Heir and Pride

Chapter Twenty Three

Days passed and Hiccup didn't wake. Despite being lodged in his bed in the main room of the Chief's house, he worsened. The fever wracked his body and his breathing grew harsh and shallow. His pallid skin flushed and his leg grew scarlet and hot and swollen. Astrid, Stoick and Gobber took turns in sitting with the boy, trickling water and weak broth and medicine into his mouth, cooling his burning body with compresses and talking to him.

    

Astrid almost resented sharing her time with Stoick but she had Stormfly to take care of and she loved flying, though she wished Hiccup was at her side. And she spent time with Toothless-Toothless who wasn't allowed in the house, no matter how much he howled and scratched. Toothless who couldn't fly without Hiccup. Toothless who loved Hiccup. So she petted and fussed over the dragon, making sure he fed and groomed. But she was sitting on the cliff overlooking the harbour with both dragons as the sun set when Stormfly turned sharply and the edge of her wing slashed her arm. Astrid hissed and the dragon turned back, distraught. The girl looked up and offered a watery smile. "It's okay, girl," she said softly. "It was an accident." But it was a deep, nasty cut and she clutched it tightly.

    

Suddenly, Toothless pushed forward, his eyes focussed on the cut. She pulled away but he growled and his tongue lapped over the wound, coating it in his sticky saliva. She pulled a face. "EEWW!" she exclaimed and made to wipe the spit away but he growled more and Stormfly cooed at her. She stared at him: he had treated her as a friend since Hiccup had accepted her and his actions were inexplicable but he was trying to tell her something. She sighed. "FINE!" she snapped. "It my arm gets infected and has to be chopped off, it will be your fault!"

    

But the next morning, the deep cut had completed healed. Only a faint red mark on her skin marked that it had ever been there. And then she stared up the hill at the black shape, sitting and howling outside the Chief's house. Hiccup had weakened further and what little flesh there was on his bones had melted away. She stroked her arm again and recalled the dragon trying to lick Hiccup's amputated leg-and the healers washing the saliva off with hot water. She began to run up the hill. She needed to check something.

    

She burst in and stole a glance at her friend, then dashed up the stairs to his room. His vest was lying tossed on the bed and she fumbled in and dragged out his journal, flipping it open and thumbing through the pages until she read the account of Toothless healing the wounds from his thrashing and the beating she had inflicted on him. The words he wrote at that point caused her to sob.

    

I thought they would kill me. And though Snotlout has beaten me up for ever, the fact this was Astrid made it a thousand times worse. I love her...but I think she hates me. And I don't know why. I thought...I thought when she helped me before that she was starting not to despise me so much. But when she punched me, I just wanted to curl up and die because she has always been my dream and that blow shattered it. It broke my heart.

    

But the other part of the entry was even more interesting.