Forty Two: Occupational Hazard
It had been he most uncomfortable voyage that Chief Stoick the Vast of Berk had ever experienced. Every nerve was on edge, every sinew in his massively powerful body was tense as he paced the deck, gently circling the trapped Night Fury, occasionally trailing a comforting hand against the dragon's flank and murmuring words of reassurance to the black dragon. But his attention was on his brother, for Spitelout was almost acting as if he was Chief, making smug comments and gathering with his cronies as they clearly plotted against their Chief.
There was a creak as Stoick's hand tightened, the knuckles showing white against the skin of his fist as he glanced over to his supporters, his loyal Council. They were doing what was required, sailing the ship into Helheim's Gate and towards their doom. Stoick had no doubt that Hiccup wasn't lying when he stressed the size and danger of the beast waiting for them. The boy had been terrified and though every fibre of Stoick's Viking Soul wanted to vanquish the beast that had commanded the ravaging dragons for so long, his duty as Chief meant that he wasn't willing to risk the Tribe in that desire. Yet Spitelout and his witless cronies had pushed and roped in the Hooligans, who loved shouting and really loved a fight. None of them were really great thinkers and as he glanced across the ship, seeing Ivar Hofferson, Hobnut and Fungi Thorston, Batlegs Ingerman and Gobber all peering forward into the fog, he knew they were in trouble.
"Take us to the Nest, Toothless," he murmured as the dragon gave him a depressed look-and then glanced up, his ear-flaps twitching and vibrating. He gave a little purr and his head turned to look to the right. Stoick frowned, then stomped to the rudder and glanced at the dragon, then pushed the rudder to move the boat in the direction the Night Fury had looked.
"Turning right!" Gobber yelled to the nearest ship. "Pass it on!"
"Okay…turning right, pass it on…"
The shouts receded in the fog as Toothless whirred and looked to the left. Stoick shoved the rudder in the opposite direction and the boat swung round the huge sea stack that loomed from the gloom. There was an old, rotting viking longship incongruously impaled upon the rock, the dragon's head prow staring blindly back at the Vikings. Gobber started, recognising the vessel.
"Oh-I wondered where that had gone," he murmured as Stoick nodded, his face as grim as granite. It was a vessel that had been lost in his father's time, one of the last where his father had lost many fine and experienced warriors in the quest. The loss had affected young Stoick greatly and he had vowed never to be so reckless…though he wondered where that resolve had gone with his repeated Searches…though he had never lost a man…until that last effort. And now. Now, his idiot half-brother would destroy the entire Tribe just so he could crown his brainless disgrace of a son as Chief.
Snotlout had been brought on the quest, against pretty much everyone's better judgement, because the boy had insisted he wanted to show his courage and prove that he was worthy of the Chiefdom. Of course, Spitelout had insisted as well and though the Council had shared completely disgusted looks, they had acquiesced, all secretly hoping a dragon would eat the boy during the battle.
But Stoick's concentration was focussed on Toothless as the Night Fury led them through the fog until the skeins cleared and a huge conical mountain emerged, the top of the cone glowing with orange. The sulphurous stench was edging the air and there was an incessant whirring and chittering of countless dragons that was almost deafening. Glancing over, Stoick saw Toothless flatten his earflaps and look around nervously. And then the ship beached on the black sand.
Immediately, Snotlout leapt from the ship, eager to be the first ashore-though he stumbled and almost landed flat on his face. Bearskin Chief's cloak flapping, Stoick leapt past him, landing agilely and facing the mountain, seeing tails and snouts whipping back from where dragons had been basking on the palisades of rock. And then he snapped his head round and glared at Spitelout's men.
"Step away from the dragon!" he commanded, guessing what they would do next.
"It's served its purpose," Yaklips argued but Stoick's glare could melt steel and the men automatically took a pace back.
"No," he growled. "Not-Silent Sven-watch the dragon. Tell me if he reacts: it could be the only warning we get that something is about to happen!"
"Yes, Chief!"
"Get those catapults set up!" Spitelout commanded and Stoick watched him. As a trusted lieutenant, he would expect the man to get the line set up and the weapons readied-but how toxic was it that he now found himself suspecting every move the man made? He stirred and glanced around.
"I need a scouting party," he announced, his cool gaze sweeping over the Hooligans.
"Why?" Goatface asked insolently. "The mountain is just full of dragons-and there are more than enough of us to take them…"
"We were warned of a giant dragon," Phlegma reminded him. "The Chief is right. We should know what we are facing."
"It's a dragon!" Spitelout scoffed. "What are you going to do? Tremble at the colour of it's scales? The boy was lying-like the worthless slave he is! I say we crack the mountain open and kill the beast!" Stoick looked around and saw the entire Tribe cheering then nodded.
"Ulric, Flopears, Knut-move the ships to the head of the bay!" he commanded. "If that thing breaks loose, we need our retreat available." He was aware of Spitelout nudging Dogface and Hobnut Thorston and whispering loudly that the Chief had lost his courage. But Stoick was peering at the mountain, now eerily silent.
"Get ready," he commanded as the catapults were ready to fire. Gobber ambled to his side.
"You know all Hel is about to break loose-like my undies," he commented. "Good thing I brought spares." The Chief managed a thin smile: he had know Gobber for decades and it was a sure sign his friend was concerned that he was rambling about something utterly irrelevant.
"Over-sharing, Gobber," he murmured. "Keep an eye on Spitelout and his friends. They may think that the chaos of battle could be a good way to retire me prematurely…" The blacksmith gave a curt nod.
"Aye-anyone tries anything, Stoick-and they'll find my axe in their gut," he promised.
The catapults all fired and heavy boulders slammed into the grey pumice and granite wall of the volcano, the whole mountain shaking and crack appearing in the brittle rock. There was a huge grinding, tearing sound and half of the wall collapsed with a thundering roar, grey dust swirling around them and slowly clearing-to reveal a tunnel. Stoick glanced at his men, then made to advance-but Snotlout was sprinting ahead to attack, his hammer raised. Yelling, he scrambled up the loose rock into the tunnel, yelling and swiping at dragons that rocketed through the new entrance, flying silently and urgently past the frantically swiping Snotlout. Jumping up, the teen desperately tried to make contact with anything, flailing and missing everything-until the tunnel was empty and a couple of hundred dragons were speeding up into the sky, heading determinedly away from the volcano.
Snotlout turned, raising his arms in victory and roaring, as if he had single-handedly conquered the Nest and his father roared back, cries of 'That's My Boy!' echoing across the beach. But Stoick felt an unease, glancing at Toothless, who was cowering in his harness, trying to make himself small. Phlegma and Ivar Hofferson shared a look and raised their weapons, backing away as Stoick wondered if he should bother sending the scouting party now. Looking around, Stoick saw a few stones start to fall from the upper reaches of the volcano, felt the ground shudder…and again.
"REGROUP!" Stoick roared. "Reform the line. Shields up!"
"You just can't resist trying to undermine my victory," Snotlout grumbled as his father glanced up. Treacherous and ambitious he was, but he was a seasoned warrior and he could feel the change in his gut. Without a word, he ran back to the line, beckoning his son. Snotlout made to open his mouth-but there was a loud ripping noise as a huge crack tore through the solid rock of the tunnel. With an unmanly shriek, the teen accelerated out onto the beach to stand by his father as Stoick looked up, raising a shield.
"Something is coming!" he roared.
"What in Odin's name is that?" Spitelout yelled as the rock burst apart, a huge armoured grey head with a bony frill and small red eyes. Stoick gave a small, grim smile.
"That's the dragon that you accused Hiccup of lying about," he said with a small measure of satisfaction.
"Yer muttonhead," Gobber added under his breath.
"Only a fool dismisses a warning just because you are prejudiced against the messenger," Ivar Hofferson added and cast a scornful glance at Spitelout.
"Yeah-way to get us all killed, Jorgensen!" Hobnut added. "I know you want to get your son as Chief-but even if he survives, the Tribe will be annihilated!"
"We can do this!" Snotlout announced as the almost deafening sound of falling rocks filled the air as the dragon broke free. It was about a hundred feet high and looked like it was about a quarter the size of the mountain.
"Catapults! Reload!" the Chief yelled. "Aim…FIRE!"
The rocks bounced off the armoured hide of the monster and its roar shook the mountain. The Vikings backed up and then they all dived for cover as the dragon lunged forward, tree-trunk legs stamping on the nearest catapult and mouth biting the neighbouring weapon in half. There were screams as the vikings manning the catapults perished, Stoick wincing at the sounds. Suddenly, the dragon opened its mouth, inhaled and fired, rivers of flames boiling across the beach and incinerating the remains of the weapons and a dozen unwary Vikings who hadn't retreated quickly enough. Men jumped into the sea to escape the vision of Muspelheim and others hunkered low behind rocks, feeling the ferocious heat singe hair and beards.
"Hiccup was right!" Stoick bellowed. "This is madness. We have no weapons that can even scratch this monster! We must regroup!"
This time there were no arguments as the Vikings headed towards the ships, bobbing at the far end of the beach. Stoick looked at Gobber.
"Get them away," he said. "I'll distract the beast to give you time to get away. And tell Hiccup…I'm sorry." Gobber grabbed his friend's hand and stared into his face.
"Yeh've bin my friend for so long," he said. "I'll not leave yeh now. I can double that time for the warriors. The boy knows."
"I wish I had to time to get to know him better," Stoick murmured. "But death's an occupational hazard."
"Aye…now let's get those warriors away!" Goober grinned and danced back. "HEY! YE UGLY BEAST! OVER HERE!"
"NO! HERE!" Stoick yelled, slamming his hammer against his shield. The dragon roared, its eyes focussing on the red-haired shape and lunging at the shape of the Chief.
oOo
The dragon riders had seen dragons speed away over head as they closed on the Nest but the roar up ahead had Hiccup wincing.
"It's free," he said.
"What's free?" Astrid asked.
"The Chief dragon," he said. "It's out…and they are in danger." He looked over at his friends.
"Is it dangerous?" Tuff checked and the auburn-haired boy nodded.
"We'll probably all be killed," he confirmed.
"Awesome," the male twin replied and fist-bumped his sister. "Look, either we die of boredom on Berk or end up as Snotlout's henchmen or we go out doing something awesome…"
"And both our parents are down there," Ruff added. "So we better be the most irritating and amazing we can be!" The Riders broke through the fog and saw the huge dragon, stamping and snapping at the shape of Stoick, who was dodging, with Gobber lobbing a shield into the dragon's face to distract it. It missed Stoick and turned to chase the two limbed blacksmith, who was astonishingly fast when there was a mountain-sized dragon on his tail.
"Fishlegs! Can you give me any clues?" Hiccup called.
"Oh my Thor oh my Thor oh my Thor…"
"FISHLEGS! I need you NOW! FOCUS!" Hiccup shouted and the husky boy blinked and looked over at the scrawny shape, reminding himself that Hiccup had suffered far worse. If his friend could survive Outcast Island, Fishlegs could help them save the village.
"Okay…" the husky boy managed. "Large dragon, thick skin and large tail for bashing and crushing. Armoured head with small eyes…probably relies more on sense of smell. Also heavily armoured. Probably boulder class-especially as it lived inside the extreme heat of a volcano…"
"Very interesting but could we get to weaknesses before it squishes the Chief?" Astrid called, steering the Nadder round.
"Um…maybe try to confuse it?"
"Guys-distract it and allow the Chief and Gobber to get away!" Hiccup ordered.
"I'm very distracting because I'm so annoying!" Ruffnut called with a grin.
"WHAT? I'm far more annoying than you!" Tuff added, pulling faces and sticking his tongue out.
"Try not to get killed!" Hiccup called and leaned close to Astrid. "We need to find Toothless," he murmured. She nodded and leaned, already becoming more familiar with how her dragon responded-and they accelerated round, swooping over the beach and staring down. Gobber and Stoick were distracting the huge dragon-but there was a third shape-the stocky and powerful shape of Spitelout, his axe raised as he stalked towards the distracted Chief. Hiccup looked over at his father. "DAD! LOOK OUT!" he yelled but his voice was lost amid a shattering roar of the dragon.
And then they were over the longships, the Vikings still running towards the safety of the vessels-but there was already someone on board the leading vessel, walking towards the helpless restrained Night Fury with an axe raised. Hiccup nodded to Astrid as she flew low and threw himself from the back of the Nadder, landed on the deck beyond the dragon and looking back at Yaklips.
"What are you doing here?" the man asked in shock as the boy straightened up and walked towards the frantically struggling Night Fury. Hiccup could recognise the chains and harness as Gobber's best work and knew the dragon couldn't hope to break free-but the man was still approaching.
"I could ask the same thing," Hiccup replied with a confidence he didn't feel. Yaklips gave a leer of anger.
"This dragon has to die," he snarled. "Spitelout's orders. If that…thing…is going to kill us, we won't leave the Night Fury alive."
"But it's not his fault!" Hiccup protested. Yaklips glared at the young man and raised the axe above the muzzled head.
"He's a dragon!" he spat. Hiccup fumbled inside his vest and found the concealed dagger.
"No," he said, finding a sudden calm within himself. "He's my friend." And as he spoke, he threw the knife with all his strength.
Yaklips jerked, the blade buried deep in his throat. Instinctively, he staggered back, the axe falling from nerveless fingers as he clawed at the injury. Hiccup froze, shocked at what he had just done-and then the man collapsed back, dead.
The beach shook with another roar from the monster and Hiccup snapped out of his daze, running forward to grab the axe and then carefully severing the leather and chain muzzle. Carefully, he sliced through the chains and released the relieved dragon from the harness. And then Toothless almost knocked him over in relief, licking the young Viking eagerly, until Hiccup finally had to push him off.
"Yeah-I couldn't be more relieved to see you too, bud," Hiccup said honestly. "And I am so sorry this happened." And then he scrambled to his feet. "We need to stop her, don't we?" Toothless nodded solemnly and shimmied, inviting Hiccup to take his place on the saddle that no one had bothered to remove. Taking a breath, Hiccup jumped into place and settled, deploying the tail and leaning forward. "Let's go, bud," he breathed.
Astrid glanced over from where she and the others were buzzing around the huge dragon and saw the black shape accelerate vertically upwards.
"They're up!" she shouted. The twins were buzzing the dragon, hanging before its eyes, Fishlegs was banging his shield in the dragon's ear and Gustav and the Nightmare has flown across the dragon's three small right eyes, gouging them viciously with the Nightmare's talons. "Get out of here…"
"I'm losing control of the Gronckle," Fishlegs shouted, alarmed. He was leaning and kicking the dragon's sides but its eyes were fixed on the huge dragon. Astrid urged her dragon on and it fired in the dragon's face. Briefly distracted, Fishlegs and his dragon plummeted to the ground. Immediately, Stoick ran forward to check the husky boy. "I'm okay," Fishlegs offered shakily.
"Then move!" Stoick grunted, hauling the boy back as a huge paw slammed down where they had been. "Run!" he shouted. Fishlegs bolted for it-but Stoick turned-to see Spitelout approaching him, his axe raised. "You too, brother…" the Chief said but the other man shook his head.
"Only one of us is leaving this beach," he said. Stealing a glance up at the monster, which made an optimistic snap at the twins on the Zippleback, he backed away.
"Spitelout-this is treason," he said. "I am your blood."
"So is my son-and your were going to dishonour him for that filthy slave!" Spitelout sneered, preparing to attack. Stoick had flung his hammer at the monster and was unarmed-and as he cast around for a weapon, he heard a familiar whine as the Night Fury zipped past and circled past the dragon. There was a pause and Stoick looked up with shock and pride at seeing Hiccup ride the most feared dragon in the Archipelago.
Though of course, they don't know about this monster when they called it that, he thought.
Above, Hiccup glanced down and saw his father-facing an armed Spitelout. Astrid was struggling-but Toothless flipped round and let out a huge blast in the dragon's face, knocking it back a step to allow her desperate Nadder to break free-before Hiccup pulled Toothless round. The Night Fury fired a plasma blast between Spitelout and Stoick, driving the traitor back a step…and then a tree-trunk leg slammed down, crushing the treacherous elder Jorgensen into the dirt. Hiccup started in shock and Stoick felt himself screaming his brother's name…but in vain.
Spitelout was dead.
Pulling himself together, the Chief turned and ran after the distant shape of Fishlegs, away from the monster as the Night Fury flipped round.
"We've got to get this monster away from them," Hiccup murmured, his voice shaky with shock. "If it catches them, the village is destroyed. If it's allowed to go, it will keep dragons enslaved and the attacks will continue. Your kind dies, my kind dies…all to keep that monster fed and pampered." He rested a hand on Toothless's powerful neck and the dragon gave a small warble. The Night Fury gave another powerful blast knocking the dragon sideways and fixed its attention solely on them. "It has wings-let's see how well it flies…"
The huge dragon opened long-disused wings, flapping furiously and rising to chase the agile black dragon, crashing through sea stacks in its eagerness to annihilate the impudent challenger. It fired again and again at the smaller dragon-but Hiccup and Toothless were too agile, watching the dragon exhaust its flame. Tapping Toothless's neck, Hiccup leaned forward.
"Let's take her up," he murmured and Toothless crooned in agreement, before the accelerated directly upwards. Behind them, the dragon followed, maw open and snapping at them. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder, seeing the monster far closer than he could have imagined and he leaned closer to the dragon. But in a few more wing-flaps, they vanished into the heavy cloud, the clammy moisture embracing them and shielding them from sight. Instantly, Hiccup leaned and they circled.
"We'll take her high and then see how well she can manoeuvre," he murmured. "Let's see if we can stop her slowing. She'll crash to the ground…" Toothless looked through the corner of the eye and nodded, then swooped round and blasted a hole in her wings as she flapped past. In a dizzying series of loops and turns, they repeatedly punched holes in the wings, then shot upwards as the dragon tried to follow once more.
With a ferocious roar, the dragon flapped its wings and the membranes began to tear. Furious, it fired at the dodging Night Fury, the flames licking around Hiccup and the boy screamed, the arm of his tunic catching fire. Unseen behind them, the prosthetic tail also began to burn. Swiftly batting the flames out with his hand and trembling in pain and shock, Hiccup leaned against Toothless.
"Time to go," he breathed as Toothless flipped round and accelerated past the snapping monster, causing it to follow them directly down. Behind them, Hiccup could feel rather than hear it readying to fire and knowing if they were hit once more, they were done, he flipped Toothless. "If it can fire, it has fuel…and if that all burns at once…" he murmured. The dragon opened its maw and Hiccup could smell the oleaginous scent of flame, leaning forward.
"NOW!"
Toothless blasted directly into the dragon's mouth, the gases igniting as his purple plasma blast ripped deep into the monster's throat. It's eyes bulged as a series of explosions started to rip through the huge bulk. The dragon was clearly flameproof on the outside-because it lived in the heart of a volcano-but on the inside, it was clearly simply flesh and blood. The Night Fury flipped round and dodged the huge dragon as it continued, out of control, accelerating towards the ground that was coming up quickly. Hiccup ducked as a flame burst through the dragon's flank and snapped his foot down on the pedal.
Nothing happened, for the leather was all gone and the metal struts were twisted and melted. Hiccup glanced over and felt panic overwhelm him. There was nothing they could do as faithful, brave Toothless flapped upwards, away from the dying monster. They were barely halfway up its back when it impacted, its skin rupturing and the whole creature exploding in a fireball. But it its dying throes, its tail suddenly arched down and slammed into Hiccup. He screamed, separated from the Night Fury and began to fall back into the fire. Flames enfolded him and as he looked up, seeing Toothless's desperate green eyes lock on him, the great wings flapping furiously to drive the dragon not away but down, towards the boy.
"It's okay, bud," he murmured as he felt his tunic burn. "We've saved them. We've saved Dad. It was worth it."
And then they both vanished into the inferno.