The Night Rider

Chapter 15: The Concotion

HICCUPS POV.

Toothless let out a big yawn and positioned himself in an opening next to the fireplace that had a slow smoldering fire lit. The dragon was asleep within seconds. The past few days must have been taxing on him, being locked in a cage, not knowing what was happening on the other side of the door.

Hiccup gave Toothless a sad and pitiful look through his mask. He turned towards a small drawer and grimaced at the sharp pain on his abdomen. Hiccup opened the cabinet and pulled out a small sac of medical herbs from a firefern and placed them next to a small mortal and pestle that sat on the counter.

He opened a cabinet lower down to the floor and removed a sealed jar. He opened the cap and the pungent odor filled the room. Even through the mask he had to look away as he poured the transparent substance it into the mortar and pestle. 

"Ugh, I hate this stuff." He said slightly gagging at the smell of Night Fury saliva. The saliva had something in it that helped wounds heal almost three times faster but it almost wasn't worth it for the smell it emitted once it had left the dragons mouth. 

He dropped a few of the herbs into the mortar and pestle and started to mix them with the saliva. Where the Night Fury saliva helped with healing the wounds it did not help with possible infections the wound could have, where the firefern leaves would help as they helped fight off infections.

Hiccup ground the two substances together and after about five minutes the previously transparent saliva had become a rusty red. Hiccup placed the bowl back down and began to unclip his chest plate. He placed it on the ground but left on his gloves as the firefern would still burn him on contact.

Hiccup looked down to where he was injured and found that a portion of the bandage that had been wrapped around his abdomen had been burned away by the fire from the Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare that was able to get through the crack in his armor.

The stitches Goathy had put in had held through the fire but around them was blistered flesh encircled by charred bandages. Hiccup grimaced at the thought of applying the concoction to his already severely burned skin but it he didn't he would have another scar, and he hated getting scars.

Hiccup picked up the bowl with his left hand and dabbed two of his fingers from his free hand in the substance. Hiccup took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he gingerly applied the concoction to the blisters and burned skin. He dipped his fingers back into the bowl and started another layer on the burns.

"AHH!" He yelped as he applied it to the largest blister. He jumped back and his arm knocked the jar of saliva off the counter shattering it on the floor. To Hiccups surprise his dragon only stirred in its slumber in reaction to the noise. But another had been awoken and was peering around the wall from the stairs.

"Sorry I woke you up." He said to Astrid who fully showed herself from behind a wall. "I wasn't asleep." She replied her eyes on the sleeping Toothless. Hiccup followed her gaze. "Your not in any danger here Astrid." He said applying more of the substance to his burns.

"How did that happen? I thought your armor was fireproof." She said pointing at his burn. "It is fireproof, but that doesn't stop the fire from getting through the cracks." He said tapping the crack on his chest plate.

He thought for a second he may have seen guilt on her face as she was the one who had shot him down and cracked his armor but he didn't say anything. She approached him slowly staying as far away from the sleeping Toothless as she possibly could.

"Your safe." Hiccup said once again trying to reassure her. She didn't respond and kept on her rout towards him but as far away from Toothless as possible. "Let me." She said putting out her hand waiting for him to give her the bowl.

Hiccup handed her over the bowl glad she was willing to do it. "What is this?" She asked giving it a quick sniff but recoiled her head away at the smell.
"It's Night Fury saliva mixed with the leaves from a Firefern. The saliva helps wounds heal without leaving scars and the leaves help with infections."

"Well this obviously doesn't work then." She said so quietly that he could barely hear it. "What makes you say that?" Hiccup asked confused. "Well you have a lot of scars." She said to him pointing to the dozens of old wounds across his chest that never properly healed.

Hiccup gave a short chuckle at the comment. "Trust me, without the stuff I would have a lot more." Astrid nodded and was about to dip her fingers into the concoction when Hiccup stopped her. "Wait!" He yelled grabbing her arm.

Astrid looked up at him, her face calm but in her eyes he could see what he was sure was fear. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He explains. Hiccup removed both his gloves and handed them to her. "That stuff has firefern in it, it would burn you if you touched it."

She placed the bowl down and took the gloves from him. They were to large for her hands but they would still do the trick. She picked back up the bowl and dipped her gloved fingers in. She began to carefully rub the substance on his burns carefully. Hiccup gripped the counter next to him so hard that his knuckles began to turn white.

She dipped her fingers in the bowl again and did another coat of the liquid. Hiccup was pretty sure that she could hear his teeth gritting through his mask. "That's enough." He said taking the bowl from her and placing it on the table. He let his muscles relax and he leaned up against a wall.

The experience had drained any energy he had left, which wasn't that much. "Thank you." He said, breathing heavily from the experience. She gave a short smile but didn't say anything. "You should go to sleep, we have a long ride tomorrow." He said turning away from her to grab his chest plate. "Where did you get these?"

Astrid asked curiously as she placed a few of her fingers on one of the many deep scars on his back. Hiccup was facing her again in an instant, her forearm gripped tightly in his hand keeping it from touching him. "Don't touch my back." Hiccup said in a firm and commanding voice.

Astrid pulled her forearm back to her side of the two and gave him a long and threatening glare as she walked away from him ripping off the gloves and throwing them onto the floor and storming back up the stairs. "Know go to sleep! We have a long flight tomorrow!"

He called up the stairs but she didn't respond, not like he was expecting her to. Hiccup removed his helmet for what must have been the first time in three, maybe four days and placed it on the counter. He did take the chance of Astrid seeing who he was, but he wasn't getting enough oxygen through it.

He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He sounded like his father. And man who he had always almost been the polar opposite of, was who he know sounded like. Hiccup put back on his helmet and knelt down to clean up the spilled Night Fury saliva and broken jar.

(Authors Note)
Hello everyone, just here to say that if you read an alternate version of this chapter and are confused on why it's now different I apologize, I posted it but then changed it because I wasn't satisfied with it, so if you did read the old version, just forget it, this is the new version. - Samuel Scutter