"Myre's, well, something of an insane genius. That's how most people from his army describe him," Alphas had added.
"What, you don't know?" Hiccup had asked. Alphas had given a pained shrug.
"None of us have ever seen him. If anyone has seen him, they don't come back to say much about it."
"Oh."
"In any case, he's supposed to be so completely insane that he's come out the other side."
"That's… how you're describing it?" Hiccup had asked hesitantly.
"Some guy from Myre's army put it that way. He likes poetry, as I understand it."
"Who, Myre?"
"Possibly Myre likes poetry as well, but at the moment I was talking about the guy we took prisoner."
"Weird. He gave you that information freely?"
"Oh, yeah. They have no problem talking about Myre. Anyone or anything else they just shut up. Nothing except torture makes them say even a word."
Hiccup had shifted uneasily. "Torture?"
Alphas had paused. "Best if you don't ask further, I think."
Hiccup had paled, horrific images flashing past his mind.
"That's terrible!"
"War isn't meant to be pretty. Anything you can do, you do it. Anything for even a little bit of an edge over your enemy."
"And does Myre have something like that done to… your people?"
Alphas had hesitated. "No one knows. Even the prisoners don't know."
Something had occurred to Hiccup then. "Why not just read their minds?"
Alphas had shaken his head. "Linking minds, like I did with you, is easy enough. I can just dump information in or take it away, like with your healer. It's… complicated. Give and take is fine if you know what you're looking for. Reading a mind? When there's so much else in the way? When all the thoughts are just sharper emotions? That takes an entirely different kind of magid, which we don't have."
"Right, right. But really, what kind of person is Myre?"
"A bit of a… thorn in our side, to put it one way. He's clever, he's so mad he thinks he's sanity itself, and he knows almost as much about magic as we do. In some areas, maybe even more. No one knows how he gets his information. He's apparently got access to magic too now, which is frankly terrifying, and should tell you almost everything you need to know, and he has the largest army ever. Probably some of the other people you've fought against, if any, have been divisions of Myre's forces."
Hiccup had breathed out, slowly, patiently.
Hiccup breathed in sharply now, looking at Fannar, apparently Myre, in a new light, and heard the other brief intakes of breath around him.
This was Myre?
This was Myre?
A man with a cat called Egg and a polite smile was supposed to be the greatest enemy to magical society, was supposed to exist on the other side of insanity?
A man who had gained entry into Hiccup's house, locked as it was, and bypassed all the people in hiding without being seen, and was even now smiling calmly in the face of a dragon in the room and multiple dangerous bits of metal pointed at his vitals…
Hiccup nudged Toothless with his knee. Myre's smile seemed to brighten. His companion didn't move, but their eyes were beginning to look bored.
"Toothless-" Hiccup began, and didn't get any further before he was knocked flat on his back. Now Myre was crouched over him, Inferno somehow in his hand, and pointed directly at Hiccup.
Despite the combined heat from Inferno, Toothless, and the rage which had coursed through Hiccup moments earlier, the room froze.
Myre's smile was bright as an evening star.
"We seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. Let's discuss this, shall we?"
=0=
Larisa peered at the sigils on the bracer one more time, just to make sure.
The king needed to know.
=0=
Myre got up, dusting himself off, and held a hand out to Hiccup. Hesitantly, Hiccup accepted it and stood. Myre handed him the sword.
No one else moved in the meantime.
"Come. Walk with me. I shall tell you everything."
Leaving the words hanging in the air behind him, Myre walked out of the room. Hiccup heard him take the stairs down.
Hiccup didn't move.
After a few minutes, Myre's head popped into view.
"Are you coming by yourself or not, mister Hiccup? Because you will walk with me, and while I could certainly drag you the entire way, I'd prefer that you have a say in the matter."
Hiccup looked at Astrid, seeking any modicum of perspective in her face. All he could see was anger laced with concern.
He made the executive decision and made to walk out.
There was a whisper of air behind him, and he looked back to see Myre's companion had grabbed Valka's hand by the wrist as she reached out for him.
Hiccup wasted no time in punching the black-clad figure in the place he assumed their nose to be. They didn't move, but Hiccup knew he had made his point.
"Hands. Off," he snarled.
The dark eyes flickered to Myre, behind Hiccup, then the grip was released and the figure stepped back, the green glow they still held in their hands now a little brighter.
With a glare for Myre's companion, Hiccup leaned in and whispered something to his mother, then followed Myre down to the bottom of the stairs, where he had somehow managed to be without a single sound of his passage. No one followed him except Toothless.
Hiccup waited for Myre to tell him to leave the dragon behind. Instead, he just walked outside without so much as a word.
Bemused, Hiccup followed, Toothless trailing behind.
Myre kept his hands clasped behind his back as he walked. Hiccup hung behind expectantly, waiting for those inevitable words.
Myre opened his mouth.
"Toothless stays," Hiccup said smugly.
Myre did not turn around in shock, just in mild puzzlement.
"I never said he had to go," he replied. "Your dragon can stay if you wish."
Hiccup faltered.
Was Myre not intimidated at all by a dragon? But he felt that the people, human people, not at all as dangerous as a dragon, were to stay behind?
"Now then," Myre was saying, "I wanted to tell you my side of the story. Undoubtedly you have heard from the sorcerers, but isn't it unfair to know the perspective of only one side in the story?"
Hiccup remained silent and just kept walking beside Myre. They were headed in the direction of the Great Hall.
"I think it is," Myre continued. "Don't you?"
Hiccup kept quiet. Suddenly, Myre stopped. Hiccup drew to a halt beside him. The man turned to face him, hands still clasped behind his back. Toothless blinked at him.
"I ask that you tell me now whether you wish to remain quiet or not for the length of this conversation. The sorcerers may have talked endlessly without a space for you, but I am not necessarily the same. Yes," he added, seeing the look on Hiccup's face, "I know you have contact with the sorcerers. The one island that I take that they fight for? It cannot be a coincidence. As well as that, Caird reports that he captured six Vikings along with two sorcerers. It is a simple connection to make."
Hiccup said nothing. It was absolutely the best option to let someone like this fill the gaps in their own sentences. Myre had a mind like a fishing hook, he could already see. It could be cast into the depths of memory and bring out exactly the catch, exactly the knowledge he needed. Who knows what could happen if Hiccup, even accidentally, offered up the most meager scrap of information?
Myre nodded. "It appears you have chosen to remain silent. Very well then."
For a few minutes, the three of them walked on in silence.
"When I said that I had come for your island," Myre began, "I did not mean that I had come to take you prisoner. The first time I came here was only to have what lay underground. I presume you already know of that which I speak. What occurred during that time was simply to keep any unwanted resistance out of the way. I meant you no harm, which is why you may have noticed that none of your number are killed or harmed beyond reason."
Hiccup thought for a moment. Certainly no one was missing, and the most grave of injuries was a wide gash in Spitelout's arm, which Gothi had seen to already. And, according to Spitelout, one of the guards had bandaged him up in the cells, just to see that the blood flow stopped. Healing or medicine of any sort had played no part, but you would never have seen that sort of attitude in normal guards.
And of course, everyone had agreed that the food was pretty good, and all of it had come from the invaders' stockpiles.
Myre's peaceful, ever present smile gained a satisfied, focused quality.
"You've thought it over, then?" he said as his smile faded back to tranquility. "Yes? Good. Now, the regular arrangement with conquered territories is that we provide our help with any problem you face of any sort, be it from the land, the people, or the dragons, and other such creatures. Assistance is to be given whenever needed, upon the condition that whenever you are called upon, you help me. It is, if I do say so myself, an excellent deal, since I don't call upon anyone much, and you can just ask for help with anything. It is taken care of, whatever it is."
Myre looked up at the sky, glittering with stars.
"It is always taken care of."
With extreme reluctance, Hiccup opened his mouth. It did sound like an excellent deal.
"I… will have to consider your offer."
Myre nodded as they walked on. "Of course. Take your time."
"I have to ask though, what happens if I say no?"
Myre's smile grew teeth.
"If you refuse the offer, we just leave you be, except that we pass through your waters when necessary."
Hiccup shot him a skeptical look. "I don't believe you."
"Your mistrust of me is worthy of applause," and here he clapped twice, slowly, "but I assure you, if you refuse the offer there will be no regrets, except perhaps mine."
He gave a single, small laugh.
Hiccup still eyed him with suspicion. There was something about the way he had said it…
=0=
"My king," Larisa said, kneeling before him. He nodded to her.
"Stand, venerable scholar," he ordered. That voice echoed in the bare room like the deepest of caverns.
Larisa stood.
"My king, I have urgent news. I cannot understand it, but all I know is that you should know what it is."
The king leaned forward. "Show me."
Larisa took a breath. "The bracers, that your nephews were bound with. They have no binding sigils on them. All there is is the power sigil, and a conditional spell. The conditional ensures that a magical item must be used to free the prisoner, but I cannot understand the use of the power sigil."
The room was silent.
When the king next spoke, he spoke slowly. "Are you suggesting that instead of empowerment, the sigil is binding? Are you suggesting, that it has reversed its function?"
Larisa released the breath she had been holding.
"It… would appear that way, your majesty."
The king's face betrayed no emotion under that beard.
"Consult our Magiker. Look into the archives. Scour the stories for even a grain of truth. Find out, at any cost or at every cost."
Larisa bowed, and left. Behind her, the king stewed in thought, humming pensively as he stroked his beard.
=0=
"Uh," Tuffnut said. All eyes in the room turned to him. "Is this a good time to mention that we put a stink bomb on the ship?"
Astrid slapped her hand to her forehead. "Tuff, go there and put it somewhere else. And by somewhere else I mean not in anyone's house, not in a sheep pen or a yak pen or a chicken coop or a grazing field, not in a dragon stable, not in the Hangar, not in the armoury, not in the Great Hall, not in the Smithy, not at someone's stall, nowhere that anyone or anything lives or works, Tuffnut, do you understand?"
In the oppressive silence that followed, Tuffnut mumbled "Yes Astrid."
As he trudged out of the room, Astrid turned at a small sound. Myre's companion watched her. Whatever light they had been holding in their hand had fizzled out. The room was dark now, the only light coming from the moon outside.
Astrid noticed all this, but above all she wondered who had given a small snort as Tuffnut reluctantly acknowledged his task.
She swung around, Gobber hurriedly backing away as her axe nearly gave him terminal indigestion.
"Who laughed?" she demanded.
Myre's friend raised their hand with a swish of air and fabric. Astrid regarded them haughtily for a moment.
"Hmph." The axe went up again, right under the chin.
"Not another sound."
=0=
Myre watched Hiccup with his signature faint smile as he paced along the doors of the Great Hall. Hiccup felt the eyes on him.
"Stop watching me."
Myre turned aside and sat down at the edge of the stairs, looking out over the village.
"Why is your friend running to the docks?" he asked after a moment.
"Huh?" Hiccup came over to see a small figure sprinting all the way downhill in the direction of the docks.
"I don't know," he admitted. "Did he leave anything on your ship?"
"Some kind of explosive, yes. I believe it was a… stink bomb."
Hiccup stared. "You knew, and did nothing?"
Myre looked at him. "The ship is expendable. I have no reason to bother."
"What about E- what about your cat?"
"Egg likes to stay under the surface."
"... Is that really his name?"
Myre's smile turned to a sort of melancholy humour. "Yes. I may head armies, but at the end of the day I am still human, am I not? I can afford to have my fun."
"You're-" Hiccup hesitated. "You're not like the other… warlords, I suppose, that I've met."
"Met many, have you?"
"A few, I suppose."
"I see. I'm sure you're wondering why we are here."
Hiccup stiffened. He had just been about to ask.
"We are here," Myre continued, seemingly oblivious to Hiccup's inner turmoil, "because of what lies underneath. What about it, you may ask? You never knew it was here, did you? A piece of your history, forgotten. Built out of magic and mechanisms. Do you not wonder why?"
Hiccup did not respond. In truth, he'd been thinking about it in the back of his head, ever since he'd gone in and come back out.
Why did Berk have magic built, quite literally, into its stones? When had it been built? What for?
Every question seemed to have no answer.
"There is a legend, you see. A legend of dragons," Myre said. "It is what I am after."
"A legend?" Hiccup questioned, intrigued despite himself.
"I am afraid I cannot tell you at this point, mister Hiccup," Myre smiled at him as he said it. "Perhaps some day, you will find out, whether from me or from another. But I will not tell you today."
Hiccup slumped.
"I think I have my answer for you," he said, just as a bang swept over the island.
=0=
Tuffnut coughed and waved the thick green fog away from his face, eyes watering. Oh, that was disgusting. It was funnier when it happened to other people. When it happens to yourself? Curses are heaped upon your past self.
Maybe they shouldn't have put so many little pellets all in one bag… it was, after all, quite sensitive.
Oh no. Astrid.
She was going to kill him.
Tuffnut got down on his knees and, despite the acrid smells that seemed to have originated in a compost made of skunks, began to fervently pray to Loki.
He was rewarded by a yowling cat leaping onto his head and scrambling to stay there, claws sending little streaks of stinging fire across his face.
=0=
"Oh, gods…" Hiccup trailed off, staring at the huge cloud of smog that now occupied a substantial part of the village.
"Rather powerful, I gather," Myre said, watching the same. "I hope Egg is alright."
Tuffnut ran screaming out of the cloud, a ball of orange on his helmet. If the explosion and the smell hadn't woken people up, the noise definitely would.
"I think your cat's fine," Hiccup said.
"I saw. Now, what was your answer?"
Hiccup blinked at him before he remembered where he had left off. "Ah. I'm afraid I'm going to have to say no."
"I see. Well then, in that case I shall go about my business, yes?"
"Sure?" Hiccup said uncertainly. Myre's smile flashed wide for a moment before Hiccup was flying over the steps.
He closed his eyes.
He opened his eyes.
Toothless had grabbed him and was now leaping down the steps. Hiccup risked a glance behind. Myre followed unhurriedly.
"You may have realized, I am sure, that when I said no regrets, I did not mean you would have nothing to regret."
Even though his voice was low, its deathly calm tones carried easily over to Hiccup.
"I just meant that whatever you had to regret, you would be unable to."
Hiccup swung up onto Toothless's back, fit his prosthetic into the stirrup, and they took off.
Below them, Myre continued at a leisurely pace.
Hiccup might forever hate himself for it, but he pointed at Myre and gave the order.
"Toothless, plasma blast."
The shot fired.
=0=
In an instant, the figure perked up, looking out the window. Astrid followed their gaze, seeing nothing.
The smell had reached here by now. Tears were streaming from her eyes.
Myre's companion cocked their head at an angle, then nodded.
A hand went to their hip, a finger tapped on metal, once.
A white light with traces of other colour shone, then flickered and died out.
Just a few seconds later, a horn sounded in the night.
Then, too fast for them, the black-clad figure took a thin, straight dagger from their back, and spun.
=0=
Umbra should have received the signal by now.
Myre continued onwards.
The chief was a surprise, but he was gullible. He could be manipulated to do what Myre needed.
But of course, everything was in motion. The entirety of the expansion division should be here, instead of just that skeleton crew he had authorized. If the sorcerers attacked again, they would be beaten with ease.
Not even magic could protect against one of his harpoons. And he had enough of those to make an island, just by sticking them together. A painful island to walk on, to be sure.
Myre turned his memory back to the point where the chief had fired at him.
He'd tried to kill him? A pitiful attempt…
=0=
Hiccup's mind spun as he flew onward to his house.
He hadn't even seen what had happened. Toothless had fired, and then Myre had moved and suddenly the blast was going straight for them. Toothless hadn't even managed to dodge, and they had spiralled down and away, smoking, before Toothless recovered enough from the shock to start flying again, and Hiccup had managed to clear the ringing from his head enough to take control again.
By the gods. Myre was so much more than what Alphas had told him.
Then he saw the ships, like a wooden horizon.
Every inch of vision was occupied by the vessels. And each of them, he could see, was heavily armed, soldiers milling on the decks with assorted weapons.
Beyond the rows of normal sized ships were titanic vessels, towering over the regular ones. They were of the same affair as the one they had escaped from when Caird had captured them.
And, towering over even those, was a single ship with an open mouth on the sails, a fire held within those animal teeth. Myre's own, undoubtedly.
He couldn't fight those. Not even the entirety of Berk could fight a fleet like this, a force like this.
They needed help.
So Hiccup whispered an instruction into Toothless's ear, and his dragon turned until they were pointed straight at a place from where help could come.
They set off.
=0=
Caird saluted Myre and nodded to Umbra, who gave a small nod back. There was an infernal stink here. Caird himself was trying not to cry in front of Myre, with limited success. Umbra was frowning, because that was all you could see from the mask. The stink must have gotten through that blasted mask at last. Myre, somehow, was completely unaffected.
"Sir, one of their party has escaped on dragonback. I shall set the troops to taking control of the island in the meantime. Who would you like to send to retrieve the rider?"
Myre waved away the question.
"We shall let this one free."
"But sir-"
"We shall let him go, Caird. That is an order. But do me a favour and set your stealthiest rider to follow him."
Caird bowed his head and wiped the tears away. "Yes sir. May I know why?"
Myre spread his arms. "Do you not see the opportunity? He goes, of course, to the sorcerers. Why stop him, if he leads us straight to them?" Myre leaned in.
"Why stop him from giving us an opportunity for victory?"
And he smiled, and Caird saw why he was named Myre Fang.