And so, we continue in our quest to find out who the white rider is and to see whether Ruff and Tuff can get themselves off the island!
I'm tempted to try to translate this into French...
The forest loomed above them, impossibly vast. They craned back their heads and stared up at the tall conifers and stretching branches. Of the interior of the forest, they could see nothing, just blank, empty void filled with shadow. A breeze shifted the branches, the needles dancing and playing ominously.
"Well, that looks inviting..." Tuffnut quipped sarcastically, his brow furrowed.
His sister gave a growl of annoyance. "Let's just go! I wanna get back to Berk already." With the Zippleback following on, they entered the foreboding forest, the branches grasping and scratching at their bare arms. Barf and Belch had to keep their heads low to the ground to avoid the lowest arms of the pines, chattering nervously and staying close to their riders.
Ruffnut strode out in front, looking through the silvery trunks. Only a few hardy bushes lay between the great pines, the rest of the floor was coated in a generous amount of fallen, brown needles, dried up and carpeting the ground. Behind her, she heard her brother stoop down, gather some up, and hold the bunch out to Belch, saying:
"Belch, spark these!" The head obeyed, opening their jaws and hissing as sparks leapt from their throat. The needles caught almost immediately. Ruffnut turned to watch as her brother waved the fire at her. Soon, it burnt too close to his hand, and he dropped them with a yelp of protest. Ruffnut gave a cry and began to stamp out the small fires that were setting where the burning needles had dropped. As she quenched the last, she scowled at her brother, not caring that he was clutching his hand like a wounded animal.
"You idiot!" She snarled in her gravelly voice, "You nearly set the whole forest on fire!" All of a sudden, realisation hit her, her face falling quite suddenly. "Wait, that's it! If we collect a ton of these needles, we could build a huge fire, and then the others would see the smoke and come rescue us!"
"Oh, great idea!" Tuff grinned.
"Hey, blame Astrid. I heard her talking about it the other day," The girl shrugged carelessly. "But we have got to make something to carry them in..."
"Well, if we gather loads of long branches and weave them together, we could make a huge basket and fill it up-"
"Tuff, neither of us can weave." His sister pointed out, raising an eyebrow. She then stroked her chin thoughtfully, thinking hard. "Got anything we could use?"
Tuffnut proceeded to turn out all of his many pockets; a surprising number, leaving his sister scowling impatiently before him. "Okay, I've got some dragon-nip, two buttons and a lot of lint..."
"I haven't even got any pockets, 'cept the one with my knife in it." Ruffnut prodded the buttons wistfully. "Ugh, this is hopeless! I can't think of anything!"
"What if you spun the lint together like wool and made a little bag?"
"You expect me to do that without a spinning wheel? I can't even do it with one of those things!" Moving over to Barf and Belch, she checked each of their saddles for anything she could use, but she found nothing remotely useful, save for a needle and thread her mother never let her leave the house without. Pulling the thick chord through her fingers, another idea dawned on her.
"Tuffnut! Take off your shirt!"
"What?!" The request took him completely by surprise. He looked over to where his sister was already throwing off her waistcoat and reaching for her belt. "How is taking off our clothes going to help?" He folded his arms resolutely, determined not to move until a further explanation was given.
"You're wearing an under-shirt, right?" Her belt fell to the ground with a clatter beside her foot.
"Of course!"
"Take it off and give it to me. If I sew up the bottom, we can use it as a bag to carry the pine needles in!"
Barf and Belch stood, watching bemusedly as their riders flung off their shirts and tossed the pale white under-shirts onto the ground. It was almost amusing to them. The heads looked from one rider to the other, growling softly. Ruffnut, her shirt now back on, reached out and snatched up Tuffnut's garment, grimacing.
"Ugh, this is disgusting! How can you be sweaty in this weather?" She growled.
"'Cause I'm a guy! Duh! Guys are supposed to sweat!" As if to illustrate this, he lifted his arms up above his head and examined his bare chest. "Hey, look, I think I'm growing chest hair."
Ruffnut blanched. "Ugh, put your shirt on, Tuff, that's gross!"
"What do you mean? Girls love chest hair!"
"I'm talking about you with your shirt off! No-one wants to see that!"
Begrudgingly sliding his shirt back over his head, he scowled at her, displeased. "Well, that's a bit harsh..." He grumbled, buckling his belt.
"Yeah, well, it's true." Looking up from her sewing and seeing his upset look, she sighed, "You're 15, you can't do that yet. Wait 'til you're older."
He sat down beside her, stroking Belch's head as it snaked its way onto his lap and closed its eyes, purring slightly. He watched her sewing intently, her hands flying over the seams she was making with practised ease and careful consideration.
"Did mum teach you that?" He asked, overly cautious. Recoiling as she pricked her finger, she looked over at him, unimpressed.
"Yeah. So?" Already, she was beginning on the second shirt.
"Nothing, just wondering." He leant back on his hands, staring through the trees into the sky, so very far above. "Be careful with that shirt, it's my favourite..."
Hanging above, the white rider was very impressed by the twin's efforts. They certainly hadn't seen anything like that coming, especially not from the twins. Her Nadder twitched underneath her. Looking up, the rider spied dark clouds on the horizon.
"Better hurry, a storm is coming..."
A storm is coming! What will that mean for the twin's bonfire? Hopefully, they'll get it done in time before the rain starts and puts it out!
