The Lucky 13 sinks into an underwater cavern with the crew trapped in a shrinking air pocket. Hiccup sends Toothless to find a way out, then swims through darkness into a glowing cavern filled with phosphorescent squid creatures and fossilized dragon skeletons, including a rare Boring Slitherfang.
Chapters
Chapter 17: How Bad Could This Day Get? The ceiling was definitely nearer to their heads than it had been a few minutes ago. It was now just a few inches above the horns of Hiccup's helmet. There was silence for a second. Alvin's mad eyes swam back into focus again. The only thing that mattered more than— more to him Than the treasure was the preservation of Hiccup found everyday life rather a trial, but was always good in a crisis. Right, he said. Toothless, I want you to swim out from under this boat and see whether you think we're too far to swim to the surface now. He added as Toothless seemed to be taking his time about it. Okay, okay, grumbled Toothless.
Keep your horns on!
The little dragon dived underneath the water and disappeared. He left the Vikings in nearly total darkness, for without the friendly light of his glowing eyes, it was almost impossible to see. There was an eerie silence apart from the lapping of the water against the sides of the boat and a faint rushing noise. While Hiccup was sure was the sound of the air leaving the air pocket like a leaking— And indeed, after 5 minutes the air pocket had reduced so much that Hiccup's head was squashed against the wooden ceiling of the Lucky 13, and he had to remove his helmet. Alvin was panicking. Where is that wretched reptile? he hissed, and then choked The wretched reptile! scolded Fishlegs, as terrified as Alvin but bravely trying not to show it. Is trying to save your wretched life! 5 minutes more and they had to turn their heads in order to keep their nostrils clear of the water. If Toothless takes any longer, thought Hiccup, we're going to drown here in this blackness. Two lights flickered in the dark below him. It was Toothless, swimming up towards them in the nick of time. Okay, said Toothless.
Surface too far away for humans, but there's a cave thingy. Follow Toothless.
Just hang on to me, fish legs, and kick.
Like crazy!
Ordered Hiccup, because of course Fishlegs could not swim. Hiccup took a huge breath just before the sea swallowed up the last remains of that air pocket and dived after Toothless. He had to swim underneath the rim of the boat, which was resting on some large rocks on the bottom. He swam out in total darkness. Which was very confusing. A little way above him, he could see that Toothless was swimming towards a small hole in the cliff with light shining out of it. Trying to ignore the panicky feeling of his breath running out and hampered by Fishlegs gripping onto one leg, he swam as fast as he could towards the hole. Once he had swum into it, He shot upwards through a small tunnel and surfaced in a huge pool of water at the bottom of a gigantic underground cavern, gasping for air. A second or so later, Alvin emerged to lie in the water beside Hiccup and Fishlegs. The cavern was huge, and surprisingly light considering it was Far underground. The eerie green light seemed to be given off by electric squirms, a tiny dragon-like creature that glows with phosphorescence. Water washed down the walls and dripped from the ceiling. Hiccup was so relieved to still be alive and in the air again that this tomb of a cavern initially seemed like home. It was a while before his scared brain could focus on the fact that they weren't safe yet. Right, said Fishlegs, trying not to panic and wriggling out of his breeches and flapping his arms to get dry. How are we gonna get out of here? The cavern had some interesting rock formations, if Hiccup had been in the mood for admiring them. The weird shape of fossilized dragons were caught in the stone. Some of them were very unusual extinct species. However, even the discovery of an entire skeleton of the Boring Slitherfang, so rare that it was often thought never to have existed, failed to excite Hiccup as it might have done in other circumstances.
