"The Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death itself... Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: hide and pray it does not find you." - Book of Dragons/Dragon Manual

Wrath Of The Alphas

The thick clouds helped greatly by blocking the moonlight and hiding their approach. Night's complete cover of darkness was definitely running out though.

The lights appeared on the waters far below perhaps an hour after departure and nearby the island that was little more than a spit of sand. The armada was one light at first and then many dozens. The armada was not so menacing at night, but that was only because it was not so clearly visible yet from afar and in the darkness.

There they are, and both flagships are not that far apart either. Grimmel's ship is out in front and exposed. Perfect. Now where are you, my love?

He wheeled high above the terrible and large ship, closely looking down on it for any sign of her. Seeing none, he returned to his brother's side.

Ok, they are not keeping you up on deck.

He grumbled as he realized something obvious. He did not know where Luna was being held on the ship. That meant that to proceed with the plan and blow the ship could easily kill her in the fire or when the ship sinks.

Great, mild planning error. Time to improvise.

"Brother! We cannot burn the water-walker until we free Luna!"

Was-Grounded snarled in agreement, remembering well how bad it was to be in a trap on a water-walker that was sunk.

"What should we do?"

Shadowwing thought quickly to come up with an alternative plan.

"We still drop the fire-air holding-things, but we do not burn them yet. We will lead all the unbonded kin and attack the top of the water-walker. We find Luna, get her out, and we burn it."

Was-Grounded hummed in agreement, and Shadowwing darted over to give Thorvald the agreed signal.

It was time.

The first part of the attack was meant to be as silent as possible while confusion could still reign. Thorvald, Valka, and all the other riders whose dragons were carrying one of the dozens of the flammable barrels directed their dragons down toward Grimmel's massive vessel.

The dive was almost sheer vertical as the dragons dove down, recovered their flights, and dropped their cargo onto the ship's deck. Barrel after barrel struck the ship with loud clangs and rolled down into the hold. Being reinforced barrels meant to hold ale, only a few of the barrels broke on impact and began leaking gas. The night was filled with the loud clangs of wood striking wood.

There were dozens of sailors and soldiers onboard, shouting and pointing up at the sky but seemingly confused by everything that was happening. None of them seemed to understand what was happening even as they began to raise the alarm.

The dozens of dragons that had deposited their volatile cargo flew up again into the sky without so much as showing any of their fire.

Shadowwing flashed his teeth and gave a grim growl.

The sailors must be so confused. I could almost feel sorry for them with what is about to happen. About two hundred wild dragons are about to descend on them. But they are Grimmel's, so I do not feel like mercy today.

"Now!" Was-Grounded shouted.

They both revealed their brilliant light that shone like a beacon in the night. Their thoughts were filled with dragons descending on the ship from above, sweeping the ship with fire, and killing all Monsters in their way.

The cloud of death roared aloud and descended from the sky like a pillar of flame.

Chief Thorvald felt the racing of his heart as he and Dragonheart led the riders through the sky toward their primary target. The attack was going perfectly so far. All the barrels had been dropped without incident.

I really wish Tuff were here to see this. It is going to be... huge. He would appreciate it.

Upon turning his attention to the ships below him though he realized that these fighters seemed more aware and prepared than those on Grimmel's ship had seemed to be. Or maybe these ones had no further warning than what they could see through the night but were simply better disciplined.

Regardless, these dragon hunter ships had more people manning the harpoons and arrow launchers. But all that he needed to do was find the one...

Light erupted from behind them all. He tossed a single glance over his shoulder and gawked at what he saw.

Both of the Night Furies were burning with blue light, the same as they had on the island with the Bewilderbeasts, as the cloud of wild dragons began to descend with mouths gaping with fire. The effect was far more striking now in the darkness of night.

If that is not the signal...

"Alright Fang! Attack!"

They all dove toward their target, the main Hunter vessel. He and Dragonheart had easily spotted it simply by looking for the biggest ship flying the Hunter's flag.

Typical Nord. Always a contest to see who has the biggest...

Hookedfang darted to the side to dodge a hurled rain of likely-poisoned arrows. The Rumblehorn behind him was too slow to dodge. Fortunately however, it was also wearing armor which deflected said poisoned arrows.

Thanks Drago!

There were a lot of archers on the ship's deck, all of whom were apparently well-stocked with these poisoned arrows. That made for plenty of targets on deck though.

But there was another visible problem. The couple nearest ships to the Hunter's flagship also happened to have several occupied cages.

No leaving them behind...

A signal from him brought Hookedfang over to Dragonheart.

"Free them!" he pointed at the cages.

She and Cloudjumper were off without another word, clearly being well-practiced at this routine. He took a moment to observe their prowess in action as Cloudjumper wreathed the ship's deck in his waves of fire while Dragonheart glided down and landed on the ship. She indeed looked very wild in her scale attire as she got to work on the traps.

She was still found by several guards on deck. It did not matter as several more shapes appeared on deck as well, either gliding in under their own power or air-dropped by their dragons. These new entrants onto the ships were fully armed. Battle was joined on deck. Arrows bounced harmlessly off the fighters' scale-metal weave armor.

They have that under control.

A Zippleback next to him was hit in one of its necks of all places by one of the arrows. It fell from the sky in great pain, and both dragon and rider were lost to the waters.

A fey mood entered his heart at the first confirmed loss in his time as Chief. Those deaths were on his honor as a leader.

"Death!"

Hookedfang added a commanding roar of his own, and over a dozen dragons and riders answered the cry. They all flew at the flagship from one side and drew the attention of the archers onboard. Several balls of fire flew at the ship from beyond the range of the archers, but those were mostly for distraction.

A Timberjack dove down in a shallow arc lengthwise along the ship and threw out one of its razor-sharp wings above the ship's deck. The wing sliced clean through the ship's three masts, and all the sails began to topple onto the ship's deck.

The archers were quickly covered in sailcloth.

"Fire!"

The combined fire from over a dozen furious dragons filled the deck of the Hunter's ship with a glowing inferno. Men ran wildly while on fire and leapt off the ship into the water. Harpoon and bola launchers went abandoned.

Some brave archer somewhere got in another lucky shot and downed a Nightmare. Its rider at least was a fighter on one of the ships somewhere.

He felt no sympathy at all for the Hunters on the ship even when he saw the normally peaceful dragons literally stomping the Hunters to death or burning them alive.

Thank the gods for the armor. The hunter's arrows were almost useless except for lucky hits.

He was relieved to see both Skald on Meatlug and Gobber on Jingles still flying above the ships safely.

A bright flash of light turned the night to day for an instant, but none of the combatants had a moment to spare even when a roaring crash echoed out through the night. The chaos of battle and fighting-fury was too great. But there were more ships closing all around, and all those ships had fresh crews and weapons. Arrows and shots hurled through the air, making remaining here increasingly dangerous.

He had Hookedfang fly one more pass around the flagship to confirm that it was completely destroyed. There were flames billowing from within the cabin and from below the decks. If there was anyone still alive on that ship, they would not be for long.

Alright, dragon hunters dead for sure. Get everyone off now and let's get out of here!

There were a few filled cages that he could see further within the armada, but those were beyond their ability to do anything about. It would be too dangerous.

"Let's go!" he shouted to all the other riders.

What followed was a mad scramble to pick up fighters who were on the ships while dodging incoming attacks. Many dragon-rider pairs were reunited in the skies and a number of newly freed dragons were also visible in the flight.

It helped a lot that all had heard the roaring, triumphant command of one of the Furies near the end of the fighting.

I guess they are done.

A glance off toward Grimmel's ship revealed complete devastation. From what he could see the ship was completely on fire from within, flames spilling out of every corner of the ship. There were also no dark shapes illuminated over the ship from the firelight. All the wild dragons had already departed from that attack.

Yeah, they've finished. Guess we will see them back at home.

He still remained behind as the last of the dragons and riders left the final burning dragon hunter ship and followed Dragonheart and Cloudjumper into the sky.

They both brought up the rear of the flight, albeit with several glances back behind them. The dragon hunters' flagship was completely engulfed, and several other of the closer ships were also set on fire and were unlikely to be salvaged.

There were several dragon bodies visible where they had fallen on the ships or the waves. There were at least two fallen riders that he knew of.

I doubt it is only two that we lost though.

He glanced ahead at the flight.

We won't know until we get back.

He let out a great sigh and patted Hookedfang's neck. For all intents and purposes, it appeared obvious that they had won. The strategy of making a surprise, targeted attack against the flagships only was a complete success. Both of them had burned.

"Fang, I have a good feeling about this. I think we won for once!"

Even though the attackers' leadership had certainly taken a great hit, he still wondered at what the mission had accomplished. By his count, six ships had burned, including the flagships. That left...

A lot of other ships completely untouched and filled with alert soldiers.

Oh well, one fight at a time.

On the bow of a ship well away from the front lines, a lone figure watched the battle unfold. The other members of the ship's crew shouted various curses into the night. He merely stared at the growing fires and eventually sighed when he saw all the attacking dragons and their riders turn and leave the rest of the fleet untouched.

"I was right."

The plan had worked perfectly. Suggesting to Grimmel a preemptive attack, taking captive live bait, and therefore luring the dragon riders into a trap had worked flawlessly. The second part of the plan was to let Grimmel overextend in a vulnerable position and be destroyed by the dragon riders. There would never have been any evidence of betrayal because there was none. Their own flagship had also been sunk in the attack. A necessary sacrifice, a small piece in the game, that had to be lost to keep up appearances. It was only a coincidence that neither of them happened to be on their flagship at the moment of the attack since they had been making their rounds on other ships.

All the ships that sailed under Grimmel's fleet would now have an obvious pair of successors to join with after the dragon riders' lucky strike. The two armies of hunters were natural allies indeed in the world that he knew would inevitably be. Specifically, the world without dragons, which had been fading since before he was even a player in the great game. The world would always need armies and armadas for hire, and it was best to be the one in charge of said armies and armadas.

Though, this precision and strategy in the attack... he knew what... who was behind it. He was not sure how, but he knew beyond any doubt.

"Two can play at that indeed."

He turned away and strode to the captain's quarters. The captain had been given the honor of manning the flagship for the night as a chance to prove himself. Another small sacrifice.

He entered the quarters and smiled at the other man who was inside.

"Is it done?"

"Yes, the plan worked perfectly," he smirked.

"It always does, brother."

The full strength of a couple hundred wild dragons descended on Grimmel's massive ship and swarmed around it. They were not in time to prevent the crew and soldiers from readying themselves though. The hunters almost seemed prepared for them. There were rows of archers interspersed with men bearing a weapon that was a mix of a spear and a shield, quite effective for blocking streams of fire. Men appeared to staff the harpoon guns and bola launchers, all of which quickly became active in filling the skies.

Dragons landed on the sides of the ship, clutching to the side of the deck and the railing with their claws, and started filling the ship's deck with streams of fire. A couple of them were clearly struck by those terrible arrows as they immediately fell backwards, motionless, into the water below. A glowing ball of flame flew from Was-Grounded and exploded with force directly among the densest group of archers. Several of them were knocked off the ship itself from that one blast.

Alright Grimmel, are you still alive in there? I hope so. Come on, give me someone to shoot at, just one person in particular.

Shadowwing grinned when one of his own explosive shots destroyed a bola launcher. He winced when he saw one of the larger dragons seize a man in its jaws and carry the soldier off into the sky, but there was nothing he could do about that in the heat of battle.

Dragons sometimes do that against bad guys. I cannot say I entirely disagree.

A Nightmare got in a lucky stream of flame that set on fire over a dozen of the archers, who all fell to the ground where they burned. A Hotburple flew low over the ship's deck and used its clublike tail to knock down a row of soldiers with pikes and shields.

The ship's deck began to be filled with bodies, several dragons included. The deck was painted red, and the air was filled with agonized screams. Not even a minute of fighting had elapsed. The fighters onboard were definitely overwhelmed by pure numbers alone.

A series of familiar roars echoed from the ship's interior. The wild dragons that had been so furiously swarming about the ship turned away in fear and rose higher into the sky.

What the-

The five Deathgrippers that Grimmel presumably still had with him had appeared over the ship, perhaps having been released, and were roaring their disapproval as they took flight. The effect that these hunters had on the other dragons was quite evident.

Shadowwing joined his brother's flight, and they both shared a growl at the five Deathgrippers.

Alright, guess I have to actually kill some dragons now. For these beasts, I will make an exception.

"How to ground them?" he asked.

"Stay at range and hit the wings."

"Together?"

"Always," Was-Grounded grinned back.

As one, they roared their own defiance, flared their light brightly, and beat their flight toward the Deathgrippers.

The Deathgrippers were clearly trained in combat from how they moved as a coordinated flight. They spread out into a rough square with one at each corner and one in the center but hanging back slightly. It was a trap where they could collapse in on all sides. Very effective if flying against a single target that was not thinking clearly.

Was-Grounded saw the trap and grunted in a respectful acknowledgment of these hunters.

Clever, but not clever enough to catch a Night Fury! Or two!

"You take the left wing, I go right!" Was-Grounded shouted.

They each broke off their respective directions, flew out a distance, and raced toward each other. The two Deathgrippers on the sides of the aerial square turned to face their respective Furies.

At the last second and faster than any other dragon could possibly fly, Shadowwing whipped himself up and over the upper of his foes while Was-Grounded dove under the lower of his. The Deathgrippers pursuing Shadowwing were not looking down and never saw the attacking Night Fury rising for them with a glowing maw. Similarly, the Deathgrippers pursuing Was-Grounded did not think to look up.

Two glowing shots flew forth in the darkness, and two Deathgrippers fell from the sky with pained shrieks from having one torn open wing each. One of them fell into the water and the other fell onto the deck of Grimmel's burning ship with a great crash.

The other three flew much closer together and took far more care to look around them. Despite several passes to try to distract them and create an opening, the Deathgrippers left no blind spot as they cautiously spread out and presented no target of their wings.

One of the remaining Deathgrippers followed after Shadowwing, and the other two followed after Was-Grounded. Shadowwing turned his flight straight at his brother just as he did the same. They flew at each other as fast as they could, trusting each other completely, and both of them loosed a small shot of bright fire shortly before them. They dove through the fire and passed within a claw's tip of each other, quickly turning their wings down to dive.

Two of the Deathgrippers, blinded by all the light in the darkness, the glow of the opponents they were chasing, the fire clouds they had just flown through, and their anger, crashed into each other at full speed, their sharpened tusks and weight doing what it would have taken several powerful blasts of fire to do.

Both fell into the waters.

Only one remained, and it turned back for the ship with haste. The final Deathgripper dove from the sky and vanished into the vessel's massive hold.

"After it!" Was-Grounded growled.

Shadowwing and Was-Grounded roared aloud with wrath as they dove for the ship, bringing many of the wild dragons with them to resume the attack.

Despite being a ship clearly built to be resistant to dragon attacks, the sheer volume of dragon fire had still taken a toll. Almost all the launchers were crushed, and there were more bodies on deck than Shadowwing cared to count. Fires had been set on deck, though none of those fires were out of control yet.

And there was still no sign of what they had come for.

Maybe down in the hold itself... that might be somewhere they would keep her.

They dove down into the massive hold and took a very brief instant to observe all around them and to catch their breath against the sudden spike in weariness that came over them.

The bottom level of the hold was truly massive and was filled with empty cages large enough to contain many of the larger dragons. A large crane looked sturdy enough to support even bigger Rumblehorns and other heavy dragons. There were what looked like several empty pens or holding cells on the far side of the hold. The forty-some barrels, several of which were leaking green gas, were definitely out of place.

And over in a solitary, barred, and mobile holding cell at the far corner of the floor was a white shape.

"LUNA!"

The fallen Deathgripper, one of its wings torn and useless, jumped down the two levels and advanced toward him and Was-Grounded while snarling murderously.

The moment was frozen as the Deathgripper stood in the middle of the bay and faced off against them. It struck a far more hideous visage up close and wounded than it had up in the sky. Voices started to echo from the upper levels as a few archers appeared on the middle floor and the deck, the soldiers' bows quickly being readied. As the trap closed.

On Grimmel.

"Brother, Luna, do not breathe!" Shadowwing shouted.

One thought echoed in the moment before it happened.

Fireproof on the outside.

The single shot seemed to fly wildly off target, not even coming close to the Deathgripper. The shot struck the cloud of gas, igniting the cloud that had seeped throughout the hold. The fire spread in a growing explosion to the nearest leaking pile of barrels the Deathgripper was standing near.

There was a flash of light as he closed his eyes and turned away. A roar of wind tugged at his fins and wings. A burning heat rushed outward and pushed him back against the nearest cage.

Falling from the sky toward Dragon Island with hungry flames whipping around him and Toothless...

Flames whipping around him and rushing outward in a searing wind felt even through his scales.

There would be no warning because he was practically flying blind.

His wings pulled protectively over him as he crouched down low to the floor, wreckage falling on and around him and being hurled through the air.

The ear-splitting roar of the dark Bewilderbeast following his brother's diving strike.

The roaring and crashing sound around him gradually diminished only to be replaced by a buzzing, crackling, and rushing. He opened his eyes and warily drew a breath of hot air from within his cocoon. He emerged, shook aside a pile of burning wood, and beheld the devastation.

It was a minor miracle that the blast had not torn a hole in the ship's underwater hull. A flaming hole which resembled an inferno from Hel itself now occupied the middle of the hold, descending deeper into the bottom lower levels of the ship. The ship's hull-wall on both sides of the hold was gone. Many empty traps had been blown off the ship entirely. The top floors looked close to collapse in places as the flames ripped from within. The massive crater in the middle of the hold had flames billowing up and above the highest sails. The air was very, very hot and suffocating.

Liquid fire from the Nightmare slime seemed to cling to the walls and flow on the floor, engulfing the supplies that remained. None of the soldiers were visible now, all having been knocked back and possibly off the ship by the force of the blast. Both he and Was-Grounded had also been hurled several lengths by the explosion.

Everything would have been still onboard if it were not for the roaring fire. He tried to not think about how many people may have just died.

Yeah, that stuff is really potent. That actually worked... and we are not dead!

Was-Grounded warily stepped up to his side and stared with him at the flames whipping ahead of them and around them.

"Where is it? Is it dead?" Was-Grounded hissed.

The Deathgripper pounced at them through the flames and shrieked in pain. Its claws were held out to slash and its powerful jaws open to snap and gore them with its tusks.

Two glowing shots flew into its open maw and knocked its terrible head back with a snap. The dragon fell to the burning floor before them and went still with its neck bent at an impossible angle.

Nothing else moved except the roaring fires spreading through the hold and various floors. All was silent except the roar and crackle of the fire. They both bounded forward with their eyes closed and glided through the fires toward what they had come for. Luna's cell was back against the side of the hold near a large and dark passageway that led deeper under the ship's deck.

Shadowwing scrambled to a stop up against the bars and took a very brief moment to nuzzle Luna's nose through the bars and to purr comfort to her. He barely restrained the wrath in his heart when he saw the marks of whips on her head and small welts on her neck from where Grimmel's soldiers had restrained and beaten her.

"Luna, did they hurt you much?" he whined.

"Only a little. Moon-Dancer?" she fearfully asked.

"He is safe with Green-Wings in the nest."

She heavily sighed at that reassurance. She nudged up against the cage's bars.

"Can you get me out?"

Shadowwing considered the lock on the cell. The locking mechanism was inside the metal panel and inaccessible.

Great... superheating it will not help... The bars though...

He considered the metal bars. They were spaced just far enough apart that with enough force from three grown Furies working together...

Was-Grounded stepped back and spun around, looking toward the fire and the surroundings while faintly snarling.

"I do not like this," he hissed.

"What?" Shadowwing asked.

"Something feels... bad. I feel tired and heavy now."

Shadowwing joined him in looking around without seeing anything. He did indeed feel quite drained at the moment, which made perfect sense from the inferno roaring around them. The passage that led deeper into the ship was partly caved in and blocked anything from advancing toward them from that direction.

"There was another death-grabber. Where is it?"

"I do not see it. Maybe it flew away," Was-Grounded answered.

Nothing strange happened for a couple moments.

"We have been fighting much around the hot fire. Help me with this. You also Luna."

Shadowwing walked over to the side of the cell and clasped two adjacent metal bars as his brother and Luna followed his example and did the same. All three of them heaved and growled as they forced the metal beams apart. The metal groaned and bent out of shape as they tore open a gap too small for a Night Fury to pass through.

But not too small for a lithe Light Fury.

Luna carefully wiggled her way through the bent beams, barely able to get her torso through with some help from them tugging on her forearms, and slipped out of the cage to freedom. They put their sharp claws and teeth to the muzzle's straps. The muzzle was torn off and hurled into the fire.

She hopped to her feet, spread her wings, and roared for joy and relief.

"Luna!"

"Shadowwing!"

Soft purring, nuzzling, and licking followed.

"Luna," Was-Grounded hummed as he stepped forward as well and nuzzled her cheek.

"I knew that you would come for me. Both of you," she softly whined.

"I promised to keep you safe," Shadowwing darkly growled.

Luna growled as well.

"The Monster-Alpha wanted you to come here. It thought you would die here."

"Did it? Brother, are we dead?" Shadowwing grinned.

"I think not. The sky-breath would not want one as twisted as you," Was-Grounded laughed.

Shadowwing turned back to Luna.

"Luna, can you go disappear now? Will you tell the other kin to fly to their range?"

"What about you?" she worried.

He glanced up at the sky where wild dragons were still swarming above and around the burning ship. Other ships were sure to come near and join the battle, though it was odd that this flagship had been left alone so far during the attack.

"We have a Monster-Alpha to find and kill, if it is still alive. You telling the other kin to fly away will save many lives."

She growled in understanding.

"I will fly and tell them."

She jumped for the sky and flew up through the fire out of the burning hold. They watched as her familiar cloud of fire appeared before her and she vanished from sight.

Shadowwing gave a great sigh of relief at her departure.

"Shall we end this?" he growled.

"Find that Monster-Alpha and kill it?"

"Yes," Shadowwing snarled.

Was-Grounded answered by flashing his teeth. They thrust their wings, jumped up through the flames, and landed heavily on the deck of the burning ship. A quick glance around revealed nothing was moving except the fires raging from within the ship. Several charred corpses lay on deck. The very air was choked with heat and smoke such that it was uncomfortable to breathe. The only sounds were the crackle and roar of the fire and the occasional collapse of the floorboards. It appeared that everyone had abandoned ship.

Another glance up at the sky revealed that all the dragons were also flying away from the battle after hearing Luna's cry echo from somewhere out in the darkness.

It was almost over.

A quick glance and growl passed between them. And they moved as one, striding along the deck and passing through the flames together in search of their prey.

All their senses were alert for the slightest movement. At one point a lone surviving soldier saw them and proceeded to dive off the ship's deck into the water. Both of them continued slowly on further down the ship's burning deck. A strange silence seemed to come over the ship, save for the crackling of the flames, the creaking of the deck at their stride, and the far distant cries from those on other ships.

"We are not alone here," Was-Grounded hissed.

"Where?"

"There is a two-leg under there."

Was-Grounded snarled at a flight of stairs that seemed to lead down to the lower levels. Several flames were spilling from wherever the stairs led. An explosion erupted from within the ship's depths.

"How do you know?"

"I see its life-fire."

Shadowwing only grumbled at the reference.

Life-fire? Again with that.

"It is coming up from the water-walker's belly," Was-Grounded growled before he jumped from the floor and positioned himself in hiding behind where the stairs emerged.

Shadowwing understood the trap and stepped forward several paces, his tail swaying behind him in anticipation.

The man emerged.

Well... well... look who it is.

The black cape wrapped around the man to protect him from the fire was proof enough who it was. The loaded crossbow was only further confirmation.

Grimmel the Grisly, his hair very disturbed and singed, had somehow lived through everything so far, perhaps because he had been below deck or had only been fortunate.

Good.

Grimmel saw him.

For a man of apparently very average physical traits, Grimmel was very quick on the draw and on the shot. He almost moved as fast as thought as the crossbow was slung up from under the cloak and the trigger squeezed in one motion.

Shadowwing had expected the shot and had already darted to the side the instant Grimmel moved. The bolt, poisoned or not, harmlessly passed by him.

Grimmel stepped forward as he reached into his pouch, grabbed and loaded another bolt, and started to raise the crossbow.

From such a short distance, it would have been easy for the shot to have hit Grimmel's head and ended it. Instead, Was-Grounded's shot hit Grimmel in the back against the Fury hide cape, knocking the man forward and down onto the deck. The crossbow tumbled to the deck beyond Grimmel's reach. Was-Grounded jumped forward and trapped Grimmel between them both.

Amazingly, Grimmel laughed and jumped to his feet an instant later. The man was completely unarmed by all appearances and even held out his empty hands. He glanced back and forth between the two wide open sets of sharp teeth and glowing maws, and he did not seem at all concerned. His eyes were still narrowed in the way a prowling hunter would look at its prey.

"Which one of you should I be talking to?" he chuckled.

Shadowwing snarled and took a step toward him.

You have to be insane!

"Well, you certainly seem to have gotten the best of me, haven't you? Took my bait and killed my Deathgrippers, I will truly miss them."

Shadowwing snarled with all the hate and wrath he could summon at the thought of fellow Night Furies butchered at this man's command.

Oh, I wish I could talk to you right now.

"I bet you wish we could talk right now. Some great speech of revenge and justice it would be. Well, I have one for you," Grimmel chuckled.

Grimmel gave a lengthy pause, apparently for dramatic effect, and pointedly threw away a link of key chains from a pocket. He took a step closer to the snarling Fury before him. The fire's glow reflected off his face as the wind born from the fire whipped his cloak and his hair.

"I saw your Haven. It should not be! Peace is a lie! You would always choose your own kind in the end!"

Grimmel reached inside his shirt and pulled off another necklace that had a single key on it. He dropped that necklace on the deck and glared at him with complete certainty burning in his eyes.

There was a great rush of wind from the burning hold along with a partial collapse of the deck over near the hold. The ship was not now long for the seas, and Grimmel clearly did not care.

"I have already won," Grimmel snarled.

Oh really?

Shadowwing parted his jaws and prepared to pounce. Grimmel calmly smiled and stared off into the distance while holding his empty hands out to either side. As if he was openly inviting a strike. The terrible man's dark cloak swayed in the wind behind him.

Something is wrong. He is too confident. Does he want me to strike? Does he have some dead-man's plan? Did he poison himself or...

"Brother! Look!" Was-Grounded suddenly shouted while staring with narrowed eyes over Grimmel's head.

Shadowwing spun in place and stared toward the ship's eastern bow, now bathed in the very first of the dawn's orange glow on the horizon.

They beheld its flickering appearance through the roaring flames as it touched down on the other side of the ship, having jumped out of the hold's inferno. It was something almost like a Night Fury but slightly larger and horribly different. It had large forelimbs with curved claws longer than daggers. The narrow torso had scales that consumed light and had no glare or reflection from the surrounding flames. Dark wings were now folded against its side, and its tail had short sails running down the sides of the tail's length.

"What is that?" Shadowwing whispered.

There was no chance to answer before it turned in place and spotted the remains of a body onboard the ship. The creature bent down, sniffed at the corpse, and ignored the body, completely uninterested by it. The dragon stood in place, slowly looking around the wreckage and the empty, burning deck on its far side of the ship.

"It looks almost like-" Was-Grounded softly hissed.

They both froze when they saw the dragon staring directly at them through the billowing, roaring fire. No words were necessary between them both as they let their light flare brightly as one, illuminating the entire deck above even the glare of the flames.

It never looked away from them or winced at their display. While the deck where it stood was bathed in a blue glow, the dragon's dark scales and hide were not. It turned fully toward them, slowly stalked up to perch on the edge of the burning hold, and stared calmly at them with its light-consuming wings spread wide. Its serpentine head had a series of bony spikes almost like a half-crown. Its shadowed black eyes seemed as windows into a void, an emptiness, a hole in life.

"Be ready to fly," Shadowwing whispered as they both braced themselves and crouched.

A moment of relative silence passed as all were frozen in place.

Grimmel dove to the side and rolled out of reach of their claws.

The remaining Deathgripper dove down from the sky, protectively jumped toward Grimmel, and covered him with its bulk.

And the strange dragon on the other side of the ship jumped forward through the billowing flames and screamed a cry that pierced the heavens.