Chapter 12: Power
Part 1: Ashes
The Night Fury raised his head from the claw-sharp stones, letting out a low, pained groan. He lay on a rough gravel beach, surrounded by a crowd of dragons of several species. He blinked; his mind felt fuzzy and thoughts seemed to slip through his claws. Where was he? Who were these dragons?
He blinked a second time, and suddenly it came to him: he stood on the shores of his nest, and the dragons surrounding him were his flock.
The Night Fury pushed himself to his feet, shaking bits of gravel and loose scales from his body. His flight muscles ached and he felt like he'd been dragged halfway across the beach on his chest. Again, memory eluded him; what happened to him?
"You crashed," said a sibilant voice behind him. "You were flying close to the mountain when you hit an unstable air current. You hit the ground before you could react."
The Night Fury turned around; behind him stood another of his kind, a female. He stared at her in shock. His distant memories knew her as the last of her kind; but if that was true, what did that make him?
Before he could figure it out, a voice not his own whispered in his thoughts.
Return to me, my flock.
Terror clutched at his chest. This was wrong, some part of him knew instinctively. But, as his gaze darted to the faces of his flock-mates he saw no fear in their eyes. Even while emotions warred within him, his wings spread and his legs drew into a take-off crouch; his body responding to his Alpha's will.
Be calm, he told himself, the Queen protects and guides us, and in return we obey her. This is the way of the world, how things have always been.
The Night Fury shoved the thoughts to the back of his mind and took wing, the gravel skittering away beneath his hind paws as he pushed off. The rest of the dragons joined a moment later, forming a tight formation with the two Night Furies at the centre. They began to climb, spiralling around the mountain.
The Night Fury's thoughts refused to be quietened completely as they flew. It wasn't always like this, was it? They seemed to whisper. There had been more of his kind once, hadn't there? And ... something else, something important about the Queen and Night Furies that escaped his memory.
Together, the flock banked and dove into a crack in the mountain. Darkness surrounded them on all sides. The Night Fury contorted the muscles in his throat and roared, but no sound came out. Instead, a vision burst into life behind his eyes. Like an instant frozen in time by the flash of a thunderstorm, he saw a smooth tunnel and the silhouette of the dragon in front painted in colourless light.
The feeling of uneasiness from earlier returned to the Night Fury, his sound-sight was as much a part of him as his regular sight; so why did it suddenly feel so unnatural?
Before he could think any further they turned the final corner into the nest proper. Utter, inescapable dread clutched at his chest. The female Night Fury let out a cry of alarm, narrowly avoiding a mid-air collision as he instinctively back-winged.
His gaze darted frantically around the nest, mere instinct keeping him hovering in place rather than plummeting through the mists below. Something terrible had happened to him here, he knew it; but this was his home, wasn't it? His instincts screamed at him to flee, but this was his nest, he was safe here, wasn't he? Pain stabbed between his eyes.
Through blurred vision, he glimpsed a patch of empty stone beneath him and dove for it, landing with an ungraceful stumble. A blue-green Zippleback started at his sudden appearance, both heads rearing up in alarm.
"It is good to see you back in the nest," one head hissed. "I trust you are uninjured?" the other continued.
"Yes," he answered automatically. "No." He winced as the pain in his forehead worsened. It felt like a red-hot sword blade was being driven slowly between his eyes. All he wanted to do was to lie his head down and sleep until the pain stopped, but his body refused to let him. His muscles tensed and his heart pounded like he'd just flown a mile at top speed. The more he thought about it, the worse the pain got.
"Ahh!" he cried out as the pain doubled. He dropped to the ground, pressing his forepaws to the sides of his head, desperately seeking some way to stop the pain. Half-remembered conversations floated just out of reach, their words indecipherable, like voices from a dream.
"What's wrong?" "Where are you hurt?" It took him a moment to realise the voices were real; it was the Zippleback.
"I don't. Know!" he ground out between locked jaws.
Through slitted eyes he saw one of the Zippleback's heads half-open its mouth to respond, before the dragon suddenly turned to bow to the center of the nest. The pain faded marginally, allowing him to shakily stand as his Queen rose into view.
I am relieved to see you unharmed, my Night Fury, she told him. But you should rest now.
With a flick of his Alpha's will, the pain vanished, and he felt his eyelids grow heavy. No! He thought; the voices in his head were clearer now! He knew that if he could just understand them, he...
The Queen fixed all six eyes on him. Sleep. Now.
The voices in his head became clear.
The nameless green Nadder, bleeding from a mortal wound in her chest - one he'd put there. "The Queen .. she uses dark magic to control dragons..."
Stormfly, her body shuddering as he cleaned her wounds. "The Queen's control, it's insidious. It doesn't just take away your free will; over time it erodes your very identity... After a while, you start to question whether there was even a life before the Queen."
"I-" The Night Fury gasped. He was Hiccup! He'd been human, until a week ago when the last Night Fury had turned him in a desperate act of rebellion.
"You!" Hiccup roared. She'd slaughtered the Night Furies and enslaved the dragons, forcing them to war against humanity. He whipped his head back and forth with a savage growl; he could rage at the Queen later, he needed to get out of here!
He spun, spreading his wings.
Stop.
Hiccup's limbs turned to ice. NO! He shouted in his thoughts, straining, desperately willing his wings to flap, his legs to push him into the air. He remained rooted to the spot, as if his scales had fused to the stone.
Why must it always be this way with your kind, Night Fury? Why do you stubbornly cling to memories that only cause you pain?
The Queen didn't give him the ability to reply.
That life is gone, Night Fury. You belong to me. Now, sleep.
A wave of lethargy flooded Hiccup. He clenched his jaws as hard as he could, digging his claws into the rock beneath him, clinging to consciousness with all his might. Despite his efforts, he felt his muscles relax one by one, and he slowly slumped to the stone beneath him. Last of all, his head grew heavier and heavier until it eventually came to rest on his forepaws.
His thoughts grew foggy as his eyelids began to droop.
Must not fall asleep. He told himself.
But he was so tired...
A quiet hush greeted Hiccup when he next woke. In the dim light seeping up through the mists, he could see every available surface in the cavern was filled with motionless shapes.
Beside him, the blue-green Zippleback from earlier had disappeared, replaced by a familiar black form. The Night Fury's tail was curved around her body, tailfins shielding her head from his view.
Up close, he realised that the Night Fury wasn't pure black like he'd first thought; her hide was dappled with a multitude of greys and blacks in swirling, unpredictable patterns. He also noticed that she was longer and thicker in the chest than he was; he wondered briefly whether his scrawniness as a human had somehow transferred over to his dragon body, or if Night Fury females were just naturally bigger.
Despite her increased bulk, the Night Fury was still sleek, sleeker than any of the other dragon's he'd seen, lacking the horns and spikes that characterised so many of the northern species. The only protuberances that marred her sleek hide were a line of small fin-like spines that ran from behind her head down the center of her back.
Hiccup shuffled his wings, feeling a similar set of spines along his back. He shot to his feet, realisation surging through him; his thoughts were his own! The nest was asleep and the Queen was nowhere to be found!. A handful of stars hung in the night sky, visible through the crater far above. He spread his wings and -
His body froze.
No! Gods damn it! No! He willed his body to move. The only response was a stabbing pain between his eyes. He clenched his jaw, trying to focus through the agony. Seconds passed. His eyes watered. His muscles cramped. His lungs burned and his heartbeat faltered as the Queen's power sucked the very life from him.
With an agonised gasp, Hiccup slumped to the ground, defeated. Blinking tears from his eyes, he looked over at the Night Fury, still lying silently beside him. He remembered how he'd first seen her, tied up by his bola launcher, what felt like a lifetime ago.
"The Queen's flock descended on the Furies' homeland," Stormfly had told him, "massacring every dragon they encountered.
"All, save for one; barely more than a fledgling at the time, she was taken by the Flock and dragged before their master. The Queen broke that young Fury's mind, enslaving her and using her as a spy to root out the Furies that had escaped the destruction of their home."
How long had the Fury spent like this, trapped in her own body? How many horrors had she been forced to witness? He wondered how she had felt when he stood over her, knife in hand. Angry? Sorrowful?
Or relieved?
Seconds later, she had him beneath her claws, moments away from ending his life.
"What did you see in me in that moment?" he asked in a whisper. "What made you spend your only hope of freedom on me?"
The Night Fury gave no indication she was even aware of his presence.
Awaken.
In an instant, the nest went from near-silence to a thunderstorm of rushing wings. The Night Fury beside him stirred and leapt into the air in a single motion. He felt his wings spread against his will as he followed her into the whirling maelstrom of dragons spiralling upwards towards the crater. In a few seconds, the entire flock was outside, forming an unbroken ring around the peak of the nest. With a chill, Hiccup realised what was happening.
Please don't be Berk. he prayed. Please don't be Berk.
Hunt. Kill. Return.
An image of a pair of islands - lights blazing defiantly against the dark - appeared in his mind. A wave of relief rushed through him, immediately followed by sickening guilt. Berk would be spared, but another Viking tribe would feel the burn of Dragonfire instead, and he-
Oh gods, no.
The image of the green Nadder's blasted-open torso flashed before his eyes. He would be forced to turn his fires on his kinsmen.
Please no, he begged in his thoughts. I'll hunt for you, whatever you want, anything but this.
If the Queen heard his pleas, she didn't respond. His tail twisted and he turned sharply, breaking the circle.
As quick as the flock had gathered, it dispersed. Hiccup found himself at the head of about a quarter of the gathered dragons, the Night Fury flying alongside him. As they wheeled around, towards the fog bank, he glimpsed several sharp 'V's of dragons flying in different directions.
In darkness, the fog seemed even thicker. Guided by The Queen, the flock weaved between invisible sea stacks - their passing marked only by the changing sound of their wing-beats. Hiccup focused on the fire-source in his chest, trying to draw power from it as he had when he first broke free from the Queen's control. However, instead of the tightly-bound well of heat, he felt only a cold, solid lump.
It's hopeless, he thought. He wasn't a Night Fury. The black dragon flying beside him knew infinitely more about the situation than him, and she'd still fallen to the Queen. Who was he - the ghost of a useless boy trapped in a body that no longer belonged to him - to think he stood any chance?
In the space of a wingbeat they passed out of the fog into clear air overflying moonlit ocean. Twin islands loomed on the horizon ahead, split - as if by some almighty axe - by a narrow sea with sheer cliffs on either side,
Hiccup had heard descriptions of the distinctive straight between the two islands. The locals called it 'The Slice of Death', for this was Dökkhöfn, home of the Meathead tribe.
I've failed, he thought. Just like every time I try to do something good.
A cloud drifted across the moon, extinguishing its light as the boy-turned-Night-Fury glided towards the human village of Dökkhöfn on silent wings. As he drew closer, he could make out the shapes of night watchmen making their rounds; they carried no lights to preserve their night vision, but their efforts were in vain. Hiccup knew he was invisible, a black shadow against the midnight sky.
With a barely audible whisper of wind the Night Fury beside him veered away and began to climb. The pace of his own wingbeats increased as he matched her ascent, leaving the flock behind.
Hiccup wished he could look away as his wings carried him above the cliffs and over the oblivious village. Like Berk, the Meatheads used catapult towers to assist their defence, however they built their towers from dense hardwood, so that when they were inevitably brought down by a dragon, they could be repaired much faster than Berk's stone emplacements.
The cliffside catapults. Bring them down.
Six towers in total stood watch over Dökkhöfn, two of which guarded the dragons' approach. Hiccup's tail twisted, turning him towards the southernmost fortification. His wings beat a final stroke, pushing him upwards slightly, then folded against his back. His jaws parted, pulling in air as his fire source opened. In the corner of his eye he caught a flicker of blue light - like a faint falling star - as the Night Fury began her attack, then his eyes turned downwards as he began to fall. The wind roared, tugging at the tips of his wings, trying to pull them open. That all-too-familiar screech began to build. Below, the watchmen cried the words every Viking dreaded.
"Night Fury! Get down!"
Hiccup fired. His shot struck the base of one of the tower's supports, shattering the thick tree-trunk and blasting a crater half a man's height into the ground. For a moment it seemed the tower would stand on three legs. Then, with a series of echoing retorts, and a spray of splinters to rival a Nadder's spine-shot, the remaining supports snapped, and ever so slowly, the structure began to lean.
The Vikings manning the catapult screamed and leapt for safety, falling past Hiccup as he sped over the waking village. In a blur, he saw half-dressed warriors stumbling out of homes, and panicked mothers hurrying their children to safety.
The tower hit the ground in a deafening crash, and the clouds above lit orange as the flock descended in waves of teeth and fire. Hiccup's tail twisted, turning him back towards the cliffs. As he climbed, he saw the Queen's strategy unfold in all its brutal efficiency. The first wave of dragons landed on the cliffside, and the hastily assembled defenders rushed forwards with a furious shout. The second wave landed in the space they cleared. The war cries of the defenders turned to screams as dragons crashed into the back of their line. Finally, the third wave of dragons descended on the undefended edge of the village.
Over the din of battle, Hiccup heard a thunk of wood on wood, followed by whistle as a hail of rocks flew through the air. Below him, a Zippleback leapt into flight, gas trailing behind it. He was close enough to hear the snaps as the missiles struck, shattering its wings.
Hiccup turned sharply. His wings pulled in as another tower came into view. The Vikings manning it were busy winching down the arm for another shot, by the time they heard his whistling dive it was too late. For an instant, he saw the panicked eyes of the defenders illuminated in electric blue. Then his shot struck. As he flew overhead he heard an agonised scream cut off by a grizzly crunch. When he turned around, he saw the half-blackened bodies lying on the ground beside the tower.
He felt sick. He wanted to throw up, but the Queen wouldn't allow him.
In the distance Hiccup heard a boom, then a crash as the Night Fury felled another tower. Acrid smoke filled his nostrils as he passed over the front line The attack had started mere minutes ago, and already the Meatheads had lost two-thirds of their defences and been driven back halfway to the center of the village.
"The Towers!" A deep, booming voice rang out. "They're hitting the catapults!"
Below, several Vikings broke away and began to sprint across the village. Hiccup's wings beat harder, his gaze fixed on the remaining towers. Some dragons had already made it to the far side of the village, and several houses were ablaze. Hiccup's wings pulled in and he fell in a shallow dive towards the emplacement's base.
At that moment, the roof of a burning house finally caved in. With a roar, flames leapt skywards, painting the ground in orange light. A shock of fear shot through him. He was exposed.
"There!" The voice boomed. "I see the devil! Get me a spear!"
The ground rushed towards Hiccup. His torso muscles tensed. A popping sensation sped down his spine. His wings shot out and he turned. His back bent further than he thought possible, folding himself nearly in two. In the blink of an eye, he was flying the other direction. A knot of men stood in the street before him; a tall man at the center hefted a spear. Flames blazed within Hiccup's chest. He unleashed his fire.
The shot struck at point-blank range. Hiccup was thrown several feet straight up. His wings were slack for a moment, and it was only the Queen's control that kept him from falling out of the sky. He blinked several times as he ascended, a yellow-green afterimage of the explosion lingering in his vision. Distantly, he heard a second peal of thunder as the final tower fell, but above the screams and roars a single choked cry rang in Hiccup's ears.
"Dad! No!"
Dear Odin, no...
The son of the chief had barely seemed to notice his existence when they'd met at the last þing - but Hiccup recognised his voice. As he banked over the village, his gaze passed over Thuggory kneeling in the street - his mind refused to process what his fire had done to Mogadon the Meathead.
He wanted to scream, to cry, to vomit, rage against The Queen, something, anything. But he couldn't. All he could do was look on with numb detachment as a pair of warriors dragged the boy away from the remains of his father.
The Queen turned him away, towards where the fighting was heavier. The Meatheads had been pushed almost to the center of the village. Below him, a Gronckle had been backed up against a wall. His wings closed. The humans fell. A whistle cut through the air as the Night Fury turned her fires on the men below.
By the time he'd climbed back up to altitude, the defenders had fallen back to the central square of their village. This time, the Night Fury struck. Her shot hit the center of the line, throwing bodies to either side and scattering the rest. The flock washed over the square in a wave of fire.
Hiccup couldn't bring himself to count how many times he dived on Dökkhöfn that night. He could only watch despondently as the dwindling defenders were pushed house by house to the far side of the village - towards the body of their chief. Every time the Meatheads tried to rally, to push the invaders back, he or the Night Fury would fall upon them, sending them running with a flash of blue fire.
The moment each of the Meatheads learned of Mogadon's death was so clear Hiccup could almost hear the murmurs passed through their ranks; In a matter of moments, their pose would change from defiant anger to reluctant acceptance, and then their fists would tighten on their weapons as they resolved to take as many dragons down with them as they could.
The Meatheads made their stand at the foot of the tower he'd nearly destroyed - around the remains of their fallen chief. He could see the despair clear in the upturned eyes of the warriors; they were already all but defeated.
Break them, The Queen whispered in his mind.
The Night Fury and he dived as one. A dreadful harmony built as twin screeches sliced through the night. They fired; a pair of blue shooting stars falling to earth. A woosh of air as the Night Fury passed above him, then boom as their shots struck. Their blasts hit just in front of the line. Nearby, men were thrown to the ground, and further away they cursed and ducked beneath shields as shards of broken cobbles rained down.
The line broke. Vikings screamed and ran - some dropping their weapons in their haste to escape. Agonised cries split the air as the flock fell upon the fleeing men.
Blood ran in the streets of Dökkhöfn.
In the space of a few minutes the only living inhabitants of the village were dragons - the defenders either having made it to the bridges over the Slice of Death and the safety of the northern isle, or been dragged down by the flock.
Hiccup's wing beats slowed, and, as he and the Night Fury circled almost lazily above the deserted village, his heart froze into a block of ice. He couldn't say how long the battle had lasted. He felt like an ant asked to describe a mountain; he simply couldn't comprehend the scale of what had happened, what he'd done. With all his might, he wished that it was a dream - that any moment he would wake up back in the cove, but deep down, he knew that it was all terribly, horrifically real.
Below him, the flock systematically broke open every storehouse the Meatheads had built and plundered the hard-earned food stocks within. Occasionally, screams and desperate cries for help rang out as the dragons discovered Vikings hidden within their homes. They were quickly silenced.
When the first light of dawn touched the eastern horizon and the flock took flight, all that remained of Dökkhöfn was a smouldering ruin.
Part 2: Rise
Only the gentle lapping of the waves against the dock could be heard as the lone ship approached Berk's harbour. In the distance, a blue-white iceberg drifted on the tide. Astrid knew the ship was trouble even before she saw the scorched hull and smoke-darkened sail - No sane Viking would sail this late in the season without good reason.
A lonely gull cawed, hovering on the winds above her. She looked up; the bird was a black silhouette against the pale grey sky.
Where are you, Hiccup?
She'd finally managed to slip away into the forest earlier, only to find Hiccup's cove abandoned. She'd searched as long as she dared, but found no trace of the boy-turned-dragon. He's probably fine, she reasoned, he wouldn't hide somewhere easy to stumble upon. However, a niggling feeling in her gut told her that something was wrong. That feeling had only gotten stronger since she spotted the approaching ship.
The thump of heavy footsteps on boards shook her from her thoughts. Stoick shoved his way, through the silently gathered crowd onto the pier, followed closely by Gobber.
"What are 'yer all lookin' at?" The smith bellowed. "Get back t' work!"
Astrid grunted, hefting a barrel of freshly salted and preserved fish. She shouldered her way through the gradually dispersing crowd, making her way towards the ramps that lead up the cliffs. After the battle, a nervous, almost fearful atmosphere had settled over the village; whenever anyone stepped outside, they would cast an anxious glance at the sky, as if they expected the dragons to return any moment to finish them off. The appearance of the ship had only heightened the Berkians' fear, and as she climbed, she saw much of the crowd still lingered, busying themselves around the docks, all the while casting surreptitious glances out to sea.
By the time she made it back to the water level, the blackened vessel was pulling up alongside the pier. A group of dockhands jumped aboard, ropes in hand, and helped the lone crewman secure the vessel. After several seconds of rummaging amongst the crates and baskets piled haphazardly on the deck, the gangplank was found and lowered into position.
Astrid frowned, no self-respecting sailor would carry that much cargo unsecured on deck. Aside from...
Stoick squinted at the disheveled-looking man who disembarked from the ship. "Johann?"
"Ahh Stoick!" The trader croaked, then broke into a coughing fit.
"Someone fetch this man some water!" Stoick ordered.
"Yes chief!" Astrid barked, rushing to a nearby barrel of freshwater kept for the dockworkers. She dunked a chipped wooden cup beneath the surface and hurried back, handing the still dripping cup to Johann. The trader drank deeply, and let out a haggard sigh.
"Ahh, thank you, Miss Astrid." He clasped her hand briefly, then addressed the chief. "I must apologize for my manners, Stoick. I confess that I had to leave my previous port in somewhat of a hurry, and didn't have time to properly provision for the trip. So, regrettably, I..."
Stoick cut him off. "You're always welcome on Berk, Johann, but we thought you were spending winter with the Meatheads this year." The chief's gaze drifted to scorched timbers of Johann's ship. "What happened?"
The trader's usual personable persona cracked, and a haunted expression crossed his face. "Dragons..." he whispered.
"You'll have to speak up," Gobber cut in, "Me ears aren't as good as they used t' be - all the 'ammerin' you know."
Johann shuddered, his hands clenching on the cup tight enough to turn his knuckles white. "Dragons," he began, "A raid unlike anything I've seen in all my years in the north. They came in the night, a huge swarm of the beasts, large enough to blot out the sky! Call me a coward, but when I heard the screams and saw the flames, I knew I had to leave. I barely made it out with my life; seconds after I left, the entire harbour became a firestorm."
"What about the Meatheads?" Stoick's tone was deadly.
Johan gulped. "Dökkhöfn is ... gone."
Stoick took a step forwards, his face thunderous. "What do you mean, 'gone'?"
"I saw it all from my ship," Johann replied, "I saw the Meatheads flee across the Slice of Death, and then the dragons, they burned the village to the ground, the women and children still trapped inside..." The trader's face was pale and shone with a faint slick of sweat.
"This better not be another of your stories, Johann," The chief growled.
"Aye!" Gobber agreed, gesturing with his hook. "We've had our own problems with dragons lately, but the Meatheads are strong, they wouldn't go out without a fight."
"That's not the worst part of it sirs," Johann continued, "As I sailed away, when I thought at last I was safe, out of the darkness came not one, but two Night Furies!"
Astrid failed to stifle a gasp of shock. "Two Night Furies?" She demanded, stepping forwards, heedless of the chief's presence - she had to know. "Are you sure? Did you get a clear look?"
Johann met her stare with wide, frightened eyes. "I'm certain. Every time I close my eyes, I hear that sound - that awful screech, doubled in terrible harmony. I'll remember it to the day I die."
Astrid staggered back. Explanations whirled through her mind; Night Furies were almost invisible in the dark, Johann must have misinterpreted what he saw, or, perhaps the Queen had another Night Fury hidden away somewhere. But, In her heart, she already knew what had happened.
No, she thought, He wouldn't...
"Ahem," Gobber coughed.
Astrid looked up. Johann and the chief looked at her expectantly. "I- I have to go" she stammered, spinning around and pushing her way through the crowd of stunned Vikings.
Astrid pelted up the ramps, boards thudding beneath her feet. When she reached the top, she kept going, running through the eerily quiet streets. She threw open the back door of her house, grabbed a bundle of spare rope and sailcloth and darted out again. Her heart was pounding frantically in her chest when she reached the arena - and not just because she'd sprinted halfway across the island. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she threw open the gate and hurried across the ring to Stormfly's cage.
The Nadder burst out of the doors. She brushed passed her, and stopping in the middle of the ring, tail-spines erect and wings half-open. Stormfly's head darted side to side, her gaze sweeping the arena several times before eventually coming to rest on her. The dragon took a step forwards, nostrils dilating as she scented the air.
Astrid eagerly stepped forwards, reaching for her muzzle, only for Stormfly to snort and hop backwards, jerking her head out of reach. Astrid yanker her hand back, as if she'd been burned. "What's gotten into you, girl?" she whispered, half to herself.
Stormfly sniffed at her again, then raised her head sharply, eyeing the empty stands as if expecting a horde of warriors to jump out.
Astrid blinked, suddenly realising; The Nadder had probably been able to sense her distress from the moment she stepped into the arena.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly extended her hand. "I'm okay, girl," she said softly, watching the Nadder's pupils widen as she calmed down, lowering her head to press her muzzle into the outstretched palm. She took a second, shallower breath, not wanting to spoil the moment.
"But I think something has happened to Hiccup."
Stormfly's pupils narrowed in alarm, and she jerked back, breaking their contact. A rising croon left her throat, as she tilted her head in query.
"A ship arrived in the harbour earlier," Astrid answered, "It belonged to a trader who escaped a village being destroyed by dragons. He said that he saw two Night Furies in the attack, and I haven't seen Hiccup in a few days...
"I think the Queen has him."
Stormfly's wings and tail drooped, and she let out a small whimper. Even on a dragon's alien features, Astrid knew the emotions going through her; she'd felt them herself after her uncle's departure, and she'd seen them too often recently on the faces of the surviving Berkians.
"We can't lose hope, Stormfly," she began softly, stepping in close. The Nadder tried to pull away, but this time she followed, reaching up to rest a supportive hand on her neck. "My Uncle once told me that there are moments in life when we are knocked down, and we have two choices; we can either roll over and admit defeat, or we can grit our teeth, get back up and fight.
"Hiccup is the last hope for both our peoples, and, right now, he needs help. I can't reach him alone, Stormfly; will you help me?"
Stormfly looked up at her for a long moment. The Nadder's great golden eyes blinked once, then she stood up to her full height and tossed her head back with a short chirp; a gesture that clearly meant 'get on'.
"Thank you," Astrid breathed, picking up the sailcloth she'd brought .
"To help me hold on, and make me a little more comfortable," she answered Stormfly's confused look, then threw the cloth over the Nadder's back.
Stormfly squawked in alarm, but quickly settled down and allowed her to continue She looped the rope around the Nadder's body a few times - in front and behind her legs- securing the cloth in place, then tied the ends off with a knot beneath Stormfly's torso.
Astrid stepped back a moment, examining her handiwork, before swinging onto the Nadder's back, into her makeshift saddle. As soon as she was in position, Stormfly reared up - drawing a startled cry from Astrid - and beat her wings as hard as she could. As the momentary panic subsided, she realised what Stormfly was doing. Unclenching her hands from around the Nadder's neck, she tugged on the ropes holding the cloth in place.
Satisfied that her knots would hold - and that the rope wouldn't impede Stormfly's flight - she nodded to the Nadder.
"Let's go."
Stormfly chirped and began to move across the arena, quickly picking up speed. Astrid ducked, tightening her grip on the dragon beneath her, as they passed beneath the gates.. As soon as they were clear, Stormfly's wings shot out. A stride later they were in the air.
Stormfly's wings extended on either side in great blue and yellow sails. Her breath caught in her throat, and she wished she had time to revel in the feeling of flight. Instead, she crouched closer to the Nadder's neck, focusing on her task.
"Let's do this, girl," she whispered. "Find Hiccup."
Astrid shivered, rubbing at the skin of her exposed arms. What had begun as a perfectly bearable temperature over Berk's forest had dropped sharply as they widened their search, spiralling out over open ocean, made worse by the constant biting wind, robbing heat from her extremities.
Ahead, the steel-grey sky appeared to have taken a chunk out of the otherwise smooth horizon. It took several seconds to realise what she was looking at: Helheim's Gate, the mysterious fog-shrouded island that supposedly held the Dragons' nest.
Astrid felt a chill go down her spine - one that had nothing to do with the temperature. "I have a bad feeling about this Stormfly," she began. "We should-"
Stormfly lurched beneath her, dropping several yards straight down.
"Stormfly!" Astrid cried, clutching tightly at the Nadder's neck. "What are you doing?!"
The Nadder didn't respond, turning sharply and accelerating towards the fog bank.
The mists seemed almost like a solid object as they hurtled towards them. Astrid couldn't stop herself taking a gasp of air as they plowed headlong into them. The sound of the waves became muffled, and they were suddenly surrounded by an echoing, chattering call. Astrid was uncomfortably reminded just how little Vikings actually knew about dragons. She felt vibration beneath her as Stormfly trilled in response, and draconic shadows appeared around them.
Astrid instinctively pressed herself against Stormfly's back as she swerved suddenly - avoiding some unseen obstacle or following a silent call, she wasn't sure. She turned her head from side to side, trying to keep track of the dragons around them, but the bodies were impossible to follow in the swirling mists. As she did, she noticed shapes hanging beneath the draconic silhouettes.
They're hauling in their kill, she realised. What does that make me?
"Come on Stormfly," she whispered, leaning to the side to speak into the dragon's ear, "We need to get out of here."
Stormfly grunted and tossed her head, forcing Astrid to pull back. She barely stifled a cry of shock as the Nadder dropped beneath her. As she clung to her ropes for dear life, she glimpsed flashes of towering sea stacks and a sharply-peaked mountain, before they plunged into a pitch-black cavern. Stormfly banked and rolled, following some unseen path.
Astrid's stomach flipped. "Don't throw up, don't throw up," she whispered to herself, squeezing her eyes shut and hanging on with all her might.
Eventually, the interminable spinning and banking ended, and she felt a wave of hot, sulfur-laden air rush over her, before they landed roughly and she was unceremoniously dumped on the ground. She lay there for a moment, waiting for the world to stop spinning, then flipped over onto her front.
A cry of fear escaped her lips, as her hand landed on open space. Her eyes shot open, and she looked down onto mists lit by the fires of Muspelheim. She scrambled back from the edge, then took several deep breaths and slowly got to her feet. Dragons covered every available surface of the massive cavern, some even clinging to cracks in the near-vertical walls. Despite hundreds of fire-breathing reptiles filling the space, there was a strange hush, quiet enough for her to hear the occasional pop and burble from the mists below.
"What Stoick wouldn't give to find this place..." she whispered.
Then it hit her: This was the nest; she was a human in the dragons' nest.
I shouldn't be here.
She spun around. Stormfly was crouched, wings mantled, her head nearly touching the stone floor. Her pupils were narrow black slits.
"Stormfly," she breathed, "We really need to get out of here."
No response. She took a step closer.
"Girl? Can you hear me?"
She waved her hand in front of Stormfly's muzzle. The Nadder didn't even blink.
Astrid felt a pang in her chest; This was her fault.
She grit her teeth, pushing the thought away. She could blame herself later, right now, she needed to focus. She scanned the rock wall and nearby ledges; there had to be a way out of this.
Her gaze swept over the lower ledges. She gasped, and had to stop herself instinctively calling out. On a ledge below them, two unmistakeable black dragons lay side by side. The larger one appeared to be asleep; the smaller one was awake, eyes slitted as he stared into the pit.
It's true, she thought. The Queen has him.
Astrid eyed the section of rock wall between them, it was maybe, barely, climbable. She glanced back at Stormfly, still crouched in the same position.
"I'm sorry, girl," she whispered. Stormfly would understand why she had to try and save Hiccup. Right?
The rock gave way as soon as she put her weight on it, unleashing an avalanche of small stones. Her heart skipped a beat as the stones clattered down the rock face. The sound was deafening in the unnatural hush that ruled the nest.
A low growl broke the silence. On an adjacent ledge, a deep purple Monstrous Nightmare slowly raised its head. It's amber eyes fixed her with a piercing stare.
Astrid backed away, fingers instinctively clenching, wishing she still had Sandraudiga. A flicker of motion caught her eye. Her gaze darted upwards.A Terrible Terror crawled down the rock towards her. Above, the twin heads of a Zippleback peered over the ledge.
Her back hit something solid. She couldn't stop the terrified whimper that escaped her. She dared a glance behind. She was up against Stormfly's flank. The Nadder still didn't react.
"Stormfly," she begged. "You said you came back to protect me. I need your help now, please."
Nothing.
A furious hiss sounded behind her. She turned to face the oncoming dragons. Behind the Nightmare, more dragons prowled across the ledges..
So this is it, she thought, reaching down to her belt. Her fist clenched on the hilt of her knife.
"Here I am, ungodly beasts, Fearless Astrid Hofferson!"
The Terror leapt. She stepped inside. She slashed at its exposed belly with one hand, pushing it past her with the other. Hot blood slicked her right arm. The Nightmare twitched. She dove, darting behind Stormfly as liquid fire splashed where she'd stood. The Nadder flinched as burning droplets landed on her outstretched wings.
A deep growl rumbled behind her. Astrid spun, a second, crimson, Nightmare loomed on the other side. She looked up at Stormfly, beseeching. The Nadder blinked. She saw green light reflected in wide black pupils.
A moment stretched into eternity.
For that impossible instant, Astrid was transfixed by Stormfly's stare. Despite the heart pounding in her chest, and the adrenaline burning in her veins, she felt perfectly calm, a sense of understanding blooming within her. In Stormfly's eyes she could see the fear and confusion as she woke up from the Queen's control, and beneath that, burning anger at the Queen for causing her dam's death, and deeper still, underlying it all, unbreakable determination to share her knowledge and fulfil the Songkeepers' promise. In that breath, the emotions were so clear, so real, she could almost feel them herself.
Then she blinked, and it was over.
Stormfly exploded into motion. She surged forwards, leaping into the air, and simultaneously snatching Astrid by the scruff of her tunic. As soon as her legs touched her dragon's back, she grabbed hold, wrapping her arms around Stormfly's neck as they shot towards the mountain's peak. Ahead of them was open sky, and a rent in the clouds, through which shone a shimmering sheet of green light.
The cavern was filled with the thunder of rushing wings as the very walls seemed to come to life, dragons leaping into the air all around them. A titanic roar shook the mountain. Astrid looked back, straight into an enormous, gaping maw. It took a heartbeat for her to process the massive dragon it was attached to.
"Great Odin's ghost..." she breathed.
A shadow fell over them as the vast jaws loomed closer. They weren't going to make it. Stormfly growled, and they shot forwards. The Queen's maw slammed shut mere inches beyond Stormfly's tail. A deafening crash and rush of air nearly tore Astrid from the saddle. She turned forwards, hugging herself tightly to Stormfly's back.
Dragons swarmed the opening above them, blotting out the sky. They were too slow.
"Stormfly!" Astrid gasped.
Her Nadder squawked in defiance, flipping over and diving back past the massive dragon's head. Astrid felt muscles beneath her flex as Stormfly lashed her tail, heard the whistle of spines flying through the air, and the roars as they found their marks in the pursuing flock.
Stormfly's wings snapped open and suddenly they were flying level. Astrid glimpsed the black maw of the tunnel they used before, then the darkness swallowed them. Astrid threw her weight to the side as Stormfly banked sharply, then back the other way as they zig-zagged through the tunnel. Her senses were on overdrive, hypersensitive to every twitch of her Nadder - when instinct told her to move, she didn't have time to think. The snarls and roars of the flock echoed behind them, but Astrid felt a strange sense of calm creep over her as they twisted and turned beneath the mountain; she felt like she could almost preempt Stormfly's movements - she would shift her weight at the exact moment they started to turn.
She was so focused on their flight, she almost didn't notice her surroundings weren't completely dark. In front of her, she could see Stormfly's head outlined in blue-green light. The glow had no obvious source; it almost seemed to come from within the Nadder herself.
They turned a final corner and burst out into green-tinged daylight. Astrid pressed herself as tight as she could against Stormfly's back, tucking her head into the crook of her arm to protect herself from the blinding wind as they accelerated over open water.
They had nearly reached the fog bank when over the roaring wind and dragons she heard a sound that caused fear to clutch at her chest:
The rising whistle of a diving Night Fury.
Intruders! Fly! Defend!
Hiccup's body lurched into the air, yanking his thoughts from a pit of self-pity and despair. The Night Fury climbed near-vertically beside him. The Queen's head burst out of the mists, as a blue blur plummeted past her. The whole mountain reverberated with the Queen's roar and the cacophony of a hundred dragons taking wing.
Then, silence as they shot out of the mountain's peak into still evening air, lit green by aurorae shining through the clouds. His wings slowed, circling the peak as the rest of the flock joined them, drowning out the lapping of the waves below with a hubbub of agitated growls and squawks. He felt a tingling sensation down his spine; the land below looked surreal and flat, lit by the fading daylight and diffuse glow of the aurorae.
A blue shape shot out of a rent in the mountainside. He dove, leaving the rest of the flock behind. At the same time, more dragons erupted from the nest below. It took a moment for him to recognise the speck he hurtled towards as a Nadder - something was off about the dragon's silhouette. As the sea rushed towards him, the lump on the dragon's back resolved into a terrified blonde Viking.
No... Hiccup wanted to cry. Not them too...
Hiccup's wings opened. He heard the taught snap as the Night Fury did the same. Twin 'V's of water flew upwards in their wake. Twenty yards separated them from Stormfly. The wind whistled past his ears as his flight muscles strained, pushing him faster than he'd ever flown before. The gap began to close.
Hiccup wished he could close his eyes. Stormfly herself had told him Night Furies were the fastest fliers of all dragons.
Astrid glanced behind her, then shouted something to her mount - her words whipped away by the wind. Stormfly's scales seemed to catch the light, and then she was pulling away. Hiccup felt an echo of the Queen's disbelief in his mind. He blinked; the Nadder's scales weren't reflecting the light - she was glowing!
Astrid and Stormfly plunged into the mists. Hiccup's muscles burned as the Queen forced him even faster, his tail twisting to follow the eddies left in their wake.
Again, Hiccup found himself darting through a maze of sea-stacks in a desperate chase. The strange glow coming from Stormfly's scales was clearer now, shining off the mists and giving the Nadder a blue-green halo.
A stone monolith loomed out of the fog. He banked right. Stormfly and the Night Fury broke left. As soon as the pillar passed, he flipped over, turning as hard as he could to catch up.
Another pillar rushed towards them. Hiccup's jaws opened, heat flaring in his chest. A streak of blue fire illuminated the mists. The base of the stack exploded, sending boulders tumbling into Stormfly's path. The Nadder dodged right, narrowly escaping the falling rocks. The slight deceleration was enough for Hiccup to close the distance.
Mere feet separated them from Stormfly now. Somehow, she could outfly them in a straight line, but in the turns the Night Furies held the advantage. Still, in the twisting confines of the sea stacks it was enough, barely.
Stormfly darted left. This time, the Night Fury fired, collapsing another stack in her path. In the moment it took the Nadder to react, Hiccup fired again. Astrid leant to the right and Stormfly rolled in the same motion. The Nadder's cream underbelly flashed as his shot blazed past. The moment the pair was upright, they dove, swooping beneath a natural archway.
Hiccup's wings folded, following. As soon as they were through, Stormfly tried to break away. This time, a whistle and a bolt of blue lightning came from above. Another stack exploded and the Nadder banked sharply to evade.
Hiccup's heart raced. His breath came in insufficient gasps. Stormfly lashed her tail. He rolled, narrowly avoiding the flurry of deadly spines. His wings strained to make up the lost speed. Spots danced in his vision. Even with the Queen forcing him on, he physically couldn't keep up this pace.
Come on Stormfly, he prayed, just a little bit longer.
The mists began to thin. Stormfly twisted, darting between a pair of sea stacks. Hiccup fired. As his shot connected with the stone, Stormfly folded her wings and dove. The explosion shattered the pillar into cloud of deadly falling rocks. Stormfly held her dive, racing the boulders to the ocean's surface. At the last moment she pulled up, speeding beneath the stones and out into the safety of the open sea.
YES! Stormfly!
The flock roared. The mists lit with flame. Dragons swarmed out of the fog on either side, converging on Astrid and Stormfly.
The Queen's strategy suddenly dawned on Hiccup. He and the Night Fury were never meant to catch Stormfly; all they needed to do was slow her down enough for the flock to cut them off.
Hiccup's wings beat a mercifully slower pace as he rose above the whirling mass of dragons. Below, Astrid and Stormfly spun and turned, defiantly weaving between Gronckle fireballs and Nightmares' blazing claws, all while the Queen's jaws slowly closed on them.
His eyes darted back and forth in their sockets as he traced the pair's desperate flight. The world around him blurred. Below, green light sparked off the ocean, reflecting the aurorae above. His jaws cracked open.
Kill them.
No... Hiccup thought; he couldn't, he'd promised to save Stormfly's people, and he'd seen the humanity beneath Astrid's steely exterior.
He wouldn't.
He forced his wings straight. A lance of red-hot agony stabbed into his skull. His vision dimmed as the Queen's will slammed down on him.
No!
Something sparked within him, like his fire, but not; alien, but also familiar. His body spasmed, nearly falling out of the sky. Hiccup focused all his will on that spark, nurturing it and drawing strength from it as he pushed back against the Queen.
His vision swam, the spark within him flickering and dying. It wasn't enough. He blinked. His vision was filled by a radiant emerald curtain. The spark within him flared, resonating with the light above. His whole body tingled - If he still had hair he knew it would be standing on end - he could feel the tremendous energy trapped in the glistening sheets.
His vision darkened as the Queen's will bore down on him, smothering the spark to little more than a dull ember. He couldn't see anymore, but he could still feel the light of the aurorae shining as bright as ever. The Queen tightened her mental grip, crushing him out of existence. The light he needed was just there, so close. On instinct, he reached out and drew it into him.
Power blazed within him.
He listed to one side, his flight no longer controlled by another mind. Hiccup pulled in his wings, turning the motion into a dive. Below, a Nightmare swooped down to block Astrid and Stormfly's path. He didn't think. His shot struck the Nightmare's wing-shoulder. A terrible, agonised screech split the air as the dragon fell.
"Fly, Stormfly!" Hiccup roared as he pulled out of the dive. He glanced behind. Half the flock had turned away from the Nadder and now bore down on him. He rolled - feeling the flash of heat as Gronckle fireballs fell past him - then turned his head to the sky and surged upwards. The pain in his muscles had vanished, and light flooded through him, filling him with fierce energy.
As soon as he was above the flock, he flipped over and dove again. An orange Nadder was closing in on Stormfly's tail. He fired. There was a crash of thunder, a pause, then a splash. Hiccup felt a pang of guilt as he arced beneath Stormfly. These dragons were more innocent victims of the Queen's tyranny, but he knew he couldn't afford to hesitate; the Queen wouldn't give him or Stormfly the luxury.
That moment's inattention cost him. He didn't see the Nightmare coming until it was too late. He crashed head-on into its broad crimson chest. The Nightmare's claws traced lines of agony down his chest as its teeth closed on his neck.
Hiccup saw red. He thrashed, lashing out with all four legs. He felt his claws catch, then tear through flesh. He roared, a sound of primal fear and rage, then bathed the Nightmare in a stream of fire. The dragon screeched, and let go. He shoved away, launching into steep climb.
Focus! He berated himself, casting about for Astrid and Stormfly. He spotted them a few hundred yards ahead, leading their own pack of pursuers. With a furious hiss, a Zippleback dive-bombed him, trailing green smoke. The gas stung in his nostrils as he rolled out of the way. A pair of Nadders swooped towards him, claws extended. He fired two quick shots, then dove for the gap they'd left in the flock.
His wings shot out as soon as he was clear. The light flared within him, and with every flap he surged forward. In moments he was level with Stormfly. He banked sharply - shedding speed - and whipped back past her. The pursuing flock was rapidly thinning out as exhausted dragons fell off the pace. Hiccup dove, unleashing his fire on the leading Nightmare. He followed his shot down. In a blink of an eye and a rush of noise the flock sped past him.
He forced his wings open. Behind him, the Nightmare's body splashed down, throwing up a plume of spray. Revitalised hope surged within him as he skimmed over the ocean. Ahead, a familiar and welcome silhouette loomed on the horizon; Berk. He pushed his tail upwards, arching into a tight half-loop. As he flipped right-side up, mouth open, fire building in his chest, the flock scattered.
Hiccup locked his wings straight and glided, numbly watching the dragons winging their way towards the nest as fast as their spent bodies would allow. As he hung in the air, the light within him faded. The weary ache returned to his muscles as the energy retreated to a point deep within him - part of him, but also separate - where he instinctively knew he could call on it again.
He blinked, finally able to think beyond his immediate survival. He'd made it: He was free, and he'd used magic - The Aür, Stormfly had called it. He turned in a wide circle and fell in alongside the Nadder. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth -
A rising whistle shattered the silence.
"Hiccup!" Astrid gasped.
He cursed; in the rush of escape he'd forgotten the Night Fury!
Reflexively, he reached for the light within him, feeling the energy rush through him as his mind whirled.
Can't dodge. Not enough time.
He twisted, flipping his back to the ocean. A black shape was outlined against the green-tinged clouds. An azure star fell towards him. He took a sharp breath and fired back. Their shots met in mid-air. The sea was illuminated by blinding white flash. A heartbeat later, the shock wave threw him, spinning, towards the ocean.
Precious moments passed as Hiccup wrestled back control of his flight. Still blinking the flash from his eyes, he raced towards Berks sea stacks, skimming just above the white-caps.
"Stormfly, Go!" he yelled.
A diving shriek came from above, and a second firebolt shot over his head, collapsing the stack in front of him. Hiccup dodged left, past another stack.
Not again.
He flexed the muscles along his spine, and felt the same popping sensation run down his back. He tightened his turn, his spine mere inches from the rock's surface as he looped around the pillar. As he came out the other side the Night Fury shot past him. He straightened out.
She was right in front of him. He breathed in sharply, sending air to his fire-source.
He hesitated. He felt something coming from her; like the energy from the Northern Lights, but coiled and twisted somehow. The moment passed; The Night Fury realised his deception and dove away. Hiccup gritted his teeth, swooping after her.
In the failing light, the Night Fury was almost invisible; a black blur against stony grey pillars. Hiccup felt like he could almost follow her without his sight. He could feel a twisted core of energy lodged within her, unlike the warm, invigorating light coursing through him, it radiated anger and hate like heat from an open forge.
A stack sped towards them. The Night Fury drifted right, then at the last moment, darted left. Hiccup banked sharply - wings momentarily vertical - and followed. Another pillar. As the Night Fury dodged, her head snapped to the side and she fired beneath her wing, striking the base of the stack. Hiccup willed the light within him into his wings, pushing against the air harder than he thought possible. He shot forwards, outrunning the ponderously falling rocks.
The Night Fury broke right, then left. Hiccup matched her move for move; A brief straight, another few inches gained; then a roll, into another turn. A slight irregularity crept into the Night Fury's wingbeats; she was tiring - Hiccup was almost close enough to see her sides heaving as she struggled to bring in enough air. The energy within her burned even fiercer, the malaise surrounding it lashing out at him.
A final stack loomed ahead. Past it, Hiccup glimpsed a sheer cliff; they were out of time. The Night Fury roared - in pain or anger, he wasn't sure - and put on a last burst of speed. Hiccup followed, barreling straight towards the monolith. The energy within the Night Fury blazed brighter. Pain stabbed in his temples as the malevolent force struck at him. Hiccup grunted, the light within him flaring as he pushed onwards, the inches separating him and the Night Fury closing, as they sped towards the stack.
His tail twitched minutely, nearly breaking away. He was so close, he could almost reach out to the energy within her, like he had to the Northern Lights. Come on, he thought, his instincts screaming at him to turn away. Just a little more...
A tiny flicker of movement down the Fury's dorsal spines were his only warning. The Night Fury broke left. Hiccup dove right, his claws skimming the surface of the stone. As soon as he was past he flipped. He heard his spine creak as his body twisted, putting his back to the pillar as he whipped around the other side.
The Night Fury burst out from the other side of the stack and strove for altitude. Hiccup turned his nose skyward, climbing alongside her. For a moment they were level, then - as they shot past the clifftop - Hiccup pulled ahead. The boy-turned-Night-Fury surged upwards, then rolled over backwards and dove.
The Night Fury tried to evade, but her exhausted muscles were too slow. Hiccup slammed into her from above. As soon as his claws made contact, the malevolent energy struck out at him. He finally recognised it as the Queen's power. Her will plowed into him, only to bounce off the Auric power flowing through him with the mental equivalent of a ringing note. In that instant, he felt the Queen's emotions; boiling rage and hatred, and also a frisson of fear.
How?! The Queen roared in his mind.
The Night Fury writhed in his grasp, as the Queen battered at his consciousness. Hiccup gritted his teeth, mentally pushing back, while he tightened his grip on the Night Fury. He spread his wings, fighting to control their tumbling fall. Below them, he glimpsed a gap in the trees, and he desperately tried to steer them towards it.
The Queen's attack faltered, and he reacted instinctively. He pushed back, gathering as much of his energy as he could and sending it into the Night Fury, swamping the Queen's power. The next moment, they hit the treetops and the Night Fury was torn from his grasp.
The world spun end over end. He pulled in his wings, shielding them as best he could as a storm of branches whipped at his scales.
When he hit the water it felt like solid ice.
Hiccup gasped, only for water to rush into his maw. He floundered for a moment, then his feet struck the bottom and his head broke the surface. He coughed up a mouthful of water, then took in several great gulps of air. Blinking tears from his eyes, he looked around at the familiar surroundings of the cove.
He was stood in the shallows of the cove's lake, water gently lapping at his underside. The Night Fury lay motionless nearby, at the end of a muddy trough ploughed into the lake's shore.
Shaking off the water, he slowly approached her. In his mind, he was back in the forest above, human; he pressed himself to the ground, peeking over the ridge, then darted forwards, putting his back against a boulder while he fumbled for his knife with trembling hands. A deep breath, then a step out into the open.
Hiccup stepped up to the edge of the trench carved by her impact and looked down on the Night Fury. She had ended up on her side, one wing trapped beneath her, and the other splayed awkwardly in the air. Beneath the outstretched limb, her ribs were outlined on grey-mottled skin as her chest rose and fell.
Behind his eyes, Dökkhöfn burned. Thuggory's agonised screams beside the remains of his father echoed in his mind over and over, drowning out the quiet murmurings of nature. His whole body ached; he felt the ghost of her fangs sinking into his wing-shoulder.
The whole situation felt surreal and dreamlike to Hiccup, adrenaline still coursing through him. However, he could feel the true reality of the last couple of days lurking at the edge of his consciousness like mountain snow in deepest winter; ready to come crashing down in an avalanche of pain and grief.
This is all her fault.
Hiccup inhaled sharply. His fire-source was sore and overused, but he had one final shot left. He looked down -
- and met a deep green eye staring up at him.
"Do it," The Night Fury wheezed.
Those few words were all she could manage. Her eye closed, and her head dropped to rest in the mud. Hiccup held the shot. His gaze drifted from her head down to his forepaws.
Blood from the Nightmare he'd grappled with still clung to his claws. He remembered the cries of the dragons he'd killed in their escape.
His legs gave out, and he dropped to the ground beside her, exhaling a puff of greenish gas.
"No," he breathed. "No more death."
Icelandic:
Dökkhöfn - Dark harbour (or port) - The wiki tells me this is a place on Meathead Island in the books and it sounds like a good name for a village.
Mythology:
Sandraudiga - Literally: 'She who dyes the sands red' - A lesser Germanic goddess attested to in a Latin inscription found in the Netherlands. Here, it is the name of Astrid's axe.
Author's Notes:
"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"
- Mark Twain (paraphrased)
Friendly Greetings!
Dear gods, has it really been seven months since I last updated this story? My sincerest apologies, I have just completed my final year at University, so understandably I have been rather preoccupied for the last six months (Fun fact: At just over 10k words, this chapter is about 2,000 words longer than my dissertation). I don't know what my future holds now that I'm free from higher education, however I hope that I'll be to give more time to this story, and with any luck we'll reach the end before this story's third anniversary.
I would like to address a few comments I received on the last chapter; a few people took a strong dislike to the story after the bad place that I left Hiccup in. The anger that I saw can only come from someone who is invested in the story and characters, and I appreciate that. However, I believe that as a writer, it is my job to tell an interesting story, not one where the main characters win all the time, and to that end, I need to make them suffer occasionally.
To invoke a cliché, "The night is darkest before the dawn" - in a traditional heroic narrative, which I am trying to emulate with SotN, there is always a point when the hero hits rock-bottom and all hope seems lost, before they rise up and overcome the obstacles set against them. It is my belief that the eventual triumphant ending is "earned", and made all the more satisfying, by the depths that the hero first has to fall to in order to reach it. That said, however, I do listen to your criticism, and I have slightly modified the ending of this chapter to end on a lighter note than I originally planned.
My fanfic recommendation for you this time, is 10Blue10's Heart Bind Saga, which starts - appropriately - with Heart Bound. The concept of soul bonds/telepathic links/Paolini probably deserves royalties between Hiccup and Toothless is well explored within fanfiction, however this story takes the slightly unusual step of having the bind take place only a few months before the events of HTTYD2. The story gets off to a slightly rocky start, but it improves through the sequel Dragon Soul, and the currently ongoing vignette series This Is Berk, which explores specifics of its world and characters, is particularly interesting.
Finally, as always, thank you for reading, especially to any of you long-time readers who've stuck with me, and please leave your thoughts in a review!
~Superbun