Deceptively Delicious

Chapter 3

Another day and night had passed with no sign of the other dragon riders. Hiccup was starting to worry that the terror mail might have gotten lost, or delayed by a storm as its tiny messenger flapped over the archipelago. Snotlout had developed a high fever and lay listless by the firepit, moaning and twitching occasionally.

Hiccup's insides were twisted with worry: he had kept a cool cloth over the sick viking's eyes and forehead, trying to bring down the fever, but he couldn't stop thinking that is this fever didn't go down soon, Snotlout could possibly die here... There would be no fixing that.

Snotlout's eyes fluttered open, and he rubbed them once or twice before twisting wildly to one side. "Hiccup! Hiccup! Aaaahh!" Snotlout tried to twist around, but agony flared in his guts and spine, making him fall in the dirt. Hiccup ran over to him and tried to figure out what was wrong this time, trying to calm his sick companion. "Hookfang! I need to help him. Hiccup let go he's being torn apart!"

Hiccup pinned down Snotlout and grabbed his face with both hands. "No Snotlout, I can't let you up! I'm sorry, but listen- it's not real, Hookfang isn't here!" Snotlout growled and tried to bite Hiccup, but he was too weak and collapsed back into the dirt. Tears ran down his cheeks and he sobbed, "You want him to die, don't you? Everyone is going to die, and leave me, and I'll be alone. Everything is burning now anyway. I'm burning, you're burning, everyone is. Where did the fire come from?"

He trailed off into incoherent mumbling and relaxed, seeming to forget his previous anger. Snotlout sighed and whispered, "I want Hookfang. Where have you gone boy, I can't see you..." Hiccup stopped pinning Snotlout to the ground and tried to think of a solution to this; Snotlout was hallucinating now, which meant that the washcloth wasn't doing nearly enough to cool him down. At least in Snotlout's weakened state Hiccup could stop him from hurting himself.

Sitting back on the dirt, Hiccup sized up Snotlout and groaned; he was thinking that he might have to carry Snotlout to the stream- a cold bath would certainly help- but his friend was very heavy, and Hiccup thought he would be lucky if he could drag him that far. Since Snotlout's back would protest the jerks and strains of dragging him, and since they had no dragon, this solution was likely beyond Hiccup's current abilities. Maybe he should have tried to keep that wild nadder around.

Suddenly Hiccup remembered something Fishlegs had told him- he could make a sled! It would be crude, shoddy work, but it could possibly smooth the journey enough so that Hiccup could drag Snotlout to the stream. Making sure to stay close enough to where he could see and hear Snotlout, Hiccup dashed off to find the supplies he needed.

It was ugly, it was sappy, and it would be a miracle if it didn't fall apart on the way, but it was a sled. Hiccup pulled his friend onto it and started yanking it across the ground, surprised that the task was much easier than he anticipated. Halfway to the river, his luck ran out.

"Ugh... Uhn, where- Hiccup?" Hiccup lowered his end of the sled and came around to face Snotlout, checking his fever and cautiously determining it to be just a shade lower. The good news was that Snotlout seemed to be coherent, at least for the time being. "Hey, how're you feeling? Any better?" Snotlout turned to the side and retched, only for nothing to come up. Once his rasping wheezes subsided he answered, "Never better. Everything hurts and I'm freezing. And you said you wanted to put me in the river?"

Hiccup sighed, knowing that this trip was going to be a lot harder- if Snotlout was awake he would be in pain, and Hiccup didn't have a safe way to knock him out. "I need to put you in the water to break your fever. I know you feel cold, but your body's playing tricks on you right now. Before I got you on the sled you were hallucinating. I know the cold is the last thing you want to feel right now, but trust me, you'll feel better when your fever breaks." Snotlout grunted and closed his eyes.

*Hello again!!! Hope you enjoy, leave some votes and comments :) Sorry for hurting precious baby Snotlout, but he'll be fine, promise.*