Chapter 5
Hiccup could have not been happier as he saw the last Berserker ship sail away over the horizon. The tension in Berk had finally eased up with Dagger decided it was best to leave. While Dagger had not signed the treaty he had not declared war either. Still, should there be any fighting between the two groups, it would most likely lead to war at this point.
"We are lucky you know," Hiccup said looking at his father.
"Oh, and why is that son?" Stoick asked.
"That we had the dragons, it let you call Dagger's bluff." Hiccup said.
"Yeah, you are right it is useful we had them," Stoick said, giving Hiccup a small smile before it slowly turned to a frown.
"Something wrong?" Hiccup asked.
"When Dagger finds out we are riding dragons, war will start," Stoick said.
"I see," Hiccup said, his own smiling turning to a frown.
"Oh well. I guess this peace between our tribes was not meant to last. Pity about Oswald, he was a great man, and I think he would be truly sadden to see where his son is going," Stoick said.
"I agree, I am going to get back to Astrid and let her know we can bring back the dragons to the arena," Hiccup said.
"Okay, and Hiccup I want everyone up in the air by the end of the week. I want you and your riders to start regular patrols around the island," Stoick said.
"Can do, I will have everyone in the air tomorrow and routes for Patrols by the end of tomorrow," Hiccup said before running off.
Gobber chuckled as he walked up, and noticed Hiccup racing off towards the woods, "He seems rather happy to be taking up patrols around the island."
"It will keep him with his new friend. And hopefully the twins and Snotlout out of trouble," Stoick said.
"Aye that is true, it is hard to believe that we have not seen one dragon over head to attack for almost a half year now," Gobber said.
"That it is, that it is," Stoick said, before turning and heading down towards the port, he had some fixing to direct to get ready for Trader Johann return to Berk.
Gobber followed along behind him, and said, "By the way, Gothi finally got done looking at those items. I had been meaning to tell you, but well we had Berserkers to deal with."
"That is quite alright, some bits of treasure hardly draw the same attention as Berserker hordes," Stoick said chucking, "So what did she find out?"
"Well that is the thing, she knows nothing about them. Even the old legends and tales I know never mention two rings and a small glowing ball of crystal or pearl. I thought it might be a Stone of Good Fortune, but after staring at it for an hour I realized it was the wrong shape and color," Gobber said, pulling out a small bag and handing it to Stoick.
"I see," Stoick said checking the contents of the bag, which held the two rings and pearl inside it.
"For what it is worth, I would just let Hiccup, and Astrid keep the items. They would make for a good wedding bonds if they decided to stop dancing around the subject and just admitted they like each other," Gobber said.
Stoick chuckled as he nodded in agreement, "Can face down the biggest dragon we have ever seen, but the moment it comes to admitting their feelings they are as chicken as well chickens."
"That is true, but well we shall see." Gobber said chuckling.
Stoick smiled lightly to himself. Hiccup and Astrid, reminded Stoick of himself and his wife Valka back when they were first trying to get together. Of course the position had been switched, with Valka being more of the mess-up, and Stoick the brave and skilled warrior. But as they went along they helped each other out in more ways than one. Astrid was not really able to help Hiccup just yet, but Toothless was doing a lot that currently so it did not matter as much.
Stoick then sighed as there was one thing he had wished Hiccup had been right about, Valka being alive. While the idea that she was still alive was nice, it was really just a foolish dream. She had been gone for nearly fifteen years, and not once had they ever seen any sign of her. No boat, messages, letters, or anything. And someone alive wanting to be back with their loved ones rarely just give up on trying to return.
Stoick was not about counter Hiccup's argument that Valka might still be alive though. A belief that someone is actually alive, no matter how small that belief may be is still a great feeling. And the fact that Stoick, had seen that Hiccup's and Valka's words were true about the dragons being good creatures. Gave Stoick reason to believe that Hiccup's way might just be the right one.
Of course Stoick would keep a close eye on Hiccup, he had seen just what kind of power a man could unleashed with Dragons as his fighters. Drago Bludvist, was one such person who appeared then disappeared a while back. He was able to command dragons, and had them attack the leaders of the tribes. Stoick was the only one who had survived this attack, and it had made him more than a little worried about people controlling dragons.
Stoick sighed and looked out over the over the sea and suppressed as shiver. In his life he had dealt with more than his fair share of dangerous people that could destroy villages if they wished. Drago was just one of these. But as Stoick glanced up and spotted Toothless shot overhead, he could not help but realize sometimes what seems bad, only looked that way from one angle.
"Well that was fast, I did not expect you to reach the cove so quickly," Stoick commented, as Toothless and Hiccup landed.
"Yes I know, Astrid had moved the dragon's to the forests edge as she feared an attack and wanted to be ready in case it came to that," Hiccup said.
"Fair enough. Also I am going to need your help, as well as Astrid's in clearing any of the remaining ice from our Harbor. Berserker boats bumping ice is one thing, Johann's ship and business is another thing entirely," Stoick said.
"Of course, I will get Astrid and be out into the harbor clearing ice soon. It might take me a few minutes thought as Astrid went off in search of Fishlegs, as Meatlug has disappeared," Hiccup said.
Stoick frowned a little bit at this, "You never told me that."
"I did not have time to, or I would have," Hiccup explained.
Stoick nodded, "Okay, I will admit we got lucky on all fronts. Just make sure it was not Fishlegs or one of the others taking a joyride and risking all our necks."
"Will do," Hiccup said.
"Oh and before you go, take this," Stoick said tossing the sack he had gotten from Gobber to Hiccup.
Hiccup caught it, "What is this?"
"The items we found on Dragon Island," Stoick said.
"I see, so find anything out about them?" Hiccup asked, opening the bag.
"Unfortunately no. Gothi has no clue, and Gobber cannot currently remember any legends about the items either. So we are letting you and Astrid keep them, who knows they might end up helpful," Stoick said.
"Not sure, how they can be that helpful. But thank you," Hiccup said, before nudging Toothless and was once again airborne.
"Oh he will get what I mean soon enough," Stoick chucked.
Hiccup on the other hand, was not worried about how the rings might be helpful as he moving up higher over Berk. Toothless once high enough to make a fall recoverable slowed and hovered as Hiccup took a deep breath and let out a piercing whistle. Toothless groaned as the sound was enough to cause any dragon to lose focus at twenty feet, let alone right next to it. Hiccup thankfully stopped soon though, allowing them to remain in the air.
Four roars met this whistle and soon dragons were flying up towards Hiccup. Astrid showed up on Stormfly, then the other three showed up, with Meatlug bring up the rear. But no Fishlegs on him.
"It would seem Meatlug just escaped is all," Astrid said, circling about till she could hover close enough to talk.
"I am glad," Hiccup said, smiling before directing the dragons towards the arena, "I was really hoping not to punish Fishlegs for disobeying orders from Stoick and myself."
"So what is next," Astrid asked.
"We get everyone on their dragons, then heavy training. My dad has asked us to start patrolling the island, incase an attack happens," Hiccup said.
"So he could not complete the treaty?" Astrid said more than asked.
"Yes unfortunately," Hiccup said before adding, "All this considered, I am not really sure if that is a bad thing."
"Rather not have a lose catapult as our allies," Astrid commented.
"Yeah, also Gothi got done looking at the items we got from Dragon Island, unfortunately she has no clue what they are, or what they are for," Hiccup said.
"Well, I guess they are not really anything of use then," Astrid commented.
"Well, maybe not, but I think I will wear one of the rings as a sign of what happened," Hiccup said.
"I guess I could wear the other one, as long as we make sure they are mistake for wedding bonds," Astrid said.
"I am not sure, I think you would like being married to me, if only to get Snotlout off your back," Hiccup said with a small laugh.
They landed at this point, and Hiccup was barely able to dodge Astrid's flying tackle. He rolled off Toothless's back and got into a defensive position as he sized up Astrid and began predicting her next attack. This was not too uncommon for them, Hiccup would make a small insult, which Astrid would then use as an excuse to fight him. Their fights which had been at first very one sided, Astrid winning all of them, where now become a lot more evenly matched.
Hiccup much like Astrid was a very fast learner in combat, and even faster with his hands than she was. But she still had two major advantages over him. Strength, and experience. Both of these made it hard for Hiccup to beat Astrid, unless he caught her by surprise, or outpaced her.
Toothless for this matter, loved watching the two of them fight. It was not so much Toothless thought that they would kill each other, but rather it reminded Toothless of young dragons play fighting. Toothless was also the one that would end the fight, with a rather sharp smack from the tail on both of them before it got out of hand. In this case the fight lasted for six minutes before Astrid finally had Hiccup pinned, and was able to claim victory.
Slipping on one of the two rings for size she checked it while Hiccup regained his breath, "You getting a lot better Hiccup."
"Thank you, but… my shoulders would like to disagree with you," Hiccup said, working his left shoulder back into place.
"I popped it out again?" Astrid said a little surprised.
"No, but close," Hiccup said shrugging a little bit, as he took the other ring.
"I see," Astrid said.
"It is okay, I dealt with worse. Besides I am getting better, so what is a few sore joints every now and again," Hiccup said, getting a smile from Astrid.
"Glad and agreed," Astrid said, before nodding as the ring seemed to fit perfectly.
"So any idea what these might be for?" Hiccup asked, spinning the ring between his fingers slowly.
"Well outside the basic no clue, so form of magic is all I can guess. If they have any power that is," Astrid said.
"Well they survived a massive dragon running into them, so maybe they will provide us some sort of protection from dragons attack," Hiccup suggested.
"Possibly, you want to stand in front of Toothless to test that or me," Astrid asked.
"Considering I lost this last fight, I would like you," Hiccup said.
"Sure," Astrid said chuckling as she picked up a shield from the arena wall and moved in front of Toothless before saying, "Just so we are both sore at the end of the day."
"Hay I am not the one that moved in front of Toothless, you are," Hiccup said before letting Toothless know it was time to unleash an attack the shield.
The blast hit the shield, and sent Astrid flying back a good couple of feet. She shook her head, and checked the distance she had traveled as well as the damage to the shield. The results were bad, as the damage and distance was about the same as when Toothless would use any other low level blast.
"Well, I guess it does not provide me protection from dragon," Astrid said, standing up as she tossed away the shield, it was useless now for protection.
"Well, I guess that is not it. I will see if I can figure something out later," Hiccup said as the others began showing up, it was time for them to all become riders.