Riders of B E R K

Part 69: Dragon Coup

Sixty Nine: Dragon Coup.

He knew he should feel guilty at the exhilaration of being let loose in the Icelandic Archives to finally see the documents he had longed to examine for so long while Astrid just hung around but Hiccup was almost quivering with excitement. He had the access codes to the climate controlled 'Ancient' section and even with his sore leg, he was surging ahead of Fishlegs, who was squealing with excitement. The two young men had geeked out on the taxi ride up and though Astrid had borne it patiently, Hiccup knew she had felt excluded but their frantic exchange of dragon facts and speculating what they would find.

The whole area was clean and spacious, the stacks made of steel and glass, sectioned off to protect the priceless volumes separately. Hiccup and Fishlegs headed for the back and swiped themselves through the sealed glass doors into the Ancient Section, hearing the change as the doors closed and cut out all external noise.

"This is so exciting!" Fishlegs whispered and Hiccup nodded, heading directly to the shelf and pulling on a pair of soft white cloth gloves, before he reverently lifted down a leather-bound volume and placed it gently onto the cushioned table.

"We don't know how long we have and we need to get the scans as soon as possible," he said, pulling out his phone. BERK had modified it with a super-sensitive 40MP camera, IR overlay and enormous memory. Quietly, Fishlegs opened the first page of 'the Chronicle of Dragon's Edge' and he clicked the first scan. Efficiently, Fishlegs gently turned the pages and Hiccup snapped each one, steadfastly ignoring the squeaks and squeals of excitement from the husky rider and powered through. His eyes flicked over ancient and half-obscured runes, writing that had faded-but which was almost clear as day under the infra-red overlay, images of exotic dragons and details of the life of the brave dragon-riding settlers of the isolated outpost. His eyes trailed over a squat lumpy dragon with knobbly hide and tiny eyes...and the word ERUPTODON scrawled beneath. His eyes widened and he almost paused in his work-but he knew this was the most crucial part of the mission so he forced Fishlegs to turn the page and continued snapping each image until they reached the back cover.

"Is that it?" the husky rider asked in disappointment and Hiccup sighed, rubbing his constricted neck. He had been stooped over the book for however long it had taken but he carefully stowed the phone and then shook his head.

"No," he said with a small smile. "Now we have a chance to have a proper look-starting with the Eruptodon..." Fishlegs's eyes grew rounder.

"You mean the lava-eating large Boulder-class dragon on page 33?" he asked and Hiccup stared at him.

"Huh. And Astrid calls me a dork sometimes," he commented with a twinkle in his eyes. "You, my friend, are a total Dragon geek!" And then he grinned. "But I want a closer look because it may explain something..."

And then the entire room shuddered and the two men slammed to the floor as cracks appeared in the roof and plaster dust showered down in them. Fishlegs stared up in shock and cringed under the table.

"What's happening?" he yelped and Hiccup looked up, feeling rather than hearing the boom of an explosion and he glanced up at the roof. The crack had widened and part of the roof was starting to drop.

"Dragon attack!" he realised and his head snapped round. "Fish-get the door. We need to get out of here. This place is going down!" The room juddered again and the creak of the roof grew louder as Fishlegs sped to the door and swiped his card. And again. But nothing happened.

"Door's stuck!" he cried in a panic. Hiccup peered up and shifted position.

"Get the panel off," he said firmly, fumbling under his shirt and finding the small tool pouch around his wrist that he had copied from his flight suit. And then he flung himself across the gap as a few fragments of the roof began to fall. There was another impact and the whole room shook-and then one of the stacks fell over, priceless manuscripts spilling to ruin on the floor amid steel and shattered glass. Determinedly, the auburn-haired rider unscrewed the contacts, checked the mechanism and then, with a prayer, he touched the wires-and the door hissed open. In an instant, Fishlegs shot out-but Hiccup glanced back and saw the book.