Jarle did not disappoint.
Not many minutes passed between the first shots fired at the small village and his appearance. Just as Hiccup warned them, he rode a Whispering Death. Astrid wasn't sure how he managed with all of those spines. Two other dragons came with him. A Nightmare and a Snafflefang.
Stormfly didn't need much prompting to engage Jarle's dragon. All the spikes made getting a good grip hard, but Stormfly was a fast dragon, so darting in and raking with her claws or teeth wasn't too hard.
"Where's my son?" Astrid yelled at Jarle's snarling face.
"Safe enough." The man leered at her. "And where's you other half? Or was he too busy guarding his precious dragons to come after the boy?"
"Reinforcements," Astrid ground out, even as she said she saw a dark shadow hurtling towards them. There was a whistling sound and then Jarle and his dragon were ripped away from her. In the dark, it looked like the Whispering Death was fighting a wraith. Toothless disengaged, circling back up to Astrid as the twins came through.
"Where is he?" she called as Hiccup pulled even with her.
"That is a very good question," he said.
"I thought you said you knew where he'd be?" Astrid didn't mean for it to sound like an accusation, but worry pinched her voice.
"He was there," Hiccup said. "Just not when I got there. Seems you've raised quite the little jailbird." His mouth twitched into a smile.
"Are you surprised?"
"Nope."
"What do we do now," she asked.
She could see the Whispering Death fighting off the Zippleback. In a moment, he'd be free again.
"We be careful and we keep Jarle busy," Hiccup said. "I'll help pass the word around. Hopefully, we can buy me enough time to search for him, but keep your eyes open, Astrid."
"Always."
Hiccup and Toothless flew off, melding with the blackness. All but that tail. She watched the faded speck of red until it disappeared around a building.
"Running away again, is he?" Jarle shouted as he rose in front of her again.
Astrid didn't reply, instead, she gave Stormfly a nudge and they dove at the Berserker and his dragon. Stormfly snapped at it, pulling back as it twisted and a big spike nearly took out Astrid's eye. She felt the stinging prick as it scratched across her cheek .
She'd had worse.
"Mom!"
Astrid froze. Stormfly twisted and swooped, barely escaping the rows of razor sharp teeth hurtling towards them. Disoriented, Astrid tried to locate the voice's location. She nearly called out for Stoick, but she didn't know if Jarle had heard. Better if he hadn't.
"Up, Stormfly," she said.
There. On the roof.
Of course. The buildings here were so close, moving from roof to roof would be easy. How many times had she searched all of Berk from him, only find him sitting on top of someone's house? Often enough that Gobber spoke of building bridges between buildings. This place was a playground for Stoick.
Astrid was raising her hand, ready to signal "Stay there," when she heard Jarle called out, "Get him."
The rider on the Deadly Nightmare headed for her son. Stoick, yelped and scrambled over the other side of the roof.
"Go!"
Stormfly sped towards the building. They halved the distance, but the other dragon was going to get there first. Stormfly was still too far away when the Nightmare bobbed and came back up with Stoick clutched in his claws. The boy kicked and twisted. Astrid's heart lurched. Jarle didn't get to take her son away again.
Stormfly screamed.
Jarle and his Whispering Death lashed at her again, nearly taking Astrid out at the same time. Astrid clutched Stormfly's neck as the dragon rolling, striking out with her powerful claws. The dragons wrestled and Astrid's fingers slipped. I really miss my saddle, Astrid thought as she slipped from Stormfly. Her dragon twisted again, still trying to snap at Jarle's dragon as she reached for her rider. Astrid grabbed the huge claw, letting go as they half flew, half crashed over a roof. She hit the roof running, immediately orienting herself to where she'd last seen her son and the Nightmare.
There.
But where was…
Something large and black swooped in, knocking the Nightmare to the side. The enemy rider lurched as Toothless knocked him out of the way. The Nightmare twisted its sinuous neck, biting at Toothless. The little black dragon was starting to glow. In the blue light coming from Toothless' scales, Astrid could see Hiccup, slide first from Toothless and then underneath the Nightmare.
She could hear him shouting something to the boy, but the words were lost beneath the sound of dragons fighting.
"Astrid!" Eret flew in, holding out his hand.
Astrid took it, swinging on to Skullcrusher. Her eyes never left Stoick and Hiccup. Her husband had one arm wrapped around the Nightmare's leg, a knife gleamed in one hand. She thought she heard him shout, "Ready!" The knife flashed and the dragon screamed, letting Stoick go. He and Stoick dropped to the roof below. They hit hard, Hiccup curled around the boy as they rolled. Above them, Toothless and the enemy Nightmare still grappled.
Hiccup and Stoick disappeared over the side of the roof.
"We need—"
Eret was already on it. Skullcrusher hit Jarle and his dragon like a battering ram, giant horn catching the Whispering Death and yanking him away from Stormfly. The dragon was bleeding from a dozen places, but they all look superficial. Astrid leapt, holding tight as Stormfly veered towards Hiccup and Stoick's last whereabouts.
It was a town square of sorts, if Stormfly could get in there, they might have an opening.
Stormfly swerved trying to avoid Toothless and his foe. The Night Fury screamed, blasting his opponent. The blast was a little off, but the Nightmare broke away. It tried to twist around Toothless, but the black dragon was there, grappling with it again.
She could see them now, pressed to the wall of a building at the edge of the town square. Hiccup met her eyes. Leaning down, he whispered in Stoick's ear. The boys eyes lit up as she and Stormfly flew in. If she could just get close enough.
Stoick wrenched away from his father, covering several feet before Hiccup sprang into action.
The Snafflefang and its rider appeared then, a path of fire blasting between father and son. Both Hiccup and Stoick had to jump back to avoid being burned, the gap between them widened.
"Stay there," Hiccup shouted at Stoick.
The Snafflefang didn't provide much competition for Stormfly. The Nadder rammed into the dragon, her head spikes digging into its side. The dragon let out a scream of pain, then collapsed to the ground. Stormfly grabbed its screaming rider by the back of his shirt and tossed him onto a nearby roof.
"Go," Hiccup shouted at Stoick, gesturing to Astrid.
Astrid saw it come too late. She heard the screaming noise behind her. She felt the heat of the Nightmare's wings as it passed above her. Hiccup's eyes widened and he jumped into a run, reaching the boy as the enemy dragon crashed into the building that had been their shelter just moments ago. He grabbed Stoick, pushing him to the ground, covering him as the building exploded from the impact. Debris rained down on them.
Toothless landed next to the pile of wood, flames bursting from its center, where one of the Nightmare's wings lay limply.
"No!" Astrid scrambled down from Stormfly as Toothless took one of the great beams in his mouth and pulled it aside. She could just see Hiccup's shoulder. It moved, his body rising and then falling as Stoick crawled from beneath his father.
"Dad!" the boy cried. "Dad. We gotta go." He shook his father's shoulder. Toothless pulled another wooden beam off of Hiccup as Astrid fell to her knees next to them. Stoick turned to her with a tear-streaked face. "Mom, he won't wake up."
Astrid took a deep breath. Grabbing her son, she hauled him away from the burning pile of rubble. Above them, she could still hear fighting. The Nightmare's wing twitched.
"Toothless," she said. "Please."
The black dragon looked between the boy and his rider.
"Get him out of here," she said.
Letting out a warbling croon, Toothless came up to her son, crouching down next to him.
"Mom?"
"Go, baby," Astrid said. "I'll take care of your dad."
"But, Mom…"
"I'll be there soon, okay? Stay with Toothless until then. He'll make sure your safe."
Impatiently, the black dragon nudged the boy, guiding him, pushing at him until Stoick climbed on his back. He spread his wings and took off as Astrid turned back to the pile of rubble and knelt next to Hiccup.
"Hiccup," she said. "Please."
There were splinters and ash in his hair. A long cut above his eyebrow bled profusely. She patted him down quickly, looking for broken bones, before she dragged him from the rubble. Hiccup didn't move. Jarle roared something as Skullcrusher slammed into his dragon once again. She grabbed Hiccup's hand, pressing a kiss to it before leaning down and pressing her ear to his chest.
And she waited.
Thump.
Astrid bit back a sob. His heart was still beating. The leather of his flight suit scraped against the cut on her cheek as he breathed.
"Stormfly," she called. The dragon was already there. She swung onto her dragon, before instructing, "Gently." The Nadder took off, hovering for a few seconds as she carefully lifted Hiccup in her claws.
As they rose, she met Eret's eyes. He looked at Hiccup and then to her again, a silent question on his face. She shook her head and saw him relax. Then he called out to the twins.
Astrid flew off, knowing that her friends would follow shortly.
Aaaaaaand, I'll just go sit in the dungeon while I work on the next chapter. Hopefully, it won't take me so long...
Don't forget, I love reviews. (Bonus: Drop me a note telling me what witty thing Hiccup whispered in Stoick's ear when he saw Astrid.)