The Dragon Whisperer

The Red Death and the Bewilderbeast stared each other down. The Red Death was furious at being foiled once again and enraged that this dragon dared to challenge her. "You will not stand in my way. If you leave, I will consider sparing your life."

The Bewilderbeast said nothing, just lowered his tusks and made a display of dominance.

"So be it," The Red Death said. "I will end you, then I will end the nest." The two ran at each other, their heads colliding, causing the water beneath them to split.

Back on land, the humans watched as the giant white dragon, who Hiccup claimed was there to help them, fought against the gigantic blue dragon that had tried to kill them several times.

"Okay, while he's fighting her, we need to get away," Hiccup said. "Hopefully, he'll kill her, but we also need to get everyone to safety."

"Right," Stoick agreed, nodding. "Everyone, deeper into the forest!"

The Berkians, with the help of the teens' dragons, began running deeper into the forest. Hiccup, still on Toothless' back, carried Astrid.

Out at sea, the Red Death swung her claws at the Bewilderbeast, but he knocked them away with his tusks. He tried to pierce her with his tusks, but she managed to knock them away with her claws. The Bewilderbeast realized he wasn't going to be able to kill her right away. He needed to exhaust her somehow, weaken her so he could use his tusks to finish her off. He breathed a giant blast of frigid water, which froze on his icy breath, encasing one of her forelegs in blue-green ice.

She looked down at her frozen leg, spikes having formed on the back of her leg. With a flex of her muscles though, she managed to shatter the ice. She spun around and swung her tail at the white dragon, but he managed to bash it away with his tusks. The Red Death growled in agitation. But as the Bewilderbeast turned his head back to face her, she spotted the frills on his back. Were those his wings? No way could he fly with those. That might give her an advantage.

She spread her wings and launched herself in the air. As she thought, he didn't follow. "You can't fly, unlike I!" she taunted. "Let's see just how mighty you are!" She dropped, extending her forepaws to slam on his head, smashing him into the seabed. The ground shook with the impact. With his back exposed, she swiped her claws across his back and he let out a bellow of pain at that. She prepared another swipe, only for his tail to slap her in the face, disorienting her enough that the Bewilderbeast was able to buck her off.

He breathed another blast of freezing water at her, this time getting her side, but was unable to completely cover her body, only getting part of her left side frozen. She swung her tail around, smashing the ice spikes, then shaking her body to rid herself of the remaining ice. She roared again, and this time, he blasted her face with his ice. Her head was frozen, and she stumbled around, trying to get her bearings. The Bewilderbeast charged, intending to finally get her with his tusks, but she swung her tail around wildly, and by chance, managed to smack him in the face. He stumbled back, disoriented from the blow.

The Red Death then brought her claws up and slashed at the ice, scratching it, but not breaking it. In her stumbling around though, she managed to smash her head against a cliff, cracking the ice enough that she was able to break it by snapping her jaws open.

The Berkians felt the impacts and Hiccup looked out through the trees to see the Red Death stumbling away from the cliff, pieces of ice falling off and the Bewilderbeast laying in the ocean. He realized that the Bewilderbeast wasn't able to defeat the Red Death on his own. Large he may be, but he was over twice her age and that made him slower than her. He needed help.

"We need to help the Bewilderbeast. He can't beat her alone," he said aloud. Astrid was obviously out. Not only was her leg still damaged, but Stormfly's wing was broken as well.

"Barf and Belch aren't gonna be able to help," Ruffnut said. The Zippleback's wing was limp, either dislocated or broken, they couldn't tell.

"I don't think Meatlug is in any condition to fly," Fishlegs said. The Gronckle's wings were folded up on her back, but she was complaining about them hurting, probably sprained.

"Hookfang won't go back up there, either," Snotlout said. The Nightmare was exhausted and refusing to do anything but carry others.

"Mom?" Hiccup asked.

"Not sure Cloudjumper is in any shape to fly anymore," Valka said.

"My wings hurt too much, I think I might have broken them in the fall," the Stormcutter supplied.

"Guess it's just me, then," Hiccup decided. "Mom, take Astrid."

"What? No! I'm going with you!" Astrid protested.

"Your leg is broken and your tether is snapped as well," Hiccup said. "I'm not bringing you with me. No offence, but you'll just slow us down." Valka came over and took the young woman out of her son's arms, making sure to keep Astrid's leg straight so as to not hurt her further.

"She'll be fine, I promise," Valka swore.

Hiccup nodded before turning Toothless to face the direction the two massive dragons were fighting.

"Hiccup, wait." Stoick's hand clasped around his son's arm. Hiccup wondered what Stoick was going to do. "I'm sorry, for everything," he said.

Hiccup could see that his dad meant it. "I know," he responded, forgiving his father.

"You don't have to up there alone," Stoick said.

Hiccup just smiled. "We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard."

Stoick smiled, taking his son's hand in both of his. "I'm proud to call you my son."

Hiccup felt a warmth in his chest at that. His father truly meant that. Though he had decided he didn't need his dad's approval anymore, getting it for a genuine reason was still immensely satisfying. "Thanks, dad." He pulled his hand away, ready to fly up to fight the Red Death again.

"Wait!" Astrid stumbled up to them, keeping weight off her damaged leg. "I know you have to go, but at least promise me you'll come back," she pleaded.

"You know I can't promise that," Hiccup said. Odds were he'd die in the fight.

"You have to," she said, almost hysterical.

"I can't…" he started.

She silenced him by kissing him. They knew it was in full view of the village but Astrid didn't care. If this was it she wanted him to promise to come back. She already lost her family and her home. She can't bear to lose him too. After they broke from the kiss, she quietly whispered, "Promise."

Hiccup sighed before speaking. "Okay, I promise." He pulled back, before reaching down to the belt and pulling out his dagger. He handed it to her, which she took. "Keep that safe. I'll want it back." He finally nodded to Toothless, who launched into the air, flying towards the recovered Red Death.

Astrid clutched the dagger to her chest as Valka picked her up again. She needed him to come back. If he didn't… she didn't think she could survive.

The Red Death walked over to the Bewilderbeast, who was still recovering from the blow to his head. "An easy kill," she muttered, raising her paw to slash at him. A blast exploded at the back of her head and she turned to face the dark wing and the Hiccup who was riding him. She growled before swinging her tail at them, but they easily got out of the way of her swipe.

Toothless fired another plasma blast at her, going for her eyes, but she managed to move her head enough that it impacted the side of her head instead.

"You think you can kill me all by yourself? I am the most powerful dragon in the world. No one can defeat me!" she shouted.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Hiccup said. "Fortunately, we didn't come alone."

Before the Red Death could question that, several hundred blasts of fire struck her in the back. She turned around, and before her astonished eyes, she saw hundreds of dragons flying in in the brightening sky, charging up another volley of shots to blast her with. She growled before they all fired their varied flames, striking her in the front this time and it did hurt. Then she felt a powerful blast in her back that could only have come from the dark wing.

"We're here to protect our alpha and to end you once and for all!" the army of dragons shouted.

Hiccup smiled at seeing all the dragons under the Bewilderbeast's command finally arrive. He had been a little reluctant to have them come, but Hiccup didn't want to take any chances with this and decided that overwhelming numbers might help.

The smaller dragons began circling the Red Death, launching their various fires at her, a few ramming her or launching spines. The Nadders and Whispering Deaths fired volleys of spines, the Changewings spat their acid, the Thunderdrums concussed her with their sonic blasts, the Scauldrons peppered her legs with boiling hot water.

She roared in frustration and pain, intending to snap her jaws and end them, only for the Bewilderbeast to recover and slam into her, knocking her aside.

Toothless joined in on the barrage, using his plasma blasts to knock her back. They continued to pelt her with their blasts, frustrating her to no end as she was unable to do anything but briefly roar with rage. The Bewilderbeast also used his freezing water blasts to encase parts of her body, but she was able to overcome those with the excess heat the other dragons were producing. She swung her tail, but they managed to get out of the way of it.

Some of the Berkians were watching from the forest and were amazed. Those dragons seemed to be protecting them.

"Where in the name of Thor did all those dragons come from?!" Gobber shouted.

"They're from the Bewilderbeast's nest," Astrid answered. "He didn't want them to come, but they wanted to help out to protect their alpha and protect our village."

"Okay, that's it! Somebody slap me because I have to be dreaming!" Gobber shouted.

"I'll do it!" Ruffnut offered eagerly.

"She will and she hits like a guy," Tuffnut said. "It's awesome. Here, watch." Ruffnut demonstrated by slapping her brother as hard as she could, knocking him to the ground.

"I'm impressed," Valka said. "They've all come to help us."

"But I though dragons were bloodthirsty beasts," Spitelout said. "They can't think and they don't protect us."

"But they do," Astrid said. "Stormfly's wing is broken because she shielded me with it. And sure, she wasn't able to protect my leg, but I doubt I'd be alive if she didn't do that. They aren't the monsters we thought they were. They're people, just like us."

That got many villagers muttering to each other, discussing whether or not what Astrid was saying could be true. To many of them, it was too unbelievable, but it seemed that recent events, even what had happened this entire night was proving it wrong.

Meanwhile, the Red Death was still being bombarded by the other dragons and she was furious. She realized that while they were fighting her the humans were getting away. She tried to leave again, but the attacks were making that impossible. The Bewilderbeast kept getting in her way, knocking her back and forcing her to evade his tusks lest they kill her.

Hiccup glanced at the Red Death to see what kind of damage they were doing to her and it wasn't good. They didn't seem to be doing anything other than lightly scorching her. He had Toothless divebomb her again, but she was able to brace herself against the blast. Even Toothless didn't seem to be doing much damage to her. Their only hope was the Bewilderbeast's tusks. Hopefully they were strong enough to break her scales.

The Red Death roared again, and this time she seemed to be finally fed up with the bombardment. She breathed a massive jet of flame, catching several dragons in them. Even they weren't fireproof enough to survive her blast. Then while still breathing the fire, she swung her tail as the Bewilderbeast charged, slamming her tail into his head and stunning him. She continued to breathe her flame, scattering the dragons everywhere as they desperately tried to avoid her flame. Eventually, she stopped and turned to the Bewilderbeast. She prepared to swipe her claws across his face, but he reared back and avoided them.

He thrust his tusks forward in an effort to skewer her, but with a flap of her wings she jumped off the ground, then landed hard on his back, forcing him to the seabed. Then, she landed back in the ocean, and rammed into his side, pushing him backwards. He tried to fight back, but she managed to push him into a cliff face, shaking the island with the impact, then she spun around and slammed his head with her tail, knocking him out.

Hiccup gasped as he saw the Bewilderbeast slump into the water.

Everyone tried to regain their footing as the island shook with the impact. Valka looked out to the sea, worried that her friend had been badly hurt.

The Red Death walked a few lengthy paces back, looking at her foe, then laughed.

"I told you. I am the queen of dragons. And this battle is mine!"

Hiccup looked down from his place on Toothless' back, trying to think of a new strategy, but he was coming up with nothing. There has to be a way to defeat her! If we don't kill her, we're all goners.

End of Chapter 25