FORTY-SIX: Wrecked
Casting his gaze across the scene on the beach, Hiccup felt his heart clench in despair. The Sentinels-literally the toughest dragons he knew-had fallen and somehow, the Fliers had found Vanaheim.
They must have followed us, he realised. We led them right here. And if the Hunters find Vanaheim, the dragons will have nowhere to go at the end of their lives. Who knows what will happen and how it will affect the rest of dragon kind? It could be a disaster! And then realisation struck him. They knew we had left Berk vulnerable. Astrid! Dad! Val...oh Thor...
I should go home. Now. What if they are in danger?
But what about saving all dragon kind from losing their most sacred resting place?
"What should we do?" Fishlegs asked quietly. "I haven't seen a place for Sentinels anywhere on Vanaheim...should we bury them?" Glancing around, Hiccup shook his head. For one thing, they were far too big and it didn't feel right.
"We have to be ready to fight the dragon fliers. It's going to get ugly: we have to get uglier!" Snotlout gave an evil grin.
"About time," he muttered as Tuff winced and shielded his face.
"Not yet, Snotlout. That's way too ugly way too soon..."
"Are you serious?" Snotlout yelled at him.
"Do I look serious?" Tuff echoed. "No-seriously-do I? I sometimes can't tell..." Hiccup groaned and turned back to Fishlegs.
"These are serious, tough dragons," he murmured. "And they're all...gone. this is the cruellest thing I think I've ever seen..." And then a cough interrupted him and all the riders looked up. Toothless growled and Hiccup raced to his side, snatching Inferno and igniting the blade in one smooth motion. Fearlessly, his face filled with anger, he approached the crack in the rock to find an injured Flier. Staring at the man, the young Viking felt rage fill every part of his being. This man had helped kill the Sentinels and was going to help Krogan and Johann destroy Vanaheim. All of dragon kind would be harmed, maybe destroyed by this...and his vision washed red. He screamed in fury and raised the sword above the cringing man, ready to make him pay for his crimes.
"HICCUP! NO!"
The voice caused him to pause for a second. "Put the sword down, brother."
Dagur's voice reached through the fury and the sword arched down, burying in the sand an inch from the trembling man. The Berserker Chief walked forward, leaning forward to stare into the shocked man's eyes as Hiccup glared furiously at the man, still breathing hard. The Flier licked his lips.
"I'd talk," he said mildly. "Before I let him or his dragon do what they clearly want to with you." The man stared back and reluctantly started talking.
"We followed you," he sneered. "While you had vanished behind the cliffs, we took care of the stone dragons and had a look around..."
"He's making this way too easy," Tuff piped up. "We haven't even tweaked his ear or anything..."
"It isn't about violence every time," his sister reminded him. The Flier rolled his eyes.
"We discovered the magnificent skull and thought perhaps it belonged to the King of dragons," he continued. "Johann shall be very interested to learn of its existence. The others left to inform him-and when he arrives, he'll pick through this place until there's nothing left but a pile of smouldering bone..." Hiccup marched forward, his fists clenched.
"That's enough-we have to catch those Fliers..." he announced, leaping into the saddle. But Meatlug refused to move, her face filled with sorrow and worry, her big yellow eyes drifting back to the fallen Sentinels. Fishlegs leaned forward, gently caressing his dragon.
"What is it, girl? Are you feeling tired? Unwell? Have you been eating that mystery rock over by the Monstrous Nightmare tomb again?" Snotlout looked outraged.
"Those are bones, Fishlegs. BONES!" he yelled. The husky rider made a shushing gesture.
"Guys! We have to go NOW!" Hiccup snapped and then his tone calmed a little. "Is she alright, Fishlegs?" The husky rider shrugged helplessly as Meatlug lay down and closed her eyes.
"I-I-I don't know," he admitted. "She won't budge." Hiccup stared at him and then nodded.
"Okay-Ruff, Tuff-you stay behind with Fishlegs in case more Hunters show up..." he commanded. The twins immediately looked gleeful and rubbed their hands, eyeing the Flier in anticipation.
"No problem, Hiccup!" Tuff said eagerly.
"And NO torturing the prisoner," Hiccup snapped as Toothless took off.
"Aww..." Ruff moaned.
"Tyrant," Tuff bemoaned. "How did he know?"
"I'll stay as well," Dagur said suddenly, his eyes sweeping up over the magnificent skull. "Dad protected this island...now it's my turn." Heather looked distraught.
"But..." she protested as her brother grinned.
"You, Snotnose and our brother are the fastest here and stand the best chance of catching the Fliers," he said simply. "I would slow you down. And if any more show up here...well, they don't wanna meet Dagur the Deranged, do they?" She managed a wan smile as he patted Sleuther. "I think you better go, sis. You've got Fliers to stop!"
oOo
She felt numb. That was all she could say. Things had been...stable. Better. She was back with Hiccup, her daughter had been safely delivered and they were back on Berk, accepted and getting back to some sort of normality. Well, whatever counted as normal for a pair of dragon-riding Vikings who were facing a seemingly endless army of Hunters and Fliers. And then the attack, protecting Berk but losing her mother in a cowardly attack on women and children and seeing her precious daughter, her Valkana kidnapped by Traitor Johann and held to ransom for all of Hiccup's lenses...to enable the evil man to find and control the 'King of Dragons'.
But all Astrid felt was numb because her mother, Ilsa Gunnarson Hofferson, had been killed protecting her daughter from the Singetail blast that Krogan had sent down at the innocents in a final, vicious action after his Fliers were driven off. And her father was standing at her side, broken. Ingvar was silent, his eyes red from weeping and throat so hoarse that he couldn't speak the prayer for Ilsa's ship. She had been the only fatality, though Gothi was busy with the injured. Gobber was helping-for all he good he did-and so was the twins' mother Ragnahilde, who was rather more use. Astrid had taken charge, serving Spitelout a coruscating dressing-down for his carelessness which had allowed the attack before wrapping Berk in tight patrols and updating the Chief-and then she had taken care of her father. Ingvar had been useless, utterly lost, so she had arranged the funeral herself. And now they stood on Berk's harbour, an old fishing boat cleared and laid with a simple bier carrying Ilsa's body. The blanket she had embroidered for the bed she had shared with Ingvar for over a quarter of a century had been wrapped tenderly around her by her devastated husband.
"I love you," he whispered. "I'll see you soon, my love." And Astrid had combed her long blonde hair out, over her shoulders before kissing her cold brow.
"I'm sorry, Mom," she whispered. "I'm sorry I was too slow. I'm sorry I was angry at you. I'm sorry I didn't make it up straight away. I'm sorry you won't get to see Val grow up or me as Chieftess at Hiccup's side. I'm sorry you won't get to see the peace when we crush Johann and finish this war with the Hunters. I'm sorry I wasn't the daughter you hoped. I'm sorry."
So as the ship pushed away, Astrid lifted her chin, the cold breeze lifting the few stray strands of her hair as she spoke the traditional words.
"Lo, there do I see my mother, there do I see my father and my sisters and my brothers, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning. Lo, they do call to me and they bid me take place among them in the Halls of Valhalla!" Ingvar stared wordless at the receding boat as Astrid handed him the bow and arrow...but he stood there, with a bowed head so she dipped her arrow in the flames, pulled back the bow and fired, igniting the funeral pyre.
And she stood there beside her devastated father, the unfired arrow still in his hand as the ship was consumed by flames and Astrid's beloved mother vanished for the final time beneath the waves.
oOo
Scanning the horizon with his spyglass as Toothless scorched through the skies was getting Hiccup more and more frustrated.
"I can't see anything!" he shouted.
"It's called a 'head start', Hiccup," Snotlout told him smugly. "Those guys are so long gone we'll never catch them..." There was a crash of thunder and the stocky rider pointed at an enormous bank of dark grey storm clouds, already flashing with lightning. "Unless they went through that huge storm...in which case, they probably jumped to their deaths..." Hiccup stared at him and then back tot he huge storm...which lay directly in the way back towards Berk and the rest of the Archipelago...
"Snotlout-that's brilliant!" he shouted.
"Really? Because that seems fairly obvious to me..." he said without conviction.
"No-Hiccup's right...there is no way they would have gone through that storm," Heather explained. "It's way too dangerous! They will have gone round..."
"Which is exactly why we're gonna go through it and meet them on the other side," Hiccup announced, his face determined.
"Did you not hear me when I said they would jump to their deaths?" Snotlout yelled furiously. Hiccup glared back.
"They would. We won't!" he told his cousin sharply. "Let's go!"
"Can I just point out this is insane?" Snotlout yelled as they accelerated towards the clouds.
"Shut up, Snotlout," Heather sighed.
oOo
Back on Vanaheim, Meatlug was pacing ceaselessly around the fallen Sentinels, seemingly searching for something. So much so that Fishlegs was starting to become concerned.
"Girl-you have to tell me what it is," he said worriedly. "Give me a sign. Anything! A grunt, a growl..." Suddenly, reaching what seemed to be the correct spot just beside a fallen Sentinel, the Gronckle spewed out a large gout of lava. Fishlegs shrugged. "Or you could continue to do that. Whatever you feel is right..." Undeterred, the Gronckle walked to another fallen Sentinel and spewed another line of lava hard alongside it. Fishlegs's face lit with understanding. "I see. You're making them a final resting place. They must not have one here...because we've never found one...yet..."
Meatlug whimpered and immediately, the husky rider walked forward to hug his dragon, his face filled with pride.
"Aww, you have the biggest heart in the entire Archipelago," he said as the dragon gave a happy rumble then turned back to her work. The old Gronckle that Dagur had saved shakily flew in and quietly joined Meatlug, listening to her little grumbles and spewing his lava where she directed, against the motionless dragons. Proudly, Fishlegs found a small Vanaheim-fruit tree and planted it by the Sentinels to ensure they resting place was worthy of their service...but as he was finishing watering it in, he heard a creak. He narrowed his eyes: it almost looked like one of the Sentinels had moved.
Meatlug calmly spewed another line of lava along the dragon's tail.
"It moved," Fishlegs breathed. "It moved!" He scrambled up and walked to the nearest Sentinel, the one he had clearly imagined had moved. With the creak of moving rocks, it moved slightly again. And this time, when the husky rider leaned against the dragon, he could hear the motion of breath through its stone lungs. He looked up in rapture.
"It's alive!"
Meatlug and the little old Gronckle redoubled their efforts as Fishlegs checked each dragon in turn. And then he looked at his dragon with complete pride.
"All these dragons are alive, Meatlug!" he exclaimed.
oOo
"I have to go, Chief," Astrid said quietly, sitting at Stoick's side. The Chief was more awake than not, though he was still resting on Gothi's orders to regain his strength. "Johann has my daughter. Your granddaughter. And if I do nothing, he will kill her. But if we give him the lenses, he will become more powerful than we can handle-and he will use the King of Dragons to subjugate all dragons and rule the Archipelago. And he will kill Hiccup then. Kill all of us."
"What's right is right, lass," the Chief said wearily. "You know what you need to do." She sighed.
"Can I ask a favour, sir?" she asked. He nodded. "Please look after my Dad. I can't be here for him-but he desperately needs looking after right now..." Stoick the Vast smiled.
"I'm sure Gobber and I can look after my old friend," he promised. "If you look after my son." She rose to her feet and slung her axe across her back.
"Chief-you have nothing to fear," she told him. "I will protect Hiccup with my life-as he will protect me. And he deserves to know...so we can figure out to deal with this together." Stoick nodded.
"Gods speed," he said as she walked through the door. In a moment the screech of a Nadder sounded and she was gone.
oOo
The storm was worse than they had thought, the lightning flashing around and torrential rains lashing them as they struggled to fly through the maelstrom. All were struggling but Snotlout more than either of the others-and he was furious as well.
"This is insane!" he yelled as they dodged a bolt of lightning. "Normally my plans go perfectly but I am not taking the blame for this!"
"It's not your plan, Snotlout," Heather told him wearily. Snotlout had been moaning for the last half hour non-stop.
"You can blame me," Hiccup yelled over the thunder. "Just stop talking and keep flying!"
"Has anyone pointed out that I have a metal helmet, Heather has a metal skirt and you have a metal leg-and lightning loves metal?" Snotlout moaned. "I'm gonna get struck by lightning again, aren't I?" Rolling his eyes, Hiccup burst through the clouds-and then paused. Ahead were the multicoloured shapes of nine Fliers, heading back towards their master.
"Er...guys?" he said, breathing hard. They had caught them-but it was an awful lot of Fliers for just the three of them. Snotlout grinned.
"As I said, my plans never fail," he announced cockily. "SNOTLOUT!" Immediately, Hookfang flamed up-and the Fliers saw them instantly. They turned back to attack them
"They see us!" Hiccup gulped.
"That's weird-wonder how that could have happened!" Heather snarked. Snotlout looked sheepish.
"Hey-I didn't do anything..." he protested, as the warm glow of his flaming dragon surrounded him. And then all nine of the Fliers roared-and attacked!
oOo
Fishlegs was searching through Oswald's hut, tossing empty crates aside in his fervour to find an answer.
"There has to be something in here about those dragons," he muttered. "Oswald the Agreeable studied them for years! He must have written something..." The twins arrived, pushing they prisoner along followed by Dagur, who had been watching them to make sure they didn't break Hiccup's orders. Truth be told, he was enjoying the chance to spend a little longer on Vanaheim, putting his thoughts in order and coming to terms with the fact that his father had been marooned here and he had never thought to look for him. But the young Berserker he had been then had needed good, strong advisers and no one had thought to suggest a search party. Dagur knew his own deficiencies now and realised that in the future, he would be well-provided with advice with Mala as his wife.
"Nice mess, Fishy," Tuff commented, looking at the chaos.
"Yeah-didn't think you had it in you," Ruff complimented him.
"But if I might, a good ransacking has to be done correctly and in a disorderly fashion..." And he grabbed an axe as Ruff snatched a mace. Dagur stood back, shocked as Fishlegs stared at them in astonishment.
"Wait, guys...I'm not..." he began-but got no further as with blood-curdling yells, the twins launched themselves into Oswald's hut and began tossing things aside and smearing charcoal on the drawings on the wall.
"I'm not ransacking-I'm SEARCHING!" Fishlegs tried in exasperation. "BIG difference!"
"Or is there?" Ruff grinned and tossed a box of scrolls aside, to spill on the floor...allowing a scroll and a single DragonEye lens to roll free...right by the tied up Flier. Glancing up and seeing no one was paying attention as Fishlegs desperately tried to stop the twins wrecking the place, he snatched up the precious artefact, knowing it would earn him a handsome reward from Johann. Swiftly, he cut his bonds on a discarded axe and made for the door...but he had only made it a few steps before a knife buried in his throat.
Dagur lowered his hand and picked up the lens, which rolled free from the dead man's hand.
"You should be ore careful," he commented as Fishlegs and the twins burst from the little hut, having finally noticed their prisoner was gone. "Here you are, Fishface. I think my brother needs this!" The husky rider's eyes widened in shock and delight.
"Everything we need could be right here on this lens!" he gaped. Ruff crowded him and peered at it.
"Let's have a look," she said eagerly. "Who's got the DragonEye?"
"Not us," Fishlegs admitted as shadows flashed overhead. All four Riders looked up and Dagur's face folded in angry recognition.
"Grim Gnashers," he realised. "They're back!" Fishlegs's eyes widened.
"The Sentinels!" he shouted. "Come on!"
oOo
But as Astrid soared above Berk Harbour, the A Team escorting her, the unmistakeable shape of sails appeared, closing fast. Gustav leaned forward with a grin.
"More of them!" he shouted. "I got this! Fanghook-Fire It Up!" He accelerated forward even as Astrid recognised the devices paired on the sails, the familiar helmet of the Outcasts. Gustav was already screaming down, lining up for his attack run...and in an instant, she unleashed a volley of spines that had Fangook spiralling sideways and dumping the teen into the water. Coughing and shocked, he glared up at Astrid.
"Oh COME ON!" he protested. "Why did you do that?" She hovered over him, watching his Monstrous Nightmare circle round and snatch him from the sea.
"Because you almost sunk Alvin," she told him bluntly.
The leading ship rocked slightly as the huge shape of the Outcast leader leaned over the side with a relatively benign look on his scarred face. A former sworn enemy of Berk, it had been three years since Alvin and Stoick made their peace and the two were now firm allies. But it didn't stop the Outcast smirking at the younger rider's discomfort.
"'Allo! Good to see not much has changed around 'ere," he greeted his escort and Astrid nodded then landed on the deck.
"What brings you all the way across the Archipelago?" she asked him and he shrugged.
"Well, I heard old Stoick wasn't feelin' 'is best-and I was figurin' Berk could use the extra 'ands-if yer know what I mean..." He gestured to his crew-the usual not-too-bright-but-willing men he tended to have for subjects. There were five ships in his fleet and Astrid get a weight lift from her shoulders at the knowledge that Berk would be adequately protected while she was gone on the mission to end it.
"I do. And I appreciate it," she said. "You have no idea how much better I feel, knowing you are here..." Alvin chuckled.
"He'll be safe on our watch-I promise yer that," he said and she nodded. "And I 'ear congratulations are in order. I knew yer and 'Iccup would tie the knot one day...though I was 'oping for an invitation." She sighed and the slightly plaintive note in his voice. Alvin had become a friend to Berk and she didn't want him to feel sidelined by their hasty marriage.
"It all went pretty far south," she admitted. "But once this is done, we will have a proper celebration-and you'll be right up there at the top of the guest list!" Alvin winked.
"That Johann 'ad us all fooled, Astrid," he said seriously. "And 'e's been around the Archipelago long enough to know all the back ways and all our weaknesses."
"He has our child," she said grimly. "He's going to kill her in three days unless we hand over all of Hiccup's DragonEye lenses." Alvin nodded: it would be how he himself would have handled things when he was evil.
"I know treachery, me dear-and he'll never hand her back...because she's the lever to keep Hiccup in control. And 'e knows it. So stop him and go do what you have to...but don't let 'im get away. Men like that never stop unless they are stopped...permanently." She nodded.
"I intend to make sure he never threatens anyone again," she agreed. He stood back and nodded as Stormfly launched and they scorched into the sky, circling once as the A Team prepared to escort the Outcasts into Berk before arrowing off, back towards Vanaheim.