6 The Witch Excellinor is a Little Annoyed

6. THE WITCH EXCELLINOR IS A LITTLE ANNOYED OH FOR THOR'S SAKE. Hiccup's heart melted within his chest as the witch's hollow eyes looked straight at him. She was like a living skeleton, a shock of hair streaming out behind her, all human kindness dead within her. Twenty years of living in the darkness of a tree trunk had bleached all the light out of her, and she was whiter than a slug, and meaner than a snake, and bowled into a hoop by the prison of the trunk. They were caught red-handed. She had been tearing up the Wilderwest in her hunt for this very same boy for the past six months.

And there Hiccup was, under the table not two feet away from her quivering white nose, frozen in the act of feeding two banned dragons, both of them hovering, petrified, in mid-air. The witch sniffed once, twice. 'Dragons…' she hissed in horror. 'Dragons…' She looked straight at him, and barked like a dog. But the witch was so blind she could barely see a foot in front of her nose. She did not see them. At that distance she could only sense movement. Don't move, Toothless, thought Hiccup, teeth gritted in terror. Don't move… The witch carried on looking at them for what seemed like a lifetime.

And then her long pointed nose, sharp as a knife, sniffed in disgust. 'That's weird,' said the witch dismissively. 'I thought I smelt dragons but it's just Slaves. They smell disgusting.' And scuttle, scuttle, off she bounded, followed by the step TAP, step TAP of Alvin. Thank Thor for the Stinkdragon stink. Shaking with relief, Hiccup stuffed the Wodensfang back into his waistcoat. The wart on the end of his nose fell off and he only just got to it in time because Toothless was about to eat it. Thoroughly rattled, he fastened it back on, put Toothless in his waistcoat with the Wodensfang, and popped back up to the top of the table. The girl with the black hair and the big eyes was now sitting where he had been sitting. Oh dear, those big doom-y eyes were rather alarming, they gave him quite a shock. 'You've been under there for a really long time,' said the girl solemnly. 'Yes, well, I was resting,' said Hiccup, feeling a little desperate. 'My name's Eggingarde,' said the little girl. 'Pleased to meet you, Eggingarde,' said Hiccup,

shaking her hand in a slightly frazzled way. 'Eggingarde, what is this Seeking thing, and how do you get Lost?' 'Us slaves of the Amber Slavelands go out on the Seeking every day,' said Eggingarde. She spoke in a very grown-up way for such a very little girl. 'At the first hint of low tide the bugle sounds and out we go on to the red sands, to seek the amber Jewel that the witch and her son Alvin are looking for, the one that is not there. For I have been out on the sands every day since I can remember, and I can tell you the Jewel is not there.' Oh, great. 'Then the second bugle sounds,' said Eggingarde, in a scared deep whisper, 'and we return to Prison Darkheart. Unless…' 'Unless?' 'We are taken by the tide or…' Eggingarde stopped and opened her eyes even wider,'… something else.' Something about Eggingarde's doom-y eyes reminded Hiccup of someone, but he didn't know who. 'Eggingarde?' asked Hiccup. 'How long have you been in this prison?'

'For as long as I can remember,' replied Eggingarde. Poor Eggingarde. For as long as she could remember. That was a long time. 'It's OK,' said Eggingarde. 'I'm not scared, because I am a Wanderer, and Wanderers are wild.' Eggingarde pulled up the hat of her bearsuit, held up her ten fingers and made them into claws, making a hissing sound.

Hiccup pretended to be frightened and Eggingarde looked pleased. She carefully pulled down the hood of her bearsuit and whispered confidingly, 'Sometimes I even scare myself…'