Chapter twelve

Cutter's sacrifice

Burpy was out of ideas! In no time at all the Green Death would turn the village of Huttsgalor into a burning bonfire!

"Everyone!" It was Winger's voice commanding all the dragon's that were still in the air, "protect the town! Or at least cover the villagers!" Burpy understood what his plan was, dragons were fireproof, and so they would at least be able to provide protection to a good number of villagers, but Burpy knew that that wouldn't be all of them, and he refused to let any innocent bystanders get harmed because of this!

"IF YOU WANT TO KILL ANYONE HERE, YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE ME FIRST!" He shouted at the beast, "COME ON THEN YOU BEASTY! KILL ME!" But before anyone could even answer Burpy's request, another voice rand out all over the island,

"NO! YOU WANT ME… SO HERE I COME!" And from out of the forest zoomed a brown, silver and yellow coloured blur, it was Cutter! He was flying right towards the Green Death's open jaw!

"Cutter! NO!" Dak called out but it was too late! He had flown right into the monster's mouth!

The Green Death coughed and groaned in irritation. And as the Rescue Riders mourned for their friend, Joules' eyes opened wide as he realised what was going on! He rushed down to town as quickly as he could, and reached the riders within moments thanks to the excess energy from his ring,

"It said that it wanted to crush Cutter, but I think he must have flown right down its throat!"

"And how is that meant to help?" Leyla asked in confusion, but her eyes suddenly opened wide too as what was happening hit her, "Oh!"

"Yes," Joules nodded, "Oh!"

Burpy had also realised what Cutter was up to, and hoped that he had a good aim, because the Green Death didn't seem to even want to bother with him now! Burpy stood there as the monster sucked in a deep breath, and puffed out its cheeks. Everyone on the island flinched as they expected flames to consume them, but nothing happened! The Green Death was confused, it kept trying to breath it's fire, but no fire came out. It's face was turning purple with the pressure going on inside it, and Burpy chuckled,

"What's wrong, Death?" He asked, "Is something stuck in your throat?" Before taking a step back. The Green Death's eyes widened in terror!

"NOOOO!" It roared in fury as it realised what had happened, when suddenly the pressure became too much and the Green Death exploded right in front of the towns eyes!

An explosion that large should have taken out the town itself, but Burpy held out his hands and used all his power on the blooming burst of flesh, bone and fire! To the people in the town, it was as if a wall of fire had covered the entire cliffside, and with Burpy and Burpy alone pushing it back! His coat flapping wildly behind him! Effort etched on his face until finally, the fire died down, and his arms dropped to his sides. The whole village cheered, even Magnus was happy (but mainly because a dragon had been gotten rid of, he was certainly going to use this as leverage to try to get rid of the Riders in the future), but the riders weren't so happy.

"Where's Cutter?" Leyla asked as she rushed forward, towards the cliffside. As she arrived, the other dragons had already flown there and were down by the limited destruction at the base of the cliff, the explosion had created a sort of block in the ocean, leaving rubble openly visible for a good distance. Summer and Winger flew up from the search to bring her and Burpy down, and as they landed, Leyla gasped at the sight, Green Death remains were scattered everywhere, she was even doubting that a dragon could survive that if they were at the heart of it.

Toothless was sniffing through the remains, he soon came across dozens of Cutter's spikes, all leading to an unusual lump in the ground! The little dragon rushed over and started scrabbling away at the remains, soon uncovering a tail!

"G-G-GUYS!" He shrieked, attracting the attention of everyone, Vikings and dragons alike rushed over to dig out the dragon. Cutter was all in one piece, well… mostly, and after a quick check from Leyla, it was confirmed: he was still alive!