Chapter 170

Hiccups POV:

It's been two weeks since I helped prince Derek defeat the sorcerer Rothbart who'd taken on a monstrous form to kill him and reunited Derek with the woman he loves and in that time a lot has happened. For starters after Rothbarts defeat I had to take Derek, Odette and Bromley back to the grand ball knowing we had a lot of explaining to do to both the locals and the visiting royals. As expected when we first got back every guard pointed their weapons at Toothless and me until Derek held up his hands and ordered them to stand down while claiming that I was not an enemy but a friend. As soon as he finished saying those words his mother burst from the entrance and ran out asking Derek if he was alright and if me and Toothless or as she referred to us 'the savage and his beast' hurt him. Derek actually explained to his mother that I was really a friend who was helping him save Odette and defeat the Great animal who took her from him.

The look on queen Uberta's face when Odette disembarked from Toothless' saddle was an image that made me laugh until a man who I later learned to be her councilor Lord Rogers walked up and demanded someone explain what was going on, who I was, what happened in the ball room, what Toothless is and multiple other things. Derek was finally able to shut him up by clapping a hand over his mouth and telling him that all would be explained if he calmed down first so the questions could be answered. When he pulled his hand away Rogers quieted down but before Derek could say anything I put a hand on his shoulder and told him that I believed it better to explain things in the ballroom since the guests were probably wondering what happened. Rogers confirmed this explaining how the guests never left as they were all too nervous fearing I was still out there and planning to attack them.

They all backed up in fear when they saw Toothless and I enter until Derek who now had Odette at his side assured them all that I didn't kidnap him and that he went with me at his own free will. This calmed them all down a bit but many of them still looked at me uneasily before Odette assured them all I could be trusted and that I'd played a major part in saving not only her and Derek but both her kingdom and Queen Uberta's kingdoms. There were cries for people all asking what had happened before Derek cried for silence so answers could be given which got everyone to quiet down. I did advise him that before any explanations were given than it better be after Bromley who was unconscious on Toothless' back be woken up first. Derek, Odette and Rogers agreed to this with the first two wanting him awake since he helped take down Rothbart and the third just wanting to see him faint again.

When they were able to bring Bromley back to the world of the conscious he nearly fainted when he saw he was on Toothless but I threw a cup of punch in his face to keep him awake. When that was done Derek offered a full explanation of what was going on I held up my hand silencing him with a smile and told him that it'd be better to just show them what happened. He looked at me confused but before he could ask I smiled at him and told him to just sit back and enjoy the show before I held up my prosthetic with my golden spider out. I created an illusion on the main floor making everyone back up in fear until I yelled out that it was just an illusion and couldn't hurt anyone before I began showing them what happened from the moment I first met Odette. After an hour and waking Bromley from three more fainting spells the entire adventure was done and I was bombarded with questions on how I was able to make the illusion and other things. Fortunately Derek was able to calm everyone down enough while claiming I'd had a long night and I could answer questions in the morning after a goodnights rest. He'd seen to it that Toothless and I were given a room in the palace where we'd be able to sleep comfortably for the remainder of our stay.

The room we were given had a large canopy bed with red covers and red drapes against the back wall, a large red carpet with yellow tassels on the edge in front of it, a large window looking out into the garden and on the opposite side was a fireplace with white marble framing. The following days were a major headache thanks to Rogers who would not give me a moment's peace with all the questions he had for me about all the places I've been, the weapons I had, the cultures I'd studied and multiple other things. The first time this happened I thought I was saved by the queen who called me away from Rogers but she then bombarded me with questions about the exotic jewelry and other things.

Fortunately Derek and Odette were able to get me out of that issue the first time claiming they needed to talk to me about something urgently and when I asked them what it was they needed me for they just told me that they just saw I needed help. We all had a good laugh at that before we walked away to simply have a friendly chat away from Lord Rogers and Queen Uberta. Sadly they couldn't do it every time so for some time I had to deal with the annoying questions of two of the kingdoms biggest chatterboxes. There were people who were enjoying my problems since they found it humorous and these people consisted of Derek, Odette and her animal friends and of course Blanca and Astrid when I told them about it. They weren't too happy to find out that I got into another life risking battle but when I told them whom it was for they understood claiming I was true romantic with how I explained things.

After that they told me they wished they could be there to meet the two lovers and suggested I try to make a portal door for the kingdom. When I tried it on a large boulder in the garden I was surprised when a portal door actually formed allowing me to bring Blanca and Astrid through. This lead to multiple introductions being done and although I admit, the looks on everyone's faces when I told them Blanca was my wife but I was also seeing Astrid was hilarious, the explanations I had to give and questions I had to answer gave me a headache. Queen Uberta and Rogers recommended I not tell anyone Astrid and I were in a relationship though since it could lead to some trouble with the nobles.

After that Astrid was given the room across the hall from the room that belonged to Blanca and I. When it came to the nobles and Astrid, we just informed them that she was a close friend who was curious about the kingdom and wanted to get away from Berk for a bit and they believed it. Despite people believing it though Astrid only stayed for six days though since she couldn't deal with the way the nobles looked at her as if they were better than her. Along with this the women kept trying to tell her that she should be wearing a dress in some cases while others believed her to be a servant and tried to order her around. I admit Derek, Odette, Queen Uberta and Rogers treated her kindly but Bromley acted like Snotlout and kept flirting with her to the point she actually punched him. After that we all knew it better she left before she put someone in the infirmary with broken bones or worse since that is not something anyone wanted but before she left she told me I was going to have a hard time at home when word spread about a new adventure.

Then there's Rothbart's former minion Bridget who we had to deal with shortly after Rothbart's death since she ran out of the castle to see what was happening. Derek at first wanted to arrest her for her part in separating him from the woman he loved but Odette stopped him confusing both of us. She then went onto explain how Bridget was simply following orders and despite who she worked for she'd always been nice to Odette through her time as Rothbart's prisoner. After that it was agreed she'd be given another chance and was made a servant at the castle but Derek made it clear that if she tried to hurt Odette then he'd personally throw her in the dungeon for life. So far she's shown to be a hard worker, shown no signs of turning down the dark path her former master walked and is showing to have the making of a good friend to everyone, including Blanca and I.

Other than that the first week was pretty peaceful with Derek inviting me to join him and Bromley in an archery game where we shot people dressed up as animals with powder filled arrows. We measured the points by counting the amount of spots that littered the targets and by the spots colors with Derek being orange, Bromley blue and me being red. Whenever we play this game Blanca and Astrid would join the nobles and Queen Uberta in watching the show from the castles patio until Astrid left. So far there've been three games and I've been tied with Derek for first place in each one since we're both such great shots when it comes to archery. The servants who played the animals weren't too happy though since the arrows we used weren't lethal but they did hurt a bit.

The second week however wasn't as peaceful since word had reached Odette's kingdom that she had been found which lead to some complications since she knew of her responsibilities but she wanted to be with Derek and they were going to be married. The problem with this is Derek had his own responsibilities to his own kingdom so he couldn't move to her kingdom and keep moving from one kingdom to the other on a daily basis. This lead to a lot of worry between the two lovers fearing they'd be separated again until Bridget then recommended they use Rothbarts old castle since it was in between the two kingdoms so they could easily rule them both from there.

Derek actually picked her up and hugged her when she said this and they realized how right she was since it was the perfect place to set up their home even if it would take some work. Besides the heavy construction needed to repair all the damage done to the old castle with time there was also all the dark magic Rothbart used which is a point I made clear to point out to the two love birds. They agreed that before they could begin construction the castle needed to be checked out for any dark magic items, books or any form of dark magic having experience with that type of stuff. It was decided I'd go and handle the clean out of the castle with Bridget leading me and as payment I could take whatever I desired from the castle since it was bound to have a few hidden treasures.

This brings us to now with me walking through the halls of the ruined castle with Bridget leading the way while Toothless waited outside for us to finish up and Blanca remained at the castle since I didn't want her in any danger. I was brought out of my thoughts when Bridget reached a door and turned back to face me with a smile on her face as she said.

"This Rothbart study." I raised an eyebrow. "He keep books and other dark magic here."

I nodded as she pushed the door open and walked in with me following behind her into the room and I had to say it was the kind of place that suited someone who dealt in dark magic. The room was around medium in size with a desk that looked to have seen better days on the left side with a human an open book on it, a grey inkpot with a black quill in it on the right of the book, a closed book on the left and above it was a white candle in a bronze holder. Across from the desk was a large bookshelf full of books with the occasional potion bottle and on the top shelf that was nearly empty except for one thing was a human that had a candle melted on it. On the wall across from me was a single window looking out onto the lake with ripped up green curtains framing it so it didn't look too good.

One hour later

It's been an hour since we began cleaning this castle out and in that time I've been having a hard time keeping my breakfast down with what I've seen. Honestly after going through the book in his study it was clear how deep into the dark arts Rothbart had studied since there were spells in those books that made me sick to my stomach. The book on the desk however was actually Rothbart's journal, which I put in my spiderpack to study later on since it might hold some secrets about the castle that Rothbart hid. When I gathered all the other books up I immediately took them out of the study and to a clearing in the castles garden before ordering Toothless to guard them since I didn't want anyone getting their hands on them and use the dark knowledge within them.

I was then given the full tour of the castle, starting with all the places where Rothbart worked on his dark magic's and I was not happy with what I found in his alchemy lab. There were poisons for all kinds of things besides killing a person; there were poisons for illnesses, causing pain, putting people into comas, paralyzing them, cough up blood and so much more and so much worse. When I saw the bottles containing these horrific things I didn't hesitate to take out my African club and destroy the entire room and everything in it besides the books that I took out and put with the others outside. After that cleaning out the rest of the place was easy since besides those things there weren't a lot of dark magic items but there was a painting of Rothbart that I stabbed with my star sword while channeling a red crystal setting the painting a blaze.

Now I was making my way down a hall with Bridget at my side, towards one of the rooms in the subterranean rooms where Bridget claimed Rothbart kept his treasures and something he couldn't control. I looked around the hall and was not impressed with what I saw considering the walls were moist, covered in moss, mildew and cobwebs while the floor was wet in some spots and filthy. All in all this hall was absolutely disgusting and I hoped to get out of it as soon possible since the smell of the moss and mildew was disgusting and that's coming from me when I grew up with a sweaty Gobber in the forge. It was then we reached the end of the hall where we were met by a large wooden door that almost reached the ceiling in height and either wall in width. In the middle of the door was a large circle shaped lock that glowed red in the cracks and I knew it was some sort of magic imbued lock. Bridget confirmed this when she said.

"Rothbart make lock immune to any normal weapon so he only one able to open it." I smiled and released my star sword.

"Good thing I don't use normal weapons then." I walked up to the door and quickly slashed my sword through the doors crack and through the lock and smiled as the glow from lock died and fell to the ground. "Now let's see what Rothbart's been hiding behind this door." I pushed the door open and was shocked by the amount of treasure I found in the room since there were large piles of gold and jewels around the room but Bridget then answered my unasked question of how he got all this by saying.

"Rothbart raided many passing wagons and carriages."

When I heard this I felt sick to my stomach looking at this stuff knowing it was blood money before my eyes were drawn to something on a stone altar. The thing that drew me to this item was that it was glowing and levitating above the alter itself and was letting out some sort of power. I walked up to the altar and found the source of the power to be a Morningstar weapon but the thing was the ball was different than anything I'd ever seen. The reason is it looked to be shattered but all the pieces were being held in place by some sort of light blue lightning that was coming from a small ball in the center of the shards and it was this same lightning that held the ball to the chain. (AN: Picture will be on pinterest page soon.) I looked it over and had to say it seemed powerful but was brought out of my thoughts when Bridget said.

"That lightning Morningstar." I turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "Rothbart find in tomb of old wizard but never able to use." This caught my attention.

"Why?"

"It need powerful thing to wield but Rothbart not strong enough."

I nodded but my eyes never left the Morningstar since it felt as if something was pulling me towards it and walked up to it before my arm took on its dragon claw form on its own. Before I could react to this the dragons claw reached out by itself and took the Morningstar's handle and I felt power surge through my body. I had to clench my teeth in pain, as the Morningstar seemed to be pulled into my prosthetic and not like my other weapons when they're put into storage since the entire weapon seemed to be dissolving into my prosthetic piece-by-piece while I dropped to my knees. This went on for what felt like hours but really it was only three minutes before the pain finally stopped and I was left kneeling in front of the altar breathing heavily. Bridget ran up to me and caught me before I could fall over as she asked.

"You okay?" I breathed heavily.

"I think so, just need a few minutes to catch my breath and recover from the pain."

She nodded as I turned to my prosthetic and wondered what that was about until I remembered what the master of the dragon forge told me about the dragons claw and how it took it what makes it more powerful. The problem is I thought it had fully matured so wouldn't gain any new abilities but I guess I was wrong in that case if the Morningstar was absorbed by the dragons claw. It was then my eyes widened as I remembered what was coming but before I could prepare for what was coming the knowledge rushed into my head and with it came the headache. I grasped my head and growled in pain as the headache came but before Bridget could do anything I held out my hand stopping her as I said.

"It's alright, this happens from time to time so just give me a few minutes alone."

She nodded and walked out while I went through the new knowledge that had been put into my head and smiled through the pain at what I learnt. This flail hadn't become a new weapon to my arsenal but a new permanent attachment to my prosthetics that was like my hook, however this one was permanent so it couldn't be removed. This new attachment pulls my hand into the wrist before pushing the ball out but instead of being shattered it's pulled together until fully active which is when it splits up, becoming the size of my head but light as a feather. Along with this I could let it out on a chain and swing it around like an actual flail against actual opponents and I was looking forward to seeing what it could do. I slowly stood up and knew that for now I needed to set flames to the books outside and then head back to the palace to let Derek and Odette they were free to begin construction. With this in mind I made my way out of the room so I could get to work on these things.

Five weeks later

It's been five weeks since I raided Rothbart's old castle and in that time a lot has happened with the kingdom and me since things picked up when I was done. For starters Rothbart's castle had been completely rebuilt in Derek and Odette's image to the point that a person wouldn't even realize it once housed an evil sorcerer. It was actually now a lovely place to see which is something Derek and Odette were grateful for since the lake was where they were reunited and where Derek showed he cared about more than just Odette's beauty. Besides cleaning out the place of dark magic I also helped with the construction alongside Toothless by bringing in supplies, picking up broken tools, using my sword to cut up stones into bricks, making repairs to damaged tools and other such things before helping to bring in furniture and supplies.

With our help the castle was finished and ready to be moved into within two weeks and a week later Derek and Odette were married in it and left for a weeklong honeymoon. The wedding itself was a truly lovely thing to watch as Derek and Odette's love seemed to flow around them with Derek wearing his white and gold outfit and Odette wearing a swan themed white dress. I did get a good laugh when Rogers used the shadow of Queen Uberta to scare Bromley into fainting claiming it was the great animal when her shadow landed on them. I couldn't blame Bromley for thinking that the shadow belonged to the great animal though since for the wedding the queen had her hair styled to look like a swan giving a winged shadow.

After Derek and Odette left on their honeymoon me and Blanca were put in charge of looking after their castle but they told us to enjoy some down time which we were all too happy to do. We ended up spending the week enjoying some down time with being able to pursue some of our hobbies and time together. I'd also used this time to try out with my new flail and was impressed with what it was capable of doing and knew it was going to be effective in battles.

To begin with it could be launched like my fist to knock people back except it was powerful enough to smash through a five-foot thick block of gronkle iron as if it were nothing but it didn't have as much distance. The chain I could swing it around on was ten feet long so I could swing it around easily to stroke opponents and also when I slammed it down onto the ground it would create a shockwave that was fifteen feet wide and strong enough to send people flying. All in this entire flail was going to be handy in future battles.

When the Derek and Odette got back we addressed the situation of Rothbarts gold since none of us wanted to touch it knowing it was blood money. Eventually it was decided the money would be used to help build a village near the castle allowing the castles workers to bring their families in while any remaining funds would go to the two kingdoms orphanages. We all agreed it be good to put the blood money to bringing smiles to the faces of good hardworking people and to help some children without families. It took us the remainder of the week and the entire following week to ensure that the money went to where it was meant to be and soon enough a small village was being built in a clearing away from the castle.

Now I was in the castle garden with a new portal door open, Blanca at my left side and Toothless on my right while Derek, Odette, lord Rogers, Bromley, queen Uberta and Bridget with some holding bags or boxes. Derek stepped forward with a smile on his face as he said.

"Hiccup, I know we haven't known each other too long but what you've done for me and my kingdom." He turned back to Odette. "You reunited me with the love of my life and for that I'll never be able to thank you enough." He then turned back to me and held out the small chest in his hands. "This is the least we can do for all you've done." I took the chest and opened it to find a crown I immediately recognized as Rothbarts. "Shortly after the castle was rebuilt the crown was found and after Blanca told us about your trophy room we figured it would make a good addition to it." I smiled at him.

"It most certainly will Derek and I'm looking forward to putting it in its place but not looking forward to telling my parents about my latest adventure." He chuckled.

"I take it they're going to be as happy about it as Astrid and Blanca."

"Probably if not worse." He placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Well look at it this way." He smiled. "They don't have the authority to make you sleep on the couch." We both chuckled until Odette said.

"Keep up with jokes like that Derek and you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight." He gulped at this before Odette turned to me. "Hiccup, I can never thank you enough for your help in freeing me from Rothbarts spell, bringing Derek to me and helping defeat Rothbart and although I don't have anything physical to give you just know you have my thanks and my eternal gratitude." I smiled at her.

"Now that is more valuable to me than any inanimate object I've been given in my life." She smiled as Bromley walked up with an arrogant look that reminded me of Snotlout.

"Have to say Hiccup, the way you fought was impressive but I can do better so be ready for a fight next time." I smiled before an idea popped into my head.

"Sound good to me but perhaps it better be my father you go up against since he's more of a suitable match for a brave man like you." He raised an eyebrow. "Sure the last guy to go up against him lost both his arms, his legs and was in a coma for three months before he finally passed away but hey I'm sure a brave man like you will walk away with most of your limbs." I could see he was shaking. "Then again when I tell him about how brave you were he's most likely going to want to come face you immediately after sharpening his favorite axe since he prefers it when the blade cuts cleanly since it means less blood." That was all he could take before fainting making me chuckle as Rogers walked up chuckling himself.

"Impressive work Hiccup." I just smiled at him while Blanca gently slapped my shoulder for teasing Bromley. "I truly am going to miss you Hiccup, it's rare for me to find someone I can have a truly intellectual conversation with and I so enjoy your illusions of the various places you've been and the different cultures."

"I'm going to miss you to Rogers, I also enjoyed our talks and will miss having them in an attempt to quench your thirst for knowledge." He smiled.

"Don't think your thirst for knowledge is any different to mine with the amount of time you spent in the library." We both chuckled at this.

"What can I say, I enjoy a good book and have a natural desire to study up on things." He smiled ad offered up a chest. "You'll find some of the rarest books of the kingdom in this chest from my own private collection." I opened my mouth to tell him I couldn't accept it but he pushed the chest into my arms. "It's the least I can do with you putting up with all of my questions and requests for more information then you could give." Knowing I wasn't going to win against him I just smiled and nodded as I thanked him while queen Uberta walked up with a small chest and handed it to Rogers before opening it to reveal a medal with a red ribbon to hold the gold pendant with a swan on it as she said.

"Hiccup Haddock, for your services to my kingdom and my son, I am proud to present you with" She picked up the medal by the ribbon. "my kingdoms medal of honor." I smiled and lowered my head as she placed the medal around my neck.

"Thank you, your highness." I lifted my head. "I am honored to have such an award given to me." She just smiled. "Now I believe it best we be on our way since the longer I keep my parents waiting the worse it'll be for me when I tell them about what happened." They all chuckled as I gave another bow and took Blanca by the hand while placing the other on Toothless and we took off.

Three hours later

It's been three hours since we got back and I'd barely had a moment to sit down and just take a breath to relax a bit since as always the first thing I had to do was take a flight around the island to show everyone I was back. After that I took the books to the library while Rothbarts crown went into the trophy room with the medal but didn't get their pedestal until I got them out of the storage room. When that was done I went into the training room and used my training mirror so I could practice with my prosthetic arms new flail attachment against actual opponents. I spent two hours training with it to the point where I felt comfortable enough to take a break from my training and knew it was time I went to talk to my parents about what happened on my little vacation.

This brings us to now with me flying down towards the great hall on Toothless with Blanca holding on behind me, so we could see my parents and the rest of the tribe who were no doubt wondering what happened. We came to land in front of the great hall and prayed to Odin that my parents were romantics since if so then when they found out what was up with this little adventure they might back off a bit when it comes to complaints. I smiled at the thought knowing I was only kidding myself since knowing my parents they'd be yelling their lungs out at me for taking on another sorcerer who had just turned into a giant monster. I took a breath and pushed the great hall doors open and prepared myself for the impending screaming I was about to suffer.

AN: Yeah I know it's not that long or exciting but I'm planning things out for the next chapter that I'm hoping will not only be longer but also a little more action packed. Till then I ask that you be patient and review kindly to this new chapter while also taking the time to read the following message and not review about the message.

I know some of you have read the reviews left by 'Demi Deity Radic' and I feel the need to make something clear to not only him but all of you. It is true 'Rogue Deity Master' gave me a dragon that would've been great in my story but I simply forgot about it when it came to the chapter it was for since we hadn't talked about it for a while. After that we talked about it with me apologizing for forgetting and letting him know that I am both feeling guilty about it and could still use his dragon but he turned me down claiming people would see it as pity. Now I don't want anyone getting mad at him because I'm the bad guy here for forgetting but we've talked about it and made up which includes me making it clear that if he wants to keep his characters to himself then that's fine but my door will always be open to him. Also I've been informed that some of you have been writing angry PM's to 'Rogue Deity Master' and I would appreciate it if you guys leave him alone as it's his brother 'Demi Deity Radic' who's causing the problems with reviews so please back off since he's still my friend.

That is all thank you.