王者的盛宴 A Feast Fit for A King

作者：Graham McNeill

一个巨大的身影蹚过峡谷底齐腰深的积雪，踩着坚定的步伐向上爬，就像是在公然挑战狂风暴雪。他身后留下一串深沟，厚重的双脚上长着爪子，每一步都撕开积雪之下松动的页岩。嚎哭的风掀起他兽皮拼接成的斗篷，然后那个人影拽住斗篷，把自己裹得更紧了些。

A hulking figure trudged through the waist-deep snow of the canyon, lumbering uphill with a purposeful gait that dared the blizzard to stop him. He left a deep trench in his wake, heavy clawed feet ripping up the loose shale beneath the snow with every step. Howling winds billowed his patchwork cloak of stitched-together hides, and the figure pulled it tighter around his body.

即使是在巨魔的种群中，特朗德尔也是大块头。他的肌肉就像磐石一样在皮肤下滚动，他蓝色皮肤的质地如同在沙漠烈日下暴晒过的皮革。虽然特朗德尔从未见过沙漠，但他知道沙漠是什么。

Even among trollkind, Trundle was huge; his muscles like rocks rolling beneath thick blue skin that was the texture of leather left out under the desert sun. Not that Trundle had ever seen a desert, but he knew what one was.

冰霜女巫曾向他讲述过南方山脉另一侧的一个地方，在那里太阳会把你晒得通红，而那里的雪则是细小的岩石砂砾，灌进你的后门，而且永不消融。

The Ice Witch had told him about a place beyond the southern mountains where the sun burned you red, and the snow was like little bits of gritty rock that got all up in your nethers and didn’t melt.

对特朗德尔来说，这有点不太真实，如果永不消融，那还能叫雪吗？

Sounded a bit far-fetched to Trundle, and what was the point of snow that didn’t melt?

他宽厚的肩膀上正扛着一个巨大的皮袋，鼓鼓地装满厄纽克、居瓦斯克、野山猪和笨山羊的肉块。他离开自己的洞穴以后走的天数已经比他的手指数还多，那些肉开始散发出烂透的美味腥臭，袋子底积的血已经凝成黑块。

He carried a giant leather sack slung over one massive shoulder, bulging with the carcasses of elnük, drüvasks, feral hogs, and clumsy mountain goats. It had been more days than he had fingers since he’d left his cave, and the meat was starting to give off a deliciously ripe stink, and the blood pooling inside had frozen black and solid.

冰川的悬崖在他两侧高耸着伸向天空，深蓝色的冰壁就像海洋的波涛突然被冻结在原地。或许事实真就如此，特朗德尔也不知道。冰霜女巫曾对他讲过很久以前的事，那时魔法对这个世界做了许多疯狂的事，或许他真的正在穿过世界顶点的海洋。他喜欢这个想法，甚至开始好奇，在这么北的北方能否看到海怪的骸骨。

Soaring cliffs of ice reared up to either side of him, blue like an ocean wave that had suddenly frozen in place. Maybe they had, Trundle didn’t know. The Ice Witch had told him about a long ago time when magic did all sorts of mad things to the world, so maybe he was walking through a rolling ocean at the top of the world right now. He liked that idea, and wondered if he’d see any skeletons of sea monsters this far north.

冰中的海怪，没错，等他回去以后可以好好讲讲这个故事。编造的也无所谓。反正大多数巨魔脑子里也没有多少带响的，差不多他说什么就信什么。

Sea monsters in ice, yes, that’d be a good story to tell when he got back. Didn’t matter if it wasn’t true. Most trolls didn’t have much rattling around in their skulls anyway, and would believe pretty much any tale he told.

他暂时停下了用力的思考。

He stopped thinking so hard for now.

所有最厉害的思考都需要留到后面。

He was going to need all his best thinking later.

这里不是他的领地，在这里的死法多得他数不过来，而他数数的本领比任何他认识的巨魔都厉害。

This wasn’t his territory, there were more ways to die up here than he could count, and he could count a lot higher than any other troll he knew.

他可能会掉进裂缝，会被突然钻出来的冰霜巨蛆一口吞掉，或者会被这里的荒野巨魔氏族装进锅里烹熟。这里的巨魔比其他地方的体型更大，而且也并不清楚自己需要一个主事的王，而且头衔对他们来说就是个厄纽克的屁。

He might fall into a crevasse, get swallowed by a riddling ice-wyrm, or get cooked in the pot of one of the wild troll clans that lived up this way. Bigger than most other trolls, they didn’t have the good sense to know they needed a king to be in charge of stuff and didn’t give an elnük’s fart for titles.

要是他的架子太大，他们准会卸了他的胳膊腿当零食。

They’d rip his arms and legs off for a snack if he tried to be all fancy.

所以他跑这一趟的来由就更显得奇怪了，因为他听说一个特别高大的名叫耶图的巨魔要让所有其他的巨魔氏族都知道，他是巨魔之王。特朗德尔不得不抓着几个巨魔脑瓜对撞，才让那些不服管的巨魔闭上嘴，吞回那些愚蠢的故事。有多愚蠢，比如如果任何巨魔都能自称是王，那他们为什么还要让特朗德尔分到最多食物，还要听他吩咐？

Which made the need for this journey all the more strange, because he’d heard stories of a giant troll called Yettu who was going about telling the other clan-trolls that he was the troll king. Trundle had needed to bash a few heads together when some uppity trolls heard those stories and got to saying stupid stuff out loud. Stupid stuff like, if anyone could call themselves king, then why did they give Trundle the biggest share of the food and do what he told them?

是啊，必须处理一下这个耶图，不然事情就要拿不住了。

Yeah, something needed to be done about this Yettu before things got out of hand.

虽然他自己想成为像瓜布拉克和其他古代巨魔王那样的大王，但这可不意味着其他巨魔也这么想！

Just because he’d newly thought of becoming a king like Grubgrack and the other ancient troll lords, didn’t mean anyone else got to think like that!

特朗德尔后脖颈的硬毛传来微微刺痛感，似乎他正被盯着。

The wiry hairs on the back of Trundle’s neck tingled, like he was being watched.

他暂时还看不到他们，但可以闻到前方的积雪下藏着体臭。任何自称为王的巨魔要想活得久，就必须灵敏察觉血雨腥风到来之前的空气。

He couldn’t see them yet, but he could smell the stink of their ripe bodies hidden beneath the snow ahead. Any troll that called himself king didn’t get to stay that way for long without having a sense for when blood was about to be spilled.

他继续向前，装作没事的样子，就像只是早晨出洞清理肠子。他假装打了个哈欠，露出满口尖牙，然后扫视前方起伏不平的雪原。

He kept going, walking all casual, like he was just out for a morning emptying of his guts. He pretended like he was having a big, wide-fanged yawn as he scanned the lumpy snowbanks ahead of him.

在席卷的暴雪和嚎哭的狂风中，很难看清楚什么。

Hard to see much of anything through the swirling blizzard and howling winds.

就在那，两个雪堆，太大太方，不可能是自然形成的。

There, two humps of snow that were just a bit too big and too regular to be natural.

而且，他还可以看到一个雪堆里伸出一只脚，另一个露出一撮头发。

Also, he could see a foot sticking out of one, and a tuft of hair from the other.

特朗德尔咧嘴笑出来，抖了抖络腮红胡子上的霜。

Trundle grinned a wide, gap-toothed grin and shook his mane of ragged red hair free of frost.

然后他把手伸进肮脏的简易斗篷，握住他忠实的冰霜棍棒，将把手的钩环从腰带上解下。他继续向前跋涉，让自己看起来正在风雪的吹打中举步维艰。

Then he reached under his filthy, patchwork cloak to grip the frozen haft of his faithful war-club, unhooking it from his belt. He trudged onward, making sure to look like he was struggling against the fierce wind and driving snow.

在他的左侧，一对细长的手指顶着蜡黄的指甲从积雪下钻出来。悄悄缩回雪堆以后，一双黄色的眼睛出现了，直勾勾地顶着他。

A pair of long fingers with long, yellowed nails poked through the snow of the mound to his left. They slipped back into the mound, and a pair of yellow eyes appeared, staring right at him.

特朗德尔一直等自己接近到一棒子的距离，然后突然抡起“碎骨棒”。顷刻间，温度骤降，刺骨的寒冷侵入他的手，永恒的冰在他身边散发霜气。这根棍棒是一块巨大的臻冰嵌在黑曜石握柄上，从未在战斗中辜负过他。

Trundle waited until he was a club’s length away from the mound before hauling out Boneshiver. Instantly, the temperature dropped, and icy cold stabbed into his hands as the eternal ice frosted the air around him. The club was an enormous chunk of True Ice mounted on an obsidian handle, and it had never failed him in battle.

雪堆里的那双眼睛惊恐地大睁，因为特朗德尔一跃而起，将巨大的棍棒打进雪堆中，发出清脆的碎裂声响。

The eyes inside the mound widened in surprise as Trundle sprang through the air and slammed his giant club down into the snow with a satisfying crunch.

一个巨魔从伪装中摇摇晃晃地站了起来，他皮肤发绿，如同生苔藓的树干，后脑勺已经被打成了大坑。他冲着特朗德尔挥舞一把石头做的剑，但从他皱成一团的眉头和斜视的目光来看，他还没想明白自己是不是死了。

A troll with greenish skin like mossy tree bark rose unsteadily from his hiding place, the back of his skull a smashed-in crater. He waved a stone-bladed sword at Trundle, but his knitted brow and cross-eyed glare told him he was trying to decide if he was dead or not.

“我觉得我死呢。”那个巨魔说。

“I fink I’m dead,” said the troll.

“我觉得你说得对。”特朗德尔说完，那个巨魔就躺倒在血中。

“I think you’re right,” said Trundle, and the troll toppled over into the snow.

第二个伏击的巨魔大吼一声跳了出来，高举一把巨大的石棍，打向特朗德尔所站的位置。但他疑惑地发现，自己武器的末端并没有一只死掉的巨魔躺在那。片刻后他注意到，唯一死掉的巨魔就是和他一起埋伏在此的同伴。而此时特朗德尔已经用宽厚的手掌握住了他的脖子。

The second ambusher leapt out with a throaty roar, lifting a giant stone club over his head and slamming it down where Trundle had been standing a moment ago. It looked puzzled there wasn’t a dead troll on the end of its weapon. And in the span of time it took for him to notice the only dead troll was his fellow ambusher, Trundle had a meaty fist wrapped around his throat.

他把那个巨魔从地面举起，这是个体型中等的家伙，铁锈色的皮肤下覆盖着树瘤般的骨节，几撮硬毛从腋下和胯下钻出。

He lifted the troll from the ground, a middling-sized thing with a rust-brown hide covered in gnarled lumps and sprouting tufts of wiry hair from its armpits and nethers.

“别动弹，你这个贱种。”

“Right then, you rascal!” said Trundle cheerfully.

“你应该死了才对，”那个巨魔艰难地说，“我用棒子打了你。”

“You supposed to be dead,” gurgled the troll. “I meant to hit you with me club.”

“我早料到了，”特朗德尔说着，用力攥紧那个巨魔的脖子，直到最后他的脸泛出紫色。“但看来我在这活的好好的，而你和你的伙伴才是被棒子敲死的，不是吗？”

“I saw that,” said Trundle, squeezing the troll’s neck until his face turned a pretty shade of purple. “But turns out I’m alive, and looks like you and your friend here got the dungy end of the stick, don’t it?”

特朗德尔放下了那个巨魔，他跌落在雪地中费力地喘上一口气。

Trundle dropped the troll, who fell to the snow with a rasping wheeze of breath.

“这里是耶图大王的地盘，”那个巨魔说，“你来干啥的？”

“This is King Yettu’s land,” gasped the troll. “Whatcha want ’ere?”

特朗德尔将碎骨棒靠近那个巨魔的头，寒冰的力量让他发出痛苦的呻吟。

Trundle held Boneshiver close to the troll’s head, who grunted in pain from the nearness of its icy power.

“我是特朗德尔，巨魔之王。我要你带我去见耶图。”他说。

“My name’s Trundle, the Troll King, an’ I want you to take me to Yettu,” he said.

那个铁锈色皮肤的巨魔叫做斯力古，他带领特朗德尔穿过暴风雪，走向一片布满斑点的冰川，每一个斑点似乎都是一处洞穴入口。斯力古并不善交谈，不过经过碎骨棒的轻轻鼓励以后，他发现自己有许多想说的东西。

The troll with the rust-brown hide was called Sligu, and he led Trundle through the blizzard toward a series of dots in a glacier that looked like cave entrances. Sligu wasn’t the chattiest of trolls, but after a couple of encouraging taps from Boneshiver he discovered a whole lot of things he wanted to say.

特朗德尔知道巨魔们总体而言并不具备什么想象力，但在斯力古的描述中，耶图是一座长眼睛的大山，一对拳头像巨石一般，还有永远填不满的胃口，于是特朗德尔就开始猜想到自己要面对的是什么了。

Trundle knew trolls were, by and large, not exactly imaginative, so when Sligu described Yettu as a mountain with eyes, a fighter with fists like boulders, and a belly as deep as a ravine, he began to get an idea of what he might be up against.

“那他是因为什么才管自己叫大王的？”特朗德尔问。

“So where does he get off on calling himself a king?” asked Trundle.

“他听说你到处说自己是王，于是大家就都把最好的吃食先给你。”斯力古说，“他听呢以后，就说自己是这个王那个王！”

“He heard you was walkin’ about calling yourself king and that everyone gave you all the best food first,” said Sligu. “Soon as he ’eard that, it was king this and king that all the time!”

“我以为你们北方巨魔讨厌头衔呢？”

“I thought you northern trolls hated titles like that?”

“是讨厌的，但耶图说，如果你这样的南方暖皮巨魔都觉得好，那他就也要当大王。后来他把所有说他不是王的氏族酋长都杀呢，再要不同意就太蠢呢。”

“We do, but Yettu said if it were good enough for a warmskin southern troll like you, then he wanted to be a king as well. And once he killed all the uvver clan-chieftains who said he weren’t no king, it didn’t seem too clever to not agree wiv ’im.”

“他把他们全杀了？”

“He killed them all?”

“对，吞石族的酋长，脑袋直接被打飞呢。”斯力古说，“直接飞到了下一条山谷里，再没回来。”

“Yeah, punched the chief of the Rock-Eaters’ head right off his neck,” said Sligu. “Flew right over to the next valley, so it did.”

“不赖。”特朗德尔说，心想着他能把一颗头打飞到多远。

“Not bad,” said Trundle, wondering how far he could punch a head.

“然后他把冰洞族的巨魔熏走，抢呢他们的窝。”

“And then he smoked out trolls of Ice Cave Glacier and took their lair.”

“他怎么熏走的？”

“How’d he do that?”

“吃呢一大堆洞穴菇和厄纽克粪，然后堵住入口，顺着他们的气孔灌呢一大坨。”

“Ate a load of cave mushrooms and elnük dung, then blocked the cave entrance and let loose a bum-ripper down their air hole.”

“聪明。”特朗德尔说，“虽然恶心，但依然很聪明。”

“Clever,” said Trundle. “Nasty, but clever all the same.”

“然后他又把夜土族里最大个子的巨魔吃得只剩膝盖往下。”

“And then he ate the biggest troll of the Night Soilers from the knees up.”

“为什么从膝盖开始剩？”特朗德尔问，“脚爪子挺好吃的。”

“Why the knees?” said Trundle. “There’s good eating on feet.”

斯力古耸耸肩，结果一只小小的鼠类动物从他后颈的浓毛中探出头，发出被惊扰的细声叽吱。“不知道。他好像说是太臭了。说就连吃屎的家伙也不愿意碰。”

Sligu shrugged, and a tiny rodent poked its head out from the dense knot of fur at the back of his neck with an annoyed squeak. “Dunno. I fink ’e said summat about them being too smelly. Said even a midden-licker wouldn’t touch ’em.”

“脚爪子又鲜又脆，”特朗德尔说着，瞥了一下斯力古的双脚。又宽又平，正是特朗德尔喜欢的样子，还带着完整、酥硬的趾甲。

“Nice ’n’ crunchy, feet are,” said Trundle, taking a sidelong glance at Sligu’s. Wide and flat, just the way Trundle liked them, with good, crusty-looking toenails.

“我倒是更喜欢吃手，不过脚也有好吃的。”斯力古赞同地说。

“More of a fingers troll meself, but I likes a good foot too,” agreed Sligu.

特朗德尔用碎骨棒戳了戳他，说“你要跟我讲耶图的事。”

Trundle prodded the troll with Boneshiver, and said, “You was telling me about Yettu.”

“哦，对，是来着。”斯力古继续说，“就，他听说呢你手下的巨魔大群落，所以自己也想要一个。有谁对他说只有大王才能有大军，于是他就觉得自己需要当大王。”

“Oh, right, so I was,” continued Sligu. “Well, he ’eard about the big troll horde you ’ad, and wanted one for ’imself. Someone told ’im only a king could have an army, so figured he needed to be a king.”

“他有王冠吗？”

“Does he have a crown?”

“王冠是啥？”斯力古问。

“What’s a crown?” asked Sligu.

“就是个带刺的帽子，能告诉别人你是大王。”

“It’s like a spiky hat that tells everyone you’s the king.”

“那么神的帽子？那是，有魔法那种？”

“A hat does that? It’s magical, like?”

“其中一些的确有吧。”特朗德尔说。

“I think some of them are,” said Trundle.

“哦，那样的话是有的，他有个王冠。”

“Oh, well, then yeah, he’s got a crown.”

“他从哪弄的？”

“Where’d he get it?”

“他跟我们说是从冰霜巨蛆的肚子里找到的，说它的肚子里就像个又臭又长的洞道。不过我的伙计芮吉说，可能他是用粪堆里找的牙齿和犄角做出来的。”

“He told us he got it from an ice-wyrm’s belly wot he walked through like a big smelly tunnel, but my mate, Regi, says it looks like he made it from some teef and antlers wot he found in a dung pile.”

不管是不是粪堆里的东西，特朗德尔都想看看这个王冠。不可能有哪个想当大王的巨魔只凭王冠更大，就敢说自己胜过特朗德尔。

Dung pile or not, Trundle wanted a look at that crown now. Couldn’t have some wannabe king saying he was better than Trundle just because he had a bigger crown!

“耶图的洞还有多远？”

“How far is it to Yettu’s cave?”

斯力古伸出一根扭曲的手指对准了峡谷尽头的冰川，蓝色的冰晶似乎被粗略地刻成了巨魔头颅的模样。这张巨大的冰晶面孔是特朗德尔见到过的第二大的东西，两颗巨大的眼珠似乎还透着狡猾的光泽，长着疣凸的大鼻子下面，是肥厚的嘴唇和突起的獠牙。

Sligu pointed a crooked finger up toward a blue-sheened glacier at the end of the canyon that looked like it had been crudely carved to resemble a giant troll’s head. The giant icy face was the second biggest thing Trundle had ever seen, with giant eyes that still managed to look beady and cunning, fat lips and jutting tusks below a giant, warted nose.

“耶图就长这样？”特朗德尔问道，掩盖着声音中的赞叹。

“That supposed to be Yettu?” asked Trundle, trying not to sound impressed.

斯力古点点头，“对，就是鼻子不太像。”

Sligu nodded. “Yeah, but they ’aven’t quite got his nose right.”

一连串蜿蜒的石径和骸骨搭成的攀爬架在陡峭的冰川上组成了一条凶险的道路。

A winding series of rocky paths and bone-scaffolds offered a treacherous path up the sheer face of the glacier.

“成，那咱就开始爬吧。”特朗德尔说。

“Right, let’s get to climbin’ then,” said Trundle.

太阳正在缓缓沉入峡谷的边缘，特朗德尔和斯力古来到了耶图洞穴的入口。这个入口是冰壁面雕上的宽大鼻孔，洞里的冰溜正在向下滴水，笼罩在一种泛绿的幽光中。

The sun was going down over the edge of the canyon by the time Trundle and Sligu reached the entrance to Yettu’s cave. That entrance was through the wide nostril of the carved head, and the water dripping from the icicles inside it had a peculiar greenish color.

两个荒野巨魔正在站岗，他们都扛着巨大的骨制战斧，浑身上下几乎一丝不挂，只在头顶带了居瓦斯克头骨制成的头盔。

A pair of wild trolls stood guard, carrying giant bone axes, and naked but for helmets made from hollowed-out drüvask skulls.

老实讲，他们的个头真够大，橘色的皮，鸟窝般的凌乱硬毛从骨盔的眼洞里伸出。他们两个的体型都比斯力古还大——特朗德尔现在开始明白，之所以派斯力古去当哨兵就是因为他更瘦小，更容易隐藏。

They were big, all right, orange-skinned and wiry, birds’ nest hair sprouting from the empty eye sockets of the dead animals. Both were bigger than Sligu—who Trundle was now beginning to realize must have been chosen as a sentry because he was skinnier and sneakier than the rest.

如果守卫都是这么大个子，那耶图得有多大？

If these boys were this big, how big might Yettu be…?

“你个谁？”第一个守卫说。

“Who goes dere?” said the first guard.

“是我，斯力古。”

“It’s me, Sligu.”

“哪个斯力古？”

“Which one?”

“你个屎脑子，我你老弟。”

“Your brother, dung-for-brains.”

“噢，那个斯力古。”守卫说，“你咋不直接说呢？你要干什么？”

“Oh, that Sligu,” said the guard. “Why you not say so? What you want?”

斯力古用蜡黄的拇指戳了戳特朗德尔的方向，“这家伙要来见耶图。”

Sligu jerked a yellowed thumb in Trundle’s direction and said, “This one’s ’ere to see Yettu.”

“谁都不准见耶图，”第二名守卫开口发话，他的一双锃亮眼睛像两颗煤块。

“No one get to see Yettu,” declared the second guard, his beady eyes like two lumps of coal.

“他保准想见俺。”特朗德尔说。

“He’ll want to see me,” said Trundle.

“俺？谁是俺？”第二个守卫问，“是你吗？”

“Me? Who’s Me?” said the second guard. “Is it you?”

特朗德尔试图跟上这个守卫的逻辑，但想到脑袋疼就不再想了。

Trundle tried to follow the guard’s logic, but gave up when it began to hurt his brain.

“我是特朗德尔。”他说，“巨魔之王，特朗德尔。”

“I’m Trundle,” he said. “Trundle the Troll King.”

“我听说过你。”斯力古的哥哥说，“你个外头来的。”

“I heard of you,” said Sligu’s brother. “You not from here.”

“你个聪明家伙。”特朗德尔说。

“You’s a clever one,” said Trundle.

对面的巨魔摇摇头，挥了挥斧子指了指身边眼神锃亮的巨魔说，“他个聪明。”

The troll shook his head and waved his axe at the beady-eyed guard. “He clever one.”

特朗德尔用碎骨棒狠狠敲在那个眼睛锃亮的守卫头上，然后转身面向斯力古的哥哥。这个巨魔看了一眼自己曾经的守卫同伴，现在已经只剩下一大团晶亮的臻冰，特朗德尔几乎可以听到他脑壳里的石头在挤压研磨，他的双眼在棍棒和棍棒的持有者之间来回跳跃。

Trundle whacked the clever, beady-eyed guard over the head with Boneshiver, and turned back to Sligu’s brother. The troll took one look at the glittering mass of True Ice that used to be his fellow guard, and Trundle could almost hear the rocks in his brain grinding together as his eyes went back and forth between the club and its owner.

特朗德尔非常清楚巨魔的思考需要很长一段时间，于是他把肩上的大袋子放下来，敞开口向斯力古的哥哥展示。生蛆的肉和凝固的血块发出难以抗拒的腥臭，从袋口扑面而来。

Knowing a troll’s thought processes could take a while, Trundle swung the large sack down from his shoulder and held it open before Sligu’s brother. An irresistible stench of maggoty meat and rank, coagulated blood wafted from its ragged neck.

那个巨魔舔了舔嘴唇，獠牙之间流出一条条黄色的馋涎。

The troll licked his lips, and thick ropes of yellow saliva drooled between his jutting tusks.

特朗德尔伸手从袋子里拎出一大块淌着粘液的肉，递了过去。

Trundle reached into the sack, lifted out a dripping hunk of meat and handed it over.

“你个进去。”斯力古的哥哥面带饥饿的微笑说道。

“You get come in,” said Sligu’s brother with a hungry smile.

原来，斯力古的哥哥也叫斯力古，所以特朗德尔想出了一个绝妙的点子，让他们一个叫大斯力古，一个叫小斯力古。这样就算是那个被敲了脑袋的巨魔忘了自己已经死掉再蹦起来，也一样能够分清他哥俩了。

Sligu’s brother, it turned out, was also called Sligu, so Trundle came up with the bright idea of calling one Big Sligu, and the other Little Sligu. Even the guard he’d bashed over the head would be able to tell one from the other now, if he forgot he was dead and got back up.

大斯力古领他向冰川深处走，一条条平直的通道交错成亮晶晶的网，向冰川内部不断延伸。这些通路不可能是巨魔开凿的，但特朗德尔不知为何觉得有些不自然。这些通道似乎有种让他肚子疼的魔法味道，就和他在冰霜女巫宫殿之下的冰封迷宫中的感觉一样。

Big Sligu led him deeper into the glacier, a sparkling network of smooth tunnels carved deep into the ice. No trolls had cut these passageways, but something about them didn’t strike Trundle as being natural. He got a gripey, magical feeling from them, the same as he had when he’d been deep in the frozen maze beneath the palace of the Ice Witch.

他们经过洞顶垂下的冰锥，路过形形色色的巨魔。特朗德尔不难注意到，他们的体型体态几乎是从硕大到更巨大。

They passed caves with spiky roofs of ice and filled with trolls of all shapes and sizes. Trundle couldn’t help but notice that most of those shapes and sizes went from just really big all the way to massive.

特朗德尔很快就数不清自己究竟看见了多少巨魔。

Trundle quickly lost count of how many trolls he saw.

“你们北方巨魔可真是一大群。”他说。

“You northern trolls are a big bunch,” he said.

大斯力古点点头，“这有许多怪物。都想吃巨魔。只有大巨魔活得下来。”

Big Sligu nodded. “Lots of monsters here. Want to eat trolls. Only big trolls live.”

特朗德尔仔细看了看小斯力古，不禁好奇他是怎么活下来的，或许他脑子里过的事比其他巨魔更多。虽然都是说话少的巨魔，但脑子聪不聪明，像特朗德尔这般狡猾的巨魔是能看出来的。

Trundle took a better look at Little Sligu, wondering how he’d managed to survive, guessing there was maybe more going on inside his head than most. Amongst trolls that wasn’t saying much, but cleverness was something a cunning troll like Trundle noticed.

或许他可以带小斯力古一起回去。把聪明的巨魔独自放任可不行。斯力古或许体型小，但迟早会搞出点大动静来。

Maybe he might take Little Sligu back with him. Didn’t do to leave clever trolls alone for too long. Sligu might only be little, but sooner or later he might get some big ideas.

最后，大斯力古领着他们来到冰川深处的一座巨大空洞。一道月光透过天棚上的洞照进来，在冰墙上映出舞动的光和鬼魅的影。特朗德尔一开始觉得很好看，但突然想起来耶图夺来这个洞穴的故事，于是用力拦住自己不去想他如何用坑洼的后门对准顶端的洞口，倾泻满肠子污浊。

Eventually, Big Sligu led them into a gigantic cavern deep in the heart of the glacier. A beam of moonlight speared into the cavern through a hole in the roof that made the towering walls of ice shimmer with dancing lights and ghostly shapes. Trundle thought it looked pretty until he remembered how Yettu had won these caves, and tried not to imagine his warty backside pressed through that hole and disgorging the foggy contents of his guts.

“大个子巨魔都在这边和大王一起待着。”大斯力古说。

“Big trolls hang out here with king,” said Big Sligu.

许多非常大的巨魔的确都聚在一起，围着一块蓝色的巨石，石头上盖着一层苔藓和几团针叶草似的东西。

A lot of very big trolls indeed were gathered around a gigantic blue rock covered in slimy moss and knots of what looked like taiga grass.

可那并不是巨石。

Except it wasn’t a rock.

那是个巨魔，而且当他转过身来的时候居然变得更大了，似乎是特朗德尔袋子里的东西让他闻到了味。

It was a troll, and somehow it managed to get even bigger when it turned around, catching wind of the sack Trundle was carrying.

耶图几乎比特朗德尔高一倍，胳膊粗得像树干，腿像更粗的树干。他的脑袋像一颗从山顶滚下来的石块，一路蹭上了全部霜苔和荆豆，最后落到了更大的石块上。一把短刀插在他胸前的皮褶里，权当入了刀鞘。黑色的刀刃光滑平整，是用火山脚下的滚烫岩石做出来的。

Yettu was nearly twice the height of Trundle, his rangy arms like tree trunks and his legs like even bigger tree trunks. His head was like a boulder that had rolled down from a mountain top, gathering up all the frozen moss and gorse along the way before landing on an even larger boulder. A long black-bladed knife of smooth stone from the steaming haunches of a fire mountain was sheathed across his chest in a fold of his skin.

他瞪特朗德尔的眼神，就像一群霜齿狼盯上了一头瘸腿的肥厄纽克。

He stared at Trundle the way a pack of rimefangs looks at a fat elnük with a limp.

特朗德尔本来计划只要一打照面就用碎骨棒敲碎耶图的头。但看了北方巨魔的大脑瓜以后，他改主意了。耶图的头盖骨和碎骨棒的臻冰之间，特朗德尔真不敢说哪个更硬。

Trundle had planned to smash Yettu’s head in with Boneshiver the moment he came face to face with him. Looking at the northern troll’s giant head, he decided against it. Between Yettu’s skull and Boneshiver’s True Ice, Trundle wasn’t sure which would come out best.

该换个新计划了……

Time for a new plan…

“你有肉。”耶图的声音低沉而粗哑。

“You got meat,” said Yettu with a rumbling, gravelly voice.

“我有肉。”特朗德尔说着，从袋子里拽出一头弯角山羊的腐臭残骸。耶图睁大双眼，一把从特朗德尔手中夺过肉块，一口吞进肚子里。

“I got meat,” said Trundle, reaching into the bag and hauling out the stinking remains of a curling-horned mountain ram. Yettu’s eyes widened and he snatched the carcass from Trundle’s hands to stuff it whole down his gullet.

耶图抹了一把血淋淋的下巴，打了个嗝。

Yettu wiped his blood-greasy chin and belched.

“你特朗德尔？”他问，“那个说他是巨魔之王的？”

“You Trundle?” he asked. “One who says he troll king?”

“对。”

“Yes.”

耶图伸出手掀起特朗德尔披着的毛皮斗篷。

Yettu reached out and lifted Trundle’s patchwork fur cloak.

“北边冻着你了，小家伙？”耶图说完，周围的巨魔哄笑起来，声音就像好几场雪崩同时汇聚。

“This far north too cold for you, little troll?” said Yettu, and the trolls around them grunted with laughter, the sound like avalanches colliding in slow motion.

特朗德尔耸耸肩，“巨魔之王得穿好的，对吧？这么说你是耶图咯？”

Trundle shrugged. “Troll King gotta look good, right? I suppose you’re Yettu then?”

“我还能是谁？你看这块哪个巨魔还带王冠了？”

“Who else I be? You see any other troll here wearing a crown?”

特朗德尔又仔细看了看耶图头顶的苔藓堆，现在他看到了那团荆棘和冰雪的乱麻中混杂着带血的兽骨、犄角和茸角。

Trundle took a closer look at the great mass of moss on Yettu’s head, now seeing that woven into the wiry thatch of thorny briars and ice were various bloodstained animal bones, horns, and antlers.

看起来就像一团乌云倒过来向天空发射分叉的骸骨闪电。

It looked like an upside-down storm cloud spitting bolts of bone lightning back at the sky.

“原来王冠就长这样。”他说。

“So that’s what a crown looks like,” he said.

耶图点点头，迈步走向特朗德尔。

Yettu nodded and stomped toward Trundle.

“你不咋大。”耶图说着，用一根粗壮的手指拍了一下特朗德尔凌乱的红发。“我听着你是最大的巨魔。说你用天挠头，用海解渴。”

“You not so big,” said Yettu, tapping a thick finger on Trundle’s matted red hair. “I ’erd you was biggest troll ever. That you scraped your head on the sky and could drink seas.”

“这个不错，我让别的巨魔走到哪都讲这个故事。”特朗德尔说，“你听没听过那个，说我用大绿森林里最高的树当牙签？还有那个，说我早晨吃一整头猛犸，然后用它的头盖骨洗澡？”

“That was a good one. I made trolls tell that one wherever they went,” said Trundle. “Did you hear the one about how I used the tallest tree in the Big Green Forest for a toothpick? Or the one where I ate a mammoth for breakfast and then used its skull for a bath?”

“洗澡是什么？”

“What is bath…?”

“就是……算了，不重要。”特朗德尔说，“还有说我一下就跳过了南边的群山，然后跟白石巨人摔跤？还有我用膝盖硌断了他的尾巴，然后拿尾巴在拉克斯塔克挖出了内陆湖？我最喜欢这个。”

“It’s when you… Never mind,” said Trundle. “Or the one where I jumped over the southern mountains in a single leap to wrestle the Whitestone Giant? That I broke his tail across my knee and took it home to dig out the inland sea at Rakelstake? That’s my favorite.”

“你经常去打巨人。”耶图说。

“You fight giants a lot,” said Yettu.

“打别的没意思。”特朗德尔答道。

“It’s the only way to get a good fight,” answered Trundle.

“你是来打我的？”耶图笑着问，然后举起双拳。就像斯力古说的，那是像巨大石块一般的拳头。其他巨魔围过来组成一个圆圈，然后开始跺脚，等待耶图痛扁他一顿。

“You come here to fight me?” said Yettu with a grin, putting up his fists that were, as Sligu had mentioned, like giant boulders. The other trolls made a rough circle around them and began stamping their feet, just waiting for Yettu to bash him good.

接下来这个计划狡猾得足以让冰霜女巫的头发融化掉。

Time for a plan so cunning it would make the Ice Witch’s hair melt.

“打架不一定总要用拳头。”特朗德尔说。

“Fighting ain’t always done with fists,” said Trundle.

“对，有的时候我把东西踢死。”耶图赞同道。

“Yeah, sometimes I kicks things to death,” agreed Yettu.

“我不是这意思。”特朗德尔说着，轻轻用蜡黄的爪子敲了敲自己的额头。“如果你是真正的大王，你就要用这个。”

“That ain’t what I mean,” said Trundle, tapping a curling, yellowed claw to his forehead. “If you’re a king, a real king, you gotta use this.”

耶图点点头。“头槌。对。我也愿意用头，猛撞。”

Yettu nodded. “Headbutts. Yeah. I likes them too, I do.”

“我的意思是用你脑壳里面的东西，”特朗德尔说，“你用来思考的脑子！”

“I mean the thing inside your head,” sighed Trundle. “The brain that does your thinking!”

“脑子”

“Brain?”

“用脑子来战斗，”特朗德尔说，然后又悄声补充道，“我是走运了，你瞅着就不会打。”

“It’d be a battle of wits,” said Trundle, then, under his breath, “Lucky for me it looks like you’re unarmed.”

“我们要咋用稀烂的脑子打架？”

“How do we fight wiv our squishy brains?”

特朗德尔笑着露出满嘴的牙，然后将袋子口朝下，把所有动物残骸都倒在地上，在他俩中间堆出一大堆恶臭的皮毛、白骨和腐肉。

Trundle grinned a toothy grin and upended the sack to spill out the rest of the animal carcasses between them in a stinking red pile of fur, bones, and rotten meat.

“比谁能吃！”特朗德尔说。

“An eating contest!” said Trundle.

“这怎么就算用脑子了？”耶图疑惑地看着他手下的其他巨魔。

“’Ow’s that usin’ our brains?” asked Yettu with a confused look at his trolls.

“待会你就知道了。”特朗德尔打消了他的疑虑。

“You’ll see,” promised Trundle.

更多的肉块被搬了过来，堆在两位迎面而坐的巨魔之王中间。巨型海兽的腹部大块肉、长毛猛犸的肋骨、滑溜溜的臭鱼、苔原上不会飞的鸟的大翅膀、巨大的厄纽克头、还有一堆堆正在蠕动的身体部位，让特朗德尔暗自庆幸自己不认识是什么部位。

More meat was brought up and placed in the pile between the two seated troll kings. Giant hunks of flesh torn from the bellies of giant sea creatures, ribs from hairy mammoths, slithering piles of rotten fish, giant wings from the flightless birds of the tundra, entire elnük heads, and squirming heaps of wriggling body parts that Trundle was glad he didn’t recognize.

除了食物，被搬上来的还有用巨大石碗盛的冒沫汤，那股气味熏得足以让特朗德尔的鼻毛打卷，就像是喷火山周围的地裂缝里喷出的味道，特朗德尔感觉它尝起来肯定比那种黄水还难喝，就是那种南方软皮人称之为啤酒的黄水。

As well as food, giant stone bowls of frothed liquid were brought out, stuff that made the hairs in Trundle’s nose curl up. The stench was like the cracks in the earth around the mountains that spouted smoke and fire, and Trundle had a feeling it would taste worse than the amber water the squishy folk of the south called beer.

这的确称得上是一场王者的盛宴，但只有一个王能吃到最后。

Truly this was a feast fit for a king, but only one of them could walk away from it.

“咱就干吃？”耶图问。

“We just eat?” said Yettu.

特朗德尔点点头，“吃啊吃，吃死一个为止。活下来的就是真正的王。”

Trundle nodded. “Eat and eat. First one to die loses. Last troll standing is the real king.”

耶图笑着说，“你的故事不错，特朗德尔，但你的肚子太小。真正的王需要最大的肚囊，耶图比谁都更大更狠。我有一次打个哈欠吞掉两整头猛犸自己都不知道。”

Yettu grinned and said, “You got some good stories, Trundle, but you only got little belly. Real king needs the biggest belly, and Yettu’s bigger and meaner. Once ate two whole mammoths when yawned and didn’t even notice.”

两位王周围的巨魔纷纷呜——了一声。

The trolls around the two kings oohhed.

“是吗？”特朗德尔说，“那，有一次我喝了太多水，撒尿撒出了拉克斯塔克的海。”

“That so?” said Trundle. “Well, I once drank so much that when I had to pass water I made the sea at Rakelstake.”

巨魔纷纷啊——了一声。

The trolls aahhed.

耶图皱起眉头，眼睛在眼窝里打转，试图回忆起不久之前的事。

Yettu’s brow furrowed and his eyes rolled around their sockets as he tried to dredge up a memory from only a few moments ago.

“等着，你说你挖坑挖出了拉克斯塔克……”

“Wait, you said you dug land to make sea at Rakelstake…”

特朗德尔丝毫没有停顿地反驳说，“挖出足够大的坑才能往里撒尿。”

Trundle retorted without missing a beat. “Dug it out to make a hole big enough to pee in.”

周围巨魔们的脑瓜在两个巨魔之王之间来回转，看他俩互相吹牛，一个比一个吹破天。

The heads of the trolls around them went back and forth as the two troll kings exchanged boasts, each one more outlandish than the last.

最后，特朗德尔说，“我来之前，刚爬上了雪人的山顶，咬掉了一块月亮。”

Finally, Trundle said, “Just before I came here, I climbed yetis’ mountain and took a bite of the moon.”

巨魔们嘲笑他吹牛吹得太大，可特朗德尔顺着棚顶的洞口指向天空中的弯月，每个巨魔都抬起头看过去，呢喃的低语中透着全新的敬意。

The trolls laughed at this outrageous boast until Trundle pointed up at the crescent moon shining down through the hole in the cavern’s roof. Every troll’s head lifted to follow his pointing finger, and they muttered among themselves with a newfound respect.

就在他们抬头看的同时，特朗德尔把那个空的口袋塞进了披斗篷下面，紧贴自己的身体。

While they were looking up, Trundle stuffed the now empty sack beneath his patchwork cloak and pulled it tight around his body.

“别再讲故事了，”耶图怒吼道，“开吃。”

“No more stories,” growled Yettu. “We eat.”

特朗德尔点点头，于是盛宴开始了。

Trundle nodded, and the feast began.

他先挑了一块大肋骨，从上面啃肉，啃干净以后又用膝盖把骨头硌碎，然后吸里边的骨髓。耶图几口吞掉一块居瓦斯克下腹肉，然后喝了一大口石碗里的冒沫汤往下顺。

He began by tearing the meat from a giant rib, making sure it was picked clean before cracking it open over his knee and sucking out the marrow within. Yettu wolfed down the flank of a drüvask, chasing it down with a hearty mouthful of the frothed liquid in the stone bowls.

“喝！”耶图命令道。“不喝烂泥羹哪能叫吃饭！”

“Drink!” commanded Yettu. “Not feast without frustbogga!”

特朗德尔接过呈上来的碗，一口喝干。歹毒的味道让他眼睛潮湿，这味道有点像曝尸沼泽里渗的水，又像地上流淌的红色岩石。咽下去的同时他感到喉咙被烧灼，然后肚子里着了火，他知道，过后清理肠子的时候自己的后门可要遭殃了。

Trundle took a proffered bowl and swilled it down in one, chugging gulp. His eyes watered at the noxious flavor of it, somewhere between corpse-blood swamp runoff and the red rock that flows. It burned his throat as it went down, and he felt it light a fire in his belly he knew was going to wreak havoc on his backside when he was forced to empty himself out.

他挤出一脸笑容说，“不赖。就是劲还不够大。”

He forced a smile and said, “Not bad. I’ve had stronger.”

耶图露出笑，他看到了特朗德尔眉梢渗出的汗，向前探头，抹了一把下巴。“我看到肚皮里着了火。烧死你，小家伙。”

Yettu grinned, seeing the sweat on Trundle’s brow, and leaned forward, grease dripping from his chin. “I see fire in belly. Burn you up, little troll.”

作为回应，特朗德尔抓起一大块鲸鱼肉，三大口吞进肚子。他把软骨和硬骨吐到旁边，然后饥饿地扑到食物堆里，争抢着其他碎块。

In response, Trundle picked up a crawling hunk of whale meat and devoured it in three giant bites. He spat the gristle and bone aside, and hungry trolls pounced, fighting for the splintered scraps.

耶图仰起脖，一整条奥玛鱼顺着喉咙滑了进去，尾巴消失在他喉咙眼之后还吧唧了一下嘴。特朗德尔双手捧起一堆散肉和内脏，津津有味地塞进嘴里，嚼成肉糜然后咽下。

Yettu tilted his head back and slid an entire Aurma fish down his throat, smacking his lips together as its tail disappeared into his gullet. Trundle scooped up handfuls of meat and guts, stuffing them into his mouth with relish and chewing the meat to paste before swallowing.

他们吃啊吃，每吃进一口烂肉、每喝下一碗烂泥羹，都引得周围的观众欢呼。但无论他们吃掉多少，面前的肉山似乎都丝毫没有变小。耶图舀起一捧小小的头骨装进嘴里，嘎嘣嘎嘣地嚼碎，翻来覆去细细品味，就像是在享受某种美味。

On and on they ate, their audience cheering with every rotten mouthful of food and every bowl of frustbogga they drank. The mountain of meat seemed to get no smaller, no matter how many chunks they ate. Yettu popped a shovel-like handful of tiny skulls into his mouth, crunching them and rolling the pieces around his mouth like they were some kind of delicacy.

“这些是在海上的木头船残骸里找到的，”耶图说，“许多小人，全都死了，眼看就要浪费。”

“Found these when boat made of trees wrecked on sea,” said Yettu. “Lots of little people all dead and going to waste.”

特朗德尔并不介意食用小人的肉，但会尽量避免。因为他们没有多少好吃的肉，而且细脆的骨头容易塞牙。

Trundle didn’t mind eating the meat of the small people, but tried to avoid it where he could since most of them didn’t have much in the way of eating on them and their brittle bones got stuck between his teeth.

又一批肋骨和嫩肉连带着烂泥羹被咽了下去，他知道这顿盛宴肯定会让他在回家路上付出代价。那个北方的王把头埋进一只猛犸的毛皮肉堆中，但特朗德尔看到了传闻中耶图吃饱的迹象：他的脸开始发红，吃的速度也开始放慢。

Another carcass of ribs and meat was washed down with frustbogga, and he knew he was going to pay for this feat on the way home. The northern king stuffed his face with the furry meat of a mammoth, but Trundle saw the telltale signs of a full belly in the redness of Yettu’s face and the slowed pace of his eating.

特朗德尔也开始感觉到如此大量的肉和烂泥羹的作用。

Trundle, too, was feeling the effects of so much meat and frustbogga.

耶图打了个嗝，从腹部发出的轰鸣撼动了天棚的雪，许多巨大的冰溜落了下来。巨魔们跳着躲开，特朗德尔借着他们分神的机会把斗篷下面藏的袋子提上来，开口正好接着他血淋淋的下颌。

Yettu belched, a belly-rumbling roar that shook snow from the ceiling and sent a bunch of giant icicles falling from the roof. Trolls jumped out of the way, and Trundle used the distraction to lift the neck of the food sack beneath his patchwork cloak up under his fat and blood-soaked chin.

他抬头看到小斯力古正在盯着他。这个聪明的小东西一定看到了他刚才把袋子藏进斗篷。小斯力古对他缓缓点头，特朗德尔对他一笑，附身上前继续抓来肉和骨头。他把食物塞到嘴边，但并没有真正吃掉，而是把大部分食物都抵着下巴塞进了袋子里。他不急不慢，左咬一口右嚼一下，不动声色地把整条翅膀、头颅、一整扇发黑的肋骨全都往袋子里塞，直到袋子装满，已经无法继续塞东西。

He looked up and saw Little Sligu staring at him. The clever little troll must have seen him hide the sack under his cloak. Little Sligu gave him a slow nod and Trundle grinned, leaning forward to grab yet more meat and bone. He shoved it toward his mouth, but instead of eating it he tipped most of it down his front and into the sack. He took his time, taking slow bites here and there, all the while stuffing entire wings, heads, and racks of blackened ribs into the sack until it was full and he could fit no more in.

特朗德尔肚子叫了一下，他打嗝喷出一股泛黄的臭气。

Trundle’s belly rumbled and he belched a stinking cloud of yellowed gas.

“饱了？”耶图说着，嘴里嚼着一条又长又重的大腿骨。

“Full yet?” said Yettu, chewing on a leg bone of something long and heavy.

特朗德尔拍了拍臌胀的肚子摇摇头。

Trundle slapped his bulging midriff and shook his head.

“饱？你在说我？”他笑着露出满口牙缝之间的碎骨和肥油，“我刚刚只是热身。咱什么时候正式开始？”

“Full? Me?” he grinned through a mouthful of crunching bone and dripping fat. “I’m just getting warmed up. When do we get properly started?”

其他巨魔大笑起来，耶图怒吼一声让他们安静。

The other trolls laughed, and Yettu roared at them to shut up.

“这我当王！”他吼道，“不是他！”

“I king here!” he yelled. “Not him.”

特朗德尔还在笑。耶图之所以当王，是因为他最强壮、最狠毒、最能吃。但特朗德尔知道这种王最容易被推翻。

Trundle grinned. Yettu was king here because he was the strongest, meanest, and hungriest troll, but Trundle knew that kind of king was easy to topple.

而最狡猾的王？那种王才有可能永远当王。

But the cunningest of kings? That kind of king could stay king forever.

特朗德尔轻松地向后靠，打了个哈欠，似乎准备小睡一觉。

Trundle leaned back and yawned, stretching like he was ready to go for a nap.

“嘿，”他说着，向耶图伸出一只手，“能把你的短刀借我一下吗？”

“Hey,” he said, holding his hand out to Yettu. “Can I borrow that big knife of yours?”

耶图用怀疑的目光看着他，双眼周围爬上血丝，眼眶里油脂满溢。

Yettu eyed him suspiciously through red-rimmed eyes swimming in grease.

“干嘛？你觉着你能砍到我？”

“What for? Fink you gonna cut me?”

“才不，只是要为下一道菜腾地方。”

“Nah, just got to make room for next course.”

这位北方的王抓住短刀的握柄，从胸前的皮褶中抽出刀。他把刀扔过中间的血肉小山，特朗德尔用粘腻的手掌接住。作为巨魔的武器，这把刀出奇地精美，而且邪了门地锋利。

The northern king gripped the stone handle of his knife and pulled it from the flesh of his chest. He tossed it over the remaining mound of bloody meat, and Trundle caught it in his sticky palm. For a weapon of trolls, it was surprisingly well made and wickedly sharp.

特朗德尔小心地站起来，托着鼓鼓囊囊的斗篷，然后放了一个震天响的屁，他身后立刻清出了一片空地。

Trundle pushed himself carefully to his feet, holding the bulge of his cloak and letting out a thunderous fart that swiftly cleared the space behind him.

然后他拿起耶图的短刀，隔着斗篷划开了自己的肚皮。

Then, he took Yettu’s knife and sliced it across his cloaked belly.

他发出一声舒缓的呻吟，以假乱真。袋子里塞满的食物像雪崩一样落下来，嚼烂的肉、咬断的骨头、磨碎的筋洒了一地。

He let out a convincing groan of relief as the vast quantities of food he’d stuffed into the sack spilled out around his feet in an avalanche of chewed meat, gnawed bones, and fragments of half-eaten gristle.

“啊，舒服多了。”他说着，把短刀递给了小斯力古，顺便使了个眼色，小斯力古又把刀交给了耶图。大个子巨魔惊讶地看着特朗德尔又抓起一大把肉塞进嘴里。

“Ah, that’s better,” he said, handing the knife to Little Sligu with a sly wink, who returned the blade to Yettu. The big troll stared in amazement at Trundle as he lifted yet another handful of meat and stuffed it into his mouth.

耶图看了看刀，又看看特朗德尔，然后咆哮狂笑着站直了身子。

Yettu looked from the knife to Trundle, and rose to his full height with a roar of laughter.

“你就让他这么赢你？”小斯力古说。

“You gonna let him beat you like that?” said Little Sligu.

耶图摇了摇头。

Yettu shook his head.

“没有谁能赢我。”他怒吼着，把短刀深深刺进自己的肚子。

“Nobody beats me,” he snarled, and plunged the knife deep into his own stomach.

这位北方的王用锋利的刀刃在肚子前划开一道口子，然后带着胜利的笑容将沾血的短刀高高举起。

The northern king sliced the razor-sharp blade across his belly and lifted the bloody knife high with a triumphant grin.

“耶图也会腾地方！”

“Yettu make room for food too!”

特朗德尔眼看着这位北方的王的笑容渐渐退去，他的肚子就像另一张嘴在打哈欠，所有他刚刚吃下的消化了一半的食物都随着他自己的鲜血和肠子奔涌而出。

Trundle watched the northern king’s grin fade as his belly yawned open like a second mouth and all the half-digested food he’d just eaten came spilling out in a torrent of his own blood and coiled guts.

“哪不对了吗？”特朗德尔问着，从嘴里拽出一串鱼刺。

“Something wrong?” asked Trundle, pulling the skeleton of a fish carcass from his throat.

耶图想要回答，但他只能干张嘴，他的内脏依然在从肚子上的开口往外淌。他手中的短刀掉落下来，膝盖也软塌下去。

Yettu tried to answer, but his mouth just flapped as his innards continued to pour from his opened belly. The knife dropped from his hand and his knees buckled.

耶图堆坐在地上，徒劳地想要把他破了口的肚皮拢回去。

Yettu sank to the ground, trying in vain to hold the sliced flaps of his belly together.

“感觉不太好……”说完这句，他就一头栽进了面前的肉堆里。

“That don’t feel good…” he said, before falling face first into the mound of meat.

小斯力古走向前，特朗德尔一半怀疑、一半敬佩地看着他。

Little Sligu came forward and Trundle eyed the smaller troll with a mixture of suspicion and respect.

“现在我算知道你这样的小个子巨魔是怎么在这帮大家伙之中活下来的了，”特朗德尔说，“你够聪明。”

“Now I think I know how a little troll like you’s managed to survive up here among all these big boys,” said Trundle. “You’re clever.”

“有点吧，”斯力古轻轻耸肩。

“A bit,” said Sligu with a modest shrug.

“或许你应该跟我回南方去，”特朗德尔建议道，但他的语气很显然完全不是建议。

“Maybe you should come back down south with me,” suggested Trundle in a tone that made it clear it was anything but a suggestion.

“成啊，”小斯力古说着，环顾四周其他巨魔，“换个风景或许也挺好。”

“Yeah,” said Little Sligu, looking around at the other trolls. “Change of scenery might be nice.”

“那你知道现在要做什么了吧？”

“Then you knows what you got to do now, yeah?”

小斯力古举起了特朗德尔的手臂。

Little Sligu lifted Trundle’s arm.

“特朗德尔赢了！”聪明的小巨魔高呼道，“真正的巨魔之王！”

“Trundle is winner!” shouted the clever little troll. “True king of trolls!”