Chapter 25 - A Dragon's Decision:
Asan slowed to a halt as he ascended up the steps to the main deck, overhearing Hiccup talking to Vali.
"They were everywhere, flying around and attacking as usual dragons do. I ran out of the house…"
The large black dragon suddenly made a growl. Asan turned to face the dragon called Toothless, and it beckoned him to move away from the hatch.
Regretfully, Asan came out of the hull and lowered the door down while holding the food in his other hand. He wanted to hear what Hiccup was talking about, but didn't want to get on a Night Fury's bad side.
"Vill 'e tell me someday?" Asan asked Toothless gently, looking hopeful.
The dragon gave a shrug, before resting its head on its paws and keeping his eyes fixed on the chief.
Asan walked over to the navigator and stood beside him, passing off the thought. It wasn't his business. He looked around in the sky, before speaking to the navigator. "Good conditions so far. You t'ink it'll stay zis vay?"
"Let's hope so sir. Although there is something I'm worried about." The sailor replied, before turning to the sailors around the boat. "Raise the sail a little higher!"
"Aye sir!" All the men chanted and carried out the task.
"Vhat's zat?" The chief asked, turning to face the crew sailor.
The sailor stepped back and ducked down to retrieve an object underneath the boat's steering wheel in a little cabinet. The object he pulled out was revealed to Asan when he stood up again and passed it to him, a spyglass.
"Two things chief. Firstly, that." He turned to the far right and pointed to the horizon. "Look over there in the sky."
Asan stared through the spyglass in the direction the man pointed, and saw it. Thick, wide and heavy dark clouds. Definitely representing a storm or blizzard. Asan knew the route and area well, it would be no surprise to find a severe storm just at the beginning of winter.
The Dyflin chief lowered the spyglass, and asked the man, "You t'ink it's coming zis vay?"
The sailor took the spyglass and looked at the clouds himself. "Hard to say. We only noticed it about half an hour ago. But we should know by midday, if we keep an eye on it we should notice it's movement. It's still the chilly early morning anyway."
"Right." Replied Asan. "Vell, keep us moving at a very fast pace. If zat storm is coming zis vay zen ze vind vill begin to get stronger. If zat is a bad storm ve need to get to s'elter immediately."
He nodded, "Absolutely chief. I agree. But the other thing I'm worried about, is that."
The man turned around to face the front of the ship to look in the direction the boat is heading, and pointed directly ahead of him slightly to the left.
Asan took the spyglass off him and looked.
"Vhat is it?" Asan questioned, not able to see anything other than ocean and a couple nearby islands.
"Look carefully sir, this way. Far into the distance, a very faint rise of smoke."
As soon as the man said it, Asan noticed it too. It was very hard to make out, the land of which the smoke must have been coming from was not visible, just the smoke.
"It's just a bit of smoke." The chief said, observing it. "Per'aps an island 'as a forest fire."
"Uhh, I don't think so sir. Within four days or so, we are going to be past all the land and islands from the Myrkian domain. We just have the shallow islands and reefs of the Tokenill to pass after the Myrkian mountains to our left here, then a couple of rocky islands which we can just see, then it's just ocean all the way home. That smoke is in the exact direction of Dyflin, and we can't see the land."
Worry began to increase in Asan, fearful for his village. Had there been another dragon raid?
"Good point. I 'ope nothing 'as 'appened to our village. It couldn't be ze Myrkian's… Ve 'aven't seen zem go past and zey couldn't be going faster zan us." Asan self-consciously turned around and looked to see if he could see the wharves of Myrka. He couldn't.
"Vell, let's 'ope its nothing to vorry about. Keep an eye on bot' ze clouds and ze smoke. Let me know if anyt'ing c'anges."
"Yes sir." The man saluted him and Asan gave the spyglass back to him.
Asan shared some of the food he was still holding with the man, who said thanks then he gave the rest to the crew. He then turned around and saw Toothless was looking towards the smoke in the distance, then turned back around and looked at the dark clouds. Before at last turning back and looking at Asan.
"I need to tell 'iccup zis." Asan said, staring Toothless right in the eye.
"You can tell me, I'll tell him for you."
Both Asan and Toothless turned around to see Kormak emerging out of the hull, closing the door behind him.
"Oh, hey Toothless." He greeted the Night. The dragon nodded in response and lowered its head.
"Where's the Skrill?" Kormak asked. Looking at where the dragon named Spark was previously resting during the morning when Hiccup introduced him to the dragon and Toothless formally.
Asan stepped forward and spoke, "I t'ink ze Skrill flew avay to 'ave some alone time. 'iccup said zat s'e vould be back."
Kormak glanced at the box with Gothi's body inside.
"'iccup said zat 'e vill vant to give Got'i a send off v'en ve reach Dyflin." Asan explained to Kormak.
He nodded understandingly, then turned back to face Asan. "Okay. What was it you wanted to tell Hiccup?"
Asan shook his head. "Don't vorry, I'll tell 'im v'en 'e 'as finis'ed vit' Vali."
"You sure?" Kormak asked.
"Positive."
Kormak sat down on the deck of the ship, and Asan walked over and sat down next to him. Toothless moved his head slightly to watch them both from where he lay.
"Do you know vhy 'iccup vas so eager to save you from Myrka by any c'ance?" The Dyflin chief asked Kormak. "Because, vell… zare are lots of people from Dyflin in Myrka as slaves and prisoners. Vhy vas 'e specifically after you and Vali?"
Kormak moved his right arm forward while drawing back his sleeve.
Asan turned and looked, and saw Kormak's birthmark on his wrist.
"But zat's not ze same one as-"
"I know. It's a long story." He explained to Asan. "Hiccup you see is on a-"
Kormak was loudly interrupted by a fierce dragon roar, and everyone turned around to see the Skrill named Spark landing back on the deck of the ship.
All heads turned back to the Skrill as it landed with a thump. Rocking the boat and causing several crewmen to wobble on their feet.
Toothless immediately growled loudly, while looking at the deck of the ship, and Hiccup's voice echoed back afterwards, shouting from under the deck, "I gathered that! Be nice!"
The Skrill then began to growl itself, and then the Night Fury growled back.
Kormak and Asan were sitting between them, noticing their mouths moving and turning each time one of them made a noise.
"They must be talking." Kormak stated, watching both dragons communicating.
Asan just sat there, staring at both of them, at times he felt he could tell the expressions of emotion on their faces. Their eyes and ears often said it all. To him, they both seemed agitated with each other.
"I still find zis so remarkable." Asan spoke, watching both dragons. He turned to see Kormak was giving him a confused look. "Vell, only some veeks ago I knew not'ing about dragons. Ve killed zem v'en zey attacked ze village. Zey vere alvays vicious and savage killers, zis is all so new to me."
Kormak nodded, "Chief, I couldn't agree with you more. I was the same. What Hiccup has explained and shown to me, I feel like a different person."
"Aye." Asan said.
"Now we just have to hope that the same thing happens with Vali." Kormak spoke. He hoped for the best that Hiccup did manage to convince her, but he knew it would be hard.
They stayed sitting down together, watching the two dragons speaking to each other, before Asan stood up to talk to the crewman again. Kormak however got up and walked to the right side edge of the ship and sat down.
He stared down at the water below, hanging his feet over the edge. The water was a pleasant blue, not dark or bright. Kormak looked out across the sea, observing the many small waves till his eyes met the sight of some ominous clouds in the distance.
Those clouds worried Kormak, he wondered if Asan or the crew knew about it.
"Chief?" Kormak called out, turning to look at the main deck.
Asan turned around. "Yes Kormak?"
He turned and pointed out to sea. "Have you seen those clouds? They look pretty bad."
Asan nodded to him and said, "Yes ve 'ave. My crew is keeping an eye on zem."
"All right."
He turned back to talk to the crew. While Kormak faced out to sea again. Deep in thought.
He eventually rolled up his sleeve and looked at his dragon mark. 'This is a mark of the Six.' Kormak thought to himself, remembering what Hiccup had told him back on Myrka.
'Now of course you don't have to, I will not force anyone to do anything. But what this mark means is that you are one of six people including me that is supposed to destroy the evil and stop the corruption plaguing the world. Apparently, I'm the leader of the Six. My dragon mark is a Night Fury. I have already bonded with one and we are best friends. I'm supposed to gather and unite the Six and help them to bond with their own dragon.'
Kormak himself found that almost unbelievable at first. And he wouldn't have believed him if he hadn't explained his whole history of life of when he was in his home.
He found it strange that Hiccup had hailed from an island that he had never heard of. He could have sworn all islands and countries around this area were known to the main group. Surely the Bog Burglars or Myrkians would have known about Berk.
And yet, according to Hiccup's story, that wasn't true. But Hiccup did say that last night King Harun of Myrka now had read his notebook which surely might have said somewhere in it that he hailed from Berk.
That worried Kormak a little, would the Myrkians do anything about that? Would they travel around to find Berk to claim it as part of the Myrkian dominion?
Although he wasn't sure if Berk had a small or large population. His own tribe on Dyflin certainly was tiny in comparison to Myrka and the Bog Burglars, he knew that much. He had never been to the Bog Burglars island, but Drifa, Kormak's mother said she had once and it was roughly the same size as Myrka.
Kormak wasn't very knowledgeable in the names of the tribes and he certainly did not know all of them. However he was sure that Asan would certainly know more than he did. If he was to go on this quest with Hiccup, they would need to know all the islands in the archipelago. It would certainly help.
He suddenly got another interesting thought when he heard Toothless growl back loudly at something the Skrill must have said. He knew that because Toothless activated Hiccup's Night Fury dragon mark, he was then able to understand dragon language. With that thought, he wondered if he ever got a Thunderdrum to activate his own and befriend it, would he be able to understand dragon language. Just like Hiccup could?
Kormak then heard the hatch door open on the deck, and he turned to face it.
To his surprise, Hiccup was coming out, and by the looks of it, trying to persuade Vali to come out and have a look.
The Night Fury and Skrill both stopped talking and faced Hiccup. At that time, Kormak spotted Vali's head just poking out.
Toothless growled instinctively, hating to see that face again. But true to his word, he did not attack or move.
"That's Toothless." Hiccup pointed to the Night. "The one-"
"I heard it the first time! Don't tell me again!" Interrupted Vali, who began to slowly emerge from the hull.
"And that's-"
"I told you I know! My memory isn't that bad! That's the Skrill or Spike Bolt named Spark. The same type of hideous dragon on my wrist." Vali spoke aggressively at Hiccup.
Toothless increased his growling. Not liking the way she was talking, especially at Hiccup. Meanwhile the Skrill stood up to its fullest height and made a very angry face at her.
"Will you not be so loud and angry!" Kormak barked at Vali, standing up and walking over to her.
Vali turned her attention to Kormak. "Excuse me? Who do you think you are?! I'm a prisoner here I don't exactly-"
"I told you! You're not a prisoner! You can leav-" Hiccup tried to say yet again but was stopped.
"How can I leave the boat?!" She almost screamed. "We're nowhere near-"
At that point, the Skrill suddenly lunged at her, knocking over Toothless and pushing Kormak and Hiccup out of the way. The Spike Bolt gripped Vali with its claws on its feet, then suddenly flew into the air above them out of reach with Vali screaming and wriggling to try and get out of its grip.
"SPARK WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Hiccup yelled. As he and everyone else scrambled to their feet. "DON'T-"
"Oh don't worry. I know what she needs." Spoke the dragon mischievously. "I won't kill her, I'll bring her back to you in two days. I promise."
"WAIT WH-" But before Hiccup had a chance to reply, the Skrill was flying off quickly towards the mountains of Myrka.
"COME BACK!" Bellowed Hiccup, as Toothless joined him straight after. "TYPICAL OF YOU SPIKE BOLTS! BOTH OF YOU ARE TREACHEROUS BEASTS, DON'T COME BACK!" Toothless roared into the sky.
Helplessly, Kormak, Hiccup, Toothless and Asan watched them disappear into the distance. Toothless feeling especially angry and jealous of not being able to chase as he could not fly.
"What just happened?" Kormak asked, watching Spark fly away till they couldn't see her anymore.
"Spark just took Vali and flew off with her. Saying that she knew what Vali needs. She said she won't kill her and that they'll be back in two days." Hiccup replied.
Toothless huffed and sat down rather aggressively. While Hiccup sat down softly and put his hands in his hair. While Kormak had felt a moment of almost Déjà vu.
"You know, I think Spark may just be right…" Kormak announced, remaining standing up.
Toothless turned and thumped his head onto the deck before revealing his most incredulous expression a dragon could possibly show, towards Kormak.
Hiccup said nothing. But was thinking to himself. Kormak however began to speak.
"Well…" He began, almost taken aback by the look the Night Fury was giving. "Believe it or not, back home on Dyflin a very similar incident happened to me once."
Toothless raised his ears plates higher, pointing towards the sky, and opened his eyes a little more, to show he was listening intently. Interested in what he had to say.
Hiccup meanwhile took his hands off his head and turned to face Kormak too. "Really? What was it?" He asked him.
Kormak sat down next to Hiccup, while Asan in the background walked away to speak with the crew.
"Many years ago before I was taken from Dyflin to be a slave in Myrka, I was eating in the Town Hall on Dyflin. Polk was much younger then and Mum was feeding him. Dad was alive at this time, and he was eating with me. From a young age, I knew my Dad had some issues with anger management. When he was irritated by something, he would get furious."
"Anyway, this one day we both were eating in the Hall, and I forgot that he didn't like listening to people chew with their mouth open. The sound really bothers him. I don't like it that much either to be honest, but sometimes I did it by mistake or I didn't notice I was doing it. So this time I did it without realising, and Dad got really angry. He started swearing and throwing abuse at me."
"At this point, I stopped eating and he looked like he was about to seriously hurt me while he was in a state of rage. He can get into a state of rage quite easily, but he used to try and save it up for the dragon raids. Anyway, just before he was about to hurt me, Chief Asan came over with about five other tough Vikings and took him away while he was furious."
"Asan came up to me after talking with Mum, and said 'Don't vorry boy. I know vhat 'e needs.' After that I didn't see Dad till several hours later. Now usually when Dad gets into a rage he can take days till he goes back to normal, for when he is, well, recovering I guess you could say, he is very on edge and not very calm."
"However, when I saw him this time several hours afterwards when Asan escorted him back to our house, he was completely relaxed and almost cheerful. He wasn't on edge, he was perfectly normal. It took me by complete surprise. When I asked Asan the day after what he did to Dad, he always smiled and said, 'I just knew what he needed.' And to this day, I still never know how or what he did."
"But I'm not saying whatever Spark is going to do with Vali will help her, but don't give up. It could just be the thing she needs."
Now it was Hiccup and Toothless's turn to be taken aback. Both of them were amazed and shocked to hear such a story from Kormak.
"Wow." Said Hiccup. "That's…"
"Astounding." Toothless answered for him.
"Yeah, that." Hiccup said, nodding to Toothless.
"Sorry what?" Asked Kormak, deadpanning at Hiccup. Surely he knew by now Kormak couldn't understand dragon language.
"Oh!" Hiccup chuckled. "Toothless said that was astounding."
"Yeah." Kormak agreed and smiled at Toothless.
"Um, Kormak? Can I ask what happened to your father?" Hiccup asked gently.
Kormak sighed, "Yeah. Had a feeling you'd ask me that. It's sad, and remembering this incident is one of the main reasons why I want to go with you and Toothless on this quest to stop the evil and corruption in the world. Particularly Myrka. Anyway, what happened is just over a year ago now was when Myrka's fleet arrived at Dyflin, they began rounding everyone up for selection."
"I was selected from the whole group, to be a slave and prisoner back on Myrka. I knew the dangers of disobeying the Myrkians and I knew I had to oblige. However Dad was furious and protective of me. He began shouting 'take me take me instead you-' then he began to use a variety of colourful words to the Myrkians. And they didn't like that. I tried to tell him to stop, but of course that didn't work."
"So with me, Mum, Asan and the rest of Dyflin watching, the leader of the Army selection fleet decided to order the soldiers of Myrka to have him beheaded. So that's what happened right in front of me." Kormak finally finished, now wiping a few tears from his eyes.
Hiccup's face nearly went white. He was outraged and extremely saddened by this at the same time. So this is what the Myrkians do every two months or so? This has to stop. Hiccup thought.
"Kormak, I'm so sorry for your loss. I promise you, your dad will not have died in vain. I do not know what we, the Six, will be able to do when we are united, but we will try our utmost to stop this from happening." Hiccup pledged, putting a hand on Kormak's shoulder.
Toothless stood up and walked over to both of them, and licked Kormak's face.
He got sprawled backwards and began half laughing and half repulsed.
"You can count on me too." Toothless chimed in.
"Toothless is in too." Hiccup smiled at him fondly, before helping Kormak sit up again.