Arcen's Storm

Arcen

Gale force winds blew in from the north, bringing a thunderstorm the likes I’d never seen. However, the dark gray skies, raging waves, and nearly constantly striking lightning was fitting. 

Cortona kept glancing over at me as we watched Dragons Edge from a nearby sea stack. She wasn’t afraid of what would happen if we were caught, she was afraid of what would happen if we weren't. She had seen me kill before and it wasn’t something I enjoyed doing but sometimes it had to be done. She was afraid of what effect my rage would have on me when the smoke cleared but she didn’t say anything directly. She didn’t have to. 

I had lived with the Skrill longer than I had lived with the humans, I had even helped her become a Titanwing. We were often one in the same. 

By the time we had escaped the Edge and returned to our island, I had come to a decision. The dragon riders had to be brought down. They were smart and strong and although they didn’t seem to be working with the other hunters, as they had ransacked the Edge, the dragon riders knew where our island sat and had a good idea of its defenses. For all I knew the other hunters attacked the riders over a dispute about them hunting dragons in their territory. I didn’t have the whole story, I knew that, but the riders attacked our island and imprisoned my dragon. 

They were no different than any other Viking, they couldn’t be trusted. Not to leave our island alone, not to tell the other hunters about it. 

Couldn’t be trusted. 

The riders were cowering in their huts through the storm, their dragons inside with them.

I slipped onto Cortona’s back and we soared over the huts, unbothered by the rain and wind. 

“The hut with the red symbol,” I started, pointing with the death scythe, “We’ll begin with that one.”

Cortona reared her head back, electricity sparked off her metallic spikes. She fired a solid beam of lightning, blowing a hole in the wall of the hut and caving one side of the roof in. 

Normally, a Skrill has a shot limit of four, as each shot carries several volts of power and a Skrill can only absorb and store so much electricity at a time. But, during a thunderstorm their shot limit is infinite. 

The Monstrous Nightmare flew out of the collapsing house, the Viking on his back. He screamed something but the storm was too loud for anyone to hear him. Though the riders should have heard the blast.

Where were they?

The Nightmare set himself alight in face of the Titan Skrill, he roared and fired. 

Effortlessly, Cortona barrel rolled around the blast and grabbed the short Viking from his back with her tail. She threw him at the roof of a green hut. 

The Nightmare dove to catch his rider but couldn’t level himself out in time to stop them both from crashing through the roof. 

A plasma blast sailed past my head. 

“It’s about time,” the Titan Skrill snarled, “We were starting to get bored.”

“This isn’t a good idea,” the Night Fury responded, “and this really isn’t the time we should be fighting.”

A sudden flash of yellow caught our attention and we flew straight up. It was the Deadly Nadder’s magnesium blast. 

“In the dark of the storm our fire glows,” Toothless called, “Making it easy to dodge.”

“Then pin them down,” the Deadly Nadder responded!

We circled the dragon riders who had all appeared and fallen into tight formation, they were hovering in a circle, wing-to-wing. Cortona’s dark colors blended in with the dark and stormy night, though the base of her metallic spikes glowed teal.