How To Train Your Dragon: How to Betray a Dragon's Hero

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How To Train Your Dragon: How to Betray a Dragon's Hero Page 21

by Cressida Cowell

imprecations on his head.

  But they will find out the truth, in the end.

  Time will shake out the truth, as it always does.

  Gobber and Baggybum will find out the truth,

  just as Snotlout knew they would when he hung his

  Black Star round my neck.

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  They will know that Snotlout was a Hero after

  all…

  Gobber and Baggybum will be proud of him at

  last.

  And long after Kings are forgotten, and their

  names have fallen into dust, the good deeds and the

  actions of the Heroes live on in glory.

  Once I dreamed of castles and a crown upon my

  head…

  Now the night sky is my only roof and the sea my

  rocking bed…

  But let my heart be wrecked by hurricanes and

  my ship by stormy weather

  I know I am a Hero… and a Hero is FOREVER!

  As I write, sixty-two years later, I am wearing

  Snotlout’s Black Star on a chain around my neck, the

  Black Star that in the Hooligan Tribe is the highest

  honour that can be given for bravery in battle.

  It looks a little incongruous on the chest of such

  a very old man as myself, but I wear it with such pride,

  and it makes me stand a little straighter, even though

  I am bowled into a hoop by age and the Archipelago’s

  howling winds, and I am not as steady on my legs as I

  once was.

  It is the Black Star that Snotlout gave me when

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  he exchanged his clothes for my clothes, and his destiny

  for my destiny. A noble gift, do not you think, in the

  end, from one cousin to another?

  Here is the odd thing though.

  Time has rubbed away at the black of the Star.

  And underneath the black… there was just a glint

  of something, over the years, and then I rubbed at it,

  and rubbed at it, until the crusty dark surface crumbled

  away from the heart of the star, and the star fell out,

  the metal just as bright and brilliant as when it was first

  dug from the ground.

  Now the star doesn’t look black at all.

  Just gold.

  A HERO… IS… FOREVER.

  Adieu, Snotlout.

  I could not have done this without you.

  I carry you with me, every step I take, every

  decision I make. You are part of my blood, and I would

  never have got this far without you.

  We shall meet again, in a better world than

  this one.

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  Even if Hiccup manages to fight those dreadful dragon

  guardians of Tomorrow the Dragon Furious will be

  waiting for him.

  “The Dragontime is coming

  And only a King can save you now.

  The King shall be the

  Champion of Champions.

  You shall know the King

  By the King’s Lost Things.

  A fang-free dragon, my second-best sword,

  My Roman shield,

  An arrow-from-the-land-that-does-not-exist,

  The heart’s stone, the key-that-opens-all-locks,

  The ticking-thing, the Throne, the Crown.

  And last and best of all the ten,

  The Dragon Jewel will save all men.”

  www.cressidacowell.co.uk

  This is Cressida, age 9, writing on the island.

  SEE WHERE IT ALL BEGAN!

  Join Hiccup and his dragons on

  their original misadventures!

  Find the adventures wherever books are sold, and play interactive games at

  www.HowToTrainYourDragonSeries.com

 

 

 


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