CHAPTER 14: Bludvist
Ever since Yurlin came to power in the Ancient Tribe as its Chieftan, his reputation had only grew and grew. He already built a name for himself across the archipelago prior to being appointed Chieftan because of his rabble rousing, violent, nationalistic way of talking and general campaigning, unseen before on the archipelago, but being a Chieftan these past five years had cemented his name.
To the extent his name had long been mentioned by the Warlords surrounding one man who many thought had perished after Toothless defeated his Bewilderbeast - Drago Bludvist.
The Warlords were currently at their military base in the middle of the seas, the same one Grimmel initially flew to ten years ago before being tasked with capturing Toothless.
Tons of wooden ships were congregated on the open waters around the base, the metal bars surrounding its structure had hints of brown rust, and the gate was no longer functional, forcing the Warlords to leave it open. Everything on the base was of old age at this point.
Including Drago himself.
Years ago at his prime when he was using his Bewilderbeast to try and take over the world, he stood at 6'10 in height and had a very substantial build. Now in his very very early 60s, and given his experience of being stranded on that island, he lost a load of weight and was spouting grey hairs among his braids, both in his hair and beard.
He housed some permanent bruises from the sheer force of the oceans he washed through when his Bewilderbeast tossed him overboard.
He wasn't significantly smaller by any stretch of the imagination, but he lost size due to ageing but also being left without food on that island after he forcefully washed ashore on it when his Bewilderbeast tossed him off into the seas following defeat. He wasn't the same shape. He could still move around quite well for a man of his age and size.
Ultimately, it was still Drago Bludvist - and he was still feared now as much as he was back when he killed Stoick using Toothless. Evident by the panic and scare the archipelago had gone through when the news was first spread about him continuing to be alive. The biggest example of that being the rise of Alfa Yurlin.
Fundamentally, Drago's perception of the world hadn't changed. He still believed in conquering the world with dragons as he felt that to be the best way of achieving such a goal. He also had a new objective - to get revenge on Hiccup and the Hooligans for defeating him in the first place.
What has changed the most though is the extent to which Drago would nowadays go to achieve those objectives. The encounter he had with that wild dragon on the stranded island possibly weakened the drive to achieve it. But he still hadn't fundamentally changed.
The grey haired Drago was surrounded by the other Warlords who had survived their grim battle with Hiccup ten years ago when they entrusted Grimmel to capture Toothless. Chaghatai Khan, Griselda the Grevious, and Ragnar the Rock. All three had survived, and they were more than delighted when they discovered their old boss, Drago, to have been alive.
Since then, they had been collaborating and working with Drago as he retook control of the Warlords as his army of mercenaries. Filling him in on what happened with Grimmel, the existence of The Hidden World, and the Hooligans evacuating to a new island.
And of course, now, Alfa Yurlin and the Ancients.
With hundreds of other Warlords gathering weapons and escorting them around the base, and across the open waters tons of them hopping and swimming from boat to boat to get them into shape as the grey skies oversaw the commotion, Drago was isolated in one of the central rooms of the base with the three main Warlords, studying a map of the archipelago.
"I never liked that Grimmel, a self-proclaimed mastermind...a mastermind indeed," for a few moments, Drago paused before carrying on the rest of his sentence to the Warlords, "...of failure, who always sought the short term victories, sacrificing the long term ones!"
He didn't like Grimmel ultimately because he had differing objectives - Grimmel wanted to kill dragons, whereas Drago himself wanted to still use them. And Drago, even many years ago when he knew of Grimmel, always thought he wasn't even that good of a dragon killer.
"We paid him vast sums, Drago, vast sums, and he betrayed us. Never again will we make such a mistake. Ten years ago it happened and we'll be glad to bury that memory!" Ragnar said.
"We must press on. Where is this new island of Hiccup's you've all been moaning about?" Bludvist asked, his voice commanding an authoritarian tune.
"It's a gigantic wall of rock in the middle of nowhere, Drago. It's been so long that we've...actually forgotten its whereabouts. We never intended to forget it but we had to make a quick escape that day when Grimmel failed us all."
"What am I surrounded by here? incompetents? I'll have you all pay Grimmel a visit if you continue to fall beneath my expectations!" Drago roared, "I cannot believe the state at which my men have descended. Utterly unacceptable incompetents, the whole bunch of you!"
Drago may be years older in his 60s but he was still the feared mercenary of every tribe, and even his own men. Making him angry was like asking if you could die - not least because Drago had a tendency to execute incompetents with no room for forgiveness.
"I'm sorry Drago, but we've tended up another solution...the Chief of the Ancient Tribe may be able to help us out here?" Chaghatai said, jumping into the discussion.
"I know this man..." Drago whispered, the mercenary recalling Yurlin's name being heard numerous times since he returned to the Warlords, "what an idiotic solution. What makes you think he'd be our solution?"
"He's been barking up his voice across this archipelago lately, sir...maybe it's worth seeking some sort of companio-"
Drago was utterly offended at that notion - to the point he didn't even allow Chaghatai to finish. He threw up his one arm and sent his knuckles plummeting into the chin of Chaghatai, emitting a painful thud that practically echoed into the air. The punch had caused the other Warlords to take a few steps back as their leader gritted his teeth. Drago approached Chaghatai as he remained hopelessly on the wooden floor.
"You fool...FOOL, I say. This man has an ideology which we CANNOT work with...all of our men have told me the same thing - he has a great army in his tribe, he's competing to be more of a master than ME...two opposing ideologies cannot work, and you're suggesting we COOPERATE?!"
Chaghatai could only continue holding onto his chin as he slowly ascended to his knees.
"I should put you all to punishment. This is completely out of order. I don't need incompetents around me, I need men who understand the modern day WORLD. The dragons are no longer here, my challenger to the alpha is GONE, we need to be smart...but none of you seem to have the capability to adapt to the environment around us. Pathetic."
Drago's reaction perhaps suggested that he might have acknowledged Yurlin's formidability, perhaps he even somewhat respected him? given his style of leadership and given he turned his tribe into a cult dictatorship as it's become widely known across the archipelago. Nonetheless, he could never countenance working with him - because Drago knew exactly what Yurlin was all about, he's said it in his countless speeches which have been shared across the archipelago.
Two ruthless barbarians of different ideologies could never work together. Drago wanted revenge on Hiccup and the Berkians, but he knew Yurlin was thirsty for war against him.
In the meantime though, Drago, disillusioned with the way the Warlords were handling the plans, took a stroll through the island. Piles of weapons in wooden barrels, numerous steel gates which used to house captured dragons back in the day as well as the sound of hundreds of voices in the air was all he saw and heard.
Warlords near Drago backed away when they saw him walk. He was walking aimlessly with a face that looked ready to kill. Not a single Warlord who was in the close vicinity could face being near him. They had to walk on eggshells around him.
"I need the dragons BACK!" Drago angrily yelled to himself, clutching his palms around his face.
Without his dragon army and especially without his Bewilderbeast, although he maintained the fear and reputation across the archipelago, Drago felt significantly less powerful than he did when they were all around. He had no dragons to control, he had no alpha to use, and he was now forced to rely entirely on what he considered to be a group of incompetents.
Drago growled like a bear as he remained on his knees on the cold stone of the military base. Silence broke out around him as the numerous Warlords watched their mercenary leader glare with fury and a vindictive thirst.
"How dare THEY abandon our world when I wasn't FINISHED with them?!" Drago yelled, referring to the dragons.
He was genuinely angered that they were sent to The Hidden World. And he blamed Grimmel just as much as Hiccup.
"THIS MINIATURE YURLIN DOESN'T SCARE ME, I AM THE CONTROLLER OF ALL DRAGONS, DO YOU ALL HEAR ME?!"
The Warlords stumbled and became fearful for their lives as their leader got up off his knees and walked over to them at a rapid pace - he was losing it. His desire to get revenge on Hiccup and to investigate the Chieftan who so desperately wanted war against him in Yurlin, was all creating a fire in him.
"YOU ALL NEED TO STEP UP YOUR PREPARATIONS. I AM YOUR LEADER, I DEMAND RESPECT. I AM NOT SCARED, WE ARE NOT SCARED BY ALFA YURLIN! ONLY I CAN SEND FEAR! WE WILL DESTROY THOSE WHO OPPOSE US AND WILL AVENGE OUR PAST LOSSES!"
Drago continued yelling in rage at his Warlords as they all froze in fear.
Ultimately, the archipelago had to contend now with two ruthless leaders, one a dictatorial Chieftan who shares more similarities with Drago than he'd like to think in regards to his leadership strategy, and a well known mercenary originally thought to have died, who killed Stoick the Vast and had the ability to control dragons.
Out of the two, Yurlin was by far the closest to Hiccup in terms of views. He and Yurlin hated Drago for instance, but as a dictatorial Chieftan who's just banned marriages between Ancient vikings and 'unvikings' and has gradually begun to initiate discriminatory treatment of 'unvikings', a policy no Chieftan in history had ever enacted, with no limits as to who defines as an unviking, Hiccup still couldn't see just the type of monster at his front door.
But equally, the well known monster in Drago was alive and kicking.