CHAPTER 4: Appointment
Yurlin was escorted by vikings associated to the council of the Ancient Tribe through to the central building which was being used as the new great hall.
When he received a knock on his hut from the very same council members asking him to come with them, Yurlin didn't utter a single word. He just went along with the flow, he didn't want to rock the boat.
In his heart, he felt like what was going to happen to him would be the thing he's strived for over the past five years - becoming Chieftan. The manner in which he was being escorted through the village like some sort of protected individual, the fact that the vikings taking him into the council hadn't notified him of why they asked him to come along, Yurlin was able to put the pieces together fairly quickly.
But in an almost uncanny way he didn't speak a single word on the way to the hall. Numerous Ancient vikings looked on with curiosity at Yurlin's commotion as he was flanked on all sides by the council vikings, but again, neither he or the council vikings acknowledged anyone around them. Something important was happening and they quickly picked up on that.
Not even Yurlin's supporters within the tribe reacted in a jubilant sort of manner upon seeing their idol being escorted by the council vikings. They too probably didn't want to rock the boat.
Eventually, after about ten minutes of being escorted through the grassy villages of Ancient Island, Yurlin and his council viking escorts arrived at the building as its dusty oak structure was all too clear to see. It was hardly a great hall-sized building but it was suitable for the time being until a new one could be built.
One of the council members opened up the wooden door for Yurlin to enter.
"After you," he said.
Again, Yurlin didn't reply at all, and instead just complied. He slowly walked inside as he continued putting the pieces together as to what this was all about.
The council vikings closed the wooden door and directed Yurlin further. Eventually, they made it to another set of wooden doors which opened up into the meeting room between the council members. The leading council member was stood with the others. Upon seeing Yurlin enter the room he looked at the 30 year old viking with a solemn expression.
The doors behind Yurlin were closed as he remained silent.
"Alfa Yurlin," the leading council member said, "good to see you."
"Likewise."
"The reason we've brought you here is because we've come up with a way forward, in light of the circumstances. Please, have a seat."
Yurlin didn't want a seat. He simply looked at one of the oak-made chairs in the hall and looked back at the leading council viking.
"Ahem," he said, noticing that Yurlin was remaining put where he was, "we've come up with a compromise. We don't have a Chieftan, the tribe is panicking from the fire that happened before and although I don't buy your explanation that Drago's Warlords have somehow arrived onto our island to cause it, there's no doubt a big cohort of our vikings who believe that to be the case."
Yurlin nodded - he absolutely thoroughly believed that it was the Warlords trying to assasinate him.
"And although I don't buy it, I suppose I can't blank it out entirely as a possibility. But the circumstances we're now in, with Bludvist still being alive, and given you've got a great big collection of support out there in the tribe, we're going to make you Chieftan. But there's going to be conditions in which you'll have to follow."
Alfa Yurlin raised his right hand out to shake hands.
"I knew my time would come here," an internally ecstatic Yurlin said, still holding his hand out, "my leadership will save us from this mess!"
The leading council viking shook Yurlin's cold hand.
"Now hang on a moment, like I say, we've got conditions to go over. Firstly, your troublesome book you wrote 5 years ago. The sentiments in it, about preventing Drago Bludvist-like vikings from rising again and the conflicts he and Grimmel caused are the right ones, but they're excessive and have no moral standings in our tribe. You don't believe in these things that you wrote when you were younger?"
"If I believed in what my more youthful self believed back then I'd have added more to that book, sir. Absolutely not, I'd like to actually declare that I'm distancing myself from what I wrote. I'm much more pragmatic than what you may think!"
"We'll be keeping an eye on that. Secondly, we're going to keep an eye on you in general. Being a Chieftan is no easy feat, Yurlin - you'll have to eventually take up meetings, potentially sign treaties with other tribes as our recognition becomes more widespread across the archipelago, and you have to take difficult decisions. My council, of which we're exclusively from Grull's choosing, will make sure to give you that extra helping hand so the pressure doesn't collapse on you. Do you think you can take up these sort of responsibilities?"
"I feel like an answer isn't even warranted on such a notion fellas, it's plainly obvious!" Yurlin declared.
"And just understand this - the only reason we are appointing you as Chieftan is for the good of the tribe, we need to make sure we've got a pair of hands at the top at least. We don't know how long you'll last but should anything go wrong we will step in and take things forward. And given you have such widespread support and clear name recognition, with your promise of moderated views, it couldn't be ignored for us to take this solution to its conclusion."
"I will make this tribe heard and proud, sir!"
"In which case, congratulations, Chieftan!" the leading council viking said, once again shaking hands with Yurlin.
The other council members in the room didn't know how to react - they could only resort to looking anywhere apart from Yurlin's general direction. They feared Drago Bludvist which had reluctantly led to them giving Yurlin the appointment of Chieftan to their tribe, but they felt for some reason that this small moment just now had somehow sealed the fate for the tribe, a whole new course unseen in viking history before.
They felt apprehensive about it. The council were hoping Yurlin would collapse under pressure and be shown to be soft and not manly enough to be Chieftan, and they were also banking on being able to control him and support for him dwindling away in due course. Time would only tell if they were smart in thinking that, given Yurlin was genuinely authentic about his views.
As for Yurlin, he was simply paying lip service to the leading council member about no longer believing in what he wrote in his 'My Solution' book - of course he still believes in it, and he could sense that he was being underestimated in his ability to be Chieftan. But with the opportunity at long last to enact his views, he was going to prove these guys wrong. And he was going to consolidate his position by any means.
Thousands and thousands of Ancient Tribe vikings were gathered throughout the villages, intertwining huts and congregated like animals on the open plains as Yurlin stood before them all as their new Chieftan, making his first speech since finally being appointed.
His supporters were waving giant wooden poles, akin to torches, left and right with roaring cheers and yells at delight that their man had become Chieftan. Already, they felt like the true vikings like their ancestors were resurrected.
The midday winds, the thick clouds in the sky, the moderate winds combined with the subtle scent of earth in the air had coincided with an otherwise significant day on the island as it had a new Chieftan in Alfa Yurlin. The crowd of vikings had eventually fallen silent entirely after their initial applause for Yurlin, at which point Yurlin began his speech.
"Five years have passed since that dreaded unviking, Grimmel the Grisly, was undoubtedly killed, and only a mere few days since we on these islands received the news that Drago Bludvist survived the archaic, merciless battle he undertook against the Hooligans with his Bewilderbeast and go on to still be alive all this time to now. The former is banished to the depths of the ocean where all unvikings belong. The latter is still alive and therefore the Ancient Tribe seeks leadership to combat the imminent threat. I am proud today to stand before you all as your solution!"
"There is a burning conviction in my heart that we have to return the world back to seven generations ago. I am burning with practical fire that Drago Bludvist and Grimmel caused great distress to our fellow vikings on this archipelago like the Hooligans, that they were brought about by the viking lifestyle modernisation brought upon us by unvikings who led to that very alienation culminating in those two. And the struggle still hasn't ended, for the fire to our great hall before murdered our great Chieftan, Grull the Great, to whom we pay our dearest respects!"
"Stoick the Vast, a Chieftan we look upon with dignity as one of the greatest old era leaders, had also become a victim to Drago Bludvist's wrath when he was mercilessly killed. In the appalling fate that has dogged not just our tribe but the Hooligans and the others, as a result of the aftermath of those two conflicts between Drago and the Hooligans, shortly followed by Grimmel and the Hooligans, brought upon the world by unvikings, we have seen the consequences of such modernization of the viking life."
"Before me I have a daunting task. I will promise to restore the old viking lifestyle our grandparents lived as fast as I can, I will guard our archipelago and we will become the ultimate buffer zones between the Warlords and our fellow tribes, particularly the Hooligans. The grand alliance that awaits these islands will ensure our present peace can be maintained as we sign treaties and cooperate in the face of re-emerging Warlords under Drago."
"I say to you all, give me a couple of months before placing judgement upon me, wait until I have negotiated and signed treaties with the tribes surrounding us in the sheer defiance of Drago Bludvist and his tyrannical lusts. Judge me for what I'll deliver, not what I'll just say in words."
"I will be the Chieftan that puts the word 'viking' back into existence, prosperity will become a magnet of our lives in this great tribe that I've worked so hard to become Chieftan of. My council and I will work tirelessly night in and night out to serve you all, the Ancient vikings, with great dignity and a cause worth fighting for!"
"It has become widely apparent since the death of Grimmel that we've had to turn the dial around to prevent any conflicts from happening of those scales ever again, I will promise you all today that I will achieve this. I'll fight for you all, we won't fight internally in our tribe for political nor selfish reasons. My Chieftan position will serve as the storage for all of your interests as we embark upon our quest to return life back to seven generations ago."
"In reaching out to our fellow tribes across the archipelago, I plead to recognize the usefulness dragons had posed to us in defeating the tyranny of Drago initially, and then Grimmel. With those dragons now in The Hidden World, our quest becomes ever more important - we have never needed the dragons in our world, nor do I ever want to re-ignite such a conflict with them that the Hooligans had over several hundreds of years with them."
"With them now all firmly banished into their own world with no prospect of returning, the world should remain that way - it is, after all, how our ancestors used to live. We only needed dragons at one time, to defeat the unvikings - part of our quest involves us fighting on our own two feet to bring the desired world back. The dragons will remain put and shall forever stay put in their out of the way, peacefully isolated vicinity."
"Drago Bludvist is alive, and my Chieftan leadership will be to not only bring back the viking lifestyle, to bring prosperity to our tribe in a way not done before, but to also stand up against unviking colonies which dragged us into this mess in the first place - Drago Bludvist and his band of unvikings. We will build grand alliances and ultimately, as your Chieftan, I will work tirelessly to achieve the best I can possibly get!"
"I will fight for the Ancient Tribe!" Yurlin concluded, to a monstrous roar of cheers in the village.
So that was it - Alfa Yurlin was now officially Chieftan of the Ancient Tribe. This was to be the most history-making moment in the archipelago's history. The Ancient Tribe was now officially the tribe of Yurlin - part of his goals were expansion, living space, and given now that the tribe housed an ideology which completely collided with that of Drago's, war was inevitable between them and the Warlords.
The question now was how open Hiccup and all of his would be to an alliance with the newly-known tribe of the Ancients.