Little Miracles

Puzzle Pieces

Chapter Twelve: Puzzle Pieces

Ten miles was a long way to fly and with Ruffnut and Tuffnut bickering with each other on Barf and Belch, every second Hiccup spent on his dragon flying away from Berk frustrated him even more. He knew his little girl was on Berk, he could feel it, and yet here he was flyingaway from her. It felt wrong. Even though he knew he was doing this for her, he couldn't help feeling like he was wasting time.

What kind of night did his daughter have? Did she sleep? Had she eaten anything over the last day and night? He hoped that she had at least been able to drink something. Even if all she could eat was snow, that would keep her alive a little longer. Long enough for him to come and get her. He found himself thinking about what he would give her when she got back... she loved sweet rolls, especially when he added mint leaves. Wait a minute, was he thinking about actually having her home again? No more pessimism? Well that was a start. He felt a little bit better as the glacier finally came into view.

They landed a minute later and immediately dismounted. They searched the glacier for a moment before Tuffnut finally found something odd frozen into the ice. It looked like a wooden puzzle piece, sort of like the ones the kids put together in the Great Hall during especially bad weather.

"That must be what we're looking for." Hiccup muttered, getting on his knees to inspect it. "If it's made of wood, we can't let the dragons melt the ice. The fire might burn it."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut nodded. For a moment, they stood there, staring at the piece in the ice with no idea how to get to it. They had no tools with which to break the ice. So unless they tried to break it with their fists, that piece would be stuck. Hiccup bit his lip. It had taken a long time to fly there. Okay it had taken twenty minutes but a forty minute wait for supplies seemed excessive. Especially since they still had to figure out Ruffnut and Tuffnut's clues.

"So how do we get it out?" Tuffnut asked.

Hiccup restrained himself from punching his friend. It was a legitimate question but he was already on edge. He put his fingers on the ice, tracing the puzzle's shape. His baby girl depended on him getting it out of the ice. Then, quite suddenly, it hit him. It was a bit crude but if it worked... he pulled a dagger out of his coat and immediately stabbed the ice. It barely made a dent but, he thought, this only meant that he was a millimeter close to the thing that would get his daughter back. He'd pick away at the ice all day for her.

"Cool! We get to break stuff?" Ruffnut exclaimed, getting out her own dagger and stabbing the ice close to the dent Hiccup had made.

"It's going to take forever at this rate." Hiccup growled. "If there was a way to soften the ice, maybe..." he looked over at Toothless. "All right, bud, I need a plasma blast but it has to be slow, not very hot. Melt the ice slowly."

Toothless made a gurgling noise and obliged. Once the ice was sufficiently melted, Hiccup stabbed it again and this time, it cracked. He dropped his dagger and dug in the ice with his bare hands until he had extracted the puzzle piece. It had writing on the back but it was clearly only part of a full message.

"Okay that's mine. Tell me your clues. We need to figure them out." he said, turning back to the twins.

"Yeah well mine is stupid. It makes no sense." Ruffnut grumbled.

"Let me be the judge of that." Hiccup held out a hand and she placed the small piece of parchment into it. "Remember when your fiance threw you to the fishes? You know, that sounds really familiar. Like... I know I've heard that before."

"Oh! So that's why I thought I'd heard it before. Did I say that to you? Oh did you ever throw Astrid into the ocean? Or did I do that? Well... I think I did that once but it was like thirteen years ago." Ruffnut rambled, clearly thinking out loud.