19 Old Enemies
After an entire day of searching the seas southeast of Berk, the exhausted dragons and their riders set down near the northern inlet of Lookout Island; the approximate halfway point to Elydonia. There may be more islands in the area to discover and search tomorrow morning, but if there were then Hiccup did not know about them, because every trip he had taken from Lookout Island in the past was either straight to Elydonia, or straight home again.
"Okay everyone listen up" Hiccup addressed the weary Vikings "all dragons are to be rested until they are ready to feed themselves; Starkard is in charge of setting up and running the camp, Kara can coordinate tomorrows search, and I want Ack and Helga to grab a net and get down to the inlet."
"Ah the joys of being away from Berk" Ack grinned "fish for every meal."
"True, but I need you to get the first catch to Toothless" Hiccup ordered "I need him rested now, fed soon and ready for action."
"You got it Chief" Helga nodded as she and Ack hurried off to their task.
"Why do I get the feeling that you won't be with us very long?" Starkard commented as he and Kara approached the Dragon Master "I'm getting a very strong feeling that there is something you are not telling us."
"I have to get to Elydonia... tonight if I can, but that depends on Toothless of course; he's looking tired."
"But why?" Kara asked.
"King Joric may know something that could help our search, but it is also possible that he isn't even aware of the attack on my father's group yet, and it would certainly help to get some Elydonian ships out searching from their side of the ocean."
"But it will be dark by the time Toothless is ready to fly again; you could pass straight over the ships and not even see them" Kara noted.
"True... but it can't be helped; If Joric can tell us which direction Dad was sailing in, it could make all the difference during tomorrow's search and besides, I won't leave Bolthorn Castle again till first light so I can look for them on the return trip."
"Who are you taking with you?" Starkard asked.
"I'll go alone; everyone needs to rest up for tomorrow... and you both know that no other dragon can keep up with a Night Fury. Don't worry; I'll make sure Toothless gets plenty of sleep tonight."
Starkard opened his mouth to object, but Kara frowned and shook her head.
"Hiccup's right you know... let it go."
"How are you doing Chief?" Sigrid asked.
"All things considered, shouldn't it be me asking you that question? After all; you're the one with the little baby in her belly."
"I'm okay; it's far too early for anyone to even notice that I'm expecting" she smiled "They've only chained the rest of us by the ankles; I think they used up most of the chain they had on hand tying up you."
A huge grin spread across Stoick's face. He liked the thought that the invaders were already so frightened him, that they felt it necessary to completely wrap him in heavy chain.
"I'm surprised they didn't just kill me" Stoick noted.
"Oh believe me, we did consider that" a new voice spoke from the hatch.
The captain of the Clipper ship caught everyones attention as he casually strode down the wooden steps into the brig "But the Emperor will want to get as much information as he can out of you, BEFORE he kills you."
"The only thing he'll get out of me is detailed information about how ugly he is" Snotlout smirked.
"Yeah, yeah and... err... and how he smells and his butt is big, and his butt smells, his nose is huge, and his nose smells and..."
"ALRIGHT TUFFNUT; that's enough" Stoick silenced the babbling young man "I think we all get the message."
"You are such an idiot" Snotlout shook his head.
"Oh yeah?" Tuffnut replied desperately trying to think of a scathing comeback "well... your nose smells too."
There was a slight gasp from one of the Elydonian sailors as he recognised the man who had just entered, but he quickly turned his head away before he could be recognised in return.
"I'm not ashamed to say" the Captain began "err... Stoick is it?"
The Chief said nothing but just stared into his captor's eyes.
"As I was saying, I'm not ashamed to say that I am very glad that you are chained up this way; I do believe that you could tear my limbs off if you so desired."
"That would be a safe bet" Stoick spoke at last.
"Oh the hatred in your eyes" the Captain smirked "I'd also wager that you are beginning to wish that you had executed me the last time we met."
The grin on the Captains face melted away as soon as he saw Stoicks confusion.
"Are you trying to tell me that I... should know you?" Stoick asked.
"YOU CAME TO MY SHIP WITH SIGFUS JOLFSON TO TAKE PRINCE NAINN PRISONER!"
"Oh... so you were on one of those ships that King Rekkur sent to invade Berk last year. You didn't even get halfway there" Stoick laughed and the others joined in "Were you one of the sailors or an officer?"
"I WAS THE BLOODY CAPTAIN YOU IDIOT."
"Now now... temper temper" the grin was back on Stoicks face again.
"And if it wasn't for you and your bloody dragons..."
"Language Captain" Stoick interrupted "there are ladies present."
"If it wasn't for you" the captain continued "I would have ended up a Fleet Captain in my own country... or even an Admiral, but there isn't much chance of me being promoted that far now... serving in a foreign navy."
"I think I remember you" Stoick realised at last "as least... I remember a man that Sigfus wanted to arrest, but couldn't for some reason."
"Yes... that was me; Captain Julius Pratt at your service" Pratt grinned at the fact that he was remembered at last.
"The thing I don't remember is what you'd done and why Sigfus couldn't touch you."
"Yes I suppose it must have been far too complex for your barbaric brain to grasp."
"No need to be insulting" Stoick warned "or I may have to teach you some manners."
"I'd like to see you try" Pratt sneered.
"Oh no you wouldn't" Odd called out from further down the line of prisoners.
"SHUT UP DOWN THERE" Pratt shouted.
"oooooOOOOOOooooo" replied a chorus of Viking voices.
"Now now everybody" Stoick pretended to scold his people "give the Captain a chance to tell us how important he is."
Eventually the giggling died down and Captain Pratt continued to tell his tale.
"Your 'friend' Sigfus Jolfson was a traitor to King Rekkur and was part of a plot to overthrow him..."
"Wait a minute; Rekkur was the one who murdered King Joric's grandfather... and stole the throne" Stoick did a bit of sneering himself.
"Oh I'm not saying Rekkur was perfect, but he was the king that I served under and so I was right of me to report Jolfson and his co-conspirators for their treachery and get them kicked out of the Elydonian Navy... it's just a shame they all escaped before they could be executed."
"I was told that you turned them in just to further your own career... Captain" Stoick accused as a chorus of 'tisk tisk' and 'shame on you' echoed through the brig from the other Vikings.
"SHUT UP... the lot of you; I can always tell the Emperor that some of you were killed trying to escape."
"Settle down everyone" Stoick ordered "let the nice traitor justify himself."
Julius Pratt stood steaming for a short time until the giggling died down again.
"So why didn't King Joric have you imprisoned" Stoick asked "and how did you end up here?"
The slippery smile returned to Captain Pratt's face; although he hated having it pointed out to him, he did like to tell his story and justify his actions.
"You may remember that when you and Sigfus came to arrest Prince Nainn, every other officer in the fleet was... shall we say... a little worried?"
"What would you expect with fresh notification of a new king... not to mention having a Viking chief and a dragon sitting on the deck of your ship?" Stoick huffed "Of course they were worried."
"Ah... but they were also very concerned that they too would be arrested; just as Nainn and his father King Rekkur. They thought that they too may be subject to retribution from the new king... and so I pointed out to Sigfus that if he arrested me, then he may find the entire navy taking up arms against him in one... big... mutiny... just to protect themselves from reprisal."
"So Sigfus had to let you go just to show everyone else that they were safe and could trust the new king" Stoick realised.
"Exactly; but I knew my career in the Elydonian Navy was over so..."
"So you betrayed your new king and your country" Stoick shook his head as the others mumbled 'shame shame' under their collective breaths.
"I EMIGRATED!" Pratt slipped back into justification mode "to somewhere I would be more... appreciated."
"Emigrating is one thing" a very different voice chimed in from further down the line of prisoners "but to betray you country and its allies... I cannot forgive that."
"QUIET IN THE RANKS" Stoick shouted much to Captain Pratt's surprise.
The Viking chief's outburst confused Pratt; he stood for a minute and pondered what would make Stoick act in such a way. Slowly he moved down the line of chained men and women looking carefully at each one; he tore of the hood of a man to his left only to find an Elydonian sailor. As he moved on, the Vikings all stared at him with a look of disgust that made the Captain nervous but the Elydonians continued to avert their eyes."
"What the..." Captain Julius Pratt stopped short in front of the one man who dared to stare back "...Joric?... Oh this is priceless... this is WONDERFUL; I just might make Admiral in the Imperial Navy yet.
The Clipper ship with its cargo of prisoners sailed on leading its small fleet back to New Loren. Pratt left the brig grinning like a Cheshire Dragon at his discovery, but he was blissfully unaware that he was being observed by an almost invisible creature sitting on the mizzen yard, with an armoured spider standing boldly on its head.
Back in the hold of the Mighty Ivar, three other prisoners were contemplating their fate; they also agreed that fate could go jump in a lake somewhere.
"I hate being chained up below deck" Ruffnut huffed "it smells worse than Tuffnut's bedroom down here."
"It does smell bad" Fishlegs noted "but not worse."
"I'm with Fishlegs" Astrid agreed "when it comes to nauseating aromas, the only things worse than your brother's bedroom are Snotlouts boots and Gobbers undies in July."
"I'd put Meatlug after a big meal on that list" Ruffnut added.
"HEY! Don't blame Meatlug; she has a sensitive stomach."
"I'm not buying that; you're just using the same excuse as Gobber does?" Ruffnut smirked "I'm surprised Hiccup is only experimenting with Zippleback gas and not with what come out of your Gronckle."
"Are you kidding Ruff?" Astrid smirked "Hiccup only wants to blow up rocks, not destroy Berk entirely."
"I hate you both" Fishlegs sneered at the laughing girls.
The Dragon Riders all fell silent for a short time until Astrid could stand it no longer.
"I AM SO SICK OF THIS!" she declared kicking at her chains again "why wouldn't Stoick let us do something? Why does he expect us to just sit this out and hope for the best? It's just not like him... and it's not like us either."
"Sorry Astrid, but you heard his orders" Fishlegs sighed.
"Actually... I didn't; I hadn't been captured when Stoick and the others were taken to those other ships so Ruffnut told me what he said when we were put down here. Are you sure you got it right Ruff?"
"Yup; he told me to sit tight, take good care of the dragons, don't try to escape and do whatever our captors tell us to."
"You're right Astrid" Fishlegs started to look confused "that defiantly does NOT sound like something Stoick would..."
Fishlegs was abruptly cut off by the sound of the hatch above them being opened. Heavy feet made the wooden steps creak and groan as two enemy guards following a large man in armour strode down into the brig to face his prisoners. General Karoc eyed off Ruffnut before turning up his nose; she did not look familiar at all and the same could be said about the shivering young man sitting next to her, but the third one sitting on the opposite bench, she was another story altogether.
"So then... Rose.., I assume that is not your real name."
"It's Astrid actually." She informed him.
"Ah... keeping with the floral theme... so who are your friends, Lily and Pansy perhaps?"
"HEY!" Fishlegs protested.
"General, I would like you to meet Fishlegs and Ruffnut; two of the Vikings who one day see your head stuck on a pole."
Astrid's confidence did not please the General; people did not speak to him that way as a rule, and especially not people in manacles and chains, but he shrugged it off for now as he sought answers to the questions in his head.
"So what's become of your weedy little brother?" he enquired.
"Hiccups not her brother" Ruffnut smirked "he's her fiancé."
"Her FIANCÉ? You have got to be kidding me."
"Ruffnut please" Astrid begged "he talking about... Ruprecht, not Hiccup."
"That right... Ruprecht" General Karoc nodded as the memory retuned to him "and I assume that is not his real name either; so what is that little Viking called?"
"I dunno" Astrid lied, but then added a little truth to undermine the Generals confidence "because he's not a Viking, he was one of your own people... and I do mean... was."
"Are you saying that you were... assisted by a citizen of the New Loren Empire?"
"Oh it's much better than that" Astrid smiled "when I said he was one of YOUR people, that is exactly what I meant. At one time, you had a certain spy reporting to you through letters delivered by a young street urchin..."
"No... it couldn't be" Karoc looked flustered "but the boy with you was... well... different somehow."
"He was the assistant of a very experienced spy or as he liked to say, an 'Obtainer of Vital Intelligence' so you have to expect that he was also pretty good at disguises."
"So that boy has turned traitor... and I assume your people murdered his master."
"You are so full of yourself" Astrid smiled again "we didn't kill him, he went undercover to track us down and bring you the information you wanted, but you sent soldiers to capture his apprentice and young Ruprecht; so they all had to disappear just to save their own lives... now all three are on our side."
"If they were loyal to the Emperor, they had nothing to fear from me."
"Oh please, what a load of Gronckle poop" Astrid sneered "you and your Emperor both thought I was only a local farm girl back then, but you still sent me off with Borges to be tortured. We all knew that none of you could be trusted, and you proved that to be true when you entered Elydonian waters and attacked us."
"Elydonia will soon be just another province in out mighty empire" the General smirked "and then we will find your home and take that too."
"Oh no you won't; not while a single Dragon Rider still draws a breath."
Fishlegs and Ruffnut both shouted in agreement.
"Bold talk" Karoc continued smirking "but I have your dragons here on this ship, and your Chief is on one of my Clippers with the rest of your people; so by the time we get back to the shores of New Loren, they will all be in the towers and dungeons of the Imperial Palace."
"You may have our Chief, but you don't have all our dragons, or all our people... and more than that, you do not have the Dragon Master. He is the man who destroyed the Red Death single handed; a dragon the size of a mountain."
"And he rides a Night Fury" Fishlegs added "and you have never seen a dragon like that before."
"The offspring of lightning and death itself" Ruffnut chimed in.
"And that dragon could sink each of your ships with a single shot through the hull" Astrid concluded "and when he comes looking for us, he will be leading an army of Dragon Riders."
"Not that he'll need them" Fishlegs drove home "with a Night Fury at his command, he could take care of fifty ships single handed.
The General said nothing but just stood staring at them all while trying to decide if they were bluffing or not.
"Look General, even if you doubt my word, you will never get these dragons back to New Loren" Astrid sighed.
"Don't be so sure young lady; there is no way you are getting out of those chains to free them, and we have them locked up tightly in the hold."
"That is my point" it was Astrids turn to smirk "I know why we're here, and not on the other ships with the rest of your prisoners; you need us to take care of the dragons so you can bring them back alive, but if you lock them up for the entire journey, then not even we will be able to control them. Dragons like to fly, and they like to go fishing for fresh food; so it won't be long before they start going crazy in their pens and begin to tear this ship apart from the inside... and when that happens, we all go down together... unless you can swim in that armour."
"Oh really, and what do suggest? I suppose you think I'll just let you take them all out for a little exercise."
"That would be the best thing to do, but I suspect that you will simply ignore my advice until it's too late; and that is why we have made our peace and are ready to die."
"You can't fool me" the General looked at her with disgust before turning to leave "I'm not that stupid."
"Said the man commanding a ship full of fire breathing dragons that he can't control" Ruffnut added; they all laughed as the General stormed off.
"Watch them..." Karoc ordered the guards as he glanced back "...closely."
Back in chapter 30 of the 'Seasick Dragon' story, I wrote this as an author note:
During my lifetime I have travelled through a war zone and been surrounded by men with automatic weapons, I've swam with a twelve foot Hammerhead shark and assisted in the rescue of two young Dolphins, I've been trapped in a sea cave blowhole, been engulfed in a large school of stinging Jellyfish and chauffeured celebrities (all true) among many other interesting things. But the only things I want to write about are the adventures of a group of fictitious Dragon Riders – my Mother thinks I'm crazy.
It was meant to be a jibe about the things that interest us as Fan Fiction writers and readers, but someone who shall remain nameless (Sarnakh) has expressed doubts about my honesty. This maybe because all the stuff I wrote about my super intelligent, megalomaniac cat named Moon, was nothing more than grade-A crap, but the experiences in the above paragraph were all true – although most were nowhere near as interesting as you might think.
So at the risk of being nothing more than a self promoting bragger, I have decided to expand on what actually happened, and write about it all in future 'Author Notes' (unless I bring forth a torrent of abuse; if so, I will pull my head in and get back to writing fiction :-)