死水 Dead in the Water
作者：Graham McNeill
潮涨潮落，红如血。
Red tide out, red tide in.膻腥高挂，大块切。Hook ’em up, carve ’em true,剥皮拆骨，不留屑。Strip ’em down, guts to skin.胡母纳贡，不可缺，But always pay the Lady her due,只怕那深渊的泰坦，帮你了结！
Or the Titan of the Deep will come for you!
——节选自“屠宰歌”
— from ‘Song of the Slaughter’
最先袭来的是血港的那股恶臭。
It was the stench of Bloodharbor that hit you first.
就像肚子上挨了一拳，打得你上不来气、张不起帆。
Like a gut-punch that took the wind right out of your sails.
那股恶臭总是能钻得很深，让你觉得永远都甩不掉。
The stink always got inside you, making you feel like you’d never get it out.
那是海兽利维坦被开膛以后发出的剧烈咸腥。它流出来的肠子粗得足以容人，其他下水腐糜黏在卵石路面上又曝晒了数周。除了海兽，还有上万只偷食的海鸟留下的鸟粪，配上屠宰码头满身血污的工人随地便溺。这股集恶臭之大成的气味，口味再重的人也得吐得胃底朝天。
A noisome reek of opened leviathan bellies, dripping entrails you could crawl through, and weeks-old offal sticking to the cobbles like gory mortar left to rot in the sun. Mix that with the shit of ten thousand scavenging seabirds and the piss of the Slaughter Docks’ bloodied workers, and it was a smell strong enough to turn even the strongest stomach inside out.
你可以用烈得胡母都喊呛的朗姆酒浸透面巾再捂住鼻子，但依然挡不住。
You could wear a bandanna soaked in enough rum to souse the Bearded Lady herself, and it’d still get you.
是的，臭的不行，但莎拉·厄运却深爱着它所代表的东西。
Yes, it was awful, but Sarah Fortune loved what it represented.
这臭味意味着繁荣、意味着满载而归，意味着海兽带来的巨大财富。
It was the smell of prosperity, of a plentiful catch, and monster bounties earned.
海浪染上了血色，就意味着人们兜里有钱；既然有钱，就要花到码头周边的饭馆、赌窝等等销金窟里。而所有这些地方，莎拉都能分一杯羹。
A red tide meant people with coins in their pockets, ready to spend them all in the quayside taverns, gambling dens, and fleshpots, all of which paid a cut of their takings to Sarah.
繁荣——胡母在下，繁荣的味道就是世界上最臭的。
Prosperity, yes—by the Bearded Lady, it was just the worst smell in the world.
她的小艇在天色渐暗的傍晚驶出了港湾，缓缓滑入浑浊的海水。船头的熟铁雕像触手上挂着一盏防风提灯，如同黑暗中的孤星。
Her small landing boat eased out into the sludgy water, its passage through the deepening evening lit by a storm lantern swaying from a wrought-iron tentacle at its bow.
莎拉坐在船艉，一手搭着船舷，手指垂到水面，划过浮在表层的油脂，留下一串漩涡波纹，随着血浪起伏漂荡。
Seated in the back of the boat, Sarah draped her hand over the gunwale and let her fingertips carve a path through the fatty layers on the water’s surface, drawing undulant spirals that rose and fell with the red tide.
“就算是你，这也太大胆了点。”雷文嘟囔着说。他正在汗流浃背地划着桨。雷文是熟知这片海岛的老手，棱角分明的脸上记录着风浪的拍打和历练，敏锐的头脑也还没有被朗姆酒泡坏。他既是她的良心，也是她的得力助手，基本上已经见过比尔吉沃特每一处黑暗的角落和罅隙。
“Even for you, that’s pretty damn reckless,” grunted Rafen, sweating as he leaned back and forth on the oars. Rafen was an old salt of the islands, with a craggy face weathered by ocean spray and hard winds, and a keen mind the rum hadn’t managed to take the edge off. He was, by turns, her conscience and right-hand man, and had seen pretty much every dark nook and cranny Bilgewater had to offer.
“为什么呢？”莎拉问道。
“How so?” asked Sarah.
“水里头藏着开膛鱼和剥皮鳗。”
“There’s ripper fish and flaying lampreys lurking just under the surface.”
“怕我的手指头被咬掉么？”莎拉又问。
“Scared I’ll get my fingers bitten off?” replied Sarah.
“没了手指可就扣不了扳机了。”
“Can’t pull a trigger without your fingers.”
“你太爱操心了，雷文。”
“You worry too much, Rafen.”
“我的职责就是在你懒得操心的地方替你操心。”
“That’s my job, to worry about the things you don’t worry enough about.”
“就比如上月蟒号的这一趟？”
“Like this boat ride out to the Moon Serpent?”
“没错，”雷文说，“有一句老话，自从我在老爹那听来以后，从小到大就一直没错过。如果味道不对，就离远点儿，你个傻货！”
“Exactly,” said Rafen. “I have a saying, and it ain’t steered me wrong none since I heard it at my papa’s knee. If it smells bad, leave it damn well alone, you idiot!”
莎拉耸耸肩：“这地方到处都是一个味儿。”
Sarah shrugged. “Pretty much everything smells bad out here.”
“或许吧，反正就那个道理。”雷文说着，回头瞄了一眼。透过水面的雾气，月蟒号就像黑暗中潜伏的秘密。“夜晚的大海很邪。感觉像是有很多双饥饿的眼睛在深处盯着。”
“Maybe so, but that don’t change the truth of it,” said Rafen, glancing over his shoulder into the mist rising up from the water, where the Moon Serpent lurked like a dark secret. “The sea has an evil cast to it this night. Feels like hungry eyes are looking up from the deep.”
“你的骨头又发话了？”
“Your bones talking to you again?”
“你就笑话我吧，可是四十多年来我一直很信我的骨头，所以一直活到了现在不是？”
“You mock, but I been listening to ’em for more’n forty years now, and I’m still alive, ain’t I?”
“少说两句吧，老哥，”厄运小姐说，“这可是船长出滨的仪式，我必须到场。而且既然我要穿着如此夸张的行头到，那我的副手也就必须到场。”
“Let it go, old man,” said Miss Fortune. “It’s a Captain’s Requiem, I have to be there. And if I have to be there in this ridiculous getup, then my second in command has to be there too.”
她所说的夸张的行头，包括一件名副其实能让人窒息的鲸骨束腰，钴蓝底色布面配黄金蕾丝，外罩一件华丽的绯红色长礼服大衣，下穿淡奶色亚麻束口马裤，裤腿掖进一双黑亮的高跟皮靴，一串银质海怪锁扣从脚踝排到膝盖。
Said ridiculous getup consisted of a—literally—breathtaking whalebone corset of cobalt blue and golden lace beneath a gloriously long-tailed scarlet frock coat. In addition, she wore linen breeches of pale cream tucked into heeled boots of polished black leather with silver kraken buckles running from ankle to knee.
一套别扭又花哨的行头，但在船长们聚集的场合下，这就是在招摇地炫耀财富。船长的贫穷等同于软弱，而比尔吉沃特的强盗们和其他掠食者一样，都拿弱者当猎物。
An absurdly impractical outfit, but in a gathering of captains it didn’t do to look anything less than obscenely wealthy. A poor captain was a weak captain, and like every kind of predator, Bilgewater reavers would ruthlessly prey on the weak.
雷文也跑不了，一样得扮起来。在降级处罚的威胁和强迫下，他穿上了一套借来的海豹皮衣，外搭鱼鳞马甲，紧绷的扣子随着每次奋力划桨的动作都像是要崩掉。还有一顶大礼帽戴在头上，额前还缠了一条带着触手纹的压花头巾。
Rafen hadn’t escaped the need to smarten up, either, and—under duress and threat of a demotion—wore a borrowed suit of sealskin leather, a scaled waistcoat whose buttons threatened to split from the fabric with every pull of the oars, and a stovepipe hat with a pressed tentacle headband.
“或许我是必须到场，但我可不是心甘情愿的。”雷文说。
“I might have to be there, but that don’t mean I got to like it,” said Rafen.
“我知道，但我需要你帮我盯着点背后，”莎拉说，“亚赖的手下很多，他这一死，每一位船长都会像码头硕鼠一样躁动。我最不想看到的就是他的旧部下投靠了敌对的船长，或者沦落到寒鸦帮、斩屠帮之流。”
“True, but I need you to watch my back,” said Sarah. “Aligh had a large crew, and with him dead every captain will be circling like a wharf rat in heat. Last thing I need is his old crew going over to a rival captain or falling in with the likes of the Jackdaws or Butcher Blades.”
“是，这话在理。”雷文心有不甘地说，“好几个大船长估计都会来送亚赖去见胡母，但你真信他们都能遵守休战约定吗？”
“Aye, there’s that,” begrudged Rafen. “Lot of powerful captains’ll likely be here to see Aligh off to the Bearded Lady, but do you really trust all of them to abide by the Truce?”
“信个鬼。”莎拉解开外套，露出一对精美的象牙握把手枪，左右腋下各一把。“但我肯定也不会空手进去。”
“Not even a little bit,” said Sarah, opening her coat to reveal a pair of exquisite ivory-handled pistols holstered under each armpit. “But it’s not like I’m going in unarmed.”
“他们会收走的。肯定会，好比鱼蛋里孵不出蛇。”
“They’ll take those off you, sure as eggs is eggs.”
“得了，你以为我就带了这点家伙？”她说着，手指轻轻点了点自己的脑袋。
“Please, you think they’re the only weapons I have?” she said, tapping the side of her head.
“好吧，不过我还是觉得很冒险。”
“Fair enough, but this still feels like a risk.”
“的确是，但人活着哪还有不冒险的？”
“It surely is, but what’s life without a little risk?”
“如果风头不对，我会提醒你的。”
“I’ll remind you of that if this all goes under fast.”
莎拉笑着说，“如果真出事了，我允许你在我们的水墓里变成厉鬼缠住我不放。”
Sarah grinned. “If it does, I promise you can haunt me from our watery grave.”
雷文在胸前比了一个犄角的手势，摇了摇头，然后继续用力划桨。他该说的已经说完了，莎拉也让他明白，只要她的主意已经定了，就最好别劝。再说，她也知道他的话没错，而且没有什么比一个自鸣得意的男人更讨厌的了。
Rafen made a quick sign of the horns over his heart and shook his head, but returned his effort to rowing. He’d made his point, and Sarah had made sure he knew better than to press her when her mind was made up. Besides, she knew he was right, and there was nothing more irritating than a man who believed he was right.
不过雷文的话到底还是有用的。莎拉从水面上收回手，弹走了指尖的浮渣。渣滓落水之处，有什么东西露出满口牙齿，钻出了水面。雷文抬了抬眼皮，表情就像是在说，我说什么来着。
But in deference to Rafen’s words, Sarah lifted her hand from the surface of the water and flicked the scum from her fingertips. Something toothy broke the surface where it landed and the old man raised his eyes in a told ya fashion.
在她身后，比尔吉沃特东倒西歪的石壁在海雾中点缀着灯火，那里是人们——她的人民们，靠海吃海的地方。建筑紧紧地抠进岛链的山脊和石缝里，就像一片片坚韧的藤壶，无论是风暴、蚀魂夜，还是偶尔来刺探的诺克萨斯三桅战船，都别想把它们撬走。
Behind her, the ramshackle crags of Bilgewater shimmered in the fog, flickering anthills where people—her people—lived upon the flotsam and jetsam the ocean provided. Its structures clung to the rocks and mountains of the island chain like persistent barnacles that neither storm, Harrowing, nor the occasional probes of Noxian war-barques could ever entirely dislodge.
和莎拉·厄运一样，比尔吉沃特也是大风大浪里活下来的。
Like Sarah Fortune, Bilgewater was a survivor.
普朗克死后，她曾直面过暗影岛的不死亡灵，还解决了无数次要取她性命的阴谋。统治比尔吉沃特是一项肮脏又血腥的事务，她的手腕仍然像第一次爬绳子的装配工学徒一样颤抖。虽然她的抛头露面引来了四面八方的恶毒和枪火，但她还活着。
Since Gangplank’s death, she’d fought the unquiet spirits of the Shadow Isles and survived countless attempts on her life. Consolidating her rule over Bilgewater had been a messy, bloody affair, and her grip was still as shaky as an apprentice rigger on their first climb of the ropes. But she was still alive despite the venom—and firearms—aimed at her for putting her head above the parapet.
“有船嘿。”雷文喊道。
“Ship ahoy,” said Rafen.
莎拉的视线投向他身后，透过正在升起的迷雾，看到一艘巨大船影渐渐浮现。
Sarah looked past him to see a looming shape emerging from the rising mist.
月蟒号很像它从前的船长，老迈又蛮横。宽阔的甲板上，数十盏挂灯的微弱火光勾勒出一根根高大的桅杆。两根加固的主桅外层涂满了防水的填缝料，雕刻出的鳞片组成巨蟒的形状盘绕其上。木缝处，板结的盐盖在月光下泛着银光。虽然风帆都已收起，但莎拉知道那些白银帆布缝制的风帆必定造价不菲。亚赖在这艘船上是下了血本的。攻城锤一般的船艏雕像是一条毒牙毕露的蟒蛇，铸造的材料来自他的死对头们留下的加农炮。
Much like its former captain, the Moon Serpent was an old, unsubtle ship; broad in the beam and glowing with the dim light of dozens of hooded lanterns hanging from its many masts. The brigantine’s reinforced timbers were thickly caulked and carved with scales like a snake. Crusted salt in the grooves shone silver in the moonlight, and though its sails were still furled, Sarah knew they were woven from shimmering white cloth that must have cost Aligh a small fortune. Its ramming prow figurehead was a fanged serpent forged from the melted-down cannons of his enemies.
“胡母在下，我老是记不得它有多大……”
“By the Bearded Lady, I always forget how big it is…”
“她就是个怪物。”雷文说着，他们的小艇进入了双桅帆船的冰冷阴影。
“She’s a beast sure enough,” said Rafen as the brigantine’s cold shadow fell across them.
“一鳞不拔的亚赖，怎么就掏钱造出了这玩意？”莎拉说，“那个杂种小气鬼，能花一枚铜鲱鱼对付的事就绝不会花一枚金海妖选点好货。我听说他一直欠着海债，一滴朗姆酒、一个铜板都不肯贡给下边的老爷们和夫人们。”
“How in the world did a tight-fisted miser like Aligh pay for this?” said Sarah. “That cheapskate bastard never paid a kraken if he could spend a sprat. I heard he skipped out on his dues to the ocean, never so much as a drop of rum or a copper coin for the lords and ladies of the deep.”
“那我就更应该调转船头回岸上去，离这艘船远点，”雷文说，“如果这话有一丁点儿靠谱的话，那这艘船就已经毁定了。海债可不能欠，哪个够格的船长不知道。”
“And ain’t that yet another reason for me to turn us around and not set foot on its deck,” said Rafen. “If even a bit of that’s true, then this here’s a doomed ship. The ocean needs its due, any captain worthy of the name knows that.”
“我在白港拿了贾猛·基洛的赏金以后，给大海献了一把海克斯卡宾枪。”
“I gave a hex-carbine to the waters off White Wharf after claiming Jakmunt Zyglos’s bounty.”
“我记得，”雷文无奈地摇了摇头，“你答应过那把枪是要发给我的。”
“I remember,” said Rafen with a resigned shake of his head. “You promised that weapon to me.”
“制作的工艺很精湛。虽然比不上福琼的大崩子，但也不赖。”
“Decent craftsmanship too. Wasn’t a Fortune Manstopper, but it was pretty nice.”
“你还在说我的痛处。太残忍了。”
“Now you’re just being cruel.”
“想当女帝，就要先残忍，才会懂仁慈。”莎拉用逗弄的语气说，雷文把船渐渐靠上泊位，与其他几条小船连在一起，停在船舷侧面的爬网下方。月蟒号的巨大船身像一座黑崖，顶端的灯火之间不断有黑色的人影来回走动。
“A queen must be cruel only to be kind,” said Sarah with mock affectation, as Rafen eased the boat up to half a dozen others moored beneath a wide cargo net strung from the gunwale. The glossy hull of the Moon Serpent rose up like a black cliff and dark silhouettes moved through the lamplight high above.
“她这么大一艘船，现在可是浮得高啊。”雷文说着，努嘴示意船身上斑驳的墨绿色吃水线，随后把小艇连到一根空的绳结上。
“She’s sitting high in the water for such a big ship,” said Rafen, nodding toward the mottled green tide lines on the ship’s black hull as he tied the boat up with a loose slipknot.
“她的货仓要清空了，大部分船员也都会坐在岸边喝个不省人事。也不知道亚赖给他们留了什么糟烂的劣酒。”莎拉说。
“Her holds will be empty and most of the crew will be ashore getting three sheets to the wind on whatever cheap rotgut Aligh left them for his wake,” said Sarah.
“算他们走运了。”雷文把船桨从架上卸下来，收到船舷边固定好。“你可真想好了？”
“Lucky them,” said Rafen, pulling the oars in from the rowlocks and securing them along the gunwale. “You sure about this?”
莎拉站起来抓住爬网，仰头望上去。
Sarah rose and took hold of the cargo net, tipping her head back.
“其实还有点拿不准，”她说，“但要是面前摆着进退两条路时，曾经有个强悍的女人告诉我，永远都要前进，所以咱们上。”
“Not really,” she said. “But when given the choice of going forward or back, a strong woman once told me that it’s always better to go forward, so let’s go.”
左一把右一把，莎拉和雷文攀上了月蟒号的甲板。
Hand over hand, Sarah and Rafen climbed to the Moon Serpent’s deck.
迎接他们的是一对冷脸的双胞胎，穿着皮裤和鱼鳞衬衫。她们就守在船舷边，一见面就收走了莎拉的双枪和雷文的旗鱼嘴匕首。两名悍妇都长着健硕的肌肉，一脸怒意，没有酒气，显然她们更希望自己身在岸上参加悼念亚赖的朗姆酒局，而不是作为留守的船员，迎接一群船长，看着他们心怀鬼胎、逢场作戏。
A pair of unsmiling twins in leather breeches and scaled shirts took Sarah’s guns and Rafen’s marlinspike dagger as soon as they clambered over the gunwale. Both women were heavily muscled and angrily sober, no doubt wishing they were ashore partaking in Aligh’s wake-rum instead of forming a skeleton crew for a bunch of captains who would, like as not, dance a jig to see one another dead.
双胞胎之一头戴着迅捷蟹头骨做的头盔，身上的护甲也同样用蟹壳拼接而成。另一人则在脸上纹了许多瞪大的眼睛——这人端详着著名枪械师的作品，露出了笑容。莎拉看到她牙床上镶着一口锋鳞的下颌骨。
One of the twins wore a helmet made from the skull of a scuttle-crab and matching patchwork armor of boiled shells, while the other had a face covered with tattoos of unblinking eyes. When the latter grinned at the sight of the gun-dame forged pistols, Sarah saw her mouth was filled with teeth prized from a razorscale’s jawbone.
莎拉随着她们来到前甲板，记下了被收缴的武器存放的位置。在三个箱子之中，右侧有炮弹印的。
Sarah followed them as they made their way to the raised foredeck, and marked which of the three chests they put the confiscated weapons into—cannonball dent in the right side.
箱子前面的乌黑炮架上安放着一门巨大的青铜火炮。被熏黑的炮口现在被蜡封死，船帆裹好的亚赖船长应该就在里面，腌在朗姆酒、食醋和樟脑中，准备踏上沉海的旅程。
An enormous bronze cannon sat on a carved ebony gun carriage just in front of the chests. The weapon’s flared muzzle was sealed with wax, and the sail-shrouded body of Captain Aligh would be entombed within, pickled in rum, vinegar, and camphor for its journey to the bottom of the sea.
“这么漂亮的美人儿扔下去，真是可惜了。”莎拉说，“我说的是加农炮。”
“Shame to send something so beautiful to the deep,” said Sarah. “The cannon, I mean.”
“是，”雷文应和道，“我还没见过比这更好的三十磅炮。不过这是传统，传统可不能乱来，对吧？”
“Aye,” agreed Rafen. “A finer thirty pounder I’ve yet to see, but it’s tradition, and you don’t go messing with traditions, right?”
“对……”莎拉说着，将目光转移到大炮旁边，一个肩膀宽厚的人影站在那里一动不动。“要是坏了传统，就得指望胡母帮我们了。”
“Right…” said Sarah, turning her attention to the broad-shouldered figure standing immobile next to the ship-wrecker. “Lady help us if we ever buck tradition, eh?”
他裹着一袭长袍，上面布满七彩的鳞片，鱼头形状的罩帽边缘排列着剃刀般的尖牙。他提着一把章鱼触须纹饰的钩刃砍刀，莎拉立刻意识到他是什么人。
He was swathed in a robe of iridescent scales with a wide-mouthed fish-head hood ringed in razor teeth. He carried a tentacle-wrapped billhook, and Sarah immediately knew him for what he was.
“船长出滨能请到唤蛇者，真是少有的荣幸啊。”她说。
“A rare honor to have a serpent caller at a Captain’s Requiem,” she said.
“金海妖能办到的事总是很漂亮，你说呢？”雷文应道。
“Amazing what enough gold krakens can buy you, eh?” replied Rafen.
在锯齿的罩帽下，这位唤蛇者祭司戴着一副镂空的珊瑚口罩，而眼睛和额头前则戴着一只干鱿鱼，上面粗鲁地豁着两个眼洞。祭司正审视着集合在此的船长们。
Within the jagged hood, the serpent caller wore a mask of perforated coral over the lower half of his face, while his eyes and forehead were obscured by a dried-out squid’s body with crudely cut eye-holes through which the priest surveyed the gathered captains.
宽阔的甲板上挤满了比尔吉沃特的各路强盗，各个盛装出席：长风衣、亮皮靴、高礼帽……还有古朴的盔甲——万一不小心落水，就能直接把穿戴者拖下海底。莎拉看到了许许多多金银制作的徽章和奖牌、芭茹鱼钩的项链、还有拜祭海底老爷夫人们的护身符。
The wide deck was thronged with a host of Bilgewater reavers in all their finery: long coats, polished boots, tall hats, and archaic pieces of armor that would drag them straight to the ocean floor if they fell overboard. Sarah saw a wealth of gold and silver sigils and medals, Buhru fishhook amulets, and lucky talismans to honor the lords and ladies of the deeps.
有些船长她认识——一般是交过手和拼过酒的，还有一些只是听说过。
Some captains she knew from fighting or drinking—often both—and some she knew only by reputation.
当然了，这里每个人都认识她。
They, of course, all knew her.
火红的头发、白皙的皮肤，还有自信的气质，莎拉·厄运无论在任何地方都很难不被关注。不过在这条船上，她就是一团剧毒荆棘之中的野玫瑰。
With her blood-red hair, creamy skin, and confident swagger, Sarah Fortune would be a hard woman to miss in any circumstance, but on this ship she was a wild rose among poisoned thorns.
“好一场大会，嗯？”雷文说。
“Quite the gathering, eh?” said Rafen.
“没什么比死亡更让人团结。”莎拉说。
“Nothing like death to really bring people together,” said Sarah.
雷文点点头说，“现在我知道一个胖子骑浪士被一群饥饿的长牙鲨围起来是什么感觉了。”
Rafen nodded and said, “Now I know how a fat waverider feels when it finds itself surrounded by a pack of hungry longtooths.”
莎拉摇摇头，“你说反了，老哥。我才是这里的长牙鲨。”
Sarah shook her head. “You have it backward, old man. I’m the longtooth here.”
雷文没有回话，因为莎拉已经大步走向船的中线，又折了回来。她根据甲板的动向调整着自己的步伐。就像每把手枪都有自己的性格一样，每一艘船也都有自己一套迎风攀浪的习惯。她每走一步，都在体会着这艘船下锚以后的滚动和摇摆，让饱经风雨的甲板木通过她脚下吱嘎的呻吟讲述自己的秘密。
Rafen didn’t reply as Sarah marched to the ship’s centerline and back, adjusting each stride for the motion of the ship’s deck. Just as every pistol had its own unique character, so too did every ship; its own way to crest the tides and heed the wind. She moved with the anchored ship’s roll and sway, letting the creak and groan of seasoned timbers tell their secrets from her boots on up.
“能过浅滩的滚水船，”她说，“没想到做成了这么宽的船体。”
“A shallow-riding wallower,” she said. “Surprising for such a wide-beamed vessel.”
“我喜欢宽厚的类型。”雷文说着，下意识地拉开了两脚的间距。
“I like ’em broad in the beam,” said Rafen, instinctively adjusting the width of his stance.
“有所耳闻。”
“So I heard.”
“虽然不像切浪船那样灵活，”雷文没有在乎她的讥讽，“不过我敢拿一整瓶麦龙黑酒打赌，外海大浪上的她一定能把你稳稳地夹在自己胸前。”
“Not as nimble as a cutter,” said Rafen, ignoring her jibe, “but I’ll wager a bottle of Myron’s Dark she’ll hold you tight to her bosom in rough seas.”
“她的确有这能耐，雷文。”一个瘦高的女子出声道。她身着苍蓝色长风衣，袖口有黄金镶边，肩章带着黄铜流苏。“她可是个老姑娘了。曾经打沉过达克威尔荣耀，甚至还在赤红诺克斯托拉身上开过几个洞。可惜当时泥镇起了雾，救了那副早该死的皮囊。”
“That she will, Rafen,” said a slender woman dressed in a long coat of pale blue, with gold edging at the cuffs and bronze fringed epaulettes. “She’s a grand old dame, right sure. Sank Darkwill’s Glory and even poked a few holes in the Red Noxtoraa before the Mudtown fogs closed in and saved its cursed hide.”
一顶盐渍板结的双角船长帽歪戴在她剃光的头上，一双眼睛如同炖鱼汤里的两颗荷包蛋，莎拉可以看得出她早已经灌了不少酒。她的皮肤有一种蜡黄的色泽，看起来是刚刚远洋而归。
A salt-stiffened bicorn flopped at a rakish angle on the woman’s shaven head, and the state of her eyes—two poached eggs wobbling in a bowl of fish soup—told Sarah she’d been hitting the rum hard already. Her skin had the waxy, yellowish complexion of someone only recently returned from a long sea voyage.
“布莱克斯顿船长，”雷文说，“我听说你死了。”
“Captain Blaxton,” said Rafen. “I heard you were dead.”
“比尔吉沃特每次日落，都会生出一条我死了的传闻，”那名女子说，“每次传出来，都有男人为我哭泣，然后被他们的妻子数落咒骂。我可以向你保证，我活蹦乱跳得很。”
“Rumors of my death fly around Bilgewater with every sunset,” said the woman. “And with them, men weep, and their wives curse the morn of their disproving. I assure you, I am in the rudest of health.”
她转身面向莎拉，鞠躬行礼，然后向她伸出一只手。
She turned to Sarah and gave her an elaborate bow before offering her a hand.
莎拉握住了她的手，立刻警觉起来。虽然布莱克斯顿已经醺然，手上的劲道也轻飘飘的，但她却能感到辛苦劳作换来的老茧和手掌根被火药烧出来的粗皮。
Sarah took it and was instantly on guard. Despite Blaxton’s drunken appearance and feather-light grip, she felt hard-earned calluses and powder burn ridges on the heel of her palm.
“玛尔拉·布莱克斯顿，为您效劳，厄运船长。”她说着，松开莎拉的手，“在亚玛兰欣海岸劫掠了一年，最近才回来。那边海清天蓝，沿岸的聚落肥的流油，囤积的黄金够一位船长花十辈子都花不完。”
“Marla Blaxton, at your service, Captain Fortune,” she said, releasing Sarah’s hand. “Recently returned from a year of raiding the Amarantine Coast, where the sea is clear, the sky blue, and the coastal settlements fat with more gold than a captain could spend in ten lifetimes.”
“真棒，”莎拉说，“那你为什么还要从那样的地方回来呢？”
“How wonderful,” said Sarah. “Why would you ever choose to return from that?”
“好日子都过不长久，你知道的。那些聚落的居民不太理解什么叫‘拥有’和‘活着’。而且，他们还能招来一些奇怪的法师，使出些我没见过的法术把海洋和天空变成敌人。”
“Good times can only last so long, you know. The inhabitants of said settlements had some strange ideas about ‘ownership’ and ‘not being dead’. Also, they were able to summon some curious mage-types who turned the sea and sky against me in ways I’d never seen before.”
“啊，这么说你的船都毁了。”雷文说。
“Ah, so you lost all your ships,” said Rafen.
“毁了几艘。”布莱克斯顿承认的同时不屑地挥了挥手，“暂时不顺而已，雷文。我现在随时都可以卷浪重来。”
“A few,” allowed Blaxton, waving her hand dismissively. “A temporary setback, Rafen. One from which I expect to bounce back any day now.”
“比如，收编一批新手，外加一艘适合走浅滩的双桅帆船？”莎拉试探道。
“Perhaps with a new crew and a shallow-riding wallower of a brigantine?” suggested Sarah.
布莱克斯顿大笑着说，“一切皆有可能。”然后再次鞠躬，回到前桅杆下方，加入朗姆酒桶周围的船长人群之中。
Blaxton laughed and said, “Anything is possible,” before giving her another bow and rejoining a group of captains gathered around a leaking barrel of rum by the foremast.
莎拉心头一紧，她看到了一张熟识的脸，敌人的脸。
And Sarah’s heart skipped a beat as she saw a face she recognised, an enemy face.
雷文也看见了他，抓住了她的手臂。
Rafen saw him too and gripped her arm.
“别忘了休战的约定。”他急切地低声喊道。
“Remember the Truce,” he hissed urgently.
莎拉没有回答，她全部注意力都扑在面前这个人上。
Sarah didn’t answer, too focused on the man before her.
她挣开手臂，向他走去，始终保持面无表情。
She pulled her arm free and strode toward him, keeping her face expressionless.
一头金发梳到脑后绑成短马尾，一缕不听话的头发挂在面前，一张脸英俊帅气、胡须刮得干干净净。他抬起目光迎上她的凝视，眼中的冰冷凝成了霜。
Blond hair, tied back in a rough ponytail, a loose strand hanging, just so, over his handsome, clean-shaven features. He looked up and met her gaze, the ice in his eyes frosting at her approach.
“莎拉，”他说着，对她张开双臂，“你冷静，我知道我们——”
“Sarah,” he said, opening his arms to her. “Look, I know we—”
她没有让他把话说完，一拳打在他肚子上，自己脚下的步伐却丝毫没有打乱。
She didn’t let him finish, hammering her fist into his gut without breaking stride.
他就像被二十四磅炮弹打中了一样弯下腰，漂亮的脸蛋刚好撞上她顶上来的膝盖，发出清脆的骨折声。
He buckled like he’d been hit by one of the twenty-four pounder balls, and his handsome face met her rising knee with a sickening crunch of bone.
他向后躺倒，莎拉不等他起身直接扑了过去，跨坐到他身上，伸手想摸出自己的手枪，随后才想起来枪被锁进了主桅旁边的箱子里。
He flew back and Sarah pounced on him before he could rise, straddling him and reaching for her pistol before remembering it was locked in a chest next to the mainmast.
右侧有炮弹印的。
Cannonball dent in the right side.
她没有开枪，而是提起他的领口，举起拳头准备再来一拳。他呛着血，举起一只铸造的手，上面装着飞旋的铜齿轮、皮绑带和滴滴答答的机械装置，把手挡在脸前。
Instead of shooting him, she hauled his head up by his collar and cocked her fist back for another punch. He coughed blood, and lifted a forge-crafted hand of whirring bronze cogs, leather straps, and clicking mechanics out in front him.
“饶命。”他透过被打扁的鼻子和满嘴鲜血无力地说。
“Please,” he wheezed through a broken nose and a mouthful of blood.
“你好，皮提尔”她说，“我说过的，再让我见到你就会怎么样？”
“Hello, Petyr,” she said. “I told you what would happen if I saw you again, didn’t I?”
皮提尔·哈克船长。
Captain Petyr Harker.
她最后一次见到他的样子，是他捂着自己被打得血肉模糊的手，就是那只总被他吹嘘杀了猩红之刃的手。
The last time she’d seen him, he’d been cradling the splintered, bloody ruin of his hand, the hand he’d always boasted killed the Crimson Blade.
皮提尔，还有乌鸦和老吹船长，在她刚除掉普朗克之后不久就密谋夺走她拼命赢得的利益。乌鸦和老吹都死了，一个用脑袋接了子弹，另一个用的是肝。
Petyr, along with Captains Crow and Bragg, had conspired to strip her of her hard-won gains in the wake of her killing Gangplank. Both Crow and Bragg were now dead, one from a pistol ball to the head, the other with one lodged in his liver.
接的是她的子弹。
Her pistol balls.
走出麦格雷根的屠宰间时，她撂了句狠话，下次再看到皮提尔就崩了他的另一只手。
Walking out of the gunfight at MacGregan’s Killhouse, she’d promised to take more than Petyr’s other hand if she ever saw him again.
水淹亡魂时的休战是比尔吉沃特历来的传统。
The Truce of the Sinking Soul was a long-standing tradition in Bilgewater.
应该说，是一条不成文的规矩，而不是令行禁止的习俗。不过每当船长们参加旧日海上传奇的葬礼，他们手下相互敌对的船员都能在不见血的情况下共聚一堂。
More of an unwritten rule than a strictly enforced custom, but it allowed rival crews to gather without bloodshed when their captains attended the all too frequent funerals of old sea-legends.
这群暴虐成性的男女居然都能遵守这个古老的习俗，着实让莎拉觉得奇怪。而直到刚才，她始终都将其视为既然没被打破……的古董。
That violent men and women would abide by such an archaic custom always struck Sarah as somewhat quaint, and until now she’d always kept it in the if it ain’t broken… part of her mind.
一只手硬生生地抓住她的右肘，收回了她的拳头。
An iron grip seized her right elbow and pulled her clenched fist back.
雷文出现在她左边，把她从皮提尔身上拉开。
Rafen appeared on her left, dragging her off Petyr.
“消消气，船长，”他说，“好了，好了……”
“Easy, captain,” he said. “Easy now…”
她还有点冲动想要再打一拳，但等雷文扶她站起来的时候，莎拉的愤怒已经褪去。她的态度已经表达清楚了，于是就顺势让雷文把自己拉到一边。
Part of her wanted to land another punch, but by the time Rafen had her back on her feet, the anger had gone out of Sarah. She’d made her point, and so let herself be pulled away.
“最后的沉降之旅即将启程，”一个散发着酒气的声音在她耳中响起，“聚集于此之人皆当听取誓盟。”
“Upon our last descent,” said a rum-sodden voice in her ear. “All gathered heed this oath.”
“愿和平降临吾辈，”她自然而然地接着说，“愿身体与灵魂不再受伤。”
“Peace be upon us all,” she repeated automatically. “No harm to body or soul.”
“不动刀，不动枪，不唤蛇，不施魔。”雷文补充道。
“No shot nor blade, no serpent nor spell,” added Rafen.
“谨遵水淹亡魂时的休战！”皮提尔说完最后一句，从她身边爬开。
“Observe the Truce of the Sinking Soul!” finished Petyr, scrambling away from her.
莎拉长吁一口气，转过身看看是谁和雷文一起把自己拉开的。
Sarah let out a long breath, and turned to see who, along with Rafen, had pulled her off.
一个弯腰驼背的瘦弱人影，身披一件昂贵的海兽皮衣，系着一条新鲜的八爪鱼触手领带，亮晶晶的魔鬼鱼平板帽扣在头上，一反平常衣衫褴褛的样貌。
A hunched wretch in an expensive kraken-skin coat, fresh octopus-tentacle tie, and glistening stingray flat-cap that was well above the tattered sackcloth she normally saw him wearing.
“索恩？”她说着，轻轻挣脱雷文的手。
“Thorne?” she said, shrugging off Rafen’s touch.
“你该叫索恩船长。”他说着，朝甲板上吐出一口昂贵的海草烟叶，距离她光亮的皮靴只差一指的宽度。
“It’s Captain Thorne these days,” he said, spitting a wad of expensive dried-seaweed tobacco to the deck and missing the polished toe of her boot by a finger’s breadth.
莎拉大笑到，“你？船长？什么时候的事？”
Sarah laughed. “You? A captain? Since when?”
索恩神情得意，看上去就像一个装货的童工刚刚偷到一颗芒果。“我有船了，还有一群忠心耿耿的海耗子手下，就在你把乌鸦和老吹处理掉以后。”
Thorne preened, looking like a powder monkey with a freshly stolen mango. “Got me a ship now, and a crew of hearty sea-rats off the back of what you done to Crow and Bragg.”
他的口气就像一大桶臭了的蛤蜊。索恩可以披上昂贵的外衣招摇过市，可他永远都改不了自己的本色。
His breath was like a bucket of rotten clams. Thorne could parade in expensive clothes, but he could never change who he truly was.
“你总能在桌底下捡剩的吃到饱，是吧？”莎拉说，“行了，别挡道。”
“You always were a bottom feeder, weren’t you?” said Sarah. “Now get out of my way.”
索恩让到一旁，说道，“记好了，莎拉·厄运，报应要来你是躲不掉的。”
Thorne stood aside, and said, “Mark my words, Sarah Fortune, you’ll get what’s comin’ to ya.”
“好好好，知道了。”莎拉说着，两步来到皮提尔·哈克身边。
“Promises, promises,” said Sarah, and in two quick steps she was standing over Petyr Harker.
她伸出手，灵活地抖着手指，就像是在翻硬币玩。
She held her arm out and rippled her fingers, like she was flipping a coin along her knuckles.
“要我给你搭把手么？”她笑着问。
“Can I give you a hand?” she said with a grin.
“你觉着好笑吗？”
“Is that supposed to be funny?”
“不好笑吗，”莎拉说，“你看我笑的。”
“It is funny,” said Sarah. “Look how I’m smiling.”
皮提尔看着她戴手套的手，一只眼睛已经发青肿胀。虽然被打断的鼻子和拧成结的肚子很疼，但他还是露出笑脸。
Petyr looked at her gloved hand through an eye that was already swollen and purple. Despite the obvious pain of his bleeding nose and winded gut, he grinned.
“如果我把好手递出去，你真要开枪吗？”他问。
“If I give you my good hand, are you going to shoot it off?” he asked.
“我没这个打算，不过今天还没完呢。”
“I’m not planning to, but the day’s yet young.”
他握住她的手，让莎拉拽着他站起来。
He took her hand, and Sarah hauled him to his feet.
“你来这图什么呢，皮提尔？”她问。
“Why are you here, Petyr?” she asked.
“虽说海盗密会算是散了，但传统还是要遵守的，不是吗？”
“There might not be a Corsair’s Conclave anymore, but traditions need to be upheld, yes?”
“这话我听了不止一遍。”莎拉瞄了一眼雷文。
“So I keep hearing,” said Sarah, glancing at Rafen.
她从大衣里掏出一张手帕递给皮提尔。他点头致谢，擦掉了嘴唇和下巴上的血，然后又把手帕递回去。
She pulled a handkerchief from her coat and handed it to Petyr. He nodded gratefully and wiped the blood from his lips and chin before handing it back.
“留着吧，”她说着，看向他新装的手，“很精致。不像是比尔吉沃特的工艺。”
“Keep it,” she said, then nodded admiringly at his new hand. “Nice work. Doesn’t look like Bilgewater craft.”
“确实，”皮提尔说，“怎么说呢，是也不是。俾特贝特工坊新来的学徒给我做的。祖安的小伙子，叫吉斯伯。”
“It’s not,” said Petyr. “Well, it is and it isn’t. A new apprentice down at Bitterbelt’s forge made it for me. Zaunite lad named Gysbert.”
“看着挺贵。”
“Looks expensive.”
“确实贵。”
“It was.”
莎拉上下打量他一番，量身定做的衣服、油光红润的脸颊、空荡荡的刀鞘应该装得下一把上等刀剑。无论皮提尔被崩掉手以后碰到了什么事，显然现在的他已经卷浪重来了。
Sarah looked him up and down, taking in his tailored clothing, the well-fed cheeks, and the empty scabbard that looked like it might hold a fine blade. Whatever had become of Petyr after losing his hand, he’d clearly bounced back well enough.
“我一直在想，是不是让你死在麦格雷根的屠宰间里更好。”莎拉说。
“I keep wondering if I should have killed you back at MacGregan’s,” said Sarah.
“我也经常在想，你为什么放过了我。”皮提尔说，“别误会，不杀之恩我是很感激的，但老实讲，我可是会为了报仇雪恨，一门心思地琢磨到死的。”
“I’ve often wondered why you let me live,” said Petyr. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you didn’t kill me, but let’s be honest, I’m just the sort of fellow to seek dramatic revenge in some stupidly elaborate scheme.”
虽然并非她本意，但莎拉还是大笑起来。“说得好，皮提尔，说得好啊。但如果你想听实话，我没杀你是因为，那是普朗克的作风，而我一直都想比他做得更好。”
Despite herself, Sarah laughed. “That you are, Petyr, that you are. But if you want the truth, I didn’t kill you because killing you would have been Gangplank’s way of doing things, and I always try to be better than he was.”
“那，效果如何？”
“And how’s that working out for you?”
“得慢慢来。”莎拉说着，雷文走到两人中间，一只手提着三个铁杯，另一只手拿着一大瓶朗姆酒。
“It’s a work in progress,” admitted Sarah as Rafen stepped between them, holding tin mugs hooked over his fingers in one hand, and a large bottle of rum in the other.
“来，”他说，“既然休战有效，而且大家也不打算杀人，那就顺便也尝尝亚赖的藏酒吧，怎样？”
“Here,” he said. “If the Truce is holding, and we’re not going to start killing each other, then we might as well have a swig of Aligh’s rum, eh?”
莎拉递给皮提尔一个杯子，然后自己也拿起一个，雷文给每个杯子里倒了两指高的棕色黏浆。
Sarah passed a mug to Petyr before taking one for herself as Rafen poured them all two fingers of the syrupy brown liquid.
“管好火药磨亮刀，”雷文说。
“Keep your powder dry and your cutlass sharp,” said Rafen.
“翻天覆地待有朝。”莎拉接完下句，三人碰杯。
“And the world will turn,” finished Sarah, and the three of them touched mugs.
莎拉仰头喝掉一大口，浓烈的辛辣和甜腻让她龇牙咧嘴。
Sarah tipped her head back and took a mouthful, wincing at the gritty, overly sweet taste.
“呼，什么烂酒。太烂了。”她说，“他们真的把亚赖的尸体装进炮膛了？没装进酒桶里？”
“Oh, that’s bad. That’s really bad,” she said. “You sure they didn’t put Aligh’s body in the rum barrel instead of the cannon barrel?”
“亚赖有许多名头——残酷的老混蛋、无情的船长、老练的杀手。但他在饮食这方面，就没什么名声了。”皮提尔说着，把杯里的剩酒泼到甲板上。
“Aligh was known for many things—being a cruel old bastard, a ruthless captain, and a seasoned killer—but one thing he wasn’t known for was his largesse in vittles,” said Petyr, pouring the remains of his rum onto the deck.
“我都不知道，你还认识亚赖。”
“I didn’t know you knew Aligh.”
皮提尔用力摇头，“我不认识，都是听人说的，不过月蟒号我倒也上过。”
Petyr shook his head vigorously. “I didn’t. I mean, I knew him by reputation, of course, but it’s not like I ever set foot on the Moon Serpent before today.”
“这个人很神秘。”索恩过来插话，溜到雷文身边递出自己的杯子。“一个神秘的普通人，不过管他做甚？他死了，我们不还活着嘛。”
“The man was an enigma,” said Thorne, sidling up to Rafen and holding out his own mug. “A regular man of mystery, but who cares about that? He’s dead, and we ain’t.”
莎拉耸耸肩，对雷文点点头。他给索恩倒了大半杯。
Sarah shrugged and nodded to Rafen, who poured Thorne a generous measure.
“对了，”索恩继续说，“聚在这里的人，没几个是他熟人。他们还说他从来不靠岸。每次都是派双胞胎之一上岸。啊，你们听说他是怎么死的了吗？”
“Aye,” continued Thorne. “There’s none here gathered who knows much of the man. They say he never came ashore neither. Always sent one of them vicious twins. So, did you hear how he died?”
“我听说他是在睡觉的时候被捅了。仆童挨了他太多打，就造反了。”布莱克斯顿船长拿着杯子横插进来。
“I heard he was stabbed in his sleep by a cabin boy who’d taken one too many beatings,” said Captain Blaxton, arriving mug in hand.
雷文立刻给她倒上一口。
Rafen duly poured her a measure.
“祝你们手下放哨的别上头，”她说着，抿了一口，“啊，好酒。”
“May all your lookouts be sober,” she said, taking a drink. “Ah, some of the good stuff.”
“这是你听到的说法？”莎拉说，“我听说是盘子里的棘刺鱿没死透，把他勒死了。”
“That’s what you heard?” said Sarah. “I heard he choked to death on a barb-squid that wasn’t quite dead in his dinner.”
雷文摇摇头，“不对，那是屠宰码头上切肉工的说法。我听岩洞里的蜡烛店老板们说，他是喝得烂醉翻下了甲板。当时他口袋里装了沉甸甸的金子，下去就没上来，直接被胡母收走了。”
Rafen shook his head. “No, that’s just what the cutters on the Slaughter Docks are saying. I heard it from one of the chandlers down the grottoes that he was so drunk he fell overboard. His pockets were so laden with gold that he sank all the way down, straight into the waiting grasp of the Bearded Lady.”
话音刚落，他们全都不由自主地从船舷边向下望去。
Instinctively, they all looked over the gunwale to the ocean far below.
海水在船周围拍打，深邃而黑暗，如同一面流动的镜子。她看到自己飘荡的倒影随着波纹碎裂，反复撞向长满藤壶的船壳。海浪用力拍打着船体，让人感觉有什么巨大的东西即将从下面钻出来。
The waters swirled around the ship, deep and black like a liquid mirror. She saw her wavering reflection, splintered by the water and lapping at the barnacled hull. Hard waves broke against the hull—the kind you saw when something large was coming up from below.
“我就说啊，今晚有股邪气。”雷文说。
“Told you it had an evil cast to it tonight,” said Rafen.
莎拉呼出一口气，用右手拇指在左眼上轻点了两下。这是老水手驱魔辟邪的传统。
Sarah let out a breath and tapped her left eye twice with her right thumb, an old sailor’s tradition to ward off evil influences.
“没所谓。他是个老头，没准就是老死了，”莎拉说，“老头最拿手的就是老死。”
“Ach, he was an old man, maybe he just died,” said Sarah. “That’s what old men do best.”
“雾来了。”布莱克斯顿向海面努努嘴。
“Fog’s rolling in,” said Blaxton, nodding out to sea.
莎拉一阵寒颤，她看到东南方向飘来的浓雾，阴冷、潮湿、带着无底海沟的气息。
A chill passed through Sarah as she saw the fog was coming in from the southeast; cold, clammy, and freighted with the smell of the deepest ocean trenches.
“这个老混蛋怎么死的都无所谓，”索恩说，“唯一重要的是他留下的船和人手怎么办。今天来这么多人不都是为这个？每个人都想抓到最大的宝，不是吗？”
“Don’t matter none how the old bastard died,” said Thorne. “All that matters is what happens to his ship and his crew. That’s why we’re all here, ain’t it? Every one of us wants to claim that big prize, don’t we?”
四名船长彼此打量着，每个人都清楚彼此为什么来。
All four captains studied one another, each knowing that was exactly why they were here.
“还没人找到他的蛇印吧？”布莱克斯顿说。
“No one ever found his serpent sigil, did they?” said Blaxton.
“他的印吗？”雷文轻蔑地说，“八成是跟他本人一起封进炮膛了。而且有没有都无所谓，这年头谁还认船长的印？”
“His sigil?” scoffed Rafen. “Like as not, it’s sealed away in that cannon with him. Doesn’t matter anyway, no one pays any heed to a captain’s sigil these days.”
“要我说，还真都应该认。”莎拉说，“如果能凭上一任船长的印，收编一艘船和船员，那就不用流那么多血了。”
“Maybe they should,” said Sarah. “Maybe there’d be a lot less bloodshed if you could just claim a ship and crew with the previous captain’s sigil.”
“你是怕见血嘛？”索恩笑着说，“没胃口了，啊？”
“Scared of a little blood, are ya?” grinned Thorne. “Not got the stomach for it, eh?”
莎拉向他靠近一步说，“休战我才懒得管。你再用这种态度说话试试，我就让你见识见识我胃口有多大。”
Sarah took a step toward him and said, “Truce or not, talk to me like that again and I’ll show you how much stomach I have for bloodshed.”
“我没想惹你，厄运船长，”索恩笑着，露出了黢黑的牙齿和朽烂的牙龈，“我只是好奇，在场的这帮人要是搞到了这个船长印，有谁不会当场宣布接管亚赖手下呢？”
“Didn’t mean to go upsettin’ ya, Captain Fortune,” laughed Thorne, exposing black teeth and rotten gums. “Just wondering how many of ’em here gathered would have even the slightest hesitation of trying to claim Aligh’s crew if they could get their hands on that sigil…?”
莎拉看向索恩身后，看着月蟒号甲板上集结的各位船长，她也在想同样的事。这帮人大多数都是小鱼苗，手下的船员都还太嫩，亚赖的船是摆弄不来的。不过身边这三个一起喝酒的家伙……都有一班老练的手下，其中任何一人都可能成为她的对手，可能在背后捅她刀子。
Sarah looked past Thorne at the other captains gathered on the Moon Serpent’s deck, wondering the same thing. Most of them were small fry, with crews that were too green to make a serious play for Aligh’s ship, but the three drinking rum with her… Now that was a motley crew indeed, and any one of them might be a rival she needed to worry about sticking a knife in her back.
索恩刚才提出的问题还没人来得及回应，莎拉就感到脚下有动静。甲板晃了一下。
Before any of them could say anything in answer to Thorne’s question, Sarah felt the deck shift underfoot, a slow roll and dip.
她从大衣里夹出一枚银币，弹到船舷外。
She reached inside her coat and pulled out a silver coin, flicking it over the side of the ship.
索恩看着硬币翻转着入水，有那么一瞬间，她甚至感觉他要追着银币跳下船去。
Thorne watched it tumble end over end to the waters, and for a moment she wondered if he might dive in after it.
“你这是干嘛？”他说，“这还不是你的船呢。”
“Why’d ya do that?” he said. “This ain’t your ship.”
“总要有人出手，”莎拉说着，月蟒号的白色风帆展开了。“我们要起航了。”
“Someone has to,” said Sarah, as the Moon Serpent’s white sails unfurled. “We’re getting underway.”
帆船向东驶出了比尔吉沃特港，稍稍绕了个弧线，避开一处处崎岖的暗礁、凶险的浅滩和突出水面的船只残骸。这些地方碰上任何一处都能沉掉一艘船。刚才布莱克斯顿看到的海雾现在已经彻底包围了他们，帆船几乎在死寂之中航行，只有少数留守的船员之间偶尔喊的号子。
The ship sailed eastward out of Bilgewater Bay, taking a gently curving route to avoid the many jagged reefs, treacherous sandbanks, and jutting wrecks that could see a ship foundered. The fog Blaxton had spotted had fully enveloped them now, and the ship sailed in an almost dead silence, interrupted only by the occasional shout between the skeleton crew.
虽然这瓶朗姆酒难喝得要命，但莎拉、雷文、索恩、皮提尔和布莱克斯顿还是断断续续地喝完了一整瓶。几杯过后，那种甜腻逐渐可以忍受了。莎拉感到自己心情放松下来。
Despite the awfulness of the rum, Sarah, Rafen, Thorne, Petyr, and Blaxton worked their way through the rest of the bottle. After a couple of shots, the sweetness became bearable, and Sarah felt her mood loosening.
酒水下肚，雷文把空瓶子扔下了船。莎拉派他下到船舱里再找一瓶。
With the bottle empty, Rafen threw it overboard and Sarah sent him below deck to find another.
月蟒号继续航行，深入海雾。
The Moon Serpent sailed onward, deeper into the fog.
又有其他人提出了关于亚赖之死的猜测，一个比一个离谱，莎拉甚至笑出了眼泪：皮提尔添油加醋地讲述亚赖惹上了滑头的海灵，然后打扮成一条金色独角鲸被引到了外海，最后不幸被认错了身份，死在血港开膛手的刀下。
More theories as to how Aligh had died were offered, each more ridiculous than the last, and Sarah found herself wiping tears of laughter from her eyes as Petyr finished a preposterous tale of Aligh falling afoul of the Trickster and being led out to sea in a golden narwhal costume only to be carved up by the Bloodharbor Ripper in a tragic case of mistaken identity.
远处传来一个声音，虽然被浓雾阻挡，但可以听出是从桅杆上的乌鸦巢来的。
A distant voice, muffled by the fog, called out from the crow’s nest.
“他说什么？”她透过绳索张望着，手扶着船舷的横栏，视野有点打转。那瓶酒虽然是劣等酒，但却够烈。该缓缓了。
“What did he say?” she asked, peering up through the rigging. She held on to the gunwale rail as her vision spun a tad. The rum was bad, but it was strong. Time to ease up.
“我觉着他说的是‘陆地，嚯！’或者也可能是‘沙粒，唷！’”布莱克斯顿醉醺醺地说。
“I think he said ‘Land ho!’ or possibly ‘Sand Lo!’” said Blaxton, bleary eyed from the rum.
莎拉眨了眨眼，“沙粒唷？他为什么会说这个？”
Sarah blinked. “Sand Lo? Why would he say that?”
“我认为是恕瑞玛的一句问候。”皮提尔笑着说完，又吞了一大口朗姆酒。
“I believe it’s a traditional Shuriman greeting,” giggled Petyr, taking another belt of rum.
莎拉抵抗着肚子里发出的咕噜声，这时她听到了铁链扑棱扑棱地从甲板滑脱，随后是船锚入水的巨大泼溅声。
Sarah fought the laughter bubbling up from her gut as she heard the clatter of iron chains spilling off the deck, swiftly followed by the heavy splash of an anchor hitting the water.
“到了。”索恩说着，朝海里吐出一口烟草。
“We’re here,” said Thorne, spitting a viscous wad of tobacco into the sea.
莎拉望穿迷雾，看到海面上有一块凸起的黑色礁石。在微弱星光的映照下，海盐的结晶闪着光点。
Sarah peered through the mist, seeing a craggy spur of black rock rearing out of the water. Salt crystals glittered in the weak light of the stars.
“月峨礁，”她说，“把我们送到这是要他胡母的干什么啊？”
“Moonshard Reef,” she said. “Why in the name of the Lady’s Beard are we here?”
“亚赖一直说自己从他妈那边继承了鲛人的血统。”皮提尔说。
“Aligh always claimed he was part Marai on his mother’s side,” said Petyr.
“狗屎！”索恩说，“他连鲛人的影都没见过，更别提扯上他妈了。”
“Horse dung!” said Thorne. “The man’s never even seen a Marai, let alone been birthed from one.”
“反正能让他显得不太寻常，”布莱克斯顿说，“神秘的来源、魔法的血脉，之类的故事。差不多每个船长都希望自己有点身世。我也应该编一套。”
“Makes for an exotic tale though,” said Blaxton. “Mystic origins, magical blood, that sort of thing. Kind of backstory every captain wishes they had. Wish I’d thought of it.”
木头的声响打断了几人的话头。莎拉转过身，看到那位唤蛇者正在用他的章鱼触须纹饰钩刃砍刀敲打着前甲板。
The thumping of wood on wood halted further discussions, and Sarah turned to see the serpent caller hammering the raised foredeck with his tentacle-wrapped billhook.
他的另一只手中握着一根火把，正燃着银色的明亮火光。
In his other hand, he held a flaming torch that burned with a brilliant silver light.
“海洋是世界的大墓，世间的灵魂在无碑的水葬下睡得最安稳。”珊瑚面具背后透出唤蛇者沙哑的声音。“其他的墓地里，伟大与渺小，富裕与贫穷，泾渭分明。可无论你是国王、小丑、王子还是农民，在海里都一样。现在，前往海洋的旅伴们……且听我一言，是时候清偿海债了！”
“The sea is this world’s cemetery, and its souls sleep best without monument,” said the serpent caller, his voice a grating hiss through the coral mask. “All other graveyards show symbols of distinction between great and small, rich and poor—but the king, the fool, the prince, and the peasant are all the same to the ocean. Now, fellow travelers of the Sea… heed my words, it is time to pay the ocean its due!”
“也该是时候了，”莎拉说，“赶紧办完，各回各家。”
“About damn time,” said Sarah. “Let’s get this done and go home.”
“就为你这句，我喝了。”皮提尔说。
“I’ll drink to that,” said Petyr.
莎拉和其他船长聚集在蜡封的加农炮前方，那位唤蛇者的目光扫视所有人。她感受到酒劲在身体里游移，也看到许多其他船长左摇右晃，不是因为船不稳。
Sarah and the other captains gathered before the wax-stoppered cannon as the serpent caller’s eyes swept over them all. She felt the potency of the rum swimming around her body, and saw a number of the other captains swaying with more than the motion of the ship.
雷文这是游八海去了？
Where in the eight seas is Rafen?
她不想再喝了。她想让他回到身边。
She didn’t want any more rum. She just wanted him here by her side.
迎接她和雷文还收缴了他们武器的双胞胎在甲板中央操作绳索和滑轮。厚重的绳索提着一个巨大的铁钩缓缓降下，铁钩牢牢固定在火炮引线后方的牵引环上。
The twins who’d met her and Rafen as they came aboard to confiscate their weapons worked a block and tackle over to the center of the deck. An enormous hook on a thick rope loop was lowered and secured to the lifting ring on the cannon just behind the oiled fuse.
“太可惜了。”布莱克斯顿的泪水顺着脸颊往下淌。
“What a waste,” said Blaxton, tears streaming down her face.
“我还不知道，原来你和亚赖走的这么近。”莎拉说。
“I didn’t realise you and Aligh were close,” said Sarah.
“什么？神啊，谁管他啊！我说的是加农炮。那可是奥尔班的三十磅炮，”布莱克斯顿说，“估计现存于世的屈指可数。这玩意儿一炮就能从头到尾打通一条诺克萨斯战舰。就这么扔了，我心疼得想哭。”
“What? Gods, no! I mean the cannon. That’s an Orban thirty pounder,” said Blaxton. “Probably one of only a handful left in existence. One hit from that would punch a hole clean through a Noxian warship from stem to stern. Crying shame to see it go to waste.”
靠着母亲的传授，莎拉对手枪与步枪的了解远多于舰载火器，但即便如此她也不得不承认，这门青铜火炮品相上乘，给亚赖这种可怜鬼陪葬真是可惜了。兴许这是他对这些活人最后的羞辱吧，他最美的武器要成为他的棺椁，永远无法为其他人所用。
Thanks to her mother’s teachings, Sarah knew more about pistols and rifles than she did about the intricacies of ship-borne weapons, but even she had to agree the bronze cannon was far too good for the likes of a miserly soul like Aligh. Was that a final insult to those left behind, that his most beautiful weapon would serve as his tomb and never belong to anyone else?
不过，好像有点不对劲的感觉——她隐隐觉得自己看漏了什么。
Something niggled about that, though—a nagging feeling she was missing something.
螃蟹帽把钩子固定到大炮上，然后双胞胎姐妹站到后面，唤蛇者开始讲话。
Crab Hat secured the hook to the cannon, then she and her twin stood back as the serpent caller began to speak.
“比尔吉沃特的船长们，看到今天人头攒动，我满怀骄傲。”他说道，“无论出身好坏，，也无论渣滓与精华，反正城中匪类已经倾巢而至。”
“Captains of Bilgewater, it does my heart proud to see so many of you here today,” he said. “The best and the worst, the scum and the cream of our city’s reaver-kind.”
刻薄的开场白。有些船长开始窃窃私语，但大家都知道唤蛇者是受过胡母眷顾的，他们做事说话都让人摸不透。
A few mutters went through the captains at so harsh an opening, but serpent callers were known to be touched by the Bearded Lady, and their ways were unknowable to most people.
“我们美丽的岛群如今正处于历史的转折点，通往未来的路有许多条，如同娜迦卡波洛丝数不尽的臂膀一般交错复杂、变化无常，但我已经见到了前进的路！在茫茫交错的诸多前路尽头，我见到了蟒行群岛的山峰与洞穴火光冲天，居民在敌人的包围中奄奄一息。但有一条路，单单一条路，我见到了自豪、富强、以及前所未有的团结，所有人都追随着一位伟大的领袖！”
“Our fair isles stand at a pivotal moment in their history, and many paths lead into the future, as tangled and inconstant as the many limbs of Nagakabouros, but I have seen the way forward! On many of these paths, I see the peaks and coves of the Serpent Isles ablaze, its people dying as our enemies close in. But on one path, one singular path, I see us proud, stronger than ever, a united people under a great leader!”
莎拉眉头紧锁。的确，唤蛇者都是怪人，但眼前这位说的话，跟她以前听过的可不一样。
Sarah’s brow furrowed. Yes, the serpent callers were a strange bunch, but this was beyond anything she’d heard any of them say before.
“你们聚集于此，为的是送亚赖船长沉渊长眠，可你们给他擦靴子都不配。他是远见之人，是成大事之人！”
“You have gathered here to see Captain Aligh down to the depths, a man whose boots none of you were fit to clean. A man of vision, a man who knew what needed to be done!”
双胞胎开始牵拉绳索滑轮升起大炮，她们身上的肌肉膨隆紧绷，大炮的尾部连同炮架，开始从甲板升起。炮筒向下倾斜，要不是炮口的蜡封，莎拉觉得自己可以对准炮膛仔细看看亚赖的尸体。
The twins began hauling on the pulley ropes to lift the cannon, their muscles bunching and straining as the rear end of the cannon, gun carriage and all, began lifting from the deck. The barrel tilted downward, and were it not for the waxed stopper, Sarah felt she could have looked right down its length to see Aligh’s dead body.
“你们全都辜负了娜迦卡波洛丝！你们争斗、背叛，和鼠镇的杂碎一样为了区区一枚铜鲱鱼缠斗不休。你们之中从没有人畅想过组建一支比拟旧时代的大舰队，让比尔吉沃特成为海上的统治者！你们全都往水里扔钱币和贡品，为了什么？安全？祝福？不，你们献上的是祭品，是血钱，为的是借来大海的愤怒。但大海为什么要在乎铜币？为什么要在乎大丰收里最小的鱼苗？不，为了让比尔吉沃特兴旺发达，大海需要的祭品是血色的浪！”
“You all have failed Nagakabouros! You all have fought and betrayed one another, like Rat Town scum scrabbling over a copper sprat. None of you has the vision to raise a fleet like the ones of old and make Bilgewater ruler of the waves! You all throw your coins and your tributes into the water, and for what? For safety? A blessing? No, it’s a sacrifice you’re offering, a blood price for the ocean to lend you its wrath. But what does the ocean care for copper coins or the smallest fish of the catch? No, for Bilgewater to prosper, it needs a red tide of offerings!”
莎拉暗中观察着其他船长对唤蛇者这番疯话有什么反应，但显然烈酒已经让他们麻木得感受不到话里的疯狂。她感觉有目光打在自己身上，然后发现皮提尔正在看着她。
Sarah surreptitiously glanced around at the other captains to see what they were making of the serpent caller’s lunacy, but clearly the rum had numbed them to just how insane this was. She felt eyes upon her and saw Petyr looking right at her.
他笑了一下，随后一股不安立刻蹿上她的心口。
He gave her a terse smile, and her unease ratcheted up several notches.
她看到他神情自若，半步半步地挪到船舷边上。
She saw he was easing, half-step by half-step, toward the gunwale.
莎拉回头望向炮膛。
Sarah looked back down the cannon barrel.
然后她明白了。
And then she knew.
“坏了……”
“Oh no…”
莎拉跑向翘起的前甲板，摘下帽子掏出两把伪装成发簪的刺锥。通体由黑钢打造，末端是骷髅形状的握柄。她很清楚往哪捅能一下就把人捅死。
She ran toward the raised foredeck, tearing off her hat and reaching up to pull out twin stilettos masquerading as hairpins. Each was a slender needle of blackened steel with a rounded skull-pommel, and she knew just where to stick them to kill a man stone dead.
“所以我献给大海的是，你们的鲜血，你们的性命！”唤蛇者尖叫着，撕下面具和罩帽，让所有人都看清他的面目，让所有人都知道是谁把他们带到这里送死。
“So I offer the sea your blood, your sacrifice!” screamed the serpent caller, tearing off his mask and hood so everyone could see him. So everyone would know who had brought them here to die.
莎拉看到一张长着灰胡子的脸，上面布满苍老的皱纹和疯狂的光彩。一道长长的伤疤从右眉到左颊将他的粗糙的脸一分为二，一股胡须被扭成了小辫子，上面穿插着珍珠和鱼钩。
Sarah saw a grey-bearded face, furrowed by old age and aglow with madness. A long scar bisected his leathery face from right eyebrow to left cheek, and the wisps of his beard were twisted into thin braids entwined with pearls and fishhooks.
他的双眼是疯人的双眼，是一个能花铜鲱鱼就绝不掏金海妖的人。
His eyes were the eyes of a man who never paid a kraken if he could spend a sprat.
是一个每次出海都欠海债的人。
Who skipped out on the ocean’s tithe on every voyage.
是她只听说过名声，听说过他数十年血腥传奇的人。
A man she knew from reputation and decades of bloody legend.
“亚赖，阴险的混蛋！”她喊道。
“Aligh, you treacherous bastard!” she yelled.
双胞胎看到了她，但却不能放开手中的链条，否则加农炮就会砸下去。
The twins saw her coming, but couldn’t yet release the chains holding the cannon’s rear aloft.
莎拉感觉时间变慢了，她的心跳就像寡妇义馆上宣告船只沉没的钟声一样缓缓地敲。她觉得自己正在屠宰码头的工作台上，陷进齐膝深的海兽内脏里却还要拼命奔跑。
Time slowed for Sarah, her heartbeat like the slow tolling of the bell upon the Widow’s Manse whenever a ship was lost to the ocean. It felt like she was running knee deep in sticky guts in the carving bays of the Slaughter Docks.
“你太迟了，厄运船长。”亚赖说。
“You’re too late, Captain Fortune,” said Aligh.
他挥动火把，点燃了加农炮后面的引信，然后发出胜利的吼叫。
He swept the torch down to the back of the cannon, and roared in triumph.
她一只手向后蓄力，准备扔出一把刺锥。
She pulled back her hand to throw one of her stilettos.
她知道自己肯定来不及。
She knew she wouldn’t make it.
银色的火焰点燃了浸油的火绒纸。
The silver flame lit the oiled touchpaper.
然后整个世界变成了一场震耳欲聋的爆炸，只剩下火焰与滚雷。
And the world exploded in a deafening blast of fire and thunder.
第一件让莎拉吃惊的事是她居然没死。
That she wasn’t dead was Sarah’s first surprise.
第二件事是月蟒号居然还漂着。
Her second was that the Moon Serpent was still afloat.
那么大的加农炮，应该能直接穿透船体，一路打穿最下层，让海水涌进来。
A cannon that big ought to have holed the ship all the way down to the ocean, and broken its keel.
她什么都听不见，准确地说是听不清。她的耳畔只有高声调的嘶鸣、令人发疯的尖叫和被闷住的支吾。
She couldn’t hear anything, not really. Her ears were filled with a high-pitched whine, maddeningly shrill and muffled at the same time.
她翻身侧躺，感觉到有血正在顺着胳膊往下淌，疼得咧开嘴。
She rolled onto her side, wincing as she felt blood streaming down her arm.
她渐渐意识到身后有模糊、遥远的声音，莎拉回头看去。
A dull awareness of foggy, distant sounds coming from behind made Sarah turn her head.
眼前是彻底的屠杀，她已经很久没见过这般景象。
A scene of utter carnage, worse than anything she’d seen in a long time.
她突然明白为什么船没沉了。加农炮里装的是霰弹。
And suddenly she knew why the ship wasn’t sinking. The cannon had been primed with canister shot.
这一炮是专门为血肉之躯准备的，船体本身基本没事，但它杀生的效力显露无疑。
It was a load designed to shred and maim flesh, but leave a vessel intact, and it had worked its lethal power with horrifying potency.
莎拉刚刚向着亚赖疾奔，恰好让她躲过了炽红弹片的散射范围，不过其他船长就没那么走运了。
Sarah’s mad dash toward Aligh had carried her mostly clear of the wide fan of red-hot fragments, but the other captains weren’t so lucky.
男男女女，全都不省人事地躺在甲板上的血泊中。
Men and women lay sprawled on a deck slick with blood.
距离炮口最近的那些人最难辨认。刚刚还是活生生在喘气的人，现在已经变成七零八落的肉块。胳膊腿散落在血淋淋的肉堆中，根本判断不出归属。
Those closest to the gun were almost unrecognisable, transformed from living, breathing human beings into scraps of bloody meat. Shorn arms and legs lay scattered in gory heaps, and it was all but impossible to tell which limb belonged to which body.
但还有活着的。
But not everyone was dead.
在人群中比较靠后的那些船长正在痛苦地挣扎，身上处处裂口，血淌个不停，嘴里哀嚎着胡母的名字。莎拉现在仍然听不清他们的声音。
Those captains toward the rear of the throng writhed in agony, bleeding from scores of deep lacerations and screaming the name of the Bearded Lady. Sarah could still barely hear them.
她看到布莱克斯顿躺在血泊中，精美的蓝色风衣已经变成碎布片，就像被人用带刺的九尾鞭抽了几百下。莎拉看不出来布莱克斯顿的死活，反正她躺在地上，一动也不动。索恩却从她身子底下爬了出来。贱民总有那种运气，布莱克斯顿成了他的人肉盾牌，让他躲过了最严重的爆炸。
She saw Blaxton lying in a lake of blood, her fine blue coat cut to pieces, as if someone had given her a hundred lashes from a barbed cat-o’-nine-tails. Sarah couldn’t tell if she was dead or alive, but she was lying very still. Thorne slithered out from beneath her, and with the luck typical of that lowlife, it looked like he’d escaped the worst of the blast using Blaxton as a human shield.
雷文！雷文在哪？
Rafen! Where’s Rafen?
她找不见他，只能希望他自己想办法活了下来。
She couldn’t see him, and could only hope that he’d found a way to survive.
他肯定活下来了，他可是雷文。他总是有办法活下来的，对吧？
He must have, he’s Rafen. He survives everything, doesn’t he?
然后她的目光落在一个靠在船舷上四肢瘫软的人影，身上有血迹，不过看着没受什么重伤。
Then her eyes settled on a figure lying sprawled against the railings, bloodied, but mostly unhurt.
皮提尔·哈克。
Petyr Harker.
他笑了一下。莎拉的恨意立刻涌上来，因为她冥冥之中可以肯定，这个自以为是的海蛞蝓早就知道亚赖的陷阱。他肯定也是合谋者，串通好了挂出一个金光闪闪的诱饵，让那些不太了解他的船长听信了他的花言巧语。
He grinned, and hate filled Sarah as she knew that somehow, in some way, that smug, conniving sea-slug had known about Aligh’s trap. He had to have been part of setting it up, a glittering, silver-tongued lure for captains who didn’t know him well enough to send him packing.
莎拉看到甲板舱门翻了开来。为数不多的留守船员刚刚把他们送到了月峨礁，而现在则拿着长匕首出现，准备为他们船长的计划收尾。他们如同梦游一般在甲板上来回，挑破肚皮、割开喉咙，品味着虐杀的感觉。
Sarah saw the deck hatch swing open, and the skeleton crew that had sailed them out to Moonshard Reef emerged with long gutting knives to finish what their vile captain had begun. They moved as if in a languid dream, skewering bellies and cutting throats with sadistic relish.
莎拉怒火中烧，她坐直了身子，顶着灼痛的眼泪拼命眨着眼睛。
Anger surged through Sarah, and she sat upright, blinking through tears of pain.
你还没死呢！别光看着！
You’re alive, damn it! Do something!
这个想法在她脑海中燃烧着，周围的声音回来了，她的视线也变得清晰。
With that thought blazing in her mind, sounds rushed back and her vision cleared.
濒死之人的惨叫驱使她站起身，再次举起两把刺锥。
The screams of the dying drove her to her feet, and she swept up her stilettos once again.
亚赖站在加农炮后面很远的地方，举起双臂端详着自己的杰作，眼神充满狂热。莎拉再次向他冲过去，但这一次双胞胎挡在船长身前，准备截住她。
Aligh stood far behind the smoking cannon, arms aloft and surveying his bloody handiwork with the eyes of a zealot. Sarah sprinted toward him again, but this time the twins rushed past their captain to intercept her.
她翻过加农炮，一靴子踹到其中一个双胞胎的脸，踏在了她密密麻麻的眼睛刺青上。她嘴里镶着的锋鳞假牙被莎拉硬如钢铁的鞋跟击碎，整个人都向后飞去。
She vaulted over the cannon, and hammered her boots into the face of the twin with the tattooed eyes all across her skull. Razorscale teeth splintered under Sarah’s iron hard boot-heels, and sent the woman flying backward.
莎拉轻盈地落地，蟹壳盔抡着一把插着獠牙的棍棒朝她的头挥来。她侧身跨出一大步，棍棒把船甲板砸成了木屑，莎拉翻滚着起身，将刺锥刺向对手的后背。然而蟹壳甲胄又硬又滑，刺锥细剑被挡到了一边，没能刺穿。
Sarah landed lightly and leapt to the side as Crab Hat swung a monstrous, fang-toothed club at her head. It smashed the deck boards to splinters, and Sarah rolled to her feet hammering her daggered fist into the woman’s back. The crab-shell armor was hard and smooth and the stiletto slid clear without penetrating.
那名悍妇从甲板上扭出棍棒，顺势旋身反击，手中的武器堪堪掠过莎拉的头顶。她纹了刺青的双胞胎姐妹站了起来，脸上许许多多的眼睛在泣血，而她的表情则是狞笑。她双手握着一对拳刺，刃的部分是锯鳐的锋利尖牙。
The woman wrenched the club from the deck and spun around, the weapon slashing just over Sarah’s head. Her tattooed twin was back up, blood streaming down her face of many eyes, turning it into a hideous grimace. She held a pair of long punch daggers with razor-toothed sawfish blades.
她冲着莎拉打出一连串冲拳、肘击和高踢。
She came at Sarah in a flurry of blows, elbows, and high kicks.
莎拉尽力格挡闪避，只能勉强躲过每一下致命攻击。她很会打架，但任何时候手枪都比短细剑更好用。她们各自后撤，退向加农炮附近，这时莎拉的衬衫已经浸透了血，而且她也开始严肃地反思自己为什么要展开近身肉搏。
Sarah tried to parry and dodge, only barely avoiding each killing blow. She could hold her own in a fight, but she’d take a pistol over a pair of thin daggers any day. By the time they’d backed up toward the cannon, Sarah’s shirt was soaked in blood and she was seriously reconsidering the wisdom of her plan to fight hand to hand.
她的余光看到那个穿着蟹壳甲胄的悍妇正准备再度袭来。
From the corner of her eye she saw the armored twin winding up for another strike.
二打一，莎拉面临的情况十分严峻。
Two to one, this fight would only end badly for Sarah.
眼睛纹身向低处刺过来，莎拉哼了一声，感觉到大腿侧面被割开一条火辣辣的口子。她单膝跪地，而敌人反手一击，冲着她的咽喉刺过来。
Tattooed Eyes slashed her dagger low, and Sarah grunted as it cut a line of fire across the side of her thigh. She dropped to one knee as a reverse stroke came for her throat.
她抬起手臂格挡，锋刃直接刺破了她的衣袖。
She lifted her arm to parry, and the slashing blade cut straight through the fabric of her coat.
这一击就像被弩箭射中了手臂，但莎拉袖子下面暗藏的铁条阻挡了锋刃，皮肉无恙。
The impact sent searing bolts of pain up Sarah’s arm, but the iron rods specially woven into the back of the sleeve halted the blade before it bit flesh.
悍妇得意地发出一声“哈！”，但随后她意识到莎拉并没有受伤，脸上的笑意迅速消退。
Her foe let out a “Ha!” of triumph, but the grin fell from her face as she realised Sarah was unhurt.
“革蒂安家传、战具裁缝、战争布庄。”莎拉说着，将锥刺送进了敌人的下巴。悍妇大惊失色，瞪圆了双眼，莎拉透过她的牙齿看到自己的黑铁锥刺贯穿了上颚，刺入了脑壳。
“Gedian and Sons, Battle Tailors and War Clothiers,” said Sarah, and hammered her stiletto up through the soft flesh on the underside of her foe’s jaw. Her eyes flew wide in shock, and Sarah saw the black needle of the blade behind her razor teeth as it punched up into her brain.
莎拉站起身，把尸体踢开。另一个双胞胎姐妹发出痛苦的嘶嚎。
Sarah rose and kicked the dead body away as her twin screamed in anguish.
刺锥对棍棒——胜算不大。几乎没有胜算。
Stiletto versus war-club—bad odds. Really bad odds.
莎拉冒险回头瞄了一眼身后。
Sarah risked a glance behind her.
右侧有炮弹印的……
Cannonball dent in the right side…
胜算变大了。
This was her chance to even those odds.
蟹壳甲胄的悍妇狂怒地扑向莎拉，巨大的獠牙棍棒高高举起，准备猛击。狠毒的武器如同刽子手的刀斧般落下，莎拉在最后一瞬间向侧面飞扑。
The armored twin launched herself at Sarah in fury, her huge, toothed club rising up for a strike. The weapon slashed down in an executioner’s arc, and Sarah dived aside at the last instant.
棍棒的铁头砸破了莎拉身后的箱子。她飞身贴近那名悍妇，循着蟹壳甲胄的缝隙把细剑推了进去。
The iron head of the club smashed the chest behind Sarah apart. She spun inside the twin’s guard and drove her blade into a gap between the plates of crab-shell armor.
悍妇吭了一声向后踉跄几步，插在她身上的细剑从莎拉的手中挣脱。
The woman grunted and stumbled backward, tearing the weapon from Sarah’s hand.
莎拉回过身，开始在破碎的箱子里疯狂地翻找，拨开损坏的小刀、指虎和钉锤。
Sarah turned and began frantically searching through the shattered ruin of the chest, sweeping aside damaged knives, brass-knuckles, and iron-tipped cudgels.
“拜托，拜托，你们跑哪去了……？”她轻轻说着，听到身后棍棒刮擦甲板然后被抬起的声音。坏掉的握柄，弯曲的刀剑。
“Come on, come on, where are you…?” she hissed, hearing the scrape of a club being lifted from the deck. A broken handle, a bent blade.
难道是双胞胎把它们藏了起来，打算据为己有？
Had one of the twins hidden them somewhere else, hoping to keep them for themselves…?
糟了糟了糟了……
No, no, no…
一瞬间，她的掌心握住了光滑的象牙握柄。她最熟悉不过的感觉。
And then her palm closed on the smooth, ivory-handled grips she knew better than anything.
莎拉抽起两把手枪，在手里翻了一圈握稳，击发装置就位。
Sarah spun the twin pistols into her grip, and snapped the firing mechanism into place.
她扭转身体向侧面飞扑，扣动扳机射出疾风骤雨。
She twisted and dived to the side, pulling the triggers in a storm of shot.
蟹壳甲胄能够抵挡剑刃和尖钩，但在枪械大师打造的武器面前，这个悍妇和全身赤裸没有区别。
Crab-shell armor was proof against blades and hooks, but against gun-dame-forged weapons, the tattooed woman might as well have been naked.
炽红的弹丸击穿了她的铠甲，她扑倒在加农炮上，十多个浑圆的孔洞中流淌出生命的血液。
Red-hot pistol balls blasted through her armor, and she toppled over the cannon, leaking vital fluids from more than a dozen neat holes.
莎拉站起身后立刻绷紧神经，她感到甲板的摇摆规律变了。这是很细微的变动，几乎让人察觉不到，已经从船艏抛锚的船甲板角度改变，说明海洋的浪潮偏移了……
Sarah rose to her feet and tensed as she felt the roll and sway of the deck change. It was a subtle change, almost unnoticeable, a change in the angle of the anchored ship’s prow as the swell of the ocean shifted…
“哟呵，情况有点不妙……”她说着，亚赖一瘸一拐地向她走来，双胞胎的死状让他发疯。
“Oh, now that’s not good…” she said, as Aligh limped toward her, distraught at the sight of the dead twins.
“你杀了她们！”他叫喊道。
“You killed them!” he cried.
莎拉朝他的双腿膝盖各开一枪。“这两枪是为了今晚被你杀害的船长们。”
Sarah fired a shot into each of his kneecaps. “That’s for all the captains you killed tonight.”
亚赖尖叫着，在甲板上打滚。他一边啜泣，一边绝望地冲她挥舞着砍刀。
Aligh screamed, writhing on the deck. He wept and feebly tried to swing his billhook at her.
莎拉轻快地把砍刀打飞，然后将一支枪口抵住他的下巴。
Sarah easily batted it aside and jammed a pistol under his chin.
“有遗言吗？”她问，“这次可真的是你的葬礼了。”
“Any last words?” she asked. “Now this really is your funeral.”
甲板又发生了偏移，死寂笼罩着大船。
The deck shifted again, and a deathly silence fell over the ship.
即使是受伤的人似乎也都感觉到了奇怪黑影的重量在自己身上合拢，深沉的轰隆声从水下升起。
Even the wounded seemed to recognize the strange quality of the darkness closing in around them as a deep rumbling sound rose up from the water.
莎拉感受到船身的木料发出恐惧的颤抖。
Sarah sensed fearful tremors running through the ship’s timbers.
“怎么回事？”她质问道，顶在亚赖喉头的枪口更用力了。“你还有什么阴谋？”
“What’s happening?” she demanded, jabbing the pistol harder into Aligh’s throat. “What else did you have planned tonight?”
“这不是我干的。”亚赖用哭腔说。虽然他的痛苦溢于言表，但却还是带着赴死之人的绝望和疯狂发出大笑。“我的海债该还了。就拿你们还……”
“This is none of my doing,” wept Aligh, and despite his obvious agony, he laughed with the hysteria of a man who knew his time had come. “My bill to the sea is due. And you’re going to pay it with me…”
在这艘船的心骨之中，莎拉感受到了一种似曾相识的感觉。
Sarah had felt something like this in the bones of a ship once before.
九年前，比尔吉沃特北部海域，再有一段弧钩状的航程，她就可以进入港湾。他们刚刚拿下一道龙门发布的赏金，正在返航，但在铁水城的海湾发现了一艘走私者的窄距大帆船，它正在逃离蟒行群岛，船上满载着从一座芭茹神庙抢来的财宝。
Nine years ago, just north of Bilgewater and making the last, hooking sprint to the inner bay. They’d been returning from a bounty run up by Drakkengate and spotted a smuggler running a slimmed-down carrack out of the Ironwater coves, fleeing the Serpent Isles with treasures looted from a Buhru temple.
她依然还记得海上回荡的巨蛇号角吹奏的哀伤轰鸣。她的船员亲眼看到一只深渊海妖摸出海面，把那艘大帆船抽打成木板碎片，所有船员都被拖入死亡深渊。
She still remembered the mournful rumble of the titanic serpent horns as they echoed over the ocean, and the terror as her crew watched an abyssal kraken rear up from the water to smash the carrack to matchwood and drag all aboard to their deaths.
海妖途经他们船只正下方时引发的偏移，就和现在的感觉一样。
The shift in the deck as the kraken had passed under their ship felt just like this.
她跑到侧舷，透过海雾在水面搜寻。
She ran to the gunwale and searched the fog and ocean.
月峨礁周围的海水在翻滚，黑暗依然保管着海底的秘密。没人知道那座岛礁周围的水有多深，但所有在这附近沉没的船只全都消失得一干二净，从未有它们的残骸被冲上海岸。
The sea swirled around the crags of Moonshard Reef, dark and keeping their secrets. No one knew just how deep it got around here, but any ship that sank out this way was never seen again, never washed up on the isles.
究竟是什么……？
What’s out there…?
然后她看见了。
And then she saw it.
二百码开外，一个巍然不动的身影，一个巨人正在从海底走上来。
Two hundred yards out, huge and unyielding, a titan rising from the deep.
他巨大的头盔破水而出，如同橙红色火光的眼神背后，就像藏着炽烈燃烧的锅炉。它周围的水在沸腾，蒸发出疯狂的泡沫。一股黑暗的邪气围绕在它身边，让它的轮廓时隐时现，在它身后留下一道油膜般的液层。
The vast dome of its helmeted head broke the water, twin eyes glowing with the orange light of a smelting furnace. The water boiled around it, frothed to madness by a dark miasma surrounding its wavering outline, and leaving an oily slick in its wake.
它庞大的身躯被封在锈铁的板甲之中，缠绕着的铁链是无数艘沉船的遗物。它的肩膀上扛着一把巨大的船锚，锚钩是锋利的尖刃，流淌着纯黑的水，挂着腐烂的海草，散发着最黑暗、最神秘的深渊气息。
Its body was huge, encased in plates of corroded iron, looped with chains torn from countless sunken vessels. Across one shoulder it carried a colossal, hook-bladed anchor, dripping with black water and garlanded with rotten weeds from the deepest, darkest abyss.
莎拉的脑子无法处理她眼前看到的东西。
Sarah’s mind refused to process what she was seeing.
不可能。
This is impossible.
这是从黑暗传说里走出来的活物，是港边酒馆里没钱的醉鬼为了换口酒喝才去讲述的可怕故事。她知道它的名字，甚至还笑称它是无稽之谈。
It was a dark legend come to life, a scare story told around the beer-soaked tables of the wharf-side taverns by drunken rakes hoping for a free drink. She knew its name, had even laughed at the impossibility of its existence.
但它就在这里，踩着掷地有声的步伐从海底升起。
But here it was, rising from the ocean with booming, ponderous strides.
溺死的装货员，来收海债了。
The drowned tallyman, come to claim the ocean’s due.
单单是他的名字本身，就是诅咒。
Even his name was said to be a curse.
“诺提勒斯……”
“Nautilus…”
海面像被炸开了花，那是诺提勒斯掷出他的船锚，砸向月蟒号。
The water exploded as Nautilus hurled his anchor at the Moon Serpent.
在无光的深海中僵滞腐朽了太久的海潮，冲刷着整艘帆船，巨大的船锚打中了甲板。船锚的尖刃击穿了木料，不可思议的重量拉着船体向左舷倾斜。
A tidal wave made stagnant and rotten by its time in the darkness washed over the ship, as the anchor crashed into the deck. It smashed clear through the timbers, and the ship tilted wildly to port as the impossible weight of it pulled it over.
莎拉跌倒在摇摆的甲板上，她将双枪收回到肩带枪套中，感觉整艘船都在向下沉。船员们尖叫着，要么顺着甲板滑下去，要么直接被掀到空中落到海里。巨大的锚在船的侧舷上豁出一个大口子，船身剧烈摇摆着回到水平位置。莎拉循着巨响抬头看去，主桅正在崩断，银色的船帆颤抖着，中桅和后桅都如同小树杈一般折断，散落到甲板上，十几个人被砸中。
Sarah fell against the railing and jammed her pistols home in their shoulder holsters as the ship tilted downward. Crew screamed as they slid down the angled deck or were thrown overboard. The anchor ripped clear of the ship’s side, and the ship violently righted itself. Sarah looked up at the sound of splintering masts overhead. Silver sails billowed as the topmast and mizzen snapped like twigs, falling to the shattered deck to crush a dozen men or more.
她挣扎着站起来，耳畔听到帆船的龙骨发出弯折的呻吟，它正在承担超出设计上限的负载。反复修补过的木料纷纷折断，黑水从甲板各处的裂口中一股股喷涌而出。
She struggled to her feet, hearing the groan of a keel bending under stresses it had never been designed to endure. Caulked timbers split and geysers of black water erupted all along the length of the deck.
莎拉转头面向亚赖，他正死死抱着那门青铜加农炮，那本该是他的棺椁。
Sarah turned to Aligh, who clung to the bronze cannon that ought to have served as his tomb.
“这是你的错！”她大喊道。这时诺提勒斯的阴影又从水中升起。
“You did this!” she yelled, as the looming shadow of Nautilus reared up from the water.
木雕装饰的船舷横栏被拍成碎片，一只巨大的、显然不可能属于凡人的手，抓住了前甲板。另一只手紧接着也抓了上来，上面还带着一根长长的铁链，铁链表层附着了一层黑色、油腻的物质。
The carved wooden railing smashed to splinters as a massive hand, surely too large to have once been mortal, slammed down on the foredeck. Another swiftly followed, trailing a length of chain that slithered with a black, oily substance.
“他不是真的！”亚赖喊道，诺提勒斯的出现已经让他彻底丧失理智。“都是故事！”
“He’s not real!” screamed Aligh, his mind undone by the sight of Nautilus. “It was just a story!”
“我觉得他真切得很！”莎拉的喊声混杂在木料碎裂、风帆撕扯、惊恐哀嚎的乱奏中。烈火般的热量扑面而来，诺提勒斯拖着巨大的身躯爬上了船舷，地狱烈焰般的眼神望着她。
“He looks pretty damn real to me!” shouted Sarah over the cacophony of smashing wood, tearing sails, and terrified screams. Fiery heat washed over her as Nautilus hauled his bulk over the gunwale, and turned his infernal gaze upon her.
她感到夺命的热量在她浑身表面弥散开，目光的触感令她感到被侵犯、被蹂躏。似乎这深海的巨人能够看穿她的灵魂。
She felt the deathly heat of it crawling over her skin, its touch loathsome and invasive, as if the titan of the deeps could see into her very soul.
他庞大的体重再次令帆船倾侧，甲板开始倾斜，莎拉急忙抓住滑轮组的绳索。加农炮口向侧面滑动，滑轮吊钩和绳结勉强支撑着加农炮的重量。固定炮架的木楔发出不祥的碎裂声。
His titanic weight heeled the ship over again, and Sarah grabbed hold of the looped pulley ropes as the deck tilted crazily. The front of the cannon slid sideways as the block and tackle swung wildly and its knotted end strained to bear its colossal weight. The wooden pegs securing the wheels of the gun carriage in place creaked ominously.
亚赖扶着加农炮向莎拉爬过来。
Aligh pulled his way along the cannon toward her.
“我不自己走！”他喊道，“大海要我下去，你就和我一起下去！”
“I won’t go alone!” he screamed. “If the ocean wants me, I’ll drag you down with me!”
这人疯了，就像比尔吉沃特小巷里胡言乱语的瘸腿水手，心智已被最劣质的烈酒毁坏。他身上假冒的唤蛇者长袍已经松垮下来，露出脖子上挂着的皮绳，绳圈下方坠着的是白银与黄铜打造的船长印，花纹是三条缠在一起的海蛇。
The man was a lunatic, like the crippled sailors raving in Bilgewater’s alleys with a mind destroyed by the foulest rotgut. His fraudulent serpent caller robes had come loose, and dangling from his neck on a leather thong was a silver-and-brass sigil of three intertwined serpents.
莎拉悬在绳索上，想要他踢开，但疯子的力量不可小视，他反而腾出一只手抓向莎拉的脖子。开裂的指甲在莎拉的脖子上抓出了血，她挣扎着想要找到支撑点，而帆船已经逐渐侧翻，左舷彻底没入水中。
Swinging on the pulley, Sarah tried to kick him away, but he had a madman’s strength, clawing at her throat with his free hand. Cracked fingernails drew blood, and she struggled to find purchase as the ship tipped over onto its side, its port side now completely underwater.
在他们上方，诺提勒斯再次举起巨锚，仿佛伐木一般砍向船体。
Far above them, Nautilus drew back his anchor once again and brought it down like a colossal woodsman’s axe.
匪夷所思的重量打在甲板腹部。莎拉听到了龙骨折断的雷鸣。这艘船的船艉突然升起，亚赖的船员发出的尖叫声在海雾中久久回荡。
Its unnatural mass sheared through the deck amidships, and Sarah heard the thunderous crack of the keel finally splitting. The vessel’s stern rose up sharply, and the sounds of Aligh’s screaming crew echoed in the mist.
老话说，在海上，人人平等。但现在莎拉根本懒得在意那些谋财害命、背信弃义的杂种。
On the ocean, we are all equal, went the old saying, but right now Sarah didn’t give a wharf-rat’s shit for those murderous, traitorous bastards.
都赶紧淹死吧。
Let them all drown.
前半截的船体在击打的力量下弹了起来，然后又甩回到海中，船艏直立，海水拦腰灌入。船体的自重正在不断拖着船上的一切迅速下沉。
The front half of the ship sprang up with the force of the blow, then slammed back down onto the ocean, tilting back upright as seawater poured into the bow section. The weight of it was dragging the prow deeper underwater with every passing second.
片刻过后，海面上将什么都不剩。
In moments, nothing would remain on the surface.
一具尸体被甩到她身边的甲板上，那是亚赖的双胞胎女儿，满脸纹身的那个，莎拉的刺锥还插在她脑壳里。
A body slammed into the deck next to her; Aligh’s tattooed daughter, the one with Sarah’s stiletto still jammed in her brain.
几股黑色的液体从她的嘴里流出来，也溢满了她的眼眶。
Slicks of black fluid spilled from her mouth and swirled in her eyes.
随着一声钢铁的呻吟，诺提勒斯伸出一只锈蚀的铁手够向亚赖。万钧的握力聚拢在那个恶棍船长的躯干上，将他向下拖拽。亚赖用疯狂的力量抓住莎拉不放，就像一对拥抱的恋人。
With a groan of screeching metal, Nautilus reached for Aligh with a massive, corroded gauntlet. His crushing grip fastened on the treacherous captain’s torso and pulled. Aligh held fast to Sarah with lunatic strength, as though they embraced like lovers.
莎拉甩不掉他。
She couldn’t shake him loose.
“都是因为你不肯交个该死的什一税！”莎拉怒吼道，而亚赖依然用力拖着她。
“All because you wouldn’t pay the damn tithe,” snarled Sarah, as Aligh fought to hold on to her.
“海洋会连我带你一起收走！”他喊叫道。
“The ocean will take you as well as me!” he screamed.
“今天不行。”莎拉说完，抬手握住了刺锥的骷髅握柄，把它从满脸纹身的悍妇下巴上抽出。
“Not today,” said Sarah, reaching up and back to grip the skull-pommel of the stiletto wedged in the soft tissue under the tattooed twin’s jaw.
她用力拽，刺锥连带着一股血水被抽了出来。
She pulled hard, and the blade slid free in a welter of fluids.
“你要他吗？”莎拉说着，反手握住刺锥。“我把他给你！”
“You want him?” said Sarah, reversing her grip on the weapon. “He’s all yours!”
她把刺锥捅进了亚赖的脖子侧面，锥尖从另一侧贯穿而出。他一仰头，莎拉迅速用手抓住他脖子上的皮绳。他双手抽搐，铁皮巨人把他拖了下去，而莎拉手中的绳索也在这个时候将固定位置的铁钩拉断。
She rammed the blade into the side of Aligh’s neck, driving it hard through to the other side. His head snapped back and Sarah’s hand flashed out to catch a falling leather thong cut loose from around Aligh’s throat. His grip spasmed, and the metal titan wrenched him back just as the deck hook securing Sarah’s rope loop snapped.
加农炮的全部重量拖动滑轮钩组，将另一头的莎拉提到上方。她在将沉之船的顶端摇摇晃晃，看着诺提勒斯回过头，向深海走去，一只铁拳里紧紧握着还在叫喊的亚赖。
The full weight of the cannon yanked on the block and tackle, lifting Sarah away from the weapon and Aligh. Swinging wildly above the sinking ship, she watched as Nautilus turned and sank back into the ocean, the screaming Aligh clutched in one iron fist.
海水在他身边合拢，亚赖留下一串狂乱的气泡，诺提勒斯带着自己的战利品回到海底的阴影中。亚赖在被拖下去的同时，莎拉心满意足地看着他充满恐惧的眼神，他没能逃出命运的诅咒，即将进入永恒的黑暗之中，没有在世界上留下任何属于他的记号。
The water closed over him, a trail of frantic bubbles following Aligh down as Nautilus returned to the darkness below with his bounty. As Aligh was dragged down, Sarah took grim pleasure in seeing the look of terror in his eyes at his fate; condemned to an eternity in darkness without so much as a pauper’s marker to his name.
月蟒号的上半截几乎垂直于海面，莎拉借着绳索的摆荡接近船艏的海蛇雕像。她的双脚夹住蛇嘴的长牙，然后站在最高点等着船体渐渐下沉。
The Moon Serpent’s prow rose almost vertically in the ocean, and Sarah swung on the rope to reach the jutting, serpent figurehead. Her booted feet caught the silver fangs, and she managed to remain upright as the ship slowly sank into the ocean.
经过短暂的停顿，她看到船体的后半截差不多已经完全沉没，只有少数几个水手在竖直的船艉聚成一圈，以这个距离，她刚才很可能会随着绳子荡到他们旁边。在那群幸存者之中，她看到了皮提尔·哈克，胸口立刻拱起一股火。
With a moment’s pause, she saw the back half of the boat was almost entirely underwater, with only a few sailors crowded in around the upright stern, so close she could likely have swung over to reach them. One of the survivors was Petyr Harker, and she felt bilious hatred rise in her gorge.
“我跟你说过，我是那种为了惊天复仇，会一门心思地琢磨到死的人。”皮提尔说，“必须承认，我并没有预料到这样的结局，不过至少……”
“I did tell you I was just the sort of fellow to seek dramatic revenge in some stupidly elaborate scheme,” said Petyr. “Admittedly, I didn’t quite see it turning out like this, but at least—”
莎拉根本不等他把话说完，向他甩出绳套，就像套牲口一样。任凭哪个鱼叉手也没有这样的准头。
Sarah didn’t give him a chance to finish, throwing the rope loop toward him like a lasso, and no harpooner had ever cast so perfect a throw.
绳套落在皮提尔头上，像绞刑的套索一样环过他的脖子。他刚要摘下绳圈，但莎拉掏出手枪，枪口朝天。
The loop settled around Petyr’s neck like a noose, but before he could lift it clear, Sarah drew her pistol and aimed upward.
“下去，跟亚赖打个招呼，皮提尔。”她说着，扣动了扳机。
“Say hello to Aligh on the way down, Petyr,” she said, and pulled the trigger.
悬挂着加农炮的滑轮钩被子弹打碎，大炮立刻沉了下去。在不到一秒钟的时间里，莎拉品尝着皮提尔眼神里的恐惧，紧接着绳索拉直，拖着他离开了浮木。
The shot smashed the block and tackle straining to hold the cannon’s enormous weight, and it immediately fell into the ocean. Sarah had a fraction of a second to savor the look of horror in Petyr’s eyes before the rope snapped taut and wrenched him from his perch.
尖叫戛然而止。他整个人被拖下了水，跟加农炮一起沉入了深渊。
His scream was cut short as he hit the water and vanished into the depths as the cannon dragged him all the way down.
站在船艏雕像的蛇头上，莎拉看着月蟒号的船艉随着海浪、泡沫、旋涡和碎木消失不见。剩下的几个水手狂乱地扑腾着，也被船体下沉的吸力拉到了海面下。
Standing atop the serpent figurehead, Sarah watched the Moon Serpent’s stern finally go under in a swirl of foaming water and cracking timbers. The few sailors still clinging to the wreckage paddled frantically on the surface before the suction of the wreck finally pulled them down with it.
她向下看去，发现自己最多还有几秒的时间，就会被船艏拉着沉下去。
Looking down, she reckoned she had a few seconds at best before the prow did the same to her.
“这么漂亮的美人儿扔下去，真是可惜了。”一个声音从她身后传来，莎拉笑了。
“Shame to send something so beautiful to the deep,” said a voice behind her, and Sarah smiled.
她回过头看到雷文正坐在他们的小艇中，浑身湿透，带着好几道刀伤、淤青和牙印。小艇前挂着的的挡风提灯如同璀璨的灯塔，象征着安全。
She looked over her shoulder to see Rafen in their landing boat, soaked to the skin and covered in cuts, bruises, and bites. The storm lamp on the prow bobbed like a welcome beacon of safety.
“太感谢你了，老哥。”她说。
“Thank you kindly, old man,” she said.
“我说的是加农炮。”雷文说着，小心翼翼地划桨靠过来。“还没见过比这更好的三十磅炮”
“I meant the cannon,” said Rafen, carefully rowing toward her. “A finer thirty pounder I’ve yet to see.”
“是，”莎拉说，“，不过这是传统，传统可不是能乱来的，不是吗?”
“Aye,” agreed Sarah, “but it’s tradition, and you don’t go messing with traditions, right?”
“说的是啊。”
“Right indeed,” said Rafen.
“胡母在下，你到底跑哪去了？”莎拉问道，“出事的时候，我在甲板上很需要你。”
“So where in the name of the Bearded Lady did you get to?” asked Sarah, “I needed you on the damn deck when everything went to shit.”
雷文耸耸肩说，“我去下边的船舱找酒，结果撞见了亚赖的船员正在安排杀人的事。他们阴谋暴露很不高兴，想要把我的头砍了。我随手抄家伙解决了几个，但再僵持下去迟早得被捅死，于是就从炮口跳了出去。然后我游泳上了咱的小艇，让下边的活物开了一餐，我谢谢它们。总之我现在在这儿了，你想上船吗？还是说打算跟那艘船一起下去？”
Rafen shrugged and said, “Went below to get another bottle of rum and ran into Aligh’s crew fixing to get a-murderin’. They didn’t take kindly to being discovered and tried to cut my damn head off. Managed to gut a couple with some borrowed steel, but had to jump out of a gunport before they shanked me good. Swam around to get our boat, getting feasted on by all that lives under the surface, thank you very much. But I’m here now, so do you want to get on board or are you planning to go down with the ship?”
“这艘船的船长已经下去陪她了。”莎拉说着，闲庭信步般地离开船艏雕像，踏上了小艇。
“This ship’s captain’s already gone with her,” said Sarah, stepping casually from the figurehead to the landing boat.
莎拉安全登船，于是雷文划起桨离开月蟒号，她的船艏雕像和最高的桅杆随着一串气泡、绳索、碎木料一起消失在水中。
With her safely aboard, Rafen rowed them away from the doomed Moon Serpent as the figurehead and its topmost mast finally went under in a swirl of bubbles, rope, and broken spars.
莎拉挪到小艇的尾部，现在她发现自己并不是雷文捡到的唯一乘客。一个浑身是血、穿戴着苍蓝色碎布、黄金袖口和黄铜流苏肩章的人正躺在船底昏睡。
Sarah moved to the back of the landing boat, now seeing she wasn’t the only passenger Rafen had picked up. A bloodied body in a lacerated coat of pale blue, gold cuffs, and frayed bronze epaulettes lay slumped in the landing boat’s bilges.
“布莱克斯顿？”莎拉说，“她还活着？”
“Blaxton?” said Sarah. “She’s still alive?”
“还剩口气儿，”雷文说，“她太爱吹牛皮，但不能为这就让她跟亚赖那样的杂碎一起沉下去。放任她溺死的话，总感觉不太对，你觉得呢？”
“Just about,” said Rafen. “She’s a blowhard, but she didn’t deserve to go down with scum like Aligh. Didn’t feel right to leave her to drown, right?”
莎拉没有说话，疲惫的她只是轻轻点点头。
Sarah said nothing, too exhausted to do more than nod.
“你是想游遍八海，还是想跟我讲讲甲板上到底搞什么了？”雷文说。
“So you going to tell me what in the eight seas happened up there?” asked Rafen.
“说了你都不会信。”莎拉说。
“You’d never believe me,” said Sarah.
“我猜是你开炮轰了甲板，打沉了那艘船？”雷文说。
“I’m guessing it was you that sank the ship firing the damn cannon into the deck?” said Rafen.
“不是我。甲板上发生的事全都是亚赖搞的。”莎拉说完，用眼神告诉雷文不要再问了。
“Wasn’t me. What happened up there was all Aligh’s doing,” said Sarah, with a look that told him not to ask more.
“好吧”
“Fair enough.”
“不过我倒是把这玩意搞到手了。”她张开手掌，亮出一个白银和黄铜打造的圆盘，花纹是三条缠在一起的海蛇。
“Though I did manage to get this.” She opened her palm to reveal a disc stamped with three intertwined serpents of silver and brass.
“亚赖的印。”雷文说。
“Aligh’s sigil,” said Rafen.
“或许这年头已经没什么用了，但我们试试看，等他剩余的手下都醒了酒以后见了这个印会怎么样。”
“Might not mean much these days, but we’ll see what happens when I show it to the rest of his crew, once they’ve sobered up.”
雷文露出笑容，“好吧，至少这一趟并不完全是浪费时间。”
Rafen grinned. “Well, at least this trip wasn’t a total waste of time.”
莎拉堆坐在船尾，看着身后的月峨礁渐渐消失在海雾中。她目光突然凌厉，一个孤独的身影从水里爬上了礁石，抖落身上的水。
Sarah slumped in the back of the boat and watched as the rearing crag of Moonshard Reef began to fade into the mist. She narrowed her eyes as she saw a lone figure climb from the water and shake itself dry.
一个弯腰驼背的瘦弱人影，身披一件昂贵的海兽皮衣。
A hunched wretch in an expensive kraken-skin coat.
“索恩。”她轻轻说，“只有死老鼠才能活着逃出来。”
“Thorne,” she whispered. “It’s always the bloody rats that make it out.”
“什么？”雷文划着桨问道，“还有谁逃出来了？”
“What’s that?” said Rafen, mid-row. “Someone else made it out?”
“没了，”莎拉说着，看向前方。“一个都没了。”
“No,” said Sarah, turning away. “No one at all.”
最后更新于