The Horde

A/N: I don't know what to say about this one except…watch out for the horde! XD Enjoy!

The silence of the sunny summer afternoon was broken by a faint sound from off in the distance. Audun opened his eyes and sat up, looking around from his position on the green hills just outside the village. Behind him, Mojo didn't even look up from his grazing. Phantom, however, trilled questioningly, his head cocked to the side. "Did you hear something?" Audun asked the dragon, and the Nadder squawked.

"…or…es…oming…ord…scomin…"

Audun stood up and squinted, staring intently in the direction of the cliffs. Something was coming down the hill toward him and the town, something he couldn't quite make out…

He blinked and then said, "Is…is that Hillevi?"

It was: the little dot that was darting down the knoll was indeed his best friend, running as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Thehordeiscomingthehordeiscoming!"

"What?" Audun murmured, frowning in confusion.

Then his eyes moved back up the hill, and his bewilderment mounted. Something else was chasing Hillevi, what looked like a big multicolored cloud of…

His jaw dropped open. "Odin's ghost!" he breathed. He suddenly realized what the cloud was made of.

At the same instant, he understood Hillevi's screams.

"THE HORDE IS COMING! THE HORDE IS COMING!"

Phantom spread his wings and took off upon seeing the swarming mass, and moving entirely without thought, Audun leapt onto Mojo's back. The gelding snorted indignantly but cantered at his rider's command toward the village. They arrived in mere seconds, causing several Vikings to look up with raised eyebrows. "Audun?" Hiccup asked, taking in his friend's pale, frenzied look. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"They're…they're coming!" Audun gasped, looking back over his shoulder.

"What? What is?" Hiccup followed his gaze.

Audun didn't have time to answer. Hillevi burst onto the streets, still yelling at the top of her lungs, "THE HORDE IS COMING!"

And a moment later, the horde arrived.

Hundreds upon hundreds of Terrible Terrors of every color imaginable poured into the town, shrieking and squeaking and squawking and settling on any solid surface they could find: roofs, benches, empty carts, the torches, the helmets of startled Vikings. Beside Hiccup, Toothless roared in mingled confusion and fury, but it did nothing to stop a couple of the little dragons from landing on his head. The Night Fury immediately started bucking and twisting about in an attempt to rid himself of the unwanted riders.

Four Terrors collided with Audun, who toppled from his horse's back with a grunt of pain and surprise, and a dozen or so dragons landed on Mojo. The old horse spooked and took off at a gallop, leaving his owner in the dust. "Oh that's just perfect," Audun grumbled as he stood up, rubbing his backside.

"HICCUP!"

Hiccup and Audun both turned to look up at Stoick as he emerged from the forge, his eyes scanning the chaos before him. His gaze met his son's for the briefest of moments…

…and then he was completely covered from helmet to boots in Terrors.

They attached themselves to him like magnets to metal and stuck fast. The chief staggered and cried out something that was muffled and incomprehensible. He was utterly unrecognizable as a human being: he resembled some strange statue made out of multicolored dragon parts. Hiccup's face went white. "Oh Thor…" he moaned. "Now I'm in for it…"

Audun didn't have time to worry about Hiccup's father issues. His gaze was fixed on the entrance to the village. Standing just beside him, Hillevi had her arms crossed and was glaring in the same direction.

Alva had just stepped into the town square. And she was carrying three Terrors in her arms.

Stoick reached up and pulled one of the little dragons away from his face. Glaring around at them all, he demanded, "What in the name of Thor is going on?"

Hillevi didn't say a word. She merely pointed at Alva, whose eyes widened innocently.

Her expression fooled no one. "Let me guess," Audun sighed. "She brought home another Terror?"

"Three, actually," Hillevi said simply. "And it was too much for our house to take. It fell off the cliff and into the sea."

Every human eye – and some of the dragons' as well – fell on Alva. She grinned, not even bothering to look sheepish, and said, "Well look on the bright side: I rescued another few dragons who needed my help."

"That's the bright side?" Hiccup asked, flabbergasted. "And what, dare I ask, would be the downside?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact we're homeless now?" Hillevi replied, crossing her arms. "Everything we own is now at the bottom of the ocean!"

"At least the dragons are safe," Alva pointed out.

"Yes!" Hillevi cried, throwing her arms to the sky in exasperation. "Thank the gods, the dragons are perfectly safe! Everything else, on the other hand, is gone!"

Stoick looked to Hiccup, apparently regretting his decision to let the dragons live among them. His expression clearly said, This is your problem. Fix it.

Hiccup gulped and looked back at the two girls. "So…where will you go now?" he asked.

As one, Hillevi and Alva turned to look at Audun. His eyes widened, and then he sighed. "Oh all right, fine. You two can stay with me for the time being. At least until you get a new house built. But no dragons! All those Terrors are staying outside! My little house couldn't hold them all anyway!"

This decree lasted all of two seconds. The moment he opened his front door, the horde of Terrors swarmed inside, crawling over every piece of furniture and curling up in every available space. "No, no, no!" Audun called from the entry. "They are not staying here!"

"But they have nowhere else to go!" Alva cried. "They won't bother you, I promise!"

Audun looked to Hillevi for support, but she shook her head. "Welcome to my world," was all she said.

Knowing he'd lost the battle, Audun just rolled his eyes and huffed irritably.

He lay awake that night, unable to get a wink of sleep. He was too busy looking around at all the dragons littering his home. Those that hadn't been able to find a space indoors had settled on his roof, and the whole structure creaked and groaned under the incredible weight. The sounds were loud enough that Audun feared his house might just collapse on top of them all. His own Terror Sundance lay curled up on his chest, also wide awake. He kept glaring at the intruders and hissing quietly, sometimes looking reproachfully at his owner as if accusing him of subjecting them all to this.

Hillevi and Alva, to Audun's amazement, had fallen asleep without trouble. Apparently they were so used to living among the horde at risk of house collapse that it didn't bother them. But it bothered Audun tremendously. Every time he'd think he was about to drift off, the roof would creak, and his eyes would spring open again.

When Hillevi and Alva woke up the next morning, they found that their host was not in his bed. "Audun?" Alva called, picking up Terrors as if thinking he might have been covered by the horde. "Where are you?"

Stepping outside, they figured out where he'd gone.

Off in the pasture, Mojo stood grazing contentedly, trying to ignore the six or seven Terrors that had settled on his back. A short distance away, Audun was lying in the grass, his head resting on Phantom's sleek blue side, Sundance curled up beside him. He was fast asleep.