CHAPTER 3: New Chieftan
The hall was a mere shadow of itself - the dignified building was reduced to a burnt rubble of grey mixed with burning scent. The atmosphere in the air, from the aftermath of the fire, was still warm. Hundreds of Ancient vikings, now calmed from the commotion after the fire was put out, gathered around the burnt hall.
"Fellow vikings...the Chieftan didn't make it. He...was trapped in the hall and unable to escape," proclaimed one of the vikings who helped put out the fire, just in front of the burnt wooden hall.
It became so silent upon that news that you could hear a pin drop. None of the vikings knew how to think - suddenly, they were without a Chieftan at a time of great volatility. That volatility was primarily because, over the past five years, the vikings had brought into the notion that the 'unvikings' were taking over the archipelago, cleverly conducted by Alfa Yurlin and his supporters.
Little children among the hundreds of vikings gathered around the burnt hall in the middle of the village could be heard crying at the news. The vast majority of the vikings couldn't comprehend the situation in front of them. Even worse, nobody knew who the culprit was behind the fire.
"We're going to hold a meeting at one of our council gatherings to discuss the way forward," the viking added, "and we will get to the bottom of this once and for all."
"We cannot be so blind as to ignore the threat at large!" Yurlin yelled, walking from out of the crowd directly towards the burnt ashes of the hall, "this was a fire caused by hidden warlords on our island from Drago! the unvikings are here, I DEMAND I get made Chieftan to deal with this hostility!"
"We know Drago Bludvist is alive, Alfa, but what makes you think you're qualified to lead an entire tribe, let alone one of our size?"
"I dare you to not question my leadership capabilities. These past five years I have clearly written a blueprint which sets me on a course which history demands - first, Drago Bludvist and his unviking chum caused great havoc to the Hooligans, then Grimmel the Grisly and his band of despicable unvikings tried the same, and now with Drago Bludvist still alive they have just started a fire on our own territory, history suggests that we need a great coalition against Drago given we know his capabilities, and a coalition which ultimately promises to return the world back seven generations, the TRUE viking lifestyle!" Alfa Yurlin declared, his lungs under great pressure as he started talking as if he was giving a speech.
The 30 year old viking turned around to face the crowd of vikings surrounding the burnt hall.
"I wholeheartedly intend to give us lives of prosperity - we not only need to expand, we need to deal with the unviking question, we then need to build an alliance across the archipelago to begin the process of returning to the old lifestyle which will culminate in us defeating Drago Bludvist once and for all! When we do that, we will never have to worry about conflicts again. I just ask that you all put your trust in me as your hypothetical Chieftan. Everyone can promise to bring peace and prosperity, but few have the guts to carry the actions required to achieve it - I not only have the guts, I have the absolute thrust! this archipelago needs a Chieftan who will actually follow through with his words!"
At that, an applause within the crowd broke out, at which Yurlin turned back around and faced the council member who was directly in front of the burnt hall.
Many of the vikings cheering Yurlin on right now weren't a vocal minority. They weren't an overwhelming majority of the tribe but it was a good portion - enough to catch the attention of the council members even before the fire, hence why Yurlin had developed a reputation and name recognition among the tribe. But the council had fully read Yurlin's 'My Solution' book and found it to be overwhelmingly extremist and potentially provocative if ever allowed to be carried out.
"ONE CHIEFTAN, ONE TRIBE, ONE ARCHIPELAGO!" chanted the vikings, at which point Yurlin turned back around again and waved at the crowd with a smile.
"ONE CHIEFTAN, ONE TRIBE, ONE ARCHIPELAGO!"
"ONE CHIEFTAN, ONE TRIBE, ONE ARCHIPELAGO!"
"ONE CHIEFTAN, ONE TRIBE, ONE ARCHIPELAGO!"
The chants had bigger roars of voices each time. The council member couldn't control them.
"OKAY, EVERYONE, LISTEN!" the council member yelled, after about five minutes of trying to bring silence to the favourable Yurlin supporters in the tribe.
What was secretly concerning was how little the vikings, at least outside around the burnt hall, cared about their Chieftan dying. That hadn't gone unnoticed to the council member at all. But he was having an idea, and one he felt could easily work given the right circumstances.
"LISTEN, LET'S EVACUATE AND BACK UP FROM THE RUBBLE OF THE HALL, WE WILL HAVE A COUNCIL MEETING SHORTLY TO TAKE THIS MATTER FORWARD!" he yelled, bringing order.
"I DEMAND you make me Chieftan, I will accept nothing less!" Yurlin yelled as everyone started backing away, except for quite a few of his supporters.
"I cannot alone decide who becomes the next Chieftan of our tribe...usually the youngest family member, the son of the Chieftan, takes over given these circumstances, but since Grull had yet to have any children, it puts us in a very difficult position. All of these matters will be discussed in private and a decision will be made!"
The council of the Ancient Tribe consisted of wide, grey-haired, long bearded vikings most of whom had a similar width to Stoick. These were the council vikings who the Chieftan usually relied on to make decisions, put those decisions into action, so on. But this was an entirely unique situation for them, because not only were they without a Chieftan now, they were without an obvious successor.
And over the past five years Alfa Yurlin had made a name for himself - the revelation of Drago still being alive had given Yurlin's platform a springboard of sorts, making him even more well known beyond Ancient Island itself - the eyes of the archipelago were on the Ancient Tribe, their recognition among the Chieftans growing as a result after years of being unknown.
"Gentlemen...what are we to do here?" asked one of the leading council vikings.
There was no agreement among the men - their brains went blank as the scale of the situation crept up.
"I couldn't tell you - we've just lost our Chieftan, and I feel completely empty right now. Grull was competent and highly respected, me and him shared a lot of moments together back when he was a Chieftan in waiting. It feels like I've lost a brother, truth be told," one of the other council members replied.
"We will arrange the memorial for him, no doubt in our minds he was a very fine Chieftan who stirred us through the last years. Now...we're suddenly without him and our tribe lacks a Chieftan."
"Drago Bludvist being alive has clearly spooked the tribe. Nobody, not even in our wildest dreams, thought he'd be alive, and now we've got Alfa Yurlin gaining widespread support of our tribe. Have you read his book?"
The council members nodded. The book written by Yurlin at this point was a widely known piece of work and read by nearly all the Ancient vikings.
"You have to hand it to the fella, he's written what he genuinely believes. But it's just stuff that we couldn't ever enable. He keeps demanding to be made Chieftan given he's the antithesis to Drago Bludvist - we don't even know who started the fire at our hall which sent us into this downward spiral but we've got Yurlin himself claiming it was the Warlords hiding on our island who lit it," the leading council member said.
"We're diverging from the point of this meeting - we need to appoint a Chieftan. We're in a crisis right now gentlemen, we need to resolve this."
It became clear to the council that they couldn't name a successor at all. The thought of Drago Bludvist was running rife in their heads. A whole hour had passed in which the council had tried to decide on a successor. Not a single viable name was coming up. The pressure from their fear of the Warlords returning to the archipelago with the returned Drago was overshadowing the meeting, and in turn, their minds.
"Alfa Yurlin couldn't possibly be a successor nor Chieftan. He is far too extreme for our liking," one of the council members replied in disgust as the meeting carried on.
"You know something, and it pains me in my heart to say this...what if we just go ahead with him?" one of the other council vikings said.
Looks of disgust were darted across to his direction at the suggestion, but he was quick to explain his thinking behind the possibility of making Yurlin Chieftan.
"The young man is only 30 years old...it's very easy for him to hold these views, the pressure of being Chieftan of our great tribe will mean that he'll moderate his views significantly. We can control him, if you will...and when he fails to achieve what he wants, we can push him aside and get a true Chieftan in after further meetings."
The council still couldn't grasp the possibility of appointing Yurlin as Chieftan. But the more they dwelled on it, the more they felt they lacked a choice. They just needed somebody at the top of the tribe as a safe pair of hands to restore order following the fire to the hall and the death of Grull the Great.
"You know something lads...that's not the stupidest idea I've ever heard. One read of his book and you'll know right away he isn't cut out for the job, morally and experience wise...but our tribe's needs come first, and I do wholeheartedly believe as he's just said, we can force Yurlin to moderate his views, the pressures of being a Chieftan will crush him. We can control him and when we've restored order, we can be gone of him."
The leading council member was starting to be drawn in to the idea of appointing Yurlin as Chieftan.
"Besides...do we really think he'd have the moral backing of our tribe, our vikings, to put in action his proposals for what he calls the 'unvikings?' unvikings isn't even a word! his book reads more like a comedic soggy bit of ancient paper! none of it holds any ground!" one council member said.
The thought of Drago Bludvist unleashing his wrath on the tribe was still creeping up to the council. Alfa Yurlin, the self-described antithesis to Drago and Grimmel, even though the latter was dead, was gradually becoming the 'panic appointment' to fend off the Warlords.
For the Ancient Tribe's council knew exactly what Bludvist's wrath entailed on Berk when he brought his Bewilderbeast to it, using Toothless to kill Stoick the Vast - the fear of any of that happening again from Drago's hands was speeding up like a train.
And given that they were coming around to the idea that Yurlin could be controlled, that he'd collapse under the pressure of being the tribe's Chieftan, and that he'd moderate his views as a result of the position with no prospect of ever enacting what he's written in his 'The Solution' book, the council was starting to unify on the decision.
And unify it did.
"It is agreed, gentlemen. With Drago Bludvist and his Warlords out there, and with our commitment to controlling Alfa Yurlin whereby the lad would significantly alter his worldviews from the pressure of being Chieftan, as well as needing a Chieftan to restore order in the tribe, I'm ready to confirm that we shall be appointing Yurlin as Chieftan of the Ancient Tribe."
Much of the council vikings in the room nodded. They had done it - they had agreed on making Alfa Yurlin Chieftan, for they thought that they could easily control him and that the 30 year old would collapse under pressure.