AN: Thank you to my readers for sending me in your suggestions! I have decided that the name I will use will be Magnhild, pronounced MAH-hilt. Because it ticks me off when people pronounce my character names wrong. I was talking with Wildmadcat the other day and she pronounced Idris 'Eye-dirs'. Tell me honestly, how many of you spent twenty chapters of this saga thinking that was how it was said? It's pronunced Id-ris, Id as in idiot. I'm an idiot for not making that clear. But yeah, thanks to alpha darkwolf for the fabulous name! And read on for the climax of Firesoul...

I, like, really don't own HTTYD. If you haven't gotten that by now I'ma hafta kill a b***h.

Chapter Ten

Water Turns to Bone

Astrid kept looking down instinctively. She could see the shadow of the Bewilderbeast under the water. Every now and then it blew little shards of ice to the surface, and the sheildmaiden could hear the bubbling crooning rising out of the violently heaving water. Hiccup was smiling broadly, and Toothless kept making unnecessary loop-de-loops in mid-air. But Astrid knew that smile would fade. She looked down again and then she smiled. With the Stormy Bewilderbeast following him like a baby yak, Hiccup would be fine.

The novelty of approaching Berk from the sky was starting to lose its glamour. It had happened once too many times, and each had been followed with grief. Hiccup must have been thinking the same thing; his eyes were staring straight ahead with a fixed resolve. He raised a hand and signalled them to drop low to the water. A large amount of swearing followed as the inexperienced riders behind them nearly plunged into the water. There was a thick layer of spray rising around them, and Astrid had to admire Hiccup's tactics. This way, it would be harder to spot them approaching. Excellinor would expect them to swoop in from the skies.

"Stay low! Sound your positions!" he hissed. The other men quickly sounded off and Astrid almost laughed at how similar this sounded to that trip the Berkians had taken to the Dragon's Nest after Hiccup had left Berk. But it had been Stoick calling then, from the lead boat.

The sea-spray whipped into her face, stinging her eyes. She had to keep blinking to clear her vision. The wind currents, this close to the water, were treacherous; more than one Viking had to be fished out by his companions when a dead drop unexpectedly sucked him into the swell.

And then they found the glacier. Hiccup suddenly shot skywards; a split-second change in direction, Toothless completely parallel with the glacier. Astrid narrowed her eyes and followed. Termagant had to rescue one of Egbert's men who had flown straight into the glacier like an idiot. When they finally cleared the top of the glacier, the shouting began almost immediately.

"They're back!"

"Get the witch!"

"Arm yourselves!"

Hiccup grinned. The panic had been his plan.

"DRAGON RIDERS! ATTACK!" he bellowed.

And all Hel broke loose. Dragons swooped in every direction; villagers let out whoops of joy and snatched up weapons. Hiccup and Astrid rocketed towards the cove; within moments the trapped dragons had been freed. Cloudjumper roared in triumph and threw himself skywards. Grump spat a blob of lava and buzzed after him. And the last dragon…

"I'm sorry, Skullcrusher." Hiccup said quietly. "It's my fault."

The dragon didn't even seem to deny it. He just bowed his great head to Hiccup and flew away. Hiccup climbed back into his saddle.

"We need to find Excellinor. The others will take care of her men."

o~0~O~0~o

It didn't take much to find Excellinor. Typically, she was the one crouched on a clifftop, shooting arrows in every direction. She didn't seem to care who she hit; not even her own men were spared. They landed on the clifftop behind her, and she only half turned around before Hiccup reached her and planted his one good boot on her face. There was a crack as her bow snapped cleanly in half against the ground.

"Give it up, Excellinor!" Hiccup snarled, drawing Inferno. Excellinor spat and threw away the broken weapon.

"You… are so difficult to kill, you know that?" she hissed angrily, standing up and nursing her apparently broken nose.

"One of my better traits." Hiccup responded. Toothless let out a rumbling growl, and Astrid flipped her axe in her hand. "You should know that you're not the first person who's tried to kill me. And he did not come out on top."

Excellinor sneered.

"You couldn't kill a Terror," she snarled.

"Quite right." Hiccup said lightly. "You, however, I'm pretty sure I could manage."

And there it was; that vengeful wolf stare. Astrid had the sudden feeling that Fenrir himself was the one guiding Hiccup. And it was her hand in the wolf's mouth. She had to pray that he wouldn't bite down.

Astrid heard footsteps and turned. Behind them a figure was approaching. Valka. She was wearing her dragon helmet, the one that still chilled Astrid whenever she saw it, although Valka clearly hadn't had time to don her armour. The rider had her staff in hand, and she held out an object to her son. Hiccup's dragon mask. The thing had sat in the corner of his room for years, gathering dust, abandoned in favour of the less frightening one he now used. But he let the new mask fall and took the old one. He looked at Excellinor and tied it on with a single deft movement.

Astrid knew the difference. He wore the new mask as the Nightstalker, the pride of Berk. There were names all over the archipelago for the man in the dragon mask; most born from fear and hatred. The Vigilante, the Dragon King, the Clawed One. Valka stepped forwards, and Excellinor had the look of a cornered animal.

"Coward! Fight me one on one, like a real Viking!" she screeched.

Hiccup laughed coldly, green eyes glittering behind the eye slits like… like a dragon's.

"Like you fought my village? Like you shot my people while hiding up here? Like you attacked me and left me on a boat in the Winter Wind? If that's your definition of Viking, then I've been right all along. I'm no Viking."

Excellinor suddenly lashed out. Before Astrid could blink, the witch had somehow grabbed the end of Valka's staff, torn it from her grip, hooked the end around the woman's throat and torn her forwards, one of the arrows in her fist pressing against the yellow fabric of Valka's shirt. She tore off the blue helmet and threw it over the cliff.

"You don't value your honour as a Viking, then. How about your mother? Should she join the others of your dragon-riding friends?"

Hiccup yelped. "What?"

Valka was the one who spoke, her voice gravelly and grave.

"Idris. And… and Snorri. She killed them both. Fiske… he's not doing so well."

It was then Astrid saw the thin trail of tears leaking out of the woman's eyes.

"That's right!" Excellinor sneered, having found her leverage. She threw the staff towards and Hiccup instinctively grabbed it. He took a few steps backward, to the edge of the cliff that protruded over the ocean. He held the staff in two hands, extinguishing Inferno and letting it drop. "Now, if you'll surrender, I'll leave your mother alive. I might even leave your island, provided you leave me with the Night Fury Alpha."

Excellinor was grinning, like she knew she'd already won.

Hiccup suddenly lifted the staff and slammed it against the rock. The noise it made was shockingly loud, a clacking rattle, and Astrid flinched.

"Over my dead body," he snarled, before spreading his arms and leaning backwards off the cliff.

"Hiccup!" yelped Valka, before letting out a pained whimper. The arrow was cutting into her skin; Excellinor's grip had tightened in surprise.

Toothless wasn't even whining in horror. He looked perfectly calm, like… like it was part of the plan. Astrid stumbled to the edge of the cliff and looked over in panic.

Hiccup had flipped mid air, his hands wrapped tightly around the staff. He hadn't even opened his flight suit. He was still heading downwards, towards the ocean, which was bubbling and frothing…

And then a shape broke the surface, propelled upwards with a shocking force, high enough for Hiccup lash out with the staff and catch one of the tusks and stop with a jolt, high enough to clear the clifftop. Valka drew in her breath as climbed up the staff and onto the tusk, holding the length of wood high. The Bewilderbeast landed heavily on the cliff, staggering slightly. Its legs were clearly not designed to land from a jump. It probably wasn't meant to jump at all. Hiccup rotated his shoulder, grimacing, before leaping neatly off the tusk to land on the clifftop. Valka's eyes were alight with joy, despite the fact her body was rigid with apprehension, the arrow still pressed into her back.

"Is that a…" Excellinor was speechless.

"This is the Stormy Bewilderbeast. He'd shake hands, but…"

Astrid snorted. Humorous to the last.

"No… no… it was dead! Your Bewilderbeast was dead!" Excellinor yelped, eyes wide. The Stormy Bewilderbeast cooed happily and spat something onto the ground. Valka's helmet. It was covered in dragon spit, which Astrid thought was disgusting but Valka apparently saw as a great honour, because she made a noise of awe and appreciation.

"Here's a clue; dragons lay eggs. That's why the King always sat in the same spot. His egg was there."

Astrid suddenly knew what was going to happen before it did. Excellinor spat in fury and a slight tone of suppressed fear, her arm twisted savagely, and Valka cried out in pain. The rider was thrown roughly to the side, Excellinor's arrow protruding through the left side of her midriff, groaning in pain. Astrid ran over and dropped to the woman's side. Dark blood was blossoming across the yellow cloth. Hiccup let out a feral animal roar of rage, slightly muffled beneath his mask, and leaped down from the Stormy Bewilderbeast's head, staff held behind him threateningly. The Bewilderbeast let out a torrent of ice, sealing the battlefield in. Hiccup swung the staff at Excellinor, who realised a moment too late that she had just left her only weapon embedded in Valka's stomach. The staff connected with a sickening thud sound, and the spikes around the outside came away wet with blood. Excellinor grabbed her arm, where the puncture marks were dripping. She tried desperately to parry a second swing; there was a snap, a howl and her wrist was hanging at the wrong angle. A third swing connected sharply with her leg, and the witch staggered backwards desperately, shrieking. A small, bright yellow dragon zoomed to her side, but the Stormy Bewilderbeast lifted a foot and crushed it savagely to the ground. Excellinor backed away further, the cliff approaching. The Bewilderbeast let loose a jet of ice, but Excellinor ducked frantically. Hiccup stepped forwards, eyes cold.

"Get off my island," he said, and swung the staff once more.

The Stormy Bewilderbeast's roar was so ear-splittingly loud that not a single person on Berk could hear Excellinor's scream as she plummeted to the ocean below.