The Soul of a Dragon

Chapter 17

Vara

A teeny tiny sharp stick stabbed my lower back when Hiccup threw me on the ground. It's only a superficial wound but as I went back to the village and into my makeshift hut, Malcom invited himself inside and saw the blood staining my vest. The past half hour, I've been convincing him to let me rest. It's all in vain, though.

"It's just a scratch, Mal."

He stops chasing me around the table to grin widely at me, his teeth reflecting the dim light of a candle. With a glib glint in his eyes, he says lowly, "You finally called me 'Mal'."

Rolling my eyes, I cannot hold back the beginning of a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. "Yeah, whatever."

Malcom still stands there, not moving an inch even though I continue urging him outside. The candlelight lets his honey-coloured skin flicker with golden specks. "I want to get ready for bed, dude. Leave." I decide to be nice today and add quietly, "Please."

Something in Malcom seems to soften and he relaxes his shoulders. Sighing, he finally says with eyebrows knitted in surrender, "Fine." He turns on his heels but right before he reaches the exit, he halfway faces me and adds pleadingly, "But clean the wound thoroughly and rest. Don't forget to drink lots of water."

"Aye, aye, Doctor Mal." He smiles at the nickname and disappears into the darkness of the night.

He can be friendly if he wants to be, a voice in my head whispers, just like every time Malcom would behave like a decent human being. I scoff at that voice and can't wait for sleep to silence my thoughts.

Right before I close my eyes and let exhaustion take control, I wonder if Hiccup is still outside waiting for Toothless to return. But one main thought dominates all...

I hope Aria is okay.

It's been more than two weeks since the village has landed on New Berk, meaning Aria and Toothless have been gone for several days now. There still hasn't been any sighting of Grimmel, nor the other light fury Hiccup and I discovered. Speaking of Hiccup, he's back to being distant. Ever since we found the light fury female, our evening meetings have stopped. I don't know why. I even dared to ask Astrid about his well-being but she didn't have an answer. Apparently, he's been ignoring his girlfriend, too.

Though, one thing is clear: both he and I are utterly worried about our dragons and don't know what to do.
What if Toothless and Aria were lost and couldn't find their way back? Or worse, what if Grimmel got to them first?
But the gang's been doing their best to keep us both, especially their Chief, in check. Everybody's saying "they'll come back" or "leave them be" but I'm not so sure myself anymore. I miss my girl. And I want to go back home with her.

I've been growing more edgy and tense each day. So, when Fishlegs comes to me, hand-in-hand with Heather, and asks me if I recognise any of the dragon species they've come across on this island, I finally snap.

"I don't care!" I yell, my voice high-pitched and loud, and both take a step back, shock painting their faces pale. Although, a small part of me feels guilty about that, I am too stressed to care. Not giving them any further attention, I turn around to keep on pacing somewhere undisturbed. But after I find a good spot to do just that, I can see someone's already been here first. Hiccup. Of course. I know Odin probably caused this irony to have a good laugh at my sorry ass. Great.

I'm still torn between going to him or finding another place. Before I can make a decision, Astrid emerges from between some trees and calls out Hiccup's name. He turns around, his face only showing distress, and stiffly accepts Astrid's hug. They talk but I can't hear a thing from this distance. Judging by the way Astrid starts to wave around and scoff, I understand they're arguing. Hiccup doesn't seem to be as agitated and keeps looking out across the ocean to the horizon. I've been inching my way towards them, hidden behind either a tree or a rock, which is why I can hear Hiccup say quietly, "I need to go after him."