The Dragon Whisperer

Dawn shined on the ash-covered village of Berk, the grey clouds raining flakes of black and white. The Berkians walked into the ruins of their village, piles of grey littering the ground, the last few fires burning out. The few dragons still there helped them carry the supplies they had brought with them.

Stoick looked around at what was once his village, his eyes wide as he took in the devastation. He almost couldn't believe it. The village was all but gone. The only thing left of it was the Great Hall, and only that because it was built into the mountain with two massive doors that mostly shielded it. Valka walked up next to him, Astrid limping next to her.

"Where's Hiccup?" Astrid asked, concern filling her voice.

Stoick didn't know how to answer that. Astrid had said he and the dragon had fallen into the fires. If that was true, they could most likely be dead. He hoped it wasn't. His son had to be here somewhere, probably waiting amidst the ash-covered ground, waiting for the Berkians to come back. He hoped that's what it was.

"We need to find him, and Toothless," Astrid said, taking a single step away from Valka before falling on the ground.

"Astrid, careful, you'll make your injury worse," Valka said, picking the young girl back up.

"I don't care! We have to find him," Astrid shouted, pushing the hand away and trying to stand on her uninjured leg.

Stormfly limped up. "I'll take you," she offered. "I can't fly, but I can still walk. Let me help you find your mate."

Astrid clambered onto Stormfly with Valka's help. "Thanks girl," she said, patting the Nadder's neck.

Valka whistled and Cloudjumper came over. She leapt onto her dragon's back, ready to take off.

"Wait, I'm coming too," Stoick said. "My son's out there. I have to find him."

Valka held her hand out, and Stoick climbed onto the larger dragon's back, who struggled against the weight on his back. "Ugh, no wonder he's called Stoick the 'Vast'," Cloudjumper said. "I don't think I can fly with him on my back. I'm still tired."

"Find our son, please," Valka pleaded. Cloudjumper started running into the village, hoping to find his friend's offspring.

Astrid pulled out Hiccup's dagger and held in front of Stormfly's nose, hoping she would be able to find Hiccup faster this way. "Find him, please."

Stormfly smelled the dagger, picking up Hiccup's unique scent from it, then running off to find the human it belonged too. Astrid didn't even hear the other riders following, for they too were worried about Hiccup, though not to the same extent as Astrid.

She wasn't sure how long they searched for, as Stormfly kept going in circles trying to follow the trail. Eventually, Astrid spotted something. It was difficult to make out in the grey air, but the small black object she saw looked an awful lot like Toothless. She pointed it out to her dragon, who ran closer. When Astrid could definitely tell it was Toothless, she shouted out for Stoick and Valka, and Cloudjumper came running over. Stormfly stopped a few feet away, allowing Astrid to dismount, though she fell on the ground again. She pulled herself off the ground and looked up. Toothless was lying on the ground, his wings curled around him. But his saddled and fin were destroyed. And Hiccup was nowhere to be found.

"Hiccup!" Stoick jumped to the ground and ran over, but stopped when he realized it was just Toothless, without Hiccup.

"Hiccup?" Valka said quietly as she leapt down.

Astrid couldn't believe this was true. Was Hiccup… dead? "No," she whimpered.

Stoick fell to a knee as he realized his son was dead. "Oh, son, I did this," he said quietly.

Stormfly nuzzled her rider as tears began to fall down her cheeks. She didn't bother holding them back this time. Astrid could hear others gathering behind them and knew it was the rest of the village. She could also hear a few wing flaps and knew other dragons were nearby. She didn't care if everyone saw her like this. She couldn't think of anything other than that Hiccup was dead. "He promised, he promised…" she whimpered.

Toothless stirred and opened his green eyes. He looked up at those closest, his eyes going between the humans and the dragons gathered. He looked over at Valka, who was crying as well.

"I'm… sorry," he said.

"Oh son, I'm so sorry," Stoick whimpered.

Toothless looked over, read the devastated look in the large human's eyes, and realized what he meant. "You think…" He rolled onto his side and uncurled his wing, revealing…

"Hiccup!" Stoick shouted as he ran forward, grabbing his son from the dragon's curled legs, cradling his child. He held him, placing a hand to his skin, which was scorching hot. So he threw his helmet off, and placed his ear to Hiccup's chest as Astrid and Valka rushed over. Stoick could hear the rhythmic thump of his son's heart. "He's alive!" he said, voice breaking. "My gods, you brought him back alive!"

Toothless nodded. "Of course I did," he said, exhausted.

Astrid was still crying, but this time they were tears of joy. Hiccup wasn't dead. She cupped his head as she sat up, kissing his forehead as she did. Valka knelt down next to her, stroking her son's face. The entire village was cheering when they heard Stoick's words. The dragons were also letting out roars and jets of flame in happiness, but only Astrid and Valka understood their words.

Stoick placed one of his hands on Toothless' face as the dragon laid his head down. "Thank you for saving my son," he said, and Toothless knew he meant every word.

"Well, you know. Most of him," Gobber said as he walked up. He gestured down to Hiccup's leg, and the trio gasped as they saw what had happened. Toothless squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered.

"Thor, what happened?" Stoick asked no one. Hiccup's boot had been torn to shreds, and there was a very clear bite mark on the lower half of the leg, which seemed to have been dragged over it, tearing the flesh off the bone.

"I'm sorry," Toothless repeated.

"You did this?" Astrid asked.

"It was the only way to save him," Toothless said. "I… I panicked."

Valka gently stroked the Night Fury's head. "It's alright, Toothless. You saved his life. That's what matters. We'd rather he be alive."

Toothless purred. "Thank you."

"Don't think the lad is going to be able to keep that. It looks very bad, too," Gobber said.

"He needs Goethi!" Astrid shouted.

"I'm on it!" Snotlout said as he leapt onto Hookfang. The Monstrous Nightmare took off as they went to find the village healer.

"What about you, Astrid?" Valka asked. "Your foot is pretty bad."

Astrid only just now realized her foot and lower leg hurt, but she had to push that aside. "Hiccup first."

Snotlout returned with Goethi, who looked nervous to be on the back of a dragon. When she saw Hiccup, that fear dispelled and she leapt off of Hookfang and hobbled over to the teen. She looked over the leg, examining it. Then, using her staff, she drew on the ash-coated ground. Gobber looked over the symbols, one of the few on Berk who understood her writing.

"She says the damage is bad. She wants to know exactly what happened," Gobber said.

"Toothless?" Valka asked.

"You know what I did," Toothless said.

It was clear to Valka that Toothless didn't want to say anything, so she told Goethi what had happened.

Goethi drew on the ground some more. "She says they'll need to amputate and fast. Infection will set in soon, and he's already hot, though that might be from nearly being burned alive. Regardless, it needs to be taken off, and fast," Gobber translated.

"Do we have any weapons?" Valka asked.

"The armory is toast," Gobber said, pointing to a specific pile of ash.

"We need something!" Valka shouted. "Does anyone have a weapon? A sword, spear, axe, anything?"

Astrid looked over the crowd, but no one seemed to have anything like that. They had hammers and maces, but that wouldn't help. Stormfly nudged her back.

"You still have your false claw," she said. "Would that work?"

Astrid took off her axe from her back. "This could work," she said. "What do I do?"

Goethi looked surprised before drawing on the ground. "She said the axe needs to be heated up, so the wound will be cauterized. She also says you're in no condition to help, so you need to let someone else do it," Gobber translated.

"No, it's my axe, and he's my… you know. I have to do this," Astrid said adamantly.

Goethi sighed before drawing some more. "She says fine, but you will need help, as you are hurt and you might not be stealthy enough to do it," Gobber translated. "Stealthy, what?" Goethi whacked him with her staff. "Ow! Steady. Not steady enough!" Gobber corrected.

"I'll help," Valka offered.

Astrid nodded as Stoick continued to cradle Hiccup. Cloudjumper came over and breathed a small jet of flame on the metal. Astrid raised her axe, Valka sitting next to her and holding the axe with her. Goethi smeared a line of ash on Hiccup's leg, marking the spot they needed to amputate at. "I'm sorry," Astrid whispered as she and Valka swung.

A while later, Hiccup was being carried by Stoick up the stairs to the Great Hall, while Astrid was being carried by Valka. Astrid was trying to keep her leg as steady as she could, as it hurt with each jostle. Her eyes were focused on Hiccup, who had been wrapped up in the chief's cloak. He hadn't even flinched when they swung her axe. They were being taken up to the Great Hall, as it was the only shelter left in all of Berk, and the rest of the villagers were trudging up the stairs as well, carrying what remining supplies there were, along with the wounded, and in a few cases, the dead.

Stoick shoved open one of the doors to the Great Hall, but it fell over when he did. He paid it no mind and stepped into the Great Hall. The fire pit was cold, and the place had light scorching on the entrance walls.

"We need to light the pit," Stoick said. "Can someone get that?"

Toothless walked up and fired a small plasma blast into the pit, igniting it. "There. All done." Astrid could tell he was smirking as he said that.

Stoick walked over to the other side of the pit, standing up one of the overturned tables and laying his son down on the flat surface, laying his cloak over him.

Valka stood next to the table and let Astrid sit down on the bench. She ran her hand through Hiccup's auburn hair. He didn't react to that. She gently kissed him, but he didn't kiss back. "Wake up, please," she pleaded.

Goethi came up and did an examination of Hiccup, shoving Astrid aside so she could get a better look at him. She pulled up the fur cloak to look at the bandage they wrapped around Hiccup's stump. Eventually, she used her staff to draw a few symbols on the floor. Gobber came up to translate. "She says Hiccup is fine, though he may start a fever soon with the amputation, and she'll have to keep an eye on the stump to make sure it heals fine."

"When will he wake up?" Astrid asked.

Goethi etched a few more symbols. "She doesn't know. She isn't sure why he's unconscious in the first place, but for now, it's best to let him lie and recover. He'll wake up when he's ready." Goethi then drew a few more symbols. "Now she wants to examine you, Astrid. She needs to look at your leg."

Astrid sighed. Normally, she would brush it off and call it a scratch, but her leg hurt and she had felt it get crushed. She turned around on the bench so her right leg was visible. Goethi slowly took the boot off, but Astrid had to grit her teeth to suppress a scream. Goethi then lightly tapped at the foot, which Astrid tried hard not to look at. She could feel how bad it was, she didn't want to see what had happened to her own leg.

Eventually, Goethi started drawing more symbols on the floor. "She says the foot has been badly crushed, along with the ankle. She wants to know what exactly happened."

"The Red Death," Astrid answered. "She swung her tail at me, so Stormfly tried to shield me with her wing, but she couldn't protect my foot."

Goethi etched a few more symbols. "Infection has already set in, and it seems to be climbing up the leg. It needs to be taken off to save your life."

Astrid froze at that. She was scared to lose a limb, as it would mean she wouldn't be as great a warrior as she wanted to be. She also glanced at Hiccup, wondering what he would think when he saw her missing appendage.

Stormfly gently nuzzled Astrid, knowing what was concerning the girl. "Hey, he won't care. He'll have to live without part of his leg, so he'll accept you for losing one as well. You two love each other too much to be torn apart by that. And he'd rather have you down a leg than not have you at all."

Astrid smiled at the words. "Okay."

Goethi etched a few symbols on the floor, which were apparently orders to Gobber. He ran off and eventually returned with some herbs.

"What's that for?" Astrid asked.

Goethi drew a few symbols. "It's to knock you out so she can amputate."

"C-can't I be awake when you do it?" Astrid asked.

"No," Gobber said, not translating this time. "The shock could kill you. Trust me, it's better if you're out when we do it."

Astrid didn't argue. Gobber had already lost two limbs, so he knew what he was talking about. "Okay," she said just loud enough for the others to hear. Goethi made the potion and gave it to Astrid, who drank it. She set the cup aside and Valka made to leave, but Astrid grabber her hand. "Wait," she said. "When it's done, can you lay me next to Hiccup?"

Valka gently nodded. "Of course."

"Thanks," Astrid said, her vision starting to grow fuzzy.

"You really care for him," Stoick said.

"Of course," Astrid said, her speech starting to slur. "I love him, juss as he loves me…" She laid down as her vision blurred. "And there shoul alwas be a Hiccup and Asrid, alwas…"

Valka picked up Astrid and laid her down next to Hiccup, throwing the fur cloak over them both. The procedure hadn't taken very long, but because of the strength of the potion Goethi had given her, she would be out for quite some time.

"She'll be alright," Cloudjumper said. "She'll figure out her life down a leg and she'll have Hiccup to help out. I mean, just look at that one." He gestured over to Gobber. "He lost two limbs and he took on the Red Death anyways."

Valka chuckled at that. She knew he was trying to cheer her up. She lightly rubbed his snout as a way of saying thanks. She walked over to Stormfly. "Alright, let me look at your wing."

Stormfly held it out but couldn't stretch it all the way without pain. She lightly squawked at the pain, which startled several other Vikings. Valka ran her expert hands over the wing, trying to see what was wrong. It didn't look broken, though a few of the bones had been dislocated. She lightly tapped each of them, testing Stormfly's reaction to each one to test for a break.

"You sure it's a good idea to be doing that to it?" Gobber asked. "What if she attacks you?"

"She won't do that," Valka said. "She knows that the less she struggles the quicker this will end." She finished her examination. "Alright. It doesn't seem like there's anything too bad, just some dislocated bones and probably a few fractures. You won't be flying until those heal. I'll also need to make a splint to keep the wing in place while it heals. I'll need some logs and rope."

Stormfly folded her wing back up as Valka went over to Stoick, who was watching both Hiccup and Astrid sleep. "I need a few things to help Stormfly," she said to the chief.

Stoick looked up. "Who?"

"Astrid's dragon," Valka answered, gesturing to the Nadder. "I need to make a splint so the wing can heal properly."

"We need to help the villagers first," Stoick said.

"Astrid will be devastated if Stormfly can't fly again," Valka said. "She loves her dragon almost as much as she loves Hiccup."

Stoick sighed. "I'll see what I can get. But perhaps you could tell me how you know our son so well, why you came back with a dragon, and how you survived your abduction all those years ago."

Valka did want to tell Stoick, but she glanced back at Stormfly and remembered that the Bewilderbeast was still unconscious. "Later. There are other things that need to be done first."

Stoick rubbed his face with his hand. "Very well. But I will want to know what's going on, Val."

"And I will tell you everything, but we need to take care of everyone first," Valka reminded.

Stoick turned to face the rest of his people, barking orders and making sleeping arrangements. That was one thing Valka had missed all these years. She glanced back at her son and his girlfriend, watching them sleep together for a moment before leaving to get to work. There was a lot to be done. That was for sure.

End of Chapter 27