The Dragon Master and The Dragon Mistress

Chapter fourteen: Preparing for the Voyage

Once the additional volunteers arrived they got right down to training. Over the next two weeks the training intensified and the only thing that stopped them was the Thorston twins' utter refusal to listen to anything Hiccup and Astrid had to say. The only reason they started to listen was when the chief threatened to throw them off the island for nearly jeopardizing the training program. The rest of the tribes have also been briefed on the situation on Berserker island.

Once the training was complete they had three furies, one triple stryke, three razorwhips, one zippleback, eight nightmares, six nadders, and four gronckles for a total of twenty-six dragons and twenty-seven riders. Now the planning was focused on the approach and the attack itself.

"We need a living dragon as a guide." Hiccup explained when asked about how to reach the island. "The only reason why we were able to reach the nest was because we flew within the raid group themselves."

"Why don't we just use one of the riders' dragons?" Stoick asked voicing the rest of the chief's question

"Bonded dragons are not susceptible to the beacon being emitted by the queen." Boulder explained. "I tried going back on my own last week but was unable to find the island despite searching for a couple of hours."

"Do we still have a dragon in the arenas?" Astrid asked, looking at the chiefs.

"No, as soon as we learned of the queen controlling the raids we let the arena dragons go since there isn't a point in keeping them locked up after defeating the queen." Bertha said while the rest of the chiefs nodded for the same reason."

"What will you do about your daughter?" Bertha asked, looking at Hiccup and Astrid.

"We are leaving her with Dagur's wife Mala on Berserker island." Astrid replied to a nod from the Berserker chief.

"It is also good practice for when we have our own." Dagur added with a smile.

"Berk will be providing the heavy weaponry and transport for said weaponry." Hiccup looked at each chief. "When the time comes, bring two ships full of your most trusted warriors to Berk. Then we sail to end it all."

Over the next two weeks preparations took place. Training for the riders was intensified and they even managed to capture a nadder for use in tracking down the nest. The docks were filled with ships from all the tribes of the participating tribes as men and women were loading weapons and supplies in preparations for the voyage ahead.

The day of the voyage had arrived, Zephyr had been dropped off with Mala and all the participating vikings had gathered at Berk. All they were waiting for was the signal to set sail. As soon as morning came, the horn sounded and the ships set sail for Helheim's gate. The dragon riders followed an hour after the ships had left so that they would arrive at the fogbank at roughly the same time.

Once at the gate the ships then arranged themselves single file behind the lead Berk ship since it was the ship carrying the dragon. Once in the fogbank, the riders flew low over the ships to figure out where they were going. The ships swerved through the sea stacks following the directions of where the nadder head was pointing.

They did this for half an hour before the nadder started trying to back away from the direction they were going in. Stoick sent the signal that they had arrived and the ships docked next to each other one by one.

"This is the place." Hiccup said, confirming what the chiefs were thinking.

"Riders! Get into positions." Astrid announced and the riders did as they were told.

"Unload the ships." Stoick bellowed and the vikings got to work.

Catapults were unloaded and were brought to where the vikings deemed best positions and the ammunition were also brought forward. The vikings unloaded the weapons and proceeded to make the defensive positions that would be needed to protect the catapults from harm. The ships were then moved to a different part of the island at Hiccup's insistence and the chiefs did so since Hiccup was one of the only ones who knew what was down there.

"Hiccup." Stoick called out, "Can we talk?"

Hiccup nodded and walked with him away from the rest. "Yes dad?"

"I wanted to say that..." Stoick paused and looked at his son. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Hiccup was surprised.

"When you left, I did a lot of thinking." Stoick looked at the sea of vikings preparing for the fight. "I realized that all the misgivings I gave you were unwarranted and I realized that too late. I will try to get you and Astrid a full pardon for everything but if you wish to stay on your island, I won't stop you and I will find another person to be my heir."

"Wow." Hiccup was speechless. His dad had just declared that he will do nothing if Hiccup decides to stay on Dragon's edge despite being given a full pardon.

Stoick then walked back to the gathering vikings with Hiccup close behind. Hiccup had a thoughtful look on his face but Stoick looked determined.

"No matter how this happens, it ends today." Stoick announced to cheers from the vikings.