Dragon's Slave (HTTYD Fanfic)

Chapter Eleven: Veraldai Remembers

The air thundered with the cacophony of beating wings and furious roars as the two dragon armies coalesced, both banding together in a huge spread of glittering scales, flashing teeth and spurts of flame. In front of the Berkian dragons was Comet, her midnight hide glowing blue with the power of the Alpha Female. Her influence was so strong that every so often, one or two dragons from the opposing side- their minds weakened by the Mindling- would fly over and join their ranks.

Above the mass, Greenflare flapped his huge orange wings alongside Stormfly, the two dragon's respective riders glared down at the army before them.

"There are way more dragons here than there ever were on Berk," commented Astrid, running one finger over her axe. "Not to mention all of them seem kinda weird. Like they're under the control of something."

"There's an ulterior force here." mused Hiccup, absentmindedly stroking Greenflare's emerald ruff.

"Odin knows what it is," responded the blonde viking. "Right now, it looks as if Vera's not about to show her face, so I think we should wait a bit. That gives us time to reorganize. That reminds me, Hiccup... What happened to Toothless?"

Hiccup grimaced, remembering the look his best friend had given him before he shot into the sky. "Vera... Made a dragon kidnap one of his hatchlings. Flashfang, I think. Toothless ran off after them."

"Will he be coming back?"

"Eventually, I think... After all of these other dragons are let loose from whatever's holding them. It might be Veraldai herself, but I doubt she could keep this many dragons under such strict control. She was acting very strange, before she took over Berk."

"Yeah... That wandering viking, you know, the one we found who had escaped with his Terrible Terror, he updated me on what had happened."

"We were lucky to find him," said Hiccup. "If we hadn't, we never would have found this place."

Greenflare suddenly dipped, yawing in the air before righting himself and giving a little wriggle from head to tail, steadying his hover. Hiccup worriedly examined the dragon and saw that his side was heaving and his thick purple tongue was dangling outside his jaws. A quick glance at Stormfly told him that the Nadder was in no better condition.

"Our dragons are getting tired." said Hiccup. "If we're going to do something, it should be now."

Luckily, at that moment, the commander of the other side appeared.

Vera stood on the back of a broad Changewing, the crimson hide of the beast heaving in and out with deep breaths. Her black hair blew wildly in the wind like tendrils of shadow, curling around her delicate face. From across the no-man's-land, her glass-green eyes caught Hiccup's own, and he caught something in her eyes so small he could barely detect it at all.

It was fear.

Then she threw her head back and roared, and the battlefield erupted into chaos.

*****

Vera threw herself off the Changewing's back when the two sides collided, spreading her cloth-wings wide in the turmoiled air. She dashed and danced around the thrashing forms of dragons as they tore at each other with colossal roars and slashes of deadly talons. Their tails nearly clipped her a few times, and occasionally she could hear over the din the mighty roar of the female Night Fury, but eventually she made it to the earth.

She practially collapsed when she hit the ground, her legs swaying dangerously as she fought to keep her balance. Ever since she had found the medallion on Berk, her real self had been attacking the barriers around her mind. It was almost hopeless- the Mindling was incredibly strong- but Vey was no shrinking violet either. Now, as she stood on the crag of the fiery mountain, she felt as if the chains were weakening. Only a tiny amount of the mental block kept her from herself, yet for all she clawed at it, it did no good. The walls held firm.