════ ⋆★⋆ ════

━━ chapter ten
valkyrie the vicious

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

    VALKYRIE tried to think of a plan as they took the walk to the edge of the boat. But she felt hopeless. All she could think of was how she dragged everyone into this; into danger, and for what? Her friends, her brother ... how could she let herself put them in danger? The boat at their feet moved, leading the fleet to war. This was her fault.

     She was shoved forwards closer to the edge and she gritted her teeth, trying to stay brave. 

    "Oh, could this day get any worse?" whined Snotlout. Valkyrie skidded to a stop right behind Eret, glaring daggers into his back that she hoped he could feel. 

     "Um, let me see," said Tuffnut, shrugging. He didn't look bothered, and Valkyrie has learnt it was because he's put himself in far more dangerous things than this. The amount of stories from the Edge she could tell ... (perhaps she could create some memoirs if she somehow survived this). "We're gonna jump into freezing cold water and then die from drowning."

     "I'm gonna take that as a no," finished Hott. 

    Eret glanced over the edge at the water, treading with waves back and forth from the moving boat. Something was pulling it, Valkyrie knew that much━and she had a feeling it was that dragon they saw submerged beneath the water. She had no time to wonder what it could possibly be, however, considering━like Tuffnut said━they were about to be thrown into freezing cold water and drown.

     Valkyrie thought about Hiccup. She wanted to hold her brooch, feel the indents of their dragons touching noses again━one last time. She wondered where he was, what he was doing━was he okay? Had Stoick and Gobber found him? Would he even know she was dead? Would Drago reach Berk and destroy it before Hiccup could even get back ... 

      She was a little emotional, even if she refused to show it with the hunters around. She was supposed to spend her life with him; grow old together. Valkyrie was supposed to have kids with him; multiple little lanky kids with auburn hair and his green eyes. She had it all planned out. She had been nervous about children before, but now, she realised how much she wanted them. It was strange what occured to someone when they were standing right before their death. Valkyrie's flowers were old and wilting━falling from their places in her braid and into the cold water ... floating away like her life. 

     Was that her future? Was that the gods telling her that her future was gone because of some foolish decisions? Three flowers drifted away, breaking apart in the current. 

     "Looks refreshing," muttered Eret. Glancing back at Valkyrie, he smirked. "Please, ladies first."

      Her grief was spiked with a furious anger. There might as well be steam coming out of her ears as she glared at Eret son of Eret. First, he shot her dragon down. Second, he led them into a trap and got her dragon and her friends captured, and now he had the guts to say that to her━

      She struggled in the grip of the hunters, wanting to punch that smug look right off his face. "You are such a steaming heap of dragon━"

      The smirk fell of his face and with a serious nod, he whispered, "Duck."

     Valkyrie barely had any time to grasp what he meant before Eret sent a roundhouse kick right over her head. She ducked down, hearing the grunts of pain of her captives as their jaws were knocked by the heel of his boot. She watched their spears fly up into the air━Eret shuffled over, catching them in his tied hands blade first and ripping away the ropes. Hands-free, he swung them around the right side up and set Val a look to say, what was that again?

     She blinked, taken aback.

     "Warn the others!" shouted one of the guards and they left their captives to attack. Ruffnut gasped, purring out a low, "Get them, you son of an Eret!"

     Eret took them all on, spinning the spears around. The others stood to the side, watching in bewilderment as he sliced and thrusted, whacking the men to the side and off their aim. One caught a dragon root dart to the throat, another stumbled right back and off the deck into the water; Eret swept a third off his feet and took the dragon root blowpipe to shoot the final runner. He hit the deck, out like a snuffed flame. 

     Ruffnut beamed at the trapper, weak at her knees. "Okay, I love you again."

     Snotlout and Fishlegs watched her run to him, defeated and Tuffnut snickered at them, "Oh, pathetic. You can still jump."

     Eret passed them all, swiping at their bonds. Astrid massaged her wrists, arching an impressed brow. "Thanks, man," said Hott. (Though albeit a bit jealous he couldn't have done the same). 

     Hott glanced at Astrid beside him, wondering whether she would've been taken if he had gotten them free, taken on all of those men━would that impress her like Eret had done right now? It made him bitter despite the situation. He rubbed his wrists, glowering absent-mindedly. 

     Eret turned back to Valkyrie, still seeing her shocked by the edge━

     "So," he cut her free, "are we going to save your dragons and get out of here or not?"

     Valkyrie narrowed her eyes. "Hmm," she hummed to say: change of heart, huh? as he brushed past. 

     "Check every trap," said Eret son of Eret. "They're here somewhere."

     "We'll split up," said Valkyrie, and he glanced back at her, nodding. She stepped up to his side and felt more confident now. She might've gotten them into this mess, but she was also determined to get them out of it. She had led Drago to Berk, and now, she was going to stop him━it wasn't just what Valkyrie the Vicious would do; but also the their future chieftess. And as she stood up on the crate right now in front of her friends, she definitely looked like one, too. 

     "Ruff, Tuff, take the traps on the East side," they nodded (Ruff whined about wanting to be with Eret and her brother pretended to wretch over the side). "Fishlegs, you and Snotlout go the North side, wrap around, check the traps around there. Astrid, you're with me, we'll take on the South side, find our weapons━I think I saw the men take them that way. Hott, drag Eret with you to the West. We find our dragons and we stay hidden until they reach the riders' nest. I have a feeling Hiccup will be there. When they do, Ruff, Tuff, go big with the explosion━" they cheered quietly and Valkyrie held up her finger, "━and I mean only when they do. Not before, you got it?"

     Ruffnut rolled her eyes, "Got it."

     "Wait," Tuff turned to her. "Was it before or after?"

      She stared at him, exasperated. "Ugh," said Ruffnut, "how am I even related to you?"

     Valkyrie pinched the bridge of her nose. Before the Twins could break out into a fight, she said: "Just do as I said, okay?! Everyone━" she gestured wildly at the others with her arm, "━let's go!"

     And like that, they set off.

     Valkyrie and Astrid were as quiet as they could manage, on the tips of their toes so their boots didn't scuff the boards of the deck. There were plenty of traps on this boat, and their dragons could be in any. Valkyrie wanted to free all the dragons, but she couldn't do that without her own, first. Nor could she do anything without her weapon, either.

      She stopped Astrid with a hand out in front of her when she caught sight of their weapons by the edge of the boat. They were piled ready to be chucked over the side just like they would have been. Valkyrie felt something in her lift to see the mallet Hiccup made for her. 

     Valkyrie had a chance for that future, now, and she wasn't going to lose it.

     The two girls shuffled along the side of the entrance below deck, keeping their backs to the wood facing the stern. Valkyrie counted two hunters, and quickly thought of a plan to take them out. She turned to Astrid and gestured the plan they have done so many times, they just knew with a few signals. Astrid nodded and they took a deep breath.

     Slipping out, they crept up behind the hunters; no sound emitted from them, and the hunters had no idea. 

     Valkyrie checked whether Astrid was ready. She smirked, and so Val reached out and tapped the hunter's shoulder.

     "Huh?" he frowned, glancing back only to meet a backhand from her arm. Beside her, Astrid did the exact same thing to her hunter, and both men fell to the ground, unconscious. The two friends shared a smirk and a quiet high-five. They grabbed their weapons and rushed to find their dragons.

     With her mallet back in her hand, Valkyrie felt ready for anything. Rushing on their feet, the girls made their way back to the tarped traps. As soon as they found one, they dashed past before any hunters or soldiers could notice, slipping in under and towards the mechanics. With a tug, they pulled the lever down and opened the jaw of the trap just enough to climb through. 

     Valkyrie reached the top and peered in through the dark. A grin breathed its way onto her face, "Stormfly?"

     Hearing her name, the Nadder perked her eyes up and Astrid's face lit up with glee. She jumped down quietly and threw her arms around her dragon. Stormfly wiggled her body happily as much as she could through her ropes. "Oh, yes, yes, I know girl━I'm here━I'm here━I missed you, too━" Val smiled at their reunion, but it also made her worry where Zephyr could be, and whether one of the others had found him. "You just gotta be quiet, okay, Stormfly━hang on..."

     Valkyrie joined her, hopping down and pulling out Fishlegs's knife. With a spin, she grasped the hilt and started to help Astrid cut her dragon free. 

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

     VALKYRIE KNEW they had arrived at the shudder of the ship hitting the shore. She shared a nod with Astrid and climbed up onto Stormfly's saddle with her. The Nadder crouched her legs, ready with a purr of a whisper from her rider. Staying as quiet as they could, they felt the trap around them jolt, and it began to move. Val hid her gasp of surprise, wrapping an arm around her friend. She heard the growls of the dragons outside, straining as they tugged the traps onto the surface of the island.

     All they had to do now was wait ... (Oh, please━Valkyrie prayed to all the gods that the Twins got this right).

     Valkyrie hefted up her mallet, glaring up at the peak of the opening they had. The tarps shuffled back and forth at the shudder of land, and there were shouts from outside━and boom! The catapults were let loose. Valkyrie tried to count how many by the amount of shots of one time with Astrid's help, but it was frustratingly hard. They could get an idea, but they wouldn't be able to know until they were out. 

     Amongst the fire, there was an eruption of dragon roars, cries and squawks━like a whole army. The last time Valkyrie had heard the sound of this many was back on Dragon Island when she and Hiccup had first found the Nest. 

    "What is happening out there?" mumbled Astrid, frowning. 

     As if hearing her wishes, there was a cry━"READY THE TRAPS!" from Drago somewhere to their rear.

     And like that, the tarps were taken down, and the jaws were opened. It was only seconds after did a blast follow it, sparked from noxious green gas.

     "That's the Twins!" exclaimed Valkyrie.

     "Stormfly━up!"

     "SURPRISE!" shouted Tuffnut over the wind. 

     The Dragon Riders burst forth out of the traps and into the battle field. Astrid veered her Nadder to the left, shooting spikes along the snow at the set of confused warriors standing there, gawking up at them. They dived out of the way. 

     Valkyrie took this chance to take in what they were facing. She was right━a whole army of dragons flew overheard; far too many species to count. She saw nearly every dragon from the Book. The ones she could list just from sight were: Gronckles, Zipplebacks, Nadders, Monstrous Nightmares, Windstrikers ... but also Raincutters, Ridgesnippers, Rumblehorns, Hobblegrunts, a flock of Terrible Terrors, even some Prickleboggles━so many of them━diving straight to Drago's army at the shores: a fleet of ships extending back as far as the eye could see, catapults lining the shores, sequences of traps scattered along the snow ground. 

     And the army was all heading for the blast of ice extending out from the centre of the island.

     Valkyrie's eyes widened. It was exactly like the one she and Hiccup had found at Eret's fort.  A frozen explosion, jetting out at all sides. But this one was larger━by far larger. The mountain had been hollowed out━like a volcanic eruption of ice had shattered the inside entirely and burst forth a castle of crystal. 

     They all soared up into the air on their dragons (and some of the others), ready for battle with a Hooligan war cry. To the left, Hott grumbled as he pulled up Hookfang next to Snotlout on Spikemoth, "Excuse me, Snotface Snotlout, can I have my dragon back?"

      Snotlout thought about it, then decided to be cocky. "Do you really want your girl dragon back?"

     "What if I have Hookfang roast you?"

     "He would never!" Snotlout tried to say it with confidence, but with Hookfang's side-eye glance, he wasn't too sure. "Yeah, yeah━whatever━" the two swapped dragons, jumping to and fro between saddles. 

     Down below, Drago glanced up at the chaos. In seeing the Dragon Riders, he cried out a furious, "WHAT?!"

     Astrid guided Stormfly past the others all in turn and Valkyrie handed them their weapons. She was passing over Fishlegs his knife when she caught sight of Eret clinging desperately on the back of Zephyr. She let out a laugh of bewildered amazement. "Astrid━there!" she obliged, urging Stormfly upwards to the two of them. In seeing his rider, Zephyr flapped his wings with a bright and happy squawk that made her beam.

     Eret fumbled his grip on the saddle, pulling himself up and into the front. Valkyrie shook her head at him in disbelief. "Gods━you are full of suprises!" Standing up on the back of Stormfly, she leapt off and onto behind Eret. She landed gracefully on her dragon's shoulders. Zephyr grinned up at her and she blew him a kiss happily down at him.

     "All right━" she narrowed her eyes towards the battle, sitting down behind the ex-trapper, "━let's go!"

     The group of Dragon riders all soared overhead and down to the army. Tuffnut laughed, shouting, "Dragon Riders coming through!"

     "Eret━down there━" Valkyrie guided him down through the ranks, drumming patterns on Zephyr's neck for sequences of blasts and tricks. He brought down his tail by some ropes that had captured innocent Snafflefangs, slashing them open with his spikes. "Ahah! Yes!" she grinned as they flew free. "Go Zephyr! Up, Eret━up!"

     They shot to the sky, narrowly missing a volley of arrows from the crossbows. Hott had her back, diving down towards them with a shout of, "Spikey━Tail-fire!" She flung her tail in between her legs and let loose a magnesium blast at the same time. Her poisonous spikes were lit up in flames, hitting and sending the metal melting away. Drago's soldiers had to jump for their lives.

     "That's what you get!" shouted Hott as he titled to the left, soaring past the dazed men. 

     Fishlegs and Meatlug buzzed to the catapults; the Gronckle swallowed the boulder whole and spat it back out, exploding the contraption to pieces before spinning off, Fishlegs laughing from her saddle. 

      "Coming in hot and blowing out snot!" bellowed Snotlout, swooping past the set of catapults with a jet of columb fire; Hookfang burnt them to the ground. "Ha! Hookfang, Hookfang, oi, oi, oi!"

     "Ruff, Tuff!" Valkyrie called to the Twins as she had Eret pass them. "Take care of those traps with Astrid━blow those dragons free!"

     Ruffnut gasped. "Did she just ask us to blow something up?"

     Tuff nodded at her, a little tearful. "Yes, she just did, sister. That's twice in one day! Oh, we're in Valhalla."

     "HAHA!" cried Tuffnut with joy as he and his sister looped Barf and Belch down below near the open and closed traps. Astrid dived in from the opposite side, ready to have Stormfly fire down on Barf's green gas, lighting it up and freeing the dragons from their cages. 

     Drago growled, "Cut them down!"

     Metal bolas shot up from more catapults, heading for the Dragon Riders━they weaved in and out, barely slipping through. Valkyrie sighed out, annoyed. "Oh, come on! How many do they have?!"

     "A whole army full."

    "That was a rhetorical question, Eret━whoa, look out! Lean left! LEFT, ERET, LEFT!"

     Eret darted them away, but Ruff hadn't been so lucky. In trying to get away, her and her brother took separate sides and in the impact of Belch's yank, she fell from Barf's saddle. She flailed her arms, voice cracking as she screamed, "ERET SON OF ERET━!"

     The ex-trapper didn't come to her rescue, too busy trying to steer Zephyr out of the way of another volley of arrows. Instead, two hands clasped around her arms, pulling her up from the rock she headed straight for. Ruffnut breathed a gasp, shocked as to who was so heroic and amazing to save her life━

     She looked up━

     And she was mesmerized. 

     Snotlout and Fishlegs carried her away, settled between their dragons to safety. Her heart pounded out of her chest━they looked so handsome with their muscles and growing beards ... she closed her eyes, smiling in their grasp. (Who's Eret son of Eret again? Ruffnut forgot).

     Valkyrie leaned to the side of Eret to see where they were going━for he was very tall. "Up, boy!" she told Zephyr and helped Eret pull them back and push her dragon upwards, away from the fire down below. They soared towards the mountain, getting a bit too close to the ice shards for Val's liking.

     A catapult's fire hit the ice above them and she gasped. "Lean left, Eret━!" he drove them away from the falling ice. Valkyrie grinned. "Yes! That's it━" her breath hitched; the ice shattered right above them, splitting into two, large sharp tusks; and it fell right to them. "Oh, gods━look out━!"

     It exploded away from them in a flash of bright blue and purple; the sound of the Night Fury piercing Valkyrie's ears. She covered her head from the shards, but looked up and her face broke out into a bright grin to see Toothless's red tail. He darted past her, tilted at a sharp and speedy angle with his rider flat on the saddle. Valkyrie's heart fluttered. She watched Hiccup lead the fray of him, his father and Gobber down to the army, blasting the bola contraptions straight to the sky with a cry of, "Yeah, baby!"

     "Haha!" Valkyrie threw her fist up in celebration. "That's it━there he is! You get 'em, Honey!"

     "Take them down!" a general shouted and Gobber laughed.

     "Heads up!" he bellowed before Grump lowered his clubbed tail, knocking out all the archers in the line with a sleepy growl. 

     Valkyrie had Eret lead Zephyr back to battle, heat-blasting the remaining catapults━they melted from the heat in seconds. They shot back up and Toothless sweeped in next to them, his cheeky rider flipping up his helmet to grin at Eret, "Welcome aboard, Dragon Rider!"

     On her knees, Valkyrie sat up to stare at her husband in shock. He leaned back in his saddle, if not showing off a little to her as Eret mumbled, "Thanks! I think ..."

     "Where have you been?" then asked Valkyrie, unable to frown in her happiness that he was alive and he was okay. "We've been looking for you everywhere!"

      "What?" Hiccup smirked. "No hello? No: I missed you? Milady, you wound me."

      She chuckled, heart filled with warmth. "What have you been doing?" she asked instead, shaking her head at his antics.

      "Oh, you know ..." Hiccup shrugged, green eyes flickering with amusement at the look on her face, "just catching up with Mum━" he nodded up to the sky.

     Valkyrie frowned. Isn't his mother...? She followed his gaze, and her and Eret gasped. Hovering above the frozen explosion, was the sillouhette of a women with a hooked staff, wrapped in blue-painted leather armour and standing on the back of a fierce Stormcutter. Behind her, rose the dragon the size of the ice fort around it; white with a halo of spikes as large as collosal tree trunks around its crown and tusks that could stand as tall as some sea-stacks in Berk if set vertical. Its mighty roar shook the earth, sea and sky. 

     Val didn't need to be told that that dragon had caused this explosion, and the one at Eret's fort, too━it was the infamous ice-spitter, and it was a glorious sort of terrifying that made her knees quiver. But also extraordinarily beautiful. 

     But she fixed her gaze back on the woman standing ontop of the Stormcutter with a breathless chuckle of awe, "That's your mother?!"

     She locked gazes with her husband and he shrugged yet again, "Well, dear, now you know where I get my dramatic flair," with a flick (a very dramatic one at that), Hiccup's helmet was back over his face, and off he went. 

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

     a/n: hope you guys like the chapter!!!! we're getting into the heart of httyd ii ... and the sobbing part. i'm not ready to write it. i always skip stoick's death scene whenever i watch, otherwise i end up a sobbing mess. but now i have to pause, and watch, pause, and watch, and write angst ... *gets tissues ready*

     anyway, i'll see you guys in the next chapter!! 

     (hiccup and val are reunited! thank god, i missed writing their interactions). 

     i forshadowed in this chapter, definitely. one is point-blank easy to see, the other is very subtle ... hehehe