Okay important note

This is a 'short' chapter of a story idea I've had for this universe, I've been developing it in my mind while writing The Man From Berk and I've eventually got it to a point where I can put some words on paper and find out what people think of the idea, and then maybe start writing for it on the side / when I fancy a small break from TMFB.

I will say this now, which might throw a lot of you off, I will be ignoring a lot of the series as imo they make Hiccup look less intelligent then what this story demands from him, also Hiccup is going to be a Viking through and through, you will understand what I mean by this by the end of this chapter hopefully.

So, let us get to it, shall we?

/.../

Stoick the Vast released a deep breath as he fell to his knees, the sight before him was devastating and heart-wrenching. Leaning forward he picked up a handful of limp barley to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him but his eyes told the horrifying truth, the plants were dead, killed by a freak snowstorm that came in the height of spring when the crops were at their most vulnerable. Gobber, the chiefs most trusted friend approached slowly, he opened his mouth to speak a few times but no words came out.

Stoick hearing his friend approach rose from the ground, his hand still clutching the dead plants. "Save it." He growled before turning to Gobber. "I don't need to hear it."

Gobber swallowed hard before coming to stand by his friend and saying. "The people will want an explanation."

Stoick started to laugh as he gestured to the fields of dead crops in front of him, "How do I explain this?" He demanded of Gobber. "What did we do to anger the gods so much?"

The blacksmith shook his head; he did not know but they must have truly angered the gods for such punishment. "We may never know as is the mysterious ways of the gods, but what we need to know is what are you going to do about this?"

Stoick turned from the fields and started to walk back towards his village, Gobber followed him as he did so. "There is only one thing we can do." Gobber raised an inquisitive brow but did not say anything at all. "We go raiding."

"Oh aye," Gobber replied with sarcastic undertones. "And who do we raid not inflicted with this?"

The Viking chief only knew of one place that might have been spared the snow storm, and even then he did not know if it existed. "We go south."

"Ah," Gobber exclaimed with more sarcastic undertones. "We go to this land we've never seen never mind set foot on."

The chief nodded but before he could reply he had to move to the side, allowing a villager with a cart of saved vegetables past. "The dragon riders will leave for a scouting mission, if there is land my son will find it."

While Gobber trusted Hiccup would find land to the south if it existed, he was sceptical if the land he was sent to find exists in the first placed. "And what if they don't?"

"There is land," Stoick spoke with such determination and hope that even Gobber believed it, if only for a moment.

Two hours later

Hiccup placed his last item in Toothless' saddle bag and closed the bags flap, sealing the item in, then he rounded his dragon to look Toothless in the face. "Okay bud, I think we have everything." The dragon turned his head to look at the saddle and moved his legs and wings slightly to feel the weight and see if his mobility was hindered, fortunately, while heavy the bags did not hinder him too much.

"Hiccup?" Astrid shouted his name from securing her own bags on her dragon. "Armour or not?"

Hiccup turned to face Astrid, the woman he was once set to marry before an injury gained in battle made her sterile. "No." He replied. "It is too heavy, only take minimal weaponry too."

"So no Macey?" Asked Tuffnut with an alarmed voice.

Hiccup shook his head. "No, only your spears and shield."

"But..."

The twin was about to argue but Hiccup soon put an end to this. "No means no Tuff. We are going to be flying for who knows how long and with no known islands to call shelter. Any un-needed weight is only going to tire our dragon's sooner." With the twin put in his place, Hiccup addressed the rest of the group. Alright, mount up." Soon everyone was on their dragon but before they took to the skies Stoick approached.

"Alright." He started. "I only have two orders for you all, first of all, you are not to be discovered, and secondly, bring back good news."

Hiccup nodded at his chief and father before looking around the dragon arena, it looked like the entire village had turned out to wish them good fortunes in their vital mission. "We will." Hiccup swore before looking to his dragon riders and nodding, signalling them to take off.

After watching his son fly away Stoick turned to the crowd that had gathered. "Listen up." He shouted. "When my son returns with news of lands to the south I want raiding parties ready to go, we are Vikings with the blood of giants in our veins, let's be ready to show the world what we're made of."

6 weeks later

Stoick took a hearty swag from his mug before slamming it on the table, it had been 6 weeks and his son was yet to return, many were starting to whisper that he failed to find land and his dragon fell into the sea exhausted from flight, but Stoick still held hope, his son who had essentially united the various Viking clans under his rule and who's victories in battle were sung about could not have fallen from glory in such a terrible way, he refused to believe it.

Hearing the clash of thunder Stoick sighed before getting up from his throne in the Great hall and getting himself another drink of boiled water, while he wished he could refill his mug with an alcoholic beverage he couldn't as the food items usually allotted to making ale was now solely used for food, taking a sip of water he made a quick prayer to Óðinn, with the hopes that his son would soon return and with good news because food reserves were almost depleted.

Hearing the heavy doors to the great hall open he did not think much of it till the hall became silent and then an eruption of applause was heard and turning he saw a sight that almost made his eyes water. The dragon riders had returned. Pushing his way through the crowd he found himself standing in front of his son who looked a little like a wet yak, Hiccup had obviously been caught in the storm outside. "Well?" Stoick asked, impatient for the news of land.

Hiccup turned to look at the Great Halls door where a small man stood between Snotlout and Tuffnut, his arms and legs bound with thick unrelenting rope, then he turned back to his father. "We found it."

"I knew you of all people would find it!" Stoick replied before pulling his son into a bone crushing hug. "Now tell us about what you have found," Stoick asked with an undeniably excited voice after letting him go a short time later.

Hiccup give his father a nod and pat on the arm before climbing onto a table so he could be seen by all. "We found land!" He shouted and with the news the room erupted once more into cheers and applause. "And there is more." He tried to shout over the sound of cheering Vikings but his voice was too quiet and he needed to wait a while so he could be heard. "And there is more. It has food, lots of food, and gold. These people," Hiccup pointed to the man between Tuff and Snotlout. "They live like kings, with fine cloth, more food than you or I could imagine and they sip fine wines." This was greeted with another loud applause, and by the time the room died down a little Stoick also had climbed onto the table.

"Someone, crack open the last of our wine, for tonight we celebrate." The man shouted with such cheer that it was almost infectious. "And tomorrow, we raid!" It was understandably a while for the applause to die down. "But wait, there is one more reason to celebrate this day!" The crowd grew quiet as many tried to figure out the other reason.

"Who brought the snakes in helmets to their knees?" 'Snakes in Helmets' being the derogatory name for the Lava-louts, Berks largest rival.

There was a shout among the Vikings. "Hiccup did!"

"Who defeated the Red-Death?" Hiccups name was chanted again. "Who's name do we chant when retelling the tale of our victory over the Meat-Heads?" Once more Hiccups name filled the air. "And who taught that vermin Vego a thing or two about playing with us Vikings?" Yet again Hiccups name was chanted.

Hiccup looked at his father nervously. "Dad, what are you doing?"

Stoick seemed to ignore Hiccup. "Then, I ask you, who should lead our raids to the south?" Unsurprisingly Hiccups name was chanted.

"Dad?" Hiccup asked uncertainly. "Is this really the best idea you've had?"

"Of course it is son," Stoick slapped Hiccup on the back. "With new lands, a new leader should be at the helm of our people." Hiccup wanted to argue, but he knew doing so was pointless, not only did his father want him to lead the raids but seemingly so did everyone else in Berk. "And when you return, laden with food and riches." Stoick continued after a little pause. "Berk will have a new chief, a one proven in battle and loved by all, dragon and Viking alike!"

Hiccup brought a hand up to his forehead to cover his eyes, now it was announced to the people he really could not get out of delaying his ascension to chiefdom. When the congratulations and cheering died down a few minutes later Stoick pulled his son and other dragon riders onto a table so that they could talk, he wanted to know more of these lands he was to raid. "Now, what else can you tell me of these lands we are to plunder?"

Hiccup held up a finger to signal a small pause and then he disappeared only to bring the bound man up to the table. "This man is a traveller; he knows all about the places we should visit."

Stoick turned to the small man. "Well, tell me of the riches that await." Hiccup was forced to translate into a language that the man could understand.

The man swallowed nervously before trying to speak. "There is many nations."

"And what of the closest?" Asked Stoick.

"N-Norge (Norway)." The man replied. "It has many riches and lots of food."

Stoick stroked his beard. "And what of their defences?"

The man shook his head a little. "A small army, insignificant I'm sure to your warriors."

Stoick laughed at this comment. "Brown nosing ain't going to set you free. Now, what of their allies?"

"There is the Kalmar union, between itself, Svergie (Sweeden) and Danmark (Denmark), 3 nations ruled by one monarch, to engage one is to fight them all."

"So no other allies?" Asked Stoick.

"A small country called Arendelle, I know little of their capabilities."

Stoick scowled a little at the man's response before signalling for the man to be dragged off somewhere else, then he turned to Hiccup. "So, what is your plan? Where do we raid first?"

"We?" Asked Hiccup.

"Aye." Laughed Stoick. "You didn't think I would miss out on this did you? It is the chance of a lifetime."

"By putting me in charge I assumed you would be staying here to keep the peace."

"Bah." Stoick spat. "Stay here with the old, pregnant and dying? No chance, they will drive me into the sea long before you return."

"Got a point." Hiccup relented. "Now, my plan is to Hit Norge, they have something called castles, that being villages protected by large stone walls, from what I've been told this is where we will find the most food." As Hiccup spoke he pulled out his journal and opened it to a page which had a crude drawn map. "There is a river here, and one of these castles sits around about here, also there is villages all up the river, my idea is if we land here we can swarm inland, pillaging as we go."

"And how do we attack these stone wall cities?" Asked Stoick curious of his son's response.

Hiccup flicked a few pages back in his book. "I've already thought of this, remember when I nearly burned down the town all those years ago with my trebuchet idea?"

"How could I forget?" Asked stoick with a laugh, that little 'accident' had more than a few after his sons head.

"Well, I believe with some slight modifications we could use a few of these to break the walls down."

Stoick nodded in agreement, the trebuchets would break the walls down but that seemed like an awfully hard way to do things considering they had dragons which would be able to simply roll through the wall as if they didn't exist. "Aye, but why not use dragons?"

Hiccup smiled. "When their leaders learn of our arrival they will send armies, and if they do not know we have dragons how can they prepare for them when I decide to use them?"

"They can't," Stoick replied, realising what Hiccup was intending.

Okay, so that is the pitch for this story, with the 'Eternal Winter' killing all crops on Berk and the surrounding islands Berk is forced to go raiding to the south for food, and when they get there an inevitable war is going to start between the Vikings and the 'allies'.

I also know what some of you are going to say now, if the winter killed crops on Berk then surely it would have killed crops of Arendelle / Norway / Sweeden/ denmark, yes this is a problem but I do have ideas to address this.

Also do you see how I mean by Hiccup being a 'Viking'? So he is going to believe in raids and have general Viking ethos, which at times will seem barbaric to the more civilised people, i.e us.

Another thing I was thinking of doing is making this a Hicc-Anna since not many of them are around, but with the idea behind this story you have probably realised this will be done more politically then 'falling in love' .

Finally, this will not 'over-take' TMFB, this is just something I've wanted to write down so I don't forget the idea, what do you think? Like where this idea is heading? Despise it? Love it? Let me know.

Cheers for reading, KE12