Sixteen: Endgame

The Riders had barely got in the air when the Fliers crossed the cliffs and launched their attack. Fire bolts rained down on the village of Berk and Vikings ran for it-but not very far. Used to attacks by dragons for centuries and then from Outcasts and Berserkers, the Hooligans were not about to lie down and submit. The men ran for their familiar places at the catapults, the women gathered their children and scooted for the safety of the Great Hall while Gobber raced to the forge to hand out weapons and the teens scrambled for their dragons-or to the fire crew. Though they weren't being raided by dragons now, a large number lived on Berk and small fires were common so the younger teens still manned the fire crew and now they were quivering with excitement at finally seeing battle.

"Attack!" Stoick bellowed from the back of Skullcrusher, his Rumblehorn. Waving his axe, he accelerated directly towards the attacking dragons. He didn't underestimate them-after all, they had faced wild Singetails on Storehouse Island-but this time, he knew that Berk was at stake. Retreat wasn't an option and defeat was unthinkable-because Stoick couldn't imagine his home and people under the thumb of Viggo Grimborn, a man who sold dragons as a commodity and who had callously blockaded and starved Berk in a cowardly ploy to cause his son to withdraw from their war. From the corner of his eye, he saw Snotlout yell and lead the attack, his flaming Monstrous Nightmare strafing the fliers as the twins followed, the billowing green gas of the Zippleback swirling around and then igniting.

"A Team-to me!" Gustav shouted and directed Sven, Bucket and Mulch and Gothi to take the left flank. Fishlegs and Heather took the right while Stoick, Snotlout and Spitelout all slammed into the middle. Individual duels broke out all over the skies, with the Dragon Riders concentrating on unseating the Fliers, which left their dragons to abandon them and fly away. But the Fliers had no qualms and strafed the houses without mercy, explosions blasting the Plaza and starting fires. Gobber growled and bellowed a mouthful of curses before kicking his Hotburple, Grump.

"C'mon, Grump-we need to get up there!" he shouted, swapping out his hook for an axe attachment. The large, slow-moving dragon gave a little burp and closed his eye once more but Gobber kicked him with his peg leg. "These are Hunters, Grump!" the smith insisted urgently. The eye snapped open and the dragon lumbered to his feet straight away, barging Gobber aside as he lumbered to the door. "That's it, yeh lazy lump," he said in relief and jumped onto the dragon's back as they rose up to meet the attackers.

oOo

Back on the leading Hunter ship, Viggo stared at the jagged outline of the island of Berk...and then he raised his fist.

"FIRE!" he commanded and they unleashed the catapults. The front seven ships fired on the village, boulders arching through the sky and slamming into the cliffs, the ships in the port and the houses and stores in the lower town. Muttering among themselves, the Hunters obeyed and methodically reloaded and fired the catapults as the ships closed on the coast. Viggo could hear them muttering and he folded his arms but said nothing: the men were complaining that this didn't catch them any more dragons and he couldn't be bothered to explain that shattering the Dragon Riders and their ridiculous sentimental antics would clear the way for Viggo to capture and kill whatever dragons he wished at will. Nor that he had no intention of helping Johann locate the 'King of Dragons' and support his plot for ultimate power. He had a nasty suspicion that the late Krogan's backer would have something to say about that and getting caught between two powerful amoral men would simply be bad for business.

But for now, he was prepared to hazard a few losses to remove the most potent enemy he had ever encountered, a man who had seeming escaped death at every turn and who seemed to be blessed with incredible luck.

"You luck is running out, Hiccup Haddock," he growled as he saw a pair of Riders swoop down and strafe the fleet. The ship right alongside his flagship lurched sideways as an explosion blasted the mast down and the ship listed. Viggo's finger stabbed at Snotlout and Hookfang.

"BRING THAT DRAGON RIDER DOWN!" he shouted and the Hunters swung their ballistas round, the bundles of dragon root arrows spraying in all directions roughly at the whooping Monstrous Nightmare Rider-but a blast of brilliant Nadder fire vaporised them as Spitelout swooped by-and then Stoick drove his Rumblehorn down and blasted the ship to Viggo's left.

"BERK!" Stoick yelled.

"Take that, yer Hunter bastards!" his brother yelled as he strafed the ship as well. Viggo ducked and glared at them as the ships surged forward, their sails filled by the breeze.

"Concentrate your fire on these riders!" he yelled as he turned to the reliable men he had chosen. "As soon as we approach the coast, you are to head up the village and go straight to the Chief's House. That is where Johann said the boy was recovering. Use your Dragon Root arrows to dispose of the Night Fury and then kill the boy. And let me make it very clear. I want you to bring me his head as proof. And his body need not be attached."

oOo

Despite their best efforts, the Fliers were inflicting damage on the village and though they had unseated a few, the Riders were struggling. Fishlegs had a small burn to the leg and Ruffnut had been unseated and had nearly crashed to the ground-if Heather and Windshear hadn't grabbed her in the nick of time and returned the shaken girl to her dragon. Tuffnut was whooping and mad that the had almost lost his sister and the villagers were launching all sorts of weapons at the invaders. The catapults were working and stones were flying up, taking down a couple of Fliers but it was clear the villagers weren't happy at having to injure dragons when they had dragon friends of their own.

In the Chief's House, Hiccup listened to the sounds of battle and grimaced. He hadn't felt this useless since he was fifteen, before he had befriended Toothless and they had trained each other. It was agony, listening to the explosions and sounds of destruction, knowing that the village, the people he was trained to see as his charges and responsibility, was being harmed and the Vikings were being hurt. In every fibre of his being, he knew he should be out there, fighting for his Tribe but instead, they were being hurt to protect him. And Stoick had charged Toothless to stay with him, meaning even the Night Fury couldn't go out and defend the village.

So he jumped when the door opened a crack. Toothless growled and there was a small gasp.

"Is anyone in there?" a small, childish voice asked and a head poked round the door. Hiccup managed to lean forward and rest a hand against Toothless, reassuring the Night Fury and then beckoned the young boy in. He recognised him-well, the spiky black hair and grey eyes were a trademark. It was Nubbin Larson, Gustav's younger brother. And like all of the Larsons, he was scrawny, a bit small and looked scruffy. Hiccup knew Mrs Larson was a good woman but not a very good homemaker and the Larsons were poor, though that didn't seem to stop them producing a child every couple of years. Currently they had six and Hiccup had heard his father joke that Mrs Larson was founding her own clan single-handed.

"Come in, Nubbin," Hiccup said as the boy wandered in, holding a metal object and Hiccup gasped.

"Gobber said to bring you this," the boy reported, stumbling forward and handing Inferno over to Hiccup. Eyes widening in surprise and relief, Hiccup weighed the weapon in his left hand, feeling the grip weaker than it had been and consciously tightening his grasp as he looked up at the blade.

"Thank you," he said, his eyes checking the edge and seeing it had been sharpened and readied for use.

"It's pretty scary out there," Nubbin said unselfconsciously. "Are you gonna go out there and scare them off?" Hiccup lowered the sword and rested it across his lap.

"No," he sighed. "I've been very sick because the Hunters poisoned me...and I can barely hold a sword..." Nubbin looked at him and shrugged.

"How 'bout Toothless?" he asked boldly. "He's the most awesome, cutest dragon around..." Hiccup chuckled as the Night Fury gave a quizzical warble.

"That he is," he agreed as Toothless rolled his eyes and then shuffled forward, his ears vibrating as he concentrated on deciphering the sounds of battle from outside. Nubbin looked honestly up into the one-legged Rider's face.

"You know you're my hero?" he asked as Hiccup's green eyes widened. "I mean you are seriously awesome. But Astrid is the scariest Dragon Rider-even scarier than the Chief." He leaned close. "That's what my brother says. Don't tell her he said it."

"Oh, I gotta," Hiccup told him with a small smile. "Because she will be really touched that Gustav said that."

"If she finds out, he'll have to probably 'drop and give her a hundred'," Nubbin said glumly. "He said his arms almost fell off after forty."

"Your brother is in luck because Astrid isn't here right now," Hiccup sighed as the young boy sat on the end of the bed. "But Thor, I wish she was because I would tell her that I need her-and it sounds pretty desperate out there..." Nubbin jumped as another explosion sounded, closer and louder and he scooted right to the edge of the bed.

"Could I stay here...just for a little bit?" he asked in a small voice. "I mean I know it's cheeky-and I am cheeky-but I'm not old enough to be on the fire crew so I would have to be in the Great Hall and I hate being inside there during raids..." Looking into the scared eyes, Hiccup felt sympathy wash over him and he patted the bed next to him. Cautiously, Nubbin hopped up and sat right against Hiccup. "I mean I'm not scared or anything..." he said quickly.

"Of course not," Hiccup said as an explosion sounded right outside. Nubbin gave a little yelp and pressed against the Heir and Hiccup automatically wrapped an arm around the anxious body, comforting the younger boy kindly. Toothless growled and Hiccup's hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. He had tied on his prosthetic leg, even though the stump wasn't even half-healed but he knew if the worst came to the worst, he wanted to face his fate standing on his two feet-even though one was prosthetic-rather than dying in bed. "Toothless and I will protect you, Nubbin-no matter what!"

oOo

Viggo's flagship had reached the moorings so his hand-picked squad were racing up the ramps to the village while the Hunter and his other men were following. The catapults continued to pound the village of Berk as the Hooligans tried to save their homes from destruction and began to fight the invaders. Overhead, the Fliers were slowly getting the upper hand, driving the Riders back and unseating Sven from his Monstrous Nightmare. Smoky and Sparks was hampered by a torn wing but the Zippleback was gamely hovering over the Plaza, blasting at anything they could to drive the Hunters away. But slowly, the Hunters were pushing the Hooligans back.

Suddenly, Viggo's head snapped up as a squawk sounded overhead and a blue Deadly Nadder ripped through the sky. The shape hunched over her back was dressed in black but a few strands of golden hair escaped from the hood. Stormfly arched round and ripped two Fliers from their Singetails' backs before dropping them directly a hundred feet to the ground. As she banked, Stormfly was already firing her spines and as they buried in the Singetails, the dragons began to become uncoordinated and drop from the sky.

"SNOTLOUT! HEATHER! Take point!" she shouted as she swept round and got Stormfly to fire and intercept a blast at Bucket and Mulch. "All of you-protect the people. Monstrous Nightmares and the Chief-take out the ships. We need to stop the Hunters destroying the village and..."

"ASTRID!" Heather shouted.

"Later!" she replied brusquely. The raven-haired girl drove her silver Razorwhip to hover in front of Astrid.

"Now!" she shouted. "Look-Hiccup is alive!"

Astrid stared at her. She shook her head.

"No...Gothi said it was impossible, that there was no hope..." she breathed. Stormfly hung in the air, hovering as the blonde stared at her friend.

"We were too late," she admitted. "But he hung on. He was in a coma for a week. We thought he would never wake...or slowly fade...but he woke. He's awake."

"He's alive?" she breathed. Heather smiled.

"He's in the Chief's House with Toothless and..." she explained as a shape sped past and the two watched in horror as a Green Singetail slipped past the defences and fired directly at the Chief's House, perched in the hill. The explosion tore the building apart and Astrid started in horror at the rubble left.

"HICCUP!" she screamed and then she turned to look at the Flier. "Stormfly..." she breathed, leaning forward and the Nadder raced forward, her tail already rising to drive a brace of spines deep into the Flier's body. Dead before he even fell, nevertheless Astrid watched him until he broke on the ground, his dragon flying away. Her face hardened with rage and her hands tightened on the saddle. "Come on, girl-no survivors," she breathed and tore down the village. Heather glanced down as the rubble moved and Toothless raised his shielding wing, dislodging the wooden beams and revealing Hiccup crouched over Nubbin, still on his bed. The Berserker gave a sigh of relief.

But Hiccup was staring down the village at the familiar blue and gold shape of the Nadder as she arched down and picked off the Fliers. Forgetting that they were not facing just the Riders, the Fliers were expecting non-lethal force-and even Hiccup could see that Astrid was using every tactic she could to take them down-as she would if she was alone and had no backup. And he had heard her scream, knew what she had assumed because he had kind of believed it himself that he was going to die. And then he felt Nubbin move and he looked down into the little boy's huge grey eyes, his face pale with shock.

"You okay?" he asked as confidently as he could, forcing a smile on his face and the boy nodded soundlessly. "Toothless was very brave, wasn't he?" There was another silent nod. "Get to safety, Nubbin. We'll be fine..." And then he saw the boy's eyes widen.

"Not when we've finished with you!" the Hunter said from a few yards away. "Viggo wants your head." Hiccup pushed the boy behind him and lifted the dragon blade, pressing the button that released the Monstrous Nightmare gel. The blade ignited.

"Kinda like it where it is," he admitted with a smile, pushing himself to his feet. "Bud-you wanna get us some help?" The Night Fury fired his distress signal even as the Hunters fired arrows at him-but Hiccup threw himself forward and parried two with Toothless blasting the other away-and then felling the bowman. Before they could prepare, the men charged. Gritting his teeth and bracing himself, he managed to scramble the blade up to parry two men as they lunged at him even as Toothless batted away a couple more. There was a squawk and Sneaky-who had been asleep under the bed-bit one man's knee to the bone while Sharpshot attacked another man ferociously.

And then the men jerked, eyes wide and mouths open with gasps of pain and sudden realisation-and then they fell, the Nadder spines sticking out of their backs. Hiccup looked up as Stormfly hovered and floated lower. Astrid's axe was in her hand and as another couple of men came forward, she cut them down. But one got through and Hiccup, unbalanced and seeing Nubbin cringing back, ducked and clumsily drove the blade forward into the man's chest. He winced as he felt the man's knife graze his side-and then he stumbled back to collapse onto the bed by the boy. Toothless and Stormfly finished off the rest of the Hunters as Astrid looked down on him.

"Hiccup?" she breathed.

"Hi Astrid," he managed, looking up at her with relieved eyes. "Thank Thor. I thought you had left me..." She shook her head, leaning back and making Stormfly flap a little higher up, pulling back from him.

"I'm sorry," she breathed. "I'm sorry, Hiccup. I-I don't deserve you..." He blinked, the words of his dream echoing in his ears.

"It's okay..." he murmured. "Nothing you could ever do would make you love me less. I know why you went. It doesn't matter. I love you. I need you, Milady..." She blinked, her eyes shining at the steadfast love in his voice and she shook her head again, her expression stricken and ashamed.

"I-I can't," she breathed. "Until Viggo is dead, you will never be safe. I have to finish it." He looked up in alarm.

"Astrid?" he breathed as she wheeled away. She didn't look back and he felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest as she left him. "ASTRID!" Frantically, he looked over to Toothless-but the dragon wasn't wearing his saddle and tail gear-even if Hiccup had been able to fly after the woman he loved. His voice was hoarse with despair. "Bud-stop her!" he begged but though Toothless roared over and over, she still arrowed up into the sky and vanished.

oOo

Over Berk, the Fliers were scattered, all their Singetails gone except for those who had been hit with Dragon Root-impregnated spines. The Hunters had been thrown back once the Riders and Hooligans could concentrate on the invaders and several more ships had been sunk, leaving Viggo fleeing with two ships only and a small handful of men. Furious and shaken at how catastrophically things had gone south once Astrid rode in and fought like a Flier against his forces, Viggo had recognised the best part of valour and had conserved what he could from the rout. He knew most of his force was left behind and the two ships he had were all that was left of his armada. And he had to keep the men firing catapults and arrows until they were all spent to keep the Riders off them. But in the end, he knew they would break off, because there were prisoners and hostile dragons still on their island and the village was partially in ruins. They had other priorities.

And so had Viggo. He needed to get back, regroup and get back to business. Recruit more men, dig out his secret gold stores and get some new ships so he could stabilise, coordinate a new plan with Johann and finally finish that-that boy!

As they sailed through the night, Viggo brooded, his mood dark. Johann had sent them on the attack but he had failed to mention that all the dragon riders were in Berk or that the Night Fury was watching over Hiccup. Of course, he had taken into account the Vikings of Berk and there was no way that they should have been able to beat the Fliers and his men. The presence of Astrid and the tactics that she had used seemed to have swung the battle and he cursed himself for falling into the trap of imagining all the Dragon Riders would be like Hiccup. The Night Fury Rider was a man who sought the peaceful solution, who tried to spare life and to not harm dragons-but Astrid's actions had abundantly demonstrated that she was a different person, a true Viking on a dragon, a Valkyrie on a different steed. A Dark Valkyrie on a draconic steed, filled with rage and hatred and vengeance-and she had killed without hesitation or mercy.

He still hadn't expected it. Mentally, he had still dismissed her because they had beaten the Riders so many times-but he should have realised...that someone who could end Krogan so efficiently and brutally wasn't to be discounted. And he hadn't expected her to be at Berk, had assumed she would be prowling the Archipelago searching for Hunter ships to sink. Well, she had found them-and had helped deal him his worst defeat after the loss of the Shellfire, Ryker and the DragonEye.

He turned the instrument over in his hands and frowned. He knew more about it than any other man alive and his collection of lenses was enviable but he was still missing vital components that could enable him to locate the King of Dragons. But maybe, given his reduced circumstances, that was his only real course: throw everything with Johann, locate and subjugate the King before Hiccup could get to it and ride the Trader's coat-tails. The prospects wouldn't be everything he would like but he assumed he would be given free rein at Dragon Hunting, since Johann secretly loathed the creatures.

He had a further jolt when he arrived back at his base, finding it in ruins. The dragons had all escaped, most of his guards were dead and several of the more powerful dragons had been slain and the bodies burned...though from the reports of the remaining guards, it sounded like they had suffered from Grimora infestation. He stared around the chaos, the guard quarters burning and cages damaged and he had shaken his head.

"Clear up the mess, set a light guard and get some rest," he ordered the remaining sergeant as he looked over at his remaining ships. "Make me a list of the deceased and I will write to the widows and ensure the usual honoraria are paid to the families." The guard bowed his head and retreated, looking relieved. He had expected anger, sarcasm, maybe even death but Viggo had been very civilised. And as a leader and Chief, Viggo was a good leader and looked after the families of those who gave their lives in his service-even those he had executed for failing him.

His tent seemed intact and slumped into his seat, carefully placing the DragonEye on its cradle and pouring himself a generous goblet of mead and almost pouring it down his throat before refilling the goblet and sipping it more slowly as he stared without seeing at the gloom in his tent. His brother was dead, having betrayed Viggo and tried to usurp his power. His Tribe was gone, scattered to the four winds and their home razed to the bedrock. His organisation was in tatters, the meagre couple of score of men and two damaged ships all that remained of a once-mighty and feared organisation that was the envy of the entire North. He knew his partners would spurn him as a failure and seek other, better providers of dragons.

He had lost everything.

And it was all down to that boy, Hiccup and his demon of a girlfriend, Astrid.

Wearily, he unstrapped his sword and laid it across his desk as he drained his goblet once more. Sometimes, a man just needed to get drunk and allow the pains of life to fade amid the haze of alcohol. He could regroup in the morning and begin his plan to recover his fortunes and finally extract his revenge from Hiccup and the Riders. And then he stiffened, realising that he wasn't alone. A shape moved in the shadows at the furthest corner of the tent and light gleamed off the keen edge of an axe blade.

"I think we need to talk," Astrid said.