Tis a long one. Enjoy.
They left well before the sun rose the next morning. Hiccup asked the nest dragons accompanying them to give the ships wing-boosts so the trip did not take as long as his father said it would. He was also thankful that his dragon father, sister, and the half of Obsidian's honor guard flying with them agreed to help as well.
While flying to the nest after Stoick took Toothless had been fast, the teens had not immediately left as soon as Hiccup introduced them to the dragons in the arena. Hiccup did not want them to fall off the dragons they were partnered with right after take-off. Even when he was reasonably sure they could all stay in the air, the flight to the Nest proved slower than the first time Hiccup visited the island. Unskilled Viking teenagers on the back of dragons they once fought and were taught to hate made for harrowing moments in the air.
This trip proved harrowing as well, though in a different manner. Just past the Foreverwing, who remained submerged while the ships passed, Hookfang dove into a downward right spiral. He screeched something in the Old Tongue that sounded insulting. Several dragons joined his ranting, also speaking in the Old Tongue.
[A rock was thrown from a human hatchling,] Sharpshot explained.
Hiccup's eyes narrowed. He tapped Toothless' neck. The Night Fury shot forward. Sharpshot gripped Hiccup's harness tighter. Hiccup shifted the tailfin without thought. Toothless went vertical. Spun. Flipped end over end. Dove. Sven fought to keep the second ship, and the one tasked to transport the heirs, from capsizing. Now hovering right above the ship Hiccup, Toothless, and Sharpshot glared down at Einar and the small pile of rocks at his feet.
"Ye fool!" Einar shouted, holding onto the ship's rail with a white-knuckled grip. "Ye kill us all!"
"Throw another rock at one of my dragons again," Hiccup growled, "and you will finish this trip tied to the mast."
"Ye no tell me- urk!"
Riendar spun the Thunderhead heir. Snagged Einar's tunic at the neck. Leaned close enough his nose almost touched the other's.
"Ye hit one 'o dem young'ns on dem dragons ye be an Oath Breaker. I kill Oath Breakers."
"Ingvar!" Snorre bellowed from the Berkian flagship and the one tasked with transporting the chiefs.
"Be me boy's right," Ingvar stated. "He be da oldest heir 'n yer boy be one rock from shamin' ye 'fore da gods."
"Einar! Stand down!"
"But-"
"Do as I said!"
"Fine!"
Reindar waited a heartbeat before letting Einar go. Einar stomped away, back towards the stern of the ship. Sven, Lars, Hoark, and Steinar glared at the boy. Riendar looked up at Hiccup and tipped his head. Hiccup returned the gesture. While he would have wanted Reindar to defend Hookfang as well as Snotlout, he would take what he got. At least the other visiting Vikings, including Thuggory and Cami, were also glaring at Einar. They might not see the dragons under the same protection of the Oath, but they did see Snotlout being under it. Oath Breakers were a thing to shun and shove to the farthest edge of Viking society. Even the Outcasts hated Oath Breakers when it concerned a Thing's Oath being broken.
Toothless flapped his wings. The sails filled and Sven worked to get the ship back to the other three as they had drifted somewhat. Shadowfire and Barf and Belch came along either side of the ship. Lars and Hoark tossed Gyda and Ruff some tether lines. The dragons slowed, checking the speed Toothless' wing-boost gave the sails. Soon, Sven neatly had the ship back in formation. Shadowfire glided right over open water while Barf and Belch, nimbler than the bigger Tall-singer, wove around the flagship. Hiccup waited until both dragons were back in the air before tapping Toothless' neck again.
Toothless went vertical half a Nightmare's length. Stalled. Flipped. Dove. Sped back to the ships. Hiccup knew the visitors had missed nothing of either display. He sighed before aiming the dragons and the ships towards Helheim's Gate. Today would be a long day. Hiccup prayed to any god listening, and any not paying attention, that the nest would prove uneventful. He could do with uneventful now.
Reaching the Gate did not fill Hiccup with any certainty his prayer had been answered. Hovering just out of the Gate with the ships a few dragon lengths behind the quicker Night Fury, Toothless groaned. Sharpshot also muttered in the Old Tongue.
"Something wrong?" Hiccup said.
[The fog is not as thick, but it will still hinder flight and your ships,] Sharpshot said.
[And her call is silent,] Toothless added, as the ships and the rest of the dragons began to arrive.
Hiccup looked over his shoulder. "Would my call help?" he asked softly.
[Yes,] Toothless answered. [None of Dad's nest will hear it but they can fly behind the others.]
"Then tell Stormfly and Dad Obsidian what's going on. Stormfly can inform Astrid. She can let Dad know. We'll find the path."
Toothless warbled. Stormfly and Obsidian responded in the Old Tongue. Toothless flapped his wings, entering the Gate before any of the humans could reply. The trip through had Sharpshot softly telling Hiccup when his call would whisper instead of carried, allowing Hiccup to make sure it reached his dragons as they followed. This meant Toothless had to ensure they missed any sea stack that all three would swear was not right in front of them a heartbeat before.
They made through and the ships and the flock arrived a few heartbeats later. Hiccup heard various exclamations from both human and dragons. The visiting Vikings and the dragons of Obsidian's nest had never seen the destroyed sea stacks or the remains of burnt ships left by the Red Death's fury. They had never seen the blackened stone and gray colored hills left on the beach by the massive dragon's fiery death.
The Berkians who had been there that day had focused more on surviving than observing everything. While every Berkians there, but Baneson who came because Dagur wanted him along, had seen the images in Gyda's cave, Hiccup noted the images showed a more subdued version of the devastation before them. That seemed fitting. During the search for the Scualdrons, Gyda had said the images were simplified views of a past most in her time did not know existed until after the images were created.
Hiccup, then and now, was grateful the adults on the ship with them did not spread those words when they returned. There were Berkians who voiced objection to welcoming dragons as easily as they had given the war and all it cost. Most still saw the images as a gods-given warning though and said that even if they objected they would not anger the gods over it.
The problem arose in that some were more vocal about their objections to the dragons living on Berk. Those few believed the dragons got off light for the destruction caused during the war. Old Man Jorgenson was the main one. Hiccup, and Stoick, believed the old man's objections came more from the fact Hiccup controlled the dragons than any real grievance over passed deeds.
The man still believed Hiccup was not fit to be future chief of the tribe or alpha of the dragons now. He was smart enough not to make a fuss while the Thing was happening though. Hiccup knew that was because a majority of Berkians believed the images were of the gods, thus rendering the old man outnumbered. Hiccup did not want Gyda's words about the images to reach his maternal grandfather. The man would take somewhat reasonable objections into a realm Stoick, and Hiccup, had little patience to deal with. He would also make the Thing a nightmare. Something neither Hiccup nor Stoick had time for.
Hiccup turned his gaze from the destruction, finding his queen hovering to his left. He froze. Astrid stared at the island where the dragon had exploded with a face void of color. He saw her hands gripped the handles on Stormfly's saddle until white shown. Stormfly curled her neck, giving her rider soft trills that Astrid did not respond to. Sneaky, holding onto Astrid's harness, chirped in a reassuring manner. Astrid did not acknowledge that either.
"Hey," Hiccup called softly, pulling Astrid's gaze from the wreckage. "We survived."
Astrid's eyes closed. She took several deep breaths. Her hands relaxed. Color returned to her face. When her eyes opened, they bore into Hiccup's for several heartbeats. Hiccup returned the stare. Astrid smiled then turned her gaze towards the twins.
"Find a path the ships can get through!"
Hiccup smiled. While not as Gyda said many of the images she knew showed her, Astrid was ever practical. Any feelings she was experiencing by being back at the island would be addressed when they all were back on Berk and possibly in the cove with the young of the nest and the young visiting the nest.
She also knew the strengths and weaknesses of each Rider and their dragon. She sometimes knew before he did which pair was better for which task, as shown by her choosing the twins and Barf and Belch. The twins loved explosion and causing chaos in the name of Loki. Barf and Belch, while a calming influence on the twins' enthusiasm were better able to find, or create, paths through the destruction littering the waters around the island.
During the war, Astrid trained to be a warrior of the tribe in order to clear her family of the taint left by what the tribe felt was Finn's cowardice before the Flightmare. While her warrior training mainly focused upon weapon expertise, it also included learning the strengths and weaknesses of those she fought against and those she fought with.
When Stoick allowed them to teach humans and dragons to live together in peace, Hiccup made Astrid his second. She was the one he trusted the most to handle the job and not just because she was the first of the tribe to believe in him. He recognized the skills she had fought so hard to achieve. Had their courtship never took place and had neither fell in love, Hiccup knew he would have taken Astrid as his General over Snotlout the day he took over being chief.
He knew many, mainly some distant aunts on her mother's side of the family, would see his now choosing Snotlout as an insult to all Astrid had trained for. He once had heard their words to Astrid about him stopping her from fighting and making her just be a wife and mother to his children. It was only later, while he and Astrid were alone, except for their dragon and human chaperones, that he learned they had been telling her such since the courtship began.
He had been angry at their insistence, but he also knew nothing would change those old women's minds except actions. That had been another reason he was so adamant Astrid learn everything he had to in order to rule alongside him. For a half a heartbeat he wished those old women were here to see the twins and their dragon immediately obeying Astrid's order as if he had given it instead. He hoped seeing such would still their tongues as he knew their words irritated his queen.
Hiccup pulled himself from his thoughts as Stoick's call for Astrid prompted Stormfly to fly her and her sisters to the flagship. That had been something he and his father discussed the night before when they planned how the trip would go. Stoick would rely on Astrid to aid him in getting the visitors to the island. Hiccup had something else he needed to do. A duty he had abandoned once before and vowed to never to neglect again.
NightshotShadowFury: Nice use of 'The Yellobrick Road' song. And yes, love the Alpha's voice. Hehe, for some, so very true.
Kirika: Hehe, yeppers. Show, don't tell ;) :p
