How to speak Dragonese (12 page)

The Valhalla Express
shot off down the tunnel, carried by the strong current of water.

The tunnel ended in a gate that led into the stadium. The gate was open and
The Valhalla Express
sailed into the central arena, now filled with three meters of water. Massive cheers rocked the stadium.

"FRIENDS AND FELLOW ROMANS!" yelled Alvin the Treacherous from the Consul's Pavilion. "I GIVE YOU
THE VALHALLA EXPRESS,
THE HEIRS OF THE LOCAL VIKING TRIBES, AND THEIR PATHETIC CHAMPION DRAGON, TOOTHLESS, WHO WILL FOREVER REGRET THE POO HE DID IN MY HELMET."

Always delighted to be the center of attention, Toothless crept out from Hiccup's shirt. He bowed From side to side and performed a couple of somersaults to huge cheering from the crowd. He had no idea they were laughing at how small he was, and he puffed out his little chest and threw out a few flames and his rooster cry of self-congratulation.

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"Now why," said Hiccup, frowning to himself as he trailed one hand in the water,
"why
is this water so warm? I suppose it's from the Consul's swimming pool..."

Camicazi drew her sword, Invincible, with a flourish. "LAUGH at us, would you, you Latin cowards?" she cried. "Come down
here
if you dare and we'll see who's laughing
then,
shall we, you dragon-eating, lily-livered BABIES ..."

The crowd positively SCREAMED with laughter at this. "Look!" they cried, slapping each other on the back and sending their dragons'-toes popcorn flying. "It's a little GIRL Viking! The Vikings are so weak they have GIRLS for Heirs! This is too funny for words..."

Camicazi couldn't understand Latin but she could guess what they were saying. She turned as red as a lobster and yelled at the top of her voice, "I'LL
KILL
THE LOT OF YOU! I'LL UNZIP YOU FROM YOUR BREADBASKETS TO YOUR FOOD-GARGLERS! COME DOWN AND SEE HOW A
GIRL
FIGHTS IF YOU DARE!"

The crowd only laughed the louder.

"Let's get on with it, Alvin!" Hiccup called

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out. "Bring out your gladiators and we'll do our best!"

"Yes, do get on with it, Prefect," yawned the Fat Consul. "I want to see the little Berserk go Berserk ... and this famous warrior in action ..."

"HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD!" shouted Alvin. "PREPARE TO MEET YOUR DOOM! SOLDIERS, OPEN THE TUNNEL!"

With a creak the portcullis covering a tunnel to their left began to slide upward ...

[Image: Men and a woman.]

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19. AAAAAAARGH!

The tunnel was open, but there was no sign of any Roman ships packed with heavily armed gladiators.

"What's going on?" shrieked Fishlegs. "Where are the gladiators?"

Hiccup was staring intently at the tunnel. There still seemed to be nothing going on down there. All that came out of it were four long, dark waves -- no more threatening than ripples, really.

The ripples curled sinuously into the stadium. Slowly, languorously, they began to circle the ship.

That's strange,
thought Hiccup, and just as he was staring closely at one of the dark ripples, something neat and sharp cut through the surface of the water...

It was a black fin, with serrated edges like a bread knife.

[Image: A jail.]

"SHARKWORMS
!!!" yelled Fishlegs. "I
knew
it! I just knew it! I knew we were going to

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bump into those monsters at some point..."

"YOU SEE, WE HAVEN'T GOT GLADIATORS FOR YOU TODAY," Alvin shouted down, from the safety of his balcony. "YOU ARE KNOWN IN THESE PARTS, HICCUP, AS SOMETHING OF A DRAGON-TRAINER - LET'S SEE HOW YOU DO AT TRAINING
THESE
LITTLE BEAUTIES ..."

"Is this part of your plan?" asked Camicazi hopefully.

"Not exactly," admitted Hiccup. "I was expecting gladiators -- it
is
a gladiator show, after all..."

"Can you

[Image: A dragon.]

[Image: Men and a woman.]

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TRAIN them?" asked Camicazi.

"What, in the next sixty seconds?" asked Hiccup. "Not likely. Besides,

Sharkworms are unattainable. The important point is -- has anybody got a cut?"

"You
have," Fishlegs pointed out. "You fell over on the steps, remember?"

"Great,"
said Hiccup, glancing at the long graze on his shin. "Our lucky day. So, there's only one thing to do. Nobody panic and I'll call for ... ZIGGERASTICA!"

Nothing happened.

The ripples had now turned into four

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Sharkworm fins, and they were circling nearer and nearer, closing in on the boat.

"ZIGGERASTICA!" screamed the Vikings all at once.

There was a streak of black and red and the tiny nanodragon appeared out of nowhere and landed on Camicazi's head.

"You called?" said Ziggerastica.

"About time too!" said Hiccup. "How is plan going?"

"It's a terrible plan," said Ziggerastica, "but so far the plan is going to plan, so to speak..."

"Everybody else, leave me!" urged Hiccup. "Roll me into that barrel over there and throw me over the side!"

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"What about the plan?" asked Fishlegs. "This
is
the plan," Hiccup replied.

"Oh, I see," said Fishlegs. "When you said 'desperate plan' you meant really
desperate
..."

"That
barrel
won't protect you from the Sharkworms!" protested Camicazi. "Will you stop arguing and just do what I ask?" raged Hiccup. "We're running out of time -- those Sharkworms are going to climb on board any minute! It's me and my cut that they're really after ..."

The Sharkworms were indeed circling the boat in tighter and tighter circles. Fishlegs could have reached out and touched one of the fins.

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Fishlegs and Camicazi stuffed Hiccup into the barrel, and Ziggerastica flew in with him. They then hesitated.

"Are you quite sure you want us to throw you over the side?" asked Fishlegs, looking in absolute terror at the fins slicing through the water.

"Quite sure," came Hiccup's voice from the barrel, rather muffled.

"With
the Sharkworms?" asked Camicazi.

"Just
do
it, will you!" yelled Hiccup. Camicazi and Fishlegs reluctantly rolled the barrel over to the edge of the boat, heaved it up between them and dropped it over the side to the gasps of the watching audience.

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"BRAVO!" the spectators cried, for the Romans admired bravery, even in a barbarian.

"It's such a shame," whispered Camicazi. "He was quite
nice
-- for a
boy,
of course ..."

The barrel bobbed merrily in the water.

Almost instantly the Sharkworms stopped following the boat and turned their attentions to the barrel. To start with they circled it in a leisurely way, almost as if they were sniffing it out. And then they began to move faster and faster around it, coming in closer and closer with more and more intent...

"Oh, H-H-HICCUP," moaned Toothless, fluttering overhead with his wings over his eyes. "I hope this is a really good plan...."

Inside the barrel Hiccup was hoping the very same thing. He was sitting up to his waist in water, unable to see out of the wooden walls of the barrel. The water was vibrating and the barrel was rocking from the wake of the Sharkworms' tails as they passed it.

He was regretting this stupid plan already. He couldn't see or hear anything but the horribly fast beating of his heart. And then the water in his barrel began to vibrate.

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That's the sound of the Sharkworms calling to each other,
thought Hiccup to himself, shivering uncontrollably.

CRUSH!!

The barrel rocked crazily from side to side and Hiccup put both hands out to try to right it, frantically trying to see where the danger was coming from.

[Image: Hiccup.]

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That must be the wake from the Sharkworms' tails as they pass,
he thought to himself, almost hysterical with fear.

CRASH!!!

The barrel spun around again, more violently this time. Hiccup was sent somersaulting upside down and rolling over and over.

Watching from above, their hands over their mouths, Camicazi and Fishlegs could see the Sharkworms playing with the barrel almost as if they were gigantic cats playing with a mouse. Toothless was dive-bombing them, trying to attract their attention, but they took no notice.

They batted the barrel to each other with the wakes from their tails, but they hadn't touched it yet.

Suddenly they withdrew and re-formed in a slightly wider circle.

Inside the barrel Hiccup rose spluttering to the surface. The barrel stopped spinning and there was quiet again, apart from the lapping of the water against the sides. Hiccup knew his dragons, he knew that they would only have retreated to strike now in earnest.

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He had to fight the urge to burst out of the barrel and swim for the boat.

He knew if he did this he was as good as dead.

But it was so scary not to be able to see what was going on, and so hard to stay completely still when he knew the beasts were all around him, could be underneath him, could be just a meter away, could strike suddenly at any moment from any direction ...

C-C-CRUNCH!!!!!

The left-hand side of the barrel caved in as some immense force crashed into it. The wood just about held from splitting in half. Hiccup caught a glimpse of terrible black teeth no distance away from his nose before they retreated.

"Ziggcrastical!" screamed Hiccup. "HURRY UP!"

The Sharkworms were so close they were nearly touching each other now as they swam round and round. One of them let out a jet of fire like an underwater torpedo, and the barrel burst into flames.

"And now, my clever friend," said Alvin, matching the floating, flaming barrel with the four

194

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predators surrounding it, "O Defeater of the Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus and the Mighty Monstrous Strangulator -- let's see you get out of THIS situation! I think I may safely say I've got you now ..."

SPLASSSSSSSH!!!!

All four Sharkworms reared out of the water at the same time and spread out their wings.

They were a terrifying sight.

These two-headed beasts had eyes out on stalks, rather like a hammerhead shark. They were sometimes known as Thor's Lapdogs because of those hammer-shaped heads. Their back set of teeth could shoot forward to grab prey and then retreat back, dragging the unfortunate victim with them, as the tongue of a lizard flicks out to catch a fly.

Their hammerhead eyes swiveled on their stalks; their powerful tails lashed the water. They drew back their first sets of teeth in vicious snarls, and the second sets shunted forward as if they had a life of their own, madly snapping together like an automatic killing mechanism.

[Image: A bucket.]

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For a moment they hovered in a terrible ring, their hammerhead eyes swiveling on their stalks to focus in on their target.

And then they let out a scream and pounced, all of them diving in on the barrel together...

CRACK!

The barrel split from side to side, and to the utter amazement of the watching Vikings, the audience and the Sharkworms themselves ... Hiccup FLEW out of it.

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[Image: A bucket.]

198

[Image: Hiccup.]

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20. HICCUP THE GOD

The Romans flocked to the Circuses in their thousands to be entertained.

They expected a glorious theatrical experience -- blood, guts, heroism, feats of astonishing physical prowess.

They were certainly getting their money's worth NOW

This
was a sight no one had ever seen before.

A flying boy?

The crowd leaped to their feet, amazed.

Fishlegs nearly fell out of the boat.

And slowly, majestically, Hiccup rose up through the sky with his arms spread out wide, as if held up by magical forces.

[Image: A dragon.]

"Brilliant," whispered Camicazi. "I don't know HOW he's doing it, but it's brilliant."

Hiccup rose and rose up to the metal "ceiling" of the amphitheater, the netting that the sharp teeth of the