Chapter 19:
Just like the day before the battle which they killed the chief of Berk, the Berserkers were all excited about a thrilling mission awaiting for them. They believed that after that battle and after the Berkians lost their chief, they would take the Island of Berk just by some rounds of brief bombardments.
The siege that Irizan had planned was all about distracting the Berkian's defend forces and strike their weakest point. Irizan tried to use one division to draw most of the Berkians to the harbor and dispatch three divisions to Raven Point, and use the woods as a cover to secretly land around 70 ships of elite soldiers. This group of around 400 soldiers would travel through the woods and attack the Berkians from their back.
But the truth was, under Hiccup Haddock's lead, Berkians actually both physically and mentally recovered from the death of Stoick the Vast. Gobber and the dragon Riders would become Hiccup's trustiest supporters during the culmination of the war.
The Berkians totally fortified their island, not leaving any point open and vulnerable to the Berserkers. If necessary, they would choose to use scorched-earth strategy, and leaving nothing except a pile of bodies for the Berserkers.
They setted up catapults along the coastline and spreaded Monstrous Nightmare gels around the beach and rocks so that they could ignite the whole coast when the Berserkers started landing. The far side of the island and the forest would be guarded by the Nadder Team, Gobber, and a group of 40 Berkians with heavy weapons. When the Berserkers decided to launch a landing there, they would be facing one of the strongest defence force in the whole archipelago.
"Trinianka, where were you in the morning? You were supposed to be working on the bows and arrows," Elise yelled at her friend Trinianka as they flew above the forest.
"Oh, I was chatting with my friend and lost track of time," Trinianka replied quickly, and she actually bristled a bit, but Elise didn't see that, "So what did you guys do?"
"Under Hiccup's orders, we built a small moat between the edge of the forest and the ocean," Elise explained, but she turned serious again, "In the morning we had a lot of fun, and I've never seen you missing anything like that before. Are you sure you just lost track of your time?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Let's go back to the ground, this area is good enough for defence."
"All right," Elise replied.
As the two dragons descended to the ground, Elise gave a suspectful glance to her friend.
At night, when everyone finished their meal, Hiccup gathered all of the Berkians to the Great Hall. The hall became quieter and emptier after the previous battle which they lost almost one third of their populations.
Hiccup stood in front of his tribe with Gobber and Astrid on his side while the Berkians silently watching their chief. At one point, nobody had said a word. Hiccup didn't know how to begin his speech, so he started with running his hands through his messy hair.
"Just say what's in your mind, babe. It's all right, we will still support you if you mess it up," Astrid put her left hand gently on Hiccup's shoulder.
"Ok," Hiccup took a deep breath. His father was trying to prepare him for something like this, standing in front of the crowd and giving speeches. Usually the Vikings didn't care about their appearances during the speech, but they couldn't give the wrong idea to their people.
"Years ago, when we killed the Berserker's former chief Oswald, it seemed that we won that war, but we still lived in fear towards the Berserkers. We tried to annihilate them but failed. Today, even though we had lost a lot of our tribesmen during this conflict, but we still held our rank," Hiccup said in front of the crowd, his voice projected across the hall.
"So what are you trying to say?" a Berkians in the crowd said.
"I was saying…" Hiccup paused suddenly, his throat throbbed. He didn't really know what to say to his people. He prepared and practiced his speech in front of Astrid for a number of times, and he came up with all of the reassuring words and empowering phrases that could cheer up the Berkians even more. But right now he suddenly felt that those words were absurd and staid.
He remembered that during the battle when he tried to save a Berkians who got shot in the chest, and he remembered when he was watching his father die in front of him.
"I was saying that no matter what happened before, tomorrow we fight the enemy that is at our door, and tomorrow we end the pressure and fear that the Berserkers put on us for years!" Hiccup yelled at the top of his voice.
The Berkians were first bristled at their chief's performance. They had never seen Hiccup yelling like a feral and wild animal, and in their opinion Hiccup was a gentle and quiet person, but right now he was more like an angry dragon.
"May the gods be with us!" Gobber cried. His supportive voice broke the silence in the Great Hall.
The Berkians hurrahed and huzzahed and almost roared at the top of their voices, and suddenly the Great Hall was filled with over-excited Vikings. The dragons which were waiting outside were stunned by the drastic sound change and turned their heads toward the door of the Hall with curious or even fear on their faces.
Even though Hiccup's speech wasn't the greatest pre-battle speech that these Berkians had heard, they were again reached the highest morale after the death of their tribe members and even family members. Also, the Berkians didn't really care about whether Hiccup wanted to give a speech or not. They would've still throw an energized pre-battle party anyway, and Hiccup's short speech actually raised the invigorated atmosphere on the Island of Berk to a new level.
"That was great! Babe, you really did a marvelous job," Astrid said as she and Hiccup sat on the top of the cliffs just like the night before the first battle. Hiccup sat behind Astrid and surrounded her waist with his arms in order to pull her closer to himself.
Astrid sat between Hiccup's legs and leaned her body against Hiccup's, so that she could worm herself in the cold temperature and rest her head on his chest. Hiccup ran his left hand through Astrid's hair and gently massaged her scalp. They didn't bring their dragons with them because they didn't want two creatures disturbing their alone times.
"I didn't really say anything, just one meaningless sentence," Hiccup chuckled.
"What do you mean by meaningless?" Astrid was surprised, "I know your speech was short… and maybe a little bit weird, but look at impact you gave to the Berkians. I bet right now they are too self-confident that I'm afraid they'll get cocky during future battles."
"Thank you, milady," after a long pause, Hiccup said, followed by a kiss on Astrid's cheek.
"Thank me what?"
"For supporting me during the toughest time period."
"Don't be," Astrid smiled, "Wives always support their husbands."
It took Hiccup a few seconds to realise what Astrid had said. Did she mean that she would marry me? Hiccup thought.
Before he could think of anything else, a low crack sound came from the small spruce forest behind them, just like someone had stepped on a tree branch. Astrid and Hiccup stopped talking and listened. A couple of seconds later, another branch cracking sound followed.
"Maybe just a Terrible Terror," Hiccup said, "THose guys like to wandering in the woods."
Astrid turned her head towards the cedars, but they didn't bring a torch with them, and the moonlight wasn't bright enough for her to see what was among the spruces clearly. She reached her hand for her axe and stood up from the ground.
"Sounds like someone is walking through the woods," Astrid whispered.
Just as Astrid finished her sentence, they could hear someone was talking quietly in the forest. The voice was very low, and seemed like the speaker was trying to be stealthy.
"Come on." Astrid and Hiccup walked slowly toward the edge of the forest and hid behind some clusters where they could hear the unidentified talking clearer.
./.\./.\./.\./.\.
"I will keep the forces away from …, and maybe I'm able to drive their attentions away more."
"Right, we will send a …. to the coast line, and we will land three divisions on…"
"Maybe I can create more disturbances."
"Do your best, but your safety should be priority one…"
"I'll keep that in mind… Right now I'm safe enough."
"If possible, kill…"
"I will."
"And after the war, you can go home. Your family misses you a lot."
"Tell them that I will come back alive."
"Be safe."
./.\./.\./.\./.\.
Hiccup raised his head from the clusters to find the two speakers, but nothing remained there.
"I think they are gone," Hiccup said.
"That was definitely one male and one female, and I believe that that wasn't a midnight date," Astrid replied as she scouted into the woods.
"They talked about killing someone," Hiccup added.
"Right, but I didn't hear the name."
"The problem is who were those two."
Hours later, on the Berserker's island.
When the sun presented itself from the horizon, a small boat sailed quickly into the harbor. Comparing to the giant battleships in the harbor as well, this small boat was more like a Terrible Terror in front of a Deadly Nadder.
Dagur was standing on the dock waiting for the approaching boat. The boat carried three Berserkers. His assistant Savage and two soldiers who were paddling.
"That was a quick one," Savage commented as he landed on the dock beside Dagur.
"How was the trip?" Dagur asked.
"We avoided their patrol when we went in, and I met with her in the spruce forest," Savage said, "I gave her all the instructions, and she said she will kill our target."
"Great, that means Berk will eventually fall," Dagur punched his right palm with his left hand, "And the Haddock family will come to an end, hopefully."