Stormbound

Scene 8: Heather's chambers

"Are you ready for this?" Heather asks her brother.

"I was born ready!" he cries enthusiastically. "Okay, that's not true. But yeah, I'm ready."

"Good." Heather's sleeves are rolled up. She double-checks to make sure she has everything she needs. Thin, very clean knife, check. Bowl of fresh water, check. Washcloth, check. Lots and lots of bandages, check.

"Okay," she says, exhaling, "I think I'm ready too."

She takes a deep breath. "It's not the wound that'll kill him, it's the blood loss. Now he's already lost a lot of blood, but if you had removed the arrow, he'd have lost a lot more, so that's good, at least. Right now, the bleeding's mostly stopped, but as soon as we pull out the arrow it'll start up again, yes Dagur?"

Dagur lowers his hand, "do we need to pull out the arrow?"

"Yes, Dagur. As I was saying, the bleeding will start again as soon as we pull out the arrow, so you need to be ready with the bandages. As soon as I'm done cleaning the wound, you need to apply pressure to it, got that?"

"Like, press down on the bandages?" he clarifies.

"Exactly. And once the bleeding's slowed, we can make him a proper bandage. Simple, right?"

Dagur makes a face.

Heather laughs. You'll be fine, I'm doing most of the work here."

Dagur raises his hand again.

"Yes Dagur?"

"Shouldn't we take his shirt off?" he asks, looking oddly excited by the idea.

Heather winces. "We can't move him that much." This is true, but for some reason the thought of taking Hiccup's shirt off makes her uncomfortable. "We'll just cut away the area around the wound and he can do some sewing when he's better."

"Who cares about his outfit," Dagur mutters.

"You can take off the extra stuff though, like the shoulder pads, or whatever those are. Just don't disturb the wound."

Dagur pouts. "Aw, I was hoping to see some scars."

Heather stares at him for a moment, then shakes her head and moves on.

Okay. Deep breath.

Now that the moment's come, she's terrified, so terrified of hurting him more, making it worse, killing him.

Well he can't live with an arrow sticking out of his shoulder for the rest of his life, she thinks, steeling her nerves.

First things first. She grabs the knife and carefully cuts away the fabric around the arrow. Thankfully, the arrow split the fabric coming through, so she's able to peel it away without much fuss. She then cleans the dried blood from the skin around the wound and wipes away a fresh trickle inching down.

Bending closer, she inspects the wound. It's just below Hiccup's right shoulder blade. The arrowhead's completely embedded, but it can't be more than an inch deep. Thank Thor dragon hunter arrows are smooth. Now she just has to hope it doesn't splinter as she's pulling it out.

She's making up excuses now.

I'll be fine as long as I pull the arrow out straight. Gritting her teeth, she grabs the arrow shaft firmly in one hand, shuddering at how it feels under her palm.

Dagur looks at her with concern. "You sure you're up for this sister?" he asks.

"Yes," she says firmly. "Just thank Thor he's unconscious, 'cause this is gonna hurt."

And with a deep breath, she places her hand against Hiccup's chest and pulls.

Hiccup's eyes snap open with a yell.

"Oop, he's awake!" Dagur notes.

"Oh Thor, oh Thor, Hiccup, STAY STILL!" she cries, a note of panic creeping into her voice.

Panting and terrified, Heather inspects the arrow in her hand. It's smooth and whole

Yes!

Then she turns it. It's missing a chunk.

"No!" She throws the arrow to the ground behind her angrily and Windshear jumps to avoid it. She'd forgotten Windshear was here. "Sorry, girl. Dagur, hold him down, I'm going back in."

She quickly rinses the little knife and turns to the now open wound. Blood is everywhere, and it doesn't help that Hiccup is thrashing.

"I SAID HOLD HIM DOWN!" she yells, panicking.

"I CAN'T GET HIS OTHER ARM!" Dagur yells back, sounding just a little scared as well.

Heather grabs Hiccup's flailing arm and holds it down herself. "THERE!"

Dagur grabs it and leans his weight down on Hiccup's wrists.

"HOLD HIM DOWN, BUT GENTLY!"

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO 'HOLD HIM DOWN BUT GENTLY?!'" Dagur protests

"Oh for- WINDSHEAR!"

"Great. The DRAGON's gonna do it."

"Just make sure his shoulder doesn't move!" Heather orders.

"He's stronger than he looks!" Dagur protests.

"JUST KEEP HIM STILL!" Heather shouts.

"Okay! Okay!" Dagur mutters.

Clean the blood. There's way too much of it. Heather swallows the lump in her throat. She did it wrong. She did it wrong, and now Hiccup's going to die.

No he's not.

She puts every ounce of determination into that thought, and probes for the shard.

Her hands are covered in Hiccup's blood, but she ignores it all, her sole focus on finding that little piece of arrowhead still inside him.

"Hiccup, please," she sobs, "I don't know if you can even hear me, but if you can, please stay still!"

Maybe some part of Hiccup is conscious enough through the pain to hear her, because though his breaths come fast and heavy, his thrashing stills, and finally, finally, Heather's little knife clacks against the shard.

"Sorry, Hiccup," she murmurs, and she digs the knife in below the shard and lifts.

She tries to steel herself against the noise of Hiccup's pain, but it cuts her heart even so. But it's worth it when her fingers close around the shard and pull it free.

She lets out a laugh of relief and drops the bloody thing behind her.

"Now, Dagur!" she shouts, and he releases Hiccup's shoulder to grab a stack of bandages and press it firmly to Hiccup's wound. Hiccup doesn't move. His eyes are closed, and his chest rises and falls evenly. He's passed out from the pain.

"That's it, don't crush him, just nice and firm..." she steps back and leans on Windshear.

Breathe. Just breathe, she thinks. It's over now, for better or for worse.

Closing her eyes, she leans her head back on her dragon and laughs quietly with relief.

"Um," Dagur says hesitantly, "Heather? How long am I supposed to hold this for?"