Happy Holidays, everyone. Christmas isn't far away from us, and the third How to Train Your Dragon movie as well.
Chapter 5:
Dagur wanted to incinerate Berk into splinters. To do this, he started regrouping an armada years ago. Under the assist of Savage, a traitor from Alvin, he produced the strongest naval force in the whole Archipelago.
His soldiers once served under his father, Oswald the Agreeable for many years, gained valuable battle experiences. Even the Outcasts couldn't stand a chance in front of them.
But he knew that his armada had a deadly weakness, the Dragon Riders of Berk.
"Those half-troll, cowardly cowering cuttlefish, miserable mollusks, disgusting pieces of eels," cursed Dagur, trying to control his temper, but he failed, "Worthless lizards!"
No matter how many times Dagur reinforced his ships, yet they acted like brittle glasses in front of the dragons. He could build a ship completely out of metal, but that was impossible. Most of the metal on Berserk was used for weapons and armors.
That's why he sent some ships acting like a group of pirates raiding merchants' boats in the Archipelago. He needed more supplies.
The Tartarus guards had enough weapons to arm five ships of soldiers, but those prisoners in Tartarus were so dangerous that he couldn't let his guard down.
The guards and the soldiers always had conflicts between them because of their jobs. The soldiers viewed the guards as "a group of doing-trash-and-claiming-themselves-heroes". The guards viewed the soldiers as "skinny cowards."
Hiccup recovered a little, at least no blood dripped down from his injuries. His resilient ability astounded Dagur. A normal Viking could be dead by now.
But "astounded" isn't the same as "stopped". Dagur still routinely dashed and collided Hiccup's body with his bludgeon. This time they didn't bother letting Hiccup get back on his feet. Dagur kicked right into Hiccup's belly after Hiccup fell to the ground.
Hiccup surprisingly stood up by himself. The guards looked at him with their mouths wide open, just like viewing the sun rising from the west. He rushed toward the door with unspeakable speed. The guard who was standing right next to the door didn't even stop him.
Nobody moved a muscle at that moment. A second ago he was being abused by Dagur, but right now he acted like some sort of Viking lighting bolt.
He ran toward the storage room with one of his hand covering his new cut on the shoulder. Dagur kept weapons in the storage room, so that was what he needed in order to escape.
Hiccup spent the last few nights trying to fix his metal prosthetic leg. Without a hammer that wasn't an easy job because he needed to reshape a piece of metal with nothing but his hands.
"STOP THAT ONE-LEGGED FOOL!" roared Dagur. He turned to Savage, "Lockdown the prison. Those muttonheads botched their job."
It was too late. Nobody was guarding the storage room at that moment, so Hiccup broke into the room's door without anyone stopping him. He took a sword from the shelf and headed to the front gate.
A guard showed up in front of him, and he stroked with his axe toward Hiccup's torso. Hiccup defended himself with the sword. The two weapons sent out an intense clangor when they met each other.
Hiccup's plan was a perilous move. He was too delicate and fragile after Dagur's abuse. Two reckless-looking guards with heavy armor obstructed his way after he injured the first guard. Another guard dived down from nowhere and knocked out Hiccup with his heavy body. The guard recaptured Hiccup's sword from his hand and handcuffed Hiccup immediately.
Two guards picked him up and dragged him back to Dagur. Hiccup relinquished his resistant after finding out that he was outnumbered.
They dropped Hiccup in front of Dagur and one guard kicked the back of his thigh that forced him to fell to his knee.
"Bravo, pure braveness," clapped Dagur ironically, "but what's the point? No dragons to help you, and no friends to save you. If you stayed here, at least you will live. But right now I have no choice but kill you."
Dagur withdrew his axe and placed the edge of the axe beside Hiccup's neck.
"Do whatever you want, but you'll never take Berk. You disgusting piece of shit," said Hiccup stoically.
Dagur's face turned red because of anger. He brought back his axe so that he would have enough strength to chop down Hiccup's head.
"What's going on over here?" A feminine voice came from the corridor.
"Nothing, sis," Dagur put away his axe with furious on his face, but he replaced it with a warm smile when the voice maker stepped into the room.
She was about five and a half feet tall wearing silver-like armors, and holding a double-edged axe in her right hand. Four soldiers followed behind her.
That was Heather, sister of chief Dagur, daughter of Oswald the Agreeable. She and Dagur held the appositive position on Berserk, so that means technically she was the chief as well.
The guards of Tartarus showed awe and respect to that young lady because they didn't want to mess with her. The last guard who tried to flirt with her got himself chopped into four pieces by her with an axe. They took a step back and put their weapons away.
Berserkers severely followed strict conventional rules. The chief was the chief, the leader was the leader, and the followers were followers.
Heather and Dagur shared a quick hug, and then she looked down at the blood-covered Hiccup.
"You found another punching bag?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's not easy to find a future chief as your punching bag or something," replied Dagur.
"I told you multiple times to not…" she couldn't find the right word, "hitting and punching a random person for fun. You held him to yourself for a long time, I can see that."
"But I couldn't control myself."
"So when you run out of Viking punching bags in the future you'll use me as well?"
"Uh…"
She leaned down to Hiccup and helped him to stand up. With the help from Heather, Hiccup merely stood on his feet, holding on to her shoulder as a support.
"Fine, do whatever you want with him. He is a piece of useless trash to me anyway. Give him a nice meal, a good room, find him a doctor, and make him your consort. Blah, blah, blah…"
Stoick recalled the Dragon Riders back on Berk when Astrid decided to launch another search mission.
"We need to postpone the search. Right now we'll start anticipating our trip to Berserk with our vital chief," said Fishlegs to Astrid.
"To Berserk? Why?"Astrid asked with confusion.
"He told me that he needs to sign a treaty or something with their new chief Dagur."
"You should keep me safe with those agile dragons throughout the trip, right? I might need some helpers to deal with those chaotic Berserkers " Stoick said.
"Yes, of course, chief," said Astrid. She became the acting leader of the Dragon Riders after the missing of Hiccup.
"I know what's in your mind, Astrid, but life goes on. I'm not feeling good as well. Look at me, Astrid, do you still believe in him?" Stoick put his hands on her shoulders.
"Of course," said Astrid abruptly. Then she realized what she had done because the rest of the Riders laughed at Snotlout in the background.
"He'll know it. He'll know that you still believe in him, and I believe that he has faith in you as well," Stoick said, and then he jumped onto Skullcrusher's back.
Heather wasn't Astrid, but they acted almost the same. Both were axe-lovers, and strong, energetic female Viking warriors. She lived in a house on a cliff overlooking the ocean with at least a dozen evergreens stood around it. The house contained a small living room with a fireplace and a table for dining and a bedroom with a soft, comfortable double-sized bed.
Heather slowly walked with Hiccup toward her house while he put his arm around her shoulder as a support. The four soldiers followed behind them, two males and two females, wearing splendid armors and holding axes or bows and arrows. They were Heather's personal bodyguards. They had been following Heather for more than three years.
"Feeling better?" asked Heather as they stepped into her house.
Not a lot of furniture in the house, but Hiccup still felt pleasant and warm in here. Of course, he preferred Astrid's house back on Berk than this one.
"My brother is a bloodthirsty warrior sometimes, always 'stepping over the line' person," said Heather, "I couldn't imagine what you suffered in Tartarus, even I don't want to enter that area."
"But why did you save me?" Hiccup asked weakly.
She didn't answer. After putting her axe onto the shelf, she closed the gap between them. She looked at Hiccup's broken flight suit and the exposed skin under it. She reached her hand and tried to touch his uncovered shoulder.
Hiccup retreated when Heather's finger interact with him, that sent a shiver through his body. Only Astrid gave him this shiver when touching him.
"Well, you may need to take a bath or something, and I'll let my servants ready the bathtub in my room. You stay here in this house, don't go outside. Not everyone on this island like Berk. I'll fetch you some new clothes."
Heather left the house without her axe. Hiccup slowly took down her axe from the shelf and examined it. She left this in the house with a stranger. Astrid would never do that. Does that mean she trusted him? Hiccup thought.
He walked around the room, trying to memorize everything in this house, in order Heather wasn't a friend but a foe.
She returned in about five minutes, holding a set of new Viking clothes in her hands. "Come," she took his hand and guided him into her room. The bathtub was already filled with warm water, steam emitted from the water.
"Take your clothes off," she tossed the new clothes onto the bed, "Do you want me to help you?"
"No, I can do that on my own." Hiccup answered quickly before Heather put her hand on his chest.
"Ok then, help yourself. I'll be in the living room," she put her hand away from Hiccup, "If you need any help, just ask me. Feel comfortable, Hiccup, I'm not Dagur. I'm not like Dagur, he kills prisoners haphazardly. But I don't want to hurt you."
"I can see that."
"Having a brother like that, most Berserkers view me as Hel. Do you know her? The daughter of Loki and Angerboda."
"But you are nothing like Dagur or Hel."
Heather took a step further, Hiccup could even feel her breath. She leaned forward and left a kiss on Hiccup's cheek.
"Have a nice bath," she said, then she left her bedroom and closed the door behind her.