At that very moment, a dashing thief named Flynn Rider was running through the forest as fast as he could. The two Stabbington brothers, his partners in crime, ran with him.

 

Hot on their heels rode the mounted palace guards. The guards' highly trained and powerful white horses were as intent on catching¹ the thieves as the guards themselves. Flynn Rider and the Stabbington brothers had stolen the crown that belonged to the long-lost princess. In the kingdom, this was no joking matter. The people still believed that their princess would return one day, and her crown must be ready for her! The royal guards would stop at nothing to get it back.

 

Flynn Rider halted at a tree and tried to catch his breath. Noticing a wanted poster of himself, he scoffed², "Would you look at this?" The Stabbington brothers stared blankly at the poster. "Is it too much to ask to get my nose right?" Flynn felt insulted. "It's just so ... bulbous," he added petulantly³.

 

"There they are!" A group of the royal guards had spotted⁴ the thieves from a ridge⁵ above. Flynn stuffed the poster into his satchel⁶ as he and the Stabbingtons took off. Again they ran at top speed, but they soon found themselves trapped at the end of a ravine. The only way out was to climb the sheer fifteen-foot walls.

 

Though the burly Stabbington brothers were Flynn's partners, they were probably the most dangerous cutthroats he had ever met. They were identical twins, big and strong, with matching scars. The only way Flynn could tell them apart was that one of them wore an eye patch and never spoke⁷. But right now Flynn was worried that they might kill him for the crown. He needed a plan to escape them and the royal guards!

 

"Okay," Flynn said, thinking fast, "give me a boost and then I'll pull you up."

 

"Give us the satchel first," demanded the brother without the eye patch.

 

"What?" Flynn pretended to be stunned⁸, hurt! "Why, I just can't believe that after all we've been through together, you don't trust me!"

 

But the Stabbington brothers wouldn't budge⁹. Flynn could see that it was hopeless. Grumbling¹⁰, he handed the brothers the satchel containing the crown and began climbing over their shoulders. But Flynn was a clever fellow. As he climbed, he grabbed the satchel back, unnoticed.

 

When he reached the top of the ledge¹¹, he held up the satchel and gave the brothers a grin.

 

"Enjoy prison!" he called back as he ran away. "Find a hobby!"

 

The captain of the royal guard saw Flynn making a run for it. "He's getting away!" he shouted. "Don't let him get away!"

 

A shower of arrows rained down around Flynn, but he dodged¹² them all, leaping over rocks and fallen trees, skirting bushes, and ducking under low-hanging branches.

 

With the royal guards still hot on his trail, Flynn spotted a Y-shaped tree up ahead and ran right for it. He hurled¹³ himself straight through the opening in the Y, landing safely on the other side. The horses of the royal guard stumbled to a stop behind him — all but one. The captain's horse! Flynn was astounded¹⁴.

 

"Ha! We've got him now, Maximus!" the captain said to his muscle-bound white horse. "He won't get away this time!" Flynn took a quick glance back at the horse. How had he jumped through that gap?

 

Grabbing a vine, Flynn swung through the air and looped back, knocking the captain right off his horse and taking his place in the saddle.

 

"Hee-yah!" Flynn yelled triumphantly¹⁵, feeling pretty smug. He knew he'd pulled off a classic move. But his grin quickly left his face when the horse suddenly came to a halt, nearly throwing Flynn out of the saddle.

 

"Come on, Fleabag!" Flynn yelled.

 

Maximus was the best horse in the kingdom, and he did not like being called Fleabag. The horse whipped his head around angrily and started nipping at Flynn's precious satchel.

 

"No!" Flynn shouted. "Stop it! Stop it! Bad horse, bad horse!"

 

Maximus began spinning in circles, trying to throw Flynn, but the young thief held on tightly.

 

"Whoa, who-o-o-o-oah!" Flynn shouted. Flynn had a new enemy — a maniacal¹⁶ horse!

 

正在那一刻，一个名叫费林·雷德的潇洒大盗正全速跑过森林。他的犯罪同伙钉刺兄弟，和他一起跑。

 

紧跟在他们身后的是骑着马的宫殿守卫。守卫们训练有素的强壮的白马和守卫一样专注地捉拿盗贼。费林·雷德和钉刺兄弟偷了失踪已久的公主的皇冠。在王国里，这不是开玩笑的事。人们仍然相信有一天他们的公主会回来，所以皇冠必须为她准备好！任何事情都不能阻止皇家卫队将它夺回。

 

费林·雷德停在一棵树边上，想要歇一口气。他注意到一张通缉他的告示，嘲弄道：“你们看看这个？” 钉刺兄弟茫然地盯着告示。“画好我的鼻子，是不是要求太高了？”费林感觉受到了侮辱。“这太像……大蒜头。”他暴躁地补充说。

 

“他们在那里！”一队皇家守卫在一个山脊上发现了盗贼们。当费林和钉刺兄弟离开时，费林把通缉告示塞进了包里。他们又一次全速奔跑，但他们很快就发现被困在一个峡谷的尽头。唯一的出路就是爬上十五英尺高的崖壁。

 

虽然身材魁梧的钉刺兄弟是费林的伙伴，但他们可能是他见过的最危险的杀手。他们是一对双胞胎，身材魁梧又强壮，有同样的疤痕。费林辨别他们的唯一办法是，他们中的一个戴着眼罩，从不说话。但是现在，费林担心他们会为了皇冠而把他杀死。他需要一个摆脱他们和皇家卫队的计划！

 

“好吧，”费林边说边快速思考，“你们托我一把，然后我把你们拉上来。”

 

“先把包给我们。”没戴眼罩的兄弟要求。

 

“什么？”费林假装惊呆了，受到了伤害！“哎呀，我只是不能相信，毕竟我们共患难过，你们不相信我！”

 

但钉刺兄弟不为所动。费林看得出来这毫无希望。他一边发牢骚，一边把装着皇冠的背包交给兄弟俩，开始爬上他们的肩膀。但费林是个聪明的家伙。他爬上他们肩膀的时候，神不知鬼不觉地一把抢回了背包。

 

当他爬到崖壁顶端的时候，他举起包，冲兄弟俩冷笑一声。

 

“享受监狱吧！”他边跑边回头喊。“找个兴趣爱好！”

 

皇家卫队的队长看见费林跑了。“他要跑了！” 他喊道。“别让他跑了！”

 

一阵箭雨落在费林周围，但他在岩石、倒下的树木和灌木中间跳跃，躲在低垂的树枝下，躲过了所有的箭。

 

皇家卫队仍在激烈地追踪费林，费林发现前方有一棵Y形树，径直跑了过去。他猛地穿越Y形的开口，安全地落在另一边。皇家卫队的马匹在他身后踉跄停了下来——只有队长的马没有停下来！费林大吃一惊。

 

“哈！我们抓到他了，捍马！”队长对他那健硕的白马说。“他这下逃不掉了！”费林快速地往回瞥了一眼那匹马。他是怎样跳过那个口子的？

 

费林抓住一根藤蔓，在空中摇荡又折回，把队长从马上撞了下去，占了他在马鞍上的位置。

 

“嘿呀！”费林耀武扬威地喊道，感觉很得意。他知道他刚才完成了一个经典的动作。但那匹马突然停下来，差点把费林从马鞍上摔出去时，他的笑容很快消失了。

 

“来吧，畜生！”费林喊道。

 

捍马是王国里最好的马，他不喜欢被别人叫作畜生。这匹马愤怒地转过头，开始咬费林的宝贝背包。

 

“不！” 费林大喊。“停下来！停下来！坏马，坏马！”

 

捍马开始打转，想把费林摔出去，但是这个年轻的窃贼抓得紧紧的。

 

“哇，哇!” 费林大喊。费林新增了一个敌人——一匹狂躁 的马！

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