A/N-A quick reply to a guest review: Dragon Nut: Glad you enjoy the story, I make it a point to remove all errors I find. By the time each chapter hits the web here it's been read through a minimum of 4 times, so anything left hopefully is minor mistakes.

For all the readers: hold on, the story is only just picking up but we have reached our first action-packed chapter, and the first long one! And for those of you who guessed on the power of Framherja, your answer will be below...

Chapter 6

Serpent's Revenge

As I bolted across the canopy of the forest, invisible to nearly all eyes in the darkness, a familiar roar caught my attention. ::Hawken! Over here!::

I twisted my head to see Toothless and Hiccup heading my way. I flared my wings and slowed, turning to face them. "What's going on, and why are you two up at this time of night?" I asked. "I could ask you the same. Both of us woke up at the same time," Hiccup explained, "from a nightmare involving Ember."

My mouth dropped open in shock. "You're kidding." "No, unfortunately I'm not." "Well, that's exactly the same reason I was heading out here!" I exclaimed.

Silence reigned, penetrated only by flapping wings as that realization sank in. "So…you're telling me we all had the same dream? From our own particular perspectives maybe?" Hiccup queried uncertainly. I nodded. "Well, then that means…"

None of us had to finish that thought as the impossibility of it being coincidence hit home. All three of us turned and sped toward Berk, scanning the ground below for the tall, thin reddish-brunette this whole mystery was circling around. A cold wind of a feeling passed through me, too, as I looked out toward the sea and spotted something in the faint moonlight, cutting through the water on the horizon.

We finally spotted Ember quickly and quietly making her way down the main path in the village toward the marina, her hair glowing slightly even in the faint light of the moon. I tucked in my wings immediately and dove toward her, dropping closer, closer, until I was just above the girl. I quickly flared my wings, and changed fully human as I twisted around and slammed feet first into the ground, facing Ember.

"Ember, hold on!" I yelled, standing up and heading toward her. She skidded to a complete halt, eyes wide in surprise at seeing me seemingly fall out of thin air. "W-where did you come from?" she stuttered. I jerked my thumb up toward Toothless, who was coming in for a landing next to me. "Up there, but that's not important right now. What is important is that I need to ask: what's happening right now?"

Ember froze, partly in confusion at our seeming to know something was up, and partly out of growing fear. "W-what do you mean?" she asked quietly. "All three of us were woken up by what we thought was a dream, involving you and a sea serpent, and there's something big out there heading toward the island right now," I replied quickly, pointing toward the ocean. "So, I'll ask again: what is going on?"

Ember stayed still for a moment longer, before sighing. "I told you before it wouldn't be safe for me to be here. I've put everyone in danger by staying this long." She gestured out toward the ocean. "I was attacked as I tried crossing the sea to get here, and I managed to injure the creature that attacked me, scaring it off for a time. It's the only reason I even made it here." She gave me a look of great concern. "I told you I was hunted, and the serpent works for the hunter. It wants me, and now on top of that it's here for revenge as well. And on the second round, the attacker is never alone. They will destroy your village here to get to me this time, and I cannot allow your lives to be given, especially not after having failed at every turn already." She turned to head toward the harbor again, but I grabbed her shoulder before she could get out of reach.

"Please, just let me go!" she yelled. "If I go, they'll take me and leave you all alo"- her words cut off when she caught sight of my eyes, fluorescing green of the same hue as the Night Fury's eyes behind me.

"You told us you came here looking for someone," I said sternly, "someone who you thought could help you. I think I can tell you now that someone does exist, and may very well be willing to help you." Ember's eyes brightened at this, but stayed with a hint of confusion. "How do you know?"

I glanced at Hiccup and Toothless. "Take Ember to the edge of the forest and wait there for me. I'll wake the village." I looked back at Ember then. "Before I tell you how I know, I need to ask you, and seriously: Are you willing to trust us?" Ember raised an eyebrow, but slowly nodded. "Then you've already found who you're looking for," I told her, smiling, before I let go of her arm and turned, morphing Night Fury right in front of her and taking off, heading toward the watch towers.

Ember watched on, dumbfounded, as the dragon/boy/whatever he was took off in front of her. She had known who she was looking for supposedly possessed a power unlike any other, but to actually be able to turn into a dragon? And he was hiding in plain sight the whole time? She mentally slapped herself, as she'd had the notion before but had brushed it off.

Ember snapped out of her daze when Toothless walked up and nudged her on the shoulder. "Ember, we need to go," Hiccup told her, urgently. Ember nodded, but still felt out of sorts. "All this time? Why didn't he just tell me?" she asked as she gingerly climbed up atop Toothless' saddle. "Why didn't you tell me?" Hiccup shrugged. "Well, there's a lot more to him than meets the eye." "No duh." "Careful. And we have our reasons and reservations. It's not something we like to just flaunt about. Anyway, hold on tightly."

She grabbed hold of Hiccup's riding vest as they shot upward, and toward the forest, as three loud bongs sounded from the warning bell, followed by the loud bellow of a horn. Most unsettling, however, was the unearthly scream that broke the sky from across the waves.

I raced to the main watch tower and notified the guard there of the impending danger, and he turned and rang out the three-bong warning, horns sounding in response from around the village as I raced then down to Stoick's house, as he came racing out the door.

"Hawken! What's going on?" he asked as I landed, and deposited my swords inside the door. I'd need to be able to move, and they'd hold me back at the moment. "We've got a sea serpent working for the devil headed here on a hunt for Ember, and I have no clue what we're going to do just yet," I replied.

There was silence for a moment as Stoick stood, trying to process this information. "Is there a punch line to that?" he finally asked. I gave him a deadpan glare. As if to verify my point, a hideous screeching noise wailed out across the sea. Stoick nodded as his expression hardened. "Right. Well, where is Ember? Or my son for that matter?" "Hopefully heading for the forest like I told them to," I replied. Stoick raised an eyebrow. "Thought you didn't have a plan." I shrugged.

"If it's going to go after Ember, at least we might be able to draw the serpent away from the village. Plus I can work better with lots of space and cover." He nodded. "Alright. But first, go to the cliffs, and wait for my signal," he ordered, grabbing his weapons from inside the house and then heading down toward the main village. "Hopefully you can draw it somewhere we may be able to trap it. If not then whatever you can do in the forests will have to do." I nodded and launched upward, letting out a defiant roar as Stoick began belting out orders below.

Toothless touched down on Hiccup's roof soon after Stoick left, and Hiccup jumped off, running to the skylight of his room. "Wait, hold on!" Ember yelled. "I thought we were supposed to go to the forest!" "We will," Hiccup said, flipping open the skylight, "but I need to grab something first." Under his breath he added, "And maybe she'll actually work for me this time around."

He slipped through the window and jumped down, running over to his unattended and cluttered desk. There, under a couple of papers, lay what he was looking for: the bow Framherja. He grabbed it and nearly turned to leave right there, before something caught his eye: the papers that had been lying underneath the bow fluttered to the ground. He looked closer at them, recognizing sketches that clearly he hadn't made: one of the bow in his hands, what looked like a sketch of electricity, and Astrid's drawing of him. The three had been laid together by someone, and it was clearly on purpose.

"I wonder," Hiccup muttered, "lightning…heat…heat makes things melt or burn…." He stopped, realizing he might have been missing the clue he needed all along: the melted metals, splintered arrows, that exploding ice arrow they'd tried not too long ago…of course! He grinned, and ran back over and jumped up through the window, running over and climbing back into Toothless' saddle as quickly as he could. They took off and angled toward the trees, and Hiccup could almost feel Ember staring at Framherja, so he turned to look back at her.

"That bow," she muttered quietly, "I've seen it somewhere before." Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "Uh, not sure how you could have. No one else knows about it save for Astrid and Hawken." She shook her head. "No, not personally. In a picture, from somewhere back where I came from, with a prophesy of sorts; the end to a great wrong that was done." She looked back up to him, and Hiccup felt a shiver run down his spine. Toothless glanced back, unnerved by what Ember had said too, but shook it off and sped on toward Raven Point.

I landed on the cliff above the village, watching the distant disturbance in the waves grow larger and closer. The villagers and the dragons bustled about below, sealing everything they could up from damage. Soon, the whole town was braced for battle, and the inhabitants were in place, ready for the attack. I looked down at Stoick, the only one who knew my location, and he nodded, holding his hand up ready to give the signal when it was time.

Silence. That's all there was, even the wave that had been on the horizon having disappeared. Then, out beyond the harbor, my hyper sensitized eyes spotted something just under the ocean surface, racing inward. A wave grew once more above the disturbance, and plowed forward, reaching the rock stacks around the harbor and crashing into them, causing one of the smaller ones to topple downward. Then, the wave dropped away again and the object it concealed vanished. I blinked in surprise and peered closer.

::EMBEERRRRRR!::

The shrieking roar split the sky, and something massive burst up out of the water in front of the docks, soaking the entirety of the lower cliffs. My eye widened as the wall of water receded: climbing up toward the village was not one, but three sea serpents. They were not as big as the demon disguised as Jormungandr, but menacing nonetheless, deep brownish red in color and bearing on the top of their heads, an image like that of a pentagram carved into their skin. My frown deepened: clearly they were here to do no good, but they had to flaunt a symbol like that was well?

The bigger serpent in the middle of the trio looked down at the two others and nodded, and they all split up, sliding along different paths up toward the village. Being the biggest one the middle serpent, apparently the leader, was the easiest to watch, especially as he slipped straight up into the middle of the village. As he neared, I spotted a massive scar stretching across his closed right eye; clearly Ember's doing. He tilted his head to the ground and tasted the air, a long forked tongue flickering out, before a wicked grin spread across his muzzle.

"Ember show yourself! I know you're here!" the serpent yelled, the other two echoing with bone-chilling hisses. The spoken words struck me like a ton of bricks; these were definitely not normal creatures. "Show yourself now, and we'll make it painless," he continued. "Or, we can ruin everything. Is that what you want to happen?"

Obviously Ember wasn't going to just show up and reply, so the serpent smiled again. "Very well then. This will be on your head, just like every other before now!" He raised up his tail, flaring the massive fin at the tip and aiming to bring it squarely down on the forge below him.

Before he could though, Stoick managed to get over his own shock and brought his hand down, providing the signal I was waiting for. I grinned and let out a screeching roar of my own, blasting upward into the sky. The three serpents all looked up, trying to spot the source of the sound, but of course it's extremely difficult to see black on black. Even with the faint glow of the moon above I was nearly invisible against the velvet sky, so I still held the element of surprise. And I'd use it, too.

I reached a proper height, then flipped, and dove straight downward toward the leader. The wind began to scream around me in the typical Fury fashion, and I watched the serpent's eyes widen in surprise just before I released a spinning ball of flame straight at the offending mark on his head.

The explosion that followed forced the reptile's head into the ground, and acted as a second signal of its own, so as I swooped past and changed form once more, dissolving into the dark, numerous roars of dragons and battle cries of the Vikings permeated the air. A hoard of winged reptiles poured into the sky, and volleys of fire began to rain down on the demonic invaders. From below them, arrows and axes flew out of the dark, the air singing around the blades as a handful began to find their mark. I materialized in front of the leading serpent again, wielding in my claws a blade of pure shadows, shaped like the swords I had dropped off at the chief's house.

::You picked the wrong village to attack, foolish servant of evil,:: I hissed menacingly, pointing the tip of my sword at him. The serpent's eyes widened, before they narrowed. ::And here I was hoping I was just contending with the last Night Fury,:: he snapped back. The statement hit me, but I didn't have time to process it before he continued. ::The girl came searching for the crossworlds guardian. I've fought with many of your kind, I know how you work.::

I grinned. ::First off, quit with the labels, they're annoying. And second, do you really? I come from another world, and I possess a gift unlike any other. On top of that, I have an entire village of dragons and Vikings to back me up as well.:: ::Not for long,:: the serpent snapped, baring two rows of razor teeth as he lifted his tail up and slammed it into the ground.

Great fissures erupted in the pathways, and out of them bursts of unnatural fire leapt out. They snaked under nearby houses, threatening to light the village on fire and bring it caving in on itself. I dove down into the cracks, overtaking the flames with anthracite fire and freezing them in their tracks, halting the spread of the fissures and pulling inward, drawing the ground together and sealing the damage. Then, I turned, and threw tendrils of shadow around the serpent's tail, pinning him in place. He lunged at me, but stopped dead when he realized his attack had only passed through the apparition I presented as, as I was nothing more than a shadow.

I grinned again. "Like I said, I have gifts unlike any other. Seemingly more than you can handle too!"

I spoke too soon. Though I to this day don't know how, a searing pain erupted from around the shadow tendrils on the serpent's tail, his scales glowing reddish with power, and began to race through me. I gritted my teeth and held tightly still, deadening my nerves as quickly as I could, but the damage had already been done. The serpent whipped his tail backward, escaping my weakened grip, and slithered further up into the village, turning to grin at me.

"For every heavenly power you have there is something that can tear at it. The feeling is painful, isn't it?" I bared my teeth, bright white contrasting with black. "Your power is a mockery of mine. For that alone I am stronger. And in any case, while you mock me in both the dragon's tongue and the human's you still manage to be the dumber of the two of us here." I surged upward, reforming my sword, drawing his attention, before I nodded. The serpent's eyes widened, but his reaction was too late once more.

"YYYAAAAAAHHHHH!" A massive group of Vikings, led by Astrid and Stoick, leapt out from the nearby houses, brandishing spears, axes, swords, you name it. The weapons took flight, most bouncing off the creature's hard scales but a handful still managed to find their mark, sinking deep between the hard plates. The sea serpent screamed in agony and fell to his side, but reflexively whipped his tail around, blindsiding the warriors and knocking them over like bowling pins. Most jumped right back up, however, used to hard blows, and I grabbed tightly to my shadow blade, swinging it toward the serpent's head. He ducked back, avoiding the cutting edge, before rising back up and ripping the weapons out of his hide. His eyes blazed anger, and he turned, lining up on Stoick, and struck, mouth open and hinged fangs swinging forward to bear.

Before the snake could reach his target, though, Astrid leapt upward, screaming menacingly as she brought a pair of previously thrown axes down toward his neck. The serpent's eyes blazed again, and he ducked to the side, avoiding the blades which would have cut through scale with Astrid's weight behind them, and whipped his tail around. Astrid backflipped over the appendage, but stumbled back as sparks began to erupt around the tailfin.

I stupidly ignored that warning sign, and swung my shadow blade. The serpent's tail came up, and there was a massive BANG! and an explosion of energy when they collided: he had covered his tailfin with a powerful barrier field, something not even my shadows could break through directly.

"Get back!" I yelled to the others, who nodded and retreated, going to focus on the other two serpents. I chanced a glance toward them to see where those battles led: one was already almost down for the count, great acid burns visible across its hide even from where I floated halfway across the village. Spitfire was certainly getting his job done. The other was however holding his own.

I whirled back around and faced the lead serpent once more, grinning. ::Your minions are failing you terribly, and your quarry Ember is nowhere nearby. Give this up now and we may still let you escape this alive,:: I hissed, slowly morphing from Shadow to Lightning Blazer.

The serpent snorted in reply. ::I was sent here to find her, and kill her, and I do not fail upon my assignments, guardian. I will find her, and end her, and there is nothing you can do to stop me from that, even with all your shifting powers.:: He lunged at me, but as he struck a new weapon made itself known. Unlike before he didn't do through me, but as the serpent's fangs connected with my torso, great bolts of electricity ran down his neck, literally stopping him short from the overload.

The serpent roared again in agony and anger, and swung his tail in my direction. I lifted my own, and pure energy met pure energy in a great burst of lightning. He glared at me, before taking a completely different tactic, bolting away and toward the forest.

::No!:: I screeched, beginning to melt into a pure lightning bolt, but before I could take off, the serpent stopped and turned toward his other allies. His eyes widened, spotting one of them already splayed out across the eastern end of the village, completely unmoving, and I grinned, planning on taking advantage of his momentary pause as he backed up, but halted with a shiver running down my spine as he turned the other direction and roared. The third serpent turned, gave a grin of his own, and a great burst of blinding red light rippled out around him. That serpent's path was suddenly clear, and as he made his way toward the bigger one, I rushed over to that battle scene, fearful of what I'd find.

There were people and dragons splayed about everywhere, also unmoving. I reformed and held a paw to the neck of one of the ones I recognized immediately, specifically Mulch, and breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever energy attack that was wasn't strong enough to kill them, but they were all knocked unconscious by the blast.

My focus turned once more to my previous opponent and I stood up fully, turning to face the two serpents, who sat above us at the very edge of the trees. They both grinned and bolted into the depths of the forest, racing off to find their true goal.

"Get back here, you overgrown earthworm scum!" The yell drew my attention behind me, and I spotted Gobber running up the path toward the forest. Apparently he'd been one of the ones not hit by the blast. I bolted (no pun intended) for him, and blocked his path. "Hey! I ain't done wit' them, not by a long shot!" he growled. I shook my head. "Leave them to us. Take care of the village," I requested, gesturing to the broken and burning houses, and the large number of injured villagers. "I will find a way to deal with them."

Gobber sighed, but nodded. "Fine. But call right away if ye need help, 'cause Sylvia here's still waitin' fer a chance te take her own bite out of 'em." He gestured to the huge axe he held, and I stifled a snigger at his affinity for naming weapons, before nodded and turning to the forest. I decided to change back to Shadow, needing something that would pass unseen, and lightning is hard to miss. Then, I disappeared.

Toothless glided down toward the field at the base of the hill that rose from the point, and Ember jumped off as he landed. "I need to go back," she said, and turned toward the village's direction. "Ember, wait!" Hiccup called, jumping off. Toothless beat him to it though, swinging his tail around and blocking her way. She glared at the appendage and tried to push it out of the way, to no avail. Hiccup grabbed her shoulder. "I can't let you go," he said. "And I can't let your village die for my own mistakes," she shot back, throwing his hand off. "They're after me, and they'll take out anything and everything they find in their way to make sure I don't reveal what I figured out."

Silence fell for a moment, and Ember looked away. "I made a horrible mistake, and I'm not going to let you all pay for it. You've already done so much, and I don't deserve it." She sighed and went around Toothless' tail, and started walking toward Berk again. Hiccup ran up again and stopped her. "Look, if I know Hawken, he's not going to let you join that fight anyway. And you said you would trust us, so maybe you need to show you'll do so now. Hawken had me keep you away, and he'll keep to his decision." He then smiled. "Besides, if I know him, I will lose my leg again before he lets some old serpent get the best of him." Ember raised an eyebrow, and began to ask what he meant by "lose his leg again," before a bone-chilling noise sounded out.

HHSSSRRROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!
The trees began shaking as something very large and very angry approached them. Hiccup, Ember and Toothless glanced at each other, then began backing away from the direction of the noise. "Then again, there's a first for everything. GO!"

I raced through the trees, trying as best as I could to catch up to the two elongate reptiles. Soon enough they came into view, following a faint scent trail from the trio that had flown by beforehand. I raced ahead of them and erected a thick shadow wall, before reinforcing it with a layer of ice to buy some time, and then shot ahead once ore toward Raven Point meadow. Behind me, I heard a deafening explosion and a terrifying roar, and I felt the shadows around me ripple in reaction as the wall began to break apart. Forging ahead, I reached the meadow and materialized, spotting Hiccup leaping up onto Toothless and Ember running in the opposite direction from the chaos behind me.

"Get in the air!" I yelled at Hiccup, changing human and running toward Ember. To her, I yelled, "To the trees!" I grabbed her wrist and began pulling her along faster. Toothless launched himself up into the air soon after, and spun to face the oncoming danger. Ember and I, meanwhile, dove into the forest, concealing ourselves in the darkness as we ran, me having to guide Ember to keep her from running into the trees and at the same time building up energy for a massive jolt, should I have a need for it.

Suddenly, everything went silent. The crashing of trees halted, I couldn't hear Toothless either. I slowed, and turned to glance back at the clearing now far behind us, but there was nothing visible. Then, a low, reverberating hiss rose up through the trees.

"You are here, Ur, and you know why we came. Your allies are in shambles, broken and defeated." I couldn't help but snort at that. "Surrender yourself, and we'll leave the rest of them alone. If not…" The threat hung in the air, palpable tension building again. I glanced at Ember. "Ur?" She nodded. "Old Hebrew word for ember or fire. They use it to toy with me." I frowned, and my brows furrowed deeply as I faced the direction of the meadow once more, waiting for something to make a move.

"She's there!" the younger serpent suddenly cried, and I saw him bolt from the trees across the meadow. Immediately, a high-pitched whistle sounded; Toothless had been waiting for the targets to present themselves. The sea serpent barely dodged to the side in time as the ground erupted from the explosion of an indigo fireball.

"Run!" I yelled again, and we both turned to bolt. "Where are we going?" Ember cried, and I glanced over at her as we dodged the trees. "Trust me," I said, and focused forward, running toward the western shore, where I knew we'd be able to at least lose, if not trap, the serpents. First, though, I then realized there was another wide open meadow we had to cross.

We reached the open grass just above the final stretch of trees on the hill below us, and I turned again to face the forest behind. "They're coming right through here!" I yelled to Ember. "Keep running!" She nodded, and I looked up to see Toothless diving down again, preparing to fire, but before he could, the nightmare we'd shared came to life: the older serpent showed himself once more, and as Toothless aimed for the younger one, he swung his force field-enhanced tail in a great arc through the air, slamming the wide fin against the Night Fury. Toothless screamed in pain and fell, and I watched helplessly as he ploughed into the trees somewhere off to my right. "No!" I hissed in fury, backing up so that I could get some more room, as both sea demons began to reveal themselves, sliding into the open between the trees.

Toothless had been hit hard, and it was all Hiccup could do to hold on as they crashed through the trees and into the ground, plowing through the dirt. Once they came to a halt, Hiccup groaned and unhooked himself, both thankful and sickened at the thought that Toothless had hit directly instead of he, as the dragon was designed to survive a crash, and he wasn't. He ignored the pain running through him from the bruises and cuts now adorning his arms and legs, and rushed up to Toothless' head.

"Come on, bud, wake up!" he urged. "We need to move, come on!" Toothless didn't respond, having been knocked out cold by the crash, and Hiccup felt something he rarely ever did: rage, unadulterated and boiling. He felt behind him, where Framherja was practically buzzing with energy now, and his mind flitted for a mere moment to the drawings he'd seen from his desk. Nodding, he looked around to make sure he knew exactly where Toothless was, and started running toward the western meadow, pulling out Framherja in the process.

The serpents both towered above me, and soon Ember as well as I sensed her stop running, refusing to let me go through whatever was coming alone. They both grinned wickedly. "End of the line, Ur!" the leader taunted. "You have certainly given us such a hard time, and you took my best eye, something I'm not going to forget any time soon either, but lo, what a prize you've led us to: the dragon's guardian, and even more one from another world! Our master will be so pleased: the flame from the land of Israel, and a powerful messenger all in one go!" I shot a glance at Ember, who just stood her ground, grabbing the one weapon she still had on her: a very small sword.

"I do not fear you!" she yelled. "I've managed to get this far despite all your best attempts, against the will of you, the demons, all of her lackeys, the worst Hell can throw at me! What is going to stop me from ending the war after this if you can't even manage to deal with one girl?!"

A chill crept into the air as the younger serpent looked at me, a menacing hungry look playing in his eyes. "We could always kill your new friend right here, right now." He looked at the older serpent, who nodded. I knew what was coming, so I shunted the energy I had built up to my hands, and balled my fists. The young serpent cocked his head back, locked on me, and lunged. "She's ours now!"

Hiccup reached the plain just in time to spot the younger serpent about to strike down Hawken. While he knew the teen probably had something up his sleeve, at this point his rage truly boiled over. On reflex, he raised Framherja, pulled back the string, and screamed out, "TOUCH HIM AND DIE!" as he released.

A flash and the sound of thunder echoed immediately across the island as the serpent shrieked in agony and fell to the ground.

I pulled back my fist as the serpent lunged, mouth open, and my hand began to glow. Then there was a loud yell from my right, and suddenly, I had no need for the energy as something flashed brightly and a bolt of electricity cracked through the air, exploding on contact with the serpent's head. He shrieked and fell to the side from the force, being knocked unconscious as he hit the ground. We all turned to see Hiccup step into the open, a black anger I'd only seen once clearly written across his face. He nodded to me, then aimed up at the older of the two attackers.

"That was for Hawken. I know evil when I see it now," he stated loudly. "Anything that attacks me or my friends here will NOT live to see the next day, not on my watch." He pulled back the string on Framherja, and a thin, buzzing string of electricity formed across the gap in the bow. "Make a move, demon," Hiccup hissed. "I dare you, the next dozen shots will be for Toothless."

Silence. Hiccup held the bow straight toward the remaining eye of the snake, and I heard Ember move to stand between him and me. Finally, the serpent did do something, but it was a move completely unexpected: he dropped to the ground, and Hiccup instinctively fired, setting off a chain reaction of explosions in the trees behind the intended target. The serpent chose this moment to lunge at Hiccup, and I jumped up, bringing one of my still fully charged fists down into his side. The resulting overload completely fractured and broke the barrier field he wore, and I watched in satisfaction as stripes of blood ripped open across his scales, the protection turned to another weapon.

::AAAAAHHHH!:: he roared, and spun to face me. Ember ran over in my direction and got behind me. "Fly," she whispered loudly, "lead him to the sea stacks. We can lose him there." I nodded, glad she'd caught on to my original plan, and I morphed to Wind Fury, waiting only a moment while Ember climbed on as an extra incentive to the serpent before we both took off. The reptile only barely missed us as I shot upward and turned toward the sea stacks, and the close miss was enough to get him after us.

"Get back to Toothless!" I yelled over the wind down to Hiccup, who nodded and turned to do so, but not before he released another shot, shearing off the tip of one of the serpent's horns. To keep the reptile focused on us, though, I fired a Night Fury fireball straight over his nose. Then, I turned again out to sea.

"Hold on tight!' I yelled to Ember, and raced across the trees, shaking the branches, with the serpent in hot pursuit. "I will make you burn like your name!" he screeched after us, and suddenly I found myself dodging a stream of acid venom. I cut to the left, and dove down the cliff at the edge of the island, smirking as a pained roar echoed across the island from the serpent as he crashed over it and down to the beach.

The sea stack maze was just up ahead, and I pulled my wings in tighter as we neared. "Lean as close to me as you can," I ordered, and we shot into the rocks. Thundering cracks and roars of rage and pain were heard from our pursuant, unable to maneuver as well as I through the labyrinth. I flipped and twisted, scraping past the rocks with inches to spare, as I headed for a spot I used very often in races against some of the larger dragons.

"There's only so far you can keep going before you hit open water, guardian!" the serpent hissed. I rolled my eyes. "For the love of….what is with the guardian label?" I griped, but stayed focused ahead of me, facing a narrow passage leading into a circular trap. I dove in, and the serpent followed, barely squeezing in behind me. I shot upward as I entered to the top as the serpent slammed into the side, told Ember to get off and stay flat as she could against the rocks, and then dropped again down into the trap with the serpent, but not before firing at a boulder that I had left teetering above the entrance, causing it to give way and fall into the entrance, blocking any direct escape.

"You're trapped in here now," I said, hovering to one side. The serpent looked at me after he shook off the daze from his collision, and smiled. "And there's no way you can get out either before I get a hold of you," he hissed right back, and lunged.

The thing about Wind Furies though, besides the fact that I was the only one, is how they got their name: moving faster than any wind possibly can. Night Furies can just barely break the sound barrier in short bursts, but I could move at speeds far beyond that. I dodged the attack more than easily, and began circling the passage around and around the serpent, moving faster with each rotation. Like always too, the faster I moved the louder the wind screamed, and still I kept up.

Up above, Ember began to quickly notice the screaming whistle below, and that the air nearby was starting to become rough and turbulent. In the trap, as I spun I pulled the air with me, creating a vortex of immense power. Eventually, I reached that famed record point for the Furies: I broke the sound barrier, watching as the sonic blast exploded outward, cracking one of the serpent's bared fangs. The pull of the wind began to suck the water below upward as well, filling the trap slowly.

Even as I slowly circled upward, the speed at which I was moving now was pulling all the air out of the trap, both suffocating and submerging the serpent. I knew, though, he wouldn't stay shocked for long, and suddenly changed directions, the effect creating another sonic boom which I dragged right over his head, knocking him out for a time, and then fired downward with a freezing breath, solidifying the water now risen up into the trap. Then, I shot upward, exiting the vortex still spinning within, picking up Ember as I escaped and rocketed away.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. "We need to get rid of him! He'll get out of there sooner or later and come after us!" I glanced back at her and shook my head. "How right is it to kill anything when they cannot fight back? It's not my place to do such things, nor yours, and the other serpent will surely wake sooner or later as well and find him. We all need to regroup and figure out a proper plan, to retaliate with a surprise." I gave her a serious look. "I managed to be caught off guard by them, so if they can match me, we have something to worry about, big time, even if they're unconscious."

My biggest worry, though, was that the serpents knew who I was before they had come here, and they seemed to be fast learners. Someone else out there knew at least to an extent my capabilities, was aware I existed, and they knew enough to be careful of who they sent to face us here on the island.

We flew back over the western plain, and I noticed the second serpent beginning to move around again. "Okay, we need to find Hiccup and Toothless immediately," I said. "Tell me if you happen to spot anything. I know it's dark, but even with my sight I can still miss things." I turned toward where I had seen Toothless go down, and dipped into the trees, both to have a better vantage point and steer clear of the unwanted visitor.

After a few minutes of searching, Ember tapped against my leg and pointed. I followed her gesture, and there was Hiccup, kneeling down over an unmoving Toothless. I spilled air and landed none too silently, letting Ember slide off to the side.

Hiccup immediately spun and raised Framherja, but relaxed when he saw me. "I thought you were the serpent for a moment," he muttered, and turned back to Toothless. "I can't get him to wake up, but he is breathing." I walked over, melting back to human, and knelt over Toothless, examining him. There were scrapes and bruises covering him of course, and Hiccup had none too few of his own share, but what I was worried about was the notable swelling forming on the top of his head.

"He's got a concussion," I said. "Stand back, both of you. He might be groggy when I bring him out of this, and I'm sure we all know what a dragon in a bad mood can be like." Hiccup and Ember both nodded and stood back a ways, as I placed a hand carefully on Toothless' forehead, searching for the root of the problem. Once I found it, I sent a shock of energy into him.

Immediately the cuts visible on his hide sealed up, and the swelling deflated to a normal appearance again. Toothless groaned, but didn't quite wake up.

"Toothless," I whispered, "Come on, wake up. I need you to get up, we can't stay h"-

Toothless' eyes snapped open, and his pupils slit. In a flash, he sprang up and pounced, pinning me firmly against the ground. Hiccup began to move forward to help, but I held a hand out, telling him to stay where he was. Toothless snarled at the movement, and glared down at me.

There was silence for a couple seconds, then Toothless blinked, and his eyes dilated. He sucked in a breath of surprise. :Hawken! I'm sooo sorry!:: He quickly stepped back off me, and I smiled as I sat up, cracking the kink he caused out of my back. "Don't worry about it, I was kind of expecting that reaction anyway. Are you feeling a little better?" He sat back and huffed. ::A little groggy,:: he growled as he glanced at Hiccup and Ember. ::What happened?::

"You were knocked out, we have two trapped and/or unconscious serpents who luckily still think Ember and I are out in the forests running around somewhere, and your rider finally figured out how to work Framherja," I explained quickly. Toothless glanced at Hiccup, who just gave his friend a 'we'll talk about this later' look. I agreed with him, and stood up. "But, right now we have things to do, not the least of which is get back to the village. The bigger serpent won't stay trapped long once he actually wakes up, and they both learn fast. We need to put together a new plan."

Toothless nodded, and bent down, looking at Hiccup expectantly. He nodded and walked over, hopping in the saddle, while I morphed to match the Night Fury and nodded to Ember, who followed Hiccup's example and carefully got on my back once more.

As we sailed through the air, just above the trees to avoid detection, Ember leaned down next to my ear. "Thank you, for all your help," she said. "I don't deserve it though. This was all my big mistake." I looked back at her and smiled. "Don't be so hard on yourself, you're only doing what you can and think is right. I don't have much choice anyway; I was given my abilities particularly for situations like this."

Ember nodded, and looked up at the sky above us. "I just hope we can end this with them, though," she said quietly. "I've been against their master. If they get away, it will never end."

Behind us, a screaming, hissing roar echoed from the western shoreline once more. ::You will pay Ember! Wherever on this island you hide, wherever you try to run, we will find you, and you will burn until all that's left is your name!::

A/N-So, what do you think? We know what Framherja does now, partly, and we've got a taste of things to come. The serpents will be around for a little while, so there's plenty of action ahead yet as well. Make sure to leave a review and let me know what you think!