Chapter Eleven
Toothless was lying in front of Hiccup's house, with the same depressed look that he had when he first learned that he couldn't go with Hiccup. Also adding to the depressed mood, was the fact that he couldn't fly. The other kids of the Dragon Riders Academy tried to ride him, but anyone who tried usually ended with a face plant into the ground. Everyone failed to even help him fly a good hundred yards. Thinking about all the crashes, and also Hiccup, Toothless let out a sigh and closed his eyes, trying to sleep the time away.
"Come on guys, we have to do something!" Fishlegs cried out earnestly, looking from the dragon arena down to where Toothless was laying.
"Uh, like what? We all know how well your last idea went" Ruffnut replied with an annoyed tone to her voice.
"Yeah, my face still hurts from the crash I took, that was like…" Tuffnut counted his fingers "12 days ago."
"It actually makes me feel better!" Ruffnut chimed in with a smirk, which Tuffnut grabbed her helmet and it pushed down over her eyes. Pushing her away, he easily dodged the punch thrown from her.
"Ok, ok, that probably wasn't the best idea, but we have to try to take Toothless' mind off of Hiccup! I mean, we have no idea when they're coming back!" Fishlegs desperately pled, looking at everyone.
"Hmm" Snotlout greatly exaggerated to show everyone the he had an idea "What if we give him a Hiccup to take his mind off of Hiccup!"
"Uh…what?" Tuffnut said looking completely lost. Ruffnut also stopped swing her fists, lost with Snotlout's suggestion.
"What if we give Toothless a Hiccup doll? It'll probably be bigger than the real one anyways!" Snotlout said excitedly "We can model it after this perfect example!" At that, he gestured to his whole body, ending with a flexing pose.
The others looked at each other, thinking about it. Deciding that it was the best idea that anyone could come up with, they broke off to get the resources needed to make Snotlout's Hiccup doll; all leaving on their dragons.
Toothless looked up as he noticed the riders and their dragons fly away from the ring. With a loud groan, Toothless let his head drop onto the ground, not even caring what it landed on.
A short hour went by and the four met back at the arena, all carrying the things they set out for.
"Everyone have what they were supposed to get?" Fishlegs asked excitedly, as he set a bunch of twigs on the ground.
"Yeah, I got the twine and the yak hair!" Snotlout announced proudly, showing off while sticking his chest out.
"And I got the cloth and an old pair of boots!" Tuffnut added dropping a role of greenish cloth on the ground.
"No, I got it!" Ruffnut argued, correcting her brother.
"No way, I was the one who found it!" He quickly replied, squaring himself to his sister.
"That's not true!" Ruffnut shouted, stepping up to face her brother.
They began swinging and hitting each other, with Ruffnut tackling her brother and rolling wildly on the ground, shouting names at each other.
Ignoring them, because the fights usually lasted for a few seconds, and then stop just as suddenly as it started, Fishlegs and Snotlout began bundling twigs together to make the torso of the doll. They did the same thing to make the arms and legs, which they attached to the body they made. It took another hour to make, as Snotlout was adamant with making it bigger and stronger looking; but, in the end, they finished the dummy.
"It looks just like him! Except maybe a little tougher." Snotlout observed, holding the doll out from him.
"Hmm yes, yes…" Fishlegs agreed stroking his chin and slightly squinting his eyes at the doll "I think that it'll pass!"
"Come on!" Ruffnut shouted, yanking the dummy from Snotlout "let's bring it to Toothless!"
Toothless was finally asleep until he heard Fishlegs call his name. Annoyed that he was woken up, Toothless looked right at Fishlegs, who was obviously holding something behind his back.
"Hey Toothless! We got you a present!" Fishlegs sang, trying to kill the excitement in his voice. Then knowing he had Toothless' attention, he yelled while swinging the dummy around "We brought you…Hiccup!" Then trying to mimic Hiccup's voice said "Hey bud! Ready to go fly?"
Toothless' facial expression went from confused, to annoyed. Ignoring the dummy, he set his head back down and brought his tail around to cover his face.
"Huh, maybe he doesn't think it's Hiccup, or that it doesn't even look like him." Fishlegs suggested, looking at the doll with disappointment.
"Oh please…you just don't know how to tell a dragon to accept a gift!" Snotlout loudly called out "You just got to force it sometimes." Grabbing the doll from Fishlegs, he walked right in front of Toothless and yelled "Toothless! It' Hiccup! Come on! Welcome him!"
Toothless raised his head again and stared at Snotlout with a disgusted expression. Annoyed at the yelling and the doll for a second time, he huffed at Snotlout. Then with little effort, blew fire at the doll, which immediately took to flame.
"Aggh! Not cool Toothless! Not cool!" Snotlout screamed, running in pain. Bolting to the beach, he tried to find something to put his hands in, as they held onto the doll a moment too long.
"Hmm, I still think he doesn't like it" Fishlegs confirmed watching Snotlout run to the shore to douse his burnt hands. "Maybe we should just let him be, and wait for Hiccup to come…"
"That was my idea in the first place!" Tuffnut whined.
Dejected, they all mounted their dragons and took off, flying back to the arena.
Snotlout just finished soothing his burnt hands in the cool ocean water when Hookfang, his dragon, came walking behind him. Noticing that the others were going back to the arena and making sure the water did its job with his hands, he also climbed on his Monstrous Nightmare. Taking off, he went to follow the others, when something caught his eye. It was a ship! And what was even better, was that it was Stoick's ship! Too add to the excitement, it was close and getting more so every second!
"Come on Hookfang, let's get the others!" Snotlout laughed excitedly "This will be a real surprise for Toothless!"
"Gah!" Ukiah shouted, falling on the deck of the ship. Looking up, he saw Astrid standing over him with a hand extended towards him.
"Better! I don't think I would have been able to counter your stutter step if I hadn't seen you do it in the arena." She said, feeling him grip her hand.
Ukiah trained with Astrid, learning more ways to fight with a dagger. He picked up on it rather quickly, surprising Astrid with some of his own methods and style. Hiccup usually practiced with them too, but was mainly designing a saddle for Arrow; as his spikes were proving to be a little tricky to work around.
"How did you learn to fight with a dagger anyways?" Astrid asked, looking at Ukiah with curiosity. Making sure he was standing on his own, she took a deep breath as she sheathed her wolf shaped dagger and picked up her axe. Ukiah's stutter step caused her to miss her timing, allowing Ukiah to knock the axe out of her hands. That's the reason she kept her dagger, to stay armed and counter his own counter, which worked brilliantly.
"I don't know. Really, I never fought before." Ukiah explained, shaking his head at the question; also sheathing his dagger over his chest "It was the strangest thing…it was almost like I knew what to do! Whatever situation came, I felt like I've done it a hundred times before."
"Hey Ukiah! Come here!" Hiccup shouted, pulling both their attention to him.
Smiling, he followed Astrid, not wanting her to see him blush. The weeks of sailing, let him get to know both of them a lot more; which after every conversation with her, he found himself liking her more and more. And as far as he knew, she and Hiccup weren't a couple. Yet.
"Look! There's Berk, Ukiah! Your new home!" Hiccup exclaimed while holding out his hand towards the island, in a way that made it look like he was presenting it to him "What do you think?"
To be honest, Ukiah was a little disappointed. It was small, not that it mattered, but he thought that Berk was going to be a lot bigger from the stories he had heard about it. Though finding out who Hiccup was, was surprise of itself! The rock pillars shooting out of the water were a sight though, making the ones in Thariin seem like babies. "Looks amazing! Definitely different than what I was thinking…" Ukiah replied, half lying and half telling the truth.
"You sure you don't want to just fly over?" Astrid asked, hinting at the idea.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I really don't want to introduce a different dragon to your village without you two. Also the fact that I'm a guest, I figured it'd be better if I waited for Stoick to introduce me to your tribe." Ukiah explained, gesturing to Hiccup.
"Make sense." Hiccup acknowledged, nodding in agreement "I can't wait for Toothless and Arrow to meet!"
"I just hope that they'll get along" Ukiah muttered quietly "I don't know how a Night Fury would react to a Sand Wraith. Or the opposite."
"Toothless is friendly enough, I'm sure they'll get along just fine." Hiccup replied, hinting not to worry about it.
Looking at the shore, the three saw a Monstrous Nightmare take off and fly fairly quickly to the arena, set on a cliff.
"Looks like Snotlout" Astrid said with her eyes following the Monstrous Nightmare flying to the arena "I bet he saw us and went to get the others."
"Do you still use your arena?" Ukiah asked, seeing the Nightmare fly into it.
"Well kind of, it's more of a place that we headquarter ourselves at. We train ourselves and our dragons to fly better with each other." Hiccup answered facing Ukiah "We stopped using it for killing dragons if that's what you meant."
Nodding, Ukiah suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of excitement and nervousness. For the first time in his life, he was going to live in a community that he would be a part of. He already had friends that would look out for him, and Arrow was more like family to him. Then grimly, he thought to himself "All the reason to win the coming war…"
Hiccup was equally, if not more excited than Ukiah. He couldn't wait to ride Toothless! It's been way to long for both of them to be apart from each other. "This is going to be the last trip I have not taking him with me." He thought to himself.
The ship was getting ready to dock, which was already full of people ready to welcome back their chief.
"Oi! Stoick!" A voice called out "'bout time you showed up!" A big man then stood out of the crowd grabbing a tossed rope from the ship to tie it down.
"Aye, it's good to see you to Gobber," Stoick shouted with a hearty laugh which died down quickly "but I'm afraid I don't come with the news expected. I need to meet with the council, now." His last statement was just that, a statement that was expected to get done.
"Oh…oh…I see," Gobber replied with a look of seriousness on his face "Well, in that case I'll just go and grab the men; I'll meet you up there." He looked at Hiccup with a concerned expression on his face, as to ask 'what's going on?' To which Hiccup just shook his head indicating that it was bad news.
Ukiah didn't picture Gobber the way that he actually looked like, but he instantly liked him. "Interesting looking guy" He said, looking at Hiccup with a smile "You lose your leg the same way he lost his hand and foot?"
"Kind of, a dragon was involved in both cases. His just involved more teeth than mine did." Hiccup replied with a smile of his own.
Stoick's voice grabbed Ukiah's attention: "Ukiah, I want you to come to the council with me, considering you're the reason why I need to have it in the first place." Stoick said gruffly, turning to Ukiah. "I need to not only tell them why, but I need to show them why we'll be going to war."
"Of course I'll come! I mean you saved me, let me on your ship, denied the claims of Strogg, and you're letting me live on your island. I don't really have a choice here!" laughed Ukiah "As long as Arrow can come with me, I'll do whatever you ask."
"Yes, he can come as well; he'll only help prove my reasoning." Stoick replied, nodding his head "Hiccup, I don't need you right now, and I think that if I took you to the council, that you'd be no help; all you would be thinking about is Toothless."
"Thanks dad! Honestly, you're probably right." Hiccup said gleefully, almost floating off the ship and onto the dock.
Following Stoick, Ukiah crossed the gangway with Arrow right behind him. Ukiah was getting a lot of quizzical stares from the local Berk Vikings as they began walking off the dock. Actually, it was Arrow who was getting most of the attention, with every Viking at the dock taking a step back as they passed by them.
Hiccup on the other hand, sprinted ahead of Ukiah and Stoick. He had to go find Toothless; it's been way too long. Ignoring the greetings from other Vikings, he was so wrapped up in the thought of Toothless that he didn't notice Astrid was running right behind him.
"In a hurry?" She called behind him, laughing.
Surprised, Hiccup turned his head to face her, but kept on running towards his house. "Yeah! I see you are too!"
"Not anymore!" She yelled as she looked up and saw Stormfly swoop down and stop in front of her. "Stormfly! I missed you so much!" Astrid laughed, almost tackling and hugging Stormfly's head. The Nadder squawked happily, seeing her rider for the first time in weeks.
Smiling at the scene, Hiccup looked ahead where he was running to; just in time to see Toothless run and jump on top of him. Pinned to the ground, Hiccup laughed as Toothless licked his face and rubbed his head. "Oh Toothless, I'm so glad to see you bud!" He yelled out loud, scratching Toothless earnestly. For a moment, nothing seemed to matter, nothing was wrong; they were together again, and it made anything that was going wrong, suddenly disappear.
"Come on bud! Get off of me and we'll go fly!" Hiccup laughed, pushing Toothless away.
Instantly Toothless jumped off of him and almost seemed giddy at the idea of flying.
Rolling onto his feet, Hiccup set himself on Toothless, locking his leg in place and testing the prosthetic tail. Seeing that everything was smooth, Hiccup gave Toothless a sign that he was ready to go. Launching into the air Hiccup laughed! They climbed higher and higher at a height that they both missed visiting. Closing his eyes to absorb as much of the feeling that he could, Hiccup raised his hands above him and shouted with happiness, which was followed by Toothless roaring in agreement.
Then hearing a squawk like roar behind him, he turned his head to see Astrid following closely behind him.
"Can't let you have all the fun to yourself!" She called out, urging Stormfly to move faster
"Hah! Good luck keeping up! Toothless has weeks' worth of energy ready to burn!" He yelled back, accepting the challenge by laying low on Toothless and beginning a dive. Astrid and Stormfly were right behind them with a dive of their own. After diving for a good ten seconds, they pulled up just in time to avoid crashing into the water. Hiccup and Toothless were travelling so fast at that point, that they were leaving a wake in the water that was just feet below them.
Astrid was taken back at the speed they were moving at. Normally she and Stormfly were able to keep up, but this time she was having a hard time keeping the same distance. "I guess he does have some energy to burn…" She huffed to herself. Having Stormfly keep the same speed that they were cruising at, all she could do was smile and watch Hiccup and Toothless climb back into the air, spinning and celebrating that the long trip was over.
Ukiah was staring up at the sky with Arrow. He was amazed at how maneuverable and graceful Hiccup and Toothless were. Also, seeing what a Night Fury actually was. Hiccup was right, he and Arrow were similar, yet different. Turning to Arrow, Ukiah said "Looks like we have a few more days of practice ahead of us!" Arrow turned and, understanding what Ukiah was saying, nodded in agreement.
Then seeing shadows fly over them, they both looked up to see three other dragons flying after Hiccup and Astrid. "Must be their crew…" Ukiah said staring off after them. He was wishing that he could have gone with Hiccup and Astrid to fly with them, but there were definitely more important matters at hand.
Following Stoick to the Great Hall, Ukiah was impressed with the size of the doors. Stoick opened one of the doors, letting in some of the men that followed them from the docks. "Looks like Gobber is still getting a few more" Stoick observed looking down the stairs and seeing Gobber talking to a group of men.
"So is this council to strategize for the war?" Ukiah asked curiously, stepping inside. Arrow was close behind him, sniffing the air to make sure it wasn't a trap.
"Not exactly, it's more to officially set the terms of what will cause us to go to war. And to show everyone why we are. Remember, we're not exactly fighting each other yet, and I don't want to go and attack any Thariin ship that sails nearby, other tribes might not like that." Stoick stated.
"So it's more of a diplomatic move then?" Ukiah summed up.
"More like a political move. If Strogg doesn't attack us, then I'm alright with that; but chances are that he won't let this act of defiance go unanswered. I just want to let the village men to know what's probably going to happen, this will let me see those who are with me and those who aren't" Stoick explained, walking deeper into in the Great Hall, towards a large table.
By this time Gobber had just gathered the rest of the council and was proceeding to fill his mug that was attached to his hand.
"Hmm…" Ukiah thought to himself, watching him drink out of his mug of a hand "He's crafty, I'll give him that."
After a few minutes of talking, greeting and speculating what the meeting was about; and why a stranger of a boy and a new dragon were there, the meeting began to proceed.
"Vikings of Berk, I come back with grave news." Stoick's voice echoed in the vast room. His voice boomed like thunder, catching even Arrow off guard. "Our trip to Thariin was…eventful. We were able to meet with Strogg the Stone, however, his interests were not in our favor. Those who don't know Strogg, which is most of you, don't know what his passions are." Stoick paused at this moment, thinking of how to deliver his thought "I'll be upfront with you. He enjoys killing, and death. Not just with animals or dragons, but other Vikings as well."
A murmur ran through the crowd at this news.
"So why are we having this meeting? There must be more to it than that!" A voice called out from the crowd of Vikings.
"Let me finish first," Stoick replied gruffly "Strogg in the past was responsible for an entire annihilation of a tribe about twenty years ago, the Tribe of Crev." After a small pause, Stoick continued "You may not have heard of Crev, but it was a prosperous tribe, but now gone and only a memory for a few. There is no one left from Crev." Stoick announced, letting the information sink in. Turning to Ukiah who was standing next to him, said a few words that directed all attention to Ukiah "Except for one. This boy."
"Are you saying that this boy is from Crev, which you said was destroyed a good two decades or so ago?" asked a man standing near Stoick.
"Yes, this is Ukiah, the last of the Tribe of Crev" Stoick thundered. Making sure the statement sank into the crowd, he turned back to them, almost roaring this time "Strogg wants him dead! I will not let him do that! As we speak, I'm sure that Strogg is coming with the entire Thariin fleet to get this boy. To finish what he started!" Ukiah was standing with pride, trying to help sell Stoick's explanation. "I asked you all to come here, so that we can discuss the limits that we will set on Strogg and his army! I want to know who will fight with me to save the last of the Crev!"
It was silent at first, which made Ukiah worried. Then one by one, every single Viking in the room shouted acceptance of the request. It was a beautiful sight. Every Viking shouted while drawing his weapon and holding it in the air, or raising their fist up and high.
After the excitement died down, a voice came from the back, in almost a challenging way, saying: "Stoick, Stoick, Stoick, even though most don't know about the island of Crev, there are a few who still do." An older man stood out of the crowd, holding a walking stick, which seemed to add to his age. "I remember Crev more than you probably! I know they weren't exactly who they said they were. If this boy is from Crev, how about he demonstrates how a Crevite warrior fights!" The old man smirked, which told Ukiah that he didn't believe a word that Stoick was saying.
"Ukiah, you want to take this one?" Stoick asked, hinting strongly to do something to satisfy the needs of this man.
"What's your name elder?" Ukiah asked loudly, but respectfully.
"Murky, that's all you need to know, whelp." He spat back, almost with poison in his tone.
"Why is he so hostile to me?" Ukiah wondered. Ignoring the jab, he then spoke up, explaining "I was a newborn when Crev was destroyed, my guardian Jessika tried to teach me all that my people lived for. Consequently, I don't know anything about my tribe's traditions or fighting styles."
"As I suspected, nothing more than someone who just uses the name! No one has seen a Crevite in years! If they are still around, they'd all be older by now." Murky said in a tired and annoyed voice. "I know for a fact that this boy is not a Crevite!"
This caused a disputation among all the Vikings there, some agreeing with Murky and some with Stoick.
"That's enough Murky!" Stoick thundered, putting an end to the arguments.
"Wait Stoick, I have something to say." Gobber said, standing up and finishing his drink. "I think that it's fair to point out that this boy has an argument here. He said that he was only a newborn when the event happened, thus he would have had no recollection of his family, let alone anything regarding the Crev. Which, I think I can help him with."
Ukiah's head perked at the comment. Staring at Gobber, he wondered if he could actually help him learn more about his origins.
"Gobber, stop wasting our time!" Murky yelled in the most threatening way that an old man could.
"Aye Murky, I believe it was you who told Stoick that he wasn't the only one who has a knowledge of the Crev. It just so happens that I may know a bit here and there about them as well." Gobber retorted back, almost in a mocking tone.
Defeated by his own words, Murky settled down.
Making sure he still had the spotlight, Gobber continued: "But, I think it's a waste of time arguing if he's a Crevite or not. The point that Stoick's talking about, is should we defend someone from a killer?" Gobber then casually walked over to a barrel, pouring himself another drink "The way I see it, regardless of who a person is or isn't, we need to help protect them. Isn't that what Hiccup did for all of us? Even after we basically banished him from the tribe?"
An ashamed murmur ran throughout the hallway, leaving Ukiah wondering what Gobber was talking about. "Hiccup was banished?" He thought, looking at Stoick who was the chief and his father "How? Why?"
"You're saying we should die for a stranger? One that hasn't done anything for us?" Murky yelled, glaring at Gobber angrily, knowing he was losing supporters.
"What did we do for Hiccup? We ridiculed and made fun of him! His name was a curse! He didn't need to save us, and he lost his leg when he and Toothless destroyed the Red Death!" Gobber replied, his eyes narrowing "Besides Murky, it's never been what can someone can do for us, it's what can we do for someone else."
Ukiah stared at Gobber. He was really wanting to help him! Silently thanking Gobber, he rested his hand on Arrow's head, knowing they had a place to stay at.
"Bah! If we're going to risk our heads for this boy, is there anything you can do to show you're a Crevite?" Murky roared, glaring at Ukiah.
"Here, here…" Another older man called out.
"Stay out of this Mildew." Stoick warned, glaring at the second man who stepped up. Turning to Ukiah, he asked "Well, Ukiah, can you show us that you are a Crevite?"
Ukiah thought for a moment, and then nodded in agreement. Not saying a word, he walked over to the fire that was lit in the center of the room. He grabbed a mug of, whatever it was, from a Viking sitting at a table. Setting it down by the fire, he grabbed a charred stick and proceeded to step on it, breaking it into small pieces. After getting a small pile of charcoal, he began to smash it into finer dust.
Stoick knew exactly what Ukiah was doing, and if you weren't next to him, you never would have seen the small smile that grew on his face.
Running the fine dust through his hands, he grabbed the mug and poured its contents onto the pile of charcoal. Mixing the blackened paste, he spread it all over his fingers, making sure it was layered evenly over his hand. Standing up, he faced himself to Murky, who was at this time staring right at him, daring Ukiah to show him. No one said a word; it was almost eerie with how quiet it was. Making sure everyone was watching, Ukiah slowly raised his hand to his face, and painted a black diagonal line, high left to low right.
"Well, now we know we have a Crevite fighting with us. I actually think we do have a chance of winning this war." Gobber commented, with a smug expression on his face. Smiling at Ukiah, he winked at him and then swallowed the rest of his drink.