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About the author: I'm actually quite bad at spelling and my handwriting is awful. So you see, with the help of a good spell checker, anyone can learn to be a good writer. All you need is patience and a good teacher!
Hiccupisnotuseless: Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're so kind. And yeah, I know Torch is supposed to be pretty damn good, but the Skrill is also good. Had Tuffnut been riding a dragon like Meatlug, he would most probably have been hit. However, because the Typhoomerang is so fast and so strong, the Skrill never hit him. Meatlug had Fishleg's help in defeating that dragon, though.
Immediately, Tuffnut could see that something was wrong. The way his chief was hunched over, clutching at something in his shoulder, unnerved the twin, who cast a glance at his sister, hoping she could see the same thing. The look on her face told him everything he needed to know. The chief stretched himself forward across his dragon's shoulders, enveloping him in a tight hug, murmuring quiet words of joy and comfort. Then, as he sat up, he caught sight of the others, his face lighting up as he gave them a hearty wave.
"Ruffnut! Tuffnut!" He cried with joy, "Don't tell me you did all this on your own?"
"Sure did," Tuffnut smirked, folding his arms contentedly. The twins cloudy anxiety was instantly dispersed.
"Hiccup, it's so good to see you! Please tell me you have a plan." Hiccup rolled his eyes, never surprised by Ruffnut's pointedness.
"Actually, I don't really. I thought you guys might."
"Ugh!" The sister's face contorted into her familiar scowl. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "The whole point of breaking you out was so that we'd have a plan!"
"Well, now we're stuck in the air with no plan," Tuffnut shrugged unhelpfully. Hiccup gazed with amusement at the two twins, one with her arms folded and her nose up in the air, the other unattractively digging out his ear with a little finger and wiping it on his shirt. Some things never changed.
"I have a plan" Tuffnut piped up loudly. His sister shot him a look, but he made a defensive noise, holding up a finger to her. "Why don't we go back to Berk and show those Berserkers who's boss?"
"You mean, attack them?" Hiccup queried, an eyebrow raised. He sighed as the young man nodded eagerly. "Tuffnut, all of our dragons are tired and hungry. We're all weak and at least one of us is injured. I don't think it's a good idea."
"Okay," Ruffnut shrugged nonchalantly, "So how about we go back to Berk and attack?"
"Are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Hiccup could feel a little spark or irritation flaring inside him.
"Yes. Maybe..." She thought for a moment. "I think I worded that wrong."
"Oh, really?" Sarcasm crept into the chief's voice as he painfully folded his arms.
"I meant, if we're all so tired, won't we need back-up? Like, I dunno, the other riders? Your mum? Other dragons?"
A light sparked on in Hiccup's eyes. "You're actually making sense for once, Ruffnut! That's not a bad idea at all. You released at least two dragons when you attacked. Why don't we go and pick them up? They'll need our help by now anyway."
Following after their leader, the three dragons made their way back towards the village from which they had just escaped. Surely enough, the Berserkers were trying to wrestle Meatlug and Hookfang back into their cages, along with a couple of Berkians, one of which was...
"Mum..." Hiccup's breath hitched in his throat. "How dare they touch her. She's better than all of them." Anger boiled inside him, raw and stinging. "Tuffnut, Ruffnut, go give those soldiers something to chew on."
"No problem!" The twins chimed, their dragons swooping one after the other down on the hoard of men below. Torch opened his mouth widely, spewing as much flame as he had left over the amassed men. Scauldy then followed on, putting out the flames with his scalding water and blasting the soldiers away. Of those directly in the firing line, there was nothing left, but the ones near to them, who were catching dragons or people, screamed and fled in shock. Meatlug and Hookfang took to the air immediately, heading up towards Toothless, who was calling to them.
Ruffnut turned Scauldy back to pick up those who were now freed. However, as they hovered close to the Berkians, Berserkers flooded forwards with burning crossbows ready. Ruffnut looked about in alarm, unsure as to what to do. Tuffnut tried swooping down and torching them all, but his dragon was all out of flames and he didn't have any eels on him to replenish it. He shrugged to his sister, turning back towards his leader. The young woman locked eyes with Valka, Hiccup's mother, holding the gaze for a second before the long-braided women gave a fearful shout.
"Go! Get out of here! Save yourselves!"
"We're coming back for you!" She called back lamely as the first arrows found their target and Scauldy gave a cry. He turned and headed for the safety of the group now flying back over the forest, his rider perched on his shoulders, her head hanging.
"Did you get them?" Hiccup asked almost immediately, even before he turned around to look.
Shamefaced, Ruffnut shook her head, not meeting his gaze. "Valka told me to run. I said we'd come back for them, but... I'm sorry, Hiccup..."
"Don't worry," He smiled, his voice soft. "We will go back for them, but we all need to rest before we do anything. Your dragon needs those bolts removing, Torch is covered in them too, and Toothless will waste away if he doesn't eat soon." His voice softened even further. "I'm really proud of both of you, of all of you. Don't put yourselves down about it."
The rest of the journey continued in silence until Hiccup pointed out a suitable clearing with a clean, clear stream running a short distance away. The dragons and riders landed heavily, thoroughly worn out. Meatlug and Hookfang curled up together, instantly going to sleep, while Torch and Scauldy stood together pulling crossbow bolts from each other's skin. The three humans slid down and fell to the ground tiredly, Tuffnut not wasting a moment before he stretched out on his back and fell asleep.
Ruffnut looked over at the way Hiccup was so tenderly holding his shoulder. "You're hurt, aren't you?" She asked, shuffling closer.
Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, arrow to the shoulder. I managed to pull it out, but now the excitement is over, it's starting to hurt."
"How did it get through your armour?"
"It was a great shot, really. Straight through the gap here, look." He stuck his finger in between his hardened leather breastplate and painted metal shoulder pad to illustrate the point.
Ruffnut was about to mention something when, all of a sudden, an agitation behind her caught both of their attentions. Even Tuffnut was woken as Scauldy reared up, thrusting his wings and roaring deeply. The other dragons skittered away to make room as he leapt off the ground and soared away towards the sea. Ruffnut and Hiccup were instantly on their feet, running to a vantage point to see where he was going. Being a flat clearing, on the downward edge was a steep bank, almost unnatural in its angle and smoothness. Perhaps it was made many moons ago by a huge dragon digging for who-knows-what?
This, however, gave them a good view over the trees to the ocean, where they watched the Scauldron plunge into the deep water. He put on a spectacular show for them, dipping and diving, splashing with his wide tail and jumping from the water.
"What is he doing?" Ruffnut scowled curiously, looking to Hiccup for advice. Tuffnut appeared on his other side, eyebrow raised.
"I... I don't know. Maybe he's just enjoying the water. It's probably quite nice on all those wounds." Hiccup shrugged as he continued to watch the dragon play in the water.
After around half an hour (for all of which, the Berkians were transfixed), The dragon lifted up one last time from the water and flew back inshore towards them. He glided overhead, dripping water everywhere, and hovered above the gathering of dragons. They were all looking up at him with expectant eyes, while the riders were simply confused. All of a sudden, Scauldy's neck bulged and he regurgitated a huge pile of fish for his fellow dragons, who wasted no time in tucking in heartily. At first, it looked like the Scauldron was joining in too, but then, he pulled his head back and dumped the fish he'd salvaged in front of the riders and plodded sedately off to find himself a nice patch of Blue Oliander flowers, his favourite food, to fill his own tummy.
Ruffnut gave a little laugh, turning to Hiccup and her brother, but her face fell when she saw just how pale her chief had become. Tuffnut had obviously noticed it too, his eyes clouded with uncharacteristic worry.
"Hey, Hiccup, you feeling alright? You don't look so good." He asked slowly. The young man raised a hand to his forehead, visibly shaking and feeling queasy.
"Actually, I... I..." The chief didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before his vision went black. He was unconscious before he even hit the ground.
OOOH DAYAM. Peeps are really gonna hate me for that! Oh well, I'm the writer, I get to decide the story! Stay tuned to find out what happens next.