7 The Fierce Beast

CHAPTER Seven The Fierce Beast The four kids all stared at Demither. "So it's true!" Keeah exclaimed. "My mother is alive. I knew she was! I knew it!" "Why are you helping us?" Eric asked the witch. "I thought you were a friend of Sparr." "Friend!" the woman shrieked. She rose up ten feet in the air. Her scaly skin rippled and twisted as she curved up toward the cave's ceiling. "I—am—a—friend—of—no—one!" "Wait," Keeah pleaded. "I need to know—"

七个孩子都盯着德米特。 “原来是真的！”Keeah喊道。 “我妈妈还活着。我就知道她是！我就知道！”“你为什么要帮助我们？”埃里克问女巫。 “我还以为你是斯帕的朋友呢。” “朋友！”女人尖叫道。 她升到十英尺高的空中。 她的鳞片般的皮肤在她向洞穴的天花板弯曲时起了涟漪和扭曲。 “I-am-a-friend-of-no-one !”“等等，”Keeah恳求道。 “我需要知道——”

But the witch's scaly body slithered back silently into the dark pool. The water hissed loudly as she passed under it. Then the surface went still. Demither was gone. The kids looked at one another for a long time. "It sounds like Sparr is forcing the witch to do bad stuff," Julie said finally. "Maybe he cursed your mother, Keeah." "I don't like it," Max said. "Demither could be lying to us." Keeah stared at the pool. "We need the Eye." "Can the Eye do good things, too?" Eric asked her. "Can it, like, heal people and stuff?" Keeah nodded. "Galen told me once that the jewel does what its owner wants it to." "Cool," Neal mumbled. "I wish my dog did." "But it is dangerous, too," said Khan. "Even Sparr was hurt by its power." Eric turned to Keeah. "We'll get the Eye back for you. We'll do it, I promise. No matter—" He never got a chance to finish. Clomp, clomp! Heavy footsteps rushed toward the blue cave from the path outside. "Hurry, or we'll be trapped!" Julie cried. She and Neal slipped out, with Max and Khan scrambling behind. But Eric and Keeah couldn't make it.

但是女巫那长满鳞片的身体悄悄地滑回了黑暗的水潭。 当她从下面经过时，水发出嘶嘶声。 然后水面平静下来。 德米特走了。孩子们面面相觑了很长时间。 “听起来斯帕尔是在强迫女巫做坏事，”朱莉最后说。 “也许他诅咒了你母亲，基娅。” “我不喜欢它，”马克斯说。 “德米特可能在骗我们。” 基娅盯着水池。“我们需要神眼。” “那只眼睛也能做好事吗？”埃里克问她。 “它能治愈人类吗？”Keeah点点头。 “盖伦曾经告诉我，珠宝会按照主人的意愿行事。” “酷，”尼尔咕哝道。“我希望我的狗也能。” “但这也很危险，”汗说。 “就连斯帕也被它的威力伤害了。” 埃里克转向基娅。“我们会为你找回神眼的。 我们会做到的，我保证。没关系——”他没机会把话说完。 重踏着走,重踏着走!沉重的脚步声从外面的小路上奔向蓝洞。 “快点，不然我们会被困住的！”朱莉哭了。 她和尼尔溜了出去，马克斯和可汗紧跟着。 但埃里克和基亚没能成功。

"Behind these rocks, quick!" Eric said to her. They jumped behind a low pile of rocks near the cave entrance. In marched ten Ninns. In between them crawled a strange, dark beast. It snarled and growled at the nervouslooking Ninns. The beast stopped at the pool's edge. "What is that thing?" Eric whispered to Keeah. The princess shook her head. "I don't know." The beast yowled sharply, as if it were hurt. In the dim light, Eric could see that the creature had four thick, clawed legs and a long body. Its skin was black and bumpy from its large head all the way to its long, spiked tail. On the top of its head were rows of large, pointed ears, like bat's ears. Eric's stomach turned just looking at the ugly thing. He swallowed hard. "It's some kind of weird, horrible monster." "Is this Sparr's secret weapon?" Keeah asked. Eric struggled to keep his food down. "Maybe this is his secret. The one in my dream. The secret Sparr thought I knew. He keeps a monster for a pet." Suddenly, the creature charged forward and leaped to the pool. It began to slurp loudly.

“躲在这些岩石后面，快！”埃里克对她说。 他们跳到洞口附近一堆低矮的岩石后面。 十个黑人走了进来。在他们中间爬着一只奇怪的黑色野兽。 它对着神情紧张的小精灵们咆哮着。 野兽在水潭边停了下来。 “那是什么东西？”埃里克小声对基娅说。 公主摇了摇头。 “我不知道。”那野兽尖锐地嚎叫着，好像受了伤似的。 在昏暗的灯光下，埃里克可以看到这个生物有四条粗壮的有爪的腿和一个长长的身体。 它的皮肤是黑色的，从它的大脑袋一直到它的长而尖的尾巴都是凹凸不平的。 它的头顶上长着一排排又大又尖的耳朵，像蝙蝠的耳朵。 埃里克一看到这个丑陋的东西就觉得恶心。 他使劲咽了口气。“它是某种奇怪、可怕的怪物。” “这是斯帕尔的秘密武器吗？”Keeah问道。 埃里克努力把食物咽下去。 “也许这就是他的秘密。 我梦中的那个。斯帕尔以为我知道的秘密。 他养了一只怪物当宠物。” 突然，这个生物向前冲去，跳到池塘里。 它开始大声地发出呼噜声。

"Let's get out of here," Keeah whispered. "That thing could turn on us." Eric began to tremble. "Wait…" They watched the beast drink and drink.

“我们离开这里吧。”基娅低声说。 “那东西可能会背叛我们。” 埃里克开始发抖。“等等……”他们看着野兽喝啊喝。

Eric turned to Keeah. She looked at him.

埃里克转向基娅。她看着他。

then they looked back at the creature. Their eyes went wide with amazement. No, eric gasped softly. "It can't be"

然后他们回头看了看那个生物。 他们惊奇地瞪大了眼睛。 不，埃里克轻声喘着气。“不可能。”