Chapter Five

Cold Hearts and Stupid Plans

A few years later

Skurge's POV

Something changed within Phoenix after that day. I noticed that immediately. She didn't laugh as much as she used to, but she still has her friends. In fact, I've seen her with a lot of dragons lately. They seem to admire her power. I'm not surprised- she's turned out to be quite the dragon.

The young adult is now huge. She ate a lot after our fight and exercised. Now, big, hard muscles ripple under her hide as she moves. Her markings are blood red and stand out against her white scales. And her claws are crazily long, and needle sharp.

I wince, remembering what happened when I yelled at her after the Storm. The long scars on my face remain as a reminder of when she raked those weapons down my face. Nearly took out my eye, she did.

The apprentice has also become an expert flier and fighter. She's now the teacher for the expert Fight class. Not to mention, she's also my deputy.

Yes, I do remember saying that she wouldn't be after the Storm, but she's improved so much, there's no one better for the job. I could tell she was happy when I gave her the position, even with all the changes she's gone through. But the most noticeable is her personality.

After the Storm, after I called her a runt, it was like she hardened on the inside. As if her heart grew cold. Her eyes are always slits, and to those who meet her for the first time, it looks like she's going to kill them at any moment. But I'm not about to complain- those features make the best soldiers.

"Skurge!" I jerk out of my thoughts and look at my rider and superior, Alvin. "Come, we're going to announce a clan meeting in the Hall." He barks at me and I obediently follow.

I knew this day was going to come soon. He's going to announce the attack on Berk. Grinning, I let out a loud roar as Alvin yells at Savage to gather everyone, telling all the dragons to come.

As the people gather at the steps of the rugged hall, the shadowy figures of approaching dragons fills the sky. I laugh quietly. Berk's dragons don't have the Outcast features that make the best soldiers.

Not even close to these monsters.

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Phoenix's POV

I stalk around the edges of the Fight class rock, circling my students. They're all wrestling and fighting, using the moves I'd taught them. Unlike my fight teachers, I let some of the smaller dragons pair up with bigger ones. It makes the smaller ones stronger, and they'll be used to fighting dragons twice their size.

Unfortunately, not all of these young dragons are good at fighting. I usually don't bother helping them and pay attention to the good ones. They can't learn how to fight; it just comes to you naturally. I'm just making those that it has come to naturally practice, and I teach them new moves.

I pause and crouch down near a young male Grapple Grounder who is fighting a Snaptrapper. This one's my favorite. They're both strange and slightly rare species, especially the Grounder, but they fight like born warriors.

The Grapple Grounder's name is Whiplash. He's the best fighter in the class, if you ask me. Every student in my class is a teenager, but they haven't gone into the Storm yet. Doesn't really matter to me, though.

I watch as Whiplash dodges each of the Snaptrapper's head's snaps and lands perfectly aimed blows at the necks. If he'd had his claws unsheathed, the four-headed dragon would be dead. He leaps to the side as all of the heads move in for one attack and pins his opponent down.

Then, using his tail, he pulls the necks together into one bunch and slides his tail up directly beneath their heads. "Yield!" he growls, his voice rough and unkind. The Snaptrapper growls and Whiplash tightens his grip. "Yield!" he snarls, baring his teeth. His rival struggles for a moment, then goes limp and sighs, "Fine, you win."

Whiplash lets him go and he leaps to his feet. Purring, I step out of the shadows and sashay towards them. "Well done, Whiplash!" I praise the student and he beams, "I liked your technique."

Turning towards the Snaptrapper, who's four-heads are hanging, I say, "You were pretty good yourself, but you shouldn't have given in so easily. Next time, pretend you're beaten, and then when your enemy relaxes a bit, spring up and flip him over!"

He nods and I look at the two students. "You can go take a break, but-

A loud screech of shock interrupts me my head snaps towards the source of the noise. When I see it's two of the students that aren't really good at fighting (the Lesser students, as I call them) I roll my eyes and grudgingly walk over to them.

"Alright, what happened?" I ask, irritably. The two pupils, a Gronckle and a Zippleback, turn to look at me and I see a flicker of fear in their eyes.

"He scratched me with his claws out!" the Zippleback complains. The Gronckle looks at her with dull eyes and rumbles lazily, "It was an accident, okay? You don't need to be a hatchling about it and call the teacher!"

She glares at him with four eyes and moves her heads away from each other, revealing a long scratch in between the necks. I barely glance at it and instead tower over her and shove my muzzle next to hers.

"When you're in a fight for your life," I whisper, "are you going to complain about every little scratch you get?" the young female looks at me with wide, fearful eyes and opens her mouths to say something, but nothing comes out. I growl, "If you're not here to learn how to fight, get out! I don't need another useless hatchling to waste my time on. But don't expect me to come racing to your side if you ever get in a real fight. And trust me, you will."

I whirl around and walk into the middle of the fighting circle. Everybody has stopped and is staring at me, occasionally glancing at the young Zippleback, who is shaking with fear.

Ignoring her, I yowl, "Alright, everyone. Most of you did well. Let's move on to Sky Battle. Everybody get a new partner and choose a spot." As everyone moves to find a new partner, I hiss, "And please don't come crying to me if you get a scratch or a scrape. Just suck it up and-

Once again, I'm interrupted, but this time, by a faint roar. Instantly, I recognize that it's Skurge's and lift my wings, "Class dismissed. Time to go to the Hall."

I launch myself into the dusk sky, soon followed by my pupils. The Hall is a bit far away from the Fighting area where the class takes place, so that's why Skurge's roar was faint.

As we fly, we pass by the outcropping of rock where the Flight class is. Already, the dragons in the class are flying towards the center of the village. I weave through the throng, looking for Dracen. Since Miss Sky retired, Dracen is the Flight teacher. Occasionally, Ash helps, but Sawyer is a hunter.

Spotting the Changewing, I angle my wings, slicing through the crowd towards him. The dragons typically move away when I'm trying to get somewhere, so it isn't very hard to reach him.

"Hey, Dracen." I greet him and he nods, "Hi, Phoenix. I was just having a great class, but then all this happened. What do you think this is all about?"

"I have a suspicion, and I hope I'm right." I answer before diving through the crowd, down towards the Hall where everyone is gathering outside.

Skurge, who is on the steps next to Alvin, stares at me and I carve through the sky before landing next to him. Savage is next to Alvin, and the other dragons and Outcasts are waiting at the base of the steps, looking at us anxiously.

"Is everyone here?" Savage yells above the mass. Instead of yelling out, I merely look around with sharp eyes, marking off every dragon in my head. Sawyer catches my eye and nods.

Turning to Skurge, I rumble, "Everyone is accounted for." He nods, "Good," and nudges his rider. Alvin looks at him, and then raises his hand for silence. "Let's go inside." He growls to the Outcasts, "We have much to discuss."

Everybody walks into the hall and files around a large, round, stone table in the middle of the room. I order the all the dragons to stand behind the Outcasts before taking my place next to Skurge and Alvin.

"The future of the Outcasts will be glorious. We will thrive, and we will have power! Because the time has come," Alvin pauses and everybody holds his or her breath, "to launch an attack on Berk."

Everybody erupts into cheers and I smirk. I knew it. Alvin continues, "We and our dragons have trained for years, waiting for this day. I believe that we are ready now. The dragons are deadly weapons at our command. With them, the most dangerous warriors, and a perfect plan, we will succeed.

"We all know that Stoneblood is related to the Night Fury family of Berk." I flatten my ears and hiss, "But they don't know that she is alive. When they find out, they'll be shocked and that is when we will overthrow them!"

One of the best Outcast soldiers and the battle teacher raises his hand. Alvin looks at him and nods.

"We mustn't be too confident," he says, "Though they aren't as strong or ferocious as us, the Vikings are still very clever and have battle armor. We're going to need to plan carefully if we are to succeed."

The Outcasts mutter in agreement and Alvin seems to consider this. "Alright," he finally says, "We'll spend time planning today and tomorrow, but no longer than that."

The soldier nods and takes a step back. After that, they start discussing the battle plan and tactics. As they do, I can't help but notice how, when we win, it will mostly benefit them. They almost never mentioned the dragons, and when they did they basically referred to us as weapons at their command. The meeting goes on for hours, and as it does, I feel my heart clench and my veins run cold. Finally, at midnight, Alvin calls it a day and everybody starts to leave. Before they do, though, I ask with a bit of anger in my voice, "Wait, what's in it for us?"

Alvin ignores me and simply says, "Go to bed, Stoneblood. The dragons already know that they have to sleep, you don't have to tell them." I scowl. Sometimes it annoys me so much how they can't understand us. And yet we can understand them. Sort of.

As I walk outside, I gesture for Skurge, Ash, Dracen, and Sawyer to come to me. Leading them over to a quiet corner, I turn around and ask irritably, "What do we get out of this? It sounds like they don't even care what happens to us."

"They're humans." Dracen yawns sleepily, "None of them make sense at all. We'll probably get something."

"Not if we don't win." Ash growls, "That plan didn't seem very smart. I agree with Phoenix. What happens to us then? Will they just toss us aside since they found out we're useless 'weapons'?"

Skurge scoffs, "Of course not. They need us. We do provide most of their food."

"I dunno." Sawyer says warily, "The Outcasts don't really think before they act. They just like war and bloodshed; they don't really care about getting food for each other. At least Alvin doesn't."

"For all we know, they might turn on us if we fail." Ash says to Skurge, backing up Sawyer.

I flatten my ears and growl quietly, "Honestly, I don't understand why we listen to those idiots."

Everybody turns to stare at me, wide-eyed. "What?" I say, "It's not like they're stronger than us!"

Dracen tears his gaze away and looks at the others. "I'm gonna go to bed." He mumbles quietly, turning around, "See you in the morning." Sawyer follows him, muttering something the same.

Ash right in my eyes, and it feels like she's boring into my soul. Then, her eyes soften and she tilts her head and shrugs in a kind of 'why not' way. She quickly walks away and leaves me with Skurge.

"Don't turn against the Outcasts," he says, "I know they can be stupidly frustrating at times, but it wouldn't do any good if you rebelled."

I look at him for a few moments. Then, I turn around and walk away, "I just need to think for a little while."

Lifting my wings, I takeoff into the stormy night sky, heading towards the highest peak on the island. It's surprisingly tall actually- it nearly touches the low thunderclouds tonight.

Landing on top of it, I sit down and look at the land below me. The lights in the human houses disappear as the candles are blown out and soon the village is dark. Sighing, I try to wrap my brain around this all.

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Raven's POV

Earlier

I gaze proudly at my two children. They've both grown into wonderful dragons. Nate is one of the best fighters, and Irria is the leader of the hunting parties. Toothless is still the biggest, but Nate is just a few inches smaller.

Right now, they're demonstrating a couple of fighting moves to a few eager young dragons.

"You have to time it quickly," Nate explains with a raised paw, "Your opponent might jump out of the way if you hesitate. So, you bring your paw down hard on the side of the dragon's head, right on their temple."

He slowly does so on Irria. When his paw reaches her head, she fake stumbles to the side in slow motion and I laugh a little. "That'll daze them. Then, what I would do here is bite the back of her neck and shake her back and forth. When she's weak enough, I let go and pin her to the ground."

Before Nate can demonstrate the move, though, Irria jumps out of the way and growl playfully, "Heh heh, don't you dare come near my neck."

"Oh really?" her brother narrows his eyes, crouching low. The young dragons back away just as he pounces on his sister. She wriggles out from underneath him and lands a blow on his side.

"Shhrriiip!" Irria adds sound effects, "I ripped you open! You're dying now!"

Nate rolls his eyes and falls dramatically, "Oh! I've been gutted like a fish!"

One of the young dragons, a Deadly Nadder, hops up onto him and looks at his imaginary wound. "No you haven't." she says matter-of-factly, "He's faking! He's going to attack us and eat us for dinner!"

"Rawr!" Nate surges up and she falls off. "Ahh!" the hatchlings squeal, running away. "You're right," he acts, "I love to eat baby dragons for dinner. Especially Deadly Nadders!"

I purr in amusement as he chases the little dragons around. A few minutes later, Irria leaps to their defense. "Don't worry! I'll take care of him!" she says in mock bravery.

The two siblings start tussling and the kids hide behind a rock, watching them with excited eyes. After five minutes of fighting, Nate finally pins his sister.

"Go!" she calls out dramatically to the hatchlings, "Save yourselves! There's no stopping this mad dragon!"

Her brother gazes down at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I'm no dragon!" he says, "I'm an Outcast! Roar! My clan is going to kill everyone!"

I quickly stand up as they start running around everywhere. "Okaayyy." I say, bounding over to them, "How 'bout you play a different game?"

"Aww!" the little dragons pout.

"No, that's not an appropriate game to play."

"But Raven, what if the Outcasts really do come and attack us?" the young Nadder asks, "We'll need to know how to fight."

I give Nate a you-shouldn't-have-done-that look and say, "That's not going to happen. Now go play hide 'n seek or something."

With a gloomy collective "alright" the hatchlings scamper off. Once they're out of earshot, I round on Nate.

"How could you joke about something like that!?" I snarl and he meets my gaze, "I don't see the problem with talking about the past."

"This is serious." I growl, "Don't you remember what they did to us? To her?"

"Barely," he grumbles, but at my outraged look quickly says, "Okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have joked about something that, if it happened, wouldn't be funny at all."

Sighing, I nod and say, "Alright. Now go get some dinner. It's starting to get late."

"Aww, c'mon." Irria pouts, "Just cuz we did something bad doesn't mean we can't stay up."

I'm about to retort when Toothless walks up and says, "You better listen to your mother, guys, or the Skullion will get you!"

Nate and Irria give him a 'seriously' look. "Don't you think we're a bit too old for that story?" Irria asks.

"I mean, come on. There's no such thing as a big, flightless dragon that can't hear or see but then just happens to be a vicious killing machine." Nate scoffs.

Toothless spreads his wings and sweeps them away with him, "Well, maybe you need to hear the story again."

They saunter away, groaning, and I rub my forehead with a paw. "Ugh." Sighing again, I look up into the night sky. There are a lot of clouds tonight, but they're not covering the full moon.

It's many shades of white, like it as scales. The memory of my third child comes to my mind and I shake it away. "Don't do this to yourself." I mutter.

A dark cloud passes over the moon, but when it leaves I gasp. The moon is splattered with blood, the red standing out against the white. Then, right before my eyes, the moon morphs into a face.

"Phoenix." I whisper, my eyes wide. As soon as it came, it disappears and the moon is normal. I look down and shake my head roughly. I'm going insane. Glancing up again, I see the moon is still white and sigh with relief.

Phh, bloody moon, yeah right. My eyes must've played tricks on me.

Turning around, I run back into the house, looking forward to a good night's sleep.

This is the Phoenix that we will be dealing with, most of the time. Sort of long chapter. I'll be trying to put some Raven parts too.