5. A Hidden Village

CHAPTER Five A Hidden Village "The storm went that way!" Keeah said, pointing to the highest range of hills. "We have to find Julie. And we need to hurry. Come on!" "What about Galen?" Neal asked. "He is Droon's greatest wizard," said Max, already scampering up the hillside after Keeah. "Galen Longbeard can take care of himself!" The four friends raced into the hills, following the track of the dust storm. Hill after hill they climbed. Higher and higher they went. "What if we can't find her?" said Neal, breathing hard as he scrambled up a rocky hillside.

第五章隐蔽的村庄“风暴往那边去了！”姬娅指着最高的山丘说。 “我们必须找到朱莉。我们得快点了。 来吧!”“那盖伦呢？”Neal问道。 “他是德鲁恩最伟大的巫师。”马克斯说着，已经跑上山坡去追基娅了。 “长胡子盖伦能照顾好自己！”四个朋友沿着沙尘暴的轨迹跑进了山里。 他们爬了一座又一座山。 他们越飞越高。 “如果我们找不到她怎么办？”Neal气喘吁吁地爬上岩石山坡。

"No way!" Eric snapped. "Julie's special. We'll find her. We've got to keep going. We've got to." Max spun a spider silk rope and swung from ledge to ledge, moving ahead of everyone. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed his pug nose in the air. He sniffed. "Smoke," he said. "Smoke usually means people," said Keeah. Neal nodded. "Be careful. Careful is good." They followed the smoky smell until they came to a break between the hills. Clustered along one hillside were dozens of small houses. They had domed roofs made of dried mud. Smoke wafted up from their chimneys. "A village," Eric whispered. In the exact center of the village was a large round platform. It looked like a giant wheel lying on its side. And in the exact center of the wheel was— "Julie!" Keeah said. Surrounding Julie were hundreds of small creatures covered in red fur. Each one was about three feet tall. They had doglike snouts covered with whiskers, except for small black noses at the tips. Their ears were pointy and very long. "She's a prisoner," Neal said. "And we're outnumbered. Any ideas?"

“不可能!”Eric厉声说。“朱莉的特别。 我们会找到她的。我们必须继续前进。 我们必须这么做。”马克斯捻了一根蜘蛛丝，从一个壁架荡到另一个壁架，走在大家的前面。 突然，他停了下来，把他的巴哥鼻子朝天一仰。 他闻了闻。“抽烟，”他说。 “烟通常意味着人，”Keeah说。 Neal点点头。“小心些而已。小心是好的。” 他们顺着烟味一直走到小山之间的间歇处。 沿着山坡聚集着几十座小房子。 他们有用干泥做的圆顶屋顶。 烟从他们的烟囱里袅袅升起。 “一个村庄。”埃里克低声说。 在村子的正中央有一个很大的圆形平台。 它看起来就像一个巨大的轮子侧躺着。 在轮子的正中央是——“朱莉！”Keeah说。 朱莉的周围是数百个浑身是红色皮毛的小生物。 每一个都大约有三英尺高。 它们长着像狗一样的鼻子，上面长满了胡须，除了鼻尖上的小黑鼻子。 它们的耳朵又尖又长。 “她是个囚犯，”尼尔说。 “而且我们寡不敌众。有什么想法?”

"Perhaps a little magic will help," Keeah said. She waved her hand over the four of them. The air turned a misty pink. "The fog of invisibility!" Max chirped. "Galen taught you well, Princess. Come, let us enter." Hidden by the pink fog, the four friends crept quietly into the village. No one saw them. The largest of the strange, furry creatures stepped across the giant wheel to Julie. "Now…" he said, curling and uncurling his nose whiskers, "…now, you will get it!" Julie shook her head. "No… please…" Eric stole a look at Neal and Keeah. "She's in trouble. We need to get her out of there—now!" "Bring the black helmet!" the furry creature commanded. "I, Batamogi, King of the Oobja, shall put it right on her head!" Eric couldn't stand it anymore. He jumped out of the pink fog and ran up to the platform. "Stop!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Julie is our friend. You leave her alone!" All the pointy-eared creatures turned. Julie blinked over their heads. "Eric?" The small, furry king turned. "Who is Eric?" "I'm Eric!" said Eric. "And if you hurt Julie, we'll be all over you like… like…"

“也许一点魔法会有帮助，”基娅说。 她向他们四个人挥了挥手。 空气变成了朦胧的粉红色。 “隐形雾！”马克斯鸣叫。 “盖伦教得很好，公主。 来，我们进去吧。”四个朋友躲在粉红色的雾里，悄悄地爬进了村子。 没有人看见他们。最大的一个奇怪的、毛茸茸的生物跨过巨大的轮子走向朱莉。 “现在……”他说着，把鼻须卷了又卷，“……现在，你会得到它的！”朱莉摇了摇头。 “不……请……”埃里克偷偷看了尼尔和基娅一眼。 “她有麻烦了。我们得把她救出来——马上！”“把黑头盔拿来！”这个毛茸茸的家伙命令道。 “我，巴塔木，欧布迦之王，将把它戴在她的头上！”埃里克再也受不了了。 他跳出粉红色的雾，跑到平台上。 “住手！”他扯着嗓子喊道。 “朱莉是我们的朋友。你放开她！”所有尖耳朵的动物都转过身来。 朱莉在他们头顶上眨了眨眼睛。 “埃里克?”毛茸茸的小国王转过身来。 “埃里克是谁？”“我是埃里克！”埃里克说。 “如果你伤害了朱莉，我们会把你团团围住，就像……就像……”

Neal jumped out of the fog next to Eric. "Like cheese on a pizza!" "So don't hurt her!" Keeah shouted, jumping out of the fog with Max. Batamogi stumbled backward. "Hurt her? But… Julie is our new princess! She has come to help our people. We are going to crown her." Eric frowned. "What? Oh, sure. Crown her. With something nasty called the black helmet?" The fox-eared leader held up the shiny helmet. It was covered with beautiful jewels. "Black goes better with her hair," the king said. "We have a nice pink helmet and two powder-blue ones. But I think black is her color." Eric blinked. "Oh… um… well…" Julie laughed and jumped over to her friends. "These people aren't hurting me," she said. "The storm set me down in their village. They've been really, really nice! And it's just like my dream!" She turned to the crowd. "Everybody, meet Eric, Neal, Keeah, and Max." The furry king bowed nearly to the ground. "I am Batamogi, King of the Oobja. We are the mole people of the Panjibarrh hills."

尼尔从雾中跳出来，站在埃里克旁边。 “就像披萨上的奶酪！”“所以不要伤害她！”基娅喊道，和麦克斯一起跳出了雾。 Batamogi踉跄着后退。 “伤害她?但是朱莉是我们的新公主！她是来帮助我们的人民的。 我们要给她加冕。” Eric皱起了眉头。“什么?哦,当然。 她的加冕。那个叫黑头盔的讨厌东西？”狐狸耳朵的领袖举起闪亮的头盔。 上面挂满了美丽的珠宝。 “黑色更配她的头发。”国王说。 “我们有一个漂亮的粉色头盔和两个粉蓝色头盔。 但我认为黑色是她的颜色。” Eric眨了眨眼睛。“哦……嗯……嗯……”朱莉笑了，跳向她的朋友们。 “这些人没有伤害我，”她说。 “暴风雨把我困在了他们的村子里。 他们真的非常非常好！这就像我的梦一样！”她转向人群。 “各位，这是埃里克、尼尔、基娅和麦克斯。” 毛茸茸的国王几乎向地面鞠躬。 “我是巴塔木，乌布迦之王。 我们是Panjibarrh山上的鼹鼠族。”

Batamogi bowed again to Keeah. "Welcome, Princess. All of Droon knows you. But there is another princess here, too. Princess Julie." He handed Julie the shiny black helmet encrusted with jewels. Julie laughed. "I'm really just a regular kid." The king tapped his furry head. "All mole people can sense things. We can tell when someone has powers even before they do. And believe me, Julie, you have powers. You will help us, you'll see." Julie blinked as she slid the jeweled helmet on. "Cool," she said. "But I still don't believe it." Keeah turned to the fox-eared, red-furred king. "We have come here to find Lord Sparr." The mole people gasped and pulled back. "Sparr!" Batamogi snorted with anger. "We do not like him. We are peaceful people. But Sparr demanded we show him where Zor's tomb is. We have known for ages that Zor lies in the ancient realm of Goll. It is right under these hills. When my brothers refused to tell Sparr, he took them away. He said that he would hurt them if I didn't show him where the giant was buried." Batamogi sniffled and wiped his snout on his furry wrist. "I had to do what he asked!"

巴塔木又向基厄鞠了一躬。 “欢迎你,公主。德鲁恩的人都认识你。 但这里还有另一位公主。 公主朱莉。”他递给朱莉那顶镶满珠宝的闪亮黑头盔。 朱莉笑了。“我真的只是一个普通的孩子。” 国王轻拍他毛茸茸的头。 “所有的鼹鼠人都能感觉到东西。 我们可以在某人拥有超能力之前就知道他是否拥有超能力。 相信我，朱莉，你有超能力。 你会帮助我们的，等着瞧吧。” 朱莉眨了眨眼睛，把镶着珠宝的头盔戴上。 “酷，”她说。“但我还是不相信。” 姬娅转向狐狸耳朵、红毛的国王。 “我们是来找斯帕尔大人的。” 鼹鼠人喘着气后退了几步。 “Sparr !”Batamogi生气地哼了一声。 “我们不喜欢他。我们是爱好和平的人。 但斯帕要求我们告诉他佐尔的坟墓在哪里。 我们早就知道佐尔位于古老的戈尔王国。 就在这些山的下面。 我的哥哥们不肯告诉斯帕，他就把他们带走了。 他说如果我不告诉他巨人埋在哪里，他就伤害他们。” 巴塔木抽了抽鼻子，在毛茸茸的手腕上擦了擦鼻子。 “我必须照他说的做！”

"That's why we're here," Eric said. "We need to stop Sparr from bringing Zor back to life." The Oobja king sniffled once more, then stood up straight. "Then I will show you where Sparr and his Ninns are. Yes! But first, we feast. Come, my people. Click-clack!" The Oobja people laughed softly to themselves and scurried away on their short legs. Moments later they were back, carrying a flat, round bread as big as the big wooden wheel itself.

“这就是我们来这里的原因，”埃里克说。 “我们得阻止斯帕尔让佐尔起死回生” 乌迦王又抽了抽鼻子，然后站直了身子。 “那我就带你去斯帕尔和他的手下。 是的!但首先，我们要大吃大喝。来吧，我的子民。 走过来!”欧布迦人自己轻声笑了笑，用短腿匆匆走开了。 不一会儿，他们回来了，手里拿着一个又平又圆的面包，和大木轮一样大。