I Am Dragonblood: The Grim Beast (Book Four)

Chapter Eighteen - Mushplugs

Hiccup Haddock watched with wide, forest green eyes. In front of him, swirling like a colourful tornado, were dragons flying in a thunderous whistling of wings. It reminded him painfully of his mother's dragon sanctuary, abandoned when Grimmel put the Alpha to death. 
    Grimmel the Grisly, hunter, Dragonblood, challenger and former Alpha. And now controlling the storm of dragons circling him down below the the giant shining white crystal, the eggs that once lay in a circle in the safety of guards protection smashed like chicken eggs under a careless boot. The very centre had taken the most damage, the Fury eggs, so beautiful only a few months ago, lying as sticky messes at the feet of the one tusked Bewilderbeast. 
    ‘He came a few weeks ago.’
    Hiccup spun around, tail sweeping aside pebbles with a clatter. A familiar face peered out from behind a blue glowing mushroom, the light illuminating her face so it looked ghostly. A beckoning hand came along with it. 
    ‘Bolt?’ The Fury hissed. ‘How are you free?’
    ‘What?’ The Dragonblood asked, cupping a hand to her ear. 
    Hiccup crept closer, keeping low and quiet. ‘How are you not being controlled?’
    ‘Wha-? Oh,’ Bolt pulled something that looked vaguely like a spongy stick from her ear. ‘Ear plugs. Stops the Alpha's control. What were you trying to ask?’
    ‘Um, you just answered it,’ he replied, shifting to hybrid form. The constant clicking from the Alpha was doing his head in, but it was bearable. Just. ‘What happened here? Where's Toothless?’
    The Night Terror Dragonblood sat down under the mushroom, leaning on the stem so that it bent a little. ‘All this started about three weeks ago, when Grimmel suddenly turned up down there,’ she nodded towards where the Bewilderbeast was, her dark hair flying into her brown eyes. ‘One of the eggs was hatching so a lot of dragons were gathered there. He took control of them, including Dragonbloods, and smashed the Fury eggs without a care for the others. I managed to get out of there when I saw him, but I couldn't get any of the others away. 
    ‘I found a kind of mushroom that blocks out sound and made these ear plugs with it,’ she held up one of the brownish sticks. ‘I didn't know if to head to Berk and look for you or not, but I didn't want to leave them all. Who knows what he would've done.’
    ‘Nothing pleasant, that's for sure,’ Hiccup muttered darkly.
    ‘Then,’ Bolt continued as if she hadn't heard the Chief. ‘I found Arianwen. She was lying unconscious half in a lake, a bruise discolouring her scales. I had to stay then, to make sure that she was alright and wasn't taken by Grimmel again.’ She sighed and waved a hand towards said Alpha. ‘Toothless is still over there. He's being kept in the middle of the flock so that he can't get out.’
    Hiccup searched the chaos of flying dragons, trying to spot a lithe black shape among the colours. He thought he saw familiar green eyes flash past, but it could have been a trick of the light on shiny scales. 
    ‘Where are these mushrooms you used?’ He asked. ‘If I go back and alert the Dragonbloods who are still on Berk and bring them here, then we could figure something out.’
    Bolt shook her head sadly. ‘The mushrooms are gone, Grimmel sent a dragon to burn them all.’ She pointed to a patch of scorched ground, the faint smell of it reaching their nostrils. ‘I've tried others but they don't work as well, if at all. These are the only mushplugs there are.’
    They both silently gazed at the swirling dragons, thoughts whirling along with the flapping wings. Hiccup saw five Deathgrippers below, lined up near the Bewilderbeast as if they were guarding. 
    ‘What do we do?’ Bolt asked, following his gaze.
    ‘Why aren't they doing anything?’ Hiccup asked with a frown. Surely they should be up with the other dragons, following Grimmel's command. 
    ‘They're controlled by their own venom,’ Bolt replied. ‘The Alpha's call can't effect them when they're like that.’
    ‘Hmm,’ the Fury hybrid murmured. A sudden idea formed in his mind, taking slow shape as the impossibility wore off of it. ‘I'm going back to New Berk to get the others. Where can I meet you and Arianwen when we get here?’
    Bolt scrambled into a crouching position and pointed the way he'd come. ‘There's a cave about five hundred yards to the left of the entrance - right if you're headed towards here. Arianwen is in there now. Probably.’
    Hiccup Shifted to his dragon form with a ripple of energy. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘I'll be back as quickly as I can.’ A single flap of his wings later and he was in the air, surfing low to avoid the line of sight of Grimmel. 
    ‘Please hurry.’ He heard Bolt mutter as she faded from earshot. ‘Squish is in there.’