声 Voices

作者：Jared Rosen

王者十位，王座十张，

Ten great kings took ten great thrones,王冠九顶，加冕头上。Nine crowns adorned nine heads.独剩一人，掘土墓葬，One left to scratch upon their mounds,独剩乌鸦，不死不生。

The crow, alive and dead.

——德玛西亚古代诗歌，作者佚名一切都要从老休巴德讲起，变了味的蜜酒把他喝得酩酊大醉，估计又回想起了某场模糊的战斗，八成是他当了逃兵的那一次，于是他就把自己锁在金坡镇郊外的某个茅草房里。戴维尔想把门撞开，他这个邻居可真够意思，但那个可怜的老骨头居然还有把子力气，全身顶住门板，嘴里念念有词地说着什么身高、什么蜘蛛、什么被鸟给啄死。谁信他呀，能啄死他的也就酒瓶子了，所以我们就都回家了，换谁都会觉得，晾他一天，这混球自己就清醒了。

— old Demacian poem, author unknownIt started when old Hubard, drunk out his mind on stale mead and the dulled memories of some battle he’d probably run from, locked himself in a shack just outside of Goldweald. Davil tried to break the door in, good neighbor as he was, but the miserable fossil had more strength than anyone could have anticipated, bracing his entire body against the entrance as he babbled about heights and spiders and being pecked to death by birds. No one believed the man was being pecked to death by anything but a bottle, so we all went home, assuming, as one does, that with a day to dry out, the ordeal would sort itself.

就一宿，全变了。

Took only one night.

第一声惨叫，全镇的听得见，就像是谁扒开了休巴德的胸膛，掏出了他一辈子的惨叫。随后是第二声，几乎一模一样——但却更惨烈。声音高得刺耳，就像麻布袋包着锈铁，用像是人的语调，喊叫着像是人的字句，直到面包师的老婆哭喊一声，“法师！”然后就乱套了。人们纷纷拿起武器，镇长——如果这破地方的头头配叫镇长的话——向着集会大厅里一通乱射，家家都不管不顾、手忙脚乱地堵上窗户，老一套。自从冬爪侵袭北方以后，这种事已经发生一百次，没准都两百次了。寻常百姓，只要有点魔法的风吹草动，就吓疯了。

First scream ripped across the village like someone had pulled it out of Hubard’s open chest, followed by a second that was almost the same—but worse. It pitched higher, like rusted metal wrapped in burlap, in almost-human words with an almost-human rhythm until the baker’s wife cried, “Mages!” and all hell broke loose. People arming themselves, the mayor—if that's what you could call the head of some hinterlands piss-hole—shooing whoever he could into the meeting hall, windows being boarded up in blind panic, the works. You’ve seen it a hundred times, probably two hundred since the Claw hit up north. Regular folks going mad at the fairest hint of magic.

我要说的是，出事的时候大概都这样。但出再大的事也有兜底的，但金坡镇出的事，干脆底掉兜不住。

Point is, that’s around when everything went bad. But there’s a bottom to bad, and what happened in Goldweald broke right past it.

不信？

Don’t believe me?

你自己去瞅瞅。金坡镇已经没了。

Go for yourself. Goldweald ain’t there anymore.

没工夫等你瞅，我就接着讲了，接下来就要对不起戴维尔了。跟你讲，戴维尔以前是个探子，当时咱还觉得弗雷尔卓德绥靖政策有多光彩呢，后来他又继续效忠国王，远走恕瑞玛和蓝焰群岛。是个见过世面的。多亏咱在大西边，咱这穷乡僻壤的，最凶险的不过是孵化季节过后走丢的龙禽，可能再算上个把晒黢黑的土贼，但戴维尔可见过外面的凶险。世界有多险恶，你做梦都想不到。于是他集结了所有愿意听指挥的人，组织了一支民兵团，打算把那些作怪的“法师”就地正法。

But I’m skipping ahead, and that ain’t fair to Davil. See, Davil was a spy from back when the Freljord pacifications were still talked about like there was honor in ’em, and he later served the crown as far out as Shurima and the Blue Flame Isles. The man had seen things. We’re lucky out west, since the worst the hinterlands have to offer are some stray raptors after the hatching season, and maybe a sun-cooked bandit or three, but Davil knew what was out there. What could be out there. And he gathered up all the folk who were willing to listen and organized a peasant militia to bring those supposed “mages” to justice.

他的计划很简单：天一亮，我们就全体出镇巡逻，两两一组，不落单。当过兵的主事，让我们有盼头，让我们觉得能打。为了国王为了国家！哇呀呀德玛西亚那一套。

His plan was simple: First light, we’re all going on patrol, two by two, no one alone. Military stuff, and that gives us hope, gins us all up for a fight. For king and country! Rah-rah Demacia, and all that.

谁知天亮的时候有一家人全没了。

Until the sun comes up and a family’s gone missing.

五口人，一个不剩。农场七零八落，围栏里的牲口全被宰了。门全是从里面反锁的，窗户也都栓上了。他们就那么没了。镇长叫全镇集合开会，两个雇农没来。戴维尔去排房叫他们，有什么玩意应了一声。但并不是他们。声音很像他们，但却让人感觉是硬挤出来的，就像那种破旧上锈的铁笼，嘎吱嘎吱、呛啷呛啷、哗啦哗啦的声音，怎么停也停不下来。

Every one of them—five in all. Farmhouse torn to shreds, livestock slaughtered in their pens. Doors all locked from the inside, windows all latched. They’re gone. The mayor calls a meeting, but a pair of fieldhands don’t come in from the rows. When Davil calls for them, something calls back. But it isn’t them. Sounds almost like them, like something is forcing words into almost the right shape, but that old, rusty cage sound keeps cutting through, squeaking and rattling and clicking like it can’t help itself.

到这个时候，大伙都害怕起来了。有个愣头青拿着把剑就闯到田里——没了。另一个人跟在他后面——没了。铁匠想出了一个好主意，他要快马赶到安珀菲尔，叫卫队过来，可他在那条出镇的老商路上刚跑一半，就被马甩了下去，然后被什么东西拖进了排房里。戴维尔大喊他的名字，问他有没有事，然后那个恐怖的声音又应了，说它要一路赶到安珀菲尔叫卫队过来。

Now people are afraid. Some hothead charges into the fields with a sword in his hand—gone. Another follows him—gone. Blacksmith gets the wise idea he’ll ride all the way to Amberfel and call the guard, but the horse bucks him halfway down the old trade road and something pulls him into the rows. Davil calls to see if he’s alright, and that awful voice burbles out, saying it’ll take the road to Amberfel and call the guard.

戴维尔又问了一遍，它又说：“我要一路赶到安珀菲尔叫卫队过来。”

Davil asks again, and it repeats: “I’ll take the old road to Amberfel and call the guard.”

那个声音邪乎的很……就像在你脑瓜里拧别针，搅着脑浆，直戳到更底下的黑暗。大伙的脸色全都变了。大人们抱紧孩子，慢慢向后退，有的干脆拔腿就往家跑。那个声音足以扒下一个人的所有防备，只剩下赤裸的魂，即使是烈日当午，也心惊胆寒，瑟瑟发抖。感觉就像被它抽走了什么东西。它渴望的东西。

There’s something about it… like a pin twisting inside your head, poking through the meat into something darker underneath. I could see it on everyone’s faces. Folks holding their kids close, backing away toward their homes, some just running. That voice could cut away all the parts of a person and leave ’em naked and afraid, shivering in the middle of a blistering afternoon. Like it was pulling something out of you. Something it wanted.

一个小姑娘说她看见田地里有人站着，就站在我们插稻草人的位置。谁还关心那个呀，而且当时大伙都太慌乱，都没在意她说的话。

A little girl says she saw someone standing above the field out where we keep the scarecrow. It’s such an odd thing to notice, and there’s so much going on, that we pay her no mind.

我们太傻了。

But we should have.

天色暗下来，镇上半数的房子都门窗紧闭。你能听到人们在里面窃窃私语、喃喃嘟囔、嗤嗤傻笑，像疯子一样，说的是什么……我不确定。蛇。闪电。黑暗。墙壁倒塌。刀刃。大海。他们一边在狂笑，一边在尖叫，听上去每个人都疯了，就像被困在了房间里，和另一个可怕的自己共处。听上去就像每个人都被困在了同一个噩梦中。

Night comes and half the houses in town are boarded shut. You can hear folks inside whispering, muttering, giggling like maniacs, but about… I’m not sure. Snakes. Lightning. The dark. Walls closing in. Knives. The sea. They’re laughing and they’re screaming and it sounds like everyone has gone insane, like they’re trapped inside a room with a part of themselves they don’t want to face. It sounds like we’re all stuck in a nightmare.

然后灯火开始熄灭。一家又一家，门窗都挡的严严实实，但灯火都无力地熄灭了。然后他们的声音也开始消失，人们的突然安静下来，只剩下一个声音。某个东西在老铁匠铺后面沙哑地叫。自言自语。说着什么蛇。闪电。黑暗。

Then the lights start going out. One after the other in all the boarded-up houses, the lamps flicker and die. And the voices melt away, each suddenly silenced, all save for one. Something croaking behind the old smithy. Muttering to itself. About snakes. About lighting. Muttering about the dark.

戴维尔，那个可怜的傻蛋，他带着民兵团冲了进去。然后……我也和他一起。我拿着刀。我还提着灯笼。但排房又长又深，灯笼的光在四面八方照出影子。

Davil, that poor fool, takes the militia and goes in. And I… I’m there with him. I have my blade. I have my lantern. But the rows are deep, and the light casts shadows everywhere you look.

我不知道究竟发生了什么。我看到了一张脸——应该是脸。有什么东西在和我对视，就在戴维尔前头，但他却似乎看不见它。就好像只有我能看见那张脸。一张彻底歪斜、扭曲的粗麻布脸，嘴里吐着锈铁的尖牙。在它后面……是某种庞然大物。瘦长的腿支撑着铺开的身子，上百只活蹦乱跳的黑鸟在一个旧笼子里扑腾，我认识那个笼子，是我们去年扔进树林里的那个。然后我看到了眼睛。许多许多眼睛。

I… I don’t know exactly what happened. I saw a face—maybe. Something looking back at me just ahead of Davil, but it was like he saw right past it. Like that face was just there for me. All lopsided, twisted sackcloth and rusted teeth. And behind it… something huge. Splayed out on thin legs, but alive with hundreds of black birds rattling inside an old cage we’d thrown into the woods last year. And eyes. So many eyes.

现在金坡镇已经不剩人了。如果我后面没人出来……那我就是唯一一个活下来的。他们的惨叫声在我背后渐渐静下来，血红的光从苞米穗之间透出来——回荡的都是瘆人的咬牙声、惨叫声、还有猪和马的痛苦嘶嚎……

There’s no one left in Goldweald now. If no one came after me… I’m the only one left. Hearing those screams fade behind me as crimson light poured out from between the corn stalks—that sickly crunching, and the bellowing, tortured squeals of hogs and horses…

还有乌鸦！上百只——上千只乌鸦！但它们并不是乌鸦，你还不明白吗？它们是烟雾冥火！它们不是真的！它们不可能是真的……

And the crows! Hundreds of them—thousands! But crows they aren’t, can’t you see? They’re smoke and fire! They’re not real! They couldn’t be real…

它们在跟着那个声音！那个深沉、轰鸣的声音一直藏在最下面！你还不明白吗？你还——

They follow that voice! The deep, rumbling voice beneath it all! Don’t you see? Don’t you—

噢，神啊……戴维尔！我把他忘了！我把他抛下了——在排房里，在那个可怕的稻草人身边！大伙——他们全死了！神啊，神啊，它一定在跟踪我。只要它尝了你的恐惧，只要它认识了你，它就绝不会松口。它不会放过你，它不会——

Oh, gods… Davil! I left him behind! I left him there—there in the rows with that horrible scarecrow! Everyone—they’re all dead! Gods, gods, it must have followed me. Once it tastes your fear, once it knows you, it never lets go. It won’t let you go, it won’t—

哪来的说话声？

What’s that voice?

你们能——

Can anyone hear—

你们听不见？

You don’t hear it?

……戴维尔？

…Davil?