Chapter Two: Tight Spaces
Snotlout leaned back, arms behind his head as Hookfang swooped and soared over the forest below. Both dragon and rider seemed quite content and, for once, Snotlout thought that maybe he and the dragon would get along, at least for a little while. He leaned over Hookfang's horns and spotted something shimmering near a stream through the trees.
"Look, Hookfang! That must be where the first disc is! Ha! In your face, Hiccup!"
The Monstrous Nightmare dived quickly and landed beside the flowing water's edge, taking a quick drink as he did so. Snotlout leaned down, careful not to actually get off the dragon, and picked up what had been catching the sunlight. It was a piece of iron with his family crest etched onto it and an arrow. An arrow that pointed directly to a nearby cave carved into the rock face.
"It must be in there!" He pointed towards the dark opening of the cave, "Hookfang, forward!"
Smoke wafted from the dragon's nostrils and he turned lazily back to the water to continue hydrating. Snotlout bucked his legs and pulled on the dragon's horns to no avail.
"Move it! We need to get to the other side first!" Hookfang rolled his eyes and slowly turned towards the cave, "That's it! Stupid dragon."
Once at the mouth of the cave, however, Snotlout soon realised that his 'handicap' may actually cause him some trouble. The cave entrance was about half the size of Hookfang; no way was the Monstrous Nightmare going to fit into it to retrieve the disc and, as Snotlout couldn't dismount him, he'd have to think of another way to get the disc.
The sun was high in the sky as Fishlegs and Meatlug walked through the trees. They were denser here as they were nearing the centre of the forest and it was difficult to see if they were going in the right direction, especially since Fishlegs wasn't able to get on Meatlug and hover above the trees.
The Gronckle was standing by a rather large oak tree that seemed to reach right up to Valhalla itself, looking upwards into the branches.
"What is it, girl?"
Fishlegs followed his companion's gaze and his eyes rested upon something lodged in a branch about twenty feet above them. It was the disc with the Gronckle symbol on it.
"Okay, girl," Fishlegs pointed towards the disc, "Fetch!"
For a moment he thought that Meatlug hadn't understood him as she simply stared back with vacant eyes but, eventually, she began to hover towards the disc.
"That's it, girl! Grab that disc!"
Meatlug hovered as close as she could to the branch but her jaws were just too large to get a grip on the disc itself. If Fishlegs had been able to sit on her, he would have easily been able to snatch the disc from the tree and it was frustrating knowing that he was so close yet so far from the prize. Meatlug landed beside him and he gave her a reassuring scratch under the chin.
"That's okay, we'll just have to think of something else."
Meanwhile, high up in the sky above the mountains, the twins were getting dizzy. They'd been spinning for almost twenty minutes, round and round as Barf and Belch got more and more confused. Ruff had been trying to guide Tuff towards a flock of sheep but her instructions had been less than accurate and even harder to follow and so Belch had no clear idea of where it was he was supposed to go.
"Down!" Ruffnut pointed as she grew more and more impatient with her brother, "We need to go down! I can see a disc strapped to that sheep right there!"
"Which way's down?!" Tuff held on tightly to Belch's horns as the dragon's wings flapped wildly, once again sending them into a spin.
"I'm gonna throw up!" Ruff gasped.
"Me too!" Tuff slapped a hand to his mouth.
"Awesome!" They shouted in unison.
Above him, Hiccup could see the Zippleback spinning furiously, resembling a Typhoomerang as its heads almost connected with its tails over and over. He was getting dizzy just looking at it. Hiccup wasn't having much luck either; it was a slow process, sitting on Toothless' back as he walked through the trees, careful not to knock his trainer off or jostle him too much. The dragon seemed to know that the human wasn't in the greatest of moods.
Hiccup leaned back, resting his hands further back on Toothless' spine, and looked up towards the cliff face they were approaching. He shaded his eyes with his hand and followed the cliff right to the top where he spotted a small round disc wedged on a sapling on the edge of the cliff.
"Oh, great," his shoulders slumped, "How are we supposed to get up there?"
Before he could start formulating a plan, his hair was swept around his head as Stormfly flew above him; Astrid held out the disc she'd already retrieved and waved it proudly as she shouted down to the one-legged lad.
"I'm going for the second one before nightfall! How about you?"
"Err," Hiccup pointed to the disc at the top of the cliff, "We're working on it!"
"Well, good luck!" With that, Astrid and Stormfly swooped higher into the air, easily passing the disc atop the cliff as Hiccup and Toothless watched helplessly form the ground.
"Come on, bud," Hiccup patted Toothless' head and they started towards the cliff face in the hopes that somehow Hiccup could think of something other than 'jump and hope for the best'.
Back next to the stream, Snotlout and Hookfang were in a slight predicament; the trainer had ordered his dragon into the cave and now the Monstrous Nightmare was stuck, head-first in the rock-face.
"Well this is just perfect," Snotlout squinted into the darkness surrounding him, "Give me a little light, Hookfang."
A soft glow started to emanate from the dragon's skin, giving the cave a warm luminosity and enough light that Snotlout could see the wooden disc in front of them. It was about five feet from Hookfang's snout.
"Can't you squeeze your fat butt any further in?"
Hookfang took offense to the jibe and started flailing his head around wildly, almost knocking Snotlout to the ground. He held on tight, however, and started to shimmy along the dragon's neck, further towards his head. Careful not to stand in Hookfang's eyes, Snotlout perched himself on his snout and reached out for the disc. He could almost reach it, his fingertips just missing each time he swept his hand near.
"Come on, just a little closer!"
Hookfang stuck out his forked tongue and allowed his trainer to step onto it, albeit very carefully, and finally Snotlout managed to grab the disc.
"Woohoo! Yes!"
Hookfang pulled his tongue back in briskly with a look of disgust, sending Snotlout into the air momentarily and then back down hard onto the horn on Hookfang's nose. The sound that escaped Snotlout's mouth was closer to dragon than human; a high-pitched howl of agony as the spiked horn pierced his rear end. Thankfully, the echoes of his yell dislodged a few rocks in the cave wall and Hookfang was able to back up, out of the cave.
As the pair re-emerged into the fading sunlight, Fishlegs and Meatlug spotted them. They'd stopped for a drink at the stream after their ordeal with their first disc and Snotlout waved his own in Fishlegs' face.
"Boom! Disc number one! I'd like to see you do better, Fishface!"
"Oh," Fishlegs reached into his satchel and pulled out his own disc, "We got ours about an hour ago." He smiled at Snotlout's open mouthed stare, "Meatlug rammed into a tree and knocked it free. She's such a clever girl."
"Whatever," the dark-haired boy waved a dismissive hand and tugged on Hookfang's horns, "Come on, let's go get the other discs and win this stupid thing!"
"Okay, bud, let's give this a go."
Hiccup held on tightly to Toothless' saddle as the black Night Fury began to ascend the cliff face. His tail swished, balancing him as he leapt from rock to rock, and his claws scrambled for something to hold on to as more and more of the cliff face gave way beneath his weight. Without realising he had done so, Hiccup's eyes were squeezed shut and it was only when it felt like they were no longer attached to the rocks that he opened them. Fortunately Toothless still had his claws embedded deeply in the sheer rock but he was slipping more and more as they climbed higher.
Hiccup could see the disc now, almost within reaching distance, and he stretched his arms to try and grab it. It was no use, Toothless was moving too much and he only had one foot to balance himself with.
"Just a little higher, bud!"
They were almost there. The ground below seemed miles away as the one-legged Viking looked over his shoulder and it seemed as though Toothless could sense this too; he kept trying to flap his wings to fly, feeling that the sky was closer, but of course with nothing to support his tail it was a futile effort. The dragon's jaws snapped, rocks crumbling around them as Hiccup reached further for the disc.
That was when the stampede of sheep started towards them.