Right guys! Here is chapter fourteen! Now in this chapter, all I can say is that there will be another problem that will be itching Hiccup behind his back as Ivar is but one of them. Another arises on Berk and it quickly escalates...

Also, thanks to MrsMagnusB, and SkyTalon for reviewing on the last chapter! You guys are great. :)

Now, how about we continue further into our story, shall we?

The whole of Berk was now like a giant Barracks. There were small groups of villagers lining up at recruitment stands with their weapons in hand, eager to join the Hooligan Tribe's army after the call to arms was sounded by Stoick, signaling that war was declared.

Hiccup walked with Magnus and Astrid throughout the plaza of the town, and all over they saw warriors marching in formation and guarding certain positions. At least fifty or so guards were spread out through the plaza, but there were still more coming in as militia - the villagers of whom were recruited.

"This place is going to turn into a war zone once Ivar comes." said Magnus. "We can only hope that we have some sort of advantage from where we stand."

Astrid nodded. "There is." she said. "If any of Ivar's warriors want to even have a chance to reach the village, they'll have to run up the ramparts that lead up to here and try their best to avoid archer fire that will come down upon them from both sides."

"A clever choke point." complimented Hiccup. "But... if we are to even have a real chance against his army, we're going to have to improvise on how to fight rather than where or when."

"He's right." agreed Magnus. "These Vikings aren't ordinary. These Heathens are fighters who are bred for war. They will not take an order with question, they will do as they are told and charge in without fear. It will take more than just a simple tactic to beat them."

Astrid squinted her eyes and arched a brow. "And how would you possibly know this? Have you seen them fight before?" she asked, her tone sounding curious.

"That I have." he replied. "I've seen Kattegat go under siege before from an enemy Clan, and always the defending Völsung Clan would win. But when Ivar took over the Clan he made the warriors twice as better in their skill and and strength. Their warriors alone are a war machine."

"So then how can we oppose them at a good enough rate? They'll just cut us through like-"

"We fight like them." interrupted Hiccup, answering Astrid's question. "Magnus, you've taught me to fight like a professional warrior with a sword and shield, and I think that skill may come to of good use on teaching aside me."

A smirk immediately grew across the black haired Viking's face. "What are you saying?" he asked.

"Train Berk's militia in the ways of which you fight. It took three days for me to learn your style, and now I think that they should know as well."

Magnus' smirk had now turned into a grin. To him, the idea was indeed improvising. "If you think that will help us, then we might as well try. I'll see to it that Berk's warriors are trained and ready for combat, but I'll need to speak with Gobber or Stoick about this."

"Aye, that's a good idea." agreed Astrid, and immediately Magnus rushed off, his first thought in mind was going to the Blacksmith where Gobber was.

As Hiccup watched him run off he gave a deep sigh as he exhaled his breath. He wasn't sure it would be enough - they were still outnumbered. "Though... I don't think it's still going to be enough against Ivar, Astrid. Who knows what else Ivar will bring aside warriors and Horses."

"Horses?" she asked him.

"Mammal animals with four legs covered in hair along with a tail, just like how a Dragon has scales and four paws." he quickly summarized, and she nodded without question.

Then, just as Hiccup was about to continue, a voice from the distance interrupted him as it echoed throughout the area. The two of them looked around with their ears wide and opened to hear for the direction it was coming from. "Who the Hel is yelling that?" asked Hiccup.

Astrid listened more closely, furthering her efforts in hearing - and quickly she was able to recognize the voice of an old man rambling over… something, though she couldn't clearly hear the words.

"I think I know who it is." she said. "Follow me."

Hiccup followed Astrid without asking anything. As they ran the two of them would on occasion rush through small crowds of militia who were gathered up for their own purposes, but that was despite the point, and it wouldn't take long for them to find where the source of the ranting was coming from, and who it was.

Hiccup and Astrid stopped atop one of the ramparts that overlooked to the sea by the cliffs, and there they were met with a crowd of twenty villagers of whom were men, women, and children listening, to a thin old man who was holding his staff, ramble about the upcoming war.

"I'm tellin' ye, this ain't thu right way te go!" he shouted. "We shoodn't 'ave te go te war when thu superior side'z obvious! Why waste eur resources on a foe we can not trooly fioght against! Think 'boht thu children, eur animals! Me sheep won't be able te live in thu same wey if ye get what I mean! Thu rest goes te all of ye-!"

"What is going on here!?" called out Hiccup as he barged his way through the crowd with the villagers making way for him upon sight, especially for Astrid who followed him through.

"Well well well! Look 'oo it iz! Thu stranga 'oo danced with 'iz Hofferson girlfriend in thu Great 'All last nioght!" he called out, earning a few chuckles from the crowd.

"Right." began Hiccup. "First of all, Astrid is my friend. Secondly, who are you to tell Berk's denizens what they should or shouldn't do in a time like this? We're going to war for Thor's sake!"

"A war which ye shoodn't 'ave started."

Hiccup's eyes widened. "ME?"

"Yez yoo!" the old shepherd yelled. "If ye never came te Berk, we woodn't be in t'iz mess! Ye ar' thu reason tha' we ar' at war wif som' Viking we 'ave never 'eard of b'fore! 'Ooo! Ivar thu Boneless is coming for us an' wants te kill us all!' Face eht ye fool, e's comin' fer yoo, not us!"

Astrid's face began to light up in frustration. "You don't know Ivar as good as Hiccup does, Mildew. All you have ever done for Berk is ramble and rant on these wildly made-up assumptions on why a certain event is going to happen. Ivar isn't coming for Hiccup, he's coming for the whole of the Archipelago!"

"Ye dun 'ave proof, girl!" Mildew spat back. "If ye want te do what's rioght, then be of use an' 'elp us throw 'im off the island!"

Both Hiccup's and Astrid's eyes immediately widened and their faces began to express tension. Was this old man serious? Did he really want Hiccup to be thrown off Berk just because Ivar was coming? Mildew didn't even know why Ivar was truly coming, and he refused to believe the truth which came from Hiccup and the others? Most of the VILLAGE believed him. Even Stoick now believed him.

"Well, what're ye goin' te do, Astrid? Ar' ye goin' te throw 'im off?"

For a moment she said not even a single word to him. Anger boiled deep inside her and the frustration was just rising up in her, but after a long moment of silence she looked up at him and said one word:

"No."

Mildew snarled and gave a smirk. "So be it, then. Sum' body, get 'em!" he shouted. "If she isn't goin' te throw 'im off, we'll throw both of 'em off!"

Immediately most of the crowd dispersed in fear of a fight, mostly consisting of the women and children who ran off as well as some of the men. Only four men remained with their fists grasped as they cracked their knuckles. It was obvious they were ready for some conflict.

"Oh gods." said Astrid.

"Get 'em, ye fools!" ordered Mildew, and the four men quickly rushed towards Hiccup and Astrid - however, it would not end up as he wanted as a loud voice would disrupt the four men and cause them to cease their actions.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed Stoick as he came walking towards them with Magnus, Gobber and eight warriors by his side. Mildew gulped at the sight at first, but then he cleared his throat. "Stoick, I was just tryin' te-"

"I don't want to hear it!" the Chief interrupted. "You four men, move along! And don't try anything clever to those two or I'll sentence each of you to a week in the cells!"

The older Vikings didn't dare question their Chieftain and immediately they ran off in a sense of tension without looking back at him, not wanting to know what he could do to them. Then, Stoick's attention fell on Mildew. "That was foolish of you, Mildew!" he said.

"Oh come on now, Stoick! Ye know tha' this 'Iccup is responsible fer thu mess we're in rioght now."

"In what way!?" the Chieftain demanded. "How can he be responsible for a war he did not start you half deaf fool! The last thing we want right now aside this war is for our people to turn against one another! Hiccup is a denizen of Berk, a villager, and already you tried to force MY people to fight him!"

Mildew quickly lost his train of thought. "I- but I- but e's thu reason tha'-"

"I don't want to hear another excuse, Mildew." he interrupted again. "There will be consequences for you if you try doing something stupid and pathetic like this again. Keep your damned loyalists away from him, am I clear?"

"Ye cen try, Stoick! But me loyalists won't be so happy if ye try somethin' lioke throw me off Berk-""

"I said am I CLEAR!?" the Chieftain bellowed.

Mildew slightly sneered at Hiccup and Astrid, giving a mocking smile at the two. "O' yez, I understand, Stoick."

Stoick gave a low growl, and with a deep guttural voice he said to the shepherd; "Then get moving." and soon enough he got moving, slamming his staff into the ground in arrogance with every step he took. It was obvious that he wasn't pleased.

The Chief then turned his gaze at the scrawny Viking. "Hiccup, are you alright?" he asked.

"Uh yeah, I- I'm fine, Chief." he stuttered, and Stoick patted Hiccup on the shoulder.

"You can just call me by Stoick, lad. Alright?" he asked, and the scrawny Viking gave a nod in response before turning his head towards the direction Mildew walked in. "Who is that guy?"

"Mildew." said Stoick. "The old man isn't friendly, I'll give you that. He believes in what he sees and in what he thinks, making his own assumptions in which he thinks will come out in a good way. He should be grateful I haven't thrown him off yet."

"So why haven't you?" asked Hiccup.

Stoick sighed. "It's because of his loyalists." he replied. "Nearly a sixth of the village is composed of loyalists who are trusted by Mildew, as well as trusting him. They're all specifically men, and those four men were of his loyalists. The last thing Berk would want would be a civil war, and if I kick him off Berk then either they'll go with him, or they'll start infighting amongst the Hooligans."

"Geez." said Hiccup, his tone expressing some surprise. "I wouldn't want a civil war either."

"Eh, don't worry about it, lad." the Chieftain assured. "We're already going to war anyways… now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be off to the arena with Gobber and Magnus. Some of the warriors will need our training."

"Alright." nodded Hiccup. "Thanks for the help, Stoick."

The older Viking nodded at Hiccup and continued on his way with Gobber and Magnus, and the two bowed their heads in a nod at the scrawny Viking as they passed by.

"Well, that was quite the engagement." said Astrid. "We nearly got into a fight."

"A fight that Mildew's loyalists were about to start. As long as they're around me I'll be a vulnerable target if no guard or higher ranking Viking is around. We'll need to be careful…" His words soon fell silent as he faced the ground shaking his head at the thought of Mildew, and easily Astrid noticed this.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's just that- I don't want another person on my tail, Astrid. My war against hatred is about to turn on two fronts led by Ivar and Mildew. I need to sort something out soon."

"I'm sure you'll find a way, Hiccup." she assured him. "I know it…"

…

Water came flying out of Snotlout's mouth as he drank from his mug, and Fishlegs and the Twins looked at Hiccup and Astrid with surprise. "No way, Mildew actually ordered four of his loyalists to fight you and throw you two off the island?"

The two of them responded in immediate nods, and the other four looked at each other with frowns. "Mildew. Always up to no good that useless son of a half-troll." said Ruffnut.

"Tell me about it." replied Tuffnut. "If I ever see him in my eyes again then I'll poke out one of his eyes so that he's only in… one of my… eyes. Heh… get it?" But no one laughed at his joke, they just shook their heads at him or arched their brows. "Heh, alrighty then…"

By now it had turned night time on Berk. After the near conflict with Mildew and his men finished, Hiccup and Astrid decided to share their information with Snotlout and the others as they all made their way to Gobber's Blacksmith, and there they sat down sharing the discussion, but so far Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the Twins were surprised from what happened.

"So, back on the topic of Mildew." began Hiccup. "How did he receive so many loyalists anyway? He has like a hundred of them in the village out of six hundred."

Snotlout gave a shrug. "Eh, it's a long story. But to summarize; basically he one day helped in appeasing the gods since on that day, Berk was hit with a sickness, and the people believed it was cast upon them by the mighty deities as punishment."

"So then what happened?" asked Hiccup.

"When the sickness ended, that's when the loyalists came to be. They thought that it was Mildew who lifted the disease from the Hooligans by sacrificing a yak… a FREAKING YAK. It was so ridiculous and funny, much of the town didn't believe him, and Stoick became furious with him. But we all know that it was Gothi who helped cure the town with her remedy."

"And why was Stoick infuriated with him?"

"Sacrificing is outlawed on Berk. It is illegal. We don't do bloody sacrificial pacts to appease the gods, we do monuments for them! Statues, representations of them... and all I can tell you now is that his loyalists think too much of Mildew. They think he's like some sort of elder, and that he can receive visions from Odin and the gods."

Hiccup splurted. "Only the seer can receive visions from Odin and the gods. It's basic Viking culture since almost every Clan in Norway has seers, and in this case your healer - Gothi is the elder-seer, but Mildew is just a damn old shepherd, thus he would know nothing. It's like they worship him as if he is some sort of god. A dumb one in fact."

"I wouldn't say that around his loyalists." replied Fishlegs, raising a finger. "You don't know if they could be around you at any corner. One guy who was stumbling around the streets of Berk drunk one day got his butt handed to him by Mildew's men since he drunkenly called out Mildew. That's how loyal they are. They'll do anything to keep his reputation clean."

"Fish is right." nodded Snotlout. "He thinks himself as if he's the King of the Archipelago."

"Did the Archipelago even have a King?" asked Hiccup.

"Yeah, I tried running for it." said Tuffnut, and all eyes fell on him, especially from Snotlout who asked; "You?"

"Yeah me." he responded, and quickly a wave of silence filled the room, blocking out all sound. But then, Tuff's next words got noise to fill the room again at a loud level.

"I didn't win though." he said, and immediately laughter filled the Blacksmith as it came out from everyone's mouths. Hiccup and Astrid leaned back in their chairs laughing their butts off from Tuff's jokes which they actually finally found to be pretty funny. But that wouldn't last long as movement from nearby distant figures caught Hiccup's attention, and he was quick to point them out.

His expression turned serious. "Guys…" he said, pointing his finger towards the men that were approaching him. Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the Twins responded by standing up in haste and walking to Hiccup's side as four men stood a few yards away from them, though it was hard to tell who it was due to the dark of the night.

"Are you Hiccup?" one of them called out, his voice expressed with a grunt.

"Uh- um, yes!" he replied. "What do you want?"

The four men went quiet as they looked at each and gave nods, with an evil chuckle coming from one of them. "Mildew's got a score to settle with you, Hiccup! You're getting off Berk, one way or another!"

"Not unless I have something to say about that!" shouted Snotlout as he stepped forward to guard Hiccup.

"Well well well, looks like the Heir is in on this as well!" another of the four Vikings called out. "But it seems he picked the wrong side!"

"C'mon men!" their leader said, cracking his knuckles. "Let's show these children how we really fight!" and immediately the four Vikings charged at Hiccup and the group with weapons gripped in their hands...