Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of 'How To Train Your Dragon'. The movie belongs to Dreamworks while the books belong to Cressida Cowell.
Hi guys! Thank you all for your reviews! So here's another chapter for you. Not much in here except for some catching up with the current affairs on Berk.
Well, hope you don't get bored.
Chapter Two: At The Break of Dawn
Three months later...
Silence settled over the village of Berk. It was nighttime and the weather was clear, exposing countless of stars that dotted the night sky. The hustle and bustle of daytime Berk was long over, due to the fact that the traders have long since sailed away from the port, and the Vikings have retreated to the comfort of their own homes, along with their dragons.
That was one of the drastic changes that have occurred on this island.
The village was just starting to get used to the dragons. Having fought them for such a long time and believing that they were evil, it was a very tough change. Especially when the people are a bunch of stubborn meatheads that normally refuses to change anything. In the beginning, it was tough. However, over the months, along with Hiccup's and Stoick's insistence, the Vikings of the island had no choice but to accept the dragons as their new neighbours. Of course, there were some people who did not want to embrace the change and chose to hurt the dragons instead. Soon, an anti-dragon protest group emerged, earning Stoick's attention. He had to impose a new law that forbade anyone to harm the dragons, with exile as a punishment. Eventually the enmity between the humans and the dragons died out.
Berk was still silent. Except for the occasional crowing of crows and the gruntings of various dragons throughout the village. The tranquility could have been maintained for the rest of the night. That is, until a scream pierced the night.
Hiccup's breathing came in quick, sharp intakes. His heart was pounding furiously and beads of sweat was rolling down his face, collecting at the bottom of his chin and finally dropping with shallow and barely audible thuds on the bed. The young Viking had a nightmare once again. A frequent occurrence ever since the battle with the Red Death.
The nightmares always started with him and Toothless flying over the sea, and both of them were enjoying themselves very much. Then, a storm always interferes with the dream. That would almost always be followed by a bolt of lightning that would strike the metallic connections that were present on the saddle. They would both be sent plummeting to the ground, which was hundreds of feet below them. Somehow, before they made contact with the ground, the scene would dissolve and transform into something else. Sometimes it would be the re-enactment of the scene where Hiccup fell into the explosion caused by the Green Death, other times it would be seeing Toothless lying by his side on the ground, suffering from fatal injuries and surrounded by a pool of his own blood.
The worst part was, Hiccup could do nothing to help his dragon friend.
He was only able to watch by the sidelines. To watch his friend get tortured by masked individuals. The masked people wielded all sorts of weapons, raging from swords to evil-looking sickles. Each time the weapons buried themselves into the dragon's hide, Hiccup screamed. He cried, he wept. He even tried to stretch out his hands in a desperate attempt to get to the masked individuals, to grab their them, to stop them from torturing Toothless any further.
The dreams would normally end here, with Hiccup sitting straight up in his bed and surrounded by a pool of sweat.
That was exactly what happened moments ago.
One moment, he was seeing Toothless being struck by a hammer and the dragon roared in agony, as if he were asking for Hiccup's help. Then, the next moment as he reached out his arms, he found himself sitting on his own bed, drenched in his own sweat and staring out of the window.
Looking to his left, he saw the black dragon curled up into a ball, sleeping peacefully. Hiccup had to reach out his hand to touch Toothless' snout to determine the dragon's existence. As he did so, he found that his left leg was not responding. Of course, it had been amputated. Hiccup would miss his good old leg dearly. In its place was a rather odd metallic leg with a suspension system. The artificial leg was attached to Hiccup's real leg, and it was connected through a system of buckles. At first, the shock of losing his leg was very great. Hiccup nearly cried when he woke up from his coma. His first reaction had been "What?", then it changed to "M… my leg."
However, he decided that there would be no point in crying over spilt milk. He had deserved this. He was the reason Toothless had lost his tail fin. Now they were equal. They were both cripples.
But, if they were united. It was a different story indeed. Together, the duo were able to take flight.
Slowly, over the months, the shock of being an amputee wore off. Granted, he wasn't as agile or as fast with his legs as of late. Hindered by the loss of his leg, he wasn't able to run with Toothless anymore. However, he was still able to operate the artificial tail fin, thanks to several modifications he had made.
As his father had put it, "With great victory, comes great sacrifice."
There certainly had been a great victory. The Red Death had been defeated, and the dragons have been freed from slavery. For the first time since Berk was founded, the Vikings coexisted with the dragon in harmony. No wars, no raids.
The price to pay was the loss of a young boy's leg.
Sometimes Hiccup was angry at his father for not listening to him when the situation could have been salvaged. But, alas, that was not the case. Stoick the Vast had decided to carry on with his "Grand Plan" and assaulted the Dragons' Nest with an army of a thousand strong… and Toothless, chained up and left to die on a burning ship.
If only Stoick had given the boy's opinion a damn, then his son would not have to suffer the consequences. Only after the battle did Stoick realise that he had failed his son.
Luckily for him, Hiccup was a forgiving person. He rarely held a grudge… unless the person really deserves it.
The boy rolled to the edge of his bed and touched Toothless' snout. The dragon grunted. However, that was all Hiccup needed. He just wanted to know that his companion was still alive, still breathing, still shooting innocent and cute looks.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Frantic and heavy footsteps emanated from outside the door to Hiccup's room. The boy cringed as he heard the sound. It could only mean that his father was hurrying up the stairs towards his son's room. The door flew open and in came Stoick, wearing a worried look on his face. Toothless was taken by surprise and he shot right up, snarling. Then he saw Stoick and relaxed a little.
"Hiccup!" he exclaimed involuntarily. His green eyes scanned the room before falling upon Hiccup's face. It was pale, like he was sick or something.
"Hiccup, what happened? I thought I heard you screaming. Nightmares again?"
Stoick had known about the Nightmares all along. Hiccup had told him about them one night. At first, Stoick thought nothing about it. However, the nightmares increased in frequency, and so did Stoick's level of worry.
He had consulted the healers about it, but they weren't of much help. Out of desperation, Stoick brought Hiccup to see Gothi, the village elder. That, unfortunately, was also in fruition. They still could not find the cause of these nightmares.
After a while, Hiccup started to grow cold to every one in the village, and would often try avoid taking about The Accident. He even refused to talk to his own father. Becoming short-tempered and snappy at times, he rarely joked nowadays.
"Outta my way, ya beast."
Striding over to Hiccup's bedside, Stoick knelt down on his knees and supported the boy's head with his huge arms. He looked at his son, eyes full of worry and concern. Toothless nudged the boy's head with his snout, albeit gently.
"Son, are you alright?" he spoke with in a tone that failed to hide his fear.
Hiccup tried to brush aside Stoick's arms but failed, then he said in an irritated tone, "I'm fine, Dad."
"I am just worried, son."
"Yeah, whatever."
Pulling the bed sheet over his body, Hiccup rolled over such that his back was facing his father. He, however, wasn't sleeping. In fact, the boy did not want to go back to sleep, for that would mean another few hours of nightmares, and he did not want to experience that. Finally, he heard Stoick sighing and walking out of his room through the door.
Mrrrp…
Turning around, he saw that Toothless was staring at him through those huge, expressive eyes. Hiccup could not help but smile at the innocent look.
"I'm so glad I have you, Toothless."
Two hours later…
"WHAT!"
A certain atmosphere of tension had settled over the Vikings that were gathered in the chamber that was positioned just off the Meade hall. There could not have been more then ten of them squeezed into the room. They were mostly Vikings approaching their forties, with a muscular build and massive arms. However, all of them flinched when Stoick roared out in anger.
"How could this happen?" he bellowed.
No one seemed eager to answer that question. There was silence until a Viking stepped out of the group. He had blue eyes and blonde hair, and was rather plump for a Viking. His wooden stump of a leg made a clunking noise as he walked.
"No idea. I just heard from the messenger that Brynjar got killed by the Romans." Gobber the Belch announced.
Stoick's threshold for rage had reached its limit. He could have brought down the entire Meade hall with that sort of fury but forced himself to keep down his anger.
Stay calm. Getting angry isn't going to help.
Sighing, the chieftain sat down in the wooden stool, his weight causing it to creak. Silence hung in the air for a good few minutes before the red-bearded man spoke.
"He was a good spy." he began.
For the past few months, Stoick have had an uneasy feeling about the Romans. They had depended on the Romans for their money, in other words, protection fees. It was a mutual relationship. The Vikings would protect the Empire of Rome from the dragons and in exchange for that, the Romans would give them money. Speaking of which, it was a very large sum of money.
However, now that the dragon problems have been quelled, there was no longer a need for the Vikings to protect the Romans from attacks anymore. The chieftain initially thought that it was excellent. The Romans would continue paying them the protection fees for a protection that wasn't even necessary. Good. That was until the rumors started spreading. Somehow, news leaked out that the village of Berk was living in harmony with the beasts.
Stoick was aware that the rumors have spread as far as the capital of Rome, and even beyond. When that happened, the Romans started to get more and more suspicious of the Vikings. The last time the Romans had delivered the protection fees, which was in the dead of night seven months ago, they almost had a bloody exchange.
That night had been a very dark one. The sky was overcast and as a result, no stars were visible. Stoick and his trusted lieutenants were gathered at the dock, waiting for a wooden ship to arrive, delivering its expected payload of money. The Vikings have hidden the dragons and told every family to keep their pets quiet. This was the first time the Romans were coming to Berk that was inhabited by dragons, and he did not want to attract too much attention.
He watched as a silhouette of a ship made itself known on the horizon. It would not be too long before the ship would arrive at the docks. He signalled for Friðrik to come forth as Friðrik was the only person present that could speak Latin.
The ship stopped by the jetty and someone onboard threw a rope that landed on the wooden planks with a soft thud. Rushing over to pull the rope, Stoick tied it to a wooden pole and stood back, straightening his beard to make himself look presentable.
Two men emerged from the cabin of the boat and stepped up to the jetty, with a look of disdain on their face. They were followed by two other men who were carrying sacks that looked like they contained gold. The two men in the front, both dressed in a bleached toga, greeted them, albeit rather unwillingly and Stoick sent Friðrik to converse with them.
"We're here to deliver the payment." said the man standing on the right.
"How much?" enquired the Viking.
"300 aureus, 20 denarii, 3 sestertii and 70 dupondii." the Roman said. Friðrik looked taken aback and stared at the man for a few moments before continuing.
"But that's one-third the usual amount!" Friðrik exclaimed. The Roman simply laughed. His partner spoke for him.
"We've got orders from our superiors that we aren't supposed to give you so much money. He suspects that something fishy is going on."
"Who's your superior, then?"
"We do not speak about him very often. He prefers to operate in secrecy. Paranoid, that one."
And with that, they turned their backs against the two very confused Vikings and promptly left for the boat, their togas billowing in the wind.
Friðrik had told Stoick all about the conversation he had with the Romans. That unnerved the chief. Someone was plotting against them. But who? Even the two Romans had refused to speak of him. Who could have held such a high position in the Roman court? The Viking shuddered at the thought of the person being the Roman emperor. Hence, he had enlisted the help of a fellow Viking to spy on the Romans.
The spy, Brynjar, had provided him with valuable information. He had traced the source of the rumors to a fishing village not far off the city of Athena, and had calculated that the rumors would probably reach the Roman Imperial Court not long after. The last time he had communicated with Stoick through messenger pigeons, he had managed to pinpoint a Roman magistrate who had heard of the rumor. After that first stalk though, the magistrate grew more paranoid of his surroundings and became cynical, according to Brynjar. After that, he was never heard of again.
"So what do we do now? With our spy lost." a Viking asked, shaking Stoick out of his reverie. The chief stood up from his chair, walking around the chamber and stroking his chin, thinking of the appropriate course of action. He had a few choices. He could send another spy, or he could let the matter rest. The first one seemed risky, as the cover of the first spy had been so easily broken. Also, he could not afford to lose another Viking. Fortunately, a Viking stepped up and gave Stoick a suggestion of what he should do, before the chief's head exploded.
"Perhaps we should just leave matters as it is." he said. Another man looked absolutely appalled.
"What? You mean do nothing?" he cut in.
"Yes."
"But… but this is serious. If the Roman emperor finds out about this, this could very well be the end of Berk."
"I think that its best to wait. Let it… unfold. Then, we come up with the appropriate course of action."
A murmur of approval passed through the group of Vikings, even Stoick felt so.
"So it is agreed?"
The Vikings passed a unanimous decision to stick to the plan. The chief gave a slight nod before dismissing the crowd of Vikings. Sighing, he regained his seat on the stool once again, so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't even realise that Gobber was standing next to him.
"Are yeh alright?" he asked, concerned.
Stoick did not known if he should tell Gobber the truth about Hiccup's mental health or not, but he finally decided against it.
"I'm fine." he lied.
However, he was far from fine. Very far away from it indeed.
End of chapter two.
All right guys, the part where Hiccup and Toothless get struck by lightning would be coming up soon. This chapter is a little short but future chapters would be, hopefully, longer.
Oh and the aureus, denarius, sestertius and dupondius are part of the Roman currency. The simplest unit of Roman currency would be the as. 1 aureus would be equivalent to 400 asses (plural of as), 200 dupondii, 100 sestertius or 25 denarii. 1 denarius would be equal to one-twenty fifth of an aureus, 4 sestertii, 8 dupondii or 16 asses. 1 sestertius = 4 asses or 2 dupondii. 1 dupondius would be identical to 2 asses. It is not that hard to remember ;)
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