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Hiccup had just returned from Berk. Gobber had sent a letter practically begging for his help with a dragon related issue. The A-team had been having trouble with a rogue dragon that had been attacking the yaks for the last few months. It sounded like Stoick was at his wits end with the situation, but was insistent on handling it without dragging Hiccup away from the edge.
The team was sitting around the fire, making a plan of attack for Viggo's ships.
“No. Wait,” Snotlout interrupted. “You think that any information from Johann is actually credible? I mean he probably told you after hearing it across a tavern, from some guy who heard it from some other guys, who might’ve seen Viggo mouthing the words of some secret location.”
Hiccup rolled his eyes. “Of course not, Snotlout, but it’s better than nothing. If it’s not true? Then we come home, no harm done. But if it is? Then we have the chance to seriously impact Viggo’s dragon hunting operation.”
Astrid got up, and took a step to stand next to Hiccup, “I’m with Hiccup. I say we leave at sunrise.”
“Of course you would agree with him.” Snoutlout mumbled.
Astrid set a glare sidewise, but before she could retort, Hiccup cut in. “Look, I know just as well as you, that Johann has a way of over selling his stories, so I won’t make you come with, if you don’t want to.” Hiccup sent a look around the table, “That goes for all of you.”
All voices said they're in. All except one. Eye’s glanced over to the one person who hadn’t voiced his excitement for the mission. Snotlout looked at everyone else before huffing.
“Fine. I won't be the only one left behind. But when this mission goes to Hel in a handbasket, I will be saying ‘I told you so.’”
*******************************************
The next evening, the team was sitting around a fire in their makeshift camp. They had arrived at the “secret location” from Johann’s tale a few hours prior, and had seen a large operation on the other side of the island.
“Once the sun fully sets, we can begin the attack. We’ll have the element of surprise. We need to use those first few minutes of panic to strike hard and fast, and deal the most damage we can. Then we need to get out.” Astrid said.
“Wait.” Tuffnut interrupted. “ We flew out here, just to blow stuff up for 5 minutes and then run? Where’s the fun in that?”
“You didn't see how big their fleet was. We can’t take them head on. We would be completely overwhelmed. That’s why we need to get in and out. I don’t want to risk anyone getting hurt.” Hiccup scanned his friends' faces across the fire before standing and walking over towards Toothless, and continued, “The sun sets in an hour, so let’s eat and get ready to go.”
Suddenly, in the forest, a twig snapped, and the dragons and teens stood, attention turned toward the noise. The dragons growled, urging their riders to mount and leave. Out of the trees came a group of 10 men, waving their weapons and shouting.
The teens all hopped onto their dragons and took off.
“How did they know we were there?” Shouted Fishlegs.
“I’m not sure, but we need to get out of here.” Hiccup hollered to the team over his shoulder.
“Hiccup! Look out!” Astrid screamed and pointed to his left. Hiccup turned just in time to watch as an arrow impaled itself in his shoulder. He screamed as it made impact and was almost knocked from Toothless from the force.
“Go up! Get out of their range” Hiccup ground out the order.
There were a few shrieks and shouts from his friend and their dragons as they fled from the ambush.
“Hiccup are you okay?” Astrid asked as she flew next to Hiccup. He looked at her and noticed the cuts on her leg, and across Stormfly’s neck and wings. He nodded, but struggled to get the words out.
“I'll be fine, we just need to get back to the Edge for supplies. Is everyone else okay?”
Astrid shook her head, “Fishlegs and Meatlug are fine, but Ruffnut has a pretty gnarly gash on her arm, and Tuff’s got one on his leg. Barf and Belch seem fine, but they probably have some wounds.”
Hiccup looked at her questioningly, “And what about Snotlout?”
Astrid turned to look behind her, then turned back to Hiccup, “He says he’s fine, but I think he's injured in some way. He’s being too quiet. None of his ‘I told you so’s.’”
Hiccup suddenly groaned, right hand reaching outward the arrow in his shoulder. It was steadily leaking blood, but with the cold air flowing over him, he knew it wouldn’t be long until it slowed.
***********************************
Hiccup didn’t make it back to the edge before he passed out. They only noticed he was unconscious, when Toothless screeched, and started losing altitude, and Hiccup slumped off his side.
“Snotlout, Hookfang! Grab Toothless! I'll worry about Hiccup!” Astrid barked the order, seemingly shocking Snotlout of a daze.
Stormfly dove for Hiccup, Astrid catching him roughly. She did a once over on him. The arrow was all the way through the back of his armour, with a serrated tip. What was more concerning to her, was the inky black staining on the arrow, and concerning sludge that seemed to be leaking from the wound itself. Astrid knew she needed to remove it the second they got back to the edge.
As the moon was at its highest, they landed. Hiccup was pale, and covered with sweat, breaths coming out in pained gasps. Fishlegs was screeching, pacing back and forth, panicking about Hiccup's condition and the strangeness of the attack from Viggo’s men. Astrid was frantically trying to get Hiccup's armour off to inspect the full wound. Snotlout was just standing off to the side, suspiciously quiet. Ruffnut looked to her brother and nodded, both of them dismounting their dragon, and getting to work.
Ruffnut smacked Fishlegs, across the face, and grabbed his cheeks, “Alright fishface! I need you to focus, we have too much at stake here for you to be freaking out. I need you to take care of Snotlout, he literally looks like he is going to fall over at any moment.” Fishlegs nodded his head and turned to guide Snotlout back to his hut.
Ruffnut turned to her brother again, “Go get the supplies, and set them up in Hiccup's hut, I'll be there in a minute.” Tuffnut nodded and took off, Barf and Belch tailing after him. Ruffnut turned her attention Astrid on the ground.
“Get a hold of yourself Astrid. I need you to focus and help me out here.”
Astrid looked up from Hiccup, and nodded numbly. “Help me get him to his hut, we can treat him there, I already have Tuff setting up the supplies.”
They both gathered Hiccup in their arms and made their way to Hiccup’s hut. When they arrived Tuffnut was rushing around, trying to organize the supplies. When he saw the girls bringing Hiccup in, he stopped to help them get him into his bed.
Hiccup groaned as he was set down. Ruffnut turned to Astrid, “I can’t work with you freaking out over my shoulder, so I need you to go check on Fishlegs, make sure Snotlout is okay, and then as long as Stormfly is okay to fly, I need you to go to Berk and get Gothi. Something about this arrow is strange and I’m going to need help.”
Astrid nodded, leaned to give Hiccup a peck on the forehead, and turned, running out of the hut.
“Tuffnut! Are you ready? I need you to hold him down while I cut the shaft.”
Tuff grabbed onto Hiccup as firmly as he could without adding to his pain, and Ruffnut made quick work of the arrow. She thanked the gods that it was made of wood, and not metal like some arrows she had seen in the past.
*************************
It was many hours later when Fishlegs made an appearance at Hiccup’s hut. Ruffnut was startled awake when she felt his hand on her shoulder.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. Just wanted to give you an update.” Fishlegs whispered. “And I wanted to see how Hiccup was doing”
Ruffnut sighed. “I think the arrow had some kind of poison on it. I did what I could, but it seems like he's getting worse. What about Snotlout?”
Fishlegs sucked in a breath. “He was hit with an arrow, has a pretty big gash on his side. He passed out when I got him to his hut. I patched him up the best I could, and he's resting now. He definitely looks better than Hiccup.” Fishlegs looked down to Hiccup and then over to Toothless asleep in the corner. “I looked at the other dragons too. Couple cuts, nothing serious, thank the gods.”
Ruffnut yawned, stood up to stretch, and faced Fishlegs. “I’ll go check on Snotface. Tuff should be back in an hour or two to take over watching Hiccup. And Astrid should be back tonight with Gothi. Stay with Hiccup until Tuff gets here.”
Fishlegs nodded and let out a groan as he sat on the chair next to Hiccup's bed. Ruffnut stopped at the doorway and spoke, “Are you okay, Fishlegs?”
“I'll be fine, just a few spots grazed by arrows. Nothing I couldn’t bandage up last night. What about you? I can see that wound on your arm. Do you need help?”
Ruffnut huffed a laugh, “Not on your life fishface, I’m the professional here. I cleaned it last night, just didn’t have bandages to bandage it.” She walked away with a small grin.
***************************************
It was hours later, the sun barely touching the surface of the ocean. Ruffnut had just returned to Hiccups hut, after trying to get some sleep for herself. She had been trying for the better part of half an hour to get Hiccups fever down. Suddenly she heard a loud squawk, and the sounds of dragons landing outside. This caught Toothless’ attention from the corner. He let out a small growl that was silenced by the people rushing into the hut. Stoick, Astrid, and Gothi came up to Hiccup's bedside, the latter smacking the other two aside.
Gothi silently did her assessment of Hiccup's wound and dressing, while the others watched wordlessly behind her. Gothi gestured for Ruffnut to come, and scratched a mark into the floor.
“You wanna see the arrow?” Gothi nodded. Ruffnut turned to grab the arrow from Hiccup's desk, and brought it back for Gothi to examine.
“The arrow had this black staining on it, and it looked like some kind of liquid was mixing in with his blood. I saw it while I was flying back with him.” Astrid said , taking a step forward to look over Gothi’s shoulder at the arrow.
Gothi waved for the three to follow. They did so, reluctantly. Outside, Gothi had dumped sand on the ground, and began furiously scribbling in it. Ruffnut leaded over to try to decipher what she was trying to say.
“She says that there is a cure for what Hiccup was poisoned with. She also says that it’s difficult to make because of one ingredient.” Ruff translated.
“Well, what is it? We don’t have time for this!” Astrid huffed.
“Alright, calm down lass. I know this is a tough time for us all, but we need to work together. For Hiccup.” Stoick calmed Astrid.
Ruffnut looked between the two, and then proceeded once again, “She said that we need some kind of… toad?” Ruffnut flinched waiting for the staff to smack her head, but it never came. “Oh…I read that right then. Yea we gotta find a toad.”
****************************
They were in Hiccup's hut, the only noise was the light sounds of a gentle fire crackling, and Hiccup’s labored breaths.
“So we need a toad…” Fishlegs started. “…and we know that they don’t live this far north. So that would mean we need to start our search south.”
“We don’t have time for you to go south, I mean you might as well be flying off the edge of the world while you’re out there.” Snotlout huffed. He had asked to be moved into Hiccup's hut while they recovered, both to be close to the others, and also to keep his eye on Hiccup.
“Gothi did say that we could substitute the toad for something else, but she said if we use the substitute, we can’t use the toad, and it might not work fast enough to save Hiccup.” Ruffnut said.
“Maybe we split up.” Tuffnut suggested. “Ruff and I go get the substitute, Fishlegs and Astrid can try to find the toad. We give ourselves a set amount of time, and the first ones back use their ingredient for the cure.” Everyone looked at Tuffnut, impressed. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
Snotlout laughed, then hissed in pain. “No we’re just surprised you have a brain you can use, and it not just rocks in your head.”
Astrid stood, and limped around the room, moving to sit next to Hiccup’s bed. “It could work, but what if neither of us finds the ingredient?
“Then we just have to hope Hiccup gets better without it. Gothi said there’s a small chance it might not kill him.” Ruff answered.
“I’m not willing to take that small chance.” Astrid said.
“Then we stop wasting time, and start looking. Better to spend our time looking for the ingredients. I’ll go south with Astrid and Fishlegs, since the toad has a better chance of saving Hiccup, we should have more people looking for that.” Stoick said, standing.
The teams left on their dragons going their separate ways.
Snotlout looked to Hiccup in his bed, and then to Gothi who was sitting in a chair dozing next to him. He hoped for Hiccup's sake that someone came back sooner rather than later.
********************************
They had been given until sundown to get their ingredient and return. It was currently hours past sundown. Snotlout was beginning to worry. As he was thinking up a plan, the sound of wing beats caught his attention. Stoick, Fishlegs, and Astrid walked through the door.
Empty handed…
“Wait you guys didn't find the toad?” Snotlout shouted at them.
“You mean the twins aren’t back with the substitute? That’s the only reason we even came back!” Astrid howled, her voice cracking.
“You guys gotta go out there and find them. They probably forgot what their mission was and are somewhere playing in a boar pit.” Snotlout joked dryly.
Astrid and Stoick didn't hesitate to hop on their dragons and leave in search of the twins. Fishlegs didn't move. “Meatlug is exhausted, I think her wings are going to fall off if I make her fly any more today. I’ll make myself useful here for Gothi.”
************
Elsewhere , earlier in the night, the twins were stalking through a night market. “So what are we looking for exactly?” Tuff asked.
Ruffnut pulled out the picture Gothi had ripped from one of Fishlegs books. “This plant here. See the three tips of the leaf? And the red petals on the flowers? We need to find one. Apparently when you cut the branches off, the sap inside is great for healing, and is the most similar to the toad mucus that is used in the antidote for the poison.”
Tuffnut nodded his head, and they both looked around the market. They hadn’t had any luck looking for the plant in the wild, and had heard of a market with many plants. There were a lot of merchants at the docks, and apothecaries, and elderly healers milling about. It was strange to see so many people at a market at night. Especially when half of them were muttering something about “a special flower that only blooms at night.” Freaky.
Tuffnut grabbed his sister's shoulder and spun her around. She followed his outstretched finger and with a grin she said, “Is that what I think it is?” Tuffnut nodded.
***********************
It was as the sun was just about to peak over the horizon, that Stoick and Astrid returned. They landed abruptly at the stables, and ran over to Hiccups hut and burst in. They were shocked to see Hiccup sitting up lazily in his bed.
“Hiccup!!” They both shouted, as they ran toward his bed.
“You’re okay? How are you okay? We didn't even find the toad?” Astrid cried out.
“Ask the twins.” Snotlout piped up from his bed on the other side of the room. “They came busting in here at midnight, screaming crazy things, tossed some bags at Gothi, and disappeared. Fishlegs said they went to their hut and knocked out, but I just think they went crazy and their brains exploded from actually being used for once.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you’re up, and how you're okay?” Stoick said turning his attention back to Hiccup.
Hiccup tilted his head a bit in an attempt to shrug, “I’m not sure. I really don’t remember much after getting hit. I really only just woke up.”
At that moment, Fishlegs and Gothi entered the room. “Oh chief! You’re back! We were getting worried, I was about to try to come find you guys.” Fishlegs shouted excitedly.
“Can someone please tell me what happened while we were gone? I’m assuming the twins found what we needed for the antidote?” Astrid questioned Gothi.
Gothi nodded her head, Fishlegs interjected, “They did something even better! They found 3 toads at the market! So we used one for the antidote, and we still have 2 for breeding in case we need more antidote in the future. At least that’s the hope. I guess it won’t work if they’re both female, or male.” Fishlegs mumbled the last part, mostly as an aside to himself.
“I mean they cut it pretty close with coming back.” Snotlout grumbled from under his blanket. He was beginning to regret moving his bed into his cousin's hut.
“What does that mean?’ Astrid asked hurriedly. Fishlegs winced at the looks from Astrid and the chief, and sent a glowering look in Snotlout’s direction.
“I’d like to say he’s being dramatic but he’s kind of right. Right before they got back, All 3 of us were trying to keep Hiccup calm. It was like he was being attacked from the inside. Just crying out in pain. Gothi had me so scared. Saying stuff like she’s not sure he'll make it through the night. Then the twins just appeared, tossed us some sacks and disappeared. When we realized what they had found, Gothi finished the antidote and we gave it to Hiccup. She said we were lucky they found the toads, or else she thinks he still wouldn’t have made it through the night.”
Astrid looked over to Hiccup worried. He gave her a weak smile, and said “Hey, I’ll be fine now. Okay?” Astrid gave him a small glare then a gentle hug.
“Never do that again.”
“Wouldn't dream of it m’lady.”