Fire and Ice | HTTYD Fanfiction [Book One]

Chapter Nineteen ~ It's Begun

Adira

      Ice dragons. The enemies were carrying ice dragons to fight Berk's fire-breathers because they knew well by now not to fight fire with fire. 

      The Berkians found this out about a day after Iris and I uncovered the fact that they were coming. The only issue was that absolutely no one knew what to do. We had no idea what kind of dragons they were housing, and we couldn't investigate because then they would be aware that we knew they were coming.

      When we had gathered in the Great Hall to discuss strategy, we came out empty-handed. Eventually, Stoick had cried, "oh, let Adira handle it. She always seems to have a good instinct."

      That comment had left me momentarily proud, but that pride quickly turned into dread and frustration. We had no plan, no clues to their attack, and scarcely any notice ahead of time. But since Stoick was the chief, there was little I could say in my defense. So I settled with, "so you're putting me in charge?"

      "Temporarily," he replied and stalked from the hall. I folded my arms angrily and stomped over to the dragon pack.

      "Tidal Class dragons, choose two of yourselves to try and find the position of the underwater fleet. The rest of you, go warn the other ocean inhabitants of the danger. Tell them to pass the word." I instructed the sea dragons. They all nodded in assent and flawlessly dove into the big blue. "Fire breathers..." I turned toward the remainder of the pack, "prepare yourselves, that's all."

      It was the day that the Outcasts, Conquerers, and Berserkers rose from the ocean's depths and threw down their anchors when I realized how unprepared we were. "Use your instinct like Stoick said," I repeated aloud as I flew in, concealed by the clouds.

      Fight their ice with fire! I shouted in the brains of every citizen of Berk. I'll try to find out what kind of magic they have.

      I turned myself invisible and invincible, so if someone did see me out, they couldn't physically assault me.

      I landed softly on the ship which was much bigger up close than my view of it the previous day. It could probably hold around three dragon packs. Wonderful. Once I clambered down the rusty metal stairs into the base of the boat, I got a glimpse of what we were up against.

      There were rows upon rows of cells, each holding at least three individual dragons. And interestingly enough, every single one of those dragons were ice-spitters. As I made my way down to the center, I noticed that each crack and crevice of the boat was filled with a shiny water-like substance. It must have been what kept the water from coming in the inside of the ship. As for the deck; there must have been some magical force field that wasn't drowning the people onboard.

      Finally reaching the end of the ship, I saw out a shiny pearl white ball that was reflecting back not the boat, but some other land probably miles away. Common sense told me to investigate it, see if it was any threat. But instinct told me to get it as far away from Berk as possible. Use your instinct. I reminded myself.

      I clutched the ball in my claws and exited the boat as silently as possible. As soon as I was in the open air, I darted out to sea as fast as my wings could carry me, which ultimately was the speed of not only sound but light. In almost no time I estimated to have traveled 50 miles or so. I dropped the ball into the open sea and darted back toward Berk.

      When I arrived, I saw that all hell had broken loose. Dragons vs. dragons. Viking vs. Viking. I could see the twins trying to get close enough to the ship so they could coat it in gas, but every time they got close, an array of arrows drove them back. I wondered what to do. 

      Glancing at the arrows and armed crossbows, I got the idea of the fancy one I'd gotten for my birthday. Instinct told me that it was a good idea. Common sense told me there was no time. Instinct, instinct, instinct. I chanted mentally. I dove around and spotted Melanite in the crowd.

      "Melanite, I have an idea but I can't do it in dragon form!" I called to him. He gave a slightly puzzled look, I could do pretty much anything in dragon form, but obediently nodded and flew with me back to my house.

      I changed into a human while running, which was somewhat of a challenge and grabbed the bow and quiver of arrows along with a saddle I received. I strapped it on him in what seemed to be impressive time since I'd never done it before and climbed on. Melanite leaped into the air and we circled the ship a few times before I asked him to light one of my arrows on fire.

      It only took a small burst of electricity to coax a good flame onto the tip of the slim arrow. I pulled back the bowstring and released the arrow that hit directly onto the deck of the wooden ship. It caught on and a few more flaming arrows made the whole thing go up. Men jumped from all sides,; the magic on the ship had kept them from putting out the fire. Talk about a backfiring plan. I thought.

      Melanite opened his large jaws and let a huge flow of lightning rain down on the water. All of those in the water were electrocuted. I turned my head away from the convulsing bodies and toward the three enemy leaders, who were huddled in a group and were whispering frantically. Eventually, Dimitrice shouted out, "There's no other way! Let's just call in the beast and flee!"

      "Alright, whatever," Dagur mumbled while Alvin kicked a rock in rage. They all uttered some ineligible words and I heard a roar out to sea. I was about to find out what was in that shimmering ball.

A/N: CLIFFHANGER SWAG! Also, this is the second to last chapter :0. But fear not, this is only the first book in the Fire and Ice series. More details will be posted in the next chapter.