28Epilogue: Red Sky at Morning…
There is an old saying, 'A friend is an enemy you just haven't met yet!' Not sure who said it, but in this instance it rings a bitter truth. Ameilianus pretended to be our friend and wound up be our deadliest enemy yet! The damage was extensive, but easily repaired. My faith in myself however…
Hiccup looked at the crimson sunrise from the dock with a sense of despair and guilty. He should have seen through Ameilianus act sooner! Now, Berk had gone from having one enemy to three! Hiccup sighed listlessly, not even paying attentionas his father, Stoick, walked up and sat down beside him.
"Son," began Stoick hoping to find the words to cheer Hiccup up, "no one could have seen this coming."
"But I should have!" exclaimed Hiccup as he stood up and paced angrily along the dock, "I mean…why else am I a 'hiccup' if not to see what others don't! I tamed dragons, I beat the Red Death…so why couldn't I see through that smarmy Roman's act!" With his tirade finished, Hiccup sat right back down on his spot on the dock.
"You know, even Loki, Trickster God and Maker of Nets and Fire, was out smarted from time to time." said Stoick reassuringly, "Besides, I happen to think I can be pretty clever, but hey…he tricked me too. He managed to fool everyone except the Jorgensons, but that had nothing to do with them being clever!"
Hiccup had a short laugh at his father's quip before adding, "Yeah, I can just imagine them rubbing this in everyone's faces!"
"Not for a few days, but it's coming…don't you doubt that!" exclaimed Stoick, before he and his son had a shared laugh. There were few times when Stoick and Hiccup saw eye to eye…but Stoick tried to enjoyed every second of those moments!
But after the laughter died down it was clear that something was still bothering Hiccup. "Dad," began Hiccup, nervous about what he was going to ask, "when I was…fighting with Ameilianus…there was a point when I had him dead to rights. He taunted me about how I 'never finish the job' and for a moment…I almost killed him! I stop at the last minute and all he did was smile and…call me a 'coward!' So dad, was I wrong to spare his life?"
Stoick thought long and hard in search of the right answer. It was a tricky question, no doubt, but finally he answered, "No." Elaborating further, he continued, "From what you have told the others, Ameilianus was unarmed and helpless. It is never right, under any circumstance, to kill an unarmed man in cold-blood! Now, it is true that, sometimes, a fight will end with you killing your opponent. But that doesn't always have to be the case! If you had killed Ameilianus liked he was goading you too, then he would have won…he just wouldn't have been around to enjoy it!"
"But dad, this isn't the first time that showing mercy has gotten me in trouble! When I was stranded on Dragon Isle with Dagur, I could have finished him then and there and we wouldn't have had to deal with him now! Every time I come close to finishing off an enemy…I think of the first time I met Toothless! Sure that turned out well, but every other time since has come back to bite me!" exclaimed Hiccup, then rapidly breathing to catch his breath.
Stoick, of course, had a counter argument waiting, "What about when you spare that Heather, a girl who lied and betrayed you, and turned around to make up for her mistake? Every bad example you've made has a good example of showing mercy to an enemy to counter it. I am not saying it will always work out in the end, but you showing your enemies mercy tells me one thing about you: you're not just a better Viking than your enemies, you're a better man."
Hiccup took a few moments to digest his father's speech and realize…he was right! No matter how many times he regretted showing mercy to people like Alvin or Dagur, looking back he would have done it again! Because Thor damn it, that's just the kind of person Hiccup was! His spirits lightened with these thoughts and he felt his faith in himself restored!
"Well, looks like your look better!" said Stoick happily as he got up to leave, but not before saying, "Oh there's someone else who liked to talk with you!" With that Toothless bounded down the dock over to Hiccup nuzzling his snout playfully into Hiccup. Seeing that everything was back to normal, Stoick went back to the business of repairing the village, the sound of his son's laughter and Toothless' playful cooing in his ear.
This is Berk! Although most would consider this a bad location for a village, it is filled with people who would gladly share their food and home to kind strangers! However, try to take advantage of that trust and…well…we have dragons!
Several leagues from Berk, there was a bleak, desolate island. Originally it marked an old trading post from nations to the South to the Barbaric Archipelago. Then, a hundred years or so ago, the Roman Navy decided it would be a perfect place to help launch invasion on the Viking residents. This turned out to be a bad idea and they were forced to abandon it. The fortification and port remained intact but no one had laid claim to it…until now! Originally called the Trading Spire, the Roman's renamed it Aquila Cubile, roughly translated as…Eagle's Nest!
The island itself was a massive 50 degree slope from its flat southern coastline leading up to the fortress itself. However, the cliff face on the north side held a massive cavern with the true harbor in it, only accessible by a massive lift leading towards the fortress. Now some would wonder why the harbor was not on the south side of the island and the answer is simple: there is a hidden reef of razor sharp coral all along the south side making any landing impossible! Not only that, but reef was filled with sharks and sea-dragons waiting to devour any unfortunate sailor trying to make it to the south shore! So really, the cavern is the only safe port (pun not intended).
The cavern was a massive maw, big enough to fit a whole fleet of ships, which it currently held. Triremes and quadremes(1) were docked in every port available and ramshackle building used as taverns or barracks for the soldiers. It had a better than ramshackle quality to it, owing to the fact that Ameilianus was having his men fix it up from years of disuses. The lift was fitted near the back wall of the cavern with a framework to keep it stable, leading straight up to the fortress and capable of holding a full Roman century and supplies!(2) The lift lead straight up into the main fortress
The fortress had a wall in a quadrangle shape 440 x 380 meters (1443 x 1246 ft.) with a height of about eight meters and a thickness of 2 meters and wall towers at each point ten meters high.(3) The main fortress was only 150 x 100 meters and three stories (30ft.) tall, but a tower in the center was over 100 ft. tall! This center tower was built much like the wall towers only bigger! Thus, Ameilianus was at the top of the tower looking North…towards Berk in particular!
Ameilianus was staring out at the horizon, glaring at that hated island that thwarted him so! True, he had the dragons and the dragon manual, but he still had to train the riders and had to deal with not only Berk, but the Outcasts and Bezerkers as well! Never had any plan of his gone so far out of control! His anger consumed him, causing him to bring his fist done of the heavy stone block, cracking it!
Making a mental note to have it replaced, Ameilianus shook his hand to getting the stinging sensation out of his hand. Just then from up the stairs came Faust, Ameilianus' mad doctor, "Hello there milord! I just came back from looking over Caligula! The good news is that other than losing some fur and some minor burns, he is perfectly healthy! The bad news…well…" said the doctor nervously as he pulled out…the bald Caligula!4
Yes, it would seem that Caligula had survived the fire he fell into, but not without a cost! He lost his lovely fur and thanks to the burns on his skin…he'll never get it back! Needless to say, his was not pleased as his scowling face showed. When he saw his own, he ran over (tentatively) to Ameilianus and leapt into his arms. Ameilianus gently stroked his cat's bare skin, careful not to rub to hard.
"How goes the training?" asked Ameilianus, hoping for some good news.
"Slow but steady. It would help more if we had someone show the troops the proper technique, but…" answered Faust nervously, knowing his lordship was a volcano waiting to erupt.
"Unfortunately we don't have anyone to show them, do we?!" Sarcastically replied Ameilianus before turning back to the view of the ocean before continuing, "He should have sided with me, now instead we have to deal with three enemies when there should be none!"
Faust looked to the side before speaking, unsure of how Ameilianus would take his next bit of advice, "Well…you could try reestablishing an alliance with the Outcasts or-"
Ameilianus once again smashed his fist against the same stone block causing the crack to grow! "In case you forgot, let me remind you….I…CAN"T….TRUST….THEM! Dagur has an unreliable mental state and Alvin, well, treachery is in his name!" exclaimed Ameilianus, shooting down even the notion of another alliance.
Faust sighed at his boss's irrational behavior and simply said, "Look you can't win if you make everyone your enemy!"
Ameilianus was about to retort, when he stopped with a shocked expression on his face, like he just got a brilliant idea! "THAT'S IT!" declared Ameilianus, before rushing down the stairs, dropping Caligula and knocking Faust to the side in the process! Picking themselves up, both the cat and the chemist rushed after their master. The stairs led to the map room where a giant sized map of the Barbaric Archipelago was hanging.
"If I can't have any allies, than neither will BERK!" declared Ameilianus in an angry triumphant tone, "Once my riders are ready, we'll begin raiding the islands of Berk's allies, such as the Meatheads and the Bog-Burglars!"
"And how will that get rid of Berk's allies?!" asked Faust incredulously, unsure of the scheme.
Ameilianus turned around, the shadows covering everything but his mouth and eyes, and said, "Because Berk will be blamed! After all, who else would have the dragons to do it?! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
THE END!
Disclaimer: I don't own DreamWorks Dragons franchise or the book series it is based off of. Alright! Finished with this story and there will be a sequel…after I work on some other stories! I plan on doing one for the Steven Universe show (pretty good, if a little silly) then doing a SheZow/Danny Phantom crossover afterwards. For those who care, there won't be coarse language but there will be some violence ranging from cartoon level, to mildly bloody. I start sometime this week, need a day or two to cool off. Anyway, read and review and I'll see you soon!
1 There were in fact quadremes which are essential Roman ships that had four sets of oars and there for bigger. Think of them as the cruisers and battleships in Ameilianus' fleet!
2 That's about 100 men and all there armor, weapons, horses, and artillery!
3 These measurements are a combination of the Castra Preatoria and the Ad Pirum, noted Roman fortress in Europe.
4 Imagine a sphynx (the hairless breed of cat)