Chapter Seven: Flower Finders
Of all the ingredients that a cure had to be made of, the flower had to be the hardest item to find. Hiccup wasn't a botany expert, but he still had enough knowledge on plants to be able to identify which was which. Hiccup knew what a wrein flower looked like. It was a pure, silvery white with a dark green stem and often grew in caves. The hard part was finding the dragon wing shaped island that it was located on. The Riders had been flying for almost two hours and there was no sign of said island.
"Are we there yet?" asked Snotlout from behind. It was about the tenth time he had asked the question. The last time he asked was three minutes ago.
"Does it look like we're there yet?" snapped Astrid.
"Sorry, yeesh. It's just so boring that we're just flying aimlessly toward nothing," said Snotlout.
"I actually have to agree with him," Fishlegs said with a sigh. "Do the notes say anything about where this flower is located?"
"Like I told you before, the answer is no," said Ruffnut. "All it says is that the flower is on a dragon wings shaped island. Period."
"That means that's all it says," said Tuffnut.
"We know what period means," said Astrid. "Hand me that paper. Maybe you aren't looking hard enough."
"Excuse me, I think my eyes are perfectly fine," said Ruffnut with a frown, but she handed over the Inyitis cure notes anyway. Astrid took them from her hand and told Stormfly to keep steady as she read.
Hiccup was in the font and was currently scanning the horizon for anything that would lead them to the dragon wing shaped island. He and Toothless had picked up the habit of flying beyond berk and charting new islands looking for new dragons. Through all of their exploits, they never came across an island that was shaped like a dragon wing. Hiccup sighed and Toothless, sensing his disappointment, warbled in a way to try to cheer him up. Hiccup smiled lightly and patted him on the head.
"We'll find it soon, Bud," said Hiccup. "Eventually."
Astrid kept reading over the notes and then shouted. "AHA! I knew you two missed something!"
Tuffnut gasped incredulously. "That cannot be true!"
"We read the entire thing through and through!" added Ruffnut in disbelief.
Astrid rolled her eyes. "Well you did miss something you muttonheads." She told Stormfly to fly up to the front next to Hiccup. The Nadder squawked obediently and flew side by side next to Hiccup and Toothless.
"We need to head South on the back," said Astrid. "There's even a little map drawn." She glared at the twins. "How did you two miss it?"
"I recall you telling us to read the front side," said Ruffnut. "Not the back side."
Astrid shook her head. The twins were hopeless.
"Well, at least we got a clue, now!" said Hiccup enthusiastically. "Come on. We can get to this island hopefully before nightfall and look for the wrein flower. Then we can spend the night there and move on to the next ingredient."
The Riders nodded in agreement and followed the chief's heir toward the southern direction. After a while, an island came into view.
"Land ho!" shouted Tuffnut. "We have found thy island!"
"We probably would have found it sooner if you guys read the back!" Astrid said back.
"Come on, you guys!" said Hiccup. "Let's land and see what we can find."
The Dragon Riders landed on the tip of the dragon wing. They dismounted their dragons and looked around. Hiccup saw a few dragons flying in the air above and a few terrors running through the forests, but nothing too dangerous was there that he and the Riders couldn't handle.
"Okay, we'll search in groups," said Hiccup. "Snotlout, Fishlegs, you check the west side of the island. Ruff, Tuff, the north side, and Astrid and I will check around here. Meet back here before sundown and if you find anything, dragon call."
"Flower finders unite!" shouted Tuffnut, and he and Ruffnut bonked heads.
"You know, that actually has a nice ring to it," said Snotlout as he mounted Hookfang.
"You're kidding, right?" asked Fishlegs. The two of them then flew off to their assigned location while the twins flew off in the other direction. Once they were gone, Hiccup turned to Astrid.
"So, shall we get looking?" asked Hiccup. Astrid patted his shoulder.
"Always," she responded. "Now let's get to it." Then she added, "Flower Finders unite!"
Hiccup shook his head. "Oh Thor…"
…
Hiccup, Astrid, and their dragons walked through the forest, keeping their eyes peeled for white sticking out of the green, brown, and other natural colors. They didn't find anything, though, but Hiccup and Astrid weren't the ones who gave up so easily.
"Didn't you say that the wrein flower is mostly found in caves?" asked Astrid.
"Oh, yeah!" said Hiccup. "Come on, let's see if we can find a cave somewhere around here.
The dragons helped out by sniffing around for any cave-like scents while Hiccup and Astrid relied on their sight. Both of them were wondering if the other Dragon Riders had found anything.
"Hiccup! I think I found something!" shouted Astrid from afar. Hiccup ranup to her and the viking girl pointed ahead. There was a small cave up ahead, and it looked deep enough to contain something inside it.
"Nice job, Astrid," said Hiccup. "Let's take a look inside."
The two stood at the mouth of the cave and Hiccup picked up a stick and asked Toothless to light it. The cave was incredibly dark, almost pitch black, and it was deeper than Hiccup had thought it would be.
Astrid looked up at the sky. The clouds were a light pink with hues of orange woven through them. "We should hurry. It's already evening."
Hiccup nodded and he and Astrid walked into the cave, their dragons following behind them. It was dark but Hiccup's torch gave off enough light to see ahead. Hiccup and Astrid could hear the sound of water dripping from above, and the cave was very wide. Hiccup and Astrid pressed on.
"There doesn't seem to be anything here," said Astrid after a while. She looked around. "Maybe this isn't the right cave."
"It has to be," said Hiccup. "The others hadn't reported anything back so they must have not found anything. This has to be the right cave."
Astrid shrugged and began to look around once again. She tripped on a stone and cried when she felt herself rolling down a rocky hill. The ground wasn't super hard, but hard enough to make her grunt when she hit the ground.
"Astrid? Are you okay?" asked Hiccup.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Astrid replied. She stood up and brushed herself off and picked up her axe. "I think you might want to come down here!"
Hiccup, Toothless, and Stormfly slid down and eventually came to where Astrid was standing. The blonde pointed down a tunnel.
"That direction looks promising," said Astrid.
"A dark, creepy looking tunnel looks promising?" said Hiccup. He shook his head. "It does look very pleasant. Maybe whatever's at the end will give us some dinner." he added sarcastically.
Astrid punched him. "Shut up. But seriously, look," she picked up a petal from the ground and held it up. It was white.
"Wow, you really have all the answers today," said Hiccup.
"Eh, I had to do something during the slow, boring time on Berk," she said. "Observing was one of them. It's kind of weird noticing all of these things all of a sudden."
"You get used to it," said Hiccup. He had done quite the amount of observing himself back when he was looked down upon by the other Berkians. Hiccup was an observant person, and his observational skills often came in handy during the Rider's adventures.
Astrid patted his shoulder and then picked up her axe from the ground. She sheathed it to her back and looked down the tunnel once again. "Shall we continue?"
Hiccup bowed playfully. "After you, milady!"
Astrid laughed and then began to walk down the tunnel with Stormfly following close behind. Hiccup and Toothless followed them inside.
"We should probably pick up the pace," said Astrid.
"Yeah, we don't want to miss meeting up with the others," said Hiccup. He and Astrid increased their speed and silently declared a race between each other. Astrid pushed herself finto Hiccup and took the lead. Hiccup put on a competitive smile and ran ahead of Astrid, hiis prosthetic clicking loudly in the dark. Astrid managed to catch up to him and the two were side by side as they ran. Their dragons watched in amusement.
Hiccup once again found himself in first place but skidded to a stop when the path they were taking split down the middle. A large chasm laid before him, Astrid, and their dragons.
"How are we going to get across?" asked Astrid. "The cave is too narrow to fly through."
"It looks jumpable," said Hiccup. He took a few steps back and was about to run forward when Astrid grabbed his wrist.
"Are you crazy?!" she asked.
"Is crazy really the only word people are going to define me with today?" Hiccup asked no one in particular.
"Hiccup, there has to be another way," said Astrid. "Jumping that crevasse way is risky."
"We don't have time," said Hiccup. "We need to get over there, find the flower, and then get out."
Astrid sighed and gripped his hand. "Okay. But we do this together."
Hiccup smiled and the two then faced the crevasse once again.
"On three," said Hiccup.
"Can we do after?" asked Astrid. "You know, just to change things up a bit?"
"Does it matter?" asked Hiccup.
Astrid shrugged. "I mean, it doesn't, but still."
Hiccup sighed. "Okay, after three." He turned to the dragons. "You guys stay here in case anything happens."
Toothless and Stormfly nodded, although reluctantly as they didn't want to leave their Rider's sides. Hiccup and Astrid turned back around and Hiccup began the countdown.
"One...two….three!" he and Astrid ran and then jumped over the chasm and landed safely on the other side. They smiled at each other.
"That went well," said Astrid. "Now let's hurry."
Hiccup and Astrid ran down the rest of the way and finally came to where the wrien flowers were. They both picked up a few flowers and tucked them into the satchel Hiccup wore.
"Okay, now let's get out of here before something bad happens," said Hiccup.
"Nothing bad is going to happen," said Astrid. But she spoke to soon. Suddenly, the cave began to shake.
"I jinxed it…" said Astrid. "Come on, let's go!"
Hiccup and Astrid ran out of the place where the flowers are residing and jumped over the chasm once again. The dragons were waiting at the tunnel that led back to the entrance.
"We'll ride on our dragons!" said Hiccup. "We'll get out of here faster that way!"
Astrid nodded and hopped on Stormfly. She ushered her Nadder to run and they both began to run down the tunnel. Hiccup and Toothless followed from behind. Hiccup and Astrid shielded themselves from the rocks that were falling on top of them and hoped that they would make it out in time.
"I see the exit!" shouted Astrid as the rumbling and crashing sound increased. The dragons leapt up the rocky slope Astrid had previously fallen down and made a beeline for the exit. But they were too late. The rocks collapsed in front of them and the dragons skidded to a stop to avoid getting hit. Astrid slipped off her dragon from the sudden halting and fell off. A loose rock from above fell down and would have landed on top of her if Hiccup hadn't pushed her out of the way. Unfortunately for the young viking, the rock landed on his good leg and Hiccup let out a pained scream.
"Oh my gods, Hiccup!" cried Astrid. She pushed her axe underneath the rock and used it as a lever to pry the rock of his leg. Hiccup hissed in pain and Astrid bent down to get a better look at the injury.
"It isn't bad...is it?" asked Hiccup in a strained voice.
Astrid bit her lower lip. "It's not...so bad."
"You hesitated," said Hiccup.
Astrid shook her head. "Okay, it's bad." she said. She looked at the bloodstained pant leg and gestured to Stormfly to come over. Astrid rummaged through her saddlebag and pulled out a roll of gauze. She pulled off Hiccup's boot and rolled up the pant leg and hissed.
"Oh, okay, it's worse than I thought," said Astrid.
"Thank you for bringing my hopes up," said Hiccup, his voice laced with sarcasm.
Astrid wrapped up his leg and placed the remaining gauze back in her bag. She rolled the pant leg back down and handed Hiccup his boot back, which he slid back on carefully.
"Do you think you can stand?" asked Astrid.
"Uh…" Hiccup stood up on his prosthetic leg and placed his foot down on the ground. He chewed his lip.
"Um...yeah! I think I can walk." he said.
Astrid crossed her arms. "Don't lie to me."
Hiccup sighed and slid back down on the ground. "Okay, fine. It hurts. It hurts a lot."
Astrid sat down next to him. "Hopefully the others have already set up camp. We'll stay here for now and bust this stone wall down tomorrow."
"But we have to get out of here now," said Hiccup. "We'll be behind schedule."
"The schedule doesn't matter when you're injured," said Astrid. She laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We'll find the rest of the ingredients, okay? Maybe your leg will feel better in the morning."
Hiccup sighed. "I guess you're right."
The dragons sat around their riders to keep them warm. Astrid laid her head on top of Hiccup and played with his braids with her hand. Hiccup didn't like them, but he tolerated them since Astrid was his girlfriend. The two eventually fell asleep in each other's embrace, hoping that tomorrow things would look up.
Author's Note: I had to add some Hiccstrid because...Hiccstrid. =)
Until the next chapter!
-BeyondTheMoon1203
