Hello guys! As promised, the next update! I also know what the next story is gonna be about... heheheh...

Enjoy!

The Adventurous Adventures of Hiccup and Wrenlou

A Storm Blows Through It, Part VIII

"Find them!" Dale shouted, "they should have been here, the storm has passed. Search every place they may have taken shelter, anything, but find them!"

The teens nodded, quickly mounting their dragons and flying off in all directions. Dale stayed behind, eyeing the dark sky up ahead and the steady stream of rain still pouring down on the Bay. He knew from previous storms that it wouldn't stop raining any time soon. He sighed and looked around the village. The damage seemed to be not as bad as he had thought, but worse than he had hoped. It was always worse. Three of the cabins had lost their roofs, the shingles ripped from the wooden beams. From the looks of it, the destroyed cabins were Hiccup's, his own, and Susan's. Hiccup would have to stay with Wrenlou and Susan could sleep with her sister until they had fixed the roofs. He could sleep in the Hall.

He turned to the beach, where high waves were still crashing on the sand, white foam dotting the water. He walked out on the sand, the wind pulling on his hair and clothes, and looked back at the village. Surely the damage wasn't that bad. It could have been a lot worse.

After running a hand through his soaking wet hair, he went to the Hall. He had to get the fire going, warm the place up, so that the riders could warm themselves at the fire. He didn't want them to get sick from the cold water.

The moment he stepped through the door, he realized that he needed a lot more than just a fire to warm the place. The wind was howling through the large space, tables and benches thrown across the floor. And it wasn't strange to see why. One of the walls was almost completely destroyed, a large hole tore through the wood. Somehow, the storm had picked up a hunk of rock and thrown it through the wooded wall, splintering wood as it did so.

He carefully approached the hole, stepping over splintered wood and sand. They were in for quite some repairs. And that while their return to Dragoncity and the Initiation were only weeks away. Carefully he pulled some pieces of broken wood from the wall, gathering the other broken planks from the floor as well. If they could no loner serve as a wall, they would be fine as fuel for the fire.

As he watched the flames grow higher, creeping across the surface of the wood, he felt his worry only grow. He could only hope Hiccup and Wrenlou had found shelter in time, and hadn't been caught in the storm, because if they had... He shook his head. He couldn't, wouldn't, think about that possibility. They must have found shelter, they must have... There were enough caves on the way from Dragoncity to the Bay, it was almost impossible to not find shelter.

As soon as he was sure that the fire could sustain itself, he stood up again and started to clean up the mess in the hall. He needed something to distract himself from the thought that the boys may have been caught in the storm, so he gathered all the broken wood and set it near the fire. He set all the tables and benches back where they belonged, then turned to the rock that was just laying in the Hall. The boulder had just missed one of the support beams, which was very lucky. Had it been knocked over, half the roof would have come down, and they would have absolutely no place to eat or stay, except the cabins, and those were too small for all of them.

After setting all the tables back and cleaning most of the mess from the floor, he looked around for something he could use to cover the hole, to keep the heat in the Hall and prevent the wind from blowing out the fire. He found a blanket and fastened it over the hole. The wind still came through the fabric, but not as much as before. He went outside again, immediately greeted by the heavy downpour. His eyes searched the skies for any signs of any of the dragon riders, but they were nowhere to be seen. He knew it was dangerous to go flying in this weather, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong.

Starstruck pushed her nose against his side, and he looked down on the dragon. Had it not been for her missing wing, he would have been out there himself. And although they had excepted the fact that they would never be able to fly again, it was times like this where her inability to fly made him feel useless, while it made his dragon painfully aware of her disability.

"They're fine girl," he mumbled rubbing her nose, "you'll see. They'll be back in no time."

But he knew she didn't believe him. They had been together too long, and he couldn't hide his worry from her. She licked his hand and he managed a weak smile.

"Come," he said while he pulled his cloak around his shoulders, "lets check the garden. See if that survived the storm."

He took a deep breath and stepped into the rain. Starstruck walked next to him, holding her good wing above his head to try and shield him from the rain a little. When he reached the garden he was relieved to see that somehow the palm trees had survived the heavy wind. He quickly glanced over the rest of the garden. Besides some damage to the fence, and some large leaves from the palms, the garden looked like it had barely been disturbed.

He was about to turn back to the plaza, when he heard a shout from up ahead, and a black shape shot down towards the ground. He rushed towards the plaza, just in time to see Broghan jump off his dragon, frantically looking around.

"Broghan! Have you found them?"

Broghan's head snapped in his direction. Now the man could see the fear and the worry that was present in the younger boy's eyes, and he frowned.

"No," Broghan said, panting a little, "but I found this!"

He waved a soaked and shredded piece of green fabric around and nearly pushed it into Dale's face. Dale took a step back and took the remains of the cloth from Broghan, carefully folding it out. His hearts skipped a few beats as soon as he saw what it was.

A tailfin.

Toothless' tailfin.

What was left of it.

"Where did you find this!" he asked a little harsher than he meant to, "Broghan? Where!"

"A... A little that way," Broghan said, pointing west, "near some caves. I searched them, but there was no sign of them! Dale... do you think they could have been caught in the storm...?"

"Gods I hope not..." Dale mumbled, crumbling the fabric in his hands, then he turned to Broghan, seeing the boy shiver, "go inside. Warm yourself. Get something to eat. We'll wait for the others to come back, then we'll discuss what we can do."

Broghan nodded, looking up at the sky. Dale placed his hand on his shoulder, guiding him towards the Hall.

"Dale? What will we do if... if they..." Broghan sighed.

"I refuse to believe that," Dale said, "Wrenlou is a capable flyer, Hiccup is too. They will have found shelter. They must have."

But he couldn't shake the feeling of dread. Even if the boys had managed to find shelter, without Toothless' prosthetic they were doomed to walk back, and in rains like these, being outside for prolonged periods of time was a very, very bad idea.

The other riders came back soon after Broghan, having found nothing, no sign of the two boys. They were sitting in the Hall around the fire, the rain clattering on the roof. The Hall had finally warmed up to a point where the temperature was nice. It was always surprising how the island could get so cold during a storm like that, despite the tropical climate. Dale was staring in the fire, subconsciously clenching the green fabric in his hands.

Suddenly, the door swung open to reveal a dark figure, a hood pulled over his head, the water dripping off him on all sides. Behind him was a Night Fury, just as wet as it's rider. Dale sat up, hoping that it was Wrenlou who had come to tell them that they were okay, just stuck somewhere because of Toothless' prosthetic, but when the man came in and swiped his hood from his head, it was most definitely not Wrenlou.

"Ezra?" Dale asked, "what are you doing here?"

Ezra gestured his dragon in, shutting the door again. He shook some of the water from his hair, dropping his cloak on one of the tables. Dale stood up, casting a glance at the teens before he walked over to the other man.

"I'm here because of Hiccup and Wrenlou," Ezra said wiping water from his eyes.

"You know where they are!?" Broghan asked while he jumped up.

"Yes," Ezra said, "I kept them in the city. I required their help with storm proofing the city. They stayed in our shelter."

"Then... what about this?" Dale asked while he showed Ezra the torn fabric.

"It was ripped from his tail in the heavy winds," Ezra answered, brushing his hair back, "the forge is destroyed so Hiccup hasn't been able to make a new one yet."

"But they're okay then," Dale said, "right?"

"Well..." Ezra started, then he sighed, "something happened in the shelter."

"What happened?" Leila asked.

"We were attacked," Ezra said, "there was something in there with us. Wrenlou discovered it was a dragon, Hiccup found out what kind of dragon, but before we got to the point where we knew what it was, it had attacked about a dozen people."

"So..." Dale started, "are they okay...?"

Ezra sighed again. "I wish I could say that," he said softly, "so far no one has been killed, that we know of, but three riders are missing, a whole lot more are injured. The injures aren't that bad, mostly just cuts, but the dragon turned out to be poisonous."

"Well?" Dale persisted, "what happened!"

"Hiccup is fine," Dale reassured them, "but Wrenlou has been attacked."

Broghan gasped, staring at the man. "What!?" he shouted.

"Don't worry," Ezra said, turning to Broghan, "the poison doesn't appear to be fatal. So far every one that has been attacked has been in a coma. Stable, out of danger, just impossible to wake up. So far nothing has worked. The healers are doing everything they can, but they just won't wake."

"I want to go see him," Broghan said, "I have to go to Dragoncity."

"I thought you might say that," Ezra said with a soft smile, "I came here to get you really. Dale? What do you think?"

"I wish I could go myself," Dale mumbled, "but then we'd all have to go, and there's too much to do around here, too many repairs." He looked up. "Take Broghan. He deserves to be with his brother."

Ezra nodded. "Alright. We'll have to wait a bit to go though, the rain has picked up again. We best wait a little."

"I don't want to wait!" Broghan said, crossing his arms. He didn't want to say it, but he was terribly worried about his little brother.

"I know that," Ezra said, walking to the fire, "but if we go now, we will surely get sick. The last thing I need is both of us in the hospital as well. The healers have enough work as it is. Besides, who will take care of Wrenlou if you get sick? He needs you healthy, not sick."

Broghan sighed, his shoulders sagging a little. "Fine," he mumbles as he went back to his place at the fire, "but I don't like it..."

"I know," Ezra said, sitting down next to him, "I know you're worried. We all are. That dragon is still in there, so are the three missing riders. I can't send in any more search parties because they will just get attacked. Hiccup told us that we can't just kill the dragon, because the antidote is most likely a processed form of the original venom, and any attempts of drawing it out have proven to be disastrous at best. To be honest, I don't know what to do."

"But you'll think of something, right?" Broghan asked looking up.

"We will," Ezra nodded, "but I want you to worry about your brother. Leave the other things to us, okay?"

Broghan nodded, staring at the fire again. On one side he was glad that Hiccup and Wrenlou hadn't been swept away by the storm, but on the other hand his worries had only increased. Wrenlou was in a coma, poisoned by some dragon. The sooner he was with his brother, the better. If only the rain would just stop...

0-0-0-0-0-0

So we have a winner for the first riddle... and it's Jason43123!So congratulations to you, and if you would PM me with your address, a surprise will come your way soon!

The answer to the riddle was a Dictionary. So good job to all who guessed it right! It was certainly not easy. I've seen some very creative answers, I love it! Let's see how you all do with the second riddle... here it is!

I am better than God, more evil than the Devil. The rich want me, the poor have me, and if you eat me, you'll die. What am I?

Good luck guys! I'm having fun with this, do you?