Lightning And Death Itself Chapter 16
Berk was slowly picking up the pieces from the last dragon raid. It had been costly in terms of food lost, although casualties were light. Their best weapons against the dragons – the catapults and the night-vision torches – had been shot out by those accursed Night Furies very early in the battle, so the Vikings were limited to hand weapons, fighting by the light of burning buildings. They'd made a few of the devils pay the price, but far too many escaped, taking precious fish and sheep with them.
The four teens waited by a water barrel to see if their fire-patrol services were still needed. They were all tired after a long night, but Fishlegs was thoughtful. "Isn't it weird to think those Night Furies might have been Hiccup and Astrid?"
"You're crazy," Ruffnut objected. "They wouldn't attack their own town and their own people! Would they?"
"I heard they only shot empty catapults, the big torches, and those old, empty warehouses," Fishlegs countered. "It's like they were trying not to hurt anybody."
"One of them took a shot at the chief," Tuffnut said. "It missed, and made a big hole in the sheep pasture."
"Night Furies never miss!" Fishlegs said.
"Then that one must have been Hiccup," Snotlout threw in. "Even as a Night Fury, he messes up."
Up in the Mead Hall, Stoick and Spitelout were taking damage reports from the people. The results weren't pretty. Their defenses had been leveled. Berk was completely vulnerable to another dragon raid, or to a raid from some other Viking tribe.
"Loki is having his way with us!" Stoick raged. "The devils get stronger and we get weaker! We won't make it through the winter at this rate."
"Maybe we need to try something different," Spitelout suggested.
"Like what? Leave? Surrender? Make a deal with the dragons?" Stoick threw up his hands. " 'If we give you half our food, will you stop stealing the other half?' Why don't we just invite them to walk in our streets and roost on our houses while we're at it?" Several bystanders laughed at that mental picture. "We can't live in the same world with them! We have got to get rid of them, once and for all! Find the nest and take it! It's the only way!"
Spitelout wasn't one to cross swords with his chief, but he'd seen too many good ships, full of good men, set sail on Stoick's mad quest and never come back. "Stoick, I know you think you can break rocks by beating your head against them, but we have to face the facts! We are never going to find that nest! Only the dragons themselves can find it!"
Stoick hammered the table with his huge fist. "Don't ever tell me what Vikings can't do! If the dragons can find it, then... we..." His eyes focused on something far, far away. "Dragons can find the nest."
"That's right, Stoick, dragons can find the nest. And we aren't dragons."
"But we have some dragons." Stoick's face went as hard as the iron in his hammer, and Spitelout knew that, whatever decision he'd just reached, there'd be no talking him out of it.
The next day, Berk emptied itself. Every able-bodied warrior, male and female, set sail in every ship they had. They brought the pieces of the catapults they were rebuilding; they brought every weapon they thought they might need; and, on the lead ship, they brought a dragon. The Deadly Nadder from the dragon training ring was their unwilling passenger. Its neck was restrained by a heavy wooden collar, its mouth was held shut with a wide leather strap, and its tail was strapped to the deck in three places so it couldn't throw its spines at anyone.
On one of the ships, four not-so-warrior-like figures climbed out from under the tarpaulin that had covered them, and adjusted their helmets. "Thanks for letting us come along, Gobber," Ruffnut said.
"This could be a great moment in our history, and ye deserve to see it," the smith answered. "Snotlout's father said it was okay. But stay out of Stoick's way; he doesn't exactly know ye're here."
"He doesn't?" Fishlegs gasped.
The smith grinned with a twinkle in his eye. "Well, ye know, he had a lot on his mind, what with plannin' this attack an' all. Maybe one or two people forgot to mention ye were comin' along. So stay on the ship an' stay out o' trouble, an' all will be well."
On the lead ship, Spitelout cast a sidelong glance at the Nadder. "Stoick, once we get close to the nest, what's going to stop the dragons from attacking us, like they usually do?"
"They won't attack a ship with a dragon on it," Stoick said confidently.
"I hope you're right," the second-in-command replied.
When they finally sighted Helheim's Gate, Stoick led the ships into the fog without hesitation. As he'd guessed, the Nadder picked up the dragons' calls and turned its head toward them. Stoick siezed the rudder and, guided by the Nadder, steered his ship through the labyrinth of rocks and islets. The rest of the ships followed him in. It was a nerve-wracking passage, and more than one Viking wondered how they would ever find their way out again. But they all made it in one piece, and were soon grounded on a barren island whose only feature was a great volcano.
"We're here," Stoick grinned.
They set up their catapults, found plenty of rocks for ammunition, and were soon hammering away at the rock wall of the nest. They broke through faster than they expected. Stoick called for one more shot, a flaming shot to illuminate what they'd found.
Inside the nest, the dragons heard and felt the thumps of the rocks hitting the outside wall. None of them knew what it meant. The three Night Furies were making guesses when Toothless exclaimed, "Did you see that? Down in the smoke, I just saw a bright light; it looked like a shooting star." They heard the Mother stir and grumble with displeasure, and suddenly, their teeth itched. It was the send-out signal.
"Off we go, into the wild blue yonder," Hiccup called. "I don't know why, but Mother knows best. Maybe once we're outside, we can see what's going on." They joined the mad scramble of dragons getting out of the nest as fast as they could. It was an unscheduled send-out with no raid plan, so the other dragons headed for the mainland, to hunt or fish for whatever they could find. The Night Furies knew of no targets that needed shooting, so they stayed.
They saw the Viking ships, and the army drawn up on land. They watched as the Mother burst out of the new hole in her nest, destroyed the catapults that were still shooting at her, and set fire to all the ships with one long blast of hurricane-fire.
On one of the ships, four young people shrank from the flames. "Uhh, guys?" Fishlegs quavered. "When Gobber told us to stay on the ship, I don't think this was part of the plan."
"We're out of here; come on!" Snotlout exclaimed. "It's shallower on this side. We can walk to shore." They jumped over the side and waded to safety, where they watched the disaster unfolding.
From above, Hiccup watched the men scatter, running for their lives. He saw two men detach themselves from the group and charge at the Mother. One walked with a wooden leg, and he didn't have to guess who the other one might be. Attack route? Straight down. Other dragons in the way? None, except his target. The last time I dove on you, I almost killed you, Dad. This time, I'll save your life.
Stoick had succeeded. The monster had noticed him. It bent down and stared at him, seemingly amazed that such tiny creatures would dare to attack it. Then it reared up, opened its mouth, and...
From high above came a rising whistle that every Viking knew and dreaded. "Night Fury?" asked Stoick; he thought all the other dragons had left.
"Get down!" shouted Gobber. Stoick stayed on his feet, and he saw the tiny black dot growing in size, saw the blue fireball, saw the giant dragon wince in pain as its head was crowned in flames.
Hiccup pulled out of his dive and swept past the Mother. He had never seen anything but her head; he hadn't realized how big she was! But the die was cast. He whipped into a tight turn and flew back toward her, determined to keep her eyes on him and off the Vikings.
"He's crazy!" Toothless shouted from the crater rim. "He can't take on the Mother!"
"Not alone, he can't! Come on!" Astrid called. They both dove into a battle they had no way of winning.