Chapter 7

With their only ship now on the way to the Killagain tribe, Stoick and Hiccup lead the journey through the thick jungles of the Outcast Lands. Toothless was enjoying the journey more than anyone; he always had been an inquisitive dragon.

Gobber was with the group, but he was anything but thrilled about exploring this 'forsaken land'. He also seemed to have gotten Fishlegs all wound up tight in nervousness. The young Viking was always quick to believe what anyone says to him, and that had a tendency to be just as annoying as Gobber's tall tales. Easily provoked by his comments was Bitwolf. It was not that he did not like Fishlegs; he just didn't like cowards. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were too busy finding new ways to start a fight between themselves to care about anything else around them. Astrid, on a very thin fuse as of late, was doing her best not to snap at any of them, especially Bitwolf. There was a part of her that had trouble letting go of the things he did to her and her friends. She seemed more in control as long as Hiccup was nearby.

Snotlout seemed more excited about exploring the island than everyone else. He and Tuffnut were the ones that least believed in Gobber's superstitious stories. Together, they usually found trouble; either that, or trouble found them. "I was hoping to see some exciting new dragons on this island. Where are they all?"

"They're probably hiding from your ugly face," Tuffnut chuckled, poking his sister with his elbow.

She did not dignify him with an angry glare. Instead, her arm sprung out and delivered a painful jab into his jaw. "Umph!" Tuffnut grumbled under his breath as he rubbed his jaw.

"You know, there's a story that all the dragons on this island were killed off by some horrific monster that no one has ever seen," Gobber commented.

Fishlegs eyes were filled with terror. He snapped a look all around him to make sure that there was nothing hiding around them. "Ma—ma- *gulp* monstrer?"

"Perhaps the island's deserted?" Astrid suggested, ignoring this crazy talk. She was not going to give any credence to Gobber's crazy ghost stories.

"I would have to say no, it's not," Stoick replied, as he stopped walking. In front of him, there was a pole sticking up from the ground. Hanging on the pole was a human skull wearing a Viking hat.

"Wow, freaky!" Ruffnut said.

"It's a sign," Gobber replied. "It's a warning not to proceed any farther cause this island is cursed!"

"That's enough of that kind of talk," Stoick interrupted. "This is a sign,but only that there are others people on this island."

"Yeah, but are they the kind that we want to meet," Hiccup added. "Gobber is right about one thing; this is a warning for us to stay out."

"But is it because the natives are unfriendly, or because we're entering a deadly part of the island?" Astrid added.

"Maybe it's because there's a fierce dragon living around here?" Snotlout added. "We should check it out."

"Stranded on a mysterious, haunted island with a warning to keep out. Chances of survival now down to forty percent, if anyone cares." Fishlegs commented.

"There's nothing more to discuss," Stock said firmly. These ghost stories of Gobber were making everyone crazy. They were making everyone forget that they had a mission to save Berk. For him, his immediate mission was to save and keep his people alive. The problem was that he was leading a group of young kids, who were starting to drive him crazy. Gobber was not helping things any by acting like a kid, himself. He could hardly wait until he was around grownups again. "We're going on; end of discussion."

Hiccup shrugged. "What's the worst that can happen?"


As they journeyed beyond the skull, they ended up entering a foggy marsh land. It was an odd place to find for a swamp, and Stoick had to put his foot down, immediately, about any further talk on this haunted island business. However, that did not stop Fishlegs from giving his danger outlook report. "Poor visibility on a haunted island: I'd say our chances of survival are currently at ten percent."

"Will you cut it out with that!" Bitwolf snapped.

"I hate to admit it, but I don't like this either," Astrid admitted. "Who knows what dragons may be lurking in here."

"That's why we have Toothless. He can smell danger before we run into it." Hiccup replied, patting the dragon on the neck. Toothless rawred chipperly in reply.

"Caaaamiiiicaaaaaziiiii!" A soft feminine whispered gently tickled through the fog. It was not an intimidating voice; on the contrary, it sounded like the owner of voice was searching for this person named Camicazi.

"What was that?" Astrid asked.

Stoick held up his hand to signal the group to stop where they were. "Is someone out there? Show yourself!"

"Camicazi?" The female voice responded. It was a very awkward response to Stoick's question, if it even was a reply. "Caaaamiiiicaaaaaziiiii!"

"I'm officially creeped out now!" Fishlegs said, hunching his back slightly as he looked all around him, expecting something to attack them at any moment.

Toothless sniffed the air and growled, but even he had trouble pinpointing the location of the voice. The swamped just took this strange voice and echoed it in all directions. It could be coming from behind them, for all they knew.

"Uh— hello? Can you understand me?" Hiccup tried his turn to talk to the voice, hoping a softer tone voice would get better results.

There was a long period of silence in there air before the voice returned. "Camicazi! Camicazi! Camicazi!"

"I keep telling you, this island is haunted! We're being bewitched!" Gobber said. Here was, yet, another sign that he was telling the truth, about this island. What would it take to convince Stoick that this island was pure evil?

"This is really creepy," Tuffnut said.

"Ignore it," Stoick told the young Vikings. "Let's work our way out of here." Stoick continued to trek through the swamp. Everyone else followed as none of them wanted to stay there as long as they had to.

Astrid leaned to her left to whisper something to Hiccup. "You don't suppose that Gobber may be… right… about this island?"

Hiccup hated to put Gobber down; he respected him greatly. When everyone thought Gobber was crazy when he believed that a Boneknapper was trying to kill him, Hiccup stood by him. The elder Viking had done so much for him, that he hated to turn his back on him, but he just could not believe that this island was haunted by ghosts. "Uh… it's possible that someone might want us to think so, but I think there a logical explanation for all of this."


The old witch stood on a ridge, overlooking the foggy marsh lands. She did not need her eyes to see where they were and what they were doing. They were doing exactly as she had expected and wanted. The chief had sent out a ship from the island, limiting the number of Vikings on the island. Further limiting the numbers, he took a small group to explore the island. She did not care about anyone in this group except for the chief's son. She had no doubt that he would bring him along, as well as the Night Fury.

However, there was, now, one unforeseen circumstance that had developed. 'She' had found the Vikings and was following them. The witch had not expected her to be so bold to follow strange new Vikings whom she had never seen before. As unforeseen as this was, it could prove to be a much welcomed surprise for her son. Hiccup could end up becoming the key to bringing 'her' back to the village to meet her fate. She could end up becoming a very tasty treat for the Furious. The witch would have to see how things continued to unfold, but this was turning out better than she had hopes; praise be to the giants for their favor upon her.


They made it through the other side of the marsh. That eerie voice had not been heard from again since the first time they heard it. Now that their visibility had returned, everyone's nerves were returning to normal. Stoick even afford them time to sit down and rest.

Fishlegs sat on the trunk of a fallen tree. Breathing heavily, he was happy to be able to sit down and catch a breather. "Okay, our chances are now…"

"Finish that sentence, and I'm gonna hurt you!" Bitwolf growled, waving a fist in his face.

His eyes followed the movement of Bitwolf's fist. "Fifty-five." He managed to blurt out despite the threat.

"This is crazy! We've not run into any dragon since arriving to this island," Snotlout complained, as he sat on the ground and leaned back into a tree trunk.

"Yeah, there hasn't been as much as a single Terrible Terror. What kind of island is this?" Tuffnut agreed.

"They've got a point," Astrid added. "This island is easily capable of sustaining life. So why haven't we come across any?"

"Caaaaamiiiiicaaaazeeee!" The eerie voice returned to taunt them and to test their nerves.

"It's baaaaack," Ruffnut said, matching the ghostly tone of the voice.

"Ugh, I'm getting too old for this. My heart can't handle much more of this," Gobber complained.

Stoick held his new hammer up in front of him. After losing his hammer in the fight against the Sea Devils, he grabbed a new one from the last reaming ship, before it took off to the Killagain tribe. "Show yourself!"

The voice let out a soft, playful giggle. "Camicazi!"

"Grrrr! That's really starting to get on my nerves!" Astrid growled.

Toothless let out a curious moan as he took a step forward. Hiccup noticed him staring at something up the hill ahead. The Night Fury was not the only one to see something. "Hey, look!" Snotlout announced.

Everyone looked up to see something standing there looking at them and hiding in the cover of shadow. There was no mistaking the shape of the figure; it was a small dragon that was looking curiously down at them. If Hiccup had to guess, it appeared about the same size as Toothless.

"What is it?" Tuffnut asked. Some dragon breeds were easily identified by the shapes of their body, but he could not identify this one as easily. He had never seen this type of dragon before.

"Do you suppose it's aggressive?" Bitwolf asked, hoping to finally be able to see some combat action.

"I don't think so," Hiccup replied. "It would've attacked us by now. I think it's just curious?"

Hiccup cautiously started to walk up the hill, showing the palms of his hands to show that he had no weapons in hand. The dragon instantly grew nervous and disappeared before he was able to get close. It happened so fast, he could not tell if the dragon had run or flown off. Disappointed, Hiccup could only look back at everyone and shrug.