But by then, many of the soldiers had already scattered in panic.
The dragons, at a command from Toothless, surrounded them without any difficulty and cut their retreat creating walls of fire. Kristoff's platoon arrived just moments later, breaking in forcefully.
The allied army crowded together to hold on, and they managed to overcome the initial onslaught. Elsa, who had never stopped looking at Oblivion, managed to create a wall of ice around her, separating her from the rest of the battle and leaving enough room to fight comfortably. Standing there, her ice armor shining from the sun, she stood waiting in the middle of that makeshift arena, challenging the spirit to a one-on-one.
"All this will not do you any good, Elsa!" The spirit told her from the dragon. "You have already lost!"
With a new gesture, Toothless gave a series of orders to the dragons, who prepared to attack together with their flames. However, the voice of another dragon echoed above Toothless: it was Fury.
"You have the king," Elsa answered defiantly, "but we have the queen."
The dragons, undecided, didn't attack for fear of contradicting one of their monarchs.
"Come on, are you the alpha or not?" Oblivion said to Toothless, annoyed. "Make them attack!"
The dragon tried again, but Fury again blocked his order. The dragons, in their attempt to obey both, ended up throwing their flames to the sky, or to some deserted place. Others simply stared at that battle of wills waiting for a clear winner.
Elsa shrugged and challenged her spirit by inviting it with her hand.
"Dammit! Alright! I will play with you! But only while my king gets rid of your queen."
Toothless came down so Oblivion could dismount, then took flight again and launched himself directly at Fury, who was waiting for him, ready for battle. The dragons battled themselves in a bloody aerial fight of flames, bites, and scratches, losing themselves in the heights.
With dragons out of the equation, Elsa listened with relief as the commanders gave precise orders, determined to win this battle.
"And now? Do you want us to solve this with a card game or do you prefer—?" The spirit began to say, but an ice projectile brushed past its cheek and created a small cut. "As you wish..."
Astrid looked back and saw the battlefield. All those little dots were risking their lives fighting against the fear of dying, against the fear of dragons, against the fear of an indestructible army. She couldn't help but feel the ephemerality of life. And thanks to them, she could be there, climbing the palace walls to search for Hiccup. Shaking her head to focus, she continued climbing meter by meter until she reached the top of that wall. She had left her armor behind to facilitate movement, but it had still cost her more than she expected, so she allowed herself a few minutes to rest her arms and legs as she carefully looked around for any sign of life. Apparently, the spirit had gone with everything and hadn't left any soldiers behind.
Even so, Astrid moved carefully through the palace, walking its empty corridors, following the directions that Elsa had given her until she finally found the dungeon area. There, she opened the cells one by one until she found Hiccup's but, to her despair, she didn't find him inside. There were traces of dried blood on the ground, probably from when he tried to detach Toothless's tail, but no sign of him. That could only mean that they had succeeded in taking his will. Holding back her tears, she headed to the battlefield to find him among all that crowd.
Driven by haste, she started back without taking any precautions and ran as if her life depended on it because, in a way, it did. That is why her surprise was huge when she, turning a corner, collided with someone's back, pushing him and making him lose his balance. The Viking, still caught by surprise, didn't hesitate to take advantage of that crash in her favor and she launched a quick kick that knocked the man down.
"Ow!" He said from the ground.
"Hiccup?!"
The man turned around, surprised.
"Astrid!"
The Viking took his arm and twisted it behind his back, immobilizing him.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" He complained. "Can you tell what you're doing?"
"Whatever you say, I'm not going to believe you, spirit."
"Ow, Astrid! That hurts! I'm not the spirit!"
"Yeah, sure..."
"Astrid, seriously. Ouch! You're gonna break my arm!"
Astrid, without loosening any strength, managed to lower her head to the ground and leveled with Hiccup's. Their eyes immediately connected and Astrid lost all of her strength for an instant. It was him. It was really Hiccup. She felt his smell, his touch, his look... and, at that moment, she had the certainty that she would never want to be with anyone other than him.
Heart pounding, she released him from the immobilization and squeezed him into her arms with all her might, causing her husband to complain over and over again. Then, free from that strangling embrace, they both merged into a deep and passionate kiss.
"Thanks Thor, thanks Thor, thanks Thor..." She said over and over again, hugging him.
Hiccup stroked her head tenderly as his emotions welled up in tears.
"But how?" She asked, withdrawing.
"Well, first they chained me by the wrists. It was very uncomfortable, actually, and they gave me little food to—"
"Yes, I know all that."
Hiccup looked at her puzzled.
"I'll tell you about it later," she replied, waving her hand in the air. "The last I heard from you is that you had escaped and tried to remove Toothless' tail."
"Ooooooook..." It still took him a few moments to recompose himself from surprise. "Well, after that they chained me by the ankle."
"Ha!" Astrid exclaimed, understanding everything suddenly. "Chicken leg!"
"Chicken leg," he confirmed, pointing to his leg. "It took a while, but in the end, I managed to get my leg out of there."
Both start laughing.
"Hearing all the troop movements and then all being silent, I decided to take the opportunity to escape and take a look. And here I am."
Astrid hugged him again.
"Here you are..."
He made a move to hug her back, but something stopped him. Uncomfortable, he scratched his head.
"I know maybe this is not the time, but... I need to know. Elsa...?"
She looked at him with bright, smiling, loving eyes.
"No need to worry."
"No need to worry, why? I mean, is it a don't worry like everything is clear for me, or is it like it is still not clear to me but anyway—?"
Astrid silenced the barrage of questions with a tender, sweet and heartfelt kiss.
"So... how should I interpret this?"
"You're not gonna shut up until I answer you, aren't you?"
"I just want to understand..."
Hiccup shrugged and Astrid sighed. Then she brought her body closer to him, wrapped her arms around her neck, keeping their faces very close to each other, and looked into her eyes for a few moments before starting talking.
"I love you, and only you, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, and there is nothing else to understand or explain."
Hiccup, full of happiness, hugged her and kissed her heartily.
"Alright, what's the plan?" Hiccup asked, pulling away.
"For now on, to return to the battlefield to help."
"Is Toothless there?"
Astrid recognized in her husband that special sparkle in his eyes.
"What are you gonna do?"
"Probably something stupid..." He shrugged.
It was definitely Hiccup.
"In that case, let's not waste any second." Astrid took his hand and pulled him hard, glad. "This way!"
And they both ran happily into the death and despair of war.