Eret opened his eyes, hearing an unexplained noise downstairs. He wasn't surprised he heard it over the rain. He was always ready and waiting at night for an ambush.

Someone had entered and tripped over the chair he had placed in front of the stairway. He wasn't expecting company, especially this time at night. The stranger was uninvited.

He stood up slowly, and grabbed his sword from under his bed. He slowly crept to the other side of the room, trying to keep quiet, waiting for the stranger to enter the room. He was confident it was either Drago or one of his men. It would make more sense that it would be one of his pee-ons. If Drago said jump, the men jumped. Eret did it himself under Drago's command. He stood on one side of the doorway, waiting.

The steps that approached were loud. An intruder would want to keep quiet when they came inside, especially if they were positioning for an attack on the home's occupant. Obviously, falling over the chair would have caused some noise. The intruder should have left the house by this point from the commotion they had just made. Oh, well. Eret was ready.

The intruder pushed Eret's bedroom door open and began to enter. They didn't make it far. Eret jumped, grabbed the person by their arm, pushing the person into his door. Due to the force, the door snapped off the hinges, and they knocked into the wall.

Eret pushed the intruder up to the wall once he regained his balance. He held his blade under their chin. He wasn't letting Drago take him back. He wasn't going back to him, or let him kill him, at least without a good fight.

"Er-eret," came a quiet, weak voice.

Eret's gripped relaxed on his blade and the intruder. He realized just then the person he had been holding was of small stature. And very cold and wet.

"Astrid," he said quietly. He let out a sigh, and turned away from her.

"Eret—"

"Why would you just come barging in like that?!" he cried angrily. "I could have killed you—I could have sliced your head off—"

"Eret—"

He suddenly felt a wave of panic go through his torso as he lit the candle next to his bed, and he turned, pushed her back against the wall and lifted her chin up gently with the side of his hand, inspecting her skin. Just as he feared. He had knicked her skin with his blade.

"Astrid, I'm sorry," he breathed out, and pulled her over to his bed and sat her down. He barely noticed she was trying to talk to him as he crossed the room to a nightstand, where a bucket sat. He came back with a cloth he was ringing out. When he sat down next to her and touched her bare arm, he realized how cold she really was.

He sat back, scanning her with his eyes. She was soaked, and wore no cloak. Her skin felt ice cold. Tears were in her eyes, and she was shaking. He touched her face gently, panic setting in.

"Astrid—Why are—you are froze—"

"It's Hiccup," she breathed. "He—We—"

"It's okay, lass," Eret said to her. He pulled a blanket from his bed up over her shoulders, then proceeded to putting the cloth up to her neck to soak up the blood. He realized then that the water on the cloth was warmer than her body.

"Eret—"

"Astrid, why are you out here in this weather—you could give yourself—"

Suddenly, a loud squawk from Stormfly made them both jump suddenly. Astrid turned to Eret again, pushed his hand away from her and sighed.

"Eret, we need your help," Astrid said gently. Her eyes were pleading. She stood up, grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the doorway. "Hiccup needs help."

Eret reached for his sword, but Astrid stopped him.

"Not that kind of help," she said quietly.

The rain had calmed down a little bit since Astrid and Valka had left towards the ocean to retrieve Hiccup. But, it was still cold and windy. Eret was already cold when they were halfway to the docks. When he saw Valka below in a small boat, with Toothless, he became more curious. Astrid hadn't really told him all of the details.

Stormfly flew in closer, but Eret and Astrid dropped to the docks. He followed her into the boat, noting that the boat was not a boat made of wood from Berke. The boat was made of Elm.

"Outcast Island," he said to himself.

"Eret!" Valka cried. "Can you carry Hiccup to the house?"

"Hiccup?"

Valka moved Toothless's wing, and Eret pushed his lantern towards where Toothless laid. What he saw made him gasp.

Eret carried the unconscious chief upstairs to his master bedroom in the upstairs loft, trying not to jar him around too much. Astrid and Valka entered the room behind him, and immediately hurried to get the bed ready. Stormfly and Cloudjumper made sure their ridered were safe inside the home before they took their leave back to the stables to rest.

Before Eret laid Hiccup down in bed, Valka had laid down two furs on Hiccup's side of the bed. Toothless shot a small blast into the hearth of the fireplace in the attempt to light and warmth in the room. Astrid was lighting candles around the room as well.

Eret pulled the blanket that had been draped over Hiccup on their small trek to the Haddock home in an attempt to keep him dry. All three sat back a moment and just looked at Hiccup for a moment, taking in what they were seeing.

He was wearing the same shirt and trousers as he had when he left. They were dirty and ripped in places. His shirt was barely intact.

"I bet he hasn't been out of these since he left two weeks ago," Astrid sighed. She pulled a knife from her boot, and started cutting the fabric off of him. As she did, Valka pulled another fur over him to help him warm up.

They noted his dirty skin, seeing the dirt run off of him from the droplets of rain the blanket hadn't held—and the cold sweat on his forehead. Eret reached his hand up to touch Hiccup's forehead. He gaged his body temperature a few times with his hands. The results were the same.

"Fever," Eret confirmed. With that he left the room to go fetch a bucket of water and a cloth.

While Astrid cut away some more of the cloth and gently pulled it from under Hiccup, Valka inspected his body. He had bruises all over, mostly noted around his right shoulder and forearm. As Astrid cut the fabric away she gulped more tears and sobs back.

"Look at this," Valka said quietly, pointing to his right wrist. There was deep bruising and cuts there, indicating Hiccup had been tied up. Astrid sniffled a little more, but continued to work.

Eret returned with the bucket of water and a rag. He dipped it inside the bucket, rang it out, and began folding it. He wiped the cloth along Hiccup's forehead, cheeks and neck. At first he was removing some of the excess dirt. He rang it out again, and left it on his forehead.

Once Hiccup was naked, they inspected him a little closer.

His right shoulder and arm had the most severe of the bruising. Along his hairline they found deep cuts that had been healing over the last few days or weeks. His lip had been busted, and his right cheek showed yellowish marks. The area around his right eye had been healing. A very small faint of yellow of a bruise showed.

His pegleg was missing. The cloth that he had placed between his stump and his pegleg had been changed. Astrid could tell because there were no marks showing wear and tear from walking with his prosthetic.

Valka's attention kept coming back to his right arm. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach. She bit the inside of her lip, took a deep breath and sighed.

"It's dislocated," she said to them. "I need to reset it.

"Now?" asked Astrid.

Valka nodded. "I'd rather do it while he's unconscious."

Astrid took a deep breath in and let it out. She was holding in another sob. She felt Eret touch her shoulder gently to calm her. Goodness, his hand felt warm. Was she really that cold? It was then she realized she and Valka were both still soaking wet from the rain.

Valka decided to clean Hiccup up a little bit before she would set his shoulder. She hurried through. He was shaking as she did. As she cleaned him up, she noticed few more healed scraps and some more yellow spots around his body.

"I'm not used to seeing him so weak," Valka said, more to herself than anyone.

Eret could feel Astrid shaking under his hand. He went to the fire, and realized that the logs inside had previously been burned. They weren't producing enough heat. He needed to add more logs to get the room warmer for the trio.

Astrid was startled out of her trance when Eret put a dry blanket over her shoulders. She pulled it closer around herself, finding not only some warmth, but also some emotional comfort.

"You need to get dried off," he said to her. "You won't be doing him any favors getting yourself sick."

Astrid nodded and sighed.

"That goes to you as well, Valka," Eret said.

Valka nodded absently, barely comprehending what Eret was telling her. She was preparing herself mentally to reset Hiccup's arm. She let out a sigh, and leaned into Hiccup to start to set his shoulder.

"Should we let Gothi do it?" Astrid asked, panic showing in her voice. She wanted Gothi. She hated to admit it but she trusted Gothi over Valka with this type of injury.

"No—I—I can do it," Valka said to her quietly.

A moment later, a loud crack echoed in their ears throughout the room, a sudden scream from Hiccup filled the room as well, and Astrid found herself in a heap on the floor. Her sobs she could not hold in any longer, and her tears fell, not silently, but violently. She had broken completely.