Terror gripped my mind as the Speed Stinger pulled back its upper lips and snarled. Droplets of saliva rained from its mouth. It showed off its teeth, making sure I knew just how dangerous and angry it was. Every second or two, the dragon popped its jaws together with a hollow snapping sound, throwing out a brief spray of saliva. The dragon roared at me from within the house, the sound reverberating.
I was shivering in both fright and cold, unable to move anything, including my eyes.
The Speed Stinger took a small step in my direction. Somehow, the movement brought me just barely back to my senses. The dragon was slowly closing the distance between us, and I knew exactly why it was intimidating me.
This dragon had claimed its territory, and I was intruding on it.
Without looking, I pulled the knife out from my belt. The dragon reacted slightly as its eyes moved from my own down to my left side, where I had the knife pointing at its chest. After a split-second, the Speed Stinger locked eyes with me again. My heart was pounding and sweat was running down my chest and back. I tried to gulp when the dragon took another step toward me, but my mouth was completely dry.
The dragon intensified its snarl at me, telling me to leave it alone.
No, I thought.
Some misplaced sense of protectiveness surged within me. Stormfly, my dad, and Thornado were in my house, seemingly unmindful of the Speed Stinger a couple feet away. This dragon had already done its work on them. They were completely unable to defend themselves. Astrid was nowhere to be seen, and Toothless was behind me. He hadn't come to my rescue yet, which probably meant he was too exhausted to stand or do anything else for that matter.
I flexed my knees slightly, ready to fight. The Speed Stinger roared again, nearly deafening me with its shrill cry.
I winced slightly, unable to hide it, but I stayed my ground. Through some convoluted plan, I was going to get the Speed Stinger out of the house, get Toothless inside, and latch the door behind us.
I took a slow step backward, hoping to keep this staring contest going. The dragon took a step forward. I stepped backward with my right foot and nearly tripped over a small snow drift.
I looked down to check my balance just as the Speed Stinger roared again from inside. My eyes went wide, and I snapped my gaze back up as the dragon started barreling forward. My concentration was broken by that little snow drift, and now I was about to become the next victim of paralysis in Berk.
The Speed Stinger was maybe five feet away from me when it lunged forward without turning. It jumped with its right foot pointing at my chest, like it was going to eviscerate me with its claws.
Instinctively, I brought my left hand up. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away as the business end of the knife bit into the Speed Stinger's foot. The dragon continued its lunge forward, inadvertently stabbing itself.
I was knocked backwards by the force of the Speed Stinger clobbering me with its full body weight. In sheer panic, I didn't realize for a second or two that my knife had been driven to the hilt in the dragon's right foot.
As my vision cleared, I began looking for the knife and found it in a pool of dragon's blood. The Speed Stinger had collapsed on its side, a large gash torn open from the center of its right foot all the way to the outside. Blood was gushing onto the snow, making a stark contrast between red and white.
I scrambled to a crawling position and picked up the knife just as the dragon roared again, although this time it seemed like its tone was a mix of pain and anger.
I stood and turned to face the Speed Stinger, noticing it was about ten feet away from Toothless' head. It had found its footing, although the dragon was favoring its left side.
Panting, I lunged my way between the two dragons. The Speed Stinger roared again and whipped its body sideways, its tail striking the snow where my right foot was an instant ago. I stayed between Toothless and the Speed Stinger, trying to keep its attention on me.
I swiped the knife at the air in front of the Speed Stinger with a sharp yell, hoping to catch its attention. Its tail lashed forward, burying the tip in the snow between my feet. I quickly swiped backward, the jarring blow thrumming up through my left hand as the knife's blade dragged across the dragon's tail. The Speed Stinger screamed in panic as it yanked its tail away.
My mind just slightly cleared itself as I realized the Speed Stinger would be limited in movement toward its right side. Using my peg to push off the snow, I leaped to my right, toward the dragon's good leg.
I had revealed a motionless Toothless, but it didn't matter. The Speed Stinger's focus was entirely centered on me.
As I had thought, it awkwardly pushed toward me using its right foot, which sank into the snow. The Speed Stinger stumbled to its left as I realized it probably wasn't going to die because of its foot or tail. The snow was going to help the blood clot. And it wouldn't be long before the dragon calmed down just enough to finish both Toothless and me off.
I jumped toward the dragon with another yell, my knife already underneath its chin, pointing to my right. I brought the knife upward and slashed to my left. The blade sagged a little as it bit into the dragon's throat. Several more drops of red patterned the snow below it as the dragon screamed again in panic.
But the dragon didn't stop.
The dragon's tail whipped around its body, gashing through the yak skin coat I was wearing. Somehow, the barbed tip missed my skin. But even more miraculously, its tail got caught in my right sleeve. I wrapped my forearm and hand around the dragon's tail, securing a strong point of contact. I had control of the dragon, even if it was just for a little bit.
I took a large step to my left and lunged with a guttural yell, whirling around, using my shoulders and hips to throw the dragon off balance. It shrieked and thrashed as I forced it to turn slightly, bumping its tail against my arm several times but not gaining any purchase.
I saw its throat again and noticed I had barely caused any bleeding. I was ready to throw up, thanks to being squeamish about the sight of blood, but I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind.
Without thinking, I brought the knife back up and slashed to my right, hoping this time would be enough. Once again, the dragon screamed and thrashed, spraying a few droplets blood on the snow in front of us. I followed its powerful movements, making sure not to be thrown off balance.
But the dragon didn't stop.
The Speed Stinger roared in anger as it kicked wildly at the air. I felt a tug on my right side as one of its claws ripped a hole in the yakskin coat I was wearing. A loud tearing sound met my ears as its foot came back down, and a blast of cold air hit my right flank. I jumped to my left with a grunt, trying to avoid being gashed open by the dragon's claws.
I turned again, pulling the dragon with me using its tail. The Speed Stinger fought against me, trying to escape with its haphazard movements.
After a few seconds of the dragon thrashing, a violent snap coursed up through my right hand and arm. The Speed Stinger screeched in abject pain as I realized it had either broken or dislocated its tail from being caught in my sleeve. I yanked on its tail again, sending a wave of agony through the Speed Stinger. Underneath the dragon's skin, its tail bones slid in my hand unnaturally.
I lunged forward for a third time and swiped the knife across the dragon's throat with a loud grunt, trying to dig as deeply as I could, but got nothing except for another shriek and a few more drops of blood on the snow.
The dragon's movements had slowed considerably, leaving its bleeding throat open for more time. My eyes locked on it, watching blood pulse out of the open wounds and run down the dragon's chest.
"Oh, gods," I mumbled.
Those thoughts about blood came back, this time not to be denied.
In a last-ditch attempt to finish this, I stepped toward the dragon again, this time stabbing upward through its neck with every bit of strength I had. The knife hesitated just briefly before breaking through its throat and spilling an obscene amount of steaming crimson onto my left hand, front, and the snow in between us. The blade tilted to my right as it raked against the dragon's neck bones.
The dragon opened its mouth wide in shock. It gurgled in frozen agony for a few seconds, blood dripping from its mouth onto my left arm, before it slowly collapsed on the red snow. I fell with the dragon, my hands unable to let go of the knife and its tail.
After several seconds, I finally peeled my right hand off the Speed Stinger's tail, and it slid out from my sleeve and flopped at a disturbing angle compared to the rest of the dragon's body. The dragon twitched a few times and was still after that, its eyes open but glassy.
I haltingly let go of the knife, crawling away from the Speed Stinger and Toothless. My loud, gasping breaths could have probably been heard throughout the village. After about ten feet, I stopped crawling and threw up, the horrible taste burning my throat as much as the snow was burning my hands. Tears came out of my eyes as I tried to make the sickening flow stop. But it all came back up, and I collapsed onto my side, panting in exhaustion.
I curled into a ball and shivered, horrified at what I had just done.
I killed a dragon.
I groaned in agony, wishing all of this was simply a bad dream. I just wanted to wake up to find Toothless next to me, making sure I was safe.
I killed a dragon.
Those four words kept repeating themselves in my head, becoming louder every time I thought about it.
I killed a dragon.
The world around me soon blurred completely out of focus.
