EVENT - Silent Night [Open]

[Dusty the Small]

Slicediver let out an angry roar as he looked for a target below. "Slicediver! The stables!" Dusty cried, her voice muffled a bit by her helmet. He dove for the sand wraith that was heading for the stables. There were some short-wings in there, easy prey for dragon thieves. He landed in front of the sand wraith, roaring and readying his fire. Dusty jumped off and held up her staff for Slicediver to light. With both sides aflame, she charged at the dragon's rider, letting out a wild battle cry.

Toothless hardly had time to process what the female stormcutter said to him. Meanwhile, Hiccup was having trouble finding whoever the leader was. Suddenly Toothless found him. The stormcutter was already after him. He roared and charged at the monstrous nightmare. Flying only a few feet off the ground, he managed to knock the rider off the dragon's back. He landed a few feet away from the man and snarled. If it were up to him, he'd kill him quickly and be done with it. But of course, Hiccup dismounted and tried bargaining.

"I'll give you one chance. Call off your dragons and I'll call off mine." he said in a stern voice. His emerald eyes reflected the flaming village, his home. He could only hope everyone was safe.

Toothless kept an eye on the riders, but he scanned the scene briefly and was relieved to see that Slicediver and Dusty were safe. Those two were like family to him and Hiccup. He also spotted Lillydew and her rider, tending to someone who had been hurt. He turned his glare back to the man confronting Hiccup.

Dusty's Speech	Dusty's Thoughts
Slicediver's Speech	Slicediver's Thoughts
Halvor's Speech	Halvor's Thoughts
Hiccup's Speech	Hiccup's Thoughts
Toothless' Speech	Toothless' Thoughts

[Deleted]

Tara nodded at the Timberjack, glad she could understand the basics of dragonspeak. "The girl fell when one of the strangers came at them," she translated. "You're the healer, so I'll leave you to it." She put two fingers to her lips and whistled; a loud, sharp sound that was probably going to agitate the other dragons.

Sundancer had landed next to Toothless when the rider had been knocked off the dragon, only to turn and fly off when the whistle sounded. She landed next to Tara.

"Let's see... The barrels!" She ran over to them, finding one empty, and tossed the lid to the ground. "We can use this to put the fires out. Fill it with water, and then dump it over the fire." She moved the barrel to an open spot, then climbed on Sundancer's back. "Let's go girl!" she called, and Sundancer spread her wings. She took to the sky, flying low to grab the barrel with her back legs. They flew over the docks and dipped the barrel into the water, filling it, then flew back over the fire, pouring the water on it.

[Midnight[x]Traitor]

Vermundr skidded to a halt as a Stormcutter landed in front of him, letting out a roar and preparing for fighting. He narrowed his eyes at the dragon, for it was much bigger than he was. He had not seen any Stormcutters on the island he was held captive, but of course he wouldn't know. He was caged half of the time and was only taken out for raids of sorts. He had seen one once when he was flying around Dragon Island on a mission to capture wild dragons. He hated capturing wild dragons. He tried his best to allow them to escape, and once in awhile succeeded. It was hard to do it conspicuously without being punished. He only did it for dragons who he knew could not leave their family, such as female dragons who just recently laid eggs. The Stormcutter's rider approached Vermundr with a stick of dragon fire on either side. Ver let out an angry growl, and his rider gave the command for an attack, pointing at the approaching viking. Ver took in a deep breath and shot a firey ball of hardened sand at the girl. He cared little for the lives of these vikings. It was foolish of the rider to leave her dragon. The Stormcutter is just going to let her get hit, right? Ver wouldn't want to save the one who prisoner him either.

Outside, Cobalt let out an "oomph" as he was knocked to the ground. He wiped the blood off his mouth, then looked up at the person who dared to challenge him. He grinned widely as he was face to face with the Chief. Ah, Hiccup isn't it? Drago never got to formally congratulate you on your new rank as Chief. It's a shame you had to become Chief on such... short notice. He smirked, but remained on the ground. And your dragon is Alpha now, yes? Why doesn't he just command the dragons to back off? Cobalt was challenging Toothless to try and command the dragons, but knew it wouldn't work. Cobalt knew it was foolish to reveal their new salve to the Chief so soon, but he was giddy about the prospect of having an advantage over the Alpha and wanted to share it with someone.

Kiira stalked her way into the Stables. At first she didn't hear anything. She wondered if perhaps no one had been able to get inside. Suddenly, she heard the pitiful mewling of baby dragons and rushed over to the noise. A huge viking stood over nest of newly hatched Nadders, stuffing them one by one into a large sack. Kiira crept closer, dagger in hand. Let those dragons go. The big viking turned around and snorted. Or what, little girl? Ki flipped the dagger in her hand so it faced down, then leaped at the viking in rage.

[Dusty the Small]

Slicediver almost blasted the dragon with his own fire, but, seeing that the sand wraith spat a molten rock at Dusty. As she dodged out of the way, he jumped in and took the hit. It stung on impact, but he shook it off. He stood between Dusty and the dragon, even though she clearly wanted to save the sand wraith. He could feel her clambering back into the saddle. Her staff was still lit. She hoped someone - namely Hiccup - would see that it was lit but not in use, and sense something was wrong. But he was probably busy. He was always busy.

Hiccup knew this guy was trying to get on his nerves, but he wasn't going to let him. Still, he needed his father now, more than ever, because at least he would handle this properly. Hiccup knew what he had to do, but he wanted to avoid it as long as possible. He glanced at Toothless and held his hand out to tell him to stay put. "That may work for you, but that's not how we do things here. Dragons on Berk have minds of their own. That's why they stay here. I mean, you don't see any dragons on this island with restraints on them. Come to think of it, where's your alpha, hmm? Where's Drago?" Toothless snarled at the sound of Drago's name. He remembered what had happened five years ago. Every time he looked out over the ocean, he remembered.

Halvor was, as usual, late. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but there were strangers in the sky and he didn't have a dragon. His only hope to help out was to head to the stables. He rushed, grateful for his long, lean legs, and found Kiira in the stables, too. She didn't have a dragon either. Maybe that was why she was there, too, but whatever the reason was, she was fighting a huge viking. Too strong for Halvor to take, but he was quick enough to snatch the bag of hatchlings away from him and release the helpless babies. They couldn't even fly yet.

Dusty's Speech	Dusty's Thoughts
Slicediver's Speech	Slicediver's Thoughts
Halvor's Speech	Halvor's Thoughts
Hiccup's Speech	Hiccup's Thoughts
Toothless' Speech	Toothless' Thoughts

[Midnight[x]Traitor]

The Sand Wraith watched quizzically as the Stormcutter took the blow straight on. Perhaps they are punished if any injury comes to their rider. His own rider let out a frustrated huff. You missed you stupid dragon. Ver snarled, then began to circle the Stormcutter. His pawsteps were light and he kept is eyes on the Stormcutter's as he did, knowing that the dragon would not dare turn his back on the enemy. Ver tried to come up with a plan. He turned and began pacing the other way, showing that he was not trying to merely go around his enemy to dash off into the stables. Perhaps I could... His thoughts were cut short by his rider's impatience. What are you waiting for dragon? Attack already or I'll beat you along with 'em! Vermundr snarled, then leaped at the Stormcutter, knowing that the dragon he was facing was much larger than him. He didn't really have much of a choice. Humans are foolish. Why are we fighting?

Cobalt chuckled, slowly getting to one knee but staying on the ground. Drago has more important things to take care of. He has a bigger plans. He wanted nothing more than to go on about this huge plan, but knew he would get his hand cut off if he spoke anymore. He had seen it happen. He glanced around and frowned as he saw that his men were getting nowhere. He let out a sharp whistle, and his Monstrous Nightmare slithered out from behind a building. His body burst into flames and he stood defensively about Cobalt, glaring at Toothless. Now if you would be so kind as to let me up, I will be on my way. They did not have much, but he saw a couple of his men fly away with heavy cloth bags. They had gotten some eggs.

Kiira let out a cry as she was flung against a wall. The viking stalked towards her, his huge mace raised above him. Wait... He lifted it higher, preparing for his final blow. Wait... He grunt as swung at her. Now! Kiira rolled to the side, barely dodging the mace. He was bigger than her, but she was quicker. The wood cracked as his mace made impact with a beam. It lodged itself deep into the wood. The Outrider yanked on his weapon, trying desperately to dislodge it. Ki took that moment to leap onto the man, pushing her dagger deep into the side of his neck. The Outrider fell to the ground without a noise. Ki wiped the blood off her dagger, then turned to see Halvor taking care of the babies that the man had been carrying. She hadn't even noticed him till just then. We may not have dragons of our own, she said as she scratched one of their heads, but we can still fight. Another Outrider, a female, let out a yell as she charged the two with a spear. Ki readied her weapon.

[Deleted]

"Sundancer, over there!" Tara called to her Stormcutter. Sundancer turned, spying the girl who was fighting alone. She narrowed her eyes and soared over once, making sure her aim was true, and turned around in time to see the other girl drive a blade into the large man's neck. Sundancer roared, loudly, and flew over again, dropping the barrel on the stranger that was attacking the islander. She landed between the two dragonless islanders and the stranger, roaring loudly. She didn't use her fire, not wanting to catch the nearby building with her spiral flames.

She turned and gave the two a quick smile. "Fight smarter, not harder," she said, returning her attention to her dragon. "Ready?"

Something isn't right... They're retreating.

"That's weird..." Tara and Sundancer stayed put, trying to figure out why they could possibly be retreating. Nothing had been seriously damaged... Okay, that one house that had caught fire had been drenched and would probably need rebuilding, but that was just one. Maybe there was something else they were after?

[Dusty the Small]

Slicediver had just about had enough. The only thing keeping him from killing both attackers was Dusty. He rotated his head as he watched the sand wraith circle him one way, then the other. The dragon was so much smaller than him that he didn't have to move any more than his head. Dusty bared her teeth behind her mask. Whoever this man was had no idea how to treat a dragon. She couldn't contain herself any longer. "You hit that dragon one... more... time... and I'll set fire in places you didn't even know you had." she growled so the other rider could hear her. To back her up, Slicediver snarled at him. The sand wraith leaped at him. It shouldn't have been a surprise that Dusty jumped out of the saddle and finally managed to pounce on the larger man, just as the poor dragon hit Slicediver. The stormcutter grunted and started trying to pull that piece of metal off the sand wraith. It couldn't be comfortable to have, and maybe if he took it off the dragon would stop attacking.

Toothless hiss-growled at the man when he moved. Hiccup reached for his sword, but he didn't light it. He still wanted to see what would happen. When the man replied, Hiccup raised an eyebrow sarcastically. "And he put you in charge?" He knew he was asking for it, but he wasn't about to let him get away. He wasn't scared of the monstrous nightmare, flaming or no. He did take the opportunity to light his sword and point it at the man. "Ah-ah-ah... You're not going anywhere until you tell me where Drago is." Seeing that Hiccup had drawn his weapon, Toothless moved closer, still snarling. He'd hold the intruder where he was, or he would fight off the monstrous nightmare. He'd done both before.

Halvor looked up from the babies to see Kiira kill the huge viking. "Damn... Remind me never to make you mad." he said with a nervous smile. He'd never been that close to someone when they died and it was a bit of a shock. And sure, she could still fight, but he hadn't thought to grab his weapon. Not that he was keen on killing anyone or anything. Oh well. He'd just have to be smart and fast. He'd just have to be himself. Another viking. With a spear. He bent his knees, ready to dodge, baring his teeth as he waited for the right moment. Just then, out of nowhere, a stormcutter dropped a barrel on their attacker before landing in front of them.

"Dusty?" he asked, not loud enough for the rider to hear. It was a good thing, because it wasn't Dusty. Or Valka, for that matter. He should have known; now that he looked at the dragon, it wasn't familiar to him either. He shook off his embarrassment. "Hey, thanks!" he called.

Dusty's Speech	Dusty's Thoughts
Slicediver's Speech	Slicediver's Thoughts
Halvor's Speech	Halvor's Thoughts
Hiccup's Speech	Hiccup's Thoughts
Toothless' Speech	Toothless' Thoughts

[Midnight[x]Traitor]

Vermundr felt several things at once. He felt a weight be lifted off his back as the Stormcutter's rider tackled the his own rider off of him. The second thing he felt was a pinching feeling around his face. The Stormcutter's jaws were locked around the metal device on his face, tugging at it. Ver began to panick and yanked backwards. It was a game of tug-o-war, and Ver grunted against the pain on his face. The device bit into his skin, but fear drove the Desert Wraith to pull despite the pain. Suddenly, there was a snapping sound, and Vermundr tumbled over onto his back. Ver quickly flipped over, but did not attack. He crossed his eyes, staring down at his nose. He opened his jaw widely, then snapped it shut. The sound of it satisfied him. He stared back at the Stormcutter with wide, amber eyes. He growled, Thank you. You have given me my freedom and I am forever in your debt. I can rid of your rider so that you too may be free as well if you wish. On the ground, the two riders fought. His rider held a short mace, trying to swing it at the Stormcutter's rider.

Cobalt hesitated. He had not actually seen Drago for awhile. Days before he was told to attack Berk, Drago had left with several other riders on some sort of expedition. He was bitter that he had not been one of the men chosen to go. Cobalt remained silent, then flicked a finger toward Hiccup. The Monsterous Nightmare lunged at the Chief.

Kiira snickered at Halvor's response, then smiled at the newcomer. Never seen you around Berk, but I'm sure glad you're on our side. She glanced around the place, which was now empty. Ki put the emerald embedded dagger into its sheath at her side, then put her hands on her hip. Well, looks like we did our job here. We sho- A sudden explosion cut Kiira off short. All the entrances to the nursery were suddenly filled with rocks. Kiira sprinted to one of the entrances, pulling away rocks one by one. Many, though, were too big. Odin have mercy, she breathed out. Outside the nursery, a couple of Outcasts highfived each other. That'll teach 'em not to mess with Outcasts!

[Deleted]

Tara nodded. "Yeah, I'm kinda new around here," she said with a laugh. "Your friend Dusty found me not too long ago, actually." She threw her hands over her face when the building exploded, and Sundancer wrapped herself around the two dragonless vikings, putting her large body in between them and the explosion. Sundancer looked up at the sky while the viking girl ran to the building.

Tara, there! The eggs!

"They're taking the eggs!" Tara yelled, clutching one of Sundancer's neck spikes as the stormcutter shot into the air after them. She longed to hit them with her flame, but that would put the eggs at risk. She had to get the eggs to safety first. For once, she wished she had a pair of forelegs so she could catch the eggs and still fly. Her second set of wings wasn't enough to keep her aloft on their own.

"Get in close enough and I'll catch them," Tara muttered to her dragon. A snort escaped Sundancer's muzzle, and she circled around. She flew hard and fast, bashing the dragon with eggs from the side that had none. She wasn't part of this pack, but she couldn't let someone get away with stealing eggs. Those were the lowest of the low.

Egg snatchers do not deserve to live! she hissed at the other dragon. Perhaps your humans have made your forget that. She got surprisingly close, and was able to snatch the bag of eggs with the claw at the end of her main wing, flipping it back and moving so Tara could catch it.

"Got it!" the girl called, smiling. She held the bag of eggs with one hand, clutching a neck spike with the other. "Now, let's show them what happens to egg snatchers!"

With pleasure. Sundancer felt the flames as she opened her mouth, she did so love how her fire spiraled the way it did. The flames washed over her tongue and teeth, doing no damage. The flames were aimed right at the dragon and rider, anger fueling them.

[Dusty the Small]

Slicediver spat out the metal restraint and roared. "Don't touch her." he growled. Ignoring the newly-freed sand wraith, he jumped toward the other rider and roared again. He swiped at the man with his sharp claws as Dusty ran around him, out of the man's sight. She was going to try and calm the other dragon. Hopefully, if she could distract him, he wouldn't attack Slicediver. And if he flew away, there was a chance he'd get caught again. She didn't want that. The flames on her staff were getting closer and closer to going out, but she didn't have any fish with her so they would have to do. She held the staff out so the dragon could see the flame and waved it around slowly, hoping it would mesmerize him enough that he would calm down. If not, she'd just have to hope he'd get away instead of attacking or getting caught again.

Before Hiccup could react, Toothless pounced on the larger, flaming dragon. He bit down on one of the horns and pulled hard to throw the nightmare off-balance. He scratched at the other dragon's face with his front and back legs, growling furiously all the while. Meanwhile Hiccup gave up on playing peacekeeper and grabbed the other man by the arm. He lit his sword and held it near Cobalt's throat. Just close enough for him to feel the heat, but not close enough to hurt. "Nice try, but Toothless is faster. So are you going to tell me what I need to know, or are we going to have a hard time here?"

Halvor was about to say something, but a sudden explosion knocked him back. He was glad that the large dragon had been good enough to protect him and Kiira, but the bang itself made the ground shudder. Hiccup, Toothless, Dusty, and Slicediver also felt it and were knocked off their feet for a bit. It took him a few seconds, but Halvor caught up with Kiira. He pulled at the larger rocks, getting them to budge a bit, but only really moving a few. He looked up in time to see that the stranger on the stormcutter had managed to rescue some eggs. He covered his eyes from the dragon fire before going back to clearing the entrance. He wasn't sure how the village was going to recover from this.

Dusty's Speech	Dusty's Thoughts
Slicediver's Speech	Slicediver's Thoughts
Halvor's Speech	Halvor's Thoughts
Hiccup's Speech	Hiccup's Thoughts
Toothless' Speech	Toothless' Thoughts

[Midnight[x]Traitor]

Vermundr looked stunned at the Stormcutter. Even after all that he didn't want to leave. But why? Vermundr suddenly needed to know, but first  he had to get away. He watched as the Stormcutter attacked his former rider, and Ver snorted in satisfaction. Aware of the girl approaching him, Ver turned up his mouth into a growl. The strange girl did not attack, but began waving her staff back and forth in an odd, yet comforting sort of motion. The Desert Wraith's tension began to ease from his body as he stared at the fire. The sounds of battle faded. It was just him and the fire. Him and the fire. Fire. Fire. It was fire that both comforted and destroyed. Fire kept them warm on frigid nights. Fire chased away the darkness every day. Fire burned in the belly of their mothers. But fire also brought destruction. He had brought destruction. The earth shook below him, waking him from his trance. He snapped at the viking, but did not touch her. Ver bounded away from the village, but paused before he reached the forest. He gazed back at the village, watching fire consume the humans. He suddenly felt something he had not for a long time --- sympathy. The dragon then disappeared into the darkness.

Cobalt glared at the Chief, realizing that he had been defeated. He refused to speak a word. Cobalt knew he would most likely be held hostage for awhile, but he hoped Drago would come for him later. Hiccup would then be destroyed, and Berk would be theirs. There were secrets on Berk that Hiccup did not know about, but Drago wanted.

Kiira continued digging through the rocks, desperate to clear the entrance. Eventually, she made a small opening. She tried to shove her way in, but couldn't quite make it through. Shoot we're gonna need someone pretty scrawny to get thro- She paused, then glanced at Halvor, then back at the opening. A wide grinned crossed her face, and she gestured to the hole. After you. A sudden movement caught her attention. She watched just in time as a dragon bounded away into the forest a bit away. From his gate, Ki could tell that he was pretty injured. She made sure that her basic healing kit was by her side. I gotta go take care of something, she said quickly, then took off.


(OOC: I'm just wrapping things up now. We can start an aftermath thread so Magnus and Sandstripe can join. Also, this whole "secret" thing is something I made up just now. But perhaps it can tie in with the albino night fury? Idk haha we can discuss ideas in a separate thread.)

[Dusty the Small]

The shaking of the ground rattled Dusty and Slicediver. The dragon didn't care about what happened to the sand wraith's former rider. He roared, demanding that Dusty get on his back. She hesitated, looking back for the sand wraith, but he had slipped away. She clambered up onto his back and held on tight as he took off. It was a bumpy ride but she stayed where she was as the stormcutter opened his second pair of wings and rose, high above Berk. It was blazing, and he knew she had lost her home. He'd circle above until it was safe. He went over the clouds, hoping that the invaders wouldn't see him on their way out.

"Not going to talk? Fine." He motioned for a couple of larger vikings to come help him and ordered them to take Cobalt to a secure place. Either he'd talk, or Drago would come for him. Of course, Hiccup figured this guy would talk first. He called Toothless off the other dragon and started looking around at the destruction.

Halvor was already shaking his head when Kiira looked at him. There was no way he was crawling through that hole. But before he could suggest moving more rocks aside, she was gone. He looked at the little hole, then he looked at the woods where she'd gone. He sighed and went after her. "Kiira, what are you doing?" he cried. It was dangerous to run off at night in the first place, let alone right after an attack. He felt bad leaving the nursery, but her father had died and she still had her mother. He'd hate to think of what might happen if Holly lost Kiira, too.

Dusty's Speech	Dusty's Thoughts
Slicediver's Speech	Slicediver's Thoughts
Halvor's Speech	Halvor's Thoughts
Hiccup's Speech	Hiccup's Thoughts
Toothless' Speech	Toothless' Thoughts

[Deleted]

Tara motioned for Sundancer to return to the ground, and the Stormcutter landed near Hiccup and Toothless. Once Tara had both feet on the ground, Sundancer did something her human had never seen. She lowered her head in a sort of bow to the small alpha. Tara turned to the dragon.

"Can you keep doing what we did before? With the barrel?" Sundancer understood, even though the girl's words were somewhat vague, and she got in the air again, grabbing a barrel in her claws and skimming it over the ocean to fill it with water. She proceeded to pour the water over a flaming building, and repeated the process. Tara, meanwhile, looked at the dragon that Toothless had released. She slowly approached, but kept out of reach of the dragon's teeth. She looked the dragon up and down, a glint of sadness in her eyes that dragon were pitted against each other like this. She sighed softly.

"It is wrong... For dragons to be forced to fight like this," she finally spoke. She gave the sack of eggs to Hiccup, then returned her attention to the dragon. She looked all down his body, from nose to tail. She didn't see any injuries, but that didn't mean there weren't any. She held out a hand, like she'd seen other humans do when she watched from hidden spots on Dragon Island. She didn't want the dragon to be angry. She just wanted to help. She wasn't a healer, by any means, but she could communicate with them, and that was something the rest of them couldn't do.

"Can you tell me your name?" she asked the dragon, speaking softly. "I will not hurt you, I promise that much." She stopped moving, a few feet away from him. She could jump back if she needed to, but the dragon would have to close the distance between them first.