159 漫长的跋涉

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Zann saw Perda's anxious look and felt even more anxious himself

赞恩看到珀达焦虑的神情，自己也更加焦急了。

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Mellis stepped closer." Your arm looks painful," she said

梅莉丝走近了些。“你的手臂看起来很疼，”她说。

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" The entire village council is meeting at my house today

“整个村议会今天在我家开会。”

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I can take you there to see Zira. Her potions will heal you."

“我可以带你去那儿见齐拉。她的药水能治好你。”

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" Great! Let's go." Zann whistled for Zing, who flew over

“太好了！我们走吧。”赞恩吹口哨召唤辛，辛飞了过来。

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Mellis looked worried." Perhaps we should leave your pet behind

梅莉丝看起来有些担忧。“也许我们应该把你的宠物留下。”

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Zira is the most accomplished scientist in this part of Terrica

齐拉是特里卡这一带最有成就的科学家。

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If she hasn't seen such a beast before, she might want

to study him further."

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" Mellis doesn't believe we're from another world," Zann thought

“梅莉丝不相信我们来自另一个世界，”赞恩心想。

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What if Zira and the other adults felt the same way?

如果齐拉和其他大人也这么想，该怎么办？

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Then again, what if they did believe them? Zira might

want to study them too!

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" We probably shouldn't mention where we're from," he said to Perda

“我们大概不该提从哪儿来的。”他对珀达说。

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" We could tie Zing to that tree to wait for us."

“我们可以把辛拴在那棵树上等我们。”

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Zing let out an angry whistle and shot a puff of steam in Zann's face

辛发出一声愤怒的哨响，朝赞恩的脸上喷出一股蒸汽。

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" That tiny tree? He'd yank it right out of the ground if he

doesn't feel like staying," Perda said.

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" Maybe we could disguise him somehow."

“也许我们可以想个办法把它伪装起来。”

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Mellis looked thoughtful." He's about the same size as a chupo."

梅莉丝若有所思。“它的大小跟一只丘波差不多。”

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" What's a chupo?" Zann asked

“丘波是什么？”赞恩问。

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" A creature that lives in the mountains."

“一种生活在山里的动物。”

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Mellis pointed toward the mountain range Zann had noticed earlier

梅莉丝指向赞恩之前注意到的那个山脉。

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" Chupos are pretty rare since they're a favorite snack

of rock trompers." She shuddered.

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" Rock trompers?" Perda echoed

“岩踏兽？”珀达重复道。

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" Yes. They're terrifying and dangerous creatures that

also live in the mountains."

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Mellis looked at Zing again

梅莉丝又看了看辛。

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" Everyone has heard of chupos, but few in this area have seen one

“人人都听说过丘波，但这片区域很少有人见过。

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Let's see if we can turn your, um, dragon into a chupo."

我们看看能不能把你的，呃，龙变成丘波。”

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First Mellis said they had to hide Zing's gleaming red scales

首先，梅莉丝说他们得藏起辛那闪闪发亮的红色鳞片。

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She had a bottle of water in her rough cloth bag, and the kids

mixed it with dirt to create a muddy paste.

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Zing wasn't happy about having mud rubbed on him

辛对被人往身上抹泥巴很不高兴。

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Zann was glad that he couldn't shoot fire at the moment, only hot steam

赞恩庆幸他此刻喷不出火，只能喷出热蒸汽。

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Even so, it was difficult to keep him still

即便如此，也很难让他一动不动。

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" I wish Darb were here," he muttered, dodging a slap from Zing's wing

“真希望达布在这儿，”他嘟囔着，躲开了辛翅膀的一拍。

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" He can convince Zing to do almost anything."

“他几乎能让辛做任何事。”

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Perda nodded." Hold still, Zing. We missed a spot."

珀达点点头。“别动，辛。我们漏掉了一块。”

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Finally Zing was the same drab color as the landscape

终于，辛和周围的景色一样，变成了灰扑扑的颜色。

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" Chupos don't have wings though." Mellis studied the dragon

“但丘波没有翅膀。”梅莉丝打量着这条龙。

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" And you can still tell he's covered in scales, not fur."

“而且还是能看出他全身是鳞片，不是皮毛。”

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Perda glanced at Mellis' bag." Maybe we could

wrap him in that," she suggested.

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" We could say he's injured, and it's a bandage."

“我们可以说他受伤了，那是绷带。”

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" Good idea!" Mellis dumped a few items out of the bag

“好主意！”梅莉丝从包里倒出几样东西。

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Then she pulled off the rope belt that cinched in her loose tunic

然后她解下了系住宽松束腰外衣的绳带。

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" We can use this to tie it on him."

“我们可以用这个把它绑在他身上。”

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Soon Zing was fully disguised. Zann wasn't sure what a chupo looked like

很快辛就完全伪装好了。赞恩不知道丘波长什么样。

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But he doubted it looked like a dragon covered in mud and draped in a bag

但他怀疑那看起来不像一条裹满泥巴、披着布袋的龙。

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" Let's hope nobody looks too closely," Mellis said

“咱们可千万别让人细看。”梅莉丝说。

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" It's the best we can do. Follow me — the farm is this way."

“这是咱最好的办法了。跟我来——农场在这边。”

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Zing's legs and wings were restricted by the bag

so the kids took turns carrying him.

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" How far away is your house?" Zann asked after they'd

been walking for several minutes.

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" At our current pace, we should be there within an hour," Mellis replied

“照咱现在这速度，一小时内应该能到。”梅莉丝回答。

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Zann and Perda traded a dismayed glance

赞恩和珀达交换了一个沮丧的眼神。

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" I wish we had enough magic to create more comfortable shoes," Zann said

“真希望我们有足够的魔法能变出更舒服的鞋子，”赞恩说。

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Perda rolled her eyes." If we had magic, we wouldn't

need better shoes," she reminded him.

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" We'd just zap there!"

“我们直接嗖的一下就到了！”

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Zann shifted his grip on Zing. The little dragon felt heavier with every step

赞恩换了个姿势抱辛。每走一步，小龙都感觉更沉了些。

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Mellis distracted the visitors by telling them more about herself

梅莉丝开始更多地讲述自己的事，来分散两位客人的注意力。

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She'd lost both her parents to a famine when she was very young

她很小的时侯，父母就双双死于一场饥荒。

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Her uncle Vilkor had taken her in, and now the two of them

eked out a living on their large but arid farm.

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" It's not easy," she admitted with a sigh

“日子不容易，”她叹了口气，承认道。

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" Especially now that our main well has run dry. That's why

I was out there when you arrived.

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Uncle Vilkor had sent me to dig a new well."

是维尔科叔叔派我去挖一口新水井。”

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Zann was amazed by Mellis' tale. Life without magic sounded really difficult!

赞恩被梅莉丝的经历震撼了。没有魔法的生活听起来实在太艰难了！

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Finally they spotted a few buildings on the horizon

他们终于在地平线上看到了几座建筑。

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There was a small barn, a separate building for storing dried grains

and a modest one-story house.

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Three people were sitting in the yard

院子里坐着三个人。

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By now Zann was so exhausted from the long walk that he

barely took in the names when Mellis introduced them.

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Uncle Vilkor was tall and handsome, with a big smile and a strong handshake

威尔克叔叔高大英俊，笑容爽朗，握手很有力。

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" Welcome, welcome," he said." Visitors from far away — what fun!"

“欢迎，欢迎，”他说。“远道而来的客人——真有意思！”

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Then there was a man named Krub, who was broad-shouldered

and rough-looking.

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He didn't say much, but when he did speak, his voice was loud and gruff

他话不多，但一开口，声音就又响又粗。

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Finally Mellis introduced Zira, a small, lean woman with steely gray eyes

最后，梅莉丝介绍了齐拉，一位身材瘦小、有着铁灰色眼睛的女士。

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" Let's have a look," Zira said, examining Zann's scrape

“让我看看，”齐拉说着，检查起赞恩的擦伤。

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" Yes, this should be a simple matter. Let's go indoors

so the dust doesn't contaminate my potion.

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It's quite rare and difficult to make, you know."

要知道，这药膏可是非常稀有，很难制作的。”

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She sounded proud of her work. Soon Zann found out why

她听起来对自己的成果很自豪。赞恩很快就明白了原因。

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The moment Zira rubbed her purple paste-like potion

onto his wound, it stopped hurting.

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" Wow, thanks!" he said. Then he noticed Krub watching

Zing with narrowed eyes.

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None of the adults had paid much attention to the dragon

when Mellis had said he was an injured chupo.

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But now Zing was nosing at the fire in the hearth, obviously

trying to figure out how to regain his powers.

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" What's the chupo doing?" Krub said, sounding suspicious

“那只丘波在干什么？”克鲁布问道，语气里透着怀疑。

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" Nothing." Mellis grabbed Zing

“没什么。”梅莉丝一把抓过辛。

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" Er, Uncle, our guests are tired from their long trip

Shall we show them to their beds?"