CHAPTER 57: Unbreakable resolve

News of the Ancient-Warlord pact spread like wildfire across the archipelago. Any doubt that war was coming to the vikings for the first time since the dragons had left was firmly out of the window. It'd been a week since the announcement of the pact.

Dagur, Mala, Heather and Alvin had all returned to their respective islands. Dagur had sent Berserker vikings specifically to Caldera Cay to help his wife, Mala, defend their island against what was Yurlin's obvious next move - the invasion of Caldera Cay. All of them had firmly signed and pledged to stand together in what they called 'The Alliance' - the Berserkers, Hooligans, Outcasts, Defenders of the Wing, all becoming one grand alliance to face off against what Yurlin had declared as 'The Coalition' - namely, Ancients and the Warlords given their pact.

All the vikings at this point were mobilizing and readying their weapons up. On New Berk, hundreds of Berkians were carrying thick bars of steel on their shoulders, many were slamming their hammers against the anvils whilst they smelted swords and other metal weapons, the evacuation huts were continuing to be built across the outskirts of the tall island, and as the sun drew to a gradual close, producing a beautiful beam of orange across the sky like a flashlight, the island was seeing heaps of activity.

Fishermen were carrying, like they were racing, baskets of fish, heaps of them - they'd been out at the very bottom of New Berk catching as many fish as possible to stock up on food in order to keep themselves well fed in the event of conflict breaking out. The children, all of them, were being taken into consideration which was the case given the building of many evacuation huts around the outskirts of New Berk.

Hiccup had long digested the news of the Ancient-Warlord pact. He'd closed himself off inside his hut with Valka and Astrid, alongside Gobber. Zephyr and Nuffink were also inside but they were in their rooms in the hut. It'd been a long day for Hiccup, who'd spent hours and this past week rallying up his tribe.

In his deepest heart of hearts, Hiccup still didn't want to have to go to war, but he pushed through that hesitancy for the sake of not just the freedom vikings had today, but also his children. It horrified him that one day his children could grow up in a world of tyranny and oppression, in which that tyranny has hunger for annexing their own home island in New Berk, thus beginning the process of the world going into a dark backwards era.

Hiccup was utterly determined to not let that happen, and he had the full backing of the tribe. They were hungry as a whole for going back to war after ten years of inactivity following the dragons going away. They long wanted to attack the Ancients from the moment they put their boots onto Old Berk and militarized it. They were determined to prevent Ancient domination of the archipelago, which was a prelude to taking over the world by force hooked by a dark oppressive ideology unheard of even by the likes of Drago and Grimmel's kind.

"How're you holding up, Hiccup?" Astrid asked, grabbing a chair to sit down besides him.

"Could be worse," he chuckled, trying to create a sense of positiveness in what was an otherwise dark environment, like a cloud that was following him from above.

Astrid could see that he was still struggling to comprehend all of this.

"Look," Astrid said, grabbing Hiccup's hand on the table to hold it, "I know you feel incredibly isolated...but we're all in this together, Hiccup. Can you hear that outside?"

Astrid went silent, as did the whole room. In the faint distance beyond the wooden walls of the hut, hammers slamming into anvils and muffled voices discussing positions and confidence could be heard, barely racing their way into the ears of everyone in the hut, but they were heard nonetheless.

Hiccup nodded.

"That's all your doing, Hiccup - you've rallied us up again after so many years of peace. And it's for a good cause. I know I was wrong...I'm sorry for-"

"Don't say sorry, Astrid, and the same for you mum," Hiccup said, looking at Valka standing near the front doorway of the hut, "we were all wrong."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Hiccup.

"We didn't know who we were dealing with. After all, how could anyone sign a pact with a guy who's so...just so severely different to himself? that to me shows that Yurlin is playing a crafty game here, using Drago to not only get at me, but to also get what he's looking for. All this time, I was talking to a monster."

"Put it this way son, your father would be thinking the exact same about Yurlin if he were still around - the benefit of hindsight is a cursed one."

"I know, and...part of me wishes dad was still here for that support. The dragons aren't here anymore, so if anything happens then this'll all be breaking out into a war where it'll be a pure combat situation with no dragons...it's scary, and...yeah, I just don't know how to comprehend it all."

The front door opened and all eyes quickly turned to the figure who emerged - it was Eret, son of Eret.

"I heard enough out there Hiccup, let me make it crystal clear to you fella," he said, walking up to the table next to Astrid on the chair, leaning his palms on the table to look at Hiccup.

"Had you been listening from the outside out there?!" Gobber asked Eret.

Eret turned behind his shoulder to look at Gobber.

"I've got a thing or two for good hearing. Wouldn't have succeeded as Drago's rancid mercenary if I didn't have it. But," Eret turned back to face Hiccup, "Hiccup, let me just put this into context mate. When you were a boy, what did you defeat?"

Hiccup's eyes widened - he knew where Eret was going right away.

"My reputation?" Hiccup replied.

"Hiccup, what do you mean your reputation?" Astrid asked, bewildered at her husband's answer.

"I was never exactly the popular boy of the get-together, was I? out of Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruff and Tuffnut, and you Astrid, I just wasn't, and I'm being honest. Sorry, I hate talking about myself like that, but I'm just incredibly overwhelmed right now."

"Hiccup, I'm going to ask the question again. What did you defeat as a boy?"

"The Red Death?"

"The Red Death," Eret nodded as he repeated Hiccup's answer, "a giant queen dragon...you, with your own initiative and ability to rally dragons and vikings at the time, you brought down a queen dragon that was forcing them to attack our islands to bring food to her. You befriended a Night Fury to do that."

Hiccup appreciated Eret's words, but he wasn't quite sure where he was going with this after that.

"Nobody else in this world can say they've befriended a Night Fury, son," Valka said.

"...and you're seriously doubting that you can rally the tribe and all the others to defeat...just a man?" Eret asked.

Hiccup was bewildered, "what?"

"You defeated, alongside Toothless, a giant queen dragon, and now you're doubting you can defeat just a small man, a viking, a human like all of us?"

Hiccup was starting to see where Eret was coming from.

"The point is, Hiccup, if you can defeat the Red Death, a giant tyrannical queen dragon as a young teenager, you can certainly defeat Alfa Yurlin who's a small tyrannical viking who's just a man like the rest of us."

Hearing Eret's words brightened Hiccup's mindset, like energy was being zapped back into him. Putting the situation he was facing in potentially going to war in those words made everything so much more bearable.

"The fact Yurlin has had to hitchhike onto the back of Drago Bludvist despite being supposed ideological enemies spells to me that he's a weak enemy. The Red Death was thousands of feet tall and a literal monster, Yurlin is just a human whose power has gotten to his head. He's missed his ticket to victory already. I would say, Chief, defeating a giant queen dragon as a boy more than qualifies you to defeat just a man in comparison."

Eret's motivational words and attempt to paint a picture which portrayed any incoming conflict with Yurlin as completely minuscule and insignificant compared to what the Hooligans went through with the Red Death prompted Hiccup to stand up from his chair, catching everyone in the hut by surprise.

He walked up to Eret and, without thinking, simply held Eret around in an embrace. Hiccup couldn't have appreciated Eret more than he could've shown. All of his advice over the years, from when he first warned about Grimmel the Grisly, now to Yurlin, Hiccup truly saw Eret as a viking who any other tribe could dream of having.

"Thanks for everything, Eret," Hiccup whispered, as the two men maintained their embrace for another few seconds.

"It's no worries at all fella, I'm just here to make sure we do this and protect what makes us vikings moral warriors. We're the arsenal of freedom, you created this world through courage and bravery, the end result being a world where vikings live in freedom and dignity in the fact we made peace with the dragons...I don't think this, I KNOW that you're not going to let any of that be erased from the history books by any hungry oppressive viking. I just know it, Hiccup."

Hiccup stepped back from Eret. He then looked at Astrid.

"Astrid, let's go and get the 'gang' back together for a little bit."

"What do you mean, Hiccup?"

"Fishlegs, Snotlout, Tuff and Ruffnut...just us and you, let's all get together like the good old days."

Hiccup wanted to revisit the past, for a good reason too.


Stood within the dense forests of New Berk, surrounded by two gigantic mountainous bits of terrain in the not too far distance as they towered over the vicinity, Hiccup had gathered the 'gang' back together, just them. Astrid, Zephyr and Nuffink had also come, because Hiccup felt like in this gathering where it'd just be him and his old friends, having gone through what they have together as teenagers up to now, it'd be a great symbolic thing. Astrid was of course a central part of Hiccup's teenager years too when his dad was alive and Chieftan.

Plus, Hiccup wanted to talk to them all individually, given what was likely to come next - a war which'd determine whether vikingism went down a barbaric oppressive path with slavery and dictatorship across sovereign innocent vikings, or remained as a freedom-loving utopia where vikings retained a proud history of peace making with the dragons.

They were all sat around in a circle on the bushy grass ground, having made a campfire with heaps of sticks. They weren't using the fire for anything in particular but it was something they did just to get the ball rolling. As the fire ruthlessly munched its way through the twigs, the sound of snapping burning twigs colliding with everyone's ears, Hiccup looked across to everyone.

Seeing them all together, just them, took him right back to the old days on Berk when his father was alive. The mischief during Snoggletog every year as teenagers, the fun and games they'd all play together with themselves and their dragons, the dragon races, Thawfest, everything was coming back to Hiccup.

"So guys," Hiccup said, as he gently adjusted the stance in which he was sat due to his prosthetic leg, "I feel like I haven't really spoken to any of you since this all started cropping up."

"Ppft, you can say that again."

As much as Snotlout's sarcasm was overtired and boring, to which only he ever found it funny, it was oddly exactly what Hiccup had wanted to hear, as a sort of memory of the past.

"That's what I'm talking about, Snotlout. I mean...you punched me that time but I returned the favour and more than accepted the challenge, do you not remember that?" Hiccup chuckled.

"Boy, you had to bring that up didn't you?" Snotlout said, unable to comprehend that - he was ashamed to have even been recalled that he lost that challenge.

It was years ago, but Snotlout genuinely couldn't believe Hiccup still remembered that.

"But this is what I mean, you guys. We've all had such a good run over these years, when my dad was Chieftan especially, right after we made peace with the dragons. I didn't realize just how much it all meant to me."

"...you punched someone, dad?" Nuffink asked, nudging Hiccup on the arm.

"It was uh...more complicated than that, Nuff."

"Only because I took the initiative and came out as the lesser coward that time!" Snotlout replied.

"But seriously you guys, I just...you're all like my family, you know?" Hiccup said, carrying on.

"Awwww, you're as cute as ever Hiccy," said Ruffnut, wiping her eyes even though not a single tear was coming down.

"Feeling sorry for you there Hiccup, getting sympathy from her is basically confirmation that you're gonna become a walking scent of Yak-Nog."

"Wait, you guys also tried the Yak-Nog...like...at the first ever Snoggletog with our dragons after we defeated the queen?" Hiccup asked.

"Of course we did! why do you think Ruffnut's here?!"

"I am still here, you guys?" Astrid said, not appreciating the fact everyone was still talking down the Yak-Nog that she invented at the time.

"I think the verdict's out on that one, Astrid. Who knows, maybe we should get the kids to try it and see what they make of it!" Hiccup said, chuckling as he looked at Zephyr and Nuffink.

"Yak-Nog just sounds gross, I think I'll pass on that one dad!" Zephyr said.

The only one who didn't unequivocally talk down Astrid's Yak-Nog was Fishlegs, who was sitting there anxiously hoping the spotlight wouldn't be put on him to do so.

"Fishlegs would've liked to have tried it, right?" Astrid said, looking over at him.

"Haha, if there's one thing I can say Astrid, it's that circumstances arise in the most undesirable situations as that happened at the time you offered me it, I was unfortunate to not have gotten the chance, haha!" he laughed.

"I literally nodded to you behind her back at the time not to drink it, what are you, Fish-BRAINLESS?" Snotlout blurted out.

"SHH Don't tell her that?! what do you think I am?!" Fishlegs said.

"This is what I love about us as a group," Hiccup said, cutting into the conversation as it started getting out of topic, "I love...you guys. I love the memories we've all had."

Hiccup genuinely meant every word he was saying to them.

"When we go into this thing, to defend freedom as we have it right now, to defend our right to live outside tyranny, I'm taking you all with me. You've all been the beating heart of my life, my dad was my guardian as is my mum, but you guys were the foundation to it all. I don't care that I wasn't particularly liked prior to the dragons coming along, I'm just happy that we experienced all of that together. That first Snoggletog with the dragons, when Toothless came back, we had the most fun Snoggletog of any that night."

Everyone was listening.

"And that's precisely what I'm going to defend if we have to. The memories we made together, everything - those sorts of memories right now are at risk of being eradicated due to a territory-hungry tyrannical dictatorship taking over this archipelago, including ourselves, and we can't say it any other way...that's the threat that faces us right now with Yurlin. I want us to be able to look back and say we saved this world...the very world that created the memories I still remember to this day with us all as teenagers."

The tone had gone serious, none of the sneering sarcasm was breaking out from Snotlout or the usual suspects. Fishlegs was actually tearing up as Hiccup continued recalling the memories and saying how much he loved them all not just as friends, but as if they were his actual family.

"We need to do this together - this isn't the same threat we faced with Drago, we still had dragons with us. Grimmel was a mere hunter who rightfully fell to his own incompetence. We face the threat of a dictatorial viking annexing these islands, definitely for the goal of world domination under a way of life which'd treat the past like it never even happened - I don't want our dragons coming back for whatever reason in five or fifteen years, only to see this archipelago transformed into one unified oppressive state, as if the world they left had never existed. I need you guys by my side for this, we're a family, got it?"

Fishlegs continued tearing up, as everyone else nodded. Hiccup felt Zephyr and Nuffink cuddle up to him as he wrapped his arms around them both at the same time. The memories they all made, and the fun they had as teenagers - from that night during the first Snoggletog, which to this day for them was the best Snoggletog they ever had especially given the dragons returning after being missing for a few days, to the utopia they lived in under Stoick, the training, all of it.

Hiccup was determined to stop all of that being erased like it never happened, which meant stopping Yurlin from seemingly taking over the world. The threat of world domination under Yurlin was a much different kettle of fish to the one that would've come about under Drago. A one man dictatorship based on unviking 'race' theory - Drago had never based any of his motivations on 'race' like Yurlin seemingly was, and that was the distinction.

That was what needed to be stopped. The memories Hiccup had made as a teenager with Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruff and Tuffnut, Astrid and all the rest meant he was utterly determined to stand up to Yurlin. It was now only a matter of time before the first crossbow was fired in such a conflict given the imminent invasion of Caldera Cay.

"We need to get to Gothi's gathering so we can cement what needs to be done overseas. I won't let any of you down, I promise. My dad led me to this position and I intend on fulfilling it on this great crusade against evil and tyranny," Hiccup said.

The campfire was slowly going out as the dense forests of New Berk surrounded the group. They were now going to head back to the village to go to Gothi, who'd arranged a tribe-wide gathering for her to give Hiccup his heroic helmet as the leader of the free viking world in The Alliance.