rescue Camicazi.’
‘Do you think that this is a trick?’ whispered
Fishlegs. ‘Surely we will still be ambushed on our way
to Alvin’s camp?’
‘I have a sense that we will be fine,’ wheezed the
Wodensfang, in Norse. ‘Don’t ask me how I know, but
the Dragon Furious will not attack us… for now.’
But even with the Wodensfang’s reassurance,
it was terrifying to venture out of the hideout once
again, with the worry that at any moment they might
be attacked by the Dragon Furious, or by the witch’s
Spydragons.
The tree above the underground treehouse
was still burning when they left it, a blackened,
smouldering stump.
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Snotlout, on the back of the Hurricane, led
them through the eerie landscape. Hiccup had seen
woods destroyed before, but this was ten times worse.
Everyone was silent, awed by the devastation.
What had once been the half-burnt remains
of a forest now looked like the smoking surface of
the moon. If it hadn’t been for the river, they would
never have found their way, for the landscape was
unrecognisable.
Whole mountains had been demolished, shaken
to rubble as if there had been an earthquake. Whole
forests reduced to little toasted sticks of kindling
and ash.
Every now and then the river itself was blocked,
and dammed, by gigantic torn-up rocks from an
obliterated hillside. Water spurted up and round the
obstructions like blood from a wound, before reverting
to its original course.
The bite in Hiccup’s arm was a constant reminder
of the Vampire Spydragon. It could track him down
through the tooth still buried in his flesh. It could
appear out of nowhere, out of nothing, so Hiccup was
constantly looking over his shoulder, feeling that at any
moment he could be attacked once again.
The bruise had spread so that the whole of the
left side of Hiccup’s body was purple in colour, right
down to his knee.
‘I look like a Mood-Dragon!’ Hiccup joked, but
that was to cover up how frightened he was.
All the discoloured areas were so numb that he
couldn’t feel or use his left arm at all. It was hard
to cling on to the Deadly
Shadow’s back. He told
himself that the Spydragon
had been scared off by the
scale of the Dragon Rebellion
attack last night, along with
everything else. They crept through the devastation,
scurrying, terrified, to hide behind the corpse of one
blasted tree, and then on to another, and even though
they were shaded by the wings of the Deadly Shadow,
they felt painfully visible – the only moving things in a
wasteland of nothing.
This must be what it is like at the end of the world,
thought Hiccup.
‘Wow,’ breathed Snotlout. ‘That Dragon really
does want to get you, doesn’t he, Useless? I wouldn’t
want to be in your shoes if he ever finds you…’
‘But why isn’t the Dragon Furious here?’
muttered Hiccup, the tic in his eye working as he
squinted all around them. ‘Why
isn’t he stalking us? He knows
we are in these mountains,
somewhere. Why is he not
hunting? That isn’t like a
dragon. It doesn’t feel right.
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When a dragon has something trapped, it goes in for
the kill. Where has he gone?’
The Wodensfang fluttered innocently above
Hiccup’s head.
Out of nowhere, Toothless suddenly bit him.
‘OW! Toothless! That isn’t nice!’ said Hiccup.
‘Not good manners at all…’
‘S-s-sorry,’ whimpered Toothless, thoroughly
bewildered. ‘Not sure why Toothless did that… Is all
a bit scary for poor Toothless…’
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Rattled and jumpy,
Toothless was indeed not
quite himself.
They made their way down
the river, and dismounted from their
dragons beside the gigantic sea-cliff
waterfall where Camicazi and Snotlout
had nearly fallen to their deaths the previous
night.
‘Alvin’s camp is right here,’ announced Snotlout
proudly. ‘It’s colossal. Hundreds and hundreds of
boats, and a whole floating town.’
‘What on earth do you mean?’ asked Fishlegs,
shielding his eyes and peering out to sea. ‘Is this camp
invisible, like the Vampire Spydragons?’
Fishlegs had a point. In front of them, as far as
the eye could see, was a desolate ocean wasteland,
punctuated by monumental icebergs in fantastical
ghost shapes.
There was no sign at all of an enormous hidden
camp.
‘I mean exactly what I say, Fish-eggs,’ said
Snotlout. ‘Here is Alvin’s camp.’
Hiccup and Fishlegs looked at Snotlout with
open mouths.
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‘Are you mad? Or just
lying?’ asked Fishlegs. ‘A camp can’t
be invisible!’
‘That’s why you need me,’ said Snotlout
smugly. ‘It’s right underneath us.’
He paused for effect.
‘The camp is behind the waterfall.’
The humans and the dragons looked at him with
round, amazed eyes.
‘Behind this waterfall is a truly immense sea
cavern,’ boasted Snotlout. ‘Inside that cavern, on stilts
over the water, the witch and Alvin have built their war
bunker.’
Hiccup and Fishlegs looked in awe at the
tremendous cascade of water, falling down down down
into the sea below.
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‘Well, I’ll be hornswoggled,’ breathed
Wodensfang. ‘No wonder Stoick and Valhallarama
haven’t found this camp…’
Hiccup swallowed. ‘So what’s the plan, Snotlout?
You know the territory. How do we get behind this
waterfall? And once we’re there, how do we steal the
Lost Things and rescue Camicazi?’
‘Nice to see you’re putting me in charge for
once, Useless,’ drawled Snotlout. ‘Listen and learn,
Hiccup, and you’ll see how a real leader plans a military
operation…
‘Now,’ he said briskly. ‘Flying behind the
waterfall is quite easy. In the centre of the waterfall,
the water is an impenetrable force that would sweep
you down and smash you on the rocks below. But at
the edges, the fall is quite light, and you can fly right
through it.’
‘Ingenious,’ said Hiccup, impressed at his
enemy’s cleverness in spite of himself.
‘But once we’re actually in the cavern, things get
dangerous.’
‘Oh, no…’ shivered Toothless. ‘Toothless
h-h-hates it when it’s dangerous.’
‘The cavern is patrolled day and night by
Alvinsmen sentries, on foot and on the back of
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Bullguards. We’ll have to fly inside, in formation, with
the Windwalker and the Hurricane flying low under
the Deadly Shadow so that hopefully the sentries won’t
spot them…’
‘H-h-hopefully…’ groaned Toothless, ‘Toothless
hates “hopefully”…’
‘The underground village is built on wooden
platforms over the water. So we’ll head straight for
those wooden platforms, and fly underneath them.
‘There are hatches along the way, where the
Alvinsmen throw rubbish down and catch fish. I can
take us to the hatch which leads up into the room
where they are keeping the Lost Things. We’ll sneak
in, steal the Things, and load them on to the Deadly
Shadow’s back through the hatch.’
‘This is a ridiculous plan!’ howled Fishlegs. ‘I
can’t believe you’re even thinking about it, Hiccup!’
‘Your fishlegged friend is suspicious, Hiccup…’
said Snotlout, his eyes glinting. ‘The question, is, are
you?’
‘I’m going to trust you,’ said Hiccup.
‘Oh frizzling fuzzy fish-fingers of Loki,’ moaned
Fishlegs, to no one in particular. ‘All I wanted was a
nice quiet life as a bard. A little cottage. A nice lyre. It’s
not much to ask, is it? But what do the gods make me
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instead? A major contestant in an inter-species WAR. I
mean, I ask you, talk about bad luck…’
Windwalker huddled next to Fishlegs and gave
him an affectionate and understanding lick on the face.
Fishlegs grinned, in spite of himself. ‘Dragon-slobber.
Always makes everything better.’
‘Excellent,’ said Snotlout, climbing astride the
Hurricane. ‘Follow closely behind me.’
Snotlout took off, but before the others could
follow, Hiccup motioned them into a huddle.
‘What are we doing?’ whispered Fishlegs.
‘I want to trust Snotlout,’ said Hiccup. ‘I really,
really want to trust him, but I am not quite sure that we
can. So in case he does happen to betray us after all,
here is Plan B.’
‘Ah,’ murmured the Wodensfang. ‘That is wise.
You are learning, Hiccup. Hope for the best, but at
the same time prepare for the worst. That is kingly
behaviour.’
Fishlegs agreed. ‘Oh phew, I’m so glad there is a
Plan B. I’m not very keen on Plan A.’
As quick as he could, Hiccup outlined Plan B to
everyone, and both dragons and humans nodded to say
they understood.
‘But Plan B is even more dangerous than Plan A!’
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complained Fishlegs. ‘Well, I’m really hoping we won’t
have to put it into action,’ said Hiccup grimly.
‘Come on!’ Snotlout whispered from where he
was hovering about thirty feet below, at the edges of
the waterfall. ‘We haven’t got all night, scaredy-cats!
I’m the Leader now, and when I say go, GO! Honestly,
Hiccup, you and your sidekicks have no idea of military
obedience, no idea at all…’
‘I like this New Improved Snotlout, with Added
Old-Fashioned Charm,’ said Fishlegs, climbing aboard
the Deadly Shadow. ‘Don’t you?’
Hiccup rode Windwalker, and Fishlegs the
Deadly Shadow. They hovered for a moment or two on
the edge of the waterfall, getting into position.
Looking at the tumultuous cascade in front
of them, it seemed impossible that there could be
anything on the other side.
‘You have to fly through it quite fast, so get a bit
of speed up,’ advised Snotlout. ‘Ready? NOW!’
Fishlegs went first.
He gave a few gentle taps with his heels. The
Deadly Shadow reared upwards in alarm, for it was as
if Fishlegs was driving straight at a wall of water. But
the three heads put their mouths in a determined line,
and the great chameleon dragon turned itself exactly
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the colour of falling water and flew straight at the
cascade at considerable speed.
It was a peculiar feeling plunging through the
waterfall.
An instant’s soaking, chilling stun of water,
so cold that they nearly screamed – and Toothless,
flying above, did indeed let out an unhappy squeak
– and then they were out the other side, gasping
with the shock of it. Fishlegs braked the Deadly
Shadow sharply, and the dragon reared up to hide the
Windwalker and the Hurricane hurtling in after them.
WHAT a sight greeted their blinking,
drenched eyes.
9. INSIDE ALVIN’S WAR
BUNKER
It was a stupendous underground ice cavern, titanically
huge, and lit with millions and millions of Glow-worms
that sent the ice a-gleaming and a-dazzling as the
Glow-worms moved. There were vast icicles hanging
down from the ceiling, as if something had exploded
from above and frozen into great spikes of turquoise
ice.
The floor of the cavern was sea, and above it,
as Snotlout had said, the witch and Alvin had built
a Viking town on stilts. A crazy maze of wooden
platforms wound nearly from one side of the cavern
to the other, with houses and blacksmith’s forges and
armouries and even a crooked Great Hall standing in
the centre, made out of what looked like the jumbled
remains of ships, with the skull-and-crossbones
Treacherous flag flying from the top.
At the edges of this town there were at least a
hundred black ships, skulking like predatory black
widow spiders, torches and flares glowing along their
sides. And there was a melancholy, familiar sight of
gigantic dragon cages, with that terrible sound of
captured, terrified dragons, and the smell of chains
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being made out of molten metal, for Alvin and the
witch were using dragons as slaves again.
It was good for Hiccup to see this at this time, for
it was so easy, in the chaos and the horror of war, to
forget what they were fighting for. It reminded Hiccup
that though he had made mistakes – he had released
the Dragon Furious, he had lost Camicazi – he had
made those mistakes for a reason.
This must not happen.
This misery, this slavery, this must not happen in
the future.
A new world HAD to be born.
With a sick feeling in his stomach, Hiccup
recognised Dragonmarker helmets on long poles
sticking triumphantly above the town.
Poor Camicazi was in there somewhere.
Oh please let her be all right…
Ferocious-looking Alvinsmen Warriors hurried
along the wooden walkways, shouting at each other,
and lighting flares, and cooking food, and making
weapons.
Circling above were the Alvinsmen sentries,
riding Bullguard Slavedragons whose goggling eyes
sent out searchlight beams as they patrolled the camp,
guarding against intruders.
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It was extraordinary to think that such a huge
gathering of houses and ships could have been hidden
from the Dragonmarkers and the Dragon Furious
for so long, but the roar of the waterfall had entirely
muffled the noises and the smells and the lights of this
busy underground town from outside.
Hiccup adjusted his sword.
‘Let’s go,’ he whispered.
The three-headed dragon swooped down
towards the wooden platforms of the bustling village,
Windwalker and the Hurricane flying low under
the Deadly Shadow’s wings, so that they would be
camouflaged as they passed through the circling
Bullguard sentries.
Snotlout’s eyes gleamed admiringly as the
beautiful Deadly Shadow Dragon plunged into a dive.
‘I have to admit, reluctantly, Useless,’ he
whispered, ‘that for a lot of runty little weeds, your
team do travel in style.’
Hiccup’s heart was beating so hard, it felt like
it might leap out of his chest at any moment as they
soared near the Bullguards. One of the Bullguards
whipped its head around, perhaps feeling the passing
wind from the Deadly Shadow’s wings or hearing the
little muffled whispers of the hunting-dragons…
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Surely they must see us? thought Hiccup, petrified.
They swooped downwards, and Hiccup tipped
his face upwards, expecting at any minute a roar of
discovery, and then the whine of a full aerial pursuit.
But there was nothing, no suspicion in the faces of the
Alvinsmen sentries or the dragons they were riding.
The Bullguards continued their patrol, their eye-beams
flashing around the Bay in steady circles.
Down the Deadly Shadow swooped, and shot
underneath the nearest wooden platform, followed
by the Hurricane and Windwalker, and the Hogfly,
Stormfly, Wodensfang and Toothless.
Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief.
There was barely room for the Deadly Shadow
underneath the maze of wooden platforms. Its wings
dipped into the sea as it flew, swerving through the
stilts that stood in the water like legs.
It was bizarre to be flying underneath the streets
How To Train Your Dragon: How to Betray a Dragon's Hero Page 8