银线盘丝 Strand by Silken Strand

在海上度过的数个星期让马库斯头昏脑涨、身体虚弱，所以他非常庆幸能够重新站在陆地上。海岸线上崎岖的玄武岩中，一条小路伸向内陆，光滑油腻的表面让人脚下十分不稳。小路两边弯曲的树木七扭八歪，黑色树皮上的伤痕流淌出黄色的树浆，似乎是某种动物在慌乱之中将树干抓得斑斑驳驳。树林中闪烁着柔光，就像沼泽地里的鬼火一样吸引着无知的灵魂走向灭亡。头顶的树枝向下垂着许多看似破棉布的东西，马库斯过了好一阵才意识到，这些是千丝万缕的蜘蛛网。

The weeks spent on the ocean had made Markus feel dizzy and weak, so he was glad to be back on dry land. The path leading from the basalt shore had a slick, oily quality, making it treacherous underfoot. The crooked trees to either side were wretched, blackened husks that wept yellowed sap from where it looked like some panicked animal had clawed them ragged. Soft light shimmered between the trees, dancing like the corpse candles that flickered over marshland and drew unwary souls to their doom. The branches were hung with what looked like canopies of ragged muslin, and it took Markus a moment to realize they were swathes of cobwebs.

小路两旁的矮树丛中布满了铁刺般的蕨丛，丛林黑影中某种看不见的生物发出悉悉索索的声音。可能是船上滋生的大老鼠跟着他们一起上了岸。马库斯并没有看到完整的老鼠，只是偶尔瞥见了一个圆滚滚、毛茸茸的身体，听见了爪子踏过木头时发出的微小声响。有一个念头让他始终挥之不去，似乎这些老鼠的脚比正常老鼠多出太多。

Wiry bracken clogged the undergrowth on either side of the path, rustling with the motion of unseen creatures shadowing their passage through the forest. Perhaps the rats infesting the ship had followed them. Markus had never caught sight of one, beyond a fleeting glimpse of a swollen, black-furred body or the skittering sound of claws on wood. He’d never been able to shake the notion that it sounded as if these rats had a few too many legs than any normal rat should have.

岛上的空气咸湿凝重，他身上的精致长袍和皮靴都挂着一层湿气。他将一枚香盒举到自己鼻子下方，但依然无法盖过岛上弥漫的恶臭，这股恶臭让他想起在家的时候，每当海风吹来都会从诺克萨斯城墙外的曝尸坑带来这股味道。想到家，他突然感到一阵不安。城市地下深处墓穴中的狂欢的确曾让他感受到充满罪恶感的美妙冲动，那是他追随黑色花瓣绽放标记的奖赏。在那黑暗的坟墓中，他和自己的同伴集合起来成为了信徒。

The island’s air was heavy with damp, and his finely tailored tunic and boots were sodden with clinging moisture. He held a scented pomander beneath his nose, but it did little to disguise the stench of the island, reminding him of the charnel pits beyond the walls of Noxus when the winds blew in from the ocean. Thinking back to his homeland, he felt a brief twinge of unease. The revels in the catacombs far beneath the city had been a deliciously illicit thrill, a reward for following the secret symbol of the black-petaled bloom. Within the darkened sepulchers, he and his fellows gathered as devotees.

她就是在那等待的。

Where she awaited.

他向前望去，希望能瞥见她魅惑的身影，就是这个女人的话语，带着这么多人来到这个地方。他瞥见了一抹猩红的丝绸和妖娆的腰肢，随后树林中渗出的迷雾就遮住了他的视线。他曾怀着激动的心情听她讲述自己信奉的古神的教义，他曾欣喜若狂地得知自己和其他三十个人被选中，伴她参与这次朝圣之旅。当初他们在午夜的掩护下踏上这艘满载货物的帆船，带着罩帽的舵手一言不发地注视着他们，一切都像是一场精彩的冒险，但是距离诺克萨斯如此遥远，他的热情开始逐渐褪去。

He looked ahead, hoping for a glimpse of the beguiling woman whose words had brought so many of them to this place. He caught a flash of crimson silk and swaying hips before the mist oozing between the trees obscured his sight of her. He’d thrilled to the sermons of her ancient god, and had been overjoyed when he and the others had been chosen to join her on this pilgrimage. It seemed like a grand adventure when they boarded the heavily laden barque at midnight, under the still gaze of the mute and hooded steersman, but being so far from Noxus had begun to dull his enthusiasm.

马库斯停下来，转身看向身后的路。他的朝圣同伴推开他继续向前，就像一群眼神空洞的牲畜，排队走向杀戮间的屠刀。他们怎么回事？走在最后面的是那名舵手，在路上轻轻飘过，似乎他的脚浮在空中。他身上的长袍起伏飘动，马库斯突然感到胸口一阵揪心的恐惧，想尽量远离这个充满诡异气场的人影。

Markus paused and turned to look back along the path. His fellow pilgrims pushed past, like vacant-eyed cattle en route to the slaughterman’s hammer. What was wrong with them? Behind them came the steersman, gliding over the path as though his feet barely touched it. His robes were undulant with motion and suffocating fear flowered in Markus’s breast at the thought of being near this repellent figure.

他转过身，却发现自己正在与她面对面。

He turned away, only to find himself face to face with her.

“伊莉丝……”他一边说道，一边感到自己上不来气。他本能地想要将她推到一旁，逃离这个恐怖的地方，但是她那令人沉迷的黑暗妖媚战胜了所有抗拒的念头。他的嫌恶消散得如此之快，他甚至不确定自己真的感到过任何嫌恶。

“Elise…” he said, and the breath caught in his throat. He instinctively wanted to push her away and flee this awful place, but the intoxication of her dark beauty overpowered any thought of rejection. His sense of revulsion passed so swiftly he wasn’t even sure he’d truly felt it.

“马库斯，”她说道，听到他的名字从她神圣的唇中吐出，让他感到一股喜悦顺着脊梁传遍全身。她的妖媚死死钩住了他，他细细品味着她完美身躯上的每一寸。她的身体棱角分明，猩红的秀发亮泽如丝，就像他曾经认识的那个贵族小姐。玉口朱唇和明眸黑瞳将他拖进网中，向他承诺着即将体会到的销魂时刻。她的香肩上披着一副紫黑与猩红相间的斗篷，由八爪胸针固定。斗篷泛起涟漪，但并没有风吹过。

“Markus,” she said, and the sound of his name on her lips was divine, sending a surge of pleasure down his spine. Her beauty transfixed him, and he savored every detail of her perfect form. Her features were angular and sharp, framed by lustrous crimson hair, like that of a highborn girl he once knew. Full lips and eyes of dark radiance drew him deeper into her web with the promise of raptures yet to come. A cloak of sable secured by an eight-pronged brooch, mantled her rounded shoulders. It rippled with motion, though there was no wind to stir it.

“有什么事吗，马库斯？”她说道。她的声音中带着甜腻的香气，像精油一样安抚了他的恐惧。“我需要你心平气和。你现在非常心平气和，对不对，马库斯？”

“Is something the matter, Markus?” she said. Her smoky tones soothed his fear like a balm. “I need you to be at peace. You are at peace, aren’t you, Markus?”

“是的，伊莉丝，”他说。“我心平气和。”

“Yes, Elise,” he said. “I am at peace.”

“很好。如果在我们如此靠近的时候你不感到心平气和的话，我会不开心的。”

“Good. It would make me unhappy to know you were not at peace when we are so close.”

一想到惹她不开心，马库斯立刻感到一阵慌乱，他跪倒在地。他用手抱着她的双腿，她的肢体纤细修长，洁白如玉，触感光滑而又冰冷。

The thought of displeasing her sent a jolt of panic through Markus and he dropped to the ground. He wrapped his arms around her legs, her limbs slender and alabaster white, smooth and cold to the touch.

“听凭吩咐，夫人，”他说道。

“Anything for you, mistress,” he said.

她低头看着他，露出一丝微笑。有那么一瞬间，马库斯觉得自己看到某种细长光滑的东西在她斗篷下面古怪地扭动。他感到了异样和厌恶，但他丝毫没有在意。她用锋利黑亮的指甲钩起他的下颌，让他站起来。一股鲜血顺着他的脖子淌下，但他无视这一切，跟着她的背影继续前行。

She looked down on him and smiled. For an instant Markus thought he saw something long, thin and glossy shift beneath her cloak. The motion was sickening and unnatural, but he didn’t care. She hooked a sharpened, obsidian-black fingernail under his chin and drew him to his feet. A rivulet of blood ran down his neck, but he ignored it as she turned and led him onward.

他心甘情愿地跟随着，所有其他心思都烟消云散，只剩下要让她开心满足的念头。树林逐渐稀疏消失，脚下的路带他们来到一处陡峭的岩壁，上面刻着的标记已经风蚀磨损，但依然让他感到眼睛一阵刺痛。岩壁基底裂开一口漆黑的洞穴，犹如卑鄙的咽喉，马库斯的执着动摇了，心里突然感到一股恐惧迸发而出。

He willingly followed, all thoughts save pleasing her vanishing like wind-blown smoke. The trees thinned out and the path ended before a rocky cliff carved with time-weathered symbols that made his eyes sting. A shadowed cave gaped like a vile maw at the base of the cliff, and Markus felt his certainty waver as a sudden sense of dread uncoiled in his gut.

伊莉丝呼唤他进去，他无力抵抗。

Elise beckoned him inside, and he was powerless to resist.

洞穴的内部黑得出奇，暖得窒息，一股黏腻的热气闻起来像是屠宰场里的内脏的臭味。他心底里有一个声音正在尖叫着劝他逃走，赶快远离这个恐怖的地方，但是他的脚却不听使唤地带着他一步步走向洞穴更深处。高处落下一滴液体，滴在他脸上，瞬间的灼痛让他猛然退缩。他向洞顶望去，看到了苍白色、蛆虫形状的东西挂在上面，疯狂地摇摆着，像是要挣脱的样子。透过新结蛛网的半透明表面，一张人脸发出无声的恐怖尖叫，窒息的银网将一切声音和恐惧都包裹在内。

The interior of the cave was unnaturally dark and stiflingly warm, a clammy, fever heat that reeked like offal swept from a butcher’s block. A voice deep inside was screaming at him to run, to get as far from this hideous place as possible, but his traitorous feet carried him still deeper into the cave. A droplet from somewhere high above landed on his cheek and he flinched at the sudden, burning pain of it. He looked up at the cavern roof, seeing pale, grub-like shapes hanging overhead and swaying with frantic, trapped motion. In the translucent surface of the fresh-spun web, a human face screamed in mute horror against the suffocating, silken net.

“这是什么地方？“他问到，身边的欺诈之幕正在剥脱。

“What is this place?” he asked, the veils of deceit woven around him falling away.

“这是我的神殿，马库斯，”伊莉丝一边说，一边伸手解开肩上的八爪胸针，让斗篷滑落在地。“这是蜘蛛之神的巢穴。”

“This is my temple, Markus,” said Elise, reaching up to unfasten the eight-pronged brooch at her shoulder and letting her cloak fall away. “This is the lair of the Spider God.”

她的肩膀轻轻蠕动，两对纤细的几丁质虫腿从她背后的皮肉中伸展开来；细长、黑亮、末端长着锋利的爪子。两对虫腿将伊莉丝撑到空中，她身后的黑影中浮现出一个庞大、怪异的邪影。几支巨大的虫腿拖着它腐化的身体，洞穴后方的昏暗光亮在它众多眼睛表面反射出无数光点。

Her shoulders squirmed as two pairs of slender, chitinous limbs unfolded from the flesh of her back; long, dark and tapering to razored talons. They lifted Elise up as a grotesque, bloated mass shifted in the darkness behind her. Colossal legs heaved its corrupt body forward, the faint light from beyond the cave reflecting on the myriad facets of its eyes.

这只巨大的蜘蛛身体肥硕，长着绒毛，上面还布满了湿润的突变体。它噩梦般的外表带来剧烈的恐惧，将伊莉丝对于马库斯的最后一道控制打碎，他开始向洞口逃跑，耳边响起她残酷的笑声。粘粘的蛛网结成粗绳，粘连着他身边的石块。胶黏的丝线粘住他胡乱挥舞的四肢，他的速度越来越慢，因为身上缠了越来越多的蛛丝。他听到了利爪虫脚磕碰岩石的声音在身后追赶，一想到她伸手触摸他，不禁流泪恸哭。然而她结下的网依然不停地缠绕着他，这时某种尖锐的东西干净利落地刺穿了他的肩膀。马库斯跪倒在地，麻痹毒药正在他体内扩散，将他的肉身变为牢笼，禁锢了他的灵魂。

The vast spider’s bulk was enormous, furred and scabbed with wet, mutant growths. The terror of its nightmarish appearance shattered the last of Elise’s hold on Markus, and he fled toward the cave mouth with her cruel laughter ringing in his ears. Ropes of sticky web struck the rock beside him. Glutinous strands struck his flailing limbs and his pace slowed as he became more and more entangled. He heard the clicking of clawed limbs in pursuit and wept at the thought of her touching him. Yet more strands of her web snared him as something sharp stabbed his shoulder with astonishing swiftness. Markus fell to his knees, paralyzing venom spreading through his body and locking him in a prison of his own flesh.

一个黑影在他上方探过头，那名沉默的舵手双手张开。他尖叫着看着舵手的罩帽长袍散落在地，里面根本不是人类，而是一群密密麻麻、不计其数的小蜘蛛聚集而成的人形。它们向他围了上来，他的尖叫声被闷成了呛咳与呻吟，它们爬进了他的嘴里，钻进了他的耳朵里，挖进了他眼眶深处。

A shadow fell across him and he saw the mute steersman with his arms outstretched. Markus screamed as the steersman’s hooded robe collapsed, revealing that this was not a man at all, but a writhing nest of innumerable spiders given the semblance of a man. They fell upon him in their thousands, and his screams were choked to muffled grunts as they crawled into his mouth, clogged his ears and burrowed behind his eyes.

伊莉丝荡到了他上方，背后的虫脚支撑着她飘在空中。她不再妖媚，甚至不再是人类。她的气质燃烧着一种永无止境的强烈饥饿感。她恐怖的蜘蛛之神若隐若现，用锋利的下颚把他从地面托起。

Elise swung into view above him, borne aloft by the jointed limbs at her back. She was no longer beautiful, no longer even human. Her features were alight with a ferocious hunger that could never be sated. The looming form of her monstrous spider god lifted Markus from the ground with its razored mandibles.

“你现在必须得死了，马库斯，”伊莉丝说。

“You have to die now, Markus,” said Elise.

“为什么…?”他设法用最后一口气问道。

“Why…?” he managed with his last breath.

伊莉丝露出了微笑，她的嘴里现在布满了针尖一样的牙齿。

Elise smiled, her mouth now filled with needle-like fangs.

“为了让我活。”

“So that I can live.”