Tip the Dragon Scales

Chapter 15

When they reach the dragons' nest, it's everything they feared they would find and more. The beach is covered in flaming debris, obviously from the destroyed ships bobbing in the water. Most of the Vikings seem to be running for the other side of the island while Stoick and Gobber try to draw the huge dragon's attention.

The Dragon Queen has her eyes set on Stoick as she rears back and prepares a strike in the back of her throat. Before she can get any further than that, they break through the thick fog and smoke.

Snotlout's Nightmare sends a blast of fire directly at the back of the dragon's head. The hit lands but doesn't seem to do any actual damage. If anything, it only makes her angrier.

"Ruff, Tuff, watch your backs!" Hiccup calls as they all fly around her head. "Move, Fishlegs!"

Tuffnut grins from his place on the Zippleback's left head. "Look at us! We're on a dragon!" he says in excitement. "All of us!"

Every Viking standing on land stares up at the teenagers in amazement. Ragnar hardly notices, not daring to take his eyes off the Dragon Queen as they circle around.

"Red Death," he murmurs. He's not entirely sure where the name comes from, but it fits perfectly.

The dragon is beyond massive with heavily armored gray and red scales. She looks around the dark beach with nothing but anger and bloodlust in her six beady eyes. Any of the compassion and near humanity they've seen in their own dragons is completely absent.

"Fishlegs, break it down," Hiccup orders.

Fishlegs nods. He can do this. This is what he knows. "Okay," he says confidently. "Heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing. Steer clear of both. Small eyes. Large Nostrils. Relies on hearing and smell."

The Red Death picks up a boat as he says it, easily throwing the ship at a nearby pillar of rock and shattering it to pieces.

Hiccup nods back. "Okay. Lout, Legs, hang in its blind spot. Make some noise. Keep it confused." He looks at the twins and gestures with one hand, the other still wrapped around Ragnar. "Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit. Make it mad."

"That's my specialty," Ruffnut claims happily.

"Since when?" Tuffnut asks. "Everyone knows I'm more irritating. See?" He rolls so his Zippleback head will rotate and makes irritating noises as he hangs upside down.

"Just do what he told you!" Ragnar snaps before he looks at Astrid. "See if you can find a soft spot. Probably the eyes."

She nods firmly, her own eyes steely and mouth set in a thin line.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Hiccup tells them, already leaning left along with Ragnar to guide the purple Nadder toward the burning ships.

"Don't worry," Snotlout calls as the others take off toward the behemoth. "We got it covered."

While they try to cause any damage to the Red Death they possibly can, Ragnar and Hiccup circle above the water. A panicked screech calls their attention to a specific ship.

"There!" Hiccup says with a point.

Ragnar guides the Nadder down with barely a thought, both of them already in tune with each other. She hovers above the burning deck as Hiccup stands up and jumps (surprisingly nimbly) down to land in front of a chained Toothless.

He looks up at Ragnar. "Go help the others." He moves over to Toothless, only pausing long enough to glance over his shoulder. "And be careful," he adds.

Ragnar smirks. "I was gonna say the same," he says, already nudging the Nadder lightly with one foot so she'll turn and fly back toward the Red Death.

His smirk falls as soon as he's facing away from Hiccup. He truly does need him to be as careful as possible because the feeling in his chest has been steadily building ever since they left Berk. His heart feels heavy, and he knows- he knows- Hiccup is at the center of that vision.