禁闭屋 The Shuttered Manse

作者：Graham McNeill

她感觉到蟊贼在靠近，他的每一步都小心翼翼。

She felt the thief coming closer with every careful step he took.

他的技巧十分高超，这一点她认可，但她的感知力已经高度强化，以至于没有任何凡人能够隐藏行踪。他的脚步落在附近的屋檐上，虽然轻柔稳健而且落脚的位置非常讲究，但却搅动了她昏暗宅邸中的空气，产生的震动就像在静谧的神殿中拨动了一根琴弦。

He was skillful, she’d give him that, but her awareness was heightened to degrees no mortal could conceive. His footfalls over the nearby rooftops, though soft and artfully placed, vibrated the stagnant air within her gloomy abode like the plucked string of a lute in a silent temple.

他的接近将她从梦的海洋中唤醒，在这个梦中，黑暗伴着狂涌的海啸升起，整个世界都在这漆黑的死水之下被遗弃。她心里的一部分对这股黑暗即将带来的灭绝甘之若饴，而且她知道自己在这场毁灭中扮演了角色。

His approach had wakened her from dreams of the ocean, darkness rising up in a tsunami that roared over the world to leave it forever sunk beneath dead black waters. Part of her relished the extinction this wave would bring, even as she knew she had played some role in its coming.

这个梦很快就散去了，她睁开了通观六路的眼睛，延展出全部感官。气味和声音被赋予了颜色的差异，再细小的动静也能通过空气的震颤捕捉到。由于她刚刚从那座迷雾笼罩的岛屿回来不久，身体疲惫、精神困乏，所以一想到又要处理擅闯者，就越想越火大。

The dream fell away as her multi-faceted eyes opened and she reached out through her every sense. Perceptions colored by scents and sounds, movement felt in the tremors of the air. Still weary and worn thin from her most recent voyage to the mist-wreathed isles, her irritation grew at the thought of having to deal with yet another intruder.

她的巢穴在地窖下的层层黑影中，但那些沉重的木桶、朽烂的挂毯和冰冷的地板在她眼睛里都清晰可见，如同午日阳光从破碎的壁炉中倾泻出来一般。

Her cellar lair was folded with shadow, but the heavy barrels, rotted tapestries, and icy floorboards were as clear to her as if daylight were pouring through the shuttered grates.

一阵急促的窸窣声轻轻在老宅中回荡，那是无数条细小的腿和几百个光滑的身体在它们各自的地盘里活动，期待着感受到她的欲望。湿漉漉的墙壁和塌陷的天棚上传来一浪又一浪的律动，数千只眼睛全都一下不眨，散发着微光。

A whisper of skittering legs echoed throughout the manse, a rustle of hundreds of glossy bodies scuttling from their domains in anticipation of her desires. The dripping walls and sagging ceiling rippled with undulant motion and the gleam of thousands of unblinking eyes.

“很快就好，小可爱们。”她的声音粘稠，充满贵族气质，“先让我和这个猎物玩一会。”

“Soon, little ones,” she said, her voice smoky and rich with aristocratic tones. “Let me play with this one awhile.”

她感受到它们对人类血肉的贪慕，一种迫切的需求。

She felt their appetite for human flesh, sharp with need.

这是对她自己需求的倒影。

It mirrored her own.

她从安眠的地方舒缓身体，她梦幻般的形体是人类与蜘蛛的渐变融合，她伸出纤细的肢体，通过跗节的爪钩捕捉着擅闯者的气味，灵活的舌头舔过细针般的牙齿，每一次呼吸都获取到关于他的更多信息。

She eased from her resting place, her dreaming form a shifting blend of human and arachnid, extending her slender limbs and drawing the intruder’s myriad scents to her through the surfaces of her tarsal claws. She ran her tongue across needle-like teeth, learning more of him with every inward breath.

一个被黄沙亲吻过的灵魂——烟熏色的皮肤，还有极其细微的远古帝王血脉。

A sand-kissed soul—skin of smoke, and the thinnest trace of ancient kings in his blood.

一个沙漠的孩子……

One of the desert-born…

她感觉到了他的接近，非常清楚是什么东西让他在这个冰冷的夜晚来到她破旧的老宅。也能差不多猜出他的雇主是谁。

She felt his approach, fully aware of what had drawn him to her shuttered manse on this bitterly cold night. And who had likely sent him.

和之前的那些蟊贼一样，他只能找到死亡。

Like the others before him, he would find only death.

和其他人一样，伊莉丝会把他引到身边，然后生吞活剥。

Like the others, Elise would draw him to her before devouring him alive.

黑如煤炭的夜，下弦月。低沉的云，寒冷的风。

Waning moon in a coal-dark sky. Low clouds and cold winds.

是展开这场冒险挑战的完美时机。

Perfect for an endeavor like this.

都城的港口方向传来一声钟响，冷风骤起，载着远处诺克萨斯士兵的斗殴和叫嚷声，越过瞭望钟大门飘过来。

A bell tolled over the harbor of the capital, and icy winds carried the sound of bellicose Noxian soldiers from distant camps beyond the city’s Watchbell Gate.

尼亚姆迈着轻巧的步伐，牢靠地踩在屋顶上奔走，他宽松的大衣和灰羊毛斗篷让他彻底融入夜色。他始终低伏身体，恰好藏在屋脊之下，每在薄薄的积雪上迈出一步都小心判断。

Nyam moved over the rooftops with soft and sure footsteps, his loose-fitting tunic and cloak of gray wool making him all but invisible. He kept low, just below the tiled ridges of the buildings, carefully judging every step over the thin layer of snowfall.

一块松动的瓦，一片光滑的冰——只要一不留神就可能提前结束今晚的任务，变成石子路面上的一具残破尸体。

A loose tile, a patch of ice—that was all it would take to end this night in death, his body broken on the cobbled street.

但尼亚姆曾经搜刮过故乡黄沙之下的古墓，曾在通往髓印集市的路上攀爬过峭壁当腰的神庙探寻宝藏。他曾躲开过国王与神明的遗迹中留下的机关陷阱，所以倾斜塌陷的诺克萨斯屋顶虽然崎岖不平、高耸陡峭、遍布抓握与蹬踏的支撑点，但对他这样技艺高超的盗贼来说根本没什么挑战。

But Nyam had plundered tombs sunk deep in the sands of his homeland, and climbed the cliff-temples on the road to Marrowmark in search of treasure. He had evaded traps set in the ruins of kings and gods, so the swaybacked rooftops of Noxus—uneven, high, and filled with pitted hand- and footholds—offered little in the way of challenge to a thief of his skill.

他从很小的时候就学会了飞檐走壁，在卑尔居恩高高的房檐上来回穿梭，躲避街上游荡的其他孩子，他们总是欺负他，因为他脸上有一道裂口，从牙床开始，经过整个上嘴唇，一直延伸到鼻孔。他们都管他叫“炸脸的尼亚姆”，由于他的先天畸形，导致无论是恕瑞玛本地孩子还是诺克萨斯来的白皮小犊子，都把他当成发泄怒气的目标。

He’d learned to run the sky-roads as a child, weaving over the high roofs of Bel’zhun to avoid roving gangs of children who beat him for the cleft that split his gums and top lip all the way to his nose. “No-Face Nyam,” they’d called him, his birth deformity giving the Shuriman-born and pallid Noxian runts a unifying target for their anger.

虽然在他十夏那年，他偷到了足够的钱，雇了殓尸的师傅把自己的嘴唇缝合了，但他们依然嘲笑他。不过艰难、残酷的童年时光让他受益匪浅。他学会了拥抱孤独，爱上了令人眩目的高处景色，还与阴影结为一体，在那片向往着远古烈日金光的土地上顽强地活着。

Even after he’d stolen enough to have an embalmer sew his lip closed upon his tenth summer, they still mocked him—but those hard, brutal years had served him well. He’d learned to embrace solitude, to love dizzying heights, and to become one with shadows in a land that knew only the golden light of its ancient sun.

但最重要的是，他学会了打架：先是用自己的双拳，然后是用黑曜石的刀刃。这是他从一口巨大石棺里拿到的，那么大的石棺与遗骨，一定属于传说中的飞升者。这把黑曜石刀刃始终收在他后背的鞘里，对于那个死去的天神战士来说，这是一把匕首，但对尼亚姆来说是一把长刀。

But most of all, he’d learned to fight: first with his fists, and then with the obsidian blade he’d taken from the sarcophagus of a body so large, it must have been one of the legendary Ascended. Sheathed across his shoulder, it had been a knife to the dead god, but was a sword to Nyam.

雇主所说的地方就在前面，像一团巨大的黑影一样诉说着自己往日的辉煌。这里的窗户紧闭着，复折结构的屋檐上有几处瓦片已经松动掉落，露出下方腐烂的木料。

The place his paymaster had spoken of was just ahead, looming like a grand shadow of its former glory, its windows shuttered, and its gambrel roof rotten where tiles had slipped loose and fallen to the streets below.

那里就是我的入口。

That’s my way in.

尼亚姆来到屋顶边缘挂着冰锥的侧沿，以完美的平衡蹲伏在原地，同时从腰上解下来一根长绳。他打开锚钩的爪子，以娴熟的力道扔向烟囱之间的缝隙。锚钩准确地落在他瞄准的地方，他用力拉了一下绳索。

Nyam reached the icicle-hung gable at the end of a roof, and perched at its edge with perfect balance as he uncoiled a length of rope from his belt. He unfolded the hooks of a grapnel and, with practiced ease, cast it toward a gap between a row of cracked chimneys. The hook landed precisely where he had aimed, and he gave the rope a tug.

锚钩已经牢固地嵌入石缝中，于是他牵着绳子蹿下了屋顶。

Satisfied the hook had bedded into the stonework, he slid from the roof.

在刺骨的冷气中，他顺着绳索荡了过去，微微绷紧的双腿像两根弹簧一样吸收了接触墙面时的冲力。他的靴子底非常柔软，但踏在墙上的同时还是发出了一声响动，他缩头挤眼，听着这个声音在破旧的房屋表面回荡，简直如同铁锤打在铁毡上。雪片从房檐上震落，尼亚姆静静等了片刻，用耳朵寻找自己被发现的迹象。

The cold air cut into him as he swung over, bracing his legs like a spring to bear the impact. His boots were soft, but he winced as the sound echoed throughout the crumbling building like a hammer upon an anvil. Snow fell from the eaves, and Nyam took a moment, listening for any sign that he had been heard.

没动静。这座老宅安静得像一座坟墓。

Nothing. The ancient house was quiet as a tomb.

他左右手交替着抓住绳子向上爬，平稳地攀上了屋檐。

Hand over hand, he pulled himself up the rope until he climbed smoothly onto the roof.

尼亚姆缠好了绳索，蹲伏在一条烟囱的阴影中。他的呼吸带出白霜，他从左手上摘下一只居瓦斯克毛皮连指手套，用手掌贴到石墙上。

Nyam coiled the rope and crouched in the shadow behind a chimney. His breath misted the air, and he tugged a thick mitten of drüvask fur from his left hand, reaching up to place a bare palm on the stone.

这条烟囱在过去的几个月里始终没有走过温暖的烟气。

This chimney had not known warmth in many passings of the moon.

这一带的房屋只有少数几条烟囱下面烧了炉火。而都城的其他地区则遍布着微弱、红润的火光。有灶台下的火，有城墙以外战士营地的火堆，还有狼灵神殿里的火盆。

Only a very few chimneys in this district smoked with a hearth fire. Other parts of the capital glimmered, ruddy with firelight. Cookfires, warrior pyres beyond the walls, and braziers set in shrines to the Wolf.

但这里没有火。

But not here.

这个区域感觉被城市遗弃了，黑色的石墙与空荡荡的窗户似乎从未见到过任何光亮。破破烂烂的窗帘被窄巷里呼啸的冷风冻结凝固。在下方的一楼，只有少数几盏蜡烛的光透过窗户照出来，而他在街上只看到了一盏提灯，挂在一座破败的客栈门口。

This area of the city felt all but abandoned, the empty windows of its black stone structures seeming like they had never known light. Tattered curtain cloth was frozen stiff by the sighing winds funneled through the narrow streets. Far below, only a few candles guttered in window sconces, and he’d seen just a single lantern, hung outside a forlorn-looking tavern doorway.

惨白的月光洒在空无一人的街道上，雪片安静地积累着，不受任何打扰。在寸土寸金的都城里为何会存在如此荒凉的地方，尼亚姆无论如何也想不明白，但雇主让他前往的地方就是这里。

Pallid moonlight cast its radiance over empty streets, where the snow lay undisturbed. How such a deserted space could exist in a city where every inch of ground was precious was a mystery to Nyam, but this was where his employer had directed him.

扎阿范家族宅邸。

The manse of House Zaavan.

尼亚姆从屋顶的窟窿钻了下去，顺着绳子缓缓下降。

Nyam slid slowly down the rope through a wide hole in the roof.

雪花伴着他一起落下，在朦胧的月光中如钻石般闪烁。他稍等片刻，让自己的双眼适应老宅内部的阴暗，他发现自己下方是一个貌似会客室的地方，墙边有一座宽大的壁炉，用金纹大理石砌成。

Flakes of snow swirled around him as he descended, diamond motes glittering in the faint moonlight. He took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the gloom within the manse, seeing that he hung within what appeared to be a grand receiving room with a wide fireplace of gold-veined marble.

壁炉里放着的火绒已经落上了一层雪，旁边打翻的筐和散落一地的煤块也结了一层霜，看上去就像是房主在匆忙离开的时候撞到了煤筐，后来就再也没回来。

Snow-brushed kindling was set in the hearth, and a bucket of frosty coal lay spilled beside it, like the home’s inhabitants had knocked it over in their hurry to leave, and never come back.

房间里的家具都装饰了和谐统一的亚麻褶皱：长沙发，宽躺椅靠在墙边，另外还有多余的椅子。从布料的陈旧程度来看，尼亚姆猜测这间屋子被封上以后已经过去好几年了。

Linen-draped furniture was situated around the room: long couches, wide divans pushed up against the walls, and empty chairs. Judging by the icy stiffness of the fabric, Nyam guessed many years had passed since this room had been shuttered.

镶木地板上散落着瓦片和碎木，他在残骸之间小心选择落脚的地方，试探地板的扭曲和吱嘎声。他缓缓转移重心，最后放开了绳索。

The parquet floor was strewn with tiles and broken roof timbers, and he carefully placed his leading foot between the debris, testing for creaks and groans. Slowly he let his weight settle, and released the rope.

尼亚姆脱下罩帽，用一只手摸了摸自己被剃光的头，他的皮肤黝黑，长着一层头发茬，皮肤表面刺了纹身，还打孔穿刺了一圈骨针，如同带着一顶荆棘王冠。

Nyam pushed back his hood and ran a hand over his shaven scalp, the skin dark and stubbled, tattooed, and pierced with ivory needles like a thorny crown.

他趴低身体，将手掌贴上地板，闭上双眼聆听老宅骨骼对他说话。古老的木料在冷气中呻吟，就像老人在睡梦中翻身，墙壁一片寂静，房屋的呼吸很沉闷，就像集中收容瘟疫患者的洞窟般密不透风，让人静静地等死。

He crouched low and placed his palm on the floor, closing his eyes and letting the bones of the manse speak to him. The ancient timbers groaned in the cold like old men turning in their sleep, the walls silent, the house’s breath hanging heavy within, trapped like the air of a plague cave where the afflicted waited to die.

尼亚姆的直觉告诉他这座房子已经彻底荒废了，是被时间冻结的诅咒之所。

Every instinct told Nyam this house was abandoned, a cursed palace frozen in time.

又不尽然……

And yet…

一种微弱的嘶嘶声，就像一千个悄悄话同时说出来，一种微弱的动态感知包围在他身边。一种异样的感觉爬上他的后脊梁，他压抑住一个冷战，告诉自己这只是北风的冰冷触摸。

A faint hiss like a thousand whispered voices speaking in unison, a soft sense of motion all around him. A crawling sensation traveled the length of his spine, and he suppressed a shiver, telling himself it was just the cold fingers of the north wind.

他放松眼神环顾四周，努力不聚焦在固定的点上，从而让外周视野更好地捕捉动态。他什么都没看见，只有打转的雪花和轻轻拍打的布料。

He eased his gaze around the room, not letting his eyes fix on any one point, allowing his peripheral vision to catch any movement. He saw nothing, only the swirl of snowflakes and the tiny fluttering of cloth.

但他始终无法摆脱那种异样的感觉，好像还有别人和他在一起。

But the sense that something else was in here with him wouldn’t abate.

那封优雅的信里写的很清楚：进入扎阿范家族宅邸，找到书库，偷取指定的宝物。按照信里的指示，老宅的东侧有一座大书库，具体就在一个八角形的天井边上，一二楼夹层的一侧，一扇瘦高的黑门后面。

The elegantly written letter had been precise: enter the Zaavan mansion, find the library, and steal the designated artifact. The instructions described a grand library in the eastern wing of the manse, a room entered via tall doors of ebon black, just off the mezzanine above an octagonal atrium.

尼亚姆站起身，走到墙边，墙根的木地板比较不容易被踩出响声。他贴着墙走到房间尽头，一扇宽大的门扉。门敞开了一半，一阵阵柔和的风不时从门外吹进来。

Nyam rose and moved to the walls, where the timber floor would be less likely to creak with his weight, and edged along them to a wide door at the far end of the room. It hung ajar, and gusts of soft wind sighed through from beyond.

他侧身从门缝钻过来，发现自己来到一间很长的餐厅中。

He slid his thin frame through the door, finding himself within a long dining room.

餐厅中间摆着一张细长的餐桌，几乎与餐厅一样长，上面依然布置着一顿丰盛的晚餐，带花纹的瓷盘和光亮的银质餐具摆放整齐，等待着一直未能造访的宾客。

A narrow table ran its length, still set for a lavish dinner, with painted ceramic plates and gleaming silver cutlery laid out in anticipation of guests who would never arrive.

餐盘中高高堆叠着结了霜、积了灰的水果和肉排。尼亚姆的肚子叫了一声，提醒着他已经几个小时没吃东西了。这里靠冷气储存着的肉还能吃吗？

Platters were piled high with frost-dusted fruit and icy cuts of meat. Nyam’s stomach rumbled, reminding him that it had been many hours since he’d eaten. Would such meat be edible, preserved by the cold?

尼亚米并不会亲自去尝试。

Nyam wasn’t about to try it and find out.

在餐桌中间，摆放着一个罩了大盖子的银色托盘，他突然涌上来好奇心，想看看里面装了什么。

At the center of the table was a domed silver tray, and a sudden curiosity made him want to see what lay beneath.

尼亚姆伸出手打开盖子。

Nyam reached over and lifted the lid.

密密麻麻的生物从一堆腐败的牛肉上扩散开来，黑压压的一大片——数百只小蜘蛛突然被光亮照到，四散躲避。那些蜘蛛的大小都不及他大拇指甲，但尼亚姆还是惊恐地向后退缩，看着它们从餐桌的边缘向下散播，如同一道蠕动的波浪。

And a swirling mass of creatures erupted from a moldering joint of beef, gloss-black and skittering—spiders fleeing the light in their hundreds. None was larger than his thumbnail, and Nyam flinched in horror as they spilled from the edge of the table in a squirming tide.

餐盘盖从他指尖滑落，掉到地上。

The tray lid fell from his fingers to the floor.

在老宅的一片死寂中，金属的碰撞声显得震耳欲聋。

In the silence of the house, the clang of metal was deafening.

他龇牙咧嘴，一只手立刻握住背上的剑。尼亚姆咒骂着自己的愚蠢，敏捷地藏到拉紧窗帘的窗口，找到一处阴影并融入黑暗中。

He winced, and his hand snapped to the sword at his shoulder. Cursing his stupidity, Nyam moved swiftly to a curtained window, finding the shadows and becoming one with the darkness.

停滞是他的盟友，他纹丝不动，等着自己的蠢行引来的后果。他竭力倾听房屋中的声音——愤怒的看门人，或者是房屋的主人。

Stillness was his ally, and he remained utterly motionless, waiting for any sign his foolish mistake had been heard. He strained to hear something amiss—a sullen watchman, or even perhaps the owner of this house.

如果说有什么变化，整座房子感觉反而更安静了，似乎有别的东西就在他身边，藏匿在空气中监视着、等待着。

If anything, the house felt somehow quieter, as though something else was right next to him, invisibly watching and waiting.

他扫视周围的墙壁，从地板到屋檐。

His eyes scanned the walls, from floor to cornices.

空无一物。

Nothing.

几秒钟过去，几分钟过去，最后尼亚姆发出一声如释重负的叹息。这座房屋是彻底被废弃了，曾经的辉煌变成了如今的荒芜。

The seconds became minutes, and finally, Nyam let out a relieved sigh. The house was empty and abandoned, something once grand now reduced to a ruin.

“跟沙漠里的古墓一样死寂。”他说。

“Dead as a desert tomb,” he said.

伊莉丝从她的地窖巢穴里爬了出来，来到老宅的一楼，沿着墙壁和带沟槽的立柱爬上夹层，她的多个肢体之间保持着完美的同步。窸窸窣窣的小蜘蛛集群跟在她身后，迫不及待地想要冲上前去包围这个擅闯者，不过她暂时制止了它们。

Elise crawled from her cellar lair to the ground floor of the manse, moving swiftly along the walls and fluted columns to the mezzanine, each of her multiple limbs in perfect synchrony. Her chittering spiderling host followed in her wake, eager to race ahead and swarm this intruder, but she held them back for now.

它们发出嘶嘶的声音，就像一群任性的孩子被她束缚住手脚，因为无法享用盛宴而对她忿恨不满。

They hissed at her restraint like unruly children, resentful at being denied this feast.

她的蜘蛛形体如同午夜一般漆黑，肢体分成不同节段，每条腿都足以致人死亡，而她的腹部则带着血红色的条纹。她用锋利纤细的腿轻盈地走动，没有发出任何声音。

Her arachnoid form was as black as midnight, segmented and deadly, with an abdomen patterned with blood-red streaks. Her bladed and slender legs moved lightly, making no sound at all.

她体态优雅地爬过夹层的石砖地面，走向餐厅。

She crawled with lithe grace across the mezzanine’s checkerboard-tiled floor, toward the dining room.

就在她用前爪伸向餐厅门的时候，金属撞击的声音在里面回响起来。她停顿了一下，身后的小蜘蛛群也突然暂停，纤足承载着身体来回摇晃。

A clash of metal echoed from within as her foreclaw reached for the door. She paused, and her scuttling host did so too, gently swaying on their many legs.

那个声音让她回想起生前的苦涩回忆。

The sound unleashed a rush of bitter memories from her past life…

……充满痛苦、耻辱和血腥的复仇。

… of pain, humiliation, and bloody vengeance.

一个充满嫉妒的卑贱之人，差点在这个屋子里结束了她的生命。

A jealous and petty man had almost ended her life in that room.

她回想起丈夫的险恶毒药在自己的血管中流淌，由内而外地烧灼她的血肉，让她在剧痛之中举步维艰。

She remembered her husband’s treacherous poison coursing through her veins, searing her flesh from the inside out and crippling her with agony.

一股憎恨涌上来，一抹刀光闪过……

A surge of hate, the flash of a blade…沾沾自喜的眼神立刻被恐惧淹没……Gloating eyes now wide with fear…一股鲜红色的潮涌，她扭着匕首剖开他的心。

A flood of red as she twisted the knife in his heart.

伊莉丝抛开这段回忆。即使是现在，几百年过后，那一晚的苦痛依然残留着。虽然饮下了解药，但他的背叛让她在生死之间恍惚了好几周。虽然那段时间里充满了剧痛，但却也预示了她的重生。

Elise pushed the memory away. Even now, centuries later, the pain of that night still lingered. Despite drinking the antidote to the poison, she had drifted near death for weeks after his betrayal. Yet as agonizing as those weeks had been, they had signaled the coming of her rebirth.

作为渺小的人类，曾经的她是美丽的。而如今，她惊世骇俗。

As a mere human, she had been beautiful. Now, she was glorious.

伊莉丝暂停片刻，品尝着蟊贼的极度紧张——但在紧张之下，她还品尝到了深埋已久的恐惧，以及历尽折磨后的求生欲，这些都让她产生了共鸣。

Elise paused, savoring the rising tension in the thief—but beneath that, she tasted long-buried fears and a will to survive past torments, which found their echo within her.

她兴致盎然，放下了前爪，因为蟊贼的脚步靠近了。

Intrigued, she lowered her claw as she heard the thief step closer.

伊莉丝转身离开了餐厅，迅速穿过夹层，来到瘦高的黑门旁边。

Elise turned from the dining room and swiftly crossed the mezzanine to a set of tall black doors.

尼亚姆缓缓打开餐厅的门，在吱嘎的门轴声中缩头咧嘴。

Nyam eased open the dining room door, wincing as it creaked.

不过既然刚才金属餐盘盖掉地上的声音都没有引来任何人，现在就更没理由来人了。

But if no one had come running at the sound of him dropping the metal tray lid, they weren’t going to come for this.

餐厅门的另一侧是举架很高的天井，共有八个面，最顶端是彩玻璃做的穹顶。夹层的地面连通着天井的一侧，只不过有好几处楼板已经断裂，通往下方前厅的弧形楼梯也已彻底损坏。彩玻璃碎片散落在前厅地上，尼亚姆向上看去，玻璃穹顶破碎的部分已经被某种纤维状的白色树胶修补好了。

The door opened into a high-ceilinged atrium, eight sided and rising to a stained-glass dome high above. The mezzanine floor ran around the edges of the atrium, though its timbers had collapsed in several places, and the curving staircase leading down to the vestibule was in ruins far below. Fragments of colored glass lay shattered in the vestibule, and Nyam peered up into the gloom to see the broken portions of the dome had been sealed with some kind of pale fibrous resin or gum.

天井的上半部分挂着厚厚的蜘蛛网，尼亚姆看到了蛛网之中缠着许多有光泽的丝束，里边似乎有奇怪东西在翻滚。

Thick cobwebs spanned the upper reaches of the atrium, and Nyam saw wet-looking bundles held fast within them, squirming with a grotesque internal motion.

卵囊？被俘获的鸟？蜘蛛的巢？

Egg sacs? Captured birds? Nests?

无论是什么，都与他无关。再过一会，他就将带着宝物离开这个地方，前去领取他的丰厚奖赏、干净的浴场、还有一顿温热的餐食。

Whatever they were, it was no concern of his. Before long, he’d be out of this place with his prize and en route to a fat purse, a clean bathhouse, and a warm meal.

正对着餐厅的是两扇高达雄伟的门，门板是漆黑的木料，抛光后的门板如同两面反光的黑镜。

Directly across from the dining room were a pair of imposing doors of jet-black wood, polished and gleaming like dark mirrors.

“找到书库了，”他悄悄说道，“和信上说的一样。”

“There is the library,” he whispered. “Just as the letter said.”

尼亚姆悄悄穿过天井，每一步都小心试探着地板的承重能力，慢慢转移重心。地板发出咯吱咯吱的呻吟声，但没有断裂。

Nyam slipped across the mezzanine, carefully testing the integrity of the floor with each step before committing his weight. The wood creaked and groaned, but held.

他伸手摸到门板，试着扭了一下把手，他发现手上沾了粘稠的东西，蹭下来一些黄白色的粘性残渣，不禁露出痛苦的表情。

He reached the doors and tested a handle, grimacing in revulsion as his hand came away sticky with a gummy yellow-white residue.

“黄沙开恩，”他低声说着，把手往裤子上抹干净。

“Mercy of sand,” he hissed, wiping his palm on his britches.

门扉咔嚓一声打开了，尼亚姆立刻忘掉了刚刚的嫌恶，他听到一声轻柔的异响，就像砂砾洒到了岩石上。他无法具体分辨声音传来的方向——可能是墙里的老鼠？

The door clicked open, and Nyam forgot his disgust as he heard a soft sound, like sand spilling over rocks. He couldn’t place what it might be—vermin in the walls, perhaps?

诺克萨斯城中经常会见到老鼠。这么多人乱窝窝地挤在一起生活，肯定会导致每座建筑里都滋生老鼠。不过这并不是老鼠。

Rats were a common enough sight in Noxus. You couldn’t have this many people living cheek by jowl without them infesting every building. But this wasn’t rats.

尼亚姆推开门，进入了书库。

Pushing the door wide, Nyam entered the library.

这里曾是一片壮美的景观。

It had once been a place of wonder.

书架高耸，制作的手艺里流露出热爱与关切，白木的基调上装饰了波浪的线形纹样。每个书格都被人用暴力清空了——真皮包装的典籍、卷轴和一捆捆散页都胡乱地扔在地上，看上去价格不菲的书籍混在古卷的碎片中，就像是被当成军队的临时凭证随手撕掉。奇形怪状的物件被打成碎片，缟玛瑙和玉石做的雕像被打碎在地。书库顶棚的中央，一盏黑色的枝形吊灯正拴在细长的绳索之下摇摇晃晃。

Its shelves were high, crafted with love and care from pale wood with a fine, contoured grain. Every bookcase had been violently emptied—leather-bound tomes, scrolls, and sheaves of paper cast to the floor in disarray, books likely worth a small fortune lying amid ancient scrolls that had been torn like discarded army scrip tokens. Artifacts of strange and unusual design had been smashed to pieces, and statues of onyx and jade lay broken into shards. A swaying black chandelier hung from a slender cord over the center of the room.

在书库最里边，由黑木和冰铁打造的橱柜里，一道柔和的光正在律动着。

And there, at the far end of the chamber, was a cabinet of dark wood and cold iron, from which a soft illumination pulsed.

“在那。”尼亚姆说着，在散落的书之间选出一条道，走向那个橱柜。

“There,” said Nyam, picking a path toward the cabinet through the scattered books.

他很好奇为何有人要破坏这座智慧与想象的宝库。眼前的混乱情形显然是某个人在盲目的狂怒之下的宣泄破坏。从书本的浮雕封面和镀金书脊上积攒的灰尘判断，这场破坏已经是很久以前发生的了。

He wondered why anyone would destroy such a treasure trove of wisdom and imagination. This chaos had the hallmarks of someone wreaking havoc in blind fury. Judging by the dust gathered on the embossed covers and gilded spines, that rage had been spent long ago.

他弯下腰从地板上拿起一本书，岁月已经让书页变得脆弱。厚实的皮质封面上也沾着和门把手上同样的粘腻物质。他翻开书，看到的是尖锐、棱角分明的诺克萨斯古文，只有高等贵族才使用。尼亚姆看不懂，而且在昏暗中认清细小的文字让他觉得眼睛痛。

He bent to lift a book from the floor, its pages brittle with age. Portions of its thick leather cover bore the same glistening residue from the door handle. He opened it, and saw the harsh, angular script of the old tongue of Noxus, a language only the highborn patricians ever used. Nyam couldn’t read it, and it hurt his eyes trying to follow the crisp writing in the dim light.

他把书放回到地上，尼亚姆继续向前走，再次听到了砂砾落在岩石上的微弱声音。他暂停脚步，想要辨认出声音传来的具体方位，但感觉到处都是。

Placing the book back on the floor, Nyam pressed on, hearing the soft sound of sand over stone once again. He paused, trying to pinpoint the noise, but it was all around him.

这是什么声音？

What is that?

他终于来到橱柜旁边，表面的黑色木料挂着一层奇怪的露珠，透着潮气和光泽，似乎一切都是从里边溢出来的，就像是里边有什么东西漏了。他小心避免触碰液体，弯下腰闻了闻味道。

Finally, he reached the cabinet, its black wood oddly glistening with a patina of moisture that seemed to be oozing from within, as though something inside was leaking. Careful not to touch the liquid, he bent to sniff it.

盐和朽木，覆盖的水草，还有……陈旧的血？

Salt and rotten timbers, mulched seaweed, and… old blood?

“脏了的海水。”他疑惑不解地说。

“Tainted seawater,” he said, puzzled.

他半跪下来，从下到上检查橱柜，寻找陷阱机关。他摘掉手套，双手沿着潮湿的木头表面寻找着扣眼、开关或把手。他对四周的态势感知渐渐退去，注意力完全集中在橱柜和潜在的致死陷阱上。橱柜的门似乎只采用了最简单的锁。

He knelt to examine the cabinet from the ground up, looking for any trap mechanisms, his ungloved hands gliding over the wet wood in search of catches, switches, or latches. His awareness of his surroundings faded, all his attention focused on the cabinet and whatever lethal surprises it might have in store. Its doors appeared to be secured by the simplest of locks.

“如此贵重的宝物肯定不能只有一道销子锁保护吧，”他难以置信地小声说道，“简直就是你希望它被偷走。”

“Surely something so valuable would be protected by more than a pinlock,” he whispered in disbelief. “It is almost as though you wish it to be stolen.”

尼亚姆用指尖触摸把手周围，然后从随身的小兜里掏出一面镜子，用它窥探销子锁内部的机械结构。没有连着弹簧的针，没有装着毒气的玻璃球，没有诅咒的铭文，也没有魔法陷阱的符文。

Nyam ran his fingertips around the handles, then drew a mirror from his pouches and used it to peer within the mechanism of the pinlock. No spring-loaded needle, no glass pellet of lethal gas, nor any inscribed curses or magical trap runes.

他可以断定这副锁就像看上去那么简单，于是从头皮上穿的孔中抽出了一根较长的骨针。他把骨针捅进锁眼，轻轻拨动内部的铁插销。

Satisfied the lock was just as it seemed, he reached up and slid out one of the longer ivory needles from a pierced fold of skin on his scalp. He pressed it into the lock and gently eased the iron pins from their holes.

随着最后一根插销到位，尼亚姆把骨针插回到头皮里，活动了一下手指。

With the last pin secured, Nyam slid the needle back into his scalp and flexed his fingers.

他的肚子突然传出饥饿的叫声。

His stomach grumbled with a stabbing hunger.

他突然感到对食物的渴望，想要立刻从棒骨上啃噬生肉，喝干整桶的啤酒。他在餐厅时的胃口翻了十倍回来了，在短暂的一秒钟里，他考虑着要不要回去从桌上拿一块肉吃。

He was suddenly ravenous, ready to tear raw flesh from the bone and drain entire vats of beer. His appetite from the dining room returned tenfold, and for a fleeting second, he considered going back to take one of the cuts of meat from the table.

他压抑住这种感觉，对自己的野蛮感到震惊。

He pushed the sensation down, shocked at how visceral it had been.

尼亚姆打开了橱柜，他的肚子又开始缩紧，那股强大的饥饿感拧得肚子发疼。

Nyam opened the cabinet, and his stomach again tightened with powerful hunger pangs.

在橱柜里面的，是一只水晶沙漏，外面嵌套着精美的黄铜支架。沙漏高两掌左右，暴躁的云雾散发着蓝光在里面旋转，一直不停地来回移动，从上钻到下。模糊的玻璃表面渗着红色的液体，不断流下来，汇聚成一滩光滑的血色水池，橱柜表面的潮湿就是从这来的。

Sitting within was a crystalline hourglass encased in a delicate framework of brass. It stood two handspans tall, and tumultuous clouds of blue light spiraled inside, moving restlessly back and forth, from top to bottom. Droplets of red water seemed to sweat from the smoky glass, forming a glossy crimson pool that was the source of the moisture seeping from the cabinet.

尼亚姆犹豫着要不要拿走这个东西，他知道这上面附着最黑暗的魔法。

Nyam hesitated to remove the object, knowing it was touched by the darkest of magics.

他重新戴上手套，小心翼翼地捧起沙漏。感觉很温暖，就像从土灶里刚烤好的一大块肉，他闭上双眼，脑海中浮现出血腥的恐怖景象……

He pulled his gloves back on and carefully lifted the hourglass. It felt warm, like a roasted shank of meat fresh from a clay oven, and he closed his eyes as his mind filled with bloody horrors…

屠夫的切肉刀把骨头切成小段……

A slaughterman’s cleaver splitting bone for the pot…被宰割的尸体挂在钩子上放血……Butchered corpses hung on hooks to drain them of blood…满口利齿的大嘴，永远无法饱足的饥饿……A toothed maw, feeding a hunger that could never be sated…生者和死者的灵魂之光被剥离……Soul lights ripped from the living and the dead…即使是死亡，也无法消解我的饥饿！

EVEN IN DEATH, I HUNGER!

尼亚姆把沙漏放了回去，血腥的画面令他不堪重负，嗜血的渴望让他对自己感到恶心。

Nyam set the hourglass back down, all but overcome by the gut punch of the gory imagery, and disgusted with himself as his craving surged.

“我不知道你是什么，但我最好尽快交差，摆脱你。”

“I do not know what you are, but the sooner I am out of here and rid of you, the better.”

他解开卡扣脱下斗篷，麻利地把沙漏包了进去。

He unfastened the clasps securing his cloak and removed it, before swiftly wrapping the hourglass within.

尼亚姆关上了橱柜转身打算离开。

Nyam closed the cabinet and turned to leave.

然后他张大了嘴目瞪口呆。

And his mouth fell open in shock.

书库的每个表面都被粼粼的蛛网覆盖，从书架到地板之间拉出密实的蛛丝。被打碎的窗户前已经覆盖了厚厚一层蛛网，封死了窗框。地上散落的书和卷轴全都被盖在白丝的沙丘之下。

Every surface of the library was swathed in glistening strands of web, stretching in taut lines from the bookshelves to the floor. Partially shuttered windows were rendered opaque and sealed to their frames, with scattered books and scrolls submerged beneath undulant dunes of white silk.

砂砾拍打岩石的沙沙声越来越大，尼亚姆从背后抽出他的黑曜石刀，他看到天棚上数千只红色和黑色的蜘蛛正在蠕动。

The rustling sound of sand over rocks intensified, and Nyam drew his black-bladed sword as he saw the ceiling squirm with thousands of spiders in crimson and jet.

还有更多蜘蛛沿着墙缝和地缝涌出，组成一道黑色的浪潮，前赴后继、争先恐后地向他爬过来。

More of them crawled toward him in a black tide, squeezing fat bodies from cracks in the walls and floor, swarming over one another to reach him.

“拉莫斯与我同在。”尼亚姆小声喊道，“请保护这个恕瑞玛的孩子吧……”

“Rammus be with me,” hissed Nyam. “Protect this son of Shurima…”

一处较大的运动吸引了他的视线，让他抬头望向那盏枝形吊灯。

A larger motion drew his gaze upward toward the chandelier.

吊灯从中心点展开，巨大的节肢逐渐伸长，显露出巨大的蜘蛛形体，黑色的腹部律动着，让上面猩红的条纹跟着活了起来。它的眼睛盯上了尼亚姆，逐渐从天棚落下来。

It unfolded from the central point, and a huge, segmented body uncurled to reveal a monstrous spider with a pulsing black abdomen streaked with vivid crimson. Its eyes settled upon Nyam as it lowered from the ceiling.

就在它顺着丝线下降的同时，外形似乎依然在不断折叠，如同幼虫破茧而出时不断膨胀变形。蜘蛛怪兽的后腿向后背集中，前腿扭曲、伸长，变成了人类的双腿。

Even as it descended on its cord of silk, its outline seemed to fold in on itself, reshaping and swelling into a new form like a larva emerging from its chrysalis. The monster’s rear limbs slid around to its back, and its forelimbs twisted and extended to become long human legs.

它的身体渐渐拉长，变成了一副娇艳女子的身躯，身上穿着红黑色的绸缎礼服。她的皮肤在午夜月光的映照下呈现出噩兆残阳的青紫色，蜘蛛腹部的红色条纹成为了梳在脑后的一头血红色长发。

Its body stretched to assume the curves of a voluptuous woman clad in red and black, in silk and damask. Her skin lightened from midnight to the violet of an ill-fated sunset, and the crimson slash on the monster’s abdomen became a slicked-back mane of blood-red hair.

但真正让尼亚姆僵在原地的，是她的双眼，犹如一对深邃的红宝石，镶嵌在虫壳样的皇冠上。

But it was her eyes, twin pools of ruby light framed by a chitinous crown, that kept Nyam pinned in place.

她纤细的脚尖触碰到地面，像一名摆弄丝带的优雅舞者般，从空中完成无暇的表演后向他款款走来。

Her tapered foot touched the ground, and she stepped toward him like a ribbon dancer coming down after a flawless performance in the air.

“这个东西不是你的。”她说。

“That doesn’t belong to you,” she said.

尼亚姆想要说话，但他的舌头变成了浮肿的硬皮革，他的手指紧紧扣在黑曜石刀柄上。她的美来自异界，令他同时感到沉迷、排斥、痛苦地渴求。

Nyam tried to speak, but his tongue turned to turgid leather, his fingers tightening on the grip of his sword. Her beauty was otherworldly and intoxicating, repellent and achingly desirable all at once.

他渴望被她纤弱的手臂拥抱，但他知道只要触碰她可怕的身体就等同于死亡。他朝她迈进一步，想要熄灭他狂跳的心中翻涌的恐惧。

He craved the embrace of her slender limbs, even as he knew that touching her hideous body would be the death of him. He took a step toward her, trying to quell the rising terror of his wildly beating heart.

她微微一笑，露出针尖一样的牙齿，上面还沾着一层毒液。

She grinned, exposing needle-like teeth wet with venom.

如果让她的牙齿钳住我的手臂，让她的毒液流入我的血管，会是怎样的美妙感觉？

How would it be to have them fasten on my arm, to feel her venom coursing through my veins?

尼亚姆用力摇摇头，闪躲开目光，他没有意识到自己刚刚一直在憋气，几次深呼吸后，她的谄媚与诱惑渐渐散去。

Nyam shook his head, breaking eye contact, the breath he hadn’t known he was holding rushing to fill his lungs as her blandishments and seductions fell away.

“我觉得这东西也不是你的吧。”他终于找回了自己本来的声音。

“I think it is not yours, either,” he said, finally finding his voice.

“的确，但我为了找到它大费周章，所以不能给你。”

“True, but it cost me a great deal to retrieve, so the point is moot.”

“我的雇主非常有权势。”尼亚姆警告她说。

“The man paying me is powerful,” warned Nyam.

“等待我进献的人也同样有权势。”那个女人说道。

“And the person that item is promised to is no less so,” said the woman.

尼亚姆开始绕着她移动，缓缓挪向那扇黑门。她走进一步，地上的小蜘蛛纷纷散开。她微微耸肩，后背上带着钩刺的肢体用力弯曲。

Nyam began circling around her, edging toward the black doors. She stepped closer, the spiders parting before her. The hooked limbs at her back flexed as she rolled her shoulders.

“你真觉得自己能活着走出去吗？”她问。

“Do you really expect to walk out of here alive?” she asked.

“你想拦住我吗？”他晃了晃手上那把原本属于神明的剑。“许多阻挡我逃命的人都被我劈了脑袋。”

“You think to stop me?” he said, brandishing the sword that had once belonged to a dead god. “I have split skulls of many who stood between me and escape.”

“毫无疑问。不过你杀过的人和我比起来不值一提。我是伊莉丝夫人，而你只是飞进我蛛网里的又一只苍蝇。”

“No doubt. But your tally of death is insignificant when set next to mine. I am the Lady Elise, and you are just the latest fly to wander into my web.”

尼亚姆拔腿就跑，冲向书库大门。

Nyam bolted, sprinting toward the library doors.

他感觉到蜘蛛的肚子被自己的靴底踩破，还听见它们硬壳被碾压的脆响，闻到了它们体液的酸臭味。他希望能用突然的加速获得些许优势，但现在他看到自己严重误判了这个女人的实力。

He felt the spiders’ bodies pop beneath his boots, heard the crunch of their hard shells, and smelled the acrid stink of their ichor. He’d hoped to gain advantage with his sudden speed, but now saw how horribly he’d misjudged this woman.

她一个筋斗翻向门口，在墙壁上跑出优美的弧线。一团丝线突然喷向尼亚姆手中被斗篷包裹着的沙漏。

She somersaulted toward the doors, springing from the wall in a graceful arc. A burst of silk spat toward the cloak-wrapped hourglass in Nyam’s hands.

他转身躲闪，但粘性的蛛网打中了他斗篷的边缘，随后往回一拉……

He twisted away, but the sticky web stuck to the edge of his cloak and pulled…

尼亚姆气急败坏地大喊，沙漏从他的手中挣脱。它飞向后方，重重砸到了橱柜的木棱上，铜框在冲击下松动了。邪物落在铺满柔软蛛网的地板上，侧面着地。

Nyam cried out in fury as the hourglass was wrenched from his grip. It flew back through the air and slammed hard into the wood of the cabinet, the brass frame buckling with the impact. The artifact landed on the spun softness of the webs covering the floor, and rolled onto its side.

“你这个蠢货！”伊莉丝话音刚落，一股深蓝色的烟雾从沙漏的裂缝中钻了出来。“你都干了什么？”

“You fool!” said Elise, as a curling wisp of deep blue smoke drifted from a wide crack in the hourglass. “What have you done?”

钻出来的烟雾越来越多——浓稠、黑暗、散发着陈旧血液与恐惧的气味。它翻滚着，不时放出红色的闪电，它是一团冷光与饥饿的风暴。

More smoke was pouring out—thicker, darker, reeking of old blood and fear. It swirled with red lightning, a storm of cold light and hunger.

一个可怕的外形开始显现，宽厚庞大的人影，穿着锈蚀残破的厚重铠甲。长角的骷髅头浮现出来，长满尖牙的巨口裂开一道缝隙，散发着恶毒的贪食。

A terrible outline began to form, broad and bloated, a vast figure in thick plates of rusted and decaying armor. A horned skull took shape, with a fanged maw that creakingly stretched wide with hideous appetite.

“这是什么东西？”尼亚姆问道，恐惧深深刺入他的骨头，让他动弹不得。

“What is that?” Nyam said, terror striking deep into his bones and rooting him to the spot.

“噬魂者。”伊莉丝说，“一种胃口无穷尽的生物，永世贪食人类的灵魂。是暗影岛上的东西……”

“A soulgorger,” said Elise. “A creature of infinite hunger that will feast on your spirit for an eternity. A thing of the Shadow Isles…”

尼亚姆在胸前画了一个太阳符，那个鬼怪身边出现了一群稍小一些的实体——残破的、被消化了一半的灵魂，有的缺胳膊、有的少下巴、还有的被开膛破肚、脑壳空空。血红的光链把它们拴在那个巨大恶灵的身边，让它们一边被蚕食，一边被奴役。

Nyam made the Sign of the Sun across his heart as a host of smaller forms coalesced around the creature—wretched, half-digested spirits with missing arms, dislocated jaws, gouged-open chests, and scooped-out skulls. Tethers of blood-red light bound them to the giant entity that feasted on them even as it enslaved them.

他感受到了它们的痛苦，它们被慢慢吃掉的恐惧。但更可怕的是，他感受到他们想要摆脱折磨的渴望。

He felt their pain, their horror at being slowly devoured. But more terrible than that, he felt their awful need to save themselves from torment.

“凡人的血肉盛宴。”那个噬魂者开口说道，它的声音就像钝锯拉在骨头上。

“Mortal meat for a feast,” said the soulgorger, its voice like a blunt saw through bone.

“蟊贼！”伊莉丝大喊道，希望能打破他身上的恐怖魔咒。“蟊贼！”

“Thief!” Elise cried, hoping to break the spell of terror that lay upon him. “Thief!”

他没有回应，在灵异亡魂的面前彻底惊呆，它是生命的纯粹对立，他的凡人心智无法接受它的存在。

He didn’t respond, paralyzed at the sight of this unnatural specter, a thing so inimical to life that his mortal mind couldn’t accept its existence.

她感受到那个恶灵的原始饥饿，那是一种贪婪无度、不顾一切的迫切需求，丝毫不像她自己的食欲那样精挑细选。

She felt the brutal rawness of the spirit’s hunger, a voracious, single-minded imperative without the refinement of her own appetites.

它让她感到恶心。

It disgusted her.

伊莉丝抓住蟊贼的肩膀，他的头立刻抬起来。

Elise took hold of the thief’s shoulder, and his head snapped up.

“拿起剑战斗，否则我们两个都得死。”她话音未落，那个噬魂者开始迈步向前走，诡异的笑容将他残酷的脸分为上下两半。“快！”

“Ready your sword and fight, or we both die,” she said as the soulgorger took a ponderous step forward, a grotesque grin splitting its butcher’s face. “Now!”

她的语气不容反驳，于是蟊贼颤抖着提起了刀。

Her tone brooked no disagreement, and the thief unsteadily lifted his blade.

噬魂者举起一只健硕的手，那些被奴役的残缺灵魂向他们飘过来。

The soulgorger raised a meaty arm, and the enslaved abominations flew at them.

伊莉丝背后的细足向前抽打，蟊贼的刀剑也胡乱劈砍。那些灵魂退缩了，它们被武器所伤，痛苦地发出惨叫。

The legs at Elise’s back lashed out like reaping scythes, and the thief slashed with his sword. The spirits recoiled, screeching in pain as the weapons cut through them.

伊莉丝没有浪费任何时间。

Elise didn’t waste the momentary reprieve.

“跑！”她大喊一声，转过身冲向门口。蟊贼也紧紧跟在她身后，但噬魂者的灵魂奴隶比他们想象的更灵活。

“Run!” she shouted, turning and bolting for the door. The thief followed, hot on her heels, but the slave spirits of the soulgorger were far swifter than she had expected.

它们的爪子划过生者的血肉，蟊贼尖叫着被一个灵魂抓到了肩膀和后腰。蓝色的冷光注入他的身体，他踉跄摔倒，立刻有更多灵魂靠拢，伸出冰冷的长爪，并排向着书库门的方向追赶。伊莉丝咬紧牙，忍受着每个伤口带来的冰冷麻木感，像催眠的毒药一样渐渐扩散开。

Their claws raked living flesh, and the thief cried out as a spirit sliced his shoulder and hip. Cold blue light poured into him, and he stumbled as more of the spirits closed in, tearing at them with icy talons as they fought, side by side, toward the library doors. Elise gritted her teeth against the freezing numbness spreading from each wound, flowing through her like a soporific poison.

“起来！”伊莉丝大叫着拉扯他向前，“快！”

“Up!” shouted Elise, dragging him onward. “Move!”

他们穿过了门，她把蟊贼扔到地上，转身面向书库。上千只蜘蛛涌上夹层来，填满了墙壁，还不断从地板缝之间钻出。

They tumbled through the doors, and she threw him to the floor before turning back to the library. Thousands more spiders were spilling onto the mezzanine from the levels below, scuttling down the walls, and pushing out between warped floorboards.

伊莉丝关上了书库的门，“把这条路封死，小宝贝们。”

Elise slammed the library doors closed and said, “Seal the way, little ones.”

那些小蜘蛛涌上了墙，一路上疯狂地织网。粘稠的蛛丝填平了门缝，堵住了钥匙孔，封死了整扇门。但门框四周开始泛起愈发强烈的蓝光。

The spiderlings flowed up the wall, furiously spinning webs as they went. Sticky swathes of silk clogged the hair-fine gap between the doors, filled the keyholes, and sealed them shut. Pulsing blue light built around the edges of the frame.

蛛网暂时能坚持住，但已经开始剥脱，树胶一般的物质像蜡一样融化。几缕青烟薄雾从缝隙钻了出来，同时出来的还有幽灵般的手和痛苦面容的鬼影。伊莉丝自己的网能够形成更强大的屏障，但织网所消耗的时间和能量是她当下不具备的。

The webs were holding for now, but already they were fraying, the resin-like substance running like melting wax. Faint wisps of ethereal mist seeped through the gaps, along with ghostly hands and suggestions of wailing faces. Elise’s own webbing would make for a much stronger barrier, but spinning it would take time and energy she didn’t have.

她弯下腰，一把蜘蛛爬上她的手掌。她把蜘蛛举到自己面前，在脑海中构想了自己所需要的东西，然后它们从她的手掌中一跃而起，消失在墙缝中。

She bent down, and a handful of spiders crawled onto her extended palms. As she held them up before her face, she pictured what she needed, and they leapt from her hands, disappearing into cracks in the walls.

“多谢，”惊恐的蟊贼上气不接下气地说，“你救了我——”

“Gratitude,” said the thief, breathless with terror. “You saved me—”

“我不是为了救你。”伊莉丝厉声说着，站直了身子。

“I didn’t do it for you,” snapped Elise, rising to her full height.

“那是为什么？”

“Then why?”

“因为如果让噬魂者吃到东西，它就会变得更强。”她边说边大步走进餐厅，“起来吧。蛛网撑不了太久。”

“Because if a soulgorger feeds, it gets stronger,” she said, striding toward the dining room. “Now get up. The web won’t hold for long.”

伊莉丝一把推开餐厅门，快步经过她的丈夫当初背叛她的长桌。她从那一晚开始就再也没踏足过这里。

Elise threw open the dining room door, moving swiftly past the long table where her husband had betrayed her. She hadn’t set foot in here since that night.

蟊贼现在已经一瘸一拐，他身上散发出一种黯淡的死亡之光，从被亡灵抓过的地方向旁边的健康身躯扩散。他自己并不知道，但现在他和死了没区别。

The thief was limping badly now, a pallid, deathly light spreading through his body from where the revenants’ claws had pierced him. He didn’t know it, but he was as good as dead.

说实话，当他被选中来她家中抢东西的时候就死定了。

Truth be told, he had been doomed the moment he had chosen to rob her.

“我想念太阳，”他的目光已经开始浑浊。“黄沙……”

“I miss the sun,” he said, his eyes already glassing over. “The sand…”

“你再也别想看到了。”伊莉丝说，“除非它们在彼端等你。”

“You’ll never see them again,” said Elise. “Unless that’s what awaits you beyond.”

“彼端？”

“Beyond?”

“你死了以后。”伊丽丝说。

“When you die,” said Elise.

“不，我只是累了。伤了……”他不肯认命，但声音越来越虚弱。“还有点冷……我以前受过更严重的伤，也逃出来了。”

“No, I am just exhausted. Wounded…” he insisted, his voice growing faint. “And cold… I have been hurt worse than this and walked away.”

伊莉丝摇了摇头，她肩膀上的一条腿在他脖子上刺了一下。

Elise shook her head, and one of the legs at her shoulders stabbed down into his neck.

一股毒液注入到蟊贼体内，他在突如其来的热流中猛然蜷缩了一下，后退几步提起刀。刀刃在他手里颤抖，伊莉丝感受到这块远古的金属中锻着炽热的魔法。

A spasm of venom pumped into the thief, and he flinched from the sudden hot rush of it, stumbling back and lifting his sword. The blade wavered in his weakening grip, and Elise felt the heat of the magic wrought in the folds of its ancient metal.

“你干什么？”他大声问道。

“What did you do?” he demanded.

“我给你注入了微量的毒药，能让你多活一会。”

“I gave you a sliver of venom that will allow you to live just a little longer.”

“你在说什么？”

“What are you talking about?”

“暗影岛的触碰就是已死亡，”伊莉丝说，“你们人类在岛上待的每一秒都会流失灵魂，就像永不愈合的伤口一直在流血。现在那种伤口已经渗入你的身体，一直在吸收着你的生命。”

“The touch of the Shadow Isles is death,” said Elise. “Every second your kind spends in that damned place drains the soul, like blood flowing from a cut that can never heal. That touch is now inside you, leeching your life away with every last breath.”

他扶着餐桌站稳，伊莉丝看到他脸上开始蔓延出一道道黑脉。

He steadied himself on the table, and Elise saw snaking lines of black spreading across his face.

“不可能，”他说，“你也被那些灵魂伤到了。”

“No,” he said. “You were touched by the spirits, too.”

“我的身体是魔法的造物，”她说，“由一位古神的毒液编织而成。”

“My body is a thing of magic,” she said, “wrought by the venom of an ancient god.”

“你是不朽之人？”

“You are immortal?”

虽然处境凶险，但伊莉丝还是在苦涩的幽默感中大笑出来。

Despite everything, Elise laughed with bitter humor.

“不是，但区区噬魂者是杀不死我的，”最后低语一声，“希望如此……”

“No, but it’ll take more than a soulgorger to end me,” she said, before whispering, “I hope…”

尼亚姆跟随者伊莉丝来到他最初进入的那个房间。他的每一步都如同灌了铅，每次喘息都是一次斗争。他能做的只剩下把一只脚挪到另一只脚前方。

Nyam followed Elise into the chamber where he had first entered the shuttered manse. His every step was leaden, every breath a battle. It was all he could do to place one foot in front of the other.

好冷……

So very cold…

他撞上了一把盖着布帘的椅子，模糊的视线勉强看到自己前方挂着一条绳索，通向屋顶。

He bumped into a sheet-covered chair, and his misted gaze cleared long enough for him to see the dangling rope he had used to descend from the roof.

我的力气还够不够爬到上面的？

Do I have strength enough to climb it?

伊莉丝站在站在天棚破口的正下方，月光给她罩上一层光晕，让她再度美若天仙。她的皮肤散发着内在的光彩，充满柔润与活力，她的双眼炯炯有神。

Elise stood beneath the hole in the ceiling, haloed in a moonbeam and beautiful once more. Her skin shimmered with an internal radiance, lustrous and vibrant, her eyes alight with purpose.

“真……美。”他的声音似乎从很远的地方传来。她转身看着他，他的心跳略微加速了一些。

“So… beautiful,” he said, his voice sounding as though it came from so very far away. She turned to face him, and his heart beat a little faster.

“别人怎么称呼你？”她问。

“What do they call you?” she asked.

“尼亚姆，”他的思绪坠入自己经历过的此生，“炸脸的尼亚姆……”

“Nyam,” he said, his mind falling back through his life. “No-Face Nyam…”

她的头歪向一侧，“炸脸？为什么这么说你？”

Her head cocked to the side. “No-Face? Why do they call you that?”

他翻开上嘴唇，展示他分瓣的牙床和内侧的缝合疤痕。她点了点头伸出手轻轻触摸他的脸颊和下颌。

He pulled his lip back to show her the ruin of his cloven gums and poorly sewn scar. She nodded, and reached out to run her smooth fingertips across his cheek and chin.

“每个人都有自己的伤疤， 尼亚姆。”她说道。他感到一种奇怪而温暖的力量注入身体。“现在请握紧你的刀。你需要它。”

“We all have our scars, Nyam,” she said, and he felt a strange, invigorating warmth pass into him. “Now ready that fine sword of yours. You’re going to need it.”

他转过身恰好看到房门被噬魂者的亡魂大军推开。它们就是一团嚎哭着的噩梦，带着狂乱的急切，叽叽喳喳冲过来。

He turned in time to see the doors flung open by the soulgorger’s spectral host. They charged in a howling mass of nightmares, screeching with frantic urgency.

尼亚姆的心充满炽烈的活力，就像火炉添了柴薪，他咆哮着挥起自己的刀剑。刀刃深深切入浓烟般的灵体中，他它们发出痛苦却甜美的尖叫。他自己的疼痛已经彻底遗忘，血液中的冰冷被伊莉丝的毒液所融化。再一次，他成为了太阳的战士，准备好像英雄一样在战斗中慷慨赴死。

Nyam’s heart flared to life like a hearth fire given fresh fuel, and he roared as he swung his sword. The blade bit deep into the smoky depths of their bodies, and their screams were of pain and sweet release. His own pain was forgotten, the ice in his veins melting before the heat of Elise’s venomous touch. He was, once again, a warrior of the sun, ready to fight and die a hero’s death.

在他奋战的同时，他也看到伊莉丝扑到灵魂之中，她的速度与敏捷难以置信。他的视觉开始模糊，一切色彩渐渐退去，而她的身姿则在每次眨眼后愈发模糊，既是矫健的美人，又是优雅的蜘蛛。

Even as he fought, he watched as Elise leapt and dived among the spirits, her speed and agility incredible. His vision grew dull, bleached of color, but her form seemed to blur between blinks, transforming between sinuous human beauty and the lethal elegance of a deadly spider.

尼亚姆拼尽最后的力量战斗，希望能让她看到自己的勇敢，希望能让她愉悦。

Nyam fought all the harder, hoping she might see how brave he was, and that it might please her.

但他血液中的热火只能持续这么久了，每次被幽魂的利爪撕扯，被死亡触摸，他的动作都更加缓慢。尼亚姆想要发出无畏的战吼，但他的喉咙却好像被冰霜掩埋。他的刀剑变得异常沉重，但他不会松手。

But the fire in his blood could only last so long, and every clawing blow and deathly touch slowed him. Nyam tried to shout his defiance, but his throat felt as though it were thick with frost. His sword was heavy in his hand, but he would not drop it.

他跪倒在地，感到前所未有地寒冷。

He sank to his knees, feeling colder than he could ever remember.

冰霜的怨灵包围了他，但他们并不打算立刻杀死他。他感到自己被冰冷的手抬了起来。他看到它们包围了伊莉丝，鬼魅的肢体靠着单纯的数量优势把她压倒。她嘶吼着朝它们吐丝，但没有效果。

The mistwraiths encircled him, but they weren’t trying to kill him. He felt icy hands hauling him away. He saw them surround Elise, their ghostly limbs dragging her down with sheer weight of numbers. She hissed and spat at them, but to no avail.

尼亚姆向内心深处搜寻，寻找她赐予的火焰，但那股力量已经丝毫不剩了。

Nyam dug deep, reaching for the fire she had given him, but it was utterly spent.

“伊莉丝……”他小声说。

“Elise…” he whispered.

炽烈的毒液在伊莉丝身体中流淌着，怨灵大军拖着她和蟊贼来到噬魂者面前。她自身的火能抵挡灵魂的死亡之触，但她并不能坚持很久。

Hot venom furiously coursed through Elise’s body as the wretched host dragged her and the thief before the soulgorger. Its fire kept the deathly touch of the spirits at bay, but she couldn’t sustain it for long.

现在，炸脸的尼亚姆跪在怨灵前方，活着，奄奄一息，他的灵魂已经被抽干了。即便如此，他还是紧紧握着自己的黑曜石刀剑，似乎还打算最后砍一刀。

Back now in the library, No-Face Nyam knelt before the spirits, alive, but only just, his soul all but drained. Despite that, he gripped his black sword as if he might somehow strike one last blow.

那个巨大的幽鬼站到伊莉丝身边俯视她，野兽般的形体扭曲着散发出可怕的饥饿。它知道她很特别，她不是普通的凡人，所以它要慢慢吃，品味每个瞬间，直至将她的生命彻底抽干。

The vast specter towered over Elise, its bestial features twisted in monstrous hunger. It knew she was special, that she was more than just a simple mortal, and it was taking its time, savoring the moment before it drained her of life.

你可真傻……

More fool you…

“明亮的灵魂肉食，”噬魂者说道，“丰盛的美餐！”

“Bright soul meat,” said the soulgorger. “Rich feast!”

“可惜你吃不到。”伊莉丝说。

“Too bad you’ll never know,” said Elise.

噬魂者放声大笑，它的声音低沉，像是含着一股水。“我会把你变成躯壳。”

The soulgorger laughed, a growling, wet sound. “You will be a husk in my wake.”

伊莉丝高傲地摆了摆手指。“你没听说过吗，脑袋伸到云雾里的人看不见脚下的蝎子。没有？好吧，其实我一直都想把这句话里的蝎子换成蜘蛛……”

Elise wagged an admonishing finger. “Have you heard the saying that the man with his head in the clouds never sees the scorpion at his feet? No? Well, I always felt it would be better if you swapped out a scorpion for a spider…”

它疑惑地看着她，然后伸出手，打算把她送到嘴边。

It stared at her in confusion, then reached down to lift her to its terrible maw.

锋利的手爪在快要碰到她的时候停住了。

The clawed hand paused before it could touch her.

噬魂者转过头，发现那个被打碎的沙漏立了起来，上面挂着长长的蛛丝，好几十只小蜘蛛正在协力把它扶正。沙漏上的裂痕依然在洒着邪祟的光，但每过去一秒，它的光都在减弱，因为上百只小蜘蛛正在上面结网，就像纺纱轮前的纺丝匠。

The soulgorger turned to see the broken hourglass had been lifted from the floor on a taut length of silk, drawn upward by scores of spiderlings. Sick light still wept from the many cracks in the glass, but with every passing second, it dimmed as hundreds of tiny spiders spun their webs across them like weavers at a loom.

“谢谢你们，小可爱。”伊莉丝说道，她感受得到噬魂者的力量在减弱，它突如其来的恐惧感驱走了一切关于美食的想法。

“Thank you, little ones,” said Elise, feeling the soulgorger’s power weaken, its sudden fear driving away all thoughts of feasting.

“动手，尼亚姆！”她喊道，“打它！”

“Now, Nyam!” she cried. “Strike!”

蟊贼抬起头，使出最后一丝力气把刀剑刺入噬魂者的腹部。

The thief lifted his head, and with the last of his strength drove his sword into the soulgorger’s belly.

那个生物发出震耳欲聋的嚎叫，声音中的怒火撼动了房屋的高墙。窗格上残存的几块玻璃全都炸开了，变成一把把锋利的匕首落到地板上。

The creature loosed a deafening howl, the sound shaking the walls with its fury. The few panes left in the windows exploded, raining glittering daggers of glass to the floor.

“我不回去！”它咆哮着说。

“I won’t go back!” it roared.

“嘘，很快就会结束的。”伊丽丝说。

“Hush, it’ll be over soon,” said Elise.

噬魂者对她伸出鬼爪，但它的监牢大门已经开始关闭。它的身体被拉长，在空中扭曲着，被强行拖回了沙漏中，被它奴役的那些灵魂也随着一同被收回。一道道寒光在那个幽鬼身边划过，其他灵魂发出恐惧的尖叫，它们知道自己将成为它被囚禁以后的发泄对象。书籍和卷轴在旋风中翻滚旋转，噬魂者抵抗着不可阻挡的力量，徒劳地挣扎。

The soulgorger reached for her with ghostly talons, but the door of its prison was already slamming shut. Its form stretched, twisting in the air as it was pulled back inside the hourglass, along with its enslaved host. Streamers of cold light spiraled around the specter as the other spirits shrieked in terror, knowing they would bear the full brunt of its imprisoned rage. Books and scrolls spun in a whirlwind as the soulgorger fought the inevitable, but it was no use.

最后那只裂开的沙漏被丝滑的蛛网封死了，它牢笼的最后一根铁栏重新修复。

As the last crack in the hourglass was sealed with silken webs, the final bar of its prison was set back in place.

那个生物的叫声戛然而止，书库里瞬间静了下来。伊莉丝颤抖着长吁一口气。

The creature’s roar was abruptly stilled, and an empty silence filled the library. Elise let out a shuddering breath.

尼亚姆的刀剑从手里落下，他跪倒在地，胸口微微起伏，瞪圆了双眼，不敢相信自己活了下来。

Nyam’s sword fell from his hand as he sank to his haunches. His chest heaved in shallow gasps, his eyes wide at their unexpected survival.

伊莉丝踏过地上的书，来到被蛛丝包裹的沙漏前面，她感受得到里边传出的可怕食欲——还有其他灵魂的恐惧，一股残暴的力量正压在沙漏表面。蛛网承担的压力非常大，她的小蜘蛛吐出的丝线并不能坚持太久。

Elise stepped over the fallen books to where the hourglass still spun on the web, feeling the terrible hunger within—the horror of the trapped spirits, and the ferocious power pressing at the glass. The pressure on the webs was immense, and her spiderlings’ work wouldn’t hold for much longer.

“我必须给它换个容器。”伊莉丝说。

“I’m going to need a stronger vessel than this,” said Elise.

高塔下方的洞穴非常寒冷，挂着舒适的蛛网，在潮气中光滑闪烁。伊莉丝并不喜欢来到如此深的地下，但黑暗是苍白女士的标志，所以她必须忍耐。

The caverns beneath the towers were cold, pleasingly hung with cobwebs, their walls glistening with moisture. Elise didn’t like going this far beneath the earth, but darkness was the hallmark of the pale woman she was here to meet, and so had to be endured.

一如既往，她们之间的会面是绝密的，她们之间使用神秘的符号和印记交流，指引着伊莉丝在迷宫般的地下通道中穿行。

As always, their rendezvous was in secret, their communications made by mystic signs and sigils that led Elise through the labyrinthine pathways.

考虑到她所处理的事务，她对苍白女士的戒备丝毫不感到意外。

Given the nature of her business, she wasn’t surprised by the woman’s caution.

诺克萨斯大统领是个有仇必报、反复无常的人，他的连环计谋几乎是无法洞穿的。所以再保密也不过分，需要假设他在每个地方都有眼线。

The Grand General of Noxus was a vengeful and capricious man, whose schemes within schemes were all but impenetrable. Much better to err on the side of secrecy, and believe he had eyes and ears everywhere.

“到手了吗？”阴影中传来一个声音。

“You have it?” said a voice from the shadows.

伊莉丝作为掠食者的多重感官丝毫没有捕捉到苍白女士的到来，最多只听到一声轻语，不过她并没有展露出任何惊讶。

Not one of Elise’s many predatory senses had caught so much as a whisper of the woman’s arrival, but she tried not to show any surprise.

“到手了。”她说着，举起一个丝绸布袋。

“I do,” she said, holding out a silken bag before her.

黑暗中伸出一双苍白的手，结果布袋，她的皮肤几乎透明，细若发丝的蓝色血管像蠕虫一样在皮肤下面蠕动。

Pale hands reached from the darkness to take it, the skin almost transparent, with hair-fine blue veins squirming like worms just below the surface.

“酬劳会和往常一样送到府上。”苍白女士说道，她的语调古老而典雅，是另一个时代的口音。“都是年轻气盛，愚蠢且虔诚的类型，你最喜欢的那种。”

“The usual payment will be delivered to your manse,” said the woman, her tones old and refined, an accent from a different age. “They will be young and dashing—foolish and devoted, just as you like them.”

伊莉丝感受到那种熟悉的饥饿、期待与自我憎恨，但没有在意。她从不进行多余的自我反省。

Elise felt the now familiar mix of hungry anticipation and self-loathing, but pushed it aside; introspection was not something she relished.

“棒极了，”她说，“我正好想补充一份青春。”

“Excellent,” she said. “I could use a blush of youth again.”

“你始终都那么可爱迷人。”苍白女士说完，把手伸进丝绸布袋中，打开了噬魂者的微光牢笼。

“You are as lovely now as you ever were,” said the woman, reaching into the silken bag and removing the soulgorger’s glowing prison.

一具新鲜漂白的骷髅，用伊莉丝自己的坚韧蛛网封得严严实实。

A freshly bleached skull, sealed tight with hardened webs of Elise’s own creation.

骷髅每个角度都完美无瑕，除了上颚中间的一道裂缝。

Perfect in every way, save for the cleft in the bone of its upper jaw.