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I would like to thank everyone who's been reviewing my story. I'm glad to see people like it a lot and I hope they'll enjoy what's coming.
Now, I have been getting a lot of reviews asking me to update more frequently. My goal is to add a new chapter every Saturday. When I began publishing this story I had the first 12 chapters already written, so by updating weekly I ensure I have enough material to last for several months, which gives me plenty of time to write later chapters.
Chapter 4
The Terms of the King
At first there was a stunned silence.
"Before you get any ideas," the Dragon King said loudly, "at this moment there are 10 dragons sitting on the roof listening very intently, and if they get the slightest hint that I am in danger they were stop at nothing to save me, and if I am killed before they can, no human will get out of this room alive. So leave your weapons where they are and nobody gets hurt."
Stoick's thoughts suddenly turned to another gathering of chiefs where a madman named Drago Bludvist had come with dragons. Stoick had been the sole survivor. He knew other chiefs had heard about that night and had little doubt that they were also thinking of it.
Finally Gort spoke up. "How did you know about this meeting?"
"You weren't exactly keeping it a secret, Gort. Besides, I have eyes and ears all over the place. It's lucky for you some other people didn't show up uninvited, given how pathetic the security is."
"You mean you've been spying on us!" Mogadon exclaimed,
"I prefer to think of it as 'keeping informed.' And believe it or not, thanks to my agents, I've been able to prevent a lot of dragons from attacking your villages."
Astrid noticed several chiefs shift their weight uneasily. They were clearly wondering what else his agents had learned.
"So," The King said after a pause "I heard about this meeting and I decided to come and offer my terms for peace. I know Dagur doesn't want to hear them, but is anybody else willing to listen?"
"Peace?" Stoick repeated, "Peace! What would a demon lover know about peace?" There were nods of agreement.
"What would a Viking know about peace? You lot talk about ending the war all the time, yet still you find reasons to keep fighting."
"That's because the dragons keep coming!" Shouted Mogadon
"We need to defend ourselves!"
"Besides, it's fun!" Dagur added, but everyone ignored him.
"It's those blasted dragon's fault! They've killed my wife and son! Those beasts have killed hundreds of us!" Stoick roared.
"And Vikings have killed thousands of them!" The King said loudly, "how many mates and sons have you killed, Chief Stoick? How many more will you kill? To what end? Will it bring your loved ones back? Or have you just grown addicted to killing and find dragons a convenient excuse to satisfy your bloodlust?"
Stoick visibly forced himself to regain his composure.
"I know I can't bring my family back," he said slowly and with great deliberation, "And for a while I did only fight for revenge and hate. But now I know that for each devil I kill, I prevent another husband or parent from going through what I did. By killing dragons, I'm saving lives. Is that wrong?" He looked around the room, "is that wrong?"
"Not at all, Stoick,"
"It's very noble of you,"
"And we do the same," Bertha added, "We fight to save lives and defend our homes. Why shouldn't we?"
"But that's not the only reason you kill dragons," The King argued back "What about those dragons you kill in arenas, as part of your 'coming of age' rituals? How is that saving lives or defending homes?" He looked around "I can see that nobody can't give answer that. Don't you see? Vikings may have gotten into this war with noble intentions, but now things have fallen into a blood bath. You stage battles to the death simply for the thrill of it, you treat your fallen opponents as trophies instead of as living and thinking creatures, and you glorify your kills, even when they often amount to putting an axe through a dragon that's trapped on the ground and can't defend itself. Think of that dragon I saved from your ship, Stoick. Where was the honor or glory in killing a creature stuck underneath a net and tied up?"
"That reminds me. You come near my ships again and I'll put a spear through your heart.
"I could have done that to you when I was saving my friend Stormfly. She laid eggs only a week ago, she was just out looking for fish to feed to her babies when they hatch, and you decided to kill her. She was just minding her own business and you trapped her in a net and nearly cut her head off. How was that in any way self defense?"
"You talk about dragons like they've got feelings." Gort observed,
"They do! They're kind, friendly, and intelligent creatures when treated properly."
"They're devils who understand nothing but killing and eating," someone growled.
"And what are you?" The King demanded, "Exactly what have you done all your life besides kill and eat? But we're getting sidetracked here. I'm not here to debate ethics, I'm here to offer my terms for a peaceful coexistence between humans and dragons. By agreeing to them, we won't need to be 'saving lives' and 'defending homes' from dragons anymore. You want this war to end, right?"
"Tell you what," Spitelout said with a sly smile "you just tell us where the nest is, and we'll agree to them terms. Ow's that sound?"
"The nest you're thinking about was abandoned nearly 8 years ago." He pulled out a map, "it's located right here. You'll find a nest of Smothering Smokebreaths and a few Terrible Terrors living in a giant pile of bones, but that's all."
"It was abandoned 8 years ago?" Stoick asked, and suddenly he began connecting facts in his head.
"Yes it was, and I will explain why. I will explain exactly why dragons have been raiding your villages, and why they are not doing so anymore. I will explain why this war has been going on in the first place, and I will explain some aspects of dragon behavior and society that no one else here has ever known. Will you listen, or are you all afraid to hear me out?"
Some looked skeptical, but most looked genuinely interested. Dagur learned forward with the look of a man about to eat a delicious dinner.
Gort looked around and then nodded. "Proceed."
"8 years ago, I was flying with my best friend Toothless—he has retractable teeth, so don't laugh about it!—when we came to the nest at Helheim's Gate. Inside it was a dragon the size of a small mountain. If you go there now, you can see its remains for yourself. That dragon, which I have named the Red Death, was the Queen of that nest. All nests have either an Alpha or Beta. Their job is to defend the nest, but every now and then one turns into a tyrant. That was what happened here. That particular Red Death began ordering her subjects to bring her more and more food or else be eaten themselves. And she meant it. I saw her swallow a Gronkle whole, and she had a mouth big enough to probably fit 10 Gronkles. That's how big she was. When I saw her the reason for the war became clear, and so did the solution. If she wasn't the Queen anymore, the dragons wouldn't be forced to feed her, so they'd have less reason to raid villages, which meant fewer chances for humans to fight them. I tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't listen. So Toothless and I challenged her for the title. The dragons in the nest joined with us, and we killed her—much to my regret, but she rejected all of my offers for a peaceful solution."
"How did you do that?" Bertha asked,
"We got her into the air, where her gluttonous body made her slow and an easy target, and we blew holes in her wings. We led her into a fast descent, and then Toothless fired a plasma blast right into her opened mouth. The blast reacted with the flammable gases inside of her and caused her to combust from the inside out. Furthermore, the holes in her wings prevented her from pulling out of her dive and she smashed into the ground. It was quite an explosion."
Astrid could imagine the Thorsten Twins reverently saying "Awesome."
"So now, because he had been the challenger, Toothless became the leader of the dragons, but since it had been my plan, the dragons also saw me as their leader. And they still do." He added rather proudly.
It's a lot to take in, Astrid thought, but is he telling the truth?
"You said this Queen was controlling these dragons," the shortest chief in the room said, "how?"
"Mind control. All Kings and Queens of Dragons have this ability. They can order any dragon to do anything they want, and they have no say in the matter. Toothless could order Stormfly to smash her eggs, and she would do it, though she wouldn't know what she was doing."
"But how did you attack it if this beast could control minds?" Gort asked.
"It's a bit complicated, but mind control only works under certain conditions. The first time it is used on a dragon it has to be through eye contact. Stormfly is subject to Toothless's mind control now, but if she went to another nest, she would be completely free until she looked that nest's monarch in the eye. Once she did, she would always be subject to that monarch's call, provided she was within range. Mind Control only works within a specific but substantial radius"
"But why didn't the dragons just fly out of that radius and escape, if this Queen was so bad?"
"Many did, but there was a catch: nobody knew how far the Queen's mind control could reach. These powers can strengthen with time, and that Queen had been alive for over 3 centuries. About all any dragon could do was pick a direction and start flying as fast as they could for as long as they could, and hope that the next time the Queen sent out her summons they would be far enough away to hear it. But suppose they weren't far enough away? Then they'd be forced to go back and explain what took them so long and why they were trying to desert their Queen. Toothless later told me that she often just ate the latecomers regardless of what they had been doing. And those dragons that did manage to escape her powers weren't going to return and tell others how far they had to go to reach safety. That would have been suicide."
"But how did you challenge her, if she could control the mind of—Toothless?" Astrid interrupted "unless he was from another nest?"
The King turned to face her. "I remember that night we saved you," he said softly, "Yes, I remember you very well…Astrid,"
Astrid felt chills running down her spine.
"How do you know her name?" Stoick said sharply.
"Like I told you, I have eyes and ears everywhere. Besides, you've said it several times during this very meeting. Anyway, to answer her question, Toothless was from that particular nest, but when a dragon challenges a monarch for the title, in that instant, all mind powers are lost, and they do not return until the contest is decided. I'm not certain why, but I imagine it's so that the monarch can't use that power to keep the title. Dragon monarchy is determined by combat, and to be able to control minds and movements gives one side an extremely unfair advantage. Of course, monarchs can, and do, use their powers to prevent their subjects from challenging them, but they can't control every dragon all the time, and there's always the chance a dragon from another nest might come for the title. It's rather like how humans fight for titles by single combat: you have to choose certain weapons and must follow certain rules in order to claim victory legitimately."
It was a good thing Fishlegs isn't here, Astrid thought, he'd never be able to stop asking questions about dragons.
Marva spoke up for the first time.
"So you're controlling dragons through mind control?"
"I don't control any dragons,"
"Then how do you get them to do your bidding? Through intimidation and fear?"
"No—" but Stoick interrupted him.
"Are you in league with Drago Bludvist?"
The roof suddenly shook and they heard the dragons on it cry out fearfully.
"The man you just mentioned is one of the few people most dragons here are afraid of. He also happens to be one of my most frequent opponents." The King said grimly.
"So you've seen him?" Marva asked excitedly, "what was it like?"
"What do you mean by most frequent opponents?" Stoick said over her.
"I mean that for years Drago has been trying to capture dragons to create a dragon army." Stoick paled. His worst fears were being confirmed. "My friends and I have been doing our utmost to stop him. And we've had good success on that, haven't we?" he directed his voice towards the ceiling, "didn't we drive him out of the archipelago just under two months ago?" They could hear the dragons make noises that sounded like they were agreeing. "Chief Stoick, I understand how you feel about that man, but for the time being you have nothing to worry about. At the moment he's gone, but if he returns I will certainly warn you."
"You drove him away?" Marva was aghast.
"Yes we did. We smashed his machines, freed his dragons, and burned most of his boats. He had to flee for it and we pursued."
"But he escaped?" Marva asked eagerly,
"…Yes, he escaped. I received a message 10 days ago that my scouts lost track of him in the Normandy region of France. We're still searching, but for the moment he's gone."
"Some bunch of scouts you've got" Marva sneered.
"Marva, if you say one more disrespectful word you shall have to leave."
"And are you going to make me, Father?"
"I could if you want, Gort," Dagur offered,
"I believe," Bertha said loudly to interrupt them, "you offered us terms for peace. What are they?"
The Dragon King clapped his hands together. "That's more like it! Now, I have told you already that there is no more need to fight. The Queen is dead and her former subjects have no reason to raid you so much. There is no reason to continue this war except for vengeance, which will solve nothing. All we can do now is declare peace and ensure the fighting stops."
"And just forget about those who've died?" Stoick growled, "Just forget about my wife and son?"
"Why should forgetting your son be hard now? It wasn't 10 years ago," the King mumbled softly,
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing important. But to answer you, certainly don't forget them! All the same, as I said earlier, can you bring them back? What good does it do to fight in someone's memory forever? Will your wife thank you for it later? Wouldn't your lost ones feel happier if they knew that the fighting had stopped forever, rather than seeing you always fighting to avenge them? Or…"and here he looked Stoick square in the eye, "are you reluctant to stop fighting because you're afraid of change?"
"I fear nothing." Stoick told him coldly,
"Oh I think you do. I think everyone here is afraid of things being new and different. You've all succeeded in your current way of life, you've found it comfortable and enjoyable, and now that I have come to tell you it's time to change it, you don't want to listen. I think that's the other reason for why you keep fighting: it's something you know and understand, and you're used to it. You live in the past because you're afraid of a different and unknown future. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but we can't let fear control us. Things are changing whether we like it or not, and the question for all of us now is this: are we going to change with it or be left behind?
"So here are my terms for peace: in the first place, I claim several islands as a home for dragons. Don't worry; they're far enough away from your villages that you won't desire them later if your islands get too crowded. They're also fairly inaccessible for humans. My second term is this: all dragon killing must stop, save in self defense. There must be no more battles with dragons in your kill rings, and no more hunting them for sport. In return for this, I give you my solemn oath that I will do my utmost to stop any raids from happening. I excuse any deaths in self defense, for I realize you will naturally fight to defend yourself. I completely understand and forgive that, but I would like to remind you that dragons will defend themselves too. My third term is this: my islands are opened to any ship in need of a harbor, though we don't have one yet, but my tribe will not take sides in any Viking conflict. If the Berserkers and Bog-Burglars go to war tomorrow, that is their affair, not ours, and we will not step in unless it comes to us, in which case we will fight to defend ourselves, but nobody else. As for my fourth and final term, nobody will integrate dragons into their village."
"Why on earth would we do such a thing?" Mogadon exclaimed,
"For power. I know some of you here would capture dragons and use them for selfish reasons. You'd use them as Drago Bludvist would: to conquer, to control, and to spread fear. I won't have that. Until I see proof that people are willing to see dragons for what they truly are, it's best that we keep dragons and humans separate. Do you agree to these conditions?"
"In return, what will you give us?" Gort asked,
"As I said, I shall prevent dragon raids. Think about it. No more raids means no more burnt houses, no more destroyed crops or stolen livestock. You won't have to worry about rationing during the winter, or waste time and resources rebuilding. You won't have to go to sleep fearing the next raid will come that night. You won't have to give feed the dragons in your cells because there won't be any. You'll see fewer deaths by dragon fire, more children will grow into grandparents, and they won't see their parents die before they've grown up. The losses Chief Stoick has fought to prevent others from going through can become a reality. All that is yours for agreeing to four terms which have little impact on you anyway."
His words had struck a chord, and Astrid could see many chiefs were starting to realize what agreeing to these terms might mean.
"Where are these islands you're claiming?" Bertha asked,
"Yes," Dagur added eagerly, "if we're to know what islands to avoid, we must know where they are."
The King, rather reluctantly, pointed to a spot on his map.
"It's right here. See, I am showing you where it is as a gesture of faith that you will not attempt to conquer it." He slowly started moving towards the door, "I'm sure you'll want some time to think this over and discuss it amongst yourselves, so I'll leave you to it. Keep in mind, though, that I'm going to carry out my side of these terms whether you like it or not."
"And how can we contact you if we do agree to them?" asked Gort,
He shrugged, "just say it out loud in a public place, and I'll send a letter by Terror thanking you." He formally bowed his head. "Thank you for your time. I sincerely hope you all will agree to peace, if not for your own sakes, than for the sake of your future generations."
"And what if we refuse your peace?" Dagur asked scornfully,
"Then I'll let all dragons know to never go near your island again, and consider you an enemy. Please keep in mind, if you attack us, we will defend ourselves. You might win the fight, but will the cost be worth it?" He headed for the door.
"By the way," Stoick said suddenly, "you said your dragon fired a plasma blast. We only know of one dragon that fires plasma, so does that mean you ride a Night Fury?"
"Yes it does."
"And have you ever seen any other Night Furies?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"How do you control it?" Dagur interrupted eagerly.
"With one foot pushing a petal," chuckled the King, though nobody else understood the joke, "but seriously, I don't control Toothless. I repeat: I don't control any dragon. If I ride Toothless, it's because he lets me. If I am a King of Dragons, as you say I am, it's only because the dragons I live with do as I ask because they want to. Not because I have some kind of power over them."
"What do those creatures call you if not King?" Marva asked scornfully,
"Aye, what is your name?" asked Bertha
"Behind my back, the dragons mostly call me 'The Hatchling,' though they think I don't know that!" he added loudly, and they heard what sounded like the dragons on the roof laughing, "As for my name, I have many names. Vikings alone have given me about a dozen. Dragon Emperor, Demon Lover, Traitor, and Sorcerer, to name a few, in India I'm known as the Friend of the Emperor, and in China I was known as the Emperor's Dragon's Dentist."
"But what do you call yourself?" Gort asked,
"I don't,"
"What did your parents name you when you were born?" Spitelout asked impatiently,
"I forgot it a long time ago."
"Who were your parents?" One Chief asked eagerly.
"They're dead far as I'm concerned, so it doesn't matter. The future, not the past, is what I came here for, and I have presented it to you all. What you choose to do is your affair now, but I deeply hope you'll agree to my offer of peace." With those final words the Dragon King left. One Viking rushed after him but came back seconds later and exclaimed "he's gone!"
"Well, that's to be expected," Gort sighed, "he does have dragons, after all."
"I'd love to get my hands on those," Dagur grinned,
"A strange man," mused one Chief, "'dead as far as I'm concerned,' which implies they're still alive but estranged from him."
"But is he even a Viking?"
"He speaks and understands Norse perfectly!"
"And he couldn't have learned it when he came here?"
"Stoick, out of curiosity, why did you ask him if he's come across any other Night Furies?" Big-Boobied Bertha asked over this discussion.
"Because if he rides one and has never seen any other, then that means that Night Fury was the one that killed my son." Stoick replied darkly,
"And what does that mean for you, Stoick?" Gort asked sharply. Stoick looked around the room uneasily.
"It means nothing. He was right: nothing I can do will bring ma boy back." He was actually lying, in case the King was still listening to them.
"Well, this meeting certainly didn't go the way we were expecting," one chief remarked, "so what are we going to do now?"
"I can't accept any terms until I've presented them to my people," Bertha said, "they have a right to know about this."
"I agree. I move we postpone any decisions until we've had a chance to see where our tribes stand on these matters," Gort said formally.
"I decide what my tribe will do, not you, Gort, and not anybody else here," Dagur growled, "What I decide is my business, and I will not accept these stupid terms."
Mogadon nodded approvingly "I agree. My tribe is not subject to anything the rest of you agree on."
Gort sighed. "I was hoping perhaps we could unite and form a strong coalition, but you seem to want to go your own way and remain divided."
"And who would lead such a union? You, Father?" Marva sneered,
"Marva, would you please not use that tone here?"
"I'll use whatever tone I like. What are you going to do about it?"
"Beat her, Gort. That's what I'd do if I had kids. It's the only way they learn respect." Dagur commented. Stoick cleared his throat for silence.
"Getting back on subject, I agree we should leave any decisions until we've talked it over with our tribes. I also agree that what the Berserkers or Lavalouts decide makes no difference to what the Hairy Hooligans decide. But I've got a notion in ma old numbskull. This island of his seems none too far from Berk. Suppose I sent some people to this place to have a look at it?"
"It would help to know what we're up against," one chief observed,
"But Stoick, what if he kills them, or takes them prisoner?" Bertha exclaimed.
"Then we'll know we're up against a monster who should be killed at once," Stoick replied grimly.