9 The Land of the Polar-Serpents

9. THE LAND OF THE POLAR-SERPENTS The American Dream 2 puffed its way steadily north, and the weather got colder and colder, and darker and darker, until they were travelling through total blackness, day and night, and this was the home of the Wanderers. It was an eerie place. Icebergs drifted by, taller than the masts of the ship itself, cracking and splitting and creaking around them in the mist.

9. “美国梦”稳步地向北推进，天气越来越冷，越来越黑，直到他们日夜穿梭在一片漆黑之中，这就是流浪者们的家。 这是一个令人毛骨悚然的地方。冰山漂过，比船的桅杆还高，在周围的薄雾中噼啪作响，劈啪作响。

The crew fell silent as they went about their work, and even Norbert managed to lower his voice to a menacing whisper as he scolded and shook his axe threateningly at his men. For they had entered the world of the Polar-serpents. The Polar-serpents were great white dragons slumbering on the ice like over-sized walruses. They reminded Hiccup of the Sabre-tooth Driver Dragons the Vikings used to pull their sleds back in the Archipelago. Except that instead of sabre-teeth, out of the nose of each Polar-serpent grew a long white tusk like a unicorn or a narwhal. Polar-serpents swam under the icebergs, and when they found shoals of unwary seals and penguins resting on the surface above, they sawed great holes in the ice, so that the unsuspecting prey fell into their open jaws below. A Polar-serpent feeding frenzy was a terrifying sight. They could strip a mammal down to the bone far quicker than a shoal of piranhas, and as far as they were concerned, a human was just as tasty as a seal. Perhaps even tastier. Of course, the Polar-serpents weren't a threat when you were aboard a boat… but nonetheless,

船员们忙着干活时鸦雀无声，就连诺伯也设法压低了声音，用一种威胁的耳语骂着他的船员，并威胁地挥舞着斧头。 因为他们进入了极地巨蛇的世界。 极地蛇是沉睡在冰上的巨大白龙，就像超大的海象。 它们让小嗝嗝想起了维京人在群岛上用来拉雪橇的剑齿龙。 不过，每条极地蛇的鼻子上都长着长长的白牙，就像独角兽或独角鲸一样。 极地蛇在冰山下面游动，当它们发现一群粗心大意的海豹和企鹅在上面的表面休息时，它们就在冰上锯出一个大洞，这样毫无戒心的猎物就会落入它们张开的大口。 极地巨蛇疯狂进食是一种可怕的景象。 它们能比一群食人鱼更快地把哺乳动物剥到只剩骨头，而且在它们看来，人类和海豹一样好吃。 也许更美味。当然，当你在船上时，极地蛇不会对你构成威胁……

Hiccup swallowed hard as they steamed quietly past the creatures. And he noticed that all of Norbert's hunting-dragons were careful to stay close to the ship as well. They roosted on the masts like a row of malevolent starlings, watching the Polar-serpents, with the Polar-serpents watching them back. After a while Norbert slightly lost it with the Polar-serpents. 'STOP LOOKING AT ME, YOU BIG WHITE MAGGOTS!' he yelled, waving his axe at the dragons. 'OR I'LL CLIMB OVERBOARD AND CHOP OFF YOUR HORNS!' He grabbed the cauldron with the remains of lunch and shook it over the side of the boat. The statues on the ice sprang instantly to life. They slid into the water like big white crocodiles: thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, three hundred of them. Within about five seconds the water behind the boat was a thrashing, churning, manic froth of red as the Polar-serpents went into their feeding frenzy. They were so crazy in their bloodlust that they even attacked each other, tearing each other from limb to limb. Norbert went back to whispering.

当他们悄无声息地从这些动物身边经过时，嗝嗝使劲吞咽着口水。 他注意到，诺伯所有的猎龙也都小心翼翼地靠近飞船。 他们像一排恶毒的椋鸟一样栖息在桅杆上，盯着极地大蛇，极地大蛇也盯着他们。 过了一会儿，诺伯对极地大蛇有点不知所措。 “别看我，你们这些白色的大蛆虫！”他喊道，朝龙挥舞着斧头。 “不然我就爬到船外，把你的角砍下来！”他抓起盛着午餐残羹剩饭的坩埚，把它甩到船舷上。 冰上的雕像立刻活了过来。 它们像白色的大鳄鱼一样滑入水中：三十只、四十只、五十只、六十只、三百只。 在大约五秒钟的时间里，船后面的水变成了一团翻腾的红色泡沫，极地蛇开始疯狂地进食。 他们的嗜血是如此疯狂，他们甚至互相攻击，把对方撕成碎片。 诺伯又开始窃窃私语。

All day long, Hiccup could feel the Slavemark pressing against his helmet. He hadn't told Fishlegs and Camicazi about it, because he knew he had to keep it a secret. The Law of the Archipelago was quite firm upon the matter. Anybody with the Slavemark was automatically an Outcast, whether it was their fault or not. And they certainly couldn't become a Chief. No, if Hiccup ever got back home (and it was a big 'if' at this point), this was a secret that Hiccup would have to keep to himself for the rest of his life. He couldn't tell anybody, because if someone like Snotlout were to find out… Hiccup pushed the thought to the back of his mind, because he had to concentrate on the more pressing problem of escaping.

整整一天，小嗝嗝都能感觉到奴隶标记压在他的头盔上。 他没有把这件事告诉鱼腿和卡米卡齐，因为他知道他必须保守秘密。 群岛的法律在这件事上是很坚定的。 任何有奴隶标记的人都会自动成为弃儿，不管这是不是他们的错。 当然他们也不可能成为酋长。 不，如果小嗝嗝能回到家（在这一点上，这是一个很大的“如果”），这是一个小嗝嗝必须在他的余生中保守的秘密。 他不能告诉任何人，因为如果被像鼻涕鼻子这样的人发现了……嗝嗝把这个想法抛到脑后，因为他必须集中精力解决更紧迫的问题——逃跑。

And now, escaping had been made that much more difficult. As Camicazi had so helpfully pointed out, it was all very well trying to escape when there are three of you, but trying to get a hundred and twenty- two people off a ship without their captors noticing required a little more forward planning. 'We could escape so easily on our own,' complained Camicazi. 'Why are you suddenly bothering about those people? They're not even Vikings, they're WANDERERS, for Thor's sake, we might set them free and then they might kill us, you know what people say about Wanderers.' 'I told you,' said Hiccup grumpily. 'I had to make them a promise.' Hiccup sat up in the crow's nest of the American Dream 2, and thought and thought and thought, his legs swinging as Stormfly and Toothless chased each other round and round in circles.

现在，逃跑变得更加困难了。 正如卡米卡齐非常有帮助地指出的那样，当你们三个人的时候，逃跑是很容易的，但是要想让122个人在不被俘虏的情况下离开一艘船，就需要更多的提前计划。 卡米卡齐抱怨说：“我们可以很容易地自己逃走。” “你为什么突然为那些人操心了？” 他们甚至不是维京人，他们是流浪者，看在托尔的份上，我们可能会放了他们，然后他们可能会杀了我们，你知道人们是怎么说流浪者的。“我告诉过你，”小嗝嗝暴躁地说。 “我必须向他们做出承诺。”小嗝嗝坐在美国梦的乌鸦窝里，想啊想啊想，当暴风蝇和无牙互相追逐时，他的腿摆动着。