第六章：巫婆Excellinor有点生气了(9)

’ Hiccup gave a guilty jump in his seat to hear himself personally mentioned, but luckily everyone was concentrating so firmly on the witch that they did not notice. ‘Whoever is the Jewel-finder gets the most precious prize of all… ‘The prize,’ crooned the witch, ‘is freedom.’ The crowds leaned forward eagerly, as if her words were water and they could drink them in. ‘freedom…
’ they crooned after her longingly. ‘freedom…’ ‘Just close your eyes,’ smiled that infernal witch, ‘and imagine what freedom means to you…’ Close your eyes and imagine what freedom means to you. Such simple words. The tattered scarecrow slaves closed their eyes and to each one it meant something different, but somehow the same. A clear blue sky. Flying on the back of a dragon. Out in a ship on the restless wave. A small house in a quiet village on a small island, with the smoke rising lazily from the chimney. Home. Somewhere far away from these chains, these desperate sands, these dark prison walls. ‘What about the Slavemark?’ cried out a slave, forgetting his place. ‘It can be burnt off,’ said the witch craftily. ‘It’s a slightly painful operation, but a small price to pay for freedom.’ ‘You’re lying aren’t you, Mother?’ whispered Alvin the Treacherous. ‘Of course I’m lying,’ the witch whispered back sweetly. ‘The Slavemark can never be removed. Once a slave, always a slave.’ She turned back to the crowds of slaves. ‘At the Seeking tomorrow, you shall bring me the Jewel, I know you shall!’ And she bounded off the table and out of the room. Oh, that witch. She and her son were not nice people. Not nice people at all.