How to Train Your Dragon: How to Fight a Dragon's Fury Read online

  Fishlegs was seized by a horrible thought.

  ‘He didn’t recognise us… He does know the Dragon

  Guardians are there, doesn’t he?’

  ‘Of course he does, and he’ll have a plan! Hiccup

  ALWAYS has a plan,’ said Camicazi confidently.

  Let us hope he does have a Plan.

  For the little figure of Hiccup had already

  staggered halfway up the beach.

  7. ONLY THE ONE WITH THE

  KING’S LOST THINGS CAN

  LAND ON TOMORROW AND

  LIVE

  Hiccup had no idea what was going on in the skies

  above him. The attacking dragons were fighting among

  themselves, with such violence that lightning bolts and

  darts and flames rained down around his sinking boat

  as he paddled desperately towards the white beach with

  his broken oar.

  Nearer, nearer, nearer.

  When he got within twenty yards, the boat sank

  entirely, and he had to swim the last bit with only one

  arm, for the left one was now so swollen and numb he

  could barely move it. Thor, the water was cold. Hiccup

  almost passed out from the icy shock of it.

  And then he nearly drowned in the last hundred

  feet of his journey, which would have been ironic.

  The sea to the west of Tomorrow is a great

  ocean that stretches far to the west until you get to

  America-the-Land-that-Does-Not-Exist (or you fall off

  the edge of the world, of course, whatever you happen

  to believe).

  144

  So the waves reaching this coast are gigantic, and

  come rolling in with great violence on a windy winter’s

  day like this one.

  As Hiccup swam in to the beach, a great wave

  took him, and tumbled him over and over for such a

  long time that his lungs were bursting for lack of air,

  before grinding him down on the sand, and as the

  water retreated, he staggered to his feet, gasping and

  retching and limping, wading thigh-high through the

  icy water before collapsing on the sand, exhausted,

  trembling and gasping for breath like a poor stranded

  fish. But even in his bedraggled, numb state, he felt a

  weary sense of conquest.

  He had made it to Tomorrow! Although he still

  could not remember much of his life before waking up

  on Hero’s End, something told him that he had been

  searching for a long, long time to get to this place,

  this spot, this wild and windy shore on the edge of

  nowhere. And he was here! He had made it!

  Tomorrow. There was something hopeful, even

  about the word.

  Hiccup let himself enjoy the triumph of it for

  one victorious moment, before forcing himself to get

  up and stumble onward. He looked over his shoulder

  at the continuing commotion of the Dragon Rebellion

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  dragons. They might yet come after him. He had to

  get out of here… The little brown dragon Wodensfang

  had said he must find a ruined city where the King was

  going to be crowned…

  He staggered forward, so bruised and battered

  that it was painful to make each step, but forcing

  himself to move nonetheless.

  The beach stretched out for miles to his left and

  right, and there was something about that beach that

  made him feel very uneasy, and lurch even faster in his

  limping, rollicking gait.

  Perhaps it was the way that, under his feet, the

  sand didn’t feel entirely firm. It was shaking, just a tiny,

  tiny bit, and shifting, as if the very grains of sand were

  alive, like tiny wriggling worms. Hiccup looked down

  at the sand in horror, as he shambled faster, and ever

  faster, trying to get to the top of the dunes and off the

  beach. There was something very peculiar going on.

  ‘I think I might just go in your backpack if you

  don’t mind,’ said the Hogfly nervously, diving into the

  backpack next to the snoring Wodensfang, and half

  shutting the lid so that only his eyes were peering out.

  ‘That sand is a little SPOOKY…’

  The sand was indeed a little spooky.

  It appeared to be singing.

  An unearthly, terrifying

  song, that seemed to come

  from another world.

  A song that hissed and

  hummed with menace.

  Hiccup broke into

  a shambling run, panting

  hard, and crying, and he

  had nearly made it to the

  edge of the beach when, to

  his absolute horror…

  Three yards in front

  of him, a colossal figure

  stepped out from behind a

  rock.

  Hiccup stopped dead with shock.

  The figure was huge, and hooded, and his arms

  were crossed. He strode towards Hiccup, one, two,

  three steps, and threw back his hood.

  His face was as stern and unyielding as a granite

  cliff, and he was blindfolded.

  He drew a gigantic axe from his belt, and he held

  it directly above Hiccup’s head, as if he could actually

  see Hiccup despite the blindfold.

  ‘I am a Guardian of Tomorrow,’ roared the blind

  Axeman. ‘I, and my father, and my father’s father, and

  my father’s father’s father, have for nearly a century

  guarded these shores from those who are unworthy.

  ‘ONLY THE ONE WITH THE KING’S LOST

  THINGS CAN LAND ON TOMORROW AND

  LIVE.

  ‘Who are you who dares to risk Death by Airy

  Oblivion by landing on our beach?’

  Hiccup swallowed. ‘Death by Airy Oblivion’

  didn’t sound good.

  ‘I think my name is Hiccup,’ said Hiccup. Out

  in the bay between Hero’s End and Tomorrow, the

  Deadly Shadow was flying as fast as it could towards

  the beach, for now even Camicazi was a little worried

  that Hiccup might not have a plan.

  148

  ‘Who is Hiccup talking to?’

  shouted Camicazi.

  ‘That must be one of

  the human Guardians of

  Tomorrow,’ said Fishlegs.

  ‘There are hundreds

  of them posted all

  along the coast of

  this island. Oh

  dear oh dear

  oh dear…

  Remember when we saw those Dragon Guardians

  of Tomorrow ROCKETING out from underneath

  the sands yesterday? Isn’t there some horrible saying

  like: “Only the One with the King’s Lost Things Can

  Land on Tomorrow and Live”? Can you go any faster,

  Shadow?’

  ‘We’re flying… as… fast… as… we… can…’

  snorted Innocence.

  ‘Are you saying you are He-Who-Would-Be-King?’

  barked the blind Axeman.

  ‘I believe so,’ said Hiccup uncertainly. ‘That is

  what I was told by this small brown dragon who said his

  name was the Wodensfang, I don’t know if you know

  him?’

  The Axeman shook his head.

  Hiccup was gabbling slightly, because he was so

  frightened. ‘That same brown dragon gave me reason

  to believe that there may be some k
ind of ruined city

  on this island. Would you possibly mind showing me

  the way?’

  The blind Axeman looked impassively down at

  him, with his blank blindfolded face. His axe was still

  raised, which wasn’t a good sign.

  ‘The thing is,’ said the Axeman, ‘we already have

  a man on the island who has passed the Test. And when

  150

  he is crowned in an hour’s time, we Guardians will be

  released from ninety-nine years of bondage, ninety-nine

  years of imprisonment on this island. Free!’ The blind

  Axeman’s voice was hoarse with longing. ‘Free from

  this island cage… free to roam the seas and skies of

  the Archipelago and wander where we will… And I

  shall take off my blindfold and see the wonder of

  the world around me for the very first time, and gasp

  to see the beauty of the things that I can only smell

  and touch!’

  ‘That’s wonderful,’ said Hiccup.

  ‘It is wonderful,’ agreed the Axeman.

  ‘And I’m sure you deserve it,’ said Hiccup.

  ‘You’re a nice polite boy,’ said the blind Axeman.

  ‘And politeness is underestimated as a good quality in

  a King. But if we have a King already on the island, it

  follows just as night follows day, that you cannot be the

  King as well.

  ‘Show me the Things,’ said the blind Axeman.

  Hiccup swallowed again. His teeth were

  chattering, but whether from cold or fear, he did not

  know.

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid I don’t have any of the Things

  right now,’ he admitted. ‘But the little brown dragon –

  the one I was just telling you about – he told me there

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  was a man called Alvin the Treacherous who stole all

  these Things from me, so even though he got here first,

  I am in fact the rightful King…’

  The blindfolded man stared down at Hiccup, if

  a blindfolded man could be said to stare, his axe still

  raised. Hiccup was uncomfortably aware of what an

  unlikely, un-King-like figure he must make, as if he

  were offering a drowned rat to be the King – although,

  of course, the blindfolded man couldn’t see him

  anyway.

  ‘So Alvin the Treacherous stole the Lost Things

  from you?’ repeated the blind Axeman.

  ‘That’s right,’ said Hiccup. It sounded a rather

  feeble excuse, out there on the wild and windy beach

  of Tomorrow, with an axe being held above your head.

  ‘And you are the rightful King?’ asked the

  blind Axeman.

  ‘That’s what the

  Wodensfang said,’ said

  Hiccup.

  The blind

  Axeman put his axe

  back in his swordbelt.

  Hiccup felt faint

  with relief.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said, gratefully. ‘Now if you could just

  show me the way to the ruined—’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said the Axeman regretfully. ‘Truly

  sorry, for you are only a boy, and a nice polite boy at

  that.’

  The Axeman lifted his arms up so that they

  spread out like bats’ wings, and he shouted up to the

  stormy sky: ‘BUT…

  ‘Only the One With The Kings Lost Things Can

  Land on Tomorrow And Live…’

  This didn’t look good.

  ‘COME GREAT POWERS OF DEATH AND

  DARKNESS! COME MIGHTY PROTECTORS

  OF TOMORROW ACROSS THE AGES! COME

  DRAGON GUARDIANS AND TAKE THIS

  UNWORTHY BOY AND GIVE HIM DEATH BY

  AIRY OBLIV-I-I-ION!’

  ‘NO!’ screamed Camicazi, as the

  Deadly Shadow flew as fast as it possibly

  could towards the beach.

  153

  All around Hiccup the sand began to

  bubble.

  He looked around himself,

  appalled.

  That sand… that sand that

  earlier had seemed alive, now gave

  birth to creatures of indescribable

  horror. Who knows what they

  were, dragons or monsters or

  something worse. They were

  so huge and so swift and

  so deadly it was

  impossible

  to see

  them. They burst from

  the sand like some alien

  force, shrieking otherworldly

  vengeance, and they took hold

  of the screaming, terrified Hiccup,

  and they shot up into the air like

  great grim shooting stars, carrying him

  up, up UP, to drown him in the upper

  atmosphere.

  This was Death by Airy Oblivion.

  ‘Nooooooo!’ shrieked Camicazi and Fishlegs and

  Windwalker. ‘No! No! No!’

  Windwalker put his paws over his eyes.

  No… surely not…

  8. I BET YOU THOUGHT THAT

  THIS WAS NEVER GOING TO

  HAPPEN…

  ‘Nooooo!’ howled Hiccup, and he could feel his ears

  popping, and a vice-like grip around his arms and

  body.

  I’m going to die… thought Hiccup.

  And as he rocketed upward in a

  tornado of sand, he was aware of

  being lifted towards the eyes

  of the creatures carrying

  him up, up, up, but

  he had to close

  his own eyes,

  so bright

  was their

  gaze.

  In the throes

  of Death, we cannot

  lie, we have to speak

  the truth, and Hiccup

  shouted something that came

  right from the very heart of him,

  even though he had lost his memory,

  and he could not even remember who

  Toothless was.

  These were the words he screamed:

  ‘Me hafta carefor Toothless!’

  Which of course, means, ‘I have to save

  Toothless!’

  Hiccup’s stomach lurched as the unknown

  monsters that were carrying him changed course for

  a second, plunging crazily downward like a rocket

  suddenly and erratically changing direction and Hiccup

  felt himself slipping.

  He was indeed a little slippery, for he was covered

  in slimy mud from the ground at Hero’s End, and

  greasy with seaweed from the beach here on Tomorrow,

  so the creatures had probably relaxed their hold for a

  moment, trying to get a better grip, perhaps?

  Who knows?

  But Hiccup slid, like a little slimy worm, out of

  the creatures’ clasp and down, down, down towards

  the marshy bog of Tomorrow.

  Camicazi, Fishlegs, Windwalker and Stormfly

  were watching, screaming, from the back of the Deadly

  Shadow. They saw the terrible creatures emerging, and

  the beach turning into a scene of horror, with Hiccup

  swept up in a whirlwind of sand so choking that it was

  162

  almost impossible to see any longer…

  But then they saw, distinctly, the

  creatures shooting back down again, madly,

  like unimaginably huge fireworks that have

  lost control, and zig-zagging low over the bogs.

  Something dropped from their claws into the bog,

  something small
and raggedy and insignificant.

  ‘Oh for Freya’s sake,’ gasped Camicazi.

  ‘That’s Hiccup, isn’t it? Isn’t that Hiccup?’

  Down on the beach, the blind Axeman

  sniffed the air, thick with sand. ‘I don’t believe it,’

  he whispered. ‘The Dragon Guardians have made

  a mistake… They never make mistakes…’

  His freedom and his chance to see the world

  might be taken away from him, if the Dragon

  Guardians had made a mistake…

  ‘BROTHERS!’ roared the blind Axeman.

  ‘RISE UP! THE DRAGON GUARDIANS

  HAVE MADE A MISTAKE, AND THERE IS

  AN INTERLOPER ON THE ISLAND!!!!’

  He took a great stick from his waistband

  and rapped it on the ground in a weird tattoo,

  stamping in time to the beat a message in code to

  his fellow Guardians.

  The western beach of Tomorrow had

  163

  looked entirely deserted.

  But at the cry of the blind Axeman, all along the

  beach, the human Guardians of Tomorrow revealed

  themselves.

  There were hundreds and hundreds of human

  sentries secretly posted all around the island’s coast.

  They stepped out from behind rocks, they burst

  out of the grasses on the cliffs, they sat up from shallow

  graves they had dug themselves on the beach, as if the

  very sand itself were giving birth to them: tall, hooded,

  grim men and women, all blindfolded.

  Half of the Guardians remained at their posts,

  guarding the island’s borders, the rest drew their axes,

  and set off at a brisk trot towards the interior of the

  island.

  ‘Quick!’ whispered Camicazi. ‘Hiccup needs us,

  if he’s still alive. Shadow, you can get past the sentries

  in all this chaos…’

  The Deadly Shadow stretched out its three

  necks, and flew low and straight over the heads of the

  shouting human Guardians. Fishlegs held his breath,

  expecting at any moment a cry from the troops below –

  but no cry came. It looked like Camicazi was right.

  Normally even a Stealth Dragon could not get

  through the double defence of the human and dragon

  164

  Guardians of Tomorrow.