It was a shame it didn't burn.
Of course it didn't burn, it was fireproof just like every dragon.
Vylma had a thought that hopefully a dead night fury could burn to ashes, but after throwing the night fury head she had revived from Grimmel yesterday in fire, she had been thought wrong. Or Grimmel had done something to it that it couldn't burn. It didn't matter! Vylma hadn't believe her eyes when the same face that was hunting her dreams was staring back to her in reality when she had open the wooden box that was delivered to her by dinner time yesterday.
Vylma had looked at it for minutes before throwing it into the fireplace, hoping it would burn up. But it hadn't for hours and in the end, it had been buried in the woods far, far underground.
It still felt unreal that a dead night fury's head was buried on her grounds. And finally after gotten her mind straight and away from the thoughts of the night fury and only getting them in her dreams now and then, it came back to her thanks to Grimmel. All of this was Grimmels fault anyway.
Nothing made it better when a women had come to Barvik with a parchment roll from Grimmel.
He wanted to meet her this evening on an island that was an hour from here by boat. He wanted to talk about the place the war was going to take place.
Thoughts of her parents being there too, came to her immediately. And maybe now she needed face them disguised as not their daughter.
Her hair was once again rubbed in with coal making the hair black. A green and golden dress was put on. As well as jewelry in lots.
Grimmel couldn't take on look between them and see that they were related. Otherwise he would probably kill her on the spot.
A boat was fixed and ready to go as well as Gunnevi and Svea. After what had happened last time Vylma was with Grimmel, she didn't want her crew to help her out if something happen to her. It was not like she wasn't thankful of them, she really was in fact, but they had their duties to do and making sure the queen got a bath and clean up after her, was not one of them. If she needed help, Gunnevi and Svea could help her and let the crew do their work without interruptions from their queen.
Now, after an hour, she stood by a hill waiting for Grimmel to come out of his boat so they could wait for her parents to come.
She actually didn't know if only her father was coming or if her mother was coming as well. But she had a feeling they both would.
It didn't say in the letter that they would here as well and she didn't know if they knew she was here. But it sounded logical that they would be here if Grimmel asked her to come to an empty island by all places and not him coming to Barvik.
Vylma watched Grimmels boat stop by the beach and people began hoping out to secure the boat by tying it to place by some ropes wrapped around the nearest trees.
The island was in a medium size and had a big hill a few meters from where the beach sand meet the grass. Vylma stood on the grass in the middle of two of her guards.
A wide plank was pushed down from the boats railing to the ground and down walking came Grimmel. What came after, made Vylmas eyes widened in shock.
A red and black dragon came walking after Grimmel, no chains or whatever holding the dragon in place and it looked untroubled. The dragon calmly followed Grimmel towards her and her guards and Vylma couldn't keep her eyes off the dragon.
She had never seen a dragon like that, or heard of for that matter.
"Never seen this species before?" Vylma snapped her head to Grimmel when he spoke and she realized that he was here and she needed to put on a show. Making him believe she was someone she wasn't.
"No, I haven't." she responded and relaxed her face from the shock and straighten her back.
"He's a deathgripper. One of the six dragons that do what I say." he explained and the dragon grumbled beside him.
Vylma couldn't believe he had six dragons that obeyed him. Did he train them? Or tortured them until they didn't have a choice but obey him? She decided that she didn't want to know. It was already unreal that he killed and tortured dragons. And now he had six dragones that did what they were told? Like a tame dragon, but bounded to do horrible acts.
The sound of a night fury made Vylma turn her head to the sky, but a black dragon wasn't seen.
"That would be the chief of Berk," a nadders squawk was heard and Grimmel smiled a bit, "And a deadly nadder. He most have taking someone with him, a good decision of him."
Vylma raised an eyebrow at the last part. Good decision? Why would it be bad if he came alone?
"Come." he gestured her to follow him up the green hill and she did with her guards two steps behind her. The red and black dragon walked beside Grimmel and she told herself not to study the dragon. She shouldn't be interesting in dragons when she played this role.
She let her eyes be in front of her and saw the sky come forward as they walked up the hill. When her eyes landed on her parents, her jawline became clenched. She had a big feeling they would be here but now when she saw them be here in reality, her body became stiff and the traitor feeling from killing the night fury, came back. Vylma stood on the wrong side of battlefield and she hated it.
It was your plan, she thought to herself and almost snorted out loud. What a great plan it turned out to be.
When they were up on the hill and the deathgripper walked behind Grimmel, looking at Hiccup and Astrid the whole time, and settle down on Grimmels right side while Vylma and her guards stood on his left side, silence came and Vylma tried to keep her eyes off her parents, Toothless and Stormfly.
Hiccup held a stone face and didn't even look at his daughter. He knew the plan. He wasn't supposed to know her and keeping his eyes on Grimmel and the dragon beside him was a good distraction. A good look out if Grimmel did something and to see if that dragon did something suspectios. He felt Toothless having his guard up and studying the mysterious red and black dragon that was on Grimmels side.
Astrid glanced at Vylma from time to time and had to put her hand up for Stormfly not run towards Vylma to greet her. Stormfly knew it was Vylma from her scent, but didn't understand why she looked like that. That wasn't her hair and she had never seen her dressed like that. So much jewelry that it looked heavy on her. She had tried to go to her but Astrid had put a hand up and Stormfly stopped, uncertain why her rider didn't want her to great Vylma.
"Glad you could make it," Grimmel said to Hiccup before turning to Astrid, "And you bought company I see."
"I see you brought company too." Hiccup said back and looked at the dragon by Grimmels side.
"Ah, yes," Grimmel began and placed a hand on the deathgrippers head. "This is one of my deathgrippers and," he turned to Vylma and Hiccup had to look at her now, "Queen Vylma of Barvik. The one who's going to help me in this war."
Vylma held her back straight and her chin high. She and her dad locked their eyes for a few seconds before Hiccup addressed to Grimmel, again.
"We can have help from other tribes now?" Hiccup already knew this, but since Heather talked about Dagur and Mala, maybe they could help them and not only on Berk.
"Yes," Grimmel said and put his hands behind his back. "And I will give you permission to have help from one tribe as well, to make it fair."
Hiccup locked his jaw and looked at Astrid.
Grimmel studied the chief and the blonde woman that stood in front of him. They didn't look like they were just friends. The way they looked at each other told a long story of them knowing each other and they had this bond that pulled them together. This was a important person to the chief.
Grimmel knew Hiccup was married and had children, but he didn't know how his wife looked like. And the only child of Hiccup Grimmel knew looked like, was Stoick. The other children had been drawn by some spies he had placed on Berk before the first meeting he had with Queen Vylma. Targeting the Haddock family was not the most important thing, but it had a benefit for Grimmel's offer he was about to give chief Hiccup.
"Astrid, isn't it?" the blonde woman turned to Grimmle when he addressed her. Blue eyes looking with anger at him. "Wife to Hiccup Haddock here, right?"
"Yes." she said and narrowed her eyes.
"I'm wondering what a mother and as a chiftness thinks about going to war, because her husband can't let go of his pet dragon." Astrid frowned at that and didn't know where he was going with this.
Grimmel went silence a few seconds before he continued; "I will give chief Hiccup a offer. A offer you Astrid, might like."
Astrid raised an eyebrow at him, now curious and confused of where he was going with this.
"A offer that will end this war before it even begins. I will give you a chance to let your night fury free and the war will not be needed."
Hiccup frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Six days from now the war will begin on this island," Grimmel took a parchment roll out of his bag and threw it to Hiccup, who caught it and rolled it up revealing a map over Berk to Valkas mountain and a island benit Valka's mountain and at the same line radius as Dark deep, was market where the war was going to take place. "And we can see who wins, or you can let the night fury free and the war won't happen at all. No one has to die and no one has to lose. Well, maybe you for losing your dragon, but that is a low price to pay for keeping your loved ones safe, isn't it?"
Hiccup glared at him. "And what will you do if I let Toothless free? Will you hunt him down until he's dead? Is this your way to get him away from me? From Berk?"
Grimmel shook his head. "No, no Hiccup. If you let him free, I won't hunt him and if I ever lay a finger on him, you have permission to kill me."
"How would we know you haven't laid a finger on him when he won't be around us?" Astrid challenged.
Grimmel smiled wryly. "You don't. I can only give you my word, but I'm sure the night fury can find a world he can find peace in."
Hiccups' eyebrows slowly shot up at the word world. Did Grimmel know about the hidden world?
He shook his head. That was something he couldn't ask now. "So I just show up in six days on this island you've market out, without Toothless and you just turn around and we're all good?"
"No, that would be a waste of time for me and queen Vylma to get our tropes there. No, you will send me a letter in five days, the day before the war starts and on that letter I want it to say that you let the night fury free and send me his saddle. That way I know you've given him up."
Hiccup and Toothless looked at each other. Toothless tilted his head and couldn't believe this Grimmel guy. Hiccup felt the same.
"Something to think about, I suppose." Grimmel said before turning to Vylma.
Vylma had watched in silence the whole time they three had talked. Thoughts went threw her head and when when he gave her dad the offer to let toothless free, she wanted to scream no. Her dad couldn't let Toothless free, not now. To much was on stake. To much had happened.
"Queen Vylma," Vylma let her eyes land on Grimmel and he had her attention, "Here's the map where the island is market where the war is taking place in six days." Vylma grabbed the parchment roll she didn't even see Grimmel take out of his bag and handed out to her. The map was the same as Hiccups.
"Six days." she breathed out and felt a weight coming from the parchment. Like a weight of what the war meant.
"Yes and I'll send you more information in two days. We can't talk about out strategies when the enemy is hearing."
"No, we can't." Vylma simply said and inspected her parents. Just so Grimmel saw that she wasn't avoiding them.
"And I'll give you the whole island for yourself." he told Hiccup and Astrid, "We don't need land. So the land is yours and the water is ours, but the air, is for all."
Hiccup nodded.
Grimmel and his dragon turned to walk down the hill but stopped two steps from Vylma with his back towards her. "I hope you liked the dragon head I delivered to you. Isn't it an amazing art piece to a wall?" he grinned, but none of them saw it as he walked away. No one but Vylma's guards saw her eyes panic and how she swallowed in fear.
Vylma felt her parents eyes on her back and she couldn't stay here in their presence for much longer, so she walked down the hill. Wishing her parents hadn't come here at all.