This came out longer than I wanted, but it will still do for the raid that will go down and happen in this chapter, though I don't officially consider it as a full-on battle.
Also, just so you guys know I decided to drop a Lord of the Rings reference a few times in the dialogue, so see if you can spot them!
Now with that out of the way, let us continue!
If there was one word that the people of Berk described the raiders, they were monsters. Brutal monsters.
Hiccup and the others however saw them as more than that. The raiders were hulking and muscular, built for battle. Their skin was as grey and as dark as rock. They wore black plate armor from head to toe, with some of them not even wearing helmets, allowing for their monstrous faces to be shown...
The brutes had great tusks, and their jaws were broad. Their teeth were sharp and intimidating, and their eyes glowed green with something Hiccup could only describe as evil and outlandish.
But even as the raiders launched boulders onto the town, the people were already in a panic.
As Hiccup and his parents, along with Toothless, Gobber, and Lornduil and Morgrim rushed out of the great hall, they could see the raiders from afar on their black-sailed longships spread out along the coast, firing their catapults and laying waste as much as they could to the town.
Hiccup scanned his eyes over the situation, and already it was not good. From what he could see, there were at least four hundred raiders in total. Twenty per longship.
"Looks like they've already set a few houses on fire near the docks. If we don't get the people down there evacuated, then the raiders will just cut them down!"
"I'll rally a regiment and have them get the folk to safety. They're my people, thus they're my responsibility," stated Stoick. "You go help Astrid and the others in the harbor, they'll need you."
Hiccup nodded, looking back at his Night Fury who then swiftly crouched down for his rider as he quickly mounted up and flew off with his dragon, making their way towards the harbor.
Stoick then turned his attention on both his wife and Gobber. "Valka, rally as many riders as you can, and put out those flames. They'll begin to spread if we don't do something about it. Gobber, send word to Snotlout and get him over here. We may need his aid."
Gobber rose a brow. "Are you crazy, Stoick? Last time he sent "aid" he only brought a dozen warriors with him, and he was late! Have you forgotten that he still despises us? He might not accept our-"
"Remember that our enemy is also his enemy. It's better to get some form of aid rather than none at all... Now go find Grump and get moving! Valka?"
"I'll see to it that Cloudjumper and I get this sorted," she nodded, running off towards her hut to get Cloudjumper while Gobber rushed to the workshop to get Grump.
Stoick then looked back to the dwarves and elves. "Well?"
"...Gah! A fight is better than none at all!" laughed Morgrim, raising his runic warhammer as the runes glowed brightly. "Tae arms, warriors! KHAZÂR!"
The dwarves let out bellowing cheers, unsheathing their weapons as they rushed down the great stairs with their king at the front - ready for combat.
Lornduil and his elves too were quick to follow, not saying a word as they ran off to the town with their blades unsheathed and their bows at the ready…
Down at the docks however, things were not looking any better.
Two ships had already entered the harbor, each filled with twenty raiders, who were shooting at Astrid and the riders with arrows and catapult fire.
The group flew around atop their dragons with evasive maneuvers, dodging what they could whilst firing back at the raiders. But even with their firepower, it was not enough to strike down their enemy. Soon, the struggle became real to them.
However, Astrid would not have this.
In a quick move, she flew Stormfly towards the left flank of a raider longship, before commanding her dragon, "Spine shot!" and with a strong whip of her tail, Stormfly sent tail spikes flying down at the raiders.
Though they were heavily armored, the tails spikes found their marks through several gaps, and they brutally impaled five of the raiders to their deaths. But even with the dragon riders' slight advantage, it would not be enough to turn the tide.
The raider captain, who stood beside the five corpses, looked back at the rest of his warriors. "Shoot faster, maggots! Get them out of the sky!"
As the rate of fire from the raiders increased, Astrid looked back at the other riders with frustration. "We can't continue to fight like this! We need to get them off our tails! Any ideas?!"
Before anyone gave an answer however, the sound of a loud screech filled the air as everyone's attention, including the raiders', looked to the skies as a black speedy dragon and his rider came flying in with haste.
As Toothless neared the two long ships, Hiccup said loudly to his dragon, "Plasma blast!"
The Night Fury charged up his attack, and from out of his mouth, he hurled a bolt of purple fire towards one of the longships, which upon impact blasted the vessel to shreds.
The raider crew and their captain did not stand a chance, and as such, they were burnt into oblivion, before being sunk to the bottom of the harbor along with their ship.
Hiccup looked at Astrid with a small smirk. "Am I late?"
"On the contrary, your timing could not have been any better!" she called out to him. "Still, we could have used your help a bit earlier-!"
"Shoot them down!" shouted the voice of a raider.
The crew of the second vessel below them once again started firing their arrows up at the riders, causing them to spread out and fly about to dodge the arrow fire. However, Toothless would see to it that they would be quickly taken care of.
The Night Fury stopped in place as his spine suddenly began to glow blue with the mark of the alpha, all before letting out a mighty and authoritative roar that echoed across the area.
Hiccup looked down at his dragon with a questioning look. "Toothless? What are you...?"
From all around, a series of several roars responded back to Toothless's call, and from out of the blue, half a dozen dragons flew in with their mouths opened and lit, ready to help out their alpha and burn the enemy.
One of the raiders quickly noticed this, and thus looked back to their captain. "Captain, look!"
The captain arched a brow as his green eyes narrowed towards the dragons that lined up behind Hiccup and Toothless, but before he could react, both him and his crew were suddenly met with a rain of fire as the dragons and their alpha breathed flames onto them, desecrating the raiders and their ship to cinders.
After the raiders and their ship were quickly taken care of, Hiccup looked back to Astrid and the others who gazed at him with questioning looks on their faces.
"What?!"
"Erm- you know you could have done that earlier!" called out Fishlegs.
"Well, at least we've taken care of this lot," replied Astrid. "...with eighteen other crews left to go through."
"They've divided their forces across the coast and are attacking separate parts of the village," said Hiccup. "Our best chance of taking them on is to split up and deal what damage we can to them..."
"Ruff, Tuff, I want you two to head to the plaza and help out with the defense there. The raiders will most likely try to climb the cliffs and strike there. Fishlegs, you go with them."
"And what about me?" asked Astrid.
"You're coming with me Astrid," he nodded at her. "I remember seeing something happening near the cliffs of the arena while I was flying over here, and I need you to help me investigate. From what I can tell - it doesn't look good..."
"Now, let's get moving!"
Without another word, Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs and the Twins separated and flew off with their dragons towards their objectives while the other dragons that came to Toothless's side were left behind to guard the harbor.
As Hiccup and Astrid flew over the village, they were able to catch a glimpse of the situation.
Fights and skirmishes broke out in the streets between dozens of vikings and raiders, with one side overpowering the other as the raid was heating up.
The town center however was where the bigger fight took place as a massive brawl went down, with a hundred raiders going up against two hundred Berkian vikings led by Stoick. However even with the vikings' greater numbers, the raiders were still stronger in comparison.
It was thanks to the elves who fought swiftly and shot their arrows accurately along with the dwarves who battled valiantly and roughly that the Berkians were standing a chance.
Even from above, Hiccup and Toothless could hear the dwarves shouting out their war cries.
"KHAZÂR!"
Astrid shivered with dread, watching the fight rage on. "I've never seen a raid this big before… how many do they even have to throw at us?"
"I don't know," shrugged Hiccup as he gazed over the situation. "I am honestly beginning to feel like something is not right with these raiders. It was more than eight months ago during their first raid that they brought a dozen, but now hundreds?"
"How many of them are even out there to begin wi-?"
"Wait, look!"
Astrid suddenly pointed towards the bridge from afar leading towards the arena, and upon looking across it, Hiccup's fear was soon realized.
The raiders managed to circle five of their ships towards the cliffs near the arena, before scaling up them and assembling on the other side of the bridge.
From what the two vikings saw, they could tell that they numbered a hundred.
"Oh no…" gasped Hiccup as he looked down at his dragon. "Toothless, land down across from them!"
Toothless huffed out a breath of air from his nostrils, bolting his way towards the end of the bridge opposite from the raiders.
Astrid and Stormfly were both quick to follow, and upon landing, they gazed across the bridge and glared at the raiders, of whom were already making their march across.
The two vikings swiftly dismounted, with Hiccup unclipping Inferno and retracting it from it's hilt and Astrid unsheathing her axe from her back.
The raiders, upon noticing the two Vikings and their growling dragons, halted their march and glared down the defiant warriors. The grip on their axes, hammers, and swords tightened, along with their shields.
But then, a larger figure stepped out from the ranks, particularly a raider commander who carried a great axe and wore no helmet, which thus allowed Hiccup to see his monstrous look.
The commander was at the very least a foot taller than his father, and the lad knew well that if he crossed blades with the large brute, it would not be an easy fight.
The commander gave a wicked grin, showing off his teeth and tusks. "Well, well, well! Take a look at this! Two maggoty vikings and their animal-loving dragon gits stand between us and our prize! You were foolish to intercept us, boy!"
"Yeah, that's what they always say!" responded Hiccup, clutching his right hand into a fist. "But if you really think we'll let you cross this bridge, then you are mistaken!"
"You fool," the raider cackled. "It is you who is mistaken for thinking you could stand up against us… WARRIORS! Run them down!"
The raiders swiftly stormed passed their commander and started to charge both Hiccup and Astrid with bloodcurdling war cries. But as they came closer, something unexpectedly happened...
From Hiccup's flanks, the elves and the dwarves came out of nowhere and ran to his side, led by both Lornduil and Morgrim.
Lornduil stood tall, raising his staff up before bellowing out to his elven guards, of whom armed with bows; "LEITHIO!"
The twelve guards suddenly let loose their arrows, flying them head on into the raiders' ranks, which in turn found their marks perfectly, taking out six of them.
Lornduil then quickly followed by pointing his staff out towards them, causing it to glow violently with fire magic as it cast forth three fireballs onto three of the raiders, launching them off the bridge in flames, screaming and roaring.
Soon Toothless, Stormfly, and the dwarves too began firing onto the raiders along with the elves, with the dwarves letting loose their bolts from their crossbows. This alone was enough to slow down their foe.
While this was going on, Hiccup stared back at the elven and dwarven king. "You two came to help us out?"
"We didn't come here tae save yer hides! We came here tae fight!" said Morgrim as he lifted his warhammer, glowing brightly with runic energy from it's runes.
Lornduil bowed his head in agreement to Morgrim, despite their hatred for one another. "Now if you would, do what you do best and aid us…"
Hiccup nodded, glancing back at the raiders who were still struggling to cross the bridge. With his hands tightly holding onto Inferno, he and Astrid both stormed across the bridge towards their foe, with Morgrim and his dwarves following up.
"KHAZÂR!" roared Morgrim.
With that, Hiccup's blade clashed against metal as soon as he entered combat, and although the raider before him overwhelmed him at first, it did not mean that the fight was in the brute's favor...
The scrawny viking brought his blade up, slashing a fiery cut at the exposed neck of the brute before striking at the side, causing a wound on a vulnerable part of his chest which in turn made the raider stumble off the bridge to their death.
He did not stop there however. He continued his assault, moving onto another raider who attempted to bash his mace onto Hiccup from above. His slower pace however allowed Hiccup to quickly dodge out of the way before stabbing Inferno through the side of the raider's weakened chestplate and pushing him off the bridge with a rough kick.
Whilst Hiccup fought, Astrid was doing better than she anticipated.
As she pushed her axe against the sword of a raider she fought, the brute attempted to reach out with it's mouth opened and painfully bite at Astrid, but the shieldmaiden saw this as her opportunity.
She quickly pushed the raider's weapon to the side with her axe and immediately responded by impaling him through the jaw with it, causing immense pain to the brute.
Using her leverage she then swung the raider towards the edge of the bridge with her axe still intact with it's jaw and brutally launched him off. As she did, her weapon loosened from the gorey wound, allowing her to pull it back to her side, ready to move on.
She continued forward, swinging her axe with all her strength and speed at the raiders, taking them down as if she were chopping down trees.
Morgrim on the other hand was having quite the time of his life taking on this new foe. Though they were bigger compared to him, they were in a sense weaker than him. After all, his runic hammer gave him the ability to smash them apart.
The dwarf's weapon met with a raider who wielded axes in both hands, attempting to slice the dwarf in two. But little did the raider know was that he was all too easy for the dwarf to handle.
With a single strike to the chest, Morgrim knocked the air completely out of the brute before bashing it's head in despite the helmet protecting it, crushing the raider instantly.
"KHAZÂR, YE BUGGERS!"
It became apparent to the raiders that they had found themselves in the midst of a meat-grinder. From the very back of the long line, the raider-commander could see his warriors being tossed aside, and off towards the rocky cliffs below them.
With the combined efforts of Hiccup, Astrid, and their dragons - as well as the elves and the dwarves, the raiders became too few to fight.
"Finish up!" called out Hiccup.
And soon, they started to flee.
"Retreat, maggots!" one of them shouted, turning tail and running past their leader.
The raider commander growled at his warriors. "Cowards! Come back and fight!"
Unbeknownst to any of the brutes, they would not make it out alive.
Toothless, whose eyes fell upon the retreating raiders, gave a growl. In that moment, his mouth lit up with purple fire, and with great precision and speed, he hurled one last plasma blast at the group of the raiders, particularly, towards the commander.
The large brute let out a roar as the dragon's blast closed in, and with that, a fiery explosion followed, sending the remaining raiders flying off the bridge, burning.
Through their victory, the dwarves and elves cheered, raising their weapons in superiority to their foe.
Hiccup on the other hand was exhausted. He let out a gust of cold air as he crouched down, trying to catch his breath.
"Well… looks like we won."
"Yeah," sighed Astrid. "But we still need to deal with rest of them in the town!"
Morgrim rolled his lips, waving his hand. "Yer warriors managed tae push them back as soon as yer friends and their dragons showed up. By now they should be-"
"GRAAAAGH!"
His words were immediately cut off upon hearing the sudden roar. The dwarf turned his head, and in the distance, a dozen more raiders came charging at them, bellowing with bloodlust.
"ODIN'S BEARD!" shouted Morgrim in frustration. "There's MORE of them!?"
As Hiccup, Astrid, and the others prepared to counter-charge them, something happened that they did not see coming.
From above the raiders, a fiery rift opened up, and from the rift, a large flaming boulder came crashing down unto them, causing an explosion that enveloped the brutes in a bright fire.
Everyone gazed away as they braced themselves from the spell's quaking impact, but upon looking back, they saw that the raiders were no longer there, for they were reduced to nothing but ashes.
Right away, Hiccup and Astrid knew who it was that casted the meteor.
Through the smoke they saw the elder Gothi, whose hands and staff glowed with bright, fiery magic. Though she was old, her magics were indeed powerful.
Hiccup took a few steps forward and gave her a nod. "Gothi! You made it just in time."
The elder bowed her head in respect as she motioned with her hand for them to follow, and thus, they quickly rushed to her side and began marching through the empty battle-torned streets that led towards the town plaza.
While walking, Hiccup looked down at Gothi and asked, "How is my father doing?"
…
Stoick lobbed his axe into the head of a raider, watching as the remnants ran towards the edge of the cliffs in an attempt to jump into the sea and flee to their remaining ship.
Yet as they ran, Stoick let out a whistle which alerted his dragon, and from behind, Skullcrusher came storming up - charging towards the fleeing raiders head first and head on.
The raiders were quickly crushed to bits. Skullcrusher merely ran over them like grass and swung his head at them, launching them into the sea with them carrying only broken bones.
And soon, there was not a single raider left in the village.
Stoick quickly ran near the edge of the cliffs to see the result, but to his surprise one ship managed to escape. He spat on the ground as he saw it sail off into the distance with its small crew.
Out of the four hundred raiders that came to Berk, only six managed to escape with their lives.
The chieftain grunted as he dropped his axe in exhaustion. "Gah! They got away yet again!"
"...Dad?"
The voice of his son caused Stoick to suddenly turn around, and before him stood Hiccup, along with Astrid, Gothi, their dragons, and the elves and the dwarves. To this, the chieftain sighed in relief.
Hiccup took a step towards his father. "Are you alright?"
"Mostly," he nodded. "But a vessel managed to slip through our grasp yet again. They escaped."
Hiccup gave a distasteful look, shaking his head while looking out to sea at the distant longship. "Out of all the raids we've had, can't we at least get rid of ALL of them for once? Their raids are becoming a huge pain."
"Well, at least we won," Astrid reassured him. "...But what about the village?"
The thought of the village made everyone turn to face back at the plaza behind them which was littered with the fallen.
Aside from the raiders, many of their own were injured and wounded from the raid while others too fell in battle. Those who survived managed to make way to the great hall for treatment and healing as well as safety, but the damage already done was great.
Stoick gave a disgruntled look. "We lost at least a hundred warriors… and that does not count the twenty villagers who were unfortunate to cross paths with the raiders..."
"Still. Where in the name of Midgard was Snotlout when I asked for him?"
…
"You YET AGAIN let us down, Snotlout."
"Pfft please, you know I couldn't have arrived anytime sooner, Stoick. I was minding my village."
Stoick and Snotlout were in the great hall having a heated argument near the chieftain's table, with Hiccup, Astrid, and the riders watching the turmoil unfold. With them stood also Gobber, Valka, and a dozen Jorgenson guards, as well as the elves and dwarves.
From the looks on their faces, they knew things were about to get heated. Even the wounded and exhausted villagers, who were spread out around the great hall, became concerned with what was going on.
"What do you mean you were minding your village!? Gobber told me that as soon as he discovered your outpost, he saw you standing there, watching your workers build your blasted camp, all while you ate a mutton like some sort of ignorant king!"
"You have a DRAGON for Odin's sake-"
Snotlout laughed hysterically, wiping a tear that nearly went down his face. "That is a bold way of describing someone like me... who owns half of Berk. Also, mind you that I have other matters of my own to worry about."
"And not our people?"
"Ha, you mean your people?"
The way in which Snotlout spoke with his scoffed manner made Stoick want to pounce on the young viking, and knock some sense into him. By now he had had enough of Snotlout's excuses…
...But again, he did not want violence nor a possible civil conflict to break out.
Snotlout smirked at Stoick's reaction. "The people of Clan Jorgenson are well safe on our side of the island, living happily in our village, thriving in gold, while your tribe is sinking into the dirt."
"Sinking into the dirt?!" the chieftain spat. "I was the one who helped build your village on the other side of Berk; by your demands! All the while, we've been fighting off the raiders! All you have ever done is mock us and rob us of our-"
Snotlout waved his hand with an ignorant gesture. "I am not interested in what you think of us, Stoick," he chuckled. "Know that Clan Jorgenson is no longer going to aid you with your raids. If you want help, find someone else. I mean- we are not allies. We never were."
"...Now if you'll excuse me, I have other things to attend to. You have wasted my time, so ta-ta! Guards, follow me!"
As soon as Snotlout began heading towards the doors of the great hall, his guards were quick to start following, marching behind their leader until they were no longer in sight.
Hiccup's expression turned into a frown as he crossed his arms. "He took it one step too far this time."
"Well that's Snotlout for ya," replied Ruffnut. "His arrogance is as arrogant as… well, arrogance."
"That doesn't even make any sense..." stated Fishlegs.
Astrid shrugged. "Either way, it looks like we're on our own now," she said, but not before turning to face Lornduil and Morgrim. "Unless you two have made up your minds about forming an alliance with-"
"We have," spoke Morgrim. "And the answer is no."
"Indeed," Lornduil nodded. "I will not spill any elvish blood in defense of this accursed isle. Your problems are your own. The light elves of Lightwood will not help you."
"And nor will the dwarves o' Khaz'ardul! Not ever!"
Hiccup's eyes widened with shock. This could not be. Even after fighting side by side and witnessing what Berk was up against, they were now backing down...
"You- you can't be serious!"