WNoG 2: The Valkyrie
I own nothing, unfortunately.
The boat was easily the hardest part of the plan. Hiccup and Heather were over the ocean searching for dragon hunters, they needed to get onto the boat, take down the hunters and dispose of the bodies. But first, they needed to find a boat, it had been over a week since they had made the plan and the dragon hunters had fallen off the map, no trace of them. The group had even started flying in the day, trying to lure them out, still nothing.
"Hiccup, this isn't working, maybe it would be easier to just say we were attacked and wash up on their shore. Much less preparation, we can get this done quickly."
"Heather, you know as well as I do that people will get suspicious of the random strangers who are trying to change how they live, we need to look like professionals, like we know what we're doing or we won't be listened to."
"I know Hiccup, but we could still pull it off. We could just show them some stuff so they know that we know what we're doing."
"But it's too convenient, 5 Ps remember."
"Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance, I know that Hiccup, but we have to do this every day until someone finally shows up, that could take months."
"Let's just get the rounds done and. and go home. We don't have that much further to go. That's our last island up ahead." Hiccup said, pointing to an island in the distance. "I'll race you there!" Hiccup challenged.
"No way."
"Why not? Chicken?"
"You have a Night Fury, I'm not going to race."
"Fine." Hiccup said, flying away from Heather towards the island.
Uni was waiting at the entrance for Hiccup and Heather to come back, he was waiting to tell them the great news, he was sitting down wrapped in a bundle of furs when Toothless and Windshear flew in.
"Didn't find anything today, again!" Heather complained.
"Great news then: we did. Some idiot dragon hunters saw Sunray flying around outside the nest, followed her straight here. They docked like, right outside and got off the boat, then walked inside following her, got turned into a sticky red puddle in seconds." Uni told her, sounding a little too happy for comfort.
"So we have a boat?" Hiccup asked with a massive smile on his face. "Thank Thor for that."
"Should we leave now then?" Heather asked, eager to go.
"Tell Valka you're leaving, she has food and packs ready for you." Uni told us. "I'll take the dragons to the boat. Can you grab my pack for me?"
"Sure." Heather and Hiccup both answered, running towards the map room. When they reached it, Valka was already there with three leather bags.
"You going already?" She asked. "Where's Uni?"
"Down in the boat already, he's getting the dragons in. I'll bring his pack down." Heather said.
"Ok. Now, Hiccup, there's a pouch of ginger in your bag if anyone gets seasick and a few knives in Heather's, only for emergencies of course. There is enough food in there to last the trip and two extra days' worth in case you go off course, and then there's just all the standard stuff."
"Thanks Mum." Hiccup said, taking his bag and Uni's while Heather took hers.
"Heather, take this along with you, it'll definitely impress the smith." Valka said to Heather, handing her what Hiccup liked to call his "plasma cutter". It was a canister of Night Fury gas inside a jar of water with a pipe leading off it, Hiccup had created it.
"If he doesn't burn down the smithy first." Heather said, only half joking.
Meanwhile, Hiccup had slid down one of the many tubes around the nest and was down by the boat with Uni. Uni was keeping the dragons out of the cages for now, he didn't see a reason to put them in the cages just yet. Apart from that, no one knew where the keys were to the cages, that's what Hiccup was doing, looking for the keys around the boat.
"I can't find them!" Hiccup yelled.
"Oh no," Uni said to himself. "Keep looking!" He told Hiccup. Gods this would be disgusting. He had an idea where the keys might be.
Uni walked across the ice shelf to the entrance of the cavern. There was the familiar red stain on the ice... and there was the body, it was barely recognisable as a person any more. Just a disturbing pile of gore. He walked up to the body, and it skidded across the floor, like someone had kicked it. Uni jumped backwards and slid across the ice. He immediately felt stupid for thinking it was a draugur when a Speed Stinger skidded to a stop over the body and started eating, pulling off bits of meat, three more sped in and started eating. And the worst part of it all: the flesh pile was jangling, the keys were on the body. Uni walked forward very slowly, trying not to startle them, they hissed quietly and eyed him as he crept forward.
Where was the leader? It knew Uni, if the leader was here, he would able to walk straight in.
He still crept forward. Looking at the dragons, they still weren't attacking, but they still hissed, Speed Stingers were known to be aggressive if you stole their food, so he kept his head back and stayed as far back as he could, trying desperately not to look like was going to eat it. He reached into the pocket of the body and the Speed Stingers looked ready to attack. He quickly grabbed the key and stepped backwards, the Stingers still watched him as he walked away and out into the sunlight.
"Hiccup," Uni said, his voice shaking, "I found the keys!"
"You're bleeding! What happened?" Heather asked, running off the boat towards him. He looked as his sleeve, it was matted with blood.
"It's from the body. I'm fine." He assured her.
"What? Body? What body? Did something happen to the dragons?"
Uni was breathing deeply. "The dragon hunter... he had the keys... when he died... had to touch his body." Uni gagged as he walked towards a worried Hiccup. "Found the keys."
A few hours passed and they were in Berk's waters, they hurriedly put the dragons in the cages when they passed the stone guardians, an escort ship sailed out to meet them halfway.
"You three, best behaviour, you need to stay quiet until we come down again." Hiccup told the dragons quietly.
"Ahoy, what's ya' business here?!" A man boomed from the deck, shaking the deck as he walked. He was built like a jötunn and carried two jagged scimitars across his back.
"Dragon hunters. Pleasure to meet you, sir." Heather spoke up. "We've come to Berk for business, we heard about a dragon nest nearby and thought your chief could point us in the right direction." She explained.
"Where's the rest of you?" He asked, barely acknowledging her existence.
"No one else, just us three." Heather replied confidently.
"Bullshit! I know there's more of you, you three are just kids, you ain't even sailing around by yourself, much less catching dragons. What're you up to?!" He asked gruffly.
"Nothing! We're just here to hunt, nothing more."
"Then you won't mind me going below deck, will you?" He walked below deck to the dragons.
"Sir! Stop!"
"Why, you hiding something? Who's down-" He was interrupted by Uni's dragon, the Siren, spitting a glob of amber at the man's foot.
"You've got dragons down there!" He screamed, stumbling up the stairs.
"We're dragon hunters, muttonhead! What do you expect?!" Uni yelled.
"You've gotta go, leave the dragons here, get off the boat." He told us, panicked.
"We are not leaving these dragons, they took months to track and we are not returning empty handed."
"Suit yourself!" He yelled, jumping overboard.
"What was that about?" Hiccup asked Heather quietly.
"No clue, Berserkers have quite the reputation for being a bit loopy. Do you think we should we keep going?" She answered.
Hiccup hesitated. "Yeah, if something's going on we should find out what it is?"
They sailed into the dock and got off the boat as the sun was setting. They walked into the village, it was strangely quiet. They were right outside the biggest building in the village and there was still no one in sight. But Hiccup could have sworn he heard someone whisper the words "ripped to bits".
"Hey," The three of them looked around for the whispering voice. "Hey, over here. Get inside." They saw a blonde girl with braids poking her head around the door waving them over.
"Where is everyone?" Hiccup asked in a normal voice.
"Shhhhh, shut up. They'll notice you. Just get inside." A bright streak flew through the sky, there was a white circle flying over Berk. "Get inside or you're dead." The girl said, they ran inside and they heard the door click behind them as it locked. "I'm Astrid. Who are you?" She asked.
"Where is everyone?" Heather asked.
"Some idiots sailed in with dragons on board, good as gone, every time it happens the village gets raided by dragons and the boats get burnt to ashes. What are your names?" She told them quietly.
A shout went up on the other side of town. "Night Fury!"
They found Toothless, "Heather, I need to go save the dragons! Stay here." Hiccup yelled.
"Save them?! You're with them!" The girl screamed.
"Oh no no no, not like that, we need to save this shipment of dragons or we're good as dead." Heather lied. Hiccup burst out the door and ran towards the boats.
"Idiot! I'll get him, don't worry." Astrid ran out of the house after him, staying out of sight of the dragons above. Purple blasts began falling from the sky on the far side of the village, setting houses on fire and destroying Berk's defences. Hiccup didn't notice the destruction as he ran to the boat. He got straight onto the boat and jumped below deck, Astrid had only followed him to the docks before the boat was shaken by two Night Furies and "The Valkyrie" smashing onto the deck, destroying it. She heard Hiccup scream.
"Dragon hunter scum!" A new voice said, Astrid didn't know who it was, it must have been The Valkyrie, it must be able to speak.
"Wait! I'm with you! I'm with the dragons, we're friends!" She heard Hiccup explain. Was that true? That couldn't be true, could it? He was working with the dragons.
"Lies, if they are friends, why are they in cages?" The Valkyrie growled.
"It's an act, I'm a dragon rider. Look, I have the keys here. Me and him, we're friends." Him and who?
"Then free him, let's see you do it, test your friendship with this Night Fury. If you are who you say you are, you needn't worry, do you?" He was friends with the Night Furies? He was the dragon rider! He was the one destroying Berk! He was a traitor to his own kind! No, she was jumping to conclusions, he must be lying, a Night Fury would kill him where he stood, no one could ever befriend a dragon.
"So you really are his rider? Tomorrow, midday, meet me on the sea stack on the western side of the island."
Astrid couldn't believe it, she ran.
Five dragons, a traitor and a fallen angel flew out of the boat behind Astrid.