13 MEANWHILE, BACK ON BERK

13. MEANWHILE, BACK ON BERK Meanwhile, back on Berk, at exactly the same moment that Alvin unscrewed his hook, a very gloomy Stoick had been standing with his Warriors around him, watching the crush of the deserting crowds at Hooligan Harbor. His rather unpleasant nephew, Snotlout, came sidling up to him, an ingratiating smirk on his ugly mug. "Humungous and Hiccup have already run away," he sneered. "And they've taken The Peregrine Falcon." "THE PEREGRINE FALCON?" roared Stoick the Vast. "They've burgled my Peregrine Falcon?" This was adding insult to injury. Stoick the Vast loved his Peregrine Falcon. It was a beautiful blue and black narrowboat, the fastest in the Archipelago. Not only had that beastly thinks-

he's-so-cool Humungous led his son astray with this cowardly Running-Away business, he'd had the cheek to do it in Stoick's favorite boat! "Yup," said Snotlout, gleefully fanning the flames of Stoick's wrath. "I saw them only half an hour ago, sailing out of here to the west, as cool as you please." Stoick opened his mouth to explode. And then he shut it again. "To the west?" he said, baffled. "Are you sure they were sailing to the west?" He didn't wait for an answer. He swiveled around to the left, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. There, disappearing over the western horizon, he could just see the curved white sail of The Peregrine Falcon. He would recognize that sail anywhere. "Everybody else is deserting to the SOUTH!" bellowed Stoick. "To the west is Lava-Lout Island, the Volcano and all those Extermi-whosits! What is my son doing deserting to the WEST?" Stoick was not the brightest Barbarian in the business, but even he could see that this was a major mistake on the part of his son. Gobber gave a little cough at Stoick's elbow. "Um... I'm not sure he is deserting, Chief. Didn't you hear him say back there in The Thing that he was

going to take the Fire-Stone back to the Volcano to stop it from exploding?" There was a short pause. "Did he?" said Stoick eagerly. Stoick didn't know what to think. On the one hand he was over the moon that his son wasn't deserting after all, and was NOT a traitor to his Tribe, or a disgrace to the noble name of Haddock. On the other hand, this was insanity. Throwing the Fire-Stone back? Risking the Volcano exploding, the Exterminators hatching... It was ridiculous, mad, suicidal... why, it was straight-down-the-line HOOLIGAN HERO behavior! "WELL, WHAT ARE WE ALL DOING HERE TWIDDLING OUR THUMBS FOR, THEN?" roared Stoick. "WE SHOULD BE HELPING THE LAD! LAUNCH THE BLUE WHALE! GET OUT MY BATTLE-AXE! (Thank you, Snotlout, for bringing this to my attention.) DOWN TO THE HARBOR, ONE TWO ONE TWO ONE TWO!" Curses, thought Snotlout. Why did I open my big mouth?