043 大胆的任务

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" Stay together, everyone," Vig whispered

“大家跟紧，”维格低声说。

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He glanced at Zann." And make sure that dragon of yours behaves himself."

他瞥了一眼赞。“还有，看好你的龙，让它规矩点。”

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" What a grump," Zann said as the rebel leader hurried toward the front of the small group

“真是个牢骚鬼，”赞说道，这时叛军首领匆匆向队伍前头赶去。

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" Yeah." Perda stifled a yawn

“是啊。”珀达忍住了一个哈欠。

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It was very early, and Zann and his friends had been up talking most of the night

天还很早，赞和他的朋友们昨晚聊到很晚。

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Zann had told them everything he'd seen in the palace, including the machine in the courtyard

赞把在宫殿里看到的一切都告诉了他们，包括院子里那台机器。

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Everyone wondered if it was the magic-sucking machine Gliss had heard about

大家都在想，这是不是格丽丝听说过的那台吸魔机器。

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Now they were marching into Wormwood, ready to test Fala's plan

现在他们正朝沃姆伍德进发，准备试验法拉的计划。

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She had spent the entire night working on the troll talisman, identifying each of the spells Morb had placed on it

她花了一整晚研究巨魔护符，辨认莫布施在上面的每一个咒语。

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Then she had eliminated all of them, one by one

然后她一个接一个地消除了所有咒语。

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" Do you really think this will work?" asked Zann

"你真的觉得这会奏效吗？"赞问道。

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Fala looked at the talisman." Infusing objects with a Remote Power spell is extremely difficult

法拉看着护符。"为物体注入远程能量咒语极其困难。

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But I learned from Teplo, and he's a master at it." Fala smiled

但我是从特普洛那里学的，他可是这方面的大师。"法拉笑了。

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" Of course, until now I've only practiced on turnips."

"当然啦，到目前为止我只在萝卜上练习过。"

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The group entered Wormwood. It was still early, and the whole place was quiet

小队进入了沃姆伍德。时间尚早，整个地方都很安静。

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None of the residents seemed to be awake yet

似乎还没有居民醒来。

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" Do you see any trolls?" Gliss whispered

"你看到巨魔了吗？"格利斯低声问。

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" No," Perda said." Maybe they're all sleeping."

"没有，"佩达说，"也许它们都在睡觉。"

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" I doubt it," Darb said." Trolls don't sleep the way people do

"我有点怀疑，"达布说，"巨魔不像人类那样睡觉。

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They're not really smart enough to realize when they're tired

它们不够聪明，意识不到自己疲倦了。"

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Trolls' brains just sort of shut down now and then throughout the day."

巨魔的大脑在白天时不时地会停转。

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Zann pointed." Look!"

赞指了指。“看！”

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Two trolls were emerging from behind a small group of huts

两个巨魔从一小群小屋后面冒了出来。

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As soon as the trolls spotted Zann and Gliss, they charged toward them

巨魔一看到赞和格利斯，就冲了过去。

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A dull image of red hair floated above their heads

一个模糊的红发影像飘在他们头顶。

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" Now!" Vig shouted

“就是现在！”维格喊道。

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Fala held up the talisman, rubbing it between her hands." Free!" she intoned

法拉举起护符，在两手间揉搓。“自由！”她吟诵道。

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The trolls skidded to a halt, and the image of red hair disappeared

巨魔们猛地停下，红发影像消失了。

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One troll looked at Zann, confused. The other troll let out a grunt — an image of troll gruel formed above its head

一个巨魔困惑地看着赞，另一个低吼一声——一碗巨魔粥的影像在它头顶浮现。

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Soon the two trolls were searching the ground for food

很快，两个巨魔开始在地上找吃的。

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When they didn't find any, they turned back toward Zann and began grunting angrily

什么也没找到，它们便转向赞，愤怒地哼哼起来。

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" Uh-oh," said Darb." Trolls don't like being hungry

“哎呀不好，”达布说，“巨魔可不喜欢饿肚子。

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Someone had better make some food for them before they get really mad."

在他们彻底发火之前，最好有人给他们弄点吃的。”

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Shem quickly rubbed his hands together. A huge pot of steaming troll gruel appeared nearby

谢姆赶紧搓了搓手。一锅热气腾腾的巨魔粥便出现在不远处。

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Both trolls let out howls of delight and ran to it

两只巨魔都发出欢快的嚎叫，朝它跑了过去。

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" Good." Vig sounded relieved. He glanced at Fala

“很好。”维格听上去松了口气。他瞥了一眼法拉。

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" Does this mean all he trolls are free of Morb's influence, or just those two?"

“这意味着所有巨魔都摆脱了莫布的控制，还是只有那两只？”

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" My talisman should work on any trolls that are closer to it than to Morb's talisman," Fala replied

“我的护符对于任何离它比离莫布护符更近的巨魔，都应该有效。”法拉回答。

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" That's amazing!" Perda whispered

“那太棒了！”珀达轻声说。

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" It'll be a lot easier to sneak into the palace now," said Zann

“现在溜进宫殿就容易多了。”赞说。

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" With a little luck, we can find the dungeon and free the prisoners before Morb even realizes we're there," Vig said

"要是运气好的话，我们可以在莫布发现之前找到地牢，救出囚犯。"维格说。

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" Maybe we can defeat Morb if we have help from all those powerful Reds."

"也许有了那些强大红术士的帮助，我们能打败莫布。"

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" Should we zap ourselves there?" Shem asked

"我们应该把自己变过去吗？"谢姆问。

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" We'd better not," Fala said, looking at Zann and his friends

"最好别这样。"法拉说着，看向赞和他的朋友们。

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" Morb may still be tracking these kids, so they shouldn't use magic

"莫布可能还在追踪这几个孩子，所以他们不能用魔法。

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Besides, we should save our energy in case we need it once we're in the palace."

而且，我们最好保存体力，进了宫殿说不定还要用。"

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" Good point," Vig said." Let's walk."

"有道理。"维格说，"我们走过去。"

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It took about twenty minutes to reach the palace

大家走了大约二十分钟才到宫殿。

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On the way the group passed several more trolls, who were all busy eating or looking for food

路上他们又经过几个巨魔，它们都在忙着吃东西或找吃的。

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None of them paid any attention to Gliss and Zann's red hair

它们谁也没在意格丽丝和赞的红头发。

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When the group arrived at the palace courtyard, Zann didn't see any trolls

小队到达宫殿庭院时，赞一只巨魔也没看见。

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" I wonder if Morb has realized his trolls aren't working for him anymore," he commented

“我在想，莫布是不是已经发现他的巨魔们不再替他卖命了。”他说道。

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" I hope not." Fala frowned." If he has, he might put up a Shield spell

“但愿没有。”法拉皱起眉头。“要是他发现了，可能会布下护盾咒。

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That would make our task much more difficult."

那我们的任务可就难多了。”

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Zann didn't see a glowing green wall around the palace, or a wall of any other color either

赞没看见宫殿四周有发绿光的墙，也没看见其他颜色的墙。

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" Can Shield spells be invisible?" Zann asked

“护盾咒能隐形吗？”赞问道。

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" Yes," Gliss told him." Weren't you paying attention when we learned that in class?"

“能啊，”格丽丝告诉他，“课上教这些的时候，你没专心听吗？”

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" There's only one way to test for a Shield spell," Vig declared, stepping toward the palace entrance

“检验护盾咒只有一种方法。”维格说着，朝宫殿入口走去。

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The others hurried after him, ducking behind some shrubs as Vig continued on his way toward the entrance

其他人赶紧跟上，躲到几丛灌木后面，维格则继续朝入口前进。

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Zann saw him take a deep breath and then step across the threshold

赞看到他深吸一口气，然后迈过了门槛。

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A second later Vig poked his head back out and waved to the group

下一秒，维格把头探出来，朝大家挥了挥手。

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" No Shield spell!" Shem whispered to the others

“没有护盾咒！”谢姆小声对其他人说。

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The rest of the group followed Vig inside. They all paused in the entrance hall

其余人跟着维格走了进去，全都在入口大厅停住了脚步。

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" That was easy," said Perda

“挺容易的嘛。”佩尔达说。

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Zann was about to agree when he heard a strange squishing sound to his right

赞正要附和，却听到右边传来一阵奇怪的“吧唧吧唧”声。

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He turned to look and saw a purple, jellylike blob oozing toward them

他转头一看，只见一团紫色果冻似的东西正朝他们蠕动过来。

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" Uh-oh," said Zann." Morb might not have put up a Shield spell

“噢哦，”赞说，“莫布也许没设护盾咒。

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But it looks like he did leave a guard."

但看样子，他倒是留了个守卫。”

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" What is that thing?" Perda cried

“那是什么东西？”佩尔达叫起来。

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" I don't know," Fala said." I've never seen anything like it before."

“我不知道，”法拉说，“从来没见过这种东西。”

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One of the rebels pulled out her sword

一名叛军抽出了她的剑。

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" Careful," Vig warned her." We don't know what this thing might do."

“小心，”维格警告她，“我们不知道这东西会做什么。”

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The woman reached out and poked the blob with her sword

那女人伸过手去，用剑捅了捅那团东西。

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Everyone gasped as the blob wrenched the sword from her hand and began absorbing it with a loud sucking sound

只见那东西猛地从她手中夺过剑，发出一阵响亮的吮吸声，开始把剑吸进去，所有人都倒吸了一口凉气。

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Zann could see the blob growing bigger

赞看见那团东西正在变大。

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Grabbing the weapon, the woman tried to pull it back out, but it was no use

女人抓住剑，想把它拽回来，却毫无用处。

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Her hand was getting dangerously close to the purple mass

她的手离那团紫色东西越来越近，情形十分危险。

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" Let go!" Zann shouted

“放手！”赞喊道。

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The woman released the sword and then jumped back as the blob lunged at her

女人松开剑，在那东西朝她扑来时往后一跳。

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Everyone took a step back as the blob oozed closer

那东西蠕动得越来越近，所有人又后退了一步。