The Edge of Black Wing

13 He Found it in the Wreckage II

"This is a Stone! Guarded by a Windstriker! Whatever that is."

"It's a dragon."

"I know it's a dragon, Tuffnut!"

"We've met one, before."

"Shhh!"

"Ugh!"

"How does that align, Snotlout?" Astrid disputed. "Every dragon's cave, has a Stone?"

"Of course not! It just seems like a rather convenient coincidence!"

"I don't believe in coincidences," Ska'i claimed.

"Hmmm, forced choices or coincidences. What do you believe in?" Fishlegs inquisited.

"Now's not the time to question Ska'i's worldview philosophies," Ruffnut defended.

"It's not," Hiccup pipped up. "When Windstrikers are provoked, they can become aggressive and are extremely territorial."

"And we just trapped ourselves in her cave. Where no doubt there are eggs," Fishlegs added, and they turned their attention to their surroundings. "And there they are."

It wasn't a huge cave with tunnels, stalagmites, and stalactites. Or anything interesting like an underground waterfall (such as the ice cave, they'd found in The Shedding Light Caves). The only thing in it was the nest full of the most striking batch of eggs Ska'i had ever laid eyes on. Granted, she hasn't seen a lot of dragon eggs. Rather, none. But most birds' eggs were shaped like an oblong circle, even around the way.

This one had a slightly lopsided look, decorated with countless little curved thorns. Its color was mostly teal with yellow and stripes running vertically along it.

"We need to get out of here," Snotlout reaffirmed. "You think this Stone does anything?"

"Well. Considering it bears similarity to the other two, I'd imagine it does," Astrid agreed.

"Try holding it up, and r-e-a-l-l-y focusing on it," Tuff suggested.

Snotlout scoffed, but tried it anyway, as another dragon-infused tremor rattled the cave.

"She's probably drawing a lot of attention to this rock foundation," Astrid murmured.

"Yeah, I hope it's not alerting those Hunters to this location," Ruffnut agreed.

"And the fact that you've escaped," Tuff added.

"Alright!" Snotlout gave up, frustration causing him to throw his hand down, Stone still in hand. Then a massive fissure seemed to explode in the direction he was concentrating. It nearly tore the cave in two.

A stunned silence fell over everyone, then Tuff encouraged, "Hey, do that again!"

He stuck his tongue sticking between his lips and had an intense frown on his face. It looked like this was the first time he'd ever concentrated on something so hard in his lifetime. It seemed to have worked, though. He blasted enough rocks away from the entrance, with only the smallest dirt clogs sprinkling down. Cheers rang up from the Riders, and with Ska'i atop Toothless again, they flew all out.

The Windstriker forgot about her precious eggs, but then she noticed a group of Hunters heading toward her mountain.

"Oh no," Astrid worried.

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs cried out.

"I see them," he growled, the familiar grim protectiveness crept onto his face. "Start firing, gang!" The Riders began to bombard them with unrelenting firepower. Yes, it was a rather simple plan of attack form, but so long as it worked, was the only thing that mattered. The Hunters didn't seem aware they were so close to a nest of eggs, or a rare dragon to steal and execute their cruel ways upon. When the Riders attacked, shouts of alarm instantly rang out, and they almost immediately retreated to their ships. The dragons lingered by the cloudline, only leaving once they saw evidence of retreat. Weariness enveloped them, but they finally turned to head back to the 'Edge.

Tuff heaved a huge sigh. "What a day."

"I'm just glad we didn't run into any of the Honua," Ska'i finally felt free to confess. It was met with mumbles and grunts, and more sighs of mutuality.

"Hey, so why were you two so freaked about me standing in front of the cave?"

Fishlegs instantly went into scholar mode. "Well, the Windstriker mainly uses its fire to produce such a copious amount of hot air that it can set a Viking on fire."

"Woah."

"Jeez. It's that hot?"

"Yup," Hiccup cast an 'I was worried' glance at Astrid.

"Ah."

Silence. Everyone was so warn out, but there was still another thing to discuss.

"So that's what the Air Stone does," Astrid was in awe.

"And we have it," Hiccup's tone was oddly tense.

"Yeah," Snotlout breathed.

"Three down."

"How many more do you think are out there, brother?"

"That's way too daunting to think about right now," Fishlegs was overwhelmed.

Ska'i shook her head, remaining silent. She wasn't in denial about her exhaustion. But Ruff's question forced her to lose herself in deep thought, reminiscing about the other two Stones they had. Which ones did they have left? What powers did they have? Once all is discovered, what will happen next? There was also no denying that the race between them and the Hunters, to find whichever Stones were out there, was on.