━━ chapter eleven
journey to outcast island
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━━"Give it up, Heather," Valkyrie slammed the cell door shut with a clang! The girl inside it shuffled back onto her feet, breathless from having tried to escape Berk again only for her plan to be fooled by Val, Astrid and their dragons. "We have dragons."
"Val, Astrid, please," she begged, grabbing the metal bars. "I have to get back to Outcast Island."
"Yeah," Astrid rolled her eyes, jutting her hip out and blowing her bangs out of her face, "we bet you do."
"You don't understand!" she called after them as they started to leave. "Alvin has my parents!"
Val chuckled dryly, "Oh, the same parents who were attacked by pirates?" she arched a brow at her, and Heather hung her head. If Valkyrie wasn't so angry over what she had done, she might have noticed how━for once, she looked truly miserable.
"There were never any pirates," Heather sighed. "I made it up."
"Oh, that was a given," said Astrid.
"But I had to!" cried Heather, shaking the bars desperately. She looked like she might cry. "I needed you to trust me!"
"Well, guess what," Valkyrie spun back on her heel, heading to the door. She shot a final look over her shoulder to say, "we don't. Not anymore," and she and Astrid left her alone.
Meeting their dragons outside, the friends took off to the Academy where the others were practising tactics in their quest to regain the Book of Dragons off Alvin and the Outcasts. Valkyrie had a frown on her face the entire trip, holding her hand against Zephyr's neck for comfort. He purred up at her, worried and she managed a smile.
"I'm all right, boy, don't worry," she told him.
"What are you thinking about?" Astrid asked her, and Valkyrie briefly glanced at her as they took a left and dived down near the old arena.
"Just ..." Val sighed. "If Alvin has been looking for the Book of Dragons, it means he probably already has dragon's in his grasp. How many? What types? What if he's planning an attack right as we speak?"
"That's why we have got to be ready," said Astrid, coming to a glide right next to her. Zephyr and Stormfly shared a few squawks. "But we still have an advantage over Alvin. We know the Book of Dragons and the species it talks about better than he ever will. The Book can only get him so far."
She was right, but that didn't make Valkyrie feel any better. But she nodded anyway and dipped down through the entrance, coming to a stop by the wall and watching Snotlout pull back a large rock in the catapult for Fishlegs and Meatlug to catch in the air.
He let it go, and the rock tumbled towards the two of them. Fishlegs turned Meatlug around just in time and she swallowed it whole. "Hey!" cried Fishlegs, scowling down at Snotlout who snickered. "That was a little close, Snotlout!"
"Quit whining, Fishlegs!"
He narrowed his eyes, and Meatlug let loose the boulder she had swallowed, it now being molten lava that encased the catapult where Snotlout had just been. He screamed and ducked to the side. "HEY!" he yelled back up at them. "Cut it out!"
"Quit whining, Snotlout!"
Valkyrie rolled her eyes at them, slipping off her saddle and giving Zephyr a scratch under the chin. Hiccup approached the two boys and their dragons on Toothless, looking grim. Val adverted her gaze quickly, and she could feel the guilty glance Hiccup sent her. They were still on rough terms over what happened with Heather.
Hiccup pursed his lips and turned back to the others. "Nice job, guys. But remember, the Outcasts are not gonna be coming one at a time."
"You don't need to remind me," whimpered Fishlegs, hoveirng above. "We're under enough stress..."
"Remember," he went on, "we're only gonna have one shot at getting the Book of Dragons back."
"Um, did I not make myself clear about the stress?" Fishlegs and Meatlug buzzed past him, getting out of the way so the Twins and Barf and Belch could take the spotlight.
Ruffnut led the fray with a column of gas from Barf's open mouth, lining along the stone of the arena before her brother had Belch light it. The column headed straight for Snotlout and Hookfang, and the former screamed (again) and dived out of the way. Hookfang lit up in flames from snout to tail.
Astrid grumbled, finally setting down with Stormfly. "Too early, Snotlout!" she said. "We have to time it perfectly."
He glared at her. "It wasn't me," he said. "It was them━" he pointed at the Twins, who glanced at each other.
"Uh, sorry," said Ruffnut (not sounding apologetic at all).
"Yeah," added Tuff. "Still working out the kinks," he sniggered under his breath, which told Valkyrie that they weren't sorting out the kinks, they were doing it on purpose (you know, as usual).
Hookfang reared near Zephyr and Val, and she had to grab the straps of her dragon's saddle to keep him grounded. Angry, she snapped, "Would you please calm your annoying overheating oven down, Snotlout?!"
He scoffed, "Fine," he grumbled. "Whatever."
With a crack of his knuckles and a roll back of his shoulders, Snotlout charged Hookfang and leapt up over the fire. Grabbing hold of his dragon's horns, he used his weight and momentum to slam them right down onto the stone. Valkyrie blanched, alarmed, only to see the fire on his skin flicker away, and Hookfang to sigh━content━in the hold.
Seeing the look on her face, Snotlout smirked smugly. "Figured that one out yesterday. He likes it."
"Whoa━wait, wait, wait━" Fishlegs set Meatlug down and held up his hands for a time-out, "━he likes having his horns bent to the ground?"
"Tuffnut does," said Ruff, gesturing to her brother.
He frowned, "I do━ah!" his sister launched at him and threw them both to the ground. Presisng his face against the stone with the horns of his helment, he let out a pleasant sigh. "Oh, yeah. That does feel kinda nice ... the dirt's soft..."
"Oh, my gods━" Valkyrie had had enough of them. "Can we just get to it? There could be a whole army coming at us!"
Snotlout rolled his eyes, "Well━" he gestured to her and Astrid, "━we're waiting."
Valkyrie scoffed and mounted her dragon. Jumping into the air, she steadied them in the right spot ready for Stormfly and Astrid to send the signal. With a flick of her tail, spikes shot past them and Val shouted, "Heat-blast, Zephyr━now!"
He fired at the spines and they lit aflame, shooting past and nailing into the stone beside the twins. They let out breaths of awe. One landed in Tuffnut's helment. "Huh," he mused, glancing up at the flaming spike, "kinda like that, too. Make a note," he said to his sister.
Hiccup nodded, smirking, "That's gonna work great!"
"You know," said Fishlegs as the girls set back down, "all this training is nice once we have the Book, but Alvin's not just gonna hand it over."
"I've been thinking about that," stated Valkyrie, walking up to them. Crossing her arms, she stopped next to the two of them and said. "Alvin won't hand us the book, but━" she glanced at Hiccup, hoping he understood where she was going, "━he might hand it to Heather."
Fishlegs stared at her, incredulous. Leaning forward, he whispered to Hiccup, "Uh ... I think Valkyrie has been eating Dragon Nip again━Ow!" she elbowed him in the stomach. "Why is it always violence with you! I thought you were better than Astrid."
"Hey!" said girl punched him in the other side of the stomach, and Fishlegs buckled over.
"Point proven," he wheezed.
"It's not violence," Valkyrie set a hand on her hip, smirking. "It's a form of communication."
Hiccup frowned, "Wait━so you're suggesting we let Heather go?" she sighed, annoyed. No, apparently he did not get where she was going at.
"Gods, no," she scoffed. "Well, I mean ... sort of..."
Fishlegs stood up straight again to mumble, "Yep, Dragon Nip━AAHH!"
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━━"T━This is gonna work, right?" Fishlegs quivered beside the boat in the cover of the dark, watching Hiccup walk up to him with an armfull of provisions. He set the basket inside the rim, jaw set with his own worry. "C━Cause i━if it doesn't, well━Alvin's gonna know all our dragon secrets! And If Alvin knows all our dragon secrets━"
"Fishlegs!" he stopped him before the pudgy boy would faint in his anxiety. (It wasn't something they needed right now, especially Hiccup). "It'll work━" the reassurance was for him, too. He caught sight of a girl walking towards them, her hair now dark and to the side in a braid over her shoulders. "Oh, that must be━"
"Heather!" gasped Ruffnut.
Her brother threw his basket of fish down, "Get her!"
Hiccup's eyes widened. He held a hand out, "Wait━"
They didn't hear him, charging straight at the girl with no remorse. Jumping on her, they pinned her down, and the girl struggled with a glare that Heather didn't usually hold. "You━must━stay━in━your━cell!" Tuffnut kept her down with his sister's help as she kicked her legs. "How many times do we have to tell you?!"
She punched him right in the face and elbowed Ruffnut in the stomach, they fell back, and the girl was able to sit up. She swept her bangs out of her face, showing a set of eyes completely different to Heathers, and her voice was far from the girl's, too, seething, "It's me! You muttonheads!" said Valkyrie, pushing herself to her feet.
Tuffnut scrambled back up, watching her walk past with a, "Whoa ... urgh, sorry, Val━totally unconvincing."
"Oh, I could tell."
She took the map from Astrid and chucked it into the boat, swinging one leg over. Hiccup followed her, his shoulders heavy with worry. This was dangerous━very dangerous. Possibly far more dangerous than anything they've done so far (and they fought the Red Death). "Are you sure about this?" he asked softly, leaning forward in hopes no one else could hear.
Despite the rough tension between the two of them since their fallout around Heather, that didn't change the worry Hiccup held, and Valkyrie's shoulders slumped in realisation, her anger washing away, "No," she sighed, leaning against the rim to met his gaze. "But it's our only chance."
He pursed his lips, still not liking the idea at all. "We'll be shadowing you from above, okay?"
She frowned, going a little red. "I don't need shadowing."
"Y━Yeah, I know," Hiccup himself was a little pink at the cheeks. "But, just in case━you know━" he glanced back at the others and lowered his voice again. He knew they were trying to overhear, especially Astrid, who smirked to herself and muttered something to Ruffnut; an inside joke, most likely. "I━It'll make me feel better..."
Her cheeks reddened more, and Valkyrie tucked a strand of the charcoal-covered hair behind her ear. She looked really pretty with dark black hair, but Hiccup preferred the auburn much more. "O━okay," she muttered, suddenly very shy. "But just━" she scowled at him, trying to hide the blush across her nose, "━stay out of sight, all right? Don't need you lot to come in, have Alvin see you and ruin my plan."
He could see right through her, and it amused him. "Don't worry about us, all right? Just get the book and get out of there, we'll be waiting."
Valkyrie nodded. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but in glancing over Hiccup's shoulder at the others, she stopped, and stepped back further towards the mast. Fishlegs pushed her off shore, and the wind started to take her North towards Outcast Island.
Hiccup walked up to the shore and met her gaze yet again. Before she got too far away, he said, "Hey, Val━just, be safe, okay?"
She sent him a small smile before turning away, staring ahead at the horizon.
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━━Valkyrie hadn't wanted to show how nervous she was standing on the boat in front of everyone, but right now, gazing out towards the rocks of Outcast Island by herself, she was terrified. She glanced up at the dark morning sky, hoping to see a flicker of the others up above, but she didn't. She tried to not let it get to her, even though just the slight of Stormfly's wings, Toothless's tail, or even hearing Hookfang's snarl would have made her braver.
The map was dry in her fingers; it was old, something Hiccup hand wrangled from his father's books. It's been a while since the Outcasts and the Berkians got along.
"It's okay," she told herself, glaring up at the sharp rock formations that loomed past her as the boat continued to the shore. "You can do this. It's going to be okay."
There was a growl from above, and Valkyrie ducked with a gasp; overhead a Monstrous Nightmare swooped past her, his claws barely missing her hair. It felt strange to be back around hostile dragons when they lived happily on Berk now. Valkyrie watched it fly away up to the tops of the cliffs. She took a deep breath. It's okay━it's going to be okay.
The boat continued on, drifting to the rocky shore of Outcast Island. When it hit the earth, the boat jolted, and Valkyrie stumbled. Her nerves were putting her on edge; she needed to keep her head (and her balance).
Stuffing the map in the leather of Heather's jacket, she leapt off the boat━her boots scuffed the pebbles and sand, sinking in. In the darkness of the early morning, Outcast Island looked like Hel's palace━the jagged rocks protuding out like the jaws of old dragons that had long turned to stone.
Valkyrie took another deep, brave breath and forged onwards. She took a turn, trying to take in the right passage that was on the map. Not finding it, she went to check again, frowning at the parchment when she heard a raspy━
"We thought you'd been captured."
She hid her gasp this time, stuffing the map back in and spinning on her feet. Savage stood over, leering down with his yellowed teeth and at least five Outcast Vikings that Valkyrie had sworn hadn't been there before. All of them were armed with swords and crossbows; she fiddled with her bangs nervously as she thought of a lie. "I was," she decided, swallowing hard and trying not to turn her nose up from the stench Savage wore━like Terrible Terrors playing in yak dung. "B━but I got away."
Savage narrowed his eyes. He stepped up closer to her, and Valkyrie leaned back. "Well," he said, "it's good to see you safe and sound━" he turned back to the men, "━get rid of her."
"What?" Valkyrie stumbled back a little startled. Oh, this wasn't part of her plan. The men aimed their crossbows at her━there was no way she'd be able to dodge them all.
"We don't need you anymore," said Savage, laughing a little. He turned and went to leave, but Valkyrie held out a desperate hand━
"Wait━Savage, wait!" she gestured to herself, trying to keep her breathing steady. "You do need me! I can prove it━" she was thinking on her feet, finding a way to grab his attention━and then she found. "You have the Book, don't you?" she stepped forward, eyeing the crossbows the men hefted up higher at her movement. Savage glanced back, and she fought a grin. "I've watched them," she continued to approach him. "I've learned from them━trust me, that Book is only worth something if you know how to use it."
He met her gaze, and Valkyrie knew she had gotten through. She smirked at the grumble he made. "Fine. Let's see what Alvin has to say about your declaration," he led the way and Valkyrie followed. The men flanked her to make sure she didn't try to escape, and Valkyrie glanced up at the sky, wondering where the others were, and how they were fairing.
She was led through the rocky formations towards the centre of the island, where a dragon arena━much like the one they had at Berk━stood shabby and barely on its foundations. But inside, it was alive with Outcasts deserpately trying to tame the dragons inside; Valkyrie winced, looking away when the wild Winstriker sent a heat-blast to the Viking, and she heard his screams as he was burnt with scalding heat.
Descending a set of stairs, Valkyrie entered the caverns beneath; warm from the underground lava flow, she was glad for Heather's loose and flimsy leather attire. The last time Valkyrie had encourtered Alvin, he probably would have killed her━now, she just hoped he didn't recognise her face (even if she wore Heather's clothes and blackened her hair).
She saw him reading the Book of Dragons and in hearing them, he looked up, as gruff, dirty and menacing as Valkyrie remembered. Savage told him about Valkyrie's suggestion, and he curled his lip in disgust. Flicking the page, he muttered a rough, "Seems pretty straight forward, to me."
"It's anything but," said Valkyrie, stepping forward until Savage held her back in a meaty grip.
Alvin closed the book with a snap and eyed her under his bushy black brows. "If there's one thing I've learned," he leaned forward, growling like a rabid dog, "is that people will say anything to keep themselves alive. Isn't that right, Savage?"
He was quick to please, nodding along and snickering under his breath. Valkyrie arched a dubious brow at him. "Right! A━As usual, Alvin!"
Alvin chortled, "See?" he gestured a hand to his lackey before standing up. He approached Valkyrie, and while every muscle in her body made her want to step back; to run, she kept her ground. "Now you say I need you to interpret what's in this book?" he held the Book of Dragons in her face. "To use it properly. I say, it's nothing but a ploy."
"All right, then, fine," said Valkyrie, crossing her arms. She kept her voice high in her best Heather impression. She nodded to the wild Deadly Nadder his men were having trouble containing to their right. "Give it a try."
Alvin gritted his teeth, but she just kept her face straight, to the point it annoyed him so much that he did as she said. Chucking the book to a nearby Outcast, he said, "You heard the girl!" he dropped his weapons, catching it in his hands and flicking nervously through the pages.
"Uh ..." Valkyrie propped a hand on her hip, watching him glance nervously back and forth between the Nadder and the Book. He took a few cautious steps towards it. "All right, uh ... Seems easy enough. Oh, um ..." he shrunk up in his skull shoulder pads. "What kind of dragon is this?"
Alvin rolled his eyes in annoyance. Val smirked, crossing her arms, "It's a Deadly Nadder," she told the Viking. "Do you want the page number as well?"
"Er━uh━no━I've got it━right here━" he took a deep breath, reading aloud like a infant, "Deadly Nadder: likes to preen, very sure of itself━uh, constant grooming," he glanced up at the dragon that nipped at its talons to clean them. "Um, all right, it'll appeal to it's vanity."
(Much like one of its riders━wait, did Valkyrie say that? Sorry, Astrid...)
Alvin grumbled, impatient. Valkyrie smirked to herself; her plan was starting to jump back into motion. Soon enough, she'll get the book, and she'll get back to the others, and they'll be out of here.
The Outcast Viking stepped forward yet again, stumbling over his words, "Uh━well━you're━er━ah━certainly are a lovely girl━" the dragon squawked, peering at the man with slitted eyes, "━or━uh━are you a handsome boy?" he chuckled nervously. "W━Who can tell?"
The dragon had had enough, and flicked its tail. Valkyrie gasped and jumped forward. In a roll, she grabbed the Viking's fallen shield and skidded into place in front of him, blocking the Nadder's spike with the wood. Standing up, she threw it back to Alvin and it clanged at his feet.
"Like I said," Valkyrie flung the bangs from her eyes, smug at the look on his face. "The Book can only get you so far, Alvin."
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When she returned up above ground, she saw the sun had risen━she frowned at it's placing. She only had an hour to meet up with the gang. She had to hurry this along━she needed to grab the book and get out of there. She was shoved in through the gates, and with a glare, Valkyrie spun around to hold out her hand towards Alvin.
He growled, cearly unhappy how she had proven him right. "What is it?!"
"The Book; I need it," she answered simply. At his suspicious glance, Val rolled her eyes. "What? I didn't memorise it."
Alvin wasn't happy about it, but he dropped the Book in her arms. Valkyrie stared at it for a second━she's gotten it back; she did it━until Savage shoved her inside the ring and slammed the gate shut. Valkyrie scowled after them, but sighed, and turned to face the opposite cage door.
She took a deep breath. I can do this, I can do this━she hugged the Book close to her chest. "Please be a Windstriker," she prayed in a desperate whisper, "please be a Windstriker, please be a Windstriker, please, Odin, please━"
The cage doors burst open with a flurry of flames━covering tail, to wing, to snout of a yellow and purple Monstrous Nightmare; the one dragon she never cared to know anything about. (What? It was Snotlout's dragon, isn't that explanation enough?).
Valkyrie's shoulders slumped. Seriously, Odin?! What did I ever do wrong to you? "Oh, great." Growling, she flipped to the Monstrous Nightare page, skimming quickly over the words with neverous flickers of glances up to the dragon circling around her, checking her out as a threat.
"Well?" Alvin called from above, sounding so much like Snotlout it annoyed her. "I'm waiting."
She grit her teeth but turned her attention onto the Monstrous Nightmare. She clenched her fists and squared her shoulders. "All right, buddy, it's you and me." Okay, what would Hiccup do? She wondered, stepping carefully towards the creature, holding out her hands to let him know she held to weapons. Oh, he'd do the Hand Thing, right, of course━
Valkyrie swallowed her fear and held out her hand to the Monstrous Nightmare, the Book still hooked up under her arm. "It's okay, boy," she murmured as he snarled at her, "I'm not going to hurt you━whoa!"
He burst back into flame, the gust of wind it caused sending Valkyrie skidding back on the ground. She rolled out of the way, glaring at the dragon. "Great," she grumbled. "Now I know how Snotlout feels..." Pushing herself back onto her feet, she charged the dragon. "I guess we'll do a more forward approach━yah!"
She leapt onto his tail, wrapping her arms around it and trying to keep it still as it yanked her back and forth. She wanted to climb up onto his back, but the Monstrous Nightmare just threw her off like a bug. Valkyrie hit the wall, and slumped to the ground.
"This isn't anything my soldiers haven't already tried!" shouted down Alvin, and she scowled up at him. "You'll need to do better!"
"Ugh!" Valkyrie shook the dizziness away and leaned forward. "The one time I wish Snotlout was here..."
It hit her━
"Snotlout!" she breathed in exclamation, suddenly grinning at the Monstrous Nightmare to the point it stopped in his path, surprised by her change of attitude. She jumped back onto her feet. "Let's do this, buddy━" and ran right at him.
The dragon snarled and ran to meet her halfway, but Valkyrie was ready. Using the momentum, she pushed herself up into a soaring jump to grab the Monstrous Nightmare by the horns. He roared, rearing his head back and forth, but Val clung on, gritting her teeth and trying not to bite her tongue right off.
"Urgh━come on!" she told him, trying to push the horns to the ground. "Stop━being━stubborn━and━like━me━" The dragon charged to the wall, Valkyrie rolled her eyes and braced herself. She placed one foot against his snout, keeping it closed as they hit the wall. Her back seared in pain, but she pushed against his horns, keeping him from crushing her against the stone.
"These━things━don't━budge━!" seethed Val, glaring right into the Monstrous Nightmare's eyes, determination flickering to his own━they locked gaze, and Val saw him stop, frowning at the recognition of his own feelings in hers. Val smiled, yes. He let her push him back, still transfixed, and Valkyrie fixed her grip. Twisting her body, she slammed her weight down━his horns hit the ground, and he sighed out, content.
Valkyrie had to admit━he was very cute. She smiled at him, giving him a scratch on the snout. He grinned happily up at her, hanging his forked tongue out and giving his tail a wag.
"What?!" exclaimed Alvin before letting out a boastful laugh. "I told you she knew what she was doing!" he told Savage who sighed.
"Yes," he grumbled, rolling his eyes, "you certainly did..."
Valkyrie scrunched her face at the Monstrous Nightmare, and said, "Come on, buddy, let's get out of here, yeah?"
With that said, she hopped up onto his neck and picked up the Dragon Book. The Monstrous Nightmare stood back up, stretching his wings. She needs a name for him ... How about Valerian? That's a nice flower name for him.
The doors burst open, and a group of Outcasts came to attack. Valkyrie grit her teeth, held the dragon's horns and shouted, "Valerian! Fire!"
Realising it was him, Valerian glared at the men and shot a column of flame that sent them scrambling back in the caverns. He looked up at the rider expectantly and she laughed. "Yes! Yes, good job, Valerian! I'm proud!" He gave her another smile and she guided him to the open door.
"Going somewhere, Heather?" Alvin called down, and she glared back up at him.
"As far away from this place as possible!" snapped Valkyrie.
"Without your parents?"
The question caught her off guard. Next to Alvin, a pair of Vikings walked up to the ring with Savage's sword pointed at their back. They clung onto each other, trembling in eachother's arms. A man and a woman━a mother and a father.
Valkyrie's stomach lurched. "Oh, gods," she breathed. "Heather wasn't lying..."
Alvin sneered through the bars, "I might see my way clear to trading 'em for that book!" he said. "Or you can leave and I'll kill 'em!"
Val clenched her jaw, but hopped of Valerian. She nodded up at Alvin, and he smirked. No matter what Heather did, she couldn't let her parents die. It all made sense now. She hadn't been lying to her in the cell━she did all of this in fear that Alvin would kill them. Gods, why didn't she say something? (Why would she? She didn't trust them, especially with Valkyrie out to get her every second).
Alvin dragged Heather's parents down into the ring, and Valkyrie stood waiting with the Book of Dragons in her grasp. It was starting to turn to dusk, and she cursed to herself━she was over an hour late. She had to get to the gang━but now she had to bring Heather's parents with her. She was in no way leaving them here in Alvin's grasp.
"Well?" Alvin prompted when she didn't give him the book. Heather's parents held onto each other, watching her anxiously. "Let's have it."
Putting back on her high-pitch impression, Valkyrie snapped, "Send them over first!"
He glared at her, but in seeing that she would refuse otherwise, he shoved them towards her, "Gah! Fine! Off you go━"
The mother and father frowned at Valkyrie, recognising her as not their daughter straight away. She winced, and quickly ran towards them, throwing her arms around them. "Mum! Dad!" she cried before adding in a low whisper, "I'm a friend of Heather's. I'm here to help."
"You do realise I'll never let you out of here with that Book?"
Valkyrie sent him a scowl, "No kidding?" out of the corner of her mouth, she told Heather's parents, "When I tell you, drop to the ground. It's about to get really hot in here!"
"Oh, Heather," taunted Alvin, but his face flared with impatience. "I'm waiting!"
It was now or never. Valkyrie could feel Valerian's hot breath over her shoulder, and she nodded to herself. With a yell, she chucked the Book of Dragons sky high. "NOW!" she shouted to Heather's parents and the ducked to the ground. Spinning on her heel while the book as still in the air, starting to fall back down, she raised her fist. "Sorry, bud━" she punched him right across the snout.
Hearing the roar and seeing his skin light with flame, she dropped to the ground as well. Valerian fired and Alvin and his men had to duck out of the way giving Valkyrie time to run for the Book that hit the floor a few paces to her right━
Her fingers touched the leather when Heather's mother shouted in alarm; her husband fell to the ground, a bola wrapped around his knees. Valkyrie cursed. She ran to him, dropping the book aside and starting to unravel the ropes. A pair of large feet marched up to them. In seeing Alvin, Valkyrie gasped, stretching her fingers back to the Book. She leapt ontop of it, but the Outcast chief just picked her up by her braid.
Not again━
Valkyrie kicked in defiance as he snatched the book out of her grip━she reached for it, but was just too short. Alvin shook his head, tsking, "Heather, Heather, Heather..." he suddenly frowned. Valkyrie's breath hitched when he tugged her closer to his face, peering at her eyes that even he could see where a different colour. He set her down and pulled back his hand, feeling the charcoal that had rubbed off with his fingers. Oh, Odin... Valkyrie managed as Alvin smirked down at her. "Or are you?"
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━━With Heather's parents' lives on the line, she had no choice but to lead Alvin and his men to her team. Seeing them in the distance, she took a deep breath━this will work out, she told herself (it had to work out).
As soon as he caught glimpse of her, Hiccup was on his feet. Valkyrie glanced back anxiously, seeing the glinter of weaponry in the sunlight. She pursed her lips and held up her hand towards the others. With a two-fingered wave, she sent them the signal.
Hiccup was on Toothless in seconds, soaring over to them and landing right in front of Valkyrie. Heather's parents gasped and shuffled back in seeing the Night Fury; Toothless purred at them curiously.
"Who's this?" Hiccup asked Val as she came closer.
"Heather's parents," she lowered her voice, leaning in close. "She was telling the truth━just go with the plan." His frown deepened at the urgency in her tone, knowing immediately something was up.
Footsteps echoed to the side, and Hiccup's eyes widened. He glanced over, and his shoulders tensed in alarm at the Outcast warriors charging straight to them. The group of them hunched together, and Valkyrie shuffled in next to Hiccup, reaching a hand up to hold his arm to tell him, it's okay━like he always does for her. Just go with the plan.
"There they are!" Alvin appeared amongst his men, standing the tallest out of all of them. His menacing sneer was back on his face, except, this time his eyes glittered in mirth at the sight of Hiccup. "Get 'em!"
They were surrounded. Valkyrie pulled Heather's parents towards the protection of Toothless; the Night Fury snarled at all the Outcast's with razor-sharp pointed teeth. Alvin laughed. "Hiccup! Bet you're surprised to see me."
Hiccup tilted his head, thinking about it. He shrugged, "Eh, not really━" he gestured a hand towards the Outcast leader, "This is where you live, right?" Toothless growled, and the hand moved down to pet his flank, "Easy, bud. Looks like he's got us. This time."
Alvin smirked, taking the praise with a smugness━exactly what Hiccup planned. Valkyrie glanced over and saw her mallet on Toothless's saddle, and tried not to grin herself. Thank you, Hiccup! "You know, Hiccup," went on Alvin, "with this book, your knowledge of dragons, and my knowledge of warwafre, we could make quite the team. How's that sound?"
"Uh ... insane? Demented?" he tapped his chin with his finger, mocking a search for words. "Delusional? Stupid?"
The Outcast leader gritted his teeth in annoyance, "All right, then, we'll just have to agree to disagree. You're a smart boy, Hiccup. You know I can't let you leave the island."
"And you're a smart, murderous, barbarian, Alvin," said Hiccup. "You know I have a better plan than this."
Alvin smirked. "So do I."
Hiccup narrowed his eyes and gripped Toothless's saddle tighter. "Now!" he shouted towards the others hiding in the boulders.
"NOW!" cried Alvin to his men.
"Find a place to hide!" Valkyrie told Heather's parents before taking Hiccup's hand and leaping up behind him. Over their heads, the rest of the gang soared into action. She grabbed her mallet and gave it a swing with her wrist. She smiled at Hiccup.
The attack they had trained for begun. Snotlout and Fishlegs led the front line, landing down on the rocks and firing at the men that had them surrounded. Hookfang took out multiple at a time, bursting a column of flame around him. Snotlout cheered, "Ahaha! Snotlout, Snotlout━oi, oi, oi!" Meatlug growled at one cowardly Viking, and he dropped his weapons and ran for his life. She swung her club around at another, knocking her off her feet.
From above, Astrid and Stormfly had their backs. "Stormfly━spine-shot!" Valkyrie heard the blonde Viking shout, and over her head a volley of spines jutted from the ground at the advancing armie's feet, stopping them in their paths. Toothless fired a plasma blast, sending them spiralling in their screams. One pushed through the ranks and attacked Valkyrie from the back, she gasped and kicked him straight in the nose. He fell back and Toothless growled, swiping his tail across his legs, tripping him over. The Twins laughed as their dragon heads snatched up Vikings, knocking them against each other and letting them fall to the ground.
It was going great!
Until it wasn't.
Around them, the battle was falling away against their favour. Fishlegs and Meatlug were soon trapped under a weighted net with a: "This wasn't part of the plan, Hiccup!" Astrid and Stormfly fell to the ground in their attempt to avoid a volley of arrows. Ropes were wrapped around the necks of Barf and Belch━taking down the Twins with it, ("Yeouch!" Tuffnut had cried when they hit the stone).
Valkyrie raised her mallet as more men came towards them. Toothless tried to keep them away as best as she could, Valkyrie swung her weapon whenever she had the chance, but they were being overwhelmed. Snotlout joined their side, backing away from a volley of arrows with a short yell of alarm.
"There's too many of them!"
Valkyrie gasped and pushed Hiccup down against the saddle. She pressed flat against his back, watching another set of arrows just miss the tips of their hair. "We're never getting out of here," she muttured in dismay.
They had lost. The army continued to circle in around them, closing them in and in until they had nowhere to go without retreating at leaving the others at the Outcast's mercy (and they couldn't do that━they'd kill them).
Just then, a shadow overheard came to save them.
Swooping over, Valkyrie heard a laugh amongst a familiar squawk, and her heart leapt. A set of claws hooked under the net covering Fishlegs and Meatlug, pulling it up. A flash of blue and yellow wings swung under a volley of arrows, and with a flick of a spined tail, the Vikings were knocked away from the twins. A blast of fire stopped the men about to attack Astrid and Stormfly in their path.
Hiccup's eyes widened, unable to believe his eyes. "Is that...?"
Valkryie grinned, wanting to jump up in victory. Heather shouted in glee as she flew Zephyr down, burning the ropes tied around Barf and Belch's necks.
"Heather!" Hiccup exclaimed.
"Zephyr!" wept Valkyrie with joy.
In hearing her call his name, her dragon sent her a quick happy squawk, tail wagging in his excitement. Alvin gaped, "WHAT?!" he shouted in outrage. "HEATHER?!"
Said girl landed beside Toothless, and Valkyrie wasted no time in leaping off and toward her dragon, throwing her arms arond his snout. He purred and she glanced up at Heather on his saddle. The two locked eyes, and a flurry of apoligies burst forth━ "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you━!", "━I'm so sorry I lied━!", "━I should have taken your word for it━", "━No! No━it's okay! I wouldn't have believed me either."
Valkyrie sent the girl a smile, "Now, let's get your parents."
Heather breathed out a grateful, "Thank you━" before she helped Val up onto the saddle in front of her. Happy to be back on her dragon, Valkyrie cracked her knuckles and with a cry they took to the air. The others all followed.
Valkyrie grinned, tilting Zephyr down into a dive. She pointed out Heather's parents surrounded by Outcasts and he knew what to do. With a squawk, he reached out his claws and snatched the two of them up before the Outcasts could even blink. They screamed in alarm, but Heather was there to cry out━
"Mum! Dad! Hang on!"
"All right, guys!" Hiccup shouted over the wind as they regained formation in the sky. "Just like we practiced━Ruff, Tuff━" he waved a hand to the Twins, "━cover fire!"
"It's about time," Ruff rolled her eyes. She and her brother dived down to the catapults. As she layed out the gas, her brother was there to light it with a laugh of━
"I love this part━!"
The catapults were destroyed in a burst of noxious flame. But one still stood standing, and they aimed a boulder right for Hiccup. He ducked down and shouted, "FISHLEGS━INCOMING!"
Fishlegs squealed but Meatlug held out her jaw as wide as it could go. She swallowed the boulder with a great big gulp! Her rider gasped, "Whoa! Nice catch, girl━lava blast!" The final catapult was taken down.
Valkyrie guided Zephyr and Heather's parents danging in his claws away from the arrow fire, nodding to Astrid up above. She set her jaw, determined, and swooped down. Her and Stormfly grew closer and closer to the archers in the trees before she shouted, "Now, Val━!"
She and Zephyr flew past in a blur, and on Astrid's command, "Spine-shot, girl!" Zephyr lit Stormfly's spikes with flames. The Outcasts leapt from the trees to avoid the fire, and Snotlout and Hookfang were there to scare them further into the woods with another column of fire, shouting, "Yeah! You feeling the heat boys? Cause I sure am!"
"Nice!" complimented Heather, and Valkyrie glanced back over her shoulder, grinning.
"Great job, guys!" laughed Hiccup. "Let's get out of here!"
They didn't need to be told twice. They would have to get the Book a second day. But as they soared back up towards the horizon, Alvin wasn't finished. With a infuriated shout, he threw Savage into one of the catapults and flung him into the air. Valkyrie frowned at the screech of a flailing man behind her, and looked back. She gasped when his body made contact with hers, in before she knew it, she was falling down back to Outcast Island.
Zephyr squawked in alarm, glancing back down in horror. He went to follow after her, but Valkyrie shook her head, "No, boy!" she shouted back up at him. "Get out of here!" he hesitated. "GO!"
Heather guided him away, and Valkyrie fell. The others were getting further and further away, she saw Hiccup dive Toothless down to try and reach her, but he wouldn't get there in time. She needed to break her fall. Her and Savage reached the forest, and with a grit of her teeth, Valkyrie swung her body towards a tree branch. Extending her fingers, she latched onto one. Savage fell right past, breaking through to the ground. His weight crashed her branch and she hit the forest floor, winded (and with definitely some bruised and fractured bones━ouch).
Valkyrie grunted in her pain, clutching at her ribs. Her fingers were wrangled with splinters. She tried to sit up, to get away, but a familiar hand grabbed at her hair and dragged her up━feet dangling. Oh, gods, again?! She gasped in pain, her ribs screaming as Alvin threw her over his shoulder and ran to the cliffs.
"VALKYRIE!" she heard Hiccup shout as he and Toothless grew closer. Even before he was in range, he had the Night Fury send plasma blast after plasma blast towards Alvin, desperate to make him let go of the girl in his grasp. They neared the cliffs, and in seconds━Valkyrie had little time to even comprehend━she was suspended over the water, metres below.
Hiccup touched the ground and Toothless snarled. Despite her pain, Valkyrie fought, kicking and flailing her arms to try and punch Alvin in the nose━but his face was too far away.
"Surrender!" Alvin told Hiccup, grinning at the glare on his face. "Or I'll ..." he chuckled with a breath of evil, nodded back to Valkyrie's squirming figure, "well, you know the rest."
"Gah!" Valkyrie grumbled, pushing her hands against his meaty palms. "You━son━of━a━you'll━get━gah━!"
Toothless bared his teeth, and Hiccup leaned down close. He murmured with no remorse (to the point it actually struck Valkyrie by surprise━she'd never think Hiccup would act such a way when her life was in danger. He had when Toothless had been, but her?), "Do it, bud."
She struggled a bit more. Below, there was a dragon's cry. She frowned and glanced down. Her eyes widened━at the sight of purple and yellow scales, she laughed in disbeleif. "Hiccup!" she cried, "Don't shoot!"
Toothless stopped, the lead up of gas not settling well in his throat. He coughed and sneezed, shaking his head and giving Valkyrie a look that she could describe as, um, why do you not want saving?
She grinned and winked at Hiccup's confused face before Valerian shot up right behind her. He flicked Alvin back with a mighty whack of his tail, hovering up above with a grin sent down straight to his new friend.
Valkyrie laughed, "Yes! Valerian! You go, bud━so proud!"
Despite her pain in her ribs, Valkyrie reached for the Book of Dragons before Alvin could notice━holding up her arm, Valerian understood and snatched her up with his claws. Valkyrie climbed up onto his back, and let herself finally hit his scales, closing her eyes in her pain.
Hiccup pulled Toothless up beside her, "Who is that?"
Valkyrie sent him a weak smile, "Just a friend I made," Valerian tilted his head back, checking up on her. "You know, Monstrous Nightmare's are sort of growing on me."
"Yeah, but you can't ride him all the way home," said Hiccup, frowning at her. "Not in this state━come on..." he guided Toothless up right beside them, and Valkyrie didn't even argue. She said goodbye to Valerian with a strained hug and a scratch under his chin, before she carefully reached over towards Hiccup and Toothless.
She winced a little━barely nothing compared to the pain she felt as she sat in front of him. Gently, Hiccup wrapped his arms around her, careful not to put her in anymore pain than she already was.
"Come on, bud," he murmured to Toothless. "Let's head home."
As they soared off, Valkyrie glanced back over her shoulder meekly, and smiled goodbye to Valerian who moaned sadly in her departure. But there was a bittersweetess to it, as well, an I'll see you again, someday.
✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑
a/n: props to our girl Val for doing all that with fractured ribs, they fucking HURT.
also, Valerian is bae, I will miss him.
drawing for today's update is a fresh new turn on Val's design (aka me changing up my style to suit the animation, again and it affecting my overall style cos why the heck not?)
not apologising for the mistakes because there will be there, no point in ignoring them for any longer. I've accepted the strange typos that show up in my books ahahaha.