What happened next would be recorded as the biggest stroke of luck in the kingdom's history. Hiccup dropped the hammer in an attempt to placate the beast and keep from getting barbecued. There was a loud clink. Both looked down and saw that the hammer had fallen on the lock mechanism, already week from years of the dragon's struggling and that first hammer strike. The shackle snapped.

The blue eyes took one look at the broken shackle, roared its triumph over the infernal metal band into the sky, and flew away. Hiccup picked up his hammer and started walking back towards the boulder he'd hidden behind what seemed like a lifetime ago and fainted halfway there.

When he woke up, the sun was high in the sky and he still had no way to get the chest out of the top of that tree. He couldn't just climb the thing, the first branches were about six feet above his head and the trunk was remarkably smooth. He sat down on his boulder to think about it.

Then something odd happened. The ground around the tree began to change. A line of looser earth started to trace around the left side until the whole area was dug up. What in the world, thought the young man as he stared at the now swaying tree. Then the Whispering Death from a few days ago burst out of the ground, trying to shield its eyes, and gave the trunk a mighty push from the left. The loosened soil couldn't hold the root against the dragon's force and the tree collapsed. The Whispering Death flew off, its job done.

After he recovered from the momentary shock of watching a beast that could have torn him apart with ease help him, Hiccup jumped up on the rock and threw both hands in the air. "Yes!" He could get at the trunk now! He ran around the fallen oak-really, it was such a beautiful tree, it was a shame to tear it down-and found where the trunk had fallen from the leaves. He undid the latch and pulled the trunk lid open.

A hare shot out from the trunk, leaping over him and heading for the safety of the woods. But before it reached the first tree, a Monstrous Nightmare sprang out and snagged it in one clawed foot, much like it had snagged Hiccup after he had released it. The hare shifted into a smaller goose and wiggled out from in between the talons. The Nightmare ran after it, but was intercepted by a Deadly Nadder as it swooped down and caught the bird just as it tried to take off. Hiccup watched as the dragons momentarily fought over the fowl until the Nadder squeezed it a little too hard and a rock came out through its beak.

Then he realized what that rock was. It had the coal to defeat the Red Death inside it! He leapt for it but just as he reached it, a wingtip from one of the fighting dragons brushed it into the lake and below the surface. "No!" He stripped off his heavier armor and dove in after it.

The floor of the lake was covered in sand, with no rocks anywhere. Frantically, he swam out into the deeper waters in an attempt to find it, but still nothing. He was running out of air, and time. Just before he kicked back to the surface, the Skauldron came up to him and spat out something. It was the rock!

Hiccup grabbed it and kicked back towards the surface, his head breaking into the air just in time for him to see the two dragons break up their fight and fly off in different directions. "Thank you!" he shouted, and he started swimming back to the shore, rock clutched in one hand. But his foot struck a stone and he fell, the rock getting knocked out of his hand in the process. He watched hopelessly as a tiny Gronkle sitting on the beach scooped it up in its maw and started grinding his only hope of rescuing Toothless away. He put his head down in the sand. It was over now. There was nothing more he could do.

A small growl made him look back up. The tiny dragon was sitting behind a pool of lava with a coal in the middle, looking at him expectantly. Hiccup's world lit back up. Of course! Gronkles ate rocks to spew them out again as lava for fights! The baby Gronkle had eaten the rock and thrown it back up as a fireball with the coal still intact! He unhooked his frying pan yet again and walked over to where he'd dropped his hammer. Using it as a sort of fork, he nudged the coal onto the pan.

Twenty miles away, the Red Death clutched at his neck, where his fire-holes would have been if he'd been in dragon form. A stab of fear rippled through him. Could someone have…no, the coal was too well protected. It was probably just a small cold, or perhaps something overly acidic that he ate. But he got up from his mock throne all the same. Just to be safe, he should go and check on the coal and its protection system. He activated the charm that summoned Toothless whether she wanted to come or not. He would entertain himself during the flight with her wing work. Even if it was forced, watching her fly always delighted him.

Back on the shores of the lake, Hiccup looked at the cast iron cooking utensil in his hand. This frying pan had done him more good than any weapon, even the ones he'd brought along, like his bow and arrows. It had helped feed him, solve the Scauldron problem, and now it was carrying the only hope he had of saving Toothless. Any regular soldier would have thought bringing it was a mistake, but it had been more useful in his quest than almost any other item. He smiled at the frying pan and looked for a place to camp for the night before hunting down the castle where the Red Death waited.

Just to make sure we understand this, this part of the plot was not my idea. It came straight from the plot of the original Russian Folk Tale that I based the whole story off of. I just used dragons instead of the traditional creatures. So if it seems improbable, or confusing, that's why. Personally, I hope I made it work.

The big bad dragon is a Blue Eyes White Dragon from YuGiOh. I finished the series yesterday and almost sobbed over the last Episode. No! Yami's too interesting to leave!

Please excuse my ranting and review!