First Friends

Chapter 15

The next day I woke up in Hiccup's arms again, happy, but feeling warmer than normal. I woke him up and after breakfast we went our seperate ways, him to the Blacksmith's shop, me to the forest with my cart in tow. Around lunch I started feeling nauseated, so I nibbled on some grass, are two squirrels, and returned to hunting. At the end of the day I hooked myself up to the cart and began pulling it back to town. For some reason my usual haul felt heavier than normal. I began to struggle with pulling it, hills became my friends when it came to pushing the cart further, my enemy when going uphill.

Finally, I crested the slope that would lead me back to the village. The ruts from all the trips before were dug deeply into the soft earth. My strength failed me half way down, and I was dragged underneath the cart, becoming banged up and bruised in addition to feeling nauseous.

When the cart finally came to a stop, a group of villagers came running up, Stoick among them.

"Tiger?" he called. I tried to growl a greeting, but couldn't get enough air into my lungs. Instead of a growl, I squeaked weakly. He got down on his knees and looked under the cart just as Hiccup ran up. He followed his father's example and looked under at me.

"Tiger? What are you doing under the cart, silly?" he asked me with a light, giggly tone. I sighed and lay my head down, too tired to keep it up. That's when he began to realize I wasn't playing around. "Dad! Tiger's under the cart. I think he's sick!" The huge man leaned over and looked under as well. He lifted the cart off me with a mighty heave, then Hiccup darted under and undid my harness, dragging me out from my position and into the sunlight. I hissed and closed my eyes, too weak to do much else. My savior seemed to understand that my eyes were sore, so he draped a piece of fabric over my eyes, blocking out the Sun's light. Stoick set the cart down and ran a gentle but firm hand down my side. I winced several times as he hit my bruises.

Hiccup picked my head up and set it in his lap. The sharp tang of fear filled the air, and my nostrils. I knew they were scared for me, afraid I was going to die. It was with this fear I shared with them, I finally, and mercifully, slipped into darkness.

The last thing I heard was Hiccup calling my name, "Tiger? Tiger?!...TIGER!"