I could hear movement from behind me on both sides as the other four dragon riders uncovered their faces and revealed who they were. I could see everyone's eyes go wide except for Astrid and Gothi, surprised at seeing who were hiding beneath the masks.
"I trust that you have met my riders before?" I held my hand out to my right, "Camicazi from the Bog-Burglar tribe, followed by Dogsbreath from the Ulithugs Tribe." I dropped the hand that was presenting the riders on my right and held out my left hand towards the rest of the riders. "And over here, we have Thuggory from the Meathead's Tribe and last but not least, Heather from the Berserkers, and the rightful Heir to the tribe." I let my left arm fall and crossed them both in front of my chest, waiting for a response from any of them.
Gothi was the first to react, getting down from her seat and walking around the table to where Heather was standing. Heather had an uneasy look on her face as she didn't want to participate in this at all. Only the riders knew who she was, and now the war council of Berk. Gothi lightly tapped her arm and tugged on it with her staff before Heather responded. Heather fell to her knees and let Gothi inspect her until she was satisfied, giving her a warm smile and walking back to her seat. The people of Berk were surprised at the reaction but didn't question what Gothi did as she was the Elder.
"So all this time, you had support from the other tribes? Why even bother coming to us for help? It looks like you have enough help as it is." Stoick finally spoke up once the surprise had worn off.
"That's where you are wrong Stoick. I have the support of the Heir's of there tribes, not of the tribes themselves, because like you, they are not willing to try a different approach."
"So what made you think you would have my support?"
"Because Stoick, out of all the tribes in the Archipelago, you have survived the worst, with losing your wife Valka to the dragons years ago, and losing the Heir, supposedly to dragons again, not that long ago." I knew I struck a nerve, I could see the anger behind Stoick's eyes and his face going almost tomato red as I spoke. "But-" I cut him off quickly raising my hand towards him before he could burst, "-I know you care about Berk and the vikings that reside in it, and you would do anything to stop the raids."
"And how can you be so sure of that?" Stoick stood and placed his hands on the table that separated us, "You seem to know an awful lot about us, but yet we know nothing of you."
"Because if you didn't care about Berk or the vikings, you would have left a long time ago, leaving this dreaded forsaken island to the dragons and finding somewhere safer to live, but instead you chose to stay, you and all the Chieftains before you."
Stoick stood up and crossed his arms on his chest, making him look like the full mountain of a man that he was, and just glared from myself to each and every rider. "We don't need your help around here, we are fully capable of taking care of ourselves."
"Chief, shouldn't we consider they can help? Maybe put the raids to an end once and for all before anybody else gets hurt, or even worse, killed?" It was Astrid who responded, walking forward and turning around to look at the Chief in the face. "Can't you see that Shadow and the other Heirs are willing to put their lives on the line to help protect Berk?"
"Are you siding with them now Astrid? After being beaten in the ring and bringing shame to our people?" I couldn't see Astrid's reaction to the sudden redirection of anger but I could definitely see my Father glance towards her and go redder in the face.
"No, I am not siding with them. I am just trying to come to a solution that could be best for Berk and her people."
"You don't have a say here. You are here to observe and that's it."
"But Chief…"
"What I say, goes Astrid, now step back." Astrid did what she was told and found herself back in the spot she started in, with a hardened expression. Stoick turned his gaze back towards mine, "like I said earlier before being interrupted, your kind is not welcome here, allies or not, we don't need your help."
"Are you willing to sacrifice the treaties that were signed at the Thing because of your pride Stoick?" It was Camicazi that spoke up from her position beside me. "I might be heir to my people, but I will still be Chief of the Bog-Burglars one day, same with every other heir that is here.
"That can happen sometimes. For some people, it happens often but for others it only happens once in a lifetime" I heard Heather sigh in sadness. "You know the story that Hiccup told in the Great Hall about how my village was burned to the ground by dragon raids?" I nodded without looking at her, but didn't say anything and waited for her to continue. "It was mostly true, but instead of dragons burning it to the ground, it was my brother Dagur." I looked towards her with surprise which turned into sadness. Heather seemed to stare into space but continued anyways.
"Dagur burned the village to the ground and killed most of the people that lived there. He spared mine and my Dad's life when he did so because we were blood but that was it. He put us on a boat and sent us on our way. Dad and I almost died at sea and once we reached land, he promised me that nothing bad would ever come for me again. He stuck me with a family he knew and he went back to sea. He returned a few times after that until he didn't return again. Not long after my 16th winter, I found Windshear and we braced the wild by ourselves. I told myself that I would find out what happened to my Dad even if it killed me."
Heather finally seemed to catch herself and looked towards me. "That event changed my life forever and I still would be chasing those dead ends by myself if I didn't find Hiccup. We fought when we encountered each other, almost killing each other until we figured out who each other was." Heather chuckled quietly to herself as if remembering the encounter. "Even though he was smaller than he was now and couldn't fight for his life, he was going to protect his dragon with his life if he had to." I tried to think back to when Hiccup was still on Berk and could barely lift a sword when in the forge.