Chapter Text
Hiccup arrived home to the rather amusing sight of Gobber yanking harshly on the ends of the ceremonial belt he was attempting to notch for his father. His father was sucking in his considerable bulk, grunting with each notch of the belt pulled.
“Ah, the ceremonial belt. That time of year already?” Hiccup asked, wryly, as he and Toothless passed the threshold.
“Indeed, tomorrow’s the annual treaty signing with the Berserkers.” His dad replied, and Hiccup allowed himself a beleaguered sigh. The treaty signing was one of his least favorite events of the year. Hiccup had nothing against Chief Oswald, but that son of his…
“They’ve really got to change that name, when your chief’s Oswald the Agreeable and you haven’t been to war in fifty years, it really doesn’t fit.” Gobber quipped from where he had finally secured the belt.
“Oh, please tell me he isn’t bringing that lunatic kid of his.” Hiccup grumbled, he knew better than to get his hopes up, but he could dream. Toothless made an inquisitive noise from where he had curled up by the fire, head slightly tilted at the animosity in his tone.
“Dagur? Oh, he’ll be there.” Gobber confirmed his fears, as he went to pour himself a well deserved tankard of ale.
“Oh great, and let me guess, I’ll be in charge of keeping him from breaking things?” Hiccup stated, sarcasm dripping off his tongue like poison. Toothless’ amused curiosity turned to wariness, as he crooned questioningly. Hiccup waved him off, sending a him a look that clearly meant we will talk about it later. Toothless returned with a firm scowl, I will hold you to that.
“Actually, I have a more important job for you. You get to hide all the dragons.” His father spoke up, breaking his and Toothless’ silent communication. It took a moment for the words to register to Hiccup, and when they did he was filled with confusion.
“From Oswald? Why?” He asked, baffled. Why would they be hiding their friends from their ally? It’s not like the dragons were a secret, not with Johann and Alvin having already learned of their new partnership with the dragons.
“The dragons could be seen as a sign of aggression. Better blissful then bloody, I always say.” His father replied, far too cheerfully for Hiccup’s taste.
“But, both Johann, the worst gossip in the archipelago, and Alvin, your literal worst enemy, know about the dragons, and you want to hide it from one of our few allies?” Hiccup questioned, putting heavy emphasis on the “worst enemy”. What did his father hope to accomplish here? The dragons shouldn’t be forced out of their homes for propriety’s sake, Vikings didn’t even believe in propriety!
“Son, we may have a treaty with the Berserkers now, but they are an unpredictable bunch. Showing up to a treaty signing and being greeted by an army of dragons is threatening, no matter what way you shake it.”
“But we’re not making an army of dragons! We’re just living together!” Hiccup exclaimed, motioning to Toothless who put on his best, disarming cute act, rolling on the ground with his eyes wide and giving him a cheerful, gummy smile. Hiccup gave him a subtle thumbs up from behind his father’s back, as he saw his dad’s resolve waver.
“Lad, we can appreciate that it wasn’t your intention to create an army of dragons, but that is basically what we’ve got. I mean you know how they reacted to your attempted kidnapping and Spitelout’s attack on Toothless, you really want to tell me those dragons wouldn’t go to war for you?” Gobber asked, an eyebrow raised. Hiccup stuttered for a moment, desperately reaching for some kind of defense to those words. But Gobber had a point, as much as Hiccup’s didn’t want his flock to risk their lives for him, he knew that if Berk was attacked they would certainly rise up in its defense. He wouldn’t even need to ask, this was their home now too. Hiccup grasped on to that thought.
“But that’s not the point! They’re only dangerous if someone attacks us first!” He retorted. However, he saw the very skeptical look his father and Gobber shared. He knew the memories of the raids were still there, of what the dragons were capable of. But if he asked his flock not to attack, he knew they wouldn’t, as long as Toothless agreed, they were the Queens for Thor’s sake. Though he supposed that wasn’t information he was quite ready to share, not yet.
“I stand by what I said son, having all these dragons hanging about, whether we mean it or not, is going to look like a threat.” His dad refused to budge, but Hiccup was not ready to roll over yet. He wasn’t just going to banish his flock, and selfish as it may be, Hiccup found the prospect of facing Dagur much more tolerable if he knew Toothless would be there at his side.
“But everyone in the archipelago probably knows we have dragons by now, won’t trying to hide them seem more suspicious and threatening then having them around?”
“The boy does have a point Stoick, I mean you flew to Meathead Island on Thornado for Odin’s sake! Trying to hide our partnership to dragons may make it seem like we’re setting up an ambush.” Gobber said coming to his aid, and providing further arguments.
His father sighed gripping the bridge of his nose, and Hiccup knew they had him. “I see your point. Fine. A compromise then. Any dragon partnered to a human may remain, but the majority of your flock needs to leave town. This way we don’t hide our connection, but we don’t overwhelm them with what would appear to be an army. Agreed?”
Hiccup couldn’t hold back a victorious fist pump as he cheered. “I can agree with that, I’ll go let the others know and start getting the flock settled elsewhere.” And with that he ran out the door, Toothless hot on his heels, not willing to stay and risk his father changing his mind.
“So, who is this Dagur that you seem to dislike so much?” Toothless questioned, the moment they were out the door.
“I told you we’d talk about this later Toothless, we’ve got bigger concerns right now.” Hiccup responded annoyed, he had no desire to open up that particular can of worms. Dagur was such a… difficult subject for Hiccup. They once had a fairly amicable relationship. When they were very small, he was one of the few people that didn’t simply ignore him and the only one who had showed any interest in his inventions. However, that changed as soon as Dagur hit double digits. He became aggressive, violent and in some instances, he was downright cruel. Hiccup could trace most of his greatest fears back to things Dagur had done to him as a child, well, a younger child than he was now. Toothless did not need to know those details, knowing his overprotective other half, he’d likely barbeque Dagur on sight if he heard half the things he’d done.
“But it is later.” Toothless cajoled, giving Hiccup his best wide-eyed pleading look. Hiccup could feel his resolve waver, so he looked away. They did not have time for this discussion.
“Not late enough, we need to get the flock situated before the Berserkers arrive. I promise once that’s taken care of we can talk.” Hiccup offered, hoping that the Berserkers would arrive before he had to have that conversation.
“Fine.” Toothless grumbled, bumping Hiccup with his shoulder nearly knocking him over. “But I will hold you to that, you better keep that promise.”
“I think it’s best we call a Flock Meeting for this one.” Hiccup mentioned, before realizing something. This was actually the perfect opportunity for something he had been planning for a while.
“Hey, Bud, what do you think we invite the Riders to their very first flock meeting?”
Hiccup smirked at the gob smacked look on the Riders’ faces as they watched as the full Berk flock gathered in the Meeting Place. Fishlegs looked ready to vibrate out of his clothes as his eyes darted excitedly throughout the crowd, lightly bouncing on his toes. Astrid’s eyes were large as she took in the unexpectedly large number of dragons before her, after all it was one thing to know abstractly that there were over a hundred dragons in the flock, it was another thing entirely to see it laid out in front of her. Snotlout seemed strangely subdued, clearly overwhelmed by the size of the flock, and being at a loss for words. Even the twins had paused in their bickering to observe, though they quickly devolved into trying, and failing, to count the dragons themselves.
“Yeah, I can see now why we need to hide some of the dragons.” Fishlegs stated, finally having found some calm.
“I hate to say this, but your Dad is right Hiccup, if anyone saw this they’d definitely think we’re building an army of dragons.” Astrid agreed.
“Trying? I’d say we’ve already succeeded! I mean look at them!” Snotlout shouted, arms waving wildly in front of himself. “There’s got to be at least a hundred of them! We could totally take on the Berserkers with them, maybe even the entire Archipelago! We’d be unstoppable!”
“There are actually 118 dragons in the flock. And it is NOT an army, we are NOT making the dragons fight for us, they’re our friends not weapons!” Hiccup retorted, truly fed up with everyone thinking he’d ever use his flock to fight his battles. It was their job to protect their flock not the other way around. After doing his own quick head count, he decided that everyone he had expected had arrived, and he stepped forward with Toothless.
“Hello, everyone! Thank you all for coming on such short notice. We have a little bit of a situation. Another tribe will be visiting Berk, shortly, to sign a treaty. Which basically means promising to be each other’s allies. The thing is, the other tribe may not know about our peace with dragons yet. We don’t want to overwhelm them with so many of you on their first visit here since we made peace, they may mistake your presence as a threat and decide to attack us. Therefore, we’d like any dragon not currently partnered with a human to either remain here in the forest during the visit or take a trip to Dragon Island. We just need you guys to stay out of town and try to keep out of sight. The Riders’ and I will be escorting anyone who wants to leave off the island. So, can you guys please split into groups? Anyone who is staying with their partner go to the left, anyone who wants to stay in the forest in the center, and anyone who wants to leave to the right?” Hiccup asked, and the dragons quickly began sorting themselves out into the requested groups.
“Wow, the dragons are better at following directions than Tuffnut!” Ruffnut snickered out, as the dragons formed orderly lines in the requested areas.
“Like you’re any better!” Tuffnut retorted flicking the horns on his sister’s helmet teasingly.
“This is actually really impressive, Hiccup, they must really respect you to follow orders like this.” Astrid remarked, watching the proceedings appraisingly. It had taken only minutes for the dragons to sort themselves into the requested groups. “This could really come in handy in an emergency.”
“Oh, it has! We’ve got evacuation procedures pretty much down for the winter storms already. But I’m not really giving them orders, I just ask nicely, you know.” Hiccup remarked offhand.
Fishlegs interjected, enthusiastically. “Ooh you have to show me those evacuation plans! I had some thoughts on how Meatlug responded to the cold, and I think that the gronkles could actually—”
“That’s enough, Fish Breath! You can geek out later, we’ve got a Berserker visit to prepare for!” Snotlout interrupted snidely, as he mounted Hookfang and took to the air. Hiccup sighed, sadly, Snotlout had a point.
“Sorry Fishlegs, but we should get this done as soon as we can. I’m happy to show you afterwards though!” Hiccup replied, Fishlegs nodded eagerly in return. And with that the other Riders all took to the skies and began leading the group of dragons off Berk.
Once they had settled in for the long haul, Snotlout spoke up. “So is Dagur coming? That guy is so cool!”
“Cool? Last time he was here he used me as a knife throwing target.” Hiccup replied bemused, and a bit indignant. Toothless growled at the thought of anyone using his rider for target practice. Hiccup winced at that, he should have just kept his mouth shut.
“That guy should be locked in a cage.” Astrid growled out, clearly agreeing with Toothless.
“That’s what he did to me!” Fishlegs exclaimed, distressed at the prospect of Dagur’s return. Hiccup could sympathize.
“Yeah, and he force fed you rotten cod heads!” Snotlout said while chuckling, ending on a rather undignified snort. And now it was Meatlug’s turn to growl in displeasure. Fishlegs gave her a few reassuring pats.
“Thanks, Snotlout, I had almost erased that from my memory.” Fishlegs said dispassionately, far less amused at the memory than Snotlout. Thankfully, Snotlout was willing to drop the subject at that point, as they had arrived at Dragon Island.
Hiccup ensured that all of his flock members were settled and comfortable, assuring them it would only be a day or two before they would be able to return. He and Toothless did a quick bit of fishing to ensure they would be well stocked with food, as well, just to be safe. When Hiccup was certain there wasn’t anything further he could do, he and the Riders departed. Their return flight was aided by a strong tailwind, cutting their travel time in half, which hopefully would leave them plenty of time before the Berserker’s arrival.
Hiccup paced anxiously in front of the Great Hall, waiting for his father and Gobber to finish up their meeting with the Council. Toothless was curled up in front of him, his tail waving lazily back and forth.
“You know, one could say that this would count as “later”. Are you ready to tell me about this Dagur, now? The one that used you for target practice?” Toothless asked, voice carefully neutral.
Hiccup stopped pacing to sigh, there really was no avoiding it at this point. He’d just have to be careful with his words. “Dagur is the son of the Berserker Chief Oswald. He visits Berk every other year for the treaty signing, and I’m usually the one who has to keep him busy. The last few years he’s been, well he’s been a bully, which it’s not like I’m not used to that given how everyone else was before everything with the dragons. He just, you know, is a little bit… crazier? Meaner? About it.” Hiccup winced, realizing that probably was not going to help his case, or keep Toothless calm.
“What has he done to you, Half-of-Me? I need to know if I am to return the favor ten fold.” Toothless growled out.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea Toothless. Dagur is Oswald’s son, we really can’t attack him or anything, it could endanger the alliance, and Berk doesn’t have a whole lot of allies to begin with. He’s a jerk, but an important one.” Hiccup deflected, hoping Toothless would just drop it.
Toothless rose to his feet at that, glaring at Hiccup, “No one is more important than YOU. If this boy is a threat to you, he WILL be taken care of. I will not let any harm come to you, especially not from some hopped up, flame-drunk brat.”
“This isn’t just about me, Toothless! If something happens to prevent the treaty signing, that won’t just be bad for Berk, it could be bad for the flock too!” Hiccup yelled, curling into himself. “ I can’t be the reason this doesn’t go well, Toothless. And if you can’t control yourself in front of Dagur, maybe… maybe you should keep your distance.” Hiccup finished guiltily. He winced at the look of surprised hurt in Toothless’ eyes which was replaced with righteous anger.
“I am NOT leaving you alone to deal with someone who has hurt you before! Why won’t you let me protect you?”
“It’s not that I don’t want you there, Bud, but can you truly promise me you won’t let your anger get the better of you? That you won’t attack Dagur if he does something?”
“If he does anything to hurt you than he deserves to be attacked!” Toothless rebutted fiercely.
“Vikings are always a little rough around the edges, some light bruising is expected. Can you just please, please keep your distance Half-of-Me? You can still watch over me, honestly I’d prefer to have you close, but just stay out of sight? I don’t think an angry night fury is conducive to peaceful negotiations.” Toothless folded at the use of that particular endearment.
“Fine, I will keep my distance. But at the first sign of any trouble I will intervene. I’m not risking losing you, not again.” Toothless flopped to the ground, bringing Hiccup down with him. They laid there together, with Toothless’ head on Hiccup’s chest, the boy stroking the dragon lightly in gratitude. “Thank you, Bud. I can only hope it won’t come to that.” They stayed there for a moment, before their peace was shattered with the blaring of a horn. The Berserkers had arrived.
Hiccup stood with his father and Gobber at the end of dock, waiting for the Berserkers to disembark. He was unnerved at the sight of dozens of vessels surrounding them, why had Oswald brought their entire armada? Was this a bad sign? Before Hiccup’s thoughts could spiral too much, one of the Berserkers leapt of the lead boat, tying it off to the dock, and turning to address them.
“Presenting the chief of the Berserker tribe, cracker of skulls, slayer of beasts, the great and fearsome…” The man pronounced, stunning the Berkians.
“Oswald the Agreeable?” Gobber questioned, confused at the elaborate, and admittedly aggressive, introduction.
“…Dagur the Deranged.” The herald finished and stepped aside to reveal Hiccup’s worst nightmare. Dagur stood on the gunnel of the longboat, his bright red hair had grown out far more than Hiccup had remembered and was now tied back in a thick braid at the nape of his neck. He had a truly impressive helmet on his head, the horns curling high up into the air, with one just slightly shorter than the other. He now also bore three stripes of bright blue dye across his left eye, a Berserker mark of honor. He wore the ceremonial Chief’s belt bearing a golden medallion with a Skrill engraving, confirming the herald’s words. Hiccup’s heart sank, this was so much worse than he was expecting. Dagur? Chief?
The Berserker Chief jumped down onto the dock, spitting to the side as he did so, eliciting a snarl from his father at the sheer disrespect. Which only deepened when Dagur pulled a throwing knife from his belt and casually flicked it in Hiccup’s direction. It plunged into the wood of the dock post several inches above Hiccup’s head, he counted his blessings that Toothless had not come down to the docks with them. That act alone would have brought down the night fury on Dagur’s head.
Stoick stepped forward, “Where is your father, Dagur?” He demanded gruffly.
“My father has been retired. He’s lost his taste for blood, I on the other hand am starving.” Dagur responded with a manic giggle, his words practically sing-song. “So, where are you hiding them Stoick? We both know what’s going on here, I have It on excellent authority you are amassing an army of dragons.” Odin damn it, did everyone they know think that now? Hiccup never set out to build an army, he just wanted to make some friends!
Stoick’s eyes narrowed. “Excellent authority? And who would that be, Dagur?”
“Never mind.” Dagur answered, flippant, striding down the dock towards town. “Just know that if I find it to be true, then my armada will attack with the force of fifty thousand brave Berserker soldiers.” Dagur grinned widely as he threatened Berk, daring them to give him the opportunity to attack.
“Stand down, Dagur. There won't be any need for the armada. Now let's get to the treaty.” Stoick shot a questioning look at Hiccup the second Dagur turned his back on them. Hiccup nodded gravely, now glad he had evacuated his flock. He didn’t want to risk their safety with this madman in charge.
“Yes, let's. According to the treaty, my visit starts with a tour of Berk, the armory, the feast in the Great Hall, the killing arena-- you do still kill dragons here, hmm?” Hiccup truly wanted to wipe that mean smirk off Dagur’s face. He was enjoying this, threatening them, toying with them like a cat with a mouse.
“Your father never found the tour necessary. And you’ve been here many times yourself.” Stoick ground out between his clenched teeth, frustrated at the thin line he had to walk. He couldn’t make any threatening moves with the armada in sight, but the disrespect grated against his Viking pride.
“As you can see, I'm not my father. Am I?” Dagur’s voice deepened, each word dripping in aggression. That was clearly a sore spot for him. Stoick’s hand wandered to the hilt of his sword sheathed at his side, anger for his friend coming to the fore. Gobber placed his hand over his, halting him.
“Not in front of the armada.” Gobber hissed out, and thankfully his father yielded. His hand left his sword and he marched down the dock, brushing past Dagur.
“Very well. We’ll have the tour, follow me Dagur.”
Stoick crossed his arms across his chest, partly to express his displeasure and partly to keep his hands away from his weapons. Dagur, the insolent whelp, was waving around one of Gobber’s finest swords like a maniac, shouting nonsense all the while.
“Oh, you want some of this, Gronkle? How ‘bout you, Nadder? Hyah! That's right plead, plead for your pathetic dragon life!”
Stoick shared a commiserating glance with Gobber. This must be even more painful for the blacksmith, having his hard work mishandled so.
“He's really got a handle on that whole "deranged" thing.” His best friend quipped, trying to make light of their insane situation. They are interrupted by the rush of air and harsh clang as the sword Dagur was waving around is suddenly impaled on one of the finely made shields hanging on the wall, only narrowing missing either of their heads. Stoick’s fury rushed through him, overcoming his restraint. He ripped the sword from the wall, and stalked towards where that disrespectful, foolhardy little monster was now fiddling with a ballistae.
“I'm about to make him eat this sword!” He growled. How dare he endanger the life of his friend? Disrespect the weaponry of Berk? Gobber skillfully removed the sword from his hands, placing it gently on the rack behind them. He then laid a calming hand on his shoulder, giving him a chastising look. Stoick took a step back, abashed. He took one deep calming breath, wrestling his temper back into its cage, before nodding to Gobber.
“Why don't we see to signing that treaty now?” Gobber cheerfully offered, trying to guide Dagur away from the delicate mechanisms of the ballistae.
“Sounds like my father.” Dagur replied snidely, before raising the pitch of his voice and adding, mockingly “"Sign the treaty, Dagur." "Leave that chicken alone, Dagur!" "Put down that axe, Dagur!"” Stoick felt his temper creeping back out of its cage at the mockery of a good man. Oswald did not deserve such contempt from his own son.
“Your father is a great man! And I'll not have you disrespect him!” Stoick thundered, towering over the boy.
“My father was a coward. I intend to return the Berserkers to their former glory. Something he was incapable of doing.” Dagur challenged, rising to meet Stoick’s gaze. A chill of danger crept up Stoick’s back. Sentiment like that was always rooted in potential actions. He leaned down further, staring into Dagur’s eyes searching for the resolve to carry out such grandiose plans, searching for the intent behind the threat.
“Tell me, Dagur, what exactly are your plans for the Berserker tribe?” Stoick asked, no demanded, his voice deadly quiet. Dagur simply stared back for a moment, before Stoick watched his resolve crumble and his gaze fall away. Good, the boy did not yet have the courage to carry out his threats. He did not intend to attack, at least not yet. Stoick was thankful the boy retained at least some ounce of sanity. No longer expecting a reply, Stoick strode towards the exit, Gobber following close behind and Dagur trailing reluctantly after them.
As they opened the door of the armory, Stoick watched a rush of air flow past his son, ruffling his hair. Probably Toothless jumping onto the roof to keep out of sight of Dagur. Good, that was good. As much as he prized having a night fury around to protect his son, they didn’t need to risk anything provoking Dagur into action. He regretted for a moment not keeping all of their dragons at hand, the likelihood of an attack had sky rocketed with Dagur at the helm of the Berserker armada. Stoick would have much preferred to have his son’s army of dragons at their back with the threat so close at hand.
“Ah, Hiccup, there you are.” Dagur stated, confident smile back in place as if it had never left. Stoick watched carefully as the boy approached his son, who was clearly struggling with his own nerves.
“Dagur! I was just thinking about you! Hey, remember that time we went swimming, and you tried to drown me?” What!?! This was the first Stoick was hearing of such a thing, he could only hope it was his son’s odd sense of humor rearing its head. Dagur had responded with that deranged cackle of his.
“Oh, the laughs we had.” Dagur said, voice wistful and nostalgic for times past. “Bored again!” he shouted a moment later, and gods the boy’s mercurial moods were giving Stoick whiplash. “Just a moment. Something is going on here.”
“I can explain.” Hiccup stated, far too quickly not to be hiding something. Stoick looked around carefully and just caught the edge of a tailfin in the corner of his eye. As he expected, Toothless was hiding on the roof of the armory.
“Where is it?” Dagur demanded, taking a step closer to his son.
Hiccup took a step back, raising his hands defensively. “Look it’s just—”
“Your leg.” Dagur finished, cutting off whatever excuse Hiccup was conjuring. “Never mind. I heard all about it.”
“You heard all about what?” His son asked, warily.
“You. The Red Death. Defeated it all on your own, didn’t you, Dragon Conqueror?” Dagur stated matter of factly. Stoick glowered, how did that information get out? First Alvin, now Dagur, were their secrets known to the whole of the archipelago by now?
“W-w-what? M-m-me? Look at me. How is that even p-p-possible?” Hiccup stuttered out, his voice going higher in pitch with his anxiety.
“Right? That's what I thought, too, but then I heard about the trained dragons, and that got me, well, kind of tingly.” Dagur outright shivered at those words, and Stoick felt a defensive protectiveness arise in him. Dagur stepped closer to Hiccup getting up in his face, and Stoick stormed forward ready to pull the boy off, chief or no, he was not going to let him assault his son in front of him. He got close enough the hear the words whispered into his son’s ear “I won’t be leaving here without your secrets, Hiccup.” His son’s eyes widened with terror at the declaration, and he took a step back.
There was a loud growl above them, and Stoick watched as Hiccup desperately motioned for Toothless to stay hidden. Gobber did his best to play it off as his stomach and suggested they move on to the feast before the treaty signing. Dagur was easily convinced and they walked away. However, the dread at those words, whispered into his son’s ear with the intimacy of a lover or, perhaps more aptly, an assassin, sunk deep into Stoick’s gut.
Hiccup was not enjoying this particular feast, not at all. Not only were all of their dragons unable to attend, to avoid offending Dagur’s deranged sensibilities, but Hiccup was forced to share a table with the madman himself.
Dagur raised his mug of mead, was he even old enough to be drinking that?, and shouted exuberantly “A toast! To death in battle!” Hiccup couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes.
Gobber, however, decided to take the opportunity to offer his own toast. “To your father! To Oswald!” Dagur’s face immediately soured as the Vikings took up the toast, cheering for his father.
“Fine, whatever! "To Oswald! To Oswald! To Oswald!" Bladdy, Bladdy, Blah! Ugh!” He screeched childishly, even crossing his arms and huffing like a tantruming toddler. How did anyone think this guy was ready to be chief? The exasperated glance his father shared with Gobber, showed they were having similar thoughts.
“Well, on that cheery note, shall we sign the treaty and send you on your way?” Gobber interjected cheerfully, holding up the treaty, already signed by his father. Looked like Hiccup wasn’t the only one eager to get Dagur off of Berk.
“ Great idea! Let's sign that treaty. Bring us the dragon's blood!” Dagur shouted raising his fist dramatically. And wait, what?
“Uh, did you say dragon's blood?” Hiccup asked, nervously, a little green in the gills. His eyes desperately searched out his father’s they weren’t seriously using dragon’s blood. Not anymore right?
Thankfully, his father cut in with an excuse. “Heh, heh, heh. Don’t be ridiculous, Dagur. Your father and I haven’t signed the treaty in dragon's blood for years.”
Dagur was not amused by this, the repeated comparison to his father clearly grating at him. “Why would that be a problem, Stoick? Unless, of course, you don't kill dragons anymore. Don’t tell me the warriors of Berk have gone soft?” Those last words were deadly soft, a challenging look in Dagur’s eyes. His father noted the look, and his hand wandered down to the hilt of his sword. Hiccup’s eyes widened, No! He couldn’t let this meeting get to that point.
“Ah, we don’t actually kill dragons anymore Dagur. We don’t need to! The dragons, uh, they work with—” The dark, mocking look in Dagur’s eyes at that had Hiccup course correcting, and he sent a silent plea for forgiveness to his flock “I mean for, the dragons work for us now. We’ve got them all trained up!”
“Well, then, I think it’s time you put your gold where your mouth is, Hiccup. I’ll be seeing proof of this dragon training of yours before I sign anything.”
Hiccup had formed a huddle with the Riders at the Academy, Gobber and Stoick were keeping Dagur busy while they decided what exactly they would do for this demonstration.
“I don’t think we should show him any more than we absolutely have to, to prove they’re trained.” Astrid stated, arms crossed.
“Astrid has a point, maybe we should stick to just one dragon. Hiccup can give them some basic commands, and maybe ride them a little. That should be more than enough to prove our partnership.” Fishlegs added, his arms wrapped tightly around Meatlug for comfort.
“What!?! How is that fair? Why does Hiccup get to be the one to show off? You should let me and Hookfang do the demonstration!” Snotlout interrupted.
Both Astrid and Fishlegs glared, while Hiccup just sighed. “Snotlout, the entire point is we aren’t showing our hand. So far Dagur thinks I’m the only one training dragons, so that’s why I have to do the demonstration. He has a literal armada at our doorstep! The less he knows about us, the better.” Hiccup replied vehemently, hoping his friend would get his head out of his ass and take the hint. Dagur was not their friend, not their ally, and they were not yet sure he would not become their enemy at the drop of a hat.
“I can do a quick demonstration with Toothless, and hopefully it will be enough to appease him.”
“Uhhh, actually, Hiccup, are you sure it’s smart to use Toothless?” Fishlegs asked, hesitant. Toothless’ head swung up to stare at Fishlegs, affronted. “What do you mean I shouldn’t do the demonstration? Why?” Toothless questioned.
“Well, it’s just, Dagur hasn’t seen him yet, right?” Fishlegs asked, and both Hiccup and Toothless nod in confirmation. “ Well, then do we really want to reveal we have a dragon of legend, one that is the famous rival to their beloved skrill no less? Don’t you think that might just rile Dagur up more?” Hiccup had to choke down his instinctual denial, as much as he wished otherwise Fishlegs made a valid point. He could see Toothless struggling to come up with an argument to this, and laid a hand on his head. “Fishlegs has a point, Bud, it might be best for you to stay out of sight.”
Toothless was not happy at the declaration, but was willing to concede the point. “Fine! But I will be watching, and ready to intervene the moment something goes wrong. Because you know it will.”
“Fair enough, Bud, fair enough.” Hiccup sighed, he’d been doing a lot of that today. “So any volunteers for the demonstration?” Stormfly and Hookfang both stepped forward. They would both be good choices, they were fairly common species though both had impressive abilities. In the end, they decided upon Hookfang as the monstrous nightmare’s destructive power would be more likely to appeal to Dagur’s deranged sensibilities. It wasn’t long after they made their decision that his father and Gobber arrived with Dagur and a small contingent of his men. Hiccup gulped taking a deep breath to settle his nerves as they made their way into the stands. For a terrible moment he was reminded of the last time he and Hookfang were made a spectacle of in this arena, and how terrible that attempt at a demonstration had gone. Hookfang sent a puff of smoke his way, catching his attention. “Calm yourself, Little Queen, this demonstration will go nothing like the last.” That drew a small smile out of Hiccup, and he patted Hookfang’s snout gratefully. “Thanks, Hookfang, now let’s give them a show, what do you say?” Hookfang released an eager roar at that, catching everyone’s attention successfully.
Hiccup put on his best showman’s voice and shouted. “Welcome, Berserkers to our Dragon Training Demonstration. Here we have the strong, the fearsome monstrous nightmare!” He gestured grandly to Hookfang, who flamed up on command, punctuating the statement beautifully. He nodded to Hookfang and prepared his first direction. “Hookfang! Fire at that target!” He called out, pointing at the target at the far end of the arena. Hookfang obeyed, turning the target into little more than tinder with a full strength blast of flame. Hiccup grinned at the flabbergasted look on Dagur’s face, and was that a bit of fear creeping into his eyes?
“Hookfang! Bite!” He called out next, and the nightmare obliged by grabbing wooden support of the target and shattering it with one mighty snap of his jaws. Dagur visibly winced at the loud crack as it broke a part. Hiccup couldn’t deny there was a small part of him relishing in his childhood bully’s obvious discomfort.
Hiccup pointed to a different target on the opposite end of the arena. “Hookfang! Tail Swipe!” The dragon’s massive spiked tail, lashed out and shattered the target, sending wooden pieces flying into the stands. Their audience appeared appropriately awed by their display thus far, Hiccup was certain their finale should be plenty to sate Dagur’s curiosity and hopefully encourage him to finally sign that damn treaty.
“Hookfang, Hold!” Hiccup called out, pointing to the ground. Hookfang lowered his head, and he walked up to him, throwing one leg over his neck and mounting him. “Thanks, Hookfang, you’re doing great. I think this should really sell it.” He whispered to the dragon, not wanting Dagur to hear the quiet encouragement. Hookfang nodded in response. “OK, Hookfang, Fly!” The pair rose into the air and made three quick circuits of the arena, showcasing Hiccup’s skill as a dragon rider. Hiccup gave a gentle pat to Hookfang’s neck to signal him to land, and he dismounted quickly.
“And there you have it! Is that proof enough we’ve trained the dragons?” Hiccup called out, staring down Dagur itching for him to acknowledge that. He wanted nothing more than Dagur to just sign the treaty and leave. He had hoped the discomfort Dagur had shown during the demonstration would be enough to speed things along. He was severely disappointed.
“Ohohoho, bravo Hiccup. That was even better than I expected! I’ve got goosebumps! But I think there’s one last thing I’ve got to do before signing that treaty of yours. I’m getting on that dragon!” Dagur was downright giddy at the prospect, he’d already jumped from the stands down into the arena. Hiccup desperately tried to get between Dagur and Hookfang, to dissuade him from attempting such a thing.
“Wait, Dagur! That’s not a good idea, you have to earn a dragon’s trust before you even try getting near them!” Hiccup’s words were ignored and he was shoved aside carelessly by the Berserker chief.
“If you can do it, pipsqueak, it can’t be that hard!” Dagur walked right up to a growling Hookfang and attempted to coo at him like a dog, or small child.“Here, dragon, nice dragon, I’m just gonna—" Dagur went to throw his leg over Hookfang the way Hiccup had, causing the nightmare to bristle. Hookfang growled and set himself alight, the flames immediately scorching Dagur who was then thrown against the far wall by Hookfang whipping his head to the side.
Gobber guffawed, before being silenced by a grinning Stoick. “Hold on lad, I’ve got ya.” The elder blacksmith jumped down into the arena and grabbed the water trough typically used to douse Snotlout. Gobber dumped the entire trough over a still-smoking Dagur. “There, you go. Fire’s out.”
Dagur surged to his feet, still dripping, his face twisted into a rictus of rage. He pulled the axe off his back and gripped it tightly in his hands, advancing towards Hookfang. “How dare you! How dare you filthy beast defy ME, Dagur! I am going to take your head for that!”
Hiccup and Gobber both leaped to stand between the raging Berserker and Hookfang. “Wait! Hold on, just calm down Dagur!” Gobber said, bodily placing himself in front of the young man. “Hiccup, here, warned you not to get on that dragon. You’ve only got yourself to blame.”
Dagur began to laugh hysterically. “Me? To blame, ME? THAT dragon is the one who attacked me, I will not let this stand. The only way I’m signing that treaty now is with that dragon’s blood. Take it or leave it, Stoick.” Dagur did not back down, and he did not sheath his axe, either. His father leapt down into the arena, landing with a mighty thud befitting his bulk. He stalked up to Dagur joining Hiccup and Gobber in standing between him and Hookfang.
“Then, I suppose we’ll be leaving it. Your father was a good man, a good chief, it’s clear you’ve inherited neither of those traits.” Stoick thundered, his statement absolute. He was no longer willing to pander to the whims of an unstable child playing at being a man.
Dagur stared up at Stoick, his features painted with disbelief. It was obvious he had never been denied what he wanted before, accustomed to everyone caving to his desires. He sputtered for a moment, at a loss for words, not having planned for possible rejection. “But, I have an armada! You have to listen to me!” Dagur whined, and his men muttered amongst themselves, apprehensive at this turn of events.
“Attack us, or don’t, Dagur. Either way I’ve had enough of your games, boy. You’ll not be laying a finger on that dragon.” His father’s voice was deep, menacing and left no room for argument. Hiccup waited for Dagur to fold, for him to take his men and leave. However, instead a manic gleam crept into his eye, and his gaze fell on Hiccup. Before Hiccup could offer a warning, or even move a muscle, Dagur pounced. He was taken to the ground, flattened by the other’s bulk, and stunned when Dagur slammed his helmeted head into his own. Hiccup’s vision went hazy for a moment, and he was yanked upwards, most of his weight being supported by Dagur’s arm wrapped around his throat. An axe held threateningly in front of his face.
“How about this, Stoick? You hand over that dragon, or it’s your precious son’s blood I’ll use to sign that treaty!” The second those words left Dagur’s mouth, a dark, echoing snarl ripped through the air and a blur of black landed in front of Dagur. Dagur was stunned, staring down the night fury of myth. And that night fury was angry, Toothless wasted no time in shooting off a plasma blast that sent Dagur’s axe soaring across the arena followed by a second that struck his helmet, knocking it from his head and sending him sprawling. Hiccup took the opening to throw himself forward towards Toothless, who immediately wrapped himself around Hiccup and hissed, chastising “I told you, I told you, Half-of-Me this would go wrong.”
Dagur was still sprawled on the ground where he had fallen, staring open mouthed as the vicious offspring of lightning and death itself wrapped protectively around Hiccup. ”A night fury!” He gasped, and Hiccup could not tell if he was terrified, delighted, or both. “I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! He was telling the truth! You are the dragon conqueror, and you are building an army of dragons!” Hiccup sighed, that was not a rumor he wanted confirm.
“No Dagur, we aren’t building an army. We made peace with the dragons, they’re our friends, our family now. We don’t want to fight, we just want to be left in peace.” Hiccup made one final attempt to appeal to Berserker. Sadly, it looked like his words fell on deaf ears. Dagur scrambled, grabbing his helmet and shoving it forcefully back onto his head.
“Why wouldn’t you want to fight? Do you know the things I could do with an army of dragons! The islands I could conquer?” Dagur waxed poetic on his plans for world domination.
“Do you really want to risk losing your armada to our army? Do you want to take that risk now, when you are so new to the throne?” Stoick spoke up, turning to younger Chief. “I am willing to let this go Dagur, let bygones be bygones. As long as you sign that treaty and leave. NOW.”
“You’ve seen what just one dragon of ours can do, do you really want to take your chances with all eleven of them?” Gobber added cheerfully, truly gleeful this time and not putting on a façade. At his words, the Riders’ dragons, alongside Thornado, Violet, Whip&Lash, Bread Thief, Spitfyre, and Thud all gathered around the edges of the arena, growling and snarling their displeasure. Dagur gulped, clearly weighing his chances against the gathered dragons and finding his strength wanting. Gobber sauntered forward and wordlessly offered the treaty and a quill. Dagur glared at the blacksmith before snatching the quill from his hand and hastily scribbling a signature. “There! Signed!” Dagur stalked past Gobber and stopped in front of Hiccup, though he was forced to backpedal when Toothless lashed out with his tail.
“This isn’t over Hiccup, I am going to figure out your secrets, and when I do I’ll be back with my own dragon!” And with that declaration he whirled around dramatically and marched out of the arena towards the docks, his men tripping over themselves to catch up. Hiccup allowed himself a relieved smile and leaned back against the comforting warmth of Toothless.
His Dad snorted, and clapped a proud hand on his shoulder. “Well done Hiccup, I doubt we’ll be seeing Dagur the Deranged for a while.”