A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay, but theses last two weeks have been very busy for me. And to make up for it this chapter is almost 2,000 words!
Anyway, before you read this chapter you should know that Berk's story is a little different than in the movie (I plan to write a one shot on it, which will be posted on my tumblr)
This chapter was a bit of a challenge, because I'm not all that good at wring action scenes but I tried and that's what counts.
The sun had risen, it was a new day; it was the day.
Somehow, and not without a lot of argument, the queen had managed to get Merida into her special clothes for the day.
The style was a mixture between Viking clothing and Scottish. The skirt was two layered, with the first layer being a dark blue going down to her ankles, and the second, which was embroidered with green and blue designs, going just above her knee. Her shirt was loose, long sleeved and pale grey with thick lined blue cuffs. And over it was a blue top; medium sized golden pendants connected the straps to the rest of it. Around her waist was a thick brownsash.
Elinor put the finishing touch on Merida's outfit, a crown; it somehow managed to fit onto the wild mass of red curly hair. It had Celtic knots and twists going around her head, in the center of Merida's forehead there was a jewel that brought the piece together.
She stepped back to admire her handiwork and gasped, while Merida was fidgeted in the new clothing. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable;in fact it was quite the opposite. It would just take a while for her to get used to the different style of clothing.
"You look beautiful."
"I feel like a twit. I don't understand why I have tae dress up for this Viking. They don't care aboot any o' this."
"Merida, it is tradition."
She scoffed "Tradition, bunch a load o'-"
"Merida! Ye will not disrespect our ancestors or their ways."
A knock came at the door. "It's time. Merida-"
"I know, I know, 'member tae be a lady." She looked away. Elinor wanted to say something that would cheer her up, make her see that the situation wasn't all that bad. "Merida," she said softly. Merida looked up hopeful; maybe her mother suddenly had a change of heart. "remember to smile." That's what she said, instead of saying something helpful or to make her feel better, her mother had said that.
Merida gave her best shot at giving a big fake smile. "We should go." he mother said "Don't want to be late."
Merida made her way to the door, but before she could even get through it she felt a tug from behind. "What is this?"
"Most people would call it a sword."
She had managed to somehow hide it, for the most part. But leave it to her mother to notice the slightest thing out of place.
"Merida, you know what I said about weapons."
"But what if they start tae attack us? Ye want me tae juist stand there defenseless?"
"We are not here for them to attack us. And you're not always going to have a weapon with you, what will you do if something happened then?"
"I would always hae a weapon, if someone did nae keep hidin' 'em from me."
Her mother sighed and placed the weapon on the bed "Come on we're going to be late." She urged Merida out the door leaving the weapon behind.
~:~
They arrived at the ring just minutes before they were to be announced. The young Lords were arguing over who would be first to enter, but stopped when they saw Merida.
"What? What are ye looking at?" she asked when she saw that the three of them were looking at her differently than they normally did. They stammered in response.
Eventually Grigor managed to muster up a sentence. "Nothing ye juist look weird."
"Gee, thanks"
Merida could hear the Viking chief making some sort of statement before he would introduce them. She tried peeking around the corner to see the crowd, but she was pulled back before she could get a good look. Her mother again was obsessing over trying to make last minute perfections, not that much more could be changed about how she looked.
"Of Clan Dingwall, presentingLord Arie Dingwall and his son, Finlay Dingwall!"
There was only a long enough pause for them to appear from the stone stairway and make their way down to the platform before the next was called.
"Of Clan Macintosh, presenting Lord Rogier Macintosh and his son, Grigor Macintosh!"
They proudly walked in front of the crowd with their bare chests showing, and their heads held high. Out of all the clans they were the ones to show off the most.
"Of Clan MacGuffin, presenting Lord Hamel MacGuffin and his son, Airth MacGuffin!"
They went and stood by the others in the line that they had made.
"Of Clan DunBroch,presentingLord of the Highlands, King Fergus,and his sons, Hamish, Hubertand Harris!"
They went to join beside the others; Merida was left with her mother. This was it, she would stand in front of countless Vikings and one of them would be her supposed betrothed.
"Lastly, of Clan DunBroch, presenting Lady of the Highlands, Queen Elinor, and her daughter, Merida!"
The sound of her name was like the last words an executioner would say before carrying out the sentence.
They began walking down the wide carved out stone stairway. Merida watched her mother in front of her, everything slowed, but before she knew it she stood in front of the Viking tribe. The number of the Highlander party was child's play compared to the number people who stood before her now.
"And I present my son," Chief Stoick said "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third"
Merida turned to see him when he was called forth. He was the chief's son; she had expected that he would at least look like he was to lead the tribe one day. She expected him to look like the others, but he was far from it.
He was scrawny; like a twig that could easily have been snapped. The only thing that made him remotely like the others was his style of clothing and the helmet he wore on his head, which appeared to be a bit too big.
He looked familiar.
Then the realization hit her. He was the one in the forest last night. Had she known that he was the one, she would have seized the opportunity then and there. Seeing who he was now, Merida knew that she could take him in a fight, but unfortunately Raysnare had been taken from her, the gods had sided with him on this one.
"Now that the introductions and announcements have been made, who's ready for the dragon tournament?" the others roared excitedly in reply. They gathered around the ring as the chief made his way through the crowd to his chair, beside it was a seat for his son and then a bench beside that for the queen and Merida. The triplets had been taken away by Maudie; this was not an event for children their age.
By her mother's doing, Merida was forced to sit beside Hiccup.
"Uh, hi?" he said, trying to make conversation.
"Ye'r lucky" she replied
"What?"
"If I had mah sword I'd run ye through right noo."
Her eyes met his. If only looks could kill.
"I know that these aren't exactly the most pleasant circumstances…"
She let out a huff of air and tuned out the rest and instead decided to focus on the ring below. Lining the wall was different shaped large doors that could only be opened from outside.
It must have been where the dragons where kept. She had only ever heard stories about them, never in her life had she seen one before.
One of the Vikings entered the ring; he waved at the crowd as he walked to where the weapons were kept. He picked up a sword, then a shield and faced the doors. He gave a small nod to state that he was ready, an order was given and the log that kept the large door shut was removed.
There was a pause before the beast exploded from its confinement, Merida jumped slightly in her seat. Hiccup noticed but said nothing.
Green smoke hid the beast from sight, but Merida could have sworn she saw two heads. The fighter backed away, his guard was up, prepared for anything.
The crowd was silent, waiting to see which would make the first move.
Its head snaked out from the settling smoke and opened its mouth to reveal white sparks. Another head appeared, its mouth foamed with the green smoke.
The green smoke wasn't smoke; it was lighting gas for the dragon's flames. Two heads on one dragon, one controlled the gas and the other gave the spark.
With a yelled he charged at it. Merida wondered how one man could defeat a creature as large as this. The dragon was much bigger than Mor'du, and even her father couldn't beat him alone.
He ran toward the middle of the two heads, he was going straight for the heart. Gas was shot at him and the spark would be short to follow, instead of striking where he first intended he turned quickly to face the gas head.
Quickly he jumped onto it where the head and neck met, dropping his shield in the process. The beast shook its head violently, trying to shake him off, but he wouldn't let go. When it stopped, the fighter took the chance to steady his sword that he had somehow managed to hold on to. Taking it in both hands he held it above his head. With a yell he shoved the blade down into the center of the dragon's head.
The whole scene was sickening. The sound of its skull cracking open from the blow and the shriek it made from the pain. The spark head cried in pain, the other head spewed the green gas everywhere as it tried to dislodge the sword, but it was dead either way.
Something snapped in the spark head. Suddenly it turned on itself, it started biting and gnawing at the gas head, until eventually it fell apart from the body and onto the ground. There it wriggled in the blood that was gushing out, the last bit of life still fighting.
There was no chance of dragon fire now.
The dragon went over to the severed head. It made a faint whimpering sound that Merida believed she could only hear, because if the others had heard it they would have surely stopped the fight.
She heard the sound of someone taking deep breaths. Looking to Hiccup she saw that it was him. His eye were adverted from the ring and focused hard on the ground, and his hands clenched his seat.
He really was different from the rest of them. He looked as though he were in pain; as if he shared the dragon's as his own.
She briefly wanted to ask him if he was okay, but decided against it. The crowd cheered louder and Merida turned her attention back to the ring.
The fighter had managed to finish the beast off. He ran around the ring as they cheered him on. He walked over to the dragon and took the dagger from his belt and carved out the heart. He held it in the air; the dark red blood dripped from it and ran down his arm.
Merida cringed at the sight. This indeed was not an event for children.
The chief got up and said something, but neither Hiccup nor Merida heard thing they knew they were on their way to the Great Hall for a feast. But how could anyone eat after such an event?
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