Hiccup and The Wolf
2. Getting Patched Up
Hiccup held in a groan of pain as Gothi cleaned his wounds. Somehow the tiny medicine woman had been waiting for them. Even though her hut was much higher up than the rest of the village she always seemed to know what was going on.
Gothi was careful with the exposed wound but still used a firm hand. The cleaning was done, Hiccup's ruined tunic lay in a small heap near the entrance. He wore a short sleeved, deep green tunic Gothi had loaned him. She kept a few odd pieces of clothing in different sizes for cases where the clothing of the injured or sick person were beyond hope of saving.
Stoick leaned closer and examined the cuts.
"Those have a chance of leaving some impressive scars son." He said almost proudly. Hiccup let out a small laugh despite his discomfort.
"Yeah, the ladies love a good scar." He replied. His father ruffled his hair slightly as Gothi prepared the dressing for Hiccup's arm. She slathered a strong herbal smelling paste on his cuts, making sure every bit of hurt skin was covered.
Gothi skillfully wrapped Hiccup's arm up in clean strips of cloth. Once finished she handed Stoick a small cloth bag that contained herbs to be brewed into tea for pain and infection prevention.
His arm was incredibly sore but his mind was clear, Hiccup stood and thanked Gothi. She gave him her old lady grin and shooed him and Stoick out the door.
Skullcrusher ambled over to his rider and his son when they exited Gothi's hut.
"Hey Skullcrusher, thanks for getting me here so quickly." Hiccup said fondly to the Rumblehorn. The multicolored dragon pushed his head into Hiccup's good hand for a quick head scratch, letting out a small rumbling growl of affection for this skinny human.
"Toothless is probably going mad with worry Hiccup, lets get you back down to him. Also, we have a hunt to organize." Stoick told his son while climbing into his saddle. Hiccup was a little taken aback and paused for a moment before mounting Skullcrusher.
They headed straight for their hut, where Toothless could be seen sitting and waiting, a strange look on his face.
"What do you mean a hunt? Are you thinking of killing the wolf?" Hiccup asked his dad, uncertainty clouding his words.
Stoick scoffed at the idea of NOT taking revenge.
"It invaded our space son, and if you had been out there alone, or Toothless had been a few seconds late in chasing it off, well, it probably would have killed you." His voice was stern, but it wavered just a tad at the end of his sentence.
They landed and Stoick dismounted, followed by Hiccup who was immediately wrapped up in a scaley hug by Toothless.
"Hey bud, I'm fine, really, Gothi fixed me right up." Hiccup reassured his dragon, he wiggled away enough to offer Toothless his arm. Toothless sniffed it softly but throughly, he let out a small sneeze at the strong medicinal smell.
"Not a great smell for your sensitive nose huh Toothless?" Letting out a chuckle Hiccup leaned into Toothless's neck and relaxed for the first time in what felt like hours.
The sun was rising and warmed his back pleasantly.
~TBC~