Chapter 14 - The Shreiker

A/N: Hey everyone :) Again sorry for the delay. Rogue dragon is here. As always, please enjoy and let me know what you think. Mike
-

"READY YOUR WEAPONS!" Bertha screamed furiously, holding her hammer above her head as she thundered across the bridge from the Great Hall and into the village.

"BERTHA STOP!..." Stoick bellowed as he chased after her with Gobber and Ragna following close behind him.

"It's no use Stoick!..." Ragna tried to reason. "...when she's like this there's no getting through to her!"

Stoick's only response was a grunt as he pushed himself even faster and left them behind. Considering their size, both chiefs were deceptively quick.

"A-and you really think you could get through to him!?" Gobber panted, his peg leg making it difficult for him to keep up.

"We have to try Gobber! Peace treaty or not, Bertha in a rage like this is too unpredictable!" Ragna barked and left him behind as well.

Gobber watched her disappear around a corner and had to take a moment to catch his breath. "O-Okay...I'll be right there!" He wheezed and then soldiered on after them.
-

"So what's the plan!?" Camicazi called, squinting through blurry eye's as the wind crashed into her face. When the three of them reached cruising altitude Hiccup pulled Toothless into a hover.

"We try to train it" Hiccup answered sternly.

She jumped at the tone of his voice and looked back to him. He looked terrified, his face was white as a sheet, caked in blood and she could feel his hand's shaking as they clamped hers almost painfully to the saddle. "Hiccup what's wrong?"

"I don't like this" He sighed, releasing her hand's and reaching into Toothless' saddlebag. He pulled out a rag and used it to stem the flow of his bleeding nose.

"You don't like what?" She winced and looked at her hands. The feeling and colour started to return gradually as she flexed her fingers.

"You..." He said in a muffled voice and threw the blood stained rag away. "...here" He pulled the spyglass from his belt and looked through it, scanning the Island below them for any indication of the Shreiker's whereabouts.

"Hiccup we've been through this already..." She turned to face him, placing her hand over the end of the spyglass and blocking his view. "...I can look after myself"

The corner of his mouth crept up briefly but then his face turned serious. "Normally I'd agree..." He shrugged. "...but you can't up here, not yet. You're an inexperienced rider, that what I showed you on Toothless yesterday was nothing compared to what we might have to go through. Cruising over your Island is one thing, but aerial combat isn't something to be taken lightly Cami. I'm not confident I can keep you safe. And if you got hurt or...w-worse..." He sighed sadly and shook his head. "...I'd never forgive myself"

"What!?...And you think I could forgive myself!?" She snapped. "I thought I'd lost you once. How do you think I would feel if something like that happened to you again and I knew I could have been there to help!?"

"I -" Hiccup started to reply but head snapped up as another piercing shriek filled the air. In the distance, about half a mile outside the village, a plume of dust and debris rose into the air.

"What's out there?" Hiccup asked monotonously, handing her the spyglass.

She looked through it her blood ran cold as she recognised the location. "It's our northern storehouse, most of our remaining provisions are in there!"

"Then we need to get to it now!" He stated firmly, picking up the urgency in her voice.

Camicazi's eye's shot open as he placed his hand on her stomach and pulled her flush against him. For a moment she lost all sense of what was as stake and the imminent danger she was about to face. The feel of him bucking into her like that triggered a sensation that made her think of something far less innocent than him just wanting to protect her.

"Cami, I only have one rule..."

'Oh God's!' Her mind raced and a shiver ran down her spine as he arched forward, pushing her down so she was almost pressed against the saddle. She quickly glanced right, his face was so close to hers that if she turned slightly they'd be kissing. 'Stop it Cami!' She mentally cursed herself, closing her eye's in an attempt to dispel those inappropriate thoughts. "O-okay, w-what is it?" She breathed shakily.

"You listen. You do exactly what I say...when I say it. Got it?"

Again she jumped, his voice was so serious it almost sounded harsh. "Got it" she answered with a reluctant nod.

"Good" He whispered solemnly and clicked his metal leg in the stirrup, causing Toothless' tailfin to open to it's widest. "LETS GO BUD!" He shouted and they shot off towards the storehouse.
-

Stoick arrived at the village's main square but he was too late. Bertha was already stood atop a stack of crates in the centre, screaming at the top of her lungs and her villager's rallied around her. "BERTHA!" He shouted but his voice was drowned out by the crowd's battle cries. "BERTHA!" He tried again and started to barge his way through the crowd. When he finally reached the front Bertha had already left her podium and was shouting orders.

"YOU THREE, FLANK LEFT AND ATTACK FROM THE WEST!"

"Aye Bertha!" Her warriors chanted and left as their chief had instructed.

"YOU THREE -" She rounded on her warriors who she expected to be there but was confronted by Stoick instead.

"Bertha please, stop this madness!" Stoick attempted to calm her down but failed.

"OUTTA MY WAY!..." Bertha growled, pushing him aside advancing towards the hill. "...OUR DEAL IS DONE! SO TAKE YOUR MEN AND GET THE HEL OFF MY ISLAND!"

Stoick pursued and stood before her, pushing against her shoulders with both hands and in an attempt to hold her back. "You're right our deal is done..." He said in an even tone. "...but what about the deal you made with my son?"

"Are you questioning my honour Stoick!?" She hissed , closing the distance between them so they were practically nose to nose.

"Not at all Bertha...all I'm asking you to do is think about what your doing. Let my son do what he's good at"

"WELL THEN WHERE IS HE!..." she snarled. "...I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT MY PEOPLE! IF WE LOSE THAT STOREHOUSE, MY VILLAGE WON'T SURVIVE THE WINTER!..." She looked up and pointed her hammer in the direction of the storehouse, signalling her troops to advance. She met Stoick's gaze again and mellowed slightly. "...put yourself in my position Stoick. As a fellow chief, can you look me in the eye and honestly say wouldn't do the same if it was your people?..." Stoick's silence said it all and she nodded as she walked past him. "...didn't think so. LET'S GO LADIES!"

Stoick sighed heavily as he watched them leave and looked to the sky. 'Where are you Hiccup'
-

Hiccup, Camicazi and Toothless arrived at the scene and circled the area, paying close attention to the Shreiker as it rammed and clawed at the storehouse doors. Since it's last attack Bertha had ordered that the doors be reinforced with additional bolts and strengthening beams, but even those were beginning to weaken under the constant battering.

"Hiccup we have to do something!"

"Alright, let's try to draw it away!..." Hiccup guided Toothless around and pushed him into a dive. "...get it's attention Bud!"

Toothless complied immediately and shot out a plasma blast that exploded a few meters away from the hostile dragon and it reacted immediately...but not the way Hiccup had hoped.

It stayed on the ground, growling viciously and pinning them with icy blue eye's. Without giving them time to react it let out a blast of it's own, a spiralling vortex of gale force wind that Hiccup only narrowly avoided by bringing Toothless to an abrupt halt.

"That was too close!..." Hiccup gasped. He looked down to where the Shrieker had been but was shocked to see it was no longer there. He frantically scanned the sky in all directions, gripping Camicazi tighter as he came to the unfortunate realisation that he may have seriously underestimated this dragon. "...God's where the Hel is it!?"

His question was answered almost immediately by it's familiar shriek directly below. The wind picked up dramatically, storm clouds formed above them and they suddenly found themselves in the eye of a hurricane.

"Shit! Cami hold on!" Hiccup shouted over the roaring wind as random updrafts and crosswinds the hurricane generated buffeted them and made it almost impossible for him to control Toothless. He quickly glanced back to his dragon's tailfin to make sure it was still intact before curling over her, using his body to shield her from the debris that pelted them.

"I-I am!" She cowered, shaking with fear and holding on with all her strength. Being in a life and death situation was something she was she was familiar with, but all of those times before she'd had a certain degree of control and without that she was terrified.

The distress in her voice ignited a fire within Hiccup he hadn't felt since the battle with the Red Death and his mind went into overdrive. He'd let her come with him, even though it was against his better judgement so there was no way he'd let anything bad happen to her. 'Think Hiccup! Think!' he thought and then an idea popped into his head. He looked up and saw salvation, blue sky at the end of the funnel. " Up Toothless!"

Before Toothless could respond, a mighty force smash into them from the side that threw them into the wall of the hurricane.

"Hiccup!" Camicazi screamed as they tumbled haphazardly. "If we die I want you to know that you're special to me too!"

"We're not going to die -"

They were hit again, this time the impact knocking them out of the hurricane completely.

"Toothless! Toothless pull up!" Hiccup cried, desperately pulling back on the saddle as they hurtled towards the ground but his dragon was unresponsive.

Toothless regained consciousness at the last minute, splaying his wings to their widest in an attempt to slow their decent but it was to late. They crashed into the ground and skidded a good fifty feet before finally coming to a standstill.

"H-Hiccup?" Camicazi croaked.

"Cami!..." His attention snapped to her and he pulled her up by her shoulders and turned her to face him, brushing the bangs out of her face and cupping both her cheek's. "...Cami are you hurt?"

"No...I-I'm good"

"Oh thank Thor!" He sighed, pulling her into a hug that she immediately returned.

Camicazi smiled happily, all of her fear drained away as he embraced so tight she could hardly breath. "You can let go of me now" She chuckled lightheartedly.

When he released her they both looked back, the hurricane they were just caught in dissipated as quickly as it was summoned and the Shreiker resumed it's relentless assault on the storehouse. Their attention turned to Toothless as they felt him lift themself to his feet, emitting a painful whimper.

"What's wrong Bud?"

Toothless looked to his wing and Hiccup followed his gaze. It was limp, fully open and resting on the floor.

Hiccup dismounted and lifted it gently which caused Toothless you screech in pain. "Shit! His wing's broken, he cant help us"

"So what do we do?" Camicazi asked.

"I'm thinking. I'm thinking" He looked to his dragon and another idea shot into his head. "I've got it. You stay here Bud" He soothed, rubbing his dragons head and then turning to face the storehouse. "Is there another way in?"

"Y-yeah..." She dismounted Toothless and stood next to him, confused by the determined smile on his face. "...there's a hatch around the back that lead's to the cellar where we store our mead...what are you thinking?"

"We give it what it want's" he shrugged.

"WHAT!?..." She jumped before him and shoved him back angrily. "...your suggesting we just let it take all of our food!"

"Not all of it Cami, just hear me out..." He placed both hands on her shoulders and sighed sadly before continuing. "...the reason Toothless only has half a tail is because I shot him down. I found him a few days later trapped in a cove, unable to fly and starving. So I fed him, I gave him what he needed and that was my way in"

"So...after everything it just did to us. You still think you can train it?" She asked in disbelief.

"I do..." He said softly and rubbed her arms up and down. "...think about it Cami. When we tried to draw it away it didn't follow. It stayed close to it's food source, dealt with us and then went right back to it. It saw us as a threat to it's survival and retaliated"

Camicazi thought about it for a moment, he was a dragon expert and everything he said seemed to make sense. So she took a deep breath and even though she was still a little shaken and not happy that her village would be losing more food to this dragon, she decided to trust him and go along with it. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

Hiccup at her smiled in thanks and they started walking towards the storehouse. "This is going to be a little different than what I showed you yesterday Cami, we need to let it know we're not a threat so this time we'll disarm in front of it..."

"Okay" Camicazi gulped nervously.

"...I'll keep it distracted while you run around the back and fetch a basket of fish..."

"Wait, how will you keep it distracted?"

"...I'll talk to it. And if that doesn't work I have this" Hiccup reached to his belt, unclipped 'Inferno' and passed it to her.

She examined it confused, starting to think he was actually insane. "A sword with no blade? How could this help?"

"If it comes down to you'll see. If not, I'll show you when this is all over..." He smirked and took it back before carrying on. "...we'll feed it and then hopefully it'll let us in close enough to train it"

"Alright but..." She rubbed her hands together apprehensively. "...I'm worried about you, what if something goes wro -" She lost her breath and closed her eyes as he wrapped an arm around her and kissed her cheek with the same if not more care and affection than she had shown earlier. Her skin beneath his lips started to tingle and her face felt so hot she thought it would burn off. When he finally pulled away she glanced back at him bashfully. "W-what was t-that for?"

"Just in case..." Hiccup smiled and looked to the raging dragon. "...come on"

Camicazi took a deep breath to compose herself and followed him. They approached silently until they were close enough to be heard, but far away enough to jump out of the way if the Shrieker did decide to attack.

"HEY!" Hiccup called.

The Shrieker rounded on them instantly, pupils narrowed and generating a wind barrier around itself for protection. The barrier dispersed almost immediately though but it tried again, also failing.

Hiccup zoned out for a second, captivated by the sheer magnificence of the creature that stood before him. It's posture was like that of a big cat, crouched low on four muscular legs, ready to pounce at any second. He guessed it would be eight feet tall when standing. It's face resembled that of a wolf, but with four back pointing horns crowning it's head and another two under each eye. It was covered almost entirely in a thick, grey carapace made out of interlocking plates. The ones that lined it's neck and back stuck out like jagged, mountainous peaks, while the ones that covered the lower half of its body looked more like tortoiseshell.

"Get rid of your weapons" Hiccup ordered as he came back to reality, unstrapping Snotlout's axe from his back and throwing it as far away as he could.

Camicazi did the same, hatchet's, short sword's, dagger's and throwing knife belt, all thrown aside to show she meant no harm.

The Shreiker froze and regarded them suspiciously, confused by their odd behaviour. For a moment it just stared at them, waiting for them to make a move.

"So i guess whipping up that hurricane took alot out of you huh? Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you" Hiccup said in a soothing tone and noticed the Shrieker's posture relax. "We know you're hungry and we're here to help" The dragons pupil's returned to normal so he took a step forward.

Camicazi watched him approach slowly and couldn't believe what she was witnessing. Seeing him communicate with Toothless was one thing but this was something else entirely. The way he could calm a dragon that only a short time ago was trying to kill them, made her realise just how special he was. Not just to her but the entire archipelago.

Hiccup came within touching distance. He had done this many times before but he couldn't help feeling afraid, especially considering this was a dragon that no one knew anything about. His heart was beating so fast he thought it would jump out of his chest but he closed his eyes, turned his head away and reached out to the Shrieker. After a few second's he felt it press it's nose into his hand, he turned to and relaxed as it purred happily. "Cami come here" He said while gesturing her over.

"What about the fish?" she asked as she approached warily.

"Forget that for now..." Hiccup laughed and took her hand, he placed it on the Shreiker's snout and took a step back. The joyous feeling that welled within him as he saw the connection between them was indescribable. He'd felt it everytime he'd introduced a dragon to it's rider, but that still didn't stop the goofy grin that crept on to his face. "...say hello to your -"

"CAMI!..." Bertha screamed as she crested the hill and laid eye's on the dragon that towered over her daughter, too pumped up on adrenaline and battle rage to realise the events that were actually taking place in front of her.

Hiccups head snapped to his right to see Bertha and her villagers storming towards them, all with weapons in hand. A low growl resonated from the Shreiker and in that moment, time seemed to stand still and his world turned silent as he looked back to Camicazi. She was too lost in thought to notice the Wind Stalkers pupils narrow into slits and its body language become aggressive again. 'Oh no!' "CAMI MOVE!" He cried and without hesitation, rushed forward and pushed her out of the way as it lashed out.

Camicazi crashed against the storehouse wall and fell to the floor, her ears ringing and a sharp pain pulsating through her head. She managed to turn her head slightly and the last thing she saw as her vision went out of focus as she lost consciousness, was the Shreiker shooting up into the air.