Heart of a Berserker: Faith (School of Dragons)

Chapter 22

"Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - St. Francis of Assisi

Chapter 22

Snotlout, Astrid, and Viggo joined the group that set out to meet Grimmel. Heather entrusted me with the antidote. She decided to stay behind and run more experiments just in case this did not work. We set out to sea on our dragons while Valka sailed in small ship.

"Here they come!" Astrid said. She pointed to the shapes in the distance and then turned to me. "We'll try to buy you as much time as you need to throw the antidote onto Cloudjumper. Does that sound alright, Valka?"

"This could possibly work," Valka said. "I only wish that I could help more than simply waiting with an escape plan."

"Hey, we don't have time for philosophizing and dillydallying!" Snotlout said. "We need to destroy these attack ships!"

"You heard the man," Harald said.

"That one appears to be the lead ship," Viggo said. "Let's strike!"

"Sounds good to me," I said. We flew to the large ship and began attacking. The Skrills were able to disarm and eventually sink the ship.

It was too soon to celebrate, however. I turned just in time to see Cloudjumper and two Deathgrippers advancing on Astrid. Cloudjumper shot Stormfly, who fell with her rider to the rocks below.

"Astrid! No!" Snotlout cried. "Is she all right? We need to help her. I'll give you cover fire!"

"Do we need to?" Harald said.

I ignored him and flew to the rock, landing beside Astrid. I hopped off Bolt and knelt next to her. "Hey, are you alright?" I asked in concern.

"It's okay, it's okay," Astrid said. "He just grazed me. I can fight." She slowly stood up. She frowned as the Deathgrippers advanced on us, blocking us from Cloudjumper. "Oh, boy. We sure could use a little calming down from Valka's big friend here. I wish we had time to try the antidote now, but I need your help to repel these dragons! Join me and we'll beat these dragons back for good."

"It looks like I will be of some use after all," Harald said, withdrawing his sword.

I nodded. "Let's do this." The three of us charged and attacked the dragons. Eventually, they had enough and flew off.

"Yes!" Astrid cheered. "Now you'll have a clear line of attack on Cloudjumper." As if he heard his name, the Stormcutter set his sights on us. "Uh-oh. Looks like we've grabbed his attention... and Stormfly's not healthy enough to take on the fight. You're going to need to throw the antidote onto him. He's locked his attention on you, though, so you'll have to fly swift and evade the fireballs. You can do it!"

"Got it!" I said. I gave Harald a sharp look. "Stay here and help Astrid if those dragons come back." I knew neither one would be happy with that arrangement, but he would slow me down if he came with me.

I climbed on Bolt, and we took off. We quickly dodged the fireballs Cloudjumper shot at us. When we were close, I pulled out the antidote and threw it at him. Unfortunately, a Deathgripper got in the way, and the antidote hit him instead.

"No!" Astrid cried.

"Enough!" Valka shouted from her nearby rock. "We need to get out of here before we get wounded more. Everyone, retreat to New Berk!"

Dismayed, I returned to fetch Harald before starting the trip home. No one spoke a word until we returned. I landed Bolt near my house. I wanted to spend a few minutes winding down and washing up. Then I knew I had to face the music. I wandered around town with Harald until I found Hiccup.