Chapter 301
It's been a week since the defeat of both Grimmel, the warlords and their forces and to say a lot has happened in that time would be an understatement. The prisoners of war had been exchanged for their rewards if they bounties on them and if not and they were instead just mercenaries for hire, I took them to either Greece or Rome and sold them to some slave merchants who sold them to mine, quarry or farm owners who were always looking for some strong men to do the work. As the war lords themselves Ragnar the Rock and Griselda the Grievous both had huge bounties on them so I turned them in and last I heard they were both blood eagled but Chaghatai Khan, I took him back to China to see if anyone had heard of him and it turns out he was one of the most feared generals of the Huns who was thought dead, when his army was defeated. Chin Wu and Ling Cho were all too happy to deal with him since he was criminal who was wanted for too many crimes to mention and reward me for bringing him before he could cause any more trouble for their land so that was all the prisoners of war dealt with. Once they were dealt with, I had a good amount of gold which I was able to spend on multiple supplies for the village which earned me a lot of gratitude.
Following that I was able to focus on helping my people build a new village for all of us to call home and that took time, but it was all going to be worth it. Sadly, before I could help my people with the building of the village, I had to help them all with the new dragons who were causing trouble in various ways, during the construction. When this happened, I did what I always did concerning troublesome dragons and trained them to help with the construction instead of slowing it down. Fortunately, most of them were easy to control thanks to Toothless who just had to give a growl or a roar to the more stubborn dragons and they'd fall into line but there were the more stubborn ones that I needed to help him deal with.
The dragons who were causing the most trouble though was the Crimson Goregutter who I'd named Dozer and wasn't that bad of a dragon and was honestly friendly most of the time and would often play with Meatlugs hatchling, Fishmeat. The problem was the big guy just didn't know his own size and would knock things over with his tail, antlers or shake the entire place while jumping around. Along with him there are the hobgobblers who in addition to being many, chose to hang out in the worst places such as in outhouses, under kids beds, bathing in the soup we make for dinner, in Gobbers tent and more which resulted in a lot of annoyed villagers, including my dad who was not happy when he found one in his tub, when he was taking a bath.
Then there's the death grippers who after being freed from their drug induced obedience had easily been trained since they were grateful and were eager to show loyalty to me now. The problem is most of the dragons feared them and would flee, often running into people as they did so and to be honest, the people of Berk didn't like them too much either with how they looked and how their own dragons avoided them. Finally, there was the lightfury who I'd named Starlight because of the way her scales shine and sparkle in the moonlight, she had warmed up to me a bit, but she was still jumpy around humans which is where the problem lied. If someone got too close to her without her noticing or spooked her, she'd roar or fire a plasma blast near them, and this would cause all sorts of problems. Unfortunately, the last blast hit an outhouse that my dad was using, and it was the last straw for him since after that, he I either find a job for the dragons or find a place for them in the nests.
Following this I got to work on figuring out what they could do and it was not easy since although Dozer was strong, he was also big and a little bit clumsy so not a good dragon to have in a cramped work sight. I then remembered all the supplies we could use that had sunk with the ships and although we were retrieving them little by little thanks to the tidal classes, things were slow so most of the stuff would be ruined before we could get it. Along with this it wasn't comfortable for most of the tidal classes since they had to carry the stuff up to the village, leaving the water and having their skin dry out a bit before they returned to the ocean. With a plan in mind I got to work and built a large metal container with an open top and a body with holes in the corners made from a mix of gronkle iron and depths sapphire with chains made from the same material connected to the corners, while the other ends were connected to a harness on Dozer.
From then on Dozer would lower the container into the water where the tidal classes would dump supplies from the sunken ships inside and once it was full Dozer would carry it up with the water draining through the holes. After that Dozer would fly to the clearing and land with the container before waiting Vikings would unload the items and then when they were done, Dozer would go back to the water and repeat the process. It had really speeded things up for us and thanks to that we were able to save a lot of resources from the shipwrecks and I had plans on having him help bring in the wreckages so we could scrap them for parts. When that was all done, I figure he can help bring in the catches from the tidal classes which can help feed the village or help bring ships up when they need repairs.
Then there were the Hobgobblers who now lived at the far end of the meadow where a giant pit was now set up and in the pit were multiple holes dug into the side walls with each holding a hobgobbler. This had become the pit where the people dumped stuff that was brought up but had been ruined by the sea water and was beyond repair. As for why the hobgobblers lived there, I learnt their species could chow through anything and actually would eat anything so whatever we couldn't use was dumped in the pit for the hobgobblers to enjoy. This saved us a lot of trouble since we could avoid burning the garbage which was nice since it always stunk up the place and this was meant to be a fresh new start for all of us. As for what kept them there and avoided them wondering around, I had learnt that they had a leader who I'd named Omen because of what Gobber said about their kind and after training him and I put him in charge of keeping the others in line.
Then there was Starlight, she mostly spent her time flying over the island and exploring the various nests and making sure no dragons caused any problems since as the queen of dragons she had responsibilities. It made life a little easier for me and Toothless since we were so busy helping out around what will be the village with various things, we had to do like help deal with some misbehaving dragons or make and deliver new tools and supplies to those working on the construction. This led to the job of the death grippers who somehow began serving as her personal guard, escorting her everywhere which Toothless wasn't big on at first but then some of the more macho males thought they could show him not to be arrogant through her. They attacked her while Toothless and I were busy only for the death grippers to fly in and protect her, earning the approval of Starlight, Toothless and I. As for the dragons that attacked Starlight, Toothless went full alpha, armor and glow before roaring his head off at them followed by having them locked up in some dens I made to punish misbehaving dragons. We left them there for two days with only one fish each for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a bowl of water and while they were punished, I was able to name the six death grippers Mantis, Pinscher, Scorpio, Slash, Hunter and their leader with the scarred eye is Ace.
Besides that, on one of our solo flights, Toothless and I found the way into the hidden world in the center on New Berk in the middle of a large lake and when Toothless and I flew down into it we found ourselves sitting on the crystal that was on above the one that Toothless used as a throne. It was easy to tell that it was meant to be the alphas den, so it made sense that we found the furies nesting there and waiting for Toothless to return with the lightfury. After finding the entrance to the hidden world I began trying to figure out how to seal the entrance against anyone who would want to cause harm to the dragons and open to the dragons along with those who meant them no harm. This led to me going back to the Precious Jade workshop remembering the golden lotus platform the fox demon used to take us down to the workshop and hoped she'd be willing to help me.
After negotiating with her she agreed to it and brought a few of her workers to help us out, making a large stone platform with a nightfury on it that covered nearly the entire entrance with a small gap between the edges allowing the water to fall into the hidden world. Leading to the platform was a stone bridge that could be lifted out of the water and be lowered back down to the bottom with the only way to raise and lower it being using my prosthetic stone of good fortune. As for how the platform was lowered down and raised up, it would simply float up and down when I used my prosthetic on the indent in the center of the platform. She was able to make a similar portal on my island in the dragon stables in Toothless' pen and the nightfury flocks' den so he and his queens could return to the Hidden world whenever they needed to. She also made extra-large ones in each of the nests so when dragons wanted to go to their ancestral home they could do so whenever they wished but these ones in the nests were pretty much just big pits that seemed bottomless. As for the fox's payment, she took a few nightfury scales and some of my prosthetics crystals loaded with the breaths of the dragons claiming she wanted to experiment with them.
Other than that, construction had been moving quickly with the architects coming up with new building ideas and allowing me to throw in a few of my own ideas. Sadly, though there were other problems we faced with the most recent one being how the forests of New Berk may have been huge and home to a lot of wildlife, but boars weren't one of them and there was the problem as people had begun missing the taste of roast boar. They made this clear to both me and my dad before they asked if they could go find a nearby island which had them so they could let them loose in the woods and repopulate them with boars. My dad wasn't too big on the idea since it may lead to the discovery of our island which is why I offered to scout out some nearby islands we passed on the way here to scout them out, draw up maps of them, see what they had to offer and other such things. I had already drawn up plans for a mapping expedition to begin tomorrow since my dad still needed me to help calm the villagers who were fighting due to hunger for boar and spend a little more time with my family.
Now though, I was in my private room in front of a lit fire, wearing pants and an alpaca fur robe with matching slippers as I lay down on my couch and went through one of the journals detailing my life written by the raven Odin gave me. This journal held the story of how I first left the village and the hardships I faced, but it all made me smile since it reminded me of how much all our hard work had paid off. Sadly, we still faced hardships on a near daily basis in the form of the twins wreaking havoc with their pranks which included removing the rocks from the front of wagon wheels sending them flying down into things, scaring workers while they were busy, loosening knots so the things that were tied together would fall out of whatever it was holding them and a lot more pranks that set construction back by hours, sometimes days. Today though, we all had enough so I used my plant prosthetic to cage the two and keep them away from everyone for a few days, but surprisingly, their parents were alright with it.
Now all I had to worry about is getting back to my hunting roots and hunt down a couple of wild boars instead of dragon hunters and trappers. As I sat there though, I couldn't help but wonder if I should bring the kids along since it would do them some good to get off the island and it would give us some time to bond while hunting the boars and exploring the new islands. The problem was that we didn't know what these islands had so there may be a chance of trouble in the form of wild dragons or wild animals that had made the island their home. There really was no telling what they'd find but then again I knew my kids would have no trouble taking on any threat since even with all that was happening with New Berks construction, they not only kept up with their training but found ways to fit training into their work. I sighed and closed the book before standing up and shaking my head knowing it was just parental worry that was making me hesitate to bring them with me so I should at least try since I'd be able to round up more boars with them helping me and Toothless. With this in mind, I put the book down and left the room so I could go to bed and get a goodnight sleep before facing the challenges of tomorrow.
Afternoon the next day
I was once again on my ship, sailing across the waters of the ocean with the other passengers being Toothless, my kids, Gobber and Grum who were accompanying us since we all felt Gobber needed some time away from the village after an incident last night. His temporary shop and home had gone up in flames with him blaming his arch nemesis, a boneknapper that had supposedly been following him for years and was meant to be completely silent which was weird since Bones was anything but silent. Everyone had already heard the story a few times, including me, about how he was a young boy on vacation with his parents when they stopped when nature was calling him. Then he stumbled upon a glacier with multiple Vikings frozen in battle with one holding a small treasure chest which Gobber took after hacking through the ice. He was then continuously punched by the frozen Viking who knocked out his tooth before he pointed out to the boneknapper who chased Gobber and caused an avalanche of ice, snow and frozen Vikings before Gobber got back to the ship and took off with the treasure. The boneknapper had been after him ever since, always trying to steal the treasure and each of his encounters sounded more and more ridiculous the more he told them.
I sighed and shook my head, knowing how Gobber may be a bit of a goof at times but he was still Gobber, the kindhearted blacksmith who mentored and pretty much raised me when I was a kid. The least I could do for him is not laugh at him as if he were an idiot like most of the village who simply saw him as delusional concerning his encounters with the boneknapper despite me having one of my own. It was then I was brought out of my thoughts when Gobber cried out.
"I CAN SEE AN ISLAND!" I looked ahead and smiled as I walked over to the railing.
"Let's hope we can find some wild boar to capture for New Berk." Gobber simply replied.
"And let's hope that bag of bones doesn't ruin our hunt." We all rolled our eyes at this before I willed my ship to dock on a nearby beach before we all disembarked.
"Alright everyone, give me a moment to check out the island and I'll tell you if we'll be catching some boars here."
They all nodded as I walked up to the nearest tree while turning my prosthetic into its plant form before using it to enter the tree and do a full search of the island. I found a couple of Terrible Terrors, some nadders and a few nightmares. I figured it may be best to take the dragons back to the island where they could nest in case of any stragglers from the war lord's army wanting to at least make a few gold pieces by capturing and selling the dragons or killing them for parts to sell. For now, though, we had to round up a couple of boars to release into New Berks while also killing some to give to the people, so they'd leave my dad alone concerning their craving for roast boar. I took a breath and left the tree to see everyone waiting for me and I smiled at them as I said.
"We've got some boars to hunt down." They all cheered at his before we all took off to begin the hunt.
5 hours later
It's been five hours since we'd begun the hunt and I had to say it had been a very good hunt, especially after we all split up to cover more ground concerning the boars. We'd collected over eighty-five of the beasts which would do great for New Berks forest and populating them with multiple boars for future generations to hunt. I smiled at the kids proudly since they'd each brought in twenty boars that were now being loaded up into my ship's cargo hold so we could let them loose in New Berks forest when we got back and I'd be able to release a few into Adal's forest for the wolves to hunt since they get cranky if they have to go without anything to hunt for a few days. I smiled as the last of the boar were loaded onto my ship which meant all we needed was for Gobber to come in with his collection of boars and we'd be off. It was then Gobber came rushing out of the forest with a look in his eye that I'd only seen a few times in the time I'd known him since this was a look of fury and determination to finish something. He walked past us and walked to Grum and mounted him while saying.
"Come on Grum, we've got a pile of bones to deal with." We all looked at him confused until I walked up to him.
"Gobber, what happened?" Gobber turned to me.
"I had another run in with the beast and this time, I intend to end this once and for all." I sighed.
"Gobber, you're like family to me and that is why I feel you should know that I'm beginning to worry about you since nobody's seen this boneknapper besides you and even I'm beginning to wonder if it exists and is after this treasure of yours." Egil then walked up next to me.
"What was the treasure anyway?" Gobber looked at us.
"The Boneknapper does exist and as for the treasure." He lifted his pants edging to show his belt. "It was this fetching belt buckle and it's been holding me pants up for years now." He pointed to a T shaped belt buckle while smiling and I couldn't help but ask.
"Gobber, wouldn't it be easier to just give him the belt buckle and make yourself a new one?" Gobber lowered the edging.
"No, this is my treasure, and I won't give it up no matter what." I rolled my eyes and muttered.
"Traditional Viking stubbornness!" I shook my head before I walked up to Gobber. "Gobber listen, maybe it's your mind playing tricks on you when it comes to the boneknapper."
"What do you mean."
"I mean you've become so obsessed with protecting this treasure that your mind has conjured up this boneknapper and make it seem to attack you from time to time when you're under stress or going through immense change to help you deal with it." Gobber stared at me for a few seconds.
"What?"
"The boneknapper is all made by your imagination to help you deal with stress." He stared at me before shaking his head.
"Lad, you need to cut back on that Greek alcohol and Asgardian mead since you're making less sense than usual." Before I could reply, the I heard the sound of bones rattling and I signaled the kids to get their weapons ready while signaling Toothless to get into battle stance.
"Gobber, I think I may owe you an apology."
He raised an eyebrow right before a boneknapper landed on the front of my ship and glared down at us while I got into my battlestance, switching out my prosthetic for my flail, letting the ball fall connected to the chain. We watched the boneknapper raise its head with me and the kids expecting a mighty roar but instead we barely heard a squeak surprising all of us. Our surprise didn't last long though as the boneknapper got ready to release its flames and I quickly yelled.
"EVERYONE, GET BEHIND ME NOW!" They all got behind me as I unfolded my eagle shield and slammed it to the ground, forming the large protective shield that blocked the flames while Toothless got his armor on and began glowing blue. "Toothless, when the shield goes down, be ready to show that boneknapper who's in charge here bud."
He growled and nodded as the flames stopped coming and I pulled my shield back up before Toothless jumped forward while letting out a loud roar gaining the attention of the boneknapper which lowered its head in submission when it saw Toothless. I smiled and rubbed Toothless' head before I noticed an opening in the boneknappers chest plate and saw a hole in it shaped like Gobbers belt buckle and my memory flashed back to when I first met Bones and how he didn't have a roar until after his armor was complete. That was when it all made sense, the boneknapper didn't want to hurt Gobber, it just wanted the bone Gobber was using as a belt buckle so it could complete its armor and finally get a roar so it could find a mate. I looked at Gobber who was looking smug before I sighed and said.
"Gobber, I'm sorry but I'm going to do what you should have done years ago."
He turned to me with a raised eyebrow but before he could react, I activated my ox flame boots speed mode and rushed up to him as I used my ninja skills to swipe the bone off his pants and throwing it at the boneknappers chest plate, landing it right in the gap, completing the armor. The boneknapper shook its bones a bit before letting out a roar that echoed across the island as I smiled and turned to Gobber who stared in shock. I smiled at him and said.
"That wasn't a belt buckle, that was a bone that the boneknapper needed to finish its armor." It was then the boneknapper leaned towards Gobber who looked at it and sighed. "Alright, do your worst."
We all got ready expecting a fight but instead the boneknapper crooned and began nuzzling Gobber who let go of his pants in shock causing them to drop to the ground, revealing his silk underwear to all of us making everyone including me cover our eyes and look away in disgust. Once Gobber got his pants back up, he began playing with the boneknapper, scratching beneath its chin and making it lie down while shaking the bones at the end of its tail. I smiled before I turned to the kids and said.
"Looks like we've got a new dragon coming home with us." They nodded.
Nightfall
The boneknapper who we now knew to be female had made an appearance in the village with Gobber crying out to the villagers that he'd told them that he was being stalked by one. After that, the boneknapper moved into the bewilderbeast nest while people apologized to Gobber for not believing him and making fun of him behind his back. While that was happening, I released all the boars into the forest to go and make their homes in the forest and smiled knowing that in a few months, the forest would be teeming with boars to hunt. Once that was done, I took the kids back to the village to help with the construction anyway they could. This brings us to now, with my ship back in my prosthetic and me flying above the village while looking at the construction site that will become the village along with the camp site which is where everyone was sleeping until proper housing could be built. I just hoped that it could all be done before any storms hit New Berk but to be honest, I wasn't sure how long it was going to take to build the new village, nor did I know how long it would take to rebuild all the lives that were destroyed by the move. I sighed knowing that whatever challenges we had to face in the future, we'd face it together as a people just like how we'd rebuild our lives together. Sadly though, I knew that this would mean my world travels and adventures would have to wait but if it was for the good of my people, I'd gladly give it all up. Toothless and I continued our flight around New Berk as the thoughts of what the future held continued to float around my mind.
AN: And that is another chapter brought to an end and yeah, I know it's not much and it is short but I'm trying my best here. I originally planned to do a scene where New Berk was completed but I decided against it since it felt too much like sticking two stories together which is why I had to delete the chapter continuously from the site. Anyway, please review kindly and have a nice day.