Chapter Fifteen: When All Hope Seems Lost

Astrid gripped her axe tightly. The Hofferson did not like the cave at all. It was too dark, too inauspicious, too unpromising. She felt as if something bad was about to happen at any moment. Stormfly squawked and closed her mouth. The Nadder's jaws were sore from keeping them open for so long. Astrid stopped walking and petted her dragon. Stormfly chirped blissfully, then growled at the darkness that lay ahead.

"I know, girl," said Astrid. "I want to leave, but we have to find out if the Lynthear is here." Stormfly sighed and Astrid continued to stroke her dragon's iridescent scales. Astrid peered down the dark tunnel that laid ahead. The deep sighs echoed off of the walls and Astrid almost wanted to shout to whatever was at the end of the tunnel to come out and reveal itself, but she knew that would ruin their current mode of stealth. Astrid sighed.

"Are you ready to go, Stomfly?" asked Astrid. The Nadder nodded and opened her mouth again, the orange, blue, and purple sparks of magnesium lit up the tunnel. Astrid smiled.

"Good girl," Astrid said. Then she and her Nadder continued down the dark path.

Hiccup and Toothless' tunnel was even darker than the one Astrid and Stormfly were venturing through. The air was thick with the foul smell and Hiccup guessed that it had to be the Lynthear. Toothless closed his mouth to take a short break, and Hiccup rubbed his hand against his scaly head. When Toothless was done resting, the dragon reopened his mouth and they continued down the path.

Hiccup was just as suspicious of the pitch black cave as Astrid was. Something didn't seem right. Hiccup didn't want to jump to conclusions, but the apprehensive feeling still remained no matter how many times he tried to ignore it.

The young viking and his Night Fury eventually came to a large room in the cave. The room was round, rocky, and surprisingly not smelly. Hiccup breathed in the fresh, non pungent air and turned to Toothless, who seemed just as happy about the clean air as Hiccup was. Hiccup looked around. The room looked like a nest.

"This must be where the Lynthear rests," said Hiccup. "But where is it?"

Hiccup could still hear the low, deep sighs, but the Lynthear was nowhere in sight. Was the dragon even sleeping? The thought of the white dragon attacking Astrid and Stormfly made Hiccup feel anxious.

"Come on, Bud," said Hiccup. "Astrid and Stormfly may need our help."

Toothless nodded and the two walked back toward the tunnel they had come from but froze in their tracks when they saw two large shadows creeping against the wall. Someone or something had followed them!

Hiccup's eyes widened at the thought of the shadows being the men who had tried to behead him earlier, but there was also the thought of the shadows being the Lynthear. Hiccup and Toothless were intruding its home, and the paper about the dragon had said that Lynthear's were extremely defensive of their homes since they liked to live alone.

"Hide, Bud!" Hiccup whispered quickly. Toothless didn't need to be told twice. The Night Fury ducked behind a boulder while Hiccup hid behind a different one. The young viking pressed himself against it, hoping that whatever entered would spot them.

The footsteps grew louder and louder until they were in the same cave room Hiccup and Toothless were in. Hiccup could hear something making its way toward his boulder and Hiccup tensed. It's breath was just above him. Hiccup looked up tentatively and gasped in surprise.

"Barf? Belch?!" cried Hiccup. "What in the world are you doing here?!"

"They're here because we're here," said Tuffnut. Hiccup stood up and saw Ruffnut and Tuffnut standing in the center of the room, proud smiles on their faces.

"We decided to follow you. Snotlout is the chicken here, not us," said Ruffnut.

Hiccup stepped out from his hiding place. "Phew...I thought you guys were something else."

"Oh you mean like the white dragon we saw earlier?" asked Tuffnut.

Hiccup nodded, but then he blinked. "W-Wait. What did you just say?"

"The white dragon we saw earlier?" repeated Tuffnut, a bemused expression on his face.

"That's the Lynthear!" Hiccup said. "You guys didn't follow it?"

"Uh, no," said Ruffnut. "We wouldn't be here if we did."

Hiccup slapped his hand to his forehead. "Okay, you two. You guys need to stay here while Toothless and I go after it."

"Why do we have to stay?" asked Tuffnut.

"Yeah! We're perfectly capable of handling this ourselves," said Ruffnut.

Hiccup and Toothless stared at them with deadpan expressions.

"Okay, they're right. We are not capable of handling this situation ourselves," said Tuffnut.

"Yeah, too much work," said Ruffnut. She sighed tiredly at the thought of working.

"I guess you guys can come if you stay quiet," said Hiccup. "Which way did the dragon go?"

"It went down the left tunnel, so we took the middle one which led us here," said Tuffnut. He stared at Hiccup. "Uh, are you okay, H?"

Ruffnut whacked her brother. "Of course he's not okay! That's his 'worrying about Astrid' face!"

"Ohhh, right," said Tuffnut. "Well, at least A didn't take the left tunnel."

"You idiot, she did!" exclaimed Ruffnut. Tuffnut blinked, still somewhat confused.

Hiccup, however, didn't waste a second. He hopped onto Toothless and dashed down the tunnel and didn't look back.

...

A small armada of ships was heading toward the island the Riders were on. A man stood at the front with a black scaled dragon standing beside him. He wore dark furs, and a Night Fury's tooth hung around his neck. He brought down his looking glass and turned to his men.

"Fooled that former Outcast well, didn't we?" said the cloaked man. The group of men that stood behind him laughed. One stepped forward—-the one who had led the assault on the Riders—-with a paper in his hands.

"Snatched this from the last village they stopped at," he said. "It seems like they're on the last ingredient already."

The cloaked man's eyes narrowed. He turned his head toward the island that they were approaching and a malevolent smile spread across his face.

"They won't stand a chance against us," he said. "We invented Inyitis. We go in, kill that Lynthear, then capture them all before they have a chance to fight back."

Then the bow of the ship hit the shore and the dark cloaked men ran off to hunt down the Dragon Riders.

"Come on, we need to hurry!" said Hiccup quickly as he and the twins ran down the tunnel on dragonback. They skidded to a stop and quickly ran down the left tunnel.

"What are we gonna do once we get there?" asked Ruffnut. "We can't just run in pell-mell!"

"We get the Lynthear away from Astrid before it has the chance to attack her," responded Hiccup. "Ruff, Tuff, create a distraction while Toothless and I get Astrid out of there. Once the Lynthear backs off, we'll get out of here as fast as we can and think of another plan to get the dragon tears."

The twins nodded and the group continued to run down the tunnel. When they got to the end, they weren't expecting what they saw.

Astrid Hofferson, Stormfly, and the Lynthear were playing. Playing!

"What the...what?" splutted Tuffnut.

"Witch I tell you, witch!" shouted Ruffnut.

"Astrid...what's going on?" asked Hiccup, confused.

Astrid smiled. "Hiccup, I found the Lynthear! Well, it found me. And guess what? I think it's an adolescent!" She scratched the dragon under the chin again and the Lynthear purred in delight.

Hiccup sighed with relief. "Where's its mother?"

"Her mother," said Astrid, then a sad expression crossed her face. "She's gone, Hiccup. She must have died protecting her babies. This was the only one that survived."

The young Lynthear sensed the change in mood and a sad warble escaped its mouth. Astrid rubbed a hand over its pale scales.

"She's lonely and doesn't have anyone to take care of her. She's lucky that this place is forsaken because she wouldn't survive on her own," said Astrid.

Hiccup walked up to the Lynthear and the dragon turned to the viking boy. She was wary of him at first, but when she saw that he wasn't a threat, she immediately took a liking to him. The Lynthear licked Hiccup across the face.

"Oh, ew!" Hiccup cried. Toothless gurgled with laughter and Hiccup glared at the Night Fury. "What is with the licking?"

"Maybe you taste good," said Tuffnut.

Astrid shook her head. "Anyway, we need to get this Lynthear out of here. We can bring her back to Berk and collect the tears there. Then we can take care of her as she grows up."

"That's a great idea, Astrid," said Hiccup.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Tuffnut. "You didn't even name her and you're already talking about bringing her home?"

Ruffnut shook her head and then turned to her brother. "Okay, the best name wins. Go!"

"Silvery," said Tuffnut.

"Paley," said Ruffnut.

"Sparkles!" said Tuffnut.

"Hm...Snow!"

"Moon!"

"Luna!"

"Lily!"

"Dewdrop!"

"Aw man! I was gonna say that!" said Ruffnut. "Dewdrop wins."

The Lynthear (now named Dewdrop) seemed to like the name. Once the naming was done, the Riders began to make their way out of the cave. They flew out of the cave on dragonback and surfaced. Suddenly, arrows shot from all directions!

"Evasive maneuvers!" shouted Hiccup and the Riders instantaneously began to swerve and dodge the arrows that whistled through the air. Dewdrop managed to do a good job at dodging, even though her moves were slightly sloppier than the Riders' dragons. The Dragon Riders managed to take refuge at the mountain that was in the center of the island. They landed on a ledge and looked down at the men below. They were getting ready to search for them.

"What was that?" asked Astrid.

"Looks like dragon hunters," said Hiccup. "Just not ones we know of."

"We need to drive them out," said Astrid. "Wait...where's Snotlout?"

A loud scream from the western side of the island answered their question. The Riders sighed. The Jorgeson had just given his location away. The Riders quickly flew to where the scream had come from and landed in front of Snotlout.

"Snotlout, what are you doing?" asked Hiccup. "There are hunters on this island! You didn't see the ships?"

"I did see the ships!" said Snotlout. "It was a squirrel! It tried to bite me!"

"Oh my Thor…" groaned Astrid.

Snotlout was about to retort but then he saw Snowdrop standing behind Astrid and screamed again.

"Will you shut up?" hissed Astrid. "You're going to get us caught!"

"Sorry! I thought Lynthears were dangerous!" said Snotlout.

"Uh, guys?" said Tuffnut. "I think they found us."

At that moment, men dressed in black erupted from the bushes, holding crossbows, swords, and other various weapons. The Dragon Riders hopped onto their dragons and Dewdrop growled at the men.

"Well, well, well," said the cloaked man. He walked up to the front. "Look what we have here. A living, breathing Lynthear."

"Stay back," said Hiccup in a warning tone.

"I'm afraid I cannot," said the cloaked man. "That is my dragon you have anyway."

"She's not your dragon," said Astrid, her eyes narrowed. "She's coming with us."

"I'm sorry, but she won't be," the cloaked man said. He raised his weapon and yelled. "ATTACK!"

The men in black burst forth. Arrows flew and swords were swung, but the Riders had an advantage. They flew into the air and began to fire at the men below. Several men retreated to the ships but several still stayed and fought. Toothless shot a plasma blast at the man who said he was taking Dewdrop, but he dodged out of the way.

Dewdrop did her best to help. She fired blinding streams of fire at the men that destroyed several of their weapons at once. The Dragon Riders defended her when an arrow came her way. They were winning.

But then they weren't

A catapult was hidden behind a large stone boulder. Two men hoisted a large rock into it and aimed at their target: Dewdrop. The boulder flew through the air and hit the Lynther straight in the chest. Snowdrop screeched and fell on the hard stone ground.

"NO!" screamed Astrid. She ordered Stormfly to fly down to the white dragon and together they pushed the boulder off of the young white dragon. Her white scales were stained with blood and the dragon was whimpering madly.

"It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay," Astrid said. She turned to the others. "Cover me!"

Hiccup nodded and landed on the ground and confronted the cloaked man. Hiccup picked up a discarded sword from the ground and held it in front of him. Toothless growled behind him.

"Don't try me, boy," said the cloaked man. He swung his axe dangerously. "You won't stand a chance."

"Oh I will try," said Hiccup. Toothless fired a plasma blast at the cloaked man's feet and the man stepped away. He growled and then lunged for Hiccup, but Hiccup dodged out of the way. The man swung his axe but Hiccup parried with ease. The fight between the two of them was long and brutal, and when things seemed to be going well for the Riders, things got ultimately worse.

Astrid managed to get Snowdrop to stand and was currently trying to get her to safety. One of the cloaked man's men raised a crossbow and aimed it straight for Astrid. The arrow snapped away from the crossbow and whistled toward her. Hiccup turned to his girlfriend and shouted. "ASTRID! LOOK OUT!"

Astrid turned around and time seemed to slow as the arrow made its way toward her. She heard the shouts of her friends telling her to move out of the way. Stormfly screeches from above, but it was too late. The arrow was coming. Astrid squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the excruciating amount of pain that was about to come.

But it never did.

Astrid heard a howl of pain and she snapped her eyes open and saw Dewdrop standing in front of her. The beautiful white dragon fell down and the silver arrow protruded from her chest. Astrid sucked in a breath, and tears stung at the edges of her eyes.

"No, no, NO!" she shouted. But the dragon laid lifeless. Hiccup ran to Astrid's side and tugged her arm.

"Astrid, we need to get out of here now," said Hiccup.

"No, no! I'm not leaving her!" screamed Astrid.

"Astrid...I don't want to either, but...we can't do anything. She's...she's gone," said Hiccup.

Astrid knew he was right. She let Hiccup drag him away from the Lynthear's body and she mounted Toothless. Hiccup clicked the tailfin mechanism and they flew away as fast as they could with the other Riders. Astrid looked back one more time, and a single tear fell from her eye.

"Astrid...I'm so sorry," said Hiccup.

"I know…" whispered Astrid. And she buried her head into her boyfriend's back, fighting off tears. "So am I."


Author's Note: *Hides behind Toothless* Uh...yeah...so...um...I'm just going to run away before the angry mob of fan fiction readers come with their torches and flaming pitch forks now. *Dodges flaming pitch fork* *Angry mob starts advancing* Okay, Toothless, we got to leave. *Hops onto Toothless* *Flaming pitch forks flying everywhere* AHHH! UP BUD! FLY BUD! DO SOMETHING BUD!

UNTILTHENEXTCHAPTER!

-BeyondTheMoon1203