Apologies for the long wait, writer block hit, and IRL got me unnecessarily busy.
Chapter 17: A new resolve
The gentle cacophony of Berk's Vikings mixed with the dragon's growl finally reached Hiccup and Astrid's ears. The sound of the island easing away the tension from their shoulders, the pair let out a sigh of relief, finally being back home. Blending with the airborne dragon, Astrid carefully landed the Nadder in the middle of the plaza. The sound of a dragon landing was now common for the island resident, so no one paid much attention to the reptile.
"General?" Asked a Hooligan, recognizing the flock of gold hair that dismounted the dragon. The news of Astrid leaving the island promptly and only having her dragon, Stormfly, flying back alone quickly made its way around the island and many started to worry since they had already lost their chief.
"And…" The same Viking didn't dare to pronounce the word, " Chief， is that you?"
His voice quickly attracted nearby Vikings, and soon enough, everyone on the island wanted to confirm that Hiccup Haddock was indeed, back on the island. Pressed by the crowd, the pair soon was overwhelmed with the number of questions, not knowing who to answer. Thankfully, Fishleg, and Valka managed to make their way through the inquisitive Vikings.
"All right. We all want to know what happened to them, but let them rest first." Valka said, quickly silencing the crowd.
With Fishleg's helping them make their way to the chief's hut, the pair soon enough were lying together in the bed, blissfully asleep, not minding the small amount of dust.
The next day, both of them woke up groggily, unsure of how far the day had advanced.
"Are you alright?" Asked Astrid, "You were shuffling all around the covers."
"I did?" Hiccup replied, hands scratching his nape, "I don't know, everything just seemed so blurry."
"Don't worry," Astrid said, caressing his hands. "You'll get better with time."
"Maybe." Hiccup's face darkened.
Astrid couldn't help but worry. It was the first time Hiccup seemed so, vindictive, like he is currently planning a full-scale attack upon the Headless tribe.
"How about we head out?" Astrid said, putting her concerns down for the time being, "before they barge in and pry the answer out of our mouth."
Hiccup chuckled slightly, before slipping out of bed. They still wore the clothes they had taken off the pirates' bodies. Opening the chest nearby the bed, he fished up a fresh tunic and a pair of green wool pants.
"Do you need some clothes?" Hiccup suddenly realized the pressing matter.
"I'll just head back," Astrid said.
Watching her sneaking around to her home to avoid the prying Vikings, Hiccup couldn't help but wonder where he should put the extra chest. Must be nice. He thought.
Heading out, the young chief rubbed his still tired eye, only to find that most of the island is empty. Weird he thought, he was ready to face the non-cessing string of questions that would inevitably come from his people. But before anything else could happen, he was tackled by a black masse.
"Ooooh" Hiccup grunted; air chased out of his lung. "Get off, Toothless. You're crushing me."
But the dragon didn't move. Angry because he was abandoned behind, the reptile decided that the best punishment would be to lick his best friend clean.
"Common Toothless, you know that doesn't wash up." Hiccup complained, helpless against the assault of the Night Fury.
Finally, after what Hiccup deemed way too long, he managed to get up, covered in dragon saliva.
"Alright bud, what's the matter," Hiccup asked, only for the dragon to grumble.
"Listen, I'm sorry. I'll owe you those morning and night flights back." The Viking promised, "But where is everybody?"
Toothless nudged the Viking towards the great hall and only stopped before the door. Knowing full well evil resided on the other side of the door, Hiccup took a deep breath, only to realize that it wasn't enough, so he took a deeper one. Whatever.
Opening the door, he was faced with the entirety of Berk, with a feast almost being done cooking. But soon, the scenery was changed to the sight of a husky Viking sporting a winged helmet and sprinting toward him.
"Hiccup" Fishleg yelled.
"Wait Fishleg don't" Hiccup yelled back. Thankful for the training he went, his body acted before his mind, and, with a graceful sidestep, Hiccup dodged out of the way, making Fishleg trip over nothing and plummet face-first onto the rocky surface.
"What was that for?" Fishleg complained
"I am covered in dragon saliva."Hiccup explained, a bit guilty. Extending a hand, the chief pulled Fishleg back up easily, a feat not many could boast about it. Of course, Hiccup's newfound strength didn't escape his astute friend.
Stepping into the hall, Hiccup looked around the place nervously, as every Viking was watching him closely, meanwhile, the kitchen aid and chefs were placing the last few dishes on each table. As he pulled out the chair reserved for the chief of the island, and, joining his friends, Hiccup finally remembered that every feast of this scale should begin on the command of the chief.
"Yeah, yeah, start eating!" Hiccup said, half-heartedly. Usually, these mere words were enough to set the packed hall into a full-on frenzy, as many hungry Vikings finally got to taste the meal in front of them. But this time, the hall remained eerily silent, and every pair of eyes stared at him inquisitively, as if waiting for something.
"Fine, I'll tell you everything after we are done eating." Hiccup finally conceded, knowing that his people wouldn't drop the matter no matter how much he insisted.
All Berkians dug in with gusto, and soon the hall was filled with the usual chatter and liveliness. Sitting down, he stared grumpily at Astrid, stated on his right, as she munched down a lamb chop, for dumping the role of storyteller onto him. She returned the look cheekily, before focusing her attention back on the chop, much more appetizing.
As the last barrel of mead went dry, plates were put aside and in order, waiting for cleaning. Per traditions, the next segment will be pushing tables aside to make room for somewhere to dance. But this time, Hiccup was assaulted with numerous requests of telling what truly happened with the legendary Headless tribe. The young chief even spotted the scribe readying up the parchment and paper, as well as Fishleg, a notebook opens just in case there was a mention of a new type of dragon. Taking a deep breath, Hiccup spoke out loudly.
"It started when Toothless took me to a transport ship that was carrying caged dragons."
•—0—•
The recalling of events cut well into the night, Hiccup tried to tell everything, from the disputes and the Lure outpost, to how they got outmatched by the Headless tribe. He purposely left out the part where Astrid was tortured, out of consideration, and moreover, it isn't his story to share. Before telling everything he saw on the island, the different tribes that he help to subdue. The young chief constantly insisted on the dangers of the Headless tribe, while trying his best to stay truthful. Yet, when those after would read the scrolls, they would find that the Headless were cunning yet dangerous Vikings.
The crowd cheered and clapped when their chief told them how he made his escape and demolished the island, and gasp in shock and horror when they learned that Hiccup was put under a blood oath. Profanities flew around the hall, and it took Astrid and Snotlout all their effort to finally calm down the angry Viking.
"What does that make of us? Did we put shame on the Gods?" Asked one voice within the crowd. The hall fell silent, and the Viking who raised the question was violently berated by his peers, even though the same question was burning on the lips of many others.
"No." Hiccup answered, holding Astrid as she was ready to lunge at the poor Viking. "Astrid and I completed the trials of Odin, and per the Gods, none of Berk shall suffer the consequences of breaking the oath."
The collective sigh of relief was mere consolation for the chief and the general since there was a much more urgent matter, such as the brand that they have concealed. Even though on paper, the brand was overwritten by Soul Bound, it was still an ancient law and not many knew it, so Hiccup decided to not tell it to everyone. It will be safer like this
The grim feeling flew by, and quickly, the joyful atmosphere made its way back into the great hall. As per tradition, Hiccup and Astrid shared a dance first, under the cheers of the rest of the tribe.
The festivities went far into the night, and many Vikings opted, more like were forced to by the amount of alcohol, to spend the rest of the night in the great hall.
Hiccup, being part of the very few still half-sober Vikings, walked hesitantly towards his huts.
Almost tripping on the last step, the young Viking crashed into his bed, waiting for sleep to finally claim him.
Turning around and around on his sheet, Hiccup let out a frustrating sight. Looks like it is going to be another restless night. He eyed with envy the peacefully asleep dragon right beside his bed, free from the thought that plagued the young Viking. What can I do to make ourselves stronger, war will be upon us soon, and Berk is still no match for the Headless, especially since I taught them dragon. Odin dammit, why can't you do something right for once Hiccup? Mentally beating himself up, Hiccup didn't notice Toothless was looking at him with an inquisitive eye.
"I know bud, but what can I do?" Hiccup whispered softly to the dragon, patting his head. "We are outmatched, outnumbered, and out geared."
Toothless gently nudge Hiccup's weapon towards him, looking at the handle that sheathed the blade, Hiccup whispered. "Well, one thing at a time" Smiling at the dragon, Hiccup got out, swiftly put on another layer, and went out of the hut. "Thank you bud."
Walking into the familiar forge, Hiccup looked around. Every piece, every tool was where he remembered. Lighting up the oil lamp, Hiccup unsheathed the blade of Inferno and stared at the reflection etched onto the metal. What he saw was a hardened figure. Maybe that's what Dad would have wanted me to look like, a battle-hardened Viking ready to take on the world.
Placing the handle onto the workstation and the blade above the empty space between the station and the forge, Hiccup reached for a hammer, before aiming it at the weak point.
"That's unnecessary." Hiccup whispered to whom it may hear him, Indeed, Inferno's blade was clipped within the handle. His fingers trailed over the purging mechanism, hesitant to press it. "But I really want to do this." Grabbing the hammer again, Hiccup landed a precise strike, snapping the blade clean off. He then purged the base of the broken blade, before grabbing a sheet of parchment, and some coal, ready to upgrade Berk's armory.
•—0—•
The morning came early, but Astrid was up earlier. Stretching out, she took her routine run across the island. When she rounded the plaza, she spotted Hiccup in the forge, with an impressive amount of stacked parchments near him.
"Trouble in Valhalla?" She walked up to him. Peering above his shoulder, she found the drawing of a blade, with annotations and mechanisms foreign to her. However, the rest of the parchments were all littered with scribbled sketches. Some started as a ballista but went into a catapult. She spotted something that vaguely resembled a spear but the wielder has a tank strapped to his back.
"Morning Babe," Hiccup answered in a sleepy voice, "What brought you here at this time of the night?"
"Night?" Astrid placed a hand on his shoulder, "it's already morning."
"Wait, say that again?" Hiccup walked towards the window, only to realize when opening it that it was, in fact, morning. "
"Oh, Gods above!" Hiccup swore loudly, slamming his fist on the table.
Taken aback, Astrid asked carefully, " Hey, what's wrong."
"It's just" Hiccup pointed towards the stack of messy paper scattered across his desk, "We are on the verge of war, but I just can't come up with a plan, nor a machine that can give us a fighting chance."
"I have a suggestion" Astrid answered, recalling her meeting with the dragon Messenger. "Since our dragons shed a lot, why don't we make armor and plated them using dragon scales?"
Hiccup gave it some thought, before his face lit up. "Oh thor, that, that may work. Astrid, you are a genius," Grabbing her and placing a sloppy kiss on her cheek, Hiccup quickly ruffled through the mountain of paper and started sketching out a first look of the armor.
"I'll go get some scales for you," Astrid said, knowing full well that her words feel deaf to Hiccup's ear.
Soon, the words that dragon-scale armor could be made went around the island, and many ordered one set for themselves. Each Viking brought their own share of shaded scale, and everyone wanted customization.
"All right, people. That's it for today." Hiccup shouted while batting away Vikings that are trying to hand him their scales. "Everyone goes back home." The crowd booed, but Hiccup was firm. "That's an order." Reluctantly, Berkians went back to their lodging, grumbling about the fact that they couldn't get their armor done.
Eyeing his people, off, Hiccup went back to the set he was currently working on: a vibrant red scale with a touch of yellow, build of Snoulout's Nightmare. His cousin requested a helmet that looked like the dragon's head, and Hiccup was currently sewing makeshift teeth into the upper "jaw", because "That's what the Snotman asked." And, as the blacksmith, Hiccup couldn't really deny this horrendous request.
"We're not taking orders anymore?" Hiccup shouted as the sound of footsteps indicated that someone is approaching.
"Not even an order for us to go on a night flight?" the voice behind him spoke.
"Astrid, of… of course." Hiccup said, "Anything for you, M'lady." Swiftly dropping the helmet, Hiccup ran out of the blacksmith forge, Astrid on his tail.
•—0—•
Two reptile figures dashed back and forth in front of the full moon. Upon them, two Vikings were enjoying the night flight, as well as each other company.
"I'll never get tired of staying up there," Astrid said when the dragons leveled themselves up, gliding smoothly across Berk's sky.
"Yeah, up here, I just feel, so far away from everything, the Headless clan, the island, everything seems so small when you like at it from up here, so insignificant, I just feel."
"Free." Astrid completed his sentence. "What's wrong?" She asked when she saw Hiccup eyeing her mischievously.
"You know, my mother said the same thing when we flew together for the first time."
"Really? What happened after?"
"I showcased my flight suit." Hiccup replied like it was nothing.
"Don't you dare?" Astrid hissed, she hated how unnecessarily risky that hobby of Hiccup was.
"Don't worry, M'lady. I don't have it with me." He reassured.
Toothless and Stormfly suddenly came to a stop, hovering midflight. Both dragons were weary of a flying figure approaching them quickly.
"Evening" The rider atop a pair of grey dragons spoke out. He then let out a growl, with Toothless and Stormfly, surprisingly, answered with the same growl.
"What did you just say, bud?" Hiccup asked softly, not taking his eyes off the unknown rider.
"Wait, you are the Messenger!" Astrid shouted, recalling the familiar grey armor.
"Glad to know that the latest of the Hofferson's bloodline still remembers me." The Messenger replied, "I presumed the rider of the Alpha is the one you came to me for?"
"Wait, Astrid, you know him?"
"Later, Hiccup" Astrid cut him off. Despite knowing that the Messenger would not have any ill intent, it was still very dangerous to let something of his skills wander freely near Berk. "Should we land?"
"Don't bother." The unexpected guest replied I'm just here to deliver a message to the Alpha of these lands."
The dragon below him let out a series of growls, which Toothless responded to promptly to Hiccup's liking
After the dragon finished exchanging, Hiccup called out
"Wait, what did they say?"
"In five days, fly east. Let your dragon guide you. But remember, don't bring more than fifteen beings, rider, or dragons."
"But, I can't, I'll leave the island vulnerable."
"It's not something that you can stop, the calling for Alphas isn't something that you can interfere with."
"What do you mean, is there something over there? And Alphas? Is there more Bewilderbeast?" Hiccup asked, but the Messenger already flew off.
"Always someone of few and mysterious words," Astrid said, watching the two grey dragons fly off in the distance.
"So you met him before." Hiccup pointed towards Astrid, angry that she kept something this important from him.
"It was a long story, and yes I didn't tell you everything, because I think we had much more urgent matters at that time."
"Fine" Hiccup nodded, "But his dragons, are those Night Furies?"
"I don't think so. He told me they were guards."
"Guards? What do you mean, guards of what?" Hiccup pressed on
"I don't know! Alright?" Astrid hissed, exasperated. "I found him based on my family's history, and, according to it, he is from a very powerful clan that lives with dragons. How my family didn't consider him a traitor to the Vikings is long lost from the archives. All I know is that I asked for his help to find you when you were held hostage by the Headless, but instead, I got my ass handed to me. He is on par with the Headless we fought, if not even better. And I got the idea of using dragon scales as armor from him. Happy?"
Hiccup looked at her pensively, "I'm sorry, M'lady. It just, there's too much happening right now, and I just, once again, don't know what to do."
The pair flew back in silence, both lost in their thought. Hiccup was pondering what could he do, on one side, he couldn't leave the island alone, in fear of an all-out Headless offensive. But on the other hand, what the Messenger told him made him see hope again, hope that Toothless isn't the last Night Fury, even if it was mere hope, he can't let go of this opportunity. Beside him, Astrid stared straight ahead. She knew that the Messenger didn't lie about everything he said to them, and if Hiccup went there, she would follow him, but that means leaving Berk without their chief and general, and their two best dragon fliers. Gods, if you are above, please give us a sign, something, so that we don't lose on either end.
The two dragons landed silently in the middle of the plaza, looking back at Hiccup, Astrid knew some encouraging words were needed.
"Don't worry too much about it, just don't forget that whatever we do, I'm behind you. We are behind you. All right?"
"Thanks' Astrid." Hiccup said.
"Just get some rest tonight." Astrid replied, before playfully punching him in the shoulder to lighten up the mood. Despite her newly improved strength, Hiccup, unlike before, didn't flinch under the hit.
"You too, Astrid."
•—0—•
The next day, Hiccup woke up early and headed straight into the forge, and begin added finishing touches to the set of dark green and brown armor. Upon their wrists, he added a hidden dispenser to eject Zippleback gas and a sparking mechanism, effectively turning it into a wrist-mounted flame launcher. Opening the arm bracelet, he sewed in another layer of dragon skins. In fact, every armor that will join him for the expedition towards that unknown location spoken by the Messenger will have another set of hidden weapons. For Astrid, he had planned a concealed spike launcher beneath each arm, as well as a set of sharpened fins that can be used to parry a blade at close range. Snotlout especially asked him to be able to set himself on fire, despite many suggestions from Hiccup. Finally, he gave in and the red armor was now littered with small ducts in which Nightmare gel will dispense through.
Grumbling at the thought of how many layers of dragon skins he will need to fully protect his boar-headed cousin turned around and focused on the object lying on the table. It was a retractable shield that can be folded into the arm guards: Fishleg asked him for a more defensive arsenal, but Hiccup took it up himself to weigh up the shield, just in case the husky Viking needed to bash a foe's head in. In the forge, he could hear Gobber hammering on the anvil, probably making the hammer that Fishleg had requested, or maybe the asymmetric daggers that both twins wanted. He had already thought of the modifiers that he will bring to each weapon. For the daggers, he had little room to work with, but he recently managed to condense Zippleback gas into small marbles, thanks to a technique that he learned on the Headless'island. Putting multiple of those in the hilt of the daggers, adding a hidden switch, and it just needs a spark to have a small explosion in the middle of a fight. For Fishleg's weapon, Hiccup decided to chisel on side of the hammer, making it pierce to break through armor, he also added an extensible shaft, making it so that Fishleg can still have some range advantage if he wished to.
Lost in his work, and deafen by his inner conflict, he didn't notice someone approaching him till the very last moment.
"Brother, I knew that you didn't betray us. Glad your safe." Said a rough voice that quickly embraced the young Viking into a vice-like hug.
"Dagur, what brings you here?" Hiccup shouted gleefully; a bright smile plastered on his face. Unlike before, he wasn't gasping for oxygen while being crushed by the Berserker's hug. Effortlessly escaping the grip, he went out the forge, Dagger's on his trail. Outside, he found Astrid and Heather greeting each other.
Behind Hiccup, the berserker chief noticed the changes his friend went through. From escaping his grip easily, to now, standing before him, Hiccup looked like a massive weight was placed onto his shoulder, and was slowly being suffocated by it, nevertheless, he saw that Hiccup was filling up his armor more. Talking about armor, Hiccup was currently wearing a weirdly bulky chest plate that glistened like the night sky.
"Heather, what's brought you two here?" Hiccup asked.
"We want revenge." Heather said bluntly, "So we sent some spies to their home island, which we managed to find, only to find out that in the last few days, the whole island went on an expedition, according to our spies, they went east. Any thought?"
"Wait, east you said?" Hiccup grabbed Heather by the shoulder. "Are you absolutely sure that the Headless clan headed east?"
"God forbid, Hiccup, let me go." Heather winced. "But yes, I'm sure about that."
"Sorry, Heather, it's just, that solves everything."
"Huh?" "What?"
"Astrid, you explain everything." Hiccup said, before dragging Dagur into the forge.
"What are you doing, Hiccup?" Dagger sheepishly asked when Hiccup positioned, and then returned with a long piece of cloth.
"I saw that Sleuther and Windshear are shedding, which means, that I will make you two armors."
"What's the plan Hiccup? " Dagger asked at the sigh of determination in Hiccup's eyes. "Wait, you do have a plan right? Because you look like you have a plan."
"Of course I do." Hiccup was reassured, because with Dagur and Heather, and both of their dragons, they were fifteen.