The Great Beyond

Chapter 48: Out of the Frying Pan (Reign)

              My eyes furiously studied the drawing with specs in front of me, occasionally offering suggestions or modifications that came to mind. Hiccup, Fishlegs, and I had been working on the Dragon Blade since the sun came up this morning, trying to figure out how to fix the issue with the fire igniting in the worst weather conditions. The other Riders had taken our patrol shifts, leaving us completely undisturbed as we got deep into our creative and scientific flow.

"Well, by my calculations, Hiccup, for the Dragon Blade to ignite in those kind of wind conditions, it would require— "

"An additional half-jar of Monstrous Nightmare gel," I finished, flashing Fishlegs a brief smile.

"Precisely!" That dorky grin crossed Hiccup's face, and he moved to stand between Fishlegs and I, setting a hand on my arm.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" By this point, the three of us were boiling over with excitement.

"Build a new handle that holds twice as much gel," the three of us answered together.

"Of course! Now, what gauge cylinder should we use?" Fishlegs snatched the charcoal from Hiccup's hand and approached the sketch on the board, allowing Hiccup to fully put an arm around me, providing an always-welcome comfort. "My brain says ten, but my heart says thirteen."

"Well, the issue with thirteen is you're always going to be left with a little bit of useless gel at the bottom," I reasoned. "But ten definitely isn't enough. If you're going to increase the gauge, I'd actually go with fifteen. It eliminates any useless gel, but can also burn through those tough wind conditions."

Hiccup and Fishlegs thought that over for a moment, before Fishlegs wrote the number down on the parchment, taking it as our tentative suggestion.

"You know what?" Fishlegs started to write something else down. "Reign makes a great point with the fifteen gauge. That's what we should go with. My concern in ensuring it stays burning, which is more an issue of the potency of the formula. The only thing I can think of that's more potent than Monstrous Nightmare gel is Changewing acid." That instantly struck up an idea in Hiccup.

"Let's try mixing two parts Monstrous Nightmare gel to one part Changewing acid! Hopefully, that should be the right ratio of ingredients."

"That's ingenious, Hiccup!" I cheered.

"I wouldn't have thought of it if Fishlegs hadn't suggested Changewing acid."

We were about to move on to the final sketches, when the rest of the Riders all speaking caught my attention. Astrid was pointing at a green speck growing closer from the horizon, eventually revealing it was a Terrible Terror headed straight for us. Hiccup removed the scroll from the small dragon's leg, reading over it with brows knit together.

"What is it?" I leaned over Hiccup's shoulder, prompting him to shift the piece of paper over so that I could read what had been written to us. I wasn't exactly sure what I was expecting to read on that note, but something that vague couldn't have been good.

"Urgent message from the Defenders of the Wing," I informed the rest of the group. "Mala needs help."

We all climbed on our dragons, heading for the island that was still pretty new on our routes. Hiccup had to look at the map occasionally, but all of us made it there before it got to be too late. Hiccup ordered all of us to fan out and stay aware, but as we circled around the island and met back up in the center of the village, no one found anything that could be classified as a threat. In fact, the Defenders were cheering as we landed before Mala and Throk and slid off our dragons.