Chapter One-hundred-and-three: The Thing
Hiccup sighed as he tightened the last buckle on his waistcoat.
The sun was low in the sky and painted everything in soft orange light.
The fire was low and the dragons were snoring softly as they sun-bathed their bodies in the last rays of sunlight that fell through the treetops.
His friends were getting ready too.
They had washed and dressed in fresh cloths, the boys had even shaved!
Now weapons were strapped to backs, belts and sides.
Will was even sober!
Reason for all of this was that Hiccup wanted to make a good entrance and appearance at the meeting in an hour.
He wanted to show that they weren't just a bunch of teens and young adults that were playing heroes but that they knew what they were doing!
Vikings respect strength.
They were going to show them strength.
Their first impression had been good enough, swooping in and saving the day….
But now what mattered was to keep that image up.
They needed Berk on their side.
This was the last form of reinforcements they could hope for.
"Let's go guys. No point in sitting around and twirling our thumbs. We need to get this over with. Remember…be convincing, don't back down, don't get intimidated but most importantly…don't lose your temper! They are stubborn and usually don't listen to reason. Strategically clever plans aren't their strong suit. They like to rely on muscle strength and think that's the only way to win a battle. Also they know nothing of the world outside the Archipelago."
He sighed.
"But they are great and fierce fighters at the same time, very loyal and, once they are convinced of something, also very dedicated. Watching a Viking fight can be terrifying and this tribe here isn't called 'Hairy Hooligans' for nothing. They like to fight. They like to start fights. But most importantly of all…Berk is their home. This wet heap of rock is where they have been for generations. They grew up here and they want to die here. They couldn't care less for the rest of the world as long as Berk was fine. But seeing as their home is about to be invaded and destroyed, they will do anything defend it. And we will help them. But…we have our own agenda and we need to make sure they don't get in our way! So it is important that they agree with the plan and follow it!"
He looked intently at each of them.
They nodded.
"Confidence. That's what it's all about. Even if you are not, act as if you are."
They nodded again.
Kate smirked. "I think we got it the first fifteen times you reminded us of this." She said softly.
"Yeah well, we only have one shot at this. Now let's go."
.
The Meeting, or as it was commonly referred to 'The Thing'*, was held in the Mead Hall.
Hiccup and his group were among the first to arrive.
Stoick was there, as were the member of the small council, the members that made the big council, and also a handful of villagers.
And Hiccups old peers. Hiccup gave them a slight nod.
There was no obvious reaction only a lot of staring on their behalf.
The news of their arrival in the village was quickly spread and within minutes the rest of the population of Berk had found its way up into the Mead Hall.
There was a low murmur of going through the crowd as they eyed the group with hope, excitement, caution and even a bit of skepticism.
Everyone was looking forward to hear what they had to say, Stoick among them.
His son and his friends though showed no reaction towards the crowd.
Once the great doors had been closed behind the last arrivals, they strode purposefully towards where the grand table stood that seated the big council.
Hiccup was in the lead but only step or so before his friends.
Will stood behind the group, arms crossed with an indifferent expression on his face.
Stoick stood and a hush fell over the entire hall.
It was rare for Vikings to be this quiet at a gathering.
It just showed how serious the situation was.
Stoick scanned the crowd quickly before returning his attention to the group before him.
They all stood straight and confident and calmly returned his gaze.
He of course noticed their weapons. It was hard not to.
But different then during the battle right now they weren't glowing silver or golden. They were just regular swords and axes and arrows.
As they stood next to each other in one line Stoick realized how different they all looked. Not just because of their different skin-and hair color, now, each of their faces had a different bone-structure, a certain feature that made their faces different. The form of their eyes, noses, lips and chins, the height of cheekbones and their foreheads, it all seemed different to anything Stoick had ever come across in the archipelago. They all seemed exotic.
So different and yet so alike in the way they moved, stood, talked and acted.
He shook himself from his deep thoughts.
He cleared his throat and spoke loudly.
"These are dark times" he began solemnly "We face an unknown foe and nothing we do seems to work against his army of shadows."
There was an agreeing murmur from the crowd.
"We have fought and bleed and died and still nothing. But we are Vikings and we won't cower before any sort of foe!"
Here a huge cheer went through the crowd.
He saw his son glance pointedly at his friends.
What did that mean?
"These seven here" he pointed at the group around his son "have come from far away to aid us because they say they know what is attacking us and how to stop it. I have told you all what they have told me. And while I know many of you don't believe them, we all have agreed that there is no harm in hearing them out. I am sure that we could come up with something on our own but as I said, they might know more than we do but they need our help. If it's a good plan they have, we will consider supporting it or, if it's rotten fish-eggs, we will go forth with our own plan."
Hiccups eye-roll was so prominent he could nearly hear it.
But his own people cheered so Stoick ignored this little insolence and continued.
"Now then…Hiccup. Explain what you have in mind to help us and what you need us for."
With that he sat down, leaned back in his chair and left the stage for his son.
But it was his female reddish-haired friend who stepped forward.
"Thank you Chief Stoick. We appreciate that you consider cooperating with us" she said, addressing him directly, before turning to the crowd "It is important that we all stand together in this. You've already noticed how you have been cut off from the world. We need each other. You chieftain was right. We have the knowledge but you are the numbers we need to succeed."
Stoick marveled slightly at the way she spoke. Loud enough to be heard, without having to shout. She spoke slowly and clearly but there was an edge to her tone that made the Vikings listen to her every word.
"Darkness is planning on invading the world of Midgard. Our world. He plans on annihilating it, plunging it into chaos to make himself stronger and stronger. His first and foremost goal is to destroy the gods and Asgard. Once he has archived that the balance of good and evil will be permanently broken and he will be able to annihilate the nine worlds. There would be nothing but pain and misery and chaos and life as we know it would cease to exist. And he is so very close to this goal."
The dark skinned girl stepped forward.
"In Midgard lies a great source of Darkness's powers. He feeds of war and death, of pain and misery. Things humans are good at spreading and making. For ages he has manipulated the minds of men and women, tricking them into doing horrible things and he's been feeding of the resulting tragedies. Now he finally has gathered enough strength to try to invade our world for real and take it over. Two things are required for him to be successful. The first thing he needs is a host. Someone he can posses. He has no body of his own but here in Midgard he needs one to survive, to set foot and take over. He has chosen Alvin the Treacherous, chieftain of the Outcast, to be this host. Alvin has been his puppet for quite some time now and with him Darkness also controls the Outcasts. Don't be fooled, their numbers have grown dramatically. Alvin has been recruiting wherever he went. They form his army together with these shadow-creatures that have been attacking you for so long now."
The Archer, Conner, took over.
Stoick understood the tactic. Instead of just one person talking on and on, they were sharing, to keep the listeners on their toes…
"The second thing is a place to enter this world and someone to open it from this side. You see Darkness invaded this world once before, many eons ago but your ancestors banished him into the void between the worlds. And they did it here, on Berk. And here on Berk is only the only place he can enter Midgard again. Which is why he's been cutting you off. Keeping help away and securing this place from anyone who could come and fight his return."
"Then how did you get in?" someone shouted.
Stoick was surprised that up until now on one had interrupted. Not very Viking-like that was!
"Because we were able to fight our way in. We are not normal. We are chosen by fate. That's how we got in." Hiccup sighed.
"You mean…the glowing swords thingy, right?" Stoick asked.
Hiccup shared a glance with his friends.
"Yes." He finally said. "It's a sign of the gods."
Conner then continued: "As I was saying, there is no help coming from outside. But we are here and we have a plan."
Hope took over for him.
"The plan foremost consists of two goals. Goal number one is to keep Alvin from opening the portal and letting Darkness in. The second goal is to keep the two of them from merging together. So our plan is to" here she looked sideways at Hiccup "To kill Alvin."
There was silence in the hall.
"It won't be easy" Hope continued "And it's risky but if Darkness finds no host, he is forced to retreat from our world because it would destroy him to be formless for too long."
There was a long silence.
"So what is the plan?" Gobber asked.
Hiccup sighed.
"We managed to get here before Alvin and his army. The fighting won't start for real until they get here. But that is only a matter of days. So the plan is to eliminate Alvin as soon as he gets here. We thought about an ambush of sorts but we can't get into the real planning without knowing you'll be on our side. We need you to fight off the Outcasts and the shadow-creatures while we deal with Alvin and Darkness."
"And you are sure once that is done Darkness will go? Couldn't he just take another host?" Hylla asked concerned.
Stoick watched Hiccups face closely as the boy turned to face his step-mother.
There was no anger or hostility in Hiccups eyes. More like resignation.
"Darkens and his host have to share certain qualities so that a connection between can be established and ensure the hosts survival. They both share their thirst for destruction, they desire to rule everyone, they are cruel and merciless, they care for none but themselves and they find joy in killing. They are a perfect match but I can't think of anyone else from the top of my head who shares these criteria as well and could be a possible match."
"But such a person could be out there, right?" Spitlout inquired.
"Maybe." Hiccup admitted.
"So what's to say that in a few years this Darkness-thingy won't try it again but with someone else this time? We can't keep fighting for our whole lives; we just got rid of one pest. We don't need a substitute for the dragons."
Angry agreeing mutter broke out.
"We are pretty sure that foiling his plans will weaken Darkness again so much that he won't be able to lift as much as a little finger for the next few centuries." The reddish-brown haired girl called out.
"But you don't know that!" someone shouted.
"It's the best option we have." Hiccup barked over the rising noise in the hall.
"So we'll never be truly rid of it? Future generations will still be bothered with it?" Hylla asked silently, her hand resting on her slightly swollen stomach.
"Darkness in not a person or even a living being. He's a concept like time. You can't kill time, can you? So no, he'll always be there. Just like there will always be people to fight him. We just have to make sure there will be a future."
Stoick could sense that most of the people in the Mead Hall weren't very convinced.
"Do we even have a fighting chance against such a force?" someone shouted.
Stoick saw that it was Astrid who had spoken.
She looked slightly angry for some reason.
But Hiccup responded calmly.
"We won't know until the time has come. Numbers don't decide over victory and defeat, it is the people that fight. Vikings are without a doubt the fiercest race of warriors out there because you rarely let anything cloud your judgment went it comes to fighting."
It was probably meant as flattery and most Vikings took it as such but Stoick could hear the underlying message.
You are barbarians and only because of your lack of moral and your lack of progress and education you still view fighting war and bloodshed as part of your life and as something to cherish and be proud of.
Stoick wondered how Hiccup had managed to distance himself so much form his own people. After all he had been born and brought up a Viking.
But then again he'd never been one to begin with. Not really.
Stoick let the implied insult slide.
He could stand above this now.
Facing bigger threats on a daily base and getting confronted with the fate of the world tended to broaden your horizons as little and make you focus on the real problems at hand.
Nonetheless he couldn't let Hiccup off that easily.
"And I guess next you tell us that we need the dragons to help us fight as well."
A roar went through the crowd.
While they had told them that the teens were dragon riders and all that history stuff the idea that people rode those beasts was still somewhat outlandish to the Vikings.
"I'm not here to advertise the benefits of making peace with dragons and bonding with them. But I won't deny it either. My friends and I will ride and fight on the backs of our companions. You don't have to like it, just accept that there will be a handful of dragons around you." Hiccup said calmly but Stoick could detect a hint of anger in his son's green eyes.
"This is madness!" Spitlout roared. "I say we toss these children off our island and deal with this problem ourselves. Why shouldn't we? Now we know what will happen. You can leave. Let the grown-ups, the real men do the job. You messed up enough as it is."
Approving shouts swelled up.
"You will never succeed without us!" growled the boy Stoick thought was called Josh.
"You need us." The dark skinned one said.
"I think this is enough for one meeting!" Stoick shouted, getting up. He sensed a storm brewing and could see the patience wearing thin on the seven.
Even that Will-guy in the back was scowling more fiercely and had his hands clenched together.
"They have made their point and now we will think and talk about it. Once we've reached a decision we will inform you."
It was a clear dismissal for his son and his friends.
Hiccup stared at him with slightly narrowed eyes.
"Just don't take too long" he said after a moment of silence "You'll find that we're running short on time and you might find that these decisions have been take from you."
"Is that a threat? You would dare ignore our verdict and act against us, provoking war?" Spitlout hissed.
"No uncle, I wouldn't. Because that is the last thing I want. It's more a dreaded possibility I see coming. I don't want death and destruction to rain on us before you see reason."
Then he left.
.
.
AN: I'm not even going to comment about the time that has passed. But I do apologize. I know from personal experience how frustrating it is to wait and wait for new chapters and wanting to read on and wondering what the heck the writers are doing.
I'm getting into the story again and hope to wrap it up altogether soon. We are getting close towards the finally after all.
As always, enjoy.
Love Kate
*The Thing is in the Books the meeting of all the tribes in the Archipelago. I think it's once or twice a year. In the books you have to wrestle for a certain rock(sorry, don't remember the name, Fire-Stone or something?) and are only allowed to speak while you hold it. Once you've said your piece the stone is tossed in the crowd again and you fight again for it if you want to say something.