20 The Ticking-Thing Starts to Tick Louder

20. THE TICKING THING STARTS TO TICK LOUDER Again, I will not weary you with the details of the long journey home, the dragons they saw, the storms they survived, the perils of the crossing, or we would be here for ever. Every day, Hiccup checked the ticking-thing. As they grew closer and closer and closer to home, their hearts were lifting with excitement. But something had begun to worry Hiccup. It was something that Old Wrinkly had said on the beach, on the day of the Inter-Tribal Friendly Swimming Race. He had told Hiccup that he had to be back within three months, five days and six hours. Now, why would Old Wrinkly say that? It may seem obvious to you, dear Reader, for you know all the facts, but it never occurred to any of them that the Race they had been participating in was either particularly important in itself (it was only a Friendly, as far as they were concerned, after all, and there were always Competitions going on in the Archipelago), or that the Race could still be going on all that time later. So Hiccup didn't know why Old Wrinkly would say such a precise time. And it was concerning him,

because according to his reading of the ticking-thing, they had now been gone for three months, four days and thirteen hours, and they were still at least two days' sailing away from the Archipelago. 'I don't know why you're worrying about this,' said Fishlegs, who was in a hugely happy mood now they were nearly home. 'It probably didn't mean anything at all. You know Old Wrinkly, he's not that great a soothsayer, and he's sometimes a bit batty.' 'But what if it did mean something?' insisted Hiccup. 'What if Old Wrinkly had seen what was going to happen to us… he knew we weren't going to come back that day, didn't he? And look, we're nearly coming in at exactly the time he said, it's just that we're going to be a bit late, and he particularly told me not to be late…' The next day, Hiccup was even more worried, and the ticking-thing began to tick louder, as Old Wrinkly had said it would. TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK. 'Look!' said Hiccup anxiously. 'That means there's only six hours left, and even though it's a very windy day, we're at least…' he checked the ticking- thing, 'TWENTY-FOUR-hours' sailing distance away… we're going to be late!'

'Late for what?' asked Fishlegs in exasperation. 'There's nothing we can do about it, anyway, and Old Wrinkly probably didn't mean anything when he said it.' Hiccup fiddled and fiddled with the ticking-thing as he worried, and the back of it fell open, and for the first time he noticed, along with the little delicate moving wheels on the inside, there was a tiny little inscription. Two letters. G.G. Hiccup's heart beat a little quicker, for he had seen those letters before, and he knew what they stood for. Grimbeard the Ghastly. Hiccup had assumed that this ticking-thing had been made by Norbert's father, Bigjob, and he had always felt a little guilty about stealing it from Norbert. But it seemed that Bigjob had perhaps stolen it himself. For this ticking-thing, surely, belonged to the Heir of Grimbeard the Ghastly, and the Heir to Grimbeard the Ghastly was… …Hiccup. And now he was absolutely sure that there was a precise reason for the time that Old Wrinkly had given him. He did not yet know what the reason was, but

he was certain that somehow there was some kind of pattern to it that he did not yet understand. Some way in which everything interconnected, like the little tiny wheels revolving in the instrument in front of him. Six hours. TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK went the ticking-thing, a little louder still. They were never going to get there in six hours… by boat. Hiccup looked up and his eye caught Norbert's defective Flying Machine, salvaged from the sea by the prudent Wanderers, and now lashed to the figurehead of one of the other Wanderer boats. There was a very strong wind today. Hiccup knew from the time that he had spent in a Roman Observation Balloon (it's a long story, don't ask)* that flying was much quicker than sailing. If only that Flying Machine actually WORKED. Fishlegs saw what Hiccup was looking at, and guessed what he was thinking. 'Oh no, Hiccup, oh, seriously, you have got to be JOKING! Remember how many times they tried that thing out on the journey? And how many times it fell out of the sky like a stone? That Flying Machine doesn't work.'

'We thought the Stop-the-Boat-from-Sinkingand-Scare-Away-the-Big-Sea-Creatures Machine didn't work, didn't we?' Hiccup pointed out. 'And we were wrong.' 'But we're so close now… so close… and so ALIVE which is the important thing,' gasped Fishlegs. 'what is the POINT of risking it all right now, after all that we've been through, when we're so very nearly there? No, I'm putting my foot down this time, Hiccup, I can't let you do it…' TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCKTICK-TOCK went the ticking-thing.