The Riders and Ryker fought against the storm. None of them could see or hear each other. Twenty-foot waves swelled beneath them. Minnow was in the air with the rest of the dragons. He couldn't risk losing his rider.
They had been in the storm for five hours and had nowhere to land. The further they flew, the worse the storm got. It showed no signs of letting up or leaving them alone. The Storm King had them trapped.
Hiccup woke up back in his cell. His forearm was burning. The air stung. He opened his eyes and looked at his arm. What he saw was gut-wrenching. His skin was gone. He looked around saw Jorn standing by waiting to see his reaction.
Hiccup screwed his eyes shut, stopping the tears that threatened to spill. "What happened?!"
Jorn moved over toward Hiccup. "Session number three. Known to break the strongest of men. They would give Johann whatever he wanted. He's hoping it does the same to you."
"How come you haven't treated it yet?" Hiccup demanded.
"You needed to see it first. I need to know you won't break yet," Jorn replied as he emptied his medicine bag.
"I've lost a leg," Hiccup answered. "This is nothing."
Jorn nodded as he began to numb the area around the missing skin, and cleaned up the blood. There was no way to close the wound, other than to bandage it up and change it every few hours. Numbing it helped slow the bleeding. It was going to be weeks before it would start to heal.
The kid was stronger than Jorn gave him credit for. He knew he was lying about how losing his leg freaked him out more. He was scared beyond comprehension, but he wasn't going to break. Johann was going to have to do a lot more than peel and cut his skin.
"Rest up kid," Jorn said as he finished wrapping the wound. "We arrive at Stinger Island in a few hours.
Hiccup didn't put up a fight. He was drained. Staying awake was too much work.
Jorn stared at the sleeping figure laid out before him. He had grown quite attached to the kid. He knew what Johann was planning on doing once they got on land. Hiccup was going to be tied to a chair; water would be poured on his face as a cloth held tightly over it, to simulate drowning. If he survived that, Johann would place burning hot coals all over his body and carve into the surrounding skin.
Hiccup would be mutilated and not allowed to die until he broke. Jorn would no longer be able to care for him. His friends should have arrived by now. He had to get Hiccup out of here. Killing Johann would have to wait.
He looked around and saw that the guards were still not back yet. He knelt down next to Hiccup and pulled out a tonic. "Kid, I hope you can forgive me for this, but it's now or never."
He poured the tonic down Hiccup's throat and watched as his breathing came to a stop. He felt the young man's pulse. It was still there, but it was slowed down enough for people to think he was dead.
He got up and shouted for the guards. "The prisoner is dead."
The guards ran toward the cage. "What happened?" One demanded.
"I don't know," Jorn lied. "I was treating his wounds when his body started to violently shake. I waited for him to stop before checking for a heartbeat. There is none. I can't bring him back. It's too late. Go inform Johann."
Both guards went running toward Johann's chambers. Jorn quickly picked up Hiccup like he was nothing and carried him in the opposite direction. Their only hope of a quick escape was to get to the dinghies that were pulled by a couple of Seashockers.
He stopped in his office long enough to fill his bag with supplies. He entered the bottom deck. The floor was flooded just enough to keep the Seashockers alive. He opened the hatch, climbed into a boat, and off they went.
Once they were good 20 miles away, Jorn gave Hiccup another tonic to revive him. The effect was instant. Hiccup's eyes flew open as he sat up. He leaned over the boat and emptied what little he had in his stomach.
Once he was done puking into the ocean, he looked around as if just noticing where he was. "What in the name of Thor?"
Jorn stared at him, watching it all sink in, but said nothing.
Hiccup went from confused, to scared, to angry all in a matter of seconds. He looked over at Jorn. "What the hell Jorn? Why are we in the middle of the ocean?"
Jorn continued to stare at the kid. He wasn't going to feel guilty for saving him. "If Johann learned that you weren't going to break, his torture would get much worse. He would have you begging for death within hours of landing on Stinger Island. I would not be able to treat you anymore, no one would, so after you passed out, I slipped you a tonic that slowed your heart rate to one beat per minute and stopped your breathing. I told the guards you were dead and to get Johann. I quickly scooped you up and we escaped on one of the dinghies pulled by a couple of Seashockers."
Hiccup's eyes widen. "We have to let them go."
Jorn nodded. "As soon as we reach the nearest island. We have to find land before Johann can send men after us. If we release them now, we are as good as dead."
Hiccup studied the water and sea stacks surrounding them. He knew right where they were. They were close enough for one certain dragon to hear them. He let out a strange roar that sounded like a Deathsong.
Seconds later a reply came from the distance. Hiccup turned and looked at Jorn, he seemed happy with himself.
"That is the first time I've actually called for Garff," Hiccup stated. "We need to head west toward the roar."
"You are aware that a Deathsong is capable of eating us whole, right?" Jorn asked.
"Not Garff. We trained him as a baby," Hiccup explained. "He's quite tame for a Deathsong. His adoptive father on the other hand. We rescued him awhile back, but I don't know if that will stop him."
Jorn turned the Seashockers toward the west and off they went. Hiccup was smiling like crazy. Either he was really happy to see Garff or his mind was trying to stay together under the weight of what he's been through.
They reached the island as the sun began to set. There to greet them was a Deathsong. Jorn quickly figured it was Garff. He jumped out of the boat and pulled it to shore after releasing the Seashockers, who seemed grateful for their freedom.
He helped Hiccup out of the boat and sat him down on a nearby boulder. The kid's skin was warm to the touch. He had a fever.
Garff trotted over to Hiccup and butted his head gently against him. Hiccup gave him a scratch under the chin. "Hey, big guy. I know it's been awhile. Astrid and Stormfly are going to be so happy when they see you."
Jorn went back to the boat and emptied out all of its supplies before lighting it on fire and pushing it back into the ocean. He listened as Hiccup talked to the dragon. The dragon seemed concerned for him, but the kid kept reassuring him he was alright.
"We need to find shelter and rest for the night," Jorn stated.
Hiccup shook his head. "We have to leave as soon as possible. Garff here will be more than happy to give us a lift. Isn't that right, big guy?"
Garff screeched out a tune as he bobbed his head up and down.
Jorn looked uncertain. He had never flown before, but Hiccup was right. They couldn't stay the night. Hunters were looking for them.
"Okay," Jorn said finally. "But first let me change all your bandages."
Hiccup only nodded as he continued to give the Deathsong chin scratches. He seemed out of it. His mind was somewhere else, but it was also here. It was trying to deal with all that it had endured.
It didn't take long for Jorn to clean and bandage Hiccup's wounds. He riffled through the supplies from the ship and found a tunic. It was bigger than Hiccup, but it was something to wear. Jorn helped Hiccup put it on.
Once Jorn finished properly treating the kid, Hiccup motioned for Garff to lower his neck so they could climb on. Jorn gathered the supplies and stuffed it into his bag. What he couldn't fit would be tossed into the ocean.
The healer helped Hiccup mount the dragon and climbed on behind him. He sat Hiccup up with on hand as he pulled a tonic out of his bag with the other.
"Where are we heading?" Jorn asked.
"Dragon's Edge," Hiccup said. "Garff knows the way. Hopefully, we'll run into the rest of the Riders on the way."
Hiccup used his good hand to pat Garff on the side, signaling for them to take off. Garff obliged and took to the air. Jorn's vision went black for a split second before everything came into focus. They were flying over the ocean. The island was miles behind them.
Jorn looked at his patient. Hiccup's eyes were shut and his head hung forward. The kid was unconsciousness probably for a long while. This was his real first chance to recover. He slipped the tonic back into his bag and held on to one of the dragon's horns for balance.
Finally out of the storm, the rescue team searched the waters for the ship, hoping to catch it before it docked on an island.
Dagur was looking through a spyglass when he spotted something coming toward them from the horizon.
"Incoming from the west," Dagur shouted so everyone could hear him. They all looked at where he was pointing.
Snotlout squinted his eyes. "Looks like a dragon. There's something familiar about that dragon."
Astrid figured it out before anyone else. "It's Garff. And it looks like someone is riding him."
"What kind of person rides a Deathsong?" Ruffnut asked.
"Hiccup," Astrid and Dagur said in unison.
Dagur put the spyglass up to his eye again and watched as they got closer. Someone was with him. It looked like they were holding him up. Hiccup was hurt.
"Oh no," Dagur said. "We need to meet them halfway."
Before anyone could stop him, he flew in front of the group to meet up with the flying trio.
"What's he doing?" Ryker demanded.
"Something's wrong," Astrid answered as she and Toothless took off.
The rest of the Riders followed suit chasing after Dagur.
Dagur closed the distance in no time. "Who are you and what have you done with Hiccup?"
Jorn raised his free hand in defense. "I'm Jorn, a healer. I've been treating Hiccup for his injuries. We escaped Johann's boat just a few hours ago."
"You betrayed the Hunters?" Dagur asked, not believing a word that came out of Jorn's mouth.
"Yes," Jorn exclaimed. "I would love to go into detail, but we need to get this kid back to Dragon's Edge so I can properly treat him. I don't have everything I need."
Astrid finally caught up. "We have a healer heading there now. Follow us."
Author's Note: As always thank you for the continued support. I have two more chapters to go. After I post chapter ten I am taking time off. I need to look for a new job.
My boss fired me in front of all my regular costumers to make an example out of me. All I did was fall at work. But since I "disrupted" a busy dinner rush with all my "commotion". I got up and finished my shift with a dislocated shoulder before going to the hospital. I didn't complain about pain or anything. The owner demanded my immediate termination because I followed proper procedure and filed an incident report.
Sucks to be them but they still have to pay for my medical care. The doctor at my follow up yesterday said that he thinks it more than a dislocated shoulder. He thinks I might have nerve and muscle damage. I have several tests coming up to determine how bad.