𝐙𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐑, race to the edge³

001. the legend of the boneknapper

     She just nudged him towards the house and Hott remembered why he had the water in the first place. "Oh! Oh, yeah! Right! I'm coming▬I got it!"

     Running the short space left to Gobber's house, Hott threw the bucket of water and watched it douse down onto the foundations of his home. He grinned when the fire spluttered, only for it to falter when the flames just shot back up again. "Well, that didn't work..." he muttered.

      "THE WIND IS SHIFTING!" boomed the voice of Stoick the Vast, chieftain of the tribe. He was a man that stood seven-feet-tall with big arms and a red beard even bigger! There was a story that he once broke the jaw of a Monstrous Nightmare by kicking it (does Valkyrie believe that? Yes, she very much does). "Fire brigade, move in!"

      And diving down, one after the other, were some of the bravest young Vikings Berk had to offer. First, came in Fishlegs on his Gronckle he named Meatlug. Fishlegs was a big, pudgy boy with not much chin because it was all neck and an eager mind to remember anything about dragons he could. He gave Meatlug a beloved scratch behind her ear as she dumped down two buckets of water onto the burning home. Next, in stark contrast, was Snotlout. Snotlout Jorgenson was a mean kid with a very mean pig-face and flushed cheeks. He rode an equally mean Monstrous Nightmare by the name of Hookfang, leading him down by the back of the house and showering the growing firewall with an entire trough of water. Sometimes, Snotlout hoped that one day, his cousin Hiccup will accidentally be shot by a wayward dragon and he'd be given the chance to become next in line for Chief! (Of course, he was joking▬Valkyrie made sure he was joking!)

     After Snotlout came a pair of knuckleheads on a dragon with the same amount of heads that were▬for once▬not causing absolute destruction. The Twins: Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Sister and brother. Annoyance One and Annoyance two. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, narrow-faced (and by the gods very narrow minded!), they rode a Hideous Zippleback named Barf and Belch (respectfully, of course). They had many names, many troubling qualities and probably not even half of a brain between the four of them. They didn't even drop any water onto Gobber's house, they just passed on by, laughing at everyone's frantic work.

     Leading a pack of wild Deadly Nadders dived in Astrid Hofferson. From below, Hott watched her go with his mouth agape, absolutely enamoured. Now, she was one of the toughest young maidens on the isle, and if you told her otherwise, she will most certainly dunk you in Old Björn's Well! Her beauty was as sharp as the blades of her axe, or the glares she shot from her eyes, or the spikes on her armour, or the insults laced with dragon venom on her tongue. She spun around on a dragon just as stunning: a blue and burgundy scaled Deadly Nadder she called Stormfly. In her following, the entire group of Nadders dropped a waterfall onto the roof, practically dousing the fire before the last two of the group could even get their input.

     That didn't stop the eager sixteen-year-old girl and her blue, white and yellow patterned Windstriker, Zephyr. Upon that Windstriker's saddle with her brows furrowed in concentration, her auburn hair flying back in a flower-filled braid and diving through the night sky like it was her own personal kingdom ... was Valkyrie. She may be quite the lover of flowers, but don't let that fool you. There was Astrid aggressive, and then there was Valkyrie aggressive. She may not brandish her weapon much, or threaten to throw Vikings into wells (unless you really annoy her), but she was the kind of scary that made you beg for your life before she even opened her mouth. They didn't call her Valkyrie the Vicious for nothing.

    (But▬of course▬Valkyrie was never one to toot her own Terrible Terror).

    Her Windstriker, Zephyr, dropped the last needed burst of water onto Gobber's house, and the flames dwindled to nothing. She looked over her shoulder, shooting a thumbs up to the Viking that swooped in beside her.