Tuffnutt Thorston
Other than the hole, and the pointed rocks, there wasn't much else to see. They were in another type of cavern, with a single - rather comfortingly - wide ledge, as their only way forward. Which, of course, was made out of -.
"Great, more ice," Snotlout moped.
"Yup," Astrid was annoyed. "Happens when it's really cold out. Hard to imagine, huh?"
"Hey, what's this?" Ruffnut asked, pointing to some etching that was half on the ice wall, and the last part on the stone floor.
"Ruffnut, it's a riddle!" Hiccup congratulated.
"Oooh, what's it read?" Fishlegs asked eagerly.
"Read it aloud, sis!"
Out of the darkness, into the brightness
Go with fear, bravery's no place here
Too heavy, then fast as a dragon you must fly
Too slow, and you just might die
"Well, that's ominous," Tuffnut mentioned.
"How do you know a word like 'impending'?" Astrid was confounded.
"I just so happen to be dating someone . . . really smart," he bragged, as Ska'i blushed.
"Oh great," Snotlout nearly shouted, interrupting the mini lovefest. "We're going to die!" He was immediately met with stern shushes. "Alright, I get it!" He stage-whispered, "I 'could start an avalanche.' You guys keep saying that! But I don't think it's ever really going to happen!"
"He actually might be right." Exclamations of "What?" and "How?" were heard, and Fishelgs continued, "We could be so far in, at this point that any freshly fallen snow will have packed in everything so tight, that if anything, it'd be like one solid block of ice."
Daunting silence. Then Ruffnut echoed Snotlouts' sarcasm, "Well, that sounds great."
"No, no, sister. Think about it. It could be fun!"
"What would be fun about that?" Astrid questioned his sanity.
"We could ride the ice down!"
"How could you ride the ice, when it's coming at you?"
"Look, I don't know, okay! All I know is that it'd be really fun!" His pacing took him out a bit farther than his last few steps, and there was a resounding click. It was so loud, everyone froze in tandem, as it echoed off the walls.
"Did I do that?"
"Uh, what was that?" Ruffnut asked.
"You guys heard that, right?" Snotlout had paranoia running through his voice.
"That sounded too familiar," Hiccup mentioned with suspicion.
"It did," Fishlegs warily agreed. "Like back on the ship, and the black and white doors."
Ska'i was nodding her agreement when a tremoring rumble followed not long after, and they turned as one toward the tunnel exit. They watched, simultaneously frozen in horror, as a sudden rush of cool air blasted them in the face.
"Uh, that's . . . not part of the riddle. Is it?" Ruffnut asked.
"That's exactly the riddle," Fishlegs voice shook.
"Oh, great job, Tuffnut. How much do you weigh?" Snotlout sneered.
"Hey, I didn't know that would happen!" He retorted.
"Are you still yelling?" Astrid yelled.
"Why not? I mean, the damage has already been done!" Ruffnut brought up.
Tuffnut heard Ska'i murmur, "Uh," and pointed a finger at a barreling wave of snow.
"Yeah," Fishlegs stammered. "We should probably follow the riddles' advice and run!"
As everyone obeyed, Tuff realized there wasn't anywhere else to go. There was nothing but the ice path in front of them and a sheer drop into dark emptiness on either side.
Ska'i seemed to have read his mind, for she shouted, "So where are we running to?"
"She's right," Astrid agreed, panting slightly, as she did so. "We can't outrun this forever."
"If we had our dragons, we could fly -," Snotlout mumbled, yet everyone heard.
Angry shouts interrupted his once-again useless suggestion. Astrid threatened, "I swear to Odin, Snotlout, if you bring that up one more time we're down here, I will kill you myself."
"Alright, geez," he grumbled.
"Uh, we still need a solution," Ruff brought up.
"We can't go up," Fishlegs huffed. "And going sideways is impossible, even with a rope."
Tuff watched the snow keeping after them, but a large section of it was also spilling off the sides. Too alarming of an amount, even if they could hang off the sides like Fishlegs said.
"Hiccup," Ska'i spoke up. "Your shield."
Tuff glimpsed a flash of confusion, then the next second, shouted his encouragement. "Alright, gang! Pick up a little more speed, to get in front of the avalanche as much as you can!"
"We're already going full speed!" Ruff complained.
"Then we're all going to pack in as tight as we can, behind my shield," he ignored Ruff.
"What?" Everyone yelled incredulously.
"Hiccup, how is that even going to work?" Astrid doubted.
"Hey, I am open to any other possibilities!"
When no one offered up anything else, he finalized, "Alright then. Now!"
"Here we go," Tuff found himself murmuring, subconsciously reaching out for Ska'i, and she seemed to gravitate toward him, as well. They managed to huddle as close as they could, right before the snow was on top of them.
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