Chapter 119
Hiccups POV:
It's been six weeks since I got back from my unexpected trip to Japan and in that time a whole lot has happened with me, my island inhabitants and of course with Berk. To begin with the day after I got back all of Berk threw a party claiming it was to celebrate my safe return and victory but I knew it was mostly because everyone was glad my parents weren't going to be driving the village crazy anymore. It was during this time I was able to catch up with my parents and Gobber who were kind enough to tell me what's been happening on Berk while I was away with Gobber mainly telling me how my dad nearly strangled five people and how my mom gave nearly half the people of Berk a concussion with her staff. My parents tried to tell him that things were not that bad but Gobber signaled that it was that bad and I was more inclined to listen to him since I could see the majority of the village nursing bumps on their heads. Of course, a lot of people were curious to hear what Japan was like so I didn't get much time to just enjoy some peace at the party or time to just enjoy some of the food that was set out. My parents rarely left my side claiming they wanted to make up for lost time but I could tell they really just wanted to make sure I didn't disappear again. Gobber also spent a lot of time with me wanting to know about the different kinds of weapons they had in Japan and how they were different from the ones we had here on Berk. The worst of the lot however were once again Snotlout and the twins with Snotlout trying to say that since I was giving money away, I should give him some but I glared at him and said that the money was to help people in need not greedy idiots like him but this didn't stop him from pestering me. Tuffnut on the other hand was begging me to lend him my flaming ox boots claiming they were so cool that he wanted to try them out but I told him that if I did lend them to him then there was no way the village would remain standing. Ruffnut was still constantly flirting with me trying to convince me that she'd be the perfect girlfriend for me but as usual I either ignored her or told her parents to get her away from me. I was happy to get home after that party and just enjoy a quiet evening enjoying a book in my private study.
The next day was spent unloading my spider pack of everything I loaded into it since I didn't get the chance with everything that went on when I first got back. Mizore's kimono was now framed and hanging in my memorial room where I kept reminders of those who earned my respect alongside Viggo and Siren, with a golden plaque beneath it which read 'Kimono of the ice woman Mizore, a poor soul tricked into serving evil masquerading as a friend.'. Along with that the orb of that once held the power of the orochi now rested on a white marble pedestal in front of the kimono where it would remain forever more. The books I brought back with me were now resting on shelves in the library with a few exceptions in my private study. The treasures I brought back with me were now resting in their proper places in the vault along with my god made weapons and new weapons until I could reconstruct my weapons vault.
After all of that was taken care of I spent my time helping my islands new residents settle in and explore my new island section which as expected was a bamboo forest but there was a lot more to it than I originally thought. For starters this forest was home to a small shrine which Beruto~ūsu and Dōgame had made their home since we first discovered it. This shrine was a simple single room shrine with a red gate at the front path leading towards the shrine with a simple brown fence surrounding the shrines garden. The shrines garden was mostly dirt with two boulders on either side of the path way in random places and on either side of the path there was a row of ten red poles holding paper lanterns that lit up at night. The shrines single room had wooden floors, a small alter at the back, a large lantern hanging from the roof on either side of the alter, a small table with incense in front of the shrine table, the shrine table itself had a few golden offerings and at the entrance was a simple shrine bell. All in all it was a pretty peaceful place to just sit down and think when you wanted to get away from it all.
Aside from the shrine another amazing addition to my island in this new section was without a doubt the small mountain which turned out to hold a mine within it. The entrance to said mine was a gate made of some sort of silver metal I'd never seen with a lock keyed to my prosthetic arm resting in the centre of the door and reaching my chest in height. I figured it was locked up tight to protect the minerals inside believing them to be jewels, gold and other such things that I could profit off of. When I began exploring the mine I learnt that when you first enter there's a large tunnel leading to a large cavern that was square shaped with walls full of minerals and of course multiple winding tunnels leading to different parts of the mine with each tunnel holding their own type of mineral. To describe this cavern it was about a quarter of the size of my bewilderbeast Arthur, at the entrance there was a small balcony like cliff looking down on the cavern with stairs on the side leading down into the cavern and at the front of the cliff at the bottom was a small spring providing fresh water. At first I assumed this place was just a normal mine with gold and jewels but after I began to explore the tunnels to find out what the mine contained did I discover I was right about it being locked up to protect the minerals but I was wrong about what minerals the mine contained. The minerals in these tunnels were not only considered magical in some cases but also incredibly rare. Thanks to my prosthetic arms ability to identify them and able to look them up in one of the books I got from Akuhei's fortress.
To begin with there was a mineral known as spark stone which is a very unique brownish-red kind of stone which I could use to make explosives. The way it works is starting when heated by fire this mineral will explode so a single pebble wouldn't make a small boom that couldn't hurt too much but it can give one a scare. A larger one however is a lot more dangerous since from the tests I've run a fist sized one can take out a large section of wall. When I learnt this I knew two things about this stuff and that is, one I need to make sure it keeps cool so it doesn't explode and two under no circumstances could I ever let the twins get their hands on it since that is just a recipe for chaos. If they did somehow get their hands on it however I knew of one way to render the spark stone useless and that was its inability to stand sub-zero temperatures since in these conditions they can't explode no matter what.
After I found this I discovered a type of light blue mineral known as polar quartz which I'm pretty sure I'm going to get requests for on Berk during the winters. The reason is this quartz stone can withstand Sub-Zero temperatures and was often used to create special armour for the exploration of cold environments. I doubt anyone on Berk was intending to go explore any cold environments but they'd no doubt want it to deal with day to day life on Berk during winter and devastating winter. When I first discovered this stuff I knew the people of Berk would love to have suits of armour to wear or large plates of it to cover the walls of their houses in order to keep the cold out. The only problem with this stuff is it cannot withstand extreme heats like that of the Sahara desert or fires since when exposed the polar quarts shatters into dust which is why I have to use lukewarm water to shape it. When it's dipped into this heat then it becomes claylike so it can be molded into any shape I choose.
There's also a mineral known as 'depths sapphire' despite the fact this mineral wasn't an actual sapphire but a type of metal that possessed the same colour as the jewel that it was named after. This metal was given the name depths because no matter how deep below or how long it was under the waters of the ocean it never rusted or crushed by the water pressure. When I first found out about it I knew that this mineral would come in handy if I used it correctly when it came to certain situations and when creating or improving certain inventions that I already had. When I'd left that section of the mine I was already drawing up plans for what I could build and improve from that mineral. There was also a similar mineral in the mine known as scale crystal which is a unique stone that is similar depths sapphire except instead of being able to withstand water pressure it could withstand any form of acid or chemical. The only thing that could melt it was at least an hour of none stop heat from the forge fire or sometime in the belly of a hotburple that could then spit it up melted and ready to be forged.
After this I found the miniral known as a bright red stone called Ruby Dragon's which is a type of gemstone is immune to volcanic magma and intense heat. This of course made it incredibbly difficult for me to forge until I discovered it can easily be reshapen after exposure to lightning currents. When I wanted to create something out of these I had to use my blue crystals to make it so they could be altered into the shape I wanted. Finally there's the most impressive type of mineral I'd found in the mine and seen in a long time and knew I'd be using often because of its magical properties. This mineral was known as fusion ore and it had an ability that was truly unique and something I'd never seen before in my life when it came to any form of metal. The fusion ore in the mine was without a doubt going to be very helpful in the future but also very difficult to work with since in order to melt it down it took the combined heat of both a dragon and the forge. It was worth it though since when this stuff is fully melted I could dump any mineral in it and they would merge perfectly gaining the attributes of both metals.
Using these different minerals from the mine I've been able to make and improve a lot of things in the past few weeks that I knew would be helpful in the future and in some cases had already been helpful. To begin with I'd been able to create bombs using spark stone by putting a fist sized amount in round containers with three layers. The lair in the centre contained the spark stone, the second lair was full of monstrous nightmare gel while the wall separating the two lairs breaks was polar quartz and the outer lair is just a thin lair of metal with a pin switch at the top. When the switch is pulled I had to toss the bomb before the mechanisms on the inside sparked and ignited the monstrous nightmare that would shatter the polar quartz and set off the spark stone causing a large explosion that could blow a hole in a stone wall. I knew these explosions would come in handy for multiple occasions such as destroying enemy walls, causing damage to enemy forces, destroying enemy siege machines and sinking ships by blowing holes in the hulls.
Speaking of sinking ships I'd also been able to design a different form of bomb with an outer shell of depths sapphire so I could set up these explosions underwater or in the water. The outer shell wasn't the only thing that was different about the form of these bombs though since I'd also been altering their designs a bit in order to make taking ships down easier and safer. To begin with I placed a gronkle iron blade that would flick out of the shell which doubled as the trigger for the mechanisms on these explosives. The way it worked is I'd push down on a switch on the shell before the blade comes out, when the blade is out I can swim up below a ship and stab the blade into the hull making it stick there before I twist the bomb activating the mechanism's countdown to go off. Another difference in the designs of these bombs were they had a delayed reactions meaning they took longer to go off, the reason I made them this way is so I'd be able to swim away from them before they went off. Aside from those two types of bombs I'd only made one other kind that is like the first one except the outer shell is polar quartz which I designed to use in sub-zero temperatures but other than that I hadn't built any other types of bombs.
Besides this I'd also been using the fusion ore to merge depths sapphire and gronkle iron to make a metal that was both able to stand the water pressure and remain light at the same time. I'd already used this mixture to modify some of my inventions that were built for underwater exploration such as my diving bell which I melted down and rebuilt using this mixture to enhance its durability when it goes into deep waters and able to be pulled out faster in case of emergency. Besides my diving bell I'd also done the same with my submersible ship since when me and Tephra last took it out and tried to go deeper than we had before the water pressure began crushing the hull causing leeks so we had to surface. I rebuilt it in the exact same way so I'd be able to explore deeper than I had before without fear of the water pressure crushing the ship and making it lighter on Tephra since I already worried about what a burden it was on his back. Along with this I'd also used the mixture to remake my boating armour since it would come in handy if I fell over board and when I was looting sunken ships.
My boating armour wasn't the only armour to be melted down and rebuilt using a mixture of different metals though as I'd also done the same with my winter armour except instead of a mixture of gronkle iron and depths quartz this mixture was made of gronkle iron and polar quartz. Now I admit the cold no longer bothered me with my immunity to it but sadly the gronkle iron armour did feel the cold and often stiffened up making it harder for me to move. With the new material I forged it out of however that was no longer a problem so when it came to sub-zero areas I'd be able to walk through them in the armour in peace. I'd also been fusing gronkle iron with dragons claw to make the strongest and most lethal blades I'd ever seen but I prayed that the need to use them never comes but I mostly gave them to those who work at the Berkian armoury who were happy to have such lethal weapons added in.
Aside from these activities, I'd also continued training with my ninja, helping Gobber out in his forge, training my dragons and animals, avoiding the teens, spending time with my parents and of course bringing in equipment to make the mine fully functional by making tracks, bringing in mine carts and making storage places like those in my vault that hold my currency and jewels to hold the minerals before I needed them. Basically everything both on my island and on Berk have been pretty quiet for me and everyone around me which for me was without a doubt a relief considering the trip I'd just come back from. Even the bazaar had come and gone with minimal trouble besides some of the traders being more bothersome than usual trying to sell me their goods but as usual I stuck to just buying my favourite snack of sugared dates and any other items that caught my eye which was rare. Still though despite all the peace I had a bad feeling that something was coming and I was going to have to help with it or else there was going to be trouble. When this feeling came up I just shook my head and told myself that I needed to enjoy the peace while it lasted since I can't spend my entire life looking over my shoulder or I'd never be able to enjoy it.
Besides all this winter had arrived on Berk a week ago and since then my trips into the village have been an absolute nightmare, partly thanks to Gobber's inability to keep a secret he let the info about polar quartz slip out in the great hall during one of the coldest days when he was complaining about the cold. Ever since then, every time I come to the village I'd been forced to deal with villagers who were not only asking me to let them stay on my island to get away from the cold but also demanding I make them winter armour made out of Polar quartz and alpaca fur to keep them warm. It drove me nuts at times but a growl from Toothless was normally enough to get them to back off and leave me alone for an hour. Then the cold would get to them again and they'd start bothering me again and sadly two days ago my father joined the group after his beard froze, becoming stiff and fragile. For this reason I mostly stuck to my island wanting to keep away from those people so I could get a little peace but even the peace on my island rarely lasted since my dragons, animals or ninja would bring me those who'd snuck onto it. So far it's happened a total twenty seven times. However I'd take these problems over life threatening adventures since I was still resting after my latest adventure in Japan and wanted a little more down time before I had to deal with any evil beast wanting to take over the world.
Presently I was on Toothless in my regular armour leading a group of my fire breathing dragons above the streets of Berk as they breathed their flames onto the ground below. They were avoiding the houses and residents though and focusing their flaming breath on the snow that buried the paths melting it and clearing the paths allowing people to once again walk on them with no trouble. I smiled as the people yelled out their thanks to us as we continued flying over the village before I turned back to the docks where my mom and Cloudjumper were hard at work clearing the snow from the wooden boardwalks using Cloudjumpers blistering breath. It was then I noticed a ship coming into dock and judging by the sails it wasn't one of ours. I knew it was probably a trader coming to deal some goods but there was still a chance he could be a threat so I knew it best not to let my guard down. Either way my dad needed to be informed of the arrival of a stranger who could either be a trader or an enemy.
10 minutes later
Me, my father, mother, Gobber and Mulch were all standing in the great hall with the owner of the ship who went by the name Arngrim Dammen and claimed he was a trader from the Northlands. To describe Dammen's build I'd have he is a bulky, tall Viking physically so he's got a typical Viking build that most of those in the village sport. Other than that he was sporting a shaggy beard with two locks at the end bound in red and green bangles. For clothing he wore a fur hat, a thick red fur jacket and red gauntlets that stretch to his wrists so he looked like a typical Viking trader. My dad and he had just shook hands as my dad welcomed him to Berk while asking him what brought him to Berk before Dammen replied.
"Had a bumper crop of furs this year so I decided I'd come south, maybe trade the surplus." He lifted a bag onto the sails and cut the rope keeping it closed. "Brought up some samples from my ship." He gestured to them. "Here…Feel the quality." Mulch placed his hand on it as he began examining it before letting out a sigh.
"Hardwearing, warm, but gentle on the skin…" I stared at him since this wasn't exactly viking talk and I'm guessing he noticed my staring since he then quickly said. "Um, if you remotely care about such things!" With that said my father threw his arms open as he said.
"Make yourself at home." He gestured to Mulch. "Mulch here will find you a stall." Mulch lead him out as he yelled back.
"Excellent!" He turned back to us. "Oh, and keep the samples." When the doors closed my dad turned to me said.
"Seems a nice enough guy." I nodded before I noticed a look in Gobbers eye as he looked at the door.
"Everything alright Gobber?"
"I've had some set-tos with these northlanders in the past." He turned to me. "Don't trust 'em." He then began walking to the door. "Reckon I'll keep my beady eye on this Dammen." He then left the building as I watched before my mother said.
"He's just being paranoid." She turned to face me. "Don't worry Hiccup, I'm sure everything will be fine." I turned to her as I still had that uneasy feeling.
"I'm not sure mom, we've been tricked by traders we thought we could trust in the past." My father growled as he clenched his fists.
"Don't remind me son."
"Easy there dad, me and Gobber could just be worrying about nothing but still it doesn't hurt to keep ones guard up." He nodded as my mom grabbed his right arm.
"You both need to calm down a bit and feel some of these samples, they're wonderful and would be perfect for chairs and cushions in the living room or-" She smiled up at my dad. "blankets for the bedroom." I was disgusted by the look she was giving him and shocked at the blush he was giving her.
"Mom in the future do me a favour and keep that talk for when you're alone as I do not need those images in my head." With that said I turned around and walked out of the building as my parents sputtered after me.
Nightfall
I was laying back in my bed as I went over today's events in my head since I had to say today was pretty good with everything that had happened. Things had remained calm on Berk with me keeping an eye on Dammen per Gobbers request but the only thing that happened was a small fight in the line that had formed at his stall and Dammen asking my mother some questions about Cloudjumper. I admit it was a little suspicious but chances are the guy was just a little curious about Cloudjumper since his species is pretty rare up in the northlands. Along with this he spun some pretty interesting tales about landmarks he'd been seen and the adventures he's had that reminded me a lot of trader Johan. Still despite this the man sells some pretty comfortable furs, some of which I had purchased and was now lying on with my bare torso since they were so comfortable and felt so good against my skin. I sighed and shook my head before closing my eyes and going to sleep.
Four hours later
On Berk
Nobodies POV:
The village of Berk was silent as everyone slumbered and enjoyed the peace that came with the night during this era which is something they were rarely able to enjoy during the time they were at war with the dragons. Even the few dragons who lived in the village were enjoying the peace, except for Cloudjumper who was doing his best to block out the noise his rider and her husband were making in the house that was right next to his paddock. He wondered if the humans living in the hut were related to rabbits in some way as they'd been making the noise for over an hour now and it was driving him crazy. It was times like these he wondered if he shouldn't just move into the bewilderbeast nest since it was quiet there and he could be closer to the stormcutter of his riders offspring who had been named Opal. It was then his rider let out a scream that made him wince before he let out a huff and walked away from the hut hoping to get some peace, perhaps in the village square. When he reached there he noticed a salmon on the ground and quickly ate it before following a trail of salmon down to the docks figuring someone must've had a hole in their bag making them drop out when they were bringing in a fresh catch. Cloudjumper continued following the trail while eating the fish that made it before he came to eat the last one that was covered in concentrated dragon root which knocked him out. As Cloudjumper lay there on the ground unconscious a silent chuckle echoed through the dock area as Dammen walked out of the shadows rubbing his hands together while saying.
"And now my beauty." He raised his hand as a net made of chains was craned over the railing of his ship and over Cloudjumper. "Wave bye bye to Berk." With that said the net lowered onto Cloudjumper and hauled him onto the ship.
Afternoon the next day
Hiccups POV:
I was not having such a good day today as all that's been happening has signalled that my days of peace have come to an end and it was time for me to ready myself for upcoming battles. My morning started out alright with me waking up from a wonderful night's sleep, the sun shining into my room with terrors singing, a breakfast of roasted boar meat and cool water, releasing one of the boars into my forest for the wolves to hunt as Arthur fed the dragons as I watched them before Toothless and I flew to Berk with a crate full of freshly made gronkle iron to deliver to Gobber and Grump. This is where things got bad for me since when I landed my mother ran up to me informing me that Cloudjumper was missing and Dammen had disappeared with his ship. Now my father alone was a terrifying thing to see when he's angry but when combined with the fury of my mother it was best to stay as far away from them as possible. When they eventually cooled my dad ordered everyone to ready the ships to go after him but I pointed out that we had no idea where he went or where he might be until Gobber mentioned how the places in Dammens stories are actual landmarks. It was then I remembered seeing them on my maps and told my parents I'd go after Dammen and bring both him and Cloudjumper back to Berk. My mom tried to insist that she came with but I convinced her that a smaller party was better and I worked better alone when it came to these kinds of missions. Both her and my dad didn't like this idea until I reminded them that I'd have some of my dragons with me along with my ninja and Anubis warriors and I'd be bringing my god made weapons. Once this was explained to them they let up but warned me to be careful since there's no telling what Dammen had planned for Cloudjumper.
This brings us to where I am now which is on my foldup ship wearing my winter armour with a team of dragons and Adal sailing towards the land mark known as the ice needles. My dragon team consisted of Berg, Shard and Blizzard and my Snow wraiths since they were dragons that specialized in these types of cold environments and Toothless since he was my main riding dragon. Adal was coming since he was pretty much made for the cold and was the fastest when it came to moving on the ground when it was covered in snow and the best tracker for these missions, plus it didn't hurt that having the son of Fenrir might help intimidate my enemies. As for gear that was on me, I was wearing my ox flame boots, ice claw rings, kappa shell helmet and spider pack while my prosthetic arm held all my weapons since it didn't hurt to be prepared. My spider pack also held my spirit arrow quiver since I learnt that when I wanted an arrow I just needed to think of what kinds I wanted and they would be pushed out of the two top eyes of the pack.
As we sailed through the icy waters the ship hit many icy chunks with most of them more than likely able to sink any ship they struck but luckily my ship can't be sunk or damaged so easily so the chunks shattered against the hull. I gently rubbed the head of Adal who was lying next to me on the top deck as I looked out at the ice covered sea hoping that I wasn't too late to save Cloudjumper. I shook my head knowing I couldn't overthink this and turned to Toothless who tilted his head in confusion when he saw me looking at him before I said.
"Come on bud, we're going to do some air reconnaissance." He nodded as I mounted him and turned to the dragons and Adal. "Stay with the ship, we'll be back soon." They each growled and nodded as we took off into the sky.
Five minutes later
Me and Toothless were high up in the sky looking down on the ocean below us as I willed my ship to continue on the course towards the ice needles. It was then I noticed multiple ships in the water ahead all heading towards the same coast which looked to be a horse-shoe shaped inlet surrounded by tundra. I knew this had to be Balder bay, before I left Gobber told me it was the only natural harbor around these parts but the question is what were they going to. I had Toothless return to the ship so we could regroup and try to figure out what was happening since such large crowds don't gather for nothing. Dammen is up to something and if he went through so much trouble to kidnap Cloudjumper it could not be good for dragons.
Ten minutes later
We'd arrived at the ice needles five minutes ago and in that time I'd had my ship fold up and put it back in my arm and also had my dragons and Adal fly or climb to the top of the ice needles. Presently I was making my way to a cliff in the ice where a warm glow was coming from hoping to see what was happening while my dragons hung back in case they were spotted. I looked down the cliff only to find it was a giant pit and at the bottom was what looked to be a fortress made of ice. To describe this castle it had a large wall made of ice with multiple ice towers built into it with the wall being a circle on the edge of what looked like a boiling moat, there was a drawbridge lowered allowing people to enter, behind this wall was multiple ice buildings I recognised as igloos with one that was larger than the others that had three entrances, an ice chimney and multiple burning torches around it. Along with these buildings there was also a group of yaks by a water trough, multiple men wearing furs walking around but the thing that caught my attention the most was that in the centre of this fortress was an ice arena. This arena took up the majority of the fortress, had three tunnels leading to cages where I believe the dragons were being held on the upper right side, on the lower right side were stands made of ice where multiple people were sitting and on the upper left side was a wooden stage with a green fabric roof. On this stage was Dammen but he'd traded his hat in for the top of a rams skull and I could hear that he was welcoming everyone to what he called the sale of the century. I knew I needed to get in closer but in order to do this I'd need to make sure nobody recognised me and fortunately I'd brought one of the furs Dammen had sold which looked to be what everyone was wearing down there so I'd fit right in. I walked back to my dragons and took the white fur cloak out of Toothless' saddle bag before putting it on as I said.
"Alright guys, I'm heading down to do some reconnaissance and see what Dammen is up to." They all growled in concern. "Don't worry, I'll be fine guys and if things get out of hand I'll summon my ninja and Anubis warriors." With that said I made my way down the slope of the hole and towards the entrance.
Half an hour later
I was back with my dragons and far from a good mood but considering what I'd learnt was happening down in that fortress who could blame me. Dammen was hosting an auction but it wasn't just any auction but a dragon auction in which he was selling eggs which means Cloudjumper was in trouble. While I was down there I did a full sweep of the place, the guard patrols, learnt that Dammen's men all wore animal skulls instead of helmets and devised a plan to not only stop Dammen but ensure him and his men didn't escape while also being able to deliver a message to all of his buyers. Now I was standing over a rough layout of the castle I drew in the snow with my dragons, Adal and my ninja standing around it as I began to explain my plan. I looked up at my ninja and said.
"Alright there are multiple guards on the walls keeping an eye out for any trouble makers and two of them have control of the drawbridge and it is these men who are your targets." They simultaneously nodded. "I want you to take them down quickly and quietly so nobody spots you and able to alert others of our presence." They once again simultaneously nodded. "When they've all been dealt with raise the drawbridge so nobody can escape and then I want one of you guarding the switch while the other four are to deal with the men guarding the dragons but only take on these men once I begin attacking the auction and remember knock out but do not kill any of them." They each gave one more nod as I turned to my snow wraiths. "Alright now you three will be burrowing beneath the grounds of the fortress and pull the patrolling guards down into your tunnels and bring them back here so they can't cause any problems." They each growled. "Blizzard, Berg and Shard, you two are in charge of guarding the men brought back here." They growled and nodded. "Berg before the Snow wraiths begin bringing the guards back, I want you to make a cage out of ice using your icy blast." He growled and nodded as I turned to Adal. "Adal, when we strike there are going to be a lot of people running for the drawbridge and even though it will be lifted I don't want anyone getting ideas so you'll be guarding it." He growled as I looked around at the team. "Remember guys we cannot let those eggs be incubated until they're back at the nest with dragons that can help them." Everyone gave a nod as I turned to my ninja. "You're up first, I'll send in the snow wraiths as soon as you're done and when you are try to lure some men away so the snow wraiths can pick them off more easily." They nodded. "Now go!"
With that said they each took off as I walked to the edge of the hole to watch them do their work. I saw them each make their way to the side of the wall before I activated my eagle eye before much to my surprise my new eye also zoomed in with it. I chalked it up to one of the abilities of the eye of the dragon while I turned my attention back to the fortress and smiled as my ninja's climbed the wall with incredible speed before taking the guards out one by one. All the guards had been dealt with within seconds and the drawbridge had been lifted so there was no way for anyone to escape. I turned back to my dragons to see Berg had finished building a cage of ice and signalled my Snow wraiths to begin their attack on the fortress and they immediately flew up a few feet and dived back down burrowing into the ground as I watched things in the fortress. It took longer than the ninja's but men were pulled into the snow beneath them and brought back up through the tunnels before being dumped into Berg's ice cage with Blizzard and Shard patrolling around it with Berg hovering above the men before the snow wraiths dived back into their tunnels to repeat the process while I sprayed the prisoners with knock out gas to ensure no trouble. This process continued for ten minutes before the only guards remaining were in the arena with Dammen who had a timberjack and boneknapper brought out for showing off now and auctioning off later. I knew now was the time to strike and signalled Toothless forward and mounted him as I looked at the dragons who were present that now included my snow wraiths.
"Guys, keep guarding the prisoners." They each growled and nodded as I turned to Adal. "Adal you get into position in front of the drawbridge." He growled and nodded before taking off down into the hole as I pet Toothless on the head. "Let's do this bud." He growled and nodded as I turned my prosthetic into its dragon claw form before we took off towards the fortress.
Nobodies POV:
Dammen was standing on the stage listening to people bid higher and higher for the whispering death egg in his hand until a voice from above said.
"YOU MIGHT WANT TO RECONSIDER SPENDING YOUR MONEY UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT YOU'RE GETTING INTO." Everyone turned to see Hiccup sitting on Toothless, looking down at them before Dammen's men on the stage readied their crossbows at them but Damen raised his hand and said.
"No!" They lowered their crossbows. "Let them think it's a part of the show and meanwhile, fetch the dragon nets." He stared at Toothless. "A live night fury will command a good price on the open market."
"YOU SEE ALL DRAGONS CAN'T BE TAMED ONLY TRAINED!" As soon as the words left his mouth Toothless let loose a plasma blast that struck the chain holding the boneknapper, breaking it and setting the dragon free.
"Now take them." Four men charged at Hiccup and Toothless with a large net at the ready but Toothless fired a plasma blast above their heads making them run in fear as Dammen yelled. "IDIOTS!" He pointed back at Hiccup and Toothless. "GET HIM!" He lowered his hand as he glared at the men. "THAT FIREBALL NEVER EVEN CAME CLOSE TO YOU." Hiccup smirked as the blast hit the chain holding the timberjack setting it free.
"TOOTHLESS NEVER MISSES DAMMEN AND IF YOU WERE SMART YOU'D SEE HE HIT HIS TARGET!"
As soon as Hiccup said that the buyers began to scream in terror and run from the dragons who were now free and looking ready to start causing some trouble. Meanwhile the men guarding the cages heard the commotion with the one in charge who had red hair and moustache wearing a dark green fur growing slightly worried as he looked around and he asked.
"What's all the ruckus." A man with light brown hair and moustache with light yellow fur replied .
"I'm not sure, should we investigate." The leader looked at him and nodded.
"It's best to check now, there might be trou-"
He stopped midsentence before dropping to the ground unconscious to reveal the ninja who Hiccup had named Metal standing there staring at the men with his ninjato held in his right hand and pointed at the ground while his left was hovering in mid-air in a grabbing motion. Before the men could say anything the ninja named Water landed next to him Hook swords in hand right as Fire with his naginata and Earth with his kyoketsu-shoge in hand did the same. The only one missing was Wind who was guarding the controls to the drawbridge with his hook swords. The men stared at the ninja who to them were just strangely dressed men holding weird weapons and had just taken their commander down. The man at the front with the light-yellow fur stared at them and said.
"What did you do to him?" They didn't reply and just stared at him with their weapons ready. "Not talking aye?" He unsheathed his sword. "Let's show these men what happens when you make us angry."
As soon as he said that the four remaining men charged at the four ninja ready to take them down but they didn't know that their opponents could beat them easily unarmed and the only reason they used their weapons now was to speed things up. One man wearing brown fur charged at Fire with his sword at the ready but Fire just stood still until the guard was in rage with his sword raised. Fire swung the blade of his naginata into the sword as it came down while twisting the force down making the sword go flying to the ground while the guard held on. Before the guard could do anything Fire pulled his naginata and thrust the end of the pole into the guards forehead knocking him out cold due to the spot that was struck being a pressure point. As this happened Earth had swung the ring of his kyoketsu-shoge at his opponent who had his sword pulled back ready to swing until the ring and chain wrapped around his arm. Earth pulled the guard forward making him drop his sword in surprise and stumble past Earth who delivered a hard elbow to the back of his head knocking him out cold. Water charged at his opponent with dark brown hair and a blue fur coat who was charging at water with his sword raised in his right hand. When they were three feet from each other Water dodged to his right as he swung his right hook sword down at his opponents' leg hooking it before pulling his sword back with his opponent's leg pulling it right out from under him making the guard fall to the ground. Before the guard could recover Water slammed his left foot into the back of his head knocking him out cold. As the ninja took on their opponents Metal's opponent, a guard with blond hair and a brown cloak charged at him but he didn't move until his opponent was three feet away before he dashed forward faster than the eye could see. When he stopped he was three feet behind his opponent who stood there as if he were frozen with his ninjato raised before lowering it and sheathed it. The second his ninjato clipped the guard collapsed to the ground unconscious before he turned to see his comrades had also finished their opponent.
As his ninja's dealt with the guards Hiccup and Toothless dodged multiple arrows fired at them by Dammens men as Dammen told them that he still had the eggs and could rebuild somewhere else while placing the whispering death egg in a chest. Hiccup had ordered Toothless not to fire since they couldn't risk that egg being incubated since a baby whispering death would not be good. Hiccup knew that if he wanted to get this done without risking the eggs being incubated he needed to get closer to the stage and jumped off Toothless while spreading his wings gliding right at the stage. One of the men wearing purple fur looked up from reloading his bow only to get kicked in the chest as Hiccup came in. The guy didn't get a second to react as an ox made of flames burst from his back and dragging him back off the stage as two men dived out of the way as the ox dragged him its victim into the ice wall knocking him out. There were now three men remaining two of which had just gotten up with their crossbows as the other wearing brown fur stared at their comrade who was now laying unconscious against the ice wall in shock. Hiccup released three cutting threads from his fingers and swung his arm down while manipulating his arm and fingers so the thread wrapped around the three crossbows before he yanked his arm back slicing up the crossbows. The men looked down at their destroyed weapons in shock before looking back at Hiccup and smiled as he said.
"Walk a mile in my shoes and you pick up a few things." He then released his axe that shocked the men as they saw lightning run over the blade. "So you guys want to give up now or would you rather get hurt." They stared at me for a second before taking their swords and tossing them at my his making him smile. "Good choice but just to be sure you don't cause any trouble." He switched his axe into his real hand as he walked up to the men with the dragons claw raised right before he gassed them with knockout gas before they collapsed. "Now where did Dammen go." Hiccup saw he was making a run for the drawbridge with a chest. "Coward!" He collapsed his axe as he chased after him and released his shadow sickle, released the chain taking the knife end in his real hand and spinning the sickle gaining speed before tossing it at Dammen and smiled as it sunk into the neck of his shadow making him get pulled back with the chest gripped to his chest while Hiccup walked up to him. "Leaving so soon Dammen." He looked up at him in fear. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you." He let out a sigh of relief. "Your punishment will be decided by my father." He gulped as Hiccup pointed his prosthetic at him. "Sweet dreams!" He then hit him with the knock out gas and Dammen was down for the count allowing Hiccup to take the chest with the egg in it. "Now let's go take care of the buyers." Hiccup made his way to the gate and saw the crowd surrounded by icicles, everyone in said crowd looking terrified and Adal slowly circling them as if he was playing with his prey until he saw Hiccup and barked in joy. "Calm down boy, we'll be done soon." Hiccup then turned to the crowd. "I see you've met Adal." A male voice from the crowd screamed.
"THIS BEAST HAS A NAME!" While another screamed.
"YOU COMMAND THIS DEMON WOLF?"
"Of course he has a name, how else would I be able to call him." Hiccup then glared at the crowd. "And don't call him a demon, he may be the son of Fenrir but he's still the wolf I raised from a pup."
"WHAT DO YOU INTEND TO DO TO US?" Hiccup smiled at them.
"Nothing, I just want to make one thing clear to you all and ask that you pass on this message to those who may have sent you." They all leaned in to hear the message. "Buyers beware, you try to sell dragons or mess with the dragons and people of Berk you'll have to deal with me and if you think you can handle me, keep in mind I have weapons made by the gods and gained them by going up against demons and monsters that make dragons look like bugs in comparison." They each gulped as Hiccup signalled Wind who was controlling the drawbridge to lower it. "Now go!" As soon as the drawbridge was lowered the crowd ran across it as fast as they could while Hiccup turned back to the place. "I better go free Cloudjumper and the other caged dragons." He made his way back to the arena and to the cages where he found the four ninja standing over the unconscious forms of their opponents and nodded in approval. "Good work, now go and gather up the remaining men and place them in the middle of the ring, we'll deal with them later." They nodded before picking up their opponents and carrying them away as Hiccup walked up to the cages, moving a purple tarp and smiled at the sight of Cloudjumper who growled in joy. "Good to see you to Cloudjumper, don't worry I'll get you out of here." Hiccup used his prosthetic to break the lock and open the door before Cloudjumper ran out nuzzling him as he chuckled. "Let's get you home but first let me get the other dragons free."
Once all the cages were opened releasing a green deadly nadder, a blue gronkle with yellow spots and a yellow monsterous nightmare before Hiccup summoned Adal. He had him use his howl to open a portal to the ice nest which all the dragons including the timberjack and boneknapper were quick to enter after some assurance from Toothless and Cloudjumper. When that was done Hiccup wrote a quick message to his parents and tied it to Cloudjumpers crown telling him to take it to them which he growled in response to before flying into the portal before Hiccup sent Adal through the portal promising to see him later. Hiccup would've used it himself but keeping the portal open always put a lot of strain on Adal and Hiccup needed to not only bring in all the captives but also loot this place of any dragon eggs Dammen had and anything valuable including the furs since he'd be receiving a lot of complaints if he left them behind. Hiccup let out my dragon calls summoning my dragons who came flying in making him smile as he said.
"Alright guys, bring the captives from up top down here and put them in the middle of the ring with the others that the ninja are gathering." They each growled and took off as Hiccup turned to Toothless who'd landed next to him crooning. "Well bud at least there weren't any demons on this adventure." He growled and nodded as Hiccup looked around at the ice fortress. "We're going to be here a while, aren't we?" Toothless just growled and nodded, watching the other dragons carry in their unconscious captives as Hiccup sighed. "Might as well summon some of my Anubis warriors to help loot this place." He then looked down at the chest holding the whispering death egg and smiled. "After all, the eggs Dammen stole are all going to need good homes." With that said he pressed his hand down to the ground to summon the anubis warriors so they could get to work on looting this icey base.
5 hour later
Hiccups POV:
It's been an five hours since we began looting Dammen's ice castle and that time has been nothing but busy for me, my dragons, Anubis warriors and ninja. First thing I did was have Dammen and all of his men that were captured gathered up and tied up with some rope they had in their fortress before I flew to the dock which was fortunatley nearby and now empty and released my ship into the water so we could begin loading it with the prisoners, eggs, furs and anything of value. After my ship was fully formed I had my dragons and Anubis warriors load up Dammen and his men put them in the cells which took ten minutes, before I returned to the ice castle so we could begin looting it of both the eggs and anything valuable. This took some time since I wanted to make sure we didn't leave anything behind but it was worth it considering what we found in the ice castle. We found at least thirty dragon eggs that belonged to multiple species, enough furs to supply all of Berk, a large chest of gold coins which were most likely profits he made, multiple weapons, food, cages, and multiple other items that were now in storage and five yaks who were now in pens. When the place was completley looted I had my dragons cause an avalanche to come down on this place since there was no sense in leaving it alone so other enemies could come and use it as a base.
Now my Anubis warriors had returned to their sand forms, my ninja had vanished, Dammen and his men were in the cells of my ship while my dragons were below deck resting and I was on the top deck with Toothless as I willed the ship to head to Berk that was now in sight. I smiled at the sight as I willed my ship to go faster since with everything we got unloading was going to take a while and handing out the furs even longer since there's more than likely be a few fights breaking out between the people wanting to get them. When we got closer to Berk I saw a large crowd of armed Vikings lead by my parents waiting on the dock and knew I was going to have a lot to deal with since my dad was more than likely not too happy that I didn't immediatley return with the dragons. I sighed and muttered.
"Here we go."
Four hours later
I was once again in my bed going over everything that has happened since I returned from my latest adventure that I am happy to say didn't have any demons, maniacs bent on world domination, any form of dark magic or any type of mystical beast whatsoever. Just normal bandits kidnapping a dragon and trying to auction of some dragon eggs that needed to be rescued from a life of slavery and possibly death when they're only a few days old. When I first got back I spent an hour explaining to my parents what happened at Dammen fortress while the Vikings who were with them escorted Dammen and his men to the Berk dungeon after I took the skull Dammen wore as a trophy. When everything was explained I then had my dad gather everyone while me and my dragons unloaded the furs and handed them out to those in the village who were eager to get some more furs and as expected a few fights broke out but they were quickly dealt with. Once all the furs were takedn care of I returned to my island and unloaded the remaining items, yaks and of course the dragon eggs. Now the eggs were in the ice nest under the watchful eye of the dragons, Dammen's skull helmet was in my trophy room, the yaks were in the yak pen, the weapons I looted were in the armory and the gold was in the vault while the various other items were all put in their proper places. I let out a sigh while thanking the gods that this adventure was at least a quick and easy one but I had the feeling that things would pick up in the future so I just needed to enjoy the short peaceful moments I had. It was then a smile came to my face since one of the items I'd looted from Dammen's camp was a small chest and within it was the last 'Bells of Frey' that had the last map piece to the resting place of the alpha class dragon known as the Foreverwing but it best I leave that till the thaw. Other than that I had the map and I had the bells but before I could go I needed to find the island which the location the map lead to, plan out a route and prepare for the trip that would allow me to awaken the sleeping giant. I just hoped I wasn't making a mistake by awakening it since I know from personal experience that sleeping dragons do not enjoy being woken up from a sound sleep. With these thoughts in mind I closed my eyes and went to sleep.
AN: Hey guys I'm sorry if you think I shouldn't have used the comics but my ideas for Berk and the archipeligo are few so I take inspiration from where I can. Anyway I am surprised I was able to get this new chapter done so quickly since I'm back at work but then again few of the staff have come back in so there aren't that many computer issues for me to fix. Just to be clear on some things and to answer somem questions you may have, no Hiccup will not be going after the foreverwing in the next chapter, yes he will train it and yes this is the last we've seen of Dammen. Also I've put up a link to the pinterest page where you can find some of the weapons new looks on my profile page and if you're having trouble PM me and I'll see what I can do. Also thankyou to 'Hello' for the review telling me Hiccup hasn't been to Rome in a while and that is where his next adventure will be taking him in his services to the gods and thankyou to guest who reminded me to update the animals and dragons pages. Till the next adventure I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, remember to review and have a nice day.
