Chapter Fifty-Two: Number four
Coming back around the first thing Hiccup saw when he opened his eyes were the green leaves of a willow.
He was lying in soft grass and sunlight streamed through the tree tops in golden rays. A bee tickled his nose.
The sudden change of location irritated him that much that he shot to his feet, heart pounding and his head shot from side to side, taking in every last bit of information there was.
There wasn't any sign of the sea anywhere near but he could still hear the faint sound of waves crashing on the shore and the wind that blew softly around him smelled of salt and fish. Next he smelled burning wood and when he turned around he saw a small campfire burning a few meters to his right.
He saw Josh sprawled next to it, deep asleep with one arm draped across his forehead and two sticks sticking out of his nostrils. Probably Kates' doing.
He smiled a bit and shook his head.
His gaze then fell on a mountain of scales, paws and tails all huddled together under a big pine-tree. Toothless lay on his back his artificial tail draped across Nightlight back who had her head resting on Zhang's tail.
Relieve flowed through Hiccup.
For a horrible second he had thought he'd been separated from his fried again. But seeing his scaly friend sleep filled him with ease.
He sighed and smiled.
So, their provisions and equipment check, dragons check, Josh definitely check (that snoring was hard to ignore) but where was Kate?
Worry started to spread in his chest and he tenderly took a step forward.
He then realized the lack of boots and shirt on himself and frowned.
"What did I miss?" he wondered silently.
"Hiccup?"
He turned around. Kate stood there with her arms full of wood. She dropped it unceremoniously next to Josh who didn't even flinch and hugged him.
"Are you alright? You fainted with no reason. We had to drag your ass somehow into safety." Hiccup frowned. "I didn't faint. I'm not a girl. I passed out." Kate rolled with her eyes. "Whatever." She said. "So, how do you feel?" "Surprisingly well."
He went with one hand through his hair and cringed when he felt how greasy and dirty it was.
"On second thought, I feel dirty."
Kate laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I just had a bath. I feel like reborn! Go ahead, there is a small sweet-water river not far from here. Just follower your nose, you can't miss it." He smiled widely. "Did I tell you that you sometimes are amazing and that I sometimes wouldn't know what to do without you?" he asked and spontaneously kissed her cheek. He never had a sibling but he figured that Kate was the closest thing to a sister he ever had. And she certainly could be annoying enough to be his sister.
Kate blushed a deep crimson. Probably engrossed, he thought and smiled.
"See you in…Actually I don't think about leaving the water anytime soon!" he decided and gave her a little wave before running towards where she had said the river would be.
The river, which actually was little clear brook of water, was not really warm but it didn't matter to Hiccup.
He quickly took his cloth off and watched his reflection in the water.
His gaze went from his stiff but otherwise unharmed body to his head.
He flinched when he noticed he was still wearing the piece of Josh's tunic around his forehead and the ugly truth he oh so blissful had forgotten, came back.
The slave-mark.
Carefully he unwrapped the bandage from his forehead and his hand carefully touched the wound.
Amazingly enough, it didn't hurt the slightest. It had healed nicely, was closed in a few weeks it would be just another scar, like his left leg.
He sighed. He needed to get his mind off it.
A bath was the right thing for that.
He dived headfirst into the clear blue and felt the dirt the sweat the sand, the blood and ash loosen from his body, feeling like every cell of his body was cleaned by the water.
For a while he just relaxed before he began scrubbing his body and washing his hair clean.
He could see the trail of dirt flowing downstream and shivered slightly.
When his hands and feet started to wrinkle and look like the skin of an old man he decided to get out of the water.
He quickly dried himself before changing in the only not dirty set of cloths.
He sighed when he saw which cloth they were.
His old cloth he'd worn back on Berk.
Hic brown breeches, the green tunic with a brown waist-belt, a brown fur-waistcoat and his black fur-boot.
Looking at his reflection he couldn't other than feel said.
Those were the cloth of the young, slightly naive boy, who'd loved to invent stuff and watch the clouds for hours trying o find pictures.
It hurt to admit that he wasn't that boy anymore.
He brushed through his, now long hair again. When had Loki cut it?
Four months ago?
It felt like eternity.
Back then he'd been annoyed by the god's prank.
But he could see why he'd done it now.
Back then in the cave Loki had told him the short hair made him look older and less boyish.
And that his old live lay behind him and that he had to loosen every last tie.
He sighed again.
Then he took the knife and began cutting his hair.
As much as he sometimes wished to go back to his old live and self he knew that it was impossible.
Because this was his true self.
As soon as the last streak of hair was cut, Hiccup gathered his stuff and walked back to where Kate and Josh had set up their camp.
Already from afar he could hear them argue and smiled.
Some things would never change. But he was glad for it.
"No no no! You're doing it all wrong. You have to go with the feathers. That way it's easier." Josh said annoyed.
Josh telling Kate how to do something right? What happened?
"And don't forget to take out all of the bones. There are small ones that sometimes are hard to find. So be careful, you don't want to choke on them, do you?" Kate said in a scruff voice.
And once again the balance is restored to nature, Hiccup thought.
He broke through the tree-line and asked grinning: "So, what's for…" but he stopped through the sentence noticing that a third person sat on the ground next to Josh, holding something that looked like some kind of bird.
That someone was tall and unbelievably blond and dressed in deep blue and black. Even though his cloth were torn and dirty you could still see the fine fabric and a crest on his chest. A badger fighting a snake.
George sneered at him and said: "So you're up then. About time."