CHAPTER 18: Respect
In many ways, Alfa Yurlin's militarization of the island of Berk, a clear act of aggression, rose questions about the similarities between him and Drago. Two opposing ideological driven men undertaking the same course of action - Yurlin especially didn't even want to hear the comparisons being made. But in truth, it was the sort of aggression Drago himself undertook in the past at his peak.
With the news of the militarization reaching all corners of the archipelago including the Warlords, Drago was able to take it all in. For as much as he tried to take over Berk during his battle against the Hooligans and his Bewilderbeast versus Valka's Bewilderbeast, he nonetheless subtly respected the bold decision of Yurlin to send vikings onto the island.
Something he himself failed to do, Yurlin accomplished in one whole day, and on that basis he respected Yurlin's courage. To Drago, Yurlin was indeed an ideological threat, but he respected him for the similarities he had with himself.
"This young boy...he has captured the Isle of Berk?!" Drago questioned, looking out from the gloomy shores of his military hideout island.
The scent of smoke and burning covered the air and the vicinity of the island. Drago was surrounded by a couple of his fellow Warlords in their heavy gear, brown jackets made of sheep wool.
"That seems to be the consensus around these parts Drago," one of the Warlords said.
"Good. Very good."
Drago seemed to be gaining more respect for Yurlin than even he would've thought, but the ideological differences between the two meant that regardless of how much respect Drago had, Yurlin was still going to attack him down the line. Nothing would change that. Yurlin's ideology meant that to him, it was destiny for him to attack the Warlords.
"But that means we're sort of irrelevant in this whole debate, sir? with the Ancients taking over Berk, stirring up major controversy, what are we to do?"
Drago himself was pondering that question in his head. Without his Bewilderbeast or any dragons in the world nowadays, he still felt a lot less powerful than when they were around. His plan was to still get revenge on Hiccup, but with Yurlin's actions, that plan was becoming overshadowed.
"Not exactly. What a pathetic notion that is. We will never be irrelevant on these parts anymore. Hiccup Haddock, the successor of Stoick the Vast, knows what we're capable of," Drago boasted, "and Yurlin, this boy, could very well be our secret weapon."
At hearing those words, the Warlords around Drago raised eyebrows.
"A secret weapon, sir?" one of them dared to question.
Drago could only glare towards the Warlord who even uttered any sort of pushback against what he had just said.
"I did not STUTTER!" he yelled, his voice screeching like a monstrous predator.
Drago turned back around to face the vast oceans ahead of him. He was thinking. Although he respected Yurlin for being so bold in doing what he did, he also understood this man had explicit ideological differences with him, which made him someone to watch out for, you'd have thought. But Drago didn't quite consider him to be that much of a threat, if one at all.
In fact, the more Drago thought about it, the more he liked the notion of turning Yurlin into his own secret weapon.
"Men," Drago said, turning around entirely to face the Warlords surrounding him from behind, "seek out Chaghatai, Griselda and Ragnar. We are going to flesh out our steps for our plans."
"Yes, sir, we will locate them momentarily."
"And when you do, tell them to meet me in the interior of the military base. We are going to talk about our sophisticated plans for...revenge!" Drago said, whispering the last word of his sentence in a demonic fashion.
The sun was starting to settle for the day, and in doing so, the skies were starting to show glimpses of beautiful red around the grey clouds. The waters of the ocean were relatively calm, and as Drago walked slowly towards the interior of the base where hundreds of Warlords were carrying weapons, taking supplies towards the docks to build a new armada, a smirk grew bigger and bigger across his face.
His new plan, he thought, would be perfect and would build the foundations for his revenge plan against Hiccup.
Chaghatai Khan, Griselda the Grevious and Ragnar the Rock were sat on a wooden table with Drago stood up in front of them, within the interior of the island. Specifically, inside the dome shaped chamber arena for when the island was used to trap dragons and so on. The mutterings and the footsteps of the other Warlords could be heard from afar, and their bodies could be seen through the metal bars.
Nonetheless, Drago had no trouble explaining to them his plan not just for the Warlords but for himself personally.
"This Yurlin boy...there is scope. He is naive, he is young...and he is our secret weapon."
Chaghatai was utterly terrified to speak up about anything regarding the plan, not least after Drago had punched him in the face when he tried contributing last time. Griselda and Ragnar were much more confident in talking to their leader though.
"But Drago, that's what we thought about Grimmel...he betrayed us at the end though, how could this young lad be our secret weapon?" Ragnar asked.
"Because we are going to sit back...and do nothing."
There was utter bewilderment from the three Warlords with Drago. To the point all of them sighed with a question tone sound, and, excluding Chaghatai, raised eyebrows.
"This Alfa Yurlin as he's called...no matter what he may say about me or himself...he is more closely aligned with the likes of Hiccup and those other tribes than to us. You think Hiccup Haddock will attack us when we sit back and do nothing? he'll have no reason, he is terrified of me, I know it. Should Yurlin carry on his actions...his provocations, we will be in the background when such conflict breaks out between those tribes...and when they do, we will let them fight and tear chunks out of themselves - and then we go in for the kill."
Upon hearing that, Ragnar and Griselda perked up - that was actually a really good idea.
It was indeed true that Alfa Yurlin was closer to Hiccup, the Berserkers and so on, on the basis of his hatred towards the Warlords. But Yurlin was just as much an authoritarian, dictatorial Chieftan as Drago, and that meant for a lot of vikings across the archipelago, both Yurlin and Drago were similar in their leadership styles. Most of those same vikings didn't want to have to choose between them.
For Hiccup, he naturally leaned more towards Yurlin because he genuinely perceived Drago to be worse, for obvious reasons when you consider the fact he killed his dad. He still barely knew Yurlin that much, but then again, not many vikings across the archipelago truly knew the extent to which Yurlin's dictatorship of a tribe was in force.
Barely any of them knew women vikings were barred from physical jobs, political jobs, roles in the council, and also barely any of them knew that under Yurlin's ideology, women vikings were there to create children and stay in the huts for the future of the tribe and its survival. And most importantly perhaps, many of those vikings underestimated the hatred Yurlin had for the 'unvikings', a hatred which had the potential to easily turn into something dark and evil.
Even Drago had a woman viking in Griselda, as one of its top leadership figures in the Warlords. Regardless, many vikings despised Drago - they weren't keen on Yurlin at all, but at least he wasn't Drago and shared their hatred of him. For many, that was enough to consider him the lesser of two evils.
So for Drago and the Warlords, if Yurlin's (potential) endless aggression contributed to the outbreak of a new war of sorts, it'd be the best thing to happen, because the Warlords could sit back, let all those tribes fight it out, and then the Warlords led by Drago would come in and sweep them all apart - and then at that moment, Drago could finally enact his revenge plan against Hiccup.
"That's a very competently thought idea!" Griselda the Grevious said, smirking, "but how long must we wait exactly for any of this to come to fruition?"
"It'll happen. Hiccup has no guide anymore...a mummy's boy like him won't resist the inevitable conflict if one is to break out between them...and Yurlin? he will carve our destiny for us by continuing to be aggressive. We are going to be successful!" Drago proclaimed.
"Drago...sorry, sir?" Chaghatai uttered, his voice trembling on a weak throat from the utter fear he had, "are we not forgetting that Yurlin has promised to attack us at some point? he had it written in his book from years ago about what he intends to do?"
"If you do not listen to what I am saying, you are no ally of mine!" Drago yelled to Chaghatai, "you think that boy has the strength or the confidence to dare attack us?! he, Alfa Yurlin, knows who I am, he knows what I nearly achieved with my challenger against the alpha years ago until I was thwarted by Hiccup...he hasn't got the guts to try such a suicidal attack!"
Drago was absolutely certain that Yurlin didn't have the courage, the hunger, nor the capability to attack the Warlords as he's been predicting to do so on an ideological and personal hatred basis. Perhaps he was looking the other way on purpose, maybe it was denial? nonetheless, Drago and the Warlords had a plan, and although Drago fully respected Yurlin for being as bold as he was in militarizing Old Berk, he for sure asserted that no such aggression would be seen towards his Warlords by Yurlin.
It just couldn't ever happen, in his mind.