Chapter 47: Taking the Edge

Eira jolted out of bed at the sound of an explosion. "What was that?" she exclaimed.

"I was about to ask you that," Ingrid said just before a second explosion. The two of them hurried to get dressed and then rushed outside.

Eira gasped when she located the problem. "Singetails are attacking. We have to get to our dragons!" They raced to the stables to find everyone else already there (minus Hiccup and Astrid, who were still away). They hopped on their dragons and took to the sky.

The dragon riders attempted to fight back the Singtails but had little effect on them. They ran away for awhile to catch their breaths before resuming the fight.

"I don't understand what's going on!" Eira shouted over the noise. "Why are they attacking?"

"Does it matter?" Snotlout said. "Maybe they're just crazy!"

"Dragons don't attack for no reason. If we can figure out the reason, we can find a smarter way to stop them."

"Guys, look!" Ingrid cried, pointing at a Singetail.

"Someone is riding that Singetail!" Fishlegs exclaimed.

"No, someone is riding all these Singetails," said Snotlout.

"The dragons are being forced to fight," Eira said in dismay. How horrible! She wished there was a way she could help them.

"There's not much we can do about that right now! We have to take them!"

Eira knew he was right. She dodged a blast from a Singetail. The next second, she saw Fishlegs fall from Mealtug. Swiftwings swooped down, but another Singetail blocked her path. The battle appeared hopeless until, suddenly, Hiccup and Astrid appeared.

"I'm sorry, gang," Hiccup said, "we should have been here."

"What gave it away?" Snotlout retorted. "Was it the scorched Earth?"

"Wait." Hiccup peered carefully at a Singetail. "Are those flyers? Wait- How? When?"

"Uh, Hiccup, maybe we can have this discussion later," Astrid said.

"All right! Air tactics and defense! Just like we practiced!"

"When did we practice that?" Snotlout said anxiously. "We never practiced that!"

"Then it's a great time to learn!" said Astrid.

The riders resumed fighting. At first, it seemed like they had a chance, but then the Singetails overwhelmed them with numbers. Hiccup was forced to order everyone to retreat from Dragon's Edge. They landed on a wide sea stack nearby where they could watch the destruction of their home in dismay. Meatlug started pacing frantically.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Hiccup said as he attempted to soothe her. "Easy, girl. We'll find him. Don't you worry."

"How are you gonna do that, Hiccup?" Snotlout said. "Those flyers are all over the place and trained. But you wouldn't have known that."

"Wow, Snotlout," said Tuffnut. "The truth will set you free, my arrogant brother."

Astrid glared at them. "Leave him alone!"

"No, Astrid," Hiccup said sadly. "I deserve it. I shouldn't have left. They practically begged us to stay."

"That's pushing it," said Snotlout.

"You know what I mean."

"You couldn't have known something like this would happen," Eira said.

"And we're back now," said Astrid. "That's all that matters."

Hiccup gazed at Meatlug. "Not all of us."

The riders had no choice but to wait around for the flyers to leave the island so they could search for Fishlegs. Hours passed with no progress being made. Eira prayed nothing terrible had befallen their friend.

"Look, I think I know where Fishlegs is hiding," Hiccup said at last. "And I don't think that they've captured him."

"Can this be independently verified?" said Tuffnut.

"Well, no. But if they had him, they wouldn't still be circling overhead. Look, it's getting dark and Toothless owns the night, which means that we will have a tactical advantage. We have to find Fishlegs first even if it means losing the Edge. If we get separated, don't hang around and try taking these guys on your own. Meet up at Defenders of the Wing Island. Got it?" He paused and looked to his left at Snotlout, who was staring at him in awe. "What is it, Snotlout?"

Snotlout smiled. "Nothing. It's just, well, it's nice to have you back."

"I just hope it wasn't too late."

The riders took off. Eira and Ingrid stayed close together and used their teamwork to confuse the flyers. Eventually, everyone met up at the tunnels, where they found Fishlegs. Meatlug rescued her rider, and they all quickly got out of there. Once more, however, they were soon outnumbered.

"Hiccup, I'm so sorry," Astrid said as they abandoned the Edge once again.

"Yeah, me too," said Hiccup.

The dragon riders retreated to Defenders of the Wing Island. Mala welcomed them with open arms, but they could not get over the disheartened feeling from their failure. Eira realized she could no longer keep her little sister away from the dragon hunters, for they had found them. And they needed a whole new strategy to defeat this new and improved enemy.

The Dragon Riders did not stay long on Defenders of the Wing Island. The dragon hunters found them there and attacked the island to get to them. The riders led them off course and managed to lose them in a fog. Hiccup made the executive decision to return to Berk. Chief Stoick knew is was only a matter of time before the hunters attacked them at home, and so, he started the preparations for war.

The riders - save for Hiccup - gathered in the training arena to practice their battle tactics. Ingrid stood nervously to the side as she watched the others. Shadowwhisper nudged her shoulder with his snout and whined.

"I'm sorry, boy," Ingrid said. "I don't know what I've gotten myself into. They're already a great team, and I don't belong here." For the first tie, she realized the seriousness of the threat they faced. Eira had been right. She should not get involved.

"Ingrid, what are you doing?" Eira said as she approached with Snotlout.

"I was, uh, just watching."

"You're not going to learn much by watching," Snotlout said.

"He's right," Eira said. "You need to practice with the others."

Ingrid looked at her in surprise. "But you said I shouldn't fight the dragon hunters. It's too dangerous."

"It is dangerous, which is why you'll be safer if you know how to defend yourself." Eira gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner. I still think it's better if you stay behind on missions, but when we're attacked, you need to do your part."

Ingrid took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. Where do I start?"

"Train with Snotlout. He'll teach you everything you need to know."

Snotlout grinned at her. "It looks like I get to be your teacher this time, huh?"

Ingrid smiled slightly. "Seems so." She watched her sister mount her dragon and prepare to take off. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm going to look for Hiccup," Eira replied. "I need to talk to him about something. Start without me!"

Ingrid decided not to worry about it. She turned back to Snotlout and gave him a tentative smile. "Shall we begin?"

Snotlout returned her smile with one of his own. "I thought you'd never ask!"

And so, the two of them trained with the other dragon riders. As Hiccup remained missing, Astrid led everyone in drills for hours. They started on the ground and then moved to the air. Night had fallen by the time they stopped to take a break. Ingrid leaned against the side of the dome next to Snotlout, breathing heavily.

"You're doing pretty well," Snotlout said. "You learn pretty quickly. Of course, I am a great teacher."

Ingrid could barely muster a smile. "Yeah, thanks." She grew quiet as she imagined what was to come. Could she really do this?

"Hey, you're not nervous, are you?"

Ingrid froze. "N-No. I mean, I'm just..." She took in the concern on Snotlout's face and sighed. "I've never done anything like this before, you know? I didn't receive combat training like my brothers, and I didn't have months to prepare like Eira. What if something goes wrong?"

Snotlout placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her seriously. "Something will go wrong. Something always goes wrong. But we'll make it through it. Just stick with me, and you'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to you."

His sincerity seeped through Ingrid's doubts, eroding at them. "Thank you, Snotlout." Before she realized what she was doing, she moved closer and hugged him. He seemed surprised, but he hugged her back.

"Attention, dragon riders!" Astrid shouted from the middle of the arena. "Stoick is calling for a preemptive strike! Prepare to take flight!"

"Just a second!" Ingrid called, suddenly getting an idea. She looked at Snotlout with a smirk. "Want to see what else Shadowwhisper can do?" She turned to her dragon. "Time to rile them up!"

The Hobblegrunt pulled back his head and roared, sending a buzz through the air that caught everyone's attention. Ingrid felt the desire to protect and defend rise within her. She could do this!

"Wow, your dragon is the best!" Snotlout said.

Ingrid grinned. "Thanks!"

And they were off!

Eira followed Hiccup to the island where they has first come across Singetails. They both wanted to find a way to beat the dragons without hurting them, so studying them seemed like the best option. To their surprise, they met Spitelout on the island, who was there for 'revenge' against the Singetails for destroying his store house. With Spitelout's help, they were able to capture a Singetail and figure out a plan for the battle ahead.

Hiccup ordered Eira and Spitelout to set up on the outskirts of Dragon's Edge while he returned to the others to explain his plan. Spitelout and his Deadly Nadder carried the net with the Singetail while Eira and Swiftwings brought everything else. It was easy to sneak onto the island because there was already a battle raging. Stoick must have gone ahead with a preemptive strike.

"Hiccup better get here soon," Eira muttered as she worked on setting up the traps.

Minutes later, they were joined by someone else who was not Hiccup. "Gustav is here to help!" the boy declared.

"Where's Hiccup?"

"He should be coming soon."

Spitelout gave instructions to Gustav, and Eira focused on her task. They were almost finished by the time Hiccup and Toothless finally arrived.

"Did you bring it?" Hiccup said to Spitelout.

"Can't you tell?" said Spitelout, motioning to the Singetail in the net tied to the tree. "Yeah, yeah. Keep yapping, ya fiery pain in the-"

"Spitelout, is everything ready?"

"No, there's still a few-"

"Too late. We're going with what we got." And Hiccup zoomed off.

"Well, then, why'd ya bother asking?" Spitelout turned to the Singetail. "All right. Time to play your part, dragon." He prodded the dragon, and the Singetail let out a fiery blast. It was a distress signal that would call the other Singetails to it.

Eira quickly got into place. When a flyer and Singetail neared her, she caught their attention by zipping back and forth. The Singetail followed Swiftwings right into a trap. Eira, Spitelout, Gustav, and Hiccup all worked to take down most of the flyers in this way.

"The dragons are abandoning their riders!" Spitelout exclaimed.

"And the others are trying to free Deathlout!" Hiccup added, referring to Spitelout's captured Singetail.

Eira grinned. "This was a great plan."

Spitelout worked to take down one more flyer and then topped to rest. "Well, that looks to be all of them."

"Or not!" said Hiccup. He and Toothless led the remaining Singetail up high in the sky.

Meanwhile, Eira noticed the others were focused on taking the Edge, which they were doing with ease. It seemed their leader (Krogan was his name, according to Hiccup) had sent out all his troops at once, leaving the base camp defenseless. Perhaps this was their chance to capture him! Eira immediately flew for the clubhouse since it was the highest point.

She gasped when she saw a huge Singetail emerge from the clubhouse. Krogan jumped onto his back, and someone climbed on behind him. They had not noticed her yet, so she took the chance to quietly instruct Swiftwings to shoot the passengers. But then the man behind Krogan looked back at her.

"Swiftwings, stop!" Eira called. It was Viggo. The left side of his face was scarred, but it was unmistakably Viggo. And he held the Dragon Eye in his hand. His eyes locked on hers, and she thought she saw surprise that mirrored her own.

"Eira, what are you doing?" Astrid exclaimed as she flew up beside her. "Shoot!"

Viggo looked ahead, and the Singetail took off. Astrid and Stoick took off after them on their dragons. "Astrid, wait, that's-" But they were already gone. Eira let out a heavy sigh. Well, if Astrid didn't recognize him, she could tell her later. For now she searched for the others to find out how she could help.

Everyone quickly cleaned the mess, and then they gathered around to celebrate their victory. Stoick returned before Astrid, and he immediately approached his son. "You did it, son," he said. "And not a dragon's scale out of place. Quite the impressive plan."

"And let's not forget the Jorgenson contribution to that impressive plan," said Spitelout.

"Yeah," Snotlout cheered. "The Jorgensons were on fire."

"That's right," Ingrid said with a smile.

Hiccup nodded. "Yes, they were. You were great, Spitelout. I couldn't have done it without you."

Eira finally managed to get close to him. "Uh, Hiccup?"

Hiccup smiled at her. "Thanks for your help too, Eira. I'm glad to have you on my side."

"Thank you, but I need to tell you-"

"Hiccup!" Astrid called as Stormfly landed in front of them.

"Astrid!" Hiccup said in relief. "You had me worried."

"Well, get ready to be more worried, Hiccup, because I just saw something you're not going to believe." Astrid glanced at Eira, who bit her lip and nodded.

Hiccup took a deep breath. "In that case, let's wait to tell everyone."

Soon enough, the dragon riders were gathered in the clubhouse. It felt good to be there once again. Astrid told the story of her chase with Krogan, and she revealed he had Viggo with him - and the Dragon Eye.

"Let's try to find another way to look at this thing," Hiccup said at the end of the tale. "Let's make the yak bladder half full."

"Sorry," said Snotlout, frowning. "My yak bladder? Dry as a bone."

"Okay. I get it. Viggo is alive. That's bad. He's got the Dragon Eye. That, too, is bad."

"Um, I hate to agree with Snotlout," said Fishlegs, "really, I do, but I just can't see that any of this is good news."

"Okay, stay with me. Viggo thinks he has the only Dragon Eye. But as you all know-" Hiccup walked to the corner and pulled a blanket off covering an object: the second Dragon Eye he had been working on.

Fishlegs squealed in delight. "Ooh! It's almost finished."

Hiccup smiled. "Friends, my yak bladder runneth over. When I'm done, this thing is going to do things the original Dragon Eye can't even dream of doing."

"It looks amazing," Astrid said.

"Hopefully, it will be."

"Oh, before I forget." Astrid turned to Eira with a quizzical expression. "You had a chance to take out Krogan and Viggo before they took off, Eira. Why did you call off Swiftwings?"

Everyone stared at Eira. A chill ran down her spine. "I - I don't know," she admitted. "I recognized Viggo, and I guess it surprised me."

"Eira doesn't like to shoot the bad guys," Snotlout said. "Just like Hiccup doesn't want to hurt the dragons. This isn't anything new. She did the same thing with Dagur."

"Then why was she preparing to shoot at all?" Astrid countered. "She stopped because it was Viggo."

"If you're accusing her of something..." Ingrid said in a warning tone.

"No, I'm not. But I know they talked the last time we saw him, and I don't want her to give him the chance to use her compassion to manipulate her again."

Eira swallowed hard. After all this time they were still doubting her? "Actually, I was right last time," she said quietly. "I said we could trust Viggo only until we defeated his brother, and I was correct."

"She's technically right," Hiccup said. "I understand your concern, Astrid, but there is no need to create a problem where there is none yet. What happened today was an instinctual reaction. Eira won't let it get out of hand, right?"

The young girl nodded. "Right." At least, she hoped it was true. They didn't know the reason she hesitated wasn't because Viggo had gotten to her but someone else. Ingrid gave her a sympathetic smile, which lightened her heart. She would figure it out in time.

A/N: Viggo is back! How will Eira deal with him now?