Life with the Night Furies Chapter 12
"So... what do we do now?" Full-of-surprises asked her father. The majority of the local Viking tribes had just declared war on Berk, with the avowed goal of removing all dragons from the island and from the tribe's influence. That meant, for all intents and purposes, death for her and everyone who looked like her. She, her father, Night-fury-smith-flies-for-fun, and Rangi had just delivered Snorre the Vast, ex-chief of the Thunderhead tribe, into exile as punishment for trying to kill Chief Night Fury; now they were headed back to Berk.
"The first thing we need to do," Chief Night Fury thought out loud, "is to keep all those hostile chiefs on the Visithug island, and not let them return to their own tribes. Whatever we wind up doing, we'll have an easier time of it if the other tribes don't have their fearless leaders. Maybe we can even keep them from knowing they're at war... until we strike the first blow."
"That sounds like a good first step," Smith-flies-for-fun nodded. "But how are we going to separate the hostile chiefs from the friendly chiefs, so the one group is stuck here and the other group can leave?"
"We aren't," Hiccup answered. "The so-called friendly tribes have to obey majority rule while the Thing is in session, and the majority just voted to attack us. Even if they secretly remain neutral, those friendly tribes will probably give the hostile chiefs a ride home in their ships, or the hostile chiefs may just take the friendly tribes' ships for themselves. I hate to tick off Bertha when she's almost an ally, but we can't afford to play nice now. We'll make it up to her later, somehow."
"So we're going to sink all the chiefs' ships?" Full-of-surprises speculated.
"For starters," Hiccup nodded. "But our main goal at this point is to sink every ship in the hostile tribes' fleets. That's how we'll keep them from attacking us. The chiefs' ships are all in the Visithugs' harbor, so we'll just wipe out everything in the harbor, the way we did with the Lava-louts."
"Except we'll need a lot more Terrible Terrors for a fleet that big," Smith-flies-for-fun added.
"We're not using the Terrors this time," the chief said flatly. "The tribes have declared open war on us, so there's no point in trying to hide our actions anymore. They want to fight Berk and our dragons; let's give them what they want!"
"My big sister is going to love that!" Full-of-surprises grinned.
When they got back to Berk, Hiccup noticed something odd when he landed. It took him a moment to realize – he had four good legs again! His daughter's Power had restored him to perfect health, not just from the spear wound, but from that old injury from fighting the Mother as well.
"I wasn't even thinking about that, Dad," Full-of-surprises said when he thanked her. "I just wanted you to be alive and well. But you're welcome."
The other Night Furies, and Astrid in particular, wanted to know why they'd left the Thing so early. She was stunned to hear the report of the Vikings' declaration of war – she had been certain that Hiccup's plan would work – and she was utterly horrified when Hiccup told her what Chief Snorre had done to him. She insisted on checking him for signs of injury, and was only slightly relieved to find that there wasn't a mark on him.
"You used your Power well," she said to Full-of-surprises. "I'm always nervous about another misfire, like what happened to your sister and Night-fury-faithful-brother."
"I was motivated to be extra-careful," Full-of-surprises replied. "I mean... this is Dad I was dealing with!"
"Thank you for bringing him back to me," her mother said with feeling, and they rubbed noses. Then she turned to her mate and gave him a shove with her forefoot. "That's for scaring me!"
He smiled. "I'm glad some things never change."
She smiled back. "So... you're still alive, thanks to our daughter."
"And to Smith-flies-for-fun, and also to Camicazi," Hiccup corrected her. "We owe the Bog-Burglars a big one, both for their political support and for Cami coming through for me at the critical moment."
"I'm sure you'll think of something appropriate when the time comes," Astrid said. "In the meantime, what happens next?"
"Around sundown, you're going to fly around Berk and loudly tell all the dragons what Snorre did to me," Chief Night Fury said. "That will bring out a rage in them that no Viking berserk could match. They'll be fired up for revenge, literally, and they'll need no persuading when I say it's time to smash the ships in the Visithugs' harbor. The hard part will be to get them to sink the ships and then stop."
"It sounds like you've got it all figured out," she commented.
"Not even close," Hiccup said. "I've got no end-game. We can sink their ships so they can't attack us, but they'll just build more ships. This could become a feud that lasts for generations, until they cut all their trees down and run out of wood for shipbuilding."
"And then they'll raid us for our wood," Full-of-surprises added. "You're right, Dad; it'll never end."
"There's another issue," Bang added. "I know you don't like to hurt people if you can avoid it. But the Vikings depend on fishing for a big part of their food supply. If we sink all their ships, including the fishing boats, then a lot of humans are going to get very hungry."
"Good point," Hiccup nodded. "I'll have to give that some serious thought. It's my curse to be a dragon with a conscience! Any other Viking chief would just stomp his enemies into the ground and dance on their graves. Not me! No, I have to give a darn about my enemies, and try to find ways to keep the casualties down among people who would love to cut my head off and hang it on their wall.
"But my first priority is to protect Berk. We can figure out how to stop the war forever, as long as we're still alive. If they win, then none of our plans matter... and they have to win only once. We have to keep beating them down, over and over and over again, until I think of a way to stop the fighting for keeps."
"Don't the Vikings have stubbornness issues?" Thing One asked from the corner.
"Yes, my observant young daughter, they do. And that reminds me of another issue I'm going to have to figure out. The chiefs got extra-mad at us because we don't show our faces when we strike. They say we fight without honor, and they'll never accept any peace terms from us if that's the case. That's going to complicate things."
Six was indignant. "I'm not showing my face when I strike, no matter how the Vikings feel about it! What do they think I am? Stupid?"
"I don't really know what they think of us," the chief replied. "Of course, when I hear the word 'stupid,' I don't think of dragons, I think of..." A draconic grin crept around his face. "That's it! That's how we'll solve the show-our-faces problem."
o
Chief Night Fury divided the dragons into seven strike forces, one for each of the seven hostile tribes (minus the Lava-louts, whose fleet had already been sent to the bottom), and one for the Visithugs who were hosting the Thing. Each force was led by two Night Furies, and each force also included one dragon with a human rider. Snotlout on Hookfang, the twins on Barf and Belch, and Fishlegs on Meatlug formed his most experienced dragon/rider teams. To fill out their numbers, he added young Gustav on Fanghook, Fluffernut on Scrubby, Varinn on Nadder-blue-flies-in-the-storm, and Rangi on his own back. It wasn't important whether or not the humans were skilled warriors in the air, or whether they had any battle experience on the backs of dragons. He just wanted a human in each attack force. The humans' role was to shout insults at their victims from the air, so those victims would be certain that the attackers were from Berk. Hiccup was giving them no excuse to accuse Berk of fighting a dishonorable war; the hostile tribes would each see the face of at least one Berk warrior.
"If we're shouting at them, and they're mad at us, won't they shoot arrows at us?" a nervous Fishlegs wanted to know.
"On dark night like tonight? Let them try," his reptile chief answered. "If you not shout at same time your dragon is flaming, you be invisible in darkness. Nothing to fear."
"Okay, next question. I don't know any good insults."
"Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut help you there. For start, say, 'Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries.' That always make warriors angry."
"But... if I make them angry, then they'll throw things at me!" Fishlegs wasn't following how this plan translated into "nothing to fear."
"Fishlegs, you remember wars? How hard was it to see dragons at night?"
"Well, it was just about impossible, unless you had a torch, or... oh, I get it! This will be just like the wars, except now, the dragons are on our side!"
"Technically, now you on our side, but no problem," Chief Night Fury grinned.
The next complainer was Snotlout, and his complaint was the complete opposite of Fishlegs' issue. "Why do I have to hide in the dark? Where's the glory in shouting at the bad guys from a hundred feet up? I've got these beefy arms and extra guts for a reason! I want some glory on the side!"
Snotlout had never learned to speak Forge, so Chief Night Fury had to write on the ground for him.
VIKINGS DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU,
THEY WANT TO KILL HOOKFANG.
ARE YOU READY TO SACRIFICE HIM
SO YOU CAN GET GLORY?
"Umm... when you put it that way, maybe not. Isn't there a way for me to own those other tribes without risking my big, dumb friend?"
IF I THINK OF A WAY, I'LL LET
YOU KNOW. IN THE MEANTIME,
PLEASE PLAY IT SAFE. I DON'T
WANT TO LOSE EITHER OF YOU
"Gee, thanks, Hiccup! I didn't know you cared!" Snotlout exclaimed. As he strolled away, he muttered, "Yeah, right." Chief Night Fury's sensitive ears overheard him, but he decided to ignore it. After all, it was just a classic case of Snotlout being Snotlout. Now he had to deal with the twins.
"How come you're sending our group to sink the Bashem-Oiks?" Tuffnut complained. "They're such a small tribe!"
"Yeah!" Ruff echoed. "We want to fight a big tribe! Somebody important! Somebody famous!"
"Somebody with some decent plunder, maybe," Tuff added.
YOU ARE NOT TAKING PLUNDER THIS
TIME. MAYBE LATER. THIS TIME,
YOU AREN'T EVEN GOING TO LAND.
JUST TAUNT THEM
"We can do that," Ruff nodded. "But plunder would be a lot more fun!"
HAVE FUN LATER. TONIGHT,
JUST MAKE THEM MAD
Ruff grinned. "That's my specialty!"
"Since when?" Tuff argued. "Everyone knows I'm more irritating! See?" He made a face and burbled his tongue at her; she shoved him aside. The chief rolled his eyes.
JUST DO WHAT I TOLD YOU
This might be a very long night, and they hadn't even started fighting yet! At least he hadn't blurted out that those two were the ones who came to mind when he thought of the word "stupid."
Meanwhile, Night-fury-mother-of-twins was talking to Varinn and Rangi, her younger brothers. "We're both a little bit nervous," Varinn admitted. "We've never been in a real battle before."
"You both like dragons, you both Hoffersons," she replied. "Varinn, you fought Monstrous Strangulator; that was real battle. You do fine tonight. Besides, you not fight; dragons fight. You just shout bad things at Vikings."
"Shouting bad things always got me in trouble before," Rangi said doubtfully.
"This is not our house, this is war," Astrid explained patiently. "Rules are different, you little troll."
"Hey! I'm not a troll!" Rangi burst out, then realized that his sister was laughing at him. He grunted in exasperation. "I guess some things will never change. Can I call the Vikings trolls?"
"Go for it." That seemed to satisfy him.
Varinn stepped away and joined his wife next to the pair of blue Nadders that they would ride tonight. Scrubby wasn't a cute little baby dragon anymore; he was nearly his mother's size, and he was still growing. He stayed near Fluffernut, watching her protectively. She had told him that she would soon produce another baby human (although nothing was showing yet), and he was making extra-sure that nothing bad, and no one bad, could get near her. Her husband was one of the few people who could approach Fluff without being sniffed and glared at by a very large, suspicious dragon.
"It's almost time," he said, trying to make conversation.
"I'm kind of nervous," she answered.
"All we have to do is ride our dragons, and yell something about 'Berk was here' when we get close to somebody on the ground. Our own dragons have been ordered not to do any attacking while we're riding them; their job is to bring us there and back safely, and nothing more. We'll be fine, both of us."
"I hope so," she nodded. They shared a prolonged embrace and a quick kiss before mounting up. Their dragons walked to the center of town, where Chief Night Fury was organizing the attack.
"Okay, everyone, listen up!" he roared, bringing silence to the mob of vengeful dragons. "You all know which of the seven teams you're on; if you forget, ask me or my mate. Mother-of-twins will lead the attack on the Berserker harbor, along with Varinn on Nadder-blue-flies-in-the-storm. There are no Gronckles in your team because you've got a long way to go, and if you kept pace with the slow-flying dragons, you'd never get there and get home before sunrise. Thing One, you're going with your mother."
"I am? I get to go into battle?" she asked, surprised (and suddenly very excited). "Really?"
"This will be a good introduction to battle for you," he answered. "All you're doing is raining down fire from above; you won't be fighting hand-to-claw with any Vikings. You're not an adult yet, but you soon will be, and if I can't think of a way to end this war for keeps, you'll need some experience to back up your firepower very soon.
"Night Fury and Lady-night-fury, you've got the Uglithugs, and you've got Snotlout on Hookfang as your designated human. You'll have to keep an eye on him, to make sure he doesn't abandon the plan and go off hunting for glory."
"We can do that," Guana said. "I remember what he's like. Unfortunately."
"Bi-xi and New-beginning, you're going to take out the Bashem-Oiks, with help from Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Barf and Belch. Bi-xi, I know you're nervous about fighting; it's not how you were raised; but you're a Night Fury now, and this is what we have to do sometimes. The good news is, your targets are ships without any people in them. New-beginning will guide you. He's done this kind of thing before." Night-fury-bi-xi nodded solemnly.
"Six and Faithful-brother, you get the Outcasts. They don't have a big fleet, but they have more catapults than they need, so your mission will be the most dangerous of the seven. That's why you'll get your own team of Gronckles, plus all the Gronckles who would have gone to the Berserkers; their long-range firepower will soften up those catapults so no one gets hurt when you go after the ships. Fishlegs and Meatlug will be part of your Gronckle detachment.
"Bang and Chi-wen, the Thunderheads are your project for the night. Chi-wen, I'll give you the same advice I gave Bi-xi; watch the lead Night Fury for your cues. Gustav and Fanghook will fly with you. Don't let him do anything stupid; he's got a powerful dragon and a good Viking attitude, but not much real-life experience.
"Full-of-surprises and Smith-flies-for-fun, have fun with the Northlanders. Fluffernut and Scrubby will be your designated human/dragon team. We don't know much about their defenses, so do a little scouting before you charge in.
"I've got the Visithugs, and I'm taking Thing Two with me. Rangi will ride on me, so I won't be doing any diving attacks, but I can guide the rest of you because I overflew their harbor earlier today. I know exactly where the ships are, and where the defenses are.
"Any questions?"
Full-of-surprises waved a paw. "How many risks should we take to ensure that we sink everything?"
"Tonight, we should take no risks at all," Chief Night Fury answered. "If you miss two or three ships, it won't matter, because no Viking tribe is going to try to attack Berk with only two or three ships. We can go back later and finish the job if you don't get them all. But we're even more outnumbered than we were in the Berserker War, and we can't afford to lose a single one of you. The Vikings can build a new ship in a month or two, but it takes three years to make an adult dragon. Besides, I'd miss you."
"Not only that," Bang added, "but our dragon teams are too small to completely sink a Viking fleet, except for maybe the small tribes like the Bashem-Oiks. We can't expect to do a thorough job in one pass, so we shouldn't risk our necks to do the impossible."
"Good point," Hiccup nodded. "Any other questions? All righty, then! Fly fast, shoot straight, and stay safe! Let's go!" Berk's living air force leaped into the air with great flappings of wings, split up into seven parties, and spread out across the night sky.
For the tribes who had declared themselves hostile to Berk, the attack came as a total shock. Their chiefs hadn't come home to tell them about the state of war that now existed, and they hadn't been attacked by dragons in several years, so their defenses were completely unmanned. When the night watchmen saw the first fires breaking out in their harbors, they assumed that the whole village was under attack, so all the tribe's warriors gathered in strategic places in the towns so they could ambush the dragons when they got there. But the dragons never got there. They flamed only the ships in the harbor and the ones that were pulled up on land. For the most part, they flew unmolested. Better leadership among the humans might have helped, but their chiefs were all away at the Thing.
A few brave Vikings approached the harbors to get close enough to the action that they might throw a weapon at one of their attackers. But they couldn't see them, even with all those fires burning! The Night Furies coached each dragon on how to attack so he or she flew behind the brightest fires instead of in front of them, so they were never silhouetted against the flames. A fast-moving dragon is always a difficult target at night; tonight, they were impossible targets. The Vikings watched from shore, helpless to prevent the destruction of their war vessels, fishing boats, trading ships, and anything else that looked like it could float.
The dragons played it safe, as Hiccup had ordered; their need for revenge was just as sated by burning the humans' ships as it would have been by hurting the humans themselves. They took only a handful of casualties, and those would all fly again within a few days. Their results varied by the sizes of the tribes they attacked. The Bashem-Oiks' fleet was wiped out, and they lost some of their dock facilities for good measure. The Berserkers were a much larger tribe, but they were still rebuilding from their last war against Berk, and their fleet was much smaller than it should have been. They were almost annihilated; only the need to leave the battle before sunrise kept the dragons from finishing the job. The other tribes' ships were badly battered, but not destroyed. The Night Furies had coached the other dragons to focus on the big ships, so some of the fishing boats were still afloat when the sun came up. Hiccup had also seen to it that the Law-speaker's personal ship was not harmed.
Shortly after breakfast time, five Night Furies and one human landed near the Thing grounds, and walked in a V-formation toward where the chiefs were seated. All conversation stopped as they saw the dragons approaching. A few of them fingered their weapons, but then noticed the empty spot where Snorre the Vast should have been sitting, and decided not to antagonize the Night Furies any further. The Law-speaker stepped forward to meet them and held up his hands for them to stop.
"Come no closer, Night Furies! Are you here in peace or in war?"
Snap, snarl, growl. "Chief Night Fury reminds you that a majority of the tribes voted for war against us yesterday. Did they change their minds? If not, then we're still at war."
"Is that why you devastated my ships in my harbor last night, even though my tribe didn't vote for war?" Nastinardle demanded.
Grunt, croon, snarl. "You didn't vote against the war, and you're bound by the majority vote of the chiefs, so you're at war with us as long as the Thing is in session. Isn't that true, Law-speaker?"
"Technically, yes," the old man nodded unhappily. "But how energetically they pursue that war is up to them."
Groan, grunt-grunt, snap. "Besides, we couldn't risk you letting the other chiefs use your ships to go home. You're all going to be stranded here until we decide to let you go. We don't want you hostile chiefs giving your tribes any guidance while we're taking them out of the war."
Chaos erupted; every chief was loudly demanding to know what the dragons had done to their tribes overnight. Warhamster tried repeatedly to call the group to order. Only when the dragons returned all the chiefs' demands with stony-faced silence did the tumult subside so the Law-speaker could be heard.
"Chief Night Fury, this is a kind of kidnapping. Are you holding me on this island as well? I remind you of the penalties for hindering a Law-speaker."
Croon, chuff chuff, growl. "We deliberately spared your ship last night. You may leave this island at will, as long as you take no one with you except your own assistants and your own ship's crew. We cannot allow you to give any of these chiefs a ride back to his own island. Will you give your word on this?"
"My word is given," Warhamster said proudly. "I will not take sides in this war."
Growl, growl, rumble, growl. "Then you are free to leave at any time. The rest of you are prisoners here until you surrender, or until it suits our purposes to let you go."
"What do you mean, 'until we surrender?' " Alvin snarled. "You haven't even done anything to us yet!"
Snap-snap, growl, croon. "That's where you're wrong, Alvin. Last night, we sank or damaged every ship in your harbor, along with the harbors of all the other chiefs who voted for war. We'll go back in a night or two to finish the job. Your warriors have no way to get to Berk now, and they can't catch many fish, either. We also took out most of your catapults."
"And when we build more ships to replace our losses?" Ug demanded. "Then what will you do?"
Gurgle, croon, grunt. "Do you want to see if we can sink them faster than you can build them? It might be fun to try it. Fun for us, but not for you."
"We'll find a way, dragon!" Pugpoodle barked. "We'll find a way to get to you. We'll find a way to hurt you. We'll find a way to make you wish you had never been born! Well, hatched."
Groan, snap, croon. "You were right the first time. I was born human, remember? But you can say 'hello' to my children, who were all hatched. This is Six-shooter, her brother Makes-one-heck-of-a-bang, Full-of-surprises, and Thing One. I brought Thing Two with me last night, so it's Thing One's turn to see what a Viking Thing looks like."
"Thing One? Full-of-surprises?" Pugpoodle scoffed. "What kind of stupid names do you give your children?"
"You shouldn't talk, Pugpoodle," Rangi called before Hiccup could say anything.
The Berserker chief's face darkened. "Your tongue is far too loose for your own good, boy. If you weren't riding a dragon, I'd turn you over my knee and spank you!"
"Then that's a good reason for me to stay on the dragon," Rangi called back. "Sir." Then Chief Night Fury began growling, and Rangi had to break off his own thoughts to translate. "If this war was a game of Bashyball, then the score would be Dragons 7, Vikings 0, and we've still got the ball. The only reason we're even stopping here to tell you this is because you accused us of fighting dishonorably by not showing our faces. We showed those faces to your tribes while we were sinking all your ships, and we're showing you our faces now. To you, I'm just a dragon, but there's still the heart of a Viking in here, and I still know a thing or two about honor."
"If you want to show us honor, then meet me in a duel!" Arngrim Dammen shouted. "And because you're bigger than me, you can't use fire! That will be fair and honorable."
"No, that would be foolish and stupid," Rangi corrected him. Chief Night Fury began to say something, then stopped when he realized he was about to say what Rangi had already said. He went on, and Rangi picked up the translation. "Anyway, we can't stay for long; Chief Night Fury has an island to look after, and some more air strikes to plan. But we'll be back. We promise." They turned and leaped into the air before any of the chiefs could react.
As they flew home, Six pulled up next to Hiccup. "Dad, you're wearing your 'I'm thinking' face. What are you thinking about?"
"Pugpoodle said something while he was making his charges against Berk," Hiccup said distractedly. "I'm trying to remember what he said... I can't help thinking it might be the answer I'm looking for. It had something to do with..." He paused, and an absolutely vicious grin crossed his face. "That's it! Thank you, Pugpoodle the Hirsute of the Berserker tribe. You've told me exactly how we can fight this war and win it." He paused again. "But it could get really ugly. I'll have to think about how to make this happen without turning the Vikings against the dragons forever."
o
A/N
Thank you to reviewers PikaCuddle and eduardische, for pointing out that Full-of-surprise's use of her Power should have healed Hiccup's missing leg. I honestly hadn't thought of it.
At some point shortly after posting this chapter, "Lightning and Death Itself" will cross the three-quarters-of-a-million-hits mark. I am very grateful to all of you who keep reading and wanting more.