A Queen's Hero
Disclaimer: I do not own How to train your dragon
KEY
'Thoughts/memories'
"foreign language/projected thoughts"
Emphasis/yelling
(A/N: Here we go, the first half of the climactic battle.)
Review responses
Umbra Lycan: Thank you.
Arraia: Thanks, and here you go. Harem? I wouldn't be that cruel to Hiccup.
OechsnerC: Thank you, here's more.
CajunBear73: -Meatheads with full bellies, a raider's worse nightmare.
-Foreplay with razor sharp swords and axes? He-he kinky.
-Maybe I'll give poor Hiccup a break… ehh, maybe not.
Atomicsub927: Thank you. Eh, what can you do? Thanks for the heads-up and here you go.
thomaspheasant: ok
Guest: Yes, it was. The girls he saw in his dream were ones he feels 'uncomfortable' with and not to mention impossible to have a family with them, as mentioned in chapters 14 and 16. 'Their' child was in the crib, as evident by the hatchling having her white coloration and his blunted claws and back limbs.
PastaShark000: Hello. Your opinion is worth more than gold to me, just like all reviews about my stories.
Romanleader505: Thank you and Yes, check out my profile for the other. I'm working on two now but this one takes priority, the other will be updated less frequently.
Back to the action!
Chapter 22: Storm
Nar POV
The Citadel hangar
Mira stepped through the hangar's interior door, she sees Hiccup hooking on a cargo crate to Asa, "Alright, when you get to the Meathead islands, land where I showed you before and- ". He was interrupted when a messenger sekär barreled in and skidded across the floor. Hiccup rushed over to her as she wobbled up, "Are you alright, what's wrong?!".
She panted, "Boats… burning… help".
"You're not making any sense", he waited for her to catch her breath. Hiccup leaned down to hear her message, then bolted toward the hangar's main doors. He leapt as he yelled, "BLITZ!", said sekär flew down after him. Mira rushed to the ledge, a rush of air made her look away as Blitz shot up while carrying Hiccup in his legs.
She ran back to the messenger, "What happen?!".
"A big group of boats are attacking the Kind ones".
The sky above the open ocean
Blitz soared above the clouds, flying as fast as he could with Hiccup tightly held. The prince squeezed his clawed hands as the minutes passed, 'Damn those Vikings!'. Nearly twenty agonizing minutes later, "Hiccup, we should be close!".
"Alright, take us down Blitz!", they descend into the sea of clouds. After breaking below the mist, the duo sees the island of Beartooth under siege by a fleet numbering over fifty ships. The forest surrounding the village was engulfed by flames, turning the blue late morning sky orange. Blitz circled the village, floating wrecks and heavily damaged berserker ships saturated the docks, 'Damn, the skippers must've run out of bombs'.
Skirmishes between Beartooth warriors and the invaders were fought all throughout the village, Hiccup sighed, "Are we too late?".
Hours earlier, middle of the open ocean
Dagny stood on the bow of her flagship; the large vessel was nearly twice the size of the surrounding ships in the fleet. The twenty-five strong berserker warship group made the core of her allied flotilla, to their port was the much larger murderous armada. At thirty-five ships, they were the largest collective in their allied fleet.
The chieftess huffed, 'That fool thinks he's being clever'. She eyed the transports spread among the warships, 'I already know what he's planning'. Dagny thought back to the meeting she held back on berserker isle.
Flashback, two months ago
Vorg led Stoick and Spitelout from the docks, the chief examined the numerous catapults built upon sea spires. They walked through the extensively decorated village, statues of Dagny in various 'heroic' poses were spread along their path. Stoick twisted his face in revulsion, 'The chieftess's arrogance makes that no-name seem humble'.
As he led them toward the meeting hall, Vorg pandered on about how great his chieftess is and how she'll bring back what Oswald had squandered. Stoick bit back his tongue, he had a deep respect for Dagny's father. The trio finally arrived at the hall; they could hear loud arguing coming from inside.
"I demand ma' ships be tha' first wave o' tha' attack alone!", bellowed Madguts as Vorg opened the doors for the chief and his second-in-command. The Uglithugs chieftain yelled back, the two continued to argue while the Hooligans sat in silence. After a few minutes of needless threats and yelling, Madguts turned to Dagny, "Well?!".
She sighed from her throne, "Fine, Madguts' ships will lead the attack only if the following waves will consist of mine and the Uglithugs, agreed?". The other chief grumbled but approved, she looked to the quiet Stoick, "Why aren't you speaking up, Vast?".
"I already decided that my ships will hang back and provide rearguard to the fleet", he muttered.
Dagny raised an eyebrow, "How… uncharacteristic of you Stoick". The other two chiefs mumbled in accord, "Might I ask why?".
Stoick sighed, "I'm here only to uphold my tribes end of our treaty, that's all".
Madguts laughed, "Well, more killin' fur' us eh?!", the Uglithugs chief chuckled as well.
Flashback end
Vorg walked up behind Dagny, "Chieftess, why are you letting the Murderous go first?".
She looked over her shoulder, then turned back to see Beartooth island as a speck on the horizon, "You were the one who reported that our men had eavesdropped on the Hooligans and heard them mention 'Powerful emplacements that outrange catapults' and 'Sunk ships with a single hit', were you not?".
"Yes, my chieftess, but do you believe them?", Dagny turned around and walked pass Vorg.
She stopped and gave him a sideways glance, "Whether or not they exist, the first wave of any attack will suffer the most casualties". Her face showed her infamous grin, "I prefer someone else take those losses and besides-". Dagny stopped as she grabbed the railing of the stairs leading up above her quarters, "Even if they survive their attack, we'll deal with the survivors ourselves".
An hour later, Beartooth village's great hall
Ivor had finished setting a dispute between Harek and his tailor friend, he stepped out and sees one of Hiccup's patrolling watchers decloak. The orange sekär dove and landed by the steps, "What is it?". Ivor watched as it drew lines in the dirt, he knew Hiccup had taught them how to roughly write in norse. The chief eyes widen, "Ships, How many?!". The sekär scratched a line and two circles, "Oh gods", Hosvir marched up to him.
"Sir, what's the matter?".
Ivor grabbed him by the shoulders, "Get every able body warrior and shieldmaiden ready, a massive fleet of a hundred ships is heading toward us!".
"A hundred ships!", Hosvir composed himself, "Yes sir".
"Get every bomb from storage to the skippers and get the women, children and the elders into the great hall", Hosvir saluted and ran off to inform the other guards. He turned to the sekär, "Fly to Hiccup, tell him to help us as fast as he can", it bowed and shot up. Ivor sees it fly in the direction of the citadel, he whispers to himself, "By Odin's mercy, I hope he'll reach us in time".
The allied fleet
The fleet was less than an hour from their target and closing fast, Vorg hollers to Dagny, "Chieftess, the murderous tribe is breaking formation!". She walks to the portside railing and just as he said, Madguts' ships were pulling ahead of the fleet. Dagny locked eyes with the chieftain, he smirked and bellowed for more speed, "Are we going to let them go?".
"Yes, if that fool wants to race to his demise, let him".
After getting enough distance from the rest of the fleet, Madguts eyed Beartooth like a prize. He marched to the railing, "Spread tha' word, I want our catapults loaded with fire!". The Vikings aboard the warships hollered to nearby ships, the catapults were loaded with woven boulder-sized projectiles covered with pitch.
"We'll come into range in five minutes Chief!", a deckhand reported.
'Good', Madguts smiled, "Aim fur' the village, burn it down!". His men cheered, "After we run off tha' othas', we'll claim tha' island ourselves and our tribe will be unmatched!". More cheers rung out as they neared catapult range, "To battle!", he began laughing. His laughter was cut off by a growing buzzing, "Wha' is tha' nois- ". Madguts was interrupted by an explosion behind his ship, the closest transport was engulfed in flames. He sees his villagers run out from below, some of them on fire.
The sound of buzzing and explosions prevented his ships from communicating with each other. His artillery ships launched their catapults, raining fire down on the village. The transport ships attempted to flee the killing ground, crashing into warships in their panic. One of the warships was smashed into by them, causing its shot to miss. The burning mass bounced off the roof of a hut and tumbled into the forest, setting it alight.
Madguts can only watch in horror as his fleet was trapped, every ship tried to flee from the flaming bolts coming from Beartooth's Polybolos'. A warship to his starboard was crushed by a burning ship, it's hull was shattered open and the pitch containers exploded. The chieftain was thrown by the blast, he warily opens his eyes and wobbly stood up. The deck of his ship was in flames, he could hear the cries of his tribe's men, women, and children alongside the explosions.
He swayed as he walked, then was struck by a bolt. Madguts leaned on the remains of his ship's mast, the smoke and embers made him cough. The flames and cries made his surroundings seem like Helheim, 'How did this happen?!'. He thought back to when he last saw the berserker chieftess, her smirk as he pulled away finally made sense, 'Damn that wench!'. His men all lie dead, cutdown by the raining bolts.
Madguts gets sent crashing to the deck as his ship collided into a burning wreck, he hears a buzzing drawing close and looks up. Time seems to slow as a skipper bomb barrels towards him, the bomb strikes the deck and lodges itself in front of him. He hears ticking from the barrel start to slow, the ticking abruptly stops, "Oh hel". The chief and his ship were engulfed in a tremendous explosion.
From his ship, Stoick sighs, 'By the time they'll reach the island, the sea will be red with blood'.
Back to the present
The smoke from the raging forest fires made it difficult for Blitz and Hiccup to breathe, the prince coughed, "We have to help!".
"But where, Hiccup?!", bodies lied in blood, thankfully none were from Beartooth.
He sees a man surrounded by invaders near the forge, "There, get ready to drop me!".
Harek strikes a berserker with his hive-iron hammer, shattering his skull, 'There's no end to them'. Three men charge at him, the blacksmith tightens his grip on his tool. His attackers raised their weapons as they neared, Harek closed his eyes but opened them when he heard a thud. The trio vanished, "What the-?".
"You ok, Rek?!", he turns his head and sees Hiccup standing on a Uglithug with his arm outstretched. He followed from Hiccup's arm; the three men were skewered by a spear imbedded into a tree. The hybrid stepped off his landing pad, more bloody mess spewed from the dead man's mouth.
"Hiccup?!", Harek ducks under a sword slash and breaks the attacker's ribs with his hammer, he then reels back and drives it into the side of the man's head.
The berserker flops to the ground, "I'm here, how's the situation?!", Hiccup cleaves through another uglithug's shield and arm.
"Bad, the skippers held back the first two waves before they ran out of shots", Harek snatches the berserker's shield and hefts it on.
Hiccup blocks two Vikings at once, he breaks their hold and cuts them down, "Right, where's Ivor?".
The hybrid and blacksmith got back to back, "Last I heard, he and the rest of the guards were holding the village square".
Both struck down more berserkers, Hiccup drove the Remnant into a downed man, "Why are you still here?".
Harek caved in an Uglithug's head, "Getting the last of the hive iron ingots, can't let them fall into their hands". The pair brought down raider after raider, "Hiccup, I've got something to tell you!".
"Do you really think now's the best time?!", he impales a berserker.
"Yes!", Harek smacks his shield into a raider's face.
"What-", Hiccup cuts out an Uglithug's legs from under him, "- is it?".
"I'm gonna be a father!", Hiccup finishes the downed raider.
"Congratulations", he pulled his sword free and flicked it clean of blood, "Get the ingots packed and ready to move!".
"You got it".
"I'll hold them here", Harek sees him pull out Eigengrau before rushing into the forge. He quickly resumed packing the ingots into a crate, hearing groans of pain and Hiccup roaring, "How much longer?!".
He hammers the crate closed, "Done!", then tucks it under his arm.
Harek opens his door and sees two men fly pass, he steps out to Hiccup's back to him. More raiders arrived behind their line, the hybrid looks back to him, "Ready?".
He nods, "I can't fight that well with only one hand".
Hiccup smiles, "Leave that to me, just stay behind me and watch my back", he rushes the wall of berserkers and uglithugs. The roaring prince hacked his way through the attackers, Harek followed close behind. He jogged after Hiccup, occasionally having to step over a downed raider. They neared the village square, Harek was suddenly pulled into an alleyway.
"Why'd you do that?", several crossbow bolts land where they were moments before, "Ah".
Ivor or his guards weren't anywhere in sight, Hiccup whispers, "They must've fallen back to the great hall".
"How do we get through?", a berserker jumps down from a rooftop. Harek ducks under his axe chop, Hiccup pierces his back-limbs into the raider. The man hacks up blood, the hybrid holds up the corpse, "That works".
Harek follows behind him as they rush out of the alleyway, bolts thwacked into their 'meat shield', "Stay close!". The crossbowmen panic when Hiccup closes in on their line, he roars and barrels into them. He throws the bloody pincushion into a group, Harek charges into the stunned berserkers. In a matter of seconds, both he and Hiccup kill the raiders.
A break in the smoke lets them see Ivor's defense line, "Hiccup!", he nods and runs towards them.
Beartooth great hall
"Here they come!", Ivor warned as many raiders charge at their line. His men began shouting, he too sees bodies being tossed behind the charge, "Crossbows!". His men moved in between the warriors, they took a knee and fired. The fallen raiders allowed them to see Hiccup massacring the attackers, "Hold your fire!". Harek runs to his chief while his friend finishes the last of the berserkers.
"Chief!", Ivor catches him when he stumbles.
"Harek, are you alright?", the blacksmith catches his breath.
"Yes, thanks to Hiccup", said hybrid marches up to them, his armor spotted with blood.
Ivor lets the winded Harek go into the hall, "Hiccup, thank Thor yur' here!", he envelopes him in a hug.
"Is everyone safe?", he breaks their hug.
"Most of the village is in the hall or down in the caverns".
"Good, listen, where is your flagship?".
"It's anchored on the far side of the island with a few fishing boats that managed to flee before the bastards blockaded the docks", some guards nodded in agreement.
"We'll use them to evacuate if my brethren can't reach us in time", Ivor understood. Hiccup looked back to him, "You mentioned 'most' of the village is here, who's missing?".
"Heather was gathering the children who were separated in the panic, I've sent Hosvir to find them", he looked worried.
"Ok, I'll go out and look for them", Hiccup took a breath, "Hold here and wait for me".
"And what if we can't?".
He sighs, "Then seal the doors and lead your people through the caverns, I'll find my own way to the ships". Hiccup runs off to find the missing group, Ivor organizes his warriors to hold back the raiders.
Beartooth village
Raiders encircle Hosvir, an occasional stab or chop comes from the surrounding ring. With his crimson blade, he blocks or parries their attacks. An Uglithug lunges from the group, Hosvir meets the longsword with his. He redirects it away and slashes at his opponent, cutting off his hand. The man screams as he holds his stump, Hosvir silences his cries by slicing his throat.
A berserker rushes him, he dodges his chop and drives his sword into his foe. The Viking drops his axe and grabs Hosvir's sword, he pulls it deeper while gritting his teeth. Hosvir manages to free his weapon from the madman, only to be stabbed in the back by a spear, "Argh!". His red hive-iron chest piece stops it from piercing more than a centimeter into his back's lower side. The spearman forces him to his knees, Hosvir swings his sword back and kills him.
The remaining raiders close in on him, "This is where you die".
Hosvir closes his eyes and bows his head, the surrounding men raise their swords and axes. He waits for the pain of death but only hears blood and bodies hit the ground. He opens his eyes and looks around, the only things that remained of his would-be killers were their lower halves. The remains flopped to the ground, "Hosvir, you still alive?".
Hiccup walks to him, he groans, "Hiccup?".
Moments earlier
Hiccup hears a red messenger sekär call from above, "Milord!".
The prince sees the sekär swoop down and drop a large cloth wrapped sword, he catches it and tears off the covering, "Unity, How?!".
"Elder Crimson thought you might need it!".
Present
"Yes, I'm here", Hosvir looks on in awe, the surrounding firelight glinted off his black armor and massive sword he rested on his left shoulder. The sword's length almost matched Hiccup in height and nearly as wide. From the reflected light, Hosvir could see a rainbow of colors flow throughout the blade. A deep red ran down the core of the great sword, the grip's length was four times the width of Hiccup's clawed hand.
Hosvir tries to stand up, "Ah!", the pain from the spear still lodged in his back sends him to his knee.
"Here, let me help you", Hiccup stabs the tip of his sword into the dirt and moves behind him. "Now take a deep breath-", he pulls the spear free, Hosvir hisses in pain.
He helps him up, "Thank you".
"You're welcome, now where's Heather?".
"I found her and the children gathered by the chief's house-", he breathes in to lessen the pain, "When those fiends ambushed us while we were heading to the great hall, they grabbed them while I was surrounded".
"Do you know where they could've gone?", a scream in the distance made Hiccup's head snap up. He pulls his great sword free, "Can you move?".
"Yes".
Elsewhere
"You damn trollop!", a berserker throws Heather from his shoulder, he rubs his jaw. The other raiders carried the bound children, they move to an intact hut. They throw them inside, "We were gunna take them along with you to Dagny, but you made me mad". He tossed her inside and barricaded the door close, then motions to the others. They nod and tossed their torches through the windows and on the roof.
Inside, Heather crawls to a torch and holds her bound hands to the flame. She clenches her teeth, fighting through the pain. After the binds weaken enough, she snaps her hands free. Heather moves to free the other children, she hears a familiar voice call out to her, "Heather!".
'Hiccup', she tries to get to a window, but flames block her path. Heather yells, "Hiccup!". Seeing the children bawling, she gathers them up and tries to calm them, "Shh, it's going to be ok".
A small girl asks, "H-how do y-you know, Ms. Heather?".
She smiles, "Because my friend is here to save us".
Outside, a berserker waves Heather's axe staff, "Ya think I'll get good money fur' this?".
The leader smacks him when he sees Hiccup running towards them with Hosvir in tow, he smirks when he sees the look of pure anger on his face. "Looks like it's me lucky day, I'm sure Dagny will reward me handsomely for your head!", his men ready themselves. The hybrid growls, "In a few moments, that wench and the brats will join yo-", the leader is cut off when a thrown Eigengrau digs into his face.
The rest of the raiders charge as the body collapses, Hiccup grips the great sword with his hands and graspers. He rushes at them with Hosvir covering his rear, he reels back and bifurcates three men at once. The following raiders were stunned by the show of inhuman strength, Hiccup growls as his bangs cover his eyes, "I'm personally going to send each one of you to Helheim!".
They bellow and run at him; the lead berserker raises his axe as he nears Hiccup. The man gets split vertically when the prince chops through his axe and head, another gets behind Hiccup as he recovers.
"No, you don't!", Hosvir impales him before he could take another step towards his friend, Hiccup hears snapping as the hut begins to collapse.
He cross cuts the door open, "Watch my back!", then rushes in. Hosvir holds his own against the last two raiders, he cuts them down quickly.
The front of the hut fractures as the wood burns away, "Hiccup!". The roof collapsed in as the fire grows, "HICCUP!", he could only hope that his friend wasn't trapped. A second later, the left side of the hut burst open, sending bits of burning wood flying. Hosvir runs around and sees the unharmed children flee through the opening, 'Where is he?!'.
Hiccup lunges from the burning ruins before it collapses entirely, "Hosvir!", he rushes to his side. The children stand behind him, Hiccup opens his arms to reveal Heather. He tells the children to look away, "She's hurt bad", her face, right arm and back had severe burns.
Heather's sleeve and back of her tunic was burned off, "What happen?!".
Hiccup held her gently, "When I reached them, Heather was covering the Hatchlings with her body". She winced when he stood up while carrying her, "I quickly pulled off the burning debris before she fainted".
"We need to get her to Hilde", Hosvir sheathed his sword and holds out his arms, "I'll carry her while you get the children". He carefully passes her to him, then walks over and straps Unity to his back. Hiccup spots Heather's axe staff still clutched in a dead berserker's hand, he steps down on the arm and frees it. He detaches them back into a pair of axes and hooks them to his lower back next to Eigengrau.
The wind changes direction, creating a gap in the smoke. Hiccup sees another large group of raiders amassing at the docks, "They're preparing another push, we have to warn Ivor". Hosvir calls the children over to him, Hiccup takes a child in each arm and grasper. The ones in his arms grab onto his shoulders, while the ones in his graspers wrap their small arms around his chest. "Is everyone ready?", they nod, Hiccup jogs towards the great hall with Heather being carried by Hosvir.
Beartooth great hall
Ivor caves an Uglithugs' skull in with his hive steel maul, 'They must be running out of men!'. A guard puts a crawling berserker out of his misery with his spear, he calls out to his chief, "Sir, Look!". Ivor spots Hiccup and Hosvir returning with the others, his relief is short lived when raiders noticed them too.
"Clear a path fur' them!", his tired warriors charged while the crossbowmen rained down bolt after bolt. The stubborn raiders grouped together to cutoff their path, forming a wall of shields.
Hiccup crossed his back-limbs in front of himself and roared, "YOU'RE IN MY WAY!". Like a charging bear smashing through saplings, he tore through the line. Berserkers and uglithugs were sent flying or knocked aside, the chaos allowed the warriors of Beartooth to easily cut down the remaining raiders.
Ivor met them as they stopped before the steps, "Did you find them?!".
Hiccup released the children, then called out, "Hilde!". Ivor looks to Hosvir, he staggered when he sees his daughter.
The healer arrived and began to examine Heather, she turns to Hiccup, "She isn't in any serious danger, but I need to treat her immediately before her wounds become infected". He nods to Hosvir, he follows Hilde into the hall.
"Hiccup, what happen?!", Ivor grabs him by the shoulders.
"Hosvir and Heather were ambushed and separated", he squeezed his claws, "Those monsters tried to burn her and the children alive". Ivor released him, Hiccup took a deep breath, "You need to start evacuating".
The chief realized what was coming, "How many?".
Hiccup looked around to the tired guards, he sighed, "Too many".
"I see", Ivor called over his warriors, "Get everyone into the tunnels". The guards saluted and gathered torches; they began grouping villagers together.
Hiccup walked to Harek and his wife, he smiled, "Congratulations". They thanked him, he turned to the blacksmith, "Harek, can I borrow your hammer for a second?".
"Sure", he handed him his large headed forge hammer.
Hiccup walked out the open door of the hall, Ivor noticed him, "Hiccup?". He smiles, then reels back the hammer and strikes the legs of the statue. He moved to the other while the cracks spread through the first one, "What are you doing?!". Harek walks to stand beside his chief and sees him destroy the legs of the other statue.
Hiccup turns around and tosses the hammer to Harek, "I'll find my own way", then pulls the door closed. He walks down the steps as the statues collapse and seal the doors of the great hall. Hiccup frees Unity and rests it on his shoulder, then looks to the sky, "I'll buy as much time as I can, my kin, so hurry".
(A/N: No, this isn't a deathflag. Yes, I gave Hiccup his own rainbow buster sword.)