7. Meetings part 1

The riders didn't go far into the woods, just far enough to not be seen without their changewing skins on. They were crouched behind some bushes where they could talk without anyone seeing or hearing them. In the relative silence they could hear one another clearly, keeping their voices low they started with the information they had. The meeting will take place in the Meade hall and there weren't any places to hide on ground level, going to the meeting in disguise crossed their minds. Although disguising themselves wasn't a good plan. One, no outsiders would be let in during the meeting and two, it would raise suspicion as it wasn't the time of year for the island to get visitors and no boats have come close to the island in a while.

The best course of action would be hiding in the hall, and Hiccup knew just where to hide, the support beams that went both vertically and horizontally across the structure. Getting up there wouldn't be a problem for the pair, both because they had experience and Storm had daggers that would help them climb up without a problem. As far as Hiccup remembered the hall's horizontal beams weren't too high up so hearing everything wouldn't be a problem, especially since the chief had to practically shout so everyone could hear what he said. Only one question didn't leave Hiccup's mind, a question he didn't have a good answer to.

"How do we get in?" he asked Storm, waiting for her answer, hoping she at least had an idea. She thought for a moment, taping her fingers on her chin. Then her face lit up and he knew she had thought of something that was going to work, the look that was on her face only showed up when she had a great plan. The look didn't disappoint.

"We sneak in tonight, you remember when the other day your father and his friend exited the hall, right? That means that when they exited there couldn't have been a lot of people inside, or at least a lot of sober people. If we wait tonight for them to go out, we have a chance to be in the Meade hall alone which would give us time to scale up the beams and find a good place to settle."

"And if there are people inside?" he asked, he already liked her plan, but they needed to be prepared for every possible outcome.

"We go in cloaked," she said confidently. "If there are any people inside at that hour, they'll be drunk, and probably blame the doors opening on the wind and the last person not closing them properly. The hall has to clear out eventually and if it doesn't, we'll be inside the hall at least. We'd have to spend hours under the skins if we can't get up on the beams, which would suck, but we'll be at the meeting at least."

Hiccup nodded, it wasn't a bad plan, it was the best plan they could come up with, so it would have to do. They still had a few hours to waste, and wandering around the village would be stupid when they had what they came for. They agreed that the best they could do now is to get back to their hiding place from the first night and wait out the chief.

During the boring wait they ironed out the missing pieced from their plan. They would leave with the other people after the meeting and head straight to the woods. If they separated while leaving they would meet up at the camp and most importantly, they couldn't show themselves at the meeting, no matter what would happen, they needed to go over everything they would find out together and plan, again.

Finally the Hooligan Chief left the hall, he was alone tonight so he went straight to his home. The pair acted immediately, cloaking themselves fully and leaving their hiding spot for the entrance. Both listened for any coming vikings from the Meade hall, not having heard anything Storm carefully and slowly opened the door a crack and leaned her head inside to survey the inside of the building. The inside was vacant as far as she saw, she opened the door more and tapped Hiccup on his arm, he was surveying the outside, to signal that the coast was clear.

They made their way into the hall silently, looking for anybody as more of the inside came to view. Once they saw that it was completely deserted they jogged to one of the support beams, Hiccup took of his changewing skin, while Storm only partially uncovered herself and pulled out two of her daggers that she handed to him. Hiccup stuck one of the daggers into the wooden pole, then the other and started climbing, it didn't take him long to reach the horizontal one which he pushed himself on. He took the daggers and pocketed them, then he partially covered himself with his cloak, which he previously had attached to his side, in case someone entered the building.

Storm was almost all the way up, when a clearly drunk viking stumbled out of one of the storage closets. She froze mid climb, fortunately she was behind the pole and out of the viking's sight and Hiccup quickly covered himself fully and froze too. They didn't make any noise, not wanting the inebriated viking to notice them, especially Storm, even drunk he could come to check out any noise and find a floating head and limbs and considering that in her position she could fully hide, drunken hallucinations wouldn't explain that.

Luck was on their side it seemed, because the viking just headed straight to the exit, well not straight to the exit, more like he zig-zaged to the exit. Still, the viking was gone, and Storm quickly finished climbing and pushed herself on next to Hiccup and put her daggers back into place, one in her glove, the other had a place build into her prosthetic. Once she had everything where it should be, they moved to be directly next to where the chief gave his speeches. And they waited, again.

They talked a little while waiting, mostly about how they would not leave the sky for at least a day when this was all over. Any conversation they had had to stop, because soon the hall was filling with vikings ready for breakfast and after that there was always someone coming or going from the building. They didn't chance talking when there were people around, they didn't need anyone being suspicious.

Finally, after hours of waiting the Meade hall started filling up with people who were waiting for their chief. The riders were sitting next to each other, legs touching together so they would know when it was time to leave that the other had moved. They were still fully cloaked and it was not pleasant after the time they've spent under it. Storm was looking forward to when the tribe would have their full attention on their chief so she could uncover her head.

The people in the hall hushed when their chief entered and cleared the path to the platform for him. For the lack on a better word, Stoick looked tired. Dark bags under his eyes, the eyes themselves betraying wariness and exhaustion and yet, he still held his head high and walked with confidence, not betraying anything to those who weren't looking. The pair on the beams were looking and seeing things they didn't like. The exhaustion was expected, but the wariness and suspicion deep in his eyes was cause for concern.

When Stoick reached the platform he let out a deep sigh and turned to his people, his eyes were now clear and determined, his posture radiated confidence and he demanded respect just by standing there.

"You're all probably wondering why I called you here!" all attention was on him, the riders freed their heads from the cloaks so they could hear everything more clearly. "This won't take long, but I do have news that concern the whole village and tribe. You all know that Berk is facing a threat bigger than ever before, which is no secret." The hall was filled with agreeing murmurs, but no one interrupted their chief.

"We're trying to find a help, because we can't face this on our own, and we've got someone who is willing to risk his life to get us information, he owes a life debt to me and by extension the tribe! His family take those debts seriously and they do everything they can to repay them, so I have no doubt that he will give us useful information, but we can't be sure he won't betray us! We don't know what leverage our enemy has against him. All I ask of you is that you let him come to the village, but keep an eye on him and report any suspicious behavior to me!" the people in the hall were shouting over one another, but the general idea was well received and soon all shouts were of agreement.

"He is coming tomorrow," he continued, satisfaction lasing his tone. "He will be here sometime after the sun has set and I would want you all to be here so that you could hear and judge for yourselves if he is trust worthy, but that won't be possible. You will choose one family member to come into the Meade hall during tomorrow's meeting, the rest will be required to stand guard around the village, we can't let ourselves be ambushed. Now you're dismissed, except the war council and dragon scouts."

This put a damper on the riders' plan to leave with everyone else, they looked at each other, and with the commotion of everyone leaving they moved deeper into the shadows and as close to the platform as possible. While one of them sneaking out later would be safer, they both needed to be there for the simple reason that they saw most things from different perspectives. One of them might overlook something that the other might find great information in. They would find a way out, which was not going to be a problem for them no matter how hard it'll be, they won't fail when everything is this close to being unraveled.