Bond of Two Lands

2. Dun Broch

"This is boring, H, why can't we ever do anything fun?" Tuff complained.
Hiccup turned around at Toothless' back. "H?"
"H as in Hiccup. Please."
"I understood that part, thank you, Tuffnut. But why're you calling me that when you know that I don't like it? It's not a very good tactic if you want me to let you do something fun."
"Yes, muttonhead, great work!" Ruff snorted at her brother.
He didn't notice, however, since he was right in the middle of a brand new thought. "It's one thing that I don't get. Why're we going to Berk just as Viggo is at his worst? What if he blows up the Edge while we're away?"
"That's actually very sensible of you to wonder, Tuff", Hiccup said, surprised, while picking up his spyglass from the saddle bag. "And as you say, we are taking a risk..."
"A huge one!" Fishlegs agreed. He joined the riders in a lead with chins that blossomed of embarrassment from interrupting their leader. "Sorry, Hiccup, but do you mind if I tell the plan...?"
Hiccup smiled at his friend's eagerness. "Go ahead, Fishlegs."
"Right! As we all know, Viggo and Ryker are planning to use the Dragon Eye against us as soon as they find a key - in this case a tooth from a Snowwraight - to open it with. We want to stop that from happening, but we have already tried to isolate the Snowwrights once..."
"... which ended up with Hiccup almost getting killed. So let's try another tactic this time", Astrid said.
"We are"; Hiccup sighed. "And it's not going to be easy. It'll take courage, dauntlessness and most of our firepower, but we still need to ask..."

~~~~~

"... you for some help", Hiccup hastily said.
"You said what?" Stoik said, looking everything but amused. He tried to catch his son's glance while stroking his red beard. "Son, how could I possibly send boats to Outpost Island when we're already busy shooting down uprisings here?"
"I... didn't really know", Hiccup admitted. He still avoided his father's eyes, and wished that he'd done this at home instead of outside the Forge. All eyes followed the Haddocks. "But I assumed that we could... maybe... ask some of our allies for help?"
Stoik crossed his arms over his wide chest. "Oh, yes. Who?"
"Eh, perhaps... Dun Broch?" He'd prepared this alternative a long time now, but had obviously presented it in the worst possible way: they were in public, his father was hungry and the uprisings in the other tribes were just getting worse and worse.
"Hiccup, I hope that you're joking."
"We need all the help we can get", Astrid said, suddenly approaching from behind. "Right now we can barely protect ourselves when we're under attack."
"How can you know? I haven't told any of you", Hiccup muttered.
Astrid snorted. "Come on, Hiccup, you're not that unpredictable."
"I'm..."
"Children." Stoik interrupted the argument. "This is a matter of great importance, and if it had been four year ago, I'd probably approved it."
"But what do the dragons have to do with our troops, other than improving them, I mean?" Hiccup asked.
"Not the troops. The allies."
Stoik didn't get any further in his speech, because of the blacksmith's sudden presence in the Forge.
The group split up. Gobber attacked Hiccup with questions about his new inventions, Stoik went back to his duties, Astrid went down to her parents house - as well as Fishlegs and Snotlout - and the twins managed to get yelled at by the Chief already during their first five minutes on the island. Even though they all enjoyed the independent life at the Edge, nothing could beat the feeling they had experienced back at home.
As the time went by and Hiccup was left alone, the evening fell over the village like a veil. A heavy, sleepy darkness followed it and silenced every sheep from bleating. Slowly but securely, everybody went out of their houses to gather up in the Mead Hall to have supper. It had become more or less praxis to always keep the dinner in the Hall every time the Riders spent the night in the village nowadays - which was quite uncommon.
Snotlout enjoyed the attention greatly and always managed to get his own table where he and his father, Spitelout, could sit together and brag for everyone who listened. The young Gustav were the only regular guest at that table.
The others always sat together with their families and spoke of old and new memories, except for Hiccup. In his early years, he'd found these formal dinners torturous. It had only been him, Stoik and Gobber, sitting at the chief's honorary table where everyone could see them.
Now, on the other hand, the dinners weren't quite as painful. He could now actually contribute to the conversation without being sighed at, and he was no longer so short that the others had to bend their necks to look him in the eye.
But he still felt uncomfortable with the position of the table. That would be one of the first things he'd change as Chief.
He grabbed a piece of chicken from the table, just as Tuff screamed "Chicken! Nooooo!" across the Hall, and thoughtfully started eating it while gazing at the villagers.
"Son?" Stoik said. "You're troubled. Spit it out."
Hiccup lowered the meat. "I just don't get why Dun Broch is out of the question."
Stoik sighed. "That again. Haven't I told you..."
"Sure you have, but I still don't..."
"Dun Broch?" Gobber echoed. He grabbed two chicken legs at once. "Why in Valhalla would ya want to go there, laddie?"
"Well... we need some power to defeat Viggo..."
"And ya turn to them? Bad idea." He ripped of the meat with his teeth.
"Why?" Hiccup looked at his father. "I've got the feeling that I'm missing out on some piece of information."
The Chief stopped eating, and sighed again. "Dun Broch used to be a great ally of ours. We are even related to their king. But things changed when we accepted the dragons. We could no longer feast or fight together, because it all involved slaying the creatures that used to torture us. They haven't forgiven us our peace, and they still slay dragons. If you go there, your dragons will be killed within the hour."

Thanks for reading!
Would you please vote and comment if you liked this chapter?
Thanks in advance // Fish-out-of-Water-5