Before beginning, all I can say is that I am honestly wordless on the amount of support I've had for this story since I had ever begun writing it. This story has once again reached a milestone as it now stands at 10,000 views. Holy crap, guys! I can't thank you enough, and once again I give you a big thanks!
Also, thank you to KaliAnn, KorrieChan, MrsMagnusB, BrawlerGamer, and fs440(Guest) for reviewing the last chapter!
Now, let us begin chapter fifteen! (Which is also the last chapter for 2017... no this isn't the overall last chapter! :P)
The four loyalists rushed at Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, and the gang who were standing by, ready with their weapons now in hand as they unsheathed swords and hammers from the nearby weapon racks. It was a Blacksmith after all.
Hiccup and Astrid then unsheathed their sword and axe, but as Hiccup took out his weapon the blade of his sword shinged in a high pitched noise that no other sword would make, almost as if the metal of the blade was made out of an iron that reacted when unsheathed.
Then, the loyalists closed in and Hiccup made the first move as he swung his blade to hit the loyalist leader, or at the very least hit his weapon…
...He immediately found his target, and the axe of the loyalist group's leader broke into two halves as the flat iron blade fell to the ground in two, with only the wooden hilt remaining which the large Viking quickly dropped.
"Who ELSE wants a taste of my blade against your weapons!?" taunted Hiccup.
The four loyalists stood still as the gang was at the ready with their weapons out and pointed at them, and suddenly the three Vikings standing behind the leader laid down their arms as they raised up their hands for a moment. But then a large burst of fear and tension hit them as one of them yelped, and they started running.
"After them! Word must not get back to Mildew!" ordered Snotlout, and instantly everyone but Hiccup began rushing towards the fleeing Vikings whilst the leader and his direct opponent who was armed remained.
"Who knew your buddies would be a bunch of cowards?" he taunted again. "I wonder why Mildew even trusts you especially since Berk is divided because of you. The old man is a fool and a liar."
"HOW DARE YOU!" the large Viking bellowed, instantly knocking Hiccup to the ground with a hard fist to the stomach. "Mildew is godlike to us! He is the elder of vision and fate! You are just a nuisance to him and our faction!"
"Berk is your faction!" grunted Hiccup, earning a kick to the chest.
"Yes, it is. But it is lead by the wrong Chieftain, and you shall be one of the first to see him fall when the time is right!"
Those words caused anger to rise up in Hiccup. "NO!" he bellowed as he grabbed the large foot with both hands, and with his strength he got the Viking into an unbalanced position as he nearly fell over. Hiccup then rolled flat to the side and stood back up on his feet. His blade pointed out at the man.
Once again he taunted him. "Come then! Make your move!" he said, mocking the Viking with rude gestures. As a result the loyalist charged at Hiccup once more, but his underestimation would quickly cost him thinking he could take on the scrawny Viking with just his bare fists.
Hiccup quickly spun himself around as he dodged the punch from the loyalist, and with his blade he made a horizontal strike to the right side of the man's stomach right above his waist.
The man groaned loudly in pain from the strike, making his hate rise even further as he attempted one more strike against Hiccup, but once again he failed as the young Viking was able to strike behind the man's left leg as he rolled around behind him, thus causing him to fall to the ground on his knees with blood gushing out from both gaping wounds.
"Wow, I didn't know I was that skilled…" Hiccup said to himself.
With the man stuck to the ground on his knees and unable to do anything, Hiccup could get right to the interrogation. He walked hastily up to the large man and grabbed him from behind the neck.
"Right. Listen here, loyalist." he began. "Your plan to do whatever you wanted to me has failed, and you lay broken in front of my feet. I want to know what Mildew was up to, and why he tried to kill me."
"Kill you?" he chuckled, spitting drops of blood to the ground. "He didn't want to kill you, boy. He wanted to throw you off the damned island! We know that if this Ivar does come, then we can just hand him right over to you and they'll leave us alone."
Hiccup gave a backhand across the man's face with his free hand. "No he wouldn't, fool." he said coldly. "Ivar the Boneless seeks to conquer the whole of the Archipelago for his Viking kingdom. He will kill and enslave all who oppose him - and he has all the power and brains necessary to maintain his kingdom as long as he lives. He is experienced and skillful unlike you and your pathetic loyalists."
"Then we'll simply join him…" the man chuckled again. However, Hiccup's next words would silence that chuckle and bring the Viking to a dead halting end.
"No." he said in front of the man's face. "He'll simply enslave you as well since he knows you are more weak mentally and physically than he is. He is a cripple, yes… but he is the Nightmare that will haunt you to the depths of Helheim."
The loyalist's eyes widened. "What…!?" he gasped. "You can't possibly mean to…"
"It is finished." interrupted Hiccup as he quickly rose his blade up high above his head, and then he swiftly brought it down without wasting any time, and he found his target at the Viking's neck as he felt his sword cut clean through his flesh, followed by blood splattering all over the dirt ground. Hiccup could see the dark object of the loyalist's head go flying past him in the air…
…
The morning came, and already news was spreading about the decapitated corpse found in front of the Blacksmith, though Stoick and Gobber seemed to have no problem with it as Snotlout had told the two of them everything that night, as well as about the corpse.
"Stoick and Gobber promised to keep us low." said Snotlout as he drank from his mug of ale. "Let's just hope Mildew doesn't suspect a thing from us… though I have to say Hiccup; I've never seen anyone as skilled as you when it comes to you being my age. You cut that bloody bastard apart."
The gang once again sat together, though they were all dining in the Great Hall for their breakfast.
"But what of the three loyalists you captured? What did you do with them?"
"We knocked them out unconscious and we threw them into the cells by the Chief's orders." answered Astrid. "Stoick says he'll be interrogating them personally on what they were doing wandering in the middle of the night, as well as try to connect them to the murdered loyalist in a public way. He knows we already killed him though."
"Let's hope they're put on public execution, then." whispered Hiccup. "It would likely make Mildew back off for the time being, though his loyalist's could be anywhere on Berk peering at us with their eyes and listening with their ears."
Snotlout nodded. "Then we ought to be careful of our actions… as mentioned before, the last thing we would want would be a civil war on Berk. That would just make Ivar's job easier to- well, you know what I mean." he sighed.
"We know, Snotlout." said Fishlegs, nodding his head in agreement. "I wouldn't want to fight my own people either, but Mildew is a major problem for us. Who knows if he'd try to overthrow the Chief."
"He won't be able to with just a hundred loyalists." replied Hiccup as he drank from his mug. "The first thing he'd do would be to flee Berk and probably go to Ivar in an attempt to convince him on targeting Berk first. But it in the end we know that Ivar would either kill or enslave Mildew."
"So how do we get rid of the old sucker?" asked Ruffnut. "What if he-"
"Ooh! I've got it!" interrupted Tuffnut. "We gather up two yaks, we stack them up on top of Mildew's house, and then we play Stack the Yak until his roof collapses while he is inside the hut! Eh?"
The group turned their gazes and looked at Tuffnut with frowns of not just disapproval, but also disappointment and unamusement. How would stacking yaks on top of Mildew's hut help in this case? Not to mention that it would be physically impossible to carry a yak anyways. Either way, their glares and frowns were enough to tell Tuff to stop.
"Oh, uh… sorry." he said.
"Back to where we were…" began Hiccup. "I'd say the only way to stop Mildew without having any of his loyalists leave and depopulate Berk would be to have them become unloyal to him and see the truth. To have them see the events that are transpiring all around us as a result of Mildew's motives. His actions are not told truthfully to his loyalists, and I know this."
Astrid arched a brow. "How, though? You've only been here for-"
"Dirty people like Ivar and Mildew always tend to lie to their subjects to get what they want without having them know what their true intentions are. I've seen it back in Kattegat, and now I see it here on Berk from the old bag."
"So then what would be the best way to get his loyalists to see the truth and back away from him?" asked Snotlout as he leaned in closer in interest on the opposite side of the table from where Hiccup sat.
"Humiliation." the scrawny Viking answered. "Give a humiliation that Mildew would never be able to recover from and certainly send him down to the depths of Helheim at the end of his life. It has to be one that would show that Mildew isn't the all-powerful-godlike man he said he was, but rather a stupid old man who appreciates no one but himself, and lies to everyone to get what he wants."
Fishlegs took note of this as he moved his eyes up to face the rocky ceiling as if he was looking up in his thoughts. "But in what way?" he asked Hiccup. "Through physical proof? Mental proof of his false vision maybe? Hel, a duel? There has to be-"
Suddenly the doors to the Great Hall opened wide as Magnus came walking in with snow blowing against his back from outside. He struggled inside, but was able to quickly shut the doors behind him and divert his gaze onto Hiccup, Astrid, and the rest of the group.
Surprisingly, Eira was with him, cured from her sickened illness.
"By the Allfather it's cold out there!" he said. "It feels as cold as the shivering abyss of Niflheim itself! Who ever knew that so much snow would blow up here?"
"Snow?" asked Astrid, confused. "But it was completely fine yesterday. How the Hel is it snowing now?"
"It's that time of the year again, my friend. Snow should be expected as usual, especially since we're up north." replied Eira.
"Eira!" smiled Hiccup. "Thank the gods you survived your illness. I see that you're fine and healthy."
She nodded upon reaching the group's table with Magnus, sitting next Hiccup on his right as the two of them got in on their conversation.
"Well, that Gothi is quite the healer, Hiccup. She earns my thanks. And I must say; this island is something new. The people here are all so kind. It's like I'm in Valhalla." she joked, earning a few chuckles.
"So, how are you two doing?" Hiccup asked Magnus and Eira.
"We're quite fine." replied Magnus. "I however need a little bit of grub in my stomach. I haven't eaten for at least a day now, and the very least Eira and I would like are-"
Before he could finish his sentence, they spotted a lady walking over with two bowls of stew in her hands, and before Magnus and Eira knew it, both bowls were sitting in front of them on the table. Immediately they gave their thanks to the cook.
"If you two need anything else, talk with my apprentice. Alright?" she asked, and the two nodded as they started to eat, and she immediately walked off.
"Her name's Grifa. She's the head cook in the Great Hall. Thought you might want to know." added Snotlout.
"Hmph… So, what were you talking about before, Hiccup?" asked Magnus.
"Mildew." he replied. "That nasty piece of work. We've been discussing exactly how we can take him down since he's proven to be a nuisance to all of Berk."
"Not a good idea, Hiccup." the former blacksmith responded. "Before you know it, over a hundred people will migrate off Berk and go elsewhere, weakening this Tribe of its people."
"That is why we need to humiliate him." he answered back. "It has to be something to prove that he's not the all-mighty elder he claims to be. He needs to be beaten through perhaps a duel. Surely the old man can at least knock someone out with that stick he calls a staff."
"Nay." said Eira. "You need to prove that his staff is easily breakable."
Hiccup smirked. "How?"
"Slam his staff against a rock. If the staff remains intact, try again. If the staff breaks, so will his neck because the gods hate him."
Everyone at the table gagged on their food and immediately began to laugh loudly, so much so that it forced Fishlegs to fall out of his seat, only to make the situation escalate.
"Oh gods." whimpered Snotlout. "I think a tear ran down my cheek. Eira, you my friend have the natural skills of a jester… unlike someone at this table." he said, implying Tuffnut.
"Well then." sighed Magnus. "Aside talking about Mildew… I want to tell you something- or well, show you something."
Hiccup gave a curious look as Magnus reached into the back of his cloak, and grabbed ahold something out from one of his pockets. Though it was hard to tell at first, Hiccup immediately knew what it was as the older Viking laid it on the table.
"This was the woolen blanket your father found me in…" said Hiccup.
"Aye, yes it is." replied Magnus.
"But… why are you showing it to me? Is there something that you found out?"
"Sort of…" began Magnus. "It doesn't have to do with who your parents were, but more about where you came from. I took a closer look with Gothi, who helped me inspect the blanket, and eventually, we discovered something big."
"What is it?" asked Astrid.
Magnus grinned. "The blanket was the making of a Hooligan."
Hiccup's eyes widened. "Then that means…"
"Yes, Hiccup. You were born on Berk. Your parents are somewhere on this island..."
…
Ivar sat atop a throne overlooking the docks of Kattegat. He saw over four hundred ships ported next to the city, and they had filled up the Fjord to the point where only few ships could leave through the channel in a row at a time. But the one ship that caught his attention was one of the Iron Wolf Clan's ships that was made out of dark iron and light but sturdy wood - surprisingly floating above the water.
"Chieftain Vlar!" he called out, and the Iron Wolf's Chief diverted his attention as he walked towards Ivar.
"Yes, my King?" the Rus' asked.
"That large ship right there. The one made of iron and wood. What is it called?"
Vlar chuckled. "That ship?" he asked. "That is a cog ship. However, it isn't a... normal, cog ship. My engineers built it differently by adding iron rather than just wood alone, and it is even bigger than the regulars. It can be armed with enough siege weapons to take on three longships alone, and though they lack the speed, they definitely do have the firepower."
"I see…" replied Ivar. "And how many of these iron cog ships can your engineers make?"
"As many as I want."
"Very well." the young man said as he tilted his head near Vlar, lowering his voice. "I'd like to ask something of you, then."
"Anything, my King."
A smile extended across Ivar's face. "I want you to begin a mass construction of these great ships, here in my region. I'll supply you with slaves and hired workers to help you with your construction, and then I want you to find a location for a harbor where you can start building them. You will earn two hundred pounds of gold a month."
"Then it is settled." said Vlar. "I will build these ships and make a fleet for you. I'll also see to it that your longships are improved and made bigger. After all, I have a secret weapon already in the makings…"
Ivar grinned. "Oh? And what does it do?"
"Let's just say that this weapon will blast the dragons out of the skies…"