Are you ready for a rescue mission? A new chapter is here for that.

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Before that a different matter, I have mentioned sometimes working also on original work. I recently translated that into English (mostly to support editing of the original, I have noticed that I notice more things to correct that way.) and since most here know English I was wondering if anyone here might want to beta read such novel manuscript (actually beta reading, not proofreading/editing though pointing out most common errors would be nice.) It is fantasy/urban fantasy in 30s-esque world, that due to young protagonist might be best classified into the young adults category and is approximately 68 000 words long in English. PM if interested.

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Comments:

VigoGrimborne: I don't want to give away specifics, but there are few chapters to go and the last one will involve washing the blood off Toothless.

PutMoneyInThyPurse: At first I was going to put in standard by Thor or by Odin phrase but decided to check things out and have a healer pray to Eir, a goddess related to medical skill and it is true that the injury and its consequences were pretty much overlooked. I've tried to write without the sugarcoating that animated family movie needs.

Massive HTTYD Fan: Hopefully not. Only if I choose to write a tragedy

Story. Writer.2015 / Dragonrider's Fury: It is Hiccup, what do you expect him to do? :D

Aren serathy: Because star wars already covered right side dismemberments. ;)

cutielove077: Nope, I stil got few more... books in me.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom


Too many Vikings, there were too many Vikings, and none of them was Hiccup. That was all that mattered. He had to get to Hiccup. Where did those hatchlings go? He needed Fishlegs or Ivar to fly. Damn his tail. He'd love nothing more than to fly together with Hiccup, really together, but if he lost his brother... Something had already happened to Hiccup. Toothless couldn't tell what but he knew it. He had known ever since a scream in his dreams and searing pain in his rear leg had woken him. There was no injury and yet it was still dull. It had to be because of Hiccup. Toothless had to get to him.

Someone moved nearby. Toothless jolted sideways and growled. People jumped back. Only the chief of this village even stood anywhere near the flock.

'That might not be wise Night Fury,' Hookfang said. 'There are many Vikings. They might try to stop us.'

'They can try,' Toothless answered, reinforcing his thoughts with a low growl.

'Be careful with your intentions,' Shortclaw growled. 'I won't mind maiming a random dragon killer but burning down the human nest would hurt the hatchling.'

'I thought you didn't care?' Toothless asked and turned his head just enough for one narrowed eye to look at the Nightmare. They didn't have time for this. Hiccup's kidnappers were more than a day ahead.

'I… fine, I'd rather that hatchling not get hurt,' Shortclaw said. 'It… it hurts to even think that.'

Toothless' eyes widened a little and he turned to look at Shortclaw with both of them.

'I know,' he said. It was his first calm thought since… He hadn't had much reason to be calm. 'Get used to it. That feeling, it will only get stronger. Eventually, you will feel like drowning if you fail to protect him even from the smallest of pains, except it won't end until your human is safe again. Where did those hatchlings go?' Toothless' impatience took hold again. He had been drowning since waking up the previous day. His eyes narrowed again as he surveyed the Vikings around them.

"Shortclaw." The Viking hatchling Ivar shouted from above. Even with Hiccup gone Toothless recognised the word for the name of the Nightmare. Shortclaw turned her head and reached towards the top of a wooden house, pressing her claws against the wall. Ivar had gone in there. Now the hatchling stood in an opening on the roof. Someone grabbed him from behind. Shortclaw was having none of it and soon the hatchling climbed on her neck. The dragon let Ivar down on the ground. Toothless wanted to grab the hatchling and throw him into his own back to use the tailfin, but Shortclaw held her head between them. The hatchling was completely oblivious to Toothless staring at the female Viking who now looked down from the opening.

Finally, Meatlug carried the other hatchling Fishlegs from deeper in the village, slowly as only a Gronckle could. Toothless could have already flown out of even dragon's sight if they didn't need to wait. The larger hatchling went to Ivar and started talking. They didn't have time for this. Disregarding Shortclaw 's warning bark, Toothless pushed himself between the hatchlings and leaned forward to bring them closer to the saddle.

They still kept talking. 'Just get on! Either one of you.' Toothless wanted to scream at them, but without Hiccup it was no use. Toothless could only stare at both of them in turn, and whimper. 'Please, we must go.'

"I guess I have more experience."

Finally, Toothless felt a weight on his back, more than usual. Fishlegs attached a bag of things and a large hammer on the saddle before getting on himself. He didn't turn the pedal. Toothless heard a rustling of paper. The hatchling didn't even know how to use the tailfin. Toothless glanced to the other side. Ivar was holding his hand on Shortclaw's snout. The greeting Hiccup had come up with. Toothless gulped, feeling something in his throat. He felt like he was drowning in water even deeper than before. His sensitive ears captured the hatchling's whispers.

The balance of Toothless' tail changed. He couldn't take any more delays and crouched. Despite his numb leg he leapt high in the air with just a single bounce. His wings spread to their full length, beating the air as he flew up almost vertically. Fishlegs' screams filled his ears, but Toothless wouldn't slow down and only flew faster after turning to fly horizontally. The ships had gone somewhere north. Toothless had recognized the direction from the hatchlings' speaking the previous day.

Toothless glanced back to see the rest of Hiccup's flock following him, but they couldn't catch him. Over a short time, they spread into a long stretching line across the sky, but Toothless wasn't about to hover with Gronckles while Hiccup was in danger. If Fishlegs could just figure out what in the infinite sky he was doing! He couldn't even keep the tailfin still let alone adjust for sudden gusts of winds. Toothless was constantly leaning in a direction he wasn't supposed to and had to struggle to fly straight at any decent speed, for a Night Fury. Even so Stormfly was the only one who seemed to keep up, with the Nightmares and Whiplash close behind her. Toothless couldn't wait for them. Every moment they wasted could be Hiccup's last. He ignored whatever Fishlegs was telling him and kept flying.

Suddenly his tailfin moved. Toothless adjusted instinctually before realizing he was diving down. He roared, but Fishlegs kept forcing him down. He had no other option than to land. They didn't have time for this. Toothless twisted his head to the side and roared at Fishlegs. The hatchling jolted back and fell off the saddle on Toothless' other side. Toothless turned to face him still growling at him to get back on the saddle and fly, but Fishlegs only backed up, sliding on the grass without ever standing up. He only stopped once his back pressed against a tree. Toothless didn't let Fishlegs go around it and kept waving his head towards the saddle. The damned hatchling only sat there holding his hands together, his whole body shaking. He kept talking but Toothless only recognised individual words. Why were they wasting time?

While Toothless was stuck the rest of the flock started catching up and landing around them. Shortclaw landed second with Ivar. The hatchlings talked to each other. Fishlegs whispered as if Toothless couldn't hear every sound despite it. If Fishlegs wouldn't help him… Toothless spun around began growling and cooing at the smaller hatchling. Shortclaw didn't appreciate the growls and lunged forward.

'Leave him alone!'

'I need him! The other one is too scared,' Toothless roared.

'That is your problem. You aren't his alpha and I won't let you do anything to him.'

'Easy for you to say. You don't need him to fly. I do.'

'And whose fault is that,' Shortclaw said. Toothless froze in place as his insides burned of rage. Did she just use Hiccup against him? Toothless couldn't even roar right away. He was breathless. Hookfang, Whiplash and Barf and Belch had already landed, and they took a few steps back. Oblivious to the true severity of the offence by his dragon, Ivar stepped right between Toothless and Shortclaw.

"Stop," he shouted holding his arms up. Fishlegs came from behind Toothless. His step wavered a bit but after a brief hesitation, he joined Ivar between the dragons. Neither Toothless or Shortclaw moved except to try to stare past the hatchlings. They never stopped growling and this continued long enough for even the Gronckles to catch up. Meatlug walked to Fishlegs, as nervous as her human. Sharpshot was curled up and sleeping on Meatlug's back. Toothless broke the eye contact with Shortclaw first to look at the little dragon who was starting to stir. Without Hiccup the terror was his last brother.

Despite the rage burning him, he couldn't roar at the little dragon. Toothless cooed to Sharpshot as the little dragon woke up and flew to land on his snout. Sharpshot stared at his eyes for few seconds.

'Night Fury angry, why Night Fury angry? Was supposed to search nice Viking brother. Why wait to fight? Why leave flock? Flock help to help nice Viking.'

Toothless couldn't answer that. Sharpshot brushed Toothless' snout with his head. Ivar took a step closer. Shortclaw put her head between him and Toothless, but Ivar gently pushed her aside. Fishlegs too stepped away from Meatlug to kneel in front of Toothless with Ivar. Both of them put their soft paws on his snout. They talked to each other again.

A moment later Ivar glanced at Shortclaw and stepped to Toothless' side. That was fine. Until they got to Hiccup, he didn't care who used the tailfin as long as someone did. Shortclaw, however, raised her head. Ivar met her gaze. Toothless tensed, meeting the Nightmare's eyes. She reached forward, and Toothless growled until her tongue came out. Ivar had barely enough time to close his eyes before his face was covered in saliva. Great, now Toothless would have to smell the Nightmare for the whole flight. He hoped the wind would push most of it behind them. Meatlug too decided to leave her mark on Fishlegs. At least everyone was now clear as to which human belonged to which dragon.

'I want him back, safe,' Shortlcaw grunted.

A weight disappeared from Toothless' back as Fishlegs took away his belongings and replaced them with Ivar's lighter ones, and the lighter rider. Toothless felt his tailfin move and crouched, but this time he glanced at his rider. His ears didn't need the screaming of sudden take off. Ivar nodded and Toothless leapt to the air.

Toothless was still flying quickly for an average dragon but tried to at least keep the flock, even the Gronckles, in range of sight. Ivar took his time to get used to the tailfin too. Whenever Toothless made even small adjustment to any direction, the hatchling flipped the pedal in support of that but way too much, forcing Toothless into more erratic motions, trying to correct his flight. After some time they figured out stable flight, when Ivar succeeded in keeping the fin stable despite Toothless' motions, and figured out how to force Toothless to slow down. For a while the flight was uneventful; water, islands, random dragon flying in the distance, two flying right at them. Toothless growled to Ivar and pointed his head at the approaching dragons. The hatchling adjusted the tailfin's position slightly, forcing Toothless to stop, well stop or crash. They hovered in place until the whole flock was together again. The hatchlings briefly spoke to each other once Meatlug caught up.

Their worry seemed justified as the two dragons kept flying directly at them, perhaps even faster than before. Toothless tensed, ready for trouble. Ivar placed his paw on Toothless' head. If it had been Hiccup's touch Toothless would have gone soft right away, but even with Ivar he got the message to stay calm. That didn't make Toothless any less careful. The Nadder and Razorwhip came too close without stopping. Toothless greeted them with an ear-shattering roar, his eyes narrow and ears pressed against his head.

'Don't come any closer! What do you want?'

The two dragons didn't retreat from the angry Night Fury, but they stopped. The Razorwhip answered Toothless with her thoughts.

'You are a Night Fury right? Are you Toothless?' Toothless' ears fell down to hang loose as his eyes widened. The thoughts she called him with. The emotions in the description. The attention to his teeth, the fact this foreign dragon knew of him at all, she had to have met Hiccup.

'Yes, where is he? Where is Hiccup?' Toothless demanded.

Both of the dragons lowered their heads. After a few seconds the Razorwhip answered.

'We were trapped on the same human ship. He helped us escape. We were supposed to escape together, but the humans noticed him, caught him when we were taking flight.'

'AND YOU LEFT HIM?' Toothless roared. A blue glow shone in his mouth. He completely ignored the small paw on his head and alarmed shouts from its owner. The two dragons in front of him flew back several meters, eyes wide, but didn't retreat.

'We went back for him, we tried, we were going to fight but he… he told us to go, I… couldn't refuse. When he told us, my body…'

'Well, that sounds familiar,' Stormfly commented from behind Toothless. 'The hatchling forced their minds too. It's been a while since he last did that.' The two new dragons nodded, and the glow disappeared from Toothless' mouth.

'He told you to leave. That is what Hiccup would do,' he said. 'Know there was nothing you could have done but obey. I know my brother's power better than anyone but him. It is beyond anything you could resist. He is our alpha. Now… WHERE IS HE?'

'We will show you where the ship was. He asked us to find you, to guide you. What is tha… he doing? Is that sound Hiccup's name in Viking?'

Toothless glanced back to find Ivar gesturing with hands, trying to communicate with the two dragons no doubt. He repeated Hiccup's name too. Toothless barked at him, getting the hatchling to stop. He waved his head forward.

'Show us. Fly fast.'

The two dragons turned and started flying north from the direction they had just arrived from. Toothless pushed forward with his wings and slipped down for a few seconds until Ivar found the right fin position. They kept flying without rest until the two dragons stopped. There were no ships in sight.

'Well?' Toothless asked.

'They left after the storm calmed. They were heading that way," the Razorwhip said and nodded slightly to the right of the direction they had been flying in.

'Then that is where we will go.'

'Can we rest first?' Meatlug asked.

'No!' Toothless growled loud enough to startle both the dragon and rider. 'Every moment we waste, they get further away with Hiccup, and whatever happened to him might...' Toothless gulped. He couldn't even finish the thought.

'We cannot fly forever, not even you. None of us has even drunk since we left,' Meatlug kept insisting.

'Fine, there is a pond down there. Drink, but quickly,' Toothless grunted.

He didn't give them much time to rest. Toothless himself took a few gulps of water and after that most of their break time was because Ivar took too long to get back on his back. After that, there were no breaks. Ivar pushed Toothless to adjust their direction a couple of times before dark and then they flew through the night. The flock was scattered in wider formation, just close enough for each dragon's roar to reach the ones flying on each side of them. They couldn't risk missing the ship. At least there wasn't a risk of flying too fast to notice it. More and more of the flock started slowing down and Ivar kept Toothless strictly with the formation. Even Toothless' muscles hurt with every flap of his wings, but he wouldn't stop until they found Hiccup, or his wings fell off.

Hiccup could probably build new ones anyway as long as Toothless found his brother. Alpha or not, Hiccup had amazing mind like that.

Finally, only just before the sunrise, Toothless saw glimpses of light in the distance ahead of them. As they flew closer and the sun rose, Toothless could distinguish dots on the water, ships. Toothless flew faster, reaching forward with his tired thoughts. He was still too far away to really reach Hiccup, but this had to be it. Hiccup was there. Toothless was sure of it. The ships became clearer to his eyes, even Ivar should see them soon.

Toothless' tailfin moved. He lost his balance and had to turn into a descent. No, they finally found the hunters! They could get to Hiccup in minutes! Once again Toothless found his actions controlled by someone else, forcing him towards a small nearby island. For the first time since Hiccup had built the artificial tailfin, Toothless despised the fact he needed it. No, not that he needed it, only that it could be used to hold him back. With Hiccup he could share thoughts and fly truly together. With Ivar every move of the fin exerted control over him.

They landed hard. Toothless' stomach touched the ground as his legs bent to dampen the impact. Ivar's meagre weight quickly disappeared from his back. Toothless turned to face the hatchling. His throat vibrated with a low growl. He took a step closer to the hatchling who stood still. Ivar was shaking ever so slightly, the scale-less soft skin on his face was stretched tense in places, but he hadn't taken a step back. He spoke softly, repeating Toothless' and Hiccup's name often. Shortclaw landed beside them with a thud. She had flown closest to Toothless.

'What are you doing?' the Nightmare growled. She moved to stand behind Ivar.

'Trying to get him back on my back. The hunters are right there."

'Didn't we already go through this? What did that Terror say? The flock will help you get your Viking back.'

'The flock is already here,' Toothless answered as the other dragons began landing.

'A flock that is too tired to fly much further, let alone fight a fleet of hunters. You rush there now and you are dead, and so is everyone who follows you.'

'She isn't wrong,' Hookfang intervened from behind Toothless. 'A warrior should attack when he is strongest. We and you especially have an advantage in the dark, and by then we will be rested. Even the Queen permitted us to stop after a long flight for rest before attacking human nests.'

Toothless turned sideways between the two Nightmares and was about to roar something rude at them, but couldn't muster the anger. The motion had reminded him of the pain in his own muscles. His wings draped because pulling them fully against his body hurt. He whimpered looking in the direction he had seen the hunters.

'He is so close.'

'I'm starting to understand why you care about the hatchling,' Shortclaw said, 'but you have become impossible to deal with since he was taken. Even as Queen's servants we weren't this possessed.'

'Then you don't understand yet,' Toothless answered. 'Hiccup didn't only release all of us from the Queen… most of us.' Toothless glanced at Whiplash and the new Gronckle that only now landed along with Meatlug. Both of them collapsed as soon at their feet touched the ground. 'He was the first to accepted me since my family was killed. You are here now, but without Hiccup, you would avoid me at best. He feels the same. I swore I would protect him. We weren't supposed to be alone anymore.' Toothless couldn't continue. Sharpshot jumped on his head and curled up between his ears.

'Night Fury not alone.'

'Maybe… but what if he is there and is taken away while we rest?' Toothless still didn't want to wait.

'Maybe you should let the hatchlings worry about that,' the exhausted Meatlug said. 'I think their minds have already come up with something.'

Fishlegs and Ivar were talking. They had moved closer to the Changewing, Whiplash.