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━━ chapter nine
dragon master

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    THEIR DRAGONS were carted onto the main ship like nothing but objects to be used; building materials for an army. Valkyrie saw part of Drago's dragon army in the walk to his boat: poor dragons locked in iron armour with chains at their feet. It made her sick. They were not creatures to be controlled, to be used for domination━they were animals, they were intelligent and kind friends who were loyal if given the chance. They didn't deserve this; to be forced into work for one man's greed. If she had her mallet, she would try to free them right now, but they took their weapons. Valkyrie was desperate to get that mallet back, though━that mallet meant just as much to her as the brooch on her chest. But she and the rest of the Dragon Riders had little choice but to follow the guards onto the upper deck where Drago Bludvist himself stood waiting.

    In seeing the cloaked figure by the stem, Eret flew his arms out. "Drago!"

    Valkyrie sure hoped he had a way to get them out of this. She kept a glare on her face, focusing in on the cloaked figure that turned around at the mention of his name. She could see from here it was made of dragon skin, just like Stoick had said. Dark and menacing, it matched the expression upon Drago's face. His olive skin was marred with old scars that looked freakishly like they were from dragon claws. His curled into a constant sneer that even brought fear to her heart. This is the man even Stoick the Vast was scared of, and she understood why.

    "Get off me!" Eret son of Eret snapped at the trapper holding him, pushing his grip away. In seeing Drago Bludvist stalk towards him, he chuckled nervously. "Always great to see you, my friend. Keeping warm up here?"

    The dragons tugging their own cowered as Drago passed them. Valkyrie gritted her teeth.

    "Well, as you can see," continued Eret as the guard took his knives from his sheaths behind his back. Eret sent them an annoyed glance, but kept the confident smile on his face, "I am right on time with a new batch of dragons━" Val's glare fell away, replaced with one of shock, "━just like I promised."

    Hookfang stirred, shaking the ropes and tugging. He roared in defiance and the bear-skinned trappers manning the cart scurried back in fear. "He's waking up!" they cried. "Drop the ropes!" Hookfang smacked one aside and the other picked up the rope, alone━ "Give me some back up here!"

    The Monstrous Nightmare snarled, baring his teeth.

    "Drop the ropes," said Drago.

    He was quiet, just like Stoick had described. His voice barely louder than a whisper, and yet Valkyrie could hear every syllable. He approached Hookfang, his dragon-skin cloak draped over one arm. It drifted ever-so-slightly in the wind of the arctic weather. Each footstep was muddled with the soft thud of heavy leather, but it commandeered presence; authority ... fear. Drago lived off the power of fear, and that was something Valkyrie observed immediately.

    Hookfang's eyes narrowed into slits, sneering at Drago as he came closer. Snotlout tensed up when he growled right back, not even flinching when Hookfang burst forth a column of flame. Drago just threw his cloak in front of it, and the fire bounced off like it was nothing. He walked through it, the fire parting away like waves. Eret laughed a nervous, "Heh ..."

    "What is he doing?" whispered Hott, but no one had an answer. They all just watched, pale-faced, horror-stricken as Drago roared back at Hookfang, spinning his staff around in the air.

    Snotlout's dragon froze, shrinking back down. He flinched when Drago slammed the staff down onto the boat deck, now standing toe-to-toe with his snout.

     Valkyrie didn't know whether she was scared, or livid to see Hookfang bow his head in submission, and Drago set his boot on top of his muzzle.

     "Hookfang!" cried Snotlout, pushing and tugging in his restraints.

    "Hey!" shouted Ruff in anger.

    "Leave him alone!" struggled Hott.

    "What are you doing?!" demanded Valkyrie, her tongue seething.

     Drago ignored them all, tilting his head up and declaring to Hookfang with a soft, yet terrifying whisper, "You belong to me, now."

     The guards and trappers around them all chuckled, amused at the reaction Drago received from the group of riders. Snotlout set his jaw, looking murderous.

    Drago's eyes flickered up and Valkyrie saw confusion settle in seeing the saddles upon their dragons. Eret smiled, his confidence returning to step forward and hold his arms out, "And as an added bonus," he said, "I've also caught you their riders." Drago frowned at them. "No extra charge."

     "WHAT?!" exclaimed Astrid. "Are you kidding me?!"

     Valkyrie's anger grew to overshadow her guilt. She got the team into this. She got her brother captured and in danger because she was so arrogant over her abilities to scare Eret that she hadn't seen this. Idiot! She told herself. (How could she ever help lead a village with easy mistakes such as this?).

    "Awwwww!" cried Ruff, stomping her feet in despair. "But you were so perfect!"

     Val loved her, but she was not in the mood for this. She sent her a glare to shut her up.

     "Turns out," said Eret, "there's a whole bunch of them out there. They attacked━"

     Drago suddenly growled and snatched Eret up by the throat, dangling even a man of his stature and muscle into the air. Eret son of Eret choked, clawing at Drago's fingers. "How many?" Drago Bludvist murmured.

    Realisation hit Valkyire━as well as a breath of relief. The others were safe. Hiccup was safe━at least, safe from here. But another thought struck her; one that made her stomach and heart rise up into her throat. "Drago doesn't have them after all..." she murmured as she understood: I got these guys into this for nothing. She had to fix this━already, a plan started to form in her head.

    "How many?!" Drago raised his voice and Eret trembled.

     "Hundreds," spoke up Valkyrie and Drago's gaze shot to her as she stepped forward. "A whole island full."

     Knowing what she was doing, Eret coughed out, "I wouldn't worry about it━" Drago's grip tightened and he wheezed, "My men are hunting them down as we speak. They won't know where you're hiding, I promise you that."

     "Oh, yes they will!" Valkyrie hid her smirk at Drago dropping Eret to the ground. Her plan was starting to unfold magnificently. She marched up to Drago, each step containing a new threat━a hope to scare him off. She had always been very intimidating. "They know we're missing and they have tracking dragons. If you so much as lay a finger on us, Hiccup is going to kick━"

    "Hiccup?" the sound of his name coming out of Drago's mouth was no more than a whisper, but in it, were breaths of incredulous disbelief. For who could hold such fear and power and be called a hiccup?

      Eret massaged his throat, managing a dry and painful, "He's not a problem. Really, trust me."

     Valkyrie laughed at him, shaking her head. She took another step forward, gazing up unflinching at Drago's menacing stare. "Don't underestimate him," she tilted her chin up. "He's only the son of Stoick the Vast━" the name brought a wanted flash of recognition across his features, "━his heir to the throne of Berk, descendant of Grimbeard the Ghastly, the best swordsman of the Wilderwest, and the greatest dragon master this world has ever seen!"

    "Dragon Master?" Drago sounded outraged, which was exactly what Valkyrie wanted. Yes, she thought. Be scared. "I alone control the dragons!" he sneered down at her, but she didn't even blink.

     Behind her, her friends backed her up with snickers and laughs; heads shaking with scoffs of, "Nope━", "━Sorry━", "━That would be incorrect."

     Valkyrie sent them a thankful smirk before spinning back to Drago, the scowl back onto her face. "And unless you let us go right now, he will blast through here on his Night Fury━the very offspring of Lightning and Death itself━and blow your entire fleet of ships━" she nodded to the fleet for dramatic effect, taking a full turn before finishing with a sneer, "━to splinters."

    Ruffnut sniggered, "Then they'll be crying like babies!"

    Fishlegs and Snotlout broke out into obnoxious laughter and Astrid rolled her eyes, looking like she'd rather jump off the boat than be standing next to them.

    "Funny and beautiful," Snotlout smiled at her.

     "Yeah," added Fishlegs. "Good one, babe." Ruff gagged.

     Her brother laughed along, feeling quite left out. "Haha! Yeah, like babies, they always cry. Real tiny ones, heh, heh!"

     Hott leaned in and whispered to Astrid, "Remind me why we bring them along anywhere?"

    Drago gritted his teeth, grinding them with fury. He snatched Eret back up, "First there was one rider, and now all of Berk?! And you led them to me?!" he flung him across the deck. Eret coughed, trying to regain his breath. He gasped out his name, but Drago's attention was drawn somewhere else. He gestured an arm to his men, yelling, "Stop all preparations! We must attack the dragon riders' nest at once! We will take down their alpha! Then, we will take Berk!"

    Valkyrie faltered. Staggering back, her breath got hitched in her throat as her plan went the exact opposite way she wanted. She only seemed to make things worse and worse. First, she leads her brother and friends into danger, and now, she just informed Drago of Berk's best kept secret to scare him ... now innocent families were at risk. She did that.

     She should have just led them back to Berk.

    (What future chieftess would she make? To put her own village in such danger?)

    "Drago━" Eret pleaded, on his hands and knees. But the leader of the dragon army just pointed at him and ordered:

    "And get rid of him."

    The men turned to the trapper and Eret scrambled to his feet. He backed away, his hands up in surrender. "Drago, please, I━"

    One of the bear-skinned warriors threw an axe straight for Eret's head. He ducked, shielding his head under his arms━

    A squawk rolled across the deck. Zephyr dived down in front of Eret, blocking the blade with the spikes down his back. He snarled at the hunters, keeping Eret safe in his wings. He flung up his tail and a single razor sharp spike tried to hit Drago━but he just flung out his cloak, and it bounced right off.

    Following it, Zephyr let loose a heat blast━but he was cut off mid-roar. A dragon root dart shot right into his neck. Valkyrie's heart dropped to her stomach and she yelled out her dragon's name, struggling and trying to get to him. Zephyr cried out and slumped, unconscious at Eret's feet.

    "Zephyr!" screamed Valkyrie, her voice cracking. She pulled forward, feet dragging on the deck as the hunter holding her tugged her back. He had no choice but to hoist her up, hauling her, kicking, away. "NO!"

    The men laughed, and she wanted to cry. Eret pushed himself to stand. He stumbled, staring with an unreadable gaze down at the fallen dragon who had just saved his life. Valkryie was still fighting to reach Zephyr even when it was useless. She always thought of herself strong: strong and intelligent; she was Valkyrie the Vicious. She's always been Valkyrie the Vicious. But now, as she was shoved along so harshly she hit the deck before being tugged up by her braid, tearful, Valkyrie didn't feel vicious. No, she felt absolutely, and completely useless.

    "Get rid of them!" Drago pointed to the riders. "Send them off board━we set sail for the Riders' nest!"

    Valkyrie choked back a small sob for her dragon and the fate waiting her friends as they were prodded along to their deaths.

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     a/n: astrid in this scene in the movie: ^^^^^^ 

     i did a quick drawing of hiccup and valkyrie because despite absolutely loving them as a married couple, i've been lacking in the drawings (*cries*). so here's a quick drawing of a still from the movie:

     (also, watch hiccup be furious over val being tugged by her hair like, just saying... imagine ...)

     (they're so grown up *sobs*).

     (yo, let's be honest, valkyrie and hiccup will make *beautiful* children, like, look at them). 

      ^^ the three different thoughts going thru my head rn wtf ahahah