XXXII.
"No," said Stoick. "We've won this battle. Don't kill her."
He ventured a glance toward Valka, seeking eye contact. However, she seemed so immersed in throwing off her guards, struggling against their handholds, that she never returned his gaze, perhaps did not even recognize Stoick had stood up against his ally to save her life.
Drago glanced from one Viking to another, a horrible scowl darkening his face so as to make his black hair seem light. "Very well," Drago returned. He turned his full attention to Stoick now. Slowly and heavily, Drago planted one foot before another and stepped up to the Viking chief. "Then I will eliminate you first."
Before Stoick could consciously react against the betrayal, much less cognize Drago must have been planning this since the very beginning, Drago raised his polearm.
And Valka broke free. Taking advantage of her restrainers' divided attention, she yanked herself out of their grasp, tumbled forward to clutch her own fallen staff, and with an enormous desperate holler rushed straight toward the Bewilderbest. Its eyes suddenly snapped from one outstretched arm to another.
Drago lost control.
The world exploded in ice.