Toothless soared up to a hollow that lay in shadow in the wall of the cone. Hiccup gazed at the dragons that perched on every available ledge and hollow.
Dragons continued to fly in. Every one of them simply dropped their kill down into the depths of the volcano which was shrouded in a thick orange mist and flew on to rest at a ledge or hollow.
They didn't seem to be eating any of it which would usually have puzzled Hiccup but now he didn't give it any more than a passing thought. "It's satisfying to know that all the stolen food is simply being dumped down a big hole." Hiccup remarked sarcastically.
At that moment a Gronckle hovered over the hole. It paused for a moment before setting It's mouth agape to let a small fish slide out.
A loud, deep growl rumbled out of the darkness. The Gronckle was instantly agitated and for good reason as just seconds later an enormous head rose up out of the darkness, and swallowed the unfortunate Gronckle whole.
The giant head was the stuff of nightmares. Larger than a house with six eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth longer than Hiccups entire body.
It's huge nostrils sniffing the air apparently testing for something. Immediately all six of it's eyes snapped around to face Hiccup and Toothless. It narrowed its eyes and let out a roar, an alien sound of pure hate.
"Time to go bud". Hiccup shouted, making no attempt to keep his voice down as they had already been discovered.
Every dragon was taking wing and Toothless with Hiccup on his back was no exception as the colossal dragons head lunged forwards towards the hollow they had been hiding in vital milliseconds before. It huge jaws snapped shut instead on the tail of an unfortunate Zippleback which screamed as it was dragged down to the orange mist below.
The dragons converging into a huge spiral without a single mid-air collision though they were flying extremely close to one another. Moments later they were out. Hiccup and Toothless zoomed away from the nest at breakneck speed. Hiccup was still attempting to proccess what he had just seen.
o
"Where is he? Why isn't he here?" The two questions everyone was asking about Hiccup. Also the two questions nobody could anwser.
"Who saw Hiccup last?" Stoick boomed, his mighty voice rising above the clamour of the villagers.
No one answered. "Has anyone seen him today?" still no one. "Did anyone see him yesterday?" the chief went on.
Astrid now raised her hand, "Sir, yesterday I saw him enter the cove, but when I went to see what he could possibly be doing in there he was no longer there.
"What cove is this?" Stoick questioned her somewhat desperately.
"The cove in the woods on the far side of the island and I know for a fact that there is only one way in or out of that cove, but I also know he went in, didn't come out and wasn't still inside." Astrid replied.
"So where did he go?" Stoick asked incredulously, astonished by the report he was hearing from the Hofferson girl of whom he had always thought of as sensible. Astrid could only shrug in answer.
"Show me to this cove." he asked Astrid desperate to find something concerning the whereabouts of his son Hiccup.
o
Hiccup's internal struggle continued unabated. Should he go back to Berk and warn his father of the existence of the immense dragon ruler and therefor risk Toothless's and possibly his own life.
Or should he do nothing and hope that the vikings won't find the nest. After all they had been looking for it for centuries and to this day it remained unfound he reassured himself mentally. Well, with the exception of himself. He thought wryly.
His indecision remained as he and Toothless flew onwards in the gathering darkness.
o
The walk to the cove passed in awkward silence though Astrid and Stoick walked almost imperceptibly faster than they would normally have done.
Stoick broke into a jog as the boulders that marked the cove entrance came into view. They trooped through the entrance to the cove in single file due to it's narrowness. As it was Stoick almost got stuck due to his bulk and his entry was accompanied by a barrage of cursing directed at the narrowness of the entrance.
The cove was silent and empty, but when Astrid looked closer there was a few black scales apon the ground. Dark as night and oval in shape they didn't belong to any dragon she had seen.
"Chief." She called, nodding to the Dragon scales resting on the ground at her feet. "I think the owner of these is connected with Hiccups disappearance.
"You think a dragon carried him of, of course." he burst, out cottoning on to what she was saying, but then an expression of the most immense grief took his face.
"My son,. My only son." He whispered. "I neglected him, shunned him, kept him at arms length for years, and only now when it's too late to make amends I realize how much I cared about him."
For the first time ever Astrid didn't know what to say or do as she had known only decisive action for her whole life and now she was at a complete loss of what to say or do so she did nothing.
But Stoicks display of grief was short-lived. It was replaced by an expression of boundless rage. "Those filthy reptiles are gonna pay for this. We have to find the nest and take it." He shouted already stomping off, back towards the village.