"Are you threatening him?" Hiccup demanded, arms crossed.
Mildew laughed. "Why would I need to threaten your pitiful little reptile? After all, it seems you never know when a threat actually has something to back it up." The last few words were muttered from between gritted teeth.
Before Hiccup could respond, Stoick approached the pair. "Mildew! Stop spouting your two cents worth and get over here! I've got a job for you!"
Mildew glanced angrily back at Hiccup, then began walking toward Stoick.
Hiccup threw himself down on the sand next to Toothless and Stoick lingered for a second, eyes raking over boy and dragon.
"Is Toothless..."
"He's fine," Hiccup replied, struggling to keep the anger out of his voice. Whatever Mildew did wasn't his father's fault.
Stoick stood there awkwardly for another minute, and Hiccup kept silent, too, a clear invitation for the chief to take a hike.
After a few seconds, Stoick began to walk away.
The next day, Hiccup awoke with a pounding headache. He considered going back to sleep, but then sat back up, the events of last night coursing through his mind.
What had Mildew meant when he'd said all that stuff about 'where anything can happen'?
The more logical part of him argued that it was nothing, but his instincts screamed not to trust Mildew.
No duh, he thought, crawling out of his bed.
When he got out of his tent, he saw Toothless was already awake, biting and clawing at his wings.
"Hey, wait! Toothless! Stop!" Hiccup cried, running towards him.
The dragon relaxed, looking miserable.
Hiccup rested a comforting hand on the edge of the dragon's long black wing, but before he could speak, Toothless roared, reaching for his wings with his teeth and talons again.
And as he did, Hiccup thought he spotted something underneath Toothless' wing. "Wait! Toothless!"
The dragon stilled obediently.
"Lift up your wing," Hiccup said gently.
The dragon gave a snort of disbelief.
"Toothless," Hiccup said, and Toothless slowly lifted up his left wing, to reveal a truly awful sight.
His wing concealed a thin, deep gash, dried blood coating the edges.
Hiccup stared for a second, then gently stroked the dragon's hurt wing. "Who did this to you?" he whispered, for the cut had been made too cleanly for accident.
Toothless, of course, did not respond verbally to Hiccup's question, but his tail flicked and his eyes lowered: A sure sign of danger.
"Toothless, I'm gonna need to clean that," the boy said calmly. "You stay here while I get some water, ok? Stay here." Hiccup walked away, only to return a few minutes later with a bucket of water and washcloth.
He gently pressed the cloth into the dragon's side, and, though he roared angrily, Toothless allowed Hiccup to wet down the gash and inspect it.
Afterwards, Hiccup slowly began to stitch the wound, and, when finished, he gently took his hands away.
Toothless gingerly moved his wing and Hiccup whispered, "It's gonna be bad for awhile, buddy. It'll be okay."
Toothless did not seem reassured by this news.
Hiccup heard footsteps behind him and turned.
Astrid flicked a piece of hair behind her ear and came up to stand beside him. "Toothless okay?"
"He'll be fine," Hiccup said, with a hint of bite in his voice.
Astrid ignored it. "What happened to him?"
Hiccup glanced at Astrid, and considered telling her...she would believe him, there was no doubt in his mind.
"I don't know," he replied.
The next day, Hiccup checked Toothless' side. He did not seem to be healing at all.
As a matter of fact, he seemed to be getting worse.
"What's wrong?" Hiccup mused to himself. "Did I do something wrong? You should be looking at least a little better, but you don't..."
Toothless glanced up at Hiccup. His wide, endless green eyes seemed to be trying to tell the boy something, but Hiccup remained clueless.
Mildew walked over to stand behind Hiccup.
"I did everything I could..." the boy mumbled, oblivious to his unwelcome visitor. Toothless, however, was not.
He sat straight up and growled, staring directly at Mildew.
Hiccup spun around and glared at the man as well.
Mildew clutched his staff. "Oh, what a poor beast. He doesn't seem to be doing well, not well at all..." For some reason, Mildew seemed overjoyed by this fact.
"He's doing fine," Hiccup replied. He had lost count of how many times he'd said that this past week.
Gobber walked up to the pair. "What's the crazy old bag of Berk have to say now?"
Mildew leaned heavily on his staff to take a step forward. It trembled and shook beneath his weight. "Maybe you should look at Toothless, Gobber. After all, you are the dragon doctor of Berk."
"Is something wrong with Toothless, Hiccup?" Gobber asked, completely distracted from insulting Mildew.
Hiccup glared at Mildew. Oh, yes, something was VERY wrong with Toothless, but until Mildew was ruled out of the suspect list, no way was Hiccup about to talk about this in front of him.
"No," Hiccup replied, giving Gobber a shut-up-we'll-talk-about-this-later look.
Gobber caught Hiccup's eye and got the message. "Oh...well..ok," he said awkwardly.
There was silence, and it was the first time Hiccup had ever seen Mildew with his mouth closed. It was a historic moment.
At last, Mildew ended the awkwardness by saying, "Well, Hiccup, maybe you should check on your dragon a little more often...he doesn't appear to be doing well..."
And, barely concealing a grin, the man departed the scene.
Hiccup found that, even though Mildew had left, he didn't feel much like talking, so he turned away to avoid conversation, pretending to check on Toothless.
Gobber stood hovering. "Um...Well...Hiccup, is Toothless really...I mean, ok?"
Hiccup turned around again to look Gobber straight in the eye. "No, he's not. Somebody hurt him."
Gobber looked dumbfounded. "What do you mean, Hiccup?"
The boy bit his lip, wondering how much to tell the man, before it all came spilling out: what Mildew had said last night, Toothless' injury, and Hiccup's suspicion of Mildew.
"Hiccup," Gobber began, obviously trying to be tactful, and Hiccup braced himself, for he knew the man was going to fail miserably, "Mildew has been the object of suspicion for years. Thinking he hurt your dragon is nothing new. Toothless probably hurt himself by flying into a tree or-"
"But Toothless wouldn't do that!" Hiccup argued, slamming a fist into his palm. "And Mildew framed the dragons, Gobber, you're forgetting-"
"No one has any proof of that," Gobber replied.
Hiccup drew back as though the man had smacked him. "You don't believe me?"
"No, I'm not trying to say I don't believe you, I'm trying to say people still doubt your opinion a lot of the time, and Hiccup, you gotta admit, it's hard to prove something with no proof-"
"So you don't believe me," Hiccup interrupted. He turned away again, facing out to sea.
"Hey," Gobber said, "now, Hiccup, I'm not saying that-"
But Gobber simply let his voice trail off into nothingness, and Hiccup didn't much know or care what the Viking had to say.
He didn't want to hear any more words of: "I believe you, it's just..." or, more so, "I'd really like to believe you, BUT-"
He'd had enough of that during the first fourteen years of his life. He didn't need it again.
There was silence from Gobber's end, but Hiccup sensed he was still there, like a hovering shadow.
Sure enough, uneven footsteps sounded on the sand as Gobber limped away.
Hiccup almost wanted to call after him, make everything okay again.
Gobber had acted like he BELIEVED Hiccup. Actually believed him.
And now his words echoed in the young boy's mind: "people still doubt your opinion...it's hard to prove something with no proof...Mildew's been the object of suspicion for years..."
"That's one thing he got right." Hiccup's whisper was carried away by the cry of seagulls and the moans from the slowly dying dragon behind him.