Chapter 11

She opened her eyes again for what seemed like the tenth time in the last few hours, but it didn't matter, even though her eyes were open she couldn't see a thing. Her whole body hurt, especially her head. Certain places on her side stung worse than others, and besides that she was just wet and cold.

Was this what it was like to be dead?

Unable to move, whether from paralysis or fear she did not know. Always in pain and blind. No she wasn't dead, at least she didn't think so. There were rocks beneath her and even though she couldn't move she could feel water lapping at her fingers and feet. She knew that if she wasn't already dead she would be if she didn't find a way to get warm.

She inhaled sharply and willed her right arm to move, and push her up. It twinged, but she was able to start to push herself up. In the dark her balance wasn't perfect and she threw her other arm out to help balance herself, and immediately knew that was a mistake.

It was like fire was engulfing her arm and side, she cried out, and collapsed back on her other side. She lay there sobbing for a moment as the pain subsided, but she started to become aware that something else was in the cavern with her.

Something growled behind her as if it was irritated with her. It started to move and she could tell it was coming for her.

She tucked her broken arm to her and tried to crawl out of the way, it was so dark she figured the creature was probably just as blind as she was. If she was able to move out of the way, maybe it would pass her.

She was wrong though it came right to her, she prepared herself for the worst. It sniffed at her neck. Its breath was warm, and she could feel the scales on it's nose brushing her skin. It opened it's mouth, but instead of biting her, it took hold of her shirt and dragged her back away from the water. It scared her being dragged somewhere and not being able to see anything, she felt truly helpless.

She was dragged further back into the cave and then the creature stopped and curled up nudging her softly into a resting place up against it. She carefully reached out and felt the creature wrapped around her. It was scaly, but smooth, and the creature had wings that it stretched out on top of her. It was a dragon.

She figured it was the same dragon that knocked her down into the ocean. She wanted to run, she wanted scream and cry and run as far away from this place as possible, but she couldn't even get herself to stand up. Not to mention she couldn't even see where she was, she thought by now her eyes would have adjusted to the dark.

This dragon sure was warm, though.

"We aren't just going to give up!"

Everyone was standing in the arena waiting for something to happen. The chief had grounded all the dragons for the night, primarily to keep Hiccup from pulling another all-nighter. They decided to hold a meeting, to discuss what to do next, but Hiccup was just sitting on the ground next to Toothless, not talking. He had only come along to check on Toothless, and because Astrid had practically dragged him out of his house.

Snotlout was the one yelling, he had been acting weird ever since the other night, so had the twins, but, then again, no one really seemed to know what to do, right now.

"Shut it Snotlout." Astrid growled.

"Uh, he's right shouldn't we be...uh searching or something?" Tuffnut offered. Astrid shot him a glare. Fishlegs chimed in, "The dragons are grounded..."

"That's never stopped us before..." Ruffnut muttered.

Astrid grit her teeth and clenched her fists so tightly she looked like she was going to explode.

"Um...guys maybe you shouldn't..." Fishlegs whispered.

Toothless purred at Hiccup worriedly. Hiccup just sat absent-mindedly petting Toothless.

Ruffnut groaned, "Oh, can't we just do something already?"

"UGH! Enough!" Astrid yelled. Everyone jumped.

"You three! All of this is your fault, don't you see that!" She screamed at Snotlout and the twins.

"If you idiots hadn't been screwing around none of of this would have happened!" Astrid yelled. It was a good thing she had left her axe at home or else they would probably be more than just a little scared. "Don't you realize you might've killed someone?" Astrid's voice cracked a little.

"Might've?" Fishlegs muttered, sadly.

Hiccup sighed behind Astrid, "Astrid...stop...It's not their fault."

Astrid spun around, "And you! I've had enough of you, all this self-pity, mopey, sad-faced nonsense, I'm sick of it!" Hiccup looked up at her in surprise.

"Look, Hiccup, I'm sorry about what happened, but you've got to...do something! You've got to get out of your head and stop blaming yourself and realize there is nothing you could have done! That dragon was out of control to begin with, and even if you had been able to get it to listen to you, there is no way you would have been able to predict that accident-"

"Astrid, stop if I was any good as a leader I-"

"Hiccup you are a good leader, you can't help it if those around aren't any good." She glared at the others. He looked down. She knelt next to him, "Hiccup...I'm sorry about Keila, but you can't just let what happened to her make you give up everything you've worked for. You've got to keep training the dragons, you've got to keep taking care of Toothless, and you've got to take care of yourself."

Hiccup sighed, "Astrid, I let her down. I put her in danger, and now she's gone. " Astrid hugged him, "Hiccup, no you didn't. That girl is related to you, which means she was bound to get in to trouble. Also I don't know anyone more stubborn or more crazy than you, and if she's as much like you as I think a little dunk in the ocean wouldn't have taken her out."

"No, but a 2-ton dragon and a tree might've." Hiccup muttered.

"Oh, Hiccup..." Astrid sighed and pecked Hiccup on the cheek and stood. She went over to where Stormfly was resting and mounted up.

"Wh-where are you going?" Hiccup said watching her, Toothless crooned next to him.

"Hiccup, yesterday you wouldn't land until I dragged you down or until you had some kind of proof. Now you can sit here looking like a kicked puppy if you want, but I'm going to keep looking." Astrid said trying to sound confident.

Hiccup shook his head, "Astrid there's no way anyone could have survived that."

"He's right the dragon was all RAWR and the tree was all CRIK CRIK and she was all AHHHH!" Tuffnut said getting excited until Ruffnut kicked him in the gut. Even she knew when enough was enough.

"I think she could." Astrid said with a sure smile. She started walking Stormfly to the arena gate.

"How-how can you be so sure, how can you possibly know that?" Hiccup stood up starting to get a little angry.

"Because I know her cousin." Astrid said, and took off.

Keila's breath shuddered as she tried again to get up. The dragon seemed frustrated with her fumbling, he grumbled as he let her use his head to steady herself.

"Oh hush, it's not like you can see either.. and it's your fault my arm is broken." Keila muttered. The dragon growled in response. "Yeah, yeah shut up and help me find a way out of here." She put her hand on the wall and inched her way around the edges of the cave.

When she hit water she started going the other way trying to see how far back the cave went. The dragon stayed next to her the whole time. She kept walking until she hit water again.

The cave wasn't very big, a little bigger than a house maybe, with the water penning them in on one side. She really wished it wasn't so dark, and that her head would stop hurting.

Her stomach grumbled and she suddenly became aware of how thirsty she was. In the dark it was hard to tell time, but she figured it had been a day or more. "Any chance of catching us some food?"

The dragon pushed past her and she lost her balance. She put her good arm out to catch herself, but she still fell into the salt water, and she became aware of several open wounds along her side and a nice cut on her head. She yelled in pain and tried to get herself out of the water. She heard splashes as the dragon came back. He snorted at her as he approached, as if he couldn't believe she'd gotten herself into more trouble. He lifted her up by her shirt again and carried her out of the water.

He dropped her and snorted in her face. "Oh, oh ew! Fish breath...get away from me!" She pushed his head away. He grumbled at her. She rolled her eyes and tenderly felt her injuries. There was a bad bump on her head, with a thin cut that went under her hair, and was sticky with blood. The water had washed it a little, but she went ahead and tore the sleeve from her shirt and wrapped it around the cut. She felt her broken arm softly trying to figure out where the break was. It only took a moment to figure out because there was a big sore bump in her forearm, which was very swollen. Her mother had taught her how to set bones and basic first aid when she was younger, after she realized how accident prone Keila was, but Keila had never set her own bone before.

She inhaled and quickly forced the bone back into alignment, or at least what she hoped was right, screaming behind her teeth. She bit her lip and closed her eyes tight, fighting back tears. She quickly tore the bottom of her shirt to make a sling. It left her midriff bare to the cold air of the cave. The wounds in her side prickled. She used her teeth to hold one end of the fabric and her good arm to reach around and tie the sling. It was hard to do with one arm, and she had a feeling she would be tightening it a lot.

The dragon nudged her, as if he had taken it on himself now to keep her alive, or he was just saving her for dinner. "I'm fine, anyways we wouldn't be in this mess if you wouldn't have rammed into me." Keila grumbled.

He snorted irritatedly.

Finally she felt the wounds in her side which were now exposed. The wounds didn't seem to be bleeding like the cut on her head. They probably had been once, but now they seemed to be clean. They were small shallow punctures that went up and down her side. She traced the pattern they made, a large c-shape that started at her hip and went up to her chest and continued other back.

"These are...teeth marks." Keila whispered and turned to the dragon, or at least where she thought the dragon was. The dragon huffed like it couldn't believe she was blaming him for the marks, or like he wanted to be thanked.

Keila heard the lapping of the water at the mouth of the cave, and remembered feeling around the edges. This cave had to be below the surface of the water. Keila knew for a fact that she blacked out when she hit the water.

So that meant...the dragon had saved her.