19 Aaaaaaagh!!

19. AAAAAAARGH! The tunnel was open, but there was no sign of any Roman ships packed with heavily armed gladiators. 'What's going on?' shrieked Fishlegs. 'Where are the gladiators?' Hiccup was staring intently at the tunnel. There still seemed to be nothing going on down there. All that came out of it were four long, dark waves– no more threatening than ripples, really. The ripples curled sinuously into the stadium. Slowly, languorously, they began to circle the ship. That's strange, thought Hiccup, and just as he was staring closely at one of the dark ripples, something neat and sharp cut through the surface of the water… It was a black fin, with serrated edges like a bread-knife. 'SHARKWORMS!!!' yelled Fishlegs. 'I knew it! I just knew it! I knew we were going to

bump into those monsters at some point…' 'YOU SEE, WE HAVEN'T GOT GLADIATORS FOR YOU TODAY,' Alvin shouted down, from the safety of his balcony. 'YOU ARE KNOWN IN THESE PARTS, HICCUP, AS SOMETHING OF A DRAGON-TRAINER– LET'S SEE HOW YOU DO AT TRAINING THESE LITTLE BEAUTIES…' 'Is this part of your plan?' asked Camicazi hopefully. 'Not exactly,' admitted Hiccup. 'I was expecting gladiators– it is a

gladiator show, after all…' 'Can you TRAIN them?' asked Camicazi. 'What, in the next sixty seconds?' asked Hiccup. 'Not likely. Besides, Sharkworms are untrainable. The important point is– has anybody got a cut?' 'You have,' Fishlegs pointed out. 'You fell over on the steps, remember?' 'Great,' said Hiccup, glancing at the long graze on his shin. 'Our lucky day. So, there's only one thing to do. Nobody panic and I'll call for… ZIGGERASTICA!'

Nothing happened. The ripples had now turned into four Sharkworm fins, and they were circling nearer and nearer, closing in on the boat. 'ZIGGERASTICA!' screamed the Vikings all at once. There was a streak of black and red and the tiny nanodragon appeared out of nowhere and landed on Camicazi's head. 'You called?' said Ziggerastica. 'About time too!' said Hiccup. 'How is the plan going?' 'It's a terrible plan,' said Ziggerastica, 'but so far the plan is going to plan, so to speak…'

'Everybody else, leave me!' urged Hiccup. 'Roll me into that barrel over there and throw me over the side!' 'What about the plan?' asked Fishlegs. 'This is the plan,' Hiccup replied. 'Oh I see,' said Fishlegs. 'When you said "desperate plan" you meant really desperate…' 'That barrel won't protect you from the Sharkworms!' protested Camicazi. 'Will you stop arguing and just do what I ask?' raged Hiccup. 'We're running out of time– those Sharkworms are going to climb on board any minute! It's me and my cut that they're really after…'

The Sharkworms were indeed circling the boat in tighter and tighter circles. Fishlegs could have reached out and touched one of the fins. Fishlegs and Camicazi stuffed Hiccup into the barrel and Ziggerastica flew in with him. They then hesitated. 'Are you quite sure you want us to throw you over the side?' asked Fishlegs, looking in absolute terror at the fins slicing through the water. 'Quite sure,' came Hiccup's voice from the barrel, rather muffled. 'With the Sharkworms?' asked Camicazi. 'Just do it, will you!' yelled Hiccup. Camicazi and Fishlegs reluctantly rolled the barrel over to the edge of the boat, heaved it up between them and dropped it over the side to the