Hi guys! This story is dedicated to my dear friend Abby, who I love with all my heart, who is awesome and amazing and sweet. So Abby, this one is for you girl!
For new readers, a very important thing. Hiccup and Wrenlou are friends, and nothing else. No gay action or anything, friends. Actually they're brothers. If you want more stories, or want to know how they met, read Return of the Dragon Rider, it's sequel, (in progress) Fall of the Dragon Rider, and The Adventurous Adventures of Hiccup and Wrenlou. All can be found on my profile.
For my old and trusted crowd, just one thing left to say.
Enjoy!
Arrows
"Come on come on come on!" Wrenlou shouted, looking back at Hiccup as they sped away from the trapper's ship, dodging arrows and nets.
"I'm coming!" Hiccup yelled back, fumbling with the prosthetic tailfin.
He finally got it into the right position and shot up into the sky. Just as they thought they were in the clear, Snowflake screeched and her wins faltered. She was stumbling in the sky, falling fast, and it wasn't long before Wrenlou found the cause of her sudden behavior.
"Dragon root arrow!" he yelled angrily, staring at the arrow in the base of her tail, "dammit!"
"We got you!" Hiccup shouted at him, Toothless swooping in and taking the female Night Fury in his paws.
Wrenlou breathed a sigh of relief, gently stroking her neck as she looked at him blearily, her eyes dazed and unfocused.
"It'll be alright..." he whispered, looking back at the burning ship.
They kept on flying, low above the water, the night falling around them, the stars their only light. After what felt like an eternity they found a small island, only a few miles across, but they landed on the beach. Snowflake slumped from the effects of the Dragon Root, and Toothless collapsed from exhaustion, groaning as he plopped onto the soft sand.
"That was too close," Wrenlou mumbled, eyeing the arrow in Snowflake's soft flesh.
Hiccup just nodded, slipping in the sand against Toothless' side. "Will she be okay?"
"She should be. Now... where did I put that stuff..."
Wrenlou grumbled as he searched through his saddle bag, pulling out the bandages and a small jar with green paste.
"This will hurt a little bit," he said, rubbing Snowflake's nose soothingly, "but I'll try to be as gentle as possible okay?"
The dragon warbled shakily, still under the influence of a heavy dose of the hated Dragon Root, and Wrenlou pulled his knife from his belt. He aimed it to cut the arrow out, then groaned as he realised he didn't have enough light to do so properly. He looked around, searching for some driftwood and branches and found a few, quickly making a fire. Once he was done he glanced over at Hiccup, but his friend seemed fast asleep against Toothless side.
"Okay... here we go..." he mumbled.
He aimed the knife, and after plucking a broken scale away, he slipped the tip of the knife next to the arrow head to dig it out. Snowflake wailed a little, but was too dazed to really react, and he could easily remove the arrow. The wound bled a little bit, but not shockingly, and he could easily stop the bleeding.
"We've been lucky," he said, applying the green paste to the relatively small cut, "there's not many major blood vessels here, just muscles."
Snowflake crooned a little, and he rubbed her nose, bandaging the wound.
"Just rest okay girl? It'll wear off and you'll be fine in the morning."
The Night Fury didn't answer that, she had closed her eyes and relaxed on the sand, sprawled out on the beach unable to move. Wrenlou sighed, folding her wings to her side and sitting down next to her, looking up at the stars. It wasn't long before he fell asleep next to her.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Morning came with a chill, and when he opened his eyes the sky was grey, and fog was rolling in. he groaned and stretched his arms, looking at Snowflake. The dragon was looking back at him, her eyes clear and bright. He smiled and rubbed her nose.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked, and she answered with a purr and a lick, "you gave me quite a scare there."
She licked him again and he pushed her away, laughing. Then he stood up and stretched again, looking around. He spotted Hiccup, curled up at Toothless side and sighed.
"Hiccup, come on, we have to get going," he said, walking towards his friend, "come on... wakey wakey..."
Hiccup groaned, opening his eyes a little. Wrenlou almost recoiled when he saw Hiccup's bloodshot eyes, and placed a hand on his forehead.
"Bloody hell..." he mumbled, "where did you get a fever from...? Hiccup? This is important. No... no sleeping, listen to me. Does anything hurt?"
"M... leg..." Hiccup mumbled, pressing his head against Toothless' side, "head..."
"Which leg," Wrenlou asked, shaking him a little when he threatened to fall asleep again, "Hiccup, which leg."
"Left..." Hiccup mumbled, swatting at Wrenlou's hands, "lemme sleep..."
Wrenlou didn't listen and pulled Toothless wing away from his rider, gasping when he saw his leg and the source of the pain.
"Hiccup, there's a damn arrow in your leg! Why didn't you say something dammit!"
Hiccup looked at him a little. "Busy... with Snow..." he mumbled, dropping his head on the sand, "d...didn't want to be a bother..."
"Dammit Hiccup, you know you're never a bother," Wrenlou grumbled, cursing under his breath, "alright, just let me see..."
"You're... the healer..." Hiccup mumbled.
"Which is exactly why you should have told me about this yesterday!" Wrenlou said, "this is a Dragon Root arrow, we have no idea what Dragon Root does to humans! Why do you think you have a fever!"
"Dunno..." Hiccup mumbled tiredly, "sleep... now...?"
"Don't you dare," Wrenlou said, "no falling asleep you hear me? I want you to keep talking to me, yu understand?"
"Y...you mad...?" Hiccup asked.
"A little," Wrenlou admitted, "this arrow is deep..."
He frowned as he studied the arrow. It had entered Hiccup's leg from behind, in a strange, downward angle which seemed almost impossible since they were flying away. It had entered his leg just above the prosthetic, but the way and the depth it had penetrated his flesh suggested that it had come out on the other side.
"I have to get the prosthetic off," he said, glancing at Hiccup.
"M'kay..." Hiccup said, his eyes closed.
"Stay awake okay?" Wrenlou said, undoing the straps that held the prosthetic in place, "no sleeping."
"M'kay..." Hiccup mumbled again, and Wrenlou sighed.
As soon as the prosthetic came off, he could see that he had been right. The arrow had come all the way through Hiccup's leg and would have gone straight through, if it hadn't been stopped by the prosthetic. He sighed, looking at the clear green arrow head and bright red shaft.
"The easiest way to get it out is push it through," he said, "and it will hurt."
"Yay..." Hiccup said, and Toothless crooned a little, licking his rider's hair.
Wrenlou eyed the arrow, wondering if he could break it in two. He looked around for the other one, the one Snowflake had been shot with, and found it next to the remains of the fire. He quickly grabbed it and tried to break it, only to nearly break his thumbs. He tried again, and again, but failed each time, the arrow being too strong.
"Well that's a problem..." he mumbled, and he stared at the arrow in Hiccup's leg.
It was almost taunting him. The arrowhead only slightly visible, but too far out to pull it out. The feathers on the other end were practically laughing at him, preventing him from just pushing it through in one piece.
"Hiccup? Hiccup listen to me... I have to cut it in two, I can't break it..."
"M'kay..." Hiccup mumbled.
"It will hurt..." Wrenlou said, staring at his knife.
Hiccup shuddered, but nodded. "Can't stay there... can it...?"
"No it can't..." Wrenlou said, gathering his supplied and placing them where he could find them quickly, "here... bite on that."
Hiccup nodded and bit down on the small wooded bar, laying his head on the sand and closing his eyes. Toothless crooned again and placed a paw over Hiccup's chest, laying his large head next to Hiccup's.
"Thanks Toothless," Wrenlou said, "now, are you ready Hiccup?"
Hiccup nodded and Wrenlou took hold of the arrow. He glanced at Hiccup one last time, then started to cut through the arrow. The wood it had been made of was tough as nails, unwilling to yield, and while he was shaving away splinter after splinter in an effort to cot it in two, Hiccup was squirming and groaning in pain.
It took far longer then he liked, and by the time he was done Hiccup had passed out, a pool of blood slowly soaking into the sand. Wrenlou breathed a sigh of relief when he was finally able to pull the arrow out and stitch the wounds, apply the green paste and bandage them.
He sat back with a sigh, Toothless curling around his rider after Wrenlou wrapped a blanket around him. He covered the blood with more sand and tossed the broken arrow on the pile for the fire, wondering if it would even burn. He glanced at Hiccup, seemingly fast asleep.
"It better not be infected," he mumbled, "this island is cold..."
Snowflake nudged his shoulder and when he looked at her, she licked his face. He yelped and pushed her away, but he was laughing.
"Yeah I know, it'll work out..." he said, washing the saliva from his face, "but we'll be stuck here until that wound heals. He can't fly Toothless without that prosthetic."
Toothless whimpered and looked down. Wrenlou sighed and rubbed the dragon's nose.
"It's not your fault buddy," he said softly, "we can always switch okay? We won't be stuck here forever I'll make sure of that. And Hiccup won't lose anymore of his leg, I promise."
The answer seemed to satisfy the black dragon, as he curled up with his head on Hiccup's chest, keeping a watchful eye on his sleeping rider. Wrenlou watched them for a bit, then decided to build another fire as it continued to get colder, the fog now surrounding them. The island was in no way one of the warm, forested islands of the Night Fury archipelago, but it was rocky and hard and cold. They had set down on the only sandy beach the island had, and it was small, barely big enough to accommodate two dragons and their riders.
"Alright," he said, rubbing his hands together and pulling the blanket out of his saddlebag, "fire..."
After tucking the second blanket around Hiccup as well he walked around, gathering more driftwood and branches from the few small, twisted trees. The fire was quickly build, the Dragon Root arrows burning with a bright green flame before all the poison was burned away and all that remained was wood that burned normally with the rest. He checked on Snowflake's wound, satisfied to see that it had already closed. It would turn into a small, scaleless scar, and it would be quite some time before a new scale would grow.
After checking on Hiccup, finding him still asleep, he sat back, staring into the fire while he ate a little, feeding the dragons as well. It was a few hours later when he heard a groan, and knew that Hiccup was waking up. He walked over, kneeling next to him.
"Hey... no, don't get up, stay down... how are you feeling?"
Hiccup blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes. "What happened...?"
"You got an arrow in your leg, remember that?" Wrenlou said, "yesterday? Trappers?"
"Oh... yeah..." Hiccup groaned, shifting a little, "it hurts..."
"I know," Wrenlou said, "so stay down, okay? You need rest."
"M'kay," Hiccup said, nestling against Toothless.
"We can stay here another night," Wrenlou said, sitting next to him, "but we'll have to leave tomorrow. You can fly Snow, I'll fly Toothless."
"M'kay..." Hiccup mumbled, "fly... Toothless... Tooth...l...less..."
The dragon crooned in question, but Hiccup was already asleep again. Wrenlou watching him worriedly, brushing some hair of his forehead to feel his temperature.
"Still got a fever..." he mumbled, and cursed softly, "why don't I have the proper supplies! Damn... we have to go tomorrow, back to Dragoncity where he can receive the proper care, we don't want him to die of infection do we?"
Both dragon crooned and he smiled a little, leaning against Snowflake. It wasn't long before he fell asleep.
0-0-0-0-0
The next morning came with bright sunshine and clear blue skies, and he woke up sweaty.
"Damn this island has weird weather..." he mumbled, stretching before going over to Hiccup.
He was still asleep, his face pale and his hair damp, and when Wrenlou checked the arrow wound, he found it red and swollen, the first signs of an infection setting in. He groaned and shook him lightly, trying to wake him up.
"Come on Hiccup... wake up..."
Hiccup mumbled something and his eyes fluttered open. He looked up at Wrenlou confused, seemingly unaware of what was going on.
"Wha...?" he asked, his voice scratchy.
"How are you feeling?" Wrenlou asked.
"Been better..." Hiccup mumbled, pulling the blankets tighter, "headache..."
"You're getting sick," Wrenlou said while he got up and started gathering their stuff, "we have to get you home asap. Do you think you can fly?"
Hiccup sat up a little, shivering even with the blankets and looked at Toothless, then at the prosthetic laying next to him.
"N...not with out that..."
"You'll be flying with Snow," Wrenlou said, packing the prosthetic away, "can you do that?"
Hiccup looked at the dragoness. "Y...yeah... I think so..."
"Good. Here, eat something."
Hiccup took the small piece of bread Wrenlou offered him and nibbled on it a little, watching how his friend packed the bedrolls and hung the saddle bags on the saddle again. After he had done that he watched how Hiccup ate, waiting until he had finished the bread.
"Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be..." Hiccup said, letting the blankets slide from his shoulders, allowing Wrenlou to put them away as well.
"Alright, come on, I'll help you," Wrenlou said and he offered his hand.
Hiccup took it, balancing on his one foot while Snowflake came over, lowering herself so he could get on. With Wrenlou's help he was able to get into the saddle and Snowflake stood up, waiting for Wrenlou to get on Toothless. After he had done so he looked over at Hiccup.
"You good?"
Hiccup nodded.
"You tell me when something is wrong this time?"
Hiccup nodded again.
"Good. Alright, lets go. Be careful with him, okay girl?"
Snowflake crooned and spread her wings, jumping into the sky. Toothless followed quickly, leaving Wrenlou scrambling to get the tailfin in the right position. The sky was clear, the sea below was calm, and there was a gentle breeze. They flew low, relatively close to the water. Snowflake didn't seem too bothered by the wound near her tail, and Wrenlou was happy about that.
They had been flying for a few hours, Wrenlou continuously casting worried glances at Hiccup, but he seemed to be holding out fine, his hands clenched around the saddle. He was pale, almost white, and he had his eyes fixed on Snowflake's neck.
"Hiccup...?" he called hesitantly, "are you alright?"
Hiccup didn't answer, so Wrenlou steered Toothless closer, asking the question again. This time Hiccup nodded slowly. Wrenlou wasn't completely convinced and stayed close. About an hour later his suspicion that Hiccup wasn't alright proved to be true, when he saw how Hiccup was slumping, slipping out of the saddle. Snowflake whined, unable to stop it, and before anyone could react, Hiccup slipped out of the saddle and fell towards the ocean. Toothless shrieked and instantly dove after his rider, Snowflake hot on his tail.
They caught Hiccup so close to the water that his hair dipped into the waves. Toothless held onto him for dear life, and Wrenlou groaned, trying to figure out what to do. He looked around, spotting a small rock that sat just above the waves and pointed to it.
"let's go there for a moment," he said, "I need to rearrange some things."
Toothless didn't let go of Hiccup when they landed on the rock that was so small they didn't fit on it.
So while she was hovering in the air, Wrenlou transferred all the camping gear and saddle bags to Snowflake. After he had done that he pulled Hiccup onto Toothless' back and sat behind him, wrapping his arms around him to keep him from falling a second time.
"It's a good thing we're not too far from home," he said, "come on, lets go."
The dragons quickly took to the sky again, and it was only a few hours later that the familiar green island came into view. Wrenlou let out a long sigh, relieved to be home and able to take proper care of Hiccup's wound. Snowflake landed first, catching a few strange looks when she came home without her rider, but when Toothless landed with both boys on his back, a few of them came over, asking of they were alright and helping him get Hiccup, who was still unconscious, into the hospital.
Not long after Hiccup was in a room, the wound cleaned and bandaged, a few medicines to lower his fever and fight the pain in his system. Toothless was curled up in a corner, watching his rider with watchful eyes. Wrenlou was next to the bed, waiting for his friend to wake up. He was dozing off when he heard a groan, and then Hiccup's voice.
"W...what happened... where am I...?"
"Home," Wrenlou said with a smile, "we're home."
Hiccup relaxed, resting his head on the pillow again. "Home is good..."
"Yes," Wrenlou said, "and you've been very lucky. Your fever is gone already, and we were able to stop the infection before it really started. Really Hiccup, next time you don't tell me you got shot or hurt in any way, I will strangle you, okay?"
Hiccup smiled a little and nodded. "Okay."
