makligr, httyd

xxii. the edge of disaster

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(makligr) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter twenty-two; yrsa
❝ the edge of disaster! ❞

    "OKAY, WHAT'S the plan?!"

    Tuffnut followed Yrsa into the Clubhouse at a desperate run. He had been asking her questions all the way back, and she couldn't answer any of them━not right now. Her mind was racing, trying to think of a plan. It was easy to come up with the best plans with Hiccup at her side, but right now, she was alone. She was alone, against an entire fleet of Dragon Hunters ... and all she had was Tuffnut━

    (She couldn't think like that. She had Tuffnut; she needed to be positive about that. He wasn't useless).

    But Yrsa knew the first thing she must do, and as she reached the Clubhouse, she scrambled for some leftover parchment and Hiccup's charcoal pencil he had left lying around from drawing. She whistled a tune into the dark, one that Sharpshot understood. 

    "What's the plan?" Tuffnut asked her again, skidding to a halt by her shoulder and frowning as he watched her write a messy message on the parchment. "We have to get my sister back!"

    "First thing━" said Yrsa as she did, trying very hard to not show how her hand shook. She was still recovering: she was in pain, she was tired, and she had a pounding headache━and she had to figure out a plan to make sure they all got out of this alive, "━is to send a message to Berk. We need reinforcements━fast."

    She heard the beating wings of Sharpshot and blessed the Terrible Terror when he arrived to land on the bench by the fire. She hurriedly tied the message to his ankle and set him off into the night. "The auxiliary team."

    Tuffnut watched Sharpshot go. "But━how do we know he'll get there in time?" he asked her.

    "We don't," said Yrsa, rushing to the weapon rack by the wall. 

    "Well, how do we know they'll get back here in time?"

    Yrsa tugged as many weapons as she could carry, letting them fall onto the bench as a breath of light-headedness struck her. She took a deep breath, shaking it off, "We don't."

    Tuffnut stared at her. "O━okay," he let out, rather startled that for once, she didn't seem to know what to do. "There is a terrifying lack of clarity in those answers!"

    Yrsa faltered. She closed her eyes briefly to remind herself to calm down. Once she did, she turned to Tuffnut and did something she never thought she'd do before━she reached out a hand and placed it, comforting, on his shoulder. "It's going to be okay," she promised him. "We're going to hold down the Edge, defend this base, and we will get Ruff back. Okay?"

    When he didn't reply, she awkwardly pursed her lips. She stepped back, "Uh ..." propping her hands on her hips, she decided to copy Hiccup and add: "Say: 'okay, Yrsa'."

    He nodded, "Okay, Yrsa."

    She nodded, satisfied. "Now..." she began, thinking on the spot as she paced the Clubhouse. She hugged her stomach, counting each step she took with each strategy she had━with each advantage, a list of weapons they had, anything that they might be able to use. "There is no possible way we can defend the Edge against an all-out assault with only one flyable dragon ...." she murmured as she did, tapping her fingers on her arm. "But ... maybe━maybe, we can slow them down until help gets here if we use our spears and our arrows sparingly ..."