4 A Game of Hide-and-Seek

4. A GAME OF HIDE-AND-SEEK Just as the Rogue dragons disappeared, and the cliff- face rang out with the young Warriors' cheers, the Windwalker finally woke up. 'Oh, have I missed something?' he asked innocently. Snotlout was still dangling from the tree below Hiccup, and he had to be rescued by Very Vicious and Thuggory and a couple more of the bulkiest Meatheads and Visithugs who climbed down to help pull him up. For some reason they seemed to think that it was quite funny that Snotlout was suspended from the cliff by his underpants with an arrow sticking out of his calf. 'HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!' Very Vicious and Thuggory roared with laughter. 'You look just like a fishy on a hook!' 'You will regret this, cousin of mine,' Snotlout promised himself, removing the arrow from his leg. 'Just you wait. You will regret this, Hiccup, and my time will come.' But in his wounded state, he allowed himself to

4. 就在流氓龙消失的时候，悬崖上响起了年轻的勇士们的欢呼声，风行者终于醒了。 “哦，我错过什么了吗？”他天真地问。 鼻涕鼻子还吊在小嗝嗝下面的树上，只好由非常恶毒和残暴，还有另外两个最笨重的笨蛋和飞天怪爬下来帮忙把他拉上来。 出于某种原因，他们似乎觉得鼻子鼻子用内裤吊在悬崖上，小腿上还插着一支箭，这很有趣。 “哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈！”非常恶毒和残暴的人哄堂大笑。 “你看起来就像一条被钩住的鱼！”“你会后悔的，我的表弟。”鼻鼻子自言自语地说着，把箭从腿上拔了下来。 “你等着瞧吧。你会后悔的，小嗝嗝，我的大限将至。”但在他受伤的状态下，他允许自己这么做

be flown up to the top of the cliff on the back of the Windwalker nonetheless. It was only one o'clock in the morning, but nobody felt like hanging around in case those Rogue dragons came back, and besides, most of the hammocks had been burnt to ashes. So the young Warriors climbed the rest of the cliff in the darkness of the night-time, and it was quite tricky, for they had so few of the grappling hooks and ropes left. They reached the Flashburn School of Swordfighting by about six o'clock, according to Hiccup's ticking-thing, and by then the young Warriors were a pathetic, bedraggled sight. It was the largest castle that Hiccup had ever seen. It was also strangely silent. They cried up at the walls to be let in, for the drawbridge to be let down, but the great grey walls answered them not. Up on the battlements, flocks of Neverbirds nesting in the towers above and awoken by the commotion, called back with their own longing, melancholy cries, which sound remarkably like: 'Where are yo-o-o-o-ou??' The exhausted young Warriors threw up their grappling hooks, scaled the castle walls, and collapsed,

尽管如此，他还是骑在风行者的背上飞到了悬崖顶上。 现在才凌晨一点，但谁也不想在这儿逗留，以防那些流氓龙回来，再说，大部分吊床都被烧成灰烬了。 于是，年轻的勇士们在黑夜中爬上了悬崖的其余部分，这相当棘手，因为他们剩下的抓钩和绳子很少了。 根据小嗝嗝的滴答声，他们大约在六点钟到达了Flashburn击剑学校，那时年轻的勇士们已经是一副可怜的、邋里邋遢的样子。 这是嗝嗝所见过的最大的城堡。 这里也出奇地寂静。 他们向城墙上呼喊，要求把吊桥放下来，但巨大的灰色城墙没有回应他们。 城垛上，成群的无鸟在高塔上筑巢，它们被喧嚣惊醒，用自己渴望的、忧郁的叫声叫了回来，听起来非常像：“你——你——你——你——你在哪里？”疲惫的年轻战士们扔下抓钩，爬上城墙，倒下了，

exhausted, on the battlements. 'I thought we'd really had it that time,' gasped Fishlegs. Fishlegs was sprawled beside Hiccup. He had lost his helmet, and his dragon Horrorcow had been so frightened when she heard the words of the Rogue dragons at the cliff-face that she had flown on top of Fishlegs's head and entwined her claws into his hair for safety, mooing in a terrified way. (Infant dragons often climb on to their mother's back or head and cling to it in times of peril.) Camicazi was so beside herself with over-excitement, she was chattering even quicker than normal.

筋疲力尽，躺在城垛上。 鱼腿喘着气说：“我以为我们那次真的成功了。” 鱼腿摊在嗝嗝身边。 他的头盔不见了，他的巨龙恐怖牛听到悬崖边上的恶龙说的话时吓坏了，飞到鱼腿的头顶上，把爪子缠在他的头发上以保安全，惊慌失措地移动着。 （幼龙经常爬到母亲的背上或头上，在危险时刻紧紧抓住它。）卡米卡齐兴奋得发狂，她说话的速度比平时还要快。

'You were brilliant, Hiccup, brilliant! That whole grappling-hook thing was awesome!' Even in his ragged, singed, exhausted state, Hiccup felt triumphant. Now that they were safe, the young Warriors came over to thump Hiccup on the back and thank him for his idea about the grappling hooks. 'Um… good work, what's-your-name, Hiccup?' grunted Very Vicious the Visithug gruffly, slapping him on the back so hard he nearly fell over. 'Sorry about the misunderstanding earlier…' 'I told you,' grinned Thuggory the Meathead. 'He's surprisingly cool.' Hiccup wasn't used to getting this kind of attention from the tougher, older Vikings. Normally, at best, they ignored him, or at worst, laughed and jeered. This was what my father meant about getting the respect of my peer-group, thought Hiccup, red with embarrassment and pride. It felt good. But he still had a feeling of terrible unease at the edges of his mind. He had defeated those dragons… for now… but why were different species flying side by

“你太棒了，小嗝嗝，太棒了！那整个抓钩动作太棒了！”即使在他衣衫褴褛、焦头烂面、疲惫不堪的状态下，小嗝嗝仍然感到胜利。 现在他们安全了，年轻的勇士们走过来拍了拍小嗝嗝的背，感谢他想出了抓钩的主意。 “嗯……干得好，你叫什么名字，小嗝嗝？”非常恶毒的拜访者粗声粗气地说，重重地拍了拍他的背，他差点摔倒。 “我跟你说过了，”凶残的笨蛋笑道。 “他酷得出奇。”小嗝嗝不习惯受到那些更强壮、更年长的维京人的这种关注。 通常，最好的情况是，他们不理睬他，最坏的情况是，他们嘲笑他。 这就是我父亲所说的得到同龄人的尊重，小嗝嗝想。他的脸又尴尬又骄傲，涨得通红。 感觉很好。但他心里仍有一种非常不安的感觉。 他暂时打败了那些龙，但是为什么不同种类的龙在旁边飞来飞去呢

side to attack the Warriors in the first place? Why did they want Hiccup's sword? And what was that horrible thing that they were chanting in Dragonese? And it wasn't long before the Warriors stopped congratulating each other, and started looking around at their surroundings questioningly. What was going on? Where was everybody? Camicazi's excited chattering died away. The silence was deathly. They had never been to the Flashburn School before, but they knew there ought to have been look-outs on the battlements, even at night-time. Where were they? There were spears neatly stacked, and shields balanced as if someone had just put them away tidily. But nobody was there. And Old Wrinkly had said that terrible danger awaited them at the Flashburn School of Swordfighting… thought Hiccup. A flap of wings, and Hiccup jumped… But it was only Toothless, coming to sit on Hiccup's helmet, looking very relaxed and pleased with himself, and eating what looked like an enormous mouthful of wild boar.

进攻勇士的一方呢？ 他们为什么要Hiccup的剑？ 他们用龙语念叨的那个可怕的东西是什么？ 没过多久，勇士们就不再互相祝贺了，而是开始怀疑地环顾四周。 发生了什么事？大家都到哪里去了？ Camicazi兴奋的喋喋不休消失了。 死一般的寂静。他们以前从来没有去过Flashburn学校，但他们知道城垛上应该有岗哨，即使是在晚上。 他们在哪里？长矛整齐地堆放在一起，盾牌平衡地摆放着，好像有人刚刚把它们整齐地放好。 但是没有人在那里。老皱纹说过，在Flashburn剑术学校有可怕的危险等着他们……嗝嗝想。 拍了一下翅膀，嗝嗝跳了起来……但那只是无牙，他过来坐在嗝嗝的头盔上，看起来很放松，对自己很满意，好像吃了一大口野猪肉。

'Where have you been?' asked Hiccup, a little irritated. 'I asked you to get help, not get yourself some breakfast, we were in real trouble down there!' Toothless started guiltily. 'Oh yes, Toothless was looking. Toothless l-l-looked EVERYWHERE.' 'Why is your mouth full?' asked Hiccup sternly. 'Not eating,' explained Toothless, batting his eyelids innocently. 'Just ch-ch-chewing the air.' 'Well that air smells like wild boar,' said Hiccup.

“你上哪儿去了？”小嗝嗝有点恼火地问。 “我让你去找人帮忙，不是让你自己去吃早饭，我们在那里遇到了真正的麻烦！”无牙开始感到内疚。 “哦，是的，无牙在看。 没牙的我到处看。“为什么你嘴里塞满了东西？”小嗝嗝严厉地问。 “不吃东西。”无牙解释道，天真地眨着眼皮。 “只是在嚼空气。“嗯，那空气闻起来像野猪，”嗝嗝说。