The 'Dragon Master'

Ways Of War

The dragons take off. Stylive and I take the lead, Hiccup and Toothless right behind us. All the others who are coming stay behind us humans.

We move in formation, spinning and twisting almost in a dance to narrowly avoid obstacles. Luckily our guests seem able to keep up with our manoeuvres.

It isn't long before we fly through the last exit available, which is my most hidden one of all as well as the hardest to get to. I only use it for emergencies like this if it can be helped. It's on the other side of the island, so we don't need to worry about the hunters finding a way in.

We all move up and into the air, but don't fly too high in case we're seen. I go first, Hiccup with me.

"Well it looks like I was right to head out to trade, clearly I had more than one reason," I say to the dragon hunters, catching their attention instantly. One in particular let's out a low chuckle and I scowl.

"Dragon Master! How lovely of you to show up!" I just send him a deadly glare. "Want to end up like Slate, then be my guest. It's just that it would be such a shame to get blood all over the place. I always thought this was a nice island to fly over, maybe meet a few wild dragons from time to time."

He smirked. "Of course, you won't be seeing any wild dragons here anymore. Or trained ones either, once we cage up that pretty little thing you're riding on."

"You'll have to kill me first," I snarl furiously. Stylive snaps out her tail spines, aggravated by the way she was being talked about. "Well that's looking a lot more likely now," Balkor states as though he had the upper hand in this.

"Well how about killing the Dragon Master, a future Chief and a Night Fury?" Hiccup questions to him. Toothless let's out a fierce growl. The dragon hunters finally notice them and a few pale slightly.

Balkor's eyes merely light up.

"The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself... it will be a pleasure to end its entire kind with one blow." Toothless roars again, trying to scare them into submission.

"I've figured out your secret, Dragon Master," Balkor says to me, a triumphant smirk still plastering his face. "Which one?" I question, cocking an eyebrow, not believing a word.

"You train Night Furies, don't you?"

"Night Furies? As far as I'm concerned the only Night Fury currently alive is right next to me," I scoff, though secretly I'm wondering if he could possibly know about Nightshade and the eggs.

"You need acting lessons, Dragon Master," he stated. "I know there are Night Furies at your sanctuary. Hundreds, in fact. Your island is the key to their very existence. What I wouldn't give to slaughter them all."

I pale, though I'm not scared. Let's see how he likes my acting skills now. "You... you're wrong." He just laughs. It's a cruel, sickening laugh, the kind that shows just how spiteful and cruel one can be.

"Oh, I think I've hit it spot on."

"Fine, though it looks like I'll have to erase your memories," I snap. "Now I'll give you one last chance to free all those dragons unharmed before I strike and bring all of my partners in and unleash hell upon you all that the gods could only dream of."

The bola that flies at us is the first sign that they don't care for my words. The war cries that echo throughout the hunters is the second. The third is when the hunters all start fighting the wild dragons yet again.

I let out a low whistle.

Everyone stops again, even the wild dragons, and things fall silent apart from my call. Hundreds of eyes turn to me and more begin creeping behind my back, steadily but swiftly increasing in number.

My dragon partners all rise up behind me, flankling my every move, waiting to receive orders. I smile slightly at the reactions I receive. "Harmony," I say. The Death Song starts singing her favourite tune, captivating all the wild dragons. My own partners are used to her specific call by now thanks to hearing it so often.

The wild dragons start flying towards her, hypnotised. So does Toothless since he had only heard the call once before, but I don't worry about that for now. I've got bigger fish to fry.

"Skyvolt."

Lightning crackles down from the clouds, striking the space between us and the hunters. The Skrill shrieks ferociously, letting the hunters know that she is ready to fight.

"Toxtail!" I shout to end my little show. Immediately Toxtail and his fellow Speed Stingers rush at the hunters, all mere blurs along the ground. Hunters are becoming paralysed left, right and centre, but it doesn't last long before Balkor grunts and yells for an attack.

Then all chaos reigned free.

China began slithering at the hunters, slapping them with her tail to coat them in poison. Volcana flies around taking dragon root arrows when the others are about to get hit by them. I don't approve of this trick but at least it means the dragon root isn't having a chance to take effect.

Harmony released Toothless from his trance, probably by ordering him to obey only Hiccup, and the wild dragons were now on our side, fending off hunters with blasts of lava, flammable gas and magnesium fire to name a few. The dragon hunter's numbers were quickly starting to thin where they were being killed, knocked out or were fleeing.

I leap down from Stylive's back, slide down Harmony's poised wing and land on the ground. Unsheathing my blade, I slice at hunters whenever they try to take a dragon down.

It's clear that the numbers are even, which works deeply in our favour thanks to the help of all the different abilities of the dragons. I stab at more hunters, each expertly placed strike landing a fatal blow.

I think we're doing well here.