The mountain didn't have a name. It was simply a jagged peak that no one from Berk had ever been foolish enough to climb. A cold breeze had just started from the east, and, for the first time in as long as he could remember, it felt good on Hiccup's face.

Toothless came up to him and ran his tongue along Hiccup's face. He was whimpering. As far Hiccup could assume, they must of taken a bad fall. That would, at least, explain the splitting headache and the burning in his chest. The last thing he remembered was the war horns blaring, hopping on Toothless, and flying out to stop the fleet of ships attacking Berk.

He swallowed his saliva and tried to best to clear his throat. "..Hey, Bud-" He broke out into a fit of coughing. Toothless took a defensive stance, a look of worry flashed across his face. "I'm…" He took a few heavy breaths. "I'm fine… Toothless," He lied.

He never felt worse in his life. Everything hurt. He closed his eyes tight and tried to force himself to sit up. The pain went up his spine like a lightning bolt. He shivered, and he felt every muscle and bone in his body screech in pain. The pain was sharp, and he couldn't bring himself more than a few inches off the ground, otherwise his breathing went ragged. "AH!" Was the only word he could choke out before he let his head hit the dirt.

That made the pain shoot up his spine again, and he clenched his teeth, feeling like he was about to shatter them. He felt something in his chest. Hiccup craned his head to see what it was and released a weak sigh when he saw what it was.

One of the raiders' archers had managed a lucky shot. The arrow had penetrated his leather breastplate. It burrowed itself deep into his chest. There was only a small part of shaft sticking out of the leather. Besides that, the arrow had gotten him all the way to its fletchings. He tried to stand again, and he could feel the arrowhead's tip tearing the skin under his back. He winced in pain.

His eyes turned towards the grey sky. "Toothless… ah, where's Astrid?" Toothless gestured towards the sky with his chin, making that whimpering sound again. "Flying… Okay…" Breathing was painful. Hiccup needed to force himself to continue breathing, past the pain. Toothless started nuzzling up against him, which actually hurt more. He bit his lip and didn't let it show.

His friend was whimpering pitifully again. "Toothless, no.. No, you got me here… You did fine, just…" He made a mental note not to talk so much. "Toothless, Find Astrid. Bring here."

Toothless made a sound of disapproval and only moved closer.

"I'll be fine," He said calmly. "Fine."

Toothless' look of worry didn't leave, but he nodded and started crawling away, keeping his eyes on Hiccup. When he got to the edge of the cliff, Toothless stopped, looking back at his rider. Hiccup nodded to him and Toothless leaped off and took to the skies.

He moved his arm to his thigh and found his dagger. Between his heaviest breathes, where he could get the most strength, he started cutting open the side of his leather armor. He tore the dagger into the side and started slicing upwards, until he managed to get to his shoulder. He started unbuckling all the extra leather padding he wore, letting it fall off him.

Now, the hard part. He moved his hand to the arrow and gripped it by the fletchings. He started with a soft tug, and the scream he released was loud as a dragon's roar. He turned his head and grabbed his released shoulder pad in his teeth. He started pulling on the arrow harder. The screaming was blocked out by the biting down on the pad. He could feel the imprints his teeth were leaving in the boiled leather.

The arrow was partly out of his armor after an excruciating minute. He grabbed the arrow with both hand and broke the arrow at the fletchings, which only hurt more. Now, Hiccup grabbed the leather from the seam he'd cut and pulled the armor off his chest. It gave him a good view of the arrow and the wound, soaking his underclothes red.

Now, the harder part. He grabbed the arrow again, already biting on the leather, and started pulling the arrow slowly out of him. The arrow had gone through the dead center of his chest. It must have missed most of his vital points, otherwise he'd be in much worse shape. The arrow came out with mostly ease, until he got to the arrowhead itself, which was too stubborn to be released. He needed to be creative, and, painfully, used his dagger to slowly wrench the arrowhead free. Once it was out, he tiredly threw it off the cliff.

Breathing was still difficult, but he managed to sit up without all the pain from before. He shut his eyes, still taking slow, deep breathes. Finally, he lifted himself to his feet and started to, slowly, search through every pocket he had for the bandages he'd brought. He kept one hand over his wound at all times, pressing his shirt into the wound. It'd already mopped up too much blood.

Hiccup remembered that he had left them in his pack, which was attached to Toothless' saddle. He shook his head and wanted to punch himself. All he could do was wait for Toothless to return with Astrid before he could do anything. He noticed the little drops of blood spilling out of his shirt and onto the dirt and rocks.

He took a step back to sit down again, but felt the world shake beneath him. He felt light-headed, and everything was spinning around him. He still felt the pain, and losing the blood wasn't helping. Hiccup needed to sit, to steady himself. He was about to fall backwards, but he felt himself tip sideways and hit the ground. He felt like he was falling when he passed out.

Toothless landed, frantic. Astrid leaped off Stormfly and ran to the cliff. "Where is he?" She shouted at Toothless.

Toothless turned to her, frightened more than anything and let out a wail of confusion. Astrid moved in front of the night fury, only finding a collection of leather armor, broken bits of an arrow, and a trail of blood leading off the cliff.