The Dragon Master and The Dragon Mistress

Chapter thirteen: The Red Death

It was dark and misty in the tunnel as Hiccup, Cami, and Boulder flew in along with the raid party from Berk. They bobbed and weaved through the tunnels with ease while stocking close to each other.

"How deep does this go?" Cami whispered just enough for her companions to hear.

"I don't know." Boulder whispered back. "We are the first ones here."

They flew for a few more minutes before coming up to a large cavern with a large pit in the middle. Upon arriving, the raid dragons began dropping their catch into the pit. The three riders flew around for a little bit before finding a ledge to hide in. Once hidden they continued to observe the pit, correctly guessing that the pit holds something important.

They continued to watch as dragon after dragon came in and dropped their haul in the pit much to the confusion of the three riders. They remained silent and continued to watch for anything out of place or for something to give them a clue as to what is happening here.

"It's nice to know that all of our food is being dropped down into a whole." Hiccup's sarcasm was immediately recognised as they continued to watch.

"They're not eating any of it. Why?" Cami asked, increasingly confused by the events.

"Storage maybe." Boulder suggested, not sounding convinced of his own words.

They then watched as a gronckle flew over the pit and regurgutated a single tiny fish for its drop. A roar then emanated from the pit which scares every dragon in the nest. The three riders and their dragons then watch in immense horror as a large bony head reaches up and clamps its massive jaws around the gronckle swallowing it in one gulp.

"What is that?" Cami asked, eyes wide with disbelieving horror at the large dragon.

"I don't know what it is but we need to leave." Boulder whispered urgently trying to gain their attention.

The dragon then started sniffing, quickly finding them and began to move towards them which was noticed by the three riders.

"NOW!" Boulder yelled and the three dragons immediately took off from the ledge.

The dragon made to snap at them but missed due to the speed of the three dragons. As the three dragons flew up, the rest of the dragons flew up in panic while the large dragon tried to reach the three dragons and snapped, catching a zippleback which roared for help but was ignored. Once out of the nest, the three riders flew to a sea stack near Berk to discuss what was seen before returning to the village.

"No, it makes sense." Cami said, making her suggestion. "It's like a giant beehive and that's their queen. That is what is making the beacon to the archipelago dragons."

"Yeah and it only seems to affect the archipelago dragons as our dragons were unaffected by her." Hiccup pointed out.

"We can use that." Boulder said firmly. "It may be a long shot but that thing needs to die."

The other two nodded in agreement before mounting their dragons and making their way back to Berk. Once there they asked Stoick to call a meeting of the chiefs to discuss as they deemed it best if the chiefs heard this all at once. Terrors were sent out that night with the messages and all that was left now was to wait.

It was three days later when the chiefs arrived on Berk with the rest of the volunteers for the meeting to discuss the nest. Once in the Great Hall, Hiccup, Bulder, and Cami told them the details of the visit to the nest. Once they reached the part of the large dragon, which they dubbed the Red Death, the chiefs sat there with thoughtful looks as they digested the information.

"A large dragon big enough to swallow a zippleback in one bite." Stoick breathed out as the rest looked at him. "How do we face something like that?"

"Regardless of how we do it, We need to do it." Hiccup said, grabbing the chiefs' attention. "That thing is responsible for all the raids. So if we get rid of it."

"We stop the raids for good." Boulder finished. "Hiccup is right, this needs to be done or the raids will continue."

The chiefs looked at each other and realised that they did have no choice. Once an agreement was made, they then began making plans for the final attack on the nest.

"We need more riders." Stoick announced, stunning the rest of the chiefs with his words. "Ten isn't going to be enough because we need riders to provide cover for the ground forces and to attack the queen."

"I will take two more volunteers from each island." Hiccup was thinking his plans through. "Will a total of 26 riders be enough?" The chiefs looked at each other and nodded.

"Find two more from each island and bring them here." Hiccup said before looking at the rest of the chiefs. "It's time to put an end to this."