Berk

Far, far away across the sea, the isle of Berk was a contrast to the draconic utopia of Kumandra. When dragons disappeared out of the blue, there was no need to fight, no need to train, no need for war. Everyone was very happy. With no more fighting against dragons, more Vikings were thriving than ever. No animals were stolen. No food was stolen. All was just as this island wanted for many centuries. Vikings walked around the plaza with their happy kids. Cattle and sheep roamed the fields munching on tons of grass. Hundreds of chickens laid eggs in their dozen coops. Everything was very peaceful. The village was no longer a battlefield. It was a thriving tribal island. Not everyone was in the same happy mood as a majority of villagers.

"Leave me alone Snotlout!" Astrid, wearing a similar outfit in her teen years with her long hair in a side-braid, stomped through the village being pursued by the arrogant grown-up Snotlout. "I'm not interested!"

"Come on girl!" Snotlout in a flirty manner swerved in front of her. "Why can't we just hang out together?"

"If you think this is another ruse to become heir, you're very much mistaken. Stoick chose me to be Berk's future leader. Not you! Now suitable!" she stomped past him.

Snotlout stamped his feet. "Why didn't he pick me? I'm his nephew! I should be next in line!"

Astrid turned and fumed at him.

"I'm stronger! Smarter! Braver! More worthy!"

"Arrogant. And only caring about yourself," Astrid finished crossing her arms. "Stoick chose me because unlike you I care about the well-being of others instead of myself,"

"At least I don't let dragons escape as you did!"

Astrid growled. "What happened that day wasn't my fault!"

Snotlout scoffed and laughed. "As if anyone believed that!"

Astrid had enough. She marched right up to him and punched him right in the face. He fell back, pressing his hand over his bleeding nose.

Astrid turned around to walk away but she was blocked by a red-faced Spitelout. "Think just because you're Stoick's new heir you can do whatever you want to my son?"

"Your son is a disrespectful flirter," retorted Astrid who was unafraid to make up her mind.

Spitelout's face turned darker. He moved on her pointing a bony finger in her face. "Look here, lassie…"

The temper of Stoick stopped him. "Spitelout! Enough!"

Spitelout turned around to see Stoick marching on them. His light-toned beard had grown some grey strands and he no longer wore green but brown and silver armour with his furry. He fumed seeing Spitelout talk to Astrid this way. "You will leave this instant with Snotlout,"

His brother narrowed his eyebrows at him. "Stoick, I am telling you right now that my son is the rightful heir of Berk. Not this riffraff,"

Astrid frowned. "' Riffraff'?!" she repeated exasperatedly.

"You will take that back," Stoick warned. "Now take your son and get out of here,"

Spitelout glared coldly at him. Then he slowly turned his back and dragged Snotlout away.

"Are you all right lass?" Stoick asked Astrid. She nodded. "What did Snotlout try to do?"

"He constantly flirted with me and tried to get me up on a date again hoping we'd get together and he'd be chief," Astrid growled. "No matter how many times I push away, he always sticks to me like I'm his property,"

"I'm so sorry," Stoick rubbed his head. "No matter what I do, he never stops. I thought putting him on community service would straighten,"

"Please don't be hard on yourself chief," sympathised Astrid. "I'm honoured to be your heir. And I promise you that I would try to live up to your expectations,"

"I know you will make me proud," said Stoick.

Astrid smiled but it faltered. Stoick knew what she was going through. Ever since that night that the dragons mysteriously vanished, several Vikings still held her responsible for the incident including his brother and nephew, both short-minded and spiteful as ever.

"Don't listen to what they say, Astrid," he said. "Many people still don't blame you. We all know you're the best warrior on the island and I know you will make a fine chieftess soon," The word 'soon' made Astrid's lips curl. She was nervous. She was twenty-one years old and Stoick was over fifty; he might retire within a few years. The short time they had left made her terrified. "There is still plenty of time to prepare. Would you like to check the docks with me?"

Astrid nodded without saying anything. Doing a chore would keep her mind off things for a while.

They walked through the town towards the docks. They passed by Astrid's parents who waved to her and she waved back. As they descended towards the bridges, they saw Gobber was heaving up a wheeled cart of fish.

"Hey, guys!" Gobber greeted.

"Hey Gobber," Astrid said. Her tone was low.

"Let me guess. Snotlout again,"

"you got that right,"

"Need a hand?" Stoick offered.

"No need," he refused. "You two just get back to doing what you're doing. See you around," Gobber continued his way up into the village.

Stoick sighed sadly. He knew that Gobber was just trying to have some space from him. Astrid patted his forearm in comfort.

Gobber delivered the fish to the monger market and then made his way back to his home, his empty lonely blacksmith shop. He sat out in the open, cradling a tiny shiny knife that belonged to his protege. He missed Hiccup dearly. It had struck his heart to learn that his protegee had befriended a dragon. But what had shaken him to the core was watching his best friend Stoick, Hiccup's father mortally wound him as he gave his life to protect the dragon. He hadn't spoken very much to Stoick over the last six years; he would still visit him a few times. But a part of him would never forgive him for harming his son whom he had cared for greatly for many years.

"Hey Gobber!" a cheerful voice rang.

Gobber turned his head to see Fishlegs. "Hey, Fishlegs,"

Fishlegs was larger than he was in his teenage years and he had blonde bristles covering his round puffy face. He wore a bear-skin tunic with huge pocket pouches attached to his belt. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Gobber said.

"Hey Gobber!" a pair of loud voices screamed.

Gobber cringed and then the presence of two troublemakers made him raise his head. He saw Ruffnut and Tuffnut marching towards his useless shop with mischievous grins. They hadn't changed much over the years but Ruffnut's long hair in three braids was slightly darker and instead of three separated tails of hair over his shoulders and behind the nape of his neck, Tuffnut had dreadlocks which he often like to wear in a braid. The blacksmith huffed and stamped on his feet. "not this again," he muttered. "Once again you two! I am not building a silly device that you can use to cause mischief! My blacksmith closed a long time ago! And I made sure to keep weapons or what's left of them in the armoury, well locked and guarded,"

The troublemakers groaned.

"Gobber's right! You're both twenty-one for goodness sake," Fishlegs agreed.

"It's the only fun we get to have!" Ruffnut complained.

"Look, guys, I know life has changed over the last three years…"

"You mean to become more boring and less fun…" groaned Tuffnut. "With no dragons, there's no fun we can get into,"

"Don't you mean no danger?" Gobber corrected. "Not that we'd be in danger if perhaps we had tried to befriend them as Hiccup did,"

"Why are you even talking about that traitor?" Fishlegs snapped.

"What's got into you?" Ruffnut asked, crossing her arms.

"That screw-up was a traitor! How I'm glad he's gone and we can turn to Snotlout!" Tuffnut cheered.

"Don't you mean Astrid?" Gobber corrected. "Snotlout wouldn't make a good chief one bit," he turned his back, not wanting to talk to them. Fishlegs's irritation turned to sympathy watching his shoulders contract. "Gobber, what's bugging you?"

"To you guys, probably Hiccup was a screw-up, but to me, he was a surrogate son. And I'm beginning to think perhaps we should have listened to him that day. Life here is just so…boring. Like nothing is exciting at all,"

"You'd rather be fighting dragons forever? We're finally living in peace like our ancestors always wanted," Fishlegs said.

"Maybe…but my ancestor Bork in his papers such life was thrilling when you had discoveries to make, new creatures to see. I remember how ecstatic you were reading the book of dragons Fishlegs. And you often used to wonder if perhaps there were more dragons out there,"

"You're right," Fishlegs said, remembering his teenagehood. "I was so passionate about dragons. Maybe if we did listen to Hiccup, perhaps we could have learnt more about them,"

"Seriously? We're talking about the beasts who tried to eat us?" questioned Ruffnut.

"Not all the dragons tried to harm us," Fishlegs remembered those nights all too well. "Surely you two remember that?"

The twins were just as confused as they had always been.

"Forget it Fishlegs," Gobber said. "What's past is past. We have a future to focus on with Astrid as our chieftess,"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut crossed their arms, expressing bitterness. Like Snotlout, they didn't want her to be chieftess. With her in charge, their fun of pranking people would end forever and she'd order them around and make them do whatever she wanted. Fishlegs had a strange feeling that once Astrid became chief, they would spend their time playing tricks on her to make her look like a total fool. Just like they used to do to poor Hiccup when he used to live with them.

Thinking of Stoick's disowned son who disappeared six years ago made him tense. He realised that he could have been friends with the poor ostracised lad. But instead, he just faint-heartedly stood back and allowed Snotlout and the twins who were just as much bullies to him, to bully Hiccup around and embarrass him in front of the village. He felt very guilty; he was not going to be a coward again. "Come on you two!" he hollered, earning their surprised attention at the tone of his voice. "Stoick chose Astrid to be our future chieftess so get used to it. Don't even think of making her look like a fool of herself. You guys used to do that to Hiccup all the time and look where it got him. He defended that dragon because it cared for him more than we did. So don't you guys think about making the same mistakes!"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut appalled by his snapping nature couldn't find the courage to speak back.

"At least Fishlegs feels a little remorse," Gobber patted his back approvingly. "Now I suggest you two learn to think about the impact your actions have on others,"

Stoick and Astrid stood at the docks watching Vikings coming in from expeditions to see chieftains. They felt the bright morning sun stretch across the sea towards their docks. The sea though calm and silent emitted salinity which drifted up their noses and made them like they were underwater.

As they stood alone, Stoick felt a deep hollowness in her chest that his heart had carved the day he carved the tip of his knife into Hiccup's chest. Even though he had picked Astrid, a worthy shieldmaiden to be his new heir instead of his self-absorbed cousin, he could never truly replace Hiccup in his heart. When his weapon had hurt Hiccup, he felt shocked to the core. And in turn that shock had made him remember the hateful words he had spat at him. You're not my son anymore. The words echoed in his head and made his tears rain down his shrivelled face.

Astrid noticed. "Chief?"

Stoick quickly wiped his tears away. "It's nothing, Astrid,"

"Please tell me what's wrong," she implored. Over the years, she had come to see him as a second father. And in return for giving her this opportunity, she would take care of him for all the troubles he had felt during their war against the dragons.

Stoick struggled to breathe. "I…" he sniffled. "I.., remembered him,"

Astrid pressed her lips together in sorrow. "I'm so sorry chief,"

"I know I can't replace him in my heart. I still can't forget…what I did to him. I see it…every day. I never told anyone…because I didn't want them to deem me weak,"

"Chief…" Astrid touched his forearm. "What happened that day, was a shock for all of us. It's okay that you feel this. He was your son. And he betrayed us all,"

"Maybe," Stoick accepted. "But I still wounded him…when all he wanted to do was prove himself to me. And maybe he wouldn't have turned if perhaps I had treated him better," remembering Hiccup's shouts that day made him realise he was a terrible father. "No matter what happened, he was right about many things. And the worst part is I don't know if I killed him or not," he continued to cry. This was his first time expressing his feelings to anyone. Astrid offered a hug and he accepted it tenderly.

As she embraced her future predecessor, Astrid closed her eyes remembering that awful day. She didn't know how to be livid at Stoick after he wounded Hiccup. Like everyone on the island she outrated at how he befriended a Night Fury, the deadliest dragon alive…but hearing him lash out about how he tried so hard to be like them, to be accepted made her remember how close they were as kids. Like Stoick, she felt an emptiness tearing her up from the inside. She didn't why she was feeling this premonition when she felt bitter betrayal. Perhaps it was her conscience trying to tell her that they were wrong and Hiccup was right.

"Ships!" a loud voice shrieked through the humid air. "Heading towards us!"

Stoick and Astrid pulled apart and ahead they saw giant ships of wood and iron with wide magnificent sails sailing towards them. The chief wiped his eyes and narrowed his irises. He pulled out a spyglass and peered through. Over a mile out at sea, standing at the peer he saw a man which made his eyebrows furrow and his face burn slightly.

Astrid became a little anxious. She pulled out a spyglass too and peered across the sea at the same man. "Do you know him?"

"Yes," Stoick answered grimly. "He is not a man to be trusted,"

"So what do you we do?" Astrid asked. She felt nervous.

"We must listen to what he has to say. I do not want to provoke any act of war,"

"Who are those guys?" Astrid pointed to the small ships with the symbols of dragons that had swords pierced through their chests.

"I don't know. But they must be Dragon Hunters. I've never met them before nor encountered any in my life. Be cautious Astrid. And remember to stay by my side at all times. There will come a time when you need to deal with matters like this," His answer was a nod.

They waited patiently with hidden anxiety as the ships drew up to the docks. They watched as the gangplanks connected the ships and ports. A hefty man strode with giant stomps onto the port. His long dreadlocks capped his back. Half his side was covered by a cape of dragon scales. Scars marked his huge face and bulbous nose. Behind him were two men. Similar facial expressions. One wore black and red scales with spiky armour. He had a French-cut beard and short hair. The other was bald and only a moustache under his nose was his hair.

Stoick clenched his fists but didn't say anything. Astrid remained strong and ready. The moment the three men boarded the wooden ports, they glanced across at the pair with extreme interest. Drago's glance sent a tingle down Stoick's spine. They walked slowly across the creaky planks until they were about ten feet away from them.

"Chief Stoick," Drago spoke with a low gruff voice.

"Been a long time Drago," Stoick's distrustful voice had the same pitch.

"Haven't seen you for twenty years,"

"Time passes quite quickly," Stoick's face remained the same. "What brings you to my island?"

"We are here to offer a proposition," the bald Dragon Hunter behind Drago spoke up.

"Who may I ask are you two?" Astrid demanded senselessly.

"I am Viggo Grimborn," Viggo answered first before his brother much to his irrigation. "And this is my brother Ryker. And who are you missy to question us?"

Stoick defended her. "Astrid Hofferson is my heir. And she is to be treated with respect,"

"What happened to your son?" Drago asked.

"Don't you dare speak of him to me," Stoick hissed sinisterly.

Completing disregarding his dispute, Viggo continued talking, not even apologising to Astrid. "We are Dragon Hunters, allied with Drago Bludvist to wipe dragons out from the face of the earth. And who might you be missy?"

"There haven't been any dragons here for three years," Stoick answered. "And none of them is on the surrounding islands either,"

"That is because someone delivered to a safe sanctuary far away from the Archipelago," Drago answered. "And that is not all. Our ships, our fortresses were infiltrated by this Dragon Saviour and his crew of dragons. None of our men has been able to stop them. But my spies have information that could lead us to where this dragon saviour has brought them,"

"And you expect my tribe to join you on your pointless quest. The dragons are not raiding our tribes anymore. They are gone,"

Ryker scoffed. "That's what you want to think. The Dragon Saviour could be building an army to wipe us all out. Our best chance is to strike their homeland first because they return to kill us all,"

Stoick tried to speak again but was interrupted by Drago. "Don't you want revenge for what those dragons did to your people, to your family…" His words made the Berkian chief clench his fist tighter wishing he could punch him for mentioning his pain.

"I agree with Drago Bludvist here!" Spitelout's voice interrupted the private conversation. Stoick turned around to see his brother and his cousin, nose red and swelled up from Astrid's punch, standing behind them.

"This is not your ground to stand," Stoick firmly told his brother.

"Stoick! You may think this peace will last forever. Whomever that Dragon Saviour was…he's the one who stole our dragons! How do we know he or she isn't forming an army to take us all on?"

Stoick tried to talk back to his brother but already mobs of Vikings were shouting in agreement, punching their fists in the air, demanding he'd heed Drago's warnings. Stoick frowned at his brother, smirking. He always loved to jump to an opportunity to get people on his side. Astrid felt the atmosphere becoming tense. Her heart hammered against her lungs. She knew that Spitelout was just trying to get his own way by getting their people to side with him. And something in her heart told her that turning these men away would not be a smart move. "Stoick, I really think we should hear them out. We've been asking this question ourselves for years. Let's think of the people. As much as I hate what Spitelout's trying to do, he has a point,"

Stoick gazed at his brother and people. Then back over at Drago and the Grimborn brothers with a dark expression. "Very well. We will talk in the Great Hall. Don't assume this means we've already accepted,"

"Smart choice chief," Drago approved.

"The credit goes to Astrid," reminded Stoick. "Only a few men will come with you men into the village,"

"Agreed," Drago accepted, forming a snobbish grin with his puffy lips and his ugly-marked face. Astrid was shrivelled watching his face and skin morph like that. Stoick gently wrapped his hefty arm around her shoulders and led her away.

The three men and six men wearing dragon scaled armoured followed behind them. Entering the village, they saw mothers holding their children close to them. Drago and the brothers were strangers to them. Drago's scars scared them. So did the reptilic scales in which Viggo and Ryker were shrouded. Whilst Viggo expressed pride and self-confidence, Ryker's expression was more unpleasant and unfriendly. This made the children more frightened of him than his younger brother.

Gobber, Fishlegs and the twins saw them passing by his shop. He rushed over to Stoick and Astrid. "Stoick, what is he doing here?" he whispered restlessly.

"He is here because

"Why allow him here after what happened years ago?"

"I didn't have much a moment to think," Stoick said. "I had to trust Astrid's opinions,"

Feeling the pressure of their 'visitors' eyes on the nape of his neck, Stoick stopped talking. Still, he allowed Gobber to accompany them. Astrid watched Fishlegs and the twins looking out to her worriedly. She saw her parents too. They were just as nervous.

Behind the trees near Stoick's grand golden house located right near the Great Hall, a fugitive with her short side-shaved hair watched them from a distance. She narrowed her eyes.

The group entered the giant Hall cared into the tall mountain towering over their village hundreds of feet. And once they were inside, they sat around the huge round table with a fire burning in the centre and talked.

Oh dear, so Drago and the Grimborn brothers are here. That is not good. Seems like an alliance might be formed. And it seems like some people don't like Astrid being the future chieftess. And she and Stoick feel a little guilty about how they treated Hiccup before. What did you all think? Would love to hear your reviews. See you all soon