Chapter 8:
The storm still raged at Berk some hours later, and Stoick was getting frustrated. What was Alvin putting Hiccup through? He knew his son was stubborn and strong-willed, but he wasn't strong physically, and Stoick knew how ruthless Alvin the Treacherous was. The Berkian chief sighed and turned away from the window and its taunting view of the dark storm clouds.
"He'll be fine, Stoick," said a voice behind him. "Don't you worry. That lad of yours is a strong one, even if he don't look like it." It was Gobber. He must have entered when Stoick wasn't paying attention. How long had he been there?
"I know Hiccup's stubborn, Gobber, but I know what Alvin is like. He won't stop at anything to get what he wants, and that's what I'm afraid of. But what if were just chasing shadows, Gobber? What if the Outcast oar was just there coincidentally, and Hiccup is...lost?" Stoick said in a rush. However, he couldn't bring himself to say "drowned".
"Calm down, Stoick, and let's think with our heads on. Do you really think that the Outcasts would go that far north just for a rowing expedition?" Gobber said rationally.
Stoick thought over his best friend's words. "Well, now that you mention it, it does seem a bit odd," he admitted.
"There you go. Now what are you going to do about that crazy dragon sitting outside in all this rain, day and night?" Gobber asked, pointing to the door.
Stoick sighed again. Gobber meant Toothless, who had refused to come inside, even when the rain fell harder. He missed Hiccup, Stoick could see that. However, the dragon would have to eat something soon, if he wanted to have enough strength for when they flew to Outcast Island.
As if sensing his thoughts, there was a bang on the big front doors, indicating that Toothless wanted to come in (he couldn't open the doors himself, obviously). Stoick got up, puzzled, and opened the doors. Toothless rushed in and sat by the fireplace, giving Stoick a look that said, Well, come on! I don't have all day.
Stoick lifted up a basket of various fish from the kitchen and put it in front of Toothless, saying as he did, "Here you go, Toothless. Dinner."
Toothless looked at him for a second more, then began scarfing down the fish one by one. Stoick looked at his son's best friend for a second more as well, then went back to staring out the window. Gobber joined him a few minutes later.
Astrid was doing the same thing as Stoick at her house. She really missed Hiccup, she realized. She missed his smile when he saw her, she missed his sarcasm, she missed his quiet confidence. Then she mentally slapped herself. She was a Hofferson, and Hoffersons didn't just sit around and weep! Astrid got up and decided to check on her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly.
Stormfly was sleeping in her shelter on the side of Astrid's house when Astrid got there. She walked up to Stormfly and sat there, petting her dragon's nose and thinking about Hiccup. Stormfly didn't wake up at the disturbance.
Snotlout didn't necessarily miss Hiccup, but he was, let's say, slightly worried about his cousin's safety. He knew that Hiccup was full of sass, but sass only got you so far, and with Alvin it would probably only get him angry. Plus, Hiccup wasn't exactly the strongest Viking in the village.
Snotlout decided to stop thinking about Hiccup, since it wouldn't help matters, and go see his Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang. Hookfang hadn't woke up from his slumber last night, and to tell the truth, although he would never admit it, Snotlout was starting to worry about him. He arrived at Hookfang's pen in the Dragon Academy and looked in. Still sleeping peacefully. Snotlout grew impatient of just standing there, watching his dragon sleep, so he entered the pen to sit there and wait for Hookfang to wake up.
However, on his way in, Snotlout's foot brushed something on the ground, and he looked down. Some grass? Why would there be grass in Hookfang's pen? Then Snotlout got an idea as he looked from Hookfang to the grass. He picked it up and sniffed it, then made a face and held the dragon nip, for that was what is was, further from his face. Snotlout would recognize that scent anywhere. It smelled bitter to him, and he could never really understand how the dragons liked it so much, but that didn't matter now as Snotlout checked the other dragon pens. They were all still comatose from the dragon nip! Snotlout ran towards the chief's house, knowing Stoick definitely needed to know this.
Mildew chuckled as he watched Snotlout run all the way from that stupid Dragon Academy to the chief's house on the highest hill. He could tell Stoick that the dragons were drugged, but it wouldn't matter, because the damage had been done. They'd never figure out it was Mildew who had drugged the dragons, nor would they figure out that it was he who had put all the metal he could steal on their search party boat so that it would be struck by lightning in the storm. That way, they wouldn't suspect a thing. Well, they would when they found out someone had drugged the dragons, but Mildew had seen no other way to delay their departure. He knew that Alvin had captured the little runt, and the way Mildew saw it was that if Hiccup came back, the dragons would stay here. But if the search (or should we say, rescue) party got delayed enough that Alvin got frustrated enough with Hiccup that he killed him (Mildew knew the boy would refuse to train Alvin's dragons), then his problems would be over.
Stoick yelled in frustration as he examined the dragons at the Dragon Academy. Snotlout had just come running from there with the news that the dragons had been drugged by some dragon nip and weren't waking up. Then Astrid had come running too with the news that Stormfly wasn't waking up either, and Stoick had had to explain the dragon nip incident. Astrid had thrown her axe at the far wall, successfully embedding it into the wall. Stoick watched as Fishlegs came running now too, probably with bad news as well at this rate. Fishlegs finally reached the entrance of the Dragon Academy and promptly collapsed onto the ground, heaving great, deep breaths before getting out, "Boat...lightning...struck...just...now," obviously having seen the event and had run full tilt straight from the docks to the Dragon Academy. Thundering Thor! thought Stoick. Now the dragons are drugged, the boat is a wreck and the storm is still too strong to leave in anyway. Hiccup had been missing for a week now, and they couldn't even go rescue him.
