Chapter 54
The crew rowed the ship in silence. I wished I could say the same for the old man.
"Well this is an outrage." Mildew complained. "I dug up all the flowers, I did my part."
"We're all out here because of you Mildew. If we have to put our lives at risk, then so do you." I said angrily.
"You have no proof Stoick. You can't blame me every time something goes a miss with your precious dragons." He said tauntingly.
Astrid sneered at him and looked like she was ready to tackle him. Fortunately for him, Gobber spoke up.
"Alright Stoick what's the plan?"
"Astrid, when Gobber and I secure the Scauldron's head, Sven will wedge its jaw open, we'll need you to…"
"Drain the poison into this bucket, got it, let's get started." Astrid spoke up taking command.
I beamed at her with pride. Now I knew why Hiccup had for her second in command. At least I knew that my daughter would be great leader someday, with Astrid as her second in command, I didn't think there was anything that would be able to stand up to our people. Astrid was our best solider among the youth and Hiccup was observant and very optimistic and very tactful, and had a bright creative mind and skills of leadership that I never thought would be useful. She was just full of surprises, but what I was most proud of her for was the love she held for everyone close to her. She was going to be a great chief one day.
"This is what Scauldrons eat." Astrid called out shaking me from my thoughts. "It'll draw them, to the boat." She said dumping them into the water.
Hours passed and nothing happened and some of the crew were starting to doubt that anything was coming.
"This isn't working, it was stupid idea to begin with." Mildew snapped.
Astrid balled her fists and almost lunged at him but I stopped her. "Easy Astrid, that's not why we're here."
"But that is." Gobber said looking over the side.
We all looked over and saw a enormous green figure flying under the surface under the water. We knew what it was without even having to guess.
"Scauldron." I breathed.
"I may have to change my skivvies again." Gobber said with a small tremble in his voice.
"We need to lure the Scauldron up on deck." Astrid said dumping the remaining flowers on the deck.
"Oh that's great, get on the ship where it can have at us all!" Mildew bellowed.
"Belt up Mildew! This is all your fault if you want anybody to blame, blame yourself." Astrid snapped.
"Gobber secure its neck with this!" I shouted throwing him a line. "I'll lasso its horn!"
We stood at the bow for a minute without any sign of it. "Where did it go?" Gobber asked. But that was a question that had everybody nervous. There was no telling where it was and we couldn't see anything below the surface in the dark.
Suddenly the ship was tossed in the air and everybody held on like Hel was trying to drag them to the underworld. At that moment the Scauldron poked its head over the bow of the ship. Gobber and I rushed to secure it.
"I've got the bucket." Astrid called.
"Careful Astrid, you don't want to get that venom in you!" I called to her. I didn't even want to think about how it would destroy Hiccup if she lost the one she looked to as a sister.
"Yes I know Sir, I'll be dead in twenty four hours."
Sven managed to get the barrel in his mouth but the beast crushed it in its maw. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the beast's massive tail coming in.
"Sven look out!" I called pushing him out of the way.
I was caught on the tail then thrust up against the mast. But managed to secure it and myself to the sail bar.
"Astrid, grab Stoick's line!" Gobber called to her.
Astrid dropped the bucket and moved to grab the rope.
"Pull him in, use the mast to wedge his jaw open!" I called out from above.
Astrid and Gobber managed to pull in the beast's massive head and wedge his jaw open at the mast. Mildew fortunately was already there.
"Mildew grab the bucket!" I called to him.
"Hold on, it's one thing for me to…" he tried to object.
"Grab the bucket or I'll throw you overboard myself!" I threatened.
I wasn't going to lose my daughter's life or the lives of any of the dragons because of the old man's stubborn hatred of the dragons.
Hesitantly, he picked up the bucket but before he could do anything, the Scauldron readied to fire.
"Everyone take cover!" I called.
Everyone hid behind anything that would shield them from the boiling water. The tail pulled and I was thrown into the ocean. Sven pulled me back into the boat and I saw Astrid and Gobber at the aft of the ship.
"He's gone." Astrid groaned.
"And you can bet the last place he's coming back to is this ship." Gobber said sullenly but out of breathe.
"We didn't get the venom." I said feeling defeated.
We heard a scream from behind and saw Mildew on the deck with a swollen behind.
"Yes we did." Astrid said with a grin.
"Get this poison out of me!" Mildew cried.
"Oh we will." Astrid said deviously.
We spent the next few hours rowing back to Berk. Once there, we took Mildew to the forge and got him ready for well, to have the poison 'extracted'. Gobber reached for his, 'tool' and readied for the 'extraction'.
"Wait, wait , wait, isn't there something, a little smaller you could use?" Mildew asked nervously.
"Probably." Gobber said flatly.
He then drove the 'tool' into Mildew rear. He let out a loud shriek that would have waked the dead. Gobber gave the venom to Astrid and went into the forest to scream. Of all the thi9ngs he had seen in his years, he had never seen anything as disturbing as the old man's bare behind.
Astrid and I went to Hiccup and Toothless first. Hiccup was too weak to sit up to take it herself, so I held up her head while Astrid poured a small amount of the venom into her mouth. She laid back down and started to breathe a little easier. We then gave a small amount of the poison to Toothless and then Astrid left to give the venom to the rest of the dragons.
I stayed with Hiccup and watched her only leaving to check on Thornado. I went to check on him every few minutes and was going back in when Gobber said he would watch over Hiccup.
"Relax old friend, it's gonna be okay." He said putting a hand on my shoulder.
He went inside and up to Hiccup's room. I stayed outside and watched over Thornado. I would look up at Hiccup's window every now and again waiting for some sign that she was awake.
"Dad, they're coming around." I heard from behind me.
I looked behind me and saw my daughter standing with Toothless, both looking just as healthy and well as the day they were born.
I grabbed my daughter and hugged her like she was the only thing keeping me alive.
"Dad, I can't breathe.' Hiccup groaned as I put her down.
"How are you feeling love?" she asked putting her hand on Toothless' snout.
Toothless let out a small plasma blast and lit the sky with a luminescent glow. I turned and saw Thornado up on his feet again and ready for anything.
"Thornado." I cheered putting my head against his.
Everyone and their dragons were safe. Everything was as it should be. Everyone was safe, it was a good feeling.
