Heart of a Berserker: Faith (School of Dragons)

Chapter 12

"You'd think that I'd learn my lesson by now
You'd think that I'd somehow figure out
That if you strike the match
You're bound to feel the flame

You think that I'd learn the cost of love
Paid that price long enough
But still I drive myself right through the pain
Yeah, well it turns out I haven't learned a thing" 

- "Learn My Lesson" by Daughtry

Chapter 12

Training Cason turned out to be quite the challenge. Although he already had a bond with his dragon and was willing to learn, he had spent much of his life aboard a pirate ship, and old habits were hard to break. He had a difficult time understanding the idea of private property, for instance. He drove many Vikings mad with his antics. Still, he meant no harm, and he did try to listen to what I said.

We heard nothing from Randel and his pirates. I led several patrols a day but saw no sign of a suspicious ship. I assumed Cason told the truth he was only in the archipelago for a short visit. Still, I suspected it was only a matter of time before he returned.

Stormheart's random attacks continued, and my relationship with Harald did not change. If I did not have Cason to keep my mind busy, I would have gone mad speculating about Harald. As expected, weeks passed with no opportunity for me to get close to him. Just as I thought I might have something, he ran away again. I wondered if he enjoyed this game of cat and mouse and if he purposefully gave me just enough hope to keep me from giving up. Not for the first time, I considered that one way to end the game would be to let him win.

Then a new threat arose. Hiccup met a man named Grimmel the Grisly who had allegedly hunted and killed all of the Night Furies in the world... except for Toothless. Grimmel wanted to finish was he started and demanded Hiccup hand over Toothless, which he refused, of course. Hiccup escaped him, but later on Grimmel attacked Berk. We managed to fend him off but with a terrible cost. Grimmel somehow controlled Deathgrippers, and they destroyed much of Berk.

Grimmel did not give up from there. He attacked a second time with reinforcements, but we stopped him from even entering Berk. Still, it was clear we had to find a way to deal with this guy before he caused more disruptions in the archipelago. And we did not need more enemies. 

On a more positive note, Toothless discovered a new dragon: a white Fury that Astrid named a "Light Fury." Toothless became infatuated with her, but she disappeared right after they met. She seemed quite shy. Poor Toothless.

The end of February, Hiccup pulled Heather and I aside to talk. At first he prattled on about random topics mostly dealing with dragons. Then I urged him to get to the point.

"Fine," Hiccup said at last. He looked from me to Heather. "I've made a big decision, and I wanted to tell you two separately since you're not officially Berkians."

"Okay..." Heather said. "What is it?"

Hiccup took a deep breath. "I am going to relocate Berk to a new, bigger island. Someplace our enemies won't be able to find us."

I stared at him. "You're running away?"

"No, I'm not running away! Just hear me out. Circumstances were different when my ancestors settled Berk, but everything has changed. It's just not defensible anymore. How many times have we been attacked the past few years?"

"But we've always won," Heather said.

"Yes, but sometimes the damage is too much. We need a place like the School that has natural defenses. No one would think of attacking there. Besides, Berk is becoming overcrowded with all the dragons the students are training and that we're saving. We need to find someplace else for them to go."