Raiders Of The Lost Cause

[Ulrika]

Raiders Of The Lost Cause

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DATE & TIME : 15th August
WEATHER CONDITIONS :Mostly clear
CHARACTERS INVOLVED : Ulrika, Baldr, Redathin
PREVIOUS THREADS ? HTTYH6[/center]

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In the Great Hall at lunch time, Ulrika had overheard some Vikings talking about the Hysterian war and their role in it. She looked over to them in awe as they compared battlescars and stories. Ulrika frowned. She didn't possess any scars to be proud of.

With a huff, she pushes her wooden plate away and left the Great Hall. She hadn't been allowed to fight in the war, which had definitely made Ulrika unhappy. And now she was reminded, it wasn't a great feeling. She decided to wander by the cliffsides in the fields lower down in the village, spending some time with her own thoughts.

Oh, how she would have loved to mow down those Hysterians! From side to side - her axe, sword, or whatever, slicing through the enemies bodies as if it was butter! It must feel so empowering to do so! He arm swung around, mimicking her imagination.

There was a flapping of wings. "What the hell are you doing...?" Timbersbane asked as she folded her wings at the last second, dropping to the floor, taking several paces forwards to cushion her landing. You're not drugged again.. are you? Ulrika turned to Timber and grinned at her dragon. She was still over the moon that she *actually* had a dragon to call her own.

"Hey, Timber!" Ulrika greeted, patting the dragon on the snout. The action made the dragon sneeze. "Aaw eww! Why'd you do that?" Ulrika moaned, wiping her hands on her fur jacket. There was a slight expression of relief on the dragon's face.

"Not drugged. Good." Timbersbane made a rumble in her throat. "Don't do that agai- Ulrika was staring blankly at Timber as she spoke. She was a Night Fury, after all....

"OH THE GODS!!" Ulrika suddenly exclaimed quite loudly, not realising she was interrupting Timber. "I just had the most wicked idea ever!" Timber's brow furrowed. She didn't like the sound of this. She couldn't protest, however, as Ulrika suddenly hopped onto the dragon's back. "Take me home, I need to get some stuff."

Timbersbane complied. It wasn't a very strenuous flight at all. She wondered what the girl was up to. She wished she'd just say what she had in mind. It'd be so much easier... The Night Fury waited outside as Ulrika went inside her house.

"Anyone home?" She called out. No answer. Good. Ulrika crept in, grabbing a satchel she sometimes took for hunting, and filled it with some basic supplies. Now she had a Night Fury, she realised that with a dragon capable of devastating attacks would be perfect to attack Hysteria with. She was slightly mad that Berk's army had just let them go without any real fight. And she had wanted to fight some Hysterians. Now would be her chance!

On the way back out, she spotted her father's spare axe. She mulled over it, but then shook her head. Night Furies were badass enough without an axe. Besides, she'd be on Timber's back during the attack anyway. She slung the bag on her shoulder and headed back out. Timber was still waiting. She didn't look impressed.

"Where are we going?" Timber asked. She knew by now she wouldn't get any sort of reply, but she didn't want to not talk just because her rider didn't know squat about Dragonese. With a grumble, and Ulrika back on her again, she took off vertically, high into the sky.

Ulrika grinned. She still loved thise raw power she could feel from the dragon, how effortlessly she rode the air. They'd get to Hysteria in no time. She'd seen maps of the Barbaric Archipelago before; she knew roundabouts where to go... She directed Timber towards the south.

And so they flew. It was mostly uneventful. There were no real islands anywhere in the Sullen Sea, so the landscape below was pretty boring for the young Viking-In-Training. She didn't even see any sea-serpents that could be lurking in those watery depths. Meanwhile, Timber was busy trying to think where this child was taking her. She hoped they weren't going to get into any trouble. Timber was now responsible for the girl; so anything Ulrika did, Timber would recieve the consequences of her actions.

Ulrika quickly got bored, unsuprisingly. She began to moan and complain, telling Timber to fly faster, to which the dragon refused. "You haven't told me where we're going, or how far away this place is. I need to conserve my energy." Timber grumbled.

Ulrika grabbed some food from her satchel. She had also brought a fish for Timber. She finished her own bit of bread before lobbing the fish into the air. "Catch!" Ulrika called. Timber grinned, waiting for the fish to fall further before snapping her wings and diving to get it. Her wings expanded at the last moment, snapping up the airborne fish. The girl wasn't so bad... She could tolerate her somewhat dim and brash attitude.

After the brief moment, boredom settling in again, but they were almost there. Timber, with her keen eyes spotted land first, making a noise which quickly put a dozing Ulrika on alert. The sun was setting. She couldn't quite see anything yet, but she could feel Timber picking up the pace slightly.

They arrived at the island. There were no villages at all. Ulrika frowned. This wasn't Hysteria! But the dragon with the keener eyes could see there was a channel, and across it was another island. They decided to check it out.

Sure enough, there was smoke, and lights. Civilisation! Was this Hysteria? Ulrika didn't really know, but assumed as much. She never realised there was another island just before this main island. It was much, much bigger than Berk. They couldn't even see the far side of the island, even from this high! She was slightly awestruck by the size of the island.

"Okay, this'll be the place." Ulrika muttered confidently, patting Timber's neck.

"So what do we do no-"

"When I say, you do your strike attack-thingy someplace." Ulrika interrupted.

"WHAT." Timber faltered in mid-air slowing herself down. "I am NOT attacking a village!" She protested. Ulrika could feel the dragon do so, and she frowned.

"Aww! Come on! I thought you'd be psyched to be whooping those Hysterian butts." Ulrika argued. Timber wasn't pleased.

"You didn't tell me anyth-"

"Come onnn," Ulrika urged again. "They're dragonkillers, surely you'd wanna show them who's boss!" Great. Ulrika has brought Timber to a village full of dragon killers.

"I don't think violence is the ans-"

"Just do it already!" Ulrika ordered. "Otherwise we've come for no reason" Timber grumbled. Looks like she was not giving her much alternative.

"You're going get into so much trouble." Timber said. She glanced to the sunset - it was still light. She grumbled. She wouldn't be invisible yet. Ulrika pushed on regardless of this fact - she didn't seem to realise that her invisiblity came exclusively at night.

Timber picked out buildings that wouldn't be too disastrous. With some reluctance she began to dive, Ulrika's face lighting up in exhilaration at the sudden drop in altitude. Here we go! Timber let out one fireblast, which exploded in a flash of bluelight atop a granary. Timber immediately pulled up, returning to the heavens.

"NIGHT FURY!" A Hysterian Warrior on lookout cried, followed by those who had heard him with the standard "GET DOWN!" Suddenly the village was in motion to try and protect their town from further destruction. Catapults were armed, huge torches were hoisted into the air and warriors were quickly equipped and armed in one fluid and rehearsed motion.

They were expecting a full on dragon raid. There was an odd bated silence as they waited for the onslaught of beasts to arrive. No dragons were being lit up by the torches. All was quiet.

A whistle. The Night Fury seemed to be acting alone. Hysterians raised their shields, hiding themselves from the imminent blast - wherever that blow may land. Another blue explosion signalled the attack - one of the catapults! A neighbour catapult tried to shoot blindly into the settling darkness, but their reactions were too slow and easily missed.

"It's destroying our defenses!" Someone cried. The warriors organised themselves, hoping to protect their tools of war, though everyone had little hope in the endeavor.

"Okay, we should probably get rid of those torches," Ulrika suggested. Timber shook her head, obviously declining. "But they'll see us!" She whined. Timber continued to circle above the town. She snorted, glancing back at the sunset. The sky may be an inky blue, but it wasn't inky black.

A Viking noticed this. He was staring at the sky, hoping to see a glimpse of some dragons. He was in a Nadder-slaying mood this evening. He couldn't see anything - wait! He could! He nudged his team mate with his elbow, motioning to the black thing in the sky. He agreed, his colleague could see it too!

The word soon spread. Soon most eyes were on the Night Fury that had decided to come out too early. Confidence began to grow within the ranks. For once, the elusive, mysterious and ultimately deadly Night Fury was vulnerable. People were more willing to fight. When the whislte was heard, signalling the impending attack of the beast, all eyes trailed on the beast.

"FIRE!" Shouted someone. Volleys of spears, arrows and stones from catapults were launched into the air. Timber immediately reacted, trying her best to avoid this oncoming strike.

"I told you this wasn't a good idea!" Timber cried as she banked sharply to dodge a spear. This aerial obstacle course had brought her much lower to the ground, and she hadn't even fired yet! She began to flap furiously, trying to get more height. Another spear was thrown, and Timber did a barrell roll - but this had a terrible consequence.

The action was so violent that Ulrika was completely thrown off the dragon. She didn't even realise what was happening, now it was getting dark, until she slammed sideways onto a thatched roof, rolling down the roof and falling again to the hard floor.

She groaned, rolling to her front and getting onto her fours. She then looked up to see a somewhat bemused group of Hysterians staring at her. There was a somewhat awkward silence as both parties began to process what just happened.

Ulrika moved first, trying to scramble to her feet, but searing pains in her side made it difficult to do so. She was just about on her feet ready to turn tail and run before one of the Hysterians managed to grab her and lock arms so she couldn't run away.

Now Ulrika wished she had brought that axe. She struggled in vain, the Hysterian being too strong. The men began to converse.

"Do ye think she's one of ours?" Judging from the kicking and struggling, his friends shook their heads.

"Why else would she be on a roof at this time of evening?"

Another man grumbled. "We should notify Baldr. We could be having an invasion on our hands" They just got out of a war with Berk. There was only one Night Fury acting by itself. Things weren't adding up.

They all agreed. The man with Ulrika was having difficulties. The girl was trying to crane her neck round to bite the man to make him let go, but it wasn't working. One of the other men sighed.

"She's got guts, 'asn't she? Knock her out or something." He said. Ulrika was crying out for Timber, hoping the dragon would come to her aid. It was getting a lot darker now. Timber had vanished into the sky.

She was still there though. Timber watched fearfully as the Hysterians incapacitated her, and took her away. Her stomach cringed. What had she done!? She growled. Trying to save the girl would prove to be a suicide mission on her own. Timber regrettably began to wish she had insisted further to not fight...

When Ulrika was dragged into a building, Timber finally turned to leave. That was it. Timber expected the worst. Ulrika would be killed. It was all her fault. And she'd have to tell everyone back on Berk too. Timber began to wonder if death by Hysterian would be better than what she would have to face back home...

[Baldr the Bonkers]

Baldr looked over at the village, it had been quiet recently…well quiet for Hysteria. Only a few minor battles and one dragon attack. Baldr had gotten the law changed already about that though, Vikings couldn’t attack dragons unprovoked, which was one better that kill on sight. It was slightly stupid attacking a dragon on sight though, since it might not have seen you or care about you.

It’s not going to change anything though, the voices commented, and Baldr knew that was true, but he couldn’t make big changes, he was too new a leader for that. Baby steps. He and Hilda were currently slightly out of village, having a bit of time away from the village. Hilda had been destracted by something which was why he’d looked back to the village.

Then the voices seemed to notice something in the sky. He looked up and looked out, it was getting dark, though still light enough to see the sky properly. What can you see? he thought as he scanned the sky. He then saw an outline, “Is that…a Night Fury?”

Before Hilda could even ask what he was talking about the thing dived and shot blue flame down into the village. They both heard the explosion they both instantly started running. A night fury was attacking the village! It was just one night fury, Baldr would have seen others…unless they were already attacking by land. No, they’d have heard the alarm earlier.

They heard another attack as they continued running, they were far too far away right now, they’d get to the village in a few minutes, and it’d be another minute till they were close enough to know what was happening. Hilda wasn’t going to find out about the attack of course, she was worrying about Fyklir.

Baldr looked up again and saw the dragon was circling. Why is it circling in plain sight? It must be mocking us! Well those dragons aren’t exactly stupid are they. That dragon has a rider. Baldr had been ignoring them up till now, but the last one made him concentrate again. He looked at the dragon harder. The voice was right, there was a person on that dragon.

He then saw the movement in the air and the dragon reacted. The village was firing on it. Good to see they have good eyes too. Then the dragon and rider separated, the night fury going up, the human going down. They got to the village and split up then. Baldr to where he guessed the rider had fallen, Hilda to where she thought their son was.

He slowed down now, not wanting to be out of breath when he got there. Barely anyone was about, obviously over at the disturbance. He got there just as they knocked the girl out. He looked at her, she was a teenage girl with a distinct Berkite look to her.

“Baldr! We were just about to notify you about-”

“I know I saw,” Baldr intrupted, he didn’t need the obvious stated to him, “we can clean up the mess the dragon caused tomorrow.”

“But sir! Shouldn’t we be preparing for the attack?” he asked him, confused.

“What attack? That wasn’t the start of a full on attack.”

They all looked at him confused now, “but that dragon-”

“That Night Fury,” Baldr corrected, “attacked this village while it was still light, name one time that you’ve EVER heard of that happening?” silence, “That dragon had a rider, an inept rider. And not one that would be the head of a large attack.”

“But they’ll attack again!” he protested.

He looked at the girl, “I doubt it’ll attack while we have its rider,” he smiled as he heard complete silence, “Who do you think this girl is, one of ours? Does her dress or her hair look at all Hysterian? Did the fact you had to restrain her and knock her out not tell you something? This kid is the rider of that Night Fury. And I’d bet anything she attacked us cause she thought she alone could take us.”

“Anything?” the familiar voice asked. Baldr sighed and turned to him. He should have known a comment like that would have gotten him into the conversation.

“Anything that I had the right to bet,” Baldr commented, seeing the slight glare that the man gave him, “come on now, get the girl tied up and put her in some hut locked up. We can find out everything when she’s awake.”[/b][/color] He turned away and went to get on with something more important.

[Ulrika]

Ulrika's body slumped as she was knocked out. She was taken to a hut with another captive, where she was tied up against one of the hut's beams, left until the morning when an interrogation would ensue.

Ulrika awoke from her unconsciousness a few hours later. She had a terrible headache, which made her groan slightly. Everything was dark and quiet. She made a move, but found her actions restricting, along with a sharp jolt of pain from her side. As she gasped slightly from the feeling, she also realised she was gagged. Ulrika struggled more, causing more pain with little reward.

Through the dark, she was sure she could see another being. Was it a Hysterian keeping watch? No... If he was a guard he was doing a terrible job at it. It was hard to make out who the person was.

"Hnnn" Ulrika tried to say through her gag. She frowned. That didn't come out how she wanted to at all! The young viking began to make almost growl-like noises as she tried to remove the gag somehow, since she had no use of her hands, it was quite difficult.

After some time, Ulrika was finally free from her vocal restrictions. But what could she say? Ulrika wasn't one who'd cry for help, and even if she did; no one would come to her aid. She looked back to the dark silhouette of a man again.

"Hey." She said, finding her voice slightly coarse. She tried again. "Hey!" She said, a lot louder. "What are you doing?"

It only really occured to Ulrika afterwards that the man was probably asleep. It was the middle of the night after all. She huffed again. She could see a silvery light coming from outside through the cracks in the hut's door frame.

The realisation of the time instantly made Ulrika groggy, and she felt her body relax, save for the sharp bursts of pain as she breathed. After a small moment, Ulrika finally fell asleep.

Morning quickly came, and after the events of last night, it was no suprise that Ulrika was still snoozing later than she would usually wake up. She had almost forgotten that she was on Hysteria, until activity outside the hut made the girl wake up.

She tried to sit up with a start, but the horrible pains in her side acted up again. She tried to move into a comfortable position, but her restricted position meant she could not. Ulrika seethed.

"What the hel!" Ulrika shouted angrily. "Why do I hurt! Someone let me go!" She turned to look at the man she saw last night. With the slightly augemented brightness inside the hut, she finally recognised who the man was. It wasn't a guard at all. Her face broke into a grin.

"Oh hey! You're that messenger guy-person! What are you doing here? Didn't you know Hysterians are the bad guys?" She blurted in a stream.

[Baldr the Bonkers]

It was the morning after the girl from berk had fallen to them, and Baldr knew he needed to talk to her, see what he could find out. He reached the hut just as a good number of other Vikings got there, “What are you doing here?” Baldr called, “You’re not needed for interegation.”

“We wanted to…find out stuff,”[/color]

Baldr sighed, harass and bully was more like it, “I shall be talking with the prisoner, on my own. I do not need any of your tactics to get info from a child.” They seemed annoyed by the judgement, but made no argument against it, he was leader after all. As I walked to the door, the authority leadership did give him a nice feeling some times, a feeling he got ever since he’d been given any form of power, the fact he was actually listened to in anyway.

As he was about to enter he heard a girls voice shout in frustration, sounds like she’s awake. Baldr opened the door silently and walked into the room. The Hooligan girl had been tied up with her back to the door, meaning she could see him yet. She could however see Redathin, their other captive.

"Oh hey! You're that messenger guy-person! What are you doing here? Didn't you know Hysterians are the bad guys?" She asked the boy who was still asleep, though he’d probably wake up from her shouting.

Still holding the door open, Baldr took a few steps forward so he was as close to her as possible, he then let go of the door and leaned into her, “you’re inside, there’s no need to shout, Hooligan.” The door slammed shut.

[Ulrika]

Ulrika jumped at the voice behind her with a small yelp, and again when the door shut noisily, re-entering the shed into a dim darkness again. Dust could be seen in the small cracks where daylight meagerly poured in.

The girl struggled to see the man, who was still behind her, unaware that it was none other than the Chief of Hysteria himself. "You can't tell me what to do, Hysteric scumbag! I'll shout all I want!"She said, trying to struggle free from her binds, with no luck. Every so often she gave a sharp gasp as pain struck her broken ribs.

"Show your face, or are you afraid of me! You have a right to be! Timber'll get you all! Just you see! You'll all be DEAD in 10 seconds!" Unfortunately for Ulrika Timber was far-far away from Hysteria now. And even so, her exaggerations made her threats seem... not that threatening at all.

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Sorry it's too short. I really didn't know what else to do. Ulrika is ulrika after all *shrug*

[Baldr the Bonkers]

He smiled at the way she jumped at his voice and her immediate attempt to struggle, she was a feisty one. He raised an eyebrow at being called a scumbag, as well as her wish for defiance, he had a feeling that whatever he told her to do, even stuff for her benefit, she would go against.

As she shouted at him to ‘show his face’, he stood up, pulled a steel and flint out, and lit the touch that was right above her, on the beam she was tied to. He knew she’s be momintarally blinded and took the opertunity to sit on a nearby crate so he was straight ahead of her when she could se him.

“Timber? Is that the dragon you fell off of?”[/b] Baldr asked, “That’s an interesting name for a Night Fury.”[/b] He paused, letting whatever stuff came out of the girl’s mouth to play its course before asking his first question. “Why did you come to Hysteria?”[/b]

As he listened to her, he felt sad slightly at the rubbish she was saying, she honestly believed this? That she could do this single handed? How could her parents let her be like this? The other voices have conflicting views, some mirroring Baldr’s thoughts, some talking very derogatory of the girl and two or three talking very derogatory of berk for creating a child like this. He tried to push that thought away given the children Hrothgar had created on this isle.

“What about your parents? Do they know you came here? Do they know flew to Hysteria?”[/b] Do they care? a single voice asked.

“One does not simply fly into Hysteria.” He slapped down on the shoulder of the messenger next to him, “Just ask this Hooligan.”[/color]

(OOC: 1. Yes, I did just pull the line, 2. Chandles, if you come on in the next week, please try if you can to reply to one of these two threads, if you don’t we shall assume that didn’t wake Redathin up any more than Ulrika’s calling and it’s her turn next.)

[Ulrika]

Oddly for Ulrika, the man was interested in the name of her dragon. "Eh, well I wanted to name her something cooler, like maybe Shadow or Nighlurker or something, but Timbersbane kinda stuck from the beginning... Why would you care, anyway?! You guys kill dragons all the time!" She blurted to the older man. He said nothing but instead asked her a question in return.

Ulrika smirked at the question. "Stupid adults like you didn't want me to fight in the war. I'll have you know I can hold my own perfectly fine, but nooooo~ they still didn't want me to fight. I was really gutted so when I finally got Timber I realised I could come give you guys a taste of your own medicine - I mean, Night Furies are unstoppable! We'd put you in your place for sure, and we'd get totally loads of renown and stuff..."
Baldr cut her off, wondering if her parents cared or knew she had gone off. Ulrika scrunched her face into a frown. To her, 'parents' was just a word, those people who bore her, nothing more. She didn't really grasp why lots of people would referr to her parents whenever she did something stupid.

"Ugh, I didn't come all the way over here to be nagged by my sister! I told no one I was gone, I expected to be back just in time before anyone noticed! No one probably cares anyway - I do my own thing, no one tells me what to do." Ulrika explained, still in an agressive tone, trying to sound ferocious and intimidating. She hoped her voicing would work.

"One does not simply fly into Hysteria. Just ask this Hooligan." Ulrika's gaze flicked between Redathin who was for some reason completely out of it, before going back to the big man,

"Well, us two got here, so I think you're wrong." She said naively. "I'm not afraid of you." She finished defiantly.

[Baldr the Bonkers]

He was interested how this girl and her dragon related, mainly cause he was wondering how she had a Night Fury as a dragon. He knew enough about Night Furies that they’re not exactly dragons you can tame through force, be it physical or personality based, they had to be willing to be your dragon. Of course that was true with all dragons, but Night Furies were the smartest dragons around and so that was more true than with the others.

The way she talked made him wonder so much how she got this TImberbane, especially since she had no clue that what she was doing was so stupid, or how overly fan girl she was about the species. Yes they were amazing creatures, but not even a night fury could take on Hysteria single headedly.

When she made her response to his comment, Baldr wanted to give a reminder to her that she was currently their captive, but he knew that was a pointless thing to say. He knew this girl wasn’t afraid of them, least not in a way that could get sense into her.

So he changed tract, “How did your side fair after our attack? How many died on your side and were there any men from our side that are still alive and captive?”[/color] Baldr knew some stuff from merchants, Rebathin and other methods of learning, but he wanted to ask the girl in case she gave away the information he needed. For all he knew she might be just dumb enough to blurt it out.

Once the girl responded (and that conversation dripped through, if Baldr has any reason to respond to a line by Ulrika I’ll have him), he asked the question he should have asked when he first came into the hut. “What’s your name, child?”

[Ulrika]

Ulrika shrugged. Since she had no part in the war, and perhaps her lack of education, her interest in the number of casualities and other statistics on the Berk-side of the war evaded her. She shrugged the best she could, bound by the ropes. "I'unno. Stuff happened... I mean 'course people died, otherwise a war would be pretty boring..."[/color]

She paused for a moment. She then remembered seeing a funny bloke on Berk, she came in to Ari's abode once after being chased by a pack of Terrors to find this strange man who didn't have any sort of Berkish look about him at all! He seemed very shy and couldn't speak for the brace around his jaw, probably breaking it. At first Ulrika had thought nothing much about it, probably an outsider, outcast or deserter who got caught in the crossfire of the war. It was only afterwards that she got word that he was actually a Hysterian spy who survived the attack at Luna's house.

Consequently after learning this she wasn't allowed into Ari's house anymore.

"Oh wait! I remember! I think we have one of your guys!" With this she gave a smirk, thinking she had some upper edge, forgetting that Hysteria had two Berk captives right now, one more than Berk. "I heard he was a spy who survived utter mutilation or something. Anyway I saw the whole house burnt down and apparently Kenna was there and stuff..." She then gave a little laugh. "Man, I saw that guy! He was realllly flimsy bad. That's not the kind of guy I'd send to do a man's job! I'd send some uber beefy mega-badass guy to fend for himself. I mean, the guy almost fainted at the sight of me!"

After this steady stream of information, Baldr asked her name. Ulrika wanted to sound epic and intimidating to her captor, so she tried to introduce herself in the most dramatic way possible. A normal person would have probably refused.

"My name.... Is Ulrika Weostan." She gave a hesitant pause, she needed a better title than 'the Careless' or the self-proclaimed 'the Swift'. "...The Girl That Rides A TImberJack-Killing Night Fury!"

She didn't realise how much she messed that up.

[Baldr the Bonkers]

At first she declined any real knowledge, though after a pause she had a eureka moment and then she told him about a spy they had captured. He ignored her comment about how bad the guy was and tried to work out who she was talking about. He knew Furgus was dead, and it obviously wasn’t Boris or Bracken so they must have been killed off too. So Berk had either Scörn or Harold. It was probably Harold given how she was referring to the guy but it could have been either. A part of him hoped it was Harold, he liked him and it’d be a shame if he’d died, or indeed if he had to die.

He then thought about what she’d actually said before that. The whole house burnt down? Which house? He didn’t really need to ask since the awnser was an obvious one. Whichever one Ashaere lived in. Baldr knew he could if he pressed her find out if the girl was still alive or not, but he also knew he’d never get the wording right enough that she wouldn’t then become a liability to her or to Ashaere…or both of them.

He was semi-glad that she was in a cooperative mood after that stint of talking, though it was obvious when she said her name that she was trying to make herself sound awesome. Quite a few of them wanted Baldr to mock her for her attempt but he didn’t want to really, she was nieve, no more. “Nice to meet you, Ulrika Weostan, I’m Baldr Bjorg the bonkers, Chief of this island.”[/color]

[Crabapple Holdfast]

The noise of the Hysterians scuttling about had given Crabapple a terrible headache, and the lights of lanterns dashing about as the citizens frantically tried to re-establish order did little to help. He was in a foul mood, and figured the best person to interact with in that state would be Baldr. Whatever happened to that blasted Dragon-rider, anyway? A little wench who had no business attacking their homes, disturbing their rest, and setting the whole town on edge. Her actions were the cause of quite a bit of headache tonight, and Crabapple wanted to make sure that Baldr wasn't mistaken about her actions tonight.

Stepping out of the noise and into the holding chambers was a welcome release. Hearing Baldr chatting up the little arsonist like she was anyone of the island, less so. Grumbling, he shambled into the room and sat down. "I've got the men working to rebuild the catapult, and the granary, thankfully, was saved, at least in part." The blow to the granary had infuriated Crabapple. It had no military value, not like the blacksmith or the fletcher, but it was key to their survival. This young Hooligan was obviously out for blood, if a granary was seen as an acceptable target. He glared across the room at the girl, shocked that a lass so young could be so insufferably vile as to assault a settlement out of... anger? Spite? It didn't matter. She had offended the entire island of Hysteria with her actions... and now Baldr was being all kind and courteous.

The shield-bearer would have none of this. "Baldr! Quit with the small talk and get the truth out of her. We need to know the details of the attack before more of these brutes arrive." He continued, caring little about the reaction of those in the room. "No one would be so stupid as to attack Hysteria alone."

[Ulrika]

Likewise, Baldr finally introduced himself. He also revealed his position as Chief of Hysteria. Ulrika raised her eyebrows in suprise briefly, that the Chief himself had taken time to come and speak with her. On Berk, Asther usually left everyone else to deal with affairs of the island.

"You're the leader?" Ulrika repeated, as if she wasn't sure to believe the man. She then frowned at him angrily and made to spit at his feet. "You stupid Hysterians, thinking you're all 'it' and come to our island and make war, then randomly run away again for no reason?! You guys are just cowards! And you guys are stupid enough to kill dragons, when they're so awesome! That's just wrong and-"

Ulrika got cut off as the door opened again, and this fiendishly huge brute of a man came to Baldr's side, informing him of the status of the damages caused from the previous night.

"We hit a Granary? That's so cool!" Ulrika interrupted. Timber had aimed at such a building just to keep the girl happy, but not wanting to get into too much trouble, the dragon had only knocked a part of the top of the building off. "Though that's kind of a boring building... That would've been cool if we blew up your house or something." This sentence directed more at Baldr. "Imagine the renown I'd get if I killed the Chief of Hysteria..." With this Ulrika trailed off, imagining what kind of praise she would get.

She snapped out of it at Crabapple's last words. "I'm not stupid! I knew *exactly* what I was doing!"

[Baldr the Bonkers]

Baldr glared at Ulrika when she spat at his feet but made no reaction to it. She wasn’t going to get the reasons for the war, the reasons why He’d pulled out, even if he could tell her. She called them stupid but he knew they had more screws than she did.

Baldr knew that Crabapple’s arrival into this conversation would not bode well for it; it was obvious he was in a bad mood and this Berkite would almost certainly make it worse. His premonitions bore true when he had to physically hold in the cringe he had at Ulrika’s reaction to the results to her attack. He did smile at her line about killing him.

“Before last night I would have agreed with you on that thought Crabapple.”[/color] Baldr said as he stood up and walked over to him, “There is no army coming to attack us, on coordinated air strike. She didn’t know what she was attacking, her reaction to your report shows that. She’s a kid that thought it’d be cool to kill everyone in Hysteria single handed, and more importantly she thought she could pull it off cause she at a night fury.”[/color]

He knew he had to say this before Crabapple could say anything so he did, “I know it’s stupid and counter intuitive, but look at her, she’s a teenager and quite obviously doesn’t feel fear like a normal human or Viking.”[/color]

[Crabapple Holdfast]

Just once, Crabapple wished he could have left the island, seen something more of the world. If this girl was what the world had to offer, he felt assured he hadn't missed anything, really. The Hooligans, the Snow Raiders of Red Rock, not to mention the entire continent thereof... it was all to much for him. Far better to know one's home, to recognize every tree, every rock and rill, than to be wandering about all across the seas for who knows how long on a featureless void of water known as the ocean. The sheer arrogance which the girl possessed was ridiculous.

Already holding one of their tribesmen prisoner, they dared to send a mere child out for such an action? Naturally she'd attacked the granary, tried to starve them all. "The granary? Hah! Baldr's replaceable, but the granary is our life, little hooligan." However, as he stroked his beard, he commented again, hoping to get her ire up just as she had his. "I suppose then, you'll be upset you didn't kill his son. Or perhaps you wanted to hit the nursery, kill all of the newborns, eh? Let your unholy demon rip through the cradles in our village and tear mothers from their children? Anything else you'd care to destroy in your bloodlust, perhaps?"

He stood up, and strode over to the door of the cell, wanting to get a better look at the little terrorist. She was just underneath the torch, letting her catch the full light of it, long blond hair, and a rough fur jacket. "Baldr, they're still coming, I'm certain. These pointless raids are just to distract us, and keep the rejects from interfering with their real dragon riders. This one was just a distraction, to lull us into a false sense of safety. Mark my words, Baldr; they're coming."

Feeling yet another headache coming on, the warrior decided to disguise his pain by redirecting it elsewhere, in this case, the nearest wall. He struck it with his fist, a hard blow from a grizzled warrior, one made in anger to boot. To add force to his thoughts, as well as his actions, he tried to ask something.... anything really, which would explain the situation, without him needing to think clearly enough to ask it. "Why aren't you afraid, huh? Where is the rest of your tribe, Hooligan?"

His head felt fit to burst inside, and he was certain that, unlike other times, it wasn't drink. No, this time, it was just a minor stress, nothing more. Nothing which needed healing, certainly, because he'd never needed that outside of battle, there was never any need for it. Regardless, none of that mattered now, as oil and fat splattered onto the child on the ground, an unforeseen consequence of the shield-bearer's actions.

[Ulrika]

Ulrika pouted at the big man. "Killing him would be cooler..." She muttered under her breath. But then Crabapple spoke of Baldr's son, which surprised Ulrika. It hadn't occurred to her that there would also be children on this island. Ulrika wasn't sure if she could kill someone younger than herself. Somehow, she still had some value of morals. That shut her up for a bit.

The blonde man took the silence to talk again to Baldr, confident there was an attack on the way. She didn't really pay attention; she had come here alone and she was sure she wasn't going to be rescued, since she had told no one where she had gone. She briefly wondered where Timber had gone. She wondered if the dragon would come and attack to bring her back... In her eyes, it would be an easy job for a Night Fury.

As Crabapple hit the wall, it made her jump, and at the same time some residue from the torch above her splattered onto her forehead and left shoulder. She yelped slightly at the shock and the heat, and realising her tattoo could be in danger, she began to struggle again, kicking her legs in vain and trying to wiggle her body to somehow wipe away the viscous substance. Of course, with her arms and body bound, it was no easy feat. In the flight of panic she didn't catch Crabapple's question straight away.

"Aghh, noo~ My tattoo..." She whined, completely ignoring her interrogators. At the same time this sort of behaviour coming from Ulrika would have probably answered Crabapple's question.