The Cause {A Mericcup Novel}

Chapter 9

At birth, the Sun did give its blazing heart to it's child. And longing for its heir's return, it sent an Escort to guide her. But would the child recognize it's destiny? Would it acknowledge and accept the Escort? Or would there be a hiccup in their journey home?

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In the library, the servants had arranged a long, wooden table in the center of the room, much like in the dinning hall. Chairs were set in place according to individual status. King Fergus was seated at one end with the Queen to his right and the High Counselor to his left. The Chieftain and the long-mustached viking, of whom Merida had yet to learn the name, were seated at the opposite end of the table from the King and Queen.

While Merida sat alone near the center of the table, she slouched in her seat as she waited for her mother to begin the official meeting. Grimacing at the book shelves aligning the walls, she folded her arms over her chest, huffing at the confinement of her normal classroom. Many hours she had spent writing papers, listening to lectures, and trying not to fall asleep in the study. But she never imagined that real vikings would actually sit with her in her classroom. It may be the one interesting thing that had ever happened in there.

Glancing over at Hiccup, Merida noticed how truly uncomfortable he was. He sat with his shoulders ridiculously high and his hands clasped as his thumbs nervously rubbed together. She might have even seen some sweat roll down his neck, though the room was on the cooler side. Surely, he was inexperienced at meeting with high officials such as the King and Queen. Merida imagined normal viking meetings to be filled with hollering and food fights and flying axes, all ending with the Chieftian ordering the Vikings back to their sheds, or caves, or tents, or whatever they should live in (she really didn't know much about them). She assumed that Hiccup must be very on edge trying to control his viking anger. She was almost impressed by how civilized he was acting.

The creaking sound of a sliding wooden chair filled the empty noise as the King stood to start the meeting. Immediately, Merida sat up in her seat, happy to finally get answers to the viking problem. Also, sitting alongside the outer wall, a script prepared his feather pen to record the King's words.

Raising his hands, the King cleared his throat, announcing, "My fellow people, I, uh, King Fergus... along with my wife, the Queen, uh, are ready to..."

The Bear King was not much for words, so the Queen took charge, saying, "To relay the presentation of The Cause and The Land and Sea Alliance."

"Yes! Yes. The Cause. Land and Sea...stuff," Fergus tried to repeat. As he sat down, he then pointed at his wife, giving her permission to continue.

Inking his pen once again, the script prepared to write the Queen's more official words. As she stood up, she held three opened scrolls, one much older looking than the other two.

Queen Elinor began, "My King, High Counselor, and Norsemen Representatives. And Princess Merida. It is my honor to be here with you all as this meeting holds much value in determining the future relations between the Norsemen and the Scots, the future between the Land and Sea. Although the final laws will be written in the next full moon's time, I do believe a simplified reading on each of the three scrolls I hold now would be wise." Hiccup shifted uncomfortably at her saying, 'full moon's time.'

On the table in front of her, the Queen placed the oldest scroll. Merida leaned as far as she could over the tabletop to better examine the paper. Her mother was not pleased by her indecent behavior and glared at her, causing a smirk to spread across Hiccup's lips, yet small enough not to be seen by the Queen or Princess. Merida noticed that the paper was very yellow and crisp. Runes were the symbols written down, which meant that the paper was very important, for "runes were used to change the future"- according to the Princess lessons on Norsemen Culture and Language. Unfortunately, she couldn't read the runes because she hadn't studied enough of the language. However, she did notice two well known seals were pressed to the bottom of the scroll. One was a sword laid over Celtic knots- the old Dunbroch seal. And the other was a sword pierced through a dragon's head- the Harry Hooligan's seal. 

The Queen continued, saying, "This scroll was written by the Harry Hooligan tribe's Chieftain of five generations past, signed by H. H. Haddock II. It was a requested peace treaty to whom he referred the Scots as "the Highland People of the South." The Scots received it in question however. Because a raid from Haddock's tribe had just been made on a small, highland village, the Scots ignored the treaty and, in turn, reconquered the village, leaving the past Chief Haddock with no response."

Merida frowned, questioning, "Then why did the Hooligan's raid us?"

"Bourk," answered the large-mustached viking, "He was the great boat building master and was loved by all. Very popular with the ladies. And rich too! But he still wanted more. He aspired to be the Cheif himself! But of course, Haddock was strong enough to break him like a toothpick. So he took his wife and anyone who would follow him to find the brother tribe in the south, so that they could return with a village full of men and defeat Chief Haddock II." He told the tale enthusiastically, much like her father.

"Instead they found a new land, and made a new plan, much to my regret" Hiccup included, looking down at the table sorrowfully.

The man with the mustache nodded, finishing, "They found your people, pillaged, raped, and murdered them. A terrible act. Then left some men to protect the land and continued sailing to find their original destination. But they never returned to Berk. We know all this because a message was sent to Chief Haddock II with just a drawing of Bourk and his son sitting on thrones of human bones."

Hiccup fisted his hands, his face blazed red.

"Its a part of our history that defines us whether we like it or not," he stated, "Blood has been our greeting to anything new for centuries."

The King and Queen nodded in understanding; they knew the meaning of history to a people. But to Merida, this was irreconcilable. Her ancestors had suffered for generations under the oppression of simple-minded, weak, rebellious vikings, all which could have been avoided had the Chief of that time simply put his foot down. She didn't blame Bourk the Boat Master, or his son, for the harm of the clans. She blamed Haddock II.

Therefore, Merida finally asked the question she had wondered since that morning on the cliff.

Looking Hiccup straight in his big, green eyes, she asked, "Why are ya here, Hiccup Haddock?"