CHAPTER 37: Settlement
The Wingmaidens, in their dozens and dozens on Dragon Island, surrounded by the misty fog on the outskirts of the island, fully knew of the impending disaster that struck their path unless some sort of compromise could be reached. But they weren't prepared to be the ones putting forward such a compromise to the lawless, criminal as they perceived them, tribe of the Ancients.
Their wooden huts weren't evenly distributed across the rocky island. Some were a distance away from each other, some were incredibly close, but overall they were within a big enough perimeter to be a village of sorts. The Wingmaidens loved what they'd done with the island, given its history as the resting place of the Red Death and the island that cemented peace between vikings and dragons.
They would often go to the broken mountain, where the hole was, created by the Red Death at the time of her raging battle against the Hooligans, and pray in front of it, thanking Odin for the peace that was allowed to come about when dragons and humans needed to unify and work to defeat a common enemy. They would proudly sleep in their huts on the island knowing they were resting on the same land of rock that the nest was.
And all of it despite the island being surrounded by a thick collection of misty clouds, like the outside world was completely isolated and non-existent. Today though, for the dozens of Wingmaidens on Dragon Island, the outside world was inevitably no more isolated given the threats made by the Ancient Chieftan, Alfa Yurlin.
"Hey, Malanda, where are you going?" asked one of the Wingmaidens to her fellow viking.
She'd noticed that she was walking directly up towards the caldera at the middle of the island.
"I'm going to heaven," replied Malanda, as the Wingmaiden gestured towards the caldera.
"Hold on there, surely it's not possible for us to be able to physically go in there? what if the outside walls of that tunnel are unstable and collapse on you?"
"I would rather die on this island and have my resting place on a remarkable island of history than die at the hands of that criminal overseas."
Malanda's words struck a chord. She was determined to head through the tunnel initially created by Stoick's catapults when they initially arrived on the island, only to be greatly expanded by the brutal emergence of the Red Death herself. There, Malanda would get on her knees and pray with her eyes closed, fully taking in the bask of the historical island.
Suddenly, an outburst of other Wingmaidens emerged from the distant huts as they joined Malanda. Her words didn't go unheard, and given the situation overseas, many of them wanted to bask in the opportunity to pray to Odin whilst on the island of their dreams with their settlement.
"Come on ladies, let's go."
They all started walking across the tough, cold grey terrain of Dragon Island to the monstrous godzilla-like height sized caldera ahead of them. The ground looked like it was a scorched black from all of the dragon fires years ago, and the scent of burning had never left the island even after the Red Death's defeat at the hands of Toothless and Hiccup all those years ago.
"You know something, Malanda?" said one of the other Wingmaidens, "I couldn't agree more with what you said earlier."
"I know. We should not only defend what we've built here and refuse to let anyone forcefully take it from us, we should spread the word to Odin himself. He wouldn't allow this to happen, a rogue man viking to threaten us in this way. We will never be wrongly treated and subjugated like this, by nobody."
After five minutes, the large group of Wingmaidens on the island arrived at the caldera. The volcanic piece of rock, stretching hundreds and hundreds of feet in height towered over them, to the point that it dwarfed even the Red Death at the time. The dark abyss that rested ahead that was the damaged open hole of the mountain was there to see.
When Stoick sent a flame launch through that hole many years ago, it'd be hard to have thought that all of those dragons would be congregated within that hole as they were. Deadly Nadders, Monstrous Nightmares, you name it - they were mixed together inside, all for the slavery intents of the Red Death, ruthlessly eating any dragon that didn't provide enough food to her from their consistent raids on viking islands.
"I really want to go inside and get to the middle!" said Malanda, the Wingmaiden lady eager to see the inside for herself, the interior where the Red Death rested.
"It's just too dangerous, we can just pray as close to the hole as possible, and we can still face inwards towards it as we get on our knees. Come on ladies, let's take a few more steps closer."
Malanda had to be convinced to get out of the idea of actually going far into the interior of the caldera. Although no dragons resided here anymore due to them all flying off to The Hidden World at the same time Toothless did after Grimmel's death, it was still a dark abyss - the fact it wasn't occupied anymore by any living dragons made it even more intimidating. At least when the dragons were inside it, you could hear them and know where they were and at least know you weren't alone.
But now, the interior was nothing more than a dark pitch black maze with no noise coming in from anywhere. Unless they got to the extreme interior where the Red Death rested amid the hell-looking red mist awaiting her next meal from the returning dragons from their viking attacks, there was no way the Wingmaidens could see inside. They had no torches or anything. The nature of uncertainty made it too risky of a prospect.
Malanda was a very prominent Wingmaiden, among the many who constructed the huts on Dragon Island with her fellow vikings after the dragons left for The Hidden World. She felt very strongly about maintaining this settlement, and not letting it be surrendered to the criminals as she called them. She didn't even want to give the Ancients the dignity of referring to them by their tribe's name, or even their Chieftan's name.
Naturally, the ongoing crisis on this geographical part of the archipelago made her fearful and extremely unpredictable in regards to her reactions and actions. The 'Settlement Crisis' as it was coined at this point by the many tribes, wasn't going away anytime soon either, if Hiccup's diplomacy failed.
Standing at the front of the black hole which was as hall as a tower, the dozens of Wingmaidens got on their knees in front of it and put their hands together. They closed their eyes as they begun their prayer, a prayer which they'd come up with shortly after arriving onto this island. Malanda didn't keep her eyes fully closed, almost as if she was eyeing up the dark abyss ahead.
"To Odin," said the leading Wingmaiden of the group, "let us cherish this geographical treasure for the history created on it. Dragons and humans, a previously unthinkable alliance, was created here, and on that basis we'd like to thank you for allowing us to set up a settlement here to live in that glory and aura, now that the dragons have left our world. We will miss them dearly, but by your generosity in letting us set up camp here for a permanent basis, as a zone of peace and escape from the real world from our tribe, we won't entirely be missing their presence. Thank you-"
The prayer couldn't be finished. Like a torpedo, Malanda got up off her knees and sprinted right towards the abyss. She took off as quickly as the wind that had followed her body on all sides she was that fast.
"MALANDA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" yelled one of the Wingmaidens.
"I'M NOT PREPARED TO BE FORCED OFF HERE, I'M GOING TO THE HAVEN ITSELF!" Malanda yelled, as the other Wingmaidens chased after her.
She was heading into uncharted territory - no viking bar Astrid and Hiccup when they were teenagers entered the caldera, but even they only did it with a dragon - Toothless. No human had ever entered the caldera by themselves.
"NO, MALANDA, COME BACK HERE!" one of them yelled once again.
Before they could stop her, her body vanished into the pitch black caldera like a magic trick. She was gone - although the repeated sound of her boots slamming against the cold grey rocky ground could be heard, they were becoming much more distant as he got further inside.
"Oh no...oh no...what do we DO!?" yelled one of the Wingmaidens.
This isn't what they needed to happen at a time of overseas tension in regards to the crisis. One of their own vikings deluding themselves into thinking they could successfully navigate the inside of the caldera where the Red Death lived.
"We need to get Atali out here, pronto! you ladies, stay put here and keep an eye on if she comes back. I don't know how we're going to get Atali back but we need her for this!"
The problem was, Atali was at New Berk, with the other Chieftans of the archipelago, as the imminent meeting between Yurlin and Hiccup got closer. This was a terrible situation - Malanda was simply too much of an obsessed individual with wanting to keep this island for her tribe. The thought of them having to surrender it to Alfa Yurlin sent them all with shivers.
But it's as Malanda herself said - she would rather die getting lost within the chasms of Dragon Island than die at the hands of the Ancients.
It was time. Hiccup was sailing on the steady seas as the scent of seaweed plucked from the air like a wave. He couldn't help but look out to the direction of New Berk, as it became more and more distant. For this important meeting, he didn't even take Gobber with him or anyone. Not Eret, nobody. He felt like this had to be a personal one-on-one talk with Yurlin.
For Hiccup, as much as he wanted to not do this, it was all about the happiness of his kids - that they shouldn't fear having to face a war when they were just kids, nor the apprehension of one potentially starting. He also didn't want one to break out in a world that no longer had dragons.
Hiccup as Chieftan hadn't ever experienced conflict without the dragons, it was uncharted territory for him. The dragons were always the safety basket at times of conflict, especially during the time Grimmel was on the hunt for Toothless as the last Night Fury.
But a war between tribes on the Barbaric Archipelago, years after the dragons had left the world for their own? Hiccup didn't even want to imagine the prospect. He'd feel completely helpless and useless without the dragons here. That was why he'd been having sleepless nights recently, with tears. He never realized just how grave of a mistake it was to send Toothless to the Hidden World. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that actually, that didn't need to have happened at all.
"You alright, Chief?" one of the Hooligans asked Hiccup, as he noticed Hiccup looking out to the seas like he was thinking about deep stuff.
The boat had gently flowed left and right on the calm seas. Hiccup held onto the wooden barrier as he scratched his beard.
"I just didn't realize how much...better we could be right now if the dragons were back. Obviously, the past is the past, but embarking on this has made me realize...and question...why I even had to send the dragons away."
The Berkian standing next to Hiccup couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"The fact is...New Berk is such a height that anyone who wanted to harm the dragons wouldn't have had a chance to even access our land, let alone harm them. Grimmel was roundly dealt his deserved fate and I've gone on to have two children who I absolutely love to the world. The dragons were more in danger on our old island than they were on New Berk...the height...they would've been safe."
"Hiccup? I couldn't agree more with you, my mate. I really couldn't. I didn't know if you'd be alright with me saying that, considering your friendship with Toothless."
"Why did we send them away..." Hiccup whispered to himself as he glared directly at the dark sea waters below the boat, "they were safer on our gigantic tall island than they were on Berk...nothing was stopping us from staying together...I acted in the moment and I rushed to the conclusion, wrongly, that they were unsafe with us because of a few deranged vikings. New Berk would've been a safe haven with its height for them."
The Berkian next to Hiccup put his palm on Hiccup's shoulder.
"And now I have to go and negotiate and talk to Yurlin in the hopes he won't unleash a war. What have I done?"
"What do you mean what have you done, Chief?"
"I sent the dragons away when, in hindsight, there was no reason for me to have done so...they were safe with us, and likewise we were safer with them. Why...did I do that?"
Hiccup tried his best to prevent more tears from rolling down his cheeks. The more he thought about this, the more he was determined to go into this vital meeting with Yurlin with a strong will to prevent war. For Hiccup, he knew there'd have been no rise of Yurlin if the dragons were around, because they would've prevented the instability that led to the rise of Yurlin.
And Hiccup generally just felt lost without Toothless. Having had a family, having been married to Astrid, he finally buckled - he wanted the dragons back. For his family, for the viking world, and for the safety of the vikings.
In imminently meeting Alfa Yurlin, Hiccup had to toughen up and not miss a beat. This meeting was being watched by the whole archipelago, by all vikings, who were anxiously seeing if the first war since the dragons left would break out. Hiccup knew peace rested with him. He missed the dragons, he missed Toothless, but missing them only made him more determined to go into this vital meeting with the Ancient leader and prevent disaster.
It was time.