A/N-Quick reply to a guest review: this story will be nothing like Hitchups. The bow is similar and shares that famed name, but nothing else really echoes that tale. There is no entrance to another demonic realm, so don't be looking for that. Everything from here on out will have a great deal of its own spin, truly my own story to tell.

To everyone else, this is another shorter chapter, as is the next, but worry not, there's a lot yet to come.

Chapter 8

To Trap a Serpent

"Toothless and I have done a lot of exploring around the island, everyone knows this," Hiccup explained. "Look, the northern side of the mountains is riddled with narrow valleys and canyons." He gestured to the map of Berk we'd laid out across the rim of the fire pit. "There's especially a large number in the western end. We already know that the serpents target Hawken and Ember, mainly Ember, so if we can station them as if they're hiding out in the mouth of this canyon here"- he pointed to a steep box canyon at the northwest corner of the range, "-we can draw them in, and ambush them there." He glanced at Astrid, who nodded and took up the next portion of the explanation.

"If the serpents can be led into the middle portion, we can line the tops with crossbows and ballistae. If they're all fired at about the same time, we should be able to immobilize them long enough to hopefully get in closer and finish them off." She drew up a general sketch of the idea on a separate piece of paper I'd provided. "We'd need large bows, bigger than anything we normally work with, and arrows that are strong enough to pierce the scales."

"You're forgetting these beasts are wielders of deviltry," a voice rose from behind us. We turned to face its owner, Mildew. "What's te stop them from using that to cut down the arrows and ropes and retaliate against all the villagers above?" "The dragons," Stoick replied, standing up from the seat he'd taken. "Fire from the dragons at the right intervals can distract the serpents as we bring them down. If there's one thing I did learn in our battle last night, it's that they seem to only have concentration enough to be able to focus their power on one tactic at a time."

"But defense is all the same," Mildew argued. "What works against one attack can work on many. You shoot them and they'll go on the defensive immediately." He glared at Ember. "She's the one who caused all this, isn't she?" he growled, pointing at her. "So, let's just get rid of her now and end the problem!"

"We're not into sacrificing people Mildew," Stoick shot back, "unless you're willing to be the first volunteer." He gave the old crank a look that could freeze magma in its tracks. "And, at this point there's no guarantee that they'll leave us alone even if we were to take Ember off the island. We have a chance to end this, one that may help others outside our own village as well, so we will take it. And I'll not hear any more words against that from you." He turned his look to Astrid, though it softened upon reaching her. "Use more than just dragons and crossbows. We'll figure out a way to erect traps that won't matter if they use force fields or other defenses, and that will keep them held fast." He stood up on the edge of the fire pit, making sure everyone could see him, and began to delegate orders.

"Gobber, take Hiccup with you and start building those crossbows and arrows. Astrid, you take Fishlegs with you and start scouting out the area Hiccup has outlined, but make sure above all else you keep out of the serpents' sights. And Hawken," he said, focusing on me, before looking at Ember, "take our new friend, and lead the serpents off and away from the village and where we'll be working. The more time we have to prepare, the better." I nodded, and slipped out of the hall with Ember in tow behind me.

"The sea stacks snake along the entire western edge of the island," I told her, "and the northern stretch of the island is filled with thick forests for most of its area. If we can lead them there successfully, then we can keep them thinking you and I are in those woods for at least a couple days, if need be."

"They won't stay fooled for long, you know that," Ember muttered. I nodded. "Well, even a few hours' time should be all we need, hopefully, for the others to get set up." I knelt down and morphed Night Fury, and gestured to Ember. "Get on, and let's go. We certainly can't wait here all day."

The serpents were still near the sea stacks along the island's west shore, skirting the beaches and searching the nearby forests. "Hold on tight," I said to Ember, before diving down, roaring loudly and skimming right over the lead serpent's head, even catching his scales with my claws. I glanced back as we soared on to see them both sit up in surprise, before taking off after us. Their eyes burned once more in anger, and I grinned and sped along the shoreline, trailing low and throwing up sprays of water in my wake. As hoped, the two marauders went right after us as we skirted the very edge of the mountains and then beyond a little ways, before banking sharply and skimming over the tops of the trees further inland. The crashing of pines soon signaled that they were following in hot pursuit.

"Keep them following us until we're at least in the heart of the forest," Ember said, "then lose them." "Oh, I'm sure they're not going to just give up," I drawled. "You know what I mean." I grinned. "Well, don't worry, when it comes to it the disappearing should be the easy part."

I dove into the trees, twisting and turning between the trunks, while the sea serpents behind simply ripped through them. "Ur! You can't hide forever!" one of them yelled at us. "Your gatekeeper friend can't save you either, nor you him!" "Oh, go take your tongue and shove it, spawn of Satan!" Ember screamed back, infuriating the serpents more, drawing them with us as we flew deeper into the forest.

The Vikings landed quietly as they could along the gorge, equipment in hand (or talons, in the dragons' case), and Hiccup pulled out his spyglass, spotting the trail of damage that was being formed in the distance as the serpents barreled through the trees many miles off.

"Okay, so they're thoroughly distracted for now," he said, putting the spyglass away and instead grabbing out the blueprints he and Gobber had drawn up for proper crossbow placement. "Get these anchored securely, and then start working on the booby traps. Follow these coordinates here; I have to get back to the forge to finish the arrows."

I snaked through the trees at a truly blinding speed, making Ember yelp and press herself to my back on multiple occasions as I barely avoided the trees around us. A smirk grew on my face however as the much larger serpents did not. I stayed just close enough so that they could see me through the thick growth, but far enough away that they couldn't try and line up for a proper attack. The few times they did so only ended up cutting down more trees and slowing them.

As they yelled various curses at us and Ember volleyed back insults of her own (thankfully cleaner than our pursuers though, or my ears would have been bleeding), I focused forward, having drawn the chase out for nearly an hour through just the trees already and spotting my chosen destination nearing.

"Brace yourself," I muttered to Ember, and she bent down as close to my neck as she could. I summoned up a great surge of energy, and let it drop to the ground below in a glowing, pulsing soon-to-be time bomb. The two of us continued, and behind the serpents soon neared the spot I'd dropped the energy weapon.

FLASH!

A great burst of light exploded behind me, followed by the characteristic crackling that ice makes as a wall of it exploded upward. A very satisfying crunch was heard as the lead serpent barged right into it, followed by the younger one, and I dove to the side and out of viewing range as a slew of vulgarities spilled forth from behind. Once far enough away that I could slow down, I changed again, my scales warping the light around myself and Ember so as to become completely invisible. The two bigger reptiles soon busted through the ice wall, sending shards of the frozen crystals flying everywhere.

"Where are you Ur?" the leader screamed. "You can't hide on this island forever, there're only so many places to go before we find you again!" They slid past us, searching for the girl on the back of a Night Fury as I slowly backed away, almost completely unseen to the naked eye as I disappeared into the thick underbrush in the opposite direction as they continued deeper into the forest away from both us and the mountains. I guess we got lucky though, as only later had I realized they might have been able to track the two of us by scent, but the crash into the ice wall apparently ruined that for the two of them.

Once I couldn't see or barely hear either of them anymore, I turned and silently took off once more, rising up into the air and heading for the western end of the mountains, where from here I could only barely see the Vikings toiling away around the canyon.

"We've got a problem," Astrid grumbled, hopping off Thorn and walking up to Hiccup. He put down the arrow for the bow he and Fishlegs had been working on finishing setting up just before he'd returned to the forge, and turned to face her. "What happened?"

Astrid sighed. "It's not what happened, it's what won't," she griped, turning and gesturing to the sketch Hiccup had put up in the forge to help work off of. "We can't implicate the hand-operated booby traps like your spikes, because the stream at the bottom has eroded the cliff sides and the soil is soaked this time of year. Anything we try to put into the walls will either get muddied up or work too slowly to cause any real damage to the sea serpents."

Hiccup groaned and leaned against the wall, fingering the crossbow arrow he'd just finished. After a few minutes, Astrid got fed up with waiting for a reply and punched him in the shoulder. "Oww! What was that for?" "That was for apparently not having even the slightest idea for an alternative plan," Astrid napped. "You're acting like you didn't even acknowledge what I just said!"

Hiccup backpedaled ad held his hands up. "Look, sorry, but these things don't always just pop into my head. It's just that figuring out how and where to hide the cross"- his words trailed off as an idea formed in his head. "What now?" Astrid asked testily, crossing her arms.

"The eel bow," Hiccup replied. Astrid face palmed. "Sea serpents eat eels, if you recall," she sighed. "Something like that is not going to"- "No, no, I mean it was designed to fire multiple arrows at a time if needed," Hiccup explained hurriedly, turning and rummaging through the scraps and weapons lying around the smithy. "If we linked up hidden arrows in the cliff side on triggers tied with the main bow, and tied ropes or thin chains between them, then shooting the main crossbow would fire off something like a barbed net across the entire gorge, instead of just releasing one arrow."

There was silence for a minute, before Astrid grinned again. "Hiccup, that's brilliant!"

A/N-So, what do you think? Will everyone actually be able to pull off the ambush, or will something go wrong?

Leave a review and let me know!