Inside the hold, Trader Johann hadn't moved throughout our little skirmish, including when the dragon raked its claws down his calf.

I stepped down into the hold and paused, my gaze riveted to Johann. He was still curled into a ball, but his leg wasn't bleeding. As the seconds passed, the worry building in my gut threatened to explode.

I held my breath, hoping somehow what I had assumed was wrong.

After waiting for what felt like an hour, a small cloud of steam rolled from his nose toward his chest. Several seconds later, there was another cloud.

Even if his breaths were shallow, he was alive through some miracle.

The air that had caught in my chest escaped my mouth as a sharp burst of steam. I placed my hands on my hips in relief, and my shoulders dropped several inches. Johann may have been alive, but I needed a miracle of my own to get him into Berk.

Toothless looked into the hold and moaned softly. I glanced up at him, seeing the worry behind his eyes. Refocusing on Johann, I walked around to his injured leg.

I glanced around the hold, wondering if there was any object I could use as a tourniquet. Nothing caught my attention, and I didn't want to wander around the hold when Johann could die at any minute.

However, I did notice the floor around us was covered in fish entrails. This wasn't close to typical Johann. He was always meticulous in keeping his boat clean to entice people to trade with him.

After a few seconds of looking around, I realized my hands were still resting on my belt, almost like they knew what I needed in advance.

I whipped my belt off before giving myself a chance to consider my decency in front of others. I wrapped the belt just below Johann's left knee, tied a reef knot, and cinched it.

For a few seconds, I wondered why there hadn't been a river of crimson gushing out of his leg. He wasn't bleeding before I got to him, so maybe my belt was there for safety's sake.

After puzzling for several seconds, I had my answer: the cold. It was Johann's saving grace for now, but it was also his worst enemy.

I huffed in frustration as I walked around to Johann's back. If I didn't hurry, Johann would freeze to death, and I would somehow be the one responsible.

"Let's just get this done," I mumbled.

I looped my left arm underneath his own and worked my right hand underneath his right shoulder. I knew better than to bend over and use my back to lift him, so I squatted and held for a beat. Using my legs, I stood, lifting Johann like he was a rag doll.

I cinched my grip around his chest, clasping my hands together, and began walking backward. I took the steps one at a time, making sure to gain footing with my peg before I moved. Johann's boots clunked lifelessly against the slats with each step.

I pulled Johann into the outside air, which was further chilled by a blustery wind and much thicker snow than just a few minutes prior.

I paused once we reached the deck, wondering how in the world I was going to get Johann onto Toothless' back. There probably wasn't a good solution to this, so I went with the first idea that came to my mind.

I looped my hands around Johann's midsection and squatted again. I lifted with my legs and heaved him across Toothless' upper back with a groan. There was no other place for him. Behind the saddle, and Toothless would be restricted in his wing movement. Along Toothless' spine and Johann would plunge into the ocean about as quickly as Toothless could shoot a fireball. Have Toothless hold him with his claws? I couldn't take that chance, hoping his clothes would stay intact.

I hitched my pants and trousers up, climbed onto the saddle, and adjusted Johann to make sure he wouldn't slide off. I reached over him and stroked Toothless near the back of his head.

"Okay, buddy. Take it slow," I said to Toothless. To make sure he got the point, I hooked in slowly with my peg.

Toothless seemed to figure it out because he lifted from Johann's boat gently and began cruising toward Berk, barely pumping his wings as he flew. The entire time, I kept one hand on Johann's belt and another on the saddle. But it felt like I didn't need to worry about Johann, thanks to Toothless' expert flying.

Toothless landed in the middle of the plaza for everyone to see... well, everyone who was brave enough to face the bone-chilling cold. Astrid, Gobber, and my dad were there, along with about three other hardy souls.

Both my hands were frozen shut after the flight back home. I slowly worked some movement into them, just enough to let go of Johann's belt and the iron bar on the saddle. I unhooked with my peg and cautiously slid off Toothless' back.

Gobber was the first person to reach us, hobbling with a pronounced limp due to his left peg leg. He was about the same size as my dad and was bald except for a long blond mustache that fell neatly on either side of his mouth, almost like two ponytails. In addition to missing his lower left leg, his right hand was also gone. He used a variety of interchangeable prosthetics to account for his missing hand.

"Looks like you caught more than just fish," he observed.

As my feet hit the ground, my yakskin trousers slipped a little, taking my pants with them. I quickly brought my hands to my waist, cinched the pants and trousers back up, and turned to Gobber like nothing had happened.

"Johann needs help," I said, taking a step away from him.

Gobber's expression immediately clouded over. He took a closer look at Johann and noticed my belt wrapped around his leg.

His eyes went wide, and then he quickly said, "Bandages. Thread. Needle. Seaweed. My house. Now."

I was already half-running, half-hopping to the forge where we had a large stock of those items. The snow plate for my peg was useless and stuck on Johann's boat, and gravity kept threating to pull both pairs of pants I was wearing downward.

I grabbed what seemed like way too much seaweed and fine thread. Pausing just enough to keep from impaling my fingers, I picked up a bone needle and rammed it into a pile of soft leather bandages. I dashed out of the armory and nearly fell face-first into the snow I had all of a sudden forgotten about.

By the time I got about ten feet away from Gobber's home, Johann was already on the wooden floor, lying on his front. On Gobber's right was his prosthetic mug, full of what smelled like strong mead, his preferred treatment for open wounds.

Gobber liked to joke that you get the person inebriated on the mead first, then use the rest of it to actually clean the wound. There wasn't as much screaming that way. Although, considering the state Johann was in, I had a pretty good hunch that first step would be omitted.

"Hiccup, what are you waiting for!?" he shouted.

I silently handed him the soft leather and seaweed, and he took them from me without looking or saying anything. I rushed over to the door, slammed it shut, and hitched both my pairs of pants up for the third time.

Gobber worked Johann's boot off his left foot and pulled his pant leg up. He untied my belt from Johann's leg and threw it on the floor near my right foot, muttering something about not needing a tourniquet.

I picked up the belt without answering him, checking it for red splotches that were obviously not there. It was still earth-colored, so I put it back on my waist and immediately felt much more secure about my pants. Just to make sure though, I hitched them up for the fourth time.

Once he found the needle and thread, I silently excused myself and walked out of his house. I had no interest in watching him sew Johann's leg back together.

Not a second after I closed Gobber's door behind myself, my dad's voice ambushed my ears.

"What happened?"

I looked up and froze on the spot. Every bit of attention coming from the small crowd suddenly became a crushing weight on my shoulders. I knew I wasn't in any trouble, at least I hoped I wasn't. But I still hated being the center of attention like this, especially when said attention was unexpectedly heaped upon me.

"Uh," I started, hoping my mind would start working within the next two seconds. "Trader Johann... was trapped in... in his boat," I stammered.

My mind was racing. I wanted to tell them about how everything was frozen. About how Johann was paralyzed. And about how there was a dragon I had never seen trapped with him. But the connection between my mind and mouth was almost nonexistent.

"What happened to him?" my dad clarified, gesturing toward Gobber's house.

"I... uh... adragonearlykilim."

"What?"

I pulled in a breath that stung my throat, forcing my mind to focus on each syllable. "Johann     was     trapped     inside     his     boat     with     a     dragon     that     almost     killed     him."

"What did it look like?" Fishlegs asked from somewhere to my right. I hadn't noticed him when we landed a few moments ago. He ambled toward us.

Fishlegs was about my age but was overweight and had short, yellowish hair. He had an encyclopedic knowledge about any dragon species known and wasn't afraid to flaunt it.

I turned slightly toward him, trying to remember as much as I could about it. "Green... stood on two legs... red eyes... no wings... sharp tail..."

"And you said there was just one?" he asked, his eyes widening.

I nodded again after a brief pause.

"That can't be right," he said quietly after some thought.

"What do you mean?" my dad asked him. The crushing weight that was suffocating me felt like it had been removed almost instantly.

"I think Hiccup saw a Speed Stinger," Fishlegs said. He was totally calm under the exact same pressure I had just experienced. I felt jealous of him for a brief moment.

My dad was silent, which was a signal to continue.

"Uh," Fishlegs started, collecting his thoughts. "Speed Stingers move in large groups. Hiccup either saw a scout or a rogue dragon. And if it was a scout, that means there will be more coming."

"Here?" my dad asked.

"Yes," I replied before Fishlegs could answer. The crushing weight re-settled on my shoulders, but this time I didn't feel so trapped because I was ready for it. "There's an ice sheet that connects Johann's boat to Berk, and it goes on after his boat."

"That doesn't explain why Johann wasn't moving," my dad pointed out.

"Oh, Speed Stingers have a venom in their tails that causes paralysis," Fishlegs answered as if it was common knowledge.

Everybody had a different reaction. My dad nodded in understanding, Astrid and I exchanged worried glances, and another person nearby whispered something to her cohort. After a short moment, her friend whispered something back.

"Wh-what do we do?" Fishlegs asked meekly, breaking the silence that had fallen around us.

"Break the ice sheet before the Speed Stingers get here," I said matter-of-factly. 

"And just how are you going to do that?" my dad asked.

"Dragons," I answered.

"Can you get Toothless to break it?"

"I... don't think so."

I knew Toothless didn't have enough sustained firepower to break through a foot of ice. He could probably shatter sections of it, but it would take a ridiculous number of fireballs to create a rift that was large enough to keep the Speed Stingers away. That brought in a problem I had only experienced once with Toothless – his shot limit. We needed to get rid of a large section of ice quickly.

"Hookfang would be a better choice," I concluded.

I was ready for the backlash. Snotlout would never be able to figure out why in Thor's name I wanted to melt some ice. With him, preemptively addressing a problem didn't make sense.

Snotlout was about a year older than me with a husky build and almost no mental dexterity. He embodied the traditional view of Vikings by showing he had a lot of strength and stubbornness. His dragon was a Monstrous Nightmare named Hookfang, significantly larger than Toothless with a reddish hide. Most importantly, Hookfang's fire was similar to a continuous lava flow.

Before anyone could say or do anything, Astrid said in resignation, "Well, let's get Snotlout now. While we still have time." She strode out of the small crowd, Fishlegs not far behind.

"C'mon, buddy," I said to Toothless.

He grunted as he began following me. We were about twenty paces behind Astrid and Fishlegs when they reached Snotlout's house. Astrid knocked at his door, and about five seconds later, Snotlout appeared.

"... melt the ice," Astrid concluded as I got within earshot of her.

Snotlout looked at her, then switched his gaze to Fishlegs, then to me and Toothless. He grinned.

"Wait, so let me see if I understand this. You're asking for my help? None of your dragons can do this?"

"Yep," I said. "Unless, of course, you want to wait for any problems to show up." Snotlout looked at me quizzically, so I continued. "Sure, you can wait. And then once everyone here is dead, you can think about how it would have taken you and Hookfang five minutes to keep everyone safe. How you chose to be self-centered instead of actually contributing."

"All right! Stop! I get it!" Snotlout shouted. "Geez, you don't have to go so far..."

"Actually, he's not exaggerating," Fishlegs chimed in.

Snotlout shut his mouth.

"Snotlout, the longer you wait here, the closer those dragons get to Berk," my dad said from behind me and Toothless. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing my dad could get anyone on board with him.

Snotlout glared at us for a beat, then closed his door behind him. "I guess I'll help. But you had better be waiting with something good for me when I'm finished," he threatened as he eyed Astrid with a sideways glance.

"Get rid of the ice or Hookfang is gone," my dad replied, giving Snotlout an oblique answer to his "something good."

All of the color that was left in Snotlout's face vanished in an instant. I knew he and Hookfang weren't as close as me and Toothless, but he still liked being around his dragon.

"Got it," Snotlout said quietly. He began trudging through the snow to fetch his dragon.