21 A Story from the Past

21. A STORY FROM THE PAST The Deadly Shadow was lying very still. The first head looked up, though, and spoke to Hiccup, who was working on that dragon-trap quicker than he had ever worked before. 'While we are waiting,' said Innocence, 'let me tell you the story of the necklace you wear around your neck. And then perhaps you can tell it to Fisshlegs if you find him again.' 'He cannot find him again,' said Arrogance flatly. 'The Fishlegs boy is dead.' 'Let him tell the story,' said Patience longingly. 'Tell it… Tell it, Innocence. Tell it one last time… I want to remember.' So Innocence began to speak. Never had a story been told in stranger circumstances, the beautiful three-headed dragon caught in the trap, the red sands and the sense of danger all around. Hiccup working, working, to free the dragon. But in fact the story had a kind of calming influence on Hiccup. It steadied his shivering hands– his hands that needed to be steady to unlock this trap.

The comforting, reverberating echo of Innocence's voice had a relaxing effect, like that of some sort of soothing drug. It was almost as if Innocence was telling the story somewhere safe, by some Viking fireside, and not in a moment of desperate peril, out on the red sands, deep in the territory of the Monster of the Amber Slavelands.

The story of the Lobster Claw Necklace

'Not so long ago we had a human that belonged to us,' began Innocence. 'A human of our very own. Our mistress was a happy young girl,' continued Innocence. 'Half-Murderous, half–Berserk.' 'But you never would have guessed the Berserk bit,' Arrogance interrupted, getting suddenly into the mood of the story. 'She was so kind and gentle.' 'Her name was Termagant,' said Innocence. 'But it didn't suit her. She wasn't what you might call a natural Murderous, and she found the life of a Chieftain's daughter and her fiercely ambitious father, Chief Moody the Murderous, a bit difficult to handle, so she often used to escape from her father's village on my back, and we would come out here to explore the islands. 'This was our secret place. 'We were already a fully-grown riding-dragon when we met her, but with her we felt young again. Even Arrogance. She wasn't like all the other Murderous who beat their riding-dragons and kept them prisoner. Termagant was different. It seemed like she and us were the very same being, as if our

wings were her wings, as if her heart were our heart. 'All was happy when she was growing up– but at that time we did not yet know of the human failing of falling in LOVE. 'Termagant fell in love with a poor wandering fisherman, very handsome, but not the Chieftain's Heir her father would have had her marry. Moody wanted sons of Chiefs with golden axes, not a poor fisherman, however handsome and loveable he was. Worse still, she married her fisherman, despite her father's anger. And worser still than all of that, the sea had its way, and one day her husband's fishing-boat went out in the middle of a storm and sank to the bottom of the ocean.' 'What is it with you humans and love?' growled Arrogance. 'It's a serious design flaw.' 'My mistress was so very very unhappy. Better to have never loved at all, than to shed the tears she shed. The only thing that kept her going was that she was carrying her husband's baby. She would lie, curled up on the windowsill of her father's house, with her head upon my flank, telling me what this dream baby would be like…

'He would be tall and handsome like her husband. He would be a poet like herself. He would be a Hero (of course), but not a boor like her father– he would be brave and fearless and yet kind to animals. Oh such dreams she had for that baby! 'But dreams and reality can be different, and most unfortunately when the baby was born, it turned out to be what the humans call a "runt". 'There's a saying that you humans have, what is it?' 'Only the strong can belong?' said Hiccup through white lips, fiddling with the locks on the dragon-trap. 'Throw out the freak or the Tribe will be weak? It kind of varies from Tribe to Tribe…' 'That's it,' said Innocence. 'I never will understand you humans. 'Well, Moody the Murderous was most hopping mad. He said it was a sign that Fate disapproved of her marriage. 'He told her he would have to put the baby in a lobster pot and set it out to sea, according to tradition, and the gods would see whether it lived or