Chapter 23: Trader Johann
AN: Trying out chapter names for the next few chapters to see how I and you guys feel about them. Let me know. Might keep them / stop doing them based on the feedback and their actual effectiveness. Thanks for your understanding. Hopefully this story still has some readers after my previous decisions and sporadic upload schedule lol.
"Now lad, te get tha proper shape ye wan' I'd suggest ye start by pressin' these pieces together an' then bendin' them up." Gobber's gruff, yet somehow shrill voice rang through the small forge as Arkyn worked. The man had been very helpful so far, and Arkyn was progressing on his various projects at a solid pace, finding he could achieve satisfaction in their qualities quite easily with the extra mentor.
Sweat dripped off his forehead despite the cold air of the exterior as he banged, melted, fused, pressed, and bent metal into shape. Several times he silently thanked his late father for the gloves he was now wearing, for their protection had saved him from several potential burns when handling the hot material.
Just as Arkyn was getting ready to test the fit on a pair of components, Gobber called out to him. "Oy! Hide that, ye got visiters."
The boy quickly stashed what he was working on and eyed the door, happy to spot Astrid walking in, just as she'd promised. He was puzzled, however, as the twins were also in tow. He smiled at the trio of his friends and met them in the entryway, sharing a chipper greeting. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"Trader Johann is here. His ship docked early this morning but we were waiting for the crowds to die down before we went looking through his stuff." Astrid informed him.
He looked back rather blankly, apparently missing something. "Who's Trader Johann?"
"Uh, he's a trader."
"Yeah. And his name is Johann."
Ruff spoke and Tuff finished her thought sarcastically, as if that answered Arkyn's question at all.
"Thank you two for being oh so very helpful." Arkyn spoke in monotone, his eyebrows falling to emphasize how unamused he was. He tried to tune out their snickering before turning to Astrid and raising his brow for a more detailed response.
She sighed, understanding his frustration, and provided a little more light on the subject. "He's been Berk's main trader since we were very young, a little more than 10 years now I think. It's always a big deal when he comes by because he sells some really interesting stuff…things you couldn't hope to find around here. He is a bit of an odd character though…he's got all these crazy stories from his travels and he'll talk your ear off if you're not careful." Astrid explained, holding up a hand to silence the Thorstens behind her. "They wanted me to go check it out with them but I told them we had to get you first. You should come along! It'll be fun."
"Sure!" Arkyn replied, now smiling warmly, and he informed Gobber of his new plans. The man bid him farewell and the group of 4 left promptly to begin the lengthy trek to the docks.
—
Finally finishing their descent down the suspended wooden bridges, Arkyn and his friends arrived at the marina to find Johann's ship front and center in the first bay, secured to several masts lining the boardwalk on either side. The vessel seemed to be a proud one. It was quite lengthy and boasted 3 sails, a crow's nest positioned atop the highest one while a brass lined steering post sat near the stern.
Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Snotlout were already present, having landed their respective dragons on the deck of the boardwalk itself. The scaly creatures rested lazily with each other, dangling their tails into the water and splashing it into the air before vaporizing it with their fire out of sheer boredom.
Tuffnut tapped Astrid on the shoulder. "Hey, how come we didn't just fly d-" but he didn't get a chance to finish his complaint because the girl quickly glared and pressed a knuckle to his ribs to get him to shut up, relieved to realize Arkyn hadn't noticed. It was his last day without the ability to fly and she didn't need him feeling like a burden more than he already did.
The 7 riders met up by the boat, but still caught no sign of Johann himself. "Have any of you been aboard yet?" Astrid asked the 3 boys, who shook their heads.
Hiccup spoke. "We just got here. Snotlout wanted to go aboard straight away but Fishlegs and I made him wait. We figured you'd be by before too long."
"Uugghh. Can we go now? I want to see if he has any of those cool Berserker weapons." The Jörgensen whined, and the group was just about to oblige him and climb aboard when a short man with a wild mustache popped out from below deck.
"Hellooooo my friends. So lovely to see you again. Please, please! Do come aboard. I think I may have some things you all might find interesting." He had a rather funny accent and a high voice, but Arkyn couldn't figure out where it was from.
The Stryerson hung at the back of the group as each of his friends ascended the bridge onto the ship, and was surprised to hear Johann greet each one by name. "Welcome Master Hiccup, Master Snotlout, Master Fishlegs…" etc. However, when Johann had counted the usual 6 names and there was still one more teen to arrive, the man's face switched from a cheery expression to one of confusion. "Ehrm, I don't believe I've seen you around here before, lad. What might your name be?"
Arkyn held out a hand to the man, who shook it vigorously. "Arkyn Stryerson." He said, towering over the trader quite substantially.
Johann smiled and tilted his head up to make eye contact. "Master Arkyn…pleasure to meet you. I'm Johann. May I ask, if you don't mind: Are you from here, too? I'm sure I would've seen your face around here sometime in the last 10 years, but I don't recall…"
Arkyn glanced around before speaking, still subconsciously nervous to mention his island of origin. "I'm from Nomanisan."
"Nomanisan…" Johann repeated, as if remembering the name from some distant memory. "Shame what happened there, isn't it? Why, you must be the only survivor I've met since…"
Arkyn was taken aback by his comment, and cocked his head inquisitively. "And how might you know what happened there? I don't remember ever seeing your face around that island, either." Unbeknownst to the pair of males, the conversation had just caught Astrid's attention, and the girl pretended to look at another axe while listening in.
"Well you know, I'm a trader. There's a whole network of traders that meet to resupply in the northern markets. Word gets around, you see, and I heard from trader Isoka- you surely know her, yes? That is- er, was her territory." Johann asked before continuing. Arkyn folded his arms and nodded a confirmation. "Right, well all she told me was that while she was making her rounds a few weeks ago, she came across Nomanisan and there was almost nothing left. Nobody knows why but…the island seems to have simply vanished." The man finished and as he did, his voice rose to a new octave of strange terror, as if he feared the unknown.
"Screaming Death attack." Arkyn said in a quiet voice.
"What was that, Master Arkyn?" Johann asked, begging pardon.
"The island was sunk by a Screaming Death."
"Oh dear…" the man chided, missing Arkyn's hesitancy and blasting straight into another tangent. "You know, I knew a man long ago who was just infatuated with those beasts, but I can't for the life of me remember his name. I believe it was-"
"Alright Johann, I wish we had time to listen to another one of your harrowing stories but we really should start looking around now." Astrid stepped in before the conversation got any more uncomfortable for her partner, and she stole him away before Johann got too deep into the recount of his experience. Luckily for her the man was soon distracted by Snotlout's inquiry about the price of a certain weapon he'd found.
Arkyn took his first real look around the upper deck of Johann's vessel. There were boxes, crates, sacks, and various other random items strewn about its surface, all ready for potential customers to find. There was nothing in particular the boy was looking for, but the variety of options was still quite staggering. He and Astrid walked slowly down the length of the hull, bemused by all sorts of new devices and commodities they knew very little about.
"Sorry about…you know." Astrid started, but Arkyn put a hand up and smiled knowingly.
"No need to apologize. You warned me. I'm fine." He was not going to let a little conversation with a trader ruin his day. "Hey check this out: Southern Jungleberries…whatever the hell those are…"
"If you think this is a lot, just wait to see everything below deck." Astrid laughed, enjoying his curiosity.
"You can go below deck?" Arkyn asked, sounding surprised. Trader Isoka hadn't usually warranted that privilege.
Astrid rolled her eyes. "Come on, silly. Let's go." And she led him to the staircase that fed into to the lower portions of the ship. Hiccup and Fishlegs were the only others down there, both leaning against opposite walls with their noses deep in Johann's exotic books on rare dragon species. They barely looked up when the new pair joined them.
The lower deck was almost just as crowded with stuff as the one they'd just left, but this one felt different. Aside from a few small candles, the only light that seeped into the space came from between the floor boards of the deck above. Arkyn began to walk the length of the cargo hold, needing to duck under each large crossbar to avoid hitting his head, as the room was rather cramped. Eventually he stood directly under where Johann and Snotlout were speaking, and although he could hear their muffled voices, it was impossible to make out what they were saying. It wasn't until he reached the end of the hull towards the front that what felt so strange about the space revealed itself.
The boxes of books and other products on this level of the ship were all displayed behind bars, with open doors allowing people access to view them. Cages lined the ship from bow to stern, all of them full with goods except the final two, closest to where Arkyn was standing. These remained empty, but a handful of Terrible Terror scales could be seen on the floor of one.
Arkyn turned to Astrid with a look of concern on his face. "This is a hunter ship?" He asked, tentatively.
Astrid looked rather sheepish. "Well you see, back when Berk still warred with dragons, Johann was a dragon hunter."
"Was he, now?" Arkyn raised an eyebrow, wondering how a man of such demeanor could be able to subdue beasts of such size.
"Unfortunately, yes. Our parents didn't let us go down here because he used to sell dragons…alive or dead, but he stopped when we made peace. He doesn't do it anymore, and now he just has books and plants and other stuff down here."
Arkyn thought about this for a moment, puzzling over the two still empty cages. "Interesting…" was all he said, wearing a face of stone, wondering how many Triplestrykes may have made their last trip below these decks. Trader Isoka was never a dragon hunter and she got by just fine…
"It used to be a different time. I know you know I trained forever to kill dragons…but that's all over now." Astrid sensed his discomfort with the trader's past and reassured him of the man's new chapter, just as she was in a new chapter herself.
He nodded, and was about to start walking back the other way towards the staircase when Fishlegs ran up to him, holding a new book in his hands.
"Hey Arkyn! Should I get this?" The large boy asked, presenting the item to his friend.
Arkyn took it hesitantly, glancing at Astrid before examining it. "I don't know, Fishlegs. I suppose if you want to then you should. What is it exactly?" The book was well worn, with faded leather covers that were cracking at the spine, and yellowed pages which felt like they could flake apart at any moment.
"It's the personal notebook of Eobard Ishman. He spent his whole life studying Screaming Deaths! Everyone from his island excommunicated him because they thought he was crazy, so this is the only known documentation of their species- anywhere." Fishlegs gushed excitedly.
"Holy shit…" Arkyn remarked under his breath, flipping through several pages and understanding how rare the information was. Leave it to Fishlegs to know about Eobard's history in the first place…the Viking's mind really was a vast knowledge base. Even though they all now had a first hand experience with one of the elusive creatures, the things they might be able to learn from that book seemed invaluable to say the least. Arkyn quickly handed it back to the Ingerman. "Yeah, it would be foolish to let this go…"
Fishlegs smiled. "I thought so too. I picked out a few other books to take to Johann, so I won't have a chance to read it for a while, but it's so exciting…who knows what we'll find?" And with that, the trio collected Hiccup and surfaced from below deck to talk to Johann, who was now counting the gold Snotlout had given him for some ridiculous combination between an axe and a pike.
"Anything below deck tickle your fancy, lady and gentlemen?" Johann asked cheerfully. Arkyn and Astrid shook their heads but laughed while both Fishlegs and Hiccup held out sizable stacks of books.
The trader counted the books, eventually pausing at Eobard's journal. "So that was his name…" he muttered to himself, remembering who the man he'd met all those years ago was. He quickly collected due payment from the boys as the group of all 7 teens prepared to depart the ship with their purchases.
Johann gave a small bow to the crew before saying goodbye as they disembarked. "I do hope you enjoyed your visit. Say hello to your dragons for me, my adventurous friends. Ah, and Master Arkyn?"
Arkyn turned to meet Johann's gaze for a final time as his boots met the pier once more.
"I do hope our paths may cross sometime again in the future. May you be safe from danger in the haven of Berk." Johann finished, waving.
Arkyn thanked him and waved back as he followed his friends away from the ship, the 3 boys that had flown splitting off and returning to their dragons to go back home. Johann called to them as they walked towards the bridges leading out of the docks. "You all stay well out of the way of trouble now, and remind me next time to tell you about that time I had a nasty run in with a Typhoomerang on the forest island of-"
But he was out of earshot before they heard what he had been trying to say. The 4 walked in silence for a moment before Arkyn broke it, thinking out loud. "That guy was…funny…?" He said, sounding unsure if that was the right word or not.
"Like- funny 'haha', or funny weird?" Tuffnut asked, turning to him.
"I'm going to say funny weird." Arkyn confirmed, a confused grin crossing his face at the Thorsten's question.
Astrid giggled at his expression. "When I was 7 or 8 he tried to get my parents to buy me a knife from Outcast Island. He certainly is an odd man."
"Who was Berk's trader before him?" Arkyn asked her, curiosity infiltrating his mind.
"I don't exactly remember all that well. We were very young. I think the last time they came by was just before the Flightmare attack, and then suddenly after that it was Johann. Nobody really knows what happened but I suspect the Flightmare found them out at sea or something." Astrid explained, and the twins nodded in agreement that their stories would have been the same.
Arkyn nodded in understanding before noticing the identical bags Ruff and Tuff were holding. "What did you two buy?" He asked, changing the subject.
"Instant blast powder. We're going to prank the hell out of Snotlout with it." Ruffnut answered him, a wide grin on her face.
"Oh good Thor…" Arkyn sighed as they stepped off of the final wooden platform, returning to the island itself. "You'll kill that poor guy."
Astrid scoffed. "Oh c'mon Arkyn, you've met him. He deserves it." This got a laugh from everyone as they paused at a fork in the road, evidently having reached the point of separation.
"Well, I'm going back to the forge." Arkyn announced, waiting to hear the plans from everyone else.
"Tuff and I have to go feed Barf and Belch." Ruff responded. They all turned to Astrid, who locked eyes with Arkyn specifically.
"I have to go home…there's something I need to do." And although the girl hadn't stated it specifically, Arkyn knew what she meant. Her look said it all.
Unfortunately for him, this left him as the only one needing to take the path back into the center of town, with everyone else opting to take the shorter path towards their homes on the outskirts of the village. Arkyn smiled at Astrid before he left, beginning his walk towards the smithy alone, eventually allowing his mind to wander back to his first experience with Trader Johann, a man the boy decided was one of the most peculiar he'd ever met.
