霜月夜的英雄 Hero of the Frost Moon

作者：Matt Dunn

所谓英雄，就是响应召唤、做成大事之人。

A hero is anyone who answers the call to do what must be done.

他们做出莫大的牺牲，只因为一个真理：这个脆弱的世界需要保护。

They sacrifice so much because of a singular truth: this fragile world requires protection.

对于丽桑卓来说，这是一切的意义。她几乎从不休息，而且现在尤为警醒，因为今晚的星空显现出异象。她隐秘私室的圆形顶棚上，开了许多扇窗户，上面印刻的符文能驾驭许多天体运行的能量。

This means everything to Lissandra, who rarely rests, especially not on nights like tonight, when stars align in strange ways. The round apex of her private sanctum features many rune-inscribed windows to harness the powers from various celestial syzygies.

上千根形同棺材的黑色冰柱从从白雪皑皑的地面凸出。它们就像一颗颗黑色的巨齿，从深邃的谷低长出来，似乎是要吞下苍穹。她十分清楚这些冰柱向下延伸到多深，扎根于何处，以及为何矗立在此。

Thousands of dark, coffin-like ice formations protrude from the snow-carpeted ground. They rise like great black teeth, jutting up from the depths below, poised to devour the sky. She knows exactly how far down these boulders descend, where their roots terminate, and their purpose.

丽桑卓在这片绝无仅有的冰石阵之中信步慢行。在霜月与冷星相合的天象之下，她全盲的双目看到的景象无比清晰，任何敢踏足这片神圣空间的人都未曾达到过她的视野。虽然这里像陵墓一般安静，但她听到了别人听不到的声音——半梦半死之人，在一根根冰晶巨石之中啽呓。

Lissandra strolls through this unique structure. Under this alignment of the Frost Moon and the Cold Star, she sees more without eyes than anyone who has ever dared set foot in this sacred space. Although it is quiet as a tomb, she hears what no one else can—the voices of the half-dreaming and half-dead trapped within each crystalline monolith.

一名古代的巨魔国王一言不发。它深陷的双眼发出恶意满满的尖叫，目光随着她的脚步移动。当她最后走出视线，巨魔国王发出的嚎叫撼动了它的黑冰堡垒。

An ancient troll-king says nothing. Its deep-set eyes scream with malice as it tracks her path. When she passes out of sight, the troll-king’s growl shakes its black ice keep.

丽桑卓走出了十三步，从巨魔国王走到了那个铠甲锈迹斑驳的骑士。今晚，他先开了口。

Lissandra counts thirteen steps from the troll-king to her knight in rusty armor. Tonight, he speaks first.

“杀了冰霜女巫！”他说道。他双眼半睁半闭，面目严厉冷峻。数十年的啃咬让他的牙齿破损碎裂。

“Kill the Ice Witch!” he says. His eyes half-lidded, his grim face stoic. His teeth are broken from decades of gnashing.

但他的自制力涌了上来，此时丽桑卓依然在午夜冰晶的石林中蜿蜒穿行。

But his refrain catches on, as Lissandra winds through the forest of midnight ice.

“杀了冰霜女巫”成为了一首激昂的合唱，和声来自世界各地，全都被冻结在时空中，反复回到他们杀死所谓的冰霜女巫的那个瞬间。

“Kill the Ice Witch,” becomes a rousing chorus, with voices from across the world, all suspended in stasis, reliving the moment they killed said Ice Witch.

至于冰霜女巫本尊，如此形形色色的人团结在同一个行动目标之下，让她觉得很美。他们在折磨之中做的噩梦会催其他躁动者入眠。不过，今晚有一个声音格外安静。

As for the Ice Witch herself, she finds it beautiful when such a diverse crowd rallies behind a single course of action. Their tortured nightmares lull others to sleep. Tonight, though, one voice is peculiarly silent.

丽桑卓穿插于冰晶之间的裂缝上，前去寻访她众多藏品中尤为珍奇的一位英雄。沉默会诞生秘密，而她最喜欢从严密的口唇中诱骗出潜藏的秘密。她感觉温度有细微的改变，有一道温暖的光环。

Lissandra weaves her way through the crevasses between crystals, toward one of the most exotic heroes in her collection. Silence breeds mysteries, and she loves coaxing secrets from unspeaking lips... She feels a shift in temperature, an aura of warmth.

周围还有别人。有不速之客走进了她的展览场。她的脚步声是雪地上的轻语，循着那股暖意追过去。

She is not alone. Someone uninvited walks her menagerie. Her footfalls are whispers on the snow as she follows the trail of warmth.

“此地容不下冻僵的唇舌。”丽桑卓说。

“Frozen tongues have no place here,” Lissandra says.

“女巫，放了我姐姐！”一个沙哑的声音粗暴地喊道。

“Release my sister, witch!” a voice, gruff and husky, cries out.

丽桑卓转身面向这个她看不见的威胁。她只需心想一个字，起，刀尖般的冰片就从地面喷薄而出，挡在入侵者面前。她听到潜入者口吐一股寒气。摔到雪地上发出一声闷响。

Lissandra turns toward this unseen threat. Up, is all she has to think for blade-like shards of ice to erupt from the ground, blocking the intruder’s path. She hears wind gush from the infiltrator’s lungs. Then the soft thud of the fall.

“不待问候，先提要求，这可绝非做客之礼。”

“Demands without a greeting make for ill-mannered guests.”

这个图谋不轨的闯入者鼓起了一丝勇气，然后开了口。

The would-be interloper finds a shred of courage, then her voice.

“我、我姐姐是‘镶金圣甲虫’商队驿站的哈尔拉。她梦到了持续八百年的冰封，要想破除就只有杀掉霜之女先知。”那个女孩凝聚出了些许横逆，“女巫，放了我姐姐，我饶你不死。”

“M-My sister is Hara from the Caravanserai of Gilded Scarabs. She dreamt of eight hundred years of ice unless she slew the Prophetess of Frost.” The girl mustered some defiance. “Release my sister, witch, and I shall spare your life.”

丽桑卓觉得不需要为了发出怜悯的嗤笑而浪费呼吸。

Lissandra finds no need to waste good breaths on a pitiful laugh.

“啊，这么说，你是来寻人的。”

“Ah, you seek a bargain, then.”

丽桑卓枯瘦的手指拂过哈尔拉冰壳的表面，聆听被困在里面的声音。客人的名字跃动在哈尔拉的舌尖，现在丽桑卓也品尝了。

Lissandra runs her bony fingers across the surface of Hara’s casing and listens to the voice trapped within. The guest’s name dances on Hara’s tongue, and now on Lissandra’s as well.

“你无视了姐姐的命令，马尔珍。你抛弃了商队驿站。”

“You ignored your sister’s command, Marjen. You abandoned the caravanserai.”

马尔珍听见自己的名字从女巫的嘴里说出来，向后缩了缩。

Marjen recoils from hearing her name on the Ice Witch’s tongue.

“你是怎么——”

“How do you—”

“你和我很像。对于不明智的姐姐，我也是置若罔闻。”

“We are similar. I too deplore the pleas of unwise sisters.”

“马上放了她，不然我杀了你。”

“Release her now, or I will end you.”

马尔珍挥了挥手上的刀，温暖了苦涩的寒冷。刀上散发出一股熟悉的臭味，还有一种铜头铁额的魔法。铸造它的是一个更古老的灵魂，那个名字已经被丽桑卓从弗雷尔卓德的记忆中抹除了。

Marjen brandishes a blade that warms the bitter cold. It reeks of familiar and particularly hard-headed magic. Forged by an older spirit whose name Lissandra erased from the Freljord’s memory.

“请考虑一下女巫开出的条件。我会帮你收好那把温热的匕首，作为回报，我会让你和亲爱的姐姐哈尔拉团聚。”

“Consider the Ice Witch’s offer. I shall relieve you of that warm dagger, and in return, reunite you with your dear sister Hara.”

霜月和冷星完成了重合。丽桑卓的眼睛看不到那亮晶晶的幽蓝星光照进洞窟是什么样子。她很好奇这名出生在大塞的女子看到了什么。

The alignment of the Frost Moon with the Cold Star completes itself. Lissandra cannot see the shimmering pale blue light descending on the grotto. She wonders how it looks to this woman, born in the Great Sai.

马尔珍颔首表示同意。

Marjen nods in agreement.

“你几乎比这里所有人都更聪明。”丽桑卓的蓝色嘴唇拉出一道歪扭的微笑。

“You are smarter than almost everyone here.” Lissandra’s blue lips stretch into a crooked smile.

“杀了女巫！”哈尔拉在她的黑暗监牢内尖叫。马尔珍的心跳快到数不清。

“Kill the witch!” Hara screams from inside her own dark prison. Marjen’s heart beats out of time.

随后她的手臂听从了呼喊。匕首划过冷空。深深埋入丽桑卓的胸膛。

And her arm follows through. The blade arcs through the cold air. It plunges into Lissandra’s chest.

“你听了姐姐的话……”

“You listened to your sister...”

丽桑卓跪倒在地，翻身倾覆。无声的落雪给她的尸首盖上白布。

Lissandra slumps to her knees, then topples over. Silently falling snow shrouds her body.

马尔珍看向哈尔拉，她的冰壳出现了裂痕。冰壳的表面流淌着咸涩的融水。洁白的雪地上积出一洼黑水。束缚她的神秘魔法正在衰退。

Marjen turns to Hara, encased in cracked ice. Its surface runs slick with brackish meltwater. Dark water pools on the white snow. Whatever magic that held her ebbs.

“还记得母亲教我们沙之舞的时候吗？用脚掌跟随温热。跟随温热，哈尔拉。跟我来。”

“Remember when mother taught us to sand-dance? Follow the heat with the soles of your feet. Follow the heat, Hara. Follow me.”

哈尔拉的监牢裂缝扩大，她挣扎着想要冲破束缚。终于，冰柱崩塌，她出现了，跪坐在马尔珍的身旁，双腿浸没在墨黑的水洼中。放松与安详爬上她们的脸庞，姐妹二人紧紧相拥。

The cracks widen in Hara’s prison as she struggles to break free. Finally, the edifice crumbles and there she is, kneeling by Marjen’s side in an inky puddle. Relief sweeps both their faces as they embrace.

“我们成功了，”马尔珍说，“商队驿站保住了。不会有八百年的冰封了。”

“We did it,” Marjen says. “The caravanserai is safe. There is no eight-hundred-year freeze coming.”

哈尔拉凑近了一些，对马尔珍的耳畔低语。

Hara pulls closer, and whispers in Marjen’s ear.

“听话的妹妹……”她听到的不是哈尔拉的声音，而是冰霜女巫的冰冷、平静的嗓音。“……最好骗。”

“Sisters who listen...” Instead of Hara’s voice, she hears the cold, calm voice of the Ice Witch. “...are the easiest to trick.”

马尔珍把自己推开。哈尔拉发现自己嘴里吐出那些话，瞪圆了双眼。她的口型只有一个字。

Marjen breaks their embrace. Hara’s eyes widen at the words pouring out of her mouth. Her lips mouth a single word.

跑。

Run.

可是马尔珍跑不了。她翻毛的皮靴已经被冰晶包裹，把她冻在原地。黑冰沿着她的双腿向上爬。

Only Marjen can’t. Her fur-lined leather boots have iced over, freezing her to the ground. Black ice crawls up their legs.

“我、我明明杀了……”她看向丽桑卓的尸体，但只看到了无痕的白雪。这时她才看到那把匕首依然在自己手中。

“I-I killed...” She looks to Lissandra’s body, but sees only virgin snow. That’s when she sees the blade still in her hand.

马尔珍开始懂了。

The realization dawns on Marjen.

“我根本就没扔出匕首。”

“I never threw the knife.”

一道惨白色闪光吸引了她的视线。她向上望着刻有符文的窗户之外。天上本应是霜月遮住冷星的奇观，但她看到的却是一双暗蓝色的嘴唇，渐渐拉长露出戏谑的笑。

A flash of chalk-white catches her attention. She looks up to the rune-inscribed window above. Where there should be a Frost Moon over a Cold Star, a pair of dark blue lips stretch into a mocking grin.

“姐姐和妹妹，”丽桑卓对着冰封陵墓之中的两名女子轻语道，“亲密无间、坦诚相待，但却愚蠢到不可救药……”

“Sisters,” Lissandra whispers to the two women inside their frozen tombs, “inseparable, devoted, but still so utterly foolish...”

马尔珍和哈尔拉，这对姐妹抱紧彼此，渐渐被恐惧包围。她们目光相会，黑冰的棺椁在她们面前闭合。

Marjen and Hara, their arms wrapped around each other in a sisterly embrace that turns to terror. They lock eyes as the dark ice entombs their faces.

丽桑卓欣赏她最新收来的藏品。“依我看，还是不要姐姐更方便。”

Lissandra admires her latest acquisition. “I found it more convenient to lose mine.”

原本一块黑色冰石矗立的地方，现在立着两块，同根分生两叉。永远团聚的姐妹二人——来自大塞的哈尔拉和马尔珍，她们之间的纽带甚至足以超越冻土与沙漠地带之间的距离。一场如此强大的团聚，丽桑卓甚至可以品尝到下面的怪物进食后的满足。姐妹二人的梦境所透射的幻象透过冰晶传递下去，能让那些怪兽再多沉睡少顷。

Where a single rock of black ice once stood, two now stand, joined together at the base. Sisters perpetually reunited—Marjen and Hara from the Great Sai, their bond stronger than the distance between tundra and desert. A reunion so powerful, Lissandra tastes the satisfaction of the feasting monsters below. The illusions cast by the dreams of the sisters, projected through ice, will keep the beasts slumbering a little while longer.

真是令人身心俱疲啊，哄怪物睡觉。

How exhausting this work is, lulling monsters to sleep.

今晚，丽桑卓也可以休息了。因为一位英雄保护了这个脆弱的世界，让它又获得了暂时的安全。

Tonight, Lissandra too may rest. For the hero protects this fragile world just a little bit longer.