It was Snotlout's turn to watch over the chief. Hiccup had not improved over the last three days, increasingly getting worse. His fever had broken and then returned with gobbets of blood. They had to keep him on his side and very, very much under the milk of the poppy. Parties had been sent out to find more ingredients for said pain relief, but Snotlout had very little hope in it. Waiola visited every so often when it was Snotlout's shift. She was just as worried as he was, praying incessantly to the gods and lighting herbs in various dishes about the room to cleanse the air. She did this alot, Snotlout had discovered when she moved in, she was very superstitious.
Looking at his best friend now, Snotlout sighed miserably. OK, so Hiccup had bounced back from losing a leg and the fall in the ice caves and the other poisoning and... well, not really from whatever had been on his mind before his great finale. Snotlout really wanted to know what had happened. He knew Astrid knew and had a feeling her parents and in-laws knew too. He just had to get it out of one of them and then... maybe he could help. Hiccup had been there for him when he was struggling, Snotlout could return the favour, offer a proverbial shoulder to proverbially cry on.
"Po... ta...to..." Hiccup muttered.
"No." Snotlout grumbled. "No potato." Hiccup coughed, racking coughs that shook his shoulders and rattled his lungs. Snotlout was on his feet in a heartbeat, assessing the damage. Less blood this time, that had to be good. "Come on, Hiccup, don't be stupid now. Wake up." Hiccup stirred as Snotlout cleaned the crimson stain from his lips. "Oy. I know you can hear me, you always hear everything, you nosy git."
"Po... ta... to..."
"Is that the only vegetable you know?"
"Snot... face..."
"I am not a vegetable." Hiccup opened his eyes a fraction and smiled groggily. "I repeat- git." Snotlout examined his friend's expression- dazed look, almost dreamy and not really there. The poppy milk. "You need to get up, Hiccup. Obviously not on those wretched legs of yours. Probably better if we chop them off completely."
"Mmm..." Hiccup hummed, closing his eyes. Snotlout thought he had gone back to sleep and made to slump back in his chair. "Wife..." Hiccup mumbled. "Yours..." He added.
"Waiola?" A very minute nod. "Yeah, she's good."
"Mine?"
"Hopefully getting your potato." Hiccup was quiet for a long moment. Snotlout settled back into his seat, propping his feet up on the end of the bed.
"Vorpent." The chief eventually decided, his voice barely audible. Snotlout looked over. Hiccup was scanning the ceiling, paler than before with a grimace darkening his eyes. Snotlout started to speak when Hiccup jolted and writhed, yelling. At first, the able Viking feared his friend to be hurting once more. Then he realised Hiccup yelling words, ordering him from the room, spouting nonsense about a demon. It took a second for Snotlout to realise that he himself was this so called demon.
Valka and Stoick charged in, Valka with her now famous medical kit. Stoick instantly restrained his son without paining him further while Valka dampened a cloth with a horrible smelling liquid from a dark bottle. She pounced within seconds, planting the cloth firmly over Hiccup's mouth and nose. Her son glared at them both, furious, then his anger seemed to ebb away, dreariness descending once again. By the end of the minute, Hiccup was out cold.
"What... what was... what?"
"Hallucinations." Valka said grimly. "Oooh, I hope Astrid is back soon."
Two days. That's all Astrid had. Two and a half days, almost. They had reached this so called magical America land, startling a few strangely dressed folks along the beach. Astrid looked around at them all. Would they understand her? Did these people speak Norse? Did they, perhaps, speak axe to the face?
Calm, she reminded herself, you can't go on a rampage now, you need to get that bleeding potato.
"You there," She declared, jabbing her axe at the nearest man. He startled and took stumbling steps back, "potato." He started talking, but Astrid wasn't sure what he was saying. She glared at him, sliding from the saddle. Toothless scratched at the sand and howled. People started running. From his saddlebag, Astrid extracted paper and a pencil, drawing an oblong shape and shading it slightly. She held it out to the man, hooking her axe blade over his shoulder when he tried to run. "Potato." She repeated, tapping the picture insistently. He looked from her to the drawing and back again, terrified. "Where is a potato?" Astrid asked slowly, temper rising.
It was Toothless who found it, barrelling off up some rugged stone steps. Astrid sprinted after him, finding him digging into a large bucket of spuds. He roared triumphantly, knocking the bucket over. Potatoes cascaded all over the ground. Astrid scooped up as many as she could, stuffing them into the saddlebags. "OK, Toothless." She beamed. "Let's go. These people are stupid." Toothless grunted, spreading his wings. Astrid checked the vegetables were secure and the Night Fury took to the sky, calling to everyone below cheekily. That had gone better than Astrid had expected. Maybe the gods really were smiling down on them.
They kept Hiccup asleep after the little demon episode. Snotlout kept a safe distance when it was his shift. Hiccup's Terrible Terrors had returned, Sharpshot and Rage, and Ingrid's dragon- Coughy? Snotty?- was with them too. Snotlout hadn't realised until that point that the little dragons had disappeared. Now that he thought about it, he was sure the Terrors had left when Hiccup went to Dagur. And now they were back. Why? Where did they go and why? Why are they back now?
Sharpshot and Rage lay down either side of Hiccup. Sneezy flapped off haphazardly to find his human, crashing into a few walls and possibly tumbling down the last couple of stairs. Snotlout heard Ingrid squeal happily and shook his head, smiling.
Hiccup's Terrors had wormed under his arms, licking his bandaged wrists and grumbling to each other. Snotlout watched them intently, wondering what they were saying. Sharpshot padded over to him, sticking out a leg. It was then that Snotlout noticed a scroll bound there.
"Thank you." He had learnt it was good to thank messenger dragons- they got a bit tetchy. Unravelling the note, he frowned upon seeing his best friend's messy hand writing:
Hey all,
If you are reading this, something has probably happened and you're all probably rolling your eyes at my stupidity.
Anyway, the Terrors had to go for a while, they were causing trouble amongst Dagur's men. I taught them that. Yay me. I also taught them to come back when they could no longer find me on Berserker soil. Double yay me.
Seriously though, I have a plan. My Terrors have melted down Dagur's supposedly secret armoury and when he rushes off to get those weapons, oh dear! No sharp things! Such a shame! All in all, not a bad plan even if I do say so myself. There is a plan. You guys know what I'm like. I wouldn't be able to put my boot on without a plan, come on.
I won't put the plan on here. Dagur's probably already realised about his lack of weapons so no need to worry about that right now. Dagur, if you are reading this, go and put your ugly face in someone else's business, you are no longer required, liked or necessary to anything and everything we do. If someone other than Dagur is reading, say friends or family, hello! Please don't kill me after said stupid thing has worn off. And please don't take my other leg, I've grown quite fond of it. I've called it Lefty. Two left feet. Woo.
Getting off track- sorry.
Said plan is in my hidey hole. Astrid knows.
Lots of love (to me) Hiccup
"How do you do this?" Snotlout demanded of his comatose friend. "You're a genius. You're an idiot. Oh, I don't know, you're messed up or something, gods dammit, Hiccup!"
"Snotlout, what are you raving about?" Stoick called from downstairs.
"Hiccup's done it again!"
