𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter twenty-two; yrsa
❝ no task is too hefty! ❞

    THE RIDE back to Berk was tense and quiet. Both Yrsa and Hiccup didn't know what to say or were too busy scowling at the horizon line, brooding over what Eret son of Eret had said to even think of saying anything. A dragon army? The words didn't settle well in Yrsa's stomach at all. It seemed ludicrous, but she wasn't naive, she knew it was true ... this Drago something━whoever he was━sounded far fiercer than any hunter, flyer, traitor or crazed lunatic they've faced. This was serious; very serious, and by the look on Hiccup's face as he led the way home back to Berk, she knew he thought similar, too.

    When they reached Berk, the whole village was still on a high from Dragon Racing. Yrsa could hear the cheers of the others flying in━mostly that of Tuffnut and Snotlout━as they swooped their way back down towards the forge.

    As soon as Hiccup touched ground with his Night Fury, there was a small cheer from the residents of Berk. A hero━one of the best Viking heroes, perhaps. Though, Hiccup sure got there the hard way. Yrsa set down beside him, slipping off her saddle and cupping Helrose's snout, checking whether she was okay. She purred, nuzzling against her cheek to say, I'm okay, and Yrsa let her go, off to the watering troughs.

    Behind her, she heard Stoick's laugh before she saw him. "Haha! There he is!" he gestured joyfully to his son who swung his leg off his saddle. Hiccup switched his metal prosthetic around and straightened some of his leather, brows furrowed. "The Pride of Berk!"

    He set off to the forge where Gobber tended to a blue Zippleback. Bronze visor down over his small eyes, he hammered in a fresh tooth for the dragon. Yrsa tried to follow, but was soon swarmed by mothers and wives who were eagerly chatting to her about the upcoming celebrations. Yrsa forced a smile on her face, giving them nods and chuckles before moving on. Ever since the wedding annoucement━no, ever since the betrothal announcement just over a year ago, Yrsa has been surrounded by the women of Berk, giving her tips and praises and love. Now that the date grew so close, just a week from now━oh, gods, was she nervous━Yrsa couldn't escape them!

    She wasn't nervous about marrying Hiccup, of course. That was the last thing she was nervous about. They've been through a lot together, spent time alone at the Edge where they've known each other's living patterns, where they sleep, how they wake up, how they get ready in the mornings. But what really hit Yrsa recently, something she hadn't stopped in a while to think about, was that what marrying Hiccup truly entailed. What role she was taking on. Hiccup was nervous for his father wanting to announce him chief, and of course, while Yrsa dared not show it, desperate to support him the best she could, she was also nervous about the role of chieftess. Hiccup had his father, Yrsa didn't have anyone. Valka was thought to be eaten by dragons twenty years ago, she didn't have someone to look up to, or learn from. She had her mother, who had known Valka, but no one to tell her what it truly was like being a chief's wife. Yrsa was scared she'd disappoint them.

    Yrsa slipped away from the crowd, finally making it through the hanging buckets and weights. She waved at Gobber as she passed, giving the Zippleback heads a scratch as Hiccup took wide strides to catch up with his father━

    "Uh, hey, Dad━" he rushed after the chief, ducking under the swinging lanterns, "━can I have a word?"

    Yrsa picked up some fallen dragon scales from the Zippleback, throwing them into the allocated bucket to the side. The forge had grown in five years. No longer it was the place for Hiccup to ponder and woe to himself in the back and Gobber to tell his Boneknapper stories to passing Vikings as he sharpened their weapons; now, it was a dragon tooth sanctuary as well as a saddle tailor, a blacksmith, and the general hang out for the Dragon Riders. Much bigger, much more space, and plenty of room for Viking and dragon━even Grump, Gobber's lazy and always sleeping Hotburple who snored in the centre of the forge, shaking the hangings and ash circulated on the floor.

    "Something you're itching to tell me?" Stoick smirked all-knowing over his shoulder as he led the way towards the trading doors. Hiccup laughed nervously, following.

    "Uh, not quite the itch you're thinking of, but, yes━"

     "Oh, good man!" he passed him over his apron with a hefty push to the chest. Hiccup doubled over, a little winded. He threw the apron to the side. Yrsa shuffled a little ways back, not wanting to intrude, but also to hear the conversation, picking up thrown aside tools as she did. She found Astrid in the back and smiled weakly in greeting. Her best friend walked up to her, interest piqued at the fall of her mood.

    "What happened?" she asked in an urgent whisper. Yrsa went to tell her, but Stoick's loud voice cut her off.

    "Now! Lesson one━" Hiccup was still desperately trying to get his attention, but failing━weaving in and away from his father's meaty arms, "━a chief's first duty is to his people━" he took a wooden number tag from the stack, gazing out to the line in front of him, "━so, forty-one!"

    "Well, can we just talk in private for━?"

    "Forty-one!"

    "That's me!" Starkard was breathless as he itched his arm up to the sky, eager to be seen. "That's me! I'm next!" he shoved past, snapping to Silent (Not-So-Silent) Sven in passing, "Hey! I was ahead of you!"

    Hiccup tried to peer around so his father could see him, "If we could just talk━?"

    "Excuse me!" Starkard reached the front and Hiccup sent an exasperated glance back to Yrsa. She shrugged, an: he's your father. "I've been here all day. Okay, okay━" Starkard leaned forward into the forge, "━I want one of those high seaters with lots of spikes and a big storage compartment!"

    Stoick nodded, grinning. "Absolutely! You got it, sir━Yrsa!" the girl jumped at being adressed. "There she is! Today's racing chamption!" he passed Hiccup who sighed, glancing up in his annoyance. "She'll handle your saddle━quite the tailor she is, my future daughter-in-law! One week!" he laughed, slapping a hand on his son's shoulders. "You did right with this one, Hiccup!"

    Yrsa went a little darker at her bronze cheeks. Astrid snickered beside her. She shoved her.

    "Dad," Hiccup skuttled over as Stoick ushured Yrsa gently towards the saddle mould. She pursed her lips, watching with wide eyes as she was handed the equipment with a clang of it all in the wooden box against her arms. She barely caught it all in time. "This is actually a little more important━" Hiccup swiped up the necessary equipment his father forgot to grab, letting it fall into the box absentmindedly, "━than building saddles."

    "Ah━ah!" Stoick waggled a finger, "lesson two━" he danced around Grump with Yrsa still attatched to his side with a fatherly arm wrapped around her shoulders. Yrsa sent a help to Hiccup and he replied with a slump of his shoulders: look, I'm trying! "━no task is too small when it comes to serving your people━oh! Excuse us, Grump!"

    "Yeah, but can we just talk━"

    "Agh!" let out Gobber to his sleeping dragon "Grump!" his eyes shot wide open. "Yeh let the forge die down again!"

    The Hotburple moaned, annoyed to be woken up, but shuffled his heap of a body towards the forge and let loose a lazy blast that nearly set the entire building on fire. Hiccup yelped, jumping away from the flames. Gobber growled, yanking the water hose lever down from the ceiling, drenching the flames dead. "Gah!" he shouted. "That's it, Grump! Yeh're going up for adoption!"

    More tools were dropped into Yrsa's arms and she moved along with it, trying to keep it all contained in the box. All the while, Stoick danced around like a child on Snoggletog Eve, and his son hefted and tugged at his hair in fustration at him never listening to a word he said. He grabbed a slab of leather and threw it over the mould as they finally arrived. Yrsa set the box on the table beside it, happy to finally let it down. She picked up the charcoal pencil and started to draw the design along the leather.

    Behind her, Hiccup was a mess, "Yeah, but Dad━seriously━I really need to tell you about this new land we came across━" he eyeballed Yrsa's drawing over her shoulder. She was not the best drawer, of course, but saddles were okay. She's helped out enough in the past five years to know what she was doing to a satisfactory level, but Hiccup was a perfectionist.

    "Another one?" Gobber swapped his tools around, tugging the hammer off and turning to his shelves of hands. Fishlegs and Astrid poked their heads through, eager to hear the conversation as well.

    "Any new dragons?" asked Fishlegs, bouncing with excitement.

    "Any new settlements?" then wondered Astrid.

    "We didn't stick around to find out━" Hiccup reached his hand over Yrsa's shoulder to smudge out a line she had gotten wrong, taking the pencil from her fingers and fixing it up for her. She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "These folks weren't particularly friendly."

    "Oh, really?" Gobber spun his shelves around a few times, searching for the tool he wanted. "Yeh Night Fury and Devilish Dervish didn't bring them cheering to the rooftops?"

    "No, this was different," Hiccup handed her back the pencil and she finished the line work. "Not the standard run-for-the-hills hoo-ha I've come to enjoy," Astrid frowned, suddenly realising how startled Yrsa and HIccup were over what they had seen. "These guys were trappers. Dragon trappers."

    He finally got his father's attention, as well as everyone else in the forge. The Dragon Riders all shuffled into the workshop━Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut even stopping their game of Let's Annoy the Customers to listen. Yrsa dropped the pencil back into the box to turn around and say, "You should have seen their fort. All blown to bits and stuck in these giant spikes of ice━it was weird."

    "I've never seen anything like it," murmured Hiccup and Yrsa nodded. "A━and worst of all, they thought we did it!"

    "Yeh know, you two are gonna get yourselves into serious trouble one of these days━" Gobber grabbed a brush and jammed it onto his stump, cleaning the ash from his beard and eyebrows. "Not everyone appreciates this way of life."

    Hiccup sent him a look as his father took the leather and tugged it towards the saw, "Aye, Gobber's right, son. Best we keep to our own. Besides," he set it down and pulled the saw lever. Hiccup gritted his teeth and pushed his way over, "you'll have more important uses for your time. Huh━huh?" he winked and Yrsa winced. If only he knew how his son felt about being Chief. "Once we make the big announcement!"

    Hiccup just reached forward and yanked the lever back, stopping the saw in its place. "They are building a dragon army," he told his father, staring right into his eyes. Outside, some of the Vikings glanced over, hearing the end of the conversation. There were some uncertain murmurs, and Stoick pursed his lips. "Or━or at least the guy they work for is," continued his son. "Uh ... Dargo ... Bloody Fist, or something."

    Stoick the Vast's shoulders fell. Yrsa saw his eyes widen in dread, and he glanced at Gobber. The two shared a silent conversation no one else was privy to. Yrsa stepped closer in next to Astrid, the two of them hovering behind Hiccup's shoulder to try and figure it out━it was something along the words of: No, it can't be, and, could it?

    Tuffnut shoved his head into the conversation, slamming his fist into the palm of his head, "I'll bloody his fist with my face if he tries to take my dragon!"

    "Or mine!" added Ruff, stepping forward defiantly.

    "Ugh!" her brother rolled his eyes. "You're such a moron!"

    "A beautiful moron," smiled Fishlegs and she turned up her nose.

    "Yeah," chorused Snotlout. Ruffnut looked ready to duck her head into the forge fire.

    "Bludvist?" Stoick took his son by the shoulders, giving him a slight shake. Yrsa stepped back, alarmed. She had never seen that look in Stoick's eyes━such fear. Nothing scared Stoick the Vast━nothing. "Drago Bludvist?"

    "Uh, yeah. Wait ..." Hiccup double-taked, frowning at his father, "you know him?"

     The chief paled.

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟

     "GROUND all dragons!"

    It was chaos.

    As soon as Hiccup's question of, 'you know him' passed his lips to his father, the chief demanded for every dragon upon Berk to be locked in the Hangar stables. Hiccup and Yrsa ran to keep up, both questioning why this was all necessary. Stoick acted as though Ragnarok had begun━the end of everything━shouting orders to the Vikings to bring the dragons down to safety. Even the war bell rung in the distance, and all of Berk was alerted.

    "What?" Hiccup called after him, jumping down the stairs two at a time. "Why?"

    "Seal the gates! Lower the storm doors!"

    Yrsa leapt down past the bottom three steps, landing on the stone floor in the dimly torch-lit stables with the rest of the Dragon Riders and Gobber scrambling in after her. Astrid was right behind her, her braid flying over her shoulder. Yrsa felt her heart pounding━so much she heard it in her ears. Everything had changed so suddenly, and it was taking her a moment to take it all in. She had no time to think what this meant, other than being in absolute shock over the angry fear Stock held over a single man━who was he?

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa━" Hiccup nearly hit the wall in his rush to keep up, pushing on, "What is happening?!"

    "Come on!" Gobber echoed the chief's shouts. "You heard the man! Lock it down!"

    Vikings did as they were told. Mulch pushed down the mighty lever that started the storm doors; folding slowly over. There was urgent chatter; questions of why, but no arguments. Villagers of Berk rushed their dragons back inside the stalls, and the yells were soon mixed with squawks of alarm.

    "No dragon or Viking sets foot off this island until I give the word!" shouted Stoick.

    "Wait," Hiccup stumbled and would have fallen over if it weren't for Toothless who kept him up by his snout. At the movement, Helrose had followed Yrsa all the way down, head twitching back and forth at all the sudden action. They finally caught up with the son and father, out of breath. "Wait━" he held a hand out, bewildered, "because some guy you know is stirring up trouble in some far away land?"

    Stoick spun on his heel to snap, "Because Drago Bludvist is a madman without conscience or mercy. And if he's built a dragon army, gods help us all━" he turned back to the Vikings rushing arond them, "━Get them into their pens! Quickly!"

    "Let's ride back out there!" argued Hiccup, ducking under his father's arms. "We'll follow those trappers to Drago and talk some sense into him."

    "No," said Stoick immediately. "We fortify the island."

    Hiccup stared at him in disbelief. "It's our duty to keep the peace!"

    "Peace is over, Hiccup!" the chief put his foot down and his son blinked in suprrise. "I must prepare you for war."

    "War?" breathed Yrsa, stunned, watching them pass her.

    Hiccup was incredulous, "Dad, if Drago's coming for our dragons, we can't wait around for him to get here. Let's go find him and change his mind!"

    "No, son," Stoick shook his head gravely, "some minds won't be changed, Hiccup. Berk is what you need to worry about. A chief protects his own."

    He didn't wait for a reply. Storming back into the chaos, his voice bellowed, "Secure the stables! Latch every stall!"

    Yrsa could see Hiccup's stubborness flood over what his father advised. Meeting Toothless's gaze, he set his jaw, and Yrsa rushed over. She knew what he was going to do━she knew exactly what decision he was going to make. She took his arm, "Hiccup, don't━"

    "I have to," he told her gently, planting a swift kiss on her cheek before rushing to his dragon. He leapt onto the saddle and before his father could stop him, they darted towards the closing doors.

    Yrsa gritted her own teeth. As they shot through the stable doors and into the afternoon light, she took the chance while Stoick, Gobber and the others were distracted. She whistled Helrose over and mounted the saddle. With a, "Hiyah━!" they took off after him.

    "Hiccup! Yrsa!" she heard Stoick shout, but ignored it. She wasn't going to let Hiccup face Drago Bludvist alone. No way.

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟

     a/n: and to the sadness we come...

     hope you all liked the chapter!!!! stoick being all happy and cheerful in the forge before hiccup told him about drago bludvist was just so precious.