29 An Unexpected Development

29. AN UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT Outside, the Dragon Rebellion roared, but inside, the courtyard was spellbound with quietness. The witch was, quite simply, flabbergasted. She staggered back on her throne. 'What are you doing?' stammered the witch, thoroughly confused. 'You have turned yourself into a slave! What does this mean?' 'A Mark is just a symbol, witch,' said Valhallarama. 'And symbols can change. This is no longer the Slavemark, but the Dragonmark. I take this Mark as a sign of my love and my faith in my husband and my son.

29. 外面，龙族叛乱怒吼着，但里面，院子里却安静得像着了魔一样。 女巫简直惊呆了。 她摇摇晃晃地坐在宝座上。 “你在干什么？”女巫结结巴巴地说，完全被弄糊涂了。 “你把自己变成了奴隶！”这是什么意思？“女巫，标记只是一个符号。” 符号是可以改变的。这不再是奴隶标记，而是龙的标记。 我把这个记号当作我对丈夫和儿子的爱和信任的象征。

AND I CALL UPON ALL THOSE WHO WOULD HAVE HICCUP AS THEIR KING TO TAKE THE DRAGONMARK WITH ME!' 'So you have the situation under control do you, Mother?' spat Alvin, savagely. 'Is this your idea of control?' 'It's preposterous…' spluttered the witch. 'Ridiculous… The Slavemark is the Slavemark. It's been like that for hundreds of years. What do you mean, the Dragonmark? You can't just change things like that. THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A DRAGONMARK! Valhallarama just made it up!'

我呼吁所有想要嗝嗝为王的人带上龙之印记！“那么，情况在你的控制之下了，是吗，妈妈？”阿尔文狂怒地说。 “这就是你所谓的控制吗？”“太荒谬了……”女巫气急败坏地说。 “可笑……奴隶标记就是奴隶标记。” 几百年来都是这样。 什么叫龙之印记？ 你不能就这样改变事情。 根本就没有龙纹这种东西！瓦尔哈拉罗摩瞎编的！”

Hiccup could not quite believe what was happening. He looked around at the free Vikings' faces. Some of them were looking at the Silver Phantom. Others were looking at the floor. It was impossible to tell what they were thinking. Valhallarama was taking a huge gamble. It was asking way too much for someone to voluntarily take on a Mark that had been considered the ultimate in shame for as long as they could remember, to put at risk his Viking honour, out of mere concern for the fate of non-entities such as slaves and dragons. Who would do such a thing, especially for someone like Hiccup? 'You see?' sneered the witch, regaining her composure, as she realised no one was stepping forward.

小嗝嗝简直不敢相信发生了什么。 他环顾四周，看着那些自由的维京人的脸。 有些人在看银色幻影。 其他人看着地板。 不可能知道他们在想什么。 瓦尔哈拉拉马是在进行一场巨大的赌博。 对一个人来说，仅仅出于对奴隶和龙等非实体的命运的关心，就自愿接受一个自记事以来就被认为是终极耻辱的印记，拿自己维京人的荣誉冒险，这未免太过分了。 谁会做这种事，尤其是对小嗝嗝这样的人？ “你看到了什么?女巫讥笑着说，意识到没有人上前，她又恢复了镇静。

'Nobody wants your so-called Dragonmark, or your runty little son as a leader, Valhallarama…' Well, that's a good reason why Valhallarama should have hung on to the Dragon Jewel and nominated herself as the true King, thought Hiccup. She's the kind of person that people will follow into battle, the kind of person people will lay down their lives for. But Hiccup had never been able to get anyone to come on to his team for Bashyball, let alone been the kind of person people risked their lives and honour for… 'I will take your Dragonmark!' came a ringing cry from the back. Thuggory the Meathead strode forward, all six foot three of him. Thuggory was the Heir to Mogadon the Meathead. He was about sixteen years old, a huge hulking adolescent, who was thoroughly admired across the Archipelago as the very pattern of what a young Viking Hero ought to be. Many a Viking Chieftain had wished their own sons could be a little more like Thuggory. Now his father Mogadon thundered out, 'Thuggory! I am ordering you as your father and your Chieftain! Do not dare take that Mark!'

“没有人想要你那个所谓的龙纹，或者你那瘦小的小儿子做领袖，瓦尔哈拉拉马……”嗯，瓦尔哈拉拉马应该紧紧抓住龙珠，自封为真正的国王，这是一个很好的理由，小嗝嗝想。 她是那种人们会跟随她去战斗的人，那种人们会为她献出生命的人。 但是小嗝嗝从来没能让一个人加入他的棒球队，更不用说那种人们为之冒生命和荣誉的人了……从后面传来一声响亮的喊叫。 “笨蛋暴徒”大步向前走，身高六英尺三英寸。 残暴是摩加迪沙的继承人。 他大约十六岁，是个高大魁梧的青少年，整个群岛都很钦佩他，认为他是一个年轻的维京英雄的典型。 很多维京酋长都希望自己的儿子能像瑟戈里那样。 现在，他的父亲摩加迪加怒吼道：“暴徒！我以你们的父亲和族长的身份命令你们！别拿那个马克！”

But Thuggory strode forward nonetheless. The crowd stood back to let him pass. 'I am sorry, Father,' cried Thuggory solemnly, and he bowed formally to his father as a son should. 'But Hiccup is right. If the dragons were free, they would not make war on us. It is time for a new world, a better one.' Thuggory stopped in front of Valhallarama, very brisk and soldier-like, and knelt and removed his helmet as if he were becoming a Warrior. Valhallarama put the Dragonmark on his forehead. 'Hiccup for King!' yelled Thuggory, jumping to his feet and punching the air. 'Well, only one person!' scoffed the witch. 'You're not going to get very far with only one foll—' 'Hiccup for King!' roared a whole cohort of young Meatheads, clearly friends of Thuggory. Suddenly all around the courtyard, the young teenagers of the Tribes pressed forward to get the Mark. Camicazi landed in the courtyard with Fishlegs on the back of the Deadly Shadow, and had to push her way to the front and threaten several Danger-Brutes to get her Dragonmark first. Because even the young of the conventionally

尽管如此，Thuggory还是大步向前。 人群向后退，让他过去。 “我很抱歉，爸爸，”屠戈里严肃地喊道，他像一个儿子应该做的那样，正式地向父亲鞠了一躬。 但是小嗝嗝是对的。如果龙自由了，它们就不会向我们开战了。 是时候开创一个新世界，一个更美好的世界了。”Thuggory在Valhallarama面前停了下来，非常敏捷，像士兵一样，跪下来摘下头盔，好像他要成为一名战士。 Valhallarama把龙的印记放在他的额头上。 “为国王打嗝！”瑟戈里喊道，跳了起来，在空中挥拳。 “嗯，只有一个人！”女巫嘲笑道。 “你一个人是走不了多远的——”“嗝嗝当国王！”一大群年轻的笨蛋吼道，他们显然是屠戈里的朋友。 突然，整个院子里都挤满了部落里的少年们，他们都向前挤去拿那个标记。 卡米卡齐带着鱼腿落在了死亡之影后面的院子里，她不得不挤到前面，威胁几个危险野兽，先得到她的龙纹。 因为即使是年轻人的传统

vicious Tribes such as the Danger-Brutes and the Visithugs were clamouring for the Mark now. How was this possible? Well, a strange thing had happened during the six months of Hiccup being an Outcast. Hiccup had turned from the most unlikely, scrawny, puny little Viking ever, into a romantic figure of rebellion. Many of the younger Vikings had been secretly following his progress as Hiccup set free dragon-traps and eluded the forces of the Wilderwest in yet another brilliant and hair-raising escape. They had been whispering in secret stories of Hiccup's adventures, and suddenly they were whispering them not as evidence of what a weirdo he was, how bizarre, how freakish, but of how clever, how extraordinary, how bravely unusual he was… 'Have you heard how he discovered the Land That Does Not Exist?' they had been whispering. 'Have you heard how he defeated the Sea Dragon? The Strangulator? How he tricked the Romans at the Fortress of Sinister? How he stopped the Exterminators at Lava-Lout island? How he slipped through the witch's fingers once again in the land of Nowhere? How he found EVERY SINGLE ONE

像危险野兽和维西格人这样的邪恶部落现在都在吵着要马克。 这怎么可能呢？嗯，在Hiccup被放逐的六个月里，发生了一件奇怪的事情。 小嗝嗝从一个最不可能的，骨瘦如柴的，瘦小的维京人，变成了一个浪漫的反叛人物。 许多年轻的维京人一直在秘密地跟踪他的进度，因为小嗝嗝解开了龙的陷阱，躲过了狂野西部的军队，这是又一次精彩而令人毛骨悚然的逃脱。 他们一直在窃窃私语地讲着小嗝嗝的冒险故事，突然之间，他们的窃窃私语不是为了证明他是一个多么古怪、多么古怪、多么古怪的人，而是为了证明他是多么聪明、多么非凡、多么勇敢、多么不寻常……“你听说过他是如何发现那片不存在的土地吗？”他们一直在低声说。 “你听说他是怎么打败海龙的吗？” Strangulator吗?他是如何在险恶要塞欺骗罗马人的？ 他是如何在拉瓦卢特岛阻止灭绝者的？ 他是怎么再一次从女巫的指缝中溜走的？ 他是如何找到每一个的