Author's Note:

Hello and welcome to the next chapter. Apologies for the slightly longer wait for this one but I let myself get distracted by other things. Thank you for your continued support of this story and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Time Against Them

It was five days before the pirate ship reached its destination but Snotlout didn't have a clue where it was.

The old man that had been looking after him approached him the morning of the fifth day and spoke almost apologetically, "The captain has ordered this to make sure you can't tell your uncle where to find us." With those few words the man knelt down and bound a thick cloth around Snotlout's eyes which created an effective blindfold. Once he'd finished the man spoke again, "You won't be getting any food today until we arrive at the hide out so just sit tight until then, you'll probably be hungry for a while."

After these words Snotlout heard the man shuffle away again leaving him alone, robbed of his sight the boy listened hard to what was happening around him but he heard little beyond the normal sounds of the men sailing the vessel. In a way he was glad to hear they were finally reaching their destination since he hoped that meant they would untie his bonds even for a short while, his wrists were rubbed raw from the rope and it had dug painfully into him for the last four days so he was looking forward to maybe having them loosened.

The captain's voice sounded close by and Snotlout listened in as he spoke to what sounded like another crewman, "Once we've arrived we'll see about getting word to the boy's uncle to tell him we've got him hostage."

"Are you sure that's a good idea captain?" The voice of the crewman asked worriedly, "We've both heard that Berk has somehow tamed dragons and the fact the boy was with one would confirm it. What if Stoick comes after us with a force of dragons?"

The captain scoffed, "I've heard about Stoick the Vast and if he has a weakness it's the fact he cares too much. Even if he does have dragons he'll not risk his nephew by sending them to attack us, besides no-one but us ever comes this far north and our base is well concealed so even if they do they'll never find it."

The crewman's voice was still laced with worry but he agreed with his captain, "Of course Captain. When we land I'll take one of the smaller vessels back south to pass news of the boy's capture to Berk and to outline the ransom you want."

The captain spoke, his voice sounding pleased, "Good." He then hummed thoughtfully, "How much do you think a chief's nephew is worth? I'll have to think about that one before sending you to Berk. We mustn't short-change ourselves after all."

Snotlout heard the captain's laughter die away and he sagged slightly at what he'd heard. He knew he had to find a way out of this predicament and fast.

Snotlout sat bound and blindfolded for some time before he heard activity on the ship begin to increase.

Recognising the sounds he guessed they were finally coming into dock wherever the pirates had put their hideout and he listened intently for any clue of where they actually were. Unfortunately he couldn't decipher anything from the general hubbub of the crew and he was none the wiser on their location. He felt the motions of the ship gently bumping into a dock as he heard men call to each other to tie the mooring ropes and other such things and soon he heard the sounds of people disembarking.

He was left where he was for a while and he'd begun to think they'd forgotten about him when he heard heavy footsteps approach, he gave a small cry of surprise when he suddenly found himself being hoisted in the air and unceremoniously flung over a hefty shoulder. He caught snatches of different conversations and sounds as he was carried along for some time before found himself being lowered once more, the person who'd carried him held him upright and he felt his blindfold loosen and be roughly pulled off. Though it was only dim torchlight he rapidly blinked at the sudden brightness and it took him a while to see he was in some sort of small cavern lined with cages. Just as he realised that he'd been untied the man holding him pushed him forward and he landed hard on a cold metal floor in one of the cages. The door clanged behind him and a key clicked in the lock telling him he was locked in, sitting up he saw two men leave the cavern and he took stock of his situation.

Though he was now thankfully untied he was no less a captive, it only took a glance to tell him the cage he was in was built with strong bars and was unlikely to break. It was small which kept him from standing and there wasn't much room for him to move about in it. Crawling over to the door he found it was constructed from the same strong bars as the rest of the cage and since he had no idea how to pick a lock he knew that he couldn't open it without a key.

Sighing in frustration he crawled back from the door and leaned against the back of the cage. His situation wasn't that much better than it had been on the ship and he was very much aware that the longer he spent a prisoner the less time Hiccup and the others had. He needed to find the Glacial Bloom quickly but him and Hookfang being imprisoned like this made it less and less likely to happen.

He stared at the cage door miserably trying desperately to come up with a plan of escape.

On Berk the situation hadn't improved at all over the last five days. The medicine they had was getting less and less effective and the herbs they needed were getting rarer and rarer.

By now everyone knew about Snotlout's reckless quest and desperate parents were starting to frantically hope that the story was true and that he'd return with the legendary flower. Gothi had retreated into isolation in an attempt to divine some sort of answer to the plague as her medicinal skills were failing her and Stoick was using all his strength to remain strong for his people despite his agonising worry.

He'd been sure that Gobber would have returned in a couple of days with Snotlout but now he was beginning to fear that it was already too late for the boy and his lack of knowledge burned at him. Most of the children were waking up less and less and their parents were now refusing to leave their sides, Johan had nobly stayed on Berk and was using his ship to fetch large cargos of herbs from Healers Island but his cargos were getting smaller and smaller. As each day went by hope diminished and what little was left was brutally struck by a sudden turn in the illness.

Stoick had been looking after Hiccup like he had been for days when frantic shouts cut through the despairing atmosphere, "Gustav!? GUSTAV!"

Stoick instantly hurried over to the source of the shouts and found Mrs Larson frantically calling her son's name while gently shaking him, Gustav was deathly still and Stoick feared the worst had happened when he wasn't responding to his mother's calls and shakes. The crowd that had gathered rapidly parted to let through Gothi who Mulch had run to fetch, the elder quickly hobbled over to the boy's side and began examining him as fast as she could. She paled as she finished her examination and she hurriedly began scrawling in a pile of dirt someone had thrown on the floor for her, Mulch read her finished scrawl and he also paled before translating haltingly, "She says…he's alive but…he's in a deep faint and without a cure he'll stay this way until…until…" He looked down sadly, "until he dies."

Vikings gasped in horror and Gustav's mother clapped her hands to her mouth as tears came to her eyes, other parents quickly hurried to their children and made sure they were still responsive as Gothi shuffled away again more determined than ever to find a cure. Mulch placed a comforting arm around Mrs Larson's shoulders and Stoick also hurried back to Hiccup's side and gently shook him, "Hiccup?"

There was a long moment before Hiccup slowly opened his eyes, "Dad…is everything…alright?"

Stoick nodded, "Aye son, just rest."

Hiccup's eyes closed again, "O…kay."

As his son went back to sleep Stoick began praying to whoever was listening that a cure would be found soon for the sake of all the children of Berk.

They were rapidly running out of time.

PS-So things are getting worse on Berk and Snotlout needs to escape soon. Please let me know what you thought and I'll try to update soon.