Twenty Five: Pray the Chief never finds out
An explosion sounded and the unmistakeable shouts of Stoick the Vast echoed through the fog.
"Raise your shields! Hoark-get a bucket line to put out the fire on the sails! Spitelout-lead the spearmen in driving the devils back!"
The unmistakable cackle of fire was audible above the clamour of battle and Hiccup saw the shapes of dragons-Monstrous Nightmares, Deadly Nadders and a Timberjack-all of them clustered around the longships. Hiccup instinctively leaned to the left and the Night Fury banked, turning but never taking his eyes from the conflict. The young Viking leaned close to the dragon, his entire body tense with concern for the warriors. It looked grim and though he knew they were great fighters and very experienced in facing dragons, they were in three longships, two of which looked to be damaged and one of which was definitely on fire. If he did nothing, people would be killed and they could include some of the best warriors-and Stoick, who was the closest to family that Hiccup had.
"We have to save them," Hiccup said urgently. The dragon gave a croon. "Look-I know you are really powerful and you have no reason to trust humans…" Toothless swatted the boy with one of his earflaps. "Ow! Well, nearly all humans then-but the Chief was very kind. He rescued me when he didn't have to and when no one else would. Without him…I would probably be dead. I wouldn't have survived what was happening. And he has been kind to me. I-I can't stand by and just watch him die. Please…"
There was a long pause as the dragon gave a thoughtful rumble. The boy had no idea whether the creature could even understand him but he knew that he had to try. Though why would a dragon help the human it was with against its own kind? Hiccup shook his head. It had been a stupid idea, worthy even of Snotlout-except the Heir wouldn't have risked his own safety to try to find and bring back the warriors. To him, to would have been a complete waste of time: to Hiccup, it was the only possible choice.
The way the dragon under him tensed was suddenly jerked took him by surprise but he saw rather than heard the purple plasma blast slam into the side of the Timberjack and crash it into a rugged sea stack. The larger dragon gave a huge bellow and thrashed around, its razor wings cutting the damp air with slicing sounds. Toothless rolled and blasted a flaming Monstrous Nightmare sideways and away from the burning longship. As the dragon accelerated into the turn, there was a high pitched whistle that had the Vikings all ducking down, their shields raised and weapons readied.
"NIGHT FURY!" The cry leapt from a dozen throats and Hiccup pressed himself as low as he could possibly manage over the black dragon's neck, hoping the mist and the night would conceal him from the villagers below. He had briefly forgotten that they considered Toothless to be the most fearsome dragon around because the dragon had never shown him anything but kindness and a kind of playful curiosity that was at complete odds with his reputation as a slathering beast. And while he was wise enough to know that any animal could turn in a moment, he knew as well that Toothless was an intelligent creature that had saved a helpless human for no personal gain and who was helping Hiccup for exactly the same reward. Hiccup leaned right and they peeled away, swooping out of the dancing warm light from the burning sail, looping the loop in the foggy dark overhead and accelerating down to blast a couple more Nightmares away from the ship.
To the other side of the little conflict, a red Nadder flipped a spray of spines into the third ship, two slicing holes in the sail and the third injuring a Viking. The Timberjack roared furiously and circled round, lashing out and slicing though the mast of the third ship and decapitating an unwary Viking. Hiccup cringed back, his eyes slammed closed and teeth gritted against a cry of horror. The Vikings yelled in rage as another Monstrous Nightmare blasted the side of the third boat and the dragons clustered around. Hiccup sighed.
"They're getting killed," he hissed. "Please…" Toothless accelerated vertically and the boy felt his throat thicken with disappointment. Not that he could blame the dragon: he was asking him to fight his own kind to save the beings that attacked and killed dragons when they came to the village. He owed Hiccup nothing and had given the boy everything…
Abruptly, Toothless folded his wings and dived, arrowing down at insane speeds, his wings still folded as he targeted the attacking dragons. Suddenly he blasted four away, slamming the unprepared dragons into the icy grey sea and opening his wings as they blasted past the ships, the sea exploding up in a veil after they passed. The ships rocked as Toothless shot the remaining Nightmare and saw it slam against the recovering Timberjack and the two dragons, tangled together, plunged back into the icy sea.
"ERE! THERE"S SOMEONE RIDIN' THAT DRAGON!"
Hiccup cringed at the sound of Mildew's voice and hoped the man would not have had the chance to see who it was amid the chaos.
"SHUT UP MILDEW!" Spitelout's voice echoed above the crackle of flames.
"EVERYBODY ON THE ODIN'S STAR!" Stoick bellowed. "The other ships are sinking. Everyone to the oars and put your backs into it! We need to get out of here! Head back for Berk!"
Oh, thank Thor, Hiccup thought with relief as he glanced back and saw the warriors leaping into the one remaining seaworthy vessel, the wounded being helped to transfer and settled by the prow. The Night Fury was circling above the disaster zone but the attacking dragons had fled. Sneaking a glance down, Hiccup saw the hated shape of Mildew, standing in the middle of the crowded deck, his staff in his hand and staring directly up into the night. Hiccup ducked back, muttering a hasty prayer to Odin that the man hadn't seen him-because he couldn't face Mildew or lose his home when all he wanted to do was help.
"Thanks, bud," Hiccup murmured. "That was completely awesome…" Toothless warbled softly-and then he gave a small worried croon as a wall of dragons came at them. Ducking down, Hiccup felt himself almost grasped by a passing Gronckle and Toothless had no option but to accelerate into the crowd, jostled on the left and right, penned above and below and with nowhere to go but forward. The dragons dived down and the Night Fury was penned in, weaving through an unseen maze of sea stacks in the fog, guided only by an instinct that even Toothless seemed to respond to. The Night Fury kept moving his head to cast worried glances at his passenger and Hiccup lay as flat and motionless as he could on the dragon's back, praying none of the others would pay him any heed.
They broke through the cloud and an island appeared ahead of them, a conical mountain belching black sulphurous smoke into the already thick and ripe atmosphere. The dragons were all arrowing straight to a crack, an old lava vent halfway up the side of the mountain and Hiccup hung on for grim death, wondering where he would end up now. The black, folded rocks almost looked like hardened black dough and as they flew in, a sudden wave of heat hit the boy, along with a stench of rotten eggs that made his eyes water and his throat tickle irresistibly. He coughed exhaustingly as they suddenly broke into a huge cavern, filled with terrible heat, an orange light and ledge upon ledge with terrified-looking dragons perched on them. The new arrivals were dropping their catches-farm animals, fish, even a dead warrior-into the roiling noisome fog that concealed the deepest recesses of the massive heart of the mountain and as they swooped, Toothless finally peeled off, landing high up and retreating into the shadows behind a spur of rock. His ears were down and he was as terrified-looking as the rest, cowering back.
"What is it, bud?" Hiccup murmured, his emerald eyes seeking the cavern for a threat. And then it clicked: this was the Nest, the source of the dragons and the attacks on Berk and the other islands that got raided. And it was indeed full of dragons and they were pouring in, carrying raided bounty for their clan…except they all seemed to be dropping it into the foggy pit. Toothless gave an almost soundless whimper, his ears flat. Hiccup rested his hand reassuringly on the dragon's head and the great Night Fury seemed to settle a little, calmed by the presence that seemed to ease his fears. Though Hiccup had no idea how he was supposed to do that. And his former suspicions horribly reappeared in his memory, his suspicion that there was a general or chief that commanded the raids, a leader dragon that ran the show.
Suddenly, an enormous head rose from the mists and ate a small Gronckle-that seemed to have aroused its wrath and had only dropped a tiny fish in tribute. The jaws snapped shut with a terrible crunch that echoed round the cavern and had every dragon cringing back-and in that moment, Hiccup knew he had seen it. The monster that Stoick had been risking his life to find…and a devil far too large for any Viking to take down.
But the creature had sensed him…or rather smelled him. Panicking, Hiccup could see the head rise further, could see the three small eyes on each side, the heavy armour, the blunt bony frill, the grey skin studded with small red spines an the huge nostrils that inhaled loudly and swung inexorably towards their hiding place.
"RUN!" he hissed and Toothless was already up, bounding into the air with a powerful flap of the wings and hearing the crunch of the maw narrowly missing them and biting a two-headed dragon in half. There was another tunnel, leading towards the top of the volcano and Toothless accelerated up, Hiccup hanging on with all his strength until they burst into the clear sky and arrowed away. There were all sorts of dragons scattering through the skies and they could hear the mountain shake as the monster within stirred in its restless anger and roared as it was thwarted.
Breathing hard, Hiccup hung on until Toothless finally slowed down when Berk came into sight. The other dragons had melted away and they were alone with only a few torches marking the village. Finally, the boy sat up on the dragon's back.
"Is that why you are staying on Berk?" he asked and there was a pause before the dragon nodded.
"Does that thing control you?" There was a small croon. "Sorry, rephrase-does that thing control the raiding dragons?"
Nod.
"And you escaped?"
There was a small warble and Toothless looked up at the boy. He gave a small bark that had Hiccup smiling.
"Me? I had something to do with it?"
Nod. The boy smiled.
"You're welcome," he said with a chuckle. "Now it's only about ten-one to you…" Toothless managed to make what for all the world was a laughing sound. "But you could go anywhere. I mean, you have wings."
Toothless gave a low croon and he looked at Hiccup again with expressive eyes that seemed to tell the boy all he needed to know.
"But…but I'm not worth anything," he mouthed as the dragon gave a happy croon.
You are to me.
Hiccup leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the dragon's neck, his eyes burning with tears of joy and gratitude.
"Thanks, bud," he murmured. "You are my best friend as well. Let's make sure we stay clear of the Nest and that dragon." Toothless gave an affirmative warble as they sailed above the village and headed back into the forest. But as they swooped down to land, Hiccup felt a sudden feeling of unease.
Stoick desperately wanted to know where the Nest was, so he could destroy it-but Hiccup knew, without any doubt, that there was no hope for the Vikings to do anything but die. Any attack was suicide. So though he knew something the Chief would give his right arm to know, Hiccup-who owed the man his life-would have to lie to him to save his life.
And pray the Chief never finds out.