The men gave a half-hearted cheer as the dragon flock retreated back into the clouds. It was hardly a victory, but in their situation, surviving was as good as winning. There was no chance of the battle continuing, not after the attack. There was barely enough light, the Hooligans and Marauders were mixed up across the fleet, and everyone was exhausted. They pushed dragon carcasses into the sea and tended to the wounded or dying as best they could. With the sounds of battle finally gone, the thin cries of children from the refugee ships filled the air.
Neither side knew or cared why the dragons had retreated, they only thanked the Gods that they had made it through. Only Stoick and Gobber had seen Astrid's little trick, and now the big redhead was sick with worry that his son might have been carried off to the Dragon's nest.
They had stayed away from the battle as much as they could, neither wanted to see any more of their people killed. They had rolled up the sail, and sat fairly still in the water. It was just the two of them left on their small ship. Helgi and Clamm had been knocked off somehow during the battle, and were floating around in the ocean. Clamm was lying on a long piece of driftwood, and Helgi was treading water, holding his friend's hand to keep himself from slipping under.
"Help, I can't swim!"
"Here, take my hand."
"Listen Clamm, you're going to get out of this, you've got to move on…"
"Don't worry Helgi, I'll never let go… uuhhhaaa"
The bigger man shouted in surprise as two burly Vikings hauled them both up and onto the deck of a passing longship.
They watched as the Dragons flew off high into the sunset, taking the last of the autumn twilight with them. The storm still lingered overhead, and a blanket of thick, black clouds was blowing in slowly from over the island, threatening to cover the sky at any moment. Behind them, a bright moon was on the rise, providing just enough light to see for the moment. The burning ship has finally sunk beneath the swell.
"I daresay Stoick. I think your wee lad might have actually saved us…"
"Aye Gobber, but don't forget about Astrid."
"I swear that girl has been far more use to us as a devil then she ever was as a girl. To think, if we'd been able to tame dragons like those southerners tamed horses. Well…"
"We've seen some crazy things, impossible things, old friend, but remember to visit the real world from time to time."
"Aye, well. It was just a thought. Speaking of the impossible, you need to win your tribe back, without any more bloodshed."
"At least we won't have to wait any longer…"
Angarr was back in command of Berk's flagship. It had been damaged during the fighting, but a few holes and scorch marks were not enough to keep it from sailing. He caught sight of Stoick's enormous frame, and yanked the rudder, bringing his ship to bear. Across the icy water the two Chiefs of Berk faced each other while their shattered tribe looked on. Hearing was not a problem; they were both plenty loud enough. Angarr spoke first, shaking with rage.
"YOU. You dare to bring these Marauders, these outlanders, to fight against your own people. How low will you sink, Stoick the Vast? Is there not a scrap of honour left in you? First you side with the Dragons, and now this?"
"So you have taken command then Angarr? I expected as much. I never trusted you, you were always too clever for your own good, always the self-righteous hero of the people. Look where you've brought them! I'll not be lectured on honour by a man who abandons his home and forces his entire village to flee into the night like frightened dogs!"
"I saved them, Stoick. I saved them from the annihilation that you brought the moment you sided with that beast."
"That 'beast' is your daughter Angarr!"
"I'll hear none of it Stoick. NONE of it! My wife saw my daughter carried away by an animal. We found her axe, the blood. You are insane. Insane, Stoick. Look around! How many had to die today because of your cruelty, because of your madness? I'll send your head to the bottom of the ocean, and I'll be doing the world a favour!"
"Open your eyes! Do you see what just happened? That dragon saved us, not you. All you have ever done is kill, Angarr. You see a threat and you attack, even if you don't understand why you are fighting. I know, I was the same. Now I don't pretend to understand how, or why, or what happened that night, but I am telling you. That Night Fury is ASTRID! I swear it by my life and honour."
"That's good to hear Stoick, I will gladly take your life, and we've established that your honour means nothing. You're not fooling anyone with this fleet of Marauders. This battle is simply a way to take back the title you lost."
"The title you stole!"
"You are no longer fit to lead, traitor. I wonder, how much did you offer Raynir to slaughter your own people? I almost pity you, look how far you have fallen."
"STOICK!"
Stoick opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by another booming voice, calling out his name across the water. Raynir's galley was badly damaged, its main mast lay on the bottom of the ocean with much of its original crew. Powered only by the sweat of the oarsmen, it laboured across the battlefield to meet them, sweeping aside debris with its massive, thick hull. The dark shape of the galley would not have been hard to see, if not for the hundreds of newly lit oil lamps that lined the deck, rattling as they moved. Cutting across behind Stoick's ship, the oars halted close enough for the Jarl to join in the shouting match.
"You backstabbing, honourless,traitor of a man. I trusted you with my fleet, and with the lives of my men. Their blood is on your hands Stoick, as are the tears of the fresh widows and orphans that you made today."
"I have killed nobody!" Stoick responded, seething and horrified in equal measure. "You two warmongering-"
"You lured us into a trap! I let my trusting nature get the better of me, old friend. You enchant us all with a boy flying a dragon, and then order the beasts to attack at our weakest moment. Well guess what Stoick? We beat them off, and now you have nothing left to hide behind. I will get the dragons you promised me, one way or another…"
"What!" Angarr had to shout so that both Stoick and the Jarl could hear him. The Jarl turned to face him, looking down from the high deck of the great galley. At first he didn't recognise the new Chief of Berk. The Jarl, peered down at the helmeted man whom he had once known, a generation and a world away.
"Angarr Hofferson?"
"Stoick promised you what? Dragons? He is insane Jarl Raynir, Berk has no dragons. We have nothing left thanks to this traitor. We're fighting for our lives to get away from the devils!"
Raynir stopped, looking at the devastation around him. He noticed a Berk ship sliding by in the moonlight, picking bodies out of the water. It was filled with women and children, and heavily laden with food, water and firewood. Cold and pale faces looked out of thick hoods into the black water, praying that their husbands would not be among the dead. Sickening realisation swept over the Jarl. He turned back towards Angarr.
"Those aren't warriors… You're not here for a fight."
"Like I said Raynir, this is about survival. We were fleeing the island, after the dragons destroyed it. I have set no trap, I mean you no harm."
They held eye contact for a few seconds as a chill wind swept across the deck, growing in strength. For a moment, they considered continuing their fight, if only to avenge their dead. Angarr guessed what the Jarl was thinking.
"No Raynir, there's been too much bloodshed, my people have suffered enough."
"Aye, no more needless death." Slowly, menacingly, the Jarl turned towards the third ship. "But you won't get in my way. There's one score that I need to settle before the sun comes up…"
Angarr followed Raynir's gaze until it rested on Stoick, who looking aghast at the two chiefs before him. The man gulped and took a pace back. Stoick heart began to quicken as he realised that the last of his luck had just ran out. At Angarr's instruction, the men of Berk and Marauder's bay unsheathed their weapons for the third time that evening.
"Gobber…" Stoick whispered to his companion. "Full sails."
"Aye aye Cap-"
"NOW Gobber!"
The two men worked quickly to unravel the sail. As it fell, it blossomed and strained against the mast, filled by the night wind. A great roar went up from both Raynir and Angarr's ships as they twised around to attack. Grappling hooks were thrown at the traitors, but the small ship was pulling away with surprising speed, and the hooks sailed harmlessly into the water.
"After them! After the traitors! Avenge our dead!"
Both the pursuing ships were bigger and faster, but were also heavily damaged. Without a mast, the galley could only match their speed, but Angarr's flagship was gaining slowly. Arrows plunged into the deck, narrowly missing the two big men.
"I tell you Stoick, we Vikings resort to violence very quickly, do we not?" Gobber reached out to take the rudder handle, but an arrow reached it first and stuck, quivering, inches from his remaining hand.
"That we do, friend. Keep us sailing with the wind, back towards Berk, it's our only hope." Stoick was frantically tying down rope and rigging, squeezing as much speed as he could out of the thin sails. The two ships loomed up behind him, their crews baying for blood as they tore across the water. The crash of the water became much louder as they hit every wave at top speed, jolting the deck and threatening to capsize the little vessel.
"Oh for Odin's sake. I worship the gods, I'm true to my people, I love my son. What do I keep doing wrong to end up in these blasted situations?"
Stoick had no real plan, other than to run with the wind until they landed on the shore. Berk rose up to meet them, a dark patch on the horizon. He would sail for the south side of the island, a risk even on the clearest of days. The water was much shallower in some areas, but in others it was deeper than a barrel of Viking mead. The coast was a mixture of sharp, rocky cliffs and long sandy beaches that lead into the woods. He hoped they would land on the latter.
"They're gaining on us Stoick. All these arrows are not good for my health." Gobber had slung a shield on his back to protect him. It was already filled with shafts, but a particularly well aimed shot fell slightly short, embedding itself in his wooden leg with a dull thwack.
Lightning seemed to flash once again, but it was smothered by the black clouds above. Stoick stared upwards with intrigue from the head of the ship. It didn't sound like normal thunder, and the storm had mostly moved on. Several more flashes filled the clouds in quick succession, each one an unnaturally bright blue. Dark shapes appeared for a second and flitted around before quickly melting into the night, like fish beneath a murky sea. He looked back at the painfully close ships, and then towards Berk and an oncoming stretch of shallow water. They wouldn't outrun their enemies forever, but they didn't have to.
"Don't worry Gobber. I think we'll be alright." He lifted his head and shouted to the sky.
"Hiccup! Hiccup and Astrid!"
"Uh, so what do now?"
"We just keep flying, and let Stoick do the talking."
"Well I guess we can wait a while, at least the rain has stopped." Say, Astrid, could you tell your friends to back off slightly, the teeth are making me uncomfortable." She twisted slightly and snapped out an order.
"Back. Mine!"
Another overzealous Nightmare was forced back into line at the orders of the Night Fury. They followed Astrid without question, even though they were just turning wide circles around the island. All except the injured ones, who peeled off from the group and made a beeline for the horizon when they felt that they could fly no more. They all flew off to the North, the same direction the nest-hunts departed in, the same direction which Astrid spent countless hours staring as a child, waiting for her father to come home. It was fairly obvious they were retreating to the nest, or wherever the dragons came from. She too could feel an instinctive pull, a longing to follow them over the horizon. She quickly crushed those thoughts, Astrid was in control now.
She winced as an injured Gronckle passed out in mid-air, tumbling through the clouds and into the water, having misjudged its remaining energy. She couldn't see the impact, her eyes worked well in the dark but there was no seeing through the blanket of thick black clouds that had swept in below them. She could hear it well enough, and a small part of her died inside as another innocent dragon perished.
Wait, 'innocent'? I thought these dragons raided and killed your people, and turned you into one of their own kind.
Astrid shook her head with renewed hatred, but not for her flock. It was clear to her now, the male Night Fury was to blame. It was he who had organised the attacks against her village, these cattle would never have been able to, or would have wanted to do it themselves. It was he who had turned her into a dragon, robbed her of her humanity and turned her against her own people. She still shuddered to think what would have happened had Hiccup not shot her down.
"Uh, Astrid, another dragon has taken an interest in me…" She sighed, and tilted her head slightly for the fourth time
"Mine, Back, Fly!"
It was her duty to protect the other dragons, to lead them away from the Night Fury, wherever he had gone. She had been blessed with the power to lead them, and she was responsible for their safety, even if they were a little reckless in their curiosity.
"Again Astrid, it's breathing down my neck." She didn't even bother to turn around.
"Back, Now!"
A fresh wave of hatred welled up for the black devil who had changed her. She could hear his voice in her head, feel his damnable presence in her soul. She could almost smell him. More than that, she could actually smell him.
"Astrid… It's not going away, and I can't see in the dark. "Wait, what kind of dragon is that?"
She twisted her head back over her shoulders, her vision was filled with a sadistic, toothy grin and intense green eyes. Literally inches away from Hiccup's head, its deep voice vibrated through her entire body.
"Well hello again beautiful."
He slammed Hiccup to the side with a powerful blow. His claws left bloody scratches in the boy's shoulder as he was thrown from his saddle. The pack of dragons scattered, leaderless. The air was filled with scales and claws as they all panicked. Astrid plummeted after Hiccup. Amidst the dragon screams, she could hear the Night Fury's maniac laughter.
She folded her wings for the dive, rapidly catching the flailing and bleeding boy. He was screaming, but the noise was muffled as they tore through the thick clouds.
"Hiccup, hold on to me! Grab hold!"
"Astrid! Where are you! It's too dark!"
She made what little adjustments she could, twisting just enough to get close to him. The clouds ended abruptly, replaced by the ocean. With the black depths threatening to swallow them both, Astrid knew she was out of time.
Hiccup couldn't see her, so she edged out in front of the boy, silently willing him to grab on.
"Come on, grab hold of me! Do it!"
His palm closed around the tip of her tail, but slipped off again as he spiralled away even further. She was falling too fast now, and whilst falling to his death whilst blind Hiccup was beginning to panic, but she didn't.
"Help! Oh Gods help us!"
"The Gods won't help us. But I can!"
She flared her wings a tiny amount, straining to keep control. She slowed just enough for Hiccup to float onto her back at terminal velocity. Bumping into her, he immediately latched on. By instinct, he felt his way into the saddle, struggling against the rush of air. The second he was in Astrid started to pull out of the dive, straining as she did so. Hiccup was forced back into his seat as they fought against both gravity and their own tremendous speed. Blood from his shoulder spread down his arm and chest as he strained to hold on.
"We do this far, FAR too often."
Hiccup never knew how close to the water they were, with the air rushing by his ears he would never have been able to hear the waves anyway. Astrid kept quiet about the fact that her legs were now dripping with salt water.
Using the speed of the dive, they shot back upwards and broke through the clouds and into a calm and starry sky. The light revealed the last of the dragons fleeing back towards their nest. Silently, a black shape flitted across the moon before turning in a wide arc to face them. They acted without hesitation.
"There he is, let's go."
The two dragons closed the distance in complete silence, their wings naturally adapted for soundless flight. From either side of the still and empty sky they charged each other with terrifying speed. All that Astrid could hear was Hiccup's breathing, as she focused her powerful eyes on the small, dark shape that approached her.
They were rocketing towards each other. Astrid prepared to fire, the thin whine coming from deep within her matching that of the male Night Fury. She been attacked by a Night Fury before, and she had launched attacks herself, but never had she experienced both at the same time. As they closed the distance, the dual whines became piercing screams, torture on her sensitive ears. It took all of her will power to maintain her course. When they were close enough to see each other's eyes, they released.
Astrid tilted up, looking to protect her rider. The male twisted down to avoid Astrid's blast. The two fireballs crashed into each other, and a bright boom lit up the sky, briefly ruining their night vision and echoing out across the clouds. Hiccup shielded his eyes as a rush of air threatened to tear him from his saddle, but he held firm.
Astrid arced upward in a high loop, whilst the male mirrored her movements from below. She experienced weightlessness for a few seconds as she crested the loop upside down and with a glance downwards, she saw her enemy glaring back at her. They both went vertical, Astrid diving down and the male powering up to meet her. They met halfway, but the tight angle of the loops meant that neither could accurately pull off a shot. As they swept past each other, claws lashed out.
Hiccup ducked, avoiding the male's strike as Astrid swung towards his exposed underbelly. Her hand caught deep into the scales, and came away bloody. Both dragons screamed in pain. The blow had struck the male hard on his side, beneath the wing. The speed had amplified the power of her strike, but the force of the impact had torn the claws from Astrid's paw, leaving them embedded in the howling devil.
Anger took over the both of them. Animal rage coursed through their blood and they twisted back for another pass. The distance closed once again and Astrid swung with her remaining claws. They hummed through the air, striking at nothing as the distance was too great. A circling match began with each dragon turning as tightly as they could. They followed each other round in a rapidly shrinking loop, drifting closer with each orbit. Astrid's wings were tight and burning with exertion as she tried to tuck in behind the male for a shot. She buried the pain in her anger and demanded more from her wings, but he matched her every effort, stretching the angle just far enough to avoid getting blasted with a fireball.
Suddenly the male folded one wing, rolled over violently and had reversed his direction before Astrid could even react. She launched a shot that sailed harmlessly past, bursting in the clouds. She watched as he pulled the manoeuvre again with his other wing, darting back in towards the former Viking, but she was ready. She turned sharply inward to meet his attack, and his shot also failed to find its target.
They rolled and turned together through the sky at the limits of their endurance. As they crossed and scissored past each other, they bit and tore with teeth and claws. They were so close, Astrid could feel the droplets of his blood as it splashed on her face. Most blows glanced off the scaled armour, but as the fight progressed, bloody holes were ripped out of them both. Their flight became increasingly ragged and desperate – a single mistake would end in death.
Hiccup was still bleeding from the deep wounds in his shoulder, and the tight turns were forcing the blood away from his head. He ducked and dodged whenever the blows were directed at him, but he was becoming increasingly faint. Astrid could feel as his pedal movements became slower and slower, and he could no longer fully commit to the turns. They needed to pull out. Now.
"Astrid, Astrid I…"
"I know, I'm backing out now."
At the height of a turn, she rolled away from the fight and dived silently into the clouds. Rather than falling straight through, she pulled up and into the thickest part at the last second, hiding from her attacker and avoiding the fireball that had followed her in.
The deafening silence returned, with only the sound of her own fluttering heartbeat and Hiccup's supressed groans to be heard. She was injured, but dragons were durable, and Hiccup was weak even by human standards. She turned round to nuzzle him as he strapped up his shoulder as well as he could with torn clothing. It stemmed the bleeding, for now.
"SO!" the male's voice echoed ominously through the dark, dripping with malice. "You won't face me? I'm disappointed, you should face your death with the strength and bravery expected of our kind.
He let the words hang in the air as Astrid tensed up, praying that he would not hear or smell them.
"But I suppose you are not one of us, are you? You still cling on to your old life, your limp, pathetic body, your clothing stolen from cattle, and your silly metal claws. Tell me oh noble human, did your nest accept you? Were you welcomed back into the flock with warm embrace after you became their worst enemy?"
Astrid flinched at the memory of Stoick's sword, slicing through her right claw. It had long since healed, but a patch of pale scars stood as a testament to the welcome that her chief had given her, to say nothing of the mob that had thrown them off the island. As bitter as it sounded inside her head, the male Night Fury was right.
"You had no future except with me, but alas, now even that is gone from you. You have nothing, you are nothing. It's ironic, the most powerful of all beings and you have to rely on humansfor everything. Killing you will be mercy, I'm sure.
"Hiccup… Hiccup and Astrid!"
The unmistakable voice of Stoick wafted through the clouds, cutting the dragon short. He let out an audible snarl at the sound of Viking voices.
"AH, it sounds like your 'people' are calling you. Well if you refuse to fight, and you really are one of the humans, why don't you go and rescue them instead!"
She felt the rushing of air as the Night Fury sliced through the clouds somewhere nearby, and she plunged after him.
Below her, Stoick was calling frantically for help as Angarr's ship bore down on Gobber and the chief. They were alarmingly close to the island now, and the waves threatened to throw them onto the rocks at any moment. Raynir's galley was stuck motionless in the water, leaning to one side. The broad and deep hull had run aground on a patch of shallows, which the longships had slid over with their shallow draft. The Jarl was once again red in the face, shouting orders at his helpless crew.
Astrid could see the male steering towards the two longships, and a tell-tale whine signalled an imminent attack. Hiccup worked the pedals with what little strength he had left, and together they dove after the black villain. The men on both ships ran for cover as the Night Fury screamed down, the chase abandoned. She watched in horror as he fell faster and faster towards the fragile wooden boats, she could not stop him.
The fireball was released at the last moment as the scaled menace blew past between the two ships. The bright flame smashed through the thin wooden hull and sent the heavy mast spiralling through the air. With an unnatural groan, Stoick's ship began to sink, fast.
Hiccup screamed his father's name as they circled the stricken vessel. There were no arrows from Angarr's ship. The men were either too stunned by the attack or busy rowing away from the sinking ship. Stoick lay unconscious on the deck as the water lapped at his feet. Fighting back the pain across her body, Astrid pulled up to hover above the chief's limp body. Gobber was on his feet, shouting at his student.
"GO Hiccup! Take your father and get back to the Island. Carry him to safety with that beastie of yours!"
"But Gobber, what about you?"
"I'll be fine for a moment lad, besides, I'll bet you can only carry one overweight Viking at a time!" Astrid tilted her head and chirped in agreement, her wings were already burning with the effort of hovering. The old smith grinned, clambering up to the end of the doomed ship.
"But Gobber, with your wooden leg, and hand… Can you even swim?"
"I've survived this long lad, just come back for me soon. Now GO! That's an order!"
Astrid swooped down, wrapping her massive claws around Stoick with a gentle, motherly protection. She laboured for altitude, rising into the night as Hiccup called back to the man who had raised him all his life.
"Good luck Gobber! We'll be back."
"Aye, look after your father for me…"
With a tear in his eye, Hiccup gripped the saddle, and together he and Astrid ferried the chief back towards the island. He was weighing her down and his body was awkward to hold, but she kept a sure grip and flapped for the island as fast as she could. They quickly passed over the cliffs and looked round for a safe place to land. The wind picked up as they descended, the rustle and crack of the trees proving that the storm had not yet fully passed. Astrid lay the man down on a patch of soft moss and grass, and Hiccup leapt off the moment they touched down. She looked around as he checked his father's breathing, making sure to memorise where they left him. It was near what was left of Raven's Point, but slightly inland. In fact, it wasn't too far from the cove where she had been trapped for so long.
"What if the Night Fury comes for him when we're gone?"
"We have to take that chance, there's no time!" She nudged him hard and nodded back towards the ships.
"You're right. Stay safe dad, let's go!"
The boy jumped back in the saddle and they took off towards the ocean at record speed. In moments they were upon Angarr's ship, which was drifting nearby, avoiding the wreckage. Stoick's ship had broken in half with only the bow still visible, pointing vertically upwards out of the dark waves with Gobber on top. He waved his hook hand as he saw the dragon approach. There were only a few feet of wood left between him and the water.
"We'll have to come around and grab him at speed. There's no room to land and we can't just pluck him out of the water, not in these conditions"
Astrid growled in agreement. She dived down, keeping up her speed as she pulled a wide circle behind Gobber, lining up her target. They raced towards him, Astrid's talons out wide. Gobber held both his arms high ready to be picked up, the water was up to his ankle. She flared her wings at exactly the right time and prepared to clamp down with her-
*Snap*
Suddenly, she fell.
A bola wrapped around her wings, narrowly avoiding Hiccup. They screamed as they shot past Gobber, a black bullet flying only on momentum and dropping steadily towards the sea. Astrid closed her eyes and waited for the impact that would kill them both. Instead of water, it was wood.
Angarr's deck was splintered as the several ton beast ploughed into the deck, sending shards of wood showering in all directions. Hiccup was thrown from Astrid's back and rolled across the wood before smacking into a bag of stowed clothing, probably saving his life. He lay there, stunned and reeling, gripping his damaged shoulder, open mouthed with unspeakable pain. He didn't notice as Angarr casually strolled up to him, un-sheathing his beautified dagger. His men stood back in awe, too shocked by the sight of a real, tangled Night Fury on their deck. Angarr looked down at the boy before him, shaking his head and tutting.
"Hiccup, Son of Stoick the Vast, rider of dragons, apparently. I would have expected better from the son of that man, but then again we always did, and you always seemed to disappoint us." He gestured towards the captured dragon. "But this… This is an all new level of failure."
Angarr pressed his boot into Hiccup's bloody shoulder, causing the boy to spasm and scream in pain. Astrid began to fight desperately against her restraints, helpless to stop her father from slowly killing her only friend in the world.
"Look at the way it fights, how it tries to protect you. Your bola-thrower was quite effective actually, all we needed to do was rebuild the damn thing and mount it on a ship, and this certainly won't be the last dragon we shoot down. You know how it is, 'first time lucky' and all that…"
He leant down right next to Hiccup, savouring each poisonous word as he poured out his hatred on the boy.
"You know, I can almost understand Stoick now, he was just trying to protect his son. He was fooled just like the rest of us. You were the mastermind, the real evil that was behind all of this. What kind of black magic did you use, to tame a Night Fury?" He spat on Hiccup with abject disgust.
"I bet you've been controlling the dragons this whole time. All of this was your fault. I hope you're happy, now you've destroyed your village, killed your people and ruined your family's name. I hope you understand what you've done, before you die."
He grabbed hold of Hiccup's head and twisted it to look at Astrid, eyes filled with tears.
"I saw it in your mother, all those years ago. She loved the dragons too, did you know that? It didn't stop them, they took her away, just like they took my DAUGHTER!"
"Dad, dad it's me… I am Astrid. Why can't you just understand what I'm saying? Why can't you understand that I am your daughter?"
Angarr stared hard into Astrid's eyes, not a hint of kindness or remorse. She knew that even as she pleaded with him, he was picturing a hundred different ways of killing what had once been his little girl.
"Please dad, remember… just… Oh gods why?"
"Silence, wretch! Do you know what the worst part is? I can't feel anything anymore, nothing but hatred. She was my everything, the only reason I could face each day on that hellish island. I loved her, I loved Astrid with all my heart, and you took her from me! Your death won't bring me peace, only justice. I'll kill you last and I'll do it slowly, but first you can watch your little friend die. I should have done this a long time ago."
"NO!"
Astrid pulled and strained violently against the rope, biting, clawing, twisting and shrieking as it pulled tighter and tighter. Angarr took the knife and placed it against Hiccup's throat, tip first. With his free hand he held the child down. He stared Hiccup straight in the eyes as he gently increased the pressure on the back of the blade.
The rope began to fray, the individual fibres breaking under such immense strength. The bola might have been designed to trap an ordinary dragon, but she was a Night Fury. Seeing the first droplet of blood dribble down Hiccup's throat, Astrid lost all rational thought. With sheer will power, the rope tore apart, and Astrid burst out with a savage roar.
In a single bound she was on her father and had ripped into his chest with her undamaged talons, throwing him across the deck with a crushing blow. Hiccup gasped, grasping his throat with both hands. They came away bloody but his windpipe was still intact. It was just a flesh wound, which was more than could be said for Angarr. Astrid nuzzled into the boy's limp shoulders, relieved that he was still alive. Beaten, bleeding and bruised all over, Hiccup was having a hard time believing it himself. He had barely enough strength to open his mouth.
"It's okay Astrid. I… I'm still here."
She purred with relief, but as the adrenaline wore off, she became painfully aware of what she had done. A deep cough made her turn around slowly, dreading what she might find. Angarr was lying on his back, stunned, eyes wide, dying. If any of his crew thought to intervene, she made them think otherwise with a short bark and a deathly glare. She padded over to her father and stood over his shattered body.
Angarr's torso had been mauled horrifically and his lungs were all but crushed. Blood trickled out of his mouth with each ragged breath. He lay limp and still, his body refusing to obey him. He fixed his eyes with powerless hatred on the creature that stalked into his vision. Anger and despair burned deep within him as the creature that stood triumphant over him. He knew he was dying, and cursed himself for not avenging the death of his daughter. He tried his hardest to cough a few curses at it before he passed.
"Beast… Devil… Astrid…"
The dragon looked taken aback with the last word, shocked even. Angarr couldn't help but wonder if the creature knew what it had taken from him, and what endless sorrow he had felt every day since his daughter's death. He spat out blood as he cursed the demon again.
"You killed, you took… Astrid."
It placed a single paw over his mouth to silence him. Wordlessly, it stooped down to his level until they faced each other eye to eye. Its pupils were slit, but gradually widened. Angarr's eyes widened too, in confusion and fear. He saw something in those dragons' eyes; some emotion he couldn't exactly describe. If there was anger there was no trace of it, only sadness and guilt. There was also hope, happiness and pain, but mostly pain. It looked down at the wound it had made on his chest, gargling softly and blowing on it. It stopped the moment he winced, and once again looked deep into his eyes.
Angarr was crippled with injury and exhaustion. He didn't understand the dragon's behaviour and he didn't want to. He didn't care if it was mocking him with false emotion, he only cared about his own, creeping death and the eternal calm that it would bring him. He allowed his eyes to close as Hiccup whispered something in a low voice.
"Astrid? Astrid?"
'Yes, I will think of Astrid, focus on her' Angarr thought to himself. He would see her soon in Valhalla and the thought brought him more pleasure then he expected. He breathing became even shallower and he could hardly feel the pain anymore. He thought of his daughter. He thought of Astrid. But why had the boy called her name?
He coughed again, eyes opening with a dull frown as lingering doubts crept over him. His mind worked slowly as his body began to shut down, but he forced himself to think. He searched through his fleeting memories, back to the day when Stoick had been banished. The man had said something about his daughter and the Night Fury. Could Astrid really be?...
For a second, his stomach dropped and his head spun. The realisation would have made him sick, had he not been on the edge of death already. Angarr had never really considered the possibility that Stoick was right about his daughter and the dragon. It was treasonous, insane and impossible, and yet here was a Night Fury standing over him, nuzzling into his neck. He could feel the warm breath on his shoulder, and the cool press of the scales on the sensitive skin of his throat. He had nothing to lose.
"Astrid?..."
The dragon smiled somehow, he could see it in her eyes. She nodded gently, warbling in joyous relief. The rational part of his mind knew better, repeating to itself over and over again that this was not his daughter. Angarr ignored it. There was something different about this dragon. He couldn't explain exactly what or how he knew, but Angarr was sure that this was his lost daughter. With the last of his energy, he lifted a heavy hand up to her head, resting it on her deep black scales. He could feel the muscle, scale and bones of a dragon's body, but he could sense that somewhere deep within lived the soul of his daughter. He was overwhelmed.
For a second he contemplated his own actions, and his cruelty towards her. His heart broke as he imagined her pain, all alone in a body that was not her own, hunted by her own family. The thought of all the hatred he had harboured for his own daughter burned his soul from the inside. He couldn't deal with it, he was too weak. All that mattered was his daughter was alive, and he was holding her in his arms once again. He coughed his last words and Astrid leant close to hear them.
"Sss… Sorry…"
Astrid's eyes welled up, and she pressed her forehead against her father's. He died quickly after that. He choked on his final, bloody breath and passed out never to wake again. He went with the faintest hint of a smile, at peace in the knowledge that he had at least been forgiven.
Astrid stood over the body of her father in silence. It had all happened so quickly, and now he was dead, and she had killed him. She closed her eyes and pressed her head against her father's already cooling brow. A small voice in her head was attacking her, screaming, blaming Angarr's death on her own stupidity, and yet for once she did not revel in self-hatred or pity. She had killed her father to save Hiccup, and she knew it. She felt little for the man lying beneath her, neither anger or love. She felt his loss deeply - how could she not? – but it was nothing compared to what she would of felt if she had lost her beloved Hiccup.
An odd calm passed over her. It felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her back, and she was filled with an eerie sense of freedom and relief. It was as if the human Astrid had finally melted away, replaced with the calm certainty of a Night FuryAs she stood glaring at the rest of the awestruck crew, an odd smile crept across her mouth. None of them could possibly grasp the significance of her father's death, and none of them ever would.
Her smile turned to ash when she saw Hiccup. He was stood in open-mouthed horror and shock, desperately scanning the water below. The other ship was nowhere to be seen. A few shattered pieces of driftwood bumped off the hull of the remaining vessel. There was nothing else.
In the heat of the moment, Astrid had forgotten all about Gobber, but she knew the moment she saw Hiccup's face that the old smith was gone. Even as Hiccup's empty cries rang out across the water, she was forming a plan. She was devoid of feeling, anger or pain; they had all died with her father. All she knew was that the male Night Fury had to be killed.
"Get on my back Hiccup, we're leaving." She gestured forcefully with her head. Hiccup was distraught, racked with shock and weak with injury.
"Gobber… I can't see him, he's… I, I don't-"
"Get on my back." She gestured again, brushing him with her tail. The boy stumbled, and reluctantly climbed into the saddle, tears streaming down his face. It was all he could do to hold on and work the pedal. With as single bound, they were in the air, and disappeared into the blackness.
High above the waves and clouds the Night Fury floated, oblivious to the hopes and fears of the humans below him. If he had ever had a name, it had long been forgotten to him. His subjects knew him by differently. They recognised his voice, his scent and his power. He was their commander, in the nest and in battle. He was nothing in comparison to The Mother of course, but she rarely showed her physical presence to her underlings. He smiled to himself as he thought of the others, the flock of dragons that were too dull to realise they were being controlled. The Mother didn't need to be seen, she lived within in all of them, protecting and guiding them in exchange for sustenance.
He had a different agreement, being the highest and greatest of all his kind, second only to The Mother herself. He served her voluntarily, leading the hunts on the humans' homes, supplying her with food and keeping the peace in exchange for a safe home. He had the freedom to make his own path. He had organised the attack on the ships, he had destroyed the Viking village when it became a threat, he had used his soul's own dark powers to create and bind a mate.
It was a dreadful shame that she was hit. Injured so badly on the night of her birth that she had forgotten who she was. A lifetime of happiness awaited them both, and the moment he thought it was his it was snatched away. It was agonising sometimes - to sit in the corner of the nest and watch the others frolic and live together, for each other. They were ignorant, but happy, and he could not help but envy their simple lives. A mate would have given him something else to live for; a hunting partner, a companion who could match his intellect, someone sentient to talk to at last! He might have even had a family, but now it was all gone.
She had become convinced that she was still a human, when she was truly destined for greater things. He almost regretted his harsh words to her, spoken in pain at the heat of the moment. Humans were stupid, cunning and violent. They could think up a million new ways to dismember a dragon, but they lacked the basic empathy of a dragon's soul. That was why they needed to be destroyed. Her life must have been horrible, but she didn't take the chance to escape when she was offered. Now he was waiting for his soul-mate to reappear so he could finally end her misery. Life was almost too cruel.
A quick flash and a blast of air brought him back to reality. The female was there, cresting the clouds to his side and hurling shots at him. He dodged them easily and fired back, pushing all other thoughts from his head to focus on the battle at hand. She was much slower, and barely avoided the flames as they screamed past and burst within the clouds. She still had that stupid little human on her back, helping her to fly despite being badly injured. It would hardly be difficult to take them both down.
He bore down on the couple, his injuries throbbing hard with the exertion, reminding him of the danger that the female still posed. She turned to flee, but he was higher and faster than her. She dived for more speed, but he had more than enough energy to keep up. He would get into close range, so close that he couldn't possibly miss, and there he would finally end this miserable battle.
She was dropping slowly in a shallow dive, working for as much speed as possible, but it was too late. For a second she slipped beneath the clouds but pulled up sharply, climbing vertically as she erupted out of the darkness. He easily followed her, higher and higher into the stars. The female had clearly made an error and it would cost her. He was still going far quicker than her, and would be within clawing distance in a matter of moments. Maybe she had given up? She wasn't even trying to keep altitude, but simply hanging limp as she lost all her speed in the climb.
She was a perfect target, barely moving at all. He would kill her and have enough momentum to glide gracefully by. He began to build up a shot, the terrifying drone filling the air as his mouth filled with fire. He held on for as long as possible, despite the growing pain. He wanted a powerful shot that would knock her out as painlessly as possible, it was the right thing to do.
They were alarmingly close, and the female had stopped completely, hanging weightless in the air. He said a silent prayer for his mate's soul as he prepared to execute her. He watched as she turned in the air, a devilish grin on her face. The male realised his mistake, but too late. She shot a single, quick fireball, tiny compared to the male's, directly into his mouth.
It exploded with a tremendous roar, searing his insides as both shots detonated within his mouth. The blast was funnelled out of his nose and mouth in stream of bright blue flame, sending him spinning out of control. The force of the blast knocked him blind as he spiralled downwards. Had his mouth not been wide open, he would have been killed outright. He could barely breathe with his singed and bleeding lungs, and his mind was blank with pain.
He must have fallen for more than a minute before he regained his senses. He spread his wings just far enough to slow his death plummet as he fell through the lowest clouds. With what little strength and awareness he had, he steered towards the island, away from the black maw of the ocean. He landed hard, tearing through the trees before careening off a ledge.
Astrid flared her wings as they landed in the cove. Hiccup immediately sild off and lay down, utterly spent. Her wings were aching too, but she forced herself to stay awake as she padded towards the still body of the Night Fury. The cove was painfully familiar. Everywhere she looked she was reminded of her days in captivity. The memories of anger and fear caused her to physically flinch. She shuddered as remembered her father, kneeling down by the poolside. But there were good memories too. The rocks where Hiccup used to read to her, the trees that they would sit in, the caves where they would sleep. It seemed like years ago.
It seemed like justice for the male to have landed here, trapped like she was back when it all began. She approached the architect of all her misery, searching for more anger deep within her, and yet she could find none. The deaths of Gobber, her father and countless other Vikings and dragons had left her numb. All she could think about was how peaceful the Night Fury looked, and beautiful too. She hated to admit it, but the sleek scales and wings were gorgeous in their construction, despite the injuries he had sustained. Astrid rarely had a chance to see her full reflection, but it was nothing compared to the magnificence of the real thing. His death was almost a tragedy.
Suddenly, he coughed, groaning softly as he opened his eyes. They were glassy, focusing on nothing for a few seconds, before he caught sight of her. His eyes opened wide with fear and confusion as he tried to get away. He tripped up on his own feet and slammed back down into the dirt. Astrid stood over him, glaring down with malice. He whimpered and weakly covered his eyes with a broken paw.
"Where am I? What… Who am I? Oh no. Oh my sun and stars no!"
Astrid was taken aback by the outburst of the still living creature. He voice was warped and muffled with his injury, and every time he spoke blood sprayed out. She took a step back as he continued to speak nonsense.
"I'm free? I can't believe I'm free! Oh thank you, thank you all!"
"Free? What do you mean, what are you talking about? Do you know who I am?"
"You. You are the female. I took you, turned you… I am so sorry. Oh why must this happen?"
"Who are you?" Astrid demanded angrily.
"I… I think my name is … Toothless! Yes, that's it. That is what the human's named me." The dragon's tail wagged weakly. It tried to sit up, but collapsed back down again.
"Humans? You are a Night Fury. That is what you are called, not Toothless"
"But I am see?" He opened his mouth to reveal a bloody, burned mess. Concentrating, he was able to sheathe and unsheathe his teeth, grinning ridiculously as he did so. "It always amused the humans in the village, until I…"
"Until what?"
"Until I was taken, controlled. Oh, forgive me. Forgive me ancestors. I... She made me…"
"Do what?" The male had been staring off into the distance, but turned to face Astrid with horrified eyes. They pupils were wide and wet with tears.
"I killed them all. All those years ago, hundreds of summers now. She has had me ever since…" Now it was Astrid's turn to look horrified
"Wait. What are you saying? Vikings and dragons once-"
"Just go, get away from this place. There's nothing but pain on these islands. Take your boy and leave."
"But wait, tell me more. You can't just-"
"Astrid look out!"
Stoick stood tall at the edge of the cove, lifting an enormous rock above his head. Astrid screamed in protest as the man heaved the boulder over the edge. It dropped quickly, too quickly for the male to think. It landed on his head with a sickening crack, finishing the job that Astrid had started.
"NO! You monster!"
"It's okay Astrid. It's done. It's over."