74. Scream and Shout

While the races raged on in the distance, Hiccup and Bruno were on a mission of their own.

Shadows of passing dragons covered them from above, but only for the briefest of moments. They could hear the cheering from all the way over here, in the center of the village.

But while everyone else was out there, having fun…

Hiccup was being plunged into a well.

A rope was tied around Brute, and the Rumblehorn was asked to slowly lower Hiccup into the watering hole.

“That’s it, big guy!” Bruno encouraged, looking up to the dragon hovering above them. “J-Just keep it steady!”

He then turned his focus down, into the well. Toothless joined him.

Hiccup was holding onto the rope, a lantern in his unoccupied hand. Ready to descend into the dark depths, to discover the whereabouts of the water.

“Lower!” Hiccup requested, and soon the dragon complied.

The light of the sun gradually stopped being his ally, and eventually he could only rely on his lantern, as he was lowered even deeper.

“Just a little more…okay!” Hiccup tugged the rope a bit, requesting Brute stop. “Hold it right there!”

Now a foot or so in, the young man held up his lantern to examine the stone that surrounded him.

The last time he was here, which was yesterday, the water level reached up to where he was currently positioned. And yet, now it was completely barren.

Holding out a hand, Hiccup traced a finger over a wall. And came to a discovery.

“It’s still wet…” He whispered, intrigued by these findings.

Was there still water in here?

He had to find out.

Plucking a loose stone from the wall, Hiccup let it drop.

Down it went, disappearing into the darkness. Soon, a resounding CONK was heard. Instead of the SPLASH he wanted.

There was no water down there, not even a puddle.

But there must be a reason why.

Steeling his nerves, Hiccup looked up to his companions. Leering down on him from a seemingly disembodied hole of light.

“Bruno!” He called. “Get me all the way down!”

Bruno immediately started sweating. Apprehension intensifying as he gazed into the abyss, and nothing gazed back.

“A-Are you sure?” He asked. “It looks awfully dark and-and kinda not the safest down there…”

“Just trust me!” Hiccup quickly replied.

Reluctantly, he urged Brute to do what Hiccup asked. Muttering to himself all the while.

“If he dies, Mirabel’s gonna kill me…a-and then Juli’s gonna revive me, so she can kill me herself…”

Toothless crooned with worry, watching his best friend dive into the pit.

There was something strange going on here, he could smell it…

And he didn’t like it.

It was a slow process, gently bringing Hiccup down to the bottom of the well. And Brute was starting to get kind of bored.

And just then, the worst possible thing entered the equation.

A chicken.

Dopily pecking its way into the area.

And Brute was already salivating.

Chicken was his favorite food, in any form.

Baked, fried, grilled…

Raw.

The world around him was forgotten, all that mattered was biting down on that uncooked nugget.

With a voracious bellow, the Rumblehorn surged forward. Quaking the ground when he landed in front of the bird, and scaring it into a frenzied run.

He gave chase.

Hiccup held on for dear life, as his rope was wildly jostled about.

“What’s happening up there!?” Hiccup cried, feeling more than a bit panicked.

Bruno watched with fear, as his wife’s dragon stomped around the area after the chicken.

“You’re about to be killed over a piece of poultry! Th-That’s what’s happening!”

Slipping on his hood and entering fearless mode, Bruno marched forth. Ready to put an end to the Rumblehorn’s rampage.

But he tripped, and fell flat on his face. When he failed to notice his Hobgobbler sitting in front of his feet.

From within the well, the rope was grinding against a particularly pointy rock. Shaving away bits of the item with the dragon’s every step.

And after Brute made one last lunge for his lunch-

The rope snapped.

Sending Hiccup plummeting to the murky depths, with an echoing yelp.

“NO!” Bruno cried. Scrambling to his feet, and clutching his hands on the well’s rim.

He only caught the last flash of lantern light, before that too faded into the dark.

Jolting with terror, Toothless sprung into action. Diving down into the well himself without a second of hesitation. His shriek carrying him into the blackness.

And now they were both gone.

Keeping his eyes locked on the well, even though he couldn’t see a single thing, Bruno continued to shout.

“HICCUP! ARE YOU OKAY!?”

It took a moment

A moment where Bruno was already trying to figure out how to break the news.

How to cancel wedding plans, and start making arrangements for a funeral. How they’d have to call off the update to the mural, and stop that order for the young man’s husband plate, among other heartbreaking things…

But soon, he heard a nasally voice echo out from the depths of the well.

“We’re okay!”

A wave of relief washed over the seer, and he put those depressing thoughts to rest.

But his troubles still weren’t quite over.

“CAN YOU FLY BACK UP?” He asked, speaking as loudly and clearly as possible.

“No!” Hiccup responded. “It’s too narrow!”

Taking a deep breath, and quieting down just a bit, Bruno prepared himself for the plunge.

“O-Okay, hang on! I’ll come get you!”

But just as he began to turn, the nasally voice spoke up once more.

“You do that, and we’re all gonna be stuck down here!”

“A-alright, well-uh…” Bruno suddenly found himself in need of some wood to knock on. “J-Just stay put! I’ll think of something!”

“…I hope…” He softly added.

But Hiccup seemed unbothered.

“We’re fine!” He said, surprisingly cheerily. “The water had to go somewhere, maybe the answer is down here.”

“Besides, I have Toothless with me! We’ll find another way out!”

While still quite afraid for him, Bruno knew for a fact that he was basically untouchable with that Night Fury. So he decided to trust him.

“Okay-fine, just…be careful!” He pleaded. “I’ll be here if you need me!”

“Alright, Tio!” Hiccup shouted.

And after that, all Bruno heard was the faintest sounds of footsteps. Getting farther and farther.

Superstitions kicking into overdrive, the scruffy man reached into his ruana. Weaving his hands around an assortment of rats, he soon found what he was looking for.

He grabbed a fistful of salt, and tossed it over his shoulder. Hoping to bring good luck to his soon-to-be nephew.

…And he suddenly smelled something pretty tasty.

Looking behind him, he saw that Brute had returned. A piece of chicken in his jaws, cooked by dragon fire.

Bruno had just unwittingly seasoned it.

Now very annoyed, he then leaned against the well. Regarding the dragon with his finest disappointed dad look.

“I hope you enjoy that…” He grumbled. “It nearly cost two lives for you to get it!”

And honestly…

Brute was really enjoying the chicken.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Way, way deeper down, Hiccup and Toothless found something.

There wasn’t just a dry basin, like he was expecting.

The cavern expanded, into what seemed to be a tunnel.

Clearly, this is where the water had gone. Flushed out of the well, like the strange white bowls they had back home.

But where did the tunnel come from?

“Okay, bud. How do you feel about spelunking?” Hiccup asked, earning a confused head tilt from Toothless.

They stepped deeper into the cave, the lantern Hiccup held being their only source of light. Surrounding them like a bright forcefield.

They looked around, trying to spot anything. But there really wasn’t much to see down here.

Rocks and dirt, dirt and rocks…

Sometimes a stalagmite.

However, despite the utter barrenness of the tunnel, Hiccup knew better than to assume nothing was happening here.

After all…

These tunnels weren’t here before.

“Why do I get the distinct feeling that we’re not alone, down here?” Hiccup asked.

Toothless seemed to agree, sniffing the area with a suspicious look in his eyes. But when he found nothing, he kept following his rider.

They continued onwards, the cave being surprisingly long and confusingly winding.

Hiccup realized that the caverns ran right under the town, and all throughout. If he had to hazard a guess…he’d say they were currently under Gobber’s blacksmith shop right now.

“You know, I’m really- “

CRUNCH

Whatever Hiccup was about to say was cut off, when he stepped in something.

Crinkling under the weight of his sandal, he stepped backwards and moved his lantern to see…

“Dragon eggs…” Hiccup softly realized.

Tons of them, in fact.

A large number of discarded egg shells were scattered about the chamber.

Meaning that there were a large number of dragons, somewhere nearby.

“Look at all these…” Hiccup whispered, counting the egg shells in his mind.

He didn’t like the number he reached.

Walking further inwards, crushing shells with every step, they discovered a wall.

A wall with a several holes in it.

Hiccup recognized the unique structure and formation of the burrows, and knew that only one creature could’ve done this.

“Those are Whispering Death tunnels…”

Upon hearing that name, Toothless released a growl. Thinking of one individual in particular.

“Yeah, they’re not the friendliest dragons…” Hiccup shrugged.

Turning around, they saw something even more confounding.

It looked similar to the other holes, with one difference.

It was three times bigger. Perhaps more.

“I don’t even want to know who made that…” Hiccup said, a chill working up his spine.

Whispering Deaths were one of the species they didn’t have in the Encanto, so he couldn’t claim to have much experience with them.

But even he knew something was off here.

Turning the corner, and squeezing past some stalagmites, the duo found something rather unfortunate.

A dead end.

Their path was blocked by a mound of large stones, preventing any further exploration.

“Oh, great…” Hiccup groaned.

But before Hiccup could complain any more, the world started flickering.

Their vision rapidly shifted between light and darkness, over and over.

Until finally, darkness prevailed.

The lantern went out.

Hiccup released another groan. “Even greater…”

“Toothless, would you mind?”

From the inky blackness, a flash of flame lit the lantern once more. Illuminating Hiccup.

And Toothless.

And the giant snake with a gaping mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

Hiccup only had a second to hop backwards, as a Whispering Death chomped for him. Hissing ferociously.

Toothless quickly jumped to defend his friend, and shot a blast of plasma at the offending dragon.

Hiccup scrambled to get to the Night Fury’s back, and they quickly took off. The lantern lighting their way.

But they weren’t done just yet. The Whispering Death was hot on their tails.

They flew as fast as they could, but they weren’t allowed much freedom in this confined space. Their sight was limited as well.

Whispering Deaths thrived in such habitats, however. Meaning it had a much easier time catching up with them.

Speeding through the winding caves, they had to quickly dodge as another Whispering Death came barreling towards them out of the darkness.

Now dealing with double the danger, Hiccup surged into the eggshell chamber. Hoping to find a quick escape.

What he found was a third Whispering Death. Popping out of the ground like a homicidal gopher.

Toothless hastily tried to turn back, but the first two serpents had arrived. Hindering their exit.

They were surrounded.

All three jaws made to snap at them, and they quickly ducked.

Confused at the lack of flesh and bone in their maws, the dragons hesitated for a moment. Giving Toothless just enough time to rush off back where they came.

Now being followed by three tunneling dragons, Hiccup wracked his brain for a way out of this situation.

But strangely, as they turned a corner, they found they weren’t being pursued any longer.

The caverns were silent, devoid of any hissing or screeching.

It was quiet.

That was never a good sign.

“Where’d they go?” Hiccup asked.

Cautiously, they flapped back towards where they last saw the reptiles. But there were no Whispering Deaths to be found.

A pebble dropped down from above, hitting Toothless on the head.

Looking up, they saw a new hole on the cavern’s ceiling.

A hole in the process of being dug.

“They’re heading up!” Hiccup gasped.

Drawn by the vibrations made by those who dwelled on the surface, the terrible trio bored their way through the earth.

Towards the town.

Towards their prey.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Madrigals were still reeling from the excitement of the race.

After his surprise victory, Antonio was riding high.

Literally. He was currently positioned on his father’s shoulders, as he had been ever since the event ended.

Now back in the village, they were on their way to the Great Hall for some lunch. Though first, they had to grab Hiccup and Bruno.

Once more, Stoick was leading them. While he took them to the well, they made idle chatter.

Celebrating their little champion, remarking on the races, and discussing ideas on how to implement it into their own village.

Soon enough, they arrived at the well. Finding Bruno pacing in a circle, nervously fiddling with his hands. Valentina’s Rumblehorn was napping, a little off to the side.

He stopped, when he noticed everyone approaching.

“Oh, h-hey guys!” He greeted, fighting through his increasing anxiety. “How was the race?”

Camilo smirked, and stepped forth.

“Lemme give you the play-by-play!”

He morphed into a stout form. “So first Snotlout comes in!”

He then transformed into a rotund figure. “And he slams Fishlegs, and then- “

“Let’s save the recap for later, son.” Stoick intercepted, much to Camilo’s disappointment.

He then turned to Bruno. “Have you discovered anything about the water?”

“And…where’s Hiccup? And Toothless?” Mirabel asked.

“They’re uh…they’re still down there…” Bruno awkwardly answered. “Both of them. Hiccup kinda fell, and Toothless went after him.”

Upon hearing that their fishbone had fallen down the well, the seer received a multitude of shocked and worried reactions.

“You dropped my fiancé!?” Mirabel sharply asked, overcome with fear.

“D-Don’t worry!” Bruno frantically tried to reassure. “He’s fine! He told me himself!”

“He said he found a tunnel down there, so he’s checking it out.”

Stoick grew a frown when he heard this.

Secret tunnels? Under his island?

He didn’t like the sound of that.

“And what do you mean by…tunnel?” He asked.

The chief hadn’t even attempted to be threatening, but Bruno still began quivering in his presence.

“W-Well, y’know-It’s not like I’m down there! I-I can’t tell you for certain, but uh…”

His rambling petered out, when he suddenly felt like he was vibrating.

It wasn’t just him.

The ground was quaking.

Violent, powerful tremors shook the earth from beneath their feet. Causing the group to wobble and sway, until they fell to the ground.

In front of them, Bruno also lost his balance. Falling back onto his bottom.

Concerned for his father, Manuel stood and hurried over.

“Papa?” He asked, stepping towards him.

But he had to stop, when a large mound of dirt sprouted right at his feet.

Jolting with surprise, he tried to back away. Only for the dirt mound to snake around behind him, making him trip.

The mound circled back to the fallen boy’s front, and something began to rise.

The Madrigals watched in horror, as Manuel was suddenly faced with a giant, winged-serpent.

His big hazel eyes quaked with fear, as he met the blank gaze of the dragon.

With a frenzied hiss, the Whispering Death prepared a blast of flame for the boy.

Its gaping maw filling with smoke, its teeth whirring in anticipation.

But when it readied itself to fire-

It ended up shooting at the sky.

Valentina had rushed in, and delivered an uppercut straight to the dragon’s chin. Redirecting its blast.

A furious, maternal rage sparked in her eyes, and she quickly plucked her son from the ground. Cradling him close.

“Get away from him, you bi- “

Her enraged words were cut short, when she had to flinch back. Shielding her eyes with her free arm.

The dragon dove back into the earth, sending bits of soil and stone everywhere.

Its dirt mound shot through the ground, the Madrigals quickly parting as it sped towards them.

It looked to be heading further into town.

Stoick did not like that.

Turning to Mirabel, he quickly spouted a command.

“Get to the Great Hall!” He said, the message intended for both her and her family.

With a resolute nod, she began guiding her relatives to safety.

Though once she was sure they were safe, she was absolutely coming back out here.

Stoick ran into the village, the people already starting to become frantic, looking for one thing in particular.

And when he found it, he did something he hadn’t needed to do for years.

He blew the horn.

The horn they only blew when they were under dragon attack.

As loudly as he could, he sounded off the alarm to the village. Letting them know of the dangers present.

But when one of those dangers whipped right by him, slithering after a fleeing Viking, he knew he needed to defend his people.

More Whispering Deaths had ascended into the village from below, and they seemed just as destructive as the first.

They tore through the ground, looking for something to destroy. Wrecking huts, food stands, wagons, and anything else they could get their teeth on.

They needed to be stopped.

And now that the family was secured, Mirabel and the Encanto Riders intended to do just that.

Flying out into the fray, they tried their best to subdue the serpents.

Whacking them with an axe-tail, scaring them away with torrents of flame, knocking them out with pollen…

But for every one they apprehended, two more seemed to sprout from the earth like monstrous weeds.

“How many of these things are there?” Isabela asked, bristling with agitation. As all four of her Snaptrapper heads dealt with an individual dragon.

One in particular was hounding Camilo.

The shifter tried to evade it with his Changewing’s invisibility, but Whispering Deaths had poor eyesight anyways. Camilo still had body heat, so that’s what the dragon followed.

“Take a hint!” He cried, exasperated with the pursuing reptile.

Just as it tried to make another attempt on his life, it quickly had to dodge an array of spines that were shooting towards it.

As the serpent burrowed back into the soil, Camilo shot a grateful smile to his savior.

Astrid, as well as the other Berkians Riders, had arrived.

“Impeccable timing!” Mirabel praised.

They quickly got to work, fending off the creatures that were intent on spreading mayhem.

Down below, Stoick put his years of dragon battles to good use.

Picking up a fallen wooden pillar as if it was a twig, he swung it around like a bat.

A Whispering Death snapped to his right, and he knocked it away. Another slithered to his left, and he did the same.

But he was then knocked onto his back by a spiny tail, dropping his pillar in the process.

Gaping maw at the ready, the serpent lunged downwards. Trying to split the man in half with its teeth.

Stoick quickly rolled to the left. And then the right, when the beast struck again. Then to the left once more.

Each time those snapping jaws missed their target, it released a petulant screech.

Having had enough of this, the chief looked for something he could use to finish this fight.

Spotting a shield that lied nearby, he quickly grabbed it.

The Whispering Death reared back, mouth wide open. Ready to strike once more.

“You want something to chew on?” Stoick sneered, before he raised the shield. “Try this!”

The dragon’s jaws closed around the shield, and it couldn’t bite through the metal. Rendered unable to chomp, it lashed around wildly. Knocking Stoick aside.

He was launched right next to Gobber, who immediately offered his old friend a hand.

Nodding his thanks, Stoick spoke with a furrowed brow,

“Take care of the village. I’m gonna see how our uninvited guests match up with Skullcrusher…”

As he stormed off, in search of his dragon, the riders tried to figure out their situation.

Hovering in a huddle, Astrid asked a question.

“Where did all these Whispering Deaths come from? And why are they so much smaller?”

“They get bigger!?” A horrified Isabela questioned. This was her first time dealing with this species.

“They must be hatchlings!” Fishlegs surmised.

Luisa released a small exhale of relief.

“Oh, that’s good…” She said. “We can handle a couple babies!”

The rotund man did not share in her relief.

“Actually…” He started, nervously. “Newly hatched Whispering Deaths can be more dangerous than adults!”

“They’re not in control of their jaw muscles, or their spines…they’re kinda like out-of-control sawblades!”

Noticing the chaos the creatures were causing around them, Mirabel had to agree with that description.

“Sounds about right…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiccup and Toothless were still in the tunnels.

And they were trying very hard to get out.

They flew as fast as Toothless’ wings would take them, which wasn’t very fast in these cramped caves.

Soaring upwards, Hiccup’s lantern was of almost no assistance.

Luckily for them, Night Furies had echolocation.

When they discovered this, Hiccup had to create a physical list of Things that make Toothless Awesome. Just so he could remember all the details.

Bobbing and weaving, ducking and diving, they tried to navigate the narrow passageways. Struggling for the surface.

“Do these guys ever make a straight tunnel?” Hiccup asked.

Shortly after, a light could be seen.

They made it.

Bursting into the open air, Toothless rocketed into the skies. To get an aerial view of the village.

It wasn’t as bad as Hiccup thought it’d be.

It was worse.

A swarm of serpents, terrorizing the town.

Hiccup had several questions.

Where’d they all come from? And why were they so violent?

Whispering Deaths were fairly hot-blooded, but they wouldn’t try to annihilate an entire village unprovoked.

What’s the deal here?

These queries would have to wait. Hiccup had to get down there and help.

And while he was inexperienced with Whispering Deaths, there was one thing he knew about them for sure.

They positively loathed bright lights.

Diving towards the town, Toothless landed right in front of the forge.

“Toothless, cover me!” Hiccup shouted, as he ran inside.

As if on cue, a Whispering Death appeared from where he just stood. Screeching with hostility.

Toothless met its screeching with a fearsome growl, and pounced at the beast.

As opposed to his rider, the Night Fury had plenty of experience fighting this species.

He clawed at the creature, while avoiding the crunching jaws. The serpent writhed in fury, anger increasing every time it failed to rip into skin.

But soon it began writhing in pain, as a bright light flashed into its sensitive eyes.

Hiccup had returned, wielding a shield. Using the light glinting off the metal to ward off the tunneling dragon.

“You don’t like that, do you?” Hiccup asked, rhetorically.

Fearing the light, the Whispering Death hastily flew off elsewhere.

But Hiccup knew their job wasn’t over.

Hopping back onto his dragon, they soared up into the air. Over the village.

The mass of serpents were still frantically flying about, with the riders trying their bests to corral them.

Catching up to Astrid, Hiccup tried to fill her in on what he discovered.

“The Whispering Death tunnels drained the water supply!”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that.” She responded. “We need to get rid of these guys!”

Brandishing his shield, Hiccup grinned.

“That’s why I have this!”

Hiccup took the lead, flashing any offending reptiles with light. The other riders herded the dragons into his sights, firing near the creatures to direct their flight paths.

Together, they’d managed to get all the Whispering Deaths into one tight swarm. And were in the process of flashing them off the island.

“It’s working! We’re driving them away from the village!” Mirabel noted.

“Yeah, you better run!” Snotlout shouted.

Finally, they’d managed to force all the Whispering Deaths out of Berk. The snakes were flying out into the cloudy horizon, eager to escape the flashing lights.

“Is that it?” Luisa asked. “Did we get ‘em all?”

“I think so.” Astrid replied.

But Hiccup had the strangest feeling that it wasn’t over.

And he was soon proven right, as the entire island began rumbling. Shaking and quaking more intensely than ever before.

“Woops, sorry!” Camilo sheepishly smiled. “Berk food is the worst, man…”

“And yet, you still eat it…” Isabela sardonically noted.

To which the shifter shrugged. “I’m a growing boy!”

“You’re twenty!” His eldest cousin shot back.

Whirling his head around, looking for the source of the tremors, Hiccup spoke in hushed tones.

“I don’t think this is your stomach, Milo…”

Just then, the ground exploded.

Hunks of rock and stone were sent hurtling outward, which the riders quickly scrambled to dodge.

And busting out from below, like a demon rising from the darkest pits…

Was an absolutely gigantic dragon.

It resembled a Whispering Death, in ways. Though there were stark differences.

Its humongous, serpentine body was pure white. Covered in spines.

A beastly pair of wings kept it aloft, its huge head was filled with a deadly assortment of fangs, and framed by a crown-like frill.

And its eyes…

Its eyes.

Blood red, and occupied with only the most destructive of instincts. When it looked straight at you, they seemed to bore into your very soul.

With a deafening cry, it announced its presence. Promising doom to anyone who opposed it.

Of course, the Dragon Riders were trying to figure out how to oppose it.

They all gawked at the dragon in fear and confusion, while it loomed over them threateningly.

“Suggestions, anyone?” Mirabel tried.

Unfortunately, no one had any ideas.

Fishlegs had to quickly buzz out of the way, when the monstrous dragon dove for him. Chomping down with its powerful jaws.

“What is that thing!?” Snotlout asked, his voice cracking with fear.

Hiccup sought to find out.

Facing the quivering Ingerman, he made the inquiry. “Fishlegs? Is that thing in the Book of Dragons?”

“N-No, I think I would’ve remembered something like this!” Fishlegs responded.

They’d have to figure out the species later.

It was slithering down to the village. And with how deadly this beast looked, they couldn’t allow this to happen.

“Toothless!” Hiccup shouted. At his command, the Night Fury fired a plasma blast at the serpent.

Enraged, the beast whirled around and opened its maws. Releasing an unholy, cacophonous screech.

Not only was it absolutely awful to listen to, it seemed to be disturbing their dragons.

Their scaly companions were becoming discombobulated, flapping about on unstable wings.

“That scream…” Hiccup started, as Toothless jolted from under him. “It’s disorienting them!”

His hands held over his ears in a motion reminiscent of his sister, Camilo managed a dry comment.

“Whispering Death? More like Screaming Death…”

Tuffnut seemed to like this idea.

“Screaming Death!” He cheered. “I love it!”

From beyond the clouds, some old friends returned.

A few of the Whispering Deaths they’d driven away came rushing back, at the Screaming Death’s call. Flocking around it like loyal sycophants. They didn’t know if the rest were on the way.

Not only were the destructive dragons back, but they were allied with an exponentially more terrible beast.

This was not good.

“What’re we gonna do?” Luisa asked, her frightful eyes never leaving the giant dragon.

Hiccup was already formulating a plan.

“I’ll try to keep the Screaming Death busy. You guys handle the little ones.”

“Okay! Have fun in the afterlife!” Snotlout waved.

They all set off, to deal with the deluge of dragons. Though Mirabel took a second to face Hiccup once more.

“I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t die before our wedding.” She said.

And he grew that lopsided grin.

“Wasn’t planning on it!”

Smiling in return, she then followed the other riders.

Leaving Hiccup to deal with the giant, bloodthirsty dragon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Dragon Riders had led the tunneling dragons into the dense forests, using a variety of tricks to stop them.

Pulling back trees to snap at them, tying them in vines, Camilo even tried getting his dragon to hypnotize them into submission.

It didn’t quite work.

Meanwhile, Hiccup was trying his best to ward off the Screaming Death.

Whispering Deaths hated bright light, so a bigger one must hate it even more.

At least, that was his theory.

“Okay, let’s see how it likes this!” He said, atop his dragon’s back.

Angling his shield left and right, he shined the sunlight directly into the creature’s blood red eye.

It seemed to grow agitated, squirming its large body around, before diving under the ground.

Just as expected.

But then it did something unexpected.

It launched back out of the ground, huge jaws aimed directly at Hiccup.

Quickly dodging, the young Haddock was terribly confused.

Why hadn’t the light worked? If anything, it seemed angrier.

“It must not have that weakness…” He softly realized.

The beating of stocky wings signaled the arrival of Stoick, along with Skullcrusher.

“Then we better figure what it does have.” He huffed.

Releasing another sonorous screech, the Screaming Death tried to throw off the nearby dragons’ flight again. But a blast from Toothless shut it up.

Focusing on the Night Fury as the sole recipient of its anger, the alabaster creature surged downwards. Eager to annihilate him.

Deftly evading the attack, Toothless led it out and away from the island.

Its cry had also summoned its whispering followers, who were currently tangling with Stoick.

Missile-like blasts were shot from Skullcrusher, and countered with rings of smoke and fire.

A torrent of flame soon joined the mixture, blasting the serpents back a bit, as Mirabel arrived with the others.

Sharply pointing in the direction he’d seen his son head towards, the chief shouted his orders.

“I’ve got this. Go help Hiccup!”

It wouldn’t be hard to find him. Just look for the giant flying snake, and listen for dissonant screeching.

Whirling and twirling in the air, dodging bursts of flame and shots of spines, Hiccup kept trying to flash its eyes.

But instead of cowering away, the Screaming Death actually seemed drawn by the light.

And while it was definitely unnerving at first

He soon realized that this could also be a weakness.

The beginnings of a plan sprouting in his mind, he led the creature to a collection of sea stacks.

But it was close, and it only seemed to be getting closer.

Could he execute this plot before getting devoured?

The Screaming Death fired another burst of flame, and while Toothless avoided it, he wasn’t quite watching where he was flying.

The dragon slammed into a sea stack, which sent him hurtling onto another. Rolling to a stop, and sending Hiccup tumbling off him.

And at the edge of the rock formation, an atrocious head rose up to meet him.

Those blood red eyes, already imagining his demise.

But before it could make its dreams a reality, a cloud of gas wafted onto its head. It was then ignited, creating a massive explosion that upset the dragon. Courtesy of Barf and Belch.

The riders weren’t done, either.

All at once, they hit it with everything they had. Magnesium flame, lava blasts, acid, and anything else in their arsenal.

It tried to retaliate with spine shots, but for every dragon it briefly stopped, there was always another one shooting at it.

Infuriated by this onslaught, the Screaming Death released the full force of its flame.

Rapid-fire balls of flame were shot out of its muzzle, shooting too fast and too hard for anyone to appropriately react. They only had the briefest of moments to dodge, before they were blasted to bits.

Now that it was no longer surrounded, it prepared to rip into the nearest living thing it could find.

But once again, that irritating light returned.

Hiccup was back on Toothless, shield in hand.

“I got an idea!” He shouted to his fellow riders. “Let it follow me!”

It was time to execute his plan.

Hissing with agitation, the Screaming Death charged after him.

“Let’s see if we can use its size against it!” Hiccup said, earning an agreeing chuff from Toothless.

Their friends watched them go. Knowing they could do it, but also fearing for them greatly.

The soared high, into the clouds. The great white beast following closely behind.

They bobbed and weaved, avoiding its bites and its fireballs, but Hiccup made sure to keep the light in its eyes.

Its attention solely on them, Hiccup urged Toothless into a dive. Rocketing through the clouds.

And this moment. This moment of surging through the skies with a giant dragon on their trail…

It felt a bit too familiar.

But the time for reminiscing was over. It was time to put the last part of his plan into motion.

Gliding back down to the sea, they wove around the smaller sea stacks. The Screaming Death just slammed through them.

All in pursuit of that light. All so it could snuff it out, as well as the tiny things who controlled it.

“Almost there, big guy!” Hiccup taunted, as they neared their final destination.

Its gnashing teeth readied to destroy, the flame in its belly prepared to burn all it touched to cinders…

And those blood red eyes sparked with murderous intent.

Hiccup and Toothless were hovering in place, staying as still as possible.

All while flashing that blasted light.

With a final roar of indignation, the Screaming Death charged forth to end them-

But it was instead met with a wall of rock, as it conked its mighty head into an even mightier sea stack. Hiccup dodging just in time.

It fell over, and crashed onto a small islet.

Hard.

The force of its impact left the sea stack partially destroyed, and chunks of stone were hurtling down to the sea below.

And some of them fell onto the serpent’s wing.

Releasing a rumbling screech of pain, it feverishly tried to continue flying. To continue the fight.

But it was too damaged.

It fell to the ground once more, defeated.

The other riders caught up, and they simply watched as the beastly creature wiggled around in agony. Too afraid to approach it.

Some of them felt kind of bad for it.

Shortly after, its distress call was answered.

A troop of Whispering Deaths had arrived, and carefully positioned themselves under their big brother’s body. Taking off, they flew it to a safer place.

The sight was baffling, frankly. They hadn’t expected such a thing from a species as destructive as this.

“I guess every dragon has a soft side.” Mirabel supposed.

The conflict over, riders then turned around and began flying back to Berk. The Berkians, to assist the village, the Madrigals, to check on the family.

On the way, Isabela groaned.

“If I never see another giant killer dragon, it’ll be too soon…

“Yeah, but we beat him!” Camilo optimistically said. “We don’t gotta worry about him anymore!”

Fishlegs buzzed over, to break the bad news. “I-I wouldn’t be so sure…”

“Whispering Death hatchlings have been known to return to their place of birth, and claim it as their own!”

Astrid grimaced. “And next time they’ll be bigger, stronger, faster…”

But Hiccup grew a resolute expression.

“Then we’ll just have to be ready.”

A sense of unease fell over the group, as they all came to a shared realization.

They hadn’t seen the last of the Screaming Death.

Not by a long shot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Far away, in a secluded location, the great white beast rested.

To save its energy, and heal its wounds, it coiled around itself like a sleepy snake. And settled in for a nap, surrounded by its many siblings.

But soon, the flapping of wings told it that its scouts had returned.

A trio of Whispering Deaths flew into the cave, and dumped their mouthfuls of food in front of it. Urging it to eat.

There was a heaping pile of fish, a chicken leg, half a cabbage…

And an arepa. Dropped in the chaos from earlier.

Ravenously, the Screaming Death ate.

To replenish its strength, so it could fight once more.

Already, it could feel the inexplicable sensation of the magic. Reversing all its damages.

What would’ve taken weeks to heal took mere seconds.

It was ready to get back out there.

They could not stop.

They would not stop.

Not until she was found.