I started to have a look at some of the other features of this site today (forums, communities, etc) and I have discovered something - I think I am the oldest person here (0_0) eep!

25 Its Good To Be The King

Captain Joric Thorn ran forward from the ships wheel to the port railing and looked over into the inky blackness.

"DO YOU SEE ANYTHING" he called to one of his men as he broke the surface of the water.

"THE UNDERTOW'S GOT THEM" the man called back "THEY'RE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SHIP!"

The soldiers that were still on the ship ran to the starboard railing to look over the side as three more sailors dove off into the water.

"Even if they manage to find the prisoners sir, I doubt they will be able to save them with those heavy chains weighing them down" Thorn called out to the prince.

"Yes yes; no need to rub it in" the annoyed monarch replied.

Nainn desperately wanted to blame somebody else for what had just happened to the Berkian women. But it was he alone who had insisted, against the Captains advice, to chain the prisoners during their transfer to the castle; just so he would look more impressive to those on shore. He put his unneeded sword back in its sheath and stormed back to the gangway where the commander of his soldiers stood waiting with the chart of Nainns voyage to the northwest islands.

"Give me that" he barked as he snatched the map from the man who just saluted and then followed his prince off toward the castle.

The crowd still cheered at his passing, but Nainn was in no mood to acknowledge their forced adoration as he stormed through the gate.

Underneath the dock, Toki was beginning to turn blue as he struggled to unscrew the last of the ankle chains from Sigrids leg, while she pulled herself along the guide rope that Godfred and Sigfus had laid under the water the previous night. Long before they had gone over the side of the gangway, Sigrid had insisted to Toki that he be sure to take care of Astrid first, but one of the young girls chains had proved very difficult to remove; and so he found that he had to undo Sigrids chains while on the move as they both could only hold their breath for so long.

The rope led them all back to a specially prepared place on the shore underneath the dock where a number of lengths of sackcloth had been hung by Gil and Freya. They were well hidden from sight as they left the water, near one of the town's stormwater drain outlets. Not that anyone should be looking underneath the dock at that time, but with so many people in the water pretending to search, it was a case of better safe than sorry. Sigrid felt the last chain fall off her leg just as her head left the water, so she reached back behind her and grabbed a large tuft of Toki's hair and pulled him to the surface.

"Blue is definitely not your colour" she smiled as he fought for breath.

"I don't think I could have lasted any longer down there" he gasped.

"Thank you Toki" Sigrid kissed the sailor on the forehead "you've been a peach."

"Oh no; thank you for not escaping back on the island... the life you saved may have been mine. I hope this makes us square for all the times I had to hold you at knifepoint."

"You're forgiven Toki; now get back to the ship before you're missed."

"Goodbye... and good luck getting home" he waved and turned back to swim to the end of the dock.

Astrid sat shivering in the storm drain as Sigrid climbed in herself only to see another familiar face.

"I would have joined you both, but I didn't bring my bathing costume."

"Freya! Good to see you" Sigrid smiled with delight as a towel hit her in the face.

"Hurry up and get dry; I've got some clothes here for you and then we've got to get out of town as soon as we can; there has been some trouble and our safe house has been compromised."

"What does that mean?" Astrid asked.

"I don't know; it's just one of the weird things this guy named Sigfus says all the time."

The large, ornate door that led from the throne room into King Rekkur's private chambers close behind Prince Nainn with an impressive 'boom' as the king and his advisors prepared to hear the rest of Nainns report about his journey into the Sea of Doom; as the superstitious peasants liked to call it. The official reception had gone more or less to plan only without the expected, and much looked forward to, humiliation of the prisoners that usually went along with the return of a conqueror. So the King had to be satisfied with the new map and the report of many islands to annex into his kingdom.

"I was informed that you had brought two prisoners back with you" the king said accusingly "so what happened to them?"

"The clumsy fools fell off the gangway and drowned in the harbour father" a very annoyed prince stated "but it's the other people we encountered that have got me worried."

"Worried? I thought you said in the throne room that you had no trouble with them."

"We won't have any trouble with them in the future father, but they did vastly outnumber my small contingent; I had to use my wisdom and strategy to get the better of them."

Nainn was most pleased that nobody else from the ship was with him to let slip the facts of what had happened to the prince during his encounters with the Vikings, but there was one twisted truth Nainn had decided to reveal to the royal court as he took out the ornate dagger Stoick had given him.

"This knife was given to me by the Chief of the islands we were peacefully exploring, after his people had attacked me for no legitimate reason and killed two of the ships company. He told me that if I ever returned to the lands he had conquered, he would use this knife to slaughter me but with your permission father, I would like to send the entire fleet back there to dismantle this empire and destroy that mad dictator; visiting his threats back upon him with this very blade and thus freeing the people he has enslaved to live free as servants of Bolthorn."

Even though there was no one in the room to dispute the prince, the king and his advisors were still very quick and eager to accept the one sided version of events Nainn had been presented to them, but the king was not willing to commit his entire forces to this venture. There were other kingdoms in the surrounding lands with spies everywhere, constantly looking for weak spots in the Elydonian defences they could exploit at any time.

"What can you tell me about the strength of this Chief's forces" the king asked his son.

"He kept everything hidden from me so that I would not see how weak he truly was, but I saw that every island was either uninhabited or only had two or three people visiting at any time. One of his people claimed that he had many ships, but I saw only one and it was no more than a fishing boat compared to the Kings Warships; the small vessel I sailed on was still twice the size of it. The only true danger I encountered, apart from Mad Stoick and his giant axe, was a weedy boy with one leg who had the ability to bring fire down from above; but none of the others were able to do this."

"Sir; if I may" asked one of the king's advisors.

"What is it" the king sounded very annoyed at the interruption.

"The Town Constabulary has reported that they have detained two strangers seen near the docks last night... and the smaller of them had only one leg; well... one and a half actually."

"What about the other one" Nainn blurted out "was it a thin blonde girl?"

"No Prince Nainn; it was another much larger boy who appeared to be the one in charge."

"Interesting" the king stroked his bearded chin "maybe you should go and see if these are indeed the same people that you encountered on your voyage, come to spy on us."

"Yes father I will, but what of my request for the fleet to be sent back?" Nainn almost demanded.

"I will not commit the entire fleet to this task while there are other enemies to consider" frustration burned in Nainn eyes at the king's words "but you may take the eight Warships moored at the naval dockyard and destroy this Mad Stoick and his barbaric hoards. Bring back some of the people you free from those lands, so they can work off their debts to the Crown for their liberation."

"Yes father... thank you, but I should remain behind to oversee the operation..."

"No my son; your experience in that area and with its people will be needed by the ships commanders; so you must go."

"Yes father" Nainn agreed through gritted teeth.

"Now go and see to these prisoners while I send word to prepare the ships for our conquest."

"By your leave father" Nainn raised his arm in salute and then turned and left the room.

With a dull thud, the bow of the Sharktooth struck the sand on a deserted beach twelve miles north of Bolthorn as Windrunner set down in the sand next to Barf and Belch. Olaf and Helga dropped from the longship to the beach as Odd and the twins approached with their dragons following close behind.

"So what are we supposed to do now if we can't fly our dragons down to Bolthorn" Tuffnut complained.

"We wait here until Stoick arrives with the whole team, or we go search for them when the sun sets" Olaf informed the boy.

"Wait... what? How can we search for them after the sun has gone down?"

"Well you never know if everything has gone according to plan or not, so we may be looking for anything that stands out; you know, mayhem, destruction, a burning castle, who knows."

"Neat" Ruffnut grinned "now I hope that the Chief doesn't show up because you should have seen the size of that castle; it would be great to watch it burn."

"Yeah" her brother agreed as they hit their helmets together.

"Odd; keep a close eye on those two... please."

"You got it Olaf."

The sounds of clanking locks and slamming doors echoed throughout the castle dungeon as footfalls approached the prison cell that held the two young Dragon Riders.

"Well well well" Nainn gloated as he peered into the cell "you're the son of Stoick aren't you?"

"Hey Prince; how's tricks? Have you got your other prisoners with you?" Hiccup fished for information.

"You will be no doubt sorry to hear that they are both dead" Nainn grinned smugly "they drowned in Bolthorn harbour only an hour ago, but don't you worry. For when I tell my father who he has sitting in his dungeon, then it won't be long before you join them in the afterlife."

"So... you're not gonna let us go then? No fair; we let you go."

"Let you go? When I tell my Father who you are, he will have you executed to show the people of Elydonia just how King Rekkur of Bolthorn protects his people from foreign invaders."

"Foreign invaders? A sleeping oaf and a boy with one leg?"

"I heard that" mumbled Snotlout "and you've got one and a half."

"And we would not have come here if you had kept your word to my father and left, but noooo; you had to wave your sword around and kidnap my friends. So here it is Nainn, your final warning; Let us go now and we will leave peacefully. If not, then you can watch your castle burn."

Hiccups ultimatum took Nainn by surprise; it was a long way from the usual 'oh-no-Prince Nainn-please-don't-kill-me' type of pleading that he was more acquainted with.

"You and your people are nothing more than rodents to me; constantly turning up where you are not wanted and making nothing but a mess. Well it's time for you to be exterminated. So while you are here waiting for your execution, I will be leading a force of warships deep into your former territory, where I will watch Your home burn; so no one will be left to mourn your passing."

With his threat still echoing inside the cell, Prince Nainn stormed off to take command of the Royal Bolthorn Invasion Fleet and leave the two boys to their fate.

"That went well and we now know that the drowning plan worked" Snotlout commented sarcastically "but why did you call me a sleeping oaf."

"Sorry Snot; I was just trying to make him see that we were no threat, but it's a tactic I think I will have to abandon. Nainn seems to really enjoy harassing people who are no threat to him."

"Yeah... well... next time you can be the oaf and I'll be the boy with the one... wait... no, that's not right."

With a look of longing in her eyes she stood on the edge of the cliff and looked out over the ocean. Day after day she came to this place and day after day she dreamt of the time when her fiancés ship would appear on the horizon and they would be together once more. When that day finally came, she would say to him the words that she had been longing to say during the many long months gone by.

"Why did you take the TV remote with you, ya selfish bastard?"