Just wanted to pop a quick note and say that for this chapter, we will once again go back to Berk's POV before once again switching back to Hiccup's POV, but I will say that this will go on for a certain number of chapters until one of the final major battles - however, that will be something to see soon!
Now without further ado, let's continue!
The horn blew throughout the village of Berk as warriors and citizens who willing heard the call to arms marched to the Arena by the hundreds.
Their motivation from Gobber's speeches the other day had now set their minds to focus on accomplishing one sole purpose for Berk, and one alone:
To train and bond with Dragons, and end the war that Ivar began which nearly brought ruin upon them. By extent, this would bring a new era of peace to the whole Archipelago.
But even with such big support, it was clear that it would not be an easy goal to accomplish, especially since not many of the people understood training Dragons as well as Hiccup.
From above, Gobber and the Council watched as the warriors and townsfolk poured into the Arena like a tide, but as the old smithy gazed down at them, he shook his head and grunted in a sigh.
"Quite tha crowd… but they aren't prepared fer what's ta come, and have much ta learn... They're not ready."
"Not ready?" asked Spitelout. "If they're not ready now then when will they be ready? We need to train as many Dragons as we can and as soon as possible, and either way we still need to go to the aid of those young lads and lasses - and Snotlout! My son is-"
"Fer Gods' sake! Did ye not say tha' yer son was a valiant warrior, Spitelout?!" glared Gobber. "Even without yer 'elp, he slew more foes than ye ever had, especially when he fought at tha Battle o' Shattered Spears against tha Murderous Tribe. Ya're doubtin' yerself an' ye are too hasty."
"Aye, he's right." nodded Sven. "Plus, if we act too hasty, we could still risk our people. And besides, these three hundred men and women who are willing to fight for us cannot alone dent the Great Heathen Army which has almost tens of thousands. We still need time, and we need Dragons."
Spitelout sighed, nodding. "Fine… How much time do we need?"
"At least a month o' so, maybe less than tha'. But by month's end, I expect every single Viking here ta own a trained Dragon. I will teach 'em all myself how ta train one."
"Seems like a bold task." replied Mulch. "But there's a small problem. We don't know where 'them Dragons in this blasted Archipelago can be found. For all we know, they could be anywhere."
"Maybe even here?" asked Bucket. "As long as they don't bite, I'm fine with it!"
"That's why we're going to train them, Bucket." the shorter Viking sighed. "But even if we search Berk for them, it could still take days for us to-"
"Tha's why we'll split up when we're ready ta search." said Gobber as he crossed his arms. "But first, ye'll need help me teach these eagered lads and lasses how ta properly handle a Dragon. What class they want, what ta expect from them, an' so forth."
"And where will we search?" asked Sven. "As far as we know, there are little to no Dragons to be found around here. And the ones we find here won't be enough."
"We'll search fer them startin' in tha Northern oceans. If anything, there's a big chance tha' we'll find them there… but either way, ye all get tha point. Aye?"
The group of Vikings nodded at Gobber, responding with an "Aye." in unison.
"Very good then." he said as he spun his head to face back towards the hundreds gathered down below. "...Right then, we'd better not keep them waitin'. I say we get down ta business. We still have a war ta win."
…
The next day...
It came just like that. The sound of thunder boomed in the distance over the forests of Blackwood as if Thor hammered Mjolnir down into the earth, but not before a few flashes of lightning brightened everything around Hiccup.
And then, his sight settled in as the rain continued to lightly fall.
From atop the stairs of the Mead Hall, Hiccup along with Toothless gazed over Ravengard; able to see nearly the entire village from where he stood, as well as the trees off in the distance that blew to the breezing wind of the rain.
He sighed, giving a light exhale to the comforting chill as he warmingly wrapped his furred cloak around him like a blanket.
He then nodded to himself, looking down at Toothless who sat watching the view.
"Amazing, isn't it Bud?" he asked the Night Fury, catching a glance from him. "We're so far away from home now, that it seems like we could keep on going forever: Just flying further and further, you know?"
Toothless crooned, bowing his head in agreement as he blinked his eyes. He was clearly as interested in the view as Hiccup was.
The lad lightly chuckled, smiling.
"Who knows though?" he asked. "Maybe Dragons once used to go out this far hundreds of years ago… before any of us were here. Heh, wouldn't that be a thing."
Once again he laughed in amusement as he continued staring out into the distance, watching the rain fall and the trees blow to the wind. For a moment, his mind seemed lost to the view.
Just then however, a pair of footsteps caught his attention. And as Hiccup turned around, he saw Hvitserk walking towards him with his white furred cloak wrapped around himself.
He gave a nod to the young man.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" the Jarl asked as he stopped next to Hiccup. "Years ago after Ivar gave up the war in Britannia, I wanted nothing more than to find a place to in settle and call home. I'd had enough of war by then... and so did many others who became eagered to follow me."
"So you came here with them to find a new home?" asked Hiccup.
Hvitserk smirked. "Aye. We separated ourselves from civilization, and from those who still craved war. So, we marched from Kattegat by the hundreds into the unknown, and we came upon this place. It seemed so perfect, that the people wanted to settle here."
"Huh, I can imagine it." Hiccup replied, grinning at the thought of it. "You said it yourself; it's a beautiful sight. Tall pines trees, distant fogs, light rain… Hel, even the land is more than suitable. It's no wonder you and your people were able to survive here and tame the wildlife."
"And it is also the reason why this village is so large." he stated. "Eventually, the population of Ravengard exploded as more were born, and more and more kept coming here who were willing to help make a place for our people. Hundreds even swore their fealty to fight for me, thus it is why our Clan has decent numbers…"
Hvitserk then softly exhaled, placing a hand on his forehead.
"...But with the rising Great Army threatening my people, it just goes to show how small we are. They and their Germanian allies will stop at nothing to subjugate my Clan, if not destroy it."
He then turned his gaze to Hiccup, looking directly into his eyes.
"If anything, you are our last hope. You and your Dragon."
Hiccup arched a brow. "Well, it's not just me alone. It's also-"
Suddenly, the sound of two pairs of footsteps stomping caught both of their attentions, and as they turned around, they saw Astrid and Fishlegs coming towards them as if they were in a haste.
"Hiccup." began Astrid. "We just came back from scouting, but we found something that you might want to check out."
He spun around to face her, giving her his attention. "What is it, Astrid? What did you guys find?"
"A Dragon." spoke Fishlegs. "We found it laying in the woods, but it's not alone. A group of Barbarians managed to snare it down to the ground with bolas, and now they're planning to cage it and take it to Karvein. It's in a rather deep situation right now."
"...This is not good at all." Hiccup said as he motioned his hand for Toothless to stand. "If Karvein gets his hand on that Dragon then he could forcefully bind it to his will and make it burn Ravengard. We have to get to it before we're too late. Fishlegs, where is it located?"
"To the East, near one of the rivers… but Hiccup, I wouldn't necessarily say that this Dragon would burn Ravengard."
"Why's that?" he asked.
"Because this Dragon doesn't breathe fire." stated Astrid. "It's a Strike class Dragon, and it's one you've seen before… but not up close. Remember?"
Hiccup's mind instantly recalled back to what he saw in the Book of Dragons. Obviously it was not a Night Fury since he had so far not seen another one, thus it only left room for one possible Dragon.
It was quite clear now to what she was referring to.
"Wait, are you saying that Dragon is a…?"
...
They saw the Dragon from afar, struggling to move as it shook and roared from the bolas that kept it down. To Hiccup, it sent a shiver down his spine, but it also intrigued him.
Near him, Magnus, Eira, and Astrid stood hidden with their weapons drawn, along with Toothless who was accompanying them.
"A Skrill…" he shuddered. "So that's the Dragon that Karvein wants for his army?"
Astrid nodded. "Yup, and I can say for certain that it's putting up quite a resistance against those Barbarians."
Voices shouted loudly in the distance as a group of eight Barbarians and their captain stood guard around the Dragon, with two of them attempting to hold it down.
The captain grunted, looking at the two warriors who were making a poor effort at trying to pin down the beast.
"Halté es rünter you fools, hold it down!" he shouted. "If this Dragon gets away then Karvein will have our heads!"
"We're trying, sir!" one of them replied. "This damned beast is no push over!"
"Then show it that neither are you." the captain growled. "Now increase your efforts!"
Astrid, who stood from behind a tree, gripped the hilt of her blade tightly. "Those fools don't know what they're doing… We need to get rid of them, and now."
"But if we show ourselves along with Toothless, will they stand and fight, or run?" questioned Eira as she looked over at Magnus. "It's your call Chieftain, what do we do?"
Magnus arched a brow, gazing back at Hiccup who gave a nod of approval for him to make the first move.
"...I will strike first, then the rest of you will follow, and finally Toothless will attack last... Alright, now get ready."
A moment of silence followed as he just stood there, watching the Barbarians hold down the Skrill with their captain barking orders at them. But it seemed like Magnus wasn't going to yet make a move.
Then, something happened.
The sound of metal whirling caught the Barbarians' attentions as they spun to face the direction where Hiccup and the others hid, but unaware of their presence.
The captain took a step forward. "Huh? What is that noise-!?"
His words came to an immediate halt. An axe from Magnus was lobbed into his head and dug into his skull, and instantly it caused him to fall on his back to the ground, dead and lifeless.
The Germanic warriors gazed down on their now dead captain in horror, and before they knew it, an arrow flew from Eira's bow as it shot one of the warriors through the neck.
"AMBUSH!" one of them shouted. "To arms, to arms!"
The Barbarians unsheathed their weapons, ready to react and combat against their ambushers, but once again they were struck with another surprising attack as Magnus came rushing in towards one of them.
His blade rose above his head as he brought it clean down onto them, slicing his chest with a bloody mark before stabbing them directly through their heart.
Then, Hiccup and Astrid made their turn.
The two of them charged out from hiding with their swords tightly gripped, and they both working in unison as they slammed themselves into two other Barbarians, knocking them down onto the ground before they could even react, and with a quick strike through their chests from the young Vikings, they finished them off.
Now it was just four Barbarians left standing. Their axes and swords shook and trembled in tension from the surprising attack, but they were not yet willing to back down.
One of them spat, taunting Hiccup. "You think a cowardly blow makes you the better warrior of this fight, scrawny runt!? Let's see how long you will last when you fight against us who have-"
"Enough of your chat, Barbarian!" Hiccup interrupted as his head tilted to the side, bellowing out a command.
"Plasma blast, Toothless! NOW!"
The Night Fury jumped out from behind the trees. His mouth quickly lit up with purple fire just as Hiccup, Astrid, Magnus and Eira leaped out of the way in time.
With one blast, Toothless sent the Barbarians flying back in flames as they rolled on the ground in pain and slowly burnt to death, with not even the falling rain being enough to put out Toothless' fire.
After their screams stopped, Hiccup and the others recovered, standing to their feet and dusting themselves off as their eyes fell upon the bloodied and burnt bodies of the dead Barbarians.
"This was a gruesome ambush, I must say." said Astrid as her eyes gazed over towards the Skrill that laid pinned down. "But we're still not done here."
"Aye, we're not." nodded Magnus. "Allow me to do the honors."
He unsheathed a dagger from his boot, turning to face the pinned down Skrill who was now looking up at Magnus, but it looked at him with neutral eyes. He then proceeded to walk over to it, making each step forward slow until he finally stood before the mighty Dragon.
Hiccup, Astrid, and Eira watched with interest, wondering how the Dragon would react to Magnus, or even what it would do after it was let loose.
Magnus kneeled to the Skrill's level, staring down at each of the bolas as he began cutting at their ropes, and with a final cut on the last bola, the creature was free and let loose.
He then slowly sheathed his dagger back into his boot, straightening up to his feet as the Skrill began to stand up to the Viking's level. Both of their eyes were now locked directly onto each other's, but the Dragon still did not seem aggressive.
It continued staring at Magnus with neutral eyes, inspecting him from head to toe without much of a reaction.
Curiously however, he held his hand out to the Skrill, slowly closing his hand in onto it's head without being hasty. In response it backed up, letting out a light but loud huff of air from it's nostrils which made Magnus jump back.
And before he knew it, the Dragon swiftly flew off with a loud roar that echoed throughout the woods.
As the group watched it ascend into the air, a great flash of lightning followed as the Skrill's body became enveloped in electricity, and when the bright flash cleared, they gazed back up at the sky.
It was gone.
Hiccup rose a brow, looking over at Magnus. "What was that?"
"I- I don't know." he replied. "For some reason it didn't want to attack me. It's eyes didn't look at all aggressive, and out of the blue I just… felt the urge to put my hand out."
"Hmm… maybe you were trying to bond with it?" asked Astrid who was still gazing up.
Hiccup shook his head. "That's impossible." he replied. "Skrills are among the most dangerous Dragons out there from what I read in Bork's notes. How could he-"
"Maybe it is possible." Eira stated. "After all, we don't know everything about Dragons, and there is still so much for us to learn. If anything, perhaps that Skrill sensed something in Magnus that none of us have."
As her idea began to sink in, Hiccup's eyes gazed down at Toothless. His mind spun with interest in Eira's statement.
"Wait- you mean like how Toothless and I with our bond are unlike the others?"
She nodded. "Exactly. Why do you think he chose you and no one else? You have a trait that no other Viking on Berk has, or even in the world for that matter. What makes you two special is who you are… so maybe something is growing between that Skrill and Magnus."
"It's hard to say." answered Magnus. "That Skrill has only just met me, and Hiccup and Toothless have known each other for nearly two months."
Astrid nodded. "That may be true, but I bonded with Stormfly the day we met each other. Unexpectedly, I found her rolling in the grass that day when I found her. It was a bit strange."
"Well, then who knows." shrugged Hiccup. "Maybe you two are off to some good start. It could be that you're-"
His words were suddenly cut off as the sound of a distant horn caught everyone's attention. As their heads turned to the west, they heard it get louder and louder before a series of familiar horns then followed.
Hiccup's brows rose with surprise. "Well, it looks like I was right. One day passes and they're already here."