Birth of Dragons Edge

The Nest

A/N: Just imagine the characters pictured above in their Race To The Edge attire. 

Astrid pov:

I chewed my lip nervously. I only hoped that Hiccup wouldn't notice I had taken the map to Helheim's gate and follow us. "Ready girl?" I asked Stormfly. I patted the scaly reptilian skin and nodded to Heather. We took to the air, Windshear slicing through the air. 

We rode for over three hours at top speed until we reached the mists of Helheim's gate. All of a sudden Heather let out a cry of despair and I whipped around to find her trapped in a net struggling in the water, Windshear trapped as well. A large shape appeared out of the mist and I covered my face with my arms just as we fell into the water. I gradually lost consciousness until I was pulled onto a hard surface, before finally passing out.

Hiccup pov:

I was just finishing up the Armory and forge, the main building part ready to function when I noticed something was wrong. Very wrong. Astrid and Heather hadn't reported back in yet. I went down to the clubhouse and noticed that the copy of the book of dragons was open. I walked over and I paled when I saw that the map to Helheim's gate was gone. 

"TOOTHLESS!" I roared at the top of my lungs. The Nightfury came bounding down as fast as he could. I blew the roll horn and all around the Island Dragons came as fast as they could fly. I took to the air after gathering armour and weapons. I had hoped to be more prepared before meeting the Dragon Queen and on my own terms. It seems as if time had run out to prepare and the battle was just beginning.

Me and attack forces one through four raced towards Helheim's gate, while attack group five comprising of slower dragons followed us from a distance. As we approached the veil of mists that hid Helheim's Gate I swallowed. 

The Dragon Queen wasn't the only thing here at Helheim's gate. "Look Toothless! A Viking fleet, and by the markings and colours of the sails, I would say that's Berk's fleet!" A class ten boulder dragon, colored red, a true death bringer. The Red Death. 

I swallowed down my fear and banked on an attack run, with attack groups three and four circling overhead. I twisted the rudder this way and that to avoid rocky crags and claw-like spires. Toothless let out a plasma blast and the Viking longboat exploded, splinters flying into the rocks and foam lashing the claw rocks. 

The Red Death was getting annoyed and the rest of the Vikings gathered on the beach started to retreat back to the boats. A man ran out in front of the Vikings and held them back, as the Red Death let out a massive fireball that blanketed the fleet. 

Toothless turned his head toward one of the ships and banked hard. "Woah, Toothless, what is it?" I patted Toothless head reassuringly. Toothless warbled and I saw a cage on the deck of one of the burning ships. My blood froze like a mid-winter ice storm. Astrid and Heather were locked in a cage, trying desperately to unlock the cage, while Windshear and Stormfly were also locked in cages on another ship. Windshear managed to get her tail free and sliced open her cage, before going over the burning wood to free Stormfly.

Toothless glided in and landed on the prow of the ship, I slipped down and unsheathed Inferno. "How dare you run off to fight the Dragon Queen without me. We live together, we train together, we-" My rant at Astrid and Heather was cut short by the Chief of Berk, my Father, Stoick jumping between me and the cage. "Die together?" Stoick raised his sword and brought it down, I barely had time to jump backwards and I saw the tip go down into the wooden hull. 

I unsheathed my dagger and tossed it to Astrid. I ducked again as Stoick chased after me again and again, his frantic swipes backing me to the rear of the boat, before running into a hard surface. I was cornered. This was it. "Back off, Stoick." Astrid's voice rang clearly through the flames and smoke. Stoick stood stock still, the inferno of burning ships illuminating his face in a red glow and setting off his red beard and hair. He turned around lowering his sword to face Astrid and Heather. "How do you-" He broke off as he saw Astrid's feature's clearly for the first time. He turned his head to look at me, a shocked disbelieving expression on his face.