renegades, httyd

xiv. Too Many Conundrums

renegades
chapter fourteen

    My mood instantly got better when I saw Winglash flying towards me as we landed back down. I laughed, holding my arms out as she clung onto the fleece of my tunic. The baby Groncicle was right behind her, bounding towards me with his little legs. Hiccup soon followed. He came to a stop in front of us, "How was it?"

    Astrid wasted no time. "Mildew is here."

    Hiccup's smile turned to a frown. The other Riders had similar expressions. "Mildew?" he echoed.

    "I knew we should have thrown him off the cliffs when we had the chance," Snotlout cried out, throwing his hands up in frustration. "And now he's come to bite us back in the arse━"

    Hiccup turned to the Archaeologist. He was by his camp, and I hadn't even realised he was here. He had been busy dusting his precious tablets, muttering to himself about the new places he might check, avoiding their dragons (he was still quite wary). "Did you know Mildew was here?"

    Skulder's eyes widened. "Mildew!" he exclaimed in realisation. I sighed, throwing my eyes up to the heavens, too. "Yes! Yes! Mildew!" he lowered his voice to whisper as if the old man was listening. "Between you and me, he's a little cranky, don't you think?"

    My face fell blank. But I ignored him and turned to Hiccup. "We found some old ports. One that could be a great shipment dock, and another that we could use as a landing space."

     He smiled, "That's great! We could get things settled already. Snotlout," he turned to the Jorgensen, "how about you and the Twins head back to Berk tomorrow, bring over some stone and wood so we can set up a better camp."

     Snotlout groaned, "Ugh, why me? And why with those two mutton heads━?!" he pointed to the Twins that were too busy ramming each other in the heads with their helmets.

     Hiccup gave him a look, and he threw his arms up, "Uh! Fine! But you owe me!" he waggled a finger.

     The chief's son arched a brow, "Uh, no, I really don't..."

     "What do we do about Mildew?" Astrid crossed her arms. Revna came to join us, the boys tagging along. They had come back from their fishing expedition, and we definitely had enough to feed everyone tonight.

     "Well ..." Hiccup thought about it. "At the moment, he's not bothering us, so ... as long as it stays that way, I think it should be fine."

     "Oh, come on, Hiccup," said Fishlegs. "You know Mildew will end up bothering us one way or another."

     He was right. It made Hiccup sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose. "I'll have a chat with him in the morning. Maybe I can figure something out."