28 The Chief Returns

Olvor could see the dragons approaching as she stood at the door of the Great Hall; Stoick would come, she would confess and he would banish her... if she was lucky. Claiming to speak with the Chiefs authority was very serious business, but she had taken care good of his son so she was sure Stoick would show her some mercy.

"What's she doing standing at the door?" Stoick declared as he looked down "Odd; get down there and tell her to go inside."

"Right Chief" Odd replied and put his Deadly Nadder into a dive.

Fortunately for them both, not many dragons could beat a Nadder for speed in a power dive and Zipplebacks, though fast could also glide very slowly without losing too much altitude thanks to their massive wing area so Stoick was able to hold back while Odd rushed forward and landed his dragon near the left side of the hall.

"Get inside" he whispered as loudly as he could.

Olvor looked at Odd in a very confused way as he rushed up to her with a Nadder trotting happily along behind him.

"Get inside" he repeated "and stand in Stoicks place."

"But I can't..." she protested.

"You have to or you life here is over. Now trust me and GO!"

Olvor followed his instructions and entered the building; she was finding it hard to believe what Stoick was about to do for her. If the people found out that he was about to lie to them all just to protect her, he would lose his position as Chief and he would have to leave Berk with Hiccup and never return. Olvor did not want to go through with this deception, for the risk was too great but if she didn't, all would be revealed so she had no choice but to do her best. She took her place near the end of the hall with a small crowd behind her.

BANG… BANG… BANG.

With three loud knocks on the doors of the Great Hall, the ceremony began.

"WHO DEMANDS ENTRY TO THE COUNCIL OF THE GREAT HALL OF BERK?" she called out as loud as she could.

Stoick threw open both doors and strode alone to the centre of the room saying nothing.

"I AM OLVOR AND I SPEAK AS CHIEF OF BERK; WHO COMES BEFORE ME? STATE YOUR NAME AND BE HEARD."

"I AM STOICK THE VAST AND I CLAIM THE CHIEFDOM OF BERK; DO YOU YIELD TO ME?"

Quietly, Olvor stepped down from the chief's position, walked forward and held out her right arm; without looking down, Stoick held out his arm and grasped her wrist as she did likewise.

"I yield to Stoick the Vast; Chief of Berk."

The Elders and Warriors who all stood behind Olvor, moved down the hall to stand behind Stoick and so signified their agreement with the restoration of the Chief. Stoick walked up to the place where Olvor had stood when the ceremony had begun.

"I AM STOICK AND I AM CHIEF ONCE AGAIN."

The whole room gave a single loud hand clap and the short ceremony was over. Mulch remained behind to talk with Stoick and Olvor while the others left and went about their tasks.

"So then my friends, have my orders been carried out?"

"Aye Stoick" Mulch informed him "we've installed two fish pots…"

"Feeding stations" Olvor interjected.

"Ah whatever, anyway there are two so far and the arena is being upgraded with temporary pens and some more are being planned for the cliff overhang; oh... and some of the lads are checking out which buildings will need to have stronger roof beams installed before they collapse under the weight of a few dragons."

Stoick was glad to know what the people thought his orders were, so he could go on pretending that he had given them.

"And what of Hiccup; is there any news?"

"He still sleeps but…" she lowered her voice even though everyone else had gone "he's dreaming."

"What?" the men spoke together.

"I could see movement under his eyelids and his breathing changed briefly. I'm not totally sure but I think it's a good sign and he could wake up any time... I hope."

"So he's not out of the woods yet?"

"No, but I feel much more confident than I did back on Dragon Island."

Stoick looked down and shook his head.

"Thank you for talking sense into me back there. Who knows what another night in a damp and draughty cave would have done to him."

"She spoke a lot of sense back here too Stoick" Mulch added "It was almost as if she really did speak with your authority."

Olvors blood suddenly turned cold as she felt all the lies crumble around her.

"But… err… you knew…about…?"

Stoick smiled broadly as Mulch explained.

"Of course we knew Lass. If Stoick had really sent you to speak in his name, he would have given you somthin' in writing or his sword or some kind of sign."

"Then why did you…?"

"Well we listened to what you said because it all made perfect sense. You were obviously trying to help make the peace and on top of that you gave us all a way out from the whole 'attacking-the-Chiefs-wounded-son' thing" he turned to Stoick.

"We really are very sorry about that Chief, but none of us had any idea that he and the others would be flying in on dragons last evening and we really thought it was another raid."

"And even though most of the village was away on Dragon Island and you were only few in number, you still decided to take them on and defend the village" Stoick roared with laughter "That's not brave my old friend; that's crazy."

"Oh crazy says crazy Stoick the crazy Chief of Berk and general king of crazy; thank you very much."

"WAIT!" Olvor was both confused and frustrated "If you knew I was lying, then why… I mean how…"

"Look dear, it's very simple; if the Chief can't take charge for some reason, he can temporarily give his authority to someone else so we don't end up with too many people giving conflicting orders... are you with me so far?"

I know that, but he didn't…"

"Hold you horses, or should I say dragons now? A few of the Chiefs most trusted warriors know that they can claim this authority during times of great need, but only if Stoick is not here to take charge himself. Although we have to be sure that they act in the manner of the Chief, or they risk being charged with treason."

"So you just listened and…"

"Exactly my dear; you were the last person to be with Stoick, so we knew that you would have the best idea of what was really going on with all these dragons and such. What's more, if you had tried to usurp the Chief and take over, I would have stuck a knife in your side but it was obvious to me that was not your intent."

Olvor began to feel calmer knowing that she would not have to live in constant fear of her secret being discovered.

"And I knew that you were unaware of all this" Stoick added "so I had to make sure that you didn't do something silly like confess or banish yourself before I could return and put things back as they were. Oh and well done by the way and welcome to the exclusive club of temporary Chiefs."

"I think I'll stick to cutting off limbs" she sighed "it's less stressful. Who else know about all this anyway?"

"Well there would be Sigrid and Spitelout" Mulch tried hard to remember "Agnar, Gothi and Olaf as well as anyone over sixty."

"So about dozen people all up including us" she concluded.

"Oh and we have to tell Odd now" Stoick added "because he was with Sigrid when Olvor let the Terrible Terror out of the bag... but now I must go and see my son."

The three conspirators left the building only to hear the screaming whine of a Night Fury in a high speed dive as Toothless and Astrid flashed by so fast, that Stoick had to grab his helmet to stop it from being blown off.

"wwwaaaaaAAAAAAHOOOOOOOooooooooooo" is all she could say as she flew by.

"Well then… I think that new tail works wonderfully" Gobber declared proudly.

The sun set on Berk as the mouth watering aroma of spit roasted yak and various members of the poultry family filled the Great Hall. The people of the village gathered to feast together for the first time since the fleet had sailed for Dragon Island a week ago. The only people not currently present were Gothi and Astrid, who were sitting with Hiccup as well as the crew of the Sharktooth which was due to make landfall in just over an hour or so.

Stoick gave a little speech to thank everyone for their efforts over the last few days and invited all and any ideas about dragonising the village, to be expressed to Gobber, Sigrid, Odd and Thorfinn over the next few days. Later in the evening when the crew of the Sharktooth wandered into the hall, a fresh round of food and drinks were consumed and more toasts were made and so it was almost midnight before Stoick was able to make his way home.

It was very fortunate that the Chiefs house was rather spacious inside for although he was quite used to receiving large numbers of people in the past, this was the first time that some of his guests had been so large. He opened his front door to find Toothless and Stormfly stretched out and sleeping by the fire pit where Gothi sat in Stoicks special relaxing chair roasting her feet with a Terrible Terror curled up on her lap. Hiccup still lay in his bed and Astrid was fast asleep on a nearby bench.

It had been Stoicks plan to relieve the Hiccup sitters for the night and spend some time alone looking after his son as a father should, but he did not have the heart to disturb them and besides, they had all invested so much of their time and effort in helping Stoick with the boy, that it did not seem right just to tell them to leave. So after stoking the fire and adjusting Hiccups blanket, Stoick climbed the steps and sighed with relief to be in his own comfortable bed once more.

Now if only he could block out the sound of Astrids snoring.