I Am Dragonblood: Secret Uncovered {Book Three} (HTTYD Fanfic)

Chapter Three - The Hidden World

They got wet, there's no denying that. The spray from the water pouring down the sides was so thick it was like flying into a thunderstorm head on. Toothless's ears went right down in displeasure and Stormfly kept flicking water drops from her scales, right onto Meatlug beside her. It was eerily quiet in the mist, their wingbeats muffled and quiet growls quashed. They wove down through stalactites of colossal sizes, the gloomy light only revealing them at the last second. Down they went, spiralling, twisting, turning until at last they saw light ahead. They emerged from the murky mist and the Vikings mouths dropped open in astonishment. 
    'Whoa,' they all breathed. 
    Around them was a huge cavern, stalactites reached down to stalagmites, so big they looked like mountains. Waterfalls of varying sizes gushed down from lakes, rainbowed and beautiful. Multicoloured lights lit up the rock, seemingly coming from within the stone itself. They soared through pillars of glowing rock, with nests of luminous eggs perched on them. Plants and mushrooms the size of thrones glowed along sandy coves. They flew through a cloud of fireworms, the small dragons glowing brightly, and Astrid raised her hand to brush them. An exclamation from Fishlegs alerted them to the fact that their dragons were glowing, patterns of all different colours lighting up their scales. 
    'This is amazing,' Hiccup whispered. His inner dragon stirred restlessly, wanting to experience the flight through this awing place. But he quashed the urge to shift, telling himself that there'd be another time. Toothless growled and he looked to his left, seeing a stormcutter race past, then to his right there was a windwalker. He began to notice more dragons, all glowing. Eruptodons, prickleboggles, sand wraiths, rumblehorns, dramillions, gronckles, whispering death, flamewhippers, deathsongs and many more. 'It's a hidden dragon world.'
    'The Hidden World,' Astrid said at almost the same time. 
    'I think I prefer yours,' Hiccup grinned. 
    They landed in a small cove sheltered by giant mushrooms, the strange light reflecting off the water and onto their faces. The sand was soft and there were oddly coloured pebbles strewn about, as if someone had scattered a handful of brightly coloured grain. A flock of fireworms flapped away from their roost on the fungus caps, their glow changing colour as they flew. 
    'We should make a base and map out the area, the more information we have the better. Fishlegs and Meatlug...' Hiccup turned to see that the gronckle had fallen asleep with her legs spread eagled, her small wings drooping to the sand. Beside her Hookfang was snoring, puffs of smoke and even flame coming from his nostrils with each breath. 
    'Let our dragons rest, Hiccup,' Astrid said, putting a hand on his shoulder from behind. 'We've been flying half the day, they've earned their sleep.'
    Hiccup nodded, ashamed that he hadn't thought of that. He could sense Toothless next to him, the tiredness like a cloud around his friend. 'Go rest, bud.' Toothless gave his trademark grin and curled up beside Stormfly, who squawked sleepily. 'I'll keep watch,' the Chief said to his Vikings, to which Fishlegs immediately replied: 'no, I will.'
    'Fishlegs...' 
    'I'm too wired up to sleep, all of you go get some, you need it.' He'd set his mind now, and there was no changing it, Hiccup could tell. Him and his friends went to their dragon companions and either leaned or curled up with them. He leant against the Night Fury and shut his eyes, listening to his friends and the distant and not so distant dragon sounds. Into his mind came the image of the Deathgripper with the strange contraption on its head, the little bottles of green liquid looking ominous. What in Thor's name was that stuff? It was almost certainly that that'd made the dragons mad. Maybe it was Dragon Root? The symptoms were similar, but not the same. With Dragon Root it made the dragons who came in contact with it fight whatever came near them, but these dragons had gone for him and Toothless alone, after they'd shot at it, of course. And who would experiment on them like that? Who would send out a battle ready ship with no one it and bonkers dragons chained to the side? Definitely not Drago, that was for sure. As far as Hiccup knew, the madman had been killed when Toothless and the Berkian dragons had defeated the Alpha. 
    He felt eyes on him and opened his own green ones to meet Fishlegs' blue ones. Hiccup raised an eyebrow and he gestured with a look to his right. Through the glowing plants he could see a pair of blue eyes, the pupils rimmed with red, and a white, newt like head. His eyes widened and he glanced at Fishlegs, the unspoken question; Was this a Fury? Hanging between them. Hiccup got up slowly, his left metal leg squeaking slightly, and approached the dragon. When he got within three yards of it its pupils turned to slits and it whisked away, a white tail momentarily flicking into view. 
    Hiccup blinked. Surely he'd been seeing things. There couldn't be another Fury, and a white one at that. But then, he'd been searching for another Night Fury for years, and maybe this was the end...
    'A Light Fury,' Astrid said from behind him, making him jump. Obviously she'd been watching too. 'You know what this could mean, Hiccup,' she said excitedly. 'Our search could finally be over.'
    'Yeah,' he said, still blinking in surprise. 'Yeah, it could.'

924 words...