Chapter 4: Snorre the Viking
As Gobber replaced the prosthetic something caught his attention. A piece of the prosthetic had lodged itself into Hiccup's leg which caused a small bump to appear on his skin. Gobber's jaw dropped and it worried Astrid. "Gobber, what's wrong?" Astrid asked in a horse voice and tears falling down her cheeks. Gobber instead of answering continued to work on Hiccup. This angered Astrid and so she screamed at him. "Answer me Gobber, what's wrong with Hiccup?" Astrid asked harshly and then saw Gobber pull out a small piece of wood from Hiccups leg and then threw it to the floor. Astrid let her jaw drop seeing the bloody piece of wood land on the ground.
Then the Elder came in with some warm water and a cloth and handed them to Gobber. Gobber put the cloth in the water and then wringed it out and gently cleaned what he could on Hiccup's leg and then wrapped the cloth on his leg tightly but gently to make sure to keep the wound clean but also keep Hiccup from losing too much blood. Astrid could feel her eyes puffing up and knew that they are turning red. Her lungs hurt from the cold wind that she had been in earlier and her throat started to become sore. "He should be ok for a bit but the cloth will need changing every so often." The Elder said and then turned to Stoick. "Stoick, why don't you take care of him until his leg gets better?"
Astrid wanted more then anything to stay with Hiccup at this point and screamed out. "NO, let me take care of him. I can do it." Astrid said; her throat sore and her voice hardly able to be heard. "Please." Astrid begged not wanting to leave Hiccup.
The elder, Stoick, and Gobber were shocked by the outburst but only the elder recovered quickly from the shock. This would be the opportune time for Astrid to prepare herself for marriage by taking care of Hiccup, despite who she marries. Astrid obviously loves Hiccup and so Elder just couldn't say no, on one condition. "You may watch over Hiccup Astrid but you will be the only one to take care of him. No help will be offered with the exception of Hiccup needing medical attention that you yourself are not experienced enough to take care of. Now usually this would be forbidden for two people of your age and younger to spend this kind of time together out of marriage, however I have kept my eyes on you two and I feel that you two are trust worthy and Toothless will also be here. I can't force him to go seeing as how he is Hiccups dragon. Now you realize that if you say yes to this that you will have to cook for him, bring things to him that he may need and so on until he is able to recover, do you understand?" The Elder asked knowing that Astrid would gladly accept for two reasons. One, she loves him and two, Astrid loves a challenge.
"Yes Elder, I understand. I'll do anything to help Hiccup recover from this." Astrid looked over to Hiccup and smiled while putting her hand on his.
The elder smiled and nodded. "Very well Astrid, from now until he recovers, you will be the sole person to help him." With that the elder left making sure that the others are right behind her.
'Hiccup, don't you worry, I'll make sure that you get through this.' Astrid stared down at Hiccup and squeezed his hand lightly trying not to disturb him. Astrid stared at him until she finally fell asleep, her head in the bend of her left arm and her right hand on top of Hiccup's.
Stoick began pacing back and forth in the blacksmith shop worrying about Hiccup not that he doesn't trust Astrid, he just wished that he could be there with her to help him. After about twenty minutes of pacing, Gobber finally went over to Stoick. "Ya got to stop worryin about Hiccup, Stoick. It'll just make things harder for ya. Don't ya have some Vikings to talk to about what's going to happen now that Hiccups injured?" Gobber pointed out which just made things harder.
"I know that I need to talk to them Gobber and I will. We'll just have to wait for Hiccup to get better for us to continue." Stoick then walked out and into the rain and darkness of night. Stoick just couldn't help but worry about Hiccup. He is after all his only son and he couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for what has happened to him. Stoick had almost made it back home when he heard talking from around the corner of a house and so he hid in the darkness and listened to what was being said. "You said you hit the dragon, so where is it?" A Viking said somewhat angrily.
"I don't know where it is; when we got there it was gone." Another said.
"How is it that this place has almost no dragons and you can't find the one that you hit? You're a fool Trygve, what kind of hunter can't find its prey?" The Viking who appears to be the leader asked.
"Look Ulf, I don't know where it is ok, someone must have taken it before I could reach it." The Viking known as Trygve said angrily.
"I think I know who took the dragon. It was a female Viking, the same one that will soon be my wife; I saw her run off to find someone else after it crashed into the lake that she had been bathing in. A little twerp was spying on her so I took care of him." Another Viking said and Stoick grew angry at hearing that. Hiccup may be and do a lot of things but he would never spy on a woman bathing. He wanted to confront them but knew that was a bad idea at this moment plus he needed to get his name.
"Snorre, do you know where the dragon is right now?" Trygve asked expecting a clear answer. Stoick got the info he needed and so he left quickly making sure not to be noticed.
"No Trygve but I do know of the general area that it's in. We can go tomorrow and look for it." Snorre said folding his arms and walking away.
Stoick returned to the house to find his son asleep with Astrid asleep next to him on a chair. He didn't want to wake Astrid up but hopped that she may know where to find the dragon. After all, she found Hiccup, Astrid must have seen where the dragon went. Stoick gently woke up Astrid. Astrid woke up lazily and then rubbed her eyes to find Stoick standing above her. "Astrid, did you see a dragon up where you found Hiccup?" Astrid nodded; confused by the question she tilted her head to the right still tired and about to fall asleep. "Can you tell me where it went?" Astrid thought for a moment and then slowly told Stoick everything and then quickly fell asleep once Stoick was done talking to her. "Thank you Astrid." Stoick said and then ran off to go and hide the poor dragon before the other Vikings could get to it.
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and please continue to review. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I don't know the Elders name so I stuck with calling her, the elder. If anyone knows her name, please let me know.