Lightning And Death Itself Chapter 17
At first, they had no plan, just a desperate desire to keep the Mother from getting to the Vikings. Toothless didn't share that desire like they did, but he knew how his friends felt, and he fought beside them whole-heartedly, even though it would probably be the death of him. They circled the Mother's head, darting back and forth, keeping her distracted.
The Vikings stopped and stared. No one had ever seen a Night Fury before; now there were three of them, and while none could guess at their motives, their actions were helping the tribe stay alive a little longer. Down by the shore, Tuffnut exclaimed, "Cool! Dragon fight!"
As Astrid ducked under the Mother's chin, she saw motion out of the corner of her eye. "Hiccup, there's a dragon on that ship over there!"
"I see it!" he answered. "Keep the Mother busy; I'll be right back." He broke away and landed lightly on the deck of the burning longship.
The Nadder couldn't speak; her mouth was strapped shut. Hiccup reached up with a claw, hooked it into the strap, and pulled it off. The blue dragon shook her head, delighting in the sudden freedom.
"Night-fury! I hoped you'd come for me! But you look different."
"I'm New-night-fury," Hiccup said. "I'll explain later. We need to get you out of here!" That wooden collar had to go next, and he could think of only one way to do it. "Hold still and hang on; this might sting a little." Again, his technical mind came in handy; he could see that the weakest point of the collar was the wood where the hinge was screwed in. He carefully aimed a small firebolt. It burst, which darkened the Nadder's scales in that area, but also weakened the wood. He took one of the chains in his mouth and pulled hard, and the collar broke free.
Now nothing held the Nadder except the leather straps on her tail. He hooked those out with his claws, one by one. "Go! Get out of here, find a place that's safe!" The Nadder nodded and flapped away. Hiccup turned and rejoined the battle against the Mother.
He was unaware that his actions had been watched closely by four teens. They didn't dare get involved. They just stared as a Night Fury methodically tore apart a very substantial dragon restraint system. "That's one smart dragon," Snotlout said.
"You know who that is, don't you?" Fishlegs asked.
Ruffnut stared at him. "But if that's Hiccup, that means one of those two over there is Astrid!" Fishlegs nodded. Ruff stared at the size of the dragon her friend was fighting, and did something she almost never did: she bowed her head and murmured, "Thor, please help her!"
Toothless whipped close to Hiccup. "We can't hold her off forever! And we can't hurt her!"
Hiccup looked at the huge bulk of the dragon they were circling. "We have to get her off the ground. We need to make her mad enough to chase us into the air!"
"Only a full-strength fireball could do that!" Toothless said.
"Then gain some altitude and take the shot. Astrid and I will keep her busy!" Toothless dipped, then shot upwards in a zoom climb.
For the next half a minute, Hiccup and Astrid performed a dizzying full-speed dance around the Mother's head. It was frightening, it was exhilarating, and it was amazing because he felt like he knew exactly what Astrid was about to do, just before she did it. She seemed to know his thoughts and plans as well. They would race straight toward each other, and at the last second, he would veer up and she would curve down, avoiding a collision by mere inches. One of them was constantly in the Mother's field of vision, irritating her and keeping her from focusing on the Vikings who were rooted to the ground, staring at the incredible battle playing out before them.
With their sensitive ears, Hiccup and Astrid heard Toothless' whistling dive before the humans did. They pulled away quickly before his fireball hit. When it did, it struck with such power, the Mother was bowled over, hitting the ground with a shock that the Vikings could feel through their feet. They didn't understand how any living thing could survive such a blow. But the Mother wasn't even wounded! She arose angrily, spread her enormous wings, and ponderously launched herself into the air. She forgot all about the Vikings. Her only object was the tiny black Night Furies that were tormenting her.
"I think that did it!" Hiccup called to Toothless. The three of them took off at top speed, with the Mother in pursuit. She was ungainly in flight, but her sheer size gave her a speed that the Night Furies were hard-pressed to match.
Toothless led them through a rock arch. He hoped the Mother would get stuck when she followed them, but she simply flexed her shoulders and shattered the thick rock on impact. "Now what do we do?" he asked out loud.
"See those clouds up there?" Hiccup answered. "It's time to disappear!" They angled up, flapping hard to stay in front of the angry Mother. To the observers on the ground, they looked like tiny sparrows compared to the giant that was chasing them. It loosed a thick blast of flame; they scattered three ways and it missed them all. Then they entered the cloud layer.
They could hear the Mother roaring in frustration, trying to find them in the murk. They flew in a tight circle so they could talk. "What's the plan, Hiccup?" Astrid asked.
"Shoot holes in her wings. Lots of holes. Once she's lost lift, we lead her into a power dive, straight into the ground."
"Who gets to be the bait?" Toothless asked.
"We all have to do it, or she might stay up here trying to find us," Hiccup said. "She has to dive; we can't let her glide down. That means we need to do it now, while she's still mad." They nodded and scattered.
Toothless went in first, then Hiccup from another angle, then Astrid from yet another direction. Again it seemed to Hiccup that he and Astrid were sharing a mind, their attacks were so perfectly coordinated. Toothless wasn't on the same page as they were, but he was more experienced and he skilfully locked into their strike pattern. The Mother never knew where the next attack was coming from. All she knew was that, after each fireball struck, it took more effort to stay in the air. In frustration, she spat out flame in every direction, hoping to do some damage to her assailants. Hiccup got a burn on his tail, but it didn't handicap him badly.
"Now's our chance!" Toothless shouted. "She can't flame again for at least half a minute. Let's bring her down!" They charged. Hiccup whipped past her face, felt her breath, felt a blast of air as she tried to bite him in half. He pushed over into his dive and saw the others doing the same.
He glanced back and saw the Mother leaning into her own dive, completely fixated on him and his friends. He felt no fear, and no compassion for what was about to happen to her. For the first time in his life, he gave himself over to hatred. This is for my little sister, and every dragon who ever died for the sake of your lazy, selfish appetite, you murderer, he thought. And every human, too. It's too bad we can kill you only once.
They scattered slightly as they plunged downward. Toothless wound up in the middle, and the Mother fixed her six eyes on him. Fighting the Mother was not on his list of things to do when he woke up that morning. He was actually getting scared. Night Furies aren't supposed to get scared.
"Stay with me, buddy!" Hiccup's voice gave him strength. "We're good! Just a little bit longer!" They held the dive as the massive monster behind them grew slowly closer.
Hiccup glanced back and saw the Mother's maw filling with sickly yellow gas. "Toothless, get it ready... NOW!" The Night Fury spun and shot one last fireball straight into the giant's mouth, setting her internal gases on fire.
"Pull out! Pull out now!" Astrid screamed. The ground was coming up fast. They broke away as the Mother tried to slow her plunge. But her wings were punctured in too many places, and the holes grew as she overstressed her wings. She screamed, hit the ground head-first, and died as her gases erupted into a titanic fireball.
That fireball quickly encompassed the three Night Furies. Dragons are fireproof on the outside, and their mouths and throats can take the heat. But their lungs are as sensitive as any other creature's. Hiccup, Astrid, and Toothless had been flying hard and fast; they had to breathe; but if they did, they would inhale pure dragon fire.
They desperately tried to get clear of the flames. Astrid could hold her breath no longer, and she dropped to the ground, moaning in agony from what she'd inhaled. Toothless had been working the hardest, and he went down hard. Hiccup almost made it out of the flaming cloud, but he had to breathe just before he got clear. He fell back into the fires as those fires were dissipating, and took a long plunge to the stony ground below.