AN: Here, an extra long chapter. This basically will tell a summary of the events of the past hundred chapters and the reaction of Stoik, Gobber and some others to the story. Their reaction may be a bit OOC but I wanted to concentrate on retelling the whole events because the story changed and evolved so much and maybe became contradictive in some places… Anyway, happy long reading (these are nearly 13 M.-Word-Pages!). Hope you like it
Love Kate
PS: Haven't done a disclaimer in a long time: HTTYD isn't mine. Neither are the books. The rest is my creation. Any parallels to other stories are either coincidences or hints or just popped in to my writing without me noticing.
Anyway, you get the point.
PPS: Apropos books, the last one came out a few months ago. Who read them and who too cried at the end of the 12th book?
PPS: Would have posted this earlier but our house in Argentina had problems with the internet. The whole village in fact had and it's only been fixed today.
Okay, onward with the story!
Chapter One hundred-one: The small council convenes
It was strange, in retrospect.
Hiccup looked at his father, who just looked like he had nine months ago.
Not a thing had changed. He even wore the same things and his mighty war-hammer was at his side.
There was silence all over the plaza as eyes widened in recognition and the people started to whisper.
They weren't any good at it though.
Hiccup could hear a lot of them clearly.
"Hiccup? No…it can't be…Hiccup is a fishbone…" he heard Ack say in disbelieve to his wife, Mrs. Ack.
"Useless? Did he actually grow?" That was unmistakably Snotlout. Hiccup saw him standing not too far on his right.
"What happened to him?"
"Do you see that burn-mark on his forehead? I think it's the Slavemark. You don't think that's why he was gone?"
"Is that a fake leg?"
"Who is he with?"
"Do you see that one girl's skin color? Why is it so dark? Doesn't she wash?"
Hiccup restrained himself from attacking the woman that had said that. How dare she? A comment like that was rich coming from a Viking.
"And what's it with the glowing weapons?"
"Where was he?"
"What has he been up too?"
"They said he ran away."
"I thought he'd been killed by a wild dragon?"
Hiccup closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He opened his eyes and wanted to say something but his father spoke first.
"Quiet. Return to your work. We have things to rebuild, storages to stock up and a million other things to do. Go your ways. My son and I obviously have to talk. I'll inform you later what's going on."
Many grumbled in disappointment but went their separate ways.
The only people that remained were Stoik, his brother- Hiccups uncle Spitlout, Gobber, whom Hiccup had missed dearly, Gouthi, two other council members, a woman Hiccup didn't know, but who stepped up close to his father and had Hiccup narrow his eyes suspiciously, and…Hiccups old peers.
Fishlegs eyes were wide. "I should have recognized you." He muttered.
Hiccup shrugged. "I don't hold it against you." He said calmly.
"You changed a lot." Fishlegs commented.
"And seemingly nothing changed here."
A flash of blond hair caught his attention.
Astrid.
He remembered his old feelings for her but strangely they were nothing more than a memory. Not even a spark remained.
He nodded at her. "Astrid, nice to see you again."
She looked at him suspiciously.
"Where were you? What happened?" she asked.
He noticed that her hand was hovering close to her battle ax.
"Those seem to be the questions of the hour, aren't they?" Hiccup asked rhetorically.
He turned around to Will.
"Go secure the boat properly somewhere else. Ask for the dock master and he'll assign you a space, I'm sure. Then come and find us in the Mead Hall."
"And what about your friend?" Will asked silently, referring to Toothless.
"Give him something to eat and he'll be happy enough." Hiccup whispered back.
Will nodded and stomped away.
Kate put a hand on Hiccups shoulder. "Do you want us with you?" she asked.
He nodded. "I need you to verify my story." He said.
Then he turned back around to face his father.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions. And we don't have much time. Why don't you lead the way Chief?"
.
.
.
Stoik looked at his son.
Hiccup was avoiding his eyes. Instead he busied himself with the belt of his sword-sheath.
They were seated at one of the larger tables in the Mead Hall.
Stoik, Hylla, Gobber, Spitlout, Gouthi and the other two Council-Men sat on one side, Hiccup and his friends on the other.
The teens had been sent away. But not without a lot of protest.
Hylla, he could see, was eyed her stepson intently. Stoik wondered if this would pose any problems for her. And their future child.
Otherwise it was silent.
Every side waited for the other to begin.
Finally Stoik opened his mouth and said: "I can't believe you are here after all this time." just as Hiccup said: "I'm sorry father for disappearing and it ended in one giant word mess.
Both shut up and looked at each other.
Stoik could see that they both remembered a similar conversation months and months ago.
"You go first." Hiccup said silently.
Stoik shook his head. "No Hiccup, I think this time you really have to go first." He said silently.
Hiccup flinched and nodded.
"I just don't know where to begin.
"Well, the beginning is always a good start!" Gobber drawled and winked at Hiccup and added with a smile: "It's good to see you lad."
Hiccup nodded and returned the smile. "You too Gobber."
Hiccup cleared his throat.
"Dad, what do you know about the men I'm named after?"
Stoik frowned. What had that to do with the attacks?
"Not much." He said gruffly. "Lots of that time is lost to us. The name Hiccup Horrendous Haddock II comes often in connection with some great Viking battle where he was killed. Your mother insisted on the name, said it had a huge meaning."
Stoik watched his son flinch violently.
"That is correct. But it's not the whole truth."
Hiccup took another deep breath and looked him right in the eyes.
"What I'm about to tell you will appear to you as a fantastic story, made up and unreal. But what I say is the truth. Please listen and try to understand. Everything I did had a reason."
Stoik saw how he briefly glanced at the teens to his left and right before the youngest, a brown-haired girl of maybe twelve years, nodded encouragingly.
"The world" Hiccup began "Is not like you thought. We are not what we thought. For over three hundred years we have killed dragons; seen them as our natural enemies. But it wasn't always like that. From the time before Hiccup the First until the death of Hiccup the Second there were people in this world known as Dragon Riders." Hiccup paused slightly.
Stoiks eyes widened but Spitlout was faster: "Those are just fairy-tales. No Viking would ever befriend those beasts. We've always killed them. Why are you telling lies boy?"
The old Hiccup would have shrunk back from such harsh words but as Stoik watched his son, something else happened.
Hiccups eyes narrowed in anger, his back straightened and he growled: "If you would let me continue, uncle?"
Spitlout, taken back by his harsh tone shot him a glare but settled back, his arms crossed over his massive chest.
Stoik didn't say anything but the same thoughts had crossed his mind.
"But these Dragon Riders served an important purpose. You see, dragons are creatures of light, creatures of the gods. They stand for strength, protectiveness and battle. They are guardians and sometimes sources of wisdom.
But where there is light there is always darkness. I'm speaking of Darkness, as in a person, a being, the very concept of evil, an embodiment of everything that is bad and rotten. It and the light side, the Brightness, oppose each other in a constant struggle for power. The Lady Fates, whose task is it to keep the exact balance, sent the dragons to earth when Darkness first gained more power than the Good and overthrew the Brightness and threatened to plunge the world into eternal Darkness. Humans, until then left at the mercy of the Darkness, joined forces with the dragons and together they pushed Darkness back into the abyss and sealed the door to our world from it. That was eons ago. So long ago, that even some of the gods have forgotten about it." Hiccup paused.
"Hiccup, that sound like a nice story but you said you could help us stop these attacks." Stoik said.
Hiccup huffed, obviously frustrated. "This has to do with those attacks! But you won't understand if you don't know the whole story."
"We don't have the time to sit here around all day listing to stories. We have real problems." said Bolder, one of the other Council-Men.
Gouthi banged her staff on the ground and made some gestures with her hands, looking angry at her fellow Vikings.
Stoik looked at Gobber. "She says we shall shut up and listen to Hiccup." He translated.
Since Gouthi had at least as much authority as Stoik, and Stoik really wanted to hear his son's story, Stoik nodded in agreement and the other Vikings had no choice but to stay and listen.
"Thank you Gouthi." Hiccup said.
She gave him her crooked, nearly-toothless smile.
She made a 'continue'-gesture.
Hiccup nodded.
"Well, after that first war, the dragons stayed on earth and made a home here. It worked out in the beginning. Lots of Dragon Riders patrolled the lands, keeping order and justice, guarding the portal to the abyss, preventing Darkness from ever setting foot into this world again. And for a while it was good. But Darkness was cunning and still powerful.
He doesn't need to be physically there to do damage. He could still send part of his essence into our world and started infesting people with dark thoughts, desires and dreams. He turned them against each other first and then against the dragons. And he manipulated the dragons too, filling them with dark, confusing thoughts, making them into wild animals. That is how the first conflict between men and dragons started.
The Dragon Riders tried to establish order once again but Darkness had already done too much damage.
They became immensely unpopular, the other humans viewing them as traitors and hunting them down" here Spitlout gave and approving snort and five people shot him poisonous looks "and they went into hiding, still passing on their traditions to their children, keeping the Dragon Riders alive. Because they were the only thing that could keep the balance in this world or otherwise nothing but war would reign, that would give Darkness the necessary strength to rise once again and burst the portal that kept him from reentering our world. It was a fragile balance and the slightest happening could tip the scales."
Hiccup took a deep breath. This time nobody interrupted him.
"And that is exactly what happened. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock II was, like his father and his father before him a Dragon Rider and he didn't like that they had to live in secret, keep what they were secret from everybody else. He wanted to do real changes, to really help the world but his fellow Dragon Riders forbid him from doing so. But he didn't listen to them. When they were once again attacked by dragons he flew out on the back of his dragon, determined that he could speak to the dragons and proof to his fellow Vikings that they didn't have to fight dragons but that they could befriend them and live with them, once again."
A lump formed in Hiccups throat. He had thought about doing the same when he first learned that he had won in Dragon Training. For a brief moment he wondered if he would have failed like his ancestor and would have caused as much destruction and sorrow as Hiccup the Second had.
Or if he could have succeeded?
Well, no use of pondering on What Ifs.
"It went horribly wrong. Darkness edged the wild dragons to attack the Village and Hiccup the Seconds Dragon Rider friends, who had come with him to aid him, were all killed and their dragons as well. Nearly an entire generation of Dragon Riders was wiped out that day. A big loss for all of them. But a big gain for Darkness, for Hiccup the Second had caused a huge rift in his world.
Injured he flew away from the Archipelago, swearing vengeance for his friends. He was determined to stop Darkness and show his Tribesmen that he was right all along.
The gods supported his decision, thinking he had what it needed to rid the world of Darkness influence, for there was a prophecy made by the Lady Fates about a hero who would, by uniting the people of this world with the dragons once again against their common foe, defeat Darkness for all eternity. They thought Hiccup the Second might be that hero."
The hall was deathly silent. Stoik felt how he hung to the words his son spoke, how they resonated inside him.
Hiccup shook his head saddened.
"But Hiccup the Second had his own goals. He was glad for the support but his heart…it wasn't pure enough for this task. He was fueled by hatred and the thirst for vengeance. He…he was dark, even though he tried to fight it. But we can't fight who we are. A friend of mind once said, that we all have a light, as well as a dark side in us and that we decide in which directions our actions lead and what side we show. Hiccup the Second, he had the right intentions somewhere. But how he tried to archive them… that was dark. That was not the right way to do it."
Hiccup sighed. Stoik felt that his son had a deeper connection to the story than he let show.
"Hiccup the Second traveled the world in the hope of finding mind-a-likes to help him in his quest. He found six."
Hiccup paused again and Stoik looked at his son's five friends. They all looked pained and the girl with the reddish-brown hair and green eyes bit her lips and shook her head. Her lips moved but she couldn't hear what she said.
"They traveled the world together, teaching people wherever they went their knowledge and ways about the dragons, trying to gain allies and trying to stop the raging wars all over the globe, for Darkness had used the rift Hiccup the Second had caused to gain more influence on humans and dragons and consequently more power, for all the destruction, chaos, pain and misery fueled it with energy and revived his spirits.
It was war all over the world. Hiccup and his Companions tried to negotiate between the two fronts but they were overrun.
One by one they all died and Hiccup the Second turned back to the Archipelago, blaming his Tribesman for what had happened to his friend, the world and him and decided to attack. He had failed in his task to banish Darkness. He had failed all of his dead friends, the old ones as well as the new ones.
But by attacking his people, he had made his foe even stronger. Hiccup the Second succumbed to his dark side.
Darkness was just about to breach the portal into Midgard and take Hiccup the Second as his host to become physical once again, when the gods, in the last minute, killed Hiccup the Second by the hand of one of his cousins. The humans, at least for a while, won the war over the dragons, establishing something akin to peace or at least something like a truce.
Darkness plans failed and he had to retreat. He's been waiting for another chance ever since then."
The silence after his words was interrupted by Spitlout muttering: "Sounds like and ancestor of yours alright. A major screw-up."
"He was also your ancestor!" Hiccup bite back sharply, his eyes lighting up for the briefest of seconds.
The girl with the reddish brown hair and the green eyes put a hand on Hiccups arm.
"It's okay. "She muttered.
Hiccup settled back down but his eyes were still angry.
Wordlessly Gobber handed him a tank with mead.
Hiccup took large gulp and continued:
"But he's not been idling around. He kept whispering into people's ears, poisoning minds and manipulates everyone not strong enough to resist him."
Hiccup sighed.
"Which brings us to my involvement in the whole thing." He said.
"After Hiccups the Second failure, after everything good nearly had been destroyed, the gods vowed to never depend on a hero again.
But Darkness is rising, he's gathering forces, he even has a host ready to take over once he makes it into Midgard. I wouldn't have got caught up in all of this, had I not killed the Red Death."
Stoik looked confused. "Killed what?" He couldn't imagine Hiccup killing anything. The boy had always been too soft in that aspect.
"I take it you have noticed the lack of Dragon Raids, right? It started shortly after I disappeared." Hiccup asked.
Stoik nodded.
"That was because of me. You see, Darkness had infiltrated the mind of a Sea Dragoness Giganticus Maximus. These kind of dragons are rare and they can force their will upon others, especially if they are king or queen of a nest. This one had enslaved thousand of dragons to raid our villages and bring us food, thus stirring the conflict between men and dragons further on. But I…well…a friend of mine and I…we discovered this and set out to free the dragons. I didn't know anything about Darkness up until then. I just wanted to free the dragons."
"Why would you want that?" Spitlout sneered. "They are horrible and disgusting creatures."
"Did you listen to anything Hiccup just told you?" hissed the brown haired boy next to Hiccup and glared at them.
"It's alright Josh. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, whether it's the right one or not." Hiccup said.
Spitlout bristled like a hen but one look from Gouthi had him keep his mouth shut.
"I'm still going to answer Spitlout's question. Because it's essential. I wanted to free the dragons because the friend that brought me to the nest is a dragon."
There was stunned silence.
"A dragon?" Stoik asked in disbelieve.
Hiccup nodded.
Hiccup used it to quickly tell his story before any of the present Vikings blew up in anger.
"Remember the raid where I said that I had shot down a Night Fury but no one believed me? Well, I actually did shot it down. But I couldn't kill it so I befriended it and learned to ride him."
"You what?" Stoik shouted, his face turning red.
"You threw your lot in with them? Those who has killed hundreds of us? How could you do something like that?"
"Because they did it to protect themselves! They are not dangerous! Besides, we killed thousands of them! And if you'd let me explain, you'd understand!" Hiccup shouted back.
Stoik shook his head.
"No son of mine would ever do something like that."
"I'm not just your son." Hiccup said back coldly. "And I'd rather be no one's son than the son to someone who won't listen to reason, whose precious traditions come before his own family."
Stoik narrowed his eyes and stared his son down from across the table.
The old Hiccup would have cowered away and apologized but as Hiccup stared back defiantly, Stoik again marveled, behind his anger of course, about the changes the months away had done to his son. He hadn't just grown up he realized. He'd grown old as well.
"Nothing could ever justify what you did." Stoik said with all the finality he could muster.
He saw the furious expressions of the faces of Hiccups friends but he cared not. What harm could a bunch of teens do?
The tension in the room was thick.
Gobber cleared his throat.
"Why…don't you continue with your story Hiccup?" he asked.
Hiccup glanced warily at his father.
"I feel like it won't be of any use." He said.
Quick as Eyeless had been, Gouthi reached out with her stick and wacked first Stoik and then Hiccup over the head.
Both rubbed the sore spot and looked at the old woman incredulously.
She scribbled something in the dust with her stick and Gobber read: "Stop behaving like…little kittens…AU! Kids, little kids!"
He shouted the last part as he misread and Gouthi wacked him too over the head.
Father and son eyed each other again before Stoik gruffly said: "Well, go on then, you heard the old lady."
"This is a waste of time!" complained Spitlout.
Hiccup took a deep breath and continued:
"As I said, I befriended the Night Fury. I named him Toothless. He became more than just a companion. He became my friend. He understands me even without words and he's taught me so much. My perspectives changed and I became the first Dragon Rider in a long time. It's also how I got so good in dragon training. Being around a dragon on a daily basis had me learn much about them as well."
Hiccup took another breath and looked at Gouthi.
"But when you declared me winner of the competition, I knew I could never kill a dragon."
He looked at his father.
"You were right, it's not who I am." He agreed and shook his head.
"At least we all agree on something." Spitlout muttered, not quite loud enough to count as a real statement but also not silent enough for the others to ignore.
The boy that had saved Stoiks live, Conner, glared at Spitlout and kept, good visible, twirling one of his long curved hunting knifes in one hand, eyes on Hiccups uncle.
Hiccup himself blocked the unpleasant comments out once again.
"I ran. I know, not the Viking way but then again, I never was much of a Viking. Anyway, I decided to put an end to the tyranny of the Red Death. I managed to kill her but in doing so I lost my leg. I would have died, had I not been saved."
Hiccup hesitated.
"Who would save you? I doubt it would be a Viking." Stoik said, his eyes darting over to Will.
Will just folded his long and muscular arms over his wide chest and leaned back in his chair.
He meet Stoiks gaze coolly.
"Well…this is where it gets a little…strange and hard to believe." Hiccup said.
"Only now?" Spitlout asked bitterly.
"I was saved by Loki. As in: the god Loki. And please" he added quickly "Don't make me explain to you why exactly he is not the villain anymore because that story has me confused as well. Just know that he, like all the other gods, fight on our side, aiming to help overthrow Darkness. It's not really that important anyway."
He nodded, more to himself than anyone else, and continued before anyone could interrupt him again. Stoiks head spun.
The gods where on the side of his treacherous son? That had to be a lie.
"As I said, Loki saved me. He healed my wounds; he gave me shelter, food and weapons. But it wasn't the only thing I gained. The prophecy that foretold the rise of the hero said that he would be known to the gods when he boldly and unknowingly defied Darkness with success."
Hiccup sighed and rubbed one hand over his eyes.
"I…killed the Red Death, thus freeing hundreds of innocent Dragons from her ban and I stopped them raiding your village which again resulted in some peace. I defied Darkness and made me the hero of the prophecy. At least that was what I first thought. Later than I had to find out that also a reason why I had to be the hero was because I was Hiccup the Seconds descendent and that only blood can do the wrongs right done by the same blood. Because of my linage I was able to defeat the Red Death. Because of who I was born I became the needed hero. I was always destined to be a Dragon Rider. To continue where my ancestors had stopped."
Hiccup looked aside and there was pain in his eyes. Stoik had the feeling something was missing to that particular part of the story.
"At any rate, I accepted my destiny and decided to follow Lokis advice and unite the Seven Nations, bring humans and dragons closer again and have them fight against Darkness together. I began to travel the world. I have been in places I couldn't even dream about before" And now I revisit them in my nightmares, he added in his head "I met the strangest and the most dangerous people that could never imagine. I fought so many battles I lost count and I killed on my quest many men, lots of them probably innocent. I met my friends here, and I lost friends along the way. My journey has now let me back home.
It is because we have learned of the Portal. The portal is the only thing that keeps Darkness away and it is here, on Berk. It's here that our fore-fathers first banished it away, eons ago. It has corrupted Alvin the Treacherous and his Outcasts and will use Alvin as it's meat-suit. Alvin will try and open the portal but we have to do everything to keep him from doing that. And we'll have to kill Alvin. Darkness has been anchored through him and is sending his evil essence through him into our world. Is this connection broken we can refortify the portal and hopefully keep Darkness out for good. But we need your help. We can't fight all of the Outcasts plus Alvin plus Darkness's creatures on our own."
The silence was tremendous.
Stoik didn't know what to say, his head was swirling with all the new information he had just gotten, together with his anger that made thinking beyond: 'My son is a traitor, kill him.' rather difficult.
"Well, that was an interesting story boy, who knew you had such a vivid imagination." Bolder drawled. "But you still haven't told us how you can help us. And I begin to think you can't. Because your story sounds, as if your quest failed. You obviously haven't managed to unite anything, much less humans and dragons. And now you want us to protect you from the big bad man. Who is to say, that it wasn't you that brought this whole mess upon us?"
"Because I didn't." Hiccup said with clenched teeth. "And I don't hide from my enemies I and I certainly wouldn't hide behind you, you pathetic little worm." He hissed.
"Hiccup." said Conner with a warning edge.
Hiccup nodded and quickly gathered his bearings again and continued: "I speak the truth. As for the portal…isn't it obvious? It's as well a strength as a weakness to Darkness. He wants to be in total control of it so that when the time is ready he can slip through without much fuss. That's why he had his creatures attack you."
"Hiccup, I hate to break it to you but, even though these attacks are hard on us, casualties are low and all they do is material destruction." Gobber said softly.
"That is because Darkness can't open the portal without me. He's been waiting for me to arrive. Why he still hasn't wiped you out is something I can't tell you. I don't know how he thinks."
"And what would he need you for?" Stoik asked confused.
"He needs my blood to open the portal. And only my blood can seal it again. It was an ancestor of mine who first created the portal using his blood. As I said, only blood can undo what the same blood did."
"I knew we should have killed him when he'd been born, probably would have spared us this whole mess here." growled Tyr, the other council man.
Stoik watched how the hands of the teens fell onto the hilts of their weapons.
"Excuse me?" asked that huge towering man named Will.
He somehow bothered Stoik more than anyone else. He felt irritated that another grown up showed such protectiveness over his son and obviously seemed to be held in much higher regards than Stoik himself.
Hiccup just sighed, completely ignoring the brief exchange.
"And that's it" he said "The end."
Spitlout started laughing loudly.
He pretended to wipe away some tears.
"You should write that down, I'm sure it makes a nice story." He said condescendingly.
"Hiccup, can I peal that smile off his face with my knife?" Josh asked.
"We should put their insolent little asses back into the boat that brought them here and send them off the island! First they have the audacity to tell us lies, then make demands and now threaten us." Tyr said.
Spitlout and Bolder nodded their approval.
"Yeah, give us one good reason not just to set you off your island. We can deal with these pests on our own!" Spitlout added. He looked even smugger than before, probably thinking he got them now.
Hiccup was tempted to say yes to Josh but before he could say something Kate spoke up.
She was angry but kept her voice controlled and professional. She put on her 'royal face' and spoke slowly:
"I don't think you quite grasp the dimension of what it is we are facing here, Mr. Spitlout."
She narrowed her eyes down and fixated him with her glare. He was trapped in them.
"This isn't a story. This isn't a creation of our imagination. All of this is true."
Spitlout opened his mouth to protest but Kate raised her eyebrow in that way only she could and had him silence before a single sound was even formed in his throat.
"Why should we lie to you? What good would that do us? What gain would we have from selling you a lie? The answer is: There is none. We get nothing out of this.
You must understand that our…our whole journey over Darkness has been keeping its tabs on us. It has been trying to manipulate and turns us against each other. He forced each of us to show their worst sides and…and it's been really hard to be the hero in this. We have been hunted and captured and tortured and treated like criminals. Some of us had to abandon their homes and had their family members and friends turn their backs on them. We sacrificed a lot trying to save the world. But it feels like it doesn't want to be saved. Most of the times it feels like we archive nothing and only drove the world further apart. But although we know that all of this might be in vain, we keep going because we have, as Dragon Riders, a responsibility to the world that no one else is willing to take. We have a legacy to carry on and we owe it to our ancestors who died trying to save the world before us.
So as I see it you have two choices. You accept what we said as the truth. You don't have to like it because we certainly do not. But you can accept it and prepare for battle. A battle that will decide wither you children's children will ever see the sun rise and will ever have the chance to grow up.
Or you can keep calling us lairs and send us off the island and die and let the world die with you. It's your choice."
Again there was a tense silence.
In an attempt to make some room and defuse said tension Gobber suggested:
"We need to digest and discuss this. And you probably need rest after your long journey. With the permission of the chief" here he looked pointedly at Stoik "I suggest we'll tell you what we think after we talked to the village about it" he explained and then added slightly hesitantly "Where…where will you be staying? On your boat?"
Hiccup nodded and said: "Sounds understandable. But with the permission of the chief we'll rather be staying in a small hidden cove just off Raven's Point than our boat. There isn't much room on it for all of us to live comfortable. Just follow the creek along the Bear Stone and you'll find it."
Stoik nodded. "I know where" he said gruffly "It's where we found your helmet and…burn marks. It's where we…I thought….you had been attacked by a dragon."
Hiccup gave no answer to that.
What answers where there anyway?
There was an awkward silence yet again.
"Well…we'll be there anyway. Send someone to find us once you've reached a decision. Can we hunt in the woods and fish at the beach?" Hiccup finally asked.
Stoik was tempted to say no but he knew that was he'd just be asking for conflict. And they would just hunt and fish anyway.
"Yes." Stoik granted them graciously.
"Thank you." Hiccup said and got up.
His friend rose simultaneously with him and repeated: "Thank you." Though they didn't sound so sincere
Then they left the hall.
The small council remained.
Finally Spitlout snorted. "That boy has gone delusional. Probably from all those weird places he visited, eh Stoik? That is exactly why we don't venture further than the Isle of Forget-Me."
Stoik didn't know what to think. He was angry. Angry at Hiccup for leaving and betraying them but at the same time angry that he couldn't shake the feeling off that what Hiccup said was actually right. His pride as a chief, a father and a Viking though kept him from accepting it.
Surprisingly it was Hylla who spoke up.
Stoik had nearly forgotten her presence. She hadn't said a word throughout the whole talk.
"I believe him." She said calmly.
All eyes turned to her, some confused, some angry some baffled.
"Why? You must be as delusional as him to think like that. I'm with Spitlout." Bolder said.
"Be careful how you talk with my wife." Stoik growled.
Hylla shook her head, ignoring the jab at her and Stoiks defense.
"Why else should he come back?" she asked them.
"Why would we know? I don't pretend to know how his mind works. Maybe he regrets running away and now wants to come back and uses these attacks as a cover." Tyr grunted.
"This is his home after all." Stoik said silently.
Hylla shook her head again.
"Don't get me wrong dear, but from what I gathered since meeting my stepson is that he is not happy being here. This may be the place of his birth Stoik but it clearly isn't his home. So I ask again, why else should he come back if he didn't speak the truth?"
"What do you mean, this isn't his home?" Stoik asked confused.
"Stoik dear, did you listen at all to the story your son just told you? You all yourself say the boy is not a Viking- that he never was! They way Spitlout speaks of him and the way everyone reacted to his return has shown me clearly that this boy was obviously never much liked, that he was an outsider. That he ran away because a dragon obviously understood him better and cared for him more shows that clearly. You don't give up on family and friends that easily. Which either means you don't have friends and family any more or never had them in the first place. Now, away from here, he obviously has friends out there, who are loyal to him, who accept him for who he is and with whom he can live happily. So why just throw that all away and return to a place where you are disliked, where you have no good memories, were no one is happy to see you after you have been presumed dead, where you have nothing to gain and all to lose?"
She looked into each of their faces before getting up.
"You all cast him aside as worthless when he obviously has the greatest heart, the strongest courage and the most forgiving mind. He is a hero. A great one. Just not a Viking One."
Her words echoed through the space between them.
"I leave you to your thoughts gentlemen, Gouthi. Let it be known that my vote in this decision goes to Hiccup. I believe him. So should you. And we should help him and take him seriously. He knows what's going on, we don't and time is running short."
With that she left the hall.
Gouthi stretched and scribble din the dust.
"She agrees with Hylla. She has seen the battle in her dreams." Gobber translated slowly.
"There is no need for votes. Stoik you must see that this is madness?!" Tyr exclaimed. "I say we ship him and his group of freak-friends off and deal with this ourselves the good old Viking-way."
"Aye!" said Spitlout and Bolder.
Gobber shook his head slowly.
"The boy never lied before. He may have made mistakes but I know him. His heart is in the right place. But he needs others to remind him of that and to support him. He's always had my support. He'll have it in this as well."
He turned to look at Stoik.
"Which makes this three against three. You're voice decides Stoik. Do we address this matter in front of the big council and then the village or do we force them off the island?"
Stoiks pride shouted: "CAST THEM AWAY, THE TRAITORS!"
Stoiks mind said: "FOR ONCE THINK AND SEE THE REASON AND THE TRUTH BEHIND YOUR SONS'S WORDS!"
And Stoiks heart just beat wildly, shouting over and over: "HICCUP, HE'S ALIVE! HICCUP, HICCUP, HICCUP, VAL'S EYES! I HAD FORGOTTEN WHAT THEY LOOKED LIKE! HICCUP, HICCUP!"
He cleared his throat.
"I can't say the story has me convinced but…" he hesitated "Hiccup has always been a miserable liar. You could tell from a hundred feet away when he was lying. I don't like that he gave up his people own for those filthy beasts but I think there truth in his words, even if it pains me to admit it" 'It hurts a lot!' said his pride "And it's never wise to act hastily" 'That's rich coming from you' snorted his brain "And since this affects all of us I think our people have a right to hear his side of the story too and make their own decision if they want their help or not. But should Hiccup and his friends turn out to be more trouble, then they are worth we will see them banned" 'No you won't, not when you just got him back' his heart muttered "Agreed?"
"Agreed!" Gobber said instantly. Gouthi nodded
Spitlout, Bolder and Tyr looked sour but they too mumbled: "Agreed chief."
Stoik nodded and settled back.
"Good. Meeting adjourned."
Not back more than a few hours and already causing everything to spin out of control, Stoik thought and allowed himself a short little smile.
Welcome home, Hiccup.