第一章：战士(13)

‘You see,’ said Hiccup, ‘in the human world a “red herring” is another way of saying a false start, or a wrong direction. My knowledge of Grimbeard the Ghastly is that he was a tricky man, and this is his way of saying that the Jewel isn’t in the Slavelands at all. What do you think, Wodensfang?’ The Wodensfang was the only one of the four of them old enough to have actually met Grimbeard the Ghastly, more than one hundred years before. So now he looked back through time to remember that dreadful man, and what that look told him was that Grimbeard was the trickiest trickster since the great trickster god Loki put his Particularly Tricky Hat on. ‘Hmm…

’ said the Wodensfang. It did seem exactly the sort of thing that Grimbeard would do. And suddenly a maze of mirrors seemed an unlikely thing to be finding in Prison Darkheart, which was probably furnished on the basic side. Then the Wodensfang raised a cunning eyebrow. ‘But it could be a double-bluff…’ ‘So,’ said the soft gentle voice of the raggedy Windwalker, ‘if the Dragon Jewel isn’t in the Amber Slavelands, where then exactly is it?’ ‘That’s why it’s not so simple,’ said Hiccup, waving wide his arms. ‘It could be anywhere!’