Chapter 2: Inside The Dragon Nursery
You have probably guessed that Hiccup and Fishlegs weren't your average Vikings. Hiccup looked like a heroic viking girl. She had long, blazing red hair that curved out at the tips; her eyes were emerald green. She was lean, fairly well muscled, and had a good figure for a girl that just turned 14 two months ago. As for Fishlegs, he was scrawnier than the other boys, wore glasses, and had an allergy to reptiles.
But it was really their personalities that set them apart from the other Vikings. They didn't act anything like a Viking should. Hiccup was good at everything from Bashyball to yelling, but she never showed it. She had a brain, and she used it to get her self out of every situation. Fishlegs wasn't very good at anything, and he had the guts to say it. But he had a mind of his own and a personality that despite what he looked like made him seem very cool.
So, when Gobber blew the horn and moved out of sight to find a rock to sit on and eat his mussel-and-tomato sandwich, Hiccup stepped up and took charge.
"Okay listen up, rope your selves together. In a pattern of one of the better climbers then one of the worse ones." she ordered.
"Then I'm in front of you, pet." Snotlout said with a smirk.
"Didn't you hear her Snotlout, she said best then worst. I am the worst climber, Hiccup is the best climber." Fishlegs said absentmindedly already tieing himself to Hiccup.
"What? I have never seen her climb!" Snotlout said aggravated that he doesn't get to be in front of her.
"Exactly why you don't know how good she is." said Fishlegs with a grin, with Hiccup leading to way with their torches clenched in their mouths. Snotlout grunted and tied himself to Fishlegs then to Tuffnut the second worst climber. The boys didn't like it, but they always listened to Hiccup when she gave on order. Why? None of them know.
It was a perilous climb. The rocks were slippery with snow and the eight boys were thoroughly overexcited, making the ascent far too quickly. At one point Clueless missed his footing and fell, luckily onto Dogsbreath, who caught him by the back of the trousers and heaved him back on to the rock again, before he brought the whole lot of them down. When they finally made it to the mouth of cave, Hiccup looked down briefly at the sea pounding the rocks way below, and looked back at the guys.
"Untie the ropes." Hiccup said.
'Oh, brilliant, I'm about to enter a cave full of man-eating reptiles with eight complete maniacs.' she thought.
"Fishlegs will go in first. " Snotlout sneered. "And if any of the dragons ARE awake, he'll be the first to know about it! Once were in the cave it's every man for himself. Only the strong can belong."
"Snotlout, Hiccup is leading this mission. Which means you don't give the orders." Fishlegs said fearsomely. Snotlout glared at him.
"Why don't you shut up, fish face!" Snotlout hissed.
"He's right, I'm in charge here. I say who goes in first." said Hiccup firmly. She looked over the nine others, then announced. "I will go in first."
"No Hiccup, if one of the dragons are in there are awake you'll be killed!" Speedifist yelled in a hushed tone. Snotlout came up behind her and rapped his arms around Hiccup's hips.
"Speedifist is right. I will go in first, but before that." Snotlout said turning her around. "How about a good luck kiss, pet?" Hiccup sighed.
"Snotlout, I will make you a deal; if you say anything I deem smart, I will kiss you." Hiccup said slipping out of his grasp, and walking to the cave entrance. Fishlegs stepped behind her and put a hand on her shoulder
"Hiccup wait." He said.
"Yeah, Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked looking back at her best friend. She locked eyes with the boy, she thought of as a brother.
"I've got your back." Fishlegs said. He raised his hand off her shoulder in a arm wrestling fashion. Hiccup smiled at him and took his hand in the same fashion.
"And I've got yours." Hiccup said. They let go and headed into the cave, the other eight closely behind.
The cave tunnel was dripping and clammy. At times it was high enough for them to walk upright. Then it would close down into narrow, claustrophobic holes that they could only just squeeze through, squirming on their stomachs, with the flares held in their mouths. After ten long minutes of walking and crawling into the heart of the cliff, the stench of dragon, a salty stink of seaweed and old mackerel heads, got stronger and stronger, until finally it became unbearable and the tunnel opened out into an enormous cavern. The cavern was full of more dragons than Hiccup could ever have imagined existed. They were every possible color and size, and they included all the species that Hiccup had heard of, and quite a few more that she hadn't.
Hiccup started to panic on the inside as she looked around her at pile after pile of the animals, draped over every available surface; even hanging upside down from the roof like giant bats. They were all fast asleep, and most of them were snoring in unison. This was a sound so loud and so deep that it seemed to penetrate right into Hiccups body and force her heart to beat at the same slow dragon pulse.
If one, just one, of these countless creatures were to wake up, it would raise the alarm to the others and the ten of them would meet a horrible death. Hiccup had once seen a deer that wondered too close to Wild Dragon Cliff torn to pieces in a matter of minutes. Hiccup closed her eyes.
"I will NOT think about it," she told herself. "I WILL NOT."
None of the others were thinking about it. Ignorance is very useful in such circumstances. Their eyes were popping with excitement as they walked through the cave, hands over their noses to keep out the revolting smell, looking for the biggest dragon they could find that would fit in their basket. They left the torches in a pile at the entrance. The cavern was already well-lit by the Glowworms, huge, sluggish animals dotted here and there that shone with a steady yet dim fluorescence, like a low-watt light bulb And the Flamehuffers gave off extra little bursts of light that flickered on and off as they breathed in and out. Predictably, most of the boys headed toward the plug-uglies of the dragon world, the Gronckles. Snotlout made a big fuss about grabbing a vicious looking Monstrous Nightmare, winking at Hiccup as he did so.
Wartihog and Dogsbreath got into a loudly whispered fight over a Gronckle, a heavily-armored brute with fangs like kitchen knives sticking out in such numbers that it couldn't keep its mouth shut. Dogsbreath won, then managed to drop it as he was trying to bundle it into his basket; the weaponry of the beast made a horribly loud clatter as it landed on the floor of the cavern. The Gronckle opened its evil, crocodile eyes. Everybody held their breath. The Gronckle stared ahead, and it was difficult to tell from its blank expression whether it was awake or fast asleep. Hiccup realized, in an agony of suspense, that the gossamer-thin third eyelid was still down. And there it stayed for a few heart-stopping moments, until..