The Night Rider: Book Two

Chapter 34: Bodies in the Water

THE NIGHT RIDERS POV.

The world around him felt like it was moving in slow motion. Like a fish, swimming slowly up a stream. His heart was pounding like a drum in his chest, and his breathing was shaky. Tears pushed at the back of his eyelids. Moments away from spilling out.

"This can't be happening." The Night Rider stated.

"What do you mean?" Astrid asked beside him. She also seemed effected by the horrific sight before them.

"No Hunter knows where my island is. Not Dagur, Ryker, or even Viggo. This... it can't be happening." He said, a tear sliding down one of his cheeks beneath his helmet.

"Maybe it was a scouting ship. They could have just found it." Heather suggested.

"Hiccup, what should we do?" Astrid asked him. But he couldn't bring himself to form another sentence. He could only watch in horror, as the slaughter continued to unfold before him. A confused Nadder, with an arrow piercing its lower leg was shot down from the sky by a ballista. Its corpse hitting the water with a splash. The Night Rider flinched as the Nadders body hit the water. He remembered when he had saved that Nadder. It had been a few months ago when he'd pulled her off of a Hunter ship. He'd thought he'd saved her. But she was still dead.

A blue and yellow Monstrous Nightmare fearfully fled from the flames of the island. He'd saved that dragon near the beginning of the first war with the Hunters. After that, the Monstrous Nightmare had always just stayed on his island. A year ago, he'd fathered several babies. The Night Rider watched in shock as a Hunter ship launched a large boulder from a catapult, hitting the Monstrous Nightmare in the side, clearly breaking one of its wings and even maybe his spine. The dragon fell to the sea below, roaring, never coming back up to the surface.

Two groncles, one male and one female, flew away as quickly as possible. One was barraged with a dozen arrows. Dead. And the other was netted and pulled back to a Hunter ship before being stashed below deck. The same thing happened to two baby razorwhips. And to so many other dragons.

"Hiccup?" Astrid repeated.

The Night Rider felt rage building up inside him. He gritted his teeth and balled his fists. "Fight." He said quietly it couldn't be heard over the crackling of the fire that engulfed his island.

"What?"

"Fight!" He yelled. He looked over to Astrid and Heather. "Fight!" Repeated the Night Rider, his voice loud and commanding. "Astrid! Corral dragons and direct them back towards Berk! Heather, you're with me! We'll hit the fleet! Free as many dragons as we can and then sink the ships!"

"You got it, Night." Heather said.

"Wait, Hiccup! I'm not splitting up from you!" Astrid objected. He could see the pleading in her eyes. The worry for him.

"Just listen to me please, Astrid!" He begged her. As much as she wanted him out of danger. He wanted her out twice as much as her. And if she was leading dragons towards Berk, that would be the farthest from danger she could get. "Please."

Astrid looked deeply at him. And he stared back. Eventually she nodded, "Good luck, you two." She wished, before flying off away from the fleet towards a small flock of fleeing dragons.

The Night Rider looked to Heather who looked back at him. "Shall we do this?" He asked.

Heather pulled the cloth mask over her face and pulled up her hood. "I'll stay with you this time." She said.

The two and their dragons flew at the fleet lightning fast. Toothless roared his signature Night Fury cry. A scare tactic that would send the weaker Hunters into a trembling frenzy. And even mess with the tougher ones heads. Because it wasn't just a Night Fury. It was a Night Fury—and the Night Rider.