Chapter 1

Dark clouds rolled across the sky, hiding any stars from sight, and the wind slapped a large ship that was sailing by. Nearby a few dolphins were splashing around in the water.

Suddenly the dolphins stopped when they heard human voices begin to sing:

I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue

And it's hey to the starboard, heave-ho

Look out, lad, a mermaid be waiting for you

In mysterious fathoms below

Fathoms below, below

From whence wayward westerlies blow

Where Stoic is king and his Merpeople sing

In mysterious fathoms below

Heave-ho, heave-ho

Heave-ho, heave-ho, heave-ho

In mysterious fathoms below…

The beautiful sea creatures dove below the waves in fear. They knew what would happen if they stayed too close to the humans.

Onboard the fishing boat stood a beautiful young woman with long blond hair twisted into a braid. She had sparkling blue eyes and a bright, white, smile. She stood tall and erect, never stumbling as the boat tilted this way and that. Behind her stood a baby Deadly Nadder, it's wings tucked back neatly.

This was Astrid Hofferson, the princess, soon to be queen, of the Island of Berk, and her pet dragon Arrow.

"Oh isn't this great Ruff? The salt in the air, the wind against your face!"

The princess turned to another blond girl, who was standing next to a boy the same height as her, these were the twins: Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston. They were Astrid's right hand men, and woman, and her closest friends. The twins were hanging over the side of the boat, their faces an equal color of green.

"Delightful Astrid." Ruff said sarcastically before clutching the rail once more.

A crewman laughed heartily as he walked over to the captain, who was none other than Astrid herself.

"A nice wind, an' a beau'iful sea! King Stoic mus' be inna good mood!"

Astrid blinked in confusion at her shipmate, "King Stoic? Who's that?"

The crewmember laughed, "you don' know who king Stoic is? Oh capn' such a story you're missin'! He's the king of the merfolk, and the seas o' course."

Tuffnut rolled his eyes, "mermaids? Really? Come on Astrid don't believe him, he's probably drunk of something!"

The man waved a fish he had hauled out of the water in front of the male twin, "It's true! King Stoic is real! I'm tellin' ya!"

Rolling her eyes Astrid turned around and began playing with Arrow.

While Tuffnut and the crewmember, who the twin later found out was named Fishleggs, argued the fish somehow managed to break free of the Fishlegs grip, jumped up, and slapped Tuffnut in the face before diving into the ocean.

The small fish swam as quickly as he could, once the ship was out of sight he breathed a sigh of relief before continuing to swim towards the ocean floor.

He didn't want to be late.

The tiny fish swam until a golden hue hit his face. He smiled happily before swimming towards the glow. Soon a beautiful golden palace came into view. It has many golden archways with expertly crafted carvings of fish and mermaids.

That's right… Mermaids.

The small fish swam inside the palace and came to a stop near a group of his friends.

It was King Stoic's birthday, and the Merpeople who lived in the kingdom of Atlantica had gathered in the center of the palace, where a giant stage had been set up with three clamshells set in the center.

There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of Merpeople swimming around, but they settled into their seats when an orange seahorse swam in front of all of them. A hush fell over the crowd as the seahorse cleared his throat.

"Thank you for coming to celebrate our blessed kings birthday! Now without further ado, I present to you: King Stoic!"

Cheers rose up as a large man, in a carriage, was pulled into the room by three dolphins. The crowd loved their king, he was kind and fair and he loved his people. King Stoic was a big-bellied man with red hair and a long beard. His ebony tail swished side to side as he exited his carriage, waved to his people, and swam to his throne, where he could watch the performance.

Clutched in his hand was his trusty hammer, some say it was a gift from Thor, since it has the powers of lightning and many others, but Stoic never said a word about it.

"And now!" The seahorse continued once the king was seated, "I present the royal court composer… Snotlout!"

Another carriage, this one an empty shell, pulled by two small goldfish, was pulled into the room carrying a small red crap. The goldfish pulled down the carriage and Snotlout exited the shell, pulling out a sheet of music and a conductor's baton. He laid down the sheet music and stared at the small band in front of him. There was an octopus on the drums, three fish playing clams that were made to sound like violins, a purple fish playing a piece of coral shaped to look like a saxophone, and three yellow fish holding coral that looked like little trumpets.

Snotlout straightened his back and tapped the baton so that he had everyone's attention. The crowd was silent. He lifted himself into the air and as soon as he moved his cherry red claw the music began and a spotlight was trained on the three clamshells on the stage.

One by one the shells opened and inside of them sat two girls. So there were six all together. These were one of the luckiest mermaids alive; they were the princess's of Atlantica, and the daughters of King Stoic.

They opened their mouths and out poured lovely voices that blended together perfectly.

Oh we are the children of Stoic!

Great father who loves us and named us well!

Stoic smiled as he watched his eldest daughter swim out of her shell.

Borghilder!

The mermaid opened her mouth and began to vocalize. She had long red hair that was hidden away under a dark blue hat that when she tilted her head in a certain direction, opened up and became a lovely ocean flower. Her tail was a midnight blue and sparkled if the light hit it just right.

Brynja!

The next mermaid was a girl with dark ebony hair and an equally colored tail. Instead of a headpiece like her sister she held two dark green fans in her hands that hid her from view until she removed them, revealing her beautiful face. Just like her sister she vocalized, her voice was slightly deeper than her sisters, but no less beautiful.

Kelda!

The third daughter had dark black hair tied into a short ponytail. She tilted her hair and the small red cap on her head burst open, revealing a shrimp shaped hat that stood out against her raven hair. Just like her two other sisters she vocalized as well. Stunning the crowd in front of her.

Kenna!

Kenna had a light green tail with black scales here and there. She had what looked like a jellyfish hat on her head that made her look adorable. Her voice was very different from her sisters, still beautiful, but slight nasally.

Nanna!

The fifth mermaid swam up behind her other sisters and immediately jumped into her vocalization. She had short red hair, a crown made out of ivory colored pearls, and a pale blue tail.

Nessa!

The final girl swam up and vocalized as well. She had long red hair tied into a ponytail that she wore high on her head; her bangs fell on either side of her face, framing her pretty eyes.

The six sisters gathered around each other as another clamshell emerged from the ground, they swam towards it and began to circle around the shell. King Stoic leaned forward in his seat, excited, since he knew who was in the shell.

And then there is the youngest in his musical debut!

Our only little brother we're presenting him to you!

To sing a song that Snotlout wrote, his voice is like a bell!

He's our brother Hic-GASP!

The six sisters gasped in shock when the saw their brother's clam was empty. The mermaids began frantically swimming around, calling out for their brother.

Snotlout's claws flew to his head in shock. Why now? The boy always forgot to attend practice, but was he so empty headed that he had forgotten the actual performance?

The king growled deep in his throat and his hammer began to glow a blinding blue. His pale gray eyes glowed with rage and he slammed his hammer down in front of him, smashing part of his throne.

"HICCUP!"

I made Hiccup a mermaid! Yay!