Chapter 19

Turntable

The shifting grounds beneath our feet

They never for a moment still

Peace and tranquil for a fleeting pass

Then into turmoil they fall

Holding on is a fallen dream

To ride them a deadly choice

But there is no other way to turn

We ride them with frail hope

"Toothless, focus! You're in there, and I know you can hear me, you can fight this!" Hiccup yelled.

The Night Fury nevertheless continued to spin and buck, his body at the command of another. Hiccup grimaced and gabbed tight to the saddle, focusing directly on his friend's forehead.

"Toothless! I am not letting go, so don't you dare do so! You're my brother as much as any could be; you've saved me so many times I can't count it! You're strong enough to beat this!"

Toothless whined slightly, the only action of his own that could escape, unable to do anything further as his body disobeyed his mind. The ringing call of the Bewilderbeast echoed around them, pulsing through his head and drowning out nearly everything else, and the Night Fury couldn't break through the flowing river of willpower. He tried to shake his head and barely got an ear to twitch, could barely hear Hiccup even though the boy sat on his back.

There was one message that stood out however, one thing Toothless was beginning to hear more clearly than anything else.

"You. Are. My. Brother, Toothless!" Hiccup urged again. "We've got the same spirit, we support each other. You would never do anything to hurt me, you've said it yourself, or Stoick, or any of our friends! Think about when we met in the cove! Think about when we met Hawken; think about everything we've done together!" He leaned forward as much as he could, speaking right into Toothless' ear.

"Toothless, we made a bond, between all of us. We're a team, strongest together. We're…we're echad, we're one! I know you're strong enough, if I'm strong enough, and I know I won't let that bond break! I won't let you break!"

Brother…One…Echad…

Something cracked. He didn't know how exactly, or what, but something gave way. The external will shuddered, and instead memories of the past years raced through Toothless' mind, all the times he, Hiccup, and the others had spent together and all they'd accomplished before. A new strength flooded through the dragon, and the overwhelming buzz and warble emanating from the Bewilderbeast began to dull until they became no more than a background noise as his eyes widened under his own power, and his body stilled at his own command.

Then Toothless' eyes reversed, narrowing in anger and determination, and the warning scream of the Night Fury rent the air.

Hiccup yelped as Toothless suddenly leveled out, and then dropped into a dive straight toward the Bewilderbeast.

::You have nothing, you worthless worm!:: Toothless roared, the wind screaming in that famous shriek as he loosed a fireball, catching both Drago and the Bewilderbeast off guard and sending roiling flames across the dragon's face. The alpha screamed in pain as Toothless turned away, glancing back up at Hiccup with a grin bearing a growing confidence.

::We can finish this,:: he said, and Hiccup laughed with relief. "Told you that you could fight it!" he exclaimed over the wind. "Brothers don't give up! Come on, we need to find out what's causing the control overload; there's no way it's natural. Knock it out and we'll at least have the bonded dragons back on our side!"

Toothless nodded in agreement, and then pointed with his paw toward the massive dragon. ::The call has elements of sight, sound and mind, mostly mental. If there's something enhancing it that we can remove it will probably be situated near the eyes or- WHOA!::

He banked, narrowly avoiding a shot of ice and then the ensuing flurry of enthralled dragons sent toward them by the Bewilderbeast, before circling around under the alpha's neck. As the pair turned, coming up on the other side of the dragon, the clouds above the scene shifted, just enough for a ray of sun to shine through.

Both Hiccup and Toothless saw it when something caught the light, glinting like a shard of polished glass right at the base of one of the Bewilderbeast's head spikes.

"There!" Hiccup yelled, pointing. Toothless nodded. ::Yeah, I see it! Is it just me, or does that thing remind you of Shadow Dragon fire?::

The Night Fury had a point. Though rather well camouflaged against the dark scales, once you spotted the gem it was impossible to miss: black as obsidian, and while other gems the pair had seen tended to spark or glow with a visible light when active, this one did act like Shadow fire, a visible glow present but at the same time seeming to darken the air around it, sucking in light.

::Hold on tight,:: Toothless growled. ::He's not going to let us take that shot easily, so we're going in at a steep angle.:: Hiccup nodded, and though the Myscale straps attaching him fast to the saddle were nearly impossible to break, he grabbed firmly to the handholds on the saddle again. Toothless' eyes narrowed to a singular focus and, once they banked hard again to lose the Bewilderbeast's line of sight, he dove, hard and fast. The enthralled reptiles around them couldn't keep up, and the air screamed as the Night Fury built up speed and the fuel for his shot. The Bewilderbeast heard the warning shriek and he turned his head to try and take down the smaller dragon, inadvertently giving Toothless exactly the angle he needed.

TZZZEEEWWWWW! BBOOOOMMMMM!

The fireball scored a direct hit, and the facet the gem was mounted in cracked from the energy overload, exploding spectacularly. A blinding light rippled outward as the metal shards flew in all directions, some embedding directly into the Bewilderbeast's side and sending him staggering from more than just the explosive force. Hiccup noticed just out the corner of his eye the gem go flying, no longer of use to the alpha, before the Bewilderbeast roared and swung his head.

Toothless had predicted the angle both of any retaliation as well as the still-expanding fireball that came up toward them, and his wings flared as he sent himself and Hiccup into a very, very hard turn. The double row of spines on his back, discovered when Hiccup had returned from Tohar's home, extended and snapped out, catching the air and letting him bank in nearly a 180° arc, barely avoiding the flames and disappearing into the remaining fog nearby.

The effect of the attack was nearly immediate. All across the island roars echoed as the bonded dragons found themselves under their own power again, and the noise in Toothless' mind, the force he'd driven back, disappeared entirely. The other dragons however, those who had never acquired a rider, still swarmed angrily above the alpha, who immediately attempted to use them again to his advantage, shielding himself from the Night Fury who'd broken the control that was supposed to be all-encompassing. Drago, too, was understandably beyond furious.

"BOY!" he bellowed toward the fog. "How dare you! I don't know how you broke out, but you will pay for this! There's only so much you and that speck of a dragon can do against the true alpha, only so long you can hide!"

"SPECK?!" the enraged reply came almost immediately, echoing out of the mists surrounding Drago and his dragon. The man turned, eyes scanning the area as he failed to pinpoint where the roar had come from. It helped none that the Bewilderbeast himself took up nearly all the open space, and the raucous calling of the dragons above blocked out any noise the Strike Class dragon would have been making.

"Silence them!" Drago ordered, pointing toward the enthralled dragons, the Bewilderbeast swinging his gaze up just long enough to make the noise cease save the beating of wings, but even then, there was no telling where their rivals were.

Hiccup and Toothless, however, knew exactly where Drago stood, in plain sight at the base of the Bewilderbeast's tusk. The two of them were already forming a new plan, reckless but just possible.

A fireball erupted from the mist, racing right over Drago's head and forcing him to duck, before he drew his focus to Toothless who suddenly followed right after his warning shot, swooping upward and banking away, taking Drago and his Bewilderbeast's attention with him. He hung upside down, turning his head and leering a grin at Drago, before dodging the blast of ice that followed him.

As Toothless had turned, Drago immediately noticed something that concerned him: the Night Fury's saddle was empty. Too late, he turned in the direction the dragon had first appeared and swung his bullhook upward. But, the falling form of Hiccup was faster, the boy angling himself to catch Drago right in the chest with both feet, throwing the pair of them off the Bewilderbeast's tusk and tumbling to the ground below.

Hiccup pushed himself away from the man and curled himself, presenting the Mysteel plates on his arms and knees so that they hit the ground first and absorbed most of the impact, letting him roll effortlessly back to his feet, unharmed. Drago hit the dirt a lot harder, his bullhook flying from his hands and his form plowing a deep trench across the soft ground of the hill. He groaned and rolled slowly over as Hiccup came to stand over him, drawing Framherja from her holster and aiming it at Drago's head.

"Call him off and I might let you live," Hiccup threatened, gesturing to the massive dragon who still had his attention on the Night Fury above them. "Your part in this fight ends now."

Drago looked up at Hiccup in slight surprise, before giving a grin and standing up, backing away. "Or maybe it's only just starting," he replied, and gave a raspy yell.

A shiver ran down Hiccup's spine and his eyes widened as he spun around to look up at the Bewilderbeast. Drago's call had pulled the behemoth's attention away from Toothless, and now it was focused on something far more immediately threatening to his master's survival. The dragon drew in a breath, preparing to fire.

::HICCUP!:: Toothless yelled, noticing the change in the Bewilderbeast's gaze, and he dove. "Oh no," Hiccup whispered, knowing there was no way he was going to move in time. A flash of black caught the corner of his eye along with the roar, and instinctively Hiccup yelled, "TOOTHLESS!"

The Night Fury was already on his way, powering his wings as fast as he could go and trying to get to Hiccup first, but it was already too late to avoid the attack. The jet of ice exploded from the Bewilderbeast's mouth, and as Toothless grabbed Hiccup, embracing the Viking in his wings, he felt the crystallizing shot slam into his back.

The force drove both backward and deep into the hill. An explosive crack thundered out as the ice drilled a crater into the ground and spread out in a sharp, sinister fashion. As it settled, a deafening silence pervaded the scene.

"HICCUP!"

Drago turned to see three figures suddenly racing his way in the distance, through an open path in the fog from the sea: the vigilante woman from the north whom he had faced before on top of her dragon, and another Night Fury that he assumed could only be the boy that he had confronted on Dragon Island. He chuckled as they all raced right past him, completely ignoring his presence as they landed by Hiccup and Toothless' frozen tomb. After all there was nothing they could do now, and it was already over as far as Drago was concerned. Nothing survived a direct shot like that, not even a Night Fury.

Valka leapt off of Cloudjumper and raced to the ice, slamming her fists into it and barely chipping the ring of spires that encircled the central impact site. "Hiccup! Hiccup, no!" she sobbed, sliding to the ground in despair. She had only just regained the chance to gather her family together, and now, for the second time, it was gone.

Next to her, Hawken slowly morphed back human, staring stone-like at the ice. He too knew how deadly such a direct shot would be. Unlike the film he and the others had watched several weeks before, the force this had been applied with could not have been survivable; nothing that made a crater could be escaped from.

The boy turned slowly to face Drago, and the man immediately noticed the boy's eyes darkening from a cold ice blue to black. In his hand, a Mysteel sword materialized, crackling with energy. The Bewilderbeast leaned forward again and released another jet of ice to protect his master, but the boy merely raised his hand and the shot vaporized into steam from the electricity that raced off the outstretched appendage.

Suddenly, Drago felt his momentary victory turn into an impending defeat as Hawken raised the sword in his direction. "You…first you nearly killed Stoick the Vast, and now you've removed his son and dragon, two of my closest friends, my brothers, from this world," he hissed. "There is no time left for you on this earth either."

The boy raised the blade, and lightning crackled along the metal. Drago had seen Mysteel in action before, and without Jezebel nearby to stop the boy or the Bewilderbeast in a convenient position this time, he knew he stood no chance. Drago stood tall however, defiant to the last, and stared death in the eye as the sword came down.

That was when it happened.

tsssseeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRR!

A sound, absolutely impossible to mistake, drew everyone to a stop, eyes turning to face the miniature fortress of ice. Deep within, something was beginning to fluoresce, growing brighter by the second in time with the rising noise and lighting up the ice. Valka's head snapped up, disbelieving for a second. Then, as her eyes widened in realization, she scrambled to her feet and backpedaled as fast as she could away from the ice.

Hawken, too, felt the vibrations of energy pulsing out in waves, and flew back to take shelter behind a boulder, not a moment too soon. The whistling shriek reached a climax, drowning out the audible cracks as the ice strained against some internal force, and an explosion rivaling a small bomb ripped outward from the crystalline structure, nearly vaporizing it and throwing shards of ice in all directions, the concussive sound alone throwing the unprotected Drago on his back again.

Only when the steam began to clear did anyone dare to look. In the middle of the blast zone, lying in a deep depression surrounded by the remaining ice, was Toothless, his wings and tail still wrapped protectively around his rider but his head lifted and glaring out, eyes wide in seething fury. Down his back both rows of crests were fully extended, and the scales on and around them were fluorescing a piercing electric blue.

As he uncurled, Hiccup stood up shakily, but incredibly unharmed, and he watched as Toothless turned toward the Bewilderbeast and screamed, a piercing sound that made even the alpha wince and shudder, before letting loose a fireball that raked across the bigger dragon's face, leaving twisted, smoking scales.

Toothless turned to his brother, eyes softening for a moment. "You okay Hiccup?" The boy nodded slowly. "Yeah, I...I think so." Toothless nodded, and then turned, wings flaring and thrusting downward as he rocketed into the sky, letting out another scream filled with threats and challenges echoing around the Bewilderbeast as he reached a speed that left him little more than a blurred dot highlighted with sapphire.

Both Valka and Hawken ran forward to Hiccup, the former embracing her son hard as he watched, stunned, as his draconic brother went head to head with the alpha. The latter knelt down, examining the ground where the pair had been hit, before letting out a laugh of disbelief.

"Good Lord Hiccup, you two have the most incredible luck I've ever seen!" Hawken exclaimed. "The one spot on this hill with a sinkhole under it and you hit it!" He laughed as he stood up, hugging Hiccup as well.

Hiccup's attention of course was still on Toothless. "W-what's he doing?" he stuttered. Valka looked at him, then followed his gaze to the Night Fury raking the Bewilderbeast with devastating flames high above them. "He's challenging the alpha," she half-whispered. "Most smaller dragons don't have the capacity; he's taking him on to defend you! I've…I've never seen anything like it!" Hiccup nodded absently, still in some shock, before his thoughts began to collect and he turned to Hawken.

"Go take care of Jezebel," Hiccup said, before leveling a glare at Drago. "I think we have this covered now." "You sure?" Hawken queried uncertainly. Hiccup nodded, taking a step out of the hole in the ground, and Hawken stalled for a moment, before whirling around and taking off, though not before his tail lashed out and added another scar to the multitude already covering Drago's face.

Valka glanced at Cloudjumper, who also nodded toward the bay as well, and grasped her son's shoulder. "Hiccup, are you sure you can handle this?" she asked, her fear for her son evident. Hiccup looked at her straight on, and then looked up to Toothless. The Night Fury wasn't even giving the Bewilderbeast the time to turn his head to defend himself, and as the behemoth's concentration slipped the enthralled dragons above them began to break from the swarm.

Hiccup grinned and nodded again. "Yeah, I'm sure we do." Valka pursed her lips and stepped back for a moment, before tuning and signaling to Cloudjumper. The Stormcutter leapt into the air, and as Valka grabbed her staff, she swung it upward and caught her dragon's claws, vaulting herself upward onto his back, the two racing back toward the bay to wreak havoc on the ships.

Hiccup looked down at his feet, and picked Framherja, which he'd dropped in the ice attack, up out of the debris. Then he turned to advance again on Drago.

"I almost feel sorry for you," he drawled. "You control an alpha species, yet you got creamed by one boy on Dragon Island. You had a lucky shot at Toothless and I, and we hit a safe spot on the hill and you only managed to tick the both of us off even further, which I honestly didn't think was possible, but," he gestured at the glowing Night Fury to emphasize his point, then lifted Framherja up. "And now, Toothless is right on the verge of winning the fight against your Bewilderbeast-he's already broken the other dragons out of thrall"- as if to punctuate the statement a very familiar, oversized Changewing swept by to take a shot at an incoming soldier, sent to help Jezebel's ally, "-and I haven't even given you your due yet for your attempt on my father's life, or that Night Fury skin on your back."

Formalities suddenly over, Hiccup drew back on Framherja and released the string. Drago barely had the time to dodge the crackling bolt that followed, causing a small landslide behind him, and then the man turned to run and stumble down the hill toward his Bewilderbeast, Hiccup in pursuit just as quickly but with all the patience in the world now.

The readers may think this would be well outside Hiccup's personality, something he would never have acted like, but war is a terrible thing. Years of having to fight people who want nothing more than to kill you tend to change the battle-ready mindset. Hiccup would always be the clumsy, awkward, sarcastic dork on his own time, but with his entire island at stake and having just stepped out of a near-death experience for the nth time his kind, optimistic side had been put in check.

Toothless, meanwhile, had already more than proven his own point. Hovering directly in front of the massive Tidal Class dragon, his scales still glowing in a brilliant stamp of warning and power, he had completely broken off the Bewilderbeast's control. Now, the island's dragons gathered behind him, a new and better-coordinated swarm blasting the Bewilderbeast with their own fire. The big dragon was nearly at breaking point already, barely able to even meet the much smaller Night Fury's eyes.

::You listen and you listen well,:: Toothless hissed. ::Hiccup is my brother; he means more to me than ANYTHING else on earth. Anything that threatens him forfeits their life!::

The Night Fury's wings snapped out dramatically and, to finalize his point, his scales flashed blindingly bright as he released another blazing, overcharged plasma flame. The charge hit directly at the base of the Bewilderbeast's left tusk, exploding in a brilliant indigo flash. The searing heat and force cracked through the dense ivory, and the severed tusk fell to the rocks below with a deafening crash.

The damage was done. Injured and humiliated, the great dragon let out a pitiful whimper as he backed off, glancing submissively at the Night Fury who had just usurped his position. ::This is MY HOME!:: Toothless shrieked. ::NONE will take that from me! NOW LEAVE!::

The declaration echoed across the island, and the Bewilderbeast cringed, turning and diving with a great splash back into the ocean. The dragon was loyal to his master, but a lifetime of pain and intimidation would never be as strong a hold as a bond of trust and friendship.

Drago skidded to a halt upon the falling of the Bewilderbeast's tusk, and looked on shell-shocked as his winning strategy bowed before a dragon less than a hundredth its size and disappeared into the waves. His mind lingered not on that for long however, when he heard the Night Fury land behind him next to Hiccup, still glowing and still beyond angry.

Drago turned to face Toothless and Hiccup, the latter still holding Framherja point blank at the man. Hiccup opened his mouth to speak, but never got the chance. During the fight the hillside they stood on had been beaten and made unstable, and the ledge Drago stood on finally couldn't hold anymore and gave way under him. Drago reached out with his good arm desperately as the rocks around him crashed down the cliff below, barely catching the crumbling face of the rocks and hanging above the turbulent waves.

Hiccup scrambled forward and looked down over the edge. His better side resurfaced again upon seeing even his enemy helpless in the face of immediate danger. "Drago!" he yelled, reaching out his hand. "I won't strike someone who can't fight back. You still have a chance, you can help us. It's never too late!"

Drago looked up at him, a perplexed expression crossing his face. His target was giving him the chance to live? Was he really that soft? "Take my hand," Hiccup continued. "I can help you up if you choose to help us!"

For a mere moment the tension in the air lessened, and as Drago seemed to consider the option a sliver of hope entered Hiccup's thoughts. Then Drago's eyes hardened. "Never, would I accept help from the likes of you," he snarled, and released his hold on the ledge.

Hiccup froze, unable to move or look away, as Drago fell more than a hundred feet, slamming once hard into the cliff side before landing even harder in the turbulent and unforgiving ocean. Few could possibly survive such a fall, and with his metallic left arm weighing him down Drago would surely drown if he wasn't dead already.

It was over, and Drago Bludvist would be no more.

Hiccup flinched when Toothless nudged him gently, before the boy turned to his brother. ::There is still a war going on,:: Toothless said softly, scales no longer glowing as he calmed. Hiccup grimaced at the thought and closed his eyes, before nodding. "I know, but it never gets easier," he muttered. "Alright, let's go help Hawken and the others."

Camicazi and Ember had seen Hawken race off after Hiccup, but with Jezebel still at large they couldn't take off to help either. Stuck against the sorceress, it took them along with Fishlegs on their dragons to keep her distracted enough to hold her to the ship. It didn't seem like the witch had any interest in actually being on the island this time, however, instead perfectly content to direct her forces from afar. But with the village still fully under the hands of the Vikings, Ember knew she was looking far too content to not have something still to unleash on them.

A wall of electricity slammed into the sorceress, hailing Hawken's return, and the shock (pun intended) bought enough time for Ember to call out, "Everything okay? What happened?" "What happened is the Lord is watching out for us, and don't ever piss off Toothless again or you'll regret it!" Hawken yelled back, grinning before he landed with a BANG! on the deck of the ship and focused on Jezebel. "Take care of the other ships! I've got this again!"

Ember gave a thumbs-up and signaled the others, taking off over the bay as an explosive battle rose up between the two on the center ship behind them.

The men on the stone vessels swung javelin launchers and net traps in their direction, but a single shot by Ember took out three of the machine operators, Piffleworm venom acting almost immediately as the arrow flew through the air. Camicazi in turn leapt off of Stormfly and landed on the deck of a ship full of waving swords and turned into a blonde-topped blur. The Mood Dragon's scales flushed a deep blue as she skimmed around her rider, plowing through the lighter-built war machines.

Ember smiled and shook her head in amusement as Camicazi went about her business, before angling Orha toward another ship, sliding off the Shadowracer as he faded out of view to launch surprise attacks. Ember pulled up her bow and nocked another arrow, getting ready.

A soldier rushed her and she sent the arrow flying, point blank. Mysteel cuts beyond easily, and so the projectile continued past the first and took out a second man behind him, before finally lodging deep into the stone railing of the vessel.

A loud yell turned Ember's attention in a new direction as a third man came leaping toward her. She didn't have the time to load another arrow before he swung the sword in his hands, so she swiftly ducked under the blade and slammed her hand out, catching the man directly in the chest. Ice swept out and overtook his armor, freezing the metal and leather solid and locking him in place. Ember stood up and glared him in the eye. "It's a bad idea to play with fire and ice; this is what results," she growled, pulling out an arrow and making a scratch across the soldier's cheek. Seconds later and he was no more.

Ember loaded the arrow and prepared to loose it into the stairwell leading down from the deck nearby, when a shadow glided above her and claws pulled the young woman up into the air.

"What the-!" she exclaimed, looking up to find Orhaganuz holding onto her tightly. "Orha, what on earth are you doing? I wasn't"-

"You don't want to be on that deck right now!" he growled back. "Does the word 'twins' mean anything to you?"

Ember closed her mouth to process this note, and twisted back to look down at the ship. As if on cue a loud rumble emanated outward as something…the only word Ember could think of was something erupted inside the vessel, and the stone deck heaved upward before rapidly collapsing inward, flames shooting out of cracks in the ship's sides. The men onboard screamed as they fell along with the collapsing hole or leapt over the sides into the unforgiving sea.

Not seconds later Ruff and Tuff appeared on Barfbelch, grinning like maniacs as the ship lost its floating power and dropped like the stone it was beneath the surface of the bay. "So, fill small spaces with flammable gas and light it, and it creates a really big boom!" Tuffnut noted, donning an oddly English accent. "If this is what they call science then we must experiment more, shan't we dear sister?" "Very much so," Ruffnut agreed in a mimicking accent. "Ta ta! Must be off to blow more things- Ember look out!"

Ruffnut's scream took everyone's attention behind Orha and Ember, whose eyes widened. "Orha, up! UP NOW!"

Orha powered his wings upward and flipped around in a hard bank, just as a massive boulder came flying through the airspace where they had been. Orha flipped Ember up so she landed back in the saddle, and Ember quickly strapped in so she could fire while flying. Not that it mattered when she saw where the boulder had come from. Or, more importantly, who had thrown it.

She was clad in a suit of Mysteel more effectively crafted than anything even Hiccup had come up with, her arms and sides riddled with gems and facets of every imaginable kind. She bore a long, immaculate crop of flowing dark blond hair bordering on red, framing a face radiating an expression of dangerous experience and topped with an equally crafted helmet, and around one hand was a band pulsing with a chilling energy.

The woman twisted the hand with the glowing band, and in turn the levitating boulder behind the riders swung in its path, turning and coming in for another shot. Orha instinctively fired, and the boulder exploded, falling away uselessly in a cloud of shards, before he and Ember turned to face the woman again.

She didn't seem to be too terribly disappointed by the loss of her weapon, however, and as she waved her hand again the reason why showed. This time multiple stones came flying up off the deck of the ship she stood on and circled in the air, spinning around her in a slow vortex.

"Stand down and we might let you live!" Ember yelled, signaling Fishlegs and the twins to come around behind their adversary as she nocked another arrow. The woman only laughed and shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that. You present a threat to me, and so you must be removed." Another flick of her hand, and the rocks went flying, a wall of stone heading straight for Ember.

Orha roared in alarm and went into overdrive, diving straight down to avoid the stones as Ember let off a panicked shot. The arrow flew straight and true, but the woman touched another gem on her armband and a field of blazing red erupted in the air around her. The arrow hit as if it were wood against granite, stopping midair and bending in on itself before falling uselessly. The energy field faded, and the woman glanced down, looking unimpressed.

"Alright girl, you clearly want for a decent fight, so it is time to end this," she announced. "I created the metal you use against me; I know its strengths and weaknesses in all forms. You have no advantage, give it up."

Something about that claim rang eerily familiar to Ember, but she didn't have time to think on it as she and her dragon were forced to dodge the flying stones again. The twins came in attempting to drive a sneak attack, only for another set of flying boulders to rise up in their path. One of them swept straight for Ruffnut's head, and moments before it collided Fishlegs barreled through, planting Meatlug in the way so that the Gronckle caught and swallowed the rock instead. "Watch your head Ruff, this is getting to be a recurring theme!" he yelled.

The woman, meanwhile, pressed a new gem and brought her arms down, the boulders seeming to act now on autopilot as she turned her attention toward the island, still clouded in fog. She pressed a dark sapphire stone that rested on her belt, and then reached down and swiped the surface of the ship's deck with her fingers.

An incredibly loud hum permeated the air, and lights flickered on all along the sides of the vessel. Beneath the ship, the water began to swirl and dance violently, before sweeping away from the stone, a massive downdraft blasting against the ocean surface and causing the ship to begin inching upward, little by little.

Ember's heart dropped to her feet as she watched the stone craft rise into the air, held aloft by the powerful winds and the massive field producing them. Soon after, the other stone vessels in the bay began to follow, each heading straight toward the fog-covered village.

"We're not winning this one, are we?" she whispered, feeling an abject loss as she tried, and failed, to figure a way through the impending disaster before her.

A/N- I'm sure it's obvious, but anyone want to guess who the new woman is?

Only 4 chapters left to this book (or, 3 proper chapters and an epilogue), before a bit of a break to prepare for the final installment. Let me know what you think!

Also, a quick reply to a guest review whom I believe is Madhuntr: My holiday schedule is rather deviant from most (after all, I celebrate the Biblical feasts, not the modern Christian ones), so the recent rush didn't have much effect on my typing capacity. That said I'm trying to get the next few chapters done quickly as the new semester begins shortly and my free time will be cut waaayy down, and I'm sure everyone will want to see at least the prologue to Book 6 relatively soon.