An iron will

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Astrid and stormfly suddenly dropped out of the sky, grabbing the sheep I was going for.
    'Oh, come on Astrid.'
     'Sorry not sorry! It's not my fault you're so slow!' Astrid laughed and flew away.
     'Ok bud, let's pick up a sheep on the way back.' Toothless raced towards the next sheep, threw it in the air, flew up and caught it with his claws, heading towards the goals. Astrid had already scored five goals. Stealing our sheep gave her the edge. Fishleggs, Snotlout and the twins had three goals, heading towards their fourth. Me and toothless scored with this sheep our fifth as well.
     There were two more nets hanging, both with one sheep in it. Jorn and Zwanet had joined the contest for the first time. They were sixteen years old so they were allowed to participate. They were completely focussed beating each other. Trying to beat us was not possible. Well maybe the twins, but they actually performed quite well. Their trickery was a very effective technique for stealing Snotloud's sheep.
     The horn sounded through the village. Match point! If we wanted to win we had to steal Astrid's sheep. It was worth the shot. Toothless speeded forward, trying to catch up with Astrid and Stormfly. They had already caught a sheep out of the air.
     Toothless flew above Astrid. Night Furies were noiseless flyers, very useful for a surprise attack. I ticked Toothless on his shoulder and he shot down like a falcon, ready to steal the sheep. Astrid must have felt the wind of our dive because she looked up.
     'Get that sheep Toothless! I was ready to alter the position of his tail depending on which side Astrid chose to dodge to.
     'Stormfly, drop!' Shit, I hadn't expected that. Astrid outsmarted me. She knew me for way too long. We passed Stormfly and the sheep was already falling down. We couldn't make such a sharp turn.
     'Catch!' Stormfly dropped down and caught the sheep, with her dive stormfly speeded up and passed us. 'Good girl. See you later Hiccup!' Second place it was.
     In front of us was Zwanet trying to steal Jorn's sheep. Jorn hadn't seen Zwanet yet. She started the dive.
     'Let's catch up to them bud, I'm not sure how this will end. A dive is pretty hard to pull off and they are beginning riders.' Jorn Suddenly leaned slightly to the left, exactly where Zwanet was diving towards.
     'Shit! Astrid! They're gonna crash! Please do something!' Astrid was closer to them. A loud bang traveled through the air. Zwanet fell off her dragon, while Jorn and his dragon just managed not to crash into the ground.
     'I'm not going to make it!' Astrid yelled.
Zwanet crashed on a roof and screamed out. Astrid jumped on the roof before Stormfly even had landed and put her on Stormfly, ready to bring her to our healer. Lucky for us, the healer was in the audience, I had seen her at the start.
     I flew to the stand. I didn't need to ask Toothless. 'A healer, we need a healer! Zwanet fell off her dragon! Make room for her!'
     'Get my equipment!' the healer shouted. Her name was Isabelle, she was thirty five years old. Let's put it this way, she had an iron will.
     'Fishlegs! Get her equipment, I'll get Emil, he can help!' I fled off to Emil, who was standing on the other side of the playing field.
    'Where is Emil, the new guy. I need him now!' I yelled while hovering above the tribune.
     'I'm here! Bring me to her.' Emil yelled. I could see him on my left waving at me. I landed next to him.
     'Can you jump on my dragon?' I asked. Emil hesitated.
     'You climb on Toothless  or you better start running right now!'
     'Fck it. Give me your hand.' I helped him on top of Toothless. Snotloud was approaching us. 'Can I help?'
     'Bring me my equipment. It's in the tavern in the second drawer of my closet.'
     'On my way.
     Zwanet lay on the ground next to the stand with Isabelle bending over her. Fishleggs had already returned. Emil off Toothless and ran towards Swanet and sat down next to the healer.
     'I can help, I'm a healer as well. What is her condition? Are there any acute wounds?'
     'She broke both her legs. We need to ease the pain. No acute wounds.'
     'I can make a strong painkiller. What next?'
     'Bandage her legs.' Emil gave her a surprised look.
     'What? No! She won't be able to walk that way ever again.'
     'She won't walk ever anyway. I'm sorry but that is not going to happen.'
    'No, I can bring her leg in the right position so her bone will heal.'
     'What? Are you a wizard or something? You have no idea what you are talking about. You are just nineteen. I know what is best. Get him away from here, he isn't helping!'
     'What! In Thor's name! I have done this many times before, let me do my thing!'
    'Get him away from here!' Two men were headed towards Emil.
    'Fine, I'll go!' Emil said outraged. He walked straight towards me. 'Who are her parents? Bring me to them.'
    'Emil, calm down. I'll show you, but like this you can't talk to them.' I said. Emil took one deep breath and looked me in the eyes.
    'I'm calm enough now, I'll just fake it. Bring me to them, please. That girl won't ever walk again if I can't help her.' I was shocked by the power burning in his eyes.
     I didn't know if he was right, I had faith in our healer, but I also had faith in Emil. He wouldn't lie. He had nothing to gain from hurting her. 'Come with me.'
     'Jason, Emma, this is Emil.  He is new here.' Emma looked angry at Emil.
     'What were you doing? Let the healer do her work.' She said.
     'I'm a healer as well. In our village we can heal broken legs by bandaging them in a special way. I can do that, but we have to do it today. I have done it many times. If you don't let me help her, she will never walk again. I can guarantee you that. Please let me help.' His voice was calm but his eyes were burning. He was indeed good at faking it.
     Emma looked at Jason. 'Why would we believe you instead of our own healer?' Jason said.
     'Why would I lie? I want to help. Your healer is not trying to heal her legs, she is just trying to lessen the pain. She believes her legs can't be healed. You have nothing to lose by thrusting me. Her legs can't get any worse. My technique can't make it any worse, even if I wanted to because they will get amputated anyway if you let her do her thing.' Emil was breathing fast but his voice remained calm.
     'I think you should give Emil a chance.' I said.
     'Fine.' Emma said with tears in her eyes. Jason nodded.
     'You have to tell Isabelle.' I said. Jason walked with us to Isabelle.
     'Isabelle, could you let this boy help Zwanet.' Jason said. His voice thrilled.
     'You must be kidding. That boy? He will only hurt her, that leg won't heal.'
     'Isabelle, let him do his thing.' Jason repeated, making it clear by the sound of his voice that she should stop immediately.
     She looked me in the eyes, making sure to let me know she hates me, but took distance from Emil. 'Fine!'
     Emil already had his equipment with him. 'Have you already lessened her pain?' He asked. Isabelle nodded. 'Good, you can clean her other wounds in the meantime, that should be done as soon as possible. If one of them turns out to be deep, you have to tell me.'
     Isabelle looked at him with big eyes. There was no doubt in his words, his instructions were very clear and he had no problem commanding her around. He worked precisely and kept communicating with Isabelle while he was treating his leg. He took Isabelle seriously but he took the final decisions. I was flabbergasted.

After the procedure, Emil went to Zwanet's parents who were still standing next to me. 'I will visit her weekly. If her pain gets worse, I want you to let me know. I think Isabelle can help you with pain killing herbs for the first week. Right?' Isabelle nodded. 'Make sure she rests and doesn't use her legs, although that should be pretty hard since the bandage is hardent.
     'Thank you.' Emma said. She had calmed down a little.
     'No problem, I'm glad I could help. You should also thank Isabelle, she was really helpful, maybe not in the beginning but she made more than up for it.'
     'Yes, you are right. Thank you Isabelle.' Jason said
     I tapped on Emil's shoulder. 'Want to take a walk in the woods? I think you could use it. Emil doubted for a second, but eventually agreed. I was surprised that he said that they should thank Isabelle as well. Instead of making their bond even worse which was tempting, he was nice to her and he was right. She was of great help.

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