GUYS, I MADE IT! I MADE IT! I FREAKING DRAGON SCALES MADE IT! "The Fury of the Night" is not COMPLETED, and we can move up to the next story, which I can promise will be posted SOONER rather than LATER, as you know. ;) No shout-outs this chapter, unfortunately, but I love you all! :D Enjoy chapter 8! The final chapter! :D
"We can't take them all, Hiccup, there's too many of them!" Astrid shouted as she parried with a Berserker and knocked him out with the flat of her axe. "We have to use the backup plan!"
"Agreed!" Hiccup shouted. "Everyone, call your dragons!"
The reaction was instant. Everyone shouted at the top of their lungs for their dragons; Snotlout for Hookfang, Fishlegs for Meatlug, Astrid for Stormfly, and the twins for Barf and Belch. Hiccup had already called Toothless; he was just awaiting the dragon's arrival.
But where was he?
In an instant, Hiccup received his answer. Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug, and Barf and Belch dropped in from the sky, landing atop several Berserkers and knocking them unconscious in the process. The Changewings and Night Terrors also joined the fight, the Changewings hiding out and spitting acid while the Night Terrors fluttered individually around the Berserkers.
Then, Toothless leapt from the shadows, putting himself between Hiccup and Dagur. Dagur, confidence once again wavering, stepped backwards at Toothless' warning growl.
"Nice dragon," said Dagur. "I don't want to hurt you."
Toothless roared at him in fury, teeth unsheathed. Before Dagur could respond, Ember shot down from the sky and landed beside Toothless. After Ember came Ember's mother and father, who dropped in from above, landing on either side of Toothless, eyes narrowed in unmasked rage at Dagur and his Berserkers.
"Oh..." said Dagur, looking from Ember's parents and then back to Ember. "So...not a Night Fury," he said flatly, catching his mistake. "I should look closer next time..."
The four dragons shot simultaneous plasma blasts, and Dagur leapt backwards. Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, and Barf and Belch stood behind Toothless and the other dragons, starring Dagur and his men down.
Dagur faltered.
"RETREAT!" he shouted, turning and charging back towards their ships. "RETREAT, MEN! RETREAT!"
And that was exactly what his men did: they turned tail and ran, back to the sand, back to their ships.
"WE WON!" Snotlout cheered, reaching over to slap Fishlegs on the shoulder. "I told you we would win! Yes! We win! We did it!"
"Yeah!" Tuffnut agreed. "We did it!"
A roar suddenly broke the silence, and it didn't come from one of their dragons. It came from the sky above, and when the others looked, they were just in time to see the outline of a familiar dragon silhouette against the moon before dive-bombing towards them.
"Is that...?" Fishlegs said quietly.
"The Death Song," said Hiccup. "I think it is." He looked ahead: Ember, Toothless, and the other two dragons stared back at him.
Fishlegs suddenly slapped his forehead. "OF COURSE!" he said so suddenly that everyone jumped. "You guys aren't Night Furies!" he said. "You're Arrow Furies! I should have known!"
"Wait a minute," said Snotlout. "What are Arrow Furies?"
"A mixed breed," said Fishlegs. "Bork mentioned them briefly in his notebook! The dragons are a rare breed of Night Fury and Odin's Nightmares, which are extinct. I should have known! Bork said they were mostly black, but with some purple, and that their plasma blasts were more purple than they were pink! And Bork also said..."
Fishlegs suddenly paled.
"Uh oh..."
"WHAT!?" shouted Snotlout furiously. "WE JUST FINISH FIGHTING A WAR AND THERE'S ANOTHER UH OH!?"
"The Arrow Furries are the favored prey of Death Songs," said Fishlegs lowly. "When they came looking for Ember, the Death Song must have followed them here, to the Edge!"
The Death Song above them swooped through the sky, heading straight towards them.
"Defensive formation!" Hiccup shouted, and the riders and dragons instantly did as he had instructed, weapons held out before them, dragons ready to fight.
As the Death Song swooped downwards, the first shot was fired, not by Hookfang, or Stormfly, or any of the other dragons, but by Ember, who was glaring furiously up at the Death Song. The Death Song roared and dove.
"NOW!" Hiccup shouted. "FIRE! Let's run it out of here!"
The dragons instantly fired upwards at the Death Song, not aiming to kill, but aiming to strike fear into the Death Song, in order to scare it into panicked retreat. The Death Song was resilient, and it spun and dove, but a plasma blast from Toothless forced it straight into the other dragons' line of fire. The Death Song was outnumbered.
It should never have come here.
It spread its butterfly-like wings and roared.
Ember and the other two Arrow Furies roared straight back at it and fired three plasma blasts. Each blast hit the Death Song, two on the wings, one on its head, and the Death Song, roaring in panic, spun and soared off, back to its home island, never to bother the Arrow Furies or the dragon riders ever again.
Snotlout swallowed hard. "So..." he said, "now did we win?"
He didn't get his answer for a long while, the other riders too busy staring up at the sky as the Death Song vanished from sight.
Then, finally, Hiccup answered.
"Yes, Snotlout," he said. "I think we won."
...
The riders journeyed back to Arrow's Crevice the next day with Ember and his mother and father. Once the dragons had landed, it was time to say goodbye for the last time.
"So long, Ember," said Tuffnut, patting Ember's head. "I still wish you would have blown Ruffnut up, but it's okay that you didn't. It's hard to do the Thorson Ladder with just one Thorston."
Ember growled at him and nodded firmly. Toothless then stepped forward, and after a moment, Ember pressed his forehead against Toothless', and Toothless pressed his forehead back in silent goodbye. Ember's mother and father bowed respectfully, and Toothless and the other dragons bowed back, equally respectfully.
"The Death Song won't be bothering you guys any more," said Hiccup. "And if it does, you know where to find us."
The three dragons growled back at him in acknowledgment. The older Arrow Furies turned and began walking back towards their cave. Ember remained behind a little longer, pressed his forehead into Hiccup's palm, and then turned and bounded to catch up with his mother and father.
"I think we're done here," said Hiccup finally. "Come on, gang. Let's go home."
…
Later that evening found Toothless sitting in the loft of Hiccup's residence, staring sadly out the window at the dark sky. His ears twitched when Hiccup's uneven footsteps met his ears, and he looked out of the corner of his eye when Hiccup stepped up the last of the stairs and into the room.
"Hey, bud," Hiccup said. "How're you doing?"
Toothless growled and refocused his attention out the window. Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck. What to say...?
"I'm sorry we didn't find another Night Fury, bud," Hiccup finally said. "I know how badly you want to find someone like you...I kind of felt the same way growing up, like an outcast...a round peg in a square hole."
Toothless looked back at him.
"But you know, buddy," Hiccup said, "even though there's still no one exactly like me, I still have friends, family...and, well...maybe someday we will find another Night Fury. Anything's possible."
Toothless still didn't turn, and when he didn't, Hiccup sighed, and he turned his back to head down the stairs again-
Toothless suddenly nudged him from behind so hard Hiccup nearly toppled down the stairs. He, after regaining his balance, turned around; Toothless licked his face, and Hiccup scowled.
"Okay, okay, bud, okay," Hiccup laughed, trying to shove Toothless back. "And until then, you still have me, right?"
Toothless crooned in agreement. Hiccup rested his forehead against Toothless' and shut his eyes.
"Well, thanks, Toothless," Hiccup said. "You'll always be like a brother to me."
Toothless shut his eyes and nodded in a silent way of saying, Right back at you.
…
Dagur stormed into Viggo's conference room, flanked by his Berserkers. Viggo looked up with a start. Decorating the entire side of Dagur's face was a large, black-purple-and-blue bruise, and the scowl Dagur was wearing was even uglier.
"Dagur," said Viggo. "Did everything go as planned?"
"Yeah, it went as planned, alright," grumbled Dagur. "They don't think you're in league with me anymore, and as far as they're concerned, I have no idea where Heather is. They're protecting the Dragon Eye like mad. They won't be leaving Dragon's Edge any time soon."
"Good," said Viggo, putting his hands together. "In that case, Dagur, my friend, would you like me to tell you what I plan next?"
Dagur nodded and waved a hand at his Berserkers; they, along with Viggo's other soldiers, filed out of the room and shut the door behind them.
Viggo leaned forward, and Dagur took up the seat across from him and did the same. "This plan of mine," said Viggo, "involves a certain...prisoner."
Dagur frowned. "If you hurt my sister-" he began threateningly.
"I have no reason to hurt your sister," said Viggo calmly. "However, she is a friend of the dragon riders. She can be useful to us."
"She will never betray Hiccup and the others," Dagur growled. "You know, she's ruining the family name. Berserkers are never noble."
"She will betray Hiccup Haddock if she is bribed," said Viggo.
Dagur turned to look at him.
"Now, Dagur," said Viggo, "before I speak of my plans to you, I must make sure we are on the same page. You must promise, on your life, that you will never breathe a word of this to anyone...even your own men. And I, likewise, will make the same promise."
Dagur smiled. "I promise," he said. "I'll do anything to get rid of Hiccup and his stupid dragon riders."
Viggo smiled darkly. "Then I am proud to say," he said, "that we are indeed on the same page, Dagur the Deranged."
Author's Notes:
So that's the end of it! I know, right? Crazy ending. I'm evil. WHAT IS VIGGO PLANNING AND WHAT DO DAGUR AND HEATHER HAVE TO DO WITH IT!?
Stay tuned, my beautiful readers, for you shall discover these reasons...SOON. Probably not as soon as you would have hoped, but soon enough. ;)
Anyways, until next story, I'm going to leave you all with this little episode to chew on. Let me know what you think of it. :)
Oh, and just so you know, there is no "Arrow Crevice" in canon, nor is there an "Odin's Nightmare" dragon or an "Arrow Fury." These are things I came up with for this particular story. :)
Thanks, everyone! See you soon! :D
Cheers!
-BeyondTheClouds777
