I Am Dragonblood: Secret Uncovered {Book Three} (HTTYD Fanfic)

Chapter Thirteen - Fort of the Deathgrippers

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'Deathgripper!'
    The scream cut through the air like a Timberjack through a sapling, alerting the Vikings into battle ready mode. 
    Astrid sprinted towards the yell, getting there in time to see a green Deathgripper, a blue Nadder and a reddish-brown Stormcutter land. Figures slid off of them, recognisable slim people with wings. 
    'Stormfly!' She and her dragon rushed to each other, greeting their friend like they hadn't seen each other for weeks. 'Flitt? Valka?' She said over Stormfly's happy rawkings, staring at the tusked dragon. 'Why have you brought a Deathgripper back with you?'
    Flitt patted the dragon's head. 'He somehow broke free from Grimmel, so I befriended him.'
    'Right. And how did you esca- what's happened to Bolt?' Astrid asked, noticing the Night Terror standing utterly still. 
    'Um, she accidentally got hit by a dart.'
    'Oh,' was all Astrid said. 
    Valka came over to her and put her hand on Astrid's shoulder, leading her a little way from the crowds. 'I've found where Hiccup is,' she said, her expression one of concern. 'I met Flitt when I was heading to Berk and she told me Grimmel was travelling northwest. I tracked him to his base, where I saw him corralling Hiccup and the others into his fort.' Valka looked Astrid in eye pleadingly, green irises to blue. 'We have to do something, Astrid. Anything.' 
    Astrid nodded. 'I'll gather the gang and head over. Anyone who kidnaps Hiccup has my axe to answer to.'
    'I'll come with you.'
    'No. Valka, stay here. You and Cloudjumper have been flying for most of the day.'
    'Hiccup is my son,' Valka said. 'I am going no matter what.'
    The Hofferson huffed. She knew she wasn't going to completely change the Dragonblood's mind, but she could alter it slightly. 'We will attack tonight, under cover of darkness. Please go and rest, Valka. You will need strength for later'
    Valka reluctantly agreed, knowing it was for the best, and moved off to find something to eat, Cloudjumper trailing behind her wearily. 
    Astrid watched her go, making sure that Hiccup's mother and the Stormcutter got food before she went to find the gang. She found them in the same place they had first landed, having an argument about whose house was going where. Quickly she told them her plan, assigning roles to each of them and telling them they would leave just before dusk. 
    'Shall I come with you?'
    Astrid turned to see Flitt standing beside a Titan Flightmare, her wings blending almost perfectly with his white scales. 'It'd be best if you stay here. You have your Deathgripper to take care of and Bolt to keep in check.' She glanced at the small Night Terror, who was still standing stock still in the same place as earlier. 'Plus I don't want you to get captured again.'
    'Fair enough,' the white haired girl said. 'But I'll be ready if you need me.' She also looked at the Terror, who now had a pinkish Hobgobbler staring at her. 'Do you think she'll snap out of it soon?'
    'I don't know,' Astrid replied, waving a hand in front Bolt's eyes. 'No reaction, so might be a while yet.'
    'Hmmm,' Flitt gazed at the Terror thoughtfully, a glint flashing in her eyes. 
    'Right,' Astrid muttered, recognising the look. 'I'm just going to... See ya.'

***

The waning moon peeked over the edge of a cloud, its silver light playing eerily on the skull figureheads of the ships. On silent wings five dragons swooped down, circling a fortress of stone once before letting their humans off and vanishing back into the night. The people scattered, creeping into the foreboding fort as stealthily as their dragon scale armour would allow. 
    Astrid ran swiftly and quietly down a corridor, her shoes tapping softly on the rock floor. She came to a corner and cautiously peered around, a sconce with a flaming torch on the wall lighting her skin and a metal cell door. In the flickering shadows of the cell a figure stood, his green eyes staring straight ahead and auburn-brown hair ruffling  in a slight breeze. 
    'Hiccup?' Astrid asked, approaching the cell. 
    Hiccup's eyes focused on her and he smiled, teeth glinting in the firelight. 'Hey, Astrid.'
    'Save it for later,' Astrid hissed, fumbling the heavy latch. 'We're getting you out first. Where are the others?' She looked behind him as he stiffly walked out of the cell, seeing only darkness. 
    'I don't know,' he replied, stretching his wings. 'We were separated when we came in here. I was put in here first and the others were led further in.'
    The blonde Viking grabbed his arm and began dragging him down the corridor, her grip firm. 
    'Whoa, Astrid, stop!' Hiccup pulled back, his metal foot shrieking on the stone. Both of them froze at the sound it caused, holding their breath as they listened. 'It's a trap,' Hiccup hissed into the silence. 'Why else would he lay the fort out like this?' He pulled her back the way they'd come, but a terrible scraping, scuttling, clicking sound echoed down the tunnel, fast approaching. 'Ok, your plan's better.' They turned and ran, racing through the narrow tunnel and into a round open space that had wooden beams crossing back and forth. They saw the twins and Skelly higher up on a platform, waving to Snotlout and Fishlegs down below. 
    'Son! Astrid! Up here!' Valka called. She was crouched on a beam, her four wings outstretched and half concealed in shadow. 'Behind you!'
    They turned and leapt back just as a barbed tail thunked between them, yellow, slitted eyes following it out of the tunnel. The Deathgripper slashed out with a mantis like claw, forcing Hiccup to take flight to avoid being skewered. All around the room clicking could be heard as more Deathgrippers appeared, six of them in total. 
    A sharp whistle brought the entranced dragons to a halt, also freezing Hiccup and Skelly for a moment. From below laughter emanated, amplified by the rock walls and height of the roofless fort. 'You think you can just sneak in here without being noticed?' Grimmel emerged from the shadows, his pale skin ghostly and white wings spread behind him. 'Well, there you are mistaken, oh great chief and tribe. No one gets past my Deathgrippers. No one can creep past me. No one can defy the true Alpha.'
    The rattle of heavy chains chinked above, sending a cold shiver down Hiccup's spine. One glance told him what he feared, that a chain net had been stretched over the fort, the gaps to small for a Viking to squeeze through. 
    'None of your precious dragons are here to save you now. Without them, you are nothing.' Another whistle and the Deathgrippers charged, spraying acid at anything that moved, including each other. Hiccup flapped up and saw Skelly helping Snotlout and Fishlegs up to the higher beams, where Valka and the twins were already crouched, ready and alert. He grabbed Astrid's arm and pulled her up, pitching down once as a red wing nearly crushed them. 
    'Where are the others?!' He yelled when Astrid had scrambled onto the beam. 
    'I don't know! We found only Skelly and Arianwen,' Valka said over the groaning of metal as Cloudjumper caught hold of the net, pulling it up with almighty strength. 'We have to get out of here!'
    'No!' Hiccup hollered, dropping around five foot. A spidery dragon's tail struck the wood where he had been only a moment before. 'I am not leaving them!'
    'Hiccup! We can't do anything!' Astrid called down, shoving Fishlegs through the wavering gap in the net. 'Get back up here!'
    'I cannot le—,' he was cut off by a Deathgripper's claw striking his wing, smashing him back into the stone wall. Its tail came down and the ivory coloured spike ripped through his wing membrane, pinning him in place. Its claws and tusks followed, sharp tips tearing ragged holes in his green tinged black scales. He screamed from the pain and punched the dragon in its yellow eye, something he never would have done unless in a situation like this. The Deathgripper snarled and reared back with a sweep of its red wings, yanking its tail from the wall and freeing the Dragonblood. Hiccup spread his bloodied wings and tried to glide, feeling the holes tear further. 
    He landed heavily on a beam, his wings shrieking in agony and his legs weak. With a look upwards he knew there was no way he was getting out, it was too high and there was nothing to climb up now that the acid had burned it some of the beams away. Valka was fighting off a Deathgripper with her staff, the dragon edging her back towards the wall and further away from her son. 
    A bright purple blast exploded over the deranged dragon and toppled it from the air, wings flailing. With a surge of pain Hiccup was lifted from the beam and up to the slowly closing gap in the net, the swift wingbeats of the white dragon carrying him making short work of diving through. There was a clank behind him as the net was released, along with the horrible clicking, snarling, growling mess of Dragontongue that was the venom-induced language of the Deathgrippers. 
    Arianwen gently placed him on Stormfly's back behind Astrid, the Nadder's scales warm and dry beneath his hands. He looked over to the Light Fury and nodded his thanks, but she seemed too preoccupied to notice, her red and blue eyes dark. 
    'Hiccup...' Astrid started. 
    He leant against her strong back, dizzy from a wave of pain from his injured wings. 'Later,' he muttered. He dared not look at his wings, afraid of what damage he would find. Instead he shut his eyes, his mind thinking only of the Dragonbloods who were left behind and of his best friend, Toothless, who was never far from his thoughts, wondering if they were all relatively safe. 

    Unnoticed by dragons, Dragonbloods and humans alike, a huge white beast surged through the sea, tracking the shapes above. His part wings, part fins, useless for flying but excellent for swimming, propelled him though the water easily and his familiar pale eyes watched, sharp and piercing even through the late night murk.

1720 words.