Chapter Twelve: The Infirmary
Wow, I sure got some nice reactions on the previous chapter. I hope that my pears and my Cuttleclaw didn't scare you too much. Actually, I hope they did, it is so hard to actually find something that actually really makes you go: Nope! Holy shit nuggets!
Also, CHARM CASTER 1127 I really do wish that we could chat. It would be so much fun to get a look inside your head and find out how to play with your emotions.
Hey, the UnknownBlackHand has a dark side.
It was a rough night for everyone at the palace; even the servants were on edge. They heard of the bravery of the Vikings who were just placed in the infirmary, and they heard of how fearsome their dragons were, and now said Vikings had to be monitored and sedated to calm their nerves, and their dragons too.
"Fishlegs, Anora and I are going to visit Hiccup and Claudette, are you coming with us?" Astrid asked.
"Yes, I'm pretty concerned for her… I don't even want to know what the Vessel of Fear looks like after what it did to them." He replied.
It wasn't that long of a walk, but once inside the infirmary, they found Sapphire hard at work trying to cheer up the frightened dragons, but it was futile. Toothless, Shadowrath, and Whoshadow remained huddled together in a corner.
"Oh no." Fishlegs thought out loud when he saw the dragons.
Standing by Stoick's bed were Valka, Snotlout, and Spitelout. The former chief still hadn't woken up from the sleeping potion the nurses gave him the previous night. Claudette had already come out of it, but she was too dazed to comprehend what was going on around her, so people had to wait for her to sober up before they began chatting. Already, Ruffnut and Helga the Mace Menace were by her. As for Hiccup, he was only just beginning to stir in his cot. Tuffnut was at his side; mainly for Gobber to have some company while he waited for Hiccup to wake, and to make sure he stayed in bed, one of the nurses had removed his false leg, while the others wore restraints around their ankles. While this measure was to make sure the patients stayed in bed until they had a clean bill of health, the nurses also wanted to make sure that they weren't cursed, or had gone mad after their encounter with the Vessel of fear.
Astrid took Anora in her arms and set her on Hiccup's bed. He woke with a start and stirred some more. Catching this motion, Valka moved from Stoick's bed, and over to his.
"Hiccup, are you alright?" She asked him.
"He needs to sober up more. Whatever it is they gave him was pretty strong. Gobber replied.
"I-It was horrible… The worst thing I ever saw."
The voice wasn't Hiccup's or Claudette's; it was Stoick's. So everyone grouped by his bed. Apparently, the sleeping aid he was given didn't need to be that strong, out of the three riders, he was the calmest, but he was still in shock.
"What was it, Stoick?" Gobber asked him.
"Its eye of fire. The eyes must be magic. I looked into the eye of fire, and saw the moment where I saw Toothless about to kill Hiccup, and the dragon shot me when I saved Hiccup. It wasn't the only thing I saw in the eye. I also saw what would've happened if I didn't save him, or if it was anyone else I held close. Each moment was getting worse and worse, until I managed to look away." He replied.
"What did it look like? How big was it?" Snotlout asked. From the corner of an eye, Astrid caught sight of Hiccup moving. He pulled out a book from his suit (the armored pieces were on the floor though) along with a charcoal pencil, and began sketching.
"The real monster was the beast's master. He is ghastly, and more fearsome than Dragon Bludvist and Dagur the Deranged combined. He sat in his cave to tell his 'pet' of how he raped and devoured a woman." Stoick told them. The group stepped back in shock, and they were so quiet that the only sound to be heard was Hiccup's pencil scribbling away in his book; but when that sound stopped, the group moved over to his bed to take a look at the pictures he finished. Fishlegs took the book in his hands. The first one was a rough portrait of Cuttleclaw's ghastly face, the latter being the face of his pet. However something caught Fishlegs's eye, it was a small black figure with the vague shape of a person.
"Hiccup, what is this smudge here?" He asked, pointing at the shape.
"That's not a smudge, that's a size comparison to my Dad." He replied dully. The book slipped from Fishlegs's hands and fell to the floor with a dull 'THUMP'.
"I'm also certain that the King wants us to fight it." Hiccup told the group. From the corner of the infirmary, Whoshadow let out a frightened shriek in response.
"Now that my father knows what's out there, and after seeing what happened to his children because of it, he will definitely have us to fight it. He will be willing to give Berk anything, if we assist him. He will even join us in this fight, so long as the thing will be defeated." Claudette told them from her bed. Now all three dragons were vocalizing in protest. Toothless even approached Hiccup and told him with baby dragon eyes: "This isn't our fight! Please back down from it. Not only do I want to never see that thing again, but I don't want the dragons to see it either."
"What is he saying, Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked nervously.
"He's saying that he doesn't want the other dragons to even see the Vessel of Fear… I don't blame him." He replied.
"Did you see anything in the beast's eyes?" Helga asked.
"I made the mistake of looking into the blood red eye. I saw the moment where I took that fall that had me lose my leg, and then the point where Claudette sliced off Astrid's foot. After that I saw more people either losing limbs or heads… I can still hear their screams and my own." Hiccup replied.
"For me it was the eye of sickness." Claudette told them from her bed. They turned over to listen to her say: "When I was a little girl, there was a spread of smallpox in my mother's kingdom of origin, and one of her brothers caught it. I remember seeing him, how the illness disfigured his face, and that was the last time I saw him alive. I had too many nightmares of catching such a disease… I know that you don't want to fight in this battle, but the rewards my father will give will be great, and they will be grateful for years to come for your help."
"If we are to fight, then we'll need more troops. Mom, how would you like to fly back to Berk and collect Aric and then the Thunder Queen?" Hiccup asked.
"Are we really going to train for this?" Gobber asked.
"Yes, think of the feast that King Hubert would throw us for his appreciation. Think of the rare metals he would give you, and it would give you more time to hang out with the local Blacksmith." Hiccup replied.
It took more persuasion, and the promise of more fish and custard for the dragons, but within time, the group agreed to help the kingdom out to defeat Cuttleclaw. The problem was that Cuttleclaw, unlike Drago and Dagur, wasn't the average mortal man. In fact it was doubtful that he was even human.
"For the record, there is a rumor that the Vessel of Fear is vulnerable to either precious or rare metals. Some of them can't even stand fire." Claudette spoke.
"In that case, Gobber, I say it is time that the local blacksmith learns of the wonders of Gronkle iron." Hiccup said. He sat up, but Astrid pushed him back down.
"Astrid, I want to get up!" He told her.
"Where's your leg?" She asked. Hiccup looked down at his stump and then around the floor, but his prosthetic wasn't within reach. Astrid then told him that she wanted him to rest for another hour before getting up to anything.
Ω Ω Ω
King Hubert was overjoyed that his visit to the infirmary bore him good news. Despite the sheer terror to come, the Vikings were willing to stick around, but they requested that they bring reinforcements, both dragon and Viking. With great pleasure, he insisted on it.
Hiccup briefly told him of the Thunder Queen and their allied tribes. The King was pleased to hear that the Thunder Queen, a dragon known as the Black Typhoon, was such a powerful dragon, but he wasn't too sure about the allies. It seemed that the people of Berk had only just made peace with them; but Hiccup promised that they would behave and that they were brave warriors, so they would have to do.
He only hoped that everything would go down smoothly.
Ω Ω Ω
Now that he was free from the infirmary, his prosthetic limb now recovered, Hiccup and Toothless met up with Valka and Cloudjumper as they were preparing to leave.
"I hope you have safe journey." Hiccup told them.
"I will return. I promise you that." Valka replied finishing up her packing. She looked up to Hiccup and asked: "So, is the farewell all you came down for?"
"Actually I came down to offer you the chance to travel as your inner dragon." He replied.
"I think our allies would prefer that I show up looking the way I do now."
"Toothless offers you his Dragonstone so you can change back. Just remember the three day wait that his stone has." Hiccup told her. So with eagerness, Valka accepted her son's offer. However, when Hiccup took her hand, he actually saw her inner dragon already inside her… and everyone was going to be quite impressed. He discharged the magic, and jumped back right away. Then, he looked up, amazed with his mother!
Valka's inner dragon was a Black Typhoon!
She was smaller than the Thunder Queen, as Toothless observed, but she was still just as impressive as the Thunder Queen. She quickly shook off the dizzy spell, and took to the skies to do some practice circles and landed before Hiccup to thank him, and Toothless for giving her his Dragonstone; and with a final farewell, she took off again with Cloudjumper at her side.
Ω Ω Ω
So that was Valka's inner dragon. Now, do you guys have any ideas as how to handle the Vessel of Fear?
