Chapter 8:
When Hiccup and Astrid entered the Great Hall, Stoick, Gobber, Spitelout, and Bucket were sitting in a circle arguing back and forth. The rest of the Riders sat in the corner listening to them.
"We need to strike first when Dagur is still preparing his armada," Spitelout shouted.
"We still have allies. Alvin sent a messenger to Berserker Island," said Stoick, "Now we need to wait for Alvin's response."
"Uh… Excuse us. Can someone fill us in?" asked Hiccup politely while he and Astrid took a seat beside them.
"Ah, we are glad that you can join us," said Gobber, he patted Hiccup on the back, "We were talking about how to deal with Dagur and his new armada."
"Well, I'm sure that his target is Berk." Hiccup said.
"But why?" asked Bucket.
"You remember years ago, we defeated the Berserkers and killed their former chief Oswald the Agreeable? He was Dagur's father. And second of all, he told me that when he imprisoned me in Tartarus."
"A revenge kill," Stoick realized it, "and he wanted to fabricate us with the treaty. We nearly fell into his trap."
"But Dagur's force is at least six times more than ours. The chance of winning the war with Alvin on our side is still pretty low," said Astrid.
"Winning the war is still possible if we exert all of our forces. All Berkians, men, women, children, and dragons," said Hiccup.
The Great Hall fell into silence for a moment.
"Ok, then, we have a bloody war in front of us, everyone," announced Stoick, "prepare for the war."
These Vikings were very straightforward. Every meeting wouldn't last more than 20 minutes, and they wouldn't delay any of their decisions. No matter what they needed to decide, they didn't take a long time to think and plan.
Stoick was in charge of Berk's native force, the fearless Berk warriors. They started re-armoring the ships which were used as fishing boats after they stopped fighting with the dragons. Gobber was working in his forge day and night. He was still using the archaic method from some old Viking manuscripts during forging.
The Riders were put in charge of training new riders and dragons. Hiccup Haddock, the idol figure to almost every teenage girls on Berk, got his new riders easily. Girls joined his "new dragon rider training program" so that they would see their idol and the idol's dragon every day.
"Looks like this time the boy is the honey and the girls are the bees," commented Fishlegs.
Hiccup was trying to let a dragon Rider keep an eye on Dagur's expanding armada, just in case Dagur made abrupt changes. Fishlegs could be the one, but Hiccup needed his assistance during the training. Snotlout and the twins were immediately eliminated from the name list. Hiccup did trust them, but he didn't want to take the risk. So the job landed on Astrid's head.
Hiccup found Astrid in Gobber's forge, and she was helping Gobber with the weapons. However, Astrid rejected this job with ambiguous wordings when Hiccup explained the details to her.
"Well… Gobber might need my help and… You know… Stormfly is a little lazy these days…" said Astrid, avoiding Hiccup's gaze.
"Huh? What?" Hiccup got so confused.
"She just wants to stay with you, my dear Hiccup," Spitelout just passed by and said, "Don't you worry, I'll go."
After Spitelout flew toward the Island of Berserk secretly, Hiccup turned to Astrid: "What was that?"
"I don't want to leave you again. After you'd gone missing, I felt so guilty that I didn't come with you. Then you didn't have to suffer in Tartarus," said Astrid quietly, looking at the ground.
Hiccup surprised at her reaction. Years ago it was him who didn't even dare to look Astrid in the eyes, and it was him who got beaten by her and didn't even dare to tell his father. He always got yelled at by Astrid during training. But now, Astrid Hofferson, the former bossing-around, became the big baby.
"Come here," Hiccup said with open arms.
Astrid jumped into his arms, put her arms around his waist, and rested her head on his chest. Her golden hair covered her face. Hiccup put his hand on her head and soothed her with his gentle touch.
"Next time I won't leave you here, " whispered Hiccup by Astrid's ear, "And thank you."
"Thank me what?" asked Astrid.
"For worrying and caring about me," Hiccup said as he left a kiss on Astrid's cheek.
"Hey, hey, hey," Gobber said and pointed at Hiccup and Astrid, "This, is not welcomed in my forge."
"But you just pointed to all of us," said Hiccup and Astrid.
"Yes, all of YOU. No public displays of affection, including kissing and hugging, are allowed in my forge. Either you work or you get out. You can do whatever you want in your hut, but NOT in my forge. Your little thing is really distracting. Oh, Odin, I really need to create some rules," said Gobber, he paused, "you know what, Hiccup. You will become the most womanized chief in the whole Viking history."
"Shut up, Gobber," said Hiccup.
Dagur rebuilt the great hall of the island of Berserk into his own headquarter. Every kind of maps was laid out on the tables, captains were arguing about some details of the plan besides the maps, and Dagur was sitting in his throne. His eyes landed on the map of Berk.
"I can't believe that you lost him. Lock someone in a prison should be the easiest work," someone behind him said.
"There is no prison in the world that can say '100%' secure," said Dagur, "besides, a mess-around sister won't help at all."
"How is your plan?" the voice asked after a few seconds of thinking.
"Pretty smooth, the Las Cosmos Armada is ready, and we are just waiting for your ships to join us," replies Dagur.
"My ships will arrive a few hours later."
"Good, then we will take Berk definitely."
"Do you still remember our deal?"
"Of course, of course. After we defeated the Berkians, you will become the new controller and ruler of Berk," said Dagur deeply, and he turned to the man behind him, "Alvin the Outcast."
On the Island of Berserk, everyone was getting ready for the war that their chief planned ahead. Surprisingly, Dagur used some method to get support from his people, and now there were almost no objectors. And of course, Dagur locked the objectors into the prison of Tartarus.
Some people questioned the possibility of winning the war because the Berkians were a group of fearsome Vikings just like themselves.
"We won't be fighting alone during the war. We will have allies. Just be patient," said Dagur to the Berserkers.
"Then who are our allies?" someone asked.
"Wait and see," Dagur said miserably.
Alvin stood beside Dagur's throne, watching the crowd of ship captains.
*** Why do you think Alvin supported the Berserkers in the war?
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