第三章：计划出问题了

龙族反叛军们以使人完全麻木的力量发动攻击，他们以难以忍受的高音吟唱，他们潜水、俯冲、尖叫、发射毒镖、喷出可怕的火焰和震撼的爆炸闪电。
卡米卡琪和鼻涕粗拼命抓住那像失控的雪橇一样倾斜的浮冰，疯狂地在河里顺流直下，向着那些猛扑过来的恐怖东西拼命射击。令人费解的是，飓风龙，那只骑龙，还在酣睡。
下游瀑布的轰鸣声越来越大，变成了一种水汪汪的喧闹声，甚至在夜间的空气中，他们也能看到一股翻腾的水雾在前面的森林上空膨胀起来，就像冒着烟的火山喷出的云。
现在瀑布已经很接近了。再过一个弯，他们就会漂到悬崖边上。小嗝嗝和鱼脚司从几乎隐形的致命影龙背上向那些攻击的龙射击，场面陷入混乱。但那些龙如此之多，几分钟后它们就会压倒冰筏。
NE-OOOOW！又一只刀翼龙从河边岩石上跳了下来，带着贪婪邪恶的咧嘴笑和剃刀般的翅膀落在浮冰的另一端，浮冰猛烈地向下倾斜，差点把整个冰筏弄沉。
“这个计划真的出问题了……”卡米卡琪悄声说，此时，刀翼龙准备跳起、切割，然后——砰！

浮冰撞在岩石上，撞成碎片……
卡米卡琪，鼻涕粗，刀翼龙和飓风龙被弹射进冰冷刺骨的河水中。
极度冰冷的河水终于弄醒了那只飓风龙。随着一声惊叫，这只可怜的生物游了起来，试图在混乱的汹涌急流中展开它湿漉漉的翅膀。
鼻涕粗还被一根长长的链子拴在飓风龙身上，所以他被拖在那条惊慌的骑龙身后，在水中扑通扑通，差点被淹死。
鱼脚司像个邋遢的稻草人一样，勇敢地从致命影龙跳到风行者的背上，这样他就可以试图抓住卡米卡琪。
小嗝嗝催促着致命影龙，而风行者则带着鱼脚司飞过呼啸的刀翼龙飞镖，飞向在河里漂浮着的卡米卡琪那金发脑袋。
“俯冲，影龙！俯冲！”小嗝嗝喊道。
三头致命影龙俯冲而下…
…但错过了，一股狂躁的巨浪把卡米卡琪从将要抓住她的龙爪子中冲开。
ROOOOOOOARRR !
成千上万吨的河水倾泻成瀑布的声音是绝对可怕的，而且那声音现在就在他们下面了。
河水在轰隆隆的喧嚣中冲过悬崖边缘。

就在卡米卡琪被河水冲走的前一秒，她用一只小猴子手抓住了悬挂在致命影龙下的绳子，从涛涛河水中被救了出来。
但是，飓风龙猛地下沉，直直坠落，如果飓风龙没有及时地把翅膀拖出水面，鼻涕粗和那条龙将会砸死在下面的那些石头上。呼啸着，飓风龙直冲而上，把鼻涕粗猛地拉在身后。
鱼脚司让风行者飞到悬挂着的卡米卡琪下面，她在半空中落到风行者的背上。然后他让风行者飞到飓风龙旁边，卡米卡琪跳到飓风龙的背上，这样她就可以把拉起悬在链子上的鼻涕粗，把他拉到龙鞍上。
三只龙这时调转方向，致命影龙朝上游山里的藏身处直奔而去，紧跟着的是风行者、喷着鼻息的可怕飓风龙，以及一群咆哮着的凶猛龙族反叛军，它们疯狂地发射飞镖进行攻击，感觉到有一顿美餐即将到来。
他们没多少时间来脱离危险了。
这时，小嗝嗝听到一种让他毛骨悚然的声音。
那声音比瀑布声更糟糕。那是一种来自远方狂吠的尖声嚎叫，那必定是可怕的红怒吟诵。
那是恶龙Furious的怒吼。

龙族反叛军中一定有龙已经飞到他在北方的大本营，并且唤醒了他。即使隔着这么远的距离，小嗝嗝也听看出来：
“他永远也不能长大！我会找到他！我必从天而降，将他消灭！”
恶龙Furious中的“他”指的是小嗝嗝。
在遥远的北方，在那冰与火之间，那些沸腾的火山水潭中，升起了一个黑色矩形物体，大得难以形容，遮住了月亮。它那巨大的黑色翅膀每扇一下，就会带着它以惊人的速度穿越一片广阔的土地，向南方飞去，在凶残族群山中直奔他们而去，它的眼球喷出火焰，它的大嘴叫喊着厮杀和屠宰，以及一切可怕的东西。
“我们必须回到藏身处，快！”小嗝嗝歇斯底里地喊道。
龙族反叛军的龙如此之多，看上去像一团巨大的雷雨云，又像是一场蝗灾，来势汹汹。
他们飞得如此之近，以至于刀翼龙偶尔会把飞在他们旁边的龙的脑袋割下来，长着鳞片的脑袋随机掉落到峡谷里，仍在尖叫着，射出火、闪电或毒箭。
小嗝嗝让致命影龙控制方向，而他则像一个尾部炮手一样仰面躺着，不停地向追杀的龙族反叛军射箭，试图确保自己不会意外击中风行者上的鱼脚司，或是飓风龙上的鼻涕粗和卡米卡琪。

飞行条件异常恶劣：变幻莫测的大雾，蜿蜒曲折的峡谷，还有从雾中意外出现的细长针状怪石。那些岩石就像是在空中极速喷射。
幸运的是，风行者、致命影龙和飓风龙都是野蛮世界中速度最快的骑龙之中的几种——只是银色魅影飞得更快些——所以他们刚好飞在追逐着他们的龙族反叛军的尖叫、咆哮和恐怖前面。小嗝嗝努力不去听在那些龙后面更深沉、更黑暗的威胁，还有恶龙Furious那巨大翅膀的轮廓，他那凶猛的吼声甚至比红怒更加响亮。Furious飞得越来越近，像一只夜行大猫头鹰，扑向几只不小心离开老鼠洞一下子的小老鼠。
“我会把世界撕成碎片去寻找他！我要亲手杀了他！”
风行者和致命影龙如释重负地转过一个角落，小嗝嗝看到一个巨大的岩石刺突从雾中显现出来，就在他们的正前方。
顶峰的尖尖上，周围的风景令人叹为观止，有一棵树在山顶上摇摇欲坠，几乎要掉落下来。这棵树盘根错节的根茎下，有一个十分秘密，十分隐藏的树屋，只有六个还活在世上的人知道这里的存在。

背叛者阿尔文会不惜一切代价想知道那个地下树屋在哪里。恶龙Furious也让他的龙不分昼夜地到处寻找它。
这里曾经是鱼脚司的母亲——悍妇——很久以前的地下藏身处，当她还是个小女孩在凶残族山脉长大的时候。那条致命影龙，原本是悍妇的龙，带着他们去到那个地下树屋。小嗝嗝和他的朋友们一直在那里等着在审判日前夕与龙印团的成员们会面。
见到藏身处，小嗝嗝从未像现在这样高兴过。
他勒紧缰绳，让致命影龙在空中急速停下。
“把其他人带到地下树屋去，我来拖住龙族反叛军！”小嗝嗝在风行者的背部飞驰而过时对鱼脚司喊道。天知道在他那种速度下鱼脚司听懂了多少。
飓风龙在疯狂的恐惧中飞快地跟着鱼脚司。小嗝嗝给自己壮壮胆。他在致命影龙的背上放了六支箭，并用颤抖的手指将其中一支搭在弓上。小嗝嗝有着致命影龙的隐形优势，所以龙族叛军的龙不会知道他的箭会从哪里射出。
时机就是一切。
第一只龙族反叛军的龙直冲直下，小嗝嗝射出第一支、第二支、第三支、第四支、第五支、第六支箭。

随着一声惊恐的尖叫，第一条龙，一只刀翼龙被击中了。他失控地落在龙群中，然后坠落到峡谷里。一个短暂的、那条被击中的龙尖叫着的困惑时刻。但那也够了。当龙群恢复过来，集中回他们的注意力时，他们的猎物消失了。
风行者、飓风龙和他们的骑手已经到达地下树屋的入口消失不见了，而龙族反叛军们愤怒地流着口水，他们没有看见小嗝嗝盘旋在离他们仅仅只有20英尺的致命影龙背上，那条影龙直立起来让他的骑手隐藏着。刀翼龙在空中飞来飞去，互相吠叫着，最后向峡谷深处出发，它们觉得猎物一定去了那里。
小嗝嗝再次喘过气来。
然后坏事发生了。
3. PLAN GOING WRONG 
The dragons of the Dragon Rebellion attacked with full mind-numbing force, their chant at an unbearable pitch, diving, swooping, shrieking, shooting poison darts, and terrible fire, and shocking bolts of exploding lightning. 

Camicazi and Snotlout fired arrows at the swooping horrors as they clung desperately to the tilting island of ice, bucking and speeding madly down the river like an out of control sleigh ride. Inexplicably, Hurricane, the riding-dragon, was still fast asleep. 
The roar of the waterfall downstream got louder and louder, growing into a great watery din of noise, and even in the night air they could see a billowing mist of spray swelling up above the forest ahead, like clouds from a smoking volcano. 

The waterfall was very close now. One more bend and they would be rocketing over the edge. 
Hiccup and Fishlegs caused chaos and confusion by shooting at the attacking dragons from the back of the all-but-invisible Deadly Shadow. But the dragons were attacking in such nightmare numbers that it would be mere minutes before they overwhelmed the raft. 
NE-OOOOW! Another Razorwing leapt from the rocky riverbank, and landed with an evil vulture grin and a scrape of razored wings on the other end of the ice-island, tipping it downwards so violently that it was practically submerged. 

‘This plan’s going really wrong…’ whispered Camicazi as the Razorwing prepared to leap and slice and— BAM! 
The bucking, jostling island of ice slammed into a rock and shattered into pieces…
catapulting Camicazi, Snotlout, the Razorwing and the Hurricane into the numbing cold of the river. 
The freezing shock of the water woke the Hurricane at last. With a screech of alarm the poor creature started swimming, trying to disentangle its wet wings in the chaos of the raging rapids.

Snotlout was still attached to Hurricane by a long chain, and so he was dragged behind the panicking riding-dragon, buffeted over and over, and half-drowned by the water. 
Like an untidy scarecrow, Fishlegs valiantly jumped from the Deadly Shadow on to Windwalker’s back so that he could help try and catch Camicazi. Hiccup urged the Deadly Shadow on, and Fishlegs flew Windwalker down through the hail of Razorwing darts towards the blonde head of Camicazi bobbing in the river. 

‘DOWN, SHADOW! DOWN!’ Hiccup shouted. 
The triple-headed Deadly Shadow swooped… 
… and missed, as a manic surge of water swept Camicazi out of the dragon’s reaching talons. 
ROOOOOOOARRR! 
The sound of thousands and thousands of tons of gushing river water tumbling into a waterfall was absolutely terrifying, and it was just below them now. 
The river rushed over the edge in a flooding, crashing tumult. 

Just the second before she was swept over, Camicazi got one little monkey hand around the rope dangling from the Deadly Shadow above and was lifted clear of the deluge. 
But the Hurricane went plunging over, plummeting downwards, and Snotlout and Hurricane would have crashed to their deaths on the rocks below if the Hurricane had not dragged its wings out of the water in the nick of time. Screaming, the Hurricane soared upwards, yanking Snotlout with him. 

Fishlegs steered Windwalker beneath the dangling Camicazi, and she dropped on to Windwalker’s back in mid-air. He then flew Windwalker alongside the Hurricane, and Camicazi jumped across on to the Hurricane’s back so that she could heave the dangling Snotlout up on the chains and into the saddle. 
The three dragons now wheeled about, and the Deadly Shadow shot back upriver towards the hideout in the mountains, closely followed by Windwalker, and the terrified snorting Hurricane, and a pack of howling, murderous Dragon Rebellion dragons, driven mad by the arrow attack and sensing a meal on the horizon.

They didn’t have long to get back to safety. 
And now Hiccup heard a sound that really chilled his blood. 
This was far worse than a mere waterfall. It was a distant, screaming, baying bawl, the inevitable result of the awful chant of the Red-Rage. 
It was the roar of the Dragon Furious. 
One of the Dragon Rebellion dragons must have flown up to his stronghold in the north, and awoken him. Even at this distance Hiccup could just make out the words: 

‘HE MUST NEVER GROW UP! I WILL HUNT HIM DOWN! I WILL SWOOP FROM THE HEAVENS AND OBLITERATE HIM!’ 
By ‘him’ the Dragon Furious was referring to Hiccup. 
Far away to the north, out of that ice and that fire, those volcanic bubbling pools, there rose a dark shape so unimaginably large that it blotted out the moon. Each beat of its immense dark wings took it across a vast extent of territory at astonishing speed as it headed south, straight towards them in the Murderous Mountains, its eyeballs leaking fire, and its great mouth screaming murder and butchery and everything awful.

‘We need to make it back to the hideout, now!’ Hiccup yelled hysterically. 
There were so many dragons of the Dragon Rebellion that they looked like a mass of thunderclouds, or a plague of locusts, thousands and thousands and thousands strong. 
They were flying so close to one another that every now and then the Razorwings accidentally sliced the head off any dragons flying next to them, and scaly heads dropped randomly into the gorge, still screaming and shooting fire or lightning or poison arrows.

Hiccup let the Deadly Shadow steer while he lay backwards on his tummy like a rear-gunner, firing arrows continuously at the pursuing Dragon Rebellion, trying to make sure he didn’t accidentally hit Fishlegs on Windwalker, or Snotlout and Camicazi on the Hurricane. 
The flying conditions were extraordinarily difficult: the shifting fog, the zig-zagging, twisting gorge, and spindly needle-like rock-formations looming up unexpectedly out of the mist. It was a little like shooting rapids in the air. 

Luckily Windwalker, the Deadly Shadow and the Hurricane were some of the fastest riding-dragons in the Barbaric World – only a Silver Phantom flies faster – so they just about kept ahead of the screaming, spitting, howling horror of the Dragon Rebellion in pursuit. Hiccup tried not to listen to the deeper, darker threat in the background, the great winged shape of the Dragon Furious, whose ferocious bellow was even louder than the Red-Rage. Furious sailed nearer and nearer, like a great hunting owl of the night-time, swooping down on some little mice who have incautiously left their mousehole for a second. 

‘I WILL TEAR THE WORLD APART IN THE HUNT FOR HIM! I WILL KILL HIM MYSELF!’
Windwalker and the Deadly Shadow rounded a corner and with passionate relief, Hiccup saw a gigantic spur of rock looming out of the fog, right in front of them. 
High up on a pointed pinnacle, with a breathtaking view over the entire surrounding landscape, there was a tree balanced so precariously on a cliff-top that it was almost in the act of falling off. And beneath the tangled roots of this tree, there was the underground treehouse camp so secret, and so well hidden, there were barely half a dozen beings alive in the world that were aware of its existence. 

Alvin the Treacherous would have given his very best hook to know where that underground treehouse was. The Dragon Furious, too, had his dragons hunting high and low for it, day and night. 
It had once been the underground hideout that Fishlegs’s mother, Termagant, had made long ago when she was a little girl growing up in the Murderous Mountains. The Deadly Shadow, who had previously been Termagant’s dragon, had shown it to them, and Hiccup and his friends had been hiding there waiting to meet up with the Dragonmarkers on Doomsday Eve. 

Hiccup had never been so glad to see the hideout. 
He hauled on the reins and brought the Deadly Shadow to a sudden, plunging halt in the air. 
‘Take the others to the underground treehouse and I’ll hold up the Dragon Rebellion!’ Hiccup shouted to Fishlegs as he rocketed past on the back of the Windwalker. Thor knows how much Fishlegs heard at the speed he was going. 
The Hurricane zoomed after Fishlegs on Windwalker in a maddened stream of terror. Hiccup braced himself. He had six arrows lined up on the Deadly Shadow’s back, and he fixed one to his bow with trembling fingers. Hiccup had the advantage of the Deadly Shadow’s invisibility, so that the Dragon Rebellion dragons would not know where his arrows were coming from. 

Timing was everything. 
The first Dragon Rebellion dragons plunged around the corner, and Hiccup let fly one, two, three, four, five, six arrows. 
With a shriek of shock, the first dragon, a Razorwing, was hit. It went spiralling into the pack behind, and then plummeted down into the gorge. There was a brief, squalling moment of confusion. But it was enough. By the time the pack had righted themselves and recovered their concentration, their prey had disappeared. 

Windwalker, the Hurricane and their riders had vanished down the entrance to the underground treehouse, and the Dragon Rebellion, drooling and enraged, could not see Hiccup hovering only twenty feet away from them on the back of the Deadly Shadow, which had reared up to conceal its rider. The Razorwings swam in the air, barking at each other, and eventually set off further down the gorge, where they supposed the prey must have gone. 

Hiccup breathed again. 
And then it happened.