Hiccup's POV
"Come on, is that the best you can do?!"
Taunting the gigantic beasts, I directed Toothless to fly into the clouds. On my six, there were the two Red Deaths, both consumed in rage for me and my pissing behavior. My last move, however, did free the dragons from their telepathic grasp, allowing them to fly away. My job, as for now, was to distract them and hope that I could come up with a plan to get rid of them.
Once inside the thundering clouds, I noticed that it was somehow a tad brighter compared to being under them, and it was dry! As swiftly as possible, but also as soundlessly as possible, Toothless hid us inside a dark cloud. Hidden away, we turned around to see our companies.
The Red Death's quickly breached the clouds and stopped once they noticed our absence. Having eyes more than a pair, the Red Deaths needn't to look around as their eyes were already around. Drago, however, had to look to different directions, seemingly growing irritated as time passed.
"COME OUT! I DON'T FEAR YOU!" He warned.
"I'm sure you don't, old pal…" I whispered. "All right bud, our plan is…" I watched the two Death's hovering, trying to find an idea as I was going. Then one popped out, an old idea.
"Oh, Toothless. Just like old times, remember?" I looked into his eyes. The dragon took in what I just said for a moment before managing to recall what it was all about, which was signed with a gummy grin.
"Atta boy, try to aim for Drago occasionally," I patted the dragon. "Go!"
Toothless accelerated into the open air away from the Red Death's. He and I had the same idea; to build up a momentum in hope for bigger and more devastating damage. Once far enough, Toothless braked with his wings and kicked the air with one flap before folding them in half to act as a steering. The immense speed we carried was actually too much for me, so I could only open my eyes by half.
My eyes saw nothing but clouds after clouds, occasionally seeing the silhouettes of the Red Death's growing larger as we approached if lightning emitted out of the clouds. My ears heard nothing but the washing noises of the harsh wind against us. My skin sensed nothing but the coldness of the air, having been soaked under the rain and now brushed against cold air. Despite the harsh environment, I remained focus on my target.
Within a split second, the clear view of the giant dragons came to view, who were still clueless of our whereabouts.
"NOW!"
With the command, Toothless spat a plasma blast towards the wing of one of the Red Death's.
Phew—BOOM!
Being a sitting duck, the plasma blast hit hard. The dragon roared loudly in pain, and we were nowhere near the desire to stop.
After passing the dragons at a blinding speed, Toothless turned around to make another pass. In pretty much the same blinding speed, Toothless spat another blast towards the wing of the dragon. After doing so, we turned around for another pass. The cycle went on and on for another good five hits, all aimed evenly for both dragons, until I remembered about Drago.
"Alright Toothless, let's try to go for Drago this time," I patted the Night Fury. He roared once in response. Once again, Toothless braked on the air with his wings and turned around to make another pass. As we approached the Red Death's, we relied on the lightning to measure our distance since their lighting revealed their exact position through the silhouettes. But out of nowhere, we saw not the usual silhouettes at the very last second, but a large fireball.
"Watch out!" I shifted the positioning of Toothless tail fin, but it was too late. Toothless braked our speed by expanding his wings to avoid making contact with whatever was inside the fireball. But we carried too much speed and the consequent of that came into realization as we hit something inside the fireball that I assumed was the tail of one of the Red Death's.
Recovering from the contact, I regained control over my Night Fury and looked behind to see the Red Death's onto us. We were diving into the earth, so I shifted Toothless' tail fin to control altitude. As we were doing so, we breached through the clouds again and into under the harsh rain once again. The sight of the Therondian ships came to view, and a fraction of them were consumed in fire, a clear sign that my people were putting in some work.
"Good job boys and girls… oh—"
I saw a hint of white dorsal fins cutting through the water, which heavily reminded me of the other titan dragon that I hadn't taken care of.
"The Bewilderbeast… how could I forget?!" I spoke to myself.
"GROAR!"
One of the Red Death's roared from behind, which happened to be the one Drago was standing on. With a quick glance, I looked at the Bewilderbeast below, which was swimming its way towards the fleet of ships. It was most likely going to interfere the work of my fellow Berkians by controlling the dragons, and I could not allow that.
"Let's see if I can hit three birds with one stone," I spoke to myself, shifting the flight gear to ascend into the clouds once again. The Red Death's followed my lead into the clouds, back into our old playground. But this time, they kept the gap between us close, close enough to not lose track of our whereabouts. Toothless tried breaking free, but the Red Death's were so good in keeping themselves close.
At least, that's what I thought, that the two were onto us. Out of nowhere, while zigzagging on the air to flee, one of the Death's materialized out of thin air in front of us, its jaw opened widely to welcome us.
"TOOTHLESS!"
Shifting the flight gear, Toothless turned to the right drastically to avoid the jaw of death. But it was all executed a fraction too late; within a blink of an eye, it was all suddenly pitch black. That's when I discovered that I was inside the mouth of the Red Death.
"OH HOLY THOR—WE NEED TO GET OUT!" I screamed in panic, as I had never experienced such bizarre experience. The tongue of the dragon pressed us to the top, making it harder for us to move around. Then a distinct smell of the flammable fume materialized inside the mouth of the dragon, building up on the base of the dragon's throat.
"Toothless, it's now or never!" I said to the dragon. Hearing the command, Toothless charged plasma inside his mouth. But the clock was ticking, and the two dragons were racing to prep their flammable inside their jaws.
BOOM!
Within a split second, Toothless and I were finally out of the jaw of the Red Death. We were coated in saliva, so we did barrel rolls on our way to get rid of them.
"Ugh! No more of that in the future, please," I pleaded to whoever out there that listened. We wanted to take our time, but the Red Death's didn't allow us. Once again, the chase continued. The Red Death's followed our lead as we kept climbing altitude in hope that at one point that the air would be thin enough for the giant dragons with their giant lungs. Luckily, at the last minute, I came up with an idea.
We kept climbing and climbing. "Toothless, prepare to break," I warned the dragon, and he nodded, already knowing what the command was. As we were breaking through the last layer of clouds, I pulled Toothless up and he folded his wings. Once the Red Death flew past us, Toothless grabbed one of the fins on the back of the giant dragon and held on.
The Death's broke through the highest layer of the cloud, where peaceful was defined. The full moon, the sea of stars; it really was the type of scenery that you'd expect the last in times like this. Right away, the Red Death's were confused by the absence of our presence.
"Stay low…" I whispered to my dragon. "Creep along, see if we can reach its head and give it a good hit…"
With that instruction, Toothless crept on the spine of the dragon towards the head as gently as possible. I kept my eyes on the surroundings to see if the other dragon has spotted us or not.
"Good, good," I complimented the dragon as we progressed. Right when we were about to reach the neck of the dragon, Drago spotted us from the other dragon.
"There you are!" He exclaimed. Seeing that we were compromised, Toothless planted his teeth on the neck of the dragon and blasted off plasma. The explosion sent us flying, but it was a good hit, considering the giant dragon lost control briefly.
"Yeah! How about that?!" I taunted the dragon as I directed Toothless to dive into earth. Growing pissed by my actions, the Death's dived into earth as well, chasing me and Toothless.
"This is it, Toothless," I signaled the dragon. I looked behind to see the Death that had no maniac riding on top of it closing it onto us, eyes very much locked onto the Night Fury.
"Hold, Toothless…" I instructed. Seconds later, the signal came; that distinct whirring noise that dragons make while charging a flame breath.
"NOW!"
The Night Fury turned around and spat a plasma blast right into the dragon's mouth, particularly where flammable fume was building up. Within an instance, the dragon's mouth caught on fire.
Since we were diving into earth, the sight of the sea greeted us soon enough. My calculation was perfect! We were diving into the direction of the swimming Bewilderbeast; who had weirdly spat some ice into the island for some reason. Seeing that we were running out of altitude, Toothless immediately spun his body around and gained control of our maneuver. The Red Death wanted to do the same to control its dropping altitude, and it did so by expanding its wings. However, when it did so, the wings ripped open, since we'd done some damage onto it previously. Conveniently, the Death landed right into the Bewilderbeast.
We glided on the sky, taking everything in for a brief moment. It was quickly interrupted when a breath of flame consumed us for another brief moment. I was well protected by my dragon scale armor, but its heat was still unbearable. As quickly as possible, we flew out of the fireball, but I quickly sensed something off, something imbalanced.
I looked around and found the problem on the rear. Toothless' artificial tailfin; it's burning.
"We might need to call an emergency landing soon!" I said to Toothless. We flew onto the island while keeping up with our imbalance proportion. Obviously, our movement was seen by Drago and the remaining Red Death, as the fire on Toothless' tail was like a beacon under the dark harsh rain.
Eventually, the imbalance was too much; Toothless lost control of himself. I tried my best to direct us to the softest spot on the land that I could find. The trees seemed to be the most reasonable choice there was, so I steered my dragon into the trees.
Through the vines and leaves we crashed into earth. It was mostly inconvenient to do something like this, but we were fortunate to be able to land on solid ground.
"You okay bud?" I hopped off the Night Fury and checked all over him. I found nothing too serious, luckily. With my dragon checked over, I checked over the place we were ended up in. We were in a small opening inside the woods, which initially suggested me that we were somewhere in New Raven point. However, I quickly made another suggestion as I noticed the presence of a large boulder just ahead of us. It was no ordinary boulder; it was the Troll's Boulder!
"If there's been no landslide or anything… the entrance should be here, ah ha!" I snapped a finger when I saw an opening just under the boulder's right side. It was another entrance that would lead to the labyrinth of the island.
"I think we can outsmart him by…" I looked up to look for any sign of a flying Red Death, which happened to be the very first thing that came to view. It was landing right on top of us with its destructive tail aimed right onto us.
"TOOTHLESS, GET IN, QUICKLY—"
CRASH!
Elsa's POV
"Ugh…"
I struggled to stand up. Luckily, Nokk was there to help me out. With his head, he gently lifted my upper half to into a standstill. However, I quickly dropped on my knees again as a pain stung me by the ankle. That's when I realized that I had a bruise there. At least, after I summoned frosts to illuminate the place I was in and the bruise on my ankle.
"Yeah… Nokk, I'm gonna need you to help me out, I can't walk…" I looked up to the environment I was in. I was inside a cave. Whatever hit me and Nokk had sent us flying into the mouth of the cave that was apparently on the wall of the island's cliff. I turned around to see the entrance of the cave to see where I came from but saw nothing but a pile of boulders, as if a great force had sealed the entrance.
"A cave… inside the island… is this the labyrinth?" I asked. Though Nokk was the only living being around, he didn't respond. He almost seemed as lost as I was.
"Stay with me, okay?" I patted the horse by the neck and turned him into snow to allow him to stay on dry land longer, though the interior of the cavern was mostly moist. There were puddles and mosses everywhere. But the most terrifying sight was the selections of paths there were for us to choose. One might lead to a dead end and one might lead to another entrance. Either way, I had to make a choice soon.
I hopped on Nokk and kept an ice crystal above our heads to brighten the area. "We should move fast."
With that, Nokk and I moved deeper into the cavern. The air was incredibly humid since we were near the sea, which made the experience more horrid than it already was. Not to mention the darkness, the tight space caused by the abundance of stalagmites, and the slippery mosses. Nokk had moments where he nearly slipped.
As we proceeded deeper, it was getting clearer that we were lost. At least a good one hour had passed and we've only been getting ourselves more lost than ever. The path that I had chosen had apparently led the two of us up and up, considering that we did many steep climbing. Luckily, Nokk was agile with his jumps. I just followed my intuition to climb to the top of the island no matter which path I took.
After many more jumping, my ears picked up a sound of a nearby stream. A perfect timing for my dry throat.
"Follow the sound of the stream," I instructed Nokk with a pat on his neck. Understanding the command, the water spirit bobbed his head and focused his hearing as we went on. Eventually, there it was, a small gentle stream.
I initially wanted to hop off, but then I remembered the sprain on my ankle. To help me out, Nokk sat down on the ground once near the stream, allowing me to reach the ground more safely. By the stream, I knelt down and cupped my hands to collect the water. I gave it a quick taste before I drank them all.
"Oh goodness, this is heavenly," I spoke to myself. The water was fresh and cold, just what I needed. Clearly, my throat demanded more. As I was about to cup more water, I spotted something on my vision.
Across the stream, the terrain was unlike the side Nokk and I were on. Ours was rocky and mossy, but across was muddy and less rocky. On the mud itself, I saw footprints.
"Wait..."
I planted my hands on the bottom of the stream and focused my power on the water.
"Show me the past..."
It's been a while since I last did the trick, but after opening my eyes, I saw my magic slowly forming a sculpture across the stream. As it slowly materialized, it became obvious of what the flurry of ice was forming. Hiccup! And Toothless!
Hiccup seemed to be mending something on his... Missing leg with the water. He didn't have his prosthetic on. Toothless, on the other hand, was merely watching his buddy treating his leg.
"Sorry bud, you're gonna have to carry me around this time," Hiccup said to his dragon, in which he replied with an unwilling grumble.
"Oh don't be so dramatic. Let's go."
And it stopped.
Nokk and I shared a glance after watching the short memory. My mind suspected that It could've only occurred minutes ago, though it came up with no explanation regarding how those two were ended up in the labyrinth.
The water spirit helped me stand up as we made our way across the stream. I knelt down once again, but to check the track on the muddy ground. There was Toothless' track, and it still looked fresh. They couldn't be far.
"It's still fresh!" I looked up, "Hiccup!" I called, and my call echoed through the cavern.
"Let's go, Nokk," I hopped on the water horse once again and he proceeded into the direction of what we assumed the direction where Hiccup and Toothless had gone to.
"Hiccup?" I called once again. The only thing that replied was the same echo of my own voice.
"... Elsa?"
It was faint, but it was more than enough.
"Hiccup!" I replied. Right away, Nokk picked up some speed and galloped deeper into the cavern.
"Elsa!"
Having heard the voice from a relatively close distance, Nokk abruptly stopped on his track and focused his hearing to determine the source of the call. I looked around and spotted the face of Hiccup Haddock through a gap on the wall.
"Elsa!" He called as he made through the gap with Toothless behind him. I gently hopped off Nokk and waited for on the other end. Once he was out, I welcomed him with a hug.
"How did you get here?" I asked, pulling away.
"How did you get here?" He asked in return while helping his dragon get through the small gap on the wall.
"I was... I don't know how, to be honest," I shrugged. "All I knew was that I was riding on Nokk, on my way to join the others on the other side of the island. Suddenly, something hit us and sent us flying into... here, apparently."
"Was it ice? Green ice?" He asked as he used his buddy as a balancing point due to his absent prosthetic.
"Green ice? Yes! It was something icy!" I snapped a finger.
"The Bewilderbeast must've jumped on you, I think," he grabbed his chin.
"Bewilder what?" I asked, furrowing a brow.
"A giant dragon that spits ice instead of fire," he said. "I took care of it," he cracked his knuckles proudly.
"Apparently it also took care of your prosthetic as well," I gestured to his limb. "What happened?"
"Ohh... Long story. Complicated, too. I'll tell you everything once this is over," he hopped back on Toothless and off into a direction only he knew. I followed him along on Nokk.
"Do you know the direction?" I asked.
"Like the back of my hand," he replied. His reply did give me a boost of confidence.
"Well, actually, I uh... I'm fairly confident that I do," he replied, now with a slight hesitance. Right away, that boost of confidence inside me was no more.
"Hiccup..." I called.
"Wait, how did you know that I was here? There's no way you just started shouting my name randomly, right?" He asked as he stumbled upon a cross path. It was the most cliché one; a path to the right and a path to the left. He chose the left one.
"I used my power to create a sculpture of the past when I spotted your footprints by the stream," I explained. "Pretty sure Anna mentioned about water possessing memory? I used that and that's how I learned that you were there by the stream moments ago."
"Ah yes. Water having memory. Like how it goes in and out a living being over and over," he mentioned. "It makes sense."
I gave my forehead a smack. "You really had to mention that one. Don't tell me Olaf told you that one."
He turned to me with a smirk. "The snowman simply can't stop talking, I'm afraid."
I snorted at the fact. He was true.
We continued the walk in silence for a brief moment until I remembered of my sister, who was probably dealing with Therondians out there.
"I hope Anna and the others are okay," I spoke out of worry. "I've been away from the fighting for too long now."
"They are as tough as nail," he said as Toothless jumped over a ledge. "Anna will be alright."
"You're not worried?" I asked him.
"Of course I am. One way to cope it was to get rid of the biggest threat in the situation, which is the two Red Death's. One is down, one is still up. And it's the one that Drago flies on," he explained.
His explanation made perfect sense. "You're right…"
"She will be okay, Elsa," he convinced once again, turning to me briefly.
"She's going to be so pissed knowing that the very thing that she requested from us was no more moments after she requested it," I crossed my arms. "But she just can't understand that sometimes... I can't risk risking her life. I know it's the equivalent of me shutting her out like I've always done in the past twenty years. But there are dangers that are very capable of taking her life."
"Well… I can't lie, I have to agree," he replied. "But… she did survive dangerous things. She fell off a cliff while being chased by your snowman, Marshmallow, sacrificed your life on the edge of freezing due to frozen heart, punched her ex-boyfriend off a boat, lured the earth spirits to break the dam to break the curse of the Enchanted Forest…" He counted the events with his fingers and stopped. "Did I miss something else?"
Hiccup did have a point. Anna had a thing with surviving life-and-death situations. If it weren't for her determination, I don't know what else it would be that saved her life.
"You do have a point. She is… well, perhaps her guardian angel always flies nearby," I chuckled. "Though that doesn't mean we need to endanger her life."
He turned to me with a sly smile. "Well, this whole trip is most likely a one-way ticket, anyway. And neither of you needed to come in the first place."
I frowned at his statement. "We are not going to argue about that when we are already this far into the journey and this close to the finish. Besides, you did allow us to come."
He raised his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright, I hear you, Your Majesty."
I sighed. "Anna, please take care of yourself."
"Yes, Elsa," Hiccup imitated his girlfriend's voice.
As we proceeded through the narrow passage, at the tail, we were inside a room with another stream nearby.
"Okay, that's the stream… if we take a right to follow the stream, we should be able to find an opening that leads to the surface…" Hiccup directed his dragon to follow his lead, and I followed it. After some more walking, he stopped abruptly and scratched his hair in an irritated manner.
"That's supposed to be our way out," he pointed to a certain direction, in which I had to come over to his side to look better. Hiccup was pointing at a pile of boulders where water was coming out of it. It looked like a great force had caused it to collapse.
"Guess we will have to find another way out of here…" He and Toothless walked away from the stream. I was about to follow his lead again when I spotted something on the ground.
"Hiccup!" I called, pointing at the object on the ground. "There are tracks!"
He turned around, examining the tracks, "There's no way somebody's here as well."
"There's one way to find out," I hopped off Nokk and knelt down to plant my hands on the ground again. Focusing my power on the wet ground, the water on the ground began to form into droplets and hover upwards. They soon turned into snows and formed another ice sculpture. My eyes couldn't believe what the snow formed.
"A-Anna?" I said in disbelief.
The sculpture was Anna, holding her flame sword and what seemed to be Hiccup's prosthetic leg and walking along the stream. She was in a terrible shape; she had bruises, cuts, and her eyes screamed tiredness.
"She must've followed the stream, let's go!" Hiccup commanded.
Anna's POV
"Anna?"
"Anna, wake up."
I wanted to obey the request, but my eyes were heavy. So, I took my time to really open them. However, in the process, a bright blue light welcomed them, so I flinched, inevitably.
"Elsa, could you lower the brightness of your magic? She can't adjust to it," a male voice advised. A very familiar male voice.
"Oh, sorry," the other voice replied, which sounded very familiar, too. Eventually, it's the familiarity of their voices that made me peel my eyes fully. There was an ice crystal emitting a dim light from above, and it allowed me to see who the speakers really were. It's the duo that I thought I'd lost; Hiccup and Elsa!
"OH MY—" I pulled them into my arms by their necks instantly, kissing their hairs while tightening the hug afterwards. They returned the hug slowly.
"I T-T-THOUGHT I'D LOST YOU TWO!" I stuttered as I slowly broke down in tears. "I SAW YOU TWO DYING!"
"W-what do you mean? We never died," Elsa chuckled slightly. "You must've been mistaken."
I pulled away to look at my sister and my boyfriend by sharing glances. "Elsa, y-you were… hit by that dragon's…"
"I was, yeah. Sent me and Nokk flying into this cave. Here I am, with just a sprain on my ankle," she explained briefly.
I turned to Hiccup. "Hiccup?"
"Well, it was a close call. The last Red Death was about to hit me with a swing of its tail, but Toothless and I made it out. Well, apart of me did, at least. I got my prosthetic stuck, if you're wondering just how much of a close call that was," he explained. "I found the prosthetic washed up by the stream on our way to here," he gestured to his prosthetic. "Did you happen to just lose grip of it?"
"I sorta did… and… yeah, well, technically, I didn't see you dying. But I did speak to Drago and he told me that… he killed you," I held their hands together and gave them a glare that meant business. "For the love of God, please, I have had enough," more tears built up on my eyes. "D-Don't ever leave my side, please…"
They shared a glance, looking unsure of my small request.
"Is that t-too much to ask?" I asked.
"Anna, I can't promise you that, I'll be honest," Hiccup replied. "But there's still one titan class dragon flying around, causing havoc on our allies. God knows what's happening down there at the moment. And that dragon, and the man flying on the dragon itself, can very much separate us. And I'm talking about death separating us."
I frowned. But then I realized, he was right.
"And I'm still a chief… A chief protects his own, even if it means sacrificing—"
I shook my head. "Don't. Just don't. I get what you mean."
Elsa grabbed his shoulder and gave me a reassuring expression. "I won't let that happen, Anna."
I constantly shifted between my sister and my lover. The two were giving me that look that said that it would be okay for all of us to separate for greater good, that things would go accordingly as hoped. Deep down, we all knew that the chances of either of us falling to our death were still there, but I guess in times like this, sugarcoating things was one way to maintain optimism.
I nodded in defeat. "Okay… Just… be careful…" I wiped my eyes dry.
"We will," Hiccup helped me stand up, which made me notice the presences of Toothless and Nokk, who were merely watching us in the whole time. "I'm gonna need you back on full energy because we're going back to where the whole scene is. And actually…" he grabbed his chin. "I am reminded of another exit that we can take… we can just follow the stream and we should be good."
"Up or down the stream?" Elsa asked.
"Down," Hiccup replied.
"Sounds like the easiest option there is," Elsa cracked her knuckles and hopped on the sitting Nokk. "Hop on, Anna."
I did as she told. "Pardon me, any chance of either of you knowing how long I was passed out?"
"I've been walking around for nearly an hour, perhaps," Hiccup replied, hopping onto his dragon and directed him to follow the stream from the side. His answer shocked me a tad.
"Oh God. I hope the others are doing fine," I said while holding onto my sister tightly.
"That's why we need to hustle," my sister added. The Night Fury ahead of us suddenly picked up phase, jumping here and there through the cavern as the magical ice crystal above him followed his lead to provide illumination. As we followed down the stream, more and more other small streams joined the one we were following, eventually creating a big rapid one in a larger room. I found hard to believe that mother nature created all of these, as if it really was architectured to be this way.
After minutes of running inside the labyrinth, I saw a wide opening on the far end of where we were headed, almost like a mouth opening with stalagmites decorating it and looking like a set of teeth along with the stream falling down on the end. However, the opening was blocked by something falling down from above, which prevented us from seeing the supposedly-visible view of the ocean if it really was an entrance to the outer world.
"There it is…" Elsa spoke softly. "Looks magnificent…"
"Indeed, it does…" I added.
Hiccup and Toothless stopped at the end of the stream, where it became a giant waterfall on the other end through the stalagmites. By the time we approached the drop, that's when we realized that another waterfall was falling down from above the waterfall itself.
"This is Jörmungandr's Jaws, the giant serpent's mouth, another 'entrance' to the labyrinth. Just below us," he pointed down to where the waterfall was crashing to, "is where our base is. You two make your way down with Nokk, I will continue my unfinished business with Drago—oh wait."
He turned around and spotted something problematic, which I didn't know what.
"Toothless' wing… how could I forget?" He referred. Hearing the remark, the dragon lifted his tail to see his no longer symmetrical tail, since the other fin was literally no more.
"I can fix that," Elsa said. With a dance of her hand, a flurry of ice made its way to Toothless tail and an artificial wing materialized out of thin air.
"Whoa," Hiccup rounded his mouth. He shifted his peg leg that made the fin fold and unfold. Even Toothless seemed to be taken aback by Elsa's creation. "Just like the old one. Thanks!"
"No problem. So, how tall is this drop, really?" Elsa asked.
"It's located right in the middle of the island's height. So around two thousand meters," Hiccup answered, readying himself for whatever he was about to do.
"Perfect. I've been practicing for this moment," she summoned a harness around Nokk to get a proper grip on the water horse.
"You've been what?" I asked.
"Practicing, back in Northuldra. Just hang on!" My sister replied.
"What have you been up to in Northuldra, actually?" I asked worriedly, tightening my arms around her. Before she could even answer, not that I knew that she was going to, anyway, Toothless leaped through the crashing waterfall. A second later, Elsa gave Nokk a kick, making him follow the dragon as well with a leap through the crashing waterfall. I was soaked once again, and the still continues rain outside was not helping.
"OH MY GOOOODD—" I screamed.
At one point, Nokk was free diving into earth, completely airborne and possessing very little control of our fall. However, once his legs made contact with the waterfall, he began galloping along the waterfall. This majestic and unbelievable maneuver allowed us to catch up with Hiccup and Toothless, who were diving as well. Soon, before crashing into the water, the dragon expanded his wings and flew away.
"Elsa, please tell me you have a plan to soften our landing!" I yelled to her.
"I do!"
At the end of the waterfall, a slope made out of ice suddenly materialized, with the other end positioned upright with the surface of the water, and it was placed right where we were heading to. Once reaching it, Nokk slid along the slope seamlessly and skidded on the water once reaching the end. He proceeded to gallop on the water, and I proceeded to lose myself by resting on Elsa's back due to how insane the last couple of seconds were.
"Chin up, Anna," Elsa spoke. "We still have a lot to do."
"You've been… practicing that… in Northuldra?" I asked, still trying to tidy up my breathing and my heartbeat.
"Uh huh."
"You are NOT coming back to there," I demanded. "Queen's order."
She turned around with a 'busted' smile. "Teehee."
I remained frowning at her. However, the view ahead as we marched to the western side of the island distracted me. There were many ships that were on fire, and dragons flying in directions that were unpredictable. I saw the large dragon itself causing havoc by spitting fiery breaths against the smaller dragons. It really was hard to determine whether or not we were winning. Winning or not, our arrival was about to make a difference.
As Nokk galloped his way, I spotted Toothless and Hiccup flying above roughly at a speed same with ours. Toothless spat a fireball to the giant dragon from afar and it was a hit! The giant dragon roared in pain in response. After seeing that his shot was a hit, the Night Fury flew into the clouds, gone from our sight.
Nokk's incredible speed made us arrive at the scene rather quickly. But Therondian boats were there to welcome us. Some of them had apparently spotted our arrival and started shooting cannonballs into our direction. Doing an evasive maneuver cost us precious time.
"Take this!" Elsa lifted her arm, and a giant icicle pierced through a boat that that was shooting us with firearms. She did the same to several other ships that were bothering us.
"Any idea of the ship our guys are onboard at the moment?" Elsa asked.
I studied the view of ships ahead to determine the very ship she asked. I quickly filtered the ships to the biggest ships there were, since it's the only kind of ship that the Therondians utilized to carry the dragons. I spotted one that was swarmed with dragons from above near the island and determined that was it.
"There!" I pointed.
"Okay!" Elsa replied and signaled Nokk to pick up some more speed. The west side of the island was basically one messy parking lot of ships. As we entered the area, we had to move between the tight spaces between the ships. There were bodies floating, either human or… dragons, sadly, and wreckage in the form of wood planks, swords, barrels, masts, anything that you'd expect to be found on ships. It was bitter to know that not all dragons made it out alive.
We suddenly stopped at spot where there was literally no gap for us to squeeze through. When I looked up, I discovered the reason why the guys put their ships so close to one another; it was to reach the cargo ship the Berkians were raiding. They swung by the ropes on their masts or simply jumped from deck to deck, all to reach that very ship. But we were so close to the cargo ship!
"Damn… any idea, sis?" I asked my sister.
"When do I not?"
Elsa placed her hands together and separated them swiftly. A shock wave followed afterwards, as giant walls of ice formed out of the water and pushed the ships apart, creating a straight shot path for us towards the cargo ship. Some Therondians who were in the process of making their way to the cargo ship fell into the water.
"Awesome!—Elsa!"
I held her before she could collapse. She gripped my hands as she fixed her position.
"That one really wore me out…" She panted heavily.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine. Nokk, go!"
With that command, Nokk galloped towards the cargo ship. On the wooden railing of the ship, I saw a man being thrown off into the water by none other than Astrid Hofferson. After throwing the man off, she waved a hand and cast a set of ladders for us.
Reaching the ladder, I let Elsa climb first after telling Nokk to stay safe. Onboard, it was utter chaos.
"Where have you two been? We were so worried!" Astrid held our hands.
"I'm really sorry! There's been some bumps!" Elsa replied. "How are you all managing?"
"Uh… barely?" Astrid gestured to the whole scene behind her. Dragons fighting men, Vikings making rooms for the others to free the dragons, other ships firing cannonballs right onto the ship we were onboard to interfere our work. Chaos would be an understatement.
"Bad news is that we need to keep the Red Death, that's the giant dragon, away from our dragons! Tips, use the Therondian weapons! If Red manages to have control of our dragons, we're done for!" Astrid instructed. "The good news is, this," she pointed to the deck, "is the second to last cargo ship! Just one more and we are done!"
"Gotcha! How many are there doing the cages?" I asked the female Viking.
"More than enough, I think! We can use more hands on the deck," she gestured us to jump into the battlefield. So, we did. Or at least I thought we did, as I noticed Elsa following me from behind while limping.
I approached her and grabbed her arms to make her stand properly. "It's the sprain, isn't it?"
"It's nothing—"
I cupped her cheeks and made her look into my eyes. "Go free the dragons. I will handle the fight. Go."
I briefly saw a hint that she was going to say no, but my sternness defeated her. Elsa nodded down slowly and made her way to the cages in the same manner. With that settled, I pulled out my inferno blade, which sadly had no more fuel in it. But I was willing to make it work.
Having a growing number of dragons on our side was certainly a massive advantage that we could not risk losing. The Therondians and their advanced weaponry simply could not keep up with the ferociousness of the dragons. It really was mother nature versus mankind, and I was very lucky to be by her side.
That is, until mother nature turned her back on us.
"GROARRRRR!"
A loud and ear-bleeding roar sounded from above. That's when I realized that the giant dragon was back. After the roaring, all of the dragons froze on their place and began to approach us threateningly, including me! A pack of Terrible Terrors was making its way towards me, making me cornered.
"Damn it, someone grab the cannons once again!" Eret instructed while kicking a man off the ship.
"On it!" Astrid notified, making her way to the lower deck. Seeing so, I kicked my way through the pack of Terrible Terrors, though it really was something I did against my willingness. I followed Astrid into the lower deck, where it was a wreck. The cannonballs fired from the other ships made so many holes on the hull of the ship. It was a miracle that the ship had not sunk yet.
I approached Astrid, who was preparing a cannon.
"Need help?" I asked. She turned to me.
"Oh. Anna. Yeah, help me load this thing," she opened the knob of the cannon to open the chamber of the cannonball itself. Since the ball was so heavy, it took the two of us to lift the object to the chamber. Once inside, we quickly shut it tight and aimed it to the floating Red Death through the massive hole a cannonball had caused.
"There…" Astrid spoke, as she used her torcher to lit the fuse. Fire quickly made its way to the end of base of the fuse. To save our eardrums, we jerked away with our ears shut.
BOOM!
We opened our ears.
"Groaarrr!"
It didn't take a Viking to tell that this one roar was an indication that the Red Death was in pain. I crawled on the floor to see the Red Death flying away, but only to be hit by a fireball that I assumed was Toothless'.
Astrid landed a hand on my shoulder. "Good job—"
"Everyone, the floor is lava!" A voice announced.
"Oh no, we need to get out," I turned around to the stairs that connected the lower deck and the main deck. We were about to make a run for it, but fire soon consumed the stairs, and the deck above us soon afterwards. The heat was too much for us, we had to duck to avoid catching fire.
"Anna, follow me!" Astrid said. It was a no brainer, as I saw no other solution for the situation apart from whatever she currently had in mind. I followed her lead, and her lead apparently led her to jump into the water through the hole in which we shot our cannon from.
When I looked down, that's when I realized that she had hopped on a dragon, instead.
"Jump!" She instructed. With a brief calculation, I built some momentum by running and leaping on the very last bit of ground I had.
"Oof!" I grunted as I landed on her dragon.
"Anna, meet my girl, Stormfly!" She briefly introduced as the dragon began to fly to follow the other dragons. Even with the evasive maneuver she was performing to avoid any incoming projectiles, Astrid still thought that right now was a convenient timing for her to introduce her dragon.
"Oh hi Stormfly!" I patted the dragon several times. "How did you know this is your dragon?"
"Several years of friendship allows me to tell her apart from the other Nadders," she proudly replied.
"Okay! So, where's the last ship?" I asked.
The blonde Viking pointed to her twelve, to which there was only a thick smoke. I waited for it to clear out.
SWOOOSHH!
Out of the thick smokes, the giant Red Death flew through, chasing Hiccup and Toothless with its mouth on fire! Seeing that the giant dragon might hit us, Stormfly performed a quick dive to avoid it, and we barely avoided it. I held tight onto Astrid as Stormfly tried her best to control our altitude. Luckily, we managed to stay just a touch above the water.
"Phew, that was close," Astrid said.
"Yeah, too close for comfort—" I cut myself as I spotted Elsa on the corner of my vision, who was merely watching something behind us on Nokk near us. I was about to call for her, but what she was watching interested me more. So I turned around and my jaw dropped right away.
There was a giant hole on the cliff of the island that was never there, previously. It could've only been caused by the previous Red Death, considering its sheer size was a size that totally matched the size of the Red Death itself. To worsen the situation, neither Hiccup nor Toothless was anywhere to be found.
"Anna," Elsa called. I turned to her. "The water just rippled."
