Chapter Twenty-Two: Running Out of Time
Astrid woke up to the feeling of something slimy on her hand. She groaned and cracked her blue eyes open and saw Toothless' tongue licking her hand. She jerked her hand away and frowned at the Night Fury.
"I see why Hiccup hates it when you give him dragon kisses," said Astrid. She flicked the drool off her hand and a lot of it still remained.
"This really doesn't wash out!" she exclaimed, and Toothless grumbled with laughter at her shocked expression.
Astrid shook her head. She would never laugh at Hiccup for getting drenched in Toothless' spit again. The Hofferson looked around and saw light pouring out of the door of the Great Hall. It was morning. She also realized that Hiccup was gone.
"Where's Hiccup?" asked Astrid, worry lacing her voice. Toothless gestured to the door of the Great Hall and Astrid understood. The healers must've moved Hiccup back to his house and that's why Toothless woke her up. The Hofferson girl mounted the Night Fury and the two made their way to the Haddock Hut. Astrid went inside without even knocking, but still gave a polite hello to Stoick on her way up to Hiccup's loft. A healer was currently examining him.
"Hello," she said once she spotted Astrid.
"Hi," said Astrid. She looked toward Hiccup. "How is he?"
The healer moved her head in a so-so motion, her wavy brown hair waving with it. "He's doing okay. I'm Dalla by the way."
"Astrid," said Astrid. "I'm a friend of Hiccup's."
Toothless snorted from behind her. Were they going to address the Night Fury in the room or what?
"Oh! And this is Hiccup's friend, Toothless," said Astrid. Toothless walked up to Hiccup's bedside and Dalla acted like it was everyday that one would see a Night Fury. She gave Toothless a pat on the head and Astrid was impressed by her calmness.
"Is Hiccup going to be okay?" Astrid asked.
"I don't know," said Dalla. "He's been unconscious for four days and his fever isn't going down. His wound is pretty infected to and—-"
"ASTRID!" came a shout from downstairs. Astrid could hear heavy footsteps pounding their way up the stairs and Fishlegs entered Hiccup's room. He was holding a handful of papers and once he reached the top of the stairs, he placed his hands on his knees and panted.
"I ran all the way from my house to this house," said Fishlegs in between breaths. "I found something really important!"
"What is it?" asked Astrid. Dalla looked at Fishlegs curiously as well.
"Is this about Hiccup's illness?" asked Dalla.
Astrid nodded. "Yes. We've been trying to figure out what it is."
Dalla nodded, impressed. She then turned to Fishlegs giving the Ingerman her attention. "What did you find? Any information would be helpful."
Fishlegs shuffled through his notes until he came across the one he was looking for and cleared his throat. "Meatlug and I have been studying the strange purple substance that has been leaking from the dagger for over twelve hours. We didn't sleep, we didn't eat, but it was all worth it in the end."
"Fishlegs, what does Hiccup have?" asked Astrid.
"He has a super rare disease called Detyocis," said Fishlegs. "Its symptoms include fever, sweating, coughing, and the victim may find themselves going in and out of consciousness."
"Hiccup did seem aware that he was being taken to the Great Hall when Toothless and I took him there after the battle," said Astrid. "What else did you find?"
Fishlegs bit his lower lip. "No one has had Detyocis for 400 centuries. I did some extra digging and found that there is a cure, but it's really old and it may not work."
Astrid and Toothless brightened. "Really? What is it?
"We already have most of the ingredients, but the last one is close to extinction. Actually, there's only one left out there." said Fishlegs.
"What's the last ingredient?" asked Astrid.
"A flower petal from a healpetal," said Fishlegs. "And I'm pretty, I know who may have it."
Astrid frowned. "Ingvar."
Fishlegs nodded. "Ingvar is the only one who has the last ingredient, and we need to get it fast."
"And may I ask why?" Dalla asked, but as an expert in healing, she already knew what was coming.
Fishlegs mumbled something inaudible and Astrid could feel worry build up inside her.
"Fishlegs...why do we need to hurry?" the Hofferson asked slowly.
Fishlegs looked up at her. "If we don't get the cure before sunrise tomorrow, Hiccup is going to die the next morning."
…
Astrid paced back and forth. She and the Riders were trying to come up with a plan to get the healpetal from Ingvar. The Riders had already checked Ingvar's ship, but nothing floral related was on it. Astrid sighed and leaned against the wall.
"Anyone have any ideas?" the Hofferson asked.
"I have one!" said Tuffnut excitedly. "We let him out."
"Are you kidding me?" exclaimed Snotlout.
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" asked Tuffnut. The Thorston continued. "We let him out, and then we interrogate him so hard that he gives up the healpetal. Simple."
"We can't do that," said Fishlegs. "The point of interrogation is to get someone to admit something. We're trying to get the healpetal from Ingvar without any trouble."
"Why don't we just steal it from him?" asked Ruffnut.
"That's what we're planning to do!" shouted Astrid exasperatedly. She sighed again. The twins were hopeless.
"Why don't we try to make a trade with him?" suggested Snotlout.
"What could we give him?" asked Astrid. "And please don't say Berk's gold."
"I wasn't going to say that," said Snoltout. "We can just make a fake healpetal and give it to him in trade for the one he has."
"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't fall for that. Ingvar's smart," said Fishlegs.
"Not as smart as Viggo thought," said Tuffnut. "His name isn't even cool."
"How did he earn his name anyway?" Ruffnut said. "It's worse than Alvin."
"Agreed, sister," said Tuffnut.
The twins talked about how Ingvar could've earned his name and Snotlout and Fishlegs argued about how Snotlout's plan wouldn't work. Astrid pinched the bridge of her nose. They were her best friends, yes, but sometimes she wished she could push them all over the edge of a cliff.
Astrid stood there, deep in thought thinking of a way they could get the healpetal from Ingvar. Fishlegs had said that there was only one left in the entire archipelago, meaning that they only had one chance to save Hiccup before tomorrow's dawn. She was worried for her Dragon Boy, but she covered up her worry and focused on coming up with a plan.
Come on...think! thought Astrid. What would Hiccup do?
Hiccup. Astrid missed him so much. The thought of him laying on his bed motionless, unmoving made her feel terrible on the inside. Hiccup didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve it all. And the thought that someone would go out of their way to come and hurt Hiccup when he did nothing to them made Astrid boil with rage. But she couldn't get angry now. She had to help Hiccup.
Astrid began to pace. She found that pacing actually helped her focus her train of thought. She'd seen Hiccup pace several times before and he would always come up with a plan a few minutes after. Astrid turned on her heel and walked left, then turned around and walked right, and then repeated the process and continued to think. She blocked out all noise and focused on trying to come up with a plan.
First, they'd need a way to distract Ingvar to get a hold of the healpetal. Astrid guessed that it was probably inside one of the pouches he had on his belt. Astrid knew that getting the healpetal would be a challenge. The Riders needed to distract him long enough to grab hold of all three without Ingvar noticing. Astrid wasn't a pickpocket, but she knew two people who were.
"Ruff, Tuff, remember when we were kids and how you'd steal stuff from our pockets all the time?" asked Astrid.
Ruffnut laughed. "Yeah! I remember we even managed to get Snotlout's belt once and then his pants fell down—-"
"We are NOT going to talk about that horrible day!" shouted Snotlout as he pointed a finger in their direction. The twins only continued to cackle.
"They stole my favorite notebook once without me noticing and I haven't seen it since," said Fishlegs.
"And they stole my dragon tooth when I was nine," said Astrid as she rolled her eyes at the thought of actually being pickpocketed by the twins. "Do you guys think you can steal the pouches on Ingvar's belt?"
Tuffnut crossed his arms, an impish smile on his face. "Is a Night Fury the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself? We could take his whole belt if we wanted to!"
"Don't take his belt," said Astrid. "Just get the pouches without him noticing." Now all she needed to do was come up with a distraction, but luckily, she already knew what she was going to do to distract Ingvar.
"Okay, here's the plan," said Astrid. "Ruff, Tuff, you're going to steal the pouches on Ingvar's belt one at a time so he doesn't notice that something is wrong. Make sure to check each one that you take thoroughly in case if the healpetal flower is actually just a petal."
"And what's the distraction," asked Fishlegs. Astrid's eyes narrowed.
"We're going to challenge him to a fight," said Astrid. "That should keep him distracted long enough for the twins to grab the pouches."
"Wait. By we, you mean all of us?" asked Snotlout as he gestured to Fishlegs, himself, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Astrid.
"There isn't a me in we," said Astrid as she crossed her arms. "Fishlegs, you, and I will be doing most of the fighting. Ruffnut and Tuffnut will be too busy snatching the pouches."
"So we actually have to fight?" asked Fishlegs, his eyes widening.
"Yes," said Astrid. "It was just me he was fighting off, he would notice Ruffnut and Tuffnut taking his stuff. We all need to be in the ring."
Snotlout sighed. "Okay, fine."
"Glad we all agree," said Astrid. "Let's go and challenge Ingvar now."
