Cloud's Journey: Home

A Crown

"Where is everyone?"

"I can't find them just like that!" Snotlout shouted.

Hookfang dodged through the trees, following the screams up ahead.

There was a blast of red plasma. When the smoke faded, I saw Astrid laying on the ground ahead.

No. I thought. She can't be dead. Images of what she'd done for me whirred in my head.

To my relief, she sat up. Stormfly landed beside her. One of the wild dragons landed with a thud in front of them.

Hookfang stopped and hovered in place.

"Help her!" I cried.

More wild dragons surrounded her.

A piercing shriek echoed off the trees. I searched for the dragon making it. No where in sight, but a flash of blue exploded off the wild dragons, who staggered back. Out of nowhere, Toothless landed in front of Astrid.

"Good job, Bud!" Hiccup praised.

My heart went up into my throat and I grinned.

Toothless was growling harder than I'd ever seen him. He glared at each dragon coming closer. Then he roared and fired at them.

Blast after blast pounded against the thick scales. The enemies under assault screamed. Still more plasma hit them.

"They're backing off!" I exclaimed.

The Night Fury roared in their faces. They roared back. Another bolt of plasma left Toothless' throat and slammed against the rogues. Then another bolt of blue burst against them.

At last, panting, the wild dragons bowed their heads and sighed. Toothless smirked.

Hookfang flew down to land beside Toothless. Astrid was back on Stormfly and the others came flying in on their dragons.

"To find the Dragon's Rock," Hiccup announced, sitting tall. "A dragon's head must save you!"

"All hail Toothless!" I cheered.

"Yay, Toothless!" The Dragon Riders shouted.

"Everyone bless the Night Fury!" Egil praised.

The wild dragons growled. Toothless marched up to them.

They snarled at him, and he snorted back.

"What are they doing?" I asked.

The dragons made gestures, sounds, and facial expressions. They were communicating.

At last, one wild dragon, maybe the alpha, sighed and flew off. Toothless flew off after it.

"Let's go." Astrid said. The rest of us followed.

The wild dragons led the way to a dark swamp in the woods. I shivered in the misty air. Vines hung over the brown green water. Fog floated by. A tiny grey dragon disappeared into some rocks with a squeak.

There was one dry piece off land with a stone in the middle of it. The wild dragons landed there and we did the same.

Everyone dismounted. Hiccup stroked Toothless' face. "Good job, Bud." Toothless purred.

I'd forgotten Bluewing, who crept out of my satchel, his wings shaking. He sent me a glare.

"It wasn't my fault." I told him.

He puffed smoke out of his nostrils and retreated back into the leather bag.

Hiccup walked up to the stone in the center of the island, the rest of crowding behind him. Toothless and the wild dragons surrounded the stone, which had arrows carved into the top. The arrows pointed to a raised stone cork in the center.

A wild dragon scratched at the raised nob of stone. When he stopped, he looked at Toothless and grunted before scratching at it a bit more. Toothless sniffed at it.

"Something must be hidden in this stone." Hiccup said, wrapping his hands around the raised piece. He pulled, then frowned and tugged harder. He grunted with the effort of twisting and tugging, but it didn't budge.

Snotlout pushed him aside. He wrapped a hand around it and tugged. A second later, it slid out with a grating sound. Snotlout sent Hiccup a smirk.

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

The wild dragons shoved their noses forward and sniffed the opening in the stone. They snorted and flew away.

After watching them go, Hiccup leaned over to study the hole. Slowly, he lowered his finger into the hole.

He suddenly yelped and leaped back. I jumped.

There was a cracking sound, and the stone split open into four pieces.

"Woah." The twins murmured.

I inched closer as Hiccup looked inside. He reached down to the bottom and pulled out a scroll.

"We found it!" Fishlegs danced.

"I'll admit i', Lad." Bjorg said. "You do 'ave brains in yer 'ead."

"What does it say?" Astrid asked, walking closer.

Hiccup looked at Bjorg and then opened the scroll. Bjorg leaned over his shoulder to read but Hiccup held up a hand.

"Let me guess," He said. "It starts with 'To find the Dragon's Rock."

Bjorg frowned a bit. "Actually, no."

"No?" Astrid asked.

"No. All i' says is 'Find the Fire Key'."

"What?" Snotlout spat.

"What's the Fire Key?" Tuff asked.

"Alright, Lad, put those brains to use."

Hiccup frowned. "The Fire Key... it could be our dragons' fire."

"But how do we use it?" Fishlegs asked.

"There isn't even a clue for this clue!" Snotlout retorted.

"We'll figure it out." I encouraged. I reached into my satchel to pet Bluewing but yanked it back out when he nipped me.

"I 'ave to admit." Egil whispered. "It's only afternoon and we're farther than I could've gotten."

"Hiccup's the best at these sort of things." I boasted.

Astrid looked at me. "He is." She agreed.

"So can we agree that we need dragon fire?" Hiccup asked.

"Let's go with it." Astrid said.

"The problem is," Fishlegs stepped forward. "We don't know what the dragon's fire will open."

"Maybe our dragons will small something smelly," Ruff suggested. "Blast it with fire, and the Dragon's Rock will open up to reveal the treasure."

"Or something." Hiccup muttered.

"Where to look..." I whispered to myself.

Bluewing poked his head out of my satchel and looked at me. He breathed a puff of flame.

What does fire open? I thought. Ice? Paper, wood, leaves? Are we trying to burn something down to find what's behind it?

One thing was for sure, we had discovered the hardest clue yet.