Home-Bound: Broken Ties

25 - Mercy

*peeks around corner* uh hi— *dodges tomato* yes yes i know it's been a while. but here i am again

.

The next few minutes were a blur for Hiccup. Toothless and Midnight took the lead in this fight, swirling around the masts of ships and weighted bolas and each other. They took care to preserve their shots, only firing carefully-aimed hits at the ships and traps.

A single bola whizzed past Hiccup's head as Toothless dove out of the way. Hiccup felt a little lightheaded from all the movement. Which was strange because he was used to the erratic movement of a Night Fury's combat. And only Luneah could match his tolerance for motion sickness because they were the only ones with Furies.

Hiccup tapped Toothless twice, their signal for pulling out of a fight. When Toothless was flying this fast, the whistling wind made it hard for them to communicate verbally. They had to resort to more primitive—albeit more practical and effective—methods like this.

Toothless batted his wings furiously to gain altitude, leveling off way above the crossbow and bola range. Hiccup hissed when the pain in his torso made itself more well known.

"Fancy seeing you here, trouble magnet."

Hiccup spun around at the familiar voice, sighing in relief when he spotted Astrid and the other Berk riders on their dragons. He then spotted a timid Dominicus clinging to Stormfly's saddle behind Astrid, a look of apprehension on his face as he stared at the scene below him. Hiccup couldn't imagine what he must've been thinking; apprehension at abandoning his master, or a fear of dying in the war.

Or maybe, Hiccup thought as he turned to face forward once more with a hint of mirth. Maybe he's scared of heights.

"You know me, getting in wars left and right," Hiccup chimed back, shrugging nonchalantly. He didn't notice the way the Berkians turned and gawked at one another, missing his thinly-veiled sarcasm. "It's become a monthly routine by now."

"You think he's joking, but he's actually not," Eret's voice joined in, finally catching up to Hiccup on Skullcrusher. "For some reason everyone west of Isunder hates this man right here."

"Not as much as they hate the king."

Fishlegs, who had been observing the armored dragons below with laser focus, suddenly turned to Hiccup. "King? What king? I thought you were the most powerful on Isunder, Hiccup?"

Hiccup chuckled, shaking his head. "I control all the people on Isunder. But the king controls the dragons. My mom's getting him ready for battle."

"Battle? What do you—"

A gut-wrenching bellow cut through the air from the direction of the ice nest, as all the dragons in the area stopped in their places. Even the attacking dragons couldn't resist the command of the ancient, powerful Bewilderbeast.

Only the bonded dragons—the ones the riders were on—managed to keep moving through the roar. But even they had difficulty keeping focus under the power of the great Bewilderbeast.

"What the hell was that?!" Snotlout screeched.

"A Bewilderbeast," Hiccup said, sitting up straighter in his saddle.

As if on cue, the nest began to collapse in on itself, towering ice spikes giving way to empty skies. A single, vermillion dragon spike rose through the air, followed by another and another until the Alpha's whole head was revealed, mane stretched around his snowy head like a blood-stained crown.

The biggest dragon the Berkians had ever seen was the old queen on Dragon Island. But the king was much larger than she could ever become.

"That's our cue," Hiccup turned towards the other riders. "Get as many dragons out of the traps as possible. Avoid the nets and bolas. I'll make sure my dad and Gobber get the orders, too."