Chapter 14 Berk's Arrival
A Week Later Hiccup's P.O.V
'Today's the day Berk arrives' I thought to myself. Trader Johann was guessing when they would arrive, but yesterday I sent Sharpshot to see if he could see the ship. I told him not to go too far in Berks direction. When he came back, he said due to how slow boats are it would take till about noon today before they arrived.
I really didn't want to get up, but there was no way I was going to let Jack have to deal with Berk alone. Even though he did volunteer to let me stay home, but everyone here know mine and Astrid's story, and let's just say they aren't too happy with how Berk had treated me. If I left them alone with Berk, it would not end well, for Berk.
I sighed and slowly got out of bed hoping, I wouldn't wake Astrid. I quietly went over to out closet to get my armor, when Astrid woke up.
"Morning".
"Morning Astrid".
She looked at me, and sighed herself "Berks coming today" she groaned.
"Yup" I said as I started putting my armor on. "You can stay home if you want".
"And let you deal with Berk alone? Not gonna happen" she said, rolling out of bed and getting dressed.
"He wouldn't be alone, even if you didn't come you know" Toothless said standing up.
"Toothless, I think you, Stormfly and your hatchlings should wait in the great hall".
"Not a chance. Stormfly, Midnight, Sparks and Silver will wait in the great hall, but there is no way I'm letting you three deal with those Viking alone".
"Alright Toothless, if you insist, but you can't attack them for no reason".
"I have a reason, they all made your life a living nightmare".
"Point taken, but still they hopefully won't know it's me. So unless they make the first move please don't attack".
"I won't, unless they get to close to you or try attacking".
"Thanks bud" I said, grabbing my helmet from the shelf in the closet.
I turned around to look at Astrid. She was wearing a dark red shirt, she still had on her dark blue pants and brown boots, but instead of her dark red leather skirt. She was wearing a dark gray almost black fur skirt with leather strips that had spikes on them, and her hooded fur cape. She still wore her headband, but instead of her normal braid in the back, her braid was hanging over her shoulder and her bangs had been pushed back a little. They still covered her left eye but not as much as before.
I smiled and walked over to her and Emerald who was sitting up in her crib. "Morning baby girl" I said as I picked Emerald up.
"Dada" I smiled. She had started talking last week, and honestly Astrid and I couldn't be happier. "Mama, mama" she said reaching for Astrid. We both smiled as I handed Emerald to Astrid.
After we all had breakfast. Stormfly, Midnight, Sparks and Silver went to the great hall where we would meet them later. Astrid, Toothless, Emerald and I went to the docks.
"Hey Hiccup, Astrid" Jack and Heather called, as we walked over to them.
"Hey Jack, Heather" Astrid and I greeted.
"So you ready? Berks ship is in view" Jack asked.
"As ready as I can be, when a group of people I planned on never see again for the rest of my life come to our island". I sighed, as I put my helmet on and Astrid pulled her hood up. We could see the boat, but it would still take a few minutes for it to get to the dock.
"You have no idea how happy I am we ride dragons, if we had to take a boat everywhere, I would have died from boredom by now with how slow boats are" Jack whispered to me. I laughed he was not wrong.
Once the boat finally made it to the docks, everyone got off one by one. It wasn't a huge group of people, just most of the people I really didn't want to see again.
Stoick, Gobber and Spitelout were the first three off. Followed by Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, Snotlout and two kids, about the age of 5 who I have never seen before, and the last two off were Jakob and Mary Hofferson, Astrid's parents.
I took a deep breath. "Welcome to Dragonwing village, who is your chief?".
"That would be me, I am Chief Stoick the vast" he said shaking my hand. I rolled my eyes he's always addressed a new chief like that.
"Nice to meet you Stoick the vast".
"Just call me Stoick".
"Very well, now I hope you don't mind my asking, but what brings you here?" I asked.
"Well you see, trader Johann showed up with a little red Terrible Terror and said he got it from here. We just wanted to know how you managed to control those beasts?" Stoick asked. He didn't sound angry, but I would be if he kept calling the dragons beasts.
Toothless started growling. "Calm down Toothless" I patted his head.
"First off Stoick, they are not beasts and second, we do not control them. We befriend them, big difference and as long as you're on our island, I suggest you never call them that again" I said.
"Who made you the boss of us!" Snotlout shouted.
"I'm the chief of Dragonwing village, and you're on my island".
"I apologize for my nephew's behaviour" Stoick apologized.
"It's alright, anyway how long will you be staying with us?".
"About a week, if that's alright with you".
"Yes that's fine, but as long as your here we have a few rules you have to follow" I told them.
"Of course" Stoick nodded.
"Rule one, you do NOT under any circumstance harm a dragon. If you do, you will be kick off the island, the dragons are our friends. And rule two, if you want to leave the docks, you have to put your weapons into those barrels" I said gesturing to two barrels on the docks.
"Why do we have to, everyone else has weapons even you!" Snotlout yelled.
"The dragons get very. Hesitant when people they don't know carry weapons around them. The dragons here know all of us, and they know we will never use any of our weapons against them" I explained.
"Well, I guess that makes sense" Gobber said, walking over to one of the barrels and tossing his battle ax attachment in. I nodded as the others started placing their weapons in the barrels.
Gobber came up to me. "I'm Gobber, by the way".
"Nice to meet you Gobber".
"Will the dragons be hesitant, if they see my hook hand?" Gobber asked.
I laughed, "They might, but I'll let them know. As long as you don't attempt to attack them with it".
"Wouldn't think of it".
"Sharpshot, would you mind telling the other dragons that there is someone here with a hook for an arm, but he won't attack them".
"Sure thing Hiccup" Sharpshot said, flying off my shoulder, to go tell the other dragons.
I looked back, everyone had placed their weapons in the barrels. Except Snotlout, I wasn't really surprised by this.
"What's your name?" I asked him. I had to pretend I did know any of them.
"Snotlout, what's it to you".
"Well Snotlout, if you want to leave the docks, you have to place all your weapons in the barrel".
"What do you mean? I only have my mace".
"I can see your sword and dagger on your belt".
"Snotlout, just put your weapons in the barrel" Tuffnut said.
"Not till he gives me a good reason".
"I already told you. People with weapons that the dragons don't know make them nervous, and unless you plan on spending the rest of the week on the boat. I suggest you do what I say, and put your weapons in the barrel".
I was going to lose my temper on him soon, if he kept this up. Astrid could tell and grabbed my hand. Snotlout started glaring at me.
"How do I know your just waiting for me to put my weapons down, just so you can attack me".
"We're not like that, we don't make the first move here. So if you don't attack, we won't attack it's pretty simple".
"Snotlout, put your weapons in the stupid barrel!" Stoick yelled.
Snotlout thought about it for a minute, then slowly placed his mace, sword and dagger in the barrel I sighed.
"Ok, now that were done with that, follow me and I'll take you to the guest house" I said. As I started walk to the guest house.
"Astrid, Toothless and I will take them to the guest house. You and Emerald can meet us at the great hall ok" I told Astrid. I spoke in dragonese, so the others, wouldn't understand.
"Alright, but you two be careful" she said as she started walking off to the great hall.
"Who was that?" Stoick asked, walking up beside me.
"That, was my wife and daughter".
"I see, by the way I never got your name".
"My name is of no importance to you right now, when the time is right, I'll tell you" I told him. The last thing I wanted, was to tell them who I was.
"Oh. Ok, but what will we call you in the mean time? And I don't mean that in a bad way" Stoick said.
I laughed, "I understand what you mean. For now, you may call me the Dark Rider".
"Alright then, Dark Rider".
"Why Dark Rider?" Fishlegs asked.
I glanced over at Toothless and smiled. "I ride a Night Fury" was all I said. The answer was pretty obvious.
"Anyway here we are, the guest house. I'll let you all get settled in, you can meet me in the great hall in, let's say 20 minutes if that's ok with you?".
"Yes, that'll be just fine, we'll meet you there" Stoick agreed.
I nodded. "Come on bud, let's go" I said, as Toothless and I started walking to the great hall.
Once we got in the great hall, I took off my helmet and walked over to Astrid. Toothless walked over to Stormfly and their hatchings.
"Hiccup!" she said, jumping up and hugging me. "Well, how did it go?" she asked, taking Emerald back from Heather.
"Fine, I told them to meet me here in 20 minutes".
"So they'll be here in like 15 minutes?" Jack asked.
"Yes Jack" I nodded. It's a five minute walk, from the guest house to the great hall.
"Ok, but why did you want them to meet you here?" Jack asked.
"Well due to when they arrived, and how long it took to convince Snotlout to leave his weapons at the docks. It'll be almost supper time by the time they get here. So really might as well talk a little before supper".
"Did you confirm how long they'll be staying here?" Heather asked.
"Yeah I did Heather, we'll be stuck with them for a week for sure".
"Really? Why so long?" Sigfast asked.
"Look, I know none of you like them for...certain reasons, but I can't just kick them off the island without a reason alright" I explained.
"Ok Hiccup, I told all the dragon's on the island, about hook for an arm guy".
"Thanks Sharpshot".
"Yup anytime" Sharpshot said.
Just then, the doors of the great hall opened. I whipped around and froze.
Standing at the door, was the group from Berk. Astrid and I both froze, everyone at the door stared at us. Before Stoick looked right at me, "Hiccup?".