Chapter Nineteen: Strike

HOLD ON TO YOUR HIND END!

I want vengeance, I need vengeance, and I will have vengeance. Both Whoshadow and Astrid thought to themselves. As of right now, Astrid's heart was blacker than ink, and harder than stone. Now, Whoshadow's heart was blazing with fury, and her thirst for revenge had dried out her mouth.

Right now, every dragon and rider was on a ship, as they didn't want the beasts to tire their wings out before the battle even started. While a fair number could handle trekking the distance between Berk and Outcast Island, and maintain enough stamina to push through a fight, there were still enough who couldn't, so they were approaching Berk with ships with Aric in their tow.

As the dragons of Berk caught scent of their homeland they got themselves into battle mode, by hunching down with low growls rumbling in their chests. The noise became enough for Toothless to have to bark out their order to keep it quiet. Not only were the Vikings using ships to keep dragons from getting tired, but they were also using them to be stealthy. If Dagur had any expectations that they would return, then he would expect them to show up on dragons.

At one point they feared that a scout for the Thunder Queen had spotted them, as one of the Night Furies had passed over them; it hovered within their sights at a distance for a while and then flew away in a different direction.

Maybe it was an incarnation of Loki and he's showing that he's on our side. Astrid mused as she watched the Night Fury fly by. Once it was gone, she couldn't help but think that the Night Fury seemed to have an unusual coloration, and it seemed to hold a proud aura that was different than other dragons. It made her think that it being an incarnation of Loki wasn't all that absurd after all.

Now, Berk was in their sights, and Whoshadow was hunched low and was sending wild sparks all over her body. The Skrill had collected an absurd amount of lightning for this attack and it was a miracle that she could control it. In the meantime, Astrid prepared Whoshadow's saddle and hopped on her back, as Claudette did the same with Stormfly.

"Take care of yourself, Astrid." Claudette stated.

"You do the same." She replied.

They were close enough to send in the island to send in the Tidal class dragons. They were already in the water by now, but once they reached the cliffs of Berk, they began their attack! Once the dragons made it onto the land, the Thunder Queen's dragons began to defend their new territory.

"ATTACK!" Stoick roared to the fleet. He saddled up on Shadowrath and took flight with Valka at his side, and the remaining riders following behind them.

"It's time to exact our revenge, Whoshadow." Astrid stated. Whoshadow roared into the sky and took flight at a furious pace with Toothless and Sapphire at their sides. They all had one goal, to find the Thunder Queen, immobilize her, and terminate her rider.

Some of the dragons were dropping Hooligan soldiers onto the land where they would engage in a false fight with the Berserkers. Every one of them knew that the Hooligans were going to attack that day, except for Dagur. So while they were really fencing, they weren't going for the kill.

Now with strange dragons attacking the Island of Berk, the Thunder Queen started taking command over her dragons and ordering them to attack, and she herself searched for Dagur so he could fight to defend his nest.

"There's the Thunder Queen, she's by the smithy!" Valka announced. Cloudjumper, Shadowrath, Whoshadow, and Toothless dived for the smithy, taking their shots at the Thunder Queen, and driving her and Dagur to the sky!

Whoshadow sparked as she began her pursuit after the Thunder Queen. Astrid readied her axe as she urged the Skrill to go faster. She knew that the Black Typhoon could take in lightning and so letting Whoshadow fire at the Thunder Queen would be a mistake, because then the Thunder Queen would take in Whoshadow's lightning and fire it back at her. So Astrid signaled to Toothless and Sapphire to pull ahead and slow her down.

The Night Furies began firing at the Black Typhoon's wings where, which was causing her to lose balance in the air, but then Toothless turned his attention to her tail, and shot that. With one plasma blast he threw the Thunder Queen off course, and she was struggling to straighten herself out. Now it was time to collect Dagur, as Whoshadow was closing in, Astrid told her: "I'll let you have a crack at him, but first, allow me to hack off one of his limbs." Whoshadow sparked to release her frustration over Astrid's request, but she nodded her head. Her wings caught the air, and she was approaching Dagur with as much stealth she could muster. She was about thirty feet away from having Dagur in her claws, when the villain turned, saw them approaching, and the bloody lunatic jumped from the Thunder Queen, and ended up landing on the back of one of her Stormcutters, making his getaway!

"NO! SON OF A HALF-TROLL, SHIT-EATING…" Astrid snarled while Whoshadow was roaring her fumes.

Now, it was Shadowrath, Cloudjumper, and Grump pursuing after Dagur. All three riders were pursuing him in a rage, and were taking plenty of good shots at Dagur's Stormcutter, and some of them were close to knocking him off of the beast, but there were two problems: One, the Stormcutter had great maneuverability; two, Dagur was holding one of the best shields that the Berserker blacksmith had ever made.

Also, it won't help the Hooligans that Dagur had a Dragonstone on him. At least Dagur still didn't know of its powers. Even before he had the stones, he heard the voices of dragons inside his head. They weren't real, but they were there.

The Thunder Queen had escaped to barrage of attacks from Toothless and Sapphire, and she too, pursued after Dagur, but rather than trying to catch him, she was trying to make sure that the other dragon riders stayed the hell away from him. She soared past the would-be attackers, about-faced, and gave them a mighty wing blast! However, as she sent those dragons back one hundred meters, Astrid and Whoshadow flew past her, and were gaining on Dagur's Stormcutter at a speed where the Thunder Queen could not match. So with claws outstretched, Whoshadow and Astrid finally collided into Dagur's dragon and sent them to the ground. Both riders were knocked off of their dragons.

"Oh foul, traitorous beast! You shall rue this day, for you have lent your back to the demonic bastard who has scarred me for life!" Whoshadow growled at the Stormcutter. Now, while those two were dueling, Astrid got up, locked eyes with Dagur, and attacked!

She swung her axe like a madwoman at Dagur, her eyes crazier than his; at the same time, Whoshadow was snapping furiously at the Stormcutter. Astrid eventually kicked the shield out of Dagur's hand, so now the only thing he had to defend himself was his sword, and it was pretty awkward when his opponent was wielding an axe. However, Dagur made the most of it. As Astrid took another swing at him, he did a ninja-style kick that knocked Astrid's axe from her grasp, and he picked it up before she could. As for Whoshadow, the Stormcutter she was fighting ended up biting into one of her wings, breaking one of the bones, and was blinded by the pain enough to keep her from helping Astrid.

"Well, well, well, it appears that I get to kill the 'Chief' Hiccup and his whore." Dagur stated with the most disturbing sneer on his face. He planted the blade of his sword through Astrid's boot and false foot and into the ground, and readied her axe to decapitate her.

Just as everything looked bleak for Astrid and Whoshadow, the trademark high-pitched whistling of an approaching Night Fury sounded over them. They all looked up at it as it discharged a plasma blast at the Stormcutter that attacked Whoshadow, and sent the four-winged beast fifty feet back and knocked it unconscious. The sudden attack startled Dagur, and he involuntarily gave Astrid a cut on the arm that bled. Then the Night Fury came in for a landing, and separated Dagur from Astrid.

Snarling, the Night Fury made Dagur step back a few paces away from Astrid. The dragon chanced a glance at Astrid's arm and saw the blood from her cut, and returned focus onto Dagur. She took a closer look at the dragon, and not only noticed that it looked like a larger version of Midnightfire, but it held a proud aura that was different than the other dragons. This was her Loki incarnation!

As if to emphasize her point the Night Fury's form began to glow, and it assumed a human form. The resulting form was about six feet tall, donned in blue and black armor, with Loki's symbols embossed on it and they were painted silver. This figure also wore an identical mask that Hiccup wore, but it was dark blue and black.

"You leave her the hell alone!" The figure told Dagur in a snarl. Surely, this had to be Loki! No honorable Viking would wear his symbols, and speak with that much hatred in their voice. The figure looked back into Astrid's eyes, and pulled Dagur's sword out of her foot, as Midnightfire healed Whoshadow's wing.

"Fly!" The figure ordered Astrid. She looked into his blazing emerald green eyes that burned like acid. They were just as Astrid imagined Loki's eyes would look like. Now, was it her imagination, or did those eyes not seem human? No time for that right now, Whoshadow nudged her to get back on her back. They didn't take flight, as they were too curious to see how the upcoming events would turn out for Dagur.

The figure drew a sword of fire, there was no surprise for Astrid there; Loki was associated with fire as well as mischief, and as the father of dragons, it was a fitting weapon for him.

With a circular wave over head with the sword, a stream of fire flew off of it and formed a circle, surrounding him and Dagur. So Whoshadow and Astrid took flight to see what was going inside the ring of fire. So they watched them while circling around the ring.

The two figures inside the ring were meeting blades, but even at a distance, Astrid could see the acid green in Loki's eyes; and she could also see that Loki was simply trying to give Dagur a fair fight.

Soon enough, the Thunder Queen caught sight of Loki battling Dagur, she knew that Loki was the father of dragons, but she couldn't let Dagur be killed! So she dove for the ring, but there was no masking the thunderous sound of her wings. Loki looked up and saw her coming. He raised a hand above his head, summoned the flames of the ring, and threw them at the Thunder Queen's face! She reeled back with a roar of agony, and she turned away.

"You hurt my dragon! Now you shall die!" Dagur exclaimed. He delivered a punch to Loki's chin, which lifted the mask that was covering his face. Astrid couldn't see the god's face, but she could see Dagur's! There was no doubt that he had locked eyes with those eyes of burning acid. Dagur's eyes were wide, his mouth agape, and he was stepping away from the god.

"No! This can't be real! You can't be here!" Dagur exclaimed. Loki kicked him in the mouth, dislodging a couple of his teeth, and the blow knocked him to the ground. The whole false battle with the Berserkers was put to a pause, as they watched the god lower his mask once again, approach the fallen Dagur with his sword ready to finish him off… but there was one thing on Dagur he overlooked…

Dagur had a Dragonstone in his belt.

Just as Loki was ready to plant the blade of fire into Dagur's chest, the Dragonstone knew that it had to protect it's bearer, and created a flash of light that produced a shockwave, which sent Loki flying twenty feet. It dislodged the helmet-mask from his head, and he landed on his side, facing away from Astrid.

"Whoshadow, land by him! I need to see if he's alright." Astrid ordered.

Whoshadow did as she was told, and allowed Astrid to slide down her wing so she could check on Loki. She turned him onto his back, revealing his face to the first time to her; and what she saw gave her a complete shock! This wasn't a god at all!

She was at a loss for words. Of all times and places, this had to happen right here, right now! Her eyes were as wide as they could go, her hands were over her mouth, and she was speechless. He kissed her quickly on the forehead.

"ASTRID, LOOK OUT!" Hiccup exclaimed.

She looked to the sky, and what she saw struck horror in her heart.

The Dragonstone turned Dagur into a blue Screaming Death.

"Oh, F***!" They said in unison.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Who saw that coming?