Colossal Cave Chapter 5
"You can't overtake my strike force!" the female Red Death roared from behind them. "They've got a huge head start; I sent them out hours ago. And even if you do catch them, what can you do against three hundred dragons?"
"You might be surprised," Hiccup said quietly. He noticed the rest of the Night Furies converging on the cave entrance from several different directions. Then the entrance was blotted out as Tarpits, the male Red Death, suddenly loomed up in front of it, wings spread, blocking most of the way out.
"Stay here where you're needed!" he bellowed in a voice that shook the air around them. "Leave the humans to their own fate! They'll probably get killed by other Vikings in a few years anyway; what difference does it make if we speed up the process a little?" Then he paused and squinted all six of his eyes.
"Night Furies, stay focused on me!" Hiccup ordered tightly. This Red Death was probably going to use his Alpha power on Hiccup's family and friends; Hiccup didn't intend to give him any time to make it work. He swerved to the right, dipped as a feint, then climbed quickly and just cleared the top of Tarpits' left wing. Astrid made a similar maneuver and stayed right on his tail. He couldn't see what the other Night Furies were doing behind him, but each of them took their own path around the Red Death. Toothless flew next to the huge dragon's neck, slalomed down his back spines, and pulled away into the entrance tunnel, with Lady-night-fury copying his every move; Bang and Six ducked beneath his right wing while Faithful-brother darted above it; and First-girl went right underneath the enormous dragon, hugging his belly and dodging his tail when he waved it too close to her. They all moved too fast for the Red Death to focus on any of them. They were soon out of the tunnel and headed back to Berk at full speed.
"Tell us what's going on," Bang urged his father. "You don't use the word 'emergency' very often."
"The dragons here really want me in their nest, and one thing that's holding me back is the fact that I'm the chief over Berk's Vikings," he explained. "So while we were talking, the Red Deaths sent three hundred dragons to burn Berk to the ground and kill every human there, so nothing will tie me to the outside world anymore." The others gasped and sped up so they could fly right next to him.
"We're going to catch them and stop them, right?" First-girl asked.
"It's an eight-day flight, and they got a couple of hours' head start over us," Astrid answered for him. "We're fast in short dashes, but we can't maintain that kind of speed over eight full days. We probably can't overtake them in time to protect the town."
"Even though the Gronckles will slow them down?" First-girl persisted.
"If the Red Deaths were smart, they'd expect us to try and stop them, so they wouldn't include any Gronckles in their strike force," Bang replied. "It sounds like they have plenty of dragons to choose from, so they wouldn't have to include the slow-flying species if they didn't want to."
"And they're definitely smart," Faithful-brother added. "They're single-minded, they're ruthless, and they don't care about human life, but they're very intelligent. Especially because two of them are working and thinking together."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Six said. "You're our expert on two minds working together."
"As for stopping them," Hiccup went on, "I have no idea. "They're following their Alpha's orders, and I don't know how to counteract that. I can't think of any way to stop them, except to rally our own nest to fight for what's ours. Dragon against dragon... I hate the thought of that."
"Besides, we don't have three hundred dragons in our nest," Bang said. "Barely a quarter that many, I think, unless you count the hatchlings and juveniles."
"Hatchlings and juveniles can't fight," his sister added.
"Most of them think they can," Bang retorted.
"Not against three hundred adults!" Six shot back.
"We'll do what we have to do," Astrid cut them off grimly. "Whatever that is." They got into a nose-to-tail formation so only one of them had to face full wind resistance, and began speeding up.
"This is going to be an eight-day flight," Toothless warned them, "so don't use up all your energy on the first day. Hiccup, what's your plan for meals?"
"We're going to have to skip a few if we want to catch that flock of dragons," Hiccup called back. "I'm sure they won't be stopping for breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper."
"Speaking of plans, how are we going to deal with those Red Deaths?" Bang asked. "We obviously can't trust them now."
"We sure can't ignore them," Six chimed in. "They know where we live, and they want what we've got. Namely, us!"
"We can't trust them to look out for our best interests," Hiccup answered, "but they haven't broken any promises that I know of. They hate humans, and I'll admit they have their reasons, but they seem to be completely benevolent toward other dragons... as long as they get their own way. I plan to treat them the same way I treated the chiefs of the other Viking tribes – not friendly, potentially dangerous, but possibly willing to respond to a common-sense approach. I'll figure out what that approach should be, after I've saved my tribe."
"We're all with you," Mother-of-twins assured him. "They're my tribe too! What do you think our dragons will do when the attackers show up?"
"I can't even guess," he admitted. "A lot will depend on what Full-of-Surprises decides to do. She might try to organize a fight, or she might tell all the dragons to high-tail it out of there and save themselves. Knowing her, I suspect the former. I hope she'll be careful."
They flew at the highest speed that they could maintain for days. Every few hours, they would rotate positions in their line formation so everyone took a turn at being the leader and parting the wind for the others. They were able to grab one quick meal when they overflew a small lake and First-girl's lucky firebolt brought some lake trout to the surface, but for the most part, they went hungry. They couldn't spare the time they usually spent on fishing; their desperate errand pushed them onward.
At last, on the eighth night, Berk came into view. Hiccup took one look and his heart sank. There were fires scattered across the town. "We're too late."
"Maybe not," Six corrected him. "Three hundred dragons should have done a lot more damage than that."
"Not only that," Faithful-brother added, "but most of the fires are on one side of the town. It's as if the dragons arrived, started burning stuff, and then they stopped." They could see the Vikings of Berk running around with buckets of water, trying to fight the fires.
"So where are all the dragons?" Toothless asked suddenly. "The sky should be full of them." They looked all around for signs of a huge flock of attacking dragons, but there was no sign of them.
"Something really weird is going on here," First-girl commented nervously.
"The sheep pasture!" Astrid suddenly exclaimed. "Look at it!" They looked, and saw row after row of dragons sitting motionless in the grass, all facing in the same direction, like soldiers lined up for inspection. Out in front of them were Full-of-surprises, Smith-flies-for-fun, Thing One, Thing Two, Pu-lao, and Bi-xi, also sitting silently and still. Chi-wen had taken Pu-lao's place in the mountain-lake nest three days ago, so Pu-lao was back in Berk (and back together with his mate, Bi-xi, which made both of them happy).
"What are they doing?" Hiccup asked no one.
"Let's land and find out," Astrid suggested. They all circled in and landed just behind the other Night Furies, who turned and smiled when they heard their friends and family members returning.
"Dad! Mom!" Full-of-surprises exclaimed. "You have great timing! I'm sure glad to see you."
"Is everyone okay?" was Astrid's first question.
"Twenty-seven of our dragons got clawed or bitten," her daughter answered. "A couple of them are badly hurt, but they all can fly and they all should make a full recovery. A few of the Vikings got burned, but I don't think any of them will die, either. The town's buildings took a beating, and a few families are homeless now, but that can be fixed. I'm just trying to figure out what to do with all these dragons."
There were a lot of dragons! Hiccup recognized some as members of his own nest, but most of them were strangers to him. "Okay, somebody needs to tell me what happened here, and what's happening now, and... somebody start talking, please!"
"I'll tell you the story," Smith-flies-for-fun began, "but you'd better brace yourself. About three hours ago, one of us saw a big cloud of dragons headed our way. We weren't expecting trouble, but we didn't know what was going on, so the Night Furies sounded the alarm, to be safe, and I made sure the Vikings were aware that something was up. As soon as the dragons started flaming the houses and shops, we tried to fight back, but there were just too many of them! We were getting hurt right and left, and we weren't getting anywhere in terms of stopping them.
"That was when Full-of-surprises climbed and shouted, 'STOP!' so loudly, you could hear her all across town. And they stopped! Just like that! It was like clicking your claws together," and he clicked his foreclaws for emphasis. "The attack ended. The attackers all stopped flaming, gained a little altitude, and just flew in circles, as though they'd forgotten what they came here to do. Then she ordered them to land in the pasture and line up. All the dragons obeyed her, not just the attackers! We landed here in front of them so we could keep an eye on them, and we've been sitting here ever since, trying to figure out what happens next. That's why Full-of-surprises said you have good timing. Maybe you can figure out what happened, and what we ought to do."
Toothless looked dumbstruck for a few seconds. "Hiccup, do you know what this means? Do you understand what your daughter did?"
"She went full-Alpha on them," Hiccup said softly. "She changed from being temporarily in charge, to being completely in charge. No dragon can disobey the commands of an Alpha."
"Is that what I did?" his daughter asked. She sounded as amazed as Toothless did.
Hiccup turned to the nearest dragon in the rows. "Why did you attack this town?" he demanded.
"My Alpha ordered me to do it," the Snafflefang replied.
"We had to," his neighbor added.
"And why did you stop?" Hiccup pressed him.
"Your Alpha ordered me to stop," the intruder said.
"We had to," his other neighbor added.
"There's no other explanation," Toothless said. "Night-fury-full-of-surprises, you've surprised us again, and this one's huge. You're an Alpha dragon!"
"But... what does that mean?" Full-of-surprises asked, somewhat nervously.
"We'll sort that out later," Hiccup decided. "For now, we need to safeguard Berk. We'll start by sending all these invading dragons home. Full-of-surprises, give them a message for the Red Deaths that sounds something like, 'Your dragons can't attack our village unless you come with them to control them. And if you do that, you'll find yourselves personally facing a dozen Night Furies who are also controlled by an Alpha. You'll lose. Don't bother trying.' "
Full-of-surprises relayed Hiccup's message to the intruders, who took off with great flappings of wings and were soon lost to sight in the night. Mother-of-twins stayed with her daughter and shared a TrueSight with her, while Hiccup went into town to find out exactly what had happened there.
He found Gobber helping to direct the firefighters. "Hiccup-beastie, what in th' name o' Thor is goin' on? I thought th' dragon wars were over!"
LET ME FIND RANGI.
WRITING IS TOO SL
He meant to write, "TOO SLOW," but a Viking with an empty water barrel ran across his runes and wiped half of them out. Hiccup shrugged and went airborne; searching the town for someone was much faster that way. But there was no sign of his translator, so he landed again and knocked with his forepaw on the Hoffersons' front door. Gunnarr answered. "Chief-night-fury, we're glad you're back. Are you looking for Rangi?" Hiccup nodded. "I haven't seen him since the attack started. Varinn is in the forge, I think; maybe he's seen his brother." Chief-night-fury trotted toward the forge; he was beginning to feel nervous. Had something bad happened to Rangi?
He found Varinn hard at work in the forge, hammering out curved metal straps. As soon as he finished one, then Codsmack, the village cooper, would grab it and use it to fashion a new bucket, which would be whisked away by a firefighter to help with the fires that were still burning all over town. And there was Rangi, laboring away at the bellows to keep the forge hot. Hiccup let out a sigh of relief.
"Rangi, why you here?"
Varinn answered that. "I needed him. Gobber put me in charge of the forge while he directed the town's defenses. We needed more buckets to fight the fires, and Codsmack said he had plenty of wooden parts ready, but needed the straps to hold them together. You weren't here, so you didn't need Rangi, so I drafted him to be my apprentice's apprentice. I assume you want him back?"
"Finish that metal part, then I take him."
"Fair enough. Thank you." It took about six minutes for Varinn to finish the strap he was working on. Then Rangi stepped outside and walked next to the Night Fury, shaking his arms vigorously to loosen his muscles.
"That was good timing, Chief-night-fury. Pumping that forge is hard work! I didn't realize how lucky I am, being your translator for a living."
"Yes, I did you big favor. Now we find Gobber."
"I'd look wherever the fires are the worst." They did as Rangi suggested, and soon found the smith giving orders to the fire-fighters.
"Pour more water on the... the thing! No, not that thing, th' other thing! Ahh, Chief-night-fury! Can ye tell me anythin' about what's goin' on tonight?"
Growl, snap-snarl, croon. Rangi translated. "He says they visited another nest that wants him to join them. He won't leave Berk's Vikings without a leader, so they sent their dragons to wipe out the Vikings so there wouldn't be anything to tie him to Berk anymore."
"Well, now, that was awfully nice of 'em to think of us first. What I dinna understand is why they stopped so soon after they started. That's somethin' I've never seen before, an' I've been fightin' dragons all o' my life! Uhh, no offense intended."
Grunt, rumble, growl. "His daughter ordered them to stop, and it turns out she's really an Alpha dragon – she is? – so they had to obey her. If they try it again, she'll stop them again, so Berk is safe from any dragon attack as long as she's here. Is there anything our own dragons can do to help here?"
"Not unless they can breathe water instead o' fire," Gobber answered. "What we need is water on th' roofs o' these buildings, an' lots of it."
Hiccup watched the Vikings running back and forth with their buckets for a few seconds. Then he turned and galloped away, leaving Rangi flat-footed. "He's got somethin' on 'is mind, that's fer sure," Gobber commented. Rangi just nodded.
Five minutes later, the Night Fury chief flew back with a dozen Nadders and a dozen Terrible Terrors in tow. "Tell Gobber to give buckets to Nadders," he roared down to his translator.
"What are th' Nadders goin' to do with our buckets?" the old smith wondered.
"I don't know, either," Rangi decided, "but knowing him, it'll be good." He grabbed an empty bucket from a passing Viking and held it over his head. The nearest Nadder snared the handle with a hindclaw, turned on a wingtip, and headed for the bay with a Terror right behind her. Gobber siezed another bucket as soon as the teen who was carrying it had emptied it, and held it up for another Nadder to grab. By the time they had given the last dragon a bucket, the first one had returned, its bucket full of sea water. As it overflew the closest burning house, a Terror flew under it and tipped the bucket with its forefeet, spilling the water onto the roof. The other eleven Nadder/Terror pairs did the same thing. Then the dragons turned and flew back to the bay, refilling the buckets and returning to the fires much faster than humans could have done. In about half an hour, all the burning roofs had been extinguished and soaked with water so they couldn't catch fire again if any sparks spread from other fires. There were still plenty of those fires to fight, but they could all be reached by Vikings at ground level. In another two hours, all the fires were out.
Gobber wiped his brow, which was sweaty from exertion even though it was cool outside. "Thank ye, Chief-night-fury. You and yer dragons helped save th' village from burnin'. Ye know, that's th' exact opposite o' how yer dragons used to do things! Ye often did things backwards as a human, an' nothin's changed, except now, doin' things backwards means findin' a new way o' doin' things right."
Snappity-snarl, growl, grunt. "It gave the Nadders and Terrors something brand-new to do, and they liked it," Rangi translated. "Maybe this should be part of Berk's firefighting plans from now on. We'll tell Codsmack to make some bigger buckets; a Nadder can carry a lot more water than a human can. But now, the chief has to talk to his family about this other nest that caused all the trouble. They probably aren't finished with us, so he needs a plan to keep them from trying again."
"Aye," Gobber nodded, "an' I hope ye come up with a good one. Even wi' help from th' dragons, I'm gettin' too old fer this."