Chapter 87
Hiccups POV:
It's been one day since Krogan got Heathers dragon eye and as expected not much has happened besides Heather mourning her father with me and Dagur being there to comfort her. Earlier this morning I gave her directions to Vanahiem so she could say goodbye to her father but when Dagur and me offered to show her the way she said she wanted to say goodbye to him alone and we respected that. Dagur then mentioned how it was too bad we didn't have the dragon eye or we could've used his lens. Turns out when they were kids Oswald gave them both a dragon eye lens when they were kids but he said without the dragon eye what was the point? I just smiled at him and told him to wait in the main observation building while I went and got my dragon eye. This brings us to where I am now which is standing in front of Dagur with my new dragon eye on the table as I said.
"I've been working on this dragon eye for weeks and it's almost finished."
"Really?"
"Yeah but I'm missing some major parts." I picked up the eye and showed him the end. "This dial allows different gems to slide in but without them it won't work." It was then a voice from behind us said.
"Perhaps my humble and various trading skills might be of some assistance in their procurement master Hiccup." We turned to see Trader Johan holding a crate at the entrance as I smiled.
"Johan, what brings you here?"
"Just bringing a gift to miss Heather for her ghastly experience at the Northern market."
"Sorry Johan but she's not here."
"Oh, pity!"
"You really think you can help find the jewels to finish my new dragon eye?"
"I have no doubt I can obtain these bobbles for you master Hiccup and can have them delivered to your door in three to four moons."
"Johan I cannot wait that long for them since every day we wait the more power the dragon hunters can obtain."
"Well there is a slight possibility they can be found at the Northern Market but we all know of the dangers that place possesses."
"I'm more than willing to risk it with the need to finish my new dragon eye and with me and Toothless we should have no trouble keeping you safe."
"Very well I will rely on you and the mighty Toothless to ensure my safe return but one question master Hiccup." I raised an eyebrow. "Do you know the size of the gems that are needed?"
"No I don't but I can bring the dragon eye to see which ones will work."
"Capital idea and perhaps the lenses as well to test out each stone."
"Good call Johan and there are some lenses I've been wanting to check out." I turned to Dagur. "While we're gone you get your lens back from wherever it is." He nodded while I left to not only get the lenses but also grab Angel and Phantom since they'd able to help us out if we're in trouble but I figured it best to keep them hidden and didn't tell Johan since he might accidently let it slip.
4 hours later
We'd just arrived at the Northern market after I signaled my changewings to keep an eye on things from the forest while we got the gems. I smiled at a trader who we had just purchased a turquoise gem for the dragon eye from before we walked away. I smiled down at it in my prosthetic before putting it into my satchel while Johan told me that we'd have to find other establishments to get the remaining gems. We walked down the alleyway of one of the few stone buildings. Before we could get to the other side two dragon hunters cut us off with one wearing a helmet that covered his face and wielding a crossbow aimed at us while the other wore a red vest and held a dragon proof axe. Johan tried to run out the other end but two more hunters cut us off both aiming crossbows at us. The one with the axe glared at us as he said.
"If the dragon even opens its mouth to sneeze, shoot the boy where he stands."
I held up my hand to Toothless before moving my middle finger to signal him what to do. When he saw it he used his tail to slam the hunter with the axe and the hunter next to him into the side of the wall. I stepped in front of him releasing my eagle shield and using it to block the arrows that the hunters fired at us. Toothless jumped in front of me before letting loose a plasma blast that both knocked the hunters back and most likely got the attention of my changewings. I folded my shield back up and raised my fists ready for a fight. It was then I heard the hunter behind me say.
"That's enough of that!" I turned around to see the hunter with an axe holding Johan against him with his axe pointed at him. "Give me the dragon eye lenses." This surprised me and got me thinking as Johan said.
"Don't do it master Hiccup."
"Shut it!" The hunter then slapped him before the hunter who was at his side walked forward as I said.
"Not sure I have much of a choice Johan." Before I could hand over the satchel with the lenses Angel appeared behind the hunter and grabbed his shoulder as I smiled. "See ya." Angel then lifted the hunter up and tossed him into the wall before Phantom unblended himself behind the hunters on the other side of the alley and swatted them both to the side with his tail as the last hunter just slowly walked away while whistling with his comrades following quickly as I looked at Angel. "Thanks for the save girl." I turned to Phantom. "Good work pal!" They both just growled and nodded while I turned to Johan. "We need to pick up our pace before any more hunters spot us."
"I couldn't agree with you more on that master Hiccup and we must be swift lest our lives be put in more peril." I nodded before we walked out of the alleyway but my thoughts were on the dragon hunters and how they knew about the lenses.
1 hour later
I looked down at the gems in my prosthetic hand using the thumb to push them into my real hand as I said their names. We had four of them but we still needed a ruby along with a sapphire and Topaz. I turned to Johan who was trying to haggle a woman for the ruby and sighed as I pocketed the gems and said.
"Johan we're not here to get a good deal!"
"My apologies master Hiccup but old habits die hard." He paid for the ruby and handed it to me.
"No problem Johan since I know the feeling well enough." I then heard the flapping of wings and looked up to see flyers before Johan tilted his head towards another stall that had two armed hunters. "The hunters from before must've called for backup." I turned to Johan. "If we don't get out of here now then we'll never leave."
"But master Hiccup we still require a single topaz and a single sapphire and from experience I know they cannot be found on the ground." I thought about this for a moment.
"True Johan but they might be found under ground."
10 minutes later
We were now on Sandtrap's beach trying to figure out a way inside when Johan opened a trap door leading to Sandtraps lair. When I asked Johan about it he smiled at me and said.
"You don't expect a seasoned trader like myself to pass up such a convenient cash of valuable goods, do you?" I smiled at him.
"Johan you are full of surprises." I looked down the hole as Johan muttered something but before I could ask what he said I heard the beating of wings and looked up to see the flyers coming. "Angel, Phantom can you two lead them away while we go for the gems?" They each growled and nodded. "If you can free the singetails but be careful guys."
They both nodded before taking off and gaining the attention of the flyers that went after them while Johan and I went down the tunnel. We soon arrived at Sandtrap's lair where Johan advised me to tell Toothless to guard the entrance. I gave him a signal but it wasn't one telling him to leave. Soon after though Johan found the topaz and tossed it to me before I pocketed it as he pointed at a sapphire behind me. I turned around to get the sapphire but when I had it pocketed a voice from behind said.
"I'll be taking that bag of lenses now boy." I turned around and was shocked to see Johan glaring at me with a knife pointed at me.
"Look Johan I can double whatever Krogan and Viggo are paying you- "He cut me off.
"Paying me?" He put his hand on his chest. "Those two?" He swept his hand forward. "I pay them, to serve at my feet."
"Why do you even want these and why now?" I backed up as he stepped forward.
"Because they're the next step to finding the king of dragons and the key to yours truly becoming the richest man on earth." My eyes widened in realization.
"Heathers lens!" He sarcastically clapped.
"Well done Hiccup." He chuckled. "Don't be so morose." He glared. "How do you think it's been for me?" He turned around and put his hands together by his face. "All these years pretending to care about you and your dragons." He lowered his hand not holding the knife and clenched it into a fist. "The number of times I wanted to just scream at the top of my-"He stopped and turned to me with his knife aimed at me. "And yet I'm wondering why aren't you more surprised and what do you find so humorous."
"Johan I've been on multiple adventures as you know and in those adventures, I've learnt to pay attention to the little things as they can uncover the larger things." I began walking around him with the aim of his knife never moving from my form. "It was the ambush that gave it away since the hunters knew about the dragon eye lenses which I only brought because you asked me to which got me thinking before all the pieces came together." I stopped walking and turned to face him. "Heather lost her dragon eye lens because you sent her to a man who claimed to have seen Oswald, your distress call got me off the edge when the hunters attacked, you sent me after Dagur assuring me he'd be alone and your ship was conveniently docked at Outcast island right as he broke out of prison."
"The most difficult part was letting him think he actually stole my ship."
"So, you've been behind everything?" He began walking forward as I backed up.
"Since as far back as Breakneck Bog I have been doing everything humanly possible to rid the archipelago of you and your dragons but you have a most annoying habit of not dying when you're supposed to." I smirked at him and began to sarcastically clap.
"I have to applaud your acting skills Johan they are quite impressive." I stopped clapping. "Sadly, you have your own pesky habits such as you won't stop talking, you give away everything especially when you think you have the upper hand." He raised an eyebrow. "That signal I gave Toothless telling him to leave, leaving was actually the last thing I told him to do." Toothless jumped onto some crates glaring at Johan.
"I'm sure the sandbuster will hear a plasma blast."
"True but I don't see him needing a plasma blast for this." Toothless jumped off the crates only to land on a netter trap stopping him as Johan smirked as he walked up holding his knife towards me.
"Now that we're all caught up, the lenses please now." I glared at him as I backed up into a crate covered in sand before a plan formed as I gave him the satchel. "Was that so hard?" As he looked at the lenses I grabbed a handful and tossed it in his face blinding him and giving me the opportunity to swipe the bag and run.
"I won't give up as easily as you thought Johan." I hid behind some crates.
"Oh Hiccup, why make this any more complicated than it needs to be." He began walking. "Perhaps for old times' sake I should regale you with tales of alligator races with the sultan of Zanzibar." He spread his hands out at the last part with a smile before dropping them and frowning. "Or some such fictional account of my travels." I moved behind some another chest. "That's right Hiccup, the tales I sold you and your gullible father I plundered from real Merchants before I sunk them and their ships." He tossed two knives hitting my reflection in a mirror before I ran behind him for Toothless while dodging more knives but one knife cut the strap of my bag with the lenses but before I could grab it Johan threw a knife in front of my hand stopping me. "Nice try Hiccup but you can't beat me so easily."
He picked up the bag and examined the lenses as I used the distraction as an opportunity to take out a scimitar throwing knife and free Toothless by throwing it at the rope holding him up. When he landed on the ground he growled as I smirked at Johan who just noticed us and glared at me.
"Do you honestly think you can get out of here with those lenses?"
"Oh, I most certainly can Hiccup but do you think you two can stop me."
"With a little help from a friend of mine." He released another blade and threw it at us but Toothless fired a plasma blast to stop it and seconds after they did Sandtrap came out and took one look at the scene before running to my side where I put my hand on his head. "Johan, meet my sandbuster Sandtrap!"
"You trained the sandbuster?"
"Johan, you don't expect a seasoned dragon rider like myself not to come back and train a new species of dragon after getting back up do you?" He just glared at me. "Give me back the lenses!" He released another knife from his sleeve.
"I don't think so boy." He threw the knife but not at us but at a net holding some barrels above us forcing us to step back or be crushed by the barrels which threw up a ton of dust blinding us but when it cleared Johan was gone.
"He's escaped and he got the lenses." I turned to Toothless and opened up his saddle bag smiling. "Atleast we still have the new dragon eye and the gems needed to complete it." I then frowned and turned to Sandtrap. "This place isn't safe for you any more pal; the hunters will eventually come for you and your treasures now that they know you're one of my dragons." He growled before I rubbed his head. "We'll come back for you tonight so you don't get burned by the sun." He looked around at the treasures. "We'll bring your treasures as well." He growled and nodded. "In the meantime, hide in the sand and make sure you're not spotted." He growled and nodded before diving and burrowing into the sand as I turned to Toothless. "Let's get out of here bud." He crooned before we took off out and into the sky meeting up with Angel and Phantom who were able to ditch the flyers but as we flew away I looked back. "Johan got away with the lenses I brought with me." I smiled. "Not the way I originally planned it since I was expecting either Viggo or Krogan but the end results are the same with the added exception of us needing to move Sandtrap."
Nightfall
I'd just finished putting all of Sandtraps treasures into the storage hold of Tephra's ship while Sandtrap rested in the domestic quarters of the ship. I looked at all the gathered items and smiled knowing they'd all make good additions to my vault before I looked down at the item in my hand. It was another dragon eye lens I'd found among the various treasures when I was loading them all up and I was looking forward to seeing what knowledge it possessed. As I looked at it though my thoughts began to wonder to what was on Dagurs lens that I was able to examine earlier in the afternoon after finishing off my new dragon eye. It was a near blank lens that needed a lens from the five other dragon classes in order to reveal the resting place of the king of dragons. The race was now on between the dragon hunters and I to find the lenses and in doing so find the king of dragons. I knew if they find the king of dragons first things would not end well for the king or any dragon for that matter but I was not going to let them win. A smiled then came to my face as I looked at Toothless who tilted his head in confusion before I said.
"I wonder how Johan, Viggo and Krogan will react to the lenses they stole from me."
Dragon hunter base
Nobodies POV:
Johan watched as Viggo finished loading the last of the dragon eye lenses into the dragon eye with a smile before a singetail let loose a low flame to activate the dragon eye. He looked at the projection and his eyes widened in shock, as did the eyes of Viggo and Krogan. The reason their eyes widened was because the projection on the wall was not projection pertaining information about any form of dragon but a simple message that read.
'Dear Viggo and Krogan
Did you honestly think getting my lenses would be that easy?
Signed Hiccup
P.S.
You might want to have the dragon you're using extinguish its flames before the zippleback gas reaches it.'
No sooner did they finish reading did a hissing sound emerge from the dragon eye drawing their attention to it only to see green gas spraying out of the metal part of the lenses. Before any of them could react the gas reached the low flames of the singetails mouth causing an explosion within the confines of the tent. A few seconds after the blast a now singed Krogan, Viggo and Johan walked out coughing before Johan clenched his fists before holding them up to the sky as he looked up and yelled.
"HICCUP!" The yell was so loud everyone including the dragons stopped what they were doing to look at Johan.
Morning
We had arrived on my island early in the morning at which time the sun hadn't even begun to rise yet and spent the time from when we arrived to when the sun rose to unload all the treasures and to help Sandtrap settle into his new home in the desert or to be more precise under it. My whispering deaths and Quake were happy to help him dig out his new home that also had a tunnel leading to my oasis so I could visit him whenever I wanted. As for his treasures, they were all now resting in my vault or around my house where I thought they'd look good. Now however I was with Toothless flying to Berk to have a talk with my dad I was truly dreading and that is telling him about Johan's betrayal since if there is one thing my dad hated, it was being played for a fool. When we landed outside the house my dad was just opening the door to begin his day as chief until he spotted us. He smiled at me and said.
"Hiccup, you're back."
"Yeah I am but I wish it was for another reason." Hearing this he scrunched his eyebrows.
"Is it Krogan or Viggo?"
"I wish it was dad but you might want to go back inside and sit down for this bit of news." He nodded and walked inside with me following but when I reached the door I turned back to Toothless. "Wish me luck bud!" He crooned as I walked in to see my dad sitting in his chair.
"So what's this news you have to tell me?"
One hour later
I was standing in the town center after my dad ordered all the food gathered from Johans last trip to be brought out into the center. As I looked at the large pile of food I thought back to my dad's reaction to finding out about Johan and I have to say he took it a lot better than I thought. He only yelled in anger about splitting Johans bony butt in two while destroying the table, knocking over his chair and throwing the cooking pot into a bookshelf. I then noticed everything from Johans last trip was now piled up so I turned to my dad and said.
"That's everything dad." He nodded before taking a nearby torch and tossing it onto the food setting it all alight. "Dad shouldn't we have checked the food first?"
"Why?" He turned to fully face me. "I assume you did the same on the edge as any sane Viking would do."
"I don't buy food from Johan since I've grown my own and even if I did I'd test it to see what's safe to eat."
"Well we on Berk don't have that luxury and as for testing the food it sounds like a half a plan since you don't know who to test it on and what would you do with those who were killed by that poison food."
He then walked away with me following since I know well enough when he's this angry someone might get hurt. We walked up the winding path to Gothi's hut on top of the mountain the great hall was built into. As we walked I tried to calm my dad enough to actually think straight before he did something he regrets. Sadly all my attempts were in vain and all I could do was watch as he began to throw all of Gothi's medicine off the edge as I said.
"Dad food is one thing but aren't you going overboard with tossing Gothi's medicine."
"Anything from Johan's supply of willow bark."
He then tossed another crate over the edge but sadly Gothi ran in front of it and was tossed over the edge with it. I jumped over after her and dived fast enough to reach her and pull her to my body. Once I had a good grip on her I released my star sword and stabbed it into the side of the mountain bringing our fall to a slow but steady end. I was able to balance us on a ledge as I fired my prosthetic hand up to grab the deck of her hut and pull us both up. When we reached the top I pulled us both onto the deck and put Gothi down who smiled at me before walking over to grab her staff and then used it to hit my father on the head before walking away. As he rubbed his head I looked at him and said.
"You had that coming!"
"I do what needs to be done."
"Well don't you think you're overreacting?"
"You don't see me telling you how to run things on your island or the edge do you?"
"The half a plan comment comes to mind." It was then Gobber came running up saying.
"Chief, three new traders just arrived on the docks with ships stacked high with everything we could ever need." My dad just growled.
"I knew those scavengers would move in once they knew we were helpless."
"Actually they are three of the most trusted and experienced traders in the archipelago."
"And you know this how?"
"Because I sent for them as Berk needs supplies."
He just growled and walked away with Gobber and I following him as he walked down to the dock where the three traders were waiting with their goods spread out for observation. I watched as my dad invented excuses to not accept the traders like how one with his beard tied into two braids smells fishy, the female with black hair's too tall and the last one with a normal beard had shifty eyes. My dad told them to pack up their garbage and take to the seas, as he wasn't interested. As he walked away I stopped him by saying.
"Dad you barely looked at them." He didn't turn around.
"I saw enough!" He then turned around. "Did you happen to notice that none of those traders had willow bark?"
"Gothi's medicine."
"How can we trust anyone who doesn't consider our health and well being first?"
"And how could you be so blind?"
"What did you just say?"
"You're letting your anger blind you and make you forget that we're at war now and as such Berk is going to need supplies and traders we can trust." He walked up to me.
"Oh I forgot, I'm talking to the expert of getting duped by trader Johan."
"Well you seem to have forgotten that he's only duped me for half as long as you have but then again it wouldn't be the first time you've let your anger blind you."
"I've never let my anger get the better of me."
"Oh really?" I glared at him. "Well what about the time I risked my life to save you and your warriors from the Red Death only for you to tell me I'm a disappointment." He backed up at this remembering the day. "You need to learn to channel that anger into something more productive but in the meantime you need to stop acting like a child and actually see what these traders have to offer."
"No I need to go collect more willow bark."
"I'll do that later but for now-" I grabbed him by the beard and dragged him towards the traders and stopped a bit away from them so I didn't scare them off. "You need to let go of your dam anger and choose between one of these dam traders or so help me I will drag you to the Egyptian desert and leave you in the sun snare drum with nothing but a small flask of camel urine to sustain you." He stared at me before Gobber began to chuckle as I turned to him. "What's so funny?"
"Right now it's like I'm watching Valka deal with Stoick when they were first married."
"My mom?"
"Yeah lad she had quiet the fiery temper and was the only one who could get your father to see sense."
"Really now?" My dad looked down and answered.
"Your mother was one of the sweetest women I ever met but when she was angry everyone knew not to mess with her." He smiled. "One time I forgot our wedding anniversary and she kicked me so hard I was surprised I was able to reproduce." Gobber then said.
"Yeah but you walked funny for a week and had to sleep outside for a month." I smiled as my dad turned to Gobber.
"Thank you Gobber!" He then turned to me and sighed. "I'm sorry son, you're right about me letting my anger get the better of me." He gestured to the traders. "I should just pick one of the traders even though they have no bark and all the same fish." Hearing this a thought came up and I could tell my dad knew this as he said. "Alright out with it."
"It just seems like a pretty big coincidence with no bark and all the same fish." Gobber then said.
"Yeah and it's not the most appetizing fish." He waved his hand and hook up before dropping them. "Honestly who enjoys so much ice tailed cod." When he said this realization hit me and I clenched my fists.
"It's what singetails eat." I turned to my dad. "You were right not to trust them."
"Johan was planning on sending you on a wild goose chase leaving Berk undefended against his flyers." I turned to face the traders and a smile came to my lips.
"I think we should go and show those traders what we think of their trickery."
"I could not agree with you more son but first." He turned to Gobber. "Gobber tell everyone to ready our defenses and be ready for a fight." He nodded before we began walking towards the traders who were unaware of us knowing who they really worked for.
Afternoon
The traders were now cooling their heels in the Berk dungeon; their ships were looted of everything, our artillery weapons were all loaded and ready while everyone was armed with gronkle iron weapons ready to fight. As for me I was standing on a cliff on top of Toothless with my spirit arrow quiver on my back. I was looking out at a cliff using my eagle eye to keep an eye out for Krogan and his men while occasionally looking back to see the dragons I'd brought with me to Berk in order to help with the flyers. There was Scardain and Violet, Coal, Scorch, Gas and Flash and Siren all leading a large team of their respected species ready to fight with the exception of Siren who was the only one of her kind I had while the others had multiple of their own kind living in Glacia's or Volcana's nest. Ikan was also here but he was only going to be used to send a message to my dad to let him know the hunters are coming. I smiled at my dragons that were leading the teams since they had sort of become the unofficial leaders of their respected species after Glacia and Volcana but I'm not sure how it happened. I turned back to the ocean to keep an eye out for the hunters since the plan was for my dragons and I to handle the flyers while the berkian artillery would handle any ships Krogan brought with him. It was then a fleet of three dragon hunter ships with multiple flyers came into my vision so I pulled out a parchment and quickly wrote down their numbers. I then rolled it up turned to Ikan who was sitting on my shoulder with a message tube on his back before I slipped the message into the tube and said.
"Get this to my father." He screeched before he took off as I turned back to the coming hunters. "We'll wait until they're within firing range of the catapults and ballistae then attack." Toothless growled and nodded as I signaled my dragons to be ready before we waited and when the catapults were fired at the ship I held up my hand to signal my dragons to get airborne. "Capture the flyers and any hunters but try not to hurt the singetails."
They all growled as I pulled my wind arrow back and let it fly knocking one of the flyers off which was all the signals my dragons needed to begin the attack. Toothless and I also took off and flew straight towards the ships leading all the dragons but as we were closing in I let loose a water arrow hitting another flyer off his singetail. I could tell Krogan was shocked to see Berk holding them back and all the dragons if the look on his face was anything to go by but that look quickly turned to one of anger as he forced his singetail to begin fighting back. I then noticed multiple arrows being fired at my dragons and saw them coming from the dragon proof ships despite my dragons chasing off the hunters so I switched Toothless' tail fin so he could fly on his own and had him do a low fly towards the lead ship. When we were close enough I hopped off his back midflight and landed on the back of a hunter wearing a zippleback skin vest before I released my crystal spear. I then noticed a large group of men all approaching me as I smirked at them before one in a red vest asked.
"You don't really think you can take us all on with that fancy spear of yours do you?"
"I could but I don't have time so I'll settle for using it to sink your ship and fish you lot out of the water later." They all laughed at this.
"And how is that little spear going to do that exactly?"
"Like this!" I stabbed the crystal end into the exposed dragon proof metal easily piercing it and shocking the hunters before the ship shook and large crystals burst out of the deck and hull as Toothless came to land behind me as I took out my spear shattering the crystals on the ship but leaving the holes. "Have a nice swim."
I mounted Toothless and we took off to deal with Krogan and his flyers that were easily being dealt with by my dragons if the screaming man falling next to us was anything to go by. I looked around and saw multiple singetails throwing off their chains before flying off. I smiled as my eyes landed on Krogan who was barely able to keep on his singetail with all my dragons trying to get him off it. I flew up to him and said.
"This attack is over Krogan." He looked at me. "Did you honestly think we wouldn't notice how none of the traders had willow bark or only had ice tailed pike?" He glared at me as I smirked. "By the way did you like the lenses Johan got?" He growled as he glared at me.
"Enjoy your remaining days for you'll pay for those lenses and we will do what we set out to do."
He then turned tail and ran as I noticed there was still one dragon hunter ship standing and had Toothless swoop down next to it as I dragged the crystal end of my spear across the hull making the crystals burst out and sink the ship before I flew back to Berk as the ship sunk. When we landed my father came to meet us with a smile on his face as he said.
"That all of them." I nodded.
"Now we just need to fish the people out of the ocean."
"Think you and your tidal classes could help out with that?"
"We'd be happy to dad."
"Good because I need to help sort all those leftovers the traders were kind enough to bring."
"You make it sound like they had a choice."
"We still need willow bark though."
"I'll be sure to get some when I'm done transporting the hunters to defenders of the wing island to be dealt with and maybe uproot a few willow trees to bring back to Berk so we won't run out anytime soon." He nodded as I went to gather up my dragons so we could begin collecting the hunters now floating in the water.
AN: Hey all another new chapter one day after the last post and for those of you who wonder how I'm able to post so fast it's because I finished the last chapter early in my day and was able to begin work on the new chapter. Remember to review and keep them friendly until next time have a nice day.