遥望陆地 In Sight of Land

作者：Ian St. Martin

夜里的水面静得诡异。海洋的平静丝毫不受打扰，这幅景象可能会让人误以为是一片黑色的琉璃倒映着夜空中的繁星。一切都沐浴在冰冷的银色月光中，可是这月光正在渐渐熄灭。

The waters were eerily still at night. Their surface was so undisturbed, one might mistake it for dark glass mirroring the starlit skies above. Moonlight bathed everything in cold, silver light, though its radiance was slowly dying.

月亮要被掐死了。在月亮和望月的人之间，那片天空已被黑影占据，一条条触须在夜空中摸索着，就像恶毒的风暴被赋予了生命。这种事人们已经遇见过多次，而且每次都有许多人的灵魂被卷入其中，至今依然遭受着无尽的折磨，但这些黑影从未涨得如此庞大，也从未蔓延得这么远。

The moon was being suffocated. The sky between it and those who looked upon its beauty had been overtaken by questing tendrils of shadow that branched across the night like living, malevolent storms. Their like had been seen many times before, and many were the souls carried off within them into fathomless torment, but never had they grown so large, or reached so far.

蚀魂夜纵然可怖骇人，但这个世界已经开始习惯它的存在，人们很清楚恐怖的暗影岛上会生出鬼怪怨灵，它们会群起聚集形成黑暗的狂风暴雨席卷而来。蚀魂夜途经之处的居民学会了观察征召，学会了如何忍受它们的哀怨和忿怒并活下来，也学会了如何哀悼那些被蚀魂夜夺走的人。但现在这个东西，这团张开巨口想要吞没天空的黑暗，是完全不同的东西。

For all their horror, the world had grown used to Harrowings, tempests of darkness teeming with monstrous wraiths that emanated from the horrid Shadow Isles. Those in their path learned how to watch for the signs, how to survive their wailing fury, and how to mourn those taken by them. But what was happening now, what was reaching up to swallow the sky, was something different.

就好像有一只看不见的手正在指挥它。

Almost like there was some unseen hand guiding it.

不过，今晚，依然可以有人探出头来看看这个世界，以及这片静止的海。今晚，打破它绝对平整的只有零星几个瑕疵：折断的木板、撕碎的布料、和新鲜的尸体。

Tonight, though, one could still glimpse the world and the stillness of the sea. Tonight, its perfection was marred only by tiny islands of splintered wood, torn cloth, and the bobbing forms of the newly dead.

图德烈想尽量不去看它们。从海难降临到绝望挣扎再到最终弃船后的第一个小时里，他把嗓子喊哑了，希望可以发现幸存者。但没有用。只有他自己。

Tudre tried not to look at them. In the first hours after their doomed flight and the desperate struggle to abandon the ship, he had screamed himself hoarse, calling out in hope that anyone else might have survived. But it was in vain. He was alone.

于是图德烈命令自己拿出最后的力气爬上一块木板，抵抗住冰冷的海水，不让自己被拖进无光的深渊。他几乎可以听到深邃的海洋在召唤他，去和其他人汇合，她用甜美的声音向他承诺安眠，劝他把她的水吸进肺里。

And so Tudre marshaled his remaining strength to cling to a hunk of driftwood, and resist the icy waters seeking to carry him down to their lightless depths. He could almost hear the deep calling up to him to join all the others, her silver tongue carrying the promise of sleep, if he would just draw her water into his lungs.

海洋已经冻麻了他的双腿，但图德烈强迫自己不停地踢水。绝望的号角带着死亡的慰藉拖拽他的靴子，但他堵住耳朵不听。图德烈能有今天的命靠的可不是屈服，所以他现在也不打算屈服。

The sea had numbed his legs, but Tudre willed himself to move them. He shut out the clarion call of despair that tugged at his boots with the gentle comforts of death. Tudre had not reached this far in life through submission, and he would not start now.

他只需要回到陆地。图德烈刚刚满帆全速驶向瓦洛兰大陆边上的小岛，法尔格伦。他们已经很近了——陆地不会很远。

He just had to get to land. Tudre had sailed with all speed to make for Fallgren, a small island off the Valoran mainland. They had gotten so close—it couldn’t be far.

虽然疲劳和寒冷让他视线模糊，但图德烈的那只好眼睛的视野边缘看到有东西在动。他定睛望去，发现是一张浸油牛皮纸漂到了他的救命木板旁边。图德烈仔细看上面的内容。纸上的标记和墨水已经被海水泡模糊了，但可以猜出大概。

Though exhaustion and the cold blurred his vision, Tudre caught movement out of the corner of his good eye. He focused, revealing it to be a scrap of oiled vellum drifting close to the splintered sanctuary he held fast to. Tudre peered at it. The marks and ink on its surface were marred and smeared by water, yet still intelligible.

这是他们航海图的一部分。上面画着的是一张粗糙的老地图，标明了贸易点、航线和航海距离单位。有许多已知地点的名字，甚至还有几个秘密地点。胡乱涂画的云彩长出人脸，张开嘴呼出一股股风，标记着最好的航线，只要能乘上气流就可能一帆风顺，前提是要够胆量。

It was a piece of their navigation chart. Scrawled onto it was a rough, timeworn map of trade and shipping routes and measurements of maritime distance. The names of known places, and even a few secret ones. Crude drawings of clouds with faces, breathing out gusts from between their lips to mark the best lanes where the winds might bless a ship with speedy passage, for those who dared—

“你疯了。”

“You’re insane.”图德烈吭了一声，伸手扶住头顶上摇晃的灯笼，这是船舱里唯一的光亮。海面开始颠簸了，他可没时间让舵手瞎胡闹。Tudre snorted, reaching up to catch the swinging lantern that was the cabin’s sole source of light. The seas were getting rougher, and he had no time to suffer his quartermaster’s nonsense.“人老了不够硬了，鲍吉老伙计？”图德烈露出狡黠诡笑，打算引他旁边的老海盗上钩，“没事，不寒碜。你不行就跟我说，但请你帮我个忙，要说就趁现在。我得找人顶上你的位置，得合理安排人手。”“Gettin’ soft in yer old age, Mister Bowsy?” Tudre grinned his big, cunning grin as he baited the old corsair next to him. “No shame if ye are. Y’can tell me, though do me a kindness and say so now. I would need someone else in your spot, to keep the crew in line.”“我才不是软脚虾。”鲍吉在摇摆的船舱中稳住自己，随后透过豁牙留出的缺损吐出一口浓痰。“我是神志清楚。这一趟会把我们害死的，船老大。而且不止我一个人这么想。”“I ain’t scared.” Bowsy steadied himself to spit a wad of phlegm onto the deck through the gap made by a missing tooth. “But I see sense. This’ll get us killed, skipper. And I ain’t the only one who thinks so.”“我们跑得快，我们就赚得多。”图德烈伸出一根手指戳在他们面前桌上的旧地图上。他们头顶漏进来的雨滴在地图上积出一小滩水，图德烈一挥手把水擦掉，然后摸上一条用红色墨水标注的航路。“其他所有船都泊在码头上了，那些船员都跟回家嘬老娘的奶子似的。但贸易往来永远不眠不休，鲍吉老伙计。你想想这是多大一块肥肉摆在那里，无人看守！我们只需要跑一趟，就能搞到别人拼老命都想要的东西。”“We go fast, we get rich.” Tudre stabbed a finger down at the old map set on the table before them. He swept aside a tiny puddle that had collected on it from a drip above their heads, and then traced a route denoted in dull red ink. “Every other ship around is docked, crews actin’ like they be back on dear ol’ mum’s teat. But commerce ne’er sleeps, Mister Bowsy. Think on what’s sittin’ out there, unguarded! We make a run, we can get what they’re all too craven to collect.”“他们泊在码头上是因为现在正闹着蚀魂夜呢。”鲍吉把两只粗壮的花臂交叉捧在胸前，“就没人见过这么凶的蚀魂夜，告诉你，就连那帮最老的家伙都没见过。无论那些船上有什么好货，都不值得冒那个险，我话就撂这！”“They’re tied to dock because it’s a damn Harrowing.” Bowsy crossed his thick, tattooed arms over his chest. “Biggest anyone’s seen, mind you, even the oldest ones. Whatever’s out there ain’t worth bein’ swept up in that, I’m tellin’ ya!”图德烈稍微挺直身子，他发现地图上的红墨水蹭到了手指上。他死死盯着他的舵手。他的声音沉下来，更加冰冷的语调意味着这次讨论已经进入尾声。“不想干的人可以走，没有后果。人少了正好可以让有胆出海的人多一份收获。而且你可别搞错了，我们是铁定要出海的。”Tudre straightened, finding some of the red ink had come off the map to stain his finger. He stared his quartermaster in the eye. His voice dropped, settling into the colder tone that meant the discussion had run its course. “Anyone wants out can go, no repercussions. Less hands means a greater stake for those with the grit to be going out. And we are going out, make no mistake.”鲍吉最后尝试了一次。“至少投票决定吧。让船员们都表个态。”Bowsy tried, one last time. “At least let it be put to a vote. Let the crew have their say in it.”“这次不行。”“Not this time.”图德烈剩下的那只好眼睛坚定不移地盯着舵手。鲍吉用眼神顶回去片刻，又坚持了片刻，但就此打住。他看向了别处。Tudre’s good eye bored into the quartermaster, unyielding. Bowsy held his gaze for a moment that stretched into another, but no further. He looked away.“那现在，”图德烈的诡笑又回来了，“你来不来？”

“Now.” Tudre’s grin returned, full and cunning. “You in or not?”

图德烈摇着头，想把这段回忆从脑海中驱赶出去，但摇头让他感到一阵眩晕。那段难受的回忆挥之不去，像沥青一样糊在他眼前。又像是被谁固定在那里，强迫他观看。

Shaking his head, Tudre tried to banish the memory from his mind, but the effort left him dizzy. The unwelcome remembrance held fast despite his efforts, clinging behind his eyes like pitch. Or as though something was holding it there, forcing him to see.

这时一股陌生的感觉压了上来，就像海面泛起的薄雾。一名水手的日常生活里到处都是噩兆险象和不祥预感，莫名直觉和撞狗屎运。图德烈早就开始学会感受另一个看不见摸不着的世界，而且时不时地，这两个世界之间的壁障会变得很薄。现在就是，那种感觉像是一股模糊的抽动。一种畏惧和愤怒的感觉，固执地想把罪恶感塞进他的骨头缝。但他从来都没有过罪恶感。

He felt a strangeness fall over him then, almost like mist curling up off the water. A sailor’s life was fraught with omens and ill portents, gut feelings and lucky breaks. Tudre had long become attuned to a world that existed side by side with his own, and every now and then the walls between them thinned. It was happening to him now, like a dull throb. An insistent sense of dread and anger, seeking to work guilt into his bones. But he’d have none of it.

“造船就是为了航海，随便问去。”图德烈从颤抖的上下颌之间挤出一句话，“我跑过这条航线好几十次。只要看到机会，就必须抓住。没点胆量和莽撞是活不出我这样的。”

“Boat’s made fer sailin’, ask any man,” Tudre wheezed through chattering teeth. “I done that run dozens o’ times. See a chance at fortune, ya take it. Can’t live this life if ye ain’t the darin’ sort!”

图德烈的话里带着他这辈子惯用的标志性吹嘘，天生的粗野和无情，不仅让他成为自己船上的船长，而且还坚守到今天。远海从不照顾弱者，比尔吉沃特也不，所有被他轰开大门的主要港口都不。只要错过一次机会，你就可能要悔恨叹息自己错失了最后一次搏命的本钱，或者是救命的稻草。

Tudre’s words bore the hallmark bravado he had carried so well in his life, a bounty of natural grit and ruthlessness that had seen him not only rise to captain his own ship, but keep it. The high seas were unkind to the weak, as was Bilgewater and any big port whose doors he had ever darkened. Pass on an opportunity, and you might look back and see it was the last chance you had to hold onto your stake, or keep your guts in your belly.

但在今晚，在如此的寒冷中，这样一番话是唬不住任何人的。他的听众只有来自海底的绝望。它翻滚着升起，弥漫停滞，久久不散。

But out in this night, and this cold, there was no one to be cowed by his speech. Only the dread that rolled up from the deep. It persisted, undiminished.

“陆地就在附近，”图德烈告诉自己说，“肯定的。”

“Land is close,” Tudre told himself. “It has t’be.”

图德烈并没有意识到自己在漂动。驮着他的这张大木板不负所望，懒洋洋地向着一片缠连在一起的残骸漂过去。海盗船老大扫了一眼浮渣和碎木，没有看到更好的救生方式。中间有一匹帆布漂浮着，但图德烈知道它非但不能救命，反而是一种祸害。他曾见过不止一名慌乱的水手被卷入风暴中的帆布旋涡，然后就像被铁链拴紧了手脚，被狂风和海浪带到舷外。

Tudre had not realized he was moving. His hunk of driftwood lived up to its name, lazily edging forward into a tangled field of debris. The corsair looked over the floating collection of scraps and splinters, but found no better means to keep from drowning. There was a bolt of sailcloth among it, but Tudre knew it would prove more a hazard than a savior. He had seen more than one panicked sailor ensnared by such in a storm, as good as chains if the winds and spray carried them over the side.

图德烈久经风霜的脸上开始泛起担忧，因为那块帆布越来越近了。他伸出一只手，想把它推开，但帆布直接把这只手吃到胳膊肘，令他失去平衡。他咬紧牙发出怒吼，对抗着帆布的力量——

Concern creased Tudre’s weathered features as the sailcloth came closer. He put out a hand, trying to push it away, but his arm sank into it to the elbow, stealing his balance. He snarled through clenched teeth, fighting the sails—

“抓稳喽！”图德烈大喊道，努力让自己的声音盖过风暴，“保住那根绳子！”

“Hold fast!” Tudre bellowed, trying to raise his voice above the storms. “Secure that line!”他不知道是否有人能听见他，但他依然四处走动，喊叫着下达命令。雨水、浪花和黑影拍打着甲板、风帆和船员们。狂风在他们身边呼啸，不是单纯的风声，而是真切的说话声。被侵蚀的冤魂组成一支嚎哭的合唱团，在最后关头扑到了图德烈头上。他的船很快，但还不足以逃离穷追不舍的黑暗。He couldn’t tell if anyone could hear him as he moved about, shouting orders. Rain and spray and shadows lashed the deck, the sails, the crew. Gales roared over and around them, not with wind but with voices. A howling choir of the harrowed damned had befallen Tudre on the last leg of his run. His ship was fast, but not fast enough to stay ahead of it.他们的船舱里装满了财宝。沿岸仓库里的商品，抛锚货船里的货物，全都唾手可得，因为货主和看管人全都为了躲避蚀魂夜而抛弃岗位。原本给他们创造机会的东西，现在正在拖垮他们。鲍吉应该会责备图德烈不听他的劝诫，但他已经没这个机会了，因为黑暗扑上来的时候，他是第一个被带走的。Their hold was swollen with treasure. Goods pilfered from coastal stores, trade ships at anchor, all of it easy taking as their keepers had abandoned their posts to flee the Harrowing. That fortune was slowing them now. Bowsy would have admonished Tudre for not believing him, if he hadn’t been the first man plucked up by the darkness bearing down on them.“船老大！”“Skipper!”图德烈听到水手弗利尔的声音，猛回过身，看到他正在死死抓住一扇船帆。弗利尔正在拼尽全力把船帆缠到桅杆上，不让它胡乱抽打、松散脱线。但他眼看就要输给狂风了。Tudre whirled around, hearing the boy Flir and seeing him grappling with a bolt of sail. Flir was fighting desperately to lash the sail to the mast, to keep it from stripping and snapping loose, but he was losing that fight.图德烈与弗利尔目光交汇，年轻的水手用眼神求助，那面帆布甩来甩去，拒绝被他固定到一根木杆上。图德烈权衡着要不要过去帮他，但随后他看到那根木杆的根部崩出碎木屑，然后他彻底不犹豫了。Tudre locked eyes with Flir, the boy pleading for his help as the oiled cloth whipped and defied his every attempt to secure it to a spar of timber. Tudre weighed going toward him, but then saw splinters fly from the base of the spar, and all doubt fled.“船老——”“Skip—”木杆突然折断，弗利尔被帆布拽上了天，飞进了滚滚黑暗中。图德烈看到他的双眼，眼里充满惊愕和恐惧，最后飞进一团鬼脸和利爪聚集而成的云雾中。一下心跳过后，那个小伙子消失了，只剩下嚎哭合唱团里新增的一个尖叫声。

The timber snapped, carrying Flir up into the roiling dark. Tudre saw his eyes, wide in terror as he flew into a cloud of twisted faces and outstretched, clutching hands. A heartbeat later the boy vanished, just one more scream added to the choir.

“宁让他死别让我死。”面对海洋安静的控诉，图德烈怒吼着反驳。他能感觉到脑壳里的胀压，虽然只有自己一人但却好像被谁监视。

“Better him than I,” Tudre snarled against the silent accusation of the sea. He felt the pressure of it inside his skull, the feeling of being watched even though he was alone.

帆布缠到他小臂上，他越挣扎就缠得越紧。

The sailcloth tangled around his forearm, holding tighter the more he tried to escape.

“宁让他死，”他重复这一句，眼睛盯着手上缠着的帆布，“别让我死。”

“Better him,” he repeated, glaring down at the scrap of sail clinging to his hand, “than I.”

为什么？那块布好像在发问。

Why? The cloth encircling his wrist seemed to ask.

图德烈哆嗦一下，但并不是因为冷。他的心智开始作乱了，他已经如此挫败、疲惫、绝望。他想把手抽离出来，但不得不中途放弃，因为他差点从木板上滑落。

Tudre shivered, but not from the cold. The mind was playing tricks now, beaten and worn out and desperate as he was. He tried to yank his arm free, but stopped midway as he nearly lost hold of the driftwood.

“因为我是他妈的船长！”图德烈喷着唾沫喊道，“这是我的船，我的货。我要为船上的所有小伙和姑娘负责，不只是弗利尔一个娃子。我跑过去帮他，结果把我也搭进去，然后呢？我剩下的船员咋办？没了我他们咋办？”

“Because I be the damn captain!” Tudre spat. “’Tis my ship, and my charge. Mine’s a duty to every lad and lass aboard, not just Flir the boy. I run off to aid him, get snatched up too, what then? What becomes of the rest of me crew, without me there?”

有那么片刻，愤怒占据了图德烈。他浑身扭曲，猛地向后抽出手臂，然后那块帆布终于松开了。但他自己的身体也向后翻过去，仰面躺到木板上，又过了一秒钟，他的手没了力气，随后他沉入水下。

For a moment, anger got the best of Tudre. He twisted, pulling his arm back sharply, and the sail finally relinquished its hold. But it swung him around, putting his back to the driftwood, and it was another second until his grip left him and he was under the water.

寂静漫过他全身，随后是刺骨的寒冷。在那几下心跳的工夫里，图德烈没能控制自己的身体。他是老练的海员，绝不是刚上船的新手。他向上望，看到海面就在自己头顶上，于是努力拍动双手，双腿，向上浮。但他却动弹不得。

Silence rushed over him, and shocking cold. Tudre flailed for a few heartbeats before asserting control over himself. He was a seasoned man of the sea, not some green deckhand. He looked up, seeing the surface just above him, and tried to pump his arms, his legs, to raise himself back up. But he couldn’t move.

这可不单是疲惫和寒冷让肌肉麻木那么简单。图德烈的那只好眼睛左顾右盼，只能在残月的微光中看到模糊的轮廓。许许多多的残骸，一部分较轻的船舱尚未沉到墨黑的深处。再就是尸体。男女长幼的尸体，他们都曾管他叫船长。

It was more than just tired muscles numbed by cold. Tudre’s good eye flicked this way and that, seeing only faint silhouettes in the waning moonlight. More debris, the lighter bits of a ship that had yet to settle down into the inky deep. And bodies. Bodies of women and men who called him captain.

信赖你的人……

Who relied upon you...

这些词语敲打在图德烈的脑壳上，这是一种感觉而不是一种声音。

The words struck Tudre, a feeling rather than a sound.

……你背叛了他们

... and you betrayed them.

图德烈挣脱了那不知名的束缚，恐慌借给他力量，让他浮上水面。他大口呼吸，歪扭着寻找那块木板。他找到了木板，一把抓住，像遇见初恋一样抱紧它。

Tudre broke free of whatever had been holding him, panic lending the strength he needed to surface. He gasped for air, twisting about in search of the driftwood. He spotted it and grabbed hold, embracing it like his first love.

这个时候，在他的手指沿着光滑边缘寻找着力点的时候，图德烈才意识到这块木板是什么。它原本是一艘救生艇。许多救生艇中的一艘——

It was only then, as his fingers sought purchase on its slick shape, that Tudre realized what it was. It was part of a lifeboat. One of the lifeboats—

“上救生艇！”某个人尖叫着喊道，“弃船！”

“Into the lifeboats!” someone was screaming. “Abandon ship!”有东西爬上船了。怪异、可怕、干枯的野兽从风暴中散落，就像野狗身上撒下来虱子一样。它们在海浪上如履平地，悄悄追上来，若无其事地用尖牙利爪屠杀图德烈的船员。There were things on board the ship now. Wretched, horrible, blighted beasts that had detached from the storm like lice shed from a dog. They stalked through the torrent without effort, undisturbed by the chaos as they butchered Tudre’s crew with fang and claw.图德烈和他的手下在航海生涯中闯出不少绰号。私掠者、商人、买卖人，全都名副其实，但海盗、水贼、强盗这些称呼也同样名副其实。他们是暴力事件的常客，每个人只要走上甲板就会在身上挂满武器，多到两只手拿不过来。Tudre and his mates had earned monikers over their careers. Privateers, merchants, businessmen, all true, but just as true were pirates, corsairs, reavers. They were not strangers to violence, and every one of them walked the decks with more weapons strapped to them than they had hands to carry.但他们全都倒在怨灵的爪牙下，就像麦子被镰刀收割。他们之中不论男女长幼，不论是否跟过图德烈打架斗殴、狩猎过深海巨兽、还是顶过火炮与钢刀冲上敌船甲板，此刻都像孩子一样对着怪兽求饶。可怪兽根本不知道什么是仁慈，就更别提饶命了。他们只知道割开身体和灵魂。But they fell to the wraiths like wheat before the scythe. Men and women Tudre had seen brawl, hunt great leviathans of the deep, fight in the vanguard of boarding actions braving cannon and steel, begged like children to monsters that couldn’t understand a thing like mercy, much less provide it. All they provided was the severance of body and spirit.图德烈拳打脚踢，推开恐慌的船员，来到为数不多的几艘漏水的救生艇旁。有几艘救生艇被扔在了港口，这样能减轻负重，多载点战利品，所以现在小木船被挤得满满当当，远超载荷。Tudre punched and shoved his way through the mass of panicked faces crowding around the few leaky lifeboats the ship had. Several had been left behind at port to reduce weight so they could load more spoils, and now men and women packed the tiny wooden craft, far more than the boats could carry.“让路！”图德烈推开一名手下，提起一条腿踩进离他最近的救生艇。“Make way!” Tudre cuffed a shipmate aside, swinging one leg onto the closest lifeboat.“停！”救生艇的船头传来一个男人的声音。“这艘船装满了！再上人的话，她就得把我们全都抛下去。”“Hold!” a man called out from the bow of the lifeboat. “This one’s full up! Any more, and she’ll roll us all down below.”“下水！”图德烈说着，一只手已经攥紧了腰间的弯刀刀柄。“Cast off!” said Tudre, fingers tightening on the hilt of the cutlass at his waist.“人太多了，不能冒这个险！”那个人答道。“Can’t risk it with this many on ’er now!” the man replied.图德烈伸出一只手抓住那个人的后脖颈，把他拉到跟前，像是要对他说悄悄话。但随后船长的弯刀捅进了他的肚子，刀尖从那个人的后背穿出，流出的鲜血被周围的狂乱染成黑色。图德烈麻利地抽出刀，把僵死的尸体翻到舷外。Tudre put a hand on the back of the man’s neck, pulling him close as though to whisper a secret in his ear. Instead the captain’s cutlass found his gut, steel bursting out the man’s back in a welter of blood rendered black by the madness swallowing them all. In one smooth motion, Tudre withdrew his blade and pitched the lifeless body over the side.“妥了，”他狠狠地说，“少一个人了。赶快，下水！”

“There,” he hissed. “One body fewer. Now cast off!”

“我要活下去。”图德烈毫不退让，但他的语气已经不再强硬。“强者活，弱者死。我选择了活，至少是让那条船上的每个人都活下去的机会，不然它就得超载侧倾，所有人都得死。至少他们都有过机会。”

“I be a survivor,” Tudre argued, though the strength was missing from his words. “The strong live on, and the weak die. I chose life, a chance at it, for everyone in that boat, rather than capsizing it and leaving all to drown. They at least had the chance.”

他已经不知道自己在说服谁了。刚才就已发出声音的罪恶感，现在已经此起彼伏，像舷炮开火一样在他脑海中轰鸣。

He didn’t know who he was trying to convince anymore. The sense of guilt that had become a voice was now many, thundering in his mind like broadside cannon.

……你害的……

... you did this...……我们赔进性命……... our lives forfeit...……你的贪婪……... your greed...……害死了我们所有人……... killed us all...……杀人凶手……... murderer...……杀自己人……

... turncoat...

图德烈低下头，把眉骨贴到救生艇的残骸上，感觉他们无声的咒骂重重压在身上。“别说了。”

Tudre lowered his head, resting his brow against the wreckage of the lifeboat, buckling under the weight of their silent condemnation. “Stop.”

月光几乎看不见了。图德烈抬起头，看到海平面上出现一条模糊的黑边。他的灵魂燃起癫狂的希望。

The moon’s light was nearly gone. Tudre looked up, seeing a faint blurred strip on the horizon. His soul flared with delirious hope.

“陆地。”他惊呼道。

“Land,” he gasped.

神经错乱的狂笑声从图德烈的嘴里不断蹦出，他已经停止思考，满脑子只有等待第二天日出的坦然和期许。他的笑声戛然而止，因为有东西撞上了他后背。

Nervous, hysterical laughter bubbled from Tudre’s lips, overcome with relief and the prospect of seeing the sun rise over another day. The laughter stopped abruptly, when something jostled him from behind.

这时他才发现自己身边全是黑暗的人影。他发誓刚才还没看到它们。但现在它们就漂在旁边，轻轻起伏，每一具尸体都来自他的船员。

He noticed then the dark shapes all around him. He could have sworn none of them had been near just moments before. Yet here they floated, bobbing gently, the still flesh of his crew surrounding him.

“我从没故意害过你们，”图德烈的声音颤抖了，“我们所做的一切都是为了让你们发财，我拿的不比你们多。你们全都知道有什么样的风险。换做是你们，也都会和我一样！”

“I never did you ill,” said Tudre, his voice shaking. “Anythin’ we did was for yer fortune as much as mine. All of you knew the risks. You’d have done the same as me!”

那些袭击图德烈的声音似乎是从尸体中发出来的。它们的哭喊声淹没了他，直戳他的神经。

The voices assailing Tudre seemed to emanate from the corpses. Their cries buffeted him, stripping his nerves bare.

“别说了！”他哀求道，“求求你们！”

“Stop!” he pleaded. “I beg ye!”

但它们不肯停下。众多哭声融合成一场刺耳的合唱，反复说着两个字，像一首挽歌，埋葬图德烈的心。

But they would not cease. They merged into a single terrible chorus, repeating a single word like a dirge to drive down and bury in Tudre’s heart.

叛徒！

BETRAYER!

“不！”他尖叫着否认，声音贴着无光的海水传开。

“No!” he screamed in denial, the sound carrying over the lightless water.

图德烈的船员们整齐划一地坐了起来，他们的灵魂离开了尸体。弗利尔，鲍吉，所有人都面无表情地用浑浊的眼睛盯着他。他们青紫色的嘴唇没有说话，但图德烈的脑海里充满了他们的怒火，满得要裂开。

As one, the spirits of Tudre’s crew sat up, peeling away from their bodies. Flir, Bowsy, all of them staring at him with slack faces and clouded eyes. No sound left their blue lips, but Tudre’s head was filled to bursting with their rage.

“不，”他闭上眼睛哭着说，“放了我吧！”

“No,” he wailed, screwing his eyes shut. “Just leave me be!”

突然，那块木板下沉了一寸，就像是有多余的重量压上来。图德烈强迫自己睁开眼，于是发现自己正和死亡面对面。

Suddenly the driftwood sank a fraction, as though under added weight. Tudre forced open his eyes, and found himself staring up into the face of death.

在他面前的是一个女子，高挑轻盈，站在木板上，举重若轻地保持着不可思议的平衡。她原本的肉体现已成为幽冥的蓝色能量，静静地燃烧着。她身穿破损的铠甲，头盔顶端装饰着黑色的长缨。三根长矛贯穿她的胸膛，还有一根被她握在手中。

It was a woman, tall and lithe, standing atop the driftwood with a balance that was as effortless as it was impossible. Where her flesh should have been was instead smoldering, spectral blue energy. She was clad in battered armor and a helm with a long, black plume. A trio of spears had been driven through her chest, and she had another gripped in her hand.

看到她，图德烈的心彻底冰冷沉重。每个人都知道这个传说，许多人都付之一笑，认为这是吓唬小孩的故事。故事里说有一个复仇的化身，每当有人死于不义之举，发出伸冤的哭喊，她就会出现。

The sight of her turned Tudre’s insides cold and leaden. Everyone knew the legends, the whispered things a man could laugh off as stories meant to scare children. Stories of an avatar of revenge, appearing wherever injustice had been done and voices cried out for vindication.

他们呼唤的是复仇女神，她将手持长矛，带着满腔怨气，回应呼唤。

They cried out for Lady Vengeance, and with spear in hand, she would answer with damnation.

图德烈的船员一齐走到跟前，女子的诡异幽光映照出他们蓝宝石般的眼睛。

Tudre’s crew came closer, the woman’s eerie light reflected in their blazing, sapphire eyes.

“不，”图德烈开始乞求，因为他眼前的景象不仅遮挡住了远方的陆地，同时也扭断了他最后一丝坚决。“我只是想在这个世界上开出一条自己的路。我的船员不该遭受这样的命运，我承认，可是我也不该落到这个下场。你不知道我的难处，我带着一众手下走向毁灭，还要为他们的灵魂背负诅咒！”

“No,” Tudre pleaded, as the sight before him, cutting him off from the promise of land ahead, wrenched away the last of his resolve. “I was only tryin’ to make me way in this world. My crew didn’t deserve their fate, no, but nor do I deserve this. You don’t know what it be like, leading those in your command to their doom, to be responsible for the damnation of their very souls!”

她冷峻的表情突然出现生机，就像是有什么只有她能听到的声音从远处传来。女子俯视图德烈，目光如炬，刺穿了他的灵魂。愤怒让她情绪失控，瞬间闪过痛苦的表情，随后又立刻消失。

Sudden life was brought to her cold, unreadable features, almost as if there was a sound in the distance that only she could hear. The woman glared down at Tudre, boring into the core of him. Rage twisted her face in a rictus for an instant, and then it was gone.

她缓缓放下长矛，抵在图德烈的咽喉。她向下推，不过力量并不足以刺穿他的皮肉。刚好让他脱离木板，把他推到水面之下。

Slowly she lowered her spear, resting it just under Tudre’s throat. She pushed, though not with enough pressure to pierce his flesh and impale him. Just enough to separate him from the driftwood, and push him under the water.

图德烈心里大声呼喊着要反抗，求生的冲动催他上浮，但他做不到。抵在咽喉处的长矛一直把他压在水面之下。图德烈仰望那个散发着微光的冷漠面容。复仇女神到底还是找他来了。

Tudre’s mind screamed to fight, the urge to survive willing him to rise, but he could not. The spear tip at his throat held him beneath. Tudre looked up at that shimmering, dispassionate visage. Lady Vengeance had come for him at last.

那些声音全都安静了。他的船员和他一起沉下去，向他靠拢，就像五指握成拳。一切光亮黯淡。图德烈终于向深海屈服，把她的海水吸进肺。最后一串气泡从他的嘴角溜走，随后他向着黑暗缓缓漂落，这是他沉溺的地方，刚好可以遥望陆地。

The voices had all gone silent. His crew sank down with him, closing around him like fingers making a fist. All light faded. Tudre finally succumbed to the deep, and drew her into his lungs. The last bubbles slipped from his lips as he drifted lower into the darkness, and he went down, just in sight of land.