12 R-R-R-RUUUUNNNNNN!

12. R-R-R-R-UUUUNNNNNN!!!!!! …and landed, rather painfully, on his bottom, RIGHT in the middle of a circle of Polar-serpents. Slowly the Polar-serpents' heads turned one hundred and eighty degrees, like the heads of owls, to look at Hiccup. 'OK…' stammered Hiccup. 'Easy now… nice Polar-serpents… sweet Polar-serpents… what lovely sharp horns you have…' 'All the better,' whined the nearest Polar-serpent, 'for spearing you with.' 'R-R-R-R-R-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-UNNNNNN!!!!!!!' shouted Camicazi from the deck of the American Dream 2. Hiccup didn't need to be told. He scrambled to his feet, slipping and sliding on the slippery ice. The Polar-serpent has a very strange way of manouvering across the ice floes, and if Hiccup hadn't been right in the middle of fleeing for his life, he might

have admired it. Half the pack of Polar-serpents spread out their wings like the sails of ships, braced their talons, and then shot forward on their smooth bellies, rocketing after Hiccup, their noses pointed straight toward him like darts for a dartboard. The remaining Polar-serpents slid into the water, swift and silent as alligators, and joined the chase from under the ice. 'Don't fall over, don't fall over, don't fall over!' begged Hiccup, clasping Toothless to his chest to stop him falling out of his waistcoat as he ran. He could hear the Polar-serpents whirring closer and closer, their nails screeching on the ice.

Now the shadows of those that were swimming under the ice swooped like swallows under his feet. The American Dream 2 was still steaming alongside the iceberg. 'Hang on, Hiccup!' shouted Camicazi at the steering wheel. 'We're coming to rescue you!' But Hiccup had no intention of hanging on. He was running faster than he ever had done in his life. 'Mfff,' sniffed Bearcub's Grandmother. 'It doesn't look good.' She tut-tutted. 'He's not long for this world, you mark my words.' She held up a skinny finger. 'He's DOOMED, I tell you, DOOMED.'

It seemed a fairly safe prediction, under the circumstances. CCCC-CCC—RRUNNNNNK! A great horn speared up through the ice right in front of Hiccup. He swerved around it in the nick of time. CCCC-CCCCRUNNNNK! CRRRUNNK! CRUNNNNKK!!!! Three more appeared, and Hiccup slalomed round them too. 'Kill them!' shrieked Camicazi. Fishlegs had got hold of one of Norbert's great bow-and-arrow harpoons.

It is unclear how he thought he was going to kill FIFTY Polar-serpents with the one harpoon, but he was pointing it in the general direction of the Polar-serpents with the bow upside-down, and his eyes shut. As the harpoon went off Fishlegs fell backwards, letting go of the bow, which ricocheted across the deck, and jammed itself under the rim of the boat. The harpoon sailed through the air, missing the Polar-serpents by at least ten metres. But it was right bang on target for Hiccup, and would have hit him splang in the chest if the rope hadn't run out and pulled it to a sharp halt, sending it crashing to the ice with a clang. 'Why are you shooting at me?' howled a sprinting Hiccup. 'Haven't I got enough problems?' The harpoon clattered in front of him, setting off little sprays of snow as it bounced across the ice. 'Oh I see…' panted Hiccup, and he launched himself at the harpoon as it dragged off… But he just missed catching hold of the rope with both hands. 'Great God Thor… ow!… I could do… with some HELP here…' begged Hiccup, his chin in the snow. But it seemed the Great God Thor was

temporarily deaf. The Polar-serpents were closing in for the kill, sending out thunderbolts of flame that only just missed incinerating poor Hiccup. Hiccup scrambled to his feet. The harpoon was way out of reach now, his last hope of getting back on board the boat. The iceberg stretched out flat in front of him. He knew he couldn't outrun the Polar-serpents, who were already gaining on him. To his left there was a gigantic cliff of ice, with an enormous dark Cave at the bottom of it, like the open mouth of a monster. Hiccup ran full tilt into the Cave. The Polar-serpents followed. He could hear their talons clicking and scraping on the ice, and their quick, fast breathing, so close that they were trying to grab hold of the ticking-thing bouncing along behind him, like great cats pouncing on a tasty morsel tied to the end of a string. What's that up ahead? thought Hiccup. Oh Woden the Great and Magnificent, I am begging you, please don't let that be a wall, the finish of the Cave, a dead-end, in which case I really am dead… It was a wall. But as Hiccup ran closer still, he could see it was a rough and craggy wall with nooks and crannies and