10/23/10
A/N: Here it is! The full-sized sequel to "Fair Trade". There are smatterings of historical details of real people used, but the characters are completely fictional and probably totally anachronistic. Also, this is another fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants plot, so I reserve the right to ret con anything previously written. Or written in the future. Or written by my evil twin.
"Land ho!" a young sailor cried down from the crow's nest.
"The island is in sight, my lord," the ship's captain dutifully relayed.
"Thank you, Captain." Edward Seymour, Third Earl of Hertford stood at the ship's bow, arms behind him, and rather enjoying the occasion spray of the choppy sea as the vessel cut through the waves. Behind him all hands were busy adjusting the sails to slow their speed as the tiny island grew larger and larger ahead of them.
"My lord, I must offer one last word of protest. These are savages and, worse, they have already attacked you once. Assuming they will accept your offer of peace may be complete folly."
Edward sighed. The man next to him had been his closest childhood friend, and now serving as his personal advisor, confidant, and lieutenant, Alan Fryelock struck an imposing figure standing several heads taller than the Earl with wide strong shoulders. Dark blond hair hung down his neck and his sharp eyes of striking green and gold alertly surveyed all before him in one sweep of his head. He was cool and confident under the most extreme pressure and possessed an unflagging loyalty. In his face was beauty only captured in old Greek statues.
Edward had grown up almost literally in his friend's shadow, never quite meeting the bar that the other man set in running, archery, or sword play despite his own noble pedigree. Often times – usually under the influence of too much drink – Edward would wonder if the boys had been swapped at birth. He would eye himself keenly in a looking glass and, noting the drab brown hair and eyes and a portly countenance that never quite evolved from its boyish roundness, nearly convince himself that he was the bastard son of the stable keeper's daughter and some wandering minstrel instead. And in the darkest of those times he would feel relief.
Turning to Alan now, he replied, "They didn't exactly attack unprovoked."
The taller man scoffed. "Such a force for the life of a dragon?"
"Such a force that did minimal damage. Do you know of any other Vikings that would leave without completely plundering everything in their path?"
"Why do you think this man can help you?"
Edward sighed again. He was, perhaps, truly on a fool's errand. "I'm not sure, but there was something about his eyes. I think he will at least listen, and if he refuses, we've lost nothing but a few days' sailing."
"Or he could feed us all to his dragons," Alan noted sardonically.
Edward gave him a small smile in return. "Duly noted. But pass the word: I want no one to initiate any action that could be construed as hostile. If this becomes bloody, we will not be the aggressors."
"As you wish, my lord. All weapons will be stowed, and any man giving so much as a one-fingered salute will have that arm summarily removed."
"Perfect." The two men shared a knowing smile as the lieutenant gave a quick nod of the head and stepped back to relate the Earl's wishes. Edward could hear irate grumblings from the crew, but he steadfastly remained faced forward as they closed in on the island.
His mind drifted back to his childhood and his mother's voice, sweet and rich as she whispered to him in the old language of her people, the language his father had forbidden her to speak. She spun stories from her great-grandmother of dragons and Ragnarok and men of valor who feared nothing, not even the edge of the world itself. He knew he was of their stock, but he felt even less a Viking than he did a nobleman. After all, had he been maybe he could have saved his mother from the vicious beating that ended her life.
"We are under attack!"
Edward refocused on the present and was startled to see a cadre of dragons and riders swoop down from the sky and surround the ship. Having already witnessed their potential firepower, Edward knew the ship would be destroyed in an instant if they chose to attack.
Clearing his throat, Edward called out, "We come in peace. I only wish to speak with your chief."
One of the riders looked towards the island and then back to Edward. "You're in luck then."
Edward followed the man's eyes and was stunned to see a living shadow descend upon them at an unfathomable speed. There was an ear-splitting cry that made his eyes water, then a flash of bright white shot out from the shadow exploding next to the ship. Immediately he threw his arm up to block the powerful splash of water that flooded over the railing.
Silence followed as the shadow dropped down and perched on the ship's edge right in front of him. Edward's mouth opened in awe as he came face to face with the Night Fury, undoubtedly the same one he'd paid for a year ago. The dragon's gold-green eyes were narrowed, its pupils dangerous slits, and from its throat came a low but unmistakable rumbling. The head twisted and lips parted to display two rows of exquisitely sharp teeth.
Edward squared his shoulders and attempted his best privileged expression even as his very bowels seemed to turn to liquid. Behind him he could hear footsteps approaching – Alan attempting to intervene on his behalf – but he raised a hand to signal the man to stop. The Viking chief that flew out to meet potential threats face-to-face would only deserve the same respect.
"I thought I told you never to darken my shores," the familiar voice spoke from atop the Night Fury. It was hard and, Edward imagined, angry. Tearing his eyes off the fearsome visage of the dragon, Edward looked up to the rider who glared at him with an equally hard and foreboding face.
"Not to be pedantic, but you simply said not to come looking for dragons. I've come looking for you."
The young Viking leaned forward, eyes narrowing even further, clearly unimpressed with Edward's logic. "Why?" The Night Fury shifted and tensed beneath the man, like a cat preparing to pounce on its next meal.
"I need…" Edward took a deep breath. "I need to ask for your help."
The chief was still for a moment and then broke out into laughter, raising his head to the skies as if he'd heard the most wonderful joke. When he looked back at Edward his mouth was now smiling, but his eyes were still hard and suspicious. "My help? Just the fact that you think I would ever help you is…is absurd. Not even considering what I could possibly even do for you."
Edward smirked. "But you're dying to find out aren't you?"
The Viking's smile disappeared. "Not really." But Edward knew the man was lying. The curiosity was exuding off him in waves.
"Just hear me out. If you refuse I will leave and you will never hear from me again."
Several seconds went by as the chief mulled his request over. Finally he said, "Dock your ship. You may disembark; no one else. No weapons. If anyone else attempts to come ashore, you'll find your ship at the bottom of the harbor." Then without any perceptible command, the Night Fury launched itself straight up into the blue sky with such a force that the entire vessel rocked.
"Take her in to dock, Captain," Edward called over his shoulder.
Alan finally joined him at the bow with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "So this is the great Viking you think will help you? I've bedded women with more meat than him."
"I think he's what I need. And you'd bed a horse if it had pretty enough eyes."
The crew brought the ship in smoothly along the long wooden dock, and when it had finally stilled the gangplank was let out.
"My lord," Alan said, catching his arm, "if these people hurt you, I will rain hell down upon them."
Edward smiled. "The sentiment is appreciated, old friend."
He traversed the gangplank to the dock and walked towards the island. The air buzzed with dragons both with and without riders. People he passed looked at him with interest but no outward malevolence. Reaching the end of the dock he saw the Night Fury awaiting with the young chieftain standing next to him. Edward stopped in front of him and sketched a quick bow. "Your hospitality is greatly appreciated, chief."
The Viking gave a small smile in return and tossed his head over his shoulder. "We'll speak in my home." He began walking and Edward followed, with the Night Fury taking up the rear.
However the small party had not gotten very far when a pretty young woman with hair the color of the sun raced towards them, a child – not an infant but not quite a toddler yet – riding on her hip. "Hiccup! I heard Toothless scream! What's going on?" she said in a rush as she approached the chief. She looked at Edward then back at the chief. "Who is that?"
"It's all right, Astrid," the chief answered in a voice Edward recognized as one designed to soothe and distract as he placed his arm around her shoulders and started leading her back up the path. Then he bent towards her and began whispering into her ear.
"What!" she exclaimed after a few moments and attempted to turn around, but the arm, Edward realized, had been strategically placed to prevent such an action from occurring as he continued herding her up the inclined path. The chief continued to speak in low calming tones, occasionally using his free hand to touch the babe affectionately.
Edward was not a layabout nor a wastrel by any means, and while not the strongest, he had always prided himself on pulling his own weight when need be, however in ascending the island's meandering pathways, he felt his lungs burn and his legs fight for every inch the closer they reached the top. Several times the Night Fury prodded his backside in encouragement as he found himself falling further behind the couple and he nearly wept for joy when they finally stopped outside a humble cabin.
With a final word and a kiss on the cheek, the chief finally relinquished hold on the woman and turned. "Welcome to my home," he said with a slight up turn at the corner of his mouth. He opened the door and allowed the young woman through, then motioned for Edward to follow. The inside was rustic, quaint. The walls were covered in shields and weaponry. A rough hewn table and a quartet of chairs marked the central living space. The young woman walked past the table to the far corner where a square pen stood. It was opened at the top and cordoned off with wooden slats. She set the child inside the pen, placing a small rag doll in her arms before standing up. As Edward stood watching, he felt a motion at his legs and was startled to see the dragon slip by him, padding quickly to the same corner where it curled itself around the pen. Almost immediately the child crawled over and stuck a hand through the space between the slats and patted at the dragon's nose. In response, it simply closed its eyes and crooned softly.
Edward was dumbfounded by the display. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand fell heavily on his shoulder. "Dragons make surprisingly good babysitters," the chief said with a curious smile as he too watched the pair.
"You're not the slightest bit worried?"
The young man laughed easily. "Of Toothless? No. He's family. I trust him with my life. And with theirs. " The smile evaporated and he said, "I suppose we should introduce ourselves properly. I'm Hiccup Haddock. This is my wife Astrid," he said holding out his arm for the young woman who stepped towards him.
"How do you do?" Edward greeted her cordially with a solicitous nod of his head. He reached out a hand but she refused it, simply staring at him with unfathomable blue eye and a hard frown that marred her pretty heart-shaped face.
"Uh, the handful over there is our daughter Britta. And of course Toothless."
"I am Sir Edward Seymour, Third Earl of Hertford. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance and that of your lovely family, Chief Haddock."
"Hiccup, please," he replied with a small smile. "Sweetheart, can you get us something to drink?" Hiccup asked his wife quietly.
For a moment her eyes shifted to Hiccup, and Edward had the feeling that the request was going to be met with the fiercest opposition, however she simply sighed and walked into the small cooking area surrounding the home's large hearth.
"Please, sit down," Hiccup said gesturing to one of the chairs. When Edward had sat, Hiccup took the chair nearest.
In the cooking area came several loud banging sounds as Astrid went about the chore, obviously displeased. "I'm sorry to sound so forward," Edward said quietly. "But I think I've offended your wife in some manner. If I knew what was wrong, perhaps I could rectify it?"
The young man's face became tight and distant as he glanced to his wife. "It's not that simple, I'm afraid. You see, the man you sent to get Toothless last year?"
"Galen."
"Right. In order to do that, he abducted Astrid, while she was pregnant with our daughter, and he threatened her life to get me to do what he wanted. And even after I complied with everything he asked, he still stuck a blade in her ribs as insurance that I wouldn't follow him." Astrid had returned to the table and none-too-gently set two mugs on the table in front of them and then stood at her husband's side placing her hand on his shoulder. "She almost died," Hiccup finished nearly in a whisper, nuzzling his face against her side.
Edward saw the young man's face contort painfully. The conversation he had overheard between Galen and Hiccup suddenly became much clearer. Tell me you didn't leave your wife to bleed to death while you gallantly tried to save the dragon.
"I…am so terribly sorry. If I had any idea what he had planned…" Edward started to say, but he was cut off by a bark of humorless laughter from Astrid.
"What did you think he was going to do? Ask 'pretty please'?" she said harshly. "The man threatened my unborn child just to keep me quiet. Do you honestly want us to believe you had no idea what he was capable of?"
"I…" Edward closed his eyes in shame, "…didn't want to know. I'm sorry."
"Why?" Hiccup asked. "Can you at least tell us why you would do such a thing?"
"My father and I had little in common when I was growing up. The best times I had with him were when we went hunting. After his death I needed a remembrance of him and a yearly hunt was the obvious answer. But the big game around my home had ceased to become anything of a challenge. My mother had often spoke of the fearsome dragons that plagued her great-grandmother's village and I thought if I could kill one of them…" I could be a real Viking, he finished in his mind. He looked over at the Night Fury, who at this moment was hanging his tail, with its ludicrous bright red tailfin, over the edge of the pen just out of the little girl's grasp. She was laughing as she tried and tried to reach for it. "But they aren't anything like I was told," he said.
"Oh they were," Hiccup confirmed. "But we took care of that a few years ago. Now we get along fine. It doesn't exactly excuse what you did."
Edward picked up the mug in front of him and took a sip. The liquid was sweet and spicy and he eagerly drank several mouthfuls to quench his dry pallet. "I doubt I can ever repay this injury I have caused your family, and believe me I would do anything in my power to do so; however I have come to you today to ask for a favor, though I have no right to ask it."
The couple shared a look, and then Hiccup said, "Go on. I've agreed to hear you out, at least."
Edward nodded in gratitude and then cleared his throat. "My, uh, grandfather was a loyal servant of the Danish king in Northumbria and was rewarded for his loyalty by being given lordship over the lands I now oversee and he became the First Earl of Hertford. When he died, the title passed to his only child, a daughter, in trust to be given to her husband. This man was a Briton with a foul temper and a hatred for all things Viking, though you can imagine he kept that prejudice a secret until after the wedding."
"Your father?" Edward looked up in surprise at the sound of Astrid's voice, soft and compassionate.
"Yes. He was…not beloved, and no one mourned his passing. As you can easily guess, upon his death, the title came to me. I've served as the Earl for nearly twenty years striving to make amends for every injustice he caused. I try to be fair, keep my people safe, provide for them in hard times. They are happy," he told couple. "Recently, however, a marauder has come into my lands with a bloodthirsty group of men following him. They are raiding villages, plundering, causing unimaginable damage to the land. Moreover, this man is claiming to be the illegitimate son of my grandfather and has declared himself to be the rightful heir. He's demanding I give him my title and vacate my castle."
"Is he?" Hiccup asked.
"I don't know. Possibly." He looked between the two of them, remembering the fresh pain he had just witnessed when Hiccup recounted his story. "To make matters worse, my wife was visiting her mother last week when this band sacked their village. He has taken her as his hostage. She's carrying my fifth child."
"Oh," Astrid said quietly.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Hiccup said. "But I don't see what any of this has to do with me."
"I can't use brute force against this man for fear of endangering my wife. Every emissary I've sent to negotiate with him has been returned without his head. But you, you're a Viking, and not one that is only concerned with personal gain. If you could speak with him, perhaps get him to agree to an armistice. I don't know, but I'm willing to try anything."
"Are you so fond of your title that you'll risk your wife's life to keep it?"
"As fond as you are of your dragon," Edward stated quietly. "Only it's not the title, it's the people. Under this man, they would be impoverished, enslaved. I owe it to them to at least put up a fight."
Hiccup leaned forward and rested his elbows on his legs. "I think you give me too much credit. I'm not much of a Viking. The people of Berk have finally accepted me, but outside? I'm afraid your marauder would simply laugh in my face…Ouch!" He looked up sharply at his wife, whose hand still rested on his shoulder.
"There's no sense talking about this on empty stomachs. You'll stay for supper, won't you, Sir Edward?" she asked with a smile.
"I would be honored, thank you. And simply Edward will be fine."
The two men sat quietly for a time while Astrid prepared the meal. She served them at the table and then took a plate to the back of the cabin where she plucked the little girl out of the pen and sat down on the floor, facing away from them for privacy as she fed her child. Toothless left his post at the pen and came to sit beside Hiccup. Once the meal was finished Edward leaned forward and said, "You've got quite a woman there."
There was a small smile in return, and then, "You have no idea."
"She does appear to be rather headstrong. Do you have trouble with discipline?"
"Excuse me?" Hiccup replied with wide eyes.
"Some women who weren't raised with a firm enough hand have lofty ideas about obedience, which can make things difficult for a husband to retain order."
The young man looked thoughtfully at his plate and then gazed at his wife in the corner as she nursed their child. His hand dropped down and idly scratched the dragon's head. Almost randomly he started speaking: "Astrid didn't have to marry me. She didn't have to marry anyone. She was going to be a warrior, surrounded by honor and glory her whole life. Come Ragnarok, she should have been at Odin's right hand. She could have had the whole world, but I wanted her to be my world." He looked back to Edward with a bittersweet smile. "I would have paid any bride price, completed any feat of bravery for her hand."
"What did you have to do?" Edward asked softly.
"The worst thing imaginable: I had to ask." Hiccup grinned at him. "And she said yes. She made me sweat for a few days, but she said yes. So, Edward, believe me when I tell you that I am far more interested in showing her how grateful I am every single day than I am in how obedient she is."
"I see," Edward said with a nod.
Hiccup frowned at him. "Do you love your wife?"
"I don't want to see any harm come to her."
"Admirable. But that's not what I asked."
"I didn't know Neve before we were married, but, uh, yes I have grown rather fond of her. I don't think I've ever thought about it quite like that." He looked at his hands. "Unlike most of my peers, I've never found the need to seek comfort in other beds. And she is the mother of my children."
"How would you really feel if she died?" Hiccup's eyes were narrowed and shrewd. Edward had the feeling that this was a moment of testing, that this would determine the Viking's answer to his plea.
Edward sought deep inside himself before responding, understanding that a quick lie would be too transparent. Finally he said with feeling, "I think I would mourn like I never have since my mother's passing. Like a great void had been cut in my heart."
At the answer, Hiccup gave a sad knowing smile. "Go back to your ship. I'll have an answer for you in the morning."
)))(((
"What do you think?" Hiccup asked as he reclined on their bed.
Astrid placed their now-sleeping child in the cradle next to it and stood up, pressing her hand to her lower back with a groan. "I think your daughter is going to be the size of a Gronckle before she finally learns to walk." She picked up a comb and began running it through her hair.
He smiled, but said, "No, I meant about Edward. What he wants me to do."
"I think you're going to do it."
"But do you think I should? That I can do anything about it?"
"I don't know." She smiled at him. "But we're going to have fun trying."
"Uh, what? We? No, no, Astrid, not 'we'."
"Uh, yes 'we'. You think you're going to go off on another adventure without me?" She put down the comb and stripped off her nightgown.
"That was not an adventure! And besides, you need to stay and look after Britta! Come on, what-what are you doing?" he asked as she straddled him on the bed.
"You at least got off the island for a little while. I've about had it with diapers and baby talk and vomit; I need to do something interesting! My mother will be more than happy to spoil her rotten for a little while. You need someone to keep you safe. And I think you know exactly what I'm doing."
"That-that's not fair. You know I can't have a conversation while you're doing that."
"Then stop arguing with me. Say, 'I'm not going anywhere without you,' and shut up."
"Oh, ah, okay, okay! You win, you win, oh, by the gods you win. I'm not going anywhere without you!"
)))(((