How is it that this story gained 61 reviews. I'm pretty happy on all of the positive comments and feedback you guys give me.
A tyrannosaur bellow echoed across the land, and the hot chocolate in a teacup rippled with a thud. Queen Elsa sat at her desk. She paid no mind to the tremors, instead continuing to examine the documents on her desk. The drink that sat next to the papers rippled again. She took the teacup's handle gently and sipped, before setting it back down. The paperwork was simply some more requests for dinosaurs and products made from them, such as hide, eggs, and teeth. She would have to wait for Indi to return so she could talk to both him and Brynn about this.
"Elsa!" Anna said, bursting into the royal study.
"Anna?" Elsa said, dropping the papers onto her desk. "What's wrong?"
"You need to see this!" Anna said as she pushed her sister over to the large window that overlooked the courtyard. The first flurry of the season was falling around the kingdom. Brynn was standing in the courtyard, looking up into the sky in wonder. Blue, Charlie, Delta, and Echo were running around, chasing the falling flakes.
"It's snow," Elsa said, confused. "So what?"
Anna just stared at her sister in shock. "It's snow! Your favorite thing in the entire world! Well, except for..."
"I get it, Anna," Elsa said quickly. "Could you send Brynn up here please?"
"Fine," Anna said, her excitement slightly deflated. The princess turned and walked out of the room.
Elsa sighed, sitting back down in her chair. She knew she should be excited about the snow, but the recent tensions from the townspeople and the massive building projects in the forests and the meadows had taken their toll on her patience.
After a few minutes, Brynn entered the room and bowed. "You asked to see to me, Your Highness?"
"Yes," Elsa said. "How are the new additions coming along?"
"Quite well," Brynn said. "They should be done in about three days."
"Make it two."
Brynn nodded. She noticed the distant look in the queen's eyes. "Are you okay, Queen Elsa?"
"Yes, of course," Elsa said. "I'm fine."
"Elsa," Brynn said as she stepped closer, tossing the formalities in a hole. "Seriously. Are you alright?"
Elsa looked at her head guard. Even in the relatively short time that she had been employed to the castle, Brynn was, by far, the best officer that Elsa had ever seen. She was tactful enough to diffuse small arguments between the citizens, yet aggressive enough to fill the role of the queen's head guard. There were a few complaints and mutterings about the other soldiers' opinions on the queen choosing a woman to guard her instead of a big strong man, but they were silenced whenever Brynn was working in the vicinity.
Elsa looked into the female's concerned eyes. "I miss Indi."
Brynn set a hand on her friend's shoulder. "So do I. When do you think he will be back?"
"I do not know," Elsa said, examining the map that hung on the wall behind her desk. She walked over and looked up at the northern part of the map. "It would depend on where he is. We do not know the exact location of Berk, or any Viking tribe for that matter."
Brynn sighed. "I hope he's alright."
Elsa nodded sadly. "So do I."
Back on the dragon hunter ship, Indi was looking for clues as to where Viggo Grimborn, the head of the dragon hunter army, could have gone. "I don't get it," Hiccup said, looking over the side of the dragon hunter ship. "How did Viggo get away? How did we lose Heather, Windshear, and the Flightmare?"
"I don't even want to think about what they're going to do to her," Astrid said, rubbing her arm. "and those dragons."
"Too bad, Astrid," Indi said. "You already are. Now, use that anger and tear somebody's head off."Fishlegs and the twins came down onto the ship, returning from a search. "Did you guys find anything?"
"No, the fog was too thick," Fishlegs said. "They used it as cover and just vanished."
"We should have just pulled Heather out, Hiccup," Astrid said. "I knew something like this would..."
"Astrid, she wouldn't have come with us," Hiccup said.
"It could be worse," Tuffnut said. "We could have brought the Dragon Eye." Ruffnut elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "OW!"
"How do you know I didn't bring the Dragon Eye?"
The twins looked immediately nervous. "How did I know you didn't bring the Dragon Eye?" Ruffnut elbowed her brother again. "OUCH!"
"Yeah, okay, you're right, I didn't bring it," Hiccup said.
"Thank Thor," Astrid said, as Snotlout returned.
"Good thing you didn't," The Jorgenson youth said. "'Cause then Viggo would have Heather, Windshear, the Flightmare, and the Dragon Eye."
Indi's eyes widened. "Which is still back on Dragon's Edge completely unguarded!"
Indi looked around at the destruction of the Edge. The hunters had attacked the base while they were away. All the supplies around him were vandalized: barrels were knocked over and had their contents spilled out, tools were strewn about on the ground, and everyone's hut was in disarray.
Indi cawed into the air but received no response. Slightly worried, he repeated the noise and heard a loud roar on the far side of the island. Indi gave a sigh of relief, before walking into his hut. He saw the picture of Elsa that sat on his nightstand was tossed on the floor. Thankfully, the glass had not cracked. He gently set it back in its place of honor.
"Everything alright?" Astrid asked as she stood in the doorway.
"Yeah," Indi said. "No serious damage. How're the other huts?"
"Still standing."
Indi nodded, then a large roar echoed around the base. He smiled, seeing a large predator and three smaller ones waiting for him. He gave each of the dinosaurs a pat on the snout.
Noticing a few arrow wounds on their bodies, Indi snarled. Lapsus assured him that they were all fine, though this did little to alleviate his concern.
"Look at this," Fishlegs, observing the mess. "I feel... violated."
"This is the last part of Viggo's plan." Hiccup said.
"Lead us away from the edge so that the rest of the hunters and armada could stay behind," Snotlout said, tossing a board away. "and come after the Dragon Eye."
"How did I not see that?!" Hiccup said as he ran off to his hut. After entering the structure, he burst from the doorway. "They got it."
"What?!" Indi said, turning around. "Are you sure?"
"It's not where I put it."
"Are you sure you put it away after you got it back from the twins?" Snotlout asked.
"'Got it back from the twins'?" Hiccup asked incredulously. "What are you talking about?"
Snotlout led them to a cave. "Wow, they really wrecked this place," Hiccup commented.
"Actually, this is basically how we left it," Snotlout said, correcting the young man.
"Except, I don't remember that sword being there!" Tuffnut said. Indi looked to where the blonde male was pointing and saw a longsword severing and apple that sat in the mouth of a well-groomed stuffed yak.
"No, remember?" Snotlout said. "We were playing pirates and Vikings, and Bjorn was the pirate captain."
"Oh, right," Tuffnut said. Apparently, his memory of his time in the cave was restored. "That is one great game." He turned to the group, who still stood there expectantly. "Yeah, this is pretty much how we left it." Tuffnut walked over to a rock and reached behind it. He held up the Dragon Eye. Several feathers were stuck to it and some sticky greenish-black substance was slowly oozing from the sides.
Indi felt his stomach churn. Astrid reeled back in disgust.
"What on earth is on there?!" Hiccup asked.
"Boron grease," Tuffnut said. "Don't worry, it'll buff right out." He proceeded to spit on the artifact and rubbed it on his sister's vest. He removed it. "See?" The grime was still on the artifact. "Well, it takes a while."
Hiccup took the Dragon Eye with his thumb and index finger. "I can't believe you took this without telling me. Ya' know, all you had to do was ask and you could have used it. It belongs to all of us."
"Yeah, you too," Snotlout said accusingly. "Do you know what could have happened if Viggo got ahold of it?"
Ruffnut spoke up. "Seems to me that if I hadn't removed the Dragon Eye from your masterful hiding spot, we'd be having a very different conversation right now."
Hiccup turned and left the cave. Indi and Astrid followed him out. Stormfly ran by, being chased by Toothless, Lacrima, Noctem, and Venator.
"You okay?" Astrid asked.
"Yeah," Hiccup replied.
"You are a bad liar," Indi said.
"No. Guys, I let this happen. I put Heather and Windshear that position. I risked the Dragon Eye being taken. I fell for Viggo's plan. It's a mess." Toothless stopped running around and came over, nuzzling his troubled rider.
"You're right," Astrid said. "It is. But, if there's a mess, we clean it up, all of us." The other riders came out of the cave.
"We can get the A-team from Berk," Fishlegs said. "Load up whatever weapons we can, and go in dragons blazing!"
"Can I bring Macy?" Tuffnut asked. "She's been begging to come along on a mission."
"No," Indi said. "We're not going anywhere." The other riders looked confused. "Nobody is going anywhere."
"Not yet anyway," Hiccup added. "Think about it. We do what we do very well: we're a pretty smart group. We're fast, we're fearless, and we ride dragons."
"And we have dinosaurs," Indi added.
"This guy Viggo, he manipulated us like we were just a bunch of inexperienced little kids. If we have any chance, then we can't go in dragons blazing like we usually do. That could get Heather and Windshear killed."
"That could get one of us killed," Indi said.
"Well," Tuffnut said, raising his hand, "I for one, am definitely against getting us killed. Or, at least, my getting killed."
"Yep, I have to agree," Ruffnut said. "And not just because we're twins and we always think the same thing."
"So," Astrid said, Ignoring the Nuts. "You two just want to leave Viggo to hunting and hurting dragons at will? You want to do nothing?"
"I want to do the right thing," Hiccup said.
"And that is going to take some time to think about," Indi said.
Two white dragons huddled together in a cage. A small pile of fish was tossed at them.
The cautiously ate their food, watchful of the large man in front of them.
"Eat up, maggots," the large human said. "Grow big and strong now. Viggo has something special planned for you two."
One of the little beasts lunged at the man, snapping its teeth menacingly. The man laughed, before walking away.
Later that day, a pair of dragons were flying over the ocean.
"Hiccup, what are we doing?" Astrid asked.
"Before we face Viggo again, we need to learn more about him," Hiccup said. "Let's take another look at his ship. Maybe we missed something."
"It's called knowing your enemy, Astrid," Indi said from behind the shieldmaiden. "Basic battle strategy."
On the ship, Hiccup found that the door to the dragon hold was locked.
"Back up," Indi said. Hiccup complied, and Indi promptly put his fist through the door with a crack! Shoving the door open, he walked inside, Hiccup and Astrid following.
"We've been through this place before, Hiccup," Astrid said. "They took everything when they left."
"Have you ever noticed?" Hiccup said, turning over a crate. "Viggo never actually puts himself in danger."
"Coward," Indi muttered, tearing the door off of a crate.
"He fights with his intellect," Hiccup continued. "Planning every move, accounting for every scenario. Take Heather..."
"Do you think he knew that she was working with us all along?" Astrid wondered.
"I think it's a good possibility," Hiccup said.
"I think at some point he found out, then used her to manipulate us," Indi said, examining the markings on the walls.
Toothless crooned from an open cell, getting the trio's attention.
"What do you got there, bud?" Hiccup asked as they walked over. Looking in the cell, Indi saw a piece of sailcloth over a square object. Pulling the cloth from the object, Indi saw that it was a box that had several rocks along the edges. Inside were three small figurines.
"Maces and Talons," Hiccup muttered.
"What's that?" Indi asked.
"It's a game that chiefs use to test the intellect and battle strategies of their heirs to see if they can handle the stress of battle." Hiccup pointed to a piece on the left side of the box. "The Viking King. That's supposed to be me, trying to save the traitor."
And who's that?" Indi asked, pointing to a piece on the opposite side of the box, facing the Viking King.
"The Chief of the Marauders," Hiccup explained. "If I had to guess, I'd say Viggo." He knelt down and picked up the third piece, which was broken in half and set in the middle of the box. "And this piece... this is the Traitor."
"Also known as Heather," Astrid said. "It's almost like Viggo wanted you see this,"
"It's a challenge," Hiccup said.
"From him to us," Indi said. "He's daring us to play."
"Why did Viggo break Heather's piece?" Astrid asked.
"Because the Traitor dies in the end," Hiccup said, closely examining the piece. "The Traitor always dies." He solemnly tossed the broken piece back in the place it originally was.
"Hiccup, this is Maces and Talons!" Fishlegs said. "Does this mean..?"
"No, Fishlegs."
"But Maces and Talons was originally designed to test the abilities and decision-making expertise of future chiefs in the heat of battle!"
"Yeah, I'm not taking over as Chief of Berk. Viggo left this for me. He wants me to play Maces and Talons with him."
"Viggo's here?" Tuffnut asked.
"We got next!" Ruffnut announced.
"Guys, he not here." The twins began to shove Hiccup away from the board on the table.
Sensing a struggle, Indi motioned to Lapsus, who stomped her foot and roared. The twins quieted down immediately.
"We're not using the board," Indi said. "We're playing for real. With real people."
"Viggo's forcing my hand," Hiccup said. "He's making me play for Heather's life."
"And what happens if you don't?" Fishlegs asked. Indi held up the broken Traitor. "Oh, no no no! You have to play, Hiccup. You just have to."
"And we need a strategy," Snotlout said.
"We do, Snotlout," Hiccup said, crossing his arms. "And that strategy has to be different than any he's ever seen or tried. Otherwise, Heather won't stand a chance."
Once again winging it during the night, Indi hung on to Astrid as he sat upon Stormfly. The rest of the riders surrounded them on their dragons.
"Alright, remember guys," Hiccup said. "Viggo is a master of deception. We have to be one step ahead of him at all times or it's game over."
"Sounds a little to me like it's already game over," Tuffnut said.
"Yep, that was my interpretation," Ruffnut said.
"It's never game over until you're dead," Indi shouted. Suddenly, a volley of arrows shot up through the cloud layer.
The dragon dodged the arrows, pulling higher into the air.
"Where are those coming from?" Fishlegs wondered aloud.
"Beneath the cloud cover," Astrid said. "They must have ships down there."
"How did they know we were up here?" Fishlegs asked.
A bright glow caught everyone's attention. They all stared at Snotlout atop Hookfang, who happened to be on fire.
"What?" Snotlout asked incredulously. "I was chilly, and now I'm warm and toasty."
"I say we use him as bait," Indi announced. Stormfly rolled out of the way of more arrows.
"We must be close to the island," Hiccup guessed.
"Uh, Hiccup..." Astrid said. Indi looked down, and saw that the cloud cover was lifting, allowing him to see a group of islands arranged in a tight spiral.
"Great, we're here," Indi said. "Now, let's get to work."
"Are you sure that this is it?" Fishlegs asked. "It looks kind of deserted." Suddenly, a large cone of flames erupted into the air in front of them. "And I stand corrected!"
Down below, Indi saw a large dragon with enormous batlike wings. On its head were two horns. The dragon was tied to the ground with thick ropes. Indi snarled when he saw a hunter standing next to the beast with a spear. He jabbed the dragon with his weapon, causing the dragon to roar in pain. As it roared, a large cone of fire erupted from its mouth. Looking around, Indi saw more big dragons tied to the ground, each with at least one hunter next to it. The dragons were jabbed, causing more cones of flame to shoot into the sky.
"He's using flipping Typhoomerangs!" Snotlout shouted. "As blowtorches!"
"I thought you liked it toasty?" Astrid asked.
"I said toasty, not toasted."
Another cone of flame leaped into the air. "I have to say," Tuffnut said. "You totally undersold this guy, Hiccup. He's way more devious than..."
"Incoming!" Indi yelled as the flames consumed his field of vision to his right.
"Maybe we should turn back," Astrid said. "We should find a place to regroup, cause there's no way we are getting through that."
"No," Hiccup said, becoming strangely calm. "All this... It's just a distraction."
"It's fire, Hiccup," Snotlout said. "Actual fire!"
"I have to concur with you on that one," Tuffnut said, looking at the top of his helmet, which had a small lick of flames on it.
"What I mean is," Hiccup said. "Viggo doesn't want us to retreat, It just seems that way. He wants us to get past the fire and the arrows. He wants me to find Heather. And then his game really begins."
"Well, if he wants us to get through then he has a funny way of showing it," Snotlout said as he guided Hookfang around the cones of fire.
"He doesn't want us to get through," Hiccup said. "He wants us to go around, and attack him from the back."
"Oh, that sounds way better," Snotlout said. "But that's not what we're doing, is it?"
"Nope!" Hiccup said as another cone of fire erupted from behind him. "We're going in this way: right into the fire! Now I know you guys think I'm crazy."
"Thank you for summing that up!" Indi said.
"The fire of a Typhoomerang is like a giant tornado. We fly right into the eye of it! It will be hot, but the fire won't touch us."
"Inside it!" Snotlout exclaimed. "This plan sounds completely theoretical."
"All theories must be tested," Indi said.
Tuffnut spoke up. "My fine sister and I have performed said feat of daring many times, throughout the history of Nuts."
"Yeah, for fun!" Ruffnut said. "It does work, but the trick is to not panic once you're inside."
"Let's go," Astrid said, guiding Stormfly down the fire vortex. Indi hung on, feeling the flames heat his skin up.
Soon, the flames dissipated. Looking down at the Typhommerangs, he saw that the hunters were utterly stunned.
"Hello, boys!" Astrid called.
"How's it going?" Indi added.
"Fire," Snotlout shouted, and Hookfang shot a stream of flames down at the hunters. Stormfly and the other dragons followed suit. Taking out the hunters and burning through the ropes that held down the captive dragons. The Typhoomerangs took off, and fly away into the horizon.
"Indi, with me," Hiccup said. Indi skillfully jumped from Stormfly's back to Toothless.
The Night Fury shot through the crisp night air like an arrow. Suddenly, Toothless pulled back as arrows flew at him.
"Woah!" Hiccup shouted as Indi slashed through the arrows with his talons. Toothless shot a low powered plasma blast at the hunters on the ground, scattering them. Looking around, Indi spotted a bright blue glow off in the distance. "Hiccup, over there."
"On it," Hiccup said, guiding Toothless over to the glow.
After Toothless landed gently, Indi and Hiccup walked cautiously over to the cage. Inside was the Flightmare, which had a metal muzzle strapped to its face.
"What have they done to you?" Hiccup said, examining the dragon. "We'll be back, I promise." Indi snarled as they moved on.
After running through the cages for a small amount of time Hiccup saw that it was futile. "We'll never find her this way."
"What about that?" Indi asked, motioning towards a large catapult. Hiccup took the shield off of his back and aimed it at the arm of the catapult. A grappling hook and rope shot from the center of the shield and wrapped around the structure. He pulled, and Indi ran over and yanked a lever on the catapult, sending Hiccup high into the air.
Hiccup fell back to the ground, and landed on a cage, cushioning his fall with his shield, before rolling on and landing on the ground with his feet.
Indi heard a screeching squawk. He'd never heard a dragon like that before. The sound caused some primordial sensation in him, and he moved off to examine it.
"You don't do that to me!" A man's voice said. Indi moved closer, hearing the sound again. Peering through a row of shrubs, Indi saw a dragon hunter standing over two baby dragons. He cracked a whip at them. The babies cried out in pain. Examining the babies closer, Indi saw that they had large heads with conical, long legs, and four claws on each limb. The front limbs did not touch the ground and were formed into hands. Both babies had osteoderms that pointed backward along their neck, back, and tail. Overall, both babies each seemed to be about a foot and a half feet in length.
They were two baby Indominus rex.
Snarling angrily, Indi ran forward and smacked the man in the temple, sending him sprawling. Blood ran down his face, leaking from the claw marks.
"What the..?" the man said as he started to get back up.
Indi pinned him down and forced his talons inside the man's chest cavity, breaking through ribs, and ripped out his still-beating heart. The man died instantly.
Tossing the organ aside, Indi turned back to the babies. As they scuttled over to him, he saw something that he originally missed. Both babies had wings that attached to the body at the shoulders, above the joint for the arms.
Indi cawed softly and opened his arms to the babies. The babies snuggled up against him. Looking closer, Indi saw that one baby had amber-colored eyes like him. The other had bright green eyes.
Smelling the man's blood on his hand and arm, both babies began licking the crimson liquid.
Indi returned to find both Hiccup on top of Toothless. Both were frozen like statues, staring straight ahead.
"Hiccup? Toothless?" Suddenly, Toothless' wings started to twitch. Slowly, both dragon and rider became reanimated.
"Where were you?" Hiccup said.
"I-I had a-"
"The plan failed because you weren't there!" Hiccup said. "You let Viggo took the Dragon Eye!"
"What?!" Indi said. "How?"
"He used the Flightmare against us," Hiccup said. "I'm going to stop him. You go back to the coast."
"But, Hiccu-"
"Go." Toothless promptly took flight and flew off.
Indi's shoulders sagged. He was supposed to stay in the shadows and when Viggo appeared, he would transform and take him out. He was supposed to be their secret weapon.
The babies were both snuggling up against him, and starting to go to sleep.
Soon, Astrid and Stormfly appeared. "Where's Hiccup?" she said as she dismounted from her dragon's back.
"Chasing Viggo," Indi said, not looking the blonde warrior in the eyes.
"Why aren't you hel- Where did you get those?!" Indi looked down at the babies, which had fallen asleep.
"I really messed up, Astrid," Indi said. He promptly told her what had happened.
"It's fine, Indi," Astrid said. "I understand."
"No, it's not, Astrid. It's my fault that the mission failed."
Astrid simply shook her head. "Come on." Indi solemnly climbed onto Stormfly's back behind Astrid.
Hiccup joined them in the air.
"Did you get it?" Indi asked.
"No," Hiccup asked, and he promptly yelled into the air angrily. Toothless crooned in worry.
The next day, back on Dragon's Edge. Indi was loading up the ship.
"Okay, everyone, bring only absolute necessities with us," Astrid said, before turning to Indi. Are you sure this will work?"
"Absolutely," Indi said. "Elsa is the one person I'm sure of that can help us."
Yes, yes. Indi and the riders, and the dragons are all going to Arendelle.