I Am Dragonblood: The Grim Beast (Book Four)

Chapter Fourteen - Iced Fury

Grimmel glared at the Dragon Master with an icy hatred as he was ordered to freeze the village of Berk. He had already taken the dragons, so why now freeze an entire isle? All those people down there, so like his own village from when he was small, innocent lives being extinguished for no reason. 
    He shook his head of those thoughts. What was he thinking? Those people had been harbouring the Night Fury for years, befriending dragons and thinking they could live peacefully with the reptiles by their side. They were guilty of a Vikings greatest crime; allying with the enemy. 
    Grimmel had seen what they could do without a leader, without direction, and he, the son of an Alpha, would amend that. 

***

What was I thinking? He asked himself again. He no longer seemed to know what to think, after long years of nothing his mind did not seem to want to work. 
    Spikes of ice protruded as if grown from the ground, cold and grim. Seafront huts were now kindling, the people from them standing in bewilderment a little way from them, staring up at the Bewilderbeast with the shadow of fear in their eyes. He'd done this to them, he'd destroyed their home, he was responsible for all this. 
    And he knew why, even though he denied it. Being Alpha had gone to his head, the power over dragons so thrilling and exciting it had clouded his mind. So many lives today gone, forever, all thanks to him. 
    No more death. 
    Except for the furies... And Drago.
    Above the clamour of wingbeats Grimmel heard whoops and squawks. The latter were human alright, even though some sounded a tad feral, and the former was that of free dragons. He'd thought he'd taken all the dragons from the Sanctuary and Berk, but apparently not. 
    A young purple Scuttleclaw flapped into his view, ignoring his attempts to control it and carrying the Fury's boy on its back. Grimmel growled deep in his throat, but Hiccup ignored him and instead focused on Toothless, who he had taken control of after Hiccup had run away. On the dragon's back sat Drago, staff in hand and a laugh rattling his voice. 
    Hiccup held out his hand to Toothless, a pleading look in his green eyes. ‘Come back to me,’ he whispered. 
    Grimmel lessened his control for a moment, just to see the hope flicker on the Dragonblood's face, before laying it on even stronger. This Fury would not escape him now, not like Madock had done. 
    ‘My friend...’ Hiccup murmured, desperation edging his voice. 
    Friend... He'd never had a friend, no one he could spend time with except for his partner, children or mother. But they were family, different from friends. And besides, they were gone now, either dead or left behind so many years ago. 
    ‘Yes!’
    What? He thought, refocusing on his surroundings after the moments of thought. The Night Fury had broken free in his lapse of concentration and had thrown Drago off. Don't blame him, Grimmel thought, Drago must have been quite a burden for a small dragon. 
    The Dragon Master stabbed his hooked staff into Grimmel's tusk like an icepick, climbing to the top of his head and roaring to him to fight. The Bewilderbeast ignored him like he would a buzzing fly, instead following the flight of the Fury with his eyes. 
    Toothless swooped around, Hiccup on his back, and headed straight towards him. Catching on to their intention Grimmel stayed as still as was possible for a leviathan his size, a small smile creasing his scales. 
    He felt the fire scorch his pale hide, the burning only a faint sensation through his thick skin. Drago screamed and was flung from his mount to the ground far below, the air surely being knocked from his lungs. 
    Grimmel's smile turned to a grin as he whipped his finned tail up to whack the dragon and rider. He knew the Dragonblood wouldn't be able to control his flight with a flightsuit well, and the dragon would follow him like the loyal lizard he was. 
    His grin dropped when he saw both of his targets land beside Drago. He'd missed! Yet again! With a growl he prepared to blast them into icy oblivion, the coldness building inside him not only that of the ice. 
    Hiccup turned and the ice smothered him and the dragon, the sea water becoming solid in seconds. 
    Finally, he'd done it. 
    His revenge had been taken.