Chapter 20
Hi everyone! Once again, sorry for the wait.
IMPORTANT: It' useless to spam my other fics to have me update that one. I say that because of one guest who did it. If anything, that kind of behavior tends to kill my motivation. I abandoned a fic on another account because the same thing happened some years ago. Now I won't abandon that one, I want to end it. So it's useless to tell me to stop writing my other fics, I won't. And by the way I deleted the spams. I already had most of this chapter written when I updated my other fics, so it was already on the way.
I know it takes time to update that one, but this is probably the most difficult fic I ever wrote, even more than Dragon Prince which was already a challenge. I was also absolutely not expecting it to be successful. Even if I was only writing this one, it would still take time to update, because I write drafts, I work over and over the chapters, it's a lot of work, an amount I don't put into the others. Compared to this one, my other fics are very easy to write, that's why it doesn't take much time to update those. I won't rush that fic, I know it can be annoying to wait, but I'd rather take my time and give something good than rush it out.
Now after that, I hope you will enjoy that chapter!
When their dragons had started to fly away, Astrid had remembered Valka's words: blindfold the dragons.
Lady and Windshear left too quickly, but Meatlug was slower. Astrid sprinted, jumped on a rock and then threw herself up and seized the Gronkle by a front paw. The dragon was stunned and went to bit Astrid who propped herself up with all the energy she could muster to get on the beast's back. She barely avoided the fangs and the Gronkle tried to get her away, to swirl and make the human fall. But Astrid had killed dragons for years before going on Endris. And she knew how to make sure they couldn't get away. She kept holding Meatlug and crashed the handle of her axe on the Gronkle's neck, at one weak spot she knew. The Gronkle yelped and started to fall toward the ground, half knocked out.
The warriors previously fighting them had retreated, but seeing they were in a bad posture, some of them started to run back toward them.
Fishlegs tore the shirt of an enemy's corpse, took Heather's unconscious form on his shoulders and rushed in Astrid's direction. Astrid hit Meatlug on the head again this time, not as strongly as before, but enough to make sure she would put no resistance. Meatlug finally fell on the ground and Fishlegs blindfolded her quickly after putting Heather back on the ground delicately. Astrid jumped off Meatlug and started to fight against their opponents. There weren't many of them. Fishlegs followed her, he dodged a blow only to crash his hammer against his opponent's skull, deforming the iron of his helmet.
He heard growls from Meatlug and went to her as she was trying to undo the blindfold.
"No, girl, no. Keep this, trust me."
She cooed and sniffed him before rubbing her snout against his hand. He mounted on her back and they flew where Stormfly had been left, firing at the remaining enemies while flying. The few soldiers burned, and started to roll on the ground to stop the flames from ravaging the bodies. Astrid would only have to finish them. He saw the Nadder: she hadn't been harmed; a little group of soldiers intended to use her instead now that she was controlled. They were hitting the Nadder with the handle of their weapons, to force her to get up in spite of the poison in her veins.
Fishlegs almost hissed at this: "Meatlug, fire!"
He turned her head in their direction and the unexpected fire killed two of them, and made the others run away. The Gronkle grabbed the Nadder and fled away back to Astrid. The young woman was with Heather, guarding her and checking up on her. All the soldiers who attacked them were dead now. She had paled when she had seen Heather's state, that arm could be considered lost, there was no way it could heal.
Fishlegs and Meatlug landed, and Astrid immediately went to blindfold Stormfly before she could regain complete control over her body.
"Thank you, Fish! But where are the other warriors?"
"Trying to stop the fire we set before it get to the village, from what I saw. We don't have much time; others will try to get us again. And we need to find a place for Heather to stay."
"Yeah." She stroked Stormfly, and murmured reassuringly: "Keep the blindfold, girl. You'll need it."
The Nadder shakily got on her paws, she might be able to fly soon, but they would have to give her a bit more time.
"Astrid, Fishlegs!"
They both saw Camicazi running toward them: she was alive! She got to them and they saw she wasn't at her best, but she would still walk normally. She was immediately alarmed when she saw Heather and kneeled at her side.
"Heather! Who the hell did that?!"
"Ryker. But he is dead now. What happened to you?" Asked Fishlegs
"Viggo trapped us before we could reach the Alpha; Long story short but Valka, Fury and I managed to escape, I was sent to help you. We have to hurry and do something, the boats are coming, I saw those from afar, I don't know if our dragons heard the Alpha call already."
"I'll take Heather to the boats and warn everyone they have to blindfold their dragons. You should go and help Fury," Fishlegs decided. "This is her best chance to survive."
"You're right, be careful!" Astrid told him while picking up a shield from a dead enemy. It would be useful.
Both girls mounted on Stormfly who was already better while Fishlegs hurried toward the boats. Had it been another moment, he would have been really interested to know more about the Alpha, his call and at which distance it could work. But right now, all he could focus on was Heather who he was keeping against his chest. He listened to her breathing, it seemed to be stable at least. Odin, if she died, he would never forgive himself. He would die in that battle as well if she passed away! He got closer to the boats and was relieved to see those were still peaceful and advancing normally. Maybe the call hadn't been strong enough to reach them yet. But if he was to get closer and to throw another…He went to the first boat where he saw Eret. Thank Thor!
The man was horrified to see Heather in such a state. She was immediately sent to the healers who accompanied the warriors while Fishlegs tried to explain the situation to Eret as quickly as he could.
"You must blindfold the dragons! If they didn't beat the Alpha already, they will fall under his control."
"Okay, I'll give the order, try to…"
But Eret didn't have the time to finish his sentence before they heard a strange sound: it was as if the wind itself had growled. Understanding immediately, Eret threw himself on Skullcrusher and blindfolded him just in time before the dragon could fly away. Fishlegs started to fly, his hammer above his head, yelling along with Eret to blindfold the dragons. A big Scauldron went to attack him, already under the Alpha's command. Fishlegs took a hold of his hammer. He would try not to kill those dragons, but hell he wouldn't let them slay anyone! Heather was on this boat, he would protect it with his life!
With a roar, the young man crashed weapon against the Scauldron jaw before it could spit water. Meatlug threw herself against the dragon's neck, making the beast chock and Fishlegs slammed his hammer against the Scauldron's skull. The beast was half knocked out and started to fell.
"Meatlug, catch!"
They put the dragon on the boat where he was immediately blindfolded before it could fight again. Two big Monstrous Nightmares attacked their boats and both riders went to confront them.
O o O
Astrid and Cami were flying toward the Alpha when they suddenly saw a Tornado of fire in the sky. Before that tornado was a dragon enlightened by the fire, trying to fight the Typhoomerang. It was a dragon with four wings.
"Wait, isn't that Valka and her dragon?" Astrid asked, recognizing Cloudjumper in spite of the distance.
"You're right! Let's go, she needs our help too."
Valka's dragon made a loop and fired at the other beast, it almost seemed like he wasn't blindfolded anymore. Stormfly shrieked, sensing the danger. Astrid gave her a nudge, giving her directions.
"Stormfly, spikes!"
The Nadder threw some of her spikes in that direction, but Astrid couldn't completely replace her eyes. She missed and her spikes went lost. Cami growled and ripped one the spikes on her tail. The dragon roared, not prepared to that, and while Astrid furiously asked her what she was doing, Cami only yelled:
"Get closer to them!'
Oh Thor! She understood what she wanted to do. It was crazy but it could work. She made Stormfly rush in their direction and Camicazi started to stand on the Nadder's back. It wasn't the first time she stood on a dragon's back, she could do it! The tornado of fire was breathtaking, as if it was going to lit the sky itself! But it wouldn't last. Cami just waited for the perfect moment, putting herself in position. The dragon eventually had to stop his insane spin and as the fire started to vanish, he extended his wings.
Now!
She threw the heavy spike as strongly as she could and for a moment she thought it would miss. But it planted itself at the base of one of the dragon's wing and the beast roared like crazy, the sudden attack stunning the dragon.
"Stormfly, spikes!"
This time, some of Stormfly's projectiles planted itselves in the dragon and Valka seized the occasion. Cloudjumper rushed to its neck and seized it in his jaw and started to smother the dragon. The beast tried to get free and push Cloudjumper away but the dragon held on. Valka, not wanting to kill it, hit its head as hard she could, trying to knock it off. Astrid flew toward them and also hit the dragon's head as hard as she could. The beast lost consciousness eventually and Valka ordered Cloudjumper to drop the dragon down safely. She surely didn't want him to die, that dragon was innocent, all he did was because of the Alpha.
She turned to both girls: "Astrid, Cami! We must help them to take down Drago! If Toothless manages to get dominance over him, he won't be able to control the dragons anymore! Follow me!"
As they were rushing toward them, a wave of arrows arrived on them. Cloudjumper's instincts made him sense the danger right in time. He breathed his powerful fire on the arrows before it could reach the dragons or the riders.
"What was that?!" Yelled Camicazi. She soon had her answer: a range of archers were on the border of a cliff, close enough to the Alpha. They're trying to shoot Hiccup and Toothless! And now they had seen us!
"Get down! Follow me," Valka commanded.
They went down indeed, getting out of the archers sight. Valka swiftly got her dragon to make a big detour. They had to make sure they wouldn't see them, she didn't care that attacking from behind was dishonorable, she had to protect her son! And not only, everyone's fate depended on that fight! She rose again in the air and turned again and saw the archers' back.
They hadn't seen them! Of course, they were focusing on Hiccup. This thought made her brain boil.
Valka took a sharp turn and they found themselves behind them. Perfect! She made a signal for Astrid to fire at them. There were too many of them to burn them all at one time. The most reactive archers shot at them, and the riders barely avoided the projectiles, their dragons being blindfolded. They fired at them again, and Astrid saw Viggo among them. That damn snake! He took refuge behind the closest tree and trying to sneak away. Oh no, she wouldn't let him run! She made Stormfly get down.
"Cami, ride Stormfly."
"Okay…"
Astrid jumped from her dragon as they were close the ground, and ran immediately toward Viggo. The man tried to shoot an arrow at her but she shielded herself and tried to hit the man with the shield. He backed away, dropped the bow and took his sword instead.
"Still alive, I see!" He attacked and she blocked with shield before trying to kick him.
Thor, the man wasn't that muscular, but he was swift as a cat! That was what Kalisha's aggressors had lacked, they had been slower than her. But Viggo had no such problem. Sadly for him, Astrid was still fast and very agile too. She deflected his next blow and kicked him hard in the shin. He stumbled and sent his sword to pierce her stomach but it hit the shield instead right in time. He immediately went for her head instead and she swiftly stepped to the side.
"Your dear Fury is doomed!"
"Shut up!"
She struck hard but he blocked easily and kicked her, making her almost fall. She hardly blocked the next blow and had to back off to avoid the next attack. She had to take a hold of herself. She backed away again and breathed in deeply. Viggo went to attack her again then, a sound invaded her and hit him like a blow. Astrid roared worse than a dragon would have, and instead of backing away, she was suddenly throwing herself at him, passing from an overwhelmed warrior to a berserk warrior.
She hit with even more strength and quicker, like a crazy, possessed warrior. He leaped and tried to strike her side but she swirled and her axe grazed his head. He had to jump aside, and he felt blood leaking from his head. For a moment, he wondered if his skull had been opened. This time, it's him who backed away. She threw herself at him again and he could just block, her assaults were overwhelming! He tried to slice her leg but she parried and went for his right shoulder. He backed away again.
Upset her, make her unable to do…He knew! He what to do!
"I know his name, Astrid! Do you want to know who he is?! You know…"
He looked at her right in the eyes, and for a second, he stopped looking at her axe. He was cut off as an excruciating pain spread all over his body, starting from his stomach. He felt numb and cold. He vaguely registered her last words:
"I know who he is!"
She swung her axe away from his belly and kicked him even though his knees had already given up. He was down. Viggo was finally down! With a roar of rage, she rose her axe again, thinking of what he wanted to do to Hiccup, and she planted it in his neck. It took her another blow to fully behead him, but then he was, his head apart from his body, his open and empty.
"My only regret is that I couldn't tell you your brother is dead."
Too bad, but it didn't matter anymore. She saw another range of icy spikes appearing and she totally forgot Drago. How was Fury going to handle that? She went back fighting the last soldiers on the ground, while Valka and Cami were fighting from above. Once those would be done, she would go and help Fury.
The next soldier she attacked was even stronger than Viggo, and even with all her rage and skill, she had a hard time taking him down. He managed to disarm and kicked her down to the ground. She only had time to roll away before his spear got planted right before her belly was two second ago. She tried to get back on her feet but the man was attacking her again when Cloudjumper's big jaw caught the upper part of his body. Astrid watched as he got devoured and got her axe back.
As they rose in the air, they saw the boats in the distance and fire, too much fire.
"Hel! We have to help them too!"
"Go," Valka told them, "I will help with the Alpha, I know it more than you!"
Although she was reluctant to leave Hiccup/Fury, Astrid did as Valka said. Fishlegs and Eret would need them as well, and Heather was still on the boat.
"Maybe I'll be able to find Hamera among them," Cami pointed out, "If I can get her back, I'll be more efficient. I hope Fishlegs told them what to do!"
"I hope he is still alive!"
Her fears were soothed when she saw Fishlegs and Eret in the air, along with other warriors who had blindfolded their dragons. They were trying capture and restrain the others. Stormfly rushed in their direction.
"Hope you're ready girls! We won't let them continue the party without us!" Cami exclaimed.
O o O
From where he was Hiccup could see the boats being attacked. A part of him died to go and help them but it would have been the stupidest thing to do! He had to be here and take down the Alpha and Drago. But Thor, that beast was the most powerful one he ever fought! Even the Red Death had been less difficult! He breathed ice again, but this time, it was a frozen wind full of icy little projectiles. Going up as fast as possible, Toothless and Hiccup barely avoided it and plunged again only to swirl away from another icy wind.
The Alpha breathed in deeply and Fury told Toothless to shoot at him. The blow was aimed right to the Alpha's snout but the gigantic dragon put on one of his colossal tusks. Toothless's fire left a black mark over it, but it didn't do any more. Hiccup remembered how they shoot fire in the Red Death's jaw to kill her. Maybe he could try to do the same with that one! Avoiding another wave of gigantic ice spikes, he went up and directed Toothless to get above the Alpha. The beast opened its jaw…
"Plasma blast!"
Toothless shot and the purple fire landed right between the Alpha's jaws. It didn't stop the new icy wind, and though the Alpha roared, the blast didn't hurt. Fury gritted his teeth: of course it wouldn't hurt him! The Red Death breathed fire and gas, and that why she had burned inside and died. But that one breathed ice; seemed like he would have to find another strategy, the best would be to get Drago away from the dragon. But it wasn't easy for the Night Fury to give precise shoots without his eyes, even with his rider's guidance. Hell, if only Toothless wasn't blinded!
Wait…Blinded…That was it! The control didn't come from the call only, it came from the Alpha's stare as well, that thing he would do with his eyes. But if he could damage his eyes…Yes, he had to blind him and take down Drago too.
On the beast, Drago was hitting with his stick again and again, he wouldn't let him stop, he wouldn't give up. A part of him couldn't help but be impressed; Fury was riding his dragon as if he had been born for that, and as if the beats had no blindfold! But now, that was nothing new, that boy had always been some kind of dragon in Drago's eyes. He could see the boats from afar, and the fire. His plan was finally working; he had turned their biggest asset against them! They wouldn't have the heart to kill their own dragons! Now, he still had to get Fury, and possibly alive. He had promised him to Viggo, and the idea of seeing Fury changed into a sex slave was very seducing. That was much better than giving a death in a fight, he had no wish to send his enemy to Valhalla. But now, he wasn't sure he would manage to do it, his enemy would fight to death.
The Alpha missed them again and received another blast. This time it landed too close to him. Drago hit him as punishment. That blasted dragon had better not fail!
"What's the point of being so big if you can't kill one twig and his overgrown bat?! WIND!"
Moaning, the enormous dragon sent another wave of wind as Fury tried to plunge toward them and shoot again. This time, the wind reached them. Drago couldn't see them anymore and grinned. Was he finally…He saw the Night Fury swirling up. By Thor! How could they do that!
He roared in rage and smashed his spear against the beast's head, almost breaking it in the process.
However, the attack had been more efficient than it seemed. Toothless's wing had been scratched, and he was in pain though he could still fly. But the worse was Hiccup. He was holding his side and breathing raggedly. One of the spikes had made bad gash here, he could feel the warm blood against his cold fingers. His head turned, and he clenched his jaw tightly: he couldn't lose consciousness! Not now!
"We have to beat them quickly! I can't keep riding while bleeding like that!" He didn't care if he was bleeding, Thor himself could try to strike him with lightning, he would get Drago!
"Plasma blast!"
This time, the fire hit an eye. Yes! Toothless started to shake his head, as if he wanted to take off the blindfold.
"Not now, bud, it's too soon."
He looked back at the boats, it seemed like those were still afloat, but he could see fire as well. He felt pain invading him and a vertigo. Hold on, you have to hold on!
He saw Drago hitting the Alpha repeatedly, and the dragon shook off his head with moans, probably tormented by the blows. In a flash, Hiccup remembered how Lady would react to some gestures, how she would violently recoil and show her fangs. But that beast seemed to be merely trying to say 'stop'. In spite of the pain and the blood, he couldn't help but feel bad for the dragon, he couldn't imagine since how long the man had tormented him to obtain such a submission.
It was that monster he wanted kill, not the beast! Valka was right! But as he made Toothless shot toward Drago again, The Alpha received the blow for his master again and he understood something: Drago's control over the Alpha was fragile in the sense that he didn't know how to communicate many orders. But the beast feared Drago too much to escape his control. Communication was a problem for Drago, but he had obtained the animal's total submission. Hiccup couldn't make the Alpha rebel against his master…
Valka was maybe right, but so was Astrid.
The Alpha moved his head away again, making Toothless miss. Instead, the fire got into an eye and the beast roared in pain. Hiccup's heart was torn at this. He could see and feel the beast's pain. He just wanted it to stop but his master was tormenting and forcing him to go on. That head move he was making when Drago would hit him was no rebellion: it was begging.
He made Toothless shoot again but the Alpha turned his head again, taking the blow for Drago. Hel, he was still protecting his master! Another wave of gigantic spikes of ice came right at them and Hiccup only had time to fly up. Making Toothless loop, he ordered him to shoot again. This time, the plasma blast landed in the Alpha's head, near an eye. The beast roared. He made Toothless shoot again, trying to get Drago but the man managed to dodge.
Obeying the order from his master, the Alpha was about to attack again, when a wave of fire was breathed toward Drago. Both Drago and Fury were surprised and the rider's eyes widened under the mask as he saw who was here. Valka and Cloudjumper!
Hiccup flew toward her and just yelled loudly enough: "I want to get Drago alive! Distract them!"
She didn't have the time to say anything before he got up. She didn't know what he had planned, but she would distract them. Flying in circle, she made Cloudjumper send little blast of fire at them. The Alpha tried to get her with an icy wind, which she barely dodged. She tried to fire at Drago again but the man dodged. One thing was sure: they were both looking at her now.
A black shadow suddenly plunged down toward Drago. Extending his wings, Toothless went to catch Drago, but the man saw them right in time. He sent his axe right toward the dragon's belly. The weapon clashed against the beast's armor. Though it didn't pierce through, the violence of the blow took Toothless out of balance and sent him to the side. Hiccup fell from his back and desperately gripped anything he could to avoid falling from the gigantic dragon's head. Toothless however, couldn't plant his claws into the beast before falling. Valka immediately plunged to rescue the Night Fury.
Hiccup hardly had time to get back on his feet that Drago was going for him. He just had time to block the man's axe with his sword.
"Now I got you without your blasted dragon!"
Hiccup parried the next one before trying to get the man's good arm, but Drago's axe clashed against his fiery sword violently, almost disarming him. The young man leaped away only to attack again, aiming for his leg this time. Drago was limping slightly, and Hiccup remembered Astrid had wounded him during her escape. Blocking another blow and going for the man's side, he realized he had to take full advantage of that. They were both wounded but at least his legs were fine; he had to force Drago to take steps and to move around, in order to exhaust him.
"Still look like a famished rat, boy! Don't think you can beat me, you're but a miserable twig without your Night Fury!"
"You couldn't keep a tied up girl and a child from escaping! I might be a twig but I can keep my prisoners! And you pretend to marry Astrid? What a joke!"
With that, he attacked again, aiming for his side and this time the blade and fire pierced through the in-between of Drago's armor. The man yelped in pain and sent his axe at his head. Fury dodged and sent his sword toward his legs again, forcing Drago to leap away too, and rushed toward him. He sent his sword toward the man's good arm again, and although he blocked, this forced Drago to back down, and he limped even more.
Hiccup also felt pain in his side, the wound was still bleeding, he winced and it didn't go unnoticed. Drago slammed his axe against his sword and pushed the boy away. Hiccup back away, and took that occasion.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Is a famished rat like me too much for you?!"
Drago rushed toward him, and though his leg hurt, he still reached Fury who went for his arm once more, when the Alpha moved, surprising both warriors.
Cloudjumper was holding Toothless and Valka tried to get him to land on the Alpha's head, but the beast kept throwing spikes and icy winds at them. She had to reach them, she couldn't let Drago hurt her son!
The move from the Alpha made Hiccup loose balance, and when he tried to get back on his feet, Drago was on him. He sent his axe violently toward Fury's sword, disarming him and making his fiery sword fell away. The big man pushed him down and crashed the handle of his axe against his neck, making the younger one chock and. He trashed and tried to push the handle away, but to no avail. Drago smirked at this.
"I won't kill you, I will give you to Viggo. He doesn't even try to hide his lust for you!"
Suffocation made his eyes teary and his face grew red. Trying to push Drago away was useless! How…He chocked and the man smirked even more. He was bigger, but bigger creatures had weak points. Desperately, Hiccup gave one punch, not in Drago's face, but on the side of his neck. It wasn't hard enough to break something, but it was enough to make Drago chock and stun him. The man had the immediate reflex to hold his neck with his one hand. Hiccup took a deep breath and sent his head into the man's forehead, making it snap back. A sudden move from the Alpha made Drago loose balance and they started to slide. Coughing, Hiccup struggled to regain his breath and punched him again, but in the face this time, and the disoriented man could only grasp the Alpha's head as well as he could to stop his fall.
"Stop! Stop moving…"
He suddenly saw Fury jumping toward him, and though the Alpha stopped moving, Drago couldn't get up in time before Fury jumped toward him, arms extended like wings. His metallic foot hit Drago right in the face. This time, the man was knocked out indeed. His body went limp and Hiccup looked at him with victory: finally!
A loud sound was heard as Valka finally managed to get to put Toothless on the Alpha's head. Both rider and dragons rush to one another and Hiccup caught Toothless right in time before the Alpha started to shake his giant head, making Drago's unconscious body fell. Both riders and dragon went down as well, but that was something they were used to. How many times did they have fun falling toward the sea only to get each other back? Hiccup swirled his body and got his prosthetic into the pedal.
"Toothless, catch him!"
The Night Fury caught Drago right in time before he could hit an icy spike. They went up then, avoiding another icy wind thrown by the Alpha. He got close to Valka.
"Are you okay?" Asked she with a worry-filled voice.
"I am, take him with you!" He released Drago's body to allow her and Cloudjumper to seize the man. "Take him away, make sure he doesn't escape!"
"Don't worry about that!"
Although she wanted to stay, it was indeed better to make sure Drago couldn't have any hold on the Alpha anymore. If his toxic master was away, he would stop the fight. Toothless avoided another icy wind, and Hiccup could see dragons arriving and gathering around, flying in circle above them. They are escaping his control. They're hanging, waiting to see who will win. A new icy wind attacked them but Toothless swirled away from it before shooting again.
Back on the boats, the battle had been intense, it was the first time the Endrisians had to fight against their own dragons. Fishlegs and Eret had been able to spread the word about blindfolding the dragons, but even though the warriors knew what they had to do, it was still hard to catch the controlled dragons and restrain them without killing them. They had fired at the boat, thank Odin the Scauldron Fishlegs had knocked down was now awake, blindfolded, and a warrior was getting it to stop the fire as much as possible.
Eret was fighting against a big Monstrous Nightmare who had set himself on fire before plunging toward a boat. It would end up in flames if he allowed the beast to get down! He hit the beast's head with the handle of his spear twice while Skullcrusher clashed against the big dragon, pushing him toward the sea. Eret hit the dragon on the head once more, even though he couldn't knock him out, it was enough to stop him from fighting Skullcrusher back. Both the dragons and the rider plunged in the sea and the fire over the Nightmare's body extinguished itself.
The Nightmare managed to get free and went up in the air but Skullcrusher flew up fast and Eret hit the beast wing with his spear. Shrieking, the Nightmare fire at him but the man pinned himself against his dragon. He felt the fire licking his back, and yelled in pain. Cleenchng his teeth and fighting against the pain, he rose his head again to hit the Nightmare hard in the head with all his rage. Skullcrusher rushed toward the beast, seized his neck in his jaws, chocking him, and made him crash against rocks. Eret plunged in the water to extinguish the flames on his back and went up to help Skullcrusher by pinning the dragon's head against the rocks and blindfolding him.
"Release him, boy!"
The dragon obeyed and the Nightmare calmed down, shaking his head as if he couldn't understand what went wrong. Soaked, Eret looked back at the boats and saw one boat getting burned and the Scauldron was held back by several other dragons.
"Come on, boy!"
The Nightmare followed them, and he joined Camicazi, who was back on Hamera and already fighting here. He prayed that Fury would take down that Alpha soon, it was getting harder and harder to save the ships!
Astrid and Fishlegs were together, trying to stop the last changewings who hadn't been taken yet. The beast became invisible, but Stormfly managed to plant spikes in sides, making it easy to spot the beast. Meatlug fired at the beast and clashed against it violently while Fishlegs sent his hammer. He missed at first but his second hit was successful. The changewings appeared and Stormfly seized him between his jaws and plunged to crash him against the wooden floor of a boat. Astrid quickly blindfolded the beast. They were having a hard time; three boats had been sunk already and many others were in a pitiful state. Fishlegs was being especially protective of the boat where Heather was getting healed.
"ASTRID!"
She looked up and saw a big Zippelback about to seize her in both jaws. She raised her axe and Stormfly went to attack when the Zippelback suddenly stopped and looked away. Then, the roars and the flames stopped. The atmosphere grew quieter and the dragons still controlled by the Alpha started to shake their heads and flew away. What was happening? She jumped on Stormfly's back.
"What's happening?" Fishlegs yelled.
"I don't know, I'll go and see, they're flying toward the Alpha it seems. Stay here, I'll go and see."
"Okay, stay safe."
Meanwhile, Valka landed on a deserted spot, not without ordering Cloudjumper to throw Drago down. She had no idea why Hiccup wanted to keep him alive, but maybe he had a good reason. The man was now unconscious. She would gladly put that piece of trash in a cell, just like he did to her! She landed and restrained Drago, tightly tying him while he was still unconscious. She looked up to see that Toothless and Hiccup were flying up again.
What were they doing? The fight was over…The Alpha roared and threw ice spikes at them once more, covering the cliffs and hiding the beast from Valka's view like a shimmering and deadly curtain.
"No!" She exclaimed with horror. Why was he attacking them?! Drago wasn't here to force him anymore! "Just fly away!" She yelled as if the dragon could hear her. But she saw a small black form shooting again and swirling away from another icy wind.
No! Hiccup would die! They could all die!
Her fear for her son made her jump back on her dragon when she heard a grunt. She saw Drago moving, he was regaining consciousness. Her blood boiled: the damn piece of shit! She couldn't let him alone, if he found a way to escape, it would be a catastrophe. She jumped from her dragon, swirled her spear and hit him with the wood handle hard. He yelped at this, but wasn't knocked out again.
"It's your entire fault! Everything is your fault!"
She hit him again, making him loose consciousness once more. She then remembered Astrid's words in the cave, when she said they would have to kill the Alpha. She didn't want to kill a dragon, but if she had to choose between the creature's life and her son's, well she wouldn't hesitate. If she had to go and help Hiccup kill it, then she would do it. She heard Cloudjumper shriek and looked up to see what looked like purple shooting stars in the morning sky.
Toothless had avoided two other attacks and shook his head again; He cooed at Hiccup who understood.
"Okay, I trust you, bud."
He undid the blindfold, even though he kept it in hand. The Night Fury roared in contentment and shot again, this time right in the eye and with no problem. The dragon growled in pain again, and Toothless swirled, Hiccup guessing his moves with no problems. The Alpha was about to shoot again, but Toothless was faster. He fired again and again; tormenting the beast without letting it time to fight back. The Alpha tried to throw icy winds at him again but to no avail, the two would dodge and only shoot again.
Toothless shot in the Alpha's ears, making it roar in pain, and then sent a new plasma blast in an eye. The colossal dragon gave a deafening and heart-breaking moan at this. Hiccup felt heart-wrenched, but didn't stop. That's exactly what he and Astrid had spoken about: he couldn't sacrifice everyone's safety for one dragon.
"Toothless, lower!"
They plunged toward him and Toothless shot the other eye. This time, the Alpha's moans of pain were covered by a clamor of roars, filling the air and engulfing everything. Hiccup covered his ears, pain invading his body once more. He felt light-headed again, but he knew what was going on: the dragons had chosen Toothless. That sound which only meant victory almost made his head explode and the pain grew more intense. Toothless himself let out a furious cry, and shot again at the Alpha.
Tears came out and fell on the dragons scales, tears of physical and mental pain as he was about to give his next command.
"Toothless, call!"
And the Night Fury did. He made his dominant call, and the dragons all fired at the wounded Alpha. Hiccup forced himself to look at the beast. It had probably been tortured and mistreated since his early years, before he could get big. His life had surely been nothing but torments, and here, he was only hurting him more. He, who was supposed to save and help dragons as well as people! But this was war, and war couldn't be won without death and without tears.
Astrid arrived to see the Alpha's defeat. She let out a huff of relief as she saw Toothless who was still flying. They won! They did it! Lowering his head to try to escape the fire, the beast finally advanced toward the sea. The gigantic mass started to swim away, and Hiccup ordered Toothless to stop. As the Night Fury stopped, he roared again, and the dragons did the same. Putting his hands on his ears once more, Hiccup watched the Alpha as he started to swim, still filled with pity, but at least, the beast was alive. And maybe now he would find some peace, away from Drago.
His head turned again, and this time, he was unable to hold on the reins. No! He had to make Toothless land! He had to…
His body slid to the side and Toothless shrieked as he realized his rider was now unable to hold on anymore. As Hiccup's metallic foot slipped away from the pedal, Toothless tried to catch his rider back, to try to shield him from the fall with his own body if need be. But Hiccup was falling and falling toward the spikes, motionless.
As the warrior and the dragon were falling, Lady rushed down toward them. Astrid saw that with horror.
"STORMFLY! GET DOWN, NOW!"
Stormfly plunged quickly toward the rider, letting her body fall straightly, and caught him in her jaws before he could hit one of the ice spikes. Lady caught Toothless with no difficulty, and flew toward the closest spot. At the same time, most of the dragons went to find their riders back. They landed quickly and Astrid looked at Fury, he was unconscious and his side was bloody. Please, don't tell me he is badly wounded!
She bandaged his wound as well as possible. They would have to fly back toward the boats, and get the healers to take care of him. Her eyes went on his mask. For a second, the idea of taking it off crossed her mind, but she shook it away. It wasn't the moment, not when he was bleeding! She hoisted the unconscious man on the Nadder's back and flew up. It wasn't long to reach the remaining boats, those were advancing on the island while soldiers on dragons were attacking. Drago's remaining warriors tried to fight back, but it was already over for them. Flames and roar, screams and iron invaded the city while the wounded Alpha was slowly diving in the ocean, disappearing in the deep water.
O o O
They had won.
Endris had finally defeated Drago.
She could repeat those words to herself as many times as she wanted, Cami still couldn't believe it.
Everyone should have been immensely happy of it; most of the Endrisians were indeed, but worry held everyone as well because their chief had been wounded. Camicazi told everyone she could that he wasn't heavily wounded and that everything would be good. The gash was big but it wasn't deep enough to kill. It would have to be stitched, and with proper rest, it would heal finely. Sadly, she couldn't say the same about Heather.
She had been to the boat where she was being healed and not only the girl looked pale like death, but she had learned horrible news: her arm had to be amputated. When she thought about it, Heather was such an agile warrior, but now that her arm was ruined, she would probably never be able to handle her axe as she used to. Maybe she would learn to fight with her other arm, but it would take time and even if she managed to do it, she would never be as good as she used to. That damn Ryker had to do one last horrible thing before dying!
She could have cried out of rage thinking of that. But Ryker was dead; Heather still managed to be the death of him! Now his corpse was rotting in the sea if it hadn't been devoured by fishes and sharks already and he would have no funeral!
Thor, don't let her wound kill the warrior in her.
The sun was high in the sky now, and she could see dragons flying freely. To think she was walking on Drago's island freely as well. The last soldiers were imprisoned or killed. The orders had been clear: don't hurt children and innocent civilians. Yet she knew that would still happen, the rage of war would always take over the warriors. But that was the price of victory.
She looked around. There were ruins and corpses everywhere. A part of her always thought it was sad to see a tribe disappearing, but that one…That one had been founded on slavery and dragon killing, by a madman who wasn't worth being called a Chief. Drago might have been a good warrior, he had never been able to rule his people with justice.
They would build something new here, on the ashes of that old civilization. Now that Drago was gone as well as Viggo and Ryker, they had no real enemies anymore. Some tribes disliked them, but they were no serious threat.
"You look thoughtful. I thought you would be more…victorious."
She turned to see Eret coming toward her. Oh, he had a burn she noticed, but nothing that bad.
"Well, I'm worried for Heather."
"She'll survive, I saw her and the healer is pretty sure she will survive. Fishlegs is guarding her like a wolf. It will be hard for her, but she wouldn't be the first one to lose a limb. Many did and they managed to go on."
"You're right. Still, seeing her like that...But there is not only that, it's just…So weird to think it's over."
"I got what you mean. It had been hard to explain the others not to skin Drago alive, I don't know what Fury has in mind for him, but I'm pretty impatient to see that. I wish I had time to go and raid Drago's house but other soldiers went ahead of me. But now, I guess I'm richer than they are, they need it more than me."
"Knowing you, I'm pretty sure you will find riches elsewhere!" She said with a grin.
"Of course! Drago wasn't the only rich guy here! And as a married man, I must make sure I provide everything to my family. Talking about that, I hope we don't stay for too long, Kalisha is waiting for me and she had a rough time before we left. And I'm already missing her, she'll dance when she'll learn about our victory."
"I'm sure you'll be able to go back very soon. But…Talking about marriage, what do you think will happen between Astrid and Fury? He has no reason to hide from her anymore, but how will she take it?"
"Ah…That's a big question. I don't know," he admitted. "I hope things will work between them. I saw her flying away; I don't know where she went."
"Neither do I. Well, we still have work to do. Let's gather our troops, we need reports. I also want to check whether or not Drago is still in his cage."
While they were getting back to work, Astrid was returning. One of the first things she did once the victory was ensured and Fury taken care of was to go and fetch Rona. Finding the cave again on her own would have been difficult if Lady hadn't led her, impatient to get her offspring back. The three young Night Furies had guarded the little girl well. She found the four of them playing in the dirt and her daughter just hugged her tightly, telling her she missed her and was hungry. Although she had trusted the dragons to keep her, relief washed over when she saw she was safe and sane. If someone had told her she would let dragons look over her child one day, she would have called them crazy. But here it happened.
When the little girl was brought back to the town, she was scared, but she forgot that fear when she saw Fury lying on a bed. At that moment, she was only scared for him. It didn't leave Astrid indifferent either. It was like a punch in the guts to see him like that, weakened and in pain. It was stupid, after all he would heal finely and she knew it. But she couldn't help it. The sight of them made him smile and he took Rona's small hand in his as she got close, her eyes filled with worry.
"You won't die?"
At this, Fury huffed in emotion; it was touching to see her being afraid for him, at this moment, it really felt like they were family. The simple fact she was speaking still seemed incredible to him.
"No, don't worry, I won't die. It's just a wound, I got worse."
This seemed to appease the little girl. He still had his mask on and that suddenly made Astrid angry. She turned to the little girl and put a hand on her back.
"Go outside, sweetie. We have to talk about some things."
Though the child was reluctant to leave, she obeyed and left them alone and stayed with the Night Furies. Astrid sat on the bed at his side and he smiled at her again but her face remained grave where she should have been happy and triumphant. He noticed something was wrong, she looked angry and conflicted.
"What's wrong? We won, we got Rona back."
She didn't answer immediately. Her heart was beating so hard it seemed like it would explode. She had been confronted to many dangers that night, and yet it was only now that her palms were getting sweaty.
"Take off your mask, Hiccup."
It took him a few heartbeats to realize what happened, and he felt like his body turned into ice. Did she just...How? He closed his eyes. Did that really matter? Without a word, his hands went to his mask and he lifted it off slowly.
This is it! I hope you liked it. I know it was a long chapter, but hell, there were so many things I didn't want to leave out, and I actually had to dismiss some ideas, otherwise it would have been too much. There won't be many chapters left after that one, you probably guessed that.
Don't hesitate to review and tell me if there are incoherencies or mistakes.