16 My Tooth Where Is My Tooth

16. 'MY TOOTH… WHERE IS MY TOOTH?' And then Hiccup stiffened. All the hairs on the back of his neck rose like the quills on a fretful porcupine. Not two yards in front of him, hovering in mid-air, floating in the atmosphere as if they were being dangled by a malevolent god… …was a pair of evil red eyes. And out of airy nothing there came a nasty whining wisp of a whisper: 'My tooth… Whe-e-e-ere is my tooth?' As soon as Hiccup saw those red eyes, he was conscious that his arm had been singing in agony around that horrible tooth for the last hour or so. There had been so much going on, he had ignored the pain.

Slowly, slowly, around those evil red eyes with two little slits for pupils, there materialised the body of a Vampire Spydragon, crouching on the hatch as if it was guarding it. The Vampire Spydragon was a revolting sight, enough to give you nightmares for years. Its head was that of a gigantic bat, with one huge cruel-looking vampire tooth protruding from the side of its slobbering mouth. Its horrible little nose was snuffling as the saliva dripped down its vampire fangs. That pain in Hiccup's arm must have been a sign that the Vampire Spydragon was using the tooth to track him down. 'My tooth…' whined the Vampire Spydragon, 'Whe-e-ere is my tooth? For I need to eat what I have bit… Whe-e-ere is my tooth????' Hiccup said nothing, just backed away in terror, his left arm hidden behind him. 'Aha!' rasped the Vampire Spydragon, its wicked red eyes lighting up in cruel triumph. 'You are trying to hide it, you nasty little burglar, but you cannot conceal it from me… I think I spy it… I think I have found it… You stole my tooth, you horrible little thief…' 'I didn't mean to…' stammered the petrified

Hiccup, taking a couple of steps backwards. 'You can have it back if you like… I don't want it…' 'You stole my tooth,' spat the Vampire Spydragon savagely, 'and now I have found it, I shall finish the meal that I began…' It crouched for a second, bat wings stretched out. And then it sprang, and sank its vampire jaws deep into Hiccup's left arm, exactly where it had bitten him only twenty-four hours earlier. Hiccup screamed, and desperately hit the Vampire Spydragon around its ghastly head. Windwalker attacked it too, raking at its thick hairy hide. But the Vampire Spydragon would not let go.

Ironically, Hiccup's whole left side– arm, shoulder, leg and everything– had just begun to feel slightly better. Now he could feel the paralysis creeping back, a deadening numbness, and as he looked down, he saw the black-purple stain flowering again.

Vampire Spydragons don't let go, thought Hiccup. They have jaws like bear-traps and they never let go… Hiccup tried to remember all that he knew about Vampire Spydragons, whether they had any weak points, but his mind was so confused by the pain in his arm he could not remember anything at all. He desperately punched at the Spydragon's head with his right fist, but the Spydragon merely gripped tighter. Hiccup was aware that he was screaming, but he couldn't really hear the noise he was making. What could he use that was around him on the boat? A confused mess of rope lay on the deck, from where the Alvinsmen had hauled up the Lost Things and the anchor. Trying to ignore the pain, Hiccup pulled the Spydragon forward so that it stepped into the rope coils, then wriggled and threw himself around in the creature's grip. Iron jaws still holding tight, the Spydragon thrashed about, trying to keep hold of him, each maddened lunge getting its legs more thoroughly entangled with the rope. And then came Hiccup's chance.

Windwalker leapt in and attacked the softer underside of the Spydragon's stomach, which was the rather repellent white of a maggot and provided little defence. At the same time, Wodensfang, little old limbs creaking, launched himself at the Vampire Spydragon's head. The double attack worked. The Vampire Spydragon screamed in agony and dropped Hiccup for a second, turning to strike at Windwalker. Windwalker lunged back and the two dragons locked jaws. Hiccup limped to the anchor, which was balancing on the side of the boat. With all the strength he had left, he h-e-e-e-eaved it over the side. SPLASH! The anchor landed in the sea below, narrowly missing the head of Valhallarama, still swimming in the water just beside the boat, and swamping her so thoroughly that it removed her blond moustache. There was an intervening pause, where the weight of the sinking anchor pulled on the rope, which then whipped around the deck as if it were a live serpent. The Spydragon shook off Windwalker, and