Stoick stood on the dock as the Berserker longship was tied down. Its blue paint scheme was accented by the black dragon on the sail, and a gangplank was lowered to the dock once it was secured. Standing next to Stoick were Gobber, Hiccup, and Toothless. Although only one ship approached, the rest of the fleet waited outside the harbor. The other riders were saddled up nearby, watching the armada should the Berserkers be up to something nefarious.
Stoick saw a flash of bright red hair on the deck, and Kata suddenly stepped around the main mast into view. She was young, maybe two years younger than Hiccup, and already chief. For such a young child to take on such responsibility saddened Stoick, but she had already proven she was could handle the burden of a chief.
Kata approached the gangplank, and gave a little jump when Vorg started speaking to introduce her. Her dragon draped around her shoulders raised his head and stared at the Berserker as Vorg raised his voice.
Vorg didn't seem to notice the surprise of his chief or her dragon. "Presenting the High Chief of the Berserker tribe, sister of Dagur the Deranged, destroyer of fleets, Kata Oswalddottir!"
Kata approached the gangplank when Vorg finished with a glance at him, having recovered from the surprise of her sudden introduction. She jumped lightly onto the edge of the ship and stepped onto the gangplank without the aid of her Berserkers despite her small size. Calmly, she walked to Berk's dock.
"Stoick the Vast," Kata greeted him respectfully.
"Kata Oswalddottir," Stoick returned in the same respectful tone, a little surprised that she didn't have a title after her first name. "Your visit is unexpected to say the least."
"I suppose it is," Kata mused agreement. "May I assume your son already told you of the reason behind my visit?"
"You want to renew the peace treaty between our tribes," Stoick nodded, a little wary. "I heard."
"No need to be so vigilant," Kata scolded Stoick with a smile at his cautious tone. "I am not here for war. As I explained to Hiccup, Dagur has… damaged our alliances with other tribes. I thought since Berk and Berserk have been allies for the past 30 years, barring last year, you might be willing to hear me out."
Stoick looked over her armada, assured now that what Hiccup had learned on Outcast was true. Kata had defeated Alvin in single combat and then weathered a full assault by an enemy armada without losing a single ship. Her confidence was not self-indulgence, but earned from victory. The Berserkers were a threat again, perhaps even more then they had been under Dagur's leadership. His original idea of keeping the Berserkers at arm's reach might not be the wisest plan anymore. It might be safer for them to be Berk's allies and prevent future trouble.
"I understand why you would come here Kata," Stoick agreed, "but I am surprised as well after Dagur's death."
"Dagur died in Alvin's custody," Kata curled her left hand into a fist, fingernails digging into her palm. "I doubt you knew that would happen, so I cannot hold you entirely accountable."
Even if she didn't have a grudge against Berk, which Stoick found unlikely, she would hold Alvin accountable. Berk had an alliance with Alvin, so things could get messy if he formed an alliance with the Berserkers and then they attacked Outcast. Then again, a treaty might be the only way to safeguard Berk from a Berserker attack. He was assuming of course that Kata would honor the treaty, and although she would in the past, he wasn't sure how much she had changed.
"I do not hold my brother's death against you," Kata lied smoothly through her teeth. "My visit was unscheduled so you couldn't hide your dragons from me as you did to Dagur, although I doubt you can blame me for being cautious."
Stoick supposed he didn't blame her. The war with the Berserkers that had ended with Dagur imprisoned on Outcast had begun when Berk had lied to Dagur about training dragons. Although Stoick hadn't given it much thought before, he realized the war wasn't entirely Dagur's fault. Some of the blame lay with him for ordering the dragons to be hid. From the slight note of venom in Kata's voice when she spoke, she probably knew that to.
"There is plenty of blame to go around over the war… on both sides," Stoick admitted, that being as much of an apology as he felt like giving Kata for defending Berk from her deranged brother.
"Then you will agree to a treaty?" Kata asked Stoick calmly, her dragon turning one of its crimson eyes to Berk's chief.
Kata wasn't giving Stoick much time to think about it, and he needed time to think about it. He needed to stall.
"I will think it over," Stoick said noncommittedly. "Since you are already here Kata, how about a tour of the village? I will give you my answer tonight during dinner in the Great Hall."
Kata gave it a seconds thought and then nodded agreement. "That will do."
A tour of Berk would give her its layout so she would know exactly which targets to hit, so she was hardly going to say no. Stalling would also work in her favor as it would give Merrik and the others time to rescue Dagur. Kata motioned for Willem and Vorg to accompany her, and then Stoick turned and began to lead the three of them towards the village.
Kata stopped in front of Toothless unexpectedly, and glanced past Hiccup to Toothless. "He is a beautiful dragon Hiccup, and if what the Berserkers tell me is true, quite an asset on the battlefield. Is his name really Toothless?"
"Yes," Hiccup nodded and stepped to one side so Kata could look at him better.
Toothless had his ears lowered, but he blissfully didn't growl at Kata and make the situation even tenser then it already was. He knew she carried the scent of the Berserkers and that she looked an awful lot like Dagur, but her scent wasn't soaked in dragon blood as her brother's had been. The dragon on Kata's shoulders was proof that she respected the dragons, an improvement over her brother, but something still bothered him about her… What was it though?
Stoick waited patiently as she turned away from the Nightfury and resumed following him.
"I can see why Dagur was so interested in that dragon," Kata mused with a smile.
Stoick wasn't sure how to respond to her backhanded compliment, so didn't say anything.
"My father never did have any interest in training dragons," Kata sighed as she walked beside Stoick, "foolish to the end."
Stoick almost cringed when she said that, unable to believe that Kata was also going to speak so poorly of Oswald. Did neither of his children know proper respect?
"You wish I hadn't said that," Kata observed. "You actually think that Oswald was a great man, and that you'll not have me disrespect him, right? That's what Dagur said you told him."
"Am I wrong?" Stoick asked, thinking he had her with that question.
Kata smiled without missing a step, and replied in a calm serious voice, "yes."
Stoick drew his eyebrows together, disliking the fact she was slurring Oswald's name.
"It's not just because he lost his taste for blood," Kata assured Stoick. "How do I put this so you'll understand? I don't believe that Dagur ever told you directly, but I'm sure you guessed that by now my brother killed Oswald."
"That conclusion did come to mind," Stoick agreed in a slow tone.
"If Dagur hadn't killed Oswald when he had," Kata explained with a surprisingly level voice, "Oswald would have killed me."
Stoick stopped walking at those words, but Kata didn't. She walked several steps before she realized the great Chief of Berk had stopped, and turned to face him with calm curiosity.
"Dagur killed Oswald, the person you claim was a great man, so Oswald wouldn't kill me," Kata repeated in a scornful tone. "He was protecting me."
"Oswald?" Stoick asked seriously. "Are you certain?"
She smiled and laughed lightly, a laugh that sent a small chill down Hiccup's spine. "I'm certain."
Kata brushed the right side of her jacket off her shoulder and tugged down her blue collar to reveal the scar on the collarbone. Stoick looked at it for a moment and then his eyes widened when he recognized that the scar had been made by a sword. His first guess was that it was from Dagur, but then a more terrifying thought choked him.
"This isn't the first time Oswald's did something like this either," Kata turned her head so he could see the scar easier. "This is just the first time it scarred. When Dagur found out that Oswald had hurt me, he went to track him down. If Dagur's friends hadn't caught up to him then Oswald would have been killed several years ago instead of last year."
"That's from a sword," Stoick said seriously. "You're implying that Oswald gave you that scar?"
"Aye," Kata agreed. "He's thrown his sword at Dagur to. You should have seen some of the scars on my brother's back. Dagur always said Oswald was so busy being agreeable to everyone else that he had no patience leftover when it came to dealing with us."
Stoick looked at the scar on her chest as Kata released the cloth and it vanished from sight. She tugged her jacket back in place with a dark look at Stoick.
"So please Stoick," Kata asked him calmly, "don't speak about my father in such high regard around me again. You're fortunate Dagur has as much self-control as he did and that he didn't snap at you when you started defending Oswald in front of him. I assure you, I do not have my brother's patience for such things."
Kata turned away from Stoick sharply and resumed walking. Stoick just stood there for a second until Gobber tapped him on his shoulder and jolted him from his daze. He glanced at Gobber, his friend seeming just as surprised as Stoick was about Kata's confession, and then caught up to Kata so he was walking a little in front of her. An uncomfortable silence fell between the two parties.
If Kata's story was true, and she had no reason to lie about something like that, then it explained Dagur's irritable behavior when he had come to renew the peace treaty. Stoick had scolded Dagur for discrediting Oswald like a child, and then they toasted Oswald and told Dagur he was wrong. Perhaps Stoick was more to blame for what had come next then he realized.
Kata could tell Stoick was turning her words over, but even if he regretted how he had acted, it didn't change anything. Dagur was still trapped in Alvin's dungeon, dying. Nothing Stoick said could ensure Dagur would be alive when Kata next saw him. Hopefully, Stoick wouldn't mention her "father" to her again.
The thought of her brother made her eyes darken, and reminded her why she was doing this. She tried not to worry about things even though she did. It had left before them, had taken a straight course, and hadn't been forced to sail only as fast as the slowest ship in the fleet. Since the wind seemed to be holding, a fact that amazed Kata since it meant Odin wasn't sabotaging her again, they should reach Outcast in a few days. Everything was going according to plan.
Leif was still hidden below Wolfwind's deck, getting the feel for Berk's dragons or something like that. He should be ready to use his god-touched aura and make the dragons bow to him as if he was their alpha, although he still wasn't sure if that would work. That was the only catch, and Kata knew she couldn't rely on Leif in this battle.
They should be ready to move on to Outcast in three or four days, leaving Berk in ashes behind her. If things really went as they should then by the time her fleet returned home with Dagur her people on Berserk would have gotten the needed information from Ingrid about the pirates. Depending on how much the shield-maiden knew, they might be able to find the island that served as the pirate's base and eliminate them as well.
To have all of Berserk's enemies eliminated in one fell swoop and to have her brother back home… that would be Kata's total victory.
Of course, she was assuming that everything would go according to plan.
I'm sure most of you out there know how dangerous it is to make that assumption. Part of me is surprised that Odin isn't interfering with the Berserkers. It is like him to do something like that, trust me.