Ever since I arrived on Berk, I've been trying to remember where I came from. But I never expected the answers would come to me on a day I wasn't supposed to be on Berk at all.
"How are we supposed to see up here?" Ruffnut whined.
"You're not. That's the whole point."
Today's training was all about trust between dragon and rider, but as usual, Ruff and Tuff weren't exactly getting that. We had taken them above the dense cloud cover that had settled over Berk in hopes that maybe Barf and Belch would be able to help guide the twins to where we had designated them to go.
"Oh. No, I still don't get it." Hiccup and I exchanged a glance.
"When you two can't see, you have to trust Barf and Belch to see for you. Like this." Hiccup patted Toothless on the head, and the two of them disappeared into the fog.
"Why does he always have to speak in riddles?"
"I say we trust us." I used Shriek to rest my elbows on as I buried my head in my hands.
"Yeah, I'm with you, sister."
"Barf, up!"
"Belch, down!" I looked up to see the twins and their Zippleback spiraled through the air, each head facing a different direction. They barreled through the sky, knocking into an unsuspecting Fishlegs and Meatlug and sending them all tumbling to the ground.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Shriek and I dove down to where the three had fallen, finding them suspended by tree branches.
"Belch, get me down!"
"Barf, go for help!" I looked up to the sky to see their Zippleback still fighting to pick a direction to fly in.
Taking the opportunity, Fishlegs whistled toward his dragon. Meatlug looked down at where the noise had come from, then dove toward her rider to help him the twins up off the branch.
"It worked! I can't believe it actually worked!" He could only celebrate for a second, however. The branch below Fishlegs suddenly snapped, and thinking fast, I jumped onto Shriek and dove beneath him to catch Fishlegs. We reunited with Hiccup as we got back above the cloud cover.
"What was that hand thing you were doing?" I asked.
"If you must know, I have been crafting some rudimentary hand signals for Meatlug just in case we get separated, and they seem to have been well-received."
"Hmm... Hand signals. That's incredible, Fishlegs!"
"Yeah, I know!" I turned to Hiccup.
"We need to start working on those right away." A look crossed Hiccup's face, one that I couldn't quite understand, before nodding and leading everyone back to the academy for training.
"Shriek, knockout boom!" I stepped out of the way and flicked my arm down for her to fire out a tiny sonic boom. "Up!" I pointed my index finger up and she took off just above my head. "Higher!" She went up to the ceiling of the academy, and I was satisfied. "Okay, come down, girl."
Having finished with our part of training for the day, I made my way over to Hiccup and Toothless, who were finishing up their hand signals.
"Toothless, plasma blast!" Hiccup tossed a shield into the air, and Toothless obliterated it with a blast. "Good job, bud. Smile." I giggled as Toothless pulled back the corners of his lips, trying his best to smile.
"Not bad." Astrid glanced at us before quickly flickering her attention back to Stormfly. "Stormfly, spine shot!" Her Deadly Nadder whipped her tail out toward Astrid, shooting spines right up to her feet. "Well, it's better than last time." We all turned to look at Snotlout as he laughed.
"Hookfang, annihilate!" Without waiting for his rider to get out of the way, Hookfang shot out a ball of fire.
"Bulls-eye!"
"Meatlug, hug!" The Gronkle launched herself toward her owner and tackled him into the closest thing a dragon could offer for a hug.
"Hmm. That could actually be useful," Hiccup concluded. "Ruff, Tuff, your turn." Everyone looked at the twins, waiting for them to show off what they had come up with.
"Belch, come!"
"Barf, go!" The Zippleback stretched its heads in opposite directions, then hit their heads together, knocking it unconscious. "Barf, sky!"
"Belch, ground!" Each head tried to go in a separate direction, knocking them to the ground. "Ha ha! I win!"
"What do you think you're doing to my dragon?"
"Your dragon? Puh-lease. You've been breathing in Barf's gas again."
"Yeah, so?" The twins were right up in each other's faces at this point, looking as though they were about to tear each other apart.
"Guys, guys!" Hiccup interjected. "Barf and Belch is one dragon. You have to use one signal at a time."
"Good idea. Barf, tackle Tuffnut!" Barf ended up obeying, knocking his head into Tuffnut to send him flying back. "Heh. How was that?"
"I don't think it's what Hiccup-"
"Belch, eat Ruffnut." Belch reached his head down and scooped up Ruff in his mouth, suspending her in the air.
"Uh... ow?"
"Tuff, come on." Tuffnut rolled his eyes and scoffed at us.
"Whatever. Belch, drop Ruffnut." Ruff was gracefully set on the ground as she shuddered.
"I can't work like this."
"Ugh, it's completely unprofessional."
"I'm taking my dragon, and going home."
"You touch that dragon, and I'll-"
"You'll what?" Tuffnut hesitated.
"I'll... I... I don't know. Don't rush me. Just..." He bounced his eyes from his sister to his dragon. "Uh... uh... I'll tell you tomorrow." They both rushed over to Barf and Belch and tried to pull his heads in separate directions.
"Guys, come on," Hiccup sighed. "Stop, please! Leave the dragon out of it. It's over."
"It's over."
"Yeah, it's so over, it's under." The pair stormed away from each other, leaving their dragon completely confused.
"What was that about?" I asked. The twins had never acted like that before.
"Eh, they'll be back."
"You seem pretty confident about that." He shook his head.
"I have bigger things to worry about right now. Come on." We made our way back to his hut as Gobber was yanking a belt tight against Chief Stoick's gut. I looked around, both confused and a little disturbed. "Ah, the ceremonial belt. That time again?"
"What time?" I looked around, then thought of the time of year it was. "Is this that thing you guys always send me away for?"
"Yup. Tomorrow's the annual treaty signing with the Berserker tribe."
"They've gotta change that name. When your chief is Oswald the Agreeable, and you haven't been to war in fifty years."
"Please tell me he's not bringing that lunatic kid of his."
"Dagur? Oh, he'll be here." My head snapped up from my feet. Dagur? Why was there something so... familiar about that name? Maybe our family had a peace treaty with them as well?
"Great," Hiccup deadpanned. "And let me guess: I get to keep him from breaking things?"
"Actually, I have a more important job for you. You get to hide all the dragons."
"From Oswald the Agreeable? Why?"
"Hiccup, just because we've had peace for fifty years, doesn't mean they can't still go, well..."
"Berserk?"
"Exactly. The dragons could be seen as a sign of aggression. Better blissful than bloody, I always say."
"The last thing we want is another Berserker skirmish. They tend to play for keeps."
"Just hide the dragons, son." I sighed and sat down at the table, still mulling things over from my previous semi-epiphany.
"You okay, Reign?" I looked over at Chief Stoick, Gobber, and Hiccup, all looking at me as though I were suddenly growing another head.
"I, uh... I know that name," I muttered. "Dagur. I've definitely heard it somewhere before." The chief and Gobber exchanged a glance that didn't go unnoticed. "What?"
"Maybe you should stay here for the signing this time," Chief Stoick suggested. I shot up from the chair and stared at the pair of adults.
"You know something, don't you? You figured something out and now you won't tell me."
"Reign, please, just-"
"What is it?" I fought back a few childish tears. "What can't I know? Because if it has anything to do with Dagur, or Oswald, shouldn't I know before they come?" The chief and Gobber exchanged a glance, before Chief Stoick turned to his son.
"Hiccup, could you give us a minute?" He looked between the three of us before nodding and taking Toothless out the door. The chief crossed the room and pulled up a chair, sitting down across from me. "Reign, the reason we send you away at this time of year... is that we're worried, if the Berserkers find you here, they'll think we're harboring you."
"Harboring me? Why would they care?" Chief Stoick gestured to Gobber, and he rushed off to grab something. "What's going on?" Gobber came back and handed something shiny to the chief.
"This was on your belt when you were dropped on Berk." He placed the shimmering object in my hands, allowing me to look over it myself. It was a flat piece of silver with some sort of dragon I'd never seen before carved into it.
"What is this?" I asked, looking back up at the chief.
"It's the crest of the Berserker Tribe."
I sat there in a stunned silence for a few moments. If I had the crest of the Berserker tribe on me... and my mother had said I was the daughter of a chief...
"Is Oswald my father?" I asked, my hands starting to tremble. "Am I a Berserker?"
They said nothing. At first, I was too stunned to speak, the glint of the belt suddenly becoming blinding against my irises. A thousand questions raced toward my mind and once, overwhelming my head with "why"s and "how"s. I understood how Chief Stoick could've recognized me when I was rescued, but nothing else added up. Doing my best to keep my temper in mind, I looked back up at the two men again.
"Why didn't you send me back?" I demanded lowly. "I don't buy that 'harboring' stuff. Why didn't you send me back?"
Chief Stoick and Gobber both hesitated, but ultimately, the former likely decided it best for him to explain.
"Gothi said that bringing your memory back too quickly could be dangerous." The chief kept his voice calm. "She said that it could send you into a state of shock. We worried about what sending you home too soon might do. We just assumed that it might take a few months for it to come back instead... of years."
That wasn't enough for me.
"Even when I started talking about memories coming back, you still didn't think to maybe tell me about my father? My family?" I threw the belt buckle onto the ground. "And why wouldn't you just think to explain to anyone what happened, so if that harboring thing is true, they'd understand? How could you--"
I began tripping over my words, indicating it was time for me to move on.
"That's not important. What's important is that I want to meet my father."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea..." Gobber trailed off.
"If he's as kind as you say he is, then I'm sure he'll understand if I just explain."
A horn sounded outside the doors.
"They're here, chief."
"Then we're out of time." An armada of ships was making its way toward us, all with that same dragon painted on the sails.
"Hey, Dad?" I looked over to see Hiccup approaching us. "There's-"
"Not now, son. Oswald is here." We watched as the largest ship brushed against the wood of the docks and lowered their gangplank.
"Presenting the high chief of the Berserker Tribe." My heart rate started to increase. This was it... the moment I was going to see my dad for the first time in years. "Cracker of skulls, slayer of beasts, the great, and fearsome-"
"Oswald the Agreeable?"
"Dagur the Deranged!" I looked from Chief Stoick to Gobber, panic on all our faces as the man stepped aside to reveal a young man with a menacing snarl staring down at us.
"Dagur?"
"Deranged?"
"Oh, no..." Hiccup quickly ducked as Dagur removed a small knife from his belt and chucked it in his direction. "Oh, perfect." I shrunk myself behind the two large men as he made his way down the gangplank.
"Dagur, where's your father?" Chief Stoick inquired.
"My father has been... retired. He lost his taste for blood. I, on the other hand, am starving."
"Great," I muttered. "I'm related to that."
"What?" I turned to Hiccup and flashed a suspicious smile.
"Nothing."
"So, where are you hiding them, Stoick?"
"Hiding what, Dagur?"
"Do I look stupid to you?"
"Trick question," Gobber whispered. "Don't answer it."
"We both know what's going on here. I have it on excellent authority that you're amassing an army of dragons."
"Excellent authority? And who would that be?" The chief demanded.
"Never mind. Just know that if I find it to be true, then my armada will attack with the force of fifty thousand brave Berserker soldiers."
"Stand down, Dagur. There won't be any need for the armada. Now, let's get to the treaty." I heard Hiccup dash off behind me, leaving me to stand on my own.
"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?"
"Your father never felt the tour necessary."
"As you can see, I'm not my father. Am I?"
"Clearly," I grunted.
"Who said that?" My eyes went wide and I shot up straight.
"Uh..."
"It's fine, Chief Stoick." I slowly emerged from behind them and smiled.
"I-I'm Reign," I introduced. "I'll be taking Hiccup's place this year."
Dagur looked over me with suspicious eyes, and for a moment, I was terrified he recognized me.
"Very well." He brushed past the three of us, starting his tour on his own.
"Come on, go, go." I whispered, urging the three of us forward to get ahead of Dagur and his men as their feet touched the grassy land of Berk.
"And we're walking, walking... And here we have our food storage. It's where we... well..."
"Oh, oh, oh, oh, let me guess," Dagur chimed in. "Store your food."
"No wonder they made him chief." The three of us followed him in and stood in the doorway as Dagur did a sweep of our inventory.
"Boring! I want to see the dragon-killing things," he demanded.
"Follow me," the chief grumbled.
"Are you sure about this, Chief Stoick?"
"What else can we do?" I shook my head and followed as the chief led Dagur to the armory. As soon as he unlocked the doors, Dagur's eyes lit up. "And here, we have Berk's armory." The Berserker chief snatched up a sword and started to swing it around wildly.
"You want some of this, Gronkle?" I jumped out of the way as he swung the sword too close to my face. "How about you, Nadder? That's right, plead. Plead for your pathetic, dragon life." He chucked the sword at a shield hanging on the wall.
"He's really got a handle on that whole 'deranged' thing." Dagur picked up another sword and cackled as he swung it around. The look on Chief Stoick's face shifted, and he yanked the sword from the shield.
"I'm about to make him eat this sword." My eyes went wide and I extended my arms out.
"How about we see to signing that treaty now," I suggested.
"Sounds like my father," he grunted. "'Sign the treaty, Dagur.' 'Leave that chicken alone, Dagur.' 'Put down that axe, Dagur!'"
I snapped my head up to look at Dagur. What... what did that mean...?
"Your father is a great man! And I'll not have you disrespect him!" Chief Stoick spat.
"My father was a coward. I intend to return the Berserkers to their former glory. Something he was... incapable of doing."
"Zippleback," Chief Stoick suddenly gasped.
"I knew it! Where is it? Ooh, let me kill it, let me kill it."
"He's joking, Dagur," Gobber awkwardly chuckled as he shut the doors. "That Stoick, always the prankster. Tell me, Dagur. What are some of your deranged plans for the Berserker tribe?"
"Let's start with what you did to you father," I cut in.
"Reign..."
"No, no, I want to know. Between 'put down that axe,' and 'was,' you're sounding awfully suspicious, Dagur."
"That's for me to know, girl."
"I'd prefer you used my name, Dagur."
"Let's move on to that feast then, you two." Gobber pushed Dagur and I apart and guided us out of the armory.
"Nice weapons, very clean. No blood stains, pity. Ah, Hiccup, there you are." I peered around the side of Dagur to see Hiccup looking down with his eyes closed and arms in the air.
"Dagur!" he yelled, over-enthusiastically. "I-I was just thinking about you. Hey, remember that time we went swimming, and you tried to drown me."
"Hiccup, what are you doing?" I asked, crossing around to put his arms down.
"Ho ho ho ho ho ho he he he he ha," Dagur chuckled, for far too long. "Oh, the laughs we had. Bored again!" He shoved Hiccup out of the way, suddenly stopping in his tracks. "Just a moment. Something... is going on here."
"I can explain..."
"Where is it?"
"Look, it's just one drag-" My eyes went wide. Was there a dragon here?"
"Your leg." Hiccup looked up above us cautiously. "Never mind, I heard all about it."
"You heard all about what?"
"You, the Red Death. Defeated it all on your own."
"I'm sorry, what? Is that what people are saying?"
"What? Me? Look at me. How is that even possible?"
"Right? That's what I thought, too. But then, I heard about the trained dragons, and it got me, well, kind of tingly."
"Trained dragons? I do- I don't even- how would you train a dragon?"
"I don't know." Dagur got threateningly close to Hiccup's face. "How would you?" There was an awkward silence.
"All right, then. Who's hungry?" Chief Stoick started to lead Dagur toward the Great Hall.
"I-It's this way, Dagur." All of us started to make our way toward the Great Hall, when a roar stopped everyone in their tracks. Slowly, we all turned to look at Hiccup, whose eyes flashed with panic before he started making growling noises and holding his stomach.
"Oh, boy, am I hungry."
"I said this way, Dagur." Once the boy was out of earshot, Chief Stoick turned to his son. "Get that dragon out of here."
He rushed off before I could say anything, and I followed everyone else into the Great Hall, where the meal was ready. I took a seat between Dagur and Gobber, hoping to just get through the rest of this day without a casualty. Once everyone was seated, Hiccup snuck in and took his seat beside his father, who leaned over to whisper something before we started eating.
"A toast, to death in battle." Dagur stood and raised his cup, and while everyone else did the same, Chief Stoick changed the toast.
"To Oswald."
"Fine, whatever. To Oswald," Dagur mocked, "to Oswald, to Oswald. Bladady, bladady, blah! Ugh!" Everyone looked around uncomfortably as he stabbed the food in front of him.
But that was nothing compared to what happened next.
"So, Stoick... do you care to explain what my sister is doing on your island?"
Everything went silent as utensils clattered and drinks were spat in shock as eyes shifted to the only girl in the room: me. I awkwardly looked down at the food in front of me before standing and looking at him.
"How'd you know?" I asked, meeting the eyes that were the same as mine.
"Did you think I didn't remember your name? I couldn't possibly forget the name of my own sister. Besides, we look too similar to deny it. I just never thought you'd end up in a place like this."
"Dagur, before you say anything... I didn't know until just before you came. I couldn't remember anything about home, and-" I could see Dagur getting angrier with every word I said.
"Well, on that cheery note, shall we sign the treaty and send you on your way?" That seemed to distract Dagur.
"Great idea! Let's sign that treaty. Bring us the dragon's blood!"
"Uh, did you say dragon's blood?" Chief Stoick laughed awkwardly.
"Don't be ridiculous, Dagur. Your father and I haven't signed the treaty in dragon's blood for years."
"Why would that be a problem, Stoick? Unless, of course, you don't kill dragons anymore."
"We still kill dragons."
"The problem is, we've killed so many, there's not a dragon within two hundred miles from here-" The doors of the Great Hall suddenly burst open, and Barf and Belch growled at the people in front of them.
"Except that one," I sighed. The dragon quickly turned around and rushed outside again.
"The Zippleback! It's a sign! A head for each chief!" Dagur cackled wildly. "It's gonna be amazing!" He hopped up on a chair and held his knife above his head. "Tonight, we hunt a dragon!" I snatched the knife out of the air as it was chucked in Hiccup's direction.
"Yeah! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!" the other Berserkers chanted.
"You need to find that Zippleback before he does," I hissed.
"You're not going to help me?"
"I have to stay here and stall them." He nodded and dashed after the Zippleback.
"Well, Dagur, if you're going to hunt down that Zippleback, you should at least have the proper weapons, right?"
"Reign, what...?"
"Trust me, Chief," I whispered.
"That's where you're wrong, sister. We already have plenty enough weapons. We just need ropes." He looked down at my belt to see the rope I carried around. "Like that."
"Hey, that's mine." He snatched it from me.
"What's yours is mine. That's how family works." I huffed as Dagur gathered his troops.
"Of all the brothers in the world, why'd I have to get that one."
"Berserkers, let's find that Zippleback!" The rushed out of the Great Hall and straight into the woods.
"Dagur, wait!"
Unfortunately, we didn't have to go far to find Barf and Belch. They were clearly disoriented without Ruff and Tuff, and they couldn't navigate through the woods on their own. I ran to the dragon's side as two Berserkers tied his heads down. In a moment of pure, blind instinct, I removed my sword from my side and blocked Dagur from bringing his own down.
"How... dare... you?"
"How dare you?" I stepped aside to let Chief Stoick make whatever point he was going to try to make. "We're supposed to slay this dragon together, and that we'll do- in the arena, where dragon killing is done." Dagur put his sword away.
"To the arena!" As the Berserkers hauled off Barf and Belch, I caught the eyes of my friends hiding out in the woods. An immense amount of guilt washed over me as I met the disappointed glances of Ruffnut and Tuffnut, but all I could do at the moment was mouth the word 'sorry' and run off after the others. Once the Zippleback was secured in the arena and Dagur declared he was ready, Gobber pulled out the treaty to begin the process.
Of course, I was going to try my best to make sure it wasn't finished.
"According to the treaty, the killing of the dragon must be-" Dagur shoved the treaty down.
"Bored! I want the head on the right." I could barely watch as Barf and Belch struggled to get free from the ropes. I had run out of time with no ideas except to start a fight with Dagur, and he was much bigger and stronger than me, so it certainly wasn't a fight I'd come out of unscathed, or possibly with my life.
"I'm putting a stop to this," Chief Stoick declared. "If it means war, it means war."
"Chief Stoick-" He marched toward Dagur and pulled out his sword. Horror flooded through me as I realized what he was about to do. Just as the chief was about to bring the sword down on Dagur, a voice cut through everything.
"Help!" We all turned to see Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs sprinting haphazardly into the arena. "Dragon attack!"
"The dragons are attacking!" We looked up to see Hookfang crawling down through the ceiling of the arena and firing at the Berserker soldiers. Briefly, I looked over and caught Astrid's eye, who winked at me.
Those sly friends of mine...
"What is going on?" Gobber asked, completely and utterly confused.
"Gobber, dragon attack." I emphasized my words to try and get him to understand what was happening. Thankfully, he raised his eyebrows in recognition.
"Oh! Dragon attack! Everyone out of here!" Stormfly and Meatlug came in through the entrance, and while the Nadder shot out spines from her tail, the Gronkle jumped forward into a 'hug.' "We must protect our honored guest." Gobber tried to usher Dagur out of the arena, but he pushed him away.
"Run if you want. But Dagur the Deranged will not retreat!" Without anyone noticing, I cut the ropes restraining Barf and Belch, allowing Ruff and Tuff to give them the signals to spark. I jumped out of the way just in time, and Dagur was thrown against the wall by the explosion. Stormfly then threw her tail against Dagur to send him to the ground. However, as the Zippleback was retreating, Dagur managed to get up and throw a spear in its direction.
Thankfully, at the last second, a black blur shot out and grabbed it between its teeth, staring down Dagur. He backed up in shock, staring at Toothless in complete and utter awe.
"A Night Fury! They do exist!" Toothless growled and took his battle stance, when Hiccup jumped between them with a shield on one arm and a knife in the other.
"Back, you... fiend, you," he ordered. "You'll not harm my friend, Dagur." I stifled a laugh as Hiccup shot his arm back and hit Dagur with the shield. Making use of the momentary stun, Hiccup gestured for Toothless to do a plasma blast, then shoved Dagur out of the way just as it was about to hit them. The Berserkers, including Dagur, were running to get out at this point.
"Please, Dagur, save yourself!" I called. Toothless jumped on Hiccup and started play-fighting him, while I pretended to yank on his tail to get him off.
"You owe it to your people!" With a final blast from Hookfang, Dagur called the retreat.
"Berserkers, to the boats!"
"What about the treaty?"
"Consider it signed!" As soon as they were gone, the dragons backed off.
"Well done, Hiccup," his dad complimented. "I doubt we'll be seeing much more of Dagur the Deranged."
"Let's hope not," I grumbled, making my way over to help Hiccup up.
"But he's your brother." I shook my head.
"Only by blood."
I'd spent so long thinking that once I found my family, I'd get to go home with them. Granted, that was before I got to know the people here on Berk. And sure, they're pretty crazy here, but I'll take crazy over berserk any day of the week.