The Berserker War Chapter 08

"Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang, I' d like to talk to you." Toothless had been grounded by his injury for barely a day, and he was restless already.

"What's on your mind, Uncle Toothless?" the younger dragon answered.

"I want to know everything that happened when you blew up that explosive wagon. There was something very different between your explosion and the one that got me. I think we need to figure out what that was."

"Well, the two metal tanks looked the same," Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang began. "I saw the second one, and I almost dived on it – I wanted to uphold my reputation, you know? But the orders were to hit the heavy weapons, so I did what I was told."

"What did it feel like when your tank blew up?"

"The shock wave hit me like... like Mom's tail when I was little and I messed up. I didn't feel any heat, just a powerful blow across my wings and my entire body. It knocked the breath out of me. Then it passed, and I found myself flying upward."

"Was there any shrapnel?" Toothless pressed him.

"No. I'm sure of that. There was no flying debris of any kind anywhere near me, just the shock wave."

"Did you notice any other differences between the two explosions, from where you were?"

"No, Uncle Toothless. They sounded the same to me; they made the same amount of light; they caused the same destruction on the ground. If you hadn't gotten hurt, I would have said they were identical."

"Huh. Thank you. I think we need to talk to your parents about this." The other Night Furies weren't hard to find; they stayed close to Berk in case the enemy somehow managed a sneak attack. The six of them lay down to discuss what Toothless had learned.

"It's the Burp again," Guana decided. "He figured out that we like to shoot those tanks, whatever they are, so he changed them to make them dangerous to us when they explode."

"That's possible," Hiccup nodded. "I'd love to find out what's inside them, and what the Berserkers are planning to do with them. But I can't think of any way to let their contents out without blowing them up, or endangering ourselves by landing next to them."

"How about a Nadder spike?" Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang asked.

"Perfect!" his father exclaimed. "Next time we raid their camp, if there's a tank on a wagon, nobody shoot that tank! We'll pick a few Nadders who can shoot their spines well from the air, and make it their job to turn that tank into a pincushion. We'll watch and see what comes out."

"Okay, next question," Astrid said. "We've got a camp full of raging-mad dragons, and we need to do something about that, before they start fighting each other."

"That's an easy one," Hiccup replied. "It's time to try my plan where we divide our forces and raid a bunch of their towns all at once. We can split ourselves five ways – sorry, Toothless – and that gives us..." He did some quick math in his head. "...about twenty-four dragons per strike force. That's not enough to wipe a defended town off the map, but it's plenty if we focus on the important targets."

"Dad, it still leaves me not sure if I'm ready to lead my own attack force," Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang said hesitantly. "I've been following you into battle, and it's good, but when all those dragons are counting on me to keep them safe... that's not the same thing at all."

"Son, let me tell you something," Hiccup began, then stopped. "Astrid, hit me – I'm starting to sound like my own father!" She gave him a half-hearted swat with her tail. "Thanks. Anyway, the first time I flew into battle, I didn't have anybody to follow. I'd been a dragon for a little over a week, and I'd never attacked anything bigger than a fish! But our flock had only three Night Furies, and your Uncle Toothless had to fly with your mother to finish teaching her about fighting. I was the only Night Fury in a strike force fifty dragons strong, and they all knew more about raiding than I did. I'll tell you honestly, I was nervous. I was sure I was going to mess up somehow.

"It was those other dragons who gave me confidence. They saw me flying with them, and just my presence made them feel better about going into battle. They didn't care if I was new at this, or if I'd stopped being human less than a month ago. All they cared about was that a Night Fury was with them. It was humbling, and it made me want to be worthy of that kind of trust. I didn't make any mistakes that night – I actually did pretty well – and Toothless called me an awesome fighting dragon.

"Now it's your turn. You've been a Night Fury from the moment you hatched. You've got a warrior for a mother, and you've got me for a father, for whatever that's worth. You've taken flying and fighting lessons from the best there is," and he glanced at Toothless. "But the thing that will help you the most is the thing you're most afraid of – the fact that all those other dragons will be counting on you. I'm actually glad that you're a little nervous; it shows that you aren't being foolhardy about this. But I know you'll do fine. It's in your blood."

Astrid turned to Night-fury-six-shooter. "How about you? How do you feel about leading your own attack on a Viking village for the first time?"

The young Night Fury hesitated. "I was feeling great about it, until Dad started talking. That took the wind out from under my wings. I never really thought about messing up before. I... I guess I'm okay with it."

Astrid smiled. "Like he said, you'll do fine – it's in your blood. Regardless of what your father says, he's as much of a warrior as I am, and he's a better tactician. But he's right about how the other dragons' confidence in you will give you your own confidence. You've gotten some experience already, which is a lot more than I had when flew on my first raid. You've got the skills, and you've got the aggression. All you need is to go out there and do it!" Her daughter nodded soberly.

That evening, all the dragons gathered in the sheep pastures; it was the only open space on Berk that was big enough for all of them. They sat in a broad circle while the Night Furies stood in the middle and explained the plan. Astrid went first, with a fiery speech that got them all fully alert. Hiccup followed with a description of the targets they should focus on, and a rough guess at where the Berserker villages were. Toothless got the last word.

"I wish I was flying with you; you all know that. This plan of New-night-fury's is our first big attempt to really hurt those Berserkers. They've killed four of us so far, not counting the sea dragons, and if it weren't for all my brave, creative friends, it would have been five. I want to hear about the targets you burn tonight, but I want to hear about them from every one of you! Please be careful out there. Fly fast and shoot straight!" With that, they divided themselves into five groups and launched themselves into the night sky.

The waiting seemed endless. Stoick, Gobber, Gunnarr Hofferson, Gothi, and a few other Vikings stayed up to wait for their fire-breathing warriors' return. Of the dragons, Toothless and the other casualties were the only ones who stayed behind. None of those dragons was good with runes or with understanding the humans' speech, so the two groups couldn't talk to each other. They stood in the pastures, together and yet separate, waiting.

Guana's group was the first to return, a little after midnight. One of her Gronckles had taken an axe to the chin; Gothi went to work stitching the leathery skin up. Lady-night-fury gave her report to Toothless.

"Our village had two forges, and neither of them is going to forge anything for a very long time. My Zippleback took out their only yard crane, and used his other shots to sink a couple of longships that looked like they'd just been launched. The rest of us burned anything that looked like a tradesman's building or a shop. This village didn't have much military-looking stuff in it, and it had almost no warriors in it. The only people we saw were very old or very young."

"We'll say 'mission accomplished' on that one," Toothless nodded. "I think I see another group of dragons returning."

That was Night-fury-mother-of-twins' group, and they had lost a dragon. "Our village was some kind of military storehouse, and it had guards all over the place," she began. "They used torches with wide metal dishes around them, so the light shone in our eyes, but didn't ruin their night vision. We had to put out those torches before we could attack them properly, and they got one of our Nadders with a net and some spears. We avenged her, of course, and we wrecked that village pretty well."

"What kind of military stuff did you see?" Toothless asked her.

"They had sheds and warehouses full of hand weapons and shields," Astrid replied. "It took multiple shots to make sure everything burned. They had a lot of stored food for a village that size; we burned it all, of course. They also had some long buildings that looked like barracks. We set them on fire, but I don't know if they burned to the ground or not. Our village was inland, so there were no cranes or ships."

"It sounds like you hit their advanced base," Toothless nodded. "That will hurt them big-time. They'll get there with high hopes when they return from the field, and find no welcoming meal or shelter or replacement weapons. Well done!"

About half an hour later, Night-fury-six-shooter's group returned. "We took no losses," were her first words. "Our village wasn't very militarized. We blew up all their shops and storage buildings, and our Zippleback even took out their fresh-water well, just so she could have something to shoot at. We got a few fishing boats, but nothing big or threatening."

A Nadder stepped over to where the Night Furies were talking. "When she says 'we' got some boats, she means she got them," the big blue dragon said. "We were ready to head home when we saw a line of fishing boats tied up at a nearby pier. She dove toward them, slowed way down, and fired six quick shots in a row. Just like that, six of their boats went up in flames! I've never seen anything like it. Now I understand where she got her name."

"You just had to show off, didn't you?" Astrid demanded.

"The mission was to hurt them, right?" her daughter challenged her. "Well, I hurt them! They were starting to get their defenses organized, so I didn't have time for six separate shots. I did what I had to do. If I was showing off, I'd have gone for seven."

Toothless nodded, satisfied. "I kind of expected that you'd try your trick shot. The only question was whether you'd get away with it. Well done! You, my young friend, are an awesome fighting dragon."

"Really? Wow! Thank you!" Then Night-fury-six-shooter went back to talk some more with the dragons who had flown with her.

Astrid and Toothless watched her go. "I wish she'd be more careful," Astrid lamented.

"I seem to recall you saying the same thing about Hiccup when he went into battle," Toothless recalled.

"I meant it with him, too," she replied.

"Then you need to find a few dragons who haven't used their Power, and they can turn your whole family into basking sharks," Toothless teased her. "If a safe, uneventful life is what you want, you've got no business being a Night Fury." She started to reply when she saw motion against the night sky. It was Hiccup's group returning.

Two of his dragons were injured, one mildly, one seriously. Gobber went running to find Yunibrau again while Gothi patched up a shallow axe wound on a Gronckle's belly. Hiccup made sure both dragons would be all right before he gave his report to the others.

"I think our village was where the Berserkers make their heavy weapons," he said with satisfaction. "They're going to have to make them somewhere else from now on. They had two woodworking shops and a big outdoor assembly area, with lots of heavy seasoned timber, as well as three forges nearby. We took out the whole complex, and burned as much of the timber as we could. They fought pretty hard to defend the place, and they had some kind of metal reflectors on their torches so they could see us without losing their night vision."

"My village had those, too," his wife exclaimed.

"That has to be the Burp's doing," Guana cut in. "They're making us waste our shots on individual people before we can do any serious raiding."

"I think my daughter's six-shooting trick might be very useful against that tactic," Astrid mused. "Maybe she can teach it to the rest of us." Toothless stifled a draconic snicker.

The village assigned to Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang was the most remote of their targets. They knew it would take his group longer to get there, and longer to get home again. But when an hour had come and gone, the others began to get worried. Finally, the last attack group came into view. Like his mother's group, he didn't bring one of his dragons home.

"Our raid was a success," he said tightly. "We got all our targets. They got Gronckle-dark-brown-with-a-long-tail with a bola; there wasn't anything I could do except pay them back for it."

"Why were you so late coming back?" his father asked.

"Well... I ran into a little bit of trouble, but I'm okay now." He turned away.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Astrid exclaimed, and dropped a paw on his tail. "Come on! Out with it! What happened out there?"

"I'm okay, Mom! Honest!" he protested.

Astrid wasn't buying it. "Will one of you other dragons tell me the truth?" she demanded.

"I'll tell you what happened out there," a big brown Nightmare answered. "They got my wings with nets on a low firing pass. I crash-landed in a cow pasture. Before the humans could get there, he landed on top of me and cut the nets away with his claws. I owe him my life. We both took off just as the Berserkers got close to us, and one of them put a spear right into his chest." Astrid gasped and pivoted to look at her son's chest; he tried to turn away.

"I picked him up and carried him to a rocky islet nearby, and Gronckle-tan-with-blue-spots used his Power to heal him," the Nightmare went on. "Then it took him a few minutes to shake off the effects of the Vortex before he could fly again."

"And that's when you finally came home?" Toothless asked.

"No, that's when he led us right back into battle again," the Nightmare continued. "He figured they'd assume we were gone for the night, so we could fire off a few more shots before they came back at us, and he was right."

Astrid was outraged. "One brush with death wasn't enough for you?! How many more dragons' Powers were you planning to use up before you –"

"Mom!" Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang cut her off. "I had to do it that way! When we went into battle, and I set up for my first dive... I was afraid. When I fired my first shot to wreck the town's main catapult, that helped a little, but not much. Cutting those nets off my friend, here... that was almost like a reflex. I hardly even remember doing it. Then that spear hit me, and I thought it was all over. When Gronckle-tan-with-blue-spots healed me, I knew I had to get up and start shooting again, or I'd never overcome that fear."

"The young dragon is right," Toothless nodded. "Not everyone is naturally fearless; some of us have to fight our enemies on the inside before we can defeat the enemies on the outside. My young friend, you did well. You may not feel like one, but you're an awesome fighting dragon."

Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang stared at him for a moment, uncomprehending. Then he burst out, "Oh, I almost forgot! We found out what's in those exploding tanks. I found one, and one of my Nadders spiked it from the air. A heavy green gas leaked out. There's no mistaking the smell of that stuff. It's Zippleback gas."

The other Night Furies turned to each other, mystified. "Where are they getting Zippleback gas?" Guana wondered.

"Probably from a Zippleback," Hiccup answered. "What I want to know is, what are they planning to do with tanks full of the stuff?"

"That's the least of our worries," Toothless decided. "If they're holding a Zippleback captive, then we need to find him and set him free."

"They could have been hiding a dragon in any of those villages," Astrid replied, "or in one of the other villages we didn't visit tonight. We could lose half a dozen dragons to rescue just one. I don't like the idea of the Berserkers taking prisoners any more than you do, but we have to beat them down a lot further before we can risk a mission like that."

"I guess you're right," Toothless nodded slowly. "It sounds like we got a lot done tonight. I just wish I could have been there." He raised his voice. "Dragons! You've done well! You've struck a blow that will set the enemy's plans back by a month or more! Get some sleep, and think nice thoughts about your wounded friends. Tomorrow will be a day of rest!" That drew some appreciative growls from the dragons, especially the ones from the Dragon Island nest, whose rage was beginning to dissipate.

o

The dragons' raids had one other effect, one that neither Dagur nor the dragons knew about, but it would have far-reaching effects on the course of the war.

In the village that Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang and his team had raided, two battle-scarred veterans crawled out from under the smoking rubble of a wrecked catapult. They stood, made sure no bones were broken, and brushed the dust off their clothing.

"These dragons are killing us!" one of them exclaimed. "What is it going to take before Dagur gets the hint and quits this useless war?"

"Dagur is never going to quit," his friend said bitterly. "He'll keep fighting until we're all dead."

"I'm starting to think the dragons are the lesser of two evils," the first one said, very quietly. "Berk made peace with them. Maybe it's time we did the same."

"I'm with you," the other one nodded after a moment. "But we should bring our wives with us, so Dagur can't retaliate against them." The four of them headed for the docks, where they found one fishing boat that the dragons hadn't burned. It was small, but it looked seaworthy enough to manage an eight-day journey. Dagur would torture them and kill them if he caught them, but he was somewhere inland with most of the warriors. Besides, if their town got raided again, they'd soon be dead anyway.

They silently rowed out of the harbor, raised the sail, and headed north.