Don't take him. He'll die! He needs help! STOP!"

The dragon's ears twitched: he lifted his flattened, blunt head and inspected me in shock. He could hear the concern in my unfamiliar voice and he could smell blood and probably hear Hiccup's heart racing. He sniffed and stared at me again. Then he lowered his wings then gave a worried croon that had Hiccup giving a groan at his stubbornness.

"Thanks for nothing, you useless reptile," he gasped as Stoick raised his weapon and fired. Toothless roared as a red dart impacted into his neck. The General fired three more times and each time, the darts hit the dragon. He gave one more roar, then folded, his eyes closing as he collapsed, unconscious. I stared in shock and then burst into action, dragging Hiccup from the dragon's back and ripping off my belt, tightening it brutally just above his left knee, forming a rudimentary tourniquet. He struggled feebly but I could tell his fight was gone: despite everything, Toothless was taken. Explosions sounded behind me as the dragon riders kept the Outcasts at bay. Hiccup's hands closed over mine, his bleary green eyes dark with pain and betrayal. His head rocked to the side to look at his dragon and his eyes shone.

"I'm sorry, bud," he murmured and there was shame in his voice. Then his eyes closed and he went limp. I looked up at the General.

"He needs medical care-now!" I insisted. Shots started to sound from behind us: Alvin's reinforcements were arriving. Stoick snapped his head round, pouring rounds at the pinned down Outcast leader.

"Back at the base!" he growled. "Stabilise him. There's a kit in the car. Snotlout-take Toothless!"

"How long to the base?" I asked, checking his pulse. Weak and too fast. He was cold, too. Stoick nodded to Ozzie, then lifted the lanky shape in his arms surprisingly gently.

"About half an hour by air," he explained, opening the car and sliding his unconscious son onto the back seat. He fetched the medical kit from the boot and handed it to me, then settled back in his seat in the front. Ozzie dived into the driver's seat and fastened his seatbelt. I settled by Hiccup as the doors slammed closed and the locks clicked down. The General clicked his wrist-com again: "Gustav, Thorstons-get us back to base. Fast!" And then the whole car lurched and we rose from the ground, flying up into the rapidly falling night, over the loch. Bullets zinged around us and I threw myself across Hiccup but as we lurched up, they faded. The motion was jerky and I peered up out of the window to see wings dipping in and out of view. With a shock, I realised we are being carried by a dragon. Up ahead, I could see the orange and brown shape of Jorgensen's dragon, with Toothless hanging unconscious from his paws. I blinked and dragged myself back to reality.

My training kicked in. I'd always focussed on trauma because I knew for sure that's where I was going to end up. I'd already got ALS and ATLS even before my Finals and I'd done loads of extra shifts in the ED to get my competences up. So I worked through his assessment, checking the airway, pressing an oxygen mask against his battered face and flipping on the valve. Then I lifted him up and dragged off his leather jacket and shirt. I didn't want to wreck everything he has because something told me he doesn't actually have that much to call his own. I found the vein and inserted a line, running fluids in fast to replace some of the blood he's lost. Then I turned to his leg and I snatched the scissors from the kit, cutting his jeans off.

I was peripherally unaware that Stoick was watching me closely, noting my calm and precise movements as I investigated the hideous ragged stab wounds in his stump and I winced. I knew how sensitive the area was and these must have been agonising. I found a flash light and focussed it on the wounds, seeing one pumping blood. Must've got one of the arteries, I thought idly, gloving and grabbing a suture and needle-holder. Pretty close to the trifurcation… With care, I looped a stitch around the pumping vessel. When I eased the tourniquet, blood flowed freely still, so I tightened it again and put a couple more stitches in. When I checked this time, the vessel was dry but there was another in the other horrid ragged hole. After I stitched that, there was just the standard ooze from rent muscle and skin, so I sloshed antiseptic cleaning solution into the wounds and packed them with alginate haemostat. Then I bandaged the leg and belatedly, grabbed a syringe of painkiller, stabbing it into his thigh and emptying the lot into his scrawny shape. Breathing hard, I looked up.

The General gave me a small smile, his eyes dark with concern. "Hmm," he murmured. "I think we may have made a good choice. I'll radio ahead to Gothi." And he turned away. I wonder if that's as approving as he gets but then I recalled Hiccup's words and sighed: I guessed I'd had more praise than he ever received. Turning back, I lifted the stethoscope-one of those cheap ones, not like my beautiful Cardiology model, and listened to his chest. Despite the beating he'd taken, there was no more damage, just bruising. He still had signs of a chest infection but it sounded better than when I had sneaked a quick listen as he lay unconscious in my apartment. With a satisfied nod, I stowed the instrument again. Then I turned back and tenderly stroked his soft auburn hair off his face, then wrapped a space blanket over him to try to conserve his heat. I laid his jacket over him as well and stared ahead into the night.

We were moving surprisingly fast and over a lot of geography. Mountains, glens, lochs and burns all rolled away under us, almost unseen in the sleety night. The clouds were low and it felt almost claustrophobic as we surged forward. I reckoned we must have headed directly north and were somewhere in the Highlands. There were no lights, no signs of civilisation at all and no real prospects of accidentally being seen. Then we began to dip and I hung onto Hiccup as the ride became more jerky and the ground flew up at us. I may have given a little shriek and closed my eyes as we suddenly dived into the side of the mountain and the night vanished behind us. We soared into a huge, brilliantly-lit cavern and the car landed with a gentle thump. Ozzie checked the brakes and two dragons landed in front of us.

I stared: I couldn't help it. One was the purple and tan version of Jorgensen's horned and spiky dragon, strutting proudly with its young rider laughing and fussing his friend while the other was even more extraordinary: it had two heads. The large green body with four strong legs and twin tails led to two serpentine necks with small rounded heads, each with a horn on the nose. The two riders were high up the neck, shouting and bantering spiritedly. I could see a strong resemblance between them and guessed a dragon like that needed two people who could almost read each other's minds.

The door opened and Stoick roared for the medics. I scrambled out of the way, as the team raced forward and dragged Hiccup from the car seat. He remained unconscious but his IV was running, he had oxygen and his leg had ceased leaking for the moment. I waited until they had him on the gurney before I leaned forward and rested my hands on the edge, claiming my spot as his attendant and preparing to give handover to the senior in charge. The team looked at me, then nodded in acceptance: medics were always pretty quick to accept another professional.

"Go with them!" Stoick said quietly. "Ozzie will handle your things." Then he turned away to talk to a short but still hefty man, an older image of Jorgensen. The gurney began to move and I stared down at Hiccup, breathing quietly and painfully bruised. And then it finally hit me.

I had arrived in BERK.