úlfheðnar, httyd

xxxii. War Arrives

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter thirty-one; yrsa
❝ war arrives! ❞

YRSA DIDN'T want to think how Drago had found them. She refused to focus on that right now, not with an entire army crowded the shores with dragon traps and lit projectile weapons catapulted towards the mountain, shattering geysers of ice to the ground. The dragons from the sanctuary were trying to stop them, diving in and hoping to overwhelm, but for catapult destroyed, five more surfaced. For every group of soldiers scattered, a group twice the previous size took their place.

Valka growled, furious. She spun on her heel, storming back towards the inside of the cave. Yrsa, Hiccup, Stoick and Gobber all shared a glance before rushing to follow.

"Val," Stoick tried to stop her. He grabbed her arm lightly, "Val, it's all right, it's all right. We're a team now."

She took a deep breath, nodding. And underneath all that fury, there was worry. Even with the sanctuary and their own dragons, they were vastly outnumbered. Now, usually, Vikings loved those chances, but even they understood they were fighting a losing battle.

But that didn't mean that stopped them.

"Now," then said Stoick, determined, "what do you want to do?"

Valka set her jaw, "We have to save the dragons," she told him, and he nodded.

"Aye, you got it," Chief Stoick the Vast set off at a run beside his wife. "Come on, son!" he called after Hiccup. His son met Yrsa's gaze briefly and she replied with a firm nod, telling him she was with them.

"Let's go, Gobber!" she shouted to the final member of their team and off they went, racing back into the trembling mountain for their dragons. Yrsa dodged falling rock and ice, gripping the hilt of her axe tightly and praying to the gods. She saw Helrose waiting for her, howling in her distress.

"It's all right, girl," she quickly reassured her, fixing her saddle with hurried fingers. "It's all right. We'll help them; we're going to help them."

Beside her, Hiccup tugged on his helmet, covering his face in sharp leather and iron. He spun his leg to flying mode and in seconds, was on Toothless's back. Yrsa never really got used to how different he looked like this. He went from someone so sweet, and considerate with a nervous smile and awkward laugh, to this battle-ready warrior who knew how to command an army even if he said he didn't. But Yrsa had a flutter in her chest, because in this short moment, watching him grab the front of his saddle to steady himself as Toothless arched his back for a defiant roar, Hiccup looked more than a warrior, more than a dragon trainer; he looked like a chief.

He met her gaze, "Ready?" he asked her as Yrsa shook herself from her thoughts and pulled herself up onto her saddle.

She nodded, "As ready as I'll ever be. Stay careful."

Yrsa knew he had a small grin under the mask, "I have Toothless, I'll be more than careful."

She narrowed her eyes and pointed swiftly at Toothless, "Keep him in one piece, bud."

The dragon purred a determined, Don't I always?

"Okay," Hiccup readied his legs, hovering his chest close to Toothless's back. He glanced over his shoulder where his parents and Gobber were ready (well, Gobber was sort of ready; he was on Grump's saddle, but the dragon was still slowly waking back up). "Let's go!"

Yrsa gritted her teeth and tapped her knees inwards. At the touch, Helrose launched into the air just as more ice and stone toppled down behind them. Together, she, Hiccup, Valka, Stoick, Gobber and their dragons joined the stampede heading out of the ice mountain towards the battle raging outside. There were explosions, yells, roars and squawks━an entire eruption of the sounds of war, deafening and thrilling at the same time.