Symphony of Shadows

3. Raid

Astrid awoke to a screech she felt deep down in her bones—a Deadly Nadder. She jumped out of bed, quickly pulling on her boots and outerwear and grabbing her favorite axe. She mentally prepared herself for a night full of action and fire, five deep breaths in and five deep breaths out. Swinging her front door open, Astrid caught sight of at least five burning houses and three empty sheep pens: not a good sign.

She slipped out of her house and ran towards a Monstrous Nightmare who was seconds away from charring Spitelout alive. While she wasn't particularly close to Spitelout—he was Snoutlout's father, after all, Astrid did respect the Viking who had taken command of the village in Stoick's stead after Hiccup's death.

She reached the dragon and raised her axe over its neck, taking advantage of its distraction with Spitelout. She was a hair away from killing the beast when all of a sudden, a shrill noise like nothing she had ever heard before pierced the night sky.

What in Odin's name?!

A massive purple explosion shook the ground and Astrid stared in horror as one of the flaming wooden posts that served as a giant torch started to fall to the ground. The post hit the ground and Vikings scrambled to stay out of its path, avoiding a fiery collision. Whatever dragon did that, Odin help them if there was more than one on this side of the archipelago. Gods help them if that beast returned to Berk.

Astrid scoured the dragon infested sky but could find no trace of the mysterious dragon or where it had come from. She looked back to find the Monstrous Nightmare escaping with a couple of sheep in its claws, its massive red wings taking to the air. Funny, that dragon looked somewhat familiar...no matter, she had more important things to tend to, like the Gronckle that was currently trying to abduct Fishlegs, who had been caught up in a net.

"Hold on, Fishlegs! I'm right behind you!" she yelled, trying to soothe a thrashing Fishlegs. The Gronckle tried to take flight but was experiencing difficulty taking off due to Fishlegs' impressive size, so she used it to her advantage. Still, the Gronckle was at least seven sheep above the ground, so Astrid dropped her axe, took a desperate running start, and leapt off the fallen post that had created a sort of makeshift ramp. She swung her arms out and made contact with the Gronckle's bludgeon tail. Astrid's fingers sought purchase on the dragon's lumpy, yet rigid skin and pulled herself up easily, placing her sideways near the rear of the dragon. She pulled her trusty dagger from her boot and slashed the rope ensnaring Fishlegs. Finally, he dropped with a satisfying thump.

With Fishlegs gone, the Gronckle surged upward, which was bad news for Astrid because the drop rose higher with every second she waited. She briefly debated stabbing the dragon in the head and using it as a shield against the drop but decided against it due to her slim odds of being able to kill the dragon before it realized she was on its back. Astrid inhaled sharply— and jumped.

She felt the cold wind whip against her hair as her body waited until she felt the Earth coming up closer beneath her. She braced herself for a roll and as soon as her feet hit the ground, launched herself into a somersault, which minimized much of the impact. However, her feet were still sore and her left ankle felt particularly tender, but there was still work to be done, so Astrid pushed on. Plus she was still feeling the adrenaline from the drop so she would be good for a couple of minutes at least. She jogged over to Fishlegs to make sure he was okay and then jogged over to Stoick to receive orders.

"What can I do, Chief?"

Stoick took his stormy eyes off the hoard of dragons tearing up his village and cast a wary look at Astrid.

"See if you can help Valson keep the sheep in the Great Hall and kill any beast that gets in your way, Hofferson."

Astrid nodded and took off in a light run towards the Great Hall, taking the path with the least amount of burning debris. She spotted Ingrid, trying to herd the remaining sheep, but being tailed by a nasty Hideous Zippleback. Astrid sprinted forward and snatched a fallen bola from the ground. She whipped her arm back and swung the bola at the Zippleback's back feet, successfully stopping the dragon from chasing the sheep and causing more chaos. She caught up to Ingrid and helped her get all the sheep inside the Great Hall and closed the doors behind them.

Ingrid turned to Astrid, breathless.

"What took you so long?" she teased, a grin quirking up on the warrior's lips. Astrid almost laughed at the ludicrous question and shook her head with an amused smile, Ingrid always had a way of lightening any situation or mood. Astrid scanned her village, or what was left of it. Most of the dragons had already flown off, with only a few stragglers lagging behind. The night had teetered on the edge of catastrophe. They had lost almost half of their sheep and around a third of the buildings had either collapsed or were about to, due to the flames and explosions. The most harrowing time of the night, however, was that new dragon. For the first time in a long time, Astrid felt true fear. Fear for her village. For her family. For herself.

If that dragon could decimate a ten-yak-tall wooden torch in one blow, she did not want to know what it could do when confronted by a stubborn Viking.