The Shield

As Stoick hid behind the giant ice spikes together with his once-lost-now-found wife Valka, he wondered why Drago's Bewilderbeast didn't simply smash his way through them or simply unleash its ice breath through the spaces. Either move would have surely finished them both. Stoick guessed that it must rely largely on its sight rather than its sense of smell. That, however didn't explain why Drago didn't order it to do either one himself. Surely he knew they were there. Perhaps he was simply getting a kick out of this game of cat-and-mouse, knowing there was little else they could do to avoid being killed by his enslaved dragon. In fact, the only chance they had at survival was for Hiccup and Toothless to pull off some miracle, like the one they did five years ago against the giant dragon queen he went after blindly.

When he heard Drago bellowing some command, Stoick looked down and his blood ran cold: Hiccup and Toothless were down there confronting him, and Drago was now pointing his hook-spear at them! When the alpha shifted it's attention away from them, Stoic realized the alpha was being given a new command, and that his son and his dragon were the targets. Whatever it was, Stoick was not about to sit around and find out!

As he drew his axe while racing back down the mountain, Stoick was conscious of the fact that Valka was following close behind, but he couldn't afford to slow enough to allow her to keep pace, practically flying down the mountain as he ran past Gobber and hollered, "Come on, Gobber!" to which he barely heard him respond "Okay, change of plans." Even now, as Toothless twitched around in obvious discomfort, Stoick realized that Drago had commanded his Bewilderbeast to use his Alpha ability to take control over the Night Fury, most likely to have him attack and kill Hiccup! Even if it weren't his own son's life at stake, Stoick couldn't stand by and watch as Drago cruelly forced one friend to kill the other.

As he got closer to his son and Drago, Stoick noticed something wedged in a crater in the ice in his path, apparently recently unearthed during this battle. Easily plucking it out with his left hand and without slowing his run in the slightest, Stoick found it was a shield. Perfectly round, it appeared to be made almost completely of metal, yet was far lighter than any made of steel or iron. Besides the fact that it did not appear to be of Viking forge, something Stoick found rather curious was the scars that marred the shiny underside of this shield. Such scars could only come from the shield being completely shattered in battle then re-forged together, but who would do that? Any blacksmith worthy of the name would simply melt down such a damaged weapon or piece of armor to make a new one, as each "repair" would only weaken it further, make it susceptible to breaking again. The questionable nature of this shield, added together with it being too small for him anyway (his four main fingers could barely slip through the loop for the arm brace), almost made Stoick throw it away, but instead he closed his grip around the strap, thinking, A small, battered shield is better than no shield at all, and maybe it'll provide a little extra help in protecting my son.

When Stoick came to a small ravine, he threw his axe at a support rope on one of Drago's damaged dragon traps, severing it and allowing the beam to fall which he used immediately as a bridge. Now he was close enough to hear Hiccup's futile attempts to reach Toothless through the Alpha's command. "Hiccup!" Stoick cried out as he dived for his son, knocking him out of the way just as Toothless fired. As the plasma blast struck the shield in Stoick's hand, he figured he was as good as dead. However, even though the momentum did knock his airborne body painfully into the ice wall behind him, it didn't feel as though there was as much force behind the blast as there should have been, particularly not when it's a Night Fury shooting to kill, nor did he feel as much heat from the blast as he should have. Additionally, when the blast hit the shield, it rang out like someone had struck a gong as large as Berk itself, or like he imagined it would sound if Thor used Mjolnir to strike an anvil up in Asgard, and the shockwave knocked Toothless and Drago back, and even Valka further back lost her footing. The tone itself seemed to have a peculiar effect on the enslaved dragons, as Toothless and many of the dragons in a radius that almost reached the shoreline wound up snapping free of the Alpha's control.

In a stupefied daze, Stoick tilted the shield up to examine its front, noting that its strange pattern showed no damage whatsoever from Toothless' blast. Stoick knew firsthand how destructive the blast from a Night Fury could be, and at point-blank range even a brand new shield would have been shattered and him along with it. Stoick doubted that even the Gronkle-iron shield Hiccup used to have could have survived such a blast. Impossibly, however, this battle-worn shield was no worse off than when he plucked it from the ice! Then all the pieces clicked into place: how he had found it when he needed it the most, its otherworldly lightness and durability, how it protected him from that which it shouldn't have been able to, its effect on the other dragons. Stoick now knew it must be a gift from the gods, sent here by Thor or even Odin Himself to help him protect his son from Drago's madness!

Drago, recovering from this strange turn of events, now apparently realized that Toothless was no longer under his Alpha's command, and he ordered him to take back control. Just as Toothless' gaze shifted under the weight of the Alpha's command again, however, Stoick rolled towards a broken sword, striking its hilt against the shield, and Toothless became himself again.

As Toothless turned and snarled at Drago, Stoick rhythmically struck the shield over and over again, calling out mockingly, "It has a nice tone to it, don't you think so, Drago?"

Snarling in rage, Drago rushed Stoick, swinging his hook-spear at Stoick's head, but Stoick blocked the blow with the broken sword and, clenching his fist tighter around the shield's strap, rang the shield with Drago's face. As he staggered back in shock, Drago saw Stoick, Hiccup and Toothless being joined by Valka, Gobber, Skullcrusher and Cloudjumper, and apparently decided to retreat to a more defensible position: back with his Bewilderbeast.

"We've got to keep those two apart," Hiccup said as he rushed to mount Toothless' saddle, calling out to his parents, "You guys take care of Drago's men and their traps. Toothless and I will cut Drago down to size."

Valka laid her hand on Hiccup's thigh as she said, "You don't have to go back up there, son."

Hiccup smiled down at his mom as he said, "As Dad likes to often say, 'We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard, and we take care of our own.' "

Valka swallowed past the lump in her throat as she said, "I'm proud of you, my son."

"As am I," Stoick agreed throatily, laying his hand atop his wife's.

"Yeah, try to not get yourself almost killed this time, okay boy?" Gobber said as he wiped at a tear with his sleeve.

Hiccup nodded and smiled at them all before snapping his helmet down on his head and crying out, "Okay, Toothless, let's go!" With a mighty flap, Toothless leapt high into the air with Hiccup on his back. Stoick, along with his wife and best friend, watched the ebony pair soar after Drago for about a second, then they turned to mount their own dragons.

By the time Hiccup had caught up to Drago, he had already climbed up on the Bewilderbeast's tusk and was commanding him to regain his command over the dragons. While they needed to stop Drago's mad plans, it would have been really bad if Toothless had lost himself again while they were flying this high and fast. Pulling out a long red sash, Hiccup asked his friend, "Trust me?" When Toothless grunted his assent, Hiccup tied the sash around Toothless' eyes, saying, "Okay, let's try this one more time."

When Drago caught sight of the two of them approaching he commanded, "Take control of it!" But even though the Alpha focused its gaze on them and made its strange, low rumbling call, because Toothless was unable to meet its eyes the Alpha command was unable to take hold of him. "Tune it out, buddy" Hiccup said in a reassuring tone, then as they got close enough to see the whites of Drago's eyes, Hiccup said, "Aaaand….now!"

At Hiccup's command, Toothless unleashed three plasma blasts in rapid succession, tracing a line from between the Bewilderbeast's eyes to the crest of spires rising from the crown of the giant dragon's head, even as Toothless pulled into a steep climb. While this did have the desired effect of temporarily blinding both Drago and his Alpha, unfortunately it also caused the Bewilderbeast to rear in pain, its tail raising before them like a tall spire they had no chance of avoiding.

"Not again!" Hiccup groaned as he relived the moment he saved his father and his men from the dragon queen but lost his leg in the process. Fortunately, Toothless' instincts were sharp, and thanks to Valka unlocking his spines he was able to climb sharper and turn tighter than he could have done 5 years ago, and so he was able to avoid the collision.

When he had regained his balance on the thrashing dragon, Drago smirked up at the sky, enjoying the challenge this so-called "dragon master" was providing him though he had no doubts on the outcome this conflict would reach. However, his face fell when he saw the sash blindfold fluttering down towards him and the Night Fury flying upside-down over him, his rider not in the saddle. Looking over his shoulder, Drago nearly lost his footing as Hiccup swooped past him, leaving a trail of green vapor behind him. Taking a whiff, Drago realized that the trail was actually Hideous Zippleback gas just before Hiccup ignited it with a spark from his blade handle, the explosion blowing him from his perch. Shaking his head to clear it, he sees his hook-spear imbedded in the ground a few feet away. When he lunges for it, however, he finds a flaming sword tossed into the ground right in front of it, preventing hin from grabbing it easily. Glaring in the direction it had come from, he sees Hiccup land and level a stern look at him as he says, "Give it up, Drago. It's over."

Looking past the boy, Drago sees his Alpha recovering from the blast, fixing it's glare at Hiccup, and Drago smirks as he says, "Is it now?"

Spinning around, Hiccup sees the Bewilderbeast open its mouth and an unavoidable avalanche of white rush towards him just before everything goes black.

Elsewhere, Stoick and the other riders were doing well in fighting off the invasion of Drago's men: Blasting apart their traps, freeing whatever dragons had got caught, and setting the trappers on their heels. Although the Alpha had managed to regain control over some of the dragons, by maintaining a tight formation Stoick was able to use the shield to ensure that it wasn't able to take control over theirs as well, and any dragons that happened to be nearby at the time ended up joining their ranks as well. In all, it looked as though they would be able to win the day.

Until Stoick saw the Bewilderbeast unleash its ice breath at Hiccup, catching Toothless as well when he swooped in towards his friend.

Landing quickly at the scene, Valka beat her fists uselessly on the mass of ice encasing their son while Stoick grabbed one of his spare axes from the compartment on his saddle. As he swung the weapon at the formation, however, the blade shattered against the ice, leaving it unscratched. Stoick then took the shield from his arm and used both hands to beat its edge against the frozen tomb, praying for another miracle from Odin. However, even though the shield didn't break like the axe did, it was apparently designed primarily for defense as it was barely able to chip at the frozen mass. By the time he managed to make enough progress through it, his son would be dead.

As his wife collapsed in tears against the ice, Stoick could not help but reflect on the tragic irony; he'd raised his son alone for 20 years after he believed he'd lost his wife to a dragon and now, just as he found his wife alive and well, a different dragon had sent his son to Valhalla for real. "Hiccup," lamented Stoick in a mournful tone, resting his hand and his face on the cold ice and letting them numb his aching heart as he heard Astrid's quiet sobbing behind him. Then he noticed that the ice was warming up, and the light he saw through his eyelids that was filtering through the ice was growing brighter. Snapping his eyes open, Stoick saw that the ice was glowing from within in a color of light he's seen many times the last few years, accompanied by a growing high pitched squeal that he knew all too well.

"Get clear!" Stoick commanded as he gripped Valka by the arm and dashed away from the ice just before it exploded outward. As the steam cleared, he saw Toothless uncoil his wings from around Hiccup, both of whom seemed to be fine. Toothless, however, didn't look the same as he'd always seen him. For one thing, Toothless seemed to be glowing from within the same shade as his plasma fire, the hue most noticeable in his divided spinal ridges and just inside his mouth. For another, Toothless was pissed, more so than Stoick had ever seen him these last five years! Toothless turned and roared ferociously at the Bewilderbeast, then he climbed the remains of the ice formation and roared at him some more, to which the Bewilderbeast roared in return. Stoick was at a loss as to what was going on until Hiccup cried out in amazed disbelief, "He's challenging the Alpha!"

"To protect you!" Valka said, equally amazed as she draped her arm across Hiccup's shoulders.

As he watched, the Bewilderbeast was about to breath its ice breath again, but Toothless was faster and knocked his head aside with a powerful plasma blast on his left tusk, followed quickly with one on his right. As the giant dragon is battered back and forth with the continuous blasts, Stoick witnesses as all the dragons break free of the Alpha's control. Seeing that the Bewilderbeast was losing the challenge, they all start to flock over to and land behind Toothless and his friends. Drago, too, saw that he was losing his dragon army, and he recklessly climbed the battered Bewilderbeast's tusk, using his hook to keep his footing as he bellowed, "No! Fight back, fight back!"

Finally, Toothless paused in his barrage, and Drago saw that every single dragon, even the ones he'd brought with him to assault the nest, were arrayed behind Toothless and Hiccup in a show of loyalty.

"Do you see now, Drago? Do you finally get it?" Hiccup called up to him as Drago clung to the ridge of spines at the Bewilderbeast's crown, "This is what it means to earn a Dragon's loyalty. The Alpha protects them all."

Drago refused to accept defeat, refused to believe that his mighty Alpha could possibly lose to a dragon smaller than the Bewilderbeast's big toe! As he began to growl out an order, however, the Night Fury gestured with its head and the dragons arrayed behind it began punishing the giant with a volley of blasts, forcing him to take cover behind the ridge even as one of the blasts made him lose his metal arm. Finally, Toothless unleashed his biggest blast yet, breaking off the Bewilderbeast's left tusk and causing it to fall to the icy ground below. The former Alpha then turned back towards the ocean behind it and, whimpering, dove in with Drago still aboard.

Toothless watched for a moment to make sure that he didn't try doubling back, then he turned towards the dragons assembled behind him, all of whom bowed their head at him, acknowledging him as the new Alpha. Even Valka and, after a moment, Stoick and the other riders bowed their heads respectfully at him. Only Hiccup didn't bow, instead simply looking at his best friend with pride as Toothless raised his head regally. Then Toothless craned his neck to roar at the heavens, the other dragons joining in. When the roaring stopped, Hiccup hugged his friend around the neck, and Toothless craned his neck around to return the embrace. Then Toothless knocked Hiccup to the ground and began to lick him mercilessly, the other riders laughing at his predicament as Hiccup tried to scramble away while complaining, "Toothless! You know that doesn't wash out!"

When he finally managed to stand up again, Astrid strode up to Hiccup and punched him in the shoulder. Rubbing where she hit him, Hiccup complained, "Ow! What…?"

"That was for making me think you were turned into an iceberg!" Astrid said as she glared into his eyes. Then she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately for a long while until she finally broke slightly apart, breathing against his lips, "And that's for being okay."

While the others smiled at him, Valka place her hand on her son's shoulder and said in a loving tone, "I think she'll be a good one for you, my son."

"So, what do we do now," Eret asked them all as he glanced around at the island, which was now empty save for the abandoned traps, the riders and dragons, and himself.

"Now, we go home," Hiccup answered him, and Eret smiled as he understood he was being included in the 'we'.

Back at Berk, the dragons there deferred to Toothless with the same respect the ones back at the nest had given him, even though they couldn't have seen his winning his challenge with the Alpha. As the citizens of Berk look on while Gothi approaches, Stoick looks into the eyes of his son and asks, "My boy, are you sure you're ready for this?"

"Not entirely," Hiccup answers honestly, "but it's time." Stoick smiles proudly down at his son, as does Valka and Astrid. Stoick then removes the shield from where he'd slung it on his back and holds it out towards Hiccup. "Your shield, Dad?" Hiccup said with a mixture of awe and reluctance, "I couldn't possibly…"

"It's not mine son," Stoick countered, "I found it on the battlefield, and the thing's too small for me anyway, but I think on you it would be a perfect fit. I'm convinced the gods sent it here for you to use to protect us all."

Hiccup then took the shield from his father, finding that it did fit well on his arm. "Thanks, Dad," Hiccup said gratefully, to which Stoick smiled then gestured towards Gothi. Astrid then accompanies Hiccup down to where Gothi stands waiting, stopping a few feet short as Hiccup kneels before her to allow Gothi to draw a symbol on Hiccup's forehead with her soot-blackened fingers. She then gestures for Hiccup to rise, and as he does so Gobber calls out, "Your Chief has come home!" The resulting cheers that ring out from all of Berk is almost deafening.

Hiccup lets it go on for a couple of minutes before he gestures for silence from everyone, then he begins to speak, "Thank you everyone. I'm sure many of you had felt that this day would never come, particularly since, up until five years ago, every attempt I made at doing something Viking-like ended up a total disaster," Hiccup said to the gathered village, and was greeted with good natured laughter. Hiccup chuckled once himself as he continued, "I understand, believe me. Even though I would not have admitted it aloud, I would have agreed with you. I was mostly afraid of becoming my dad because I thought I never could. I mean, how do you become something that great? In the end, though, it is our efforts, intentions, and determination that determine our results. I may never become as mighty as my father, but I hope that I can lead you as well as he had."

"Today, we have won a great victory," Hiccup continued to a rapt audience, "Not only had we managed to defeat Drago Bludvist and his forces against overwhelming odds, we had prevented him from enslaving an entire island of dragons as well as liberating most of those he had already enslaved. However, Drago and his Bewilderbeast are still out there, as are his forces. He may have a harder time maintaining his authority without his dragon army to control them with fear, but we must remain vigilant for the time that he'll come here to finish what he began at the nest. We will befriend any dragon we can find, we will liberate any dragon Drago's men manage to capture, and when Drago decides to show his face around here we will be ready for him! We will raise our voices to let Drago and any others like him know that if we cannot protect those we care about, then they can be damn sure that we'll avenge them, for we are the Vikings of Berk! Whether they be human, dragon, or something else entirely, we defend our own!"

Then the cheers began again, and after exchanging a look between them, Astrid grasped Hiccup's shield arm into the air and the cheers grew even louder. The sun gleamed brightly on the surface of the shield, which was decorated with rings of red and white surrounding a single star in a field of blue, serving as a symbol of hope for them all.

To be continued in "Drago's Revenge", out now.