AN: See? I wasn't lying. A new Chapter. One note before you carry on: The chapter that I said was a half chapter before has been redistributed. This chapter and the one set to follow it will be longer than usual chapter. After the next chapter, the next chapter will come out two weeks after.

Also, I have officially gained an unofficial beta. So from here on out you should see many fewer grammar mistakes that I miss. That is the reason this chapter is early. We want to know what you think of a beta'd chapter.

Not much else to say. Please direct all questions to my inbox. Review and tell your internet friends.

And here we go.

I own nothing.

OF BOWS AND DRAGONS

Chapter 8: The Trial of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Part II

Toothless finished his portion of the evening meal rather quickly. It was nowhere near enough to satisfy his appetite. That was price he paid for standing by his human. His friend. His partner. Toothless was prepared to fight for Hiccup tomorrow if worst came to worst. He would die before he let his human fall. After all, he was an outcast among dragons and Hiccup was an outcast among his people. This made them outcasts together. A family. He sighed deeply as the two of them laid down to sleep.

_-_The Next Morning_-_

Fergus sat upon the Throne of DunBroch massaging his temples. He was in a difficult position. Accounts of the boy's character and manners were given from the Healer Angus, the servant boy, and even his own daughter. By all of these accounts, he was a decent boy who was trying to peacefully assimilate his people into a new land. His daughter was angry though. The boy had wormed into her heart and she felt naught but betrayal.

He himself had felt no disdain for Hiccup on a personal level, just an unnatural amount of distrust. Perhaps it was the war so many years ago.

He signed heavily. These were the moments he wished to not be their king. He beckoned for the guard in the corner of the room. "Go and retrieve the Viking. Let us finish this trial and be done with it." At once the young man nodded and ran for the dungeons.

While he waited for them to return, his wife and daughter came to take their places for this event. Elinor was of the same mind as her husband and felt no ill will from the boy. Merida, on the other hand, was seething. This was bound to be an interesting day.

Soon the door leading to the depths of the castle opened and revealed three guards and a disheveled looking Hiccup and Toothless. As with the day before they were marched before those of royal blood.

Fergus leaned back in his seat. "So lad. Are you ready to speak your case?"

Hiccup stood up a little straighter and all weariness left him. His pride was a Viking trademark. "I am," he said.

"Good. Then tell us why you and your fiery lizard have come to our island."

Toothless growled lightly and that remark but was silenced with a gesture of Hiccup's shackled wrist. "We are a scouting party for our village."

"For an invasion? For war?" questioned Fergus as he unconsciously gripped his weapon tightly.

"No. For amnesty," replied Hiccup firmly, "Our island can barely support life anymore. We have to leave or to fade. The trading ships rarely pass as far north as we are and we have nothing to trade if they do come, as our waters are empty and our lands are scorched."

The Queen raised a questioning brow at the young man on trial, "Then why are you here? Shouldn't you be trying to get help from your kind?"

The room was filled with a pregnant silence as all eyes turned to Hiccup. "I was sent out by my village to seek new lands and our kind will not give us quarter."

Fergus elected to ignore the burning question in his mind- why the other Vikings were shunning his village- and asked a more pertinent question, "Did you plan to take these lands by force?"

Merida scoffed at her father's question. "Of course they would. They're Vikings."

Fergus' head rounded on his daughter. "Merida! Let the man speak."

Hiccup smiled softly as Fergus turned back to face him, "If the land was occupied, we were going to ask for amnesty. Ours may be a warrior culture where a death in battle is considered a best case scenario, but a Viking's duty is to his people."

The warriors in the room, including the king, nodded at the words of the logic of the young Viking chief in front of them. Before the trial could continue on its course, however, the grand doors to the hall burst open and a runner came sprinting up to the king clutching a worn piece of parchment as well as a much fresher piece.

The runner gasped loudly as he gave them to the king before he sprinted back in the direction he came. "That guy is gonna have a heart attack," mumbled Hiccup to Toothless, causing the obsidian dragon to snicker loudly.

Fergus cleared his throat and his face was grim after apparently reading the newer note, "Seems there are some holes in your story lad." The older parchment was thrown at Hiccup's feet. "Most pressingly now is why this letter bearing your villages seal was delivered only days before the war began with the Viking Confederacy. This letter was never translated from your people's runes but we assume it was a declaration of war."

Hiccup reached down and plucked up the letter and turned it over in his hands to see the broken wax seal.

"It predates my reign as king. I had the scholars search the records for any symbol that matched that pauldron of yours."

Hiccup stared at the letter not caring what the king was saying. "This isn't a declaration of war. Vikings don't send warning. And even if we did, my village had no part in that war." Hiccup unfolded the letter and scanned the Nordic runes with ease. "This is a letter from Stoick the Vast. He was trying to warn you of an attack. At that time we were at the height of the Dragon War and since we were at the northern border of the territory…." He trailed off and took a heavy breath, "He valued our honor. Unjustified war would have tarnished that."

Fergus stroked his beard deep in thought. "I've heard of this Stoick the Vast. A fierce warrior in his own right. In the time leading up to the war, he was reported to have taken on ten men at once before he was even injured. Not to mention the stories of him fighting dragons, or what I'd heard from that spat he had with the other Vikings…." Fergus trailed off when his wife gave him a scathing look.

Merida looked surprised at the news of the letter. While she was sure he was telling the truth, she had to been lied to by him before. He was quite convincing with those solemn eyes of his. "How do we know the letter says what it does?"

"I, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, swear on my name, the name of my father, Stoick the Vast, and my honor that all I have said and will say at this trial is true," replied Hiccup with a look solemnity.

The king and his family seemed to be at least partly familiar with Viking values and when combined with Hiccup's comments took the honor with only a couple grains of salt.

"Well that's one misunderstanding that's taken care of. But the question still stands: why are you here? In Scotland?" said Fergus leaned back in his chair and smiled slightly

So Hiccup told them the big picture. He explained that after the war ended the other tribes regarded Berk coldly. The story continued to the Council of 21 that happened several months after the war. Peace was almost struck on a deal to end the dragon threat. Peace never stood a chance as Stoick was the sole survivor of a mass assassination, and the other tribes blamed Stoick for his survival and hated him.

This led to open hostility and minor skirmishes for years. Hiccup explained that the final straw was when he and Toothless had helped to make peace between their village and the dragon nest to the north of Berk, but he didn't explain how it had been made. He kept that to himself.

Hiccup glossed over the more recent war with the other Viking tribes. He didn't really want to talk about the violent acts he and his people did to defend their hearth and home. When he came to the more recent events, Hiccup became slightly more emotional. "…After Drago had his Alpha Dragon kill Stoick, he moved onto our village. He razed the village almost to the ground. My dad had named me his successor and I was crowned immediately. Soon after, it became apparent to all of us that the island was dying. The Elder then asked that it be me who negotiates amnesty."

Fergus and his family sat dumbstruck at the tale they were given. It made logical sense. Still, the boy was a Viking. "I need to time consider this… situation." He gestured to the guards surrounding Hiccup, "Take him to his quarters- not the dungeon."

Hiccup and Toothless walked to the bed chamber without much struggle, hoping that they might get to keep their heads. He was unshackled and then he and Toothless were roughly shoved into the room. The door slammed shut and locked quickly after that.

"Well Buddy, we are possibly reaching the end of the line."

The Night Fury pinned Hiccup and stared into his human's eyes trying to convey the message of "Stay positive". Besides, Toothless had worked out how they could escape fairly easily.

Hiccup chuckled and pushed the dragon down. "I guess you're right, bud." He looked around the room at the disarray of his belongings. Upon closer inspection it became evident that the guards had taken his armor, weapons, and most of the other equipment, but thankfully, had elected to leave the medical supplies from his saddle bags.

Gathering those supplies and stripping his torso, Hiccup stepped over to the wash basin in the corner of the room. The slashes from the bear attack three days prior were red from the jostling he had received during his time as a prisoner. Hiccup set to work scrubbing and cleaning the blood, grime, and dirt from the dungeon.

It didn't take long to clean, he had done it so many times before. He took one of the few remaining bandages out of his bags. He had only just starting the wrapping his wounds when there was a knock at the door. Before he could say anything, the door opened and a tray, piled with even more food than there had been the night before, was pushed through.

Unlike the night before, this wasn't a servant behind the tray. It was Merida. "Hello. Thought you two might like some lunch." Her eyes came to rest on the topless Hiccup. "I wanted to talk."

Hiccup finished wrapping his bandage hastily before moving away warily. He got hit last time he was next to her. "Hi… What ar-," Hiccup stumbled into the saddle bag on the floor before regaining his equilibrium. "…are you doing here?" Next to him Toothless let out a rough bout of laughter. His human could go to war without flinching, but a female could turn him into a hatchling. "Shut up, you useless reptile."

Merida suppressed a laugh but still rolled her eyes. "I'm here to talk, lad," she set down the tray. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Hiccup sat on the bed, "That I'm a Viking? That would have gone well. 'Hi, I just met you unconscious in the forest and I'm one of your peoples sworn enemy.' Let face it- you would have put an arrow up my-"

"I get it," said Merida, cutting off the boy's rant, "You still should have been honest. Not tellin' me was as bad as lying." Merida shook her head as though to clear it. How could one man be so annoying? "Look, they're gonna come and get you in the next couple of hours after my dad finishes meeting with his advisors. Do you need anything else?"

Hiccup stood up slowly, "My armor, please. If I'm to be judged a Viking, I might as well look the part." Merida nodded slowly and began to exit the room. "Princess, I'm sorry for lying." Merida flashed Hiccup a small smile and quickly left the room.

Merida exited the bed chamber and went to find her father. She sought him out in one of the side chambers of the Grand Hall. "Dad?" she called bursting through the doors.

"What is it, my dear?" asked Fergus silencing the others with a short gesture.

"Hiccup wants his armor back."

One of the councilors, a short, bald man with a nose that had been broken several times, spoke up with great indignation, "Armor? The boy is a Viking, and the only this he deserves is an ax across his neck."

Fergus rubbed his face and prepared to rebuke the man, but the other councilor beat him to the punch. Literally. The blow caught the shorter man on his already twisted nose. "Shut up, Nathair. You want to kill every one. The boy is an envoy who means no harm. His village could be an asset to us."

"Durall, calm yourself. Nathair, go have Angus look at your nose. Merida, why does he want his armor?" asked Fergus with practiced ease.

Merida smiled as though these all these actions were common place as Nathair left hurriedly, clutching his nose. "He said that if he is being judged as a Viking, he would like to look the part."

Durall nodded, "That sounds reasonable my king."

"I'll have the armor sent to him right away." Fergus walked his daughter to the door, "Do me a favor and ensure your demon little brothers are set to come to this thing."

After ushering her out of the room, Fergus sat heavily in a chair by a table in the corner of the room. "What am I going to do, Durall? She is going to find out whats happening with the other clans."

Durall grimaced, "Not to mention your plan for Hiccup."

"She'll kill me for that."

"Most likely."

AN: That wraps up the eight chapter. NIne will be up in one weeks' time. Until then, review and let my beta and I know what you think.

War and Peace

-RedhoodandtheOutlaws