They approached the river with a great deal of caution. Hiccup remembered Toothless' reaction to the eel in his food that second day and that one was dead and smoked, ready for Vikings to eat. Hiccup did not want to know what would happen if the dragons came across a live eel.
A wet plop had them looking to the river. Hiccup frowned. The water moved slowly, calmly. Much like the Flightmare's river that split Berk's interior. This river's surface did not even ripple. They walked on. More wet plops had them stopping. At Hiccup's gesture, Sharpshot hopped off his back. Hiccup edged closer to the river. He peered down and gasped. More eels than Hiccup had ever seen swam near to the bottom, rooting into the nooks and crannies around them.
Hiccup lifted his shield, flipping the switch near his thumb. The center spike moved aside. Hiccup attached a grabble, hearing it click into the activator. He aimed at the river. His gaze spotted a solid red eel shifting through some plant growing in mud. Hiccup closed his eyes for a second, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. His eyes opened and on his second intake of air he tapped the button by his first finger on his exhale. The grapple shot out.
A conversation with Mulch about fishing and his shield, had Hiccup modifying some of his grapples. Instead of a three-pronged hook designed to wrap around its target and hold fast upon itself, this grapple had a razor-sharp duel point and hooked barb. The barb would catch into whatever it was thrown at and hold within flesh. Hiccup told Gobber he would never use this version except for fishing for himself and others. He still did not know why Gobber smiled softly and shook his head at that statement.
The barb stuck fast. The eel twitched. Thrashed. Hiccup went to step back as he began reeling the line in. His metal leg hit mud. His leg went out. He went towards the water. The shield got tossed another direction. He had the presence of mind to spin. His back hit water. The eels scattered. Hiccup shook himself. Looked up. One red eel, as long as his leg and as big around as his dad's wrist, stared down at him. A mouth full of teeth that looked like daggers opened. It lunged. Toothless appeared. The eel's head and much of its body disappeared into the Night Fury's mouth. Hiccup blinked but grabbed Toothless' flying rig. Toothless exploded from the water.
They stopped on the grass next to the river. Hiccup sat up, coughing water. He looked towards Toothless. His brother's throat spasmed and Hiccup heard a fear-filled whine. Hiccup shifted to his knees, reaching out for Toothless. The dragon backed away a step.
"Toothless," Hiccup began, getting to his feet and waking towards his brother. Toothless backed away again, shifting as if he was thinking of running off. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
To Hiccup's horror, Toothless' eyes became slits. His mouth opened and a blood red flame built in the dragon's throat. Before Hiccup could blink, black wings wrapped around him. He heard dragon fire. Moondust hissed. Sharpshot, tucked behind Hiccup's legs, jerked and whined. Heard thumping pawsteps as if something heavy ran away. Then silence.
The wings retreated. Toothless was gone. Smoke curled into the air from a large burn mark to the right of Hiccup, Sharpshot, and Moondust. Hiccup, panicked, spun in a circle, trying to find his brother. He spied paw prints, recognizing them as Toothless'. He went to run after Toothless. Moondust standing in his way stopped him.
"Move," Hiccup cried. "I have to find Toothless!"
Moondust jerked. Her sensing lobes flatten against her head. She whined.
[Alpha, Toothless is sick.]
"All the more reason to find him! Move!"
Moondust pawed the ground, hissing. Hiccup blinked, realizing that that thing within him did not rise to coat his words and add its power. He frowned. The thing within him purred, radiating a calmness. Moondust's sensing lobes lifted.
[Only a few dragons can safely eat eels. We Wind-shriekers aren't one of those dragons. Eels cause us to have strong and near uncontrollable breath attacks as well causing our ears to hear everything really loudly to the point it disorients us. Disorients us enough we can't tell who are what is around us. Everything becomes a threat to us then. Toothless cannot stop his attacks and he barely had the strength to aim away from you.]
Hiccup hissed. He wanted to go after his brother. He needed to go after his brother, yet he knew that it would destroy Toothless if his illness caused Hiccup harm.
"If we get him to throw up the eel, with that cure him?" he asked.
[Yes. But we must hurry. The longer it stays the worse his attacks will become. There are other dragons here. They will not take kindly to Toothless disrupting them.]
"We need to get to Healer's Island," Hiccup said, remembering a tea Gothi had taught him when she taught him to bandage wounds.
She made him swear to never use the tea unless he had to. It was powerful enough to make whoever took it throw up whatever was on their stomach. When asked why it existed, Gothi had written that she could not be everywhere at once and sometimes a Viking ate something they were not supposed to. The tea let trusted tribe members remove whatever the Viking ate, possibly saving that Viking's life. It also gave Gothi time to reach the afflicted Viking without ending up facing a tragedy instead of a simple illness. Hiccup remembered being honored she trusted him with that knowledge. Now he found himself more in the elder's debt than he ever thought possible.
"There are some plants that grow there that we can use to get the eel out of Toothless."
Moondust lowered her head, offering her back. Hiccup's insides jerked. He had ridden other dragons before, usually Stormfly. The first time Hiccup had been racing to free his best friend and tell his father the man should have listened to him. Any other time after that, especially after Gyda's return, Hiccup noted something within him, something that was not the power in his soul, seemed to resist the mere thought of mounting another dragon. That same resistance reared its head now. Hiccup inwardly growled and climbed onto Moondust's back. Whatever that was, he would not let it keep him from saving his brother's life.
"Sharpshot, follow Toothless but keep safe. We'll be back soon. Give us until the sun hits that tall peak," he said pointing to a tall mountain on the west side of the island.
If Hiccup's calculations were correct, the time for the sun to travel that distance would be enough for him and Moondust to get to Healer Island, find the tea's ingredients, make it, and then get back to Eel Island.
"When it does, start shooting into the sky. We'll find you."
Sharpshot squawked and took off. Hiccup prayed for both of his brothers before laying down and wrapping his arms around Moondust's neck. Her wings flared and soon they were airborne and banking back to Healer Island.
Prince: Well, they are on Eel Island so…there is a good chance they will meet a few dragons they have only ever heard of but never actually seen. Hehe, all things are changed, my friend. All things.