Here we go, everyone!

Chapter Forty-Four: The Clash

Astrid cried out, sobbing as her stomach and guts throbbed, grinding against each other in painful bouts of shivers. Her body was riddled with broken bones; tiny cuts made my debris and shrapnel stung against the cold stone. She choked and gasped for breath, slowly returning to herself. She tried to bring her knees to her chest, whimpering and frigid. She shivered and swallowed, trying to calm herself.

She tried to lift her head off the stone, but she could only rock it back and forth. She couldn't feel her frozen legs, she could hardly move. Her teeth clattered together as she growled and grunted. A hand dropped to her side, and she felt the rocks beneath her. Closing her eyes tightly, clenching her jaw to keep herself from screaming, she pushed herself from her side to her back.

Her shoulder rolled and landed on the floor limply. She opened her mouth to gasp and breathe, letting her arm fall at her side. She thought about her feet, how they felt like ghosts to her, and peeled her burned eyes open to the sky above her. Sun Sap poured down the walls around her, pooling on the floor, hissing as the heat killed the dampness beneath it. Smoke flew and twisted out of the Pit and Astrid blinked slowly, her vision slowly returning to her.

She winced if she opened her eyes too wide, the delicate skin around her eyes scorched and raw. Eyes half-hung, blurred blobs of incoherency turned into sharper shapes. The skin around her face began to quiver and close as she noticed the Pit one hundred feet above her, a distant shadow of fire and smoke. Rubble tumbled down, falling towards her for what seemed like minutes before it crashed around her unmoving body. She couldn't hear the rocks smash into the ground, but she could feel it in her back. The blow had erupted her eardrums, protecting her from the loud noises.

Pain blew up her body again, knocking what little air she had in her lungs out of body. She groaned, wrapping herself with a broken arm, unable to breathe.

Astrid?! a voice screamed in the back of her mind. Can you hear me?!

Toothless filled her mind, and the pain ebbed away slowly, giving Astrid a window of time for her to breathe again.

I'm here, she thought back to him.

Just hold on, we're coming as fast as we can!

I… can't feel my legs…

Toothless didn't say anything for a moment, before he returned to her.

Where are you?

I don't know…

Don't move, we're going to –

Wait, Astrid interrupted as she choked for a breath. You have to save the people. They're trapped. Save them before the fire spreads.

But Astrid –

"Hurry!" Astrid coughed out loud.

She groaned again, blood sticking her clumps of her hair together as she lifted her head off the stone. Her face had finally healed, and her arm cramped painfully as the bones slowly met each other once more, fusing together as one. She rolled onto her side again and felt her limp legs twist together, unable to move. She reached over her head to grab a lip in the rock, to pull herself away from the creeping Sun Sap around her. She grunted as she dragged herself feebly, only scraping ahead by inches until she had to stop for another breath. She let her face fall onto the warming stone, gasping for more air as her cheek stuck to the rocks under it.

Hiccup stared ahead, his eyes wide and his throat tight, as they weaved through the stone pillars blocking them from the Underground miles ahead. He heard Astrid's voice speaking to Toothless… Astrid's beautiful, familiar voice, struggling to connect as Toothless called out to her. His throat ached as he suppressed his tears, reality sinking into his skin like venom: Astrid was alive, she was on the horizon where smoke billowed high into the sky.

They were nearing the mountain every second, dragons shrieking and calling to the smouldering island ahead. Ships sailed as fast as they could, flying across the water as Thunderdrums and Scauldrons charged ahead. They wove around the pillars, almost smashing into the rocks towering out of the ocean. Eret and his entire crew threw themselves onto the wheel of his ship, holding it still as their ship turned a harsh corner. The boat creaked and rocked, tipping violently.

"To starboard side!" Eret yelled. Half his men abandoned the wheel and scrambled up the ship's dock, slipping as the ship teetered on its side. They leapt onto the railing, weighing the vessel back into the water.

"The ship's not meant to go this fast!" Mehran squealed. "If your father knew what you were doing with his ship, he'd have your eyes!"

Eret smiled and laughed as he turned the wheel again. "Too bad he doesn't. Hold on!"

The side of the ship careened into a pillar, sending everyone flying into the portside railing. Eret's smile vanished as the ship groaned, timber snapping off the side of it like straw. Eret jumped to his feet and ran to the dragon trap. He threw the gate up, glaring inside for a moment. Water sloshed around within, filling the ship faster and faster. But he didn't focus on that. Instead, he was face to face with a wild dragon, a Timberjack with snarling teeth and a wet face.

"You weren't supposed to hit the rocks!" a tiny voice complained angrily.

The Timberjack jumped out of the trap, grabbing Eret's vest with its teeth. It tossed him up and threw him high in to the air. Eret flailed around before he landed on the dragon's back. He scrambled to sit up, and was met by a drenched, pouting face.

"Snowdrop, what are you doing on my ship?!"

"You really think I'm going to stay behind?! My sister's in there!"

Eret slapped a hand over his face. "Hiccup's gonna kill me."

"Especially if we drown on your stupid boat!"

Snowdrop wrapped the rope reins around her tiny wrists. The back end of the boat broke away, slowly obliterating itself on the water.

"Come on!" Snowdrop cried, waving a hand above her head. Eret's crew all leapt onto the giant dragon, holding onto it for dear life as the deck blew apart under their feet. The Timberjack swung its wing around, slicing the ropes tying the railing and the spar to the water dragons dragging it. It leapt into the air and all the men screamed as the dragon climbed the air, grunting with the extra weight. They hovered over another trading ship, where men jumped down around Cauli, who steered her own ship around the remainder of Eret's boat. She noticed Snowdrop manning the reins and did a double-take.

"What are you doing?!" she yelled.

Snowdrop frowned. "Why does it seem like no one wants me here? I just saved Eret!"

Eret jumped off the dragon's back, rolling as his feet hit the dock.

"Go home to Berk!" he yelled. Snowdrop scowled at him and rolled her eyes. She heaved the Timberjack up and huddled on its back as it shot up into the sky, following formation far behind Hiccup. Eret rubbed his eyes and Cauli cursed.

"How did she get here?" Cauli asked Eret with an unenthused look on her forehead.

"She stowed away in my trap," Eret spat. Cauli raised an eyebrow and snorted.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"She's smarter than she looks!" Eret replied.

Astrid lifted her head again as Sun Sap poured into the puddle behind her. Her ears were slowly returning back to normal, and the sound of steam hissing into the air made her cringe. She reached ahead and grabbed another lip in the rock. This time, she could get a leg up while the other healed, and she pushed with her knee. She inched forward, grunting as the Sun Sap surrounded her. It slowly illuminated the pit around her as she crawled away from the wall. She reached forward one more time, and her hand hit something raised; a hill, or a protrusion of sorts. She pushed herself up, struggling against her own weight as she dragged her other leg behind her. A cramp caused her to tense up. Grabbing her gut again, she shivered and sucked in a breath.

Something was wrong. Her bones were healing. Her eyes and her ears had healed, her arm and one of her legs was almost back to normal, but something inside her wasn't healing. A ruptured organ, maybe punctured, warm blood seeping around her insides from the impact. Sweat poured down Astrid's face from the heat of the pooling Sun Sap, which had filled the entire floor below her. She kept crawling up, grabbing at what felt like rocks to hoist herself as far up as she could go.

The Sap licked up the hill Astrid was climbing when it became light enough for Astrid to see her hand. Her fingers, pale and bloody and bruised, clutched a rock under her palm… a rock…

A scale.

Astrid's eyes widened and she forgot about her pain as she noticed the scales under her, creating the hill she was desperately climbing. She let go of the scale and cowered, looking around herself frantically. This was a giant, a dragon she could not see fully. It took a deep breath, raising Astrid into the air suddenly before it sighed. Astrid held onto one of the scales, a huge slab of dragon hide the size of herself, as the dragon hummed.

Hmmmm…

Astrid lied upon the dragon's side, her heart cold and pounding ferociously as she tried to catch her breath.

Sooo… warm…

"Oh gods," Astrid wheezed. "Oh gods, oh gods…"

The dragon twitched and hummed again, snorting as it bathed in the Sun Sap. Stargazer's words sang in the back of Astrid's head as she remained frozen, trembling in fear:

"Things like Sun Sap only grow on nest sites, to keep the queen warm in the winter. Your father and I explored the Red Death nest after her fall just before I had your sister and it was everywhere within the fortress."

The queen beneath Astrid lurched, struggling against thousands of chains that laced around her body. Astrid gasped and shuddered as it tried to raise its massive head, but the deafening crack and squeal of chains embedded in the floor holding her down forced her still. Astrid could see a crown of what loked like crystals, clear and purple and blue grinding against the wall around her.

What?

It struggled again, this time violently, fear seeping into Astrid's mind. She cried out as the dragon huffed and wriggled, trying to keep her grip secure.

Yoooou tiied me here? the dragon asked sadly.

"No, no, I didn't!"

You hear me?

The words were gentle, but ancient. Astrid couldn't help but trust, to calm at the sound of the queen's voice. She whined and made the walls of the pit rumble. Astrid nodded quickly, and the dragon stirred again.

You… my children… talk of you… I've seen you… in my dreams…

The dazed dragon sighed again.

Who would… want to do this to me?

Astrid closed her eyes, holding herself again. "Evil people," she murmured sourly.

This room… was full of dragons… before I went for my winter slumber… where are they?

Astrid didn't want to say. The Pit, the Hatch, forced into wars for men, forced to work as slaves –

Your mind… is plagued with dangerous thoughts… memories of pain…

The dragon groaned and kicked a leg against the chains, but could not move. The chains squealed in protest, but there were too many holding her down. She gave up, snorting into the stone.

My children…

"Come on, bud!" Hiccup yelled to Toothless. The Night Fury panted as he surged on like a lightning bolt, following Valka as close as they could. Rose stayed close by with Stoick trailing behind her. They were finally reaching the shore, so close to the snow-covered port that taunted Valka as she approached it. The dragons dove, shooting for the shoreline. Valka held onto Cloudjumper, the fear the speed would tear her from his back repeated itself in her mind. Everyone followed, and Cloudjumper filled his mouth with gas, opened his wide jaws and hissing as they dove.

Cloudjumper breathed his fire onto the huge patch of snow and ice plugging the port, levelling out before they crashed into the shallow waves below. Valka soared out of the way. She twisted around to see her damage, but the ice was too thick.

"COME ON!" Hiccup screamed as they dove. Toothless filled his own mouth, creating a plasma blast in his throat, the wind whistling past Hiccup's ears. He tucked his head behind Toothless' fins, tensing his body, squeezing his eyes shut, his foot itching to crank Toothless' tail.

The plasma blast burst out of Toothless' mouth, slamming into the icy patch with a muffled explosion. Hiccup opened the tail fin and they barely touched the water, twisting and spinning to regain control. Behind him, hundreds of manned and wild dragons fired at the frozen port, diving and levelling out and swarming as the ships entered the bay. The water dragons stopped and sailors hacked the ropes clear from their ships. Water dragons burst from the ocean's surface. Scauldrons heavy with boiling water lumbered to the ice and spewed the blazing salt water onto the steaming ice.

"We're almost through!" Valka told Hiccup.

The ice broke apart and tumbled into the ocean, creating a hole big enough for a ship or two to sail in safely. Hiccup turned Toothless and they shot for it, desperate to get inside.

Suddenly, a cluster of shrieking Whispering Deaths in chains scuttled from the hole, hissing and baring their teeth. They leapt on the Scauldrons, biting into their throats and forcing them back into the water.

Hiccup and Toothless scrambled back, horrified gasps in their throats.

Broken dragons, dragons with shattered minds, attacked the dragons diving towards the port. Hiccup watched in terror as a scarred and emaciated Monstrous Nightmare leapt onto a smaller Gronckle, scratching its face apart as it grabbed the rider between its jaws. It swallowed the rider before the Gronckle threw it off him, squealing and crying as their damaged eyes tried to see.

"Pit dragons!" Valka said, her mouth contorted in horror. "They've released the Pit dragons!"

"What do we do?!" Stoick asked.

"Strike them down!" Rose reluctantly replied as they watched dragons fall out of the sky like flied. "They have no mind, they have been trained to kill! Keep them off our riders!"

Stoick and Valka shot forward together, aiming straight for the dragons attacking their fellow riders. Cloudjumper grabbed a Whispering Death with his legs and spun around, hurling it into the rocks of the island's surface. Skullcrusher collided with a feral Nadder, scaring it off before the Rumblehorn could inflict more damage. Rose chased after a dragon attacking a Berkian woman while Snotlout and Fishlegs threw a chain around a Typhoomerang trying to spin into the air in a flurry of sparks.

"We've got to get in there," Hiccup growled.

There's too many dragons coming forth, Toothless replied angrily. The pair of them dove, firing another shot at the port's mouth, breaking the rest of the ice apart. They shot up again, grabbing a Zippleback off one of Cauli's men. They hurled it behind them, spinning around to dive again.

HHHHHIIIIIIIICCUUUUUUUUUP!

The voice burst into Hiccup's mind. He screamed and grabbed his head, howling in pain as Toothless reared his head back. The two of them cried out as the sound hissed and grated within themselves. Rose shrieked and slapped her hands over her ears as Stingbreath and the other dragons all cringed and croaked, twisting and tensing in the air as the voice hit them all with a fierce projection.

Cloudjumper thrashed his head back and forth and Valka struggled to keep her balance as he cried out in agony. Stoick found Hiccup in the sky, twisting in pain.

The sound left Hiccup, his strength leaving with the voice for a moment as he fell onto Toothless' back. His ears rang and the side of his head ached, making his eyes roll and his face stretch into a grimace. He pushed himself off Toothless' back, keeping an arm wrapped around Toothless' neck. He gave his head a shake, a shiver crawling up his spine.

"What the f…" Hiccup didn't finish his words as he looked at the chaos below him, hovering hundreds of feet in the air. All the dragons were bucking wildly, trying to compose themselves as riders desperately held onto them.

I'm getting you out of here! Toothless yelled.

Hiccup sat up sharply, grabbing the reins. "What?! No, I'm not –"

Another explosion send fire belching out of the port, hissing at the bloom of fire stroked the water's surface, searing dragons as they fled from it. Toothless jumped and swerved. Hiccup held him steady as he watched ships sail out, armed to the teeth with bloodthirsty Berserkers and Outcasts. The vessels had cannons firing Sun Sap into the sky, and with the sky so full of creatures, their shots didn't miss. Dragons spattered in impossibly hot goo tumbled out of the air, slamming into the sea below.

"We've gotta deal with those ships!" Hiccup grunted. He cranked his foot to dive, but Toothless squirmed, trying to disobey. "Toothless, c'mon!"

No! Toothless whined, trying to fight Hiccup as he tried to wriggle his foot.

"What is your problem?!"

SSSSSSSAAAAAAAVIOOOOOOOOOOOOOURRRRR!

That voice again, piercing and blinding. Toothless wrenched back and forth, trying to get the voice out of his head.

"Whoa, hold still, hold still!" Hiccup cried, a hand to his head and another reaching for the reins once more. "This isn't gonna work if you won't listen to me!"

You need to listen to ME! Toothless countered, levelling out once more. It's too dangerous!

A bellow shook the port, and Toothless violently flinched. The last of the Underground dragons squirmed and twisted out of the port's mouth as the Berserker ships sailed into the bay. Another roar from within the compound startle the dragons. Rose struggled to hang onto Stingbreath as she wriggled and thrashed, and Valka and Stoick both cried out as their dragons spun and seized up.

A Skrill crawled out of the port, scuttling across the ceiling until it reached daylight. It crawled over the port's lip and buried its talons in the earth above it, pulling itself out like a spider out of an egg. Hiccup grimaced at the sight of its horrendously scarred back, the dips and peaks of them reflecting the sunlight off its violet flesh. Blood had poured out of his left eye and shined under the firelight and sun. Dagur held his sword in a tight fist, his bare back healing from the horrific burns caused by the Pit explosion. His jet black hair clung to his back, his shoulders, his face as he snapped his head to the sky.

He cried out, thrusting his sword into the air, and his soldiers screamed as they advanced.

"A Skrill," Hiccup said in a bout of disbelief. His hand trailed to the scar that bisected his belly, the memory of Crasher slicing him over a year ago haunting his mind.

Dagur, Toothless growled.

"Hiccup," Dagur spat, grinning at him from the ground. "Finally."

The Skrill launched itself into the air, his wings dragging his massive and injured body into the air. Hiccup grabbed his saddle, cranking his leg. The pair of them banked, twirling and shooting straight for the water. Thorvane followed, jaws open. He tried to summon lightning, but Dagur had starved him so much in the past, he was unable to muster any. That didn't stop him from tearing after the pair.

Toothless turned and shot over Thorvane. He fired a plasma shot into Thorvane's roaring mouth, just as they had done with the Red Death almost six years before.

Thorvane choked on the blast, biting around it and tumbling out of the air, crashing into the snow below. Dagur flew over Thorvane's head and hit the ground hard, dazing him for a moment. Hiccup looked back to the smouldering mountain ahead.

"Do you hear Astrid?" he asked quickly.

No, there's too much chaos.

The ships below were getting closer and closer, and Berserkers aimed their Sun Sap towards them, firing across the water to the ships.

Hiccup and Toothless flew towards their ships, followed by a dozen allied dragons. A trader ship already ablaze reached up to them. Toothless grabbed Cauli while the allied dragons grabbed the rest.

"I thought you said you'd never fly again!" Hiccup said slyly to Cauli, who looked less than amused.

"I also said I didn't want to die in a fire!" Cauli looked at the waves below her, and looked back up to Hiccup. "Take me and my men to their ships! We'll cut them down!"

Hiccup nodded and soared onward, leading the loaded dragons straight into the fray. They dropped Cauli onto a ship. She cried out bravely, unsheathing her sword before she hit their deck. Dozens of allied fighters swarmed their boat behind her, taking it as their own.

"Take the wheel!" Cauli ordered Netmug as she buried her sword into an Outcast's gut. "Turn the ship around, I want them taken out!"

Alvin ran around the mast, sword raised in the air, screaming a battle-cry as he charged Cauli.

Hiccup flew back up into the air. A Monstrous Nightmare had its claws inside a Timberjack above him. Toothless hissed and they flew into it, knocking it off the Timberjack. Hiccup flew above it, seeing the Timberjack's reins.

"You okay?" he asked quickly.

Snowdrop looked up at him, as if she had been caught stealing from the matrons. Her eyes were wider than Toothless' on a happy day, her mouth in a tiny line. Hiccup spun out and Toothless fanned out his wings, stopping in front of the Timberjack. The dragons boh stared at each other, hovering.

"What are you doing out here?!" Hiccup cried, throwing his hand in the air to unintentionally express his shock.

"Nuffin'," Snowdrop huffed.

Hiccup slapped a hand over his eyes. "You need to go, this is too dangerous for a little girl!"

"I'm not little! I'm five now, ever since it first snowed on Berk!"

"Snowdrop, go home!"

"No! You can't make me!"

"Yes I can, and I am. Take her home," Hiccup told the Timberjack.

"Wait, no!" Snowdrop cried, heartbroken.

"GO!" Hiccup yelled. "I will get Astrid out and bring her home, but I can't have you getting in the way!"

Snowdrop shut her mouth and tears welled up in her eyes. Hiccup's hand fell and regret seeped into his stomach. Snowdrop hiccuped a tiny sob, and she wrenched her dragon around, the pair of them flying away. Hiccup watched them go.

"I shouldn't feel bad," he muttered.

Snowdrop flew away, rubbing her tears away stubbornly with a small fist. Hiccup may have thought she was leaving, but she knew better. There was no way she was leaving, no way. She brought Ruffnut home, she brought them Eret. Today, she would get her sister back. Not even Hup would take that away from her.

Dagur jumped to his feet, tensing the muscles in his back as the snow melted away into steam. He grabbed his sword from the powder and sheathed it at his side, spinning around to Thorvane, who didn't move. Dagur sneered down at the Skrill's unmoving head, rage building up in his throat.

He reached into his side satchel, almost ripping it in half as he did so. He grabbed a vial of purple liquid, staring into it with relish. He pulled the cork free and pulled his dagger from his boot. He poured the liquid into his sheathe, a smile scaring his ugly face, before he sheathed his dagger, hiding it under his trousers.

His eyes trailed to the Skrill's body, half-expecting the dragon to be dead. But its belly shuddered and the creature gasped a breath. Thorvane opened his good eye, growling through his teeth, spit dribbling from his mouth. A flicker of light danced on his lips, and Dagur smiled. He glared at the Night Fury above as he shot another plasma blast to save his friends from the clutches of other dragons.

"The offspring of lightning and death itself," Dagur chuckled. "Who would have thought?"

Thorvane's body began to glow as streaks of lightning danced across his skin. He groaned and shuddered, mustering himself.

"He gave it back to you," Dagur laughed. "He just gave you your lightning back."