The Wild Stryke

Chapter 5

  Dusk prowled the perimeter of Dragon's Edge, silver eyes searching almost hungrily for a sign of Stoick. It seemed that the destruction of their precious home had affected them so much, that they were too focused on rebuilding, than dealing with the threat barely a hundred feet away from them.

  After rampaging Dragon's Edge, Dusk had caught a large fish, to soothe his belly, then returned to watching Stoick. He wasn't doing anything, though; the most interesting thing Stoick had done was lecture Hiccup on what a chief was supposed to do, and that was the most boring thing Dusk had watched that day. At least falling leaves were pretty!

  But night was approaching. Dusk had found a small cave on the other side of the island, right beside a huge volcano. The warmth of the magma would relieve the biting cold of the night.

  Sulking slightly, Dusk turned away, flicking his tails angrily; there was no way he could attack Stoick if he was surrounded by so many Vikings and dragons.

  A barbed tail caught on bramble, and Dusk let out a tiny hiss.

  "Is he gone, Astrid?" Hiccup whispered, heart pounding.

  "Yeah, Stormfly can't smell him anymore." Astrid petted Stormfly's spikes before turning frantically to Hiccup. "Hiccup, we can't take anymore risks. We have to capture that dragon! Who knows what it'll do next. Berk, and now the Edge? Next thing we know Beserker Island will be on fire!"

  "Astrid's got a point, Hiccup." Fishlegs fumbled nervously with a stone. "It's going to take ages to repair my rock garden, and that Triple Stryke will just come back and ruin things again!"

  "Yeah!" Snotlout complained indignantly. "Because of that stupid dragon, my 'S' looks like a squiggly worm!"

  Tuffnut butted in. "It always looked like that, Snotlout." Ruffnut snickered and they high-fived.

  "Whatever! Fishface is with me. One way or another, that dragon's got to go!"

  "I know, I know, but how?" Hiccup collapsed onto Toothless, who purred comfortingly. "It's right at home at dark!" Hiccup suddenly sat up. "Maybe we can use that against him..."

  Dusk heated up the floor of the cave with a small, concentrated blast, then padded around, curling up and settling down. Yet there was still a prickling feeling at the back of his head that had started ever since he'd left Dragon's Edge. Dusk closed his eyes, but kept his ears perked up.

  Nothing...

  Nothing...

  Nothing...

  Nothing.. - 

  - "Now!"

  Dusk's eyes snapped open and he pushed off the ground, barely avoiding a huge net, but tangling up his hind legs. Roaring, he spread his wings as Vikings and dragons alike stormed in.

  "Toothless!" The Night Fury fired a maxed out plasma blast, and Dusk reeled back, stars in his eyes. Blindly, he lashed out, catching a dragon head with his pincers. Dusk shook his head wildly and tried to fly out of the cramped cave, but something grabbed his tail and tugged down so hard he crashed into the stone, groaning.

  Five streams of fire crashed into Dusk and he shrieked in pain, then banged his head on the floor, giving in to the darkness looming in.