1 The Lost Child

PROLOGUE BY HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK III THE LAST OF THE GREAT VIKING HEROES History is a ghost story. My own childhood has passed into history, and the ghosts I find there are the ghosts of Heroes, and Dragons, and Berserks and witches, and it has became fashionable not to believe in these things any more. But I believe, for I was there. And just because YOU, dear Reader, have never seen a dragon or a witch, or a ghost, does not necessarily mean that they do not exist. This Quest is the story of the most important moment in my entire life so far. It was the first time I learnt that the names on the flat map of the Archipelago, such as the Bay of the Broken Heart were not just made-up fantastical names, but names that related to real people who had real, flesh and blood lives and the things that happened to them still haunted the place where I was growing up. That is what I mean by ghosts.

最后一个伟大的维京英雄的历史是一个鬼故事。 我自己的童年已经成为历史，我在那里发现的鬼魂是英雄的鬼魂，龙的鬼魂，狂暴的鬼魂和女巫的鬼魂，不再相信这些东西已经成为一种时尚。 但我相信，因为我当时在场。 亲爱的读者，你从来没有见过龙、女巫或鬼魂，但这并不意味着它们不存在。 这本书讲述的是我一生中最重要的时刻。 这是我第一次了解到，群岛平面地图上的名字，比如破碎的心湾，并不是凭空捏造出来的，而是与真实的、有血有肉的人有关的名字，发生在他们身上的事情仍然困扰着我成长的地方。 这就是我所说的鬼。

The lost throne of the Wilderwest Peering above the great grey remorseless ocean, Poking defiantly out of the endless, ever-changing sea, Is the broken back of an island like a humpback whale, And somewhere in the wind-tossed, storm-blown grasses Where the wind howls across the blasted heather And the trees are all blown into hoops, Are the two stout stone stumps on which once stood The Everlasting Throne of the Kings of the Wilderwest. HERE sat Grimbeard the Ghastly, the Last Great King, Looking out over the rooftops of his bustling Viking city, Stroking his great sword, the Stormblade. And HERE where the seagulls circle And the wolves gather pace For the hunt across the marshes Was once a harbour for a hundred ships That Grimbeard sent to the north, south, east, and west, Seizing plunder, treasure and slaves, in jolly Viking fashion. HERE he once stood, clenched his fist, and shouted: 'I NAME THIS LAND TOMORROW FOR IT SHALL LAST FOR EVERMORE!' And a thousand men lifted up their spears And shouted their approval, While the dragons winked their ancient eyes as if to say, 'We have heard all this before…'

消失的西部荒原的王座凝视着浩瀚的灰色无情的海洋，从无尽的，千变万化的大海中顽强地戳出来，是一个岛的破碎的脊背，像座头鲸，在被风吹动，被风暴吹动的草丛中，风在枯萎的石南上咆哮，树木都被吹成圈，在那两个结实的石桩上，曾经矗立着西部荒原国王的永恒王座。 阴森可怖的最后一位伟大的国王Grimbeard坐在这里，俯瞰着他那熙熙攘攘的维京城市的屋顶，抚摸着他的巨剑——暴风之刃。 在这里，海鸥盘旋，狼群聚集，在沼泽中狩猎，曾经是一百艘船的港口，Grimbeard派往北，南，东，西，掠夺财物，宝藏和奴隶，以快乐的维京方式。 他曾经站在这里，握紧拳头，喊道：“我把这片土地命名为明天，因为它将永远存在！”一千人举起长矛，大声表示赞同，而龙则眨着它们古老的眼睛，仿佛在说：“这一切我们都听过了……”

HERE he was betrayed by his own flesh and blood In the middle of a game of chess… HERE is where he spilt that blood, The blood of his own son, on the kingly marble… HERE the flames licked the sky as the city went up Like a million candles… HERE the bright clean sound of sword on sword… HERE the harbour crammed berry-red with corpses… And HERE, the defeated Warrior-King looked back To see several lifetimes' worth of dreams go up in smoke As his boat began to limp like a wounded wolf Across the sea to the Island of Despair. And that was the end of the Last King of the Wilderwest. The Throne was lost, the chess pieces scattered Across the ocean, the Stormblade buried, The Kingdom shattered Into a hundred warring Tribes again. And Grimbeard sailed into the west Never to be seen again. But HERE was where it once all happened. HERE where the eagles soar Over knotted rags of brambles. And the sea-filled caves in the bleak black cliffs echo To the ache of no human voice.

在这里，他被自己的亲生骨肉出卖了在一盘棋的中间，在这里，他洒下了血，他亲生儿子的血，洒在了王权的大理石上，在这里，火焰舔舐着天空，城市像百万支蜡烛一样升起，在这里，剑对剑的声音清晰明亮，在这里，港口里挤满了鲜红的尸体，在这里，战败的勇士王回头一看，他的船开始像一只受伤的狼一样一瘸一瘸地穿过大海，驶向绝望之岛。 这就是西部荒原最后一位国王的结局。 王位丢失了，棋子散落在大洋彼岸，暴风之刃被埋葬，王国再次分裂成一百个交战部落。 然后Grimbeard向西航行，再也没有出现过。 但这里曾经是一切发生的地方。 在这里，老鹰翱翔在结满荆棘的破布上。 阴冷的黑色悬崖上，满是海水的洞穴，回响着没有人声的痛苦。

MIDSUMMER STORM There are many storms in the Barbaric Archipelago. But this was the greatest storm in over one hundred years. It came, without warning, at the height of midsummer. For three days it raged without stopping, howling like a god in pain, blowing over houses, tearing up trees, picking up ships and tossing them down into the depths of the ocean as if they were matches, caring nothing for the tiny human habitations clinging like ants to the barren island wildernesses, mowing them down as if they were nothing. A storm like this causes many things to be lost, and many things to be found. Many a boat can be dragged down in the tempest. And many a strange object that everyone had forgotten about can be dragged up from the depths of the ocean and tossed up on one of the beaches along with a whole heap of driftwood. This particular Storm caused someone to be lost. Camicazi, the tiny, intrepid, tangle-haired daughter of Big-Boobied Bertha, Chief of the Bog-Burglars, was out on the sea, alone in her boat

在野蛮群岛有许多暴风雨。 但这是一百多年来最大的风暴。 它来得毫无征兆，正值盛夏。 三天来，它不停地肆虐，像一个痛苦的神一样嚎叫，吹倒房屋，撕扯树木，卷起船只，把它们像火柴一样扔进海洋深处，丝毫不关心那些小小的人类住所，像蚂蚁一样紧紧抓住荒岛，把它们砍倒，仿佛它们什么都不是。 像这样的风暴使许多东西丢失，也使许多东西被找到。 许多船都能在暴风雨中被拖垮。 还有许多大家都忘记了的奇怪的东西，可以从海洋深处拖上来，和一大堆浮木一起扔到一个海滩上。 这场风暴让一些人失去了生命。 卡米卡齐是沼泽盗贼首领大咪咪伯莎的女儿，她身材娇小，勇敢无畏，头发乱蓬蓬的。她独自一人坐在船上出海了

The Stormy Petrel," when the storm struck. Even before the tempest was past, the Bog-Burglars were out looking for her. And when the winds finally dropped and the Tribes of the Archipelago were waking up to the devastation of flattened cowsheds and walls and houses and upside-down trees, and were wearily getting down to the task of rebuilding their lives again, the Bog- Burglars were already scouring the very edges of the Archipelago in their black-sailed boats, shouting: 'Caaa-aaaa-m-a-c-aaaaaaaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiiiiii!' 'Caaa-aaaa-m-a-c-aaaaaaaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiiiiii!' 'Caaa-aaaa-m-a-c-aaaaaaaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiiiiii!' But answer came there none.

暴风雨的海燕，当暴风雨来袭。 暴风雨还没过去，沼泽窃贼就出去找她了。 当风终于停了，群岛上的部落们醒来，看到被夷为平地的牛棚、墙壁、房屋和倒立的树木，疲惫地重新开始重建他们的生活时，沼泽窃贼们已经乘着他们的黑帆船在群岛的边缘搜索了，一边喊着：“嘎——嘎——嘎——嘎——嘎——嘎——嘎——嘎……“Caaa-aaaa-m-a-c-aaaaaaaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiiiiii !“Caaa-aaaa-m-a-c-aaaaaaaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiiiiii !”可是没有回答。