17 The Beast

17. THE BEAST Hiccup plunged down from the broken cage… …and was caught mid-air by the unfeasibly large hand of the Dragon Monster, snatching him out of the ether as Hiccup had seen smaller dragons do with bluebottles. (I am afraid that there is an excellent but rather revolting reason for this. Dragons like to eat their prey alive, a bit like you might prefer a nice juicy plump raspberry to one that has been squashed on the ground.)

The Beast threw Hiccup up into the air again, and threw back his head to catch him in his jaws. The mouth opened up like a big black cave, edged with razor-sharp teeth like stalactites, and Hiccup just had time, as he somersaulted through the air, to shout 'HALT!' in Dragonese, before he fell into the Creature's mouth…

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And the jaws snapped SHUT.

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Absolute blackness, and a heat that burned, and Hiccup was just thinking, as well he might, This really is the end now… …when the Monster reached inside his own mouth, and fished Hiccup out by the end of one talon, ju-u-u-ust before he swallowed. 'HALT!' said Hiccup again, coughing wildly as he hung from the Creature's talon, dripping with the disgusting green goo of the dragon's saliva. The Monster drew Hiccup up to his big yellow eye and took a good look at him. And in between coughs Hiccup took a good look at the Creature too. He could not believe what he saw. It was a Seadragon. And not just any old Seadragon, either. It was an exceptionally rare Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus. Hiccup recognised it because he had met one of them before, a year or so ago, on his very first adventure as a Warrior-in-Training.* What was a Seadragon doing here? The Beast was chained to the ground. He drew great rasping, asthmatic breaths that were painful to hear, and his skin was worn as dry