20 The Last Song of Grimbeard

20. THE LAST SONG OF GRIMBEARD THE GHASTLY Neighing in terror, the valiant Windwalker leapt into the sky, carrying his helmeted rider towards the oncoming army of Alvinsmen. For each Bullguard with a rider, there were five more attached to the riders' wrists by long chains, like horses pulling racing chariots in the air. The Bullguards halted, wings humming, not quite sure what to make of a lone boy attacking them. Were there more invisible Deadly Shadow dragons backing him up? Surely he could not be alone? Did this impudent human not know how terrifying they were? Hiccup picked up the backpack with the still sleeping Hogfly in it, and put it on his back. 'Don't worry, Toothless!' he called through the locked hatch to his little dragon. 'It's all perfectly fine…' Hiccup turned the ship straight south now, out of the protection of Wrecker's Bay, directing its furling sails towards the screaming hurricane of the Wind. Further back and invisible to all, Camicazi and Fishlegs had just left Alvin's underground war

bunker and were urging the Deadly Shadow forward. They weren't quite within range of shooting at the Bullguards yet. 'Oh for Thor's sake!' moaned Fishlegs. 'That's Hiccup! Why is he riding at Alvin's army?' The witch herself was seated on a Queen Bullguard, a dragon rather larger than the rest of its species. Her white cloak streamed out behind her. Alvin was on a King Bullguard by her side. She, too, thought she recognised Hiccup. 'It's him…' she whispered. 'The Hiccup boy… his dragon must have saved him… But what is he doing now? Has he turned mad?' It was typical of Snotlout, somehow, that even in a situation of desperate peril, he was still showing off. For as he flew towards the swarm of hovering Bullguards, Snotlout threw in an entirely unnecessary somersault. It was one of Flashburn's favourites, a Loop-de-Loop Special, and highly difficult to carry out at the best of times. You had to grip very tightly indeed on to the dragon's back with your knees in order not to fall off when the dragon was upside-down. 'You see!' Snotlout called over his shoulder for Hiccup's benefit, though Hiccup could hardly hear

him. 'I'M THE BEST DRAGON FLYER IN THE WORLD!' He then tried to get up on his feet, another Flashburn trick, but the Windwalker was flying too fast now for that one, and he hastily re-seated himself. As Snotlout rode straight at the Bullguards, Hiccup could hear him singing Grimbeard's song, the song that Grimbeard sang once, long ago, when he sailed into the west on his ship The Endless Journey, after he had killed his own son and broken up the kingdom of the Wilderwest. Here is that song that Snotlout sang: I sailed so far to be a King but the time was never right… I lost my way on a stormy past, got wrecked in starless night… But let my heart be wrecked by hurricanes and my ship by stormy weather I know I am a Hero… and a Hero is… FOREVER! Hiccup could feel the sea beneath the ship picking up more strongly as he sailed closer and closer, nearer and nearer, to that howling hurricane din, the Winter Wind of Woden. In another time, another place, I could have been a

King But in my castle's ruined towers the lonely seabirds sing I burnt up my Tomorrows, I cannot go back ever But I am still a Hero… and a Hero is… FOREVER! The Bullguards hovered suspiciously. Their whiskers were out, feeling the air. 'What is he doing?' hissed the witch suspiciously. 'It could be a trick…' But Alvin was sensing imminent triumph. He screwed in his favourite hook. 'No, he knows he's trapped,' Alvin gloated. 'That's Grimbeard the Ghastly's Last Song he is singing there… He knows he is trapped and he is going down fighting… He is going down like a Hero, trying to make us look bad, the little rat.' For behind their leaders, Alvin was acutely aware that the Alvinsmen were whispering to one another, 'Wow, he's still alive… and he's singing that song….' 'ATTACCKKKKKK!' roared Alvin the Treacherous. The Bullguards let out a simultaneous scream, terrible to hear. And the Bullguard and Alvinsman army

shot after Snotlout and the Windwalker like a vast swarm of hornets, with the witch still shrieking, 'No… Wait! It could be a trick! It could be a trick!' Screaming like a madman, Windwalker beneath him glazed with terror, Snotlout fled through the sky, pursued by the Alvinsman army. 'Oh, for Thor's sake,' whispered Hiccup, petrified, scared to look over his shoulder but looking nonetheless. 'Oh for Thor's sake…' On Snotlout charged, howling joyful insults over his shoulder and firing arrows at the pursuing Bullguards. 'Come and get me, you buck-toothed, pig-ugly grandmas! Catch-me-if-you-can, you lickspittle, worm-wriggling night-creatures!' Hiccup was too far away to hear what the insults were, but he almost grinned as he imagined them, for Snotlout had always been brilliant at insults on the Pirate Training Programme. 'Take that, you mangy, hippo-slow vipers-for-hand-bags! Can't catch me, you vile, rabbit-hearted loser-snakes!' Hiccup was steering the boat very close to the Wind now. Snotlout was sailing very close to the wind himself, for though the Windwalker could fly much

faster than the Bullguards, Snotlout was deliberately flying the dragon slowly to make himself a more tempting lure to chase. The maddened swarm converged on Snotlout so closely that Hiccup thought for one heartstopping moment that they might have caught him. And then Snotlout pulled out an impudent Death Dive, steering Windwalker down, down, like he was a peregrine falcon diving, at over one hundred and eighty miles per hour, towards the sea. The Bullguards followed, plunging after him like arrows falling from the sky. At the absolute last minute, Snotlout brought Windwalker out of the dive, so late that the Windwalker brushed the tops of the waves with the tips of his wings. A large number of Bullguards could not correct themselves in time, and went plunging into the water. Many others put the brakes on in the nick of time, but were put off course, and went spiralling into other Bullguards. When the swarm righted itself, squawking, and set off in pursuit once more, they had lost about a third of their number, who were picking themselves up out of the sea. 'Ha ha! You chocolate-coated pig-dragons! You