Friends, Berkians, Countrymen, lend me your eyes!
I come not to bury Snotlout, for he is not dead; he just smells that way.

Okay then, that's enough butchering Shakespeare for now. Welcome to chapter 3, and I hope you are having fun.


Chapter 3

Outside the Great Hall, the wind picked up speed and the temperature fell even lower. On the inside, Hiccup and Gobber looked at the large pile of firewood stacked neatly in the corner.

"I find it hard to believe" Gobber shook his head "We should have more than enough to last the entire winter but looking at what we have here, I'd guess we'll run out near the end of next month."

"Looks like the future of the entire village depends on him" Hiccup said as he looked towards the strange manly newcomer.

"Sure he's looks impressive, but can he really help us?" Gobber wondered.

In order to find what was causing Berk to freeze, Marty had spent the last several hours wandering around the room, talking to people one-to-one. He asked questions about any strange or new things in the village, and generally getting nowhere, apart from a few requests for dinner dates from some of the female population.

He soon found that everybody believed there had been no change in their own lives, but they knew everything about what others were doing. As an example, Marty had heard a number of people talk about the fine new cart Ivan had made for bringing crops in from the west flatlands, but Ivan himself never mentioned it. This was not surprising as people often do not notice the gradual changes in their own lives, but can see the difference in friends and family, if they had not seen each other for a short time. Every child and teenager is painfully aware of this fact, mostly thanks the number of adults who are constantly saying to them "My how you have grown."

The one exception to this rule turned out to be Snotlout. He was one of the last people Marty had interviewed and the young Nightmare rider talked constantly and insistently about all the great and wonderful things he had done over the past year, while nobody else had even mentioned him.

"And after saving everyone on the Elydionan ship from that vindictive Submaripper, they threw a massive banquet in my honour" he boasted.

"It was pork chop night" Tuffnut interrupted "We always have a banquet on pork chop night."

"And Snotlout always makes a... pig of himself" Ruffnut added.

"Come now my sister; don't be such a... boar!"

"You see what I have to put up with?" Snotlout said as the twins retreated while falling over each other with laughter.

"Has anything else happened in the last year; something out of the ordinary? For example you seem to be very well dressed" Marty noted.

"Yes it has been a great year for Snot Co Enterprises. Not only have sales of my growing line of products been strong, but I've almost managed to corner the market in dragon baby teeth. You'd be surprised how many uses they have" Snotlout said as he showed off the fasteners on his vest.

"So you've been doing well then?" Marty nodded.

"Yes indeed, and I've even been able to treat myself to some of the finer things in life like..."

Snotlout reached inside his shirt and brought out the gold medallion hanging around his neck on a fine red ribbon.

"Oh my; that certainly is impressive" Marty said as the gold glistened in the firelight.

"Take a really close look at the wonderful engravings, and there is some kind strange foreign language around the outside" Snotlout offered as he slipped the ribbon over the top of his head.

Marty reached out to take the medallion but when his fingers came close, a bright green spark shot out.

"Yeeowch" Marty yelped and quickly withdrew his hand.

"That's odd; it's never done that before" Snotlout shrugged, as he had not felt a thing.

Rubbing his fingers, Marty looked down at the medallion in Snotlout's hand as a worried look came over his face.

"Would you hold it up to the light for me please Snotlout?" Marty asked.

"Sure... how's that?"

It only took a glance for Marty to realise he had found the source of all Berks problems. Now it was identified, the hard part would be convincing the proud young Dragon Rider to give up his prized possession.

"Life has been difficult for you over the last few years, hasn't it Snotlout?" the wise man said, choosing his words carefully.

"Oh you don't know the half of... hey, how do you know what my life has been like?" Snotlout asked suspiciously.

"I don't know everything, but I do know you were once expected to be the next chief of Berk. When the Dragon War was in full swing, nobody expected Hiccup would be able to take over if anything happened to Stoic. Not after all the accidents, destruction and fires caused by his inventions. But then the war was over, you all became Dragon Riders, and Hiccup was the big hero. Not a bad outcome, but it did mean your future was gone" Marty noted.

"N-no one has ever tried to see things from my point of view before" Snotlout said as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Deep down, you only wanted what was best for your people, didn't you?"

"Yes of course. I could see the change in Hiccup was a good thing. I followed his orders and fought hard during the battle with the Red Death" Snotlout said proudly.

"And then when Hiccup recovered from his injuries, it became clear he would be the one to take over as chief" Marty nodded.

"Honestly I was okay with it, but it was my Dad" Snotlout replied in clear frustration "He always wanted me to be the best and that puts a lot of pressure on a guy. I could handle it when I was on the top of the tree, but how was I going to make him proud from the lower branches?"

"So you started Snot Co" Marty nodded.

"Exactly" Snotlout agreed "I don't need to be rich... but if Dad could see me succeed..."

The young man stopped and took a few deep breaths; determined to keep his emotions in check.

"You know Marty, I've never know anyone who was so understanding about my situation."

"If you'll let me, I think I know a way you can play a big part in saving Berk and be a hero" Marty said seriously.

"It's my medallion isn't it? It's cursed and everyone is gonna blame me" Snotlout looked down and sighed.

"Not if we play our cards right" Marty smiled encouragingly "Tell me where you got it."

"I bought it from a mysterious woman when we were doing trade on the southeast continent."

"And everyone was there?" Marty asked.

"Sure; the Dragon Riders had escorted one of our longships to the market. No pirate dares to attack a Berkian longship when it is protected by us" Snotlout said proudly.

"Good" Marty nodded "Follow my lead and I think all will go well."

Standing up on the bench, Marty turned and addressed the crowd.

"I want to thank you all for helping me investigate the trouble Berk has been going through recently."

"Anything for you sweetie" someone called from the back.

"I'm happy to say that with Snotlout's help, I think we have identified the source of the problem."

Stepping down from the bench, Marty shook Snotlout's hand and thanked him. The young Dragon Rider could not believe what happened next. Without even knowing what the cause actually was, his friends, family and neighbours all gathered around him to pat him on the back and express their gratitude.

"Well done my boy" Spitelout whispered into his son's ear "I should have known this hansom stranger couldn't do much without your help. You've done the family proud."

Snotlout smiled and nodded to his father as people continued to shake his hand. When the hullabaloo had finally died down, The Dragon Riders all gathered together to plan their next move.

"So the truth is, Snotlout doomed us all to an icy death" Tuffnut declared when he found out about the medallion.

"You were there when Snotlout bought it, weren't you?" Marty asked.

"Uh yeah, we all were. What's that got to do with the price of chicken fruit?" Tuffnut shrugged.

"Did any of you tell Snotlout not to buy the medallion because it was cursed and would cause Berk to freeze?"

They all stayed silent and stared at their feet. Astrid even apologised to Snotlout, even though she hadn't said anything.

"So if we throw that cursed thing off the cliffs and into the sea, will that turn everything back to normal?" Hiccup wondered.

"Maybe but I doubt it. I feel certain the best thing to do is go back to the market and find the woman who sold it to Snotlout. She is clearly the dastardly villain here" Marty suggested.

"But with the dragons all away for the nesting season, the only way to get there is by boat" Ruffnut pointed out.

"Ugh, and it's horrible out there" Tuffnut moaned.

"Nevertheless I must try, or Berk is doomed. If you can lend me I ship, I could leave on the next tide" Marty told them.

Upon hearing the request, Astrid stood up and addressed her friends.

"Surely we're not going to send this brave man out all on his own?" she stated plainly "If he's going, then I'm going."

"Well said Astrid" Hiccup agreed "To handle a longship in this weather, I'd say we should all go."

"Then we'd better get going before it gets any worse" Fishlegs declared.

Bye bye, good luck, and bring me back another case or two of Elydonian Brandy" Mulch waved.

"I say we move up the schedule for abandoning this lazy bunch" Snotlout suggested.

"Agreed!" a chorus of Dragon Riders replied.


And so with a heavy heart, anaemic kidneys, and a beach ready pancreas, I leave you till the next chapter in a few days.

Bye, Marty and BooCat =^..^=