(Year one) (End of Summer)
It was past midnight on a warm summer night in the kingdom of DunBroch. As Merida laid her head onto her arms,resting by her bedroom window, while watching the wind blow threw the trees. Several days had passed since Hiccup and Toothless had flown back to Berk, and it would be some time before they would meet again. As she continued to watch the forest slowly move back and forth, Merida was in deep thought about a mystery she just couldn't solve. For a while now she wanted to ask for father about several things "why don't dragons travel to this part of the world?" " when was the last sighting of a dragon at these parts?", and "when did the war between us and the Berk even begin?". However Merida knew better than to ask any of these questions to both of her parents, in fear that maybe they would draw suspension. It would have to be herself to find these answers, and she had an idea where to find them.
Pushing herself up from the window, she went to her bedside table and grabbed a small candle, then softly pulled the latch to opened her bedroom door. Looking down both sides of the hallways she softly stepped out and heading towards the grand throne room. Once in the throne room there were a series of ordinary looking doors, while some led to the different parts of the castle, Merida walked towards a specific door, the kings' war room. As she stepped through the doorway Merida had to walk carefully down the long spiral stairway as the only light came from her candle. Even though she had been down in the war room many times with her father, King Fergus had a set of rules that everyone needed to followed.
If ever in a meeting with any of the clans, no one was allowed to interrupt.
Don't touch or move anything.
And lastly, nobody- not even the servants, are allowed to be alone in the war room.
Merida could hear her heart beating as she was reaching the end of the staircase, she only hoped that she could find what she was looking for- and quick. Holding the candle up close to stone walls she found several wall torches and carefully lit them all to bring full light into the room. Finally Merida examined the war room, it was a small space with a rectangular wooden table at the center, right behind the table was a small unlit fireplace with swords and weapons of very sizes hanging from above. Merida walked over to the left side of the room, holding the candle up high ,this is what she was looking for- her father's library, the entire left side held shelves that was filled with big and small books , scrolls, and documents- everything that she needed.
Then she went over to the right side of the room- it was a map that stretched to each end of the wall. Carefully placing down the candle on the table, she crossed her arms tight against her chest and looked over at the map. At the center of the map was DunBroch, and surrounding it were its many vast lands and oceans. Merida reached out and felt over the pieces of scrap paper being held by small knives, they were drawings of boats that represented armed forces. Then looking more closely, some spots of the map were crossed off or ripped out by force, enemies lands who have tried to attack DunBroch before and were perhaps taken care of. Merida thought for a moment if she would show Hiccup this war room, would he like it? Or be fearful?
Drawing in a big breath, "Let's get to it," she said. Turning back to the bookshelves Merida started to pull books and scrolls from its shelves, stacking as many as she could onto one arm, then carried them over to the table. She took a seat on her father grand chair and pulled the small candle closer and opened the first book.
For awhile she couldn't find anything, most books and scrolls only entail trading deals with other lands, and loads and loads of tax information from the villages dating back years. And others had transcripts of past meetings and battle strategies with the four clans, even old bedtime stories Merida mum use to read to her.
Yet Merida search on, scanning threw pages and pages to see if she could find any key words about Berk, dragons, vikings or any of that sort. Hours past and Merida's eyes were growing heavy as she looked at the sea of books in front of her, then looking back at the bookshelf she had only have gone threw about 20% of it all.
Merida gave a big sign resting against the chair, in defeat she closed the book in front of her. "Guess there really is nothing".
Merida began to groan while piling books back onto her arm, beginning to return them all away. When taking a knee to place some back onto the bottom shelf- Merida notice out of the corner of her eye a book that she missed before. Different from all the rest and hidden between two thick larger books, it read "Battle o- ---- ---rk-".
Merida place the books down and grabbed the small book, thinking this one was just like the rest she flips through the pages, then saw a picture that made her gasp and hurry back up to the desk for better lighting. She was looking at a drawing of a MONSTROUS NIGHTMARE, and right below written in small writing "hidden behind our high mountains, this dragon cast fire to th' falls".
"DunBroch had a monstrous nightmare?" question Merida. Flipping through the next couple of pages Merida discovered another passage with a drawing of mountains on the next page. Merida began to read out loud.
"Fur the past 900 years, this land was home to a nest o' dragons that rested on the mainland 'n' its surrounding islands. The more we killed the more they would come, until over time a secret came from one of our islanders that if ye bury instead of burning after killing, over time dragons would passover all together to avoid th' dangerous burial ground of the fallen. From that success this kingdom was reborn wi' dragons deep in our roots. For many years after the only dragons that remind rested in caves on the high mountains. Legends say the monsters cast fires to the whole mountains and waterfalls, killing anyone who dare come near them. Until one brave soldier climb to th' highest peak and slay the monsters. For his bravery he was then named king, and in his victory he drank from the waterfalls. Under his order he renamed that victory mountain "Croons tooth " and his waterfall (the firefalls)".
Merida was speechless, resting back onto the chair see could only think of something her father would always tell her "only th' great ancient kings were brave enough to drink from th' fires".
Did her father know anything about this? And if so, why would he keep something this important a secret?
With more questions than answers Merida quickly hurried back to the book shelves, looking for anything about her father's past battles, grabbing as many "recent" scrolls as she could, Merida opened them all up and scan the names for King Fergus. She found some scrolls dating back many years before she was even born, it was in those scrolls she found her father hand writing requesting for the clans to form together to aid each other from enemies from afar.
Continuing to read "there are rumors of numerous tribes o' viking coming to attack very soon, and one tribe believes we possess something they called "the hidden world" claiming we are keeping its a secret from the rest o' the world, and if need be they will come along 'n' take it by force. I do not know what they mean by hidden world... perhaps our treasures or land; however, this wee village have gathered many viking tribes and have now become a threat to us, but as yer king they will not take what is ours". The scroll ended there and Merida hurried to the next one and the next one to find anything that continued the transcript but only found one more. It read "In attempt to overthrow our kingdom, these different bands o' vikings barely manage to escape. If any of these enemies dare to walk onto any o' our lands, DunBroch will not let them walk freely."
"Name?" Merida thought to herself "But what's the name?!" she pick up scroll after scroll to find anything else...but found nothing more.
How would Merida ask Hiccup? "Did yur father try to kill my father?...are your people really not to be trusted?"
Resting her hands on each end of the table, Merida looked out at the mess of open scrolls and books in front of her. In her head Merida was putting the pieces together, of everything she thought she knew to everything new she just learned, and just like her father, Merida then decided on three points she needed to understand.
Perhaps it was Berk that attacked DunBrouch, perhaps not.
The past of her Kingdom does not reflect on the actions of her kingdom now
Whether or not to show Hiccup in all that she discovered.
Merida gave a deep sigh, then began to place everything back in the exact spot she found them, while doing so Merida decided that she would wait and find the right time to ask Hiccup about his father's past, and maybe find out if he knew what the hidden world means, but for now this secret would stay with her. Merida then thought of her father words that haunted her whenever he spoke about his enemies "will not let them walk freely" and for the first time she was worried if Hiccup should even come back at all.
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Back in Berk, Hiccup and the rest of this team had to cut dragon training short today and were flying down to the beach instead. It was some nonsense story that came from Snotlout, claiming something had washed up onto the beach and wanted everyone to see. But it isn't just something but someone. A stranger had washed up on Berks shores, right away they went to help her, and once she became conscious Hiccup found out that her name was Heather. She was lost, but she was also dangerous.