Another Nightmare book 1

Chapter 21

Hiccup flinched as Gothi poked his chest: It was still sore from his injuries. The elder apparently had decided to remind him that he hadn't completely healed yet. Hiccup knew from experience to just sit silently and not interrupt. That was the quickest and least painful way to deal with the deceptively harmless-looking woman. When you entered her hut with any injury you were at her mercy. She took off the old bandages that Fishlegs had put on the previous day. Afterwards, she kept looking at the wounds below, sliding her finger along the skin. Her expression seemed thoughtful, which made Hiccup a bit uneasy. He knew full-well that those wounds normally shouldn't have been healing that quickly, or at least so cleanly with just some bandages. Toothless really did wonders to them.

It took some time for Gothi to put on new bandages. Hiccup's nose was assaulted by the smell of whatever they were covered in. It actually made dragon saliva seem a more attractive treatment method, on top of being more effective. Afterwards she let him stand up and started writing on a box of sand on the floor. Many didn't understand the symbols she used, and fewer knew that Hiccup did. Gothi had noticed the strangely good condition of his wounds, but didn't push the matter. She did, however, tell Hiccup to be careful, saying that his head was still injured too. Maybe that hellish headache wasn't just because of his separation from Toothless' mind; it still touched him to think that the dragon had held that pain for him earlier. To think that someone was willing to voluntarily suffer any pain for him was foreign, but not unwanted.

Hiccup stepped carefully as he walked down the steps from Gothi's hut. Only other thing he paid attention to was the sound of hammering coming from Gobber's forge. He had gone back to work after Gothi chased him out of her hut. Hiccup didn't feel like talking to the one-legged man. There would just be questions and he wasn't sure how to answer them without getting into more trouble, in one way or another. He started walking the other way. It would be easiest to just return to Toothless.

"Hiccup," Fishlegs' familiar voice came from behind him.

"So you got back to the village. Did anyone see you in the forest?" Hiccup asked, keeping his voice quiet.

"I don't think so. Everyone came back when they found you, but where are you going?"

"Back to the cove. I don't really have any other place to go to and I don't want to talk with Gobber right now."

"Hiccup, I know you don't want to be here, but I don't think you should go now. You are away constantly and people might pay more attention to it now since they had to search for you."

"I doubt that. They've never cared before."

"They might... not care that much... for you... but eventually people will start asking where you go. At least they should see you in the village every day, especially today. It's safer for Toothless too."

"You are right," Hiccup agreed almost instantly. "I should stay, for a while."

His voice lowered with the last words. Hiccup looked around the village, thinking of what he could do without running into Gobber.

"Guess I'll go around the village, maybe clean the house before dad returns, but then I'll leavev. That should be enough that people don't come looking for me immediately. You know where to find me after sundown."

"Are you going back to the ring?"

"Of course. I still haven't met the Zippleback and Nightmare, and dragon training won't last much longer. The Nightmare is going to be killed if I don't do something before then."

"So you are you going to free them?"

"I have to do something. They don't deserve to be tortured to death just because the Queen forced them to do bad things."