Chapter 319

Hiccups POV:

It's been four weeks since my family returned from Arabia and since then a lot has happened but we'd all mainly been trying to help Amina settle into her new life. We all spent time with her to help her understand that we were there for her when she needed it and that she was not going to be alone and fortunately, communication wasn't an issue since she was fluent in Norse thanks to her father wanting to be able to talk with me. Anyway, in addition to learning this, we learnt her father had many enemies who wanted revenge on him for one reason or another and would try to get to him through her using various assassination attempts. This led to her being poisoned more than a few times with more than a few coming close to ending her life if one of the servants wasn't the child of a healer who made sure her daughter knew all her healing methods and antidotes. It was because of this, her body grew an immunity to most poisons and in addition to this, she grew an interest in not only healing but poisons and their various uses. She began growing her own plants and herbs which were used to make healing salves, medicines and poisons with the healing salves and medicines being given out to the servants who had injured or sick family members while the poisons would go to guards in case of emergency and make life a little easier for them. She'd eventually begin buying venomous snakes and scorpions along with other venomous snakes and bugs that she'd harvest the venom from in order to create antivenoms which she'd supply the servants and guards.

I saw the potential she had as a healer and I couldn't deny that her studies into various venoms and poisons might end up being helpful in the future. Because of this, I had her begin studying under New Berks healers who were happy to teach her their techniques, medicines and more while also having her watch and help them tend to some of their patients. In addition to this, I'd also built her a glasshouse of her own to grow her own plants and used my plant pot to help her gather a wide variety of plants she was studying from Arabia and a few others from around the island. In addition to this, I'd built a large building into the side of the glasshouse which had numerous shelves with glass boxes with some having bottoms filled with sand for a desert feeling, bowels of water while others had dried leaves and moss for poison dart frogs. At the back though was another room with a bookshelf against the right and left wall with the shelves on the left holding various books while the one on the left had jars and bowels. Against the back wall though were various tools that were used to make medicines and handle poisons so she could study them and make medicines.

After we were done building it, we'd returned to Arabia for a day and captured a couple of scorpions for the cases and gone to my own Mayan jungle to fill the others with poison dart frogs so she could harvest their venom. We'd also gathered a couple of venomous snakes but instead of caging them, Blanca used her abilities as a Snake Guardian to communicate with them and convince them to join us on the island and help Amina with her studies. It was easy to tell that during her studies, Amina had begun forming a bond of friendship with some of the snakes who seemed to like her and Blanca told me that the snakes at least begun to care about her since she showed them respect and tried to be gentle when harvesting their venom. She'd also gotten some snake baskets for them, so they'd at least be comfortable while they waited for her to return them to the Egyptian desert where they lived.

Still though, I made sure her focus wasn't only on medicines and poisons and had her join my kids in their own studies of foreign languages, customs, various techniques for various things which included combat. So far, she'd shown real potential when dual wielding short swords and had her begin training under Water who was a master at dual wielding weapons, but it'd be a long time before she'd be entering the golden dragon armory to claim her own weapon. For now, though, I had her practicing with two short scimitars, and she'd been showing real potential when using them and would be able to handle herself against a few less skilled opponents who focused more on strength than strategy.

Recently, I'd been a little uneasy since in a few days, I'd be leaving with Chiaki and Blanca to take my dad's place at a peace treaty renewal with the Bog burgle tribe with Blanca accompanying me since it was tradition for the visiting chief to bring his wife to the Bog Burgles while Chiaki was coming wanting to sharpen her negotiation skills. Astrid would be busy on another island running drills with the Berk guard and Hadasa was going to be looking after the babies in our absence. Now it's not that I didn't have faith in Hadasa's skills as a mother since I honestly did have faith in her, but recently I'd had a bad feeling in my gut, telling me something bad was coming and no matter what I did, I couldn't shake the feeling. To make things a little more difficult, the day before I was to leave with Blanca and Chiaki, I was to open the bazaar since New Berk had been dealing with devastating winter and the bazaar was a good way to give everyone a break from the cold and a chance to get out of their huts. This would of course place a bigger burden on Hadasa since she'd have to also need to handle some of the issues of dealing with the kids and possible issues that come with the bazaar. Still, to ensure she'd have an easier time I'd summoned my ninja masters and their forces with the orders to help her to keep an eye on things along with giving my adopted kids orders to help where they could. Now though, I was soaking in my tub with my head laid back on the edge while I thought about everything that was to come and closed my eyes, trying to think of how to get rid of the feeling in my gut, taking a breath just to relax.

Unknown location

Nobodies POV:

A lone hooded figure made his way into a small shop with numerous shelves holding various products and walked up to the counter where a bald man was standing. The figure handed him a metal coin before the shop keeper examined it for a few seconds and nodded, placing the coin into a hidden slot built into the side of the counter. A trap door opened behind him which the hooded figure quickly made their way down the steps before the trap door closing behind him, leaving his only source of light being the torches that lined the walls. The figure walked down the stairs and through the door, entering a bar where numerous people were sat around at tables with none of them looking to be the type of person anyone should mess with, but the figure ignored them and made their way over to the bar. The bar tender was a man with a shaved head, wearing a black leather vest, leather arm bands and earrings with tattoos covering his head and a large scar going down his right eye. He raised an eyebrow as the hooded figure walked over to him until he got a look at his face and used his right hands thumb to point at a man in the far corner. The hooded figure nodded in thanks and walked over to the table before the man looked up from his drink, but his features were impossible to see in the shadows. The man looked at the hooded figure and asked.

"I take it you have a new target?" The hooded figure nodded making the man sigh. "Just give me the details and my team and I shall take care of them." The figure smiled and brought out a few scrolls along with a bag, dropping them on the table and walking out while the man began going through the scrolls.

3 days later

Hiccups POV:

I was once again on my ship with Toothless, Blanca and Chiaki with New Berk behind us in the distance and with it our family who we wouldn't be seeing for a few days. I admit I was a little worried but that was to be expected since yesterday, I'd opened up the bazaar to help my dad deal with fewer issues in the village since everyone would be too busy searching the bazaar for new stuff for their homes, new foods or enjoying the shows. Still though, I worried about the kids and Hadasa since this would be the first time my adoptive kids would basically be taking care of themselves since Hadasa would be too busy with the babies and the islands other inhabitants had their own duties to tend to. I sighed knowing that I was worrying for nothing since both my wives and I had taken steps to ensure the kids would be alright in our absence no matter what by ensuring they knew how to cook their own meals, defend themselves and more while also ensuring the kitchens were fully stocked and there were extra blankets in storage. In addition to all this it would be unlikely that they'd need to defend themselves considering all the defenses my island had set up around it and those that kept New Berk safe, would ensure no enemy could infiltrate my home. I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair knowing I needed to clear my head before I turned to Toothless who was hanging his head over the railing and enjoying the view until he turned to me and tilted his head. I chuckled and said.

"Come on bud, let's do a fly around." He began jumping around in joy, making me chuckle and mount him before we took off into the sky and began flying around the ship.

Nightfall

Nobodies POV:

Night had fallen over the island which Hiccup had been gifted by the gods and everyone who called it home were now performing their nightly routines or duties in the case of the snake guardians who patrolled the island. One such person was young Hunter who was sitting in his hut, sharpening one of his hunting knives like he did every night before bed to help relax him. This was a routine he'd done for years, since he first took up hunting to help out his mother who told him that her own father, his grandfather, used to do before he passed away due to illness. As he sharpened his blade though, his mind kept drifting to how different his life had become, which is something he does often since they were just so different with his original life being one of struggles but the love of his mother and scorn of his fellow villagers while his new one was one of intense training and lessons but love of his father, siblings both blood and adopted, step-mothers and kindness of his new fellow villagers. He sighed and looked around his hut which was something he truly cherished since it may not have been as fancy or big as his father's home, but it was something he truly loved since it was where he was born, raised and held so many happy memories involving his mother. He'd never stop being greatful to his father for bringing it to his island instead of just leaving it to be torn down or turned into a boar pen back in his old village and with it would go the one safe haven he had from his childhood bullies.

It was then he was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the wood that made his roof, creaked and although that was normal for his home, he knew this creak was different thanks to his ninja training. He heard feet silently land on his upper floor and knew that someone had broken into his house but were trying to remain quiet and from how silent they were being, he knew they were well trained in the art of stealth. Knowing they most likely didn't realize that he was aware of their presence, and this would give him the element of surprise if he just kept calm and continued to sharpen his knife while preparing for the right moment to strike. For a few seconds he heard nothing but the sound of the intruder silently making their way across the upstairs room, towards the steps until he heard the sound of breath being held.

Hunter quickly dropped from his chair and rolled across the floor, just avoiding a metal throwing knife that imbedded itself into his chair where his head once was and saw purple liquid dripping from it and it wasn't hard to tell that it was poison. Hunter quickly threw his own hunting knife at the spot where the knife came from while tucking and rolling over to where his axes were while the intruder leaned to the side, avoiding the dagger and pulling out another throwing knife. Hunter grabbed his axes and turned to see who had broken into his home and saw a woman wearing leather pants, a skintight black tunic with crimson vest and her black hair tied in tight black bun with purple dust covering her eyelids and purple paint covering her smiling lips. Hunter glared at the woman as he growled.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my home?"

"Names don't matter when you're going to die hon, but they call me Embla." She threw two more knives at Hunter who dodged one and used his axe to block the other. "Don't try to call for your friends to come help you, my own friends are dealing with them." Hunter's eyes widened, fearing not for himself, but for his siblings and friends while deciding that he needed to deal with this woman fast and get back to his family and set off the alarm.

Amina's workshop

Amina was still in her workshop going through one last checkup on the various poisons, antidotes, scorpions, poison dart frogs and tools before she turned in for the night. She was presently examining one of her Egyptian scorpions when the door leading into her workshop opened to reveal Chara, still wearing her regular outfit that hid her body in the shadows, acted as armor and hid her choice of weapon, her mystic kunai. Chara smiled at Amina before she said.

"Amina, it's almost time for bed so finish up what you're doing and come on." Amina nodded.

"Don't worry Chara, I'm almost done."

Before Chara could reply, she sensed someone behind her and quickly rushed forward while twisting around and equipping a grey kunai in each hand. This was proven to be the right choice when she was greeted by the sight of a very large man whose size took up the entire door frame and although he had a smile on his face, the girls could tell he wasn't friendly. He was wearing brown pants and a brown leather vest which left his muscled chest and abs exposed while his hands to his elbows were covered by black metal gauntlets with the knuckles having blunt spikes on them. As for his face, he had a shaved head that had his black hair growing down the center and going down the back into a tight ponytail with a small patch of hair on his chin. Chara got into her battle stance as she glared at the stranger and asked.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" He just smiled.

"Names Lunk little ladies and as for why I'm here," He cracked his knuckles. "well me and my pals were sent to do a job but don't worry, I'll make this quick." He then approached them with his intentions clear, but Chara was not going to let him harm her sister and charged at him.

Training room

Brant and Egil were in the training room having a friendly training session before bed since Egil felt it difficult at times to fall asleep without working up a good sweat after an intense study session like he had earlier. Brant was joining him as he wanted to test out some new moves he'd been working on for a while but could never get the timing right for some of the movements that come right after another. Brant panted a bit before looking at Egil who was wiping the sweat from his head as he said.

"I admit, the move your working on seems to have some good points but is the timing really that important?" Brant wiped the sweat from his own forehead as he looked at his adoptive brother with a small smile.

"Come on Egil, you know from the training under dad and the master's that timing can be what makes the difference between victory and defeat." Egil nodded.

"That's true, but maybe you should try alter the movements of your new move a little, so the timing isn't so complicated." Brant shook his head.

"No, this move is meant to go this way so I can block an oncoming attack before going immediately from defending and disarming my opponent to attacking them and bringing them down, all in one swift movement."

Egil nodded but before he could give a reply besides that both he and Brant were forced to jump away from each other barely dodging two things shot at them. They looked at what was fired and saw small black metal arrows which were now imbedded into the marble wall, showing how fast and how strong they were. They quickly turned to see who had shot at them and found a man wearing a long black coat like their fathers with a black leather vest, pants and boots standing there with his black hair combed back and pulled into a tight ponytail. In his hands were mini handheld crossbows that were made of dark wood with bolts circling the part just above the handle and two launch points with one above the other. Both boys glared at him and quickly got back into their battle stances with their mystic weapons at the ready as they glared at the intruder who frowned as he shook his head and said.

"Darn, I was hoping to kill you both with those single shots and be done killing for the evening." He pointed his crossbows at the boys. "Please do not dodge these next two bolts or your deaths may not be as clean as I would like."

The two boys just glared as their foe began rapidly firing bolts at the boys with them doing their best to dodge them, but they knew things were not going to be easy. Their suspicions were proven right when they were forced to continue dodging the bolts which were difficult due to their speed and size while also needing to deal with his accuracy which surpassed any of their past opponents. They also had to rely mainly on their ranged attacks since whenever they would get near him, he'd quickly turn his weapons to them, forcing them to back away to avoid the arrows. The more they fought the clearer it was to them that this man was a truly seasoned warrior, took care of his weapons and had done this before. It was then Brant decided it was time to practice his new move and hoped he'd get it right or he'd be wounded by one of the bolts, but he'd need to wait for the right moment. As he did though, he couldn't help but worry about his other siblings who may also be in trouble if this guy came with allies.

Hunters hut

Hunter was ducking and dodging multiple knives thrown at him by the woman named Embla, who'd invaded his home which was not an easy task considering how small his hut was. He knew he'd need to at the very least get her out the door where he'd have more room to move around and at the very least stop wrecking his own house. It was then Hunter remembered something his father had set up in his hut which was made for protecting him from those who sought to harm him and smiled when he realized it could be the key to his victory. He quickly tucks and rolled out of the way of two more daggers while swinging his axes around by the chains and circling his opponent who circled around with him before he threw one of his axes at her. Embla quickly raised her daggers to form an X which blocked the axe, but it also shattered her daggers and pushed her body back, even though she was able to remain on her feet before Embla discarded her broken daggers and pulled out new ones as she said.

"Nice try hon, but it'll take more than that to take me down." Hunter just smiled and replied.

"That wasn't meant to take you down, just push you into the right position and range."

She raised an eyebrow but before she could ask what he meant, vicious hissing sound came from her sides right and she turned to one side just in time to see a very light brown snake with dark blue and yellow patterns on its back sunk its fangs into her right leg. Embla was barely able to look up to see it was coming out of the tapestry that was hanging by the door before her body froze up and another snake wrapped around her body, pulling her against the tapestry that was hanging on the opposite side of the door. Hunter chuckled as he lowered his axes and said.

"Those tapestries were a gift given to my father by the gods and he wanted me to be safe so when my hut was reconstructed in case someone tried to break in while I was asleep." He walked to the door. "I'll be back to deal with you later since right now I need to check on my brothers and sisters and let them know about you and deal with anyone else on the island." With that said Hunter rushed out.

Amina's workshop

Chara was panting and gripping her right side in pain due to the powerful strike she'd gotten from Lunk who was able to land a few easy hits on her because in addition to trying to protect Amina, she didn't want to damage the glass cases that surrounded them. The reason for this is each of them held either poison dart frogs or scorpions, with each possessing a venom that could cause immense pain, paralyze and even kill them so she didn't want to risk releasing any of them. At the very least, Amina had fled to her workshop at the back to avoid the Lunk and getting in her sisters' way and give her more room to fight. It was then Chara saw Lunk smirk as he held up his fists and said.

"I heard you were a pretty good fighter and sometimes joined your daddy on his trips to take down crooks." He then chuckled. "If this is how you fight now then I guess the rumors I heard about you only being good at fighting from the shadows like a coward are true." Chara growled at him but before she could reply, Lunk screamed in pain and turned around which showed Chara a syringe lodged into his back as the voice of Amina said.

"And you were an idiot to forget about me and that my workshop was made for handling poisons." Before he could reply, he began foaming at the mouth and collapsed to the ground, shaking in pain. "You should've realized when you broke into my workshop, you'd run the risk of being poisoned." Chara just stared at the man who looked as if he'd been bitten by every poisonous snake on the island before turning to Amina with a look of shock on her face as Amina just smiled. "What?" She placed her hands on her waist. "I may not be as skilled a fighter as you, Brant, Egil and Hunter but I do have my own talents." She brushed her hair aside, shaking Chara from her shock before she asked.

"What kind of poison did you use on him?" Amina looked down at Lunk.

"A poison I got from some of the scorpions I was able to gather in my homeland."

"Will he be alright?" Amina nodded.

"Yeah, but he's going to be in a lot of pain and not able to move till either morning or until he's given the antivenom."

"Either way, remind me never to let any of your little friends crawl on me." Amina just smiled. "Now come on, we've got to go warn everyone else." Amina nodded before they rushed out.

Training room

Brant and Hunter were still fighting their opponent who had fortunately run out of arrows and sheathed his weapons, exchanging them for a set of bladed chain with curved axe like blade at the end which would immediately pull back into the sleeve of his coat when he twisted his wrist. He'd proven to be just as skilled with these chains as he was with his crossbows, ensuring ensured that both Brant and Egil were unable to get near him. Fortunately, they'd been training under Earth and with Hunter, both of whom had used similar weapons during their training sessions, but it didn't make getting close to their opponent any easier since he always kept one of the blades in whichever hand was free for defense. It was then Brant gave Egil a nod to signal him that it was time to put their plan to take their foe down which they'd been discussing using hidden gestures and hand signals which they'd made for such occasions.

The moment he launched his blade at Egil, Brant charged at him from the opposite side which forced their opponent to launch the blade he had in his hand at him and cross his arms. Egil dodged the blade but before it could be pulled back, he stabbed his sword into one of the chains links pinning the chains to the ground as Brant did the same with his spear which left their foe trapped with his arms crossed over each other. Before he could react, both boys ran across the chains towards him but as they got close, the chains were released making the boys stumbled while their foe was freed from the restraints and instead pulled out two black hatchets. The boys quickly recovered their balance before Brant brought out his dagger and Egil brought out his ice gloves with each of them ready to take on their foe to the end.

Both boys charged at their foe and swung their weapons at him but he'd just duck and dodge their weapons before swinging his hatchets at them. Brant thrust his dagger forward at his enemy's side, hoping to imbed his blade in his side but their foe turned to avoid the blade and slammed the butt of his hatchet on his hand, knocking Brants hand down. This created an opening for the man to swing his one hatchet at Brant who wasn't fast enough to dodge it fully and received a cut going across his forehead down and across his nose and on onto his right cheek, making him back up in pain. Egil didn't fair much better when he tried to attack using his ice-covered hands with their foe being able to dodge the punch before slamming the butt of his hatchets onto his shoulders, bringing Egil to his knees in pain, but covered the butts in frost from his coat. Brant took this opportunity and unleashed his shield before slamming it into their opponent and pushing him back and making him stumble back towards the door. He growled at the boys, but before they could continue the fight someone coughed behind him, making him quickly turn around to see a very angry Hadasa standing there with one of her pods in her hand as she said.

"The ruckus you've been making woke the babies."

The pod leapt from her hand and latched onto his face, covering it as he let out a muffled scream, dropping his hatchets before he began clawing at his face, trying to get it off until he lowered his arms and dropped to the ground unconscious. Once he was dealt with, Hadasa rushed over to the boys and immediately began examining the cut on Brants face in worry as she asked.

"Are you both alright." Brant pushed her hands off him.

"We'll be fine but right now, we need to find the girls and Hunter." Egil nodded.

"This guy may have brought allies to hurt them as well." A voice from the entrance answered.

"There were!" Everyone turned to the door and saw Hunter alongside Chara and Amina before Hunter said.

"A woman attacked my hut but I took her down using the snake tapestries dad gave me." Chara then said.

"We were attacked in Amina's storehouse by a large man, but Amina got him in the back with some poisons." Amina smiled.

"He'll be paralyzed till morning." Hadasa nodded and smiled.

"Watch over your siblings and use your messenger cats to warn the others about what's happened." She made her way out. "I'm going to use my connection to the plants to check for any other foes." They nodded and followed her out, knowing the man with the pod on his face was going to be out for a while so he was not going to be a bother.

Bog Burgle tribe

Hiccups POV:

I walked into my bedroom on my ship after a long bath and let out a sigh as I took off my alpaca fur nightgown and put it aside as I made my way over to the bed where Blanca and Chiaki were laying. I collapsed onto the bed while muttering about how difficult a day it had been since the moment we'd arrived on the island, and I knew the girls were also having a hard time. The problem is, the Bog Burgles were an all-female tribe and they'd reproduce by finding mighty warriors who would get them pregnant with what they'd be hoping were strong daughters and if they had sons, they'd be sent away to be raised by ally tribes or their fathers. Their mothers would play a small part in their lives though, through letters, gifts and occasional visit when visiting the ally tribes which their sons were part of while it was rare for the daughters to even meet their fathers, let alone spend time with them. This is where the problems came up for me and my wives, since I was clearly a strong warrior who was also inventive and smart, which made me an ideal male to father their children. To do this though, they needed to first get past my wives and had been pestering them all day while sending me seductive looks and flirting nonstop during the tour of the village with some pulling my wives aside for talks which they revealed to me were asking permission to sleep with me.

Then came the welcoming feast where both me and my wives were offered drink after drink in an attempt to get us so drunk that we wouldn't know what they were doing whether it was taking me to bed while getting permission from my wives. Then came the signing of the peace treaty which turned out to be the main reason they wanted us drunk, so we'd sign it without reading it. When the peace treaty came out, I was glad I'd learnt to hold my drinks since Chieftess Bertha and Camicazi tried to sneak in a few secret agreements. These agreements included that I'd teach them how to train dragons, pay a lot of gold and would get Camicazi pregnant with my child until she has a daughter with any sons being given to me to be raised. When I exposed their trick to my wives, they were not happy while Bertha and Camicazi just looked sheepish at being caught before I rewrote the entire peace treaty so both tribes would gain equal benefits and there was no mention of me fathering any kids or dragon training.

I let out a sigh as I crawled up the bed to where my wives were waiting for me, and I was grateful to see their arms opened to welcome me in a warm embrace. Before I could reach them though a familiar cat hissing caught my attention, and I sighed knowing that it meant my messenger cat had just gotten a new message. I groaned in annoyance as I climbed off the bed and walked over to the statue before pulling out the message, walking back to bed and sitting down on the edge. I opened the scroll and went over its contents while muttering what it said to myself as my eyes widened the more, I read until I dropped the letter and turned to my wives and spoke.

"We're going home!" They both stared at me in concern as I began getting dressed before Chiaki asked.

"What's going on?" I didn't look back as I replied.

"There was an attack on the island with three skilled assassins going after the kids." They both gasped before Blanca asked.

"Were any of them harmed?"

"Hunter got a few cuts, Chara got a few bruises, and Brant was cut across the face, but none of them were too badly injured." I clenched my fists. "Which is the least I can say for the ones who attacked them when we get back." They both nodded as Chiaki said.

"We'll have to leave a message with one of the guards to give to Chieftess Bertha, letting her know what's happened and why we left early and didn't stay to finish off things here." They nodded before I left the room to begin writing the letter.

20 minutes later

We were back on the island nearly instantly thanks to my ships portal abilities and made a beeline for the house as soon as we docked and ran into the house, looking for the kids. I found them in the bath house thanks to my scouter automatons where I found their wounds being tended to by Hadasa who was doing her best to stop the bleeding on Brants face. I didn't give them the chance to greet me before I brought out my mystic Ganji waters and tended to his cut and then got to work on his siblings. Once I knew they weren't hurt and their injuries tended, I asked where the ones who hurt them were, and they told me where they'd left them restrained and incapacitated. As Blanca and Chiaki arrived, I went to deal with those who attacked my kids and pulled each of them into my shadow, one by one to ensure they would not escape us or their interrogation. Now I was back in bed with my wives after I helped settle down the babies who were awoken by the battle in the training room and doing one last check up on the kids. I lay there in bed and allowed myself to fall into the realm of slumber knowing that tomorrow, I'd be interrogating those who dared to attack my home and harm my family members and find out who sent them so I could wring their necks with my own hands. Along with this I'd need to return to the Bog Burgles and finish off the peace treaty negotiations while also apologizing for my sudden leaving in the middle of the night without warning. All I knew is these next few days were going to be pretty busy for me and my wives who I knew were going to want to get in on the action.

AN: Another chapter complete and I am happy to say I've still got a job this year, but things were busy this first week which is why finishing off this chapter took so long. Anyway, I have a big favor to ask you all, I'm planning to publish my own written book but my dad convinced me to post it online on a sight called Fictionpress and would really appreciate if some of you can read it and give me an honest opinion. Just go to Fictionpress and type in 'Marty James' into the search bar then you can find it under my username which is the same as my Fanfiction one. With that said, please read and review, have a nice day.