Thank you for your follows, favourites and reviews! Seeing them made me so happy! Here's the 2nd chapter, I hope you enjoy :)
Although Hiccup did want revenge, he wasn't exactly happy about planning attacks. Mostly because there hadn't been a single time when Stoick and the knights hadn't revealed the blood-thirsty side of their minds, which never failed to change the atmosphere. Hiccup loved to use his brain and enjoy some peace and quiet while his mind was working on a plan, and he just despised how all that relentless shouting across the table and the aggressiveness had him doing and feeling the very same. He liked things like this calm, but the others didn't leave much room for that.
On his way to the great hall, with Fishlegs walking behind him, he could already feel the nervousness building up inside him. Apart from the guards standing still, the castle corridors were rather silent and isolated, which didn't seem to help his nerves at all.
"When we are in the hall, is there anything you want me to do, Sir?" Fishlegs asked in that professional voice he used only in public.
Hiccup made a face at the title. It felt so weird to hear his friend call him that, especially after spending so many hours being on first-name basis. Even though they could speak like friends now, and he could just order anyone to forget they had ever heard anything and that they shouldn't tell a soul about it, he still didn't want to take risks; if his father started to suspect anything, Hiccup's orders would be close to nothing if Stoick wanted someone to speak up. Nobody could be punished for following King's orders, even if it meant breaking the prince's orders. This was definitely a downside, and Hiccup didn't like how many things he had to keep hidden from everyone for this reason. He didn't want to know what Stoick would do if he ever found out that his son had sunk so low that he had befriended a servant, or worse, found out that said servant had been slacking off. He did know it wouldn't be anything pleasant, and Stoick would most likely make sure that his son's next servant would be as much fun as a headache to avoid such embarrassments from ever occurring again.
"No, not really, just be out of the way I guess," he finally responded.
"Yes, Sir," Fishlegs replied and silence fell between them once again. It always felt unnecessary to have a conversation in the corridors because they couldn't be themselves, so they didn't usually talk much. On top of that, Hiccup felt terrible for making Fishlegs treat him like they weren't equals. He often tried to tell himself that Fishlegs was, after all, his servant and it was part of that position, but at times he still felt like he wasn't a proper friend. Truth be told, he had never had any other human friends so he didn't have anything to compare himself with, so it was impossible for him to confirm how good of a friend he truly was.
After a few minutes, they were close enough to the great hall to hear some indistinct muttering, and from the sound of it, it was clear to Hiccup that they had already begun the planning. The sudden, aggressive uproars that came through the closed doors made the prince believe that so far their plans would be something as constructive as "let's just attack them and take all our dragons!". Once he and Fishlegs were at the large wooden doors, the guards opened them, and they revealed a mess to say the least. Stoick the Vast was standing and leaning onto the table on which Hiccup assumed there was a map, and on the right side of the king there was Gobber, his advisor. Some of the knights were around the table, too, but there were some that were pacing and shouting at each other just for the joy of it.
He then realised he had stopped in the middle of the doorway and the guards were still glued to the heavy doors. Without saying a word, he moved forward with Fishlegs at his heels, and soon he heard the doors slam shut. He quickly exchanged a knowing look with his friend that made a move towards the other end of the hall where Stoick's servant was already observing the scene before him. Hiccup almost wanted to be in Fishleg's position right now, to be just an observer with no expectations, responsibilities and whatnot. He didn't want to start shouting like those knights that were now throwing insults at each other.
The king noticed his son's presence almost instantly and for a moment he paid all his attention to Hiccup.
"I wasn't expecting you to be this late," he said bluntly. The hall was so big and spacious that the words echoed around the room a bit. The sound of the king's voice made everyone fall quiet within the great hall and the silence made Hiccup aware of the fact that his ears were ringing.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, Dad, I must've lost the track of time," Hiccup said, to which Stoick replied with a grunt. The truth was that he was just avoiding this meeting for as long as he could.
Even though he did want to participate in the planning process, he just despised the company he had to do it with. He would've preferred to go through all the possible plans with Stoick and Gobber and then just tell the knights the final plan, but the king thought that the more people make the plan, the better. Of course, not all knights of Berk were given the honour to participate, it was just the ones that had truly proved themselves worthy of the king's trust. In Hiccup's, and definitely only Hiccup's, opinion, the king should have also ruled out the ones with non-existent temper.
"What have you come up with?" Hiccup asked as he made his way to the table. He tried to examine the map that was spread wide open, but realised it was rather hard to read it upside-down, so he quickly walked to his dad's left side.
"Not much, Sir. But we have decided that we're going to surprise them and attack in a way they'd never expect us to," Gobber answered excitedly.
Hiccup's brain was already overworking. "On the ground," he said instantly.
"And from the air," Stoick said. "First, we will attack with our dragons, and then we'll surprise them with an army of a thousand men, that's–"
"The last thing they'll expect," Hiccup said enthusiastically. "That's a brilliant idea."
"We know," Stoick agreed. "But do not interrupt your king," he added sharply.
"My apologies, My Lord," the prince said with an eyeroll that his dad fortunately missed.
"I say we should attack by dawn," one of the knights shouted from somewhere. His comment earned a rather loud response from the other knights and Hiccup couldn't tell what they were saying. He looked up at his dad and saw that he was clearly starting to lose his temper.
"We cannot possibly do that," Gobber answered for the king. "We're not prepared enough to go to war yet. We must wait at least two days."
None of the knights said anything to that, so Hiccup saw his opportunity to move the focus back onto the plan that still had a lot of holes to be filled.
He cleared his throat to make sure people were listening. "I think the army should attack from the mountains that surround the left side of Briral; they won't be able to see us before it's too late for them to react. It is a tricky place to get to, but not impossible if we ride horses."
"But even with horses, that's at least a two-day route, Sir. That mountain isn't so easily crossed," one of the knights by the table said. "We should carry a lot of supplies with us so that the knights are strong enough to fight in the war."
"I am aware of that, but it's the only route I can think of that would take them by surprise because they know how difficult it is to travel on the mountain. There's no water area large enough to reach Briral, so we cannot attack from the water."
"Prince Hiccup is definitely onto something," another knight said. "It doesn't matter how hard the route is, we must find the strength within us to pull through."
From the corner of his eye, Hiccup could see Stoick's mouth spread into a satisfied smile; that kind of spirit was what he looked for in a knight of Berk.
As Hiccup observed the knights standing before him, he noticed glimpses of fear and uncertainty in some of them, and the others seemed rather excited about what was coming. The prince did understand why not all of them were so convinced about the plan. None had ever done anything like that before – there had always been dragons to fly on, every single attack had always been from the air and there had never been a time when they would've had to travel for two days. Now, with most dragons gone, there wouldn't be enough for even half of the knights. Hiccup knew that all of them, himself included, would do about anything to have their revenge, and they would do anything to have their beloved dragons back.
"Good job, son," the king said and tapped his shoulder a few times with his massive hands. "This is what we'll do; we will start preparing for the attack immediately and leave as soon as possible. We have no time to waste, it's already been seven days and I cannot wait to see the filthy faces of the Hoffersons once again."
The last bit got the knights shouting excitedly, and the great hall was back to being a mess. Hiccup was so ready to leave, but he knew his father wouldn't allow it and if he tried to sneak out, Stoick would probably put him in one of the cells for the night and he wasn't up to find out if his assumption held any truth. So, he just kindly stood by the table and tried to look like he was enjoying this supremely loud crowd of Berk's knights before him.
Once they were out of the hall about an hour later, Hiccup felt angry, exhausted and like he had just been in a hearing. Yet all he wanted was to do something to use the last bit of energy that there still was in his body. He wanted to go for a ride on Toothless.
"Can you imagine," Hiccup began once he and Fishlegs reached his room, "that for once they actually took my word for something and they didn't question my knowledge of the map."
"Maybe you've proved them that you know the map by heart and that you know what you're talking about," Fishlegs suggested as he closed the door. He didn't go any further into the room as they both knew he wasn't staying long; he stopped being Hiccup's servant every day after supper (which the prince had gladly skipped tonight due to the loss of appetite), so he was no longer required to stay in the castle until the next morning.
"Maybe," Hiccup said, sat on his bed and was silent for a moment. "I just don't get it."
"Get what?"
"If I was so late for the meeting, why hadn't they come up with anything? That route was such an obvious choice, and knowing Dad he must've seen it the second he laid his eyes on the map, so why hadn't they?"
Fishlegs shrugged. "Perhaps he's just giving you a chance to prove yourself to him, and to see if you will be able to rule the kingdom. Not that it wasn't already obvious, I know you'll be a great king," he said, adding the last part hastily.
"I don't know, Fishlegs, my father isn't the type to give people chances, they have to prove themselves to him without him giving them a chance for it. I don't see how I would be any different."
"Well, all those people won't be the future of Berk, and none of them will be a king – in this life at least – so I think there are a lot of things that make you different from them. I can't know for sure, but if it bothers you, I don't think you should just blindly shut this option out."
Hiccup didn't say anything to that. He just stared his friend for a moment before dropping his gaze to the floor and letting it take in all the details on it. Berk was a wealthy kingdom, and the castle really lived up to any visitor's expectations; there were decorations on the walls, the floor, the ceiling – everywhere. The castle had been untouched for hundreds of years and it was remarkable how great a condition everything still was in, despite all the attacks on Berk along the years. Anyone would be proud to call this their castle.
Hiccup then remembered his desire to fly on his dragon, so he stopped staring at the floor and looked at Fishlegs instead. He tried to sound as pleading as possible as he spoke: "Could you do me one last favour before you're all free to go?"
"And what is that?" he asked suspiciously. Hiccup had a feeling that his friend already knew what he was going to ask, though.
"Can you cover for me as I sneak out to fly on Toothless? I need to let some of this stress out."
"Well, I don't really have an option here, do I?"
"You're right, you don't," the prince answered with a grin. Not that he would actually do anything if Fishlegs said no.
Fishlegs observed him for a few seconds before sighing and shaking his head amusedly. "With pleasure," he finally said.
"Thanks, Fishlegs! I owe you one," Hiccup said happily as he stood up with a jump. He took the chest where he kept his flying equipment underneath his bed and lifted it up.
"I think you've said that every time I did this for you, and I still haven't gotten any reward," his friend said jokingly.
"One day I'll pay you back, seriously. I'll give you a day off. Or even two! But I can't promise more because that would be too weird. Princes aren't supposed to give their servants long breaks. You won't have to come to the war with me, how does that sound? You never liked wars anyway," Hiccup blabbered. He usually talked a bit of nonsense when he was really excited about something, this time the something being the upcoming flying session. "Anyway, I'll figure something out. But now I'll have to hurry before it gets too dark. See you tomorrow and thank you once more!" he added as he opened the door and entered the corridor, leaving Fishlegs alone in his room.
Even though the meeting had got him feeling a bit gloomy, he had to admit it had gone surprisingly well. And the fact that they, or he, had come up with a great plan made him even more anxious to have his revenge on Briral and the Hoffersons most of all. They'd have their dragons back in no time, he was sure of that.