Author's Note:

Hello all and welcome to chapter six. We're back to time jumps again though this is a bit of a filler chapter. However, it does reveal a bit more about the situation on Berk. Thank you all for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Chapter 6

Estate of Lord Barri-Years ago

It had been a time of rapid learning for the cousins.

Firstly, they needed to know the language, it was completely beyond them and their survival depended on knowing what was being said around them. Secondly, they needed to understand the culture they'd been thrown into and the expectations their new owner would have of them. Fortunately, they'd been luckier than they'd thought.

Their owner was Lord Barri, in terms of hierarchy, he was somewhere near the top of the middle tier of nobles, he owned a good deal of land and property with a modest amount of influence and was reasonably well connected. He had a love of collecting exclusive items that he could show off to the other nobles and it was this that had driven him to spend so much on two Viking boys.

Vikings were an almost legendary people on the continent, the empire's ships never went that far north and what few people had been there brought back stories of tough, warlike barbarians that fired the imaginations of the people. As such, there were very few Viking slaves and certainly no Viking children, making Hiccup and Snotlout highly valuable.

Their exclusiveness granted them a good deal of protection, Lord Barri wanted to show them off like a pair of rare animals, not work them as slaves. Their job was to stand meekly to one side where they'd be noticed by the Lord's guests and then be gawked at as their owner bragged about his 'exclusive' slaves. This not only made their slavery so much easier but it also let them observe the culture with ease, Hiccup quickly picked up the language and would patiently teach Snotlout until they were both fluent, after that it was simply a matter of listening to the nobles to discover how the empire's system worked.

When they weren't on display to guests, they were locked up in their cell which wasn't that bad. It was bare and with only four stone walls and a floor but it was big enough for them to play in, a definite improvement on being tied up on a small boat. They were also lucky in that the Housemaster, who was in charge of all the slaves, was a fairly decent man, as long as you didn't give him any trouble, he treated you well and would occasionally grant small comforts to particularly well-behaved slaves.

It was in this cell that Hiccup was trying to teach his cousin the hierarchy of the empire using a set of wooden beads the Housemaster had given them to play with. He pointed to a single one at the top of the arrangement, "So at the top is the Emperor, he is in charge of the whole empire and has the final say in how things are run." He then indicated a set of three beads beneath the emperor bead, "These are the three nobles of the Emperor's inner circle, Lord Colban, Lord Bressal and Lord Darren, they hold the most power after the Emperor and are kind of in a whole class of their own. Beneath them are the other nobles, though technically of the same ranking, their individual wealth, power and influence slots them into different tiers within their class."

Snotlout was laying on his stomach and he pointed to the beads representing the nobles, "And Lord Barri is somewhere in the middle of that?"

Hiccup nodded, "He's in the top end of the middle tier, that means he's worth the notice of someone like Lord Colban and is far enough up to mostly get what he wants, however, he wouldn't be able to push the higher up Lords into supporting something without help." He pointed to the set of beads beneath the nobles, "After the nobles are the top military commanders, while the nobles mostly discuss the economy, laws and logistics of running the empire, it's these commanders that have a say in how a military campaign would work, they also decided how best to enforce the laws passed down by the nobles and are responsible for maintaining order in the empire."

"But the nobles can overrule their decision if they want to?"

Hiccup sighed, "Yep and that's the reason nobles can get away with illegal acts, being above the military makes them less touchable by the law." He moved on, "Beneath the military is the civil servants, they're the ones who tend to the day to day issues of running the empire, they're the judges, top end merchants, tax collectors, all those kinds of jobs. After them is basically everyone else, the common people who are citizens of the empire with jobs."

"And we're beneath them."

Hiccup nodded, "Yeah, as slaves we're not really counted as people, we're more like livestock. Most slaves are people from the far reaches of the empire or have been taken from beyond its borders, we can be traded and bartered like other goods and we have no rights within the empire."

Snotlout pointed to a set of beads that Hiccup had put to one side of his arrangement, "And what about that class, where do they fit?"

"That represents those who don't fit anywhere else in the system, they're people like military deserters, pirates, escaped slaves, those who've cast aside the empire's rule and gone against it. They're constantly on the run from the empire and a citizen who catches them can do as they please with them, at least as slaves, anyone else needs our master's approval before they can harm us, we're considered his property."

Snotlout scratched his head, "The whole system seems a bit too focused on classing people."

Hiccup shrugged, "You're right but we're not really in a position to change it, from what I've heard, we got pretty lucky with our master. He's more interested in showing us off than working us as slaves."

The younger boy sighed, "But we just got dragged into this, we were kidnapped from our home and just sold off." He placed his chin on his hands, "I miss home."

Hiccup smiled sadly and patted his cousin's head, "We'll get back there, someday. For now, we'll just have to make do as best as we can."

Snotlout smiled slightly, "I know."

Island in the Northern Sea-Present

Snotlout yawned as he dismounted Hookfang.

Since their humiliation of Lord Colban, the cousins had tried to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the continent. The loss of the Emperor's Star and the subsequent fall of Lord Colban was going to cause a flurry of scrabbling for power amongst the nobles, capturing the people responsible for the diamond's loss would gain immense favour with the Emperor and such favour meant greater influence and wealth. Lords would be falling over themselves to achieve such a thing and would be dispatching whatever military forces they had to find them.

Despite this, the cousins weren't that concerned, they knew that many wouldn't go that far from the empire's waters and they certainly wouldn't go anywhere near the waters of the Vikings, a healthy fear of said Vikings kept them well away. They just made sure to get as far north as possible to where any pursuers would never catch up to them.

As Snotlout stretched, Hiccup came up and patted his shoulder, "Well, we're finally away from empire waters."

Snotlout smiled as that sunk in, for the first time in years they were away from the empire, they were actually heading home. He frowned, "The odd thing is, I don't feel that different. Maybe it's because we're not actually home yet."

Hiccup grinned, "Well, in a week or two we will be, we'll have finally made it all the way back to Berk."

The younger boy nodded, "Yeah we will." He looked thoughtful, "I wonder how Berk has changed?"

Isle of Berk-Present

Stoick was resisting the urge to smash his head off the table as the village council argued yet again over the same, issue.

"I'm telling you, now's the time to find the nest!"

"Every time we've tried before, we've failed. Why would it be different this time?"

The argument was going back and forth as council members vocalised their opinion hotly, the way most Vikings did. It had been like this for a couple of months now with the same people bringing up the same topic every single meeting thus leading to a long, drawn out argument on the same subject.

The dragon raids or lack thereof.

For some unknown reason, the dragon raids had stopped entirely, in fact, there were hardly any dragons seen around Berk at all these days. No one was really sure why the dragons no longer attacked them but personally, Stoick had quite enjoyed not having to fend them off every other night but, as always, the village was divided on how to deal with the sudden change.

Some wanted to push for the nest, claiming that lack of dragon activity meant that something, like a disease, had weakened them, thus making it the perfect time to drive them off for good. Others claimed this idea as folly and were saying that the dragons would be back eventually so they should reinforce the village while they could. The two sides bickered constantly about it and it was another ongoing trouble that Stoick had to deal with on top of the heir issue.

Sven and Alsvid were the two arguing about it right now but it wouldn't be long before the other council members got involved.

Alsvid tapped the table top to emphasise his point, "Our people have been searching for the nest ever since Berk was founded and we've always dealt with dragon raids. The raids suddenly stopping must mean that the dragons don't have the numbers to attack us at the moment, we should drive them off for good before they're strong enough to do so again."

Sven shook his head, "Most of the ships that sail into the fogbank around the nest don't come back, those that do don't even get close to the nest itself. We should reinforce the village so that we're more ready to take on the dragons or any other attacker when they come."

Alsvid appealed to the Stoick, "Chief, I could take a group of warriors to investigate whether or not we can get to the nest…"

"Oh, I see what you're up to Alsvid." Sven glowered, "I bet you're going to take your daughter with you on your little mission, put her in charge to gain her points as a likely heir."

Stormlegs spoke up in defence of his friend, "I doubt Alsvid was planning anything of the sort, he's just suggesting what he thinks is best for the village."

Byleiptr Thorston snorted, "Unlikely Ingerman, the Hoffersons have been vying for position of best clan for ages, his scout trip will certainly attempt to make his daughter look perfect at everything to further that goal."

Sven backed him up, "You've put her on a pedestal from the day she was born and I for one see right through your attempt to push her as heir." He scoffed, "Besides, who ever heard of Berk having a female chief."

Alsvid slammed his hand down, "How dare you! I'm just…"

"ENOUGH!"

Stoick's shout silenced the argument and he glowered at the council, "This isn't a discussion about Berk's heir, it's about the dragons no longer raiding us. As a council, I expect you all to be able to reasonably discuss this without it devolving into clan politics." He sighed, "Now does anyone have any more suggestions."

Spitelout had been silent throughout the entire argument and he leaned forward, "The dragons haven't raided us for two months now and personally, I enjoy not having to fight them all the time. Now, we know that the nest is nearly impossible to find, never mind trying to drive the dragons out of it. If they're going to disappear to their island and not raid us then I say let them, if they attack again then we defend ourselves as we always have but I don't see the point in risking our warriors by attacking them if they're happy to leave us alone. Let's not go looking for trouble if its willing to leave us be."

In the silence that followed, Stoick nodded, "I agree with Spitelout, why should we spoil this peace we have by deliberately stirring up a dragon's nest. We'll remain vigilant in case they start to raid us again but if they're going to leave us be then we may as well leave them be. With people like Alvin out there, let's not give ourselves even more enemies." He stood, "Now, I think it's about time this meeting was adjourned."

With a great deal of muttering, the council broke up and shuffled out of the Great Hall, Gobber and Spitelout lingered with Stoick and the blacksmith spoke once the last Viking had left, "I think yer both right, why attack the dragons if they're ignoring us. Better for everyone if we just avoid each other."

Stoick sat heavily in his chair, "I think they all know it too Gobber, it's just they want to use it to push the heir issue, that's what they're really concerned about."

Spitelout sighed, "I get that having an heir is important but why can't they just wait for you to make a decision?"

It was Gobber who answered, "Because they all want chieftainship to move to their clan. The Haddocks have led Berk ever since it was founded by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock I, this is the first time in the tribe's history that its likely to shift." He looked thoughtful, "At least it's just the Hoffersons, Ingermans and Thorstons, and their respective supporters, that are really pushing the issue, everyone else is happy to let you decide Stoick."

The chief nodded, "Aye, there's that." He looked at Spitelout, "What about the Jorgensons, what's their views?"

Spitelout rolled his eyes, "The usual, most keep trying to convince me to push Wolflout forward, technically he's eligible but he's really too young for you to train up in time for you to step down. Personally, I doubt he'd ever really want to be chief and though he's a great lad, I don't think he'll ever be chief material. Jorgensons being Jorgensons, they're completely ignoring this and still being vocal about it but that's the most they can do, there's no one else in the clan who's eligible and I'm keeping my son well away from their unreasonable demands of him. I'm also the clan head so I can keep them under control."

Stoick smiled thankfully, "Thank you Spitelout." He sighed, "We need an answer to this problem before it gets any worse."

Gobber clapped him on the shoulder, "Ye'll think of something Stoick, ye always do."

PS-So the dragons have actually stopped attacking but the village still has a load of issues. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.