Life with the Night Furies Chapter 11
"No-o-o!" Rangi screamed. He tried to pull the spear out of Chief Night Fury's chest, but he wasn't strong enough – the spear was embedded too deeply. He turned toward his tent. "Full-of-surprises! Agnarr! Get over here, fast!"
The other two Night Furies were already in motion. As they landed next to Hiccup, they could see that the wound was a bad one. They also saw the other Viking chiefs brandishing their swords, axes, and warhammers, ready to follow up on Snorre's attack. If the younger Night Furies stayed here, they might be the next to die. If they didn't stay, Chief Night Fury would die. He was desperately gasping for breath, and his forelegs were beginning to fold beneath him.
"I'm going to use my Power!" Full-of-surprises said desperately. "Keep those Vikings off of me!"
"You've got it," Smith-flies-for-fun growled. He turned to face the Vikings and gave them his best snarl. He wasn't used to sounding threatening, but the Vikings slowed their advance toward the dragons. Norbert took another step; Agnarr blew out a small firebolt that hit the ground just in front of the Viking chief, who quickly backed off. The others kept coming. He'd taken some basic lessons in multi-shooting from Six, and now was the time to use those lessons! He fired three fast shots into the ground in a fan-shaped pattern in front of them. Those shots were small, but they were enough. The chiefs stopped advancing and held their places, afraid to charge and unwilling to back away.
Then Full-of-surprises breathed out her firebolt and turned it into the swirling Vortex, and all the Vikings backed away several steps. "It's seidr!" "They're using magic!" "Black magic from a black dragon!" Many of them fingered the good-luck charms that they wore around their necks. Any thought of another attack on the Night Furies was forgotten... for now.
The Vortex was in place; now Hiccup had to touch it. But he was already unconscious, lying with his back to it. Agnarr shoved against his Alpha with all his strength, but Hiccup was an adult-sized Night Fury, and even the strength of Agnarr wasn't enough to move him more than half an inch at a time. Full-of-surprises couldn't help him because maintaining the Vortex took all her concentration. Rangi joined in trying to push Chief Night Fury into the Vortex, but it was taking too long, and Hiccup had only seconds left to live.
"Does he have to touch that swirly thing to get better?" someone asked from behind him. It was Camicazi.
"Yes, I think so," Rangi grunted as he shoved at the inert Night Fury as hard as he could. It was futile.
"As always, a girl has to come to the rescue," Cami sighed. She picked up the end of the stricken Night Fury's tail with both hands, laboriously dragged it around toward the Vortex, and flung it with all her strength.
The discharge of the Vortex sent her flying and knocked her half-senseless. The dragons were partially blinded by the flash, and the Vikings covered their ears against the roar of sound. When they all could see and hear again, they saw Chief Night Fury struggling to his feet, still woozy from the effects of Full-of-surprises' Power... and with a growing rage in his eyes that none of them had ever seen before. The spear lay on the ground next to him, still stained with dragon's blood. He picked it up with his mouth, bit down, and splintered the stout handle. He spat the pieces back toward the Vikings. One piece bounced off Pugpoodle's shield; he flinched.
"Hiccup," Cami grunted as she picked herself up off the ground, "on account of all the times you ever saved my bacon... we're even."
"That thing is... still alive?" Snorre couldn't believe it.
Grunt, snarl, snap. "They call me Mister Thing!" Rangi interpreted, and quietly added, "Chief, this kind of stuff isn't what I signed up for!" He was badly shaken by what had just happened. "Are you sure you still need me to be your translator? Doesn't our tribe need more bread-making Vikings?"
"Translate this," he ordered, with no attempt to moderate the anger in his voice. Rangi had never seen his chief like this; he edged away from the dragon. "Ask Law-speaker what is penalty for breaking law of peace." The young man hesitantly translated.
"There is no peace!" Pugpoodle retorted. "We're at war now! Can't you remember that far back?"
"Technically, the chief of Berk is correct," Warhamster argued. "The Thing is still in session, so the law of peace is still in effect here. Snorre broke that law by trying to kill another chief. The usual penalty is for the intended victim to repay his attacker with an identical attack."
Snarl, croon, grunt. Rangi could see the dragon fighting to master his rage. "Chief Night Fury says he can't do that because he can't throw a spear. What are his other options?"
The Law-speaker pondered. "Well, I suppose you could challenge him to a duel, because you've definitely been offended. But you already said you can't do that because you don't fit into the hólmgang ring and you can't use the necessary weapons. I don't know what else to tell you."
"Sir, does it have to be a hólmgang duel?" Rangi asked on his own initiative. "Can't it be an einvigi duel instead?" Chief Night Fury's ear flaps pricked straight up.
Warhamster hesitated. "The law does not specify what kind of duel is allowed. Einvigi was never formally banned, but it hasn't been practiced in the Archipelago for at least three generations. Are you sure you want to do this?"
The difference between the two kinds of duels was stark. Hólmgang was ritualized and governed by a strict set of rules, and the duel ended at first blood. Einvigi was a no-holds-barred brawl that ended when one combatant was dead or unable to continue fighting. Snorre was edging closer to Pugpoodle for support; he had fought a dozen or more hólmgang duels and never lost, but unrestricted hand-to-hand combat against a Night Fury... that was a very different story.
Chief Night Fury glared at his foe through narrowed eyes. He spoke to Warhamster, and Rangi interpreted, "Even though the other chiefs have brought war upon us, and even though they have broken the law of peace by attacking me, I'm still willing to take a peaceful way out of this. If Chief Snorre will pay me a fair weregild for his own life, then I'll consider this matter closed and we'll resume talking about the war that you just declared on me." His choice of words was deliberate, and chilling; a weregild was the price paid by a killer to a member of his victim's family to compensate him for the loss of a dead relative. He was saying that Snorre the Vast was a dead man.
"Snorre stands with us," Pugpoodle announced. He, Ug, Arngrim Dammen, Kurlee, Lunklunk, and Alvin all stepped closer and formed a united front against the dragon. "Do you think you can fight all of us?"
Smith-flies-for-fun and Full-of-surprises stepped up on either side of Chief Night Fury, looking just as angry as he did. He growled. "The chief says it might be fun to try," Rangi said.
"Ruff! Ruff!" Kurlee exclaimed, imitating an angry dog. It looked like he was putting up a brave front that wasn't fooling anyone.
"We're just bluffing, right?" Smith-flies-for-fun asked nervously.
"Dad hates violence if he can avoid it," Full-of-surprises answered, "but I've never seen him this angry. We could have a miniature war right here. Get your fires ready."
"Vikings... dragons... please!" Warhamster exclaimed, stepping between the two hostile groups with his hands upraised. "This is a Thing, not a drunken Mead Hall brawl! The law of peace is still in effect!"
"Sir, the law of peace has been broken by that man," Rangi called, pointing at Snorre. "Until he has been dealt with, there can be no peace."
"Over my dead body!" Ug shouted back.
The Night Furies began building up firebolts. "You're about to get your wish, sir," Rangi said as he stepped back behind the dragons. "Law-speaker, my chief says you should get out of the way."
Warhamster folded his arms and didn't move. But Kurlee did move, straight away from the combatants to a place that he hoped was neutral territory. "Never mind!" he shouted. "I'll take Berk's side! I don't want a piece of that Night Fury action!"
Hiccup growled and snarled for several seconds. "Chief Kurlee, my chief says you're a turncoat who can't be trusted; you're double-minded and unstable in all your ways. You betrayed the Berserkers for a bribe, then you betrayed Berk for a bigger bribe, and now you're betraying the Berserkers again out of craven fear. You'll probably go back to them as soon as Pugpoodle can get his hands on you. We're better off without that kind of an ally."
"Can I stay neutral?" he whimpered.
"I think the Berserkers won't allow that," Rangi's translation went on. "You've angered them even more than you've angered us. No one trusts you anymore. Go hide in your tent, and wait to see which side deals with you first."
Kurlee glanced fearfully at Pugpoodle, and saw that the dragon and his translator were right. No one trusted him anymore, and no one wanted his tribe's help. There were no safe places for him now. He ran for his tent and his weapons; maybe the other Vikings would be kept busy dealing with Berk and wouldn't come after him right away.
Back at the meeting site, the tense stand-off continued. The chiefs would not hand over Snorre, and the dragons would not back down from their demand for him. Warhamster was caught in the middle, both legally and literally. The Vikings' blood was up, and he had no assurance that they would obey his orders if he didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. The chief of Berk had a right to avenge himself on the chief of the Thunderheads. But if the Law-speaker tried to assert his authority and order the other chiefs around, and they refused to obey, it would mark the end of his authority over anyone. All he could do was stand in the middle, blocking the two groups' lines of fire to each other, and hope that somebody backed down.
Chief Night Fury gave some terse instructions in dragon language to his daughter and son-in-law, then some quick instructions in Forge to Rangi. Smith-flies-for-fun suddenly understood. "Oh, I get it! Just like Bang and Six did on our expedition to the east!" he exclaimed. Then he and his partner fired. Their firebolts passed close on either side of the Law-speaker – he felt the heat as they whipped past him – and then hit the ground. Their explosions threw clouds of dirt and dust into the eyes of the Viking chiefs. They rubbed their eyes frantically, trying to regain their eyesight before the dragons attacked. When they could see again, Berk's delegation was gone.
"Where'd they go?" Alvin asked, mystified. The militant chiefs looked all around, but saw no signs of dragons or Berk Vikings, just the empty tent where the boy had slept.
The chiefs who had stayed neutral hadn't lost their eyesight; they weren't in the line of fire, and they'd clearly seen the Night Furies bound into the air and fly nearly straight up until they disappeared into the low-hanging clouds. But they were just as mystified at this new development. "Do you have any idea where they went, or what they're up to?" Bertha asked.
"If I know Hiccup, you'll probably find out soon," Cami reassured her. "He's not the retreating kind."
A few seconds later, they heard the rising scream of a diving Night Fury. They desperately looked up, hoping to see it before it got too close. "There!" Arngrim Dammen shouted as he pointed. They raised their shields as they saw one dragon swooping down on them from the right...
...and they were totally blindsided when Full-of-surprises earned her name again by gliding in silently from the left. She siezed Snorre's armored shoulders with her hind claws and carried him off. He had a hammer in one hand, but he had no leverage to swing it, and after she violently shook him a few times, he stopped trying.
She joined Chief Night Fury and Smith-flies-for-fun above the clouds. The chief's dive had been nothing but a diversion. Rangi was securely riding on Smith-flies-for-fun's back. He grinned at the huge Viking who was dangling helplessly beneath Full-of-surprises. "Welcome to the friendly skies," he called. "You wouldn't fight us on your own kind of battlefield; maybe you'll like Night Fury country better."
"What are you going to do to me? Drop me in the sea?" he grimaced. Those Night Fury claws had to hurt, even through his metal shoulder armor.
Hiccup snapped and snarled. Rangi explained, "No. We aren't mindless killers like you, and we don't want to become like you. You should have paid us the weregild; that way, you'd still be the chief of your tribe. But not anymore. We're taking you into exile instead."
"Any place you can take me is a place where my tribe can find me and rescue me," he blustered.
"Not this place," Rangi countered him. "You're going to Dragon Island, and you'll be watched at least a hundred guards who can fly, breathe fire, and see in the dark. You won't get far if you try to escape, and your people won't get close if they try to rescue you. Your chiefing days are done... sir."
"So you're stranding me all alone, the only Viking on the island?"
"No," and now Rangi really smiled for the first time in days. "You'll be sharing the place with another ex-chief, Dagur the Deranged of the Berserker tribe. You two ought to get along just fine."
"Dagur?" Snorre asked, shocked. "That nutcase? He's still alive? We'll probably kill each other within a week!"
"We should be so lucky," Hiccup muttered.
"You two ex-chiefs will probably fight the duel that you weren't willing to fight with Chief Night Fury," Rangi added. "The dragons will tell us how it ends. They love a good battle scene. Don't disappoint them."
They flew in silence for a few seconds. "Are you okay?" Smith-flies-for-fun asked Hiccup.
"I'm still a little dizzy from my daughter's Vortex, but seeing how I almost died, that's not bad. Thank you for helping save my life."
"Umm... you're welcome," Agnarr said with a touch of embarrassment. He didn't feel like he'd done very much.
"Is exiling the Thunderhead chief going to solve all our problems?" Rangi asked his chief.
"Not even close. There still six, seven tribes who want war with us. We need plan to fight, to win, then we need plan to fight again when they repair damage. Do not know how to make war end."
"Is it that bad?" Full-of-surprises asked him.
"Very bad," he answered. "Once again, we're stuck in the middle of a war of annihilation that we tried to avoid. We might win, or we might lose; I can't say because I have no idea how to fight this war. Even if we win, it's probably going to be very costly." He turned to face her. "If you've got any plans that you've been holding back from me, this would be a really good time for you to tell me about them. Oh, by the way, thank you for saving my life."
"Dad... you gave me life," she said, slightly embarrassed.
"Then I guess we're even," he said nonchalantly. But he flew a lot closer to his daughter than he usually did.