Alrek and Scout began to circle each other, him swinging his glaive slightly, Scout holding her halberd close.
"You might as well give up now girl" he sneered, but Scout didn't reply. Instead, she swung out fast and hard with her weapon, and Alrek stumbled backwards to avoid it. The blade glided in front of his chest. He stepped back, sticking the blade of the glaive into the ground to stop him falling backwards. Scout jumped forward and swung again, this time near Alrek's head.
He ducked and moved to the side, tumbling towards the smouldering wood pile, and Scout kicked his leg out from under him. He fell with hands out right onto the wood. He cried out and leapt to his feet immediately, his left hand red from a burn. He whirled around, swapping his glaive to his other hand.
"Give me what is mine, or I won't go easy on you" he said, and a snicker echoed through the crowd of villagers. It was clear to everyone that Alrek wouldn't be able to win this fight, unless he played dirty.
"It doesn't belong to you, it never has" Scout snapped, holding her halberd close again.
"It is! I have a right to it, I have the others" he shouted back, jabbing his glaive in her direction.
"You have no right to it, you stole them! You're a thief" she yelled back, hitting his glaive's blade with her own.
All of a sudden it dawned on Hiccup what Alrek wanted. But he thought Scout said they were all gone?
"You kept one! I know you have it, your father told me you had one as a gift for your birthday and I tore your house apart to find it, and do you think I could?" Alrek hissed, drawing his glaive closer, his burned hand hanging by his side.
"It's not my fault you can't use your eyes" Scout snapped, narrowing her eyes.
"Give me the last stone" Alrek yelled, and Hiccup realised he was right. Alrek was after a stone. But in the days that she had been in Berk, Hiccup had never seen the stone, or heard her talk about any of the stones besides the day she told the village her story.
"Just give it to me and I'll leave this little village in peace" Alrek spat, moving his burned hand towards his back slowly.
Scout must have noticed too because she swung her halberd upside down just as Alrek threw a dagger at her. The dagger lodged in the wooden handle in front of her eyes. People gasped as in one swift move she pulled it from the handle, span and threw it at one of Alrek's men. Hiccup's eyes followed the blade and his widened when he saw that the man she'd thrown the blade at had loaded a crossbow that was aimed at her. The blade of the dagger stuck in between the 2 risers of the crossbow, just in front of the arrow. The man holding the crossbow dropped it as if it was on fire and stepped back, the rest of Alrek's men doing the same. Scout turned back to face Alrek, her face and eyes hard.
"I am not the child I was when you ravaged and burned my village. I can fight now, and I will fight. I will fight for myself, for Sora and this village and its people" she said, raising her head.
Alrek looked around, at the villagers, and Hiccup did the same. He saw that while the villagers were frowning, they were directing their gaze at Alrek, and Hiccup knew whose side they were on.
Alrek spoke again, and this time his voice was quiet.
"I just want the stone" he said, and Scout shook her head.
"I don't know what happened to it, unless someone hid it well. Maybe even in plain sight" she said, and Hiccup frowned slightly. Nothing she wore resembled the stones of which she had spoken, but she was smart.
Alrek frowned, his glaive still twirling in his hand like a nervous twitch.
"So….you don't have the stone." He said, turning slightly.
"You never had the stone, so I've wasted 10 years hunting you down and you don't have it" he said, walking slowly.
Scout watched him, as did the other villagers.
"I don't have it. So leave" she said, and Alrek laughed manically. Hiccup's eyes widened at the laugh. Alrek sounded completely unhinged. Alrek whirled around.
"You think I'd follow you for 10 years for a stone just to leave when I find out you don't have it? You think me a fool?!" he screamed, swinging his glaive at her. Scout ducked to avoid losing her head and stepped back, spinning her halberd the right way around. He ran at her just as she'd span her halberd around and he hit it with his blade and it snapped in two.
For a second everything seemed to freeze. Hiccup saw Scouts' eyes widen as she stepped back, half of her halberd in each hand. He saw Alrek starting to spin his arm back around again to strike. He saw Astrid step out from the shadows with her axe. Then everything sped back up.
Astrid yelled to Scout, who dropped and rolled over to her, landing on her back. Astrid threw her axe to Scout and for a second both girls looked at each other. Alrek yelled and ran over to Scout, who raised the axe to stop the glaive piercing her leg. Just as Alrek raised the glaive again, a blast of purple fire exploded from Toothless and hit the glaive's handle, making Alrek drop the glaive. It landed in the ground next to Scout's face, cutting her cheek. She gasped and kicked out with her foot which connected with Alrek's chest and he fell down. Scout scrambled up and grabbed his glaive out of the ground. She turned and handed Astrid back her axe, and the two girls smiled quickly at each other. Alrek stirred on the ground, and Hiccup knew it was time to step in. He walked between the two girls and Alrek, Toothless curling around him.
"It's time you leave" he said angrily, and Alrek looked at him. He looked defeated, and Hiccup almost felt sorry for him. But then that guilty feeling went away.
Alrek stood slowly to his feet, clutching his ribs. He pointed at Scout, who still held his glaive.
"You win this time, but not next time" he said, and as he walked away, Sora swooped down from the trees, picked him up and threw him over the cliff into the water. His men gasped and the villagers ran to the side. They saw him hit the water, and come to the surface a moment later, yelling. The villagers and their dragons came out from the shadows to get Alrek's men. His men, led by the one who had the crossbow, ran quickly back towards the dock without looking back for fear of being thrown themselves.
Scout laughed and ran to Sora as she landed. She gave her dragon a hug and her dragon purred.
"Getting slow there old girl" Scout smiled, before turning to face Hiccup.
"I'm sorry about all that" she said embarrassed, pushing her ponytail back over her shoulder. Her face was flushed and she didn't look him in the eyes until he didn't answer. When she looked up she saw him grinning.
"They were some pretty fancy moves" Hiccup said, and Scout smiled slightly.
"Thanks" she said, still red. Scout then turned to Astrid, who was also smiling.
"Thanks for helping me back there" she said, and Astrid smiled wider.
"Just wanted to show him girls can fight" she said, and the two girls smiled back at each other.
This, Hiccup thought, could be interesting.