Knight's Honor

All or Nothing

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For several moments, everyone was too stunned by what just happened to do anything but stare in shock and awe. The Twins and Hiccup had pulled off a masterpiece of destruction, and the testament to their skill was the huge twisted wreck of iron that used to be The Conqueror. Now, an unworthy piece of scrap metal the world had never seen.

Once the sound of the explosion died, everyone was silent (even the injured before and after the blast), except for the fires still burning. Then a loud cheer went up from the defenders, the dragons roared triumphantly. The fighting began again with renewed determination on one side and increasing despair on the other.

Astrid looked around wildly as she fought, hoping to see Hiccup somewhere. While she sensed the fighting was wearing down, it was still chaos all over and she doubted she would see him even if he was close.

"Besides. You're not out of this yet." She remained herself as she ducked another sword.

Maybe Astrid was not, but Drago Bludvist was, as far as he's concerned. He knew it was over. His dragons were taken, his flagship destroyed, and his fools for allies were being slaughtered or haven't shown up. He was betrayed by weak fools again. Now, he would leave them to their fate. He had a ship moored on the other side of the island, just in case he needed to get away. He turned and began making his way away from the fighting. He was sure in the chaos and the aftermath, no one would notice. But several people were looking for him.

The sound of the explosion terrified the people in the cave like nothing else. And for Peer and Ase, neither of them could take it any longer and ran off while everyone else was recovering from the surprise. The guards went after them, but the kids had a head start.

With the destruction of The Conqueror, the allegiance shift of the dragons, and the flight of Drago, the heart went out of what was left of the attackers. Most surrendered instantly, others kept fighting but were easily subdued. For the defenders now came the task of dealing with the prisoners, and of course, taking care of the dead and wounded.

Probably no sane person ever like this part of a battle. It was hard to feel victorious or honorable when surrounded by the dead and dying, to hear the wounded pleading for help and knowing there's little that can be done about it. All the tribes had a vast number of warriors, yet only a handful of healers were present. There were so many casualties with great gaping wounds that blood was oozing out unchecked it seemed impossible to know where to begin.

Some volunteered to help with the wounded. Others wounded in a daze, looking around and wondering how so much death and destruction was possible. Those who were on guard duty were both lucky and unfortunate. They had something to do, which kept their minds off the casualties, yet it meant they were standing around while their friends and family were dying.

The dragons helped where they could, not because Toothless ordered them, though he did, but because they could all sensed it was the right thing to do. Most took over and guarded the prisoners, others worked on putting out the fires and carrying the wounded away from the burning buildings, lest they perished in the flames.

Pate had thrown himself off the ship not long before the explosion and by some miracle had managed to swim away to escape the worst of it, though a piece of debris went into his leg. Exhausted and in great pain, he dragged himself onto the beach and collapsed on the sand.

It wasn't fair. Hiccup was destined to lose. He's a weakling, how could he have possibly destroyed a ship like that and mess up Drago's excellent plans? Granted, he didn't know much about them, they were still excellent! How could they not be if Drago thought of them? He decided to get up and find Drago, if nothing else, they can escape and formulate a new plan. Hiccup merely lucked out, next time he would lose. The pain in his leg only fueled his anger.