Zephyr skidded across the dirt. She ran past villagers who didn't seem notice her or Fourlegs who dashed along behind her. Their dragons weren't currently with them. They had sheltered Shadow Streak and Fishmeat in the abandoned hut along with the newly named elderly dragon, Stubs, so that the Vikings in the village would just assume they were residents as Zephyr carried out her mission.
Zephyr careened into an empty armory. The forge must have just been put out; smoke filled the room. She held her breath and searched through boxes laying on the floor.
"What about these?" Fourlegs said, pointing at a few sheets of paper on a workbench.
She picked them up and shuffled through them and nodded curtly; she had found what she had come for.
She folded the papers and shoved them in with others in her leather bag. She debated grabbing a weapon from a pile of freshly forged ones, but she already had a dagger and knew how to use it.
Zephyr and Fourlegs ran back through the village towards the abandoned hut. She had wanted to join the battle, but other plans had formed in her mind. Being at the enemy's main base was a huge opportunity.
Zephyr and Fourlegs passed through a grassy field to the abandoned hut and stumbled inside, surprising Shadow Streak, Fishmeat, and Stubs, who whirled round with their attention on the door. Seeing friends, Shadow Streak rawred and nudged Zephyr with her nose. Fishmeat pranced around Fourlegs and Stubs snuffled loudly. Zephyr wished some water had been stored inside the hut. She was so thirsty.
Zephyr eagerly withdrew the schematics from her bag and set them down on a table. "I got them! These are our key to winning the war!" She stared down at the designs she had collected in their run through the village.
Her plan had been a success. With these schematics, New Berk would be able to craft weapons of the same advanced design as their enemies. Then they could win a war against these Vikings if they had to—without stupid decisions involving dragons.
She hadn't planned on Fourlegs helping. She'd decided to get the plans by herself. But Fourlegs had insisted on going with her in case she got hurt. Maybe that was a good thing though. He had stopped her from carrying out her original plan—attack the armories with Shadow Streak and blow up anyone who tried to stop her. To be honest, she was glad she hadn't followed that plan. She didn't really know if she was ready to blow anyone up.
Fourlegs picked one of the pages up. "Your dad will be glad to see these."
"I sure hope he is," Zephyr said. "This is the third time I've disobeyed orders. You took a risk, too. You might get in trouble for coming with me. You know that, right?"
"I know. But I think your dad would be more upset if you died rather than me disobeying orders."
"How much trouble am I going to be in?"
Fourlegs shrugged his shoulders.
"I mean, I was in the right this time, wasn't I?"
"Pretty much."
"What does 'pretty much' mean?"
"We do need these designs."
"Then why didn't you say I was right?"
"Well…you didn't have to do this, of course, but you could have asked your dad for permission, not that he would have listened. So maybe it was good that you didn't ask him."
"Maybe," Zephyr said. She hadn't even thought of asking for permission.
An awkward silence fell. Zephyr missed when silence hadn't been awkward between them.
"I wonder how the others are doing," Fourlegs ventured.
"We should get back," Zephyr said. She gathered the schematics back into her bag.
They walked outside. Fourlegs mounted Fishmeat while Zephyr talked to Stubs who had begun to pad after them.
"You need to stay here for right now until my dad comes to get you."
Fishmeat growled out a few syllables and Stubs seemed to understand, backing up into the hut. Zephyr mounted Shadow Streak.
Zephyr and Fourlegs flew through the grass heading towards the village. This base would be hard to defeat, even with advanced weapons. Those catapults on the pillars would be the most challenging. After all, when they came back here they wouldn't have dragons—
"Wait," Zephyr said. Shadow Streak slowed and hovered.
"What?" Fourlegs asked, drawing up beside her.
"I just had another idea."
Nuffink still couldn't see any signs of Zephyr or Fourlegs. Nuffink's mom had gone looking for them, but she hadn't returned yet. Nuffink and his father had kept attacking the fleet. Only about four ships to go. Well, if they wanted to destroy the whole fleet. They could leave now, but Zephyr and Fourlegs were completely missing.
Booboo was riding with Spearhead for some reason. His baby dragon followed Slasher around. Nuffink hoped he hadn't gotten hurt but guessed the likelihood was nil.
A rock hurled through the air from a pillar catapult and almost shot Nuffink down. He wanted to fly away. He was tired, he was hungry, and he didn't want to stick around the enemy's base any longer than they had to. The risks were high enough as it was.
Spearhead and Booboo flew up to them.
"Follow me," Nuffink's father commanded. They zipped away from the harbor and towards the abandoned hut. When they reached it, Stubs was sitting and wheezing in the shadow of the hut, though he peered up at them eagerly.
"We need to wait till Astrid finds Zephyr and Fourlegs," Nuffink's father said. "Everyone take cover and hide. When she finds them we can hopefully fly the Gronckle out." He nodded his head towards the hut. "Fourlegs, see if you can find some rope in there."
Nuffink nodded.
"If I destroy the pillars then our enemy would be almost completely defeated!" Zephyr exclaimed. "How would they recover from that blow?"
"I don't know, Zephyr," Fourlegs said, flying next to her. "It sounds a little risky."
"It might be, but we have a clear shot," Zephyr said. "I'm not passing up this chance to do something right, actually right."
"You got Shadow Streak back. You don't need to redeem yourself," Fourlegs insisted.
"I did get her back, but my parents did most of the work. And this isn't about redeeming myself as a dragon rider."
"Your parents already forgave you, if you're trying to earn their respect again. And you have the weapon designs!"
"It's not about redeeming myself. It's about protecting New Berk. I need to, and I will protect New Berk. This time, it's not for my own glory. It's for my home."
"I don't know if I can keep up with you on Fishmeat," Fourlegs said, worry puckering his brow.
"Then you shouldn't come," Zephyr said. "Here, take the schematics."
Fourlegs hesitantly accepted the pile of paper as Zephyr prepared to fly off. He abruptly grabbed her hand. "Zephyr, be careful."
"I…I will," Zephyr stammered. She was sure she was blushing. For some reason, today was the day she had decided to respond seriously instead of quipping, "I'm always careful." Today was bigger than a game. This was real war. With real consequences and real losses.
Fourlegs let go of her hand.
Zephyr bolted into the sky on Shadow Streak. Soon she was in sight of the pillars. Rocks and arrows shot at her. She dodged as best as she could. A couple arrows pinged against Shadow Streak. Shadow Streak swerved around a pillar and scored a first hit.
Zephyr and Shadow Streak zoomed around the pillar, shooting it several times. It toppled over. Breathing heavily, Zephyr banked Shadow Streak towards the next pillar, taking stock of those within sight. There were more than she'd thought. Zephyr held on tightly to Shadow Streak, her legs going taut. Shadow Streak shot forward in response, zinging in and out of the pillars, peppering them with blasts one by one. They bolted upwards through the sky.
Looking down, Zephyr saw they'd only demolished seven pillars, but that was better than none. Zephyr and Shadow Streak zipped back down to bombard more pillars. Zephyr caught sight of her friends and family. Nuffink was pointing at her from atop Claw, grabbing the attention of their father on Toothless. Her father glanced at her for a moment, then looked over his shoulder to address the rest of her friends.
Another pillar fell. On their way to the next pillar, Zephyr and Shadow Streak dove down and shot at an armory near the harbor. The next pillar went down in no time, crumbling into flames. Zephyr was honestly surprised with how well she and Shadow Streak were doing. It was exhausting work though.
"Zephyr!" her father flew up behind her. "What are you doing? We need to leave now!"
"But we might never get another chance like this!" Zephyr replied. "We're at the enemy's base with dragons. We'll never get another chance as good as this one."
"It's too dangerous," her father said. "We need to leave."
"I'm not leaving," Zephyr said, flying forward and hitting another pillar. "You can go and take everyone to a safer island if you want, but I am not leaving." Zephyr shot the pillar and it collapsed. Then she wove through multiple pillars firing on as many as she could. She was getting herself into so much trouble. But she was also saving New Berk.
Zephyr flew faster. A boulder arced through the air. Shadow Streak tried to dodge it, but she couldn't. The rock slammed into them, sending them plummeting towards the ground. This? Again? Zephyr clung to Shadow Streak's saddle, but it suddenly ripped away. The leather must have been damaged somehow. Zephyr felt herself falling, buffeted by the wind.
Shadow Streak zipped into action, readjusting to fly right under Zephyr. Zephyr grabbed at her, barely getting a handhold before Shadow Streak skimmed the ground. Her dragon shot back into the sky. Zephyr clung to Shadow Streak's neck. She noticed several other pillars had collapsed that she hadn't even targeted. What was happening?
Zephyr's father sped out from behind a pillar tipping into the sea. He…was helping her. She grinned as Shadow Streak leveled out and ringed round Toothless, her own father. Together, they lined up their shots and struck a final pillar.
A few arrows zinged by Shadow Streak.
"Okay, I think it's time to go," Zephyr shouted. They swirled around a pillar, shooting it as they zipped by its top. Shadow Streak dove through the last blast and they went invisible. As they passed a ship, Shadow Streak fired another strong blast, then they glided away from the island.
Zephyr heard her friends behind her.
"And now they show up?" Spearhead asked.
"Well, they were preventing war," Nuffink said.
"At least Zephyr didn't break an arm," Booboo said. Zephyr looked over her shoulder to find Booboo cradling his arm against his chest.
"I think we're just all glad Zephyr's okay," Fourlegs said.
Silence.
Zephyr gazed back, taking one last look at what had once been Old Berk. The island was burning orange with flames.
But their own island was safe. Shadow Streak had been rescued. And Stubs was being carried along in a rope sling by Stormfly and Slasher.
