Just to announce for a quick A/N:
I will say that for the start of this chapter, it may not seem like it is anything important at all. But I guarantee you that once you read to the end of this chapter, you may probably be mind-blown for what's to come in the next couple of chapters. And it will be a real blast.
But for now let's delve into this one, shall we?
Hiccup and Astrid watched Magnus from the stairs of the Mead Hall as he flew above Dragon's Wake atop his Dragon. The two Vikings smiled, seeing both him and Thorwind fly together through the windy sky of day.
"I am surprised they both got along." began Hiccup. "I'd never think that a Skrill would ever be tamed so easily by someone like Magnus. For such aggressive Dragons, Thorwind proves to be anything but that with Magnus as his rider."
"Aye... Well, at least not in all cases." Astrid nodded. "But still, that Skrill is one powerful Dragon… only question is, how will Magnus ride him without getting shocked?"
"Simple. All Thorwind will do is redirect where he channels his lightning, and therefore he won't strike his Rider. Along with that, I made a few adjustments to Magnus' saddle to help with it."
Astrid's brow arched. "You already made him a saddle? In almost a whole day? I guess that's why you slept late this morning."
"It wasn't a problem." Hiccup shrugged. "Either way, looks like it's doing wonders for him. I mean- just look at how he flies Thorwind like that."
And his words were not exaggerating when he said that. Up in the sky, Magnus twirled from atop Thorwind, as well as perform divebombs, curved turns, and even drops to where the Dragon would fall out of the sky before flying back up right when they neared the ground.
Either way, Hiccup was impressed with the new Dragon Rider.
It wouldn't be too long however until Magnus would come flying back down towards them, as Astrid would point out.
"Well, looks like he's now coming down." she said as they both watched him and Thorwind glide towards them, landing a few feet off before them.
As the older Viking dismounted, Hiccup and Astrid noticed a look of joy and satisfaction on his face despite him sweating and breathing from the intense flight - with the same going for his Dragon even though Thorwind was mostly exhausted.
"Awesome flight, Thorwind!" laughed Magnus as he patted his Dragon. "Perhaps next time we could work more on your drops though. We need to get as close as we can to the enemy when we do those."
"Awesome?" asked Astrid. "That's a new word coming from your mouth."
"Aye. I guess the more I am around Thorwind, the more I see things differently." he shrugged. "For all I know, I could soon be talking like Hiccup."
"Heh, best you try not to though." chuckled Hiccup. "Just be yourself, and do what you do best. Lead your people, enjoy your time with your Dragon and your friends, and of course - enjoy yourself with Eira. You two deserve each other."
"Same with you and Astrid." Magnus gestured in agreement. "...Though I do wonder, where has she been?"
"Eira?" asked Hiccup. "I saw her by the Smithy this morning. I think she said she was looking for you, and said that Hvitserk wanted to see you. I don't know where she is now though, but I think she's-"
"There you are!"
A familiar voice caught the group's attention as they all turned their heads to see Eira coming up the hill with a smile on her face.
She approached Magnus with her arms out as the two young Vikings met in a lovely hug before they both exchanged a quick kiss.
"I was looking for you all morning." she said, patting Magnus' shoulder. "You weren't wandering off, now were you?"
He replied with a light giggle as he shook his head. "Sorry, love. I was busy practicing flight maneuvers with Thorwind here. Hiccup suggested that we get warmed up before flying out tomorrow. The fight against Vlar and Hjalmar will be intense after all."
"That's understandable." she nodded. "But right now, there's something else that needs your attention. Hvitserk would like to see you at your hut."
"What does he need me for?"
"Something about your weapon." she pointed out. "You gave it to him last night for him to work on, remember? You said that you wanted him to engrave it. He's done now though."
His eyes narrowed towards the direction of his hut at the bottom of the hill, almost widened. "If that's the case, then let's go meet with him. I can't wait to see what he has to say. Come, Thorwind."
Magnus and Eira were soon off as Thorwind followed behind, making their short walk down towards their hut which left both Hiccup and Astrid alone.
The two of them looked at each other in embarrassment, not sure of what to say now.
But then Astrid's voice spoke up.
"Um- have you seen our Dragons?"
…
"Alright, so you all know why you're here!" grunted Ruffnut as she paced around the room of the Mead Hall. "One of you took a sip from our Yak milk and ate our breakfast, and we wanna know who it was!"
Her finger pointed towards Toothless, Stormfly, and Hookfang who were all grouped in front of her, looking curiously and confused at her, almost as if they thought it was some joke.
"There is no doubt that it was one of you!" Tuffnut replied in agreement. "Either one of you admit it, or we'll force you to talk!"
Snotlout, who stood leaning against a wall, shook his head in disbelief as he eyed the Twins.
"Do you two muttonheads require an elaboration?" he asked. "None of them could have eaten your breakfast or dranken your stupid Yak milk. Especially not Hookfang."
"And what makes you think that Snotlout?" asked Ruffnut.
"Yeah!" Tuffnut nodded. "What makes you think that your Dragon could be innocent?"
Snotlout sighed. "Firstly, Hookfang would not be guilty of anything if all he did was eat some damned roasted fish - as you two said it was. And secondly, Hookfang was with me for the whole morning. What reason would you have for him, and by extent me, to come here?"
The Twins gazed at Snotlout with a look that almost seemed like they were busted, or as if they were trying to think up some sort of excuse.
Tuffnut looked around the room in embarrassment. "Well… we- uh…"
"Ruff, Tuff! What the Hel are you doing!?"
Astrid's voice bellowed throughout the room, catching both the Twins in an embarrassing position as they stared at Hiccup who came walking in with her. Along with that, it caught Stormfly's attention as she immediately went over to her Rider.
Hiccup's voice rose up. "Toothless. Come here, Bud."
The Night Fury gladly stood to his paws, quickly walking over to Hiccup's side whilst he gave off a glare towards the Twins before he sat down next to his Rider.
Hiccup sighed. "Ruff, Tuff, may I please ask why you have our Dragons here - and how exactly you got them here?"
Ruff gave a grunt, crossing her arms. "Fine! If you must know, we used fish to lure them here because Tuff and I suspect that one of them ate from our breakfast, and drank our Yak milk!"
"It's really nothing Hiccup." said Snotlout. "They're just wasting their time doing random stuff that's not in our interest, and nor is it important."
"Not important!?" asked Tuffnut. "How would you feel if someone else stole your roasted fish and-"
"And maybe you could just cook up another, Tuffnut." answered Hiccup. "Seriously, it's not that big or important."
"Yeah." Astrid nodded. "And besides - for all we know, it could have just been your Dragon who ate it out of hunger."
As her finger pointed towards the corner of the room, towards a sleeping Barf and Belch, the Zippleback let out a gassing burp from both mouths which made a small flame erupt as a result, causing both Ruff and Turf to quickly get furious as their eyes looked back at one another.
"This your fault! You fed our breakfast to Barf and Belch!" shouted Ruffnut.
"Me!? Maybe it was you!" spat back Tuffnut. "You're the one who wasn't hungry to begin with I bet! You just wanted to Loki me for Yak dung!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Uh-huh!"
The Twins, now fully infuriated, began bumping heads into one another as their helmets clashed. They pushed against each other like bulls, and gave off childish slaps and punches at each other out of no reason. To the others in the room, it was all over nothing.
"Well, this is boring." said Snotlout as he stepped away from the wall. "I'm going to go feed Hookfang. After all of this nonsense he is probably hungry. Come on, Fangster."
The Dragon happily obliged, walking out the large doors of the Mead Hall whilst leaving the Twins sissy fighting over nothing.
Hiccup and Astrid then back at each other, shrugging in unison.
"Well, at least Fishlegs and Meatlug weren't involved in this." said Hiccup, glancing back at the Twins. "For now, let's just leave them be. Sooner or later they will stop fighting out of exhaustion or boredom. And besides, I have something that I've been wanting to show you."
"Really?" asked Astrid. "What is it?"
"You'll see. For now, let's get to the Smithy."
...
Astrid stood there, feeling the wind from outside hit her back whilst watching Hiccup rummage through the racks of weapons that were all sitting neat and organized. The young Viking was clearly looking for something.
"Hiccup, what are you looking for?" she asked, glancing around the large room of the Smithy.
"It's… something I worked on for a while now." he said, struggling as he looked through each weapon. "And I made it for you."
"Hm… And you're saying it's something special?"
He nodded. "Aye, and I worked quite hard on it. I assure you that it'll be something unexpecting once I show you what it-"
His hand suddenly fell on a familiar grip. As Hiccup took a closer look, pushing the other weapons out of the way, he smiled upon the familiar site of his work; made by his hands which would pass over into Astrid's. The large blade of the weapon glimmered from the light of the torches around, and the smooth wooden hilt with the initials A.H. engraved into it made him smile.
He tilted his head, still grinning. "Close your eyes, Astrid. This one's going to be a surprise for you."
Astrid gave a nod, closing her eyes shut whilst hearing Hiccup's movements until she soon heard his footsteps slowly pacing across the stone floor towards her. He then came to a stop, standing a few feet in front of her.
"Alright. Now hold your hands out - palms opened."
Once again she nodded, holding both of her opened hands out with her palms facing up. After a short moment, she felt something smooth and wooden fall into them, and as her eyes opened, she was beyond being surprised.
In her hands was a brand new axe, made just for her.
"What...? But- I didn't know th- how did you know that I wanted…"
"I couldn't bother but make a new one for you, Astrid." he said, giving an innocent but lovely smirk. "I remembered your axe was taken away by the enemy after they won at the battle of Skyrdok. And so, after some time passed, I decided to make a new one for you. It took some time, but after mixing the best metals I could find in the best way possible - I made this strong masterpiece just for you, to show how much I care for you. You deserve it, milady."
Astrid couldn't hold her feelings. She laid the axe down near her feet before leaping herself into Hiccup and landing her arms around him with a surprising hug. To her, it was quite overwhelming.
"Babe, this is why I love you."
Hiccup smiled, staring down at her. "Same here. But isn't it a bit too early for celebrating?"
"Maybe, but maybe not." a familiar voice spoke, causing them both to jump and separate as they turned towards the entrance of the Smithy.
Magnus stood at the door, giving out a muffled chuckle. "Was I interrupting? Sorry."
Hiccup shook his head, looking at him - slightly confused. "N- No, it's nothing... But why exactly are you here, Magnus? I thought you were with Hvitserk and Eira, or even Thorwind."
"I was, but after Hvitserk left to go see Sigurd, Eira insisted that I come here to see you... to show you what I have with me. Long and behold, it's finally ready."
"It?" both Hiccup and Astrid said in unison.
"Aye." nodded Magnus. "It."
From his grey cloak, he grabbed ahold of a sheathed weapon that Hiccup immediately recognized just by looking down at its hilt which was now painted light blue. It was Magnus' old sword and weapon; now reforged and made anew.
Hiccup gazed upon it, eyes widened as a strong wind blew into the room from outside.
"I call it Nördar, the Wind of the North-West; forged from the shards of the weapon you once carried, Hiccup. This blade from top to bottom is engraved with runes that are blessed by Thor for every fight and battle yet to come. I thought that you should be among the first to see it."
"Really?" asked Hiccup. "Well enough with the speech then. Show us what it's made of."
Magnus gave a firm nod - reaching over to the sword's hilt, and with a powerful but quick pull he heaved it out of its sheath, showing the weapon in its full glory with the blade pointing up as the winds from outside once more blew into the room.
The runes on the sword read out clearly in Norse; 'Glory for Thor.'
"Wow. You really weren't joking when you said you'd go that far." Hiccup said, glancing at both the blade and Magnus who gave an prideful look towards his reforged weapon.
The young Heir then crossed his arms, staring back at both Astrid and Magnus.
"Well then... are you guys ready for what's to come?"
...
The air was filled with the un-easeful and restless scent of war as the mid-day sun barely shone through the snowy clouds. Smoke rose from the large stone chimneys of the Iron Foundry as forges and smithies from inside were working desperately - almost endlessly.
Vlar, who stood from atop a cliff with Hjalmar at his side, glanced down at the large gates of the mighty Fortress, gazing at all the warriors and siege weapons that guarded it.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" the Warlord asked. "Beyond those impenetrable gates stands one of the mightiest Viking forces that King Ivar's Great Army has ever had - ready to be sent out. Soon, they will flood out of this Foundry like a tide, and we will march together through these hills towards our enemy in the Southeast before we go to face that scrawny weakling; Hiccup Haddock."
"In Ivar's name..."
"In Ivar's name indeed." chuckled Hjalmar. "Once we first get our hands on that rebelling pig, I will put his head on a pike before we march South to face that nuisance Hiccup. He's been on our tails for far too long."
Vlar nodded as he crossed his arms, tilting his head closer to Hjalmar. "He's done more than that ever since he's continued waging his war against us. With Karvein dead, we are now on our own until King Ivar returns. We cannot call for reinforcements from Kattegat."
The Broken Axe Chieftain raised a brow as he kept his right hand running against the blade of his prosthetic axe.
"But that won't stop us from fighting Haddock, now will it?"
Vlar shook his head. "Of course not. Even with their Dragons, our armies go beyond theirs. We have cannons, better equipment, and much more than what Haddock could have ever dreamt of... And of course, we still have men that are willing to fight and die for us. For Ivar, and for Odin. Together, we shall-"
His words immediately cut off as the loud sound of forges stopping and metal plates clanging caught his attention. His eyes fell towards the chimneys that were not too long ago lifting smoke up into the sky.
The Foundry stopped working completely…
Which meant everything was ready
Vlar grinned with an evil look, staring down towards the gates of his Fortress that began to open slowly with a loud scraping and grinding sound.
He took a step forward, getting a closer look. "It's time." he said. "Now the real march to victory begins."
The Warlord reached down towards the side of his belt, unstrapping a horn from his waist as he rose it up to his mouth, and with a mighty blow he sounded the horn.
The noise it gave out bellowed and echoed throughout the area around the Iron Foundry, and at first it just seemed like nothing was happening…
But then they heard it.
The sound of boots stomping and marching gave way as both of the Chieftains' eyes fixated on the many figures coming through and out of the gates of the large Fortress in all of their glory.
Before them, an army of armored Vikings and Rus' warriors marched out of the Foundry in their thousands, representing both their Clans and their allied Tribes that still fought for Ivar. However, this was not just a regular army.
It was a legion.
As they continued flooding out of the Fortress, there were Devastators and dozens of other siege weapons at their side. But even after all of the minutes it took for them to empty out, it didn't finish there.
Vlar's gaze turned up towards the skies as nearly a dozen armored and winged figures flew over the heads of the massive legion with Riders on their backs. The beasts were all chained and bound to their will.
After seeing them for what they were, Vlar's eyes glanced back down at the army before he and Hjalmar mounted up on their horses to ride off, still watching as all six thousand warriors continued marching out into the distance.
"And so the end comes... and with it, Ivar's victory nears…"
And now things are about to get real...