Night Rider

Back to Kreak

-Hiccup's Pov-

We zoomed speedily over the thrashing waves. I was lying flat on Toothless's back and he had his head down and his body in the straightest line possible to gain maximum speed over the water towards Kreak. I never thought I'd go there again after the first affair, and if it hadn't erupted yet, I would be in massive danger, and so would Astrid, Toothless and Stormfly. My mind kept wandering back to my nightmare - it was almost exactly like this, and I just hope the ending wasn't the same. Just the thought of it brought a shiver down my spine and sadness to my heart, but I pressed my body closer to Toothless's to try and gain speed, even though I knew no-more would come.

"Come on, bud!" I said to him. He flapped his wings again and we gained a small burst of speed, but we soon slowed down again to Toothless's gliding speed, which was still extremely fast. The night started to turn a darker blue, then eventually fell into a navy colour at the cool night drew in.

"Half way, bud. We need to catch that girl!" I told him. My chest and legs were getting cramp, but I would risk my whole life for the girl I was falling for.

She just didn't feel the same way towards me, and I knew it. She bullied me for the first 15 years of my life, and now when she realised that I like her, she is acting like she likes me too, just so she can smash me and make me crumble, just like she used to when we were younger. But maybe... maybe there was something there... If there wasn't, she was a very good actor. And why waste the respect and position amongst your tribe just so you can bully soneone? Astrid wouldn't do that, right? And the way the gang were talking about her and reacted when I asked them where she was, it was obvious they thought that she liked me too, but did she truely?

After a little longer than 2 hours flying at full speed, I saw Kreak in the distance. It had deep, grey smoke rising from the crater of the snow-topped volcano, but you could tell it had recently erupted. Dark, solid lava had coated the island, raising it higher up from sea level by about half a metre. The dragons had flown back to it, and were walking briskly around the island as if nothing had happened and it didn't look like it was going to erupt again. Toothless crooned.

"I know, bud. I know." I said as we settled down on the volcanic island. I immediatly jumped off Toothless so he could have a rest and I looked around the island for any sign of Astrid or Stormfly. We hadn't passed them on the way, and we should have done because Toothless was much faster than Stormfly, but she may have stopped at a nearby island for a rest and would arrive here shortly, but I secretly hoped that she was safely on Berk. I took out the bottle of water from Toothless's saddle bag and downed a lot of it, but I saved some for the return journey and if I needed any waiting for Astrid. I threw a fish to Toothless and he ate it happily, swallowing it down in two large gulps.

Come, on, Astrid? Where are you? I thought as I watched the sky for an incoming Nadder and rider, but with no luck after about 10 minutes, I hopped back on Toothless's back and we began to circle the island. There seemed to be more dragons here than last time - an infestation of Night Terrors had joined the party as well as a surplus of Razorwhips, Zipplebacks, Fireworms, and Hotburples, but there was also the usual Monstrous Nightmares, Deadly Nadders and Gronkles, but with still no other Night Furies.

"Look for her, Toothless." I told my dragon. He sent off his super-sonic radar blast and it powered towards the island at speed. It hit the blackened land, then circled in every direction it could go in. He shot it a few times, then cooed sadly and I knew he had no luck. Suddenly, I thought hit me. Maybe she wasn't on the island, maybe she was in it. My breathing got heavier and the thought popped into my head and I steered Toothless towards the smoking volcano, which he first fought against, but soon complied and he zoomed down towards the nearest entrance. As we landed with a thud, I brought out Inferno and lit the sword, as there was a babble of Terrible Terrors chatting happily, blocking the entrance. Normally, I would try and bond with them, even if it was just enough to let me pass without them fireing at me, but I was so scared for Astrid and in a rush that I just barged through quickly and Toothless swatted them to the sides out of the way to let him pass too. Curiously, they didn't attack us and just went back to chatting at the tunnel entrance. This tunnel was slightly wider than the one we went down the first time I came to Kreak, so I hopped on Toothless's back to stop my feet from getting burned on the hot rock which made up the floor. Toothless took off immediatly, running quickly into the centre of the volcano.

The air was heavy, hot and dusty as we ventured further - even more so than last time - but I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve and continued the journey. If I found Astrid, it would all be worth it. Rocks and dust fell from the roof and tunnel walls as the whole volcano shook with anger, and a few times Toothless had to plasma blast a particually large boulder which was going to land on us or block our way. The tunnel seemed shorter than before too. It might have been because we took a more direct root to the center of the volcano, or it maybe because we were travelling faster because I was on Toothless, or both. We emerged into the large cavernous area where the heat of the volcano was over whelming and I was sweating furiously from head to toe and I let my eyes scan furiously the interior of the volcano, looking for the dazzling blue and gold Deadly Nadder with her equally as dazzling rider.

"Astrid!" I called out. My shakey voice echoed around the walls and no reply came. "Astrid!!!!" Toothless heard the distress in my voice as he took off, circling the walls of the volcano. As like last-time, there was an Eruptodon sitting on a ledge, stuffing its face full off the molten magma, but there was also a baby Eruptodon curled up my its legs, as well as Exterminators (they're in the books), and other dragons which I didn't really pay attention to due to the fact that I was searching for my crush. Toothless sent out an super-sonic call again, and as before, no luck.

I started to fear the worst. What happens if I am too late? What happens if she arrives and the volcano erupts as soon as she does? What happens if she... dies? What happens if I die? However, the next part of my nightmare was nagging at the back of my mind and as I desparately wanted to get out of here, and I desperately wanted my nightmare to not come true, so I called Astrid again, with no luck, then I urged Toothless to the crater of the volcano. He willingly flew straight up, towards the coolness of the night and I urged him furiously.

What happens if I was too late? What happens if she is already dead?

Suddenly, the lava below me started to churn and bubble and every single dragon in the volcano's belly flew upwards too, following our pursuit. I heard the defening roar of a beast below me and I cautiously looked down, knowing that I wouldn't like what I saw. Just like my nightmare, a Red Death was coming from the depths of the magma, its eyes hungry and teeth thirsty for blood, and it cascaded its huge boulder-like tail around the cavernous space, smashing into the rock walls and causing stalactites to fall like arrows into the bubbling liquid.

"Quick, Toothless!" I screamed as a school of dragons blocked our path to the freedom of the night. Toothless shot an infuriated plasma blast at them, and they separated quickly, allowing a small space where Toothless shot through. We blasted into the cool night, and I let out a breath so I could breathe in the refreshing air. We continued to fly upwards, away from the fiasco below and not a moment too soon as a huge slab of rock was fired from the volcano and missed Toothless and I by inches.

"Careful, bud!" I said to him as I looked down at the catasrophe blow us. At the mouth of the volcano, an extremely fat and ugly Red Death stood, roaring into the night sky. It had damaged claws and its teeth were yellow and specked with brown, dried blood. Its body was a deep shade of green and its eyes were a firery yellow, staring in all directions and its tail was smashing the volcano below it to splinters. Toothless had flipped in the air and was now flying straight to Berk - I hoped that if we were going to meet Astrid, that is where she will be and not in... Valhalla. I stole another look behind me. The Red Death was stomping all over it's lava covered island with a swarm of dragons circling its head. I never even thought about fighting it, especially after what happened last time I tried to kill one of them. That time I had been lucky to escape with just a missing limb, but I may not be so lucky this time, and I had more sense than to attack it. Maybe I was wrong and Astrid had just taken a night flight? Maybe she was safe on Berk now, sleeping and dreaming happy dreams, her friends looking after her. Maybe Snotlout was with Gothi (I'd love to see that!) getting his wounds from our fight checked out.

I turned my attention back to where I was going, but I could still hear the wails of the gaggle of dragons behind me, riled-up by the Red Death. I started to wonder.

What had I done?!

What do you think's going to happen?