Cressida cowell - How to betray a dragon’s hero

You dont have to read the Hiccup books in order.
But if you want to, this is the right order:

ABOUT HICCUP
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third was
an awesome sword fighter, a dragon-whisperer,
and the greatest Viking Hero that ever lived.
But Hiccups memoirs look back to when
he was a very ordinary boy, and finding
it hard to be a Hero.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is
coincidental.
Text and illustrations copyright 2013 by Cressida Cowell
Cover art 2013 by Red Hansen
Cover design by Kristina Iulo
Cover 2013 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and
electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy
and theft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like to use materials from the book (other
than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at
permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
lb-kids.com
Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
First ebook edition: December 2013
eISBN 978-0-316-33373-3

We have not yet seen Tomorrow. We have not yet
dared go there.
There was once a thriving city on the island of
Tomorrow. The flags of the Wilderwest flew bravely
from the towers of its hundred splendid castles. It was
a city built on the enslavement of men and of dragons
but, like many a city before and after it, it was a
handsome and glorious city nonetheless.
But a century ago, Grimbeard the Ghastly, the
Last King of the Wilderwest, did a truly dreadful thing.
Grimbeards son Hiccup Horrendous Haddock
the Second, with his dragon the Dragon Furious, was
leading a peaceful Dragon Petition to plead with his
father to end the misery of slavery. Grimbeard mistook
the Petition for Rebellion. He killed his very own son

by his very own sword, the Stormblade, and the blood
of his son was spilt on the seat of his very own Throne.
That was the beginning of the Curse upon the
Throne and the island of Tomorrow. The city was
destroyed by the dragon forces that had come at first
in peaceful protest. The hundred splendid castles
were burnt to the ground, and the Dragon Furious
was captured and bound in inescapable chains, in the
depths of a forest prison.
Grimbeard the Ghastly repented of his terrible
crime. He swore that there would never be a King
of the Wilderwest again, unless that King could be
a better man than he was. So Grimbeard created an
Impossible Task. He scattered ten of the Kings Things
to all the four corners of the distant earth.
Those Things would be guarded by monsters and
dragons most terrible. Only a true Hero could gather
the Things together, and lift the Curse and become the
next King of the Wilderwest.
In the unlikely event that there would ever be a
Hero great enough to gather together those Ten Lost
Things, the Hero could then be crowned, but only on
the twelfth day of Doomsday, known as the Doomsday
of Yule, which comes but once a year, and only on
the island of Tomorrow, on the stumps of the Throne

where Grimbeards son had died.
In the meantime, Grimbeard appointed human
and dragon Warriors to be Guardians on the ruined
island fortress of Tomorrow, so fearsome and so
terrible that they can barely be imagined. All will kill on
sight anyone illegally entering their territory.
Now the Archipelago needs a King more than
ever before. For the Dragon Furious has escaped from
that forest prison where Grimbeard the Ghastly once
enslaved him, and the Dragon is carrying out his own
Curse on the humans that he now hates. His intention
is to extinguish the entire human race.
And the Dragon Furious is winning. He has
torched the whole north of the Archipelago. The
humans have been forced to live in hiding-places
underground, for fear of the Dragon.
Nothing can stop the Dragon Furious now.
Nothing except for a new King, for a new King will be
told the secret of the Tenth Lost Thing, the Dragon
Jewel, a jewel that has the power to destroy dragons
forever.
There is only one time in the year that a possible
King is allowed to enter the territory of Tomorrow.
It is on one of the twelve mornings of the Twelve
Days of Doomsday.

Today it is midwinter, and the morning of the
ninth day of Doomsday.
Here he is now, the extraordinarily tall figure of a
lone Ferryman, rowing across from the dreadful island
of Tomorrow, across the little Causeway of Heros
Gap, to the mainland of the Murderous Mountains.
The Ferryman is the Druid Guardian of the island
of Tomorrow. He is blindfolded, and cannot take off
this blindfold until a new King of the Wilderwest is
crowned. The blindfold signifies his role as an impartial
and implacable Judge, and his absolute commitment to
his role as a Druid Guardian. But by some supernatural
agency, he seems able to sense that there is a figure,
with a little band of followers, waiting for him on the
beach. The figure is UG the Uglithug. His hope rises.
At last in the nick of time a Hero come to
claim the Kingdom!
For the Druid Guardian fears that the Dragon
Furious is very close to extinguishing the human race.
The Druid Guardian brings the boat to a
sludgy halt on the Singing Sands of the Beach of the
Ferrymans Gift, and spreads wide his arms, and makes
the declaration, as his father, and his fathers father,
and his fathers fathers father have done every year
before him.

He-Or-She-Who-Would-Be-King, approach
Tomorrow if you dare! Only the One with the Kings
Lost Things can be crowned the King and live
And then he turns to UG the Uglithug, and asks
these solemn words.
Are you He-Who-Would-Be-King?
UG replies, I am.
Are you the chosen representative of all the
Tribes of the Archipelago? asked the Druid Guardian.
UG nods.
Have you brought a gift for the Ferryman? asks
the Druid Guardian.
I have, replies UG the Uglithug.
The Druid Guardian says solemnly, but with
eager hope, Then show me the Things.
UG the Uglithug snaps his fingers to his followers,
and one by one they bring forward the Things.
They are: a fang-free dragon, Grimbeards
second-best sword, the Roman shield, an
arrow-from-the-land-that-does-not-exist, the hearts
stone, the ticking-thing, the key, the Throne, the
Crown, the Dragon Jewel.
UG the Uglithugs followers lay them out on the
beach before the Druid Guardian and retreat. The
Druid Guardian steps forward to examine the Things.

A long, long
time he spends,
picking up each Thing
with his long clever
fingers, taking care to
feel each individual
object from all angles, to
check whether it is right.
And then he steps
backwards. A grim note
enters his voice as he
declares: These Things
are FAKES. The replica
of the toothless dragon is
particularly poor, and it
is unkind of you to
do such a thing to a
defenceless creature.

We will give it a
home on Tomorrow.
( UG the Uglithug has
removed the teeth from a
poor little Trotterdragon in
order to pretend it is the real
toothless dragon from the Prophecy.)