A/N-And we're back again! Quick status update for those interested on the progress of the series: The prologue and first chapter of Book 4 have been typed out, and more to come so the readers here can expect constant at least weekly updates on this series for at least another few months, longer if I get as much writing and typing done as I want to the next couple weeks. Also, I have finally finished writing the draft of Book 5, and have begun Book 6, so everything to the end is falling into place.

Meanwhile, let's head into the newest chapter of Expanding Horizons, shall we? Things have finally heated to the max here, and our first real showdown of the story begins now. Plus, a new secret revealed, a hidden part of the gift shall come into play from here on out. Forgive me if it seems a step over the top now, but it will fit better in the long run, I promise.

Chapter 9

Dogfight

When we arrived at the meadow we set up Fishlegs with another volunteer Gronckle, and then immediately everyone took off for the island's eastern shore. From what the teens told me, that's the direction Ingavar had taken, and unfortunately that was also the location we believed the Shadow Lord had taken up residence: the caves dotting the cliffs. As it was, time was already nearing noon, so we had to make haste if we were to meet Ingavar near the cliffs. In less than two minutes, we reached the ocean, and raced down the shoreline.

We were already late, as further down the coast it was all too clear to see the Shadow Lord, hovering over the ships. "You guys catch up when you can," I said, bolting forward. "I need to distract the dragon."

I powered upward as my skin changed color from black to white, my ever-more streamlined shape allowing me to reach a great height in very little time. When I reached the appropriate altitude, however, I glanced downward, and cried out in dismay. The ships were no more, broken into pieces and burning. I watched, almost frozen for a second, as the Shadow Lord let out another blast and took out the final floating halves, ripping through them and throwing the pieces of the ship in two directions, scattering Vikings hither and thither.

I shook myself alert again, aiming downward and diving. The wind whipped past me as I gained speed, the characteristic Fury scream building pitch and echoing out across the waves below. I continued to gain speed even then, but was a long ways up when I spotted Ingavar, and watched as the Shadow Lord spotted him too. The dragon dove down, intent on apparently grabbing the chief right out of the water. I could see Ingavar was a sitting duck too, nothing to defend himself with and nowhere to go. I powered forward, tucking my wings even closer to my body, the wind screaming now at an almost painful pitch. Closer, closer, closer….. I braced myself for impact.

BAAAAMMMMMM!

I slammed into the Shadow Lord, jarring every bone in my body and gaining a powerful headache to boot, and knocked him into the water. I glanced at Ingavar, narrowing my eyes both in relief and disappointment, and then turned to face the black dragon again. Only then did I notice the Viking that was riding still on his back.

"Wolfblood!" I hissed. "I should have known you'd end up here anyway, despite everything I tried." As the Shadow Lord righted himself again, Wolfblood sputtered in surprise. "H-Hawken?! B-But I thought you were dead!" I smiled. "Oh, yes, what a bitter surprise for you. Think again." I turned my head slightly and managed to spot Hiccup and Toothless almost here, and looked back at the unsightly pair in front of me. "Looks like you two will be busy for a while, so if you'll excuse me-"

The Shadow Lord had a different plan. Breaking free of the water, he lunged at me, spewing flames in a wide arc. He had the advantage of surprise, but unfortunately for him, Wind Furies are much smaller and a whole level faster than him. I easily dodged to the side, before hearing another whistling scream rise up. Wolfblood looked to his left and alerted his ride, both of them spotting Hiccup and Toothless closing in, fast.

Toothless fired, forcing the Shadow Lord to pull up hard to avoid the resulting explosion as the fireball hit the ocean. The rest of the gang joined us not long after, and the angered Shadow Lord, spurred on by his rider, followed them upward into the open air.

"Come on, slowpoke!" Tuffnut jeered, laughing as he, Ruffnut, and Barfbelch swerved out of the way of the speeding black dragon. "My grandmother could fly faster than you!" Ruff added. ::You'll pay for your insolence!:: the Shadow Lord roared, speeding after them again.

While they were distracted, I dove down, changing into a large sea dragon and diving into the water. Racing over to Ingavar, who was once again on his way toward the wood planks Stoick and Gobber were on, I was still plenty amused as he yelped in surprise and fear as I swam up next to him. "Get on," I ordered. Another splutter of shock. "W-What are you?!" he asked, holding a quivering finger up at me. I smiled. "The same teen you thought vaporized yesterday," I replied lightly.

Ingavar froze in shock. Unfortunately, this also made him sink, so he quickly regained his senses and spluttered to the surface, coughing up water and staring at me again. "But that's-that's impossible!" he stammered. "Ye should nae be able te do that!" I shook my head. "It's not an everyday thing, I'll give you that, but we can't just sit here arguing. Now quit drowning and get on, I have to get everyone else out of the water too!"

Reluctantly, he climbed onto my neck, and I swam over and picked up Stoick and Gobber. "It's about time ye showed up," Gobber quipped. "I've had enough of a bath here to last me a year!" I laughed. "And you needed it too, Gobber. Always such a pleasant sense of humor you have."

It took 3 trips around to get all 50 or so Vikings out of the water and deposit them on the beach. Once they were all "safe," I changed back to human for a moment and walked up to stand before Ingavar. "Believe me now?" I asked. He nodded only slightly, looking at me with a bit more sober expression. "Good," I said. "Now, if you please, feel free to look around and find anything you might be able to use to defend yourselves." With that, I turned to look up at the fight hundreds of feet above our heads, and I glanced at the forming mist out over the ocean. I nodded in grim satisfaction, and launched myself, in Night Fury form, back up into the air.

I shot straight up, past the Shadow Lord, smacking Wolfblood in the face on the way by. ::You again!:: the dragon roared. ::It's time I finished this.:: He began to dissolve away, blending into the air around him. Once he was fully invisible, he shot up past me, and turned around to fire at me. I easily dodged, because the dragon had forgotten one very key issue.

Wolfblood was still sitting on his neck. "I can't turn invisible, dragon!" he pointed out. "We're going to need a different approach!" ::You're testing my patience, human,:: the dragon growled, reappearing, and Wolfblood whispered something to him. A glint in his eyes told me something bad was definitely about to happen.

Suddenly, the dragon arrowed upward, looping around Snotlout and Fireworm, and before the pair could even react, a stream of blackish acid blasted from the Shadow Lord's mouth, too fast to track. It splattered across Fireworm's back, and some of it hit Snotlout as well.

Their screams of pain reverberated through the sky, and Fireworm's flight faltered, sending the pair spinning toward the ground. ::The water! Head for the water!:: I yelled, unable to do anything else at the moment but aim for the Shadow Lord's head. Before I could even fire a single blast, however, they had already steered away, Wolfblood leading him toward Astrid.

"Astrid, look out!" I screamed. She glanced to her side, and Thorn bolted upward, out of the direct path of the monster. I raced in their direction, readying a blast. This time, I caught them before they could change plans.

SCHHHEEEWWW! BAMMM!

The fireball exploded, knocking Wolfblood to one side, and sending the Shadow Lord careening through the air. The two quickly righted themselves, and turned again toward me, barreling right at my midsection. I shot upward, avoiding the stream of fire that followed, but forgot about another weapon the dragon had at his disposal.

BAMM! "AAAHHHH!"

The pair of blades that tipped his tail swung upward, slamming into me and slicing into the base of my tail. The pain raced up my spine, and I felt blood begin to pour down my tail. Thinking fast, I changed form, hoping that would repair the damage. It didn't work, the gash was still there, and it was beginning to affect my ability to fly. "Land, Hawken!" Hiccup yelled, racing past and directing Toothless to fire at the Shadow Lord. I nodded, and dove to the ground, flaring my wings and touching down. As soon as I did, I changed human.

Another bad idea. Dragons are designed to deal with great amounts of pain, what with their naturally dangerous lifestyle. Humans are not. Plus, the cut didn't disappear; it was almost the same size as it was when I was in Night Fury form, straight across the small of my back. Stoick came rushing up. "Someone get me a cloth!" he yelled. Suddenly, the pain hit me hard, and I keeled forward. Stoick put his hand in front of me, holding me up as I clutched my midsection, and grabbed the torn tunic that was handed to him. It wasn't all that clean, but it would have to do, and he pressed it against the gash to stem the bleeding. The sting of the touch made me cry out, but I tried to hold still as much as possible. Stoick laid me on the ground slowly, and turned me slightly on my side, tying the cloth tightly around me to slow the loss of blood.

"Now you need to stay down," he urged. "If ye move it'll only make it worse, and we can't have ye injuring yerself any further right now. So don't try anything spect-"

"HAWKEN! DAD! LOOK OUT!"

Immediately we all looked up as Hiccup screamed down at us. Panic set in almost immediately. The Shadow Lord was aiming directly for Stoick and I, and there was no way we could move out of the way fast enough. As I watched in fear, he readied to fire, the glow building up in his throat. I knew I could survive the blast, no problem, but I also knew the blast would still manage to catch Stoick, Gobber, Ingavar, and the dozen or so other Vikings nearby. This was it. I raised my hand out of reflex, as if it could stop the attack somehow and shield us. "Oh, Lord, help us now!" I whispered, closing my eyes and scaling myself over. The Shadow Lord fired, the scream of the flames racing directly at us.

SSCCHHHEEEEWWWWWW!

FWWWWOOOOOOMMMMMMM!

A sudden burst of energy raced through me, making my hair stand on end, and I felt a small vibration of an impact, but no sudden explosion, no heat like I should have. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up along my outstretched hand, to see what happened. My next breath caught in my throat, and I choked on it in shock.

From the tips of my fingers, there was a vibrating line of light, arcing upward and spreading out high above us like a shimmering, semi-transparent blanket, rippling outward like a wave. On the other side, the last dying traces of the Shadow Lord's fiery blast could be seen snaking across the barrier, fading like they were never there.

Shocked, I let my hand drop, cutting off the beam emanating from it, and watched the barrier above us slowly fade from view. I glanced around to find everyone staring straight at me. Then, I stared with a dumbfounded look at my palm.

"What?" spluttered Stoick.

"Was?" from Gobber.

"THAT?!" finished Ingavar.

I shook my head absentmindedly. "I…. I don't… have the slightest clue," I half-whispered. Nearby, another Viking spoke up. "That was nae fire," he said. "That...that was magic."

That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. I shook my head, glancing up to see Wolfblood and the Shadow Lord also both staring down at me with wide eyes as well. Unfortunately for them, Hiccup is a lot more rationally minded and no stranger to odd happenings, so he hadn't been greatly distracted by whatever I had just done. He and Toothless came rocketing down, blasting the Shadow Lord in the side, jerking them back alert and throwing them to the side, reigniting the aerial dogfight. This left me and the Vikings to figure out what on earth had just transpired.

"What in the world did you just do, Hawken?" Stoick asked again. I looked straight at him. "I just said I have no idea," I said, still feeling floored. "All I know is I asked God to help me, and lo and behold I look up to see myself generating a force field!" "A what?" Gobber queried. "A force field," I repeated. "It's a barrier of pure energy, it's designed to block any form of attack. But that doesn't tell me anything about how I….."

The words died on my tongue as a memory hit me like a sledgehammer.

Arthur spread his hands out. "He's an anomaly. No human should be able to even survive that amount of neurological capacity! A-and I don't have a clue where the energy to run that amount of power is coming from!" He waved his hands at me again. "A human body cannot physically generate the power it would take for that amount of connection. His power, his abilities are not stemming from him, they're coming from another source." He scratched his head. "The only guess I have is from when I learned about metaphysics, the so-called dark matter and dark energy in the universe." "The what?" Malin groused. I snorted. "I thought you were a scientist too," I shot at him. He ignored me and looked back at the blonde, who stuttered again for a moment. "We-well, supposedly most of our universe is composed of sources of matter and energy we can't see or touch at the moment," he said. "If my guess is correct, something has connected that boy to that source of power."

I fell backward as the answer took my strength away again. "Whit is it?" Gobber asked, helping me to stand again as a bout of pain erupted as well from the gash on my back. "When-when I got kidnapped," I said, "a month or so ago, the scientist there said he found energy levels running through me that were way above any conceivable limit," I said, turning to glance at him, then the two chiefs. "There's nothing physical, no DNA or secret chemical that lets me change, God connected me to something not even we in my home know about yet." I waved Gobber off, letting him know I could stand on my own again. "There are… stories, plenty of them, that dragons are not just another species of animal, that some have, uh, abilities that are supernatural. Some are said to be able to harness metaphysical forces." I glanced at the Viking who had spoken up earlier. "It's not magic, that comes from dark, evil sources; no, this is….this is…." I looked at my hands, unable to come up with a proper word.

Stoick nodded, starting to understand while Ingavar still looked baffled. "Ye've been given a true power," he said. I nodded, and he glanced up above us. Snotlout and Fireworm had washed the acid off and were back in the fight, but even from here I could see their burns, and they still needed help.

"If ye can control such forces," Ingavar muttered, then gestured to my back, "then do ye think ye have a little more in ye than you think? Can ye heal yourself?" I followed his look to the cloth wrapped around me, now almost soaked through. I shrugged. "There's really only one way to find out."

Hiccup watched, unable to do anything quickly enough as the Shadow Lord slashed Hawken right at the base of his tail. He'd seen injuries like that before on dragons, and knew that his friend wouldn't be able to fly for long. "Land Hawken!" he yelled out, and after his friend nodded and headed down toward the beach, he and Toothless shot toward the Shadow Lord. They arced upward, flipping over to come down on the dragon's other side. "Aim for the base of the wing," Hiccup said quietly. Toothless nodded and built up fuel for a blast, but before he could fire, Wolfblood glanced back and spotted them, then steered his mount upward, making Toothless swallow the fuel again and shoot harmlessly by. He spun around, closing after the duo. Barfbelch and the twins snaked in below, the Zippleback's two heads shooting upward on either side of the dragon. A cloud of gas erupted out, followed by a shot of sparks, and before Wolfblood or his ride could move, it exploded, surrounding the two in flames and blowing them off course.

The Shadow Lord righted himself and Wolfblood frantically attempted to put out the flames now eating away at his vest, then whispered something to the dragon. He nodded and blasted upward. Astrid, who was high up above waiting for an opening, turned Thorn to try and intercept the pair, but before she could the black dragon suddenly reverse course again, and dove like a missile toward the ground below. She followed their course, and realized what the pair's aim was: directly below were the Vikings on the beach. More importantly, straight in the Shadow Lord's line of fire were Stoick, Ingavar, Gobber, and Hawken, who was still being patched up. Apparently, she realized, he didn't heal when he changed shapes. Hiccup, who was below, caught her gaze and followed her line of sight. Almost simultaneously, both of them cried out and dove down after the Shadow Lord.
"HAWKEN! DAD! LOOK OUT!"

Hiccup was the only one heard by the Vikings below, but they all knew it was in vain. Even Toothless wasn't fast enough to reach the Shadow Lord at this point before he fired, and Hawken was out of the count for the moment. While he could survive the blast (though he'd get a nasty burn on the open wound), the rest of the men would die. Astrid and Hiccup both felt agony rise up in them as they watched the Shadow Lord slow only just enough to aim precisely for a large blast.

A split second before the dragon fired, though, Hiccup spotted something in Hawken's defensively outstretched hand begin to glow. As he watched, the shadow Lord fired, and the glow suddenly brightened and exploded upward, rippling outward in a shimmering cloak over the ground and the people standing below.

The Shadow Lord's fireball hit and exploded on the barrier, the field seemingly absorbing the fire, and shielding the Vikings underneath from the blast. Every dragon in the air flared their wings and hovered in place, shocked. As the fire dissipated and the shield began to fade away, Astrid glanced at Hiccup. "What on earth just happened?" she asked. Hiccup shrugged somewhat absentmindedly, then shook his head. "I don't know, but right now, we've got bigger worries, and an opening." He urged Toothless downward, toward the still-frozen Shadow Lord and Wolfblood, and curved to the side, Toothless firing a blast right into the Shadow Lord's abdomen.

The blast knocked the dragon to the side, almost knocking the stunned Viking on top off the dragon, and it angered the both of them and brought their focus back up to the Night Fury and his rider. "Come on, Wolfblood!" Hiccup yelled. "We're not done yet!" "You little rat!" Wolfblood screeched back and spurring his mount to give chase. Toothless rocketed upward, bringing the following pair right past Astrid and Thorn. "Now!" Astrid yelled, and Thorn twisted and whipped her tail out, firing a rain of long, poisoned tail spikes at the target.

Amazingly, and against all odds, one found its mark. At the juncture between wing and body, one spike managed to hit a soft patch between scales, and sunk in deep. The Shadow Lord screeched in pain, and Wolfblood looked back as the dragon began to falter. "Hold still!" He yelled, and bent back, carefully grabbing the barb and pulling it out.

The sudden agony as the object was removed made the dragon stall and drop for a moment, but as soon as it was out, the Shadow Lord looked at Thorn with vengeance. Before he could attack, however, a fireball rocketed by, exploding in midair. Wolfblood glanced upward, and tapped the Shadow Lord's head. "We need to get rid of that twig and his Fury," he said. "The rest will be a piece of cake." The Shadow Lord frowned for a moment, then glanced at Thorn and grinned. ::I'll be back for you in a moment,:: he growled. Then, he blasted upward after Hiccup and Toothless.

Wolfblood leaned to one side as they slowly shortened the distance, pulling out a short sword and getting ready to slash at Hiccup as the Shadow Lord prepared to simultaneously slash Toothless' wings. Before they managed to reach the pair, though, a screaming whistle sounded. Wolfblood turned to look just in time to see a speeding white blur slam into him, throwing him straight off the Shadow Lord's back and grabbing him tight.

I pulled Wolfblood off the Shadow Lord with ease, as they were both distracted, and dove toward the ground again. "What are you," Wolfblood hissed, "that you can change between dragons and come back from crippling injuries without a scratch left behind?!" I smiled lightly. "Apparently, far more than I ever actually thought possible." I neared the Viking group gathered below and slowed, unceremoniously dropping Wolfblood down to them. As he was grabbed and tied up, Wolfblood glared at me. "You won't last forever, Hawken! I'm not there to help any more, but he'll make sure of that himself!" I snorted. "Then I'm sure these guys will make sure you don't last any longer than I do either," I growled back.

Turning back to the sky, I changed to Night Fury again, but this time I wasn't taking any stupid chances. My scales hardened, coming to equal even those of the Shadow Lord's rock-hard scales. Then I propelled upward, ready for business.

::Hey, Royal Pain!:: I jeered. The Shadow Lord turned, forgetting about Snotlout who was flying jerkily away in front of him. ::What did you call me?:: he hissed. ::Let me make sure you hear it loud and clear: a royal pain in the butt!:: I taunted again, keeping his attention on me just long enough for both Fireworm and Barfbelch to come in behind him.

KABBBOOOOMMMM! ::THAT'S IT!::

The dragon burst out of the cloud after Barfbelch, swinging his tail and releasing a spray of acid. Both attacks missed, and Toothless raced upward from below, firing into his underbelly. He turned to grab them, only to get spiked by Thorn, and shot by me. ::He's vulnerable between the scales!:: Thorn yelled to me. I nodded.

::This has been dragging on to long!:: I yelled. ::Everyone, head for the trees!:: We all turned to the forest, and Hiccup raced by, yelling as he passed, "I hope you know what you're doing! He's got a lot of firepower, and this is the dry season around here too!" I grinned. "That's actually what I'm counting on!" I replied. Hiccup gave me a quizzical look, but urged Toothless downward anyway, disappearing into the forest. I, meanwhile, spun to face the Shadow Lord.

::If I take you out first, it's just a matter of time for the rest,:: he hissed. ::There's just one problem,:: I drawled back. ::You'll have to catch me first.:: I back-flipped and disappeared into the trees below, leaving the other dragon to stumble over his next step.

::Coward!:: he yelled. ::You can't hide forever, you'll have to face me sooner or later!:: He flared his wings as I watched, unseen, from below, and just as I planned, he readied to fire. As he did so, the first blast cutting into the trees and igniting anything dry, I changed to a favored form, and dissolved into the shadows of the trees I was hiding within.

The fireball exploded on the forest floor, flames rolling outward and igniting a circle of wildfire. I flowed through the shadows toward the flames, extending my tail out and solidifying it, flaring the tailfins out in stark contrast with the bright fire. ::Down here! Come and get me, I'll be waiting!:: I yelled, taunting. The Shadow Lord roared and dove down, flaring his wings and fanning the flames as he landed, making them jump into the crowns of the trees. He landed directly in the center of the ring of flames, where he assumed I couldn't sneak up on him, and looked around for me, not knowing he was in my plain view.

::Alright, where are you! Show yourself and die like a real dragon!:: I smiled, and decided to make my move. I slipped my head forward and fired a stream of black flames into the already raging fire. The effect was instantaneous, black and purple flames engulfing the normal orange and yellow ones, replacing the burning light with pulsating darkness. The other dragon jerked in surprise and looked around, his yellow eyes widening as the black fire absorbed the light. I entered the ring of fire, and began to materialize from the wall of flames, head and wings appearing first and flaring out, looking all the more menacing as I appeared to grow from the burning wall.

::This ought to be interesting,:: I drawled, garnering the Shadow Lord's attention, making him jump again and face me. ::One Shadow against another Shadow, let's find out who wins, shall we?:: I grinned, showing off a row of perfectly white, razor sharp teeth.

At this point, an etch of fear finally wormed its way onto the Shadow Lord's expression as he began to back up. It would have been rather comical, watching a 40 foot dragon back away clumsily from one not even half his size. But of course that only assumed the watcher had no clue what I had become.

::What are you?:: he spat. ::Not even the Mystique had such powers, how do you control such unnatural things?:: I advanced on him, shadowy form hovering instead of walking over the forest floor. ::That is for me to know, and you to find out,:: I said, faint amusement tinting my voice.

I began to dissolve again, my fading act causing more anxiety to seep into the other dragon's expression. I kept myself visible, but only as an apparition, connected once again to the shadows and shade fire that surrounded the two of us. The Shadow Lord finally had enough, deciding this was something he did not have the strength to take on. He bolted, shooting upward toward the sky…..

…only to slam headfirst into a ceiling of solid black fire I had raised over us, and fall, hard, to the ground again. ::What?:: he blurted dizzily as he stumbled to his feet. ::Looks like I win already, and with so little effort,:: I hissed. I raised my nonexistent forelimbs and brought ropes of black fire shooting outward, aiming for the Shadow Lord. They wrapped around him like snakes, pinning his wings and limbs to his sides, and raised him up, floating him off the ground. I flowed forward, appearing in the air in front of his snout. ::Now you are the one to get a taste of what you have given to probably countless people and dragons alike,:: I growled, ::including a few of my close, personal friends.::

The Shadow Lord could only widen his eyes in fear for a split second before I blasted upward, pulling the dragon with me, propelled upward on a swirling vortex of anthracite flames. I raised the dragon up above my head with the shadowy ropes, and threw him, still tied up, toward the nearby beach. He landed unceremoniously, carving a trench through the sand and bouncing across the ground. Then, I glanced down and pulled through the shadows again, sucking every ember of the dark fire up to me, at once extinguishing any remaining chance of burning down the island, and giving my presentation a far more intimidating appearance: a black, razor-edged dragon with red eyes, flying through the air surrounded by a swirling mass of coal-colored flames.

I glanced behind me to spot the rest of the gang coming up out of the trees and following me, now having realized I'd taken care of things. I glided toward the beach, landing just a few feet away from the still-bound Shadow Lord. I snapped my claws together nonchalantly, and the "ropes' binding him and the fire still swirling over my head dissipated into thin air. The Shadow Lord attempted to stand before me, but shrieked in agony and fell to the sand again. That's when I spotted the damage: a shattered front leg, and a broken wing. He looked up at me as I swiftly reverted to human form, unable to do anything as I approached. The Vikings who had scattered when he fell nearby gathered again, watching as the teens landed nearby and Hiccup and Toothless stepped forward with me.

::So…. I have lost,:: the Shadow Lord hissed quietly. ::What will you do with me now?:: I stood there for a moment, thinking, then spoke out loud so everyone could hear. "That depends. I could heal you and release you, but considering the history you've recently left us with, I'm sure no one else here would be happy about that, and I'm also rather certain you'd just go back to your killing sprees, wiping out members of both my brethren races." I knelt down in front of him and glared directly into his eyes. "I could also kill you, and get rid of the whole problem altogether-" this response earned shocked gasps from the teens and Stoick, who knew my feelings on death sentences, "-but I don't feel like I can kill unless I absolutely have to."

I glanced around at all the Vikings and dragons gathered around me, some of them still with less-than-pleased looks on their faces. "I could also leave you at the mercy of my friends here, but I seriously doubt they'll be quite as forgiving as I tend to be toward people," I continued, "or dragons, for that matter." I looked to Hiccup, who I could see was just as worried about what to do as I was. "The last option would be to just leave you here, at the mercy of the elements and any other creature that may come along," I said lowly. "I know wolves, bears, and even wild boar aren't kind to downed dragons, and there's at least a few of those on the island here, not to mention anything else that happens along."

This was the only option to which the Shadow Lord actually reacted. ::No, no! Don't just leave me here!:: he whined, fear edging its way into his eyes again. I cocked an eyebrow at this outburst. "And why shouldn't I leave you here?" I asked. "Sounds like the best plan to me," Hiccup added. ::They'll find me here, they can't find me!:: he squirmed. ::Kill me, drown me, anything, don't let me be taken back!:: I glanced at Toothless, who shrugged in confusion. I turned back to the Shadow Lord. "And just who, pray tell, do you not want finding you?" I asked. If we found out who wanted him, it might be just that much easier to get the Shadow Lord out of our lives. Plus, I was curious as to what scared this dragon so much.

::He's worried that we would find him,:: a deep, feminine growl sounded out from above us. Everyone jerked in surprise, none more so than the dragon at my feet, who now looked about ready to melt into the sand, and we glanced upward. Shimmering into view above us were a pair of massive dragons, both of them the same species as the one that lay at my feet, but larger, easily 70 feet in length. As they flared their wings and began to descend to the beach, the other dragons got ready to pounce at a moment's notice, and the Vikings around me readied any weapons they'd scrounged up. I held up my hands. "Wait, wait, wait, hold on a moment!" I yelled, flaring out a pair of wings to emphasize my point.

The reaction was immediate. The Shadow Lords saw that wings rise from my back, and as they dropped to the sand, they lowered their heads in my direction. ::So you are the successor to the Mystique!:: they exclaimed. I frowned. "That doesn't mean anyone should be bowing to me. Please, get up, this is embarrassing. And what is going on here, who are you?" The two new dragons looked up, apparently perplexed at my reaction. ::But, you've been given a gift, that deserves recognition!:: "And other than that, I'm no different from anyone else here," I retorted. "I expect no special treatment."

There was silence for a moment, save for mutters from the men standing behind me. ::Very well, then,:: the female of the new pair spoke finally. ::Then we will explain why we are here, and why this one,:: she gestured with her wing to the crippled reptile between her and the male on the other side, ::is so afraid of the fact we're here.:: She looked around at the crowd in front of her, then nodded at the male.

"Pardon the shock, but first I should explain your so-called Mood dragons aren't the only species capable of picking up your spoken tongue," the female spoke clearly. Nonetheless, shocked gasps went up from the crowd, and Hiccup snickered at the reaction next to me. I nodded. "Go on," I urged. "I am Senna," the female gestured to herself, "and this is my mate, Gareth." The male nodded in response. "This dragon whom you've had such trouble with recently, has given himself the name Cain." Senna gestured again to the Shadow Lord we had been fighting. I snorted. "Rather appropriate, actually," I remarked. Hiccup gave me a weird look, but Senna nodded. "It's mostly coincidence, but it fits. As you can see, he's small for our species, and this partly explains his condition, but he's also been through some….troubling situations." A snicker went through the crowd at the first part of the remark. I shot them a look, and they quieted down, then I glanced back at Senna and Gareth. "Please, continue," I said, and Senna nodded.

"We are well aware of the name you northern people have given us, so-called 'Shadow Lord,'" she said, and looked down at the "runt." "That one is really wholly responsible for that reputation." I raised an eyebrow. "Really?" Gareth stepped forward slightly. "Well, as you can see, he acts a bit, eh, different, from the rest of us," he glared at the cripple. "But he's the only one who has been attacking people or dragons. Our kind lives far from here, this one has wandered away. We look fearsome, but most dragons do, and the truth is where we live we try to help both our kinds as much as we can. No one usually knows because they can't see us unless we want them to, but, well, our reputation has been greatly ruined by Cain." I nodded, all the while simply thinking this was an odd turn of events.

Hiccup stepped up next to me. "Still doesn't explain why he's so scared of his species,' he pointed out, agreement voiced by the men behind us. I nodded and looked up at Senna. "Cain here has been wanted for a number of years now," she explained. "Again, while we, like you, do not enjoy violence, despite our appearance, we cannot just overlook his actions. He's been on the run, both from us and for a purpose someone else put him up to, and we were sent out to find him and bring him back to our own home land and try to perform a sort of "re-education" to see if we can't snap him out of these ways of his."

I chuckled. "Well, that just perfectly solves the problem of what we were going to do with him." An idea struck me, and I held up a finger. "In fact, if your idea works, you can send him here to begin to repay for what he's done."

"Are you insane?!" Stoick spoke up behind us, walking forward. "He just tried te kill us, and yer sayin' send him back at some point?" I turned toward him. "If what they are saying succeeds, he should no longer be how he is now," I said. "And besides, if he fakes it, I know it'll be all too easy to bring him down the next time too." I turned and looked at Cain again. "Deal with him as you see fit," I said, walking forward and placing a hand on his snout. "The right actions are your key here, in order for our wounds to stay gone," I said quietly.

From my hand a flow of energy spread outward, seeping along the dragon's skin and glowing brightly at any injured location. After a few seconds, the glow faded and I removed my hand. Cain grunted, and then, slowly, carefully, he stood up.

He froze, and glanced at his leg, then back at me with wide eyes. I nodded, and he glanced at his wing, fine and folded to his side again. "You harm another human or dragon out of this path of yours, and your injuries will return full force, with a vengeance," I warned, and then looked at Senna. "Take him and do as you need to." She nodded. "He will return when it is due time," she replied, and grabbed Cain on one side, Gareth the other, and they lifted off, headed to the southeast. After a short moment, they shimmered out of view, and disappeared.

Silence. Everyone watched the location the dragons had faded from view, and no one said a word for a good five minutes. Then, Stoick cleared his throat, gathering everyone's attention. "Let's, uh, get cleaned up here and head back te the village," he said, before glancing at Ingavar and then Wolfblood, who was being held firmly by Gobber and two other men. "It seems there are still a few things we need to sort out." Wolfblood looked up, then hung his head toward the ground. "Oh, no," he muttered, too low for anyone else to hear, and I snickered.

Hiccup turned to me. "I have to say, that ended a whole lot better than I had expected," he remarked. I nodded. "Had I ended up having to deal with the dragon myself I probably would have had a hard time of it," I said. "Everything turned out how it probably should have." Hiccup nodded in agreement, then glanced out to the ocean again. "What if he does come back and nothing's changed?" he asked. I frowned. "Well, then, we'll just have to be ready for that possibility."

It took around an hour to get everything that could be salvaged together to be dealt with, and it took another hour to round up enough dragons to move everything, and the Vikings, back to the village. As soon as everything was in order, we took off, though as we flew over the forest, everyone ended up slowing down to gape at the huge burn mark we'd left behind.

When we reached the village, a huge crowd had gathered, wanting to hear what had happened, with the Shadow Lord and with the newfound knowledge we had about me and the rest of the teens and company. I groaned as we were all taken toward the Great Hall to discuss the day. It had been a long week already, and when I glanced at Hiccup, he looked like he had the same thought: it apparently was going to be even longer to come.

A/N- Apologies if things went a little quickly here, that's what happens with my older writing sometimes , but now the stage is set. As I've mentioned before, everything in the series tends to echo further down the line, this no exception. So stay tuned, bear with me, and as always please review!