A/N: Hooray, I am finally done with school! For the next four weeks, anyway. Hopefully I'll be able to write a lot of chapters during break and continue my schedule, because I still don't know what's going to happen for a large part of this book. Anyway, let's get to it!

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

AUTHOR POV

Astrid and Heather's parents stood still, with numerous Outcast members blocking the tunnel. Both sides stared each other down, waiting to make the first move. Astrid motioned her arm to Heather's parents, telling them to get behind her.

"Get them!" Savage yelled, causing his elite soldiers to charge at Astrid. 

Astrid stood her ground, fighting one Outcast member at a time in the narrow corridor.

"Get back!" Astrid yelled at Heather's parents. There were weapons scattered all over the ground, but Heather's parents were too weak from captivity to help Astrid. They retreated in the opposite direction but were met by more Outcasts coming from another tunnel.

Astrid looked around at the horde of enemies and knew that she wouldn't last much longer. They all charged forward with menacing war faces and Astrid leaped in front of Heather's parents to protect them. They could only watch as Astrid swung her heavy axe in all directions and somehow kept them alive.

Astrid knew it was only a matter of time until someone got through her defense. Just as she turned around, an Outcast member was lifting his sword to hack at her. She was busy with the enemies in front of her and didn't have enough time to dodge the rear attack. She knew she would be seeing Valhalla in a matter of moments when suddenly, a knife slashed through the air and killed the Outcast member.

Astrid turned around and saw Heather dashing through the horde, cutting and killing enemies left and right with a sword. She finally made it to Astrid and her parents, leaving a trail of dead bodies behind her.

The two female warriors knew there wasn't any time to talk and simply nodded at each other.

Then, the killing began. 

The two sides hacked at each other, Astrid and Heather on one side, and a mob of Outcasts on the other. The narrow tunnel was crammed with everyone thrusting sharp killing tools in every direction. Battle cries mixed with screams of agony echoed between the blood stained mountain walls. Blood and sweat dripped down from Astrid's axe and Heather's sword.

After what seemed to be an eternity for the two of them, Heather and Astrid eventually fought their way to the exit, and only Savage and a few more Outcasts remained.

Meanwhile, other battles were being fought on the island. Hiccup had tamed the Monstrous Nightmare and escaped the arena, thanks to the twins. He mounted Toothless and together they fought the hordes of Outcasts. It was really a one-sided fight, as Heather had destroyed all the catapults and ballistas, leaving the enemy with crossbows to fight the gang's air superiority. 

"Come on, bud! We have to find Astrid," Hiccup said to his dragon as they blasted away some soldiers on the ground.

However, the enemy made up for their lack of weapons with numbers. There were hundreds of them on the island, and hundreds more waiting at the secret fleet. Their arrows almost covered the sky, forcing Hiccup to spend all his time dodging them.

The Outcasts seemed to pour of the tunnels endlessly, so the Thorston twins had an idea. "Hey, sis," Tuffnut whispered, pointing his eyes at a tunnel entrance.

"Okay!" she responded. Belch shot his gas and filled a large part of the tunnel network before Ruffnut signaled Barf to light the gas cloud on fire. The hidden Outcasts emptied the tunnels, heading for the ocean to put out their flaming bodies.

Just the sight of Hookfang caused the remaining Outcasts to throw down their arms and surrender. The enemy was pretty much defeated, except for Savage's company.

Covered in dirt, blood, and sweat, Heather and Astrid stood at the exit of the tunnel, struggling not to collapse from exhaustion. The smell of scorched rocks and flesh was worse outside the tunnels, causing Astrid to cough furiously.Finally, Astrid couldn't hold on any longer and dropped her axe as she fell to her knees. 

Heather staggered closer to her and picked up her axe.

"On your feet, Astrid,"Heather panted, handing the shieldmaiden's axe to her. "I'm not letting you die on this pathetic island."

Luckily, Savage and his company were regrouping just a short distance away, giving Astrid the time to stand up and grab her axe from Heather's hand.

The two looked onward at their enemies and charged one last time, screaming with every ounce of energy in their souls. Savage and his men did the same, and the two sides clashed once again on the jagged mountain side. 

While Heather was busy fighting multiple opponents at the same time, Savage sneaked behind her and pulled her hair down. Heather fell to the ground and saw a large sword heading straight down at her.

"Heather!" Astrid yelled before throwing herself onto Savage, knocking him over. Heather immediately got back up and finished off the rest of the enemies.

Savage and Astrid also recovered and faced off in their own duel. Astrid swung her heavy axe at Savage, with every intent on butchering him like a yak.

The force of their attacks made their weapons fly off as they collided, leaving them with their bare hands to fight with. Astrid made sure to keep moving, not allowing Savage to grab her, which was almost impossible thanks to her spiked armor. She landed one clean shot to his sternum, knocking the wind out Savage's body.

However, the duration of the battle had taken its toll on Astrid, and she was reduced to throwing tired punches that had no real effect on Savage. Suddenly, he caught Astrid's throat and lifted her up while choking her. Astrid struggled in his grasp as she was on the verge of blacking out.

"Hey, Savage!" Heather shouted.

Savage turned around and saw an axe twirling in the air, headed straight for him. Astrid fell from his grasp as her axe hit its target, ending the battle.

Heather limped over to Astrid and sat beside her tired body on the ground. They both looked up to see Toothless flying over them, and followed him with their eyes until he landed.

Hiccup looked toward them and saw Astrid and Heather side by side, leaning on each other, covered in blood and wounds. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping Hiccup's mind from shutting down at the sight of his best friend.

He ran and hugged Astrid carefully. 

Looking at her with tender eyes, he supported her head with one of his hands and gripped her hand with the other."Oh gods! Astrid, you're hurt," Hiccup said, scouring Astrid's body, making sure he knew about all of her wounds. 

"I'm fine, Hiccup, this is nothing," Astrid struggled to speak. She lied instinctively, but it was not convincing at all as blood dripped out of her mouth as she said it.

Heather was just as wounded as Astrid, but she could only watch as Hiccup looked at Astrid as if she was the only thing that existed in his world. "We're gonna get you two out of here, just wait," Hiccup instructed.

Suddenly, Meatlug appeared over them, hovering Fishlegs in the air. "Hiccup! Alvin's making a break for it! He's on a boat heading for the fleet!" Fishlegs informed.

"Okay, go help the others! I'll take him myself!" Hiccup ordered before turning back to the girls. "I'll be back, Heather. Take care of her for me."

"Go," Heather urged.

Hiccup jumped on Toothless and launched off the island, headed for Alvin's small escape boat. They quickly caught up to Alvin and blasted his bodyguards off the boat before landing.

"It's over, Alvin! Give yourself up!" Hiccup demanded as the Night Fury hovered in the air.

"No! I won't be bested by a little runt and his friends! Just wait till I get to my fleet! I'll burn your precious little Berk to the ground!" Alvin threatened.

"It's too late for that! Toothless, plasma blast!" 

Toothless fired a powerful blast at the boat, causing it to rock and tumble until it sank. After the small boat had disappeared into the ocean, they saw Alvin grabbing onto some floating debris to stay above water.

"Let's get him, bud."

Toothless dove down and grabbed the Outcast leader out of the water with his legs. Hiccup was joined by the rest of the gang who had taken Heather and Astrid aboard their dragons.

They soared higher and disappeared in the horizon towards Berk, leaving behind them the ravaged battleground that was Outcast Island.

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

A/N: Thanks for reading! I'll keep trying to make my fight scenes better in the future. I just really like how Astrid and Heather fight so well together. I hope Hiccup's plan kinda made sense and there's not too many plot holes. We're nearing the end of the arc, but more on that on the next update.

[Next Chapter: Heather confirms Astrid's secret]