The Dragon Master and The Lightning Rider *Hiccup Fanfic*

40. The Plan

"Who's Crazy Crow?"

"You don't know Crazy Crow?" Skye asked incredulously. "He was a legend. He was the one warrior that went insane from torture. Apparently he had betrayed Shruiken and lived to pay the price. They didn't kill him, but let him live in the woods. He wrote poems and talked to the crows."

"He sounds like a wonderful person," Tye said sarcastically.

"Yeah," she replied. "No one could hate him."

Tye looked at the rags she wore. "You look terrible. How in the world am I supposed to make you even slightly presentable?"

Blood and cuts and bruises marked her skin, everywhere except her face, according to Tye's instruction. Her dark hair was greasy and blood-stained. Her face was sunken, pale, and her eyes were bloodshot, like she had one too many sleepless nights. He did not bandage her wounds, but instead just wrapped a flimsy cloth over the larger cuts to temporarily stop the bleeding.

"I'm taking you to my cabin," he said quietly. She looked up at him, her eyes narrowed. "You need a bath and cleaner clothes." He glanced at the empty plate. She had devoured the food faster than he realized. "And more food."

Skye tried to pull herself up, hissing and gritting her teeth. Her body felt like it was doused in lemon water, searing all her cuts and leaving her breathless. She managed to hobble on her feet, the cuts on her knees were shallow, but they smarted with every shift.

"You look pitiful," Tye said glumly.

Skye let out a quiet laugh as she balanced herself on Tye. They began walking out the cell at a snail's pace. By the time they reached the entrance to the brig, Skye was heaving for breath, tears stinging her eyes.
Tye finally hefted her in his arms and carried her back to his cabin. The sun was setting, and her fingers grasped his shirt tightly, tugging it once to make him stop.
The sun was just sinking over the horizon. The water was cast red and yellow and pink, and it reminded her of flying on Sin's back, soaring through the clouds, feeling the rush and the wind and the freedom. It felt like it never happened, that she was bound to always return to Shruiken. Her happiness was always short-lived. But she cherished that happiness nonetheless.

"Let's go," she murmured.

She was thankful that he hadn't spoken up. He swung open the door and put her on a chair. He then heated up wood that was surrounded by a solid rock pillar, and placed a metal rod in the fire. Skye watched him cross the room to pull out better clothes, scented bars, and bandages. The tiny bathtub in the corner of the room was filled with steaming hot water, scented with a flower she couldn't recognize.

"Shruiken pays for a job well done," Tye explained as he watched the metal rod turn red with heat. "I need to close the wounds."

"By burning me?"

"It's a new technique."

Once Tye finished sealing all her deep wounds with a press from the hot metal rod, Skye was sweating and crying, biting down on a smoothened shard of wood.
He left the room so that she could wash herself. She didn't know how she had managed it all those years before, when she was so much younger, but now, it seemed like the pain would not end.
After she had cleaned up, she could barely step out of the tub. She had scars and wounds all over her body, in patches or strips, and it made her tense and uneasy. Her years-old scars had faded until they were thin, white and pink bumpy lines, but now she was absolutely littered in blotches of red and blue and purple. Every nerve in her body felt like it was on fire, but a salve that Tye had given her greatly soothed the burns. She had never used such a salve, but it cooled any pain she had, leaving only a stiff ache in its wake. It was magical.