As told by Hiccup
Chapter 29
I dropped Astrid off at her house, and then Toothless and I flew back to the clearing.
I sat under Toothless' wing and planned the battle, scratching marks in the ground to represent various parts of our force, and thinking of Astrid, and the soft touch of her lips against my own.
It began to snow, but Toothless' wings shielded me.
It wasn't until Toothless shifted behind me, and breathed a long, hot sigh, that I realized who it would really be that I would miss most.
I turned, and met with the piercing, cat-like gaze of Toothless' huge eyes.
I hadn't thought of what would happen to him when we lost.
I put my arms around his neck, and buried my face against him.
When I tried to swallow past the huge lump in my throat, I choked and my tears spilled out onto my cheeks and off my chin.
When I drew back, I noticed that his smooth scales shone, not only with my own small tears, but also with large droplets, hot to the touch.
Then I looked up at Toothless and saw that his eyes were shining more than usual.
Then words, not my own, broke through the barriers of my mind. Either it was a situation where I was so sure of what Toothless was thinking that I knew the exact tone and dimensions of the thought, or else Toothless was actually speaking into me.
Alone, he said, his voice mournful.
What? I thought.
Alone, he said again, with more intensity, as if he had been able to hear my question. Without you, without me. If one of us goes on while the other stays. Alone.
No! I shook my head. If you die, I'll follow soon, whether from grief or the sharp point of some enemy's sword.
He blinked.
If you die, I won't need an enemy to finish me. Misery and isolation will do it faster.
For a single second, the connection flashed stronger then ever before, and then it drew off, until it was no more then a glimmer, like when someone gives you a tight hug, and then turns away.
I wrapped my arms around him again, and he folded his wings around me.
His scalding tears landed in my hair and on my face, steaming when they met my own.
I sat on Toothless' back, running my fingers along the hilt of my sword, watching a man approaching from the Thornburgian force.
The snow blew in thick drifts over the open field, and the man waded through them as if they were water.
"A messenger approaches, my liege," came a cry.
"Bring him here," I said. Perched on Toothless' back, I could see the man exchange a few words with the guards at the village gates, and then three soldiers of Berk led the man forward.
"What's your message?" I asked him.
"Are you the chief of Berk?" He asked me.
"I am."
"My chieftainess bids you surrender, before we obliterate your men and blood and gore lie ankle deep on the ground."
I slid off Toothless and drew my sword. I put the point on the messenger's chest, and growled, "By tomorrow morning, the ground will not be ankle deep in slaughtered men but knee deep. And if all those bodies are men of Berk then we shall deserve our death! But I trust that lifeless Thornburgians shall surround us wherever we fall. We will never give in! Go! Tell whoever sent you that I defy her! And then, if you have any sense of self-preservation, run, run until Berk is out of sight, or else you shall breathe your last before dawn!"
The messenger gave a hurried bow, stumbled backwards a few steps, and then began to openly run away from our force.
I nodded, and remounted Toothless.
I've let Kenna know what I think of her. Now I have to get to my troops to feel the same.
I took a deep breath, and let emotion flood every part of my body. Defiance. Courage. Protectiveness. I let another passionate wave flow through me, and then summoned words. Words.
I twisted in my saddle.
"Hear me, men of Berk!"
They fell silent.
"Death!" The word rang out across the men, and a ripple seemed to run through them.
"Death!" I shouted again. "We go to our deaths. But we go willingly! We go for our mothers and aunts, our sisters and daughters! We go because we're holding onto something. The Thornburgians have nothing to hold onto, but the empty promise of charred and desolate land. They have nothing! They die without purpose. But we die with determination and resolution! Death!"
The men roared, and words flowed through me again. Just two.
"Let's go!"
The battle is coming!
