Toothless and Astrid landed just outside one of the many Healer tents that had been set up to treat those who had been wounded in the battle. At first glance, Astrid saw a variety of wounded, some young, some old, some with mild injuries, some with more severe. She saw a child no older than five lying on a nearby makeshift cot, missing a leg. She saw a mother with cuts on her arms as she held a crying baby. No one had made it out of the battle unscathed. Everyone was injured and needed help.
Astrid dismounted Toothless and laid Hiccup on the ground nearby before running off to find a healer. Thankfully she found one as they were finishing up treating an elderly man with a head wound.
"I need your help," Astrid pleaded, getting the Healer's attention.
The Healer looked her up and down. "You seem fine; go wait in the back of the line."
"Not me," Astrid clarified. "My betrothed, Hiccup. He's been badly wounded and is losing a lot of blood."
The Healer rolled his eyes. "You still can't cut in line. I doubt he's that bad. I bet you just want to make sure he's well enough for date night. Am I right?"
Astrid could feel the frustration welling up inside her. "He has been stabbed and beaten within an inch of his life while stopping Johann and Krogan. You can either come with me willingly, or I will drag you to him myself. Which will it be?"
The Healer sighed in exasperation. "Fine, I'll come with you. But if I find out your lying. I'm reporting you to Chief Dagur that you made a false medical report."
"You do that," Astrid threatened. "And it will be the last thing you do because Dagur sees Hiccup, the future chief of Berk as his brother."
The Healer went pale as he quickly packed his medicine bag and followed Astrid to where Hiccup and Toothless were.
As they arrived, they found Toothless doing his best to keep people away from Hiccup. Astrid went up to the dragon and placed a hand on his snout, and gently moved him away from his rider. "It's okay. I got someone who can help. Hiccup is in good hands."
Toothless warbled in concern as he watched the Healer kneel next to Hiccup. He worked quickly, removing the injured man's armor and clothing in order to get a better look at what he was dealing with. Astrid felt the small breakfast she had during the flight here rising when she saw just how bad the stab wound was. Surrounding the wound was ugly dark purple bruising with green and yellow outlining it. In the back of her mind, she realized that Hiccup might end up losing his entire arm if he lived.
If he lived. She thought. It didn't seem like a possibility a few moments ago when she found him in the cavern. It didn't seem possible when she was begging this Healer for help. But now, seeing the severity of his physical state, him dying was completely possible. And if he died along with his father, there would be no one left in the Haddock line to care for the village. Civil war would break out amongst the tribe to see who would be chief.
She didn't realize it, but she had begun crying. It wasn't until she felt a hand on her shoulder that the dam broke. She fell into the arms of the person offering her comfort and quietly sobbed as she begged the gods to save Hiccup. She heard people shouting and crying. She could feel the person holding her, barking out orders and requesting more assistance. Someone mentioned sending out Terror Mails to get aid. But none of that mattered right now. Hiccup was fighting for his life and needed her.
Astrid pulled away from the person holding her and wiped the tears away. She looked up at the person only to realize it had been Dagur. "Sorry," was all she could say.
"Don't be," Dagur said. "I understand. The shock wore off. And crying is a good thing. It's healthy. Now let's head over to where Magnus has taken Hiccup."
Astrid looked around, not realizing Hiccup had been moved. "Where'd they take him?"
"To a nearby tent so that he could be treated properly," Dagur answered as he led Astrid in the direction of her betrothed.
Magnus carefully finished stitching up Hiccup's shoulder wound while his apprentice tried getting him to swallow a valerian root and yarrow concoction to help with the pain and possible infection.
Once he was done stitching up his shoulder, Magnus moved on to the head wound. "Wound appears to be superficial. No stitches required," he noted. "We'll have to keep an out for any lasting problems such as memory loss and issues with movement."
"Is this guy going to make it?" the apprentice asked.
"I don't know," Magnus said. "The blood loss is significant, but he's still breathing. That's a good sign. His body is weakened from the trauma, but as long as he fights for every breath, there's a good chance he'll come out okay."
"That's good to hear," Dagur said as he and Astrid stepped into the tent. "I would hate to throw in the brig for thinking negatively about my brother's chances of survival. Tell me more about what's going on with his injuries."
"W-well, Chief," Magnus stammered. "He's obviously been beaten pretty badly. Whoever did this did quite a number on him. Almost all the injuries, though, are superficial. It's the shoulder and head wounds I'm worried about. I don't think we'll have to amputate, but he will need to work at being able to use his arm again once it's healed. As for the head wound, I won't be able to tell if there's any lasting damage until he wakes up. But given that the wound itself isn't deep his brain should be okay. However, as I said earlier, our biggest concern is blood loss. We just have to wait and see if he improves. I don't recommend moving him in the meantime."
"When can he be moved?" Astrid asked, wanting to be able to take him back to Berk sooner rather than later. She didn't trust this callous man to properly care for Hiccup. He was better suited to being treated by Gothi.
"Not anytime soon," Magnus stated. "And I don't mean days. I'm talking weeks."
Astrid shook her head. "That's not good enough. He needs to be at home. We'll sail if we have to."
Magnus sighed as he rubbed his temples. This girl would not give up. "How about this? If he shows improvement in the next two days, we'll see about getting him on a ship, but I'll have to come with in order to care for him during the three-day journey. Deal?"
"Deal," Astrid said.
"I'll come as well," Dagur offered. "And stay just long enough to make sure he'll be okay."
"Works for me," Astrid agreed. "I'm going to send the rest of the Riders home to rest. Then I'm coming right back."
"We should be staying here," Fishlegs insisted. "Hiccup needs us."
"So does Stoick and the rest of Berk," Astrid said. "I'm staying behind and will send a Terror Mail if anything changes. Now get going. The council will want answers."
"Are you sure you don't want some company?" Snotlout asked, being sincere, not liking the idea of leaving his cousin behind.
"I'll be fine, Snotlout," Astrid replied. "I have Dagur and Heather to help."
With that said, the remaining Riders took to the air and headed for Berk. Once they became a speck on the horizon, Astrid headed back to the tent that housed her Hiccup.
By the time she returned, Hiccup was properly bandaged. Despite the many wounded, Hiccup was in a tent all by himself. She assumed it was either because he wasn't part of the Berserker tribe or that Dagur had insisted he have privacy.
Toothless was lying on the floor next to the bed. The dragon was clearly tired from the battle and caring for his rider but was refusing sleep, wanting to remain alert in case things went wrong. He lifted his head to look at Astrid before letting out a yawn.
Astrid knelt down next to the dragon. "It'll be okay, Toothless. It'll be okay." She tried putting hope and promise into her tone of voice but found it hard. She couldn't even bring herself to believe things would be fine. But Toothless seemed to get the message and closed his eyes to get a bit of rest.
She found a chair pulled it over to the bed, and sat down. The young blonde took hold of Hiccup's right hand and nearly pulled away from its icy cold touch. He was freezing, despite the blankets that covered him. If it weren't for the fact that he was breathing, she'd assume he was dead.
"Oh, Hiccup," Astrid pleaded. "Please pull through. You can't leave us yet. You're still needed here."
A/N: I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. I know I promised Hiccup would be going on a mission to find his mom. Don't worry; that part of the story starts in the next chapters., so stay tuned
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Until next time.