CHAPTER 21: Condemnation
Once again, Hiccup found himself and his tribe back at the hall of New Berk, to discuss once again the situation on the Barbaric Archipelago regarding a tribe that had long established its authoritarian, dictatorial routines. The horrifying reality that an assassination had occurred was one that required a meeting of the whole tribe.
As per usual, the setup in the hall was the standard. Hiccup and his family alongside his friends like Snotlout, Eret, Tuffnut and Ruffnut and so on, were on the upper platform at the front of the hall that had overlooked the rest of the Berkian vikings who were gathered in their hundreds. Mumbling voices bouncing across the hall on what was meant to have been a chilled out morning.
Eret was sat directly besides Hiccup this time. Hiccup felt like Eret's advice, particularly in respect of the last time they had all met in the hall when it came to Alfa Yurlin's tribe, was advice that was of great value. Not that Hiccup intended on actually taking action or going to war or anything given he was a dad and wanted to live the rest of his life in a chilled out manner, but Eret, with the experience he's had, was a worthy asset.
It was gut wrenching to Hiccup that he had to call another emergency gathering of the tribe in the hall, not least because he felt like he was creating an aura of doom and gloom. But he had no other choice. A sovereign Chieftan had just been assassinated at the hands of another tribe, and a tribe which was incredibly draconian in its treatment of not just women vikings, but the 'unvikings' that it deemed at its own discretion.
There was a load thumping on the wooden table on the platform of a steel axe, by Gobber himself, to stop the talking voices in the hall. Instantly, the Berkian vikings had quietened down and Hiccup looked up from the table to his tribe.
"ALRIGHT FOLKS, LET THE CHIEFTAN SPEAK OUT, FOR HE HAS CALLED US BACK HERE FOR ANOTHER MATTER!" Gobber yelled, slowly sitting down on his chair, handing the attention all to Hiccup.
Hiccup cleared his throat. His eyes were aimlessly looking from one direction of the hall to the other. He hated that he had to do this a second time, in regards to the exact same tribe and issue.
"Word has gotten out that an assassination of one the archipelago's Chieftans had occurred yesterday."
At hearing that from Hiccup, the mumbling voices of the tribe rose up in the hall again as all the voices inside bounced from one corner to the other like pinballs.
"WHAT?!" one of the Hooligans asked, completely shocked at such a revelation.
"AN ASSASSINATION? UNDER WHICH HANDS?!"
"Yurlin's hands..." Hiccup replied, resting his arms entirely on the table in front of him, "I've never heard or seen anything of this kind happen before, the only time I can recall anything similar happening was during our battles with Drago."
Eret stood up from his chair and wandered towards Hiccup's chair, looking out to the hundreds of bearded vikings in the hall.
"Take it from me folks, this assassination, if it's correctly been rumoured, has been unlike any other I've ever heard of. Not even Drago could've pulled something like this off. He killed anyone who disagreed with him and essentially tortured those who defied him, but the assassination of another tribe's Chieftan? I can't ever seem to recall hearing that happening before. It's a whole new beast we're dealing with here."
"WHAT'RE THE OTHER TRIBES DOING ABOUT THIS?! another Hooligan yelled out from the crowd.
"As we speak, we've got them heading our way to our island. Alvin, Dagur, Mala, all of them will be coming here today to discuss the assassination. Look you guys, I want to be honest with you all...we must absolutely condemn this action, it is entirely draconian on Alfa Yurlin's part. It comes down, for me though, to a question of our own wellbeing. Think about all the battles we've had in the past not just with Drago and Grimmel but all the others in the past. We cannot afford going down that rabbit hole of conflict, our loved ones should come first."
There were some audible gasps in the crowd of vikings - some of them WANTED to take action and put on a show of force against Yurlin, not least because he'd already militarized Old Berk and has since been occupying the island with his troops.
"WAS HIS TAKING OVER OF BERK NOT ENOUGH, CHIEFTAN?!" another viking yelled.
Hiccup felt a pat on his back from Astrid as she leaned down to him from the side, supporting him.
"Don't worry Hiccup, we'll always have your back, I know with situations like these we're under immense pressure, but you're saying the right things," Astrid said, to which Hiccup gratefully smiled and kissed her.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," Valka yelled, "AND TAKE IT FROM ME TOO...IT'S NOT WORTH THE CONFLICT!"
Everyone on the platform was rallying around Hiccup, coming to his defence of his promise not to go to conflict with the Ancients for the fear of risking his loved ones and his friends. But there was a weird situation going on inside the hall - it felt like the overall tribe had already wanted to take action against Yurlin, especially for daring to occupy Old Berk.
But to assassinate a sovereign viking Chieftan of a sovereign island? that had further justified conflict to a LOT of the Hooligans in the hall - obviously some had agreed with Hiccup, but it was a strange scenario in the hall where quite a lot of them actually disagreed with what sounded like weak appeasement of a tyrant.
"And let us not forget, Drago Bludvist is still out there...so why would we want to risk conflict knowing that man is still around?" Valka added, once again talking to the crowd as her voice echoed strongly in the hall.
"We've beaten him once, we can beat him again! it sounds to me this Yurlin fella is quite the main aggressor, we can kill two birds with one stone!" one of the vikings at the front said.
Hiccup's head was gradually collapsing into his palms - he was completely overwhelmed at this point as it felt like he was losing control of not just the narrative, but the whole respect of the tribe.
Eret could detect Hiccup's stressed out reality, and so he refrained from making the point to the hall, as he did last time, that intervention would call Yurlin's bluff. But he genuinely still believed that. You can't appease a crocodile by feeding it, because the crocodile will just want more and more, until you're eventually eaten. That was Eret's overall point from his experience, and he seemed to have the majority view of the hall.
"Appeasement is such a funny word..." Snotlout chuckled outloud, "what does it mean? PEACE MEANT?! that's what it sounds like...a peace of meant? a piece of peace?!"
"No Snotlout, don't make fun of this situation, alright?" Hiccup suddenly said, looking up to his side to Snotlout, "it's bad enough I'm having to be faced with this sort of situation at a point in my life I thought I...ME...I'd be able to live comfortably knowing nothing of this kind would arise again...but when you make jokes like that...it's not funny."
Hiccup stood up from his chair, slid it under the table, and quickly walked towards the door of the hall, shocking all of the vikings who'd just remained silent, not a single echo had been heard as their Chieftan was quick to make a path through his vikings. Astrid and the two kids followed him along, as did Valka. Gobber, Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, alongside Fishlegs, as well as the hundreds of vikings in the hall, had all remained put.
"...was it something I said?" Snotlout cheekily whispered.
"Not the time kiddo, not the bloody time," Eret replied.
Hiccup only got 5 meters away from the hall door before he heard Astrid and his mum's voice call him. There were still a few Berkian vikings wandering around carrying supplies and fishing rods, as not all of them could fit in the hall for the meeting just now, so they had decided to just carry on with the tasks of the day. But many of them would be updated on the information given in the meeting later anyways.
"What's wrong, Hiccup?" Astrid said, with Nuffink and Zephyr staying besides Valka as she tended to them.
The beautiful morning skies with the sun protruding its ray of light through the large trees across New Berk contrasted greatly with Hiccup's mood right now. He couldn't cope with the weight of the overseas events.
"I just can't...I can't comprehend how this is all happening, Astrid. I thought we were past this sort of thing...If I ever looked like I condoned him taking over our old island, I don't and I didn't, and I feel like I'm being attacked for wanting what's best for us all!"
"Hiccup, you're absolutely doing the right thing. A few grouchy vikings who've just woken up are gonna be that way, and let's face it, Berk was our home of seven generations, but before we know it, this whole thing is gonna blow over. Just remember, we're hundreds of meters up in the skies on this island as we've been for the last ten years, whatever happens overseas won't effect us."
"But then why have Dagur, Alvin, Mala, and all of our old friends found the need to come and find us and restart relations between us and their tribes? I thought after Toothless, my best bud had gone, that we'd be in a peaceful world. I miss my best bud so much."
Hiccup was developing a lump in his throat - he really, REALLY missed Toothless. The security of having the dragons in the world was something Hiccup had more than ever appreciated. The rise of a draconian dictator viking in Alfa Yurlin would've easily been prevented had they been around.
"I know son, I know...I miss Cloudjumper greatly too..." Valka said, walking over towards Hiccup and Astrid with the two kids, "but this is gonna be a once in a flash sort of occurrence, vikings have always been violent and grouchy as Astrid says...the assassination of this particular Chieftan was terrible and terrible for his family. And it's great that we're maintaining links with the old vikings like Dagur and Alvin...but you're right son, this isn't our battle to face."
"I suppose the one thing we can say is that he hasn't made another land grab like he did to Berk," Hiccup said, in regards to Yurlin, "but then...why would he try and assassinate another Chieftan?"
It was only when Hiccup posed that rhetorical question to himself that he realized what this assassination could mean. It was an open secret at this point, especially among the likes of Dagur and Alvin, that Yurlin had his sights set on the Northern Market islands. Hiccup didn't truly know if Yurlin was working towards an annexation of that island from this assassination, or if he was simply trying to test the waters.
Either way, that rhetorical question he asked himself just now made him think deeper and deeper. He needed to have a long hard think about how to react, because he still believed that conflict, especially over events at the Barbaric Archipelago, the central part of it anyways, would be a disaster and lead to an unneeded loss of life. (War with a bunch of thugs like Alfa Yurlin's vikings would be brutal).
As much as Hiccup appreciated the support he was receiving from his family, he needed to have a serious hard think. He was readying to meet with the other Chieftans once again. Part of him had secretly wondered how Drago Bludvist was reacting to the constant tactics of Alfa Yurlin given they were both proclaimed ideological opponents of one another. Yurlin especially had constantly claimed he was the polar opposite of Drago in his world views hence why he's reached out in the past to the Hooligans.
But Hiccup was under heavy pressure, emotionally and from his tribe. He hated having to call all of these emergency hall meetings, and he just wanted a resolved ending to the situation. He needed to push through all of this, but he knew he'd only be able to do it with the help of his friends, his family, and especially Eret.
But he also wished he had the help of his best bud, Toothless, who he could cry over at this point given the situation unfolding at hand.