Under Pressure

Chapter Five: One More Day

Chapter Five: One More Day

Dagur the Deranged was impatient. His Skrill couldn't seem to fly fast enough. Scanning the ground with his eyes, his gaze finally landed upon several ships outside of a small, rocky spit of land.

"That had better be good." he said, hopping off his dragon and strutting forward.

His most trusted soldier held up some black cloth. "We found this half buried in the sand. Is this what we're looking for?"

Dagur snatched the filthy cloth out of the man's hand and inspected it. A smile broke across his features. "Oh yes. This is exactly what we're looking for." he cackled in triumph. "It's true! Oh this is perfect!"

"And why did we spend the last year and a half looking for this?" another soldier asked, slightly irritated that what they had found had been so simple, so mundane and not at all what they had expected.

"Because it's proof that what that old Berk woman told us is true. And it's all the proof we need." Dagur was more delighted than he had ever been in his life. He tossed the cloth to his most trusted soldier. "Keep this under armed guard. We need a foolproof plan." he turned to walk away but then remembered something. "Also, get all the laws and maps from the record keeper. We need to make sure this really will hold up."

The soldiers nodded. Dagur mounted the Skrill once more, a gigantic smile on his face. He was impatient but he also wasn't going to take any chances. This was the best idea he'd ever had. Well, he mused, he mustn't take all the credit. The late Trista Haddock had been veryvaluable.

Xxx

Stoick's life was the best it had been in a long time. His relationship with his son was better than ever, his grandchildren made him smile on a daily basis, and the Berkians tended to be more at ease with him. He was happy most of the time, from the moment he awoke from the moment his head hit the pillow.

This morning was no exception. He had always been a morning person, even as a child, and he loved to rise just after the sun began its ascent. He knew that it would be a few hours before everyone was ready to enter the Whispering Death's new tunnel to plug up the well (very muddy work but it got done pretty quickly) so he decided to use this time to work on the new Dragon Book for Hiccup. He was on the last pages and if he took advantage of the extra time, he would have it finished.

The last pages were the trickiest of all. Stoick had spent five years wondering what he would write there because he wanted to leave Hiccup with something that lasted. He decided on writing a bit about each person who contributed to the more accurate information in the book. Hiccup and Fishlegs had the most contributions and drawings but a lot of Bork's notes were still quite relevant. Even the twins, both sets, had contributed a little bit.

He had lost himself in his work so that, by the time he finished the last line, the sun was shining through the windows, reminding him that he did have duties as chief and that he would be wise to get going. He shut the book with a smile, glad that this project was finally over, and wondered, as he got his things together, what his next project would be. If the next one took as long as this one did, he would be in his sixties when he finished. He shook his head as this thought entered his mind. He had no idea where the time had gone. One minute he was a young boy splitting rocks in two with his skull and the next he was a grandfather whose once deep red hair had lightened considerably.

Knowing his son, he thought that it might be a good idea to stop by the other Haddock home to find out if Hiccup had even gotten up yet. Astrid had probably already left for Svala's bridal shower and Adrianna was more likely than any of them to still be in bed.