Chapter 11

Hi! I know I didn't update much in a while but with Christmas and the New Year, my head was elsewhere ^^ Enjoy!

Fury was in the Great Hall indeed, listening to some of his people. Heather was at his side and Astrid saw Vami and Llewelyn in the crowd. When he saw the newcomers, the chief jumped on his feet, alarmed by the state of the three men and the blood on Astrid's face. Heather also went at her, stunned by all of this.

"What happened to you?"

Instinctively, his hand gently wiped some blood oozing from her forehead, and she was startled at this: "Kalisha was attacked." That was all she could say.

"What?!"

Once he heard what happened, Hiccup got a bad feeling. If it was against Eret and himself, then it could hide something big. He ordered the guards to bring the one with a maimed shoulder to the healers and then to jail, and to keep him under their constant watch. Not that he had much pity, but he wanted to interrogate him. Meanwhile, Heather, Vami and Llewelyn took care of Astrid's wounds.

"Send someone to get Eret, he has to be warned that his wife is wounded," Fury demanded

He kicked the man on the floor to wake him up, and a growl was heard. The aggressor was stunned and then very afraid when he saw Fury standing before him and people all around. The chief looked at him threateningly:

"I'm not gonna lie: you're dying today. Now, you have the choice: speak and you get a clean death, or stay silent, and well…I can promise you I'll be crueler toward you than I was toward Alvin the Outcast. You must have heard of what happened to him?"

"Sp…Speak?"

"Yes, speak. Do I really need to explain you why you're here? You tried to rape Kalisha and tried to kill Astrid Hofferson, my betrothed. We know you didn't just attack her because you wanted to rape her. You would have surely done it surely, but it wasn't the only reason."

"No…You don't understand, it wasn't like that!"

"You prefer the painful death it seems."

"Let's torture him!" Someone yelled

"Let's give him to the dragons!"

"We should cut him in pieces first, slowly, while keeping him alive, I know how to do that!"

A wave of approvals followed those words and the man paled as he heard the people in here proposing several kinds of death, all painful and horrible. Fury was still looking at him intensely.

"He promised we would be rich! He promised that if we helped, Drago would make us rich, that's all, please, don't…"

"Drago? So that's him. Continue."

"It's Vern, he…He proposed us…"

"Vern?"

"The one you sent to be healed, chief. We rescued him from a slave's ship."

"It was one evening, we were at the tavern. He said that we had to help him to spread fear and confusion and that was all, that we would be rich. He wanted to hurt you and Eret especially, I don't know why. We first wanted to kill his fiancée, so he would start suspecting everyone, and then we would have done…Other things."

Of course, sending someone to murder people around and make everyone suspect everyone…He was pretty sure Viggo was the one who suggested that to Drago. But it was weird: why had Drago sent an attack and spies if he already had that Vern? This one was living among Endrisians, he could have given him information more easily in addition to spreading chaos. Maybe it was actually a way to disguise this man's presence? Maybe he simply wanted more spies because the task was too much for one man? He continued to interrogate him but he had obviously been nothing but a pawn, he didn't know much more. It was that Vern he would have to interrogate.

At his order, the man was dragged outside so his blood wouldn't soil the Great Hall furthermore. Astrid followed just like the others. The man was pushed on his knees under furious yells, and Fury took out his sword. His move was swift and deadly, Astrid couldn't help but shudder: she was reminded at that moment that Fury was a warrior in spite of his thin frame. Other yells of acclamation followed this, yet Fury didn't seem to pay attention. After the sentence was given, a lot of people congratulated her, asked her if she was okay, only to make her feel quite strange. A few days ago, most of those people were looking at her as if she was a strange animal. At the same time, Hiccup went to Heather and told her to go and inform the guards and their own spies that they would have to be more vigilant.

"Thing is, we allowed some merchants to come in the harbors, this is always a risk."

"We can't stop the trade, if we freeze the trade, we'll have problems, gold is essential during war."

She knew he was right, they couldn't reject every merchants, but she would have to be really careful though.

"I'll take care of that, you, take care of Astrid. She is tough, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be there for her."

He nodded with a smile, and turned away to go toward his fiancée who was surrounded with people asking her questions and thanking her. Fury told them to leave her alone so he could bring her back home.

"Wait, could you take me to Kalisha, instead?" Asked she.

"You sure you'll be alright?"

"Of course, I got worse than that."

He was informed that Eret took Kalisha to his home. They were greeted warmly when the door was opened, Eret was pale and agitated and he immediately took Astrid's hands:

"Thank you for saving her, I don't know how I'll ever repay you, but thank you."

"Oh…Your dragon also helped a lot."

"Still, I owe you everything."

Kalisha wasn't the only person Astrid saved, yet as Eret praised her, she felt strange again. She found Kalisha in Eret's bed and in a better state than she expected. Though she was pale and had bad bruises on her face, she looked perfectly awake.

"Hey, you're feeling better?"

"Yeah...I'm not sure I thanked you earlier. Thank you, really."

"It's normal, I wasn't going to stand still while you were being attacked."

"It happened already, to me and some friends when we were slaves. We could be beaten, and people would do nothing, even if they didn't approve it. I was always doing my best not to get punished, but even the most careful person fails from time to time…" She sighed. "Those three never did anything to me before, and I never even spoke with them…I don't know, it feels like I wasn't supposed to be attacked. I kept wondering how I could have avoided that."

"They had a goal, they would have taken any occasion, there is nothing you could have done to avoid an attack."

She told her what they learned in the Great Hall, and that one of them still had to speak. The girl looked truly upset by all of this:

"He'll be dead soon too…When I think I was supposed to be only the first...Whatever, they won't do anything anymore." She took a deep breath. "Fury never condemned anyone so hastily I think, except for Alvin the Outcast, and from what I heard, Alvin killed his father."

"What?"

"Kalisha!"

They both looked at Fury who was standing near them, and Kalisha realized what she had done.

"Oh I'm sorry! I'm stupid, really stupid!"

"It's alright."

He kneeled at her side and took the maid's hands in a comforting manner.

"Astrid would have learned about it anyway, but there are things I wish to tell her myself."

"Of course, I babble way too much."

"It's fine, don't worry about that, I overreacted. I wanted to ask you, was it the first time it happened?"

She shook her head, explaining she had never been bothered by them before, and no one else tried to attack her either. She blinked, obviously tired, Eret came to her and gently stroke her head. After what she went through, he wouldn't give her reproaches. Astrid had planned to stay a bit with her, but she obviously needed to sleep.

"We should leave," she told Fury. "I'll come back when you'll feel better."

"Alright, take care of yourself as well."

Before they left, Eret took his chief by the arm, a darker expression on his traits.

"The last one, leave him to me. I want to make him talk myself and kill him myself."

His friend granted him that, and the two left the house. Eret went back to his bethroted, sat at her side and cupped her temple soothingly. Kalisha leaned in his touch, he wished to take her in his arms but he would probably only hurt her.

"I shouldn't have said that about his father."

"Don't beat yourself over it, he can't hide everything about himself from her forever. Sooner or later, she is gonna hear some stories, especially if she gets more and more friends."

"One day I wish we'll know who he really is. I can live without it, but sometimes not knowing is just...Well, you guess."

He nodded, he knew who Fury really was, but his fiancee didn't and even though he wished to tell her, that secret wasn't his to share as long as Fury didn't decide of it. Kalisha wouldn't mind much not being told anyway. Once at home, Fishlegs was here, waiting to check up on Astrid. She assured him she was perfectly fine, and promised she would find him again tomorrow as usual. Once inside, she sat at the fireplace, it was nice to stay close to the warm fire. Fury went at her side and spoke gently:

"I want to thank you. Kalisha is a friend and I don't think Eret would have got over it if she had been killed; he might not say it often, but he loves her deeply."

"He doesn't need to, it's obvious when he looks at her."

"You can see that in a man?"

"It's easy to spot."

"I didn't think you could do that."

"Why not?" Asked she, pretty confused.

"Don't bother."

A wave of pain made her wince. It felt like her head would burst, not only because of the wounds but because of everything which happened.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…There is something I have to tell you, I didn't want to say that before everyone, but one of the men said something…He said: Drago wanted to get you himself. What's happening with him, exactly?"

His eyes widened at this : "Oh Thor…" But that was to be expected, after all the rumors of what happened on Berk were probably getting around, and those spies probably told him as soon as they heard of her. If that monstrous son of a bitch thought he could hurt her, oh he was wrong!

"I'll explain: Drago Bludvist is a madman, he also has dragons, but on contrary to us, he wants to conquer and enslave. He has a lot of slave merchants under his orders; a lot of people here were captured and sold for his profit. His army is as powerful as ours, with many dragons as well. The problem is, some tribes consider joining him to attack us."

"Why didn't they do that already?"

"Probably because they are afraid of him. After all, he is a madman and he killed chiefs in the past, some tribes still hold a grudge. I guess you heard of that. The thing is, some of them use slaves, so they'd rather see us disappear. If anything hints that we're weaker than Drago, they will never associate with us, and instead they'll go to him in order to be with the winner's side. And let's say that our war won't be an usual one."

Astrid bit her lips, a lot of chiefs had claimed in the past that their war would change everything in the archipelago, but in general, it had been boasting. Sure there had been battles, victims, but it would never be a real threat to their world. Here however, Fury wasn't boasting, he was worried, and she was starting to feel the same.

"Your attack on Berk wasn't only a revenge, wasn't it?"

"No, indeed. You understand now why this marriage must be believable?"

Indeed, but she She didn't know Drago Bludvist, but Stoick had told what happened when he killed chiefs. Since no other event involving the madman had occurred, people thought he died. She asked something, although she was starting to guess the answer.

"What has he done all those years?"

"He had prepared. He had enlarged his tribe, he has taken a new island, which is west form the archipelago. Now he is getting ready, but thank the gods, we also are. He has more soldiers and dragons than us, but my people are more loyal and we are better riders. We also have more food and gold than them. The thing is, the slave traders are a big support for him…We are somehow responsible for this. Slaves traders felt threatened by us, so they rallied Drago, they give him gold and slaves. Now maybe they would have got friends with him anyway, after all, he would have bought slaves anyway. I don't know"

Astrid remained silent, she imagined what would happen if Drago won that war. If she got what Fury said right, he had troops, but riches were limited. However, if he got his hands on Endris which was one of the richest Viking island, he would have everything needed…That idea made her scared, she wasn't easily scared, but this was big, very big.

"You have no allies?"

"I have an alliance with the Bog-Burglar, Camicazi helped a lot with that. There is also Mala, she has a small tribe, but they are ready to do everything to help us. We're also trying to get an alliance with Norbert, the chief of the Sea-Roamers."

"I know them, they often pass through Berk for trade."

Her head suddenly felt sore, she didn't know if it was her wounds or everything she just learned, but it made her wince. Of course, Fury noticed:

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's just all that happened…The Nadder from the arena came to defend me..."

"She might have adopted you already."

"I…About riding dragons…"

"You decided of something?"

"Well..." She sighed and tried to find her words. She took a deep breath, she still hardly knew him, she didn't want to tell him everything about her life, but she didn't want him to misinterpret her decisions. "My family always fought dragons, one of my friends was killed by a dragon. Riding one would be like treason to everything I was taught, and to my friend. But, I can't ignore what happened today."

"…You know, I don't come from a tribe which was used to ride dragons. When I started to befriend them, I was feeling like I was betraying my tribe and my family too. But if what we're taught I wrong, we have to do something about it. And it's your tribe who proposed this marriage, weren't they aware the chosen one would have to adapt to her new home?

It made sense, yet sense wasn't always getting along with feelings. One sure thing was that she couldn't deny anymore that dragons helped her and she couldn't brush the Nadder away like this. She didn't think it would ever happen, but she owed a dragon her gratitude.

"How did you even find yourself befriending that one?" Asked she while looking at Toothless.

"It's not a joyful story...When I met Toothless I was at my lowest. I had always been scrawny and I wasn't really the best Viking around, and things went down at a point. When I found myself a gift with dragons, it was like a rebirth. I finally had a way to be free and release others who needed it. I had met Heather like this, and she became the first one to follow me. But it's up to her to tell you her story…I'm going to my room, don't hesitate to call if you need anything."

He left with Toothless, and she thought of everything they said. Yes, she felt like she would betray her tribe if she tried to befriend the beast but...She remembered her family's anger, as well as her friends', but the rest of the village was relieved. They said she was a hero, they were happy that she left instead of their own daughter or sister or niece. They had gladly left her to handle the situation; well she would handle it as she wanted. She owed that Nadder to try.

Her resolve was taken. She went up to Fury's room, letting her footsteps be loud enough to be heard, in case he didn't have his mask on. When she reached his room, he was standing with his back to her, and she couldn't help but notice that his mask was on the floor. She could only see the back of his head, and it was the only time she could actually see his hair. No scales on this part of him, just brown and quite messy hair. Toothless was eying her carefully but he wasn't growling.

"Fury?"

"Yes…What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to tell you that I'll give dragon training a try. Tomorrow morning?"

"Maybe I'll train you the evening, once my work is done and once you're over with yours."

"Okay. I'm leaving you, good night."

"Good night."

She turned away and headed toward her room when she heard his voice. He was wearing his mask once more.

"Wait, hum…Actually, I'll take you to the arena during the morning, because there are some things I would like to show you. I'll tell Heather and Camicazi to handle some of my tasks for the day."

"What do you want to show me?"

"It will be a surprise. I don't know if you'll like it, but…Let's say, you probably didn't see anything like it."

"Don't you have that man to interrogate?"

"I will, but he has to wake up first. We can spend some time together first."

Her natural curiosity was appealed by what she heard, and she accepted. She would only need to tell Fishlegs and Belda that she wouldn't be here to train the kids. Hiccup called Toothless and they went for a night fly.

"She accepted, bud! We'll do it!"

The dragon gave him a happy cooing. He was feeling a bit guilty about leaving Cami and Heather to handle everything, but it wouldn't be the first time, after all, he would do it whenever he had to leave for a trip or when he was sick or wounded. Plus, he had taken care of many problems, the streets which had been destroyed were being rebuilt, and it was going pretty well and quickly. They had set a plan to find out what Drago was preparing, they had prepared military defenses in case of attacks and he had taken care of other smaller problems. He could take most of the next day to spend some time with Astrid, they could handle it, and he would repay them. Plus, he would go to the man to interrogate him, but only after giving some of his time to his betrothed. He wouldn't be immediately awake anyway. He fled above his island which was enlightened by the moonlight and looked at the stars right above him. He wanted her to discover all that, and much more. Everything he could offer her, he would give.

O o O

The news of what happened spread fast, people were talking a lot about the spies who tried to kill a young woman, and how their future chieffess defended her. The news spread in the taverns, on the docks, and it soon reached a certain person. In a tavern a man was sitting and listening while faking to be interested in a game of dices. No one here had recognized him, but it was expected, he had spent his life in the shadows and only a few people actually knew who Viggo really was, and what he really looked like. He still had to be very careful here, because Fury had seen him once, and if he was to enter, he would recognize him immediately. But to other people here, he was simply a man working for a merchant. Although Fury knew there were spies, he couldn't stop trade, it would be damaging for his tribe, so he still had to allow merchants' boats to come at his harbor. Of course, those were controlled, but it was mainly the merchandise they would inspect and the captain they would keep an eye on. Not a simple worker like him.

Viggo was furious, but in contrary to his brother or Drago, his rage was a cold one, a meticulous and patient one. Oh, those idiots were lucky that they had been captured, their fate would have been worse if Drago had got his hands on them! Things didn't go as planned, not at all! Even worse, one of them had spoken, and another one would be interrogated soon. In fact, the people here knew already that Drago had something to do with what happened. Fury probably had figured out his plan. At least, they didn't know that he knew their plans failed, and the spies had never been made aware that Viggo was here, their orders had only be given through messages. Once again, he congratulated himself for becoming a shadow over the years. Now he needed change some things, and to do the job by himself.

That Astrid girl couldn't die, it would be a waste, but that was something a lot of people couldn't understand: that sometimes, you could need potential enemies to stay alive. Drago understood it, Viggo had to give him that, he wasn't stupid at all, and he had understood Astrid would be more useful alive than dead. Eret's fiancée, yes, they had wanted her dead, but she was the only one supposed to die! Not that she was important, but it would have driven Eret crazy, and some other murders like this would have been an efficient poison to weaken Fury. He couldn't do that anymore, but he had another move prepared, and he would still use it. Drinking a tank of mead, he was listening to a bard while playing, he had to admit it wasn't the worse kind of evening he had passed, some people here were almost likeable. He would still enslave them all.

He returned on his boat, the captain looked at him and didn't dare to say anything; he was the only man on board who knew who he truly was. Once alone, he thought of his plan. Drago was developing his weapon on his side; Ryker was getting ready to provide a distraction as he had told him to do. As for him, he would meet with Astrid soon.

Next chapter will be a bit more romantic, I promise. Don't hesitate to review !