Hiccup felt himself choke on the purple liquid going down his throat, but he forced it down. He felt the last drops go in his mouth and unexpectedly dropped the bottle, making it shatter by his feet. Every sound he one heard clearly became muffled like Heather's muffled screams. His legs felt week, chest felt tight and pained and his head felt bashed with an axe. His arms caught himself from falling face first to the ground, with his legs weakly keeping him up. His head spun, his body shook, and he felt himself slowly slip away into deep, deep darkness.
Astrid felt herself scream as Hiccup fell to the ground. She kicked Snotlout to hurry him up with cutting them free. By the second she was free, she heard Heather fall to the ground and watched Mildew run into the woods. Without second thoughts she ran after him.
Mildew was nothing against a shield-maiden who had trained since she was little. He was an old man with struggles to keep himself on his feet, and not to mention keep them from tripping as he ran. Astrid pushed herself to run faster, with Mildew already having a few seconds head start. The adrenaline pumped in her veins from the minute she watched Hiccup fall to the ground limp, unresponsive. She was angry with Mildew even though she had no idea what he had done to her boyfriend. All she could come to conclusion with was that it couldn't be anything good.
The old man took a short glance behind him to find the angry shields-maiden only a couple of inches from reaching him. He looked forward again and jumped over a boulder, but it slowed him down. Astrid used the boulder as an advantage and used her strength to tackle the man. She jumped and grabbed his legs once her feet connected back with the ground. The man fell flat on his face, his dagger falling out of his grip a couple of feet away. He reached out for it, but Astrid punched him hard in between his shoulder blades. Mildew groaned in pain, giving up the attempt on defending himself with a knife out of reach. Astrid grabbed his wrists roughly and pulled them behind his back while keeping him down with her knee into his spine.
"Tell me what you did to Hiccup or I'll kill you," She held him down, taking the dagger into her belt as she pushed him up from the ground and pointed the dagger at his back. They started making their way back to her friends.
"I'm not saying anything," Mildew said casually, as if it was the most normal thing coming out of his mouth. Astrid pushed away the urge of strangling the man, knowing they would need him if the healers couldn't help Hiccup. She pushed the dagger closer to his back, the tip deep, but not deep enough to break through the skin, into his spine. It could kill him slowly but surely if he decided to make a run for it.
"Listen here old man," Astrid growled. "You put the life of an innocent in danger just to get to Hiccup, and that gets great consequences. Even greater ones for threatening the heir of Berk, and I swear, if I ever get the chance to, I will kill you for hurting my boyfriend," Mildew stiffened and tried not to show, but Astrid could feel it as she kept his hands behind his back.
They reached back to her friends who were crowding around Hiccup, trying to wake him up. Astrid walked towards them, having Stormfly guard the old man along with the other dragons except one particular night fury who were too busy worrying about his rider. She knelt down beside Fishlegs who got ready to carry Hiccup up from the ground and over to Toothless.
"Have you found out anything?" Astrid asked, referring to Hiccup's state as she followed closely behind Fishlegs. Fishlegs shook his head, looking at her.
"His breathing is weak, and the same with his heart beats, but there's no explanational reason for it." Astrid nodded and jumped onto Toothless. Fishlegs carefully lifted Hiccup into her arms.
"Come on, we have to hurry back to Berk! Hiccup doesn't look all too well," Snotlout yelled, helping Heather up on Hookfang. She was still pretty shaken up about what nearly just happened.
First now did Astrid notice Hiccup's pale skin. He was indeed paler than usual, and by the state Fishlegs told her he was in, it seemed life threatening. She made sure Hiccup laid in her lap, secured in the saddle, before she ordered Stormfly to take Mildew and follow her friends from the sky while she went with Toothless by the ground. She couldn't take the chance of Toothless's tail going out of its place while she was in the air.
They made their way to the village, Toothless running the fastest he could as he sensed the weakness of his best friend. Snotlout led the others back in the sky, looking down once in a while to make sure Astrid and Toothless was still following. Even though he would never admit it, he was scared for his cousin. They have no idea what Mildew did to make him as pale as snow, with his lips turning slowly blue. Normally, he would have joked around with Mildew, but now that someone was injured, his cousin of all the people, he knew there was no room for tricks and jokes. Everything was deadly serious.
Toothless ran, trying to make it comfortable for them at the same time, up the hill leading to the Great Hall, he had noted where the healers stayed since he'd been there every so often with Hiccup checking up on injured villagers. But without arms to open the massive doors, he couldn't do anything but stop outside and let Astrid do the job instead. She held onto Hiccup tightly, taking his arm around her shoulder while she used her free hand to open the door. Toothless helped her once it was open enough for him to keep it that way with his head. Once they were inside, Astrid called for help.
"HELP! I NEED HELP!" She screamed out, not caring that half of the village was there for breakfast. All the talking turned into whispering and the eyes of many Vikings turned to them worriedly. Someone called out for the chief, getting a response telling them he wasn't there. Which also ended up with someone calling for anyone to get him. But one person was there. Savage.
He had been in the Great Hall to get some food, also in hope to find Hiccup and warn him about Mildew and his plans before it was too late. But neither did he find him nor did he get the chance of telling him the plan. Even though he didn't exactly know what the plan was, he still had needed to warn him, but as he saw the limp, pale form of the acting chief supporting his limp body on the shields-maiden, he knew he was too late.
Savage ran over to them, ordering one of his men to help her carry him into the healers while he took care of Mildew. Vikings were already crowding around the teens and their dragons who were keeping an eye on the traitor. The crowd roared with questions as the teens tried to quiet them down, but to no avail. Savage took a deep breath.
"SILENCE!" He yelled. Every eye landed on him. Both dragon and Viking. He sighed, turning to the teens who kept an eye on Mildew. "Tell us what happened later when the chief is here. He would want to hear it first," The teens nodded and left Mildew with some guards.
Astrid kicked the door open to the healer's room in the back of the Great Hall. She heard a yelp of surprise from the inside and was instantly met by Kenna, their healer. She gasped, motioning her to lay him down on the bed. Kenna checked Hiccup's pulse as she asked her questions.
"What happened?" She asked, checking his temperature. He was freezing. She pulled the covers over him and added another to take around his neck and shoulders.
"Mildew did this. He said if he didn't drink a bottle with some purple stuff in it, he would kill Heather," The healer nodded as she blended together some herbs. "And Hiccup being Hiccup drank it to save her," Kenna knew he did it because she knew it was something Hiccup would do. It was so Hiccup-like to put other's lives before his own.
"I'll see what I can do," Kenna said, sitting Hiccup up a little to pour the medicine down his throat before she laid him back down again. "Is Mildew here right now?" Astrid nodded.
"He's with the other Vikings guarded in the hall," Kenna nodded.
"Okay, Astrid, I need you to get Mildew in here and get someone to bring Gothi and the chief here," Astrid nodded and ran out the door towards the crowd of Vikings who were yelling at Mildew. She pushed her way through the crowd and grabbed Mildew's hands roughly.
"Snotlout, go get Gothi and Stoick," He nodded and went off. "Come on," She told her friends to follow her back to the healer's room. She opened the door to find more blankets wrapped around Hiccup's shivering body. His prosthetic was taken off and laid gently against the bed. "We've got him," Kenna nodded and took out some chains before she chained Mildew to the wall.
"Mildew, I'm going to ask you; what did you do to him?" Kenna snarled, gesturing to the heir lying lifeless in the bed covered with layers of fur, though he was still shivering.
"Oh, you'll see soon enough," Mildew smiled wickedly. He looked over her shoulder and smiled. He couldn't wait for the next step of their plan to happen.
"We'll we're not going to wait. You either tell us now or someone here will have to force it out of you," Kenna growled, pointing a finger close to his face.
"I'll do it gladly," Tuffnut volunteered, raising a hand. "No one messes with our friend other than us," Astrid was taken aback by Tuffnut's suggestion. He wasn't really the type to care, but, obviously now, he did care as long as it had something to do with a friend. Toothless growled by the door, opening it with his head to let someone in.
"Hiccup," Stoick whispered, running over to his son's side instantly. "Who did thi-you," Stoick growled, looking at Mildew. "What did you do to my son?" Stoick shouted, grabbing the man by his tunic. He had a hunch that Mildew was a part of this considering he was chained to the wall. Mildew stayed quiet. "I said WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" Stoick boomed, pushing Mildew sharply against the wall. Mildew groaned, feeling himself get pulled up from the ground.
"I'm not going to tell you anything," Mildew responded. Stoick dropped him to the ground and sat down by his son's side, holding his shivering hand. It was ice cold. He looked at his son's pale face and blue lips, but then he remembered something. He stood up from his chair and rushed out of the room before he called for Savage.
Savage stood up from the bench he was sitting at and ran quickly over to him. "Is everything alright?" He asked.
"Come," Stoick walked back inside the room and sat down with Savage standing by the door. "You told me yesterday you saw Mildew," He gestured to the chained man. "Was talking to Alvin?" Savage nodded.
"But that's impossible. Alvin is dead!" Fishlegs squeaked. Only by the sound of his voice, everyone could tell he was terrified. Stoick ignored his statement and looked back at Savage.
"What did you hear?" Stoick asked.
"I heard him say something about getting to Hiccup, but what he meant by that is still a mystery. Though they definitely did have a plan," Stoick nodded and looked at Kenna. He was about to open his mouth when the door opened and in came Snotlout with both Gothi and Gobber. Gothi immediately went over to Hiccup and checked him while the others still discussed the situation.
"Tell me what exactly happened," He said to the teens and so they did. They told him everything from the very beginning, on how Hiccup had explained the new saddle when it happened, until the ending, where they explained what Mildew had done. Mildew hadn't exactly forced Hiccup to do it, since he could've just let it be and figure out another way out, but Hiccup clearly didn't want to set anyone else's life on the line for his actions. No one other than his, that is.
"Heather, where were you last night?" Stoick asked, all eyes turned to her.
"Y-you think I-I was a part of this?" She asked shocked.
"Just tell us," Gobber said.
"Okay, I was just taking a walk around the village because I couldn't sleep, but then this lunatic," Heather pointed at Mildew, "dragged me behind a house and then I blacked out. The next thing I know I wake up in a little house somewhere out in the woods. He was stupid enough to let me see as we walked around to find Hiccup," Stoick's face lightened up.
"Can you show us where the house is?" Heather nodded and walked out with everyone, except Gothi and Kenna, following behind. She walked out of the Great Hall, finding it easier to recognize the path she took by foot instead of using a dragon. Though the dragons did trail behind them except for Toothless who stayed behind with his rider.
Gothi checked on Hiccup's pulse from time to time, making sure he was still with them since he looked almost deadly pale. His blue lips were dry and parted a little to let small gasps of air in. Kenna brought in a bowl of warm soup in hope to somehow get Hiccup's warmth back, seeing that the extra layers of fur didn't help at all.
Hiccup's eyebrows twitched but relaxed a little, then moved again. Gothi took that as a good sign that he was responding to their treatments, but boy was she wrong.