Chapter 21:
"Hiccup! Are you in there? Hiccup?" after Meatlug landed on Berk, Fishlegs dashed to Hiccup's hut and tried to report the incoming Berserker fleet to his chief. His helmet almost fell off from his head.
For some reasons, Hiccup was supposed to be in the Great Hall or flying with Toothless, but neither took place during this early morning. According to what the twins told him, the twins heard some loud but attention-absorbing moaning and groaning coming out of Hiccup's hut as they walked pass while Fishlegs was on patrol.
"I believe Sir Haddock is working out with an Astrid Hofferson," Tuffnut replied as he pointed at Hiccup's hut. "You know what I'm talking about, right?"
"Uhh... hang on Fishlegs. Give me a minute," Hiccup's voice was followed by the sound of the bed creaking and someone rushing for clothing.
"This is urgent!" Fishlegs knocked on the wooden door impatiently.
"What's urgent?" Snotlout asked as he paced to the side of Fishlegs, yawning and stretching himself.
"The Berserkers, they are here!"
"Don't worry, Fish-face. I'll take care of this," Snotlout patted on his friend's back. "I'll break down this door and make my way into your hut if you don't answer the door in three seconds."
Fishlegs knew something like that would happen. According to Snotlout's personality, Fishlegs bet that the Snot was using "I just want to help" as a cover in order to romp around and tease Hiccup and Astrid instead of transferring the information.
"Snotlout!" Hiccup warned.
"Three… Two… One… Too late," Snotlout shouted as he charged towards the door.
The wooden door was nothing more like a piece of paper to Snotlout. He smashed the door open like a battle ram, splinters fanned out in the room.
"I'm here by the name of Thor to… oh," Before finishing his sentence, the view of Hiccup and Astrid naked in bed came into view. "Oh well, sorry to interrupt your peaceful time together."
"Thank you, Snotlout. That was very helpful!" Hiccup shouted angrily and ironically, pointing at Snotlout and his dismembered door. "I told you to give us a minute."
"I just want to see what's going on, and besides…"Snotlout chortled and turned his head at Fishlegs. "Fish-face said that he has an urgent something for you."
Astrid hurried to cover her body with the blanket and moved behind Hiccup. Using Hiccup as a cover, she gave Snotlout a death glare which Snotlout was too familiar with.
"Oookay, you win," Snotlout relented, he did not want Astrid to throw her axe at him. "Anyway, the Berserkers are here."
"The who is here?" Hiccup scratched his messy and tangled hair due to Astrid was digging her hand into his hair the whole time.
"Uh, the Berserkers?"
"Right," Still frustrated of Snotlout's action, Hiccup grabbed his clothes that got thrown to the ground and put them on and helped Astrid to get dressed.
"You... are not worried?" Snotlout was bewildered by Hiccup's calm reaction.
"Fishlegs, how much time do we have?" Hiccup asked while he and Astrid rushed for their clothes and weapons.
"They are heading for the harbor, where we concentrated most of the defenses. I'll say, maybe ten minutes, top," Fishlegs answered.
"Ready the coastline defense, I want everyone to be in position when I get there. Tell Raven Point defense to do not engage. We can't leave any part of this island unguarded," Hiccup ordered as he picked up his sword and headed out with Astrid carrying her axe following behind him.
"Are we just going to stay here and do nothing?" Trinianka shouted.
The Nadder team and some Berkians who were responsible for the defense of Raven Point. They turned their head toward the village, flames, and smoke could easily be seen across the island. Explosions destroyed the anti-landing traps on the beach. Standing at the edge of the forest, the Nadder team was facing an empty and tranquil sea on the other side of the island.
"No, stay here. Hiccup told us to not engage with the fight," Elise warned her friend.
"You mean we are going to sit here and watch them bleed?"
"We are not sure that whether they are winning or losing, but our order is to hold Raven Point," Xerxianna pointed out.
"All right, where is Gobber? He should be with us."
"He was consulting with some elders last night. I heard some news that they had argued all night," a Berkians said.
"They are just launching flaming arrows and boulders, and they are not even trying to land!" Fishlegs shouted as he ducked down to avoid an arrow.
The Berserker ships stopped in front of the coast and formed into a line along the coast so that every ship could use all of their weapons. Catapults, crossbows, ballistae opened fire on the village. Their heavy weapons had a longer range than Berk's defense weapons, so the Berserkers didn't need to worry about getting themselves hit.
Some Berkians boarded their ships and tried to rush the Berserkers, but arrows and boulders eliminated them and forced the remaining Berkians to retreat. Houses were ignited by flaming arrows and some coastal walls were broken down by boulders.
"Hiccup! Our weapons can't reach the Berserkers!" Spitelout yelled.
Hiccup ran his hands through his hair, trying to come up with a new plan. The catapults that the Raven Point garrison had had a longer range, but he did not want to take the risk of leaving their back undefended.
"Riders, we are going to take them out by dragons!" Climbing onto Toothless's saddle, Hiccup gave the order to other Dragon Riders.
"Yeah! it's ass-kicking time!" Tuffnut shouted.
Meanwhile, on the deck of one of the ships, Irizan watched the five dragons ascended into the air and headed toward his ships.
"Incoming dragon Riders!" An archer warned.
Irizan smiled and then whistled at the moment when Toothless was preparing for his first plasma blast. Five Skrills with bright lightning bolts flashing running across their scales were released from their cages. Lightenings appeared from the clouds as they screeched. They flapped their wings and flew toward the Riders. Five lightning bolts were shot from their mouths, and one of them struck Hookfang's left wing. The explosion threw Snotlout down from the saddle.
"Rider going down!" As he waved his hands in the air, Snotlout dropped down toward the sea. "Hookfang! Are you ok?"
Hookfang did not respond to his rider. His left wing caught on fire by the lightning bolt. The red Monstrous Nightmare circled above the ships, flapping his wings with nervousness, and uncontrollably shot multiple fires from his mouth.
"We got companies!" Astrid and Stormfly barrel-rolled as another lightning bolt flew pass them. "Watch out for the Skrills!"
"Very helpful, A," Ruffnut commented sarcastically. "We can all recognize that type of dragon."
"We need to take down those Skrills as well. Otherwise, we are all gonna die!" Fishlegs shivered. "You know how brutal the Skrills could become."
Hiccup quickly searched through his mind. This situation was totally out of control. He didn't understand why a bunch of Skrills would be fighting for the Berserkers. The Skrills were one of the strongest dragon species in the Archipelago, and the last time when hiccup encountered one was a couple of years ago. Right now he already forgot how to deal with these lightening-riding dragons.