Chapter Text
“It’s not going to work”
“You don’t know that”
“Fine… It’s very unlikely to work”
Snotlout groaned as Astrid landed a hard punch on his shoulder. “It has to work,” she muttered under her breath.
…
3378 days ago, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third, son of Stoick the Vast, Berk’s heir, the runt of the litter, the winner of dragon training, went missing.
3381 days ago, Berk had its last ever dragon raid.
9 days ago, an empty ship arrived at Berks harbour, nothing on board other than a note demanding Berks' loyalty in return for their survival. The note instructed that if the tribe wished to survive, they should place a letter on the boat, seal it with the chief's crest, and set the ship adrift. It was signed by a man named Drago Bludvist.
9 days ago, the council had erupted in laughter at the threat. Whoever this Bludvist was, he had clearly never come across a boar-headed viking.
8 days ago, Stoick the Vast, chief of Berk, yelled in the grand hall for the first time in 8 years. He ordered the letter and the ship burned, and the village to prepare for war.
8 days ago, Stoick the Vast told his sister’s son, Snotlout Jorgensen, that he was going to make him officially his heir.
7 days ago, while Berk was preparing for war, Stoick the Vast ventured into Berk’s forest, down an overgrown path that hadn’t been walked in 8 years. He walked down to a long abandoned cove, so quiet you would wonder if any life had ever found it. He sat on a rock and said a silent prayer to his son.
6 days ago, Trader Johann arrived on Berk, singing stories of the one man who had ever been able to weaken Drago Bludvist. Some didn’t call him a man, but said he was a demon, a half-dragon-half-man hybrid, a guardian angel, an innocent man bitten by a lycanwing. Trader Johann claimed to know the truth about this figure. He was a man, a man who rode a nightfury.
5 days ago, the council had argued through the day and night, until a young woman, a shieldmaiden, Berks' strongest warrior, slammed her axe down on the table. She told the council that she was Berks' future, that Snotlout, the next chief, was Berks' future, that even troublemaking the Thorston twins and Fishlegs Ingerman, Berks Skald, were Berks' future.
4 days ago, at the crack of dawn, Astrid Hofferson convinced the council to give a message to Trader Johann, who claimed to know someone who knew the rider.
4 days ago, Trader Johann sailed away from Berk, towards the great beyond, carrying Berks only hope for salvation with him.
4 days ago, Astrid Hofferson punched Snotlout Jorgensen in the shoulder.
For the next 4 days, Berk held its breath.