A Saga Of Ice And Fire

Chapter Thirty-Three - The Woes Of Hiccup Haddock

The salty spray buffeted the wet, rough hulls of the Viking longships as they sliced through the inky blue waters , the midday sun peeking at their visage from behind the safety of the thick grey cloud blanket draped over the skies. Baldur squinted as he peered at the other longships trailing behind the one he was on. They'd been out at sea for days now and had been lucky enough to survive the past three attempts they'd made of trying to breach the wall of opaque fog that concealed helheim's depth but it was just a week's worth of food and water that was left and he was thinking the exact same thing each and every other Viking warrior on the ships were thinking.

Sighing wearily, he downed the rest of the water from his leather bottle and tied back his matted blonde hair into a top knot. He then weaved his way through the men on his ship , making his way towards their chieftain who was hunched over the wooden table on the ship.

"Chief." Baldur called as he made his way past Spitelout to the front of the ship . "We've tried four different locations now. How are we even certain this time we'll fare better?"

"We're close." Stoick replied firmly, impaling a dagger into the nautical map of the area that was splayed out on the table, his eyes focused on the uncharted area etched in the parchement with sketches of dragons and swirling fire torrents. " Ah can almost smyell them. "

"We barely have a week's worth of supplies left." Baldur remarked . " The others on the ships, they're not faring much better either. Wouldn't it be better to try this after the winter? "

Stoick peered at him from beneath his fiery bushy eyebrows like a hawk, noticing the tone of his voice.

" We are not leaven untel we feind the nest. Yeu have a problem weth my ordures, helmsman?" Stoick asked, standing up to his full height, dwarfing the other man.

Baldur instantly backed down. " N-No, Chief.I was just expressing a concern we all—"

"Then get back teu the steer and steady the shep. Take us en at mah segnal. Aye?"

Baldur nodded reluctantly and pushed his way past the men to the steer at the back of the ship.

"Chief! You better come see this!" Helka called from the front of the ship , grabbing everyone's attention. Stoick joined her and the others at the front and his eyes widened.

A handful of bodies littered the dank inky blue water ahead amongst splintered wood and other debris. But the men did not belong to the Wilderwest. Some wore uniforms that were pale white whilst a handful wore steel armour and chainmail , specifically  the ones you'd see on the knights from the far lands. The waterlogged uniforms themselves looked similar in design to the ones the men of the Arendelle guard wore but Stoick was sure that whoever the unfortunate men were, they were not from Arendelle or any kingdom he'd visited during the old trade meets.

The dampness and the rotting stench of waterlogged flesh told them that whoever the men were they'd been long dead before but what really shocked every Viking that stared at the shipwreck was the fact that they'd never seen any foreign men in the waters they were currently sailing in as they were deep within the barbaric archipelago and Stoick had no knowledge of any such vessels sailing through .

"Leuk!" Hoark exclaimed from beside Stoick.

It looked to be the waterlogged, tattered remains of the flag of wherever the men came from. It was too torn up and mangled to make anything out for certain but all that could be seen from it was red backdrop against which whatever the sigil was was etched on.

They all stared in shocked silence at the shipwreck as their longships sailed past.

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