Chapter 4: One of Their Own - 6 Days Ago
Hiccup could not bear to watch as the three Terrible Terrors flew past with the smaller dragon in tow. The little one was not moving and Hiccup somehow felt like he had to intervene else allow the poor dragon to die. Even if the other Terrors were in fact the saviors of the unfortunate victim, Hiccup doubted they had the ability to save their quarry; it simply looked too far gone. Without really thinking about consequences, Hiccup did the only thing he could come up with the limited resources a cave opening on the beach could provide. He picked up a small rock and threw it at the departing dragons with as much force and accuracy as he could manage. He prayed to the gods that he would not hit the tiny dragon and was promptly rewarded with a resounding clunk as the rock hit the dragon on the rear of the procession. The orange dragon gave out a squeal as it let go of his loot, slowing the pace of the other two who then struggled to hold their share and fly at the same time.
Hiccup was about to unleash a second projectile when the orange Terror made a sound which could only have been a battle signal which caused the two in front to drop the injured dragon and make a bee line straight for their aggressor.
"Uh-oh." Hiccup groaned as the Terrors emitted as mighty a roar as they could muster. As they descended on Hiccup, not unlike hunting birds diving in to finish off a wounded rabbit, a louder dragon scream could be heard which would have shaken Hiccup's conviction had he no clue what was happening.
The Night Fury came thundering across the beach having followed the familiar scent trail of his human. The Terrors were not much of a match for anyone one on one, but three against one could cause potential problems as they were fast and could attack from multiple angles at once.
The Terrors were closing in on him, hissing their malcontent at the actions of the boy who had so thoughtlessly interrupted their sport. How dare he? He had to pay. They were getting closer than what Hiccup felt was comfortable, one even started to stick his long pink tongue out at Hiccup's boot. A second was licking his lips to the right while the third was preparing a fire blast on the left. One of the Terrors made a jump for the tender meat of Hiccup's good leg but teeth never had the opportunity to graze bone as the unique sound of the Night Fury's lightning filled the chilled air and blasted the Terror who dare try and take a bite out of Hiccup.
While the first dragon was recovering the second one thought it would be a good idea to give the attack her best try as the others were distracted but got tackled by the much bigger dragon before it could make a serious attempt. Toothless pinned the small dragon to the cold stone ground and roared loud enough to make her dizzy. She yelped and winced her eyes shut in preparation of an end that never came. Toothless let her go and gave her a parting swat on her hind quarters as she departed with her tail between her legs. She surely did not want to be eaten and could only have assumed the bigger dragon wanted to consume the boy himself.
With his two friends either gone or subdued, the third had decided to do the only sensible thing that one could expect when this sort of situation arises: he turned tail and flew away to the West, never be seen in this area again. Some fights were just not worth it but he made sure to take one last shot at the downed Terror as he passed, an inhuman cackle escaping his scaly lips as he boy made a desperate move to aid the ruined animal on the rocks.
Hiccup reached the victim of the dragon attack with Toothless following close behind. Hiccup was somewhat horrified to be this close to the wounded creature and see the extent of the injuries it had sustained. After some poking and prodding Hiccup was astounded and sickened to discover that the dragon was a Terror like the three who had apparently tried to kill one if their own. It was either very young or a runt but still a Terror and damaged to the point that Hiccup was not sure if the creature could continue its existence.
"Why did they do this to you?" He asked tenderly, but the little dragon did not open its eyes even as Hiccup picked it up gently and gingerly carried it back to the supplies. There were some bandages in the bag and Hiccup hoped that maybe if he could patch the small dragons wounds, it would somehow recover and be able to hunt again. With trembling fingers Hiccup transported the dragon as swiftly as he could though was having trouble trying to focus when he was not used to handling one with injuries to such severity.
Toothless let out a tentative rumble and followed Hiccup back to the camp. With the opposing Terrors long gone, Hiccup could tend to the runt under the watchful eye of the Night Fury. Time seemed to pass at a crawl and the unrelenting darkness of night would have consumed the campsite if Toothless had not started the fire which Hiccup had built earlier. Hiccup was doubly thankful for the cheerful heat it emitted which warmed his fingers and made it a little easier to do his grim work. The only time he stopped even briefly during the duration of the delicate application of bandages was to check and re-check that the little one was still in possession of a pulse.
"Finally." Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief and marveled at his handy work in patching up the runty terror. Hiccup had never boasted to be a master of first aid but he had used all of his understanding and care into ensuring that the little dragon was taken care of to the absolute best of his abilities. "Now," he mused thoughtfully, "what are we going to call you?"
The Terror was very small but based on the rings at the base of the horns, it was definitely full grown. Hiccup had observed over the last year that often he could more or less discern the age of certain dragons using this method. Of course, it was only a guess and did not apply whatsoever in the case of Toothless who seemed somewhat curious of the new dragon in his arms.
"You're a Hiccup..." he could hear Toothless snort a comment over his shoulder.

"We'll duh." He scoffed, "Of course we're not going to call her that. She's cooler than that." He looked at the scales he had not covered in bandages, few though they were and admired her teal body. "How about 'Flyspeck'?" He asked with a smirk. Toothless, somewhat less than impressed, let out a questioning rumble. "What?" Asked Hiccup innocently, "It means 'small'". Flyspeck, now properly dubbed remained unconscious and oblivious to her new title though Hiccup was sure that she would like it. He reached into his pack and got out the extra blanket which he had originally intended to use as a pillow while on their travels. He quickly unfurled it and with the utmost care, proceeded to gingerly swaddle Flyspeck until anyone who had not known better, would swear that Hiccup was smuggling an infant.

That evening Hiccup slept with his back resting on Toothless' stomach and Flyspeck wrapped in a bundle on his lap. It was surprisingly comfortable to feel the rhythms of each dragon as he fell asleep. Hiccup felt safe knowing that Toothless would be vigilant while dozing and that he Terrors were not likely to come back to the same spot for a while after their encounter. When morning came, Hiccup prepared a basket for Flyspeck and placed the bundle gently inside. He then secured the bundle and the basket to the front of his saddle so he could remain watchful to the tiny reptile while she hopefully recovered from her wounds.
"Alright bud," Hiccup patted Toothless once he had completed he pre-flight checks, "let's go!"
Toothless took off like a shot into the crystal clear skies towards the elusive Auroros Island which was still days away.

He next few days were fairly tedious in that the group would fly for hours, find a safe spot, make camp, eat and rest for the night. Any other dragons they came across were generally flying in the opposite direction or else regarded the trio as nothing more than a brief curiosity. Flyspeck became responsive two days after her ordeal and was open enough to allow Hiccup to feed her by hand. It did not take much time for the dragon to become trusting of her new human and Hiccup in turn took excellent care of his new charge. Two more days of travelling passed and Flyspeck regained enough use in her wings to take short flights near Toothless as they got ever closer to their destination. "Another few days and you should be almost as good as new." Hiccup remarked though he still wondered why the other dragons had gone after her. Maybe she had something that the others had wanted, or maybe because she was a hiccup. He let out a sigh of resignation; he would probably never know although the tiny reptile seemed happy enough since the majority of the wounds had started to heal over and were destined to be fairly impressive scars. If Hiccup had been paying more attention to what was happening around him and less time marveling at the resiliency of dragons, he might have been prepared for the disaster that was just minutes away from striking.