The Power of Gold Chapter 11
"I can't say I'm totally surprised," Hiccup decided when Six told him that her dragons had been evicted from their new home. "Dragons take a lot of getting used to, for humans, and apparently, Chief Bertha isn't willing to put in the time and effort to make it happen. I am disappointed, though."
"I really don't think I did anything wrong," she said sadly.
"Neither do I," her father nodded. "I'm not disappointed in you!" When she still looked sad, he shared a TrueSight with her. She could easily see how proud of her he was, with no hint of disapproval. He, on the other hand, got a facefull of her self-doubts and worries.
"I could wring Bertha's neck," he muttered. "When we sent you out, you were a confident, powerful leader, secure in who you were and what you were going to accomplish. Now, she's completely undermined your self-confidence. And it wasn't even a question of victory or defeat! It's all about style, nothing more."
"We definitely got the victory," Faithful-brother cut in. "No one can take that away from her."
"Maybe Bertha will rethink her opposition to dragons after she gets raided again," Mother-of-twins added.
"What if she does?" Six asked. "Is she going to take us back, and then kick us out again when we do something else our way instead of her way? Are we going to be in and out, and in again and out again every month or two? The Viking hatchlings play with a toy called a yoyo, and it looks like fun for them, but I don't want to be one."
"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it," Hiccup said. "For now, just relax and take a break from the thankless job of leading dragons. Your sister has them under control. Rest a little, fly a little, and –"
"And try not to dwell on what an idiot Bertha was," Bang interrupted. He was not happy with how the humans had treated his twin sister.
"We have to show her a certain amount of respect, just because she's a chief," Chief-night-fury corrected him. "But we don't have to like her, and we certainly don't have to pretend that all her decisions are good ones."
"Would anybody mind if I just went flying for a while?" Six asked.
"Go for it!" all the Night Furies said at once. She spread her wings and headed for the clouds.
"I'll join her in a while," Faithful-brother said, "but for now, I think she needs a little time by herself."
"I agree," Hiccup nodded. "Now, what can you tell me about my newest Viking?"
"Her name is Alfrún," Thing Two began. "She was a thrall to a rich man in the Uglithug tribe, and he treated her very badly. We set her free during our raid on Kornfritter Island. She agreed to join the Bog-Burglars in a heartbeat, but when she found out that the dragons were being ejected, she wanted to come with me instead of staying there."
"It sounds like you've finally found your human," Astrid smiled.
"How do you feel about her?" Hiccup asked.
"I like her. She works hard, she's kind-hearted in spite of what she's been through, and she likes to spend time with me, even though she's a little bit afraid of flying. I think she's beginning to understand how dragons think… which is more than I can say for Bertha! The Bog-Burglars were training her to be a smith's apprentice."
"Hmm. We've already got one of those," Hiccup thought out loud. "Varinn has that role nailed down. I'll have to think of something else for her to do. In the meantime, she's welcome to stay here as your friend, and as a refugee from the Uglithugs. Is there anything else that she's good at?"
"She can't read or write," Thing Two said, "but she can add up numbers in her head."
"Okay, I can work with that," the dragon chief decided. "Maybe I'll put her on the fish-sorting team. She can count all the different kinds of fish we catch every day and report to me, so I'll know how many fish to save for winter and how many we can eat now. I've got Fishlegs on that duty, but he gets distracted every time a new dragon shows up, and his numbers aren't as accurate as I'd like."
Life on Berk went on. The dragons who came back from the Bog-Burglars' island had to find new sleeping places on Berk, which annoyed the ones who had left good sleeping spots and wanted to get them back. There was a bit of posturing and a bit of growling and stamping of feet over this, but no one got into any fights this time (Full-of-surprises made sure of that). Alfrún quickly learned what was expected of her in her new job. It wasn't exciting – in fact, it was flat-out boring – but she appreciated anything that wasn't slave labor, and the fish sorters got first choice of the fish they would cook and eat for supper each night. Six began to regain her self-confidence, with much encouragement from Faithful-brother and the other Night Furies.
About a week later, a pair of Nadders returned early from their patrol route, squawking, "A ship is coming! A ship is coming!"
"What kind of ship?" Full-of-surprises demanded.
"It's a small ship with a crew of two," one of the scouts answered. "Two women. The ship's side-shields show a dagger and three coins."
"They're Bog-Burglars," Astrid said.
"They're coming in broad daylight," Full-of-surprises went on, "so they aren't here to steal anything from us. I hope."
"Let them come," Hiccup said. "This is probably a Viking matter, so I'll handle it."
"I'll come with you anyway," Full-of-surprises countered, "just so I can learn some more about this odd Viking tribe."
Hiccup and his daughter were waiting on the docks as the ship tied up, along with Anya, who was starting her tenure as Hiccup's translator, now that her husband Rangi was away on his first official trip as a Law-speaker's apprentice. Hiccup immediately recognized the two women. He crooned and grunted a greeting.
"Camicazi, Naginatta, welcome to Berk," Anya translated. "We weren't expecting you."
"This is an unofficial visit," Cami said as she stepped over the gunwales onto the dock. "Our mother is probably wondering where we've gone."
"We need your help," Nagi added.
Rumble, snarl. "What kind of help do you need?"
"First off, we both want to say we feel bad about our mother's decision to kick all the dragons off of our island," Cami began. "We miss our black, scaly friends, even if they won't go burgling with us. Anyway, three nights ago, our tribe was robbed. Someone got into our treasure house and stole one of our big lumps of gold. There were guards on duty next to the only door, so we think that the thief, whoever it was, came and left on a dragon. The smoke-hole in the roof is big enough to let a person in, and there are marks on the roof that might be dragon claw-marks."
Full-of-surprises snap-snarled and grunted. "It wasn't any of our dragons," Anya said for her. "Why do you want our help? Your people are the experts on thievery."
"But you guys are the experts on dragons!" Cami retorted. "I thought maybe you could look at the claw-marks and tell us what kind of dragon made those marks. That would help us figure out who ripped us off."
Chief-night-fury began to chuckle. "What's so funny?" Cami demanded. "That gold was worth a lot of money!"
"I think he's laughing at the irony," Anya said on her own initiative. "When you Bog-Burglars take other people's stuff, you call it 'burgling' and it's perfectly okay. But if somebody takes your stuff, it's a heinous crime and someone's head needs to roll!" The Hiccup-dragon nodded.
"Well, of course!" Cami said blankly. "Doesn't everybody think that way?"
Suddenly, Hiccup looked serious. He grunted and growled a string of syllables at Anya. "Are you sure?" Anya asked. The dragon gurgled.
"I understood about half of that, " Nagi admitted. "What did he say?"
"He said that there's no need for us to fly to your island and look at the claw-marks on the roof. We know exactly who burgled you."
"You mean you know who robbed us, right?" Cami corrected her.
"The chief used the word 'burgled,' " Anya said firmly. "They added that word to Forge because we have so many dealings with your tribe. He thinks it was your middle sister who did it."
"Sukiaqui?" Naginatta asked.
Cami hit herself in the head. "Of course! Su married one of the guys on this island – what was his name? Snotlout?" Anya nodded, and Cami went on, "That makes sense. Su is a good burglar, almost as good as me, so she could have gotten away with a crime like that. Mom will skin her alive when she finds out about it! But what about the dragon claw-marks? You said it wasn't one of your dragons that did it."
Growl-croon, snarl. "Sukiaqui trained her own dragon after she married Snotlout. We weren't thinking about that one when we said our dragons didn't do it, because her dragon keeps to herself and doesn't socialize with the rest of us. The dragon's name is Spotwing. She's a Changewing."
"A Changewing?" Nagi echoed. "You mean, one of those dragons that can blend into the background so you can't see them?"
"So that's how she got away with it!" Cami exclaimed, slamming her fist into her palm. "The guards said they didn't see anything, but they wouldn't be able to see a Changewing! And Su would have been dressed in black from head to toe at night. Man, I've got to give my sister points for chutzpah. She burgled her former tribe's treasure house and got away with it!"
"But she's not going to get away with it now," Nagi crowed. "Now we know that she probably did it, and if she did, then she still has the gold. We can pay her a little visit and demand that she give it back, or else!" She turned to Hiccup. "Where does Su live?"
Growl-gurgle-growl. "He says Sukiaqui is a citizen of Berk, and she's under the same protection as any other Viking here," Anya translated. "You can visit her, and you can make demands, but if the chief sees any violence about to happen, he'll protect his people against you."
"Once a Bog-Burglar, always a Bog-Burglar," Cami said flatly, her arms folded. "We know how to take care of our own."
"I think the chief is going to go with you, just to make sure," Anya warned her. Hiccup nodded. The four of them made their way across town to Snotlout and Sukiaqui's new house.
"Is Su happy with her new husband?" Nagi asked.
"They have worked out an… ahem… an interesting relationship," Anya told her. "Yes, she seems to be very happy." She knocked on the door. Snotlout answered, wearing an apron and holding a broom.
Camicazi's mouth fell open. "I don't believe this! Snotlout, a Viking man, doing w–"
"Don't say it!" Snotlout blurted out. "It's chore day, so we're both cleaning the house. Next week, it'll be her turn to sweep and dust, and my turn to scrape the pots and pans."
"We're here to see Sukiaqui," Cami said without any further preamble.
Snotlout turned and called, "Hey, Su! Your sisters are here to see you!" Sukiaqui joined them a few seconds later, holding a stiff brush.
"Cami! Nagi! Hey, it's great to see you! What brings you here?"
"You're in a world of trouble, sister," Cami said with a hint of anger. "We know about your little burgling expedition from three nights ago."
"That was a great piece of work, wasn't it?" Su bragged. "I got in and out, right in front of the guards, and they never saw or heard a thing!"
"We want our tribe's gold back," Nagi said.
Su folded her arms. "Losers weepers, finders keepers! If you want it back, then burgle it back. Just try."
"What's this about?" Snotlout asked her. "Did you steal some gold?"
Su kissed him on the cheek. "You don't want to get involved in this, Snotlout. Go sweep the floor." She stepped out of the house and shut the door behind her. To her sisters, she said, "I think you're just jealous because I pulled off an awesome burglary and you didn't."
Cami was getting angry; it was time to defuse this situation. Hiccup stepped between them and gurgled. "The chief wants to know how much gold is involved."
Su snapped, "No disrespect to the chief, but this is a family matter. There's no reason for him to get in the middle of this."
Croon, snap-snap, growl. "He says the Bog-Burglars could wind up declaring a blood feud against his tribe over this, so he is definitely going to get involved before somebody gets hurt! Now, how much gold is involved?"
Su didn't answer, so Nagi spoke up. "It was a solid lump, a little smaller than my head." Anya whistled in surprise.
Yowl, gurgle, vicious-snarl. "Su, the chief says he doesn't want the two tribes to go to war over this. If you get credit among your people for an excellent burglary, with us Berks as witnesses, then will you give back the gold, for the sake of peace?"
"I'll think about it," Su said.
"You have five seconds to think it over!" Cami interrupted. "One, two, three –"
ROAR-R-R! "The chief says, 'Hold it!'"
"I kind of figured that out," Nagi said.
"Anyway," Anya continued, "we are going to defuse this situation before it explodes in everyone's face, including mine. Su, the chief is ordering you, as his subject, to give back what you stole."
"And if I don't?" she asked defiantly.
The chief let out a long string of dragon noises. "He says there are several things that might happen if you don't return the gold. One, the Bog-Burglars might try to burgle it back. But if they do that, they won't stop at just recovering the gold; they'll take something else valuable from you as well, to punish you for stealing."
"Of course we will," Cami nodded.
"But then," Anya went on, "you'll feel honor-bound to recover what they took from you, and you'll take something of theirs as well, to punish them for burgling from you. This will go back and forth, escalating every time, until somebody gets hurt, or until Bertha has had enough and declares war on us."
"I can totally see that happening," Nagi agreed. "Excuse me for a second." She slipped around the corner of the house.
"Possibility number two is that the Bog-Burglars might mount a raid to recover their gold. That's a lot of money to lose; it would be worth it to them to recover it by force. The trouble with that is that they'll focus on your house, so you'll probably get hurt, and so will your husband." Sukiaqui betrayed a flicker of concern at that.
"Possibility number three is that Bertha will get so steamed at you that she'll skip all the intermediary steps and go straight to war against us. That will be a war with no winners, just lots and lots of losers, no matter who winds up with the gold."
"We have dragons and they don't," Su pointed out.
"Dragons will fight to protect their own nest," Anya reminded her. "They won't attack another island unless their Alpha gives them a good reason to do it, like survival or revenge. I can tell you right now that Night-fury-full-of-surprises won't lift one claw to fight a war over a lump of gold. Dragons don't care about things like that. It would be our Vikings against your Vikings. When that happens, people get hurt. People like you."
"For that kind of money, I might be willing to risk it," Su said defiantly.
Grunt, snarl-snap. "The chief isn't willing to risk it. Either give back the gold, or forfeit any claim on the tribe's protection. If the Bog-Burglars come calling, you'll be on your own."
"You'd do that to a loyal citizen of your island?" Su marveled.
The dragon growled and rumbled. "If you're single-handedly causing trouble with another tribe on another island in defiance of the chief's orders, then you're doing your own thing, and the consequences of that are going to rest on your own head. The chief would be justified if he had you tied up and gift-wrapped, and handed you over to Bertha with a bow in your hair. He isn't willing to go that far, because you are a loyal citizen of Berk. But he won't support you if you're going to be a trouble-maker."
Su looked stressed. "Is this how the burglary of the year ends? I have to undo it by my own hand? Cami, if you were in my shoes, what would you do?"
Camicazi smirked. "I really don't know what I'd do if I were in your shoes. But I'll tell you what I'd do if I was in my shoes: I'd keep you distracted while Nagi sneaked into your house through the back door and recovered the gold for me. And here she is!" Nagi staggered back around the corner, grinning triumphantly even though she was straining to carry the heavy lump of metal.
"What?" Su was stunned. "How... how did you find it so fast?"
Nagi couldn't wipe the smile off her face. "We all used to live in the same house, remember?" she grunted. "I know what kinds of hiding places you like to use." She dropped the gold at Cami's feet with a thud. "Honestly, Su, you've got to stop being so predictable."
"Nicely done, sister!" Cami nodded in a rare moment of complete approval.
Anya tried not to smile; Sukiaqui was visibly stressed. "Well, Su, you got your wish. The burglary of the year didn't end by you undoing it. It ended with a counter-burglary by a family member."
Su relaxed very slightly. "I guess that's not quite as bad. I'd still rather keep the gold, though."
"That's not happening," Cami warned her. "Don't even think about going back for more!"
The chief added some syllables, which Anya translated. "He says to Su, 'Don't do this again, or I'll have to punish you for stirring up trouble. This is your warning; you won't get another one.' He's serious about keeping the peace between the tribes. To Cami and Nagi, he says, 'Tell your mother that this whole thing couldn't have happened if she had dragons to put on guard duty.' "
"We'll let her know," Cami said. "But I have one more question before we go. Su, how did you know we had all that gold in our treasure house?"
"I found out from Trader Johann," Sukiaqui answered. There was no point in keeping secrets now that her scheme was over. "I always ask him if there's any news about my former home. He never gives away any information for free, of course. I had to buy something I didn't need, and pay more than it was worth, before he'd open his mouth. But he mentioned that, the last time he traded with the Bog-Burglars, they bought a ton of stuff and paid for it with one chunk of gold. I know every jewel and every sentimental trinket in that treasure house, so if you'd found some gold since I left, I wanted to know about it. And, just maybe, help myself to some of it. Where did you find all that precious metal?"
"In a cave," Nagi answered. "That's all we can tell you. If we said any more, it could cause trouble."
"I think we've already got plenty of trouble," Cami said grimly. "Trader Johann visits every tribe in the Archipelago! If he's spreading the word that we've got mounds and mounds of gold, then Bog-Burglar Island is going to be Ground Zero for every raider within a hundred miles."
"So that's why those Thunderheads came after us!" Nagi burst out.
"They were the first, but they won't be the last," Cami decided. "We need to get home and warn our mother." She turned to Hiccup. "I don't suppose you could ask one of your dragons to give us a lift home, could you? We're kind of in a hurry."
The chief-dragon shook his head. Anya spoke for him: "Like your sister said, this is a family matter, and there's no reason for him to get in the middle of this. Besides, he's the chief over the Vikings; he can't tell the dragons what to do. You came here in a ship, so you probably should take your ship back home."
Cami thought for a moment. "Would Six be willing to take me home?"
Grunt-growl, roar. "Six got kicked off of your island in disgrace, for the crime of winning a battle her way instead of your mother's way. She won't go back to that island until your mother asks her to return, and she'll have to ask nicely."
Cami made a sour face. "I didn't know dragons could be proud."
Anya asked her, "Would you go back if you were in Six's shoes? Well, claws."
Cami didn't answer. Nagi said, "She's got you there, sister. They aren't any more proud than we are. I guess we have to go sailing again." They picked up the gold together and laboriously hauled it back to the docks, accompanied by Hiccup and Anya. By the time they reached their ship, their arms were exhausted from carrying their burden. They just dropped their precious cargo into the ship.
The dense chunk of metal slammed straight through the floorboards and sank to the bottom of the bay. Water poured in through the jagged hole in the ship's bottom. Their ship was well on its way to joining the gold when its mooring lines kept it from sinking any further. It heeled away from the dock, and its mast came to rest across one of Berk's fishing boats at the next dock over. Cami and Nagi just stared, stunned.
Chief-night-fury snarled angrily, and even though he didn't say anything in Forge, Anya had no trouble interpreting what he meant. "Now here's a fine mess! Is this how you thank us for keeping the peace? You've pinned one of our ships in place, and there are four others behind it that can't get out now. It will take at least a day for the Vikings to get your ship fixed and bailed out, and I suppose you'll want your gold back as well."
"Yeah, that would be nice," Cami said, slowly overcoming her shock at watching her ship sink in front of her.
There were advantages to being a chief whose daughter was the Alpha over the island's dragons. Hiccup could get Full-of-surprises' full cooperation at any time, if it was a serious situation, and because the dragons loved to eat fish, the immobilizing of part of the fishing fleet was seen as a serious situation indeed. Within fifteen minutes, six big dragons were grabbing the damaged ship's mooring ropes and lifting it onto the land, where Viking shipwrights could fix it more quickly. The other Night Furies spread out across the ocean until one of them found a Thunderdrum who was willing to enter the harbor and retrieve the gold in exchange for a double mouthful of fish from the feeding trays. While the repairs were ongoing, Cami and Nagi visited with Alfrún and swapped stories with her. Naginatta was slightly envious when she heard about how close Alfrún was growing to her dragon friend.
Cami and Nagi were on their way home within four hours, with most of their precious cargo safely sitting in the middle of the ship (held in place by a ring of iron spikes driven into the wood, so it couldn't roll around). They didn't return with the entire lump; they had carved off a small lump to pay Berk for their emergency ship repairs, and to compensate Berk for being patient with the obstruction to their docks.
"And that's all the gold we're going to claim from this episode," Hiccup said firmly. "We can see the problems that the Bog-Burglars are having with that stuff. We don't want a piece of that action." Some of the Vikings might have disagreed with him – in fact, nearly all of them disagreed with him – but their chief had spoken. Even the most stubborn Vikings will admit that it's no use arguing with their chief, especially when their chief is a Night Fury.