Hi guys!
Sorry for making you all wait so long! :)
So, I'm not really as enthusiastic as I'd usually be, 'cause I was up all night with a migraine rated 9/10 on the "Pain Scale," and since I didn't get any sleep, I still have the migraine right now, though it's only 7/10 this time.
But that's why I'm not as enthusiastic. And I'm sure a lot of you guys are going to tell me to "Take it easy" and "Not post when I have a migraine" (and I don't mind it at all, really; actually, I've cried before when I realized just how much you guys cared about me), but I want to tell you guys that posting chapters/writing chapters is always my choice. Honestly, it's...it's like therapy. It's something that makes me happy. Reading all your reviews and hearing all your support makes me really, really happy.
So...you don't have to worry about me. I know my boundaries pretty well, and I promise I won't post a chapter if my health is suffering for it. I really love you guys, and it makes me so, so abundantly happy to hear how much you guys like what I write.
So...I dunno...enjoy the chapter? XD I don't know how often I'll upadte, but I'll do my best to make it snappy, 'kay? :) Thanks for all your support and your concern! I love you all so much! :)
Stoick was having a bad day. Or, moreover, a very long, boring, obnoxious day, filled with people's complaints and requests.
Un-Silent Sven - sometimes Stoick prayed to Thor that he would become Silent Sven again - was complaining all day that they didn't take good enough care of their sheeps. Another villager wanted their son to become one of the A-Team dragon riders (to which Stoick responded that he would have to take it up with Astrid beforehand). Someone else wanted extra rations of food for some reason - Stoick really didn't pay much attention.
It was at times like these he decided he needed a vacation, but of course, Chiefs couldn't take vacations.
He was on his way to the Great Hall that evening when Gobber approached him. "Aye, Stoick?" Gobber said. "There's something I need to-"
"What?" Stoick asked impatiently, whirling around to face the blacksmith. "What is it now, Gobber? Do you have complaints for me, too?"
Gobber swallowed hard, and when Stoick finally finished talking, it gave the Chief a moment to actually look at his friend's face. Gobber was grim, but there was also sorrow in his eyes, and he was holding a scroll; a Terrible Terror sat on his shoulder.
Now, all anger completely forgotten, Stoick was asking a different question.
"What's wrong, Gobber?"
Gobber paused, thinking about what he was going to say. "It's Hiccup, Stoick," he said, handing over the Terror mail.
Stoick ripped it out of his hands so quickly it was unbelievable, and he pulled it open, reading it to himself. When he reached the end of the message, he looked back up at Gobber, eyes wide.
"Get Gothi," he ordered. "We leave for Dragon's Edge this instant."
…
Hiccup laid on blankets Astrid and Toothless had set up on the main floor of his house. Astrid had decided it would be easier than trying to move Hiccup upstairs to his bed, or his bed downstairs to Hiccup.
Astrid knelt beside him, biting her lip with worry. Toothless sat opposite of her, also by Hiccup's side, watching on anxiously. Hiccup was pale, and he was still unconscious, his breathing wheezy and labored. Astrid had wrapped his arm again with gauze, this time from his wrist to his shoulder, and was holding his hand.
Astrid didn't know what to do. She wondered, briefly, if this was what Hiccup was feeling when she was struck with the Scourge of Odin what felt so long ago. She had told Hiccup not to worry then, but now, seeing Hiccup in a similar state, she knew that he'd had every right to worry.
Just as she had every right to worry (and definitely was worrying) now.
Hiccup suddenly grimaced, and then blinked his eyes open, staring up at Astrid and Toothless. They stared back at him, looking relieved.
"What…?" Hiccup murmured. "What happened?"
Toothless was on him in an instant, licking him and nuzzling him. Hiccup laughed, softly and hoarsely. "I'm okay, Toothless, I'm okay…" he said.
"Hey," Astrid said, squeezing his hand; he turned his head to look at her, his eyes glassy. "Are you okay?"
"I've...been better," Hiccup said tiredly, "but I think...I think I'm okay. What happened?"
Astrid bit her lip, and then decided she'd tell Hiccup later, when he was little more coherent - and when she could mentally prepare herself to explain the situation. "I'll tell you later, Hiccup," she said. "For now, just try to rest."
Hiccup nodded, and then returned to sleep - or maybe it was unconsciousness. Astrid didn't know.
Toothless nudged Hiccup's arm, and when he didn't respond, the dragon looked up at Astrid. He was obviously just as worried as she was. Astrid rested her hand on the dragon's head and smiled softly.
"Don't worry, Toothless, he'll be okay," she said.
Toothless didn't look completely convinced, and honestly, Astrid wasn't completely convinced, either, even though they were her own words. They were really just a hope. She hoped Hiccup would be okay.
At that moment, she heard commotion outside. She leapt to her feet and drew her axe from her back, holding it in front of her. Toothless stood over Hiccup protectively, barring his teeth and letting out a low, threatening growl.
"If they're hunters," Astrid said to Toothless through gritted teeth, glaring at the closed hatch leading inside, "I'm gonna kill them."
Toothless growled back at her, and Astrid was positive the dragon was agreeing.
The hatch shook. Someone was trying to open it. Astrid tightened her grip around her axe and shifted her feet into a fighting stance. Toothless sucked in a deep breath, ready for a battle.
The hatch opened…
...And in ran Stoick and Gobber, panting heavily, followed by their dragons Grump and Skullcrusher. Astrid froze, eyes widened in shock; Toothless shut his mouth, gulping back his plasma blast.
"Stoick!" Astrid said, lowering her axe, overwhelmed with relief. "You got my Terror mail! Did you bring Gothi?"
Just then, the village elder hobbled through the doorway, wordlessly answering Astrid's initial question.
"Where's Hiccup?" Stoick demanded, and Astrid and Toothless looked at each other, and then, in unison, stepped back to reveal Hiccup lying behind them.
Stoick's eyes filled with worry, and he moved over quickly, kneeling by his son's side. "Hiccup…" he whispered.
Gobber hobbled over as quickly as his one leg and prosthetic could carry him, and he gasped at the sight of his former apprentice looking so horrible. "Poor lad…" Gobber said quietly.
"What happened, Astrid?" Stoick questioned, the majority of his fear hidden behind his demand.
"We were attacked by Ryker a while ago," said Astrid slowly, "and one of his arrows grazed Hiccup…"
Gothi moved forward then, pulling herself along with her staff. She gave Stoick a push, and Stoick rose to his feet again reluctantly, letting the healer examine his son. Gothi settled her staff on the ground and began checking Hiccup over, from feeling his head to inspecting his bandages.
"Ryker did this?" Stoick asked Astrid.
Astrid nodded. Stoick looked at Hiccup, and then, his eyes filled with the fury of a thousand men.
"I'm going to kill him," said Stoick, already making for the door.
Gobber stopped him. "Hold it, Stoick," the blacksmith said. "There will be time for revenge later. Right now, we need to think about Hiccup."
Stoick looked ready to argue, but when he glanced back to his son, feverish and injured and bedridden, he didn't. In the choice between going after Ryker and staying with his only son, the choice was obvious.
There would be time for revenge in the future.
"Where was he grazed?" Stoick inquired, moving back towards Astrid.
"His arm," said Astrid. "But it's...it's bad."
"You said it was just a graze, lass," said Gobber.
"I know," said Astrid, "it was just a graze, but…"
Gothi carefully lifted Hiccup's arm and unwound the bandages. Stoick and Gobber gasped, eyes widening, and Astrid looked away. Toothless reeled backwards in disgust.
All along Hiccup's arm were black, long tendrils that looked almost like bolts of lightning, starting from the graze of the arrow and trailing all the way down to his wrist. Some of them moved upwards, closer to his shoulder.
Out of everyone present, the village healer was the only person who didn't display her shock. She kept on with her examination, silent and even more grave than before.
"...So, Gothi?" Astrid asked anxiously. "How is he?"
Gothi stood, grabbing her staff on the way up. She reached into her pouch and cast some sand on the wooden floor, then began writing her message. Gobber leaned over the runes.
"Poison," said Gobber.
"Poison!?" Stoick said, and his fury returned. He drew his axe and held it tightly, his eyes narrowed into a threatening, menacing glare that probably would have made even a Screaming Death back down. "Ryker poisoned my son!?"
"Is there a cure, Gothi?" Astrid asked. She had figured it was poison from the very beginning, but was hoping she'd been wrong (which she hadn't been, according to Gothi). "There has to be a cure."
Gothi scribbled in the dirt some more, and Gobber read over the runes, being more careful than ever as to not make a mistake in the translation.
"She says there is a cure," Gobber answered, "but it's not an easy one to come by. It's made with a combination of herbs from Healer's island, which are easy enough to obtain, but the hard part is finding saturated Erro root and the scale of the elusive and dangerous Shatterglass dragon."
"Shatterglass dragon?" said Astrid, watching Hiccup with utmost worry. "I've never heard of it, anywhere."
"I have," said Stoick. "It was thought to have gone extinct until Bork saw one a few hundred years ago. The last recorded sight of them was at an island so far off, it was said that one would have to fall off the edge of the world before reaching it."
"And Erro root," said Gobber, "only grows in one place." He watched Astrid, and then double-checked Gothi's notes. "Do you want to guess what that place is, Astrid?"
Astrid blanched. She didn't know for certain, but she could guess, and if her guess was correct…
"It's the dragon hunter base, isn't it?" she said.
Gobber nodded gravely. "Aye, it's the dragon hunter's home base."
"Well, we have to go!" Astrid said loudly (and maybe a bit frantically, too), making everyone (including the dragons) jump. "We have to find the cure!"
"She's right," said Stoick. "This is something we have to do."
"You'd need a lot of vikings to search for the Shatterglass," said Gobber, "and vikings to go to Healer's Island, and an entire fleet of 'em if you plan on getting in and out of the dragon hunter's base alive."
"I sent Snotlout to Healer's Island this morning for some yarrow and peppermint," said Astrid, and she raced across the room to grab charcoal and a notebook. "Give me the list of herbs and I'll send it to Snotlout before he leaves."
"Where're the rest of the riders?" Stoick asked. "It's going to take more than Snotlout to pull this off."
"Fishlegs and the twins are with the Defenders of the Wing returning the baby Eruptodon," said Astrid, tearing paper from the notebook and setting it on the table. The more she worked, the less she had to think about Hiccup, sick and in pain. "I'll ask them to see if Mala knows anything about the Shatterglass. I'm sure they'll know something."
"And what of the dragon hunters?" Gobber asked.
"We'll regroup and head there after everything else is done," said Astrid, writing down her Terror mails frantically. "We can even bring some of the Berkian armada if we have to."
"Agreed," said Stoick, nodding firmly. "We'll do this by any means necessary."
"How long do we have, Gobber?" Astrid questioned, jogging back over to the blacksmith's side.
Gobber looked towards Gothi, who scribbled down more in the dirt. Gobber read it over, and then looked back at Astrid, more worried than before.
"What?" said Astrid, her panic intensifying. "What is it, Gobber? How long?"
Gobber sighed heavily. This was definitely news he didn't want to break.
"Three days," said Gobber heavily. "We have three days to get the cure, or else..." His voice trailed off.
Astri didn't want to hear the rest of it, but she had to. She had a really, really bad feeling about this. "Or else what?"
"...Or else," said Gobber lowly, "Hiccup dies."