A/N- After posting for this long, I think it's time to do a couple shout-outs to some of my long-time followers and regular reviewers:

-Alabestar: Thanks for joining us officially, and hopefully this tale will be entertaining enough to keep you along for the ride!

-Madhuntr: Critiques, thoughts and predictions always welcome!

-SkarkitTheMadaNeko: Hope you continue to enjoy this tale.

-Rider of the Night Fury

-The Night's Wrath

And all my other followers/reviewers/readers.

Chapter 10

Misfire

It was time.

The Vikings and their respective dragons gathered in the village square, and group by group flew off to get in position, staying low and quiet so as not to draw attention. The last ones left were Hiccup and the gang, who flew up to wait for our signal, as I turned to Ember, a grim expression on my face.

"Ready?" I asked. "As I'll ever be, I guess," she replied. I nodded and knelt forward, morphing Night Fury and crouching down to allow her to climb on. "Hold on tightly," I reminded, and as she bent low over my neck, moving her bow out of the way, I took off, racing straight up and over the mountains. Once I reached the other side, beginning to cross above the forest, I flared my wings and slowed down, settling in for a peaceful glide. The idea was to try and act like we had our guard down, luring our quarry in with the feint. As it were, though, I could not see either of the serpents anywhere. No trees were being uprooted, no rocks fell from the mountain slopes; heck, I didn't even see anything moving out in the ocean, by the coast or further out.

As we glided for a few minutes, the only sound being the wind over my wings and the occasional chirp of forest birds, I began to worry. "There is absolutely nothing out here," I mused quietly, thinking. "Something's wrong; we should have seen at least some sign of them by now." "Well, I don't see anything save for the trails they've made the past couple days," Ember whispered back. "Could be they tried taking a page out of our book and are setting their own trap somewhere." "Well, then, definitely keep your eyes open, but don't make it obvious."

We continued over the forest out toward the shore of the island, then down the coastline toward the sea stacks. Still, nothing showed itself. I began circling back toward the edge of the mountains again, seeing absolutely nothing.

"Well, this is productive," I snapped sarcastically, still keeping my voice low just in case. "We try to set up a proper defense, run all over the island, and find nothing to boot. Oh, it will be so much worse if they've already left, because then we will have to"-

"HAWKEN LOOK OUT!" Ember screamed, pulling my attention immediately down and to my right. I had to bolt upward immediately and barrel roll to avoid the attack, almost flinging Ember off my back in the process.

Ember was right, the serpents had tried setting a trap of their own. Taking a page out of the Changewing's book of tricks, they had camouflaged themselves within a thicket of trees and rock mounds, waiting in ambush and completely unseen. I barely swerved out of the way as my roll took me right toward the second serpent, the younger one lunging upward and nearly catching my wing.

"Geez!" I yelped, diving to the side and away as the pair took off after us once more. I whipped my head around briefly and fired a shot at the younger serpent who held the lead, forcing him to duck out of the way, and the fireball continued on back until it smacked the leader directly in the face.

::AAHHH! You will pay for that!:: he yelled, smacking the smaller one upside the head for him not taking the shot instead before he took up the lead in the chase. I smiled at the comical image that had just taken place, and raced across the trees as I occasionally lobbed spheres of fire or ice at the demons in tow. "Finally, we found them," I muttered. "Now to just keep up the act."

The forest disappeared below us as I raced across the edge of the mountains, slowly decreasing the power and accuracy of my shots and slowing slightly in my flight, as if I was losing strength. Just as we neared the mouth of the gorge I turned again and powered up an electric ball to attack, then let the energy fizzle out in pathetic sparks. I glanced back momentarily to see the two serpents smile. "Well, what a pleasant surprise," the leader sneered. "You've finally run out of power. Nice to know you tire just like everyone else!" I bared my teeth in response. Then, as the mouth of the gorge opened around us and we began flying up the canyon, I pretended to falter in flight, dropping lower and lower until I finally "fell" to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Ember exclaimed in mock surprise as we semi-crash landed. She jumped off as I immediately demorphed, grabbing my arm and pulling me as I staggered forward into the canyon. "Come on, we need to hide, now!" I nodded and took a couple of deep breaths before running with her.

We bolted into the canyon, water spraying up under our feet as we raced up the creek, little room on either side to run in a dry location. Water, however, also has the unfortunate side effect of providing drag and so slowed us down somewhat, allowing the two sea serpents to nearly catch up to us. The pair rounded the corner and lunged toward us, missing narrowly and slamming instead into the sides of the gorge.

"Move! Move!" I yelled, grabbing loose rocks off the walls here and there and chucking them at our attackers. They of course did almost nothing, the few that made contact bouncing harmlessly off their scales, and the two serpents just laughed in response.

"Oh, come now, you've hit us with lightning, fire, and pure power," the leader taunted. "Do you really think mere pebbles will deter us? Surely by now you see this is the end of the line; you can't run much further!"

Neither Ember nor I replied, and we continued up the gorge, the oceanic reptiles right behind us. However, not too far ahead I could see what was truly the end of the line, the end of the canyon where the softer earth gave way to granite, and the stream poured out of a mere crack in a sheer wall ahead, far too small to squeeze into without being a Terror. We reached the dead end and turned around, backs against the granite wall, as the pair of serpents slowed down, laughing and rearing up in front of us.

"So much for running away," the leader spoke up again. "Looks like we have won in the end, and Jezebel will no longer have that annoying little firefly," here he glared venomously at Ember, "buzzing around her ear as she works anymore." "If not me, then always some other warrior of God," Ember shot back. "We'll never be gone, death never wins in the end."

The serpent only smiled almost condescendingly, not noticing as I grabbed a small dagger from my side and flashed it up to the canyon's rim. "You have a lot of spirit for such a small being," he mused. "Whether or not we win in the end, today death will take you. Let's just get this over with now, shall we?" he almost hummed in mock cheerfulness, before lunging.

TSCHEEEWWWW! TSCHEEEWWWW! TSCHEEEWWWW! TSCHEEEWWWW!

The canyon filled with the sound of screaming arrows, and clouds of dust exploded from the walls as Hiccup's rope nets were released, lined with arrow barbs and crisscrossing the gorge, piercing the hides of the serpents and pinning them into place.

::AAAHHH!:: The demons screeched, squirming but in their shock unable to move very far without ripping their flesh on the barbs. The Vikings all immediately leapt up out of their hiding places, calling out for their dragons at the same time. The latter came flooding down out of the higher mountains and began strafing the serpents with fire, taking care to try and not burn the ropes pinning them.

I looked to Ember, who nodded, and then signaled Hiccup, who mounted Toothless and glided down next to us. I withdrew my quartet sword, powering energy into it and making it glow and hum, as Ember nocked an arrow and Hiccup drew Framherja. Toothless finished the ensemble as he bared his teeth and readied to fire. We marched forward toward the struggling serpents, who were apparently too discombobulated by the sudden ambush to fend off all of the attackers. I whistled sharply, catching part of their attention once more.

"My, how the tables turn so quickly: you are bound and bleeding, under attack from too many directions to fend off at once, and now you face us once more," I said. "You should really have seen this coming; did you really think I would tire so soon?" The pair only barely glared at me as they continued to try and focus on keeping the Vikings and dragons at bay.

"We can make this easy or hard for you," I continued. "You lose, and there is no way you will make it off this island alive, so I can end it all quickly or you can suffer that much longer." The older serpent tried to snap at me, but his head was wrenched to the side by a blast from Toothless long before he got close. I nodded. "Very well, I guess it has to be the hard way."

Wielding the energy in my blade, I doubled its size, brought it back behind my head, and swung hard. Hiccup and Ember both released their arrows, and Toothless released another fireball. At the same time, all four attacks collided with the serpent's temple.

FLASH!BOOOOMMMM! "AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

All four of us were thrown back against the canyon wall from the force of the explosion that followed. I groaned, before pulling myself to my feet to see what had happened.

My heart froze for a moment. Just like when we had fought the demonic rendition of Jormungandr, the serpent had taken the energy we had used against him, converted it, and used it against us. Worse, the explosion had cut through half of the ropes tying him and his accomplice in place, and he could move most of his upper body once more. Toothless roared and leapt up at the demon, who swung his head and knocked the Night Fury up over the edge of the canyon. I could hear pained yelps and roars as Toothless crashed and skidded across the rocks above, then the serpent swung his head back to face us.

The villagers and their dragons renewed their attack, regrouping and coming down again, but in the instant the explosion had occurred there had been enough pause for the pair to regain their senses and erect a barrier field above to block the remaining attacks, narrowing our allies' window dangerously and leaving Hiccup, Ember and I far more vulnerable.

Before the serpents focused on us, however, they took a moment to pull themselves completely free of the arrows and barbed nets, giving us just a moment's chance to get back on our feet. I drew a second sword, now wielding two in my hands, Hiccup pulled Framherja's string back once more, and Ember nocked another arrow. Then, the demons' focus returned to us, and our two sides faced off for a moment.

We were not prepared, however, for the pair to unleash a venom attack on us, having forgotten that attribute of theirs. From both of them, streams of the acidic spray jetted down toward us. I spun, flaring a pair of wings and blocked the attack, whipping the liquid off before launching myself at the lead serpent, swords spinning. Now, it was his turn not to expect such a fast recovery, and barely ducked his head to the side in time, so I only nicked him across the neck before landing on his back. Turning it to an advantage, I drove one sword into his side, hanging on tightly as he screamed and thrashed.

I was not able to hang on after the second serpent lunged for me, however, and fell off to the dirt. I glanced up to see the one I had just impaled twist and remove the sword before going after Ember again, and her and Hiccup were nearly wide open to the attack. I was unable to help, however, as the second demon forced me into battle with him.

A blinding flash appeared as Hiccup struck the leader, and I fired a plasma orb at my opponent, before leaping up and overloading the barrier field as I had done with the leader's tail a couple nights before, causing it to break down and permit full attacks from the other Vikings again.

It wasn't quite enough though, as my opponent had twisted around as I leapt upward and gotten into my blind spot, catching me off guard. As I came back down, the massive tail swept straight into me, knocking my breath out and sending me careening into the canyon wall. I hit, and immediately everything blurred out of view.

Ember barely noticed as her new friend slammed into the rocks, as she was trying hard herself to stay out of the range of the larger serpent.

"Oh, quit jumping around pointlessly and surrender already!" the demon yelled, snapping again at her, but instead getting an arrow to the cheek for his efforts, followed by an electric blast from Hiccup. The serpent turned to him, beyond furious, and swept his tail straight into the skinny teen. "Fine! I'll take care of you first!"

Hiccup yelped as he skidded across the gravel, his hands and knees getting torn up as he lost his grip on Framherja. The serpent saw this and, after pausing for a moment to spew venom at the cloud of dragons descending on him to deter them, lunged down to get rid of the weapon.

"AAAAHHH!"

Instead of flinging the bow over the walls of the gorge like he planned however, an overload of electricity and pure pain ran through him, causing the serpent to jerk and spasm momentarily and drop the bow back to the ground.

"Forgot…to mention," Hiccup grunted, grinning as he watched the weapon's effect on the wrong person for the first time, "there's only a couple people who can touch Framherja. The… punishment for the rest is great pain." He stood up shakily and looked the demon square in the eye, still grinning. The serpent frowned and slithered forward, placing himself between Hiccup and Framherja. "Then as long as you can't use it, you're useless," he hissed, and spun to face Ember. "Now I finish what I came here for," he snapped, "getting rid of you for my master, and getting revenge for the eye you took from me!" He lunged.

Ember jumped upward instinctively, almost impossibly high, and let an arrow fly straight into the serpent's mouth. Whether it hurt or not, however, the serpent didn't show as his gaping maw filled the young woman's entire vision.

I was vaguely aware of the dragons covering me, fending off the younger serpent, and keeping him at bay as my vision slowly cleared once more. I stood up shakily, pumping healing into my wounds and clearing my head again. Once able to stand, I released another blast of fire at the serpent, knocking him out of my way just long enough for me to turn to try and help Hiccup and Ember again.

I was too late to do anything this time and froze, unable to move in horror, as Ember fired at the serpent with no effect. The demon's jaws closed with a mighty bang over her and he fell toward the gravel, his prize finally caught. Then, he slowly titled his head backward, gulping as he began to swallow her.

"EMBEERRRR! NOOOOO!" I screamed, energy racing into my arms as I powered up in one last attempt to simply take the serpent's head clean off.

Suddenly, the serpent froze in his actions, and began heaving and coughing as it trying to expel his untimely meal in a panic. He opened his mouth and gagged, and what looked like smoke billowed from out of his throat, getting thicker and thicker, until roiling flames and a blinding light replaced it and burst from his jaws.

I stared in utter disbelief as on the outside of his neck, the skin began steaming, then bubbling and crinkling, before with one last utter scream of agony the serpent fell to the ground one last time, dead and burning from the inside out.

Words escaped every person present and there was silence, as the serpent's neck continued to blacken, then flame, and finally turn to pure ash. And standing in the middle of the scalding remains was none other than Ember, her hair glowing bright red and wisps of flame flowing off her arms, slowly dying away to reveal the girl we had come to know. No one spoke still for a few moments, before Ember gave a shudder and her eyes closed as she collapsed. That finally stirred me into action as I jumped forward and caught her before she could hit the ground.

"I…I should have…should have remembered I could do that before, huh?" she wheezed quietly, a faint smile on her lips. I slowly grinned in response. "Well, it may have been a help, yeah."

"Um, excuse me," Hiccup spoke up, having broken out of his shock as well, "but we still have one big problem to deal with." He pointed past us, and we turned to see the younger serpent still there, staring at us wide-eyed as the rest of us had been. At that point, he realized his position, and that we were once more aware of him, and immediately bolted out of the canyon.

"Take care of her!" I yelled to Hiccup, carefully setting down and then gesturing to the completely frazzled Ember, and bolted down the canyon myself, transforming and melting into the shadows as I ran. The serpent raced through the forest just barely ahead of me, and as I attempted to reach forward and grab him with the shadows surrounding both of us, he fired off miniature shields, blocking my attempts just long enough to race ahead a little further.

He finally managed to reach the ocean and plunged off the shore in a massive burst of water. I screeched in frustration, not missing a beat as I reformed and morphed into a Doomfang, diving in right after him. Though I was still slightly smaller, we were both in our element now, and I had experience, cold fire, and a personal vendetta on my side now.

The serpent was diving down and trying to disappear into the depths, so I put on a burst of speed, cutting the water fast enough to cause small shockwaves behind me, sending my figure forward even faster.

Right before I managed to catch up to him, however, the serpent flicked his tail, violent energy pouring off it and forming a massive vortex, sending him forward and downward. I could not change my trajectory in time, though, and swam right into it, the spiraling column of water sending me spinning out of control.

By the time I'd gotten my bearings again, the sea serpent was gone. I roared furiously in anger and released a jet of ice in my frustration, creating an iceberg that burst to the surface above me before I calmed down enough to think. Following the path of the iceberg I'd created, I returned to the air, changing back to Night Fury and rocketing back to the island.

Everyone looked up when I landed by the canyon. Astrid and Thorn had helped Hiccup and Ember up out of the gorge, and Hiccup was again trying to wake Toothless. I walked over and placed my hand on the dragon's forehead, healing the concussion for the second time in a week, and he slowly groaned and opened his eyes.

::God, my head hurts,:: he moaned. ::I really need to stop doing this. What happened?:: "You were thrown over the cliff," I replied.

"Hawken, what happened to the other serpent?" Stoick asked, walking up to us with a look of great concern on his face. I shook my head. "He threw me off at the last second and vanished," I replied, before turning and looking eastward. "We won this round, and he won't be back for a while, but if we go by what Ember told us, that means we probably have maybe two months, maximum, before Jezebel seeks out her revenge."

Stoick sighed, then looked around and nodded. "Then we'd all better get te training for war. If she's been around as long as I think she has been, we'll need every trick in the book." "We're going to need the other tribes too," Hiccup added. "We won't win this one on our own either."

A/N-Alright, what do you think? I'll be honest, this chapter felt a little rushed for my taste, but there's plenty still to come as well.

Let me hear your predictions, I would love to see a handful more reviews on this story!