11 Riproarers and Electricstickys

11. RIPROARERS AND ELECTRICSTICKYS In the desperation of the moment, an idea popped into Hiccup's mind. Why hadn't the witch taken away the King's Things from him when she had the chance? Because she knew he was going to need them down here… He took the ticking-thing out of his pocket. There were numerous arrows on the face of the ticking-thing. One told the time. Another predicted latitude. Another always pointed north. And then there were various arrows that seemed to have no function at all, as far as Hiccup had been able to work out. And there it was. On one fat arrow that he had assumed was purely decorative, there was scratched a tiny little crown. A crown surrounded by tiny flames… 'Look! Fishlegs! The Crown!' panted Hiccup. 'Grimbeard's ticking-thing can show us the way to the Crown in the Fire Pit!'

Fishlegs opened a weary eye. Horrorcow relaxed her talons a second, and mooed approvingly. 'Luck is on our side, do you see, Fishlegs!' A tiny dim light of hope arose within Fishlegs and he staggered to his feet. Somehow Hiccup and Camicazi supported him between them and carried on skating, dragging Flashburn, as the scruffle scruffle of feet came closer, and the panting grew louder. DOWN the tunnels they slid, a shambolic crew indeed. The Riproarers were gaining, gaining and beginning to howl as the four of them swerved round a corner. They entered a large cavern, and they were just skating through it when Toothless's sharp eyes spotted something, and he squeaked, 'L-l-l-look!' Over to the right of the cave floor was a neat rectangular hole, cut into the floor by human hand, for nature could not cut those lines so straight. 'DOWN!' ordered

Hiccup, and one, two, three DOWN the hole jumped Fishlegs, Camicazi, Flashburn, and then last of all Hiccup, holding his rectangular shield above his head. Just as he leapt down the hole he had a stomach- melting sight of the first four Riproarers screaming round the corner, jaws a-gape before he slipped through the gap and… CLANG! The shield covered the hole completely. It was as if the hole had been cut for the shield. And maybe it HAD, long, long ago… Hiccup hung from the straps, swinging. There was a three-foot drop to the floor. 'Let go!' Camicazi shouted up. 'No!' shouted Hiccup. 'They'll follow us!' SCRITTCHHH! SCCRRITCH! They heard the spine-curling jangle of knife- sharp claws landing on the metal of the shield above. CLANG! A great dent was punched into the shield as the full force of a Riproarer body landed on it, and the middle section of the metal was inches away from Hiccup's face… Oh for Thor's sake…

SCRUFFLE SCRUFFLE SCRUFFLE as paws and talons picked at the edge of the shield… Any second now and they would get a good grip and lift the entire shield out of the hole, Hiccup and all… One talon got right through under the shield and heaved it upwards…

'CAMICAZI!' screamed Hiccup, as he felt himself being pulled upwards. 'GRAB AN ELECTRICSTICKY AND THROW IT AT THE SHIELD!' The shield lifted further, and Hiccup was staring into the repellent face of the Riproarer, the stuff of nightmares, black frothing slobber foaming at the mouth, red-veined eyes quivering, its hot, indescribably stinking and repellent breath scalding Hiccup's cheeks. 'AAAARRRRGHHHHHHHH!' screamed Hiccup as the final heave took him up into the gap and the mouth opened for the bite… …and in the very splinter of time… SPLAT!!!!!!!!!!!! With a gorgeously squelchy squishing noise the Electricsticky landed on the shield, stuck there quivering, and the entire shield became electrified. The Riproarer gave a horrified scream and jumped back as if bitten simultaneously by a hive full of hornets. The shield clanged back into place, Hiccup swinging violently from the leather straps, as… SPLAT! SPLAT! Camicazi threw two more of the Electricstickys

on to the shield. She was wearing her burglary gloves, so they didn't give HER an electric shock, and of course Camicazi was expert at throwing pretty much anything. As Hiccup dropped to the ground she grinned from ear to ear for the first time since they had been in the dungeon. 'Genius!' she crowed. 'Now you really are a genius, Hiccup! You see… we're going to do it! It's a sign from fate that we're going to make it…' 'Don't count your chickens...' panted Hiccup, thoroughly rattled from his close-up with the Riproarer. Camicazi hadn't looked into its mad staring eyes, and seen how close they had been to being torn to pieces. 'And don't forget that if we want to see daylight again, we have to go back up there and face them. They'll wait for us… Trust me, they'll wait for us…' 'But the blonde pipsqueak is right,' panted Flashburn. 'This is extraordinary. Twenty years I've searched these tunnels, and I've never seen that hole before. This is a part of the maze that I've never been down.' 'That was TOOTHLESS who saw that!' crowed Toothless.