The Berserker War Chapter 05
The next day, the Night Furies sat down together by the water in the cove. It was a quiet, pleasant place to hold a council of war.
"Gronckle-lugs-much-meat asked a good question last night," Guana began. "All we're doing is stinging them. We aren't getting any closer to actually defeating them; our only plan is to hope they get tired of fighting and give up."
"Wouldn't any sensible person give up when they realize they can't win?" Hiccup replied.
"We aren't fighting sensible people!" Guana shot back. "These are Vikings! They have stubbornness issues, and their chief is the worst of the lot. Even if all our attacks are as successful as the last one, we're accomplishing nothing except to stretch this war out longer. It could go on for generations!"
"I have to agree with her," Astrid nodded. "We need a plan to win, not just to avoid losing. These precision strikes of yours are good, but they'll never make Dagur quit."
"Okay. I'm open to ideas," Hiccup said. No one had any suggestions.
"All right. Until we think of something better, we'll continue trying to hurt them while keeping our own losses down."
"You mean, more precision strikes?" Toothless asked.
"You have to admit, those precision strikes are pretty cool," Young-girl-night-fury added.
"They're what Night Furies do best," Hiccup replied.
"Unfortunately, they aren't what's best for the rest of the dragons," Toothless said. "The next time we hit their campground, they'll have all kinds of guards surrounding their wagons, and then what will we do?"
"For one thing, I think they'll come by sea next time," Hiccup began. "Their fleet took a beating, but it's in better shape than their land transport by now, and Dagur is too impatient to wait for more wagons. Our next battle will be a sea battle, and we'll use every dragon we've got when that happens.
"But I had another idea, and I'd like your thoughts on it. Stinging them in the field, and wrecking some of their weapons, doesn't seem like the best use of what we Night Furies can do. I'd like to think of ways to use our abilities even more effectively."
"What did you have in mind, Dad?" Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang wondered.
"Suppose you found yourself over a Berserker town, and you had only one shot left," Hiccup mused. "How would you use that shot to hurt the Berserkers the most? What kinds of targets can we shoot, that will do the most good for the least effort?"
"I know what you're thinking – their forge," Astrid half-grinned. "If we could take out their ability to make weapons, that would really hurt them."
"Except they have eight or nine towns, with at least one forge in each one," Guana replied.
"True, but I see where Hiccup is going with this," Toothless answered. "Instead of hitting their war machines, we could hit their ability to make those machines. What else can we shoot, that would really slow them down?"
"Dockyard cranes," Astrid said.
"Their wood shops," Guana suggested.
"Food storage," Toothless offered.
"The Mead Halls." That came from Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang. The others looked at him curiously. "Well, we know how Vikings like to drink and tell stories at the end of the day," he explained. "If they've got no place to go and be happy, then they'll stay miserable, right?"
"The young dragon has a point," Toothless replied. "It would take more than one of our shots to take out a big Mead Hall, but it's something worth thinking about. Exactly what are you thinking about, Hiccup? Do you think we should raid one of their towns?"
"No, I don't think we should raid one of their towns," he answered readily. "Like you said, as soon as we invent a tactic, they'll come up with a defense, so we can use each new tactic only once. I think we should raid six of their towns, all at the same time."
"Divide our forces six ways?" Guana wasn't sure she understood.
"Six strike forces, with a Night Fury in each force to lead the way," Hiccup finished. "We'll take your idea of a small, independent force, and push it to the limit."
Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang quickly saw the implications. "I'd have to lead my own attack force? Dad, are you sure I'm ready for that?"
Young-girl-night-fury was also thinking fast. "But, Dad, that means each force would have only six or seven dragons in it! Isn't that too small a force to take on a whole village?"
"That young dragon has a point, too," Toothless replied. "If my nest joined the war, it could work, but if all we have is Berk's dragons, we'd just be begging the Berserkers to shoot us all down at once."
Hiccup's face fell. "I guess I didn't think of that. We'll put that thought on the back burner. For now, let's talk about how we should attack Dagur's fleet if it comes out again."
o
Dagur's fleet did, indeed, come out again, less than two weeks later. Many of the ships sported patches on their sails, and two ships sailed with stubby, foreshortened masts because the Berserker shipwrights couldn't find enough full-sized replacement masts on short notice. But they sailed. Their decks were crowded with warriors who were armed to the teeth with nets, spears, and other things to throw at dragons. Some of them had ballistas or catapults on their decks, which reduced the size of the crew they could carry, but made them even more deadly to flying reptiles.
Dagur was taking no chances this time. He was deranged, but not stupid.
The Berserkers rested and tried to sleep during the day. They knew that, if the dragons attacked again, it would be at night. They spent three anxious nights at sea, staring into the darkness for signs of trouble. Each of them wanted to be the first to see a dragon, but none of them actually wanted to see any dragons at all. They never knew that, all night long, their every move was being observed by high-flying, dark-colored Nadders who watched and reported what they saw. The Night Furies received those reports, made their plans, and waited for the right moment to strike.
"They're about halfway between their home ports and Berk," Night-fury-mother-of-twins decided. They were using their sand table to draw maps of the coastline, showing the enemy fleet's progress.
"What are we waiting for?" her daughter demanded.
"We're waiting for the perfect weather," New-night-fury answered. "Perfect for us, that is. Tonight, a storm is going to start blowing up; our Nadders have seen it coming across the North Sea. That means all the ships will have their sails up tonight, so they can catch the wind; that also means we can burn them more easily. Tomorrow, after we've damaged all those ships, they'll be caught in the middle of a North Sea storm, which will probably sink a few ships that might have made it home otherwise. The weather will be our ally."
"You are so clever!" Lady-night-fury couldn't help exclaiming.
"I got the idea from my wife," he said modestly. "She was going on about how Dagur was full of hot air, and I started thinking about how we might use cold air against him."
"So we're going to hit them tonight?" Young-girl-night-fury asked eagerly.
"Yes," New-night-fury said. "Notify all the dragons – we'll strike tonight."
o
"There's a storm coming," the captain of Dagur's flagship said in the darkness, trying to sound casual. "In my opinion, we should beach the entire fleet for the night, and see what the morning brings."
Dagur glared at him contemptuously for a few seconds, then snarled, "When I want to hear your opinion, I'll tell you what it should be!" The wind was fresh and strong; they were making good time. His triumph over Berk was just a few days away – if they panicked and stopped sailing every time the clouds got thick and the wind rose, they'd never get there! He'd give the order to beach his ships when he could see something worth worrying about.
His men could feel their ships beginning to pitch and roll as the waves grew bigger, but that wasn't their biggest worry. They kept one hand on a gunwale or a line to steady themselves, and the other hand on a spear, axe, or other weapon suitable for throwing. They stared out to sea, hoping to see the dragons before it was too late.
Every few minutes, someone would think he saw something, and everyone would tense up and stare where he was pointing. It always turned out to be nothing. It had been that way for days now. A few were weary of the endless false alarms. Those weren't the men who had to swim for their lives the last time their fleet had been near Berk.
It was about eleven o'clock at night when they heard the unmistakeable sound of a diving Night Fury. Then another, and another.
Their targets were the ships with the ballistas, which were the greatest threat to the other dragons. There were twelve such ships, and only six Night Furies; if Dagur had been able to see the big picture, he could have guessed where the dark dragons would strike next. But the first strike took everyone's mind off of anything but survival. Six bright firebolts lanced out of the darkness, and ripped the bottoms out of six big war vessels. The ships behind them had to maneuver desperately to avoid colliding with the sinking wrecks, which forced the ships beside them to get out of the way as well. The neat, three-column formation quickly turned into a confused clot of ships, some rescuing survivors from the water, others trying to avoid becoming the next casualty. The confusion was so great, some of the Berserkers didn't even notice the Night Furies' second strike, which sent the last of the ballistas to the bottom.
When they pulled out of their dives the second time, all six of them headed for the front of the fleet. Their intent was to draw everyone's attention away from the sides of the formation, just as Toothless had done when he led the rescue of Hiccup and Astrid's children. Now those children were full partners in the attack, and they played their role well. If the blasts of their fires weren't quite as big as the full-grown dragons', they were still more than adequate for taking out wooden warships.
When their second attack went in, that was the other dragons' signal to charge. They came in at wave-top height from the landward side, to make them as hard to see in the darkness as possible. They flew in a long line abreast, with Ruffnut and Tuffnut on Barf and Belch in the middle, Snotlout on Hookfang on the left end, and Fishlegs on Meatlug on the right end. The teens' role was to help keep the attack line straight; any dragon that lagged behind would be a ready target once the Berserkers knew where they were.
It was a good plan, but it didn't take dragon rage into account. None of the faster dragons was willing to hold himself back to the speed of the slower ones for long. They wanted to hurt their enemies, now! The Nadders and Nightmares surged ahead, while the Gronckles and Zipplebacks slowly fell behind. Because the various kinds of dragons were evenly mixed throughout the line, they had inadvertently formed two lines, a fast one in front and a slow one in back, by the time they reached firing range.
That firing was still devastating to the "unstoppable" Berserker armada. Multiple ships burst into flames from Nightmare fire, or were carved up by Nadder fire. Then the slower dragons added their fiery blasts, and every ship on the right side of the formation was soon in distress. All the dragons pulled up and flew across the formation, counting on the confusion and the men's ruined night vision to protect them. If they'd stayed together, it would have worked. But the first wave showed the Berserkers where the dragons were going, and when the second wave flew over them, they were ready.
Spears, axes, bolas, and weighted nets flew skyward. They weren't aimed; they were just thrown up into the path where the dragons had to fly, and some of them were sure to connect with targets. Some of the dragons shrugged off the hits; others screamed and flapped off awkwardly; a Gronckle and a Zippleback splashed into the dark ocean; and another stricken Gronckle crashed into a ship on the left side of the formation, and ship and dragon sank together.
On the seaward side of the fleet, the Night Furies counted noses and took stock of their charges. "Everyone who's having trouble flying, go home!" they ordered. About three-quarters of their force remained.
"Listen up!" Toothless bellowed. "All you high-stepping fast movers, you broke the plan, and do you see where it got us? Look at all the empty spaces in our line! Look at all of our friends who are missing!" He waited a few seconds for his words to sink in. "Okay, we're going to do this again, just like we planned, and we're going to stick to the plan this time, aren't we?!" The dragons nodded, chastened. "Okay! This time, we strike in honor of the ones we've lost! Let's go!" The Night Furies led the other dragons into position and got their attack line organized.
The Vikings all expected the next attack to come from the left side. That's where the dragons had gone, and it made sense that they'd aim for some intact ships, rather than hit the side of the fleet that was already damaged. But Hiccup was doing his best to be unpredictable. He led the dragons around the fleet in the darkness and swooped down on the right side again; the flames from the burning ships kept the Berserkers from seeing them coming. They overflew the burning wrecks and hit the ships in the middle of the formation.
This time, everyone fired at once, and the results were brutal. Multiple shots hit their targets simultaneously, sending men tumbling and leaping into the sea to put out their burning clothing. Then the dragons broke right and left instead of overflying the fleet. Viking weapons flew into the sky a second time, in a curtain of death that hit absolutely nothing.
The dragons didn't come back that night. But they left Dagur's fleet in hopeless disorder, with over half of its ships burning or sinking, hundreds of men in the water, and no guarantee that another attack might not happen at any moment. The fleet captain called to the nearby ships, "Put your helms to starboard! We've got to beach the fleet before the storm hits." Dagur was too busy screaming and flinging knives at imaginary dragons to notice.