CHAPTER 24: Demands
Within various parts of the central village of Ancient Island were wooden boards, splattered with dry white paint with the words:
UNVIKINGISM IS CRIMINALITY!
That was just one of many wooden boards scattered across the villages of Ancient Island plastered with those very words above. The council was swift to assert its doctrine upon its vikings, and the children especially, and it had done so. The tens of thousands of Ancient vikings on the island simply carried on with their daily lives, feeding their families and bringing up their kids.
And for many of them, life had reached its peak. They had heaps of food, they felt truly like vikings, and the Yurlin council had treated them like kings and like they were the only ones worthy of walking alive. They loved the everyday routine forced upon them - this wasn't the case for every single viking in the tribe, but for the vast majority, it was precisely how they wanted to live their lives as vikings.
Of course, many of them didn't even think about the numerous camps hidden across the island built for political prisoners or anyone who made a joke, spoke against, or simply disagreed with their Chieftan in Alfa Yurlin. Many of them didn't think about the unjust, aggressive overseas actions taken by their Chieftan, because for many of them, the lives of their families and themselves was all that mattered. The threat of imprisonment, punishment for even slightly disagreeing with their Chieftan, didn't run through their heads as much. As long as they could catch cod, hunt in the forests for meat, raise their kids up to be independent vikings for the future, they were completely okay and satisfied.
And they'd easily be able to ignore the warnings of the 'unvikings' imposed by the council, and the imposed 'law' by Yurlin which forbade any marriage or relationship with the unvikings. The vast majority of the tribe, in obeying the council and simply getting on with their lives, looked the other way on these various issues, especially since they were living the good life in thanks to the regime routine imposed by the council.
Again, this couldn't be said for everyone in the tribe, some of whom were absolutely horrified and terrified at the draconian regime their tribe had become. But they couldn't do anything about it.
It was on these sort of grounds and environment that Kurt the Kourageous, currently sailing across the vast seas to Ancient Island, was to meet Alfa Yurlin. He was to be taken through the village where these numerous wooden boards were planted.
On the boat, Kurt the Kourageous had remained put on the side, just looking out to the swaying waters. He didn't utter a single word to any of the Ancients on board with him, and for good reason. But he knew he had to make this journey to try and ease the aggression of Yurlin towards his island.
The boat had made its collision gently with the docks of Ancient Island. As Kurt looked out to the docks and the vast collections of huts ahead in the distance, it hadn't dawned on him just how big this tribe was. It was huge. It was arguably one of the biggest tribes he'd ever seen - his own tribe had dwarfed it. He gulped, and it was quite surreal to him to see just how much land a tribe actually had on its island.
"Carefully hop on off, Chieftan."
Upon the gentle words of the Ancient sails viking, Kurt walked over to the side of the boat where the wooden dock was, and he swiftly jumped off and onto the dock, his boots colliding with a barely noticeable thud. He noticed tons of baskets of caught fish and fishing rods all over the place here.
"Welcome to our island," said an approaching Ancient viking, "we are honoured to have you here, from viking to viking. We'll take you through our village to our leader. He's eager to meet you."
Kurt could only nod.
"It's my honour," he said, having to swallow his pride saying that, "I've been wanting this from the moment I became Chieftan."
"Our leader, our dear Chieftan, wants us to escort you through our village. We're members of the council and so we will be able to with full authority take you directly to our Yurlin. He is truly the most patriotic viking on this whole archipelago, and you'll soon see that."
Kurt once again nodded, for the sake of the diplomacy.
The Ancient viking, with a couple of others besides him, gestured for Kurt to follow them. For Kurt, as he started walking across the docks and onto the mainland of Ancient Island, this was his chance to get a good look at the actual vikings of the tribe, and the island's overall structure. He'd wondered how the vikings actually were given they were living under a dictatorial Chieftan with discriminatory and draconian policies.
Would they just be like the every day normal viking akin to the Hooligans? would they be the brutal mercenaries of Drago and Grimmel's irk? this was his opportunity to see how the vikings living under this dictatorship were truly like.
Five minutes after leaving the docks, Kurt, escorted by members of the Ancient council, arrived at the outskirts of the central village. Ancient Island was a vast collection of land, housed by hundreds of wooden huts, and plenty of big vikings carrying on with their lives. The commotion with Kurt's escort team caused all the Ancient vikings in the village to look at him with curiosity.
But nonetheless, they all eventually carried on, whether that was carrying weapons to the blacksmith, carrying fishing rods, hunting equipment, or anything of the sort. They all eventually would stop looking at this viking who, unknown to them, was actually the Chieftan of another tribe.
"OUR YURLIN!" yelled an incoming random group of viking kids, marching in formation in the opposite direction past Kurt's escorting vikings.
They were all in line together, marching in a coordinated style to the point their steps and their pace matched exactly the same as each other. The greeting they'd just yelled wasn't aimed at Kurt, but instead was something they yelled as they were apart of the combat training program Yurlin had put into place for the young boys of the tribe, so they could become independent viking fighters in the future.
The Northern Markets chieftan quickly looked behind himself to look at the marching kids - they were led by a tough looking Ancient viking who was clearly their trainer. Their voices were weirdly in sync with each other and they didn't seem to be walking, but instead marching. For Kurt, to see viking kids behaving so formally and coordinated, it'd already spoke volumes internally to him about the kind of leadership this tribe was facing under Alfa Yurlin.
And that greeting once again, of 'Our Yurlin', not least from the kids this time who had just marched past Kurt's escort team, that had also stuck out to him. It was like that was the greeting these vikings had to use, whether it be in the morning, at night, or whenever they were in formation of some sorts.
Kurt was struck by the fact that not a single viking around this village had batted an eye at those marching kids just now. It was like they were being forced to train all day and everyday for the sake of ensuring that the tribe's ideology under Yurlin would prevail for decades to come - precisely what Yurlin wanted.
He simply shook his head and looked back in front of himself, continuing to walk with his escort team up to the great big hall of Ancient island in the middle.
The ground started elevating upwards as they continued walking through the otherwise-normal looking village. The closer they got to the middle, the more upwards the ground went. Kurt continued walking with his escort vikings towards the hall as he passed through the village. As they came upon more huts scattered among each other, in some cases randomly, he noticed a big wooden board planted into the ground with perculiar wording.
UNVIKINGISM IS CRIMINALITY!
Kurt couldn't help but look at the board as they passed it. Those words were clearly in reference to Alfa Yurlin's perception of 'unvikings' - in other words, the type of people he blamed for creating the basis, like a fertile ground, for the rises of both Drago and Grimmel, causing the very conflicts between them and the Hooligans in particular that he loathed.
As Kurt couldn't quite think straight as he walked past the board, he wasn't able to process fully the meaning behind the words painted on it. But all of these little aspects that he's seen across the island so far has built a vibe of a controlled, heavily watched tribe. It had every aspect of a dictatorship that you'd expect. But the 'unvikings' part was particularly dark, especially if it ever came to the point where the other tribes would realize just how easily it'd be for Yurlin and his council to accuse ANYONE of being an unviking, thus leading to a fatal consequence.
More striking than anything though was just the fact that, in Kurt's eyes, the vikings across the village seemed...relatively normal, like they weren't under a dictatorship. He noticed a few of the vikings walking together and smiling as they spoke with their fishing rods and baskets of fish, the viking kids just now who were marching in formation didn't seem distressed at all. In a way, Kurt felt sorry for these vikings given how happy they seemed to be despite living under Alfa Yurlin, who was now taking overseas aggression to a whole new level.
Finally, they entered inside the hall of Ancient Island, with the outside world being totally closed off in terms of the sound and the overall atmosphere. Hundreds of viking boots could be heard initially colliding against the grassy paths as the vikings of Ancient Island roamed their way around for their daily chores, but the second Kurt the Kourageous entered inside the building, all of that was gone. It was pure silence.
"Just through this way, Chieftan," said one of the escort vikings, taking Kurt to a big wooden door further inside, "our leader will be inside here waiting."
Kurt gulped as his throat felt like it was packing in with complete dryness. All he had to do was go inside there, persuade Yurlin of his convictions to his tribe, and hope he'd be able to get him to back off from a potential annexation. He was led to the front of the big wooden door, and the escort vikings gently pushed it open.
"He's in a very good mood today, and he's a very charming man. He'll be happy to chat with you, Chieftan."
Kurt the Kourageous wasn't so confident and optimistic, upon hearing the words of the escort viking. He was hoping it'd be true, but it was Yurlin he was about to deal with, so he wasn't so optimistic.
The door slid open, and stood inside were heaps of Ancient guards around all corners of the hall, and the three men themselves who were more or less the 'big three' - Herrick Herald on the left, Krimm Hiss on the right, and the leader himself, Alfa Yurlin.
Kurt was led into the hall as he initially avoided making eye contact with Yurlin. The atmosphere in the room was that of a graveyard, and it didn't help that Yurlin had his top two vikings besides him.
"Chieftan," Yurlin greeted, holding his hand out to Kurt as the Northern Market Chieftan nervously looked at Yurlin.
He slowly shook the hand, the palm having a gentle grip on his own. Krimm Hiss and Herrick Herald were just stood in the background at this point, looking on. The escort vikings slowly walked back towards the big wooden door leading into this part of the hall.
"Please, have yourself a seat," offered Yurlin, "we must address this question once and for all."
Kurt still didn't utter a word in reply to Yurlin. He simply took his chair and sat down. Both Yurlin and Kurt were at the top end of the long wooden table in the hall. Krimm Hiss, the tribe's propaganda distributor, was stood just a few meters behind Yurlin, whilst Herrick Herald, basically the deputy below Yurlin directly, was stood a few meters to the right of Yurlin.
They hadn't been positioned there by accident. Yurlin had asked his top two vikings to stand with him as he sat down to try and 'intimidate' Kurt. And it seemed to be working so far anyways, because Kurt didn't pull up the gall to utter a single response. He figured he ought to try and start the discussion off in a way to break the ice.
"The seas were calm on the way here-"
"We're not here to discuss the pattern of the ocean, Chieftan!" uttered Yurlin, bluntly shooting down his attempt at breaking the ice.
Like a prey, Kurt instantly cowered and shut up. He felt himself slowly lean downwards into his chair, very very subtly.
"I appreciate you coming here on our request, because we must address the elephant in the room. This has been an ongoing situation for the past few days and we cannot tolerate it any longer!" said Yurlin, who laid his fists on the wooden table at this point.
"I too wanted to come and meet you, Chieftan Yurlin, because I understand that we have to resolve this," said Kurt, "and I know ultimately we can work towards a direction that'll suit both of our needs."
"This is not the case, quite simply!" lambasted Yurlin, "you had your tribe persecute supporters of our own tribe because we tried to stop you from becoming festered with the likes of the unvikings. Let's face it, Chieftan, your island is nothing more than a high act of treason!"
Kurt was simply flustered. His eyes scattered across the hall and his mouth became dehydrated. Yurlin wasn't letting up on him, and his aggressive, semi-yelling tone from his voice, which was massively controlling and hard to avoid, didn't help.
"Your silence is telling, Chieftan. Do you really think I am one of these vikings who're afraid, who're hesitant, worried about consequences? nothing will stop me from achieving what I feel is the best not just for our tribe, but for the whole archipelago, and ultimately the whole world. Do you think by persecuting those supports of ours in your tribe, that you are going to build a good rapport with me?"
"No no, Chieftan Yurlin, just hear me out. We had an assassination. We acted accordingly, because we felt like we were being-"
"An ASSASINATION?!" yelled Yurlin, slamming his fists against the wooden table, "do you think I am a FOOL?!"
"..." was the silence Kurt could only do.
"...do you honestly think I am a FOOL?! you call it an assassination...I call it doing whatever we can to protect our archipelago from the unvikings. Before we intervened, your tribe was a mess, you had riots, you had disorder, and there was a clear will among your people to align with us, to become one half of our tribe. You know why? because they know by doing so, they'll be safe and protected from the likes of the still alive Drago Bludvist and his unviking irk."
Kurt couldn't even question Yurlin at this point. Quite simply, he was afraid. His heart was pounding a million beats practically.
"But there must be better ways of resolving this, Chieftan?" said Kurt, his voice stuttering as his forehead became a pit of sweat, "we can work together...you and I both hate Drago, we know what he did to the Hooligans, we know he was responsible for the killing of Stoick the Vast."
Alfa Yurlin nodded, the Ancient leader/Chieftan impressed with his knowledge of that.
"That is the first smart thing you've said since coming here, I must admit. And there is a way to resolve this. I took the time to put together a list of requirements that I seek from your tribe, if we are to resolve this particular matter."
Yurlin reached under the table and pulled out what looked like a long treaty on a rusty, dark brown page. Kurt gently took it and put it flat on the table to read. The demands Yurlin had personally written on it were much more blunt and open than Kurt was expecting, and they didn't do anything to ease his nerves about Yurlin potentially annexing the island altogether.
DEMANDS FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE NORTHERN MARKET ISLAND
1. All persecuted Ancients to be released, freed, and acknowledged as having a legitimate place on the island.
2. The appointment of those same supporters into high positions in your council. We will not tolerate our supporters being supressed of their will, and their will is to have Ancient supporters in high positions of your council.
3. Enact policies to combat the rise and the breeding of the unvikings. Seek them out, hut to hut, and enforce the very same document we have implemented in our own tribe, to prevent the marriage of any unvikings. In the event any are found, they are to be forced to split and punished. There can be no holding back even with unviking children in these circumstances.
4. The recognition of Alfa Yurlin as the sole protector of the Northern Markets, above the Chieftan's own position. The unvikings will otherwise take advantage. Swear an oath to the Chieftan of the Ancients and promise to uphold all the policies towards families, expectation of certain groups, all on your island just as we have done with ours.
5. The appointment of a deputy Chieftan viking who shares our ideological goals. It is vital that the Ancient Tribe is given a fair representation in your tribe, not only for your own protection from the unvikings, but also for the well being of your vikings. They want us to be represented.
After Kurt finished reading the treaty, his palms were visibly shaking as the anxiety creeped up. All of these demands were much more open and totalitarian than he was expecting, and all he could do was look at the glare of Alfa Yurlin as the Ancient Chieftan cleared his throat.
"I...I can't possibly sign off on this?" gulped Kurt the Kourageous, feeling his tribe's sovereignty slip from his hands.
"You have no choice. Who do you think will stop me from achieving my crusade which will ultimately free this world of Drago and his irk?"
Alfa Yurlin was keen to stress that he wasn't hesitant to initiate an invasion if needed. He genuinely wasn't afraid at all. His gamble in marching onto Old Berk had given him the bold confidence that he could get away with it all. So much so, that he was about to list all the tribes to Kurt and why they wouldn't come to his rescue.
"The Berserkers? they weren't up to the job when they had the chance to work with us. The Outcasts? they're the wagging tail on the dog of the Berserkers, they're puppets who don't have an ounce of fight in them. The Wingmaidens? they don't even exist in my eyes as a legitimate tribe! the Hooligans? Hiccup Haddock will sign an alliance treaty with me so we both deal the final blow to Drago Bludvist. He'd be stupid to try stopping a willing ally in myself in initiating that objective. The other tribes that may exist are irrelevant, to the point nobody even knows they're alive! You are completely isolated, nobody will come to your rescue."
Kurt gulped further.
"And in fact, I say that nobody will come to your rescue, but we will be the ones who do so. We will make your island a safe haven for all vikings who wish to live in the world of seven generations ago. This is not a takeover, but a restoration to sovereignty. There can be no discussion on this matter, Chieftan. You either sign it as it is or else."