Chapter 11
Rachel and Hiccup
As the two waited for Marko return from chasing the strange watcher, Hiccup asked, "So who do you think that was?" Looking at Hiccup, Rachel sighed and replied, "Hopefully it was one of our tribe, or someone who we know." Nodding, Hiccup stroked Spark's head, causing the Terror to purr in affection. Suddenly, Rachel shouted, "Look!" and pointed towards the sky. Coming towards them from the sky, was Ice, and she was carrying two people: one was Marko, and the other was someone Hiccup didn't recognise. When Ice landed, Marko and the stranger dismounted her and walked towards Hiccup and Rachel.
"Look who I found, Rachel," said Marko, gesturing to the person behind him. Looking at the figure, Rachel gasped and said, "Damak, is that you?" Looking up when he name was called, Damak looked at Rachel, smiled and said, "Rachel? Is that you?" Nodding, Rachel smiled and ran up to Damak and hugged him. Slightly taken aback by this, Damak awkwardly patted Rachel on the back with his one good hand. Looking at Hiccup, Damak asked, "And who might you be, stranger?" Hiccup, who you wouldn't call fluent in Dragonese, just stood there awkwardly and waited for either Marko or Rachel to translate it for him. Seeing that Hiccup was waiting, Marko said, "Oh, yeah, Hiccup doesn't speak Dragonese. Damak asked you for your name."
Hiccup then told Damak his name, though he needed Marko to translate it for him. " 'Racmonca'? The one who stopped the killing of Dragons on Berk?" asked Damak, looking at Marko and Rachel to say if he was right or not. Marko nodded, and said, "Since we're asking questions, Damak, I wish to ask you one." Damak nodded, and Marko asked, "Are there any others?" This question seemed to cause the entire island to go cold and be still. Everybody held their breath as seconds passed. Then, Damak looked Marko in the eye, and said, "Follow me." And with that, Damak started towards the cliff that he and Marko had just come down from.
Looking at each other cautiously, they followed Damak towards the cliff. As they got closer to the cliff and farther away from the village, the Dragons took off towards the top of the cliff, probably to spend some time while the humans followed this one handed man. As the Dragons moved out of sight, Damak had led them towards a large hole in the ground, and, Hiccup thought, from looking down it, he guessed that it was about fifty feet down. There was a small waterfall that was a few feet about the hole, and the water fell down to the very bottom of the hole. Looking around, Hiccup picked up a small pebble and dropped it into the hole, where it fell and hit the water with a small plop.
"That's over fifty feet down," muttered Hiccup, trying to keep himself from throwing up: sure, when he was on Toothless, heights and him had no problem, but when he was on the ground, heights unleashed its darker side on him. As Hiccup tried to keep himself from hurling, Marko asked Damak, "Why have you brought us here, Damak?" Damak smiled mysteriously, and said, "The answer to your question lies in these waters." And with that, Damak started to tip over, back facing the hole, and he fell into the hole. "DAMAK!" shouted Marko, falling to his knees and trying to grab Damak's arm or leg, but it was no use: Damak had fallen too far out of Marko's reach. The next moment, the three of them heard an almighty SPLASH! Looking down the hole, the only thing Marko saw were several rings, each getting larger and eventually disappearing, in the water, and centring where Damak must have landed.
"I'm going in after him!" shouted Marko, taking off what was left of him hoodie, revealing several battle scars and a six pack. "Marko, you can't survive a fall like that!" shouted Rachel, her eyes momentarily lingering on his muscular stomach and ribs. "I don't care," said Marko, and he leapt into the hole, his arms spread out like an eagle, before he brought them into an upside down pencil position, and he then landed in the water, leaving several rings surrounding the spot where he landed, just like Damak. But after a few minutes wait, Marko failed to come back up. After a few more harrowing moments, Rachel said, "He's been down there too long! I've got to go in after them!" and she ran and jumped into the hole, and again, there was another splash! and again, there were several rings near where the other two had jumped.
Hiccup sighed, thinking, and then there was one, and he looked down the hole, waiting for at least one of them to resurface. After about ten minutes wait, neither of them surfaced, and Hiccup was starting to worry. Hiccup then sighed and said aloud, "Well, up until recently, I had a good life," and cautiously tip-toed towards the edge of the hole. Taking a deep breath, Hiccup closed his eyes and jumped straight into the hole. After a few seconds freefall, Hiccup felt the sudden coldness of the water run up his body. When his head went under the water, Hiccup tried to swim up the surface, but there seemed to be a force pulling him down, deeper into the water. After some of the longest minutes in Hiccups life, he started to feel himself spinning. After another few minutes of rolling and crashing into rocks, Hiccup suddenly felt himself being pushed upwards, and after a few seconds, Hiccup's head crashed through the water surface and he gasped for much needed air.
After he climbed out of the water, shivering slightly, Hiccup brushed his head out of his head and saw something that made him smile: Damak, Rachel and Marko, all dripping wet and looking at him. Marko offered him a hand and Hiccup accepted, pulling him to his feet. Looking around, Hiccup saw that they were in some sort of underground cave: there was a hole in the ground were Hiccup came up from, and the entire room was lit by several torches spread across the walls. "What was that?" asked Hiccup, taking off his brown over vest and wringed it out, causing a load of water to be squeezed out. "That was called 'A Leap of Fate', Hiccup: it means when someone jumps without knowing what will happen when they land. In this case, I or Rachel didn't know what would happen when we landed, we were just concentrated on saving Damak or me."
"Follow me," said Damak, and walked into a small tunnel that led into darkness. Grabbing a torch from the wall, Marko followed, and then Rachel followed him, leaving Hiccup at the end. After about fifteen minutes walk, they arrived at a weathered wooden door: most of the wood looked old and rotten, and the hinges on the right of the door looked rusty; this door had not been used in a long time. Damak, using his one good hand, knocked on the door three times, then clawed the door with his fingers, and then knocked twice. A few seconds later, a small hatch slid open, revealing a pair of eyes that were the lightest brown Hiccup had ever seen. After a few seconds looking at them, the hatch slid shut and the door opened, revealing a large, circular chamber: there was a wooden table in the centre, which was surrounded by several chairs; and the walls were covered in strange, red writings, like the ones in the Elder's Writings cave.
"Say hello to what's left of the Elders," said Damak, gesturing to three people who had just come out of the shadows.