Home-Bound: Broken Ties

9 - Different Dealings

this chapter wrote itself pretty much... I blinked and then it was nearly 3k!

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It was like a switch had been flipped. The Berkians ascended into total panic, running into their houses for weapons and ushering the children into the Great Hall. Gobber and his new assistants were heating up the forge and Stoick was running around fixing orders. As the villagers rushed to get prepared, the Isunderian Elites were doing the same.

Luneah ran over to her drying saddle, easily buckling it on and then helping Hiccup with his complicated flight contraption. Hiccup whistled once and a puny green Terrible Terror descended from the cliffs and landed on his shoulder. Hiccup took out a piece of paper from his saddlebag and Luneah wrote a quick message. The Terror took off as the couple turned back to the saddle. When they finished up, Luneah ran over to her armor and hurriedly pulled it on. Hiccup took her wrist in his hand.

"Luneah," he urged, pulling her to him. "Please stay out of this one. You haven't seen raids here in the Nordic archipelago. They're much worse than down in the Mediterranean."

"I'm not going to abandon my duty just because I'm pregnant, Hiccup. I'm the Military Elite and these Berkians are my allies. I shall protect them as if they were my own people," she pulled her arm out of his grasp and continued buckling her armor on. "Go back to the cove for your armor."

"Luneah, the contract states nothing about helping during dragon raids."

Luneah shrugged, finishing up her armor and clipping on her cape. "They're your people, Hiccup. You may have left them but I can tell a piece of you still lies on this island. As your wife, it's my responisbility to make sure this town stays upright."

She climbed on top of Midnight, clipping her chestpiece to the saddle. "Get on Toothless and I'll address your people—"

"No," Hiccup cut her off, climbing onto Toothless' saddle. Since he didn't have his armor, there was no way for him to clip himself to the saddle. He would have to be careful. "I'll do it."

The two dragons took off, with the other Elites and their own dragons following. Toothless hovered right at the edge of the cliff and Allen tossed his own cape to Hiccup, a deep scarlet. it would work for now. Hiccup nodded in gratitude and let Toothless ascend the final few feet to the top.

Right as he pulled the hood over his head, Hiccup addressed the crowd. "Berkians!"

Most of the villagers stopped what they were doing and turned to the Elites. Hiccup continued.

"My Elites and I will handle this raid! Do not shoot or kill any dragons! You could risk shooting down me or my comrades. I will give further instructions in a few minutes."

There were shouts of outrage but Hiccup ignored them, steering Toothless in the direction of the cove. The raid dragons were circling overhead, waiting for the moment the sun passed the horizon. Hiccup knew he only had a few minutes until the attack started.

Toothless landed quite harshly, but Hiccup took it in stride. Rolling with the impact, he pulled himself to his feet and ripped off the cape, tossing it to Allen. Luneah picked up his chestpiece, helping him into the armor as Elise rooted around the tent for his armored pants. Jeysannia strapped his swords to the pants and made sure all the gas and saliva compartments were full.