Life with the Night Furies Chapter 9

The three Night Furies took turns staying on the ground that night, because Rangi was nervous about being left alone among so many less-than-friendly strangers. First, Smith-flies-for-fun stayed behind while Chief Night Fury and Full-of-surprises spent some father-daughter time in the air. Then the chief guarded their human and his tent while the two dragon lovers cavorted in the sky for a while. Then Full-of-surprises took her turn on the ground while the other two did some male bonding. It was after 1:00 in the morning when they all settled to the ground, arranged themselves in a nose-to-tail circle around Rangi's tent, and fell asleep.

The next morning, the three black dragons awoke, stretched, and yawned lazily, one after the other. They took turns flying out to sea in search of their daily meal. The chief went first, and he brought back a nice cod for Rangi when he was done. Bertha was watching all this with guarded curiosity, while Camicazi was dying to run over and ask Chief Night Fury and Rangi a hundred and one questions about these remarkable lizards that flew, wrote on the ground, and apparently spoke some kind of language that humans could learn to understand. But she was under firm orders to follow her mother's lead, and her mother was content to watch the dragons from a distance, so Cami reluctantly did likewise.

The first formal session of the Thing was scheduled for right after breakfast. The various chiefs began wandering toward the meeting area by ones and twos. By the time Warhamster the Wise finally arrived, everyone else was ready and impatient to get on with it.

"Good morning, chiefs," the Law-Speaker began. "As of now, the business of the Thing is officially in session. As always, we will conduct our business in the order in which the issues were brought to my attention, and continue until all issues have been addressed. I believe the first –"

"Point of order, Law-Speaker," the Visithug chief interrupted, waving his hand in the air.

"Yes, Nastinardle?" Warhamster was used to such interruptions. After all, these were Vikings.

"I'm still not satisfied about who the chief of the Hairy Hooligans is. If the lizard isn't really the chief, then he can't vote on the questions that come up, can he?"

"Technically, no, that would be against the law," Warhamster nodded. "But, as I said last night, it isn't my job to pass judgement on who's the chief and who is not. If you want me to verify the identity of this Chief Night Fury, it would take weeks, and then only after a majority of you voted for me to do it. Are you requesting a vote to verify the Berk chief's identity?"

"No, Law-Speaker. That won't be necessary; I have something much quicker in mind. I was talking with Snorre and Kurlee last night, and they reminded me of something. Every tribe picks their own chief by their own rules, but some of those rules are fixed in the law. Please remind us all of the law of chiefs."

"The law of chiefs," Warhamster began, and switched to his formal voice. The ability to memorize and recite all aspects of Viking law was the main requirement for becoming a Law-Speaker. "A chief must be a member of the tribe he seeks to lead; he must be male; and he must have won at least one battle. Each tribe may add their own requirements to this minimum list. This is the law."

"Thank you, Law-Speaker." Nastinardle pointed at Chief Night Fury. "Has anyone else besides me realized that a dragon can't be a member of a Viking tribe, so it can't become a chief? According to the law, that black thing is disqualified!"

A low buzz spread around the fire pit as the other chiefs considered that. Heads were nodding. Hiccup gestured with his head at Rangi. "Say something."

"What should I say?" he quavered.

"The truth."

Rangi tried to get the Law-Speaker's attention, but the old man wasn't paying attention to him. Hiccup had to let out a quick roar to get all eyes on him, which gave Rangi his chance to speak. "I keep telling you guys, he's Hiccup, the son of Stoick! He's been a member of the tribe all of his life. They never would have made him the chief if he wasn't qualified. I remember some of the men arguing about this on the night he became the chief. The second-in-command and our Gothi both said he's qualified."

Arngrim Dammen, the red-haired chief, stood. "I still don't like being lied to, boy. Most of us have met the son of Stoick the Vast, and we remember what he looked like –"

"No matter how much we'd like to forget!" Mogadon interrupted, to much laughter.

Arngrim went on, "We can all see that this dragon is no human. There's nothing about him that even looks like Hiccup, the son of Stoick. I suggest that you quit telling us lies, before one of us has to teach you a lesson you'll never forget."

"It's not a lie!" Rangi protested. "He was born a human, but the dragons turned him into a Night Fury with some kind of magic! They did the same thing to my big sister!"

That didn't get as big a laugh as Mogadon's comment. The Vikings firmly believed in magic, or seidr as they called it, and Rangi's comment wasn't considered preposterous. But it certainly didn't settle the matter, either.

"We need proof!" Snorre shouted. "I don't want some fake chief affecting our decisions by voting when it isn't allowed to vote!"

Rangi tried to think of something to say, but his mind went blank.

WHAT WOULD YOU ACCEPT AS PROOF?

Chief Night Fury's writing in the dirt made some of the other chiefs question what they'd considered obvious a moment before. But they weren't ready to concede that this intelligent, scary-looking lizard might actually be the intelligent, dorky-looking son of Berk's former chief. They held their peace. His question hung unanswered. Finally, Warhamster spoke.

"The legal way to establish someone's identity is through witnesses. When someone who knows the person in question can say, 'That's him' or 'That's not him,' that testimony is valid. If we can find someone who knew Hiccup son of Stoick before this alleged magic happened, and that person can identify him now, that would be legal proof. Unfortunately, none of us knew Hiccup at all well. Does anyone want to vote on whether I should go to Berk and find a witness there?"

Nastinardle rumbled, "I vote that you don't go back to Berk, and that we disallow this so-called chief because his claim is legally unproveable! Even if someone did know him when he was human, how could they possibly prove that this dragon is really him?"

"That's a valid question," the Law-speaker nodded slowly, stroking his beard. "Chief Night Fury, do you have any counter-proposals?"

Hiccup was thinking hard when a high, clear voice from the back of the group shouted, "I knew Hiccup pretty well when he was human! One way or the other, I can settle this."

"Who are you?" Nastinardle demanded.

"Who am I? I'm Camicazi, firstborn daughter and heir of Bertha, chief of the Bog-Burglars. Duh!" she said proudly as she strutted to the front of the group. Teen-aged girls were a common sight at a Thing, but they were usually there to impress the chiefs so they could find husbands from among the chiefs' sons. This girl had a very independent air about her, and judging by her practical clothing and tangled hair, she wasn't here to impress anybody. Bertha edged closer to the scene of the confrontation with her hand on her sword, just in case one of those roughnecks tried to do something unsavory to her daughter.

"How do you plan to prove if this is Hiccup or not?" the Law-speaker asked.

"Hiccup and I went on some crazy adventures together when we were younger," she explained. "I'll ask him questions that only me and Hiccup could know the answers to. If he gives the right answers, then it's him."

"Do you think it's really him?" Bertha wondered.

"I don't know," she admitted, "He doesn't look like Hiccup, and from what I've seen, he doesn't act like Hiccup. But I've seen some really weird things in my short life. A dragon who knows how to read and write... I've never seen that. It could be him."

"Hold it!" Pugpoodle shouted. "Law-speaker, are we men expected to accept the testimony of a woman?"

Warhamster liked it when the chiefs stuck to legal questions. "According to Viking law, if a man's testimony contradicts a woman's testimony, then the man's word prevails. If there is no man to testify, then a woman's word is legally valid."

Snorre smacked a hammy fist into his palm. "I'll contradict this girl-midget right now!"

"How well did you know Hiccup?" Cami challenged him. "Did you ever save his life? Did he ever save yours? Did you ever help save his father from becoming a human sacrifice, and my mother as well? Did you ever even talk to him?"

"I, umm, I met him once," the Thunderhead chief admitted.

"Then your word is not valid, Snorre," the Law-speaker said flatly. "Please proceed, young lady."

Camicazi turned to the dragon. "First question. What's your mother's name?"

VALHALLARAMA, BUT HER
FRIENDS CALL HER VALKA

"That's the right answer," she said, trying to sound matter-of-fact and conceal her astonishment.

"Madguts says, 'That proves nothing,' " Gumboil called. "Anyone who knew Stoick would know his wife's name."

"All righty, then," Cami said brightly. "If you're really Hiccup, then tell me this: when we first met, where were we?"

PRISONERS IN A ROMAN FORTRESS

"Right again!" she exclaimed. "How did you know that? Is that... really you in there, Hiccup?" He crooned and nodded 'yes.'

"It still proves nothing!" Snorre shouted. "The dragon could write anything at all, she could agree with whatever it said, and none of us would know if she was telling the truth or lying!"

"My daughter does not lie!" Bertha shouted. "She's a chief's daughter and she understands Viking honor as well as any of you!" She wasn't sure how her daughter's involvement in this dragon affair was going to play out, but she was sure that Cami wasn't going to suffer any insults from some man!

"We have to settle this firmly and legally," Nastinardle called. "And I can't think of any way to prove that the dragon is telling the truth."

"Can I suggest something?" Rangi called, now that he was starting to think again. "Camicazi can whisper the answer to her next question in the Law-speaker's ear before she asks it. Then he can say whether Chief Night Fury really gave the right answer or not."

"That is a very sensible suggestion, young man," Warhamster nodded, grateful that he wasn't the only voice of sanity among these half-wild Viking chiefs. "Does anyone have any objection to doing that?" Some of them muttered, but no one objected.

He had to bend far down so Cami could whisper in his ear; she was no longer a child, but she was still quite small. She had to whisper it twice, just to be sure he got it. "Now ask your question," he said.

"Dragon-that-might-be-Hiccup, when we went to the Library, what kinds of dragons almost killed us?"

DRILLER DRAGONS AND
POISONOUS PIFFLEWORMS

"That's the right answer!" Cami almost crowed. "Only me, Hiccup, and Fishlegs could know that, and you aren't claiming to be Fishlegs." Then she looked very serious. "Hiccup... what happened to you? You used to be a boy. Now you're a dragon. How can this be? Is this what happens when Berk boys hit puberty?"

The Hiccup-dragon chuckled and wrote,

IT WAS DRAGON MAGIC.
I DIDN'T CHOOSE IT, BUT
I LOVE WHAT I AM NOW

Camicazi looked him over from head to tail. "Well, you're a lot cooler-looking now, I'll give you that. And I guess I can't give you a hard time about being a boy anymore." Then she glanced at Warhamster. "Law-speaker, did he give the right answer? Tell them!"

"The dragon gave the correct answer," Warhamster said gravely.

"He could have made a lucky guess!" Nastinardle objected.

"Given how many different kinds of dragons there are, that is extremely unlikely," Bertha rebutted him.

"You would take your daughter's side," Arngrim muttered.

Cami looked irritated. "Then I'll ask him one more question, and Chief Norbert the Nutjob can tell you if it's the right or wrong answer," she said, gaining some confidence. "Hiccup, what unusual object did you and I burgle from the Hysterics' Great Hall together?"

"Don't you dare mention that!" Norbert bellowed, rising to his feet.

THE POTATO

"I said, don't you dare mention that!" the Nutjob repeated.

"You had a... a Vegetable-That-No-One-Dares-Name, Norbert?" Mogadon rumbled. "And you never told the rest of us that you had one of those 'imaginary' vegetables? I think that's very interesting." He picked some leftover food from between his teeth with a belt knife. "How many other secrets are you keeping from us?"

"This isn't about me, this is about the dragon," Norbert said defensively.

"Madguts wants to know how you got it," Gumboil demanded maliciously.

"Well... we just found it," Norbert stammered. "In the sea! Yeah, that's right. We found it floating in the sea, so we hauled it aboard and took it home. Without naming it!"

Warhamster raised his hands for silence. "It would appear that Chief Norbert has confirmed Chief Night Fury's answer."

"That proves that he's the one who went on those adventures with me," Cami thought out loud, counting on her fingers as she made each point. "That proves that he was human once. And those two things prove that he's really Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the son of Stoick. Which means he was a member of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. And that means..."

"...that he is qualified to be a Viking chief," Bertha finished. "I think." She took a few steps toward the dragon, but stopped at a respectful distance. "Hiccup... I mean, Chief Night Fury, forgive me for asking you one more question," she quavered, "but this situation is so strange, and I have to be sure. Did Chief Madguts ever threaten me with a sword?"

YES, HIS NUMBER SIX SWORD.
BUT HE GAVE IT TO YOU
INSTEAD OF USING IT ON YOU

"...because you convinced him that I was returning his Mood Dragon instead of stealing it," she finished. "Right?"

NO, IT WAS HIS STEALTH DRAGON

"That's... that's right," she concluded, stunned. "You remember every detail of that episode! Only someone who was there could possibly know all that." She turned to the Law-speaker. "The chief of the Bog-Burglars identifies this dragon as Hiccup, son of Stoick, formerly human, and the rightful chief of Berk. I don't know how he turned into a dragon, but it has to be true."

"Bertha, you've lost your mind!" Chief Kurlee shouted.

"I'll remember that the next time you want a peace treaty from me," she smirked. Kurlee cringed.

"You're the only one who believes it," Nastinardle warned her.

"Not true. Chief Night Fury believes it, too," she retorted. "That makes two chiefs who believe it, plus one chief's heir and one chief's interpreter."

"You're outnumbered, ten chiefs to two," Mogadon threatened her.

The dragon growled and grunted. Rangi translated, "So we're outnumbered ten to two; so what? A minute ago, it was eleven to one. I think more of you will change your minds before the Thing is done."

Pugpoodle waved his arms to get the Law-speaker's attention. "Law-speaker, are we almost done arguing about this? Don't we have more important things to talk about today?"

Warhamster considered the matter. "The evidence is not conclusive... but it is convincing. Two adult witnesses have identified this dragon as Hiccup, son of Stoick, formerly human. Until someone can prove otherwise, my ruling is that this dragon is qualified to be the chief of the Vikings of Berk. It... I mean he is entitled to vote on any matter that comes up during the Thing. Speaking of which, I believe that Chief Pugpoodle of the Berserker tribe has an important matter that he wants to bring to a vote."

Chief Night Fury spoke a few syllables in Forge to Rangi. "Here it comes. I hope our plans worked."