How to Train Your Dragon Rider

(3.7) A Plan

It took most of the night to put out the fires, and by the time that dawn broke, most of the village was asleep in the few homes that weren't burnt. But I couldn't sleep.

Maybe it was grief, or perhaps fear, but I couldn't bring myself to fall asleep with so much going on. It was times like these that I wish my father was here. 

I mean, he probably shout about closing the gates, that no one could leave until Grimmel was gone. But it was still a solution, a better one than I had. But something had to be done. I know this man cannot be reasoned with, much like Drago, but I couldn't just stand by and watch him take our dragons.

I called a meeting, set for the early hours of the morning, but now as I stood in the hall waiting for the villagers to show, I still had no plan. The hall was so quiet without the roar of the people of Berk, a hollow tomb of silence.

Toothless was with me, following me with his gaze as I limped up and down the front of the hall. He was tired, but wouldn't sleep until I did.

"I don't know what to do bud." I paused, looking over at Toothless. He took it as a sign to come towards me, and came to lean his head against my side. "I can't just let him take you, but I can't force the people of Berk to fight a war against a foe such as Grimmel. And Berk, oh gods, Berk has been destroyed."

My head falls to my hands as I fall backwards into my chair. I sigh heavily, and speak to Toothless again. "I've got Berk to repair now, and the dragons. Gods, I still need to rescue those dragons from the Northern Strait, and-"

"With all that worrying your hair'll turn gray before your even twenty-five." My mothers voice passes through the empty hall easily. I look up at her and smile as she comes around the side of the table, taking a seat on the edge of the table next to me. "Your father would get like this. He's turn himself inside out trying to solve a problem."

I snort, I remember that well.

"I see so much of him in you." A tear rolls down my mothers cheek. I reach out to console her but the main door swings wide open and a large hoard of Vikings come gallivanting in. My mother smiles at me, and places a hand on my cheek. She walks to her spot at the table.

It takes a minute for everyone to find a spot in the room, and for my counsel to make it's way to the front of the room. It was my most trusted group of people in all of Berk. My mother, for obvious reasons. Astrid and Gobber, each clever in their own way. Eret, son of Eret, for the reason that he knew the minds of those we were up against. And the final two being Spitelout and Fishlegs. Spitelout was my fathers right hand man, so it was only right for him to be mine.

"Alright! Alright, everyone please, settle down." My shout echoed through the great hall, successfully quieting everyone. I notice Toothless out of the corner of my eye, making his way to rest on my right. He props his head on the table, and tiredly smacks his mouth.

"I'll give him a piece of my mind!" A Viking from the crowd shouts, "And by mind I mean fist!" He proceeds to punch the Berkian to his right directly in the face. Which of course makes everyone start arguing again.

"Did you not see my house? Did you miss the part where we almost died? This is a new kind of enemy, and I," I sigh, "I underestimated him."

"We're Vikings! We don't run from fights! At least, I don't." Snotlout shouts from the front of the room, a large portion of the Vikings agree with him, which of course only expands his ego. Snotlout points at Eret, "You might."

Eret snorts, "I agree with Hiccup." I look at him when he says that. "He's a predator, single minded, and patient. He won't stops until he gets what he wants. We need to take his threat seriously."

"Grimmel is just a sign of the times. Our enemies are getting stronger, smarter, and more determined. We're not just overcrowded, we are exposed and vulnerable." I look around the room, catching the eyes of many of the teens. "We are just short of full blown war, and risking everyone we love, I don't- I can't see a way of staying here any longer."

That causes the room to erupt into shouts. Most of anger, a few out of fear. I tried to regain control of the room, but it wasn't going very well. Astrid snapped.

She slams her axe into the table, successfully getting everyone's attention. She nods for me to continue.

"If we want to live in peace with our dragons, we need a different plan." I frown.

"So wha' ar' ya sayin' chief?" Gobber's voice passes through the room.

"I'm saying that, that we have to disappear. Off the map. Take the dragons to a place where no one will find them." I speak with such conviction, I was not sure of how well the plan will go through, but it had to work.

"And where might that be?" Spitelout speaks for the first time, looking at me not with disdain (something that he use to only be able to do), but with pride.

"He's talking about a quest for the Hidden World." Astrid pipes up from the end of the table, prompting one of the Viking woman to ask what the Hidden World is.

"My father was obsessed with it when I was a boy. He made notes and maps in search of this ancestral home of the dragons." I threw fire into the air, creating one of my fathers maps and holding it above the crowd. "Tucked away, somewhere at the edge of the world. It's the solution we need. We're dragon people, it's where we belong."

The crowd didn't look happy, and I knew exactly why.

"Look, I know this is our home. My father left me to protect it, but Berk is more than a place. We are Berk! Us, out dragons, Berk is wherever we go!" I was shouting at the end of it, and the people of Berk were moving to agree with me.

"I'm with him! Who else?" Tuffnut shouts from his front bench, suddenly the crowd is up and shouting there allegiance. 

I turn and smile at my mother, who grins with pride. But when I look to Astrid, only concern rests on her face.