Chapter Text
“If we don’t do something now, she might kill him.”
Fishlegs’ point caused a silence to fall on the room of arguing dragon riders. Everyone had been surprised when Hiccup had arrived home without Toothless, and were even more shocked to find that he had voluntarily left his dragon there.
“I know, Fishlegs,” Hiccup replied. “But we can’t afford to make another enemy right now.”
“It’s a little late for that,” Snotlout scoffed, plopping down in an empty chair.
“I hate to agree with him,” Astrid put in, “but she seemed pretty upset. I don’t think there’s any way we can avoid siding against her. She’s just too unpredictable to trust.”
Hiccup sighed, nodding. “I just wish we knew what was really her. At first she was she was sweet, and then she turned into some kind of…monster. It’s like she has a split personality or something.”
“Maybe she’s actually really nice and we just met her on the wrong week,” Heather suggested, leaving everyone but Astrid clueless as to what she meant.
“Heather, there’s moody, and then there’s having two polar opposite personalities,” Astrid put in. “Besides, I’m not even that moody, and girl, let me tell you, I have reason to be!”
Heather laughed. “You do have it pretty bad.”
Both girls finally picked up on the confused looks they were earning from the others, although Ruffnut appeared to be finally catching on.
“So…” Snotlout drawled, attempting to change the subject back to one they all understood. “Plans, anyone? Hiccup, you’ve said, like, five things tonight, I hope there are some ideas knocking around in your head. Maybe that would give it a use.”
Dagur smacked the back of Snotlout’s head from his place in a chair behind him. He too had hardly said a word, probably because he didn’t want to upset Heather. Their relationship was currently at a very delicate balance, and no one wanted to off center it. Heather’s patience, or lack thereof, was easily tested when it came to her brother.
“I wish I had a plan,” Hiccup groaned, rubbing his forehead tiredly. “I just don’t know how to make one. I know how Viggo plays. He likes to outsmart us. So any plan involving him has to use the mind. I knew how you worked, Dagur, so it was easy to plan against you. I have no idea what this girl is like, except for the fact that everything is expendable to her. If we violate one of her terms, we will regret it.”
“Then you’re first plan should be one to see what her real character is like,” Fishlegs piped in again. “We need to see how she wages war; to see she plays offensively or defensively, brains or brute force.”
“Oh! Then I have the perfect plan!” Tuffnut jumped up excitedly. “Now, I’m sure you all have been wondering why I’ve been sitting here so quietly.”
“We weren’t actually,” Astrid said matter-of-factly.
“Don’t be so negative, Astrid.” Tuffnut blew her comment off with a wave of his hand. “I have many years of experience in the practice of psychology, during which time I have found that all these plans are practically useless. It is far more beneficial to simply ask what one desires to know, rather than to spend time plotting and devising.”
“While that might be true, Tuff, I don’t think it will work.” Hiccup rubbed his eyes, realizing he’d had only a few hours sleep in two days. His brain was so sluggish he could hardly remember what they were even talking about. Something about a plan…oh yeah! They needed a plan to figure out what Catia was really like. He needed a way to figure out what she was like as competition; what her battle strategies was.
Everyone was beginning to argue again, but amidst the chaos and noise, Hiccup’s attention was drawn to the Maces and Talons board that was pushed out of the way in the corner. One had to know strategy in order to even play the game, let alone win it. Quick wittedness was a must, as was the ability to adapt to unseen problems. It was a brain game; that was one of the reasons he liked it. So did Viggo, though he liked it a little too much. The game in itself had told them so much about Viggo they may as well have just asked him everything they wanted to know.
“Maces and Talons!” Hiccup shouted suddenly, the room quieting. “That’s it! That’s how we’ll figure what Catia is really like!”
No one said a word. Astrid finally broke the silence. “Granted, I don’t know how to play Maces and Talons, but I don’t see how it will help us.”
“Well, first of all, you actually have to have been taught how to play. That tells us something right away. Someone spent the time to teach her warfare. Second, you have to have good strategy. If she just randomly moves pieces around, either she’s not very competitive or she doesn’t have a plan. Every person plays this game a little bit differently. Viggo goes to extreme lengths to make you either over think or under think his plan. I have a tendency to-”
“Be predictable,” Dagur jumped in, a grin lighting up his face.
“Yes, be predictable. I make the same moves to many times, causing my opponent to see what my patterns are. But back to the original topic. All I have to do is challenge Catia to a game of Maces and Talons; she won’t suspect a thing!”
With a little more explanation to the twins and Snotlout, the plan was put into action. An invitation was written up, stating the winner would be awarded a chest of gold and the Night Fury. The message was attached to Deathcrasher and sent that night.
Confident that Hiccup’s plan would work, everyone went to bed, except for Hiccup and Dagur. The two sat at the game board for hours, trying to outsmart and outplay each other. Both gradually started to play worse and worse as time wore on, and Dagur finally announced that he was going to bed.
Hiccup, being Hiccup, stayed right where he was. Worried that Catia might actually be able to beat him, he stayed up studying the board, playing out every possible scenario in his head. He had nodded off several times, but ignored his need for sleep. There were so many different plays in this game! He tried to recall every possible way to call a peace-pact. He calculated the fastest was to kill the traitor so the game could be won. He memorized every move he could think of, playing them out of the board.
“Hiccup Haddock the third, what are you doing?!”
He turned at the sound of Astrid’s voice, finding her in the doorway, her hands on her hips.
“Making sure I don’t get beat tomorrow,” he muttered sleepily, “and I could ask you the same thing.”
“I came up to get some water,” Astrid replied, walking over,” but I’ve been asleep for the past few hours. Unlike you.”
“I don’t have time to sleep. I still have more than fifty plays to analyze.”
“I don’t care. You are falling asleep as we speak. You are never going to win tomorrow if you don’t get some rest.”
Hiccup sighed, knowing she was right. He could hardly keep his eyes open.
“You can have until I get my water to pick all these notes up, and then I am putting you to bed myself.” Astrid walked into the add-on kitchen and filled her water canteen, Hiccup slowly piling his notes up and setting the board back up.
Astrid came out of the kitchen, just in time to see him tiredly fumbling with a piece. “Good grief, Hiccup,” she chuckled, “you’re so you’re tired you’ve lost your fine motor skills!” She helped him clean up, and finally escorted him back to his hut.
Exhausted, he slapped his things down on the desk and literally fell into his bed.
Astrid walked over to blow the candle out. “Good night,” she said, and with a quick breath extinguished the flame. “And that means go to-” she glanced over her shoulder. “Sleep.” She smiled as she realized he already was.
. . .
Morning came early, bringing a nervous air with it. Nothing was accomplished throughout the day, as no one could force themselves to stay on track. The majority of their time was spent scanning the horizon, searching for some trace of Catia or a message from her.
Everyone had finally gathered in the clubhouse, bored but too jumpy to do anything. Would she come? Even if she did, would she come in peace?
The riders wordlessly waited in the main hut. Hiccup had been pacing back and forth for at least twenty minutes until Astrid told him to stop, though Heather had to tell her to quite tapping her fingernails on the table. Five minutes later, however, Astrid reminded Heather to stop chewing on the ends of her hair.
Time passed and the only words spoken were to tell someone to stop doing something. Heather wanted Dagur to stop whittling because the dust from the wood shavings were making her eyes itch. Snotlout wanted Tuffnut stop playing with Chicken because it made her cluck too much. Ruffnut wanted Fishlegs to stop writing in his notebook because the scribbling noise was giving her a headache. Astrid wanted Snotlout to stop flexing his muscles because it was repulsive.
The tension that surrounded them was more than taking its toll. Even the dragons were nipping at each other and the Night Terrors who tried to start a game of tag.
Late in the afternoon, the dragons on watch duty sounded an alarm. Everyone rushed outside, smiling as they caught sight of a dragon flying toward them. Strange, it looked like a Night Fury. It seemed odd that Catia would take the time to learn how to fly a Toothless when she had her own dragon.
Catia landed in front of them, swinging her leg over to dismount. Her thick black braid swung limply side to side as she moved. Hiccup resisted the urge to reach out and pet Toothless, as something seemed slightly off about him.
“I’m glad you could make it,” Hiccup started somewhat coldly, afraid of what she might do. “I hope you have brought a strategy with you.”
“That and more,” Catia replied smoothly, adjusting the satchel that was slung over her shoulder. “I have brought another prize to the stakes. Something I think will interest you greatly.”
“Oh?”
Catia opened her satchel and produced a cylindrical mechanism that Hiccup immediately recognized as the Dragon Eye. She smiled slightly at his surprised reaction.
“How did you get that?” he asked, shocked that she could manage to get such an important item away from Viggo. That must be why she was so afraid of him.
“I’ve heard you call this the Dragon Eye,” Catia answered, passing it from hand to hand. “It seems to be of great value to you, as is the Night Fury. I happen to be in position of this second Dragon eye, and Viggo knows nothing of its existence. Win the game, and it’s yours.” She passed it to him.
“I haven’t won it yet.”
“Oh, I know. But I want to have the joy of taking it back when you don’t.”
“Then let’s begin,” Hiccup said, trying not to show his nervousness. Toothless and now a spare Dragon Eye were at stake. He glanced around for his dragon, who had mysteriously vanished during the conversation. It stuck him as odd that Toothless didn’t seem one bit excited to see him. It also seemed odd that Meatlug was following Catia into the clubhouse, and not Fishlegs.
The two sat down at the game board, and the confidence with which Catia sat down and started to arrange the pieces showed she clearly knew what she was doing.
“Would you like first play?” Catia asked calmly, offering him a chance to get ahead.
“If you don’t want it,” he replied, jumping on the lead she was giving him. How was she so calm?
Catia shrugged and passed him the chief, and he set it down on the board, claiming an island as his base. The objective of the game was to capture the other player’s chief, but one could only do that once the traitor had been killed and the opposing island was captured.
Each piece could only make a certain number of moves in a play, the Shield Maiden being the most powerful piece on the board. She could change islands up to three times per play, capturing any piece in her path. However it was impossible win the game with the Shield Maidens on the board, so they were often the first target.
Catia seemed reluctant to put her Shield Maiden on the board. She was currently playing with only her chief and a few warriors, and Hiccup easily captured two of her pieces in a single play.
He slowly began to realize that he had a chance to win. If he could take out his traitor, which was actually one of her pieces, he would be just one more step ahead. He started putting his plan into action, taking advantage of her blank plays—using a play to reposition her pieces.
He was creeping up on his traitor when Catia started to laugh. She studied the board for a minute, then looked up at him, a slight smile on her face. “I know you can play however you want,” she started, “but that’s just suicide.”
Hiccup glanced down at the board, realizing that while he had been pressing in on her traitor while his island was being threatened by two of her warriors. His island for the traitor was not a swap he was willing to make. He quickly captured the warrior closest to his piece.
“Thank you,” Catia quipped lightly as she tapped his piece with the other warrior, dramatically knocking it over before she took it off the board.
Hiccup swallowed. She had just fooled him into giving up the protection of his island! Those blank plays weren’t blank at all! She had cornered him, and then made it seem as if she didn’t want him to make a bad play. He had never felt so stupid in his life.
The game continued, and although Hiccup kept his guard up waiting for more sly plays, Catia never made the attempt again. She did succeed in capturing three more of his warriors, leaving him with only two. He used a play to put his healer on the board, hoping to be able to get one of them back.
Catia immediately blocked the path of his healer, obviously trying to keep it from getting to her island. A healer only had three moves per game, though it couldn’t be captured. Hiccup jumped the piece blocking him, but immediately noticed that Catia bit her lip to hide a smile. She obviously knew something he didn’t, and he could only conclude that the play was a bad move.
He moved the healer back two spaces, and once more to corner her traitor again, which was also in his way.
“Dead.” Catia said flatly, snatching the healer off the board. “That was three moves.”
She’d done it again; fooled him into thinking he was making a bad play. And somehow, he’d actually fallen for it.
The game went on, and Catia slowly but surely gained more and more of his pieces. He was finally left with only his Shield Maiden, his island, and his chief. He still had a chance though, as Catia only had her chief and a warrior.
Hiccup moved his Shield Maiden, chasing her chief back a few spaces. Catia eyed his unprotected island. Knowing where she was headed next, he moved back, finishing his play.
Catia immediately pulled out her Shield Maiden, which Hiccup had completely forgotten about. She set the piece down; trapping every piece he had left. She wasn’t trying to take his island in her next move. She just made it look that way so he would move back where she could win in one play.
There was nothing he could do. Knowing the game was over, Catia held out her hand for the Dragon Eye. Stunned, Hiccup passed it to her.
“Keep the gold,” she said smugly as she walked out. “I have what’s really worth something.”