Chapter Nine – War of The Kraken: The Siege of Berk

Part One – Preparations

The Kraken Lords' Warship, a few hours later;

A few hours after Lords Bane and Malik had left, a messenger hurried into the hall. On reaching the high table, he bowed and began, "Lords Bane and Malik's ships are ready to sail. Lord Bane also requests that Grimm's daughters be transferred to his ship. If Berks' Chief does know about the hostages, he may be trying to locate the boats and free them… Their deaths in his territory should put an end to any plans he might have: he won't be able to risk endangering more lives in escape- attempts."
In the corner where they stood, Arianna and Tanya exchanged frightened looks. The other serving girls wore similar expressions; but the Kraken Lords, and their men, grew animated at the news. Lord Malchior nodded, and gave the orders.

In the Great Hall of Berk, that evening;

As the shouts and roars of approval faded to silence, the attention of the humans and dragons in the hall again returned to Hiccup. When the last of the noise faded to silence, Hiccup said, "The situation is delicate, however: the Krakens have made it clear that they are willing to use hostages as leverage; from there, it is only a small step to use them as shields." Silence settled over the hall, as the listeners processed the implications. A moment later, Hiccup continued, "Timing will be crucial, positioning essential, and the margin for error will be virtually non- existent."
He waited a moment, for that to sink in. Than, in a low; clear voice, said, "This is what we're going to do…"

Part Two – The Dragon Master

The following morning, Arianna;

Arianna watched as the first sliver of sun edged above the horizon; marking the end of a night that had seemed to go on forever. The two of them were led aboard Lord Bane's boat the previous evening, just as the sun was beginning to set; the experience an unpleasant reminder of the day they'd been seized by the Kraken- Lords, four years earlier.
The memory began to replay itself in her mind, but she pushed it away.

Aside from the hour and a half during which they slipped through one of the 'gaps' in the front lines; during which Lord Bane had two of his men hold daggers to their throats, to keep them quiet; they had been left pretty much to themselves. The two of them sat, huddled together, in the middle of the deck.
She glanced over at her sister: At thirteen, a year and a half younger than she was; Tanya had the same reddish black hair as their father, while hers was a reddish blonde, reminiscent of their mother's. She was a few inches taller than Tanya, too, but aside from that they were much alike; same slender build, similar facial features…

Tanya seemed to sense her sister's gaze; and turned to face her, worry evident on her face. In the lowest possible whisper, she asked, "What's going to happen to us? … Are we really going to die here?"

Arianna, who'd been doing her best to look out for her little- sister, during their captivity, tried to say something encouraging; but she couldn't get the words out. Finally, she said, "I don't know… All we can do is pray." Her sister gave her a look; they'd been praying for four years; nothing came of it. She took a deep breath, and tried again, "Maybe they're…"
Her voice drifted to silence, as something appeared in the distance; the very tops of something, rising out of the ocean ahead of then: an island; Berk.

From somewhere to their right, they heard Lord Malik shouting, "Drop anchor! We'll wait here, until the sun's risen fully!" An unknown number of voices took up the call; relaying the order to the other ships that made up their fleet.

A few hours before noon,

Three hours had passed, since Lord Bane gave the order to raise the sails. In that time, the island of Berk had grown steadily larger, as they drew closer. Arianna and Tanya divided their time between staring at the island, and staring at the deck by their feet.

Then something changed: the kraken- warriors grew tense; Lords Bane and Malik moved to the prows of their respective boats, their attention fixed on something ahead of them. The two sisters looked up at the same time, and saw that a mere three miles lay between them and Berk; though the sky remained surprisingly free of dragons.

Then they saw what had caught the others' attention, and their jaws dropped: At the top of the nearest cliff, stood two figures: one human, one dragon. The human was clad entirely in black; the same color as the scales of the dragon next to him. Rider and Dragon were looking directly at the fleet, but they seemed entirely unconcerned by their impending arrival.
Lord Malik called a halt, and what seemed a surprisingly long time; nobody moved, and nobody spoke.

Finally, Lord Bane raised his voice, "WHAT GAME ARE YOU PLAYING, DRAGON- MASTER; ARE YOU A COWARD? … IS THAT WHY YOU HIDE ATOP YOUR CLIFF, INSTEAD OF MEETING US IN BATTLE?"

A low chuckle reached their ears, and the figure answered, "IF YOU SEEK COWARDS, LOOK TO YOURSELVES; THE SO-CALLED WARRIORS, WHO HIDE BEHIND THE TRIBES THEY FEARED TO FACE OPENLY, AND EVEN NOW USE HOSTAGES TO CONTROL!"

For a full minute, nobody spoke; everyone who heard was gaping up at the figure, wide-eyed. Than Lord Bane let out an outraged bellow, "FACE ME! DEFEND YOUR INSULT, OR DIE FOR IT!"

When the figure replied; all trace of amusement was gone from his voice, "YOU WISH TO JOIN DRAGO, THEN? VERY WELL!" The figure turned; and moved away from the cliff top, until he was almost out of view. Than he charged towards them: leaping off the cliff top, and plummeted towards the ground below!
When he was halfway down the cliff, he did… something, and a set of glider wings extended to either side! His fall slowed; stopped, and he drifted towards them. A minute later, he landed on the foredeck of Lord Bane's ship, and retracted the glider wings.

Hiccup; Chief of Berk, and Dragon Master; turned to face Lord Bane, and in a single smooth movement, he drew his sword. The Night- Fury helm hid his face from view, but his voice carried a hint of a grim smile, "Well?"

For a long moment, the silence went unbroken; Lord Bane, his men, Arianna, and Tanya remained where they were, gaping at the new arrival. Than Lord Bane found his voice, "Seize him!" After giving his order, Lord Bane fell back to stand at the stern, so as to observe what transpired from a safe distance.

With obvious reluctance, three of Lord Bane's men rushed the Chief of Berk, hefting their weapons; and bellowing a challenge.
The first to reach him hefted a spear; moving almost too quickly for the eye to follow, Hiccup re-sheathed his sword; and caught the spear in his opposite hand, just below the base of the blade. Then he dropped to one knee, turning to the right, as he did: bearing the spear point to the deck; and holding the shaft steady. The result: the spear became the 'pole' in an unintended pole- vault; and the man who'd been holding it went flying over the side rail, shrieking in surprise. A moment later, he landed in the ocean with a 'SPLASH!'
The second man slashed at Hiccup with a sword; he sidestepped, grabbed the man by his sword arm; and threw him over the rail. A second 'SPLASH' sounded, a few seconds later.
In the few seconds it took the third man to cross the remaining distance; Hiccup drew his black sword, 'Fury', and parried the strike. The man stumbled back; wide- eyed, as he beheld the gouge 'Fury' had left in the steel of his sword.
Before the Kraken- warrior could recover, Hiccup's metal- encased fist connected with the side of his head; he staggered back a few steps, than crumpled to the deck. He'd live; but he'd have a nasty headache when he regained consciousness, and he definitely wouldn't be rejoining this fight.

This left twelve kraken- warriors; and Lord Bane, who stood at the stern of his ship. The twelve warriors spread out, so that each would have room to wield their weapons; and moved forwards. Four carried swords; another four hefted axes; three wielded bludgeons, and the last two leveled spears at their foe.
Hiccup nodded, as though in approval, "At last… A fight that might actually be worthy of my time." He raised his black- sword into the ready position, and a column of blue flames swirled to life, around the blade. Then The Dragon- Master lunged.

Four minutes… That was how long it took Hiccup to 'subdue' his remaining opponents. Hiccup made a point of 'dispatching' the men wielding the bludgeons first, as they inflicted injury by the force of their impact. He snatched a bludgeon out of its owners' grasp, hurling it back at the man, a moment later. It caught the man in the chest; he fell, never to rise again.
The other two men who wielded bludgeons were more fortunate: Hiccup merely disarmed them – the second metaphorically, the third literally; and threw both of them overboard.
About two minutes into the fight, one man let out a triumphant bellow; and brought his axe down on Hiccup's shoulder. The blade bounced off as though it had struck a boulder. A split second later, Hiccup sliced through the haft of the man's axe; than he struck the man in the chest, open handed, with enough force to send him flying back into the ships' mast. The man staggered forward, a few steps, than fell to the deck, unconscious.
Almost as quickly as it had begun, the flames that whirled around Hiccup's blade faded away, and he returned his sword to its sheath.

Lord Bane still stood at the stern of his ship, having watched the fight from his vantage point: his expression one of mounting disbelief. Meanwhile, Arianna and Tanya sat exactly where they'd been sitting since boarding the ship, as they struggled to process the sequence of events playing out around them.
Another three minutes passed in silence; during which those of Lord Bane's men who'd been thrown overboard swam back to their boat. A few of the bolder ones clambered back on board; when Hiccup made no move against them, others did likewise.
Though not one of them dared take so much as a step towards where Hiccup stood, on the forward deck, a mere eight feet from Arianna and Tanya.

Then there was a ripple of movement on the boats nearest to them; the Kraken- warriors, on those boats, had armed themselves with crossbows, now leveled at Hiccup's chest.

Hiccup glanced around, sighed; and, in an exasperated voice, said, "Put those toys away, before you really annoy me." Most of the warriors exchanged nervous glances, and lowered their crossbows; those on Lord Malik's boat did not.

Hiccup sighed, again, "Have it your way." He glanced at the mast of Lord Malik's boat; did a few quick mental calculations. Than he drew his sword, and hurled it at the ships' mast; the sword passed through the thick wooden beam as though it were empty air; and the wooden pillar toppled, pinning down the 'uncooperative' crossbowmen against the deck.
Hiccup held out his right hand; and, a moment later, the hilt of the black sword settled back into his palm. He sheathed it, and turned to face the two sisters. In his usual relaxed, casual, and calming tone, he asked, "You would be Arianna and Tanya, correct?"

Arianna blinked, nodded, and said, "I'm Arianna," she gestured to her sister, "this is my sister. How … How do you…?"

Hiccup lifted the faceplate of his helm; "I had a word with your father, yesterday… One of his men figured out I was tracking their messenger- birds; and checked in early, to point us in the right direction." He shrugged, "It got my attention, so I decided to pay him a visit; see if he had anything else he wanted to share… He was most informative."

Lord Bane's face had turned the color of snow, "Y–You've been tracking the messenger- birds?"

"Yes, but that's just the tip of the iceberg: Haven't you been wondering what happened to those 'hostages' Lord Blackthorn took?" Hiccup gestured at the island behind him, "They're here, and have been since a full week before we held our council; I'll let you work out the implications of that on your own time." He turned to Arianna and Tanya, whose expressions were a mixture of awe and disbelief, "I promised your father I'd inform him when the hostage- ships were secured; but I think he'd prefer a letter from you, to be honest." A shadow appeared, above them; and a moment later, Toothless set down next to him.

'Perhaps we could get a move on; the others are getting… restive,' as he spoke Toothless tilted his head towards the Berk.

Lord Bane's eyes widened. "'Others'… This was a trap!"

"That is the technical term for it, yes." The corners of Hiccup's lips twitched in a brief smile, than he turned to Toothless. "You're right; how selfish of me…" He raised his head to the heavens, and roared.

Part Three – Rise of The Dragons

Even as the echoes of Hiccup's roar faded to silence, an untold number of roars sounded from above, and further inland; than the dragons rose into view; some with riders, but many more without.
The dragons moved to join the fight, and there were hundreds of them. In fact: they outnumbered the enemy to such a degree; the scattering and, ultimately defeating, of the force led by Lord Bane and Lord Malik swiftly became more 'sport' than 'battle'.

A wave of Monstrous- Nightmares boiled over the cliffs of Berk, followed immediately by a wave of Deadly- Nadders; the Monstrous- Nightmares erupted into flames, which ignited the spikes the Deadly- Nadders launched… An instant later, the ten ships that formed the leading edge of the Kraken Fleet were on fire. Their crews began running around in a panic, attempting to extinguish fires; but, for every one they extinguished, two more were ignited.
The Krakens' attempts to 'fight' became increasingly comical, the longer the battle went on; and the longer it went on, the more fun the dragons – and their riders, in the cases of those that had riders, seemed to have.

A few minutes after the 'fight' began, two more Night- Furies landed next to Toothless. Turning to Arianna and Tanya, Hiccup explained that the two black dragons would carry them the rest of the way to Berk. Once they were settled, albeit nervously, on the Night- Furies' backs, the three black dragons rose into the air.

As they rose into the sky, Astrid and Stormfly appeared next to them; Hiccup quickly made the introductions, than promised the new- arrivals that they'd talk more, later. Toothless's clan- mates angled towards the village of Berk, to drop off their passengers; while Toothless, Stormfly, and their riders turned to join the 'fun'.

A short time later,

Thirty minutes into the 'fight', Hiccup noticed that six boats; including Lord Bane's, were beginning to fall back. He frowned, and signaled to a group of un-partnered- dragons. Once the dragons had gathered around them, Hiccup pointed out the boats, and said, "I need you to slow them down; cause enough damage to the boats that they'll need to stop to make repairs, but not so much that they'll suspect that we're letting them leave."

One of the dragons frowned, 'And why are we letting them leave, exactly?'

Hiccup managed a grim smile, "We've been tracking the messenger- birds to the Kraken Lords' hostage- ships; we'll need Lord Bane to lead us to their command- ship… that's where we'll find the rest of these 'kraken- lords'. We can't let them get back too soon, though; you know why."
The dragons gave short nods of acknowledgement, and shot after Lord Bane's boats.

To Be Continued…