深冬死寂 Dead of Winter

作者：Graham McNeill

即使从很远处，瑟庄妮也能看得出这头猛犸已经生命垂危，但它和所有弗雷尔卓德的生物一样，要为了活下去而不遗余力地战斗。这头巨兽身上插了六七根长矛和十几支箭，体表的厚毛斑驳凌乱，被血污粘成一簇簇冰凌。但即便这样，它依然挣扎着。

Even from a distance, Sejuani could see the mammoth was dying, but like everything in the Freljord, it fought to live with every fiber of its being. Half a dozen spears and twice that many arrows jutted from the colossal beast’s matted hide, its russet hair stiff with frozen blood, but still it wouldn’t die.

它狂怒的咆哮震颤山谷，瑟庄妮时不时地瞟向雷电密布的山顶，担心遭遇雪崩。

Its furious bellows shook the mountainside, and Sejuani kept glancing to the lightning-wreathed summit, fearful of an avalanche.

Or something worse…

或是更可怕的后果……

Purple lightning flared beyond the mountains, silhouetting the toothed peaks and turning them into serrated fangs ripping open the sky.

She and her Winter’s Claw hunters had stalked the mammoth for a week, driving it toward the shallow canyons of the foothills, but each time it broke through their ring of spears and axes to flee higher up the mountain’s pine-shawled flanks.

紫色的闪电划过天边，映衬出嶙峋的山尖黑影，如同犬牙交错的血盆大口，要把天空撕开。

Of the ten warriors she had set out with, only seven now remained.

Three less mouths to feed.

她手下这群凛冬之爪部落的猎人，已经跟随她追踪这头猛犸长达一周，想要把它逼进山脚下的沟壑中去，但每次它都能冲破长矛与战斧组成的包围圈，逃往松林覆盖的高坡。

Sejuani hated having to think this way, because these were fine hunters and fearsome warriors, but Viljalmr the seer was predicting one of the harshest winters in living memory and the Winter’s Claw’s supplies of food were dwindling fast. The mountain herds of Elnuk they would usually raid had already been driven south to the greener lowlands by their Avarosan drovers, and the fish of the Ice Sea were locked below thick pack ice.

She hauled back on Bristle’s reins, pausing to gather her thoughts. The giant drüvask grunted and shook his head in annoyance, the smell of the mammoth’s blood thick in its nostrils. The mounts of her hunters were wary at being this close to a mammoth, but Bristle was eager for a fight.

她出发时带领的十个战士，现在只剩下七个了。

“Easy there,” she said, loosening the stiffened scarf from across her mouth and feeling the cold on her skin like a slap in the face. “This is not a fight for tusks, but spears and bows.”

“Good to know even Iceborn can feel this svaaging cold,” said a cloaked figure riding next to her. His voice was muffled by the furs wrapped around his face, and all Sejuani could see were his bloodshot eyes. The rest of his face was hidden behind a leather mask wrought in the shape of a roaring bear, its snout formed by thick, overlapping knotwork.

少了三张吃饭的嘴。

A low rumble built in Bristle’s throat at the man’s nearness, so Sejuani ran a hand through the coarse, wiry hair of his flanks to calm him.

“I feel it well enough, Urkath,” Sejuani replied, “I just don’t gripe about it.”

瑟庄妮也不愿意这么想，因为在她心里他们都是精锐的猎人和勇猛的战士。但部族的先知——威尔雅尔末预言他们即将迎来这代人记忆中最凌冽的寒冬，而且凛冬之爪的食物贮存消耗得很快。他们平时进山劫掠的厄纽克牧群已经被阿瓦罗萨牧民赶到了南边牧草茂盛的低地，而寒冰之海的鱼群也已被隔绝在厚厚的冰盖之下。

Urkath nodded up the mountain and said, “How much higher do you think our quarry will go before it turns and fights?”

Some three hundred yards ahead of them, the mammoth trudged uphill through the snow, its steps labored and a trail of crimson staining the virgin whiteness of the landscape.

她提起钢鬃的缰绳，停下脚步整理思绪。这头巨大的居瓦斯克野猪不悦地吭了一声，不耐烦地摇摇头，猛犸的血腥味充斥着它的鼻孔。手下的坐骑们都因为不远处的猛犸警觉不安，然而她的钢鬃却渴望着战斗。

“It won’t be long,” said Sejuani. “He’s lost too much blood to reach the summit. He’ll turn before the timberline.”

“How do you know?” asked Urkath.

“听话。”她说着，松开口鼻前面冻硬的围巾，感受寒冷鞭笞她的脸。“这场战斗不能靠獠牙，而是要靠长矛和弓箭。”

“I don’t,” admitted Sejuani, “but I’m betting he thinks we won’t follow him if he gets higher.”

“Is he wrong? Any higher and we’ll cross into the realm of He Who Stands.”

“原来，就算是冰脉也能感受到这要死的寒冷。”说话的是她身边一个带着罩帽的骑手。毛皮脖领捂住了他的声音，瑟庄妮只看到一双充血的眼睛。他大半张脸都被挡在一副皮革面具后面，面具被缝制成巨熊咆哮的样子，鼻尖的部分是层层叠叠的编结。

Even thinking about the Volibear and the Ursine flooded Sejuani’s mouth with the taste of warm blood and the sensation of lightning in her veins.

Images flashed in her mind, sharp, bright, and painfully real. Memories that weren’t hers, sensations she hadn't felt, woven together as though she’d lived them only moments ago.

那人一靠近，钢鬃就开始从喉咙深处发出低吼，于是瑟庄妮伸手抚摸它粗糙坚硬的鬃毛，安抚它的情绪。

Fangs and claws ripping flesh from the bone…

Elongated skulls with cold, blue fire burning in empty eye sockets….

“我对寒冷的感觉很清晰，乌尔卡斯。”瑟庄妮说，“我只是不乱叫。”

A pact and a living city reduced to blackened skeletons of stone and timber…

Slaughtered corpses hung from the withered branches of death-nourished trees…

乌尔卡斯朝山上努努嘴说，“你觉得我们的猎物还要再爬多高才肯回过头殊死一搏？”

“Warmother?” said Urkath.

Sejuani tried to answer, but the words wouldn’t come, as though a more ancient, primal part of her soul was looking out through her eyes, the part that once ran with the beasts, knees and palms bloody, skin raw and bare, caked in mud.

他们前方大概三百码开外，那头猛犸蹚着积雪往坡上爬，沉重的步伐后面洒着一道绯红，扰乱了雪面的平静。

Urkath reached out and placed a hand on her fur-swathed arm.

“Warmother?” he said again, more urgent this time.

“要不了多久，”瑟庄妮说，“它血都快流干了，爬不到山顶。它甚至挨不到树林就会回头。”

Her hackles raised at his unwanted touch. Saliva filled her mouth as her lips pulled back, baring her teeth, ready to tear his throat out.

Sejuani closed her fist on the spiked pommel of her saddle, hard.

“你知道得这么清楚？”乌尔卡斯问。

The pain cleared her head and wrenched her back to the present as she let out a shuddering breath.

“You’ll want to take that hand away,” she said, her eyes flashing a pale winter’s blue and her tone icier than the mountain winds.

“我并不知道。”瑟庄妮无奈地说，“但我敢说，他一定觉得只要自己再爬高一些我们就不追了。”

Eyes watchful, Urkath snatched his hand back and said, “Apologies, Warmother, but to enter the lands of the Lost Ones without their leave… it’s a death sentence.”

A shadow blotted out the low sun before Sejuani could respond, a towering figure of a man wearing the wide-horned helm favored by warriors of the Lokfar.

“难道不是吗？在往上爬一点，我们就会踏入屹立者的领地。”

The coastal peninsula of Lokfar was one of the harshest, most brutally cold regions of the Freljord, and only those with fire in their blood could endure there.

Its warriors were typically rangy, lean, and stoic.

沃利贝尔和熊人族只是在她的脑海中一闪而过，就已经让瑟庄妮感受到满嘴温热的血腥味，以及浑身血管流淌着雷电的酥麻触感。

Shedding blood alongside Olaf the Berserker for many years had taught Sejuani that he was none of those things. Even on foot, he was easily the biggest Freljordian she had ever seen, the equal of the mounted Sejuani and Urkath in height. Some said Olaf’s mother must have lain with a troll to grow so big, but they never said it to his face.

He climbed into the teeth of the oncoming blizzard like a man out for a stroll, his powerfully-muscled body made thicker and broader by the furs and iron plates bound across his chest and arms.

无数场景从她眼前闪现，激烈、明亮，令人痛苦的真实。不属于她的记忆、未曾体会过的感受，全部交织在一起，就像刚刚发生一样。

The braids of his beard were frozen into spikes of fiery orange and his pale eyes were alight with the prospect of potentially facing what lay at the top of the mountain.

“A death sentence, you say,” said Olaf, striding past them. “I like the sound of that.”

尖牙和利爪将皮肉从骨头上撕脱……

瘦长的骷髅，空洞的眼窝里燃着蓝色的冷焰……

一份契约，一座繁荣的城市被夷为乱石与焦木的灰烬骸骨。

The mammoth sank to its knees within a spear’s throw of the cliffside timberline.

惨遭屠戮的人们，尸首被挂在以死亡为养分的枯枝败木上。

Its blood soaked the snow, and Sejuani almost felt sorry for the beast, coming so close to the border between this world and the terrible things that dwelled in the storms wracking the summit.

She pushed thoughts of sentiment aside. An animal this size would feed the Winter’s Claw for a week—surviving a day, an hour, or even the span of a breath was a victory in the Freljord.

“战母？”乌尔卡斯说。

Sejuani slid from Bristle’s back as her hunters dropped to the snow, unstrapping long, thick-hafted spears from their mounts. She reached over her shoulder and unlaced the thongs securing her mighty flail, Winter’s Wrath.

Steeling herself for the pain, she gripped its leather-wrapped haft and swung it around her body, feeling the deathly cold of the True Ice secured at the end of its thick chain. Pale radiance built behind the blue of her eyes, and she exhaled a breath of aching cold.

瑟庄妮想要回答，但却张不开嘴。似乎她灵魂深处有另一个更古老、原始的自己，正透过她的双眼望向四周。而那个她曾经赤身裸体，与野兽为伍，手脚满是血渍，浑身裹着污泥。

The flail was a weapon of great power, but it came with a cost.

Glowing lines of hard, crystalline blue formed under her skin, threading the veins of her forearm and reaching up to her corded bicep.

乌尔卡斯伸出一只手搭在她毛皮的衣袖上。

Urkath drew his great longsword, its hilt worked from the jawbones of a rimefang wolf and its blade sharp enough to cut stone. Olaf unsheathed his mighty axes, their blades glimmering with hoar-frost.

“My edges hunger,” said Olaf, his teeth grinding in anticipation. Blood flecked his lips where he’d chewed the inside of his cheeks.

“战母？”他又叫了一次，语气更加急促。

“We do this right,” said Sejuani. “Together. No heroics.”

Olaf grinned and nodded, his eyes glazing over and his mind already sinking into the blood-mist of the berserker.

无礼的触碰让她后脑发根直立。瑟庄妮口中生津，双唇后翻，露出自己的牙齿，随时准备咬下他的喉咙。

Sejuani took a step toward the mammoth, lifting the flail and letting the beast see the glimmering cold of its True Ice.

“Get up,” she ordered. “You are a king of the Freljord. You don’t die on your knees.”

瑟庄妮握住胯前鞍桥上的突刺，用力握紧。

The mammoth glared at her and, taking strength from her words, pushed itself to its feet. It threw back its shaggy, tusked head and loosed a ferocious bray of defiance. The sound echoed over the mountains like the Forge God’s legendary Carnyx, a war-horn whose blast could be heard all around the world.

The sound shook snow from the trees, eclipsing the storm raging at the summit.

手掌的痛觉让她清醒过来，颤抖着吐出一口气。

The mammoth lowered its head and stamped its huge front legs, each as thick as the ironwood trees ringing the rocks at Ornnkaal. Its head swayed from side to side, displaying its jagged, sword-like tusks, each capable of goring a warrior to death with a single blow.

“We will give you a good death, you have my word,” promised Sejuani.

“你最好把手拿开。”她说道，双眼闪着凛冬的淡蓝色，口吻比山间的冽风更冷。

“A glorious death…” grunted Olaf, the words forced out between bloodied teeth, but Sejuani wasn’t sure whose death he meant.

The Winter’s Claw hunters spread out, weapons at the ready. The warriors with the spears flanked the mammoth left and right as Sejuani, Olaf, and Urkath stood before it, meeting its challenge head-on.

神色慌张的乌尔卡斯立刻抽回了手，“抱歉，战母，可是未经允许就闯入’失者’的土地……等同于自寻死路。”

With a bellow of rage, the mortally wounded beast charged.

Its speed was ferocious, far faster than should have been possible.

还没等瑟庄妮回话，一个人影挡住了低垂的太阳，一个身材魁梧的人，带着洛克法战士特有的犄角头盔。

It churned the snow, throwing up great chunks of black rock and bloody ice.

Sejuani and Urkath dove to the side, but Olaf leapt to meet the beast with a bellow to rival that of his foe. His ax struck the mammoth in the center of its head, but bit only a finger breadth before skidding from the thick bone of its skull. With a dismissive flick of its trunk, the mammoth tossed the berserker over its back. Olaf landed hard on the rocks behind, dangerously close to the sheer drop of the cliffs. He came to his feet with a delighted, lunatic laugh.

洛克法半岛是整个弗雷尔卓德最荒蛮、最严寒的地区之一，只有血液里流淌着火焰的人才能扛得住那里的环境。

Sejuani rolled to her feet and swung Winter’s Wrath in a wide, two-handed sweep.

The flail’s True Ice smashed into the mammoth’s back knee.

洛克法的战士通常高挑、精瘦、坚忍不拔。

It faltered, stumbling as the limb buckled beneath it.

The beast crashed to the ground and skidded to a halt, trying to push itself to its feet on a back leg that wouldn’t work. Sejuani’s warriors closed in, ramming their spears into its flanks with the grim, pitiless precision of hunters who had done this many times before.

但与狂战士奥拉夫共洒热血的这么多年，瑟庄妮很清楚他完全不符合那些洛克法人的特征。他站在平地上的身高就赶得上骑乘状态下的瑟庄妮和乌尔卡斯，毫无疑问是她见过的最高大的弗雷尔卓德人。有人说奥拉夫的母亲一定是跟巨魔睡过，所以他才这么高，只是他们从不敢当面说。

Thrust the blade, twist the haft, withdraw to a safe distance.

The mammoth roared and surged upright as iron spearheads pierced its body, fresh blood staining the snow. A successful hunt had little to do with glory or honor; it was about exhausting the prey, wounding it and wearing it down until it couldn’t fight back.

他顶着凌厉的暴雪，像散步一样悠闲，本就壮硕的身躯再加上胸前的铁板和臂膀的毛皮显得更加魁梧。

Then came the killing.

One of her warriors slipped in the snow, and the mammoth jerked to the side, stamping down with one mighty foreleg. The man’s scream was cut off as he was crushed to gory red paste beneath its massive foot.

编好的胡子被冻成橘红的火钎，淡色的双眼燃着憧憬的光，期待着和山顶的东西碰一碰。

The other hunters backed off, chests heaving, looking for an opening to strike again.

The mammoth swung its lethal tusks from side to side, turning on the spot and backing toward the edge of the cliff. Sejauni moved left, keeping the head of her flail in motion. Urkath circled right, sword held high at his shoulder.

“你刚刚说，自寻死路？”奥拉夫大步从他们身边走过，“这话我爱听。”

Sejuani resisted turning her head as she heard Olaf’s ululating battle cry.

He charged headfirst at the mammoth, his ax flashing silver in the waning light.

The beast lowered its head, tusks ready to gore the berserker to death.

Olaf was deep in the blood-mist, a state of mind that turned him into a ferocious killing machine, a living avatar of death. The mammoth swung its head up and Olaf leapt into the air to grip one of the slashing tusks with his free hand. Using the momentum of the beast’s movement, he swung up and over its head to land on the mammoth’s shaggy back.

那头猛犸跪倒在地，它到悬崖边的树林只剩长矛一掷的距离。

猛犸的血浸透了积雪，瑟庄妮甚至有点替它感到惋惜，咫尺之外就是不可逾越的分界线，一边是凡人的世界，一边是山顶风暴中栖息着的恐怖之物。

她抛开心中的感情。这么大的猎物够让整个凛冬之爪吃一个星期——在弗雷尔卓德，多活一天、一个小时、甚至多喘一口气，都是胜利。

瑟庄妮从钢鬃的背上滑下来，她手下的一众猎人也都落地踏雪，从坐骑身上解下粗柄长矛。她则打开背后的束带，松开她巨大的链枷——凛冬之怒。

她准备好吃住疼痛，一把抓住了链枷的缠皮握柄，抡过半圈，臻冰的死亡酷寒沿着粗壮的铁链传过来。她眼中的蓝色开始泛出微弱的白光，刀割一样的冷气从她口中吐出。

这把链枷是强大的武器，但强大是有代价的。

她的皮肤之下开始出现蓝光烁烁的结晶纹路，沿着前臂的血管，向肩肱的肌肉蔓延开去。

乌尔卡斯抽出他的巨型长剑：霜齿狼颚骨做的剑柄，披山斩石的利刃。奥拉夫解下两把巨斧的斧鞘，闪光的刃上结起白霜。

“我的斧子饿坏了。”奥拉夫咬牙切齿地说到，气势高涨。血沫从他唇齿间飞出——他把自己的腮帮子咬破了。

“我们要的是狩猎。”瑟庄妮说，“要一起上。别逞英雄。”

奥拉夫咧嘴一笑，点点头。他目光呆滞，心智已经沉溺到狂战的血雾中了。

瑟庄妮向着猛犸迈出一步，提起链枷，对那头巨兽亮出剔透的臻冰。

“起来。”她用命令的口吻说，“你是弗雷尔卓德的王者。你不会跪着死。”

那头猛犸狠狠盯着她的手，从她的言语中获得了力量，挣扎着站了起来。它昂起头颅扬起长牙，发出一声不羁的长啸。吼叫声回荡在山间，犹如传说中熔炉之神的战争号角，一旦吹响，就将震彻全世界。

树梢上的积雪应声落下，就连山顶肆虐的风暴也退让了一分。

猛犸低下头，用力跺了一下前腿，每条腿都粗得像奥恩卡尔岩地上的铁木树桩。它左右摆头，展示自己带锯齿的长牙，只要被蹭到一下，就足以让全副武装的战士变成血肉模糊的尸体。

“我们会让你死得精彩，我保证。”瑟庄妮说。

“死得荣耀……”奥拉夫从带血的牙缝里挤出几个字，瑟庄妮拿不准他在说谁的死。

凛冬之爪的一众猎人散开阵型，备好武器。拿长矛的战士们分别从左右两侧包抄猛犸，而瑟庄妮、奥拉夫和乌尔卡斯则站在它正面，直接迎战它的冲击。

随着一声怒吼，那头巨兽拖着一身致命的伤势发起冲锋。

它速度迅猛，快得难以置信。

它翻卷起积雪，大块的黑石和血冰被掀到空中。

瑟庄妮和乌尔卡斯向侧面飞扑，而奥拉夫却奋力一跃，用同等气势的咆哮声正面迎敌。他的战斧劈中猛犸的头颅正中，但只陷进去一根手指的宽度，就从厚重的头骨上偏离了。猛犸轻蔑地甩了一下长牙，就把狂战士抛到身后。奥拉夫重重摔到后面的岩石上，几步开外就是陡峭的悬崖边缘。他站起来，发出欢欣狂乱的大笑。

瑟庄妮翻滚一圈站稳脚跟，双手握住凛冬之怒全力横扫。

链枷上的臻冰砸中了猛犸的后腿。

猛犸动摇了，那条腿瘫软下去，巨大的身躯踉跄摇摆。

巨兽轰然倒地，顺着下坡滑了不远便停下，虽然废了一条后腿却还是在努力站起。瑟庄妮手下的战士们围上来，用长枪猛刺它的侧腹，这些无情的猎人早已驾轻就熟。

刺出去，拧一把，撤出危险范围。

猛犸大吼一声蹿了起来，钢铁枪尖不断刺入它的身体，鲜血染红了积雪。一场成功的狩猎是毫无荣耀和名誉了。狩猎要的是让猎物受伤、流血、疲惫，耗到它无力反击。

然后再开始杀。

她手下的一名战士在雪地上滑了一脚，猛犸突然蹭到那个方向，用一条前腿践踏下去。那个人的尖叫声戛然而止，瞬间变成了巨兽脚下的肉泥。

其他猎手纷纷退后，喘着粗气，寻觅再次出击的空档。

猛犸的长牙左摇右摆，它一边原地转身，一边退向身后的悬崖。瑟庄妮摸向左侧，链枷始终在空中翻飞。乌尔卡斯绕向右侧，巨剑高举到肩膀的位置。

瑟庄妮没有扭头去看，但她听到了奥拉夫悠长的战吼。

他直冲冲地奔向猛犸，战斧映着斜阳。

巨兽低下头，长牙对准了狂战士。

奥拉夫已深陷血雾之中，这个状态下的他已经成为了凶猛的杀戮机器，是死亡的化身。猛犸甩头上挑，奥拉夫一跃腾空，用空闲的那只手抓住了扫过来的长牙。他借助巨兽的力量，摆荡一圈，飞过它的头顶，最后落在猛犸的背上。

他挥斧纵劈，就像樵夫砍伐顽固的树根。

His ax hacked down, like a woodsman chopping at a stubborn tree-root.

The mammoth reared up, shaking its body to dislodge the berserker, but Olaf had ridden wilder monsters than this. He gripped a handful of its long hair and laid a flurry of blows upon the mammoth’s back. Seeing his chance, Urkath charged toward the beast, sword raised to cut its exposed throat.

猛犸仰头挣扎，抖动身躯想把狂战士甩下去，但奥拉夫可骑过更加狂野的怪兽。他抓着一把长毛，冲着猛犸的后背狂乱地劈砍。乌尔卡斯瞅准了机会，冲向巨兽，巨剑瞄准了它暴露无遗的咽喉。

Its trunk lashed around his waist like a tentacle of the boneless creatures that sometimes washed up from the deep ocean on Yadulsk’s shores. The mammoth lifted Urkath into the air before slamming him down on a jutting black rock.

Sejuani heard his spine shatter even over his scream of agony.

巨兽的上半身猛烈抽打，如同雅杜尔斯克海滩上那些从深海冲刷而来的无骨怪兽的触须。猛犸把乌尔萨斯挑到了空中，又把他摔到一块嶙峋的黑石上。

Twice more it smashed him against the rock before hurling his body aside.

Urkath’s bloody remains fell to the snow, his body shattered, his arms and legs hideously twisted. Sejuani screamed and sprinted forward as Olaf continued to chop through the beast’s thick hide to its spine.

瑟庄妮听到他脊椎碎裂的声音，甚至没能被他痛苦的惨叫掩盖。

The beast’s eyes were maddened with pain and fury, but still it saw her coming.

It bellowed and thrust its tusks at her, almost too fast to avoid.

它又往那块岩石上砸了两下，然后把他的身躯抡到一边。

Almost…

Sejuani dropped to the snow and slid beneath the mammoth’s belly on her back. Holding the haft of Winter’s Wrath in one hand, she screamed as she took hold of the chained shard of True Ice in her fist.

乌尔卡斯血淋淋的尸首跌落在雪地里，躯干已经四分五裂，四肢也扭曲得不成样子。瑟庄妮尖叫一声向前冲，奥拉夫一下下剁开厚实的皮毛，距离脊椎越来越近。

The pain was unbearable, as if she’d thrust her hand deep into a fire.

She slammed the shard up into the mammoth’s chest, turning her head from the flaring burst of blue-white fire as it punched deep into its body.

巨兽的双眼燃烧着痛苦和愤怒，但它依然看到了瑟庄妮的进攻。

Sejuani slid out from under the mammoth and sprang to her feet. The chained True Ice fell from her numbed hand. Her fingers were black and clawed with frostbite.

The mammoth staggered, its mighty heart freezing in its chest, the blood in its veins turning to ice. Its eyes misted with the white of a blizzard and it staggered like a drunk as it fought to stay upright.

它大吼一声冲着她刺出长牙，差点就躲不开了。

“Olaf, get off!” yelled Sejuani. “Olaf!”

Her voice was hard and commanding, a voice to be obeyed. It penetrated the blood-mist wreathing Olaf’s mind, and he vaulted from the mammoth’s back.

差点……

He landed next to her, chest heaving, eyes wide and his ax blade soaked in blood.

Sejuani wanted to speak, but the pain was too great. That was good, she hoped, it meant the hand wasn’t beyond saving. Her fingers throbbed in agony, and she thrust them deep within her furs, doing her best to hide the pain.

瑟庄妮平躺到积雪中，滑到猛犸肚皮下方。她一只手握着凛冬之怒的握柄，尖叫着用另一只手直接抓住了链枷末端的整块臻冰。

The mammoth staggered and swayed, dragging its back leg as its blood grew ever more sluggish and cold. Her hunters closed in, spears poised, but Sejuani halted them with a word. The hunt was over. The beast had its back to the cliff, nowhere to go.

Though the mammoth knew it was beaten, it lifted its head proudly.

那种痛苦让人无法承受，就像把手插进了火里。

It had fought to the last, and Sejuani held her weapon high, honoring its spirit.

The great beast stared her down, caring nothing for the gesture.

她把臻冰塞进了猛犸的胸膛，扭开视线，躲避臻冰烧蚀血肉的蓝白色火光，用力推向它体内更深处。

Instead, it stepped back and over the cliff.

Sejuani ran to the cliff’s edge and sank to her knees, watching as the mammoth fell thousands of feet down the mountain before landing on a wide expanse of heavy snow.

瑟庄妮从猛犸身子底下钻出来，迅速起身。那只麻木的手已经无法继续握着臻冰，弯曲的手指失去了知觉，冻伤严重。

“Svaag!” swore Sejuani, balling her fists in the snow, heedless of the pain.

Olaf stood over her, leaning dangerously far out over the cliff.

猛犸停顿了，它巨大的心脏被冻结在胸腔里，血管里的鲜血凝成了冰。它的双眼里泛起暴雪一样的白浊，步伐像踉跄的醉汉，拼尽全力不肯倒下。

“Ach, we’ll just climb down to carve it up,” he said with a shrug. “The beast saved us the bother of dragging its carcass off the mountain.”

Sejuani sighed, about to agree with him, when she heard a distant cracking sound. A sound babes in arms were taught to recognize.

“奥拉夫，下来！”瑟庄妮大喊道，“奥拉夫！”

The sound of breaking ice.

A network of angular black lines spread out from where the mammoth had landed and Sejuani realized the wide expanse of white wasn’t a stretch of tundra at all. It was the frozen surface of a mountain tarn, a lake pool formed in a deep hollow.

她的语气不容置疑，是必须服从的命令。这声呼唤穿透了奥拉夫脑海中的血雾，他从猛犸身上翻了下来。

The ice splintered into jagged segments and Sejuani watched with a sick sense of horrified inevitability as the mammoth’s body slid beneath the frigid black waters, far beyond their reach.

“Svaaaaaaag!”

他落到瑟庄妮身边，胸膛剧烈起伏，双眼瞪圆，斧刃沾满了血。

瑟庄妮想开口说话，但实在太痛了。疼痛是个好迹象，她暗自希冀，这说明她的手还有救。她的指尖在剧痛中抽动，于是她把手揣进了毛皮衣袖深处，努力掩盖疼痛。

猛犸摇摆踉跄，那条后腿越来越沉，它的血液也越来越粘、越来越冷。猎手们围上来，高举长矛，但瑟庄妮下令让他们停住。这场狩猎已经结束。巨兽背对着悬崖，无处可逃。

Defying all Sejuani’s understanding of the human body, Urkath yet lived.

虽然猛犸知道自己已经败了，但它还是高傲地昂起头。

His ribs were smashed and his spine was splintered into fragments, but he still drew breath as Sejuani and Olaf squatted next to him. Incredibly, he’d managed to prop himself up against the very rock that had destroyed his spine, drawing short, hiked breaths.

“Wolf calls me home…” he said with a pained grin, his voice little more than a whisper.

它战斗到了最后，所以瑟庄妮高举起武器，向它的斗志致敬。

“Lamb would never think to come for you, Urkath,” said Sejuani, taking his hand. “We are Winter’s Claw. We don’t go meekly into the beyond.”

Urkath nodded. “My sword?”

巨兽俯视着她，对她的姿态毫不在意。

Olaf pressed Urkath’s weapon into his palm and closed the man’s fingers around its grip.

“The tale of your death will be told at the hearthfires for many seasons,” said the berserker, a melancholic edge in his voice. “I envy you that.”

它只是后撤一步，落下了悬崖。

Urkath coughed a mouthful of blood and said, “I’d gladly… swap fates with you, big man.”

“No,” said Olaf sadly. “I do not think that you would.”

瑟庄妮跑到悬崖边无力地跪倒，眼睁睁看着猛犸落到几千尺以下，砸进一大片积雪中。

Urkath turned his head, the light fading from his eyes, and said, “The gods… they show me a fine sight… as I die…”

Sejuani followed his gaze to the top of the mountain, where a vivid borealis of crimson and amber had driven away the lightning, a swathe of light painting the night sky that was as beautiful and magical as it was strange.

“要死！”瑟庄妮咒骂着，双手攥拳重击地面，已经顾不上疼了。

She saw Urkath’s bloodstained mask lying in the snow and slid it over his now lifeless face.

“Wolf will be here soon,” whispered Sejuani. “Give the old bastard a scare for me.”

奥拉夫站在她身边，探出大半个身子到悬崖外。

“嘁，咱爬下去把它卸了就成。”他耸耸肩说，“省得把它拖下去了。”

瑟庄妮叹了口气，刚要赞同他说的话，这时远远听到一下清脆的碎裂声。襁褓中的婴儿也要学会听懂这是什么声。

They left Urkath there, at the border between the realm of mortals and the Lost Ones.

冰面的破裂。

His body belonged to the Freljord now and his spirit would roam the frozen winds until the cold, atavistic soul of the land found a use for it.

Their mood was grim as they descended the mountain.

一条条歪扭的黑线从猛犸落下的地方延伸开去，连成一片，瑟庄妮意识到下面一大片白色并不是积雪的冰原。那是山谷积水而成的一片湖，湖面结了冰。

To stay on the hunt any longer would be pointless. As it was, they had only scraps to sustain them back to the Winter’s Claw encampment, two days’ travel westward.

Exhausted and with hunger gnawing at her belly, Sejuani swayed in Bristle’s saddle, her frozen hand tingling beneath her furs.

冰面碎成许多参差不齐的小块，瑟庄妮心头涌起一阵绝望，她看到猛犸的尸体滑到漆黑的水中，这下他们没办法了。

Olaf kept pace with her on foot, keeping his own counsel, his mood dark.

Night closed in as they reached the foot of the mountains and camped in the lee of a titanic menhir. It had once been part of a great stone circle higher up the mountain, but had toppled in a long-ago earthquake. The smooth stone surface was carved with ancient symbols no one could read, and a pair of frozen skeletons lay entwined at its far end, a frosted blade lying within their bones.

“要死啊——！”

Lovers or bitter enemies, who could say?

Dawn brought fresh snows and colder winds coming off the high peaks, as though the mountain itself sought to drive them from its slopes. Their route home took them past the remains of a village that had once stood where the road turned to the mountain pass. Its structures were ghostly tombs now, its inhabitants dead or long gone.

Nightfall on the second day saw them come within sight of the Winter’s Claw encampment.

A few guttering torches marked its edge, and Sejuani’s heart sank to see how few they were now. Not so very long ago, when she had first marshaled her followers, they numbered in the thousands, but hunger and the harshness of recent seasons had forced her to scatter her host.

“How do you fare?” asked Olaf as they trudged toward the beacons of light, the first words he had said since coming off the mountain.

“At last, he speaks,” said Sejuani, irritated at his sullenness.

“Ach, don’t mind me,” said Olaf. “Each time the blood-mist takes me I hope it will be the last time. That I will finally die in glory. And every time it fades, I am sad that I know I am one step closer to dying at peace.”

Sejuani shrugged. “Have no fear, Olaf. With enemies all around us, I promise you days of blood and battle, nights of death and fury.”

超乎瑟庄妮对人类身体的所有认知，乌尔卡斯还有口气。

Olaf grinned, and his grim countenance vanished like snow before the summer.

“You swear it?”

他的胸腔塌陷，脊梁粉碎，但当瑟庄妮和奥拉夫蹲到他身边时，他依然还在喘气。任谁都难以相信，他居然撑起自己的身体坐高了一些，背靠的岩石正是他撞碎脊梁的地方。他的呼吸浅促，时有时无。

“I swear it,” promised Sejuani. “But to answer your first question, Viljalmr will take it as an ill-omen that the tribe’s leader returns with nothing to show for her hunt.”

“A pox on his kind,” spat Olaf. “Seers only ever speak in riddles and deliver naught but grim portents. I’d sooner trust a southerner.”

“狼叫我回家……”他面露苍白的笑意，声音轻得像说悄悄话。

Sensing an opening, Sejuani asked, “Are you ever going to tell me why you went south?”

“No,” said the berserker. “I don’t think I will. Some tales are best left in the past.”

“羊永远都想不起来找你，乌尔卡斯。”瑟庄妮抓着他的手说，“我们是凛冬之爪。我们不会温顺地走进帷幕彼端。”

乌尔卡斯点点头说，“我的剑呢？”

奥拉夫把乌尔卡斯的剑柄按到他的手掌里，帮他扣紧手指。

Sejuani ran the stiff brush through Bristle’s fur, letting the anger burning within her after the meeting in the tented longhouse flow from her with every hard sweep. As she’d feared, the seer, Viljalmr, had found great woe in her having returned without meat for curing. Circling the firepit, his cloak of raven feathers glistening in the orange light of the flames, he told the assembled claw-leaders that the coming winter would be the grimmest any of them had known.

“你的死将成为故事传说，在炉火边上为人讲述许多个季节。”奥拉夫的声音中带着一丝忧郁，“我羡慕你。”

Olaf had openly mocked the man, telling him a child could see the same thing.

The other hunting claws had met with little more success—Svalyek’s claw had taken six elnuk from an Avarosan drover who’d waited too long to lead his herd to greener pastures, and Heffnar’s group had found and killed a small pod of horned seals trapped on land after the ocean floes had frozen to the edge of the land.

乌尔卡斯咳出一口血，然后说，“我可真想……跟你交换命运，大块头。”

It wasn’t nearly enough, but it would keep the tribe’s bellies full for a few days.

Fear made the tribe’s blood run hot, and shouting voices clamored to know what she would do, how she planned to keep her people alive until the spring muster. Sejuani had no answer, and angry voices echoed long into the night with ill-formed thoughts on how they should survive.

“别，”奥拉夫难过地说，“那你可亏大了。”

Some said they should march south to Ornnkaal Rocks and make peace with the Avarosans, but they were quickly shouted down by Gunnak, the most bellicose of Sejuani’s war-leaders. Beating his tattooed chest with his ax, he demanded they take their claws and carve a red path as deep as they could into Avarosan lands to earn a glorious death.

Sejuani had to admit, despite its suicidal futility, the idea of riding into the southern lowlands with blades unsheathed greatly appealed to her. Others said they should try another hunt. After all, wasn’t there still light and food enough to mount one more expedition?

乌尔卡斯扭过头，眼神中的光渐渐暗淡，他说，“列位神明……让我看着美景……死去……”

Heads nodded at that suggestion until Hunt-leader Varruki explained there was barely enough food to sustain the hunters, and that everyone would be frozen and starved before they returned.

Quieter speakers said maybe they should disperse the tribe, each family making their own way into the wilds. Smaller groups would be easier to feed after all…

瑟庄妮顺着他的目光看向山顶，极光浮现，用鲜艳的绯红和琥珀色赶走了闪电，摇曳的光带在夜空中绘制出绝美的图画，如梦似幻，光怪陆离。

Sejuani had quashed such talk straight away.

She knew it was going to be hard enough to get the full tribe back together in the spring months as it was. Breaking up even further would only tempt each smaller group to turn from the Winter’s Claw to try and forge a new life in the south.

她看到乌尔卡斯带血的面具掉落在雪地上，于是把它重新戴到他冰冷的脸上。

In the Freljord, community was life, and to separate further was to die. No one could endure alone, and only by the combined will of the tribe, even one as harsh and unforgiving as the Winter’s Claw, was survival even possible.

Besides, going south meant a life lived as a prisoner of the fields, of homes built from stone, of tending flocks. That was not the Winter’s Claw way, and would never be their way.

“狼要来了。”瑟庄妮悄声说，“替我吓唬吓唬那个老东西。”

Sejuani would rather die with the blood running hot in her veins and a blade in her hand than stooped and worn down by years of grubbing in the dirt for seeds.

In the end, Viljalmr had marched straight up to her, a brazen threat to her authority.

How were the Winter’s Claw to survive?

他们把乌尔卡斯留在了那里，在凡人领域与失者土地交界的地方。

他的身体现在属于弗雷尔卓德，他的精魄将在冷风中遨游，等待这片土地冰冷、古老的灵魂为其找到新的用途。

他们心情沉重，走下了山。

这场狩猎再继续坚持下去是没有意义的。本来他们的可怜的补给就只够返回凛冬之爪营地的，要向西走两天的路程。

精疲力竭再加上肚子里咬人的饥饿感，让瑟庄妮坐在钢鬃背上摇摇晃晃，冻僵的那只手裹在毛皮中传来一阵阵刺痛。

奥拉夫单靠自己的脚力跟着她的速度，心里在想事，表情凝重。

夜幕降临，他们来到山脚，在一块古老巨石碑的背风处扎营。它曾属于山上的环形巨石阵，但在很久以前的某次地震中翻落下来。光滑的石头表面刻着许多古代符号，没人能看懂，一对冰封的骸骨彼此纠缠着躺在石碑的一端，一把霜冻的刀剑夹在两把骨头中间。

是一对恋人还是敌人，谁知道呢？

清晨带来了新鲜的落雪，山顶吹来更冷的风，似乎群山也都在想办法赶他们走。他们返程途中经过了一个荒废的村落，曾经这里连接着一条大路和一条山间小道。原本的房屋现已成为鬼魅的坟墓，居民要么死了要么走了。

第二天入夜时分，凛冬之爪的营地终于出现在他们的视野中。

几根忽明忽暗的火把标志着边界线，瑟庄妮沉痛地看到他们如今的人数已经这么少。就在不久前，她最初掌管自己的追随者时，族人数以千计。但最近几个季节以来，饥饿和困苦迫使她将自己的族群分散成好几支。

“你咋样？”随着他们不断接近火光的信标，奥拉夫开口问道。这是他下山以来说的第一句话。

“他终于说话了。”瑟庄妮讽刺道，一点也看不惯他消沉的样子。

“啊，别见怪。”奥拉夫说，“每次陷入血雾，我都希望是最后一次。希望我终于能光荣赴死。可每次都等来血雾消退，我有点难过，因为我知道自己距离安宁的逝去又近了一步。”

瑟庄妮耸耸肩说，“不用怕，奥拉夫。我们四面八方都是敌人，我保证给你日夜不休的血战和经年累月的死斗。”

奥拉夫咧嘴笑了一下，阴沉的面容像入夏的积雪一样消融。

“你发誓？”

“我发誓。”瑟庄妮坚定滴说。“话说回来，威尔雅尔末肯定要说这是一个噩兆——外出狩猎的部族首领空手而归。”

“先知都浑身长痘去吧。”奥拉夫啐了一口，“他们只会说半截话，宣告的预兆啥用没有，就吓唬人。我还不如信南方佬去呢。”

瑟庄妮觉得有机会，于是问他，“你打算什么时候跟我讲讲你去南方做什么？”

“不。”狂战士说，“我不会说的。有些故事最好不被人知道。”

瑟庄妮用硬毛刷给钢鬃梳毛，在长屋帐篷的会议结束后，她一直憋着一股火，只能靠梳毛来发泄。和她担心的一样，威尔雅尔末先知得知她没有带回任何生肉以后，预言了重大的苦难。他绕着火盆转了好几圈，一斗篷渡鸦的黑羽映着橘红色的火光，他对集结到场的各个附爪的领袖说这个冬季将带来他们前所未见的严酷。

奥拉夫当着所有人的面挖苦他，说这种事就连小孩子也知道。

其他外出狩猎的附爪也没好到那里去——斯沃叶克带领的附爪从阿瓦罗萨牧民手里抢了六头厄纽克，他们本该迁往水草丰富的牧场，但却拖延了太久。赫弗纳尔的小队猎到了一小群角海豹，亏得海上的浮冰被冻结在岸边，把它们困在陆地上。

这些根本不够，但至少可以让整个部族再多吃几天饱饭。

部族成员都被恐惧煮沸了血，大声嚷嚷着问她有什么打算，她要怎么让自己的族人挺到开春。瑟庄妮没有答案，黑夜中的愤怒此起彼伏，一些人开始对活命的办法心怀鬼胎。

有人说他们应该南下奥恩卡尔岩地，与阿瓦罗萨人交好，但他们的声音很快就被古纳克压下去了，他是瑟庄妮手下最好战的头目。他用战斧拍打自己胸前的纹身，要求他们带领各自的附爪杀进阿瓦罗萨人的地盘，至死方休。

瑟庄妮不得不承认，虽然这种行为是无意义的自杀，但她倒是很喜欢率领骠骑高举刀剑闯进南方低地的这个想法。其他人建议再组织一次狩猎。毕竟，目前的日照时间和食物难道还不够支撑下一次远征吗？

众人纷纷点头，但猎手头领瓦尔卢基算了一下，他们的食物几乎不够狩猎的消耗，而且剩下的人等不到狩猎队归来就得饿死。

有人小声说或许应该把整个部族分散开，各家各自外出谋生。毕竟小型的队伍吃得少……

瑟庄妮立刻喝止了这种论调。

她知道，如今想要等春天重新集结所有分支就已经很难了，如果再继续拆散，无异于诱惑各个小队逃离凛冬之爪，前往南方另谋生路。

在弗雷尔卓德，集结就是生，分散就是死。没人能独自熬过寒冬，只有通过部族的意志才能让生存变为可能。像凛冬之爪这样残酷无情的部族也不例外。

再说，去南方就意味着被囚禁在农田上、石头房子里、牲畜牧群中。那可不是凛冬之爪的生存之道，永远都不会成为他们的生存之道。

瑟庄妮宁愿趁着自己依然满腔热血的时候持剑战死，也不愿在田间地头折断了腰杆，磨平了棱角。

最后，威尔雅尔末径直走到她面前，肆无忌惮地挑战她的权威。

凛冬之爪要怎样才能活下去？

换做是以前，她对这样的挑衅必是一拳打倒，但他提出的这个问题很合理，而且帐篷里的所有人都清楚这一点。

Once, she would have struck him down for such open defiance, but his question was fair and everyone gathered in the tent knew it.

Her people needed a leader who could make life and death decisions without fear, so she told the assembled leaders they would have her answer when dawn’s light clawed over the mountains.

他的族人需要一位杀伐决断的领袖，所以她告诉集结在场的头目们，待到太阳爬上山头她自会给出答案。

Now, brushing the thick hair running down Bristle’s back, she felt the raging storm within her mind finally calming. Grooming the giant beast always soothed Sejuani’s emotions, reminding her of a time when things had been simpler, though part of her knew that life had never been simpler, not really.

She thought back to when she’d brought Ashe to the Winter’s Claw after finding her alone and in exile on the ice. She smiled, remembering how her childhood friend had mistaken Sejuani for one of the Ursine.

现在，她梳理着钢鬃的后背，脑海中肆虐的风暴终于渐渐平息。给这头巨兽梳毛总是能让瑟庄妮心平气和，让她想起从前一切都单纯的时候，虽然她自己隐约知道，生活从来都不单纯，单纯只是假象。

Her strokes grew harder as she thought of how Ashe had betrayed them and turned her back on Sejuani during the raid on the Ebrataal. That was the moment Sejuani had known for sure there was no chance of the Winter’s Claw ever making peace with the Avarosan.

Bristle grunted in annoyance, stamping his hoofs in irritation.

她回想起早年间，她在冰海上找到独自流亡的艾希并把她接回凛冬之爪。她露出微笑，想起当时她的童年玩伴把她误认成了熊人。

“Careful, lass, the beast’s getting unsettled,” said a voice from behind.

Sejuani spun, reaching for the knife at her hip.

她握毛刷的手越来越用力，回想起劫掠伊布拉脱部落时，艾希的背叛与抛弃。从那一刻开始，瑟庄妮就已经笃定，凛冬之爪和阿瓦罗萨之间永远都不可能存在和平。

A shape lay at the corner of the corral, small and useless looking, like a bundle of rags.

She released her grip on the knife, shocked to see who had spoken.

钢鬃不耐烦地吭了一声，用力跺了几下脚。

Lying in a makeshift bed of straw was a wretched old man who should have been left out on the ice to die many years ago. His legs were stumps that ended just above the knee, and his sightless eyes were mottled white like a gull’s egg.

His name was Kriek and he’d once been the seer of Olgavanna’s tribe, farmers and builders who’d refused the call to Sejuani’s banner. So she had sent Urkath’s war-claw to wipe them out and take their herds, their furs, their iron, and their salt. The survivors fled up the slopes of a mountain whose summit seethed with the red rock that flows.

“当心，孩子，这只兽不高兴了。”身后传来一个声音。

When Urkath returned, it was with Kriek on his back and he’d seemed confused when Sejuani demanded to know why he’d brought them a useless mouth to feed. Urkath claimed the Ursine had driven them from the mountain, speaking of blade-pierced titans draped in bloodied fur and horns, gaping skulls, and fists that hurled fire.

He’d simply said that the mountain had told him to bring the blind man, before dumping him unceremoniously at the edge of the village. Sejuani had given orders that no one feed the seer, that he be left behind for the Freljord to take. But here he was, many months and leagues from that battle, alive and, more confusingly, somehow still with the Winter’s Claw.

瑟庄妮飞速转身，摸到腰间的小刀。

“Word is you glimpsed the realm of the Lost Ones on the mountain,” said Kriek. “Don’t envy you that, lass. I saw them once, back when you drove us into Hearth-Home.”

Sejuani put aside her irritation long enough to say, “You didn’t see anything. You’re blind.”

兽栏的一角躺着一个人影，看上去像团破布一样瘦弱无能。

Kriek nodded and said, “Oh, I seen them, better’n any true-shotted archer ever did. White and gold in the clouds, lightning for blood, and voices of thunder. I saw, I did.”

Sejuani peered into the milky whiteness of his gaze.

她放开刀柄，说话的人让她大吃一惊。

“Those eyes haven’t seen anything in many a year.”

“True,” said Kriek. “World went white for me on my tenth winter, but some things are best seen without eyes, lass!”

在一张破草垫子上，躺着一个佝偻的老人，早在许多年前就应该已经扔到冰原上等死的人。他双腿残缺，从膝盖上缘开始缺失，他失明的双眼就像两枚带着斑点的海鸥蛋。

Sejuani tapped the flat of her blade against Kriek’s neck and said, “Call me lass again and I’ll slit your throat right now.”

“Ah, yes, that’s right, you’re no lass, you’re Warmother, ain’t ya? You remember that next time some seer tries to tell you what to do,” laughed Kriek, waving a filthy, gnawed hand at her. “But listen, you know warriors who lose a hand or leg’ll swear they can still feel the cold in ‘em? Same for my eyes. Now I see more’n I ever did before, more’n I ever wished to see. Things you’d gouge your own eyes out with that knife if y’saw the half of them.”

他叫科里克，曾是奥尔加瓦娜手下的先知，那个部落是一群农民和和工匠，拒绝向瑟庄妮俯首称臣。于是她派出乌尔卡斯的附爪灭掉他们，抢走他们的牧群、毛皮、铁器和盐块。幸存的人爬上了一座山，山顶的石头是会流动的红色。

“You don’t know the things I’ve seen,” said Sejuani.

“That’s right,” said Kriek, leaning in. “Ever since that night you and your spirit walker made offerings to the Lost Ones… You sang the oaths, you burned the wood in the death knot, and offered up the weapons and bone, so what do you see? Days of blood and battle, nights of death and fury?”

乌尔卡斯回来的时候，背后背着科里克，自己并没有觉得有哪里不妥。于是瑟庄妮命令他解释为什么带回来一张光吃饭不干活的嘴。乌尔卡斯说他们被熊人族赶下了山，说那些巨人身上插着刀枪，皮毛和犄角浸透了血，长着血盆大口，挥一挥手能喷出火焰。

Just thinking of the slaughter at the city by the river filled Sejuani with a hunger for raw meat, a thirst for marrow sucked from splintered bone.

She shook her head free of the sensations and said, “How are you alive? I told my people not to feed you, to leave you behind.”

他说自己是受到山脉的嘱托，把这个瞎子带回来，说罢就把他草草扔在村落的边缘。瑟庄妮当时下令不许喂他东西吃，要把这名先知遗弃给弗雷尔卓德。但现在他却出现在这里，距离那场战斗已经过去好几个月，移动了好几里地，而他不仅活着，而且不知为何依然还和凛冬之爪在一起。

“Old Ornn fed me,” said Kriek. “At Hearth-Home, just before your killers came out of the smoke. Lifted me up like a babe and nourished me with a mouthful of broth from his great cauldron. That he did, yes!”

Sejuani sighed. Kriek was clearly mad, but she was more irritated that someone in the Winter’s Claw had clearly been feeding this old fool when their own were going hungry. She went to rise, but the old man’s hand shot out and took her wrist in a powerful grip.

“据说你在山上瞥见了失者的领域。”科里克说，“我劝你好自为之，孩子。我曾见过它们一次，就在你把我们赶进炉乡那次。”

“On my honor, not a scrap of food has passed my lips since your dead man brought me down the mountain,” said Kriek, his lifeless white eyes boring right into her, as though something else stared out from behind them, something infinitely older and wiser. “Never took no food. Nor water, neither! Ornn’s great cauldron seen to that! No company that sups from it ever leaves unsatisfied. One mouthful and your belly don’t growl for a whole turn of the seasons!”

“Ornn’s Cauldron?” scoffed Sejuani. “That’s just a legend. Wishful thinking. It’s one of the lost tales to tell to children.”

瑟庄妮忍了很久，最后说，“你什么都没见过。你瞎了。”

“And where d’you think them tales come from but truth!” snapped Kriek. lifting the furs covering his body. “This look like wishful thinking to you?”

Sejuani let out an involuntary gasp at the sight of Kriek’s torso, his flesh ruddy and pink, his belly full and soft with fat. Sejuani was ivory pale, her wrists too slender, the flesh pulled tight over her frame, pressing against the bones for want of meat and fat and fish.

科里克缓缓点头说，“噢，我见过它们，看得比哪个神射弓手都清楚。白色和金色的云雾，血管里流淌着闪电，喉咙里发出雷霆。我见过它们，真真切切。”

“How…?” said Sejuani.

“I told ya,” said Kriek. “The Great Cauldron of Ornn. Lost Ones stole it from Hearth-Home for spite’s sake. Said Ornn was too soft on mortals, that if they could fill their bellies any time they wanted, they’d get spoiled and weak! So they killed his followers and took it to their mountain, high up where its power now paints the sky with blood-red light. Ornn’s crafty, y’see. His magic’s too wyrd-cunning to stay hidden forever. Even the Lost Ones can’t keep power like that out of sight! Ask that spirit walker friend of yours. If he still remembers he’s a man, he’ll hear the truth of what I say!”

瑟庄妮盯着他那双乳白的瞳孔。

Sejuani shook her head. “Udyr’s gone. He walked into the blizzard. Said he needed time away from the spirits looking to get inside him. Said he needed to find a way to strengthen his will.”

“Then it’s all on you, Warmother,” said Kriek. “What’s it to be? The old ways? Frozen on your knees or your blood soaking warm southern soil? Or maybe try and take back what the Lost Ones stole? You’ve faced them before, so what’s one more time, eh?”

“你这双眼睛已经看不见东西好多年了。”

The old man’s story was lunacy, wasn’t it? How could she possibly convince her people to march into the mountain realm of the Ursine on the word of a madman?

The Freljord was a place of dark mystery, where legends walked the ice, and its magic was there in every breath. Some whispered that Ashe had fought her way to the legendary bow of Avarosa, and Sejuani’s own Iceborn powers were proof that magic was woven into the very fabric of the landscape… but still…?

“没错。”科里克说，“自从我第十冬开始，全世界就变白了，但有些东西瞎眼看得更清楚，孩子！”

“Why would you help me?” asked Sejuani. “My warriors slew your tribe.”

“Don’t you understand yet, Warmother?” said Kriek, the timbre of his voice deepening, becoming low and melodic. “We are all one tribe and it is long past time you understood that. You think too small, like a fighter only seeing the foe in front of them. You must think like a Warmother, like a queen! There is a season for fighting, a season for leading, and, aye, one for dying. But a time is coming when the sons and daughters of the Freljord must stand together or you will all die, one by one. And the first step on that road is staying alive. Tell me you hear me, daughter of Kalkia.”

瑟庄妮把小刀平贴到科里克脖子上说，“再管我叫孩子我就抹了你脖子。”

Sejuani nodded and said, “I hear you.”

“啊，对，你不是孩子，你是战母，对不？你在跟先知讲话的时候尤其要记得自己这个身份。”科里克笑了两声，对她挥了挥又脏又丑的手。“你听我讲，你应该知道如果一个战士没了一只手或脚，都还能感觉到缺损位置的冷，对吧？我的眼睛也是一样的道理。现在我看到的东西比以前更多，比我想看的更多。我看到的东西分给你一半，就足以让你恨不得把自己双眼挖出来。”

“你不知道我看到了什么。”瑟庄妮说。

“对。”科里克说着，身子向前探。“自从那一夜，你和你的兽灵行者向失者献祭……你诵唱了誓言，你把木柴架成死结，献祭了武器和骨头，后来你都看到了什么？日夜不休的血战和经年累月的死斗？”

Sejuani left Kriek and Bristle in the corral. First light was breaking over the mountains, and she paused to savor the coming of a new day.

The orange glow of the dying hearthfire was visible within the tented longhouse, where her people waited to hear what she had decided.

瑟庄妮只是隐约想起河边城市里的那场屠杀，就突然渴望啃咬生肉，嗜骨吸髓。

Olaf squatted by its entrance, running a glittering whetstone over the blade of one of his enormous axes. He looked up and his eyes narrowed.

“You have the look of someone chewing a nettle,” he said.

她摇摇头，甩开那种感觉，“你怎么还活着？我告诉我的人不许喂你饭吃，我们遗弃了你。”

“I know what we have to do, but no one’s going to like it.”

Olaf shrugged. “They don’t need to like it. You’re Warmother. You tell them what to do and they do it. That’s how this works.”

“老奥恩喂养了我。”科里克说，“在炉乡，你们这些杀人狂窜出来之前，他把我像婴儿一样捧起来，喂我吃了一口汤，来自他的大瓮里的汤。他喂的，没错！”

“I’ll want you at my side,” said Sejuani.

Olaf rose to his full, towering height, hooking his ax over his shoulder.

瑟庄妮叹了口气。这个科里克显然是疯了，但更加令她气愤的是，显然有那个凛冬之爪的人一直在给这个老疯子喂饭，明明他们自己人都吃不饱。她要站起身，不过那个老家伙突然伸出手，用力抓住她的手腕。

“No,” said Sejuani. “Blade out.”

Olaf nodded slowly and said, “You going to tell me your plan before we go in?”

“以我的荣誉起誓，自从你手下的死人把我带下山以来，我嘴里就没进过吃的东西。”科里克苍白的双眼死死盯着她的眼睛，似乎黯淡的目光背后真的有着某种无穷的睿智。“一口东西没吃。一口水也没喝！奥恩的大瓮全都给了！只要是从那口大瓮里吃过东西的人就没有不满足的。只要一口就能让你挺过一整轮季节变换，不怕肚子叫！”

“Remember how I promised you days of blood and battle, nights of death and fury?”

“Aye, Warmother, I do!” said Olaf, his smile as wide as the horizon.

“奥恩的大瓮？”瑟庄妮笑了一声。“那是传说故事。是人们一厢情愿编出来的。就连哄小孩都不提它了。”

“We’re going back up the mountain,” said Sejuani. “To the realm of the Ursine to steal the Great Cauldron of Ornn from the Volibear.”

“You’re right, they’re not going to like it,” said Olaf. “But I love it!”

“传说故事都是根据事实编出来的！”科里克厉声说着，掀开身上盖着的毛皮，“你觉得这也是一厢情愿吗？”

看到科里克的躯干，瑟庄妮不由得惊叹一声。他肤色红润，饱满的腹部甚至还挂着一层柔软的肥肉。相比之下瑟庄妮肤色蜡白，手腕纤弱，皮肉紧贴着骨头，身体渴望着大鱼大肉大油。

“怎么会……？”瑟庄妮说。

“我都说了，”科里克说，“奥恩的大瓮。失者把它从炉乡偷走了，单纯就是为了作恶。他们说奥恩对凡人太仁慈，如果凡人随时都能填饱肚子，就会变得懦弱无能！所以他们杀了奥恩的追随者，把大瓮搬到了他们的山头上，而他们那座山顶的天空被大瓮的神力染成了血红。你知道，那可是奥恩的手艺。他的魔法妙不可言，不可能被藏住。即使是失者，也无法掩盖住那样的神力！你去问问你的兽灵行者。如果他还记得自己是个人类，便一定能听到我所说的事实。”

瑟庄妮摇了摇头，“乌迪尔走了。他走进暴风雪，说自己需要清静，远离那些想要占据他的兽灵。他说需要想办法锻炼自己的意志。”

“那就全看你了，战母。”科里克说，“怎么办？是老法子？要么跪着冻死，要么血洒南方的土地？还是从失者手里抢回宝物？你曾和他们碰过，再碰一次又怎样？”

这个老家伙讲了个疯狂的故事。她要怎样说服手下人向熊人族的领域进发，就凭一个疯子说的话？

弗雷尔卓德充满了黑暗的秘密，这片陆地上行走着活生生的传说之物，这里的每一股风都带着魔法。有些人说艾希一路拼杀找到了传说中的阿瓦罗萨长弓，而且瑟庄妮自己的冰脉力量就是鲜活的证明，证明魔法渗透于这片土地的每一寸……可即便是这样……？

“你为什么帮我？”瑟庄妮问，“我的战士杀光了你的部落。”

“你还不明白吗，战母？”科里克的嗓音变得深沉，带着韵律。“我们都是同一个部族，你早该明白了。你的眼界太小，就像一个战士只能看到眼前的敌人。你必须像战母一样思考，像女王一样权衡！有战斗的季节，有引领的季节，是的，也有死亡的季节。但在即将到来的时代，弗雷尔卓德的儿女子孙们必须团结起来，否则你们都会死，一个接一个死。要想踏上团结之路，第一步就是要活下去。告诉我你听懂了，廓吉雅之女。”

瑟庄妮点点头说，“我听懂了。”

瑟庄妮离开了兽栏里的科里克和钢鬃。山边已经露出第一缕曙光，她停下脚步品味新一天的来临。

长屋帐篷里橘红色的炉火即将熄灭，他的人正在里面等待她宣布最后的决定。

奥拉夫蹲坐在入口处，正在用沾水的砥石打磨斧刃。他抬起头，目光疑惑。

“你这表情好像吞了一团乱麻。”他说。

“我知道我们必须做什么了，但所有人都不会喜欢。”

奥拉夫耸耸肩，“他们不需要喜欢。你是战母。你告诉他们做什么，他们就去做。不用管别的。”

“我需要你陪同。”瑟庄妮说。

奥拉夫站了起来，人高马大。他把斧子收到身后。

“不。”瑟庄妮说，“端着斧子。”

奥拉夫缓缓点头，“你打不打算提前跟我讲讲你的计划？”

“还记不记得我向你保证日夜不休的血战和经年累月的死斗？”

“是，战母，我记得！”奥拉夫的笑容拉得和地平线一样长。

“我们要回到那座山上去，”瑟庄妮说，“进入熊人族的领域，从沃利贝尔手里偷走奥恩的大瓮。”

“你说的没错，他们谁都不会喜欢。”奥拉夫说，“但我等的就是这个！”