"Can you see it?"
I scan the horizon, searching for any sign of the dragons' nest. Even a hint of that mysterious mist would be welcome. But it's annoyingly difficult to concentrate when my brain is hyper-aware of my arms locked around Keegan's waist.
"Nothing," I say, my heart sinking. All my hopes are riding on whether the Spiny Scorpion carrying me and Keegan can find the nest, as Brightwing is probably already there. But even though the Scorpion most likely came from this very same nest, it seems to be having trouble finding it again.
Suffice it to say, the others are no help at all. Mollusk cries out as he struggles to stay balanced on the Norkon, Dorfang and Fordang argue on the twin necks of the Hydra, and Starkwulf whimpers fervent prayers to Odin that the Drakon doesn't suddenly decide to eat him.
And then, out of nowhere, a thick fog closes over us. Keegan whoops with delight, but I am too busy searching through the obscurity. Brightwing, where is Brightwing?
A sea of boulders appears on the water, peppered with the splintered remains of old Skaldian ships. Ahead, the tip of a mountain appears. "There!" I cry uselessly, pointing at the clearly-visible peak ahead. "Hurry, before they--"
An enormous boom emanates from the nest, and a thick cloud of dragons appears above it, swarming the peak before vanishing into the depths of the fog.
"No," I whisper in horror. Because no matter what Enger tries, I know what happens next.
An earth-shattering roar bellows from the mountain, seeming to make even the air tremble. The dragons squawk and try to turn back, but Keegan keeps them firmly on course.
"What was that?" Mollusk chokes.
"The Green Death," I say grimly, my face drained completely of blood. "We're on a clock now."
Keegan wastes no time. He spurs the Scorpion on, and we shoot toward the nest.
As we near the battlefield, I am horrified by what I see. Vikings scream in terror, scrambling to avoid the humongous talons that have already crushed their catapults. Some throw spears and axes, but they bounce off the beast's scales uselessly. Finally, I force myself to look at the dragon itself.
Free of the cramped interior of the nest, the Green Death is even more horrific than I imagined. None of the stories I've heard (and my head throbs as I remember there were stories) can come close to a good description of the panic and terror the sight of this thing invokes. Three pairs of beady eyes dart around as if each has a mind of its own. Cruel, wicked sharp talons aim for screaming Vikings on the ground, attempting to squash them like bugs. Its wings, though I can't see them, I know have sharp claws on the ends. Most terrifying of all, it towers three hundred feet above the ground, almost as tall as the mountain itself, its tail tripping Vikings caught off guard, its mouth a gaping black hole filled with cruel barbs as teeth. The hole opens to emit an ear-splitting bellow.
"Now!" I shout.
Per my instruction, the Norkon fires a burning blast at the Green Death, its force turning the beast's head to the side.
Our dragons swoop in over the island. I spot Enger and Unferth staring up at us in awe, but I haven't enough time to dwell on that.
"Fly around it," I call to the others. "Make some noise. It won't have a blind spot, so try to move around a lot. Distract it!"
"Can do," Dorfang says with a mischievous grin. "I'm the queen of distraction."
"Since when?" Fordang demands. "Everybody knows I'm the more annoying one."
YOU ARE READING
HTTYD: Dragon Girl
FanfictionHow does a girl with no memory go on with her life? She arrived on Skaldi in the midst of a terrible storm, at the brink of death by the deadliest dragon known to Viking-kind, unable to remember anything about her past aside from one name-- Astrid...
