Chapter 4

Chief Stoick the Vast meets the Dragon Chief

"Let them in" said a voice said from the other side of the door. When Stoick and Snotlout stepped in they got their first look at Striker the Dragon Chief, and he was rightfully called so as he had large black wings and tail coming from his body, they couldn't see what his face looked like as he wore a mask and hood along with his leather armor. "So, your a shapeshifter" says Stoick in a careful tone. "Yes, have been all my life" replies Hiccup with a lower pitch than his normal one. "How long have you lived here?" asked Stoick "I left my village right after a dragon raid when I was five and found this island and learned from the native dragons and eventually became their alpha" answered Hiccup "I see, you wouldn't know where my son is? He was a shapeshifter as well" asked Stoick.

Hiccup bristled and replied "Even if I did know what became of him, I wouldn't tell you" Stoick who was not happy and also hurt asked "And why not?" "I heard what happened after a large number of your people left to gather more land for your tribe, and from the sound of it your son probably died from the high levels of poison he was aflicted with" answered Hiccup in a disgusted tone "furthermore, you did nothing to help him, and even thought he was going to turn on you" Stoick was ashamed by the fact that his actions towards his son might have doomed Berk. "Yeah, well that doesn't matter now, the chief needs your help with the stinking dragon raids" said Snotlout rudely.

A snarling was heard from off to the side and Stoick and Snotlout saw a black dragon laying there glaring at them "What kind of dragon is that?!" exclaimed Stoick in shock "The Night Furry that used to attack Berk before we captured him" answered Hiccup with a hint of amusement "That's a night furry!" exclaimed Stoick in shock "Yes, and it also what I can become, so don't try anything" answered Hiccup coolly "Aye, I can tell with you having the same wings and tail" said Stoick who had managed to get over his shock. Snotlout was not very happy, he had vowed to kill the night furry and now it appeared that he would not get his chance.

"In any case, if you want to speak to me about the raids come to the great hall later, I have other things I need to take care of first" said Hiccup. Stoick nodded and led a glaring Snotlout away. "Man bud that was an interesting experience" said Hiccup as he sat down with a sigh of relief. "So are you going to help them?" asked Toothless "Of course, just because I was chased off Berk doesn't mean I'm going to let them suffer" answered Hiccup "So are you going to go back to matting?" asked Toothless with a smug look on his face. Hiccup nearly fell out of his seat and exclaimed "Not funny Toothless! That's between me and my mate!" "Calm down Hiccup I was only teasing you" apologized Toothless "In any case I have important paperwork to take care of before I head down to the great hall" said Hiccup as he adjusted himself in his seat

While Stoick was waiting to hear that Striker was at the great hall, he wandered around the town and saw that people from places he never even heard of were walking around, going to various shops and stalls. "This place is quite the trading hub" Stoick said to himself "So, what does that matter?" asked Snotlout with a annoyed tone "Snotlout, this place could help restore Berk's fortunes after the raids have stopped" said Stoick with some annoyance. Snotlout might be the heir as he was family, but he didn't know the first thing about running a village and it drove Stoick nuts with worry on how things were going to be after he steps down. As Stoick was going around he got the feeling he was being watched and would look over his shoulder and sometimes see a strange figure looking at him before darting off somewhere

After an hour or so Stoick heard that Striker was at the great hall having dinner and helping with any issues that people were having. As Stoick came in after gathering his men, he headed over to where Striker was eating. "Excuse me chief" said one of the villagers "Yes?" asked Stiker who had lowered the cloth part of his mask so he could eat. "My dragon keeps chasing my chickens around the farm, what should I do?" answered the man. "You have a nadder right? Then take him fly more often and play with him more and he should calm down" answered Striker. "Thank you sir" thanked the man. Stoick had to wait as a few other people came up and told the chief and his counsel about various issues they had, Striker or one of his counsel members told them how to solve their problem. Stoick also saw the strange figure he had seen watching him from before eating at same table as Striker and his counsel, and now that he could get a good look at the person he could see that the person was female and looked like she didn't live on the island, but somewhere else further north. "Ah, Stoick sorry for the wait, have a village to run" apologized Striker. "It's not a problem, I have to do such things back home myself" said Stoick "So you are having an issue with dragons attacking?" asked the strange woman, who sounded familiar to Stoick. "Aye, the attacks have gotten worse, even after the night furry was captured" answered Stoick "I see, well we have been planing on ending the cause of the attacks for sometime" said Striker "You have? Then why haven't you done anything! I don't want to rule over a pile of rubble" demanded Snotlout. "Pipe down you imprudent child" snapped the woman "That is no way to speak to a chief" "She's right, now apologize" added Stoick. Snotlout grumbled out an apology and walked off to get a drink.

"Sorry about that" apologized Stoick "It's fine, just keep him under control" said Astrid "The reason we haven't done anything yet is because we are to far from the nest to have a proper staging ground" said Striker "and Berk is the closest place to strike" "But since Berk is not part of the alliance we couldn't just come unannounced" added Fishlegs "Alliance? What do you mean?" asked Stoick "Sometime ago I found a large ice nest where our friend here lives" explained Striker has he pointed to the woman "and while she was surprised at my appearance, she was more than happy to lend her knowledge to us, but also told us that she was saving dragons from a mad man" "Mad man? Who are you talking about?" asked Stoick with some fear on his face "Drago Bludfist, he's been raising a dragon army and when I told the other chiefs about him, they all agreed that if we are to stand against him we need to be united" answered Striker grimly. Stoick visibly balanced and asked "Drago Bludfist? Are you sure?" "Yes, it took some convincing on my part to make Striker see that he was indeed beyond help, but he saw the truth fairly quickly" answered the woman. "I believe there is some good in people, but that man is beyond my powers of diplomacy, and I didn't even bother trying to talk to him yet" explained Striker with some sorrow in his voice.

"So why are dragons attacking?" asked Stoick hoping to change the subject. "There's a gigantic dragon known as the Red Death that forces dragons to bring her food, or become food. She also has minor mind control over the dragons that live there as she is an alpha" explained Striker. "So it's either bring food or be food?" asked Stoick "Right, we need to kill her, but the closest place is Berk like we said" answered Fishlegs. "So you need to be able to use Berk's resources so you can attack the nest?" asked Stoick "We can bring our own food and some for the people, but basicly yes" answered Striker "Then what is it I need to do to help end the terror of the Red Death?" asked Stoick with hope "What are you willing to do?" asked Striker critically "I promise to help change Berk to this new way of life you've created even if that means joining your alliance" answered Stoick. "That's a good start Stoick, and I think that after so much bloodshed that the people of Berk will be willing to change" said Striker "Fishlegs bring me the scroll"

Fishlegs got up and left to get the scroll Striker mentioned, and after a few minutes came back holding a large document in his arms. Striker then cleared off a space on the table and rolled out the scroll for Stoick to see. Stoick saw that it had various rules and regulations for the various members of the alliance to follow, they were fairly simple but effective. Stoick also saw that some signatures were already on it and after looking over it for sometime added his signature to it. "I hope that I'm making the right choice" Stoick said to himself. Snotlout was watching from the side and was not happy at all "I don't like this at all, Striker's going to get all the credit for saving Berk and I'll be left with being his lackey with this agreement"

It was then arranged that Striker and his best riders would come to Berk within a month to plan their attack on the Red Death's nest and help Berk adjust to a new way of life. Snotlout decided to take that time to grow resentment in the people so Striker couldn't get what he wanted and possibly get killed by them, he also let a certain deranged chief know about the visit as a backup plan.