Super special awesome fudge coated chocolaty mega thanks to Heartlessly Awesome for his help in betaing (Is that a word?) this chapter.

And so I heard a proclamation from the heavens as a deep booming voice reververated in my head. It said: Hear my decree, for thou must accept that neither HTTYD nor Brave 2012 belong to thee.

Chapter 21

Next morning, Hiccup decided to take it easy. Instead of getting up before dawn to feed Toothless and a quick breakfast, he stayed in bed until well after the sun rose. This, he told himself, had nothing to do with the fact he was sure Montgomery would laugh at him the whole day, not one bit. When he got enough sleep, he went to get some breakfast at the throne room. Instead of a table full of food and chatter he found an assembly of people talking to the king and queen while the princess watched with a scowl on her face.

As soon as the people there noticed his presence an uncomfortable silence descended on the room.

"Please step forward, Master Haddock." The Queen gently ordered him and the crowd parted until he was standing before the monarchs. "We have been receiving reports of dragon related incidents ranging from mere sightings to property damage and slaughtered livestock." Someone in the background yelled something about cabbages but no one paid him any attention. "As of yet no human casualties have been reported but as a Monarch I cannot ignore my people's pleas of help. Do you understand why I am telling you this, Master Haddock?"

"I understand your Majesty. I'll depart as soon as I'm ready." Hiccup mentally assessed the situation. There was a dragon causing trouble, but since it hadn't killed anyone, the Queen had given him the chance to find a peaceful solution before King Fergus implemented a violent one.

"How do we know the boy didn't cause this to begin with," shouted someone in the crowd, the declaration was accompanied by agreeing murmurs. "We can't trust them… controlling dragons… cabbages… his own…"

The murmurs rose in volume until the Queen silenced the crowd with a gesture and a frown. "This person is a guest of Scotland and the royal family; as such, his presence is always accounted for. I will have no baseless accusations in my court."

In the ensuing silence, Ian Macintosh made his way to stand beside Hiccup. "If it pleases your Majesty, I would accompany Lord Haddock in his endeavor. To ensure there are no further misunderstandings about his intentions."

"Aye, A would help as well." The Dingwall heir walked over to the two teens along with Doric, who also proclaimed his desire to accompany them. Well, at least that is what they thought he said.

The Queen looked at them seriously before nodding slowly. "That is acceptable. If that is all, you may leave to prepare yourselves. Unless there are any objections?"

The courtroom was silent as no one dared to speak against the Queen and the clans. The four suitors bowed and left the throne room so the assembly could continue. As soon as the doors closed behind them, Ian gave a noisy sigh and visibly deflated. "That went well." He turned to Hiccup. "You, my friend, have timing worthy of a main character. That meeting was minutes away from dissolving into a brawl."

"Isn't that a little extreme for something so minor?"

"Matters of the court are seldom as they seem. Private interests and secret agendas abound." Ian lectured him.

William agreed with a nod. "Shame about the brawl though. Would have been fun."

The Macintosh heir snorted but didn't disagree, a brawl would have been fun, but there was better game afoot. "What's our first move, mighty dragon hunter?"

"Dragon tamer," He corrected. "And first…" He let the silence stretch for a moment. "Breakfast, after that we need to gather all the information we can dig up to see if we can figure out what kind of dragon we're dealing with and see if there's a pattern to his sightings."

Ian wasn't satisfied with the answer but accepted that it would be dumb to charge in blindly. "I know just the man. Meet us in the east council room when you finish eating."

After a quick snack, hiccup spent the hours in a council room along with the other suitors and an old bushy bearded man who never stopped glaring at him. Hiccup figured the man had an important position within the kingdom, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember having ever seen him before. They went through all the reports trying to determine which of them were real, which one of them were fake, and pinpointing each one in what Hiccup considered a wildly inaccurate map. Something he considered strange, because he had seen better maps in history books. He didn't give the matter much thought since the map was good enough for their purposes and they were just about finished anyways.

"This last one is most troubling as it occurred here in town. Angus McMillan has reported that his only daughter was kidnapped by a black dragon." The bushy bearded man's scowl deepened, causing Hiccup to sigh.

"I'll remind you one more time that dragons don't kidnap young maidens, they don't kill indiscriminately and they don't hoard treasure… well, none that you'd find valuable."

"Another for the discarded pile then," Ian commented. "I wonder what happened to the girl."

Hiccup gave him a sidelong glance. "If those gossipy women that visit the shop are to be believed, she got tired of waiting for her drunkard dad to give her his blessings to get married and ran away with her boyfriend to some southern town whose name I can't remember."

"You got all that from overhearing a conversation?" Ian was impressed.

Hiccup's expression turned pained. "A conversation? Ian those women, they don't shut up. Ever." He mussed his own hair trying to calm down. "I never thought I would miss the Viking's natural penchant towards grim silence but with Thor as my witness, I do." Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he continued as if nothing had happened. "What's important is that there isn't a discernable pattern in here." He gestured to the map. "Even if we take out the maybe's it doesn't make sense."

"Maybe it's looking for something – or someone." William showed that he was paying attention.

"There could also be more than one of them." Ian considered.

Hiccup shrugged helplessly. "Whatever the case, the pattern is too erratic to make an accurate prediction."

"So this was useless." Ian seemed a bit put off.

"Not necessarily," Hiccup assured him. "At least we know the situation isn't as bad as we were told." He turned his full attention at the map on the table. "Out of all the reports we've gone through, more than half have been outright lies or questionable at best. That means we won't have to work as hastily as we thought."

"So?" Ian didn't see how that was a good thing, it meant they had no solid leads to follow.

Hiccup smiled "I get to build something first."

XxX

Despite the reassurance that something disastrous wasn't looming, Hiccup knew they still had to act with some haste or people would start complaining. To that end, he decided not to go all the way back to town to do what he needed. Not to mention that he was still a little leery of meeting with Montgomery just yet. Opting instead to use the castle smithy, knowing that even as abandoned and in disarray as it was, there should still be enough tools and odd ends laying around to do what he needed to do.

To his surprise, he found the smithy completely renovated and restocked by what he would later find out were princess Merida's orders. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Hiccup went to work. When he finally came out of the workshop, sundown was rapidly approaching. Arguing that the information they had suggested the dragon was nocturnal he convinced the others to wait until the next day.

XxX

It was the crack of dawn when the three heirs found Hiccup and Toothless dragging a heavy sack out into the courtyard. They all looked ready for action and armed to the teeth.

The young Viking waved at them in greeting. "You guys look ready to take down an army. You just need some minor adjustments to your gear and we'll be ready to go.

"Wot sort of adjustments?" William looked especially sharp that morning.

"You're going to need to leave your weapons behind for one, then w-"

"Leave Stab Blooder behind?" Ian looked scandalized. "Are you mad?"

Hiccup made a gesture by separating his thumb and index fingers a small distance. This response was not reassuring.

Doric questioned the decision to leave the weapons behind… well they thought he did. That was what Hiccup answered at any rate. "It's because dragons are dangerous." Seeing the looks of incredulity they were giving him, he stopped for a moment before continuing. "Hear me out, okay? When I say that dragons are dangerous, I mean that all dragons can be dangerous, even the little one that the princess uses as a headdress." The grimace on Hiccup's face told them how difficult it was for him to admit that. "But just because they are dangerous doesn't mean they're evil. If you approach the situation swinging your sword, it would make things even more dangerous."

"That doesn't make any sense. How can I be in more danger when I'm armed?" Ian's face showed he was the most reluctant.

Hiccup frowned, trying to find the right words. "Let's be serious, I've seen you guys train and I know you're very good. But you're trained to fight people. Bringing your weapons will give you a false sense of security and kick in reactions, attitudes, and instincts that will get you killed."

"And how are we to defend ourselves without our weapons?" Ian still wasn't convinced.

Massaging the bridge of his nose, Hiccup answered him. "Weapons aren't meant for defense they are meant to attack."

"Now you're just discussing semantics." Ian shot back.

"A little bit," Hiccup admitted. "But that's my point. Dragons aren't as up to par in rhetoric as us. If they see us with weapons they aren't going to assume we carry them for protection, because weapons are for killing. For protection that will actually protect us, we need these." He showed them all the sack he had been dragging and pulled out-"

"Shields? You expect us to just use shields?"

"Of course I am. Shields can be your most important weapon; it can be used to attack and defend without looking threatening and it's much more effective at blocking you from a continuous stream of magnesium fueled flames than a five inch wide sword."

"Hate to say it but that's a good point." William put his spear on a weapons rack and graved one of Hiccup's shields, frowning as he felt something off. "This feels strange, different."

"Yes. I had to modify them because the shields you have here aren't strong enough to handle dragons," Hiccup informed them.

That seemed to convince Doric as he put his axes away and picked up the sack Hiccup was carrying. Immediately noting something he pulled out a shield twice the size of the other ones, he nodded in approval at how heavy it was.

Hiccup noticed that. "I gave that one a little something extra, so if anything gets too dangerous stand behind Doric.

"You mean you spent all day yesterday making shields?" Ian didn't know what to think about that.

"Not exactly, I didn't really make them; I had to cannibalize the shields in the armory so-" He shook his head. "I reinforced them as much as I could with the time I had, so they should be able to withstand a few good hits."

"That is not as reassuring as you think." Ian told him.

"It's the best I could do. Now put your weapons away and grab a shield or you're not going." Hiccup's tone left no room for arguments.

XxX

Standing at the gates of the castle, the royal family minus the princess stood waiting to wish good luck to the suitors on their journey. The Queen commended the four of them on their bravery and the King expressed some good-natured jealousy over their adventure.

Once the pleasantries were over, Ian pointed to the elephant in the room. "Forgive my boldness your Highness; does the princess not want to see us off?"

The Queen answered without missing a beat. "The princess had a rough day yesterday. I thought it prudent to let her sleep in today."

Ian nodded once in acknowledgement. "I understand, your Highness."

"I am sure that if Merida were here she would wish you all the best of luck in your endeavor," Elinor told them in a softer tone of voice.

Knowing what he knew of Merida, Hiccup doubted that statement. His suspicions were confirmed when a new voice entered the conversation. "Nae A wouldn't, An A won't have to, cause A'm coming with ye!"

The reactions to that statement were as varied as the people who heard it. King Fergus started laughing uproariously, Queen Elinor palmed her face and sighed, William stared blankly at nothing, Ian could not stop a small frown from planting itself in his face, Hiccup and Doric stared at the picture the princess presented to them: Mounted on her horse with a sword on her hip and a bow on her back, she had a proud posture and held her head up, proudly; silently daring them to contradict her.

The Queen took the challenge head on. "You are not going with them, young lady."

"Woot!?"

To the surprise of all present they both started to argue right then and there. Their discussion lasted until they both turned to Hiccup who, after making sure he wouldn't have to dodge some errant thrown axe or a spiked mace like in a normal Viking discussion, had tuned them out in favor of going over the information he had in his head. "I'm sorry, what?"

The scowls from both women told him that was the wrong answer. "You are being asked your opinion as leader of this expedition, Master Haddock. I believe that you can guess the subject."

He could. "I have no problem with the princess coming with us-"

Merida's face lit up.

"As long as she agrees to one condition."

Then she glared at him.

"That goes for you guys too." He turned to face the other suitors. "If you want to come the condition is that you do exactly what I tell you, how I tell you, when I tell you. When we're out there, we cannot afford a debate like back on the courtyard."

The heirs agreed rather quickly, they had already left their weapons behind, they might as well follow the instructions of someone who looked like he knew what he was doing. When they turned back to the princess she still had a defiant scowl on her face.

"I'm serious, Princess." Hiccup's tone was firm. "Mistakes cost limbs at best and lives at worst."

There was a conflict clear on Merida's face before she shot a quick glance at Hiccup's prosthetic and finally accepted. "Fine ye win. But ye better not leave me out of the action."

"I doubt there will be much action, but I'll keep that in mind. Now go put your weapons away please."

"Wot!?" Merida and Fergus chorused.

"It's a simple request."

"Nae, it's not!"

"The condition, remember?" Hiccup reminded her.

"But, why?"

Instead of answering Hiccup turned around. "Let's go guys."

"Alright, A Get it!" She shouted. "But ye have to tell me why!"

"Because they don't have weapons either." Hiccup gestured to the three clan heirs.

Merida blushed at her lack of attention, not noticing the others were weaponless too. She took off her weapons and handed them to her dad.

"The dagger in your dress too, please." Hiccup commented absently.

"Why do ye know wot's in me daughter's dress?" Fergus narrowed his eyes.

Hiccup didn't recognize the loaded question. "She told me." He made a gesture to Doric, whose horse was carrying spare shields, to give one to the princess.

The Queen's tone did a better job. "Would you care to elaborate, Master Haddock?"

"Oh, umm… We were talking about good places for hidden weapons and she told me she kept a dagger on her dress in case someone tried to get friendly without her consent," Hiccup nervously told the Queen.

The answer seemed to appease the Queen, but she still took him aside to talk to him privately. "Master Haddock… no, Hiccup, do you not think you are acting too rashly?"

"Taking a bunch of highly important people untrained and unarmed to face a dangerous and unpredictable mythical fire breathing beast? No, not at all." Hiccup deadpanned.

Elinor resisted the urge to smack Hiccup in the back of the head and settled for giving him on of those Queenly looks that made people squirm. Hiccup did not disappoint.

"I know this seems rushed, but I have thought about it and this is the best I can do with the time I have available. Besides, things are not as terrible as they appear. They are scary and dangerous but dragons are not inherently evil; they're like any other animal, as long as they can be understood they can be trained to be peaceful."

"The fact that you seem to know what you are doing quells many of my worries. However, I have to question your decision to bring Merida along." Looking at the boy's uncomprehending stare, Elinor couldn't help but sigh. "There are still many cultural idiosyncrasies that you have yet to recognize, Master Haddock. I suppose that is why you get along so well with my daughter."

Hiccup was starting to understand what the problem was and tried to reassure her. "Your Highness, Dragons are very fast aerial creatures, I don't expect we'll find anything today, tomorrow or next week. We're going to spend the vast majority of the time tracking him down and trying to establish a pattern. She'll probably get bored way before we find anything useful."

"I believe you underestimate my daughter's stubbornness, Master Haddock."

The Queen still looked doubtful, so Hiccup did one last pitch. "If you're really worried, I'm sure you can find something else for her to do when we get closer to finding the dragon. What are the chances we'll find anything today of all days?"

Attention world council, for I have taken your beloved chapter hostage. The price for its release? –Puts pinky on mouth- One hundred… Reviews! –Cue music sting–

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