Chapter Six: Off to Who Knows Where
When morning arrived, Hiccup and the Riders were immediately on their feet. They didn't know how much time they had left before they would be discovered, and they really didn't want to get caught and taken back to the dungeons. Hiccup stretched and patted Toothless on the head, then turned to Astrid, who was currently trying to pry information out of Savage. The former Outcast was obstinate, though, and Astrid was just about to knock him out again when Hiccup grabbed her wrist.
"Maybe there's another way we can get the info out of him without knocking him out again," said Hiccup. Astrid huffed and turned to Stormfly. She whistled to her dragon and the Nadder obediently walked up to her.
"Stormfly, spines," ordered Astrid. The Nadder seemed to understand and she whipped out her tail, spikes poked out in all directions and were all aimed at Savage. He gulped.
"Now, you're going to tell us what you know, or I'll have Stormfly slice you to shreds," said the blonde. She swung her axe over her shoulder. "Better get talking."
Savage sighed. "Fine. I don't know a thing."
Astrid pointed her axe at him. "Spit it out, Savage!"
"No, I'm serious! I don't know anything!" he said quickly. Stormfly growled at him.
"Are you saying that we went all this way to capture you for nothing?" shouted Snotlout. "This day just keeps getting better and better!"
"You're sure you don't know anything?" asked Hiccup, a threatening look flashed in his forest green eyes. The young viking wasn't playing.
Savage bit his lower lip. "Well...I may know one thing."
"Then spit it out already!" yelled Snotlout.
"Temper, temper," said Savage. He turned to Hiccup. "Could you untie me? These ropes are awfully tight."
"Are you serious?" said Astrid. "We are not gonna untie you."
Savage rolled his eyes. "Fine. The disease you Berkians are catching is called Inyitis. It's fast spreading, extremely contagious…"
"Uh, dude, we already know that," said Tuffnut. "Get to the juicy stuff."
"The juicy stuff?" said Savage. Then he chuckled. "Well, here's the juicy stuff. There is no cure. They're all gone."
"No cure?" repeated Hiccup in disbelief. "That can't be true."
"I'm afraid so," said Savage. "It wiped out several tribes."
"There has to be another cure," said Astrid. "We've come this far."
Hiccup glared at Savage. "How do you know so much about Inyitis?"
"We had a small outbreak back on Outcast island," said Savage. "It wasn't as bad as Berk's though."
"Then how did you manage it?" asked Fishlegs. "You must have had some sort of cure."
Savage shrugged. "A mysterious trader came with a vile that contained some sort of healing elixir. Other than that, there isn't any more cures for Inyitis."
"Everybody, huddle up," said Hiccup. The Dragon Riders huddled into a circle.
"Oh, a real huddle," said Ruffnut. "This feels so…"
"Serious," finished Tuffnut. "I like it."
"Savage says that all the cures for Inyitis are gone," said Astrid. "Our best bet is to find who gave the Outcasts that elixir and see if they have anymore."
"I agree with Astrid," said Hiccup. "It's risky, but it's worth a shot."
"What if they don't have any more?" asked Fishlegs. "We might end up going halfway across the archipelago for nothing."
"We have to try," said Hiccup. "We're not giving up just yet. Besides, if this trader guy had one elixir for Inyitis, he might have some sort of knowledge on it. He might be able to tell us how to make a new medicine."
"But what if Savage is lying?" asked Snotlout.
Astrid smiled mischievously. "Leave that to me."
…
"AH! AHH! PULL ME UP! PULL ME UP!"
"Not until you tell us if you're telling the truth!" shouted Astrid. She and Stormfly were standing at the edge of a cliff. Stormfly held Savage in her tail and was currently holding him over it. At the bottom was the ocean, but beneath the ocean, were hard, stone rocks.
"I'm telling the truth! I swear!" cried Savage.
"Are you sure?" asked Astrid. She nodded at Stormfly and the Nadder threw him into the air and let him drop and Savage screamed. Stormfly caught him again and continued to hold him over the edge.
"I'm telling the truth! Now please pull me up!" he cried. Astrid smirked, satisfied, and told Stormfly to pull up the former Outcast. When Savage was placed on the ground, he hugged the grass and Astrid rolled her eyes.
"He's telling the truth, guys," said Astrid. The Riders nodded and began to mount their dragons.
"We're taking him with us," said Hiccup.
"Oh no," said Savage. "I already told you what I know, you don't need me anymore. Just let me leave in peace and we can forget that this never happened."
Hiccup shook his head. "We're not risking anything. Besides, you still have prison time to spend." He turned to the twins. "You guys wanna give him a ride?"
The twins laughed wickedly, making Savage gulp. The Thorstons turned to Hiccup, impish smiles on their faces.
"Gladly," they said. Hiccup smiled and then turned to the other Riders.
"Let's go!" he shouted. And the Dragon Riders flew into the skies.
…
The Dragon Riders sped off to Outcast island. The last outbreak of Inyitis had been there, meaning that some information might have been collected about it and saved. The Riders first dropped Savage off at the dungeons. Several Outcasts were placed to guard him, but Savage didn't seem like he would attempt to escape anytime soon.
And as for the Dragon Hunters on the island the Riders had encountered, Hiccup made sure to tell Alvin about the whole plan to trick them into training the dragons Savage had managed to capture and several ships were sent out to capture the last of Savage's small crew.
"Now that that's taken care of," said Hiccup. "We can finally focus on what we came here for."
Hiccup and the Riders were led by Alvin to an old library where several books and papers were placed. It wasn't as fastidious as the one at the Great Hall, but there were several papers, scrolls, and books that Berk didn't have.
"Wow, who knew that the Outcasts were bookworms," said Tuffnut.
"It is pretty cool how they managed to collect all of this stuff," said Fishlegs. He gasped and then picked up a book with a dark brown cover. "I've been dying to read this!"
"We don't have time for browsing," said Hiccup. He turned to the Outcast chief and asked, "Do you have any notes about Inyitis?"
"Inyitis?" repeated Alvin. He brushed his hand through his beard. "Haven't heard of that illness in awhile."
"Savage said that you had an outbreak a few years ago," said Astrid.
"We did," said Alvin. He walked to the back of the library and pulled out a crate filled with worn papers. "This is all we got about it."
"Only a crate full?" remarked Fishlegs.
"What about the trader that brought the elixir?" asked Hiccup. "Did he have a recipe?"
"Nope," said Alvin. "He brought the cure and left as quickly as he showed up."
"What did he look like?" asked Astrid.
"He didn't look like much," said Alvin. "He wore a thick fur hood so it was hard to see his facial features. He had brown hair, though."
"That's all we have to go off of?" said Snotlout.
"Sorry, but that's all I know," said Alvin. Then he left the room, leaving the Riders with the crate of papers.
"Okay, start searching," said Astrid. The Riders dove into the pile of papers and pulled out whatever looked informative and helpful. They spent hours reading through the notes and pages, most of them were filled with what they already knew, but some included new facts about the illness, like how it spread faster in the cold. Hiccup picked up another page from the crate and began to read. His eyes were beginning to hurt but the young viking knew he had to keep reading.
"Hey! I think I found something!" said Astrid from the other side of the table. The Riders stood up and circled around her. On the paper Astrid was a picture of a bottle containing a liquid.
"That must be the elixir," said Hiccup. "What does it say?"
"It's hard to read," said Astrid as she squinted at the runes. "Whoever wrote this was in a rush. And some of the words are smudged."
"Read what you can make out," said Fishlegs.
"Or," said Ruffnut as she took the paper from Astrid's hands. "Let me read it. Tuff and I are masters at this type of thing, remember?"
No one could argue with Ruffnut's statement. The twins had proved it anyway back on the Edge when they were searching for the Buffalord when Astrid got infected with the Scourge. Ruffnut and Tuffnut whispered to each other as they read over the paper.
"Can you just read it already?!" asked Snotlout impatiently.
Ruffnut rolled his eyes. "Geez, okay." She cleared her throat. "'The cure to Inyitis is extremely rare and hard to find. The elixir seems to be made out of various ingredients, but it is hard to tell what.' Then there's a list of things that the elixr might be made from."
"Read it!" pressed Fishlegs.
Ruffnut squinted her eyes. "Err...Night Fury drool, ew. Black vine, water, petals from a wrein flower on an island shaped like a dragon wing, yellow berry, and dragon tears from a...I can't read what it says next."
Hiccup took the paper from her hands and squinted at the last line. It was completely smudged.
"Well, at least we got all of the other ingredients," said Astrid. "We'll just have to find them all before it's too late."
"But some of the stuff listed is almost gone," said Fishlegs. "So they're going to be extremely hard to find."
"Well it's a good thing we're searching on dragonback," said Hiccup. "Come on, let's clean this place up. Ruffnut, bring the list."
Ruffnut placed the list into her saddlebag and the Riders began to clean up the table. Once everything was back in place, they stepped outside and flew to the nearest sea stack.
"Let's start with the easy stuff," said Hiccup. He pulled out a small jar from his saddlebag and placed it under Toothless' mouth. The Night Fury drooled into it and when it was half full, Hiccup snapped the lid on.
"Night Fury drool, check," said Ruffnut.
"That was disgusting to watch," said Astrid. "I don't know how you get used to that."
"You don't," said Hiccup as he flicked his arms to get the drool off. "It's impossible to wash out." He hopped onto Toothless once again. "Now, before we go, is anyone feeling unwell?"
The Dragon Riders shook their heads. Hiccup nodded.
"Okay, but if any of you feel off or funny, you have to tell me and then head back to Berk immediately," said Hiccup. "We can't risk anyone getting too sick on this mission."
The Riders nodded understandingly and Hiccup looked out toward the horizon.
"Okay, then. Let's go and find this dragon wing shaped island," said Hiccup. And the Dragon Riders took off.
