Chapter 28

The wind was cold and sharp against my cheeks, as if reminding me to pay attention. Not that I needed a reminder. I could picture her, the queen, as she emerged out of the fog; could feel those eyes burn through my skin to my soul. I patted my pockets, double-checked that I had the whistle, and then checked on Toothless.

Although this time he wasn't under the queen's control, he flew with the same single-minded determination. The only difference was that his body was tense, not quite moving the way it usually did, and he was growling. It wasn't a vicious growl, but a worried one, like the one he had given when I first tied the saddle to his back.

"We'll be okay." I put my hand on the side of his neck and rubbed, reminding him that he had me.

Toothless said nothing, but I saw him close his eyes.

The fog rolled in. I know it was probably my imagination, but I swear the fog moved accordingly every time Toothless beat his wings. Certainly, it seemed alive in a way it hadn't been before; it churned and frothed like the waves below us. I knew it wasn't from any wind; the only disturbance in the air came from us. That, and from the sun, whose disc-shaped form brightened the fog and ruined the otherwise uniform spread of greyness.

Silence followed in our wake. There was no need for comforting words now; we had entered the lair of the beast, and our path was set.

Then, noise.

"Brace yourself," I warned. Toothless snorted, teeth showing.

Something flashed through the fog to the right of us. I didn't get a really good look, but it didn't seem very big. Goosebumps spread over my arms. I set my eyes ahead and looked for danger there.

Another blur. The sounds became louder. I could recognize them now as dragon calls. They were all short and shrill, and with their number, almost overwhelming in their intensity. But although I had the weaker hearing and had to clamp my hands over my ears, Toothless seemed alright. I guess dragons were used to that kind of noise.

Dragons whipped past us on all sides, so close that I actually worried they would knock me off Toothless. Speaking of my favourite Night Fury, he wasn't faring so hot now. Seeing all these terrified, fleeing dragons had chipped away at his courage. I couldn't blame him; I could taste the fear in the air, and every survival instinct I had screamed at me to run.

I leaned down as close to him as I could, and laid my head against his neck, where I could faintly hear the thump of his irregular pulse. I put my hands on his shoulder – not on his neck this time; that might make it worse – and spoke directly into his ear.

"It's okay, Toothless. We'll get through this. I promise."

I kept speaking until his heartbeats steadied. A great sigh of relief went through him with that.

By the time we got to the real party, it was chaos. Not like I hadn't known it was going to be like that going in, however. We had heard the shouts before we had seen what was going on, not to mention heard the bellows of the queen herself. But getting past the fog and seeing what was going on? It made my mind freeze. I hadn't kidding when I once described her as a mountain, and yet she was so much larger than I had imagined in my worst nightmares. She had spines everywhere: along her back, covering her tail, jutting out from her legs, so that she resembled a particularly craggy peak.

And as it was clearly evident, her bulk wasn't her only asset. Fires raged all across the beach, illuminating the rubble of our once-proud catapults. They were so small compared to the queen, and even smaller still were the tiny figures of the Vikings as they raced back to their fleet . . .

Only to be met with a wall of fire.

"Toothless . . ." I whispered.

In one fell swoop, the queen had set the ships ablaze. The sickly orange glow seeped through the fog, tainting it. The Vikings scattered, leaving the ships to their doom.

It was then I remembered:

"Fishbone."

Like me, Toothless had been transfixed by the sight. When I knocked him on the head though, he sobered up pretty quickly. He thought I was crazy when I tried to steer him toward the ships. He didn't know Fishbone, nor did he understand I was trying to save one of his kin from burning alive, so it took effort to urge him closer.

I looked for the flagship. That would have been Dad's ship, (speaking of which, where was he?) and so, Fishbone must have been on there.

I didn't wait. When I saw it, I unlashed myself and jumped off Toothless's back, forcing myself to walk through the pain. Toothless fluttered about anxiously, too worked up and wary of the flames to land.

Fishbone was shut inside a small cage, buzzing about frantically in an attempt to escape. He was so panicked that he didn't even stop to thank me when I freed him. Instead, he zipped off into the sky, disappearing into the fog.

Toothless screeched a warning, but it was too late. Out of a cloud of smoke, the giant club that was the queen's tail emerged, slamming right into the mast of the fleet. The ships pitched sideways, me aboard. There was no time to get to safety. I went down with the ships, fell into the unforgiving grasp of the ocean . . .

But sharp claws reached through the waves and pulled me ashore.

Toothless rose higher into the air, away from the burning wreckage as I clung to him. I waited for him to land so I could get on . . .

Dad.

I saw him, him and Gobber, facing down the queen alone. They were tossing stakes, banging their shields to try and distract her. But she was so big . . . she would so easily be able to kill them both. And as I thought that, she reared up to her full height, opened her jaws . . .

"Toothless! Toothless, you have to flame her!"

I beat on the dragon's side. He jumped and stared at me as I pointed wildly at the queen.

"Toothless, you need to get her now."

He groaned, confused. Even if he knew what I wanted him to do, he also knew that a shot like that would end up being a wasted one.

"Toothless, flame her!"

The shot came quickly. Smoke billowed around the impact site. The queen fell to the ground, making a tremor equivalent to that of an earthquake. Dad and Gobber, aware that someone else had joined the firefight, turned to see me.

I would have said something to them, probably something snarky, but my attention was caught by the shifting form of the queen. And the wings that she had finally unveiled.

"Toothless . . ." I hissed as the queen's wings unfurled to their full length.

I met Toothless's eyes. We both came to the same realization: the queen was after us, and I was still hanging from his claws.

"Go, go!" I cried as she came after us. He didn't need my urging, and took off, with me dangling helplessly.

He weaved through the rocky obstacle course, in a wild, reckless manner similar to our first true flight. But this time, that craziness was necessary. It was the only thing keeping us ahead of her. The queen didn't even need to navigate the maze; she just smashed through it like it was parchment. Rocks flew in all direction, and the rain of debris made the path that much more treacherous.

I looked from her to Toothless. We wouldn't survive like this, let alone win, not while Toothless was focused on keeping a hold of me. I needed to be up there, on the saddle. But she wasn't going to let that happen anytime soon . . .

It didn't matter. I had to get up there.

I grabbed a stirrup with one hand, and wriggled out of my vest. Toothless cried out in panic as he felt me slip out of his grasp, but I shouted at him to keep going and added my second hand to the first. The leather dug into my palm as I hung, struggling to lift myself -

He turned sharply, the force slamming me against him. The queen carried on straight ahead, wrecking a large rock formation. She howled in rage, perhaps even a bit in pain, and that was good. Until I felt Toothless shudder. His body started to seize up, slow . . .

"No!" I didn't even think about how dangerous hanging by one hand would be; getting caught by that queen would be a lot worse. So, I hung there with one hand, groped for the whistle with the other, and then brought it to my lips, and sounded that sucker as loud as I could.

Toothless shook his head, broke out of the control. His wings beat furiously as he struggled to regain the speed he had lost.

But she was already there. Her mouth opened, and without warning, Toothless was forced to turn viciously. Before my brain could even squeak a warning, an incredibly powerful force gripped me and pulled me away.

I squeezed that single hand close. Squeezed it hard enough that sweat built up. And as the sweat built, I could feel my grip on the stirrup slipping, slipping away . . .

One finger was gone. I was hanging on by three now, and my blood was racing in my ears. I told myself it couldn't be that much longer. I just had to go a little more –

Another. Just two now. My teeth sunk into the inside of my cheek, drawing blood. The leather was slipping under my fingers, sliding . . .

It was over. Immediately, I reached up and grabbed the stirrups with both hands. Alright, that was done. I just had to get up . . .

I pulled. Pulled as hard as I could. Pulled.

And it finally dawned on me: I couldn't do it. I literally couldn't do it. I wasn't strong enough.

"Toothless . . . I can't . . . I can't do it."

My tone said it all. Toothless glanced at me sharply, eyes expressing his terror. And the queen took a deep breath.

He went up. Up high, and then flattened out. The queen followed his every move.

I watched as Toothless folded his wings in. He wasn't going to dive with me like this, would he -?

He didn't.

Instead, he rolled.

I spun in a complete circle, holding on only through sheer force of will. At the end of Toothless's roll, my momentum kept me going up and over, and I understood.

I hung onto the stirrup. Let myself fly around him. And when it was within reach, I let go and grabbed the front of the saddle.

I landed halfway on his back, and that was enough. Toothless felt it, and at once, held himself flat as possible. He stopped his tricky maneuverers and flew only forward. I seated myself, strapped myself in as behind, the queen closed in, sensing her prey's weakness . . .

"Toothless, now!"

And we flew up, narrowly dodging the queen's snap. We flew up, straight into the clouds. A Night Fury's favourite place to hide.

The darkness swallowed us. Toothless jerked again, and I broke him out of the trance again. A triumphant roar signalled that the queen had heard me, but the darkness was our domain, and we disappeared before her head broke through the cloud barrier.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

Creepily, Toothless laughed. His wings folded in, and we began to fall –

Down, down we went, until the queen, still looking for us, came into view. Then, Toothless's signature screech built up in his throat, and he released it in a burst of purple flame. The fireball exploded against the queen's wing with a bright flash, providing the perfect cover we needed to fade back into the shadows.

Five times more, Toothless struck. Each one flashed like lightning, and the explosion echoed like thunder. Two times more, the queen tried to sing her spell. Each time, a blast of the whistle set him free. The queen howled, screamed, and lost it. She thrashed violently in the air, spitting a huge swath of fire in all directions. I could feel the heat on my skin, drying what sweat remained. It felt like my clothes were about to catch on fire. But Toothless knew what he was doing, and he rolled and weaved as the ribbon of flames danced around us.

She was falling to earth, but apparently not fast enough for Toothless's liking. He dove too, quickly closing the space between us and the queen, zipping from side to side as he dodged the fire. He shot a fireball, a weak one, meant to taunt rather than hurt, and dove right past her nose. And she took the bait without even thinking.

We fell together. The sight of her behind us, mouth opened in preparation to devour us whole, made my blood turn to ice. But Toothless wriggled his body, catching my attention, and gave me a toothless grin over his shoulder.

"What?" I asked.

In response, he opened one of his wings just a tad.

"You . . . you went after her wings," I murmured. Toothless had wrecked those poor things and this dive . . . he hadn't lured her into any ordinary dive. He had lured her into a suicidal one. With the speed she now had, there was no way she would survive a crash into the ground, and the only wings she had to slow down with were damaged ones.

"You're a genius!" I cried.

The queen came up behind us, growing closer and closer. My heart raced, but Toothless seemed okay. He started to angle himself, preparing to pull us out of the queen's path. He beat his wings hard, once, twice –

And reeled back as teeth snapped shut an inch away.

He tried again, but with every wingbeat that didn't send us further down, he slowed, and that gave the queen time to reposition herself accordingly. Again and again, he barely avoided her bite. Despite his efforts, we remained below her, straight in the path of danger. Toothless may have correctly determined a way to defeat her, but he had miscalculated his own ability to escape afterwards.

"Toothless. Toothless, do something!"

But he was out of clever plans. He panicked, trying to fly faster and faster, even though we had hit terminal velocity. His paws scythed the air, groping for anything. My own mouth ran dry, filling with a bitter taste.

Everything seemed to be moving so slowly. I looked rapidly from side to side, for anything to get us out of this. Forget goosebumps; my hair was about to stand on end. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, making want to run, puke and punch something all at the same time.

Think. Think! There had to be a way out of this!

I swallowed a mouthful of bile. The resulting mixture made my stomach twist. Down would kill us, that was obvious. Sideways was useless. That left one direction: up. Straight at her.

As I looked up, looked up straight at death, my life flashed before my eyes. Or not. Rather, one specific memory did: another close call inside a ring, a ring meant for killing, with bars for its ceiling and an audience full of Vikings. I had looked straight into a dragon's throat that time, too, and like now, had teamed up with a tiny dragon to defeat the giant one. Fishbone and I had survived, and Fishbone had . . . he had . . .

The mouth. The inside of the mouth. That was the answer. They weren't so fireproof on the inside.

"Toothless, turn over. Toothless, turn!" I grabbed his ears and tugged harshly. I needed him to listen to me now.

But he was panicking. He kept trying to go down, to get away from her.

"Toothless. Toothless!" I growled and grabbed the whistle.

It slipped.

"NO!" I watched in horror as the whistle, my sure-fire way of getting his attention, tumbled out of reach.

"Toothless! Toothless, listen to me!" I screamed into his ear. I don't know if he could hear me over his own shrieks. "Toothless, you have to stop this! You have to flip over. It's the only way!"

The queen drew closer. We were barely a yard away from being devoured.

"Toothless, listen to me! Toothless, please!"

His eyes bugged out when he saw how close she was.

"Toothless, calm down. Toothless, listen to me!"

I screamed, "Toothless, trust me!"

The crying stopped. He went still. Looked over his shoulder at me.

I set my jaw. Grabbed his ears, and pulled.

He turned slowly, unsure. I kept a tight grip, kept him spinning until we were facing the queen. Strands of saliva were strung between her massive fangs. Her three pairs of eyes narrowed cruelly, sensing victory.

Toothless whined, tried to turn around. But I held him there, hissed, "Wait."

Oblivious to the growing holes in her wings, the queen pumped them, eager to erase what little space existed between her and us. Her jaws opened wide –

"Now!"

He shot.

Abruptly, her mouth slammed close. A wisp of smoke escaped from between her teeth. Her pupils widened, went cross-eyed, and Toothless sensed the opening and took it.

He flew out from under her, and snapped his wings open, muscles shaking as he strained to slow us down. Seeing what he was doing, the queen tried to copy, only to finally realize what we had done to her wings. She bellowed, in rage and despair as Toothless slowed us down enough to fly skyward instead.

Just as she hit the ground.

She must have breathed fire before she died, that's the only explanation I had for the wall of flames that shot up toward us. But I trusted Toothless. He flew up along the queen's body, deftly weaving his way through the spikes and spines.

"We're almost here!" I cried. "Keep going!"

I looked back at the wall of fire, feeling a mix of anxiety and fear that disguised itself as a surreal excitement. We could do it. We were going to do it –

Wait, were those flames underneath -?

The queen's tail moved into our path. Toothless flapped his wings hard, jerked –

Snap.

Something in the saddle gave. Suddenly, I was no longer on his back, but more on his side, attached by only a redundant, back-up strap. The abrupt shift in weight was enough to disrupt Toothless's flight, and-

Then the only thing I could see was her tail.

The tail moved slowly enough that I could actually see the back-up strap fray from the force. When it hit me, it hurt surprisingly little; there was just pressure, like doing a belly flop in a lake.

And I was falling. Toothless noticed the loss of weight immediately, and whipped around, shrieking.

The last thing I saw was his green eyes.


I think I need to clarify something about the sequel. Chiefly that it's only a oneshot about 5000 words long. It also disregards Riders of Berk and the second HTTYD movie (although some elements of it will be used). So, be excited, but not too excited ;p

Also, when I said the movie was being released on the 6th (I think that's what I said?), I meant it was being played at a film festival, not being released in theatres. So anyone who might see it, please don't post any spoilers!

Next Chapter: The epilogue

Review Responses:

Guest: Okay, let's make this clear. I don't respond to personal attacks. If you don't like the story, fine. If you hate it, fine. But let's keep the review about the story, eh? If you are actually interested in talking to me/hearing the reasons for why Hiccup can't figure out the true gender of the dragons, then repost that without the little dig.

Matt: Well, she is pretty cool. I mean she's a dragon the size of a mountain!

Guest FTG: It can't be that hard; Toothless is always adorable and cute!

One chapter now :)

Random reader WITH a profile: I think you can see the answer to that first question is no now. The second... you'll have to wait!

havic: Yes, sorry. I addressed that misunderstanding in the AN above :)

SaiyanPrincess: Thank you... again! I base a lot of the interactions between Hiccup and the dragons on those between people and ferrets/cats/parrots, so that's where that comes from.

Jazz: Yes, sorry. That was meant for a different person.