Chapter 5 - The Hero Falls - 12 hours ago
It was peaceful, much too peaceful. In fact, the sheer stillness and absolute quiet which had led Hiccup, Flyspeck and even Toothless off guard should have been indicative of impending doom.
It came first from the ocean which had begun to churn and froth far below the travelers and made the playful cresting waves suddenly a torrent of chaos.
"Easy bud." Hiccup patted Toothless while maintaining a skeptical eye on the waters below. "What is that?" Hiccup then heard a noise which sounded like a half strangled rat which immediately preceded a terrified Flyspeck to come barreling hard into Hiccup to seek shelter. Hiccup tried to pry the tiny Terror off of his lap but could not succeed and soon found the nose horn was digging deeper and deeper into the soft area just below his rib cage. "Flyspeck!" Hiccup tried again to dislodge the small dragon to no avail when he noticed that Toothless had also change in demeanor and grunt his uneasiness. "Toothless? What's happening bud?" Hiccup asked nervously and could see that the waters were much more treacherous than they had been just a few short minutes ago. As much as Hiccup was curious about the source of the unrest, he also knew better than to discount the cues Toothless had provided. If the Night Fury had justifiable reason to be uneasy then he did too. Hiccup wondered if they should continue to Auroros on their current route or take a less direct path which would avoid whatever it was down there but add more time to the trip.
"We have to go through." He tried so hard to sound determined but little strands of uncertainty had found their way into Hiccups unconscious thoughts and were gnawing at his resolve. "Keep looking Toothless," Hiccup cautioned, "I don't want any surprises okay?" Toothless issued a grunt of acknowledgement while little Flyspeck, as seemingly oblivious as always, instead emitted a mighty roar just a little too close to Hiccup's ear. "Gee, thanks." Hiccup furrowed his brow and resumed visually scanning the area for trouble.
Trouble made them wait and as they had several hours to begin to believe that nothing was going to happen beyond the visual spectacle they had been party to the whole time, they had eventually become used to it and thus complacent. Toothless had gradually relaxed and little Flyspeck had dozed off on Hiccup who had in turn gave up looking for changes in the turbulence and instead let his mind wander to thoughts of his father and Astrid. It had been nearly a week since he had seen them and in his absence he had time to get over his initial anger and start to miss them both, though gods knew they had a knack of aggravating him on occasion. Astrid would have had time to figure out their undefined relationship by then. He had to have faith in that. The gods could not be so cruel as to plant the object of his affection into his thoughts at childhood only to have his lifelong pursuit of her end in vain. She gave more attention to Hiccup than any other male on the whole island which had to mean something. Time was probably all they required. Maybe things would be different when he got home or he could try something drastic. He loved her too much to let it fizzle out into oblivion.
A near miss with a flying and unidentifiable projectile was sufficient to snap the daydreamer back into reality. It came so close as to be felt as a tingle on the tip of his hair as it rocketed past and arched back, then landed harmlessly into the turbulent ocean. Hiccup called out something startled and incoherent as he steered Toothless into a steep turn which woke Flyspeck and made her issue a squawking dragon scream. Another ball of what looked like it must have been electrified water flew in their path, this time to the right and was again narrowly maneuvered around. Two more such occurs and finally the trio laid eyes on their assailant and would likely have thought it beautiful had it not been trying to exterminate them.
"What in Odin's name is that?!" Hiccup practically screamed to Toothless who could not answer as he was busy dodging more and more of the deadly orbs. There were several dragons in the air now and as more joined the fray, the ocean gradually became a little less frothy. One thing that Hiccup noted was that this was only one species of dragon and it was completely foreign to him as he had never before encountered anything like it nor was it an entry in the book of dragons. They were not overly large, but they seemed to get their power from the elements as water and energy made up their weaponry. Their wings looked more like tentacle fins and there were more tentacle like appendages at various points of the body especially at the base and the tip of the tail. They had varying patterns and intensity of colour, but all of them were shades of the same blues and blue-whites. All of them looked angry and all of them followed the one who seemed to be the leader, the only thing which seemed to distinguish it from the others was the intensity of the blue stripes on its flank. The sapphire certainly was something worth admiring until it signaled the others into attack.
"Toothless!" Hiccup screamed in alarm as his dragon doubt wildly to stay ahead of the offending dragons. They were lucky to avoid the long range attacks to point and escape looked hopeful until that luck finally ran out and Toothless was abruptly put off his path after taking a grazing hit to his right hip. Hiccup could feel both a splash and a shuddering surge of energy course through his friend and travel up from his metal leg until he could feel even his auburn hair start to tingle. "Oh no, Toothless, don't do it!" Hiccup shrieked at his best friend but to no avail. The offending dragons had started it and as futile as it was, Toothless had already lost enough speed from the hit to allow his foes to nearly catch them. He whirled around suddenly and let loose a lightning ball into the oncoming army of blue and white ocean dwellers. Some were able to dodge out of the way and narrowly miss the attack though one ended up taking the bolt full-on and fell into the sea only to be replaced by to more.
"We can't win this bud," hiccup called in near panic, "we have to get out of here!" His response came in the form of a reluctant grunt as Toothless again tried to avoid another oncoming volley. They flew in a zigzag pattern, avoiding globules from all sides until a second shot struck home and Toothless shuddered from the electrical jolt to his system before he could fully appreciate the new pain he had discovered in his wing. Their speed was compromised and so it was almost no surprise to Hiccup when there was less off a gap between the second and third shots. The new one glanced off his dragons back bone only to hit his own and suddenly the world exploded in a blinding light as he was somehow both soaked and burned at the same time. He was stunned for a few moments where nothing existed but pain and white, gradually giving way to emotional shock as the enemy dragons had at last reach them. Land was in sight and though twilight was starting to make itself known and the land was already darkening, Hiccup could already make out the vast violet expanse which could only have been the Ardala plantations of Auroros. Hiccup wondered if they would be able to touch down and make it to safety when the onslaught changed from projectiles to claws and Hiccup heard the gut wrenching scream of his best friend as they wounded him and jolted his rider right out of the saddle.
Flying through the air without the benefit of his dragon was horrifying enough without the added experience of suddenly having several dragons fighting over their spoils. Their claws reached out in uncoordinated grasps which tore Hiccup's riding harness to shreds along with his tunic and a fair amount of skin. Hiccup was stunned as he felt each laceration tear his sensitive flesh over and over and still he had not hit the ground. He could not see Toothless anymore and could only hope that he had escaped their plight. And where was little Flyspeck who had been nursed back to health by the kindness of this human who was now injured and falling? Hiccup caught sight of her finally; flying in the opposite direction, small enough as to be not worth the effort from the others.
Just when Hiccup was sure he was about to end his tormenting plummet towards death, one of the oceanic dragons made a last attempt to catch him so as to make him a meal. He was momentarily saved from the fall by the first dragon only to be put at risk by a second who tried to steal him away for herself but only managed to knock him from the claws of his original captor. Claws tried to capture him once more only to snag him at his middle and send incomprehensible pain coursing through his body. The shock was such that he had succumbed to it mere moments before hitting the ground with a sickening thud and was unaware of the impact. Over his head and unknown to him, two fighting dragons sailed by and lost sight of the boy who had landed in the one place they dare not go. They flew off to either find the dragon that had accompanied the boy but coming up fruitless, returned to the churning ocean in vain. All the while Hiccup lay in the field of violet flowers and remained until sometime later when the girl who shared her name with the blooms came to see what the commotion had been about. She saw him in the grass and recognized him though could not understand exactly what had happened or if she could move him to safety in time. The Ardala in its pure form could have already done its work, though that could be of advantage to one in possession of an agenda.