Chapter Twenty-Seven: A talk with royalty
"So master Hiccup. How did you do it?"
Hiccup nearly dropped his silver fork. He swallowed hard and turned to face the king.
"I beg your pardon your majesty." He asked with a shaking voice.
The king smiled kindly. He gestured to Jacob von Holdenstein, who sat next to Hiccup.
"How where you able to take my knights blow to the leg? It, after all, stuck there! Did you wear special protection? After all, a normal person wouldn't be able to stand such immense pain…" the king trailed doff and looked at Hiccup expectantly.
And not just him, everybody was looking at Hiccup.
Up until now the dinner had gone very well.
Hiccup and Toothless had been welcomed with Jacob von Holdenstein in the Grand-Hall of the castle by the servants.
Then they'd been leg into the dining hall with giant crystal candlelight hanging from the ceiling. The table was laid with the best porcelain and the finest crystal and pure silver cutlery.
Shortly after, the king and his daughters had welcomed them.
Most of the time they were talking to Jacob which Hiccup was fine with.
The two princesses introduced themselves to him as Joanna and Katrina.
Joanna was the older one that had visited him in his tent during the tournament.
He bowed to her and said: "Thank you for your band Milady. I think it helped a bit." He wanted to hand it to her but she closed his fingers around it. "Keep it. For more luck in future." She said.
Her sister was very different.
She was pretty, Hiccup guessed but not in an elegant way like her sister. In a way she was like Astrid. Rebellious, strong fierce and she had a Terrible-Terror that followed her everywhere.
She kept throwing glances at Hiccup and it made him a bit nervous when her light green eyes pierced him. He couldn't figure out what she was thinking of him.
Luckily the dinner had been served and the knight and the king started talking about inner politics and from time to time Joanna joined in.
Katrina kept eating and playing with her dragon so Hiccup ate in silence. Toothless was gulping down a huge amount of fish in one corner of the room.
Until now.
Hiccups face grew red and he said: "Actually, I have an, you could say unfair, advantage. Your knight could have hit my leg over and over again and I would have kept fighting. Because my left leg is fake."
He took off his boot and showed them his metal leg.
Joanna chocked but the king pointed incuriously with his fork at his leg. "You mean you fought men twice your size with a fake leg?"
Hiccup shrugged. "Guess so."
Jacob von Holdenstein looked at him with newfound respect.
"Seriously Milord" Hiccup said "a fight is about more than strength and size. It's about tactics and smarts. I don't look like much but the first rule is always never to underestimate your opponent. I had to learn that the hard way. My leg was the cost."
The king eyed him shortly. Then he took another bite of his steak.
"My daughter told me, you wanted to talk to me about something?" Hiccup nodded. "That it right but with all due respect, I would like to talk to you about it in private. No offence." "None taken." The knight said.
When the servants started to clear away the table, the knight got up, bowed to the princesses and the king and said: "Your majesties it was a pleasure as always. Milord, I will see you around. But now I have to return to my beloved." "Please send my best wishes to your fiancé." The king, George was his name, said warmly. "I will. Good night." Then he turned to face Hiccup.
"Master Haddock, it was a pleasure to battle you. I speak the truth when I say I learned something. You are a formidable sword fighter and I'm sure you will make a fearsome fighter on the battlefield. I sincerely hope that we will never meet each other under such circumstances. But I hope that whenever you should stop by again, you will come to some fights amongst comrades."
Hiccup hastily got up to shake the knight's hand.
"Thank you Sir. I hope I will find the time."
Jacob von Holdenstein nodded one last time and left the room.
Katrina got up and stretched. "I'll be lying down father. Have a good night sleep." Then she turned to face Hiccup.
Something was hidden in her gaze but Hiccup couldn't see it.
"Mister Haddock…I guess I'll be seeing you around?" Hiccup swallowed. "That is yet to be decided." She nodded sharply. "Very well."
With that she too left.
"Now then Master Haddock. Why don't we take a walk through the palest? At night it's quite nice and quiet." Hiccup nodded. "That sounds like a good idea Milord." The king turned to face his oldest daughter.
"Will you be fine on your own?" She smiled. "I'll be following my sisters example and lay down. I'm tiered. Have a good night gentleman." She looked at Hiccup and smiled. "Mister Haddock." "Princess." She walked slowly out of the room, glancing one last time back at him.
The king led Hiccup out of another door, where Hiccup slightly woke Toothless, who was having a nap after the nice meal and signaled him to follow him.
"Well then, let's go."
"I assume you are going to tell me what a Viking is doing so far south out of his home territory." Hiccup flinched.
For a second he thought about playing dumb but the king looked at him with hard eyes.
"What gave me away?" George snorted. "Besides the clothing and your dragon?" "Yes?" "Your name."
Hiccup looked at him irritated. "My name?"
George laughed as they strolled down the empty corridors. "How many Hiccup Horrendous Haddocks do you think there are in the world?"
Hiccup thought about it.
"So you know me?" The king laughed. "No. I don't know you. But I knew your namesake. Well, one of them. I knew your great-great-great-great-grandfather Hiccup Horrendous Haddock II."
Hiccup looked at him doubtfully. "That's not possible." The king laughed softly. "You must learn one thing young Master Hiccup. Nothing is impossible, not if the word itself says: "I'm possible." I'm not a regular mortal. I'm the reincarnation of an ancient ancestor that was blessed by the gods to live through the decades of time. In my head are the experiences of several hundred years saved. In a way I met and did not met your ancestor. But I remember him clearly." He looked at Hiccup from head to toe.
"When they first called out your name I wouldn't believe it. But now…you look exactly like him."
Hiccup tried to proceed that. Okay. So the king was a hundreds of years old soul in a new body.
"Doesn't that suck after a while? I mean, never ending a life?" "Oh, I do end my lives. I'm just coming back. When I die, I will be reincarnated in one of my daughter's sons. Just with another rest of memories." "Isn't that too much information for the brain at some point?" "There is no use in second guessing the gods ways. And besides, we were talking about you."
He looked at Hiccup. "So, start talking."
So Hiccup told him everything. From his life in Berk to the night he shot down Toothless, to befriending him, to leaving, to fighting the Red Death.
At his encounter with Loki and his growing friendship with the god, he hesitated.
George saw it. "And?" "And the god Loki became my self-declared brother and god-father. He sent me on this mission because it's my destiny." George raised his eyebrows and suddenly laughed.
"You Horrendous-Haddocks. You attach the gods more than light does mosquitoes."
Hiccup looked at him confused.
"Come with me. I'll show you what I mean."
The king lead Hiccup into a very deep part of the castle.
They were now in a huge gallery. Giant portraits decorated the walls. Mostly men, some women then and there. They all looked majestic and fearsome and royal.
"This is the gallery of Kings and heroes. People, who did great thing for Derandolia or were remarkable in another way." George lead Hiccup along the faces and Hiccup thought the eyes followed him.
"When your great-grandfather first came here, he was my age. He was the first Viking ever to come this far south but we heard of them. He stumbled onto our shores, mumbling something about stopping a war."
We took him in. Mainly because we were curious. Anyway, he and I became friends pretty fast and he told me how he had to learn how to befriend dragons to stop the war. You must know that back in that time, we were fighting dragons too. He told us that his tribe had banned him and that he only was allowed to come back when he had succeeded in stopping the war or when he had laid off this madness and had come to his senses because everybody thought he was mad. No one believed him that Odin had spoken to him in his dreams and that Lofin had given him special talents. They threatened him to ship off over the edge of the world."
Hiccup flinched. "Typical charming Viking demeanor." He sighed.
Georg nodded and carried on.
"Anyway. We didn't want to fight the dragons anymore so we made a truce with him. And he did the unthinkable. He actually trained them and wrote a book about it. Since then we made peace with the dragons. The pictures in the walls outside? That's him."
Hiccup looked the the king with eyes the size of plates.
"He…did train…them? Why did that never reach Berk? Didn't he return?" Georges face grew dark. "Oh he did return alright. He presented them his book and showed them how it worked but they thought he was infiltrated by some evil force or Loki was playing with them, so they banned him, burned the book and wrote his story new." Hiccup was speechless. "He returned shortly after that, flying on the back of a dragon, just like yours." Hiccups eyes grew even bigger. "A Night Fury?" "Ey lad. A Night Fury." George looked sadly at the picture of Hiccups ancestor. Hiccup didn't see much resemblance. The again this picture looked like it was painted when his ancestor was several years older than him. Except the eyes maybe. That dark forest green was unique.
"How did he do it? The training I mean? Did he…like I…study the dragons?" "Oh no. Lofin gave him an ability, just like Loki gave you one. And their quite similar. Lofin made that Hiccup the second could understand 'dragonese'. The language of the dragons. Just like you understand any language you hear. But compared to you, he couldn't speak dragonese." Hiccups mind worked hard
"This book…" he asked. "What was it called?" "It was called 'A heroes guide to deadly dragons.'. (AN: And that is a fact. It's one of Cressida Cowell's "How to"…-series.) He wrote down about every species he could find and how to train each of it. Took him several years." "Do you…still have an example?" The king looked at him from the corner of his eye. "Yes." "Can I…see it?"
George paused a moment before he continued talking like he hadn't heard Hiccups question.
"But coming back to your story. Loki took you in and sent you off to save the world. How are you supposed to do that?" Hiccup sighed. "I shall unite the seven nations. Unity, all for everyone, that would fight the darkness."
George continued walking down the hall. Hiccup glanced back one last time. He could swear he saw his great-something-grandfather blink at him.
"And do you know how to do so?" Hiccup took a deep breath. "I hope to find in the six other nations allies with whom I will be able to fight side by side." "And why did you come here first?" "I was told that you would probably understand me. Looks like that was right." Hiccup smiled a bit. The king nodded. "Indeed."
A few minutes they walked in silence. Finally they reached heavy oak-doors and the king pushed them open.
It was an amazing three-story high library with windows from the ceiling to the floor, shelves full books, comfortable armchairs and long tables and fireplaces that light the place.
It was a wonderful place but Hiccup was a bit occupied with other things.
"So what do you want from me now?" "I wish for your help in the war. That when I call for you, you will be there." George looked him while he let his finger stroke over the books backs.
"You want me to put my men into another war?" Hiccup shrugged. "You will have to fight anywhere. Except you want to go down without a fight. So why not fight alongside the other nations and beat the monsters of the dark?" The king sighed. "I don't think my men will follow the word of a teenage Viking." "They did before. What about my ancestor? Hiccup the II?" "That was a long time back. And different." "How was that different?"
"You want me to believe that there is an ancient darkness out there, infiltration the universe. I'm sorry Master Hiccup but I find that hard to believe." "But you believe that fact that you are a hundred years old soul in a new body?" "I can't doubt my own existence. But I can doubt the existence if the at darkness you claim we are facing."
Hiccup breathed deeply.
"Your majesty. It's not different. Fate repeats itself over and over. The same structures, the same circumstances. And if we don't stand together, we will all go down and then it won't matter if you believe me or not." The king glared at him. "You say that I have no choose? Do you want to tell me what I have to do anyway?" "No. I just point out the obvious." "I will have to talk with the war-council about this matter."
Hiccup bowed slightly. "I can't ask for more. Just consider my words carefully. They speak the truth."
The king shook his head. "You're just a boy." "So was Hiccup the second." "That was different. The problem at hand was something we knew." "You know the darkness. It's everywhere. It's in every single bad thing that happens." The king glared again.
"You can spend the night here. Tomorrow I'll show you the book. And maybe talk to the war-council." Hiccup nodded. "Thank you, your majesty."
The left the library through another exit and were back in the main hall.
There was a servant waiting for them.
"Bring Master Haddock and his dragon to one of the guest rooms." He ordered. Then he turned around to face Hiccup. "I'll think about it. Good night." "Good night Sire."
Hiccup watched the king leave.
Then he turned around to face Toothless, who'd been walking behind them the whole time and aid in North: "That means as much as: "No I won't think about it!" I must know. My father always said it."
Toothless cooed and nudged him in his side. "Yeah, your right. Let's get some sleep."