Chapter Eighty-One: The blind man that could see
"There he is." Conner said and he didn't sound too happy about it.
Behind them the sun was slowly setting.
He pointed at the rock on the beach on which a withered and old figure sat.
It was a man with long grey hair and a long grey beard, both caked with dirt, leaves and what looked like sea-weed.
He was sitting with his back to them, so Hiccup couldn't see his face. He was dressed in a long orange robe with a thick brown belt round the middle. In his right hand he held a long walking stick with a crook at the top like a Sheppard's staff. It was decorated with feathers and beads hanging from leathery cords, wrapped tightly around the wood. His feet were burrowed in the wet sand.
"Well, there he is. Best of luck. And you better go alone. And be polite. Try not to hit him." Conner advised.
"Right." Hiccup muttered.
"Well, go on, it was your plan." Josh said.
"Yeah yeah. Stay here." Hiccup growled at them and walked over to the old man.
The old man either didn't hear him or didn't care. Either way he gave no indication that he knew Hiccup was there.
He cleared his throat.
"Ahm, excuse me…are you…Eyeless?" he asked carefully.
He didn't see the man move.
But he did feet the head of the staff connect with the back of his head.
He yelped in surprise and jumped back.
"What kind of stupid question is that? Are you Eyeless? Either you know who you're talking to or you don't! Really, what do they teach you kids nowadays? No manners at all!" the man shouted at him and turned to face him.
Hiccup suppressed another yell.
The guy had no eyes.
Sure, the name 'Eyeless' could have suggested something in that direction but this guy literally had no eyes. There were small holes where they should have been. He lids were still there and hung loosely down.
Otherwise his face was pretty normal, pretty old, pretty wrinkled and pretty dirty. His teeth were crooked and yellow and he smelled like bad mildew.
All in all not too pleasant.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you." Hiccup apologized.
Again he didn't see the staff coming and it connected with the same spot on his head as earlier.
He yelped again. Sweet Freya, that hurt!
"Do I look insulted to you?" the man shouted.
"Ahm…yes?"
Hiccup braced himself for another hit but none came.
"Good." The man huffed.
"Now what do you want boy?"
"I have questions and I was told that you might have the answers to them."
"And?"
"And I was wondering if you would take the time to answer them."
"What do you do if I say no?"
"Then I will stay until you will."
The man eyed him from head to toe.
Well, as good as he could with no eyes. But still Hiccup had the feeling of the man starring at him intently.
"Why would you come to me? Whoever told you to do so must be mad, because people tent to call me crazy."
"Are you?"
"Crazy is a matter of perspective." The old man said grinning.
"Then there is no harm in asking you."
The man laughed loudly.
"No, apparently not." He agreed.
He shifted his weight, belched and sighed contently.
Hiccup nearly passed out from the smell of mildew and uncrushed teeth.
"So, will you answer my questions?" he asked, trying to breathe through his mouth.
"If you tell me who your friends are." The man asked back.
"I came alone." Hiccup said frowning.
The man whacked him with his staff. "Don't lie! I hate liars!" he barked.
"Now, who are your companions?" he asked and leaned heavily on his walking stick.
Hiccup was surprised.
How did he know? The others were at least fifty feet away! There was no way he could have hear them.
"How did you know?" he asked incredulously. The old blind man again whacked him with the staff across the head.
"I'm blind boy not stupid!" "Sorry." Hiccup said and winced when he touched the sore spot on his head where the staff had hit him now for the fifth time.
He turned around and gestured for his friends to approach.
"They're coming." He informed the man.
„I can see that!" Hiccup frowned. "But…you're blind…"
Another blow to the head. "Don't go smart on me boy. That's all hairsplitting."
"Alright…" Hiccup mumbled.
The others reached them and stopped next to Hiccup.
"Really, Hic, I never thought I see the day were an old man beats the hell out of you with his walking stick." Josh joked and was immediately hit with the staff on the head.
"Is that how you talk about others in their company? Just like I said! Today's youth had no manners at all!" he raged and hit Josh for good measure again.
Hiccup cleared his throat. "Ah, yeah…anyway, these are my friends."
Eyeless rolled with his eyes.
"I would never have guessed that."
Another hit to the head.
"Can you stop that?" Hiccup asked annoyed. He was sure he could feel and egg growing in the place.
"No, I can't. You're too stupid. A blind man can see that!"
George leaned closer to Hiccup and asked with raised eyebrows: "Who's the nut job?"
Hiccup didn't have any time to answer because the blind man grabbed George with the hook of this staff and pulled him over to him, so fast that George lost his balance and fell onto his knees in front of the old man.
"The nut job can hear you, you know? I'm blind not deaf, you boy with stupid hair!"
Then he released George who recovered quickly and moved back next to Hiccup.
"Let's go Hiccup. That old dodderer is not right in his head. Let's go and find someone who can really help us." "And how does he know that his hair is stupid?" Josh asked with raised eyebrows.
Hiccup shook his head. "The shop-owner said he's the only one who will probably know something about the picture. I don't care if he's crazy; he wouldn't be the first one I've met." He mumbled.
"Oi, boy, no whispering in my presence." The old man shouted. He again lunged at Hiccup but he ducked away time.
The man gave him a wide smile that showed them his few remaining teeth.
"Very good, you're learning. Maybe there is hope for you yet."
Hiccup ignored that last part and said: "In this one shop we stumbled across a picture. It's very old by the looks of it and we wondered who the people in the picture were. The woman in the shop said that you may know something."
Eyeless crooked his head and tapped with his fingers on the staff.
"Oh did she?" he asked.
"Ahm…yes." Hiccup said.
The old man was silent for a few seconds, 'looking' at each of them.
Finally he asked: "Why do you care?"
"Just curious." Hiccup answered.
"Curiosity killed that cat."
"Then the cat died at least knowing something we don't know." Hiccup replied smoothly. He was slowly getting a hang to the old man's thinking.
Eyeless laughed hearty and patted at the stone next to him.
"You're half-decent. Come and sit my young friend. Show me the picture."
Hiccup breathed a sigh of relieve and did as told and handed the man the picture.
Eyeless weight it in his hands and smiled.
"Ah…yes, I see…" he mused as he held the picture.
"How? I thought he was blind?" Josh mumbled irritated to Hope.
Fast as a snake the old man whacked him across the head with his staff.
Josh yelped in surprise and stumbled backwards.
"It's impolite to talk like that about others. I may be blind but I can still see!"
Kate frowned. "But…"
"Kate, don't. He can see, despite being blind." Hiccup intervened. He didn't want all of his friends to get a concussion.
"So" he said, turning back to the man "What can you tell me about the picture?"
The man smiled wistfully.
"A lot my dear young friend. This is one of the last pictures of the members of the 'Dragon-Mark-Companionship'*. I'm surprised you found this one. All relicts of those times were supposed to be destroyed."
Hiccup frowned. "The what-companionship?"
"The Dragon-Mark-Companionship. In the last war of mankind and dragons, they were an elite group of men and women from all over the world. They all had a tattoo or brand-mark on their left wrist. The Dragon-Mark. Ask a historian and he will tell you that they were traitors and enemies of human-kind. But they were not. They were dragon-riders, all of them. Ever heard of dragon riders young ones? No? Well, I don't blame you. You've grown up in a world full of hate." The old man said sadly.
The six friends look at each other. Right, each of them thought.
Eyeless continued talking.
"They fought the bigger evil. They tried to make peace between us and the dragons. But human kind just wasn't ready for such great changes. One by one these formidable and heroic young men and women were slaughtered. As all dragon riders were."
Hiccups heart started to beat faster. They were getting somewhere.
The man laid one old wrinkled finger on the figure of the woman that stood next to Brave at the right side of the picture. She was small with brown hair and crystal blue eyes. She wore a long dress the color of the evening sun. A pan-flute and a sword hung at her belt.
"This is Tenevra Holt. She was the first to die. In the battle of the eastern sea her dragon Amethyst was shot down. They both drowned."
Hiccup looked up at his friends.
Jackpot, he thought. This guy really did know!
But then he saw the look on Josh's face.
"Josh?" he asked "What is it buddy?"
Josh looked at him unsure and uncomfortable. "Well…I never told anyone after I left my old home. But my last name is Holt." He mumbled.
They all froze.
Eyeless laughed. "What a coincidence. Maybe you are her descendant."
The others shared meaningful looks.
There were no coincidences.
But the old man carried on.
His hands found Rupert the First.
"Ah, Rupert the First from Port East." He mused. "A strong man, a good leader with a dramatic streak though and very unforgiving sadly. He was an extremely good fighter. But also very reckless. He often provoked others to attack him just for fun and he search for danger wherever he went."
Josh snorted. "Sound like someone we could know?" he asked.
"Shut up." George growled.
"Why do you feel addressed? I wasn't saying your name." he asked amused.
"But you were implying it."
The old man reached out and both boys yelped when they were hit by the staff.
"You don't interrupt an old man when he speaks!" he scolded them.
"Sorry." Both said.
"Rupert and Tenevra were never really close. Always bickering. Rupert was always irritated by her cockiness. And she always thought he was a big show off."
Kate and Hiccup shared a look. Sound like two people we know, he asked with his eyes, nodding at Josh and George.
She smiled and nodded.
Hiccup yelped. The old man hat yet again hit him with the staff!
"What was that for, I didn't say anything!" he complained.
"No secret conversations with your girlfriend young man!"
"She's not my girlfriend." He said blushing.
"Not yet." Hope added grinning at the red faces of both Kate and Hiccup.
The old man shrugged and continued.
"Rupert left the group after a huge argument and never returned." He sighed sadly. "It was the beginning of the end."
His hand moved to Kate's father.
"Ah yes, King George of Derandolia. How is he my dear?" he asked, directing his question at Kate.
She looked surprised and stuttered: "Ahm…he…he's well. But how did you know I…" "Your accent my dear."
"Oh." Kate blushed. "Well, he is well." She repeated.
"Good. That is good. He's a lucky bastard. He can get killed as often as he wants to and he always comes back. Lucky bastard I tell you. Well, he was probably the glue that kept them all together. He had the idea with the companionship. And he was great friends with everybody. He was the second to be killed. Well, as far as you can kill him. Was torn apart in an explosion, if I remember correctly. His body finally regenerated two years after the last of his friends had died. Must have been terrible for him to return to a world with his loved ones dead and the war lost."
"I never understood how his immortality works." Kate mumbled.
Eyeless laughed.
"It is a strange phenomenon. His bodies never dies, like normal humans. His soul sinks into a deep sleep while his body recovers from all kind of injuries. You can cut off his head and burry his remains on two different sides of the world and he would pop up again, perfectly fine."
"That is seriously creepy." Conner muttered.
The old man shrugged.
"It's what he is young man. Anyway." The man continued.
"This is Jade O'Connell. She's from Durgonheim. A feisty woman but sure full of love." He pointed at the woman next to Tenevra. She had black hair that reached her shoulders and dark brown eyes. Her blue dress was similar to Tenevras. Long but not so she would stumble over the brim and wide enough to fight in it but not too wide so it would be in the way.
She had a quiver around her waist and a bow in her left hand.
"She was the last to join them. And the third to die. She was stabbed trying to buy the others some time to escape form a bloody battle between human and dragons where they had tried to stop them. They never recovered her body. Her family never knew what really happened to her."
He sighed again.
"She had a little daughter. Her name was Alyssa. Her ancestry still lives here in this very town. I think her great-grand-something-sons name is Conner O'Connell. His father, Jarred O'Connell is one of the local hunters. Jade passed her gift with the bow down to them." The man remembered. "Of course they don't know that."
They all starred at Conner who was now white as snow. "They do now." Kate whispered.
"What did you say girl?" "Nothing."
He eyed her shortly, and then returned to the story.
"This lady here, sitting on the chair is Isabella of Testerhof. She was a seer."
The sitting woman had light brown hair and was wearing a purple and white grown with golden ornaments and a lot of jewelry. She had a knife resting in her lap.
Hiccups head snapped upwards. "A seer? You mean she could see the future?"
"Is that not what seer do?" the old man asked with a raised eyebrow.
"She didn't take part much in the fighting until the very end. She was the second last to be killed. She tried to summon the power of the gods but failed and burned alive. It is said that her bloodline still has the gift of clear sight."
"Illiona." Hiccup whispered softly.
"And this is Brave. An unusual name but alas, they all have unusual names in Kinkal. He was a very brave person. He defied laws and traditions and believes and often saved his friends necks in the nick of time. He was also the first to ride a Whispering Death, a dragon that was deemed unable to ride. They say he formed a blood-bond with that dragon. And he died saving said dragon. He was pierced by a spear thrown at his downed friend and later succumbed to the injuries. Really admirable."
Hiccup nodded. So much they had learned from Hope and Namhera.
"And last their all leader. The man who wanted to do the right thing but failed greatly. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Second. He was brave, loyal, strong, a good fighter, a very intelligent man that rode on the back of a Night Fury into battle. He wanted to bring peace, to unite the world once again. But his own vendetta against his old home back in the Archipelago made it impossible for him to keep a clear head. He killed his own friend Rupert the First in an argument. He actually had wanted to apologize to Rupert after they had broken apart. But Rupert provoked him and opened old wounds. When he was dead Hiccup the Second married his wife and took his children in and wanted to care for them. He was guilt-ridden. But his own heirs with Rupert's wife overthrew Rupert's children and from there it only went downwards. He left soon after his first son killed his step-brother. He then returned to the Archipelago and attacked them, blaming them for what had happened with his live. Had they never rejected him, he was sure of it, he would have never turned out to be who he was."
Silence followed his words.
Hiccups head spun in wild circles.
Everything fell into place.
Everything made sense!
"But why do you kids want to know this all?" Eyeless interrupted his wild thoughts of possibilities and shocking news.
"Just…for fun..." Hope mumbled weakly.
"I see." Eyeless said slowly.
He slowly stood up.
"Well, I have to go. It was nice talking with you all though you really have to work on your manners."
"We will." Josh mumbled.
The old man started walking away but then stopped, turned around and said: "Let me give one last advice to all of you."
They all looked up and he smiled at them.
A soft and gentle smile.
"You are not your ancestors. None of you is. This does not have to happen again. Be aware of their mistakes and don't make the same ones. Do so and I'm sure that whatever you are fighting, whatever you are trying to archive or do, is going to come true. But to be honest, I don't worry too much. I can see so much potential on every one of you. Good luck and may your ancestors be with you."
With that he disappeared in an alley leaving the teens behind.