9 Going Down

9. GOING DOWN The three of them sat side by side on the cauldron, six hands on the chain in the middle. Within sixty seconds, they had descended into total blackness, apart from the eyebeams of Toothless and Horrorcow and Stormfly. After five minutes they were still going down. 'OW, OW, OW, OW, OW,' whispered Fishlegs, as Horrorcow's talons tightened. 'I never thought I'd say this, but I even feel sorry for Alvin, having her for a mother. Do you think that wicked old skeleton really has Stoick trapped in her cupboard?' 'I think so,' Hiccup whispered back. 'But it's very difficult to tell, because she's such a good liar. The one thing I'm sure she was telling the truth about was those poisoned fingernails.' Hiccup shivered a little, for he was so very frightened for Stoick. 'My father'll be all right… he'll be all right…' Hiccup repeated to himself over and over again, for comfort. 'This is so annoying,' said Camicazi. 'At this rate we're going to be really late for the competition.' 'HA!' spluttered Fishlegs. 'We're not going to

9. 他们三个人并排坐在坩埚上，六只手拉在中间的链子上。 不到六十秒，他们就消失在一片漆黑中，只有无牙、恐怖牛和暴风虻的目光。 五分钟后，他们还在往下走。 “哎哟，哎哟，哎哟，哎哟，哎哟，哎哟。”鱼腿低声说，这时恐怖牛的爪子更紧了。 “我从没想过我会这么说，但我甚至为阿尔文感到难过，因为她是我的母亲。 你觉得那个邪恶的老骷髅真的把斯托伊克困在她的橱柜里了吗？“我想是的，”小嗝嗝低声回答。 “但这很难说，因为她是个很会撒谎的人。 我敢肯定她说的唯一一件事是真的，那就是那些有毒的指甲。”小嗝嗝打了个寒噤，因为他为斯托伊克感到非常害怕。 “我父亲会没事的……他会没事的……”嗝嗝为了安慰自己，一遍又一遍地对自己说。 “这太烦人了，”卡米卡齐说。 “照这样下去，我们在竞争中要迟到了。“哈!鱼腿结结巴巴地说。 “我们不会这么做

be late for the competition, Camicazi, we're going to miss it entirely. And do you know why we are going to miss it?' he said in his chattiest voice. 'We are going to miss it because we are going to be dead. You're right, being dead is always annoying.' For morale was already low, and sinking lower and lower the further they sank down the well. This was already a really long way down. How much further were they going to go? Hiccup looked up. The circle of dim firelight that was the well-head was now no bigger than a pin. Fishlegs's hands were sweaty on the iron chain. He tried to peer down into the blackness below. 'What do you know about Brainpickers, Hiccup?' 'Well,' whispered Hiccup, 'I know they feed on peoples' brains by sucking them out through their ears.' 'Lovely,' said Fishlegs, shakily, 'and I suppose you are right as rain after that little operation?' 'Even Lardtummy Lo-Watt can't function without some sort of brain, Fishlegs,' said Hiccup. 'Although they're quite small, Brainpickers are one of the most feared dragons in the Archipelago. Even Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus are scared of

如果比赛迟到了，Camicazi，我们会完全错过的。 你知道我们为什么会想念它吗？他用他最健谈的声音说。 “我们会想念它的，因为我们快要死了。 你说得对，死了总是很烦人。”因为士气已经很低落了，他们越往井里下沉，士气就越低落。 这已经走了很长的路了。 他们还要走多远？ 小嗝嗝抬起头。那一圈微弱的火光，原来是井口，现在还没有一根大头针大。 鱼腿的手在铁链上汗流浃背。 他试图向下面的黑暗中窥视。 “你对挖脑者了解多少，小嗝嗝？”“嗯，”小嗝嗝低声说，“我知道它们从人的耳朵里吸出大脑，以人的大脑为食。”“太好了，”鱼腿颤抖着说，“我想你动了这么小的手术，现在已经完全好了吧？”“鱼腿，连猪肚洛瓦特也不能没有脑子。”嗝嗝说。 “虽然它们很小，但采脑龙是群岛上最可怕的龙之一。 就连巨海龙也害怕

them, because nobody likes the idea of having their brain sucked out.' Fishlegs swallowed hard. 'And what other dragons are we likely to meet?' 'Well, the cave dragons are a pretty nasty bunch down here,' said Hiccup. 'Hopefully they'll all still be hibernating. But Grimbeard has found the most dangerous place on the planet to hide his Crown. There's Riproarers– horrible creatures that dribble and scream. They tear you limb from limb if they get you. And then there's Breathquenchers (a bit like gigantic pythons), and Burrowing Slitherfangs of course… and Stickyworms– they trap you in a web and cover you in slime before they eat you…' But Hiccup wasn't able to finish the long list of particularly unpleasant and dangerous dragons that might inhabit the dungeons of the Flashburn School of Swordfighting. Because the cauldron in the well at last reached its dungeon destination with a THUMP! so violent that the cauldron tipped sideways and the three young Vikings spilled out on to the dungeon floor.

因为没有人喜欢自己的大脑被吸干。”鱼腿使劲吞咽。 “我们还可能遇到什么别的龙呢？”“嗯，洞里的龙是一群很讨厌的家伙，”小嗝嗝说。 “希望它们都还在冬眠。 但Grimbeard找到了这个星球上最危险的地方来藏他的王冠。 有河豚——会运球和尖叫的可怕生物。 他们一旦抓住你，就会把你撕成碎片。 然后是呼吸器（有点像巨大的蟒蛇），当然还有钻洞的滑牙……还有粘虫——它们会把你困在网里，在吃掉你之前把你涂上粘液……”但是小嗝嗝还没能说出一长串特别令人讨厌和危险的龙，它们可能栖息在Flashburn剑术学校的地牢里。 因为井里的坩埚终于砰的一声到达了地牢的目的地！结果坩埚歪了，三个年轻的维京人摔在了地下教室的地板上。