18 A Very Short Chapter

18. A VERY SHORT CHAPTER IN WHICH IT LOOKS LIKE EVERYTHING IS ABOUT TO GO RIGHT FOR FIVE MINUTES The boys went to work, getting the ship sailing as fast as possible, expertly handling the ropes like the young Vikings they were. They had done this a thousand times in Viking Sailing Practice. But never together. They worked in surprising unison, for two boys who had loathed each other all their lives. Hiccup felt a weird sense of elation, for the first time in his life to be working side-by-side with Snotlout for a common aim. They were not out of danger. No. But, unbelievably, they had all the Things, every single one, safely locked in the hold. If they could just get them to Tomorrow… so close now that they could actually see it, a dark shadow in the mist, tantalisingly within reach. They had finally laid to rest their old quarrel, they had got all the Things, there was a clear wind taking them across Wrecker's Bay, and for five whole minutes it looked like everything was going to be all right. It would have been even more inspiring if it

hadn't been for the sound of Toothless howling. Still locked in his cage, Toothless had decided he was going to die, so he had stopped singing the song about the thousands of bottles, and he was now singing an even sadder song, which went something like this: 'Toothless is dy-y-y-ying… Poor Toothless is dy-y-ying…' 'Can't you shut the gummy one up,' said Snotlout through gritted teeth. 'It's making me feel like throwing myself off the ship or giving myself up to the witch.' As they slipped out of the witch's harbour, flocks of dragons and seagulls flew screeching overhead, screaming cries of warning, swarming in numbers like a plague of locusts from the direction of the Open Sea. An extraordinary noise followed them, a noise unlike anything Hiccup had ever heard before, a deep and elemental howl. For one second, Hiccup thought it was the Dragon Furious, before realising that no living creature could make that noise– not even a mighty Sea Dragon the size of a mountain. Only a true apocalyptic power could make that noise. Like volcanoes and earthquakes and hurricanes, that noise is one that tells the human being how small and insignificant a pinprick is mankind, for all his cleverness and ingenuity, in the face of the awesome

power of Nature itself. 'What is that?' shouted Snotlout, his face turning a little green. 'That,' said Hiccup swallowing, 'is the Winter Wind of Woden.' Just to make their escape a little more interesting than it was already, the Winter Wind of Woden was starting to blow. What were the chances? Hiccup made some calculations. They might avoid the Winter Wind of Woden if they were fast– and lucky. Doggedly, quietly, the two boys set the ship in the direction of the Dragonmarkers' hideout and moved out of the Harbour, streams of dragons and birds shrieking above them like shooting stars, and the clamour and explosions and fireworks of the Battle going on behind them.

So there it was Five tantalizing moments of happiness And then.