The Gift of the Princess (HTTYD)

New Beginnings

Duskscales let out a happy noise. Toothless roared beside her, to which all the Night Furies responded. Ingrid let out a breath of relief. Finally, they were done fighting. Now they could focus on their true enemy.

Suddenly, a loud roar rang throughout the area. Startled, Ingrid looked up at the Bewilderbeast, who was looking in their direction. "He's been watching us."

Toothless growled and began to glow, but Drago held his hand out to him. "Stand down, alpha." Drago turned around fully to face the Bewilderbeast. "Listen! I know what you think of me, and I apologize for harming you. Do no let every other dragon suffer for my choices. I wanted to use dragons for my own ends, but they deserve to be free. You need to give them that choice I never gave you."

Duskscales nudged Drago's shoulder and whined. The Bewilderbeast looked around at each person and dragon. Finally, he dipped his head in concession. Upon raising it, he roared again. This time, Toothless roared back, followed by the other dragons.

"I think he just freed everyone," Ingrid said, looking around at the dragons coming out of their daze. "Hey, Eira, look!" Swiftwings flew through a crowd of dragons and then landed beside Luna.

Eira grinned at her. "It's great to have you back, girl!" She hugged the dragon's torso while the dragon wrapped her long neck around the girl's body.

"Thank you," Drago said to the Bewilderbeast. Then he nodded at Ingrid. "You were right. Force was not the way."

Ingrid smiled. "Yep! Unfortunately, not everyone is so easily persuaded."

"There may be some who still are," Hiccup said. "The rest of you should go join the battle. There is something I want to check out."

***

Hiccup surveyed the island from up high on Toothless' back. The majority of the dragons were on their side now, and they were taking out swaths of enemies. He admired the way Dagur and Astrid led their troops against the Northern Alliance. They were natural born leaders. Though their human allies were outnumbered, he could see ships neighboring villages closing in. It looked like his friends had done a lot of hard work during his capture!

Hiccup continued his surveillance. He did not fear losing but the cost of their victory. Finally, he spotted what he was looking for. A group of Death Grippers fought against a team of dragon riders. Upon flying closer, he was surprised to see the riders were from Torvald, led by Prince Haldor.

"Hello, Hiccup," Haldor said when Toothless hovered near his dragon. "It's good to see you again. Do you know anything about these dragons? They're still fighting us even though the Bewilderbeast released them."

"They're called Deathgrippers," Hiccup said. "Apparently, they hunt Night Furies. Grimmel enticed them to join him because they have a common enemy."

"Well, we should flip that around, shouldn't we?"

Hiccup gave him a relieved smile. He should have known the prince would be on the same wavelength as him. These dragons were not evil. They were simply acting in a way that was natural for them. "Do you have any ideas?" One of the Deathgrippers lunged at Toothless, who was forced to turn in the air.

"Just one." Haldor pulled something out of the bag slung around his shoulder and threw it. The Deathgrippers chased the object until it landed in the grass. Then he took out two more items and threw them as well. "Good, they like it. It's a special root from Torvald most dragons love. That should calm them long enough for us to talk to them."

Hiccup nodded. "Let's go." Haldor ordered his riders to stay back and then flew to the ground after him. Hiccup slowly dismounted Toothless to not spook the Deathgrippers. "You better stay here, bud." The Night Fury growled softly. "They need to know they can trust me."