It's Christmas break! Cue confetti! Well this chapter was considerably dull. But I decided that it would be a calm before the storm kind of thing. After this, things might begin to get a little hectic.

Chapter Ten: The Maze of Mirrors

Panting, Savage hopped off the small rowboat and up a stone passage. As he reached the end, the passage opened up to a cabbage field with a lone wooden house. An old man was standing in front of the cabbages and Savage quickly ran up to him. "Mildew," he wheezed.

The curmudgeon looked at Savage suspiciously. "You're one of Alvin's subordinates, aren't you? What do you want?" Mildew demanded, annoyed. Savage took a moment to catch his breath.

"Alvin requests a few things," Savage replied. "A brown suede leather waistcoat, a green long-sleeved tunic and designs for the boy's prosthetic foot."

Still glaring at Savage, Mildew slammed the end of his staff on the floor. "What does Alvin take me for, a market? What does Alvin need all that stuff for anyway?"

"It's part of the plan," said Savage. "If this works, you'll be able to get rid of all the dragons on Berk."

Hearing his chance, a smile crept across Mildew's face. "I'll have those things ready in a few hours."

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The morning breeze blew in Astrid's face as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and yawned slightly. Sunlight shone in from the cave's entrance. Astrid and the others had found a cave below the Isle of Quiet Life that they managed to camp in for the night. Looking around, her dragon and the others were already up.

A figure stood at the cave's passage. Noticing his red-brown auburn, Astrid immediately figured out that it was Hiccup. On his shoulders he held a small basket. Squinting, Astrid made out that it was full of fish. As Hiccup walked into the cave, he dumped the basket onto the floor. Astrid looked at him curiously.

"Breakfast," Hiccup replied casually as he reached into his belt and brought out a knife. It was the same one he took from Hysteria. Handing it over to Camicazi, she soon began sharpening some wood. At another corner of the cave, Thuggory was taking out some firewood they carried with them back from Berk. With a soft blast, Toothless lit the small logs.

"Fire's ready," Thuggory said, turning to Hiccup and his friends. When Hiccup turned back, he noticed that Astrid was still looking at him with a worried look in her eye. "Hiccup, are you sure you're okay?" Astrid asked, worried. "You've been using a lot of energy lately, are you sure you're not the least bit tired?"

"Not at all," Hiccup answered cheerfully. "In fact, I feel better than ever!" Putting his hand into his waistcoat, Hiccup brought out the map of the King's Lost Things. "It's like the more of the Things I find, the better I feel. It's a little weird, though."

Astrid sighed. "Even if you feel fine, maybe you shouldn't push yourself," she told him. "In any case, let's eat breakfast. You want to make it to Grimbeard's Despair in a few hours, right?"

Nodding, Hiccup turned to Camicazi who handed him some skewered raw fish.

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Alvin sat there thinking. He had his hand on his chin. Excellinor stood beside him, her cloak still covering her face. "The boy has the Night Fury, Alvin," the witch reminded her son. "And he's one of the King's Lost Things. How are you planning to get it?"

"Since when do you ask for other people's opinions?" scoffed the Outcast chief. "But you do have a point, mother. Getting that Night Fury wouldn't be too easy. We can't take him head on. If the boy's on the dragon, we probably won't stand a chance. He could make a getaway in a matter of seconds."

"What you need is a dragon that would be strong enough to rival that of the boy's Night Fury. You have anything in mind?"

Thinking for a moment, Alvin scanned his brain. What did he know about dragons? What would be the best opponent for a Night Fury? "The second fastest dragon known to viking: the Skrill."

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For some reason, the air began to become cold. Cold air wasn't unusual in the Barbaric Archipelago. But when one island is much colder than the other when there isn't much distance between them, something was abnormal. Hiccup couldn't figure it out, though. Using logic, he assumed that he probably had something to do with the currents flowing underwater.

And in the midst of that cold was a small island. It was even smaller than the Isle of Quiet Life. Smaller and definitely more plain. The island was simply flat land with dark soil and a rock sticking out of the ground. Landing Toothless on the island, Hiccup couldn't see anything else. Thuggory hopped off the dragon and started scanning the island. "Are you sure this is where the map leads?"

"Positive," Hiccup replied as Astrid and Camicazi on Stormfly landed next to them. Hiccup brought out the map of the Barbaric Archipelago and dumped it on the ground. He then unrolled the map of the King's Lost Things and placed it next to the other map. Looking at the small round island on the back of the portrait of Hamish the First and his son, Hiccup looked back at the image of Grimbeard's Despair on his father's map. "They look exactly the same," he said. Looking up, Hiccup still didn't see anything that caught his attention.

"I don't get it." Camicazi added with a hint of worry in her voice as she looked at Hiccup. "What are we doing wrong?"

Something in Hiccup's brain suddenly clicked. "You know how the King's Lost Things have been used throughout his whole journey?" he suddenly said. "The shield back with the ruby, the knife with the wood, the portrait being the map. We've involved every single one of the King's Lost Things on his journey except for one." Fishing around his waistcoat pocket, Hiccup brought out a small circular device.

"The ticking thing," Astrid breathed.

"It's the only thing we haven't used!" Thuggory exclaimed. "So you're thinking that we're going to need it to find the Dragon Jewel?"

Nodding, Hiccup turned to look down at the ticking thing, but it was doing something very peculiar. Hiccup noticed that the four arrows pointing in the four cardinal directions were perfectly still, but the fifth arrow, the one he had no idea what it was for, was spinning around in circles. "That's weird," Hiccup murmured. "It was pointing straight before."

"Well what do you think it's supposed to point towards?" Camicazi asked.

Bringing up the ticking thing at eye level and tilting it to the side, Hiccup noticed that while the arrow was spinning, it's tip seemed to be tugging downwards. "The arrow must be pointing towards the Dragon Jewel," Hiccup deducted. "And since it's going in circles, my only guess is that we're standing directly above it."

"Wait, so you're saying we're going to have to go underground?" Thuggory clarified.

"Please tell me this isn't another one of your hunches," Astrid sighed.

"Well, it is," Hiccup replied merrily. "Now all we need to do is find a way down."

But what Hiccup failed to notice was that his dragon was already on it. Toothless snorted, earning the attention of his rider and the others. The Night Fury stood beside Stormfly in front of the only boulder sticking out of the earth. Toothless nudged his head towards the rock. Curious, Hiccup walked over to his dragon. Astrid rolled up Hiccup's maps before walking after him with Camicazi and Thuggory.

Following Toothless' gaze, Hiccup saw that he was looking at a carved round hole in the rock. Behind him, Hiccup felt the presence of his friends. Astrid then handed him both maps. Hiccup tucks them into his waistcoat pocket before bringing up the ticking thing, comparing it to the cut out in the rock. 'The same size, eh?' Hiccup thought as he slid the ticking thing into the rock.

"A perfect fit," Camicazi whispered. As Hiccup pushed the ticking thing into the rock, a small clicking noise was made. The floor below them suddenly trembled. Slowly, it began to move downwards, the sides becoming dark walls of stone, dirt and rock.

"Personally, I really wonder how Grimbeard sets up these things," Thuggory grumbled.

"Well I've seen Hamish the Second's traps," Hiccup answered sarcastically. "So this kind of thing doesn't surprise me all that much." Eventually, the platform came to a stop. In front of the viking teens was a cave leading into darkness.

"I smell danger," sang Camicazi. She saw an old torch hanging on the wall and immediately grabbed it, held it out in front of Stormfly who lit up the torch. Hiccup plucked the ticking thing from the stone and saw that the arrow that was moving wildly before was now pointing forward.

Camciazi held the torch in front of Hiccup's face. "Lead the way," she said. Smiling, Hiccup stepped forward and into the cave's darkness. As the viking teens walked, the sunlight dimmed and Camicazi's torch became their only light source. Hiccup's nose suddenly caught a whiff of something. "You guys smell that?"

"Smell what?" Astrid asked. "The smell of rotten flesh down here or the smell of salt?"

"Both," Hiccup replied. "But the salt bit is more important. Why would there be salt smell down here? It kind of smells like the sea."

"Hiccup, look at that!" Camicazi exclaimed as she pointed forward. Following her finger, Hiccup noticed that it was a large partly transparent crystal. Walking over to it, Hiccup ran his fingers down the crystal. Rubbing his fingers, he found that they were completely dry. "It's not ice," he said. "It's a large salt crystal."

"There's more!" Astrid breathed as Camicazi's torch illuminated more of the cave as the two girls walked forward. Astrid found herself looking at rows and rows of salt crystals. All of them clear and reflecting her own image. Thuggory placed his hand on a crystal next to him and stared into his own reflection. "I wish this handsome guy really was standing in front of me."

"That would be a real pain," said Astrid teasingly, earning her an annoyed look from Thuggory. Hiccup walked up to his friends as Toothless nudged a nearby crystal. Stormfly squawked, earning Astrid's attention. She seemed to read the Nadder's mind. "We should stick together. It's going to be easier to get lost in here."

"We'll just follow the arrow," said Hiccup calmly as he held the ticking thing in front of him. The arrow pointed forward, so Hiccup walked in that very direction into the mirrors of salt. Astrid and the others didn't dare spread out for more than two meters so the viking teens and their dragons stuck closely together.

For most of the walk, things kept silent. The viking teens kept their eyes and ears alert, in case they needed to react to something. Even Hiccup was living on his nerves. His right hand was holding the ticking thing while his left was firmly placed on the hilt of his sword. Throughout the whole walk, Astrid would mark the passages they took to ensure that they wouldn't get lost.

As the teens walked forward, they came across a few crossroads. Hiccup would always pick the path that was closest to what the arrow was pointing at, hoping that it would keep them on the right direction. Eventually, Hiccup found himself in front of a dead end.

"That it?" Thuggory asked. "We came all the way here for nothing?"

"Hold on a minute," Hiccup said hastily, squinting his eyes. Inside the crystal in front of him was a small bright orange amber stone glistening off the dim torch light. Reaching into his belt, Hiccup brought out the knife and stabbed it into the crystal. After a few minutes, Hiccup managed to get rid of a large chunk of the salt crystals, just big enough for him to stick his hand inside and pull out the Dragon Jewel. Just how he had found the other Things, Hiccup felt energy swell up inside of him. He had never felt better. Maybe except for when he was flying.

As Hiccup looked down at it, he started to notice that there was a small green aura surrounding the jewel. And it wasn't the only thing. Hiccup's scabbard started to gain the aura too. As did the roman shield, the knife, the portrait, the ruby, the crown in the basket. Even Toothless was gaining a bit of the glow.

"Am I the only one who's seeing this?" Camicazi asked, looking around her. Hiccup's gaze however, was completely fixated on the Dragon Jewel. Quickly, he saw a light cover him and Hiccup held up his hand to shield his eyes. As soon as it began, the light died down.

All around Hiccup, everything was white. None of his friends were there. Not Astrid, not Toothless. "Guys?" Hiccup called out. "Hello? Guys! Are you there?" In his hand Hiccup realized he was still holding the Dragon Jewel. "More importantly, where in the world am I?"

"It's all happening inside your brain, Hiccup," said an old voice behind him. Hiccup turned around to see a man with brown hair and brilliant silver armor. He had a scabbard attached to his belt and one pug leg.

"Grimbeard the Ghastly?" Hiccup murmured in astonishment. The man nodded. "Why Hiccup, you look just like my son. Maybe except for the legs." Even Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at that comment. Looking into Grimbeard's eyes, Hiccup saw hurt and regret. His chuckle died off very quickly. "So it's true. You killed your own son."

Grimbeard nodded solemnly. "It was probably my greatest regret," Grimbeard told Hiccup. "It was then I knew what being the King of the Wilderwest would bring towards my family so I abandoned the title."

"But why would we need a King now?" Hiccup asked. "Now of all times."

"You, my boy, have changed history by training a dragon. The Changewing you probably encountered back on the Isle of Quiet Life was the only dragon that didn't try to kill me that I did not kill. It was then I learned that dragons are not what we thought they were, just like how I thought I knew my treacherous son, Thugheart. But it was too late for me. I was already very old. I couldn't change things if I wanted to.

"But you, Hiccup, have already done great things and at such a young age. I have to admit, I'm jealous. Your new skills and intelligence is exactly what the Barbaric Archipelago needs for it flourish unlike ever before." Grimbeard stepped forward and placed both his hands on Hiccup's shoulders.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," Grimbeard began. "You have found and gathered all of the King's Lost Things, and I deem you worthy of becoming King of the Wilderwest."

With that, Grimbeard's image in front of Hiccup slowly vanished, leaving the boy speechless. The whiteness around Hiccup slowly faded away. "Hiccup," called a voice that seemed so distant that it was almost like an echo. "Hiccup!" the voice snapped and Hiccup found himself looking directly as Astrid.

"Hiccup, are you alright?" she asked. "You were spacing out for a while there."

"I'm fine, Astrid," Hiccup answered. He then noticed that all the King's Lost Things still had the soft green aura surrounding them, but it was barely visible. Smiling, Hiccup climbed onto Toothless. "Come on," he said. "We should probably get out of here."

The viking teens mounted their dragons and decided to take the easy way, flying out of the cave. All the mirrors were a little distracting but Hiccup managed to keep his focus. Eventually, Toothless and Stormfly flew out the caves. Seeing how the sun was just about to set, Hiccup landed Toothless on the island's dark surface. "Let's just camp here for the night," he suggested. No one else objected to that.

Now, things would be nice if the whole story ended there. Hiccup now had all of the King's Lost Things. He could simply get a coronation and become the King by tomorrow. But unfortunately for our little hiccup, Fate has something else in mind for him. Something that will test our hero's strength, power, will, intelligence and heart...

Current Date: February 22nd

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I'm really sorry if you expecting a lot of action in this chapter. But I wanted to keep it calm since hell might break loose in the next chapter. :3