CHAPTER 56: Forbidden Friendship
In the giant hall situated within the central portion of the village was a huge gathering of all council vikings. Hundreds of them. A big wooden podium was set up on an elevated wooden platform for Yurlin to stand in front of to make his speech revealing the friends his council had recently concluded negotiations with.
The atmosphere in the hall was tense, like something was about to explode. In light of the claimed attack by the Defenders of the Wing, which was a mere false flag operation conducted by the Ancients themselves, the magnitude of Yurlin's upcoming speech gave the whole hall the feeling of a giant boulder balancing on the top of their heads.
Behind the wooden platform where the podium was were dozens of wooden chairs. Council vikings were to be seated directly behind Yurlin, but the vast bulk of the council would be positioned in front of him in their hundreds. At this point in his leadership of the tribe these meetings were purely symbolic given Yurlin's word was the tribe's effective law, but he deemed it fit to come here to make the revelation that only he and Herald knew about.
And in light of the attack from vikings on Caldera Cay upon their own territory, Yurlin deemed it even more necessary to bring out his entire council in the hall today to make this speech. It was a speech that he intended on spreading across the tribe in the form of pieces of paper containing portions of the speech hammered into various wooden poles across the village, for the vikings to read.
A huge delegation came out from the doors of the hall on the left side, to which the silence in the hall had sunk out the atmosphere. Yurlin, carrying his own piles of paper, hopped up the steps to the wooden platform and swiftly faced his chest directly inwards to the wooden podium. He placed the papers down, and he seemed to have put one specific paper to the side, as if he was set to reveal the contents of it for whatever reason.
The hundreds of council members in the hall right now, sat firmly on their chairs like they were attached to those chairs given the presence Yurlin carried, like a god figure, did nothing but keep their eyes locked onto their leader. They, as the governing group of vikings over the tribe under Yurlin's ideology, knew that this was the time for their ultimate scheme to come into fruition.
Outside this hall were thousands of regular Ancients desperate to get inside to listen to their leader, but the hall was heavily restricted by guards - this speech wasn't to be attended by regular Ancients. The contents of the speech were going to be spread in the form of various papers hooked onto wooden poles through the village, but still, the vikings of the tribe were extremely eager to hear the words of their Chieftan following the brutal attack by the Defenders of the Wing, as they saw it.
"My councilors, my governing group of vikings who've worked with me in our proud transformation of the Ancient Tribe, we meet today with a dark cloud hanging over us. I also come with a revelation that you may consider unorthodox, but to me it is pure pragmatism which will protect us given the words of the outside tribes threateningly towards us. Speaking of such, how could I proceed without condemnation of the horrific attack our island saw earlier today?"
Yurlin looked down at his papers as he started talking.
"Our brave and mobilized soldiers quickly neutralized the hostiles. They came bearing arrows from their crossbows, and the gear was all too obvious as to who they were. The Defenders of the Wing tribe, the group residing on Caldera Cay. I know exactly why they committed the attack, and I can already tell you all that we've swiftly arranged an equal response."
A couple of the vikings in the hall slowly drank from their wooden cups of water as they tensely listened to Yurlin's powerful voice grab their ears like they were hypnotized. The charisma that oozed from Yurlin was like a magnet that drew the individual to his direction. It was part of why he'd managed to so successfully consolidate his power and become a dictator.
"The Defenders of the Wing align themselves with the tribes who share the values of the Hairy Hooligans. What has been their consistent claims against us over these past few weeks? that the frontier of our island is one we want to extend beyond and onto their own islands? what more could these outside tribes want from me? The Ancient Tribe's current frontier in regards to the Hooligans, Berserkers, Outcasts, is a final one."
"Every action I have taken thus far has been for the interests of the Ancient people. People who for many years prior to my emergence were pacifists who thought sitting back would mean this world would eradicate itself from the vermin that inhabits it. Who paid the price for such naivety? our tribe. We were a wasteland, this whole archipelago, from two full blown conflicts between the Hooligans and Drago, shortly followed by the Hooligans and Grimmel. Why has this been misunderstood as us seeking to 'threaten' the sovereignty of the other tribes?"
"Because let me make it absolutely clear - The Ancient Tribe will never ask for ANY land that it has never historically held, nor would I expect any tribe to succumb to us in a manner which'd result in the loss of sovereignty. All of my actions thus far, from the Northern Market problem, to the Wingmaidens' fraud of a settlement on Dragon Island, to our militarization of the island of Berk, have been conducted thoroughly and fairly with no violence and certainly no deaths. We unfortunately cannot claim the same from the other side."
"Today's attack is a prime example of that. The unvikings know we're coming for them, that we seek their eradication, as I predicted in my prophecy. But whilst my actions thus far have been conducted with the most moral conviction no other Chieftan on these islands holds, with NO violence and NO illegitimate claims to any land, we have unfortunately not been given the favour back. Remember I told this tribe, during the time of the Wingmaiden settlement question, that our own vikings were being slaughtered by them? remember when the Northern Market islands were solely used as landing grounds for unviking nests? I was mocked by the outside tribes, and it seems I was proven right."
"It is quite unfortunate that, consequently, Hiccup Haddock considers us as his enemy. I could've helped him out, we could have worked together to avenge his father's death. But it seems that the sense and logical thinking of this boy had all inevitably fell out like a waterfall from his body, most possibly out of that amputated leg of his."
"The world prior to our liberation acts thus far is not coming back, therefore any demands that we withdraw from any of the territories we have legitimately claimed for our sovereignty and our goal of dealing with the unviking question will fall on deaf ears. It seems to me that my love of peace and patience has been mistaken for weakness or cowardice. No other tribe could be so dumb as to make such a fatal miscalculation of my tribe's mood. This world's overhaul has been a long time coming and through whatever means necessary I will strive to achieve that."
"Hiccup Haddock's unfortunate blunder in thinking this way means he'll soon figure it out one way or another. He can threaten me with war, but the manchild lacks the guts to plunge the archipelago into a conflict years after his dragon companions fled this world."
"My words thus far lead me swiftly onto what our soldiers will shortly initiate. Today, we have been met with arrows from a foreign tribe, unprovoked, upon our territory. Consequently, the Defenders of the Wing have only sped up their liberation from the unviking doctrine. Arrows will be met with arrows, our soldiers will meet theirs with double the force until the sight and hearing on all their vikings is no more."
"I have authorized and approved the plan for our soldiers to sail to Caldera Cay and to conduct an immediate invasion to which we pay them their price - we were to initiate this act anyways, but their unprovoked attack upon our territory earlier today means we have no choice but to ensure the rights of the First Tribe are preserved much sooner and they're liberated much earlier than we initially planned."
Those words made the chests of nearly all the council vikings in the room elevate in aches, like they were going up a hill before taking a swift steep drop. The invasion of Caldera Cay was on, and it was set to happen early in the morning at night tomorrow.
"To Hiccup Haddock and all those who'll inevitably receive word of this speech, underestimate me at your own peril - I am not Drago Bludvist, nor am I Grimmel the Grisly. If you still wish to talk, then I am open to such a proposition. However, be equally assured that whoever fights us with maces and battleaxes will be fought back with maces and battleaxes. Whoever departs from the humane standards of conflict our viking ancestors recognized can expect that we will not only do the same, but return it in double measure. There will be no mercy from us."
"You cannot rely on your old friends to stop this world from going where it needs to go. They are locked away isolated without the slightest scent of human interaction ten years on from when they left - I am of course referring to those dragons. I have reiterated countless times that I have no problem with dragons, but I am just simply making the reality of the situation known. None of the outside tribes can expect that the dragons will return, and to attempt to bring them back will only be met with nature's own answer given the geographical setup of their world - death. Such deaths are ones we will hardly mourn given the likely motivation of those who attempt to succeed in doing that."
"Speaking of friends, my council," Yurlin said, moving onto the revelation he had in regards to the negotiations with the secretive 'friends' the Ancients had recently concluded, "I can reveal one event given the situation we're likely to face, if the outside tribes feel it their destiny to try and conquer us and fight us in a war they don't stand a chance in."
Yurlin had been given the rundown on the meeting between Herald and the 'friends' from Herald himself, and all of the details of it came back to his head like an avalanche. Although he wasn't present at the meeting, he recalled all of the details from Herald about the meeting as if he was there.
"Greetings," said Herrick Herald, being guided along by his entourage of Ancient guards, shaking the hand of Griselda the Grevious who'd been waiting at the docks for his arrival.
The sun was a bright orange as the skies matched up with that colour, as if lava was roaming through the clouds. The air was a lot warmer, the scent of coal pounced the air like a ball and all that could be heard in the distance were aggressive roars from smelting Warlords within the interior of the base.
"This ought to be on a good accord, we've been let down in the past, not least by a snake known as GRIMMEL!" said Griselda, as she and Herrick Herald started walking together side by side towards the big steel gate.
The same gate that Grimmel initially entered through to enter into a small cove area covered at the top with metal bars - this was the area in which dragons were captured and the same area Grimmel initially came to when first hearing about there being one last Night Fury with the Hooligans.
"I can assure you," said Herald, "this pact will serve the interests of both our parties."
The giant gate which blocked off the cove descended grounds with a metal overhead roof was opened up, the archers on both sides of the gate warily holding their arrows back from the strings of their crossbows. Herrick Herald was getting strange looks from the otherwise big Warlords - for so long they'd heard rumours about Alfa Yurlin's hatred of Drago and themselves, but to see him walking side-by-side with Griselda was so odd, it was the biggest juxtaposition possible.
Both Griselda and Herrick Herald entered through the gate, their bodies coated by the pitch blackness of the entrance before emerging into the open, and waiting in the distance was none other than Drago Bludvist.
Herrick Herald had been the main negotiator in private with the Warlords, to establish an Ancient-Warlord pact in the face of Hiccup's threats to go to war as well as the other outside tribes, which'd mean an advantage to the outside tribes. This pact was a pragmatic move designed to cause shockwaves to the archipelago and to catch the outside tribes wrong footed. They'll never have expected this to have happened given the ideological juxtaposition.
"Drago Bludvist," Herrick Herald addressed, walking up to the big man himself.
Drago himself hadn't ever expected to be approached by the Ancients given their ideological standing, but he saw the benefits of this pact - it'd give him his chance, above all else, to extract his revenge on Hiccup Haddock.
Drago didn't return any words and the men connected their hands together in a cold, slow, almost stubbornly-given handshake. Drago's breathing was akin to a growling animal as he warily looked at the second in command of the Ancients.
"I hope the protocols you men promised are upheld at once..." said Drago, coldly as his expression was focused.
"Bludvist, this is a guarantee for us to benefit from. This non-aggression pact will be for us to take advantage of, we will not fight each other for ten years as promised, we will subsequently share the acquired lands under a secret protocol, and in our next liberation tactics of Caldera Cay, whenever your men see fit we will share the other half of the achieved land. And Hiccup Haddock has made persistent threats against us, so as far as we're concerned this pact is to protect us equally as much as it is to protect yourselves."
Drago nodded. Although he had wariness, he was nonetheless satisfied to sign off on the Ancient-Warlord pact, which came from the initiative of the Ancients themselves.
"None of these outside tribes will see this coming, we're going to put aside our doctrine differences and wrong foot them like they'd never expected," said Herald.
Drago liked the sound of that, he smirked and ever so subtly chuckled.
"Let us see what you folks can do...bring me a pen, Ragnar!" yelled Drago, his commanding monstrous voice sent the other way towards Ragnar.
"And this pact..." said Yurlin, holding up the paper with both hands, slowly turning around to all of the hall who were utterly stunned and flabbergasted at the revelation to show it off, "is indeed solidified and put into practice."
This was a completely shocking revelation. NONE of the council ever expected Yurlin to make a pact with DRAGO BLUDVIST given how ideologically opposed the two men were. But for Yurlin, this pact was his guarantee of being able to invade Caldera Cay without having to worry to face down dangerous odds should the outside tribes declare war on him.
"I can see the shocked faces on you all...of course, you all know that the Ancient Tribe and the Warlords are governed by two different doctrines. It was quite simply the main issue that needed to be addressed. Our goal of eradicating the unvikings as per my prophecy some days ago remains unchanged, we are not exporting the ideology of the Warlords, nor do they intend on trying it vice versa with us."
"And given the threats Hiccup Haddock has made...given his countless number of refusals to see sense instead of walking on the verge of doing what he's long claimed he wanted to never happen again for the sake of his children, to my face directly at that conference, which is conflict, I see no reason why we should oppose in principle an alliance between ourselves and the Warlords."
The whole council looked at each other, unsure as to how to react. Yurlin had built his stall on destroying the Warlords to whom he considered the prime unviking of them all, and their existence is and was a vital part of Yurlin's ideology which sought to destroy any prospect of conflict raging on innocent vikings by eradicating the unvikings.
So it was a pretty tough pill to swallow for them to suddenly be told their tribe had entered a pact with the Warlords. There was ultimately nothing they could do about it.
It was, to put it in a familiar set of terms, a 'Forbidden Friendship'.
"Let me be absolutely clear - any attempt on the part of the outside tribes to change this pact will fail. As far as we're concerned, we are being threatened with war by the Hooligans, and it has long been the expectation of these tribes that our vikings will indeed fight the Warlords to extinction - but the situation we face today means that a struggle between ourselves and the Warlords will benefit all the outside tribes."
The faces of the council vikings seemed to become much more relaxed as Yurlin continued stressing the motivation behind the pact, it made a lot of sense to them particularly with what Yurlin had said just now.
"We have resolved to conclude this pact for the benefit of our two groups of vikings. The Warlords and Drago have a clear desire to extract revenge on Hiccup Haddock, and equally we have a desire to carry on returning our archipelago back to the generation our ancestors prospered in. We will not have the threat of being given dangerous disadvantages as this pact also calls for weapon co-operation whereby they will deliver weapons and food to us, for they see us as the vehicle that can bring about their desire to extract revenge on Hiccup."
The hall seemed to gradually be coming around to the main idea of the pact.
"The last thing I want to close with is this - this could very well, if Hiccup Haddock has the guts, be the last time I address you all as your leader if victory isn't achieved, for I intend to put on the coat of victory-at-all-costs to see this through. I will not take this coat off until we achieve victory in our goals, and this world is returned to where it should've always been. There is no question in my mind that victory will come, otherwise...I will not survive the other outcome, I will refuse to live in that circumstance."
"It is time to come together and potentially prepare for the needed sacrifices of the Ancient vikings. This is the time that we push ahead - in my struggle to become your Chieftan, I have not changed my mind one single bit about the ultimate goal, and today I can declare that it does indeed remained unchanged. I will make every possible sacrifice as will our soldiers, and the world will go back to an era which should've never been abandoned in the first place as a result."
The hall was gradually beginning to applaud Yurlin as his voice grew louder and louder as he started rallying them up into a thunderous cheer joined with hundreds of clapping hands.
"The one word which our people, our vikings, and myself as your Chieftan have refused to learn and will continue to refuse to learn is one which I will blatantly escape from seeing come to fruition if needed - that is, surrender."
The entire hall stood up from their chairs and applauded their leader as he concluded his speech.
"OUR WILL AND OUR ANCIENT MIGHT SHALL PREVAIL ABOVE ALL THOSE WHO SEEK TO FIGHT IT!" yelled Yurlin, his lungs screaming at the highest pitch possible.