Disclaimer: The Characters of How To Train Your Dragon belong to Dreamworks
Everything else is by Travis Church
The moon hangs above a black blanket never inching closer or farther away from mankind's domain. The winds drifting from the North caress the blanket, forming folds and contours in the dark material. All life sleeps.
But a single figure floats on the blanket following the moon to some unknown world. Crafted with sand-colored wood, the vessel parts the bedspread with ease and above the hull sits a cabin made of bronze. And on all four walls, windows molded in, yellow silk hangs.
As a breeze pushes the drapery into the cabin, lavender incense rushes about the small room and two figures, one young and one old, awaken feeling the cold sea air brush their skin.
"Oh, Deus, where are we?" The young man asks drowsily.
Looking out the window from his sitting cushion, the older man says doubtfully, "east of the Prime Meridian."
"How east?"
Shifting his gaze from one constellation he states, "roughly five degrees."
"Only five! At this rate we won't-"
"Calm yourself, we will find the Rage soon. Time is on our side." He says standing from the cotton cushion to look out the window.
"How? It can be in any city, any nation, any sea, any continent, or any world for that!"
"Are you a man of faith?"
"No, of course not."
"Then now is an excellent time to become one. You and I both know that the Rage is somewhere North the "Insula ut Vir"
"Which translates loosely to 'Isle of Man'. But that does not change..."
"Have faith, even the blind find their way. So what we need is a guide."
"Do you believe that we will find one here? In this wasteland of humanity?"
"I have faith that we shall."
A few days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death sits a tiny island. Located on the Meridian of Misery this village is sturdy in its tradition and people. But in seven generations, much has changed. Some see a new marketplace, or a new set of books, but this tiny island saw a greater change. This island is Berk.
To say Berk was a different place was to say an iceberg is cold; a massive understatement. Everything from the way the buildings were built to the way children played outside changed. It seemed that even the direction of the sun and moon traveled shifted with the end of the "dragon war."
Perhaps the greatest change was the one that was walking down the street at midday, a boy with a prosthetic limb and a black dragon with a prosthetic tail. Hiccup and Toothless. Boy and beast, friend and ally, hero and savior. Out of place, they made their own place in history. Both ended the "dragon war" and in the aftermath they forged an era of peace. They changed alongside the people of Berk gaining new hobbies, friendships, and even loves. With the death of the Green Death came the death of the old hatred of dragons. It was an "enlightenment" to say the least. The people of Berk became less violent (for Vikings), more relaxed, and open to ideas that defied their previous way of life. It was a change for the better. Even his father's attitude changed for the better.
Immediately after the war, Hiccup began to have strange nightmares about the Green Death. He would fall far into the depths of the volcano and be unharmed. He would imagine a labyrinth underneath the volcano and wander the underground maze for what felt like days. But when he could escape the burning heat of the catacombs, the first thing brought him to his knees, Berk would be ablaze. The smell of flesh, the sight of the forest on fire, and the heat! The Gods awful heat, it was inhuman in the way it burned with some otherworldly rage. It was all to real for Hiccup, Gods knew how vivid these night terrors were.
When he would scramble out of his bed and scream at the top of his lungs, Toothless and Stoic would rush to his side to calm him down. It was refreshing to know both his dragon and his father were comforting him in those desperate and fearful nights.
But Vikings would still be Vikings…
"Stoic!" Gobber yelled limping up the street, "ah ship! There's ah ship comin' up the Eastern beach!"
"What!" Stoic roared behind Hiccup and Toothless.
"Ah ship! An' ah weak one by 'a looks of it!"
"Get to the shore!"
As Hiccup and Toothless moved down the hills of Berk they saw a tiny vessel moving north, which would be moving left to right where they were standing. But as they continued down the path, the vessel made a hard turn and pointed towards the shores of the island. The sound of women ushering children into houses died away, replaced by the sound of rushed footsteps. A mass of armed Vikings passed Hiccup and Toothless and made a phalanx-esque formation at the shore.
The boat floated towards the shoreline; the sand colored ship inched forward while the box shaped cabin caused it to bob back and forth. Hiccup and Toothless tried to push through the mob of armed Vikings while smelling an unfamiliar burning plant. When the craft finally pushed itself on the shore there was a strange rumbling coming from the cabin. Shadowy figures rushed around behind a shimmering fabric yelling and whispering in two alien languages.
Then the shouting and whispering suddenly stopped and the group raised their weapons to attack.
"أهلا, تحيات أبناء الشعب!" an aged man cried out as he burst from the cabin.
A collective murmur of confusion resonated throughout the crowd before a younger man yelled from the cabin, "Quis es vos effectus?"
"الموت أحي يرجى السكان معي أنها تبدو بالغة نوع!" The old man said as the younger man jumped in front to protect the elder.
"Ego sciso vos revert ut navis pro illa populous non existo vultus mitis!" He cried to the older man.
"What do ya think they're sayin?" Gobber whispered to Stoic.
"It sounds too complicated for any mortal man, so must be some demon language."
"إنني أشك أنهم يفهمون علينا دعني أحاول أن يتحقق السلام مع هؤلاء السكان, ووقف يتصرف وكأن وأنا أحد الأطفال وأنا القديمة بما فيه الكفاية ليكون لكم ابراهيم!" The old man spoke and stumbled down the boat to be only a few feet from the suspicious Vikings. "أنا ابن خلدون الياس تحيات مدينة صافي في ارض المغرب وأقدم سنحقق السلام والتبادل التجاري للبضائع المسالمين في مكان لا تتكلم لا اغضب صديقي الموت إلا انه يحاول احياء المحافظة مني."
"Toothless, you don't mind if I …?" Toothless understood Hiccup's incomplete message and gave an affirmative rumble. He lowered his body to the ground and Hiccup climbed up while Toothless stood upwards so he could see above the crowd. Both saw a very old man wearing a large red robe attempting to regain his footing on the sand. Stable, he fished underneath the robe and pulled out a package the size of a human head wrapped in paper. The Vikings again raised their weapons to the old man but he unwrapped the package unalarmed and took a conch shell from the shredded remains. He moved his long white beard out of the way and cradled it under his chin.
They all prepared for the worst as the elder puffed his wrinkly cheeks and blew through the shell. Then a blast of voices of all ages, genders, and accents spread out from the shell and everyone dropped their weapons and shields to grip their ears.
"Hello!" An old voice in Berk's natural language came from the direction of the old man in front of them. "I sincerely apologize for that, magic has a strange way of working; I am very sure you all know that."
"What in Odin's…?" Stoic whispered as he watched the old man continue to motion with his old lips while no sound left.
"Oh yes, introductions I do apologize. I am Ilias Ibn Khaldun al Safi and this is my accompaniment Decessus. Would you like to trade?" The old man asked with a toothy grin and a sparkle in his black eyes while the younger man still on the boat began to rub his temples in irritation.
"Well? Is it something on my…" Ilias asked while looking around his robe. "Is it my Thawb, I apologize, my robe? Is it a color that you find offensive to your political alliance because I can change out of this red one and into a yellow or white one. For example I know of the Reds versus the Blues in-"
"Ilias! Get over here!" the one named Decessus cried out to the elder.
"Calm yourself, they would not strike a visitor or a tradesman for that matter! I am Ilias Ibn Khaldun al Safi, tradesman and naval explorer of the Abbasid Empire! And this is Decessus, not a member of the Abbasid Empire but more of a mercenary who is so kind as to accompany me in the expedition. I have been sent to find exotic lands and worlds so we may establish peace between my world and yours through the act of trade and exchange. Speaking of which, Decessus please bring me the sampler's crate!"
"But!"
"Do not let these good people wait because of your defiance, bring the crate!" Decessus grumbled off a few words in what sounded Latin and marched into the cabin. "You understand how the young are so rebellious. Do you have children…err…"he rambled as he tried to find some sort of symbol or something on Stoic's armor that could give him a clue about who he was.
"I am Stoic the Vast, chief of the Hairy Hooligans, and yes I have a child, a son. Hiccup!"
Ilias wrapped his lips to form the word in Arabic but it came out as, "Glove?" and, "Hic-cough?"
The crowd parted into two revealing both Hiccup still straddling Toothless's body. Feeling the awkward stares, Toothless lowered him down to the Earth and both began to approach Stoic's side. "This is my son, Hiccup." Stoic eyed him and patted him, which was more of a slap, on his back and said, "Well? Introduce yourself son!"
Sighing Hiccup tiredly said, "I am Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, son of Stoic the Vast, leader of the mighty Hairy Hooligans. Can I go now?"
"Well, he looks like a very brave and intelligent boy. I wish you fortune, prosperity, and fertility Hic-cough Horrible Haddock the Third son of Stoic the Vast, leader of the mighty Hairy Hooligans." When Ilias finished the lengthy introduction, Decessus approached the bow of the ship with a large rectangular crate made of wood. He then gently let it down on the bow and watched Ilias and the Vikings watch him.
"What?"
"The crate Decessus if you would be so kind." Decessus then lifted the box up above the edge of the boat and unceremoniously threw it in the general direction of Ilias. Luckily it fell a few inches from his feet. "Thank you Decessus!"
"This crate, members of the Hairy Hooligans, is a small survey of the wares that I have to offer. Well let us see here," Ilias said as he rummaged through the crate with one hand while holding the shell in one hand, "we of the Abbasid Empire have many trade goods that are worth fortunes in distant lands. For example, is what you are wearing sheep's wool Hic-cough?"
"Ehh, yeah?" He responded, unsure of where this conversation would lead.
"Well we have something better than wool, it is called cotton!" He cried out valiantly holding a cotton boll in his wrinkly hand far from his face. "It is much stronger than wool and is much easier to produce as it originates from a plant! Very effective if you live in…a hot climate. Does this place get very cold?"
"Frequently" Hiccup answered.
"Never mind then." He said as he dropped the boll into the crate. "Perhaps you would be interested in the simple beauty that is," he trailed off while exploring in the crate, "calculus!" He cried out holding a scroll and some sort of wooden board with strings attached in his free hand.
"What?" Stoic asked.
"Yes! Watch, take this board" Ilias said as he threw the board in the direction of Hiccup, "and use the strings with the pegs to make a triangle! Make sure two sides follow the direction of the end pieces and the other goes from one corner to the other corner." Ilias finished. "When you are done count how many parts of the string are separated with knots, show everyone, and do not tell me."
"Okay," Hiccup said finishing and holding up the plank.
"Now tell me how many parts ascend the board and move alongside the panel."
"Five going up and twelve going to the right."
"Do thirteen parts make up the slanted side of the triangle?"
"He be a witch!" A voice screeched from the mob.
"It is not magic citizens! It is the Pythagorean Theorem! For the glory of calculus allows me to know any side of a triangle, so long as it makes a right angle. Well actually it is the glory of geometry, the foundations of calculus but it looks that you are all at unease by my arithmetic. Perhaps you would be more interested in this?" He said as he dropped the scroll back into the crate. "Are you all aware of the sleeping sickness?"
"The what?" A different voice asked from inside the crowd.
"Some physicians would say that sleep is a sickness because there are symptoms that are connected to it."
"Then that means we're all infected with sleep!" Another person shouted from the crowd.
"No! No! Sleep is a beautiful and inevitable part of humanity. But drowsiness and fatigue are unfortunate effects that precede sleep. But imagine a plant that can defeat those ills? I give you the coffee bean!" He then raised a handful of dark brown beans above his head and began to move forward.
The mob instinctively prepared to take their weapons out of their hilts and positioned for conflict. But he simply stepped forward and extended his beans.
"Try one! It has an odd buzzing feel to it when you bite into it. And what you would feel is not the shell breaking in your mouth it is the elements inside the bean flooding your body instantly and filling it with new life!" Ilias then began to peddle the beans to every person he could see but each person backed away until only Hiccup was left.
"Go ahead young Hic-cough! Try it!" Suspiciously Hiccup extended his arm and picked up a single bean. He sniffed it and began to feel the smoothness of the coffee bean. Carefully, he put it on his tongue and crushed it in his mouth.
"Ehg!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons and closed in to protect the boy as soon as they heard his cry of disgust. "This is-!"
"Bitter? I have something just for that!" Ilias then placed the beans in a hidden pocket in his robe and ran back to the crate to rummage again. He triumphantly pulled out a little white pouch with a string. Unwrapping the purse, white pieces of gravel poured into his hand. "This" he said as he approached the mob all while ignoring the newly armed Vikings, "is what the Indian people call sharkara or sugar. It the purest form of sweetness, stronger and much easier to incorporate into dishes than honey. Try some Hic-cough. It will ease the bitterness of the coffee."
Hiccup stepped out from the phalanx and approached Ilias. He took a pinch of the grains from the elder's hand and poured it into his mouth. His eyebrows raised and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. "Wow, that's just. Wow. Can I have more?"
"Of course!" Ilias said jubilantly. "It is wonderful to see such youth be interested in the market trade and outside cultures!" He pulled out the beans from his robe and handed the pouch and pile to Hiccup. "See the coffee bean originated in the Kingdom of Aksum where then Sufi mystic Ghothul Akbar Nooruddin Abu al-Hassan al-Shadhili utilized the plant-"
"Ilias! Can we speak?"Decessus interrupted the elder's lecture, still standing on the bow of the ship.
"Of course, will you all give me a moment? I apologize sincerely." He said walking backwards from his original position.
When Ilias was within a few feet of the boat, Decessus began to reprimand the elder by saying, "Ilias, we don't have time for this. We need to find the Rage before-"
"Oh do not worry." Ilias stopped him mid sentence. "I am certain that these fine people will guide us to the Tragedy. And see! Dragons! We must be near the cursed thing. With the combined ingenuity of humanity and the eternal wisdom of the Dragons, they must have clearly mapped out the upper seas. And look at them;" Ilias said as he gestured over to the crowd, "do they not appear to be excellent navigators?"
As he said that Decessus looked over to see Snoutlout take what looked like ten beans from Hiccup and gnash it violently in his mouth. But his face crumpled into a grimace and he hacked out an ugly dark brown mess onto the sand and feinted to the ground.
"See?" Ilias proclaimed unable to see what unfortunately happened to Snoutlout. "Excellent navigators."
"Ilias, never have I doubted your judgment more than now."
"Umm, excuse me Ilias?" Hiccup called out, "Do you have any more of that sugar stuff?"
"Not in that crate I believe," he said walking away from the vessel. "But anyhow, Stoic the Vast, are you doubtful of our intentions?"
"Hmm?" He murmured as he finished licking his lips of the sugar grains. "Oh yes, there is no doubt that you are indeed a trader who has come to sell his wares and things. But the other one," he said looking to Decessus, "I'm not so sure of."
"Well come along Decessus aid me in greeting the people. They offer peace!"
"I doubt that" The man named Decessus then jumped down from the boat and landed on the shore as if he were a lion ready to pounce. Dusting off his black tunic he rose and subconsciously prepared to pull out the dagger that he hid. But realizing that he was in peaceful company, he let down his arms and walked over to Ilias, who now stood in front of the crowd. Once as he was by his side, he stood at attention with an emotionless visage.
"Please let me introduce Decessus. He is from what was Greece, was then Rome, and now is Byzantine. But do not let that disturb you; he is still very much a Greek."
"Hello," Stoic said approaching the duo.
"Well?" Ilias whispered, "go greet him properly! Give him a good hand shake!"
The two eyed each other suspiciously and as Stoic extended a meaty limb Decessus stretched out his own pale arm. The two clasped hands and while Stoic exerted an unusually large amount of pressure, Decessus met with an equal amount of force from his pale hand.
Surprised, Stoic released his own hand and said, "a strong one for being so young! How old are you twenty, twenty two?"
"Nineteen." He flatly replied, "and thanks." He walked back while rubbing his shaven head, which had been cleanly cut of all hair, and returned to attention. What skin everyone could see was pale and free of cuts, bruses, or scars.
But Hiccup noticed something off, his eyes were a dull grey. The grey of early morning fog, the grey of dull hair, the grey of thick smoke. Something bothered him but he couldn't tell what precisely. Toothless sensed the tension building in Hiccup and gently nuzzled his body. Gently smiling and repaying the gesture with a light scratching about his head, he put the idea in the back of his mind and continued to watch on.
"Please forgive me, what is the name of this island?" Ilias asked to the crowd.
"BERK!" Some random Viking responded in a deep gutted yell.
"Thank you! Citizens and inhabitants of BERK!" Ilias yelled out trying to imitate the guttural roar he previously heard, only coming out as a hoarse shout. Decessus then dropped his head and began to massage his temples in embarrassment and irritation.
"Will you grant us permission to trade with your people?" Ilias asked to the crowd.
Stoic stepped forward and said, "As chieftain of this village, I give you that right."
"Thank you Stoic the Vast." Then Decessus stopped his massaging and whispered some Latin into Ilias' ear. "Excuse me, do you have lodging that we may borrow? We do not wish to sleep inside our boat for another night, it is very small mind you, and we would gladly pay for it in," again he whispered in his ear, "Sugar? Yes! We shall pay in sugar."
Never has Hiccup been an impulsive person but something changed that very moment pushed him to become an irrational, impulsive, and senseless Viking. "Yes!" Hiccup cried out before realizing what he just said. Blushing he continued to say, "I mean, we Vikings of Berk accept your offer and would gladly give you somewhere to stay."
"Where shall we stay? And who owns that land so we may pay that person when we take lodging?"
Again the impulsive creature that lived in his mind ran past his brain and to his mouth, forcing him to say, "You can stay at my house!"
"What?" Snoutlout said as he reeled out of his headache.
Toothless rumbled in confusion.
"What!" Stoic boomed at his son.
"Yeah Dad it's…the Chief's responsibility to take care of any guest...and…stuff," he finished babbling. But he pulled in closer and stood on his toes to be as close as possible to his father's ear and whispered, "And we get the sugar!" He stood down from his father and watched him begin to assess the situation.
"Then I, along with my son, shall gladly provide you with a room for both of you. Follow me and we shall talk more of your other trade goods."
"Excellent!" Ilias beamed with glittering black eyes full of excitement. "May we receive some assistance with our luggage?"
"Of course, anything for our," he paused to look at Hiccup, "guests." Hiccup then felt a twinge of guilt for letting strangers into their home without control or thought. But the prospect of the sweet grains quickly washed away the sour emotion.
"See Decessus?" Ilias craned his head over to the younger man, "peaceful and hospitable."
"But will peace help us find the Rage?" Decessus whispered from the corner of his mouth.
"Oh do not ruin the moment," Ilias chided, "we have such kind people to trade and give us temporary lodging so we do not have to sleep in the cabin." He paused then resumed in a deeper and more aggressive tone, "Again." He resumed the previous joyous tone to continue, "So find the luggage and give them to the nice citizenry. Unless you want to sleep on the boat while I have a sleeping cushion, pillow, blanket, and stable ground?"
Grumbling, Decessus marched to the vessel, climbed up, and stepped into the cabin. It was seconds before he exited with large bags on his back and tossed them on shore. He returned to the cabin and took two rectangular crates, both on his shoulders and let them rest on the bow of the ship.
"Can I get some help over here?" Decessus called out and in response about five Vikings all stepped forward to take the bags and crates. When two Vikings were left he gestured them to the boat and carefully lowered one box into a Viking's arms and the other into the second Viking's arms. When he finished he walked over to the door of the cabin. He closed the bronze door, took an ornate gold key to lock it, and whispered something as he locked it.
Finished, he jumped down and marched over to Ilias and awaited his lead.
"Follow us," Stoic gestured with his arm, "and we shall give you the tour of our village," pausing before he with pridefully said, "Berk."
A/N: So begins The Strangers! This is going to be my main focus until I get it done like a good writer unless I need to write something that is buggin the crap out of me and I need to get it out of my brain.
Rate, review, and give me your thoughts!