11 Hide-and-Seek With Driller-Dragons

11. HIDE-AND-SEEK WITH DRILLER-DRAGONS Camicazi, Hiccup and Fishlegs ran back through the corridors as fleet as foxes with the full cry of the Hunt after them. Down along the twisty tunnels they fled, the Library now a terrifying Babel of screaming and roaring and shouting, all echoing each other in a confusing Pandemonium of noise so loud that it tore at the ears and pierced to their very back-bones. 'Ooooh!' squealed Stormfly happily, 'what are we playing now? Is it Hide-and-Seek? Is it? Is it? I LOVE Hide-and-Seek!'

'We're playing Run-Away-As-Fast-As-You-Can-From-the-Homicidal-Dragon-Monsters…' panted Fishlegs. 'Again! I just cannot believe my bad luck…' 'Up here! It's a short cut!' yelled Camicazi. They scrambled up a rickety ladder, extraordinarily tall, up through a hole in the roof, where they crawled on hands and knees before dropping back down into another corridor again.

They rounded a corner to find a crouching Driller-Dragon, poised to spring. Camicazi screamed, and toppled over a tall tottering bookcase on him. On and on they ran through the Noise, until Fishlegs came to a panting halt, and gasped 'I… really… can't… go… any… further…' 'Nor can I,' panted Camicazi, drawing her sword. 'We'll have to stand and fight them.' 'We haven't got a hope of defeating so many,' gasped Hiccup, drawing his sword too. 'Well then,' sang out Camicazi defiantly, the light of battle in her bright blue eyes, 'we shall DIE a Hero's death, FIGHTING TO THE LAST!' 'I hate it when you say things like that…' whimpered Fishlegs. 'D-d-d-esert!' shrieked Toothless, 'I think we should desert!' 'Good idea!' approved Hiccup. 'But where to?' It was a good point. There was nowhere to go. 'Come on!' shouted Camicazi. 'Help me build a barricade with these books!' And she began pulling books off the shelves, and loading them into a pile by the entrance, as if this pathetic obstacle was going to keep hundreds of hungry Driller-Dragons at bay.

Fishlegs and Toothless helped her, and Stormfly was still thinking that this was a jolly game and kept on knocking the pile over, in fits of giggles, and Hiccup looked around the room they had ended up in, desperately searching for something, anything, that he could use to help them in their final, hopeless stand.

And then his eye caught a gleam of dancing brightness. There it was. A book on the bookshelf opposite appeared to be GLOWING. All around it was a bright chink of light, as clear as the day. And as he stepped towards the glowing book, Hiccup gave a gasp of astonished amazement. His OWN NAME was written on the side of it. HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK in big golden letters. Now, there are those who do not believe in Fate. And there are those that do. But just ask yourself: what are the chances of Hiccup looking around this very room, and his eye alighting on a book with his own name on it? What are the chances of that, I say? Minuscule-y small, and that is why I personally feel that Fate must have led them to that particular room. They had been running through rooms just like this one all day, all lined with bookcases floor to ceiling, and all smelling faintly of fish. But in this enormous great tangled book-warren of a Library, which must have had thousands and thousands of rooms in it, the room that they had ended up in was the ONLY room that contained a book

written by HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK. 'Roaring Razorclams!' exclaimed Hiccup, lowering his sword, and his jaw dropping. 'This is EXTRAORDINARY! That book has been written by someone with exactly the same name as ME!' Actually, as he drew nearer, he realised it wasn't EXACTLY the same name. The author was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Second. 'I would of course find that fascinating,' moaned Fishlegs, frantically dragging books off the shelves, as the sound of drumming feet grew louder and louder, cutting through the general cacophony of the Noise, 'if I wasn't just about to DIE, will you come and HELP US for Thor's sake?' 'Hiccup stepped forward towards the books, as if hypnotised. 'It must be a relative of mine, a grandfather or something?' whispered Hiccup. 'I guess if I'm the Third, there must have been a First, and a Second, mustn't there?' This had never occurred to Hiccup. 'But my father's never talked about this guy before,' he said slowly. In fact, what had he said, only this morning? 'THE HORRENDOUS HADDOCKS DO NOT