Caverna watched the man for a few seconds, just to make sure that he was truly dead and she breathed a sigh of relief as the villagers applauded. As Caverna turned around to face everyone, they could see the amount of blood that gathered on her front from her injuries and from her stab wound, and she fell to her knees which stopped the applause and everyone froze as she fell forward onto the floor. At seeing her hit the floor, Fishlegs ran forward and Astrid and Hiccup dropped her things, before they also ran to her.
"Someone, help her." Fishlegs shouted at the crowd, though none of her villagers moved, Stoick did and he picked up the young woman, who gave a noise of pain at being moved.
"Don't worry Fishlegs, I will look after her." Stoick told him as he saw the worried look of the young man, and he looked at the other villagers. "We need a healer, where do we find them?"
"The healer is this way." A woman told him, leading him off of the cliff and towards the homes of the villagers, leaving Fishlegs knelt on the cliff with Astrid and Hiccup beside him.
"Don't worry Fishlegs, she'll be fine." Astrid told him.
"Astrid is right Fishlegs; she's going to be alright." Hiccup told him. "Look, how about you take her armour and weapons to her, and wait at her side until she wakes up?"
"Yeah, I'll do that, thanks Hiccup." He smiled, getting up and picking up Caverna's things and walking away towards the healers hut.
When he reached the hut, he found Stoick waiting outside for him, he looked worried.
"Chief Stoick, is she alright, Sir?" Fishlegs asked.
"The healers said that they will be out once they have her fixed up." Stoick told him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Try not to worry too much Fishlegs."
"Yes Sir." He moved to lean against a nearby rock. "I'm going to stay here and wait for her to wake up."
"I'll stay with you." Stoick told him.
"As will we." Hiccup told him as he walked over with Astrid, Ruff and Tuff. "And actually, dad Astrid and I have something to ask you."
"You're getting married?" Stoick guessed.
"No dad, we aren't getting married, it's about Caverna." Hiccup told him with a roll of his eyes, which was just like his father, to jump the gun and assume that everything that Hiccup an Astrid needed to talk to him about, involved a wedding.
"What about her, Hiccup?"
"Well, you see Sir; her parents have disowned Caverna, and told her that once her fight over, if she survives, then she needs to leave the village tomorrow with her dragon. So, we were thinking, could we allow her to live in our village with us, her and Snowcap?" Astrid asked.
"But say that she doesn't make it, can Snowcap still come and stay on Berk, because she and Toothless are mates now, and we can't split them up, it would destroy them." Hiccup seconded.
Stoick seemed to think about this for a second, and he took in the hopeful look of his son, Astrid, the twins and now Fishlegs and he smiled. "I don't see why not, if her parents don't remake their claim on her, of course she can join us on Berk, and so can Snowcap."
"Excellent." Astrid laughed, hugging Hiccup.
"Thanks dad." Hiccup smiled at his father, as he hugged Astrid back.
Stoick just smiled, before his smile disappeared as a grim looking healer walked out of the hut and looked at the group.
"I am here to give you news of Caverna's progress." She told them.
"How is she?" Fishlegs asked immediately.
"She is a fighter, always has been." The healer told them. "She is strong, her wounds weren't as bad as they could have been, and she had gotten the knife out just in time before it could do any serious damage." The healer carried on. "We have fixed her up as best as we could, but her subconscious is asking for someone called Fishlegs?" The woman looked at the group.
"That's me." Fishlegs spoke up, may I see her?" He asked the healer.
"You must be very special to her, usually when she comes to us she asks for no one." The healer told him as she led him through the hut and down stairs into where Caverna was lying in a bed, bandages around almost every bit of her body.
"Is she still conscious?" Fishlegs asked as he saw Caverna.
"I am now." Caverna murmured.
"Oh thank Thor, you're awake." Fishlegs put her armour and weapons on the very edge of the bed and he knelt at the side of it on the floor. "You were asking for me."
"Yeah, I did." She told him. "I wanted your face to be the last I saw if I wasn't going to survive the night, but unlucky enough for some it looks like I am."
"Of course you are, because you're strong." Fishlegs told her, and he noticed her moving a hand towards him, and he took it in both of his hands. He looked at her like she was his reason to live, and she looked back at him with the same amount of emotion.
"Looks like I had best pack my things in the morning." Caverna told him as she gently gripped his hand.
"What do you mean?" Fishlegs asked.
"My family kicked me off their island remember?" She told him. "I need to pack my things and go in the morning."
"No, tomorrow you will rest." Fishlegs told her, running a hand through her hair. "They can't kick you out whilst your this badly wounded."
"I'll be okay Fishlegs; they are just a few lacerations." Caverna told him, but she said no more on the subject not wanting to argue with him, being too exhausted at the moment, yet both of them seemed to freeze as they heard Helena coming down the stairs.
"Where is Caverna?" She shouted through the rooms, until she got to the room that Caverna and Fishlegs were in. "You, how did you win?" She demanded.
"He didn't think that I was that strong, or that I had something to fight for." She told her, her grip on Fishlegs hand tightening.
"I still want you out of this village by the first light, and that dragon needs to be gone too."
"But Ma'am, she won't be fully healed by the morning and neither will her dragon, please just give them a week." One of the healers pleaded.
"No, she will be gone by tomorrow, and you can join her if you're worried about her injuries." Helena told the healer, before she left the room, and Caverna was trying to force herself to stand.
"Caverna, no, you need to stay in bed." The healer told her, trying to push her into bed.
"No Golla, you heard her, I need to be gone by morning, I can't risk something happening to Snowcap all because I didn't move." She managed to get herself standing, holding onto anything she could, her grip tight as she tried to breathe through the pain that she was in.
Fishlegs looked at her, and he went to help her but she refused it, making her way out of the room and back up the stairs and then out to where everyone else were still gathered.
"Caverna, you aren't meant to be up yet." Astrid told her.
"That's what everyone keeps saying, but really...I'm...Fine." She told them, trying to sound convincing.
"Then why are you gritting your teeth?" Ruffnut asked.
"Guys really...I'm fine." Caverna told them and she made her way over towards her family's house, everyone who was still outside stopping what they were doing to watch her as she made her way home, a hand clasped over where her stab wound was.
As she stumbled through the village, there were rounds of applause from those who watched and over the applause, Caverna had to admit defeat and that she couldn't walk by herself and she gave off a soft whistle, which could only mean that one person could have been called to her aid. Meanwhile in the stable, Snowcap and Toothless were on their own, snuggled up with each other on the stone table, just to keep each other warm and Toothless occasionally licked her wounds and it looked to be healing at a good rate. However, both dragons looked up at hearing the whistle, and Snowcap looked at him.
"That's Caverna, she needs my help." Snowcap told him.
"No, I don't want you to get hurt; because if that man is still there then he might hurt you again." Toothless told her, getting up as she did.
"Wouldn't you do the same for Hiccup?" She asked, and this caused Toothless to stop.
"Of course I would, but you're my mate, I don't want you to get hurt." He told her.
"I'll be fine." She told him. "But if you don't believe me, then come with me."
She left the room with him, walking towards where they heard the sound of Caverna's whistle and Snowcap ran through the village as she saw Caverna fall to her knees in obvious pain and she continued running towards her, and she nuzzled her back to her feet, before she managed to get her to use her as her aid to walking. And they carried on their journey towards her family home.
"Thanks, girl." She whispered to her as they went.
Caverna stayed in her room at her parents' home throughout the night, packing up the things that she knew that she would need into a sack, which involved a lot of her weapons, her change of clothes and some things that she cherished. Before she picked up her sack and she walked up the stairs into the home and she found all of her family stood there waiting for her.
"I just need to add more bandages and then I'll go, okay?" She asked.
When no one said anything, she put her sack down next to a table and she pulled off her undershirt since she hadn't been given back her armour and weapons, and she picked up the bandages that were sitting on the table and started to wrap them around her injuries and when she was done, she put her shirt back on and picked up her sack, looking back at her family.
"Is no one going to say anything?" She asked.
"What is there to say?" Helena asked her.
"Oh I don't know thank you for putting your own life on the line for the village?" Caverna asked her.
"We have nothing to thank you for." Eridor told her.
"It was the job of someone in this village, to put their life on the line for the rest of us; you don't get thanked for that." Eleanor told her.
"You know, it's really good to know where you're not wanted." Caverna told them, before she opened the door to the hut and she walked away from the house, with Snowcap joining her as they walked towards the cliff.
When she got to the cliff, she noticed that her parents and siblings had followed her and she met up with Stoick, Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs and the Twins who were all standing next to their dragons.
"Stoick, don't be a stranger, we would love for you and your boy and his lovely girlfriend and friends to come and visit us." Brock told him.
"But leave Caverna wherever you're going to put her." Helena interjected as she watched Caverna put her overcoat on and her weapons, wincing slightly as she aggravated her injuries.
"We will Brock, but if we come back, then so does Caverna, because we are planning on having her join mine and Hiccup's family on Berk, if that is what she wants." Stoick told them, looking at Caverna.
Caverna looked at them. "Really? Oh my gods, please that would be wonderful."
"Then that is what shall be happening." Stoick smiled at her.
Caverna got onto Snowcap's back and she watched everyone say goodbye, before everyone got ready to leave and she had Snowcap fly off with them, heading back towards Berk. As she flew away, she looked back at her home village and she sighed to herself. She was free from everything now and she was about to go to a better home and have her freedom.