Here's another chapter for you guys, hope you enjoy.
Chapter Six: Things yet to Come
High on a mountain top, on the northeastern border of the Archipelago, two warriors unlike any viking had seen before were about to spar. Little did either of them know that the outcome of this duel would signify something greater, something that would see them to the end of one journey... and begin another.
"Ready Hiccup?"
"Yeah, ready to beat you into the ground." Hiccup had grown a fair deal in the past year, it was the beginning of summer and he had already hit two growth spurts, one in the month following his eighteenth birthday and another in the new year. Back on Berk Hiccup was a measly five-foot four inches tall, now four years later he was six feet tall.
The past four years had been good to Hiccup, his jawline was showing the beginnings of a beard, stubble growing unevenly on his chin. His hair was much the same as it had been, but the back and sides were an inch and a half longer, reaching down to the base of his neck. Hiccup had been doing daily exercises, Khaine told him this would make him stronger, and it did. His muscles were very defined, something not common amongst the vikings of the Archipelago, Khaine said he looked like a centurion of mighty Rome, only smaller and paler. Berk had only heard stories about Rome and its armies, vast legions led by implacable heroes of bronze and gold, if they ever came in contact with the Archipelago then the vikings could only pray for the wellbeing of their homeland.
"Well you were very close last time, lets see if you can do any better this time." Khaine adapted a fighting stance, holding one of his swords vertically on his right side in a two handed grip.
"Oh you bet I can." Hiccup held his sword spear in his left hand at the top of the shaft with the lower half parallel to his left arm, pointing it at Khaine.
The two began circling, ready to strike if an opening presented itself, yet they kept a defensive stance in case the opponent tried to strike first. They were a good few meters apart, any normal warrior would have taken at least a couple of seconds to cross the distance, but Khaine bolted from his position, swinging in a wide arc, Hiccup ducked the blade and lunged forward for the counter attack, but his spear was thrown aside when it got caught on Khaine's back swing.
Hiccup was thrown off balance by the blow, stumbling backwards. Khaine reached for Hiccup with his free hand, Hiccup had seen Khaine do this more than once, this was his game changer. Not many were able to match Khaine in melee combat, in fact Hiccup had only seen him use it against him, but Khaine's ludicrous strength and deceptive agility meant he could strike a near fatal blow out of nowhere or grab them and throw them off their feet. Hiccup wasn't about to be beaten that easily, Hiccup let himself fall backwards and rolled back onto his feet whilst striking an upwards slash, cutting into his palm of his hand.
Now was Hiccup's chance, he wound up a swing from the left side and Khaine positioned his sword to parry accordingly, but at the last moment Hiccup leapt towards him and struck him square in the forehead with the pommel of his spear. Khaine was knocked back a couple of paces allowing Hiccup to knock one foot out from under him,sending him to one knee.
Finally, Hiccup had beaten Khaine in one on one combat, he couldn't wait to see the look on his face. As he aimed the blade end of the spear at Khaine's neck, a big meaty fist gripped the haft his weapon, Khaine looked up at him with a smug grin. Hiccup could let him make a comeback now, he sent a kick aimed at Khaine's temple, but Khaine's other hand grabbed his ankle. For a fraction of a second the two combatants exchanged a glance before Khaine wrenched his spear away, then throwing Hiccup's leg upwards, flipping him backwards and landing on his front. Before Hiccup could figure out what just happened, the blade of his sword spear planted itself inches from his face. He looked up to see Khaine grasping the pommel of his spear with one hand.
"Better luck next time."
"Aw come on!" Hiccup yelled in frustration, slamming his face into the dirt. Toothless moaned, up on his perch in a tree where he had been sleeping and the fighting had woken him up.
"Why do I have to fight you? Its not like I'm going to beat you anyway!"
"OK firstly, you're not going to beat me if you keep that attitude up, and second, why are you so angry about this? You've always been a good sport for the years I've known you."
"You keep wanting for me to fight you, as if you want me to eventually beat you. But how can I? Your immortal, your stronger and faster than anyone in the world AND you have two indestructible swords that can cut through anything, so why is it so important that I beat you?" Hiccup had run himself out of breath from his little rant and was panting slightly.
"Its not about making you good enough to beat me, its about preparing you for the future. Don't forget you still have a destiny to fulfill, which by the way we have to talk about." This sudden change of topic threw off Hiccup's bad mood.
"What? Talk about?"
"Hiccup, the time has come to move forward with the next part of your destiny." Hiccup thought about those words for a moment. Next part? Did this mean he was going to have to go back to Berk? He didn't think he was ready four this just yet. What would his father say when he saw that his son was best friends with the offspring of lightning and death itself.
Hiccup sighed to himself, looking down. "Does this mean I'm going back home?" Sure he missed his father, he might not be the proudest of Hiccup right now but he was still his father. He missed Gobber too, they shared a mutual friendship while he still lived on Berk which was more than he could say for everyone else on Berk.
"No not yet, their are people we must find before we go there, they will also have a role to play in your destiny."
"Wait! Wait! Hold on. What people?"
"There's no way you can just pop up out of the blue and expect to be in everyone's good graces, which we will need by the way, we need people who are an on good terms with Berk to help them see that the dragons are not what they seem at first glance." Hiccup took a moment to think about this.
"OK, well who are they then?"
"I don't know, but I know where they are and how to find them."
"Well isn't that just convenient." Hiccup muttered under his breath.
"Hey, I don't make the rules, however time is of the essence, we must leave as soon as possible.
"OK, so we have to find people who are on good terms with dragons but also with Berk, so where do we go to find them."
"We go North, to the Murderous Mountains."
Berk
On Berk, tensions were running high. With the increase in dragon attacks causing panic amongst people, some had fortified their homes that now resembled small strongholds. Planks had been nailed to the roofs of houses, blankets and tarps covered collapsed walls to keep out the cold night air, some had even used shields to board up windows.
Right now Gothi, Berk's best healer, meditating on the outlook of her hut that overlooked a cliff above the ocean. Aside from being a healer she also had another gift, the gift of foresight. It was a very rare occasion, she would go months, sometimes years between one vision and another, the last time she had a vision was last winter when she predicted a powerful storm heading towards Berk, everyone had to take shelter in the great hall, even the live stock.
This time however, her vision would be more important than ever. Images flooded her mind, she saw a boat arriving at Berk's docks, a strange man stepped of the boat, his face shrouded in darkness, a crowd gathered at the docks stared at him with disbelief, one woman in the crowd she recognised, Astrid, she was furious with the stranger. The image of Astrid faded and she now saw the stranger in Stoick's house, talking to none other than the chief himself, this man clapped his hands and the form of a dragon black as night crept down the stairs and into view.
Gothi saw the stranger riding atop the same dragon, leading Berk's ships into Helheim's Gate and emerging victorious, the village celebrating his return. She watched the half standing, beaten down houses return to their once habitable splendor as peace settled over the Archipelago.
Years passed, people changed, the stranger would become chief of the village and turn once enemies of the tribe into allies, the lives of every viking would benefit from the changes this great man would make. Now Gothi saw an encroaching darkness that would creep in from the north, an army of men and dragons alike, and at the head of this army stood a man fueled by hatred and cruelty, nothing but contempt for the world and wished to see it destroyed at the behest of his army. He and his army would wreck havoc upon the Archipelago, the new chief of Berk would ride atop his beast once more and stand against this threat.
The outcome of this battle was unclear.
The vision faded and Gothi returned to the waking world, she had to inform the chief of what she had seen. She picked up her staff and made her way outside, first she had to find the chief, but could be anywhere on the island, it would take all day to find him and that was more than her old body could handle.
She looked towards the Great Hall and saw a long line extending all the way to the bottom of the steps and beyond. Of course, it was Berk's gripe day.
In the Great Hall
"No Spitelout, you can't just take half of Berk's fleet and lead an attack on the nest, we couldn't do it with tha hole fleet so what make ye think tha you can do it with just half?"
"Because Stoick, we'll split up tha ships into small patrols so we can find tha nest quicker!"
"An' what if yer 'patrols' get attacked, they won't have tha supportin' fire they need."
"Then we'll put more people on tha boats!"
"An' if they get lost?"
"We'll give 'em maps too!"
"We haven't mapped Helheim's Gate Spitelout, an' even if we knew tha territory we only have two maps!"
"I thought we had four?"
"We lost one while tryin' ta map tha area, tha cartographer's ship was blown up by a zippleback, an' tha other burned to a crisp in a fire caused by tha twins!" The two teenagers in question snickered in the corner watching the argument.
"Well I didn't know tha!"
"Spitelout, even if I yes ta this ridiculous plan, we don't have enough ships ta pull it off. If ya remember tha Outcasts tried ta sabotage our fleet last Bork Week, we were able ta save most of our ships but we still lost six of 'em. Then we lost four more in last weeks raid, we only have a handful of ships left an' I will not lose any more ta another one of yer 'plans' Spitelout, I said no an' that's final! Next in line!"
"But Stoick-" Spitelout was abruptly cut off when the chief slammed his fist into the arm rest of his throne.
"That's chief ta you, Jorgenson! NEXT IN LINE!" Stoick's voice thundered across the walls of the Great Hall and Spitelout stormed off and flipped a table on his way out.
This must have been the worst gripe day in Berkian history, he'd only been at it for an hour and he already had a headache, and this usually went on for a couple of hours, until late afternoon. The Jorgenson's had been even more obnoxious and pigheaded than usual, the council had given Stoick an ultimatum, either he would choose a new heir to take Hiccup's place or they would vote him out of power.
Viking law stated that a council must be formed of intelligent and trustworthy people whose loyalty was to the tribe before the chief, no alliances, new laws or any other major changes that would affect the tribe could be made without the council's approval and in dire circumstances they could overrule or even vote leaders out of power if they had the people at their backs. This was to avoid tyranny of chieftains and the oppression of the people.
Then came the choice of who the next heir would be, Fishlegs might have been a good choice, he was smart and would have been capable of running the village but he wasn't brave and wouldn't hold up in battle, then their was the twins, no they would end up burning the village down by the end of the week.
Then it came between Snotlout and Astrid, Snotlout was a great fighter just like his father and at first glance he was the ideal viking chief, strong, brave, heroic, but then again he wasn't the smartest of individuals, his ego was always his drive for success and he didn't know tactics which he would need if he became chief. Astrid knew tactics like the back of her hand, she was also smart and didn't crumble under pressure, she was a brilliant fighter, a natural and the best of her age. Her only downfalls were that she had a bad temper, she didn't take anything lying down and more often than not she would react violently if someone even so much as disagreed with her, that and she was overly tough on others and scolded them for even the slightest mistake.
He knew that if he made Astrid chieftess then the village would likely turn against her and the council would vote her out anyway, at least with Snotlout he could teach him tactics and how to manage the village, Astrid was a warrior, a tactician but not a leader, Snotlout wasn't the best leader either but he would have to make due.
Stoick was startled by a tapping on the stone floor in front of him, he looked down to see Gothi, how did she get there without him seeing, she could be unnervingly stealthy sometimes. She took a small pouch and poured its contents of sand onto the stone floor and began writing in it, but writing was a strong word for it, she could draw images that could be interpreted and the person who could best do that was Gobber who was quite conveniently sitting at a table nearby.
"Gobber, can ye tell me what she's sayin'?"
Gobber hobbled over to translate what she was trying to say.
"She says she's had a vision."
"A vision of what?" Gothi didn't receive visions very often and when she did it was for a very good reason.
"She had a vision... of a stranger... that will arrive here on Berk."
"That doesn't sound good, the last stranger that arrived on Berk was... Barnstan." Yurgen Barnstan was a stranger that arrived on Berk a couple of years ago and was found to be stealing from widows and old men, this garnered the wrath of Thor himself and he was struck by a lighting bolt.
"She says its not Barnstan, but she says that some people in the village might know them."
"OK I'll have to go ask some questions later, did ye see what this stranger might do?" After Gothi scribbled in the sand some more Gobber answered.
"She's sayin' tha... this stranger... rides a wagon? Is he some sort a lunatic- OW! What?" Gothi whacked Gobber on the head with her staff and pointed back to her depiction. "Oh, she says he rides a dragon. Wait! Are ye sure!" Gothi nodded.
The people lined up heard this and started panicking, Stoick needed to sort this out. "OK everyone, gripe day is canceled, everyone out of tha hall!" Now they started complaining about not getting to talk to the chief. "I SAID EVERYONE OUT! Everyone knew it would end badly if they stayed to face the chief's wrath, one by one they left until it was just Stoick, Gothi and Gobber left in the Great Hall.
"So Gothi, a stranger is going ta arrive here on Berk who has affiliations with tha dragons, correct?" Gothi nodded. "Hm... right, what else did ya see in this vision. Gothi continued to write in the sand.
"She says tha he will lead Berk's fleet into-"
"What! I will not have some dragon sympathizing mad man leading MY fleet anywhere!"
"Into Helheim's Gate atop his dragon... and will be victorious... and he will be celebrated amongst the people, ta be praised as a hero. He will be come the next chief of Berk and will bring peace during his reign." Stoick was furious just listening to this nonsense.
"I WILL NOT HAVE MY THRONE INHERITED BY AN INSANE, DISGUSTING, TRAITOROUS DRAGON LOVER WHILST BLOOD STILL RUNS THROUGH MY VEINS! IF HE WANTS IT, HE'LL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME AN' THA REST A BERK TA GET IT!" He had led Berk against the dragon scourge for the majority of his life, and so had his father, and his father's father. He would not have fought this war for so long and simply resign to a cease fire because of some no named nobody.
"Maybe ye should let tha old woman finish chief, we might find an answer." Stoick usually didn't take stand for people sassing him, but he did have a point. "Alright. Go ahead Gothi."
"In the coming years a darkness will come forth from tha north an' bring war ta tha Archipelago, this darkness will destroy tha Archipelago and will continue until tha world itself drowns in tha destruction it brings. Our only hope is this stranger who rides a dragon or we will all be slaughtered by this new thread- OW! OK OK, threat. By this new threat! Ya happy now. OW! OW! OW!" Gothi was currently beating Gobber over the head with her staff, Stoick could tolerate his sass but Gothi would not.
"Alright Gothi that's enough. Do ye know when this man will arrive?" Gothi shook her head. "Well that's just great, but ye said tha some people in tha village might know who he was." Gothi scribbled in the sand again.
"She's sayin'... Astrid might know, in her vision she saw tha Astrid was angry with him as soon as he arrived, as if she harboured a grudge." Now this was something the chief could work with.
"OK, so we need ta go ask Astrid some questions, see if she knows who this mystery dragon master is."
The Hoffersons house
The Chief, Gobber and Gothi had just reached the Hofferson's house to speak to Astrid. Stoick knocked on the door and Brenna answered the door.
"Oh, mornin' chief, is there a problem?"
"No, we just need to talk ta Astrid, is she in?"
"Yes, she's upstairs. Has she been causing trouble again?" Brenna missed the old Astrid, the daughter she knew before she became obsessed with this perfect warrior nonsense.
Brenna walked the three of them upstairs to Astrid's room. Brenna knocked on the door. "Astrid dear, tha chief is here, he wants ta talk to ya?"
"Stoick?" Footsteps were heard and Astrid opened the door to her room. "Come in."
The group walked in and saw that Astrid's room looked primitive to say the least. The skulls of two dragons hung above her bed, one was the head of a monstrous nightmare, the same one Hiccup was supposed to kill four years ago, it was her first kill. The other was slightly bigger, two curved horns jutted out from the sides of its head and its snout was longer and thinner.
Astrid's room was not like the other girls her age on Berk, instead of any clothing racks or beauty related items there were weapons, dragon hide, books on combat styles and even a training dummy in the far corner of the room. Everyone knew she was obsessed but still, this was a bit much.
Astrid sat down on her bed with her axe resting on her lap. "So what did you want to talk about?"
"Astrid, Gothi has had a vision of tha future and this vision involved you yourself."
"What? Why would I be in one of Gothi's visions?" Astrid didn't know what to say, Gothi's visions didn't happen regularly, but while those she did have visions about did sometimes have fortune and good will in store for them, others were told of tragedies that were to befall them and curses passed down by sins of relatives that were long dead.
Stoick still didn't trust this strange dragon master that was to inherit his chiefdom, but he couldn't just ignore the events detailed in Gothi's vision either, so he decided to take the middle ground on this one. "At the moment we are tryin' to identify a man tha' Gothi saw in this vision, she thinks tha' you might know who it is."
"Why would I know who it is?"
"Gothi saw you in this vision being very... aggressive towards this man, she seemed ta think ye had a grudge against him, so I need a list of people ye might have had a few misunderstandings with in tha' past."
"Well, that's a looooong list."
"I'm bringing serious Astrid, I need ta know."
"Alright fine. There's the Jorgenson family." Of course that was to be expected.
"Yer gonna have ta be more specific."
"Right, uh... there was that one Outcast that tried to drag me back to his ship by my hair." Astrid was visibly angry just for recalling that memory, and the chief couldn't blame her, after all the threats that man made against Astrid, he was asking to have his arm hacked off. Her mother was in tears after her daughter had told her that a man had threatened to rape her, but Astrid wasn't, any other girl her age would've broken down then and there, in fact it was quite disturbing how grimly calm she was afterwards.
Silence hung in the air for a moment before anything else was said.
"Then there was that girl in the market..."
"Here we go again." Gobber commented quietly.
"I mean the nerve of that girl, laughing at me because 'my hair looked funny', who does she think she is!?"
"Astrid for tha' last time, she was only nine an' she didn't know any better. Now can we please get back ta tha' matter at hand?" Astrid's gaze fell to the floor and she gripped the wooden handle of her axe in a vice, her knuckles turning white, of course she would use it, while she didn't have respect for most of the village, she still respected the chief, without him Berk would've been destroyed a long time ago on by the dragons.
"Astrid, we need ta know who this man is, if ye think you might know who he is ye have ta tell us."
Of course Astrid knew someone else she despised, how could she forget. Hiccup Haddock, the boy who upstaged her at the thing she'd been training for since the day she could walk, who humiliated her even after his absence and made her feel sorry for in the process. But how could she tell the chief that she hated his son, and to his face no less, he'd surely punish her for it and he had good reason to do so after he heard what she said to Hiccup just before her left.
"I can't think of anyone else." It was a lie of course, there were plenty of other people she could point to, but right now she just wanted him out of her hair.
Stoick sighed, he knew she was lying, but he didn't want to press any further, lest he have to deal with yet another one of her tantrums. "Alright, but ye think of anyone else, just come find me when ye have tha' time."
"Of course chief." She still didn't lift her eyes from the floor. Stoick, Gobber and Gothi left her to the rest of her day. Astrid's mind lingered on the painful memory of her argument with Hiccup that day. She still remembered every word Hiccup said to her, like they were imprinted in her head, as if she could still hear him talking.
"After all your teasing and taunting, time spent ostracizing me because you had nothing better to do."
"I looked up to you."
"I still saw you as the perfect viking."
"All the hatred, the tears, the pain."
"DIDN'T YOU JUST STOP AND THINK THAT MAYBE ALL I WANTED WAS TO BE YOUR FRIEND!?"
Even as Astrid summoned the willpower to shun the voices away, one sentence still made its way to the forefront of her mind.
"Save it Astrid, after tomorrow you won't have to worry about me ever again."
Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall, not while she still had her pride. But even after several minutes of controlled breathing to make the tears go away it didn't help to quell her thoughts.
She had denied it for so long that she'd almost started to believe it, but in the back her mind she knew that it was her anger and her jealousy that drove Hiccup away from his home, it was her fault because she ignored a boy that look up to her and spat in his face when he succeeded. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, heir to the throne of Berk had left his home, the place he spent the past fifteen years of his life and probably died in some far off corner of the Archipelago, alone and afraid.
All because of one Astrid Hoffersons and her jealousy of the village runt.
It's been (almost) a year now since I started writing this story and I just want to say thank YOU the reader, just you reading this story supports me and keeps me going. I haven't gotten as far as I thought I would have by now but hey, all I can do is try. Here's to another year! And don't worry we'll be getting to the good stuff very soon. Bye for now.