沉入死地 Down Among The Dead Men

插画：Marie Magny

比尔吉沃特的“白港”之所以得名，是因为这里的每一寸地面都积满了白色的鸟粪。这里是死人的安眠之地。比尔吉沃特没有埋葬死者的习俗，他们把死者送还给大海。这片海水就是墓园。冰冷的深渊中悬着尸体，水面上浮着数百枚浮标作为墓碑。有些浮标只是简单写了个名字，而有些浮标则由专业的墓碑匠雕刻成一只触手张扬的海底巨怪或者身形丰满的海女。

Bilgewater’s White Wharf had earned its name thanks to the layer of bird waste covering it from end to end, which was only to be expected at a resting place for the dead. Folk here didn’t bury corpses; they returned them to the sea. A grave of the sunken dead hung suspended in the cold depths, marked by hundreds of bobbing grave-buoys. Some were merely name posts, while others were elaborate tomb markers carved to resemble rearing krakens or buxom sea wenches.

在白港的角落，厄运小姐坐在一个销魂朗姆酒的空箱子上，翘着腿，松松地叼着一根味道辛辣的方头雪茄。她一手握着一根长长的通气管，管子另一头连着一口半浸在水中的棺材，另一只手抓了一根绳子，长长的绳子绕过一只生锈的滑轮，捆在棺材的盖子上。她的双枪稳稳放在枪套里，触手可及。

Miss Fortune sat on an empty crate of Rapture Rum at the end of the wharf, legs crossed and a noxious cheroot dangling from her bottom lip. In one hand, she held a length of breathing tube connected to a half-submerged coffin floating low in the water. In the other, she grasped a length of frayed rope running through a rusted pulley block and tied to the coffin lid. Both her pistols were holstered within easy reach.

月亮发出微弱的光芒，穿过海上弥漫而来的薄雾，将浑浊的水面染成烟草的黄色。一排排食腐海鸥站在周围残破的屋顶上不时发出哀叫。这是个好兆头。它们对新鲜尸体的感知能力超过任何生物。

Moonlight cast a weak glow through the mist rolling in from the sea, staining the water’s scummed surface tobacco yellow. Cawing carrion gulls lined every swaybacked roof on the quayside, which was always a good omen. They knew better than any the signs of fresh pickings.

“到点儿了，”她低声说道，一个穿着密鳞大衣的光头大汉出现在狭窄旧巷的另一端。一群尖牙利齿的码头硕鼠跟在他身后，期待着他随时醉倒在地，变成送上门的鲜肉。这个人叫贾猛·基洛，花脸帮的一员。每个像样的海盗都会有纹身，不过基洛身上每一寸皮肤都刺满了图案。长爪子的毒蛇、情人的名字、还有每一艘被他击沉的船、每一个被他杀掉的人。他的皮肤几乎就是最完整的犯罪记录。

“About time,” she whispered, as a shaven-headed man in a drake-scale frock coat emerged from the narrow, debris-choked alley. A pack of needle-toothed wharf-rats stalked him, hoping he was drunk and might pass out to become easy meat. The man’s name was Jakmunt Zyglos, one of the Painted Brothers. Any corsair worth his salt had tattoos, but every inch of Zyglos was inked with clawed serpents, lovers’ names, and a record of every boat he’d sunk, every man he’d murdered. His skin was as good a confession as any she’d known.

他坚定地向前走，但他的眼神飘忽不定，飞速打量着左右两侧，暴露出心底的恐慌。他的手放在腰际，握着一柄长刀，刀刃上镶满了鲨鱼牙。他也带了火器，一把短粗的卡宾枪，枪管周围装有琉璃色的散热管。

He marched purposefully along the wharf, but his eyes darting warily from side to side gave the lie to his confidence. His hand gripped a long cutlass with a shark-toothed edge that hung low on his hip. He too boasted a firearm, a stubby carbine with glassy pipes running the length of its barrel.

“他在哪？”基洛用命令的口吻问道。“你说过会把他带来的。”

“Where is he?” demanded Zyglos. “You said you’d bring him.”

“皮城的海克斯卡宾枪？”她反问道。

“That a Piltover hex-carbine?” she asked, ignoring his question.

“我在问你，贱人！”

“Answer me, damn you!”

“你先说，”厄运小姐平淡地说，同时放松了手里的绳子，滑轮滚动，棺材又向下沉了一些。“提醒你一句，我可不知道这根通气管有多长，你想让自己的弟兄憋死吗？”

“You first,” said Miss Fortune, letting some rope out through the pulley and allowing the coffin to sink a little more. “After all, I’m not sure how long this breathing tube is, and you wouldn’t want your brother to go without air, would you?”

基洛呼出一口气，她感觉到他紧绷的神经放松了。

Zyglos took a breath, and she saw the tension go out of him.

“行，妈的，这就是皮城的货。”说完，他捏着扳机护环，把武器掏了出来。

“Yes, damn you, it’s from Piltover,” he said, drawing the weapon and holding it out by the trigger guard.

“挺值钱呢，”厄运小姐说。

“Pricy,” said Miss Fortune.

“这不是废话么。”他冷笑着说。

“I guess you’d know,” he sneered.

她又放松了一段绳子，现在棺材已经全部没在水里，开始向外冒气泡。基洛立刻举起双手表示服软。

She let out even more rope. Bubbles of air escaped the now fully submerged coffin. Zyglos held up his hands, instantly contrite.

“好吧！好吧！”他央求道。“这个给你了。请把他拉上来。”

“Alright! Alright!” he pleaded. “It’s yours. Pull him up. Please.”

“你会乖乖跟我走咯？”

“You’ll come quietly?”

基洛无奈地大笑了一声。

Zyglos gave a bark of fatalistic laughter.

“我还有得选吗？”他反问道。“你弄沉了我的船，杀光了我的人。我的家人要么进了救济院，要么蹲了监狱。你到底是为了什么？一把偷来的海克斯枪？一份赏金？”

“What choice do I have?” he asked. “You sank my ships and killed all my men. You’ve sent my kin to the poorhouse or the gaol, and for what? A stolen hex-gun? A bounty?”

“两个我都要，而且还有别的。满意吗？”

“A little of both and then some?”

“那我值多少钱，婊子？”

“So how much am I worth to you, bitch?”

“钱吗？五百银蛇币。”

“Coin? Five hundred silver serpents.”

“闹得这么大，就为了五百？”

“All this mayhem for a lousy five hundred serpents?”

“不是钱的事，是因为你替普朗克卖命。”厄运小姐说。“所以我要杀了你。”

“It’s not the money that’s got you killed. It’s the fact that you’re one of Gangplank’s sworn men,” said Miss Fortune. “That’s why I want you dead.”

“杀我？等一下，悬赏令上写着要活的！”

“Dead? Wait, the warrant says alive!”

“是，不过我从来都不太会守规矩。”厄运小姐说完，放开了手里的绳子和通气管，棺材落进了深海的死人堆中，留下一串绝望的气泡。基洛大喊着自己弟兄的名字，抽出鲨鱼牙刀向她冲了过去。厄运小姐等到他进入了精准射程，便立刻拔出手枪，双枪齐射，一枪眼睛，一枪心口。

“True, but I’ve never been very good at following instructions,” said Miss Fortune, releasing the rope and the breathing tube. The coffin plunged into the darkness of the sunken dead, trailing a froth of frantic bubbles. Zyglos screamed his brother’s name and ran at her, drawing his serrated sword. She let him get within spitting distance before drawing her pistols and blasting him with both barrels, one through the eye, one in the heart.

厄运小姐把雪茄吐进海里，吹了吹枪口的青烟。

Miss Fortune spat her cheroot into the sea and blew the smoke from each muzzle.

“正当防卫，”她脸带笑意，想着怎么跟赏金出纳员编一段瞎话。“那个傻子发疯似地向我冲过来，手里还举着一把大刀。我能怎么办。”

“Self defense,” she said with a smile, rehearsing her lie for the bounty pursers. “Crazy fool came at me with that fang-sword of his. I didn’t have a choice.”

厄运小姐弯腰捡起地上的海克斯卡宾枪，握在手里掂量了一下。太轻了，不合她的胃口，但外形优雅，而且杀伤力惊人。她回想起小时候的老工坊，回想起枪油的味道和妈妈的抚摸，嘴角泛起一抹微笑。随后她叹了口气，在悲伤袭来之前切断了回忆。她把海克斯枪扔进水里，送给了死人。毕竟，海洋也该分一份。而且她也没胡说，那把枪的确值点小钱。

Miss Fortune bent to retrieve the fallen hex-carbine. She turned the weapon over in her hands. Too light for her tastes, but artfully made and absurdly lethal. The ghost of a smile twitched the corner of her mouth as she thought back to the warmth of the old workshop, the smell of gun oil, and the touch of her mother’s hand on her shoulder. Miss Fortune sighed and shook off the memory before it turned sour. She threw the pistol out over the water, sending it down to the dead. The sea demanded its due, after all, and she’d not lied; the weapon was worth a small fortune.

她站起身，踱步走回比尔吉沃特城内。她知道自己应该把基洛的尸体也扔进水里。不过老鼠和海鸥还没吃饭呢，对吧？

She stood and strolled back into Bilgewater. She knew she ought to throw Zyglos’s corpse into the water too, but the wharf-rats and the carrion gulls had to eat, didn’t they?

而在白港，鲜肉可是少有的佳肴。

And fresh meat was a rare delicacy on the White Wharf.