171 前往矿场

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" Take them away!" Zira shouted again

“把他们带走！”齐拉再次喊道。

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" I can't believe this is happening!" Zann thought, outraged

“我真不敢相信会这样！”赞恩愤怒地想。

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" Release us right now!" Perda cried, struggling against her shackles

“立刻放开我们！”佩达哭喊道，挣扎着要挣脱镣铐。

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Zann saw one of the large men heading toward him

"Don't touch me!" Zann yelled.

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Zira smirked." You look like a sturdy kid, Zann." She glanced at the goon

齐拉轻蔑一笑。“你看起来是个结实的孩子，赞恩。”她瞥了一眼那个打手。

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" Take him to the mines in the mountains beyond the lowland swamps

“带他去低地沼泽那边山里的矿场。

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He can make himself useful there. Krub, go with them."

他可以在那儿派上用场。克鲁布，你也跟着去。”

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" No, stop!" Zann said

“不，停下！”赞恩说。

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The goon grabbed one of Zann's arms, and Krub grabbed the other

那个打手抓住赞恩的一只胳膊，克鲁布抓住了另一只。

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Zann struggled, even though he knew it was no use

赞恩挣扎着，尽管他知道这样做毫无用处。

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As they dragged him away, he glanced back at Perda and Mellis

当他们拖着他离开时，他回头看了一眼佩达和梅利斯。

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Perda's eyes met his. Zann wished he could break away and save her

佩达的目光与他对上。赞恩真希望能挣脱开去救她。

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Suddenly he felt words forming in his mind

突然，他感觉到脑海中浮现出话语。

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" Perda is sending me a mental message!" he thought

“佩达在向我发送心灵感应！”他想。

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" She must have been inspired by the message she got from Zira."

“她一定是受了齐拉给她的那条信息的启发。”

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Her words were faint and muddled, but Zann was

pretty sure he understood them:

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Look for other wormholes. I'll find you and Mellis when I can get away

寻找其他的虫洞。等我脱身了，就会去找你和梅利斯。

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Zann nodded and Perda smiled. Zann smiled back

glad that they were a team.

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" What are you grinning about, you weird kid?"

Krub growled, yanking on Zann's arm.

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" In case you didn't notice, you're a prisoner

“你可能没注意到，你是个囚犯。”

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And you're about to learn what hard work is like!"

而你马上就能知道干苦活是什么滋味了！”

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He laughed nastily, and the goon joined in

他恶毒地笑了，那个打手也跟着笑了起来。

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Zann ignored them. Now he was looking for Zing

but he couldn't see him anywhere.

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" We have a long walk ahead of us," the goon said." Might as well get started."

“我们还有很长的路要走，”打手说，“不如现在就动身吧。”

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Krub smirked." No walking for us today, my friend

Zira taught me how to travel by magic."

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" She did?" The goon looked impressed and a little nervous." Is it safe?"

“她教的？”打手显得既佩服又有点紧张，“安全吗？”

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" Safer than hiking through lands occupied by gorzogs

and rock trompers," Krub replied.

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" Rub your hands together, like this..."

“像这样搓搓双手……”

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He and the other man dropped their hold on Zann

and created friction. Then they grabbed him again.

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" Zap!" Krub shouted

“唰！”克鲁布喊道。

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They landed in a patch of brambles

他们落在了一片荆棘丛中。

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" Ouch," the goon said, yanking a thorn

from his hand. "Where are we?"

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Zann wondered the same thing. All he saw were trees

rocky land, and scrubby plants.

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Krub looked around." I recognize this place

克鲁布环顾四周。“我认得这个地方。”

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We're only a third of the way to the mines. Zira said it

might require several zaps to get to them."

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He frowned." I guess she was right. It's late and I'm tired

他皱起眉头。“看来她没说错。天晚了，我也累了。”

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We'll camp here tonight and zap the rest of the way tomorrow."

今晚我们就在这儿扎营，剩下的路明天再瞬移过去。”

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" Camp?" Zann thought with a shiver

“扎营？”赞恩想着，不禁打了个冷战。

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He didn't relish the idea of camping out with

these two. But he didn't have a choice.

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Krub used magic to create simple tents for

himself and the goon.

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But Zann was left to sleep outside on the hard ground

但赞恩被留在外面坚硬的地上睡觉。

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The men built a fire and ate the food they'd brought

那些人升了堆火，吃起了带来的食物。

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They also pulled out flasks of foul-smelling liquid

that they swilled with enthusiasm.

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Krub gave Zann a piece of jerky and a few sips of water

克鲁布给了赞恩一块肉干和几口水。

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The jerky tasted like dirt, and the water was stale

肉干吃起来像泥土，水也不新鲜。

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After the sun went down, strange creatures made noises

in the trees all around the camp.

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Zann flinched at every grunt and howl

每一声咕噜与嚎叫都让赞恩畏缩。

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But he did his best to ignore them, along with the men's talk

and laughter as they continued drinking from their flasks.

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" I need to get some rest," Zann told himself, trying to get

comfortable on the rough, rocky ground.

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" I want to be ready for anything tomorrow."

“我要为明天可能发生的任何事做好准备。”

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He was drifting off to sleep when a howl woke him

他正要渐渐入睡，一声嚎叫把他惊醒了。

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A second later an animal stepped into the firelight

紧接着，一只动物走进了篝火的光亮中。

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It was the same size as Zing, with brown fur and sly red eyes

它和齐拉的个头差不多，长着棕色的毛和狡黠的红眼睛。

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" A chupo!" Krub exclaimed

“是丘波！”克鲁布惊叫道。

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The goon picked up a large stick." I'll chase it away."

打手捡起一根大棍子。“我去把它赶走。”

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" No — wait." Krub grinned

“别——等等。”克鲁布咧嘴一笑。

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" It isn't interested in us. Just the boy

“它对我们不感兴趣。只对那小子有兴趣。

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Maybe we should let it have him, eh? Even chupos have to eat."

也许我们该让它吃掉他，对吧？丘波也得吃饭嘛。”

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Zann sat up, struggling against the shackles

"Come on, guys. This isn't funny."

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Krub and the goon laughed as the chupo crept closer

克鲁布和打手哈哈大笑，而丘波越爬越近。

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" Look, here comes the rest of the pack," Krub said

“瞧，那群家伙剩下的都来了。”克鲁布说。

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Several more chupos appeared out of the darkness

又有好几只丘波从黑暗中冒了出来。

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One stopped and stared fearfully toward the fire

有一只停下脚步，惊恐地盯着篝火。

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But the rest were focused on Zann

但其余的全都盯着赞恩。

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He gulped as one of the creatures licked its chops

看见其中一只舔着嘴巴，他不由得咽了口唾沫。

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Zann could tell the two men were enjoying watching

his terror. For a second he felt helpless.

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Then he realized something: He wasn't actually helpless

可随后他意识到了一件事：他其实并非毫无办法。

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The shackles stopped him from moving freely

镣铐虽然让他无法自由行动，

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But they couldn't stop him from doing magic

却阻止不了他施展魔法。

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Even if they were too tight to allow him to rub his hands

together, he could still snap his fingers.

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He did so several times to build up friction

他反复打了好几下，好积聚摩擦热量。

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" Get back!" he blurted out, creating a fireball

that shot toward the chupos.

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They ran away, howling with fear, and disappeared into the darkness

它们惊恐地嚎叫着逃窜，消失在了黑暗里。

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" Look at that!" Krub crowed with a hearty laugh

“瞧瞧！”克鲁布开怀大笑，叫嚷起来。

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" The boy has some fire in him after all. Get it? Fire?" He grinned

“这小子骨子里还是有点火气的嘛。懂吗？火气？”他咧嘴笑了。

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The goon came over and slapped Zann on the back

那个打手走过来，拍了拍赞恩的后背。

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" Well done, boy," he said." That kind of courage deserves a drink."

“干得好，小子，”他说，“这种勇气，值得喝一口。”

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He held out his flask. Whatever was inside

smelled even worse up close.

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" No thanks," Zann said." Let's just get some sleep."

“不了，谢谢，”赞恩说，“咱们还是睡会儿觉吧。”

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The goon shrugged and took another drink

打手耸耸肩，又喝了一口。

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" Maybe the boy's right," he said." It's getting late."

“也许这小子说得对，”他说道，“时候不早了。”

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Krub yawned

克鲁布打了个哈欠。

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" One of us should stand guard in case those chupos

come back. You can take the first watch."

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" Why me?" the other man complained." You do it."

“凭啥是我？”另一个人抱怨道，“你来守。”

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Zann lay down and closed his eyes. It had been

a long day, and he was tired.

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As the two men continued to argue, he quickly fell asleep

那两个人还在争吵不休，他却很快就睡着了。