from him, as if Hiccup were a mouse running through
a warren of little mouse holes and the Dragon were a
vengeful cat.
The Dragon caught Hiccup up in his hand, at last,
and brought him up to his giant head.
‘You hesitated for good reason, Furious,’
shouted Hiccup, tearing uselessly at the Dragon’s
fingers as the Dragon bore him upwards.
‘Tell me that reason,’ spat the Dragon fiercely.
‘See what has happened to me? See how I am repaid
for my hesitation and the curse of my love?
‘My dragons are fighting the Last Battle, and
now it seems more important to me than ever that
they should fight it, with all the Rage that they can
put into fang and tooth and claw. They should not
hesitate, like I hesitated, to wait for the humans to
strike them down. Tell me one good reason why I
should call off this Rebellion now?’
Tears were pouring down Hiccup’s face. ‘Let me
talk…’ replied Hiccup. This was his last chance.
He knew it.
‘Just call off your Red-Rage for one moment,’
he begged, ‘halt the War, and let me talk—’
The Dragon Furious gave a long, low hiss,
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‘Talking changes nothing, Hiccup. Words cannot
alter human or dragon nature. Has the Alvin-man
taught you nothing?’
‘Yes they can,’ said Hiccup, ‘words change
everything. Let me explain,’ pleaded Hiccup. ‘Give
me a moment, just a moment to explain… I ask you
this in memory of Hiccup the Second.’
Every time Hiccup used that name, a shiver went
through the Dragon.
The Dragon poured lightning bolts here, there
and everywhere, shot out his deadly flames in all
directions, steamed out his anger as if he would burn
up the world… but he could not bring himself to kill
Hiccup.
He was defeated, and he knew it.
‘I am betrayed by my former self,’ said the
Dragon at last.
‘You have broken me. I can no longer kill you
myself, for my heart will not let me, but that does not
mean that I will tell my dragons to end their battle.
‘I shall halt them, but I promise nothing. Even
after you have spoken, I may tell them to carry
on. For what have we to lose? We dragons are lost
anyway, so we might as well take as many of you
humans down with us as we can…’
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O thank Thor, thank Thor…
‘I understand, Furious,’ said Hiccup. ‘Give me
one minute, and then you can do as you wish.’
Furious set Hiccup back on the rocks, and then
threw back his head and poured out fire in a terrifying
upward fountain.
‘HALT!’ screamed the Dragon Furious.
‘HALT and listen to your Leader!’
All around Wrecker’s Bay, Savagers, Brainpickers,
Thor’s Thunderers, the whole mighty army halted in
reluctant obedience to their leader.
‘Listen to me, your King!’ cried the Dragon
Furious. ‘Hiccup the Third, King of the Humans, has
something to say.’
The snarling, fighting, mess of Dragon Rebellion
Dragons closed up their fireholes reluctantly, retracted
their fangs a moment, and hung in the air, an angry
mutinous rabble, expecting to carry on again any
second.
‘Why are we stopping?’ asked Very-Vicious the
Visithug. ‘These dragons will kill us all if we let them.’
The humans halted too, sheathed their swords a
moment, all the while looking around with wary eyes.
Hiccup tried to calm his frantically beating heart.
He couldn’t mess this up.
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‘Stormfly,’ whispered Hiccup, to Camicazi’s
hovering Mood-Dragon. ‘I am going to speak in
Dragonese, but could you translate for the humans as
I go along?’ Stormfly the Mood-Dragon, spoke Norse
as well as Dragonese.
Hiccup had a chance, now, a chance to talk, and
to change the Dragon’s mind.
Hiccup cleared his throat.
‘Look at what we have done to the world around
us,’ said Hiccup.
The dragons and the humans looked around at
the smoking, blackened landscape.
‘This War, this devastation, this violence, is all
for nothing,’ said Hiccup. ‘Even if you kill me now,
even if you win the Final Battle against my friends
and fellow Vikings, you will lose many of your
companion dragons in the battle. And that will not
be the end.
‘To the south of us is the Roman Empire, with
its heavily armed and ruthless army. You may very
well lose to them, Furious. You have already left
it too late, for the Romans have fearsome weapons
indeed. And even if you destroy the Romans, there
will be more humans… more and more of them…
‘And once you have killed so many, you will
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have to go on, and on, and on, wading through blood
and more blood, for even if there is only one human
being alive, they will fight you for the sake of their
dead brothers and sisters.’
Hiccup’s palms were damp. He rubbed them on
his fire-suit, only succeeding in smearing them with
seaweed.
‘This is what Total War means, Furious,’ he
went on. ‘You and your dragons are not monsters,
whatever you may be pretending. You may grow
weary of destruction.
‘Think of it, Furious,’ said Hiccup. ‘No more
burning. No more smell of flaming villages. No more
aching wounds and weeping for loved ones.
‘No more War.
‘The Dragon Rebellion dragons could go back
home and swim happily, freely in the innocent cold
snows of the north. You could fly up, up, up in the
cold clear air, pure and happy as birds. You could go
home.’
‘Ah home…’ sighed Furious.
Home.
Furious knew, that like himself, the Dragon
Rebellion dragons had long ago slaked their anger and
revenge, and now they were working themselves up to
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be angry, and that was so very, very tiring.
Their skin stung with a thousand swordcuts,
pinpricks all of them, for human spears were so pitifully
small, but nonetheless, tiny as they were, the seasalt
made them sting like they were being pinched all over
by malevolent midges.
They longed for rest, to close their eyes without
always having to keep alert for danger, just to sink into
a deep, deep sleep.
They were weary of the reeking smell of the
blackened landscape.
The Dragon Rebellion dragons were tired of war,
all right.
And deep in his heart the Dragon Furious knew
the boy was right.
Even were the Dragon Furious to continue, there
was always the chance that he might lose, mighty as he
and his dragons were.
He had not wanted to admit that, even to himself,<
br />
until that very moment, that all this blood, all this
violence, all this misery, might end in failure.
‘Total War is not the answer, Furious,’ said
Hiccup quietly. ‘Blood just draws more blood.
‘You have the Jewel safe in your hand.’
Uncertain, the Dragon Furious clasped the Jewel
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tighter to comfort
himself.
‘Look!’ said
Hiccup the Third,
pointing at his forehead.
‘This Dragonmark is a
symbol of the brotherhood
between humans and
dragons. I will swear by this
Mark, that no dragon in this
Wilderwest that I am now the King of,
will ever be a slave again…’
The Dragon started, for of course the Mark
reminded him again of Hiccup the Second.
‘And that I will fight for the whole of my life
to build a new and better world,’ finished Hiccup.
There was a long, long pause, where the Dragon
Furious snorted restlessly, sending out thunderbolts
up to the sky, lashing up the ocean waves in Wrecker’s
Bay so that they were churned up into frothing foam,
throwing his head wildly from side to side.
For the Dragon was at War with himself, and he
knew already that he had lost.
He looked into the past, present and future. And
then he sighed.
That door that had opened in his mind, back when
Toothless had protected his Master, it would not be
closed again.
‘You have a dragon’s tongue, Boy-who-has-a-
Name-that-I-Love,’ breathed the Dragon. ‘You have
snared me with your words.
‘I will give the human beings one more chance.
‘One more throw of the dice.
‘I will give you the chance to build this new
World of yours, even though I fear it is doomed.’
And as he said those words, the last of his anger
seemed to fade away. The flames in his eyes died down
to embers.
The Dragon Furious smiled, a bitter, weary smile,
but a smile nonetheless.
He had not smiled in a long, long time, so it took
quite an effort for him to remember how to do it. But
eventually the broken, scarred and stiff skin of the
dragon’s mouth twisted itself upwards into something
that looked a little like a smile.
‘I knew it!’ squeaked the Wodensfang, delirious
with excitement. ‘I knew it!’
‘BROTHER DRAGONS!’ roared the Dragon
Furious. ‘LISTEN TO ME! CALL OFF THE
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REBELLION! I HAVE THE JEWEL SAFE IN MY
HAND AND I WILL BARGAIN WITH THE KING
OF THE HUMANS!’
So out there on the Reef on the Doomsday of
Yule, Hiccup, King of the Wilderwest, and Furious,
King of the Dragons, pledged their word to one
another.
‘I promise,’ Hiccup said solemnly, bowing to the
Dragon, ‘by this Mark upon my forehead, that I will
strive throughout my life to build a new world, a
better world, a world worthy of both our species. Not
our species as they are, but as they could be. I give you
my word, from King unto King.’
The Dragon bowed his ancient battle-scarred
head to Hiccup. He struggled to make his words as
loud as possible, so that all should hear them.
‘I promise I shall call off this Rebellion and
this Red-Rage. I shall work fang and claw to make
my brother dragons and the humans live together in
peace. I give you my word, from King unto King.’
The Dragon Furious reached out a talon towards
Hiccup, saying gently to Toothless, ‘Move aside, little
toothless Seadragon. You are a hero, for you have
saved your brother human today, and he has nothing
to fear from me any more.’
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Toothless gave a cry of alarm as the Dragon
Furious’s talon gently tore the fire-suit, and there,
across the scar over Hiccup’s heart, the Dragon Furious
drew a faint scratch, just enough to draw blood.
And he took the same talon up to his own chest,
and drew a little blood there too, so the human blood
and the dragon blood mingled there together on the
end of the Dragon Furious’s talon.
‘We are blood-brothers now, Hiccup the Third,’
said the Dragon Furious. ‘Just as I was once, with
Hiccup the Second.
‘And…
‘A PROMISE IS A PROMISE, IF IT IS
MADE IN BLOOD.’
The Dragon sighed a deep, deep sigh, and it
wasn’t quite clear if that sigh was despair, or relief, or
fear.
‘It is Love that has betrayed me,’ he said to the
Wodensfang. ‘I hope your boy is worth it.’
‘Love is always worth it,’ replied the
Wodensfang.
‘THE DRAGON REBELLION IS
OVER!’ roared the Dragon Furious, in the loudest
roar he could manage. ‘GET READY FOR
PEACE!’
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‘THE DRAGON REBELLION IS OVER!’ cried
Hiccup, punching the air in triumph. Now the solemn
moment was over, he was so wild with joy he leapt up,
hugging the cartwheeling, ecstatic Toothless and the
ancient Wodensfang, jigging joyful in the air.
Up went the cry across the Bay.
‘THE DRAGON REBELLION IS OVER!’
‘THE DRAGON REBELLION IS OVER!’
‘THE DRAGON REBELLION IS OVER!’
‘I don’t believe it!’ Stoick the Vast was so
astonished that he nearly fell off his Bullrougher
riding-dragon, the Thunderer. ‘Hiccup’s done it! HE’S
DONE IT! THE DRAGON REBELLION IS OVER!’
‘I told you you should have faith in our son,’
said Valhallarama, that great Warrior, and she grinned
like a little girl as Stoick embraced her across the gap
between their hovering dragons.
‘HE’S DONE IT! HE’S DONE IT! DIDN’T I
SAY HE WOULD DO IT?’ screamed Camicazi, wild
with excitement, and Fishlegs danced with joy beside
her on the Reef.
The relieved cries went up from human to
dragon, from dragon to human, and the cliffs of
Wrecker’s Bay echoed back the jubilant cry, over and
over and over, and up in the ice and fire of the upper
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atmosphere the Dragon Guardians of Tomorrow
repeated the words to themselves languorously, and
down, down, ticking in the grasses, Ziggerastica and his
nanodragons repeated them lovingly:
‘THE DRAGON REBELLION IS OVER, OVER, OVER…’
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26. THE
PLEDGE
Ah, joyful times indeed!
Against all odds, and
impossible as it may seem,
Hiccup had not only managed to
get himself crowned the King, he
had also averted the Final Battle, and
ended the Dragon Rebellion without
further loss of life.
But I almost dare not write what
happened next.
The jubilant dragons and humans had
forgotten about
the Witch.
The Witch who was crouching like a white frog
in the shadows, still hidden between the spines of an
invisible Stealth dragon.
The Witch had seen her beloved Alvin have his
Kingdom taken from him, had seen him taken up to his
death by the Dragon Guardians of Tomorrow.
Everything she had worked for her whole life
was over.
And it was all the fault of that Hiccup boy.
So there she was, holding the Stormblade,
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and she had only one thought now, and that was to kill
Hiccup.
As we have just seen, those who have loved, and
been loved, can never forget that love.
But there are some who hate, who cannot
forget that either, and the Witch’s hate went
on like an unstoppable clockwork thing. She
charged forward, nursing her hatred like
it was something precious, Stormblade
high above her head, whispering sweet
hate-thoughts and revenge-curses to
herself like a Valkyrie.
‘Swoop close in, Stealth
Dragon,’ whispered the Witch.
‘Land right next to him. I need
to be very close, so close that I
could hug the boy. So close
that I can leap off your
back and sink this blade
into his chest, before
the little rat even
knows I
am there.
‘This is our time,’ crooned the Witch. ‘Ah, you
know it, don’t you, Stormblade? You have drunk the
blood of Hiccup the Second, and now you are thirsting
for the blood of Hiccup the Third…
‘History repeats itself…’ whispered the Witch
lovingly. ‘History repeats itself… History keeps on
repeating itself…’
The humans and the dragons were erupting with
joy, down there on the Reef. Human was embracing
dragon, and dragon was embracing human, and the
whole world was celebrating, dancing for joy.
The Dragon Furious lifted up his great head and
shot thunderbolt after thunderbolt into the air.
‘PEACE!’ roared the Dragon.
‘PEACE!’ roared the humans.
He even LOOKED a little like he might
remember how to be peaceful, that great angry Dragon,
and he was smiling once again, those stormy eyes
How to Train Your Dragon: How to Fight a Dragon's Fury Page 22