Defenders of Central City, Book 1: Journey to Icestorm Island

Chapter 8 Treasure Hunters

Shannon laid on the ground for a few seconds before she stood up and handed Hiccup the chest. "Wow, that's a great find! I wonder if Skulder knows anything about this." Shannon shrugged. "Only one way to find out." She walked off and Hiccup followed her. Nightshade didn't come with Shannon into the cave. She just sat outside, waiting patently. Please note that Nightshade is not a jealous dragon. Shannon works with other dragons all the time and Nightshade never cares. She just does her own thing. That's one of the many reasons Shannon and Nightshade are a good pair. Skulder noticed Nightshade siting all alone and walked over to her. He sat down, in the snow beside her. She licked his face. He wasn't expecting that to happen. Shannon came out of the cave just as Skulder fell over backwards.

"What did you do to him, Nightshade?" Nightshade just licked her lips with her very long tongue. "She licked my face." Skulder explained as he stood up. Shannon shook her head, smiling. "Dragon slobber. Always makes everything better, doesn't it Hiccup?" Hiccup, who was behind Shannon, nodded. He handed the chest to Skulder so he could examine it. "What a fascinating find!" He exclaimed after he examined it. "You found this in that tunnel you were telling me about?" Shannon nodded. "And you rode a Speed Stinger to find it?" Shannon nodded again. "That's unbelievable! I could never have done that. I'm definitely not that brave!" Shannon blushed. "Clearly it's been in the ice caves for quite some time now considering the fact that its frozen solid." Skulder added, absent mindedly. "So what do we do?" Shannon asked. "Well I would suggest thawing it with your dragons fire but-" "It would risk damaging whatever it inside." Shannon finished his sentence for him.

"What about thawing it in the ice caves?" Hiccup said, thoughtfully. "There are geothermal springs there." Shannon pointed at Hiccup. "Genius!" She took the chest from Skulder and mounted Nightshade. "Wait," Skulder said, walking towards her. "W-would you mind if I tag along?" Shannon smiled. "Not at all, come on." She patted Nightshades back and Skulder slowly climbed onto Nightshade. He had never rode a dragon before. "Lets take it slow, Nightshade" Shannon whispered. "We don't need to traumatize the poor guy."

They flew into the ice caves and down to the springs. "I've come across this amazing thing many times in my travels." Skulder remarked as he unmounted Nightshade. Shannon was surprised he didn't fall off the dragon. A good amount of new dragon riders fall off the dragon when their trying to unmount the dragon, or worse. For example when Snotlout first started riding Hookfang, he could barely fly ten feet in the air with bursting into flames. "Geothermal energy is a renewable energy because it is generated continuously from inside of the Earth's core. Humans have used geothermal energy for warmth since ancient times. Isn't that fascinating?" Skulder looked at Shannon, who had completely zoned out. "Hmm? Oh, yes it's fascinating." Luckily, Skulder didn't seem to notice.

He placed the chest down on the rock. Shannon jumped off Nightshade to get a closer look. She felt the warm steam on her face and gasped. She wasn't expecting it to be that warm. "There." Skulder said, picking up the chest again. "It should be melted enough to open it now. Would you like to do the honors, Shannon?" Shannon shrugged. "Yeah, sure." She took the chest from his hands and found a small stone tablet. On the tablet was what looked like a small colony of puffins, sitting on a cliff. Shannon showed Skulder the tablet. "A Stone tablet! This is fascinating!" He exclaimed. "It looks pretty ancient. Do you think it might be a clue or something?" Shannon asked. "Most likely. But there's only one way to find out! Have you seen this cliff on your flights with Nightshade before?" Shannon shrugged. "I think. I recognize it a bit but most cliffs look the same." Shannon mounted Nightshade and held out her hand for Skulder. He gingerly took her hand and she pulled him onto Nightshade's back. He got a good grip on Shannon's shoulders and Nightshade flew off.

They flew over the island and that's where they saw it. A colony of puffins, sitting on a cliff. "There!" Shannon yelled over the howling wind. "This must be the spot!" Skulder shouted back. They landed on the cliff and that's when Shannon noticed where they where. Mildew's house. It was right underneath the cliff. "We should ask that fellow that lives in that hut before we dig. We don't want to be rude." Skulder said, quietly. Shannon laughed, sarcastically. "Yeah sure. We're the rude ones." Skulder looked at her in confusion. "Oh, Mildew used to live on Berk. He would do these scams to try and get the dragons off of Berk. One time he succeeded but we got them back." Shannon explained. Skulder nodded. "Ah, I see. So the dragon riders have a history with Mildew. I remember him. He was always complaining about one thing or another. But none the less we still need to ask permission to dig on his property." Shannon sighed. "I guess your right. But I seriously doubt this will work."