I Am Dragonblood: Fury's Friend {Book One} (HTTYD Fanfic)

Chapter Six - Capture

Oh Gods, Hiccup thought. He was standing nervously in the entrance to arena, his helmet under one arm. I cannot let this dragon be harmed. 
    'Hiccup?' Astrid came up to him just as a roar went up from the crowd around the edge of the arena. 'What're you gonna do?'
    'Something stupid,' he said flatly.
    'Good, but you've already done that.'
    Hiccup nodded in agreement, then his face brightened a little. 'Then something crazy,' he smiled. 'Im gonna show them what dragons are really like.'
    They heard uneven footsteps behind them. 'Alright, laddie?' Gobber ambled past and opened the gate, gesturing for Hiccup to go in. 'Knock 'em dead.'
    Hiccup took a deep breath, placed the helmet wonkily on his head and selected a shield and a dagger from the weapons rack. Then he stood staring at the cell opposite him, watching in trepidation as the beam barring the door was raised. 
    A moments silence. Then...
    A Monstrous Nightmare burst out of the cell, its skin flaming and jaws wide. It hooked its claws around the chains that made up a cage ceiling and hung upside down, looking down at Hiccup with yellow eyes. It dropped down and came towards him, the flames licking themselves out. Hiccup backed away, letting shield and dagger fall to the floor, prompting a confused look to appear on the dragon's face. He looked up at the Vikings watching, took his helm off and threw it to the floor too. 'I am not one of them.'
    The crowd gasped. The dragon's pupils dilated. Now was the time. 
    'Dragons are not what we think they are,' Hiccup said to the crowd, extending his hand out to the Nightmare. He heard his father say; 'stop the fight,' but he ignored him and carried on speaking. 'They are not the mindless killers we think they are, but —' 
    'I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!' Stoick roared, almost like dragon himself, and thumped a hammer down on the metal cage, denting the bars. The Nightmare's eyes turned back to slits and it snapped at Hiccup's outstretched hand. He ran and, even though it was pointless, screamed. The dragon chased after him in a burst of flames. Astrid, seeing what was happening from the entrance, grabbed an axe that was handily on the wall and wedged the gate up enough to get under. She yelled to Hiccup and he ran full pelt towards her, but the Nightmare shot the space between them, forcing Hiccup to run the other way. 
    A shriek was heard and a bright, powerful plasma blast ripped the chains apart. Someone screamed 'Night Fury!' And smoke concealed the fight below. 
    'Toothless!' Hiccup roared, and it was a proper, Dragontongue roar. At some point he'd Shifted without noticing. Oh Gods, whyyyy?. 'Get out of here! Now!'
    'No! I will not leave you to be eaten!' Came a muffled reply. 
    'Toothless, listen to me!' Hiccup shouted, advancing through the smoke. 'Get away now! They'll kill you otherwise!' Two dragon shapes came into view, one of Toothless, crouched low and ready. The other of the Nightmare, also ready, but wary. On seeing the new Night Fury approaching, though, it fled back to its cell, clearly having had enough of a fight for one day. 
    'Go! Now!' Toothless finally obeyed and leapt out through the hole he'd made in the chains, somehow escaping unseen as Vikings poured into the arena. 'Shift back!' Were his departing words. 
    Oh heck. Hiccup reached for the tingling to turn himself back, but a bolas was thrown over him and weight equal to that of the average Viking crushed him. Well, make that three average Vikings. 
    The smoke cleared and he saw the Chief standing in front of him. 'What have you done with Hiccup, dragon?' His words low and menacing. 
    Hiccup tried to make a sound, and all that came out was a groan as a rope or four tightened around him, pinning his wings to his sides. 
    'Hiccup!' He heard Astrid scream. She was fighting against Gobber, who was holding her in a vice like grip. 'Chief! Let him go!' She managed to wrestle free of Gobber and rushed to the Night Fury, crouching by his head and staring into his eyes. 'Where's Hiccup?' She whispered. 
    'What?' Hiccup said, confused. Then he mentally slapped himself. Of course, she thought he was Toothless. She had seen Toothless at dusk and probably didn't know he couldn't fly on his own. 
    'Please, Chief, don't —' she was shoved roughly aside as a Viking slipped a muzzle on his snout. Hiccup snorted indignantly, earning a slap on his ear from the man he'd just spattered with snot. 
    'Put it in the cell with the others!' Stoick commanded. Then to Hiccup he said: 'I'll deal with you later, beast.'

***

    Astrid

'Just what is going on, Astrid?'
    The Chief towered over her, doing a good job of blocking the sunlight that streamed through the Great Hall's doors. 
    'I can explain, Chief. But first please, promise you won't hurt Toothless,' Astrid begged, knowing it would do no good but trying anyway. 
    Stoick turned on her. 'The Dragon? You more concerned about a beast that raids us than you are about your own village?'
    'It's not the dragons fault. There's something out there, it's controlling them —'
    'The Nest?' Stoick gripped her shoulders. 'You've been to the Nest? And you have kept it secret? That's the thing that we've been searching for for decades! Take me there, Astrid. Now.'
    'I can't!' Astrid protested. 'Only a dragon can find it.' By the look on the Chief's face she knew she really, really should not have said that. 'Oh no. No, no no, Stoick, no. You don't know what your up against, it's like nothing you've seen before. You can't win this one!'
    Stoick turned and stalked out of the door, yelling for the ships to be readied. Astrid charged after him and yanked him back, but he threw her to the floor. 'Your not one of us anymore,' with that, he slammed the door, which promptly swung back open, and headed to the ships. 
    Astrid stared at the dust dancing in the sunlight. 'Good,' she said, and got determinedly to her feet and headed out to find the other teenagers, a plan forming in her mind.

1059 words. How was that? I'm not that good at writing battle scenes. :-\
UH, it says minus one views on the other chapters. What on earth is going on?