第十七章：我是否有提到过，过去总有办法赶上现在的？(5)

Now the voices were stern, with an edge of menace. ‘But you did not steal it? You are telling the truth? The boy who owned this necklace is alive?’ Hiccup swallowed. ‘I really, really hope he is, because he is my best friend,’ said Hiccup. At that moment, Hiccup could see Fishlegs so clearly in his head, skinny Fishlegs with his sarcastic sense of humour and his glasses askew. For a moment it was as if he really was standing right there beside them, about to make some remark about the general all-round terrifying-ness of the Deadly Shadow himself. ‘Look at us!’ hissed the heads of the Deadly Shadow. ‘Look at us! Look at us! Look at us!’ The hissing was all around him. The three heads were whirring round him, confusing him, sliding back and forth and in and out of visibility…

They were like a maze of mirrors… Where had he heard that phrase before? Hiccup had trained himself to hold a dragon’s gaze – no easy feat, for a dragon’s gaze is hypnotic. If you hold it too long you find your will bending to theirs, or you are sick or pass out. Certain dragons have a gaze that is almost like
a truth drug, it seems to drag the truth out of you, whether you want it to or not. And of course, triple the eyes, triple the strength. Hiccup forced himself to look into the dragon’s six great glistening eyes, which were now flecked with the reflection of the sky and it was like they were boring right into his head, into his very mind, and wandering around in the mazy passages in there. And then there was a sucking sensation, as if they were dragging the thoughts out of him. Not surprisingly, within seconds Hiccup felt dizzy, then sick – as you would if you had somebody wandering around inside your own brain – until he had to close his eyes before he passed out. The dragon unclosed its fist of sky from around Hiccup’s limp body, and from that of Camicazi. And the hand that was only minutes before squeezing the life out of them, and preparing to kill them, laid them gently, protectively on the sandy grass. ‘What in the name of Thor and Woden and Freya’s ickle pretty plaits is going on?’ wondered Camicazi, trying to get her breath, holding her head and gazing at the Deadly Shadow in awe. ‘I have abso-lutely no idea,’ gasped Hiccup. ‘But it’s something to do with Fishlegs and this lobster