雙語讀電影 《沉睡魔咒》第18章 :愛洛發(fā)現(xiàn)了一架紡車

CHAPTER  18
Maleficent slowly and sadly made her way back to the glen. While she wasn’t there to witness it, she knew exactly what Aurora was going to do next. She was going to race home, grab the horse from the cottage’s small stable, and take off. She would gallop furiously out of the woods and onto the road that took her straight to the castle. She wouldn’t stop to think about what her aunts would say when they found her gone. She wouldn’t stop to think about why Maleficent would have lied to her. She wouldn’t even stop to think about what her father would say when she arrived at the castle gates.
She would just ride, tears streaming down her face. She would think about the fact that she had a father. And a mother. And that she was a princess. Those things she would think about. A lot. So by the time she arrived at the castle, some of her anger would have been replaced by anticipation. For she was going to meet her family.
And while Maleficent wasn’t there to witness the reunion, she had a good idea of how that would go, too. King Stefan would see Aurora, and at first he would think she was just some common country girl. After all, he, more focused on Maleficent and his own selfish fear, hadn’t really thought about her in years, and she most definitely didn’t wear royal clothes. Then, when she told him she was his daughter and tried to hug him, he would hold her at arm’s length, trying to see if she was really, truly his flesh and blood. When he decided she was, he would soften, just a bit. Maleficent hated to think of him softening, but she had to believe he had some heart left under all that paranoia and armor.
Then, Maleficent figured, he would tell Aurora that she was beautiful, like her mother. But that would be as far as his fatherly kindness would go. For he would quickly realize that Aurora had arrived back a day early and that the faeries had not done their job. He would realize what that meant: that the curse could still be inflicted on his newly returned daughter. He would panic and order that Aurora be brought to a safe place, where she would be forced to remain until the next day. Aurora wouldn’t have a chance to argue, but before she was led away, she would ask about her mother. And Stefan would ignore her question, leaving it to a hapless guard to break the news that had spread throughout the kingdom: that her mother had died.　
That was the way it would happen, Maleficent mused as she sat in her grove, the light fading around her. Suddenly, she sat up straighter. It didn’t have to happen that way, though. Not if she could get to the cottage before Aurora took off and try to convince her to stay.
She jumped up, raced over the Moors, passed through the Wall, and made her way to the clearing in the woods. Bursting into Aurora’s bedroom, she found it empty. Her eyes narrowed. “Those fools!” she shouted. They hadn’t stopped her! How could they have let her go when what waited at the castle would surely hurt her?　
Hearing Diaval’s caw, Maleficent turned and saw him perched in the window. Waving her hand, she transformed him into a man and waited for his report. “I found the boy,” he said.　
Maleficent nodded. “Show me,” she ordered.　
Together, the two made their way out of the cottage and into the woods. They didn’t have to go far. Phillip was nearby, heading toward the cottage in hopes of seeing Aurora again.
Stepping forward, Maleficent saw Phillip take in her horns and long dark cloak and pale slightly. But he didn’t step back. Instead, he put his hand on his sword and met Maleficent’s gaze head-on. Despite herself, Maleficent was impressed. “I’m looking for a girl,” he said.　
“Of course you are,” she replied.　
Phillip was about to ask just how the horned woman knew that when Maleficent pulled out a yellow flower and blew its pollen toward him. In moments, he was asleep. That taken care of, Maleficent looked around. Now she needed a quick way to reach the castle. “I need a horse.” Her eyes landed on Diaval perched in a tree. She smiled. That could work quite well.　
As the sun began to sink below the horizon, Maleficent galloped down the road on the back of a beautiful jet-black horse. She held a sleeping Phillip in front of her as they traveled toward the castle. With each big stride of the Diaval horse, they grew closer and closer. And with each big stride, Maleficent grew more and more worried. The sun was almost down. Time was running out ... fast.　
As Maleficent raced toward Aurora, she felt the presence of the girl growing stronger. All their time together had created an invisible, magical link between the pair. It allowed Maleficent to sense where Aurora was and how she was feeling. At that moment, she could almost see Aurora in her room in the castle, pacing back and forth before the door. She wouldn’t be happy that she had come all that way just to be locked up like some prisoner. So when a handmaiden knocked at the door, Aurora would eagerly open it. She would ignore the other girl when she said something ignorant like “This room is for the princess when she arrives. No one should be occupying it.” Aurora would see her chance and, not bothering to correct the handmaiden, would push past her and run out. Turning a corner, she would slow her pace. And that was when she would feel it for the first time—a strange ache in the tip of her finger. An ache that she desperately wanted to make go away. She wouldn’t be able to explain it, and her feet would continue moving toward an unknown destination.　
On the road outside the castle, Maleficent felt the ache in her finger as well. But unlike Aurora, she knew what it meant. It meant that the curse was growing stronger as the time for it to be fulfilled approached. And until that time came, Aurora would make her way through the entire castle looking for the one thing that would take away the pain—a spinning wheel. She would enter the laundry room, with its long mending table, but move on when she saw only needles and thread. Her finger throbbing more than ever, she would keep going, desperate to find what she was looking for, but still not able to put a name to it. Knowing that all this was happening, Maleficent squeezed her legs, urging Diaval on faster.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the outskirts of the kingdom. Cresting a hill, Diaval reared up as the large ominous structure came into view. This was the first time Maleficent had seen the castle in nearly sixteen years. And it was no longer the beautiful castle it had once been. The blue stone had been covered entirely by iron, making the walls impenetrable. Nasty-looking iron spikes topped the parapets and towers, and along the ramparts, soldiers in iron armor paced back and forth holding iron weapons. King Stefan had done everything in his power to make his castle Maleficent-proof. Now, looking up at it, Maleficent realized he had done his job thoroughly. It was going to be nearly impossible for her to get inside. But nearly impossible and impossible were two very different things, and she wasn’t willing to give up yet. Plus, even if she couldn’t get in, Phillip could. And that was all she needed.
Just then, Maleficent felt a cooling in the air. With a feeling of dread, she turned and looked toward the horizon in the west. Time had run out. As she watched, the sun sank lower and lower into the horizon, the last rays spreading their weak warmth across the countryside. And then, just as the rays faded and disappeared altogether, Maleficent felt it. A pain deep inside her that built and built and then burst, causing her to cry out.　
“It’s done,” she said, her voice aching. The curse had been fulfilled. Somewhere inside that iron fortress, Aurora had found a spinning wheel and pricked her finger on it. And somewhere in there, she now lay in a sleep that would last forever. Unless ... Maleficent looked down at Phillip. Kicking Diaval on, she raced toward the castle, holding Aurora’s last hope carefully in front of her.