第一章：战士(9)

Risking his life day after day undoing the dragon- traps the Vikings had been setting for the dragons, and constantly running away from the humans and the terrifying hunting-dragons of the Dragon Rebellion had really taken it out of him. So there in the moonlight, Hiccup looked like what he was. Afraid, alone. He was dressed from head to toe in a dragonskin fire-suit, ripped and tattered by brambles and branches. He was muddy and dirty, the strain and fear of being hunted showing in the stiffness of his body, and the anxious tic in his eyes. He had a black eye, and he was limping, as was the riding-dragon trotting along beside him. The Windwalker was exhausted, which was why Hiccup wasn’t riding him, and puffing out great wafts of tired steam. Around Hiccup’s head fluttered two tiny hunting-dragons. One very old one, the Wodensfang, with wings all tattered and torn. One very young one, Toothless, a bright grass-green – the naughtiest, most fidgety dragon in the whole of the Archipelago. They were talking together in soft whispers in Dragonese.

‘I’m telling you, Hiccup,’ the Wodensfang was saying in a light quavery voice, ‘your Quest is very simple. ‘You have to find the Dragon Jewel, go to Tomorrow, get yourself crowned King of the Wilderwest, and then the Tomorrow Men will tell you the secret of the Dragon Jewel and you can stop this stupid war, and save the dragons and the humans from extinction.’ ‘Did you s-s-see me?’ squeaked Toothless. ‘Did you see me dive-bombing that Visithug? Wasn’t I clever? Wasn’t I brilliant? Wasn’t I m-marvellous?’