HTTYD: Dragon Girl

Chapter 16: The Final Exam

Just like when Keegan and I were in the semifinals, the entire village has gathered, this time to watch me kill my first dragon.

Little do they know that this is the last thing I want.

"Be careful out there," Keegan says as I stare into the arena, the prospect of what I must do looming over my head.

Ever since our flight and... that other thing, my relationship with Keegan has... changed. We're friends now, but I'm not sure if that's all I want. It especially doesn't help that my heart doesn't seem to function properly around him anymore.

"Look," I say, looking Keegan in the eye, uneasiness stirring in my chest, "if something goes wrong out there... I want you to promise me that you won't let them find Brightwing. Keep her safe."

"I will," Keegan says. "But... promise me it won't go wrong."

I have no reply.

Unferth appears and smiles proudly down at me. "Knock 'em dead, lassie," he says, looking like he's struggling to hold back his emotion.

No, thanks, I say in my head, but on the outside, I breathe deeply and nod, donning the helmet Unferth gave me last night, the one he found with my pack in the woods five years ago, which, creepily enough, is apparently made from half of a woman's breastplate. I try not to think about this fact as said helmet goes on my head.

It's pretty easy to forget, however, when the gate to the arena opens. The crowd cheers my name as I step into the light. "Astrid! Astrid! Astrid!"

I always wanted to hear my name chanted as praise rather than scolding, but now, the encouragement sounds more like a death sentence than the disapproval ever did. I wish I could just go back to being Astrid the Useless.

I approach the weapons and pull a shield off the rack, along with a small dagger. I hear the gathering murmur among themselves at my choice of weaponry, but I don't think it matters that the dagger is so small. It's not like I'm going to be using it, anyway.

I stand in front of the Flaming Drakon's pen and nod to show that I'm ready. There's the quiet creak and clink of gears as the bar is removed from the door. For a moment, all is silent.

Then the cage explodes.

The wooden door is ripped from its hinges and half-melted into a pile of goo by the Drakon's gel-like fire. The Drakon itself roars at the crowd and uses the hook-like appendages on the ends of its wings to scuttle around the metal netting that separates the contents of the pit from the onlookers above. The villagers gasp in eager anticipation as the Drakon pauses and notices me, much easier prey than the stuff above. After slowly lowering itself to the ground, it slinks toward me like a weasel stalking a field mouse, a low growl rumbling in its chest.

Slowly, boldly, I back away from the creature, keeping myself positioned toward it. I drop my dagger and my shield, ignoring the shocked gasps from the onlookers above me. I carefully raise my hands to show the Drakon I'm not armed.

"Shh," I say soothingly to the dragon. "It's okay. It's okay."

The dragon looks skeptically above my head. Knowing what it will take to gain its trust, I remove my helmet, and with difficulty, I toss it aside. "I'm not one of them."

The villagers gasp. "Stop the fight," Enger says in a quiet but carrying order.

"No," I say firmly, holding my hand out toward the Drakon's snout carefully. "We don't have to be scared of them. They're just as frightened as we are."

The Drakon's pupils dilate as it sniffs my hand experimentally. It comes closer and closer, its snout nearly pressing against my palm--

"I said STOP THE FIGHT!" Enger roars, slamming his huge hammer against the bars.

The noise shakes the Drakon from my influence. Snarling, it opens its jaws and shuts them with a fierce snap, nearly taking off my hand. I jerk backward and try to pick up my shield again, but a sudden blast of lava from the dragon forces me to veer off. I sprint around the arena, away from the rogue dragon, running for my life.

"Astrid!" I hear Keegan cry out. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him force the gate open with a large ax and slip into the arena.

"Keegan, no!" I scream, but it's too late. Keegan has succeeded in saving me from the dragon, but now he is the target.

The Drakon slithers toward Keegan, hissing menacingly, but Keegan is one step ahead. He grabs a spear from the weaponry rack and hurls it toward the dragon's face, purposefully missing so that the blade flies straight across its nose, diverting its attention away from him.

I don't need to look at Keegan to know what he needs me to do. While the Drakon is distracted, I sprint across the arena toward the exit, where Unferth is pulling Keegan into the safety of the tunnels. He reaches for me next, I've almost made it--

Splat. A smattering of Drakon fire hits the wall of the arena, right on the mechanisms that control the gate. I want to keep running to Keegan, to safety, but I know that I will never make it in time and swerve to avoid being crushed.

I have no plan. I have no protection, no way to calm the Drakon, because it's far too wild now to tame, with the commotion from above and the frenzy the chase has thrown it into. But I can't stop running or I'll become a smoldering pile of goo like the cage door.

And then I hear a sound that terrifies me even more than the prospect of my death. An unholy shriek, the sound of wings about to break the sound barrier.

"Brightwing, no," I whimper.

A bolt of purple blasts a hole in the chain-link netting above the arena, and I duck my head. Smoke fills the arena, making me cough. When I look up, eyes watering, I see a white shape thrashing furiously against the Drakon's body.

"White Creeper," Unferth gasps in disbelief.

I've never seen Brightwing like this. She shrieks and hisses, tearing at every exposed bit of the Drakon's flesh. At last, the Drakon yields and swoops out of the arena through the hole Brightwing created in the net.

The threat of the Drakon removed, the Vikings who were watching leap into the arena and surround Brightwing. I get to her first. "You did good, girl," I tell her hurriedly. "Now get out of here. Go!"

She doesn't listen. She spreads her wings and growls at the other Vikings, trying to protect me, not knowing that they think they're doing the same thing. The villagers pounce on Brightwing. I scream, my eyes wet with tears now. As they pin her to the ground, Enger strides up behind me.

"Don't hurt her," I sob. "Please, she's harmless! Just let her go!"

Enger's burning glare makes it clear that my begging means nothing.