9 Welcome to Fort Sinister

9. WELCOME TO FORT SINISTER The Kidnappers ran down the hillside with the boys bumping on their backs. They threw them into the bottom of their boat– a small, clearly Roman ship with a very badly made Bog-Burglar flag flying from the mast. The Kidnappers set sail in the opposite direction to the land of the Bog-Burglars. 'Where are we going?' moaned Fishlegs. 'My guess is next stop Fort Sinister,' replied Hiccup. 'Your weedy friend she is right,' sneered the First Kidnapper, removing his false beard. 'You are havings the honour to be kidnapped by the glorious Empire of Rome, and we is takings you to the noble Fortress of Sinister.' 'Yippee,' said Fishlegs gloomily. 'You can be shuttings up now,' said the First Kidnapper, and the boys shut up. The wind was very strong. Within an hour they had left the safety of Woden's Bathtub and were

9. 欢迎来到险恶的堡垒绑匪们从山坡上跑下来，男孩们在他们的背上颠簸着。 他们把他们扔进了他们的船底——那是一艘很明显是罗马人的小船，桅杆上挂着一面做工很差的“沼泽窃贼”旗。 绑架者向沼泽窃贼的相反方向航行。 “我们要去哪儿？”鱼腿呻吟道。 “我猜下一站是险恶堡，”小嗝嗝回答。 “你那杂草朋友说得对，”第一个绑架者一边摘下假胡子，一边讥笑道。 “你有幸被光荣的罗马帝国绑架，我们要把你带到高贵的险恶要塞。“是啊，”鱼腿沮丧地说。 “你们现在可以闭上嘴了。”第一个绑架者说，孩子们也闭上了嘴。 风很大。不到一个小时，他们就离开了安全的沃登浴盆

entering the tricksy currents and needle-sharp rocks of the Mazy Multitudes. This was a bewildering muddle of thousands of small islands some miles south of the Isle of Berk, many with gigantic sea cliffs. Its eerie atmosphere led most Vikings to believe it was haunted. Huge black mountains with grim scrabbles of rock rose on either side of them. The greasy sea swirled underneath, with every now and then a pointy rock appearing out of nowhere in the mist, so that the Second Kidnapper had to swiftly steer the boat clear. The closer they got to the Roman Headquarters, the less wildlife there was around them. Woden's Bathtub had been alive with dragons of all shapes and sizes, screaming and catcalling to each other and skimming across the waves, keeping an eye out for fish. Seals slumbered fatly on the rocks. Birds wheeled in the skies, zooming down on any morsels of fish that went astray during dragonfights. But as they neared the fort, the seas around them became a desert. Not a bird called, not a fish jumped. The reason for this was clear when they spotted two dead Slitherhawks all tangled up in a gigantic net, hanging from a cliff face.

进入错综复杂的水流和尖锐的岩石迷宫群 这是一个令人眼花缭乱的混乱，由数千个小岛组成，位于伯克岛以南几英里处，其中许多岛屿都有巨大的海崖。 它怪异的气氛使大多数维京人相信它闹鬼。 巨大的黑色山脉矗立在他们的两侧，岩石嶙峋，令人毛骨悚然。 油腻的海水在下面打转，时不时地有一块尖尖的岩石从雾中冒出来，所以第二个绑架者不得不迅速地把船划开。 他们离罗马总部越近，周围的野生动物就越少。 沃登的浴缸里充满了各种形状和大小的龙，它们互相尖叫，互相嘘声，在海浪上掠过，留意着鱼儿。 海豹在岩石上酣睡。 鸟儿在空中盘旋，急速降落到任何在与龙搏斗时误入歧途的鱼块上。 但当他们接近堡垒时，他们周围的海洋变成了沙漠。 没有鸟叫，没有鱼跳。 当他们看到悬崖上挂着两只死滑鹰，它们被一个巨大的网缠住了，原因就很清楚了。

'And they call US barbarians,' sniffed Fishlegs. Hiccup began to feel a bit sick. And then his heart skipped a beat. He could hear the sound of dragons screaming, the same noise that they had heard through the mist in Woden's Bathtub… It was a sound that chilled the blood and frayed the nerves, like a sword being sharpened screechily on a stone. He swallowed hard. 'I think we're about to meet the Romans,' he said. Sure enough, the appalling hullabaloo of

“他们还说我们是野蛮人，”鱼腿嗅了嗅。 小嗝嗝开始觉得有点不舒服。 然后他的心跳停止了。 他能听到恶龙的尖叫声，和他们在沃登浴盆里透过薄雾听到的声音是一样的……那声音使人血液发冷，使人神经紧张，就像一把剑在石头上尖声磨尖。 他使劲咽了口气。“我想我们就要遇到罗马人了，”他说。 果然，令人震惊的喧嚣

terrified and furious dragons grew louder and louder and louder… then they rounded a corner and there before them, impossibly huge and spooky, stood Fort Sinister. Their mouths flopped open in astonishment. Vikings are used to fairly simple living conditions. A Chief just has a larger hut than anybody else. So they had never seen anything the size of Fort Sinister before. The Island of Sinister was surrounded by enormous black cliffs plunging dizzily down to jagged

惊恐和愤怒的火龙越来越响，越来越响……然后他们转过一个拐角，在他们面前矗立着巨大得令人毛骨悚然的险恶堡。 他们惊讶地张大嘴巴。 维京人习惯于相当简单的生活条件。 酋长只是比其他人有一个更大的小屋。 所以他们从来没有见过像险恶堡这么大的东西。 辛尼尼斯特岛四周是巨大的黑色悬崖，令人头晕目眩地向下倾斜，呈锯齿状

rocks. On top of these cliffs the Romans had built the biggest fort you could possibly imagine, covering the entire island. The wind shrieked through its awful towers and great grim cages, the sea seeped through its iron gates and into its terrible dungeons; it was a fort as black and bleak as the rocks it was made out of. In the middle was the Consul's Palace, a gorgeous villa built around a central courtyard with an ornamental fountain. Next to the Palace was an enormous wooden amphitheatre, and beyond that were the soldiers' barracks. Countless numbers of dragons were being held in fifty enormous iron cages, with no shelter from the wild wind and bitter cold of the Inner Isles. No wonder they were screaming. Beyond that were slaves' quarters and kitchens and exercise yards for the horses and training grounds for the gladiators and little temples for the gods and heated swimming baths for the Consul and senior soldiers and stores of ammunition and gigantic equipment for breaking a barricade and field after field of crops. And this entire, massive area was encircled by

岩石。在这些悬崖上，罗马人建造了你能想象到的最大的堡垒，覆盖了整个岛屿。 风呼啸着穿过可怕的高塔和可怕的大笼子，海水渗进铁门，流进可怕的地牢；那座堡垒和建造它的岩石一样阴暗凄凉。 中间是执政官宫，这是一座华丽的别墅，围绕着一个带有装饰性喷泉的中央庭院而建。 宫殿旁边是一个巨大的木制圆形剧场，剧场后面是士兵的营房。 无数的巨龙被关在五十个巨大的铁笼子里，无法躲避内岛的狂风和严寒。 难怪他们在尖叫。 除此之外，还有奴隶的住处、厨房、马的训练场、角斗士的训练场、诸神的小神庙、执政官和高级士兵的温热浴池、弹药库和用于冲破路障的巨大设备，以及一片又一片的庄稼。 这一大片区域被

high wooden fences, with watchtowers manned by sentries every hundred metres. Four enormous observation balloons sailed overhead. These balloons were powered by the flaming breath of a dragon kept in a cage just above the basket, and they were manned with more sentries, keeping a sharp eye out for escapees or invaders. 'WOW,' breathed Fishlegs at last. 'No wonder the Romans have conquered most of the world. It's just amazing they haven't conquered US.' 'Yet,' said Hiccup grimly. 'And what I'm worrying about is how on earth we're going to GET OUT of here?' The Kidnappers sailed right up to the wooden entrance gates. These were in themselves impossibly huge, doors larger than some of the sea cliffs on Berk. As they neared, there were cries from the sentries in the watchtowers and the great doors opened to let them in. They sailed through the open gates, right into the heart of the Fortress, and the doors shutting behind them were like the closing of a shark's mouth. The Second Kidnapper gave the boys a glittering smile as they moored the boat. 'We is welcoming you to Fort Sinister,' he said.

高高的木栅栏，每隔一百米就有岗哨把守。 四个巨大的观测气球从头顶飞过。 这些气球的动力来自篮子上方笼子里的龙的火焰气息，它们配备了更多的哨兵，密切关注着逃跑者或入侵者。 “哇！”鱼腿终于喘着气说。 难怪罗马人征服了世界的大部分地区。 他们没有征服美国真是太神奇了。“可是，”小嗝嗝冷酷地说。 “我现在担心的是，我们究竟怎样才能离开这里？”绑架者径直驶向木制的大门。 这些门本身就大得令人难以置信，比伯克岛上的一些海崖还要大。 当他们走近时，瞭望塔上的哨兵发出喊叫声，大门打开，让他们进去。 他们穿过敞开的大门，直接进入了堡垒的中心，门在他们身后关上了，就像鲨鱼闭上了嘴巴一样。 当男孩们把船停泊在岸边时，第二个绑架者给了他们一个灿烂的微笑。 “我们欢迎你来到险恶堡，”他说。