Searching For You

Chapter 16: A Coup D'état

Stoick the Vast was on his way back home. He had been flying for a few hours now. Since this time there wasn't much of a known emergency he felt no need to speed back home the way he did going to Mala and Dagur.

When Berk came into view he noticed something was off.

No one was out and about as they usually were. Not even a single dragon could be seen.

He landed in the center of the village.

Nothing felt right.

But everything looked intact. Nothing broken or stolen. Buildings still together. What had happened? The only thing missing were the people and dragons.

Suddenly SkullCrusher roared. Stoick whipped around to see many Vikings holding him down.

"What in Thor's name!"

Then before he could question them, a couple more Vikings came up to hold him down. As he continued to struggle more came to assist. Skullcrusher was trying desperately to reach his human but to no avail The Berkians began taking their Chief to the prison where he would be kept temporarily. Many of them had a look of guilt plastered on their faces. They knew this was wrong. He hadn't done anything but miss his son.

Was that really a crime?

In a situation like this... it was.

They needed someone to lead them who could get the job done, and right now Stoick was not that person.

Once Stoick was out of view they took Skullcrusher to the arena, never intending to hurt him. But they knew he would try to break Stoick out. So the best place was the arena, at least until he calmed down a bit.

Stoick was taken back by the whole ordeal. Now he sat in a small prison cell. His own people had put him in there. The entire time he was baffled that his people had thrown him in a prison cell. Had he done something wrong?

None of them had said a word to him.

When the job was finally done the Vikings went back to the center of the village. There Chief Boral was waiting. Along with him were a load of Hecan warriors awaiting their next orders. Johann was also among them with a few hunters.

A few of the Berkians were torn between what was right and wrong.

Were they doing the right thing?

The flyers were working double time on Krogan's orders to find any trace of Hiccup, or the riders. After Krogan was given the order to go out and search he got right to it. They had over twenty flyers and four ships. The ships were stocked with nets, chains, crossbows, dragon root arrows, and net launchers. They were prepared for an attack on any side.

Krogan sat atop his large red Singetail leading the army of flyers across the vast ocean. Most of them were tired but they did not dare complain about it, so as not to lose their heads.He made it very clear they were to follow orders no matter what. So far, they had come up with nothing and Krogan was becoming irritated. He had planned to make Hiccup pay. But the Singetails had no trail to follow.

They came across the Northern Markets and decided they would question people there. As they docked their ships and landed their dragons people gave them weird looks. Not many people had seen the hunters there in a long while.

Instantly, the hunters began interrogating people, and they weren't trying to be nice about it. Relics destroyed, stands burned, people beaten. It was madness.

Krogan was getting rid of anyone who was useless to him. But one man proved useful.

"I-I don't know w-where they are now. B-but I last h-heard they were h-heading East." The man stammered, fearing for his life.

Krogan threw the man to the ground, pleased he finally got something useful.

He gathered up the flyers and they continued their search.

Annie was looking down at the books that were laid out in front of her.

She was still very grateful she was found by people who respected Hybrids rather than hated them.

She knew most of the information was outdated. Much had changed over the centuries.

Mala and Dagur along with every other Defender of the Wing had been very welcoming to her. Of course for the first few days she couldn't see them but now that she could, she only saw their smiling faces. To see a Hybrid overjoyed them. They had passed stories about them through generations. Children would become giddy with laughter when seeing her.

After a while Annie decided to take a break from the books and went to find Throk. When she found him, he greeted her kindly and they both talked for a minute. Out of nowhere Annie asked. "Throk do you know where I can find a bow?"

Throk was a bit taken back by the question. "Um... I'm sure I can find you one. May I ask why?"

"Oh yeah, I just use archery as a way to clear my mind." She answered.

Soon Throk found her a bow along with a full quiver of arrows and they set up multiple targets a short ways into the forest where she got fire away.

After everything was set up she got ready to shoot her first arrow. Throk stood behind her waiting to see what skill she had with the weapon.

Annie pulled an arrow from the quiver and set it up on her bow. She pulled it all the way back and steadied herself. When she was ready to shoot she took in a deep breath and released the arrow. It cut sharply through the air and hit directly in the center of the target.

Throk was impressed with her skill. "My, Annie, where did you learn to shoot like that?" He asked.

"Self taught." She said, getting another arrow ready. "After my parents were killed I made a promise to myself to never let that happen to anyone else. So I started training everyday. I was terrible at first but I wasn't going to let that stop me. Any chance I had I would go and train. My father was a professional bowman as well so you could say it runs in the family." By the time she finished she had released three more arrows, each one a perfect shot.

"I always wanted to protect people, and now, I feel like I can do that."

Throk smiled. "Well, from what I saw you're the best archer I've ever seen."

By the time they finished she had shot the entire quiver. Each one just as good, or even better, than the last.

They both returned to the Great Hall to grab something to eat and continued to study the books.

Mala and Dagur were also there as Annie filled them in on what needed to be changed in the seemingly endless amount of information.

Annie knew she couldn't stay with the Defenders forever. Although it tore at her heart she knew she would have to go soon.

That afternoon she said her farewells and was headed off. They let her keep the bow and restocked her with a full quiver of arrows.

She began heading East and, with consistent flying, would reach her destination in a couple days.