I got a few reviews that were apparently deleted by their posters... or at least that's what fanfiction is telling me. So, if I never replied to your review last chapter, it's not because I'm ignoring you. It means the site ate your review.

Chapter 45

The ground shook. The ocean seemed to part before the tyrant as his weight slammed into it. I saw no more of him though, as Drago's men scrambled about in front of my cage like a disturbed nest of ants, blocking my view. But for an instant, there was a gap in the mass, and I saw the face I had grown to despise. Drago was coming straight for me. Someone almost made the mistake of walking in front of him, so Drago grabbed him by the shirt and threw him aside. Oh, yes. He was angry. The silver tips of his metal, claw-like fingers gleamed as he reached for my cage –

He barely had time to react to the screk! And then the world transformed into a raging dust storm. Also, uh, I think I was airborne . . .

Oww. Seriously. Ow. I get why Toothless had to do it, but oww. Smacking your skull into a metal bar after flying through the air for a few feet really hurt. I could see the hole that Toothless had blasted in the cage, but . . . ugh. Too much throbbing.

And he was there, green eyes nearly glowing in the shadows the dust cloud had created. The hole wasn't big enough for his head, so Toothless reached inside with his paw instead. I reached for him – I think I did – it was all rather hazy. Our claws locked together. Toothless cooed, smiling.

"Argh!"

Toothless couldn't get his paw out before Drago hurtled into him from the side. Leg stuck in the cage, Drago on top and the bars on the bottom, he could barely move enough to squirm free, let alone fight. His teeth closed on thin air, and Drago managed to get the spur of his bullhook inside Toothless's mouth. With that, Drago shoved him aside and slammed his head against the ground easily. I blinked. A huge hand clamped down on my wings.

"Get out of my way, dragon!" As Toothless lunged, Drago brought up his bullhook in a swipe, opening up a gash between Toothless's eyes. I growled. I twisted, trying to bite . . . wasn't working. Wasn't . . . Right. Still muzzled. Blurry specks danced in my eyes as my head pounded again.

Vikings, friends, the king was telling his subjects. Fight. Fight now!

"Ragnok?" At the same time, Drago called for his resident witch-doctor. He ran away from the beaches, crossing to the back of a guard tower. "Ragnok -!"

Some fighter's instinct must have told him to look up, because I certainly hadn't heard Toothless. He fell on Drago from above, claws spitting out sparks as they raked against his metal arm. The blood from Toothless's wound ran in a rivet down the slope of his nose and followed the curve of his eye socket, giving that eye a distinctly feral, red-ringed appearance. He clamped down on Drago's metal arm and shook with his whole body, trying to use his weight to off-balance his larger foe. Drago stumbled, but managed to plant his foot and stand his ground.

A group of his fighters stopped to stare, and Drago shouted at them. "Shoot it, shoot it!"

Toothless looked in time to see the crossbows levelled at him. I glanced between him and them. Drago wouldn't . . . He wouldn't want them to kill Toothless, would he? Not when Toothless may have been the last Night Fury in existence. He couldn't. I mean, no warlord would possibly want to squander an opportunity like him. They wouldn't kill him, right?

With a flap of his wings, Toothless leapt skyward, attaching himself to the guard tower's side. Bolts whizzed past below him and embedded themselves in the tower, one a hair's-breadth away from his leg. A quick huff from him conjured a fireball that scattered the crossbowmen. He tried to get Drago next. Drago swept up his dragon-skin cloak and shielded himself, but the force still knocked him over. As the heat rolled down his cloak, Drago and I met each other's eyes.

Heh. I must have looked like a satisfied cat.

He swept the cloak back, and we were treated to bright green eyes as Toothless smashed into Drago's chest. I flew through the air again, thankfully landing on sand this time. After I shook grains out of my eyes , I spied Drago struggling against Toothless, who had climbed on top of him. Drago had one hand on Toothless's chin, keeping the dragon from biting him. The other was pulling on Toothless's ear.

Drago's men grabbed Toothless from behind, yanking at his tail. I took a step forward. Stopped, and hesitated. I had no teeth this time; no flames either. Only claws.

Before I could spring, they pried Toothless off Drago. The man had some new scars on his cheek to add to his collection, but they didn't slow him down. Drago lurched forward, falling upon Toothless's skull and pinning him. Like a sheep with its head stuck in a hole, Toothless tried to push backwards, but there were too many others, and too little time.

He barked, one eye squinting in my direction. Run!

I whined.

Toothless rolled his eyes, and his bark took on an irritated tone. Run, stupid!

I didn't want to, but there wasn't much I could do to help him. I backed away, holding his stare for as long as I could, and then I ran. I ran out of the guard tower's shelter and onto the open beach, where the first of the Viking ships had run aground. Warriors leapt off their decks, most in solely human parties, but some with dragons following closely or upon the beasts themselves. There had been enough time for Drago's men to set up, so even the charging, battle-eager Vikings couldn't simply run over them. The battle lines quickly established themselves, growing more chaotic each second as more and more combatants leapt into the fray. Behind the throng, war machines rolled up to their places. They were meant for dragons, but I bet they could give Vikings a nasty scar.

"Keep that Night Fury down!" I looked behind me. Drago had left his men holding Toothless. He charged at me, not unlike a raging bull would.

Time to move! I darted forward, imagining I could hear Drago's footfalls behind me. Maybe there was a gap in the line – wait, I still had wings, didn't I? I could . . .

The king breached. He swam backwards into the shallower part of the water, so that he could stand with his head above water. The tyrant burst out of the water a couple of seconds later, and my heart twisted when his explosive appearance caught a couple of longboats– no idea if they were empty or not- and they flew head-over-heels. The tyrant's tusks met the king's with a sickening crack that sounded like a bone being snapped in half. Their muscles rolled and heaved under their scales, and as it became apparent the tyrant intended to push the king onto land, the combatants anywhere remotely near that area ran. In the glimpse I caught of the king's eyes, he was watching those retreating figures. Only when most of them were well out of reach, did he give ground.

Right. Not running in that direction. The settlement may have been deep in enemy territory, but at least there were plenty of places to hide.

Assuming, of course, that I lost Drago.

Despite my short legs, I was fast, but it was hard to breathe with your snout muzzled. The air I could draw in through my nostrils and between my teeth wasn't enough; my lungs were burning. I fell against a cart's wheel, and then slithered under it to rest. It wasn't my leg muscles that ached, but those in my chest. I needed to breathe so much that I had barely time to exhale between gulps. The ground was still shaking from the king's fight with the tyrant far away.

"Got you!" With one hand, Drago flung the cart away. I ducked into the alleyway next door, which was littered with chunks of wood that Drago carelessly kicked aside.

And suddenly, Toothless was between us again. He had additional cuts and scrapes to add to the one on his head, but was still raring to go. The alleyway was narrow; Toothless couldn't do much with his wings – couldn't even fly away if he wanted to. There was little more than half a foot of space on either side of Drago's shoulders, and he had to tuck his elbow in when bringing his bullhook in front of him. Toothless hissed. His tail swept the alley's floor, patting me a few times to verify my position.

"Argh!" Drago barrelled forward, bullhook set like a spear. Toothless dodged sideways, bounced off the stone wall and planted his front paws against Drago's broad shoulders. His back claws dug into the ground as he fought to halt Drago's advance. Drago laid his free arm over Toothless's front legs, grabbed the opposing paw, and twisted the Night Fury off him, throwing him into the stones. Toothless kicked out just in time for his back paw to meet the shaft of Drago's bullhook and send the point into the wall.

As another fireball broke upon Drago's cloak, I ignored Toothless's hisses for me to flee, and leapt. My claws couldn't penetrate his leggings, so I jumped off that and onto Drago's exposed arm where they could. He spared a second to rip me off – took a chunk of flesh with me, I did – giving Toothless time to roll back onto his feet and leap onto his foe's back. His claws clicked against the scales of Drago's cloak. He tried to climb up Drago's back, mouth wide-open as if to follow the man's head whole. Drago pitched backwards, crushing Toothless between his body and the alley wall.

As Toothless fought for freedom, I rubbed my snout against the wall, trying to hook the twine binding my snout. I needed to be un-muzzled. My body was boiling with fire I couldn't use, jumping up my throat every time I focused on Drago; it was so desperate to burn him that when I pulled my lips back, soft, violet light shone from between my teeth.

By some cruel twist of fate, Drago managed to trap Toothless's neck in the space between the bullhook's point and its spur. He used that to hold Toothless up against the alley and turned to face him. Hind legs dangling in mid-air, Toothless clawed at the bullhook and tried to release the vice around his throat. But he was still breathing, I could hear him. I tried to dig my claws under the twine; I needed freedom now. And Drago, what was he doing -?

His metal hand snapped open. He brought it up over his head, and then down. The metal digits tore through the thick, black scales on Toothless's shoulder, spraying the ground with blood.

My vision went red around the edges. My skull crashed into Drago's thigh; claws ripped at Drago's clothes like they were digging. My teeth unsheathed, and my jaw muscles went through the motion of biting, even though it was hopeless. The twine stung and cut into my skin as my snouth struggled to open and snap it with pure force.

Drago's metal hand closed around my midsection.

Then, the shaking intensified. Toothless and Drago both stilled. Suddenly, with me in his grasp, Drago tore away, letting Toothless drop as he ran out of the alley. I squirmed. I twisted around enough to see Toothless running, too. One of the walls seemed to bulge . . . and it was reduced to a shower of debris and dust as the tyrant's tail punched through it.

"Toothless!" The sound that escaped me was a garbled mess. He was okay. He had to be okay. I saw him move. He had to have gotten out of the way.

The two Bewilderbeasts were very close, and easy to see as they towered over the surrounding buildings. There was another deafening crack as the king slammed into the tyrant. Their tusks locked. An uneducated person would have thought they went still after that, but the truth couldn't be more different. I knew both of them were using every bit of their strength to try to push the other back. The king pulled back abruptly, making the tyrant stumble forward. His majesty reared up, and then fell upon the tyrant like a tidal wave. The tyrant stood on his hind legs too a few seconds before impact, and the two locked tusks again, and staggered about in a fight for balance and control. A guard tower broke over the king's back but he didn't seem to notice. The tyrant trampled the alleyway until there was nothing left.

"Toothless! TOOTHLESS!" I wrestled with Drago's hand, unable to tear my eyes away from the pile of rubble where I had last seen him.

And I heard it. Or maybe it was my imagination . . . no, no, no. That was real. A quiet squawk in the middle of the chaos. Toothless was okay.

But he was either injured, or he had lost us in the commotion. He didn't appear again as Drago made his way toward a hut and barged inside. With his bullhook, he speared a bedframe and pulled it out from the wall, revealing . . . Ragnok curled up in a fetal position.

"Oh. Hello," Ragnok said, cringing. His fingers twitched in a small wave.

"It's time." Drago threw me at Ragnok's feet. "Do it now!"

"Alright, hold him down."

Before I could flee, Drago's boot stomped on my back. The twine around my muzzle loosened. Metal fingers crawled under my lips, tasting of blood. A muscle in my jaw jumped. I tossed and turned; the fingers followed, prying at my jaws. My teeth cracked apart. My heart fluttered painfully as I fought.

But that one bit of give had opened the floodgates. The fingers curled under my teeth, and then Drago wrenched my mouth wide-open. Ragnok was shuffling through a chest in the corner, and his hand emerged with the small, black case that held my doom. He opened it, and I could feel the rune's power from here.

"Don't just stand there," Drago barked as somewhere, the battling Bewildebeasts broke some more buildings. "Get it done before they knock this place down, too!"

It was in my mouth. I closed my trachea, letting my overflowing fire dribble up into the open. Almost burnt Ragnok's hand off, but he moved too quick. I –

Crack.

Head hurt. Think my brain is bruised. Ears ringing. Something tangy on my tongue –

I choked. Something hard pressed into the back of my throat. Swallow, or suffocate.

Before I could register what it was, I swallowed.

The stone seemed to be icy cold as it slid down my throat. There was a moment where it hadn't hit me, and I wondered why I felt impossibly clammy all over. Then I felt it deep within my stomach, smouldering. Oh no. No, no, no! I sucked my abdomen in, heaving, trying to vomit.

"Muzzle him again. I don't want him biting," Drago ordered.

I fought. I really did. But the binds found their way around my snout.

Drago sneered. "Hope you're ready to go home."

With me under his arm, he walked out of the hut. In the background, the two Bewilderbeasts devastated the settlement; neither seem to care about what they stepped on. By the beaches, the air was thick with dragons. Most of them were the king's, but Drago's men had a few –strangers to his majesty, obviously - that were too cowed by the tyrant and fought against their brethren. Distant booms and snaps rang through the air as, perhaps on both sides, war machines shot at their targets.

"Time to return to your people." Drago chuckled. He squeezed.

But as he walked the stone path between two buildings, a sickly, green cloud blocked his way. The sun shone through it for a moment, and I saw a double-headed silhouette before the cloud burst into orange flame. The heat forced him back; he turned slightly, and then pitched sideways as a molten rock impaled the ground where he had been standing.

"Don't worry, Hiccup, we're here to save you!" My eyes widened at the sound of Fishleg's voice.

Above the path that Drago had walked down, Meatlug wobbled in midair, smacking her lips in preparation for another attack. On the other side of Drago where the cloud had been, Barf and Belch studied their opponent.

"Got you." Drago didn't hear the quiet voice, but I did. I looked up at one of the building's roofs to see Astrid astride Stormfly's back.

"Ruff, Tuff!" Stormfly bounded off the roof and onto the ground as Astrid called to our friends. "We got this. Go tell him we found Drago."

The Zippleback took off. Stormfly squawked at Drago, bristling.

"Put Hiccup down," Astrid said, pointing at me as fiercely as she could..

Drago snorted. "Or else what, little girl?"

Astrid clenched her fists. "Go!"

Stormfly swung her tail. The resulting projectiles were narrowly deflected by Drago's metal arm. He didn't wait for Meatlug to fire before he ran into the nearest building. Her wings buzzed outside as she and Fishlegs peeked through the window, looking for a clear shot. I found myself kicked into a corner as Astrid and Stormfly barged in, door shutting behind them.

Stormfly couldn't fly here, and Drago knew that; that's why he'd entered in the first place. What little light existed was clumped around the window, but I could see fine. Drago showed his teeth and began to shout; Stormfly cowered, only Astrid's pats and whispers kept the Nadder from backing down.

He moved. Stormfly thrust her head forward, preparing to flame, but Drago was no slouch at fighting dragons. It was almost terrifying how decisive he dealt with Stormfly. He caught her neck in the crook of the bullhook and forced her chin up; her fire rolled across the ceiling, giving the room an eerie glow. Then, when he was close to her, he twisted the bullhook, leaning his full weight upon it as he slammed Stormfly head-first into the ground. He brought the bullhook up again, and that would have been Stormfly's end if it wasn't for Astrid and her axe. She deflected Drago's strike off to the side, staggering sideways afterwards from the force.

"Hiccup . . . Hiccup, jump out!" Fishlegs hovered outside the window, beckoning me. I took one look at where Astrid was wrestling with Drago, and shook my head.

There was hardly any room. Stormfly whipped her tail, and it rebounded off the wall. Drago swung his arm, and Astrid flew into a wooden shelf. Drago swung again; my breath hitched as Astrid barely brought her axe up in time, holding it horizontally to catch Drago's bullhook at the spur and keep it from gouging out her eye. I tried to shout her name, but all I could manage was a muffled sound.

Stormfly leapt into action, head-butting Drago and trying to push the heavyset man away. Astrid had one foot on his stomach, too. The combination of strength was too much for Drago and he backed away. Stormfly's fire uselessly broke over his cloak as he did. The Nadder's tail lashed behind her, spikes bared and ready to be fired.

The plan hit me.

I jumped on the Nadder's back; she didn't seem to notice. As Astrid went after Drago, I rubbed my cheek against one of Stormfly's spines . . . ouch! Cut myself there . . . I rubbed harder, deeper, until I felt the lock around my jaws loosen. Once it was loose enough, I strained my muscles, opened my mouth –

The binds snapped.

Just in time. I unceremoniously fell off Stormfly's back as she swung around and shot her spikes. One of them hit Drago's forearm, and he shouted in pain. Astrid was quick to press her advantage. She stayed on the offensive, always trying to get close and within the bullhook's blind spot. And me? I opened my mouth, and felt the heat dribble up my throat. Oh yes. I had a lot of fire just dying to be used, and guess who was going to be the first to discover that.

I waited. Even when Drago hit Astrid across the face, I somehow held back the instantaneous rage and waited. Stormfly kept darting in, trying to take bites out of Drago's hind or else getting in my way. Now that Astrid had closed in on him, I knew the Nadder was unwilling to risk using her spikes or fire. I waited until Drago was squarely between Astrid and I, and Stormfly had retreated after attempting yet another bite.

I took my shot.

In the small space, the sound was unmistakable. Even if he were deaf, the sudden flash of purple light would have been enough of a clue. But if Night Furies were anything, we were fast. Taken completely by surprise, Drago didn't even drape half his body with his cloak before my shot slammed into him. If his armour hadn't contained dragon-skin, I bet I would have burned straight through the skin on his chest. Drago was flung backwards into the door, and his weight nearly caused it to snap off its hinges. Wow. That had been stronger than I expected.

Drago glared at his opponents as they regrouped. I gave Astrid a quick nod to ease her concern. We watched as he drew himself up high, face contorting into a grotesque mask –

And a huge set of claws broke through the splintered door, seizing him from behind. Drago was pulled out of the hut without a word and by the sounds of it, he had been tossed afterwards rather than set down lightly. Astrid and I glanced at each other. Then, with Stormfly on our heels, we ran out the door, too.

We skipped to a halt before the dragon that blocked our way. Cloudjumper didn't even notice our presence. He growled low in his throat as the man upon him dismounted.

"Hello, Drago," growled the voice of the mighty chieftain of Berk, Stoick the Vast.

Review Responses:

MidnightStar: Hiccup has had quite a bit of time to work on him, and he's actually succeeded in one of his goals - damaging the relationship between the tyrant and Drago (hence, why the tyrant allowed last chapter's "rebellion" to go on as long as it did). Unfortunately for Hiccup, it had an unintended side effect: increasing the tyrant's desire to fight the king. Now that he's doubting his and Drago's relationship, the tyrant has lost most of his identity. The only thing he know for sure is that he is an alpha. In other words, this dream of his of defeating the king becoming the "supreme" alpha is all he has left to strive for. The tyrant basically views it as a magical fix-all that will somehow make everything better.

I haven't read the books, so I can assure you that the witch in this story was not the witch from the books.

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Jazz: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's to you, too! Uh, assuming you celebrate those of course :)

Hiccup was there long enough to be angry ... which doesn't mean much because he would have been pissed off within the first hour.

It's exactly as it said: the dragons are watching Hiccup and taking cues from him. Basically, they're copying him.

Hiccup has not yet managed to get the tyrant to turn against Drago. However, the tyrant no longer explicitly trusts his "father".

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Tyten: Oh ho ho, Cloudjumper and Stoick are certainly ready to enact some payback.

TooLazyToLogin: Thanks!

Guest: And next chapter, Drago is in for some rough treatment XD

Snowflake: HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU TOO :D

Justme: That's a very good sense of smell you have ;)