Chapter Eighty-Seven: Attempted Rescue
In retrospect Hiccup would always think that the signs had been there.
This was a catastrophe, waiting to happen.
But no, he hadn't listened to his gut-feeling and instead charged on, head first.
They were perched on the same ledge he, George and Josh had sat on earlier that day and were looking down.
Despite the lack of sun the people living on the Isle of Tomorrow seemed to have a pretty good idea of what time it must have been.
Within an hour all lights were out and there were no people n the streets anymore.
Thick heavy black curtains were drawn before the windows, blocking out all light and noise, doors were locked and strange silence descended upon the Isle.
What really bugged Hiccup was the lack of security.
There were no guards. Not at all. There were no walls of defense or weapons of defense.
The cattle were still out on the fields, grazing without a care in the world.
"Are they really this careless? I mean, I can understand that you have to be suicidal and lucky to get even here, like us, but it is possible. Could they really be so naïve to believe no one will ever bother them?" Josh asked.
"Maybe we just can't see it." Hope suggested.
"Let's not complain if they are that naïve. Come on gang, let's see what we got here." Hiccup said and gave Toothless the signal for take-off.
They sailed through the low hanging clouds. The air was hot and damp, nothing compared to the dry hotness around the volcanoes.
Hiccup nodded at the others and they all simultaneously went into a dive. Head first they plunged downward. Nothing but dark shadows against the orange of the sky.
They flew low, barely above the grass fields and tree-tops.
Hiccup made a simple hand gesture in three different directions.
They nodded and split into two groups.
Hiccup, Kate and George flew towards the lonely mountain (anyone people?) whereas Conner, Hope and Josh headed for the village to see what was going on there.
They flew just above the trees. It Hiccup stretched out a hand he'd be able to touch the tranches.
This forest wasn't as dense as Hiccup was used to.
The trees had a lot of space between them and most of them were conifers. Other than that there was no undergrowth or brake. He doubted that there was any wildlife down there.
The mountain was just up ahead and Hiccup steered Toothless higher. Slowing down they rose higher and higher.
Hiccup let his eyes wander over the surface of the mountain while slowly circling it. Kate and George ware just paces behind him, also watching, searching.
Once they had circled the whole mountain once and then another without finding anything, they met to regroup at the foot of the mountain.
"I just don't understand it. This stone is perfectly smooth. Where is it?" Hiccup asked frustrated and punched the saddle angrily.
Kate looked at him sympathetically.
"Maybe we should try again. Maybe we missed it because it's right in front of our eyes." She suggested halfheartedly.
Hiccup's head snapped up.
"What did you say?" he asked stunned.
She frowned. "I said maybe we can't see it because it's too obvious?" she repeated unsure.
"Kate you are a genius." Hiccup exclaimed.
"I knew that." Kate said.
"Why, what is it?" George asked.
Hiccup pointed at the mountain.
"Let's pretend you are the guy hiding Illiona in that mountain. It's a secret place, right? No one is suppose to know where it is and even if they know, they are suppose to have a hard time getting there, right?"
"Right." The others said.
"The mountain is perfect. It's neither big nor does it have any places to hide. You would be totally exposed if you climbed it."
"Yes." His two friends said in agreement.
"And yet should someone succeed in getting here, what is the first thing they would see of the island?"
"The mountain. It sticks out like a sore thumb." George said.
"Right. So obviously you can't build a staircase into the mountain, everybody would see it and assume that something must be in that mountain, probably something precious if you go by the effort it takes to make such a staircase into a mountain."
"So…they didn't hid Illiona here?" Kate asked slightly confused."
"Oh they did. They just made sure nobody would find the stairs."
Seeing the confused expressions on their faces he said: "It's an optical illusion. If you look directly at the mountain from the sea or even from above, you can't see it. But here on the ground…"
They all looked up and really, Hiccup was right.
There it was!
The mountainside wasn't nearly as smooth as it looked to the naked eye.
But its twists and turns formed a natural pattern, covering the stairs that had been carved into those patterns.
The stairs were twisted and made turns, went back down again and then up again, halfway around the mountain, sometimes steep upwards, other times they just barely rose.
But they didn't interfere with eth natural optic of the mountain and thus were invisible is you looked at them from the front.
But here, looking form the ground upwards they were visible.
"I think you are the genius." Kate said as she stared at the artwork in awe.
Hiccup grinned. "Come on guys. I want you to meet my friend."
Now that they knew what they were looking for they quickly found their way. Following the stairs they soon reached the end of the stairs.
But at their end there was nothing.
Hiccup frowned and concentrated. Maybe it was another illusion.
The stairs ended in a small ledge that was barely five feet wide and six feet long.
Clicking Toothless tail into position five so he could hover without him Hiccup jumped from his friend's back onto that small ledge and looked around.
Carefully he touched the stone. It was cold and hard, just like he'd expected.
He moved sideways, letting his finders trail over the rock.
"Hiccup, there is nothing here." George said.
Just then many things happened at once.
All three of their dragons started growling.
Fighters tail-spikes shot up, Nightlight extended her talons and the back of Toothless's throat started glowing blue-white. At the same time Hiccups fingers touched something different that stone.
Something dry and warm and scaly. Something that moved.
He flinched backwards and watched with horrified fascination how the stone turned scarlet red.
Illionas warning flashed through his head.
"Beware the invisible guarding monster."
A little late for that.
Suddenly Hiccup came face to face with big round white eyes with vertical pupils, a long snarling snout with teeth that stuck out of the sides of said snout, horizontal horns and very long flexible antlers.
Something green and bad smelling seeped from the corner of its mouth and fell to the ground. Where it hit the stone the stone started steaming and buzzing and slowly dissolved.
Acid.
For another second the dragon (at least Hiccup assumed so) and he looked at each other.
Then the dragon opened its mouth and roared right at him.
Hiccup made a surprise step backwards and that saved him from the snapping jaws.
"Oh hell." He mumbled, turned and jumped over the edge, landing thankfully on Toothless's back.
"Go, GO, GO!" He shouted at his friends who were still frozen in shock.
A ball of flying acid just missed Kate thanks to Nightlights quick reaction.
The riders didn't have to do anything. The dragons turned and flew as fast as they could.
Hiccup hoped that they could out-fly the other dragon and looked behind to see if it was following them.
It flapped with its wings and rose a few feet into the air but something held it back. It tugged at something Hiccup could only guess must've been some sort of chain. But in doing so it revealed a small dark patch that suddenly was illuminated by the soft orange glow of fire. And for a second Hiccup thought he saw a shadow hurrying towards the entrance of the cave.
But then the dragon was in front of it again, spitting acid at them so all they could do was turn and run.