The sun slowly sets in the northern skies. It's retreat into the sea setting free vibrant colors across the skies. Brilliant blues and reds and pinks light up the sky over the Barbaric archipelago. The rough seas a swirl of deep blue and bright white. And the peoples of these peaceful islands taking shelter in their wooden thatched houses, protected from the dark and the cold. The Vikings of these islands slowly preparing for a long night of peaceful slumber.
And that is where our story begins.
For, you see, there was one man out there alone. Refusing to stop for the night, he continues through the chilly night sky that typifies this part of the world. Afraid of the Viking peoples of these parts, our hero continues on his journey aboard his steely black steed.
However, when I say steed, I don't mean a striking black stallion with a blazing black mane, so stupid that they can only truly serve as a means of transportation. Besides, how ridiculous would it be to ride a horse in the subzero waters of the North?
"How long till we find him?" Lanistae whines to his Night Fury, Aquila, who gives an annoyed growl and continues on his course.
"Look, I get that we aren't going to find him immediately, but the Domini Draconum sent us to find this Night Fury. And I don't want to be here any longer than we have to. You know the stories of the Vikings here. How they slaughter dragons for sport and eat their flesh and turn their skin into armor." Aquila gives a low growl in disgust, "I know! I almost gagged just having to learn their God damned language." Lanistae finishes.
Lanistae looks back to when he first got this assignment. He had just returned from a successful mission in Venice, training a baby Thunderdrum who had come close to sinking the city. Once he had returned to The Dragon Order where he works as a senior dragon trainer, the leader of the order gave him a mission of utmost importance.
Apparently, a Night Fury is currently living in the Barbaric Archipelago. Lanistae's job is to find the Night Fury and bring it back to safety with the rest of its kind in Italia before the Vikings find it.
Lanistae was an orphan who was taken into the Dragon Training guild of Medici as a babe of only a single winter. He was brought up and trained to be a dragon trainer by the leader of the order, the Domini Draconum. At five, Lanistae formed a bond with a young Night Fury. This was huge news in the order. It takes a good dragon trainer to calm and control a Night Fury, but only a Dragon Master can bond with one. The current Domini Draconum had finally found an heir, someone to take his place once he dies. So from then on, Lanistae and Aquila only got chosen for the best and highest priority missions.
That hasn't changed for ten years as Lanistae, now a teenager of sixteen winters, shivers in the cool skies of the north.
"We need to stop Aquila!" Lanistae insists after they come across a large island in the middle of the sea. The island is huge and sits high on a mesa above the waters. The island is dominated by forest but a smaller island jutting out of the Southern side of the island teems with life as a small village prepares for bed. This small village is dominated by a huge crag jutting out the top of the village. The shape of a mead hall can clearly be seen carved into the crag.
Aquila gives an affirmative growl and lands in the forest behind the village. Lanistae jumps off the saddle and prepares to make camp.
Lanistae is fairly typical for an Italian teenager. He is tall at around six feet. He is fairly lean and muscular but still skinny. When he takes off his helmet, messy light brown hair sticks up in odd directions on his head, and his dark brown eyes analyse the surrounding trees. His tanned face is covered in brown stubble from all the time spent flying. His armor is mainly brown leather reenforced with a layer of chain mail underneath. Under the chain mail is a red under shirt with short sleeves. His face mask consists of a red bandana to cover his mouth and nose and a brown leather helmet with a visor to protect the eyes. He wears padded leggings with pockets all over. His gladius is firmly attached to his belt by its scabbard. While his shield-gauntlet is attached to his left arm. His bracer on his right arm protects it.
Lanistae looks around and turns to his dragon. Lanistae hasn't stopped for over twelve hours. They haven't landed once since leaving Medici. So why did Aquila stop now?
"Is the Night Fury here?" Lanistae asks. The Night Fury responds with an affirmative growl and a nod. He begins to push Lanistae towards the village with his snout.
"No, no no Aquila. It's not that simple." Lanistae retorts to his dragon while moving the other way. Aquila gives a questioning groan and tilts his head as a begging dog would at the dinner table.
"Ok." Lanistae thinks to himself, "If the Night Fury is in the village he's most likely dead. Mounted on a wall or draped over someone's back like these devilish Vikings love to do. However, there is a slight chance that the dragon is merely captured. If that's true I'll have to act fast to get it back to its family."
His decision made, Lanistae looks up to find the sun gone and the sky lit with a thousand different stars. Blues and reds streak the sky and light up the night. Lanistae makes sure that Aquila is well hidden in the trees before turning to go spy on the village.
As he leaves, he hears a russle come from the bushes towards the village. On instinct, Lanistae draws his gladius and engages his shield. He pears into the darkness where the noise came from and sees nothing, not even a shadow.
"Who's there!" Lanistae asks. That's when he gets a nice surprise.
30 minutes earlier.
Fishlegs steps out of his home and looks over the newly rebuilt village. It's been six months since the battle of the Dragon Masters. Hiccup has settled into his new role as chief of Berk and has already earned the respect of Berk's allied tribes. Astrid leads by his side, aiding Hiccup in his times of need. Everyone in the village wonders when Hiccup is going to propose since Astrid really is chieftess of Berk in all but title. With both of them leading, Fishlegs has officially taken the mantle of Headmaster at the Berk dragon training academy, teaching the young, human and dragon, and advising Chief Hiccup on all things dragon.
Fishlegs has become quite the man in the last six months. His constant responsibilities as headmaster caused him to lose weight. He is now quite muscular though still on the fluffy side. He got over his affection with Ruffnut a while ago. He is actually seeing Hope, a young woman who had moved to Berk recently. It is to go see her that Fishlegs is out so late.
As Fishlegs walks towards Hope's home, he whistles and thinks about his lesson plans for tomorrow and how he will assign the teachers as well. Fishlegs's staff consists of many of the first students at the original academy, mostly Gustav's class. Fishlegs's second, Valka, helps out immensly with her knowledge of dragons. All seems quiet and right with the world when Fishlegs looks up and sees a black dot streaking across the sky. "Hiccup still can't miss an evening flight, even with his new job." Fishlegs thinks to himself with slight amusement. However, he looks up at the house and sees Toothless curled up sleeping on the porch.
With wide open eyes, Fishlegs looks from Toothless to the sky and back to Toothless again. His mental gears turning as they move the puzzle into place. A decidedly unmanly shriek escapes Fishlegs's lips as the pieces fall into place. Fishlegs then turns and sprints full speed towards the Chief's house, any notion of spending time with Hope forgotten.
Hiccup is sitting at the desk in his lonely house, toying with new saddle ideas in his notebook. As he goofs with the length of one of the Nadder saddles, Fishlegs bursts through the door heaving like an unfed Gronckle.
"Woah, woah Fishlegs. Just calm down and tell me what's wrong." Hiccup asks his friend as he continues to try and regain his breath. After about a minute, Fishlegs utters some words between heaves.
"Fury...flying...north...not Toothless." Fishlegs manages to speak. Hiccup's eyes light up as he understands what Fishlegs is saying.
"Show me." is all Hiccup manages. Fishlegs nods and beckons for Hiccup to follow. Hiccup dons his armor and his new Chief's cape, and follows.
The two walk past the Great Hall into the forest behind Berk. Hiccup follows Fishlegs as they both look for the Night Fury. Along the way Hiccup is thinking to himself. "Another Night Fury? But where did it come from? Will they be able to train it? And most importanty, is there more than one?" Hiccup thinks as they trek through the woods. They find the place the Fury landed but what they find there is not what they're expecting.
There, standing in the middle of the clearing is a Roman.
Lanistae, Hiccup, and Fishlegs don't move for a few moments. After a few seconds, Hiccup draws himself to his full hight and addresses the Roman.
"I am Chief Hiccup of the Hairy Hooligan tribe." he begins. As he says this, Lanistae's heart speeds up. This is the Hairy Hooligan tribe? The tribe that is famous for killing more dragons than any other tribe? They commit atrocities to the dragons. And from what Lanistae has heard, their chief is the worst. Granted this man doesn't look like much, but looks can be deceiving. With a sinking feeling in his chest, Lanistae realizes where he is.
He's on Berk.
"I'm Lanistae." he manages. Lanistae has had to learn many languages in his time at the order. Norse is just one of them.
"What is a Roman doing here?" Hiccup asks. Lanistae can't help but laugh.
"You really don't know do you?" Lanistae laughs.
"Don't know what?" Hiccup asks.
"The Roman Empire fell fifty years ago. I come from the kingdom of Medici in Italia." Lanistae confirms. Hiccup and Fishlegs are baffled. The invincible Roman Empire? Gone!? What could have destroyed them?
"If I may ask, how?" asks Fishlegs, still not quite believing.
"Corruption. The greedy politicians of Rome bled money from the people until they were so weak, the barbarians of the mainland finished them off."
"Wow." said Fishlegs in wonder. Hiccup, with more baring, doesn't quite believe what this man is saying.
"You need to come with us." Hiccup orders, moving to bring Lanistae with him. Lanistae, reals, lowering into a fight stance. Suddenly, a low growl emits from the trees.
"Oh no." Lanistae thinks to himself as the growl turns into a roar and Aquila pounces from the shadows, moving to protect his friend and rider. Lanistae sighs and straightens.
"On behalf of the Dragons' Guild of Medici, I accuse the Hairy Hooligans of crimes against dragon kind. Your reputation is known far and wide dragon killer. And you will not kill my dragon."
Lanistae is caught off guard when the young chief laughs. And stares at his dragon. Lanistae is surprised when he sees wonder, not bloodlust, in his eyes.
At that moment, a roar is heard and another Night Fury jumps out of the bushes and moves in front of the chief, growling at Aquila. Both Lanistae and Hiccup simply stare.
"Who are you?" they both ask simultaneously.
"I am Lanistae da Medici. Dragon Master and heir to the Domini Draconum of Medici." Lanistae asserts. "Is this your Night Fury?"
"Yes, he's my dragon and best friend." Hiccup replies, "Your information is outdated as well. Here on Berk we don't kill dragons, we ride them." Toothless answers with an affirmative roar.
Lanistae starts to chuckle, which soon turns into a roaring laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" Fishlegs asks.
"When I accepted this mission, I did not think I'd meet another dragon master." Lanistae says, still recovering.
"Wait, how do you know I'm a dragon master?" Hiccup asks. Lanistae's expression suddenly turns solemn.
"I'm not surprised you don't know, since this is likely the only Night Fury for miles. But back where I come from, Night Furys are a marker species. Their intellectual superiority over other dragons makes them much harder to tame. Only great trainers can calm and train a Fury. However, Night Furys never bond with humans. Only dragon masters can bond with Night Furys. No one else can do it."
"Wow." Fishlegs whispers in wonder, taking out his notebook to write this down.
"If I could get a bite to eat and shelter I'll tell you what I know." Lanistae finishes.
"Of course, but first, tell me why you're on Berk." Hiccup orders.
"My job was to find a Night Fury that was living up here and bring him back to his own kind. Of course, I never thought for a second that he would have attached to someone up here. And while I'd never dream of taking a Fury from his human, this complicates things."
"Ok, come with me." Hiccup beckons Lanistae to follow him into the village. Lanistae slowly follows with Toothless and Aquila behind, eyeing each other warily. As they walk into the village, everyone is asleep in their homes and the place looks deserted.
Hiccup walks to his house and motions for Lanistae to go inside. Lanistae obliges and walks in followed by Aquila. Just as Fishlegs is about to follow, Hiccup stops him.
"Get the other riders, tell them to spread the word. This man is our guest, but keep a close eye on him. He's not telling us everything." Fishlegs nods and runs down into the village.
Hiccup walks into his house, closing the door behind him. He motions Lanistae to take one of the chairs by the fireplace. Hiccup sits across from him and simply looks at his guest. After a few minutes of silence, Lanistae begins to get uncomfortable.
"So, what would you like to know?"
"Are there more Night Furys?" Hiccup asks.
"Actually, the answer to that is more complicated than you think…"
Ok, this is my story. Don't worry, I plan on introducing as few OCs as I can. This is just my idea on how Hiccup finally finds more Night Furys. Will be updating. Please Review.