Nightmare

Author’s Note: This is a work of fanfiction. The rights to How to Train Your Dragon remain with Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks. Only the plot and original characters are mine.

I’m sorry, but it’s true.

§ § §

“Amputation.”

Stoick the Vast jerked his head around at the word. Gothi rarely spoke, though she was capable of it. Gobber had served her for years, and Stoick, accustomed to injury and death as he was, heard the grief in the healer’s voice. A Monstrous Nightmare had bitten Gobber’s hand clean off, but Stoick had hoped Gothi could save the leg. The Isle of Berk had many amputees, but to lose two limbs at once was a grevious blow.

The one word said everything. Without it, any attempt to save Gobber’s leg would lead to his death. If Gothi was to amputate, it must be soon. Stoick, as Chief of Berk, must provide her with permission.

“Do it.” Stoick walked outside and bellowed for his men: Hoark, Ack, Spitelout, Hardnut. They would have to hold Gobber down to take his arm and leg. For all Gothi’s skill, she was child-sized. Stoick would make the cuts, his brute strength making the procedure swift for his friend.

The men came, eleven of them, and Stoick chose six to hold Gobber in place. Gothi had poured mead over the injuries, and Stoick’s brother Spitelout forced even more down his throat, rubbing Gobber’s neck to make him swallow.

The axe blade had been heated, and the men took their stations, Hardnut and Spitelout pinning his chest. Stoick gripped the axe two-handed, and aimed below the knee.

The strike connected cleanly, and Gobber thrashed, screaming. He was incoherent, and Spitelout fought to keep him down. The leg was tossed into the fire and someone doused the open stump a second time. The hut stank of blood and burnt flesh; Stoick, like the men around him, took shallow breaths. Spitelout poured more mead into Gobber’s mouth, and while Gobber fought the ministrations, he fought less than before.

The room was sweltering, and Stoick's hands slick with sweat. He wiped his hands on his tunic; the axe must not slip. Gothi knelt to examine her nephew. Tears streaking her cheeks, she nodded.

“Again,” Stoick said, and the men held hard. He hit below the elbow, and Gobber screeched as the axe sliced through. Someone poured mead over the second stump as Stoick’s closest friend howled in anguish, and one man turned green. He ran from the room, retching. Gobber’s screams turned to whimpers, a relief for all present. Gothi knelt next to her nephew, the closest thing she had to a child, her thumb on his neck, shaking.

The Lord Marshal approached his Chief, then looked at the bloodied axe. Stoick released the weapon to him. It occurred to him that the axe required cleaning and sharpening, a job for the blacksmith who’d lost two limbs. With the surgery completed, the men surrounding Gobber looked lost, and the Chief sought refuge in his duty.

“Return to the village. There’s a dragon raid to recover from, and you’re needed there. Spite,” Stoick told his brother, “find the council members and tell them what happened, then report to the smithy. Hardnut, begin the cleanup protocol. Claim all the help you need,” Stoick told him, “and don’t take no as an answer.”

“What about you, Chief?”

“I’ll be along soon.” He said nothing else, and Lord Marshal prodded the men out the door.

It was the three of them then—Gothi, Gobber, and himself. The odds were against Gobber’s survival. The Chief knelt beside Gothi, his height almost even with hers, and gently dropped a hand to her shoulder. The priestess was a forceful woman, but fragile now. “He’ll be all right. Gobber wouldn’t dare leave you, not when you’d drag him back anyway. He’s getting the best of care, aye?”

She nodded, exhaling, and placed her hand on his. It was a thank you, and when next she looked at Stoick, she flapped both hands at him. He left. On his way to Gobber’s home, he spat on the corpse of the Nightmare that maimed his friend. Once Stoick informed Gobber’s family of his injuries, he would join Spitelout in the forge.

The blacksmith was always busy after a raid.