Hiccup and Toothless landed outside Gothi's hut. The woman herself was still outside getting ready for tomorrow's sick and injured Vikings. She looked over at Hiccup as he began to dismount and motioned for him to follow her inside.
Hiccup signaled for Toothless to stay and followed her inside. Hiccup was one of the very few to get treated inside her hut. He had an ailment that was better off being treated in private than in view of the public.
Even though all of Berk seemed to be asleep, you never knew who might be out enjoying the peace and quiet.
Hiccup sat on the guest bed and explained to Gothi what had happened down in the caves and how Magnus treated him.
She shook her head at the sound of Magnus's name. It was clear she didn't like him either. How she put up with him for 20 years was beyond Hiccup.
Gothi set about, examining Hiccup, but was being quicker and gentler than Magnus had been. If that man knew anything about seizures, he would have known to tread carefully in the aftermath. The person who had one might have been injured in the process.
Hiccup would take Gothi over Magnus any day. Hel, he'd take Snotlout over Magnus.
The Village Elder quickly determined that Hiccup wasn't going to have another seizure as long as he took his tonic when he got home and took it easy for the next few days.
The young man hated "taking it easy", but after a seizure, he didn't mess around with his health. He hated having them. They were a nuisance in his life. They made him put whatever he was doing on pause, to deal with it and recover. The more he had them, the greater the risk there was of people finding out.
Gothi said he would most likely outgrow them, but that could take years. He could be her age and still have them. There was no real way of determining if he did, aside from starting to have a bad reaction to the tonic.
Hiccup thanked the elderly woman and went home for some much-needed rest.
As Hiccup slept, he dreamt of Johann being set free. He dreamt of the man coming after him, torturing him. Not letting him die.
The Rider was reduced to nothingness. No one would save him because of how broken he had become. His family and friends abandoned him.
Little did he know was how true his nightmares were about to become.
After the last villager was asleep, Magnus walked down to the docks with a single lantern. He waved it in the air, signaling for the boat hiding behind the sea stacks to come out.
Within minutes a small boat was docked and it six passengers had climbed out. Each of them carried supplies to break the ice that encased their leader.
"I'll lead you to the caves. I already have a fire going. Once you are in the caves work quickly and leave. You need to be out of here by sun-up," Magnus said. "Have one of your men hide the boat on the other side of the island".
Four of Johann's men chiseled away at the ice, while the other made the fire hotter. They only had a few hours before the sun began to rise. They had only freed one arm and leg.
Johann's shouts for them to work faster were muffled by the ice. He was swinging his arm like crazy as if he was trying to hit them.
Hours later, enough ice had been chiseled away for Johann to break free himself. The man swayed for a moment before falling backward, unconscious.
Two of the men picked him up and carried him out of the caves.
Hiccup walked through the village with Toothless right next to him. Above them, Astrid was doing some training with the A-Team. He could hear his father yelling at someone down at the docks. He could see Fishlegs with his niece and nephews up by the Great Hall teaching them about the history of Berk. The twins could be heard blasting away in the woods. He watched as Snotlout got ready to go on patrol.
All was right in the world. It was just a normal day on Berk. They would be leaving in a couple of days to finish packing up Dragon's Edge and lock it down. The plan was to leave it standing in case they had to travel long distances and they could stop there for rest. Any Berkian traveling could use it.
The Rider's mind wandered back to the previous night. Dagur had warned him that there was a traitor on Berserker Island. Hiccup immediately thought of Magnus. That man was bad news all around. If Gothi didn't like him, that wasn't a good sign. Gothi got along with all the healers she's met or trained.
That old bag of bones could pick out the bad apple before it even turned into one. Hiccup had learned during his months of recovery that Gothi had had a bad feeling about Johann when he first became their tradesman but ignored it because he had been so sweet in giving her rare herbs, worth more than anything she could trade for, for free. How could a man so kind, be so evil?
Johann. That man was still alive. How he was alive was beyond Hiccup's understanding. Was there some kind of power within the King of Dragon's ice blast that preserved life? Was it sheer luck he had survived? Will of the gods?
Maybe Hiccup wasn't meant to know. All he knew was when the next meeting was called he would have to tell everyone. A plan would have to be made in case he was freed. They would have to figure out if it would be a capture or kill mission.
Personally, Hiccup opted for a kill mission. If Johann was allowed to live and put in prison he could escape whenever he wanted to. He still has vast connections in the Archipelago. He could be locked up and still be free to torture dragons and people alike.
Hiccup knew the first thing the man would do if freed would be to come after him. Johann had a job to finish.
Several healers set to work on treating Johann. After being frozen for five months, Johann was vulnerable to hypothermia, eel pox, boar flu, and several other ailments that could turn life-threatening.
"How long has he been like this?" A healer demanded as he forced a tonic down Johann's throat.
"He's been unconscious since we freed him. He started shaking about an hour ago. His body temperature shot through the roof not long after," the lead Hunter answered.
"We did our best to warm him up. Got some hot broth into him."
"We have to regulate his core temperature," the healer stated. "Jorn, herbal broth. Baghook, we need all the fur blankets you can find. Halstein, fire. Once he's warmed up, we can start treating him."
Several hours later, Johann regained consciousness long enough to put a price on Hiccup's head. He wanted that Dragon lover brought to him alive. He wanted to the pleasure of killing that menace himself.
The Hunters set to work making posters and offering 100,000 gold pieces for his capture.
Hiccup and Stoick shared identical headaches. Both had two blocks of ice on their heads. The Council and Riders nearly caused a civil war. Snotlout, Spitelout, Sven, the Twins, and Herleif wanted to go destroy the cave, crushing Johann's frozen form. Then go after the Hunters and kill every last one.
Fishlegs, Astrid, Gobber, and Leif wanted to leave Johann right where he was. He would eventually die. Leaving him alone was the best option.
It was when the axes were brought out that Stoick put an end to the meeting.
"What was your plan going to be anyways, son?" Stoick asked.
Hiccup shrugged. "Kill him if he is somehow freed. If he's allowed to live, he can still hurt dragons and people. Locking him up doesn't stop anything."
Stoick stared at his boy. The boy who always sought out the peaceful solution. The boy who has turned almost all his enemies into friends and allies. It was still quite clear that Hiccup feared the man, but it wasn't revenge that was driving him. It was the need for peace. His son truly believed that killing Johann would bring peace. Not just for himself, or Berk, but the whole Archipelago and beyond.
"Okay," Stoick agreed. "If he is ever freed, he won't be for very long."
It was Hiccup's turn to stare. His father wasn't even going to question him.
"You're agreeing to kill him?" Hiccup asked.
"If you firmly believe that his death will bring peace, then yes, I agree with you," Stoick answered.
Hiccup felt happy that his father agreed to the death of the man, but at the same time was determined not to fail.
Author's Note: Enjoying the story so far? I should hope so. Let me know what you think in the reviews and don't forget to favorite and review.
Special thanks to Draconicbeing2.0 for being an awesome beta reader. She has and will continue to be amazing. Without her, I wouldn't have continued the story.