"Who does he think he is— telling me when and where I'm allowed to be!" Astrid said, pacing around the deck. "It's not like I'm the commander of Berk's army or anything. Oh no, if he thinks he can just forget about me well then he's got another thing coming—"

Before she could finish, the door to the deck below opened, and out of it came the mercenaries, followed by the slaves.

Ragnar, followed by a group of the slaves, approached the chief from under the deck. "They have accepted your offer and will fight with you as one of you as long as they have your assurance that you won't betray them."

"I promise on my honor as a man and as a Viking that I will not betray any of you. And from here on out let it be known that all free slaves freed from this dreadnaught of the Purple Moon are now officially a part of the hairy hooligan tribe!"

"Now let's get to work," Ragnar said, putting on his helmet.

Back at the camp, they got the new villagers settled in and introduced them to the other villagers. Though welcoming a small tribe into your own was controversial, it was mostly seen as necessary in the eyes of everyone, and for the most part, everyone greeted each other with open arms and welcomed them as new members.

The losses from the first battle resulted in Berk only being able to field 530 troops, but with the added support they received, they were now able to field close to 700 troops, not counting the wing maiden support which grew their army to 750.

Some of the new villagers were already warriors but most had to be trained. Now that the wingmaidens had arrived, they made quick work of the new warriors. With the wingmaidens helping the hooligans get into a coherent force, Berk's army looked more and more like something that could hold its own on the battlefield.

Within a week after the new members had joined the new decanus had been formed and the wingmaidens had been installed as officers in Berk's army to better help the mercenaries lead. As before, the structure was made up of first two-people teams, then ten-people teams with one officer made a decanus, five decanuses made a force, four forces made a piece, three pieces made a unit, three units made a legion. Hiccup's army style was based not only on the Romans that he both served and fought against, but also with the Parthians and Mongols and Carthaginians and Greeks as well as the Macedonians. He knew that each military still had its strengths and its weakness, and he decided that he was going to make the best out of each one and implement it in his military doctrine.

The Purple Moon was furious that their ships had been destroyed and their slaves had been stolen. The fact remained: they were stuck there and this was why they had started to build defensive fortifications around the village. The invader started building walls out of the dirt to surround the village and made spikes facing the forest. The repositioned catapulted and had round the clock guards posted on watchtowers that they hastily constructed to accompany the walls.

Astrid didn't like this waiting. The mercenary should have done something by now, right? Most of the time they were in the tent discussing things about the maps and the enemy, but whenever Astrid joined she quickly got impatient. She wanted to attack now. which did not help the situation with her and Ragnar. You see Astrid was a natural-born warrior and leader but her experience was limited to defending Berk as commander of Berks warriors. Despite being the best warrior on Berk, she had never led massive armies. She had never conducted a siege before. Most of the time it was fight or die for Astrid and her tribe. The enemy never gave them a warning about when they would attack. This was all new to her, and she hated it.

The mercenaries planned everything. They knew where everything was, how much of it there was, and if there was a back-up. They used maps and a device called a compass which Astrid had never seen before. They counted their provisions and other supplies down to the last detail. To the mercenaries, this was standard practice on a campaign, and in this situation, it was very similar.

It drove Astrid crazy to see the mercenaries counting the stocks and food of Berk when she thought they should be out there fighting for her village. By this point, Astrid had finally had enough of Ragnar's disrespect and sarcasm. She went looking for him around the camp but found nothing.

After the long meetings each day, Ragnar would go and sit down near the cliffs with his dragon. It was not too far away from camp and with his dragon by his side, he could make it back in no time at all. But this time it took longer for Ragnar to come back to camp.

NARRATERS POV

"S-oo-s-orr-ry sir, I d-didn't know that anyone was here," a small boy said while he tried awkwardly to stand at attention. Ragnar looked over at the kid and inspected him to see how to react.

The boy's armor had taken a beating, and he wore a knife that in his small hands looked more like a sword. Ragnar looked at him and then back out to the sea from atop the cliff. "This cliff is big enough for more than one person," he said, patting the ground next to him. "Take a seat."

"R-e-really," the boy stuttered.

"Sure why not, unless you want to be alone, in which case I can sit somewhere else, but... this few is amazing!"

"Ya, it is," the boy said as he made his way to where Ragnar had suggested he sit. He walked with a quite noticeable limp and when Ragnar saw this he assumed he was hurt.

"Are you injured kid?" he said pointing to the leg.

"Injuries heal. This one doesn't I'm afraid," he said sarcastically. His sarcasm went cold as he had forgotten he was talking to a superior. The boy tried this time to show respect. "I mean no s-sir."

Hiccup just smiled at this sudden slip-up and dismissed it. "What's your name?" Ragnar said to the kid.

"My name is Ivar sir, Ivar Alfson," the boy said, fearing that if he didn't say it fast and directly he would be reprimanded.

"Ivar...I knew an Ivar once. He was a great warrior and general, and one of the scariest people I have ever met."

"Cool...where is he"

"He's probably dining with the gods"

"Really, w-what happened to him, sir?" Ivar stuttered again.

"Oh, eventually he made enemies with the wrong people and lost, but not before conquering new kingdoms and crowning himself king. Half the world probably knows a version of him."

"He sounds a-ama-amazing. I probably don't deserve to share a name with such a great Viking." Ivar said sadly as though it was a statement of fact

Ragnar turned his body a little to look at Ivar "what makes you say that?"

"When I was born my left leg was deformed and it just remained that way, now I walk with a limp everywhere I go, plus I can barely lift a sword or hold a shield, I can't carry an ax or a hammer. All the kids in the village call me one leg Ivar or hobbling Ivar. The only reason I survived the first battle on berk was that I was in the back lines. When they were pairing us with partners know one wanted to be mine...and now that partners dead too." Ivar explained.

Ragnar listened to his story and could not help but notice the similarities in the two Ivars "You remind me of him a little bit."

"Really, how sir? You said he was a great Viking and king, how could I, a cripple, remind you of him?"

"Do you want to know his full title?"

"Sure...sir"

"They called him Ivar the Boneless. When he was born he had no function of his legs. It was only when he was older was when he learned how to walk and even then he needed assistance. Like you, he was picked on, scrawny and weak, and could barely pick up a sword."

Ivar looked stunned. He could not believe that a man without the use of his legs could rise to be king, let alone a warrior. "W-wha-at? How he c-couldn't ev-even stand? How could he become great?" Ivar was dumbfounded.

Ragnar pulled out a small knife and held it gently. "The enemy can not pick up a sword if you take out his hand" He threw the knife at a nearby tree and it hit dead center where a large branch had fallen off, but the stump had remained.

Ivar turned from looking at the knife still in the tree amazed at such accuracy but confused. "What do you mean?"

"Can you lift a knife?"

"Yes sir."

"Then you have an advantage over your enemy. A knife can be thrown, concealed, it's smaller and lightweight and you can hold quite a lot more of them then swords or axes."

"But you can't defend with a knife," Ivar said skeptically.

"Says who?"

"Me."

"You can throw it, can't you?"

"What if they have a shield?"

"Throw it at their feet or don't put yourself in a situation where they can use their shields."

"What if that's not possible?" Ivar asked as he listened to this logic.

"Then retreat. Live to fight another day."

"Wh-what, isn't that shameful in the eyes of the gods?" Ivar was trying to get Ragnar to change his way of thinking.

"Hahahahahahaha ya, shameful, sure." Ragnar laughed. "Listen, kid, when you have seen as much war as I have, you learn that all that warrior's stuff is a bunch of yak dung."

"Oh...well the commander sometimes has to be dragged away from a battlefield. She will never retreat. She says it's not what a warrior does and that it would shame your family and you won't go to Valhalla, but she takes prisoners when she can."

"So she will accept others surrender, but she won't surrender herself?" Ragnar said. The hypocrisy seemed obvious to him.

"Pretty much, though not many battles end in the enemy surrendering to us."

"There is a thing called a tactical retreat, kid. In this case, you retreat because it's smart and then attack later when you have more warriors or tactical advantage. This is something that I have failed to teach the commander. The battle is not fought in the fields. It's fought in the mind."

"The commander is great! She has saved us many times on the field of battle." Ivar said, coming to her defense.

"Ivar, if we were to charge right now and try to retake the village we will lose, but if we think, plan, strategize and outplay our enemy then our victory will come at the cost of much fewer people." Ragnar understood that Astrid's soldiers were fiercely loyal and would follow her to the end, but it was important that Ragnar also show these people that the old ways were not always the best ways.

"Oh, I understand, sorry sir," Ivar said, backing down. He knew he should challenge a man like Ragnar, but when it came to the commander and her honor as a warrior and leader he could not stand by.

"Ivar who is your partner now?"

"I don't have one. I was looking, like the offices said to, but no one said yes and so I was dismissed. Can't really blame them. Who would want a partner who has not even killed a dragon let alone a human?"

"No one? hmm."

An awkward silence followed. Ivar finally got the courage to speak. "I have to say, when I heard that dragon riders were coming, I got pretty excited."

"Really, how come?" Hiccup said surprised a kid from a dragon hating village would get excited about his presence

"You ride dragons! sir. how cool is that! I mean I could never do it. They'd probably see me as a toothpick,"

"Everyone needs one" Hiccup said. His giggling made Ivars ease up. "Are you interested in dragons?"

"I've read most of the books about dragons that are on Berk."

"Oh, you have, have you?" Hiccup said. Oh great, he thought. He probably thinks dragons are a vicious beast and that being a dragon master means I must subdue them and force them to bend to my will.

"They keep them in the great hall when they're not using them, so I read them when I get bored. I have to say that the books are really wrong in my opinion. I mean all they do, sir, is tell you to kill the dragons but the books never tell you why we kill the dragons"

Hiccup was listening to this boy talk and it got him thinking the kid was smarter than he looked. "Interesting observation."

"Thanks … I guess….a while ago dragons would attack and steal food and livestock from us. But then it stopped and I can explain why. As the dragon master, it's worth asking...Do you know why the dragons stopped attacking?"

Hiccup paused hearing what had been asked and pondered what to say and realized that there was no way to answer this without sounding sad. There was no way the words coming out of his mouth would sound any less sad and fill with pain than when the story itself was being written "I do" he said looking down

"Really! You must tell me...I-I-mean sir if you don't mind" he said, unaware that Ragnar's voice and tone changed.

"It's not a happy story and one that I don't tell strangers."

"Can you at least tell me that it won't happen ever again?" Ivar said nervously.

"With luck."

Ragnar looked off into the distance, and Ivar could see that he needed a minute to collect himself. Finally, he said "Can I ask you, something kid"

"Of course, sir," Ivar said. The question made him nervous.

" Well, I don't really know why I'm telling you this or why I'm asking you this but oh what the hell...I'm going to die. I've wanted to for a long time and being a mercenary has helped bring me closer each day, but when I was attacked by your village blacksmith that day I was finally at peace, that day was the closest I have ever gotten to achieving death. But then I remembered something that someone, someone very close to me, said. That, someone, noticed that I mostly just keep going and this is because if I die, then a lot of people who depend on the dragon master's ability to understand the dragons in a new way may be lost. So I have found a solution. I will discuss with the rest of the syndicate, and they will agree I should take on an apprentice. I will take him or her on and train them in everything I know. They will be responsible for caring for and training the next generation of dragon riders, and he or she will be the next dragon master."

"Really, an apprentice sir that's...wow," Ivar said, not knowing what to make of what he just heard.

"I will be looking for an apprentice from the best and the brightest from all around the archipelago. And if the chief allows it, which I think he will, maybe I will choose from Berk and, of course, hold a competition for the position."

"I don't think the commander will approve," Ivar said, nervous and unconvinced.

Ragnar was not afraid to admit that every time Astrid got mad at his sarcasm he had to hold back a bit of laughter. "It's not her call and to be honest, she hates my guts already so I'm not afraid to anger her."

"I would be. She's very scary."

Hiccup chuckled at this and then turned back to the sky. "Ivar do you have a job or an apprenticeship?"

"I work in the great hall and I go down to the docks to see if there is any extra work to make some extra coins. It used to be me and my mom but she became sick and now it's just me."

"I see….well Ivar you should come and try out for the apprenticeship, I think you would be good at it."

"Me?" he said unconvinced. "With dragons? They would eat me alive."

"Probably, but you don't know until you try, do you?" he said shrugging his arms

"You think I would be a good apprentice? But I'm just a cripple."

"So am I," he said, gesturing to his leg.

Many of the inhabitants of Berk had either forgotten that he had a prosthetic or would never have known because it was always covered by his armor. Most people feared him or avoided him altogether. But when they did meet him most were enthralled by his charisma and his biting sarcasm, or his night fury.

"Oh," Ivar said looking at his injured foot. "What happened?"

"Since you asked, I will tell you. The story involves the Red Death."

"Okay, now I've got to hear it."

"Sorry kid, not today, but I'll tell you what. If you pass the tryouts and become my apprentice I'll tell you the complete story and you'll know why the dragon raids started and stopped."

"Well then sir, take back Berk and I'll see you at tryouts"

"We finally have the last thing we need to take back the village."

"What is that?"

"Are you familiar with changewings?"

"Yes sir."

"Changewings shed their skin, but that skin does not lose its ability. I have a team ready to go. They specialize in infiltration and destruction, but they need changewings for this mission."

"Cool."

On the night of the attack, Berk's forces had assembled far enough outside the perimeter of Berk so they would not be seen. With the new Berkians and the Wingmaidans helping, the army looked more like a coherent fighting force. However, if they wanted to take back their village then they would need the help of the dragons that Hiccup enlisted.

The plan is to have the dragons come in and disrupt the enemy, then they will pull back and Berk's main force will move in and destroy the remaining force.

But the dragons can't…..

Not until Berk clears the anti-dragon artillery.

Thankfully Hiccup had assembled a team, code name "the village idiots" led by Camicazi and another four members of the team, Fiona, Sigrid, Merry, and Hella. He gave them the important job of taking out the artillery as well as any enemy archers and disrupting as much as they could.

Each girl had changewing clocks, as well as the usable wingmaiden setup. Since the mission required stealth, they went in light with only swords, bows, and the dragons stuck to their backs.

Camicazi pov

We had our clocks on and our weapons ready. We knew our mission and our duty well. We had the supplies and we knew what to do.

Reach the artillery.

Take out the guards.

Place the zipple back gas.

Let Hiccup do the rest.

We had been denying the enemy the use of wood whenever we could, ambushing their foraging parties. Denying them the use of Berk's wood and natural resources has forced them to dig in. Our plan was working. They built their walls out of the ground. They constructed retaining walls, dirt stacked up high, ground dug out below, giving the impression that the wall is higher than it actually is.

Thanks to our attack on their ships they knew we had dragons. Unfortunately, they also knew how to deal with them, trenches with baristas, when I had fought with Hiccup on a campaign we had dragons with us, the enemy countered with trenches and ballistas, negating the effectiveness of their attacks.

The trenches were not the problem because the majority of the purple moon was not in them. The real problems were the guards and the lookouts and the artillery.

My team was specializing in infiltration and destruction, and now was the time to prove that "the village idiots' were one of the deadliest teams in the archipelago. We entered the first trench, passing undetected easily. My team was equipped with mini crossbows so we could subdue our enemies silently without having to get close to them.

The first enemies we encountered were killed without hesitation, dead the moment our crossbows came into their sights.

We still had our changewing cloaks on at this point and it made sneaking up on the enemy a lot easier. We moved along the trenches and whenever we found a ballista we cut the ropes that made the fire. Every enemy that had the misfortune of coming into view of us was killed with deadly precision, one bolt to the head was more than enough to put them down.

We finally made it to the entrance and entered the village. There were some people walking around, some were drunk and others were following orders. We stuck to the sides of the town, trying to avoid the few people still up at this time of night. Those who ran into us or those who we deemed high priority were taken out, and we hid their bodies as though they never existed.

There were a couple of watchtowers with ballistae and archers and I knew those needed to go. I ordered Hella to take out the ones on the right and Sigrid to take out the ones on the left and the rest of us would go and take out the artillery in the center of the village.

Both the girls nodded and under our changewing cloaks, we went undetected.

When we arrived at the catapults and ballistae, we found the guards sleeping. We quietly unsheathed our knives and approached them. One of the guards was sleeping against the catapults he was supposed to be guarding when I approached him with my knife. I slit his throat quickly, which stopped him from making any noise.

We did the rest to all of the other guards until there were none left. I ordered Fiona and Merry to unpack the zipple back gas that we brought with us. All we needed to do was place it under a few and then when the fighting starts— boom! Once we were done we then moved to meet back up with Sigrid and hella. They had finished their task, disabling artillery, and killing the guards.

One last objective. The purple moon, as much as I hate to admit it, was efficient at what they did. Like the dragon guild syndicate, they were professionals but unlike us, their lack of honor was prevalent everywhere they went. However, they were predictable. They were mostly former soldiers that couldn't go back to being regular civilians. Their heavy infantry slept separately from the archers and they slept separately from the regular infantry. This made it easier for me to find them.

Most purple moon camps kept the archers in the center of the camps since they were considered high-value targets, and were vulnerable to melee attacks. I knew where to find them.

Stealthily we made our way to the center of the village. The purple moon had been occupying the houses of Berk and it was safe to assume that the arches had their pick of the houses in the center.

I motioned for the team to form up and we quickly entered the house closest to us.

There were roughly 10-20 people inside each house in the center of the village. I called it perfectly! They were all filled with archers. We went house to house and like the wind of death made no noise. We quietly unsheathed our daggers and started slitting more throats. Now we could retreat. We exited the center of the village, making our we to the line of trenches. After that, we made our way back to our army. And there we found Hiccup.

I took off my cloak and the rest of the girls followed suit. We approached Hiccup, prepared to inform him that the plan was a go.

"Gas is set. All you need to do is not miss," I said playfully.

Hiccup just looked at me and then back at Berk where we were about to attack.

"I don't miss," he said with absolute confidence.

With this, he got on his night fury and flew off. I now needed to prepare everyone else. The attack was about to take place, they needed to be ready.

I found Astrid, the chief, my friend Heather, Eret and Largeatha. "We are ready!" I said simply.

Astrid grabbed her ax and Heather and Largeatha got her weapons and we headed out. We made our way to where we would lead the army.

"Astrid I took out their archers and the dragons will kill a lot of their warriors leveling the playing field, but we're about to fight a battle that may get very messy, okay?"

Astrid looked at me with a determined expression. "I abandoned Berk once. I will die fighting this time before I retreat."

I turned to the armies that we were going to lead and waited for the signal. Of course, it was very familiar and would scare most people but to me, it's just a whistle.

Suddenly it came.

With a crash I heard it, the screech of a night fury followed by dozens of dragons descending. I could hear the sounds of their fire hitting their marks.

I turned to the army and raised my sword "Out there is your home, take it. It's yours!"

thanks for reading. if you want to leave a comment and follow the story that is much welcomed