The prayer was inspired by a real prayer against Viking attacks, but I made up the ending. The songs you'll eventually hear (or read) are both real and Very Old. Google them if you're curious. -L

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Berk, A few hours later

"Night mare Gut! Get your grilled nightmare gut here!"

"Terrible Terrors! Deep fried! Fricasseed! Or roasted!"

"Back by popular demand! Sautéed summer frogs! Now with even more dipping bloods!"

Such went the usual chaos of dinner in the town mess hall. Toasting and celebrating their relatively successful bout with the pirates, the Vikings reclined happily. Tuffnut Thorson stretched and appreciatively munched into a leg of terrible Terror. His sister tore into the front half of the same Terror.

Seeing his eyes on her, his sister offered him a bite which he waved off. Tuffnut could never bring himself to eat the front half of the little monster, even if the eyeballs did taste the best. Being forced into looking at the pests, he was always struck by how cute they were.

He said all of this aloud to his sister, his sister's crush, his own best friend, and a tall metal cage with a blanket over it. Make of THAT what you will.

From inside the cage came some agreeable mutterings while Astrid cocked an eyebrow at him. "Seriously?" said Ruffnut.

"Well, the eye to face ratio of a terrible Terror is like 1:3, unlike most dragons, so I guess they could trigger the nurturing instinct. Not to mention their several sizes smaller than any other kind of dragon. So I suppose it's understandable." Said Fishlegs, nodding.

Ruffnut and Astrid both made confused grunts between bites. The metal cage said, "I'm goanna take all that nonsense to mean that the Terrors kind of look like babies…"

Tuffnut chuckled and kicked the cage; he was really enjoying this prisoner's company- too bad he was a piss wallowing pirate…

Eventually all the Vikings all settled down and the chieftess- Bertha the endowed- stood atop the large circular island in the center of the hall. Bertha tossed her blonde hair back and began something akin to a prayer that everyone in the hall chanted a half step behind her.

"Gods of all things seen and unseen!"

Recognizing the prayer, Snotlout also joins in from within the cage.

All: "Gods of all things!"

"Pity us, your people, the highest favor by preserving and guarding our bodies,"

All: "Pity us, preserving and guarding our bodies."

" free us from the savage Pirates," This makes Snotlout falter and he drops his voice to a whisper.

"who doth devastate our realms."

All: "free us from the savage Pirates who devastate our peace."

Snotlout whispers to himself, "And save us from the savage Vikings who would destroy our balance."

"Power to our people. Righteous glory guides our swords and gives strength to our sons and daughters."

Snotlout: "Power to our people. Glory guides our sails and gives speed to our sons and daughters."

"May we see eachother march into"

"May we see eachother fly upto…"

"the halls of Valhalla and not depart from each other's side within the time between."

: Everyone sat back down and began to eat or resume eating. Snotlout let out a sigh. At least the end is the same… but I wonder if Valhalla is large enough for the both of us? He was startled by Tuffnut yanking the blanket over the cage up to peer in at him.

"Were you PRAYING in there, Pirate?"

"Yeah. What? You saying Pirates can't get into Valhalla? Were brave too, you fowlface…"

Tuffnut didn't even process the insult, he looked very thoughtful and was plainly about to ask a question when shouts went up behind him. He let the blanket fall and Snotlout was once again in stuffy darkness. He felt them pushing his cage around and up a ramp. He tickled the palm of one of the laborers and was rewarded by the giggles of Ruffnut, "Cut it out, you silly pirate!" she whispered. He laughed nervously. He knew what came next and he wasn't looking forward to it. Tribal gloating…

Eventually, he was where they wanted him and the blanket was torn away.

Blinking in the light he heard taunts, jeers, and empty goblets clang into the bars of the cage. He felt the splatter of alcohol as goblets that had not yet been empty were thrown against the cage. At first he retorted and poked fun at all the Vikings but after two hours in the spot light he fell silent. He just dodged the forks and knives and ate the small bits of food that made it through.

The night wore on and the villager's got drunker. A few staggered back home and would, in the morning, become the jealous few who had missed what happened near midnight. What happened was terrible.

A terrible terror, actually. It flew into the hall and flew circles around the Vikings before dropping a small parcel on the chieftess's head. "I want that thing skewered and on my plate in ten minutes!" she screeched and all the Vikings in the hall set about trying to catch the wild thing. Snot lout laughed at them, quite loudly. The chieftess noticed the parcel and unraveled it. A message. Who the hell sent messages via Terror?

"silence."

The hall was still chaos and some of the Vikings were hurting each other by accident. Ridiculous.

"SILENCE." The hall finally fell still and the Terrible Terror landed smugly atop Snotlout's cage.

"Nice work, girl," Whispered Snotlout as he offered a piece of potato up to her through the bars.

Bertha quickly stepped up on the stage where all could see. Her back to Snotlout and the Terror, she read aloud,

"To the Peoples of Berk,

We send you our regards from the seas within the fog…"

The entire hall hissed at the trademark address.

"You have one of our own, and we being men and women of legacy and honor-"

Father's scoffed and some of the younger present laughed outright. Snotlout scowled at them all.

"We do not expect you to give him back for nothing." Silence.

"In the hopes we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement, an honest trade. We are coming. At your… humble docks, we'll meet you with compensation.

Expect us an hour after dawn. We will sail under the flag of peace …unless provoked.

Sencirely, … H. Haddock, the bringer of destruction, of the NightFury Raiders."

Gasps went around at that title and Snotlout rolled his eyes. If only they knew…

"Haddock! THAT Haddock?"

"Save our souls!"

"We beat them once, we could do it again!"

"But what if SHE is there?"

"Oh please, Lady Hicca Haddock, the bringer of destruction is a complete hoax! Did You see such a woman?"

"It's said she once leveled a village with one fist!"

"Dragonshit. That's ridiculous!"

"But MY house was leveled like that!"

"That's True!"

"SILENCE," said the chieftess, "All this speculation is useless. Legends aside, we must still contend with Captain Stoick the Vast. They are pirates, trained in thievery and killing! We cannot afford to fight them head on again."

The crowd grumbled, cursed, and a few even yelled, "We could take 'em!" "Hell, I cold take them with one hand!" But it was all just talk. There were even a few whimpers from the crown, one woman's "Please, lets not do that again." reached Snotlout's ears in the cage. He smirked.

"We will meet, peacefully. And if they try anything-" she pointed at Snotlout in his cage.

"We will Kill the Prisoner!"