Hiccup looked back over his shoulder after their rapid ascent into the clouds above. "You think that did it?"
As the Red Death broke through the clouds, he smiled and leaned forward again. "Well, he can fly." Toothless laughed and zipped off into the clouds again. Hiccup had to grab onto her ear plates with both hands, and the arrow slipped in his grip. "Slow down!" he yelled. Toothless gave him a reproachful look. "Well sorry if it's hard to grip a bow and arrow while hanging on for my life." She sniggered and dove again, but this time with a little less speed.
They entered the cloud bank with the big beast still following them. Thanatos had seen the small red flicker on the end of the boy's weapon. He was not going to let that shrimp of a husband get away with his servant, or his life! Thanatos flapped harder.
Once the two were confident their pursuer was mad enough, they plunged beneath the canopy of the forest and flew nimbly through the trunks. The Red Death crashed through the foliage behind them, but with a bigger body and wingspan he wasn't able to make the same tight turns Toothless managed. Ripped trees and destroyed plant life was left in his wake, the force of the blows bruising his wings. Oh well, as soon as he got that coal and that infernal female dragon he would force her to nurse him back to heath as he toyed with the boy for his amusement.
Finally he could bear it no longer. The Red Death loosed a stream of flame and burned the forest in front of him to a crisp, hoping to expose the rider and dragon pair. But they didn't try to hide again.
Hiccup transferred the coal burdened arrow from his hand to his teeth and slid another out of his quiver. Toothless flew right into the Red Death's face and Hiccup fired right into one of its eyes. Then she pumped her wings and sprang into the higher air as the Red Death threw his head up, trying to catch her tail in his teeth. But she escaped him by a hair before flipping around and heading back down as Hiccup notched another arrow. He had never been so glad for all those hours of practice for the day he shot for a bride.
The two swerved to the side to avoid another flame burst and dove for his head. Hiccup loosed his second arrow, hitting an eye on the other side of the massive head. Then it opened the other four eyes. Hiccup moaned. "You're kidding me!" Toothless rolled her eyes. Even in battle, Hiccup was still sarcastic. Still, this changed things. "Toothless," he yelled over the whistle of flight, "We need to step up the plan." She roared her approval and flew straight up to gain a better height advantage and give Hiccup more time to hit his target. They'd only have one shot at this.
They hung suspended for a moment above the giant enemy. Hiccup slid the arrow, so similar to the one that started it all, from his mouth and notched it to the string. Every lesson Gawain gave him, every tip his father and brothers dropped, every muscle reflex he'd built in the forge and on the practice field ran through his mind. As Toothless flapped the minimum to keep them in the air, he drew the bow string all the way back to his mouth, tucking his elbow in towards his back and keeping the shaft level with his body. The coal at the tip of the arrow glowed, fanned to life by the wind of the flight. They were ready.
Toothless turned her head downward and let the gas pool one last time in her mouth. She folded her wings in and dropped, letting loose her biggest blast yet. It hit the Red Death right on top of the forehead and he looked up at her roaring his frustration, anger and pain. Perfect.
Toothless shot down towards the open maw and Hiccup took aim. As the Red Death screamed his agony, the prince let the string slip from his fingers and propel the arrow forward. As the arrow flew, the coal blazed at the tip of the weapon until it was lost in the shadows of the teeth below them. Toothless pulled out of the dive feet away from the teeth and swerved to the side before a great pain ripped through her body.
She screamed and Hiccup looked back to see a huge fang puncturing her left tail fin. Ignoring the hiss from the coal beginning to take effect, Hiccup let go of his weapons and Toothless' ear plate and began climbing down her body, using her spine ridges as hand and footholds. Thanatos shook, wracked with pain, and Hiccup slid off Toothless' back until only one hand was keeping his from falling about fifty feet.
He hung there for a moment, focusing on his grip. If his hand slipped…but then he noticed how close he was to her back leg. If he could just…
Hiccup began swinging himself back and forth. Toothless screamed again as the pain of having her spine ridges almost torn out added to the jolts from her tail fin. But she continued flapping her wings and staying as level as she could. She was not going to let him fall!
Finally, Hiccup grabbed her back leg and pulled himself up, finally close enough to get the fin off the tooth. He levered the appendage off the fang and shouted, "Go!" She practically fell out of the sky with him clinging for dear life to the end of her tail, and just in time. The Red Death exploded only moments after they got clear of the blast range, although the blast still knocked Hiccup off Toothless and in a different direction from where she landed.
"Oh No," he murmured as he looked around but didn't spot Toothless. Where was she? He began searching for his injured wife. Hopefully he found her before anything else happened to hurt her.
I cannot write action scenes and loathe doing so, the main reason most of this is stolen directly from the movie. What did you guys think of the parts I added? Do they make sense, add drama to the story? Do I make my characters think too much during the battle?
I have decided not to make Hiccup a skinchanger, although I will mess with his parentage a bit to make a few things about him more acceptable for the other characters. If you know what I'm talking about, don't spill!
The response to last chapter was amazing! Please keep this up!
Oh, and I got over my writer's block. Turns out I was just sick and didn't know it.