Right, everyone. I'd like to remind you all and say that is part is the first of three parts that I'll be writing for the Siege of Berk, and they will be longer than the usual chapters. This part will focus more on Magnus, and how he leads the gang and his men into battle - plus, this first confrontation will show how skilled and tactical he is in fighting, and I'm sure you're all going to love it.
Also, no worries, Hiccup makes his appearance near the end, and in the next two parts it'll be his time to rise.
Once again, a big thanks to all who reviewed last chapter. You guys are still amazing!
Now, no more talk from me I say. Let us sit back, and read this new chapter. Let the Siege of Berk unfold...
"ARCHERS, MAKE WAY TO THE RAMPARTS, AND PREPARE TO FIRE ON MY ORDER!" shouted Stoick as a small regiment ran alongside him.
Not long had passed since Hiccup left to find Toothless, but the village as of then was now in chaos. Soldiers were running all over to get into their positions, catapults were being loaded atop the cliffs and towers, and the horn was blowing loudly as enemy artillery fire flew overhead.
Magnus, Eira, Astrid, Snotlout, Spitelout, Fishlegs, Heather, the Twins, and Gobber all rallied behind Stoick as he overlooked the enemy from the wooden ramps, towering above the harbor. They glared down at their foe in defiance.
Soon enough, Dagur stepped forward, turning around to face the elite group of warriors. "Remember everyone, these damned outsiders will not give up until there is nothing left!" he began. "So whatever you do, do not break! Hold the line, and stay together! Victory is still possible!"
"Aye!" one warrior called out, raising his axe with a few others near him.
"And remember! ...What we do here and now, will echo into eternity! We are the true Vikings! US! NOT THEM!"
Cheers followed from Dagur's speech, loud enough for Olaf to hear, who stood atop his large iron cog flagship - ready and eager to do battle.
The commanders were there as well, cracking their knuckles, rolling their shoulders, and glaring at the Hooligans and Berserkers who stood rallied against them. So far, this had been the most that they had seen… but their minds told them it would be no different.
General Olaf then gave a grunt and a growl, turning around to face his commanders and warriors that were standing aboard his ship. Each of them ready as much as their foe was, but more barbaric and berserk as if they desired blood.
"VÖLSUNG!" he called out. "NORSEMEN, GERMANICS, AND RUS'! TODAY, WE MAKE OUR MARK IN HISTORY! For too long we have wasted our time in the cold! Struggling to survive in lands that were fought over by our own people, whilst we gained little from farming!"
"...But now, as ONE coalition, no one can hope to stand against the GREAT ARMY! We will hack our blades through their pathetic resistance, and we will burn their homes until there is nothing left but ash and brimstone!"
With that, the general rose his warblade into the air for all to see. "TODAY! THE VERY GODS WATCH OVER US!"
Thousands cheered from all around, booming like drums, so that Berk could understand the true force that they were dealing with.
Magnus' brows lowered with determination, turning his head towards the Chieftain of Berk. "Let my men and I march down to meet them." he said. "We're the only chance that you have for a proper front. I've trained them day after day, and now, they're ready."
Stoick, though concerned about the safety of his men, gave a sigh and nodded. "Then do what you must." he said. "But take Snotlout, Astrid, and the rest with you. I'm sure they'll follow your example."
"...Very well." replied Magnus.
Eira too stepped forth. "I'll come with you." she said. "I won't leave your side. Who knows what they-"
"No." he interrupted, to which Eira gave off a confused look. She followed him everywhere he went, and struggled with him through nearly every hardship, and now, he was denying her?
"It's… too risky." he said to her, shaking his head. "What we're doing is dangerous enough, Eira, and I don't want you to risk yourself for me. If there's one place you're needed, it is here with our soldiers. Your archery and morale is needed."
"...But- I don't want to leave you… Magnus, I-"
His hands fell to her shoulders as he lightly shook her, and he gave her a reassuring nod. "I'll return." he said. "This I promise you. I will not die today."
To that, she let out a heavy sigh, nodding with a small but weak smile on her face. "Alright." she said. "Just… don't be too aggressive. If you need me, call out for me."
The young man chuckled. "You too." he replied.
Before Magnus could part ways however, Spitelout suddenly stepped forward, and cleared his throat to catch his attention. "Err... Magnus. A quick word... Keep my boy safe, will ya? I don't want him ta die today either."
"Same for Heather." added Dagur. "Make sure she doesn't get herself killed."
Heather rolled her eyes, unsheathing her axe. "I can take care of myself, brother."
Magnus lightly chuckled, but bowed his head.
"Come on." said Astrid as she tugged on his shoulder, and with that, the small but elite group headed off, making their way down to the harbor where the first few ships had already landed; each carrying twenty five warriors.
"The first wave will outnumber us heavily!" warned Magnus. "Watch your moves, and do NOT break!"
Eventually, the group came to a stop at the bottom of the ramp. To their luck, it was narrow enough to act as a choke point, but as they stared off into the distance, they saw the multitudes of Norse, Germanics, and Rus' rallying together, all of whom were ready to march towards Magnus's position.
It was fifteen against more than a hundred.
From the enemy force, a Völsung captain made his way forward with his axe and round-shield in hand. His cloak consisted of a wolf's hide, and his armor was that of chainmail vest, along with a plate helmet that covered his head, save for his eyes and beard. For the first time, the younger Vikings saw what their enemy truly looked like, and as such, light shivers ran down their spines.
"BERKIANS!" he called out. "Lay down your arms, and we'll grant you a quick death! If you act nicely, we might even spare you... to make you our thralls!"
At first, no response came from Magnus, Astrid, Snotlout, or anyone in the group. The captain watched as they stood there, making no attempt at any sudden movements. To that, the Viking was tempted to order the charge and make the decision himself… but in that moment, something caught his attention.
From a dozen yards away, a whirling sound filled his ears, and as the captain squinted his eyes, he saw an object flying towards him... It was a spear.
Almost immediately, he raised his shield in an attempt to react. But it was too late. The spear struck fast and hard through his chest, hitting the weak spot of his chain armor. In response, the Viking let out a mighty roar before falling lifelessly onto his back.
"HEATHENS!" shouted Astrid as she and the others immediately formed a quick but sturdy shield wall. "COME AND GET THEM!"
The horns of battle blew from the enemy's side, followed by the bellowing battle cries of the Great Army's warriors, as they began rushing towards the small group without hesitation. The charge had now commenced.
Unbeknownst to them however, Magnus was prepared, and with a lift of his sword, dozens of archers made their way towards the edge of the wooden ramparts overlooking them, and as such, they prepared a volley.
"ARCHERS! Loosen your arrows upon them! KILL THEM!" commanded Eira, and with that, the arrows came raining down.
In response to the sudden volley, the Norsemen, Germanics, and Rus' rose their shields towards the skies, blocking the majority of the volley. Eventually, they began to close in, yet as they did, some of them began falling to the defender's arrows.
"Prepare to brace!" shouted Magnus, causing the Vikings among him to reposition their shields, thus making the wall sturdier.
Snotlout, who stood on Magnus' right, gave a growl. "...Give them nothing! No mercy! No surrender! Only DEATH!"
Those words alone filled the group with motivation, and soon enough, both sides clashed with one another; the enemy's distant battle cries now up-close in their faces. At first, the brutal strength of the Great Army's forces was strong enough to push the young Vikings back, causing the shieldwall to break. But in that moment, Magnus raised his voice.
"Push the enemy back, men! Keep them from advancing!" commanded Magnus, striking vigorously with his sword.
With that, the older Vikings among the group rushed in front of Astrid and the others, and immediately reformed the wall. From there, the young warriors began swinging their weapons through the cracks of the bulwark, hoping to land a hit against the enemy.
Magnus, who was giving it all he had, did his best to keep the younger Vikings out of harm's way. With every axe, sword, or spear that the enemy threw at the wall, he would immediately block and respond by striking back with his sword.
In addition to his defensive strategy, the Norseman would swing his shield forward and up, as to knock back anyone who dared to slam themselves against the wall, and then, he would strike forward and cut the warrior down.
"Is this the best you can do!?" he taunted.
Astrid, though wielding a heavy axe in her right hand aside from using both hands, used the weight of the weapon for her advantage. Swinging through the gaps of the wall would not get her anywhere, so she used her height and the top of the wall to help.
With her strength she swung the weapon upwards and over the wall at a heavy pace, feeling the weapon go lighter as it came down onto what she hoped was an enemy…
...And sure enough, she was right. The brute force of her axe landed upon the helmet of one of the Scandinavian Vikings, causing the metal of the armor to bend and break as her weapon impaled itself into his skull. She then quickly pulled her axe with a great heave, took a moment to recover, and repeated, taking small breaks after each blow.
Snotlout, who wielded a one handed sword in hand, used his precision as a helping hand against those who he saw were open to attack. He would spot out an attacker that would make a swift attack, but delayed move, and he would stab the pointy tip of his sword at their faces, necks, or chests - anywhere that was exposed. With this idea, he would be able to pull off kill after kill.
"Your attacks are lazy, Heathens!" taunted Snotlout as he earned himself another kill. "That's six for me!"
As for the Twins, they didn't bother striking back until the enemy struck first, though their shields would be kept up. When an enemy would make an attack directly at one of them, Ruff and Tuff would grab their opponent and drag them behind the shield wall before ruthlessly beating them to death with their maces.
"Haha! Isn't this fun!?" called out Tuffnut as he pulled a Germanic warrior behind the wall and began smashing his hammer atop his head.
"Hehe! You bet it, bro! This is more fun than when we were Dragon killing!" replied Ruffnut as she held down the helpless Barbarian and continued beating the living Helheim out of it. Soon enough, he laid dead along with a couple of other corpses, and the Twins continued the fight.
Yet as they fought, Fishlegs was one to eventually realize that if they were to even get a greater chance at beating the small confrontation, they would need to get into the fight themselves. And so, a plan drew itself at the top of his mind as he fought, and a grin was quick to spread across his face.
"Open the wall!" Fishlegs called out, and everyone looked at him with faces of confusion, especially Magnus who showed great concern.
"Are you insane!?" he gasped. "You're going to get killed!"
"Just trust me, Magnus! I have a plan!"
The older Viking sighed. "If you insist... OPEN THE WALL!" he ordered.
Immediately the center of the shield wall broke into two as it opened, and Fishlegs went diving into the middle of the enemy ranks, knocking many of his foes over and out of the way using his full strength, all before diving right back into the allied ranks with two enemy Vikings dragged along. Once behind the shield wall, they were met with a quick end as spears began repeatedly stabbing them to death.
Magnus faced Fishlegs with a raised brow, but with both eyes widened entirely. "Fishlegs! You are a genius, lad!"
He would then turn back towards his men and the young Vikings. "Bowmen, ready your arrows! Snotlout, get ready to open the wall again!"
"...When!?"
The arrows from the two archers behind were loaded, and Magnus nodded his head.
"NOW!"
The two Vikings opened the wall, whilst at the same time pushing those who were trying to attack from the otherside back, causing them to fall over. The archers then let their arrows fly, getting two lucky hits on both a Rus' and Germanic as they fell to the floorboards, dying from the arrows gouging deep within them.
With all of these tactics occuring all at once, it soon became apparent that the tide was beginning to turn as the enemy began to weaken, compared to all fifteen Vikings who still stood their ground, mostly unharmed.
As for Heather, she too helped in holding the shield wall whilst attacking from behind and over, and slowly she began to push with the others. It was then that she felt the tip of a blade scratch the side of her right cheek as a spear stabbed its way into their ranks, causing drops of blood to fly across her cheek.
"AAARGH!" she screamed with a war cry, pushing her shield upwards in an attempt to knock over her opponents on the other side. Surprisingly, this move worked, and with one swing of her double-bladed axe she was able to decapitate three foes in a row.
"FINISH UP!" called out Magnus as the wall continued to push forward like a battering ram. With barely enough morale to buff up the enemy troops, the skirmishing force was met with a retreat as their will to fight suddenly broke. Even from a distance where General Olaf saw this, his eyes were shocked and widened at the view. By far, the Hooligans were the only ones that were able to stand up and give an actual fight, and it seemed it would take more to defeat them.
However, his expression changed to a smirk when he eyed longboats nearing themselves towards the harbor, and he gave out a small chuckle. "Right on time." he said, giggling.
Even as Magnus stood and watched as the last foe of the first skirmishing force was struck down by an arrow, he looked up and forward and saw that the Heathens had reformed and enforced, as now more than a dozen ships had made port, with three times the amount than the first wave.
They all then discarded from their ships and immediately began rushing towards Magnus, Astrid, Snotlout, and the group, letting out roars and screams of war in unison.
"COME ON!" Magnus grunted before turning to the gang and his men, before shouting out, "RETREAT!" It was clear that fifteen warriors, even with their skill, could not surpass against three hundred. It was simply too many.
Stoick who was watching the whole thing from above noticed this, and he rushed over to Eira and made her notice the move as well. "They've been reinforced!" he told her. "They're coming our way!"
"ARCHERS!" she called out. "Cover our allies and their retreat! FIRE AT WILL!"
Volleys of arrows once again began coming down upon the Heathens, focused mostly on those that were chasing the small group of fifteen, but this would prove to once again not be enough. On a couple dozen would fall from the volleys, and yet they just kept still coming.
Once more, it would prove an even harder challenge when a large cluster halted the chase and looked up towards the archers on the ramparts.
"TAKE THEM DOWN!" ordered a Völsung captain, and immediately the large force of Scandinavian Vikings would load their bows and begin to aim up with their arrows pointed directly at Eira and her regiment.
Eira's eyes widened as she looked down. "Oh, sh-!"
"LOOSE!" ordered the Völsung captain, and soon a large volley of arrows went flying up towards where Eira stood, taking out a chunk of those who were standing next to her. Their accuracy and precision seemed to be more superior in this encounter.
"We need to do something NOW, Stoick!" she said, facing the Chief. "We cannot stay here while arrows and catapult fire are pummeling us down! We need our forces rallied here, and now!"
"Wait, Eira!" said Gobber. "Ye don't know what them Heathen's could do ta ya! They're superior in strength an' numbers, and we need ta devise a strategy!"
"I would think more on that!" replied Stoick as he glanced all around. "Unless I knew where in the THOR'S HAMMER my son is! HICCUP!" he called out, worried for his son's life.
"STOICK!" Magnus called out as he, Astrid, Snotlout, and the group managed to make their way all the back up to the village, but the large force was not far from behind "We can't hold them! They're swarming us!" he said. "We need to do something, and NOW!"
Stoick looked down for a moment, thoughtless. His mind was split into two on thinking about his son, and on thinking about the fight. Of whom should he focus more on, the safety of Hiccup, or his people? What was he supposed to do?
"We need to find a way to push them back, Stoick!" Magnus said again, his voice sounding more desperate. "If we don't act now, Berk will be lost! What do we DO!?"
His last word bellowed in the wind as it echoed, and it almost seemed as if another voice… no - a roar in the air responded back to him, also echoing.
They all looked around, glancing up in the air from the sound of that roar. It sounded… so familiar, yet it was hard to tell out what it was from it being a long distance away. What was it that made that roar? It was definitely enough to catch the attention of the second wave and put them to a halt, but what was it?
"What the Thor's hammer is that?" asked Stoick.
"...Wait." said Astrid "That sound- that roar… it sounds like the roar of a-"
Suddenly a high pitched and loud screeching sound filled the air and blocked out all other noises. It grew louder and louder almost as if it came closer and closer, and from the sky a tiny black dot came into view which came spiraling down towards the village. Upon further inspection, it was clear that it was a Dragon that came into view.
But, it was no ordinary Dragon…
Toothless came flying down at a great velocity towards the large cluster of Vikings, Barbarians, and Rus', and with a powerful charged up Plasma Blast, he sent dozens and dozens of warriors flying back from the force of the attack's firepower, along with many of them burning.
"Yeah, BABY!" laughed Hiccup who was sitting atop the mighty and powerful Night Fury.
Magnus' mouth dropped. "HICCUP, YOU BASTARD! It hasn't even been twenty minutes!" called out Magnus, laughing in relief as he saw the young lad flying in.
Stoick's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing his son riding the swift creature, and his mouth let out a gasp as he whispered; 'What the Hel?'
He then said loudly; "Is that… MY son? On a DRAGON?"
Gobber stepped forward, his head shaking as he gestured his prosthetic hammer towards the two. "Stoick! Tha's no ordinary Dragon! Tha's a Night Fury! Tha beast's attack makes it obvious!"
"We've got to get in there, then!" nodded Stoick, yelling for nearby troops to rally and ready an attack. "And not one of you is to dare attack that Dragon! My son is atop it! If it falls, so does my son!"
"C'mon, Berserkers!" shouted Dagur, inspired. "Let's show these Heathens what it TRULY means, to be BERSERK!"
Hiccup from atop Toothless looked down at the large fleet, spotting out ship after ship and inspecting what targets seemed the best for him and his Dragon.
To his luck, he spotted a large longship carrying dozens of warriors, and on it he saw as a few catapults kept suppressing fire onto the village. So, with this knowledge in mind of taking out an important ship to even the odds, it was clear where he was going to attack.
"Right, Bud!" he said, patting Toothless. "Let's show 'em what we're made of. And mind the arrows!"
Toothless roared and growled in response, obliging and agreeing to the young Viking. Once again, the Black Dragon soared high up into the air with a loud screech, letting out the familiar warning that he was about to strike. Once he was at a high enough altitude, he charged down from the skies and went straight for the large ship that Hiccup pointed out earlier…
...And with the release of a charged up and powerful plasma blast, the wooden ship exploded into two as more than half the enemy crew went flying off the ship in flames.
From the flagship, Olaf and his commanders watched as Hiccup and Toothless also pummeled down attack after attack on the withering and clustered up forces that were on shore. If they weren't spreaded out or advancing fast enough, then one Dragon would be the end of them.
He would not buy it however as his arrogance was too much, and he turned towards his commanders.
"Commanders!" he said. "Get all of our forces into the fight! Advance all our ships, and concentrate the attack on that one point! Get them up the ramparts!"
"But General, it's too risky!" the Iron Wolf commander pointed out. "That Dragon will just blast us all off that island and send us running back to-"
"Then get our forces to climb the cliffs!" he said, interrupting him. "Climb the cliffs, climb the ramparts' supports, use whatever means necessary!"
"...And the Devastators?" the Dark Eye commander pointed out.
Olaf grinned. "...Have them prepared for operation."