Before beginning, I'd like to say that judging by the title of this chapter, many of you will probably already know what it will be based around. Unexpected? Probably so!
Now, with that out of the way, let's dive right back into our story!
"Just remember, everyone!" bellowed Stoick with his announcement. "Clan Jorgenson is from this point on a potential enemy. If they strike, do not hesitate to strike back! Do you understand?"
"AYE SIR!" yelled the warriors that stood before Stoick.
The large chieftain gave them a nod. "Excellent! You are all dismissed!"
It was near the stairs of the great hall that Stoick made a speech in front of hundreds of warriors that afternoon. By now, the whole town was preparing for what they felt like was an inevitable conflict with Snotlout.
Many viking warriors had been mustered, as well as dozens and dozens of dragon riders, ready to defend the town from anything that Clan Jorgenson could send at them.
To others such as Hiccup and the riders however, they viewed the preparations as overwhelming and unnecessary.
From Gobber's workshop and forge, they were able to see the whole thing go down in the distance, though they were unable to get a closer look due to the size of the great talkative crowd that stood before Stoick.
But it wasn't until the crowd dispersed that Hiccup began to speak with his mother and the others.
He looked at them with an uncertain look. "I feel like he's desperate to have Snotlout taken care of already. But does he really need to prepare an army?"
"Stoick was always one to believe that much of what he did was best for us," Valka commented, gazing at the large viking who spoke with Eret and Gobber in the distance. "But sometimes he can get carried away."
"He's expecting for Snotlout to attack us, but he has no clue what will happen next," said Fishlegs.
"Same for all of us, Fishlegs," replied Astrid who was squinting her eyes at Stoick in focus.
"Like I said before, Snotlout is just a coward," Arn commented, crossing his arms as he glanced back at Hiccup and Astrid. "And even if does decide to fight us, I doubt many of his men would be willing to follow him. His persona seems off."
Hiccup rose a concerned brow, looking back at Arn. "What makes you say that, exactly?"
"My father once told me that a leader's choices will always affect his followers- depending on how he leads of course, and he was proven right. Over the years that I have helped lead my tribe as an heir, I have seen beforehand that my actions have changed my men for the better, and it is why we continue to fight on..."
"...A strong and smart leader will make strong and smart men. An arrogant and cowardly child like Snotlout will make only brigands and thieves."
"Heh, I'd like to hear someone say that in front of Snotlout's face," laughed Tuffnut. He knew well that a single critique would boil Snotlout into a frenzy. "He'd do whatever it takes to make himself look like a perfect dude. Which reminds me of how mom and dad met."
"Oh dear," groaned Fishlegs. "Please don't tell us. We'd rather not-"
"Our parents bumped into each other and tried acting like normal perfect people," interrupted Ruffnut as she rambled on without warning. "Yeah. It was a hell of a night for them after that. What they did was-"
Hiccup immediately spoke up in an embarrassing tone. "Ruff, please save the details for another time… or for never."
"Please do," Arn nodded in agreement. "I don't want my appetite to be ruined. I'm starving because I haven't had breakfast this morning."
"Me neither," moaned Fishlegs, laying his hands on his stomach. "Plus, if Meatlug here doesn't get something soon she's going to-"
As he gestured towards the Gronckle, Meatlug immediately let out a loud and stinking dragon fart which made everyone quickly cover their noses. It was revolting.
Fishlegs then finished his sentence with, "That."
"Ugh," coughed Astrid. It wasn't the first time she had to deal with it. "Nothing that ruins my morning more than that…"
"Guys… it was an accident," sighed Fishlegs as he turned towards Meatlug, rubbing his arms against her. "Don't worry Meatlug, they're just grumpy this morning."
Meatlug warbled back at Fishlegs in a friendly gesture, as if she said, "It's nothing to worry about. It is only just a-"
"Well if it's nothing to worry about, then let's hope it stays that way. No offense given."
Like last time, Arn spoke out in random, almost as if he replied directly to what Meatlug said which shocked the Gronckle in surprise. She stood there, eye widened along with the rest of the dragons while Fishlegs and the others looked at him in confusion.
Meatlug looked back at Toothless who shook his head at her in a dragonly manner.
"He did the same thing to me before. It's weird," warbled Toothless, to which he then noticed out of the corner of his eye a wink from Arn.
He was winking straight at him.
Now he felt like he had seen everything. Toothless understood that anything could happen in this world of theirs; it was flowing with magic. But a human talking with a dragon? That was impossible.
Hiccup took a few steps towards Arn. "Right, who were you talking to this time? Was it to yourself again?"
Embarassment took hold of Arn. All of a sudden, his eyes quickly gave away that there was something mysterious about the way he replied. Last time he spoke out of random was when Toothless warbled something. And now, it was with Meatlug.
The blonde lad sighed. "...I think we should all go talk in private. I need to tell you something."
…
"Dragonese?"
All of their voices echoed through the great hall as they spoke up in unison, staring at Arn who sat across from them.
"Aye, Dragonese," he nodded, crossing his fingers and hands as he laid them on the table. "Dragonese is the language of dragons. My tribe has been able speak with dragons for centuries, and it was only a few years ago that I was taught how to speak it... it wasn't easy for me, though."
Hiccup rose his brows in shock. "Wait- centuries? You mean your tribe has been speaking with them ever since they were around?"
"Not from the very start… but definitely for a long time."
To this, the dragons that stood near their riders rolled their eyes, exhaled smoke from their nostrils, and overall showed baffled unbelievable looks on their faces. To them, Arn's moments of speaking randomly just had to have been a coincidence. There was no way humans could speak with dragons.
But then Barf and Belch started to loudly warble out random dragon-talk, to which Arn arched one of his brows at.
"Oh please, there is no way he can understand us!" gargled Barf who was glancing at Belch and the other dragons.
Belch let out a spark from his mouth, almost nodding his head in an agreeing dragonly manner. "Tell me about it! This human thinks he can understand what we're saying?"
As the two-headed dragon argued with itself, Cloudjumper looked back at them, giving off a light growl. "Will you two be quiet? The louder you talk, the more I'm sure he'll be able to hear us."
"Oh, but I can already hear what you guys are saying."
The dragons all jumped back in a startled manner, to which Hiccup, Astrid, Valka, Fishlegs, and the Twins all gazed at Arn in question. Judging by the looks of their dragons, they knew he could understand them.
"Did he just say what I thought he just said? Is he really talking to us?" asked Toothless, to which Arm let out a chuckle.
"I can assure you that you're not dreaming."
The dragons' minds were suddenly spinning, and to that, Barf and Belch fainted, as if they refused to take in the reality that humans could understand them.
Hiccup on the other hand began smirking. "I have no idea how this language didn't make its way into the Book of Dragons.
"Like I said, I was taught Dragonese," Arn added on. "But with any dragon that is trained, I can just speak with the common tongue."
"And what about the actual language?" questioned Astrid.
"That's only for wild dragons. The only reason your dragons can understand me is because they have been around you for a while now, thus they can understand humans."
"...It makes sense, actually," said Hiccup, looking back at Toothless who was conversing with Meatlug, Stormfly and Cloudjumper. "Toothless always responds to every simple command I give without mistake, like with plasma blast."
"Same with Stormfly and I," replied Astrid, furtherly adding on to what Hiccup said. "Whenever I shout spine-shot in battle, she always launches a tail spike without fail."
"You've got that right," squawked Stormfly.
Arn grinned at the Nadder's response. "And Stormfly agrees with you. Looks like she does understand you."
"Awesome," smiled Astrid, gazing towards her dragon in awe.
Soon, Valka and the other riders began to talk to each other in interest in regards to Dragonese, for who would not be excited to learn that there was a language to communicate with dragons? To Hiccup especially, it was out of this world.
An idea then came to him. He looked back at Arn and asked, "Do you think you could translate for Toothless? I'd like to ask him a few questions."
"I mean sure, if that's fine by him. He is your dragon after all."
Toothless who stood nearby tilted his head to his rider and the blonde-headed viking, giving them a nod. They needed no further response.
"Right," Hiccup began excitedly. "First question… when would you like to go flying, bud?"
"Mmm… maybe in an hour or so. After that I want something to eat…" he spoke, though Hiccup heard only sounds come out of him.
Arn nodded his head before spinning to face back to Hiccup. "He said maybe in an hour or so. Afterwards, he wants to eat."
"Alright…" replied Hiccup, unable to get a smile off his face. "Anything in particular?"
"Any kind of fish, really. And please try not to pick an eel "by accident" again."
"He said he wants fish," Arn translated. "Any will do for him. But he also asks that you try not to accidentally catch an eel again."
Hiccup sighed at the thought of it. "It's not my fault that they keep swimming for the net. I'm not a fisherman, you know."
"Then use a fishing pole," suggested Arn, to which he then look back at Fishlegs, who was busy conversing. "I am pretty sure Fishlegs can help you too. He is a fisherman after all, isn't he?"
"Hmm… alright," nodded Hiccup. "And now for my last question. Toothless, how do you feel about all of this? About Arn understanding you and… well, you know."
The Night Fury thought about it for a moment, narrowing his head down and around as he tried to find the words in his tongue to express his feelings.
After a bit of silence however, he then began to speak. Once again though, Hiccup only heard warbling and crooning from his dragon.
"Probably… surprised," the Night Fury responded with. "I never thought in my lifetime that I would be able to talk with a human, let alone talk directly to you, Hiccup. All of this is just very..."
"Shocking. I know the feeling, Toothless," answered Arn.
Hiccup rose a brow at the two, curious as to what his dragon said. "Well?"
Arn turned back to him. "He said that he is surprised about all of this - especially since now he is able to talk directly to you. It's something he never dreamed of being able to do…"
"...But hey, you know I don't need to be your translator. I can always teach you to learn how to speak with him."
"Wait- Speak with my dragon? With Toothless?" questioned Hiccup. His expression widened as he started glancing between Arn and Toothless with a blown look. "You would actually take the time to teach me dragonese?"
Arn chuckled. "Of course. I'd be happy to teach a Berkian such as yourself how to speak dragonese."
"...When and where do we start?"
…
Dragonese as a language was somewhat complex for those starting out, as was with all languages like dwarven and elven. However, unlike other foreign tongues, dragonese was a language that was quick to pick up on.
To many who started out with dragonese, the basic words they were given sounded ridiculous, yet also funny to them. They sounded like something a drunken patron would say at a tavern in the middle of the night. However, those words were derived from old dragonese.
Such words included…
Da wingless, which was one way to say humans.
Thankee, which meant thank you.
Crappa Cack-Cack, which was the beginner's way to refer to a number two.
And finally, one of the most funniest phrases to Hiccup: 'Doit a wummortime,' which meant 'let's try that again.'
Despite the basic and funny sounding words however, Dragonese eventually evolved overtime, with most of its words changing to sound more serious. These advanced words sounded more sophisticated, and as such, New Dragonese came to be.
Such examples of words were…
Dragal, which meant dragon.
Pishyor, which derived from pishyou, and meant please.
Stuulox, stuulsurd, stuulhomar, which meant steel axe, steel sword, and steel hammer.
Settol, which meant saddle or leather saddle.
Mortel or mortil, which were the more advanced but common terms for human.
And even agren, which meant hello.
And the list went on…
Still, the language for Hiccup was extremely intriguing, so much so, he was already picking up both basic and advanced words very quickly, and all the while, he was enjoying it fairly well...
As Toothless laid sleeping atop his heated rock in the corner of the room, Hiccup sat in silence by his desk with Arn standing nearby, asking him questions that involved translating common words into dragonese.
The blonde-headed viking paced back and forth with his arms crossed. "Right Hiccup, here's the next one. How do you say… My dragon is a Night Fury?"
For a moment Hiccup thought about it. He allowed the words at the top of his head to come to him slowly but surely, and soon enough he replied with, "Min dragal is en Night Furen."
"Very good," he replied, complimenting Hiccup for his quick and accurate response. "And now for the next one, how do you say… Do not bite at the leg, please?"
Once again, Hiccup was short to respond with, "Na yum-un ä dil leg, pishyor," and Arn nodded in approval, impressed with his response.
"Excellent, Hiccup! You are learning quite fast; faster than I ever could have. Keep it up, and you will be speaking with Toothless in no time."
His words made Hiccup grin with pride. It was an exciting thing to think about; talking with a dragon and being able to get along better with them. He couldn't wait.
But alas, he had to be patient.
With that, Arn grasped his hands together and lightly rubbed them. "I think we are done for today. Overall a great start, though you may need to work a bit on your pronunciation."
"Will do," nodded Hiccup. "Though for tonight, I'd like you to sleep here. There is a room for visitors and guests next door, so you can use that room for sleep and work."
Arn respectfully bowed his head to Hiccup. "I appreciate the offer, and I'll do what I can to make myself comfortable. After all, it's been a bit difficult adapting here."
"Well, at least you haven't had to deal with the raiders yet. Aside from Snotlout, they have been-"
Hiccup immediately stopped mid sentence in his words. Deep down he was thinking to himself, 'Oh Thor, why did I mention that?'
"The raiders, eh?" asked Arn. He had nearly forgotten about them. "...You haven't told me much aside that they've been raiding you for a while now."
"Yeah, but-"
"I think it's time you tell me what you are up against."
Arn pulled up a nearby chair, setting it a few feet in front of Hiccup as he sat down and leaned closer in with attention. He wanted to know what these raiders Berk was up against were. And he wanted to know now.
"Now then," he began. "Tell me all you know about these raiders... What do they look like? What are their intentions? Who even are they?"
There was a short pause before Hiccup began speaking. "I… I don't even know why they're here," he answered, sighing in a clueless manner. "All I know is that these raiders are brutes. Monsters. They enjoy coming here for the hunt and for the kill, but compared to us they are six- no, seven foot giants with large muscles."
It seemed that with that description alone, Arn was jaw dropped and seemed somewhat surprised, though Hiccup wondered why he was so shocked. Did he meet the raiders before?
"...Tell me more," Arn demanded.
"Well- they wear black plate armor from head to toe," he added on. "Sometimes though they don't even cover their heads, and that's the part where I can say that the raiders are not human."
"Not human?"
He nodded. "Yup, not human. Their skin is as dark and gray as the roughest rocks. They are completely hairless. Their jaws, broad and large. Their teeth, sharp and intimidating, just like their tusks…"
"...But their eyes are what scare me the most. Their eyes glow green with some sort of evil; it's something that I have never felt before. I do not know if it's magic or if it's something else, but the raiders as a whole are-"
"Something I have fought before," interrupted Arn as his eyes narrowed down. "You are not the first one to encounter these raiders, Hiccup."
"W- What do you mean…?" asked Hiccup.
"...Hiccup," continued Arn, worry now filled in his eyes. "You told me that you have fought these raiders for months… but I have fought them for a longer time. And believe me when I tell you this; that you are in danger. Big danger."
"What? Are you saying-"
"Yes, Hiccup. I know who they are. Compared to Snotlout, they are something you SHOULD worry about. If I stand correct, then they aren't just raiders. They're-"
Before he could manage to get the last word out of his mouth however, the hut suddenly shook from something loud and big outside. Something that hit them. And it was enough to wake Toothless up, causing for him to growl as it happened again.
"I... smell... raiders..." growled Toothless.
Soon, the horns of battle from outside began blowing, and out of instinct both Hiccup and Arn immediately stood to their feet and unsheathed their weapons.
"RAIDERS!" a voice cried out from outside the hut...