14 IS IT ALWAYS NICE TO BUMP INTO AN OLD AQUAINTANCE

14. IS IT ALWAYS NICE TO BUMP INTO AN OLD AQUAINTANCE? Hiccup would have been delighted to know that his father and the Hooligan Tribe were sailing to his assistance. But they were still an hour or so's sail away, and in the meantime, Hiccup had more immediate problems. Without even thinking, all three Vikings drew their swords as well. Before doing this, Camicazi quietly removed her hairy waistcoat from around her shoulders, and carefully nestled the Fire-Stone inside it. (Alvin was performing the final twist on his sword, so he didn't notice her doing this, which is important, as we shall see.) So near, and yet so far.

Fishlegs fumbled with his scabbard, in his haste to draw his sword, and the entire contents of his Running-Away Suitcase spilled all over the mountainside. "Alvin the Treacherous!" blurted out Camicazi. "How on earth did you escape from all those Sharkworms?"-* "So kind of you to ask, my dear young lady," murmured Alvin the Treacherous, picking at his teeth with the end of his hook, for all the world as if he were relaxing in an easy chair, rather than sitting on the back of an Exterminator, on top of a Volcano that was about to explode. "So kind of you to ask. After you had torn down my precious Fort Sinister and thrown me to the Sharkworms, most people would assume that I would indeed be dead." Alvin's one eye was now cold and furious. "We didn't throw you to the Sharkworms!" protested Fishlegs. "You fell, in the middle of trying to kill us!" Alvin ignored him. "But you should know that a Treacherous is hard to kill, my dears, very hard to kill. The Sharkworms were hungry but I was hungrier. The first Sharkworm took my eye" —Alvin pointed savagely at his eye-patch— "but it regretted it," said Alvin with grim satisfaction. "I killed it as it ate, from a single blow of the Stormblade, and then I

crawled inside its open mouth, and hid within the floating corpse while the feeding frenzy continued." "Oh, yuck," groaned Fishlegs, pulling a face. "Indeed," bit Alvin, "but one finds one is not so picky when one's life is on the line. Six long hours the frenzy continued, before the Sharkworms started to drift away, along the Summer Current. And then, my hook curled around the floating Sharkworm's backbone, I struck out for the shore. It took me a long time, for we had drifted far," said Alvin bitterly, "and weak and eye-less as I was. And then when I finally managed to get within swimming distance of the land, and let go of the dead Creature that had hidden me and supported me that whole way, it took one final act of revenge. Even though it was long since dead, its jaws snapped forward in a reflex action, and took off one of my kicking, swimming legs from just below the knee." "Oh, dear," murmured Hiccup, sympathetic, even though it was Alvin. "Quite so," said Alvin. "All of the Romans had left by the time I got back to the Island. So I spent that long, cold winter hiding in the ruins of Fort Sinister, nursing myself back to health, practicing my sword-fighting, and dreaming of REVENGE." "Oh dear," said Hiccup again. "Quite so," said Alvin again. "I have my

revenge on the SHARKWORM. I have carved my fake leg out of the tooth with which it bit me. But I do not have my revenge on YOU, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. You owe me a hand, a leg, an eye, and a full head of hair, and I intend you to pay." "But it is not strictly my fault that you lost all these things!" protested Hiccup. "You brought them on yourself! And speaking of owing people things, what about YOUR treatment of poor Humungously Hotshot? You took his ruby heart's stone, and left him to rot in the terrible Gold Mines of this island. You let him think that his Love did not love him, and had married someone else knowing that he was still alive, and in slavery. What had Humungous done to you for you to hate him so badly?" "I can hate without reason," spat Alvin the Treacherous. "And what about his treatment of ME? He promised me that he would kill you. That would have been such a lovely artistic twist of Fate, to kill his Love's only son. I would have enjoyed that so much. "And I worked so hard for it, pouring poisonous lies about you into his foolish trusting ears, stoking up his ANGER and his bitterness, his desire for revenge... I never expected a Hero like him would break a solemn promise like that one, especially to

ME, whom he owed so much. My goodness"—Alvin sounded virtuously indignant—"you can't trust anybody these days!" Alvin sighed. "But I suppose if he failed me in killing YOU, Hiccup, he has also failed me in the second part of his mission." "What was the second part of his mission?" asked Hiccup in surprise. Alvin's hairless eyebrows lifted. "Didn't he tell you?" purred Alvin. "I wonder why not? He was supposed to bring the FIRE-STONE to me, here, at the Volcano." Camicazi, Hiccup, and Fishlegs all gasped and took a step backward, horribly aware that the Fire-Stone was lying only a few feet behind them, curled up in Camicazi's waistcoat. "The Fire-Stone?" stammered Hiccup, playing for time. "What's the Fire-Stone?" "You know perfectly well what the Fire-Stone is, Hiccup," sneered Alvin. "The Fire-Stone has many powerful secrets, but one of its many riddles is that the Exterminators are terrified of it. So he who holds the Fire-Stone controls the Exterminators... and therefore the Archipelago. I wonder why Humungous didn't tell you he was supposed to bring it to me." Alvin looked with narrowed eyes at the three young Vikings, all trying to look unconcerned.

And then Alvin smiled, as something occurred to him, a silky serpentine smile, revealing far too many teeth. "Perhaps it is because you were bringing it to me anyway!" Alvin started to laugh, throwing his head back in a singularly unpleasant gloating roar. "Oh, this is TOO GOOD!" He wiped his streaming eyes. "You're a clever boy, aren't you, Hiccup? Perhaps you worked out another of the Fire-Stone's riddles... that it can stop the Volcano from exploding. So you have come here, three terrifying Viking Heroes, none of you taller than my armpit, bringing the Fire-Stone with you, hoping, praying, longing to prevent disaster at the last minute! How swe-e-e-et..." Alvin sneered. He moved a little closer to the three Vikings, like a malevolent spider, swishing his Stormblade and tut-tutting insincerely. "And you were so close," he commiserated, "so-o-o-oo close to success! So near... and yet so far. What a shame. I do so hate to disappoint the little children in their charming little dreams." He sighed. "But I'm afraid it can't be helped. It's my job." A hint of steel crept into his voice. "Hand over the Fire-stone, Hiccup."