20 WHEN THE PLAY IS OVER

20. WHEN THE PLAY IS OVER Camicazi, Humungously Hotshot, and Fishlegs had to sail The Peregrine Falcon across the Bay to pick up Hiccup. By this time they had been joined by Stoick in The Blue Whale, and Big-Boobied Bertha in The Big Momma. The Windwalker flew across to them in order to show them the way, because of course they couldn't pick out one small lopsided helmet across those choppy seas, that had been so stirred up by the explosions and vibrations of the Volcano. They were all extremely worried, because the seas around Berk are very cold, and it is perfectly possible to freeze to death if you spend too much time in those icy waters. But in fact Hiccup was all right. The red-hot lava now pouring down from the cliffs had swiftly heated the shallow waters of the bay to what was really almost a very pleasant swimming temperature.

So he lay calmly on his back, waiting to be rescued, letting himself float up and down supported on the swell of the warm water, looking up into the blue sky and thinking what a great joy it was to be alive. Toothless had been hiding up in the great billows of mustard-colored Volcano smoke, peeking out from his hiding place in the drifts of cloud, absolutely terrified. But when he had satisfied himself that all the Exterminators had been Exterminated, and the Fire- Dragon meant him no harm and had disappeared, he sped like a whirring green butterfly down to the bay where he was the first to find Hiccup, turning gentle circles as he floated peacefully in the water. "Toothless d-d-drop the Stone in the Volcano!" stammered Toothless, giving Hiccup a lovely surprise by landing on his chin. "All on HIS OWN." When Hiccup had recovered from the shock of the sudden arrival, and coughed out some of the seawater, he stroked the little dragon's back, as Toothless licked his face with his little forked tongue. "You," said Hiccup, as the two of them revolved gently around, looking up at the sky, "are a Great Hero, Toothless." Toothless lifted up his head and did his Victory Cock-a-doodle-doo.

And so when the others did finally haul him out, Hiccup was calm and relaxed. "Are you hurt?" asked Stoick anxiously. "No," smiled Hiccup. "I burned my heel, but that's it." "THANK THOR!" bellowed Stoick. And then with a great roar of pride he enveloped Hiccup in a stifling hairy embrace. "MY SON! I am sorry that I doubted you! We didn't let those Extermina-whosits beat us, did we? NO, by Woden and the lovely flowing armpits of Freya, we whopped their little Extermi-wotsit BOTTOMS; they never knew what hit them. THAT'S the spirit of the Horrendous Haddocks in you, NEVER SURRENDER! And by Thor's thighstrings we DID NOT. I can't wait to tell Valhallarama... Humungous, I have to admit, I owe you a great debt." He smiled, only a trifle reluctantly, at the irritatingly perfect Hero, sitting bloodstained but content on the deck. "What a wonderful idea of mine it was to make you Hiccup's Bardiguard!" Humungously Hotshot was looking happier than Hiccup had ever seen him before. A great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He rolled up the helmet of his Fire-Suit, and ruffled his slightly-thinning-but-still-handsome golden hair. "WELL, I'd forgotten what fun Questing could

be; I really enjoyed myself there," beamed Humungously Hotshot the Hero breezily. "And I thought I didn't do too badly, considering I haven't done that sort of Hero Work for over fifteen years. A smidgen out of practice, but not a bad effort, on the whole..." "You were MARVELOUS!" said Hiccup enthusiastically. "STUPENDOUS! BRILLIANT!" Stoick the Vast's smile froze behind his beard. But he had to admit that the guy had saved Hiccup's life. A Chief should give credit where credit was due, whatever his personal feelings. "It was a fine piece of Bardiguarding, Humungous. You must name your price as your reward. Anything I have is yours, anything at all, Humungous, you just have to say the word..." "Well it's terribly kind of you," said Humungous. "If you INSIST upon rewarding me, there is one thing I would like from you, Stoick..." "Yes?" said Stoick. "Your boat, The Peregrine Falcon," replied Humungous. "I plan to start a new life for myself, right here and now, and what I need is a good fast boat like this one so I can get away from here as quick as I can." "Are you quite sure?" asked Stoick. He had mixed feelings about this, because on the one hand,

he was secretly rather relieved that this annoyingly brilliant Humungous wasn't going to be hanging around much longer, but on the other, The Peregrine Falcon was far and away Stoick's favorite boat. "I'm quite sure," said Humungous firmly. "If you're going to start a new life, you might as well start it NOW." Humungous smiled at Hiccup and patted him on the shoulder. "Thank you, Hiccup," said Humungously Hotshot, "for finding my stone for me. It has meant a great deal to me in the past, but now I am looking to the future, and I would like you to have it." He leaned over and pulled the bracelet with the ruby heart's stone in it off his arm and gave it to Hiccup. "I'm back in the Hero Business!" he said, happily swinging his sword from side to side, juggling it with his axe, balancing it on one finger, and then thrusting it back in its scabbard again. "I'd forgotten how good it feels!" Humungous took a big deep breath of the fresh sea air. "I must say," said Humungous, "it's a great day to start a new life." Humungous called across the waves between the two boats, and he was so far away now that Hiccup

could only just catch the words. "Send my regards to your mother, Hiccup!" Hiccup shouted back to say that he would. "And thank you for giving me back my gift!" "Your gift?" Hiccup shouted back. "The singing!" called Humungous. "It's such a pleasure to be making music again!" And then Humungous began to sing. It wasn't the song that Hiccup's mother used to sing to him as a child. It was a new song. Humungous threw out his chest and really belted it out at the top of his lungs, wildly out of tune and sounding like a couple of warthogs in a catfight. Hiccup, Toothless, Camicazi, Fishlegs, and the Windwalker had heard Humungous's novel way of singing before, and all five of them had stuffed their fingers or wings over their ears before he even started. But this was new to Stoick the Vast. His mouth flopped open for a few astonished minutes. And then a great grin spread across his face. What a delightful surprise! It seemed that even Humungously Hotshot couldn't be good at EVERYTHING. "WELL," said Stoick, rubbing his hands together with satisfaction, "I think we can do better