It took me a lot of time. Again. I will try to get back on my previous schedule now; chapter per two weeks.
No one exists in the void, no matter how hardy, witty, mighty or resourceful. Everyone needs allies, and alliances need to be maintained, and allies confided with.
Toothless sighed, seeing Stormfly embark on the far side of the town with his friend on her back, then looked back to his work. His claws delicately cut through the wood, recreating carvings he remembered were once there: carvings he had ruined in his mead-induced stupidity, somehow thinking that they would look better if he blackened them with fire. First, the outer layer of wood needed to be removed. Then a new one, cut exactly to fit (which wasn't easy), was fitted in its place. Then, at last, he got to do something more interesting than lugging wood around. Or so he thought.
Recreating everything to how it was wasn't fun. It was tedious. He had to suppress ideas to modify them constantly; humans wanted it back to how it looked, understandably so, and Toothless does possess the ability to recreate them perfectly, with his perfect memory, as humans called it, and had quite a lot of training before he proceeded with repairing decorations on the pillars in the great hall.
"You are really good at it," complimented Adam Silverfinger, smiling at his work. Toothless grumbled, then, after a few seconds, replied in a more elaborate manner.
"I rheally wish I couldh alterh it, but it needsh to be the same as it was beforhe."
The human shrugged and replied back from his table, taking his time with mowing down food. "When you are done with it, you will have enough experience to make really good ones of your own."
Toothless stopped for a second, then nodded. "I supposhe sho."
And just like that, first elaborate dragon-made wood carving was created.
Wind howled in their ears as Stormfly sped through the skies, expertly finding the best currents to enhance her flight, flipping playfully on occasion and for once keeping silent. Trying to talk at such speeds was nothing short of futile, so neither she nor the humans on her back bothered. Neither did their escort, the sky-coloured Monstrous Nightmare she didn't yet know by name and the human on his back.
Eventually, an island showed up on the horizon. As they neared it, Astrid realised that it resembled a giant hand, unlike the three patches they had on their maps. It was covered in salt marsh and bogs. Five hills formed the 'fingers', two separated from others by a thin line of sea, thus making the shape on the maps understandable, if still sloppy work. Buildings at the base of the 'little finger', in the northwestern corner of the isle were where the original village was located, because here the ground was dry enough to build solid structures from turf or timber.
It wasn't all the land Bog-Burglars built on though, despite how hard it was to do it elsewhere. Refugees from distant lands and other tribes destroyed by the Blitz were numerous, and the Bog-Burglars had been all too eager to take in everyone rejected by Berk, Meatheads and Berserkers. The village stretched across two more fingers and part of the palm, half-sunk buildings dotted the landscape, with some placed on pillars towering over them, sometimes outright built directly above them. Wooden walkways lined all of it, half-sunk themselves. Humans trudged along it all, looking like ants from this height.
Disorganised, chaotic, and all the more miserable for it. Astrid rubbed her leather eyepatch, grumbling wordlessly. Berk was built in the best manner there was for their climate and terrain, taught by generations of knowledge and optimisation, so why couldn't they do that too?
Regardless of her friend's thoughts, Stormfly made her way down, just as the dragon escorting them did. They chose to land at a small islet slightly away from the original village. The dragon silhouettes shouldn't be visible for the Bog-Burglars from such a distance, so now they could rest.
Aksel got off the Monstrous Nightmare, just as she and a pretty gloomy Hiccup dismounted from Stormfly; he was clearly unhappy about the lack of his constant shadow. Aksel was as bulky as any other Berkian, with chainmail armour under his tunic lined with fur, a shield and sword already in hand when he touched the ground. He was an exemplary warrior, really, the exact kind that had kept Berk safe all those years.
After a short rest, all three humans headed out, leaving the two dragons behind on the islet. The ice was thankfully solid enough for humans to tread on.
Or so they thought.
When they were about halfway to the island, a creaking sound made them all go still, then swiftly lay down on their stomachs. But Hiccup, eternally awkward Hiccup, slipped on his prosthetic and fell on his ass, and the ice gave in.
"Nononono," muttered Hiccup as his backside ended in ice-cold water and lifted it out with his arms and legs, but the cracks proceeded to show there too.
Astrid cried out her friend's name, but Aksel was quicker with useful advice: "Lay flat, don't put weight on elbows and heels!"
"Okay, okay." Hiccup did as he was asked, and his backside again ended in water. Astrid extended her hatchet towards him, hilt-first, and started crawling in his direction; even a few minutes in the water of the north ocean can cause hypothermia, and while Hiccup had only small part of his body in, he was always more than a little sickly. "I am coming, Hiccup, stay calm."
Aksel stayed behind, well aware of his much more considerable weight, but even Astrid's light frame was too much for the weakened ice, which proceeded to crack. Carefully, she retreated back onto a more stable section. How were they going to get him out of there now?
As if that wasn't enough, the ice under Hiccup proceeded to break more, his thighs and lower back ending up in water. Astrid cringed, thinking quickly but finding no immediate solution.
A loud squawk and the flutter of wings signaled the arrival of Stormfly. The Deadly Nadder plucked the teenager from his precarious position with one set of claws, then neared Astrid and did the same; the Monstrous Nightmare mirrored the action with Aksel; it looked seriously shaken. Then the dragons headed back to the islet with the humans in their claws.
Immediately after landing, Aksel got his companion to spew liquid fire on the ground, soon throwing in some wood while Astrid sat Hiccup near the flames.
"That... could have gone a little better, won't you say?" Hiccup said.
At his usual snark, Astrid's mouth was set in a thin line. "Hiccup, this is serious."
"As if I don't know that," he replied dryly. Then added, "I spent two weeks in bed last time something like that happened, you know."
She didn't, but she chose not to reply, only to exhale. It helped her keep calm.
"Just sit here," Astrid finally said, then got up and walked away from the camp, gripping her hatchet tightly. However, as she considered throwing it at a few trees that dotted the islet, she spotted shapes moving through the ice field, towards them and from the direction of the village. Swiftly she returned to the camp. "Bog-Burglars are coming, they must have seen the dragons."
Aksel cursed, Hiccup groaned, the Monstrous Nightmare shrunk back and Stormfly just tilted her head to the side.
"We will just tell them sooner then," said Hiccup, much to Astrid's aggravation.
"As if that worked out the last time," Astrid said.
Hiccup cringed, saying no more.
Astrid half-expected Toothless to materialise from thin air and snarl at her, but alas it didn't happen. Those thoughts alone resulted in her realising what she had just said... but there was no time for idle talk now. Her mind turned to possible solutions. Send the dragons away? It would be strange for anyone to get loose while being carried off by dragons, but there was no way the Bog-Burglars could guess the truth. However, that would lead to their mission failure, and Astrid did not like to lose.
Hiccup spoke up. "Maybe we could just get their leader?"
Astrid nodded. "That is a good idea." At least far better than presenting it before the whole village at once, albeit it was Stoick that caused trouble back then, not the others.
Hiccup, smart as always, caught on her train of thought. Rubbing the back of his neck, he spoke. "Yeah. The more people, the more chances someone will do something rash, and then others will follow." He winced at the memory, then added, "I should have brought my dad to the forest and explained it there."
Astrid cocked an eyebrow. "And have Toothless sit on him the whole time?"
Hiccup shrugged, an anxious smile tugging at his lips. Then he steeled himself, the moment passing. "Stormfly, Skywing, fly away, make sure the approaching Bog-Burglars notice you, then return on paw within an hour, making sure they don't notice you."
Both dragons took off, the Monstrous Nightmare letting loose a loud roar while the Deadly Nadder filled the air with a piercing screech, before sweeping towards the approaching humans and then bolting away, close to the ground as to ensure they could land and walk back from a lower distance.
As for the humans, now they could only wait, and let the bonefire's smoke draw the Bog-Burglars to the islet.
"Halt!"
A raised fist and harsh command were familiar to the column, and they obeyed with simmering annoyance. Wierzchosława leaned against her sleigh lazily, giving her commander only a half-lidden glance. It was almost comically pompous as far as she was concerned, but they were a diverse bunch so weird quirks were just to be expected.
Quirks were much more bearable on companions rather than commanders, though.
"Ice is fractured, bank to the right!"
"As if she couldn't start with that," muttered Wierzchosława, and checked if her saber was properly secured before giving the dogs pulling her sleigh the command to go.
Dogs. It was... weird. Dogs weren't meant to pull things, horses and bulls were for that. However she was well aware that neither of those could possibly avoid cracking the ice with their hooves
Just another adaptation needed in the far north, she supposed.
The dragons appeared above the islet and zoomed in. Wierzchosława snatched up her bolas and started spinning them, a smile parting her lips as the rush of incoming battle buzzed in her veins. This was what she was made for!
...Except the dragons turned around and fled.
"Kurwa!" the woman shouted after the airborne lizards, then sighed and put her bolas back on her sleigh. Looking up, swears tumbling from her tongue, she spotted smoke rising from the islet. And not a lot of it either, less like a forest fire caused by devils, and more like a controlled flame.
She squinted at it, then nodded to herself, gritting her teeth against the cold. "That had better be what I think it is. I didn't come all the way out here just to zoom around on the sleighs, Kurwa."
She spotted the nearest sleigh, one of five in their party, and shouted. "I think someone may be on this islet! I am going to check it out!"
A bulky Bog-Burglar stared at her for two seconds, then shrugged and followed her. Right, never go out alone. She glanced at even further scouts, and the commander nodded to her sharply. Good, they should be informed of what she was going to do.
Soon enough the duo neared the islet; they dismounted, grabbed equipment and removed the lead dog from each harness.
"Burek, do nogi!" Wierzchosława called after her dog when he started wandering off, who promptly returned to her side at the command, pronounced with a smile. The Bog-Burglar in turn just kept her dog's collar in a meaty fist until she clipped a leash to it. The dog squirmed in her grip, and she muttered out a half-reassurance half-order. "Quiet, Fenrir."
Wierzchosława shook her head, striding towards her companion. "I will never get why you would call a dog by the name of a demon, that's just bad luck." Then, for emphasis she added: "Kurwa."
The Bog-Burglar glared at her. "And I will never get why you keep saying this one word all the time." Wierzchosława rolled her eyes.
"You get angry over that? Come on, my people have a reputation of being angry a lot, don't usurp it." She glanced up at the shore of the small islet, the smoke looming on its other side. "Let's get going."
And so they went, it was so nearby that it could hardly be called a trek, and soon enough they spotted the fire.
And their dogs growled in a rather peculiar way, a way signaling that they smelled dragons.
"Oh for the love of God," Wierzchosława muttered under her nose and gripped her saber handle tightly, prowling forward, the Bog-Burglar following in her wake, doing her best to stay quiet. Surprisingly, she managed, despite her meaty legs.
The sight awaiting them drew some more swears from Wierzchosława, muted as they were for the need for stealth. "Co tu się odpierdala..."
Several humans sat around the bonfire, one trembling from the cold. That was normal. Two dragons walking nearby? Much less so.
It was nowhere near the end of surprises, though, as the Deadly Nadder spoke up.
Spoke. Up.
"You know what I think I smell some humans nearby that aren't you and some wolfs dogs whatever we may have guests soon so let's get prepped are you alright yet Hiccup?"
The thin teen nodded shakily and got up, steeling himself. Wierzchosława backed away, stumbled over a root, and was gripped by the Bog-Burglar.
"Thanks," she said immediately without thinking, and she realised her mistake only when the Deadly Nadder's head snapped towards them, eyes slit and teeth barred in what she later came to realise was a smile.
"Hello!" the dragon shouted, spreading its wings to look larger and flapping them slowly before her to... to... whatever!
"Greetings?" said Wierzchosława.
The Bog-Burglar rushed towards the dragon, screaming out a battle cry, only for her companion to grab her by the side of her armour and yank sideways, making her stumble. "What are you, Kurwa, doing?"
She immediately vaulted behind a shield she swiftly yanked from her back and shot back, facing the second group. "What the fuck are you doing?! Those are dragons!"
Wierzchosława scoffed. "Yeah, dragons that for once don't attack us, plus at least this one is talking." She scratched her head and bumped her saber against the root, feeling dizzy from the impossibility of both of her statements. Huh, when had she drawn the saber? Just instincts, most likely.
The dragoness huffed in what looked to be annoyance. Since when were dragons so expressive?
"Come on I was hoping for some nice brawl I never had seen a weapon like yours smaller human before this boring talking that we will be doing for I don't know how long no I don't have the slightest idea Astrid how long will we be here?"
The teen with the eyepatch and a sizable, two-edged hatchet replied with visibly strained patience. "No more than a week, likely less, Stormfly."
Stormfly whined, an animalistic sound momentarily breaking the image talking had built, before being pushed away by the young warrior with straw-coloured hair and single blue eye, the other covered under an eyepatch for most likely gruesome reasons.
"Our mission is to negotiate on behalf of Berk, regarding some recent events." She pointed at the two dragons behind her, Stormfly and the Monstrous Nightmare. The thin teen pushed away from the bonfire, still shaking a little; he walked towards them on one leg, the other being a prosthetic with some... strange stuff in it.
"Can you let us meet with Big Boobied Bertha in secrecy? We would rather not risk our friends drawing the ire of your tribe."
Wierzchosława shrugged, dizziness subsiding a little at the concrete task ahead of her. "Sure, I will talk to her. Where will you stay, meanwhile?" She turned to Stormfly in the last sentence.
The dragon blinked and another barrage of words spilled out. "Well here is a quite nice islet with a forest we would need to get some fish somehow which could be a problem but we can go without it for a moment so-"
The wheels froze in Wierzchosława's head, a certain cultural quirk snapping to the forefront. "What?! No! You are our guests, there is no way in hell, Kurwa, that you will sleep in the forest like wild animals and go hungry! Kurwa!" She shook her head violently, sheathed her saber, and glanced up at the sky. Late afternoon, bordering on evening, or whatever went for it in the far north.
The Bog-Burglar grumbled under her nose and started to walk away. Wierzchosława turned towards her and inquired. "Where are you, Kurwa, going?"
Her companion just scoffed, then replied grumpily. "To tell about this whole madness to the chief."
Wierzchosława shrugged and added: "Sure, just be discreet with it, only to her ears and the whole shtick."
"Where are you planning to hide our dragons then?" asked the thin teen. Heh, it was quite a fun pun. No, focus.
"My house, nice place, lotta fun stuff, food and warmth. Now, get a move on." She waved at them and started trotting back, only now noticing that her lead dog had disappeared. Oh well. She will get him later.
"Wait, how do you plan to sneak us in?" Asked the thin teen again.
She giggled at the pun, then replied. "Oh, just fly over there. You can go higher than arrow range, yeah?"
"Yes, but we would be seen," Said the gruff warrior who had stayed in the background this whole time. She just waved her hand at him.
"You are guests, I won't be sneaking you in! If anyone shows up to disembowel you, I will kick them out of my home, with help from all the rest of my family, and likely from our entire Polonia."
They started moving, seeing that there was no arguing any other way with her, the thin teen stepping to her side and asking. "Polonia?"
She nodded. "Yeah, that's what my people call our larger groups away from the fatherland."
"So, you'll lead us there?" asked the one-eyed teen.
"Ta, just let me get my dogs out of the sled, they know where to go so we can get going right afterwards." How she was going to go momentarily escaped her. Then Stormfly strode ahead of them, and she got a good look at the saddle on its... theirs... "Are you a girl or a boy, derg?"
"I'm female!" She spread her wings proudly, then snapped them shut to avoid colliding with a tree.
Wierzchosława had an anxious smile on her lips. "So, say, will I be... flying?"
All three of the humans grinned at her.
Uh oh.
Three dragons flew swiftly towards the Meathead island, in a coherent arrowhead formation: A Thunderdrum named Thornado, a Monstrous Nightmare named Hookfang, and a crimson-and-gold Deadly Nadder, Glimmer. On their backs respectively were Stoick, Snotlout and Herring.
The Chief observed the island ahead through the spyglass, looking for tell-tale signs of them being spotted, and noticing many other things along the way.
There was damage, not a lot, but some of the buildings were charred, a few of them collapsed. He frowned; there was no way they could arrive here, weakened as they were, or survive an attack unless it was really butchered.
At least it ended up exactly as Stoick intended despite the complications, as makeshift camps full of captives could be seen. A small smirk appeared, concealed by the Chief's beard. That was it. The might of the Berserker tribe was well and truly broken, failing a siege, and then getting intercepted on the way, tired and with no supplies.
Now, onto ensuring Berk's future in this new political landscape...
A sentry sounded a horn and warriors spilled out as expected. Except, unlike what he expected, Mogadon wasn't amongst them. Did he really get that cowardly...?
Stoick gave a signal for the whole formation to stop just off the now-frozen piers in the main Meathead port, now just one of many scattered through the island. The first Meatheads to arrive took a moment to actually look before throwing their bolas, that all fell short of their intended targets, were dumbfounded at the sight of riders on dragonback. Stoick didn't give them time to think.
"I, Stoick the Vast of the Hairy Hooligans, came to meet with Mogadon, Chief of the Meatheads."
The crowd of armed men shuffled around, muttering unintelligibly. It took so long that the dragons started circling, unable to hover anymore. Then a smaller but stocky figure came forward.
"Chief would be me. My father fell in battle. State your business," said Thuggory, folding his arms and looking with badly veiled interest at the dragons. He projected confidence, but was unsteady, newly thrust into this new role. Stoick knew all too well how he was feeling. It didn't mean he wasn't going to use it though.
Thornado showed subtle signs of exhaustion; wings beating just slightly off-hitch, breaths being just a little louder, eyelids coming down slightly. But he couldn't circle like the others when Stoick talked. He had to get it done quickly. "I want to explain a few things and discuss the future of our alliance. Do we have permission to land?" Thuggory nodded with a grunt, trying to appear serious and experienced with all his might, and doing a decent job for a new Chief.
All three dragons touched down on the pier and the ice surrounding it. The young Chief looked at them hesitantly as the humans dismounted. "We can... take them to the cages in the are-"
"NO!" replied Thornado shortly and loudly.
Everyone jerked at the sound, excluding Stoick. The Meatheads were, understandably, shocked. Taking the initiative, Stoick spoke, not intending to push the new Chief too much and diffusing the situation instead. "An empty storehouse would do just fine for our new tribemates."
Mutters coursed through the crowd, gaining in intensity, and Stoick looked pointedly at Thuggory; those weren't his people, and him trying to calm them down would only rile them up. The teenager inhaled and shot out an order with surprising strength. "Return to your duties! You! Lead the dragons to an empty storehouse!"
They did just so, although the riders trailed along the dragons, but Thuggory made no comment on that. Stoick stepped up to him, as Stoick as ever, keeping enough distance to not loom over his counterpart. The fact that he had to crane his neck was already bad enough as it is. "Let's get settled."
Thuggory nodded, and they walked through the village, the straight lines of traditional viking homes swallowing them all, different structures standing at the other side of the island ominously.