36 The Boy Stood On The Burning Deck
(whence all but he had fled... twit.)
The intervention of the Dragon Riders had certainly turned tide of the battle between the small Elydonian flotilla and the New Loran naval force; but so far they had only turned it from unmitigated disaster, into a fighting chance. After their initial success, the young Berkians found that their enemy had soon gotten used to the presence of the dragons (which had come as a bit of a shock at first) but thankfully enemy was now keeping their distance. Although the New Loran Commanders knew the Emperor had sent them out to find dragons, most found it very hard to believe that really existed until the flames rained down from above. Fires now burned on seven Imperial vessels, with another three unable to successfully navigate anymore due to the damage rort on them by the dragons, but the other six were beginning to stem the tide by concentrating on the flying foe instead of the Elydonians.
Astrid scanned the battlefield looking for inspiration for her next move when she heard the unmistakeable whine of a high speed Night Fury again, but this time she was in the correct position to see what Hiccup was up to. As a second burning ship was doused by a massive plume of water churned up by Hiccup and Toothless, a new idea began to form in her fertile mind.
"Momentum" she smiled to herself.
She looked around and spotted a big red dragon that provided Astrid with just what she needed; in spite of who was riding it.
"Snotlout; I need your help" she declared as Stormfly pulled alongside Hookfang.
"Of course you do... though I never thought I'd hear you admit it" the proud young man replied.
"I wonder about you sometimes Snotlout" she sighed while shaking her head "and not in a good way either. Listen closely; I want you to keep alongside me. We're gonna dive down and fly as fast as we can towards that enemy ship in front of us."
"That's crazy; are you sure you don't want the twins to help you?" he asked "They like crazy... hell, they are crazy."
"Just shut up and listen will you" Astrid fumed "We'll fly in fast and straight and catch the enemy off guard, then I want you to land Hookfang on the very top of the forward mast; I'll do the same on the main mast."
"Oh what a wonderful idea" Snotlout rolled his eyes "They won't be suspecting us to surprise them with a sitting target."
"JUST DO IT; YOU SON OF A HALF TROLL!"
"Alright, alright" he resigned himself as the dragons went into a long, deep dive.
Although the Nadder and the Nightmare were neither as fast as a Night Fury, they could still move at an impressive speed and for what Astrid had in mind, it was their greater size and weight that gave them a distinct advantage. Before the Imperial troops were even aware that they were under attack once more, the dragons had flown in from the starboard side of their ship. Still travelling at very high speed, Hookfang and Stormfly twisted their bodies slightly so that their talons could make firm contact with the vertical masts.
The effect of Astrids manoeuvre was un-noticeable on the deck below, but only at first. Thanks to the height of the two masts, they gave the speeding dragons an incredible amount of leverage, so it was not long before the entire ship began to list sharply to port. As the deck angle increased, imperial sailors and soldiers began to lose footing and fall. Some slid down the deck, while others tried desperately to hold on to the starboard railing, but they soon fell as the deck neared total verticality. The dragons stretched out their wings for balance as their perches fell rapidly down towards the sea until Astrid finally decided that enough was enough.
"Okay Snotlout; let her go!"
Most of the enemy, who had not fallen off the port side of the ship, were soon hurled over the starboard rail as the ship righted itself with a violent heave. It rocked back and forth like an upside down pendulum sending men and gear rolling across the deck, over and over again.
"DID YOU SEE THAT?" Ruffnut cried out "Astrid and Snotlout just employed the velocity of their dragons, as well as the leverage supplied by the length of the masts, to turn their mass into a momentum force powerful enough to almost capsize a battleship... amazing."
"SCIENCE!" Tuffnut declared gleefully.
"Well that's taken the fight out of one ship" Snotlout grinned "Where did you get the idea for that?"
Astrid just pointed down as Hiccup and Toothless swept by on their way to extinguish the last of the burning Elydonian ships.
Maybe it was the strain of doing such a stressful manoeuvre three times in succession, or maybe dragon and rider had become overconfident after successfully extinguishing two fires, but the third pass did not go according to plan at all. Hiccup smiled to himself as he and Toothless drew closer to the burning ship; one more high speed pass, one more plume of sea water and more of his allies would be saved.
"Okay Toothless... almost there" He repeated.
Hiccup tensed up and leaned to the left to begin his turn as the ship loomed up in front of him, but this time he left it too late. Toothless's front claws made contact with the side of the ship sending the pair tumbling along the freeboard until they both crashed into the water.
"HICCUP!" Astrid gasped as her heart skipped a beat.
"YOU GUYS HELP TOOTHLESS" she called out to the other riders "I'll get Hiccup. Stormfly; FETCH!"
As the other three dragons dropped down to Toothless, Astrid and Stormfly drove headlong into the sea. Pulling in her wings, the Nadder used the entire length of her body as an extension of her thrashing tail, to drive her through the water towards the rapidly sinking Hiccup. His metal leg was acting just like an anchor dragging him down into the black depths. Astrid kept her eyes shut and her body close to the dragon so she would not cause any more drag as they plunged deeper and deeper into the darkness; her lungs began to burn, crying out for fresh air but all she could think about was her love for Hiccup and how she would die inside if anything were to happen to him.
'This must be how Hiccup would have felt when he first heard the attack from New Loran' she thought as she realised he would have had no way of knowing if she, or anyone else for that matter, were alive or dead for days afterwards. He must have died a little inside as well.
At last Astrid felt Stormfly slow and change direction as the dragon swam underneath, lifted her head and sent Hiccup into Astrid waiting arms. The young woman gritted her teeth as she held him, determined not to pass out as Stormfly swam back to the surface again.
Barf and Belch meanwhile, had wrapped their tail around the body of the stunned Night Fury as Hookfang lifted its tail. With Meatlug supporting Toothless's head, the three dragons lifted their friend out of the sea, and onto the deck of the ship he had just saved. As the riders leapt off their dragons, Fishlegs was the first to reach the moaning dragon and although he was very worried about Toothless's condition, he was extremely pleased to hear the mournful sound; it meant he was still breathing.
The same could not be said for the second one to be rescued; a mountain of spray shot into the air as Stormfly and her charges burst out of the water. She spread her wings and banked around in a tight loop, which brought her back the ship, where Ruffnut and Snotlout helped lower the limp body of the Dragon Master down to the deck. They turned him on his side to let the water flow out of his mouth, but he still did not move.
"WHY ISN'T HE BREATHING" Astrid declared while still gasping herself.
"He was down too long" one of the sailors sighed "his lungs must be full."
Without another word, Astrid dropped to her knees; she turned hiccup onto his back and taking a deep breath, she placed her mouth over his and blew hard. She felt most of the air come out of his nose so she clamped it shut, took another deep breath and tried again. His chest rose rapidly before he coughed, sending a salty spray of water all over Astrids face.
"Eeeyuck" the others winced, but Astrid just smiled as Hiccup continued coughing.
Just as it was with Toothless, his coughing was a sign to her that he was still alive, and she thought it was a wonderful sign.
In spite of the damage wrought on the enemy by the Dragon Riders, the Elydonian ships were still well out numbered, so Astrid sent the twins and Snotlout back up with orders to just hassle their foe, and prevent them from getting to close to their allies vessels. Fishlegs took care of Toothless while the sailors worked hard to get the badly burnt ship back in order, when two of the ships officers approached Astrid to thank the Berkians for their help.
"We thought we were done for" one of them explained.
Yes indeed" agreed the other "The Captain is inspecting the damage below deck at the moment, but he will be along to thank you personally very soon."
"Now that you're here, we are hoping that most of the fleet will be able to continue onwards to search for and rescue our people" the first continued "Do you intend to come with us?"
"No need" Astrid smiled "Apart from those killed when the Imperial fleet attacked us, everyone has already been rescued and they are currently on their way back home as we speak; and before you ask, the King and Queen are both fine... well... they will be after a good rest."
The officers were relieved to hear the good news, although they were not happy to hear of their losses. One of them left to inform the Captain while the other called on one of the sailors.
Send a message to the Flagship informing them that the captors have all been saved and request further orders.
"Who's in charge of the fleet?" Hiccup asked as he tried to sit up "Sigfus I assume."
"No sir; Lord Boron was given command while Lord Sigfus is running both the land and sea operations from Port Yoric."
"How do you feel Babe?" Astrid knelt back down.
"Dizzy; like I've been riding a Typhoomerang on Dragon Nip. How's Toothless?" he asked as he tried, and failed to stand.
Astrid looked over behind Hiccup to Fishlegs, who gave a thumbs up.
"Fishlegs is with him and it looks like he's okay... but you've got to be more careful!" she huffed and punched him in the arm.
"Oww" he winced "Yes dear; anything you say dear."
"Damn straight" Astrid agreed "but you can drop the sarcasm."
In keeping with the current theme of chapter titles from old poems, this one was another Spike Milligan 'New and Improved' version of Casabianca by Felicia Hemans.