9When he was finally set down, Ainsworth fell to the ground shaking. As a little boy one always fantasizes flying high above the land, but to actually do so for the first time left him dizzy and nauseous. He slowly sat himself up and looked at his surroundings. He was in a large hall, with a large fire pit near the center. In front of him sat a throne, along with several tables and benches. He could only assume the throne was for the Chief, Haddock if he remembered correctly.
"Need a hand?" he heard from his left. The Chief himself was offering him a lift. He took his hand and stood. The Chief pulled up a chair for him before going to sit on his throne. His dragon burned a spot on the stone floor that appeared to have been burned many times before, and then lay down next to his rider.
Hiccup held the map in one hand and the note in the other. He studied them for a minute before looking at Alexander, and opened his mouth as though he were about to say something.
The doors to the hall burst open, and in came Eret hauling in two others by the horns on their helmets. "Here ye are Chief, they admitted everything."
"Admitted what?" said one, who appeared to be a male but the Captain wasn't completely sure.
"He means the hut, idiot!" said the other one, who Ainsworth guessed was a female. They both finally looked at the Chief, and could tell he wasn't happy. He seldom got angry like this.
They both ran to the throne and threw themselves at his feet. "We… my sister and I, or myself at least, are very sorry. I mean, we messed up, yeah, and will we do it again? Probably. And do we care? No… I mean, yes, we didn't mean it, but we will try to make sure we do it again in the future. Wait…"
Eret had made his way over to one of the important-looking seats. "Tell Hiccup about the beach."
Tuffnut stopped talking. His sister started. "Well," she said as her and her brother stood up. "This boat of foreigners arrived on the beach, so we watched them. They said something about meeting someone about something, and that when they found whoever they were looking for they would destroy them. Since we were the only ones in the area they could find, we blasted them to Valhalla."
The chief facepalmed as the twins were giving each other high-fives. "And neither of you considered even briefly that it might not have been you they were looking for?"
The twins gave each other a look. "Well they did call dragons beasts," said Tuffnut.
"Leave it to you two to start another war." The twins looked at the floor in shame before going and taking their seats at the table.
Then Snotlout threw open the doors and entered the hall. On the way to the chief, he saw Ainsworth and gave him an ugly stare. "Fishlegs is being treated by Gothi and will be here once she's done. I couldn't find Astrid."
"Thank you, Snotlout, for doing what I asked." Snotlout also took a seat. Hiccup was worried about Astrid, but trusted that she could take care of herself. Then something dawned on him. "Captain Ainsworth, are you the only one of your men to be able to speak Norse?"
"Yes Chief Haddock. Her majesty the Queen of England chose me for the exploration to these waters because I studied Norse in college."
"Then Ruff, Tuff, how did you understand what his men were saying?"
The twins shrugged.
"Do you two understand English?" Ainsworth asked them in English.
"I don't know Tuff," said Ruffnut in Norse. "I can understand what he's saying."
"Yes, my dear sister, I can too, but I just have one question. What's English?"
Meanwhile, Astrid was walking toward Gothi's hut when Fishlegs passed her headed in the opposite direction. His arm was wrapped up and the bandages had a large red spot on them. "Astrid, are you alright?"
She had a hand on the cliff to steady herself, and looked weak, at least weak for Astrid. "I'm fine Fishlegs, I just need to see Gothi to check on something." Then she noticed his arm. "Oh my gods, Fishlegs are you alright?"
"Yeah, I got shot by one of their sticks. It'll be fine though. I say Hiccup fly off to the Great Hall. I bet he wants you there with him. What should I tell him about you?"
She sighed. "Tell him I'm tired and went home to rest." Fishlegs nodded and continued to the great hall. When he had gone out of sight, Astrid continued on. She did not know why she was headed back to Gothi's. She already knew what she would tell her.
"Hiccup, I believe we can work things out so that we can part on friendly terms," Fishlegs was saying as they all discussed the problem at hand.
"That is what I would wish as well, Chief Haddock," said Ainsworth. "This is all a misunderstanding, and while we did not mean to destroy what we did of your village, neither did you mean to destroy one of my ships."
Hiccup thought for a minute. "What about the dragon that has been killed and the one that has been injured?"
Fishlegs spoke up again. "I for one am very curious as to the weapon that caused the damage in the first place," he said gesturing to his arm.
"I would be willing to provide your people with a sample of our guns in return for the life taken and the damage caused by them."
Hiccup nodded. "To be honest, I just want you and your men to leave so we can deal with the damage caused. Technically it is our fault for starting this so we harbor no ill will towards your people. We have many visitors for the upcoming wedding and I am hoping we can fix everything so we do not have to postpone."
"I know we have caused damage to your village," pleaded Ainsworth, "but I must beg you to help us. Any help at all you can give us is appreciated in finding the pirates who stole my daughter. I fear for her safety."
"I am sorry, but we have a village to fix. You have already done enough. As much as we wish we could help, it would be better if ye were on your way. After you find your daughter, please return under better circumstances and we will create a treaty with you country. Fishlegs and Snotlout, please escort the captain back to his ship."
The three walked out of the great hall, already engaged in a conversation as Fishlegs inquired about their weapons. When the doors shut behind them, Eret turned to the Chief. "Why would you turn them away Hiccup? You are our chief, but I need an answer."
"Eret, I have to rebuild the docks and several homes, and get the island ready for a celebration. We already tried to track the pirates down but came up empty-handed. They will have more luck without us," Hiccup said as he stroked Toothless' head.
A/N: This chapter took like 2 months to write even though it is so short because I kept coming up with writer's block as so much is finally put together and resolved in this chapter. I apologize for the wait.