Author's Note - This antepenultimate chapter of volume II is a wild ride. There is a symbolism/contrast between the two Bewilderbeasts. As a hint, they are archetypal figures.
"If the radiance of a thousand suns... Were to burst at once into the sky... That would be like the splendour of the Mighty One... I am become Death... The destroyer of worlds."
- Robert Oppenheimer quoting from the Bhagavad Gita
Sunfall
And they both beheld wide, rounded, and fearful green eyes.
"What...? Where... am... I...?" Shadowwing gasped in confusion.
Was-Grounded groaned in pain and weakly fell onto his side as a massive, terrifying roar echoed off in the distance.
Shadowwing growled and winced at the sound. He shut his eyes and shook his head against the sun's blinding light as it seemed to flare all around him. Only then did he notice the soreness in his tail and limbs, his subsiding splitting headache, and his throbbing knee.
"Grrr, what..."
Then he opened his eyes and beheld the bleeding gash in his brother's belly, the pool of blood where he had been standing, and the blood dripping from his own claws. Their eyes met again and saw nothing else of the world around them. Time and sound were not. Fear, hope, confusion, pain, and horror were.
The impossible and terrible truth of what had to have happened struck him like a thunderclap and drove shards of ice through his heart. What he saw before him almost looked like a perfect mirror of a terrifying nightmare he had once had.
No! No! No!
"NO!" he screamed.
He bounded forward in a panic with concern and fear shining in his eyes.
"Brother?" Was-Grounded weakly groaned.
The frailty and fear in his voice was completely heartbreaking.
"Yes, I... I... hurt you..."
Another roar of anger from beyond made his head throb again.
"No, it was not you. It is not your fault."
"I... tried to... kill..."
"No! Stop..."
"What did... what happened?"
"Not now... I… I cannot lick... that hurt," Was-Grounded moaned.
Shadowwing knelt down without hesitation and attended to the wound as well as he could. It was thankfully not very deep despite being very bloody. The metallic taste of the blood still made his bile rise in his throat, only made all the worse by knowing that he had somehow done this.
That he had apparently attacked and tried to kill his own brother. That he had somehow become a Monster in his own way. But how?
He kept at his grisly task until the blood stopped dripping and the entire area was thickly coated in slobber. He could not get the sickening tang off of his tongue though.
"Better?" he gasped.
"It will be better. What about your leg?" Was-Grounded sighed in evident relief.
He glanced at his own leg and noticed that it now had a deep bite mark around the knee. It stung a bit but should be nothing worse than a few lost scales and at worst a curious-looking scar, none of which meant that it would not hurt or would not leave him limping for several days.
"It does not hurt much. What happened? Where are we?"
"The island with the ice nest."
Shadowwing looked around and recognized what had to be the rocky beach. And then he realized something terrible. There was a distant din of fighting and roaring in the background.
"The fighting? Where is the great-tusk-Alpha?"
"Dead."
"Dead?" he gasped in horror.
"A Monster like the great-tusk-Alpha killed it."
And he was on Drago's ship and saw that creature again. A strong, piercing blue eye. A massive Bewilderbeast with a cold, penetrating gaze that saw through him and...
.
There was nothing.
.
All that time, however much it had been from when he flew out to Drago's fleet to almost the present moment, was gone from his memory. There was nothing but a void remaining until he saw his brother standing over him and speaking something. Even that part was hazy and unclear.
An ancient passage of warning echoed in his memory.
'Monsters can make you think bad things.'
"What... No..." he gasped in complete dismay as he realized what had happened.
And his own heart broke as the extent of his prideful stubbornness and stupidity crashed down on him like Thor's hammer. At the realization that his blind, defiant trust in his own way had almost torn his family apart forever.
But with that knowledge came a burning fire of anger toward that monstrous creature that had clearly done something terrible to him. It had used him to try to kill someone he loved, to strike at his own family.
He bared his teeth and seethed with a fury that he had never felt before.
Was-Grounded cautiously got to his feet with a pained groan and crept up the nearby rocks to get a view of the bay. Shadowwing followed after him and hopped up to his side with a slight limp of his own.
And they beheld complete devastation.
Dozens of boats out at sea were burning. Dragons swarmed over the shore and waters. Fires burned freely on land. The white King's bulk rolled in the distant waves. The new Alpha Bewilderbeast, the Monster, stood just offshore with its crimson tusks gleaming in the sunlight and the whirlwind of dragons above its head a living rainbow.
The fury grew in both their hearts as they both remembered how this Monster had turned them against each other. How it threatened the peace and had already caused too much death.
And they both perfectly understood what the other was thinking.
They both have a history together in dealing with Monsters.
"We must fight it!" Was-Grounded snarled.
Shadowwing turned to face him, blinked, and froze, completely dumbstruck at what he saw.
"What are you... doing?" he gasped.
Was-Grounded glanced over at Shadowwing in response and froze with his jaws hanging open in shock.
They both saw the other, noticed the other's look of astonished shock, and then turned to glance at themselves.
.
They were both glowing blue from their noses and parted jaws, on their back fins, and down to the tips of their tails.
.
"What... is this?" Shadowwing fearfully asked.
"What is this? We will fight it now!" Was-Grounded recovered himself with a murderous growl and eyes narrowed almost to slits.
Shadowwing seemed to steady himself somewhat and growled as well after several deep breaths.
"How? It does not breathe fire or fly."
Was-Grounded thought quickly about this Monster's weaknesses. It did not breathe fire and could not be killed the way he had the other Monster by igniting its fire-air inside its throat after breaking its wings in a death dive. Its scales and hide were too thick for any kin-fire to burn, and only other great-tusks had large enough tusks. Any possible idea seemed without lift.
Then a previous battle he had closely witnessed floated to the front of his memory. His tail twitched as he gave a snarl and his light seemed to flare brighter for a moment.
"I know what to do. Do you trust me?"
"Always," Shadowwing hummed.
"You flame its eyes to blind it. Fly the other kin away from it if you can. It does not know about me, and you can fly faster than me now."
"I do not have fire like you..."
"Yes, you do. I know that you do. You are burning like me now."
"How... how do I make fire?"
"Like flying, do not think. Only do. Want fire to burn with all your liver! Are you a Night Fury?"
"Yes, but I… I do not think I can fight... the Monster in my head alone…"
Was-Grounded hopped over to him, and they rested muzzles against each other again with a soft hum. They remained like that for several wing-beats as their scales and skin tingled with this strange burning light and with power.
"You are not alone. Remember who you are, remember me, and remember what it did to you. Fill your liver with anger. Can you do that?"
Shadowwing bared his teeth and let out a snarl of pure rage.
"We can do this, you and me as one!" Was-Grounded growled in satisfaction.
Then he stepped back, bared his teeth as well, and spread his wings. Together, they soared away from the beach while doing their best to stay low and out of sight. Nervousness and shared anger gave strength to their wings and let both of them forget about the pains of the last few minutes.
Shadowwing tried not to do so but could not help looking down and seeing all the still bodies and pools of red. Dozens of skiffs and longboats were either burning or beached on the rocks. Fires burned freely in the wreckage on land. Scores of armored and armorless dragons lay still on the shore. Countless men and women lay about in various terrible conditions as dragons flew wildly along the shore. And then there was the regal white King. The body lay bobbing in the water just offshore with a massive hole in its throat.
All of this because of a madman and a Monster.
A madman that he had thought he could talk to and make peace with.
A Monster he should have known about and been afraid of.
They flew tightly around a spire and landed on a high ledge overlooking the battlefield. It was hard to see past the swarm flying around the Monster.
"What if this... does not work?" Shadowwing whispered.
"Then fly away fast to the other side of the island. They cannot catch you. We will only have one chance at this strike. Fly fast."
Shadowwing took a deep breath, summoned his courage, and dove from the ledge.
This is stupid... this is something crazy...
Silently and swiftly he flew down toward the beach. Only when he was halfway there did he allow for the infamous whistle that would announce his advance. At the same time, he roared deeply and aimed directly for the Monster's head. He wanted it to know that he was coming for it.
It slowly turned to glare at him and rumbled its deep growl. Its eyes narrowed on him in surprise, and he heard a hated buzzing start building around him, in his head, and in his chest as he stared into the strong blue eye.
But this time he knew what to expect. The call also seemed far weaker this time for some unknown reason. He remembered Toothless diving toward an inferno to catch him, Toothless challenging the wild Zippleback even as a mere fledgling, Toothless at Outcast Island, and the wondrous day when the winds of their life, so long parted, blew back together again.
Peace...
This was not your fault…
Peace...
You are not alone...
Peace...
You are my best friend...
Peace...
My brother...
Pea...
Love and wrath...
He stared defiantly into the massive eye which had previously stolen away his own thoughts and which now seemed frozen and unable to look away from him. He tipped onto his side and wove between the massive tusks, passing only a body-length from its face. He did not notice the pocket of gas that had built in his throat or the bright glow reflected in the Monster's exposed eye.
That moment seemed frozen in time as he wanted the beast to burn in pain and writhe in agony.
His anger at what it had done to him poured forth without conscious thought, and a glowing ball of blue fire erupted in the exposed eye. The fire spilled out over the Monster's face like water poured onto rock and even seemed to burn the other eye as he flew past the great head and began to turn in a loop.
The Monster roared in anger and pain, thrashed quickly for its massive size, and wildly flailed its enormous tail about to crush him midair. And he saw another spiked tail flying toward him many years ago.
Not again!
But this time he had wings of his own.
He quickly banked himself higher, flying closely between the spines on its tail. Almost vertically he flew as the tail closed on him, the displaced air pushing him faster.
It missed its strike, and he spun up into the open sky with a joyful and defiant bellow. Then he let gravity take him as he spun down for a second attack.
There seemed to be no chance to get a clear strike at the other eye though. The Monster had already roared fearfully and angrily in command, and all the dragons above and around it echoed the call. The hundreds of surviving dragons on shore and in the air all turned toward him and started flapping wildly.
Time to try this one more time!
He took several deep breaths and flew on as low to the water as he dared. The speed of his flight had to leave a wake behind him as he went. The first of the fireballs flew at him, but they seemed to move slower than normal. All conscious thought vanished from his mind, and he trusted his wings to guide him through the firestorm. Dozens of blasts flew around him from above, crashing into the water or otherwise disturbing his flight. He twisted and turned, dodging every shot without thought. The heat from the passing flames warmed his scales and seemed to give strength to his limbs as he rose higher.
It was a sky dance.
A massive, red tusk was being swung directly at him in his line of flight. The Monster had learned from before and closed its remaining only slightly singed eye against his attack.
And he imagined the good King impaled by this exact tusk. It happened before he was even aware of it as an even brighter flash erupted from his maw. Everything in his vision was blue for one instant. Then he saw the flash of blue fire strike at the tusk and explode on contact before he lost his view. He turned down, dove with a spin between the Monster's titanic legs with the swarm closing around him on all sides, and flew straight toward a smaller cloud of wings ahead of him.
This is now or never!
He closed his eyes as he flew through a Nightmare's flaming cloud. It was almost certain that he would crash into a dragon flying at him through the fire. There would be no warning because he was practically flying blind. But in that moment he somehow knew without seeing where the clear and open sky would be and angled himself accordingly.
He opened his eyes as soon as the heat vanished and instantly angled his wings to whip him up and over the Gronkle that had thrown itself at him. Its bumpy body just grazed his belly. A hail of Nadder spines passed by him and missed his tail. A quick spin and tip onto his side carried him narrowly between the final two armored dragons and out into the clear, open skies.
Yeah!
The primal roar of triumph and defiance burst from him unbidden. Everything from his first burst of fire to the present escape flight had all happened in not even a minute.
The Monster drowned his call out with its roar of anger, alarm, and fear.
He felt his light flare brighter and hotter in defiance as the Monster's fearful call and command echoed in the air. He flew on as fast as he could along the coast, leading the massive swarm away from the Monster and keeping all its attention on him.
Having drawn all the dragons away from the Monster and surely able to outfly the fastest of the other dragons' flights, he wondered what the rest of the plan was.
I hope you know what you are doing...
And then he turned to look back at the massive living cloud fast in pursuit of him. Several hundred dragons, what had to be all the flying dragons above the island, were flying at him as the Monster plodded along behind them through the surf.
He almost forgot to breathe when he saw that the Monster was now missing half of its left tusk.
What? YES, I DID THAT! DID ANYONE ELSE... see...
.
There was a burning sun falling from the clouds.
.
He followed the glowing light in awe. The blue light seemed to radiate from every part of the Night Fury's body, from its nose to its tailtip and even from its wings, and was growing brighter by the moment. This was far more intense that the strange light that had burned to life on them both only minutes before and which burned on him now.
What... are... you... doing?
The distant Night Fury threw out its burning wings and arrested its dive.
.
And the entire island was awash in blinding light.
The Alpha two-leg he knew had fallen.
It was no great loss to him. He needed it and all two-legs no more.
Though, it was slightly chilling to know that a great one, even if a mere two-leg, had fallen. It had almost felt like the Alpha two-leg had a life-fire very much like his own burning in its liver. They had been reflections of each other.
But this defiance from this kin? How dare it! How could it? This tiny dark wing that was so easy to make his own before. It had been begging for peace and comfort, which he had gladly given to it.
He was Alpha. He was the first of all and the only. The others were only for him. He was every one of them.
Except for this one.
No kin could possibly resist his great-will. It was not normal or the way of the world. To have power to resist would put this dark wing above his control. Would make the dark wing a great-one also...
And now it was burning with life-fire and defiance-light. That was something that he had never seen before. It was new and chilling.
His great-will stretched toward it again and found...
No peace. No wanting comfort.
Only blazing wrath. Anger and wrath which closes life-flame to the other beyond any control or influence.
But his great breath could freeze it with spikes of ice. A kin he could not have should not be.
Its eyes. He saw into them. And he saw into its life-flame. This time though he looked for more than the wanting-comfort and desiring-peace that had been sufficient before.
What was it that this dark wing flew for? He had to know so that he could destroy it later and remove one more threat to his own triumph.
He felt it all in that moment.
Care for kin. Care for two-legs. Life-fire that burned for others. Laughing with others. Flying with others. Giving to others. Being for others.
It had so much more than he did or ever would have, and knowing that truth hurt more than anything could. One life willingly shared weighed more than all the empty thrall-kin of the world.
'You have lost everything, brother...'
He was frozen by that painful spike of thought-truth driven into his liver by his once nestmate even now in its death. The love and wrath in the dark wing's life-flame had seized that thought-truth and drove it deeper into his liver in a renewed strike of truth.
And then life-fire seared his eyes, leaving him half-blind in one and blind in the other.
Exactly as he now knew that he had been his whole life.
His wild tail strike at it missed, and he knew that it would come for another such blinding strike.
Pain. Fear. Anger. Command. Protect.
He swarmed toward the dark wing while within the thrall bodies of all the kin. They were not fast enough to ground a dark wing. He struck to crush it in midflight and was struck himself by its writhing life-fire that sank into his tusk.
There was no pain as his great tusk, which had killed the weak white fallen-one, broke in half and fell into the water.
Flee and admit defeat.
Never.
He stared down at the broken tusk and remembered what this Monster dark wing cared for. What its life-fire burned for. It cared for kin and two-legs.
All kin were his own and no belonged to no other.
One command bubbled up from his rent liver.
All of them were to follow after that dark wing and kill it and every two-leg on the island and on the water-walkers and across every island and across every range of the entire world and every one of them could be frozen and burned and devoured and crushed and all that was good was bad and hateful now because it hurt and all that made the dark wing warm had to die with it and it could feel the pain that he himself felt because...
… truth hurt.
He followed after the massive flight, stepping openly on grounded kin in the waters as he went. Grounded ones did not matter to him. They could not benefit him. He was the only that was. All others were only to benefit him and flame his liver. They were small and worth not.
The Alpha was the first and only of the nest.
And it brought no joy. No warmth. No peace to his liver.
He could still see the other, weak great one that was once kin to him looking up at him from behind its massive eyes, almost in pity or sadness even in defeat. He was always jealous of it. And in destroying it, he had destroyed his own ideal, leaving him lost with nothing to strive for. Nothing but his own empty greatness.
He continued to watch the distant flight through his one remaining useful eye as his own thoughts broke like falling ice which shatters on the ground.
Why was it that he could not feel the pleasure of being Alpha?
Why was it very bright for now in the sun's flight?
Why must he scream so loud in pain?
Why did it hurt so much to live?
Why was the world spinning?
Why was it so dark now?
Why was he lost?
Down onto all fours he crashed as he fought against the pain and struggled to be.
He cracked open his unflamed eye and saw another dark wing burning with the same light. Another dark wing that he had not known about? They had joined flights to strike him in his weakness.
Turn aside and flee?
Avenge himself and do justice?
He felt that his hold on the kin was slipping. Some of them, those most bonded to two-legs, were shaking themselves of the false-vision-hopes and were returning to the shore and to the two-legs.
Two-legs... they did all of this somehow, yes, it is their fault. This was anyone's fault except his own.
He heaved in place and moaned in pain. And he beheld the two dark wings together on the ground before him.
Was-Grounded watched as Shadowwing dove down the mountain while he floated higher up above. It was crucial that he himself not be seen. The Monster only knew about one of them and the longer it stayed that way the better.
Gliding in the cloud cover was the safest way to get in position for his strike. It chilled his liver to have his brother risk himself, but he had to be the one to do this. Only he was accurate enough or powerful enough to take the shot. It did not help that his injuries from the fight and the amount of his lost life-water still hurt and made it hard for him to fly fast at the moment.
Then he turned his attention to far below and willed his brother's attack flight on.
You can do it. You are stronger than you know.
He saw him flame the Monster in the eye and then dodge its tail before spinning around for another attack flight. His own liver burned hot at the successful, burning strike.
YES! I knew you had fire in your belly!
The Monster roared in anger, command, and fear. The entire swarm of thralls in the air and onshore turned and started flying.
It was one of the most chilling moments of his life watching him weave and dodge the rain of fire and spines. It would only take one hit. Night Furies did not have the thickest scales among all kin.
There was another flash of fire down on the Monster's far side. He watched as Shadowwing disappeared underneath the Monster with the swarm of thralls closing in from both sides.
He is going to make them crash!
Many enthralled kin crashed into each other and fell into the ocean with broken wings or stuns from the impacts. Those that did not fall had to swerve wildly before continuing the pursuit. Shadowwing had tipped, spun, and dodged through the entire flight. They could not ground or catch a Night Fury. It was the most impressive and liver-flaming flying that he had ever seen from any kin, himself included.
All the flight-worthy thrall-kin proceeded down the coast away from the Monster.
He tucked in his wings, fins, and limbs and silently dove in a freefall only to level out at the last moment to preserve the surprise. None of the kin, and most importantly the Monster, seemed to have noticed him. It surely would not see well, if at all, out of the flamed eye.
And his own liver burned with renewed heat and pride when he saw that Shadowwing's last strike had broken the Monster's left tusk. That was a kind of grounding strike. A strike that would ground an Alpha and end a duel to become an Alpha.
Except this Monster did not retreat or admit defeat.
All his anger and fury toward the Monster began to fill and stoke his life-fire.
He was nothing except the knowledge that this Monster enthralled the other kin, turned nest against nest, and killed the good Alpha.
This Monster's flight of thralls destroyed his once home-nest-island on which he had many good memories.
This Monster's actions threatened the warmth and bonding between kin and two-legs.
This Monster had enthralled his brother and would try to enthrall both him and Green-Wings if left alive.
The moment was only a few wingbeats away. One moment that could shape the future winds of countless kin. The Monster never saw his attack coming as it was blinded in that eye.
He threw out his wings and arrested his dive with only a few lengths to spare. All his scales flared with a flash of light along with his one shot.
.
A burning blue sun burst into being before him.
.
It was burning so hot and so bright that he had to close his eyes and turn away as he darted past the Monster's head. Then a great gust of wind crashed into him from behind and almost knocked him from the sky.
He banked upwards without slowing as an ear-shredding shriek followed the wave of wind. That shriek consumed all other sound until there was nothing but a painful buzzing in his head. But it was not a buzzing of bad-thought-whispers flying to enthrall his thinking.
He spun on his tail and saw that the Monster was standing up on its rear legs and slowly shaking its head while howling its unheard scream. He flew around it and saw that the eye which they had both struck was gone. A gaping, smoking hole as large as most kin was all that remained and was pouring life-water from deep inside the Monster's head.
The swarm of distant kin had already separated into several flights; some were merely hovering in place, others seemed to be returning to the ice nest, and the rest were flying down the beach and toward the Monster.
The Monster eventually fell back onto all fours while violently shaking its head. It slowly recovered its awareness while heaving and moaning in pain.
Great though his strike was, it was not a killing strike.
And he heard a set of swift wings approaching and knew who it was without looking. Shadowwing darted in to his side, and they both dove for the beach without sharing any words. None were necessary.
They both landed at each other's side while spinning in place to glare up at the Monster. They flared their wings wide, let their light burn bright, and screamed at it, their voices joining into a defiant cry of challenge.
The Monster slowly turned to face them. Its shattered appearance was quite chilling to behold, what with the dripping hole where the right eye had been, the burn marks on its face, and the left tusk now cut by half. The remaining eye looked tired and weak.
"It is over now?" Shadowwing whispered.
Was-Grounded was not so sure. The Monster had not bowed to admit defeat or fled in shame.
"I do not know," he hissed.
They were both carefully watching the Monster when something about its appearance changed. There was a slight arching of its neck, narrowing of its remaining eye, and parting of its jaws.
Shadowwing remembered seeing the spikes and blocks of ice driven through and around destroyed trapper boats.
No! Not that!
He barely tucked in his wings and cowered when something struck him before the wall of cold and ice hit.
.
Darkness and cold filled the world around him and embraced him.
.
Alone in the dark.
.
Trapped by the ice as solid as rock.
.
Frozen in place and barely able to move.
.
Locked in a bad dream of weakness and failure.
.
Never to escape being a thought-slave.
.
"Shadowwing?"
He opened his eyes and realized that he was not alone. There was a warmth and press of limbs around him. They were wrapped up together in a hug that would definitely have been very awkward under any other circumstance.
"Brother?" he weakly gasped.
"I am here..."
"I am afraid..." Shadowwing gasped.
"Do not be, we will get out."
They both took deep breaths, quite aware of how little air there was to breathe in this tight prison.
"How?"
"Together."
"What should I do?" Shadowwing whispered.
Was-Grounded growled as all his length began to burn with light again. It quickly became too bright to keep their eyes open in the confined space, and Shadowwing felt the different fire as it filled the space they were trapped in and burned into the surrounding ice. As it burned from his own back and tail.
He knew what to do without being told.
They both burned and shrieked as only Night Furies could.
The burning, living light erupted from them and shattered the prison of ice. Blocks and shards of ice were hurled many lengths through the air and fell back crashing to the ground. The sand around where they had lain was swept back at the blast.
They rolled away from each other, hopped to their feet, and stared up at the Monster. Its remaining eye was wide in disbelief, and it shook its head slightly along with giving a faint whimper of fear.
All while a flight of dragons approached and hovered overhead.
They looked up at the dragons and saw that their eyes were wide open and their movements filled with purpose and awareness as the free dragons turned toward the Monster.
Then they both turned back to face the Monster. They flared their wings. And they screamed.
They lived and broke the ice.
Impossible.
He could see nothing of the dark wings anymore. His great-will felt nothing of them now.
In their place were two burning suns. The light from their maws and backs scorched his vision and their screams and roars filled him with fear.
Too fast to ground with a tusk or other kin, having fire hot enough to break his tusks, with wills beyond his great-will's thralling, unable to be trapped in his thickest and coldest ice, and blazing with life-fire.
But the kin were approaching and the dark wings were vulnerable on the ground. Burn them? Bite them?
The kin flew in over the dark wings and turned toward him with fire glowing in their maws. They were not his thrall kin.
He saw the promise of his own death in those burning suns as their shots joined and struck him anew. Just as all the not-thrall kin added their lesser fires and seared his face.
.
Stay and die like the Alpha two-leg.
.
He turned and ran, ignoring the burning pain as best he could. Forgetting all the kin and letting them fall away. Bounding for his life. Chased by the vengeful lights.
Into the cool, soothing waters. Down into the depths he swam, hidden from the wrathful fires and the world to heal in peace. Maybe to come forth again under a far future sun.
He would be the last once-great-tusk. Unsure how he would live now, for what was there left to live for? Never to again challenge any to be Alpha, for there could only be dark wings as Alphas now.
The mere thought of dark wings filled his liver with fear. They were different from the other kin. He could still see how they burned with wrath and light. And for the first time, he felt something else in his liver. A grudging admiration for these great kin that were not only kin. He knew that he had done wrong, but there was no unflying what was flown. He now understood something about dark wings that he should have known before. They could be light wings.
Two burning flashes of fire struck deep into the open, raw, and bleeding wound. The free dragons hovering above, most from the ice nest and from the tribes, joined in the strike with their fires as well. The defeated Monster spun around with a renewed howl of pain and turned for the deep water, its feet carrying it as fast as they could. They both took to the sky and flew after it. More shots flew at its face to hasten its departure.
The defeated Bewilderbeast then reached the deep water and dove.
They remained hovering above the water as the underwater shape vanished into the depths and water's surface stilled. Then they turned and flew toward land together at an easy pace, both of them completely exhausted. They wearily landed well up the beach and took several moments to catch their breath while barely staying on their feet. Then they turned to face each other with twin looks of amazement.
A moment of awed silence passed.
"You did it!" "You did it!"
"Your flying!" "How did you do that?"
"Fast enough?" "Do what?"
"You flamed it!" Was-Grounded bellowed with pride.
"You made a fire-sun!" Shadowwing yelled in amazement.
"You broke its tusk!"
"You broke the ice!"
Was-Grounded jumped over to him, nuzzled him openly, and hummed deeply.
"We did it. We drove it away together as one flight," Was-Grounded whispered.
Then he looked up and saw them all approaching. Many kin. Formerly thrall-kin and wild kin. What looked like half of the ice nest and many not from the ice nest seemed to be gathering around them on the beach. All the ones that had joined in at the end and helped drive the defeated Monster away were now on the ground and crowding around them both.
"What are they doing?" Shadowwing nervously asked.
"Quiet…" Was-Grounded whispered, only realizing what was about to happen when it did.
All the kin bowed their heads to the ground.
He was completely frozen as his eyes went wide in amazement. This was only a gesture that he had seen given to the Alpha by the kin under its protection.
That made him...
That made them both...
He then stood tall and roared their triumph to the skies. All the surrounding kin did so as well, and their roars joined into one cry of victory and freedom. They then dropped back to the ground and began to disperse as quickly as they had arrived, most of them flying back into the ice nest or dispersing onto the beach.
"What... was... that?" Shadowwing shivered.
"They have two new Alphas," Was-Grounded answered in awe.
Shadowwing froze and his eyes went very wide.
"What! New Alphas?"
"Yes, they bowed to both of us."
Shadowwing shook his head in evident disbelief.
"I am now a kin Alpha with you? What... does that mean?"
"Not now, I must fly to Green-Wings and tell her everything."
He saw his brother's nod of acknowledgment and then hopped into the sky.
Never had his liver burned hotter than it did at this moment.
He saved his brother.
They drove off the Monster great-tusk.
They freed the thrall-kin.
They became nest-Alphas in a way.
He roared aloud his triumph anew as he flew past the ice nest. There was a far peak where he and Green-Wings had rested before on the side of the island most removed from the fighting and grounding. He rightly suspected that she would be there, safe from all the danger, and landed next to her where she lay waiting with Dawn-Singer securely tucked away under her wing.
No time at all had elapsed before she got up and dashed for him, immediately smelling the life-water and gazing at his belly.
"Show me!" she commanded with a twinge of fear.
He lay down on his side and let her inspect the wound. Then she smelled it and certainly knew that it had already been tended to. She licked it anyway, and he hummed his thanks to her.
"What happened?" she implored him.
"A... thrall-kin clawed me. That thrall-kin... is gone now. Shadowwing helped me."
"Where is he? Do we need to fly now?"
He got up and nuzzled her neck while breathing in her familiar and precious scent.
"The fight is over. The bad two-leg nest had a bad great-tusk-Alpha. It made kin be thralls. The good great-tusk-Alpha is dead."
"But the bad great-tusk?" she turned back for the resting Dawn-Singer.
"Grounded and fled," he snarled.
She whipped around with very wide eyes, unable to believe what she had heard. But she also saw a faint glow flare into being around him at his declaration.
"You defeated it?" she gasped.
"With Shadowwing's help, yes. We drove it away together."
"You defeated a bad-Alpha-Monster..."
She averted her eyes and started to bow. His liver twisted at seeing her inclining her head to him.
"No, do not... bow..."
"You are an Alpha now," she whispered.
He looked out toward the ice nest. It was still a very new idea to him. That his own kind of kin could be recognized by other kin as the Alpha of a nest was a deeply warming idea that gave his liver great lift. Help protect a nest was something that he could certainly do.
But he could not catch fish for all the kin. He certainly could not force enthralling obedience on other kin that did not want to obey him. And he would not demand obedience and deference from her even if he could. To do so would almost be to make her less than him.
His light died away as he bent down before her, worked his head under hers, and lifted her head up to be even with his.
"I am your life-mate. You do not bow to me," he whispered.
She stared at him in amazement and did something she could not remember ever doing before in all her season-cycles.
She trembled and sobbed at the warmth that flared in her liver.
"You never stop amazing me," she hummed into his ear.
"You will always fly the winds of life with me, not below me or behind me," he whispered back.
They nuzzled long in comfort to the other.
And then both of their heads snapped toward the distant beach as they heard it together.
Shadowwing got back in the air as soon as his brother flew off. He wished that Was-Grounded could have stayed to help him, but he certainly had every right to see that his own family was safe.
He himself had not been in the air for a few moments when he saw up close one of the horrors of war.
Down on the ground, he saw one of Drago's war-dragons tearing apart a man's body. With his heart clenching and with a tickling in his throat, he dove and landed next to the dragon.
"No!" he growled and flared his wings in warning.
The dragon grumbled and licked its lips but submissively backed away, leaving what was left of the remains behind.
He couldn't even look at the remains properly because it was too terrible. He remembered being told once that this kind of thing happened. That it was natural for a dragon to want to eat.
Never had he actually seen it happening before.
He settled for dragging a nearby wooden board over and somewhat covering up the remains. All while barely keeping the contents of his stomach in his stomach.
Who had the man been? Who had he fought for and why? Had he even been a bad man? No one would ever know.
He wandered further down the coast toward the masses of humans. His knee stung slightly as he walked, but the horror all around took his mind off that slight pain.
Several dragons were nudging and keening at still bodies. A couple of the humans that he could see were stirring or were being helped to their feet. But many were not. Too many were clawed, hacked, or burned. Dozens were still and motionless. Even many of Drago's own soldiers seemed to have been flamed.
"No…" he whined.
A soldier from Drago's army stumbled into his path. The man had a narrow but deep gash in his side, a gash that was dripping blood.
He made his choice without considering what the man may have done in the past. The armor the man was wearing did not matter. All that mattered was that the man would die without immediate help, so he shoved the man to the ground despite the terror doing so caused. The man screamed himself hoarse while he carefully flamed the wound. The smell of charred flesh was sickening, but this had to be done for the man's own good. Then he stepped back, leaving the man whimpering and clutching his burned, but no longer bleeding, injury. Infection was still possible, but certain death from loss of blood was averted. It was now in the hands of the Fates what would happen to the soldier.
Why does it come so naturally now? I still don't understand how I actually make fire...
He next came upon a Nightmare that was missing an entire wing and was struggling to stand. There was nothing that he or anyone could do for the dragon. At least there was no bleeding to treat.
The air itself seemed heavy with moaning, groaning, and despair.
Where was everyone? Where was anyone?
He wandered the beach with growing horror when Cloudjumper's distinctive call eventually echoed from above. The Stormcutter heavily landed on the ground, and a masked figure clumsily hopped off his back. She tore off her mask and had a clearly terrified look as she stared toward him.
"Mom!" he leapt toward her.
She seemed oddly subdued and only slowly approached him.
"Is it you? You're… you're…"
She saw his wide and fearful green eyes. Whatever else she had intended to say, she didn't manage to after that point. The tears on her cheeks spoke for themselves. She dropped her staff, threw her arms around his neck, and cried openly. He softly whined as he put an arm on her back and held her close.
"I thought you were lost. I saw you flying with the others…" she eventually mumbled.
It was truly strange and frightening to hear an account of the battle when he could not recall any of it. No flying among the other dragons, no memory of a fight on the ground, absolutely nothing at all until the hazy moments with his brother before him and seeing him on his bloody side.
She eventually released him, retrieved her staff, and returned to rest against Cloudjumper as the normally proud Stormcutter appeared visibly shaken.
"There are so many dead. I haven't even been back to a camp yet. It looks like it is all over. No one is fighting anymore. Drago's ships are leaving."
Good.
"I am going to go to the survivors, find the Chiefs, and... see what the plan is now."
He nodded to her and watched as she and Cloudjumper flew off.
Gods, how bad is it?
He flew up toward the shelf in the middle of the beach so that he could get a better look over the whole area. There were bodies of both humans and dragons everywhere and fires were burning freely as far as he could see. Ships still burned out in the bay. Carrion birds began singing and circling around the smoke stacks.
Then he saw it on the top of the ridge. A cape with inlays of blue Nadder scale lay abandoned. He slowly crept to it as ice began freezing in his heart.
And then he saw the bottom of the miniature cliff. He dove, landed, and beheld the entire scene in an instant.
Drago Bludvist's body, complete with a shining hole in his neck, was broken on the rocks.
But that wondrous revelation paled when he saw her bruised and broken body only a couple paces away. Her golden hair was stained with streaks of red, the choke marks on her neck stood out sharply, and her eyes were empty and still. But she had a faint smile as she lay facing toward the bay where the conquering Bewilderbeast had been driven back in defeat.
He spun away and howled a cry that carried over the whole island.