7 Toothless's Dream

7. TOOTHLESS'S DREAM Much, MUCH later that night, Toothless had a terrifying dream. It was terrifying because it felt so real. He dreamed he woke up, and in front of him was the underground treehouse where they were sleeping– but at the same time it was not quite the treehouse. It merged into somewhere else, in that way of dreams, and that somewhere was very cold.

The Wodensfang was awake too, and staring straight in front of him. His eyes had turned a very strange sort of purple colour. The scar on his chest almost seemed to be glowing. Toothless had a scar too, in almost exactly the same place, and it suddenly itched and burned as if he had received it yesterday. And there, in the treehouse, very loud, was the sound of a voice Toothless recognised. It was the voice of the Dragon Furious. Toothless lay still, trembling. Toothless could hear the roaring of the Dragon Rebellion outside, screaming and raging at full catastrophic force. But, to Toothless's absolute terror, it sounded as if the voice of the Dragon Furious was coming from inside the treehouse. But how was that possible? The Dragon Furious wasn't there, and he was too big to fit inside.

Maybe he had lifted up the mountaintop, and was looking down at them from above? Rigid with anxiety, Toothless slowly, slowly tipped his head upwards. No, the ceiling was still there. Phew. So where on earth was the voice coming from? It was a mystery. 'TRAITOR!' roared the Dragon Furious, 'TRAITOR!' For one heartstopping moment Toothless feared the Dragon Furious was talking to him, and he gave an unhappy whine and hid his head in his paws. But no. The Dragon Furious was talking to the Wodensfang. 'Why are you letting my thoughts in now, Wodensfang?' screamed the Dragon Furious, in an apocalyptic rage. 'Have you changed your mind about your treacherous behaviour? Are you ashamed of betraying your dragonhood for the second time?'

The voice of the Wodensfang replied. Both Wodensfang and the Dragon Furious were speaking in Norse, not Dragonese. But the Wodensfang, though awake, did not move his lips. How was that possible? 'Now, now, Furious,' replied the Wodensfang. 'Calm down. This anger is exhausting you. And do not be so quick to think I am betraying us.' The Dragon Furious quietened his rage for a moment, but his tone was still bitterly resentful. 'You are a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus, Wodensfang, and a very old one. So you can see into the future even better than I can. You know that the boy will be the end of us all, if we let him live.' The Wodensfang sighed. He did not contradict the Dragon Furious. 'BUT I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN!' roared the Dragon Furious. 'I have pledged that Hiccup the Third shall not reach Tomorrow. And he is near, I

sense it, I smell you both in my heart, although you are protecting him. I will not give up, I will stay here until I hunt you out, however long that takes.' The dragon paused in his rage for a moment, and tried to reason with the Wodensfang. 'There is no time any more for the foolish hopes of a silly old dragon. Do you think you are the only one who has ever loved a human? I loved one once myself. His name was Hiccup the Second. But in the end, these Hiccup boys, wonderful as they are, will not be able to defeat the strength of the evil that runs through humanity. Look how the kingdom of Hiccup the First fell into the hands of the boy who was once Speedfast, and ended up Grimbeard the Ghastly? And see how this boy, Hiccup the Third, finds the Lost Things, and they fall again and again into the hook of the evil one, Alvin the Treacherous.' The Wodensfang sighed. 'That has

been worrying me, I confess.' 'Fate is trying to tell you something, Wodensfang. We have to learn from the past, as well as the future.' The Wodensfang sat still, looking into the Future. 'You are mistaken if you think this has not occurred to me,' said the Wodensfang, almost as if he were talking to himself. 'In part, I am doing this because I want to believe in the impossible, and young humans are so touching in their belief in the impossible.' 'When we are old we must be wise, and give up what is unrealistic,' said the Dragon Furious. 'You had the chance to kill the boy in the Fire Cavern. You could not do it, so bring the boy to someone who CAN do it. I will kill him for the sake of all of us. I am the King of the Dragons, and a King has to act for the greater good.' 'That is the way the witch talks,' said the Wodensfang softly. 'You may love humans, but you are, in the end, a dragon. You have to put your dragonhood first. Bring the