It had been a tensed twenty four hours on the Edge. Rune was nursing Sandstorm back to full strength after the fall, Sten wasn't speaking to anyone and the others found themselves in the middle of everything. It felt like a war between Rune and Vyra against Sten; Forde, Thyra and Virgil did not want to get involved by any means.
The training dome saw Sten running drills against Thyra while Virgil and Forde watched. Their dragons rested around the camp as the steel of his blade clashed against Thyra's axe. Sweat ran down his face and onto the ground. His clothes were drenched but he was relentless. This was the only way he could express his frustration after what Rune did to him.
Thyra ducked under Sten's first swing then rolled to the side to dodge the next one. She swung her hammer at his feet causing him to jump over her attack. She carried the momentum into her next attack causing Sten to block it with his blade. Sten pushed back, forcing Thyra to take a few steps back before they re-engaged. The two traded attacks as sparks flew from their weapons. Forde and Virgil were certainly enjoying the match, they were learning a lot from two of their best fighters.
"These guys have been at it before sunrise. Don't they get tired?" Virgil asked.
"Both of them are equally motivated. Thyra lives for battle and she fell short yesterday. Now she wants to push herself to the level where she can fight dragons like that for hours without rest" Forde explained.
"And Sten?
"Do I need to elaborate?"
Virgil nodded. "Yeah, I understand"
Sten parried two of Thyra's swings and then swept her off her feet with his leg. Thyra lost her footing and had her back on the ground as Sten pointed his sword at her neck. Thyra looked up at him, her chest rising and falling quickly as her weapon lay on the ground away from her.
"And that's 15 to 12" Sten said.
He withdrew his sword and offered Thyra a hand to help her get up.
"It was a really good match" Thyra said.
"I agree. Let's take a little break before we get back to it" He suggested.
Thyra nodded.
While the two got their break, Vyra and Rune walked towards the dome, with their dragons walking by their sides. Virgil nudged Forde and used his head to point in their direction.
"Oh boy, I smell trouble" Virgil whispered.
"Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best" Forde said.
Sten shot them a glance and looked away immediately. Forde and Virgil could see and sense the visible change in Sten and worried that things didn't explode. Thunder rumbled in a distance with dark clouds rolling in from the horizon. Rune and Vyra joined them all at the dome now, with all but Sten pleased to see him.
"Morning everyone" Rune greeted.
"Morning. How's Sandstorm?" Forde answered.
"He's back to full strength. Aren't you boy?"
Sandstorm answered with an excited nod.
"Well, after the events of two days ago, I propose that we go on a hunt for this Grimmel fellow. We need to track him and stop him from causing more harm to dragons all around"
The main motivation for his search wasn't the fight from two days ago, it was to stop him from attacking Berk and more importantly, stopping Hiccup from saying goodbye to all dragons. His proposition wasn't well accepted by the rest of the gang with their reactions showing that they had cold feet to his approach.
"What's the problem? Don't you trust your leader anymore?" Vyra shot at them.
"It's not that we don't trust him, it's just that I think we should take a different approach. We don't know the capabilities of who we are dealing with and we were properly dealt with. We barely know anything about the Dragons he commands" Forde stated.
Thyra and Virgil nodded, agreeing with what Forde had stated.
"Hmmm…" Rune hummed.
"We know that they spit acid and have a venomous tail. That's all we need. The quicker we take him down, the faster our name spreads across the archipelago" Vyra said with heavy enthusiasm on their names spreading.
"Rather than getting sucked into the fantasy of having your name spread across the islands, I suggest that you come back to reality and train a little. It would help you make better decisions and maybe you'll be able to save Rune next time" Sten said with a very passive but aggressive voice.
"What did you say?" Vyra said ready to turn on him.
"Calm down" Rune said holding her back.
"You are way in over your head Rune. She is using you for her own gain. She is not thinking of you or the team but the fame and glory. Don't you get it?" Sten said.
"Sten, you can say whatever you want but do not disrespect me or Vyra" Rune said with a very serious tone.
"Disrespect? You disrespected the rest of us yesterday" Sten said.
The tension began to rise and they could all feel it. Smidvarg and four other Night Terrors landed on the roof of the training dome and watched the confrontation unfold.
"Sten wait, let's all calm down" Forde said trying to calm things but it was too far gone for that.
"No. We have gone past beating around the bush"
"And what is the bush?" Rune asked.
Sten closed the distance between he and Rune looking him dead in the eye.
"That you are failing us and you are not the leader we thought you are. You are weak willed and easily influenced because you two like each other even though it's not official. You make a decision and she whispers into your ear and you make a U-turn. That is not how you were. Get her voice out of her head and lead" Sten said.
"She does not whisper anything in my ear. I make those decisions on my own accord. All I sense is jealousy"
Rune was not intimidated by his size or the look in his eyes. He came up even closer, his eyes locked with barely any space between them. Both their egos were big and bruised; neither of them were willing to back down for the other.
"Jealousy? Why in Odin's name would I be jealous of your parasitic relationship? Haven't you noticed how she always talks about herself and fame and never about the team or the good of the dragons? Something got into her head and it's infecting you too"
Rune smirked. He could see it all so clearly now. Sten was just jealous and greedy about how good he was becoming and didn't want to play second fiddle to him.
"Me getting infected? All I see is you buddy" Rune said as he poked Sten in the chest.
"From the get go, it was clear to everyone that you liked Vyra and wanted to be the star pupil of the class but that was all stripped from you when I showed up. The girl you liked didn't like you back and you didn't graduate with top honors. Ad even when this team was formed you weren't even suggested to be it's leader. What I have grown into has scared you and now you're just looking for a way to remain relevant"
"This is bad" Forde whimpered.
"It's like watching to bulls fight. So much testosterone, so much ego" Thyra commented.
"Well it's not helping the team at all" added Virgil.
"Stay relevant? You showed leadership qualities at the start of all this we were willing to follow you to the ends of the earth. You won our trust and now you're taking it for granted" Sten fired back.
"But now based on your standards I'm not fit enough anymore? You think you can lead this team better than me? You can't do anything. You couldn't even keep your dragon out of harm's way yesterday"
"What did you say?!"
Tensions flared up and Sten drew his sword. He could take most of the banter but bringing his dragon into this when it was his fault was crossing the line.
"Woah, woah, woah. Let's use words guys" Forde said trying to calm things down.
Rune wasted no time drawing his axe and getting into a fighting stance. Sandstorm stood by his rider's side, ready to defend him if the need arises. Eruptor backed up Sten, standing by his side and setting himself ablaze to intimidate the other two. The two dragons locked their gazes on one another and growled. Any command from their riders and they were going to engage.
"We have to calm things" Thyra said. "Aren't you going to help?" she asked Vyra.
Vyra was not going to concern herself with it. She gave Thyra a glance and returned her gaze to the fight about to happen.
"Spikethorn"
"Hothead"
The two dragons called hopped in the middle, Spikethorn facing Sandstorm and Hothead facing Eruptor. Both dragons tried to calm the aggravated reptiles but they were feeding off the energy of their angry riders. Forde and Virgil pulled Rune and Sten apart before they harmed themselves and tried talking some sense into them.
"Rune, stop this nonsense, this is not you" Forde said.
"Cut the shit Sten, you're better than this. Is this how you really want things to go down? Do you want the chief to come and find us at each other's throats?" Virgil spoke.
"He pulled his weapon first. I am just defending myself" Rune answered.
"I know but your dragon is feeding off that energy. You really want this ego feud to destroy the base?"
Forde was usually calm and well-spoken but he had to ditch that. Rune needed a strong hand whenever he got like this. It was the only way to get through to him. Sten's eyes looked to his dragon, then Sandstorm, then Rune and finally the sword in his hand. He closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. His grip on his sword loosened and his gaze softened.
"You know what; he's not even worth it. Come on Eruptor"
The feisty Monstrous Nightmare reluctantly backed off from the fight, but left his flames still burning. Rune lowered his axe but his gaze still carried fury. Sten didn't say a word to anyone and mounted his dragon.
"Sten wait" Thyra called out but the pair had taken to the sky.
The sky grew darker and the wind began to blow as the storm clouds neared. Vyra had gotten what she had wanted, Sten had finally been put in his place. Payback for how he undermined her when Rune went for the meeting on Caldera Cay, she finally had the last laugh. She walked back to her hut a happy lass, Rune and Sandstorm went somewhere to cool off leaving just Forde, Thyra and Virgil alone.
"This is not good. Not good at all" Forde said with a sigh. The team has been divided but he was caught in the middle of the war.
"How did it even get to this?" Virgil asked still in disbelief.
"I hate to admit it but this has Vyra written all over it"
"What?" Forde questioned.
"Remember when Rune left for a meeting and she assumed control over the team?"
"Yeah I remember" replied Virgil.
"Well remember when she said that she was going to make Sten pay for undermining her? She must've played Rune and pit him against Sten. That was her payback"
"And Rune has been played like a fiddle. The lad has to be put straight and show us the strong will that has gotten us over the edge thus far" said Forde filled with resolve.
"How are you going to do that?" Virgil asked.
"He's my best friend. I'm going to get into that head of his" he gave them a short smile and walked off to find Rune.
"I hope he's able to calm this situation. We can't go out like this" Virgil said with worry.
"If there's one person who can deescalate the situation, it's going to be Forde. He has a way with people, he can sway them to drop their egos"
Virgil nodded. "I pray to Odin he can. For all our sakes"
The wind had intensified and the storm clouds covered the rays of sunlight from reaching the edge. Rune and Sandstorm sat above the rock face carvings of Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout from years ago. Sandstorm curled around Rune as the two looked into the horizon as the storm grew closer.
Rune was running the entire confrontation through his head, a lot of what Sten said got him thinking. Seeing one of his friends fly off like that had him second guess himself. Had he really gotten that bad?
Forde walked close, Rune already knew who it was, and he was the only person he could speak to in moments like this. Forde sat next to Sandstorm, looking on as the storm approached.
"Nice view you got here" Forde said to break the silence. "You come here often?"
"Yeah. It's kind of like my thinking spot" Rune answered. His tone was heavy, burdened even. He wanted to get something off his chest.
"Not a bad spot actually. Mine is in my garden"
There was an awkward silence between the two for a couple of minutes, Forde knew he was in, he just didn't know the words to use to speak to him. If he used the wrong words, he could snap at him and this whole things could explode.
"Forde, you are my best friend…"
Sandstorm grunted and hit Rune in the back of his head with his tail.
"Sorry, sorry. One of my best friends" he said to appease his dragon.
Sandstorm huffed and nodded.
"I want you to be truthful to me. Am I a bad leader?" he asked genuinely.
He turned his head and looked at Forde, ready to accept whatever he had to say. He trusted him wholeheartedly, just as much as Sandstorm. He wouldn't lie to him.
"No you are not"
Rune's head turned back to the horizon.
"But lately, you have been making some unusual calls"
"So what Sten said is true? Am I really turning into what he said?"
"Rune, before you jump into conclusions, no you are not turning into that. I know you, you are not the person that has been leading us these past few missions. You have made calculated and risky calls before, but lately, those calls seem to neglect the fact that we are not you. It has been self-centered quite a bit"
"So what he said was true. I have become a bad leader"
The realization began to set in. How did he even get to this?
"Sure you've hit a rough patch right now but that doesn't mean you are bad. You have the loyalty and trust of all of us here. If you had really lost us I don't think we'd still be here on the Edge"
"My piece of advice is this. Some of the things Sten said is true and the rest of us buy into that. You have led us thus far but lately you have made very questionable decisions. I know you like Vyra and you are trying to appease her but she is using that to do what she wants. Don't mix your emotions with leading the team or this exact same scenario repeats itself"
"Sten said it all. You have to show us that iron will again. Keep your personal business out of the team. Don't let it interfere with the team, whatever you two want to discuss can happen away from the team but don't use that to dictate what we can do"
"Thank you Forde. This really means a lot to me. I've really messed up and now Sten is out there pissed. I've really screwed up"
He buried his face in his palms, full of shame and disgrace.
"You don't need to beat yourself up about it. It could happen to anyone. You will learn from this mistake and it will only make you stronger. Rather than wallowing in it, you should be looking for ways to fix it. That is the right way to go about things"
"You're right" Rune said nodding his head. "I'm going to make things right"