CHAPTER 66: Outcast Island
A whole three weeks had passed since the Ancients passed their enhanced decree to impose on their vikings. Despite the pledges and the promises of Hiccup to go to the entrance of the hidden world to get the dragons back, he hadn't even gotten started with getting the boats ready to sail to it, let alone get them back. The war had been going on for three weeks now and still, despite all the vikings not involved in the war on the archipelago fearfully evacuating their home islands in their thousands, no fighting occurred.
It was the phoniest start to a war that anyone could've imagined. It didn't feel like a war as much as it did a propaganda war given all of the rhetoric coming out of the Ancients in particular. They couldn't believe their luck in how hesitant and how nervous the alliance was in terms of actually starting the fight. The only sort of fighting that'd occurred was the invasion of Caldera Cay, but ever since that triggering point of the war, nothing had happened.
It was complete and utter quiet on the archipelago between all the tribes. Aside from a few transferring of vikings from islands, i.e some more Hooligans heading to Berserker Island and vice versa, it was a pretty underwhelming state of war across the whole archipelago.
In some ways, the vikings on the archipelago were relieved - many of them dreaded a repeat of those horrific scenes like the ones faced between Drago and Hiccup during their battle before Stoick's subsequent death years ago. Many of them, after ten years of peace since Grimmel's death and the saddening exit of the dragons, were content with living peaceful lifestyles in contrast with their ancestors.
Of course, nobody knew how long the phoniness of the war would last - but for the time being, the whole archipelago was still the same as it was prior to Hiccup declaring war on the Ancients. Aside from the invasion of Caldera Cay which triggered the outbreak of war, it was very much a 'false' war.
"It's been THREE weeks..." complained Eret, as he spoke to Valka on the sidelines of the forests of New Berk.
"I know Eret, I know - go easy on him though, it's a difficult time for us all."
"I am going easy on him, Valka - I am. It's not an easy position to be in, but it's been three weeks now since he said we'd actually make moves to liberate the areas occupied by the Ancients. Now granted he's sent more vikings to Berserker Island over the course of these passing weeks, but he hasn't even made steps towards sailing to the entrance of the hidden world to get the dragons back as he said he would."
Valka and Eret were at the border of New Berk - the gigantic bird's eye view of the endless collections of sea in the vast distance engulfed their bodies like a menacing background, whilst on the other side were the green forests of New Berk's majestic natural scenery. The whole island was still under evacuation measures, with all of the children of the tribe safely kept in those evacuation huts.
Only a few Berkians were still patrolling the outskirts of the island and throughout, as a safety precaution in case the enemy was on their territory. The evacuation measures put into practice by Hiccup following the declaration of war had remained entirely unchanged. Eret and Valka had simply stepped outside to an isolated area of the island, near the edge of it, so they could talk about what they were currently discussing.
Valka was wholeheartedly backing her son in his very difficult situation - Eret was empathetic and was going to support Hiccup 24/7 as the Chieftan. He, however, felt disillusioned at the inaction that the tribe had still been undertaking. As far as Eret was concerned, the time to strike the Ancients boldly and send them packing was now. But the fear of a repeat of the horrifying scenes of the days of Drago's battles hooked Hiccup like a predator.
"I fully get where he's coming from, Valka, I really do. But we've a duty here to defeat a bunch of ruthless barbarians with a level of ruthlessness and cruelty I've never heard of before from any vikings. The longer we remain in a stalemate the more advantageous it'll be for Alfa Yurlin."
Valka was hesitant to speak up in agreement with Eret, she only looked at him solemnly as he carried on talking.
"I know now over the course of these past weeks he's sent more vikings onto Berserker Island, but even still, where's the action? we've got 100 Berkians on that island now alongside the Berserkers themselves, Caldera Cay is still under BOTH Ancient and Warlord occupation at the mercy of Yurlin and Drago, and we've still not done a thing."
"The time will come, Eret. The time will come when we make the move. I think at this difficult time Hiccup's more than ever thinking about his dad, and can you blame him for that? you might think I'm bias Eret but come on...I'm his mum, he's my son, I'll back him no matter what in what he may think is the right thing."
"No Valka, I'm not questioning that for a moment," Eret stressed, "I would never ask you to go against Hiccup, nor am I."
"I know you're not."
"I just feel...at some point we're going to have to swallow up that fear, we have to venture into the darkness to see the light out of the tunnel. We're inevitably going to have to see a repeat of those horrid moments from back in the day in order to rid this world of the regime that threatens all vikings. At what point do we do it?"
Valka shrugged her shoulders - as Hiccup's mum, she was extremely hesitant to say anything, even away from his presence, that'd go against him. She adored Hiccup and loved him to her heart, and she was fully understanding of the dreadful position he'd been forced into. She also knew, as Eret had just said, that at some point they'd inevitably have to actually fight and see a repeat of those nightmarish moments during the battle of Drago and his Bewilderbeast back on Old Berk prior to Stoick's death, if they had any chance of seeing the end of Alfa Yurlin's regime of a tribe.
"I'll have a word with him," she said, "he's simply trying to fill his father's boots, and we need to make sure he fulfills it for all of our sakes. I know he will, though."
"I do too, I just hope by the time he does it won't be too late."
Eret and Valka both started taking a walk back to the ghost town of a village with all vikings inside their huts due to the evacuation measures. After their discussion just now, Valka was going to try and prompt Hiccup to make the move towards sailing to the hidden world to try and get the dragons back.
With his tribe fully rearmed, and in the distance a boat of Berkians set to arrive for briefing on the upcoming plans for the war, Alvin and his men felt confident. On their entirely rocky island that barely had any vegetation on it, they nonetheless managed to cultivate together weapons and tools for the war effort. The Outcasts were standing at the shores of their island, wandering in small sections of groups talking loudly into the air as they awaited the arrival of the Berkians in the short distance, sent by Hiccup.
Having sent, at long last, the full 100 Berkians to Berserker Island, it was now time for some of them to be sent to Outcast Island, primarily for exchanging strategy tactics in the handling of the war. Hiccup, over the past three weeks, hadn't really done much, but this last week he finally went ahead and sent the full numbers to Berserker Island, and subsequently a not too dissimilar number of Berkians to Outcast Island, in which the incoming boat was them.
"AIGHT MEN," yelled Alvin, as the dark gloomy skies engulfed the entirety of the rocky island, "WE'VE ALL GOTTA BE UP ON OUR GAME, OUR FUTURE VIKINGS WILL THANK US FOR DOIN' THIS!"
There was a roar of support from the vocals of the other Outcasts that headed Alvin's way, as he rallied up his vikings in preparation. When the Berkians got here, following their strategic exchanges, they were going to sail to Berserker Island, some of them, in order to carry out the three week-delayed Cay Offensive.
"Let me just be clear with ya'll," said Alvin, "we ourselves have had a remarkably twisted history with the Berkians and Hiccup, but we're united with this man and his vikings now, putting aside whatever we went through in the past. A greater threat awaits us than anything we've ever seen on these 'ere islands, and it's a threat we're determined to slay and put to rest deep in the ground."
Scattered all over the corners and widths of their island's rocky nature were vast collections of weapons like catapults, bludgeons, swords and crossbows, many of which they'd created over the past three weeks. They were going to transport quite a lot of these weapons to the incoming Berkians so they could be used in the Cay Offensive from Berserker Island.
"Get all your spears up fellas, make sure the crossbows are ready - I may have been banished in the past from Berk, but united we stand with Hiccup and his men, and we will banish none other than Alfa Yurlin from this world for eternity!"
"That Yurlin forgets who he is facing - OUR island, not just the other tribes we're united with in combating his tyranny. In many ways, WE are also Berkians given some of us had been banished in the past from them...our island was so sturdy to have housed dragons like the FROZEN SKRILL. Yurlin and his land-desiring hunger have no idea what they'd be subject to if they'd dared try this during the era of the dragons!" yelled another Outcast viking.
Closer to the central village of Outcast Island were the wives and children of the men who were set to shortly discuss strategy with the arriving Hooligans. They were extremely worried about their fathers, and for the wives their husbands. But they knew, knowing the nature of what they were fighting, it had to be done. One husband had remained put with his family away from the shores to assure his family.
The shores of Outcast Island were as lit up as the inside of a volcano with ever rising magma, the central village had dimly lit torches allowing the huts to be exposed very faintly in the dark glimpses of the night. The husband, the only man to not be on the shores at this time with the others, was fiercely keen on assuring his wife and son that he'd be back home.
"I know," he said, hugging his wife, as she gripped his shoulders and utterly squeezed him out of fear that she may never see him again, "it's going to be okay."
"But what if it's not going to be okay, what if we don't see you again?" she struggled to say, her eyes as shiny as crystals from all the tears.
"I want to do this for you two," he said, "the next time you see me, we'll be safe in a free and secure world once again."
He ducked down to his son, in which the seven year old viking, with his small miniature tunic and helmet, rapidly jumped into the hands of his dad.
"Sonny, do me one favour, okay?" he said to his son, whispering into his ear, "be brave."
"I will, dad."
"And don't you worry about Yurlin, you got it? leave him to me - you both ought to remain safe here."
"Okay," he trembled, his son's lips quivering as the reality of never seeing his dad again after tonight dawned on the seven year old.
"It'll better for us to be crying tonight under freedom than crying tomorrow under Yurlin, you got it? you and your mother are strong, and I'm going to make sure you can both be kept strong and free. The whole archipelago is counting on us to defeat Yurlin and send him packing. And son, when I see you again, we'll have done precisely that."
The three of them once again embraced. They were gutted that it had to come to this - but the husband viking knew that doing this was the right move, in order to not only preserve the free viking world they all knew, but to ensure the protection and security of his wife and kid. The Outcasts were never a tribe for showing much emotions, but a threat that'd shadowed over the whole archipelago, a whole new threat that hadn't been faced before, meant that they were now precisely showing such emotions.
Families having to be broken apart so the husbands could go out and fight the Ancients and defeat Yurlin - all with the same mindset of ensuring their kids and wives had a free world. They'd rather go out and fight than risk capitulating to a regime which was based on systematic violence and the suppression of freedom.
Back at the shores, Alvin and his men in the crisp darkness were awaiting the arrival of the Berkian boat.
"It'd been agreed only last week," said Alvin, further talking to his men as the vast seas surrounded his back in the distance, "that our tribes wouldn't sign any separate peace agreements with the Ancients - we are all bloody united in our fight against this barbarism!"
"AND RIGHTLY SO!" yelled another Outcast.
That was now the case - the Hooligans, Berserkers, Outcasts and what remained of the Defenders of the Wing who managed to barely escape, had all agreed that none of them would sign a separate peace treaty with the Ancient Tribe. They'd all be in this fight united to the very end however long it took. The brutality of the invasion of Caldera Cay meant all of the grand alliance tribes believed that such evil could only be dealt peace by force, not words.
And also the context of the war - the failure of appeasing Yurlin. As much as they'd allowed him to take, none of it was enough, so the tribes fighting him knew that he had to be stopped. Giving Yurlin what he wanted proved to do absolutely NOTHING in curbing his hunger for territory.
"Uh, Alvin?" asked, in a stutter, one of the other Outcasts, "did that Hiccup fella send us a circling armada?"
Alvin's chest felt like it froze when he noticed the shadows of foreign boats, surrounding, almost circling, Outcast Island.