Chapter 3: Descent

"What are you doing?" Gobber asked, peering into my room

I slapped the journal shut and hid it beneath the covers of my bed. "Nothing."

Gobber took a step into the room and shot me a skeptical glower. "What's that you're hiding there?" he asked crossing his arms.

"It's nothing," I repeated. He continued to stare at me, unconvinced. "It's a journal, that's all," I said slipping the book back out to show him, but holding it firmly closed.

He inspected the journal from across the room before looking back up at me. "You're writing in a journal now?"

"Maybe. Why? Can't I?"

Gobber shrugged. "Thought you were a little old for it, that's all."

"I was reading old entries, not writing new ones."

"Yours?"

"Yes, mine."

"Are you going to write about the trip?" he asked.

"No, I said they were only old entries, and didn't you say I was too old to have a journal a moment ago?"

"I said I thought you were a little old." He paused. "How long have you been at it? I didn't know you liked to keep a journal."

"Is that really important?" I asked with a frown. "I'd like to keep on reading, alone?"

Gobber chuckled and raised his hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright, I'll leave you be, but please make sure you get done packing before your parents get back. Your mother will have my head if your room is still like this come dinner time," he said as he looked over the mess of items I had laid out on the floor.

I nodded. "Okay, I will." I watched him as he began shuffling back out of the room. "Gobber," I said suddenly.

He turned towards me. "What is it?"

"You speak Spanish right?"

Gobber eyed me. "Sure do, did your mom tell you that? She speaks a little too, you know."

"What does 'ella no va a lastimarte' mean?"

Gobber furrowed his brows. "So you're trying to learn Spanish? Now? You've got a funny sense of timing, kid."

"Are you going to answer the question or not?"

"Well," he said scratching his chin, "I guess it means 'she will not hurt you' or something along those lines. Though I can't say it's a very useful phrase, wouldn't you rather know how to say 'I'm lost' or 'help me'?"

"Nevermind, forget I asked."

"Are you excited?" he suddenly asked, leaning on my door frame.

"I guess...in an 'I feel like I'm about to puke' kinda way."

He laughed. "I know it can be scary, but don't think of it that way, think of it as an adventure."

"An adventure?" I scoffed.

"Well, it'll be different from what you're used to. And hotter, much hotter."

"I figured, closer to the equator and all."

Gobber moved away from the doorframe. "I should get back to it, but if you want any advice; when in doubt stick by your mom, she's the toughest most worldly lady I've ever met."

"That's your advice? Stick to my mom? You know I'm not a little kid anymore right?"

He smiled and nodded, giving the door a light tap as he walked out of the room. "Sure, kiddo."

I waited until I heard Gobber's prosthetic limb clunk against the kitchen tile before walking over to the door, closing and locking it with a click. There was a part of me that desperately wanted to know what would happen, so I climbed back into bed and opened up the journal, flipping to the next page.

"The sinkhole was much wider and deeper than I would've thought, like an entire lake had been drained of all its water. The shape, on the other hand, was almost too perfect, a cylinder with flat vertical sides. At the bottom was more jungle, what looked like twenty stories below us. The amazement quickly subsided, only to be replaced by terror as we all realized that we would have to scale down into that very pit.

My mom, Gobber, and Astrid were all unnervingly calm in contrast to our restrained panic. They quietly prepared the rock-climbing equipment for our descent into the sinkhole, unpacking all the ropes and harnesses. As usual, Fishlegs was the one most outwardly terrified, he seemed shocked by how much further down the drop was, and how completely vertical it was. It took him almost an hour to build up the courage to get the harness on."

I gripped the rope tightly, trying desperately to remember all the instructions that I had been told before I was strapped into the pulley system. Astrid had told me repeatedly that if I let go I wouldn't fall, but I couldn't help but cling as if my life depended on it. I didn't dare look down as I inched closer and closer towards the bottom, I swear it took five times longer than it should have, my feet constantly reached down, hoping they would find flat ground to rest on.

"You're almost there!" I heard my mom call out, her voice echoed against the rocky walls, making it hard to tell how close or far she was. I could see Heather dangling above me, her feet flat against the side of the cliff as she slowly made her way down.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when my mother's hand came in contact with my back, I'm sure she meant to help me down, but it startled me so bad I thought I would swallow my own tongue. I let my feet shakily land back onto solid ground, my knees knobbing furiously.

"I'm sorry dear, I didn't mean to scare you like that." I shook my head and said nothing. "Why don't you go sit over there while the rest come down?" she suggested, ushering me to sit next to Eret and Gothi on a large flat rock nearby.

"Going down is the worst part," Eret said. "Going back up is always less scary."

"You've done this before?" I asked, my hands tucked under my arms.

He chuckled to himself and shook his head. "Not like this, not quite so steep or high, but I've dabbled in a little rock climbing here and there. I've thought of climbing around Great Rift Valley, I've seen it more times than I can count, never did climb it though."

"Great Rift Valley, that's in Africa right?"

Eret nodded. "I grew up in South Africa, my parents liked to take me on trips to go sightseeing, Great Rift Valley was their favourite."

Ruffnut came stumbling towards us through the brush, a fat brown lizard clutched in her hands. It wriggled and thrashed in her grip, but Ruffnut kept it firmly in place. She stopped in front of us, smiling and holding the lizard up like a child showing her parents. "I've never seen one like this before, and there are probably five more different kinds over there," she said gesturing with her chin. "This place is insane, my bro even found some weird beetle things."

"You two were supposed to find the equipment," Eret said, frowning. "What are you supposed to do with anything you find if we don't have the cages or sample bottles to put them in?"

"Relax, we'll get to it."

"You're going to hold that the whole time?" Eret asked, eyeing the lizard in her hands.

Ruffnut shrugged. "Maybe I am."

"Sis! Sis, you have to see this!" Tuffnut called from off further in the jungle.

A smile spread across Ruffnut's face and she looked over her shoulder. "Hold on, I've got to go see what she found," she said, turning and plodding off to where we couldn't see her anymore.

Eret sighed and moved to get up. "I guess I'll have to go look for it."

"I can do it," I said, surprising even myself.

"Really?" he asked, taken slightly aback.

"It can't be that hard to find right? How many boxes with parachutes attached could be down here?"

"You're sure?" I nodded. "You won't get lost?"

I shrugged. "It's pretty echo-y in here, I'll yell if I can't find my way back."

He chuckled. "Alright, I'll keep my ears open."

I stood up and began walking off into the brush. From above it didn't look as thick or as tall as it really was, I had to constantly use both arms to keep leaves and branches from hitting my face. It was a little cooler down in the sinkhole than it was up on the plateau, which I was grateful for. There were insects everywhere, that I was less grateful for, they flew about in thick clouds and crawled over and under my feet as I walked. Searching for the equipment box turned out to be more difficult than I had imagined, the jungle was too thick and too large. Though it felt like I had wandered quite a distance from the others, I could still hear the distant sound of their voices calling to one another.

I stopped for a moment, using a hot hand to wipe sweat from the nape of my neck as I scanned the jungle around brush was so thick I could hardly see much further than a half a metre in front of me. I pushed away some fronds, peering through, repeating this a few times in different directions. Everything looked the same around me. I turned slightly and began making my way forward again, trying to find something, anything that wasn't greenery. I wasn't even certain I had been keeping in a straight line. For all I knew I was making endless circles.

The bottoms of my shoes had become caked in mud and that made walking even more difficult than it already was. I crouched down and peeled away the dried mud with my hands. Letting the dry clumps fall to the ground and leaving brown power all over my fingertips. As I brushed my hands off on my pants, a piece of white fabric caught my eye and I sprung to my feet. It draped over a tree, just enough for me to see it. With long swift strides I walked towards it, reaching up and stroking a hand over the white fabric. A parachute.

"I found it!" I hollered out, hoping the others could hear me as well as I could hear them.

I shuffled through the branches, following the fabric until I found the patch of broken trees and bushes where the equipment box had landed. With a hard yank, I pulled away the parachute, fully uncovering it. It was quite large, made of thick shiny plastic, wrapped up in heavy black straps. I walked around the sides of the crate, looking for where the straps clipped together, undoing them one by one. They were fastened with heavy, metal buckles, each one made a zip sound as is quickly slipped from the box and landed with a soft thud on the jungle floor. Once all the straps were undone, I began circling the box, feeling the edges with my hands, trying to find the opening.

I could hear the approach of their crunching footsteps and echoing voices. "Where are you?" I heard Astrid's voice call out for me.

"Here!" I called back, finally feeling the handles to open the box. I grabbed one in each hand, pulling them opening and flinging the top off. The lid flipped open, slamming against the other side to reveal our equipment and week's supplies inside.

"This way!" I heard her voice again, this time closer, along with the sound of more rustling and footsteps.

My eyes scanned over everything in the box, I could see various types of equipment and traps, and plenty of packaged food and supplies. I suddenly felt very hungry, I had completely forgotten that we hadn't eaten dinner yet. Now that we had our rations and were ready to settle in, we wouldn't have to conserve our food intake and I could eat as large a portion as I wanted. I smiled at the thought of a big warm meal.

The leaves and branches began to part, and Astrid emerged from the jungle. "What are you smiling about?" she asked as she walked closer, looking down into the box.

The others filed into the small clearing one by one, Eret, Gobber, and Valka.

"Just thinking about dinner," I told her.

Astrid smiled, shuffling around to the far corner of the crate. "Well help us lift this thing and we'll be having dinner in no time."

The four of us each grabbed a corner, lifting the box and carrying it back through the brush towards where we had landed. I was glad to have four people instead of two, not necessarily that it would be too heavy for two people, although it was quite heavy. More than weight it was how cumbersome is was to carry it around while our feet dodged roots and our heads dodged low branches.

The twins were still nowhere to be found by the time we made it back. Gothi was still sitting on that flat rock, quietly reading a book. Heather and Fishlegs stood nearby, chatting and laughing with one another.

We dropped the box down with a thump, and my mom looked around at everyone. "They're still not back?" she asked, turning to Gothi. Gothi shook her head. "Well, we'll have to get started without them. "Fishlegs, would you go find them and bring them back here in the meantime?"

"Me? Alone?"

"You won't get lost, there's nowhere to go but in a circle. If you can't find us you can yell for someone."

Heather put a hand up. "I can go with him. I mean, he'll need help carrying all the cages after all. You know, for all those bugs and lizards they found right?"

She nodded. "Right, sounds good, grab some containers and bring them back. It'll be dark soon so we should eat something and get to bed quickly."

They both took what they needed and headed off to find Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The rest of us got to work setting up camp, getting the tents put up, building the fire, and organizing all of the equipment so it would be ready in the morning. By the time everything was done, it was completely dark, only the flickering glow of the fire surrounded us. I held a hot metal dish of potato soup, cradled in a rag to keep my hands from burning. The nights were much colder, but the steam in my face and the gentle sound of the soup bubbling over the fire warmed me.

My eyes wandered to the opposite side of the fire pit, where Astrid sat, eating her soup with a camping spork. I thought about moving closer so I could say something to her, but I didn't. Instead, I finished my food, cleaned my dish, and went to sleep.

The following few days went as I expected, everyone ventured out to observe the area in the sinkhole and gather samples for further research. The twins were especially enthusiastic, catching seventeen new species of various insects, amphibians, and reptiles after only the first two days. Astrid had spent most of her time cutting paths through the jungle so we would be able to travel back and forth between various areas more easily. This turned out to be very helpful, it really didn't take long to walk from one side to the other when we weren't wandering aimlessly. By the end of the week, we had familiarized ourselves quite well with the area.

I myself had come across a few species that seemed to exist both above and below the sinkhole, which had the possibility of being very interesting. I began observing their behaviour, trying to pinpoint differences, if there were any, to what I knew about their above-ground counterparts.

"What are you doing?" I turned to find Astrid standing behind me, a bundle of broken branches tucked under each arm.

I touched a finger to my lips then pointed towards a small anteater scavenging through the fallen leaves and twigs. "I'm observing," I whispered, taking down a few more notes in my journal.

She quietly crouched down next to me, carefully watching the shrew over my shoulder. "What is it?" she whispered in my ear.

"A silky anteater."

"How did it get down here?" she asked.

I looked upwards towards the edges of the sinkhole. "An ancestor probably fell down here and continued living at the bottom, that's why this place is good for my research. Since many animals who fall down here can't get back out, I can see how the same species developed differently in two separate places."

"Is that what ethologists do?"

"It's one of the things they do."

"...Why did you choose ethology?"

I turned away from the silky anteater and towards her. "I guess...I guess I wanted to know more about animals, to understand why they did what they did."

Astrid furrowed her brows. "Don't you mean 'do'?"

"Hey! Hey guys!" A voice called out, echoing through the sinkhole. The anteater's head perked up and it quickly scurried off, climbing into a tree where we could no longer see it. Astrid and I both looked at each other before sanding up to see what all the ruckus was about. "Come over here! I found something!"

"Is that Fishlegs?" she asked, looking off in the direction where his voice was coming from.

I nodded, also staring forward. "Sounds like it to me."

We began making our way over to where he was, shuffling down the narrow clearings that Astrid had spent the past week making. As we moved, I could hear others approaching and more and more voices the closer we got. I pushed through a few low hanging branches until I could see them all there, crowded around something against the wall of the sinkhole. My mom, Eret, and the twins had made it there before us, surrounding Fishlegs. We approached to see what it was they were looking at.

"What is it? What's all the hollering about?" Gobber asked, stumbling forwards through the brush. His eyes caught mine first, then moved towards the group. "What did you find?"

"There's a cave," my mother answered, moving out of the way so we could see it. Sure enough, there was a small craggled hole in the side of the wall, not much larger than a person. I could tell by looking that most would get in comfortably, but someone the size of Fishlegs, Gobber or Eret might have a bit of trouble.

Astrid walked towards it, placing her hand against the rock as she peered inside. "How deep does it go?"

"We don't know," Fishlegs replied. "I looked in with a flashlight but I can't see the end of the cave," he explained, handing the light to Astrid so she could take a look herself.

More rustling came from behind us as Heather emerged from the jungle. "What's going on?" she asked, looking around until her eyes fell towards the cavern. "Is that…?"

"Yeah," Gobber answered.

"Has anyone…?"

Fishlegs shook his head. "No."

Tuffnut looked around at everyone as they thought. "Are we...are we going to go in there? Can we? I can go, send me!"

"Hold on, nothing's been decided yet," my mother said, eyebrows still knitted together in thought. "Besides, we didn't come here to observe caves, we came here to observe the sinkhole."

"The cave is part of the sinkhole isn't it?" Ruffnut argued. "And there could be all sorts of undiscovered species of amphibians and reptiles-"

"-and insects," Tuffnut interjected.

"...and insects, down in that cave, who knows!"

My mom didn't look convinced. "I don't know, we have no idea what's in there, and we're not prepared for a spelunking expedition."

"I've got all my equipment here Mrs. Haddock, if you wish to send a group in there I'll be happy to assist them. I've cleared plenty of paths through the sinkhole, there's not much more you'll need me for out here for awhile."

Fishlegs nodded. "And this could be very useful for my research, it's possible this cave has a connection to how these sinkholes formed. In there may be evidence of an underground river that eroded its way underneath the mountain."

She sighed. "Alright, alright, we can send a small group of you inside to collect data, but we'll have to plan accordingly."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, yeah of course!"

My mother nodded. "Alright, so Astrid will lead Fishlegs and the twins into the cave, and the rest of us will stay here and continue research in the sinkhole." She turned to Astrid. "You'll have to prepare them for whatever might happen, make sure they pack what they'll need."

"I will."

"Good, let's get back to it everyone," she said, shooing everyone away from the cave entrance.

"I thought we were going into the cave?" Ruffnut asked, looking disappointed.

She shook her head. "Not now, it's past noon already, we'll finish up for today and you can leave first thing tomorrow or the day after maybe."

Everyone nodded, shuffling back off to whatever it was they were doing before. The twins grumbled but complied anyway, walking back off with the others.

Astrid crossed her arms and turned to Fishlegs. "You sure you'll be able to handle the climbing? I don't want a repeat of what happened when you had to rappel down here."

He nodded sheepishly. "I won't, I promise."

I turned away, trudging back through the jungle towards the camp. The cavern was certainly an interesting find, I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious, but I knew my research was better served out here than in there. As the sun began to set, I curled up in my sleeping bag and pulled my journal back out, writing down the events of the day.

The following morning Astrid and the others set out into the cave with the plan to return back before sunset. The rest of us spent our day as usual, making observations and collecting data. Part of me wished that I had gone down there with them, I wanted to know what it would be like down there, what animals would be there, what it would look like, smell like. I was anxious for them to return so I could ask Astrid a thousand questions about the cave.

"It's not something where a description could ever encompass what it's like to really be there. You'll have to go and see it for yourself if you want to know."

I remembered what she had said before, the last time I had asked her to describe a place to me.

"They should be back by now." I looked up, the fire illuminated the worry on my mother's face. "It's past sunset, they should be back by now."

Gobber wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Don't stress yourself out so much, they'll come back, it hasn't been that long since the sun went down. They probably found so much great stuff that they lost track of time."

"That doesn't sound like Astrid to me," my mom said, chewing at her thumbnail anxiously.

Gothi nodded without looking up from her book.

"Do you think we should send someone in there to look for them?" Heather asked.

"No, no, don't be hasty now. How long has it been? A couple hours at most, we can wait a little longer to see if they're just slow coming back," Gobber said.

I tucked my pen back into my journal and zipped it up. "You're sure nothing happened?"

Gothi put her book down and signed something to my mother, she nodded and smiled. "Astrid could make it through anything, she'll bring the others back," my mom said for Gothi.

Right on cue, the faint sound of voices echoing in the distance could be heard along with the rustling of bushes and trees as someone approached the camp. My mother, Heather and I all stood up and moved towards the sound. Soon enough, we bumped into them, sweaty, out of breath, and covered in dirt. Astrid stood at the front, her braid was damp and unkempt, hairs sticking out here and there, but she had a huge smile on her face.

Heather glanced over the four of them, all grinning like idiots despite how dirty and exhausted they looked. "What happened?" she asked.

"The cave was a lot deeper than we anticipated," Astrid began.

"And there were insects, so many insects," Tuffnut said, using a hand to wipe the sweat from his face. "I couldn't even count how many types I'd never seen before, I tried collecting them all but I ran out of containers."

Ruffnut nodded. "Amphibians and reptiles too, it was endless, we tried to find the end of the cavern but there just wasn't enough time to search every hole and crevice."

"You didn't find the end?" I asked.

"No," Fishlegs confirmed. "We have to go back, I'm certain if we were given more time we could've found more, found evidence of the underground river, we only need the time to really search down there."

My mother looked completely shocked. "You want to go down there again?" They all nodded. "This expedition was for the sinkhole, not these caves, to spend much more time down there-"

"These caves are part of the sinkhole system, maybe even the cause of the sinkholes original formation!" Fishlegs insisted. "We could discover something truly rare in the field of geology, we could discover the whole reason why these sinkholes exist in the first place. If that doesn't apply to our research, I don't know what does!"

The twins both nodded. "The amount of life down there is also incredible, imagine how many new species we could discover if we looked both out here and down there," Ruffnut said, staring intently at my mom.

She sighed and crossed her arms. "How many days?"

"Three or four, maybe five," Astrid said. "I know the next scheduled airdrop is coming tomorrow, we could pack up plenty of supplies and rations, I've already cut down a few weeks worth of firewood while clearing the paths. We'll have everything we need."

"...Alright," she said reluctantly. "Four days, no more. If you still haven't found the end we'll have to schedule another expedition for a different time." They all nodded in agreement. "Now let's get back to camp, you need some food and rest...and maybe a bath."

We all began shuffling back towards the camp where Gobber, Gothi, and Eret were still sitting around the fire. "How was it?" Gobber asked. The twins immediately began recounting their entire trip, all the way from the very start.

I watched as Astrid pulled her braid out, using her fingers to rake her hair as straight as she could. I picked up one of the buckets of filtered rainwater, and brought it over to her, setting it down by her feet where she sat. "Thanks," she said, using her hands to rub the water into her hair.

"I was going to ask you what it was like, but then I realized we've already had this conversation."

She laughed. "So you do learn."

"Sometimes."

Astrid wrung the water from her hair, then she began wiping the dirt off of her face. "It's interesting down there, like a maze, we'll have to take string when we go again, keep us from getting lost."

"Is it scary?"

She shrugged. "If you're afraid of the dark or small spaces I suppose. I'm kind of surprised Fishlegs did so well actually."

"He's a coward, but his geekiness outweighs that."

Astrid smiled. "I guess so."

"Astrid, you want something to eat?" Heather called over as she stood over the fire watching the food as it cooked, stirring it with a large metal ladle.

"I'm coming," she called back, standing up from the log we sat on. "I'll talk to you later," she told me before walking off towards the fire.

I looked around the firepit, the twins were still going on and on about the trip to Gobber, who looked less than interested by now. Astrid and Heather ate together, bathed in the warm, orange glow of the fire. Fishlegs chatted with Eret as he washed the grub and dirt off of himself, and Gothi continued to sit and read as she often did. I couldn't see my mother anywhere, but when I looked over to her tent I could see it glowed faintly from a light within. I walked over, hovering in front of the tent before saying something, though I knew she could see my shadow. "Mom, can I talk to you?"

She shuffled forward and unzipped the front. "What is it Hiccup?"

"I want to go with them."

"With them?"

"Into the cavern."

My mother furrowed her brows, positioning herself so she could look up at me easier. "You want to go in there? Why? Do you even know what it's like to go into a place like that?"

"No, I don't know what it's like. That's why I want to go."