Chapter 1-6

Prince Bennett galloped into the palace. of the Seven Kingdoms over the drawbridge, yelling at the top of his voice. "Princess Florizella has been captured. Prince Courier too!" The captain of the guard caught the reins of his pony. "What?" she snapped. "Princess Florizella–" pant, pant– "kidnappers… Prince Courier too–" pant– "in the Purple

贝内特王子策马冲进王宫。 他越过吊桥进入七国领地，扯开嗓子大喊。 “弗洛里泽拉公主被抓走了。 还有库里尔王子！” 卫队长拽住了他小马的缰绳。 “什么？”她厉声问道。 “弗洛里泽拉公主——”呼哧，呼哧——“绑匪……还有库里尔王子——”呼哧——“在紫色”

Forest… deep in the forest… Captain Stella," Bennett gasped. "But where?" she asked. It was a huge forest and most of it had no paths at all, and any paths almost always led to swamps and deep quarries. "Where exactly?" Bennett looked back in despair at the road that he had thundered down, and at the great haze of the huge forest. Of course, they could be anywhere; it would be almost impossible to find them. Bennett and the captain looked again towards the endless horizon of the forest. And, as if in answer to their question, a tall tower of smoke slowly bloomed and then hung in the air above the forest. It was as though an arrow was pointing down towards the kidnappers" bonfire. "There, I should think," Bennett said, pointing. "I should think so too," said the captain of the guard. "Sound the alarm! Turn out the guard! Mount and ride!"

森林……森林深处……斯特拉队长。”贝内特喘着气说。 “可具体在哪儿？”她问。 那片森林非常大，大部分地方根本没有路，就算有小路，也几乎总是通往沼泽和深采石场。 “具体位置在哪里？” 贝内特绝望地回头望向他一路狂奔过来的路，又望了望那片大森林笼罩的茫茫雾霭。 当然，他们可能在任何地方，要找到他们几乎是不可能的。 贝内特和队长再次望向森林看不到头的地平线。 仿佛是回应他们的疑问一般，一股高高的烟柱慢慢冒了出来，悬在森林上方的空中。 那就像一支箭，正指向绑匪的篝火所在的位置。 “我想应该就在那儿。”贝内特指了指说道。 “我也觉得是。”卫队长说。 “拉响警报！ 集合卫队！ 上马出发！”

Bennett very much admired the captain of the guard. "Can I come too?" he asked politely. "Please may I? Captain Stella?" "I'm counting on you," she said, and swung up on to her big horse. She pushed back her cape so it rippled behind her as she led the guard at a canter, over the drawbridge and down the road to the Purple Forest. She called over her shoulder to Bennett. "Your Highness! Lead the way into the forest; take us on the path that you rode down." "Aye aye, Captain," Bennett said, getting his reply confused in his excitement. "I mean– Yes! Ma'am!" Quickly, Bennett retraced the path that he, Florizella and Courier had ridden earlier. That was easy; it was the way they always rode into the forest, but when he got to the spot where they had been kidnapped, he couldn't tell which way the kidnappers had gone. The plume of smoke still hung in the sky, showing them the general

贝内特非常佩服这位卫队长。 “我也能一起去吗？” 他礼貌地问。 “请问我可以吗？ 斯特拉队长？” “我还指望你呢。”她说着，翻身上了她的高头大马。 她把斗篷往后一掀，斗篷在她身后随风飘动，她带着卫队慢跑前进，越过吊桥，沿着通往紫色森林的路而去。 她回头朝贝内特喊道。 “殿下！ 你来带路进森林，带我们走你刚才过来的那条路。” “遵命，队长！”贝内特说，他太激动了，回答都有点乱了套。 “我是说——好的！女士！” 贝内特很快就找到了之前他、弗洛里泽拉和库里尔骑马路过的那条小径。 这倒不难； 他们平时进森林走的就是这条路，可当他来到他们被绑架的地点时，他没法判断绑匪往哪个方向走了。 那道烟柱还悬在天上，给他们指明了大致的

direction, but it was a huge forest and choked with thorns and branches, shrubs and undergrowth. It was hard to see any of the paths at all. Bennett and the captain stared at the endless horizon. "We should have brought dogs to help track," the captain said, cross at herself for not thinking of this. "Now we'll have to send someone back to fetch them." "Unless we can track the kidnappers ourselves," Bennett suggested. "The ground is quite muddy, and they had quite a few horses. We might be able to see hoof prints." He got down from his horse and looked around, but in the darkness of the forest it was impossible to see any tracks in the mud. "I can't tell," he said. "I'll try over here…" Then, surprised, he said, "A peppermint. It's white; I can see it in the darkness. Definitely a sweet." "And there's another one beyond it," said someone. Bennett ran forward and saw another peppermint gleaming on the forest floor just

方向，可这森林太大了，到处都堵满了荆棘、树枝、灌木和矮树丛。 根本看不清有没有路。 贝内特和队长盯着那看不到头的地平线。 “我们本该带狗来帮忙追踪的。”队长说，她气自己没想到这一点。 现在我们得派人回去取。” “说不定我们自己就能追踪绑匪呢。”贝内特提议道。 “地面挺泥泞的，他们还有好几匹马。 我们说不定能看到马蹄印。” 他从马上下来四处查看，可森林里光线太暗，根本没法看清泥地里的任何痕迹。 “我看不出来。”他说。 “我到这边试试……”接着他惊讶地开口：“一颗薄荷糖。 是白色的，我在暗处也能看见。 绝对是颗糖。” “前面还有一颗。”有人说道。 贝内特往前跑，看见另一颗薄荷糖在森林的地面上闪着光，就在

ahead, and another and then another. Quickly, surely, Prince Bennett went from one white peppermint to another, the guard following behind him as he tracked his way through the twists and turns of the impenetrable forest. "This way," he said quietly, and then, "That way." After a long time, he held up his hand to mean "Wait!" and he turned back to the captain and said, "They're here!"

正前方，接着又是一颗，再一颗。 贝内特王子走得又快又稳，从一颗白色薄荷糖走到下一颗，卫队跟在他身后，他一路追踪，穿过了密不透风的森林里曲曲折折的小路。 “这边走。”他轻声说，接着又说，“走那边。” 走了很久之后，他抬起手，意思是“等等！” 然后他回头对队长说：“他们就在这儿！”