The night, rather early morning raid took an interesting turn when it was discovered that Hilda Haddock snuck out of the forge and then shot down a Night Fury. The most elusive and dangerous dragon known to man, even their book of dragons said not to engage it. Only hide and pray it didn't find you, and here the seventeen year old Heiress had shot one down and it laid motionless in the village square. More shocking news was the little girl who cried out for her papa after the Night Fury hit the ground, looking up everyone saw two more dragons. One was all silver with a magenta like color for eyes, had four legs, and somewhat resembled a Deadly Nadder with it's tail being covered in raised spikes. The whole dragon appeared to be covered in metal. The second dragon which the little girl was shocking sitting on top of was black, red, and brown with red eyes. This dragon also had four legs, two backs and the fronts looked to like pincers, the tail was that of a scorpians only it had three and all of which were a different color.
Why was there a little girl on top of a dragon they'd never seen before?! Why was there a dragon beside it that they all didn't recognize and why was this girl girl calling out for her papa to a Night Fury? So many unanswered questions were being asked silently but the confusion was written all over their faces.
"There's...a little girl on that dragon!" someone shouted.
"We need to get papa!" the child told the dragon, it shot down and landed near the Night Fury as the little girl unclipped herself from her seat on the back of the dragon and slid down the dragon's wing as it rushed over to the Night Fury.
"No, little one. You mustn't go near that dragon!" Valka said quickly.
"You shot down my papa!" the little girl said angrily with tears in her eyes, "Toothy! Toothy, please wake up. Where's papa?" she shook Toothless a little bit. Stoick tried to get closer but Stingwhip growled and snapped his three tails together and snarled. The Night Fury began to shift and open it's eyes, it saw the little girl and licked her cheek lightly before unrolling it's wings to reveal a young man between it's legs. "Papa! Papa!" the child cried shaking him.
The man began to groan slightly and opened his eyes slowly and looked around to see faces. Faces?! Where was he?! Henrik sat up quickly to see Vikings around, all looking shocked, confused and scared. That's when he remembered someone shot him down out of the sky, Toothless wrapped him in his wings so he wouldn't get hurt on the fall down. Emma. Where was Emma?
"Emma!" Henrik called out.
"I'm right here, papa," Emma replied as she threw herself at him in tears. "I was so scared when I saw Toothless go down, papa! Are you okay?" she asked him as Henrik wrapped his arms around her.
"I'm okay, I'm alright. Are you okay, what are you doing down here. You know to stay with Stingwhip if anything happens..." Henrik replied gently.
"I didn't see you with him, I wanted to know if you were okay..." Emma told him as she wiped her eyes.
"I'm always okay, baby girl. Its your safety I worry about," Henrik said as he got up with her in his arms and looked to the others. "What is wrong with you shooting my dragon down!" he yelled to the people before him as he pulled something off his leg and hit a button as metal bars extended in the shape of a sword and lit on fire. "Emma, go stand with Stingwhip and Windstrike," Henrik placed her down as she went and stook in front of her dragon which locked it's pincers like claws around her protectively.
"Y-Your dragon!? What are you doing with it! They are dragons, humans and dragons hate each other!" Hilda yelled back. "That's a Night Fury! Most dangerous dragon around!"
Henrik looked at her, then to Toothless and laughed a little. "Him? Toothless is an overgrown lizard with wings is all, he's harmless."
"And what the hell are those two dragons, never seen them before." Stoick demanded now.
"You've never seen a Razorwhip and Triple Stryke before?" Henrik asked, they shook their heads.
"Just like Dad always said, Vikings really don't know nothing about the creatures they claim to hate." Henrik sighed as he heard Toothless whining a bit.
"Papa, Toothless's tail fin is gone!" Emma exclaimed as Henrik turned and saw the left tail fin gone.
"Toothless..." Henrik whispered as retracted his blade and put it back on his hip before getting to his knees to examine the injury. "It's clean off too, and you can't fly without it."
"Uh, hello? Are we just going to ignore the fact we have a crazy person on our island?!" Snotlout yelled.
"Snotlout, shut up. We know nothing about this person, you shouldn't be so quick to judge." Astrid sighed heavily.
"Judge? He's touching a Night Fury, he gave it a name! He's traitor to humans!" Snotlout exclaimed.
"Alright, that's enough." Stated Valka as she stepped forward, "Now, I'm not sure what's going on here...but yelling and arguing won't solve anything. Astrid is right, we know nothing of this man and perhaps where he comes from does not have a problem with dragons as we do." she added as she looked to Henrik. "Forgive us, around here it's kill or be killed by dragons. Three hundred year old war going on since Vikings sailed to these islands in the Archipelago. I believe we can...start over. I'm Valka, this is my husband, Stoick, and our daughter, Hilda. Stoick and I are chief and chieftess of the island you're on. This is Berk," Valka introduced.
Henrik stood up now before her. "I'm...Henrik, this is my daughter, Emma and our dragons. Toothless, Windstrike, and Stingwhip." he replied. "And yes, where I come from there is no...war that you speak of. My daughter and I have been living among dragons all our lives." he added.
"Are you from...outside the Archipelago?" Ruffnut asked now.
"Yes. Sixteen hour flight Northeast beyond the Archipelago boundaries, that's where our nest is." Henrik explained.
"You know where the dragon's nest is?!" Stoick stepped forward now.
"Stoick, please..." Valka sighed heavily.
"Our home was attacked by dragon hunters and we were forced to leave on our dragons. The rest of the nest is still there defending it. When it's safe, we're returning to it..." Henrik replied.
"Henrik, I don't believe we should be telling these people everything," Toothless crooned at him.
"What choice do I have? You can't fly right now, I need to do something to fix it and in order to do that...I'll be needing a safe place to stay. It'll be okay, Toothless...you have to trust me." Henrik replied, although to everyone else it sounded like warbling and crooning as the dragon had to him.
"They shot you down, Henrik! It's not safe here, they are dragon killers." Windstrike roared at him.
"That's enough, Windstrike. If they wanted us dead, they wouldn't have killed Toothless right away. They are confused and curious, just as father always said humans who didn't understand this way of life were," Henrik sighed some.
"You don't have a place to go, do you?" Valka asked gently.
"No and because your daughter took my dragon's tail fin off, we can't leave until I fix it." Henrik remarked. Another roar from above reminded the village they were still technically in a raid.
"You can fix the tail?" Tuffnut asked.
"With the proper equipment, yes, I probably can." Henrik crossed his arms over his chest.
"We don't have time for this, Val. I've have a village to protect," Stoick stated pulling his sword.
"Wait." Astrid stopped him as she looked at Henrik now, "You work with dragons all the time, right?" Henrik nodded to her, "Can you stop this?" she inquired. Henrik looked up at the sky at all the dragons flying around. Monstrous Nightmares, Hideous Zipplebacks, Deadly Nadders, and Gronckles.
"That's impossible, no way he can stop a raid by himself when we, as a village can't stop it until the sun rises and they all leave again until the next one in two or three days." Snotlout huffed.
"I've never had to stop a raid, I don't get them since I live among dragons on a daily basis and have for as long as I can remember. But I suppose I can give it a shot," Henrik shrugged as he went over to Toothless and pulled a white staff off from under the wing and hooked it to his back, then he pulled his weapon of his hip and ignited the blade once more. Henrik got a small chain from Toothless's saddle bag and clipped it to a loop on the handle. "Mind your distance," he warned before starting to spin the weapon around in front of him and slowly brought it up over his head while it span and created what appeared to be a ring of fire floating in the air.
The weapon gave off a whooshing sound as the dragons flying around the village started to fly in a circle overhead as well. Everyone watched in disbelief as Henrik yanked the chain down and into the ground with the flame still going. The dragons roared out and landed near him, a few people who had been close backed up and Henrik pulled the staff off his back and gave it a shake as they heard rattling, the dragons seem to calm a bit and then Henrik slammed it down to the ground creating a loud echo of the rattling. The dragons stopped and bowed their heads to him with closed eyes. "Alright, which on of you is in charge of this pack?" Henrik asked. A Nightmare stepped forward before him,
"I am," it replied to him with a growl.
"I need you to take your group and leave this island in peace. I don't desire to see you or your fellow team hurt or killed," Henrik told him calmly, once again, the others had no idea what he was doing. It sounded like he was a dragon or could at least imitate them.
"I will do as you ask young dragon master." the Nightmare bowed it's head again before raising it's head and roaring out to the others who took to the sky and headed off in a group leaving the village alone.
"Thank you my friend," Henrik smiled as the dragon nuzzled against his cheek before taking off with the others. Henrik lifted his weapon and doused the flame as he returned it to his hip, then placed the staff back over his back. "That what you were going for, to make them leave?" he asked.
"Well, yes...but how did you accomplish such a task so easily?" Valka asked.
"For starters, I didn't raise my weapon to them and secondly...I asked nicely for them to leave," Henrik shrugged.
Their eyes widened in shock, mouths dropping open. "All you did was ask them to leave and they did?" Henrik nodded. "When! How! We didn't hear you say anything, you just...growled and made a lot of dragony noises." Snotlout remarked.
"That's because papa was speaking in dragon tongue you big dummy." Emma sighed some.
"Dragon tongue?" Astrid and Hilda asked blinking.
"Yeah, Dragonese. I speak in their language and this one as I am now," Henrik replied. "And Emma, watch the mouth. Don't be disrespectful to the Vikings who only know killing of dragons. We can't expect them to know that peace is possible if gone about correctly. Not everyone lives as we do," he added with a wink as Emma giggled nodding and jumped into his arms.
"There is certainly more we want to know about you and since you...can't exactly go anywhere right now, how about a deal?" Valka asked.
"That depends on if harm will come to my dragons, my daughter, or myself?" Henrik retorted with his arms over his chest.
"You stopped our raid, and gratitude for such...no harm will come to any of you or your dragons as long as they don't hurt any of us," Valka said lightly.
"Papa...I'm hungry and tired," Emma told him. Henrik unfortunately couldn't exactly say no, Toothless couldn't fly and Emma was exhausted from the flying. It had been few hours for them, not having a choice he looked to the chieftess.
"I'm listening," Henrik sighed.
"We will let you stay here on the island to recover, if you can answer some of our questions about this...peace you speak of. It's not our desire to harm them, but we do have to protect ourselves." Valka offered.
"No, Henrik! They could use the information to trick our kind. You can't trust them!" Windstrike prostested right away.
"Windstrike, what else can I do. I have to find a way to get Toothless back in the air so we can leave and wait out the time until Cloud Jumper comes to tell us it's safe to return to the nest. Emma is hungry and tired, so am I. We're stuck on this island for now," Henrik replied to the Razorwhip.
"We can't trust them, I agree with Windstrike," Stingwhip added in.
"I also don't trust them, Henrik. The shot me down without hesitation because I'm a Night Fury," Toothless interjected.
"I'm sorry you three, but I have to do what is best for all involved..." Henrik told them as he faced Valka again. "I'll accept your deal with a condition of my own. I want it writing that you will not use what I tell you to trick the dragons and hurt them. I'll know if they are and if they get hurt for your selfish gain...I'll bring my entire nest here and destroy everything. Bear in mind my nest has over a thousand dragons in it, including the alpha. And I'm not teaching you Dragonese, takes way to long. Besides, they understand your language even if you don't understand them. Do we have a deal?" he asked.
"I'll have a contract written up with both sides of the deal, it'll be ready by midday. For now, we can shake on it. As chief I give my word to you," Stoick told him extending his hand. Henrik extended his own and shook the chief's before the returned their hands to their own bodies. "Now, Val...where do you plan to put them up?" he asked his wife.
"Don't worry about us," Henrik stated. "We can sleep by the forest entrance over there with our dragons," he pointed to the spot.
"That's right by our house and the Great Hall." Hilda stated.
"Then it'll be all the easier to teach you, won't it be?" Henrik said to her as Hilda stuck her tongue out at him. Emma tugged her father's pant leg as he bent down and picked her up so she could lay on his shoulder and yawn tiredly. Valka seemed to be staring at her, and Stoick snapped her out of it.
"Val, you okay?" Stoick asked.
"Hm, yes. I'm fine, sorry." Valka smiled, "Is there anything we can get you?"
"No thank you, we're just fine." Henrik informed as he gave a whistle and his dragons rose to their feet as he carried Emma up the hill and over to the forest entrance. Toothless laid down first, and then Windstrike, finally Stingwhip. Henrik laid Emma down as he went in the bag beside him and pulled out a smaller one, then from in there he pulled out an apple and the end piece of the bread to give to Emma. "Eat up, then you can get some sleep."
"Okay papa," Emma replied as she began to eat what was given to her, Henrik ate a chunk of the bread as well as an apple.
Meanwhile with the Hooligans, everyone was in shock that the chief and chieftess agreed to let this mysterious person stay on Berk with three dragons and his daughter. A lot of people weren't happy about it, some even starting to get mad.
"Look, I know it's not what everyone wants but we only know what we know. Wouldn't life be easier if we didn't have raids? This man can teach us that, I think he at least deserves a chance..." Valka said quickly.
"Val, for Odin's sake...the man was riding the dragon and so was his daughter. He was riding a NIGHT FURY! And the little girl riding a dragon we've never seen or heard of before. I don't care what you say, this will only cause problems for us." a villager stated.
"Valka, I'm hesitant on this myself as well. It's not...natural for humans to do. Even if what he says is true, he rides a dragon. There's just...something about him that doesn't seem right," Stoick admitted.
"You're the one who agreed to his condtion not to hurt the dragons!" Spitelout huffed, "Even if this doesn't work, we can't hurt them or he'll destroy the island."
"I don't think he'll do that," Valka sighed.
"How do you know?" Gobber inquired.
"I just...have a feeling that he isn't the type of person to do that. He has a child, which means he understands love and family. I don't think he'd come here and destroy other families, he just wants the dragons to be safe and for there to be peace. I think we could use that." Valka enlightened.
"How can you even speak of peace with dragons when your own son was taken by one!" someone shouted.
"I know what happened!" Valka snapped, "I wish it hadn't and I wish my baby was still here, but he's not. We have a chance to stop the fighting. They took my son, yes...but how many of them have we killed as well? There...should be no more bloodshed on either side and if this young man can help change that...then I'm going to try." she said firmly before walking away. Stoick sighed, Hilda huffed. She finally takes down a dragon and it turned out to be one with a rider who was somehow convinced her mother to want to give peace a shot. Hilda didn't like this guy, there was something about him that made her not trust him. And she was determined to figure it out however she could.
(Forest Entrance)
Henrik had Emma lay down against him and snuggle up to sleep there, he himself laid against Toothless while trying to figure out what to do about Toothless's missing tail fin. This was a Viking village, surely there had to be a forge around somewhere. If he could gain access to that then he could maybe work on something to at least get them back in the air. For now though, they were on this island called Berk and in a few short hours, would be under contract to tell them how peace could be obtained in exchange for the safety of Emma, his dragons, and himself to stay there. What a fine mess he'd gotten them into by not flying higher and staying out of range.
'Don't know if you're listening up there Dad or Selby, but I could really use some help right about now...' Henrik thought before pulled his daughter close to his figure and letting sleep take him while Windstrike and Stingwhip watch on guard. Toothless needed his rest too after all. They were stuck there, might as well make the best of it.
