Heart of a Berserker: Faith (School of Dragons)

Chapter 19

"You find your faith that's been lost and shaken
You take back what's been taken
Get on your knees and dig down deep
You can do what you think is impossible
Keep on believing, don't give in
It'll come and make you whole again
It always will, it always does
Love is unstoppable" 

- "Unstoppable" by Rascal Flatts

Chapter 19

"Grimmel has made it dead clear that he's never going to stop after us," Astrid declared to the group of dragon riders gathered before her on New Berk. "We need to take the fight to him right away, while we have the advantage. If we stop him now, he'll need to take some time to get back to full strength. That'll be all the time we need to get dragons to a safe place. Eret has been monitoring their camp at Glacier Island, and he says that their defenses are weaker right now than they have ever been. Now's the time. One decisive strike!"

A cheer broke through the crowd. After a quick overview of the plan, everyone mounted their dragons and took off. I flew in between Viggo and Eret. It was the day after Hiccup and I visited Auction Island, and it was now time to fight. Hiccup himself was not joining us because Toothless was still missing. Plus, we did not want to give Grimmel the chance to get to him.

A sense of foreboding filled the air as we neared Glacier Island. "There they are..." Astrid said. Her eyes were on the men guarding the camp. In addition to them, there were men and Deathgrippers patrolling the camp. Grimmel stood in the center, well protected.

"I see their reinforcements on the horizon!" Eret said. "We need to start right now. We must attack the guards and keep them from defending Grimmel!"

Snotlout flew off on his own, so Viggo and I followed him while Eret joined Heather. We started shooting the towers to destroy the warlords' defenses. Not long after we began, I looked out at the ocean and saw the Tempest charging forward, attacking the warlords' ships.

"All right!" Snotlout cheered. "Stormheart's finally coming through in the clutch. We gotta take advantage of this distraction!"

"I'll be right back," I said. I left Snotlout and Viggo and flew towards the water. I kept low to the ground so as not to be spotted. Soon enough, I reached the Tempest. The pirates ignored me as I landed in the middle of the deck where Harald awaited me. "Do you still want to fight with me?"

"Do you still want me?" Harald asked as he strode toward me. Leopold perched on his shoulder, decked out in his armor.

I rolled my eyes and held my hand out to him. "Come on." He took my hand, and I helped him up onto Bolt's back behind me. I looked up and caught Stormheart's eye. She gave me a slight nod, which I returned. Then I flew back to the camp.

I intended to head straight for Viggo and Snotlout, but as I flew along the side of the camp, I noticed caged dragons littered across the way. "Hold on a minute," I said. "I'm making a slight detour." I landed near one of the cages and hopped off Bolt. I turned around to explain to Harald what I wanted to do, but I found him already working on the lock of a cage.

He smirked at my expression. "This is what you wanted, right?"

"Yes, of course. Thank you!" We worked quickly to free all of the dragons. I felt relieved to see them all fly off. Then Harald and I returned to Bolt and started back to the others.

I spotted Viggo and Snotlout near the camp's gate fighting the guards to gain entrance. Bolt swooped down and landed behind them. Snotlout looked from me to Harald as we dismounted and withdrew our swords. A second later, he grinned. "Let's do this!" he said.

The four of us - and our dragons - charged at the army of guards. Harald and I moved as one while we fought together. We were perfectly in sync, just like always. The other two watched our sides as we advanced into the camp. Eventually, victory was ours.