Dragon's Hope, Part 2

Chapter 11:

Storms and Lightning

-o0o-

The moon glinted in between the trees, pale and ominous, as Astrid ran through the forest. The sun had just recently set, and an assortment of colors rippled across the sky, only interrupted by a clump of black clouds off in the distance. Trees with gnarled limbs and tough shrubbery surrounded her on all four sides, but the only thing she was looking at was the dark form in front of her.

It had taken them some time and several disagreements, but they had finally agreed to allow the dragon out of its cage, figuring it was the best way to find Hiccup and the other dragon defenders so their group could bring an end to this deadly parade. Astrid still remembered the feel of the cold keys as the lock clicked, and the ominous creek of the metal door. As soon as the cage was opened, the dragon had burst forth, paused to sniff the air, then took off into the forest.

Everyone had uncoiled then – stunned that the dragon hadn't tried to attack them – and, after retrieving their weapons, began to follow. Astrid had been sure that they would lose the beast, but, strangely enough, it didn't seem to want to lose them. The dragon shot through the forest like a black-tipped arrow, yet Astrid knew that if it wanted, it could have gone much faster. Even after they had stopped to find something to eat and get a few hours' sleep, the dragon had been waiting for them when they awoke, looking impatient.

It did not look impatient! She corrected herself. Dragons can't make expressions! It must have been my imagination.

Rounding a corner, Astrid came to a halt, heaving. The dragon had stopped on the path (if you could call it a path) as its head swiveled to and fro, probably trying to catch a sent. Its sharp green eyes scanned the forest, brushing over Astrid with barely concealed distaste.

Still out of breath, Astrid collapsed onto a fallen tree. Every so often the dragon would stop and sniff the air to regain the sent, so she knew it might be the only opportunity to catch her breath for a while.

"Hey Astrid!" Snotlout called pitifully, rounding the corner after her. "Wait uuuuup!"

Stopping at the sight of Astrid taking a break, the stout viking set his hands on his knees and heaved. Ruffnut and Tuffnut followed after him, sweat dripping from their foreheads.

"Is it even possible for that Dragon to slow down?" Ruffnut huffed, plopping down next to Astrid.

She shrugged. "Guess not."

After about a minute, Fishlegs appear from around the bend, but instead of trying to rest like the others, he opted to collapse face-first into the dirt. "'M ok," he gasped in a way that made him sound like he was dying, hand lifting two inches off the ground before flopping back down.

Glancing up at the moon, Astrid wondered for the hundredth time where the dragon-defenders could have gone, along with Hiccup. His face, covered in shadow flashed through her head, along with his angry voice.

"Unless you want to have your throats slit like livestock, then I suggest you cooperate with me so we can all get out of here alive and in one piece!"

Of course, it hadn't been Astrid's fault that he had gotten caught, but he had gotten caught trying to help them escape. Then again, it had been partially his fault they'd been captured in the first place…

Grah! Astrid clutched her head, feeling exasperated. Well, we're not searching for the dragon-defenders for him anyway, she reminded herself. All we're doing is putting a stop to this group for Drago, and if Hiccups' still alive when we kick their butts, then good for him.

"How long are we going to do this?" groaned Snotlout, not speaking to anyone in particular. "We've been running around this mountain all day, and we still haven't found those lowlifes! Can't that dragon smell them, or is it just stupid?"

Astrid looked up at the reptile in question. Its nose was stuck in the dirt as it breathed in the scents of the forest, shuffling across the ground. Astrid moved her foot out of the way as it crawled past, the dragon so focused on its task of picking up Hiccup's sent that it didn't even notice her. "Don't know." she shrugged. "Maybe they know how to cover up their sent, or maybe we're just upwind from them." As if to emphasize her point, the dragon raised his head and pounded one of its black paws on the ground, huffing. Tuffnut, the closest of their group to the reptile, inched away.

A cold wind blew past, and Astrid shivered. It had been a long day of running and walking, and all she wanted to do was curl into a ball and sleep. Plus it looked like it was going to rain, and Astrid didn't want to be caught on a mountaintop somewhere in the middle of a storm. However, just as she was about to suggest that they make camp for the night, the dragon froze.

Its eyes were wide as it looked past Astrid's shoulder, and its ears swiveled back and forth as if it was trying to pick up a sound.

Astrid elbowed Ruffnut, who had her eyes closed, and pointed at the dragon.

"What's it doing?" the female twin asked, but Astrid didn't have an answer.

Then, as if by a silent signal, the dragon unfurled its wings and leapt clear over their heads, into the thick shrubbery behind them. Instantly the group was on their feet, even Fishlegs, and they were racing after the black beast.

This time the dragon didn't allow them to keep up, disappearing into the shadows faster than they could think, and the vikings were forced to follows its trial as best they could. However, it only took them a minute to reach their destination.

The dragon was standing on the edge of a steep hill, nearly a cliff, looking down on a large valley of sorts where the dragon-defender's camp newly-erected resided. To the right stretched a huge river, ending in a waterfall almost ten times the size as the one she had been captured at. This mountain must have gotten a lot of rain if it could support a river that big.

However, the thing that caught Astrid's attention wasn't the waterfall, but what was over the waterfall.

It appeared to be a platform made from wood and stone, with a base on either side of the river to support it. The landing of the platform dangled over the huge drop, as if daring someone to step on it and send it tumbling into the depths at the bottom of the great falls.

We must have gone way more to the left than necessary to ovoid a drop that big, and the wind must have hidden the sound of the water, Astrid thought, awed at the sheer size of the monster force of nature. It was easily the largest waterfall she had ever seen.

Looking closer, Astrid noticed a small procession of people standing by one of the platform's bases, holding torches in the disappearing light. There were also torches on the landing of the platform, along with two familiar figures.

"Hiccup!" she gasped.

"Where?" asked Fishlegs, and Astrid pointed. The boy was on his knees, Shank standing over him, and they appeared to be conversing. Another man Astrid didn't know stood off to the side.

In the few seconds they stood watching the figures on the platform, the wind had picked up, and now it whipped around the vikings faces. The dark clouds on the horizon were suddenly a lot closer than they should have been.

A feeling of déjà vu overcame Astrid and dropped to the pit of her stomach like a plate of rotten fish. She didn't know how, but somehow the atmosphere reminded her of that time she had stumbled into the mysterious cave last fall. She had forgotten about that incident, almost believing it to be nothing more than a bad dream, and she found herself swallowing back nausea. It was if something large and powerful was waiting – was breathing…

…In and out…

…In and out…

…In…and out…

The dragon next to her growled, low and sinister, and Astrid nearly jumped out of her skin. Looking down at the platform, she saw that Hiccup was now laying on his stomach, his face dangling over open air, and Shank was reaching into his own clothes…

The dragon next to her unfurled its wings and began to fill its massive lungs in preparation to let lose a blast of fire.

"NO!" Astrid yelled, launching herself at the dragon just as it leapt off the edge of the cliff.

Too late, the blast of plasma flew from the dragon mouth, but Astrid couldn't tell if it had hit the platform or not. She was too busy screaming, crawling desperately at the base of the dragon's tail and hind legs, trying frenziedly not to fall off and go careening into the night. It was flying through the air so fast, her fingers just couldn't hang on…

Suddenly, the dragon angled upward, and Astrid just couldn't maintain her grip on the rough scales. She slipped, and a scream tore from her lips as she felt herself begin to free-fall; a horrible, empty feeling snatched her insides.

Her drop didn't last long, however, for as soon as she let go, the dragon did a complete loop though the air, catching her just as she was about to fall past. Astrid's scream was cut off abruptly as she landed on the back of the dark reptile, and she wrapped her arms around its neck, eager not to slip a second time.

As the dragon looped back around toward the waterfall, Astrid tried to see what had happened to the platform. It appeared as though the dragon's plasma blast had missed the landing thanks to Astrid, but it had still hit the platform's base on the far side of the river. Now the half-wood half-stone construct was on fire and hanging over the edge of the waterfall by a single base, and Astrid know it wouldn't hold for long.

"THERE!" shouted Astrid, pointing even though she knew the dragon probably couldn't understand her. Hiccup was miraculously still alive, hanging from the side of the leaning platform and trying to hook a foot around a broken beam so that he could climb back up. There was no sign of Shank or his bodyguard.

The dragon beneath Astrid made a screech from deep within its chest, and, as Astrid watched, Hiccup turned and stretched out a hand just in time for the dragon to snatch him away from the flaming platform. Astrid turned her head and watched as the now flaming pile of broken wood and stone crumbled and fell into the darkness below.

As the dragon landed jerkily just passed the dragon-defender's camp, Astrid rolled off the beast and onto the hard mountain earth. Back at the camp, people were yelling and running about frantically, but Astrid couldn't think about them at the moment. Stumbling away from their landing sight, she collapsed onto her hands and knees. She tried hard not to throw up, but ultimately failed. She was so tired, worn, stressed, and just wanted this insane adventure to end.

Gasping and whipping her mouth, Astrid held her head in her hands until she heard Hiccup speak up behind her.

"What..?" He sounded shaken and more uncertain than ever before, as if he was just coming out of a trance. "…What happened?"

Astrid almost slapped him. "WHAT HAPPENED?!" she yelled as loud as she could with her cracked throat. "You want to know what happened?! Your dragon's freakin' STUPID, that's what happened!"

He frowned at her outburst. "Because he tried to blow up the altar? He wouldn't have hit me, if that's what you're worried about. At least, I don't think so…"

"That's all you have to say?! I just…just…"

Astrid doubled over again as another wave of nausea hit her, appalled at what she had done, at the thought that a dragon had actually rescued her.

When she was sure she wouldn't throw up again, Astrid looked up to find Hiccup standing next to her, facing the camp with a pained look on his face. "I'm…I'm sorry," he said. His voice was just as cracked as hers. "You shouldn't have had to rescue me. You shouldn't have had to ride Toothless. So…I'm sorry."

Astrid studied his face for several seconds, wondering if he was sorry for what she had to do, or sorry that a viking actually touched his precious dragon. Finally, she pushed herself into a standing position. "Fine, whatever. Let's just go before my friends…"

The sound of Snotlout's battle-cry rang out over the howling wind, and Astrid sighed.

"…Decide to start fighting without us."

Hiccups paled. "You mean…you guys plan on defeating them? All of them?"

"…Yes," Astrid said slowly, eyeing him. "We're vikings, and we work under Drago. They're dragon-defenders. It's kinda what we do."

"Oh, Thor."

Stumbling unsteadily over to his dragon, Hiccup put a palm flat on the dark animal's snout. With his other hand, he pointed toward the sound of fighting. "Go help!" he said forcefully, pushing his palm down with each word for emphasis. The dragon stared him for several moments with its uncanny green eyes, as if it wasn't happy with Hiccup's order, before snorting and taking off in the direction of the battle.

Hiccup then began to sprint after the dragon, running forward as if he could see where he was going. Idiot's going to trip and kill himself! Astrid thought.

"What's wrong?" she asked, following after him.

"There's something you guys don't know!" he called back to her. "This storm isn't natural! Its-"

Something moved just passed Astrid's vision, right before a shadow sprung from the edge of the camp and slammed into Hiccup, sending the blind boy flying into her.

Astrid was sent tumbling, but was just able to avoid hitting her head on the hard mountain earth. However, her elbows and knees weren't so lucky. Her axe had also gotten tangled in the fall, flying from her belt and leaving a long gash on her right forearm. Hissing in pain, Astrid looked up to see what had attacked them.

"Brat!"

Standing over the two fallen individuals, stood a hulking mountain of a man. Flames from the battle behind him lit up his visage, casting his face in shadow and making him appear all the more sinister. In his hands he held a giant hammer the size of Astrid's head, and he didn't look happy.

Setting his hammer on the ground with an intimidating thump, the man cracked his knuckles. "You're gunna pay for all the trouble you've caused us, little runt!" he said in a booming voice so loud it raddled Astrid's bones.

Shaking off the effects of his fall, Hiccup got back on his feet and faced the man. "Dirk," he said between his teeth. Then, in a quieter voice, "I wish people would stop calling me little runt. I'm getting really sick of it."

Astrid blinked, remembering the man as the person who had hauled Hiccup out of the dragon prison yesterday. He looked like one hell of a fighter. "Hiccup, I don't think…"

"It's alright Astrid," he said. "This is something I need to do."

"And what are you going to do, boy?" Dirk taunted. "What can you do without that sorry lizard you call a dragon?"

Hiccup grit his teeth, but he didn't retaliate. "You can't keep doing this, Dirk. If you and Shank continue on like this, thousands of innocent people are going to die. You'd be no better than Drago himself. Is that what you want?"

Picking up his hammer, he pointed it at Hiccup. "Your words mean nothing to me, worm. I serve one person and on person only – Shank. And if his leadership takes me to Hel's Hall itself, well then," he smiled, "I'll just enjoy taking as many people with me as I can on the way down."

"Fine then," Hiccup said grimly, pulling a small hunting knife from his belt. "You made your decision."

Astrid tried and failed to stand, holding back a groan when her torn-up knees refused to take her weight. "You stupid-head!" she hissed. "You can't possibly think of fighting that…wait, is that my hunting knife?"

Hiccup shrugged. "What, you want me to use my carving knife?"

Astrid felt her side. …That arrogant jerk actually stole it from me!

She wished she could have chewed Hiccup out more about snatching a girl's blade, but in that moment Dirk swung his hammer right at the blind boy's head. Sure that she was about to watch Hiccup be decapitated, Astrid was surprised when he simply ducked out of the way. She was even more surprised, however, to see him use the opening in the form of Dirk's wide swing and charge the much larger man.

The dragon-defender may have been had the advantage of strength, but he couldn't rival Hiccup's speed. The boy darted in like a snake and slashed at Dirk's right armpit, aiming to incapacitate his arm so the giant man could no longer wield his hammer. However, that's when Dirt did something completely unexpected.

While Hiccup's aim was spot on, the man didn't even flinch. Instead, he lunged forward, head-butting the smaller boy. Surprised, Hiccup stumbled back, clutching his head, only to get back-handed across the face. For the second time in as many minutes, he hit the dirt. It was a demeaning move on Dirk's part, and showed his clear superiority over the battle.

The larger man laughed. "How pitiful! Look at the little warrior, trying to act so brave and heroic. Well, what do you plan of doing now, hero? I'm waiting!"

Hiccup was on his hands and knees, head bent low to the earth. By now Astrid had managed to get to her feet, but she found herself frozen, staring at the blind boy as he visibly shook with anger. "You sound…just like him," he growled, fist clutching. "I remember that voice, I hear it every night in my dreams until I can't get it out of my head. Taunting, over and over and over and over and over."

He stood up slowly, grabbing the small knife from where it had fallen in the dirt. When he raised his head to once again face the dragon-defender, Astrid caught her breath. The dirty piece of cloth had fallen away from Hiccup's face, revealing two piercing green eyes so filled with hate and despair that Astrid wondered what had happened to that nice boy she had met on the island beach.

However, what really caught Astrid's attention wasn't the emotions in those eyes, but the eyes themselves. Astrid had seen those eyes before. She had looked at them many times over the last twelve hours.

They were eyes of a dragon, and they were looking straight at Dirk.

Caught frozen in a mixture of fear and confusion, Astrid could do nothing but watch as Hiccup charged forward with a savage cry. Dirk was caught unprepared for the attack, and as a result Hiccup was able to ram full-force into the dragon-defender, driving his blade deep into the man's stomach. Stunned, Dirk fell onto his back, and Hiccup pounced on top of him.

"Stop taunting me!" he cried, stabbing the fallen man two, three, four times in the chest. "Why can't I get you out of my head, huh?! Why won't you just die?!"

Something was about to happen – Astrid could feel it deep within her bones. In that instant, Astrid realized just how stormy it was on the mountainside. The wind was now so strong it downed out the sounds of her friends fighting inside the camp, and the river roiled and turned so violently it looked like the ocean. Rain had finally begun to fall from the black clouds, and now nothing seemed to be holding back the pelting water.

A screech rang out across the mountain, and Astrid felt her stomach drop. Another dragon was coming, and this one didn't sound happy.

Faster than she had time to register, a bolt of lightning exploded from the clouds, hitting a tall pine only a few dozen feet away. Instantly the tree caught fire and began to fall.

"Hiccup!" Astrid screamed, but the blind boy only turned his head in her direction, a wild and confused look on his face.

That moron! I swear I hate him!

Forcing her damaged legs to move, Astrid launched herself at the idiot. Grabbing Hiccup under the arms, she practically threw him and herself across the ground just as the tree collapsed behind them with a giant crash and a spray of twigs.

"Get up, you suicidal moron!" Astrid shouted, hauling Hiccup back to his feet by his shirt, noting how his eyes were no longer looked like a reptile's, but like a blind person's eyes should – clouded and unfocused. Astrid promised herself she would drill him about that little incident later, if they survived. "We'll all have plenty of time to be in shock later, but right now we need to get out of here!"

Hiccup grit his teeth and shoved her away. "Get off me!" he growled. He looked so angry, confused, and small, standing in the storm with his hair plastered to his head. Astrid almost felt sorry for him.

"What's your problem?" she snapped. "I just saved your life!"

Facing her, he seemed to be trying to meet her accusing gaze, but…couldn't. "I didn't need your help!"

She threw her hands in the air. "Gods, it's swear it's like I'm talking to a rock! If I hadn't helped you, you'd be dead, moron!"

"Astrid!" someone called, and Astrid looked up to see Snotlout and the others running up from the camp, along with Hiccup's dragon. They all looked terrified out of their minds as more lightning flashed across the sky.

"We need to get out of here!" Fishlegs shouted over the howling wind and pelting rain.

Just as the group reached her, a huge silver dragon burst forth from the clouds far above their heads and swept across the sky, lightning flashing all around its scales like a cloak of electricity. Based on how far up it was, Astrid guessed it was at least twice the size of a normal nightmare, and most likely much more powerful.

"It's the Silver Phantom…" said Fishlegs in awe.

"It's a skrill," corrected Hiccup. His face looked grim, and one of his hands rested on his dragon's neck.

"You've seen one before?" asked Ruffnut.

He nodded. "Though I've never had the pleasure meeting one who could command an entire storm before. That dragon must be very old." He pointed toward the forest. "You guys have to get out of here. Shank's whole goal was to summon this dragon, and if I can't stop it, then it's going to destroy the entire island."

Snotlout snorted. "How are you going to fight that? It'll fry you alive!"

"Do you have a dragon?"

The stout viking glared, but before he could make another smart remark, Astrid's glare silenced him. "There's no way you can fight that thing, Hiccup. It'll take a miracle just to get close to it, let alone fight it!"

Blinking water out of her eyes, Astrid saw a smile ghost across Hiccup's face. It was humorless, but somehow hopeful, as if he just realized that there might still be hope somewhere out there.

"I don't have a miracle," he said, slowly, "but…I might just have a blessing."

Signaling for his dragon to follow, Hiccup took off in the direction of the camp. Unconsciously, Astrid reached out a hand as she watched him disappear into the darkness, leaving her with a lingering sensation that she was watching the formation of something important.

Well good luck then, Hiccup.

-o0o-

Well look who decided to update. Sorry about that guys. Adjusting to collage life was a lot harder than I anticipated.

A lot happened in this chapter, so if you're confused, feel free to ask questions. I'm looking forward to the next chapter ! Don't forget to tell me what you thought about it, or what you think will happen!

See y'all next time!