Caverna only woke up in the afternoon after her sneaking in this morning and when she woke up, she found the scaly head of her dragon staring at her as she sat on her hunches, beside her mistress' bed.
"What?" Caverna asked her when she saw the quizzical look that her dragon gave her. "I was a good girl, nothing happened."
The dragon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but I bet you wanted to." Snowcap looked at her rider who was now running her comb through her hair and tying her hair into a braid which fell down her back, once her hair was done, she walked downstairs and found her dad holding a large cube of ice to his head, and Astrid sitting at the table with him whilst Hiccup stood next to him, giving him another block of ice.
"Double block headache?"Caverna asked as she joined them.
"Yes, I drank way too much at the celebration last night." Stoick told her with a wince. "But enough about me let me see your injury from last night."
"What injury?" Hiccup suddenly asked, looking at his sister.
"It's nothing, I just got nicked by a bit of lightning."
"Still, Caverna you should at least let us look at it." Astrid told her.
"Fine." Caverna rolled her eyes, before she undone and removed her jacket and then persisted to peel off the bandage which she still had in place on her arm. What came next made everyone gasp. The wound that Caverna had was rather red and inflamed, with an obvious infection setting in.
"What?" Caverna asked, looking at them.
"Caverna, I think you need to go to Gothi." Astrid told her. "Why don't you come to see her with me now? I need to see if she has anything to help me deal with this morning sickness."
Caverna shrugged, that idea didn't seem so bad, so she agreed, and within minutes she and Astrid were flying their dragons towards Gothi's hut.
When they got inside, Stormfly sat waiting whilst Snowcap hung from the underside of the platform that stood outside of Gothi's hut. As the girls were inside, Astrid was lying on a mat, as Gothi prodded her stomach gently, before giving her a look of approval before she drew something on the floor for Caverna. Caverna looked up from a knife that she had been throwing and catching and she looked at what Gothi had written.
HAS SHE BEEN EATING?
Caverna nodded. "Three meals a day, with snacks included."
Gothi nodded her head in approval, before she scratched something else.
HAS SHE EEN SICK A LOT?
"Not recently."
Astrid watched them. "Why can't I answer?"
"Because I'll tell her the truth, you not so much." Caverna told her, and she and Gothi shared a knowing smile, since they both had a new found bond and sense of respect for each other after Gothi found Caverna on the night of her breakdown.
YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LIE ABOUT ANY OF THIS ASTRID, 'TOUSH SHIELD WARRIOR OR NOT.
Gothi looked at the blond after she had written it and then she looked at Caverna and she held out a hand to her, showing that she wanted to see her arm. Caverna got down onto the floor and she knelt down in front of the much smaller woman and she took her jacket off and the bandage to show the wound.
When she saw the wound, Gothi hit the young girl with her staff, not surprised that Caverna didn't flinch, and she left her knelt there as she went over to where there was jars of things. She pulled a few out and emptied some of each contents into a bowl, where she added a liquid and mashed the ingredients together, before she grabbed some fresh rags for bandaging and joined Caverna again. Caverna stayed still and silent as Gothi applied the mush to the bandages and then to her wound and secured it with more rags.
"Will she be okay now?" Astrid asked, to break an uncomfortable silence that had started up.
Gothi simply nodded to her and she looked at Caverna, before she wrote on the floor again.
KEEP IT DRY, KEEP IT PROTECTED, COME AND SEE ME EVERY MORNING FOR A WEEK
After she had read t, Caverna nodded and stood up. "I will." She then left with Astrid and after climbing on their dragons, they left, flying back to the village. However, they took a longer route, going all the way round the island and then back to their village, though they were very glad that they did. Back in the village square, Hiccup was stood with Fishlegs, Dagur and Snotlout, along with their dragons, and Hiccup was getting more and more ignored with Dagur as he spoke about Astrid and Caverna.
"And her breasts, god they were so round and firm." Dagur carried on.
"Dagur if you don't shut up about the dream you had with Hiccup's wife and sister, I'll punch you." Snotlout told him.
Dagur suddenly looked smug, especially when there was a thud behind the group and they all turned to see that Astrid and Caverna had landed their dragons behind them. The girls looked happy as they laughed over a distant conversation and dismounted.
"Have we missed a gathering?" Caverna asked as she joined them, walking to Fishlegs and she hugged him just as Astrid and Hiccup shared a kiss.
"No, it's just Dagur being stupid, and Snotlout threatening to punch him for it." Fishlegs told her.
"Why, what's he said?" Caverna asked.
Everyone looked from her to Dagur, and then her friends and brother took a step back, before Hiccup decided to tell her.
"Well...Um...Mainly describing how he would...Um..." Hiccup was obviously having trouble with getting the words out, especially when he saw his sister put her hands on her hips, pretty close to the hilts of her swords.
"He was telling us how he was going to fuck you." Snotlout told her, to save his cousin the trouble, and he watched Caverna nearly burst into laughter.
"So he dreams of me?" Caverna asked before she laughed. "I don't mind that, in fact, I dream of him too."
Everyone looked at her in sock at her revelation, before they noticed that all traces of laughter and a smile was gone from Caverna's lips, whilst Dagur had a triumphant smirk playing on his.
"What are you saying Caverna?" Snotlout asked.
"I'm saying, Snotlout that I dream of him and every single way I could take his head from his shoulders, without leaving much mess." She walked up to Dagur as she said it. "My favourite one so far is where I've got you hanging over the cliff edge, begging for release, and just as the last second, I loosen the rope, watching you fall screaming into the rocks below. The mere force of the impact breaking your body, leaving you so helpless, it's hard not to feel sorry for you, but I still manage it as I walk away, uncaring if you're dead or alive, just happy you're gone."
By the time she had finished, Dagur and everyone were white and clammy, scared stiff of what she could do, and they watched her smile and fly off on Snowcap.
No one saw Caverna until later that night when she was outside of the Haddock household with her father and uncle, enjoying some sun and some sword practice. She was able to fight both her father and uncle at the same time as Gobber watched. Eventually she ended up throwing her uncle to the ground, but then Stoick backed her up against the side of the house, sword at her neck.
"Well done Caverna." Stoic praised as he put his sword away and his daughter done the same, smiling at her father.
"Thanks dad." She smiled, as she looked over at Snowcap who was now asleep in a patch of sunlit grass. "Lazy dragon."
Everyone looked at said dragon and they all laughed, quietly to make sure that she stayed asleep, before Caverna moved to sit beside her as her father, uncle and Gobber sat about enjoying the sun and a rest. It wasn't until later that afternoon, that a villager came running up the hill, calling for Stoick.
"What is it?" Stoick asked, taking in the urgency of the villager before him, who turned out to be Astrid's mother.
"It's Astrid, that Dagur boy was arguing with her, and he pushed her...She's in so much pain Stoick." The woman told him, and they watched as Caverna and Snowcap flew off towards the town centre where a crowd had gathered and Snotlout was carrying Astrid bridal style towards the Haddock house. Astrid was clutching her stomach with one hand and Snotlout's shirt with the other, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Snotlout." Caverna shouted as she landed a few feet in front of him on Snowcap's back.
"Caverna, I don't know what's wrong." Snotlout told her, handing her a nearly screaming Astrid and Caverna settled her sister-in-law in front of her and she held her to stop her from falling. "I'll explain later, right now, go and find Hiccup, tell him that I've taken her home, and someone go for Gothi."
Snotlout nodded watching his cousin fly away. "Fishlegs, go for Hiccup, I'll go for Gothi." He then left as Stock sorted the rest of the villagers.
Meanwhile Caverna got Astrid into hers and Hiccup's room, and she lay her on the bed, propping her up with pillows and she put one under her legs.
"Caverna, what's happening?" Astrid asked through tears and near screams.
"I don't know Astrid, but you're going to be okay." Caverna told her, just as Snotlout came in with Gothi and he looked at them.
"I'll wait downstairs." Snotlout told them, before he left as Gothi started to check Astrid over.
Caverna watched him go and she sat o the windowsill as Astrid was checked over and she noticed Astrid scream when Gothi pressed on her stomach, and she knew what that meant.
Meanwhile, Hiccup was in the forge, working hard on a new saddle design for one of the villagers when Fishlegs found him.
"Hiccup!" Fishlegs shouted, getting his attention immediately.
"Whoa Fishlegs, easy, what's the matter?" Hiccup asked him.
"You've got to come quickly, something's wrong with Astrid." Fishlegs told him.
"Where is she Fishlegs?" Hiccup demanded, clearly worried for his wife and their child.
The minute that he was told of Astrid's location, Hiccup abandoned his work and he jumped onto Toothless' back and they flew off with Fishlegs following, heading home. When he got home, he found Snowcap, Hookfang and Stormfly outside and he jumped off of Toothless' back and ran inside. At seeing his cousin burst through the door, Snotlout pointed to the stairs and he watched his cousin run up them, and heard he bang as he threw open his bedroom door. However, he also heard Astrid's sobbing as the door swung closed again, and Snotlout feared the worst.
Caverna looked up from where she was comforting a crying Astrid as she heard the door be thrown open and she saw her brother. His eyes asked her a silent question, as he took in the scene of his crying wife, the bloodied sheets and the grim look of both his sister and Gothi, and she shook her head, her brother immediately crumbling into his own anguish as the full force of his sister's news hit him. Astrid had lost the baby. Hiccup ended up falling to his knees beside the bed; though he was on Astrid's side of the bed and he put his head on his folded arms on the bed as he too started to cry. Caverna watched them both, before she felt the taps of Gothi's staff and she gently rested Astrid onto the bed before she left the room with the Elder. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she found her boyfriend and cousin waiting for her as well as Stoick and Gobber.
"Caverna..."
She looked at her father as he spoke her name but she just put her head down and gave it a gentle shake, causing Stoick to collapse into a chair his head in his hands. Gobber, Fishlegs and Snotlout watched before Gobber was the first to speak.
"Will someone tell us what is going on?"
Caverna sighed. "A few weeks ago, Astrid and Hiccup found out that they were expecting a baby, that's why we moved the wedding forward to the day after you guys got back, but now..."
"Now they've lost the baby?" Fishlegs asked.
Caverna nodded, and she looked at her cousin as he spoke. "That's it; I'm going to kill Dagur, a million times over."
They all watched as Snotlout left the Haddock house and made his way to the village, no one had the heart to stop him this time, and they all knew that if something wasn't done about Dagur, then Caverna certainly would do something. But the way everyone saw it was an eye for an eye, and all that. So Caverna went to bed rather pensive that night, as Toothless and Snowcap slept on the rock bed in the corner, Caverna sat on her bed, illuminated by candle light and she shifted through her many thoughts. She eventually settled down to sleep with a final thought:
Everyone suffered an injury once in a while, but everyone has the option to let them get back up and fight again
And that was what she was going to do, and she was going to get Hiccup and Astrid to do the same.