We have not yet seen Tomorrow. We have not yet dared go there.
There was once a thriving city on the island of Tomorrow. The flags of the Wilderwest flew bravely from the towers of its hundred splendid castles. It was a city built on the enslavement of men and of dragons, but, like many a city before and after it, it was a handsome and glorious city nonetheless.
But a century ago, Grimbeard the Ghastly, the Last King of the Wilderwest, did a truly dreadful thing.
Grimbeard's son Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Second, with his dragon Furious, was leading a peaceful dragon petition to plead with his father to end the misery of slavery. Grimbeard mistook the petition for rebellion. He killed his very own son by his very own sword, the Stormblade, and the blood of his son was spilled on the seat of his very own Throne.
That was the beginning of the curse upon the Throne and the island of Tomorrow. The city was destroyed by the dragon forces that had come at first in peaceful protest. The hundred splendid castles were burned to the ground, and the dragon Furious was captured and bound in inescapable chains, in the depths of a forest prison.
Grimbeard the Ghastly repented of his terrible crime, He swore that there would never be a King of the Wilderwest again, unless that King could be a better man than he was. So Grimbeard created an Impossible Task. He scattered ten of the King's Things in all four corners of the distant earth.
Those things would be guarded by monsters and dragons most terrible. Only a true Hero could gather the things together and lift the curse and become the next King of the Wilderwest.
In the unlikely event that there would ever bea Hero great enough to gather those ten Lost Things, the Hero could then be crowned, but only on the twelfth day of Doomsday, known as the Doomsday of Yule, which comes but once a year, and only on the island of Tomorrow, on the stumps of the Throne where Grimbeard's son had died.
In the meantime, Grimbeard appointed human and dragon Warriors to be Guardians on the ruined island fortress of Tomorrow, so fearsome and so terrible that they can barely be imagined. All will kill on sight anyone illegally entering their territory.
Now the Archipelago needs a King more than ever before, for the dragon Furious has escaped from that forest prison where Grimbeard the Ghastly once enslaved him, and the dragon is carrying out his own curse on the humans whom he now hates. His intention is to extinguish the entire human race.
And the dragon Furious is winning. He has torched the whole north of the Archipelago. The humans have been forced to live in hiding places underground fot fear of the dragon.
Nothing can stop the dragon Furious now. Nothing except for a new King, for a new King will be told the Secret of the tenth Lost Thing, the Dragon Jewel, a jewel that has the power to destroy dragons forever.
There is only one time in the year that a possible King is allowed to enter the territory of Tomorrow.
It is on one of the twelve mornings of the twelve
days of Doomsday.
Today it is midwinter, and the morning of the ninth day of Doomsday.
Here he is now, the extraordinarily tall figure of a lone Ferryman, rowing from the dreadful island of Tomorrow, across the little causeway of Hero's Gap, the mainland of the Murderous Mountains.
The Ferryman is the Druid Guardian of the islang of Tomorrow. He is blindfolded and cannot take off this blindfold until a new King of the Wilderwest is crowned. The blindfold signifies his role as an imparti and implacable judge, and his absolute commitment his role as a Druid Guardian. But by some supernatun agency, he seems able to sense that there is a figure with a little band of followers, waiting for him on the beach. The figure is UG the Uglithug. His hope rises.
At last...in the nick of time...a Hero, come to claim the Kingdom!
For the Druid Guardian fears that the dragon Furious is very close to extinguishing the human race. The Druid Guardian brings the boat to a sludgy halt on the beach known as the Singing Sands of ihe Ferryman's Gift and spreads wide his arms and maks the declaration, as his father, and his father's father, and his father's father's father have done every year
.. before him.
“He-or-she-who-would-be-king, approach Tomorrow if you dare! Only the one with the King's
fost Things can be crowned the King and live...” And then he turns to UG the Uglithug and asks
hese solemn words. “Are you he-who-would-be-king?”
UG replies, “I am.” “Are you the chosen representative of all the
Tribes of the Archipelago?” asks the Druid Guardian.
UG nods. “Have you brought a gift for the Ferryman?” asks
he Druid Guardian. “I have,” replies UG the Uglithug.
The Druid Guardian says solemnly, but with
cager hope, “Then show me the things.” UG the Uglithug snaps his fingers to his followers,
and one by one they bring forward the things.
They are: a fang-free dragon, Grimbeard's second-best sword, the Roman shield, an arrow-from-the-land-that-does-not-exist, the heart's stone, the ticking-thing, the key-that-opens-all-locks, the Throne, the Crown, the Dragon Jewel.
UG the Uglithug's followers lay them out on the
beach before the Druid Guardian and retreat. The Druid Guardian steps forward to examine the things.
The end.
So this is my first full english translate...if there is a mistake please tell me ok...
