Chapter 13:
Next morning, when the sky was ice blue, the grass was moist by dew, and the sea was covered by dense fog, a fleet of battleships was closing in from the south of the Island of Berk. The bows of the ships broke through the water and created waves of ripples. Some Thunderdrums that jumped out of the sea for air were stunned by the group of moving objects.
A division of the Las Cosmos Armada, Cosmos 5 was deployed by Dagur to the south of Berk. Soldiers filled the ships and decks were covered by heavy armors and weapons. A few miles away from Cosmos 5, a stronger and more powerful division was enveloped by the fog, waiting patiently for its debut.
Meanwhile, on the cliffs of Berk, Hiccup slightly opened his eyes, trying to adapt to the morning sunlight. He tried to get up but only to be pressed back to the ground.
Is Toothless lying on my stomach again? Hiccup thought as he turned his head to find the Night Fury.
The black dragon was hanging on a tree next to him and Stormfly was curled up like a giant, blue, spiky ball under it. Those two dragons were impossible to wake up when they were seriously trying to sleep.
So the force on his stomach wasn't from Toothless. Hiccup lifted his head up, a blonde with messy hair was sleeping soundly on his body. She wrapped her hands around his limbs and buried her head in his chest.
"Oh, man," Hiccup gently lay his hands on her back. Through her red jacket clothes, he could feel her soft and tender body.
"Mmmm…" Astrid gave a slight moan as she turned her body around. Lying face up and across Hiccup's stomach, Hiccup could observe her perfect body curve. He touched Astrid's kransen that she wore every day, which was a leather stripe with a few spikes on it. Hiccup thought about the day that Astrid would replace it with a "wedding crown".
Hiccup tried to lift her up and place her beside him so that he could free himself. But the movements from his hands woke Astrid from her dream.
"Hmmph…" groaned Astrid as she stretched her arms in the air. When Astrid opened her eyes, they met the two emerald eyes above her, "Morning, babe..." She reached her hand towards Hiccup's jaw.
She wasn't the spitfire that Hiccup met when they were 15 anymore. Nobody knew how Hiccup changed or managed her. Snotlout believed that he applied some sort of dark magic or drug to Astrid, but what Hiccup used was a simple "dragon-trick" to win her hand.
Before the duo could start their morning routine, which Snotlout called it "morning intimacy", Stormfly abruptly rose her head. As a tracker class dragon, Stormfly's acute sense of smell saved the day multiple times. This time, she sensed something huge from the opening sea.
She sent out a loud screech as an alarm, and Toothless nearly fell down from the tree. Stormfly stood up from the ground and headed to the edge of the cliffs.
"What's wrong, girl?" Astrid asked as Hiccup helped her to get on her feet.
When the duo reached Stormfly, they could see some black dots scattered on the sea. Hiccup took out his spyglass and examined the water with it. Through the glass, Hiccup could see the sails of heavy armored ships with the most recognizable symbol in the Archipelago.
"The Berserkers!" Hiccup shouted, "More than twenty ships due South."
"They launched the attack with just twenty ships?" Astrid asked.
"Umm… Seems like it," Hiccup double-checked the incoming fleet with his spyglass then handed it over to Astrid.
"But we still can't let them through," Astrid said with her right eye over the spyglass, "They are carrying long distance catapults and ballistas, and they would destroy our village without landing."
"Toothless, distress call," Hiccup called up.
Toothless raised his head and launched one plasma blast into the air and exploded. Purple flames spread across the sky and created the signal which everyone on Berk could see. A few minutes later, someone blew the huge, dragon-like horn by the arena.
Stoick and Gobber were shouting at the Vikings to command them to prepare the ships. People started running between the dock and storehouse carrying weapons and armors. They began to encourage each other and pray to Thor that they would win the battle. The Riders and the Nadder Team appeared on the cliffs with their weapons. The twins were carrying two seven-feet long spears, Snotlout was holding one Gronckle-iron mace in each hand, and Fishlegs' weapon was a dagger, which Tuffnut thought was useless in an air battle. The Nadder Team's girls were using the same weapons, eight Ulfberht swords. After Trinianka got released from the dungeon, Bucket, and Mulch joint with Stoick and Gobber on Stoick's battleship, which Stoick named it "the Thundercloud".
"Incoming!" a Viking shouted when a Viking-size metal arrow flew across the sky and towards a ship by the dock.
Vikings jumped overboard to avoid the possible direct contact that the arrow would cause. The arrow pierced through the armor on the starboard and created a chink on the hull of the ship, and water started to pour in.
"They are the Berserkers, and we need to leave the dock so that we won't leave ourselves vulnerable," bellowed Stoick as "the Thundercloud" sailed towards the fleet of ships.
All the Berkian ships followed their chief into the open sea. The Berkians armed themselves with crossbows which could launch an arrow that could cut through a light piece of armor.
Rocks and arrows filled the sky when the two fleets of ships contacted each other. Dead bodies were thrown into the ocean with arrows in their chests or got their heads removed. Men battled to the death when they boarded their enemy's ships.
Stoick jumped onto a Berserk ship and started bashing the soldiers on the deck. He held two axes in his hands and chopped down a soldier's left arm the second when he boarded that ship. He made his way across the deck by battering the Berserkers. They tried to surround Stoick and kill him but they only received their one-way ticket to Valhalla.
He made his way to the commander's chamber after he cleared the deck. The deck was covered by at least twenty incomplete bodies of Berserk soldiers. Blood dyed the yellowish wooden deck into dark red.
Stoick smashed the brittle door of the commander's chamber into pieces and found a small figure in the room, holding a blade in his hand. The figure stared at the map on his desk like he didn't even notice how brutal things got.
"Hey," Stoick yelled at him, "Do you know what's going on out there? Your men are dying."
No answers.
"Do you even understand what I'm saying?"
Silence.
"He doesn't," someone behind Stoick said quietly.
Stoick turned around, held up an ax to defend himself. A Viking that was his size walked towards him, holding a spear in his hand. The head of the spear was barbed, so it could cause much more damage than a normal spear.
"Alvin?" Stoick gasped.
"Yeah, that's me, old friend," Alvin said as he stood in front of Stoick, "I believe that you are surprised, right?"
At this moment, a Berkian reached the commander's chamber as well. He watched with open-mouth as Alvin turned to the interrupter.
"Chief, is that…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Alvin pulled his spear out from that Berkian's chest. He fell to the ground with disbelieving on his face.
"You half-troll traitor!" Stoick shouted.
"Not traitor," Alvin objected, "The Berkians and the Outcasts are two different tribes. You thought we are your ally, but that's not the case."
Stoick charged towards Alvin, swinging his axes in the air. Alvin didn't defend himself with the spear, but he started retreating back to the deck.
"Come back here, you silly goose," bellowed Stoick as he chased Alvin to the deck.
The two giant Vikings sprinted across the open area when the battle between the Cosmos 5 and the Berkians was still going. Men were shouting at each other and throwing weapons across the sea. Dark smoke ascended from burning ships, and masts were cut down by arrows.
When Alvin reached the bow of the ship, the sea was behind him and Stoick was in front of him. He couldn't defeat Stoick on his own, and he knew it well.
"Now you have no place to go," said Stoick as he closed the gap between him and Alvin.
Sorry for the waite. I didn't have enough time to write in the past few days. Hope you enjoyed the story so far, because the next few chapters will be about the war. Please leave a review below and tell us your thoughts toward the story. Thank you for your support.