When Princesses Meet Dragons

Chapter 7: When Dragons Attack!

Yes, like the title suggests, there's going to be some serious dragon butt-kicking. And believe me, there's going to be a lot of action!

OOXO

Two weeks had passed since Scathach's meltdown. Of course, Elinor had chastised her daughter thoroughly after the incident, reminding her that dragons were wild, end of discussion. She did not believe that she would be able to tame her without getting killed. What was worse, Merida's brothers were starting to get into dragons as well. Elinor had spotted them on top of a Gronckle, thinking of riding it into the sky. Thankfully, Stoick had come around and had gotten them down. This made Fergus furious for two reasons: one, his sons were starting to be influenced by all of the nonsense, and two, who knows what that Viking chief could have done to his boys.

Of course, all of this grudge-holding was making Elinor weary. Why did her husband have to be so suspicious? It was clear to her that the Vikings were friendly and only trying to help. She was glad that Rapunzel shared the same view, who also wondered why they were acting hostile to them.

To Merida, none of this mattered. What was important was that they get off this island soon. Sure, she wanted to help the Vikings to get to the root of all of their problems that they had been having, but, overall, she just wanted to leave this accursed place. She didn't know what had made her do it, anyway. Why on earth had she offered to help? Was it because she wanted to return the favor when Hiccup had saved her from the Whispering Death? Or… was it something more?

When Merida began to head up the trail toward the training arena, she glanced toward her right, staring into the black abyss of the forest. Visions of a Whispering Death racing towards her gave her the shudders. She did not even want to think about the possibility of something else roaming through the dark, waiting to drag her into the depths.

Not wanting her mother to know that she was continuing with her training, Merida began sneaking to the arena in the dead of night, when Scathach would be wide awake. Apparently, she was most active at that time, which gave Merida a great excuse to sneak out.

Darting across the arena, she snuck into the room where all of the dragons were kept, careful not to disturb any of them. Unlocking Scathach's cage, she led her out to the arena, hoping to discipline her further.

As of late, her dragon had been cooperating quite nicely. She hadn't taken off into the sky without warning anymore. She was even learning to cooperate with Merida when they were flying. As an added bonus, Hiccup had made a sort of leather armor with some Changewing skin, so when Scathach turned a certain color, the armor that Merida wore would change into that color as well, making it easier to sneak up on enemies.

As Merida took off into the sky, she draped the leather armor over her, just as Scathach vanished into the surroundings. The feeling of being invisible to the eyes of man and beast was truly remarkable. It made her feel as if she could be truly free, with no one to spot and criticize her. She didn't have to worry about walking properly, eating properly, or anything of the kind. During this time, she felt as if she could soar over the ocean forever.

However, the feeling was not to last, for right then, everything started to happen all at once. Just as Merida and Scathach broke through a thick layer of clouds, they ran into a very peculiar one. Squinting into the depths, Merida saw something huge writhing inside of it. Realizing that she wouldn't be able to dodge in time, Merida braced herself. As they rammed through the cloud, Merida realized that the huge monster that she saw was actually a bunch of little dragons concealed in the cloud. Luckily, since she and her dragon were both blending in with the surroundings, the dragons never spotted them. No sooner did Merida comprehend the first batch of dragons, then a horde of Monstrous Nightmares came barreling past them, nearly knocking Merida off. Glancing toward the island again, she saw huge waves closing in, with huge sea monsters in their midst. Knowing that she would have to get back fast, Merida managed to zoom past the fog and sea dragons with ease. However, there was still the Monstrous Nightmares to reckon with. Nearly neck-and-neck with them, Merida dove down toward the village and landed in the square. Racing toward Stoick's house, which just had to be on top of a hill, Merida frantically banged on the door. After several minutes, a very grumpy-looking Stoick banged the door open.

"What on Midgard is going on here? Merida, what are you doing? Can't you see it's the middle of the night?"

"Stoick, there're dragons coming toward the island. I think there's going to be another attack."

Of course, that roused the chief enough to run out into the square, yelling for everyone to wake up. As Hiccup and Toothless ran out of the house, huge columns of boiling water began to rain down on the village. As one of them splashed into several trees, they melted in a matter of seconds. A panicked scream echoed from the bay as another column of the deadly water sprayed dangerously close to the houses. Running toward the sound, Merida was horrified to see Rapunzel caught under a giant tree branch, which had been melted off of a nearby tree. Before she could race over to help, she was suddenly engulfed by a thick cloud of fog. Spinning around, Merida spotted the tiny dragons she had seen earlier, which were now swarming in around her. Sprinting past them, Merida crashed headlong into Astrid, who had also heard Rapunzel's screams.

"Merida, by Odin's beard, what are you doing out here? You should get inside. This is no job for a starter to dragons. You should get back inside."

"I'm not a kid, you know. I can handle myself."

Not bothering to argue when a dragon attack was occurring, Astrid and Merida raced toward Rapunzel, trying to lift the giant tree branch.

"Look out!" Rapunzel screamed, as another plume of boiling water came cascading toward the island.

Managing to drag Rapunzel out just in time, they all dove toward cover, just barely avoiding being boiled. Before they could catch their breath, the Monstrous Nightmares came soaring down, cloaked in roaring flames, ready to ambush anyone who happened to be in their way. As they crashed into the village, sending several houses aflame, they began to spread their terror to the residents. Gripping her hammer tightly, Astrid charged toward the nearest one, screaming at the top of her lungs to get its attention. As it turned toward the Viking girl, it lost all interest in the two princesses. Knowing that her arrows wouldn't be able to harm the dragon, since it was cloaked in fire, Merida raced toward the spot where she had last left Scathach, darting past great skirmishes between Monstrous Nightmares and Vikings. Sprinting behind a pillar, Merida spotted a slight movement of color against a hut. Before she could react, Merida was suddenly ambushed by a light-blue Nightmare. Just when she thought it was all over, Scathach darted from the side of the hut, spraying the dragon with her deadly acid. Shrieking in pain, the dragon darted into the sky, never to forget Scathach's wrath. Breathing a sigh of relief and thanking her faithful mount, Merida reached into a sewn-in pocket on her dress, pulling out the leather armor, where she had put it when she had went to warn Stoick. Draping it over her shoulders, the Scottish princess crouched on top of her dragon, whispering to her to become invisible. Once that was accomplished, they both began to sneak past the skirmishes of multiple fights toward the path to the arena. Once they had safely passed the worst of the danger, they began to sprint toward the area, quickly realizing that they were beaten to it. During the commotion, Hiccup and the other teens had managed to sneak past it to get their dragons.

"Okay, we're going to have to distract the Scauldrons, since they're doing most of the damage. For that, Astrid and Snotlout will go to the east and south of the island. For the Nightmares, Rapunzel and Jack will make a blockage of trees to distract them for a little while, while Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Belch, and Barf attack them. As for Merida… you and Scathach should sneak toward the Smokebreaths and catch them unawares. Toothless and I will help any Vikings who need immediate help. As for Fishlegs, you can go to the study hall and see what could be causing these attacks. Got it?"

As they all nodded in agreement, they all took to the sky, spreading across the island. While Rapunzel and Jack soared above the trees, they spotted a group of Monstrous Nightmares trailing a Viking woman with two small children. Knowing that she had to do something quickly, Rapunzel soared between the Vikings and the dragons. As Jack spread his wings out, they sliced through the trees, creating a barricade. Roaring in fury, the dragons were caught off guard by Barf and Belch sending a cloud of smoke toward them.

Meanwhile, Astrid and Snotlout began to close in on the giant Scauldrons, which began to spew boiling water at the teens. As they began to fire at the sea monsters, they roared in protest to the searing heat on their skins. After a few volleys, the water beasts finally gave up, diving into the depths of the sea.

Back at the village square, Scathach and Merida were sneaking toward the clump of Smokebreaths, which were now catching other Vikings off guard. Waiting for the right moment, Merida was about to pounce when, all of a sudden, rocks began to fly into the midst of the little demons. Turning their attention to the right, Merida saw that the perpetrators were her brothers, which were defending the village with the help of other daring children. Before the Smokebreaths could react to the odd spectacle, Elinor came rushing in with a frying pan and began to whack them to and fro. As the cloud finally died down, Elinor wiped her brow with satisfaction.

"Well, I never. I guess Rapunzel was right about these things. I'll have to remember to stock these in my room."

Knowing that they didn't need any help, Merida turned to see Stoick and Fergus fighting together against an especially big Nightmare, which was a deep green color. Merida didn't have time to wonder why on earth her father would fight alongside Stoick, because she saw that they were being heavily outnumbered. Charging in unseen, Scathach pounced on the dragon's back, much to its disatisfaction. Before they could react, the dragon knocked Merida and her dragon off of it, sending them crashing into a nearby house, which had become so demolished that it collapsed from the impact. Rubbing her head, Merida, with widened eyes, saw the mighty beast towering over her. Before she could even think, a mighty war cry sounded and Stoick leapt onto its back. Turning its attention away from Merida, Fergus came charging in a few seconds later, latching himself onto its neck. After a few minutes of scuffling, the great beast had finally had enough. As it flew away into the distance, a green cloud rose above the forest, followed by a huge bang as it spontaneously combusted, with the group of Nightmares flying off into the distance roaring in panic.

After the Vikings had taken care of a couple stragglers, they all gathered to the village square for news. As Hiccup landed in the middle, Merida saw burn marks all over his hands and face, with some of his hair also a little burnt.

"Alright everybody, the attack is over. Now all we have to do is find out why they're happening in the first place," Stoick said, who was also looking a bit disheveled from the occurrence.

At that moment, Fishlegs came running down the path from the study hall, puffing all the way down. Finally reaching the square, he began to wave his arms to attract attention.

"I think I may know the problem. C'mon everyone, to the study hall."

OOXO

Well, was that something or what? I'll admit, I have been lacking in putting up chapters recently. But don't worry. This doesn't mean that I'm giving this one up. I'm just in a bit of a writing slump as of late. Anyway, I've been thinking that I need to do another story alongside this one, so you all won't have to wait for me to be done with this story to continue another one. If you happen to have a specific request, as long as it's something that I know, please let me know. I can use all the help I can get with ideas that you would like to read.