CHAPTER 20: Chaos
Erick the Everlasting was holding a meeting within the hall of the Northen Market islands. He had gathered his relatively small council to talk about the ongoing crisis outside this place - particularly, the chaos, the lawless atmosphere from all of the action, and the constant demands from their supposedly own vikings to be aligned with the Ancients.
"Fires are being lit across all our huts, these undercover Ancient vikings are attacking those they deem to be 'unvikings', innocent men and women across our island who've done no wrong. And now, outside of our hall and across the island, there's a major protest being undertaken. What are we to do?!" Erick pleaded to his council.
The situation outside the hall was dire. Fights between the viking guards of the Northern Market Island and those pro-Ancient vikings were an ongoing sight, often ending with deadly punches and injuries, all under a political umbrella. Erick felt totally out of control for the first time in his life since becoming Chieftan. The Yurlin regime across the seas was utilizing tactics never before seen in the history of the Barbaric Archipelago.
"What is especially concerning," one of the Northern Market vikings in the hall said, as struggling yells and chants could be heard outside the hall door, "is that this tyrant, Yurlin, is seeking to 'unify' our island with his, as if we ever had any historical connection to the Ancients - that's never been the case, this is full on annexation at play! we must be firm and strong to our vikings on this!"
"But how do we go about it? it's like a fight arena out there, all of our kids and vikings have to stay in their huts. We will never ever succumb to pressure from the Yurlin regime, their tribe is going to go down in the history books as the tyrants that they are for doing this, we have done nothing to them, NOTHING!"
Erick, squeaking his wooden chair's legs across the floor as he leaned closer into the table, came up with a relatively straightforward solution.
He was in no position to meet fire with fire in regards to the protests and the Yurlin regime's actions against his own tribe, but he felt his solution was the best possible way to ooze the tense protests and unease.
"We negotiate with the vikings who feel this way. Our fellow Northern Market tribesmen, and so on, we reason with them and we get to the bottom of their concerns. I am wary, folks, that our safety is in a dangerous position here, but if we address their concerns, what could possibly be better than that?"
The whole council room looked at Erick, as the Chieftan gulped slightly. His forehead was slowly heating up with anxiety and he could feel bits of sweat emerge on it. This was such an anxiety-felt situation he'd never experienced before.
"Negotiate? with the Yurlin regime? their tribe cannot be reasoned with, Chief."
"No, I don't mean Alfa Yurlin and his band of criminal vikings. We reason with the people on our island who feel the way they do which has caused them to take these measures. We know Drago Bludvist being around is stoking fears and apprehension not just across our island but the rest of the archipelago, which has caused a lot of vikings to look towards the Ancient Tribe. But relying on a tyrant to defeat another such tyrant is not the answer. Diplomacy is surely the best way of calming things down?"
There was a collective groan in the room.
"As far as I'm concerned, Alfa Yurlin can keep threatening us and he can keep making these false claims about our territory and such. We mustn't show that we're scared of his tactics. We're vikings, after all. By reasoning with the concerns of those undertaking this action, we can send a message to Yurlin that his ideas don't wash within our tribe."
"There's no reasoning with the Ancients, Chief," one of the Northern Market vikings interrupted, "just a moment ago you were pleading with us for a solution...and now you've come up with diplomacy? before, you were worried you were gonna be pelted in the face by a hatchet. Come back to reality sir!"
"Reality? you know what? this is exactly what they want - they want our council to be divided and argue like this, it serves us no right bickering when we're in the midst of a crisis of this kind. Yes, I was worried about potentially being killed, I'm a human being, viking second. What I'm simply saying...and please don't misinterpret this - talking is better than fighting."
A couple of eyes across the hall were rolling - some of the Northern Market council vikings weren't buying this diplomacy. To them, it wasn't diplomacy, but appeasement.
"Alfa Yurlin is trying to orchestrate the idea to the rest of the archipelago that we're a falling tribe, collapsing, divided and without any order, because we want to be annexed by those criminals of a tribe. If we keep our heads calm, if we keep our sanity, and if we return the favour with a unified front...they can't possibly do anything. We need our tribe to know that annexation will not only happen on my watch, but is the wrong idea and they're being fed a trap by Yurlin. Gentlemen, you might not agree with me, but when we're facing a situation like this, we have to become the adults in the room."
The more Erick spoke, the more the room was coming behind the idea. They continued to listen.
"I fully understand the background of all of this. Hiccup, as the rumours went at the time some decade or so ago, tried talking to Drago but it ended up in the killing of Stoick the Vast, the most respected Chieftan of all these islands. I know that such a shadow hangs over me when I'm proposing diplomacy...but we're not proposing diplomacy with a lawless, tyrannical, brutal dictatorial tribe like the Ancients, we're going to be proposing diplomacy with our own tribe, we'll bring ourselves all together, and we'll form a unified front."
Quite a few of the groaning vikings in the hall just now had nodded - they were actually agreeing with Erick, especially after he acknowledged a similar situation between Hiccup and Drago. They liked that he knew the dark cloud hanging over him and this proposal.
"And let's face it, this world has been without dragons now for a decade. Not that we had any shining or reliable relationship with them when they were here, but in a world without them, the onus is on us vikings to make a stand and combat any outside threat. The Hooligans are on their new island, Drago Bludvist is still out there, and we've got Alfa Yurlin in the mix now as the new 'kid on the block' as far as tyrants go. I will NEVER negotiate with the Yurlin regime, we will negotiate with our own vikings who may be tempted by the annexation proposed by the Ancients. We will make a stand, and we will NOT be scared into giving up our legitimate right to exist as a tribe!" Erick yelled.
The hall had suddenly applauded Erick, as his wife had patted him on the back. His whole face had become red during that moment as the thunderous applauds broke out in the hall within the council. The absolute passion in him to preserve the independence of the Northern Market Islands was rife like never before.
The sounds of chaos still emerged from outside the hall, but for the council and Erick the Everlasting, the time was now to put their plan into action. Some of the vikings in the hall were still extremely hesitant, but they had ultimately decided to put aside those hesitations for the good of the island.
After a tough day, night was starting to climb over the Northern Market islands. Erick felt quite relieved in himself. He'd gathered the council outside the hall earlier in the day, in front of the commotion and he'd managed to calm the tensions and the riots down. It seemed like everything was peaceful, quiet, and all of the talk of Yurlin encouraging riots and disorder on the island had become water off a duck's back.
It was night, and Erick the Everlasting was returning to his hut. The Chieftan of the island, after a stressful and initially what felt like a life threatening day, was ready to hit some sleep for the night, for tomorrow was going to be a big test - all eyes on the island were going to be on the Ancient Tribe, and whether the same sort of moves seen today were to be perpetrated again.
So far, it felt like the Chieftan had completely neutralized Yurlin's attempts at disorder on his island today, he had the same hopes for tomorrow too.
Upon walking up to his hut, Erick had briefly heard snapping twigs among the bushes nearby, but he thought nothing of them. Most likely just a wild rabbit or some sort of wildlife tipping its way through the foresty greens of the night trees and bushes. He walked up to his door, and pushed it gently open. Him being a Chieftan and all, he didn't actually have that much protection around him, but he never felt like he needed it.
Until now.
Standing in his hut were two completely masked up vikings with black leather coats, leather boots, holding up crossbows aimed firmly at the door frame Erick was standing within. Upon seeing the two anonymous vikings, he instantly tried to back out from a sense of flight or fight, only to be met with a brief thud against a third viking who was blocking the way out.
Erick's entire face started heating up, his breathing rapidly increased, his whole body was spazzing out with inconsistent rapid movements which looked like he was trying to either run or walk, unable to think straight as he was held at a hostage point.
"Erick the Everlasting, is it?" one of the leather-masked vikings said.
Erick simply didn't respond, he was cowed up against the wall in his hut - his wife was nowhere to be seen, and the thought of these guys here only made Erick panick more about her safety, he had no idea where she was.
"You think the leader was bluffing, do you? Yurlin, our Chieftan, the leader, doesn't bluff. And we're not gonna bluff now. Hand the Northern Market Ancients positions within your council, as the will of the tribe clearly wants, or you will suffer greatly."
Erick was struggling for words. He knew it the moment he laid eyes on this guys as he entered his hut - they were associates of the Ancient Tribe, vikings from that tribe, and their ultimatum did him no good in keeping calm. But the idea of surrendering was completely bogus, and it wasn't going to happen.
"You're gonna have to kill me before I ever succumb to your tyrant of a Chieftan, you hear me?!" Erick raged.
"Look around, mister 'Everlasting', your whole tribe lost order today. This island has the stench of the unvikings, Drago Bludvist is afoot, and the leader recognises the desire of your tribe to be apart of us. We didn't stutter, but to be crystal clear, we will repeat - hand over positions in the council to Northern Market Ancient vikings, give us power in your tribe to respect the desired will of your tribe, or 'Everlasting' will frankly end up being the opposite of yourself. Make your choice, 'Chief'."
"Kill me, you wouldn't dare risk an outbreak of war for violating a tribe's sovereignty like this. You 'vikings' make Drago himself look like a saint, even Grimmel! you talk about standing against Drago and being ideologically opposed to him, but you immoral excuses of vikings are tyrants of a tribe, you're no better than the enemy you claim to be ideologically opposed to!"
With Erick the Everlasting constantly opposing Ancient demands, the anonymous masked vikings had no hesitations in pulling the triggers of their crossbows.
"No sovereignty is at risk because we're one tribe. Nobody will get in the way of that."
With those words, the two masked vikings pulled on their crossbow triggers, and arrows were sent flying out directly towards Erick's body. It was over in a matter of seconds.
An assassination had just occurred on the archipelago, most definitely at the hands of Alfa Yurlin and his tribe. Word of this asassination was going to spread extremely rapidly across the archipelago, and most definitely to New Berk in particular.