Author's Notes
Just a reminder for anyone using the FanFiction app, PMs don't work. So if you've been using it to reply to me, I'm not ignoring you, I just don't get your messages. The mobile website works fine and isn't difficult to navigate.
Also if you've been following VigoGrimborne's works you'll know I've been beta reading Usurpation of the Darkness, which I highly recommend you all check out. In fact, just read all of his works if you haven't already, they're all awesome.
"You know, this reminds me of the time–"
"Johann, this is not the time for one of your stupid stories," Astrid snapped at the merchant, trying to analyse the situation.
No bodies, human or otherwise, so there was a good chance everyone was alive somewhere. That ruled out a raid by another tribe, and the more traditional dragon raids. It had to be some sort of dragon to cause this, something exotic.
But what had happened? Had everyone been taken, or did they flee? She hoped it wasn't the latter; they would only flee something that could not be fought. The whole situation gave her the creeps.
A quiet growl split the silence, quickly followed by a second, and she spun to find the Furies sniffing around. "You smell something?" she asked.
"Cold hides smells," Hiccup replied with a deep croon, "but… maybe smell scale-wing-hunter." So she'd been right, a dragon attack. She was suddenly glad she'd taken up sparring with Stormfly; if this had happened with Fishlegs present, then diplomacy had failed.
Toothy was nosing his way down into the village, and stared at Stoick's door for a moment before flipping the latch and letting himself in. Astrid followed cautiously, worried she might find Stoick still inside, or what was left of him.
Thankfully it was just as deserted as outside, save for Toothy staring up at the loft. She jumped when he crooned, then raised her axe at a creak from upstairs. "Hello?" she called out tensely.
Something big appeared from the hatch to the loft, then barrelled halfway down the stairs and leaped straight at her. She deftly stepped back to let Fishlegs crash into the floor instead, then winced; that had to hurt.
"Astrid!" he cried out, scrambling to his feet and lunging to hug her. She'd run out of space to retreat to, and could only stand there awkwardly. "Oh thank Thor you're back, it's bad, really bad–"
"Yeah, I got that," she cut him off dryly, forcing the words through the pressure around her torso. "How about letting me go and giving me the short version? Where is everyone?"
He let her go and paced nervously. "They set up camp near the cove with whatever they could carry. We couldn't fight them, they were just too fast–!"
"Couldn't fight what?" she asked in exasperation.
"…Speed Stingers," he replied cryptically, with a glance around as if he'd somehow summoned them by name. She tried to recall them from the Book of Dragons, but it was one of the more obscure species that never made it to Berk and thus were pointless to learn about.
At any rate, this wasn't the place to catch up. "Come on, you can tell me about them on the way out of here," she said as she herded him to the door, but he stood firm.
"I can't leave my Meatlug!"
Astrid pointedly looked around and gestured to the empty house, and he led her outside – where Johann was waiting anxiously and watching Hiccup sniff around – and turned to look up at the roof. There, perched on the ridge-beam, was a very still Meatlug. So still she could have been a statue.
"My goodness, how did we miss that?" Johann mused.
"What–"
"The stingers in their tails cause paralysis," Fishlegs cut her off. "We were waiting for you, but got caught off-guard… Just look at her… So proud and majestic…" Actually, if Astrid was brutally honest, Meatlug was not a pretty dragon, but she wasn't about to disabuse Fishlegs of his fantasy.
"What were you going to do for her holed up in the house?" Astrid asked him. "Come on, you can help her by keeping yourself safe. Is she… stuck like that, or will it wear off?"
"I dunno…"
She put a hand on his shoulder. "Either it does, and she'll come find us, or it doesn't, and there's nothing we can do right now. Come on." She mounted Stormfly and gestured to him while Johann climbed up behind her.
Fishlegs wanted to argue, and made several strained noises, but eventually just slumped with a sigh. "Okay… Come find us when you can, okay girl?" he called up to his dragon.
Stormfly quietly grumbled a complaint at having three passengers, but took a running start to get into the air and whisked them over the forest.
Dreamer flapped into a landing in the makeshift camp, staring at the rows of immobilised people. He padded over to one and sniffed at an exposed ankle, but didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary. Fishlegs had said paralysis, not poison, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be lethal. He recognised Bucket, Mulch, Sven, and several others from the families they visited over winter, all covered in thick blankets to ward off the cold.
Sound pricked his ears and he turned to see Gothi shuffling warily towards him, clutching her staff. He gave a worried croon at the rows of stiff Vikings, about twenty in all, to put her at ease. She relaxed and gave him a small smile, then waved her hand dismissively at them, seeming to imply there was nothing to worry about. That was a relief.
Their eyes met, and she squinted at him curiously before scurrying forward. He pulled back a little, though he wasn't really threatened by the tiny old woman, and was surprised when she grabbed his chin and stared into his eyes with an unreadable expression. He warbled curiously at her, but she took no heed. After a few moments she turned to the side, staring at the ground and tapping her chin thoughtfully, then hobbled away.
That had been… strange. Wait, did she know? It was said Gothi could see someone's soul through their eyes, so if she could see his…
…Huh. He found he didn't really care. He wasn't the same person he'd been two and a half years ago, but even if she recognised him it felt irrelevant. What was she going to do, change him back? If the Aesir wanted him to be a human, they would have brought it up in the sacred grove. He put it from his mind.
One of the blankets in the rows of stiff Vikings was conspicuously empty, which he trotted around and put his nose to. The scents hadn't yet had time to freeze, and he immediately recognised Snotlout. That made little sense…
Unless… His ears swivelled, searching for… yep. He trotted into the trees, honing in on the mad laughter to find the twins practically wetting themselves with mirth as they took turns humiliating Snotlout, stiff as a board and propped up against a tree.
"Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself," Tuffnut repeated jovially while slapping Snotlout with his own hand. Nearby, Ruffnut tottered and doubled over, struggling to breathe through her laughter. There was a sort of growling noise coming from Snotlout himself, though he was clearly helpless to do anything more.
"Wait, wait, I got one," Ruffnut gasped, then had Snotlout make a fist in front of his own face and gave him a nudge. The growling became a little shrill as he fell forwards. A nearby purr signalled Wanderer watching from the shadows as well.
Well, Snotlout was a big boy, he could handle it. Dreamer turned tail and left the twins to their antics.
He wandered the camp, following Astrid's scent. Conditions weren't great, but it was pretty good for a temporary camp. The mood was sombre, mostly due to the regular sounds of infants crying and carers hushing them. It was balanced by the tranquil rushing of water running through the cove, from which Dreamer could hear the hollow ringing of wooden buckets striking stone.
Astrid was at the centre of it all, talking in stressed tones with Fishlegs. Stoick sat nearby on a stump, rigid and unmoving. Not him too… He still held his axe, mid-swing – Dreamer grimaced at the blood on it – and his face was stuck in a determined stare.
Dreamer gave a sad croon and trotted over to nuzzle Stoick's face with a quiet purr, and the man hummed back at him.
"Yeh should'a seen 'im, took six o' the beasts ter take 'im down," Gobber said proudly as he waddled out of the trees.
"Rr rr rrr, rr rr rrr rrr," Stoick grunted agitatedly.
"Right yeh are, Chief!" Gobber cheerfully agreed with a clueless frown. "Anyway, water ain't a problem, bu' we only go' food fer the night. Ah'd say ter go pick up more, bu' ah think if we make i' tha' far it'll be the least of our worries… It's damn cold, an' blankets'll only take us so far. If it so much as snows, we're done for." Stoick sighed worriedly at that, and Gobber nodded at Dreamer before heading off again.
That didn't sound good. Dreamer turned his attention to Astrid and Fishlegs, hoping for better news, but the way they were just bouncing short sentences off each other did not inspire confidence. He padded over and warbled an enquiry.
Astrid sighed at him. "They only come out at night, when it's dark and hard to see, and they're too fast to fight."
"In addition to that," Fishlegs said in a downcast hum, "you only need to be stung once, and they're coordinated."
"They have alpha, maybe…" Dreamer mused.
"Yeah, it was hard to tell but it did look like they were all following a bigger one."
"If they follow alpha, we just need get alpha away," he suggested. "Others follow."
Fishlegs scratched his chin thoughtfully. "But how? Unless you tie it up and carry it away, but that's still really dangerous. And you'd have the whole pack to deal with while you were doing it."
And if they just wrapped it up, it was unlikely the pack would follow it. It was cruel, but the best he could come up with was stringing it up by its tail and flying it away, so it would still be able to call out. But what would stop it from just coming back?
"Challenge," Wanderer growled, walking into the conversation. "I can challenge Fast-Paw alpha."
Fishlegs watched him carefully. "…Wait, by 'challenge', do you mean…"
"It mean I fight him, then tell pack 'leave'."
"That can work?" Dreamer warbled worriedly.
"Maybe," Wanderer growled, then addressed Fishlegs. "Different packs have different ways. Maybe they not accept challenge from Nightstriker. But I can try."
"But why you?" Astrid asked him. "Stormfly or Hookfang–"
"–not fast enough," Wanderer finished for her.
"We find Fast-Paws then," Dreamer confirmed, "then fight alpha so he leave. That maybe work."
Wanderer gave a croon of sad, trepidation, but just looked away when Dreamer tilted his head at him.
"Well, first we have to find them," Astrid sighed. "Then we can decide what to do. How many riders do we have?"
Fishlegs counted off on his fingers. "You, the twins, and two of the Nadder scouts." So few!? "Me too, when Meatlug comes back… Oooh I hope she's okay…"
"Ugh, what a time for Spitelout to go off raiding," Astrid groaned.
Right… that would explain it…
"Come on, we're burning daylight." Astrid strode off, presumably to where the dragons were.
"Dreamer," Wanderer warbled quietly, and they fell a little way behind the others. "I not say before because… she not know us." Dreamer nodded, his ears going back. Wanderer was a smart dragon to consistently hide their difference in knowledge so well. "Challenge…" He sighed. "Each pack different. Some packs… challenge to death."
Dreamer froze in his tracks. "But not this pack…?" he asked hopefully.
"I not know," Wanderer crooned quietly. "I see some Fast-Paws, but we not talk."
"This too risky!" Dreamer barked.
Wanderer sidled up and nuzzled him affectionately. "I good fighter, not lose. Not worry. I tell you so you know if I need kill Fast-Paw alpha." He hummed thoughtfully. "Then I probably need find new nest for them."
"Yes…" Dreamer crooned sadly. "I try think something else. But if I not can think… try not kill?"
"It not thing I decide," Wanderer sighed. "If pack fights to death, I need kill alpha."
Dreamer gave a sad, frustrated growl. That just made it more important for him to think of something else.
"Stop it! Whatever you're doing back there, stop it!"
Tuffnut grinned, ignoring Snotlout's demands. Or maybe he was complying? He wasn't doing anything at all, but Snotlout thought he was, which was even funnier than actually doing something.
"…What are you doing back there?" Ruffnut asked, then wandered around. Tuffnut shrugged and prodded Snotlout between the shoulder blades, triggering another wave of demands and threats. "Ooh, I get it," she said with a sly grin at Snotlout's frustration. "That's pretty mean."
It was about that point Hiccup and Toothy prowled onto the scene, Toothy looking very pleased. Tuffnut considered that, then walked around to check Snotlout over. Maybe they'd overdone it a bit, he was pretty bruised and battered. Well, most of that had been Ruffnut.
Astrid stalked in a few moments later. "Oh Thor, what have you guys been doing to him?"
"Whatever we want," Ruffnut cackled.
"Oh Astrid! My princess, you've come to rescue me–"
"Oooon second thought, maybe I'll come back later," Astrid thought aloud.
She was followed by Gothi – uh oh, busted. The old woman frowned disapprovingly at Tuffnut, and he gave her an apologetic grin. There were two people nobody, including Tuffnut and his sister, would mess with directly, and that was Stoick and Gothi. Both of them were very capable of making lives miserable.
"Ow!" Tuffnut barked as she whacked his helmet with her staff. She had a way of doing it that wasn't at all pleasant, not like a good hit from a mace. Ruffnut yelped moments later.
The little old woman tapped Snotlout with the staff, then pointed it back to the camp. "Alright, alright," Tuffnut sighed, hooking an arm under Snotlout's shoulder. Ruffnut took the other side without fuss, and they dragged him back and dropped him unceremoniously in his place with the other frozen Vikings. Some of the others were talking casually, which was amusing with how they were all locked in battle poses.
"Come on guys, we're going to look for the Speed Stingers," Astrid announced, gripping her axe; not in fear or anger, but more like a grim determination.
"So what's the plan?" Tuffnut asked, knowing there wasn't one.
"We find them first, then work it out from there." Heh, called it. "If nothing else, Toothy will challenge the alpha and drive them away."
Tuffnut paused. "Uhh, you okay with that Toothy?" The dragon chuffed at him. "Alright… Just don't get overconfident, these things are real fast."
Toothy said something about his scales, but the new language was not Tuffnut's forte. He spoke with trust and confidence though, so the meaning was clear. "Yeah well just be careful."
Hiccup didn't look at all happy about it, which was to be expected. That was a dragon who abhorred violence; probably for the best given how dangerous Night Furies could be. "And you watch his back," Tuffnut told him. No duh, said the look he received back.
"I'm coming with you!" Snotlout had finally worked his face out of the blanket they'd dropped him on.
Tuffnut rolled his eyes at him. "And how you gonna do that, moron? You can't even move."
"We're wasting daylight, let's go," Astrid urged, and they legged it to the clearing the dragons were lounging in.
Belch gargled happily at him as he jogged up, the sinuous neck snaking around him. "You ready to start some trouble?" Tuffnut asked.
"No trouble," Astrid growled, the spoilsport. "Just check the caves near the village and signal if you find them. Don't do anything stupid." She then took off on Stormfly, followed by the Furies.
"Can you believe her? Always barking orders," Ruffnut complained as they took off.
Tuffnut made a noncommittal noise. "Not like we listen much anyway."
"And yet, here we are, doing work. This stinks."
"Yeah well the sooner we sort this out, the sooner we get our village back and can go back to causing mayhem," he tried reasoning with her.
"Since when are you such a goody two shoes? Come on, let's just get this over with." They nudged their dragon in perfect sync–
Barf promptly attempted to fly a different direction to Belch, and they dropped halfway to the ground before levelling out again. "What just happened!?" Ruffnut asked in a grating screech.
"I… dunno…" Tuffnut was just as stunned as she was. "Are we…"
"…out of sync?" she finished for him, and they looked at each other.
"Pff, nah," they both said together, and pulled on the reins again–
Only to end up dangling in a tree. "Okay, this might be a problem," Tuffnut allowed.
"Ya think?"
Getting out of the tree wasn't nearly as much of a problem as getting Barf and Belch down, but they managed it eventually and got back into the air. "Okay," Tuffnut called over to his sister, "just follow my lead and let's just do this."
"What? Why am I following your lead?"
"Because you were the one complaining about doing it," he shot back. "Fine then, you lead."
She put her nose in the air. "Maybe I don't want to."
Tuffnut groaned. "Do you want to lead or not? Because I'm not telling Astrid we didn't check any of our caves."
"I don't want to, but I will," she decided, and Tuffnut groaned again. Now she was just being obstinate.
Flying like this was slow going, but they gradually got through the caves in the area they'd been given to check. It was like walking with one of your legs facing the wrong way. Nobody could work out which head controlled what, or if they were separate at all, but when the heads didn't agree then it was just mayhem.
"This is stupid," Ruffnut grumbled as they flew. "We've been out here, like, half the day and we haven't found anything."
"Well, there's a lot of caves, and only one pack of Speed Stingers. Chances are they aren't in any of these."
"Then why are we bothering to check?"
"Why bother doing anything? Why bother eating, we're only going to get hungry again."
"Don't be stupid," she growled, tugging on Barf to avoid a tree.
Unfortunately, Tuffnut was a bit distracted and she'd picked the long way around it for some reason, so they ended up colliding with it instead.
"Ugh… this is getting old," he groaned, dangling from a branch again. "I think I'll take over for the last few. That good with you?" He looked around. "…Sis?"
He spotted her on the ground below – that probably wasn't good – and deftly climbed down the branches and slid down the trunk. "You okay sis?"
"Do I look okay?" she hissed, clutching at her leg. "We have to go back."
Great, Astrid was going to flip. At least there were only a few places left to check. "Alright, come on." He helped her up, and after a few failed attempts to get her into the saddle Barf just picked her up by the collar. "That works too," he said, smirking at her indignant frown.
They flew back to the camp, which was easy to spot by all the smoke above it, and landed in the big clearing. Tuffnut then helped his sister hobble over to Gothi, who looked at them sternly. "Hey, we weren't doing anything stupid this time," he said defensively.
"Yeah, just had a bit of trouble with the dragon," Ruffnut grumbled. He gave her a sympathetic punch on the shoulder before abandoning her to her fate. It was very unfortunate this had happened now, but at least she was the one being reminded why they never crossed Gothi.
A fate even worse than what she was leaving him to. "So, uh, Astrid," he started levelly.
Astrid just looked at him, glanced around for Ruffnut, then rubbed her forehead. "How bad is it?"
Tuffnut shrugged. "She's with Gothi, so must be pretty bad."
She gave a satisfied smirk and sympathetic wince at the same time. "Did you at least get all your caves checked?"
"Nah, we didn't get to the last area. You know, the one around that big boulder that looks like Gustav picking his nose."
"Oh yeah, I know the one," Astrid said with a nod. "I'll get it. Go help Fishlegs on the bridge, Hiccup had a good idea."
"On it!" Tuffnut shouted and ran off. Mostly he was happy to have somehow avoided Astrid's ire – he wasn't afraid of it, it just wasn't something he liked to stumble into – but he was excited to see what this idea was.
"Is this it? Well that's boring."
Fishlegs looked up to see Tuffnut climbing through the ropes and wires criss-crossing over the bridge. "Yeah, but effective. Just watch out for–" He winced as Tuffnut slipped over and ended up dangling in the ropes. "–the ice…"
"…What's ice gonna do?" Tuffnut asked as he extracted himself. "Dragons have claws."
"Yeah but they won't be able to speed over it as quickly," Fishlegs explained as he upended another bucket of snow and began treading it down.
Hiccup still had that creative streak, there was no doubt about that, and bottlenecking the dragons on the bridge was brilliant; it was considered part of the bridge, but really this was the path affixed to the cliffside that led to the bridge. The plan was simply to slow them down enough that a handful of archers would make any advance very painful. Hopefully, dissuading the dragons from the village would be enough to move them from the island, as Berk was not a good habitat for fast runners. They'd prefer somewhere more open where they could reach top speed.
In a way, it was a pity they would be leaving, Fishlegs would love a chance to better study them. He would need to keep an eye out for them in future.
"You okay girl?" he asked Meatlug as he returned for another bucket of snow. The Gronkle chattered happily, her wings lifting her into the air – about a foot, from where she dropped limply back to the ground with a surprised expression. "Hey, you're going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that," he said gently, then "Stay," in Dragonese.
She grumbled at him and blurred her wings irritably, but didn't try to take off again.
"Is there a reason we ain't just burnin' the bridge?" asked a stout farmer by the name of Magnus as he hammered hooks into the cliff and side of the bridge to fix the ropes to.
"Well, yeah," Fishlegs replied casually. "They know there's food here, so to them it's just a matter of how they can get to it. If we burn the bridge down, they'll just keep looking for another way onto the islet. By making it difficult, but not impossible, we can injure them with arrows to make it painful enough that either we'll be able to round them up or they'll just decide it's not worth it and leave." Plus they wouldn't then need to rebuild the bridge, which wasn't all that easy even with dragons.
"Right…" Magnus agreed, sounding like he hadn't understood a word of it.
Fishlegs was putting together an analogy from what he knew of farming when Hiccup and Toothy drifted in to land on the bridge. They were on the other side of the tangle of rope, but it was clear they were talking, and then without warning they raced into the wires.
It both proved the effectiveness of the trap and revealed a glaring issue. They both scrambled over the first hurdle, slipped on the ice onto their bellies, and slid several paces under the ropes. Hiccup got to his paws, cocked his head, then dove forward and crossed the rest of the distance like a black toboggan with Toothy close behind.
"…Oooh, we should fix that," Fishlegs said as Hiccup slid to a halt nearby. The dragon got up and nodded at him, then flinched and staggered as Magnus started hammering in another hook.
"N-… Noise!" Fishlegs blurted out while Hiccup shook himself. "Oh Thor, how could we forget about that!? That was like, the first lesson in dragon training! We need some noisy metal stuff… What about eels? Should we get some of them too?"
Hiccup sat back, looking thoughtful, but then shook his head. "Too cold, they just ice."
"Yeah, good point. Plus it would distract the few dragons we have. Alright, this should be more than enough anyway."
Astrid stood with her mouth hanging open, trying to comprehend exactly what was going on.
It wasn't just that Ruffnut apparently wasn't causing mayhem – having a leg in a splint wasn't normally a hindrance to the arguably more chaotic twin – it was that she was somehow keeping some dozen kids from causing mayhem as well, by herself and injured as she was. She was even lounging on a log with her feet kicked up, using a branch as a backrest.
"Ruffnut!?"
"Oh, hey Astrid!" Ruffnut called out cheerfully. "You find those pesky dragons yet?"
"Uhhh… No…?"
"Eh, I'm sure they'll turn up." She raised a hand to point into the trees. "That was your last warning Thoren! Get 'im!"
Astrid's mouth got a little wider as every kid abandoned what they were doing to swarm into the trees and drag another kid back, depositing him in front of Ruffnut. "Nice running form, Svog. Flex them muscles for me? Niiiiiice."
The offending kid just sat there sullenly. Ruffnut wasn't actually doing anything to him, just talking to the other kids, but he looked like he was receiving the worst scolding of his life. Granted, he'd just been humiliated, but this was Ruffnut, things could be a lot worse.
"…Kids!?" Astrid finally got out as the kids went back to playing with sticks and dirt. After everything she had tried to get Ruffnut into, kids were her forte? Maybe this was one of those things that was so backwards it sort of looped back around on itself, because it was starting to make a sort of weird chaotic sense.
"Huh? These guys? I dunno, I was just asked to watch one for a moment and they just sort of multiplied." She shrugged and called one of the bigger kids over, then whispered something at him and watched him walk off to roughly shove a smaller kid to the ground. She held up a hand to silence Astrid's objection, then called the smaller kid over and leaned over him. "Now you know how Emer felt when you pushed him over."
"I get him tougher," the kid pouted, crossing his arms.
"Don't you worry about making him tougher, you just worry about making you tougher," Ruffnut said firmly, prodding him in the shoulder. "Pick on kids your own age or bigger, got that? You don't want to be weak do you?"
The kid stood straight and fervently shook his head. "Good," Ruffnut said with a smirk, leaning back again. "Go beat up Grotlout, I could use a laugh." The kid charged off again, probably to start a fight.
"Do you know all their names?" Astrid asked incredulously.
"When you've got an aunt who looks after every kid in the village, yeah, you pick up a few things." A few more things than anyone expected, it seemed. "Hey, you wipe that smirk off your face, I ain't looking after a bunch of stinking kids for a living! This is just until I can walk again." She grumbled something about the "stupid healer" under her breath.
"Alright, whatever you say Ruff," Astrid said while hiding a smirk behind her hand. "We're making a stand in the village, I was hoping you and Tuff could bring Barf and Belch, but…"
"Sorry to disappoint you!" Ruffnut said cheerfully, sounding anything but sorry. "Guess you'll have to fight the stupid dragons without me. Been nice knowin' ya."
Astrid sighed and continued through the camp, making her way to the clearing where they were keeping the dragons. She was pleased to find Stormfly the one in the last patch of sunlight, Barf, Belch, and Hookfang glaring at her from nearby.
"Hey girl, sorry I've got no snack for you today," she said calmly, stroking her Nadder's snout. "You'll just have to hunt for yourself." Not that Stormfly understood, but that wasn't the point, she knew perfectly well to hunt if she was hungry. Only pets and slaves relied on being fed all the time, and Stormfly was neither.
Astrid took a breath and stood back, formulating what she wanted to ask. "You know Fast-Paws?" She should have done this hours ago, but it was normally something she could leave to Fishlegs.
Stormfly warbled, though Astrid didn't think it was a word. "I see some. Not can fly. Not can bring food." It took Astrid a moment to remember the dragons used to be slaves to a queen, and were forced to bring food or be eaten. It made sense the queen wouldn't be interested in flightless slaves.
"You see them fight?" Astrid asked, hoping for some sort of insight.
"No," Stormfly swiped back. "I only see them eaten."
It was suddenly very clear why there hadn't been any around Berk until now. Funny to think the queen that had been raiding them constantly had been protecting them from a much bigger threat all along. She would need to talk to Stoick about it, this was unlikely to be the last exotic dragon they would see, and the more common Scauldron attacks made more sense too.
"Alright, thanks girl," she said, stroking her dragon again and attempting to thank her in Dragonese; Fishlegs always told her off for messing up the pitch or something, but it was tricky when pressing her cheek to the warm scales. Stormfly knew what she meant, anyway. "Come on, it's getting dark. Time to see if this works…"
The shadows stretched and rose from the ground as the sky-fire began its nightly quenching in the sea, and the air took on a strange hue through the dusting of snow.
Berk was a big island, and the Fast-Paws – or Speed Stingers, if one could actually say the words – were nowhere to be found. Not a trace of them, even the scents cold and dead in the ice that still gripped the land and sea.
Dreamer barely even felt the bite of the wind though. He was cold in another way, one of trepidation and fear that gripped his core and had him trembling. This plan would work, right? Fifteen archers could take some sixty or so dragons if they were slowed enough, and the expanse of tangled ropes and ice should certainly see to that. If even that wasn't enough, the pot and hammer would produce a horrific ringing to cripple any advance. There were also three Nadders, the only available dragons after Ruffnut had somehow injured herself, to add their fire as a last resort. If anything, they might be overprepared.
That didn't help to ease the sense of dread, the trepidation that felt like a shard of ice in the sternum. He could see it in everyone else too, stiff shoulders and wide alert eyes that jumped with a twitch of the head to every sound in the failing light. It didn't help that the Nadders kept rattling and setting everyone else off.
Some part of Dreamer was screaming for him to flee, to fly to his safe little cave high up the cliff and not come out until morning. It was worse that he knew Wanderer would happily agree and stay with him if he suggested it, keeping them both well out of harm's way. But this was his plan, and he needed to see it through.
There was no more snow being blown around on the light wind than earlier, but it became more and more obscuring as darkness fell. Soon, even Dreamer's eyes had trouble picking out the treeline across the channel. To his eyes the braziers set up along the bridge weren't helping much, but arrows were still nocked and bows held with confidence.
"Where are they?" Astrid asked some time after the last motes of light faded from the village. "Did they leave the island already? Not that I'm arguing, but it doesn't feel right…"
Dreamer froze. Had he imagined that enquiring chirp over the wind, one unlike from any dragon he had heard before? No, Wanderer was tense too, and was currently drawing the same terrible conclusion from Dreamer. They had both definitely heard the sound… and were now realising how stupid it was to assume the dragons had actually left the village.
They turned slowly, quietly, and backed towards the bridge.
Astrid took one look at them and spun with her axe up, whispering a tense warning to the others.
A single dragon emerged from the snowy darkness, plodding forward on long, spindly legs. Its muscled thighs made it look disproportioned, even more so with how its eyes were set above its too-large mouth. A sail flexed curiously on its head, which twitched side to side as it observed the Vikings and dragons with eyes that reflected a red glow even Dreamer could see.
It suddenly broke the silence with a screeched warning, then found itself with a few arrows protruding from its front. At close range, and slightly downhill, they went deep enough that the dragon would not survive without attention.
Dreamer's sympathy for it was short-lived, as he was quickly distracted by dozens more appearing from the icy gloom. Many of them stopped, but some charged through with such speed that their tails hissed through the air.
Several of the bows and the hammer fell to the ground as their wielders were stung. They were fast, faster than anything Dreamer had ever seen, but could not just continue running past the group. Four were cut down by swords and axes that were brought forward while they slowed to turn.
There had not been time for Dreamer to do anything, and suddenly the deaths of five dragons were on his conscience in as many seconds. The survivors of the first wave zipped around in front of him, and then his narrowed eyes were flicking every which way to keep track of everything.
Stormfly took off without warning, and Astrid shouted at the other riders whose dragons were miraculously untouched until they too left the ground. She then dove for the hammer, and Dreamer threw his paws over his ears with a bark of alarm.
The sound of metal striking the big pot weighed on him like a physical thing, pressing down into his head. It seemed to go on and on, and strangely it soon sounded louder in his head than his ears. If this sound could keep the dragons at bay long enough for the others to escape, he and Wanderer could just fly out of there! Speed Stingers didn't have the advantage of covering their ears.
And yet, there was no second tolling of the pot, just a scraping sound. Dreamer forced his eyes open to see Astrid getting to her feet, another dead dragon behind her and her axe dripping a dark liquid. There was no sign of the heavy pot, not that it had done much good anyway by the chaos that still surrounded him.
Challenge! Everyone flinched and stilled as Wanderer's deafening roar echoed into the village.
This was something Dreamer had not seen in a long time, and hoped he wouldn't see again. In hunts they always worked together, especially with the more dangerous prey, but Wanderer's low, wide stance and hunched wings were more reminiscent of when he'd gate-crashed the final Dragon Training exam. Everything about him said he was fighting alone.
The Speed Stingers all milled about, flitting between the steps to the Great Hall and the cliff. "Go," Dreamer huffed quietly at Astrid. He was terrified of what would happen, but right now they had a ceasefire they couldn't afford to waste. "Get everyone away. We can fly if need."
"Okay," she whispered back, then rallied everyone. Injuries were quickly taken care of and the paralysed people pulled back, probably to be airlifted out.
Movement caught Dreamer's eye, a larger sail on a taller Speed Stinger moving forward through the pack. It stood a head taller than its kin, and had markings on its head. Red markings, it looked like, and a red sail, which became evident as it approached the light. Challenge, it snarled back.
Wanderer knew perfectly well how fragile this situation was. His roar had caused all the Fast-Paws to hesitate, but all it would take was a twitch from the alpha to set the pack on them again.
The alpha considered him as it stepped forward, its small paws disappearing into the snow. It knew it didn't need to accept, but was proud and overconfident. It casually sized him up, weighing status and risk.
Even without his fire, Wanderer was confident; the Fast-Paws were extremely fast, as their name indicated, but mainly in running and they needed some small distance to get up to speed. He did not need to compete with that speed in a fight like this.
Challenge! the Fast-Paw alpha roared back, and Wanderer relaxed a little. The pack would not interfere now, not after its alpha had accepted a challenge. Not unless one of the Long-Paws interfered, but he had to trust Dreamer was handling that.
They silently prowled towards each other, eyes narrow and blanking out everything else. Only their opponent mattered.
The Fast-Paw's tail swayed above it, poised and ready to strike, but Wanderer carefully kept himself out of range. The tail was the main threat, followed by the hindlegs; the jaws and forelegs did not look strong enough to cause real damage, but would be used to grapple and hold, if only for a crucial moment.
Despite his confidence, a hype buzzed in Wanderer's limbs as he dodged the first strike, the tail impaling the ground where he'd been a moment ago. He'd been inadvertently conditioning himself to speed, playing with a very fast Nightstriker for so long, but this was a very different sort of fight than he was used to. Whatever happened, he could not allow himself to be hit by that tail.
He dodged a quick follow-up strike, watching for patterns and openings. Attacking it head-on was foolish, he needed to somehow get around it and under the range of the tail, though any sort of grapple or pin would be risky.
Before he could run out of room to retreat to, Wanderer reared over the next strike and brought his weight down, his paw colliding with the Fast-Paw's head and staggering it. That dangerous tail whipped around for balance; an opening, if he could strike at it again.
They prowled around each other, ignoring the onlookers. With its side to him, the Fast-Paw had a longer reach, and Wanderer eyed the swaying barb cautiously. He was therefore unprepared when the alpha suddenly lunged at him, raking some shallow cuts down his face before he could react.
The tail would follow, so Wanderer lunged forward and sent them both rolling over each other. He got his teeth into its neck, but it was a dangerous place to be and he wasn't in a position to tear out its throat, so kicked it away and scrabbled back.
It got to its paws and screeched at him, then jumped forward again. Wanderer knew better this time and leaped forward, under it, to get behind where he could grab the tail and do what he needed to.
His blood ran cold as pain erupted near the end of his own tail, followed by a strange numbness; he could feel it, but it felt cold and unresponsive. The sensation was also spreading up towards his body. The Fast-Paw was already out of reach, he couldn't end the fight himself before this numbness took hold.
Wanderer did the only thing he could. He pulled his tail in to hug it and tucked his head down, then wrapped himself tightly in his wings before they could lock in place.
"Ah think ah'll stay. Me mum 'n dad went by dragon, an' ah fancy takin' a few more out."
Dreamer wasn't paying much attention to what was going on behind him. He stood there, watching the fight, tensed and ready to do… nothing. Interrupting would only bring the rest of the pack into it. It wasn't as if he could relax though.
With his heart in his throat, he watched Wanderer dart under the Speed Stinger, which speared the ground behind him. He didn't know how far the others had got with getting away, as prying his eyes away from the fight would mean he'd miss something.
What was going on in front of him, however… Wanderer wasn't getting back up, and the Speed Stinger had taken its distance and stood there casually. Dreamer stared at that dark lump on the ground, his breathing short and sharp.
The Speed Stinger alpha walked forward, not at all concerned, and prodded the lump. The rest of the pack was creeping forward now, so Dreamer did as well to get a better look. His friend was nothing but a rounded black cocoon, protecting his vitals.
The alpha kicked him, a powerful leg slamming into the wing, though it hit something behind it and did no damage. It gave a short and confused warble, inspecting the black mass.
Wanderer had lost. It felt like that shouldn't be possible.
Dreamer went stiff as the alpha shrieked challenge! It bit at Wanderer, trying to pry his wings open, then delivered several swift kicks in rapid succession. The fight was over, but the Speed Stinger alpha was continuing it.
Some packs challenge to death.
There was no other explanation.
Challenge!
The roar left Dreamer's throat before he knew what was happening. He felt weirdly hot and cold at the same time, and wasn't quite holding the trembling at bay, but the alternative… There were really only two outcomes. He'd win the fight, and he and Wanderer would both live, or he'd lose and they'd both die. Those were the only two outcomes that mattered.
Making a contemplative clucking sound, the alpha looked between the two Nightstrikers. It then looked at the pack, and fixed its stare at Dreamer, who willed himself to calm and stare back levelly.
Challenge! it roared back.
Dreamer felt his paws slowly walk him forward, low to the ground. His tail lashed behind him, and a growl rumbled through his bared teeth. His eyes were narrowed and trained for the twitching of muscles that would betray the alpha's movements before it made them.
He was expecting the first strike and darted to the side, skipping off the cold ground and around his opponent. The alpha turned slowly – only a couple of heartbeats, it just felt slow – but its tail had already drawn back and hovered above it, ready to strike.
It growled and leapt forward – instead of darting under it as Wanderer had, somehow resulting in getting stung, Dreamer darted backwards. It landed running, quickly picking up speed and closing the distance. That deadly tail lanced forward–
And grazed off Dreamer's wing, held forward at an angle. With a flick, he batted the barb away and met the alpha's charge with a heavy strike of his paw that sent it skidding in the light snow.
He took the opportunity and lunged while the tail was being used for balance, barging it and bringing his claws up to keep it off balance. Instead of whipping around, however, the tail planted firmly against the ground–
The powerful legs lifted and slammed into Dreamer, squarely in his chest, and launched him back several body lengths. The pain was distant, forgotten in the haste to get to his paws and back into that key zone around the alpha before it could recover; out of range of its stinger, but not so far it could sprint at him.
Dreamer kept a wary eye on the tail as he stalked the boundary of its range. Its attacks were predictable now, all revolving around that tail. It lunged forward again, and Dreamer deftly leaned aside to let it strike the ground under him. This close, it could not pull back fast enough to avoid Dreamer's teeth clamping down on it.
He bit down hard, feeling the needle points puncture the leather and scrape against bone. The Speed Stinger howled as Dreamer tugged it to the ground, rending muscle. It would recover, eventually, but the tail was out of the fight.
Submit, Dreamer snarled around the tail, but the alpha lunged and tried to scratch and grapple him with its short arms. It could not compete with Dreamer's strong forelegs, and was lifted and slammed heavily into the ground. Submit, he snarled again.
It kicked at him with its hindlegs, so Dreamer shredded its flank. It bit at him so he slashed its face. Submit!
Still it dragged itself upright, growling madly. Why wasn't it submitting? Did it want him to kill it?
Dreamer refused to do that. He would beat it senseless, to protect Wanderer, but he wouldn't kill it for the sake of it. When it staggered at him with a roar, Dreamer put all of his weight into a strike that threw it to the ground and sent it sprawling.
He stood there, panting, staring at the dragon laying in the snow and grass. It was still breathing, and didn't even appear to be unconscious, but this time it did not get up.
Dreamer's muscles suddenly refused to hold still, and he trembled from nose to tail. What… what had just happened!? He could remember everything of the fight, but it had been as if he wasn't in control. There had been no thoughts, no planning, just acting and reacting. He lowered himself to his haunches and willed his body to stop shaking, but his muscles refused to cooperate.
The Speed Stinger pack was edging forward again, eyes on their alpha and Dreamer. Their jerky movements were a little difficult to read, but they looked and sounded confused. One of them stood over the downed alpha and trilled enquiringly at Dreamer.
"Leave this small-land," Dreamer tried, but none gave any indication they understood. Okay, so–
The Speed Stinger whipped its tail around and buried it in the alpha's throat. Challenge! it screeched over the dying gurgles.
Challenge, another one growled from the crowd, and the pack stepped back to make room for the new combatants. It was over quickly, one stinging the other and slashing its throat. Challenge! another one roared, and it started again.
Dreamer was helpless to do anything, again merely a spectator. He shakily padded over to the black lump that was Wanderer as the second fight ended, and collapsed next to him, feeling weak and numb in both body and mind. He flinched and whimpered as another roar of challenge rang from the pack.
He couldn't even watch anymore, feeling sick to his stomach, and just draped a wing over Wanderer and tried to tune it out. Try as he might, he couldn't ignore the dying gasps that were quickly silenced.
Four more deaths in total, not even including the original alpha. When there were no more declarations of challenge, Dreamer looked up to see the new alpha considering him. It was much smaller than the original, and had none of the strange markings or colouring, but it was still a bit larger than the others.
The sail on its head flexed as it considered the two Nightstrikers, then glanced at something behind them; probably that one Hooligan who had decided to stay.
Surely it wouldn't… Dreamer simply couldn't go through that again. Either he would need to kill it, or there would be another round of deaths. A glance at Wanderer, at the subtle movement in his back with his breathing, and conviction gripped at Dreamer again. "Leave," he snarled dangerously.
It stared at him for a long moment, and then let out a roar that had Dreamer tensing ready to spring into action.
And then the whole pack turned tail and disappeared into the murky darkness. Their footsteps were light, but the sheer number of them merged into a strange hum that faded into the distance.
They were gone. Perhaps just back into the village, but Dreamer didn't think so. He collapsed again, then rubbed his head against Wanderer's wing with a sad whimper. Occasional whiffs of blood were carried over the wind, reminding him of the death he was surrounded by; all his fault in one way or another.
Crunching footsteps had him raise his head again and eye the remaining Hooligan warily. It wasn't one Dreamer recognised, but at least the man's axe was on his belt. "That took guts," he said as he walked over and sat next to Dreamer, staring down into the village. "Acker said you understand Norse?" Dreamer nodded slowly. "Well ah'll be Loki's skivvies. You two are full of surprises."
They sat in silence a little longer while the man absently flicked at the snow, then he looked over at Dreamer. "We should get your brother out o' the cold," he said, climbing to his feet, but Dreamer growled at him. "…No?" A very pointed look at the large and heavy blade on his belt got the message across. "Ah'll try not to take offense," the Viking said as the axe was casually tossed to the ground. "Suppose ah cannae blame you though."
Dreamer shakily rose to his paws, a multitude of wounds weighing down on him. His chest – the second time he'd been kicked there, now – ached with every movement, his back and shoulders stung with a multitude of light scratches, and a line of fire burned along his left wing, the one he had used to block. He discovered the wing was locked to his side and unwilling to move, a small amount of venom must have found its way in.
He pushed through it and followed the Viking as he carried Wanderer, then opened the door to Stoick's house to let them in.
"I'll go tell everyone i's safe ter come back. Assumin' Astrid has nae already." With those words, he left the house and shut the door behind him, leaving Dreamer in an eerie silence.
The oblong ball that was Wanderer had been placed on the floor near the fire, though it was not currently lit. It didn't look or feel like him though, Wanderer was playful, energetic and affectionate, while this sealed mass of scales was silent and still.
Dreamer followed his nose to some light cuts, similar to his own, on Wanderer's shoulders near his wings, and ran his tongue over them. This was too weird, and Wanderer couldn't possibly be comfortable, so Dreamer carefully pried his wings away and then his head up. He was hugging his tail, which Dreamer ran his nose down to find a puncture wound, bloody but staunched. That was how he'd been hit, the barb striking the narrow appendage behind him; simple misfortune.
Wanderer was eventually stretched out and laying a bit better. At least it looked like him now, though the silence was still eerie and his eyes were closed. Dreamer found and treated some more wounds on his head, then nestled in beside him.
Stoick eventually entered the house, moving quietly. "Ah… Toothy, Hiccup. We were…" He sighed and shook his head. "Hold on, let me get this fire lit…" They were soon gathered around a blazing fire, the warmth very welcome after so long in the cold. Dreamer gave a soft purr as a hand briefly caressed his head. "We were told what happened. What you did for us." His hands cupped Dreamer's and Wanderer's jaws. "I cannot thank you enough."
Dreamer couldn't talk to him, but there wasn't much to say anyway. He gave a sad warble, nestling back into Wanderer's side.
All my fault… First for assuming the Fast-Paws had left the village, then for trapping everyone with the aggressive dragons, then that failure had forced Wanderer to challenge and get hurt, then his allowing the alpha to live had caused more deaths.
Sleep did not come, though he dozed in a semi-aware state. At some point a fish appeared next to him, initially he was unable to eat it but after a time it was easier to do that than to put up with the smell any longer.
By the time Wanderer began to sag to the floor, Dreamer had had a lot of time to think everything through. Even more by the time Wanderer was able to offer him a gentle croon and nuzzle. He felt unreasonably happy to see those bright green eyes again.
Dreamer purred and licked his friend. He still felt saddened by everything, but was past blaming himself. His lack of experience and foresight, yes, but not his decisions. That, at least, he could live with.
His own wounds were treated, something he hadn't bothered to do himself, and he purred at the tongue on his neck before fetching a fish for Wanderer who was still mostly immobile.
"You fight alpha…?" Wanderer asked after the fish disappeared.
"Yes…"
"You win," he continued in a purr full of pride, elation, awe, and did not pry further. He'd probably heard the whole thing anyway, and there was a touch of understanding and sympathy in his expression.
"Unfortunate, it hit your tail," Dreamer crooned quietly.
"Yes, unfortunate, but I also not fast enough. You fast. You strong." He pulled himself on top of Dreamer – his back half was still limp – and purred loudly and happily. Dreamer found it contagious, and couldn't help but purr too.
After it all, despite his misgivings, he did feel strong. Having his friend reaffirm that was a large reason he was purring. And next time, he would do better.