A/N Hi, there! So first of all...thank you everybody still waiting for this story. And thank you for reaching out to me. I am done with uni for the summer so I am back to regular updates. And more torture for Hiccup.

Disclaimer - I don't own HTTYD universe.

Chapter 15 - The soup and the past

Astrid shivered at the cold night wind but Stoick had given them clear instructions not to go inside until their new ally allowed so. Calder was a mystery Astrid wasn't looking forward to solving. The moment she seemed to trust the guy she found out something new that completely uprooted her trust. Hiccup, however, seemed to trust the guy and for the moment Astrid would bet everything they got on their leader's hopefully better judgment.

Stock and Gobber had taken a couple of steps away from everyone and were currently in a very heated discussion, involving a lot of hand gestures. Fishlegs had taken an immediate interest in their surroundings and were quietly muttering to himself while regarding a tiny plant which had managed to sprout in between the rocks of the beach.

The twins were flicking the said rocks at each other so that left Astrid alone with her pacing at least until he heard a shout from the inside.

"Dammit, Hiccup!"

Astrid was already moving and she saw in her peripheral vision Stoick rushing over as well. She barely grasped the wooden plate before a meaty hand pushed against it, preventing her from opening it.

"You take a step inside and I'll pour my nastiest potion down your throat!" They heard Calder yell again from the other side of the door.

Astrid flinched back at the angry tone but that didn't stop her from trying to get in.

"Astrid, stop," Gobber sighed, still pressing his hand against the door but also moving his body in front of the entryway.

"How can you trust that man so easily?" Astrid snarled at the older man.

"Hiccup does, that's gonna have to be enough," Gobber sighed looking at the door but Astrid could see worry lines on his forehead.

"Gobber is right," Stoick sighed next to her, though it almost seemed as if he was trying to convince himself. "Hiccup wanted time alone."

Astrid looked at the two grown men in disbelief before taking a step back.

She wanted to say something but was interrupted by a loud groan from behind the door. It was a painful sound and bot Stoick's and Gobber's heads snapped to face the wooden plate.

"Hiccup!" Stoick shouted only moments away from tearing the door open.

"He's fine!" Came Calder's displeased voice. "Just give me a moment."

"Where's Hiccup?" Stoick still demanded.

"He's okay," Calder reiterated. "I'm just checking him. Give me five minutes."

Astrid frowned at the stream of light flashing underneath the wooden door plate, trying to figure out whether it was all a wicked ploy or really the truth.

Stoick flexed his fist but remained at his place.

"If you did something to him, I'll…"

"You'll kill me. I know," Calder interrupted him. "Now let me work."

It took all her non-existent patience to wait those five minutes. Especially since she couldn't hear anything anymore from the cave.

When the time was finally up Stoick squared his shoulder and grasped for the wood.

Astrid slowly followed Stoick inside after he carefully opened the door, as if he was afraid to make a sound. Astrid's eyes immediately focused on the prone form lying at the far end of the cave, covered in furs and blankets with Toothless curled at the end of, his head propped on the pile of furs, careful not to disturb the sleeping man too much.

Astrid couldn't suppress the disappointment at seeing Hiccup unconscious again. It bubbled right underneath the ocean of worry. It had been almost three long weeks since she last saw Hiccup awake since this whole nightmare started and she had hoped to get some answers from her boyfriend. More than that she had just missed Hiccup's company - the way he scowled at the twins or engaged in a conversation with Fishlegs or couldn't disagree on a single thing with Snotlout. She missed his sarcastic jokes and crazy ideas. So many things had happened in the last couple of weeks but it all felt so dull compared to the life she had led with Hiccup.

"What happened?" Stoick addressed Calder who was rummaging through his boxes. Astrid noticed a basin with red water in it and blood-stained cloth left hanging from the rim of it. The sight made her stomach drop and she took a couple of deep breaths to calm the worry bubbling in her veins.

"Hiccup ripped open his stitches," Calder said calmly while reading labels on the bottles he occasionally picked up. "I didn't have any anesthetic left so I sew without."

"Without anything against the pain?" Astrid gaped at the man. The small amount of trust she had started to put into the man was starting to disappear. Again. And anger was fast to take its place.

"He passed out from it. Didn't feel the most of it," Calder shrugged, still not facing them and Astrid got an urge to strangle the guy. "Finally!" Calder exclaimed raising a bottle in the air and spinning around.

Astrid watched as Calder crossed the room and settled at Hiccup's side. She was surprised to see Toothless only raise his head briefly before closing his eyes and settling closer to his rider. He was clearly fond of the stranger and trusted him enough to put Hiccup's life in his hands.

She wasn't.

Stoick stepped closer to the bed as Calder started taking off the layers of blankets revealing Hiccup's freshly bandaged torso.

"What's that?" He asked suspiciously.

"It's gonna help against any possible infection," the healer explained, peeling off the bandage. Astrid didn't see the wound but Stoick visibly paled and looked away. Calder though didn't look in any way startled and calmly applied the medicine before re-applying the bandage.

He left Stoick to pull the covers back up and returned to the middle of the cave where a large pot was hovering over a fire.

"And what kind of medicine is in there?" Ruff asked, leaning closer to the pot.

Calder gave her an amused look before taking the lid off the pot.

"It's chicken soup."

As the scent of the food wafted towards them Astrid finally got aware just how hungry she actually was. Though she didn't want to admit that she wanted to accept the food offered by this stranger.

"I thought you could use some food," he smiled sheepishly.

"Yes, please!" Tuffnut groaned as he took in a deep breath enjoying the savory aroma.

"There are bowls in that chest," Calder motioned to the stack of chests near the exit of the cave. "There should be enough for all of us."

The twins scrambled for the chest and Astrid could only wince as the top chest fell down with a loud thud. Calder didn't seem to mind the ruckus too much, he made his way around the Vikings and kneeled next to Snotlout.

Fishlegs had been so intrigued by the stranger that he was following him around like a lost puppy. Calder pulled out another flask from his pocket and popping the lid put it under Snotlout's noise. As Snotlout jerked awake Astrid couldn't quite mask her surprise and took a startled step backward. Though it was nothing to the scare Fishlegs got, the bulky Viking ended flat on his ass when Snotlout's eyes flew open accompanied by a battle cry.

"Welcome back, friend!" Calder said before he once again stood up with a graceful ease and finally put all his flasks and bottles in a huge chest, wiping his hands with a cloth.

The twins had managed to find eight bowls without breaking them and were pouring generous amounts of the hot soup for everyone. Calder in the meantime had somehow managed to find a loaf of bread which looked like it had been taken fresh out of an oven.

Astrid hated how hard it was to keep hating the man. It seemed that with every move he made he made certain to earn more and more of her trust. Or he was just bribing her with food.

The bowls were passed around and bread traveled from one pair of hands to other so everyone could break off a piece for themselves. They all settled on the floor, Stoick not leaving his son's side, and dug in. For a couple of moments, there was nothing other than slurping and groans of gratitude echoing in the walls.

"So," Stoick finally started after pouring himself a second portion. "We've been going along with you for long enough. I think it's time you explain some things."

Calder sighed putting down his bowl throwing a brief glance around the room. He reminded Astrid of a trapped wild animal.

"How do you know Hiccup?" Gobber asked first and Calder gave him a thankful smile. He looked relieved to answer a specific question.

"We met when he arrived at the Black Pit. He almost walked straight into Torben's camp," their ally answered briefly, not bothering with any details. Suspicious, Astrid thought.

"How did you know he was one of the good guys?" Astrid squinted at the man who suddenly seemed weary. He threw a nervous glance at Toothless who lazily turned his head and gaggled lowly.

"I didn't," he mumbled lowly, stretching out the moment of silence before continuing. "I drugged them, and tied them up."

"You did what?" Stoick growled but Calder immediately raised his arms in surrender.

"Hey, I didn't know, okay? We had a nice talk when he woke up and cleared the misunderstanding."

Calder was aware of him being observed and he bravely held all their stares. Including, Snotlout's, who was still too out of it to do anything else than mirror what everybody else was doing.

"And what were you doing here?" Stoick resumed interrogation. "That man was your brother, right?"

"Yes," The dark haired man let out a heavy sigh like he had the whole weight of the world on his shoulders. Astrid remembered Hiccup having similar sighs. "He is my older brother."

"And what made you turn against your own flesh and blood?" Stoick frowned at him.

"Our tribe," Calder brought his hands together in a death grip and looked down. "When our father, the chief of our tribe died, Torben being the eldest took over. I didn't mind. I always wanted to be a healer and that's all I cared about. That and Adelina."

The look on the man's face was full of raw agony and sadness. Astrid's heart ached at the sight. Calder was hurting so much. It was becoming almost impossible to regard him as an enemy.

"Who's that?" Tuff asked with a mouthful of bread and Astrid didn't spare him from her annoyed look.

"She was…is my fiancée and the love of my life," Astrid didn't miss how the young man choked up.

"What happened?" Gobber asked solemnly after giving Calder to gather his bearings.

"When our tribe's elder and the previous healer died I found in his belongings a chest detailing a dragon with healing capabilities like never before," he raised his eyes at them and Fishlegs thoughtfully crossed his arms over his chest.

"We found it at Hiccup's hut," he explained and Corben nodded in understanding.

"I told Adelina about it. By that time we had heard of a young man, learning the ways of the dragons and how to live with them. We both had been captivated by the idea," Corben briefly glanced at Toothless before returning to the story. "The smile on her face when she taught… I think you call them Night Terrors…how to eat out of her palm," Calder shook his head as if trying to expel the memory, "well the point is, we knew that if we let the information out, the dragon would be hunted down and killed."

"Then how did your brother find out about it?" Stoick pressed on.

"He had people spy on me," Calder sighed and let out a humorless laugh, "he was worried about me challenging his right to the throne." Calder looked up at the ceiling and pulled a sarcastic, painful smile on his face, "I couldn't have cared less."

A dark silence settled over them. But Calder continued on.

"Torben saw it as an opportunity to get rich, to have the whole ocean at his feet begging for the cure. When he confronted me, I refused to give in. When he decided to go through all of my stuff, I panicked and threw the box into the sea. I knew that nobody other than people from my tribe could understand that language. I kept the key so that nobody could even open the chest," Calder's eyes darkened with memory. He seemed completely enveloped in the past, a prisoner to his own story. "So he did the only thing to make me tell him where the dragon's nesting grounds were. He poisoned Adelina." Calder paused again to take in a deep shuddering breath. His knuckles were white from how tightly he was squeezing his hands and Astrid shuddered at what probably happened next." I tried for weeks to find a cure for her but nothing worked."

"I'm so sorry," Fishlegs mumbled. The twins looked at each other with somber looks, avoiding Calder's gaze and it looked like Snotlout had lost his appetite.

"Don't be," Calder rose to his feet. "She is still alive."

"What?" Astrid gasped.

"My medicine isn't potent enough to cure her, but I've managed to slow down the effects. Her body is growing weak and has started to reject the medicine. I have less than a couple of days before a full paralysis sets in," Calder's eyes burned with an almost scary determination.

"So you're gonna kill the dragon to save her? How does that make you any different from your brother?" Gobber asked though Astrid couldn't hear any signs of accusation in his voice.

Calder looked at the blacksmith with defiance written in his every muscle but a sound interrupted his response.

"N…no."

A weak, rough groan came from the end of the cave and Astrid whipped her head in the direction. Stoick had never moved so fast as when he turned around to face Hiccup who was blinking his bleary eyes open.

"Hiccup!" Calder moved as well. Gone was the pained man, locked in his own past. He crossed the cave in swift, calculated steps befitting a healer and dropped to his knees at Hiccup's side.

"Here, drink this," Calder put his hand behind Hiccup's head and put a flask(Astrid had no idea where it came from) to his mouth. "It's gonna help with the fever."

"Thanks!" Hiccup sighed as the liquid went down his throat. "Wa…ter?"

"Sure," Calder moved to fetch it but Toothless was already there with the pitcher of water in his mouth. "Thanks."

Astrid moved closer to the bed to get a better look at Hiccup while Calder fussed over him.

"Stop," Hiccup groaned when Calder started to feel him for any swelling or more injuries. "I'm fi…arg!"

Toothless let out an accusing sound and Hiccup pouted. Calder had most likely pressed on a particularly sensitive spot.

"I'm better," Hiccup righted himself.

"Not really," Calder raised an eyebrow at him and then shook his head.

Hiccup ignored him and looked at everybody in the room. When his eyes met hers, Astrid couldn't help the gentle smile tugging at her lips.

"I heard you talk," Hiccup explained.

"Son, you should rest," Stoick tried to put the covers back over but Hiccup to Astrid's annoyance put his hand on the chief's stopping him mid-action.

"I have a plan," Hiccup smiled.

Astrid and Calder groaned in unison.

A/N What do you think? Like it or hate it? Would you want to meet Adelina?

Till next time...