I would like to say before starting that this chapter was created with inspiration. If any of you have ever seen Vikings, you will know that there is a battle that takes places between the Saxons and Vikings in a hilly region, and this gave me an idea of how to set up this chapter and the next one after - just in my own way. But I really hope you guys enjoy this one!
Now then, without further ado, let's begin!
The cold winds of the afternoon day blew against the Dragon Riders' faces as they marched alongside Hiccup with their Dragons across the Grey Plains. The morning had been swift, but the battle ahead was likely going to be long.
Shields laid gripped against hundreds of restless arms. Swords clinged and clanged against their sheaths, and the sound of nine hundred pairs of feet stomped across the hilly and frozen fields.
All the meanwhile, dozens of eyes remained peeled for anything to be sighted. Stoick's squinted, glancing around the area and keeping his weapon gripped tightly, ready to strike if he spotted anything suspicious.
However, his eyes then fell over to Hiccup, raising a brow. "Are you sure it was a good idea to leave our horses behind back at camp?"
"I'm sure." he nodded back to him. "It's all part of the plan to trap the Dark Eye and get them where we want them. Soon enough this battle will be over before you even know it."
"Then let's hope we make it worth our while." commented Snotlout from nearby. "We're walking ourselves into the heart of a major Clan's territory, and who knows what we will be facing once we meet the Dark Eye and their Chieftain. Even Hookfang here is a bit tense."
The young Jorgenson looked up at his Dragon with a worrisome look. "He's been acting more strangely ever since our defeat near Skyrsdok. I guess he is just worried that we might lose again."
"But we won't." Magnus responded in quick words. "We've readied ourselves for this moment for days now, and we have sat idle in Dragon's Wake for more than a week. Once we are done with this, we will be one step closer to beating Ivar."
"Yeah! And then afterwards, we can celebrate with yak-chops!" spoke up Ruffnut, catching the attention of the whole group who gave questioning looks.
"Yak-chops?" asked Fishlegs. "Sounds like a weird name for a food. Are you sure you're alright, Ruffnut?"
She shrugged. "Ehh, I was just thinking about it. Do you guys have a problem with it?"
The group responded with a shake of their heads as a series of 'no's followed. Clearly they had no problem, but at the same time they were simply not interested. Especially Astrid who just responded with a sigh.
"This surely does bring back memories of the good old days." she said, eyeing the others. "And yet it also reminds me of how we once were, like those days when we went hunting. I mean, you remember that Heather, don't you?"
"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot about it." she chuckled, shaking her head.
Hiccup looked at the two maidens with interest. "You guys hunted in the wild together?"
"Well, it was not just me and Astrid." said Heather, looking back at Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the Twins. "Pretty much all of us use to hunt together. We would run through the forests during the early spring with bows and arrows in hand along with bolas. We mostly hunted for boars and wolves, and every year the stocks would just keep getting better and better."
Dagur from behind gave off an amusing whistle. "And I will say, those years were the good years, if not the best. Even after the Dragon raids ended did the alliance and connection between our two Tribes grow ever closer. And despite the mess we are going through, I still think both of our Tribes are stronger than ever."
Stoick looked over to the Berserker. "That may be so." he agreed. "But after this war ends, I still think things will get better for the Archipelago as a whole. We still have to clean up the mess that Ivar made and-"
His words immediately cut out. He raised his hand as his head spun and turned in all directions. Something was definitely on the rise ahead, and he could hear it coming towards them.
Hiccup was quick to notice his father's expression, and immediately he held his hand up - causing the whole army behind him to slow to a stop as they now stood at the top of a hill.
He stared at his father. Curious. "What is it, Dad?"
Stoick replied with a deep voice. "They are close. I can hear their war drums bellowing up ahead from here… I believe we have found our foe."
The young lad immediately took note of his father's discovery as he looked back at the rest of the group who stared back at Hiccup with concerned looks in their faces.
"Looks like both us and the enemy have made our way to each other." he said as he gripped the hilt of his sheathed blade. "I hope you guys remember the plan, because now it's time to take it into effect. Dad, Dagur, Magnus - you guys know what to do, right?"
"Aye." they responded in unison with the sound of the drums coming closer and closer.
Then, there was a pause among the ranks. No one said a single word or made a noise. They all looked around as the drums were no longer the only thing they heard, but also the sound of thousands of boots stomping and marching against the fields.
The enemy was definitely near.
Hiccup then gazed at the bottom of the hill, and before his very eyes he spotted multitudes of distant dark figures coming into view.
Upon noticing this, he nudged his father's arm to catch his attention, and soon everyone's gaze, even the Dragon's, was directed towards the approaching Vikings from afar.
From behind a slope, the Dark Eye Clan and their allies marched into view, showing off their numbers before making a quick effort to form their ranks and get into position. It was quite clear to Hiccup that they were outnumbered.
Astrid took a few steps forward until she was right next to Hiccup, staring down at the many Vikings that now stood before them.
Her eyes slightly widened. "That's a lot of Vikings. Especially from just a few Tribes and one Clan."
"Aye." nodded Hiccup, crossing his arms. "I reckon that there's at least two thousand of them down there, counting the Tribes aiding them. Let's just hope for the best however that this plan works."
"It will." Magnus assured him, unsheathing his sword while sounding confident. "Either way, they are about to receive the beating of their life."
But as the Dark Eye and their allies finished forming up, something caught the attention of Hiccup and the gang which forced their feet down to the ground, clenching in anger.
From the distance, the Dark Eye Chieftain Frode came into view from atop a black horse with his sword in hand, and as he rode forward - the men around him immediately made way for him.
Eventually, the Dark Eye Chieftain stopped at the very front of his ranks, and his eyes glared up at Hiccup who gazed down back at him. The two of them exchanged angered looks with both of their weapons gripped in hand.
It was obvious that both of them were ready for a fight. And a fight is what they wanted.
Frode grinned with an evil smirk. "Hiccup Haddock!" he called out. "I've wait a long time for this moment to come, and now here we are face to face! ...Now do me a favor, and make the first move! Get down here and battle me like a real Viking!"
But despite the Dark Eye Chieftain's demands, Hiccup had other plans in mind.
The young Haddock looked to his right and left, at his father, and at his friends who all gave him a nod - showing that they were prepared.
Hiccup raised his hand up into the air, and swirled it around which caused the horn to be sounded. Not to charge, but to turn around on the Dark Eye as the whole army began sprinting in the other direction.
However, this move brought confusion among the enemy and Frode himself. 'What was going on?' he wondered.
The Dark Eye Chief scoffed. "Cowards! You would dare turn your backs on us and flee!? If you won't begin this battle, then I will!"
But Hiccup gave no response and kept running. As he and the rest of the group along with their allies and Dragons ran out of sight from the enemy, Frode rose his sword up for all to see before pointing it towards the top of the hill, ordering his whole force to move forward.
"RUSH THEM!" he shouted, galloping his horse forward with his warriors following up from behind.
Though upon making it to the top of the hill, further confusion just swept over him and his men as they looked around in all directions for sight of Hiccup and his force.
They were no longer in sight. Just like that, they were gone.
A voice from nearby spoke up. "Where are they Chieftain?" a lone warrior asked.
"Weren't we on their tails?" another questioned, curious.
Frode grunted. "They could not have simply disappeared like that! Even if their Dragons flew up into the air, we would have seen them take off from the bottom of the hill! They couldn't have just-"
"Chieftain!" a voice suddenly called out, immediately grabbing his attention as a shield maiden from nearby pointed towards the distance where Hiccup and the others ran.
From afar, Magnus, Eira, and Sigurd came into view with their weapons drawn, along with the entirety of the Warsung by them. Surprisingly, they were all alone, which furtherly caused the Chieftain to question their method.
"What are they trying to do here?" he asked himself, only to watch as the three Vikings and their Tribe turn tail once again and run in the opposite direction, towards the nearby woods which though were small, gave great cover.
Again he grunted, and without warning he immediately ordered his horse forward, spinning his sword to prepare for a fight once he caught up with them. But to his shock, the Warsung Vikings were faster, and there was no way that his men could catch up with them.
Though after all, he was the only one on a horse.
As the Warsung Vikings disappeared into the woods, Frode stopped to a halt, slamming his fist against his hip in frustration and looking back at his men with a glare on his face.
He spat on the ground, gritting his teeth. "Is this the best any of you can do!?" he shouted. "You're all running around like children while our enemy is making us look like their play-toys! Are you not Odin's warriors!?"
The Dark Eye ranks only looked at each other with uncertainty. In the past, they were eager to followed Frode wherever he went since his visions would always depict him on the winning side, but now they were being fooled around with.
Perhaps his visions were no longer right?
They didn't know, and nor did the Chieftain care about their thoughts.
It was then however that Frode noticed movement to his left. In the distance, Dagur and Heather along with the Berserkers stood firm, staring down the Dark Eye with taunting looks as if they viewed the whole situation thus far as a joke.
This as a result would furtherly infuriate the Chieftain. He looked back at his men and swung his sword forward, ordering them to once again move straight ahead.
"FORWARD!" he called out, hastening his horse towards the Berserkers as his men continued following from behind.
At first, it seemed like they were going to engage the Berserkers since Dagur and Heather did not make a move. They just stood there, watching as Frode rushed towards them with his army at his back.
But then, at the last possible and safest moment, the two Vikings and their Tribe turned around. But instead of heading into the woods which laid near them, they took a whole different direction, turning around and rushing into the hills away from the enemy.
Now they had fallen for it.
From nearby, Hiccup stood with a bow in his hand as he remained beneath the cover of the trees which he and his allies stood under, and after a moment of patience, the Dark Eye finally came into his sights.
Immediately he plucked an arrow from the ground, and with a firm grip he pulled it back before letting it loose onto the unexpecting Vikings.
As the first arrow came flying towards them, it managed to hit one of the warriors in the chest, and before they knew it - a swarm of arrows were hurling out of the woods and onto them.
Unknown to Frode - Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the Twins along with Stoick set up their forces in the woods, all armed to the teeth with bows and arrows. Their arrows flew true as they and the Hooligans kept firing what they had upon their foe.
In a matter of moments, nearly two hundred Dark Eye Vikings laid dead from the surprise attack, but the Chieftain was quick to get the men together.
"SHIELD WALL!" he called out, urging his men to defend themselves as the arrows kept flying at them, still killing more and more of them.
Eventually they were able to form a shield wall, but that did not stop the attack.
From the woods, the glow of a purple light emanated as a plasma blast came shooting out at the ranks, taking out a dozen or so men before four more fiery Dragon blasts went flying out at them, taking out dozens more.
After what felt like a long moment of sitting there and taking a heavy beating, the volleys of arrows that came out of the woods soon stopped firing along with the Dragons' blasts, but it would leave the men confused and tensed up.
Frode looked around, sweating from riding all over the region with his men who, by this point, were now exhausted.
He squinted his eyes to look into the woods, but he saw nothing. He began to feel as if the gods were punishing him for whatever reason, but unknown to his knowledge, Hiccup had already ran out of there with the Berkian Tribe behind him.
The Chieftain sighed in exhaustion, along with a combination of frustration. He turned his horse around, calling out "Recover!" to his men as they stood back onto their feet and began backing with caution away from the woods and back into the opening.
But the risk of being out in the open had increased since their casualties were high in number - counting up to nearly four hundred. At that rate, they could be easily picked out.
Despite the risk however, Frode once more ordered a halt as his eyes laid upon a familiar figure that stood across from him, and in the distance there stood Hiccup, with Toothless and the others by his side - also giving off tauntful grins.
Hiccup waved at the angered Chieftain, chuckling at the thought of the situation.
The Chieftain growled, now more furious than ever. "I will not be fooled, or TOYED AROUND WITH LIKE A DOG, ANY LONGER!"
He then turned his attention out into the blue, shaking his head at the thought of his Clan's numbers… and then Ivar. "If that boy had not called back a thousand of my men to Kattegat, this battle would have been easily won by now! ...Why he would get rid of a fourth of my Clan to join his is beyond me."
But despite the thought, Frode was still not willing to back down.
He turned to his bodyguards. "You said those fools have a camp out there with all of their supplies stored there, correct?"
One of them nodded. "Aye Chieftain. They even have horses stabled there. Dozens of them."
The Chieftain smirk, lowering his brows. "And which way leads to their camp?"
The bodyguard pointed his finger out, aimed towards the Southeast where the Tribes came marching up from, and almost instantly - the smirk on the Dark Eye's face turned into a wide evil grin.
"Then that is where we shall be going." he said, laughing lightly. "And if we reach their camp first, and take their horses, then victory will turn in our favor! But we must be quick! NOW GO!"
Immediately the Chieftain slapped the side of his horse, causing it to gallop forward as his warriors began following him, sprinting with all they could muster until most of the army was out of sight.
From afar, Hiccup watched this unfold with the others who had shocked looks on their faces along with widened eyes. They did not know what was about to go down, but Hiccup knew exactly what was about to happen.
Astrid arched one of her brows, gazing at the Dark Eye Vikings who started running out of sight. "What are they doing? ...Where in Thor's name are they going?"
Hiccup smirked, staring at Astrid. "I imagine that they are going to our camp. And you know what that means."
The shield maiden's eyes, upon further realization, nearly widened to the most that they could get to. Her surprised expression was the most obvious among the group.
"The horses." she said to herself. "They want to steal our horses… But on the way there they will be-"
Her words immediately failed her as her jaw dropped. She couldn't speak. Only laugh with a heavy breath as she stared back at Hiccup, smiling.
"You scrawny lad!" she laughed, running to his side before giving him a hug around his waist from behind. "You were right! I can't believe it- you were right about this all along!"
Hiccup giggled, nodding his head. "Hey, when am I ever not right? All I can say is that when they are where we want them to be, Magnus is going to give them a Hel of a surprise."
…
An hour or so passed as Frode and his Dark Eye warriors ran across the Grey Plains to the Southeast, but now the terrain was getting more hilly and foggy. Along with that, they were now gong along a road heading into a small valley.
The valley-path they ran along was wide and vast. On both sides they were surrounded by nothing but hills which towered many feet or so above them, but the area itself was unnerving. It was too quiet. Almost as if something, or someone, was waiting for them…
And before the Chieftain knew it, an arrow came shooting down at them from above - hitting one of the warriors in the head directly which caused immediate panic and confusion among the ranks.
"Ambush!" one of them called out in terror, but Frode was eager to stand and fight.
"HOLD!" he shouted, looking up to his right.
Suddenly, volleys of arrows began pummeling down onto them from both sides, and upon looking towards the hills they were able to see dozens of Warsung figures now in plain sight, armed with bows shooting down at them.
Magnus had been waiting for them, and he had been patient.
It was then that out of nowhere, the sound of roars and battle-cries filled the air as Warsung Vikings came running out of the blue, all led by Magnus, Eira, and Sigurd who had their weapons drawn and ready.
Then Hiccup showed himself, carrying his flame-lit blade as his father and friends along with the Dragons and Berkian Vikings followed him from behind, all letting out bellowing war-cries to pump themselves up.
Finally, the Berserkers followed up with Dagur and Heather at the front, leading the way for the mighty Vikings who were by this point put into a frenzy. But now they had something to unleash their bloodlust upon.
From the other side of the valley at the end of the path, the three Tribes ran across to each other, and the Dark Eye Chieftain watched as they formed a long but thick battle line, blocking their path off and leaving them trapped in the valley that the two armies were now about to go head-to-head in.
Hiccup stood at the front of the ranks with his feet spread apart, giving off a taunting smirk to Frode in satisfaction. He first glanced at Toothless, giving a nodded before looking over to his friends who stood on his left and right flanks.
He then spoke up, shouting out "MAKE READY!"
The Archipelago Vikings in response took a step forward, gripping their shields outwards to form a shield wall with their weapons raised up, ready to strike out at the enemy.
From there, one action led to another, and before they knew it - the Dark Eye Chief rose his voice up, and bellowed one word out to all of his men:
"ATTACK!"