So this is it. Hiccup's home. Now all he has to do is convince everyone on Berk that dragons aren't bad. But things take an unexpected turn for the worse...
Not really the reunion Hiccup had in mind...
Most likely not what you've been expecting, but things never seem to go right in a dragon raid. Anyway, let me know what you think, so please review!
Enjoy!
Chapter 12 Dragon raid
Astrid woke up from the screams coming in trough her window. She could see the orange glow of the fire outside and immediately knew what was wrong. Another dragon raid. Again. It hadn't even three weeks. She grabbed her axe and ran outside. She almost ran into a blue Nadder. The dragon squawked and ran off before she could swing her ax at it. She saw the usual "visitors". Nadders, Zipplebacks, Gronckles and Monstrous Nightmares, going after the sheep and the yaks. She charged, swinging her axe at every dragon that got within her reach. These beasts sure had guts, coming here so often. Only three weeks had past since the last raid. Two weeks before that.
She managed to get a Gronckle away from two sheep and she was about to raise her axe to finish the beast, when she heard something. Something she hadn't heard in years. Gobber, shouting the all dreaded...
'Night Fury!'
As soon as she heard those words, she heard something else. A high pitched whistling sound, followed by a blue fireball exploding one of the catapults. One of Hiccup's catapults. Then, her anger really exploded. That thing dared to return now and destroy what little they had left of Hiccup?
No way. Not on her watch.
She was going to bring down that beast, no matter what. She made her way over to one of the remaining catapults, cutting down dragons in the process, or at least trying to. She loaded the catapult with a bola and waited, defending her keep from dragons trying to destroy it. She just hoped this catapult wouldn't be the next to be destroyed by that ungodly beast. She heard the whistle before the fireball exploded another catapult. The one next to her. The blast knocked her over, but she managed to pull the trigger of the catapult, sending the bola flying.
She was sure she missed.
She was wrong.
Up in the sky, invisible for her, something shrieked in anger and pain. A black shape fell from the sky, crashing on one of the buildings, howling in frustration.
'Oh I hit it? Yes! I hit it!'
'Hit what?'
Stoick was beside her, pulling her up.
'The Night Fury!'
Stoick looked at her with surprise and shock in his eyes, then tightened the grip on his axe.
'Let's finish it.'
They ran towards the place where the dragon had fallen, still struggling against the ropes. With a shout, they ran towards it, then suddenly stood frozen, their weapons in the air.
Before them lay a sleek black dragon, tangled in the ropes, desperately trying to get free. It's green eyes shot over the people in front of him as more and more vikings gathered around, seemingly forgetting about the other dragons. But that was not what had them frozen dead in their tracks.
The dragon carried a rider.
A tall, dark figure was mounted on the dragons back, clad in leather. He wore a helmet with a full face mask and was cutting away the ropes with a flaming sword. He had quickly cut a hole big enough for him to jump through, but when he did, he stumbled, loosing his balance.
Stoick reacted faster then anyone though possible and grabbed the mans collar, yanking him away from the dragons. He wrenched the sword out of his hand. The flame died and the blade vanished as soon as the weapon left his hand and gave it to Astrid. Then he simply threw the struggling man onto the ground. The man braced his fall with his hands, immediately surrounded by vikings pointing their weapons at his. He turned around to face the vikingchief and now Astrid could see why he had stumbled the moment he had jumped of the dragon. His left leg had been replaced with a metal prosthetic. Well, part of his leg was.
He was staring at Stoick, his eyes as green and wild as the dragon's. Said dragon wailed in frustration, still trying to break his bonds to get to his rider. Stoick raised his axe and the man's eyes grew wide in fear and shock.
A golden fireball exploded the building next to them, sending splinters flying everywhere. Stoick was distracted and the man in front of him took advantage of this.
Astrid didn't even see him get back on his feet. She realized it when his fist collided with her stomach, sending her to the ground gasping for breath. She felt his fingernails scrape over her palms as he snatched his strange weapon from her hand, the fireblade coming to life once again. He was back at the dragons side, cutting the ropes and quickly freeing the dragon. Stoick took one step in the direction of the pair, his axe raised, but he never got any closer. Something white crashed down between him and the dragon.
Another Night Fury.
A white Night Fury.
The dragon was growling, it's wings stretched to their full size, completely blocking the other one from view. But that wasn't all.
This one also carried a rider.
The man was dressed similar to the other, wearing the same kind of leather suit and the same kind of helmet, but instead of a flaming sword he was wielding a bow which had seemingly popped up from nowhere. He pointed the arrow at Stoick, then Astrid and then back to Stoick.
Stoick stood frozen once again. First one dragonrider, now two?
The man on the white dragon shouted something at the other in a language they didn't understand. The other answered, still cutting the ropes. He seemed panicked. A few more words were exchanged before the man on the white dragon suddenly shouted a perfect Norse word.
'GO!'
The other man had freed the dragon and was mounted on it's back once again. The white dragon suddenly shot a ball of golden fire into on of the very few buildings still standing and while they were distracted by the explosion, the black dragon took off running. The white one followed and soon both dragons and their riders were gone from sight. The only reminder they had left were the burnt and cut ropes and a set of very strange footprints.
Stoick stared at the spot where two dragons had been before, before turning to the villagers.
'Don't just stand there! There are still dragons taking our sheep! Fight them! Astrid, not you.'
Astrid was almost insulted that he wouldn't let het fight the dragons, but when he spoke it made perfect sense.
'I want you to find those two. Do not approach them, do not hurt them, just find them, observe them and report back to me, understand?'
She nodded. She was still trying to wrap her mind about what had happened.
She had shot down a Night Fury.
That Night Fury had been carrying a rider.
Then suddenly there had been a second Night Fury, a white one.
This second Night Fury also carried a rider.
Both dragons and riders had left running instead of flying, which meant that she most likely wounded the black one.
That was good, because now they wouldn't be able to leave the island meaning she could find them.
As she started to follow the tracks into the woods, assisted by the light from a torch, there was one question that kept bugging here.
How in the world had those men tamed and trained the unholy offspring of lighting and death itself, flying it, riding on it's back like it was just another horse?
In case you had been wondering, they do speak another language in Dragoncity. Which makes perfect sense if you remember it's half a world away from Berk and a complete different culture. So while Hiccup learned that language from Wrenlou, Wrenlou learned some Norse from Hiccup.
I'm sorry for the unexpected turn of events, but this is actually how the story started to develop in my head. This chapter was among the first I typed.
