Well, I must say, when I get over a writers block, I do it good. I am bubbling with inspiration now, and this arc is gonna be awesome! Well, in my opinion anyway. I don't have much time to write, and my arm still hurts so I can't really write, which sucks bigtime, but hey, there's a new chapter now!

thearizona asked if this story was based of a star trek episode named Devil in the Dark, and although I have seen it now, I can tell you that I didn't know it before I started. Just a coincidence I guess. For those of you who are interested, it's an episode from the original series, and it's kinda fun to watch...

So here we go, a new chapter. Hope you peeps like it!

Enjoy!

The Adventurous Adventures of Hiccup and Wrenlou

A Storm Blows Through it, Part IV

"W..what...?" Hiccup asked, an uneasy feeling creeping into his heart.

"No time to explain," Wrenlou said pulling him along, "come on with to the Dining room. Ezra will tell us what they know."

Hiccup nodded and followed Wrenlou through the tunnels. He saw that there were extra torches lit along the tunnels, bathing them in a soft warm glow. The moment they stepped into the room, they stepped into an ocean of voices, all talking through each other, some shouting, some crying. The room itself had fires all around the edges, the flames filling the room with enough light to last a summers day.

"Hiccup! Thank the gods there you are! We were worried about you..."

Hiccup looked up at Ezra, the man standing over him with a worried face, and he managed a weak smile.

"I'm fine," he said, "I was just... sleeping under Toothless' wing. I didn't know that wasn't allowed..."

"It's not that dear boy, it's not that at all."

Ezra turned around and wrestled his way through the crowd, until he reached a chair. He stepped on it, raising his hands to silence the crowd. It took a while before all the voices died down, the dragon riders clearly in disarray over the sudden disappearance of two of their own, and Hiccup made sure he stayed close to Wrenlou.

"Alright! First of all," Ezra thundered the moment he had silenced the crowd, "let's do a headcount! We must know if we are missing more people. After that we'll discuss what we'll do to get them back!"

The crowd cheered in agreement, and after a head count they determined that there were not two, but three people missing. After a second, and even a third count, they found that there were indeed three people missing. For a while, they couldn't figure out who was the third missing rider, all the ones still present keep shouting and yelling, until a small voice suddenly spoke up.

"It's Rico," Hiccup said softly, "the third is Rico."

The silence that filled the room was almost deafening, and for a while nobody said anything. Nobody moved as they all stared at Hiccup, who hid behind Wrenlou's back to get away from the intense stares the adults were giving him.

"He's right," Ezra said after a while, "it's Rico. So we're missing Michelle, Karen and Rico."

"What happened to them," a young man close to Hiccup asked softly.

"Are they even still alive?"

"What do we do?"

"Where do we start?"

"People! Please!" Ezra called, "panic won't help anybody. The only place I can think of where they could have gone are the tunnels."

"The old mining passages?" a young woman asked, "why would they go in there?"

"I don't know," Ezra said with a sigh, "but we've checked all the rooms. Twice. They're not there. They couldn't have gone outside, not with this storm still raging on. They have to be in the old tunnels."

"So what do we do?"

"We split up!" Ezra said, and a mumble rose from the crowd, "form groups of four, arm yourself, and search the tunnels. We have to find them, before it's too late. Wrenlou, Hiccup, I want you two to stay here."

Wrenlou frowned. "Why!" he demanded almost harshly, and every one turned to him.

"Wrenlou," Ezra started, "it's dangerous..."

"So what!?" Wrenlou practically yelled, "flying around in a hurricane is dangerous, and you demanded we did that!"

"Don't you raise your voice at me boy!" Ezra thundered and Wrenlou took a step back, "you are staying here because I tell you to, and that's final!"

"Ezra... please..." Wrenlou said, softer this time, "aren't we all in the same boat here? We're all in danger the way I see it. We have no idea what took Rico, Michelle and Karen, if they were even taken at all. And if they were, who's to say it won't come after us while we sit here and wait? Isn't this what we are trained for? Isn't this why we learn all that we do? We're only weeks away from graduation, we can do this, really."

Ezra took a deep breath, looking from Wrenlou to Hiccup and back. "Alright," he said then, "Thomas! Give these two young men a weapon. Wrenlou, you'll be going with Dove. Hiccup, you're with me."

Wrenlou nodded, but Hiccup was less eager to go and hunt something that had taken three riders, and possibly killed him. Nonetheless he followed Thomas and Wrenlou to the armory, where he picked a small sword that fit perfectly in his hand. Then he went back to the Dining room, where Ezra and his group were waiting for him. Wrenlou joined Dove and her group, who were waiting outside the armory. And after lighting a few torches, they turned to the dark tunnels ahead.

"Alright," Dove said, lighting a torch and hanging it on the wall to light the way, "stay together, and keep your guard up. We have no idea what we'll find in there. Now come on, let's go."

One by one the groups entered the tunnels, lighting torches as they went, so they could find the way back, and so the other groups would know that the tunnels had been searched already. Bit by bit they searched the tunnels, and with every corner he turned, Hiccup found that the tunnel system went deep into the rock. Some tunnels ended in a dead end, and they were forced to turn back. Some other had collapsed, or a hole had formed in the middle and they were unable to pass. There were occasional rooms at the end of a tunnel. Those were where the workers used to rest, Ezra told him. He also told him that most of the granite and marble Dragoncity was build with had been mined in this mountain, and when they needed shelter from the storms, they had simply dug the first few tunnels a little bigger so the dragons would fit, and created some more rooms. When they reached another dead end, Ezra sighed and turned to his group. They turned back again, and took the next dark tunnel.

"You know," Wrenlou said, lighting another torch, "one would think we had searched every tunnel by now."

"The tunnels reach deep into the mountain," Dove said, "it will take us days to search every one."

"But surely they couldn't have gone that far," Wrenlou mumbled.

"I know," Dove replied, "but we will search every last tunnel if we have to, every room, every dead end. We have to find them. And we will. Don't give up hope Wrenlou, without hope, we're lost. Without hope, they will be lost."

Wrenlou nodded and followed the group around another corner when he heard something behind them. It sounded like small claws ticking on the stone, but when he turned back, there was nothing there. He frowned, staring into the darkness, but nothing moved. After a short moment, he turned back to the rest of the group, and just when he had caught up with them, he heard it again. Small claws on stone.

His eyes widened and he grabbed Dove's arm.

"Do you hear that?" he asked softly, gesturing to the tunnel they just passed.

The group froze, weapons in one hand, torches in the other as they stood silently and listened. For the moment the silence was broken only by the crackling of the flames, then they all heard it very clearly. The distinct sound of claws on stone.

"Keep your guard up!" Dove hissed, "come on."

Wrenlou gripped his arrow tighter, ready to fire it at whatever was in front of them. Slowly they advanced in the tunnel, eventually coming out in a small chamber. They entered it cautiously, looking around in search of of the creature. What they saw shocked them. There were claw marks all over the walls, bones were thrown around the floor, and they even saw a few shreds of clothing. The most shocking thing of all was the nest in the middle of the room, and the three grey eggs that were in it.

"We have to leave," Dove said, "now!"

They turned around to leave, but as they did so, a loud hissing sound could be heard. They stood together just outside the room, looking around to where the sound came from, but they couldn't pinpoint it's origin. The sound surrounded them, bouncing off the walls and echoing back, almost like a mocking laughter. Wrenlou frowned when a dark shape shot across the wall, seemingly walking on it like it was the floor. His eyes widened and he back away, but a yelp from behind made him turn back. One of his search partners was clutching her arm, a long gash was dripping blood. Before they could even blink the dark shape shot past them again, this time cutting Dove and one of the other in the process, and they were left with bleeding cuts on their legs.

"Go!" Dove yelled, "quickly! Wrenlou! Come on!"

"Coming!" Wrenlou yelled back, making for the exit when something on the ground caught his eye.

He snatched it from the ground and bolted after the group. The hissing could still be heard but it seemed to get a little softer and he slowed down some, his hand tightly around the object. He stopped at a corner, trying to catch his breath, when he suddenly heard the claws on stone again. He snapped around, but just as before, the dark was still. Before he could turn back however, something lashed at his side and he yelped in pain. While he was gaping for breath after the sudden pain, hos bow was ripped from his hand, and he saw a flash of two icy blue eyes staring at him with hatred.

In fear, he scrambled back to his feet, one hand pressed against his side, the other still around the object. As fast as he could he ran back to the Dining room, his heart pounding in his throat and his side throbbing with every step, but the hissing stopped and it seemed that the creature stopped chasing him. When he stumbled into the room he was out of breath, and he just stood there for a while, gasping for air.

When his heart rate started to calm down again, he also managed a few deep breaths, only to find that breathing hurt. He shook it off, looking around the room, searching for Hiccup. He found him on one of the long benches, sitting at the table, and with a sigh he sat down next to the boy.

"Dove said you found it," Hiccup asked, "did you? Did you find it?"

"It found us," Wrenlou said, still panting a little, "and we found it's nest. It's... a dragon I think. But unlike any I've ever seen before."

"You saw it?" both Hiccup and Ezra asked at the same time.

"Briefly," Wrenlou nodded, "and I found this."

He had just remembered the object he had found, and now placed it on the table. Now that he saw it in better light, he could see that is was a curved spike of sorts, with an ashen grey colour. Hiccup frowned and prodded the horn.

"A dragon you say..." Ezra said thoughtfully, picking up the horn and studying it from all sides, "can you describe it?"

"Y..yes sir," Wrenlou said, "I think I can."

"I can draw it then," Hiccup said pulling out his small notebook, "it may help..." he added shyly when he saw Ezra's face.

The man nodded approvingly and stood up again. The rest of Wrenlou's group was already there, the cuts being looked at by healers. The other groups also came back, having found nothing at all. Wrenlou glanced at his side, where the blood was slowly soaking into his tunic, but he looked back up quickly like nothing was wrong when Hiccup called his name.

"What did it look like?" Hiccup asked, opening his notebook on a new page.

"It... it was grey," Wrenlou said thoughtfully, "slender built. It had a large head, with two piercing blue eyes. It... had small wings, too small to be useful I think, although I could be wrong. It had short, small legs... a long tail..."

While he talked, Hiccup sketched and bit by bit the mysterious dragon appeared on paper. It looked strange, unlike anything he had ever seen before. It hadn't even been in the Book of Dragons on Berk.

"How big was it?" Hiccup asked adding some details to the dragons face.

"Not that big at all," Wrenlou said, "5... 6 feet maybe, I'm not sure."

Hiccup nodded and opened his mouth for another question, when he was interrupted by Dove.

"Wrenlou! There you are! We were a little worried when you weren't behind us. We thought that thing had gotten you too!"

"I'm fine," Wrenlou said smiling weakly, "really."

"Good. Now come on, Ezra is about to make an announcement."

Wrenlou nodded and stood up, hiding the bloodstain behind his hands, hoping that no one would see. Since all eyes were on Ezra on his chair, no one did see, and for that he was grateful. All he needed was a bandage and a clean shirt, two things he could take care of himself, when Ezra was done. The last thing he needed was the man getting angry at him for getting hurt. After all, he had been the one to refuse to sit back and do nothing, so it was his own fault he was injured now. He would deal with it, when no one would find out.

During Ezra's talk, he could hardly keep his attention on the man's words, and his head was spinning. He wasn't sure what caused it. Tiredness maybe, or a lack of food. It couldn't be blood loss, he was certain that the wound wasn't that bad. But the room kept spinning and spinning, and he kept struggling to keep his eyes open. At long last he tucked the sleeve of the person next to him. It turned out to be Dove, and she turned to him a little annoyed.

"What is it!"she hissed, "I'm trying to listen!"

"I..." Wrenlou started, and he blinked a few times, "I don't feel so good..."

The last thing he saw was Dove frowning at his words, then he lost the struggle to stay awake, and he was pulled away into darkness.