Striker is the happiest she's been in a long, long time.
She can fly again, and she can fly with the dragonsoul human that is her dragonsoul human (mine, mine, mine, her heart beats, Katsuki is mine, mine, mine), and her human is happy because he can fly and because one of the few other humans that he respects now trusts him, and this makes her even happier.
The Queen cannot touch her here. The Queen will never have her, never have her Katsuki or the humans he cares about. The sky is open to them, open for them, and they are safe in the upper air.
She can tell from Katsuki's tone as he speaks to the round-faced human with the big, shiny brown eyes that he doesn't think they're safe, not forever anyway. And Striker finds herself in agreement, albeit reluctantly.
As long as the Queen is out there, she will never let Striker, her chosen warrior, her strongest warrior, go. She will continue to raid and hurt the Vikings that her human cares about and that will hurt him and she will not let him be hurt again.
So when the Queen's call, a voice that is high and shrieking and cruel and that the humans are deaf to, echoes across the water, she allows her feral mind to come forward again. The compulsion to serve the Queen is there, but it is weaker, so much weaker that it is merely a dull itch in her wings rather than an electric shock forcing her into service.
Mostly, Striker's feral side feels only rage, deep and protective and directed at the human that even the untameable part of her trusts, the one that freed her from the hell that was forced service. So she snarls, baring her teeth and shaking off her Katsuki's worried voice, delving deeper into the fog.
"What's going on?" she hears the female whisper.
"No fucking clue. Striker, you've gotta get us out of here--ow!"
She promises herself that she'll apologize later, listening with the slightest hint of guilt as her Katsuki and the round-faced female come to realize that the dragons are hauling in their kill, but her wilder side refuses to feel sorry. This is the only way to make sure that she and her human can live in peace, and she's going to take it.
Her feral instincts and sharp mind both agree: they need to know what they're up against.
She weaves in and out of the sea-stacks and other dragons expertly, taking in their dull, slit-pupiled eyes and iron fear-scent. She can hardly believe that she once smelled this way, afraid for none but herself. Two years ago, Striker would've scoffed at the idea of carrying humans, even one that was her destined dragonsoul partner.
Now, though, she knows that she'll do anything to keep the two on her back safe, and so her fear-scent is tempered by anger, anger that gains her wary looks and a muttered warning from a Monstrous Nightmare. She bares her teeth at the Nightmare, who wisely shuts up, and continues to glide through the fog, dread spiking in her veins as the eerie volcano "palace" came into view.
Don't let me have made a mistake by bringing them here...
Striker takes them through a tunnel into the Queen's chamber, ignoring their screams of shock and fear as the hellish buzz of the Queen's breath surrounded her. She looks around, flaring her wings as she gazes briefly into the cloud of red smoke, praying that the monstrous creature hidden beneath wouldn't sense the humans on her back. Rock ledges sprout from the sides of the volcano, home to all species that have fallen prey to the Queen. She can hear sickly coughs through the buzzing noise, frightened whimpers of hatchlings as their mothers try to hide them from the Queen.
Her own mother tried to keep the Queen from realizing she was with egg. They almost escaped, until He-Who-Walks-In-Shadow's mother seized them and brought them back, hoping to be spared from the traditional sacrifice of the parent Night Furies. Her mother, She-Who-Shone-In-Starlight, died and joined her father, He-Who-Outspeeds-The-Wind, in the night sky. The Queen slew her strongest warriors after their children hatched in order to ensure that she could not be challenged, but everything went to daylight when He-Who-Walks-in-Shadow was captured.
She was prized. Used. A trophy to be shoved in the faces of the Alphas, the Kings, those who ranked highly in their hierarchy.
And now she is crippled, but stronger, and she is not alone. And her dread is tempered by courage.
Striker lands them as close to the sky as she can manage, crouching just behind a rock as the silent, hollow dragons drop their kills into the pit. "Well, it's fuckin' great to know that all of our fucking food has been dropped down a giant hole," she hears her rider mutter.
"They're not eating any of it," the female whispers, sounding puzzled.
They won't be confused for much longer, she thinks, watching a small Gronkle carrying zero prey flutter over the pit. She watches the poor thing retch half of its already too-small meal into the pit, scratching at its ear before moving to fly away.
Wait for it...
The horrendous roar that echoes send her scrambling back, and the jaws of the Red Queen appear, snatching the small dragon out of the air and swallowing it. Striker retreats, listening to the horrified murmurs of the two humans as she crouches, a warning hiss rumbling in her throat as the Queen sinks back into her pit. Maybe they'll get out without incident, maybe they'll be fine. Maybe, just maybe, the Queen won't see them.
The Queen, of course, reemerges seconds later, one of her six eyes piercing into Striker. "My warrior returns," she hisses, "with two Viking sacrifices..."
"Striker, you gotta get us out of here now!"
"They're not for you," she spits, making sure her words echo across the volcano, before leaping into the air as the Queen's pupils narrow with rage.
"Now!"
As her jaws snap down on the place they were seconds ago, Striker leaps into the air with a snarl, snapping her wings down as she pierces through the air, fear and adrenaline hammering at her heart as the other dragons all rush to escape. She can hear the screams of a Zippleback, the wails of a Deathsong as her babies are eaten, but forces herself to keep flying.
No matter how many lives must be taken to keep him safe, she'll protect her human, her Katsuki.
Even if she has to challenge the Queen.
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The Brave Men Rode Them
Fanfiction"In front of him lies the Night Fury, the most dangerous dragon in the known world, one that he's felled, the one that could prove that he does have what it takes to kill dragons. But its eyes are open, shining and white-gold, and he sees himself re...
