Battle For The Thundering Twister

The Newcomer

Chapter 40:The Newcomer

Everyone gasped as we settled our eyes on the object that had just crash-landed right outside the Academy in which we stood in.Our dragons growled and got into battle-ready positions.Castaway stood in front of me protectively,snarling and showing his needle-sharp teeth.The object was scaly,monstrous and lying in a coiled heap.Its scales were whiter than snow and had several spikes all along its body.Suddenly,the giant head of a dragon emerged from the heap and glared at us with its blood-red eyes.My mouth fell open as I realised exactly what this dragon was.

"It's a...It's a...SCREAMING DEATH!"Nevaeh shrieked,sending everyone into a panic.Mounting our dragons,we kept our eyes peeled on the Screaming Death.This particular one was bigger than the one that had first arrived on Berk about two years back.I could still remember the widespread panic and the viciousness of the Screaming Death.My heart was racing in my chest as I stared in utter disbelief at the enormous dragon.Its mouth was large enough to take us six and I was willing to bet it could swallow us all in one gulp as well.The Screaming Death uncoiled itself slowly,rising above us all.Out of the blue,a loud groan made the Screaming Death suddenly look down at the area near its tail.Its head ducked down towards its tail and made a surprising pitiful noise.I made Castaway rise into the air a little to see if I could spot what the Screaming Death was interested in.Its tail was still coiled round the mysterious source of the groan.

Suddenly,a dark figure emerged from the coils of the Screaming Death's tail.Everyone eyed the figure.The figure threw back the hood revealing his face and turned to look at us.It was a young man who didn't look more than 20.His chocolate-brown eyes and raven-black hair gave his face a somewhat pleasing effect.His light tan skin was covered with dirt and fresh bruises.A large yak-fur vest hung from his broad shoulders along with a pastel- What caught my attention was the familiar-looking sharp silver shoulder pads the man owned.It looked more like iron Deadly Nadder tail spines,but it didn't look like it was made by hand.The man began advancing towards us.

"Stop!Who are you to come and crash-land on our island with a highly dangerous dragon by your side?!"Oliver demanded fiercely,making Fireproof flame up and look as menacing as possible.The rest of us glared at the man in the most unfriendly way we could."I mean no harm to you.This useless dragon of mine got attacked by a pack of Nadders just now and they rendered my dragon's left wing useless by continuously shooting it with tail spines and thus,we fell from the skies and landed here,"the man explained,gazing at us warily."You still haven't answered my question.Who are you?"Oliver barked while Fireproof snarled loudly."My name is Axel Sharpshot,but you can just call me Axel.I was the original chief of a tribe before I got chased away because I betrayed the tribe by not killing this beast of a dragon.My tribe did not understand why I didn't and wouldn't kill it,so they made me fly away from the village I grew up in and never wanted to see me again,but I simply thought of dragons as friends and not enemies.I guess my tribe disapproved of that,"Axel finished his woeful tale with a sorrowful expression.All of us riders glanced at each other with uncertainty.

"We of all people understand that.You see,we made peace with the dragons a few years back,and now we tame them and train them instead of killing them.If you'd willingly come with us,we can take you to the chief of the village and see what he can do for you,"Zack gave Axel a tiny smile.Axel's eyes lit up and before we knew it,we were leading him to the Great Hall where Stoick,the chief of Berk,was."Chief,we have a stranded viking who needs our attention,"Nevaeh gestured to Axel.Stoick gaped at the Screaming Death that was by Axel's side."Don't worry Chief,the Screaming Death is completely under control.It also has an injured wing,so it can't do too much damage should it turn hostile suddenly,"I reassured Stoick."Greetings,chief.My name is Axel Sharpshot.I mean no harm and I have only come to seek help from you,"Axel bowed to Stoick before proceeding to tell his story all over again.Stoick quickly scribbled on a piece of parchment and rolled it up before handing it to Oliver."Send this to Hiccup on Dragon's Edge through Terror mail for me,but don't use Terror 58,because it always gets lost,"Stoick ordered before sending Oliver off.Then,he turned to Axel and invited him to sit down."You teenagers go get a rope to tie this Screaming Death's mouth up.I don't trust it one bit,"Stoick hissed to the rest of us before hurrying to attend to Axel.We nodded hastily and rushed out to get the strongest rope we had.