The Night Rider

Chapter 32: The Blanket Of Fire

WARNING: This chapter has violent parts and has a small amount of gore.

Hiccups POV.

Hiccup and Astrid jumped off the Nadder the second she touched down in the forest behind Hiccup's house. "Go, you have to get out of here." Hiccup said shooing away the Nadder which reluctantly took flight and flew away into the crystal blue sky. Screams where all around them, as was the sound of fighting. There were already so many buildings engulfed in flames that even in the forest behind Hiccups house he could feel the heat. "Hiccup hurry!" Yelled Astrid who was standing by the back door to his house ushering him to come inside. "No I'm going to help. I have to make sure no one gets hurt human or dragon." He replied trying to move as fast as he can through the pain and to the street.

"You can't help anyone your too injured." Astrid said grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and dragging him into his house and closing the door behind him before any Vikings could see him. "I can help Astrid!" Hiccup reasoned walking over to the door trying to make it outside but instead being thrown to the ground before making it two feet. "You can't help Hiccup not in the condition your in." Astrid said trying to calm him but Hiccup was determined to help and he lunged for the door but with a single move Astrid put him back in his place.

From out front of the house there was an explosion and the sound of flying debris. "Brother, brother. No, no brother please!" Cried a woman from somewhere out on the streets. "No brother please it isn't your time it isn't your time." She sobbed and Hiccups heart was consumed with sadness and remorse. "I'll avenge you brother." Said the woman through her sobs her voice filling with hatred. "I'll avenge you!" She yelled but then another large explosion rocked the ground and her screams silenced.

Hiccup turned his head back over to Astrid and looked her in the eyes, tears welling up in his own. "I can help them." Astrid shook her head and broke there eye contact. "No you can't, but I can. I can if I know your safe." She said and Hiccup turned away from her placing both of his hands on the wall letting tears slip out of his eyes and splash onto the ground in silence. "You go Astrid, I'll stay." He said reluctantly strengthening his quivering voice and turning around to face her. "Stay safe." He said and she nodded giving him a thankful smile turning to the door to leave.

The raid that was happening outside the wooden walls of his house was quite possibly the worst raid Berk and it's citizens have ever faced and if it wasn't handled right then it could be there last. If Astrid left he could never see her again. She could die. When they were in the air they had almost kissed and he had wanted to so badly. The girl that he had had a crush on since they were little had almost kissed him. But if she died today he would never get that chance. "Astrid." He said as she was about to open the door, she paused and looked at him. What should he say?

"Astrid I-. I-." He tried to speak but he couldn't. He couldn't say those three words because he couldn't accept that this could be there last time together. Or maybe she didn't feel that way back. Maybe when they were up in the air she just got caught up in the moment. "I wanted to ask you not to kill them." He said and she looked to the ground disappointment strewn across her face. "I'll try." She said but before he could say anything else she opened the door and left, maybe forever.

"Damnit!" Hiccup yelled enraged slamming his fist into the wall. "I'm such an idiot, she wanted me to say it." He said to himself burying his head in his hands. "And now I might never get the chance to say it to her." He said before a massive explosion knocked him to the ground. Was that it? Did that explosion kill her, or maybe his father. Hiccup could faintly make out a far off scream of a woman. Was that her in her final moments before death.

Thud, thud, thud! Three Nadder spines hit the exterior of the wall right next to him the final one breaking the surface and poking through. The part of the spine that shone through the wall was covered in bright red blood that dripped off the tip and created small splotches on the floor. Who had that been? Someone he had never met? Or someone more important to him. He couldn't stand around anymore, not while people where loosing there lives. But he couldn't help as Hiccup Haddock, he could only help as the person the Vikings of Berk hated the most. The Night Rider.

Hiccup made his way up the stairs trying to form a plan. Toothless was still upstairs in his room so if he got him he might be able to lead the flock awa- a hot blast of fire burst through the wall beside him knocking him off his feet and making him tumble down the stairs. Smoke was quickly filling the house making it hard for Hiccup to breath. The place on the wall where the fire had hit was gone and the wooden wall around that was smoldering away the fire quickly spreading to the rest of the house. "Toothless!" Hiccup yelled climbing the stairs in pain.

"Ahh!" Hiccup yelled in pain as he passed by the burning portion of the wall and the intensity of the heat burned through portions of his shirt and singed his skin. "Toothless!" He said collapsing against the closed door that led into his room making fall open. Hiccup crawled inside coughing filling his lungs with fresh air that his room allowed him to get. But why could he breath in here? Hiccup looked up from the wooden floor and there in the wall was a large Toothless size hole. Toothless must have busted out of the room when the raid began and tried to find him.

"Toothless!" He called standing up and walking over to the hole at first looking for Toothless but then what he saw made him freeze in terror. Fire... it was everywhere. All of Berk was smothered in a blanket of fire. It was hard for Hiccup to see a building that was still standing amongst the chaos. A Monstrous Nightmare landed in the street out front of the house and with one puff from its fiery breath torched multiple houses some that where already on fire. But then he noticed something familiar, bad familiar. The dragons pupils where slits and it's face was emotionless.

They were being controlled. He remembered the first time he had seen it after coming and freeing the dragons from Berk. The colossal beast that he and Toothless had witnessed living inside the volcano controlling other dragons to bring it food. That's why these dragons where here now, that's why they were so violent. They were being made they had no control over themselves. A bloodcurdling dragon screech pulled Hiccup out of his thoughts.

The Monstrous Nightmare looked up at Hiccup the dark ravines that ran through the center of its eyes staring up at him like it was observing its next meal. The dragons lips slowly peeled open revealing the arsenal of dagger like teeth that lined its gums, some where even lathered in a dull red and in the back Hiccup swore he could see the fabric of what would have been a Vikings clothes. The Monstrous Nightmare opened its jaw and emitted a terrifying, blood chilling roar that spanned so far Hiccup could feel its hot breath on his face and the terrible odor that accompanied it.

Hiccup dropped onto all fours just barely avoiding its next attack. A thick and concentrated blast of blistering fire went right over Hiccup's head barely missing him coating the wall of his bedroom behind him with a thick sheet of flames. Hiccup watched in horror and sadness as his childhood bedroom was engulfed in flames that quickly devoured the room before his eyes. Hiccup stood up and walked away from the flaming wall but then turned back to the dragon behind him.

He was trapped between two forces of disaster, fire and one of many who could use it. Which one would give him a better chance at survival? The dragon roared again slightly cracking the roof above him making small splinters of wood fall to the ground as it began to collapse. Hiccup took a deep breath and looked to his left and noticed something on a side table that was nearly being touched by the flames. His helmet. Hiccup rushed over through the heat and the embers and grabbed his helmet which burned his hands slightly at the touch.

Hiccup turned back to the dragon that paced out front of the house staring at him and roaring in anger, saliva dripping form it's teeth. Hiccup with a calm exhale placed his helmet over his head and with a running start he lept out of the hole in the wall straight towards the jaws of the nightmare before him just nearly escaping the avalanche of burning wood that cascaded down as the roof collapsed behind him.