Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT The unicorns headed through the trees. As they trotted down the track, Ariana heard the sound of trickling water. "Do you think that's the Verdant Falls?" Matilda said. Freya frowned. "No. The Verdant Falls is a really powerful waterfall. I've seen pictures in books. The water comes flowing out of a hole in a cliff face and lands in a pool. It would make a much louder noise than that." "I can definitely smell water this way," said Crystal, sniffing the air again.

第八章独角兽穿过树林。 当他们沿着小路小跑时，阿利安娜听到了水声。 “你认为那是翠绿瀑布吗？”玛蒂尔达说。 弗雷娅皱起了眉头。“没有。翠绿瀑布是一个非常强大的瀑布。 我在书上看过图片。 水从悬崖表面的一个洞里流出，落在一个水池里。 它发出的声音会比这大得多。” “这样我肯定能闻到水的味道，”克里斯托说着，又嗅了嗅空气。

They rounded a bend and stopped. Ahead of them was a rocky cliff face. A tiny stream of water was trickling out of a cave near the top. It was falling into a sludgy brown pool at the bottom. The fox walked to the edge of the pool. Then it looked at the girls. "Is that the magic waterfall?" asked Rosa in surprise. "It's not very impressive." "It can't be the Verdant Falls," said Freya. "There isn't enough water." She looked around. "Everything else looks the same as the pictures though– the cliff, the pool at the bottom…" She trailed off. "I'm sure this is the falls, but what's happened to it?" Ariana caught her breath. "Maybe someone has done something to stop the water flowing properly." The fox pricked its large red ears. "You're very friendly, aren't you?" said Rosa, smiling. The young fox yapped happily and bounded closer, its bushy tail wagging.

他们拐了个弯停了下来。 在他们前面是一个岩石峭壁。 一股细细的水流正从靠近山顶的一个山洞里滴落下来。 它掉进了底部一个浑浊的棕色水池里。 狐狸走到池塘边。 然后它看了看女孩们。 “那就是那个神奇的瀑布吗？”罗莎惊讶地问。 “这并不令人印象深刻。” “不可能是翠绿瀑布，”弗雷娅说。 “没有足够的水。” 她环顾四周。“不过，其他的一切看起来都和照片上的一样——悬崖，湖底的池塘……”她的声音越来越小。 “我敢肯定这就是瀑布，但它发生了什么事？”阿利安娜屏住了呼吸。 “也许有人做了什么事来阻止水正常流动。” 狐狸戳了戳它的大红耳朵。 “你很友好，不是吗？”罗莎微笑着说。 小狐狸高兴地叫着，蹦蹦跳跳地靠近了，毛茸茸的尾巴摇摆着。

"How sweet!" The fox cub rolled over on to its back to have its fluffy tummy tickled, and Rosa got off Crystal to stroke it. After a bit, the cub got to its feet and ran to the pool. The girls and their unicorns watched as it lapped up a few mouthfuls of water with its pink tongue. As the cub swallowed, it stiffened. It looked round at them and the hackles on the back of its neck

“多甜啊!”小狐狸翻过身来，让人挠它毛茸茸的肚子，罗莎从克里斯托身上下来抚摸它。 过了一会儿，幼崽站了起来，跑向池塘。 女孩们和她们的独角兽看着它用粉红色的舌头舔了几口水。 当幼崽吞咽时，它变得僵硬了。 它回头看了看他们和脖子后面的鬃毛

rose. Lowering its head, the cub bared its teeth and snarled. Its eyes glowed and then it pounced. Whisper instantly stamped his hoof. Sparks flew up and landed on the cub's head. With a surprised bark, it skidded to a halt. The glow faded from its eyes. The cub shook its head. Whining in confusion, it trotted over to the girls. Rosa crouched down and patted it. "You clever thing," she said. "You're trying to tell us that there's something wrong with the water." Ariana stroked Whisper. "Well done. Are you OK?" He nodded. "The cub was smart enough not to drink too much water, so I only had to use a little bit of magic. We've got to do something though, Ariana. We can't let the animals all turn bad!" "I know," she said. Violet and Matilda had dismounted and were making a fuss of the little fox cub with Rosa.

玫瑰。幼崽低下头，露出牙齿咆哮。 它的眼睛闪闪发光，然后猛扑过去。 耳语立刻跺了跺脚。 火花飞了起来，落在幼崽的头上。 随着一声惊讶的吠叫，它滑行着停了下来。 它眼睛里的光芒消失了。 幼崽摇了摇头。它困惑地呜咽着，小跑着向女孩们走去。 罗莎蹲下来拍了拍它。 “你真聪明，”她说。 “你是想告诉我们水有问题。” 阿利安娜抚摸着Whisper。“做得好。 你还好吗？”他点了点头。“这只幼崽很聪明，不会喝太多水，所以我只需要用一点魔法。 我们得做点什么，阿利安娜。 我们不能让所有的动物都变坏！”“我知道，”她说。 维奥莱特和玛蒂尔达已经下了马，正在和罗莎一起照顾小狐狸宝宝。

Meanwhile, Freya had got off Honey and was examining the water. "Someone might have put a dark magic spell on this pool and there's no fresh water to wash it clean," she said, wading through the shallow water at the edge. She turned over the nearby rocks and boulders. "There may be some clues somewhere. Come and help me look." The others joined her, but Ariana hesitated. It looked very muddy and wet. "Why don't we go to the top of the cliff, Ariana, and see if we can find anything up there?" said Whisper. "We might find out why the water isn't flowing properly out of the cave." "OK." Ariana liked that idea far better than the thought of rootling around in the mud. She told the others what they were doing. "We'll go up there," she said, pointing to a path that led up to the top of the cliff. "All right, shout if you find anything," said Rosa.

与此同时，弗雷娅已经从霍妮身上下来，正在检查水。 “可能有人在这个池子里施了黑魔法，没有淡水能把它洗干净，”她说着，在池边的浅水里涉水而过。 她翻过附近的岩石和巨石。 “也许会有一些线索。 过来帮我看看。”其他人也跟着她，但阿利安娜犹豫了。 它看起来非常泥泞和潮湿。 “我们为什么不到悬崖顶上去，阿利安娜，看看能不能找到什么东西？” “我们可能会发现为什么水不能正常流出洞穴。” “好吧。”阿利安娜更喜欢这个主意，而不是在泥里滚来滚去。 她告诉其他人他们在做什么。 “我们到那儿去，”她指着通往悬崖顶端的一条小路说。 “好吧，找到什么就喊，”罗莎说。

Whisper followed the path up the cliff. When they were nearly at the top, Ariana dismounted and they cautiously approached the cliff edge so they could look down at the hole the water should be flowing from. Whisper's hooves slipped on the wet rocks as he got closer to the edge. "Wait!" Ariana said, getting off his back. "It's not safe. Have you seen how steep the drop is to the pool below? You stay here and I'll go on. I can crawl." "Are you sure?" said Whisper. "You'll get wet and dirty." "I don't care." Ariana thought about the brave little fox cub. It knew there was something wrong with the water and had got them to follow it. "The others are right– we have to find out what's going on." She shrugged off her rucksack and, dropping to her hands and knees, crawled to the cliff edge. She flattened her tummy to the ground,

Whisper沿着小路爬上了悬崖。 快到山顶的时候，阿利安娜下了马，他们小心翼翼地靠近悬崖边缘，这样就可以往下看水应该流出的那个洞。 当Whisper靠近悬崖边缘时，他的蹄子在潮湿的岩石上滑了一下。 “等等!”阿利安娜说，躲开了他。 “不安全。你看到通往下面水池的落差有多陡了吗？ 你待在这儿，我去。 我会爬。”“你确定吗？” “你会又湿又脏的。” “我不在乎。”阿利安娜想着那只勇敢的小狐狸。 它知道水有问题，并让他们跟着它走。 “其他人是对的——我们必须弄清楚到底发生了什么。” 她耸耸肩，双手和膝盖跪在地上，爬到悬崖边。 她把肚子贴在地上，