The hours passed, and Hiccup could feel himself losing focus by the minute. It was when he nearly fell asleep that Toothless started drifting down to land. They ended up on a small cliff where Toothless helped Hiccup gather wood to burn, and started a small fire. Hiccup found his clothes in the basket and put them on, curling up next to Toothless, his back stinging like crazy.
They were both hungry, but Hiccup knew they had to ration out the food until they were both strong enough to fish, so their dinner was scanty. Storm clouds blew in as dusk arrived, and Hiccup sighed when it began to snow. They had no shelter, and Hiccup was very weak as the temperature plunged. Toothless wrapped Hiccup's small body in his wings, making small, smoldering patches in the ground for warmth. Hiccup was grateful for Toothless's protection, but even the dragon had trouble holding up against the howling winds, and pounding hail.
By morning, Toothless was nearly out of fire, and Hiccup was unconscious.
Not far from them, a figure clad in strange armor rode on the back of a four-winged dragon. They had heard the forlorn cries of a dragon that night, and figured the poor creature must have gotten caught in the storm, but they were unable to search until the gale blew over. Now they searched, hoping to rescue and gain a new friend. The last thing they expected was to find a frost-covered nightfury curled up in the snow, wearing a saddle.
They landed on the other edge of the overhang, waking Toothless and putting him on the alert. He bared his teeth, and growled at the newcomers, moving his body closer around Hiccup, to hide him and keep him protected. The four-winged dragon backed off, but the rider dismounted. Toothless only growled more fiercely.
"It's okay." Said the rider, taking off her helmet. "I'm here to help you." She held her hand out, and crouched, moving toward Toothless slowly. She gasped when she saw his shoulder. "You poor thing. Who did this to you?"
Toothless folded his ears back and looked at the rider with sad eyes as she approached.
"You must be so scared." She said softly, her hand just inches away from his nose. "I can help you."
Toothless let her touch his nose, but his body was still wrapped protectively around Hiccup.
The rider noticed. "What's that you have there? Don't worry, I won't take it from you."
Toothless warbled sadly, and revealed Hiccup's limp body, ready to protect him if the rider proved hostile.
The rider only looked the boy over. "Is this your rider?"
Toothless warbled.
"The poor boy must be freezing. He's lucky he had you to protect him. . .I can care for him, feed you both, and give you shelter if you'll come with me." She went to pick Hiccup up, and Toothless let her. He deemed her trustworthy as she gently scooped Hiccup into her arms. She paused, taking a moment to examine his face again before looking down at Toothless.
With his tail exposed, she realized that the saddle had more of a purpose than comfort. She examined the apparatus connected to his prosthetic tail fin before giving Hiccup to her dragon to carry. "Take good care of him, Cloud Jumper." She said. "I'll fly the nightfury. It looks like he can't do it on his own." She mounted Toothless, and Cloud Jumper cradled Hiccup in his talons. On the rider's word, they took off, and left the cliff behind them.
0o0o0o0o0
The village was oddly quiet when Astrid woke up. She'd spent much of the night worrying about Hiccup and his dragon, but everything seemed calm. Business was going as usual. The only difference was that Hiccup was nowhere to be found.
"Hey, Astrid." Said Snotlout, catching up to her. "You look beautifully furious today."
"Where's Hiccup?" Asked Astrid, a million possibilities running through her mind of what could have become of him.
"Didn't anyone tell you? The chief exiled him last night. He left with his dragon before sunrise. Why do you even care about that dragon-loving loser anyway? He was such a weakling, not to mention a cheater and a liar."
"Just curious." Said Astrid, not wanting to let on that she knew Hiccup was right. She had considered telling the village about the dragon nest, but not after this.
"He went right into a blizzard too." Said Tuffnut.
"Yeah, he's probably dead by now." Said Ruffnut casually.
Astrid flinched at the thought of Hiccup freezing to death.
"Dead or not, with him gone, I'm next in line to be chief." Declared Snotlout. "Not that I ever thought he'd get chosen anyway."
Ruffnut and Tuffnut laughed, and the teens walked away, except Fishlegs, who lingered behind with Astrid.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
Astrid nodded, her face blank. "Yeah. I'm fine."
0o0o0o0o0
"Stoick!" Called Gobber, walking after the chief.
"What is it, Gobber?" Asked Stoick seriously.
"Oh, just wondering how you're doing. Exiling your own son is nasty business. I certainly didn't enjoy carving that monstrous nightmare head into the boy's back. Must be such a disgrace. Not to mention he could be already dead. Poor Hiccup. Brought it on himself, didn't he?"
Stoick paused, tensing at he shoulders. "Don't mention that name to me again. He's not my son." he said curtly before walking away.
Gobber sighed. "What a shame. Looks like he misses his boy already."
0o0o0o0o0
Astrid snuck around the village. She had had to wait until nightfall to do this, and now it was her chance. She had to go after Hiccup. He could be dead by now, or dying and unable to get help. The least she could do was help him, but that entailed doing the unthinkable.
She snuck into the dragon arena, looking at the cages holding the dragons they fought with for training.
"Okay." She said, taking a deep breath. "Which one of you should I choose?"
