Chapter Four: The Night's Fury
It had been almost three hours since the group had finally fallen asleep; the constant pouring of the rain and rumbling of thunder high above had woken the dragons a few times but they had finally settled as the moon rose high into the night sky. Fishlegs rolled over only to find that Meatlug was no longer by his side and opened his bleary eyes to see where his dragon had got to. He spotted her pacing alongside the sleeping Hookfang, moaning and chomping her huge jaws impatiently.
"What's up girl?" Fishlegs stepped over to the Gronckle and patted her head only to find it wet.
He looked up at the roof of the cave and found that it was dripping. Not only that, but his feet were wet, too. Water was rapidly flowing in from the flooded river outside, filling the cave at a steady pace as the rest of the group slept.
"Oh, Thor," Fishlegs waded back to the now dwindling fire, water starting to fill his boots, and shook Astrid's shoulder, "Astrid, wake up!"
The blonde opened her eyes slowly and yawned, "What is it?"
Fishlegs gestured to the rising water and Astrid sprang into motion; she woke up the twins and Snotlout, who jolted awake shouting something about eels, and then finally Hiccup. Hiccup stretched his arms and looked around groggily as he wondered what all of the commotion was about.
"What is it?" Tuffnut tightened his blindfold and flapped his hands around his shins as the water rose above his knees, "Where are we? Did the cave float into the sea?"
"No, idiot," Snotlout hopped onto Hookfang's neck as the Monstrous Nightmare splashed around clumsily in the water, "The river must be flooding in."
"Hiccup," Astrid was trying to calm Stormfly as she spoke, "What should we do?"
Another clap of thunder shook the cave.
"Well the first thing we should do is get out of here. We'll try and find shelter somewhere less prone to flooding when we get out." Hiccup pulled himself onto Toothless with only a little help from the dragon and they made their way to the mouth of the cave.
Hookfang had turned around and was following Barf and Belch out of the cave when a streak of lightening suddenly burst through the clouds and struck the outside of the cliff, sending rocks falling down into the mouth of the cave. The Zippleback managed to escape just in time but the rocks quickly blocked the way for everyone else, leaving only small gaps for the water to continue pouring in.
"Great," Snotlout scoffed, "Now what?"
"Just blast it out of the way," Ruffnut grinned, anticipating the explosion.
"Yeah," Tuffnut mirrored his sister's expression, "I don't know what's happening but 'blasting it' sounds good to me."
"Oh, Gods," Hiccup sighed, "We can't 'blast it' because it could cause a cave in. We need to find another way out."
"Do we even have time for that?" Fishlegs was shivering as the water rose to waist height, "It's filling up pretty fast."
"We don't really have a choice," Hiccup shrugged as Toothless turned back towards the fire just as the water rose high enough to extinguish it, momentarily spilling them into complete darkness.
Hookfang soon took care of the lack of light as he glowed warmly for the riders to find their way. They walked for almost ten minutes before the cave suddenly opened out wider. The space stretched high above them and about thirty feet in front, then there were only walls. No other pathways opened up, not even a sliver of light pierced through from outside and the water was still rising, almost to chest height now.
"We'll have to blast through the top," Astrid shouted as she hopped onto Stormfly.
"No cheating!" Snotlout grinned, showing his teeth, "Fishface can't fly on Meatlug and you, Astrid, can't use Stormfly's attacks!"
"But this is a life or death situation!" Fishlegs squeaked.
"That's the point of the mission, duh!"
Snotlout folded his arms and smirked as Hookfang flapped his huge wings and rose to the highest point of the cave. The dragon then let out two short bursts of flames and opened up a hole large enough to fly out of, which he did after his rider took a moment to display just how superior he was. The hole also meant that the rain was now flooding into the cave, making the water rise at an even faster pace. Toothless splashed around hopelessly as he tried to keep his head above the water level.
"Okay, let's go!" Astrid flew through the hole Hookfang had created with Fishlegs' arms around her waist as he sat atop Stormfly so as not to break the rules of the mission. Meatlug followed quickly after.
Hiccup turned to the twins, one of which was holding the other under the water although in the darkness he couldn't tell who, "Do you two need a lift?"
"Nah, we're good," Ruff answered as she continued to hold her brother's head underwater. She then whistled and a moment later Barf and Belch appeared through the hole, blocking the moonlight with their heads. The Zippleback scooped up the twins and flew back out of the cave with a few brisk flaps of its wings.
"Okay, bud," Hiccup scratched his head and pulled his foot up so that he was perched on Toothless' back, out of the reach of the water, "Now what?"
The Night Fury flapped his wings a few times, spraying Hiccup with water, but it was no use. There was no way they were going to fly out of there. They tried climbing but the cave walls were too loose and the pair just ended up plunging back into the water, which was now taller than Hiccup and almost higher than Toothless' head. Just as Hiccup was starting to accept that drowning was a pretty easy way to go for a Viking, a thin rope flopped through the hole above them and Astrid's pretty face peered through.
"Someone call for a lift?"
"Oh, thank Thor!" Hiccup smiled as Toothless stood on his hind legs so that his rider could grab the rope.
Climbing it was easier said than done with only one leg and Hiccup kept slipping, burning his hands in the process. He was almost at the hole and was able to smell the wet grass outside when he looked back down at his dragon. Toothless' spines were glowing a faint blue, illuminating the water around him as he splashed and jumped awkwardly below. Something else was in the water with him, something with teeth.