Dragons Against Drago Chapter 4

Agnarr awoke slowly. Something was wrong. No, everything was wrong. He could see nothing but utter blackness; his head and arms hurt worse than any pain he'd ever felt before. He tried to move his arms, and they wouldn't budge. What was wrong? What had happened? He turned his head slowly, to avoid making it hurt worse, but everything was still black. He couldn't see, he couldn't move…

"I think he's comin' around." Gobber's familiar voice became an anchor for the young man's sanity.

"What's going on?" he asked. His voice was a hoarse croak.

"Gothi's gonna put a damp cloth in yer mouth," the smith said. "Drink as much as ye can; ye need it." He felt a damp rag on his lips. Drops of liquid fell into his mouth; he swallowed them gratefully. At last, there was no more.

"Thanks."

"We were getting' worried about ye," Gobber said, almost softly. "It's good to hear yer voice again."

"You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice," Agnarr replied. "What's wrong with me?"

He heard the smith-master take a deep breath and let it out. "Ye had an accident in th' forge," he began heavily. "That hunk o' scrap iron that ye were heatin' up… it must have had some water inside it. It blew up when it got too hot. Yer arms are tied down so ye don't move 'em before the wounds are healed."

"Did I lose my eyes?" he asked in a panic.

"No, we don't think so," Gobber answered. "Yer eyes are covered because Gothi had to bandage yer forehead, an' it was easier to do it that way. Ye took a solid chunk o' iron right between the eyes. 'Twas a miracle it didn't kill ye."

Agnarr took a deep breath of his own. "When?" he asked.

"Yesterday afternoon," Gobber said.

The young apprentice tried to remember what had happened. He had been softening up a chunk of solid iron he'd found, holding it with tongs over the forge; he'd been planning to experiment with a new alloy. He didn't remember the accident at all. "So I'm going to be okay, once this head wound heals?"

Gobber didn't answer.

"Gobber? I'm going to be okay, right?"

"Son," Gobber said slowly, "ye've been a fine apprentice to me. When yer brother turned into a dragon, ye and Varinn took over his work an' ye carried it well. Yer clever an' a hard worker, an' I'm goin' to miss ye around the forge. If ye'd just lost one hand, I could fit ye with a rig like mine, an' teach ye how to use it. But I canna think of a future fer a smith's apprentice with no hands."

o

Berk's dragons arrived high over the human encampment just after midnight. There were four of the iron-masked Rumblehorns flying circles over the camp, but there was no other motion.

"We'll make one low, slow, quiet pass," Hiccup decided. "Do as much damage as we can before they start shooting back. Then, it's diving attacks all the way!" The other dragons nodded, and they spiraled down in complete silence, preparing their fires and searching for targets in the darkness.

Their first shots had the desired effect of stunning the humans. Catapults, ballistas, and net-throwers were torn apart by purple firebolts or set ablaze by blasts of Stormcutter fire. Night-fury-six-shooter focused on the sleeping Rumblehorns; she spat out six small firebolts in a row. Each bolt dented the metal of a dragon's mask or knocked it askew. Just like that, six enemy dragons were taken out of the battle because they couldn't see through the eye-holes in their masks anymore. The others woke quickly and got into the air, so she couldn't repeat her trick shot.

The Night Furies gained altitude quickly, picked out their next targets, and rolled into their dives. The whistling of their wings struck terror into the humans below – the destructiveness of a Night Fury was legendary, and suddenly there were ten of them! More heavy weapons exploded, scattering burning debris all over the camp. The armored Rumblehorns scanned the night sky desperately in search of something to fight, but the Night Furies maintained their reputation for never showing themselves. One of the human-allied dragons spotted Cloudjumper and closed in for an attack, only to have Pu-lao ruin its night vision with a firebolt right in front of its face. That firebolt went on to strike a dragon trap and ruin it, a double coup for the young Night Fury. Cloudjumper and Valka made a clean getaway.

Now, at last, the humans began to rouse themselves and fight back. "Cut them down!" their leader bellowed. The net-throwers were the greatest threat in the darkness because they didn't have to be perfectly aimed to snare a target. Heavy nets arched into the sky; the Night Furies dodged them easily, but some of them were forced to break off their attacks in order to evade the nets.

Stoick saw an opportunity. The invaders' eyes were all on the sky, not on the ground. "Skullcrusher, land over there!" he ordered, and his dragon obeyed. He leaped off the big Rumblehorn's back, hefted his war hammer, and charged into the fray with a roar. The first two weapons' crews never knew what hit them. Once the attackers realized they were under attack from the ground, some of them tried to defend themselves against his charge. That left them even more vulnerable to strikes from above.

It was around that time that the first of the nest dragons burst out of the exit tunnel and joined the battle. Cloudjumper gave them directions as they emerged, trying to keep the battle from turning into an undisciplined brawl, but soon there were too many for him to guide. Dragons of all kinds filled the night skies, looking for targets for the rage they'd been bottling up for days. Some of them went down, caught in nets; others were grappled in mid-air by the humans' Rumblehorns; still more engaged those Rumblehorns and forced them to release their victims. More and more fires broke out on the ground. Fewer and fewer nets were thrown skyward. The catapults and ballistas fired as quickly as they could, but they were firing blind, merely hoping to get lucky in the darkness.

Then the darkness of the night sky was eclipsed by the darker shadow of an enormous shape that rose out of the sea. The Alpha closed in on the human camp, bellowed his rage ("How dare you attack my dragons?!") and let out a blast of his colder-than-cold breath. Half of the human ships were suddenly locked in a spiky sheet of blue-green ice. The weapons on those ships would play no further role in the battle. In the air, the dragons' attacks stopped looking like an undisciplined brawl, and took on some semblance of order as the Bewilderbeast exerted his authority over them.

On land, the human commander grinned wickedly. "The Alpha! Now we have a fight!"

One of the catapults got lucky, and clipped Cloudjumper's left-rear wing as he was making another low pass. He nearly spun out of control, but somehow held his heading and made a rough landing on a rocky outcrop. Valka jumped off his back to check on the injury, then saw a bulky human shape running towards her, waving a pole weapon of some kind. She brandished her own pole and parried his first blow, then aimed a strike at his head that he ducked under. They exchanged repeated blows, but both of them successfully blocked or dodged each blow. In spite of the man's greater height and bulk, they seemed evenly matched.

"I've been looking forward to this, dragon rider!" he gloated.

"You can't take on dragons!" she shot back as she swung at him and just missed. "They're controlled by the Alpha!"

He grinned malevolently. "Then it's a good thing I brought a challenger!" He stepped away from her and bellowed toward the water. The bubbling area became more turbulent; then it turned to whitewater; and then something unspeakably huge burst out and leaped onto the land. It was another Bewilderbeast, as big as the Alpha but muddier in appearance, and much, much angrier.

"Back off!" roared the King. "Find your own nest! I am the Alpha dragon here!"

"Not for long, you fossil!" the newcomer bellowed. He charged, aiming his iron-bound tusk at the Alpha's throat. This was no mere battle for dominance – he meant to kill! The Alpha parried with his own tusk and their heads thudded together with a crash that could be felt through the air. Each tried to push the other over; they wrestled briefly, then backed off and charged each other again.

Astrid flew up next to Hiccup. "Should we get involved?"

Hiccup watched the fight for a moment. It looked like the newcomer was slightly stronger, and the Alpha wasn't set on killing, which put him at a disadvantage. "Maybe we should," he nodded, then roared, "Night Furies! Join me for a quick council of war! We need to discuss tactics!" The others finished their attacks and climbed to join him. All except Night-fury-full-of-surprises, who dove toward the Muddy Bewilderbeast and spat out a firebolt as he charged again.

Her firebolt hit him in the forefoot. It was too small to do any real harm, but it stung, and it threw the Muddy off his stride. He faltered in mid-charge, and the Alpha easily met him and pushed him aside. The Muddy nearly fell, but backed off and braced himself for another charge.

"I think my daughter just ended the council of war," Hiccup observed. "Everyone, do like she did! We can't defeat that dragon by ourselves, but we can help the Alpha win!" They nodded and lined up to dive on the intruder. Hiccup and Astrid went in first; they each shot one of his forefeet. The Muddy flinched and broke off his charge; he looked around in irritation for the source of the sudden pains he was feeling in his feet. The Alpha was preparing a charge of his own when Toothless and Young-teacher dove in a one-two attack that struck both of the Muddy's left feet. He bellowed, "Enough of this!" and spat out a sweeping spray of his icy breath. When it settled, the two Night Furies were nowhere to be seen.

"NO!" Hiccup shouted. He desperately scanned the ice for darker spots that might mark his friends' locations. The other Night Furies joined him, ignoring the Bewilderbeasts for a moment. As the giants locked tusks again and resumed trying to overthrow each other, the Night Furies circled the icy mass helplessly. Where was Toothless? Where was Young-teacher?

Agmundr was the first to notice a glowing light, deep inside the ice. It grew brighter and brighter; it was almost too bright to look at. "Get clear!" Hiccup ordered. A few seconds later, a huge purple explosion tore the ice apart, sending chunks of ice flying across the battlefield. Inside the frozen crater stood Toothless, snarling with rage. "Where is my son?" he demanded of the Muddy, who ignored him.

Astrid spotted another glowing spot in the ice. "He's in there!" she shouted, even as the Night Furies banked away from the area. Another blast shook the ice… but it wasn't powerful enough to shatter it. Young-teacher hadn't waited to build his shot up to over-strength. All the others swooped and fired toward his location, blasting away chunks of ice, desperately trying to weaken his frozen prison so he could shoot his way out. But there was no second explosion from within.

They finally chipped away enough ice to see Night-fury-young-teacher. But it was far too late to do anything for him.