Special Thanks to DragonWriter0316 for helping with grammar and fixing some of the words in this chapter. it was fun working together with you on this chapter, fixing the mistake I made and adding more detail to certain scenes was fun.
Hiccups(POV)
I finished packing and loading the supplies, this was the day of the meeting. I wondered what would happen after this day? Would more tribes come together so they could connect to trade? Or was it possible that we would just make new enemies, I guess only time will tell.
Astrid and Fishlegs were getting ready to leave; however, Ronde was over towards the lake looking at his reflection again. I was wondering why but by the looks of his body language he was nervous about something.
I decided to speak, "Alright everyone, today is the day of peace meeting. We should make it to the place within an hour. However, and I cannot stress this enough, please be on your best behavior, both us and our dragons are representing Berk. We might make new enemies but we also may make new allies as well. But we need to do this for the safety of Berk, so let get a move on."
"Ok," Fishlegs said while packing his stuff.
"Wait."
Everyone turned around to look at Ronde.
He looked nervous but spoke and said, "Before we head out there to face whatever comes our way just hear me out."
"What is it?" Astrid asked.
He looked over toward us and tries to compose himself and said out loud, "I believe it is best if only Hiccup, Astrid, Stormfly, and I should go to this meeting."
"What!? Why?" I asked
"I thought about this last night and I want you all to think about it for a moment: don't you think it's a little strange that the Bog Burglars decided to take Hiccup a few days before this meeting?"
I was wondering what he was getting at, so I asked him.
He looked over towards me and said, "Hiccup, did the message that you received say anything about what would happen if you didn't show up?"
I thought for a moment, "They said if I didn't make it to this meeting, they would attack Berk."
"I was afraid of that. I believe that the Warlords are aware of this meeting and tried to take advantage of it." He had a worried look on his face. "I believe that the Warlords hired the Bog Burglars to take you off your island because they wanted you to pay for interfering with their plans, as well as have you captured so they could use you to teach them how to gain a dragon's trust."
"Wait, what are you trying to say?"
"It's quite possible that this meeting could be a trap or at least a way to observe your power over dragons."
"So why do I need to stay?" asked Fishlegs
"To watch over Toothless. If this is a trap then it is best not to hand-deliver them one of their targets. Meanwhile, Astrid and Hiccup will ride Stormfly to the island and I will act as their bodyguard and if something goes wrong I'll get us all out of there and come back here."
"Are you going to stay the way that you are or change into your...human self?" Astrid asked.
"I need to stay like this, for now, I...need to go like this."
I was about to ask him why but then I remember something back at Berk when we were playing chess.
("But know this Hiccup, I'm only going there for support I'm not going inside the place," he said in a serious tone.
"Then why go with me at all?" I asked.
He didn't answer right away but then he started scratching the back of his head. "It's very complicated but I'll tell you if you promise not to tell the others."
I didn't understand how this could be complicated but I guessed I'd hear him out. "Ok, fine, what is it then."
"This will answer your previous question but I wanted to see if the King and Queen from my country are there and if so if they are okay."
Wait that was it? "I understand but I don't. Wouldn't it be better for you to come inside the place with me to see them?"
He sighed, "Like I said it's complicated I'm afraid if I go inside they'll... recognize me.")
He just wanted to go to see the king and queen from his country. But then why not go inside when he was human? And I was sure that he knew that if he went to this meeting with me the people would possibly be hostile towards the dragons but they couldn't do anything towards us. But again, why did he change his mind about coming inside to the meeting with me as a dragon instead of his human self. And what was the importance of him seeing the king and queen of his country? Who were they to him?
He turned towards Fishlegs, "Fishlegs, is this ok with you? If you want, you can read the remaining portion of my journal to pass the time."
Fishlegs was excited at first, but then he said, "Are you sure? This is your personal information and I don't want to seem rude."
"It's fine. In my journals, I was being very vague because of my situation to begin with. Plus I already told you guys everything last night about the beginning portion of my life on that island, so it's ok."
"Ok, I'll stay here with Meatlug and Toothless."
"Right, Hiccup, you ride with Astrid on top of Stormfly."
"Wait, why can't Hiccup ride on-"
Ronde quickly cut her off and said, "Just because I'm a dragon doesn't mean that I'll let people ride me like I'm some pet. The only time I'll let someone on my back if they're injured, in immediate danger, or if it's a person that I'm...trying to impress..."
His scales changed slightly to a pinkish hue but no one said anything or pointed it out.
His scales changed back to their normal color and then he looked towards me, "That's why I shook you off my back when we were on the Bog Burglars' beach- I still have standards."
I thought I understood his philosophy. When it came to this matter, he saw dragons as equal to humans but he didn't like to be treated as if he was a dragon or the way he saw us with our dragons, as a pet. But we did treat our dragons equally.
"Look, I'll be in the air waiting for you, just please don't take your time, I want this day to be over so I can move on." The moment he said that he flew into the air at a distance where we could see him.
"What does he mean by that, that he wants this day over with? Does that have something to do with us?" asked Fishlegs.
He did ask me not to tell them, but I thought the reason he said that was because it may have something to do with him being a dragon, maybe. But I think they should know. "Ronde told me that the reason he wanted to come to this meeting was because he wanted to see if the king and queen of his country were there."
Astrid looked confused and asked, "Do they have some sort of connection with him or something?"
"He didn't tell me. All he told me was that he didn't want to go inside with me because he was afraid of someone recognizing him. But now that he's a dragon he doesn't have to worry about it, at least that's what I think."
"But they have to mean something for him to have gone this far."
"Guys."
Both Astrid and I gave Fishlegs our attention.
"Ronde just allowed me to read his journal entries. If I find out anything about the connection between Ronde and his king and queen I'll let you know; but right now he is waiting for you two in the sky. Just go-I'll take care of Toothless and Meatlug."
"Is this ok? We're going behind his back to uncover more about him when we could just ask him," Astrid suggested.
"We'll do both," I said while rubbing Toothless's head. "I'll be back bud, don't worry."
"Astrid, I believe he trusts you more than anyone else here. You can ask him that question. Fishlegs, you find as much information as you can in his book. But we should hurry up-I can tell from down here that he is getting impatient."
Astrid and I both got on Stormfly and flew towards Ronde. He had an irritated look on his face when he said, "Does it take that long to say goodbye? We shouldn't even be gone all day- why did you take so long?"
"Sorry Ronde were planning something after this meeting." I heard him slightly growl at that comment but he said nothing, so I continued, "The meeting is less than an hour from here, follow us."
We headed towards the direction of The Day of Peace. Ronde was following right behind us, but that was when I noticed he was in deep thought about something.
A few minutes went by but no one said anything. Ronde was still following us but he was continuing in deep thought about something, but whatever it was it was troubling him. Astrid was the one who eventually broke the silence.
"Hey Ronde, I wanted to ask why did you want to come to this meeting anyway?"
"Oh, I just...needed to see something."
"Something or someone?" she asked.
"I need to see something so I can finally rest easy and put my past fears behind me."
He wanted to see if the king and queen of his home were fine but what did that mean? Was there something wrong with them?
"Is that the place Hiccup?" Ronde asked.
I looked over Astrid to see what he was talking about and then I saw it: an island with a statue of a warrior, but the lower half was the entrance;the docks were connected to the entrance; and there were hundreds of boats around the island and docks.
"We need to be careful about how we approach this island." Ronde said, "You guys go ahead first, they'll see me as a bigger threat if I go down there with you and they may attack us. I'll go invisible and be right next to you guys, if anything goes wrong I'll be there to stop it."
Ronde then looked at me with a series look and said, "Hiccup, when you call me please do not use my real name, just call me the Chimera Dragon like you have been doing up till now. And if it helps your case to convince these savages about dragons being intelligent then you can say how smart I am so they can know I can understand them. But I will not talk to them-I will only nod my head yes or no and make gestures so they know that I can understand them."
I was shocked that he said that, "You'll do that for me?"
"Yes, as long as you don't tell them how to gain the trust of a dragon. That could lead to more wars."
"Ok, Ronde."
As soon as I said that his scales started to blend into the sky. Even though he was next to us it was very hard to see him if at all.
"I'll be right next to you," he said. "You can go down there now, just be careful how you approach them."
Then all of a sudden he made a warbling sound to get Stormfly's attention. After he finished making the sound Stormfly squawked back and flew towards the island.
Before we even landed people were gathering around the docks.
We landed and people pulled out their spears and swords.
"Dragon!" one of them yelled.
"We must kill it now!" another screamed.
We quickly got off of Stormfly and I pulled out my Inferno sword to get their attention. "Whoa easy there. She will not harm any of you," I said.
They all looked shocked when they saw us.
"You brought a dragon to a meeting where every leader across the world is! You came here to destroy this place just like Drago Bludvist didn't you!"
I was about to respond but then I remembered what dad told me before I met mom. He said that during the meeting of Chiefs Drago Bludvist attacked. So, there was a good chance that they believed that I would do the same thing. So, I tried to answer the best way I could. "No, we did not-we were invited here to discuss matters about the archipelago."
"That doesn't matter! You brought a dragon-a weapon-to this place! You have endangered everyone here!"
"Our dragons will not harm you if you don't provoke them."
One of the guard's eyes widen, "Dragons? As in more than one!? Where are the others!?"
"Cease this pointless argument at once."
We all turned around towards the entrance to see an older man wearing a white robe walking towards us.
The group in front of us looked surprised to see him, "Our majesty, these Hooligans have brought dragons into our sanctuary and have endangered this meeting and everyone here."
The older man continued walking towards us, now past the guards. He stepped in front of me and asked, "Tell me, child, who are you and why have you come to this place with dragons?"
"My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, chief of Berk. I was invited here through this letter." I showed him the letter and then he had a surprised look on his face.
"I see...my children you may go and attend to those who have just arrived. I will stay here and talk to our guests." The guards then lowered their weapons and walked towards the other boats assisting the other Chiefs and Chieftesses.
The older man then lowered his head, "I apologize for the rude introduction, but you must understand-it's not every day that you see someone riding a dragon. We were afraid of another Drago Bludvist incident. My name is Unitatis."
Astrid and I were shocked to see that this man apologized to us, but then he looked up at us with a serious expression and said, "Before I lead you inside I must ask you a few questions before telling you something."
I was almost scared to ask because of the way he was looking at me, but I responded with, "Ok then, what do you want to know?"
"Where is the Chief that was known as Stoick the Vast? I hoping that the rumors were not true."
"They are true, my father is no longer with us."
"I see...I'm sorry for bringing this up. The second question is why would you bring a dragon to this meeting when you know that there would be other Vikings and tribes here who dislike dragons?"
"It's possible to ease the tension between dragons and Vikings-I just need to show them how to better defend against dragons without hurting them."
The man slightly smiled at me, "You youths with your crazy ideas. But I understand you have a goal in mind, so I won't stop you. The last question is that you said dragons as if more than one is going to show up. Are we to expect more dragons to show up?"
"Just one more dragon, this one insisted to come."
"Oh, well where is it then?"
"He's invisible but he should be close," I remembered Ronde asked me not to call him by his name, "Chimera dragon, you can show yourself."
We looked around and we didn't see any signs of him. But then the man suddenly took a step back in surprise looking behind us.
I turned around to see Ronde staring at us.
"I didn't expect this one to be so big Is this dragon tamed?"
"If you are asking if he is going to attack someone, the answer is no-he is not aggressive unless he is provoked. In fact, this one is very intelligent, he can even understand you."
The man looked back to me then turned to Ronde with a look of confusion, "That can't be. How can a dragon understand us, humans? Can it truly understand me?"
"Why don't you ask him?" I said.
He looked shocked, but he walked in front of Ronde despite looking scared-he was very brave. "Dragon...can you understand me?"
Ronde nodded his head.
The man was surprised, "Impossible...how do I know that was not something you taught him."
"He can't talk, but just ask him to do something simple."
"Raise your left paw."
Ronde lifted his left hand.
"Now your right."
He lifted his right hand.
"Now clap your claws together."
Ronde then clapped his hands together 3 times.
"Amazing. Did you teach this dragon?"
"No. As far as I know, he was raised by humans and learned from them."
"Perhaps you can bring dragons and humans together. Please allow me to show you inside. We will find you a place big enough for you to sit with your dragons as well."
We followed the man and he led us through the entrance. As we were walking, those who were still unloading off of their boats stared at us or more specifically, stared at Stormfly and Ronde, and by the look on Ronde's face, he didn't like being stared at.
"Tell me...Unitatis, why did you want to have this meeting in the first place?"
"I will tell everyone that reason when everybody has arrived. And by the look of it, it may take half an hour for everyone to get here and get settled."
He led us inside, and this place was huge: thrones were in a giant circle, a huge fireplace was in the middle, and there was a second floor as well. There were paintings all over the walls, some depicting various gods while others were of certain species of dragons.
"Wow, this place is amazing."
"We recently had this place built, so there might be stone and rocks were you will be seated at. You may also know that we didn't know that you were going to bring another person with you or dragons for that matter so your space was made for a Viking sized person, so I hope you two don't mind. You both should be able to sit in the same throne."
"That's fine, but what about our dragons? Will there be enough space for them?"
"I do believe that I have a place for you all, but the purple one may be uncomfortable."
He led us to the far end of the room opposite the entrance. There was was a throne in the middle with enough space for both Stormfly and Ronde. But there was one problem... "I don't mean any offense when I say this, but if we sit here we're going to be the center of attention."
"Young one, you have dragons here with you-you were going to be the center of attention regardless of where you sit."
I couldn't think of anything to say-he was right.
"Plus, be thankful this is the spot I am giving to you and your people-this spot was my space after all."
"Why would you..."
"Even though I just met you, I can tell that you have a goal that will bring all of us together and demolish this hate we have amongst ourselves and bring us together. I hope that today will accomplish that. That is why I'm letting you sit here."
"I don't know what to say."
"Just be yourself and please keep your dragons under control. People will try to provoke you today." After saying that, he looked around the room warily.
"We're aware of that."
He smiled, turned around, and began to walk towards the exit, "Good luck young ones."
Everyone then tried to settle down around the throne: there was enough room for both me and Astrid to sit down next to each other, Ronde sat down on his hind legs on my left, and Stormfly was on Astrid's right.
"Sometimes I wonder if you're trying to get yourself killed..."
I looked over to see Ronde with his eyes closed, but he was talking, just very low so no one could hear him.
"Don't look at me before people get suspicious Hiccup..."
I turned my gaze toward the front, but I did want to know what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"
"You don't need to tell him everything about why you are here and lie about my origins; you could have said that your village raised me..." he sighed, "You are very lucky that that man and his followers are from the Ensemble clan."
"The what clan?"
"My father told me that there is a clan of religious people called Ensemble. I believe it means Together-they are a very peaceful and powerful clan. They seek ways to bring people together in the pursuit of peace. But while searching for the answers, they realize that some people only know peace through conflict in wars. Because of this, they have powerful people, weapons and armies just in case something or someone disrupts the peace..."
"How do you know that?"
"My father was on a search himself to find out ways to bring peace and prosperity to my home and he happened to come across these people as well. He told me that they always wear white clothing to symbolize their purity and their leader wears a white robe to imply his power and to show he is the purest member of the clan. My father called that person the Man in the White Robe. I don't know if this is the same man that my father met but that's all I know."
"I see."
"You have company by the way..."
I looked over to see what he was talking about to see a very big woman walking towards us.
"Well, well, well look what we have here. So the rumors were true after all."
"Do I...should I know you?"
She smiled, "No, but your chief did when he was around your age."
"You knew my father? Who are you?"
"Your Stoick's son?" She then examined me, "I can see it in the hair and eyes but that's it. You look too skinny to be Stoick's son. Did he not feed you enough?"
Before I had a chance to respond she began laughing, "I'm sorry. Anyway, my name is Bertha, the Chiefless of the Bog Burglars my young friend."
I stood up to face her,"Your the chief of the people who nearly destroyed our village and kidnapped me!?"
She was confused, "What are you talking about? I would never order my men and women to kidnap someone...this month."
Astrid stood up and said, "Your men attacked us and severely injured a few of my people."
"It couldn't have been my men. They need the right authorization and my permission. It must have been another tribe, we don't have any hatred against Berk. We may be rivals, but we wouldn't do that, that's pushing the boundaries too far."
I could tell by her voice that she was telling the truth. "It was your men, they told us themselves."
She seemed irritated now. "Like I said before, it couldn't have been my men-they need the authorization from me and I didn't tell them to do anything of the sort to Berk. It must have been another tribe that hates us and is trying to push our two tribes into war and they know that we will lose because of your dragons. But if you think you're so sure that it was us, which of my men did it?"
"What?"
"Give me the name of the Bog burgers."
I was confused about what she was asking me. Then I heard a whisper behind me.
"...The Mist Tribe..."
It was Ronde, I didn't turn around to face him but I was pretty sure he just gave me the answer. So I said, "The mist tribe?"
Bertha was shocked and after a few seconds, she was furious, "THOSE LITTLE SCOUNDRELS! THEY WENT BEHIND MY BACK JUST TO APPEASE THOSE WARLORDS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! AND THEY COULD HAVE RISK A WAR!"
She then calmed herself down, "My daughter is the only person that could have done this. Camicazi is the only person that can forge my signature. And she didn't care about what happened to your village. She and her subordinates will face punishment for this!" Bertha then faced me, "I'm sorry young chief that this has happened to you. I know that an apology isn't enough for my people's actions, but this is all I can do. Our village is very low on currency so we'll take any job necessary to help keep us stable, which is why I'm here-I'm hoping to connect with a few tribes so we can trade goods and services."
"It's fine, it's over, and we're here now."
"Did you capture any of my men?"
"Yes, an incident happened and most of their boats were destroyed-they had nowhere else to go, so we captured them."
"Did you punish them?"
"Only those who didn't have severe injuries helped us build a few houses while under surveillance. The others are being treated for their wounds."
"I see. If you could please let them go and allow for me to deal with them whenever you return to your home."
"It might be awhile; we probably need to build them a new boat big enough for all of them so they can return home."
"You can let them swim back home if you like-you don't have to be so forgiving to those who disobey orders."
"You will probably have them back in a week's time after this meeting."
She turned around and began walking away from us. "Do what you will, just please return them home so I can punish them myself."
I turned around to sit back down on the throne. "That went well," I said.
"So, you believe her Hiccup? Was everything she said the truth?" Astrid asked.
"I believe so. When they captured, me they told the guards not to tell their leader Bertha. I do believe that the Bog Burglars went behind their leader's back to capture me."
"How long do we have to wait for this meeting to begin?"
"20 minutes maybe?
(30 minutes later)
The place was filled with people from all over the world. These people were the leaders of each island, country, and nation. This was a spectacle to witness, but as I feared we were the center of attention, or, at least Ronde and Stormfly were.
Unitatis took center stage and was ready to speak. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, kings and queens, Chiefs and Chieftesses. My name is Unitatis and I will be your host today for this meeting. Some of you are wondering why I have summoned you all here for this meeting. Well, I'm here to tell everyone to come together and put aside your anger and frustration at one another. For us to evolve we need a solution to dissipate this hatred we have amongst ourselves. So, I chose those whose names are considered to be the strongest amongst the world when it comes to Power, Authority or rumors circulating throughout our archipelago. I know that I threatened many of you to come but please be considerate and understanding as to why I believe that there's a crisis coming. And if we don't stop it now, the future of our homes will not not be safe for our kids and the generations to come.
"So I'd like to start with-"
"HOLD ON!"
Everyone turned around to see a Viking.I could see his face but he continued to scream, "If you are talking about problems, let's start with the dragons!" He pointed towards us. "For decades we have been dealing with dragons raiding us, destroying our homes, stealing our food, and killing our livestock! Yet you allowed those Hooligans to step inside here with those monsters!"
Unitatis looked unimpressed and asked, "Excuse me if I sound rude, but who are you again?"
"My name is Mogadon, leader of the meatheads tribe! Why did you allow them here!? You know as well as everyone else what happened last time the bunch of Chiefs came together and Dragons were involved: no one escaped."
He got up from his throne and started walking towards us. "You have no right bringing these demons into this place! And-!"
The man was suddenly frozen with fear and I wondered why. He was looking in our direction, so I turned around and I saw Ronde giving this man a serious death stare. Even from this angle, I could see why he was afraid.
The man finally spoke, "Im-Impossible-your-that dragon that escaped during our trial... aren't you?"
Ronde then suddenly picked up a stone that was the size of a human head, Mogadon's head to be exact, and crushed it in his hand reducing it to dust. Mogadon looked terrified, and I could not blame him. After all, Ronde had just given him a death stare and was now threatening him. I let out a slight chuckle, but Mogadon's face remained unmoving.
Unitatis began to laugh, "I'm no dragon expert, but I think that is his way of saying 'be quiet or I'll crush you.' I like this dragon. Guards, help this man back to his seat and keep him an eye on him."
Two guards came from the entrance and grabbed him by his arms and dragged him back to the place he was sitting before his outburst. "No, you don't understand! That dragon isn't what it seems to be! It tricked us into releasing all of our dragons to train our young. It dangerous!"
"It seems that the only dangerous thing here is your manners. I've allowed them to be here as my guests, I don't sense any malice from these dragons, and, believe me, I have dealt with a few dragons trying to kill me. But I see something unexpected from this one." He pointed towards Ronde. " If I would have sensed any killer intent from them, they would not be here right now."
Ronde only looked at the Unitatis for a second before returning his attention to the Vikings leader of the Meatheads. He closed his eyes and slightly lowered his head. It seemed that he didn't have any interest in this meeting at all.
"Alright, with that out of the way, let the day of peace begin."
Ronde(POV)
I couldn't care less about these people and their problems. I knew what this guy was trying to do, but this isn't the way to obtain peace among people.
Peace wasn't possible during this day and age and I didn't think it was possible at all. There will always be someone on top with everything and people on the bottom with nothing. For peace to exist, there has to be a balance of power between everyone or people must fulfill a certain role to maintain order.
But this wasn't my responsibility. The only thing that mattered was the reason why I came. I opened my eyes to look around, and the leaders were talking to each other about trading. I looked around to see if I could see the people I was looking for. I looked at the first and second floors but I didn't see them. Was it possible that they didn't come? If I knew him correctly, he wouldn't pass an opportunity like this to show off his power or authority to other people.
I continued to look around and didn't see any familiar faces, so I almost gave up.
Until, I saw some that looked to have a darker complexion than most of the others here, almost similar to mine...could it be?
I looked closely at the guy. He's not the person I was looking for, but he did look familiar somehow. By his attire, I could tell that he was from my country, but why does he look familiar? Unless...no that couldn't be my mentor could it? Did he manage to climb the ranks and made the king's guard? It was the beard that threw me off for a moment, but that was him. Good for him. Now, where are the others?
I looked around the area were my mentor was and I saw them right behind him, and they were safe and healthy. They looked the same way they did seven years ago.
My mentor looked over in my direction; he was staring at me before quickly adjusting his gaze. No, they don't know that it's me. Even if my grandma told them, they wouldn't know that I was here.
I glanced over to see if he was still staring at me. He was, but then his gaze shifted to the next speaker. Good, he doesn't have any interest in me.
{1 hour later}
Hiccups(POV)
The fire in the middle of this place seemed to be dying down. I didn't expect this meeting to be running this smoothly and it seemed to be almost over. It looked like everyone had agreed to certain terms with one another. However, it seemed that no one was interested in us. Was it because they were scared?
Unitatis walked to the middle of the room. As he looked around, he smiled and spoke, "This is why I had this meeting. Look at you all cooperating with each other. I believe that we're all coming together little by little and there is less hatred amongst ourselves."
He paused for just a moment and looked at me, but the way he looked at me was concerning.
"Now then, this is the second to last thing I have to say, and I don't mean to put you in the spotlight but...young chief of Berk I need you to explain how to control the threat that dragons pose to the rest of the world. Tell them how to stop the dragon threat or at least tell us how to control the dragons so we don't have to fight one another, please."
Now I knew why he called us here, to tell everyone how to train dragons. I looked over to Ronde slowly lowering his head to look with concern. I remember what he asked me to do, or rather, what not to do. {"You can tell them that dragons aren't a real threat but you should not teach them how to control them or train them."}
I nodded at him while trying to stand, "I know you do, however, I won't tell them..."
All eyes were on me
"Well uh...I can't just explain how to tame a dragon, that would require too much work, and I don't believe that anyone has the patience for the explanation."
I could hear everyone in that place mumbling.
I tried to get their attention, "But if you all are having trouble with dragons raiding your homes, I do have a suggestion that I can share."
They all quickly became silent, and I believed I had more people looking at me than before.
"It may sound strange, but try putting eels in places that are important enough to protect, such as your livestock, certain outposts, and possibly your homes."
They all began mumbling again, this time with some people looking at me with confused faces. Unitatis walked closer toward me and asked, "Young Chief, what do you mean that eels are the answer?"
"No, don't think of them as the answer, think of them more as a repellent. Dragons are afraid of eels, the mere scent of an eel will keep them away from your supplies," I explained.
Someone from the crowd spoke up. "Tell me Chief, will it immobilize them long enough for us to attack them?"
I was shocked that he said that, but then another yelled, "If they eat the eels, will they get sick and die?"
Everyone began bombarding me with questions about how to make the dragons suffer.
They were losing the whole point of my explanation, and I was losing them, "Hold on!" I yelled to get their attention.
They all looked at me.
"The method that I just described is a way for you to stop fighting against dragons because they will be too scared to attack you. Some of you may not understand this, but dragons are very intelligent beings."
Some of the people in the audience began to laugh at me.
One from the crowd spoke up, "They're just dumb animals-they can't learn things such as love, compassion and the meaning of family. All they do is kill, steal, and destroy anything that comes into their path."
That comment made me angry but I tried to calm myself down. "Do you believe that?"
The Viking who said that that stood up, "I don't believe that; I know that it is a fact."
I hated to do this, and Ronde, I hope you didn't mind that I pointed towards you and Stormfly. "Do they look like any threat to you? They're just sitting there waiting for us-waiting to go home to their family and friends."
Everyone was silent.
"Like people, dragons do care about life and about others. They are very loyal to those they trust, whether it is humans or dragons. If you look past your hatred of them, you can see that for yourself. They just want to live peacefully, the fact that some of them raid is because they don't have a choice since-"
"Hrrraaaa."
I looked over my shoulder to see Ronde, and his facial expression showed worry; he was slowly shaking his head saying 'no'.
Come to think of it, it would be a bad idea to tell them that. They would just try to do what my father did and try to find a dragon nest. I almost made the same mistake twice.
I looked back towards the crowd of people, a majority of confused looks on their faces. "I'm sorry, but the eels are the only advice I can give you. You can either take it and use it or continue doing what your ancestors were doing, and we all know how that turned out."
Unitatis stopped in front of me for a second, "Young chief, what was that? Why did the dragon growl at you?"
"Oh, uh..." Shoot got to think of something quick, "He can sense my anger and he tried to get my attention to calm me down. He had a special case with a viking where he gets too angry, he might die. However, we needed him to get here faster, but he also sense the same amount of stress from me than the individual in my Village." I hoped he would believe that.
Unitatis looked impressed. "Amazing," was all he said.
I was walking back towards my seat, but then I heard someone clapping.
{Clap} {Clap} {Clap}
"Well, I agree with you on some portions of your speech; however you can train a wolf to sit and stay, but at the end of the day it's still an animal. Its only instincts are to hunt, survive, and prepare to find a mate so it can have children and continue its line through to the Next Generation."
I turned around to see a very peculiar man with a cape made out of some sort of material. I couldn't get a very good look at him, but he was walking towards the middle of the meeting, right next to the fire while he continued to clap.
"People are people, animals are animals, and dragons are dragons: there are no equals among this world. It's sad that you probably don't even know what I'm saying or what I'm talking about."
As he continued walking closer, I could see more detail on him. He was wearing some sort of dark clothing with metal wristbands. But what stood out to me was his complexion, it was almost similar to...Ronde's. Wait, was it possible that this was Ronde's King?
He stopped in front of my throne and when he was nearly six feet away from us, he stopped clapping said to me, "This is why my kingdom has laws where only those with a certain intellect and approval of the people can be king and queen... It's quite obvious that your inheritance of your village was prematurely given to you."
"Who gives you the right to judge him!?" Astrid yelled.
The man simply glared at Astrid and laughed maniacally to himself. "This is a conversation between a king and a foolish leader-stay out of it girl."
I could feel Astrid ready to swing at this man, but I managed to slightly calm her down by looking at her and smiling. I looked at the man and asked him, "What do you mean I'm 'foolish'?"
He was whispering this time, "I know what you're about to say, and, if it wasn't for your dragon, you would have led all these men and women to their deaths. I mean it would have been easier for me to possibly conquer their lands, but I don't wish death upon ignorant people. I know that you're lying about taming the dragons and it being a long story to tell them. Tell you the truth, not telling them is the smartest thing you've done here today, but actually bringing your dragons?" He laughed, "That is downright idiotic. You know that you should keep your dragons away from people that fear them, don't you? Well, at least I think you should.".
"Who are you anyway?" I asked
He stepped away from us and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear him. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Woede. I am the king of my country which is named Afri." He turned around looking towards the crowd, "I do agree with this boy when it comes to certain aspects of dragons: they are not as aggressive as one may think. However they are still animals, and animals, especially intelligent ones, will always go to locations that suit their needs and desires. The fact that you believe that you can tame these animals, that they have loyalty, is mediocre at best. Fear is what rules all."
"Fear is not something a person can use to gain another person's trust and loyalty." I retorted.
"Oh, you believe that? What do you think all these people are doing here? The empty threats that Unitatis posed were nothing more than that, this was just-"
"WOEDE ENOUGH! I will get to that at the end of the meeting." Unitatis yelled, cutting him off.
Woede laughed, "Unitatis... you should know it's better to rip out the patch now than later. You could save yourself a great deal of hatred, but, hey, it's up to you old friend."
The king walked past Unitatis and they glared at one another before he began walking back towards us only stopping when Unitatis yelled at him, "This is why I invited your wife instead of you! Why did you insist upon coming if you were just going to ruin this!?"
"Whenever she goes to a place that has the opportunity for me to display my power and my intelligence, I will go with her. Now...back to you." He pointed towards us."I know what you're trying to do, but the stunts that you have done has possibly made you more enemies than friends. You may think you're doing something for the right reasons, but you need to realize that if you're loyal to a cause, that cause will always betray you in the end. As for your dragon, it seems it can't stand my presence."
I was wondering what he was talking about until I heard some sort of grinding sound from behind me. When I looked at the ground where Ronde was, I saw several claws scratchings on the ground. They looked fairly deep, as if he scratched the ground during the entire conversation. Not only that, but I also noticed his hand was trembling. As I kept looking closer, I saw that his whole body was trembling as he refused to look at the person who I believe was his King. Why was he trembling? Was he angry, scared, or both? When I could tell that he was angry with Mogadon, I was leaning more towards scared for how Ronde was at this point. What was it about this guy that had Ronde so scared?
"Ahh... I see fear and anger, what a confusing combination. Is it because of my presence or is it something more Dragon?"
Ronde continued to tremble but refused to look at the king. He was staring at something, but his facial expression remained the same as he heard every word the king said and I thought he was angry.
"Look at me, dragon!" Yell the king.
Ronde still wasn't looking at him but I hear a faint growl from him.
"What are you doing!?" yelled Astrid.
The man laughed and continued staring at Ronde while he was saying, "Chief, tell your dragon to look at me or I will burn down your village called Berk!"
It all happened so fast, but before I had a chance to respond Ronde was in a position ready to attack his king. His teeth were bared, his eyes were mere slits, and he was nearly an inch away from this man, but the king never moved from the spot where he was standing.
"Ahhhh...there it is-the anger I was looking for. What are you waiting for dragon? Used your fire against me!"
Is this man insane?
I looked over towards Ronde but he wasn't recognizable in his current state. He looked the same way that he did during the Bog Burglars attack, but something was different.
"Well? Are you just going to stare at me or are you going to do something!?" the king yelled.
Ronde just stood there with his fangs could have been my imagination, but it looked like a tear came down the side of his face. However, I don't think the king noticed it.
Suddenly Ronde walked past the king and towards the middle of the room, next to the fireplace.
The king was confused, but the rest of the people were concerned but couldn't help staring at Ronde.
Ronde, standing next to the fire, was just staring at it for a moment. Suddenly he opened his mouth and screamed inside of the fireplace, making a stream of flames come out. But, with the way he was screaming, it sounded nothing like a dragon nor a human, but, by the sound of it, he was angry or frustrated. Something angered him and he needed some way to cope.
"RAGGAAAAAAA!"
Unitatis had to stop his guards from harming Ronde, but everyone looked scared and was worried about what he was doing.
Ronde finally stopped and was breathing heavily. He looked around at the crowd of people. Then he walked back towards us and sat down next to me, right in front of the king, who had a confused look.
Unitatis then walked next to the fireplace and sighed. "Well, the fireplace has become a fire pit. I didn't think he could melt stone-like material, otherwise, I would have stopped him. But I guess I'll have to make do with what I have right now. Young Chief, please keep control of your dragon. I know that Woede is interrogating him, but it was your responsibility to control that dragon."
"Yes, I'm sorry, it shouldn't happen again." I looked over towards Ronde to see his eyes closed, but it seemed like he managed to calm himself down.
"Very unusual behavior for a dragon; and, say, it almost looks to be the same species that managed to scratch my leg. Oh well, that dragon would have made a fine addition to my task force."
"Unusual? No, that was his way of venting, but, at the same time, that was his mercy for you- asking him to shoot you. Are you insane? Asking a dragon to breathe fire on you?" Astrid asked.
"He wouldn't be able to damage me with his fire anyway, not with this armor. I wanted to prove that nothing can harm me, not even your dragons but... today has been very interesting. I doubt our paths will cross again, but know this, young chief of Berk, the world will be after you today. You shouldn't have brought your dragons here unless you were going to prove that you are the strongest amongst these tribes. But all you have done is shown that you are the weakest, and now you have a target on your back. Good luck."
(30 minutes later)
Unitatis was trying to get everyone's attention. "I'm sorry for the wait everyone. I only have one more thing to say, then we can all be dismissed."
Everyone within the crowd gave him their attention.
"I must say that I appreciate every single one of you guys coming here to better yourselves and to make more connections and to have fewer enemies. However, I am ashamed of myself for threatening you all to come. I know that there were some people unable to come for specific reasons, and I have excused them from coming, so please, do not chase after them. The last thing I have to say is... I know that some of you only came, not because you wanted to, but because you were asked to by the Warlords."
There was an uptake of people whispering to one another, but Unitatis continued speaking. "I know that some of you are working for them because of your greed, and some because you weren't given a choice." It was only for a moment, but I saw Unitatis look over to Bertha, and she looked towards the ground disappointed.
"I would recommend not to tell them what has transpired here today. But I know that you will anyway, so, if you will tell them anything, tell them this: their greed will be the thing that will cause them to sink. Please leave in an orderly manner and no fighting outside. You all may go home."
We waited for a few minutes for everyone else to leave. Once it looked clear, we got up to leave, and were walking towards the end of the docks. The sky was bright orange so it had to be the middle of the afternoon.
"Well, it looks like we made no progress in the way of connections with other tribes," I said out loud.
"What did you expect?" asked Ronde, "People cheering for you and praising me and Stormfly?"
"Look, I tried, ok? People are just very stubborn. But that doesn't matter, what about you? Are you satisfied with coming here?"
"Yes, I have seen what I needed to see. Now, let's hurry back to Berk so I can decide what to do next."
"Oh, did you have something in mind?" asked Astrid.
"I need to blow off some steam, I'm still angry at my...king for what he did."
"So that man was your king after all?" I asked.
"Yes, and I didn't think it was possible, but he's worse then I remember."
When he said that, I noticed he had a sad look on his face; he was looking down at the wooden docks that we were walking over.
"Does your king mean something to you, like a role model or something?"
"Let's just drop it and go..." He stopped talking and began sniffing the air around him. I was confused for a moment, but then he stopped walking and looked behind us with a very shocked and confused expression.
That's when I heard a voice behind me, "Excuse me, may I speak with you."
Both Astrid and I turned around to see a woman with a brown complexion in what was either a dark robe or dress. She continued to speak to us, "So, are you the Dragon Riders that I have been hearing rumors about?"
No one had called us that since we got here. I was actually surprised and taken aback by her comment, which led me to ask her, "Yes, but who are you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I heard that first impressions matter so how could I forget to introduce myself. I'm sorry; my name is Neurie. I am the queen of Afri, and wife of the man who...made a scene during your moment."
I was shocked-this was the queen? What was she doing here?
She then lowered her head in a formal bow and said, "I do apologize for my husband's outburst and actions today. He saw you as easy prey and tried to demonstrate his power by using you. I regret not stopping him; so again, I am very sorry."
"Ok, but why are you here? I know that you didn't come here just to apologize," Astrid said.
She almost looked hurt, "Well, you're right; however, I did want to apologize, but I came to talk to your leader about joining together to form an Alliance-or at least for our islands to communicate with each other."
I was surprised as well as confused, "Wait, what? Why?"
"Well, I'm not sure if you've heard but my people have also integrated dragons into our tribes and I can't pass on an opportunity to connect with another tribe who has also done this. We may be far away from each other, but we can message one another. I believe that if we become allies both of our tribes can and will flourish."
I was shocked when I heard this. After all, I thought that the only people that had dragons integrated into the homes were us Berkens, the people of the Defenders of the Wing, and the Berserkers; I didn't think there would be more of us out there.
She looked excited and said, "So what do you say? Can we try to become allies?"
I just stood there without saying anything. I needed time to think this over. Her husband doesn't seem to like us. So how would this alliance even work between us?
She looked disappointed and looked away from me, "Oh, I see...I'm sorry to have bothered you." Then she began to walk away from us.
"Wait," I yelled and she quickly turned around and looked at me confused. So I said to her, "It's not the fact that I didn't want to be allied with you, it's just... what about your husband? He doesn't like us."
She began to chuckle. "Is that all? Don't you worry about him. I'll take care of that part. The only way to convince my husband of something is to make him believe that he has control over the situation. But, believe me when I say that I have more power than him. So, do we have an agreement?" She said while holding out her hand.
I didn't know why, but the way she said that, as well as the way that she held out her hand seemed very familiar. But I extended my hand to shake hers. "It's a deal; but how will we contact each other?" I asked.
"I will either send a messenger or have someone send letters to you. I believe I know where your island is located. I believe it's located on the Meridian of misery-an island called Barke?"
"No, it's called Berk. But how do you know this?"
She held her hand out while counting the reasons, "Rumors, people that want to see your village burned, outside sources, maps that are specifically used for the area around your archipelago, and interrogations of people that try to evade our land. Nothing much, truly."
She said that so casually, like it really was nothing, and the way she spoke to us there had a familiar ring to it. No, I haven't seen this woman before, but there is something that I can't shake off, whether it's her personality, manners, or the way she speaks-it just seemed familiar for some odd reason. The way she held her hand out and the way she said it, it reminded me of the time when Ronde tried to convince us to help him while on his island.
"Anyway, I have to see my husband off in a few minutes since we came here in separate ships. Leave it to him to make me mad before we even began to sail here. But, I do hope to see you aga-..."
She cut herself off and looked behind us staring at something. "Young leader, is there something wrong with your dragon? It seems to be terrified of something."
What was she talking about? I turned around to see something unexpected: Ronde was cowering, trying his best to look small. I had never seen a person or a dragon look so scared.
"Is there something wrong with that dragon? Why does it looked so scared?" She was repeating herself now.
We all turned around to face him, which led him to back away from us. The strange thing was, he wasn't looking at me or even at Astrid-he was looking at the queen behind us. He nearly tripped on his tail trying to get away from us, trembling in front of us.
Suddenly the queen walked past us and towards Ronde.
I tried to stop her. "Wait. What are you doing?"
She smiled at me and said, "It's ok, I'm not going to harm your dragon. I have been taming dragons for almost 7 years ever since..."I noticed her smile fade. "Anyway, I know what to do to calm a dragon when it's experiencing intense emotions, so please allow me to try. I believe that I have something to do with his behavior."
"But why would you-" Astrid then held my shoulder.
"Hiccup... I think we should let her do this."
Why would Astrid say that? The only explanation is that there's something I'm missing that she's not. I turned towards the queen and said, "Go ahead, your majesty."
She nodded and began to lower herself was she walked towards him. Ronde moved farther away from us until he was at the end of the docks.
"Please, don't be afraid dragon." Neurie said. She walked closer to him and said, "I saw that you were constantly looking over towards my side of the group. Do you have any interest towards us or just me?"
That got Ronde's attention, but he still didn't look at her.
She got to his face without him noticing and she placed her hands on his cheeks. He visibly flinched, but he still wasn't looking at her.
"See, I'm not going to harm you. I see you have stopped shaking, I do have that effect on dragons. But why do you refuse to look at me?" she questioned, almost hurt.
Ronde still refused to look at her, but he was slowly turning his head to face her. But why is he acting so strangely towards her. I thought to myself.
"Ok, that's a start, but could you at least look at me...please."
Ronde looked at her, and he was scared.
"See was that wasn't so..." she stopped talking and examined his eyes. "Your...your eyes are...very different from any dragons I've seen before, and they look familiar...Have I seen you before?"
The queen took one step closer towards him and began to examine his body instead of just his head, which led her to gasp. "No, you...can't be..."
I was confused by her reaction, "Ms, is everything ok?"
She was looking back and forth between me and Ronde and said, "I don't know...I just...need to see something."
She turned towards Ronde. "Dragon, can you understand me?"
He flinched and the queen noticed it as well. "Your...no, it's just a coincidence...but you did just flinch...you do understand me, and you know me too, don't you?"
Ronde just closed his eyes and turned away from her.
The queen moved her hands away from him but she still stood in front of him. She was quiet for a moment but then, all of a sudden, she walked closer to him, closed her eyes, and began humming.
"Hm, Hm, Hm-hm, Hmmmmm."
She was humming a melody that was soothing-like it was some sort of lullaby.
It got Ronde's attention and he moved closer to her. He was face to face with the queen-their distance being only inches apart.
The next thing I saw was Ronde beginning to close his eyes as he began listening to the queen humming.
"This is the moment of truth." Astrid said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"We'll see based on his reaction when this is over."
I was confused when she said that.
The queen's lullaby seemed to be coming to an end. When she finally finished the last note, she looked over to Ronde almost like she waiting for something. A few seconds had gone by and the queen looked hurt and began to walk away from him.
Until.
"Hm, Hmmmmm, Hm."
The queen turned around to face him again, her hand over her mouth with a shocked expression on her face. It seemed that the lullaby the queen was humming was the first part of the song, but she stopped during the end portion of the first part. Ronde was humming what I assumed was the second part. I didn't think that he was aware that the queen had stopped humming it.
"Can it be? Only my mother, daughters, and my ...son..know this song." The queen said almost horrified.
Ronde continued to hum the lullaby. When he hummed the last note, he opened his eyes to look at his queen. But then he also looked horrified.
The queen began to tear up. "My mother told me that...you...were still alive but...I couldn't believe how it...happened or if it was even...possible, until I saw you."
She began to walk a little closer to Ronde. This led him to look even more horrified.
"Ro...Ron...Ronde is that you-?"
Ronde then panicked and looked around frantically.
"Wait! Please don't-!" The queen yelled but was cut off by the wind when he opened his wings
He flew away quickly from the docks, over the open sea, and into the empty sky.
"Oh, no-quickly Hiccup, hop on Stormfly!" yelled Astrid.
I quickly followed her onto Stormfly and we were about to take off when-
"WAIT! PLEASE!" screamed the queen.
Before she got in our way, we were already off the ground, but I yelled in response: " I'm sorry, but we have to see what is wrong with him."
Even from this distance, I could tell that the queen was hurt and crying.
Stormfly was on Ronde's trail and we could see him a distance away. We quickly flew right beside him. But when we got to him, we saw that he was a crying mess, using his legs and feet to wipe away his tears. "Ronde, please, tell us what's wrong."
He turned towards us and growled viciously. "GET AWAY FROM ME NOW!" He flapped his wings in our direction and a strong gust of wind came toward us.
By the time it had passed, he was no longer in our sights.
I tried to compose myself. "What was all that about? Why did he act like that?" I asked.
"I thought that...if she would have known that it was him, that he would be happy, but I was wrong-I should have intervened."
"What do you mean? I know that was his leader but he still shouldn't have acted like that."
"Hiccup, I'll tell you more, but first we need to find Fishlegs, and then Ronde."
We flew back towards the island that Fishlegs and Toothless were on, waiting for us.
Astrid quickly explained the situation with Ronde and yet Fishlegs didn't seem to be shocked at all.
"From what I've read in his journal entries and from what you just told me, I can why he is upset."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"From his second entry, I learned that his father has some sort of authority. Ronde's father had control over his country's army. Yet it seems like that was not the only control that he had."
"But again, why does... wait a minute." If his father had power over people, that would make him high above the ranks of his country. But what does that have to do with Ronde's actions today?
"What about his mother? Did it mention anything about her?" I asked.
"Just one thing that has to do with her work. She helps Ronde's father by trying to keep him in line and make sure that he doesn't do anything that could harm the tribes of his home. Hiccup, what does that sound like to you?"
"It sounds like a job for the partner of a...chief, a leader...a..." Realization struck me. Now I know why he was angry right, then afraid and confused during that interaction with the queen. "King. Ronde's parents were the king and queen of his country, the people that we just met."
"Yeah," Astrid said.
I turned around to face her. "You knew?"
With the way Astrid looked at me, I could tell that she was clearly upset about something. "With the way that his king almost looks just like him as well as the way his mother spoke to us; they just reminded me so much of him and that led me to make the connection that they might be his parents."
So he's upset because he saw his mother? Or is more to it than just that? I thought to myself. I ran over to Toothless and got on his saddle before looking over at Astrid and Fishlegs. "We have to find him."
-Author's note-
If you're having a hard time imagining what Unitatis looks like, imagine a younger Pope without the Hat.
Neurie, translates to 'Humming' in Afrikaans
Woede, translates to 'Angry' in Afrikaans
Unitatis, in Latin means "Restoration of unity"
Oh, and I made a mistake in one of the previous chapter but Ronde's name actually means round not runt, but I'm not going to fix it, I'm just going to have to make a joke about it in the later chapters.
Enjoy the new year and I hope that this year treats you well.
A review would be appreciated, tell me what you like about the story this far or Flame me, I Don't Know give me something.