Time had passed since the Four were driven back. The cloudy skies above them were brightened once more, and the fires caused by Toothless had died out to the cold.
But even then, that did not change the fact that Astrid was still in pain, and at the same time, she had grown too weak to speak.
With a vial spared from his satchel, Fishlegs was able to brew her a tonic made from fréybloom and alf's foil, both of which were plants he had scavenged from the woods. Meanwhile, Arn furtherly inspected her stab wound, yet as time passed, the antidote seemed to have no effect. Her skin remained pale, and her eyes began lacking their light-blue color.
As Hiccup rested his hand over her forehead, he realized that she was still cold.
"I don't understand… w- why isn't it working!?" he asked stutteringly.
Arn sighed as he lifted his eyes from the wound, gazing back at Hiccup, Fishlegs, and the others who surrounded her. "It's too severe. The wound has blackened, and the space around it has gone extremely cold. Even though the antidote has given her more time, I'm afraid there is nothing more we can do. She is dying…"
"What!?" gasped Fishlegs.
"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Ruffnut. "After all we've been through… it ends like this for her!?"
"T- This can't be happening..." said Hiccup, his voice lowering to a softer tone as his eyes started to water. "I can't lose her, Arn. She's all that I have left aside from my mother and Toothless. Astrid is the love of my life, and no one can replace her. If she dies…"
The young lad paused. He sighed once more as a tear ran down his right cheek. Dread was all that he felt within his mind and heart. Was the one that he truly loved really about to die? What would his life be like without her? After all that they both went through together, was this really meant to be her fate? Was he to lose her?
Unless...
"...No."
The lad uttered but one word under his breath as he rose his head up with his brows lowered, to which the others gave him questioning stares.
"No what?" asked Snotlout.
"I'm not letting her die on me," responded Hiccup, wrapping his arms around her as he stood to his feet and gently picked her up, hastily carrying her over to Toothless.
"What are you doing?" asked Arn.
"I'm taking her to Nordell," the lad replied as he mounted Astrid on top of his dragon's saddle. "The light elves through their history are known for making medicines that can save people even from death. If I can reach them in time, they'll be able to save Astrid."
"How do you know about this? How do you even know they can save her?" asked Fishlegs. "The remedy required to heal her would have to be powerful."
"Lornduil himself told me about this after we formed the Alliance. It was during one of our private discussions. And I can assure you, they have it."
Arn gave a light sigh as he shook his head with disapproval. "You're crazy! Nordell is more than a day away! You won't be able to reach it in time!"
"Toothless flies faster than you think," Hiccup replied, gazing back at him. "Watch me."
…
Hiccup was uncertain for how long he had been flying. Was it for hours? Half the day? Whatever the case, what he knew now was that he was no longer flying above heavy woods, but over lightly forested plains and spread-out rivers.
As Toothless continued flying as fast as his wings could allow him, the coldness of the weather began to pick up as the familiar northern chill blew against his face.
"How will we know when we've arrived?" loudly asked Toothless, enough for Hiccup to hear over the passing wind.
"From what I remember from the maps, Nordell overlooks a valley from the cliffs. Where there's a valley, there's bound to be mountains surrounding it! As long as we can get there before dusk, we'll be able to save Astrid! Something tells me she won't survive much longer!"
"I'm flying as fast as I can, Hiccup! My wings were not made to go as fast as lightning!"
"You're doing your best, bud! Just keep at it!"
With inspiration from his rider's words, the Night Fury continued flying faster than the speed of the wind, all the while Hiccup held his arms around Astrid, who sat in front of him, nearly unconscious. Her face had become paler than the color of snow, and her weight was unnaturally light. The Lord of the Four's runic weapon had done more damage to her than Hiccup had expected…
But that would not stop him from saving her. The antidote had given her more time to live, and he would not see it go to waste.
At the same time however, he wondered what it would be like once they reached the elves' capital as he had never truly seen an elven city before.
It was said that they built towers that dwarfed even the tallest evergreens… that their keeps and palaces were grander than any other, and that their trees glowed with the light of stars in the night.
Perhaps when Astrid was healed, the two of them could spend some time alone to admire Nordell's wonders…
As the young viking continued imagining these thoughts, nearly losing himself, a voice suddenly called out to him, bringing him back to reality.
"...Hiccup?" asked Toothless. "Are you alright? You look like you're dozing off!"
"I- It's nothing," sighed Hiccup, shaking his head as he cleared his mind of his thoughts. "Why do you ask?"
"You might want to keep your eyes peeled! My senses are picking up a familiar presence, and whatever it is, it's not good!"
Hiccup blinked as his adrenaline began to slightly kick. He gazed around at his surroundings, keeping watch of anything that seemed suspicious to the eye. What could it have possibly been that had caught Toothless's senses? More importantly however, why?
As Hiccup thought about the possibility, a familiar dread suddenly fell over him as the air around him began to feel uneasy. He knew this presence, and as the air suddenly became colder, it hit him. Yet the question was, how was it even possible?
"It can't be…"
"HSSS!"
The scream echoed like a bat's screech. Hiccup turned his head to look back, and from behind, he spotted a flying lone figure, whose blackened juggernaut appearance and runic weapon was all too recognizable, as well as the green glow in his eyes.
It was the Lord of the Four.
As unexpecting as it was, what shocked Hiccup the most was how the dark viking flew, for he was flying atop his horse. The great black steed galloped through the air like a ram riding over mountains, speeding fast, refusing to let up as if it were hunting down prey for its master.
And Hiccup was the prey.
Eventually, the Lord of the Four began to close in on the rider and his dragon, maneuvering his horse to gallop closer to the two as if it were a race. His intentions, however, did not involve riding ahead of them.
"Is that one of the dark vikings we faced earlier!?" questioned Toothless, tilting his head to the right to face the juggernaut.
"Y- Yeah…" the lad nodded frantically, gazing at the blackened warrior with widened eyes. "Except that's their leader!"
Hiccup was uncertain what had drawn the Lord of the Four to follow him, but whatever the case, he now feared the worst for Astrid. Had the dark viking come to finish what he started with her? If that was so, then he would not allow it.
"Hrrgh!" the juggernaut growled. "Did you really believe that I was going to leave you so easily, Wing of Midgard? I told you, I would return."
"H- How are you even still alive!?" the young viking asked, baffled. "You should've burned to a crisp!"
"Alive? Foolish boy… what lies beneath this bulk of armor is neither living nor dead! You cannot kill what has already died! If your pathetic Wings of Midgard already knew that the moment they laid eyes on us, they would have rightfully fled. Instead, they allow one of your own to die."
"She is not dying today. And nor am I!" shouted Hiccup as he swiftly unsheathed Inferno, gripping it within his right hand as he angrily set the blade aflame with the use of his fiery magic.
"You will die with her either way," the Lord of the Four uttered. "And once you both die, your five remaining Wings will have to wander alone!"
Hiccup's heart started beating faster. For a moment, it felt as if his world paused upon hearing that number. Remaining five? Had he misheard that?
"Y- You're mistaken!" he exclaimed. "There's only six of us total!"
"Is there now?" the dark viking said questioningly. "Have you ever wondered where your seventh Wing of Midgard was? All you merely had to do was look over your shoulder to see the truth…"
"You're a liar!"
"Hmph, call me a liar all you wish. None of that matters. For now, you will die..."
As such, the Lord of the Four swung his runic blade at Hiccup, to which the young viking quickly responded with a rough but swift strike against the weapon, forcing the black warrior's sword to recoil back towards him as a result of the strong fiery enchantment.
From there, the two warriors clashed into combat, and the fight began.
After landing his first blow, the Lord of the Four continued his attempts at striking Hiccup, but even with the effort, the lad's counters simply kept on repelling back the dark viking's blade. The flaming enchantment around Inferno was more powerful than what the juggernaut had anticipated, for it felt as if someone equal his strength was reflecting his weapon back. As a result, he could not find his mark.
At one point, Hiccup had even managed to parry one of the black warrior's attacks, striking at the armored gauntlet with a downward cleave, to which the Lord of the Four looked back with shock. To the lad's surprise, he could even see a hint of frustration in the warrior's eyes.
"Do you truly believe a few spins and parries with your blade can stop me, Haddock?" questioned the dark viking. "You only delay your own death. Even if you were to attack me with all of your might, your strikes would not make a dent."
"I could keep this up until we get to Nordell," responded Hiccup, attempting to mock the dark viking. "Then we'll see how you fare against the elves' magics! I honestly doubt you would be able to handle it!"
Further seeking to taunt the juggernaut, Hiccup raised his fiery blade, and this time, he was the first to strike. In response to his move, the dark viking clashed with the lad, and as the two blades struck, they became trapped in a weapon-lock, thus both combatants began pushing against one another.
But the Lord of the Four was vastly stronger, and as such, he made quick effort into breaking the lock as he pushed Hiccup back, nearly causing him to drop his sword.
With the lock broken, the young viking readied himself once more as he anticipated a counter strike. But to his surprise, the blackened warrior made no such move.
"Hahaha…" the Lord of the Four laughed, slowly sheathing his sword as he suddenly began creating distance from Hiccup and Toothless, and yet his steed continued galloping on their right.
Both the young viking and his Night Fury looked confused, but before they knew it, the dark viking raised out his left hand and gave it a mere flick, lighting it aflame in chaos fire.
"If I cannot pierce you, then mayhaps magic will indeed rectify this... Burn in chaos fire!"
"Oh Odin…"
As if throwing a rock, the dark viking launched a ball of chaos fire towards Hiccup and Toothless, and as it came closer, it quickly began expanding, becoming the size of a boulder.
"LOOK OUT TOOTHLESS!"
The Night Fury let out a gasp. Upon seeing the great ball of green fire, the black dragon maneuvered his wings to the left and bolted to the side, forcing the spell to miss, but barely.
"Hsss! You cannot dodge my spells forever, Wing of Midgard! You and your Night Fury will burn!"
Once more, the Lord of the Four raised out his hand and casted forth another ball of chaos fire, and as such, Toothless maneuvered to the right, causing the spell to once again miss. This time however, the Night Fury was better prepared for the attack.
Hiccup glanced back at Toothless, all whilst he continued bolting out of the way of the dark viking's attack. "We need to strike back at him! Get me in closer! Let me cast a-"
"No!" Toothless objected. "That will only make it easier for him to hit us! Let me take the reins, and I'll show this dark viking what dragonfire can do…"
"Are you sure about this?" asked Hiccup.
"Are you doubting me?" chuckled Toothless with a warble. "That dumb brute fled after letting his guard down to a torch! If hitting him with a torch counted as something, then so will my flames! Like this!"
Like so, Toothless set his eyes onto the Lord of the Four. His gaze immediately turned into a glare, and with a powerful huff of his breath, the Night Fury fired out a charged plasma blast towards the dark viking, hurling at a speed that was nearly as fast as the wind.
But to the viking, it was not fast enough.
With a strong pull of his reins, the black juggernaut rode his steed out of the way of the Night Fury's plasma blast, all before responding with an attack of his own - once more in the form of a spell. To Hiccup's shock, the Lord of the Four suddenly began casting forth bolts of chaos lightning, aiming them down onto Toothless as if it were coming from a literal thunderstorm.
Despite the difficulty of dodging the dark viking's wicked spell, Toothless remained determined to keep Hiccup, and as well as Astrid, alive. Through his senses, he dodged bolt after bolt of the green lightning, but not without returning fire to the Lord of the Four, and through some miracle, he had managed to even strike twice against both the horse and the fell warrior himself.
But to his surprise, the damage was minimal, for he had only managed to leave burns on the armor of the black horse and his rider.
Between Toothless and the dark viking, the two continued exchanging their blows, but as time passed on, Hiccup soon began to notice mountains quickly rising over the horizon; mountains with snow atop their peaks, along with many distant trees waving on and against them like hair blowing in the wind. But as he squinted his eyes, the realization dawned upon him as to what he was staring at.
For beyond those mountains laid the elven realm of Nordell. He was certain of it.
"Look! Up ahead! We're almost there, Toothless!" said Hiccup, filled with confidence. "Just keep on flying!"
"Grr… I'm getting sick of this dark viking! I can't let him continue following us!" replied Toothless. "I'm going to have to drop you two off somewhere safe, then it'll just be me and him!"
Hiccup blinked as he stared at the Night Fury with uncertainty in his eyes. "What-? You can't be serious! Do you even know how powerful he is!? You could get-"
"I've faced dragons the size of mountains!" the dragon responded with certainty. "I won't let a servant of some so-called dark lord beat me! If I must use my alpha form to take him like I did with the Bewilderbeast, then I will!"
"Now hold on tight! This flight is about to get intense!"
Without any choice, Hiccup grasped his arms tightly around Astrid as Toothless stretched out his wings, almost as if he were preparing to take off, and with a great flap, the Night Fury stormed past the Lord of the Four as if flying at the speed of a lightning bolt. But as such, the large dark viking did not take it too lightly.
"GAAAGH!"
...
It did not take too long for Toothless to catch up with the towering mountains, and upon closing in, his eyes fell onto a hilly patch of forest with an opening, along with a small stream that ran down it. It was a suitable spot.
"Perfect," the Night Fury said to himself, and like so, he flew down towards the opening, making a swift landing by the stream.
"Get off. Quickly," he said, motioning with his head for the lad to dismount, to which Hiccup quickly unhooked his prosthetic and swiftly jumped off of the Night Fury's saddled back.
As soon as he was dismounted, Hiccup's arms reached out for Astrid, wrapping them around her as he slowly and gently proceeded to pick her up. Upon lifting her however, he immediately noticed a change in her weight. She felt noticably lighter, almost as if she were as light as a feather, and that only meant one thing.
Time was running out...
As Hiccup laid her by the stream, the lad took a small handful of water and sprinkled it over her face. "Hold on, Astrid," he said as a cold breath of air escaped him. "You're going to be okay."
"How is she?" asked Toothless as he calmly approached Astrid, who was now completely unconscious.
"She's not going to last long," the young viking replied. "I just hope the elves can save her in time. They have what we need. I know it."
"Well, we can't keep her out here for long. If she gets pneumonia from this weather, then we're going to have two issues to deal with."
"But what about the dark viking?"
"HSSS!"
The familiar demonic screech coming from the Lord of the Four reverberated in Hiccup's ears upon mentioning him, and as he looked back from where they stood, the galloping figure of the armored black juggernaut and his flying warhorse became noticeable. It became clear that the warrior had not given up the chase.
The young viking's gaze fell back onto Toothless. "You can handle this, right?"
"Like I said, I've taken on dragons as big as mountains! I will destroy that thing before it can reach us!"
With a confident posture along with a determined glare on his face, the Night Fury sprinted towards the center of the opening, gazing up at the dark viking who violently rode his horse faster than before, as if he was desperate to finally deal with Hiccup. It became clear that the juggernaut had had enough...
...But so did Toothless, for he sought to unleash the most powerful plasma blast he could onto the Lord of the Four, and this time, they would walk away from him for good... hopefully.
The black dragon suddenly closed his eyes, and in an instant, he felt as if time itself had slown down around him, and in that moment, he allowed his mind to briefly take over.
Though he was merely a dragon, his thoughts worked the same way as a human. As such, he immediately found himself racing back to the day when he became the alpha of all dragons. Back to the day when his true powers had awoken. He remembered breaking out of the Bewilderbeast's ice as if it were nothing, before proceeding to unleash what felt like the wrath of the gods themselves upon the leviathan. It was a power that he could use either to protect, or to destroy.
But now, he intended to use it for both.
As his mind continued racing, he felt the energy of his inner fury begin to fill him. From his spine to his head, a blue glow started to form as the burning feeling of heat filled up in the back of his throat. He opened his mouth and began huffing out hot air, and after what felt like more than a minute, Toothless opened his eyes and gazed back at the Lord of the Four, just as the juggernaut began to close in on them.
It was time.
The Night Fury opened his mouth, letting out a loud and piercing draconic screech that nearly halted the dark viking in place as blue fire roared up from within the back of his mouth, like a blazing inferno.
His flames charged up like a crossbow loading its bolt, and after several seconds passed, he fired.
Like a meteor falling fast towards Midgard, the bright blue bolt of fire hurled towards the Lord of the Four at a speed that was near-impossible to avoid, and in the middle of the moment, the dark viking attempted to turn the other way.
"GRAAAGH!"
But before he could flee, the blast found its mark, and what followed was a bright explosion of blue fire, blinding everyone around it...
...
A moment passed by. Hiccup looked towards the skies as soon as the blinding explosion faded. But upon gazing up at the sight, the lad saw no sign of the Lord of the Four. It was as if the dark viking was incinerated in an instant by the plasma blast. Yet the question remained, was the dark viking truly gone?
"What the Thor just happened…?" he asked himself.
Like a herd of yaks, his thoughts were rampantly running through him. But as he spotted the figure of Toothless walking towards him, huffing and puffing, the sense of reality came back to him as he approached the black dragon, baffled.
"Toothless…" he began. "What did you just do?"
"Fired one of the most powerful plasma blasts I ever made, that I can say," the dragon replied, glancing back up at the sky where the Lord of the Four previously was. "As for the dark viking however, I know this may sound unbelievable, but something tells me that he isn't entirely gone; rather he is… banished. When the explosion happened, my senses picked up a strange, unnatural force that quickly came and went. Unfortunately, it was too bright for me to see. Still, it was stupid of him to chase us alone without the rest of his vikings."
"Well- he's the least of my worries now," responded Hiccup, turning his gaze back to Astrid as he hastily made his way towards her, before kneeling down by her side and placing a palm on her forehead.
"Astrid is barely alive…"
A desperate sigh escaped Hiccup's mouth as he closed his eyes, beginning to wonder what he could have done to prevent this tragedy from happening. In his mind, he kept on repeating to himself, 'If I hadn't been such a fool, this wouldn't have happened…' as if he were blaming himself for the entire situation.
As he was about to open his mouth to speak, the sudden snap of a twig cut him off and quickly caught his attention. As such, he immediately opened his eyes and looked up from where he knelt.
And there, he saw them…
From the forests stood eight tall long-haired figures, armed with bows. Their gear consisted of a silver colored plate-armor that they bore from shoulder to toe, along with blue cloaks that extended down to their ankles, some hooded, and some hoodless. Their eyes and ears however gave it all away, for their eyes glowed a light blue, and their ears, their pointy ears, extended outwards like the tips of spears.
Light elves…
Hiccup sighed with relief as he gazed upon them, feeling a sense of hope fill his heart and mind. One of the elves, a blonde-haired man, took several steps forward, curiously staring down at the young viking, for neither he nor his fellow elves had ever seen such travellers before the valley of Nordell.
But as the elf's gaze fell onto Astrid, he immediately noticed the pale color of her skin; to that, his concern suddenly grew.
"Young one," he spoke, expressing a warm tone to the lad. "Is your friend unwell? Her skin looks as pale as the wintry snow…"
"I- It's more than that. Please- she needs help..." replied Hiccup, looking back down at Astrid. "My friend is dying. She was stabbed by a deadly weapon- a runic blade, and it drained her of her life. By this point, she doesn't have long. Please... She needs-"
"Hold a moment, young one- ...you mentioned a runic blade. Do you speak of those weapons wielded by the Dark Legions?" the elf asked as he immediately made his way towards the lass, kneeling down beside her as to get a closer look at her state.
"Y- Yes," nodded Hiccup. "And that's why I came here. My friends and I, we- we tried to help her, but the damage was too much."
"By Freyr... You were right to come to us, as well as lucky. Not many people live to tell the tale of being stabbed by one of those foul weapons, but these effects are unlike most that I've seen. You must be desperate..."
"So what are you saying?" asked Hiccup. "Can you help her?"
The light elf gave no response at first. He merely placed the back of his fingers against her forehead, before gently running them across it. Then he looked back up at Hiccup…
"What is your name, young one?"
"Hiccup," the lad responded. "Hiccup Haddock."
"She is not dying today, Hiccup Haddock... Come with us. We will save your friend."