154 再赴沃姆伍德

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Perda landed in front of the Wormwood tree, near a rickety hut where a skinny

old woman was stirring an enormous metal pot of foul-smelling stew.

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Or was it a potion of some sort? The people of Wormwood were

known to practice some strange magic.

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A furry striped creature was stretched out beside the pot, soaking

in the warmth of the fire that heated it.

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Perda recognized it as an itchetch, a creature from another world

that some people kept as a pet.

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But Perda wasn't interested in the woman or her stewpot or even the itchetch

但珀达对那妇人、她的炖锅，甚至那只伊切奇都不感兴趣。

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She stared at the tree. Its gnarled old branches stretched over

the entire area, casting weird-shaped patches of shade.

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" It's strange to think that all the magic in Magica came

from one tree," Perda thought.

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" I can't wait to find out more!"

“我等不及要了解更多了！”

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As she took a step toward the tree, she heard a loud splash right behind her

当她朝树迈出一步时，身后传来一声响亮的溅水声。

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" Ouch!" Zann cried

“哎哟！”赞叫了起来。

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She turned to see that Zann had landed with one foot

in the old woman's stewpot.

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" Drat," Zann muttered, pulling his foot out of the bubbling stew

“见鬼。”赞咕哝着，把脚从滚烫的炖菜里拔了出来。

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Zing was just outside the pot beside Zann

静就在锅外面，赞的身边。

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When the itchetch spotted the dragon, it growled and jumped to its feet

那只伊切奇一看到小龙，就低吼着跳了起来。

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Zing spit out a burst of fire in return

静立刻回敬了一团火焰。

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Zann grabbed Zing to keep him away from the itchetch

赞抓住静，想让他离那只伊切奇远一点。

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" Sorry," he added when he noticed the old woman glaring at him

他注意到老妇人正瞪着自己，便补了一句：“抱歉。”

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" That's just like a Red," she spit out." Carelessly ruining

a poor old Void's dinner!"

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Perda hurried over." Please forgive him," she said to

the old woman. "We can fix your, um, soup?"

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Just then Gliss and Darb landed, holding hands." What's going on?" Gliss asked

就在这时，格丽丝和达布手牵着手降落了。“出什么事了？”格丽丝问道。

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The Void woman rolled her eyes." Great, just what I needed," she said

虚空老妇翻了个白眼，说道：“太好了，我正需要这个。”

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" Another Red! Would you like to come into my hut

and destroy my few lowly belongings, missy?"

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Gliss looked confused." Um, no?"

格丽丝一脸困惑：“呃，不？”

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" Is that an itchetch?" Darb said." Cool!"

“那是伊切奇吗？”达布说，“酷！”

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" Yes," the old woman said." Be careful of your dragon

“是的，”老妇人说，“看好你的龙。”

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My itchetch hates all scaly creatures

我的伊切奇讨厌所有带鳞的生物。

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And now that our dinner is ruined, he'll be looking for

something else to eat." She glared at Zing.

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" I'd better do something," Perda thought

“我最好做点什么。”珀达心想。

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She rubbed her hands together to make lots of magic friction

她双手互相揉搓，制造出大量的魔法摩擦。

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Then she quickly created a whole new pot of delicious-smelling

stew, along with a platter of fruit and cheese.

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The old woman's eyes lit up

老妇人的眼睛亮了起来。

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" Ah, that's more like it," she said, greedily stuffing a piece

of fruit into her mouth. "Apology accepted."

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" Good. Let's get out of here." Zann hurried away, carrying

Zing, who was still glaring at the itchetch.

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Perda walked closer to the tree's giant trunk." Look out

for the wormhole," Gliss warned.

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Perda nodded, sidestepping the spot so she wouldn't

accidentally open the wormhole.

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Unlike many of the wormholes in Magica, which appeared

and disappeared from time to time,

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the Wormwood wormhole had been in the same spot in front

of this tree for as long as anyone could remember.

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Zann set Zing down and dropped the harness

赞把赞恩放下来，扔下了挽具。

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Then he snapped his fingers and healed the burns

the hot stew had left on his leg.

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He also dried his pants and shoe

他还烘干了裤子和鞋子。

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" Look out," Darb said." Here comes that itchetch."

“小心，”达布说。“那只伊切奇过来了。”

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Zing saw the creature coming too

赞也看见了那只动物跑过来。

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He flapped his wings, flying toward the itchetch

before Zann could grab his leash.

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" Will that thing really try to eat Zing?" Gliss asked, looking worried

“那东西真的会想吃掉赞吗？”格丽丝问，看起来很担心。

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" I doubt it," Darb said." For one thing, they're about the same size. See?

“我不觉得，”达布说。“首先，他们个头差不多。你看？”

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They're just chasing each other around." He reached over and took her hand

他们只是在互相追逐玩耍。”他伸手牵住她的手。

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" Don't worry, we can keep an eye on them and intervene if we need to."

“别担心，我们可以盯着他们，需要时再插手。”

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Gliss smiled at him." Okay."

格丽丝对他笑了笑。“好吧。”

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The itchetch tried to tackle Zing

伊切奇试图扑倒赞。

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But the dragon flew up, shooting flames

但飞龙飞了起来，喷出了一团火焰。

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Then he turned and chased the itchetch, causing it to snarl angrily

然后它转身去追伊切奇，惹得伊切奇愤怒地低吼起来。

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Darb knew a lot about animals, so Perda figured Zing would be all right

达布很了解动物，所以珀尔达想着赞应该没事。

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She pulled out the blink image again

她又拿出了那张闪烁图像。

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" I wonder if this riddle could help to explain how

the Source of magic works, like Asta said."

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" Maybe," Zann said, leaning in for a look at the words

“也许吧，”赞说着，凑近去看上面的字。

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He was the only one paying attention to Perda

他是唯一一个在关注珀尔达的人。

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Nearby, Darb bent to pick a wildflower, and then he tucked

it into Gliss' red hair while she giggled.

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Zing and the itchetch stopped running around

and started growling at each other.

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"'Touch and see,'" Perda said." I wonder what we're supposed to see?"

“‘触摸与看见，’”珀尔达说，“我想知道我们应该看见什么？”

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Zann shrugged, stepping toward the tree and putting a hand on its trunk

赞耸了耸肩，走向那棵树，把手放在树干上。

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" And what are we supposed to touch?"

“那我们应该触摸什么呢？”

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" It says ' no need to climb,'" Perda pointed to the words

“上面写着‘无需攀爬’，”珀尔达指着那些字说。

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" So it's probably something low enough to reach."

“所以很可能是低处够得着的东西。”

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" Maybe we should — Zing, look out!" Zann cried

“也许我们应该——赞，小心！”赞喊道。

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The itchetch had just leaped at the dragon again. Zing was

flying backward, shooting flames.

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" Huh?" Perda thought." The itchetch's claws look sharp

but Zing is pretty tough."

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Then she noticed the wormhole swirling open

For a second she wasn't sure why.

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None of them were close enough to open it the regular way

他们中没人靠近到能以常规方式打开它的距离。

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And none of them were doing magic, which might cause

it to open from farther away.

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But that wasn't true, she realized. It took magic energy

for Zing to create fire.

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His energy was causing the wormhole to open — and now

he was hurtling straight toward it!

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" Grab him!" Darb shouted. He started running, but he

was too far away to reach Zing in time.

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Luckily Zann was closer. He grabbed Zing's leg just as the

wormhole sucked the little dragon in.

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" Zann!" Perda cried as she saw him teeter on the edge

trying to pull his pet out of the swirling wormhole.

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She leaped forward, hoping she was fast enough

她向前一跃，希望自己够快。