HTLANF: Race to the Edge

Chapter 8 ~ Dragon Eye of the Beholder (Part 8)

Once we got Tuffnut to Gothi's hut she immediately went to work on helping him. After quickly making some medicine, she shoved it down his throat. Tuff forced it down then started coughing harshly and gulping for air every so often.

"My teeth are itching. My teeth are itchy." He complained, but other than that seemed okay.

Gothi wrote something down in some sand scattered about her floor with her walking stick and Gobber translated for the rest of us. "She says that's a good sign. Means it's working."

"Thank you, Gothi. We really appreciate this." I thanked, genuinely glad that Tuff would be alright. He may be annoying from time to time, but he was still my friend at the end of the day.

Gothi nodded with a small smile and I returned it with a small smile of my own.

Both Kala and I turned our attention to Gobber as he began to fiddle with the Dragon Eye yet again. He seemed to be stumped on how it actually worked. "Huh."

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Gothi freeze in place as she spotted something on the Dragon Eye, her eyes wide as she pointed towards the thing she spotted. I looked at where she was so focused and saw that it was a type of keyhole.

After that she turned away from us looking very troubled.

"Gothi, are you okay? What is it?" Kala asked as she gently placed a hand on the old woman's shoulder.

Gothi shakily pointed toward a scar adorning her arm, both Kala and I noticed it matched the keyhole just as Gothi slowly walked away from the group.

"Gothi's scar matches the keyhole.." I thought out loud as I looked back and forth between the retreating form of the old healer and the Dragon Eye.

"Yeah, and it looked like a dragon bite to me." Fishlegs stated as he tapped his chin looking towards the ceiling in thought.

"Oh it is. But she doesn't like to talk about it." Gobber said solemnly.

"She doesn't like to talk about anything." Fishlegs commented, hinting towards Gothi being mute.

"Oh, that's why she writes in the dirt with her stick. I thought that was just, like, her thing." Tuff said as he put together what Fishlegs was getting at.

It took everything in me to not facepalm at that. Was it seriously so hard for Vikings to notice things like that? It's a mystery how they even survive.

"Yeah, like Snotlout being a woman repellent." Ruffnut added with a smirk.

Snotlout gave her a death glare with his hands on his hips. I bit my lip to hold in a chuckle and I noticed from the corner of my eye that Kala covered her mouth as she silently giggled at the comment.

"Maybe we could use the stick to itch the teeth." Tuff continued, not making the slightest bit of sense as usual.

'We need to find out what kind of dragon left that scar on Gothi. It's definitely not one that lives here.' I glanced around the hut at the others in thought. 'Knowing the others, they may try to bribe Gothi into telling us what we need to know. But if Kala and I go talk to her we may not need to bribe her at all.'

I made eye contact with Kala and had a silent conversation with her for a couple of seconds, then she nodded in understanding and made her way out of the hut in search of Gothi. I followed after her a minute later, making sure that the others didn't notice our absence. Akatosh knows what they would do if they followed.

~~~HTLANF~~~

Hiccup caught up to me a few seconds after I found Gothi, which didn't take as long as I thought considering she just went to her porch to get fresh air. The both of us smiled at one another, then focused our attention on the village Elder.

I walked over to her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Gothi, I know that you might not want to relive the memories of how you earned that scar..but it would be very helpful if you could tell Hiccup and I what type of dragon it was..we won't ask for anything like this ever again..I give you my word.."

She looked up at me and saw the sincerity shining in my green orbs then silently sighed and nodded. I smiled softly and nodded back, taking a few steps back so she could write down her answer in the dirt upon her porch.

Hiccup and I looked at the symbols she etched out, the slowly descending sun casting a fiery glow across the ground.

'When I was a teenager, I had a longing to climb Glacier Island to find pure glacial water known for its healing properties. So, I went with two Vikings. We had only been at the summit for a few hours when we were hit by a terrible snowstorm. That's when it attacked. It was vicious. Relentless. And impossible to see in the white-out. The Snow Wraith. I'll never know why it didn't finish me off that day. I left knowing only one thing...that I never wanted to see that dragon again.'

"A Snow Wraith? Don't think we've ever encountered one before.." Hiccup mentioned as he thought back to all the dragon species we've logged in the Book of Dragons.

"I did when I was a hatchling, but just briefly. The male that I came across scared me off the island before I could get accustomed to the surroundings. It's no wonder Gothi got so worked up. They are very aggressive dragons." I explained, shuddering at the memory.

Gothi nodded in agreement and scribbled out something else.

'If you two truly want to unlock the Dragon Eye, I will tell you the location of the island. But that is all I shall do for you.'

Hiccup and I nodded at her in understanding. Gothi was the only healer in Berk, so it would be inconsiderate if we asked her to accompany us. She nodded back then wrote down where Glacier Island was located.

~~~HTLANF~~~