The Great Beyond

Chapter 25: Maces and Talons, Pt. 1 (Hiccup)

              There's nothing like a good old Dragon Hunter raid to close out the day.

When Heather tipped Reign off to a dragon transport happening soon, we made sure we were ready: rigorous training, improvements to dragon armor, and getting a head-start to make sure we wouldn't miss them. So far, every attack proved to be predictable, and everyone on our team was performing beautifully.

Toothless and I swerved back and forth to dodge another wave of arrows, then when they launched the boulders from catapults- as we'd expected- Meatlug and Fishlegs dove forward; the dragon effortlessly caught the projectiles in her mouth and chewed them up, rendering another one of their weapons useless. Just for good measure, Astrid and Stormfly used her magnesium blast to make sure the catapults slowly melted and their levers burned up, completely dismantling the things.

Right on cue, the next set of dragon root arrows was loosed, prompting Toothless, Hookfang, and Shriek to flip on their sides, using their dragon armor to deflect the hits and prevent any of the other dragons from getting struck.

We'd finally opened up enough of a window to get below deck. I waited for Reign to catch up, then the two of us made a break for the opening, shooting down toward the cages below. Toothless' high leaps allowed me to reach the chains that swung the doors open, then Reign and Shriek led them out to freedom.

Once the wild dragons were out of range, Reign yanked on Shriek's saddle, forcing her to make a harsh turn toward Heather and Windshear, who had been circling the entire time. I tried my best to make it seem like I wasn't watching as the two of them stared at each other, pretending to be locked in bitter contempt before Shriek let out a weak boom, just enough to disorient Windshear, but not injure her.

That just about wrapped up everything we needed to do, so we regrouped and headed back toward the Edge, bustling and bubbling with a sense of accomplishment... except for Reign, who remained uncharacteristically silent.

By the time we got back, the sun was falling down behind the horizon line. Most of the group decided to call it a night, leaving Snotlout and Tuffnut, who were babbling about something of no interest to those not involved, and Reign and I. Right as I'd started to take apart Toothless' armor, she spat out what had been bothering her.

"We need to pull Heather out," she snapped, dusting off her skirt. "If I hadn't reacted, her cover would have been blown."

I shook my head as I yanked on the chest piece, finally freeing my dragon.

"I wanted her out weeks ago, but somebody talked me into—"

"You really want to go there?" Reign's eyebrow arched up against her forehead as her hands cemented themselves against her hips, daring me to challenge her on this. We were getting along again, but that was definitely still a bitter spot in our... friendship, I guess. "And I know I did. But, things were different then."

"How?" One of her hands ran through the mop of hair on her head, ruffling it.

"It's way too dangerous."

"It's always been too dangerous," I argued.

"This has gotten crazy, Hiccup. And she hasn't even met this Viggo character." I tried to push down the frustration that she wasn't seeing the positive in this.

"Exactly. Viggo Grimborn leads the Dragon Hunters. If we can take him down, the whole Dragon Hunter army will be without a leader and they will collapse."