Chapter One-hundred-and-two: The Chief's Visit
As Stoick made his way through the woods of Berks, off the beaten tracks in search for his son's current hide-out, he contemplated what had let to this situation and what he was about to do.
The day after Hiccups return to Berk Stoick had explained the situation and everything Hiccup had told the small council in a grand meeting in the Mead Hall to all the other Vikings.
Many had been skeptical.
Many had voiced the same arguments as Spitlout.
Others had sided with him and Gouthi.
And the rest was torn.
Stoick knew that Hiccups story sounded like a fairy-tale.
But the last weeks had taught him that the monsters in the shadows and from the legends weren't as fantastic as they had been made believe all their lives.
And Hiccup said they had a plan. He'd said that they knew what needed to be done to stop this. Maybe it was that what convinced most of Stoick's people.
Nobody on Berk had a plan anymore.
They were cut off from all their allies and attacked on a daily basis.
Nothing they tried seemed to work permanently.
And even Vikings couldn't keep fighting forever.
It hurt Stoick's pride to admit it but they needed Hiccup.
He hadn't forgiven his son.
He was still mad and angry.
He still didn't understand Hiccups reasoning for leaving without any notice.
They could have helped him, for Thor's sake!
But Stoick was willing to put these matters aside until the bigger problem was dealt with.
The final vote the day after had been mostly in favor for keeping Hiccup and his companions and let them help.
And today Stoick was in his way to tell his son his decision.
He had insisted on going alone.
One reason was because this was still his island and he could go where-ever he wanted as chief, the other reason was to show that he was not intimidated by any of them and that he still could take all of them in a fight.
He doubted that it would come to a fight but still…
He strode purposefully along the creek and soon spotted the giant boulder that marked Raven-Point.
From here it was only a short walk until the cove would come into view.
He descended into the crack that lead inside and squeezed through the narrow gap towards the cove.
Stepping into this enchanted place always took his breath.
The tall walls of the cove, the soft burble of the waterfall and the small river, the sunlight reflecting on the lakes surface, the soft green grass bowing in the breeze, the proud trees standing tall and protecting the cove from prying eyes…
It truly was a special place.
And so big!
Stoick looked around to find his son and stopped to observe the scene on front of him.
The group had put up tents at the far side of the cove in the shadows of two poplar trees right next to the water-fall.
The tents were put up in a circle with a fire-place in the middle. They had put fallen tree-trucks around is as benches and even though it was mid-day a fire was burning.
They youngest of the three girls, the one with the brown hair and many bracelets, was tending to the fire.
She was humming a little tune while poking the fire with a stick, encouraging it to burn brighter.
Across from her sat the giant of a man called Will.
He was skinning a deer skillfully, his brow furrowed in concentration.
The boy with the dark blond hair stood calve-deep in the lake, apparently washing his cloths.
Josh, Stoick though Hiccup had called him.
He was conversing with the archer that had saved Stoick's life.
The archer was standing at the shore, arms crossed before his chest and talking grimly.
Neither Hiccup, nor the girl with the reddish hair, nor the girl with the dark skin, were anywhere to be seen.
Stoick frowned.
Maybe he should come back another time. Apparently Hiccup was out.
Maybe hunting? Or fishing?
He wanted to turn around and leave when a growl to his left made him turn around quickly.
He saw nothing at first but then the stone wall came alive and slowly transformed into an angry hissing deep scarlet red dragon with lots of scars on its body.
Its snout was elongated and its antlers long and flexible.
Green acid dropped from its mouth. The claws and horns looked wickedly sharp.
It had been quite some time since Stoick had gotten face to face with an actual dragon but he'd never forgotten them.
And this was a Change-Wing, if he'd ever seen one.
His hands found his ax automatically as the beast growled again and slowly peeled its body off the stone.
It was a peculiar beats.
Not many had ever attacked Berk but on his many travels and searches for the Dragons Nest he had encountered this species more than once.
And had lost a good many men to these monsters.
He got into his battle-stance, ready to take on the dragon but a sharp whistle from the direction of the camp had the dragon down and gone within a second.
Stoick, puzzled, swirled around and looked to where the sound had come from.
His encounter with the Change-Wing hadn't gone unnoticed.
Once a few meters away from him stood the young girl from the fire.
A few paces behind her stood Will, his butcher knife still in his blood-covered hands.
And Josh and the archer, Conner Stoick remembered, had made their way over in their general direction.
But what really got Stoick was the sight of the Change-Wing sitting on its behind next to the young girl.
She had her hand on his shoulder and he had sneaked one of his antlers around her shoulders like a protective arm…
It was staring at Stoick still with distrust and Stoick found it very unnerving.
For a second the two parties just stared at each other.
Stoick vaguely remembered Hiccup mentioning that they all had their own dragons but somehow that idea still was too fantastic to him to be real.
But as he saw the girl with her Change-Wing he felt as if the air had been knocked out of his stomach.
She stepped forward now, a friendly smile on her face.
The dragon stayed where he was but the flexible antler was still draped around her shoulder and twitched like a snake.
"I'm sorry that he startled you like that. He's our dragon-sentry. He's a really good guard but very protective and sometime stakes it a tat too far." She apologized.
"It…it…it listened to…to you whistling… like a dog" Stoick said numbly.
The girl grimaced.
"I know…I hate doing it but sometimes it's the only thing he listens too."
Stoick had no idea what she meant with that.
Will, the sailor, stepped for.
"What can we do for ye?" he asked; not unfriendly but definitely not joyful.
Stoick puffed out his chest and growled: "I am here to see my son. Hiccup."
He kept a wary eye on the beast.
It still growled at him.
Conner pushed past Will and said with a calm smile: "He's out scouting the area and patrolling the outer rim with the girls. But they are due back any minute since it's time for lunch."
Stoick huffed, a bit unable to decide what to do.
"Yes…well…tell him that…I was here. And that…I need to talk to him." He ordered.
He turned to leave but the other boy stepped for and said with a grin and his eyes fixed on something far above Stoick's head: "Tell him yourself. There they are."
Stoick turned…and gasped.
Three dragons, all magnificent beasts in their own accord, came flying over the top of the tall pine-trees.
And as they got closer Stoick could see them clearly.
The first dragon caught his eyes because of the peculiar flying style was a gorgeous deep purple Whispering Death. Sitting on its head and holding on to two enormous spikes that grew out of the dragons head in front of her, was the dark skinned girl.
He colorful cloths flattered in the wind and he could see the handle of a sword sticking out from a sheath strapped to her back.
Next to her flew a dragon that looked like a Deadly Nadder except it had two additional front legs and not a crown of spikes and big visible ears and curled two horns.
It was midnight-blue and in some places the scales lit up when the sun shown down on them and they twinkled like stars on a night-sky.
That dragon was ridden by the reddish-haired girl that had sat next to Hiccup during their talks.
The last dragon flying above the other two wasn't as big as all the others but rather small, long and lithe, cat-like and black as sin.
Its wingspan was gigantic considering its comparatively small and thin body.
One tail-fin Stoick saw was missing and instead replaced by some clever construction.
And operating that construction was Hiccup himself.
The two girls too had some sort of saddle or reins to hold on to but Hiccup had a real full blown out saddle with extra contraptions to work the tail-fin.
His son himself was sitting on the dragons back slightly bend forwards against the wind, a rather grim expression on his young face.
Stoick jumped aside as the dragons started to descend.
They landed on the spot and Hiccup and his red-headed friend jumped off their dragon's backs, whereas the Whispering Death gently wrapped the end of its tail around the dark skinned girl's waist and hoisted her off his head and deposited her next to her friends.
Hiccup didn't seem to have seen his father because he stepped towards his friends and said: "The perimeters are clear. We went as far as Odin's Bathtub but when we tried to go further west or east, to where the other clans live, we always got attacked by a swarm of these shadowy monsters. But they didn't pursuit use once we dropped back again. It seems they have set up their own perimeter. Nothing gets out but just as well doesn't get in anymore."
"Told you it was a trap. Darkness wanted us to come here. Now we're trapped like everybody else." The dark skinned girl said with a sigh and patted her dragon's nose absentmindedly.
"That's not of relevance anymore. This is where we're needed." Hiccup said calmly.
"They are tightening the noose, tighter and tighter until they can choke us." Conner said darkly.
"We won't let it get that far." Hiccup contradicted him.
They had sighed and asked: "And what's the news around here?"
"Lunch is almost ready." The Change-Wing-girl offered.
"Zhang and Sharp-Claw went to stretch their wings." Josh said.
"I repaired my boat." Will said with a shrug
"And you have a guest." Conner finished, pointing at Stoick.
Hiccup turned, spotting his father for the first time since arriving.
"Chief..." he exclaimed surprised "What brings you here?" he asked.
Stoick could see that Hiccup was trying to keep it light heartened but they were both rather uncomfortable to speak again in front of others.
"I…I came to talk to you about the villages decision." Stoick explained rather awkwardly.
Hiccups eyes darted shortly to his friends, who all looked up rather hopeful or at least expectantly.
"Yes?" Hiccup asked.
Stoick cleared his throat.
"We have decided, for now, to accept your offer for help, mainly because we don't know what to do anymore. We are willing to hear you out further if you really think you can help."
"It's not like we would or could go anywhere else, no matter what they decided!" he heard someone mutter.
But Hiccup smiled and by Thor it hurt to see the boy smile.
Mostly because Stoick could not remember a time, were Hiccup had ever smiled!
Sure, he knew sarcastic smirks or sly winks when the boy had gotten into trouble or had been frustrated or while bantering with Gobber but an actual smile of happiness? No, Stoik couldn't remember those.
"That is great, thank you. All of you." Hiccup said honestly and nodded at him.
Stoick didn't quite know how to respond to that.
His eyes wandered to the Night Fury that stood next to his son.
So close.
It had its ears perked up and head slightly tilted. Its eyes were wide and the slightly opened mouth revealed…no teeth? How odd.
Hiccup followed his line of sight and flinched slightly.
"Ah…yes … father…you haven't meat the other half of our team yet." He began.
He looked slightly uncomfortable.
"I met one of them." Stoick growled and send a glare at the Changewing.
Sadly dragons are highly unimpressed by human glares ad so the dragon just hissed back at him.
"Oh." Hiccup mumbled, looking slightly put off and…afraid?
"I know you said you had dragons. But this… still seems impossible." Stoick grunted and folded his arms before his chest once again.
Hiccup chewed on his lower lip.
"I know" he said "It's a strange turn of events, it was for me too! I was raised to believe dragons were evil heartless and mindless beasts only focused on making us miserable. But Toothless here" he patted his dragons head "Showed me a whole new world. They all did. And it's amazing what we can archive with their help! They are intelligent creatures with a conscience, emotions, memories; they have their own social systems, they live in families or colonies…they aren't so different than us actually."
Stoick more watched his son than listened to his words.
Hiccup talked with the same passion his mother used to talk with about anything and everything that she liked.
There was more of Valhallarama in his son then there was of him.
And there was something in Hiccup that was neither from his parents, nor his grandparents, nor their parents.
Val had always said from the day Hiccup was born that he was an old soul.
He didn't scream much. He'd rather look around in curiosity.
He learned quicker than others. He just seemed to know certain things.
And that other part shone through Hiccup as he talked.
But Stoick was distracted from these thoughts when Hiccup asked him: "Would…would you like to meet him properly?"
Stoick focused on his son.
"What?" he asked.
"Toothless. Would you like to meet him? I think he would." He gestured at the dragon.
Said dragon was sniffing the air slightly and make some strange crooning noises.
"Ah." Stoick said and made an unwilling step backwards.
"Maybe another time."
He tried to ignore Hiccups crestfallen expression.
"I should get back to the village" Stoick continued "Come by tonight and we'll discuss our next moves." He added.
Hiccup nodded. "Of course chief."
Stoick nodded and without any further comment left the cove.
As he squeezed through the rocks he could hear the slight mumble of the Josh-boy: "Well that could have gone worse."
"It could have gone better too." Conner replied.
"Let's eat for now." The Change-Wing-Girl interrupted them.
Stoick's last glance over the shoulder saw the teens and Will sitting around the campfire with their dragons.
The deer that had been roasting over the fire was distributed to everyone and as they talked they ate and laughed and sometimes threw bits and pieces of their meat towards the dragons.
Stoick shook his head and headed home.