15 A Big Thank You to the Hysteric Tribe

15. A BIG THANK YOU TO THE HYSTERIC TRIBE Quick as winking, as the witch wailed and clutched her eyes, Hiccup reached to the floor and picked the key up. 'Keep your eyes open, Toothless!' yelled Hiccup, and he ran to the ladder. Of course, it could have been any old key. The key to Stoick's weapons cupboard, or the Dragon Stables, or the big chest under Stoick's bed where he kept his sword and other valuables. But in that flash of light, Hiccup remembered where Toothless had been when he swallowed this particular key. It had been in the Great Hall of Norbert the Nutjob.* *Please read How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse. The Nutjobs of Hysteria were the dreamers and inventors of the Archipelago. If I were going to build myself a great prison on Berserk, thought Hiccup, who would I get to build it for me?

A Hysteric, that's who. So Hiccup grabbed the key, and scrambled up the shredded rags of the shaking, quaking rope ladder, Toothless clinging to his shoulders, still half asleep and whimpering. And wailing like a siren, the blind witch followed. Babbling with fear, Hiccup reached the top of the ladder, and with trembling fingers tore the key from the magic stone. The witch was hard behind him now, screaming a high weird scream. Hiccup fitted the key inside the lock of the barred door. Bony fingers closed around his ankle. The key turned, the door opened. And the full moon shone on the witch's face. She screeched again, crumpling before that light like a folding piece of paper, and with one kick of his ankle, Hiccup shook her off and back down into the darkness, and himself up and into the moonlight, and heaved the door shut BANG! CRASH! and SHUT… HER… IN.

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Hiccup threw his body against the door as if to make absolutely sure it was totally shut. He stood there, panting, spread-eagled like a starfish, and gasping for air, great precious lungfuls of sweet moonlit air. Oh thank Thor. Oh thank Thor. Hiccup listened, and no sound was coming from below. Pure silence. The witch must be dead. Alvin's Mother… He couldn't really comprehend what had just happened. It explained everything. He remembered once when his grandfather, old Wrinkly, had told him that the greater the Hero, the more obstacles they had before them. Old Wrinkly called it 'becoming a Hero the Hard Way'. And Hiccup hadn't believed him. But now he knew who he was. And he knew there was a chance that this Prophecy about the King of the Wilderwest might be referring to him, small, skinny Hiccup, the runt of the Hooligan Tribe. But now it was all too much. He wanted to forget the whole thing.

And with the witch dead, nobody but he knew about the Prophecy. And he certainly wasn't going to tell anyone. For a moment Hiccup let himself enjoy the glorious triumph of defeating the witch. Before remembering that Camicazi was still locked up somewhere in this forest. How was he going to find her? And then, the terrible, thumping, tattoo of his heart reminded him that Fishlegs and Humongous were about to be fed to the Beast in baskets in some horrible Ceremony of Human Sacrifice… Toothless crawled up on to his chest and gave a great yawn, showing his little forked tongue. He had finally woken up, and he didn't have any idea of the drama that had just happened. 'Oooh,' said Toothless happily. 'That nap made Toothless feel much much better.' He gave a satisfied little stretch. 'Toothless even HUNGRY. So. What are w-w-we doing now? Are we r-r-roosting?' Scarers were beginning to gather around them in thick drifts of butterfly grey, attracted by the fear given off by Hiccup in the fight with the witch. 'We know you're afraaaaid…' they were singing in their little whispery voices. 'You c-a-an't fool u-u-u-us…'

Toothless put his face right up close so his eyes were eyeball-to-eyeball with Hiccup's and his two feet were placed tenderly on either side of Hiccup's face, as the boy stood spread-eagled in front of the door. 'Where are we?' asked Toothless with interest. 'Toothless thinks this may not be a g-g-good place to roost. It's a bit spooky,' said Toothless confidingly. 'H-h-have you noticed?' Hiccup began to laugh, kind of hysterically. 'Yes, Toothless,' said Hiccup. 'I had noticed it was a bit spooky.' 'Sh-sh-shall we go home?' suggested Toothless. 'Yes, let's go home,' said Hiccup. 'But first we have to rescue the others.' Hiccup shoved himself hard against the barred door as if he could trap all that he had learnt in the tree back down there in the darkness with the witch, and NEVER let it out. And then he sheathed his sword, and began to run down the shaking rope bridges, with Toothless following him, squeaking, 'Others? W-w-what others? And why do we care? We're all right…' (dragons can be selfish) before letting out a shrill shriek as he caught sight of his own tummy, 'Aieee! We're not all right! Toothless w-w-wounded!' he squealed.