Third Person POV
The sun was shining brightly on Berk's islands, the cool sea breeze flowed through every nook and cranny of the place. The day would seem amazing to those who lived up the north, but the air within Berk was heavy. Unease was rampant throughout due to the looming threat of raiders attacking the village. It did not help that the notion of their enemies having upgraded equipment compared to them gave any form of ease. However, the villagers worked with trust in the chief. Knowing that his plans would allow them to defend against their enemies.
Apart from the adults working hard to protect the village, many of the children were hard at work as well. The Academy children, who were no older than 16, trained with vigor in the arena. After a week of following Mal's training program the children were finally able to carry out the exercises without burning out quickly. The program was designed for the first recruits back at his home whenever they got a fresh batch, so it was an effective foundation builder for many of the kids that lacked the basic strengths. Mal had hoped that with this training the children would have a higher chance of surviving, as endurance and agility were the basis of the training. This would allow them to fight or run longer than most when in battle.
After their "warmups," as Mal would refer to them whenever he had the time to train the kids, they would spend the rest of the day sparring with one another. Many of the children had access to more weapon types now after Mal had introduced them. Due to the nature of the Academy, bows were not allowed, since there was an emphasis on close combat fighting. In light of this, Mal had taught them a fighting style with daggers, short swords, and hand on hand. The latter being taught to all the children. A pair of students could be seen fighting as if their lives were on the line. Those two being Meadhead and Vallerie.
"Be honest, mushy head." Vallerie avoided Meadhead's sword. "You've been secretly training with someone haven't you?" She circled around him trying to find a good point of attack.
"So?" Meadhead huffed, they have been sparring for sometime. The two did not want to admit defeat, unfortunately for him, Vallerie had more stamina which didn't help with his occasional angry flailing. "Are you worried that I might become better than you?" He returned. After deciding to follow Mal's advice to heart, Meadhead had been making an effort to not take Vallerie's insults in mind. Even though sometimes it sounded like it came from her heart. Instead, he took some time to find ways to press her buttons as well. Resulting in the two often sparring with words instead of their weapons.
"Alright everyone! Switch partners!" Valkyr shouted from the center of the training grounds. Mainly directed towards the pair who hadn't even made a switch after some time. "If you want to get better you need to fight others as well. Make sure you find different partners from time to time." She looked at the two with raised eyebrows.
"You got lucky this time," Vallerie hissed at Meadhead.
"Sure, I did." Meadhead ignored her and saw Munnr waving at him.
"Finally, don't tell me the two of you are dating or something." Munnr laughed at his hot headed friend. "You two were at it for so long that I thought you were doing the after wedding ritual."
"You're disgusting," Meadhead looked at his buddy speechless, "I'd rather do it with an ox than with her." He raised his sword and buckler motioning for his friend to begin the spar.
"I will say, you have improved a lot." Munnr praised as the two met their weapons to begin. "It makes me happy that you finally decided to take things seriously."
"I had been taking things seriously," Meadhead grunted, "I'm still the same."
"You've changed," Munnr looked at his friend up and down, "And for the better, you're not as hot headed as you were before too. That's a plus."
"It's not my fault I was born hot headed." Meadhead swung his buckler at his friend's arm, attempting to disarm him.
Meadhead was much more active when fighting Munnr, compared to Vallerie who was agile and dodged most of his attacks. Munnr was a lumbering giant, whose agility and flexibility were not his greatest strengths. The best plan of attack was trying to hit him on his weaker spots and whittle him down slowly. Munnr lunged the tip of his sword towards Meadhead, who in turn swiped it to the side with his buckler. This opened Munnr to an attack, which Meadhead took advantage of. Seeing that he was about to get struck, Munnr took a step forward whilst angling his sword upwards diagonally. He had managed to block Meadhead's strike, after this exchange the two backed out.
"Very nice." Munnr said, "Although I could've ended it there if I wanted to."
"Sure you could've," Meadhead rolled his eyes at him.
"Haha, good to know there's still some of the old Mead alive," Munnr switched his grip to one-handed, charging directly to Meadhead he swung a strong strike in the middle. Meadhead tried to take the strike head on, unfortunately he had overestimated his own strength. He had blocked the strike successfully, but the recoil of the hit was too strong, causing him to lose his balance. This gave Munnr enough time to grab his other hand that held the sword and lock him into a chokehold. Forcing Meadhead to tap out of the fight.
"If you had just stepped out of the way further, the fight might've been able to continue." Munnr chuckled, "You're still too eager."
"I'm not a monster like you!" Meadhead took a heavy breath, his life was very close from being choked away.
"I'll take that as a praise." Munnr helped his friend up. "Are you sure you don't wanna train with me after classes?" He asked.
"I don't need to train with you to get stronger," Meadhead denied, "I can do it on my own."
"Sheesh, am I your friend or a stranger?" Munnr sighed, "I won't force you, but you know where to find me. How about another round?"
The two boys continued with their sparring for some time, Meadhead was getting better at dealing with the much large Munnr. He had developed a strategy of staying close to Munnr's weapon every parry he did. That way he had a chance to deliver a quick stab or slash at him before he could recover. He was able to occasionally go for the throat ending the bout quickly. Valkyr had eventually ended the class early, due to the fact that she had other things to attend to in preparation of the defenses. This was also the reason as to why Mal was disappearing more often.
Wanting to train some more, Meadhead headed home to gather his camping gear. He decided to go to his secret spot again today to do some training. Usually he would be out with the other kids competing and training, but after his talk with Mal he had grown a little more distant and reclusive. In his mind it was a necessary part, as he must improve himself without the want of others seeing him. Just as he was about to head out of the gates, he heard a voice call out to him.
"Well, well, if it isn't the blockhead," It was Vallerie. Turning around he also saw that she was with Asdis, which made sense as the two twins were usually seen together. Vallerie had a quiver and a bow this time around, with a dagger hanging by her waist. Asids on the other hand had a short spear with her. "I wonder if you're going to meet up with your secret trainer?"
"Why does that matter to you? Can't you just go and do whatever you were doing and leave me be?" Meadhead was defensive, "I don't have to tell you whether I'm training with someone or not." He couldn't understand why she was always on his business wherever he went. This was another reason why he grew fond of training in his secret spot the past weeks.
Another side of him also didn't really want her to see that he was getting special treatment. Knowing that if she did, she would ask Mal to help her train as well, increasing the gap between them even more. The last thing he wanted was an even annoying Vallerie.
"We were just curious is all." Asdis cut in seeing that the two were gonna start fighting again. "You don't have to tell us if you want."
"Your other half has better senses than you." Meadhead was grateful to Asdis. "I guess you got all the bad qualities." He wasn't able to resist not insulting Vallerie. An action that he probably shouldn't have done at the moment. Before he knew it Vallerie had already knocked him down into the ground and had him in a lock.
"Well, too bad. The only way you're getting out of this is if you show us where you've been going all this time." Vallerie threatened. "I can do this all day."
"Don't you have anything better to do?" Meadhead struggled. "Shouldn't you be hanging out with that boyfriend of yours?"
"Asshole!" Vallerie twisted his arm harder.
"Okay, Okay!" Meadhead finally gave up, if he didn't struggle from learning on breaking holds he could've likely broken free. Unfortunately he wasn't able to wrap his head around the technique, and Vallerie was flexible enough to make the position even more awkward.
"Good, was that so hard?" She finally let him go, "Lead the way."
Asdis merely watched this whole situation without interfering. Mostly because she was also curious who Meadhead was secretly training with to get this good. There was also a second reason, but that's a matter between her sister and Meadhead.
"This way," Meadhead rubbed his shoulders to ease the stretch pain, before begrudgingly leading them into the forest. As they walked for some time the trio had finally arrived at Meadhead's Camp.
"Colour me surprised rock for brains," Vallerie looked at the place with admiration, "You of all people managed to build a small base like this without it burning to the ground."
"It's very impressive Meadhead," Asdis seconded her sister's opinion. "I assume this is where you've been training all this time?"
"Yup, now can you guys leave me alone to train." Meadhead grumbled.
"Leave you alone? Tough luck, once we finish our hunt today we'll be coming back." Vallerie walked around and investigated a little bit more of the camp.
"Sister, we have to go. Otherwise we might come back empty handed. Didn't you want sister Valkyr to cook for us tonight?" Asdis reminded.
"You heard her," Meadhead made a shoo-ing gesture.
"Don't think you're safe," Vallerie warned, before going further into the forest area.
"Don't worry, we won't be telling anyone about your secret spot." Asids assured before following her sister.
Meadhead watched the two finally leave and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't mind company that's for sure, but he found that he was able to focus much more easily when he was alone. Although the biggest reason was that Vallerie wasn't around to torment him during this time. Realizing that she now had that ability again he began to feel slightly frustrated. Realizing his temper getting to him, he decided to start training by doing some of the breathing methods Mal had taught him.
—
"Is it really necessary to act like that towards him all the time?" Asdis looked at her sister who was kicking a rock around. "I swear you're the cause of his short temper."
"Well, that troll face deserves it!" Vallerie angrily said, "It's all his fault."
"You still haven't forgiven him after all these years. You two used to be so close," Asdis sighed at Vallerie's childish behavior. "I get it, we're vikings. Stubbornness is in our blood, but there's got to be a limit to these things."
"Are you becoming my mom now?" Vallerie looked at her other half in annoyance, "Let's not talk about this and focus on the hunt. I don't want to spoil the mood anymore." Their original goal today was to hunt a boar. Recently their cousin had learned a recipe that made boar meat taste very good. The only issue was that their cousin and Mal had been busy with village work, so no one was willing to hunt a boar at the moment. Craving the dish, the two sisters decided to finally hunt one themselves. Yesterday, they had discovered boar tracks close by. They had hoped that they might run into the boar today since it couldn't have gotten far without crossing one of the newly built gates.
After a few hours of tracking, the two sisters finally found a fresh track. The boar had rubbed its scent all over the area and it was clearly still fresh. The two followed tracks and torn down foliage. As the two tracked silently, they were lead to a small clearing where the boar was happily wallowing in some mud.
"Nice going," Asdis said, "That's a big one. Do you think your arrows would be able to puncture it?"
"I'm not sure, I brought some special arrows at the blacksmiths today just for this. Gobber said that it would be able to pierce any skin an animal has, save for dragons." Vallerie took out a specially shaped arrow made for piercing. "I just have to hit a vital point."
"Okay, I'll leave this to you then." Asdis nodded.
Vallerie stealthily moved forwards trying to get as close to the boar as possible for an easier shot. As soon as she got close enough she loaded her arrow and pulled the bow back. The boar was way too busy enjoying the mud bath that he hadn't realized that his life was in danger.
Fwoosh~
The arrow flew quickly straight into the boar's lower body, hitting its organs. Feeling the stick piercing its body the boar quickly got up and squealed while running away, leaving a spurt of blood.
"Yeah!" Vallerie celebrated the successful shot as Asdis ran to follow up on the board. The sisters followed the trail and the loud squeals before it ended just a few steps ahead. As the two arrived at the boar's dead body they were suddenly met with unknown company.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" A raspy voice came out from the trees, a group of men had come out of the bushes surrounding the two sisters. "Looks like we got ourselves a good catch today boys."