How to Twist a Dragon's Tale (Hiccup) by Cressida Cowell Page B
Authors: Cressida Cowell
could be controlled by a human being, but in the Exterminator's mouth was the choking copper-red slab of a metal bit, and on its back, in between its
163
great ebony wings, rode the tall, sinister figure of a Man.
The Man had one arm that ended in a copper-red hook, and this hook was heaving on the metal reins as he fought to gain control of the enraged, rearing Creature. With the other arm he lashed at the Exterminator's sides with a great black whip until the dragon brought down its great front legs, and bowed down in snarling, pacing, barely controlled submission.
Fishlegs, Camicazi, and Hiccup took a few steps backward, Camicazi holding on very tightly to the Fire-Stone. The Man in Black pushed up the visor on his Fire-Suit.
The face below it was the same face they had seen on those gigantic statues littered over the island. A completely hairless face with no eyebrows, eyelashes, or moustache. An unpleasant, glittering smile with too many teeth in it.
One eye piercing, as mean as a snakebite. The other eye gone and covered by an eye patch.
One arm long, with a golden dragon bracelet writhing all around it.
The other arm short, ending in a hook like a copper-red question mark.
164
"Good day, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," drawled Alvin the Treacherous, quietly pushing his whip back into his waistband, unscrewing his hook and replacing it with his sword, the Stormblade. "How absolutely delightful to bump into you again. And where might YOU three young scallywags be heading this lovely sunny Sunday afternoon?"
165
166
13. MEANWHILE, BACK ON BERK
Meanwhile, back on Berk, at exactly the same moment that Alvin unscrewed his hook, a very gloomy Stoick had been standing with his Warriors around him, watching the crush of the deserting crowds at Hooligan Harbor.
His rather unpleasant nephew, Snotlout, came sidling up to him, an ingratiating smirk on his ugly mug.
"Humungous and Hiccup have already run away," he sneered. 'And they've taken The Peregrine Falcon."
"THE PEREGRINE FALCON?" roared Stoick the Vast. "They've burgled my Peregrine Falcon?"
This was adding insult to injury.
Stoick the Vast loved his Peregrine Falcon. It was a beautiful blue and black narrowboat, the fastest in the Archipelago. Not only had that beastly thinks-he's-so-cool Humungous led his son astray with this cowardly Running-Away business, he'd had the cheek to do it in Stoick's favorite boat!
"Yup," said Snotlout, gleefully fanning the flames of Stoick's wrath. "I saw them only half an hour ago, sailing out of here to the west, as cool as you please."
Stoick opened his mouth to explode.
167
And then he shut it again.
"To the west?" he said, baffled. "Are you sure they were sailing to the west?"
He didn't wait for an answer. He swiveled around to the left, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand.
There, disappearing over the western horizon, he could just see the curved white sail of The Peregrine Falcon. He would recognize that sail anywhere.
"Everybody else is deserting to the SOUTH!" bellowed Stoick. "To the west is Lava-Lout Island, the Volcano and all those Extermi-whosits! What is my son doing deserting to the WEST?"
Stoick was not the brightest Barbarian in the business, but even he could see that this was a major mistake on the part of his son.
Gobber gave a little cough at Stoick's elbow. "Um ... I'm not sure he is deserting, Chief. Didn't you hear him say back there in The Thing that he was going to take the Fire-Stone back to the Volcano to stop it from exploding?"
There was a short pause.
"Did he?" said Stoick eagerly.
Stoick didn't know what to think.
On the one hand he was over the moon that his son wasn't deserting after all, and was NOT a
168
traitor to his Tribe, or a disgrace to the noble name of Haddock.
On the other hand, this was insanity.
Throwing the Fire-Stone back? Risking the Volcano exploding, the Exterminators hatching ...
It was ridiculous, mad, suicidal...
... why, it was
163
great ebony wings, rode the tall, sinister figure of a Man.
The Man had one arm that ended in a copper-red hook, and this hook was heaving on the metal reins as he fought to gain control of the enraged, rearing Creature. With the other arm he lashed at the Exterminator's sides with a great black whip until the dragon brought down its great front legs, and bowed down in snarling, pacing, barely controlled submission.
Fishlegs, Camicazi, and Hiccup took a few steps backward, Camicazi holding on very tightly to the Fire-Stone. The Man in Black pushed up the visor on his Fire-Suit.
The face below it was the same face they had seen on those gigantic statues littered over the island. A completely hairless face with no eyebrows, eyelashes, or moustache. An unpleasant, glittering smile with too many teeth in it.
One eye piercing, as mean as a snakebite. The other eye gone and covered by an eye patch.
One arm long, with a golden dragon bracelet writhing all around it.
The other arm short, ending in a hook like a copper-red question mark.
164
"Good day, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," drawled Alvin the Treacherous, quietly pushing his whip back into his waistband, unscrewing his hook and replacing it with his sword, the Stormblade. "How absolutely delightful to bump into you again. And where might YOU three young scallywags be heading this lovely sunny Sunday afternoon?"
165
166
13. MEANWHILE, BACK ON BERK
Meanwhile, back on Berk, at exactly the same moment that Alvin unscrewed his hook, a very gloomy Stoick had been standing with his Warriors around him, watching the crush of the deserting crowds at Hooligan Harbor.
His rather unpleasant nephew, Snotlout, came sidling up to him, an ingratiating smirk on his ugly mug.
"Humungous and Hiccup have already run away," he sneered. 'And they've taken The Peregrine Falcon."
"THE PEREGRINE FALCON?" roared Stoick the Vast. "They've burgled my Peregrine Falcon?"
This was adding insult to injury.
Stoick the Vast loved his Peregrine Falcon. It was a beautiful blue and black narrowboat, the fastest in the Archipelago. Not only had that beastly thinks-he's-so-cool Humungous led his son astray with this cowardly Running-Away business, he'd had the cheek to do it in Stoick's favorite boat!
"Yup," said Snotlout, gleefully fanning the flames of Stoick's wrath. "I saw them only half an hour ago, sailing out of here to the west, as cool as you please."
Stoick opened his mouth to explode.
167
And then he shut it again.
"To the west?" he said, baffled. "Are you sure they were sailing to the west?"
He didn't wait for an answer. He swiveled around to the left, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand.
There, disappearing over the western horizon, he could just see the curved white sail of The Peregrine Falcon. He would recognize that sail anywhere.
"Everybody else is deserting to the SOUTH!" bellowed Stoick. "To the west is Lava-Lout Island, the Volcano and all those Extermi-whosits! What is my son doing deserting to the WEST?"
Stoick was not the brightest Barbarian in the business, but even he could see that this was a major mistake on the part of his son.
Gobber gave a little cough at Stoick's elbow. "Um ... I'm not sure he is deserting, Chief. Didn't you hear him say back there in The Thing that he was going to take the Fire-Stone back to the Volcano to stop it from exploding?"
There was a short pause.
"Did he?" said Stoick eagerly.
Stoick didn't know what to think.
On the one hand he was over the moon that his son wasn't deserting after all, and was NOT a
168
traitor to his Tribe, or a disgrace to the noble name of Haddock.
On the other hand, this was insanity.
Throwing the Fire-Stone back? Risking the Volcano exploding, the Exterminators hatching ...
It was ridiculous, mad, suicidal...
... why, it was
Similar Books
Sweet Last Drop
Melody Johnson
Fates and Furies
Lauren Groff
The Sweetest Thing
Elizabeth Musser
Pucked
Helena Hunting
What the Groom Wants
Jade Lee
Milosevic
Adam LeBor
Always Mine
Sophia Johnson
The Valentino Affair
Colin Evans
Thorns
Kate Avery Ellison