I knew that Eyarr was busy during the day helping the others prepare for the oncoming fight, but it was comforting to come home to him.
I fell into his embrace, where he squeezed me tightly against him.
"I missed you; what were you up to all day?" He asked, cradling me in his lap as we sat in bed.
"Off with Riptide, doing some thinking," I told him, resting my head in the crook of his neck.
"Of?" With a sigh, I unloaded everything I'd thought intensely about during the day and told him my great-grandmother came to see me and offer advice. He appeared surprised at my feelings of uselessness rather than my great-grandmother coming to see me.
"Oh babe, I'm so sorry you've felt that way. I don't want you to." He said.
"It's not your fault," I assured him, "I attribute it to me not being used to these kinds of conflicts. I mean, your culture and my culture handle and approach conflict differently."
"To be fair, this is rather abnormal. I never knew about Saoirse's past until now, I had no idea her parents intentionally tried to get rid of her."
"I know. What're we going to do?"
"Well, I'm going to do some training with you. I want you to be ready for when the attacks start, though. I'm worried about how soon they will encroach the island."
"That makes sense. But I hope I don't have to fight actively. I don't like the idea of getting involved in someone else's war."
"I hope so, too. But I have no idea how this will go down. I know the Ravagers; they are not going down without a serious fight. Saoirse's clan… I wouldn't be surprised if they share that same mentality." I thought about his words and deduced that it didn't matter how serious this battle would be. What mattered is that I was prepared for what was to come.
For roughly two days, Eyarr and I honed our skills together. We occasionally allowed some friends to join, as we all wanted to be prepared. The only ones who didn't join us were Nuffink and Saoirse, I expressed concern for both of them, but Zephyr told me that it was best for us to leave them to handle what they could.
In the midst of training one day, Hiccup called Eyarr and me to a council meeting to discuss how we would help if the enemy attacked us first.
Because of Eyarr's past relations with the Ravagers, he would go with Saoirse to attempt to talk them down. I listened as everyone was given roles on what to do.
And then Hiccup turned to me.
"Laeli?"
"Hm?"
"For you, I want you and Riptide to scout the waters around the island. Given your connection to the sea, I can conclude that you and your dragon can help counter attacks via the water." I nodded my head in agreement. At least I could do something, Riptide, and I could spy with a considerable advantage.
After the meeting, I took Riptide down to the bottom of the island, checking out if there were any sea caves and tunnels we could navigate.
I wasn't surprised to find several sea caves. To my delight, there was one sea cave that would be perfect for Riptide and me to hide out. We were expecting the Ravagers and Saoirse's clan to come from the south, and this particular cave faced west. They wouldn't expect anyone coming in from that direction.
"Well, Riptide, looks like this is a good place for us. And depending on how this goes, I think I might have a perfect plan that'll work in battle." Riptide snorted in acknowledgment.
After several hours of flying around the island and making observations, Riptide flew us back to the village. I immediately reported back to Hiccup.
"One sea cave facing west is a perfect vantage point for Riptide and I. I have a plan on how to use it. But I'll need one of your smallest ships."
"Perfect! Thank you, Laeli."
The following day, Eyarr and I were at home, trying to rest a bit, and we started talking about wedding plans when suddenly, an explosion outside rocked the house.
Eyarr ran to the door to look outside, then immediately slammed the door shut.
"Babe, get the dragons. The Ravagers are attacking!" He cried, shoving me out the back door with our stuff as we ran to Cliffire and Riptide. As we made our way through the village, dodging fire from above and scrambling Vikings, we mounted the boys and took to the air.
My body was shaking from the anxiety as I processed the battle. Eyarr and I were two of the few with dragons, and we aimed to use them to our advantage.
I noticed that most of the battle took place on New Berk's shores, with the symbol of Saoirse's clan painted on ships' sails. I could tell Eyarr also recognized the Ravager's symbol, and we turned to see Saoirse and her aunt join us in the sky.
"Eyarr! Follow us!" Her aunt, Bronwynn, called out. He turned to me for approval, and I gave him an affirmative nod.
"Go. They need you. I'll be fine." I assured. I watched as they dove down to the armada below, and I urged Riptide to go down to the sea cave. As we approached the cave from above, I spied a singular ship waiting at the mouth.
It had everything I'd need.
"Alright, Riptide, I need you to go out and survey the battle from the water for me. I'll go sailing around the island and meet you there. Then we attack alongside Eyarr and Cliffire. Got it?" Riptide bobbed his head slightly, snorted a puff of smoke out of his nose, and then dove underwater.
With a deep breath, I steadied myself, adjusting the sails accordingly.
"Maui, give me some good wind," I whispered, mostly to myself. And as if he was right here with me, the sail blew open, sending me forward.
I felt my heart pound as I brought the ship around the island and approached the battle. I could already hear screaming and roars from Vikings and dragons alike. It was horrifying, and as naive as it was, I just wished for it to all be over.
I heard a familiar roar from overhead and saw Eyarr and Cliffire approach with Saoirse and her dragon, Zenn. Ahead of me, I could see Riptide's figure begin attacking various enemy ships, firing his acid on them, causing bodies and ships to sink. He then turned his body around, roaring when he saw me approach.
"Get ready, Riptide!" I called out. I angled the ship so that it would crash into the other ships when I released control.
The plan was to aid in destroying ships so the enemy would have less firepower and tools to navigate a battle at sea. Granted, doing this alone wouldn't cause major damage, but it would help slow them down even slightly.
I secured the sail and the rudder, calling to Riptide as the ship got closer and closer. The wind sending the ship forward was faster than expected, but faster wind meant more damage upon impact.
I braced myself for impact and dove into the water as soon as I heard wood begin to splinter.
Riptide screeched and grabbed me by the belt, breaking the surface and slinging me onto his back. I felt water fling off me as we climbed higher into the sky to join the others.
And Eyarr was beyond relieved to see me.
"You did it!" He cheered. I shook my head.
"My act alone won't do much. This battle isn't over." I told him. I gestured to the raging battle below and indicated it was time to get involved.
I don't really know what happened next, but my brain came back into focus as Eyarr, Zephyr, Tannr, and I leaped behind a wall to duck behind as a flurry of arrows flew overhead.
"Fucking hell! They're relentless!" Tannr exclaimed, briefly peeking behind the wall, but was pulled back by Zephyr as an arrow whizzed by his face, missing by mere inches.
"Fucking Ravagers…" I heard Eyarr swear under his breath next to me.
"Yeah! About that!" Zephyr snapped. We turned to face her, a bit taken aback by her outburst, "You didn't tell us you were a Ravager!" Eyarr held up his hands in defense, glaring at her.
"First of all, I wasn't an actual Ravager. I just happened to spend time with them when I was desperate and needed supplies."
"But you were still with them! And you knew Saoirse!"
"Of course, I fucking knew her! She actually was more kind and helpful than the others!"
"Fuck Eyarr! That would've been helpful to know a while ago!" He glared at her.
"Well, not like it was exactly relevant at the time! Secondly, how the fuck was I supposed to know she was involved with your brother?!"
"Both of you! Shut up!" I cried out, finally having enough.
"I can't believe he didn't tell you!"
"Zephyr! Stop! As he said, it wasn't relevant, and I've never forced him to reveal anything of his history that he didn't want to share." I explained. It's not like I wasn't happy about it, but we had an actual problem, and arguing about it wouldn't help.
I knew it was because of personal bias, but at this point, nothing about Eyarr's past took me by surprise anymore. He'd done a lot since he was a kid, and now this part of his past had finally caught up to him.
I'd never fought in a battle before, and I was incredibly tense and mildly shaking with anxiety, having lost sight of Ana, Hiccup, Astrid, and Zyrah. The rest of Hiccup's inner circle were off fighting other Ravagers, and of course, Dustin, Nuffink, and Saoirse were nowhere to be found.
I mentally reassured myself that Dustin was likely fighting beside his mother. And that Hiccup and Astrid were with Nuffink. As for Zyrah, I had no idea where she was, but I knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself.
"How about we focus on finding Ana and Dustin first and getting through this chaos, and THEN we can argue about ethics later," I announced as I stood, looking over the wall, and saw one of Saoirse's clansmen sprint in our direction.
I pulled out the dagger Dad gave me, and with the technique that Eyarr taught me, I threw the dagger with a flick of my wrist, impaling the clansman in the shoulder. The man stumbled back and tripped over his feet, falling flat. I leaped over the wall and sprinted toward the clansmen's body, yanking the dagger from his shoulder.
"Nice throw, babe!" Eyarr cheered from behind me. I just winked and gestured for him, Tannr and Zephyr to follow me. As we scrambled to get our bearings, Eyarr called for the dragons. We weren't sure what else was happening in the battle, but I prayed everyone was safe and unharmed.
We helped Tannr and Zephyr onto the saddles behind Eyarr and myself, respectively and took to the smoke-filled skies.