𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter seventeen; yrsa
❝ dragon riders! ❞

     ASTRID questioned Yrsa all the way back to the dragon arena. The other teens were just as confused, wondering what was going on, but Yrsa wasn't exactly sure what to tell them. She didn't know Hiccup's plan; all she knew was that it was 'something crazy', as he had said. Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were still perplexed by the showcase that had happened in the arena earlier and might be just a bit wary to trust Hiccup. Yrsa didn't know what to tell them over that, either. She trusted him, but she also had spent time with Toothless. To the others, it seemed that Hiccup had completely gone against everything this village has stood for without understanding why.

    When they reached the arena, they all saw Hiccup standing by the cages. Astrid scowled and whispered to Yrsa, "What's he doing?"

    "Something crazy."

     "That doesn't make me feel any better."

     The teens all stood in a line, shoulder to shoulder before the small Viking. He glanced back and was a little surprised that they had all agreed to follow Yrsa here. In fact, Yrsa was surprised, too, but it seemed that these kids cared about her a lot more than it seemed. Or maybe, she just never let herself realise it.

    "If you're planning on getting eaten," said Fishlegs, propping his hands on his hips, "I'd definitely go with the Gronckle."

     Tuffnut shoved his way through the line, pushing his sister to the side. "You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon," he said, stopping right in front of Hiccup. 

     Hiccup arched a brow, "Uh ...?"

    Tuff frowned at him, "It's me━"

    Snotlout scoffed and pushed him away with a hand to his face. Tuff stumbled to the side. Snotlout grinned at his cousin, "I love this plan!"

     Leaning back, Hiccup furrowed his brows, "I didn't━"

    Astrid elbowed Snotlout, making him accidentally punch himself in the face as he went. She continued to scowl at Hiccup. "You're going to get us killed."

     "━Well━"

     Ruffnut pushed her head in, and Astrid rolled her eyes, stepping away. "You're crazy!" she got right into Hiccup's face and he yelped, leaning back. Glancing back at the others, Ruffnut battered her eyelashes and soon smirked, "I like that━"

     "All right━" Yrsa took one of her helmet horns and tugged her back. Hiccup let out a relieved breath. "That's enough." She was the last to stand in front of him, hands on her hips and grin on her face. "So, Horrendous, what is the plan?"

     Hiccup glanced at the group of Viking teens, and he couldn't help but smile, grateful. 

     Yrsa would admit, she was a little excited. There was a part of her that felt the thrill of what they might be doing, and it flickered in her dark gaze. Hiccup met it, and he said, "Dragons."

     And so one-by-one, Hiccup led the teens forward with a dragon to train. Yrsa watched, stunned to see him handle the dragons with ease, bringing them out and into the arena with calming words and hands to their snouts. First up, was the Deadly Nadder. Astrid was nervous, Yrsa could see it in her eyes and the way she hunched up her shoulders. She gave her friend a little nudge and she rolled her eyes, "I'm going."

     Perhaps she was quite nervous because she had been the one to smack this blue Deadly Nadder right in the jaw, but as Astrid stepped forward and took the beautiful scales of blue and burgundy in, she realised how forgiving this dragon was. She did as Hiccup told her, looking right into the Deadly Nadder's eyes and held out her palm. She sqawked, curious, and Yrsa saw Astrid's harsh brows lift when the dragon met her palm with her scaly snout. No matter what Astrid had done, this dragon let her in, forgiven her, seen herself in the shield maidens gorgeous blue eyes.

     Astrid gasped, "I━I did it!" she glanced back at Hiccup, grinning. Until she realised and back stracked. "I mean," she squared her shoulders, turning back to the Nadder, "Of course, I did."

    Hiccup brought Fishlegs forward to the Gronckle. He was very nervous, whimpering and muttering statistics under his breath. Hiccup sighed and told him, "It's okay, Fishlegs━" and tugged his hand forward. The Gronckle sniffed the pudgy boy's hand, and Fishlegs clenched his eyes closed as tight as he could. He hunched away, preparing to die ... only to open his eyes, shocked when the Gronckle licked his palm and nuzzled into it.

     Fishlegs was gobsmacked and Hiccup left him there to comprehend it all.

     The Twins were eager to go next. They pushed and shoved each other to get to him first, but Hiccup had the perfect dragon for them. One with two crazy heads for two equally as crazy (and mischievous) riders. It wasn't long before the Hideous Zippleback saw quite similar personalities with the Twins, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut were arguing over which head they'd have (and Ruff had her head barf out gas that made her brother cough in which she cackled at). 

     When Hiccup glanced back at Yrsa, he held out his hand. She grinned and stepped forward, her heart fluttering as she took it and led him lead her over. Her breath hitched when she saw the Devilish Dervish stare down at her, the calmest she's been. 

     Black and purple scales shimmered with an elegancy. She held her snout up with a regal sniff, checking out Yrsa and recognising her with a widen of her small eyes. 

     Yrsa saw herself━maybe because the darks of the dragon's eyes were so reflective it was literally like she was staring right at herself. But it was more than that. She remembered what Hiccup told her, and she understood. Yrsa didn't know how she could ever hold such a powerful, regal and dangerous dragon with a stubborn mind and unruly personality, but at the way Hiccup nodded and smiled ... she knew that her and this dragon, they were one in the same; or they will be.

     So, with a deep breath, she let go of Hiccup's hand and held it out. She met the Dervish's gaze again, not backing down. She felt her hot breath huff against her skin and it tickled. She stared at her, curious and intelligent━and very cunning. 

     Trust me, Yrsa tried to tell her.

     For a moment, she thought that she had been wrong. That Hiccup had been wrong. This Devilish Dervish was not meant for her. She was not the dragon she was supposed to bond with. This was a mighty beast, not meant to be strapped down; unruly, stubborn and aristocratic ...

      But then, the dragon bowed her head and met Yrsa's palm. 

     Yrsa Olofsdotter let out a chuckle of surprise and delight, bringing forward her other hand to cup the dragon's jaw. She gave her a scratch and the Devilish Dervish's eyes fluttered closed. 

     The last of them to find a dragon would be Snotlout. Hiccup at last brought out the Monstrous Nightmare, and Yrsa was a little nervous. But when he rejoined them with a calm, gentle dragon, that worry disappeared. She was soon watching with a gleam of pride and awe at the way Hiccup led the creature to Snotlout, not even looking when he grabbed his arm and pulled it towards the dragon's snout.

    "Wait!" Snotlout shrieked. "What are you━?"

    "Shh!" Hiccup snapped at him. "Relax. It's okay. It's okay..."

     He replaced his palm with Snotlout's, and the dragon purred. His cousin's shaking subsided, unable to look away from the Monstrous Nightmare who fixed his slender gaze on him.

     Hiccup stepped away towards the edge of the arena, pushing up the wooden lid of the supply crates.

     "Wait━where are you going?!" cried Snotlout. 

    Hiccup just pulled out a handful of rope, showing it to the teens. "You're gonna need something to help you all hold on."

     Yrsa's eyes widened as she finally realised what his plan was. 

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟ 

     SHE could remember the island even in her sleep; or her worst nightmares. Swooping around the back end of the stone-shored island, Yrsa clung on for dear life around Hiccup, eyes wide as dinner plates to see the monstrous dragon in all her glory. She was as tall as a mountain, at the very least━she stretched to the height of the volcano behind her with a body adorned with red spikes and a crown of coral-shaped bone. Her maw opened to show rows of deadly, razor-sharp teeth as big as Yrsa herself. Her body extended down to a clubbed tail, spiked like a mace and as big as a small fishing boat. 

     Around her, it was chaos. Half of the fleet was burning in the waters, and those that hadn't sunk, were about to. Masts collapsed around jumping Vikings. The catapults were destroyed, weapons floated out to sea. Nearly every Viking had evacuated to the south side, leaving just only two dots of figures in comparison to the gigantic dragon: Gobber and Stoick.

     Under her, the Devilish Dervish flapped her wings and swept her body in a motion that kept her aloft. It was uncomfortable under Yrsa's legs to be lodged with Hiccup between two of her razor-sharp spikes along her back. Behind them, were the others. Astrid clung onto the Deadly Nadder for dear life, braid and bangs flying. The Twins joked and yelped as each Zippleback head swooped up and down and up and down. Snotlout held onto the Monstrous Nightmare's horns, face frozen in mid-scream. But he was so scared, no sound came out. Fishlegs whimpered and fubbled for grip on his rope, shooting up and down from the uneven flight-pattern of the Gronckle. 

    They grew closer to the collosal dragon as she reared her head to rein fire down on Stoick and Gobber. Hiccup gritted his teeth and pulled back the Dervish's head. She let loose a column of fire that exploded against the dragon's scales, rocking it to the left with surprise. 

     She roared, turning her head to fix three eyes on the group of teens, swooping around on dragons to the rescue. Yrsa glanced back, watching her growl a deathly rumble in the back of her throat.

    "Ruff, Tuff!" Hiccup called back to the Twins. "Watch your backs! Move, Fishlegs!"

    "Look at us!" shouted Tuffnut, laughing despite the huge dragon staring them all down. "We're on a dragon. We're on dragons! All of us!"

    Down below, the Vikings all stopped to stare upwards and gawk. Yrsa couldn't pay them any attention, nor could she search for her mother in the crowd━even if she wanted to. She was far to focused on not falling off. 

    Hiccup led them back around to a safe position, and the teens and their dragons all hovered to take in the dragon they were up against. It was far bigger than any they have faced, far dangerous, far more deadly. 

     But they couldn't let that stop them.

    "Fishlegs!" Hiccup pulled the Dervish to a hover. "Break it down!"

    "Okay," the pudgy Viking scanned the dragon. "Heavily armoured skull and tail made for bashing and crushing! Steer clear of both. Small eyes, large nostrils! Relies on hearing and smell!"

     "Okay," said Hiccup, forming a quick but hopefully effective plan. "Astrid, Lout, Legs━hang in its blind spot, make some noise, keep it confused! Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit! Make it mad!"

    Ruffnut grinned, eager, "That's my specialty!" she declared.

    Her brother frowned at her, "Since when?!" he shouted. "Everyone knows I'm more irritating!" he spun upside down on his Zippleback head, making faces. "See?"

    "Just do what I told you!" Hiccup turned Yrsa's dragon towards the ships. "I'll be back as soon as I can!" They dived down and Yrsa sent a wave of goodluck to the rest of the riders, eyes narrowed down in search for Toothless.

    "Don't worry!" Snotlout yelled after them. "We've got it covered!"

    They cheered in their ascent to the monstrous dragon, ducking under her clubbed tail and soaring up to her head. Passing her eyes, the Twins jeered with grins on their faces:

    "Troll!"

    "Butt elf!"

    "Bride of Grendel!"

     They spun out of the way of the first shot, screaming. The Zippleback they rode shrieked as it dived down to escape the second. Meanwhile, Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout had split up on either side of the dragon's head. Using their shields and their weapons, they clanged them together in a ferocious attempt to disorientate their opponent. 

     Fishlegs cried out, uncertain at the three eyes that fixed on him, "Uh ... this thing doesn't have a blind spot!"

    Yrsa wanted to crane her neck and glance back, stomach filled with worry. But she instead searched the burning boats for her and Hiccup's Night Fury friend. The flames heated her skin, even from this height. The Devilish Dervish bobbed her head, uneasy at the falling masts and sinking longboats that crashed the water and flickered embers up into their eyes.

    It was hard to see through the ash and smoke, but when they heard a desperate cry up through the flames, they knew it was him.

    "There!" Hiccup pointed and down they dove. 

     As they grew closer, Yrsa and Hiccup swapped positions. She held on tight to the rope keeping her on the Devilish Dervish's back. Yrsa was terrified she was going to fall off. Her last trip on a dragon, aside the trip here, and almost caused her to die multiple times before Toothless accepted her apology. What if this Devilish Dervish didn't want her on her back? What if as soon as Hiccup jumped off, she'd throw her off into the ocean?

     But she had no choice but to settle in front, her legs settled tight on her scales and her hands gripping the rope secured around her torso. Behind her, Hiccup got onto his feet, holding onto her shoulder while Yrsa pulled the Dervish to a hover by the boat. He then leapt off, landing amongst the fire and the falling boats in front of his dragon. Toothless struggled in his chains and rope, pulling against the wood casing around his neck.

    Hiccup scrambled back to his feet, rushing to his side. When he noticed Yrsa was still hovering, he looked up at her and shouted, "Go help the others! I'll be fine!"

    She was hesitant, but there was no room for arguing. Yrsa nodded and turned the Dervish around, shooting back up to the Queen Dragon with jolts in her stomach. 

     As they rose back up away from the embers, ash and smoke, Yrsa could see the others starting to gather some luck. Ruff and Tuff were still alive (amazingly) from all of their insults, ducking away from the Queen's blast to rest by the ledges of the volcano. Astrid, Snotlout and Fishlegs were still trying to disorientate her six eyes, and as she chewed away the wooden boat from her long teeth, Yrsa could see her begin to blink. She shook her head, moaning out a little in annoyance.

    "Yes!" shouted Snotlout, grinning. "It's working!"

     "Yeah!" laughed Fishlegs, a mixture of fear and addrenalline keeping him aloft. "It's working!"

     That was until it started to affect their dragons, too. Astrid went down first, gasping when her Nadder squawked and lost control. They dived to the ground, and she managed to get into a position where she pulled the blue Nadder upright and they landed on her stomach. Astrid flew from her back, hitting the rocks on her side. Snotlout was thrown right off as the Monstrous Nightmare hit the side of the Queen's skull. He tumbled over to the otherside and barely caught himself before he fell, clinging onto her coral-bone crown. 

     "I've lost control of the Gronckle!" cried Fishlegs as he━too━was losing altitude. He chucked his hammer to Snotlout who managed to take the handle in his fingers and heft it up. "Snotlout! Do something!"

     Fishlegs and the Gronckle hit the ground, face-down. 

     "I'm okay!" shouted Fishlegs. 

     The Gronckle landed on top of him, and he was flattened.

     "Less okay!"

     Relieved from her moment of confusion, the monstrous dragon roared and held up her left foot. Fishlegs screamed as he tried to scramble out of the way. Astrid tried to run to help, but she was too far away. Snotlout came to the rescue.

     "I can't miss!" he grinned, slamming the mallet right into the dragon's eyes. "Haha! What's wrong, buddy? Got something in your eye?"

     She cried out in anguish, missing Fishlegs's body by inches. Astrid made it to him, and helped him get the Gronckle off. Yrsa finally arrived from the fleet, swooping around and cheering in her relief. She passed Snotlout and held up a triumphant fist into the air. "Yeah!" she called to him. He looked up, shocked she was speaking to him. "You're the Viking!"

     Snotlout had a dumb grin on his face. He hit the eye of the dragon extra hard, eager to impress her. The Queen tilted her head, annoyed, and he lost his grip. Yelling out, he fell back. He only just managed to grab ahold of the dragon's crown, gazing down below as the hammer fell to the ground with a, "Whoa!"

     Shaking her head, the Queen turned on her feet and slammed her clubbed tail into the fleet of ships. Yrsa gasped, her heart dropping to see the mast of the ship Hiccup and Toothless were on crumble━the boat sank, and the two of them disappeared into the dephts of the water. 

    "No!" shouted Yrsa. "Hiccup! Toothless!"

     She saw Stoick dive into the water and her heart was in her throat as she waited for them to resurface. The Devilish Dervish she flew was growing more and more skittish of the Queen Dragon, and Yrsa found herself setting her palm on the side of her neck, hoping to calm her down. 

     "Come on, girl, it's all right," she murmured, spinning her around to have a better look at the waters━they still hadn't resurfaced. 

     Yrsa held her breath, holding onto the rope tighter. Come on ...

     Stoick burst forth out of the waters, dragging Hiccup to the shoreline before diving back in. Hiccup spluttered and coughed, "Dad━!" he shouted, but fell short. Yrsa bit her bottom lip with worry when he returned. 

     Except this time, it was Toothless.

     The Night Fury shot out of the water, throwing Stoick's body down to the rocks and landing on a boulder. He let out a short growl to Hiccup, nodding to the Queen dragon. Yrsa grinned, her shoulders slumping with relief.

     Hiccup grinned as he got to his feet, "You got it, bud."

    He raced up the boulder and onto the saddle. He shared an exchange with his father as she strapped in, and Yrsa could tell by the freeze of his shoulders, it was something important. 

    Then, in under seconds, they were up into the sky.

    Yrsa beamed, her heart growing light. "He's up!" she called to the others. She turned her dragon towards the Twins, gesturing for them to get back up. They were in their air in a matter of moments, and the group of them soared around towards the head of the Queen where Snotlout was still clinging on for dear life.

     She turned to the Twins, "Get Snotlout out of there!"

    They nodded in unison. 

    "I'm on it!" said Ruff.

    "No, I'm on it first!" argued her brother.

     They pushed and shoved their way towards the head. "Hey! Let me drive━!" "━Hey, I'm ahead of you━!", "━this way━", "━no, this way━!", "━don't push me, I'll take your teeth out━!", "━I'll take your teeth out━!"

     As they argued, Snotlout ran around the studded snout of the large dragon, his feet jumping up onto the tip of her nostrils and leaping out. Arms flailing, he managed to grab ahold of the Zippleback's necks, stuck in between. With him hanging on, the Twins rushed out of there, "Wow!" exclaimed Tuffnut. "I can't believe that actually worked!"

    Yrsa laughed, unable to believe it, too. She tried to follow them, coaxing the Dervish she rode to go faster with her wings. But for some reason, they weren't moving.

     There was a haunting inhale behind her; as if the entire ocean was drawing in one, single breath. Yrsa glanced behind her and almost screamed to see the open mouth of the Queen dragon, pulling her into the grasp. She could see right down the dragon's throat, a gummy, dark hole that extended right down to her stomach.

     And she was being dragged straight into it.

    "No!" Yrsa shouted as her legs lifted off from the Dervish's back. Her dragon shrieked and cried in alarm, desperately trying to get away. "No!" 

     They were being pulled back now, and the stench of the Queen's breath spiked Yrsa's nose, burning it with the heat and absolute horridness of what lied beneath. This would be the worst way to die━slowly digesting in a gigantic dragon's stomach amongst other unlucky dragons. Slowly and slowly ...

     Yrsa screamed, the grip on the rope starting to slip.

     The breath of the dragon was so loud, she barely heard the whistle scream of Toothless above. But she could see the Vikings all freeze and look up, their eyes widenening as Hiccup and Toothless dive-bombed straight down at a full vertical. 

     "NIGHT FURY!" they all screamed. "GET DOWN━!"

     There was an explosion of purple and blue all around Yrsa. She lost her grip, screaming as she tumbled through the sky and towards the ground. She heard the Queen dragon's annoyed roars behind her, shaking her head at the impact that rattled her teeth. She saw the Devilish Dervish bolt straight for the safety of the volcano ledges, and Yrsa was falling to her death alone━

      Her body jolted from her ankle, and she yelped as she was tugged to the side. Yrsa's breath hitched, realising she was no longer falling and looked up to see familiar claws latched around the fur of her boot. 

     "Did you get her?" Hiccup's voice echoed above as he peered down, trying to see Yrsa underneath.

     Toothless tilted his head down, meeting her gaze. Yrsa laughed, grinning a bright, lovely smile for her friend. He had saved her life, just like she had once saved his. Toothless's ears quivered and he lifted his lips, returning a happy, gummy smile of his own. 

     He flipped her the right side up as they neared the ground, setting her down with the other Vikings as he and Hiccup took off once again, shooting to the clouds. Yrsa stumbled to catch her balance, watching them go, absolutely breathless.

     "Go," she whispered, chest heaving. Her heart was in her throat, but she knew that if there was anyone that could save them all, it was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. 

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟

     a/n: *takes a deep breath* yRSA HAS A DRAGON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The name shall be revealed soon, hehe.