Chapter 14: Thunderdrums of War

Hold on to your heads! Epic-ness follows!

Two more weeks have gone by and the devastating winter of Berk was just about gone now, despite the appearances of an imposing and dense cloud-cover. At least that was how it looked as far as Drago Bludvist could tell while he led his dragon army closer to the island. He was unaware of the scout that had spotted him and the network had alerted Berk of his approach a week earlier.

While he wasn't aware that Berk knew he was going to attack, he was well aware of the fortification made of ice. Was it the clever work of the villagers, or did they find another Bewilderbeast? He knew that it had to be one of the two, and he knew that the sharp projectiles made by the ice would cause too much harm to his Bewilderbeast if they crashed through it, and blasting it to bits was out of the question, it was simply too massive. So, he called over to the golden dragon he found in Europe and rode her over the fortification. Once a princess, the golden dragon was now brainwashed into thinking that she's been born as a dragon due to the trance the Bewilderbeast put her in. She landed in the middle of the seemingly deserted village, Drago dismounted with his trusty billhook in hand, and the golden dragon took flight.

Drago signaled his Bewilderbeast to order the Wyverns and the Monstrous Nightmares down. When they landed, they proceeded to wander about the village in search of the inhabitants and begin to destroy the village by tearing the wood off of the houses.

However right underneath the village, the Whispering Deaths heard the footsteps of the intruding dragons. It was time to attack! Being led by Alvin, the ground fighters took the tails of the Whispering Deaths and were dragged to the surface with chain nets and bolas in tow! They made quick work of some of Drago's Wyverns and Nightmares, quickly tying them up and using the Whispering Deaths to drag them underground, while the ground fighters pulled out their artillery and weapons to engage the other dragons.

With another call, Drago sent the rest of his flying dragons over the island to scout the island and sea, but the problem was that there was a dense forest on the island, and with the trees already sprouting their leaves, and all of the evergreens on the island, it was hard to see the dragons in the forest. However, that didn't keep the dragons in the forest from seeing them

"Ok, it's our turn now! To the skies!" Hiccup called out, and the dragons took flight in masses, firing at the unwelcome dragons, dispersing them, trapping them, and holding them underground as they were being guarded by more Whispering Deaths.

Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Helga took to defending Berk from the ground after dragging down several Deadly Nadders, a Monstrous Nightmare, and one of the exotic Feathered Serpents Drago collected from South America.

"Ooo, the feathered ones are soft!" Helga announced as she brushed her fingers over the scales of the Quetzalcoatl they caught after it tried constricting one of Berk's Nadders.

Astrid, Fishlegs, and Snotlout were working as a team to remove more Wyverns and the Western European dragons.

"Fishlegs, can you break these guys down for us?" Astrid asked as Stormfly took a warning shot at some incoming dragons.

"The ones with two legs are Wyverns. They're members of the Sharp class, sharp barb on their tail delivers poison, so stay clear of it! The larger dragons- AHH!" Fishlegs was interrupted by a shot from one of the European dragons.

"What's the matter, Fishlegs, dragon got your tongue?" Snotlout taunted.

"As I was saying: the larger dragons are legendary natives of Western Europe, known as Guardians. They're known for protecting castles as well as their homes, very territorial too, Stoker class, with firepower more extreme than a Monstrous Nightmare, and sharp arrow on tail can also be used as a weapon." Fishlegs finished.

"Ha, no dragon has more firepower that Hookfang! Hookfang, FLAMES!" Snotlout shouted. Hookfang ignited himself.

"What did Fishlegs just tell you? MUTTONHEAD!" Astrid shouted as Snotlout and Hookfang ascended to engage combat with a black Guardian. In response to Snotlout's attack, the Guardian dove after the trio spewing a jet of flame that they thought could only be produced by something like a Typhoomerang… NO! A Red Death! As the Guardian dove, still spewing its fire, the flames gathered within the wings.

"RETREAT!" Astrid shouted as the Guardian leveled off and blasted its wings full of fire at the trio! Fishlegs and Meatlug were fleeing as fast as they could, with Fishlegs screaming at the top of his lungs in a rather non-masculine high pitch.

"Fishlegs, you're such a coward! You shouldn't even be in this fight if you're worried about getting your beard scorched!" Snotlout called out. This struck a nerve with Fishlegs as Astrid chewed him out for recklessly engaging the Guardian and making it chase after them. It was Fishlegs who was the one to jump into a Whispering Death tunnel the first time they encountered the dragon, granted it was Snotlout who shoved him in there after Hiccup, but he didn't scramble his way out of it right way, and it was Fishlegs who once ended up inside the mouth of the Screaming Death while luring it to Outcast Island with a dragon root. As he was thinking about all his courageous acts, the trio was unaware that they've flown over the fortification.

Drago spotted the trio, and also saw that the twins and Helga soon joined them to pursue more dragons. The sinister man decided that now was time to unleash his secret weapon. He whirled his billhook over his head and roared! His single-tusk Bewilderbeast ordered a certain monster of a dragon to surface.

Fishlegs, and from higher altitudes, Hiccup and Toothless noticed the disturbance in the water as something began to emerge.

To Snotlout's horror, he and Hookfang came face-to-face with the great Red Death. They took one look at the colossal dragon's six eyes, turned-tail, and fled screaming at the top of their lungs. Astrid retreated from the scene and pursued another dragon. However, Fishlegs stood his ground and pulled out his hammer, urging Meatlug to fly towards the Red Death, as he struck every dragon that got in his way, and he screamed into the wind carrying the sound of the Screaming Death's call!

Even way underneath the ocean, the Screaming Death heard Fishlegs' call and shot though the ground, through the water, and into the sky letting out its trademark shriek!

"What the hell is that thing?" Drago asked himself as he spotted the titanium-white dragon with red eyes. He roared to his Bewilderbeast, ordering to try and take over the Screaming Death and get it under his control.

Toothless and Hiccup spotted this and he sent Stoick in to distract the Bewilderbeast. By now, it was working to control the Screaming Death, and nearly succeeding; but Stoick and Shadowrath came in at the right moment, and broke off the Bewilderbeast's concentration with a plasma blast, and freeing the Screaming Death.

Back to Fishlegs, he waited for the Red Death to open its great maw and prepare to fire. When it did, he had Meatlug fire her lava into the great maw of the beast and light its gas on fire! The Red Death's gas caught fire, and ducked its head under the water to put the flames out.

"Fishlegs, that was amazing!" Hiccup called to him from above. Fishlegs smiled and moved out of there. As he passed a wide-eyed, slack-jawed Snotlout, he asked him: "Am I a coward now, Snotlout?"

Toothless let out a great roar and now it was time for the Strike and Tidal class dragons to make their move! Skrills and Night Furies erupted from the fortification of ice and began their attack! Thunderdrums also surfaced and joined the Screaming Death in its task of disorienting the Red Death and the opposing Bewilderbeast.

Fishlegs also made his Terrible Terror call, summoning a pack of forty Terrible Terrors, and he sent them over to the Red Death, as the Bewilderbeast was busy being attacked by Strike class dragons.

It turned out that sending a large pack of Terrible Terrors over to a Red Death's face wasn't all that good of an idea as was anticipated. Now in pain and furious, the Red Death roared and let out an immense torrent of flames, desolating the buildings of Berk, wounding tens of dragons (Night Furies included), and delivering severe burns to the Vikings who were unfortunate enough to get scorched.

The people of Berk were distraught, the only building that didn't catch fire was the Great Hall, and the amount of wounded was high now. Midnightfire sought the cover of Cloudjumper and Valka as she fired her shots boosted with healing power to help the wounded dragons she spotted.

That was also the time Aric decided to surface, and he saved whatever buildings he could by putting out the flames with his icy breath.

Drago was shocked, he clearly recalled his Bewilderbeast killing Aric. Surely, this couldn't be the same one, right? He was about to send his Bewilderbeast to attack Aric, when he heard the distinct screeching of a Night Fury. Looking up, he recognized the dragon and its rider, and Drago's Bewilderbeast didn't need a command to breathe his ice on Toothless.

The ice caught on Toothless' tail and it sent him to the ground like a rock! He collided into the side of one of the ice protrusions Aric made, and the two flew in different directions. Toothless landed in a safe area, blasted the ice off his tail, and found Midnightfire being chased by one of the Wyverns! His parental instincts kicked in and he took off to protect her, leaving Hiccup behind!

Unfortunately, Hiccup rolled to a stop twenty-five meters away from Drago. Drago caught sight of him and charged over to Hiccup. Good thing that Hiccup saw him coming, and he drew his fire sword, and engaged battle with Drago. He was doing pretty well against Drago, but then the sinister man hooked his weapon onto Hiccup's prosthetic, and with a sharp yank he pulled the false limb off of the Dragon Chief's leg, making him collapse to the ground! To make matters worse, Drago kicked away Hiccup's sword.

Hiccup began crawling away from Drago, but not only was he missing his false limb, the shoulder wearing the armor that his Dragonstone was hidden in was beginning to hurt badly, and his vision was beginning to blur!

"You're a miserable excuse for a Dragon Chief, as I've heard you were called now. Look around, I will prevail!" Drago declared. He grabbed Hiccup by the hair and directed his attention over to Astrid and Stormfly. Stormfly was one of the dragons who'd been wounded, and she was severely cut on the leg, and Astrid was facing against the golden Guardian. The golden Guardian knocked Hiccup's goddess off her feet with a sweep of her tail. She moved in to execute Astrid with the sharp arrow on her tail. Astrid never got to her feet, but when the tail was brought down, Astrid scrambled away in time for the blow to not be deadly, but as she escaped, the golden Guardian sliced off her right foot, and Astrid screamed in agony.

"ASTRID!" Hiccup screamed. His heart felt as if a rusty dagger had stabbed it and his shoulder was now in agonizing pain. Drago threw his head to the ground as Valka swooped down and removed Astrid from the battlefield, and to the safety of the Whispering Death tunnels where she would be helped.

Drago kicked Hiccup in the ribs, turning him over so he could look into Hiccup's heartbroken green eyes. Drago pulled out a dagger and raised it above his head. Hiccup's breathing had grown heavier as his whole body went into agony, and his vision blurred.

"HICCUP!" Villagers all around screamed when they saw Drago's dagger about to sink into the Dragon Chief's heart…

… And it was all just a flash of light.

To Be Continued