The sounds of the massive dragon sounded around us long before we could even see the island. The vikings had awoken it and lured it out, pushing things into a dangerous realm, and making our job a lot harder. Hiccup's arms draped around my waist as the other teens flew close behind me, still adjusting to the feel of a dragon's back.
"You ready?" I asked them all as we closed in on the island.
"As ready as I'll ever be!" Fishlegs shouted over the winds, seeming more nervous than he had a few minutes ago.
"Alright, boy," I rested my hand on Spark's neck, gaining his attention. "Let's make this count."
He shot out a bright burst of fire, hitting the large dragon just as we came out from a bank of clouds. That seemed to work, since it got the massive dragon's attention away from those on the beach, but it did absolutely nothing to help us in the long run.
"Ruff, Tuff, watch your backs! Move Fishlegs!" Hiccup warned. The monster shook off the blast and snapped in their wake. I directed Spark out of harm's way, the other following suit.
"Look at us, we're on a dragon!" Tuffnut cheered. "We're on dragons, all of us!"
"Up," Hiccup ordered. "Let's move it!"
"Fishlegs, break it down." I said as we all began circling the flamed-up ships.
"Okay. Heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing." Not a good start. "Steer clear of both. Small eyes, large nostrils. Relies on hearing and smell."
"Okay. Lout, Legs, hang in its blind spot. Make some noise, keep it confused." I barked out. "Ruff, Tuff, Astrid, find out if it has a shot limit. Make it mad."
"That's my specialty." Ruff declared proudly.
"Since when?" her brother challenged. "Everyone knows I'm more irritating. See." I rolled my eyes as he turned upside down on his dragon's neck, making a face at his sister.
"Just do what I told you." I said, exasperated. "Astrid, make sure they don't get killed, we'll be back as soon as we can!"
Spark, Hiccup and I peeled off, searching for Toothless. We circled around the ships, both straining our eyes to find him, with no luck. Finally, just as I was about to go for the fourth round, a familiar roar rose from the flames, directing our attention down. A figure writhed on the rapidly crumbling remains of a boat, attempting to break away from the restraints.
"There!"
I steered Spark over the deck as intense heat pushed against my body. Hiccup stood up, just as we stopped, hovering over the deck, lined up his jump and jumped down, guarding his face from the flames.
"Go help the others!" He attempted to wave me away, just like that.
"Are you crazy?" I shouted back. "No, I'm not leaving you here!"
"Just go! I'll be fine, I promise!" without giving me any more chance to argue, Hiccup dashed off towards Toothless, making me groan in annoyance.
Just as I made it back to the others, things didn't seem to be going much better. Snotlout clung to the many horns of the queen dragon, desperately trying not to fall to the ground, miles below. Fishlegs had been pinned to the rocky ground by the Gronckle he[d flown on just moments ago, and Astrid and the twins were nowhere to be seen.
"Come on, boy," I steered Spark down to the ground and pulled the Monstrous Nightmare back up in the air, before sending him off to rescue his rider. Then, with that crisis averted, I flew Spark up to find Astrid and the twins, who had thankfully come into view moments later, and appeared to be unscathed.
I kept to the outside for the most part, opting to survey the situation and intervene if anyone needed help, while also keeping the queen from doing too much damage to those defenseless on the ground. My gaze frequently returned to the smoke behind me, hoping I'd see movement sometime soon. The ships had essentially collapsed, but with no signs of life emerging, hope ran thin.
"He's up!" Astrid's voice caused me to whip around, pulling Spark to halt as I saw the black blue shoot into the air, not far from where we were.
With that the plan was back in motion. We all set off in different directions, keeping the dragon looking in all different directions.
"Get Snotlout out of there!" I ordered to the twins. They looked over to see Snotlout stranded on the monster's head.
"I'm on it! I'm on it!" they both said confidently, flying off to rescue him.
The twins spotted Snotlout on the giant dragon and steered their Zippleback in his direction. They peeled off, arguing as they race each other to the monster. Thankfully, Snotlout saw the Zippleback diving toward him and dashed down the Red Death's head. He ran up the end of its horn and just as the twins swept past, both missing him... but perfectly snatching him where the necks merge.
"I can't believe that worked!" I rolled my eyes at Tuff, shaking my head.
As they flew up and out of the way, I followed behind them in order to give Hiccup the room he needed in order for this plan to work. However, the dragon seemed to spot me and began inhaling, preparing to blast. I leaned down on Spark as we got caught in the suction, pulled toward the monster's gaping mouth. I felt myself loose my grip, and fell down the back of Spark, and just barley caught his tail before I fell into the mouth of the queen.
I closed my eyes, trying to think of a way out of this, when suddenly, a massive blast jolts the dragons head sideways, throwing me clear of its mouth, and unfortunately, caused me to lose grip of Spark's tail. I tumbled through the air, the ground racing toward me, when... I felt myself caught by the leg.
"Did you get her?" Hiccup's voice made my smile as I opened my eyes, only to be met with Toothless's forest green ones.
We flew over the crowd of Vikings and set me down, mid-run. They circle back to reengage - a black speck against the clouds. Spark ran into me, thankfully perfectly okay. My eyes cast upward as Hiccup and Toothless climbed higher and higher, my heart once again becoming heavy at the possibilities to come...